Daily Bread
Daily Bread with Dr. Jerrell & Angela Stokley offers inspiring biblical content designed to educate, empower, and engage everyone to seek God's Word as daily bread for the soul and live a life of purpose in Jesus Christ.
Daily Bread
God Still Moves: Finding Faith When Everything Feels Lost
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When life feels stripped bare—careers stalling, community fraying, prayers unanswered—it’s easy to wonder if God is paying attention. We step straight into that doubt with a simple claim: God is not dead. He still moves in places we have declared finished, and Scripture shows how to live with courage until the ground shifts.
We start at a tomb with Martha in John 11. She believes God will act someday; Jesus brings the timeline into now: I am the resurrection and the life. That sentence reorders how we face delay and “too late” moments. We talk about why Jesus waited four days, how delay can clear the noise so God gets the glory, and how present-tense faith speaks life into what looks lost. Then we pivot to Habakkuk, who names the emptiness—no figs, no fruit, no herds—and chooses joy anyway. His “yet I will rejoice” becomes a framework for radical faith that doesn’t sugarcoat pain. We explore appointed time, corrective seasons, and the kind of worship that steadies your steps on steep terrain.
Finally, we sit with Isaiah 40 and confront the lie that our way is hidden from the Lord. Forgetfulness signals weakness; the Everlasting God neither faints nor grows weary. If the path feels hidden, it’s hidden from us, not from him. We unpack waiting as active hope: praying, serving, interceding, and remembering what God has done and what we’ve heard when memory fails. Those who wait renew strength to run when the season calls for it and to walk without fainting when endurance is the win. Along the way, we share honest stories, pray for revived courage, and call you to use your voice with bold, life-giving words.
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Welcome, welcome once again, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Daily Bread, your podcast that is bringing you the word of God that may be daily bread to your life and your soul. It is good to be back with you on today. I am Dr. Gerald Stockley Jr., and I'm here with my beautiful, lovely, anointed co-host. She is amazing. She is gorgeous. She is anointed. We've been together for 34 years. She is the woman of God. She's cute. She's fine. She all those things are in a bag. Chips. Come on in here, y'all. Put your Holy Ghost hands together for my lovely, lovely wife. I keep wanting to say Dr. Angela Stokely because she is in her PhD phase. She's going into her capstone. Y'all pray for her. She's coming through that thing. Boy, I prophesy that in the name of Jesus. You coming through with a four-point. Oh, God is good. Yeah, remain.
SPEAKER_02:All the time and all the time, God is good. Come on, Pastor Angela. Would you bring our audience on today?
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely. Thank you. Has been so sweet, as always. Thank you for making me blush. I appreciate you so much. That's funny. When you were talking, like a beat went off in my head. I had a beat on you.
SPEAKER_06:Okay. I don't know the context behind that song, but I just wanted to think it so you could blush some more. It's okay. Thank you. I appreciate you more than you know.
SPEAKER_05:Come on in here, so hey everybody. As always, it's good to be here one more time with you. And we're grateful that you are taking the time to listen in. As always, we pray that something is said in this space that encourages you to continue to hold God's hand and continue to walk through life with Him. Yes. Oh my goodness. So we pray that you're encouraged, that you are built up on every side, that you will accomplish everything that God sent you to earth to accomplish. And so we are glad that you are here. We are glad to be in this space together. Hallelujah. Share what the Lord has to say. So I look forward to this time. God bless you, real good. And thank you, Husband. Yes. Amen.
SPEAKER_03:So good. You're welcome. You're welcome. Listen, listen, listen. We need some new prayer warriors and prayer intercessors. We are out here ministering the word of God. And I tell you what, we would love to have you as an intercessor prayer warrior, just putting us on your prayer list. Amen. You don't have to reach out to us and tell us that you're praying. Just pray for Dr. Jerome and Angela Stokely. Listen, if you want to reach out to us and tell us you're praying for us, do that. You can go to covenantgracechurch.org. You can send us a contact form. You can send us an email. You can reach out to us and let us know. Hey, I'm just praying for you guys. So, uh, because we need your prayer and intercession. Do you all know we have a marriage enrichment show called Becoming One? It's on Tuesdays. So on Tuesdays, you can catch us doing Becoming One with our marriage enrichment show. We've been married 30 years. We got something to talk to you about to help your marriage be wholesome and vigorating and anointed and joyful and help you make it through the tough times. Amen. Hallelujah. All right, let's get to the daily bread on today. Today we are in a series entitled God Is Not Dead. This is part three. We hope you've been kind of tracking along with us for the other two portions. If not, you can go back to the Daily Bread Podcast, anywhere you get your podcast, and you can listen to those two sessions. This is part three. And our subtopic for this one is God still moves. Amen. Sweetheart, would you pray for us and take us over to the glory?
