Am I Scared To Trust God by Pastor Dolapo Lawal: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Am I scared to trust God

This month we are praying with expectations, our mountain of solutions. It is right that we have a conversation on this so that we can release our faith and believe God for the impossible

There are some things you have to experience before you have a conviction nobody can talk you out of.

It would be difficult to tell Abraham that God doesn't give children when he is looking at Isaac. No preaching gets you to that conviction, only a miracle can

Don't downplay the place of the supernatural and miracle. Mental assent or being intellectual will not suffice

Apologetics seeks to make a defense for the faith but cannot explain faith.

You can prove historically that Jesus existed, but to convince somebody intellectually that God came to this world, died and is now in heaven, you have to back it up with signs and wonders.

That is why God gave us miracles

I'm trusting that this month God will do supernatural things in our lives that will bring us to a point of conviction

Illustration: the check engine light

Sometimes we Christians walk like cars.

A car has a fault, the check engine light is on, it is making weird sounds, but if it can still move, we keep using it instead of fixing it

For some people the issue of trust is that check engine light

Trust is central to salvation

Romans 10:9

That word believe in the Greek is pisti. It means to have faith, to entrust, to trust someone. So believe in your heart means trust in your heart

When you say I believe in Jesus, you are saying I trust that Jesus is the way to the Father and the one who can get me to eternal life

John 17:3

Eternal life is in Christ

Acts 4:12

The claim of Jesus is absolute. He didn't say I am a way, he said I am the way. If you miss Jesus, you are in damnation

He is the image of the invisible God. That word is icon. Colossians 1:15

Illustration: the Instagram icon

On your phone, looking at the Instagram icon doesn't take you to Instagram. You have to press it to enter the world of Instagram

Jesus is the icon of the invisible God. If you want to see God, you press Jesus. If you press any other thing, you will not get to God.

God is only found in Christ Jesus

Illustration: the bus and the plane

Every other religion claims to find a way. One says enter this bus, we will find a way. Another says relax and enter a place of release, we will find out together

Jesus says you don't have to find a way. If you are traveling and don't know the way, you enter a plane. The pilot has the map.

All you do is sit, eat and sleep, and you wake up at your destination. That is what salvation is about

You enter Jesus' plane. The Holy Spirit drives you to the Father, because he came from there

Anybody who subscribes to a religion put trust in its protagonist. When you say I am a Christian, you are saying I trust that Jesus' claim pertaining to salvation is true

When somebody is struggling to trust God, you are touching the very fabric of salvation

Once you receive salvation, God believes that if you have done that big thing, every other small thing should be easy for you

Resurrection and cancer

Somebody believes their body will decay to bone, and then in a twinkling of an eye, with the blast of the trumpet, they will come out of the coffin, be taken up and given a glorified body.

If you died with cancer, you rise healthy. 1 Corinthians 15:51 to 1 Corinthians 15:52

That person believes that and doesn't believe God can fix their body. You can believe in the hope of resurrection and not believe God for healing cancer.

We have the capacity to believe, but we are struggling to surrender

You can't be a Christian and not believe in miracles, because transformation is a miracle. You come to Christ an angry person and now you feel bad about being angry.

God did a miracle surgery on your heart

Once trust is broken in your Christian walk, things are not fine. Your check engine light is on

Most times we don't give God an opportunity to earn our trust, or we assume realities and get hurt. Even when we get hurt, we don't trust God to fix us.

These unresolved injuries are the reasons we fear to believe, to trust and to release our faith

Signs that your heart is scared to believe

1. You only ask God for what you could achieve by yourself

   So your faith will not be tested

   You start believing God for a job only when they have said we really like you and you've done the final round.

   The initial stage of the interview, you are scared

2. You add disclaimers to every hope

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   I'm believing God, but I'm not getting my hopes up

3. You celebrate others' testimonies with a quiet ache

   Their miracle reminds you of your delay. I will show you in John 11 how that looks

4. You stop bringing that request to God

   You pray about every other thing except the one thing that hurts you

   As a pastor to my generation, a lot of people are ashamed to tell me what they want from God is marriage.

