Hi. This is Dave Olson.
I'm the senior leader of Hartman church located in Ankeny Iowa.
I hope the following message, challenges and courage's, and
ultimately changes you, thanks for joining us.
Finishing the first week of the fast today, so hey, two more
two, more of these. And it we're going to Chow Down,
Hallelujah. But in the meantime, the purpose
of this fast is not to look forward to the meal at the end.
As much as I talk like it is, I apologize.
We're asking God for breakthrough.
We're asking the Lord. To let Heaven open over this
house for this nation. And this region, And so I want
to talk about that, a team of us, that the team gets together
back in the production room on Sunday morning.
And usually, when faith is leading, she'll say Pastor, if
you want to join us, you're welcome to and I'll jump in
there and it was already on my radar to do.
So, and we got in there and everything that we're talking
about just was in line with what I felt.
The Lord was saying this morning, we want heaven to open.
Our human skills are not are not enough, they're not great
enough. We're not insightful enough,
we're not creative enough. We're not brilliant enough to
produce, what our heart longs for The only thing that can give
us what we long for, is the outpouring of the spirit of the
Living God, and that's what we're asking.
God for, that's what this fast is for.
And so I want to talk about that.
That idea I want to talk about. An open Heaven.
I want to talk about how we get there.
You know, when we're praying and fasting, we're asking God.
To pour out upon us. This church for the last 20
years has been about Revival and the outpouring of the spirit.
But I'ma tell you, we need another outpouring.
I need another outpouring, I am desperate, for a fresh touch
from God, what I have is not enough.
The gap between, what? Where we're at and what I feel
like God wants to do through us is a gap, only God can fill and
so we've got to cry out to God. But when we're crying out to
Heaven, there's really three components to that, if you will.
There's contending with God. There's contending With the
Enemy and there's contending with ourself.
And all three of those are very important, and if you don't
understand that, then you can get yourself sideways and blame
God, for what the enemy is doing.
And blame the enemy for what God's doing.
And that's a very dangerous place to get, because if you're
blaming the wrong person, you're going to take The enact you're
going to take the wrong measures to solve the problem.
And so, you can, you can put it this way, there's a prayer
component because we're dealing with God, we're crying out to
Heaven, we're saying God pour out of your spirit.
There's a spiritual warfare component because we're dealing
with a very real devil. There are principalities and
powers that fight the move of God.
And they need to be contended with Paul put it this way we
wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against
principalities and Powers, he says, we literally wrestle with
the spiritual entities to displace them so that God can
pour out upon us. You say Pastor, do they really
need to be dealt with in order for God to pour out upon us?
Well, Daniel went on a 21-day fast and when the angel arrived
a little worse for the wear, he said I left Heaven, the day you
started fasting, but I was hindered by the Prince of
Persia. It's what the New Testament.
Calls a principality, a prince over a geographic region. 8,
municipality that It's the same idea over to geographic region
and that particular Spirit was over the geographic region.
Of Persia, matter of fact, the angel said, after I deal with
you I've got to move on and on when I have to deal with the
prince of Greece, So there was a spiritual warfare component to
prayer and if we don't understand that sometimes we
think we're trying to talk god into something.
He is very, very eager to do. But then there's also the human
component. You can say there's a prayer
component, there's a spiritual warfare component, and then
there's a sanctification component.
We have to deal with us and sometimes the resistance and us
is greater than the resistance in the second heaven.
And make no mistake about it. The resistance in the second
heaven uses the resistance resistance, in us, as a handle
to hold on, to And he uses that, as his legal authority to
resist, the prayers of the Saints.
We've talked about this before. And usually fact of the matter
is, we talked about it, this time of year during the 21-day
fast. That we can actually cancel our
prayers with our Behavior. You are the first fruits of your
own intercession. You are the beach head of God's
invasion. I saw little meme the other day
at said, once you turn 40 years either getting out of you have
to get into smoking meat, or really do a deep dive into World
War Two as a guy, okay? That's, I've done both.
And if you look in WWII, if you remember, the Allied Forces
trying to invade Europe, again, Britain knew the Americans knew
the Canadians knew, the Australians new this Force.
This, this the Allied Forces new, we've got to get our feet
on France and if we can secure a beachhead in France, we can take
Europe back from Hitler. They knew that to be the case
but they also knew it was going to be a Very costly bloody
battle. That battle was known as D-Day.
