Skip to content The Most Powerful Weapon - Part B Sep 22 · 26 min ...more
The Most Powerful Weapon - Part B
September 22, 2025 · 26 min
Does God really use ordinary people to do extraordinary things? Listen as Nate Heitzig shows how God looks past your flaws—and uses you when you’re fully surrendered.
Series Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast September 22, 2025 · 26 min · Connect with Skip Heitzig Podcast
Does God really use ordinary people to do extraordinary things? Listen as Nate Heitzig shows how God looks past your flaws—and uses you when you’re fully surrendered. ...more Show the full description Show less Does God really use ordinary people to do extraordinary things? Listen as Nate Heitzig shows how God looks past your flaws—and uses you when you’re fully surrendered.
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Skip Heitzig ministers to over 15,000 people as senior pastor of Calvary Church in Albuquerque. He reaches out to thousands across the nation and throughout the
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0:01 This is Connect with Skip Heitzig. Thanks for joining us for today's program. At Connect with Skip, we're all about helping you go deeper in your walk with God through clear, practical bible teaching. And0:12 right now, we're offering a free resource to help you engage with scripture in a fresh way. It's called studying the bible, a simple 1 sheet download filled with practical guidance for your daily0:24 time in God's word. Download it now at connect with skip dot com when you sign up to receive Skip's weekly devotional, encouraging content delivered right to your inbox each week.0:36 Again, you can sign up for those and get your free resource at connect with skip dot com. Now let's dive into today's teaching from pastor Skip's son, Nate Heitzig.0:47 The first thing we always need to do when there is an army that is attacking us is to turn and cast our problems upon Jesus. And it doesn't just have to be a physical army. It0:59 could be the army of your health. It could be the army of your finances. It could be the army of your relationships. And these armies are attacking you. And so often, our first inclination when there's a1:11 big calamity that happens is to feel anxiety. Right. And think in our minds, what can I do? What can I do to fix this? Who do I need to call? What money do I need to move around? What do I need to sell? Where do1:23 I need to go? Can help me? And we start thinking of all the ways we can fix our problems. But the best thing to do when an army is attacking us is to get on our knees. Do not1:34 worry about anything, but in everything with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, Let your request be made known to God. Christian prayer isn't preparation for the battle. Prayer is1:46 the battle. So often we think it's preparation for the battle. Lord, give me strength before I go into this battle. No, Prayer is the battle because we battle not against flesh and blood, but against spirits1:58 and principalities. When Mary and Martha saw their beloved brother Lazarus was sick, they immediately sent word to the Lord, he that you love is sick. When the people griped and complained about2:10 Moses's leadership, he cried unto the Lord. When Hezekiah received a threatening letter from a king who threatened his life, he spread it before the Lord. When John the Baptist was2:21 beheaded, his disciples went and told Jesus, Christian, you do not serve a God who is disinterested in your life. He wants you to run to him. He wants you2:33 to bring it to him and submit it to him in his will. He is compassionate. He He is caring. He is concerned, and he wants to help. So we've seen what it2:45 is. Number 2, let's look at who can use it. Look at verse 17. It tells us about who can use it, who this man was. It says Elijah was a man with a2:56 nature like ours. So James references someone we should all be familiar with, Elijah. And I think this is important because God always has his representatives on this earth, no matter3:08 how dark the times are. In the days when man was continually wicked and violent, there was Enoch and Noah. When the Jews were in slavery, there was Moses. When the future of the Jews was at stake, there was3:20 Esther. When God was ready to send his own son to this earth in a little city known for its immorality, there was a pure young girl named Mary. And in this wicked time, there was Elijah.3:32 Now, when we think of Elijah, what do we immediately think of? We immediately think of his powerful miracles, right? The incredible things he did. And he did some incredible things. He ran for days at a time at super3:43 speed. He called fire down from heaven. In this passage, we read that he prayed that it wouldn't rain and it didn't rain. And then he prays again that it would rain. He was bold. He was courageous. He was3:55 full of faith. And the Bible is full of stories like this. A woman named Hannah is unable to have a child. She prays, and she has a baby named Samuel, a baby who would 1 day become 1 of Israel's4:07 greatest prophets. Samson prays, and in spite of his previous disobedience, God gives him his strength back. Paul and Silas are imprisoned for their