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Are you ready to be put to work for God's End-Time Army? It is NOW or NEVER! Angelia Ruth, “Angie”, has ministered in over 35 countries in some of the most dangerous places in the world. Author and co-author of over a dozen books, she has led mission teams and college groups over the past 30 years and is recognized for her prison ministry program by the State of Texas. She teaches God has a hilariously exciting life for every believer who will take Him at His Word and follow Him into R-I-S-K. If you have ears for truth and a sincere desire to sell out to God, this podcast is for you.
Tonight, we're gonna do it on crying out to the Lord. And I think about the fact of Yom Kippur, the day of atonement. This is so important for that. So this is part 3 of what to do if you're in spiritual warfare and your head is spinning. Now I told you, it's very simple.
Speaker 1:It was the r r r r r r's r r. We handled that the first night. We have very simple answers for this concept. This is gonna address something that is very important. When your head's spinning, you don't feel like you can pray.
Speaker 1:This is your answer for that. There are moments when your head will spin during a battle. I can't think of something like that without thinking of George Washington. I had talked about this in the lesson on the 10 most important days in American history. And he had this happen to him right in the middle of the war.
Speaker 1:He thought, if I lose my chance of surprise, if I lose this battle, I'm gonna lose the war. This is what happens when your head spins and you don't think about every major leader having this happen to him. But literally, he lost it so badly at this moment. He had come against so many things that were gonna take him out and he had done it like he had to further the spirit. Each one of them, he passed.
Speaker 1:But at one moment, the enemy went to take him out. So I can never have my head spinning in leadership without thinking about, oh, George here, and that same feeling of, I'm gonna fail. It's natural to want to just let go and let your mouth spew. They said that George Washington here, he blistered the leaves on the trees. That's how they put it.
Speaker 1:So at a future time, because this one is so important and there's so much into it, we'll dissect it. But at this moment, I'm just saying, there are moments when your head will spin during a battle, where you're on the battlefield, where you're in spiritual warfare, when you're in a place where you need to be showing strength, your head will let loose on you. What are you gonna do? Another thing that can happen is, you may not be blistering the leaves of the trees, but you may be emotionally numb, can't pray. And your emotions, you just feel like they're flat lined.
Speaker 1:You wonder, will I ever feel an emotion again? I know I'll never have joy but will I ever feel any type of emotion and your emotional strength and your energy is all used up And you can go from having felt wonderful, full of strength in a second under this, you'll feel like you're completely drained and you can't even make yourself whisper. It's like if your mind starts getting rattled or you get the fuzz on your brain and you're pounded with all these alarming thoughts. You can't even think of a scripture quick enough to answer each one of them. And so you think that you can't get one word out of your mouth and your emotions are shut off like you've had the stuffing beat out of you.
Speaker 1:You're deflated. You ask yourself what can be done when you're jammed up like this? So this is the answer that I'm gonna give you of what to do when these thoughts hit and you can't get a prayer out to God. And yet, getting a prayer out is the complete answer to what you're gonna have to do to pull out of this. So, you're caught.
Speaker 1:You can't pray, you think I must be the only one in the world that feels like this And yet, everything depends on it. Like Jesus said, you've got to pray to get out of this particular temptation. So So this is gonna be my secret sauce that I'm gonna give you tonight. This is something that has always been a secret to me that I've just used in these top times and it's a way to go direct with God when you don't think you can ever get your mind clear and come out of the spiritual warfare. This is how to come out of your head spin with God's help.
Speaker 1:Now this is an introduction to the basics of crying out to the Lord. You know, you've seen this. If you've ever seen a set of triplets, twins, and you've got identical twins or triplets, but there's a really fat baby and then there's a skinny one. There seems to be one that's fatter than the other 2. That's how you identify which one cries out the loudest.
Speaker 1:It's terrible but it's true. It's the baby that cries the most that is the fattest baby. That's how your prayer life works. There's a tone of desperation when a baby cries. Don't kid yourself.
Speaker 1:Don't lie to yourself. You tell yourself it doesn't matter if you pray just real soft or something at a time like this, volume counts. In crying out, volume counts. If God had not made a baby cry, ask yourself. I mean, honestly ask yourself, would parents take as good care of them?
Speaker 1:I'm not sure it's all love. Those feedings in the middle of the night, that crying does something. So every time I see a baby crying, I think about this. Think of the attention that kid gets. I mean, it's immediate.
