Angie Ruata of Encourager Church on Divine Visitations

Following are my notes from the message delivered by Angela Ruata at Encourager Church 4/6/14. It's an encouraging messaging for anyone who has lost hope, given up on dreams, or feels that their "promise from God" is dying. The message includes biblical examples of Hagar, Ruth, and Mary the mother of Jesus. I pray you are blessed by it.

Sunday April 6, 2014

Pastor Fernando Ruata intro

His wife Angie shared a word with him that he wants her to share with the congregation.

It’s about the power of encounters and visitations.

Angie Ruata

Divine visitations

Angie wants more of them.

After what He showed her in His precious word, she wants more!

Genesis 3:8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden.

What does the sound of God sound like?

What had God’s voice produced up to this point?

Life, creation…

Plants sprout seeds, and seeds bring forth plants, animals beget animals, etc.

Creating to perpetuate who He is.

He asked Adam to join in this process by naming the animals.

God wanted us to join the creative process.

Adam even got to name his wife.

They knew God.

In Genesis 4:2 Eve said “I’ve gotten a man child with the help of the Lord.”

She could say that because she knew God intimately.

God wants us to be a part of what He’s doing upon the earth.

God is creative.

When her kids were little they would create art without fear.

Adam & Eve were also once fearless.

Fear came in when satan caused Adam & Eve to question what God said.

The enemy is constantly challenging us.

In the garden of Eden Adam and Eve had access to everything,

But the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Even the tree of life was in the garden.

Genesis 3:22 And the Lord God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever.”

We had become like God!

She doesn’t think God wanted to deny us the tree of life.

God gives it to us in Revelation 2:7:

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.

It wasn’t the right time then.

Remember the things we’ve written down.

The promises…

Prophetic words spoken over us…

Those financial blessings we desperately need…

Someone is waiting on an inheritance not yet released.

Today we’ll learn how to apprehend that.

Let’s translate this visitation from God.

Genesis 16:1

Hagar gets pregnant and is despised.

Hagar was in a situation not of her own making.

Have you ever been in a rough situation not of your own making and wanted to run away?

She was rejected and ran away.

Verse 7: The angel of the Lord found Hagar near a spring in the desert; it was the spring that is beside the road to Shur.

She was on the way to Shur – Angie likes that.

Submit yourself to the very harshness you just ran from.

Verses 8-11:

⁸ And he said, “Hagar, slave of Sarai, where have you come from, and where are you going?”

“I’m running away from my mistress Sarai,” she answered.

⁹ Then the angel of the Lord told her, “Go back to your mistress and submit to her.” ¹⁰ The angel added, “I will increase your descendants so much that they will be too numerous to count.”

¹¹ The angel of the Lord also said to her:

“You are now pregnant
    and you will give birth to a son.
You shall name him Ishmael,^[a]
    for the Lord has heard of your misery.

When she willingly returns to Sarai she returns with a promise.

Genesis 17:

¹When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty^[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless. ² Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.”

³ Abram fell facedown, and God said to him, ⁴ “As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations. ⁵ No longer will you be called Abram^[b]; your name will be Abraham,^[c] for I have made you a father of many nations. ⁶ I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. ⁷ I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.

God promises this not only to Abraham but to his seed, to his children.

Because He’s a good God.

Verse 8:

The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God.”

What land have you been sojourning in?

Hanging on to a promise without fulfillment yet?

Verse 15:

God also said to Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.

When you have a divine visitation God changes your name.

He changes you; you will never be the same

Verses 16-18:

¹⁶ I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her.”

¹⁷ Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, “Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?” ¹⁸ And Abraham said to God, “If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!”

Abraham wanted Ishmael to be the promised one

Verse 19-20

¹⁹ Then God said, “Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.^[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. ²⁰ And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.

I heard you.

I will bless him too.

Genesis 21:9

 But Sarah saw that the son whom Hagar the Egyptian had borne to Abraham was mocking,

Ishmael starts mocking Isaac.

Mamma Sarah sees it and it’s over for her.

Verse 10-14:

¹⁰ and she said to Abraham, “Get rid of that slave woman and her son, for that woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with my son Isaac.”

¹¹ The matter distressed Abraham greatly because it concerned his son. ¹² But God said to him, “Do not be so distressed about the boy and your slave woman. Listen to whatever Sarah tells you, because it is through Isaac that your offspring^[b] will be reckoned. ¹³ I will make the son of the slave into a nation also, because he is your offspring.”

¹⁴ Early the next morning Abraham took some food and a skin of water and gave them to Hagar. He set them on her shoulders and then sent her off with the boy. She went on her way and wandered in the Desert of Beersheba.

Beersheba was one of the upper most tribes of Judah.

In the wilderness of Beersheba God was there.

God wants our place of wilderness to be a place of praise.

[We sang “How Great is Our God”]

If you find yourself a Hagar in the wilderness, wandering around the wilderness with a promise, holding Ishmael –

There’s a song of praise there.

Hagar’s heart was broken.

In verse 15 she left the boy under a bush, there was no more water.

When the water in the skin was gone, she put the boy under one of the bushes.

Lost her hope…

She sat just far enough out of reach so she couldn’t hear the cry of her dying child.

Then she went off and sat down about a bowshot away, for she thought, “I cannot watch the boy die.” And as she sat there, she^[c] began to sob. [Verse 16]

She couldn’t take it.

It was just too painful.

She lifted up her voice and wept.

She was crying, wining, and dying.

