Letting God's Plan In

Pastor Stan Mons

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Sermon Transcription:

I want to talk to you today about letting God's plan in. And I think one of the things that breaks my heart and my wife Inna's heart the most—what I've seen over the last just 11 years of ministry together—is when the Lord shows us so clearly over a person's life His plan. First of all, His plan for forgiveness. Second of all, His plan for their future. His plan for their purpose here on earth.

When the Lord shows us so clearly, when we're able to speak to it and invest towards it, and people's eyes seem to just be closed to it—the heart is closed—it breaks our heart. To see what your future would be like in the hands of God, and yet you seem to be missing out, it breaks our heart like nothing can. To see that every little bit of suffering, every little bit of difficulty, every little bit of suffering under sin, suffering under evil, suffering under guilt and shame is no longer necessary. It's all unnecessary suffering. There's difficult things in life when you follow Jesus. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about suffering by being separated from the Father. Not having the nearness of the Father. Not having the voice of the Father. The presence of the Father. Not having Jesus live inside of your heart, where He is ready to do everything that you cannot when you simply ask Him in prayer. To be separated from that heavenly wealth that God deposited inside of every single believer.

It breaks our heart when we see that people in their heart don't fully trust God. They doubt Him or they don't want to give their entire life to Him. They're afraid that they won't like it. They're afraid God is not good. They're afraid God will take only things away and He won't give a better life. They doubt His intention, His motive, His character—whatever it may be. But when we see people that don't trust God, what that means is, as you see Jesus in the Bible, you don't believe that's what God is like. You don't believe that's what the Father is like. Jesus said, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father." When we see what Jesus is like on the pages of our Bible, we have an invitation now to believe that the Father is like that. And when we doubt it, we are shielded from all of the riches of Christ. And we can go to church. We can serve in ministry. We can be a giving person—of our time, of our finances. We can do so many things in life. We can do a lot of good things for other people and never have open eyes—eyes of the heart—that can see what heaven has prepared for those that believe on Jesus Christ.

And I pray that today, if that's you—if you have a hard time letting God's plan in, it doesn't find enough room inside of you—there's already other things. You have a plan. Maybe your parents had a plan and now you're following it. You don't want to abandon that plan. Maybe your boyfriend has a plan. Maybe your spouse has a plan, and you're terrified to disappoint them and instead go wholeheartedly with God's plan. You just don't know how it's going to turn out.

If that is you, I pray that today you may let God's plan in. I pray that I may see in your eyes that God has done something in your heart that you may never be able to explain, but you will reap the benefit and the fruit of it for eternity. You have peace with the Father. You have joy in the midst of difficulty. And you have authority in the name of Jesus anytime the devil shows up.

If there's anything I live for on this earth, it is to see people arrive into everything that Jesus has purchased for them. And I pray that there may be you today, letting God's plan in.

Psalm 103:12 reads this: "As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." Now you can go ahead and technically find—I know that, technically the earth, if you didn't know this, is a tiny bit wobbly. It's not spinning exactly on an axis. It's slightly on a wobble. So it's going to be very hard to officially determine exactly north on this earth and exactly south. But if you had God capabilities, you would be able to point out the exact north and the exact south. But that's not what God said. He didn't say, "I remove as far as the North Pole is from the South Pole. That's how far I removed your sin from you." That's not what He says. He says, "As far as the east is from the west." And God really is making a little bit of a joke to try and get a point across to you, because on this earth, you can go east forever and never arrive. You can go west forever and never arrive. And that's what He's saying.

As far as the east is from the west—you cannot measure it. You cannot find it. That is how far I have removed all of your transgressions, all of your sins, from you. When I look at you, I don't see you with any sin. I don't see you with your past. I don't see you with your shortcomings and your mistakes. Everything that was unlike God, everything that was wrong—He has removed. Not you—He did it. He removed it so far that you can never even measure or figure out how far that really is.

