Your Future

[Music]

Hey, I'm Dr. Ray. Welcome to episode 224. Can you believe it? Thank you so much for being a, a part of today. Today's going to be a little more upbeat than the last show, which was pretty heavy, but I want you to pay attention. I think this is really going to bless you a lot. Again, this show's sponsored by the International College of Ministry, enrolling now at icmcollege.org. Check it out. If God's called you, it's time to be equipped. I think the ministry of Jesus Christ is the most important information the world has ever known, and that's what we equip people for. So check us out at icmcollege.org. Thanks for being a part of the show, and God bless you. 

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for everyone listening to the show. I pray, Father, that my words be a blessing to them and that you will receive glory through all of this. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen. 

One of my favorite scriptures in the Bible comes from Ephesians chapter 3, verse 20. And it says, “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all we could ask or think according to the power that works within us.” That scripture says that God can do and will do far more than we could ask or think according to the power that works within us, which is the Holy Spirit. This is what I have come to find out with God. God's got plans for you. He's got a purpose for you. You know, I've talked about this a lot. He has something for you to do. And that sounds great, like, “wow, I can't wait for what God has for me to do. This is going to be really amazing. I really want to,” you know, “I want to be in God's will. I want to, I want to do His purpose. I want to fulfill the call of God on my life. I just want to know what God has for me to do.” 

Well, in a way, you may not want to know because if you knew, it may freak you out and go, "Oh my gosh." Because you see, what God has for you is exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ever think or ask for. Now, I can think of a lot, but God has plans for you that are more than you. It's more than you can handle. It is more than you can handle. Well, how is that good? Because He doesn't want you to be able to handle it without Him. Because you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you. So, yeah, He's got a plan for you. He's got a purpose for you. And it is more than you can imagine. Because see, if your future is only what you can do and only what you can imagine and is all about your plans, let me tell you something. You get all the credit, you get all the glory. But you see, when God has a plan, and you move into that, and it is more than you could ever handle, but somehow you get it done with His power, you know it's because of God. You know it's because of His power. You know it's because of His testimony. You know it's because of Him. He gets the glory, and it's always more than you could ever think or ask for. 

Sometimes God won't tell you what He has in store for you. Many times, He won't because if you saw the whole picture, it would overwhelm you. It would scare you. If I had seen what God had planned for me when I moved from Memphis, Tennessee - or actually, Olive Branch, Mississippi, suburb of Memphis - when I moved down to Orlando, I, I would have totally freaked out and said, "No way." I never could have dreamed when the Lord called me to move from my church, lay down my church, and move to Florida. I never would have dreamed the things that had happened to me. It definitely is; this scripture has manifested in my life exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ever think or imagine. Now, here's the deal. When our plans are everything that we can imagine, that we can plan, that we can budget, that we can structure, it becomes our flesh. It's all about us. But when our plans are held loosely, and we allow the Holy Spirit to have His way, then, and we give Him room to move, and we try to obey Him to the best of our ability, then you get into exceedingly and abundantly more than you can ever think or imagine. 

“You can tell,” my old seminary professor, this is one of his favorite quotes, “You can tell when it's God when it's bigger than you.” And, when God gives you something to do, a call, it's going to be bigger than you. It's going to be beyond your natural ability. And when it's beyond your natural ability, it takes the influence and the power of the Holy Spirit to accomplish it. Therefore, you know that you did it with God. You did it with God. You did it with God's power. And then you can give praise to God because without God, it would not be possible. However, if you take charge of your life and you only do what you plan, what you structure, what you can think of, then all the glory and all the credit goes to you. 

This kind of ties in again to the book of Ephesians when he says that our salvation, that we're saved by grace through faith, not of ourselves, so no one can boast. When what we accomplish is strictly our own ability, our own strength, our own talent, our own, but because of our own education, all credit goes to us. But you know what? God wants to do exceedingly abundantly more than you could ever think or imagine. He wants to do that. We must cooperate with Him. 

When I moved down to Orlando, if you would have told me I would be ministering in the remote mountains of Guatemala to a Mayan witch doctor, giving him a prophetic word. Yeah, I probably couldn't have thought of that one. Or how about ministering in Madan and North Sumatra to the heaviest Muslim population in the world, prophesying to Muslims and praying over Muslims in a very remote Indonesian town that no Westerners ever go to. Who could imagine that? If you would have told me that I would be preaching and ministering and prophesying in cities all over the US and in, in some, and even in Europe, I never could imagine that. I couldn't even have thought of that. You see, before I moved to Florida, I was doing some cool things. I was running a, a seminary. I had a great growing church that was really more than I could imagine. But my sphere of influence was just, if I traveled or did anything, it was going to be right around the Memphis, Tenne– probably within 100 miles of Memphis, Tennessee. And that's all I ever ventured. 

