Breaking Through Part 2

Narrator: Welcome to Self Talk with Dr. Ray Self, the place where you can get real answers to tough questions. Jesus promised you abundant life but poor choices and dark forces stand in your way. It is time to learn how to overcome the obstacles that keep you out of your promised land. Knowledge of God will pave the path for you to walk in His blessing.

[Music]

Dr. Ray: Hello and welcome to Self Talk, I’m your host, Dr. Ray Self. This episode is brought to you by the International College of Ministry, www.icmcollege.org, enrolling today. I want to continue to talk to you about breaking through. And as I was talking in my last episode - if you haven’t listened to it, please do, this is a follow up on it. You have a plan for your life and this plan is where your peace, your happiness, your fulfillment…and it’s important for you to find it.  You have a purpose and a plan and a destiny that God created you for, and it’s the only place you’re really going to find your success, your peace, your happiness, your fulfillment, and, it’s a place where many people are going to benefit when you do this. So you have everything to do and nothing to lose - well, you have a lot to lose by not doing it. Now, you, you don’t have to do this and you can live a life of mediocre success. God’s not an enabler, I’m not saying He’s never going to bless you again if you don’t do this, but I’m going to say you’re not going to find complete contentment. There will always be something in you that’s just not totally satisfied, you’re going to feel a little bit uneasy like I’m missing something, there’s something more, something’s not quite right. No matter how big a house you have or a nice car you have, or whatever, okay?

Speaking of cars, I need someone to donate a 2021 Tesla to our ministry - just thinking about that, ha, ha, ha - just kidding, anyway…So, here’s the deal. I want to talk to you about how I broke through. You know, my life– it, I mean, the Devil went overtime trying to stop me. I’m called to teach, preach, prophesy, write, and that’s where I find my peace. And that’s– even, even on this podcast just talking to you now, that’s where my peace is, that’s where my happiness is, my joy is…and I’ve got to do it because this is, this is just who I am. But I want to tell you something, the weapons against me I fought, as you’ve heard my story, most of my life I fought over an over and over the feeling of I don’t matter, I don’t measure up. I literally thought, even as a teenager, other people were deserving and I wasn’t. And I’m not saying– I’m not kidding, I literally did not feel I measured up. It was like uh, there was the upper class, the, the deserving, the really cool, deserving young people and I just wasn’t one of them. I didn’t have nerve, I didn’t have courage, I was shy, and I liked to just sort of– I didn't really like it but I kind of was seen and not heard. I was the invisible one. I didn't realize too much later in my life that this was the scheme of the enemy. The enemy wanted me - Satan - wanted me to believe with all my heart that I was not…matter and I did not measure up. How did I respond to all this as a teenager? I started doing drugs and alcohol and women and partying and all that kind of stuff. And that consumed me for about 13 years. You talk about trying to take me out, he was trying to take me out and I cooperated with him.

Now listen, I’m 70 years old now so I’m talking many moons ago, been free for a long time, but how did I break through? My first thing was I had to figure out - and I found out by accident - I had to figure out what it was, what it was I was created to do. And I found out by accident. I didn’t…how do I…I wish I could say I figured it out and I started doing it. I got invited to preach - I told you in the last episode I got in– preach, got invited to reach at a little church over in Arkansas and the anointing fell. I saw lives touched as I preached for the first time. One day I go invited to teach a class, which I had never taught a class before, at a church up in North Memphis, Tennessee, North Memphis. Kind of a rough area actually. I was preaching in that church and I didn’t know if I…you know, I just taught the class. And the pastor who was well known came up after class and he goes, “Ray, you really have an anointing to teach,” and it shocked me, like, “Me? You talking to me?” but anyway. And the scheme started hitting me, the distractions, the hindrances, uh, relationships, um, disease, I mean, I had some, I had some wild stuff. I got diagnosed with Charcot-Marie Tooth Disease and was told I would never walk again, look it up, it’s for real, I’m still walking, that was many years ago. 

A lot of things happened, but what I wanted to talk to you about - not my doom and gloom story, when I started to break through, my first major, major, major breakthrough was one night when I got baptized with the Holy Spirit - that’s the life changing experience. Now, I was saved but when I got baptized with the Holy Spirit and the power of God came on me that one evening, it was a turning point in my life, it was the most amazing experience I ever had. I met the Holy Spirit in a very up close and personal way. If you have never been baptized with the Holy Spirit, you must seek that with all your heart. Seek it with all your heart. But you know, my battle was not over. I had to get help, I had to get help. I, I was not– didn’t hesitate to talk to friends, to get counseling, to have hand laid on me, for people to, to pray for me. Uh, I had people stand with me in prayer to rebuke the enemy out of my life. One of the key prayers, things that really helped me that I want to share this with you, is, in the Book of Revelation says that…talks about, the Lord opens the door no man can shut it. When He shuts the door, no man can open it. And that’s what would happen. I would, I would pray this prayer: “Lord, if this is not from You, please close the door.” 