In other words, you will never see it again. You'll never hear about it again. God's plan for you is to be clothed in forgiveness, to have every sin removed. He did that for you by sending His Son to die in your place for your wrongs on the cross. That's His plan. But you've got to let that plan in. God's plan for you, after you have received that forgiveness, is for you to enter into God's purpose for your life. That means you're going to have a sense of fulfillment in this life. It doesn't feel like days are wasted. It doesn't feel like you're going to have regrets at the end of your life. It doesn't feel like, “Oh my, when I stand before God, did I do something with this life?”

God has a plan designed specifically and only just for you. It's different from His plan for me, or different from His plan for your spouse, different from His plan for your children. But in every case, He tailor-made it for you so that you could live a fulfilled life—full of peace and joy. Come home to Him one day and hear the words, "Welcome home. Good." By the power of Jesus, He made you good. Good and faithful. By following Him into His plan, He made you faithful. Good and faithful servant. "Welcome home, good and faithful servant."

I don't know that there will be a greater reward than to hear those words from the Creator of all things—the Lord, the King of Kings. It's His plan to speak those words over you for eternity in a way that can never be erased, can never be forgotten. And it becomes your identity in eternity: You have been called by God for eternity—good and faithful servant. Not everyone, church, that is forgiven is going to hear those words. It's not a generic award for everybody, a participation kind of situation. It is those that have believed on Jesus, they counted the cost, and they began to follow Him. And they allowed God to lead their life into the very life—the plan—that He designed for you: to fulfill you, to make you effective, to give you a purpose, a sense of worth, a sense of belonging, a sense of value.

But to get there, we have to let God's plan in. I want to pray one more time over every person online and you in the house. And I'm going to ask God to do for you what He has done for me.

Lord, I thank You for every person here. Lord, You know their entire life. Lord, You know every thought they've ever had. Lord Jesus, You know every bit of pain they've ever felt, every disappointed moment, every person that has hurt them, wounded them, every time they feel they hoped in You and the situation turned out disappointing. Lord, You've been with them every step along the way. Lord God, whether they know You or whether they don't, Lord, You have never taken Your eyes off of any of us. Lord God, I pray, Lord, that You do for these people what You have done for someone like me. Lord, You gave me such a strong invitation. I knew in my heart that that day You were calling me forward. And Lord, it took a small step of faith. I had a choice to say no. But Lord, Your presence and the pulling in my heart was so clear.

Lord, I pray that You give that inner knowing to every person here, Lord God, that needs it today. Lord, that there will be a knowing that this is the day that God wants to make a big change in my life. I could never do it myself, but God is ready. God is willing.

Lord, I pray that You show to the heart that You are doing it and willing to do it for us personally. Only Your Holy Spirit can show that to the heart. So I give this time, Holy Spirit, to You, and I pray that the Father's will may be done. In Jesus' name. Letting God's plan in.

I want to show you from the Word that even church people that are real believers—and they're prayerful people—in certain situations and at certain times can have a very hard time to let God's plan in. And when a believer is in that place, that doesn't mean that they're not praying, talking to God when they're alone or when they're together with other believers. They may be talking to God. They may be reading the Bible. They may trust God for some things. They're not unsaved. They're not bad people necessarily. But there can be situations where you continue to stay in prayer about something, and you never quite get to the testimony part in that area. And that's what happens to a person that will talk to God, even have thoughts towards God.

Sometimes you think something towards God—God already counts that as a prayer. You don't always have to say it out loud. But when we address God at all—in our heart, in our attitude, in our words—when we pray things of Him, when we have an asking attitude towards God, sometimes there's people that pray forever about a certain thing. They pray forever. They would like to be forgiven forever, and they never quite get to the testimony part: Wow, God has forgiven me. Or they would love to have a fulfilled life. They would love to not feel anymore like they are not in control of their life, and it's just—they're along for the ride, and it's kind of turning out however life was turning out. But it's not fulfilling them. It's not their life. It's almost like you're playing someone else's part, and it's not tailor-fit for you. You're just trying to adjust and fit into this part the best you know how. Make the best of it. When you always have a prayer in your heart—and you may not pray it every day—but you never get to the testimony part, that means we're unable or we're choosing not to let God in. We're not letting God's plan in.