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely. Absolutely. Father, we bless and we thank you for the opportunity, God, to share your word. Thank you, Lord. Father, we pray that your spirit would intervene, that your glory would show up in this space and then flow through the streams that the people carry you, God.
SPEAKER_03:Thank you, Lord.
SPEAKER_05:As you speak through us and to us, oh God. We pray that that God, you move in such a powerful way that people's lives are shifted in the direction that you would need for them to shift.
SPEAKER_03:Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_05:That they will, God, be everything that you intend for them to be. Now, God, I pray that you will anoint your vessels on this side, that we would, that we would be used for your glory on today. Give us ears to hear what your spirit is saying, and then give us the ability to articulate, Lord God, thank you what it is that we're hearing in the spirit. We thank you for every listener, Lord God. Bless their ears to hear you. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In a fresh and a new way, moved by your spirit and for your glory. Thank you, Lord. In Jesus' name, in Jesus' name. Amen and you know, it's amazing.
SPEAKER_03:This is a little bit off subject, but as you were praying, I heard the spirit of the Lord say, The enemy does not want us to use our voice. Amen. And that's true. He does not want the people of God's voices to be heard. That's right. I want you to catch that really quick. That's right. And I just believe, and if maybe if we pray about this, maybe next session can be titled Use Your Voice. Amen. And we can impart to the people of God the power of their voice. Your voice, your opinion, your knowledge, your wisdom, your insight, your revelation from God is life-changing, globe-shifting, atmosphere changing, devil chasing, miracle producing. Your voice is powerful. Your words, the enemy doesn't want you to speak out of your mouth. Amen. The oracles and mysteries of God, the word of God, the revelations, the wisdom that you have, and the knowledge and experience that you have. But speak up and speak out. Amen. Because God's going to use you. We'll cover that next time. Amen. All right. So we're talking about God is not dead. And so, Pastor, right now we are living in there's a temperature in our culture and in our society and in our politics and in our personal lives that we we often call cancel culture. Or we see things dying around us. People are losing their jobs. The equality that once existed is dying. It's dead. The justice that once existed is dead. The church revival we used to have is dead. The movie, not not not not totally. Don't get me wrong. I'm not judging the church. But there's so much that is dying. And we experience this death in life that's not always a physical person. Absolutely. You know, careers die out, joy can die out, peace can die out. A home life culture can die out because of something. Community can die out because of something negative, something that is powerful enough to impact in a derogatory or negative way. And it's like something dies. Some things have to die so that they can be refreshed and anew. But other things die that never return back. And that's when we need God to step in and do a resurrection like only He can. Absolutely. And there are many people right now who believe that God, because things have died, that God, quote unquote, He's dead. He doesn't care. God, you let this thing die in my life. And they walk away and they quit and they're giving up. And there's no blame because God is merciful. But today, I we want to encourage you that God still moves, no matter what has died in your life, that you're seeing wither on the vine. God still is the God of resurrection and he still moves. Listen to this statistic because I want to prove to you that this is happening. A life way study found out that nearly 30% of Protestant church goers, that's Baptist, Methodist, uh, evangelical, Pentecostal. That's everybody who practices Protestantism. Okay. That they occasionally doubt God's faithfulness during hardship. That makes this message so relevant on daily bread today. Absolutely. So let's talk about it. 30% admit that occasionally they doubt God's faithfulness during hardship. And I wanted to look at some passages of scripture to encourage you on today that God's not dead, He is right here with you. So let's look at these uh passages of scripture together so that we can go forward and walk in the blessings that God has in store for us. So I want to go to John chapter 11. Pastor Angela, would you read John chapter 11, verse 21 through 27? This is a very familiar story, and I want y'all to get this. Amen.
SPEAKER_05:And it reads, Lord, Martha said to Jesus, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now, God will give you whatever you ask.
SPEAKER_03:Okay, so Lazarus has died. That's who she's talking about. And she says, You know, I thought you would have been here, my brother wouldn't have died, but I know, look at her faith now. Yeah, I know that God will give you Jesus whatever you ask him. Okay, go ahead. Let you take it from there.
SPEAKER_05:And Jesus said to her, Your brother will rise again. Martha, Martha answered, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die. And whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?
SPEAKER_04:Oh my God.