I’ll never forget once…Um, I was a single father in church, and I guess I was in my mid-40s or so and I met, um, I met a young lady and I believe she was around 26 years old. And this young lady really seemed to fall all over me and I was just, I was taken, you know, I was taken by her. I mean, I was sort swept off my feet. I’m going, “Wait a minute, this girl–” 45, 35, I was probably 14, 15 years older than her, whatever– 26 and 45 is - not doing the math very well, it’s more than that. And so, but she seemed to have this crush on me and I was…single and lonely and so I was just– I was falling for it. And one day, I said the prayer, I said, “Lord, if this is not you, I pray you will close the door,” and within 24 hours, this young lady broke up with me. First I started to get upset, then I realized you know what, I prayed, “Lord, if it’s not you, close the door,” and He did. And He closed the door and I knew, I knew that was Him. See, one of the ways you break through is you have to have doors closed and doors opened. Closed doors are actually a really good thing. See, a closed door tells you you’re going the wrong direction. A closed door tells you no. A closed door says turn around. A closed door says “Go a different way,” and that’s a good thing. If you’re going the wrong direction you need to know. That relationship of mine wa– that relationship of mine back then that was bad news, that was bad news and I was, I was getting pulled into it. But the door shut which led me to much, much, much greater things.

So one of the keys to overcoming all these obstacles and hindrances in your life is the prayer, “Lord, it this is not of you, close the door…close” and allow Him to close the door. One thing that I’ve learned about the Lord over the years is God has no problem closing a door when we ask Him to. Another thing God will do to help you along your way in breaking through is God will make you uncomfortable. Yeah, I said uncomfortable. Now that doesn’t sound right, He’s the God of peace, he’s the God of joy, you know, He’s the God of forgiveness and grace and mercy, which He is. But there’s a thing about me, there’s a thing about you - hear me now - and that is this: when you are comfortable where you are, you’re not going to move. If you’re comfortable in your job, you’re not going to change jobs, if you’re comfortable in your position in life, you’re not going to make a change. You see, when we’re comfortable, we tend not to hear God. God may be telling us it’s time to move but we’re not moving because we’re comfortable. So what will God do out of His mercy and kindness? He’ll make you uncomfortable. He will make you uneasy. He’ll make you miserable. I said, well, let me put it this way: I, I say God doesn’t make you miserable, He allows you to become miserable and uncomfortable because then you're much more likely to make the change that He has for you. That’s another way that you break through. 

And then there’s prophetic words. Oh, prophetic words. I love prophetic words. I have heard thousands of prophetic words in my life. Some of them are from God, some of them were not from God. And by the way, let me just interject this: if– quit worrying about getting bad prophetic words. I…I don’t want to sound flippant, I could care less when I get a bad prophetic word. I’ve heard so many bad prophetic words, I really donOt care that much. If it’s of not Christ, I’m not going to receive it. I just don’t receive bad prophetic words, I don’t jump on any prophetic word that comes with me anyway. When I get a prophetic word I wait for confirmation. I wait till I know in my heart this has come from God. I, I make sure it lines up with the word and I do have confirmation. See, the prophetic words that are really the strongest words are those prophetic words that are confirming something God’s already been trying to tell you your entire life. So I started getting prophetic words about uh, a prophet, about a pastor - truly, this was a true story. I walked into church one day and um, I hadn’t been filled with the Spirit very long, and I walked down the aisle of the church and a guy walked up to me. His name was Doug, I’ll never forget him, and Doug walked to me and he says, “Ray, I see the word Prophet written on your right arm.” Hm, that’s interesting. Didn’t really know much about what that meant but over the years after that I kept getting confirmed over and over and over and that prophetic gift was flowing really, really strong. Multiple confirmations. One day I went into a early morning prayer meeting and a young lady, as I walked in the door, she said, “I see the word Pastor written across your forehead.” I kind of wanted to look in the mirror, “did somebody take a magic marker or, you know, a Sharpie and write it on my head or what’s the deal here?” She said, “No, I see it in the spirit realm.” And that began to be confirmed over and over and over and over till finally one day, my wife and I were sent out to pastor a church up in Tennessee.

You see, prophetic words help you along your way they help you to break through but please don’t run with the first word you get without getting confirmation. Ans where you know that it’s from God. And, and you will get words that are flesh and you’ll get words that are part flesh, part Spirit. You’ll get words that are uh, maybe a three sentence prophecy and two sentences are good and the third sentence is not from God. Why? Because we’re imperfect vessels. Listen, folks, if you have the Holy Spirit in you, the Holy Spirit in you should be able to recognize the Holy Spirit talking to you. If a prophetic word is coming through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God in you recognizes His own voice, okay? And yes, there are times when the– somebody says, “I have a prophetic word,” and they miss it. And it's simply a mistake because they’re human. Now, it’s kind of a side point here: with uh, somebody giving a prophetic word gives a bad prophetic word, it doesn’t mean they’re a false prophet, it means they made a mistake. Now a false prophet is someone who does it continually for personal gain, that’s different than somebody who’s just a human being - fallible like all of us. Every pastor has made a mistake, every evangelist has made mistakes, every teacher has made mistakes, every apostle has made mistakes, why aren’t the prophets allowed to make mistakes? They do make mistakes.

