Full Transcript for Prophetic Word for August 2026: 4 Ways to Invest in the Spirit

lot of times, that phrase, in due time, because it's not right now, but it's in a certain allotted time and season. 00:05:39.990 --> 00:05:44.310 In due time you will reap if you do not grow weary. 00:05:44.709 --> 00:05:50.310 Right, we're to sow to the spirit and reap from the spirit in due time. 00:05:50.550 --> 00:05:57.030 So here is one thing I need you to hear before we go anywhere else and before we go any further. 00:05:58.389 --> 00:06:04.709 The dividend God is promising is not a bigger house or an easier month. 00:06:04.949 --> 00:06:06.389 The dividend is him. 00:06:06.790 --> 00:06:09.670 The return on seeking God is more of God. 00:06:09.910 --> 00:06:11.189 I want to say that again. 00:06:11.430 --> 00:06:15.269 The return on seeking him is more of him. 00:06:15.910 --> 00:06:20.389 So if you came for the payout and not the person, you'll miss the whole thing. 00:06:20.550 --> 00:06:23.189 You'll miss what I'm trying to deliver here. 00:06:23.430 --> 00:06:35.829 So keep that in front of you while we walk through these four things that God, these four specifics that God is asking us to sew into or invest into in the month of August. 00:06:36.069 --> 00:06:41.750 So I wanted to just frame everything that I'm going to be speaking about right now. 00:06:41.910 --> 00:06:51.509 Um I'm not I'm not gonna hand you four ways uh to get God to give you stuff or to get you give you things or to answer selfish prayers. 00:06:51.670 --> 00:07:00.629 You know, I want to show you these four places to pour your heart out this month so that you actually know him deeper by the end of the month. 00:07:00.870 --> 00:07:04.709 So let's start where he started, and that is the study of the word. 00:07:04.949 --> 00:07:11.030 Number one, that's the first investment, the study, to go deep in the word of God. 00:07:11.670 --> 00:07:20.870 And I have to uh go first here because this is one that you know, me, myself, I can fake this very easily, right? 00:07:21.350 --> 00:07:23.829 I make content for a living. 00:07:23.910 --> 00:07:25.829 I don't just make content for a living, right? 00:07:25.910 --> 00:07:32.389 I'm a preacher, I'm a teacher, uh, I'm a student, and I'm I'm a speaker, a teacher of God's word, right? 00:07:32.550 --> 00:07:36.310 Melissa and I teach, we travel, we train, we preach, we do all the things. 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:43.110 So my Bible can quickly and quietly turn into a supply chest, a supply closet, right? 00:07:43.269 --> 00:07:56.310 I can open it looking for the next post or the next teaching or the next quote, and I can spend an hour in scripture and walk away having fed everyone else but myself. 00:07:57.030 --> 00:08:01.829 And maybe you're not making content, but you know that feeling very well. 00:08:02.149 --> 00:08:09.829 Maybe you read the word in the morning to check the box, maybe you do a little devo, read one scripture a day, and that's it. 00:08:10.310 --> 00:08:16.149 Or maybe you read the word to win an argument

or to have a debate with someone. 00:08:16.310 --> 00:08:20.230 Uh, you read so you can tell somebody that they're wrong. 00:08:20.550 --> 00:08:23.589 And that is not why we should read scripture. 00:08:23.750 --> 00:08:26.949 Paul tells Timothy to handle the word a certain way. 00:08:27.110 --> 00:08:31.189 In 2 Timothy 2 15, he says, be diligent. 00:08:31.430 --> 00:08:41.910 Again, be diligent to present yourself, approved to God, as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth. 00:08:42.389 --> 00:08:44.069 So, a few clues, right? 00:08:44.230 --> 00:08:50.230 He says to be diligent, he says to be a workman, and that equates to effort. 00:08:50.549 --> 00:08:53.509 Studying the word is work, right? 00:08:53.750 --> 00:09:00.230 For those who've gone to school, gone to higher education, the more you study or the higher you go in your education, the harder it gets. 00:09:00.389 --> 00:09:06.230 The more you have to study, the more you have to put effort into it, the more diligent you have to be. 00:09:06.470 --> 00:09:06.789 Right? 00:09:06.869 --> 00:09:10.869 So the word is working God is not embarrassed to call it that. 00:09:11.109 --> 00:09:16.069 But watch what Jesus says to people who were experts at Bible study. 00:09:16.309 --> 00:09:19.190 So John 5, 39 and 40. 00:09:19.349 --> 00:09:26.869 You search the scriptures because you think that I am in them, that in them you have eternal life. 00:09:27.269 --> 00:09:33.990 It is these that testify about me, and you are unwilling to come to me so that you may have life. 00:09:34.230 --> 00:09:41.190 They were they were putting their faith only in the scriptures and not in Jesus. 00:09:41.589 --> 00:09:52.230 So they searched the scriptures, they knew the text, they knew what it said, but they missed the person that the whole text was pointing to and talking about. 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:56.230 So you can be an expert on the map, right? 00:09:56.309 --> 00:10:01.029 You can read the map, you can spend your whole day on Google on Google Maps and never ever take a trip. 00:10:01.109 --> 00:10:03.670 You can know where everything is, but never ever go there. 00:10:04.309 --> 00:10:09.750 And that is the danger this month that we can get into if we're not careful. 00:10:10.309 --> 00:10:14.309 So don't study the word and miss the one the word is talking about. 00:10:14.390 --> 00:10:16.950 I want to say that and emphasize that again. 00:10:17.269 --> 00:10:33.190 Do not just study the word, go through the motions and read scripture this month, and completely miss the God of the Word, what He wants to give us and how He wants how He wants to illuminate the Word to us in the month of August. 00:10:33.670 --> 00:10:36.390 So, what does real study look like? 00:10:36.710 --> 00:10:40.230 It looks like meditation, not just reading. 00:10:40.630 --> 00:10:43.829 And Joshua in Joshua 1A, he got the assignment. 00:10:44.150 --> 00:11:02.869 He says, The book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it, for then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have success. 