Come Home

July 21, 2024 by Mark Stalnaker

Come Home to Him. Lay down all the cares and worries. Come home and be refreshed and restored. Learn how to do this and experience true rest and true joy.

Audio File

Text Transcript

Come Home

So just one verse for today.  

Isaiah 41 10. So do not fear for I am with you. Do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you and I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. That’s from the NIV. 

You Need a Home

You need a house. No, you don’t need a house. You need a home.

You know, after a long day, and it’s been a hard day, what do you do? You come home, you open the door, you instantly just exhale, you relax, throw your keys on the desk, put your coat on the hook, and just lay down all your burdens. And you can just now just be who you are. And the people in your home know who you are.

And you don’t have to put up any mask at all now. You’re just who you are. You know, it’s a place away from the pressure. It’s a place to be refreshed. It’s a place to have fellowship. You can just be yourself. It’s a place to laugh, maybe a place to cry. But you can be who you are. So where am I going with this?

Well, you need a home You need a home with the Lord. You need an intimate relationship. You need a reality with him.

After a long day, you’re tired, you’re feeling low, out of energy, maybe after a long week like my week this week. And you need to be refreshed. You need to come to him. You need to come to him in the spirit. 

You are Qualified

Now, let’s say you haven’t had a good week. Maybe you failed. Maybe you’ve had sin in your life. Okay. Well, the truth is, it doesn’t matter.

Before I even talk about how to enter into the spirit and come into his presence, the first thing you need to know is you’re qualified to do that. You’re born again. You have his righteousness.

He gave you his righteousness, actually for this very purpose, so that you could come into his presence. He gave up his life for this. He gave up this life for you so that you could come into his presence and be with him.

So, rely on his faithfulness, not your own. We all rely on his faithfulness, and we rely on his righteousness. That’s step one.

Opening the Door

Know you are qualified, and you’re invited. So how do you enter that home? Well, you know, there’s what the Bible says, enter his courts with what? Praise and worship. So that’s exactly how you enter his home, your home.

As you come to this, we will talk about how to enter into this place. And actually, it’s very simple. In fact, everything with the Lord is actually simple, right? The best way to do this is through music.

And you may say, well, I’m not a music person. You know, I can’t play an instrument. I don’t sing.

It doesn’t matter. Look, if you’re born again, and you’ve been baptized in the spirit, and you speak in tongues, just sing in tongues. You just sing in tongues, and look, if you’ve never sung in tongues, start speaking in tongues, and then just flow into singing in tongues.

Just let it go. Just go. Let’s say, well, you know, the best way is to be able to play an instrument and sing, because music brings the presence of the Lord, right? Remember David? That’s how he brought the presence of the Lord to Saul.

So, to play an instrument you know, you want to play a guitar? You don’t play a guitar? Learn three chords. Just three chords. It’s all it is for any key.

One chord, two chords, three chords, right? Have a keyboard or a piano and you do not know how to play? Learn three chords for that key. You can look it up on the internet and learn how to do it. And you just play those three chords, and you sing along with them.

That’s all there is to it. Three chords. So, you would sing in tongues, and then you’ll sing in English, and then you’ll sing back to tongues, and you’ll start entering into his presence.

Get Alone with Him

What you really want to do here is you want to get alone. Just get alone so you can be who you are. It’s like entering your home. If you’re home alone, I guarantee you, you’re going to be who you are. Amen? So just get alone, where you can just be free to give him all that you are and who you are. Let everything fall away.

Step out, Just Do it

It’s just you and him. And maybe you haven’t done this. Maybe you’ve never done this. So just do five or ten minutes at first, fine. Just learn how to flow. Just learn how to enter.

Especially if you’ve learned your three chords. Play your three chords and sing, and just learn how to enter into His presence. And again, if you’re not familiar with singing in tongues, then just start speaking in tongues, then speak in your native language. Mine is English. Start speaking in English, then start singing in tongues. Just do it. Just sing. Doesn’t matter what it sounds like. Then maybe sing in English.

Praise and worship Him. You just want to let this flow out of you. Just let it flow. Look, it may feel awkward at first. That’s why I say get alone first. It’s fine. You know, you’re learning to drop all your inhibitions. You’re learning to just be who you are and flow out to him. He will honor this. He will respect this. He will absolutely love this!!

Just let it Flow Out

So just let it flow out. You know, walk. I just love to sing in the Spirit and to sing in English. I may start with an instrument, but then suddenly I just get up and I’m walking. And I’m just loving the Lord.

You know, you may want to move in different ways. You may even want to dance. It’s fine. You may want to act out whatever he gives you. And he can give you things. And it doesn’t matter. You could just be singing in tongues and acting out with your body as the Spirit moves you.

Do you know what you’re doing? No, and it doesn’t matter. Remember, words and actions are what bring his will into our lives and his purpose into our lives. This is the Spirit just doing it for you.

This is wonderful. So let your inhibitions go. You may feel like a fool. Good. You’re a fool for Christ. It’s a good thing, right? It’s a great thing. So just be a fool for Christ. He’ll give you pictures. He’ll show you them in the Spirit.