SPEAKER_05:Yes, Lord, she replied. I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.
SPEAKER_01:Is that 21 through 25? 27. What say ye, Pastor?
SPEAKER_05:That's good. That's a great conversation.
SPEAKER_06:Just a really good conversation.
SPEAKER_03:You know what I see in this? I see how God steps into dead places. Hmm. Okay. He steps into Jesus, he stepped into a situation where Lazarus was dead. As a matter of fact, the story, the context of the story is that Lazarus has been dead for four days. Yeah. The signific why is that important? The significance of Jesus waiting to the fourth day for to go and resurrect Lazarus is because during that culture, the religious culture believed that a soul would stay in the earth, circulate over the body for four days before it went to be with to the Lord. And so Jesus wanted to make sure that there would be no mistake about who did the resurrection. So that the scribes and the Pharisees could not doubt it and say, Oh, he didn't resurrect Lazarus. It was the third day. So Jesus waits until there's no doubt that only God can do it. He allows it to be dead enough long enough that there's no doubt that God gets the glory. Yeah. And God then steps into a dead situation and he resurrected. And we're not just talking about words on a page or characters in a Bible. What does it feel like to you when something dies in your life? And it seems like it's too late and you're ready to give up. I don't know about y'all, but I've been there. Absolutely. And what I love from this story, and I don't care how many times I read it, and the devil wants us to deny the truth of this story. Yeah. And that is God resurrects dead people and he resurrects dead things. Absolutely. But there has to be a belief that God could do it. For sure. What does she say? Read again what her response was.
SPEAKER_05:Well, you know, what I found interesting, it that kind of jumped out in the reading of this is in verse 23. When Jesus responds with what five words in this NIV, he says, your brother will rise again. Now, of course, she follows that with, I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. What she didn't realize is that he's talking about he will rise here in just a few minutes. Right, right, right. You know, and what that sparked in me or to me was that oftentimes in in those moments of loss, in those moments of darkness that we experience, God gives us a word that for a lack of a better description, sometimes we think it sounds a little ridiculous.
SPEAKER_02:Right. Right.
SPEAKER_05:And we very quickly, as did Martha, we kind of write it off and think that it's something way different from what God is actually talking about.
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_05:You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_00:Right.
SPEAKER_05:And so that just really jumped out and made me pause. Actually, how many times has God given me a word in the midst of a season that was troublesome, a season of loss, a season of whatever uncomfortable thing I was going through that I didn't really realize was the word that I needed for that season, which was God's like an arrow, if you will. He was arrowing, giving an arrow to me to say, This is what I'm about to do.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_05:And I misunderstood what he said in that season. You understand what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_00:I do.
SPEAKER_05:You know, and I thought that was very interesting. And of course, as I just said, we see that she misunderstood it because she started talking about, you know, her brother, you know, being risen in the last day, in the day of the resurrection. Right. And, you know, and that is not all that Jesus was talking about.
SPEAKER_02:Right.
SPEAKER_05:You know, like I'm getting ready to show you what you have not yet seen. That's good right there. That was beautiful. Jesus was saying to her, I'm about to show you something that you have not yet seen.
SPEAKER_03:That's beautiful.
SPEAKER_05:And that's that I believe, like, there are times in our lives that in the midst of loss, that God uses He uses those opportunities to show us Him.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:In a way that we have not yet met Him. They understood Him as the Messiah. Martha understood him as the Messiah, but has she seen Him be the God of the resurrection in the earth? Like with a human. No, she, I mean Martha, yeah, she had not seen that yet. And so through that experience of loss, she got to see Jesus in a way that she had never seen him before.
SPEAKER_01:That's good.
SPEAKER_05:And I would dare say, if we track through every turbulent time, every trial field time, every struggle, every dark season that we have journeyed through, we learned something about God that we did not know before we went in.
SPEAKER_04:My God.
SPEAKER_05:You know what I'm saying? That's true. I didn't know he was a provider until I experienced lack.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:I didn't know he was a deliverer until I found myself bound and held captive to some things. Yes. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And so I am convinced that in every struggle and every dark place and every everything that we've even counted as dead, we've learned more about God. We learned something new about God. He has shown himself in a way that we didn't know him before we went in it.
