24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive them, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”
Audio
Jabulani Dube
We greet you and thank the Lord that we can meet in this manner once again.
I heard from our brother, Detlef Stegen, that they have received rain in Romania - 20 mm and another 13 mm. You cannot imagine how overjoyed I was because we prayed and expected God to answer. (The branch in Romania is part of the KSB ministry. They have asked us to pray for them there and also to thank those who knelt in prayer for rain and thank the Lord for answering prayer. So, father, mother, brother, sister, let us unite in thanks to the Lord for answered prayer. In our country too, there are prayer requests for rain. We need to pray that the Lord will grant people the rain that they need. People should have already planted and the seedlings germinated. Let us kneel and pray for rain in our country where there is drought. (Kneel in prayer)
Firstly, there are people who think they can use the internet as a platform to spread their ideas, but they do not realise that through this they are digging their own graves. They do not realise that in fact, those who are not of their own colour will turn against them and eventually they will not even have a place in which to stay. How do such people think? How can a person spread lies as the truth? In Matthew 5, the Lord Jesus said 11 “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. 12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you. This is what the Bible says when people speak evil of you. I never imagined that people would use such a public platform to propagate their rubbish.
24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received[c] it, and it will be yours.”[d]Mark 11:24
Those who asked for rain believed that they would receive it. When you ask something of God in faith, you will receive it, God will grant it to you. That is why Jesus said that you are saved by faith. If you do not have faith you will never receive that which you want, even if you want to part from sin - if you do not come to God and ask in faith that He will deliver you - you will find yourself returning to that sin over and over. I tell people that they return to their sin because they like it. You must hate sin. If you do not hate it you will return to it. The reason that you return to it is because you love it. “Just another cigarette, one more drink, just today, I’ll stop tomorrow. God knows how I suffer. I don’t have any money.” Such a person sells their body and says, “God understands that I need money. I’ll just do it for the next few months and then I’ll continue with my life as normal.” But you remain in that lifestyle for years.
25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”[d]Mark 11:25
Listen to the Lord Jesus’ words: If you hold something against – if you have anything against anyone, if you hold something against somebody, – your brother, father – the Lord says you need to forgive that person. God will not forgive you if you hold grudges against people. If while you pray you realise that you have something in your heart against a person, God will not answer you.
23 So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5:23 – 24
If you are on your way to the altar to present your gift to God and then remember that you have something against your brother, the Bible says, first be reconciled. For some, their gift is publishing something on the internet. Allow me to speak plainly – this is not where you should publish your lies. You are only making your hell hotter.
Someone bashed into my car on the mission and then gave me a tie. I asked others who were there whether they had seen who it was and they told me. This was how the person apologised – with a tie but he did not say a word about my car. This is what people do. This is how they ‘make things right’ – they bake a cake and that covers all. It covers every sin even if they have not apologised - receiving a cake means there is no longer anything between you and that person. The Word says if you do not forgive, your Father in heaven will not forgive you your sin. People have forsaken the right way of God because there was something they held against their brother, sister or another believer. Where are they today? They have left the way. Instead of sitting down with that person and saying, “Brother, sister, I have this against you.” You have gone aside because you never sat down with your brother or sister and spoken with them about that which you held against them. Return, come back to the Father and say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and You.” Come back to the Father, return to the Lord.
Some do not realise that through their actions they poke their finger into the apple of God’s eye. Where are you today? Have you not gone astray? Is there nothing you are holding against your brother? This Word says that unless you forgive your brother, you will not be forgiven. If you do not forgive that person, (there are people who hold grudges against others and publicise it on the internet) your Father in heaven will not forgive you. When you pray you must believe but if you pray and hold something against your brother, that prayer will not be answered.
