Giving God Full Control — David Wilkerson

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Giving God Full Control

I want to speak to you on the subject, giving God full control. Giving God full control. Now Jesus, come. Holy Spirit, move. Speak to me and speak through me and give us ears to hear what the Spirit has to say.

In Jesus' name, Amen. Giving God full control. In the past two weeks, the Supreme Court of the United States has outlawed any of the Ten Commandments posted in any of our courts. They can post it outside, but all the Ten Commandments in our courts have to be erased.

While I stand here now, especially in California, California is in a frenzy, trying to get as many sandblasters as possible as soon as possible to get rid of the Ten Commandments engraved in marble and concrete in our courts.

Can you imagine the sandblasting is going to take place all over the United States now that the Supreme Court has outlawed the showing of the Ten Commandments? You see, these laws are eternal laws. They were originally written by the finger of God in stone.

And I cringe when I hear Christians say, well, we are no longer under the law. We're not under the 613 added laws added by the rabbis. 613 laws. We're not under that law, but we're under what is called the moral law.

Those are the Ten Commandments. If you say you're not under that, which one do you mean you're not under? Do you mean that you can commit adultery? The Lord said thou shalt not commit adultery. Are you no longer under that?

Thou shalt not kill. Are you not under that? We are under this moral law of God. And now I cringe when I think of it. Can you imagine the angels outside of these courts all over the United States and especially outside the Supreme Court?

And there are a number of godly Christians. And I talked to one last Sunday who was a part of that. And they stood for weeks outside weeping and praying. And the Bible said we have guardian angels who guard us.

How many of those guardian angels must have, if angels weep, must have been weeping? And I wonder how many of those angels that camp around about the saints of God ask permission for God, give them permission to do something to stop this madness.

These laws, you say, all we need to do is have these laws written in our heart. It shouldn't be an issue. I shouldn't even be talking about it. And that comes from many Christian sources. We should not be disturbed because we have the law written in our hearts.

And listen to what the Scripture says. He said these laws are to be ever in the frontlets of our eyes. I mean, always visible before our eyes. Scripture says in these words or these commandments shall be in your heart.

Yes. But they shall also bind them for a sign upon your hand. They shall be as frontlets or visible between your eyes. Furthermore, God says, and then write them on the post and the gates of your house.

The gates of the city always were they adjudicated. This is where the law was was enforced. And he says, put them in the post, put them before your eyes. And now I wonder how horrified they are in heaven as they look on this.

What is in the mind of God when he sees a nation pushing God out of the schools, all of our institutions? And soon we will they will be going after one nation under God. And in our coins, in God, we trust to absolutely wipe the name of God out of our society.

You think for a moment God is going to stand still, that God will not act? You know, I just came from Europe and the European Union tried to out of Brussels. And we were in Brussels. And you could feel the Antichrist spirit because you see, they introduced a constitution where only a few countries that we insist that God be included the name of God, that that that there is a God they want to acknowledge God and the elite judges in Brussels, those representing most of the secular nation said, no, we will not.

France and Germany especially emphasized no. And in Spain, the new president refused to take an oath on the Bible for the first time in a Catholic nation. You can imagine how secular Europe is becoming.

And folks, as soon as they did that, even though the Constitution was voted down, they're going to come back. You can believe it. And it won't be long. And there'll be a constitution that absolutely is secular and no mention of God and what they are saying in essence.

And they're making the statement, God, you keep your heaven, but give us the earth. Get out of our face. Get out of our face. And that's what is happening here in the United States of America. And we should be grieved.

There should be a weeping inside for our great nation. And we love our country. But we see what is happening by elite judges trying to take away the very name of God and wipe it out of our society. Look what's happened now in Europe.

Look what's happening in Germany. Massive unemployment. And now there's turmoil in France. Both of the leaders of those nations in trouble. They can't even govern because there's such chaos. And that's just the beginning.

Their welfare roles are going out of control. The governments are shaking. And all over Europe there's fear. And that's only the beginning. Because, you see, if you don't want God, he doesn't just go away.

You say, we don't want you. He says, okay, I'll see you. No, no, no. God says, no, no, no. You will not take my people. You will not take. You will not take from me what I have given. You will not destroy my laws.

