It Is Well - Into the Deep Series - Week 9

What do you do when the outcome is unclear, the clock is loud, and your heart won’t settle? We open with an urgent moment—standing in the gap for Jacob—and move straight into the heartbeat of the hour: prayer over programs, presence over performance, and trust that isn’t held hostage by feelings or timelines. From Philippians 4 to Isaiah 43 and 2 Corinthians 4, we trace a path that begins at the edge of worry and walks into the room where God’s peace takes over.

We talk honestly about the tension of faith: asking boldly for a miracle while accepting that God may work through medicine; choosing gratitude before answers; and learning to declare “it is well” not as denial, but as defiance against despair. You’ll hear practical handles on praying about everything, capturing thoughts that spiral, and fixing your mind where true peace lives. We press into intimacy with God—hearing His voice, recognizing His character, and aligning our will with His—so trust becomes muscle, not mood.

Along the way, we challenge the slot-machine version of religion and reclaim a resilient, Scripture-soaked faith that stands when feelings wobble. The cross before the resurrection becomes our map: no shortcuts around pain, but a sure promise of life on the other side. Whether you’re interceding for someone you love, fighting old habits, or just trying to quiet your mind at 2 a.m., this conversation offers language, Scripture, and stories to help you keep going. If this speaks to you, share it with a friend, subscribe for more, and leave a review with one line: where do you most need peace right now?

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Transcript

Standing in the Gap for Jacob

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As you remain standing just for a second. Jeff here, please. So we have this saying around here that's called standing in the gap. And if you will, in your mind, think of a chasm between you and the prayer that you need answered. The miracle that needs to be on its way. The phrase standing in the gap means that someone is standing in the place of someone that needs a miracle in their life. And last night we received a message. Some of you on the church app, you know, that somebody who's connected to this church, the lady that's over our nursery, her son is right now in Dallas, and they are in these moments. I don't have my phone, but in these moments, they're deciding what they can do and what they need to do to remove something that's on his brain. And she said, Please pray. God ain't concerned about our programs or orders of service. He moves when people get serious. And so as Jeff stands in the gap, I want those of you who have a prayer life to come and believe. And as if Jacob is standing here, Jeff is going to stand here in his place, and we are going to lay hands and believe that this tumor, this cyst, whatever it is, that all test results come back negative, that the doctor will say I made a mistake, that what was there is now gone in the name of Jesus. Lord, as Jeff stands in the gap for Jacob, we call out Jacob's name today. Lord, I pray over that brain right now. You are an overachieving God that can do anything exceedingly and above anything we ask or think. And so, Father, right now, in the mighty name of Jesus, as we lay hands on Jeff, and as if we were laying hands on Jacob, let the Holy Spirit come down in that room, let the tumor disappear, let the sticks be gone. In the name of Jesus, we pray for mom and dad that you bestill their mind, bring peace in that room right now, in the name of Jesus. We pray and we believe as we stand in the gap for a child of yours. We call upon your healing power. You are the same yesterday, today, and forever. Your power has not grown weak, your healing has not faded, your arm has not become short, and in the name of Jesus we declare healing over Jacob's body. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus! Every sickness has to flee at the mention of his name. Hallelujah! Come on, church, let them surprise! Let them surprise! Let them surprise! Hallelujah!

