Prayer Works Morning Devotion: May 21, 2025

"Waiting On The Holy Spirit - Getting Our Hearts Ready for Pentecost"

"Zechariah 4:6-7 - Not By Might, Nor By Power But By My Spirit Says The Lord "

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Good morning, everyone. Blessed morning to you. It's a little rainy this morning here in North Carolina, but we are blessed and thankful for the rain.

And I just want to thank each and everyone of you who have joined us this morning for prayer and reflection on our scripture passages related to the Holy Spirit. 

And what the Bible has revealed to us about who the Holy Spirit is and how the Holy Spirit has been present with us since the beginning of creation.

The Holy Spirit was with God the Father and an active participant in the creation of the heavens and the Earth 

And over the past weeks Pastor Zee has been walking us through scriptures from the Old Testament so that teach about the Holy Spirit and reveal what the Holy Spirit enabled God's people to do.  

And all of this is part of us preparing ourselves for Pentecost in deeper ways, probably ways and I, at least I could speaking for myself. I can say I never, really got too deep into the Holy Spirit and studying the Holy Spirit that as we've been walking with Pastor Zee through scriptures about the Holy Spirit.  

It's really, really becoming impressed upon me in in an increasingly deeper way. That this Holy Spirit that has been misunderstood that has even been made a little spooky by some parties, or even been just ignored.  

How in this day, especially in this day God needs us to remember, and if you look up that word, remember, throughout the Bible, throughout the Bible, God challenges his people to remember, so we want to remember what the Scriptures have to say about the Holy Spirit and let us not to take the Holy Spirit for granted.  

But remember that the Holy Spirit is absolutely essential for us to do the will of the Father, especially at this time, and I'm sure my brothers and sisters in Christ, you're probably feeling within yourself this time is different.  

This time, God is truly raising up a standard, and he's calling all of his children to his mountain and preparing us for this great battle and many battles that lay ahead of us but what would you be filled with joy? 

Because we remember that the Holy Spirit is the one who is equipping us, the Holy Spirit is the one who is in us that the world cannot conquer the spirit of the world is not stronger than the spirit of God, that resides within us as his children.  

So this morning we're going to be looking at a frequently quoted Scripture from Zechariah 4:6-7, and is a scripture that I'm sure many of us have heard throughout lifetime in walking with the Lord and before we begin, let's pray.  

Heavenly Father we thank you for this day and I thank you for your blessings and your grace and your mercy. I thank you that every time we go to your word open hearts and open minds that you will expand our understanding of your word. 

And help us to apply one nugget, one truth for our day-to-day, let this word be Our Daily Bread, which you promised, and which Jesus told us to pray for Our Daily Bread. So we we're seeking Our Daily Bread today from you, Father, through your word.  

And I just pray that you allow me to be the vessel to carry your world forth and that your people, your children, listening and hearing will hear, understand and apply this day in Jesus name we pray. Amen.  

So I'll read Zechariah 4:6-7 and I'm waiting for the New King James version. So he answered and said to me this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel. Not by might, nor by power but by my spirit says the Lord of hosts.  

Who are you oh, great mountain. Before your Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of grace, grace to it. So what's going on here is Zerubbabel, is leading, he's the governor of Judah. 

And the Israelites are have come back to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon. God has blessed them to be able to come back. And they are in the process of rebuilding the temple, which was utterly destroyed by the Babylonians.  

There is nothing left of the temple. They were starting from scratch. And all around them were enemies that sought to discourage them, threaten them, it was terrible. They were starting from scratch.  

They had nothing and quite reasonably so when they went into their own strength and they were looking and considering everything that they had to do to rebuild the temple was like, how are we going to do this?  

How are we going to rebuild a temple and how are we going to deal with our enemies that are all around us, threatening us and getting in our way and discourage. So the prophet Zechariah went to Zerubbabel to tell him to give him a word from the Lord.  

Look, stop trying to do this in your strength. Don't you know if not by your might, it's not going to be by your power, but it's going to be by the spirit of God. And the world for us today, applying this to ourselves.  

What great things are we facing what great challenges or struggles are you facing right now that you're like? How am I going to do this? And that's the question we need to change if not, how am I going to do this?  

It's Lord I trust you to do it because I can't do it in my strength. I can't do it with a little bit of wisdom. The little bit of courage, the little bit of knowledge, the little bit of muscle power. I can't do it. It's too much and here's Zachariah comforts not only Jericho, but us today.  

Just imagine these words were written thousands and thousands of years ago, but this morning in the year 2025, May 21st. We're reading these words that Zachariah uttered to Zerubbabel as such an incredible time of struggle and mountain climbing. That we are reading these words to them, we can apply it to our situations now.  

We're not basically building temples. But we are in a sense building the temples of our hearts, in which the spirit resides. And it is this spirit that is going to empower us to face any battle, any disruption in our life, any pain, any suffering. 

Any areas in our lives that are in need of healing, any areas in our lives that are in need of pruning. That are in need of clearing out. It's not going to be by our strength but it's going to be by our holy the Holy Spirit,  

so my encouragement for all of us this morning, and I am speaking especially to myself because I'm one of those people who likes to solve problems and for most of my life I have sought to use what I know use my natural stubborn streak.  

My natural persistence, my fighter mentality, that personality, that God has given me, but he's now in in this surprising chapter in my life showing me that he didn't give me this nature, this fighting nature to fight people.  

He gave me this nature to hold on, to believe, to stand and to go when he says to go like the Battle of Jericho. When God told Joshua, tell your people march around the whole town of Jericho, that was absolutely impenetrable by human standards. 