It cannot and will not happen. Even though we see this happening, it's because of a spirit of lawlessness. Remember what it was said of Lot. His soul was vexed day and night by the lawlessness that he beheld.

It's a spirit of lawlessness. This is why God destroyed Sodom. This is why God destroyed the nations, the world with a flood, because of violence and lawlessness. It was absolute lawlessness. In your face, homosexuality.

In your face, violence. And the same thing, God, get out. We want nothing to do with you. And God moved immediately in these things. When you get to the book of Genesis, when you leave the book of Genesis and you come into the history of Israel, and you see God always looking for a people.

Israel in the Wilderness as God's Testimony

He's looking for a testimony. He's looking for those who will bend to his laws, receive his laws, and give themselves in full control. And God wanted a people that he could use as a trophy, so to speak, as a teaching testimony.

He would take a people, a small people, an insignificant people, and he takes them out into the wilderness and he puts them in a situation where everything is out of control. They can't control their society.

They can't control the food problem. They can't control the water situation. They are in fiery trials. They're in a black wilderness. And God takes a people. God has always been looking for a people who will fully trust him, be totally dependent upon him.

So he takes in the midst of all this turmoil, this godlessness, people serving false gods, people bending before gods who can't see, who can't hear, who can't feel, who can't comfort, who can't lead, who can't direct.

And God says, I have to have a testimony. When I was a younger preacher, it used to bother me. Why would God just move on a small group of people called Israel? And here's a whole heathen world out here.

Does God not have a testimony? Is he not speaking to them, the Turks, all of what are now the European nations and China, the whole world? Is God just going to send his Savior to Israel, a small group of people?

No, God says, I'm looking for a people. I don't have to have a large group. I have to have a remnant, if necessary, that will trust me and put their lives in my hands and become wholly dependent, that I will be everything to them.

I will meet every need. I will do miracles on their behalf. But I have to have a people who fully trust and put me in control of their lives, every aspect, every detail of their life. So he isolates the people in the wilderness where there's no water, there's no food.

And he comes down and he makes them absolutely dependent on himself. There is a darkness in the wilderness called a darkness that can be felt. It's so black, it's so dark. And that cloud, he says, he said, I will lead you by a cloud.

And at night I'm going to comfort you. There's going to be a glow, a fire of warmth. And you're not going to be left alone. And I'm going to provide everything you need. You won't need to trust in any man.

And then when the whole world sees you coming and existing in a wilderness where people ask, who's their support? Who feeds them? They have no grass for their cattle. They have no water wagons. How do they eat?

How do they survive? How are they directed? There are no compasses in those days. And how did they find their way through this wilderness and where are they going? And what's that cloud that hangs over them?

And it's a testimony to the whole world. God is training a people. God is getting ready for people to be a testimony to the whole heathen world. Here is a God who hears. Here's a God who answers prayer.

Here is a God who leads and directs. And all he asks is faith. All he asks is confidence. All he asks, you put your life in my hands. I've been speaking over and over again from this pulpit about that kind of life.

Walking in the spirit. Walking in confidence that God can lead in the minutest detail of our life. And you see, God has to take them into wilderness and he brings about in their life impossible situations.

Situations they can't control. There's no control. There's nothing they can do. And God brings them. For example, to the Red Sea. Hemmed in with mountains on both sides. An impossible river in front of them.

Pharaoh breathing down fire behind them. And they're in an absolutely hopeless situation. And this is where God is saying, here's the testimony I want. Here's the test. I have to put you in impossible situations to invoke faith.

To bring out of you faith and confidence. So that no matter what happens in the future. No matter what you have to go through, you're going to be a testimony to the world. That just resting in him. Just believing in his faithfulness.

Live or die, you're going to come through this and God will be glorified. He brings them. God brings them to that impossible situation by the Red Sea. They have two options. They have an option to just kneel and say, oh, God.

God of our fathers. You who have delivered us out of the hand of Egyptians. You who sent these plagues upon our enemies. You have directed and now you're fulfilling your promises. You will not fail us now.

