In this sermon, the speaker discusses the importance of recognizing patterns in the word of God. They emphasize the need to trust in God and follow His teachings obediently. The speaker shares a personal experience of being a victim of malicious behavior and how God revealed a pattern of how to react in such situations. The sermon also highlights the competitive nature of the world and how it can lead to low self-esteem, but encourages listeners to find their worth in God rather than worldly standards.

I have from God's Word a pattern for release for you in order to please God. Now, this morning I wanted to write in my notes and I didn't, but I can see it in letters this big. It works, it works, it works. I apply this over and over and over again to my life. And it works every single time. It has never failed me once. It has brought me relief from anxiety, from bitterness, unforgiveness. We will read in Ephesians 4, 31, 32. This is not the scripture I'm giving you. This is not the pattern. I'll tell you when to write, okay? I love it when I see your heads go down. That is a blessing beyond all blessings. But this one you can just listen. It says, Let all bitterness, wrath, malice, clamor, evil speaking, all these things be put away from you, and be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted. And I think so many times we go, Yeah, I want to get rid of this bitterness. I want to get rid of this malice. Boy, I hate it. I know how it pulls me down. And you go on and on, but somehow it doesn't seem to be working when you just say, Well, I'm going to let go. I'm going to let go. This morning, if you will follow this pattern that's given, God will deliver you from it. Now, His Word is full of patterns. And if we take the steps of these patterns, we will have the results. Chuck has said over and over again that all of God's promises are conditional. You meet the condition, the promise is yours. So often we claim the promise, but we don't want to meet the condition. Is that true? Oh, Lord, I want this, this, this. But you have to do this. Oh, I want this, but I don't want to do this. Well, it just doesn't work that way. It's conditional. And you do your part, and God will do His part. In fact, He's usually ready to do His part before you're ready to do yours. Oh, this is not to write down, but this is one of the patterns that you might want to use later on. Well, you write this reference down. It is not the lesson this morning, but it will help you. This is just an example. Okay, Psalm 37. You are fretting, and you just can't get something out of your mind, and you're just being hassled by Satan constantly. And you just go, I can't get rid of this thing. It's just driving me crazy. Okay, you turn to Psalm 37, and God says, fret not. And don't you find that the first thing you're doing in these things is just fretting, fretting, fretting. So He says, no, I don't want you to fret. And then He says, next, I want you to trust. Okay, you've got two things you're supposed to do. First, you're not to fret, and you must be obedient to it. You must stop fretting. And you do it. And then you'll trust in the Lord, and then you delight in the Lord, and then you commit your way into the Lord, and then you rest in Him. Now, I make lists of these things, and I put the Scripture by it, and I put it wherever I need it. If I'm downstairs doing dishes, and I'm going to be fretting, and I know I shouldn't be, I'll take it and prop it up on the window so while I'm doing the dishes. And I read, fret, trust, commit, delight, rest. And I start doing it. Okay, I'm not going to fret. I commit this unto you. I trust in you. You're my Creator God. You're King God. You're capable. You're going to do it. Okay. I delight in you. Oh, God, you are so wonderful. I've got hot water to do these dishes. I've got detergent. I lived through the Second World War as a very young person. And I remember it was hard to get anything to do dishes with. The soap that they had then was terrible. And it wouldn't make any suds, and it wasn't any fun to do dishes because I couldn't splash suds all over the place, you know. And I thank the Lord for these wonderful detergents that just clean your dishes so beautifully until you can see your face in them, you know, that one. And I thank Him for the gardenia plant outside my window. I thank Him for the little plants on my sink. I look around, I thank Him for the sun that's shining in the window and to live in this area. And I began to praise Him, and then I praise Him just because He's God. And He's marvelous in all His ways. And He's faithful and just and good and righteous and holy and pure and forgiving and full of mercy and compassion. And I go on and I praise Him. And you know what happens? My mind can't fret and do that. What's happening? Trust is being built up. And this is not my lesson. Just think what the lesson should be. Then I commit and I rest. I'm trying to show you God has patterns all through His words. Now, this is just one of the patterns. Okay, as we follow these steps obediently, we will receive the release we need and we will please God. We're going to consider one of these patterns this morning. Turn to James, the fourth chapter, and from now on, you can start taking notes. If you don't get this lesson, use that one. These things, if you've been a Christian any length of time, you know these scriptures. And you know, sometimes knowing a scripture really well can be a detriment to you. If, I'm not used to that. Sometimes you know the scripture. If you know it too well, you're prone to skip over it. Have you ever had that happen? And all of a sudden you're in a class like this and you look at yourself and you say, I haven't read that for so long. I haven't walked in that for so long. Oh, Lord, thank you for that light this morning. I needed that. That's why we have to go over and over scriptures and read the Bible faithfully every day. And that's why Chuck takes you all the way through the Bible. It's because otherwise we don't read the whole word and we don't receive the whole counsel of God. So for you who know this passage and it's very, very familiar to you, look at it this morning so you've never seen it before. And you that aren't well acquainted with it, oh how I pray God will just program it into your heart. We're going to read verses 1 to 10, James the fourth chapter. Pardon me. From whence come wars and fighting among you? Come they not hence even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not. Ye kill and desire to have and cannot obtain. Pardon me. Ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts. Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? And we want to be friends with God. We want to please God in all we do. Friendship of the world makes you an enemy of God. Whosoever there will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. That's not Kay, that's God saying that. Do ye think that the scripture saith in vain, the spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy? Now listen. But he giveth more grace. Wherefore he saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw an eye to God and he will draw an eye to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners, and purify your hearts, ye double-minded. That sounds like a Romaine scripture to me. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners. Yes, you just hear it. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to heaviness. Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and he shall lift you up. I want to read it in the amplified because it's a little bit easier to understand and it just, oh, really hits us all. What leads to strife, discord, and feuds? And how do conflicts, quarrels, and fighting originate among you? How in the world do these things happen in the body of Christ? Do they not arise from your sensual desires that are ever-warring in your bodily members? You are jealous and covet what others have, and your desires go unfulfilled, so you become murderers. To hate is to murder as far as your hearts are concerned. You burn with envy and anger and are not able to obtain the gratification, the contentment, and the happiness that you seek, so you fight and war. You do not have because you do not ask, or you do not ask God for them, and yet fail to receive because you ask with wrong purpose and evil, selfish motives. Your intention is, when you get what you desire, to spend it in sensual pleasure. I must have that new dress. I must have that car. I must have that house. I must be beautiful. I must, must, must. And all you want to do the whole time, all people want to do is just, you know, use it to get more into, really, it's so fleshly and so carnal. You are like unfaithful wives having illicit love affairs with the world, and breaking your marriage vow to God. Isn't that sad? Do you not know that being the world's friend is being God's enemy? So whoever chooses to be a friend of the world takes his stand as an enemy of God. How do you like that? Choosing those things that cause all that strife and discord puts you in the position of being an enemy of God. Or do you suppose that the scripture is speaking to no purpose that says, the spirit whom he has caused to dwell in us yearns over us? And verse 6, but he gives us more and more grace, power of the Holy Spirit to meet this evil tendency and all others fully. That is why he says, God sets himself against the proud and haughty, but gives grace continually to the lowly or the humble, those who are humble-minded enough to receive it. So be subject to God, stand firm against the devil, resist him and he will flee from you. Come close to God and he will come close to you. Recognize that you are sinners, get your soiled hands clean, realize that you have been disloyal, wavering individuals with divided interests, and purify your hearts of your spiritual adultery. As you draw near to God, be deeply penitent and grieve, even weep over your disloyalty. Let your laughter be turned to grief, and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame for your sins. Humble yourselves, feeling very insignificant in the presence of the Lord, and he will exalt you. He will lift you up and make your life significant. Isn't that beautiful? You humble yourself in the sight of God, and he will make your life significant. And I don't believe there's a single woman in the room today that does not want a life that is significant. We all want to live a significant life, a worthwhile life, a meaningful life. James really points out this source of conflict in our spiritual walk and in our Christian walk very strongly here. Much stronger than I would have stated it if I had been wording it this morning. He deals with attitudes that result in ungodly behavior. Verse 1, he says that wars and fighting among the Christians, strife and discord are the result of lust within them. In my marginal reference, that word lust is translated pleasures. Pleasures within. Desire for certain fulfillment that is not of God. Actually that word pleasures there, lust, which means pleasures, means desires of the flesh. What leads to strife, discord and feuds? Desires of the flesh. Isn't that right? And when we are in the flesh, we cannot please God. Now these things that are in our flesh, this wanting, what I want, when I want it, I covet, I'm envious, I'm jealous, and if I don't get it, there will be anger, strife and discord. We have people that we come in contact with that have to be in the limelight all the time, and if they aren't, they'll cut you to ribbons because they can't shine forth. Most of us in our life have come across people like that. These desires come from my love of the worldly system. That's why they are in opposition to God. God does not bless or grant desires of the flesh. He hates the flesh. Remember last time we talked about our flesh has been crucified with Jesus Christ on the cross, and these fleshy desires do not have to dominate us anymore. And the pathway this morning is through the cross of Jesus Christ, but there is a very practical way of doing this. When I want these things, and I put up a fuss, or I mistreat people, or I backbite, or I'm gossipy or cruel to others, or I stamp my foot and have a tantrum because I can't get what I want, or if I have secret jealousies in my heart or secret envies because somebody's prettier, thinner, richer, or more talented or more intelligent, and listen, all of us are going to meet a lot of people like that in our walk. We always are. I mean, and we usually compare ourselves to them. Isn't that sick? You know, we do. And we, oh, they've got this and they've got that, and I'm so dumb and I'm so stupid. No wonder our self-esteem