It was the greatest act of war. The greatest battle in human
history. The shifts alone are
mind-boggling, I forget how many ships but the, the the Germans
who lived through that, they said, as the fog lifted, they
looked. And the entire sea was full of
Warships. It was an amazing thing and
thousands and thousands and thousands and thousands of our
sons died on that Shoreline, but they secured the beachhead.
And everybody knew everybody, but Hitler, because he was
crazy, even the Roman generals knew the the war is over.
Now the bloodiest battles were yet to be fought but they knew
once the beachhead was secured the war was over.
What I'm telling you is your heart, is the beachhead of God's
Invasion where we cry out to God.
God invade this region. Lord, we want to see Revival.
God says it starts with you before I align the region with
my will, I'm going to align you with my will.
And so as we cry out to God, times of prayer and fasting,
heightened prayer. Intercession is always a time of
the deep dealings of God, where God begins to tweak our heart
and say I want to deal with this and I want to do with this and
to the extent that we surrender to the internal.
Dealings of God is to the extent that we gain authority to see
the external Victory manifest. And so again, we are the
beachhead of God's Invasion and I'm talking about our personal
heart, our attitudes, our Behavior, the things we do, the
secrets of our heart. This is a time to lay our self
out before the Lord and if God can gain the access.
He so Desires in us, it will begin to affect the region.
I was teaching Wednesday night. And by the way, this is a
Shameless plug for Wednesday night.
We're talking about fasting because you think prayers are
mystery talk about fasting. Every time I get into a fast,
believe me many times this week, I have thought, what does
foregoing a taco have to do with Revival?
But we need to understand fasting.
And that what we really talked about Wednesday night was that
the human will is the Avenue through which both Heaven and
Hell travel. The human will, is the opening
from the spiritual realm into the Earth.
And God has delegated the Earth to man.
It's very clear in wrote and Psalm chapter 8 in its
reiterated and Hebrews chapter 2.
What is man? That thou art mindful of him?
The son of man you would visit him.
You made him a little lower than the angels and put everything
under his feet. God delegated, the Earth to us,
and God will not violate the system.
He himself set up And so, the principle of prayer is always
this divine intervention, only by human invitation.
God must have an intercessor. He must have somebody inviting
him to invade planet Earth. If he can't secure a human will,
then the circumstances will not change.
The enemy will always hide behind the Unser rendered.
Recesses of your heart. And as long as there are things
you're withholding from God, that is the ground upon which
the enemy will firmly stand. And take his stand.
His authoritative, stand, his legal stand to continue activity
in the region in your family, and our city.
The region, this nation in the world.
So what God is looking for is a deeper surrender from all of us.
So during this 21 days, we need to be a availing, our hearts to
the Lord and laying it before the Lord.
And saying God go deeper Lord. Is there anything like David
prayed? He said if there be any under
undetected sin within me he asked Lord God pointed out Lord.
Bring it to the surface. Because we want to be usable
before the Lord. this contending with God, this first element of
God, invading Earth where we pray the prayer component
addressing Heaven, Or you could say heaven, we contend with
heaven, we contend with hell, and we contend with Earth, our
own us who are made from the dust of the earth originally
This deal about contending with God, when we pray for Revival
too often. We think we're trying to talk
god into something. He doesn't want to do.
We're down here like we're begging God, please.
And like finally, maybe after 21 days and we get too skinny and
gods afraid we're going to die and it's going to misrepresent
him. Daniels will say Okay, uncle,
uncle I'll send Revival. That's not how it works.
God wants to move in this region more than we want him to.
He's much more aware of what it means.
And he wants it much more than you and I do.
He longs to pour out upon the sons of men. but what he needs
is an Open Door in the human will Your will is a fearsome
thing. It is a weapon.
It is a tool. It is a spiritual organ that you
exercise either for heaven or hell, your choices matter.
Even your choices. To go through the fast now, I
know that, some of you have very physical jobs, I don't have
that, that excuse, but some of you have very physical jobs and
you're not able to do a complete fast and hey, you just follow
Jesus. But what I am saying is follow
Jesus. Don't allow the enemy to begin
to lie to you and convince you that fasting and intercession
don't matter. They do matter.
