Kings Don't Beg: Don't Say What You See, Say What You Want

Sermon outline

Faith is a spirit that believes first and then speaks: fill your heart with the Word until you think like a king, then stop saying what you see and start saying what you want to see.

1. We having the same spirit of faith: believe first, then speak

   There is a difference between confessing the Word because confession seems a good thing and speaking out of a believing heart. You come to believe by getting the Word into your spirit: reading it, researching it, praying over it and meditating on it until it sinks deep. Faith is a spirit just as fear is a spirit, and the new creation believer must choose to refuse fear. You do not pray for faith, because it was imparted when you were born again. It grows in stages and through challenges, so if it does not work the first time or the fifth time, try again.

   Illustration: Everyone at home rejoices when a little child takes its first step or says its first word. In the same way God watches the first demon you cast out and the first person you lead to the Lord and says, "that's my boy."

   “You don't pray for faith. You have a spirit of faith. You grow in faith.”

   • 2 Corinthians 4:13
   • 2 Timothy 1:7
   • Proverbs 29:25
   • 1 John 4:4
   • Romans 8:31

2. Keep on speaking: a Christian's profession is his confession

   You are a special people, not an ordinary Christian begging God for things, and when you pray heaven goes into action even when you cannot see it. So if you do not get the job, the university turns you down or the finances are not right, do not change your confession. He reads Psalm 116 to show that Paul was quoting David, who was brought low, called on the Lord and was helped. To believe and speak while your eyes see something else makes you a people of prophecy.

   Illustration: Your tongue is the pen of a ready writer, painting on the canvas of your heart: you do not like what you see, so you ignore it and speak the Word over it.

   “A Christian's profession is his confession.”

   • Psalm 116:1-10
   • Psalm 45:1

3. The Word of God produces prosperous thinking

   As a man thinks in his heart, so is he, so if you are not thinking prosperously you have not spent enough time meditating in the Word. Do not meditate on how big the storm is and how small your boat is. There is a difference between asking and controlling with words, because asking often borders on begging. You are made in the image of God, who looks at the heart and not at whether you are fat or thin, tall or short, dark or light, so do not let inferiority or other people's labels rule you.

   Illustration: Jesus asleep in the boat: the disciples woke him saying they were perishing, he stood up and spoke to the storm, and a great calm came. Whatever storm faces you, stand up and say, "peace, be still."

   “Kings don't beg.”

   • Proverbs 23:7
   • Mark 4:37-40
   • Genesis 1:26
   • 1 Samuel 16:7

4. Esteem the Word as your necessary food

   Job esteemed the words of God's mouth more than his necessary food, and Jeremiah found God's words and ate them. Man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God, because the spirit man is hungry and feeds on the Word. So come to church like a little child who cannot wait to get there. Watching at home on television is not the same, because the Word preached under the anointing is an impartation and the gathered believers carry a corporate blessing.

   Illustration: He reads Jeremiah 15:16 from The Message, where the prophet says that when God's words showed up he ate them and swallowed them whole: "What a feast."

   “Your spirit man is hungry. It needs to feed.”

   • Job 23:12
   • Hebrews 10:25
   • Jeremiah 15:16
   • Matthew 4:4

5. Get away from the people who frame negative thinking, and think big

   For a long time he thought it was the change of place that made Abram blessed. It was not: God called him out of his country, his kindred and his father's house so that they would not influence his thinking and God could speak words of faith and give him a new picture of himself. If negative people speak into your life long enough you become like them, so stop them. Think like a king: the manager can become the CEO and the man who drives the truck can own the firm. Keep expecting the blessing, because it passes the person who does not expect it.

   Illustration: Dressed in jeans, an old T-shirt and tackies, he walked into a barbershop where he felt he was not welcome, sat down with a magazine and waited his turn. The hairdresser was nervous at first. He paid the 55 rand, gave her a 100 rand tip to buy lunch and walked out. He also sang an old chorus that morning, "Something good is going to happen to you."

   “If they can speak enough into your life, they will frame your world.”

   • Genesis 12:1-2

6. What comes into your mind and heart determines your destiny

   Negative things in the mind produce negative thinking, emotions, decisions, actions, habits, character and, in the end, a negative destiny. The Word of God in your mind and heart gives you Word of God thinking, emotions, decisions, actions, habits, character and destiny. So turn it around. At a new job, instead of deciding the manager, the foreman and the doorkeeper are against you, walk in, greet everybody and offer to pray for them. If you do not feel loved in church, remember it is your church and God sent you there. Love yourself, and do not resign because a superior does not like you.

   Illustration: At a church he and his wife attended for many years, the chief intercessor turned her head away every time he walked past. He began tapping her on the shoulder to greet her and then joined the intercession team she led, so that she had to greet him every Saturday morning, and she changed.

   “God sometimes put you in a place to change other people and to help them through.”

   • Matthew 22:39

7. You are another speaking spirit

   The first Adam was made a living soul and the last Adam a quickening spirit. Those who are born again are no longer just living souls: what they say is quickened and will come to pass. So prophesy over your home, your workplace, your children and your finances instead of getting up and saying, "I'm broke." From Luke 11:36 he teaches that there must be no dark corners inside you: no fear, doubt, unbelief or offence. Forgive those who have offended you every morning so that the light can shine.

   Illustration: Buy a bag for your money, or a safe for your bedroom as an act of faith, and leave the door open. He pictures an angel making a U-turn and telling another angel on the road, "they bought a safe, I've got to fill it."

   “You are actually another speaking spirit. What you say will come to pass.”

   • 1 Corinthians 15:45
   • Luke 11:36
   • Matthew 5:13-14

8. Know what is written about you: the Lord is your inheritance

   It was written of Jesus in the volume of the book, and he stood in the synagogue and said the scripture was fulfilled that day. In the same way things are written about the new creation: greater works, and whatever you ask in his name. From Psalm 16 he stresses that the Lord is the portion of your inheritance and maintains your lot, so you do not have to fight your own fight. A goodly heritage means you leave plenty for your children and grandchildren. In his presence is fullness of joy, so make yourself glad and smile.

   Illustration: He pictures his children and grandchildren saying, "my granddaddy was rich", and answers the question of where the money will come from with, "My angels are working."

   “Know what's written about you.”

   • Psalm 103:7
   • Psalm 40:7
   • Luke 4:18-21
   • John 14:12-13
   • James 4:2
   • John 16:24
   • Psalm 16:1-11
   • Psalm 23:5-6
   • Psalm 105:15
   • Proverbs 10:22
   • John 10:10

9. Don't say what you see, say what you want

   He can only speak what he believes, and he believes the Word, his heritage and that the Lord is good to him. So each morning he expects something good and refuses to prophesy doom and gloom. From the belly of the fish Jonah said that those who observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy. Lack, a bad report from the doctor, trouble at work and a business doing badly are lying vanities, and the cure is to prophesy the word of the Lord over them.

   Illustration: Coming to church he says, "Lord, I see thousands": a traffic jam the police have to control, people getting out of wheelchairs and blind eyes seeing. At home, look at empty cupboards and prophesy that they are full.

   “Don't say what you see. Say what you want.”

   • Jonah 2:8