is like it is. If we did not have these awful desires in the flesh, like Dobson said in the film, the voices that are coming in on the straight life, if these voices weren't always speaking to us and saying, Oh, you're ugly or you're too this or you're not enough that, we wouldn't have so many problems with our self-esteem. If we walked with Jesus dead to the flesh and daily and moment by moment recognized ourselves dead to the flesh, envy and jealousy and all these other passions have no place in that. They have no place in that. Okay, if I'm walking in the flesh and this is at work at me, I value possessions and position. I want to be this. I want my own way. I want what you have. And we live in a world that is wildly competitive. Our whole economic system is based on consumerism and the only way the Madison Avenue people can get you to buy is to make you feel inadequate. If you don't have their product that they're pushing, then you're never going to be all that you ought to be. You're not going to be as beautiful or smell as nice as you ought to smell or whatever. And these commercials constantly keep us in a place of low self-esteem. In some ways, TV has been a horrible, horrible enemy of the woman, whether Christian or non-Christian. We live in a world that is wildly competitive and the spirit of the world is to outdo. Do, you know, be better than the person next to you, blah. And be richer, prettier, thinner, smarter. And if we're not, we suffer, as I said, low self-esteem and our cagey little minds don't like that. So they start on a neat little defense system and the little jealousy that's hidden inside says, I'll get her. I'll tear her down. She's not all that pretty. She's not all that much. Aha! You know, oh no, she doesn't look good in that color at all. And we start a little naughty, little wicked system. And it comes out of our insecurities and our low self-esteem. And it comes out of Satan using us. And just, you know, we're women in this room. There are very, very few women in this world that have not suffered from low self-esteem. I told you that they took a poll of models in New York, famous models, and not one woman liked herself. The women that are getting paid probably the most of anybody else by the hour to be beautiful didn't like themselves. Isn't that interesting? And it's because of this worldly system, the world's value system. We have to have a brand new value system that's founded in Jesus Christ. What does God value? And that's why being pleasing to Him does so many marvelous things in your life. If you're living to be pleasing to God, you're not going to be all consumed with whether you're fat, thin, beautiful, ugly, smart, dumb, whatever. You're going to be consumed with Him. And pleasing Him, you're going to know that you're worthwhile to Him. You're going to believe Psalm 139, and fearfully, wonderfully, and wonderfully made. And I am of great worth and value to God. And every woman in this room is of infinite worth to Him. Believe it, and let that be programmed into your mind and your heart this morning. All right. The pattern. We begin now. First of all, first step. Recognition of two things. First of all, I want to go back just a minute here, because I feel this is very important, and the Spirit is just really bringing it to mind, to hit this. Many times, we are the instigator of jealousy, envy, all these rotten little things, all this garbage. But sometimes we're the victims of it. Sometimes you're put in a position that just because you breathe, live, and walk, somebody doesn't like you. I don't know if any of you have been in that place. But I think, again, an awful lot of people have. And there are people who will treat you a certain way, because you're alive. I mean, that's about all there is to it. I am very fragile, and I read that you're never supposed to tell people that, but that was where I was, and so I can tell you. And God has spared me a great deal of that, but there are women in Calvary who have come to me and told me that somebody will walk up to them and say, you know, when I first saw you, I didn't like you. Oh, what a horrible thing to do to anybody. I don't care who you are or what the circumstance is, every single woman that I've talked to that's had that happen to me has been hurt inside. You cannot do that without crushing somebody's spirit, and I don't care how much you decorate it or embellish it. We had a girl up at one of the retreats that went around saying to four or five different women up there, you know, I just hate you. And she was, you know, she had problems. I'm really, she had problems. But, you know, we could forgive, and we must forgive no matter what circumstances it's done under, but it was easier to forgive her because there is a mental problem there. But when you do that to somebody, that is devastating to them. But if it happens to you, or if you're in that position, this pattern this morning is also for you. Now, in my fragile little state, I did have something happen to me one time that I wanted to share quickly with you this morning. Way back in the ministry, I don't even remember why, and I hope this doesn't horrify you, but we had a costume party. Now, don't ask me why, I don't remember, but I'm probably best forgotten. But it was in one of the churches, and we were having this party in the church basement, and Chuck and I didn't have very much money, but we had to have costumes. So I was trying to figure out what I could wear, and I thought, well, if I buy some burlap, I can make an Indian costume out of it. And I did. I sewed up my little burlap costume and put on some dark tan makeup, and, you know, one of those times. And have you ever had a time when you just felt like you looked good? You know, we have them. Once in a while, don't we? And it was one of those times. Now, it wasn't a thing of pride, because most of the time in my state of low self-esteem, especially then, I would look in the mirror and go, oh, no, you know. And God has healed an awful lot of that. But it was, you know, and I looked in the mirror, and I thought, wow, praise the Lord, tonight, maybe I should be an Indian. I look better, you know. And I went to the party, and I was having a great time, and a friend of mine, a real close friend that I dearly love, came in dressed as a clown. Now, she had her face all, you know, the