2 Chr 7:14 If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

[Different types of water, ponds and stagnant versus flowing water illustration: A pond isn’t too pretty because the water isn’t flowing. A pond is dead... Contrast the Cossatot River... flowing. Use Dead Sea as a representation of God’s people, Israel, accepting God’s flowing and moving in their land.

Ezek 47:9 And it shall come to pass, that every thing that liveth, which moveth, whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and every thing shall live whither the river cometh.

John 7:38-39 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, ]

More important than me ever getting rich, famous, or attaining any earthly goal. Each week more important than making a living, raising a family, having a home--and these things are important--but more important than all of these things, I must have a move of God in my life! Everyday I must expect it, if anything comes in the way I must remove it, I can not become stagnant, I must have God moving through my existence, because that is the only way that my life will stay fresh, alive, living, strong, rich, nourished, and whole! I must have a move of God in my life above all else.

So How do we have a move of God? God’s word has explained what motivates Him to move. God Himself wanted us to know the formula for divine intervention in our lives, and we read it as our text, [Read Text again]

We must be His people

Matt 10:37-39 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

39 He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.

We become His people by taking up His cross and following after Him! We have to lose our will and take up His will! We have to lose our mind and get the mind of Christ! If my father/mother/son/daughter/ brother/sister is trying to come between me and God, then I must tell them “Sorry, I love you but you never died for me!”

Jesus said to take up His cross and follow Him. He carried His cross until His flesh died. His flesh was buried, and then it rose again to a new life in Christ Jesus. To become the people of Christ, we must believe in Christ, and you believe in Christ by identifying with His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension! (Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38) Our flesh dies at repentance, our sinful bodies are buried in water in Baptism, and then we must be brought back to life as a new creature in the Holy Ghost! And Some people go one step and stop, and some two steps and stop, and some three steps and stop. But we must identify with Christ also in His ascension! How do you do that?

Rom 8:11 But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.

1 Cor 15:50-53 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.

51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,

52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

I can’t Repent, be Baptized, filled with the Holy Ghost and then return to the old lifestyle that I once lived. Because I haven’t finished identifying with Christ yet! One day I’m going to fly away! At the last trump.......................

Is important? Yes, because the first step to having God Move in my life......

We must be called by His Name. What is God’s name? God never revealed it to Israel. Oh they had different titles for God, Elohim which was kind of generic. Even false Gods were called Elohim, so God gave them a specific title with which to call on Him, “Jehovah: ” but even this title was not all conclusive so they had to add on words to explain what they meant. If they were talking about how God fought their battles, then they praised “Jehovah-nissei” If they were talking about how God provided for them, then they said Jehovah-jireh. The closest anybody ever got to finding out God’s specific name was Moses. God told Him to go tell Pharoah to “let my people go.” Moses then turned and asked God and said o.k., but whom am I going to say sent me?

Exod 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.

I AM, God? That’s not much of a name! But thousands of years later, Jesus is being arrested and betrayed and they come to get him and take him away.

John 18:3-8 Judas then, having received a band of men and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, cometh thither with lanterns and torches and weapons. 4 Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him, went forth, and said unto them, Whom seek ye? 5 They answered him, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus saith unto them, I am he. And Judas also, which betrayed him, stood with them. 6 As soon then as he had said unto them, I am he, they went backward, and fell to the ground. 7 Then asked he them again, Whom seek ye? And they said, Jesus of Nazareth. 8 Jesus answered, I have told you that I am he: if therefore ye seek me, let these go their way:

When Jesus revealed Himself as I AM He, it knocked them flat on their back! Why? because Jesus is the name of “I AM” Jesus is Jehovah God in flesh and revealed to His people! Acts 4:12 said it like this:

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Matt 18:19-20 Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. 20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

That’s why when I pray, I pray in His name (Jesus), When I agree with someone, I agree in His name (Jesus), When We gather together, we need to come in His name (Jesus), When I ask Him to take away my sins by being baptized, I am baptized in His name (Jesus). When I received the Holy Ghost, I received it calling on His name (Jesus), when I pray for the sick and they recover it’s because I prayed in His name, And when I ascend in the Rapture one day, as I’m going up, I’m going to be praising the name. When I have a conversation, I like to mention His name, why? because He shows up! To have God’s will and spirit moving in my life, I must be completely obsessed, and guided, and saturated with the NAME!

We must humble ourselves This is not putting yourself down, and acting like you’re dirt! You are dirt (or were formed from it), but you are expensive dirt because God was willing to pay an enormous price to redeem you! Too many Christians feel like they don’t deserve God’s blessings, but we need to realize that God wants to freely give us His blessings. Some people think that meekness is not having a backbone to stand up for what you believe in. That’s not meekness, that’s insecurity! Humbling yourself is realizing that without God we are nothing! [God’s math example?] Humbling ourselves is just realizing that we are totally dependent on God! Many people try to makeup for no results in their spiritual life by expending more energy or time or work! [Retardation story?] Yes, God does reward the hard worker but all the work in the world without God is futile and fruitless. We can plant all the seeds in the world both spiritually and physically and if God doesn’t speak to that seed, we’ll never see growth! True humility is realizing that I am always going to be a failure if I don’t allow God to be in control of all my life! To have a move of God, I must give up total control of my life and goals to God and His word!