faith. They pray, and in a moment's notice, an earthquake comes and4:18 they're free. Peter is in prison. The church prays. And in hours, he's released. Elijah here prays. Rain stops. He prays again. It returns. He prays even again. And fire4:30 comes down from heaven. And we look at these men and women and we say, well, these are the great men and women of faith in the Bible. I'm not 1 of those guys. I'm not 1 of those girls. They were super4:42 spiritual. We might look at them and say, what good is it to look at people like that? What principles could I possibly learn to apply to my own life? They were superhuman. But what4:54 does James say about him? A man with a nature like ours. The King James version translates that as Elijah was a man subject to the same5:05 passions we are. The NLT translates it as Elijah was as human as you and me. Or more simply, Elijah was a man just like us. He5:17 was afraid. He was cowardly. And at 1 point, he was so despondent that he even wanted to die and asked God to kill him. His story is recorded here to remind us5:29 once again that God can and does and chooses to use imperfect people. That it's possible to live godly in an ungodly world, even if it seems like we're all5:41 alone. And now we finally see the secret of his power, the secret of his faith, the secret of his boldness. It wasn't him. It was God. It wasn't his courage.5:53 It was God's courage. It wasn't his faith. It was God's faith. It wasn't his strength. It was God's strength. And sometimes we think that unless we're perfect, God won't use6:05 us. We look at our lives. We look at the things we've done. And we say, we can't possibly be used by God because of what we've done, who we are. We believe that the sins, the struggles that plague our lives6:16 somehow disqualify us from spiritual use. But I want you to pause for a moment and look at some of the people that God used in scripture. Abraham was a liar who was willing to let a king sleep with his6:28 wife. Noah was a drunk. Elijah struggled with depression and asked God to take his life. David had sex with another man's wife after he pulled the most major creeper move ever and6:40 spied on her taking a bath. If that doesn't disqualify you, I don't know what does. Samson sacrificed his strength and witness for a booty call. Peter denied that he had ever6:52 met Jesus and cursed out a crowd. So don't tell me you can't be used. Don't tell me God only uses perfect people. God has a history throughout the entirety7:04 of scripture of using anything but perfect people, imperfect tools in the hands of a perfect God. That's the principle. Elijah was a man with7:16 a nature like ours, an imperfect tool in the hands hands of a perfect God. And look what God used him to do. Christian, your shortcomings and your mistakes are not proof that God can't use you. They're proof that7:28 God can use you. See, there's no room for people who think that they've got it all together, who think that they are perfect in their God's gift to mankind. People who think they're perfect are often the7:39 cruelest and most judgmental people, just like the Pharisees. But those people who are flawed, sinful people have the ability to show the love and the grace of Jesus because they7:51 themselves have experienced that same grace and love. First Corinthians 1 26 to 27 puts it this way. Think of what you were when you were called.8:04 Christian, do this right now. Think of what you were before you became a Christian. Think of your life prior to Christ. Think of what you were before you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards.8:16 Not many were influential. Not many were of noble birth. But God chose to use the weak things of the world to shame the strong.8:27 Christian, can we just take a moment and thank God for that truth, that reality, that he has chosen the weak things, the foolish things of this world to put to shame the wise? I'm so thankful8:39 that God doesn't look at us with human eyes, that it's not like an elementary school kickball game in the park and we're choosing teams. And God's like, give me that kid. He's really big and looks like he's in college.8:50 He's definitely taking steroids. I want that kid on my team. God doesn't look with human eyes. He's not looking for the strongest or the biggest or the wisest. He's just looking for an imperfect tool who's9:02 willing to submit themselves to a perfect God. Your objections are God's qualifications. When the oversized Philistine Goliath was taunting Israel, no 1 would step up and answer9:14 the call. Not the sizable, powerful King Saul or the standout brother of David, Eliab. The only person who did was a little shepherd boy with a big God. Israel was living in9:26 fear of their enemies, the Midianites, and God finds their leader, Gideon, where hiding from the enemies. The point is that God can do a lot with a little. And God is looking for availability,9:38 not ability. That leads us to our third point. That's what's the impact. So now we know what the weapon is. We know who can use it. Now let's see what the impact of the weapon is. The last part9:50 of our text says this. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for 3 years and 6 months. And he prayed again. And the heaven10:02 gave rain and the earth produced its fruit. So what's the impact? What does prayer do? Well, simply prayer always does10:13 something. Prayer always changes things. Sometimes it's visible. Sometimes it's not. Sometimes it's spiritual. Sometimes it's physical. Sometimes it changes our circumstances.10:25 Sometimes prayer is just there, Christian, to change us. I love that song that we've been singing sometimes called That's the Thing About Praise. There's a line in it that says that's the10:37 thing about prayer is praise. It doesn't always fix your problems. Sometimes it just shows you how small they are. It doesn't always move your mountains. Sometimes it just gives you the strength to walk up the mountains.10:49 That's the thing about praise. That's the thing about prayer. It always changes something. It just isn't always the thing that you want. We don't know what it will change. We don't know what the impact of it will be. But11:01 we know that it will change things. Now, I want to point out in this story, that doesn't mean it's going to happen today. The battles we fight through prayer today might not be won until tomorrow.11:13 The battles we fight today through prayer might not be won until next year or 10 years from now. But we know that prayer changes things. You know, I talked about that idea that some of us have a hard time11:25 with this with God. Because not only do we view God as the divine Santa Claus, but we also don't want to wait till Christmas. We're like, God, give me what we want, but I want it now. I don't want to wait till the 2011:35 fifth. I want it today. I want to open all my presents right now. It's like Burger King. Have it your way. We want it where we want it, when we want it. And when God says, hey, no, or hey,11:47 wait, we have a problem with that.11:49 You're listening to connect with Skip Heitzig. We'll return to Nate Heitzig's teaching in just a moment. Have you ever struggled to study the bible consistently or wondered how to really enjoy your time12:01 in the word? In his book, how to study the bible and enjoy it, pastor Skip gives you the tools and insights you need to dig into scripture with joy, clarity, and confidence. This12:13 practical guide is our thanks for your generous gift of 50 dollars or more to reach more people with God's word through Connect with Skip. Request your copy when you give today at connect with skip dot com slash12:24 offer or call 809 2 2 1 8 8 8. Now let's get back to the teaching of Nate Heitzig.12:32 For Elijah, the wait was 3 and a half years from when he got the promise to when he saw it answered. Now, I want you to think about this because we read this text and it's 112:44 verse. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain for 3 and a half years. And then it rained. And we're like, oh, what a sweet story. 3 and a half years12:56 Elijah waited for the promise. In your own time, read First Kings 17, 18, and 19. You'll see this story, and you'll see that in those 3 and a half years, it wasn't smooth sailing. Elijah13:08 was hated. He was running from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He was going from village to village to some people that were being affected by the drought. They probably looked at Elijah and, hey, you're the guy who made13:19 the rain stop, right? We hate you. Get out of here. And this entire time, Elijah was going to and fro, waiting on the promise of God. And by the way, it says here in this verse that he prayed it13:31 wouldn't rain. It didn't rain. Then he prayed again. It would rain. But the first Kings actually tells us that God came to Elijah and told Elijah he was going to make the rain stop. So Elijah prayed the rain would stop.13:42 And then God says, I'll tell you when the rain is going to start again. So Elijah's prayer was predicated on Elijah listening to God to tell him when the right time to pray was. And he had to wait those 3 and a13:54 half years on the promise, keeping his eyes not on the pain, but on the promise, keeping his eyes not on the situations, but on the promise on Jesus, on scripture. Elijah had to14:05 train his eyes to look ahead to the promise, not to the pain. He had to wait and he had to have faith and he had to have trust, much like Noah, who received a promise from God.14:17 Hey a floods going to come. The world's going to be destroyed. Go build the boat. Okay God. Decades later. The rain still hadn't come. God why am I still building. Don't you14:29 think he was being mocked. He was it tells us he was mocked by people. Where's the storm? Where's the rain? No, it's like, well, God told me to build a boat and the water would come, but we're in the desert. He had to14:40 have faith. He had to have trust. He had to keep his eyes on the promise, not on the pain. We need to pray in accordance to his will, but we also need to pray in accordance14:52 to his timing. When you come to the Lord and you ask him for things, pray, Lord, this is what I need, but this is if this is not your will, Lord, don't give it to me because I don't want it. But also, Lord, this needs to15:03 be in your timing. Give this to me when I need this, not before and not after. And I want to let you