   They say pastor I'm feeling lonely, I'm feeling depressed, but you can see in their eyes that what they need is a partner. They say I'm just focusing on my business

   The devil makes you feel your need is so small. You should be grateful for other things, why be concerned about this one.

   But somebody that needs a job, a baby, a marriage, everything is a need

   If the devil can convince you to say you don't care, you kill the miracle with what you say. Numbers 14:27 to Numbers 14:30

   God had promised them the promised land. See what God says: I have heard the complaint the Israelites are making against me.

   As surely as I live, I will do to you the very things I heard you say

   So when you say I don't want marriage, I don't care, God says that is what I will do for you.

   If I say yes and you say no, what will stand is your no, because it is your life

   Avoiding your prayer points is avoiding your miracle

5. You think people who prophesy good things over you have a sweet mouth

   Someone says this is your year and something in you says amen, you smile, but inside you say they said this last year too

6. You call your unbelief being realistic

   You rebrand your fear as maturity. It sounds like I have learned to manage my expectations

7. The excitement and faith of new converts annoys you or scares you for them

   You say they are still new, life hasn't happened to them yet. God showed me I have to watch this too

8. You lower your friends' expectations

   When your friend shares a big dream or bold prayer, your first instinct is to lower their expectations so they won't get hurt like you.

   It sounds like I'm only telling you this because I care, don't get your hopes too high

   You think you are protecting them from failure. You are actually spreading your unbelief as an infection

9. You hear whispers when we sing

   We sing you never failed me yet, and in your mind you hear, what about 2021, what about this time

If anything I have read sounds like conversations in your heart, you are scared to believe God

The harps on the willows

Psalm 137:1 to Psalm 137:4

They did not destroy their harps. They hung them. The instrument of worship was not destroyed, it was suspended

This is the picture of a scared believer. The capacity to have faith is still there but it is kept somewhere. They have not renounced God. They have only chosen to suspend their expectations

You didn't lose your faith. You hid it where disappointment couldn't reach it. But the Lord whispered, you hid it where God's promises couldn't reach it either

Bible characters can relate to this frustration

Too much knowledge hinders faith

As I grew in Christ I started understanding why God wants us to be childlike. It looks like the more you know, the harder it is to trust

Sometimes the best time of your life as a Christian was the initial genuine conversion. Not every knowledge is good knowledge. Sometimes innocence and ignorance is better than too much knowledge

The older generation worked in power more. We work in grammar more. We know too many things we don't need to know

I can give you an apologia of why your faith won't work. The power of faith is being oblivious to the fact that it won't

If I can theologically explain why it won't, then as I approach sick people I have prepared my mind in case it doesn't work, which is doubt, and I can talk myself into calling it being faithful.

That is a bad sign

If you pray for a sick person and they don't get well and you are not surprised, you are sick.

If you lay hands on people and it doesn't work and you dust it off like nothing happened, you are sick spiritually. It's not normal

Mark 6:5 to Mark 6:6

Jesus laid hands on a few sick people and healed them, and he marveled because of their unbelief. Jesus was puzzled that it didn't work.

For us it is when it works that we say, this is strange

The first time I prayed for a girl on crutches and it didn't work, I went to my room and told God I'm not talking to you, I'm not praying for 3 days.

I wanted to punish him, as if my prayer means something. I was extremely disappointed

Sometimes people call with bad news. I was on the phone telling someone please don't kill yourself, and my wife came in with food. The next thing to do is pray.

I dropped the food and said Father, have mercy

Some believers testify, I didn't believe God could do it for me, I just want to give God praise. As a faith person, the goodness of God should never surprise you.

