Hello and welcome to the House of Faith Ministries. I'm Lisa Kaine. I'm recording this on Thursday, March 21st, 2024. Welcome. This message is called I am. Let's open up in a word of prayer. Father God, we thank you for your word and we bless your word that it does not return void. Thank you for reminding us of who you are and what you do. And Lord, I pray that anyone who listens to this message receives and is blessed by your anointing, Holy Spirit. Let your Holy Spirit go through and work and speak the right words in the ears of those that are listening. And I thank you, Father God, for helping me or putting me aside and let your Holy Spirit speak articulate and correctly. Thank you, Father God. We love you and praise you, honor you, and worship you and in the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. So before we begin, uh the church I attend right now, College Heights Christian Church, is teaching uh on the series I am. So every Sunday they're going to have a different part of the I am. So we've done two Sundays, so we've got a handful of more to go. And uh this morning, well, yesterday when I worked in my word and I had it all prepped and ready to go, we went to another church last night. Got really blessed. So when I got up this morning, I knew the message yesterday just didn't seem complete, like it was missing something. So this morning, I changed it all up. Most of the same scriptures I have is there. I've added a few more. So here we go. This message is now called I am. Hallelujah. That's how God works, isn't it? So we're going to go to our opening scripture here in Luke 22:31 through32. The Lord said, "Simon, Simon, behold. Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." So, I had the title, Jesus is praying for you, and I've changed it to I am. So, but as you can see, Jesus is praying. Now, I've been teaching on prayer now for quite some time. Uh, for the bulk of the messages, you can go check out all the messages from this year, uh, 2024. As I stated earlier, this is March 21st, 2024. And these messages are all about prayer, which is getting intimate with the Lord, getting into the secret place with the Lord, asking and praying for your family to be saved and things of that nature. Well, here's a spiritual reversal. I want you to see something here. Jesus is praying for you. He says to Simon, "Simon, Satan has Look at what Satan has desired to do. That word desired means to demand for trial. Now, I taught on the courtroom earlier this year. So, it's kind of all lines up here together. It's really fascinating how the Lord puts all this together. So, uh you can see that the devil is trying and he's always trying to get us into the courtroom to condemn us. Jesus intervenes because that's what he does. and he wants to sift you his wheat. But I have prayed. He's ba petition beseeched. And who does he pray to? Jesus prays to his father. His father. Remember Jesus said, "I'm not here to judge anyone. I'm just here to do what my father told me to do, and I'm going to do everything he's taught me to do, and that is who I am, and that's what I stand for." So he prayed. He went to the father and he begged petition beseech for Peter. And then look what he was asking for because he was asking for something specifically that your faith by the way this word faith it means persuasion credence moral conviction reliance upon Christ for salvation truthfulness of God fail not. And then so he's asking for well before I get to the end then he's asking that it does not fail that his faith stays strong. You see each of each of us goes through trials every day and some trials repeat over and over again. There are cycles that occur and that cycles begin and then they end. But in the meantime, when you're in that cycle, you're learning something and the Holy Spirit is trying to talk to you about it. You know, I used to think that I might make a very good homicide detective because I was really uh attentive to certain things, but there are some things that I miss and I keep going over and over and over again. That's just what happened. So Jesus is praying though that Peter does not lose faith, which by the way, we can apply this to ourselves. Jesus is praying for us more than this. But he's praying that we do not lose faith when we're going through the same thing over and over again. Amen. But then Jesus does something remarkable here. He says, "And when thou are converted, when you return," in other words, he's prophesying that Peter's going to make it through there. In other words, he knows the answer already to the prayer. He says, "You're going to make it." says, "When you make it, you rever turn about strengthen thy brethren." And if you look at Peter through the overall history of him in the Bible, you will see the maturity from a um a fisherman with very little or no education to a man of God who wrote First Peter and Second Peter. And when you read those two books, they are powerful. So you can see how God changed Peter throughout the history because Jesus prayed for him. You see, the reason we become Christians or believers in Christ isn't just because we realize that there is a God and he is great and he is mighty. A lot of it is so we obtain his benefits, but at the same time we're learning and transforming on the inside, manifesting more love, more joy, more peace. We handle the cycles better as we mature in him. That is how God works. So we may have gone to God for one particular reason or another, but in the overall end, what will life history tell the future world about who you were? Will he talk about like what Peter went through being a fisherman to a great man of God where his shadow healed people? You see, that's what God is doing. We're what's called a work in progress for a lot of ladies out here who do quilting, crossstitching, and all kinds of stuff like that. We have whips or work in progress and we report them weekly. Well, I got this much done and you know trying to get to the end of that project, but it's a process. We are a work in progress. Now, I want you to see something here because this is going to hopefully change your mindset of who's in control of everything here. Okay? So, let's take a look at what's going on. Notice Satan is the one who desired asked to get Peter in the courtroom. Satan had to ask permission. Now, that was another title I had for this message was permission. And it's a it's been a work in progress this message. It's been changing. But I want you to see the relationship between God and Satan. I think it's very important. Now, I've talked about Job 1 before and I've talked about this before, but let's let's delve a little bit more. This is going to be Job 1 and we're going to look at verses 6 through 12. Now, there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. The sons of God, I didn't put it in here, but they are like the princes of every nation. It is the stronghold of whatever that kingdom is. So like the prince of Persia or the prince of Israel, Michael, he's the prince of Israel. So you all of these people, entities, beings, because they're not really flesh and blood, they are sons of God, came together before God. God called a meeting. So, Satan shows up too. The way it's worded here and Satan came also among them. Satan had the right to be there. He was a son of God. He's just he's cast down from that. So, he shows up maybe out of curiosity to find out what's going on. Well, God does something interesting here. It says, "And the Lord said unto Satan, comest thou?" Then Satan answered the Lord and said,"For I'm going to and fro in the earth, and from waking, walking up and down in it." And the Lord said unto Satan, "Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and upright man, one that fearth God, and is shueth evil."