know if you're here today and you feel like God's given you a promise, maybe you felt like a long time ago God spoke15:15 to you audibly and gave you this promise. And you've been carrying this promise. And it hasn't come to pass. You haven't seen the fruition of this promise. And you're starting to doubt. And you're holding on to this15:27 promise. And you're having a hard time trusting. You're having a hard time believing because it hasn't happened yet. Can I challenge you? Stop looking at the situation, Christian, and15:38 keep looking at the promise. Keep trusting God. Keep trusting His timing and His plans for you, knowing that all things work together for the good of those who are called according to His15:50 purpose. And if you don't have it yet, it's because you don't need it yet, and you shouldn't have it yet. And God's going to give it to you when you need it for the people in your life who need it for you. God has his16:02 timing. He has his plan. And you have to trust his process. This is where a lot of people have trouble with God. They grow impatient with him. Lord, when are you going to open this door for ministry? Lord,16:14 when are you going to introduce me to my husband or wife? Lord, are you going to keep letting these wicked people get away with all the things they're doing? Lord, when are you going to judge the world and come back for16:23 us? But his delays are not necessarily his denials because sometimes he doesn't give us what we ask for. Get this. Sometimes he doesn't give us what we16:35 ask for because he wants to give you something way better at a later time. Life's pain will always point to the Lord's promise. And the point is that even though we can't see16:47 how the situation will end or why it's come upon us, we can know that it flows from the love of God and it's controlled by Him. Christian, when God doesn't do it the way that you16:59 think He should do it, will you still trust Him? Often, I find the reason Jesus works this way in the Bible and within our lives is because God wants to do something17:10 way better than the thing that we've been asking him for. This is incredible if you think about this. Again, the verse where we get this idea is God says, I know the plans that I have for you, says the Lord.17:23 Plans of good, not evil. Plans to give you a future and a hope. And sometimes we can be asking God for something, and God meanwhile is saying, I know you want this, but17:35 I'm not going to give this to you because if you wait just a little bit longer, I'm going to give you something way better down the road. And if I give you this now, I can't give that to you later. And if I give this to17:45 you now, but you realize what I have for you later, you would tell me, Lord, wait. I can wait. I can be patient. And God has these plans. He has this future that he wants to bring into your17:57 life, and he doesn't want the things that you're asking for now to derail your life from the things that he wants to bring you. And so the question is, do you trust God more than you trust yourself for the things that18:08 you need and the things that you want? Do you trust God's plan for you more than the plans that you have for yourself? Do you want what God has for you? Do you want what you have for you?18:21 And sometimes we can be praying for things that we want, but we don't even realize that they're small prayers. And God's not going to give you that because He says, I have something better for18:33 you later. Mary and Martha wanted healing, but God wanted to do better than that. He wanted a resurrection. Abraham and Sarah wanted a son, but God wanted to do better than that. He wanted a nation. Joseph wanted out of18:44 a pit, but God wanted to do better than that. He wanted him sitting next to kings. The disciples wanted a lunch break, but God wanted to do better than that. He wanted a feast. Moses wanted a way around the sea, but God18:55 wanted to do better than that. He wanted a way through the sea. So maybe your prayer is too small. Perhaps you want healing, but God wants resurrection. Maybe you want something good, but God wants something great. So19:07 you need to come to the realization that your expectation is your limitation. Your expectation of who God is and what he can do is your limitation because you have this19:19 expectation and it stops. And there's way more that God could do, but you just don't think he can do it. So stop limiting yourself with your expectation, because I believe that when God makes us19:31 a promise, that promise extends as far as our faith allows. Peter took as many steps as his faith would let him. The children of Israel took as much land as their faith would let them. Abraham bargained19:43 for as many lives as his faith would let him. And his ability is always greater than your capacity. So start praying that God would extend your capacity so you're ready for his19:54 ability. By the way, you only feel crazy when you're preparing for blessing, not when you're experiencing it. Noah only felt crazy when he was building the ark and people were mocking him. But when he was20:06 on that ark and they were all on the water, he didn't feel crazy anymore. He was experiencing the blessing. You