Enter Into God's Rest — Zac Poonen

Christ’s Inner Rest Before the Cross

We can think that the Christian life is one of a lot of demands and taking up the cross. It's a question of how we face it. I was just reading Matthew 26. You know what Jesus did just before he went to the Garden of Gethsemane and was facing that cup he had to drink and going to the cross to die.

Just a few hours before he died they passed the cup and blood and the bread and the cup around. In Matthew 26 we read verse 26 they passed the bread around saying take eat this is my body and verse 28 this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many.

So he spoke about his body going to be given on the cross and his blood going to be poured out. A very painful thing he knew it was going to be. And then it says verse 30 they sang a hymn. That was something.

Just before going to the cross to die they sang a hymn. So I learned something there's one of the only places where we read that Jesus sang. I don't see any other place where it says they sang together.

And the one place they sang together was just before they went to the cross. Is there and then they went to the Mount of Olives and he prayed in Gethsemane and said in the same chapter verse 39 if it is possible let this cup pass for me.

It was a time of great agony. Facing being separated from the Father for our sin and they sang a hymn before doing that. It's a wonderful thing to sing a song before we go to the cross. To take up the cross singing a song, singing a hymn.

Because a lot of people think the cross is such a heavy thing and I've got to look miserable. Imagine singing a hymn and taking up the cross. That's what I learned from this passage. Because though it was painful there was an inner rest in Jesus life all the time.

No matter what was happening. Whether people were praising him or they were killing him. It was all the same to him. Now I want to say to you that that is the life that Jesus offers to every one of us.

Jesus’ Invitation to Rest

We don't have that nor naturally. Man is basically a creature of unrest. Ever since sin came into the world it's been constantly unrest. Unrest everywhere. There's unrest in the home, conflict and unrest in every home in the world including Christian homes.

There's unrest in the world and it gets worse and worse as time goes on and yet Jesus says here in Matthew 11 verse 28 to 30. He's talking about taking up the cross here in 29 and 30. Come to me all who are weary and heavy laden I'll give you rest.

Most people almost all people in the world are weary and heavy laden and it gets worse and worse as time goes on. Many Christians are weary and heavy laden. Many problems they don't know whom they can share it with and Jesus says come to me.

Take my yoke upon you that means take up the cross and follow me and learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. From that I see one thing. If I want a life of continuous rest in my inner being that is God's will for us.

In a world full of unrest caused by so many things, caused by financial problems, sicknesses, conflicts, fights, at home with relatives, in many churches, in the midst of it all we can live a life of rest in God.

That's a wonderful gospel and he says if you take my yoke upon you. Jesus is using a picture of plowing a field with two bullocks. Here's a senior bullock who's experienced for years and the other bullock has died so now they get a new junior bullock to learn how to plow a straight furrow and this junior bullock has to take the yoke on his neck with the senior bullock holding the other end of the yoke and together he has to walk at the same speed in the same direction as the older bullock.

This is what Jesus is meaning. Take my yoke upon you. He wants to walk with us and he said I am gentle and humble in heart and he will communicate that gentleness and humility to us in all our dealings.

It's a wonderful thing for Christians to learn gentleness and humility in the way they do things at home and in the way they do things with each other and in the way they speak to one another. Learn from me for I am gentle and humble in heart.

It has to begin in the heart. It's not something I put on you know where I act gentle and humble. No and I can have it in my heart if I decide I'm going to take the yoke of Jesus upon me. I want to walk only where he wants me to walk.

I'm the junior bullock and wherever he leads me I'll go if he turns left I'll turn left if he turns right I'll turn right. If he slows down or stops I'll slow down and stop. This is what it means to walk with Jesus.

He's always at the other end of the yoke. We'll never be alone. Never never never. It's a wonderful thing to walk on this earth never alone like we sing in that song no never alone. He's promised never to leave me never to leave me alone and I want to ask you my dear brothers do you sense the presence of Jesus with you from early morning throughout the day and especially when you're under some pressure?

It's what I seek to do every day of my life. It's the beginning of the morning. I say Lord I want you to walk with me. I'm not asking for an easy life. He never had an easy life on earth but in the midst of all the pressures of life he had an inner rest.

He was never restless. That's why he never got upset with people no matter what they did and you won't either if you have that inner rest. It's when we don't have that inner rest in our walk with God that we suddenly flare up or do something stupid that we regret later on or say something stupid that we regret.