And just lift their hands and begin to praise. That's all they had to do. Rest and praise the Lord. And those waters would have opened. They sang the right song on the wrong side. I preached that sermon years ago.

I've heard it repreached by many, many others. They came on the other side and suddenly they had faith. Because all their enemies are dead now. They sing that song of deliverance and Miriam and the women dance before the Lord with tambourines and saying, thank God.

It's easy to have faith when you're already through the battle. But God said, you sing the right song on the right side. You sing it on the testing side while you're being tested. And then you sing your song.

Trusting God in Impossible Circumstances

And God still works this way. Beloved, this faithful God who's trying to raise a testimony to a heathen, godless world, a world that is restless, a world that is hopeless. A world that cringes in fear of the future.

Almighty God is looking for a holy people who will be this testimony. And God has to take you into places that are beyond your control. He takes you to situations that apparently, humanly speaking, are impossible.

You see, the other option the children of Israel had was to say in their hearts and to one another, this is not fair of God to take me this kind of test. This is unfair. This is not right that God would allow me to suffer like I'm suffering now and go through the turmoil I'm going through now.

It's not right of God. I don't have the capacity to believe for such an impossible, for any miracle to come out of this. There are many of us that are listening to me now. You're going through the test of your life.

You are in a situation that is humanly absolutely impossible. And God took Israel. You say, well, I've been through a few of those, Brother Dave. I don't need any more. You say, I've had some heavy ones.

Why? Why would God take me through this now? Because God has a plan for you. Because God is looking. Where is he going to find the testimony if he can't find it in you and me? Where can he find those?

You see, ten times he comes to these people. Ten times he puts them in situations, hoping that just one time they can rest and say, this time, Lord, I'm trusting you through this. This time, no complaints.

This time, no regrets. This time, no questions. This time, I will rest. And whatever happens, I'm going to say, God is in control. You see, the Bible says they were promised that out of heaven God would make them to hear his voice.

He might instruct them. They would hear his words. Their own testimony was who is there among all flesh, among all mankind, who's heard the voice of the living God and survived. But I think it's a tragedy that so many Christians don't believe that God speaks today.

I mean, individually to our hearts. Oh, they believe he speaks to maybe preachers or to some who are giving yourselves to prayer and fasting. And maybe God speaks to them. But God's not speaking to me.

And I hear that from so many young couples that are deep in debt, many young people that are making all kinds of decisions at the spur of the moment. And they're saying, where is God? Why isn't God speaking to me?

Why am I in such a mess? You see, it's not wrong to shop till you drop, I guess. I know it's not wrong to invest and it's not wrong to go for a house and a car and provide for your family. That's scripture.

In fact, we're commanded to care for our families. But you see, we there's there's a book that's been written called Blink via Lion King, like the blink of an eye. And the subtitle of this book is the power of thinking without thinking.

Now, you figure that one out. You see, the new generation being called the blink generation. Instant decisions. No thinking, but go by instinct. And they even have their own language. Window of opportunity.

You got to get on this deal. This deal is the deal of a lifetime. You can make bucks in such a short time. You just mortgage your house a second time and you go and speculate and get another house. You can sell the six months and you can make fifty thousand hundred thousand dollars.

You can be rich. And they have their own language now. Deal of a lifetime. Deal of the century. Blink, blink, blink. The blink generation. Let me ask you, saints. This last year. How many decisions did you make on the blink?

How many decisions in the past month did you make without praying? You see, when I grew up, when I was a boy, we there was there was a statement in the church. Every every time there was a situation came with somebody asked for prayer or somebody knew the decision makers.

Did you pray? Did you take it to God? Did you seek the Lord on this? I ask you that now. How many decisions are you making? Because you see, when you make a decision on your own, when you just make a blink decision, you're going to get in a mess.

You get in a real mess. This is a messed up generation for most part. I love this generation. We got a lot of messes going on because we got a lot of blinking going on. All the prophets said. You see, Israel failed the test.

They wondered helplessly for 38 more years in the wilderness. They did not become that testimony. In fact, when you get to Jeremiah, Jeremiah said, you have rejected God. You've rejected. We said we'll not have this man rule over us.