Prayer Over Programs

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I don't know if y'all are hungry for a move of God, but prayer is the foundation of revival. Prayer is the foundation for God to do what God wants to do. So if his people are not willing to take time and pray, you ain't got time. Five prayer, five praising, and five of reading. The Bible says, and this is something that's very, very real to me that God inhabits the praises of his people. So when we praise, that means God is there. Because if God lies in one area of the Bible, the rest cannot be true. So we're not challenging the Lord, we are declaring what he has already said to be true. So as you are in your prayer time this week, we will keep y'all updated. We'll try to send it out to everybody. But pray for Jacob. If God doesn't choose to heal him, but we cry out anyways, that's God's business. But it's our job to pray and believe in spite of what we see and in spite of how we feel. So if God don't make it disappear, I pray that He guides the hands of the doctors that are going to remove it in Jesus' name. We cast it out. However, it needs to get out, let it be done. Lord, you don't have to do it my way to make it so. Sometimes we get mad at God because we pray about things and He don't do exactly what we think it's supposed to be done, and we get upset. I don't care how you do it, Lord. I just want to touch. I don't care how you do it, God, I just need a miracle. I don't care how you conquer death, hell, and the grave, but the word says that you did. So that means that I can stand on your promises and know that if you went down there and conquered that, you can conquer what I got going on here. It may be a struggle for us, but my God is an overachiever. My God told me I was man, man. Hold on, we gotta hold on, pause for a second. Me and him were on the phone. Was it Friday? Friday, something like that. I was coming back from work. It was in the evening time. And he was needing prayer. I called him because he needed something, and I ended up getting something. I about ran off the road into the ditch because revival broke out. He got goosebumps on his end, I got goosebumps on my end, and he started crying, and I started crying, and we started laughing, and I started laughing. When the presence of God fills the place where you are, you can't be the same. All of a sudden, you know how you can be on the phone with somebody and you can tell if they're smiling. All of a sudden, the joy began to flow out of him over the phone, and the joy that was on him began to flow out of my vehicle. It's contagious. Woo! So don't worry about nothing. Because my God, you might not have your answer tomorrow. Let me not frame this up in a way where you think you're gonna wake up and it's gonna be rainbows and butterflies in every day of your life. It ain't

If Not a Miracle, Then Guidance

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to use proper English. But let's read the key text today. Philippians chapter 4. Philippians chapter 4. We're gonna read 6 and 7. It says, Don't worry about anything. You know what that tells me? That I need to, as other scriptures say, I need to capture my thoughts and make them subject to Christ so that my mind doesn't run away from me and I stay in a place of worry. Don't worry about anything. Instead, remember what I said a minute ago, prayer is the foundation for revival in your house. Prayer is the foundation to liven. If you don't feel God, just pray. Cry out to him, bear your heart before him. It says, Instead, pray about everything. You mean if I go to Walmart? You better pray if you go to Walmart. Hey man, somebody, Lord, I don't have enough bank account to make it to the end of the month. Lord knows we pray in that. I got too much month and not enough money. Instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need. How many of you know? Let's let's dissect the word a minute. Just because you want it don't mean you need it. And just because it's good for your neighbor doesn't mean it's good for you. Tell God what you need. Some of us got to pause for a second to figure out what we actually need. And thank Him for all He has done. So as you pray about everything, come with a thankful heart. Start from a place of gratitude and watch prayers become answered in a way you never imagined. And thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience. How many of you in the house love and experience when God comes out of the room? I love to experience God. I don't want to just hear about him, I want to experience him. I want him to show up, or I get I'm getting them right now, hallelujah. Or I get goosebumps on my arms and it just is infectious, and I want to experience something. God ain't coming back for no dead bride. Verse 7 then you will experience God's peace. Some of us have not experienced the peace of God because we're not first putting prayer on our lips. We want God to answer what we are not expressing, which exceeds anything we can understand. When you think you got God figured out, He is an overachiever, He will knock your expectations out of the park. So, what is that? Let's pause right for a second. I know we're I know we're pausing a lot, but that's okay. It's scripture, you should be reading this way. When my my son, the one who's playing drums, y'all, my son did a great job, didn't he? Come on. I don't even know where he is right now. Where's he at? Man, the one time I bragged on him and didn't embarrass him, he wasn't even in the room. Oh well, he missed it. When he was looking for a truck, the thing he was after suddenly began to be around him constantly. When he was in pursuit, what he desired, what he longed for, what

Joy Is Contagious

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he wanted, it wasn't that more trucks the particular make and model that they begin to produce more in that year area. That's that doesn't that doesn't make sense. What makes sense is all of a sudden the things that were there all along begin to be revealed to you. There's a reason prayer needs to be the foundation of your walk, is because when you spend time in God's presence, the thing sometimes we are asking God for has been around us the whole time, but we have not yet had eyes to see because we've been focusing on what is in front of us instead of who is within us. Then you will experience God's peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and your minds as you live in Jesus Christ. Father, we thank you so much for your mercy and your grace. We praise you, Lord, for your presence. And we thank you, God, for your peace. I pray, Lord, that if there's somebody here today that they've been holding on to worry or doubt, that Father, today they'll be released of those chains in the name of Jesus. And that they lean on you and they say, from the depths of your heart, no matter what happens around me, it is well. In your name we pray. Amen. Come on, y'all give it up one more time for the worship team. They did a phenomenal job today. Hallelujah. So we're on week nine of Into Our Deep Series.

