Transcript for:
What to Do When You Don’t Know What to Do

I would like to speak today a message that I'm going to title what to do when you don't know what to [Music] do come on somebody amen I want you to open your Bibles with me to 2 Chronicles chapter 20 and verse 12 Oh Our God will you not judge them for we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us nor do we know what to do but our eyes are upon you this is not a message that will apply to every situation I believe God wants us to live having plans I believe God wants us to have strategies I believe God wants us to have wisdom in what we are doing and the future of our life but there are situations and there are seasons and there are circumstances where we find ourselves where the wisdom that we have we don't have for that situation and where we don't have wisdom we have to apply Faith we're not just a people of wisdom we are as Christians people of Faith now some people every area of their life they apply faith meaning they don't want to work they don't want to plan they don't want to strategize they don't want to exercise budget they're like I'm just going to live by faith that's irresponsible we must practice wisdom the Bible doesn't just teach us every sing single day to wake up not work not take a not brush our teeth not take a shower and just kind of go with the flow we are taught to have structure in our life have discipline in our life raise a good family love our wives respect our husbands raise our children but there are areas in our life that you can exercise do everything right and everything good and you find yourself in the place where your wisdom fails you just don't know what to do and that's exactly what happened to a Jewish King Jehosaphat Jehoshaphat was a good King he was a good man the Bible actually says he was a mighty man meaning that he had a good army Jehosaphat was not some kind of a spineless weak and had nothing going for him no he was a good mighty man but the Bible says there was a great multitude that decided to have a coalition and come against him to destroy him and so what josaphat does is I'm going to share with you four things to do when you don't know what to do so I want you to pull out your phone pull out your notebook if you are here we are here to learn we here to shout but also take notes we are here to receive Faith but also to receive instruction some of you maybe this message is going to come in one year right now and come out of the other year cuz you're like man I know what to do I just don't want to do it but there are others of us who are like man I don't know what to do maybe one day you will be in the place where this message will be necessary I can tell you I have paid a visit to this verse that I just read countless times I've had seasons in my life where for a short time I felt what jasf had felt and this verse is the verse that I would go to Camp there for a little bit and then encour and find encouragement and I want to share that with you today what do you do when you don't know what to do number one when you are under attack assemble when you are under attack assemble with your family now this could be a physical family but mostly it will be your spiritual family I want you to notice what josaphat did the Bible says in verse four so Judah gathered together somebody say together a little bit louder for the second St say together to ask help from the Lord I want you to see the verse five it says then joas fat stood in the Assembly of Judah so they gathered together they don't know what to do they're being attacked or the attack is coming it's not there yet it hasn't arrived yet the plan of the enemy hasn't come to pass but it's in motion and when he doesn't know what to do what he does do is he assembles together with Jewish people now I want you to notice he doesn't Assemble only with the military man to plan what do we do he assembles together with a spiritual family this was their also nation and the Bible says together jeop started to ask God when you don't know what to do go to church why sometimes you'll get an encouragement a touch from God a word from God a couple came this morning in the first service who were actually debating on what they should do and exactly the word that I spoke I didn't even know them from Adam they said you have no idea that was a sermon for us we're relocating to tric cius this Monday I didn't even know I was like I hope my sermon didn't make a mess out of your life and I was like be practice wisdom when you applied but they said no this is exactly what we needed to hear today you don't know how God can meet you when you come together Jesus says where two or three are gathered together in my name I am among them the Great greatest Temptation when you are under spiritual attack will come in this form stay away from Believers stay away from Christians why they don't understand what I'm going through and the reason why we come to that conclusion is because we think everyone's life is is summed up in their latest Instagram post just because we shared a happy moment on an Instagram this doesn't mean that that our life is always every time filled with happy moments you're not the only one that's battling loss defeat destruction attack in your life there's a lot of others of us that come together and we are in the same thing I like to make fun of snowflakes but I'm going to give some honor to snowflakes today sometimes I like to say don't be like a snowflake who melts when the sun comes up you know snowflakes are cute feeble and weak but you put them together they stop traffic you put them weak things together they close schools you put them together they flip semis so sometimes we are weak feeble put us together we become Unstoppable put us together [Music] and then your tears become my tears my joy becomes your joy something