So I want to take you to a story that exemplifies this incredibly well in the Word, a story that the Lord has been putting on my heart for two weeks now. And as we go along in this story, you will see some of the trials of the human heart, some of the pain, some of the disappointment—but you'll see how willing God is to redeem His plan, to bring His plan upon your life. Whether that is His plan for your forgiveness and you're still waiting for that, or it is His plan to bring you into that fulfilled life—that purpose that God has thought out every day of your life. God already knows, and so He has thought about those days that are still ahead of you. He's thought about them. He has an opinion about them. And He has come up with a whole design. If Johnny ends up walking into day 474 from now, and I lead him to do this—at the end of that day, he's going to have a grateful heart. God has thought ahead of every day you are going to live, and He sends His Holy Spirit to help you learn that plan and then walk it out—so that at the end of that day you are grateful, or at the end of this other day you finally enter into the joy of the Lord, or at the end of this other day you begin to develop that sense of value.

He has a plan for your entire life—not to use you and abuse you. He has a plan. And when you walk out that plan, you end up living a fulfilled life. It will also bear fruit for God's kingdom. It will bring hope to other people. And it will bring joy to the heart of God. And somehow, by God's Spirit, He's going to show to your heart that God has so much joy in His heart over you. It's quite an amazing experience, church. But that's God's plan over your life. Let's get into this story in Acts chapter 12. We're going to start with verse 1 and 2: "Now about that time Herod the king stretched out his hand to harass some of the church." Church is people. It's a people that have believed on Jesus and try to follow Him to the best of their ability. He stretched out his hand to hurt Jesus's people. Verse 2: "Then he killed James the brother of John with the sword."

Now, it's a very short sentence. But I want to call to mind some things about this James. James the brother of John. James and John, who were together named the sons of thunder because they acted before they thought and they spoke before they thought. They were fiery. This is John and James. When they were a little young and a little immature, their mom took them to Jesus—because their mom was good at politics. And so she took them to Jesus and said, "Jesus, by the way, whenever you finally sit on your throne, can we just agree on this—that my sons are going to be on the left and the right?" This is John, and they were right there. And obviously Jesus wasn't having it, but they were right there—brothers, all this time walking with Jesus. Jesus is now in heaven. They're telling the world about Jesus. And here, James the brother of John is killed with the sword. And a wave of discouragement, maybe even confusion, went through that early church.

James had been successfully killed for following and talking about Jesus Christ. And he was one of the twelve apostles. Remember when Judas betrayed Jesus and hanged himself? What did they say? “Hey, we need to have the complete bunch.” So they picked Matthew and added that extra to have 12 apostles again—someone that continued with us from the beginning. They cared to have the group complete and to set out on that mission to tell the world that Jesus is the Son of God and that in His name, anybody can be forgiven for their sins. And here, of the twelve, they're just picked off and killed. What's God's plan in all of this? Some of them were undone. We see that later on in the story—maybe even discouraged. James, John's brother.

Then verse 3 and 4 and 5:"And because he (that is Herod the king) saw that it pleased the Jews, he proceeded further to seize Peter also."Another one of the twelve. Now it was during the days of Unleavened Bread. So when they had arrested him, he put him in prison and delivered him to four squads of soldiers—that is four times four. These soldiers kept him. So here we have one Peter—sixteen soldiers around him. These soldiers were sent to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover."Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant prayer was offered to God for him by the church." Here we have Peter—first one to share the gospel with the Gentiles, people that were not Jewish. Also one to really speak before he thought. First James, now Peter and Herod really had figured something out.

Herod was a foreign king. He was technically suppressing the Jewish people, but if he could get the Jewish people to like him one way or another—if he could figure that out—he would look great with his own superiors. And he figured out: hey, when I get these Jesus people and kill them, people get really, really happy. So all of a sudden, Herod develops a plan for Peter’s life. And he seizes Peter. He takes Peter, puts him in the prison, because Herod is going to use Peter to become more popular with the Jewish crowd. And that is very important to Herod.

How do we know it's so important to him? Because he sends sixteen soldiers to guard Peter day and night, so that Herod can have his way. So that Herod's plan will come to pass over Peter's life—seemingly without Peter having anything to do with it or being able to do anything about it.

