Matt Hagee - I Love It When God Shows Up
When you read 1 Samuel 3:1, 1 Samuel 3:21, you notice that there is a connection in the relationship between God and his word. For example, in verse 1, it says, "The word of the Lord was rare, and there was no widespread revelation". In verse 1, there is no word, and therefore, it seems like there is no presence of God. In verse 21, it says, "And the Lord appears". And how does he appear? "With his word". The point is simply this: where God's word is, he is. Unfortunately, we live in a world that has decided it no longer craves the Word of God in its everyday life. We don't value his word. And I believe one of the reasons we don't value his word is because we don't value the words from one another. It wasn't long ago that people said, "A man's word is his bond".
Now, a man's word is kind of like the American dollar. It's over inflated and losing value every day. It's difficult for to us understand the strong connection between Jehovah God and his word, because we don't trust one another. But look at it from the Bible's perspective. In the first chapter of the book of John, it says, "In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God". You cannot disconnect God from his word. Where you find his word, you'll find him. What a did Paul tell Timothy about going to the church and preaching? He said, "Preach the word". What did he say to preach? "The word". Why? Because where you find the Word of God in a pulpit, you'll find the presence of God in the sanctuary. The Bible says, "Unless the Lord build the house, they labor in vain who build it".
How does your home become heaven on earth? Your home has to be built upon the Word of God, because where you find the Word of God in a house, you find hearts and lives that are filled with love and joy. How do businesses prosper? Businesses do not prosper based on the economy. Businesses prosper when they put God as a partner on their bottom line. That's when he opens up the windows of heaven and he pours out blessings that you cannot contain. Some of you may find it difficult to put trust in the words of another. But what you need to know is what I hold in my hands are not just the words of another. This is the word of the Creator of heaven and earth. And in this word, you read promises like, "Let God be true and every man a liar". This is not just simple language. This is a two-edged sword in your mouth that defeats your enemies. It protects you. It provides for you. It guides you. It is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path that leads you through the desert of your days. This word is health to your navel and it is marrow to your bones.
Do you want to find supernatural strength in your life? Open up his word and begin to read his promises. Do you want God to appear in your finances? Open up his word and read his promises. Do you want God to appear in your home? Open up his word and read his promises, because where his word is, he is! Do you want God to appear in this nation? Then become the kind of person that puts more faith in his word than in the fake news that you hear on a daily basis. Everything that is being pushed and marketed in our world today is being pushed and marketed through fear. Everything that the world wants you to accept, they want you to believe that if you don't do it, you're going to harm yourself. They said, if we sat in church without a mask, we were handing out death sentences. Lie.
Now why is this important to keep in mind? Because the Bible says that God has not given us a spirit of fear, but one of power and of love and of sound mind. How do you overcome the world? You do not swallow the fear pills that they're handing you: you pick up the gos-pel and you make sure that it's used to shine light in a dark hour. The Bible says, "The Lord appeared again". Say that with me. "The Lord appeared again". So a very natural question would be, "Where did he go"? The wording here is unique because it's used to help us understand something but not really describe the situation. When we read that the Lord appeared again, it's very natural for us to believe that God left us. And yet, the Bible tells us that he is omnipresent. He is everywhere all the time.
Hebrews tells us about Jesus Christ: that he will never leave us nor forsake us even to the ends of the age. So how can that be true and these words fit that the Lord appeared again? The truth is these words "The Lord appeared again," are man's way of describing the reality of the fact that they have now once again seen God. Understand this: God is immovable. James says, "There is no shadow or variation of turning in him". So if you were seeing God, who is omnipresent and immovable, and you are not seeing God in your present situation, the thing that changed is not God: it's you. How many people say, "I want to see God in my life"? But the truth is they put on spiritual blinders and they can't see all that God is doing. It's not that God is hiding from you. It's that your vision has gotten cloudy and your soul has gotten distracted.
What clouded your vision? What blinded you? For some, it's fear: for others, it's greed, doubt, worry, temptation. There's a million things that can turn your head to the right or to the left and take your focus off of God Almighty. But I promise you, God hasn't changed! God is immovable. He's constant. I'll prove it to you. In Joshua 18:1, it says that the children of Israel assembled together and they built a tabernacle in Shiloh. 1 Samuel 3:21, it says, "And the Lord appeared again in Shiloh". Where was he when they saw him last? Shiloh. Where was he when he showed up again? Shiloh. Guess who didn't go anywhere. God. What happened in the hundreds of years between Joshua 18 and 1 Samuel 3? The nation of Israel drifted away from God, who is never changing.
What's happening in the United States of America? Some would say God has disappeared from our culture. Not true. Our culture has drifted away from God. We've drifted away from him in our educational facilities. We've drifted away from him in our classrooms. We've drifted away from him in the hallways of our schools. We've drifted away from him in our homes. We've drifted away from him in our pulpits. And now, we're in a situation where we say, "God, where are you? God, why don't you appear"? The truth is he's right where we left him!