happens when we come together that's why the Bible says in Hebrews chap 10: 25 not forsaking the Assembly of ourselves together as a matter of some when moabites ammonites are attacking you excuse me when sickness when poverty when addiction comes and attacks you the enemy will whisper and say get away from them why because look you just fell into to the sin look you're struggling with this addiction church is for perfect people you're not one of them get better and then you come back you see the enemy knows he's the Predator you're the prey he can't get you when you're in the hurt it's hard to get you when you part of the flock but the moment you begin to kind of get behind and you have these excuses in your mind you know what I just don't feel good it's not a right time I'm under attack nobody understands I'm kind of sad right now I'm kind of alone I'm dealing with anxiety I'm dealing with depression I'm dealing with this family crisis you know what my child just you know went this way that is not that is not right in with God and so I'm just going to stay home and I'm going to take some me time but see you become a prey the Predators is after you these and these ammonites and these all of these people that are coming against you when it's the hardest to come to church this is when you have to fight hard not to miss church when it's the hardest to come to a small group this is when you have to fight hard not to miss a small group why because we are strong together we are weak separate we're called members that's why as Christians we don't go around saying I am the church I know it's cute and popular and it sells t-shirts I am the church biblically it's not accurate the word church means elesia and elesia means an assembly we are a church when we assembled remember a few months ago when I brought a chair in here from Walmart the pink chair and it was assembled in a box and I sat on that box and I said that's not how you sit on the chair you have to take the stuff apart put it together and then sit on a chair see all of us separately are like members but when we come together we assembled we become an army no longer just a soldier we become a family no longer just one unit we're not just a snowflake we become a storm so Jehoshaphat did not know what to do he assembled he got together with other people who were facing the same problem and they together did not know what to do but they were together not knowing what to do at least I'm not alone amen a studies were done 148 studies involving 308,000 people between 1980 to 204 so about 34 years they concluded that social isolation was roughly equivalent to the negative effects of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day stated more positively participants with strong social bonds had 50% increase in longevity when compared to less social connected individuals today being connected socially is more difficult because we are all connected digitally and we think that is being connected socially having 5,000 friends on Facebook and having zero friend in life is not going to help you cuz these 5,000 friends won't show up to you when you're in a hospital they won't be at your wedding and they will not attend your funeral [Music] and so the more we are connected to everyone the less we are connected to anyone and that's the Dilemma of the digital Age and what that does is this we have Snapchat Tik Tok Twitter I mean X Instagram YouTube Pinterest LinkedIn Facebook which other ones that's it okay that's it there's threads does anybody still on threads do they still thread okay nobody knows what that is okay Mark zugerberg didn't didn't work so we're all of the all everywhere there interesting we have more focus in our generation on mental health for our youth and we have more social media tools and my generation that the generation after me is more suicidal and has more Health crisis mental crisis than any other generation before them they haven't seen War they haven't fight they didn't fight Nazis they didn't fight you know uh Soviet Union we we they didn't live in that why is there so much one of the reasons one of the reasons is that this is the most isolated generation ever and why we are so isolated is because we think because we're digitally connected we're okay the Bible says in Genesis what scientists confirm now it is not good for men to be alone another study was done by Claire Young from the National Academy of Sciences Sciences examin social relationships and psychological markers across two decades of more than 14,000 participants her finding were that socially isolated individuals had increased blood pressure body mass index heart disease cancer even their waist was larger and inflammation when compared to individuals who were socially connected I want to encourage you today that not to run from your community when you are being targeted by your enemy if you don't know what to do have a place where you know where to go and that place is church now it may not be this church find the church to go to you may say but all churches not all churches are the same because you had a bad experience in one Church it doesn't mean all churches are the same and the enemy will try to focus on two things one of them is isolation and the other one is accusation accusation will say the church is bad those people are bad and isolation will say I am bad don't let the enemy trick you still go to church why because you need that church and the church needs you we need to be together in the community for example if I take and not to make it graphic but cut off a finger now I'm not planning to do that just FYI but if I do that if that were to happen by accident and I put this finger in a freezer you know or you know I put this finger away what's going to happen is this my body will heal and learn to operate without my finger my finger