At the same time, the church people right there—they have God’s heart, and they are praying in alignment with the will of God, and they’re praying for Peter.

And that’s why we get to verse 6 and 7:"And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, 'Arise quickly.' And his chains fell off of his hands." Now, before we go any deeper into this story, I want you to see something. Because Peter did end up in the prison. God could have sent an angel, if you will. God could have done a miracle, and Peter would have just been delivered even before he got to the prison—before chains were put around his arms, before he was rudely interrupted of being a part of the prayer meeting or being a part of evangelizing or whatever we could argue he was called to do.

Yet he ended in prison, shackled up right there. And it wasn’t until the very last moment that we begin to read about this miraculous deliverance. What I want you to realize for my and your life is that there are going to be moments in our life where it looks like the call on your life is going nowhere. God’s plan for your life is going nowhere—even His plan for your forgiveness. Sometimes it can feel like you're trying to get to God and it’s just not going anywhere. It’s as if you somehow are being held back outside of what you’re able or desiring to do—just like Peter was there, shackled up, somehow allowed to go through this waiting. Other people praying, seems like nothing is happening. Sometimes it can look, for a moment of time, as if things are not improving, things are not moving. Maybe they’re even getting worse and worse. And the purpose in your life is really being shut down to a point where you may say and begin to feel like—it’s impossible.

It’s impossible for me to be forgiven. These church people, yes—but I just keep falling. I just keep running back to sin. I just keep messing up. I keep forgetting to pray. I keep not knowing how to read my Bible. I keep... I keep... I keep... and I seem to be stuck, held back right here in this place. It’s not going anywhere. And it is now becoming impossible for me to walk out God’s plan. Let alone walking out my purpose—it’s impossible. I want to read to you Daniel 10 verse 12 and 13:Then he said, "Don't be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day you began to pray for understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your request has been heard in heaven. I have come in answer to your prayer. But for 21 days, the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia blocked my way." Then Michael, one of the archangels, came to help me, and I left him there with the spirit prince of the kingdom of Persia.

In other words, this angel is explaining to Daniel, "Listen, Daniel, when you prayed, God put His plan of deliverance in motion. I was dispatched from heaven with one goal—to be the answer to your prayer the moment that you prayed." But I want you to understand, Daniel, and I'm going to have this written down for everybody that will become a believer one day and is going to read the Bible, because it is important for them to know: we are at war. There is a war going on for the souls of men. And sometimes messages are a little bit delayed. Sometimes we are fighting and deliverance is a little bit delayed. But, Michael showed up in this case. I left him there to deal with that mess. I snuck off to continue my mission. And now I'm here to fulfill the answer to your prayer. It gives us, church, an insight to how spiritual deliverance and moves of the Lord work. Sometimes there can be a time where you are shackled up even though the mission is already on its way. But there's a war going on to try and keep you in the place where you are.

God is going to win. But somehow—and we don't fully understand how this works, 'cause God is not bound by time—but somehow, sometimes we have to wait a little bit for the answer to arrive into our situation. So there can be a time where it looks like your situation is stuck for a little. You've prayed. You've believed. Why didn't it just happen? Why didn't it happen right then and there at the altar? I really believed it would. Why didn't healing happen right then and there at Tuesday's service? 'Cause I really believed. We have so many testimonies of—we prayed for people and the next morning they're healed. Or we prayed for people and two days later, all of a sudden, while no one was praying, the healing arrived. You need to understand we're at war. Sometimes certain things take a little bit because there's a lot more going on than usually we are aware of. But here is the gospel. This is what the Bible shows us: God will always come through for the righteous who have believed on the name of Jesus.

Sometimes you may have to wait for that day where God shows you in your heart, Now I'm speaking to you. Now I'm calling you forward. Now I'm here to do the miracle. Now I'm here to do the setting free. But God will always come through for those that believe on the name of Jesus. Verse 8 to 11: Then the angel said to him, "Gird yourself and tie your sandals." And so he did. And he said to him, "Put on your garment and follow me." So he went out and followed him, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but he thought he was seeing a vision. Peter thought he was seeing something that God was showing him—maybe to encourage him, maybe to increase his faith. But Peter didn't even realize—yo, this is happening. The miracle is arriving. He didn't realize it. Verse 10: When they were past the first and the second guard post, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord. And they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him.

