Prayer Works Morning Devotion: September 11, 2025

Thus Says The Lord-Who God Says He Is, His Commandments and Promises

Psalm 81:1-16 But My People Would Not Heed My Voice, And Israel Would Have None Of Me, So I Gave Them Over To Their Own Stubborn Heart, To Walk In Their Own Councels"

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A very good morning, a very good morning to you. I hope you had a wonderful evening and a wonderful restful night. And you're ready for another day with the Lord. Let us go to the Lord in prayer.  

Heavenly Father, we thank you. You're beautiful to us. You have gently called us into this salvation. And you're guiding us by your Holy Spirit. Continue to teach us and lead us and guide us and protect us from harm and danger seen or unseen.  

As we gather this morning, we pray that your Spirit guide us in all things true, in all things right. We thank you, Lord, for salvation. We thank you for grace. We thank you for your statutes.  

We thank you, Lord, for what you are doing, what you're still going to do, the things to come, the many blessings still to yet to experience. We thank you Lord for the path that you have us on.  

We know, Lord, that as we continue to follow in your footsteps, that victory is guaranteed, that success is a sure thing, even though we might face obstacles, that we know that all things work together for those who are called according to your purpose.  

So Father, as we look at these words, at this moment that we are devoting to you, we just want to honor you, knowing Lord that you have an agenda that you are pushing for this particular day.  

And we want to walk in it, we want to be part of it, we want to experience it through your eyes, and we want your grace to continue to be supplied to our lives. For we know we have all sinned and fallen short of your glory.  

So Father, as we come before you, as we humbly come before you this morning, we ask now the Holy Spirit to guide us as we devote this moment and this time to you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ we pray, Amen and Amen.  

Today we are in Psalms chapter number 81 from verse 6 to 16, I will read. I removed his shoulders from the burden. I removed his shoulders from the burden. Your shoulders are not supposed to carry burdens and his hands were freed from the baskets.  

In other words, you can take things out of a basket you're free from taking things that don't belong to you, you called in trouble and I delivered you. I answered you in the secret place of thunder, I tested you at the waters of Merab. Hear oh my people and I will admonish you oh Israel if you will listen to me.  

So admonishment does not come before listening. I will admonish you if you listen. If you don't listen, there is no admonishing. O Israel, if you listen to me, there shall be no foreign god among you, nor shall you worship any foreign god.  

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt. In other words, I am the Lord your God, and I brought you from out of sin. That's us, salvation out of sin. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.  

But my people would not heed my voice and Israel would have none of me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart to walk in their own counsel, oh that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways.  

I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their adversaries. The haters of the Lord would pretend submission to him, but their fate would endure forever. He would have fed them also with the finest of wheat and with the honey from the rock.  

I would have satisfied you. Brothers and sisters, this Psalm here. It's a Psalm on admonishment, God's deliverance, worship, and consequences for disobedience, and also the desire for God for satisfactory worship.  

Now, one of the things you keep hearing in the Old Testament, as it pertains to the children of Israel, this God keeps reminding them about how he delivered them from Egypt. It's a reference point that he keeps hammering in their head.  

In other words, I, this is my desire, this is my own doing, this is not you. You didn't conjure this up, you didn't figure this out. For 400 years you could not get out of Egypt even if you wanted to or tried to. In fact, you became assimilated to the slavery of that era.  

And if it wasn't for my own desire, my will, my pleasure, my own ability to bring you out of Egypt, then you wouldn't be standing where you are standing right now. So because of that, I'll keep reiterating to you.  

You shall not have another God before me. You gotta worship me. You gotta hear me. You gotta walk with me. Do not be disobedient. So he keeps reminding them over and over and over again.  

Now, brothers and sisters, I've always said this. Every time you see something in the scriptures, it means the opposite of that is what our human proclivities lean towards. So when God keeps reminding them, it means that occasionally they forget.  

Occasionally we forget. Occasionally we take it for granted. Occasionally we just... Can I just look at it right here? We can do it again. But the reality is that what God extracted us from is unbelievably unworthy.  

So now, when God says, if you desire not to listen, then you know what the end result is? I will give you over to your own thinking. Now, that statement alone is very, it's very scary for God to hand you over to your own thinking.  

I want you to imagine, brothers and sisters, our lives being devoid of the Holy Spirit. This life that we are living. Imagine we didn't have the counsel of the Holy Spirit. Imagine if there was no action in our soul to follow moral standards.  

