Creflo Dollar - Resting in the Arms of Jesus - Part 3
We need a guard, because out of your heart flows every issue of life. And if your heart is not being guarded with peace, that's impacting the harvest, the harvest. I guarantee you, you go look at your harvest-less life, and you will notice you also have a peace-less life. No, it's everything. That's why Jesus said, "Peace, I leave you," then he said, "My peace". Jesus peace can keep you emotionally stable when you're going through a rough time. That's why it's his peace. Peace that you don't even understand, "Why am I not going crazy? Why am I not losing it? Why didn't I blow my brains out? Why"? Because Jesus peace prevents that from happening.
Say out loud, "I have Jesus peace," not the peace that comes from the world. The peace that comes from the world is conditional peace. The conditions need to be right for you to have peace. But Jesus peace is not based on the condition. Glory be to God. Glory be to God. Hallelujah. Look at Psalms chapter 4 and verse 8 in the NLT, Psalms 4 and 8 in the NLT. Psalms 4 and 8, NLT, he says, "In peace, I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, O LORD, will keep me safe". Isaiah 26:3 in NLT, "In peace, I will lie down and sleep". Somebody says, "I need to take a sleeping pill". No, you just need to get in peace. Get in peace. You know you don't sleep good when you're not in peace.
Verse 3, "You will keep him in perfect peace," all right, how do I get that peace? "All who trust in him, all whose thoughts are fixed on you"! See, when you're not in peace, your thoughts are fixed on the issue of problems. We got to practice fixing our thoughts on him. We've got to practice saying, "I trust God," until it becomes a working reality on the inside of your heart. And then look at 2 Corinthians 4:16 through 18 in the Message. 2 Corinthians chapter 4, verse 16 and 18 in the Message Translation. This is so cool here. He says, "So we're not giving up". We're not giving up, say it, say, "I'm not giving up".
Don't raise your hands, how many have you ever felt like giving up? Don't raise your hands, that's the first thing I said, don't raise your... so we're not giving up. So, house of World Changers, we're declaring this to all of the demons of hell so they can take it back to their boss, we're not giving up. It's been rough, it's been tough, it's been frustrating, it's been anxiety, it's been this, it's been brokenness, it's been abuse, it's been sickness, it's been pain, it's been close to dying, it's been loss of loved ones. Take this to your boss, we're not giving up, we're not giving up. Come on, somebody say it, "I'm not giving up". I'm not giving up. Mm, I know you felt like it, I know you even said it, I know you even planned it. We're not giving up.
You know what that does to your guardian angels? Yeah, you know what that does to your soul, it's refreshing to adhere to your spirit. That says, "Weeping may endure for the night, but joy comest in the morning". I'm not giving up, I'm gonna just go to bed. I'm gonna show you something about that going to bed in a minute. Some of y'all might go home and go to bed. So we're not giving up, "How could we! Even though on the outside it often looks like things are falling apart on us, even though on the outside it looks like it's falling apart, on the inside, where God is making new life, not a day goes by without his unfolding grace".
That his grace has been enveloped, ready to unfold, right when you... not a day goes by when the unfolding grace of God is not made available to you. He says, "These hard times are small potatoes compared to the coming good times, the lavish celebration prepared for us". It's like small potatoes. So you might as well go make a potato salad, bro. "There's far more here than meets the eye". There's a bigger reason why you're going through what you're going through. There's a bigger reason why you were hurting the way you were hurting. There's a bigger reason why you couldn't sleep for the last three nights. There's a bigger reason why you've been dealing what you've been dealing with. There's a bigger reason, "More than meets the eye. The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow. But the things we can't see now will last forever".
You may not be able to see the provisions of God, but it's there. You may not be able to see the angels getting ready to help you, but it's there. You may not be able to see the plan of the Holy Spirit right now, but it's there. You may not see what God has already planned for you, things that are good, things that will work out for your good, but it is there. Those things you can't see are eternal, you have eternal things working for you, in the name of Jesus. Everything is gonna be all right. We're not going to quit.
Let's look at this sleep, Psalms 127, verse 1 through 2 in the King James, Psalms 127. "Except the LORD build the house, they labor in vain that build it". Because it's gonna fall down one day. "Except the LORD keep the city, the watchman waketh but in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, and to sit up late at night, to eat the bread of sorrows". "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen". Remind me of the lion on the Wizard of Oz, "I'm a king, I'm a... For so..."
Now, notice what in context he's saying. It's vain for you, you know, it's vain for you to try to build houses, it's vain for you to rise up early, it's vain for you to sit up late, it's vain for you to sit up and eat the bread of sorrows. "For so," for all that, "He giveth his beloved," what? So sleep may be God's plan for giving us the help he cannot give us while we awake. Y'all don't hear me. God is about to do more when you sleep than you are when you awake. It's no longer just sleeping because you're tired, but I see it, but I don't know how to say it unless you tell me how to say it.
The dream realm somehow can cross the barrier of the spirit realm, and what he couldn't give you while you were fully awake in your natural self, when you dismissed that natural self and went to sleep, he was able to slip something in from the Spirit. Mm, concerning your journey or will of God for your life. That's why the devil wants to fight you so hard and to keep you all distracted up here and they keep you all this stuff, so you won't discover that there's a barrier that crosses that spiritual barrier. I'm telling you, God's gonna show you some stuff in your sleep. There are witty inventions that you can get when you sleep because you ain't in his way. You gonna see some stuff.