You should be in thanksgiving but not surprised

Hope deferred makes the heart sick

The Bible does not hide or silence our human experiences. It gives them a voice, analyzes, explains and seeks to heal

Proverbs 13:12

Deferred is mashak in the Hebrew. It means to draw out, to drag, to prolong. It is hope not denied but delayed so long that the waiting itself becomes a sickness

Sick is kala. It means weakened or grieved, like the sorrow of death

The Bible acknowledges that prolonged waiting wounds our souls. If you have the fear of believing again, it is not a character flaw. It is a natural response because your heart is sick

The Bible does not shame you. It acknowledges you and seeks to heal you

Many believers are not backsliding. They are heartsick.

They prayed for a marriage, a child, a job, a healing, a breakthrough, and the delay taught their heart, don't hope too much, it will hurt you less

At the end of this sermon, dust your prayer points and say God, I'm going again. You gave me this promise and I'm standing on it

Gideon: God answers bitterness with an assignment

Judges 6:12 to Judges 6:14

The angel called him mighty man of valor. Gideon said to his face, if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us. Where are all the miracles

The angel did not kill him or strike him. The Lord turned to him and said go in this might of yours and you shall save Israel

The answer to his question was an assignment. You are asking where are the miracles, but you are not positioned to do miracles.

You have to put yourself in that place of discomfort you are afraid of

Before we say where are those kind of men, remember Smith Wigglesworth. Somebody died, he carried the dead body and threw it on the wall, and the person came back to life.

This is the testimony of people in his ministry

Testimony: the girl with the broken hand

In a vision I saw myself walk to a girl with a bandaged hand and pull her hand down. I had never met her.

When I got to her she stepped back and said please don't touch it, her hand was broken

I pulled the hand down, and she shouted, she was healed

Acts 3:6

The disciples at the Beautiful Gate said silver and gold we have none, in the name of Jesus of Nazareth rise up and walk. The man was looking at them, and they lifted him up

There is an intoxication the spirit of faith has, and many people can't play that risk. If I pull that hand and the girl isn't fine, the other hand will slap me.

You decide, slap or do what I saw

Don't say God doesn't heal if you have never laid hands on the sick. If I pray for 10 people and three are healed, was it worth trying for the entire 10?

It is a lose-lose situation when you don't try

A lot of people are too proud to manifest the supernatural. You are not doing it in your name.

Maybe you don't do it because you want the glory, or you are ashamed that if it doesn't work, people will think you don't have power

If you detach yourself from the glory, you can detach yourself from the shame. If you cannot detach yourself from the shame, you want the glory

God did not rebuke the question. He recruited the questioner

Honest doubt spoken in his presence is far better than polite unbelief hidden behind religious language

John the Baptist: doubt does not change the calling

Matthew 11:2 to Matthew 11:11

John heard in prison about the works of Christ and sent his disciples to ask are you the coming one or do we look for another. This is the heart of somebody who is hurt.

If John the Baptist can get to this point, you can get to it

What was hurting John was not what Jesus was doing. It was that he didn't do it for him.

You see videos and hear testimonies and say God, you can do this, so why are you not doing it for me. It probably means you don't like me

Don't say God hates me. Once you make that statement you sign up for failure. It is too expensive to say.

The children of Israel said it is because God hates us, and the Bible says God left them to be destroyed. Deuteronomy 1:27

Jesus' answer

The blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised. These come from the book of Isaiah. Isaiah 26:19, Isaiah 35:4 to Isaiah 35:6

John got his ministry from Isaiah, I am the voice crying in the wilderness. So when Jesus quoted Isaiah, John got what he was saying

The major thing about John's life was to identify the Messiah. Baptism was not his purpose. It was the arena where he fulfilled his purpose

The Bible calls him the greatest prophet because every prophet prophesied that Jesus would come, and he was the only prophet who saw the promise and pointed at it. John 1:29

When John got in problems, he doubted whether he did a good job. He doubted his purpose

Offense is prophetic. Once you get offended in God, you start seeing strange pictures and everything becomes blurry

John said behold the Lamb of God twice, and said I'm not worthy to take his sandals. Then offense came and he asked are you sure you are the Christ.

He was doubting his entire existence

Jesus said blessed is he who is not offended because of me. When you are offended in Jesus, chances are you always depart. As they departed, Jesus began to speak to the multitude concerning John

Jesus answers John's doubt by affirming John. What did you go out to see, a prophet, yes, and more than a prophet.