And when Peter had come to himself, he said, "Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people." In other words, he's saying, "Now I know that Herod's plan has no power over my life. Now I know that the enemy king, if you will, has no power over my life." For a moment there, it looked like it was kind of a problem. But now I know that God is coming through.

Now I know that God treats me as He treated the Lord Jesus Christ. He is going at His right time. I am going at the right time. And until the right time, there is nothing and no one that can interrupt the plan that God has for my life. If I'm trusting Him and I'm believing Him, He will show up. Church, I need you to get this: there is no prison. There's no king. There's no power. And there's no gate that doesn't have to move for God's plan over your life.

The question is: do you believe that that is true for your life? That in your life, there's no prison, no shackle, no king, no power, no gate that can stay locked. It all has to move the moment you take a small step of faith because you are with Jesus Christ. The question is: do you believe that for your life? Are you letting God's plan in? Because these things—they move aside miraculously. Whatever it may be: the shackles falling off, the guards not noticing, the iron gate opening—whatever it may be, this all moves aside the moment you start walking. The moment you respond to that call to the heart that says, "Arise quickly. This is the day." And you begin to walk—all of a sudden, Oh, the shackles are gone. All of a sudden, How did the gate open? It’s all just working together for my good all of a sudden. How in the world is that all happening? It’s all going to move aside miraculously—whatever's in your way, church, 'cause that's real.

There’s real things in the way. There’s real plans devised against you and against your forgiveness and against your purpose. But it’s all going to move aside miraculously the moment you say, Yes, Lord, and you start walking. It has to move because God’s plan is stronger. We just don’t get to see it until we take a step of faith. Amen. Are you seeing that?

Let’s continue in verse 12: So when he had considered this—Peter finally realizing what’s happening—so when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. And when she recognized Peter’s voice, because of her gladness she didn’t open the gate but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. Here’s what happened: she ran off so happy and she announced to everybody inside. This is the church. This is the Jesus-following people. They’re all praying. They’re very holy. And this girl runs in and she announces: Peter is standing outside. Peter’s at the gate. Really what she was announcing to the prayer meeting was—God has answered our prayer. We can stop praying now. We just need to open the gate and the miracle will walk right into here.

It’s just going to take a little step of faith that God has actually answered it. All of a sudden what she’s really announcing is: Herod doesn’t have the power over our lives. Peter’s here. She’s announcing: God’s plan is now coming to pass over Peter and Herod’s plan is not going to come to pass. She’s announcing to them: the prison doesn’t have the power to hold any of us back from the purpose that God sees fit for our life. She’s preaching. She’s telling them: No weapon formed against us will prosper. Peter’s standing at the gates.That’s what she’s announcing to the church. Little Rhoda became a preacher that night at the prayer meeting.

But what we really learn is: when Christ has made you righteous by the blood of Jesus, God answers our prayers. When Christ has made you righteous by His blood, no one’s plan will succeed against your life or against God’s plan over your life. No one’s plan has more power.

Now how do you think the church responded to little Rhoda becoming a preacher? Verse 15: But they said to her, "You are beside yourself." Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, "It’s his angel."

Now remember, Peter’s still outside. This is all going down and Peter’s still outside. And what happened? These church people—they had such a hard time letting God’s plan in. They had no problem praying, but they couldn’t let God’s plan in. And they wouldn’t believe the good news that little Rhoda was bringing into their life. And the question becomes: what are they really doubting? I don’t want to end up like that. I don’t want to miss out on the miracle that God has for my life. They were supposed to see Peter and be encouraged in their faith. And that prayer meeting had to go from a prayer meeting to a testimony meeting. But the people were more comfortable to just keep it a good old boring prayer meeting because they didn’t know how to let God’s plan in. And I want you to realize that there are things in our life that we can keep in prayer, and we’re holding it back from God. We can keep praying about something that God has already tried to tell you: I’m here. Would you just give it to me and I’ll take it away? I’m here. I’m ready to fill up that place in your heart now.

