This message is one of the Times Square
Church Pulpit Series.
It was recorded in the sanctuary of Times
Square Church in Manhattan, New York City.
You're welcome to make additional cassettes of this
message for free distribution to friends.
However, for all other forms of reproduction or
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And I thank him for his awesome presence
in this place all day.
I thank him for his presence in my
life.
You thank him for that.
And the prayer I know of many that
sit here today is, Jesus increase your presence,
your abiding presence in my life.
I have a word today, it's called the
glorious opposites, the glorious opposites.
And as I was writing this message last
night, I said to my husband, the purpose
of this word that the Lord gave me,
it's for a group of people and this
is who it's for.
This group is those that are in a
trial of suffering because they are determined to
trust God all the way through.
There are people today that either are or
will be going into a time of suffering.
And that suffering will even be increased because
there is something in you that you have
determined that you are going to glorify God
in it and through it.
It's for every heart that is sincere and
says, God, I want to never stop believing
in you.
But it's a heart that says, God, I'm
needy and I'm poor.
I know who I am, but I'm going
to look to you and Jesus, lead me
to a place I've never been before.
Lord, it's got to be all of you
because to glorify you, Lord, if I if
I get mixed into it, then flesh wants
to glorify itself.
But Lord, I throw myself wide open to
you and the enemy will try to paint
a picture of what all that means.
But I'm going to shut out his voice
and I'm going to learn to walk with
you and let you take me to a
place only you can bring me.
And when you bring me there, your presence
will be enough and it will be a
glory in it.
Hallelujah.
You pray with me, Lord Jesus, I thank
you today for your presence.
And I thank you for this word that
you have given.
Lord, I pray that.
A wellspring of praise and the ability to
magnify you, Lord, over and higher than every
situation in our heart and in our lives
will be granted to us by your great
mercy.
Lord, we thank you for a living word
that creates faith.
We thank you that Jesus, who is our
living word, will come and be revealed.
Holy Spirit revealed Jesus to us.
Lord, let us desire him.
Let us want him, O God.
Let everything else pale in comparison to a
Jesus that gets bigger in us and through
us every day.
Lord, I thank you for the call of
many in this place today to come up
higher and to go to a place in
you and with you, Jesus, that will astound
us.
And I and close the mouth of our
enemy.
And Lord, we do thank you for it
all in Jesus name.
Amen and amen.
When we determine to trust the Lord, that
means we're trusting Jesus Christ, his son.
And when we decide that we want to
trust him through our times of adversity and
trial, we are now inviting ourselves.
We are we're entering crisis and entering is
inviting us to enter into a battlefield we
may not have known before.
And he's going to be there.
And he's looking for a people that he
can lead to this place.
You see, I believe that there's many here
who have been very well taught.
And because you have received a living word
and Christ is in your heart by faith,
and there's a growing desire to live for
him as never before.
God's saying there's that kind of people that.
That for the elect's sake, for the body's
sake, I can take this kind of people
into ground that I can't lead everybody there.
And because your willingness to follow me and
because of the trials and some of the
sufferings that that will entail.
It is like you are offering yourself.
For my glory, and I'm going to receive
much glory if you will do that.
And it's like for the elect's sake, many
are going to feed off our lives.
Many are going to look into our lives
and see Jesus.
And many are going to want him.
This morning we heard an incredible message on
suffering, but it wasn't a message.
It was much more than a message.
It really was a life.
That has been offered on an altar.
And saying, Lord, for those that I minister
to, for the call of my life, do
what you want.
And we come and we feed off a
life like that and a surrender like that.
But it's not for the one or the
two.
This kind of glory that Jesus is inviting
us to is for all those that can
hear and will be led.
Now we have to know right off the
bat, we're all poor and needy.
Those that say, Jesus, lead me wherever you
have to lead me so that I may
exalt you and magnify you.
We understand that we are poor and needy.
And that's what trusting God is about because
our very weakness is our source of strength.
The scripture says, when I am weak, then
I am strong.
Truly becomes a living reality to us.
There's always going to be a pull back
to trust ourselves.
And when we trust ourselves in a time
of suffering, in a time of trial, that's
the ground for defeat.
That's the ground where we lose the lesson
and the power and the beauty of what
Christ wants to teach us in the midst
of our suffering.