Don’t Worry, Pray About Everything

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And so, if you could tell by the last song we sang, just like last week, it was I trust in God who I saw the Lord and He heard. You're gonna get me fired up on that one. Yeah. We got to seek after him for him to answer, amen. But we also have to be content. So this is a part two from last week, trusting in God. This week we also have to learn to trust him beyond receiving answers. Now, some of you are looking at me and you're like, now wait a minute. God's supposed to answer everything according to his riches and glory. Come on, somebody. But God is not your slot machine, nor is he your prostitute that you can call it a beckon when you feel like it. So we need to put God in his proper place as the king and lord of our lives and understand that we are the bride and he is the groom. I know in our Western culture we have it backwards, and the bride runs the show. Oh, y'all didn't like that one. That's a fact. Go to Jewish tradition from Jesus culture passed down, it is the man they celebrate. And this is why it's hard for us to understand. Now, is that a trick of the devil? I don't know. We don't want to think that would twist y'all's mind too far up. We ain't gonna go there today. Let's go back to the text. Trusting God even when life doesn't make sense. Now, this message is for the brokenhearted, this is for the confused, and this is for the grieving, the questions around God, the questions around life. Life often brings moments that shake us to our core. Sometimes we could be standing with our mouths open, wondering what in the world is going on. We see this a lot with David in the Psalms when he would write, and he would cry out to God and say, What where are you? Anybody ever had that Where Are You God moment? Where you're praying, you're seeking. You're like, I'm doing everything the Bible tells me to do, and yet I am not seeing an answer on the way. But today's message is a reminder that hope is not rooted in what we can see, but it should be rooted in the God that we serve. The God that we serve. Our hope is not in this life, it's not in people, it's not in relationships, it's not in the church you go to, and I'm glad you're here. But your hope should not be tethered to a body of believers. A body of believers can bring you hope, can elevate you, can lift you up. But your hope should not be tethered to a people. Your hope should not be tethered to your spouse, your hope should not be tethered to your pastor, your hope should not be tethered to your children or your parents. We'll bring in the grandchildren too. Not in the job that you have, not in the car that you drive, not in the house that you live in, but solely and completely anchored in the eternal, unchanging Jesus Christ. We just sang it is well with my soul. That song wasn't born out of comfort, and it was not written out of ease of life. Horatio Spafford, the actual original person who wrote it, he wrote the words after losing his four daughters at sea. He declared, It is well with my soul, not because he felt well, but because he trusted in the one who holds the seas in his hands. So point number one is this. Y'all know I like my points. You got the church text, you have the points and the scriptures in front of you. If not, we offer pads for you to write notes. I encourage note-taking. True trust begins where feelings end. How many of you know? In an instant, you can get wrapped up in your feelings and your mouth can say things you shouldn't say. Huh? And your attitudes can get all locked up and twisted up before you even know it. Some of you told me, Pastor, sometimes it takes me twice, just be patient with me. I said, hey, I get it. We'll go two or three times, that's fine. Because God was patient with me. Come on, somebody. Habakkuk three. Habakkuk, if you're having children, that is a name that is available if you want to use that one. Chapter 3, verses 17 and 18, and it says this. Verses 17 and 18. Even though the fig trees have no blossoms and there are no grapes on the vines, even though, listen to the phrasing, even though, even though, even though, even though, fill in the blank where you are, you hear me? Even though, even though the olive crop fails and the fields lie empty and barren, even though the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in the God of my salvation. Let's go on to verse 19. Why not? Verse 19: the sovereign Lord is my strength. He makes me as sure-footed as a deer able to tread upon the highest. How many of you want to go to the mountaintop? You got to have some sure footing if you want to make it up the mountain, because if not, you will bloody your face on the way down, and it will usually be in front of other people. I don't know about you, but almost every time I messed up, it's been in front of somebody else. Faith does not deny pain. You hear me? Your faith, lack of faith doesn't mean you deny, or it doesn't mean you're you're ignoring the pain, or having faith doesn't mean you're ignoring the pain. Lack of faith doesn't mean you're indulging in the pain. Faith does not deny pain. All of us have a personal, firsthand experience that we go through in seasons daily. Some of us have been in the same season for years and we're like, Lord, where are you? It acknowledges it honestly and then chooses to believe anyway. Did you hear me? Faith acknowledges it honestly. It's okay to be miserable. But when being miserable manipulates you, now it has made you subject to its ruling. You must believe anyway. Trusting God is not based on emotional highs. Trusting God should not be based on visible evidence. But if we're all being real for a second, I like to see some evidence. I like to see it happening before my eyes. But so how many of you know you can witness to a stranger and never see the fruit of your labor? We are not called to see the fruit of our labor. We are called to plant, to help water, whatever moment that is for that person. We're called just to be faithful servants out in the field working. Trust comes knowing who he is, who God is, and not just his name. But how many of you know names are important? You gotta know who you're talking about, you gotta know who you serve, who do you cling to. But we must also know his character. Know what God feels. Know how God sees you, know how God wants to have a relationship with you so close that it it is the Bible calls it intimacy. Intimacy with Christ. Jesus displayed this as he was talking to the Lord in front of his disciple, and he said, Lord, let them be in you as I am in you and you are in me. There's an intimacy, it's reciprocative. It's a you and me, I and you, we are one and the same. The Bible even goes ahead further and talks about how a man and a wife they

