Warrior Church Home Fellowship Study

Dr. Kevin Zadai 12-24-2023 -- 12-30-2023

"If you really want to please God, you must listen to the Spirit and allow Him to tell you how you're supposed to do what God instructed."

~Kevin Zadai

To Know God Is To Know His Ways

And this is the way to have eternal life—to know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one You sent to earth.
—John 17:3 NLT

DISCUSSION:
This week, we will discuss a great subject: To know God is to know His ways. In the last couple of years, I've matured in understanding what the Lord wanted me to have while I was here, which is to know Him. My whole goal now is to know Him.

It’s interesting how, with so many things going on, life presents itself in a way that often causes us to be in need. Many tragedies are happening in the world; we rarely get good news. I noticed that after a while, we become conditioned to chase after our needs. You may observe that when you face a trial, you suddenly realize you have another need. I have often had this happen either with health or finances.

THE GOSPEL ENCOMPASSES ALL THAT WE NEED
In addition to being conditioned to chase after needs, there's an overemphasis in the body of Christ on specific teachings to where there is a hyper-focus on one thing, such as deliverance, prosperity, or healing. Various so-called “prophetic” utterances are constantly coming forth where God's supposedly saying this or that. It’s as if we are chasing after one benefit when Jesus and the apostles left us with the preaching of the entire gospel. The gospel that Jesus preached encompassed everything, including deliverance, debt cancellation, and healing. When He preached on how we're forgiven, it literally ended people’s struggle with certain things; they were eradicated through the blood of Jesus.

We are called to preach all aspects of the gospel message and are not supposed to emphasize just one thing or chase after our needs. In other words, I'm not going to broadcast current events, such as what one person said this week, or talk about conspiracy theories. If you do that, you’ll be chasing after things and endlessly. Jesus didn't do that; He always just preached the good news of the gospel His Father gave Him to preach. Then He gave that same assignment to us; He didn't give us all these other things. And I'm not going to just concentrate on one thing God gave us in the word of God; I'm going to dish out the whole thing.

o What has been the problem with modern ministries’ presentation of the Gospel, and what is the solution? 

GOD’S WAYS ARE NOT LIKE OURS
I noticed that if I was not careful, I would start to pursue and seek after things in response to whatever was happening in the world that day, week, or month. With this mentality, my needs were constantly changing—it was one thing after another. In this state, I realized I was not seeking Jesus as a Person; the Lord was not my center. I was too focused on my needs or geopolitical events on the earth. It seemed like something was always drawing my attention away from the Lord so that I would focus on it instead, and it was constantly changing over the 44 years of walking with the Lord. A couple of years ago, I matured and put a stop to this, saying, “You know what? I'm just going to know God.” I learned that knowing Him is knowing His ways and personality.

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord. “And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.”
—Isaiah 55:8–9 NLT

When I did a word study on Isaiah 55:8, I found out that God’s ways are His path that He likes. The Lord’s ways are His personality and the way He likes things. I would just want to do it His way. I'm not going to argue with him. If He says, “I want this and would like it done this way,” I will just do it His way. That's what I've learned about the Lord in the last couple of years. In Isaiah 55:8, the Lord says, “My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts, and my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.” Well, that is something that I think we should be fully convinced of. If that's the way it is, then I believe that we should just do it this way. If that's what God wants, I'm not going to argue with Him.

The Lord expressed that our thoughts, ways of doing things, and processes are not even close to His. That was a wake-up call for me because, over the years, I thought I was educating myself, maturing to a certain point, and believed I knew what God was saying to me. Then, after I had that experience on the operating table where I saw Heaven, I realized there was a gap between my understanding of God and the truth because I saw it and experienced it, even though it was just for a short time. I realized that His ways are different from mine, not just His thoughts or knowledge; it's how He wants to do things.

GIVE GOD TIME TO REVEAL HIMSELF

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us.
—Ephesians 3:20

I realized I needed to give God time to reveal Himself to me and let Him tell me how to do what He wants. It’s not enough to hear His assignment and then go and do it; we must learn to inquire of Him and ask, “How do you want me to do this? What's the mode of operation?” It struck me that Isaiah 55:8 says that His ways—not just his thoughts—but His ways of doing things are far beyond anything I could ever imagine. I thought about this because I encountered it on the other side. Over the years, revelation could slip away if you're not careful.

I realized that how God wants something done is just as important as the very thought or the assignment given. It's just as important to do it His way. Again, a person’s ways are actually their personality. In this case, God has ways of doing things, which is His personality. He likes it a certain way, which may differ from what you would think.

If you notice, Jesus didn't always heal people the same way. In our meetings, I have jokingly asked people to think about this: If Jesus came to your church and started putting spit and mud in people's eyes, how long would that go on? Would people really like that with their nice clothes on? Think about what it would be like to have somebody spitting on you. These kinds of things happened in the Bible (John 9:6– 7). Jesus did things a certain way, but it wasn't always the same. This confirms Isaiah 55:8, that His ways and His thoughts are not ours; it's twofold.