Speaker 1:They cry and there's attention given to them. The power crying out, you make noise, you get attention. So your head is spinning, your thoughts are crazy, but crying out is something that is emotional and you have to go emotional. So, this is an area where you've got to give it all you have to God and this is gonna feel uncomfortable to you. So let's begin crying out in your prayer closet.
Speaker 1:We'll remove your inhibitions. You must start in your secret place with God. But you might tell yourself, well, I'm so dignified. Everybody knows I'm dignified. I have class.
Speaker 1:I can't cry out. That would just ruin my reputation. You're not desperate enough. You haven't come to that place so dignified, we won't give God crying out. These are the sentences that I wrote down about this.
Speaker 1:What is it gonna be like if we go through our entire life and never one time in our life are we desperate enough to fast and pray. Not even one meal. We tell God, we were serious, we're praying to you, But never in one time in our life did we ever find something so serious in our life, we decided to fast and pray and ask the Lord about it. Same thing. We tell God, why?
Speaker 1:Like, our whole life, like, why didn't you answer my little flippant one sentence prayers? You know, I gave you 5 minutes every morning and just things didn't work out the way I'd hoped. And I'm saying, never in our entire life were we desperate enough to really let it go and cry out. Not one time, not over one thing. You know, it's gonna be hard to convince God it really meant something to us if we don't skip a meal or find a time to get serious about God and let go of our dignity and let heaven know, we have a request.
Speaker 1:You cannot have a stoic prayer life. Parents who don't respond to their baby's cries, who do not feed them, give them a bottle, change diapers. Guess what? They get an alarm system. God's busy.
Speaker 1:There's lots of requests. Let me describe what it looks like to you from God's position. Use these words, the dumb look of an unconscious creature who ask for nothing. Is that your ideal of humility? The dumb look of an unconscious creature who asked for nothing.
Speaker 1:Oh, we think this is piety. We think this is what God would be pleased with. But this is exactly opposite than what the Bible says. You ought to start counting how many times in your Bible that the Lord says, cry out. And yet, this is what we give him.
Speaker 1:We give him nothingness. We give him just stupor. We give him like, well, we're just gonna lay over and let it happen. Or we'll fight in our flesh. We'll blister a few things, but we will never ever let it go or release it with God.
Speaker 1:And we tell ourselves that it's humility or piety, but the truth is, we're embarrassed. We're insecure and we haven't got over self. Because crying out loud, there is a like a sound barrier that you have to break. There's something in the spiritual realm that has to be let loose. You know, some people rebel against this and they pull back from it because they're too logical, they're too analytical.
Speaker 1:Don't bring that into your prayer life. Too uptight. Oh, too much of an adult. Nothing else shows it. This is the group that can't cry out, and when you really melt it down, it's too prideful.
Speaker 1:You say that person means something to you, you never cried out for them. You say you wanna stir it, you have never paid this price. You know, a human call for help versus a crying out. Crying out to let everyone you know, know. You know, we talked about the calf that nurses off of all the cows.
Speaker 1:But there is a temptation to panic and call every single person that you know and tell them what's going on. Or panic and try to fight your way out. Or scream and lash you out. Or go into a hole and die. But we never factor the Lord into this.
Speaker 1:We never factor him into this equation of what we should do. So in Matthew 66 says, when you pray, go into your closet, go into your room, close the door, and pray to your Father who is unseen, but guess what? Then your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you openly. What an exchange. So, come to him with all my problems.
Speaker 1:It cleans up my head. You know, it's the difference between when I start my prayer with heavenly father and when I end my prayer with amen. It's the difference between how David starts his Psalms and what he comes to the conclusion at the end of his Psalms. It cleans your head. It clears up your blockages.
Speaker 1:It gets rid of the formalities between you and God. Don't let pride stand in your way of crying out. You both need him and want him and trust him. When you're miserable, when you need help and when there's someone you care about, it gives you something to do when you can't make your thoughts quit swirling. It gives you something to do when your emotions have gone crazy.
Speaker 1:When you have no words to say, let your mouth move as the heart cries. You don't even have to utter words. You are uttering the deepest cry, the deepest cry of the human spirit. This is where it says, a groanings deep in the spirit, and that scripture sets the tone for a couple verses down it says, and then God will work all things out together for good. You got to let your emotions cry out when you have no word.
