I am asked to speak to you especially in how to
get through difficult situations, how to keep
your faith and your focus, as God has led me
personally through very deep waters in my life,
through severe sickness through opposition. And
er facing situations, that's not that easy.
True, God has not promised us that
everything would be easy. But God has promised us
that we will come out the other side yard, like
those Hebrew men, with a fourth man walking
through the fire with us. But now how to get there,
it's not it's very easy to preach it, it's not so
easy to live it. And so I would like to talk to you
today about your calling, and your destiny, and how
Satan about it. Because that way, we will
actually understand in many different ways,
what's happening to us. And that's the foundation
of it all. Once we understand what's
happening to us, then we can actually manage to do
to do to pray against it, or how to handle it. And
I like to take you there with me. Now, my name is
Susie Totten, a voice in the city. And I'm talking
to you today. First of all, out of Jeremiah
chapter 29. And verse 13. And 11, is a way to say,
I know that very well. And yet, that's the
foundation that my friends, if we understand
that the calling of God, and the plants of God in
our life, in the midst of what ever is happening is
for our good, and that it's actually there for
the answer of prayer and for a future and a hope.
Because the first thing Satan would want to bring
to you is that God's plans for you is not
good. And God allow these things. And why are you
going through all of this? And that's the plan
of the enemy to take your eyes away from a good
God, and the plans of future and hope for you.
And God said, actually, right there in the
Scripture, she said four times, I will answer I
will help you if we seek Him with all our
hearts. And I believe I'm speaking to people who
seek God with all their hearts. So that's not the
point. So let's go then on to learn from a man
who taught me more about a position, and how to
hold on and how to see that through than anybody
else in the Bible. It's actually Apostle Paul.
And I want to take you to destiny, because you need
to understand that if you got from God, a calling a
destiny, or something you need to do for the Lord.
All hell will oppose it. Why? Because if you
fulfill that destiny, you will bring such damage to
the kingdom of Satan, and you will be such a
testimony for the kingdom of God. And that's
exactly the good and the future plans God has for
you. Now let's first of all, look at poor be
called as a chosen vessel, he was called by
God, and even in that calling, they were
suffering. Now here we see that actually in Acts
chapter nine, and verse 15, but the Lord said to
him, go for me, and for he is a chosen vessel of
mine, to bear my name before the Gentiles,
kings and children of Israel. For four, I will
show him how many things he must suffer for my
namesake. Everything we do, and everything we go
through is for the sake of God. And that is the
foundation of it all. Now, you know, today,
even if you go to Israel, and you go to a pottery,
and you ask the potter, show me your chosen
vessel, he would actually go to the back, bring out
his choice vessel, and at the bottom actually would
be his signature. And that is as it were his
trademark. And God has put his trademark on
Paul, and God has put his trademark the blood of
Jesus on you, and the call of God on you. I
mean, so when we see the now we see Paul getting a
destiny, and it's go quickly with me as it
will actually two Acts chapter 23. And we need
to understand that our opposition that really
tried to stop us it's not necessarily the enemy is
not necessarily people. It's not even
circumstances. It's not even a virus or no virus
or anything like that. Let's understand what
happens and I'm going to use the language Forgive
me for for comparing it to a cannon, how Satan is
using different cannons in different situations
to get us out of the call of God or to get us out
of that destiny. So Alright, let's quickly go
quickly with me to accept the 23 and verse 12. Now
we see that God is speaking to Paul. And
Paul is now going through a very difficult
situation. And in verse 11, it says, but the
following Night The Lord stood by him and said, Be
of good cheer Paul, for as you have testified for
me in Jerusalem, so you must also bear witness at
Rome. Wow. So here we see the destiny of God for
Paul. Rome is the goal. Rome is the destiny.
That's where you are going, Paul. And so we
see this incredible task that God gave him. Now
imagine, if Paul preached the gospel of Jesus
Christ in Rome, what a stronghold of the enemy
and false teaching and false gods would fall
because of the gospel of Jesus Christ, of course,
sadness to oppose it. And your calling is as
important as pause. And where God has put you is
as important for God trusted you to bring that
light into those darkness and into that situation,
and you are facing what Paul is facing. Now the
first thing let me use the language of a cannon,
please, if you allow me, although it sounds
militant, let me use that, please. Just for
clarification, clarification sake. And
the first cannon that Satan use and is normally
so successful, that it gets so many people out
of the call of God is first of all, your own
people. And this we see right here, we see. And,
and, and when it was day, the very next verse,
verse 12, some of the Jews banded together and
bound himself under an oath saying that they
would neither eat nor drink till they had
killed Paul, or people just just a minute here.
This is this is 40 men, under the Jewish orthodox
law, who understand the importance of an oath.