big mouth, and I thought she looked adorable. And I saw her watching me in the evening, and I was laughing and being very sanguine and having a good time. All of a sudden, she walked up to me with a squirt gun in her hand and hit me right in the face with a squirt gun. And I felt the spirit behind it. I knew. I knew it was malicious. And I felt that stab, you know, but I, you know how you do, you laugh, you want to be gracious and cool outwardly. And I went home, and on my pillow all by myself, I cried. And I said, Lord, why'd she do that? And you know what the Lord said to me? He said, it is important why she did that. It's important right now how you react to it. And He gave me this pattern, and I'm going to give you this right now. This is what you do. When you're the victim, this is what you do. I'm not quite ready. One more minute. This is going to build a suspense. I love mystery stories. Okay. I did it. God, in His precious graciousness, did not allow one single touch of bitterness because I followed this pattern. I loved her. Five years later, she came to church to check with pastor, and we went out to lunch, her husband and Chuck, and she and I. And she was talking to me, and she said, you know, Kay, I have something to confess to you that's been bothering me for five years. Oh? Can't imagine what that could be. No, usually people never tell you, but I knew by the Spirit. She said, you remember that party? Yeah. I remember that party. I really didn't remember it that well, but then she said, I came as a clown, and she said, you know what? She said, you were so, and then she used a sweet word, that night that I was jealous. And she said, I just have to confess this to you. She said, for five years, I've carried this on my heart. God allowed me because I didn't walk in bitterness or anger or any of these unforgiveness or continue on and hurt. I had every right. Every right. I mean, that was a rotten thing to do, wasn't it? Anybody that screws you right in the face because you look decent one night in your life, you know? But, see? Okay, now, sometimes your husband, sometimes your roommate, sometimes your children, sometimes your friends do these things to you, and you are the victim, but God doesn't want you to walk around angry, bitter, full of unforgiveness. He wants you to walk pleasing to Him, released from it, so the blood flows through your system easily, so there's a joy and a peace. We were in Seattle a few weeks ago, and Marianne Hilton had walked up to me and asked me if I'd saved her a seat, and the room was packed with people, and I hadn't thought to save her a seat. In fact, somebody else had actually saved three seats for Wendy and for somebody else and for me. So, it just hadn't occurred to me. And, also, I didn't recognize her, and I hadn't seen Marianne for about three years, and she's wearing her hair differently, and, you know, things like that. And there were a big crowd of people, and I said hi to a lot of people, and this lady came up and said, have you saved me a seat? And I said, no, and I just, you know, but it was hi, hi, and she left, and I was saying, I thought, who was that lady? Who was that lady? All of a sudden, it hit me that it was Marianne Hilton. I was so grieved in spirit that I hadn't said, Marianne, I love you, how are you? I was sitting there, and John Hilton, about that time, had them sing, I've got peace like a river, and I'm sitting there, I've got peace like a river, and my heart's going, oh, why did I do that, you stupid? You know? And here my mouth is going, I've got peace like a river, and all of a sudden, it hit me, what I was singing. And I thought, oh, Lord, how easy it is for us to get down in that. I mean, it was a silly little thing to get upset over, but I can't stand hurting somebody. If I think I've hurt him, it grieves me. And it was so stupid. All of a sudden, I said, oh, God, you are going to take care of it. I do have peace like a river, and then I could sing it with a smile and the right attitude. But I thought, how often we do that, we let these little threats and things come in, and these little things that we've done wrong, or that we're the victim of, or, okay, here comes the pattern. I think you're prepared. First of all, you've got to recognize the source of all this. You've got to recognize not only the source, but you have got to recognize it in yourself. Psychologists talk about people who are out of touch with their feelings. And there are a lot of people. I've had wives come to me who are in a terrible marriage, and they'll say this, I have done everything possible. Nobody, believe me, nobody, Chuck's mom was the dearest woman. Chuck's mom and my sis are the two, my dad too, the three of them, had the strongest influence on me of any people. I mean, they are just the most precious people that I had ever met. And yet, they didn't do everything right. Nobody has done everything. I talked to a lady recently who does not go to Calvary, who's in the throes of divorce, and she said, I said, oh, I just, you know, I had over and over again said, go into 1 Corinthians 13, be obedient to 1 Corinthians 13. Love is long-suffering and kind. She said, I have done everything in 1 Corinthians 13, and I thought, nobody has done everything in 1 Corinthians 13 except Jesus Christ. Because remember, Chuck, as you put your name in there, love is long-suffering and kind, and if you can get past that, you can't get to the next one, probably, or the next. But by moment we walk in that, and we ask forgiveness and cleansing when we walk in it. But we have to recognize attitudes and actions within us. And remember that Scripture, search me, O Lord, and show me anything. Turn your searchlight on my heart. Show me any attitudes of bitterness or unforgiveness or resentment or hatred. Do you know, married ladies, that resentment can destroy your intimate life with your husband? Do you know that? A lot of women think they have sex problems in their marriage, and the problem has nothing to do with sex at all. It has to do with so much resentment towards her husband that she does not want to give to him sexually at all. And she builds a wall, and she just stands behind that wall, and she's too tired, or she's too this, or she's too that. Or she just absolutely has such a distaste for him because of the resentment. God will break down