If you look in that passage with Daniel, I want to see it's
Daniel 9. When Daniel was praying the
resistance he was experiencing in his prayers, was not from
God. The day, he started praying.
An angel was released from Heaven, to go to Daniel and give
him the Revelation. He needed.
The resistance was from the enemy.
And we need to understand that God's hesitation in sending
Revival is not us talking them into something.
He doesn't want to do. However, God will withhold a
move of his Spirit from people who have disqualified
themselves. How do we know if we've
disqualified herself? Or how do we know if we've
qualified? I know that sounds almost like
earning, I'm not talking about earning anything.
I'm talking about removing the hindrances.
Because God is too good. A steward to pour out of his
Spirit on a people who will squander it.
Misuse it And misrepresent his name.
So how do we qualify? What disqualifies us.
What would make God hesitant? Well, there's a few scriptures.
We of course, we get in the book and we ask.
God, God, what are the criteria for you to use us in a greater
way? One of the primary criteria
would be this. God, opposes the proud, it's in
James 4 RJ. Yeah, James for God, opposes the
proud, but gives grace to the humble.
It might be James 3, but God opposes the proud, but gives
grace to the humble to me. That is a frightening verse,
think about that. The god of Heaven opposing, you
can you imagine you're in the prayer closet and you realize
that Supposing you similar similar to Balaam balaam's
cursing. His donkey not realizing.
It's the hand of God that is behind what's going on.
There's an angel of the Lord about ready to smote Balaam, if
he goes on and the donkey was resisting.
And I think often we're blaming our circumstances when it's us,
God wants to deal with. We're saying, God change my
circumstances. And God says, in order to do
that, I need to change you. We're praying for our boss to
get fired. So we'll have a better boss when
God put that boss there to create an us the character and I
hope none of my staff is saying him in it.
God is God is doing the work in us so that we will be qualified.
To Steward. What he wants to send?
And so we during fasting and prayer, and this is true all the
time, but especially during these heightened seasons, were
her crying out. I'll tell you what, I don't want
to go 21 days for nothing, I'm not interested in this kind of
diet, although I need one, I'm not interested in this kind of
diet. There's better ones out there.
I want to see a move of God. In order to see it, we've got
allow the Lord to do with our hearts, we need to Humble
ourselves. One of the ways we know if we're
humble is how do we respond to criticism?
I called someone yesterday and apologized to them for something
I did. I did it.
I thought about it. I prayed about it.
I did it and I felt really bad about it for a week and a half.
And I made a big mistake. I told my wife, So she kept, um,
have you called them yet? If you called them yet, No, it's
appreciate or doing it. So I got ahold of them yesterday
and we talked it through and it was a great conversation.
They were very gracious but they held my feet to the fire.
And they Circle back around two or three times and explain to
me. Why it bothered them what I did.
It was very uncomfortable but they were right and it was a
good opportunity for me just to humble myself and say you're
exactly right. I completely understand why that
would have bothered you I'm always kind of weary about
telling these leery about telling these kind of stories
because you're all wondering, what the heck did he do?
Nunya. Okay.
So one of the good ways to know are we walking in Pride?
Is how do we respond to that? How do we respond?
When someone corrects us? Do we humble ourselves and say?
Thank you. To the hungry, man.
Every bitter thing is sweet. But to the soul that is full,
even the sweet things are thrown aside.
Do people have to correct you on a silver platter with a linen
napkin? Or can they bring it in a doggie
dish? Are you hungry enough to say God
I just want to be right with you.
I don't need them to do it right to hear you through them.
That's an act of humility. And humility comes with Hunger
years ago. There was a wonderful book
written by a White journalist called black, like me.
Some of you may remember this book, it's really a great book.
And what he did is, he went down down in the Deep.
South went down to New Orleans and he if I remember I took some
medication. Also some makeup and made
himself look like a black man and he lived on the streets of
New Orleans because he wanted to Experience it.
He thought he understood what it would be like to be a black man
in the Deep, South it in that time of extreme racism.
And it was very enlightening to him.
But there was one thing that stood out in that book to me, he
was well, a lot of things. But this, I often think of this,
when I think of humility and hunger, There's a scene where
he's sitting on the curb in New Orleans and he is hungry.
