The Importance Of The Word

Courage Away from Home - Time: 1:23 - 3:01

 

• Havilah Cunnington recognizes that when she is in worship she feels courage, but that is not always how she feels at home. 

• Often at home, she feels a sense of confusion; not knowing what to do with her calling or her marriage or her boys. 

• She sometimes feels this low-grade anxiety about her world. As if she will not fulfill her potential like she was supposed to. 

 

Getting Clear - Time 3:02 - 4:11

 

• There are times of this feeling as if there is more to ourselves than what we are showing the world. We have a desire to show the world more of who we know we are. 

• “The closer we get to God the more we have that spiritual anx.” 

• When we are in the world we tend to go with the flow and are not so worried about the world seeing the potential that God put inside of us. 

• But in the church, there is more of a focus on our calling and our impact on the world. 

• Often we feel like we are just trying to keep our life together.

• We show up to "church", but we don’t really know how to show up. 

 

Same - Time 4:11 - 8:23

 

• One day, when Hvailah went shopping with her boys and the were misbehaving. She got in the car with them and told them. “All the work we did today, all these hours of work that we did today, this is what Mom does every single day. And this is what I do. What do you think about that?” One of her boys replied “Same.” And he proceeded to explain how he works hard all day too. 

• Now the joke around the house is “Same.” Because everyone is on the same level. 

• It is what life feels like for some people. They are in the thick of trying to figure out how to do everything they know how to do. 

• People spend thousands of dollars, fly to Redding, try to get fueled up. And then they talk to the people around them and everyone is like “Same.”  

• Everyone is working hard, everyone is trying to “give what we need to give to the world.” 

• There is a spiritual confusion that holds us in place because we have a fear of missing the boat. 

• And we are trying to figure out how to get clear. 

 

Getting Clear - Time: 8:23 - 9:42

 

• “How do I know I am going to have what I know in my heart to do and to produce?”

• Some of us think we need more time, money, or love then we would be clear. 

• “The bible says we will get clear by one thing alone and that is by the Word of God.” 

• “ Your bible is loaded with the clarity that you long to have...I believe that you can find everything that you need right now on the pages. If you will open it up and you will give yourself to the word you will find clarity in the time of confusion.”

• We have to dig for truth and clarity. 

 

God is not Confused - Time: 9:43 - 13:13

 

• God is not confused by you. 

• “You have a God who loves the hard stuff. You have a God who loves to show up in the middle of the “I don’t know what I’m going to do next.” 

• When the waters are in front of you and there is an army behind God tells you that He has a plan. 

• God wants to be engaged with you. Regardless of whether or not you have, it cleaned up. The idea of cleaning it up before He gets in the middle is a lie. 

• “He is fascinated with seeing you become the woman and the man that you are called to become.” 

• His focus on your calling and plan is more than yours. He is planning and orchestrating things while you sleep and when you are unsure of what to do. 

• There is no need to be afraid of missing the will of God because if the will of God is what you want then the will of God is what you will get. 

• In order for us to not operate in confusion, we must be able to hear what God is saying to us. 

• The enemy loves to put confusion in our lives because it is how he gets control. We have to recognize this. 

• God is not the author of confusion, He is the author of clarity. The only way for us to get clarity is to understand what He is saying about us and to us. 

• “The word of God cast out all confusion.” 

•   If what you are hearing conflicts with the Word of God, then you are not hearing His voice. You might be hearing a spirit that is familiar, but it is not God’s voice. 

 

Chasing after Clarity - Time: 13:14 - 14:21

 

• “We chase after clarity and yet we don’t chase after where it is.” 

• We tend to look at other people to see how they appear to have gotten clarity for their lives. 

• Confidence does not come by second-hand knowledge. 

• Because confidence comes only by first-hand knowledge you have to do the work. 

• No one will make you who you are called to be, you have to do that. 

• It requires rising up every day and surrendering to Christ. This often means picking up our cross and following Him even when we don’t feel like it. We are not His disciples if we are not willing to pick up our cross and follow Him. 