If we want God to move, we've got to get back to God! If we want this nation to change, we've got to go back to God! If we want to see God's blessings in our lives, we've got to go back to his word! We've got to go back to his truth! We've got to go back to his principles! Ask yourself this question: where were you the last time you felt God's presence? Wherever that was, go there again, and he'll reappear. Why? Because he promised you he'd never leave you nor forsake you. He promised you that he'd be with you to the ends of the age. He promised you that he'd prepare a table before you in the presence of your enemies. David said, "If I make my bed in hell, he'll be there. And if I ascend to the highest heavens, he'll meet me there".
If you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you have no reason to fear, because his rod and his staff are there to comfort you. If you're in a day of trouble, he said he would be a refuge and a strength and a strong tower. If you're in a day of battle, he'll be a shield and he'll be a buckler. If you're going through a storm, he'll be the voice that calms the winds and the waves. Why? Because my God is faithful, my God is true, my God is loving, my God is kind, my God is gracious, my God is merciful, my God is an awesome God! Give the Lord a handclap of praise!
Today, if you're looking for the Lord, go back to doing what you were doing when you saw him last. Were you praising? Were you willing to offer your heart as a sacrifice of worship? You say, "Well pastor, you don't know what I've been through since then and now". I was praising pre-COVID. Don't let something so fickle as feelings change the reality of the worship that God deserves. Why? Because the Bible says, "Let everything that has breath praise the Lord". That means if you can inhale and exhale, you do not have an excuse. Our God is great and greatly to be praised. It doesn't matter the problems that you have. The Bible says, "The Lord inhabits the praises of his people". When you lift your hands in worship, the Lord appears in your situation, and "In his presence is the fullness of joy, and at his right hand, there are pleasures evermore".
Psalm 8 tells us that out of the mouths of babes, he has ordained strength to silence your enemies. "To silence your enemies", that means that when the weakest among us, babes, begin to worship God, hell shuts up and heaven shows up. Do you want God to appear in your physical health? Praise the Lord: for he is a healer of every sickness and disease. Do you want God to appear in your hour of need? Praise the Lord: for my God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches in glory. "I have been young, and now I am old, and I have never seen the righteous forsaken, nor their seed begging for bread". Do you want God to appear in the prisons of doubt and despair and depression that you're walking in? Praise the Lord, and watch the walls that you're incarcerated behind begin to crumble down, because you are a child of God, and he shows up when you praise his name!
Were you praying the last time that you saw God? The Bible says, "Seek and you shall find. Knock and the door shall be opened. Ask and you shall receive". Say that with me. "Ask and you shall receive". In the New Testament, we're told, "You have not because you ask not". If you were praying the last time you saw God, start praying again. One of the most powerful things that you'll ever do in your life is talk to God, your father, in heaven. James 5 says, "The effective fervent prayer of the righteous, it avails much". Do you want to know what would solve about 99.9% of your problems? Stop whining about your problem and start praying about your problem. Pray in the name of Jesus. Pray in faith, believing. Pray to him whose name is exalted above every name. That name can conquer cancer. That name opens the windows of heaven. That name closes the gates of hell. That name defeats powers and principalities. That name will lift up burdens and destroy yokes. That name will set captives free.
Pray in the mighty name of Jesus, because that name never fails! When you pray, the Bible says, "Pray in faith, believing". Say that with me. "In faith, believing". Faith and believing have to go together in order for them to work. It's like having a car without a key to turn it on. The book of James, in the first chapter, it says that a man who doubts shall receive nothing. What would you receive if you doubt? Nothing. So you can't pray in faith, doubting. You have to pray in faith, believing. And there are some people who pray in faith, doubting. How do those prayers sound? "Oh Lord, if... If it be thy will, if you would, if you could, if you should". There is no "If" in God. Pray in faith, believing. So what does that look like in your prayer life?
When you pray, go boldly into God's throne room. And don't beg and don't plead: start proclaiming, "God, you said, in the authority of Jesus' name, 'if I bind it on earth, it's bound in heaven. If I loose it on earth, it's loosed in heaven'. Therefore, I submit to God. I resist the devil. I am more than a conqueror through Christ. I have the authority of his word. I have the power of his name. I have redemption through the blood. If God be for me, who can be against me? Let God arise and his enemies be scattered"! That's how you pray. And Paul said, "Pray always". Say that with me. "Pray always". Now sometimes people want to confuse that issue. "How do you always pray? I mean, wouldn't it look ridiculous if you were pushing a cart up and down Heb, 'oh Lord, should I buy olive oil or 'should I buy canola'"? That's not what this verse means. "Always" means that you are constantly interrupted.
You say, "Well, how do I do that with my prayer life"? For example, let's say you go to the doctor's office, and the doctor asks you, "Do you have a cough"? You say, "Yes, I have a cough". "Well, how long have you had that cough"? "Ten days". You didn't tell the doctor that you had one cough that lasted for ten days. What you told the doctor is that your life, for the last ten days, has been constantly interrupted by a cough. That's what this verse means, "Praying always". It means let your life constantly be interrupted with prayer. Let your day constantly be interrupted with conversations that you have with God about the things that are going on, so that he can speak to you and show you things that you do not know.