SPEAKER_03:Yes. I am convinced of that. Oh my God. Oh my God. You know, this reminds me of how when we find ourselves in continual struggle and we find ourselves in tribulation and in some of the worst situations, we can really feel like we're devoid of God. Like God is not in the midst of a situation. And we draw those questions, God, how could you allow this to happen to me? If you're a good God, if you are loving God, how is this possible? And I'm reminded of the story of the book of Habakkuk. And what was going on there in the book of Habakkuk. I mean, just listening to what you were saying, you know, how God does things in a way that we don't understand. And it took me to Habakkuk because Habakkuk didn't understand what was going on with the children of Israel and what was happening. And so I want to go to Habakkuk chapter 3. And I want to look at verse 17 through 19. But before I do that, let me give some background. Okay, so God was using Babylon, a nation without God, to punish Israel, God's own people. Because Israel was practicing idol worship. They were displeasing God, they were going astray. And they had become forming to the culture around them. And they were doing things that God had guided them away from, but they still rebelled and were doing those things. So God, in order to fix it, had to allow them to go through a season of persecution and tribulation to get them back on track to save them, ultimately to save them. And so the whole book of Habakkuk is devoted to the question, Lord, if you are all powerful, why is evil allowed to exist? And this is the question that's being asked in our culture and in our world today by believers in other words, otherwise. God, other people, rather. I'm talking faster, thinking faster than I can talk. It's okay, it happens. So, God, why is evil allowed to exist? Have you asked that question? God, why you see what's happening, but why are you allowing it to happen? Right. And so Habakkuk went before the Lord, and the Lord told him, Write the vision, make it plain. I'm gonna do something at a set time and at an appointed time, Habakkuk, to bring you out. But this is necessary to draw you back to me. Watch this. So in chapter 3 and verse 17, at the end of God's conversation with Habakkuk, Habakkuk says this though the fig tree may not blossom, nor fruit be on the vines, though the labor of the olive may fail. This is so powerful, and the fields will yield no food. There's no food in the fields. This is a barren situation. There's no fig on the trees, no fruit on the vine. The blessings of the Lord are gone. Look at what he says. Though the flock may be cut off from the fold, right? And there be no herd in the stalls. I want y'all to get the imagery of this. This is barrenness, this is emptiness, this is void of the blessings of God, the favor. He says, Yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will joy in the God of my salvation. Yeah, this is giving us a prescription for the troubles that we're in. Amen. Watch this. He said he gave us the diagnosis, then the prescription. Watch this. It says verse 19 The Lord God is my strength, and He will make my feet like deer's feet, and He will make me walk on my high places. I bet you people didn't even know that was a hymn that Habakkuk wrote. Look at the level of faith and belief that Habakkuk had in God in the reality that God is not dead. He still moves in dead situations. Everything around Habakkuk was dead. There's no figs on the trees. There's no animals in the stalls. We are looking at the Babylonians, they are so evil. Listen to this. And they're stripping things away from us. They've stripped this, they've stripped that. They're changing our lifestyle. They are treating us extremely poorly. Oh my God. But God was using that negativity to draw the people back to Him. And Habakkuk got the revelation. He got the revelation. God is still good. God is not dead. God is still real. Oh my God. And what he's helping us to see is that joy, when you have joy and lack, that's radical faith. And this is the time for the people of God to walk in radical faith. Absolutely. You gotta have your faith on 10. You gotta have your belief on 10. You gotta be one of those vocal praying intercessors, walking by faith, not by sight, believing God because the struggle just got real.
SPEAKER_00:Amen.
