Phil Beach Jr. emphasizes the critical need for believers to prioritize hearing the voice of God over the distractions of the world, warning that many are more influenced by human voices than divine guidance. He highlights that true devotion to God must be unconditional, not based on what we receive from Him, and that suffering can lead to a deeper relationship with God. Beach draws parallels with Job's trials, illustrating how Satan seeks to devour believers by tempting them to serve God conditionally. He calls for a spiritual awakening within the church, urging believers to seek God earnestly and recognize their desperate need for Him amidst worldly distractions.

Something I wanted to add to what Norman was talking about, the voice of God. Indeed, how true it is that we need the voice of God. But I do want to say that the scripture says that, for without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. God reveals himself in his voice to those of his children who seek him earnestly. Unfortunately, it's quite a dreadful situation within the church today when you talk about the voice of God, because the fact is many, many people are more concerned about the voices of men than they are the voice of God, seeking whatever it is. We have to spend quality time with the Lord if we want to hear his voice. We have to spend time in the Word. We have to spend time alone before the Lord. You can't hear the voice of God when your mind is filled with TV. You can't hear the voice of God when your mind is filled with the foolishness of this world. There's more of a diligent seeking after the things of this life within the church in general than there are after the things of God, and the voice of God is not going to come to that heart. It might be a voice of judgment or a voice of warning, but the sweet voice of God that the Lord wants to reveal to us, that will guide us and lead us, and that will open up his Word to us, that voice is reserved for those who diligently seek him. So, I want to encourage you to search your hearts and ask the Lord to search your heart. One of the themes, and this is why I like so much this book as I've been perusing through it, that David wrote, Wilkerson wrote, one of the themes of this book that is so outstanding, that is he's constantly mentioning the fact that the only place that the believer will find safety in the coming financial Holocaust is on his knees before God getting daily direction from the Lord. He doesn't come up with a plan. He doesn't tell believers what they should do, how they should invest, or whether they should or shouldn't, and I like that because too many people try and become a guide to the church. There are no human people who can guide the church into anything. True prophets lead people to the Lord Jesus Christ, not to themselves. True shepherds lead people to the Lord Jesus Christ. They don't make them, the church, dependent on them. So, we're going to need a real, real stirring in our lives, in our personal lives, in our family life, and in general we're going to need a stirring to shake up everything about us so that our hearts are inclined toward finding security, finding safety, and finding guidance from the Lord Jesus Christ in His Word through a continuous daily searching after Him. So, I want to pray that God will help us to prioritize seeking Him, and I'll tell you right now, beloved, it's hard for me. I like to look at everybody, but that's alright. That's alright. You don't have to move. That's why I just like to move it back because I like to be able to see everybody and have eye contact. I was saying that, oh yes, it is very difficult to see our need for God in this hour that we're living in because there's so much fullness everywhere. Why do you need God? You've got everything your heart desires just about. You could turn on the TV and be entertained from sunrise to sunset and keep it on and go through the night. You can have the hottest things, the nicest things. You can fill your life with all kinds of things. Why do you need God? Why would we have a sense of desperate need for God? You see, that's why we don't. That's why for the most part the church doesn't, because it is the spirit of Laodicea that has come and descended upon the church in America. Thou sayest, I am rich and in need of nothing and increased with goods, but thou knowest not that thou art wretched, blind, miserable, naked, and poor. So we have to pray, oh God, have mercy upon us. Help us to become aware of our desperate need for You. It is a very rare quality to meet a Christian who has a sense of desperation for God, isn't it? It's very rare to meet a Christian who is desperate after God, who is not desirous for anything other than God. Now it doesn't mean they're irresponsible. It doesn't mean they neglect the things that need to be done, but what it means that in the midst of all that they need to do, they maintain a desperation for God. They maintain a sense of God, I need you today. I need to touch of your spirit today. I need to hear from you today. My soul is thirsty and the things of this life don't satisfy it. I have tasted of the things that the world offers and it left a bitterness in me, God. I must have you. I must have you. Blessed are the poor in spirit, Jesus said, but woe unto you that are full, full of things, full of entertainment, full of after the hottest things of the 90s, full of pursuits of wanting to build bigger barns and wanting to have bigger and nicer things. And in doing so we've sacrificed, we've been bought, we've sold our soul for things in this world. And the desire for God has been