00:11:03.750 --> 00:11:08.630 That word meditate there is not to empty your mind type meditation. 00:11:08.710 --> 00:11:11.910 That is the in my opinion not godly at all. 00:11:12.549 --> 00:11:21.750 In Hebrew, it is actually closer to a cow chewing or to a person muttering something under their breath over and over, right? 00:11:21.829 --> 00:11:29.509 You take one verse and you chew on it all day, you begin to meditate on it, think on it, ruminate over that, right? 00:11:29.670 --> 00:11:32.309 You mumble it in the car, you come back to it, right? 00:11:32.470 --> 00:11:36.869 Psalm 1 says the person who does that is like a tree planted by water. 00:11:37.109 --> 00:11:44.869 The roots go down deep, they bear fruit in season, their leaves do not dry up when the heat comes. 00:11:45.109 --> 00:11:49.109 And here's the pattern that I want you to steal for August. 00:11:49.269 --> 00:11:53.430 Yes, I said steal, and it comes from Ezra 710. 00:11:53.589 --> 00:12:05.269 It says, For Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it, oh, to practice it, and to teach his statutes and ordinances in Israel. 00:12:05.589 --> 00:12:13.990 So said not just to study the law or to study the word, but to practice it as well. 00:12:14.390 --> 00:12:20.630 What what use is it to study something if we don't put it into practice as well, right? 00:12:21.349 --> 00:12:23.109 Uh so look at the order. 00:12:23.589 --> 00:12:28.950 It says study, then practice, then teach. 00:12:29.190 --> 00:12:34.390 And I'll tell you, as one who does a lot of teaching, I've gotten this wrong in my life. 00:12:34.549 --> 00:12:40.069 I'll study and then I'll teach, but then I won't apply it or practice it in my own life. 00:12:41.029 --> 00:13:07.430 And I've had to, you know, even now more so this month, if God has been speaking to me about all this, you know, putting that more so into practice and being cognizant that I not just read the word and it not get into me, and that I not practice the word for myself, that I, you know, go out and do all the teaching and the training and the preaching, but never actually benefit from what it is that I'm giving out. 00:13:07.750 --> 00:13:10.309 I have to reorder it consistently, right? 00:13:10.390 --> 00:13:15.349 If we're not careful, if I'm not careful, I'll I'll get this out of order often. 00:13:15.430 --> 00:13:17.910 And so it's reorienting ourselves. 00:13:17.990 --> 00:13:20.549 I want to say it again, the order that Ezra gave us. 00:13:20.710 --> 00:13:26.390 Study the word, then practice the word, then teach or preach the word, right? 00:13:26.630 --> 00:13:28.230 Many of us, we will reverse it. 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:30.950 We want to teach it before we've practiced it.

00:13:31.269 --> 00:13:34.710 And we want to practice it before we've really studied it. 00:13:34.869 --> 00:13:39.029 And Ezra set his heart to learn it and then live it and then to give it away. 00:13:39.269 --> 00:13:40.470 I want to say that again. 00:13:40.630 --> 00:13:43.509 I like repeating things in case you haven't noticed. 00:13:43.829 --> 00:13:48.230 Ezra learned it, he lived it, and then he gave it away. 00:13:48.390 --> 00:13:53.750 And that is the order that God is calling us into this month, pertaining to the Word of God. 00:13:54.309 --> 00:13:56.789 Learn it, live it, give it away. 00:13:56.950 --> 00:13:58.150 You need to write that down somewhere. 00:13:58.309 --> 00:14:00.390 Learn it, live it, and then give it away. 00:14:00.630 --> 00:14:01.109 Right? 00:14:01.349 --> 00:14:03.910 This month, it's time for us to get the order right. 00:14:04.069 --> 00:14:08.710 Learn it and live it, and then you will have something ready to hand someone else. 00:14:08.869 --> 00:14:13.109 You'll actually have something to give away and not just regurgitate old things. 00:14:13.349 --> 00:14:13.829 Right? 00:14:14.069 --> 00:14:23.109 So do not read the word to master a subject or to master a particular chapter or to memorize a verse in August. 00:14:23.269 --> 00:14:26.390 Read it to meet a person or the person. 00:14:27.269 --> 00:14:29.670 Slow down as you read the word. 00:14:30.390 --> 00:14:33.910 Take less and chew longer, right? 00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:46.150 Like the cow chewing the cud, it chews it, brings it to a stomach, brings it back up, begins to chew, and get the nourishment from it some more, brings it down because it has four stomachs, so it chews four or five times. 00:14:46.789 --> 00:14:56.150 So we need to get back into the word, not just to read the word, and not even to memorize scripture or to personal opinion. 00:14:56.309 --> 00:14:59.509 I've never been a big fan of reading through the Bible in a year. 00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:18.549 Um simply because, and again, that's that's just me, so I don't want I don't want to impose my opinion on everyone else, but my opinion is it's very difficult to really receive a lot from it when you're having to fill a quota in order to meet uh a goal that you set for yourself. 00:15:18.869 --> 00:15:25.430 So, again, my personal opinion, you can take it or leave it, but that's my opinion. 00:15:25.670 --> 00:15:28.630 So, number one was to read the word, right? 00:15:28.869 --> 00:15:34.470 Get back into the word of God in August, but don't get into it just to fill a demand. 00:15:34.710 --> 00:15:40.869 Get into it so that you can meet a person through it, so that you can live it out, and then you have something to give away. 00:15:40.950 --> 00:15:50.630 Because I tell you, um, God is going to be putting many of us in places where we are going to need to have something to give away. 00:15:51.269 --> 00:15:53.670 And the word is where it comes from. 00:15:53.910 --> 00:16:00.309 Spiritual gifts are important, but we can't just rely on spiritual gifts. 00:16:00.390 --> 00:16:12.549 We need to be grounded, rooted, and grounded in the word of God, and as he gives us opportunities to speak to others, to not just heal the sick, but to invite them to know the person of Jesus. 00:16:12.869 --> 00:16:15.990 We have to first meet the person of Jesus through the word. 00:16:16.309 --> 00:16:16.869 All right. 