He will talk to you. Rhema words will come out of you. Out of you will bubble up the Spirit and it will just come all over you and you will experience his presence and a touch of his glory.

He will come to you. He will reveal himself to you. You will see him in the Spirit. I see him all the time. He’s smiling and it’s such an approving smile. It’s almost a thankful smile.

It’s wonderful. He will raise you up. He will lift you up out of whatever you’re in. And he will move through you. He will refresh you and suddenly he will just empower you. And you’re a new person all over again.

So when do you do this? Well, daily. And if you haven’t been doing it daily, again, it’s okay. Just start out five or ten minutes.

Just start. Where do you start? Right where you are. It’s the only place you can start. Start where you are. He will raise you up and lift you up and he will refresh and empower you.

When to do this

What’s the most important time to do this? The most important time to do this is when you don’t feel like doing it.

Been there? I was there. I was there this week. That’s the time to start praising and worshiping him. That’s the time. That’s the time you need to come home.

That’s the time you need to open that door, throw down the keys, throw down the coat, let all the burdens fall off of you, be who you are, and fellowship with him. That’s the time when you don’t feel like it. When you don’t feel worthy, which we’ve already talked about.

You are worthy because he has made you worthy with his worthiness. When’s the next time you should really do this? When you’ve succeeded. When you’ve had great success in the spirit.

When maybe God has just moved in your life or maybe he has dealt with you and freed you and you’re on the spiritual high. That’s the time to come and praise and worship him. That’s the time to just love him and thank him. What he will do is make you realize it was all him and not of you.

It’s a safety thing. It will keep you from pride. It will keep you humbled. It will keep you thankful and he will flow through you even greater. So that is the most important time, and a lot of people don’t think about it. 

When do we come to him? Oh, I’m down. I failed. I’ve sinned. You know, my life is going wrong. I need to come to the Lord. They don’t really think about, hey, everything’s going great. I’m walking in the spirit. I’m full of his joy. I need to come to the Lord. Yes, you do.

Living This

I’ve lived that. You know, I just came off a week with Les, Daphne, and John and I was full of the Spirit and the Lord did great things through me and you know when I came home, I didn’t do that and I entered a spiritual down.

And you know, I was even told that I didn’t have the intimate relationship I needed with him while I was being ministered to, that I needed to develop it further. Now, that really bothered me because that’s one of the biggest desires in my life is to have an intimate relationship and to know him. And you know, if you’re an academy student with GBMI, you know, we’ve been learning about templates, and templates are formed by the way you react, right? I thought, well, I, and then I caught myself.

I said, no, this isn’t a criticism. This is a help. This is an invitation.

So, my template is, it’s an invitation and I’m taking that invitation. In fact, this message, folks, is an invitation from the Lord. Take the invitation.

Transitions

It’s going to be a transition. You’re going to transition. First, what you’re coming to is you’re coming to Jesus who walked the earth.

You’re coming to the helper. You’re coming to the comforter, and he is going to accept you any way you are. He is going to love you. He is going to cry with you, laugh with you. He’s going to speak to that very intimate thing that you need to know and hear. He’s going to bring you into the Spirit and start to lift you up and you’ll start experiencing times of anointing, even the external anointing.

And then from there, he’ll take you to the Risen Lord. But this is step one, that intimate secret place relationship, that home where you need to be and where you need to be able to come. 

Practice, Let Go

This will take you some practice and that’s okay. You know, at first, maybe five or ten minutes. Maybe you’re singing and it just really feels weird. Maybe you’re in tongues and singing in tongues and that feels weird. It’s okay.

Maybe you don’t feel anything at all the first few days. This may take several days. Keep going. You’re opening that door to your home. Just keep going.

And it may take some time too, especially if you’re down. And also, how much you’re willing to just be a fool for him and just open up and let it go. That will shorten the time. Music will shorten that time and the inhibitions that you just release and just come to him will greatly shorten that time. 

Enter at Anytime

After a while, you will learn to open that door at any time with very little effort, just flipping the switch. 

Lord, I praise you. I just come to you in your presence. I’m so glad to be here. Thank you for being here with me.

And you just walk into that, and you have a conversation, and you sing, and you praise him, and you glorify him. He might even sing with you. It will be a wonderful time in the spirit, and you could be able to do this at any time, not just alone, in public, under your breath, at work, daily, constantly.

It’s a wondrous thing. So, enter into that time. 

Conclusion

So, in conclusion, come to him.

Simply come home through praise, worship, and music. You can do this. 

You can play an instrument. Only three chords. I don’t think David was all that hot on his harp. And when you feel down, come to him right away. Don’t delay.

And when you have great success, come to him so that you can stay and enter into that presence and continue to allow him to flow through you. Through the humbleness that he will bring to you. 

Practice. Simply practice. Just stay consistent and you will walk in his presence, and you will be able to simply enter in at any time into that home. He is your home. He is our home.

He is our home now. You don’t have to wait. He is there. He is waiting and he loves you and he’s made the way for you to come to him.

Come to him. Come home.

Amen? Amen.