quenched. And the dreadful thing is we continue on with religion. We continue on with the outward form. We continue on as normal, as usual. Now I don't intend to be scathing this morning, please forgive me if I appear to be. The last thing that I desire to do is to scathe anyone. Because I know the Lord loves us and that He's not angry in the sense that He is not angry with those that are His because He poured out His anger and wrath on His Son Jesus. God has appeased His anger on His Son. So when He speaks to His people with reproof and correction, He said to the Laodiceans, as many as I love, I reproof and rebuke. Be zealous therefore and repent. It is indicative of God's love that He speaks to us like this. So it is very difficult to see our need for God when the soul, when we are indulging in the things that satisfy temporarily. It's very difficult. And only God can give us a revelation of the snare of that in this particular day, in this particular country, in this particular hour. The greatest enemy to the things of God and to the affection and devotion that the church needs to have toward her Savior and God today is the presence of the prosperity that's everywhere because it dulls us, it puts us to sleep, it creates a false sense of security. I have what I need because I'm comfortable. No! Comfort is not what you need. God is what we need. God is what we need. And so we need a wake-up call from the Lord in this late apostate hour. We need an alarm being sounded in our ears, in our bedrooms, in our kitchens, in our living rooms, when we're driving our cars. We need an alarm to sound. Blow ye the trumpet in Zion. Sound an alarm in my holy mountain. Joel chapter 2. And this alarm is for us to pray that God will awaken us and that we won't become numb to the things of God. God warned Israel when they were in the wilderness. You know, the wilderness wasn't a fun place to be in. There was many difficulties and many trials. They suffered a lot in the wilderness. But through their suffering, though the generation was chastened by God and the initial generation died in the wilderness, there was a younger generation that grew up and they inherited the land of Canaan. And they cried much in the wilderness. They were tested by God. And God said that He led them into the wilderness to prove Him and to try Him and to test Him so that they might learn what? That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. So the wilderness was a good place for Israel to learn that in God alone was their sustenance. God allowed them to suffer hunger. God allowed them to suffer thirst. God allowed them to be against situations and circumstances that if God didn't intervene, they would die. Their children would die. They had no security in the wilderness except in God. They had no provision in the wilderness except in God. They had nothing that they could grab hold of and say, I'm trusting in You. I have comfort in You. No, they had nothing. It was God alone. They had to learn every day to go to God and say, God, You are my strength today. You are my provision today. You are my sustenance today. You are my water. You are my manna. You are my healer. So though they were in a wilderness, my God, and though they were being tested, it was good for them. It was good because they learned to walk in weakness and dependence upon God. That is the generation that was born in the wilderness learned this. The initial generation that came out of Egypt were chastened of God. Their carcasses died in the wilderness because they refused to allow the temptations and difficulties in the wilderness to wean, listen, to wean their soul from inordinate affection toward things. Again, they died in the wilderness because they refused to allow their souls to be weaned from inordinate affection toward things. They rebelled against God and they cried out to God and Moses and said, why have you brought us out of Egypt? For us to die in the wilderness? Why have you brought us out of Egypt to eat this manna? We're sick of it. We're sick of it. Why have you brought us out of Egypt? To die of thirst? Why have you brought us out of Egypt? Pharaoh and his army is coming. They're going to destroy our children. We're not even going to have any identity anymore. Moses, you fool. I don't want to serve a God like this. I don't want this God. So you see, beloved, God understands what you're going through. He knows the difficulty. He knows the pressure. And it's not without His permission that you're going through what you're going through. And it's intended to do something in you that is more precious than anything that you could ever dream of or think of. You say, how can these thorns, how can this pain, hallelujah to God, how can this pressure, how can this difficulty do any good in me? Have you said that in so many ways? Gary's smiling from ear to ear going yes, yes, yes. Everyone has said it, right? How can this be good for me? God says in response to that, I have allowed you to be tempted and tried so that you will learn the greatest lesson that a human being can learn, and that is not to trust or find satisfaction in anything other than God Himself. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! That's why God's got you in the furnace. That's why God's got you going through the firing furnace. That's why there's a den of lions around. Because God is wanting to produce in you a soul, a spirit, a mind, a person that says hallelujah in God alone. When do I find satisfaction? My God! And let me tell you, beloved, it's only upon such a people who have been uniquely tried, who have been uniquely tempted, and who have endured temptation, and who have come out saying, I'm going to trust God. It's only upon those people that God will entrust the kingdom, that God will entrust the authority and the power in this age and in the age to come. We've got to drink of the same cup if we want to sit on the same throne as our blessed Savior Jesus Christ. And there's too many Christians that want to sit on the throne, but don't want anything to do with the cup of suffering. They don't want to suffer. They rebuke it. Well, let me tell you something, beloved. There is a suffering that must come to every child of God. And it is, in fact, the suffering of being weaned from inordinate affection to everything other than God Himself. Abraham suffered. Abraham suffered. And during this suffering process, God took the man Abraham and sifted him and weaned him and delivered him from affection for everything. Even Isaac, Abraham had to put on the altar. The very thing that God had promised Abraham, God didn't want to become an idol. The very thing that God promised Abraham, God didn't want it to become an idol and demanded Abraham to lay it upon the altar, and we know that's Isaac. That's Isaac. So Abraham suffered. Christ suffered. Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by what? The things which he suffered. And being made perfect, that is, being made mature, maturity came to the Son of God through suffering. That's what the Word says. And maturity will not come to the sons of God, those who are following Christ, without suffering. If the Captain of our salvation, hallelujah, if the Captain of our salvation was made perfect, was made mature through suffering, how much more shall we who are one with Him have to be made perfect the same way? Hallelujah to God. Now, when it says Jesus was made perfect, it's not talking about He was being cleansed from sin. He knew no sin. But that which was perfect, in a state of being immature, became mature and yet was always perfect and without sin. That's what it means. Jesus was without sin. Never did He commit sin. But He had to go through the process of suffering to produce sonship, spiritual, physical, mental maturity. That's the mystery. God emptied Himself from the glory of who He is. And in the person of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, submitted Himself to suffering so He could become mature and complete and thereby be the High Priest in Heaven, whoever liveth, to comfort you and I who have to go through the same process. How wonderful we have a Savior. So, think it not strange concerning the fiery trials that shall come upon you as though some strange thing has happened to you. Consider it pure joy when you find yourself in many kinds of difficulties and trials and temptations. Be reminded during the times when you are being tested and you're going through difficult times, be reminded that God is wanting to cause your in life, your inside life, to be able to get to the place where you are delighting in God alone. If you're delighting in God alone, then you can say like Paul, I've learned to prosper and I've learned to be without. But many Christians, when they're without, they start to grumble. They start to complain. They get bitter toward God or they get their eyes on people and they blame it on people. They get jealous. Well, brother so-and-so's prospering. Sister so-and-so's got this. Why don't I? You start looking like that. You start comparing yourself with people and I'm telling you in a short time, you're going to fall into the gall of bitterness, into the sin of jealousy and your inside life is going to get all cancerous and gangrene is going to develop spiritually in you. And you're going to dry up spiritually if you compare yourself with other people. Don't compare yourself with other people. Compare yourself with Jesus alone. He's the patterned son. Don't look to other people. Don't look at what other people have and start coveting and wishing you had. Be content with what God has given you and seek that God might continue this formation of godly character in you. Hallelujah to God. All of this has to do with the message that God's laid upon my heart this morning. And the title of this message is simply this. Listen carefully because I believe that this is a message that if we take it to heart, I encourage you to get the tape. This is a message that will be with you, the truth in this message will be with you the rest of your Christian life. This is a prophetic word that you can listen to and remember and have tucked in your heart every single day of your Christian life until the day you're either translated or you go to glory and you'll find it's applicable. No matter what you're going through, this is applicable. And it's the truth of this word from God's heart this morning being well in us, in our minds so that we remember it, that will preserve us in the weeks, the days, the weeks, the months and the years to come. It will preserve you and keep you in a place of sweet communion with the Lord. You know, I don't claim God gives me the titles of messages. Usually I just think of one. But I'm telling you, I felt like this morning as I was meditating on these things that God has been working in me for a number of weeks, a number of months, I feel like the Lord Himself spoke this. Satan's power to devour. Satan's power to devour. I don't think I could have come up with that myself. It sounds too good. Now, we probably are thinking of a particular scripture in 1 Peter. You may turn there. 