Seeing What Was There All Along

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cleave to each other and they leave their father and mother. They should, amen. Somebody. I got a kid coming up on 18. I'm like, well, son, when you get 18, your stuff will be on the front porch. He knows I'm lying, he knows I'm lying, but I want to put that fear of God in him. I was a boomerang kid two or three times. It's okay, it's all it happens. I was a boomerang. That's all right. Thank my parents for loving me, anyways, even though I kept coming back for more. But we need to know God's character, we need to go know God's presence. We need to know who is this God that I serve. Some of us serve a God and we call it faith because we serve him blindly and we have no clue who he is. That's not faith, that's ignorance. How can we point somebody to someone we don't know? Oh man. Let me get real with you for a second. Here's the problem with the modern church. You know, I've seen a lot of things online lately with the Charlie Kirk assassination and all these things, and people are making videos, and I'm going to church for the first time, and you know, praise, praise the Lord. But how many people that are sick spiritually are going into unhealthy churches? And they ain't doing nothing but going and being a member somewhere. Nobody knows who God really is. So many people have told me, oh, me and God are good. I guarantee you, if God came in the form of a man and walked among us, most of us wouldn't recognize him. Because we don't know who he is. We don't spend time with him. There's something about children and parents that when I hear my baby cry, something inside of me wants to bulldoze through anything and everything to hear my little get to my little girl and find out what's wrong. When I'm in my office at the house and I hear her crying, I know my wife is in there. I trust my wife with my daughter's life. Obviously, she's the mother. But something inside of me wants to go check. I have to make myself keep sitting at my desk working so that I don't go in there and act like I'm taking over the show. I'll hear her go. Ouch! Ouch! And I'm like, Oh, I gotta go kill whatever hurt her. And here's something else that I noticed. They were out here parking on the side earlier, and I was going over to my office over there, and mom and the baby were standing there, of course. The baby has to have her baby. And I'm walking and I'm talking, and I see her head look and meet my eyes. Because the child knows the father's voice. Do you know the father's voice because you've been spending time with him? You've been intimate with him, you've been reading his word, you've been praying, you've been sometimes praying, having prayer time is not talking. Sometimes prayer time should be just you being quiet and listening to what God has to say. And something that that I have had to train myself to be okay with is silence. Because sometimes he's not saying anything, he's just letting me stew in it for a minute. And this is a part of maturity. And I have to be okay with him not saying anything. I have to be okay with me not trying to fix it. I don't know about y'all, but that's me. Joe chapter 13, verse 15.