00:16:17.430 --> 00:16:21.430 So, number two is honest heart inspection. 00:16:21.589 --> 00:16:23.430 And this is the second investment. 00:16:24.230 --> 00:16:33.509 And this is one that maybe people don't like and they brace for because it sounds like God is about to hand you a list of everything wrong with you. 00:16:33.910 --> 00:16:37.990 Um, so I just want to take the fear out of it before we start. 00:16:38.230 --> 00:16:38.630 Right? 00:16:38.789 --> 00:16:47.109 The most famous verse on this does not have you uh inspecting yourself alone, it has you handing the flashlight to God. 00:16:47.269 --> 00:16:51.349 And David prays it like this in Psalm 139, verses 23 and 24. 00:16:51.509 --> 00:16:53.269 He says, Search me, O God. 00:16:53.430 --> 00:16:55.910 David is inviting him to search him. 00:16:56.150 --> 00:16:59.509 Search me, O God, and know my heart. 00:16:59.670 --> 00:17:09.029 Try me and know my anxious thoughts, and see if there be any hurtful way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. 00:17:09.269 --> 00:17:11.029 So he says, Search me. 00:17:11.430 --> 00:17:14.710 He doesn't say, I will search myself and report back. 00:17:15.029 --> 00:17:18.950 He asks the Lord, he asks God to do the searching. 00:17:19.269 --> 00:17:21.670 And there's a good reason for that, obviously. 00:17:21.910 --> 00:17:30.390 We're not very reliable at reading our own hearts, we're not very reliable at searching ourselves. 00:17:30.549 --> 00:17:37.190 Uh, and Jeremiah actually in ver in Jeremiah 17, 9 and 10, he actually put it, puts it pretty bluntly. 00:17:37.669 --> 00:17:42.869 The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick. 00:17:43.029 --> 00:17:44.710 Who can understand it? 00:17:45.509 --> 00:17:50.869 I and I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind. 00:17:51.509 --> 00:17:54.069 Our heart plays tricks on us, friends. 00:17:54.389 --> 00:17:59.269 So we have to allow the Lord to search us and to know us. 00:17:59.669 --> 00:18:02.950 Right, Jeremiah, where he says there, who can understand it? 00:18:04.309 --> 00:18:08.869 Not us, not me and not on my own, not you and not on your own. 00:18:09.429 --> 00:18:11.109 But look at the next line. 00:18:11.349 --> 00:18:15.429 It says, I the Lord search the heart. 00:18:15.750 --> 00:18:19.509 The one who made it is the one who can read it. 00:18:20.309 --> 00:18:26.629 So the honest heart inspection is not you sitting in a dark room picking yourself apart, right? 00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:30.470 Writing a list of your wrongs or your or your mess ups

and failures. 00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:39.589 It is you inviting the safest person in the universe to show you what he sees about you regarding your heart. 00:18:39.990 --> 00:18:43.429 And obviously that is uh easier said than done. 00:18:43.669 --> 00:18:49.269 But in the month of August, it is important that we invite the Lord to do that and we allow him to do so. 00:18:49.429 --> 00:18:52.230 It's not just invitation, it's allowance, allowing him. 00:18:52.789 --> 00:19:00.789 So now I have to say uh one thing I wish somebody would have told me years ago, because this is where people get hurt. 00:19:00.950 --> 00:19:03.909 There's a difference between conviction and condemnation. 00:19:04.230 --> 00:19:11.269 We know this, and this is this is pretty uh basic, pretty elementary, but it bears repeating, right? 00:19:11.429 --> 00:19:17.509 There's a difference between conviction and condemnation, and they can feel almost the same sometimes or in the moment. 00:19:17.669 --> 00:19:22.230 Conviction comes from the Holy Spirit and it is specific, right? 00:19:22.389 --> 00:19:28.149 It points at one thing and it always comes with a way home, right? 00:19:28.789 --> 00:19:34.869 Think of think of the son that goes away, and he's on the road coming back home, sees the Father. 00:19:35.190 --> 00:19:38.629 Conviction always points us back to the Father, right? 00:19:38.789 --> 00:19:41.509 You feel drawn towards God and not away from him. 00:19:41.990 --> 00:19:45.509 But condemnation is different, it's vague. 00:19:45.750 --> 00:19:50.549 It does not say you did a bad thing, it says you are a bad thing. 00:19:50.710 --> 00:19:52.230 Can you see the difference? 00:19:52.629 --> 00:19:54.549 It makes you want to hide. 00:19:54.789 --> 00:19:58.869 And scripture is clear where you stand if you belong to Jesus. 00:19:59.109 --> 00:20:00.470 Romans 8 1. 00:20:00.710 --> 00:20:06.069 Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. 00:20:06.309 --> 00:20:07.109 What does it say? 00:20:07.190 --> 00:20:09.750 It says no condemnation. 00:20:10.389 --> 00:20:20.389 So if what you're hearing about yourself is heavy, if it's hopeless, and it has no door of escape out of it, that is not the voice of your father. 00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:23.990 That is not your good father who wants to save you, heal you, and make you whole. 00:20:24.149 --> 00:20:25.669 That is the voice of the accuser. 00:20:25.750 --> 00:20:28.549 And scripture says we're not supposed to listen to that one. 00:20:28.950 --> 00:20:30.950 So you can stop listening to it. 00:20:31.269 --> 00:20:37.349 The Holy Spirit convicts to restore us, He never buries us. 00:20:37.750 --> 00:20:43.669 Uh, the Book of Lamentations, uh, chapter 3, verse 40, it gives us a rhythm that we should follow. 00:20:44.069 --> 00:20:49.909 Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord. 00:20:50.230 --> 00:20:50.869 Right? 00:20:51.190 --> 00:20:55.429 We're supposed to examine,