 

God Loves to Bring Clarity - Time: 14:22 - 17: 05  

 

• “One of our greatest defenses against confusion is the truth. When you are confused you go to truth. When you don’t know what to do you to the truth.”

• You are going to lead people to Jesus and because of this, you have to know the deeper theological teachings of scripture. “This may not feel natural to you but you were made for this.” 

• “If you are a Christian you are a Leader.”   

• 2 Timothy 3:16. Amplified Version. 

• People, even Christian’s wonder if the bible is divine. But if so, why is it still alive? 

• It is not confusing if you stick with the truth and the truth is that God is. 

 

Your Morality And Courage - Time: 17:06 - 17:43

 

• “Your morality shows me if you are actually following Christ.” 

• What you do in your secret life is what shows if you really have Jesus as Lord of your life. 

• You can have weakness but, Havilah challenges us to not partner with, but rather to challenge our weakness. 

• Morality takes courage. 

 

Your Bible is Training - Time: 17:44 - 18:38

 

• If you want to know how to train for the calling that is on your life, then you should read your bible. 

• Before considering all of these other options, such as a school or other educational resources, read your bible.  

• “Coffee + Jesus = Momentum” 

• There is clarity if you want it. 

 

Purity is protection - Time: 18:39 - 19:43

 

• Psalm 119:9 

• Purity is not about actions, it's about protection. It is when we chose that what God says is real and is for our protection. 

• God is a protective father who is orchestrating things to keep you as safe as you possibly can in a world where evil resides. 

• God did everything He could to rescue us but does everything He can to help us. 

 

Light = Clarity - Time: 19:44 - 20:08

 

• Psalm 119:105.

• The word light in that passage is the word clarity in the greek. 

• The word, therefore, brings clarity. When we get into the word we begin to experience peace and confidence about what He is speaking over our lives.   

 

Lies We Believe #1: “I can’t understand it.” - Time: 20:12 - 21:26 

 

• One of the lies that we often believe about the bible “I can’t understand it.” 

• In Deuteronomy 6 the Israelites are told to tell their children the scriptures day and night, and that scripture is so clear that they would understand it. 

• The enemy uses the lie that we can’t understand it to keep us from the Word of God. 

• We have to be able to get into the word and not be afraid of the word. 

• Focus on doing what you do understand and don’t focus on what you don’t understand. If you focus on what you do understand then you will still have a lot to focus on. 

 

Lies We Believe #2: “We Only Use it When We Need it.”  - Time: 21:39 - 27:12

 

• Havilah used scripture only when she was hurting. She would turn to Psalms and read the familiar Psalms and cry, skipping over the ones that she did not know. 

• “We often don’t pick it up until we need it.”  

• We need to have a reserve that comes from picking up the Bible on a regular basis.

• Sometimes we regurgitating and wonder why we don’t have an impact. 

• “The truth is we don’t have the Rhema word, we are just regurgitating the logos.” 

• “You can not give away what you do not have.” If you are not excited about a scripture, then don’t expect others to be. 

• Havilah’s number one piece of preaching advice is to preach only on what you are passionate about. There will not be life on it if you don’t have life on it. Give what you have life on and it will change the way you give. 

• We don’t tend to read the word until we need it, but we don’t just read the word reads us. 

• Sometimes we don’t hear or feel anything, but that's alright. 

• It is not about the feeling, but it is about opening the word because we are a disciple of Jesus Christ. 

• Just spend a little time learning the Word of God. Just a few minutes a day will change your life. 

• “We have to be careful to not adjust what God says to fit our lifestyle.” 

• Only using Scripture for leverage. Using scripture for your own lifestyle instead of conforming to the Word of God. 

 

Lies We Believe #3: “I’m Not a Reader” - Time: 27:14 - 31:30

 

• “I don’t read any books so why would I read the bible?” or “I don’t have enough time. I need an hour.” 

• Sometimes we think we need the best materials. But this can lead to worshiping a utopia. 

