The Healing Word

Guest (Male): The Healing Word Ministry, on one place, is brought to you by the generous donations of people like you. At any time during today's message, feel free to send a prayer request or make a donation using the links provided. Now, I pray you will be blessed as Pastor Jack Morris delivers a message from the word of God that will encourage and strengthen your faith in him.

Pastor Jack Morris: Prayer makes a difference. And I I want you to think of that word difference. Someone said that you know I've tried everything, but nothing makes a difference. Have you ever felt that way or heard somebody say that? Let me tell you something. I already told you. Prayer makes a difference.

Guest (Male): Welcome to the Healing Word, a radio ministry of the Largo Community Church. Here's Pastor Jack Morris with today's message that will grow your faith in God and lead you to a closer walk with Jesus.

Pastor Jack Morris: The prayer trap. When I put this in the bulletin for the secretary to type it in, she contacted me and she said, "Pastor, is that the word you want to use, trap?" The prayer trap. I said, yes, that's the word. The prayer trap. Prayer makes a difference between failure and success. Prayer makes a difference between victory and defeat. Now, maybe I ought to say that again. Prayer makes a difference. And I I want you to think of that word difference. Someone said that you know I've tried everything, but nothing makes a difference. Have you ever felt that way or heard somebody say that?

I have tried that, but it didn't make a difference. I have tried many things. Nothing has made any difference. Let me tell you something. I already told you. Prayer makes a difference. God hears and answers prayer. I want you to say that God hears and answers prayer.

Guest (Male): God hears and answers prayer.

Pastor Jack Morris: Prayer makes a difference. Now, if you keep praying, you are not failing. If you quit praying, now you are failing. But if you keep praying, even though you are failing, you are still succeeding. Oh, boy. Let me say that again. We're going to see it in the life of Daniel. And the reason it's in the life of Daniel, and the reason it's printed in the Bible in this book, so it can also be in our life. If you are praying, now think about it. If you are praying and you are failing, if you keep praying, you're succeeding.

We're going to see Daniel. He's going to go under the lion's den. If ever a man appeared to have failed, but I'll tell you something. He came out of the lion's den. That's what we're going to learn today. And we're going to experience something of God's elevation and lifting up. He lifted Daniel up, made God's Holy Spirit come and lift us up. Now, I've got to give you the historical background. I've got to tell you a little bit about the story. So I don't want to bore you, but just listen to it. This is what happened.

Daniel tells it in his book in the in chapter one. He says that Jerusalem came under siege of King Nebuchadnezzar. The reason Nebuchadnezzar attacked Jerusalem and brought Jerusalem down and literally destroyed that city is because the people of God stopped praying, stopped worshipping, started living lives that they felt like they wanted to live. They just they just became passive. They just became passive. And so God had to jerk their chain. Have you got ever jerked jerked your chain, you know, to get your attention? He'll do that. Why will he do that? To make you unhappy, to make you miss No, he that's because you're his child and he disciplines those he loves.

And so here is this whole nation losing their touch of God because they have gone the way of the flesh, they have gone the way of man. They began to pick and choose which scriptures they wanted to believe in. And so God said, I've got to jerk their chain. I've got to get them back. They're going to be lost forever. If I back away from them, they're my chosen people. And so God moved in even through discipline. Nebuchadnezzar came in. He marched all of the people to Babylon. Now, listen to this one. Babylon, the city of Babylon is only a matter of miles from Baghdad in Iraq.

That's where he marched them off to. Isn't that something? Iraq was in the Bible way back there. And well, I won't say a whole lot about that, but that place has been a very difficult place for many many years. And there's where the people of God ended up in Iraq of all places. It wasn't called Iraq back then. But it was a Babylon. But not only did he march the people off to Babylon, he took all of the utensils out of the temple of God. Friend, let me tell you, you stop praying, your church is going to be ruined.

What ruins a church? People ruin a church. You start gossiping and talking and nitpicking, you'll bring your church down. And then you'll wonder, what happened to my church? Friend, it is not the devil that's destroying the church. It's God's own people who have lost the touch of God. And they call themselves spiritual when they have lost complete victory in the Lord. God loves you. He wants to bless you. You're his people, the people of his pasture. He's your shepherd. The blood of Jesus has come over you. Now, don't don't get out from under that covering.