God decides to hook lying Satan. He He's going to hook him. He's He's going to grab him. He he's he's putting a hook in his mouth to draw his attention to Job because God has a plan. Now, are you seeing the relationship between God and Satan here? So, God is bragging about Job. So, Satan decides to okay, you going to brag about him? Because remember, you know, he's a God's asking the devil here, you know, do you have any hearts or feelings or intellect about my servant Job, which means hated that is persecuted. Hey, I'm telling you, there's no one like him on the earth. He's perfect full. He's complete. He is a straight man, upright, and he fears. He has a moral reverence to God, and he turned off and declined evil. So, what do you think about him, devil? What do you think about him? So, here's the devil answering. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for not or without a cause?" Because, you know, he only fears you because let's see what he says. Go to verse 10. Hast thou not made a hedge? You've entwined or shut him in about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land. Hm. What is the devil talking about here? He says, "But put forth thine hand, your power now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face." Now, I want you to pause there.

Obviously, Satan couldn't harm Job in any way. God had him shut up in a hedge of protection enclosed. Not only him, but all of his property, all of his family, they were enclosed. God had his hedge of protection around him. Remember Jesus prayed for Peter. He's placing him in enclosed encampment. He's keeping him safe. And what the devil is trying to tell God is, well, if you remove all your protection. He's going to curse you. Now, here's a couple things. So, Satan couldn't do he couldn't remove the hedge of protection. He He couldn't attack Job and he didn't know the outcome, but God did. God is in control. Now, look what God does here. Because you wouldn't think he'd do this, but he did it. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power. Only upon himself, put not forth thine hand. So Satan with went forth from the presence of the Lord. So now Satan's got a job to do. And his job is to go after Job's things. He couldn't touch Job. He couldn't kill Job is what it was. Now he ends up getting him sick with soores and boils. Job goes through a a massive time here. and and I don't know how long the length time, but he loses all of his property. His 10 kids die. Um he's got these three friends that are like, "You must have sinned. Something happened here." And uh at the end, you know, Job ends up questioning God. He doesn't curse God. He basically says, "You know what? You got me into this world naked. I'm going to leave the world naked." But he does not curse God. But he does question him. But then Job does something. Look at here in Job 42:6. Wherefore I abhore, spurn, disappear, despise, disdain myself, and repent. I'm sorry, in dust and ashes. He came to realize even his questions weren't worthy to speak of God. He was like, you know what, God? I don't know how you did it, what you're doing, but I'm just sorry that I tried to question all of that, and here I am just humbling myself before you. I'm yielding unto your presence. And then Job was doubly blessed after this. So God took Job through this cycle of torment, hurt, pain, suffering, and Job was a righteous man. You're just like, "Well, okay, Lord." You know, God is the one who tests the hearts of man. You have to keep that in in in the back of your mind who God is. Even the devil can't do anything that God doesn't want him to do. Look at Isaiah. He says here, this is God talking to King Cyrus through Isaiah 400 years in advance. Isaiah 45:7. This is 45:7. He God says, "I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things." And God is talking here. So don't discount this as, "Oh, God can't create darkness or evil." He just simply said he could and he has. And you're thinking, "Wait a minute. This this should blow your mind and it should make you think, well, if the devil needs permission, too, why is there a devil? Remember, God has an agenda. You can go read this in Daniel. He's going to bring an end to sin. But until then, he is preparing for his courtroom appearance as judge and jury and executioner. He has to gather all his because he is right. He is righteous. He is justice. So, he has to gather all of his evidence, bring it there, because keep in mind, when he releases Satan again at the end of the thousand-year millennium, remember this generation of people that grew up in this thousand year are the ones who replenish the earth after the seven-year time period of God's wrath. And so, they're still flesh and blood. So God releases Satan again to show that they who have lived a godly life still in the flesh and blood is proving that sin through Satan because it was opened through the door of man who allowed sin in but that the devil is the one influencing it all and that he encompasses sin. He encompasses corruption. He is the liar, the cheater, the stealer, the thief, the the killer. This is so God is going to prove all that and he's going to bring it to an end. Which what does that mean to you and me today? Because we can't just go around and say, "Oh, the devil's talk devil's attacking me." Well, maybe God allowed the devil to talk to attack you because he's trying to get your attention for something, but the overall outcome is you go to God and find out what's going on. And you may not find out. Remember Paul when he had a thorn in his flesh, God says, "My grace is sufficient for you." So, he had to go through his whole life suffering whatever that was. Some of us may be doing that and may be dealing with that. His grace is sufficient for me. And you know what? That's why God wants to do it. You know what? Who am I to question him? I'm a created being. He's the creator. We have to yield to him. Look, um, let's go on to Romans 6:13. I want you to see this. