<< Week 19 >>
Go through the Study Guide by Dr. Kevin Zadai
Consider The Project given in this Lesson
Warrior Church Home Fellowship Study
Dr. Kevin L. Zadai
Trim Down
"It's time to trim down because I want you to go through the narrow way"
~ Dr. Kevin L. Zadai
After you watch the video and read the study notes on this page, answer these questions here on the Blog mentioned above:
"Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able."
—Luke 13:24
DISCUSSION:
I saw this vision when God gave me the above quote, and I looked, and there was an outline of a body that was carved into a wall that I was going to have to go through. It was really bright on the other side. I saw that part of me could fit through it, but my head was too big to fit. The Lord told me that I needed to trim my head down and humble myself. The Lord said, I'm speaking to people in prayer about the narrow way, but they need to trim down. It's not the body size that needs to be trimmed down. It's the head and the flesh.
I remember when I was being fitted for a helmet to fly on the aircraft. My head was bigger than normal, so they had to fit me for a bigger helmet. I thought about this spiritually, how when we have pride, it can cause us not to enter into what God has for us. The narrow way has to do with obedience. He said, because of pride, our head can't fit through. We're called to submit and be obedient to His Word. We need to allow the Lord to burn out the pride and trim us down to fit through the narrow way.
WHEN PRIDE GETS IN THE WAY
As a teenager, I realized the main issue that God wanted to work within me had to do with pride. I heard the Lord speak to me about a year before I got saved. I was about 17 or 18 years old. It was the audible voice of God, and He came up from behind me while I was looking in the mirror, getting ready to go to school. He said to me, "when are you going to stop being something you're not." He spoke out loud to me, and it shook the whole bathroom in my house. I started crying, and I don't cry. God was working on my pride even before I got saved. I tried to pump myself up to be everything I needed to get into the Air Force Academy.
I planned to talk to Senators to try and get them to recommend me. I was trying to become valedictorian and get a 4.0. I was doing everything I could to qualify. I had taken college classes in High School, and I still would have to go to summer school at a college to prepare for the academy. I was very prideful even when I talked to the Senators in my state to get them to give me a nomination. You had to have a nomination from a Senator or Representative to get in. I was targeting all of them. I think there were five in Pennsylvania between the Senate and the House. The Lord was asking me, when are you going to stop this? A year later, I got a letter from Senator Hines, and I thought he would recommend me. The letter stated that out of three thousand three hundred people, I was the runner up; he said, so you'll get it next year, but the Lord said, you're going to Bible school. You're not going to the academy. I just started crying. Within a couple of weeks, I was in Bible school, and I never went to the academy. The Lord trimmed me down and humbled me. He said, you're going to be a mouthpiece for me. I sat in Bible school for four years thinking about jets the whole time, and I thought to myself, what has just happened to me. I was a brand-new Christian.
o Have you noticed any pride infiltrating the way you think or operate in your day-to-day activities? Today you can close the door of pride in your life. Discuss and pray as a group to allow Jesus to come in and heal the wounds that have led to this feeling of having to be in control so God may tear the walls of pride down.
THE NARROW WAY
The road that leads to destruction is wide and very available. That's the way the world seems to go. You see all kinds of manipulation, lying, cheating, and witchcraft going on around you. There are very few people still doing the right thing. There's no accountability or sincerity anymore. When I was working for the airline, we found bags of money on the airplane, like tens of thousands of dollars coming in and out of Vegas. If anything was found on the airplane, we wouldn't be able to claim it. It would be the airlines to keep, but I would watch employees find three and four-carat diamond rings and just keep them. I'm like, no, give that to me, we're turning that in, that's someone's wedding ring, and they were going to keep it. The same thing happened with the money they would find; they'd split it up amongst them. I wondered, “where is the accountability?”
There's a gateway to life, and that life is walking through Jesus. Jesus is king, and we're not. He is very meek, humble, and mild. He said, my yoke is easy, and my burden is light (see Matthew 11:30). Jesus said there is a narrow way, and very few find it.
Warrior Church Home Fellowship Study
Dr. Kevin L. Zadai
When I was on the other side, I saw that we were supposed to be like a sailboat and not a speedboat. In other words, we are to hoist our sail up, and then God blows in it, and He propels us. It's as though He is doing it, but we are made available. The key is that the sail only works if there is wind, and we rely on God, or we would be dead in the water. That's what I saw.
• The spirit of this world pushes you to be aggressive. You would almost trip an opponent to win a race.
• You would cheat on ballots to get into an office or position.
• You would do other things that were evil to get promoted, and you wouldn't care who it was that got in your way.
• We want to be appreciated. However, if you're perfected in love, then fear is driven out.
• When you want to be noticed, and you feel like a victim, and the devil is beating you up, he's trying to program you to always be in need.
• God is love, and you're made perfect in love. You're made perfect in God, and it drives out fear. It doesn't matter if people pay attention to you. It doesn't matter if you get noticed.
• There's a greater reward when you do things, and you don't get noticed.
• There's a greater reward when you do things in secret. Jesus said, don't let your right hand know what your left hand is doing. We should do things in secret, because when we do, the angels report it to the Father.
• The way is narrow, and you're going to have to decide how you're going to deal with your life. You're going to take the narrow way, which few people find.
o As an Activation: Allow the Holy Spirit to blow on the sails of your heart. Rely on Him for every need and promotion. Decide to surrender those things that cause you to move by your own strength. Let the Holy Spirit have His way. Have several of you share what you encountered in the exercise.
IN DUE SEASON
Don't worry about the world and the rat race of rushing around to get things done. One minister said if you're in a rat race, and you're just trying to win, even if you do win, doesn't that still make you a rat? If you're in a rat race, you're still a rat. We don't want to be part of the world and the world system. A sailboat is a way more relaxing idea, where we just let the wind take us. Jesus told me the way to get through life is to humble yourself under His mighty hand, and He will lift you in due season. It has to be God opening the doors. It’s not banging on the door or pushing on the door, and sometimes it’s walking away from the door, and then you’ll hear the door swing open. It depends upon the Lord because we can have many great ideas, but He has to be the one who speaks to us. Do what it is that God has called you to do and take the narrow way.
DISCUSS:
1. What are some things that you're going through right now that are pushing and pressuring you to make a decision? Maybe God wants to show you that there's a reason you don't fit in. It could be because you're not supposed to fit in there, and you're supposed to fit in with what God is saying from Heaven.
2. What is the Lord telling you that you may need to trim down in your life?
3. Do you feel like you're in an aggressive race? Do you want to be noticed, or valued, or appreciated? How does God perfect you in His love?
4. Are you going to do what God has called you to do and let Him blow on your sails in the direction that He tells you to go? What is He calling you to do?
PRAYER:
Father, in the name of Jesus, thank you for your grace and your mercy right now and just love on all our friends all over the world, Father. It's time. The Lord is saying it is time to receive my love. It's time to let me love on you. You don't have to defend yourself; He said, I am your defender. He said, I've gone to war for you, and I've won. I'm with you as a mighty warrior. I love you. Lord, we just submit to you. We humble ourselves before you, and we thank you, Lord, that you're going to trim us down so we can fit through the narrow way and that we can walk in the joy of the Lord. The joy of the Lord is our strength. I thank you that you love us and that you reveal your love to us in the name of Jesus. Amen.