Entering God’s Rest Through Faith

Yeah we can regret repent and ask forgiveness but I want to say there's a higher way where we don't speak like that. Where we live with the calmness and rest in our soul at all times. In the book of Hebrews we read like this Hebrews in chapter 3 speaks of the people of Israel who came out of Egypt symbolizing being born again with the blood on the doorposts baptized in the red sea symbolizing baptism and coming out from there it says here that the Lord verse Hebrews 3 17.

He was angry with them for 40 years. Why was he angry? Because they would not go into a land that God wanted them to go into. It's called the land of Canaan. They had come out of Egypt. They're a picture of people born again.

They're baptized in the red sea. People picture of people are born again and baptized but they wouldn't enter the land of Canaan. What does this land of Canaan symbolize? Very important to understand.

Why was God so angry that they didn't go into that land? Why did he make them fall in the wilderness? And to whom did he swear? Listen to this verse 18. That they would not enter his rest. Canaan is called a land of rest.

Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden wearied with so many things in the world. I'll give you rest. I believe it's God's will for us to have an inner rest no matter what happens in the world around us all the time.

Like I was saying the other day how there was a competition to a painting competition for someone who could paint a picture of perfect peace. And so many people painted pictures of a calm sky and waters flowing by a river and sheep walking down slowly.

And one person, this is the one that got the first prize, drew a picture of storm and lightning and thunder and all terrible black clouds and then a little hole in a rock where a dove sat quietly with her little ones.

That is a picture of rest in the midst of terrific storms around. Not when everything is calm and peaceful. Not when we are led by still rivers. But when there's a storm all around. He says because the world is never going to be a quiet calm place like calm rivers and all.

It's always going to be stormy and there are people around us who are always kicking up a fight or creating problems. That's the world we live in and it'll always be like that. And the more we approach the end so many things are going to happen.

It's going to be very difficult even for us to bring up our children. Schools are going to go in wrong directions. And in the midst of all this to have an inner life of rest that God gives us, this is God's promise for us.

Freedom From Self-Condemnation and Discouragement

He wants us to have a rest. He does not want us ever ever to live in self-condemnation. A lot of the unrest comes because we think we have to condemn ourselves to become spiritual. Self-condemnation is evil.

The devil wants you to condemn yourself because that brings a lot of unrest. God does not want us to condemn ourselves. God did not send his son for that. We all know John 3 16. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life.

Do you know John 3 17? God did not send his son to condemn the world but to save the world. And you know Romans chapter 8 verse 1? These are verses that must be true in our life. Romans 8 1 says, There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

My dear brothers, can you honestly say that you live without ever feeling condemned, convicted of sin? Yes, which is a temporary thing. I slipped up or did something wrong and I'm convicted. Oh, I did wrong there.

I immediately confess it and set it right. But to condemn myself is to say I'm good for nothing. I'll never amount to anything. It's exactly what God, the word of God, says. And if you keep on repeating and it'll become true in your life.

I've heard of fathers who keep telling their children, you're good for nothing. You'll never amount to anything. And it becomes like that. They hear it and hear it and hear it and they're convinced that they'll never amount to anything.

That's not how we should speak to our children. We should be able to encourage our children. We should be people who encourage one another. But you can't do it if you're living in self-condemnation. It doesn't matter how bad your past life has been, my brother.

There is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Have you confessed your sin to the Lord? Have you acknowledged that you're a sinner and that you failed the Lord? Maybe you haven't come to victory.

It doesn't matter. It doesn't matter. Do you know towards the end of Paul's life he got so upset with the judge, he said, God will smite you, you whitewashed wall. Can you imagine the Apostle Paul speaking like that?

But he immediately apologized. And he did not live in self-condemnation for the rest of his life. Oh dear, I lost my temper there. He slipped up. He didn't have to. Jesus never slipped up when he was slapped before Pilate and the high priest and all.

He just ignored it. He said, if I spoke what is right, where do you slap me? We can live like Jesus. I believe that. The Holy Spirit has come to help us. But we have to determine that we will never condemn ourselves.

And coupled with self-condemnation is discouragement. I'm discouraged because I'm not all that I should be. That doesn't help. I'll tell you it doesn't help. Discouragement is another thing which is not in God's will for us.