And it's not just like you and me saying, oh,
Lord, we will pray every morning at five o'clock,
and that lasts for three weeks, and then we
oversleep. And we forget about it again, or no,
no, we must understand what it was like for
these people, it is truly he die, or we die, he
dies, or we commit
suicide, because they understand that if they
would break that law, they would bring a curse
upon them, and their homes and their families.
So that's the seriousness of this cannon that Satan
is using to stop the destiny of porn. And many
of you that might watch me even as pastors and
leaders might be exactly at the spot at the
moment, you might have a team member or a church
member, or somebody in your community, or
somebody in your immediate circle of
leadership that is opposing you. First of
all, it's of course, coming to humility, to
see, could it be that God is trying to tell you
something. But if you are sure that you have heard
from God, and you stand in humility of God, and
you stand in worship and impurity before the Lord,
and none of us are perfect, of course not.
But if you walk with a light, you have to the
best of what you know, before the Holy Spirit
and before God, then I would say, then it's time
to stand up for your call, and stand up for
your vision. And so balls first came from his own
people. That's kind of number one. And I would
say that this is so successful, that so many
people get out of the ministry out of the call
of God, out of that difficulty, because of
the opinion of those close to them. Now, you
know, you and I could just agree with this, if
it's somebody from out there, you don't even
know you think, doesn't matter what they think,
who cares what they think. But if it is your
own husband, or your wife, or your family, or
your brothers and your sisters, wow, that hurts.
And that's a different story. And for Paul here,
it was those that he trust and that he
believed with, and that maybe he even tried
before, who knows. And that's the first thing we
see here. And now we see that it's not a small
matter, and people will die. Now, Paul did not
die because God revealed the plan, which means
that 40 men died. It meant that 40 men
committed suicide, it meant that 40 might have
been fathers might have been grandfather's we
don't know. It's 40 lives and families that's
affected by an oath. And that's how serious this
cannon is. And that's how serious it also might be
for you, or for me when things go wrong. And you
really struggle. And there's great difficulty,
especially in your own immediate circle to you
to keep focus now. Let's see. And when Paul stood
that test, and he did not go into compromise, but
he kept focused, and this is the key. How did you
keep focus is that people asking me many times, I
think the main thing is for me to remember what I
was called for. The main thing is for me to
Understand what it is the purpose is of God. And I
hold to that and I pray it and I worship it, even
if I feel nothing, even if it feels to me heaven
is like brass, I keep going. The next thing we
see here is in Acts chapter 24 and verse 25.
And we see that now.
We see polls before Felix and Paul actually could
have been free. And now now as he reasoned about
righteousness, self control and the judgment
to come, Felix was afraid and answered go away for
now, when I have a convenient time, I will
go for you. Paul is now in prison. Paul is taken
captive he is. And people, please the
presence of pause days, those dungeons didn't
look like the presence today. It is it the sewer
was going through their prison cells. It was it
was stuffy It was horrible. Some of them if
you read a search history, you see that
some of them were chained onto the walls. And, and
so that is the price Polish taking. And now
it's in front of Felix, if Paul has just given
him a little bit of a bribe, a little bit of
money, just a little bit, just, you know, let me
get out there. I'm called to be at the churches.
And now I'm sitting in nevermind, glitches,
glitches give him something. And then, and
then licious compromise a little bit. It's okay so
that I can do the call of God because this was the
man who raised the debt. And who was the one that
God used to start the churches. Let's not
forget that. And now he's in prison, but go never
compromised. And that is the next cannon Satan
will use. He will try for you to compromise your
goal, your situation for money for need for
acceptance for revelation for, for making things
work, especially for money. How many ministers
have I seen in my life who compromise for the
sake of money, or the sake of acceptance of the
sake of, of the reputation being seen as
being good here, listen to what Paul did. He
continued preaching straight about
righteousness, self control the judgment to
come, Paul never change this message. And that is
what Satan would want to bring to you to change
your message. I remember one time I was actually
in a certain nation, and we were doing our big
outreaches. And while we didn't have the money for
it, and a very rich businessman came to me
and he said to me, I like your preaching. He says
you are just too fiery and speak too much about
the Holy Spirit. And he says if you would change
that a little bit intemperate down, and not
speak as much about the Holy Spirit. And he says,
Then Then I will pay all your evangelistic
outreaches. And you know what we really needed
that money desperately. We were absolutely at the
time of praying for every cent just to do the work
of God. And I stood up and I say thank you so
much for your kind offer. But the anointing cannot
be bought with money. Neither can I say that
can be bought with money. And you know, it turned
away he was furious. He never gave us another
cent and God faded. Oh, don't ask me how he did.