these resentment walls. If you're suffering with that problem this morning, you take this formula, and you apply it, and God will give you a brand new love and a brand new wanting Him, and He will be blessed, and your marriage will be blessed. God ordained marriage, and He wants you to have that free, sweet, loving relationship, that intimate relationship with Him that nobody else shares. And remember that as we go through this this morning. Okay, ask God to show you any of these things in your life that are building walls in relationships. Satan loves to keep us blind about ourselves because he can keep us trapped. His work is always darkness. Remember the Bible refers to him as a thief, and the thief comes to kill and destroy and, um, what's the other one? Steal. Steal, kill, and destroy. Thanks, Linda. And, um, that is Satan's work. God's work always brings us stuff to the light. Manifest it works, and healing comes in. And John 1.8, if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. I'm never jealous. I've never been jealous. Are you feeling that way? I've been horribly jealous. I've been envious. I've been covetous. Oh, sometimes it still happens, and I have to go to the Lord and say, Oh, Lord. And sometimes I didn't know it was there, and in prayer, you know, it comes up before you like a black cloud, and you, and my prayers are hindered until I get that thing straightened out in my life. We have these things, and Satan delights in just causing it to be hidden way down, and we walk around as super saint, you know, with this phony smile, plastic smile on our face, and inside there's all this blackness. Remember Jesus called the Pharisees whitewashed sepulchers, because outside they were doing all the right things, but inwardly there was all this crud and garbage. If you're not consciously aware, ask God to search your heart and reveal any of this to you. Verses 1 to 3 state the case strongly. In fact, so strongly, you probably could have sat there this morning and said, Well, I'm not a murderer, or I'm not like that, and you probably aren't quite that bad. I don't think the women of Calvary as a whole are quite as strongly as these, but who knows? God knows. He's the one that searches the heart. But you might say, Well, there's just a little garbage inside. Not very much. Nothing to worry about. Listen, I grew up in the age where they had garbage cans and garbage trucks, and if we had this much garbage in the can, I remember one time my parents went on vacation, and they forgot to put the garbage can down where you're supposed to put it to have the garbage man pick it up and empty it, and when we got home, that little bit of garbage I will not describe to you this morning. You can imagine, a little garbage in your life can just destroy. It just, you know, it's not satisfied to be a little bit of garbage. It grows and grows and grows. It's like an infection in your body that isn't treated. It just keeps on getting worse and worse until you could die from it. And again, the Scripture in Hebrews, the root of bitterness within you could be a very small, tiny little root, but the Bible says springing up will defile many. It can defile many. Everybody you come in contact with. Rebelliousness in your heart. If you're rebellious against God in any place in your life, rebelliousness is as a sin of witchcraft. And what does witchcraft do? It reaches out and puts spells on people. And I feel that when we walk in rebellion towards God, when we come in contact with people, what we are inside takes them away from God instead of moving them towards God. And certainly causes us to not live pleasing to God. Okay, first thing we must do is recognize these things within us. Ask God to search us out. Secondly, and this is part of point one of recognition, we must recognize God's enabling power. I love that Scripture, verse 6, but He give us more grace. That is God's enabling power. Grace, so that you can walk as you ought to walk. You can behave as you ought to behave. You don't have to walk in hatred, bitterness, malice, no matter what anybody does to you. You walk pleasing to God. He enables you by His grace. And I was reading where one of the great men of the last century used to in terrible trying times, and Amy Carmichael on reading this did the same thing. When these trials got so bad, she'd just look up and she'd say, Your grace Lord, Your sweetness Lord for this situation. Remember when the waters were very bitter and Elisha poured the salt in and they were sweet and they are sweet to this day I have drunk out of them. They are still sweet there in Jericho. Because God sweetens the bitter waters and He will for every one of you when there's that bitterness inside, maybe need a little salt. Maybe the Lord has put a little salt on the wound, you know, and let it sting a little bit and purify them. Living Bible says verse 60 gives us more and more strength to stand against such all evil longings. Amplified Bible, but He gives us more and more grace. Power of the Holy Spirit to meet this evil tendency and all others fully. He will give you more strength and power to meet these evil tendencies and all others fully. Okay, refusal to recognize these ugly attitude comes from pride. I'm not like that. Oh, yes, you are. And so God cannot give enabling power to a person who doesn't recognize it and doesn't call upon him. And the scripture goes on to say he resists the proud, but he gives grace unto the humble. And he will not give you grace if you aren't saying this is the way I am and I need your help, Lord, and I need your grace. As long as you're going around saying, I can handle that. You are not going to receive God's grace. It comes to the humble. He gives us more grace unto the humble. All right. Now, I wanted to give you, let's see, God sets himself against the proud and haughty, those who justify their bad attitudes and desires. And especially remember this in marriage. I have a right to feel that way. How many wives we meet? Of course you have a right to feel that way. You have a right to go to the divorce court, too. And when you live in a marriage with I have my rights, you are headed for destruction. Let me tell you, it just doesn't work that way. He insulted me. He neglected me. He rejected me. Therefore I have a right to feel this way. Yes, you do have a right to feel that