Among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist

When you doubt God for healing, he calls you a healer. The very area you are doubting is where he gives you an assignment

If you are doubting, chances are you are anointed for it. The doubt doesn't change the calling

If you are struggling with trust in an area, there is an invitation from God to clear that trust. Just as Gideon was given an assignment, you have an assignment in that area

Faith and patience

There is a difference between process and delay. Because the promise is delayed, we think it is denial and don't want to believe God for it again. That is not what the Bible teaches

Hebrews 6:11 to Hebrews 6:15

Do not become sluggish, but imitate those who through faith and patience inherit the promise. You see faith and patience together about 10 times in the New Testament

You can't have faith without patience. If it is faith, you will have to wait. Abraham waited 25 years for Isaac. In that waiting is where God furnishes you

After he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise

James 1:2 to James 1:4

I know you need things, but I want you entire, wanting nothing, so that when I give you that thing it will not take you from me. God gives blessings, he doesn't give idols

The more you pray for something, the more it looks like it gets prolonged. When you don't want it again is when God gives it to you

Don't make utterances like I don't care. The not wanting it again means you get to a point where it doesn't matter even if it doesn't happen

But if not

Daniel 3:13 to Daniel 3:18

Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego said our God whom we serve is able to deliver us and he will deliver us. That is faith. But if not, we will not serve your gods.

They wanted the deliverance

I believe, but if not, I'm fine. I want it, but I want you more. I want faith but I'm also faithful. You are more than things to me

This is the balance of faith so that your faith will never suffer shipwreck

One extreme is I don't want it so I don't care, and you miss out on miracles. The other extreme is putting God on trial: if you don't do it, you are not good

The balance is you will deliver me, but even if I'm here, nothing will steal your praise from my mouth

David's praise

Praise waits for you in Zion. David was telling God you will be catching up with my praise. Psalm 65:1

He fasted dry for 7 days praying for his son to come back to life. The boy died. He picked himself up, took a shower and started eating.

They asked him, you were just trusting for this boy to live. He said he is God, he has judged. The next day he was in the tabernacle worshiping.

2 Samuel 12:16 to 2 Samuel 12:23

The promise does not define God. Maybe you are trusting God for a child to change, for a genotype change, for sanity for a child. Don't let the need take all from you

God will give you Isaac when you get to a point where if he says go and kill him, you will do it.

If you have not gotten there, you have not gotten to the place of full persuasion

Faith is also faithfulness

Hebrews 11:32 to Hebrews 11:38

Women received their dead raised to life. Others were tortured, not accepting deliverance that they might obtain a better resurrection. Others had trial of mockings, scourgings, chains and imprisonment. This is also faith

They don't teach us this one in church. They only tell us faith is declare, let it come back to life. But faith is also dying for what you believe.

Jesus is worth living for and worth dying for

Illustration: terrorists in the church

Terrorists come and ask who is the pastor. They say denounce Jesus and we will not kill you. She refuses, they shoot her, and the bullets do not work.

Everybody says that is faith at work

If they shoot her and it works, the Bible also calls it faith. The first manifested charismatic faith. The second manifested faithfulness

That is what Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego were saying. We will manifest faith, but if he doesn't show up, we choose our powerless God.

My God won't do it, I like him like that, he is still my God

This is not a cute religion. This is a bloody religion. If you understand this, you can't backslide. Some people say I'm not a Christian anymore, I was trusting God for a job

Of whom the world was not worthy. You can be a laughingstock on earth and a wonder in heaven

In charismatic faith you are a man in need of God. In faithfulness you manifest godship.

You are in a God class, manifesting eternal life, where you are in this not for what you can get but for what you can give. You are ready to lose everything for your conviction

Everything put together is faith. The one who received Isaac and the one who received his dead back to life, and those who wandered in deserts and mountains, dens and caves.