SPEAKER_03:This stuff is real. It is. People are hurting, losing jobs, losing homes, being assaulted, being snatched off the streets and thrown into unmarked vehicles and whisked away, never to be seen again. People are being brutalized, locked in jail, persecuted for what seems like things that's forgivable. And this is a time where you have to rejoice in the Lord and have radical, radical Habakkuk level faith. Amen. Oh my God. Amen. He still moves. Talk to him, Angela. Oh my God. Listen, Angela and I we share with you all on daily bread, but don't you think we don't have struggles? Right. Immense persecution, tribulation, and struggles. Absolutely. Let me tell you something. This life keeps us holding on to the horns of the altar. Absolutely. This life keeps us on our knees. We have to be worshipers. We have to be intercessors. We have to be prayer warriors. Hallelujah. Amen. We are a family of preachers and teachers and pastors. We, you know, so we're we're often going through struggles and assaults and things dying out and looking like God is not there. But we have to have radical faith to be right here in daily bread, radical faith to do the pressing room on Saturdays, radical faith to do becoming one throughout the week, the marriage enrichment. We have to have radical faith to be planting the church that we're planting right now in the Dallas area. We have to have radical faith to keep believing God for the things we're believing God for and then ministering to his people. Amen. Wow, we are. That things will be revived, that movement will begin to happen. Amen. That their spirit inner man will begin to leap like John the Baptist when he leaped in Elizabeth's womb. I pray this be a word that calls them to leap, oh God, in the name of Jesus. May they leap out in their faith to believe you. May they leap out in radical faith to still hold on to every promise in your word. May they leap out in radical faith and believe the words of Jesus when he said, In this world you shall have trouble, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. Oh God, I pray in the name of Jesus that they will be radical intercessors, praying in season, out of season, teaching in season, out of season, serving in season, out of season, God, in the name of Jesus. May they go forth with boldness. May they be able to look at dead things and speak life over it according to your word that says, Speak those things that be not as though they already were. That word that says, Death and life is in the power of the tongue. I believe it was the prophet Elijah that says, Can these dead bones live again? Can these dry bones live again? And the Bible says that the bones begin to come together, and sinews begin to come on the bones, and the bones begin to begin to come up become a mighty great army. And God breathed on the bones, and the bones stood up and began to be a mighty army of the Lord. I pray God you breathe in the name of Jesus on all of our dry bones. Amen. Breathe on them, Lord. Yes, God. And there will be a resurrected mighty army for your glory in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Amen. Amen. All right, hallelujah. So we're talking about God is not dead, He still moves. He still moves. And if anybody can teach us about that, it is the prophet Isaiah. Over in Isaiah chapter 40, verse 27 through 31. Pastor Angel, would you get that for us, please?
SPEAKER_05:Yep, absolutely. And the Bible says, Why do you complain, Jacob? Why do you say, Israel, my way is hidden from the Lord, my cause is disregarded by my God? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. Wow. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. That's powerful. Even youth grow tired and weary, and and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. Oh my god! They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.
SPEAKER_03:That is powerful.
SPEAKER_05:That is very powerful.
SPEAKER_03:So Israel is now in a place where they have grown weary. Yeah, and they have begun to complain that God has forgotten about them. Yeah. And that's why the scripture says, Why do you say, Oh Jacob?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:See? Why you're in your flesh?
SPEAKER_06:Yeah.
SPEAKER_03:Anytime you hear God reference Israel as Jacob, because God changed his name from Jacob to Israel, but you hear those two names used interchangeably in the Bible. And oftentimes when God is referencing Israel as Jacob, it is doing rebuke, it is doing correction. It is when the children of Israel are acting out of their flesh. Yeah. So he says, Why do you say this, Jacob? You're in your flesh. You have forgotten who I made you. You have forgotten the God of your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And now you are complaining that I have forgotten about you because you have stepped away from the understanding of who I am.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely. I mean, look at look at what obviously they were saying. Here's the question that God was asking them like, why are you saying that my way, my way is hidden from the Lord? That don't even make no sense.
SPEAKER_03:Right. God doesn't see me.
SPEAKER_05:Right, exactly. God doesn't know. God doesn't know what's going on with me. God doesn't know where I'm going. God doesn't know what the the way that I should take. He didn't, how in the world could you even fathom? Oh my god. Of all people who don't know come on that God doesn't know. The problem, the realistically, the problem is, and the struggle derives from the fact that we don't know.
SPEAKER_03:Right. You know what I'm saying? Right.
SPEAKER_05:We don't know the way to be the ones that's in the dark when we're in situations. We don't know what all God is doing. We don't know how things are gonna play out. It it's hidden from us until God allows it to be revealed.
SPEAKER_00:Wow. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_05:So the reality is that this tickled me when I read it. Like, how do you get to the place where you said that my way is hidden from? The Lord, are you serious, right? My god, are you really sick? Like, how where do you get that from? Yeah, like how did that get concocted in your head? Oh my god, no, it's not that it's hidden from him, it's hidden from you. Come on, it is it's and that's why you're in this place of distress and unrest because you don't know. Oh my god, so how you flip that and then say it's hidden from him. Oh my god, OMG, and that and that really ties into and why to me that is that is way more interesting of a thing to say, is because if you really did forget who he made you, right? You you forgot what he's already done. If you think that God, if you get to the place, your your struggle is so you know outlandish in your mind that you think that God don't know your way, that God doesn't know what's in store for you, that God did He really doesn't know your end from the beginning, like He didn't know before He even sent you here. Like that's a that's unhealthy.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05:That's an unhealthy place. The safe place, the real place, the true place is that I don't know.
SPEAKER_04:Come on.