Would you be willing to open the gate and let me into your heart? I heard your prayer. Jesus says a similar thing:"I stand at the door and I knock." And then an incredible statement:"Whoever conquers..." Conquers what? What were they doubting? What did they have a hard time believing?"Whoever conquers and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and sit with him." What are they doubting? They were doubting God's willingness to do extraordinary miracles just for them when they prayed. They didn't believe it. Now they believed they had to pray, because they were praying. They believed God was listening, because they were praying. They believed it was important, because they were praying. But they were in no hurry to expect an answer. They were in no hurry to run to the gate.

They explained it away. They said, "You're just a little girl. You're crazy." That’s what they would have said today in today's language. And when she kept insisting, the way somebody that has seen something that God has done—the way that somebody can testify that has experienced God has done something and God is able—when she kept insisting, they began to rationalize it.

Okay, so you saw something. It must have been his angel. It must have been a spiritual experience. But it ain’t real for us. They couldn't let—they wouldn't let—God's plan in. And it made them unwilling. That unbelief—that God is willing to do extraordinary miracles, answer your miraculous prayers, answer them. Your quest, your desire to have a miraculous resolve in an area of your life, to stay in prayer for it but to not really believe that: Of course God is going to answer this prayer, because I've been made righteous by the blood. Of course God hears my prayer, because there's nothing dirty on me. He removed all of my transgressions as far as the east is from the west. God doesn't see anything wrong with me when He looks at me. That's what Jesus has done. Of course He hears me when I pray.

God's willingness to do the miracle—because you are asking in the name of Jesus—that's what was at trial. And when praying people begin to doubt that God will bring His plan to pass, it becomes harder for God's will to be done in church than it is for God's will to be done in prison.

God’s miracle power was being experienced in prison—but it wasn’t being experienced in the church. When people pray but doubt in the heart, they stay a praying people. And it can look spiritual, church, but it isn't. When people pray and they doubt in their heart, they may stay in prayer their entire life. They may never want the prayer meeting to end. But there's never testimony. There's never an answered prayer. There's never a miracle. There's never newness of life. There's never a move of God in their life—because they're praying with doubt in their heart.

And when people rationalize—the other thing they did—when people explain things away: why the Holy Spirit will not come and live in my heart, or why the Holy Spirit may not give me giftings, or why I don't have a real purpose in life in God's kingdom, and I can't really walk out that fulfilled life, my life is just kind of what it is...

When we begin to rationalize—when people rationalize—at a time where a step of faith is required, they won’t let God’s plan into their life. When a step of faith—of opening the door, or getting up in prison, whatever it may be—when a step of faith is required, and in that moment people rationalize and say: "Well, that's all legit, and it's real, and it's true, but... my responsibilities, my situation, my past, my sin..." Whatever the excuse may be—it’s rationalizing away why today that miracle is not entering into my life. When people do this—doubt and rationalize—they just won’t let God’s plan in. And that’s where you can end up praying for your forgiveness. You may have been in church a long time. You don’t want anybody to know you’re praying for your forgiveness. You’re embarrassed that you’re still praying about your forgiveness, because you know and you feel: I should have my forgiveness by now. I should have peace with God by now. Other people got it. I didn’t. This is still something I pray about.

And all along the Spirit has been knocking on the door. But doubt about the blood of Jesus Christ, doubt about God's willingness to do the extraordinary miracle of washing someone like you clean, rationalizing: "Maybe today, because I don’t feel good—it’s not going to be today..."

It keeps you in a place where the Spirit is knocking, and you're able to stay away from the door. Stay in the prayer meeting. Stay in the place of prayer. And feel like nothing’s wrong.

It’s just—it’s fake. It’s his angel. That messenger—that little girl—unimpressive. She must be wrong...

