You see things in her, and you try to tell her. [Laughter] And so it goes on. You wonder what his prayer was, keep me that I might not cause pain, so he was aware that there was every possibility that his life would overflow, and hurt the people around him. It's very easy for that to happen. I think it'd be a great thing if we determined the coming year to cultivate relationships, where you invited someone to speak into you, and tell you things you need to hear. Wouldn't that be good? Well that's a very quiet response isn't it aye? [Laughter] Well carry on causing pain then. [Laughs] You know, it's much better actually to have a relationship, where people can tell you the truth. I tell you, you really distressed by it - someone says well look, we need to talk. Lyn good at that, we need to talk. [Laughter] Have you ever had Lyn beckon you, and say we need to talk? [Laughter] Well there'll be a bit of pain will follow that, that's for sure. [Laughter] There'll be some tears, and then you'll come right, and then you'll be very glad you had the talk - but anyway this was his prayer.
I don't want to cause pain. I don't want my life to multiply grief and sorrow. I want my life to be a blessing he said, so God, I want You to pour Your spirit on me. I want the blessing that came on Abraham to rest on me. You know the Bible says: we're redeemed from the curse, that's the curse of sorrow and sickness and failure and pain and grief. Galatians 3:14, that the blessing of Abraham would come on us, that we might receive that great and wonderful Holy Ghost, that would bring us to not only be blessed in our life, but become a blessing to others. God wants you this year to be a blessing to your family, a blessing to your community, a blessing to your workplace, not a pain. [Laughter] You know, quite good to get a report from people back on, well, what are they like to work with? Oh, he's a pain. [Laughter] Well you need feedback on that one don't you? [Laughs] Get someone to tell you why you're such a pain, what can you do to deal with it?
Here's his prayer, this is the bit I love, and this is the bit I want to just focus on for a few minutes. He said: that you would enlarge my territory. Now that is the prayer that kings pray. That is the prayer I'd love you to pray, to begin to start to get it into your prayer life day by day; Oh God, today bless me abundantly and enlarge my territory. That word enlarge is the same word that God spoke over Adam, when He said: go forth and multiply. It's not just hey, give me a bit more territory. He said: I want to be multiplied - so what is this territory? Well for him probably it was a piece of land, but for us your territory is your life, and the influence it brings on others. Your territory is your life, and the influence it brings on others, so your prayer then, oh God, pour out your spirit in abundance, bless me in every aspect of my life, and let my life grow greatly, and be an incredibly positive and great influence on those around me.
This coming year, as result of Bay City's generosity and giving, our influence in the world is about to multiply. I'm talking multiply here. In past years we've been able reach out to thousands upon thousands of people. Now through the media of television going through to the 10/40 Window [middle east and asia, where most of the worlds population live], we will multiply what has been done. That's the kind of thing I'm talking about, having real influence. See? But that also applies at a personal level as well. Your territory is invisible and visible. Your territory is - part of it's invisible, you can't see it; part of it's visible, you can see, and what you can see is the reflection of what is in the heart, what you can't see. The invisible part of your territory is your inward life, so the prayer to enlarge my territory means God, I want my inward life enlarged. What does that mean? It means I need change in my heart beliefs. I need to resolve wrong beliefs in my heart, and begin to let my heart be renewed to believe the word of God about me, and who I am, and what God's called me to do.