way. But it isn't pleasing unto God. And it isn't healthy for you. And it isn't healthy for your marriage. And you're programming those attitudes in these little lives who are going to grow up and be just like you in their homes. Okay. Point two. Write this, please. Submit yourselves, therefore, unto God. Submit yourselves, therefore, to God. Verse seven. Totally unto God. Now, this is what I like to do in this. This is very practical. And that's what I do. And it works, I want to tell you. And it brings you to a point of being pleasing to God. Now, listen, don't try to write this. It's long. Put it in your own shorthand. Make a statement to God, declaring your recognition of your bad attitudes or another person's attitude towards you and you can't handle it inside. It's causing you to react badly. Or your ungodly desires. Make a statement to Him about that. And your utter helplessness to change without His help. That is humility. Declaring your utter helplessness to change without His help. Declare your dependence on Him. And give Him permission to do whatever He must do to change you. Give God permission to do whatever He must do to change you. Oh, beloved women of God this morning, how this pleases the heart of God when you do this. You are acknowledging He is Lord of your life. We sing He is Lord, He is Lord. But do we really give Him permission to change us? Do we really submit ourselves unto Him? Do we really say, Lord, I am helpless in this situation? I see some women go through the rottenest circumstances and they will never be broken by Him. They are standing as straight today as they did the day they started into Him and they still are all do it or die and they probably will die trying to do it. I see them hurt, crying, bitter, angry with God, all kinds of things because they refuse to be broken. I used to tell my children when they were tiny, I don't know if you ever did this, you know, as long, I had one little one that you'd spank and you know that spirit, that choleric spirit would not be broken. And Jan used to go to her and she'd say, you know, Sherry, if you cry at the first swat, you won't get very many swats. Sherry wouldn't do it. She would not cry. It was a battle of wills and how many of us grow up and act just like Sherry did when she was being spanked. God chastens a tiny bit and we go, I won't cry, I won't be broken, I won't, I won't. And we just stand in that stubbornness of spirit. Listen, if you say, oh, right at the first little swat from the Lord and He chastens and scourges. The Bible says He scourges those He loves and scourging reminds me of a spanking. I don't know what it reminds you of, but it does me. He does. And at the first little swat, you say, oh, Lord, okay, I'm, you know, I'm, you do, that's all the swats I want. I, I'm just, you know, I give you permission, do whatever you want. Be broken before and be humble. Let Him work in you. Okay. And verse 7b, the second part of 7. Ooh, I love this. Submit yourselves before God as A and B. Resist the devil. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. This is God's promise unto you. And as I was going over this the last couple of weeks, I thought, ooh, how we forget to do this. You know, we, ooh, He's so powerful. Don't we? We think that Satan is God or, or, I mean, the antithesis of God. He's not. He's an angel that fell, was actually kicked out of heaven, um, for what he did. Um, yeah, he, he's an angel. He's not like God. He doesn't have the power that God has. And yet, we view him with such awe and such wonder. Jesus defeated him on Calvary. And he can no more have dominion over you. And the word of God says, resist the devil and he'll flee. But we don't. We look at his power and think, oh, there's nothing I can do. And we just carry on. Okay. First Peter 5, 8. I want you to write 8 and 9 down, because this goes right with this. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeing whom he may devour. Whom resisteth best in the faith. Resist him. I have found, when I have bad attitudes inside, or in anything, if I say God in the name of Jesus, I resist Satan. He flees. He flees. If, maybe it's just for a minute, and I have to do it in a minute again. But do you know, pretty soon he is so far gone, that that thing doesn't even come into my mind. Resist Satan and he'll flee. The Lord just told me to hammer this in this morning. So if I hit on a little stronger than some of the other things, it's because we need to know it, because he's going about as a roaring lion. He wants to make you think he's big and fierce and ferocious, and he is. But if you resist him in the power of Jesus Christ, he will flee. There's a thought that keeps coming into my mind on this, when it comes back, if it's in another place, I'll bring it to you, because it's really important on this. Refuse his work. Pray. Jesus, I do not have to be in bondage, or have my relationship to you, or influence on others destroyed by Satan. I steadfastly resist him, as your word tells me to do. Fear him. Claim God's promise. Resist the devil and he will flee. He wants you to think that he is all-powerful and he is not. In fact, remember in Revelations, it tells us that we're going to look on him and say, is this the one that troubled the world? Someday we're just going to look, I don't believe it. Fear him. Fear God, who has the power to cast you into hell. We're not to be afraid of Satan. Now we're not to walk in and act like we're Jesus walking in. We go through Jesus Christ. Lord, you rebuke him. I resist him, and you rebuke him, and you take care of him, and he will. It is the promise of his word. You resist. See, that's your part. You resist, and God will cause him to flee, and you can rely on it, and you can trust in him. It is so simple, yet we do not put it into practice. I was at a gathering this week, Wednesday, and one of the girls that comes to class said that she had some friends over to her house, some friends that go to Calvary, and they walked into one of her rooms, and they saw the Scriptures all over her mirrors. And they said, we've heard Katie say to do that, but you really do it. And I thought, oh no, I say, you're not really doing it. I'm going this week. Lord, you've got to work this into the women so they really do it. I don't want you, and I'm not concerned about the Scriptures on your mirrors so much, but