only feel crazy. You only have doubts when you're preparing and waiting for the blessing. So20:18 look ahead. Keep your eyes on the blessing. Keep your eyes on the promise. And trust that in the waiting God is preparing you for the blessing. What armies are you facing right now? We20:30 started out by asking you what armies you might be facing. We are in this war with culture, this war with the world. Maybe it's not a physical army, but maybe it's an army at work. Maybe it's an army in your20:42 finances. Maybe it's an army in your relationships. Maybe it's an army within your health. Maybe it's an army in the sin that you're battling or the temptation that you're experiencing, if you're battling an army20:54 today, I encourage you to do what Jehoshaphat did. Stop what you're doing and pray. When we don't know what to do, when we don't know where to go, when we don't know which direction21:06 to turn, the most clear instruction we can have is to place our eyes upon Jesus and to pray. Because Christian, in light of Jesus, in light of what he's done for21:17 us, in light of what he is going to do for us, it's incredible how the problems, how the pain, how the armies that are coming against us suddenly become really small. They become21:29 small. You need to have tunnel vision. We're bringing this to a close, but can I challenge you to be like a pigeon? What? A pigeon? I hate21:41 pigeons. Have you ever watched how a pigeon walks? It's really weird, right? They do like this. And you're like, what are you doing, bro? Like, what's happening? I actually found out why they do that.21:53 Pigeons do that because they don't have the best vision. Pigeons are actually really smart, but they don't have the best eyes. And so a pigeon has to constantly bring his head up to look and remember where he's going and22:03 look down and tell his feet to move. And he's got to do this constantly. Where am I going? Keep going. Keep going. Just keep moving. They've got to constantly remind themselves, Christians, we need to have eyes22:15 like pigeons. That when we don't know what's happening, we just look at the cross, we look at Jesus, and we look at our feet and say, just take 2 more steps. I know you feel like you can't do it. Just take 2 more steps.22:26 Look at the cross. There it is. There's Jesus. There's the promise. There's the blessing. There's what I'm looking forward to. There's what he's leading me to. 2 more steps. 2 more steps. We need to just keep22:38 taking those faith steps. Don't get drawn and distracted by the world and what's happening. Just take 2 more steps and look at the cross. Just take 2 more steps and look at the cross because we realize22:50 the army and the battle that is ahead. Jesus Christ has already won that, and we don't have to fight that battle. Jesus is gonna fight that battle for us. Jesus is going ahead of us, and we know that no matter23:02 what the outcome of the battle is, the war is already over and Christ is victorious. Christian, we don't fight for victory, we fight from victory. When Jesus was on the cross and he rose from the23:13 dead, he soundly defeated Satan as he stomped the head of that serpent. And we live in the victory that he has. The cross doesn't just carry the penalty for our sin. It carries the weight23:25 of our burdens. So instead of collapsing under the weight, start rising under his strength. Lord, we look at this world. We look at the23:37 assault on morality on the Bible and on Christians. And Lord, we don't know what to do. We have armies that are attacking us in our own personal lives, armies23:49 of sickness and finances and relationships and all these other things. Lord, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you. So Lord, we humble24:01 ourselves. We repent. We see you, Lord. Heal our land, Lord Jesus. Help us to utilize the most powerful weapon that we have, and that is the24:13 power of prayer. Help us realize that it is accessible to us, that the same power that rose Jesus from the dead is alive in us today. Help us access that.24:25 Help us to live righteous lives. Help us to remove sinfulness and the things that can block our prayers from being heard. And help us to cling to that which is good, to Jesus Christ.24:37 Thanks for listening to connect with Skip Heitzig. Today, featuring pastor Skip's son, Nate Heitzig. Before you go, don't forget to request this month's featured resource, How to Study the Bible and24:49 Enjoy It. This book from Pastor Skip offers practical, encouraging help to take your Bible study deeper and get more out of every verse. It's our thanks for your generous gift of 5025:01 dollars or more to help share God's word with more people. Call 809 2 2 18 88 or visit connect with skip dot com slash offer. And be sure to sign up for25:13 weekly devotionals and get your free 1 sheet how to approach studying the bible. It's a great tool to jump start your time in scripture. Come back next time for more verse by verse teaching of25:25 God's word here on connect with Skip Heitzig.25:49 Connect with Skip Heitzig is a presentation of Connection Communications, connecting you to God's never changing truth in ever changing times.
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