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. Now, I want to stop here and pause and I want to look at the scripture in depth because I really want you to see this. You're not God. I'm not God. In fact, the fact that you're even listening to this message is is mindboggling. I'm very careful with who I listen to and what I watch. And sometimes, yeah, I have to go to the Lord after. But the point is is that we should be going to the Lord to get our answers, but sometimes the Lord speaks to us through other people. So, we have to be a very attentive, listening, yielding him. So, this is how it's talking about. It says, "Neither yield." Now the word yield here by the way means to stand beside, exhibit or recommend. So he says don't recommend your body as tools of unrighteousness meaning legal injustice, moral wrongful wrongfulness or unto sin which is an offense. He's saying don't exhibit that. Don't be that. It's misleading. So he's saying, "But yield," same meaning, "Stand beside, exhibit, recommend yourselves unto God because you're now alive from the dead and your members as instruments of righteousness." You see, you had to die in the flesh when you became a believer in Christ. You're dead to this world. You're dead to your flesh. You are in a moment of transition, change, a work in progress. Amen. Look at what verse 16 through 18 says. This is further down in Romans 6. Know ye not. In other words, be aware of ye not that to whom ye yield. Remember, stand beside, exhibit, recommend yourselves servants to obey. You're attentive and hearkening that. So, in other words, if you're standing with well, let's say abortion, you stand for murder of babies. and and whether whatever your reasoning is, remember, you're not God. You don't know everything behind it. And God says don't kill babies. That is life. He's very clear about that. Same with homosexuality. He's telling you it's a sin. But if you're thinking, well, it's love and love is just love. You know, you have to understand God called it a sin. So when you are exhibiting recommending that that sin is okay, you are against God and you are no longer in righteousness. You no longer have his hedge of protection around you. Remember Job, a righteous man who stood with God, had a hedge of protection. So even though some of us go through these cycles like Paul did with his thorn in the flesh and he had to deal with it for the rest of his life. Even though we have to go through them, God still has his hedge of protection around us for those of us who stand and exhibit his rightness, his righteousness. Because you're a servant unto that. You're obeying unrighteousness instead of righteousness. And he says, "His servants ye are to whom ye obey, whether of sin unto death or of obedience unto righteous." He's telling you, he's asking you a question there. Which one is it? Which one are you going to stand? And that is a very good question. Let's continue on to verse 17. But be but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered to you. meaning you heard that Jesus died on the cross for your sins and rose from the grave and his blood has pardoned you, redeemed you. So you you believed in that that form of doctrine. And it says being then made free because you're free when you're liberated from sin. See, being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness. In all reality, you are now a slave to God's righteousness, whether you like it or not. Some of you choose not to. Again, then you are representing the world. You are exhibiting the ways of the world and not the ways of God. A work in progress. That doesn't mean you're not saved. just simply means that you're choosing to exhibit the wrong thing of God. Which is where are we today when you look and you go, "Well, how do I know which doctrine is right? How do I know which denomination is correct? How do I know which church is the right one to go to?" And it it becomes overwhelming for a new believer. However, when you come to God and you step into his righteousness, you are spending time in his word and having a relationship with him because you are exhibiting what he represents and stands for. That's what he's calling us to do. Look at this. Matthew 11:30, he says, "For my yoke is easy, my burden is light." You know, your serv your servitude is easy. See, when you serve Jesus, it's easy. Some of you may not think that way. Some of you may have had burnout. But in all reality, if you are coming into the presence of the Lord in the secret place, you are continuously being refreshed in your mind in your and remember Romans 12:1 by the renewing of your mind. These are the things that we need to represent and exhibit so that we do not fall short and miss the mark, get deceived by other things that are going on in the world. And now how do you do this? There there comes a reverence remember putting his yoke on. How do you do that? Who is God? Now, I titled this message I am because I want you to see when you yield yourself unto righteousness, you