will not heal when you disconnect yourself from the body of Jesus whether it's this church or another church what will happen is this the church WIll recover you cannot recover because you're not supposed to be a member an organ in the bank you're supposed to be organ in the body you know organs in the banks where they take an organ they freeze it in the in the bank God never called you to be an organ in the bank he called you to be an organ in the body you're supposed to function you're supposed to be connected you may say of course you're a pastor you're going to say that yes I will say that and repeat that because I see this in the Bible and I see and it caught my attention I've never saw this in the story how Jehosaphat assembled together got together when life is hard don't skip a life group when life is good don't miss church be connected to the body the second thing we do when we don't know what to do and that is this prayer should be our first response not our last resort usually we pray when everything else fails we like went to the doctor try this try that oh nothing worked okay let's go to God but Jehosaphat didn't do that Jehosaphat didn't have a military planning he didn't check his weapons or anything of that he first goes together assembles together and when they Assemble together they didn't gossip they prayed they didn't talk about each other they talked to God about their problem so we have to pray now Jehosaphat he prayed a prayer and it was four-part prayer can can I say something there is power in short prayers now some of us we have Shakespeare prayers you don't even know half of what you're saying but God is good God he understands you the rest of us we speak plain English we we don't have Shakespeare's prayers and our prayers are short and some of you men your prayers are kind of short sometimes I want to tell you something they're still powerful your prayer doesn't have to be eternally long to be impactful even if it's a short prayer but it's directed toward God in faith it's a powerful prayer Jehosaphat covers four things in his prayer first he Praises God for who God is I love that cuz Jehosaphat is down in his mind God is still up and it's a good place anytime you praying no matter what hell you're going through you always start not with where you are but where he is you say God I'm sick you're on the throne God you're rich in Mercy I'm broke in finances God you are highly exalted and I got fired so don't always make it about you it's also about him how are you doing God highly exalted you're on the throne and Jet doesn't start with God we're beaten down don't know what we're doing don't know what's going to happen to us he says God you are a mighty God big God a mighty God you on the throne God nothing is impossible to you and then the second thing Jehoshaphat does that we need to do is he Praises God for his gifts the gifts that God gave to Jehosaphat which was the promised land he says God you gave your servants the land with flowing milk and honey God we're grateful for that even when you're going through the worst situation do not become Debbie the downer do not become pessimistic person it's okay to have pessimistic moments not to be pessimistic meaning you still find one thing to thank God for if Jesus had Five Loaves and two fish and he didn't say God what is that that's not enough he says God thank you Jesus faced the dead Lazarus and he said father thank you for hearing me every time I pray the poor guy is dead but thank you that you hear my prayer in everything the Bible say just give thanks to God sometimes you don't have anything to thank God for you still can give God thanks in some of those things Lord I Thank you I came I'm alive today I thank you for the gift of having a good family I thank you for having a job I thank you for giving me this you begin to praise God for the little good things that he has given you the third thing is you complain it's okay to complain in fact some of us it will be better that you complain in prayer and not complain anywhere else I say this if you complain more in prayer you become a less complaining person in life when you praise it's okay to complain if you never praise never thank God and only complain you're in trouble but if you praise him if you thank him and then you have a little bit of pity pity pity moment and jeap did that he didn't go all happy he says God that's not fair these guys are attacking us we didn't do anything wrong we didn't attack them why that's not right it's okay to have a moment say God why is this happening I don't feel good that's not fair that's not right God has a whole book of Lamentations God can handle your complaining tears questions and doubts he can handle your complaints it's okay as long as they're brought to God and then he complained complained complained but I love the fact he didn't finished with complaining he finished with God help us cuz complaining says my life sucks asking God to help says God come and fix it cuz you don't want your prayer to always be how bad your life is you want your prayer to be an invitation to God to come and help you with it it's okay to have a little bit of me whiny moment but make sure finish it would say God I don't want to be like this could you help me and fix it fix my spouse my dog my cat my children everybody and me too but God help me God help me the successful prayer is the one not the one where God changes everything around you right away it's when God changes you right away because the Bible says look at how how this prayer ends verse 12 it says this we don't know what to do so this is part of his prayer but our eyes are upon on you this is when you know you prayed well not when everything is fixed but when your focus is fixed he came into prayer enem is attacking them God you are great thank you for the land ah that