Now what I do when I make mistakes, I try to repent, ask forgiveness, humble myself, all right? I do that, but the point of this tirade here is their prophetic words will help you break through because when you know you’ve heard from God, you seems like you have the energy to strengthen, the determination not to quit, and again, that’s the biggest thing– one of the biggest forms of spiritual warfare that people miss out on is not quitting. The attack upon your life is to get you to stop. Stop in your tracks; or go down the wrong track. One thing you can do spiritually is…you see, faith without works is dead. One of the works that demonstrates your faith is don’t stop. When he tries to make you stop, don’t stop, okay? And if you’re going down the wrong track, God will block your way. Back up and find the right track. You see, the wrong direction helps you find the right direction. It’s not a bad thing. And I’ve said this many times, if you’ve never failed, you’ve never tried anything. People who fail are people who end up successful. You have to fail to be successful. You have to fail many times to be successful. Persistence, persistence, persistence, determination, and there’s going to be days when you don’t have the strength, there’s going to be days when you’re tired and you just, you can’t do it and you say, “Lord, help me. Lord, give me strength. Lord, help me.” 

There’s been times when I was going to preach and I was completely depressed. Did not want to get up in front of the people, didn’t even know what I was going to say, I was depressed and discouraged, every minister I know has suffered through some depression. And you know what? In those times when I’d get up when I was weak, He was strong. Usually those sermons, those times are the strongest messages I ever had because there was so much less of me which allowed a whole lot of room for more of Him. So when you’re weak, He is strong. And that helps you, that helps you get along your way. We need the help of the Holy Spirit, you cannot do this without the Holy Spirit. I can do all things through Christ, through the Holy Spirit dwelling in me. The walk of a Christian has to have help. We cannot live this life. You see, what God has for you to do– your plan, your purpose, is bigger than you. Your purpose is more than you could think or imagine. Now, it’s going to freak you out. If you look at your purpose and your plan in the natural, it will freak you out. But if you allow God to show it to you and know that you can do this with his help - that takes an attitude of humility - you’re going to be a strong person who will accomplish much. What God has for you is more – what it says in the book of Ephesians, exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ever think or imagine. And that’s what I wanted to tell you today. You need the help of the Holy Spirit, you need– sometimes you need the door to shut and you need people who understand and get you and understand your call, who will help you along the way. And by the way, when they’re helping you to fulfill your call, you should also be helping them to fulfill their call. I promise you, your call and purpose has a lot to do with other people’s call and purpose. We work together on this. It’s not everybody helping you do your thing, you’re doing your thing from God, and in doing, you’re also helping other people do theirs. 

Never make the mistake - I’ve seen so many people do this, who think, this is my call, it should be yours too. Like the evangelists. So many times I see evangelists think, “well, you know, I, I, I go out and do street ministry, I stand outside the bars and preach the gospel on Saturday night.” That’s great. It’s not my call. Should I do it sometimes? Sure, but it’s, it’s not my call. Is it, is it good? Yeah, we should all evangelize, but I’m not an evangelist, you gotta understand that. We should all prophesy, but I’m not a prophet, you should understand– we should all preach the gospel but we’re not all preachers. Paul emphasized that in the book of Cointhians, so do your call and don’t try to enforce your call upon other people. And listen, if you’re a pastor listening to me, the church is not there to help you fulfill your purpose. There’s a purpose for the church, there’s a purpose for you, but as pastor, our job is to help every one of the– our church members fulfill their purpose, be all that God’s called them to be. And in doing that, you will fulfill your purpose, you get me on that? Little side point there.

So it’s just not going to be a long podcast today, but my passion is listen, find it. Find your promised land, find your place. I’ve got a good book I wrote - gosh it’s been what? Five, six, seven years ago, Redeeming Your Past, Finding Your Promised Land, check it out on amazon.com. Redeeming Your Past, Finding Your Promised Land. It will help you a lot. It gives you practical ways to find it. I want you to be happy, I want you to be fulfilled, I want you to have peace, I want you to be everything God created you to be– this is my passion. I think I’m passionate because I know the pain that I went through when I was not doing what God called me to do, and living the life that I wanted to live and that I desired and it wasn’t God’s desire. and I know that’s a trap. And don’t, don’t fall into that trap. Don’t fall in the trap of your desire, find God’s desire and then you’ll find true happiness and true peace. I think you so much for listening to Self Talk. Check out my books on amazon.com, Hear His Voice, be His Voice, amazon.com like I said, Redeeming Your Past, Finding Your Promised Land, and please check out International College of Ministry. We got free lessons you can take, you can get a free evaluation and we’ll tell you exactly how long it would take to get a college degree, how much it would cost you, what courses you’re going to need, and it’s all free. So check it out, icmcollege.org. I love you, I bless you, and I pray that this has been a good word for you. In Jesus’ name, amen.

[Music]

Narrator: Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed today's podcast, please subscribe, rate, and review our show on iTunes, YouTube, Spotify, Charisma Podcast Network, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Your review helps our show reach more people and spread the gospel. You can purchase Dr. Self's latest book, Hear His Voice, be His Voice on amazon.com. Please visit Dr. Self's webpage at icmcollege.org for more information and free downloads.