• It is not going to be about IQ, it's going to be about those who chose to show up. 

•  A leader is someone who outlasts the crowd and who just shows up.

• Havilah could not read very well, she had dyslexia, barely pulled C’s in High School, and could not read her own handwriting in High School. But she applied herself to the Word of God every single day and God would help her.

• Psalm 19:7.

• The simple will become wise. 

• People who have a higher IQ can get things from your life that are a result of the fruit of your life. They can harvest from the fruit that you have been nurturing for decades.

• Don’t get to focus on what you think you need before you can fulfill your calling. It's a mirage. The Word of the Lord will grow into wisdom. What you have to give will come not from your past or opportunities, but from God. 

• Give yourself diligently to what He is saying over your life and ultimately that thing will grow. 

• Don’t get caught up in what you think it will be like when you have it. Be humble. 

 

His Words are in Me - Time: 31:31 - 33:34 

 

• His Word is ready to cut between bone and marrow and help you become who you really are. 

• Some people are thinking that they are different and are using it as an excuse. But sometimes it is pride. It will hinder you from having an impact because the only way that your difference is going to be nurtured by the word of God living in you. 

• His words convict and encourage. 

• The Holy Spirit is a mentor and will mentor you in the way you are supposed to go. 

 

Pursuing the Presence through the Word - Time: 33:34 - 37:35

 

• If you spend time thinking that you can navigate it but are not practicing the presence.

• There is a person in the words to be discovered. 

• There is a scripture that Havilah Cunnington loves which tells us in the greek to creatively get the Word in us.    

• So, find a creative way to get the scriptures into your lives. Audio bibles, songs with scripture in them, sermons. 

• We often wait for inspiration instead of scheduling it.  

• But you have to show up as a Spiritual grownup. 

 

Lies We Believe #4: “I’m Not a Pastor” - Time: 37:40 - 38:20 

 

• Some people have an excuse for not reading the word that they are not a pastor or preacher. 

• But, we see that Christ believed that if the Scriptures were read right they would provide the answers needed. This is seen in His interactions with the Phrases when He tells them “Have you not read?”

 

Lies We Believe #5: “It's Boring” - Time: 38:20 - 40:32

 

• Reading the bible is not always interesting, and sometimes we use the excuse that it is boring.

• This is true if we do not have the Holy Spirit partnering with us. 

• 1 Corinthians 2:14 

•  We can lose the understanding that if God is not speaking on something then the Word is dead to us. But when we live in God's presence we begin to see things that we have never seen and it becomes alive to us. 

• Some of us try to do it on our own, but the Holy Spirit wants to partner with us. 

 

The Spirit of God Wants to Speak to You - Time: 40:38 - 43:19

 

• There are some things you will not hear from the stage or in the prayer time. 

• There are some things you will need to hear later. 

• The Spirit of God wants to mentor you and speak to you. 

• Havilah challenges us to build the Word of God in our lives. 

• We don’t want to do it because we get embarrassed about our failure but we need to restart and embrace the future that is now. 

• You can not be who you want to be, and you can not be who God wants you to be without the Word of God in your life. 

 

Prayer - Time: 43:21 - 44:37

“Lord Jesus, I thank you for these Men and Women. I thank you, God, that they've come all the way here to be educated, to grow and to learn. I thank you that none of this is wasted. Like, all of it's going to matter. But I ask right now for a supernatural hunger in them, that they would begin to align their lives by the Word of God. That you would put something in them that says “I need to know what God is saying. I wanna know, I’m curious.” There would be like a divine curiosity in them. Lord, I pray that some of them that have believed the lie that they don't, they can’t read the word, they don’t know the word, or maybe it’s not really for them. I pray that that lie would go away and they'd begin to build new confidence in the word. I ask right now and I just within the next sixty seconds I want you to ask the Holy Spirit “Holy Spirit, what do you want me to give this season to the word. Like what do you want me to give of my time to the Word?” Just ask Him right now. Just take a moment and ask Him. “Holy Spirit, what is it?” Alright, in Jesus' name.”