I am concerned with you resisting Satan, so he will flee. And don't view him as this big monster. View him as this defeated angel that Christ defeated on Calvary. Resist him, and he'll flee. Okay, next. Point four, verse eight. Draw nigh to God. I love that. And he will draw nigh to you. This is your part. You draw nigh to him, and he'll draw nigh to you. It's like a little child climbing in its mother's or daddy's arms for love, protection, warmth, shielding. We need to draw nigh to God. Have you ever been around a little baby that was afraid of a dog? What does it do? Runs for its mommy or daddy. Runs for that place of safety and clings and pulls until the parent usually picks the little one up in its arms. It's alright. That dog's not going to get you. I'll take care of that dog. When you draw nigh to God, you know that's what he's doing? He's saying, come on, get in my arms. I'm your shield. I'm your protector. I'm your high tower. I'm your place of comfort. I'm all those things. You don't need to be worried about that ferocious dog. I'll take care of him. Draw nigh to God and he'll draw nigh to you. Sense God's loving presence with you and I cannot stress this enough. Sense him right now in this room. Right there with you. God is with every single one of us as long as we're with him. As long as we are aware. Oh God, I pray you open the eyes of every woman in this room this morning to sense you right there with them. Everyone, I prayed it before I came. I prayed it yesterday for you. That the very presence of Jesus Christ will just breathe on you this morning. That you'll know he's there to comfort you, to care for you, to help you, to bring you victoriously through this life, to make you pleasing unto him. He's so faithful. He will do it. Sense his loving presence and respond to him. Oh, respond to him. This is not another point. This is part of that point of drawing nigh to God. But respond. Oh, Jesus, I love you. David said that when he went in the sanctuary, he went for two reasons. To inquire of the Lord and to behold his beauty. Do you do that when you go in the sanctuary on Sunday morning? Do you say, oh, I'm here this morning, Lord, to inquire of you. There's some things I need to know as I walk this path. And I need some answers today. And Chuck gets up to speak and some answers come. Or maybe the Lord just whispers through a song of the stillness of that service. And then to behold him in his beauty. Do you sit there and just worship him? Lord, you are so beautiful. I love you, Lord. Do you just behold him in his beauty as you're in the sanctuary? Do it. David did it. Draw nigh to him. Respond to his presence. He's always with you. Oh, just look up as you go around the house or just say it. I love you, Lord. Oh, you're so precious to me. Thank you for that miracle. Thank you for that. Praise your name. Don't just say praise the Lord, praise the Lord, praise the Lord all the time. Learn to praise him. Praise him in the spirit. Praise him in the language he's giving you to praise him with. Rejoice in him. Love him. Oh, how it lifts us out of the everyday. I was going through a horrible, horrible something or other a couple of months ago. And as I was driving out to the church, the Lord said, Kay, from this point to get to the church, you are not to do one thing but praise me. Praise me. By the time I got to the church, I was so lifted up in him. I wasn't thinking about that horrible problem. I was just thinking of him. My eyes were on him. I sensed his presence. I responded to him. That's what he wants you to do. I was going to stop and have you write down ways of just sensing his presence, but I want to do that at home. I would like you to take a sheet of paper at home and write down ways that you can sense the presence of God and draw an eye to him. Actually, write down ways that I can draw an eye to God. That would be better. Ways I can draw an eye to God. And then I want you to begin to enumerate, to list them during the week. Remember, your homework is for you and for your growth. If you don't do it, you may not be pleasing the heart of God or pleasing my heart as I would like you to be pleased through it because you won't grow as you should. But oh, how you can mature and grow in him if you'll do your homework. Okay, verse 8b and this is the Romain verse. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Hand cleansing represents the things you do. Heart cleansing represents the things that you are inside. Cleanse your hands. Remember in the tabernacle they had to wash their hands. They had these ceremonial washings. They're symbolic of what we ought to do. Now, when you wash your hands at home, and we wash our hands many times a day, will you let this be a symbol to God? As you wash your hands, say, Oh Lord, wash my hands. You wash my hands spiritually. You cause me to do the things that you want me to do. And while I'm washing my hands, Lord, purify my heart. Purify it from all the crud, garbage, rottenness that's in there. Cleanse me. Just bring about this purity. Just apply a little soap inside. Purify. Sometimes we need some antibiotics inside. We need a little more than soap, don't we? We need something to really get rid of it, of these infections that we have. Okay. Cleanse your hands. Purify your hearts. Be deeply penitent and grieve. Even weep over your disloyalty. Let your laughter be turned to grief and your mirth to dejection and heartfelt shame for your sins. You should be ashamed of feeling the things you feel before God. I have a poem that I love and you can tell how old my book is, but it's a poem that really struck my heart one day when I was just being disobedient to God in attitude and he broke my heart the day as I began to weep before him over the way I'd been behaving in a situation. My God, my God, and can it be that I should sin so lightly now and think no more of evil thoughts than of the wind that waves the bough? I sin and heaven and earth go round as if no dreadful deed were done, as if thy blood had never flowed to hinder sin or to atone. Ever when tempted, make me see beneath the olive's moon-pierced shade my God alone outstretched and bruised and bleeding on the earth he made, and make me feel it was my sin as though no other sins there were that was to him who bears the world a load that he could scarcely bear. God does not look