Speaker 1:Your cries have to reach heaven. You know, if you're in terrible shape, you're gonna make even a larger path in your pasture. Depending on what you're in of crying out, vulnerable, the neediest time in your life, a total state of helplessness. The permission tonight is being given to you to cry like a baby. You know, this summer, we were in the Middle East with 3 cultures in the band with us.
Speaker 1:3 religions, 3 countries in the car, 3 languages in the car. And also, pressing on our mind is a small little point that their 2 nations are at war. Culture number 1, is a mom and dad. Where are they? They're not showing up, they're making us late, we're gonna miss it.
Speaker 1:We have an expedition we must go on. Guess what? They're locked in the lift. If I did not have such dear British friends, I would not know what that meant, but horror of horrors, the whole family is locked in the lift. Steph wants me to clarify for Americans, the elevator.
Speaker 1:And our joy at them arriving from having been stuck in the lift immediately turns into dismay when low and behold, they're carrying a toddler. Now, we have quite a few other people in the car that are, let's just say, wondering what the trip's gonna be like having this toddler. So we get to the place that they're starting the fun. The thrill of a jeep soaring over the top of the sand dunes where we could see what looked like an invasion of an army of many drivers in many jeeps. The jeeps look for the next buzz of adrenaline as they zigzag to the hills of hot sand.
Speaker 1:And you've got the toddler in the back. This is what you pay for. I mean, the roll bars in there for a purpose and the belt's on and the tongues are going. So, anyway, the father is in the back and you hear him crying, the father cries out, stop stop. My baby.
Speaker 1:My baby. And I was curious, I wonder how they'll work out their problems. You know, I know you're gonna find this unusual, but through this whole scene, it was the 2 Americans that were the quiet ones. I know you're gonna find that unusual that we could contain ourselves that way, but I think it was just strictly because we were enjoying the entertainment. And, I thought, wonder what's wrong in the back seat of the car?
Speaker 1:So, the father again goes a little further. The father began to cry out, my baby, my baby. This is not the mom crying out, this is the father. Stop the car and put us out of the car. The other 2 were from a much more rigid, gruff culture and they said, we would not allow our children to act like that.
Speaker 1:A child would never tell us what to do. So as they say that, we look in the back seat to see how the other cultures taking it. They were similar but not at the same stop. Everybody is doing this at once. So one of them gave the wise piece of advice.
Speaker 1:You would almost be guaranteed to get hit by the next car coming up behind us at the sand hill at a high rate of speed. They'll not see you if you step out with the child. Steph took one look back to see and she said, there was the baby, the toddler. And the baby's eyes were rolled up in the baby's head, and the baby's head was rolling around. And so, anyway, this is really your head spinning right here.
Speaker 1:And the father begins to cry out. He's holding his baby up and the head head is rolling around with the eyes all rolled back in the head. Steph had taken one look at it. The father again is crying, help my baby my baby. We are seeing exactly what we're describing here, the head spinning.
Speaker 1:How did they resolve this situation? Should we tell them? They stopped us on the top of the sand dune. I was gonna say, the rest of them are gonna come up, What's that word where they leave the ground, lurch or whatever. Anyway, they slowed down and they waited at the top of the sand dunes with no trails.
Speaker 1:All this activity kicks up quite a sandstorm. Now we get out of the vehicle with the baby and wait for guess who, for the father to calm down. When you think about it, this is what you must put together as well. When your head spins, you must cry out. So we've determined that babies cry out for help.
Speaker 1:Babies understand the power of crying out, But what about on the other end of your life? You know, you hear the joke, oh, they're entering their second childhood. Well, I've watched this old person. In watching this old person, I've learned a lot from them and I find their behavior amusing. And if not amusing, at least I think it's clever.
Speaker 1:And you may make an argument against me on this because Amelia, you're gonna know who I'm talking about, but I wanna just argue results. But let's study crying out from a practical viewpoint. This person has gotten to the end of their road. There's no one who cares for them. There is no one who even utters a prayer form.
Speaker 1:There's no family. There's no one for her anymore. But she has one thing to her advantage. When she isn't allowed to use the phone, the hotel, the switchboards, the retirement centers, strangers, neighbors down the road she's never met, and hospitals will hand her the use of their phone. When she walks down the street, she has one thing she does, she just starts screaming until they call the police.