and then we're supposed to return. 00:20:55.990 --> 00:20:59.750 The whole point of the inspection is the return. 00:20:59.990 --> 00:21:01.829 It's not just to know what we did wrong. 00:21:01.990 --> 00:21:07.829 I think it's pretty, it's pretty clear many times what's going on on the inside of us, right? 00:21:08.149 --> 00:21:14.149 Um it doesn't, it doesn't take, it doesn't take the most accurate prophet on the face of the earth to show us where we're wrong. 00:21:14.309 --> 00:21:17.909 Uh many times we know where our issues are and where our stuff is hidden. 00:21:18.629 --> 00:21:23.990 But the point of knowing that is to return back home to the Father. 00:21:24.149 --> 00:21:27.669 You know, and Paul tells us to actually do it on purpose. 00:21:27.829 --> 00:21:29.909 2 Corinthians 13 5. 00:21:30.149 --> 00:21:33.990 Test yourself to see you if you are in the faith. 00:21:34.309 --> 00:21:36.149 Examine yourself. 00:21:37.109 --> 00:21:44.789 So here is just just a a kind of uh personally how I would do it this month. 00:21:45.349 --> 00:21:48.230 Don't ask God to show you everything at once. 00:21:48.389 --> 00:21:50.549 Um, because if you do that, you'll drown. 00:21:50.710 --> 00:21:54.389 You'll you'll get into a pity party that you may never be able to come out of. 00:21:54.549 --> 00:21:54.869 Okay. 00:21:55.429 --> 00:21:57.829 Um ask him for one thing. 00:21:58.069 --> 00:22:10.069 You know, say, Father, what is one thing you want to put your finger on in my life, in my heart, this week or today, or over the next few days, however it is that you want to do it. 00:22:10.549 --> 00:22:13.029 Then stay in the room with him while he answers. 00:22:13.109 --> 00:22:15.349 Don't be afraid of him responding. 00:22:16.470 --> 00:22:19.909 And then don't run off and fix it in your own strength. 00:22:20.149 --> 00:22:23.509 And do not run off and hide from it or from him. 00:22:23.990 --> 00:22:29.109 Let him show you and let him lead you home in the same breath. 00:22:29.429 --> 00:22:31.589 So if you're willing, right, you ask him. 00:22:32.549 --> 00:22:42.069 He shows you, once he responds, then ask him for strategy on how to walk out of that thing, on how to let it heal, on how to make it whole. 00:22:42.710 --> 00:22:47.029 Give ask him for strategy on how to repair that thing. 00:22:47.190 --> 00:22:50.470 And once you're done with that, ask him for another and then another. 00:22:56.789 --> 00:23:05.750 That you would come to a new level of wholeness this month that you've not been in throughout the the uh beginning of this year, okay? 00:23:06.789 --> 00:23:11.990 So, number three is getting rid of the lies we've believed. 00:23:12.230 --> 00:23:13.909 That's the third investment. 00:23:14.389 --> 00:23:16.149 Uh, we've all believed lies. 00:23:16.470 --> 00:23:21.750 So uh for the one for the one who says, I've never believed a lie, you're believing a lie right now. 00:23:22.149 --> 00:23:24.309 Um we've all been there. 00:23:24.470 --> 00:23:25.269 We've all done that. 00:23:25.349 --> 00:23:31.269 We may be in it right now, or we may be coming out of it, or the enemy may be trying to pull us into believing a lie. 00:23:31.750 --> 00:23:32.069 Right? 00:23:32.230 --> 00:23:41.109 And this one, this comes on the heels of the last one because when God searches our heart, a lot of what surfaces is not just sin, it's lies. 00:23:41.429 --> 00:23:45.509 It may be more lies that we're believing than sins that we're doing, actually. 00:23:45.909 --> 00:23:53.829 So things you've agreed with about Him, about yourself, or about other people that were never ever true. 00:23:54.069 --> 00:23:56.470 And Jesus ties freedom directly to truth. 00:23:56.629 --> 00:23:58.470 John 8, 31 and 32. 00:23:58.869 --> 00:24:08.470 If you continue in my word, then you are truly disciples of mine, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free. 00:24:08.710 --> 00:24:13.190 We have to continue in his word, then we'll know the truth, and then we get set free. 00:24:13.269 --> 00:24:13.509 Right? 00:24:13.589 --> 00:24:18.470 Notice the truth that frees you shows up when you stay in the word. 00:24:18.789 --> 00:24:19.190 Huh? 00:24:19.349 --> 00:24:21.669 Number one of this month. 00:24:22.389 --> 00:24:27.349 That is why point one and point three are connected. 00:24:27.669 --> 00:24:31.349 And a few verses later, Jesus tells us where the lies are coming from. 00:24:31.509 --> 00:24:32.869 John 8 44. 00:24:33.269 --> 00:24:37.750 Whenever he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own nature, right? 00:24:38.149 --> 00:24:41.750 For he is a liar and the father of lies. 00:24:42.230 --> 00:24:47.909 The enemy has one native language, and it is always lying. 00:24:48.549 --> 00:24:52.950 You know, we can say, Oh, yeah, he says a half truth, a half truth is a full lie, okay? 00:24:53.429 --> 00:24:57.669 He he can he can give you a grain of truth, but the rest of it is lies. 00:24:57.990 --> 00:25:11.909 So when a thought keeps circling that says God is holding out on you, that you are too far gone, and that you will always be like this, that nobody would want you if they really knew you, I want you to consider its source. 00:25:12.309 --> 00:25:16.629 Because I guarantee you, those words don't come from the Father, okay? 00:25:16.869 --> 00:25:22.389 And that's not a report, that is a lie with an accent that you've gotten used to. 00:25:24.069 --> 00:25:27.990 Now, here's how you actually fight those lies. 00:25:28.309 --> 00:25:36.549 Um, because you're not supposed to fight a lie with willpower, you fight a lie with truth. 00:25:36.710 --> 00:25:38.309 That's how you overcome it. 00:25:38.549 --> 00:25:38.950 Right? 00:25:39.109 --> 00:25:43.349 Paul shows us this in 2 Corinthians 10 verses 4 and 5. 00:25:43.669 --> 00:26:01.109 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses, and we're destroying speculations and every

lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we're taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ. 00:26:01.589 --> 00:26:06.389 So I need you to read that middle part again if you're taking notes and if you're reading along with me. 00:26:06.629 --> 00:26:10.549 It says, Every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God. 00:26:10.869 --> 00:26:12.470 So the lies are not random. 00:26:12.549 --> 00:26:20.950 They are aimed, they are targeted at us, at you and I, and they stack up like a wall between you and knowing God. 00:26:21.190 --> 00:26:25.349 They want to build a stronghold between us and the Lord. 00:26:25.750 --> 00:26:30.309 So then that's exactly why uh what this month is about. 00:26:30.470 --> 00:26:33.589 It's about knowing Him fully and knowing Him wholly. 00:26:33.750 --> 00:26:40.069 So tearing down lies is not a side project, it's not something that you can take casually or lightly. 00:26:40.230 --> 00:26:47.029 It's clearing the road of the thing, uh clearing the road to the thing that God has promised us. 00:26:47.349 --> 00:26:47.829 Right? 00:26:47.990 --> 00:26:52.069 Uh, and the tool to demolish those lies is the word of God. 00:26:52.230 --> 00:26:56.629 Jesus prayed it very plainly in John 17, 17. 00:26:56.950 --> 00:26:58.789 Sanctify them in the truth. 00:26:58.950 --> 00:27:00.309 Your word is truth. 00:27:00.389 --> 00:27:05.829 So his word is the truth that we're supposed to be standing on, the truth that we're supposed to be believing. 00:27:06.149 --> 00:27:10.789 So you not just try to stop thinking the lie, you replace it. 00:27:11.029 --> 00:27:13.190 Paul calls it renewing your mind. 00:27:13.269 --> 00:27:14.470 We've all heard this phrase, right? 00:27:14.629 --> 00:27:21.109 Romans 12, 2, do not be conformed to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. 00:27:21.829 --> 00:27:25.829 So here's your assignment for August, and it really is a simple one. 00:27:26.069 --> 00:27:27.750 I'm gonna give you three steps. 00:27:27.990 --> 00:27:35.269 Number one, and you should probably write this down, and then afterwards, write what I'm gonna tell you down. 00:27:35.429 --> 00:27:36.309 Name the lie. 00:27:36.470 --> 00:27:41.029 Any lies you've been believing, and some of them are will be very obvious to you. 00:27:41.109 --> 00:27:44.309 Some of them might be like, oh, I didn't know I was believing that. 00:27:44.549 --> 00:27:52.470 Write them down on a sheet of paper, name the lie, then find the truth pertaining to those lies in the word. 00:27:53.509 --> 00:28:01.109 So the lie is the question, the truth of God's word is the answer, and there's an answer to refute every single one of those lies in Scripture. 00:28:01.349 --> 00:28:12.069 So name the lie, find the truth in the word that answers that lie and tears it down, and then say it out loud and put the truth in its place. 00:28:12.309 --> 00:28:20.069 Lord, I've been believing this, but the truth, your truth is this, and I renounce that lie that I've been believing. 00:28:20.549 --> 00:28:23.750 So don't argue with the darkness. 00:28:23.990 --> 00:28:25.190 Just turn on the light. 00:28:25.269 --> 00:28:31.190 When I'm in this room right here, I have obviously I have I have a number of lights on right now. 00:28:31.429 --> 00:28:37.589 When I turn them off, I'm in darkness, but even with the smallest light, it illuminates my face. 00:28:38.069 --> 00:28:43.029 Um darkness runs away pretty quickly when the light is turned on. 00:28:43.669 --> 00:28:54.470 And what a lie, what a lie does to us, and it gets us to believe that we're powerless to turn the light on, that there's no light in our life to be turned on at all. 00:28:55.109 --> 00:29:06.629 But once you begin to scour the word of God for truth and you apply that truth to the lies, the light comes on instantly and the darkness runs away. 00:29:07.109 --> 00:29:13.429 So when the thought comes that says you're too far gone and you uh you don't need to white knuckle it, friends. 00:29:13.669 --> 00:29:16.309 You answer it with a verse and you keep walking. 00:29:16.470 --> 00:29:19.109 You answer it with the word of God, right? 00:29:19.190 --> 00:29:24.389 I love I love when uh Jesus, after being baptized, right? 00:29:24.549 --> 00:29:31.829 This is the the dove descends from heaven, Holy Spirit descends on him and stays, and the Father says, This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased. 00:29:31.990 --> 00:29:33.589 He speaks identity over his life. 00:29:33.669 --> 00:29:34.950 We all know the story. 00:29:35.190 --> 00:29:49.349 Then Scripture says that he was thrust or he was led into the wilderness by the Spirit to fast forty days, uh, and then he was tempted by the enemy, and the enemy used a distortion of the word of God. 00:29:49.589 --> 00:30:09.909 And Jesus responded to him with the truth of the word that displaced the distortion or the lies that the enemy was trying to speak to him, because you know the enemy it the enemy knows the word, and he will use it to try and pull us away from the Lord, but he won't use the truth of it, he'll distort it the same way he tried with Jesus. 00:30:10.149 --> 00:30:15.509 And Jesus responds every single time, the three times was it is written. 00:30:15.909 --> 00:30:35.029 And the enemy had to run away because Jesus pushed back with the truth of the word of God, and that is one thing that the Lord is calling us to do in the month of August to push back on the assignments of the enemy over our lives and the lies that he's been declaring over us or trying to get us to believe with the truth of the word. 00:30:35.669 --> 00:30:36.230 Alright. 00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:40.389 So, number four is fasting for fragrance. 00:30:40.470 --> 00:30:44.789 And I know when I when I heard this phrase, I found it a little a little weird. 00:30:44.869 --> 00:30:45.990 It's like, what does that mean? 00:30:46.230 --> 00:30:48.069 Fasting for

fragrance. 00:30:48.950 --> 00:30:53.509 Um, but this is actually um my favorite. 00:30:54.149 --> 00:30:58.869 You know, I uh the Lord obviously gave me those words on purpose. 00:30:58.950 --> 00:31:06.230 It's a phrase that I I would not I would not put fasting and fragrance together, honestly, but um that's how he spoke it to me. 00:31:06.470 --> 00:31:14.069 You know, so I want to explain what it means because it's not the way that most of us learn to fast. 00:31:14.549 --> 00:31:14.950 Right? 00:31:15.109 --> 00:31:26.710 Most of us when we think about fasting, like we're gonna fast and we're not gonna eat today, or we're not gonna eat for seven days, or we're gonna do like many of us do at the beginning of the year, a 21-day Daniel fast. 00:31:26.950 --> 00:31:29.029 Uh, and we do it to get something. 00:31:29.429 --> 00:31:29.750 Right? 00:31:29.909 --> 00:31:34.950 We'll fast when we have a need, we will fast when we feel confused, you know. 00:31:35.109 --> 00:31:44.389 Uh so we'll skip a meal here and there, and we'll tell God that we mean business, and uh and then we'll wait for an answer and we'll listen. 