And that's the wonderful thing you need to
understand that canon number one is your own
people can number two is compromise canon number
three, if Satan can get you to compromise, he
will use circumstances. And especially now in
COVID-19 time and in this difficult pandemic time
where things are just seeming to drag out in
the beginning everybody was excited. And yeah,
and we do zoom meetings and we pray and we and
then suddenly that that that fire, that zeal
seems to go away and pass the see that their own
church members is not attending the zoom
meetings as much and it looked like everything is
falling apart. Let me have the word from the
Lord for you. Listen to what happened with Paul
in Acts chapter 25.
And again, we see actually, from verse 11,
for I am an offender or have committed I am not
an offender I have committed anything
deserving of this death to do and I do not object
to dying but if there is nothing in these things
of which these men accused me No one can
deliver me to them. I appealed to Caesar why to
Caesar Paul could have been out of that
circumstances you must understand now Paul sat
in that prison for two years. We are worried
about some months in that we are in lockdown and
and it's extremely difficult than I have the
greatest sympathy and it's people are at a
place of even sometimes hopelessness but for sit
in that dungeon for two years now Don't tell me
that's the time he actually just wrote those
those letters. Paul didn't know that his
letters and that his story was will one day be
your my teaching ball left through it he only
know about That day and tomorrow, he has to he
only know that he's around and he's changed.
And he's not at the schooling, and it's not
doing what he should do and circumstances become
the next cannon Satan is using against you. But
Paul knew that the calling of God was
Caesar, and that God has not changed his calling.
And I say to you, that God has not changed his
calling. And if you can allow circumstances to
get you out of the corner, how do I stay
with it to say, go back, read your scriptures,
read the promises God has given to you start
praying the word, start coming back before God in
fasting and prayer and worship and say, This is
what you have said, I don't understand. I don't
see it. It makes no sense to me, but you cannot
change and you cannot lie. So that's the
situation we have. Now we go to the next one
quickly. And we see frustration, Paul was an
absolute frustration. And then God came and he gave
him a revelation, frustration will get you
out of the coal, I remember how one man of
God said, he said, You know what, he says, I
didn't mind working for God, but the delaying of
the fulfillment of the promise. That's what
really got me on the mission field. And I
fully understand that. And so let's quickly go
to God give Paul revelation in Acts,
chapter 27, verse 10. And we see,
Paul is now seeing, and he is why the prison
doors open. And Paul is taken out of prison, and
now he's on the ship. I'm on my way to Rome, and
everything looked great and marvelous. And that
promotion, was actually God giving him a
revelation that that ship is going to sink. Whoa,
what promotion is that? Is that really holding
on? Is it really worth it. And now he sees that,
and he comes. And Paul says in verse 10, that
that ship is out for disaster. So from the
prison, and all that difficulty onto a ship
that is set for disaster by noon, that the promise
of God cannot fail. And I want to encourage you
today that no matter what cannon, Satan is throwing
at you, the promise that God gave you for your
life is what you need to pray, is what you need to
force is what you need to hold before God is what
you need to speak out. It's what that is the
only thing that will keep direction for you in the
sea of life, with your ship holding direction,
that red rudder is actually what you hold is
that original promise. And the original calling
God gave you now let me move on quickly because
of time. And so Paul is now on the ship. And it's
an uncomfortable place. It's a shipwreck, it's a
storm. It's fear, death. It looks like everything
is lost. But Paul knew that God will keep his
promise. And so I want to take you. And I need to
hurry how Paul is holding on because God has said
Caesar and Caesar it will be. And so now we come to
the final one that actually in in Acts
chapter 27, verse 24. And that's the last scripture
I want to use. saying, Do not be afraid, Paul, you
must be brought before Caesar. And indeed God
has granted you all those who sail with you. Now
this was after a time of struggle and fasting and
hunger and storm and shipwreck and I don't
think it was nice and easy. And you might be
right at that place at the moment where you are
fasting at this time. But you see no breakthrough,
and you don't see the change, and you don't see
what God is doing. And it just looks like all
cloudy and difficult and a storm. And it seems
like your ship is sinking. And especially
if you are a law, a leader and a pastor. And
it seems to you that that original place that God
has given to you is just not having space anymore.
Hear the Word of the Lord. God hasn't changed
his plan. And just as much as God hasn't
changed his plan with Paul Paul gave him God
gave him all those unsaved people that was
on that ship, and he landed on Malta. And
Satan says if I can get your own people to kill
you, and I can't get you to compromise, and I
can't get you through frustration, and I can't
get you through circumstances and I can't
get you by sinking the ship. I will get you and
I will kill you. And uncle the let me say to
you, How many times should you have been
dead? How many times you How many of you are still
alive by the grace of God because God has a plan
and a destiny and forgotten to Malta and a
snake but him and God put that man of God through
all of that. For a revival in Mata. Maybe
you are going through through all of this for
the plan and the harvest that God has ahead of
you. Almighty God has not forgotten what He has
promised you. Get out your promises. start
calling the Word of God. start learning to pray
the word and you will see that God hasn't changed
his mind. We'll see you in the next session.