sucks they're treating us so wrong not fair God please help us and God our eyes are upon you if you can leave a prayer and your focus is shifted you prayed well and something is already starting May maybe nothing changed on the outside but something changed on the inside stability anchor Focus came on God because the biggest Warfare happens first for your focus before it happens for your circumstances the Bible says in Philippians and it says this in Philippians chapter 4 be anxious for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with Thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and Minds through Christ Jesus so many people not everyone but many people that face anxiety biblical remedy for anxious mind now this is not dealing with chronic anxiety disorder we're talking about the normal anxiety we all face just living in this world we're talking about that anxiety here it could be resolved if we do this come to God with Thanksgiving let him know what troubles you and the Bible says God says if you give me your problem I will give you my peace God doesn't say everything will be solved he doesn't say I'm going to quickly run and change everybody what God says I will give you peace and you might be able to sleep in a storm and then I'll stop the storm I'll calm your thoughts I'll calm your thoughts I will help you but most of us what we do is we're quickly running to somebody to give us a pill somebody to give us an advice but biblical precedent is this is that you pray well and God says I'll give you a good peace amen what do you do when you don't know what to do well number one get together with some Believers number two talk to God when you talk to God don't forget to thank him first complain and always ask for help and how do you know that you really prayed is if you walk away with peace you didn't have before peace is a deposit something is about to change peace doesn't have to make sense that's why the Bible says peace that passes understanding meaning your understanding says uh I don't know why I'm peaceful but remember when you were anxious you also didn't know how you were anxious like everything seems to be fine I don't know why am I anxious anxiety doesn't always make sense so it's okay if peace doesn't always make sense if peace the passes understanding I meaning sometimes the understanding is just going and the pie is there just sit down sit down and learn everything's going to be okay why are you dis quied my soul why are you so cast down within me hope in God for yet I will trust in his continence and then David five verses later says why are you disqui again the little student got up again sit down everything's going to be okay peace doesn't have to make sense to touch your [Music] [Applause] soul number three God gives promise before he gives provision so they're praying jaset is Lord You're great Lord thank you for the land lord that's not fair that these people are attacking us Lord we ask you for your help help us and God we look to you as he finishes the Bible says then the spirit of the Lord Came Upon This guy that I'm not going to pronounce his name because I'll butcher it and he's the son of somebody who is the son of somebody son this like giving you like a whole family tree right here in one verse but he's pretty much a levite from the sons of Assaf in the midst of the assembly so in the assembly I want you to notice this this was not some isolated event this was not a Facebook Prophet or a YouTube Apostle this is a a community of Believers scared for their life but but Gathering Together snowflakes coming together weak and feeble but together they're Unstoppable they're praying to God they're not oblivious to their problems they're not saying oh we're okay we don't have any problems that's not Faith that's illusion no but they're in the midst of that they're saying God you're great thank you for the gift of land lord we are needing help we're going to focus on you and the prophet Rises up and begins to say Don't Be Afraid position yourself tomorrow God's going to fight for you this battle belongs to God is not your battle but you're still going to have to show up and Jehosaphat after that starts praising God the whole people start praising God and Jehosaphat says if you believe in God you will be established if you believe in His prophets you will prosper but nothing changed God spoke well what you have to understand about God he doesn't first work always with his hands sometimes he works with his mouth let me give you an example if I give you a check do you thank me when you get the check or do you thank me when you cash the check so if I give you a check for example and it's a it's a very large gift you saw the check you do you hold on the thanks saying I no no man I just need to go check cash it first and see if actually he meant [Music] it no you say thank you so much and if it's like a lot of zeros More Tears you're like thank you amazing praise God and you could literally be three days before you cash the check but you're already walking praising God for the gift why because it's there it's not in your account it's in the check see when God gives you a promise you have to praise him most of us say well God I'm going to see when that be comes true but see you trust God enough to know he's not bluffing he's not exaggerating and he doesn't throw words on the wind a word of the Lord does not return void whether God gives you a prophetic promise when whether God gives you a dream whether God's inspires a word from here or puts it in your heart I'm not talking about you come up me Meen money and you just going to choose whatever verse you want to apply but the Holy Spirit quickens that what you do is you get happy not because you seeing it but because you are already seizing it what many people do is because they don't understand this