Overview

1. When we spend time with the Lord, we begin to see from His perspective
2. Learning from King David: How he owned his calling and portion
3. Whenever we put Jesus into the equation, faith makes perfect sense
4. God has called you to build His house
5. When we choose to follow His calling, we will experience His abundant life

When we spend time with the Lord, we begin to see from His perspective

Pastor Prince began by sharing a revelation he received from the Lord during his sabbatical last year, that it is important for believers to take time to retreat and be with the Lord. This is how we can position ourselves to remain in the upper room, in the Lord’s presence.

In the midst of our daily lives, it is so easy to get caught up with all that we have to do and the pressures that we face. It is also human nature to always be doing something and to be hurried. But we should not let our worries and fears, of not having enough provision or time, stop us from seeking the Lord.

In fact, we should make it our priority to set aside time to be in His presence and to hear from Him. Sometimes, that may simply mean doing nothing, saying nothing, just waiting on Him, resting in Him, and sensing His presence!

While it may appear unproductive to the world, like we are taking a step back and not achieving anything, time with God is never wasted. Often, we will somehow find that time extended or multiplied back to us. And when we soak in His presence, we position ourselves to receive His anointing afresh, allow Him to impart new visions to us, and let Him renew our strength. In the process, we will get to own the divine calling and portion the Lord has placed in our lives!

Learning from King David: How he owned his calling and portion

We see the importance of spending time with the Lord very clearly in the Valley of Elah, where the armies of Israel faced off against the Philistines, championed by the fearsome giant Goliath. The Israelite soldiers, though trained and battle-hardened, found themselves paralyzed by fear in the face of this formidable foe. Their focus was on Goliath’s size, strength, weapons and armor, and his threatening demeanor.

All of Israel was afraid except for one person, David.

When he heard Goliath’s challenge, David boldly declared, “You come to me with a sword, with a spear and with a javelin. But I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied” (1 Sam. 17:45).

Without any battle armor or weapon, just with a sling and five smooth stones, David ran toward Goliath. He put a stone in his sling, swung it, and then released it. That stone sank into Goliath’s forehead, and the giant fell face down. David then took Goliath’s own sword and cut off his head. What an incredible victory!

Isn’t it amazing how David rose up mightily to His calling and portion? He saw the situation through the lens of God’s heart and God’s might, not through the lens of human fear and limitations. And that led him to defeat the giant that everyone was so afraid of!

Friend, just like David, God has a purpose and portion for your life. He is calling you to rise up and own it. But notice what led David to own his portion—he saw things through God’s perspective. He didn’t rise up and defeat Goliath out of self-preservation or the need to prove himself. He defeated Goliath because He knew that the Lord would not allow His people to be dishonored and His name to be mocked by the taunts of an uncircumcised Philistine.

This perspective was not common among the people who surrounded him, his fellow Israelites. In that situation, it seemed like he was the odd man out, the only one who saw things differently. How did he manage to do that?

Let’s consider what David, a mere shepherd boy without any battlefield experience, had been doing just before he came to the Valley of Elah. He was in the fields, tending his sheep and communing with God, until his heart was in tune with the Lord’s heart for Israel!

While the army focused on the enormity of the challenge before them, David’s eyes were fixed on the greatness of his God. And his faith in God’s heart for him was unshakable, even as he stood before a giant that had struck terror into the hearts of the seasoned warriors around him.

And, like these Israelite soldiers who were afraid, when we fail to see how God sees, our perspectives become increasingly natural. We start to fix our focus on our challenges, our issues, and the things that loom ahead of us. We forget that the battle is actually in the hands of the Lord, and we begin to cower in fear and live a mundane life far from the purposes and calling that God has for us.

Even David fell into this trap when he took his eyes off the Lord during difficult times. When he was being relentlessly pursued by King Saul, he found himself in a desperate situation. In a moment of weakness, he turned to the priest Ahimelech and asked for bread and a sword (1 Sam. 21:3, 8–9). This is the same David who went up against Goliath without any weapon or armor! He had no need for a sword!

But in that moment, David had momentarily forgotten the true source of his strength and victory—the Lord. When we neglect to spend quality time in the presence of God, and instead are focused on what is weighing on us, we too, can easily lose sight of the Lord’s faithfulness and power in our lives. We start to rely on our own understanding and resources rather than trusting in the Lord’s provision and guidance.

So, let’s be mindful to spend time with the Lord. Even in the face of adversity, we can bask in the Lord’s presence, aligning our hearts with His purposes and trusting wholly in His power to bring us His victory as we go about our days and our responsibilities!

Whenever we put Jesus into the equation, faith makes perfect sense

Perhaps you feel like you’ve lost sight of the Lord’s heart for you in your life, and just like the armies of Israel or David in his troubled years, you are fearful of many challenges or obstacles in your way.

Friend, many times, we try to reason out our situation from our own knowledge and understanding. But when you reason from the standpoint of faith, the logic becomes very simple, and you will start to see things around you with clarity.

Let’s look at the story of Manoah, a man from the tribe of Dan, and his encounter with the Angel of the Lord who had come to announce the birth of Samson to Manoah and his wife. The couple was childless, but one day, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Manoah’s wife and told her that she would conceive and give birth to a son (Judg. 13:3–5). When his wife told him what had happened, Manoah prayed that the Angel would appear again to them.

God heard Manoah’s prayer and the Angel appeared again. But when Manoah realized who the Angel was, he feared for their lives, believing they would die because they had sinned by having seen God (Judg. 13:20–22).