Trusting God Beyond Answers

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He says something. This is not in the notes I sent out, but I wanted to just put this in there if you want to write this down or look this up in your in your Bible. Joe chapter 13, 15. He lost everything. And his wife turned on him. And these were his words. Though could he slay me? Yet will I trust him? Now here's something that the Western church needs to fully understand and try to grasp a hold of. If our life fully belongs to God, whatever God decides to do with my life is his business. Every decision, every turn, every stop, every go, every step should be his choice. Now, how many of you know when you're raising teenagers, and this is the hard part for a parent, if you're not there yet, pray now. Because it comes for us all. We have to be strong enough to not say anything and let them choose for themselves. And sometimes when we're praying for direction, we're praying for God to give us an answer, it's not necessarily that he's being quiet, it's seeing if you know his character enough to make the call that he would make. Because when you rear kids up and you raise them from babies, you are training them to be, I hope, you're training them to launch out and go out, get out of here, to go out and be good, healthy adults, so that when something happens, they don't go, ah, I don't know what to do, but they can handle it themselves. Not that they don't need you, not that they don't want to be around you, but we are supposed to be duplicating disciples. Are you seeing a connection here with the word when Jesus said go and make disciples? But some of us don't know who God is, we don't fully trust Him with everything that we are, and we couldn't, we couldn't duplicate a healthy Christian if we tried. Because if we align our will with God's will, not the other way around, we don't say, God, come over here and put your stamp of approval on what I got going on. We want to align with his will when you have intimacy with God and you fully trust him, you know him. Let me give you another example of my family. Me and my wife, when we first were, it was a Christmas time, we didn't know yet that we were pregnant with Cora. And uh we heard a name that was actually my grandmother's first name that I spent 35 years and had no clue or however many years it was, nobody ever told me. I was mad about that. I'm still healing. And when she said her first name, we haven't really discussed anything like that. We didn't know we were pregnant. As soon as we heard it, both of us looked at each other and we knew. Both of us. That's how the relationship should work. Is that without really her saying anything, I know her well enough that without her being there, I can make the call without her, and the same with me. We've been married for over ten years now, we know each other pretty well. I know the good and the bad, and she knows my good and bad. Could we make the call on God's behalf without asking him? That's a heavy responsibility. But if we are healthy believers that are children of God, should we not know these answers? If we spend quality time in his word and on our knees, should we not be able to do this? And the same with us. He should be able to, as the father, as we trust him, so we should be spiritually mature. What's the mission of vision? Spiritual? About four of y'all know it. Spiritual? We want to be healthy, mature Christians so we can make the call and do it from a healthy place and be responsible adults. Oh, look out. Imagine if God could trust us with his kingdom. I don't know if you've read the scripture, but I think that's kind of the plan. I'm just trying to get invited. Come on, somebody. It's okay to have fun in church. Y'all can laugh. The deeper walk with Christ life says this. Even if fill in the blank, even if I lose somebody, even if I look around in this country and there's nothing but idiots running it. Ain't no amen on that one. Y'all ain't been watching it. That's okay, good. Don't go to the news, don't go to it. Don't do it. Even if I make a bad choice, God still loves me. Even if whatever it may be, it will be well with my soul. I will rejoice. I will trust him, even though I don't know what the end result is, is even if yeah, I don't know what it's gonna turn out like, even if I don't know, but I feel a certain way and I'm worried and this and that, but don't worry about anything, pray in everything. Yet will I trust him, yet will I follow him? Okay, I'm gonna say this just because I'm on I'm I'm I'm going to somebody sent me something, and I think it's very very funny and timely. Y'all know I don't I don't talk politics from the from the stage. But I was watching this reel that somebody sent me, and I think he was going to a new church, I'm not sure the setup, and they were the the board members were like, well, we kind of lean left. You know what that means, liberal. Okay. And they were going through this process, and he was like, Man, I don't know if he was applying for a church, he was trying to be the pastor, I'm not sure. But he they were trying to push him for an answer of how he voted, how he did this and that, which is a very private thing. You don't have to tell me anything. I really don't care. But he said the Holy Spirit