Maybe you’ve been praying for your happiness and you would love to have God’s happiness. God’s happiness is called joy. And you just don’t have a happy spirit. You don’t have a happy heart. And what you’ve been really looking for is that fulfilled life—that purpose in life—that makes it exciting to get up in the morning. Makes it exciting to go to bed early, because then you can get up in the morning again and walk into that plan that you’re going to discover God had prepared for you, so that by the end of the day you feel fulfilled, full of joy, full of purpose, full of courage—ready to go to bed because in the morning His mercies are new and He has a new plan for my life. Maybe you’ve been praying, “God, I just want to be happy.”What you’re really asking is, “God, I want—I want to be fulfilled.” And He’s been knocking. “I’m here. I’m willing to do the miracle.”

I want you to realize Peter's still outside. It was so much easier for Peter to get out of prison than into church. The door of the prison—just the moment he moved, the door opened—and he experienced the miracle. He walked in the miracle. And the church would not—the church people—they wouldn’t let him in. They wouldn't let the miracle in. They wouldn't let the answered prayer in. They were more comfortable staying in prayer. Verse 16 Now Peter continued knocking. And when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. But motioning to them with his hands to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, "Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren." And he departed and went to another place. Now this is not the James that Herod had killed. This is James, the half-brother of Jesus, that was also part of the disciples. And he—he—he tells them, Peter tells them, "Listen, you need to change this prayer meeting into a testimony meeting. And you guys need to go tell people that God answers prayer. You guys need to go tell people that God has set His people free. You have to tell people that no plan but God's plan has the power over our life. And I'm going to go somewhere else and tell other people, but you need to tell them: God hears us. God answers us. God has a purpose for our life, and nothing and no one can stop it. Go tell James as I go tell other people."

Letting God's plan in. Do you see that in this early church—we often think of that as the perfect church—this early church, it changed the prayer meeting into a meeting of testimony when they were willing to let God’s plan in. Yes, pray—but never pray without entering into God’s plan. Entering into God’s plan requires a step of faith. Prayer you can do in unbelief. Prayer you can do in doubt. But a step of faith—you can’t. When you pray, after you’ve prayed, it’s time to get up and take a step. When you have prayed, it is time to get up and take a step and say, I have prayed—me—I have prayed. Me, who God has removed my sins from me as far as the east is from the west. Jesus has loved someone like me. Jesus has forgiven someone like me. I have prayed under the name of Jesus. And therefore, I will get up and I will take a step because I don’t know how and I don’t know when, but I know my God has sent out a mission. I know He’s answering my prayer. I know He’s going before me, and I’m going to let every bit of the plan into my life. I’m going to be a prayer warrior, but I’m also going to walk out the plan. And I’m not going to miss out on the miracle, and I’m not going to rationalize away what should be entering into my life.

It changed the prayer meeting into a night of testimony. And for some of you today, there’s things you’ve prayed about and you’ve never taken a step of faith into the plan that God already prepared for the very thing that you’re still locked up in your prayer closet saying, "Leave me alone. Don’t—don’t knock on the door. Don’t—don’t tell me these stories. I’m here praying." When God is ready to change your moment of prayer into a moment of testimony, you can now move on to a different prayer. You can now move on to a different challenge.

I believe with all of my heart, church, that the Spirit wants to exchange some of the prayers that you have carried around—in some cases, years—He wants to exchange the prayer that you carry with you for testimony. That you may carry testimony with you. You remember the prayer, but you carry the testimony with you.

You want to be fully forgiven before the Father. You want to experience that forgiveness. You want to feel it. You want to understand it. You have to let God’s plan in. God is ready already. He’s knocking on the door. Open up. Let it in. Let the miracle in. Let my presence in. Let my plan into your life. You want to feel fulfilled in life. You want to walk out what you were made to do—tailor fit for you—so that you would be a happy man, a happy woman, despite the storms or the difficulties of life. You have to let God’s plan in. He already thought of you. He already thought of this day. He already thought of what would build you up. He already prepared it ahead of you—that you may walk in it. You're going to have to let God's plan in. The enemy king can show you things and put shackles on your hands.