1 Peter chapter 5 verse number 8 is the scripture. And we'll read that here in a moment. Let's begin with verse number 5 of 1 Peter chapter 5. Hallelujah to God. Father, we thank You for Thy Word. We thank You for the Word that You have brought forth, the many testimonies this morning. We thank You for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We thank You for the divine presence of Jesus Christ that is here by the power of the Spirit. And I'm asking, Lord, that You'll take this Word this morning. You will energize it by the power of the Holy Spirit. You will bind all darkness, all wickedness that would seek to steal this message from our hearts. And that You would implant it deep in us, Lord, so that it will become a strengthening Word, an encouraging Word to us all the days of our Christian life. I pray in Jesus' name. Hallelujah to God. Is anybody else as hot as I am? Probably not. 1 Peter chapter 5. Thank God the weather's been cool. You imagine if it's been 90 outside, it would really be hot in here. Alrighty. 1 Peter chapter 5, verse number 5. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Now, the elder there is not one particular person. The Greek indicates submit yourself to the older ones. And that's just, I mean, some cultures, like in China, that's a cultural thing. They give honor to their old people. They give honor to parents and grandparents. And this is basically what he's saying. Submit yourself to older people. Listen to what they got to say. Now, you don't have to blindly obey anybody, including spiritual leadership. But here is a good principle. We're to submit to older people in the Lord. But now Peter qualifies it and he says, Don't only just submit to older people, but listen. Yea, all of you be subject one to another. So really, the thought of God's heart for New Testament Christianity, it's not so much you submitting to me. The church submitting to a group of men who are God's leaders. There's a place for submission to leadership. Only as they speak God's word into your life. Only as they speak God's word into your life. You are never to submit to an office, that is, an office that is irrespective of the person. You don't have hierarchy in the church. You have spiritual life. Spiritual authority is not on a person. It's on their yieldedness and maturity in Christ. As soon as a leader tells you to drink lemonade, what do you do? You tell him to hit the road. You remember Jim Jones? He had mesmerized thousands of people. You don't let leaders do that to you. You submit to leaders as you recognize the word of God coming from them speaking to you. Then you willfully submit. But you don't submit to them apart from Christ. Christ alone is the head of the church. And this is a danger. I wasn't planning on saying this, but I'm going to say it because the Lord is in it. This is a great danger going on in Christianity today. There are multitudes of people in the church who are following certain Christian leaders. And I fear that it's getting to the point of mesmerization. They're mesmerized by these leaders. I'm afraid it's getting to the point where there's so much emotion going on and so much electricity, and people are glued on a leader that if that leader says, women, I want you to start taking off your shirts, they would do it. They wouldn't question. Because they're told not to question anything. They're told, don't question, because you're going to hinder the Spirit of God. Or you're going to quench the Spirit of God. That's not biblical. There's nowhere in the Bible where it says, don't question and judge. Matter of fact, the whole New Testament is full of let one prophet speak and then what are the other prophets supposed to do? Judge. What's one of the gifts of the Spirit? Discernment. What does Paul say? Prove those things. Judge. Cling to that which is good. And flee from what is evil. You know, in context, Paul's talking about prophecy there. Not immorality. Although, you should flee from immorality. But he says, try all things. Cling to that which is good and flee all appearances of evil. In context, he's talking about prophetic utterances. Don't follow prophecy or preaching or leadership that does not bring you to Christ. Don't follow leadership that captivates you to themself and doesn't free you and build you up so that when you're done, you feel like you can walk with the Lord a little better. So, this thing of submission one to another. Leaders need to submit to the body of Christ. But we usually only hear, body, submit to leaders. But leaders need to be subject to the body as well. We're all one body. There's no this in the body of Christ. There's no such thing as lady and clergy in the body of Christ. That is a term that was coined many, many centuries after the Bible was written and it's a distinction. It makes distinction within the body of Christ. We are all members of the body of Christ. We are all brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. We are all equal in the body of Christ. There's none up here and some down here. Now, there's different gifts in the body, but a different gift does not make you inferior or superior to anybody. And we mustn't perpetrate that idea. We are all one. Different gifts and we pray God will allow all the gifts within the body to have freedom to flow. Likewise, all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility. For God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due time. Casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Now listen carefully. Satan's power to devour. Be sober. Be vigilant. Because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour. Now, this is a term that I believe Peter borrowed from Job. Because believe it