Mm, you gonna know some stuff that you didn't have in your brain. Do you know how many inventions came forward by people didn't have no idea what they were doing but they saw it while they were asleep? You know how many discoveries, how many cures, how many amazing ideas that happened while people were asleep? I'm going to sleep tonight. The very answer you need for the problem while you awake can be taken care of when you sleep, and you look at that pillow and you say, "When my head hits the pillow, it's gonna hit the pillow in peace, and my sleep is going to be sweet". And it's almost, when you go to sleep, it's like heaven say, "Good, now," amen.
Now look at this, Mark chapter 4:35, 38. Mm, "Same day, when the evening was calm, he saith unto them, Let's pass over onto the other side," Jesus said. "And when they had sent away the multitudes, they took him even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships. And there arose a great storm of wind, and waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full. And he," referring to Jesus, "was in the back part of the ship, asleep on a wet pillow".
Okay, I'm just assuming it was wet since the water was in the boat, but Jesus was in the back, asleep. He was asleep. Why are you worried about the wind and the waves when you got Jesus in your boat? You got him living on the inside of you, walking with you every day, and you're worried about the storms of life when Jesus is in your boat. You got to know that while he was asleep, he was controlling everything asleep. Wasn't no more water gonna get in there than the boat could have without sinking. And if it was gonna sink, they'd have still been all right, he'd allow for them to breathe under water like a fish.
You got Jesus in the boat, why are you worried about the water and the wind when Jesus is in the boat? Why are you worried about your life when Jesus is in the boat? Why are you worried about how the bill is gonna be paid when Jesus in the boat? Why are you worried about your children when Jesus is in the boat? And this is what people do who don't understand the power of Jesus being in the boat: They woke him up. More powerful asleep. They woke him up, check them out. And they said, "Master," now wasn't this pretty when they woke him up, because they had anxiety now. Because they tripping out. Dude, he sleep, don't he feel out of this.
"Master," I'm gonna kinda say it like kinda Paul, "Don't you even care we about to die"? How did it go there? How are you now questioning his care? Because when you question God's care, fear is gonna come in on the inside of you. When you don't trust that God can take care of you, you scared to give, because you don't trust he can take care of you. You keep making all these excuses, "Well, I ain't gonna give, you see the tie the preacher had on", that ain't it, that ain't none of it. You scared to give because Jesus sleep in the boat and you like, "Don't you care about us"?
Next verse, "And he arose, and rebuked the wind," because that was just the issue was wind. "And said unto the sea, be still. And the wind stopped, and there was a great calm". Now, you can think what you want to think, but can you imagine Jesus sleeping? The the amazing stuff going on while he sleep, and they woke him up. It's kind of like if you were to die and go to heaven, and you're just about to hug Jesus, and somebody called you back.
You say, "Now, the Lord gonna have to forgive me, because I'm fixin' to cuss all y'all out. Yeah, because I ain't paid my rent, now you wanna call me back here, I gotta figure out how I'm gonna get my... I gotta figure out where I'm gonna get the rent money from. I was in the arm of Jesus and there was a great calm". And then the next verse he said, "And he said unto them, Why are you so," watch this, "fearful"? How is it that you don't have no faith? And the Bible said that they can't enter into that rest, because they didn't have faith. They either should have let Jesus alone or went to sleep with him. And that's how we are today. We come to church, we hear this, we get charged up, we're fired up, and then we go home, and the storm comes, and we get full of fear, because we say we trust him when ain't nothing going on.
But when they nailing something to your door, and carrying a coffee table out, you have given up on Jesus when he will never give up on you. You have no idea what's about to happen. Maybe you got evicted because he'd been trying to get you into the house of your dreams, but you wouldn't ever move because you were so scared. And so, he put you out as an act of mercy and grace, just like he did Adam and Eve, put them out of the Garden so they wouldn't maintain that sin nature for the rest of eternity.
See, we can talk that religious stuff, which really turns me off, because there's always the question, "Do you mean it"? Oh, I'm gonna enter into the rest. Well, it's easy to rest when there's no storms. But you gotta be that kind of person that sleep good when it's raining and thundering and lightning outside. But you didn't even know it because you were sleeping good. That's faith and trust. And he says, "You need to tremble so that you won't be another generation that fails to enter in because you had no faith". But I'm here to tell you today, child of God, Jesus is in your boat, Jesus is in your boat. "Well, I hear what you're saying, Reverend, but if I do nothing, then I get nothing".
See, that's only true if you're without Christ, but the moment you have Christ in you, the hope of glory, then he goes to work. Listen to this, if you rest, then God will work. But if you work, then God will rest. You gotta decide what you're gonna do. Because while you working, he resting. I'm 'a rest so he can do the work. In fact, he's already done the work. Can I have two minutes? John 5:17, King James; John 14:10, King James; Galatians 2:20, NLT; and I'm done.
John 5:17, "But Jesus answered them, My father worketh hitherto, I work". He's working. John 14:10, "Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works". Galatians 2 and 20 in NLT, and as a result of this, that he's working, "My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me". Closing statement, I now believe this. I'm not living for God, God is living for me.