They have no power the moment you get up—but it looks pretty bad. And it can get you so discouraged. And you can come to that place where you say: "I'm so discouraged. It would take a miracle for somebody like me to be a man of God. It would take a miracle for somebody like me to be a woman of prayer. It would take a miracle for me to be fully delivered in a moment’s time. It would take a miracle for somebody like me to actually receive a whole new life and to live out fully my purpose in God. It is so complicated, pastor. You have no idea. There’s so many aspects to it. So many people involved in my life. So many people in the way. So many gates in the way. So many guards that are guarding me and kind of keeping me in the same place. And haven’t you seen these shackles?"

Church, let me tell you today—God has a call on you. His hand is on you. He knows about the prison. He knows about every soldier. He knows about the gates. But don’t worry—because when you have prayed in the name of Jesus, and you get up, the shackles will fall off. No guard will be able to do a thing. The gates will open of their own accord. And you will bring good news to people that are still praying but don’t know the power that God is willing to distribute for sinners saved by grace just like you. Church, if it takes a miracle, you're in the right place. Pray to Jesus, then get up and take a step. You have to let God's plan in. I want to ask you to stand with me for a moment. Here’s what I believe the Lord asked me to share with you as a promise. Believe on Jesus. He's the Son of God. He's the reason that anybody is able to be forgiven before God. Believe on Jesus and let God's plan in for your future. Then you will have rivers of living water flow from you, and you will become a man or a woman that brings hope into every place where you knock on the door.

Church, by this time in the story, the prayer meeting has turned into a testimony meeting once they let God's plan in. Now they had something to share. Now they had good news for a church that was being persecuted and discouraged and confused. You are called to be the person that always delivers good news. You know where you get the good news? Once you've prayed, you get up. You take a little step of faith. You see the shackles fall off—you have good news. You see prison doors open—you have good news. And when you begin to see people around you that have escaped from the same prison without any of their work—God did it all—now you have good news to multiply, to share, to tell everyone. When we pray and we get up and believe Jesus and take a step, there is nothing that can keep us from walking out God's plan—His plan over my life for forgiveness, His plan over my life to become fulfilled and to live well and finish strong.

Here's the altar call. You've been desiring to have a more fulfilling life. You've had the thought in your heart. Maybe you've even prayed it out loud. And today, you're going to have to let the plan in—God's plan. Take that first step. Say: "God, I've prayed. I've put it before you. I believe that you've removed my sins. I'm going to get up now. I see the shackles. I know about the guards. I know about the prison door. There's so many ways and reasons that this should never work out. This is going to be a disappointment. But I trust you. I've prayed. I've been forgiven. I'm going to get up." And you will see God do His miracles. You'll see the shackles fall. You'll see the iron gate open. It will amaze you time and again how much God has thought about your day, how much He is for you, how much He's present in your situation. And for the other person in this place—you've been desiring to experience your full forgiveness before God the Father.

To have no doubt left. To have not a feeling of guilt or shame left in your entire being, but to experience that you have been fully cleansed and that you experience that those sins have been fully removed, further than you could ever imagine. And today you want to say to God: "God, I'm going to let your plan in. I'm going to let you remove it." If either one is you—if you want to say "God, I'm going to let your plan in. I'm going to let you remove it," or you want to say to God today "God, I'm going to let your plan in. I'm going to let you lead me into the fulfilled life,"—if either one is you, I want to invite you to come to the front so that I can pray with you, and that we can take that symbolic step together to say: "God, I believe these shackles are coming off today." If that is you, would you come and join me at the altar? Hallelujah.

Holy Spirit, show every heart.Holy Spirit, show every heart what you are seeking to do today, Lord.Holy Spirit, show every heart that you are calling them to stop the prayer meeting because you are about to do a miracle, and you're willing to turn this old prayer into testimony time.

Lord, I pray that as the team prays over every person, I pray that you minister. I want—if everybody at the altar can look at me for just a second—I’m telling you now, God is willing to speak to your heart. God is willing to make Himself known to you. He made you. He knows how to speak to you. You don’t need me. You don’t need a prophet. The Holy Spirit is in this place, and He's willing to whisper to your heart exactly what is going to perform the miracle in your life. One whisper of His Spirit, and it can change your life every single time. Listen as you're being prayed over. Listen with your heart to see if the Holy Spirit speaks anything to you. He's willing today.

-Pastor Stan Mons