or not, when you turn to your Bible and the book of Job, you may turn there if you like. The book of Job. Chapter 1. We're going to find a discourse between the Lord and the devil. Verse number 6, Job chapter 1. Listen carefully. What we're going to do is we're going to focus on the devouring power of Satan. Now, if the question was asked you and I, listen closely for a moment. If the question was asked you and I, what does Peter mean when he says the devil as a roaring lion seeks to and fro how he may devour you? If we open that up for an open discussion, there would be hundreds of different things that we can think of that would be ways that Satan seeks to devour us. But instead of opening up our hearts and our minds this morning to all of those different ways, we're going to narrow this Scripture in 1 Peter 5, verse 8 to the Old Testament context that has the same phrase that Peter borrowed. Perhaps Peter had in mind when he wrote verse 8 of 1 Peter 5 the story of Job. And no doubt if he had it in mind, then Peter also was probably thinking about the unique particular way that Satan tried to devour Job. And it was in that context that we want to look at this verse in verse 8 of 1 Peter 5. Now, what's that context? Now remember, this is a message that you could bring with you for the rest of your Christian life. And this is the great issue of the hour today that is confronting the body of Christ. Verse 6, Job chapter 1. Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan came also among them. And the Lord said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Now listen. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it. Now doesn't that sound like Peter? What did Peter say? Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh around, seeking whom he may devour. He himself told God when God asked him where he came from, he said, well, from going to and fro in the earth. So how did Peter know that the devil was going to and fro? Because the devil himself told God. And Peter was aware of the Old Testament Scriptures. So immediately we need to be aware. We need to be sober. We need to be vigilant. Why? Because our adversary the devil as a roaring lion walketh about. He is seeking. He is going to and fro throughout the whole earth. He's walking up and down, east and west, north and south, from center to circumference. He's all over. And what is he doing? He's seeking whom he may devour. Now, in what way did he try and devour Job? It is in that particular way that I feel God has spoken to my own spirit to share, because it is in that particular way that we are most being tested in this hour that we're living in now. Now, how did he try and devour Job? Listen carefully. And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered My servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that fears God and flees from evil? Now listen. Then Satan answered the Lord and said, Doth Job fear God for nothing? O my Lord, have mercy. God, I am asking You to quicken this word from Thy word this morning. God, it is so profound, I fear that it will just go in one ear and out the other. Help us, Lord, this morning to hear this and to understand that it is in this manner that Satan is seeking to devour the Lord's people in this late hour. Doth Job fear God for nothing? Hast not Thou made a hedge about him and about his house and about all that he hath on every side? Thou hast blessed the work of his hands and his substance is increased in the land. Listen. Listen. Put forth Thine hand now and touch all that he hath. Here it is. And he will curse Thee to Thy face. The power of Satan to devour, Satan's power to devour is found in his relentless attempt. Listen carefully. Satan's power to devour our lives is found in his relentless attempt to get the child of God to serve God with conditions. If you do this, Lord, and if you do that, Lord, and if I can see this, Lord, I'll love you and I'll serve you. But if you don't, what will you do, beloved? Satan seeks to corrupt the believer from the simplicity of unconditional devotion to God. Again. Satan seeks to corrupt the believer from the simplicity of unconditional devotion to God. I'll never forget, many months ago I had shared it with the body a few times, haven't shared it in a while, where I was engaging in a season of prayer and I had been praying, oh God, I was so filled with thankfulness because I was getting a revelation, listen, I was getting a revelation on God's utter commitment to me because I've placed my life in the hands of his son. I'm telling you that was bringing joy. I was seeing that because I've hung my life on the merits of Jesus Christ and I do not come in my own righteousness, I do not come in my own goodness, I don't bring before God the fruit of my own labor, but I stand on the merits of Christ, I saw that as that faith reaches to God, God is for me, not against me, he'll never leave me or forsake me, no matter what I do, no matter how I might fail him, as long as my heart is looking to him and looking to his son for the basis of my acceptance, God will never leave me. And oh, I was so happy and I was rejoicing and after I was rejoicing, I went through a season of deep utterance in my spirit by the Holy Spirit, groanings that couldn't be uttered and I marveled at the Lord because I knew that the Holy Ghost was groaning something in me and just right caught me off guard, the Lord said to me, son, would you like to know what was just going on in your spirit through the Holy Spirit? And I said, yes Lord, what's going on? And the Lord began to show me that in the depths of my spirit, by the