yield yourself, you put yourself in servitude to the I am. Who is the I am? Exodus 3:14, God said unto Moses, I am. And that word I am means or am means to exist, be or become, come to pass. Says, I am that I am. And he said, "Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you." So now when you yield and humble yourself before the Lord and you put on your his righteousness, you put on God's righteousness, you are putting on his I am. And as a reverence, it's a a mindset that says that's God. Wow. He's the creator. I'm just a lonely person here trying to serve you, Lord. And it it changes your entire heart. He creates in you a new heart, a clean heart, and he places that hedge of protection around you. You will never ever have to deal with Satan because God's not going to give Satan permission to attack you. He already tested a righteous man, Job, and his son Jesus. We are now in a time of grace where Jesus forgives and we are to forgive because that's what Jesus did. So when you put on the burden, the yoke of Jesus, which is easy and light, you are yielding unto forgiveness, mercy, and grace because of the I am. Is Jesus part of this I am? Oh yes, you can know that for sure. John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am, exist, have been, it is, I was. I am the way, which is a road. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes forward to the father but by me. Comes unto the father but by me. So Jesus is saying, listen, the father sent me. I'm going to go to the cross and I'm going to be crucified and I'm going to rise from the dead. I'm going to redeem you. You have to accept me as your Lord and Savior. You have to put my yoke on which is light and easy so you can get to the father who is the great I am. That reverence and that holiness. That's where we put him first. John 11:25 Jesus said unto her, I am. Again, that I am means exist, have been, it is I, was. I am the resurrection. He stood up again after he died on the cross. And the life, he that believeth or has faith in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. You see, we die to the flesh because we put on the yoke of the I am. And we realize that we belong to the I am. We humble ourselves. We yield ourselves. We exhibit and recommend the I am around us to everyone because I'm going to tell you right now when they see you on the inside your actions, your tears, your words, they're going to know that you have been with the I am. And they're going to ask because they're going to be thirsty and they're going to be hungry. That is what Jesus is talking about in having a relationship with him. Amen. John 15:1 I am the true vine and my father is the husbandman husbandman I am again exists have been it is I was and husband uh I worker uh a worker I think I did a typo there farmer that is what Jesus says I am the vine you see we're going to grow and change and mature on the inside because he is the vine mine and because we put on his yoke, his burden. And to do that is to go simply spend time with him. Talk with him. Humble yourself. You know, if you're not getting what you've been asking for, why don't you ask your question a little bit differently and say, "You know what, Lord? I give up. I've been asking you for this for all this time. Maybe maybe your grace is just sufficient for me, and I'm just going to let it go." Sometimes God is just waiting for that from you. Matthew 28:20, teaching them to observe, watch, guard all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. I am with you always. He's here. But when you take the initiative to put on his yoke, which is light and easy, and you come into his presence, he prepared a table for you in front of your enemies. Psalm 23. When you sit down at his table with him, and you have a dialogue with him, you are saying, "You are the I am. I belong to you." You are humbling, yielding yourself. and it goes out all around you to everyone far and near. So the question is, we know Jesus is praying for you. Are you going to fulfill the prophecy he has for you when you repent and turn around? And are you going to have a relationship with the great I am? Are you going to put on his yoke, his burden, which light and easy because it really is. I mean, we make things harder on ourselves than anything. That devil doesn't even have to do anything. We can do it to ourselves how wrong is that, you know? Oh my word. Sometimes I have to I prayed this morning. I said, Lord, you know what? You have to keep me from me. I'm the one harming myself. And but God, he is the great I am. Let's close in a word of prayer. Father God, thank you. You are in control of everything, including the devil. So, we humble ourselves before you. We yield unto you to exhibit you around us. Lord, be our strength. Be the stronghold within our hearts and minds. Let your word be firm and amen here in my heart and my mind. And I thank you, Lord, for your blessings. I thank you, Lord, that your word will not return void. And I thank you, Lord, that these that are listening to you will put on your yoke, your burden, and realize how realize how light and easy it is because you are the great I am. So Lord, we humble ourselves before you and realize you're God. We're not. Thank you. Thank you for your creation. Thank you for giving us a heart. Thank you for creating us in your image. and may we serve you in righteousness. In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen. Amen. God bless you. I'll see you in the next message. Byebye.