They became lawless till it closes out, saying every man became a law to himself. You see, that's what we have now in America and around the world, not just in this country, but everywhere I travel in the world.

Absolute lawlessness. It's not just in Columbia where drug lords are trying to rule the country. It's not just in the secular countries. It's in even in so-called Christian countries now. Spirit of lawlessness.

You see, we say we don't want God's laws and God comes along and says, I, the only way I can counteract this, the only testimony I have are people that I can find who will trust me and set an example and be a teaching people, be a trophy people to the whole world while everybody is shaking, where everybody is trembling, everybody is running around trying to find an answer, everybody running to get a word from the Lord somewhere, from some prophet.

I'm not putting that down. There are two prophets. But if you can't find in your secret closet, if you can't find in your walk with God, a savior who can talk to you, a God who can minister to you and give you direction, you can run off and you're going to get the wrong word.

You're going to get some other kind of word. And God says, I want to give you that word. I want to speak into your heart. I want to lead you and I want you to be I want you to be a believer who is so trusting, so committed to the to the leading of the Holy Spirit that you will be at rest.

And when everybody around you is trembling and everybody is full of fear, you have that piece of God that passes all understanding. You're not shaking. You're not trembling because you've heard a word from God.

And God said, everything's under control. I'm with you. Don't be afraid. God is looking for that testimony. Don't be afraid to clap. I'm not going to stop you from clapping. So the prophet said he's going to send him aside, go send his own son.

He's going to raise up this kind of people he's been searching for. And you know how Jesus came. He said, I came not to do my will, but what? The will of the heavenly father. And Jesus came to show us how it can be if we trust the father, the life that we can have.

The confidence here. Here's a man who had absolute no agenda of his own. In fact, I want you to go with me, if you will, to John, the fifth chapter, turn to John, the fifth chapter. I want you to hear it in the words of Jesus himself.

Jesus' Submission to the Father's Will

Fifth chapter of John. You see, God's looking for a people who lay down their own will, their own agenda and say, Jesus, I will trust you in everything. Five verses 19 and 20. Then answer Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the son of God, the son can do nothing of himself.

Nothing. Is that in your Bible, too? Amazing. If Jesus says this, how much more should that be what we are saying? The son of the son can do nothing of himself, but he sees the father do for what things, whoever he do it.

These also do it. The son likewise for the father, love of the son and show him all things that himself do it, that he will and he will show him greater works than these that you may marvel. Look at verse 30.

I can of my own self do nothing. As I hear, I judge. My judgment is just because I seek not my own will, but the will of the father which has sent me. Skip over to chapter six, please. Chapter six. And I want you to go to verse 38.

I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. I say it again. I came down from heaven not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. This is the life I believe that's possible.

God's been dealing with me for the past few years. And the older I get, the more I'm convinced that this is not just a fantasy. I believe with all of my heart that those who truly love Jesus can live a life wholly dependent on the Lord.

That you can take every problem you have. You can take every decision that has to be made. You can take it to God in prayer. And you can get an answer. You can hear from God yourself. And anything that you hear when you go to a counselor, they will only confirm what you heard personally from the Holy Spirit.

We have a whole generation making decisions. Christians by the millions around the world making decisions and getting in trouble and say, What did you pray? Well, no, I didn't pray. And when we do pray, we usually want God just to validate what we've already decided on.

Oh, Lord, this is a good idea. There's nothing more seductive than a good idea. But Lord, this is everything I want. And you said, if I seek you first, you give me the desire. I desire this. And we go to the Lord and pray.

We said, Lord, if this is not your will, just stop it. Stop it. But if it's your will, just open the doors. Well, that happened to Balaam. That's not your will. Stop him. He sent an angel and even wound up talking to his own donkey.

Can you imagine somebody talking to their dog? That's just the way it is. The man winds up because he God said no, but he wants a yes. And God withstood him with an angel to stop him. But then find God.

God sees what it's in your heart. You want to go ahead. Go ahead. I've learned when God says no, I'd better not say yes. Now things are getting quiet. These are just some practical things. It amazes me that we can sing about all of the revelations of who God is.