He hasn't eaten in days and he looks down the curb and there's
another homeless guy. Cooking hot dogs on an open,
fire on the curb. And he scoots over and he said,
hey man, you think you could spare a hot dog and the guy
looked at him just despise him and said yeah I'd give you one
if you get on all fours and bark like a dog.
And the journalist did it. Because when you're really
hungry, you're no longer prideful.
Pride goes to the side. Decorum goes to the side.
You're like, Jesus, I just have to have you.
And God wants to do with our hearts.
I think one of the strengths of fasting is it?
It pushes us to the limits It pushes we choose discomfort.
Before. The enemy, the enemy believes
about most of us, if not, all of us what he said about Job.
God, if I touch them, they will back off.
You just let me touch them. Let me just introduce a little
discomfort, a little pain in their life and if I can do that,
you watch they will deny you to your face just like the rest of
them. But the Lord believes better
about you than the enemy does. The Lord believes better about
you than you do. And God is looking for men and
women who will be the Vindication of God himself
before the enemy. The enemy believes that if we go
into a little discomfort, Dan Mohler had this has this
wonderful phrase. If you're touchy, you'll be
touched. Fasting says, you know what, I'm
just going to get it over with. I'm going to step into
discomfort. I'm going to go into this and
I'm going to deal with this stuff in my heart and I'm going
to, I'm going to let, I'm going to allow this into my life
because I'm crying out to him. I'm going to deny the cries of
My Flesh and I'm going to allow those things to be dealt with.
And there's something humbling about fasting.
Now we can feel like a mighty man of God or a mighty woman of
God until about day three. And then I'm like, I'm so weak.
I'm such a wimp. And it's that thing of coming
close to our weakness knowing that God without you, I can do
nothing. I know that theologically this
week, I know that physically. And it's good for me, it's good
for my flesh to feel that. But as we allow our flesh to be
weakened, our spirit begins to ascend.
There's a sensitivity that begins to manifest in our life.
Our spirit man begins to be heightened in its awareness.
It's one of the beautiful things about seasons of fasting, and
it's so worth it. So pride is one of the barriers
we need to deal with in US. There's an interesting verse in
Zechariah 7. It says, when they called I
would not listen because when I spoke they would not here.
Think about that. This is God speaking.
God said, when my people called they got a deaf ear from me.
Because when I tried to speak to them, they turned a deaf ear to
me. So, there is a connection
between your yielded nastas, your willingness to hear the
hard things, your willingness to listen to the voice of God, to
apply what he's saying. If you want prevailing prayer to
manifest in your life. Prevailing prayer.
What it means is you you begin to feel that you're gaining.
The upper hand in that thing. You're beginning to feel like
the victories being one. I may not see it out there but
I'm telling you I can feel it in here.
There's something moving But that only comes as we are dialed
in and we become aligned with him.
We must come into alignment to fulfill our assignment.
It's like you've got to have if you want your plumbing to work
you better have the pipes lined up.
It's not good enough just to have some pipes under your sink
if they're not lined up. And as God pours out, he's
looking for us to be aligned with him so he can pour through
us. And fasting is a way for God to
begin to dial that in. But we've got to be a people
that incline our ear. There's two phrases in
scripture, the very interesting they and climbing our ear and
God coming near When God comes near, it has the idea of God
leaning down with his face towards us to listen closely.
It's like an act of affection and attention.
It's like a father or a mother who grabs her little child by
the cheeks and wants them to know you have my full attention.
We say God come near. Well, when God finds the people
that tune their ear to him and say, Lord, speak your servant,
listens Lord, whatever you want. God, I am here and I will be
quick to obey. I'm telling you, that Dynamic
opens the heavens You say are you saying it?
We earn it. No what I'm saying is the as the
enemy will camp out on the under surrendered, areas of your life
and he will resist your prayers until you surrender.
Ah, run surrendered, areas provide him with the legal
ground. It's not about earning anything
with God. Like well, they're my favorites
because they, this guy did a water fast.
This guy drink didn't even drink water.
And this guy over here, just ate vegetables but this one's my,
it's not about that. It's about being obedient to
whatever the Lord tells you the Lord tells you chocolate chip.
Cookies are off the agenda for the next 21 days.
That's all. He asks of you.