[If that’s not a country song…]

But God –

She has a dying promise.

She feels like she may as well die herself.

When you have used up all your resources and looked at God’s promise and it’s just not there.

Angie had so many prophetic words.

She didn’t want to hear anymore.

It hurt too much.

Waiting for my healing for how long?

I don’t want to hear it anymore.

A whole lot of hope has been lost in here.

Read the first six words of verse 17.

And God heard the lad crying.

He heard the promise cry out.

He wasn’t listening to the country song.

Maybe He would’ve heard a song of praise.

But He heard the promise cry out.

He heard the promise because he was of the seed of Abraham and he had a covenant with God.

Do you have a covenant with God?

Are you of God’s seed?

Pick up the promise and embrace it again.

God heard the boy crying, and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter, Hagar? Do not be afraid; God has heard the boy crying as he lies there.

Vs 17 b

Fear factor shows up again.

Are you dealing with a fear factor today?

Recognize it for what it is.

And the havoc it reeks in our lives.

Verse 18:

Lift the boy up and take him by the hand, for I will make him into a great nation.”

God is saying reconnect to those promises, prayers, and prophetic words.

Reconnect with Him.

His promises are yes and amen.

They never die.

The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. [Isaiah 40:8]

Abraham was 75 when he heard the promise.

Here he is 100 and received the promise.

If it seems like we’re too old God can still do it.

Because His promises never die.

Have you laid down things you prayed about?

Do you realize the promise still cries out for fulfillment?

Do not let rejection and fears derail you from the promises God has given you.

Verse 19-20:

¹⁹ Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. So she went and filled the skin with water and gave the boy a drink.

²⁰ God was with the boy as he grew up. He lived in the desert and became an archer.

Since when is there a well of water in the wilderness?

We need to go back and pick up our promises.

This is what the Lord spoke to Angie’s heart.

Angie showed pictures of her children’s hands.

Isaiah 44:5:

This one will say, ‘I am the Lord's,’
    another will call on the name of Jacob,
and another will write on his hand, ‘The Lord's,’
    and name himself by the name of Israel.”

She wrote promises in the palm of her children’s hands.

The well being of her children will be great.

Isaiah 54:13

"All your sons will be taught of the LORD; And the well-being of your sons will be great.

1 Timothy 1:16

But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his immense patience as an example for those who would believe in him and receive eternal life.

Vs 18

This command I entrust to you, Timothy, my ^[d]son, in accordance with the prophecies previously made concerning you, that by them you fight the good fight,

She made it personal and put her children’s names in the promises/verses.

Angie recommends the book: My Children Are.

It’s in the bookstore.

Anything you were standing on, pick it back up.

The book of Ruth

Naomi’s husband dies, her 2 sons marry.

Lived for 10 years, then her sons die.

She decides she has nothing and encourages daughter-in-laws to go back home.

Ruth chooses to follow Naomi into the unknown.

No husband, no job, at poverty level, no children, no family nearby.

But Ruth is a risk taker.

Something inside her makes her go with Naomi.

Ruth 2:5 Boaz asked the overseer of his harvesters, “Who does that young woman belong to?”

Boaz notices her, "Who is that?"

Tells her stay in my field.

Ruth asks “Why have I found favor that you should notice me, a foreigner?”

Boaz immediately gives her protection, sustenance and a family atmosphere as a landowner.

Note to self: when in an unknown place & your witness proceeds you, be assured God will take care of you.

And He’ll send someone to come along side you.

God often takes us into the unfamiliar.

Know God will take care of you, sustain you, and send somebody along side you to support you.

There have been times in our lives God has purposely set aside a reserve for us.

He put out a reserve for Ruth.

There have been a couple of times that amazed the Ruatas.

Lord send the reserves.

Forgive us for not believing how good You are.

Verse 19 Her mother-in-law asked her, “Where did you glean today? Where did you work? Blessed be the man who took notice of you!”

Then Ruth told her mother-in-law about the one at whose place she had been working. “The name of the man I worked with today is Boaz,” she said.

Where did you glean? Where did you work?

Verse 22 Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, “It will be good for you, my daughter, to go with the women who work for him, because in someone else’s field you might be harmed.”

Naomi encouraged her to stay there; she knew that wasn’t a typical day for a gleaner.

Ruth remained humble and kept gleaning.

Her risk of leaving all that she knew and going to Naomi produced a deliverance from poverty and made her part of the lineage of Christ.

Orpah on the other hand retracted and went back.

Have we stepped out or retracted?

Luke 1:26-33

Look at how Gabriel addresses Mary.

Favored one.

The Lord is with you.

When you think about the fact that God is with you and for you it inspires great confidence.

Verse 34 -35,

Verses 37-38

³⁷ For no word from God will ever fail.”

³⁸ “I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Then the angel left her.

How can this be since I am a virgin?

We need to just accept it.

We can’t reason out in the natural some of the things God is doing in the natural.

We have to accept it.

Some things we’ll never know until we get to the other side.

There’s a knowing in our hearts because of our relationship with God.

Her own reasoning said it’s impossible.

Have you had prophetic words that can’t be reasoned in the natural?

Letting go of your reasoning is sometimes the hardest part.

Letting go of Ishmael was the hardest part.

God gave Abraham the promise and blessed the one he let go of.

Look at what you’ve written down in your journal, what you’ve carried in your heart or left under a bush somewhere.

Go pick it up and embrace it again.

Lift it up to God and let Him do it.

Prayer team come forward.