Never. I know how miserable it was and sitting at home discouraged. I know how miserable it was for my wife who was watching me discouraged. It's a wonderful thing to finish with it. And I want to encourage you, you never become more spiritual by being discouraged or by condemning yourself.

It's a wrong feeling. No, if I condemn myself, I'll be more spiritual. No, you'll be more gloomy and you'll make other people gloomy. So you must determine at least after this conference is over, by the grace of God, I'm going to finish with condemning myself because it says there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ.

Not because they are perfect, but because they're sincere. There's a lot of difference between being sincere and being perfect. I'm not perfect. I don't believe I will be perfect till Christ comes again.

But to the best of my knowledge, I'm sincerely wanting to follow the Lord and I believe most of you, if not all of you, are there. You wouldn't come here. You wouldn't waste all the money to come here to listen to me.

You hear how strongly I speak on YouTube. You still come and listen. I believe you're sincere. I believe you want the truth and you want to come into this life. I believe it with all my heart. Don't condemn yourself and don't be discouraged.

Here's a little picture I have which I want you to see. No entry roads. Respect these signs, road signs that you always follow. Whenever you see a no entry road, a sign like that, what do you do? You stop your car.

You have always done it. You can have an accident down that road, apart from being pulled up by a cop, but you can have an accident. That's why those signs are put. It's exactly the same with these no entry roads.

I hope you'll remember this all your life. Picture it in your mind and say, Lord, I want to keep this in mind always. No entry. I'm never going to enter. I've entered those roads many times in the past, but I'm not going to enter them anymore.

Take it seriously. If you want a copy of that, just write to RLC. I could have sent it to you by email, but please remember that and keep it. You can make a little card of it and put in your wallet or keep it in front of your table to remind you that these are, from now on, you'll never enter these roads.

I'll tell you from my own experience. My life was miserable in the years I entered these roads frequently, and I would say for nearly 40 years I obeyed these signs. My life has changed, and I find God could use me more because I refused to enter through these roads.

I had accidents on these roads, but I finished having all those accidents. So I tell you from my own experience, please take this seriously and ask the Holy Spirit to help you what do you gain by condemning yourself?

Zero. What do you gain by getting discouraged? Zero. You get discouraged because you failed. Well, God says, I know. Never mind. Get up. Get up. Don't give up. You press on. Discouragement does not help you to get up and run and fight the battle.

Discouragement weakens you. You fell down. Get up and continue the race. You fell down the 100th time. Well, get up again and run the race, and I tell you, you will be an overcomer. I want to give you that hope before you leave this place.

You are going to be an overcomer. You know in the book of Revelation how many times it says, to him that overcome it, to him that overcome it. Will you take that for yourself from today onwards? Lord, that's for me.

To him that overcome it. Oh, that's me. Say that to the Lord. Anytime you read that verse in Revelation, seven times it comes in chapter 2 and chapter 3. To him that overcome it. Lord, that's me. I'm the one.

You're writing to me. I'm going to be that overcomer. I'm not yet there, but I'm going to be that. And never mind how long it takes. Never, never give up. And if you pursue this way, you can enter into this life of rest.

Rejecting Judgment of Others

The Holy Spirit has come to bring a rest into our heart. He does not want us to live in constant turmoil. And one way in which we can have this life of inner peace is if we give up one habit that we easily, we have probably had for years and we seem to develop, and that is to judge other people.

All human beings have the habit of judging others. They did this. They did this. And this is why they did it. We even judge their motives. I must say, Holy Spirit of God, please help me to mind my own business and not to judge other people.

Let me turn you to James. James says this in chapter 4. James chapter 4, verse 11. First of all, verse 10. Humble yourself in the presence of God, and He will exalt you. It's a great verse. Constantly, Lord, I want to humble myself in every opportunity you give me.

Am I put down somewhere by somebody? Great. Great opportunity for me to humble myself. God will exalt me. I will never seek to exalt myself. Make that a law in your life. I will never seek to exalt myself by trying to show somebody that I'm better than him and make him feel small.

I never want to make another person feel small in my whole life. I never want to exalt myself. God will exalt me, not as to some position of authority. God will exalt me over sin. The only thing I want to be exalted over is sin.

I don't want any human being to be under my feet for me to rule over him. Zero desire for that. But boy, I want every single sin to be under my feet. When it says God will exalt me, it's not He'll make me an elder, or He'll make me maybe the chairman of some board.