00:31:44.869 --> 00:31:51.750 Uh and there's a there's a real place for fasting over over a burden or for a need, right? 00:31:52.149 --> 00:31:54.549 Scripture tells us that, scripture does that. 00:31:54.710 --> 00:32:00.629 Uh, but there's another kind of fasting, and it is the kind I want to invite us all into this month. 00:32:00.789 --> 00:32:05.909 It is fasting to know him, it's not fasting to get from something from him. 00:32:06.549 --> 00:32:14.789 Uh fasting where he is the point and not just the delivery person, right? 00:32:15.109 --> 00:32:16.950 He is the purpose of the fast. 00:32:17.190 --> 00:32:25.109 He is not uh the one that brings what we need or what we desire to get out of the fast, right? 00:32:25.349 --> 00:32:28.549 God actually asks his people a hard question about this. 00:32:28.710 --> 00:32:45.029 So after 70 years of religious fasting, he says through Zechariah and Zechariah 7.5, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months, these seventy years, was it actually for me that you fasted? 00:32:45.589 --> 00:32:47.509 That's Zechariah 7.5. 00:32:49.109 --> 00:32:53.669 That's that's a very hard question, right? 00:32:54.230 --> 00:32:56.230 Were you actually fasting for me? 00:32:57.509 --> 00:33:02.309 Because what's the purpose of a fast if it's not for him or if it's just to get something, right? 00:33:02.629 --> 00:33:07.750 If it's just to get something from him and not for him, I think we're doing it all wrong. 00:33:08.149 --> 00:33:12.069 That's that was 70 years of fasting. 00:33:12.629 --> 00:33:21.349 And after 70 years, he asked God has to ask them that question if it was actually for him. 00:33:22.629 --> 00:33:31.829 I mean, after 70 years, I would I would be an absolute mess if that was the response that I got from God after fasting for that long. 00:33:33.109 --> 00:33:35.509 Uh, I'm pretty sure you would too. 00:33:35.829 --> 00:33:45.029 Um that question right there in Zechariah 7.5, that should make us all slow down and really think about why, the why behind the fast. 00:33:45.909 --> 00:33:46.309 Right? 00:33:46.470 --> 00:33:50.230 You can fast for decades and still make it all about yourself. 00:33:51.109 --> 00:33:57.669 And so that question, that verse, it resets everything. 00:33:57.990 --> 00:34:01.990 And Jesus resets everything in Matthew 6, 17 and 18. 00:34:02.309 --> 00:34:11.670 He says, But you, when you fast, and here's the thing, he doesn't say if you fast, he is expecting us to fast. 00:34:12.550 --> 00:34:28.550 He says, But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your father who is in secret, and your father who is in who sees what is done in secret will reward you. 00:34:29.110 --> 00:34:35.190 So the reward for hidden fasting is the Father Himself, but in secret. 00:34:36.070 --> 00:34:42.070 That is the dividend from the top of the broadcast that we're talking about, right? 00:34:42.150 --> 00:34:43.429 It's showing up again. 00:34:43.590 --> 00:34:47.269 That is what you receive when you invest into fasting. 00:34:47.429 --> 00:34:54.309 In this, not just in this month, obviously, but there is just a heightened sense in this month that we gotta invest in fasting. 00:34:54.949 --> 00:34:57.989 So you empty yourself of something quietly. 00:34:58.070 --> 00:35:06.869 You don't make it a show, you don't make it an Instagram post, you don't do a live broadcast about how long you're fasting and what you're fasting from and all the things. 00:35:07.349 --> 00:35:16.309 And when you do that, what you get back is nearness to him, it's closeness, it's deeper relationship, deeper rootedness in God. 00:35:17.029 --> 00:35:23.750 So um there's a woman uh that I love in Luke who did exactly this, and that's Anna, right? 00:35:23.989 --> 00:35:27.829 84 years old, in the temple in Luke 237. 00:35:27.989 --> 00:35:35.029 She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. 00:35:37.509 --> 00:35:48.630 She was not fasting to get a thing out of God, she was worshiping and she was waiting for the Messiah, and she fasted her way toward him for years. 00:35:49.029 --> 00:35:54.789 And when Jesus was finally carried into that temple as a baby, she was one of the first to see him. 00:35:55.190 --> 00:35:58.789 Fasting had kept her heart leaning towards his face. 00:35:59.190 --> 00:36:11.590 Fasting kept her waiting on his appearance, and she knew because she was fasting to be connected to him, she knew that she would meet him, she knew that she would encounter him before she passed away. 00:36:12.389 --> 00:36:12.789 Right? 00:36:12.949 --> 00:36:15.750 Jesus even connects fasting to missing him. 00:36:16.309 --> 00:36:17.509 Matthew 9 15. 00:36:17.590 --> 00:36:23.989 But the days will come when the

bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. 00:36:25.029 --> 00:36:25.349 Right? 00:36:25.509 --> 00:36:29.269 Fasting is what love does when it's hungry for a person. 00:36:29.429 --> 00:36:30.710 I want to say that again. 00:36:30.949 --> 00:36:34.789 Fasting is what love does when it's hungry for a person. 00:36:35.029 --> 00:36:36.230 Have you ever been in love? 00:36:36.630 --> 00:36:38.789 You know, a lot of times this happens in puppy love. 00:36:38.869 --> 00:36:41.429 You know, like the first person that you ever loved, loved. 00:36:41.509 --> 00:36:42.949 It probably wasn't real love. 00:36:43.110 --> 00:36:44.389 Um, I know this happened to me. 00:36:44.549 --> 00:36:47.349 The first person that I, you know, oh, this is my girlfriend. 00:36:47.509 --> 00:36:48.869 I I knew nothing about dating. 00:36:48.949 --> 00:36:50.469 I knew nothing about having a relationship. 00:36:50.549 --> 00:36:55.029 But it was like, I love this person, and I haven't seen this person. 00:36:55.190 --> 00:36:56.789 Oh, I'm not hungry. 00:36:56.869 --> 00:37:01.029 I'm I'm just I I just want to see the person and be with the person, right? 00:37:01.190 --> 00:37:03.750 Uh, you cue cue the song, and they called it puppy. 00:37:03.829 --> 00:37:04.549 Love that old song. 00:37:04.630 --> 00:37:06.949 For those that are young watching this, you don't know what I'm talking about. 