Then go for it. You don't have to do anymore,
tell you what last year, I jumped into it when Lou Engel
was here and he was talking about that 40-day fast.
We had just stopped our 21-day fast and I thought Lou, I love
ya. I'm I'm I'm not in, I'm still
recovering for the lasso. Well then Dean Briggs came and
Dean's talking about the same fast and Dean Dean had an arrow
right to my heart. I was wounded I thought I'm in.
This is God when tell you on the back side I'd it was not God.
Okay, I jumped into a fast that was not God.
And I could not do it. I physically could not do it.
There was no Grace on it. So just follow Jesus but follow
Jesus. All you have to do is what he
says, but by all means, do what he says, because your will
matters your decisions as a believer in this region matter
to heaven. And if God can find a small
group of people who are surrendered and say, God lord,
we're here. We are fully surrendered Lord.
If you need a landing place you found it.
Among Us weak, little band of people.
God. If he can find that, I'm telling
you, he will land. So, when we talk about praying
for Revival, it's not trying to talk god into something.
He doesn't want to do. Yes, there are scriptures that
say I will not hear you. I will resist you.
But those verses have to do with our hot, pause heart posture,
not his unwillingness to pour out of his spirit.
We have to cooperate. So, your response.
Let's let's go to again. He said, when they cried out to
me, I would not hear because when I, when they, when I spoke
to them, they would not listen. So your willingness to hear the
voice of God and to do what he says to be a doer to apply what
he said in your life. God is looking to invite you in
to break through. God doesn't want you to stay in
the same place. There are things.
Every one of us right now are dealing with that we wish were
over and I'm telling you the vast majority of them.
It is God's will for them to be over.
But you first have to get rid of the things he's dealing with to
see that happen. And so we need to yield
ourselves to him your willingness to listen, has
everything to do with prevailing prayer.
You think Pastor, are you basing that on one verse know, if
you've been around here at any time at all, you've heard me.
Quote, this verse again and again, and again, it's one of
the primary versus of my life. Hebrews chapter 5 with loud,
cries, and petitions Jesus, made his request known to God.
And His prayers were heard because of what, because he was
the son of God, because he was the Messiah, because he was God
In the Flesh because he was God's favorite, and he was, was
it another know? Because of his reverent
submission. His submission to the dealings
of God. Opened the heavens over him so
much. So that on the eve of his
crucifixion, Jesus could say this, King of darkness is
coming, but he has nothing in me.
Man, I feel the weight of that word.
I think he'll trembled. Because they knew it to be true.
God wants to get us to the place where he has nut, not God but
the enemy has nothing in you. When God has that the beachhead
has been secured. It's just a matter of time till
the kingdom of Darkness Falls. Just like in World War Two, they
knew once the beachhead was taken, the war was over bloody
battles to come but I'm telling you there's no way Hitler could
hold back. What was coming?
And once God has a man or a woman, Or more desirable, even a
small company of people that have bound themselves to that
request, say God come come Lord, pour out upon us, Lord deal
asked of us, anything deal with us, deeply Lord.
We want to know if there's anything within us.
That is not pleasing to you. God, go after it.
And when that happens, I'm telling you, it'll open up.
Let me give you one more verse. Peter says he's talking about
this same principle but it's in the context of a marriage.
You ladies out of like this one husbands.
Treat your wife according to knowledge.
And then he says that your prayers may be heard.
In other words you can fervently cry out to God on the prayer
meeting sir. And cancel out what you cried
out by how you treat your spouse.
Because you are contradicting with your life.
What you say with your mouth and actions speak?
Louder than words? And the enemy knows it?
You're not fooling the enemy, you may fool us.
But you're not fooling the enemy.
Now I'm saying so we go low and we keep short accounts and if we
know we need to apologize to our spouse, we do it.
We allow the Lord to deal with us.
And that opens the heavens. He's implying that you want to
have your prayers heard sir, you want to have an open Heaven of
communication with heaven. Then treat your spouse, right?
And why is it goes the same for you?
I'm not so sure. It's the same level.
I really, really believe that because we are the leaders of
the home. Now some of you may not like
that, just tell him, preaching the word, talk to God about it,
don't shoot the messenger, okay? The husband is the head of the
home. now, if he's a smart head, your leading together, but every
organization needs to someone that makes the final decision.
and, A lot of guys, preach that is Yum the head of the home.