True Trust Begins Where Feelings End

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came over him and he stood up and he said, I don't lean anywhere, I stand for Jesus. And I was like, what a solid political answer. So if you ever wonder how we believe here, if the Bible says it's a sin or if it's wrong, that's what we believe. We don't we don't do politics, but we do the word of God. So lean however you want. I'm gonna stand. Sorry, I thought that was hilarious. I didn't need to share that. Peace is not per point number two, peace is not about the absence of pain, but it is the presence of Christ. Peace is not the absence of pain, but it directly has to have the presence of Christ. Look over in John chapter 14. John chapter 14, verse 27. And it says this I am leaving you with a gift, peace of mind and heart. Praise the Lord. And the peace I give is a gift from the world that the world cannot give. So don't be troubled and do not be afraid. Let me pause for a moment. If you don't have peace in your life, it may be because the source from which you are trying to draw from your peace can't truly give it to you. If you're lacking peace in your life, it could be that you're drawing from the wrong source. So, what you really need, Isaiah 26, 3. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. You will keep in perfect peace all who trust, there's that word again, in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you. If you're having issues with your peace, you got to get your thoughts under control. Because where your thoughts go is where your life will move. The Bible will, I mean, the enemy will work on your thoughts first. This is why we need to cover it with the Bible, cover it with truth, replace the lies that the enemy tries to tell you with the truth of the word, and you will not fall for the the lies and the snares of the enemy. He cannot have a foothold because when the Lord shuts the door, he will cut off his foot. Hallelujah. The man who wrote it as well with my soul, Horatio Spafford, he understood this deeply. After losing his children, his wife sent a telegram, saved alone, and he sailed to meet her. Now, during this voyage, he passed over the spot. Think about this. You lost your children, and to make this trip, you have to pass over where your children died. And this is where he wrote, When peace, like a river, attendeth my way, it is well with my soul. Peace does not come from understanding everything. Some of us dig and try to dive into the knowledge and to know we want to know how it's gonna go, we want to know how it's gonna end up. But if we dig into this, it will only cause you more frustration, it will cause you more unrest in your mind and in your heart, and you will not be able to find peace. God desires for peace. It doesn't come from understanding everything, it comes from knowing that Jesus is with us. Point number three: trusting God when life hurts. Trusting God when life hurts. Look in Isaiah 43, verse 2. When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. How fitting. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up. The flames will not consume you. Romans 8 28, we also used this one last week and we sang it this morning. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those, for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Second Corinthians 4 8 and 9. We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Things may happen. Life will blindside you and knock you sideways in a moment's notice. A phone call or a text can change the trajectory of your entire day. But let me tell you something. If you keep your eyes focused on the one who created everything and stick with him, you will not be defeated because he has not been defeated. He is on your side. And who can stop the Lord? No one. Who can come up against the Lord? Nobody. Let me tell you, right now, it feels like good and evil are fighting back and forth with each other. But I've read the end of the book and I know that it doesn't matter how hard the devil tries to fight. I know that Jesus came out of that tomb victorious. He rose from the grave, and from there on the story was written, and we are saved by the blood of the Lamb. We are redeemed and restored by the blood of the Lamb. And we find strength. We find strength in his word. We find truth in his word to fight the battles that we cannot see with our eyes. It's not a lack of faith to feel sorrow. It's not a lack of faith to feel lost. It's not a lack of faith to be hurt and in pain. But grief must not override the truth of the word. That's why you need to have an intimate relationship with God of a prayer life and a study life so that when lies come up, you have the word to fight the lies. And listen to me, I'm not talking about using the word to fight against people. We cannot argue people into heaven. They will buckle down, lock their feet and toes in the sand, and you will not move them. But we can love them and show them who God really is. When we feel pressed, when we feel perplexed, when we feel hunted, we must remember that He has not abandoned us. And if any of His word is true, all of it is. Point number four. I was praying over Him. And so that I could actually pray, I fought back the tears because it was hitting me so hard in the car. Because I knew if I started crying, I wouldn't be able to see the road. Prayer can be dangerous, amen. In lots of different ways. And where I was at, there was no shoulder. But there's something about when you declare scripture over your circumstance, over the way you feel, over the way you see things, your perspective, over where you are. There's something that it is a stronghold chain breaker. And so as we were praying, and and he was crying out on his end, and I was declaring and I was rebuking the devil, and I then I was like in my head, I'm like, God's an overachiever. So I started