help of the Holy Spirit, I was praying, oh God, I know that you will never leave me or forsake me no matter what. I know that you are unconditionally committed to me no matter what, but oh God, I pray that that would be true about me toward you. I was praying, oh God, may it be that you would so work in me by your grace and by your power a devotion to you, a love for you, a commitment to you that is unconditional just as your love and commitment and devotion to me is unconditional. Lord, may it be that you would see, now I know this is hard for some people and some people downright might not see it and might reject it, but that's okay. I was praying, Lord, may you see in my heart a commitment to you equal to the commitment that you have for me. Equal. And as I prayed that prayer, I began to weep before my God and Father. In the presence of His Son, Jesus Christ, and I said, oh Lord thou knowest that I do not have the wherewithal in myself to come up with such a commitment, that I do not have the strength in myself to have such a devotion to you, but golly gee, Lord, I'm not going to be discouraged because you have not asked me to conjure this up in my own power. You have asked me to come to you and to look to you and you give me this devotion. So the question is, do we want that kind of unconditional devotion to Jesus Christ, so that no matter what comes or what goes, we, by the grace of God, will say, I'm going on with God. I'm not going to get bitter. I'm not going to get angry. I'm not going to get jealous. I'm not going to get angry at God and turn my back on God because it didn't work out the way I wanted it to. Satan's power to devour is found in his relentlessness to put forth his hand and touch all that he had. That's possessions. Too many, oh my Lord, it's already 1220 and this is the introduction. Too many Christians are serving God with great zeal because of the hopes of what God's going to give them. And their devotion to God is directly connected to what they're going to get out of it. And God forbid if they didn't get what they thought they were going to get, what would happen to that devotion? What would happen to that love for God? What would happen to that joy and that smile? What would happen to that song? What would happen to that getting up at five o'clock in the morning and playing? All of that is connected to a secret desire to want to get that thing from God. But if God finally said, you're not going to get it, would that devotion and that commitment and that prayer life and that love and that song continue or would it dissipate like the dew when the morning sun hits it? I know this is searching, but this is how God, this is how God comes in fellowships, at least with me. I don't listen to voices in the wind. When God speaks, He searches the depths of my heart. I can't escape. Just a little personal testimony. You know our daughter, Mariah Hope, well, her hair is falling out and we have no idea why. The doctor said she's lost up to 50% of her hair. I believe God can do anything. I really do. Now, I'm not suggesting I've got perfect faith in myself because in myself I am a doubter. But I look for the faith of the Son of God as we were talking about. Faith comes from Jesus. But as I was praying this morning for my daughter, Mariah, the Holy Spirit stopped me and said, Phil, what's going on in your heart? I said, well, Lord, my daughter, she's losing her hair. What's going on in your heart? Lord, I'm looking to you for healing. What's going on in your heart? I said, Lord, tell me. He said, is she mine or is she yours? I said, Lord, I've given you all my children. He said, is she mine or is she yours? And I realized that I was praying for my daughter's healing because she was mine, not because she was the Lord's. And I was asking Father if it would be pleasing to her since she is His to just heal this because this is nothing to God. I mean, think about it. Think about the stars. Think about the sky, Norman. Think about the air we breathe. Think about the faithfulness of God. What is it to God to speak to whatever the problem is and to heal the little girl from her hair falling out? But God wasn't interested in that. He could heal her. He could do anything. He raised Lazarus from the dead. He was interested in what was going on inside of my heart. And he was silent after that. And I just joyfully gave her to the Lord. And I said, oh, Father, thank you. Thank you, Lord. He said, will you serve me if her hair falls out? Will you rejoice? Will you get bitter? Will you get angry? Will you say, how can you do this to a little two-year-old girl? God, how can you let this happen? How can you let her? She's going to be embarrassed. People are going to... He says, what's going on, Phil? What's going on? And I just wept and said, thank you, Lord. Now, remember, beloved, this has nothing to do with the wherewithal in our vessel. I'm not a spiritual man in myself. It's a matter of recognizing what we are in ourself and then looking to Jesus to make up the lack. Is your devotion to the Son of God and to the Lord Jesus Christ contingent upon something other than simple love for Him? Now, does that mean God doesn't heal? No. Does that mean God can't heal? No. But what it means is that God is more interested in what's going on in the inside of our heart than He is on performing outward miracles. So you say, are you going to pray for your daughter? I don't know. I don't know. I'm waiting. I'm waiting for God. I'm waiting for God. I realize I needed healing. My little daughter, Mariah, last night in bed I said, Mariah, would you want to see Jesus