Just March around for seven days straight and on the 7th day I want you to March around it 7 times and I don't want you to say a word. Can you imagine and that's what God asked us to do.  

God asked us to confront our Jericho's. And he's going to have us conquer our Jericho's in surprising ways and it won't be by us battering down the walls of Jericho in our strength, but it will be by the spirit of God.  

That will bust through Jericho's walls, so my encouragement to all of us this morning is whatever you have been struggling to deal with in your own strength. Relent and release and give it over to God.  

Get out of God's way because God's not going to force himself into our situations, he's going to wait for us to invite him in and as you invite him in, don't expect that it's going to necessarily happen right away, because look, the walls of Jericho didn't happen in an instance. Rebuilding the temple didn't happen in an instance. 

It took perseverance. It took relinquishing our self, bowing down and relenting to the will of the spirit and saying, God, you lead. So let's get out of the driver's seat this morning. Let's not be backside backseat drivers.  

Let's not be passengers sitting beside the driver saying look out, look out. Go here, go there, right. You know my husband often laugh at me when I, you know, he's driving and I'm in the passenger seat.  

And I'm saying, you know, look how watch this watch that you know I mean God bless him. He's so patient that he deals. He deals with deals with me and God like why is he so patient with us.  

But he's still telling us. Look, I'm driving this car. Are you going to let me drive this car which is your life? And that is something he's dealing with me and with all of us, because we have a tendency, we get impatient, we get scared. 

And we're like, oh, my God do you know where you're going? Should we go this way? Do you see that mountain over there? And God said, yeah, I see that mountain. But don't you know I'm in the driver's seat And with my spirit, that Mount will become a plane. 

You kidding me? Do you know who you serve? So my brothers and sisters this morning Remember who you are. You are a child of the most high God and you have with inside of you all that you need to face and confront any Jericho to build the temples that God is calling you to build.  

Starting with yourself with your heart. You are empowered to do everything that he is calling you to do. Don't listen to the voice of the enemy that would have you believe. Ah, that's too big for you.  

You can't do that. Don't go there. Don't you know all the people that are that are waiting to compliment you and put you down and call you names and make fun of you and mock you, you know?  

And if that doesn't work, the enemy will say don't you dare come over here. Who are you? Who do you think you are? You can say I am the child of the most high guy God and it is not by my might that this mountain is coming down.  

It is not by my might Satan that you will be sent running and packing. But it is in the name of Jesus Christ, my Lord and Savior, and through the power of the Holy Spirit that Jesus left to all who believe and trust and relent, and relinquish their lives to the leading of the most high God.  

The most high God let's not take that for granted. Let's not minimize that. Let's remember, as God is calling us to do all the time so today. I'm urging you urging you and encouraging you, remember who you are, whose you are and who is in you. 

The spirit, the spirit of the most high God. And is the name of Jesus Christ every knee shall bow. Every tongue will confess that he is Lord. And that the spirit is within you is what will enable you to do all that God is requiring you to do.  

So let it go. Get out of God's way and be patient. As you march around your own Jericho. Seven times in silence, but in faith. And when the time comes to raise a shout, shout and watch God bring the walls down. 

So let us pray, brothers and sisters, Heavenly Father, we just are in awe of your greatness when we think about how you condescend to listen to us, we are so small, Heavenly Father. But in your greatness, in your mercy you consider us, who are Heavenly Father. That the most high God would look down and shine your face upon us.  

Heavenly Father, when we cry out to you, when we humble our hearts to you, when we release all that we are trying to do in our own strength to you, Father God, when we consider how you love us. How we stand and all, we can't help but fall down, fall down and worship you Heavenly Father. 

Just as those in the Bible, when they encounter your spirit and your presence, couldn't help but fall down. So this morning, Heavenly Father, we fall down before you. We bend to you Heavenly Father.  

We submit to your will Heavenly Father, and we pray for your forgiveness for when we are tempted to try to do things in our own strength. We pray for your forgiveness when we are tempted to disbelieve, to doubt, to be anxious, to be fearful.  

We ask your forgiveness when we forget and we don't remember who we are and whose we are. So I thank you, Heavenly Father, for giving us Our Daily Bread and I pray, heavenly Father, that you will not, you will not allow the enemy to snatch the seed, the bread of your word from our heart.  

Help us to hold on to it. Help us to cling to it this day. Help us to eat it. Help us to be fed by it. Help it to help it, to nourish us Heavenly Father, and continue to feed us throughout the day and just as you did for the Israelites, as you led them through the desert, providing them with new manner every morning.  

We pray, Heavenly Father, that we will rely on the manner that you provide for us. That we will not try to hoard it. But we will eat it and we will trust in new manner to come and be provided for us every day, we're holding on our hands to you Heavenly Father. 

We're opening up our hearts to you Heavenly Father and we're praying for a fresh feeling of your Holy Spirit to give us the power, the grace, the wisdom, the discernment, the courage, everything we need to do to stand today Heavenly Father.  

Help us to stand. How we love you, how we thank you for being in our lives. Let us hear your presence today, Heavenly Father. That is to be guided by your spirit in every decision we have to make and everything we need to do.  

Let us remember to not do it in our might but by your spirit. And I pray all of these things with faith and confidence in Jesus precious, Amen. Amen family not by might not by power. 

Let's not try to do things in our might today but only in the power of the Holy Spirit. We love you, we love you so much and we pray that you will let the Lord lead you this day. Have a blessed and mighty day in the Lord, bye bye.