Then I moved to Orlando, and I get connected to churches all over the US. Next thing you know, I'm ministering in Pennsylvania and in New York and, and Michigan and Louisiana and just places that you you you couldn't imagine, in Alabama and North Carolina and all these– Missouri and all these other places– Minnesota– that I could never have dreamed of. And all of a sudden, these doors open for me. And then I, I moved to Orlando, and I meet this strange guy, a really strange guy named Steve Whitman. And I had a dream when I moved to Orlando of, of having an online school, a school without walls, a school that would be more than just, you know, having a, a Tuesday night class that 40 people came to. So I meet this guy named Steve Whitman. And I was sharing a dream about building an online college, a online Holy Spirit-filled college, a college without walls that could reach the world. And Steve looked at me, and he said, "I can do that." I said, "What?" He said, "Oh yeah, I can do that. Steve told me, "I used to be a nuclear missile programmer for the Air Force. I can build you your school." And I looked at Steve, and I said, "Steve, you don't understand. I can't afford to pay you that,” you know, programmers at that time were about $80 an hour. I didn't have that kind of money." And he, he looked at me, and he goes, "Oh, no. I'm not going to charge you because I have a gift and I want to give it to God." Who could imagine that? Greater and more abundantly than everything you could imagine? 

And so here's this guy, Steve Whitman, ends up building me a website, which we have today. You ready for this? This website has over 2,500 pages. 2,500-page website. He builds. Took him years to do it. And he's still building it. We're still upgrading it. We're still doing stuff, but again, the point was it's exceedingly and abundantly more than I could ever think or imagine. 

You see, God's got plans for you. And it's more than you can imagine because He gets the glory that way. He gets the credit. If it's just what you can imagine, what you can do, what, it's your plan, it's all credit and glory goes to you. Look what you accomplished. This is what the world says, “You've got to you can do it if you want. Dream big. You– nothing can stop you from your dreams. Nothing can stop you from your accomplishments.” Where's God in all this? It's all about you. You. You. You. You. Jesus said, "Apart from Me, you can do nothing." When you interpret that scripture, it says, "Apart from Me." In the Greek, it says, "Apart from Me, nothing exists." I've learned unless God's in it, unless it's building the kingdom of God, it really, in the long run, it doesn't amount to much. I've known people that have been very successful in business, but I want to tell you something. Without giving glory to God, it really doesn't amount to much. I want to tell you, the plans God has for you are bigger than you. And it could be business. It could be you're going to start an electrical company, but it's going to be the best electrical company ever. It's be– it's going to have more customers than you ever imagined. God gets the glory. 

Could be a plumber. Could be a carpenter. There's millions of things you can do. But remember, when God's in it, it's more than you will expect. It's greater than you could imagine. That's His promise. That's how you know it's God. The key to it is to let God have some control. Stop being a control freak. Stop being a control freak. Allow God to have some control. You see, our flesh wants to be in control. I've said this often. We, We love our budgets. We love our plans. We love our calendars where we're in control. I want to tell you something. If you just let go and let God, let Him take control, He'll mess up your calendar. He'll mess up your budget. He'll mess up your plans. And He'll do bigger and better and more than you could ever imagine. I want to tell you something. If I were to budget financially, now I'm not opposed to budgets, you know. Thank you, Dave Ramsey, for all your debt reduction plans, all that kind of stuff. I'm not opposed to budgets, but I'll tell you, so many times in ministry, I have budgeted and tried to figure out how this is going to work financially. I'm not saying we shouldn't use wisdom. We should, and it doesn't come out on paper, but then it works somehow. Somehow it works. Somehow it, it, it, it, it just always comes through. That's because God's in it. 

See, when God's in it, it's beyond your control. When God's in it, it's beyond your imagination. When God's in it, it's greater than you could think. We just have to let God take charge. Let go of your control issues. You got control issues. I know control feels good. Then you– because you know what to expect, you know what's going to happen. You think you know what's going to happen. But you know what? If you relinquish control, which God wants us to do, by the way, and give control to the Holy Spirit, try to listen to Him, try to obey Him, give Him room in your life. Not only like the last episode, are you going to get your personal healing, but your plans, what's happening in your life, is going to be greater than you can imagine. 