You know, to trust means to change.
To trust means an exchange.
To trust means something in us must die,
that something of Christ will live in us
in its stead.
In 2 Corinthians 1.9, it says, but
we have the sentence of death in ourselves
so that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God who raises the dead.
And this is the journey that we're on.
God is saying that those that I'm going
to lead in, you're in suffering right now.
You are in a trial.
You're in adversity.
God says you are on a glorious ground
and you don't know it because you're coming
to the end of yourselves in this suffering.
It's a purifying.
And you're realizing that you can't trust yourself
and I can't trust myself in this place.
And God says that's good because now a
holy exchange can come on and the fear
or the rebellion or the self-centeredness can
be exchanged for my heart and life.
Something of me will be replaced when something
of you goes.
And we have a sentence of dying in
ourselves and that's a good thing, but we
don't realize how good it is till we
get in a place of suffering because we
get stripped in suffering.
And the things that are matter and all
-consuming to us get revealed for what they
are.
How so much of it is just a
diversion and so much of it is just
a vanity to take us on another path.
But if we've truly given our heart to
Christ and we say, Lord, ride on King
Jesus.
No man will hinder me because I have
heard, oh God, that when I would follow
you into your death, burial and resurrection, there
is a glorious life where you will prove
yourself to be resurrection and life in me
and through me all the time.
That doesn't mean there aren't times of despair
or darkness or loneliness, but it means a
whole new way of living.
It means that we conquer the fear that
keeps us back.
Suffering will do that.
Because suffering takes away our options.
Our strength to come to Christ in times
of suffering is knowing our need and we
begin to crave his presence in our suffering.
When we suffer, nothing else satisfies and we
begin to crave him.
And faith that is produced exalts in this
time is a faith that can exalt Jesus
Christ above every difficulty.
You see, when our difficulties are ever before
our faith, it's hard to escape them.
When our time of suffering and trial, when
it's our hour to be in that place,
there's no running from it.
There's no hiding from it.
It is there.
And Jesus will come to us in such
a sweet and strong way in that time.
And he gives us through his word, all
of a sudden, we can begin to hear
him say, exalt me over what's facing you.
Magnify me, put me and who I am
and what I have done for you and
what I am doing in you and what
I will do for you through this.
Put this above everything that you are facing.
And when we can learn to exalt him
and magnify him above everything, he becomes a
God that we can bend our knee gladly
to.
He becomes a God that takes away the
fear because every time we bend our knee
and saying, God, right at this moment, you
know what it costs, but I will exalt
you over my fear and I will exalt
you over my questions.
He comes as King Jesus.
He comes as the Prince of Peace.
He comes as a comforter.
He comes so strongly and so sweetly.
Beloved, we get weaned.
We get weaned of that which used to
trap us and cause us to fall all
the time.
He's teaching us that our first response in
times of suffering will be Lord, we turn
immediately when the pressure, when the pain, when
the fear comes.
Lord, teach me a first response right away
is, Lord, I will turn my heart to
you and I will exalt you in that
moment.
You know, in Canada, there's a place, I
won't tell you where, but there's a place
we go fishing and there's huge fish.
And the average catch is 10, 12 pounds,
but occasionally we have hauled them in 30,
35 pounds.
And when you haul these huge monsters in,
without a doubt, they all have scars.
You see, they got that big because they
learned some things.
They learned that everything that dangled and glittered
before them could be a trap, could be
something other than what it appears.
And these big fish are scarred and they're
that big because they have learned some lessons.
And beloved, I want to, I want the
Holy Spirit to bring out this today that
the most successful Christian walk is not those
that have made, that has had the least
trouble.
That's not the most successful Christian walk.
That's had the least trouble.
No, the successful Christian walk is those that
have the most of Christ.
And those that have the most of Christ
means they have made a choice to trust
Him.
That they have learned something.
That they have grown to be this size
in Christ.
Because they have learned some things.
And when we choose to trust Christ, the
Holy Spirit says, I can teach a heart
like that.
I could teach a heart like that.
Now the Psalms is an incredible teaching manual
on what I want to say today.
And the number one lesson for today's lesson
that I feel the Holy Spirit wants me
to share is that in our time of
suffering, whatever the devil is whispering to us,
to a sincere heart in a time of
trial and suffering, is that the exact opposite
of what he's saying is true.