00:37:07.029 --> 00:37:07.989 Just Google it. 00:37:08.230 --> 00:37:16.949 Um, but fasting when when when when you love a person so deeply, it's like, oh, I need to see that person. 00:37:17.029 --> 00:37:19.029 I'll do anything, I'll go anywhere. 00:37:19.110 --> 00:37:21.750 You know, I'll give up anything just to be with this person. 00:37:21.909 --> 00:37:26.150 This is this is fasting uh to relationship with God, right? 00:37:26.230 --> 00:37:32.469 It's the body saying, I want you more than I want this, I want you more than I want food, I want you more than I want coffee. 00:37:32.630 --> 00:37:34.230 Oh, say it ain't so, Lord. 00:37:34.309 --> 00:37:35.349 Please don't make me do that. 00:37:35.590 --> 00:37:37.670 Uh no, I'll do it if he tells me. 00:37:37.909 --> 00:37:42.789 Uh so let me show you where the word fragrance comes from, right? 00:37:42.869 --> 00:37:45.909 It's fasting for fragrance, right? 00:37:46.070 --> 00:37:47.909 That was the that was the phrase he said. 00:37:48.150 --> 00:37:51.989 I want to show you where it comes from because this is the part that really gets me. 00:37:53.110 --> 00:37:56.070 So here is our word study for today. 00:37:56.150 --> 00:38:01.829 I'm I'm a Bible nerd, I love studying Greek and Hebrew, so this is where that part comes in. 00:38:01.909 --> 00:38:08.630 Uh, and it is uh our anchor for for this entire time together, and it's fragrance. 00:38:08.710 --> 00:38:13.829 So in the New Testament, the Greek word is uh E U O D I A. 00:38:14.389 --> 00:38:15.670 I don't want to pronounce it. 00:38:15.750 --> 00:38:19.110

I can't pronounce it, so I'll spell it again, E U O D I A. 00:38:19.989 --> 00:38:24.949 And I'll I'll say it, I'll try and say it, and so you can say it with me. 00:38:25.190 --> 00:38:27.509 Uodia, uodia. 00:38:28.469 --> 00:38:37.349 And it comes from two pieces, eu, which means good or well, and a root word, which means to smell. 00:38:37.590 --> 00:38:44.150 So when you put it together, it means a good smell, a sweet aroma, or a fragrance that rises. 00:38:45.029 --> 00:38:50.630 And Paul actually uses it in 2 Corinthians 2 15 to reference our lives. 00:38:50.949 --> 00:39:00.710 He says, For we are a fragrance of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing. 00:39:01.110 --> 00:39:06.949 We are a fragrance of Christ to God, that is eodia. 00:39:07.590 --> 00:39:12.630 And he uses it again for the way Jesus gave himself, Ephesians 5 2. 00:39:12.869 --> 00:39:24.549 And walk in love just as Christ also loved you and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God as a fragrant aroma. 00:39:25.029 --> 00:39:28.869 And so here is what I want you to catch out of all of this, okay? 00:39:29.190 --> 00:39:33.190 Fragrance is what rises when something is poured out. 00:39:33.349 --> 00:39:34.150 Duh, right? 00:39:34.389 --> 00:39:34.949 Simple. 00:39:35.269 --> 00:39:37.269 Perfume does nothing in the bottle. 00:39:37.349 --> 00:39:38.630 You can't smell it. 00:39:38.949 --> 00:39:42.469 It only fills a room when it is open and given away. 00:39:42.710 --> 00:39:43.029 Right? 00:39:43.190 --> 00:39:51.110 Think of the woman that came before Jesus and blasted the alabaster box open before him and spilled that calfy perfume. 00:39:51.349 --> 00:40:06.309 So when you fast to know God, when you pour yourself out toward him with no agenda but him, to receive him and to know him intimately and deeply, an aroma rises up to heaven that God loves, that God receives. 00:40:11.110 --> 00:40:16.070 And over time you start to smell like the one that you've been near, right? 00:40:16.230 --> 00:40:22.469 Or in other ways to say it is you become what or who you behold. 00:40:23.110 --> 00:40:29.509 So there is a picture of this that I can't get over, and I just referenced it, and that's Mary of Bethany, John 12 3. 00:40:30.150 --> 00:40:45.349 Mary then took up um took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. 00:40:45.509 --> 00:40:47.989 So that was a whole year's wages, of friends. 00:40:48.070 --> 00:40:49.190 You know the story, right? 00:40:49.269 --> 00:40:51.590 This is a very, very well-known Bible story. 00:40:51.750 --> 00:40:55.349 And it was poured out on Jesus in one moment. 00:40:57.349 --> 00:41:03.590 She was not uh buying anything with it, she was not trying to get a return. 00:41:04.230 --> 00:41:09.509 She just loved him, and she poured it out on the most valuable thing she

had. 00:41:09.670 --> 00:41:15.269 And the Bible says the whole house filled with that smell, with that fragrance. 00:41:15.989 --> 00:41:18.630 And that is fasting for fragrance. 00:41:18.789 --> 00:41:21.829 It looks like a waste to people who are keeping score, right? 00:41:21.909 --> 00:41:28.630 Of people who uh maybe are a little on the religious side or very dogmatic in nature. 00:41:28.949 --> 00:41:35.670 But heaven catches the scent of a heart that pours itself out just to be near to Jesus, right? 00:41:35.829 --> 00:41:38.549 We don't do it for works, we do it for him. 00:41:39.750 --> 00:41:42.710 So, one one practical thing though. 00:41:43.590 --> 00:41:47.670 Fasting is about your heart, it's not about your body. 00:41:48.150 --> 00:41:49.349 So be wise. 00:41:49.509 --> 00:41:57.269 If you have a health condition, right, or or a history with food, please do not treat this as a challenge to push through. 00:41:57.509 --> 00:41:59.190 Again, it's fasting for him. 00:41:59.349 --> 00:42:04.150 It's not it's not a test of your will or a test of strength or a test of endurance. 00:42:04.389 --> 00:42:04.789 Right? 00:42:04.869 --> 00:42:13.429 If you have if you have trouble fasting, or if you really can't, make sure you, you know, if you have serious health things, obviously consult a doctor and all of that. 00:42:13.670 --> 00:42:19.590 Um and and if you really can't fast from food, there's other things that you can fast from. 00:42:19.750 --> 00:42:26.549 Obviously, biblically, uh the biblical fast is food, abstaining from food, from certain delicacies, right? 00:42:26.630 --> 00:42:28.710 If you if you want to do a Daniel fast. 00:42:29.349 --> 00:42:34.150 Um there's also social media, there's also screens, entertainment. 