No, no, no. Not all that rubbish, but over sin. Sin has been exalted over me for so many years, and now God says He'll exalt me over sin. Let me humble myself. And then He gives us a little bit of advice, and that is don't speak against one another.

He who speaks against a brother or judges his brother speaks against the law, and judges the law. But if you are judging the law, then you're not a doer, but a judge. But there is only one lawgiver and one judge.

Let me remember that word, that in the universe there is only one judge, and that's Almighty God. And we don't realize perhaps the seriousness of this. You know how the devil became the devil? He was an angel, a beautiful angel.

And he said, I want to be like God. That's how sin came into the universe, first of all. Sin did not come through adultery, or dirty thoughts, or gossiping, or backbiting, or any of these things. Sin came when a created being did not take his proper place.

He exalted himself and said, I want to be like God. And he says here, when you judge others, you're trying to be like God. God is the only judge. And I pass a judgment on this brother and that brother.

He's like this, and she's like this. How do I know? Sometimes we even judge the motives of people. Yeah, I know why he did that. Really? Can you look into his heart? You can even suspect your wife or husband.

I'm not saying you should be a dumb character going around believing everything. All I'm saying is don't express those things, because sometimes you could be wrong. In fact, most of the times you could be wrong.

If you have some thoughts like that, just keep it to yourself or forget it. Don't express it to anyone. Lord, I don't want to judge anybody, because I read in your word, you're the only judge, and I could be wrong.

And I'd be so ashamed if I discover that you're wrong. You can pass opinions. I never forget an incident that happened in one of our conferences in India, where after the evening meeting was over, some young people were sitting out on the grass, and some young boy from a distance saw in the midst of them a little smoke coming up.

They said, boy, some CFC young people are smoking cigarettes. How's that? And he went and told his mother. And his mother, foolishly, like some women are, broadcasted to others, there's some young people smoking cigarettes.

So it came back to me, that news, and I found out who those young people were sitting there. And I said, what were you doing there? He said, well, there were so many mosquitoes around that we have in India a thing called a mosquito coil.

And you light it, and that smoke drives away all the mosquitoes. So people sit outside, they burn that coil, and the smoke goes up. And you think they're smoking, they're actually smoking away the mosquitoes.

But by the time, that news had spread around a few people, because one foolish mother listened to one foolish boy, never bothered to check up. This is how rumors spread. And once you have destroyed somebody's reputation, how do you restore it?

Once you have passed a rumor around, which you think it is absolutely authentic, and you discover afterwards, it's absolutely false. How do you fix it? There's no way to fix it. You've already ruined a person's reputation and the testimony.

And that type of gossip, people love to transmit. I mean, they don't they don't preach the gospel so quickly. But when it comes to gossip, very fast, pass it around. There's something wrong with our attitude towards these things.

Compassion and Mercy in Marriage

There is one judge. We don't realize the pressures under which many people live. That's why we must all become people of greater compassion towards people. Say, Lord, make me more compassionate, because I don't know what pressure that person is living under.

Don't be so quick to judge, because in a moment of weakness, he suddenly flared up and said a rude word. Maybe he's under some tremendous pressure from his home or some other thing, maybe sickness at home or some pressure in his work.

Some accidentally some words slipped out. Let us be merciful. I tell you, it will make a difference in your life. Jesus said, take my yoke upon you. Learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.

It's a great lesson, and especially towards our wives. I want to say to all of you who are married, don't be so quick to judge your wives. No wife is perfect, for that matter. No husband is perfect. But it's good for us to learn to be merciful.

I want to read you a little poem that a man wrote after his wife died. And I say to you, don't write this after your wife dies. He says, I never knew how much she was to me. I never knew how patient she could be.

I never realized until she went away how much a woman helps a man each day. Think of your wife now. And oh, I never knew how thoughtless I had been at times until I saw her die. How much I never knew the crosses that she bore with smiling patience or the griefs that were upon her heartstrings as she toiled away.

I only saw her smiles, and I thought her gay. That means happy. I took for granted joys that were not there. I might have helped her then, but I didn't know. I thought she worried needlessly, and yet I see her life was bounded by regret.

I might have done much more for her had I but known her sorrows or had thought to try. But now that I'm alone at last, I see how much of pain her smiling hid from me. I never knew how much I leaned upon that little woman till I found her gone.