they think well so what the God said it I'm still sick so what he said it I'm still broke so what he said it but I'm still single and miserable so what that God said it but my husband hasn't changed so what that God said my house and my family will serve God my child is still doing drugs you know until I see it I won't believe it we like we do like Thomas but God doesn't always work like that think about it you read the first few verses of the Bible and what you're going to see is this God said let there be light and I was younger I used to believe on the first day God made the sun and the moon and the stars why because well God made the light on the first day right and then I would read more carefully and I see on the day four God makes the sun moon and the stars I'm like wait what happened on day one he made the light on the day one and on the day four I'm like man the Bible has a contradiction it's already from the beginning no there's no contradiction in the Bible there's ation contradiction in my mind because in my world I cannot have the light if I don't have the sun God's world you cannot have the sun until you have the light where is the light comes from God said and then you read later you see Abraham God says you're going to be Abraham meaning father he doesn't have kids the guy the guy doesn't have kids and God says you're going to have you're going to be a father before you're going to have kids now I'm a simple man in the world we live in you can't be walking around calling yourself Dad if you don't got children like I mean that's cute and stuff but it's just not right you have a child then you call yourself a father God calls somebody a father and then they have a child in the world I live your world the natural world what begins to happen is you win the battle you have the victory but God comes to Joshua and says Joshua I give you the victory he didn't even fight the battle yet the world we live in is you do right things and you become righteous God say and says I give you righteousness so you can do right things please understand God first gives you a promise and then gives you the provision he gives you the message and then he gives you the miracle he gives you the word and then he does the work so when the word comes most of us like yeah well you know it's just a check it's not like money in my account it's when I see it no no no no no you have more faith in a check than in God's promise we had a situation one time that happened with a wonderful couple from our church where me and my wife decided to give a car and we meet with this couple on Sunday after church and um now we didn't give them a car we gave them a promise and we simply said with my wife we want to bless you with the car and they started to cry we didn't give them the keys just give them a promise we said we're gonna give you this car and I said but we can't actually give you the car right now because I want to change the bumper and change the tires and change the oil they said pastor you can even change the engine if you would like while you're at it they're like of course you can take all the time you need and so they walked away from our house having a car but not having keys over one simple thing because we promised them we we had what we promised so like we could do it if if I would promise that them an airplane would be pretty dumbb for them to believe us cuz I ain't got an airplane but I had a car and I promised them what I had because they knew me enough to know that I don't make those promises on accident it doesn't just an emotional burst and then tomorrow like oh sorry changed my mind they trusted they stopped looking for a car and then a month and a half later when the car was fixed they received the keys when God gives you a promise Can I submit to you what if perhaps he goes to work on that promise so you're not seeing it because he's working on the promise or sometimes he's working on you because it's not the miracle that needs to be worked on sometimes it's the one that's about to receive it so God is beginning to prepare you for that and so the promise of God when God gives a promise to Jehosaphat he says Hey the battle is done don't worry about it Jehosaphat starts praising God why because Jehosaphat understands before God does his work God speaks his word word most of us postpone our praise postpone our joy to until I see it won't believe it but see when God speaks he means what he says but yeah he said it and I'm not seeing it yet trust the Lord and his timing when I was 16 in a parking lot of a winko store in Richland we had a terrible youth service bad youth service service I was made fun of and I decided on that youth service to quit youth ministry my parents picked us up and then a parking lot of winkle store the lord gave me a promise I would say few times in my life but I can be very certain that the lord gave me a vision this was one of them and he said if you don't quit it's exactly what I felt he said you will Pastor a church that will reach many people many hungry people will come and they will leave full now I'm 16 I'm insecure I barely the English I don't even understand my own English it's difficult I just moved to Pasco High at henford high I had an F in the keyboarding class God blessed that teacher I didn't I didn't speak English it was difficult a cultural shock and to that teenager God gives the promise now did I see the Promise fulfilled next week oh I thought it would be next week it didn't happen next week it took 13 years but you know in those 13 years when things got hard for me I got in the car I drove to the winko parking lot and I said God I don't believe you lied to me I trusted you and I continue to do so looking back at it right now it's not the miracle wasn't ready I don't think I was because the Lord prepared me thank him when he gives you a