No, that's a heavy responsibility.
But you better occupy it because super nature hates a vacuum and
it will fill it for you. If you don't.
So, we need to step in and lead with humility.
So that our prayers are heard. God wants to give us power in
prayer. Your prayers can be powerful and
can move mountains. But your heart posture towards
others matter. Isaiah 58.
The passage is often referred to as God's chosen fast because it
says this is the fast that I choose.
It's a passage on fasting. Isaiah gets this word from the
Lord. He delivers to Israel, he tells
him. Listen, guys.
God is frustrated because you're going on fast but you're doing
it wrong. You're saying, God, move Among
Us. Lord were fasting.
Why aren't you moving? And the Lord says, is it only
for a day? You think I've called you to
humble yourself? That's a key phrase.
Is it only for a day, he's saying, if your prayers don't
change you, they won't change the situation.
If you're fasting doesn't change you, it will not change anything
else. So, fasting is not about just
skipping meals. It's about availing ourselves to
the dealings of God, so that we come out the other side of this
thing and we're a little more Sanctified.
We're a little more tender before heaven.
If you look and saw an Isaiah 58, he goes into this list of
things in every one of them is about how we treat other people.
He's saying you want Power this way, then express, love and
mercy and kindness and tenderness this way.
In the way you respond to those around you.
Be the best employee in your company.
Be the best neighbor on your block.
Be a person of kindness and tenderness.
And it'll give us prevailing prayer.
It's throughout the word and we often don't talk about this
because we think well that sounds like works.
But you can't argue with the word of God.
And again it's not about works. It's not were earning the answer
to our prayers but it is US cleaning out the hindrances and
I'm telling you the biggest opposition when Daniels praying
again, it wasn't opposition in heaven.
That was holding the answer back.
It was opposition from the enemy but I would dare say it was also
opposition within Daniels, own heart because there were things
that God was going after he always does. he goes after the
handles upon which the enemy holds, To stand his ground.
And if we can deal with them, if we can deal with the legal
ground, then the heavens begin to open.
Want to encourage you over the next two weeks.
Let's allow the Lord really to deal with us.
Let's ask him, Lord go deep. Lord, if there's anything in me
that needs to be dealt with or put your light on it.
Let's be tender before him and understand.
Everything is weighed in the balance is by your decision.
heaven and hell are always fixated on the human will
because the human will Tips, the balance.
Your decisions matter the human will is the Avenue through which
both Heaven and Hell. Invade the Earth.
There is no neutral ground. You don't get say, well, I don't
want to surrender to God, but I'm not going to I'm not going
to allow the kingdom of darkness that lines already been drawn.
Jesus said, you're either with me or against me. and Believers
can actually be dead weight behind which the enemy hides to
take shots at others. And so we've got to be very
aware of what the Lord's dealing with.
I want to prom and ask the the worship team to come back up
here. I want to close with that song.
Again, let Heaven Come, and I want this to be a prayer this
morning, okay? I want this to be a heartcry and
as they're coming. I want you to stand.
I want to pray over you. I purposely stopped at 52.
We got eight and a half minutes - 15 seconds.
I want to pray over you. I want you to be receptive to
this prayer this morning, okay? Ask yourself.
Can you receive this prayer? Can you be a recipient of this
prayer? Father.
I ask that you would deal deeply with our hearts.
Lord where we're not wanted to be men and women who resist.
You Lord, even those things that we have found our affections
wrap around and we found we love them.
And sometimes those things even become addictions they may not
be evil in and of themselves. But they've taken two prominent
a place in our life Lord were asking.
God, that you would shed a light on it and Lord were asking for
your what God wants. But I want to want to I want to
wanna. But I need his grace scripture
says, it's his good pleasure both to Will, and to do his
grace, comes on you, to give you the right desires.
And then the ability to fulfill it.
Some of you. There's there's a part of you
that says yeah, I can't say, I really want him to go after
those things. Are you willing to be made
willing? Are you willing to open the door
and say, God, please deal with me.
I want to be a candidate for you to ride in on I want you to do
this in my life. Let's just wait on the Lord for
a moment. Thanks for listening to our
podcast. If you'd like to help more
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