How much her patience, gentleness, and cheers had meant to me through all those early years. How many little things she used to do to smooth my path. Alas, I never knew. It's better to know it now. God has created us to reflect Christ, especially when we are born again.

Our primary calling is not just to go around preaching, but to reflect Christ in our life. And for that, we must first come to this inner rest. Yeah, you cannot come into this life if you don't finish with condemnation and discouragement.

That's why I began with that. There is a life way above what we have known so far. And I want to encourage all of you to believe after this men's conference that there'll be a quality of life that you enter into which you have never known so far.

Will you believe God for it? Will you say, Lord, I believe it's not going to be the same from today onwards? Will you believe, Lord, there may be a hundred imperfections in my wife, but I'm going to value her from today onwards.

I'm going to be the husband that I should be. It says in 1 Peter in chapter 3, 1 Peter 3 verse 7, you husbands, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way. That's a command to husbands.

It doesn't matter what your wife is like. Live with your wives in an understanding way. What do we have to understand? Like we just read in that poem, it's the man wrote after his wife died. There are two things you need to understand.

One, that she is weaker. Live in an understanding way as with someone weaker. You may be able to handle some stresses, but she can't, and that's why she's sometimes depressed. Understand that God has made man strong.

The woman is not. The Bible says you need to live with your wives in an understanding way, understanding that she's weaker. We understand that physically. I mean, if there's a heavy suitcase to be lifted when you travel somewhere, you lift it.

You won't make your wife lift it because you realize she's physically weaker, but we don't recognize that emotionally and in other ways as a person she's weaker, and you have to understand that. It says here, this is a Christian husband, and the second thing is we have to show her honor as a fellow heir of the grace of life.

That's the second thing you need to understand. Heir has got something to do with thrones. When you think about the man who's an heir of the king, and she's a fellow heir means these thrones are on the same level.

She's a queen, and you're the king, and she's not one step below you. Fellow heir means both the thrones are on the same level. Remember that. She's to be a fellow heir with you of the grace of life, and if you don't do that, if you don't recognize that, it says God won't listen to your prayer.

Can you imagine how terrible it'll be if God never listens to my prayers anymore? I never want that life. I say, Lord, I don't care what it's going to cost me. I'm going to live with my wife in an understanding way, if not for any other reason, that at least you will hear my prayer, and I want to constantly recognize all my life that she's a weaker vessel.

I'm not going to ask myself, if I can do this, why can't she? If I can control my temper, why can't she? No, she's a weaker vessel. Never compare yourself with your wife. She is a weaker vessel. She can't lift that suitcase that you can lift so easily, and emotional weights and other weights, she can't lift them like you can.

Recognize it. It'll revolutionize your home life, and your children will be changed when they see how you begin to behave at home. Your home will become gradually a foretaste of heaven. That's become true in our home since a number of years.

It was not like that in the beginning. I used to lose my temper and get upset with little things, and it's gone because I came to rest first. I stopped condemning myself. I stopped getting discouraged over little things.

I say, okay, none of these things are important. If it's done, it's done. If it's not done, it's not done. I used to, when I come away from Bangalore, sometimes I tell the brothers who work in the CFC office to do some work which needs to be done, and sometimes that can be a lot of work.

But then I tell them this comforting word as I leave. I said, brothers, if you're not able to do it, or if you don't plan to do it, or something goes wrong when you're doing it, I assure you, I will not be disturbed when I come back.

Or if you don't finish it, or you didn't do it properly, remember one thing all your life. The only thing serious is sin. Not an incompleted work, that's not serious. Something done wrongly, that's not serious.

Making the Home a Place of Rest

The only thing serious is sin. So that's the only thing that will disturb me. So don't worry if the work is done or not done. Take that attitude towards your wife. If the meal is not already on time, or there's too much salt, or too little, or no meal at all because she was busy doing something else, that's fine.

The only thing serious is sin. Can you live your life at home saying the only thing serious is sin? Remind me, Lord, the only thing serious is sin. Write it down somewhere to remind you every day, the only thing serious is sin.

Don't commit sin. Everything else that goes wrong in the house is absolutely unimportant. What you make a big issue out of means nothing to God, and we make big issues about a whole lot of things in our homes, and with our brothers, and places we work, and our whole Christian testimony is affected.