When you get up, have an interrupted moment to say, "God, thank you for this day". When you go to work, "God, thank you for this job". When you come home, "God, thank you for this house". When you sit and you eat, "God, thank you for this food". Everything that you do, allow God to constantly interrupt you to remind you that because of him, you can do all things, but without him, you can do nothing. Were you giving the last time you saw him? Some people often wonder: when is God going to bless them in their lives. And the Bible is very clear. "Give, and you shall receive". Proverbs gives us a strong reminder. It says, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart. Lean not to your own understanding. In all of your ways, acknowledge him, and he shall direct your path". "Honor the Lord with your possessions and the first fruits, and he will cause your barns to be filled with plenty and your vats to overflow with new wine".
Now the thing about these verses, it not only speaks of God's provision when we're willing to trust him, but it did not give us a market analysis about when to trust him. It doesn't say, "Trust in the Lord with all of your heart, so long as the stock market is above 20.000 points, your ira is paid for, and inflation is less than 2%". It didn't give you any kind of economic indicators about when it was going to be convenient to trust in God. It simply said, "Trust". Why? Because when you trust in him, you are connecting your life to his provision and taking it out of the inefficiencies of the world's provision. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever.
When you trust in him, when you honor him, he'll appear in your finances. He'll make you, according to his word, "The head and not the tail, above only and not beneath". He'll accomplish everything that his word has promised you. He'll open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings that you cannot contain. He'll rebuke the devourer for your sake. The seed that you plant will come forth in its harvest. Your leaf will not wither, and whatever you do, it will prosper. If you want to see God, praise him. Pray to him and trust in him. Between Joshua 18 and 1 Samuel 3, hundreds of years of history go by. And so some people would wonder, one, if God appeared again, where did he go? We dealt with that. He didn't go anywhere: we went adrift. The other thing that people would ask is, "What took him so long"? "Why did he wait to reveal himself when he revealed himself"?
And the answer can be found in the purpose that Samuel served in the nation of Israel. Samuel was not only a prophet, but Samuel was a priest, and Samuel was a judge, and Samuel served his generation well. But the purpose of Samuel's life was not just to accomplish those things, but he was the one that God chose to anoint God's chosen king. You see, Samuel, in his old age, was commanded by God to go to the house of Jesse in a town called Bethlehem, because there in that house, God had appointed himself a king. We know the story. Samuel found David. Samuel anointed David. And in the life of David, God told David that his seed would sit on the throne in Jerusalem forever. That seed it was same promised seed as the one in Genesis 3 that would come from the woman and crush the head of the serpent. His name was Jesus Christ.
So the point is this: God's timing is always centered around God's revelation of his king. David was his king. David was the man after God's own heart. God put Samuel on the earth so that David could sit on the throne, so that it would prepare the way for Jesus Christ to come and do the same. In our world, we wonder, "Where is God"? God is where his word is. Where did he go? He didn't move. He's always been right where he was.
When is he going to reveal himself again? I'm so glad that you asked, because God has an anointed and an appointed king. He is the son of David, the shepherd boy. He has died and risen again. And he is currently seated at the right hand of God the Father. But soon, God is going to reveal himself with power and authority when the trump of God shall sound, and the dead in Christ shall rise, and we who are alive and remain shall be caught up to meet the Lord in the air. Child of God, we will see the King when he comes. And when he comes, of his kingdom, there shall be no end! I don't know about you, but I just love it when God shows up! Give the Lord a handclap of praise in this house today!
Would you stand to your feet? There are some of you in this place today that you say, "Pastor, I need God to show up in my life. I need him to show up in my family. I need him to show up in my health, in my finances, in my marriage". Wherever it is that you need the hand of God to move today, I assure you of this, he already knows about it. He just wants to know if you have the courage to ask him. And so today, if you need that kind of a touch from heaven above, I want you to raise one hand in the air as a testament before the Lord. And now those of you with that hand raised, I want you to lift the other hand as a sign of surrender. One hand says, "I need you". The other hand says, "I want you". And now I want you to repeat this prayer with me:
Lord Jesus Christ, I ask you today to move in my life and to touch me. Lord, I need you to appear. And now I want you to tell him exactly where. I need you to appear in my finances. I need you to appear in my business. I need you to appear in my heart, in my mind, in my spirit.
Wherever it is that you need God's hand to touch your life, I want you to ask directly, in faith, believing, doubting nothing, knowing that with God all things are possible. Begin to proclaim God's presence in your family. Begin to proclaim God's presence in your heart. Begin to proclaim God's power in your business. Wherever it happens to be, give God the opportunity to prove himself faithful to you today.
Now Lord, every hand that's raised, every head that's bowed, every heart that's opened, every mouth that's asking, I ask you to honor it with your presence in this place. Your word say that you inhabit the praises of your people, so come into this room and move in a mighty way. The burdens that were carried in here, let them be left here. The weight that was being drug around, let it be gone, in the mighty name of Jesus. Yokes of bondage, break them, in Jesus' name.