And I'll tell you he's not going to come in to the critical place. You're going to have to come out of that place because God will have no part of it, absolutely no part. When he takes Nebuchadnezzar takes all the nice things out of the temple. And he takes them to his own temple, to his own false God. And he sets them all up and he begins to worship his God. Now, he takes certain men, handsome men, intelligent men, men with a nice complexion, men with a good brain. He took a lot of them. And he is going to now train them to be servants in his kingdom.

Aren't you glad you're in the kingdom of God? We just prayed, thine is the kingdom, thine is the glory, thine is the power. I want in there where thine is. That where I want to be. Well, among those men, I'll give you the name of four of them. Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they the king set up a particular diet. He said, I can make your brain work more quickly. I can make your skin look more more healthy. I can make you look even more handsome than you are. I'm going to have the handsomest men in all of Israel serving me.

And so he set before them a diet where Daniel was a man of God, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. And they said, we are not going to eat food that you offered to some idol that doesn't even exist, that can't hear, that can't talk, that you whittled out of a piece of wood or carved out of a piece of stone. That food has been offered to idols, and we're not going to eat it. You know, there are some people that will stand for the truth. Did you hear me? They have great Bible convictions of heart. And they're not going to listen in no matter what the government says, no matter what the state says, no matter how people try to change the book, there are some people who are going to live by the book.

That book that we put over our heart just a moment ago. Daniel said, I'm a man of God. I'm a man of the book. And he said, I'll fix my own diet. Give me a break. Give me a chance. And I'll eat my own diet. Now, we have that diet right here right now. A number of you people are on it. And I look out and I see people losing weight everywhere. It must work. Now, it's not enjoined upon us as New Testament believers to eat the Daniel diet. I've heard people say I'm going to go on a Daniel fast.

That's good. I recommend it. I'm behind it all the way. But it it isn't something you are sinning if you don't do it. So Daniel ate the food that he believed that was blessed of God. And God then blessed Daniel. You know, when you do the right thing and you stop listening to the wrong thing, then God's going to bless you. You can't listen to God in one ear and hear the garbage of gossip in another ear. You can't speak the tongue of grace and the tongue of a set on fire of hell at the same time.

It just doesn't work. And you say, well, you know, I I'm a spiritual person. God has sent me to fix the church. Where were you 42 years ago? Oh, you may never come back. I don't know. Everyone's This is the world of God and the word of God. Now, Daniel was so blessed of God. You know, when you do God's will and you don't listen to the kings and the governors and the senators and the presidents of this world, but you have a king and he sits upon the throne of your heart and he's given you a book and you're listening to him.

Your ear is open to him to obey him. The blessing of God is going to come upon you and you're going to prosper. God wants to prosper his people. So Daniel began to rise in the estimation of the people and of the king himself where there was Nebuchadnezzar. Then Nebuchadnezzar died and then there was Belshazzar. And then after Belshazzar came Darius. Now, Darius had great respect for Daniel. Now, anybody that loves God and and serves the Lord, God's going to make sure that person is held in high esteem. They really are. And so Daniel was promoted to be one of the three kings of all the Babylonian Empire.

Now, there were three kings over three great provinces. Now, the big provinces were broken down into small provinces. And the small provinces had a what they the Bible says a satrap which would be like a senator over and there were 120 satraps. Well, guess what happened? They got jealous of the man of God. And they wanted to correct things in the man of God. They started to touch God's anointed. And they said to the king, let's make a decree that if any person in all the Babylonian Empire prays to any other God than your God, King Darius, or petitions help from anyone other than you yourself, King Darius, they'll be put in a lion's den and devoured.

The king thought, hey, that sounds pretty good. Everybody likes popularity, don't you? He's not like anybody else he's like anybody else. So he said, hey, that sounds all right. But he didn't realize that a trap was being set for a man that he highly respected. He was suckered in. And he signed it, put it into law. He did everything he could to save Daniel, but it was signed into law. Daniel knew what was happening. Here's the thing. Daniel knew a trap was being set for him. But it didn't change his lifestyle or affect his spirituality at all.