You know how incredibly scary that is? Let's think for a moment. I know all of us during the course of this day, or in the past few weeks, past months or years, if you have paid attention, I know all of us at some point, we have had some really unbelievably crazy thoughts.  

You know, that flashes through your brain. I'm not talking about deliberate thinking. I'm talking about some things sometimes that just pop in your head and out. We're in the midst of somebody talking to you, you just start zoning out or you just start saying some things in your spirit. 

It never comes out. Neither will it ever comes out of your mind because it's just thoughts. Now, when you think about that, and you think about how many thoughts we get in a day, an average human being gets at least 10,000 thoughts a day.  

And they say women probably get more than men. Now, I want you to imagine what these scriptures say. It says, because you're choosing to disobey me, I will give you over to your thoughts.  

Now, imagine those things that you feel, the thoughts that come in your head, and then the Holy Spirit is quick to say, uh-uh, let go of that. Or it pretty much pushes out of you, the orbit of your thoughts.  

Imagine those things where sometimes you feel like punching somebody because they're talking something that you be like, you know what, I'm going to punch this person, but you don't do it.  

The reason you don't do it is because there is the spirit of God that is governing you inside, now I want you to imagine God says I will hand you over to that, that your human instincts will continue to override the moral standards that you possess and have. So God is saying to this to the children of Israelite hey do not forget where I brought you from.  

Do not forget where I brought you from. If you forget, if you desire to go a different way, then these are the consequences. But the important thing that I want us to walk away with today is this idea that God keeps reminding them about Egypt.  

Do not forget what took place in Egypt. I mean 400 years of strife, where you literally forget about God, that there is no connection with you and God. When you are living under the thumb of Pharaoh, all you know and all that you have taught your children over 400 years is how to function under slavery.  

How to deal with slavery, how to make it part of your existence. And God rescues them and the entire time he keeps reminding them over and over and over again about Egypt. A place that is devoid of God's existence and leading.  

And for us, it simply means before your salvation. Don't forget where I took you from, where you were, when I extracted you out of your own doing. The things that we used to do where there was no filter, there was no leaning of the Holy Spirit. 

It was just do as you please and nothing in you says that's wrong, everything was right in your own eyes and God is reminding us don't forget that place because if you forget that place. It means everything that comes from verse 9. 

There shall be no foreign gods among you. It means that there will be foreign gods among you. If you forget, it means that you will worship other foreign gods, idolatry. This is how idolatry seeps into our lives when we forget where salvation, what God extracted us from.  

But my people would not heed my voice, and Israel would have none of me so I gave them over to their own stubborn heart oh my God, that's scary to walk in their own counsel devoid of the Holy Spirit all my people would listen to me that Israel will walk in my ways.  

It's a scary place to be when God hands you over to your own thinking. But the key thing and key theme for today is not to forget where the Lord brought you from. Because if you forget, the consequences of you forgetting means that you worship other God. 

Idolatry part of your existence. And there's a lot of that going on right now, where people have forgotten where the Lord brought them from and we take things for granted. We rest in our own morals.  

We just assume God will do it again. What if He doesn't? What if He just gives you over to your own thinking? I mean, I know some people who are experiencing this night now, where God is giving over. He says, go ahead.  

Whatever you conceive in your own thoughts, so shall it be. That's a very scary place to be. But I want us to not forget where the Lord brought us from. I want us not to forget what salvation means to us.  

Because once you understand what salvation is, then you are not going to forget. Which means the opposite, what's being said here, that you worship God and God alone. That you will hear and listen to Him. That you will not follow the ways of your stubborn heart. 

That you heed God's voices. That you receive God's admonishment, and you have no foreign gods at all. And it's so easy to have foreign gods, very easy. It's extremely easy to have foreign gods.  

Idolatry is one of the most easiest things to fall under. Because it's a trap that you won't even see coming. It starts off by liking something just because it looks great. It sounds good.  

And it might genuinely be actually be good. But slowly but sure, you find your heart gravitating towards something way beyond the measure of what God desires for you to do. And the next thing, it becomes an idol.  

That's why the scripture says the sin of idolatry is like witchcraft. That's so powerful to think about that. But this is what happens when we forget. And when we take things for granted. So let's never, ever, ever in our walk take salvation for granted. Because if you understand this one thing, guys, that we were born on our way to hell.  