Speaker 1:They don't have to know my phone number. She screams and I appear. It's amazing. She has worked out something. When there's nowhere to go, the hospital won't let her in, She screams and everyone, the police, the social workers, the judges, admit her into the hospital.
Speaker 1:I've watched it. I was like, it's amazing. She knows the power of crying out. The retirement home. Things were done at the retirement home we cannot even speak of.
Speaker 1:Marriages were broke up because of what this woman needed help with. In the morning that all the husbands would help her. It was just amazing the the amount of leverage in a retirement home. If she wanted someone she loved there and you weren't allowed it, she could cry out. She doesn't have the money she needs for what she's been provided for, but people around her give her whatever amount of money she needs till she gets what she wants.
Speaker 1:Oh, this one would never work, especially upstanding hospitals. You know, during hospital time, during COVID, you can have no visitors. She is being wheeled in for surgery. She begins to cry out my name that she wants to see me, that she has to see me, that she must see me as they're transporting her to the surgery, finally stopped everyone and the hospital changed the rules and I was allowed to come in. The minute she recognized me, it was enough for them.
Speaker 1:I'm saying, she understands something in her second childhood. When a mental care facility had no place to release her, they checked her into a hotel in another city. Within a week, she had the entire hotel staff taking care of her. They had shifts. A couple of the counselors were wondering if maybe that she was the same one and they had lost it because she could gain control of them pretty quick no matter how much they had been trained.
Speaker 1:Added to this hotel and these people that took care for weeks was a local church who was 6 blocks away who she found up with a cane. They were taking care of her along with all the government agencies helping. She gives people list of what she needs and she wants. If you visit her, you will get a list. Whole ministries have utilized their staff for days and months and years to get her situated.
Speaker 1:When that ministry has never ever taken care of homeless people before, This ministry would fall and bow, this ministry understands the deep things of witchcraft. But yet, they find themselves day after day providing what she wants. Like a baby who screams and draws people. I said a line to her just recently. You have more servants than Queen Elizabeth has ever had in her entire reign.
Speaker 1:You know, it's something to see on an adult. If I'm allowed to say I admire her, I can't because my editors will cut it out. I told my mother a piece of advice about her. Mother, one day when you get old, this works. It will bust every rule made by man.
Speaker 1:It will break through any barrier they put up against you. It will solve any financial problem that you have. It's quite simple but it has shocking results. Everyone thinks she's crazy, but I'm not sure. This is a woman who understands the power of crying out.
Speaker 1:I hope you enjoyed that. It might not make the final edit. God encourages us to cry out. It has an adverse effect on people. So let me just tell you, this does not work with people to people.
Speaker 1:But what about you and God? Help. Help help. This is a very needy crying out. Okay.
Speaker 1:So let's go into the private side of crying out. Did Jesus have some head spinning moments? That's a strange question. If we're gonna talk about spiritual warfare, he is the best at understanding spiritual warfare. Yes, I think he did, but it depends on the way you define it.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna go into what I think is the ultimate head span and it's met with the cries. I'm gonna call it groanings and travail. Alright. Look in Mark 14 verse 32. They went to the place of Gethsemane, and Jesus said to the disciples, sit here while I pray.
Speaker 1:He took Peter and James and John with him. It's really interesting because he took them with him, and with them, he began to be deeply distressed and troubled. He says these words, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. And he tells him, you stay here and keep watch. So now he knows at this point in it, he's gonna pull back a little further.
Speaker 1:So verse 35, going a little further, Jesus fell to the ground and He began to pray these words, Father, if it is possible, may this hour pass from me. Abba, he cries out, Abba, father. And he uses a scripture here, he says, everything is possible with you. He quotes a promise as he appeals to the Lord, everything is possible with you. Oh, but let this hour pass for me.
Speaker 1:Yet not what I will, but what you will. So he returns to the disciples. He's seeing if they're doing what he asked them to and he found them sleeping. Simon, he said to Peter, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for an hour?
Speaker 1:Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. Is this true? The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Once more, he went away and he prayed the same thing. And when he came back again, he found them sleeping because their eyes were heavy.
Speaker 1:They did not know what to say to him. Returning the 3rd time, he said, are you still sleeping and resting? Now, I want you to think about something. We picture God as the one who hates the sin and strikes the sinner. And we picture Jesus as the one who pleads for our life, that he's the intercessor.