at sin lightly. James says, don't laugh about it. Don't be frivolous about it. Be afflicted and mourn when you sin. Be sorry for your sins. Your sins nailed Jesus Christ to the cross. My God, my God, can I sin so lightly now? Can you sin so lightly and not even care? Your heart is broken for the way you behave before God the creator who allowed his son to be nailed to a cross for you. Be afflicted and mourn and weep. Cry before God. Sherry said the other night, she's going with a boy named Brian, and she said, Mom, we were praying and we were talking to the Lord, and she said, you know, we began to cry before God. She said we realized in past times, now morally it's not a moral thing with them, but they realized through high school how they had displeased God. Things they did, things they said, ways they behaved, and Sherry's walked in a pretty committed way all the way through. Brian's been a Christian since he was 18, and he's walked in a pretty committed way. But when the Spirit of God touches your heart and shows you the awfulness of sin, you can hardly bear it. Remember I asked you to pray, let my heart be broken with things that break your heart, God. He'll do it if you ask him to. And I'm going to tell you something else. One of the signs of maturity in a Christian is how the tiniest sin hurts them. Christians who are very immature, who are very shallow spiritually, can sin and care less. Oh, they might say, oh, I shouldn't have done that. But they don't weep before God. They don't weep before God. And there's a place of weeping and repentance before God. There's a place of being afflicted, and I'd like you to study that word afflicted there if you have any other versions in your house or any commentaries. Be afflicted and mourn. It's like put away all pleasure and stop before God and realize the seriousness of your sin. I don't care what that sin is. If it's sin in God's sight, it is horrible. Okay. The last verse. Humble yourselves in the side of the Lord, and he shall lift you up. Be broken before him. Be sorry. Show your utter dependence on him. I love this in the Amplify. Humble yourselves, feeling very insignificant. Have you ever been to that place? If you've read the Calvary Road, oh, there is not a more penetrating book than the Word of God on what we are like. He said, as Roy Hession, as he began to write, he said he began to realize it was nothing but a worm that deserved to be trodden upon. Now, that is not low self-esteem. That's very different from low self-esteem. We all are of infinite worth to God, but when we realize how we've failed him and how we've broken his heart by our actions and grieved his heart and not pleased him, and we realize our utter worthlessness as far as our own talents and our own gifts and our own abilities and how they all have to come to the cross and be crucified that he might be able to use as he pours in of himself and then we realize how really insignificant we are. But the beautiful promise when we humble ourselves, feeling very insignificant in the presence of the Lord, he will exalt you. He will lift you up and he will make your life significant. And you can count on it this morning. If you want a significant life, you humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and I pray you'll never sing that song the same again, but you'll truly humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. There's the condition and the promise again. You humble yourself, he'll lift you up and he will do it. Verse 14 in this chapter, and I'm closing with this because it just fits in. It just goes back to the very beginning of living pleasing to God and that is, remember I started out with David's prayer and I call it the birthday prayer. David says, show me what time I have left. Show me how frail I am. Show me how many days I have. And I ask the Lord to do that. I say Lord, do I have a week? Do I have a month? Do I have years? And show me. And I keep praying it because he hasn't shown me exactly yet. But the one thing he has said is you don't have very long. So live every moment pleasing to me and every moment I don't live exactly pleasing to him, but I am walking as closely as I can and the spirit taps me on the shoulder and says that didn't please God. And I repent and I start back up to please and you, you know, we talked about this, the things that Satan does to pull us off the path. Okay. Verse 14 takes us back to that place again, whereas you know, not what shall be on the moral for what is your life? It is even a vapor. One of the translations says as a morning fog and I laughed when I read that because this morning, what do we have? A morning fog and it's going to dissipate. I heard the news that said the sun's going to come out later this afternoon probably your life is as the morning fog disappears, just dissipate. It's a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. This earthly life is as a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away. Listen, vapors, all of us, all you little vapors out there. Let's live for Jesus. Let's give him our all. I, you know, I feel like I'd like to be a coach on a football team and say, listen gang, we got to get up there. And you know, I want to say to you, I want to spur you on this. Really my ministry in this class is to exhort you, encourage you, admonish you, stimulate you to just live pleasing to God. Shall we borrow our hearts before him? Lord, as we bow before you this morning, we realize our true insignificance and we realize the only way we'll be of any lasting worth is to humble ourselves before you, acknowledge you as our creator, our God, our strength, our life. You are our life and we have no life outside of you. And Lord, I pray that the words that were given this morning will find lodging in the hearts of these precious women. Lord, you alone know our love for them and how we yearn over them and we travail again until Christ be fully formed in each one of us. Oh God, our desire this morning is to see a body of women that walk totally in submission to you, walk pleasing unto you, grieving over those things that break your heart. Touch us this morning in a brand new way as we've never been touched before. Renew a right spirit within us. Create a new heart within us, a heart of love and desires that are after you. In the name of our Jesus, we pray that. Amen.