promise sometimes it could be a prophetic word it could be a dream it could be a vision and there's those things that you're just not sure but there are those like you're just sure God spoke to you hold on to that because it will hold on to you can somebody say Amen what do you do when you don't know what to do you assemble together you pray to God you trust in his promise as though it's true because it is and lastly remember Miracle is God's job marching is yours I find this portion of the scripture slightly intimidating because the prophetic word comes the battle is not yours the battle is the Lord's Hallelujah yes you don't have to fight amen but tomorrow March against them uh do we have to like March can we just stay here and just worship because God could you go there and March I want to stay home that's not safe for me like could you go and like take care of them first and then bring me there with my cameras no God says you march tomorrow so today we pray tomorrow we slay today we meet tomorrow we march today we trust tomorrow we obey remember that song trust and Obey when there's no other way think I think I just made up that second version of it when there's no other way or that's the only way is you trust one day but the next day you got to obey you can just simply say Lord bless my marriage that's good to pray but the next day you have to get up and as a wife submit to your husband as a husband sacrificially love your wife God change my parents that's good but then as a child you have to honor your parents God changed my kids but the Bible says as a parent do not provoke your children to anger God bless my finances Lord I believe for breakthrough yes but the Bible says the hand of a diligent makes rich that means today I pray tomorrow I slay God doesn't always give you all the details of how and what he just begins to lead you to walk by faith I'm not saying we should live in in the area of Faith every single area of our life every day but there are seasons of our life where we don't know what we're doing and we have to do it anyway I met with this pastor this week incredible Pastor who has a massive Ministry that exploded during Co in Seattle area and and I asked him I said how do you do it he said I don't know he said I'm making the plane as I fly I felt so encouraged the Bible says this about Abraham it says this in Genesis 12:1 God says get out of your country from your family and from your father's house to a land I will show you Hebrews says this by faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out of the place which he would receive an inheritance he went out not knowing where he was going don't postpone your obedience until you get more detail it's not my job to make a miracle it's my job to march in obedience it's not my job to turn water into wine it's my job to pour water into empty vessels it's not my job to split the Jordan River it's my job to step into Jordan River it's not my job to provide a ram caught in a Thicket it's my job to offer the sacrifice God told me to offer many of us where we get anxious about is is we want to produce a miracle but God isn't expecting you to make a miracle he's expecting you to make a March meaning March in obedience do what you know is right at this moment do what you would do if you would know God is with you why he because he's with you so do that March forward but you're uncertain of the future people are afraid of getting married people are afraid of having children people are afraid of settling today especially in our generation cuz we don't know the world's going to end the global uh the the climate change what's happening in the Middle East and everything you have to understand as Christians we don't live by fear fear and faith has something in common they both ask you to believe in something you cannot see you choose what you believe in every single day you can believe in fear well you know what fear is the devil will show up in my tomorrow and kill me you know what faith is God will show up in my tomorrow and save me I choose to have faith choose to have faith when you get up in the morning or when you when you're about get out of the garage your car has these few buttons there one it says R meaning reverse the other one says D is Drive do you know that it takes same amount of energy to move that um how do you call that um the the shifter from R to D it doesn't take like in order to go into D you don't have to exercise a lot of strength same strength that it takes to move the shifter to R did you know that it takes same amount of energy to believe that you're going to fail as it is to believe God will show up same Faith every day some of us are getting up and putting our faith in Reverse by believing the devil will show up I will die this sickness will kill me I'll never make it they'll fire me this person they'll never return my call why something bad is going to happen to me you're just pretty much putting your faith in Reverse meaning you're put in your faith the devil will show up I'm challenging you today to trust in God to pray and to put your faith in Dy believe in God believe you will see the salvation of God but believe you will see the glory of [Applause] God what if nothing happens I'll rather die believing than succeed doubting I'll rather be a wet water Walker than a dry bat talker what are you expecting every day that's why God told them he says stand still position yourself and he said this you will see the salvation of God but you got to March meaning you got to take the step of Faith you got go into the unknown you got to do what you know is right you got to do what God what you know if God is with you you would do you got to do that but if I don't have all the details I got to still take a step of Faith No Lord I'm just going to stand here and wait for you to do the miracle once you do