Jehovah-Jireh, God who provides. El Shaddai, Adonai, Jehovah, Elohim. And we know all these names. But then when we get in a crisis, these things just do not seem to have an impact on us. We talk about I serve Jehovah-Jireh, my provider.

And then when we get into a financial mess because we've been blinking too much, making decisions on despair, instinct, instinct. Let me tell you something. God made it clear to me, David, I won't work on your deadlines.

You're not going to give me a window of opportunity. I don't look at windows of opportunity. I am opportunity. We give God these deadlines. We think we've got to just do what our instincts tell us. And God says no, wait on me.

Waiting on God Rather Than Acting on Instinct

Wait on me. This is a hurried generation that want to wait. But God says you wait on me and I'll speak to you. How do I give full control to God? How can I do this? That's the question. I suggested that in my title of the sermon of giving, the intent of giving everything to God's control.

Now, I can't give you a formula. All I can give you is how God is working by a spirit in my own life, how he's teaching me to give everything into his control. There's two simple things that God's been teaching me.

First of all, I've got to be convinced God is anxious and willing to make his will known to me in every detail of my life. I have got to be convinced he's anxious and willing to convey to me through the Holy Spirit the mind of God.

Do you believe that God wants to speak to you? Do you believe that God wants to give you his mind? He has a will and a purpose for every life. It's different than mine. Yours will be different. God doesn't have this one palette and he paints everybody with this one color.

No, it's a mosaic. God has a plan and a purpose for every life that's different from every other. Everyone is unique. And you've got to you have to be convinced in your heart, absolutely convinced. God does speak.

God will speak. If I'll give him an opportunity, if I'll give him an ear, if I'll spend time with him, if I'll take it to him in prayer, when he the spirit of truth has come, he will guide you into all truth.

He shall glorify me for he shall receive of mine and he will show it unto you. Would you skip over, please, quickly to Isaiah, the 30th chapter, please. Isaiah, 30th chapter of Isaiah in the Old Testament.

Again, I want you to read it for yourself in the scripture here. I'll read it to you. But I want you to see it and mark it in your Bible if you're a marker. 30th chapter, verses 19, starting at verses 19.

For the people so dwell in Zion of Jerusalem. In Zion at Jerusalem, they shall weep no more. He will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will answer thee. And though the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers be removed from a corner anymore, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers.

Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way. Walk ye in it when you turn to the right hand or when you turn to the left. Now, look at me, please. I want to get this across and I speak it in the Holy Spirit.

I don't care if you've made blink decisions and it's caused difficulty. I don't care how you got into the situation. These situations, remember, are allowed by God and are brought on by God to those who he has chosen to be his testimonies.

But I read here from the prophet, though the Lord has given you the bread of adversities and the water of affliction. The Lord has given it to you. Though you're going through this and maybe the confusion and it's been it's been confused by these sudden instinct decisions you've made in the past.

Yet shall your teachers not be removed into a cornerment, but thine eyes shall see thy teachers. In other words, the word is going to come. God is going to show you a way out. Your ears will hear a word behind the saying, this is the way.

Walk in it when you turn to the right hand and when you turn to the left. Now, folks, I believe that. I believe that. And in the past few years, I've been proving that little because you see, when God says you have to.

Staying the Course After Hearing God's Direction

This is number two. First of all, you've got to believe that God is willing and anxious to speak to you and make his mind known to you. And secondly, you've got to pray when you hear his voice for power and authority to stay the course so that your flesh does not pull you away from what God has said.

Or this devil can't pull you away from that decision that you've had to make because God spoke it to you. So many people are given a word from the Lord, a true word. They've been in prayer and fasting and seeking the Lord and God has clearly spoken to them.

But then when word gets out of the decision that's being made, friends, family, experts, even pastors will come and say, well, that's not reasonable. Sometimes God will ask of you things that are utterly unreasonable.

It was absolutely unreasonable to leave a comfortable, safe pastorate in a little town in Pennsylvania years ago and come to New York City to preach to gangs. Everybody around me say you'll get killed.