Say, Lord, it's going to be different from now on, and I mean it. Please help me. Give me the power of the Holy Spirit, and if I slip up somewhere, I'm not going to get gloomy. I'm not going to condemn myself.

I'll just say, sorry, I slipped up. It'll be exactly like if I walked down the road, and I tripped over a stone. I fell down. I don't lie there. I lie down there for 10 minutes. Oh, how terrible. I get up immediately.

I'm going to do that, Lord, in my life. No matter how I slip up, even after hearing this message, I slip up at home. I'm going to get up, and I tell you, you'll see a change in your life. Some of them will come to you and say, what happened to you?

You say, I went for a conference. I hope it'll be true. God wants the testimony in all our homes. It's not just nice messages we hear. We want changed lives, and I tell you, that'll affect your children.

The Holy Spirit and Continuous Peace

Yes, it will. Seek for that life of rest in God. There's a song which says, there is a place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, a place where sin cannot molest, near to the heart of God. Oh, Jesus, blessed Redeemer, sent from the heart of God, keep us who love Thee close to the heart of God.

Yes, there is a place of quiet rest, and I want to say to you, the Holy Spirit has come to fill us, to bring us to that place. That's the final answer. So I want you to pray that God will eagerly seek, seek eagerly to be filled with the Holy Spirit.

He's the one. The Spirit gives us rest. The Spirit will bring us to that place of quiet rest near to the heart of God, free from condemnation and free from judgment, free from judging others. And that's a place where Satan will not be able to touch us.

It's when we come out of that place of rest that all types of temptations come, and I was determined every day as I begin the day in the morning, Lord, I'm going to be at rest today. If anything goes wrong in the house, I'm going to say to myself, the only thing serious is sin, and this is not sin.

This is something went wrong. Things will go wrong on this earth as long as we are here. Gadgets won't work. Electricity will go off. We had an electricity power cut in California, of all places, for two and a half days.

I've never seen that in a backward country like India. I said, hey, is this United States? But we were at rest, and say, okay, it's not the only thing serious is sin, and that was not sin. So I'm just telling you that no matter what happens in the world around us, and I tell you it's going to, I'll tell you this, it's going to be much worse in the days to come, and things are going to go from bad to worse in this country and in every country.

If you work to enter into this rest with Christ now, it'll help you immensely when the days of trial and pressure come, and they will come without a doubt. Now is the time to enter in and be at rest and work with it, especially in your home.

Don't get so upset easily. Say to yourself, the only thing serious is sin. I'm not going to let myself get upset over this thing. Let's pray. I want you to spend a few moments quietly before God and say, Lord, I want what I heard today to sink deep into my heart.

Prayer for a Holy-Spirit-Transformed Life

I want to be a better husband from today. For that, I want to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I want to be a better man. I want to be a better father to my children, one who's not so impatient and grumpy and always finding fault.

I want to be a better boss to those who work under me. I want to be a better servant to those who are above me. I want to be a better brother in the church where you put me, one who's a blessing, not always complaining about this, that, or the other.

Help me, Lord. I cannot make it. I've tried many times, and it's always been a failure, but I believe it's going to be different now. You've shown me a possibility of a life which I long for, and I want it at any cost.

Give it to me, Lord, and send me the bill. I'll pay it, whatever the cost. I want this life of rest in God. Not for other people to admire me. I'm not interested in that. So that my life will be peaceful at home, so that I can be an example to draw my wife and children towards you and my unconverted relatives and my neighbors with whom I interact.

Please help me, Lord, that they will see a different person when I go back home. I'm not trying to make a good resolution. I made a lot of good resolutions and never kept any of them, but I'm seeking for the power of the Holy Spirit today.

I'm just acknowledging that I can never make it, so I pray that you will fill me with your Holy Spirit and strengthen me and make me the man you wanted me to be from the time I was born. You planned my life when I was in my mother's womb, and you wanted me to be a particular type of man for you on this earth.

I want to be that man. Help me, Lord. I really mean it. Lord, I mean business with you. I want to be that man that you wanted me to be when you brought me to this earth and when you conceived me in my mother's womb.

Lord, I'm a man of one who easily breaks away from decisions I make. Please help me to stick to it this time. I'm so scared. I don't know whether I'll be able to stick with it. I need you to help me. I lean upon you like a branch, a helpless branch in the tree, but one thing I'm sure, Lord, I want this life.