GOD’S WAY IS PERFECT
God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection.
—Psalm 18:30 NLT

Warrior Church Home Fellowship Study

Dr. Kevin Zadai 12-24-2023 -- 12-30-2023

Psalms 18:30 says that God's way is perfect. Your way may not be perfect, but God's way is. Notice the scripture does not say, “God's thoughts are perfect,” even though they are. His thoughts are perfect, yet the verse emphasizes, “God's way is perfect,” which has to do more with relationship.

When discussing God’s ways and paths, the emphasis is more relational than positional.

• God has established righteousness, holiness, and certain positional things that are just the way it is.

• We have the covenant, the written word of God, and His truth, which are also positional, because that is how it is; it’s really not up for conversation.

• When I was in Heaven, I didn't have conversations about truth or anything God had already said; I understood that it was set that way.

• In Heaven, the truth wasn't disputable. You wouldn't dare argue anything.

• Heaven is unlike (anything) here on earth, where everybody wants to argue with everything you say.

• It's amazing how much freedom we think we have to say and do things down here that we really don't.

• So much truth is established in Heaven, which is how the city of God was built.

When you think about Heaven, it's all built on truth and words from God.

• We weren't in any of Heaven’s planning meetings and didn't see when God established His throne on all this truth; we don't understand time or anything about the other realm like we might think we do. This was all established already.

• What I did see when I was in Heaven was the Lord’s ways.

• If you sat with God, He’d say, “I'd like this done this way,” and “This is how I want you to do this.”

• Sometimes, God chooses to send a person in your life to talk to you. Other times, He will send an angel. Still, other times, He may give you a word, dream, or vision. There are all kinds of ways that God could accomplish what He wants.

• The bottom line is that if it comes from Him, it will be truth, and it's established already, yet the way He does it may be different.

ACCESSING GOD’S PROMISE IS CONDITIONAL

As we discussed, psalms 18:30 talks about how God's way is perfect. All the Lord's promises prove true, so everything He says is established and in stone. He is a shield for all who look to Him for protection. Notice this is conditional here. He's a shield, but it's to those who look to Him for protection. This is God's way. What I discovered about the Lord when I was with Him was that it's not always apparent to understand everything about His personality in Scripture. However, when I was in Heaven, I could look at what was there and see the truth of the Scripture. It was all in the Bible; however, you must dig for it.

Much of what God has given us is conditional. Many revelations are relational, which means we need to discover them. Certain ministries emphasize specific things, yet, as mentioned, we're supposed to be preaching the whole message. As long as I've been a Christian for the past 40-plus years, I have seen so much emphasis on the positional aspects, such as who Jesus is to us and what He did for us. This is the truth and the Covenant, yet there is so much focus on all those things that there is not enough concentration on the relationship aspect. In other words, what about understanding God's ways—the way that He does things? That's His personality.

If you really want to please God, you must listen to the Spirit and allow Him to tell you how you're supposed to do what God instructed. Also, inquire about the timing, which is part of His ways. Many things God told me didn't happen for years. I had to wait because even though it was God's will, other things were working, which caused delay. I saw that sometimes God's will isn't done at all, and other times His will is eventually done but can be delayed. God has His ways of working with you personally and in the Body of Christ. All of us are hearing from the Spirit, yet we don't have the whole picture. We each have a part, but it all seems to knit us together if it's really of God.

The Holy Spirit wants to work with you and to bring you into a relationship with Him, not just into the position of covenant and truth. Please remember that God has given us so much in the message of the Gospel; we need to partake and preach of all aspects of it and not just emphasize one thing. We must also realize that we are not to just chase after our needs, but fortify our whole life by knowing God and His ways.

PRAYER:

Father, thank You so much for my family all over the world. Lord, we thank You for doing so much for us positionally and establishing us in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus. Thank You, Lord, that You bought us back through Jesus Christ and seated us with You in the heavenly realms. Lord, we now have that righteousness, holiness, peace, and the forgiveness of sins. Yet, Father, our pursuit should also be that we know You and Your ways—that we would have a relationship with You and know Your heart for certain things. So, Father, we ask that You work with us to develop the relational side of our walk with you. Thank You, Father, for the Spirit of wisdom, revelation, and the knowledge of You coming upon us right now. Thank You for teaching us to walk with You in a relationship. Lord, I pray that everyone encounters Your favor. Thank You, Lord, that the blood of Jesus is breaking the power of the enemy. We break poverty and sickness right now in the name of Jesus. We thank You, Lord, for unity, Your love, and the glory that You have given us through Jesus Christ. We thank You for it, in Jesus's name, amen.

1. Discuss the difference between a person’s thoughts and their ways. How are God’s ways His personality?

2. Dr. Zadai realized that giving God time to reveal Himself is essential. Why is this crucial concerning doing His will?

3. What is the condition to receive God’s protection as a shield in Psalm 18:30?

4. Discuss the truth that some aspects of God are positional and others are relational. Why do you think some relational revelations in the Bible are not obvious and need to be sought out?

5. To please God and fulfill His will, what questions should you ask the Holy Spirit when God shows you something?