Literally born from day one, you were born on your way to hell because you had fallen short of God's glory. And along this journey of life, God would within the shadow, out of his own willingness and pleasure of his will, he saw you in your mouth, and he came to your aid without you asking, and opened this door of salvation for you to enter.  

It wasn't your heart conjuring up but it was rather his Holy Spirit because the scripture says we cannot get saved outside of the Holy Spirit. Which means that it is God's pleasure and will for him to introduce the Holy Spirit to you and your heart to turn away from its wicked things. 

Because by the way there's people who have heard this same message of salvation and their hearts were never churned at all. Every single day there are people who are hearing the message of salvation and they are blind and their ears are shut to the Spirit of God.  

But it just so happened that through God's pleasure and will that you heard the message of salvation and he brought you out of Egypt. That's a privilege and an honor. So let us never, ever, ever forget about salvation, where God brought us from.  

And again, it's easy to see and contrast when you watch people who God has given over. And it's easy to see people who God has given over to their own thinking. They would do anything and say anything no matter how much it contradicts and violates the principle of scripture.  

That's what happens when we forget. So as we go through this day, I want us to understand the importance of salvation and what happens when we disobey God and he gives us over to our own thoughts.  

And as we understand that, let us value what we possess and what we have in salvation, which, by the way, should lead us to preach this gospel to as many people as we encounter, because we know without it what they are experiencing.  

We know without salvation the things they are having to go through. So brothers and sisters, the importance of salvation, let us think about it and let us not forget about it. And let us know for sure the benefits of it and we will also extend it to others.  

Remember the goal is not for us just to remain saved, but to remain saved and also take the same gospel and bring it to others. We should all have a desire to bring someone to Christ, if not five people every year that you bring to Christ.  

Let's make it a standard, let's make it a measure of our faith, Amen. Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you for the gift of salvation. We thank you for what it offers. We thank you for the benefits of salvation.  

We thank you, Lord, that your sovereign authority is awarded a place for us in this kingdom. We know you said in your Father's house there are many measures. So we thank you, Lord, for the spiritual benefit of salvation, forgiveness of sins, peace with God, adoption into this family of Christ. 

The comfort and the counsel of the Holy Spirit, eternal life, blessed hope, deliverance from God's wrath, victory over the world, a new identity in Christ, being sealed into this body with the Holy Spirit.  

We thank you for these benefits that we're now part of a family that is joined in the hearts through the blood of Christ, adopted into your, crafted into, that we stand on this solid rock, unmovable, that provides a sense of strength in the hiding place.  

There is nothing like being hidden under the shadow of your wings, knowing that nothing can touch me, nothing can touch us because you are our fortress. Father, we love you. We thank you for the gift of salvation, for transforming our minds and our hearts constantly in order for us to reach that place of hope where glory is restored in us.  

For we know we shall be glorified as we meet with you. Father, I pray that as we enjoy these benefits, quicken our hearts to extend that which we are enjoying to those who are working outside of freedom. That are in bondage that are in sicknesses, that are dealing with hunger and disease, that are demonically possessed.  

Father, I pray that as you grow us spiritually, as you strengthen us in our minds, that God, may we be vessels of honor that you use to bring forth this kingdom through the word of God that flows from our hearts to others.  

I pray for anyone amongst us who might be dealing with any sickness or a disease, that God, that we are healed by the stripes of Jesus who died on the cross and proclaimed on that very day that all was finished.  

Father, I pray that as we go through this day, continue to bless us. May we walk in this blessed assurance, the hope that comes from our Father, the counsel of the Holy Spirit, to know thou says the Lord.  

May our ears be quick to hear. May we follow the statutes that you have laid as principles to govern the very existence of our lives in this kingdom. Thank you for love. Thank you for tender mercies.  

Thank you for grace. Thank you, Lord, for the ability to worship you and to enjoy the true Spirit of our Father. So as we go through this day, I pray for many blessings to flow our way. May these signs follow us because we believe.  

Thank you for what you are doing in the earth. We open our ears to hear thou says the Lord. Quicken our steps where we need to be quickened. Slow us where we might be rushing. Open our eyes to see that which seems to be hidden. 

The mysteries of this kingdom that have been given to us as a measure of our enjoyment. Now lead us not all into temptation, but continue to deliver us from the evil one, for thine is the kingdom, the power and the glory, forever and ever, Amen.  

Brothers and sisters, let us enjoy this wonderful day that God has made. May you be victorious in all your ways, and we will see you tomorrow morning.