someday? She looked at me and said, Yes, Daddy, I'd like to see Jesus. She'd be in good hands. Oh, we'd miss her. We'd cry. We'd weep. She's brought joy to our life untold. She's a sweet little girl, little Mariah. You know what her name means? Bitter sacrifice. That's what the Lord told us to name her. It's a combination of Mount Mariah, which is the place of sacrifice, and the bitter waters of Marah. It's the combination of those two words. Mariah, bitter sacrifice. She'd be all right in the Lord's hands. But would I? Would my wife? You see, beloved, God is looking for inside character and devotion so that he can say, regarding a remnant people, the body of Christ, whoever will hear in the body of Christ, so he can look down and say, you see these? They've come through the fire. They've come through the water. They've come through great distress. And yet in all of the calamities that Satan brought upon them, because every good and perfect gift comes from God. God is not the author of disease and sickness. Jesus Christ showed us what God was like. He came to heal and restore. That's not the issue this morning. We know about that message. We know Christ is the deliverer. We know God can heal any disease and any sickness. But oftentimes in the body, people get so excited about that, they forget that God is just as interested on the inside, our devotion. So God wants a people who he can look down upon and say to all the angels and all the devils and all the demons, you see these people? They've gone through hell on earth, but yet look and listen. And he says, quiet heaven! And everybody in heaven hushes because when God speaks, everybody listens. And all of a sudden, heaven shuts up. And all of a sudden, out of the dens of snakes where his servants are, and out of the houses of affliction and difficulty, heaven begins to hear, I surrender all. I surrender all. All to thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all. And tears start rolling in heaven as God says, you see my servants? They love me. They're devoted to me. And though the enemy has had power for a season, to touch everything in their life, they still love me. And God says, you know what? Because of that, I'm going to give them all things. God is not going to give the authority and the power of the kingdom to those who have not proven their love to him through suffering. And that's a word from the Lord this morning. I'm going to stop. Not only did God allow Satan to put his hand on all that he had, but in Job chapter 2, the same thing, verse 1 and 2, and verse 3, And the Lord said to Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect man, one that fears God and eschews evil? And still he holds fast his integrity. See, this is after Job touched everything that, or Satan touched everything Job had. This is afterwards, and God says he's still holding his integrity. And Satan said, ah, skin for skin. What's Satan doing again? He's trying, listen, he's trying to find conditional love in Job's heart for God. All that a man hath, he will give for his life. But put forth thy hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. I want to encourage you, beloved, to meditate and to pray upon these scriptures, pray upon this message, and let God give you wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of these things. God is continuously seeking to create in us undivided, unconditional devotion to Him. You do not have it in yourself, nor do you have it if you trust in yourself. But the only way we can have this and walk in it is if we are continuously being washed in the water of the Word and continuously drawing our life from the blessed Son of God, who alone was able to walk in this world and have unconditional, undivided devotion to the Father. He alone is the perfect man, and our perfection can only come and come forth into maturity as we draw our life from the grace and sufficiency that comes from the blessed Son of God. So be it known to us all this morning that God, if you are one of His, will surely allow you to suffer and be tested, and one of the major reasons why is because He will be seeking not your ruin or your destruction or your failure. Satan is seeking that. But He will be seeking in you through this suffering a release and a going forth to Him in faith and in brokenness so that He can produce in you an undivided, unconditional heart of devotion and love to Him no matter what happens. And as God sees that coming forth more and more in you and I, it brings supreme pleasure to Him. And it qualifies us to be a possessor of the authority and the power of the kingdom in this age and in the age to come. Satan's power to devour. Christ's power to create perfect devotion. Look to Him no matter what happens. Satan's a liar. God does have your best interest. He has not failed you. And if you will endure, James said, blessed is the man that endures, for when he is tried he will receive the crown of life which the Lord shall give those that love Him. Be encouraged this morning. Let's pray. Father, we thank You and praise You for Thy Word. We thank You, Lord, for Thy faithfulness. I commit this Word into Your hands and pray that it will find good ground and fall upon that ground and bring forth one hundredfold in the hearers. We praise You, Lord, for Your faithfulness. Draw us to You. Let us draw our life from You. Let us not despair, for our strength comes from You. And when we feel we have no strength, we can go to You for strength. We commit our lives afresh into Your hands. Now search us, Lord, for a few moments as we stand and are before You in Your presence, Lord. Hallelujah.