Speaker 1:With God who's the one who hates sin, strikes the sinner, here's Jesus that pleads. But I want this to show you a very important aspect of the Father's love. It was the Father that initiated the plan of salvation. It was the Father who sent his only begotten son, and it was the father that held firm when the son was ready to back out. It was the father who pushed it forward when his flesh got weak.
Speaker 1:So when you think of it as only Jesus being the one that stands for the gap, I want you to imagine the fatherhood of God as he listened to his son appeal to him. Perhaps, the father, it's hard to say, in some ways, emotionally, he had the harder role. So the father, he sticks with that Jesus has to go through the redemption. When he went away and he found that their eyes were heavy, they did not know what to say. So returning to them, he said, are you still sleeping and resting?
Speaker 1:He said, enough. The hours come. The son of man is gonna be delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise. Let's go.
Speaker 1:Here comes my betrayer now. Let's look at the next one. Jesus, he goes into the garden in the dark. He came out in the lot. Because he had talked with God, He went into the garden in agony, but he came out with something 1 on the inside of him and he had found peace with his soul.
Speaker 1:He had talked it out with God. This is what, when your head's spinning, if you can't get to this place that you and God work it out, you're gonna leave the garden with your head still spinning. You see the disciples and they were not able to get that off of them. So in Matthew 26, Jesus came to a place in the garden and told his disciples, sit here while I go there and pray. And he took Peter and the 2 sons of Zebedee with him and began to be grieved and distressed.
Speaker 1:The dread, the apprehension, move closer, the dreadful horror. And then he said to them, my soul is deeply grieved to the point of death. Would you remain here with me and keep watch with me? And he went just a little beyond them and he fell on his face and he prayed and he said, my father, if possible, let this cup pass from me. Yet not as I will it, but as you will.
Speaker 1:Let this cup pass from me. You know, if salvation for man is possible by anything other than the cross, let this cup pass. This is what he's praying. How man thinks of redemption? Can man be redeemed by any other way?
Speaker 1:If man can be redeemed by works, by his efforts, by being good, by being righteous, by keeping the law, by being sincere. Let us find another way. That's how man asked for redemption. Nevertheless, not my will be done, but your will be done. Jesus, at this point, he desired to back away from the cross.
Speaker 1:This is why the cross of Jesus Christ offends so many people today, because Christianity is too narrow. It's the narrow. All roads lead to God. The cross of Jesus Christ is an offense to many people because the cross of Jesus Christ declares to all men that there is only one way to God. Jesus was asking, is there?
Speaker 1:Is there something that can be done? And he came to his disciples in verse 40, and he found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, so you men could not keep watch with me for 1 hour? Keep watching and praying so that you don't come into temptation, for the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. He went away a second time and he prayed, my father, if this cup cannot pass, unless I drink it, your will be done.
Speaker 1:And again, he came and he found them. They were sleeping for their eyes were really heavy. And he left them again and went away and he prayed a third time saying the same thing once more. And then he came to the disciples and said to them, are you still sleeping and resting? Behold the hour is at hand, and the son of man is being betrayed into the hands of sinners.
Speaker 1:Get up. Let's go. Behold, the one who is betraying me is near. Jesus' request, was there another option to be delivered from his suffering? So he submits his will to God's will.
Speaker 1:I want you to see something that takes place. God and him worked out an agreement here. God didn't back off on the agreement they had made before he had even entered Earth. This is where it says, God does not change. But when they worked out this agreement, and again, Jesus agreed with this plan, I want you to notice what's gonna happen.
Speaker 1:It's gonna move forward to the next day, because this is gonna be the very thing that Jesus will be mocked for. The very agreement that he has just made is what they're gonna use to mock him on the cross. You remember the cry? Can't God save you from this? You saved others.
Speaker 1:Why can't god save you? Mocked for submitting to god's will. Write this down. The spinning of the head, the enemy ceases upon the very thing that causes your head to spin. For Jesus and him had made the agreement, if he had not gotten that worked out ahead of time, think what would have happened when he hung on the cross.
Speaker 1:But he had worked it out in the garden. Is there any other way? Luke tells us something, 22 verse 44, that none of the other gospels capture. It says, then an angel from heaven appeared to him and strengthened him. And in his anguish, he prayed more earnestly, with greater emphasis and earnestness than usual, with strong crying and tears.