Three times a day he would go to his window in his upper room, open that window toward Jerusalem that the land where he had been stolen from. And he would pray to the God of heaven, the God that you served, the Abba Father that you and I just sang about just a moment ago. Three times a day. I don't care what the king says. I don't care what the president says. I don't care what the Supreme Court says. I'm going to obey the book and I'm going to serve God. And Daniel did it. A trap was set.

He was caught in the trap. But he wasn't bellyaching about it. He wasn't complaining about it. He didn't say, oh God, why did you let me get in this mess? No, not at all. He didn't regret putting God first. He didn't regret giving God not only priority in his life, God was the priority. Prayer was not on his agenda. Prayer was the agenda. And he served God despite everything else and everything that was going on. He got in trouble with the state. He obeyed God instead of obeying man. It's better to obey God than to obey man.

Here's what happened. He was put in the lion's den. Now, friend, I'm not going to ask you to raise your hand, but you might feel like you're in the lion's den today. You've heard their roar. Daniel was put in the lion's den. He heard that lie. Those lions there were a number of lions. They roared. He saw the glare in their eyes. He looked at their canine teeth. He saw, he felt that he would go in and he would go in without turning back, repenting of disobeying the king. A big stone was rolled in the entrance so Daniel couldn't get out and nobody else could get in.

And there he was in the lion's den and nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. Friend, listen to me. If you're in a situation where you feel that you cannot get out, someone's I've heard people tell me through the years, Pastor, I'm in a particular situation. I feel locked in. I just feel locked in. I I would try to escape, but I just can't get out of this mess. I've just been locked in. Friend, when you can't get out, God can get in. Do you remember that? Daniel couldn't get out, but angels came to the rescue.

And do you know what happened? Those angels made puppies, little puppy dogs out of those lions. Daniel couldn't sleep all night long because he liked Daniel. And he told Daniel before he went in, the God you serve will save you. And sure enough, even sometimes heathens, the outsiders have more faith sometimes than Christians. They're going around saying, that's a nice church you go to. And when you're trying to we ought to change this and we ought to do that, we ought to do Other people are saying better things about it than you are. Talk about the Lord, love one another, serve God, serve one another, be God's people wherever you are, whatever is going on.

People in a Daniel-like situation. It says in Isaiah chapter 54 that there is no weapon that is formed against you that's going to prosper.

Guest (Male): Amen.

Pastor Jack Morris: I want to say that one again. Isaiah chapter 54. I want you to say it with me. I'll say it after me. No weapon formed against me

Guest (Male): No weapon formed against me

Pastor Jack Morris: is going to prosper.

Guest (Male): is going to prosper.

Pastor Jack Morris: That means you're going to win. That means you're going to be the one that's going to prosper and come out. They set a trap for Daniel. Now, here is where I got my sermon title, the prayer trap. The Aramaic word for prayer is this, quote, to set a trap. The enemy would set a trap for you and usually uses people to sucker you in to their way of thinking and to their critical lifestyle. It's usually people. Someone said if it weren't for people, this wouldn't be a bad place to live. They're so okay. It's people that tries it up and messes it up and make all these laws and rules that are unscriptural and unbiblical.

And of all things, God's people are buying into it and forsaking the book. Friend, you forsake God, God will jerk your chain. He will. He says in the scripture, Hebrews chapter 12 verse 15, he disciplines those he's loved. And if you want to get a good spanking from the Lord, I didn't get an amen on that one. Not an amen on that one. Now, the Aramaic word to set a trap. Now, prayer is that which takes circumstances captive. You can bring it down with prayer. You can set a trap for whatever is troubling you. There are there are things and there are people out there.

And some of these people are not conscious that they're playing right into the devil's hand like Jesus and Peter. Peter said, I'm going to go to the cross. I'm going to be crucified for the sins of the people. The third day, I'm going to rise again. Peter didn't hear that third day, I'm going to rise again. He said, oh Jesus, this isn't going to happen to you. Jesus said, get behind me, Satan. He had no right idea in this world. Peter didn't that he had already become a mouthpiece for Satan and had played right into Satan's hand.