You know, Jesus said, "I came to give you life and life more abundantly." The word abundant is, is an interesting word because you see, right now as I'm talking to you, as people listening to this show, you're living a life, what we call paycheck to paycheck. Okay? Some people not even making it paycheck to paycheck. But when you move into abundance, what that means is you have more than you need, and you begin to overflow. Abundance is an overflow. And you move into the area of overflow. 

So what God wants to do when He says exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ever think or imagine. Abundant means overflow. That means more than you can contain. And when it's more than you can contain, there is an overflow coming out of you that blesses those that have been assigned to you. When you live abundantly, it is an unselfish way of living that allows you to give and to bless and to nourish and to feed others beside yourself. When all you have is self-sufficiency, all you've got is yourself, and you're not really benefiting the kingdom of God. You're just benefiting yourself. But Jesus wants you to get into the place of overflow, the place of more than enough. So, not only are your needs met, but you're helping meet the needs of other people. 

Again, this is all about exceedingly and abundantly more than you could ever think or imagine. It's time to move out of self-sufficiency and move into God's sufficiency. And God's sufficiency is greater and more than you could ever think or imagine. God's got– listen to me, if you're listening– who are listening to this show, God's got plans for you. And it's, it's, it's gonna freak you out in a good way because it's more than you can imagine. Pray right now and say, "Lord, have your way. Lord, have your way. Forgive me for just doing it my way. Lord, have your way in my life, in my job, in my marriage, in my family. Lord, have your way." And His way is greater than your way. Like, like it says in Isaiah, His thoughts are higher than your thoughts. His ways are greater than your ways. I want everyone listening to this show to move into abundance, to move into the promise of God that what you have and what you're doing is greater than you can imagine. 

Let's look at again at, at the scripture in Ephesians. Ephesians…Ephesians 3:20. “Now to Him, God, “who is able,” yes, He's able, “to do far more abundantly,” overflow,” beyond all that we could ask or think.” I can think of a lot. We can ask a lot. We can think of a lot according to the power that works within us. And the rest of that scripture is there is a power of God. The third person of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit, lives within you. And that Holy Spirit within you has the power and the capabilities to give you a life that is abundant. A life that is greater than you can imagine. A life that's greater than you can plan. A life that's greater than you can structure. A life that's greater than you can put on your calendar. It's a life that is greater. We just need to pray and allow Him to have His way with us. I want all of you to get out of sufficiency and move into God's abundance and experience this promise. He's done it with me. He's still doing it with me. When it's God, it's always greater than you. And that's what makes you a little nervous sometimes. It makes you a little uncomfortable because it's outside of your flesh. Our flesh is very comfortable because it's very familiar. But God does stuff that's unfamiliar and unsettling because He's God and He's greater than us. And that's what you want, and that's what you need. And it is so fun and so astounding when you move into this. Amen. 

Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I thank you for, again, for everyone listening to the show. I thank you for your promise, for everyone listening to me right now, that you will do exceedingly and abundantly more than they could ever think or ask for. Lord, we submit our plans to you. Those who are in agreement, just pray with me. I submit my plans to you, Lord. I trust you with my life. I trust you with my marriage. I trust you with my job. I trust you with my future. Lord, have your way. Forgive me for taking charge. Lord, I give you charge of my life right now. I give you control of my life right now. I lay down my control, and I pick up you, Lord. Guide me, lead me, protect me, make it clear what you have for me, Lord. Give me the power and the boldness to follow you boldly and to be obedient to you. Lord, again, I thank you for everyone listening to this podcast. I pray that this show is a blessing to them. I pray for your anointing to fall on every listener right now in the name of Jesus Christ. And I thank you, Lord, for your promise of more than we can imagine. What a promise, Father. We give you praise and honor for it in Jesus’ name. Amen. And amen. 

God bless you, and thank you for listening to Self Talk today. Don't forget, if you'd like to donate, that would really be cool. Maybe an exceedingly abundantly greater donation, ha ha ha. That is icmcollege.org/donate. That would help me a lot. But that's up to you between you and the Holy Spirit. No pressure. I thank you for listening to Self-Talk. It's uh, an honor and a privilege. Hey, don't forget to share this with people. Download it, share it. Let's get some more, some more listeners. Um, again, if you, when you go to the website for the show, icmcollege.org/selftalk, and you subscribe and you rate the show, that gives us more downloads. It allows more people to see us, and it allows us to reach more people. So, not only are you doing something nice, but you're also doing something to help build the kingdom of God. Amen. With this show, which is our intent. Amen. Thanks for listening. This is Dr. Ray Self. God bless you.