Speaker 1:If you look at this, you see something in Jesus where it tells you something that you wouldn't expect to find. You would think every time Jesus prayed it was earnest. Every time it was with intensity. But it tells you here that when the angel strengthened him, he could cry out more earnestly in his anguish. And it says at the point that he prayed with more earnestness, when he prayed with everything in him, is this his sweat became like drops of blood falling to the ground.
Speaker 1:Through horror of soul, his tears have become sweat tinged with blood. When Jesus rose from prayer and returned to the disciples, he found them asleep exhausted from sorrow. Luke explains something, the angel, the anguish, the intents of his prayer, and the fact that he prayed so earnestly his sweat became drops of blood. Sweat. Jesus was sweating.
Speaker 1:The point is, that Jesus was sweating profusely, and his sweat was the result of his suffering in anticipation of the cross. His body was covered with a bloody sweat. Bloody sweat, it's only given by Luke, and it is the physician, doctor Luke, who tells us this. Hebrews picks up on this theme in Hebrews 12 verse 4, he says, you have not resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin. Like, you can't strive harder.
Speaker 1:Perhaps, there is a connection to the suffering being the fulfillment of judgment on Adam's sin, when he said that Adam would live by the sweat of his brow. Sweat. Is this the curse of sweat? What is this? Jesus is in the bloom of life, in perfect health.
Speaker 1:He's never suffered anything from disease of any kind. Fear has never mastered him, nor anger, nor any accident of any kind. This wet was most assuredly caused by what? This is the intensity of Jesus prayer. It shows that Jesus had a proper approach to his situation, and the disciples had improper approach.
Speaker 1:He offered up prayers. The disciples, are you asleep? Couldn't you keep watch for an hour? This is Jesus proper approach to pressure. His proper approach to temptation.
Speaker 1:Jesus proper approach to the internal turmoil and to the spiritual warfare. And at this point, now the thoughts are subdued and Jesus has set his heart to go through with it. The concept of crying out. There's some commentary in the passages that I've read and I want you to hear this as we read this passage here. It's in Hebrews 5 verse 7.
Speaker 1:This is a reference to one intense scene in the life of Jesus, the agony of prayer, the crying out. It says in verse 7, in the days of his flesh In the days of Jesus' flesh, the word is truly flesh here. Some people make it say humanity, but the word is sarps. It's not the lighter version of our flesh called soma, but sarps. The writer is referencing Jesus' human side, not his God's side.
Speaker 1:You see Jesus' human side going through this. Christ, in the days of his flesh, subjected himself to death. He hungered. He was tempted. He was bleeding, and now it's time for a dying Jesus.
Speaker 1:A man who had not touched any of these things. This is a private crying out in the garden, and on the cross is a public crying out. So now, we're moving from the prophet crying out to the public. His human nature was ready to sink under the heavy load, and it would have sunk, except he knew what to do. The two places that are these days of his flesh, that this is referencing to, of the one intense scene, is both the garden and the cross, which are less than 24 hours apart.
Speaker 1:It says in the day of his flesh, that was the first phrase. It says, he offered up both prayers and pleas with loud crying. What does it mean with loud crying? The words as they strive to translate it, it's an outcry. It's wailing.
Speaker 1:The word that he uses for cry is very significant. It's a cry which a man does not choose to utter, but is wrung from him in the stress of some tremendous tension or searing pain. This is something that comes out of you like it's wrung out of you. And the tears, have you ever thought about the desperate prayer of tears? The tears running down your cheeks during the prayer?
Speaker 1:You know, only God can tell, and perhaps neither men nor angels can conceive how great the suffering and the agony must have been at this moment. To the one who is able to sozo him from death, from the agony of death, his assignment was to destroy death. Jesus had an assignment to destroy death, and he's praying to the one who could sozo him from death, and it says Jesus' prayers were heard because of his godly fear. Think about it. It wasn't one of his sins that put him up there.
Speaker 1:It may be observed to our comfort that Christ, his crying and tears were confined to the days of his flesh or at least to the time of his life here on Earth. Do you understand? It bookended. It told you it was in the days of his flesh and so shall yours be too. Did you know the same is true for you?