It was unreasonable. But the Lord said, I want you to go. And now there are 500 of those drug centers around the world. You know, let me let me get to this. You clap a little later. But here's here's what is really unreasonable to get in here and then to tell Gwen, I'm going down where the miles are.

They've been in the headlines, a killer gang. I'm going down there to preach. You're going to do what? I'm going down to preach. Why? Because God said so. God said so. Gwen's always said amen to that.

And then, you know, that's where we met Nikki Cruz and Nikki Cruz has been an advantageous one, not just hundreds of thousands, but even millions to Christ. It was even more unreasonable when God spoke to my heart.

Go back to New York City and raise up a church right in Times Square on Broadway. But you see, reason said, well, look, there are no auditoriums in Times Square, only theaters. God said, oh, I know. Go look around.

Hallelujah. All God asked of me is that I am willing and committed to do what he tells me to do, whether it's yes or whether it's no. I'm committed. Whatever the cost is, if you say no, it's no. And you say no because you know I'm headed for a disaster.

If I do this on my own, there's going to be a mess. And I've been in some big messes and I don't want any more. Glory to God. The Lord will test you on this. I hear people say, but Pastor Dave, that that's fine for you.

But I don't know if I'm spiritual enough to trust any voice. God is not a deceiver. He does not deceive his people. And when you are committed, absolutely committed to these two truths, that God is anxious and willing to speak his mind to me.

And secondly, when he speaks, he's promised me power. And I'm going to pray for that power and that authority of the Holy Spirit to be committed to that decision. And not turn to the right or to the left.

And I'm going to believe also that no matter what kind of mess is in my life or know what kind of trial that the Lord has given to me, whatever he's put me through, that God will give a word behind me saying this is the way.

Walk in it and there will be no confusion about it. Scripture says, let him ask in faith, nothing wavering for he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and tossed. For let not that man think he should receive anything of the Lord.

The Lord said, don't waver on what I tell you. Don't tremble. Don't waver. Hold on. Believe me and trust me and I will see you through. You're going to go through waters. You may go through a flood. You may go through a lion's den.

Responding to Trials Through Prayer and Faith

You may go through a furnace. But you will meet me there and I will see you through. You're not going down. God has everything under control. Let's stand, please. God brought some of you here this morning to hear this word because you're facing a trial.

You're facing something in your life that demands a miracle. I said again, in the overflow rooms, in the annex, wherever you're hearing my voice, you're seeing my face. I'm telling you now, I believe he's a God of miracles.

And some of you need nothing short of a miracle. I'm not about to believe that God performed miracles all through the Old Testament. He performed miracles for the New Testament church, for Peter, Paul and all the apostles.

And he's been performing miracles. And now on the last day when we need miracles more than we've ever needed in our lifetime, that God has shut down the miracle working. He has not. God wants to answer you if you will call upon him and believe him and lay down your doubts and your fears.

God is going to meet you. I'm going to open these what we call the altar area. It's just the front of this auditorium. If you're here this morning and say, Pastor David, I have been wavering in my faith and my confidence and I've been shaken.

And some of you here have been just drifting because of fear. Those of you don't know Christ at all. You do not have a living relationship with Jesus. Up in the balcony here in the main floor, just step out of your seat and join these if the spirit is nudging you.

If you feel the tug and pull of the Holy Spirit, just simply get out of your seat and come and join these. We'll pray with you and believe that before you walk out of this house, you will be touched by the hand of God.

Do you hear the words of that song? He's able to do more than I could dream. More than I ever think of. And that's the kind of God we serve. And God wants to heal many of you that are listening to me now.

He wants to heal the weariness that's in you. And that word came to me from the Holy Spirit. Weariness. You're just weary of the body. You're tired and you say, how long does this go on? How long? It's going to take a real step of faith for you to say and to bypass all these things that the enemy says that you've been faithful.

You've served him. And then you still have to go through things that few others have gone through. You're going through the battle test of your life. It takes real faith. It takes unwavering faith to bypass all of those doubts and fears of the flesh and say, Lord, I'm going to trust you through this.

Lord, I'm going to give you an ear. And I'm going to believe you that you will speak to me and you'll give me a word. Sometimes the Lord will say, stop trying to play God. Don't try to be God to your family.