the miracle I'll come out say Ur but see Miracles don't happen where you meet miracles happen where you march Miracles don't happen just in your prayer they happen because of prayer but they happen when you come out of that prayer and you walk in obedience that's why Deuteronomy always said because you obeyed I will bless you some people use prayer as an escape from obedience there's a time to pray and there's a time to slay you pray you got to then slay then you have to go and apply then you have to go and take a step of Faith then you have to go in and you have to take that small little risk you cannot just simply pray and pray and pray and not do anything that God makes very clear to do he told them go out and March that's where fear is challenged and then what do I do when I March I expect God will show up now I don't know how I don't know when I just know who I don't know how I don't know when I know who he'll show up one woman was married to a man and uh on the wedding night she gets up she was scared that somebody broke into the house tells her husband honey you you have to go check the house because we we have somebody I have an intuition we have an intruder poor husband came down checked the whole house nobody's there came back comforted his wife says honey we're okay the second night it happened again this happened for 30 years he already automatically would go just around the house just to comfort his wonderful wife and one day he comes up there and there is a thief he was happy to see him the thief points a gun and says give me all of your belongings all your jewelry says of course yeah just don't shoot me gives him all of his stuff and right before the thief leaves he says sir you got to meet my wife she's been waiting for you it's been 30 years you finally came name you know Jesus said to a blind man according to your faith let it be to you what if every day you're putting your faith in the reverse and every day you're receiving exactly that why does God call us Believers he wants us to believe some of us are practical atheists we believe God exists but we behave as though he doesn't we expect like he doesn't he's not going to show up we're not going to see salvation we're going to see destruction so we pray for it we don't expect it and we're afraid of getting our hopes up because what if we fail it's okay if you fail he won't I don't have faith in my faith I have faith in my God my faith will fail he won't and the Bible says they marched with faith and how you know you have faith is when you're praising God for what you're still yet about to see because it's one thing when you praise God and the doctor's report came good it's another thing when it hasn't came good yet and you're already praising God in advance in advance and God's like oh wow they're already praising me for that that hasn't even come yet let's speed that up the Bible says the last verse I'm going to read in 26 on the fourth day they assembled in the valley of barah for there they blessed the Lord now this barah for you and I just a word but that word means blessing now watch this they named that Valley where their enemy came to attack them a valley of blessing because they came back again there to gather all Des spoiled and they decided to have a worship service see a valley is not where you expect a victory a burden is not where you would expect a blessing a trial is not where you would expect God to move but see what I want to tell you today is this when you have faith in God and you trust him where you cannot trace him you keep going forward and and you don't even know what's going to happen next you don't know about the future but you know who holds the future and you say you know what I'm just going to take one step at a time God will light my step what will happen is this what will seem like be your Valley will be where God will bring the victory see God doesn't have to bring the victory in your high place he can bring the victory in the low Place some of you think tric cities is a valley oh if I just go to Seattle area if I just go somewhere else and if God is moving you there God bless you but if the Lord is not moving you and you're just simply frustrated because you're not sensing a victory listen God does not need a better place to show up he just needs a better person a better attitude and God can touch you right there in the valley it could be a place of blessing maybe you look at your marriage you're like man I wish I would have not married that person well too late but you know that God can turn that Valley into a victory he can turn that joker into a blessing maybe some of you have a job and you're like man I'm not sure I like this job a lot but I don't have any other options instead of being grumpy all the time what if in that Valley God can bring a victory what if in that area God can bring a breakthrough don't be disappointed don't be discouraged because God has that for you in Jesus name well my goal today is to water ho you with encouragement and hope why because the God that I serve the god that you serve still walks with us in The Valleys of the shadow of death and because of that we fear no evil he Comforts us with his staff he sets a table in front of our enemies he anoints our head with oil and goodness and mercy will chase me all the days of my life not collectors and exes but goodness and mercy I believe in that in Jesus name and why am I optimistic because no matter what I'm going through I'm going to assemble when I don't know what to do I'm going to pray when I don't know what to do I'm going to listen to God because his word changes circumstances and when I don't know what to do I'm going to obey the last thing he said and I will obey it with faith not with trembling that something bad's going to happen but with faith God is going to move in my life in Jesus name