Speaker 1:For those who believe in him, your crying and your tears will be confined only to Earth. That is why you have to do your crying out here on Earth. This is not something that moves forward. It is for this time frame of your life. This is the tool that God has given you.
Speaker 1:If there was ever a time that Jesus was emotional, it was here. The thoughts were not letting up, they were relentless. He resisted sinning against God. He resisted it to the point that drops of blood were falling. Pure agony, miserable, praying.
Speaker 1:Praying versus crying out, what's the difference? The way of appealing to God is different from praying, this way is different, how? The cry is from the very deepest part of you. It is that desperate part of your being in need. It moves us from this point to where you feel the separation from or the abandonment by God.
Speaker 1:Have you ever felt that moment when you've written me and said, I feel separated from god? I don't feel close. Something has pulled me apart. This moves us now into the public crying out loud. The feeling of pure misery.
Speaker 1:In Matthew 27 verse 46, now from the 6th hour darkness fell upon the land and the darkness was there till the 9th hour. In the middle of the day, it got dark. And about the 9th hour, Jesus having been nailed to the cross, he cried out with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. My God, my God, why have thou forsaken me? And some of those who were standing there, when they heard it, they said, this man's calling for Elijah.
Speaker 1:And immediately, one of them ran and taking a sponge, they put sour wine up on it, they put it on a reed and they gave him a drink. But the rest of them said, let us see something, let's see if Elijah comes to save him. How does Jesus answer it? How does he answer what they've done here? Verse 50, and Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and gave up his spirit.
Speaker 1:And behold, the veil of the temple was torn in 2 from top to bottom and the earth shook and the rocks were split. Let's look and see how Mark does it. Mark 15:33, at noon, darkness came over the whole land until 3 in the afternoon. And at 3 in the afternoon, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, Eloi Eloi, lama sabachthani, which means, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? When some of those standing near heard this, they said, listen, he's calling for Elijah.
Speaker 1:Sure thinking, what is he gonna do? What is he bringing to us? Someone ran, they filled a sponge with wine vinegar, they put it on a staff, offered it to Jesus to drink. Now leave him alone, let's see if Elijah comes to take him down. And with a loud cry, Jesus breathed his last.
Speaker 1:Now, I want us to look at what was taking place on the cross and what Jesus was saying, and what he was crying, what his words were. Jesus chose a psalm to quote from the cross. What was coming out of Jesus' mouth was Psalm 22. It was his final words. Yes, it's known as a messianic Psalm.
Speaker 1:It's one of the greatest. It shows that they gambled for his clothing. It shows that people were gambling beneath the cross. It tells you all the different things that are gonna happen and what will take place on the cross 1100 years before the event. But let's talk about it in reference to what he says.
Speaker 1:He chose Psalm 22 as his final words. It was a nod to the agony. It was a nod to the fact he recognized that the prophecy was himself, and he gave these heart wrenching words. Like we're talking about from the beginning and at the start of this lesson, Jesus was emotionally spent. Man had beat it out of him.
Speaker 1:They've opened his back, they've cursed him, they put the thorns in his head, They've jeered him. 1 thief believes him, 1 thief ridicules him. They stab a sword in his side. His heart burst. And at this moment on the cross, Jesus cries out those words, my god, why have thou forsaken me?
Speaker 1:The opening line to Psalm 22. You know, when you start Psalm 22 and you read it, it's an attention grabber to open your Psalm like that. It makes you read the Psalm, why have you forsaken me? In Psalm 22, the Psalmist wrestle with God's solace. In the head spinning, in the worst moments you're saying, why the solids?
Speaker 1:Despite what gets him the most, he thinks it appears that God has abandoned him. People are making reference to the fact his God has forsaken him. It's both Matthew and Mark that let us know the cry of these exact words on the cross. The trauma of being forsaken by God as he takes the weight of our sin upon himself. He's on the cross bearing his own weight, and at that moment, the weight of the sin of all humanity goes on his frame.
Speaker 1:Have you ever felt like something descended down on you when you get in spiritual warfare? Like an oppression comes down and presses against you? This is exactly what happens here. Can you imagine at that moment when our sin shifted onto him? He did for us what we could not do for ourselves.