13 Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy. 14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord[b] always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. Proverbs 28:13 – 14
These words really blessed me. If we hide our sin, we will never find mercy but if we confess our sin, we will find mercy. We will lose out on that mercy through not confessing our sin. Some people twist God’s word because in IsiZulu it says, “If you confess your sin and leave it…” some say that this word means you should confess your sin but leave some of it, do not confess everything. But this word says that you need to leave that sin, forsake it and turn your back on it. There are those who go back to the sin because they love it. He who conceals his transgressions will not prosper. By concealing sin, people have not prospered. Instead of confessing their sin, they have chosen to leave. An older IsiZulu translation says that he who hides his sin will not experience prosperity or good fortune but he who confesses his sin will find mercy. Those who understand the truth, understand what it means to confess sin. There are people today who hide their sin and go against the confession thereof. There will be no prosperity for them because it is written. It will not go well with them. They will not prosper because they have left the way of grace. They had received mercy but now they have turned their back on it and it does not matter which church they belong to, it will not go well.
Isn’t it wonderful, child of God, that you have a testimony: I used to drink and smoke but by God’s grace I have repented from that and turned back to God? There is an IsiZulu chorus which says that you will never experience the sweetness and wonder of this Gospel if you compromise. Some leave a church where it is strict and attend one where things are easier and where things are mixed with the world and there is compromise. They are happier there because things are easier and they can do things they could not in the other church. Where is such a person heading? He is being led by his nose right into the fire of hell, by those evil spirits. He who covers up and hides his sin will not experience prosperity but he who reports his sin, brings it into the light and asks for prayer, that person finds mercy – not the one who trumpets everyone else’s sins on the internet. This is not what the Bible speaks about here. These people have had their sins forgiven when they brought them to the blood of the Lord Jesus. How can you dig it up and display it before the world? Would that be an encouragement to anybody, when the sin which they have brought to the Lord, is proclaimed to the world? Would that help them in any way?
14 Blessed is the one who fears the Lord[b] always, but whoever hardens his heart will fall into calamity. Proverbs 28:14
There is a great blessing when a person fears to do evil. Today people are at liberty to think any evil, speak and do any evil? Do you know where it began? It began when God spoke to you and you hardened your heart. When you harden your heart, the Bible says you will fall into calamity. You might experience falling into evil and sin which is not even committed by the world. Do not marvel at what has happened to you. It is because of your hard heart. When God speaks to you do not harden your heart. Soften your heart and accept the word of God.
The Bible says there is nothing hidden which will not be revealed and everything spoken will be proclaimed from the rooftops. Some people apply that to mean that they must publish things on the internet, but I do not know where they get that from. It is a satanic, hellish idea. Maybe have been influenced by Satanists. Brethren let us fear to do that which is evil. Let us bring to light all the evil things that come our way. God will have mercy on us, and we will be helped on our way of faith. It’s an amazing word this.
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire. Matthew 5:22
If you stab your brother or sister in the back and you call yourself a believer, where are you headed? Whether you are a believer or an unbeliever. If you have an ear to hear, the answer is in the Bible. You need to be reconciled to your brother or sister in the Lord.
Allow me to use this illustration to demonstrate that if you believe and you ask it will be given to you:
You say that you have been praying so hard, but you do not get an answer. The farmers will explain it to you - if you rip seedlings out of the ground that have already grown a little and then transplant and water them, the seedlings will wither. Where did things go wrong? You did not take the seedlings out with their roots. When you ripped it out some of the roots broke off. Now there are no roots and the plant withers. In the same way if you remove sin you should deal with the root. It is not good enough to say that you have thoughts that trouble you. It is not enough that you say that you look at porn - no, go down to the root and say how it came about? What did you look at? What did you do then? No wonder there is no progress in your spiritual life. Things are not going well with you spiritually. You have never dealt with the root. Young men - married and unmarried - confess their sin and easily return to it. They ask for prayer, but they do not deal with the root of the sin. They do not dig it out and expose it completely.