All of it is faith

Process is not delay

Deuteronomy 8:2 to Deuteronomy 8:4

There is a wilderness phase. The wilderness is your process into the promised land. It can be 40 days and you can make it 40 years. It depends on how you respond in the wilderness

God led you to humble you and test you. Test doesn't mean tense. A test is always given after instruction, just as a teacher cannot test you on what they have not taught you

God's test is not a temptation. Temptation is to lure you from God's will. God's test is to affirm that what he taught you, you know

2 kinds of tests

• Open book tests. Like me giving you spiritual intelligence now, and you realize you are actually going through a test
• Impromptu tests. Elisha told the man get a bow and arrow, shoot. He shot three times and stopped. Elisha said you should have shot more. He was writing a test and didn't know. 2 Kings 13:14 to 2 Kings 13:19

Sometimes God is gracious and gives you a revision class. Before God tells you to kill Isaac, he first says send Ishmael away.

If you can't get Ishmael to go, you are not fit to write the Isaac test. Genesis 21:10, Genesis 22:2

How to know it is a process and not a delay or an attack

In a wilderness period God provides manna. You may not have a job, but you will eat three times a day and you will be fine

A prophetic word from a friend will come that you are in a process, you are not in delay

Your garments did not wear out. You don't have work but people are reaching out asking to borrow money. You don't look like what you are going through. That means God is supplying manna

If it is a delay, you will be borrowing and suffering shame. Manna will not fall

Your foot did not swell. You have been jobless for 2 years, you don't have insurance, and you have forgotten you have not fallen sick. You are in a process

When God supplies manna, give him exorbitant praise. Thank him. There is a way you thank somebody who helps you, and there is a way you thank God publicly

God's thoughts are not our thoughts

Isaiah 55:8

If this thing is taking too long, trust God

Testimony: the promotion

Our pastor in Ibaja was trusting God for a promotion. Every time they promoted people at work, they did not promote him. He asked company A to increase his salary for 3 years and nothing.

Company A got acquired by company B

During last year's mountain of solutions, company B reached out to him. He did not apply. They offered him a job with 10 times the salary

They usually have four rounds of interview. He did only two. The role was miraculously kept open for 2 years

His new company bought his old company, and he became his boss's boss

When he was praying for company A to increase his salary, God answered, but his thoughts were not his thoughts

The game is not over. If you are still believing, you are still believing. If you quit, you end the game and you lose.

Once we are fighting, even if you are beating me, we are still fighting until the end

Surrender and say Lord, I trust you with my life. Give him your life and walk away. Proverbs 23:26

Think about his faithfulness over your life and let it stir faith. This is a supernatural month

Bold confessions

Mark 11:23

Seize the momentum. You have heard preaching so faith has come, and tomorrow it might be taken from you with Instagram

Speak to mountains in your life, mountains of delay, failure and sickness. Speak to your business

• Who told you he can't give you? Who has spoken when God has not spoken?
• Cancer, move in the name of Jesus. Mountain of delay, move.
• All things are possible to me.
• Lord, I know I've prayed about it several times, but I come again. I go again. I believe you for this.
• By the next year's mountain of solutions I will be sharing my testimony.
• I'm coming with my baby, my spouse, my settlements, my testimony. My mother will not die. My father will not die.
• What the enemy meant for evil, God has turned it for my good.
• For people trusting God for a job, I will receive my approval.
• Father, we know you will use this to teach us that you can be trusted. Every prayer request mentioned in this 30 days of prayer and fasting, honor my words. Let it happen for your children.
• Let testimonies be abounding in the Zoe household. Strange miracles.

Genesis 50:20

When your testimony comes, don't say it is too fast. Those who have been asking God for a long time, especially pertaining to marriage. Don't say something is too fast, because you introduce the hand of God

I'm praying for you speed. It will be fast because you have been waiting. Good measure, pressed together, in your bosom.

I see God stabilizing a child. Believe him again. We declare no loss.

Word of knowledge: someone was given 10 days to leave this country and has used three. One week left. The Lord said your foot will not be moved. Let there be approvals.

If you believe, you will rejoice