Knowing God’s Character and Voice

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proclaiming God's overachievingness. I was like, Lord, just cover it right now. The Bible says you do more than we even ask or think and can figure out on our own. So why do we not believe that he can? Why do we not declare that he can? Why do we not speak as if he can? Why is it that we act like we serve a distant God that is a man upstairs that we know nothing about? If you want to live a victorious life, you must know whose victory you're standing in. Because if you're standing in your own, you will be defeated. So in the despair, in the heartache, in the mystery, in the unknown, in the hurt, in the pain, point number four, declare it is well by faith, not by sight. If you go by what you see, it will manipulate what you believe, it will rob you of the faith that you're trying to have if you don't go beyond what is in front of you. To go beyond what is in front of you. Hebrews 11:1. Faith shows the reality of what we hope for, it is the evidence of the things that we cannot see. Romans 8 18. If you came for scripture today, you're getting it. 8 18, yet what we suffer now is nothing compared to the glory he will he will reveal to us later. How many of you know? I got a later coming. The enemy tries to rob me of what I see later as. He tries to make me think that I am to the end, that I am already defeated, that everything I pray for will not be answered, that the sickness that's in my body will not be healed, the chains of addiction will stay on me for the rest of my life, that I can't be free. But the Bible tells me that who the Son sets free is free indeed. And once I declare freedom over my life, freedom over my mind, freedom over my heart, I'm gonna declare that it is well, even though it may not feel like I'm free now. Every single day I wake up, I'm gonna look myself in the mirror and I'm gonna say, Shut up, devil. I am free. I am free. I am a child of the one true king, and you cannot have me. I have been set free. I have been bloodbought. I have been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, and I'm gonna be an overcomer because I got a testimony on the way. Revelations tells us, you want to be an overcomer? Start sharing what, even though if you're in the middle of it now, start sharing what God has done for you in the past. If you want the devil to run and tuck tail, start declaring God's goodness. Start talking about how big God is, start declaring how magnificent He is. You start praising Him. Think about this for a second. The enemy's whispering in your ear, He's got one of his stupid little demons on your shoulder. Doing the little talking this junk. The devil likes to do this. But when you begin to praise, what comes down in the room? Demons can't stand under his presence. They have to run. Because they know that once the Lord steps in the room and steps on the scene, what do the demons cry out that were in the man? Jesus, why why have you done this before our time? They got scared. They were pleading and bargaining. Oh, just throw us in these pigs, please. I'm about to start making them beg. You know what I'm saying? Start anointing your house and casting out what's there. Go to your jobs, and that person that's been listen, if you want a thing of oil, I'll give you some. Start going to these people at work to get on your nerves and start dabbing underneath their chair until they get saved. We're gonna sneak attack and push back the enemy. Hey, get a little crazy, do something dumb and watch what God uses. The Bible tells us that God's wisdom dumbfounds even the wise. So let's do something stupid and push back the enemy. Y'all think one time I told somebody, and they they laughed, and I was being serious. Like, listen, they were they were in living in the projects. They're talking about drug deals and this and that happening out there in the parking lot. I said, just get you a one of them super soakers and get you a Sam's bottle of Crisco oil. It could be Sam's choice, that's fine. Now listen, y'all think that's stupid, but if you anoint things on your finger, who cares? Light them jokers up. It don't matter, they'll be so slick when they try to come and get you. They won't be able to come after you, anyways. Listen, the devil beats up on us enough. Let's have some fun with him and bang his head against the concrete for a minute. What I'm telling you is this don't put God inside of your box of how he works in your life. It could be that that super soaker that's been in your closet, it's time to fill it up and go to town on the enemy's territory.

SPEAKER_00 45:00

Well, I went to the enemy's camp and I took back what he stole from me.

SPEAKER_01 45:09

Some of y'all need to go back and steal your joy again. Somebody need to go, some of y'all need to go back and try to steal your peace of mind. Now, if you pay attention to the words of the song, it says the devil stole it, but he can't take nothing until you give it. What does that mean? That means that you have the right to invade his territory and take back what the enemy stole. And some of y'all need to declare over your house right now to make sure that the enemy doesn't do any more thieving to push back the darkness. Psalm 46, 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be honored by every nation. I will be honored throughout the world. The ability to say it is well when nothing is well is one of the greatest weapons you can have against the enemy. Because that means you've already made up your mind where he tries to infiltrate. If he can get in your mind, he can deceive your heart. And if he can deceive your heart, he can get you to act out sinful nature. He can get you to act out in fear, he can get you to act out in unrest. And so it's his trick to try to get in your head and get things twisted up. The word of God says this. What did he do with Jesus? He took the very words of God of the scripture and tried to twist them into something else. This is why you need to know that you know that you know that what the word says, not what somebody tells you off of YouTube. Not a good podcast, although I love all these things. I partake to, I get poured into. But know firsthand for yourself. Know how to experience God. The ability to say it as well is one of the greatest tools that we can have. It is a declaration of faith over fear, truth over lies, and eternity over the temporary. This is not ignoring the storm, it is speaking out to it. Some of you have been living inside of the storm in your life for too long, and it's time for you to stand up and speak to the storm and say, In the name of Jesus, peace be still. What was the first word? Peace. We need peace back in God's house. We need peace back in the minds of God's people. We need peace back in the homes of God's people. I've had people come over to my house before and they sit there on the couch and they're like, there's just a peace here. I said, because we don't got drama, buddy. We cast that out at the front door. We don't want that junk coming here. Because we have made up our mind. That doesn't mean we don't fight, because y'all know I am perfect. She is, I am not. That's the way the Lord wrote that story. But there's peace in our house. In spite of how we feel in the moment, we have declared that God's peace rests in our house. In spite of how we feel, in spite of how things look, there is peace. And as we close, you don't ignore the storm, you just speak to it. Jesus did not escape from the cross. What does the Bible say that a true Christian, a true believer must do? Pick up your cross. That means you have things in your life that must be crucified. It's called flesh, it's called sinful nature. Some of us have different