Conclusion Dietmar Joosten
We are so thankful for what we have heard. It is amazing that God always brings us back to that which He taught us at the beginning. That is why He has reminded us in the past few days, “Adam, where are you?”
Adam, you have been hiding your sin. Adam hid from God because he ate sin. He had a grudge in his heart. That is why you hide from your counsellor today because there is something you have eaten, something you have done, there is a grudge in your heart. Do not think that God does not see you. Do not think that His children do not see you. Why are you hiding? It is obvious there is something wrong. Remember how people spoke to you and pleaded your case? But you did not see, you could not accept. Today, those people who helped you are no longer your friends.
What have people been saying in your ears? That person has the guts like Eve. (The devil knew that Eve had the arrogance and the guts to do what was wrong. He knew that there is no murderer on earth like those who kill their own child below their heart, they have courage that nobody else has.) Friends, who has the courage to whisper the sins or so-called sins of other people in your ear? Where does such a person get his courage from? What is in his heart? Had you come into the light you would never have ended up where you are today. You have put the sins or wrongs of others (which may not even exist) that have been whispered in your ears, into your heart. Your friends, the children of God whom you loved whom you had a desire to be one with, have suddenly become your enemies. You have accepted the dirt and vomit of someone else and you do not even know what is in that person’s heart. Why don’t you think before going to the altar and say, “Wait, why don’t I find out the other side?”
You listen to the person who has the courage to speak but knows things are not right and later openly admits that he lived in sin. Have you ever made right what people told you? If you go to the altar with these things in your heart, it is no wonder your heart is hardened. Later you will have no more feeling. You think you are alive, but the Bible says you are dead. How many times have you not gone to the altar, to church and you know that you have picked up rubbish and dirt that stinks horribly but you carry it in your pockets?
Today Lord says that it is your time. You have carried these things in your heart for so long. For so long you have kept these things in your mind that separate you from the true children of God. Do not be scared. Do not be afraid of what other people will think if you expose what they have said. You want to be free. You want to be able to bring that offering with a clean, pure heart. You want to walk right before God. You will not prosper with the things that you have heard.
We know the story of Sven Stegen. You might be part of his family and you know his story, but you do not practice it. I am also part of his family. I had the privilege of meeting Sven the week before he died, and I have not forgotten it. God reminded him and said, “Sven, with that which you have heard you are going to hell. You will never prosper.” That young man used the opportunity. He woke up, went to his uncle and laid bare his sins. He confessed his sins. What a blessed death. God gives you the chance wherever you are, across the world: with that which you have heard, (which you regard as the truth but it is a lie), the Bible says you will go to hell. You have an opportunity today to make those things right. Do not leave them. It will only harden your heart then when you pray, God will be able to answer your prayer. Do you understand why, over the last few weeks or months, you feel things are dead?
These days I received a call from Europe. A young man said that someone had visited him because he wanted to take a rest at his house and be with them. On Monday, after the Parents Conference, he said to this young man, “Things have changed. I can suddenly hear God’s voice again. For years I couldn’t hear it anymore. I couldn’t understand anymore but now suddenly I hear God speaking to me again.” Can you hear God speaking? If there is dirt in your ears bring those things to light. You have to humble yourself. There is no way out. Satan was thrown out of heaven because of pride. The way to resist pride is to humble yourself and you will receive the grace of God. If you would just bow. Admit. Your life will change 100%.
We thank the Lord for His word. It is the same old Gospel that saved us, and we rejoice in it. May God grant us His grace when we have been obedient.
Closing words Michael Ngubane
A grudge kills you. It eats you up from the inside. Spiritually, we will go down and become like a plank that hears nothing. Do not take a grudge lightly. How many blessings have we lost because of grudges?
We have heard what the Lord said to us this morning. If you have it on your heart to bring an offering but there is a grudge in your heart, it will help you nothing. Bow. Admit I have lost it. I have sinned. I am a sinner. I need God’s grace. We need God’s grace.