SPEAKER_05:I can get in spaces where I don't know, and then there are sometimes that we think we know, come on, because we get too comfortable with God. Oh my god, and we think that we know, and we think that we got this, this, this, this, this, this hook on God, or whatever you want to call it, and think we know what He's gonna do next, and then when it switch up, we're thrown off. Oh my god, you know what I'm saying? Yes, so the reality is that we're the ones that don't know. Yes, we he has to reveal it to us through and by the Holy Spirit. That's why we receive revelation. Come on, because we are the ones that don't know. Come on, somebody, oh my god, this is so good, and we I hope we never get to the place where we say the way that he has for us is hidden from him, or I hope we as a as a body never get to that place, but instead realize it's not hidden from him, it's hidden from me.
SPEAKER_03:Oh, that's so interesting.
SPEAKER_05:Because if I have that mindset, that's going to even in my in my struggle, I'm going to keep going to him to ask, what do I do?
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05:But when I think he don't know, I'm gonna start looking for another God that I think knows. I'm not going to consult with him if I don't think he knows. That is that's a very dangerous place. Oh, that is so good, that is such a dangerous place, that is so good, and I just pray that the body of Christ never gets to the place that we feel like God does not know where he's taking us, and what he's allowing us to go through.
SPEAKER_03:Come on, what he's allowing us to go through.
SPEAKER_05:Because you know, the reality is one what a place of graduation, in my opinion, is when we can go through difficult times in life and say, God, I don't understand it, but I know you're here with me.
SPEAKER_03:That's powerful.
SPEAKER_05:That is a place of maturity, yes, when you can say, I know God's not dead, I know he's not dead, and as a matter of fact, I just don't understand what he's doing, I know he's with me, right? I just don't know what's happening. I just don't know what you're doing, God. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_03:No idea what this is all about.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely, I love it.
SPEAKER_03:And in the version of the Bible that I have here, it says in verse 27, the C portion, and my just claim, my just claim, my lord, like like hee hee. What is a just claim before God? Like, like, it's not like yeah, that's so good.
SPEAKER_05:That I feel like the nerve of us. That's what I feel like. The nerve of us.
SPEAKER_03:My claim is just. I'm I'm right about what I'm saying, God. I'm right, I'm right. I got a right to feel this way.
SPEAKER_05:Say what I'm saying and think how I'm thinking, I'm you know what I'm saying. Good Lord.
SPEAKER_03:They called it a just claim. That's so he said, My just claim is passed over by my God. In other words, God should be doing something about my situation because of some type of status or something I've accomplished so-called on my own. Mercy. So this is a just claim, mercy, or even saying, God, I'm your righteous, this shouldn't be happening to me. How often do we say that? I'm the righteousness of God, I'm a chosen child of God. I thought that if God loved us, this shouldn't be happening to me. My God, right? We don't have a just claim. Come on, somebody. We don't. Because there's not one thing in us, everything we have is by the mercy and grace and favor of God. Absolutely. So we have to denounce allowing our flesh to speak that into the atmosphere.
SPEAKER_05:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03:Oh my god.
SPEAKER_05:You know, I have had conversations with the Lord, and I have said, like, I know that the way that I feel about this is wrong, but can you help me?
SPEAKER_03:Right.
SPEAKER_05:And I think that when we have got to, like, when we're in those difficult spaces where we don't know what God is doing, we don't know what's next, you know, and we believe that we're being obedient and we're following, or whatever, we have still got to remember, like, there is this level of reverence that has to be present, even in our sadness and our distress, like, God, I'm so surprised that this happened. And I thought this or that, but I do recognize that you are God.
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:And that I am, you know, one of the things for me, Apostle, that I run back to is at the end of the day, that I'm here for your good pleasure.
SPEAKER_00:Yes.
SPEAKER_05:And so any ideology that I came up with on my own, or what I thought was meant by something that either I read or you said, the reality is that I'm here for your good pleasure.
SPEAKER_04:Come on.
SPEAKER_05:This is really not about me. Yes. And had you not in the word, he it says he so loved the world. So had you not so loved me, God, oh my god, you wouldn't have sent your son. Yeah, that I would even have an opportunity to have life.
SPEAKER_04:That's so good.
SPEAKER_05:So then, you know, and and I believe that we have to be mature enough to have those conversations and transparency. And I'm talking about with God, I'm not talking about with somebody else, but I'm just sharing how my conversations, when I don't understand, when it feels like, oh, this doesn't feel like that was really right, God, this feels da-da-da-da-da. And then I have to remind myself, well, you never told me you were a uh uh a fair God, but you you do describe yourself in the word as a just God, right? And so if it happened, you are justified by allowing it to happen in my life. Right. So then I have to come into alignment and and figure out how to be okay with that. That's not something's wrong with you, no, something's wrong with me.
