Saving Souls

To operate it, to maintain it, John. To operate, Richard Roberts mean we have to have gas to operate our car. And, John, you know, the wonderful thing, the good news is, that we don’t have any debt on the entire university. Every building is paid for. There’s not a dime borrowed on any building on this campus.

I was recently on a university–if I called its name, you’d thought, oh, I thought it was paid for–they owe something like $120 million on this university and it’s a big name university. I was there to speak. But I want to tell you something, when you can hear the kind of statistics that I just spit out and maybe you’re just a person that numbers don’t mean anything. But to those of us men of God who are on the front lines every day, who have to function and move and have our being in this world of business, listen, without first your prayers and your concern and your continually doing it month after month–now where the problem comes, Richard, God showed me, that there had been people that had been blessed by you and Lindsay and Richard Roberts and Evelyn and all the Singers and the university.

There’s alumni out here probably that sort of might have backed off.Thousands,Thousands,Thousands of alumni. 15% maybe for some reason, whatever, become a little disjointed or maybe you said, well you didn’t like what happened. But let me tell you something, take it from this perspective, who do you know that’s doing any more? Who do the know the devil has fought any harder? When have you ever heard of a family going through such insidious deaths, problems? I was here when your first baby died, bless his little soul, singing on the front row of the boy’s choir in heaven.

Heartaches only last for a season, but dreams are forever. And what’s 15%? It ain’t nothing where God’s concerned. And you watch, you watch. There’s some of you watching today that’s saying, “John Wesley, you’ve really got stirred up.” I get stirred up when my friends come under attack. Now when I come under attack I tend to just sit back and maybe somebody will call me and say that’s when we’ve got to come to your aid though, John.

Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicket (Ephesians 6:16). The Roman soldier had two kinds of shields a small shield and an enormous oblong one. He was taught to crouch down behind the large battle shield in such a way that he could hide his entire body behind it.

Then when the enemy began shooting arrows which had been tipped with tar and set aflame, he could stoop down behind his huge battle shield and protect himself from the flaming “fiery darts.” All through the Old Testament we are told that God is our shield. Proverbs 30:5 says He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. And I John 5:4 says, This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.

God, of course, is your shield, but the shield of His protecting power and presence becomes yours by the one condition of faith—by believing in Him and trusting in His promises. Paul is saying, “Above all….” Or, the most important thing I can tell you is: Take this great shield of faith!

There are times when we get knocked down and laid low in life. It might be from a disease…an accident of some kind…a divorce…a death in the family…or a pile of bills we can’t pay. Those are times when we need to get a good look at our enemy and recognize who he is so we can conquer him.

Jesus said, The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy (John 10:10 NKJV). Have you had something stolen from you? Do you feel as if your life is going down the tubes? That’s the work of the devil, the “thief” coming against your life!

The Bible gives a good description of who is tormenting you. First Peter 5:8 AMP says, Be vigilant and cautious at all times; for that enemy of yours, the devil, roams around like a lion roaring [in fierce hunger], seeking someone to seize upon and devour. Now do what verse 9 says to do: Withstand him; be firm in faith [against his onset—rooted, established, strong, immovable, and determined]. That’s the action to take to defeat the devil.

And Lindsay’s tears turned into a cry, a shout, for God to touch our baby daughter, our youngest, little Chloe, who’s now twenty-two years of age.  And when we got to the emergency room, they quickly took us back to the examination room, and strapped this big breathing machine on her.  By the time they turned it on, her breathing had come back to ninety-eight percent, the color was back in her face, and she was healed and normal by the power of God.

God wants to be in the very center of your life.  You see, many times people want me to lay hands upon them, or they call, or they e-mail, and they say, “I want you to pray a special prayer over a certain condition that I’m going through right now; and that’s the call of God on my life.  That’s why I’m on television Mondays through Fridays around the world.  That’s the call.  I grew up under the ministry of Oral Roberts, who had a laying on of hands, and sending the Word ministry, and that ministry has come into my life with a double portion.  My father prophesied over me, that at his death a double portion of the Spirit of God would come upon my life.  And now, God has given me that same type of ministry.  That’s why I am on television.

There are times in our lives that we simply have to hope against hope. We can focus our attention on the situation, or we can make a decision to believe that the promises God gave to us are true. Abraham refused to give in to unbelief and he stood strong in his faith. The Bible says that it was counted unto him for righteousness. In other words, God was pleased with Abraham’s faith—with his right believing!

The Bible tells us in Romans 12:3 that God has given every man the measure of faith. You and I have the same ability to believe God that Abraham had! But we have to exercise that faith like a muscle—we have to develop it.

The Word of God gives us the way to strengthen our believing. It says that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Romans 10:17). If we want God’s answers, then I believe we have to tap into God’s system! If we want to develop the kind of faith that has the power to hope against hope like Abraham, then I believe we have to get into the Word of God.

Remember, according to the Bible, God’s ways are always better than our ways. And when we diligently apply our energy to the study of God’s Word, we can strengthen ourselves to trust God for answers to our prayers. As we do this, I believe we can be better prepared to handle any situation that life throws at us with victory and with peace. I pray you are inspired to get into the Word of God today and flex your faith muscles to receive all the blessings that God has planned for you!