Speaker 1:And in his direct line to God, he had a direct line to his father. He cries out to God directly, my God, my God, why has thou forsaken me? David had given him the words, and he chose it for this moment. And there's a very unique statement in Psalm 22. It even tells these words that you've never thought would be there, but in verse 8 it says, it prophetically says, he trust in the Lord, let him deliver him for he delights in him.
Speaker 1:The Psalm the Psalmist wrestled with God's solids. Despite his cries, God did not answer or deliver him, is what Psalm 221 through 5 says. But only Matthew refers to this verse, not even Mark. And Matthew says, as he describes the crowd mocking Jesus for his trust in God, he trust in God. Let God deliver him now.
Speaker 1:Notice what Psalm 22 says, because God delights in him. Matthew 27 quotes it, because if God desires him. The exact statement. So both prophesied what Jesus would say and what the crowd would say. He trust in God, it's obvious.
Speaker 1:Let God deliver him now, if God delights in him, if he desires him. And as you go down, and each thing is said of the bulls that says, gather at the cross, at the clothing thrown down and they're gambled upon as as each thing takes place down this Psalm. It declares in verse 31, he has done it. Psalm 22 ends not with suffering but with praise as the psalmist worships God for delivering Jesus. And Jesus says, he has done it in these words, it is finished.
Speaker 1:Luke 2346, and when Jesus cried out in a loud voice, he said, father, into your hands, I commend my spirit. And Jesus gave up his spirit. The final seven words, the cross. People speak of the 7 words spoken from the cross. The recorded words, this is the final of the 7 words, it is finished.
Speaker 1:But let me point to something different than most people point to. The words, it is finished, provided for our redemption through all generations. It said Jesus would actually endure the cross with joy, because he would look forward to what it would accomplish. Jesus saw your redemption as he hung from the cross, But there's one thing I want us to gather from it. When he screamed, it is finished, and the bell ripped from top to bottom to where we began to have access to God.
Speaker 1:There's something being said to you. The loud voice that was just mentioned was significant. It's like the power of crying out, the loud voice. What does it mean he cried out with a loud voice? I mean, they've been saying that on the cross.
Speaker 1:The writers will say, and with a loud voice, with a loud voice. But now we're seeing the final words of Christ. The very last thing he said, and it's humanly flesh. His final words, Christ screams them with a loud voice. What does the loud voice prove?
Speaker 1:It proves they did not beat the life out of Jesus. It proves that he did not die murdered. It proves that it was a voluntary death. It proves he died by a choice of his will. It proves that he died by agreement, that it was an agreement between him and his father.
Speaker 1:It proves that it was intentional, that it was a conscious death and that there was fight in him clear to the end. He releases his spirit before death could claim him with full strength, when he loudly cried out that he released his spirit to god before they could take it from him. As Galatians 3 says that it is a curse for a man to be hung from a tree, he redeemed us with one triumphant yell of victory. He cried out, it is finished. And, he commits his spirit into his father's hands.
Speaker 1:If he had whispered it, he would have just been a spirit that passed through the knot. He's telling you, I did this on purpose for you. This is God's love through me, showing you this is how much I care. And it was like Jesus opened his arms, and he said this much. And his arms are nailed wide open.
Speaker 1:It is wide open here. And the way he did it was he did your redemption, my redemption, on purpose. In crying out in spiritual warfare, we've had the most perfect example there ever could be of it. He kept the crying out from the tender moments in the garden, where he did not know if he could make it through the agony. He stayed with the assignment and the agreement with his father.
Speaker 1:They would take that agreement and they would hurl it into his face. He would continue to go through it with humanity being represented by the 2 on each side, deciding, am I gonna accept Jesus? Am I not? Am I gonna accept him? Am I not?
Speaker 1:Man wanting a different way of salvation, and God saying, this is the way. So, crying out. Conclusion, when you don't think you can pray and even whisper. It's okay. When you don't think you can get a word out, it's surprising how you can begin to start it by crying out.
Speaker 1:That the cry begins to start coming out of you. We gotta ask ourselves, are we utilizing the crying out when you're in spiritual warfare, or when you're hit by a witchcraft attack, or by something that messes with your mind? Just like one of the first cases our ministry worked with, crying out to the Lord until you beat a path in your inner room where you go to meet with God. So this is a very simple solution. This is what you do when your thoughts are spinning.
Speaker 1:This will solve the head spinning and this is your answer to not being able to pray. Cry. Cry out to god. Amen.