SPEAKER_03:Yes, I love you. I love it.
SPEAKER_05:Something's wrong with me. There is some, there's some growth and development or whatever it is that I have to go through. So we have to be even in our our saddest and most difficult and most perplexing and whatever ways, like times, we have to remember to have that place of reverence. Yeah, operate in that remembering to reverence him as God, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And this is not judgment because that pain is real, it is 100%. Yeah, 100%. That pain point will block our praise point. Yeah, see, yeah, it will confuse our praise, and we will fail in referencing God. Absolutely, because and and you you you're right here that because when we say my claim is just God, we're basically saying, like you said, God, you're wrong and I'm right. Right, yep. Absolutely. Like, like I see the better way of you fixing my situation and what you should be doing in my situation, and this is what just occurred to me that sometimes we say is I didn't deserve that.
SPEAKER_05:Who said that? Right, I didn't deserve that, according to what standard, though. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, because I think about you and I talked about this like uh probably a couple weeks ago. The scripture talks about if we want to reign with him, we must be willing to suffer with him. Did Jesus deserve anything that he received? Absolutely not. Come on, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, so it is a part of the journey, yeah, to have those feelings, but we've got to learn how to reconcile those rightly, and we use the word of God to do so, right?
SPEAKER_03:I love the uh the rest of his response. He said, Have you not known? Yeah, that was and then he says, Have you not heard? And no, I find those two words interesting known and heard. When God answers a question in the Bible, it's it's not that he doesn't know the answer, the question is rhetorical. It is always he already knows the answer. So, what he's basically saying, he's saying, think about what you know about me. Am I just God? Amen. Reflect back on what you know. You know, I brought you out of Egypt, you know I fed you with manna. As a matter of fact, Jacob, your worst nightmare was your brother Esau. I delivered you from your brother Esau. Come on, and brought you out with wealth and prosperity, and gave you the 12 sons of Jacob, and brought you Joseph, and a great nation came out of I rescued you from the famine through your son. Come on, Israel. He said, 'You've forgotten what you know.' The reason you feel like this, you've forgotten what you know. He said, and what you don't know about me, you didn't experience me do, you heard I was able to do. Yeah, so even if I can't be the God you've experienced, you should know me as the God you've heard about. Heard about absolutely. I love that. That reminds me of when John the Baptist sent the disciples to Jesus and said, Are you the one, or should we expect another? Right. Jesus says, Look on the works that you know. Yep, I have done. Yep, and what you what you what works you don't see, believe in what you have heard and what you have seen about me. Absolutely. Oh my god, we gotta remember what we know about God, the sermons that we've heard. Do you understand how truthful that is?
SPEAKER_05:We have to, you know, to to give up on God. We have to, and that's what that's you know, one of the things I love about the Holy Spirit is that He'll bring that back to our remembrance. You know, when you're trying to sometimes be frustrated or more frustrated than you really need to be, right, you know, and have thoughts that you don't need to have, the Holy Spirit will remind you of who God has been to you, he'll remind you of how far God has brought you and things that He got you out of, and things that He allowed you to become, things that He allowed you to do, and even remind you of who you are in Christ, right? You know what I'm saying? Right, and that is so beautiful, yeah, that that God even allows that to happen. Oh my god, because He could leave us to our crazy selves, yeah.
SPEAKER_03:And you don't the revelation I just got as I read this, God says, I am the creator of the ends of the earth. I neither faint nor am weary. Yeah, so if we say, God, you've forgotten about me, my lord, we are saying, because forgetting something is a response of either being tired, come on, somebody, you haven't eaten, so you're forgetting stuff, or you have you have developed dementia or Alzheimer's. God says, I can't get tired, I don't get tired, I don't get sick, I don't get diseases, I'm never weary. I you're saying I forgot something. Exactly. God, I don't have the ability to forget. Exactly. Because if you say God forgot you, you're saying God has an inability to remember you.
SPEAKER_05:He forgets our sins, right?