We must pray Prayer is essential! God will not move without prayer! But people think that prayer is sooooo boring because they don’t know how to pray. When you petition God with something, and He answers, then suddenly prayer becomes exciting! Prayer is a relationship, not a once or twice a week affair.

1Thes 5:17 Pray without ceasing.

That doesn’t mean that you walk around at work mumbling to God! That means that you pray everyday whether or not they’ve been answered! God hears your prayer, and the answer is on the way (of course God answers prayer 3 ways: Yes, No, or let’s wait until the time’s right) If God is continually not answering your prayers, then you’re probably not following the next step...

We must seek His face What are you praying for? Are you praying for God’s will? Or are you praying for Your will!?! Instead of moaning to God for an hour about all the troubles you have, why don’t you try to ask Him what He desires and what He needs you to do. God has needs! He needs people sold out to Him! God has always worked through a man, and that will not stop now! Try praying for God’s perfect will in your life and see how many of your troubles don’t fix themselves, Why? because praying and seeking God’s face are two of the most vital steps in having God move in your life. If you do them, then He will move!!!! The reason that your answer was let’s wait until the right time was not dependent upon God changing... He’s waiting on you to change so that He can give you the desires of your heart.

We must stop sinning True Repentance is a change of direction! If God’s word says it, then that settles it, it really doesn’t matter whether I believe it or not! You see there are some absolutes in life, and God’s word is one of them. Whatever God spoke to the men of old, He spoke for a reason! To truly obey my father and my mother while I was growing up, I had to obey what they spoke to me--their word. To truly obey God my heavenly Father, I must do likewise, and obey His WORD. If God says it’s wrong, then it’s wrong! If God says He doesn’t like something, then it’s wrong. If something in your life causes you do, think, feel, act, or speak something that is wrong, then you don’t need it in your life! Why? Because Wicked or Sinful ways will ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS, stop a move of God in my life. Oh I may come to church and feel God’s presence, but I will not have the Spirit of God moving freely through my life, and I will grow stagnant, like an old pond, full of corruption and no life... In people we call it attitudes, our own agendas, bitterness, offended, unforgiveness, hatred, jealousy, strife, envying... If these are in your life, then it’s a sign that the moving of God has been stopped and hindered in your life... It’s not flowing like it should be, because you have not obeyed our Father’s word!

Then God will move....

God is bound to His word! But His promises always have a condition. If we fulfill the conditions, then God is bound by His word to move! And we have now been through all of the conditions that must be met for God to move in our individual lives, church body, and nation!

Everywhere in the Bible that we find God, we see him around moving water: By the second day of Creation, God was already moving waters around! When God destroyed the earth because of wickedness, He caused water to fall from the sky. When the children of Israel were trapped at the Red Sea, He moved the waters, when Pharaoh’s army tried to pursue, God just moved the waters! Every time the children of Israel needed something to drink, then out of a rock flowed water. When it came time for Israel and Joshua to go into the promised land, and a river stood in their way, He moved water. Ezekiel 47 tells us that Ezekiel saw a vision of God and water, and the water flowed! Jesus told John to baptize me “I need to move some water.” Jesus’ first miracle, they put water in the pots, and God moved water! The angel came down at the pool of Bethaisda at the season of healing and moved the water! Jesus told the woman at the well, that she needed His water and that it would flow freely! Jesus told Nicodemus that if He was to see the kingdom of God, then He better move water! When He wanted to test the disciples faith on the boat, Jesus moved water. When they got scared, Jesus stood up and moved water! When He cast out the demons into the pigs and they ran over the cliff and into the sea, they moved water. When they cast out the net one last time, and pulled in so many fish that the nets brake, water was moved! Jesus stood up on that great day of the feast and cried with a loud voice that whosoever believed on Him, out of His bellies would flow rivers of living water! Even after Jesus was dead, the soldier pierced His side, and from His belly flowed blood and water! When Phillip was preaching to the Ethiopian on being baptized, the Eunuch said, “well there’s water.” John the Revelator saw a vision of an angel saying that God’s timing is true, and the angel stood upon the water. When Jesus comes back again, the Bible tells us that out of Jerusalem will flow rivers of waters! And even in heaven, you won’t find some stagnant pond, but you will find a pure crystal clear river of life flowing from His throne, because for all eternity, God’s going to be moving water!

In the Bible water always represents man’s soul and spirit and life, and God loves, desires, hopes, and is obsessed to MOVE IN IT! I must have a move of God in my life!