However, his wife, filled with faith and wisdom, reassured him, saying, “If the LORD had desired to kill us, He would not have accepted a burnt offering and a grain offering from our hands, nor would He have shown us all these things, nor would He have told us such things as these at this time” (Judg. 13:23).

Such simple and clear logic! We see this mirrored in the New Testament in Romans 8, which says, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?” (Rom. 8:31–32).

Now, think about it: if God sent His one and only Son as the sacrifice for all our sins, why would He be against us now?

Whenever we put Jesus into the equation, faith becomes logical. When we see Jesus and His finished work at the cross, and take His perspective, we see things God’s way.

God’s heart is for all of us to be a good success in His name! He is on our side! He does not purposefully harm us with sicknesses or challenges.

Now, this doesn’t mean that, as children of God, we won’t ever encounter challenges or problems. In Romans 8:31, God’s promise to us is that whatever comes our way cannot overcome us because He is on our side. It does not mean that nothing will ever come against us, but we can be assured that none of it will be successful!

Maybe you feel like you have already been defeated by whatever was against you. Friend, the prophet Samuel was no stranger to that feeling. There was a time during his appointment over Israel when he was stuck in grief over how disappointing King Saul had become. You see, Samuel had anointed Saul king over Israel and invested so much in Saul. He had such high hopes for Saul that when Saul went astray, it broke Samuel’s heart.

But in that moment of despair, God spoke comfort and hope to Samuel, saying, “How long will you mourn for Saul, seeing I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite. For I have provided Myself a king among his sons” (1 Sam. 16:1).

While Samuel was still mourning Saul’s disobedience and God’s rejection of Saul as king, God was already orchestrating the next chapter. He had a plan and provision in place—a new king, David, who would be a man after His own heart and someone who would supersede Saul.

God’s perspective is so much higher than ours. When we choose to see our circumstances through the lens of faith, trusting in God’s goodness and sovereignty, even the most difficult and heartbreaking situations start to make sense. In a world where so many are going astray and everything seems to be spiraling into utter chaos, it is imperative for us to rise above the noise and distractions and take hold of God’s perspective!

God has called you to build His house

Pastor Prince also shared that the Lord’s calling over his ministry is not just for him but also for his flock and the people who follow his ministry. All of us who are part of Pastor Prince’s church have a specific call and purpose to support what God is doing through Pastor Prince and his church. The ministry that Pastor Prince has today cannot be built by him alone; it is a culmination of all that the Lord has done through each one of us who is part of his church!

Pastor Prince pointed out that our being a part of this church is not by chance or accident. The Lord foresaw all of us and chose to bring us together under Pastor Prince’s ministry. And now is time for us to rise up to our calling as sons and daughters, to serve in the Lord’s house! The Bible tells us to redeem the time, because the days are evil (Eph. 5:16). This means that we are to make the most of every opportunity, and to spend our time fulfilling God’s purpose in our lives.

Perhaps you might be thinking, “I don’t have time… I have to take care of my family.” or “My life is in a mess, and I have so many other responsibilities.”

In which case, consider this, Jesus says, “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it” (Matt. 16:25). When we prioritize God and His kingdom, when we choose to “lose” and let go of what we think we know, what we have, and what we need to do, we will find true life and fulfillment. Not only that, we will get to experience God working out the issues in our lives in His perfect timing and solutions.

That’s just how things work in God’s economy. When we take care of the spiritual, and when we follow God’s ways, the natural will play out by itself.

When we choose to follow His calling, we will experience His abundant life

The story of Moses’ mother is a beautiful testament to this. When Moses was just born, the Pharaoh at that time had decreed that all the Hebrew baby boys should be killed. As the mother of a newborn baby, Moses’ mother was faced with an unimaginable situation, but instead of succumbing to fear and doubt, she chose to put her faith in the Lord’s heart for her.

She made a small ark out of bulrushes, and with great faith, she placed her precious baby boy in it and set him afloat on the River Nile. This act of surrender was a powerful symbol of her entrusting her child into God’s hands. She believed the Lord would protect and provide for her son, even when the situation seemed hopeless.

And indeed, God did not disappoint her. Not only did He ensure Moses’ safety, but He also orchestrated a miraculous turn of events. Pharaoh’s daughter discovered the baby boy and was moved with compassion. When Moses’ sister, Miriam, approached her and offered to find a Hebrew woman to nurse the child, Pharaoh’s daughter agreed. Miriam then brought none other than Moses’ own mother to care for him (Exod. 2:1–9).

Here’s where we see God’s incredible restoration and blessing. Not only was Moses’ mother able to nurse and nurture her own son, but she was also paid wages by Pharaoh’s household to do so. The very same Pharaoh who had decreed death upon the Hebrew children was now unknowingly supporting and financing Moses’ upbringing. What an amazing display of God’s perfect solution to a naturally terrible situation!

My friend, the Lord knows your every need and desire. And He can use everything in our lives to reflect His goodness and glory. The truth is that when we try to do things the world’s way, when we try to save our time, our relationships, and our lives by our own means, we will lose them (Matt. 16:25). But when we do things God’s way, even though it might seem like we are losing out in the natural, God’s promise is that you will find life and life more abundantly (John 10:10). Just like Moses’ mom, when you let go of what you care the most about and entrust it to the Lord, He will not only give you what your heart desires but so much more!

We hope these sermon notes blessed you! If they did, we encourage you to get the sermon and allow the Lord to speak to you personally as you watch or listen to it.

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These sermon notes were taken by volunteers during the service. They are not a verbatim representation of the sermon.