There's a lot of God's people. They don't know how the devil might be using you right now to start tearing down somebody else or tearing down your church only by little gossipy nitpicks. Let's change this. Let's change that. Yes. Can you say amen, Don? Amen. Okay. All right. So take take it captive. That's the situation you're in. Now, here it comes. Take it captive. Don't allow it to happen. Don't allow it to happen. Take it captive. Pray and take it captive. Pray and defeat the situation. Pray and take it down. Pray and trample it under feet.

Amen. Amen. You can pray. You can pray. Friend, people who pray and talk to God, don't do that kind of talk down here. They don't do it. It can't be done. When a person is criticizing and gossiping, I know they are a people not of their knees. They are not a Daniel-like people. Friend, listen to me. Listen to me. The lions will soon devour you. I'm praying for you. I love you. This message is coming forth not to make you uncomfortable. And if it is making you uncomfortable, thank God it's making you uncomfortable. If it'll bring you back to the Lord and help you to get back to that place in God where God wants you to be, where he can once again bless you, where you can once again pick up that phone and pray for someone, not pick up that phone and hear some gossip and say, oh, I know, I know, I know.

No, friend. Now, don't become somebody's garbage can. God likes this church. He likes everybody in it. And he wants to bless it and to help all of us. But pray and take it captive, pray and defeat it, pray and bring it down, pray and trample it under feet. God will raise you up and bless you and get you out of whatever you want to be gotten out of. God will do it for you. You see, God knows how to take a storm and turn it around and make it calm. He'll take a storm and and make a calm.

He'll take a lack and he'll make plenty. He'll take emptiness, he'll make fullness. He'll take a curse, he'll make it a blessing. He will take sadness, he will make it joy. Whatever you can't do, pray and he'll do it for you. And he will bless you, bless you, and bless you. You see, prayer is that that moves the omnipotent hand of God. God is almighty. And he's going to get you out. I know I'm talking to somebody here today and I'm so happy I'm here to say it to you that God's going to get you out of that, whatever it is, whatever it is that you're in.

That lion's den, whatever it is, God is going to get you out. The next morning when King Darius came, he didn't look in. He was afraid to look in in the holiday. Daniel, did your God save you? Daniel said, oh King Darius, live forever. Yes, God sent his angels. He dispatched angels angels to the rescue. You know, friend, sometimes it's time to call heaven's 911. But sometimes we wait until the tragedy hits. And then we'll pray. But when everything is going all right, it seems like we have more energy and we can seem to be going along okay on our own.

But Daniel was prayed up three times a day, every day. Three times a day, every day. Three times a day, every day. And when the problem hit, he had already had a conversation and a relationship with God and it was easy for him to pray and talk to the Lord. And it was so easy for God to come through and to bless him. So prayer moves the omnipotent hand of God. Prayer is where while I said last week, prayer is where human impotence and divine omnipotence intersect. And God will do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

Get you out of that predicament that you can't get yourself out of. There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. So God comes in. And he's coming in. He's coming in. Hey, turn to your neighbor neighbor and say, God's coming in. Did you hear that? God's coming in. All of us here today agreed together. I just heard you that God's coming in. And we're two or three agree. And when a whole congregation agrees, then God's coming in. And God has come in. So here comes Jesus, the resurrection now to lift you up, to elevate you above the circumstances.

The circumstances has been on you. And now you're going to be on top of the circumstances. God's going to overcome and bless you. And the light of the world has come to dispel the sadness of darkness and to give you peace and to give you joy and to make a way where there is no way. Nor today is the day of salvation for God's people. And everybody says amen.

Guest (Male): If today's message has blessed you and strengthened your faith in God, would you consider partnering with Pastor Morris and supporting the Healing Word Ministry with your prayers and donating to keep the gospel of Jesus Christ reaching thousands, go to the healingword.com and click the donate button to pledge your support. And remember, the faith-building message you heard today is our gift to you. Your donation is your gift to God.

Guest (Male): Join us tomorrow for another Healing Word message. Until then, blessings on you.