Peace Is the Presence of Christ

SPEAKER_01 49:10

burdens that we some of us wouldn't even understand. Some of us just say, oh, just pray until it disappears. Just pray until you stop doing it. But how many of you know? You spent a lifetime making that habit. And it sometimes, now God can do it, amen. Praise the Lord if He does, but it took me a while to stop smoking cigarettes. It took me seclusion to get rid of meth. It took me offloading and erasing every app on my phone to get rid of porn in my life. But until I made the decision that my relationship with God was more important than sinful nature, that's when things begin to change. Because my life then truly belonged to Christ. So Jesus didn't escape the cross. And if you notice in the garden when he prayed, he did ask for the opportunity. It didn't make him an unbeliever. It didn't make him unfaithful. It made him human. Sometimes the cross we have to bear is not one that's fun. It's heavy. It hurts. Sometimes it'll chew you up and spit you out on the other side. But even though Jesus went to the cross, on the other side of the necessary death was the resurrection. And that is the message of hope for every believer. That even though God calls us to pick up our cross and follow Him, after the cross, after the crucifixion comes life. But you cannot have that resurrection power. You cannot have that life until there is a death. If you say you follow Jesus, you can't follow him up to the cross and stop. Because then you are not a follower, you are a gazer. You are a spectator. Christ calls every person who says they believe him to leave everything behind. Everything that you were, everything that I was, every relationship. I loved hanging out with some of the people that I had friends that I made. But they would do nothing but bring me back to a place that I did not want to go back to anymore. So I had to walk away from things and people I enjoyed so that I could find truth peace. True, joy. Things in my life that I thought would never be gone. Bondage. When I chose to leave that behind, the bondage I had on me began to fall off. He wants us near to him. Psalms 34:18, it says this. He rescues those whose spirits are crushed. No matter what you're facing today, no matter what you need to leave behind today, walk away from. I'm not saying it's an easy path. It was one of the hard I'm a people person. I love being around people. It was one of the hardest things. This sounds so dumb. I know it's social media. It was one of the hardest things when I got out of jail to delete my Facebook because I had spent years making friends and had them on there. But the moment I knew I needed to delete it was when one guy I was in jail with reached out to me. Said, hey man, where's the party at? I sent him one final message. I said, I don't live that life anymore. And I deleted everything. If you notice on Facebook, it is her my name. I didn't want people to find me, and I didn't want to find them. So I had to begin to purge myself. Purge my mind. If you've been in bondage long enough, you understand that it will take a while for the blips and the thoughts and the things that have held you captive for so long to no longer be there. One of my prayers when I came back to the Lord and gave up all that life was Lord. This is proof that He can do it. And it could have been because I smoked away my brain sells. 50-50. I said, Lord, help me forget. When I first came back to the Lord, random, random thoughts would pop up. Over here. Over there. This thing. And that thing. What I did. The feeling of getting high. All these things would just randomly pop. Sometimes I would lay in bed at night. And I could feel the taste on my tongue. I could taste it again. And I can't taste it anymore. But it wasn't until I began to fully trust God that a very physical thing of taste is no longer there. The need, the want, the desire, the things that I once craved, the people I used to want to be around, was no longer a part of my anatomy. Because I was crafted into new DNA. I was crafted into a new vine. Now I'm not telling you that this is easy. But if you want to make heaven your home, it is necessary. Because there's not a person in this room or watching online that has, if they follow Christ, did not have

Pressed But Not Crushed

SPEAKER_01 56:30

to go through the same choice. And some people sitting in the room have been in church for years and still not have made that full decision. If you'll stand.