SPEAKER_03:That's willingly that's it. He cast them as far as the east from the west. That's right, he he makes himself forget. Yes, exactly. God has to make himself forget. Come on now, he can do all things if he gets himself to forget something, he'll make himself forget, but that's the only thing he forces himself to forget, absolutely, and that's why I'm good, and that's not because of an inability. If I can make myself forget something, that is an ability. That's right. So, whatever you think God is unable to do, God has said, I can do all things. Stop. Whoa, that was good. Okay, I didn't mean to go up. Oh, Jesus, I can do all things, yeah, God says, Absolutely, and so can we through Christ who strengthens us. Absolutely. We're running out of time here, ladies and gentlemen. We got about a minute left. We have so much more word to talk about with this, but here's what we want you to see more than anything: God still moves, and if I can go down to verse 31, it said, But to those who wait on the Lord, it is about practicing patience, yeah, and waiting on God in the midst of our situations to see that He has not forgotten about us. Amen. And I love the comments down here in my study guide. It says, To wait for the Lord entails confident expectation, I love that, and active hope, never passive resignation. I love that. Oh my god. So it says, Those who wait on the Lord have this confident expectation. Yeah, I got an active hope. My hope is not dead. What am I believing for? What am I hoping for? The rest of the verse shall renew their strength. Hallelujah. God is going to renew me. I'm not gonna stay in this situation. God has not forgotten about me. God is not dead. Oh, I'm having a good time talking about this right now. He is not dead, God still moves. Come on in, Hill Lazarus, get up from that grave. Absolutely. He is a resurrecting God. Absolutely. Look, it says, They shall mount up. I'm glad the text, God used the word they. Who's the day? All of us, all of his people, all of his children. Amen. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. Oh my god, hallelujah. They shall run. Listen, they shall run again and not be weary. Yep, they shall walk and not faint. So God says, in the season where it requires running, and you should be running and succeeding and prospering and running and moving and getting things up, you're gonna run. Amen. But in the calmer seasons, when you walk and it's more calmer, and you have succeeded and you have accomplished the things you're supposed to accomplish, you fought the wars you were supposed to fought, you got the bruises, you got the scars, and you're just walking it out now. I'm gonna give you the strength to walk. Amen. That is so powerful, amen. Ladies and gentlemen, God is not dead, He still moves. Amen. Pastor A, you got anything before we close out?
SPEAKER_05:You know, one of the scriptures that we were gonna share is Romans 8 28. It's through 39, but I just want to stick with Romans 8 28, and you can read through 39 just so we can close out. And we have to remember that in spite of how we feel about what we go through, God is able always to work it together for our good. So even when it looks like there is no good, the God who is greater than we are, the one who sits high and looks low. That is so good, the God of all creation, hallelujah. That means me and you is able to take what looks unworkable and work it for our good. Hallelujah.
SPEAKER_04:Oh my god, that's good.
SPEAKER_05:So do not fret at how uh at your inability to see how it's going to work for good, because God's got that covered.
SPEAKER_03:What else? What else do you want to say about that? That's it.
SPEAKER_05:That was it. That was a close. That was yep, that was a close. God's gonna work it. We don't have to worry about how it's gonna work.
SPEAKER_03:Glory to God. Let us go to the Lord in prayer one more time as we close out. Father, we thank you so much that you're not dead. We thank you so much, Father, that you still move. Move, God, by your power and your might. We repent for the times that we have said you forgot about us. We repent for the times that we have given you a proposition that states that our uh outcome and process, the way we think it should happen, is better than what you have given us. We sincerely apologize, God, for those times when we didn't trust you to believe in you, and those times when we were ready to give up. So, Father, even now, move by your power and your might that we know you're not dead. We have so much that we have lifted up before you, and we know we're not counted out. Oh, thank you for renewed strength that's coming. Thank you, Father, that we shall mount up with wings of eagles, we will run again and succeed and war and battle and win and be victorious. We shall walk in calm and ease and not faint. Thank you that there is nothing you cannot do. Yes, is anything too hard for God? The question is no. We praise your name, we lift you up, we magnify you in Jesus' name. Bless our audience, bless our family in Christ's name. Amen. Amen. God bless you. It's been so good to be with you on Daily Bread. Be sure to catch every episode by liking, subscribing to our daily bread podcast, and you will get all the updates. If you've been blessed, and if you thank God for this ministry and Him using us, please go to CovenantgraceCurch.org online and sow some type of seed of support. We appreciate it. We ask for your support. We're asking for you to be a supporter of ours. We're asking you to be a partner with us. We are asking you to walk this out with us. So go and sew at covenantgracechurch.org. You can also go to cash out dollar sign jerelle selfly, j e r e l capital S T O K L E Y. And you can give there if that's easiest for you. Amen. All right. God bless you real good. We'll see you next time on daily bread.
SPEAKER_05:Amen.