00:42:34.230 --> 00:42:42.070 You know, there's there are many things that grab our attention and pull it away from the Lord in this time, in this day and age that we live in. 00:42:42.309 --> 00:42:44.789 Um fast from those things as well. 00:42:44.949 --> 00:42:52.949 Try your best to fast from food because that is obvious the the obvious biblical, uh, biblically mandated type of fast. 00:42:54.150 --> 00:42:56.389 But there are other things that you can throw into it. 00:42:56.469 --> 00:43:02.869 And if you really can't fast food, then do those other things and and give the attention you would give to those things. 00:43:03.110 --> 00:43:04.789 Focus it solely on him. 00:43:05.190 --> 00:43:09.750 And the goal of the fast is not an empty stomach, it's a full heart, okay? 00:43:10.070 --> 00:43:11.429 I want to say that once more. 00:43:11.590 --> 00:43:17.110 The goal of fasting is not uh is not an empty stomach, and it's not losing pounds, right? 00:43:17.190 --> 00:43:25.349 That's the that's the popular thing to do intermittent fasting or long, long distance fasting uh for days for for health purposes. 00:43:25.429 --> 00:43:35.590 It's not to get healthier, even though you will, it is to know him and to have a full heart with him and to pour yourself out like a like a fragrant offering at his feet. 00:43:35.989 --> 00:43:43.029 So before we close, I just want to bring all this together uh because these four are really one thing. 00:43:43.110 --> 00:43:44.389 They're one motion, right? 00:43:44.549 --> 00:43:46.389 Get into the word so you meet him. 00:43:46.710 --> 00:43:52.869 Let the word search your heart, let the truth clear out the lies, then pour yourself out to know him. 00:43:53.110 --> 00:43:54.309 I want to say that again. 00:43:54.549 --> 00:43:56.710 Get into the word so that you meet him. 00:43:57.110 --> 00:44:00.549 Let the word search your heart, because the word is good at that. 00:44:00.710 --> 00:44:07.349 Let the truth of the word clear out the lies that you've been harboring, and then pour yourself out to know him. 00:44:07.750 --> 00:44:12.389 So study, inspect, clear and pour. 00:44:12.789 --> 00:44:17.349 Once more, study, inspect, clear and pour. 00:44:17.829 --> 00:44:26.630 It all runs in one direction, and that direction is towards his face, towards the face of towards the face of the lover of your soul, towards Jesus. 00:44:27.110 --> 00:44:29.190 And remember how the word came. 00:44:29.349 --> 00:44:30.549 It's August. 00:44:30.789 --> 00:44:35.269 What will you do with the August that I've given you, said the Lord. 00:44:35.590 --> 00:44:38.070 And that is the real question, and only you can answer it. 00:44:38.230 --> 00:44:39.509 Only I can answer it for myself. 00:44:39.750 --> 00:44:41.750 Melissa can't answer that for me. 00:44:42.710 --> 00:44:52.869 God handed you 31 days, and you can spend them on yourself, or you can invest them in the Spirit and let Him hand you back more of Himself. 00:44:53.269 --> 00:44:53.670 Right? 00:44:53.750 --> 00:44:55.989 So don't walk away with four big goals. 00:44:56.230 --> 00:44:58.150 You will quit by Friday. 00:44:58.389 --> 00:44:59.190 Alright? 00:44:59.429 --> 00:45:02.150 Pick something small and real. 00:45:02.309 --> 00:45:06.150 Make it make it bite-sized so that you can follow through on it. 00:45:06.389 --> 00:45:13.829 And maybe it is one verse a day that you can chew on until you know it, until you memorize it, until it until you hide the word in your heart. 00:45:14.469 --> 00:45:18.150 Maybe it is five honest minutes handling God the flashlight. 00:45:18.389 --> 00:45:21.429 Maybe it's one lie you finally answer with the truth. 00:45:21.670 --> 00:45:30.949 Maybe it is uh one fast for a day, fast an entire day from food or from certain types of food that you indulge in. 00:45:31.110 --> 00:45:35.590 Uh fast from one thing, just to be close to him, devote that day to him. 00:45:36.150 --> 00:45:42.869 So it's small and steady, beats big and defeated by next week. 00:45:43.029 --> 00:45:44.710 So and that's how investing works. 00:45:44.869 --> 00:45:46.869 Start slow, start small. 00:45:47.590 --> 00:45:50.469 Don't try to do it all at once, right? 00:45:51.110 --> 00:45:55.029 Just grow in the investment throughout the month of August. 00:45:55.110 --> 00:46:02.710 Because if you do that, it will reap great benefits now in August, but it will reap even larger benefits long term. 00:46:03.509 --> 00:46:15.590 Because what you'll be doing is developing amazing disciplines before the Lord that you can then that will lead you into more of Him and knowing Him in a deeper way and growing in the knowledge of God. 00:46:15.989 --> 00:46:18.710 And here's the promise that we're standing on. 00:46:18.869 --> 00:46:21.349 Uh, so you don't do this in your own strength. 00:46:21.590 --> 00:46:25.989 God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 00:46:26.309 --> 00:46:36.230 So your account is safe because of who's holding it, and the dividends that He wants to pay out, they're guaranteed, and the dividend is Him. 00:46:36.710 --> 00:46:39.829 And He's good at responding to us. 00:46:40.070 --> 00:46:42.309 So let me pray before I go. 00:46:42.469 --> 00:46:48.630 Father, I just thank you for the call that you've given us this month. 00:46:49.269 --> 00:46:52.869 Uh, that you're not far off and that you're not hard to find. 00:46:53.110 --> 00:46:56.710 But you're a rewarder of everyone who comes looking for you. 00:46:56.949 --> 00:47:00.150 So right now, Father, we give you our August. 00:47:01.110 --> 00:47:06.389 And I ask that you would meet me, meet the meet the friend that is listening to this right now. 00:47:06.869 --> 00:47:11.829 Open up the word to them, open up mysteries, open up the secrets of the Word of God to them. 00:47:12.070 --> 00:47:17.349 Search their hearts gently as a good, kind shepherd that you are. 00:47:17.670 --> 00:47:32.230 Pull down every lie that has stood between them and knowing you, and teach us, teach them to pour ourselves out just to be nearer to you, until our lives carry your fragrance into every room that we walk into. 00:47:33.110 --> 00:47:35.429 And we ask this in Jesus' name. 00:47:35.909 --> 00:47:36.549 Amen.