That what the devil is whispering and painting
a picture, the exact opposite is true.
There's times in every believer's heart when we
are fighting the good fight, and there's a
battle without.
And if we're saying, Lord, I want your
will for my life, and put me in
a place where I can witness.
Lord, put me in a place where I'm
learning of you.
Lord, teach me.
Teach me what it is to walk with
you.
And there's a desire to be out there.
There's a desire to obey him and follow
him.
Beloved, know one thing.
As we turn our eyes to the battle
without, the enemy will turn and try to
stoke up the battle within.
And the battle within will intensify.
And many times, you know, there's many kinds
of suffering.
And if we would look to your neighbor,
to your left or to your right, their
countenance would not tell you the whole story.
In fact, the story that they choose to
share with you probably wouldn't be the whole
story.
You see, there are different kinds of suffering.
But when Christ is in it, and Christ
is leading us in this suffering in time
of adversity, it leads to a glorious end.
But when we determine to trust God in
this suffering, know that the battle within will
intensify.
Because the devil now sees something that he
fears greatly.
A person who decides to trust the Lord
Jesus Christ through it all is an incredible
threat to him.
And the first thing they will begin to
feel, or we will begin to feel many
times, is our own failure.
And the things that I'm going to share
with you, they don't come in any certain
order.
But they are things that are shared by
the whole body of Christ.
And many things at the beginning are shared
by newer Christians.
And when we step out, we are going
to feel our own failure.
And that's part of the reason why we
suffer.
And there will be a besetting sin.
And there'll be something that there is repeated
neglect in our life.
And we can be overcome with shame.
Why?
Because it's a signal or a sign of
a tenderized heart.
It's a sign that Christ really has come
in.
And he has changed our heart.
And so now when we sin, and when
we want him, and we fail, we feel
it acutely.
And that's part of the suffering.
And the enemy will come and magnify and
magnify our failure.
He will magnify what we have done wrong.
And his goal is to cover us with
shame.
To swallow us up.
To get our eyes on ourselves in that
time where we know we have failed.
And we know that because of our failures,
others have suffered.
And when we begin to see ourselves in
the stark light of truth, it's like standing
in the middle of a noonday sun with
no shadows.
No covering.
And many with a tenderized heart end up
crying out like David did when he saw
that because of his sin, now his generation,
his son Absalom was going in a path
so far from the heart of God.
And the scripture says at one point he
cries out, Oh Absalom, Absalom.
From the gut, from the depth of who
he was, there was a cry.
And beloved, it was a kind of cry
that was beginning to paralyze him and take
away his faith and trust in God.
It was a kind of gut cry where
he was almost inconsolable.
Where the enemy wanted him to keep focusing
on what was happening now because of his
failure.
When he could see no covering and no
covering for his shame and his sin.
But beloved, when our enemy begins to paralyze
us with regret, turn with me quickly, we're
going to look in Psalm 35.
When David began to experience this kind of
suffering, this kind of uncovered, naked shame in
his own sin and seeing what he had
done wrong with a tenderized heart.
In Psalm 35, the Holy Spirit stirred David
to write this truth against his enemy and
God's enemy.
And he said in Psalm 35 verses 24,
he says, Judge me, O Lord my God,
according to thy righteousness and let them not
rejoice over me.
Let them not say in their hearts, Ah,
so we would have it.
Let them not say we have swallowed him
up.
Let them be ashamed and be brought to
confusion.
Together that rejoice at my hurt.
Let them be clothed with shame and dishonor
that magnify themselves against me.
And the Holy Spirit is stirring David up.
And he's saying your enemy seeks to magnify
you.
He wants to cover you with that kind
of shame and dishonor because of your sin.
But David says in verse 27, the Holy
Spirit reminds them, Let them, that's those who
trust in me, shout for joy and be
glad that favor my righteous cause.
Yea, let them say continually, Let the Lord
be magnified, which has pleasure in the prosperity
of his servant.
And God's saying, I want you to now
magnify when the enemy comes and magnifies your
sin.
If you belong to me, if we trust
Christ as our Savior today, when the enemy
magnifies our sin and causes us an intense
suffering because of past failure, and he wants
to cover us with a shame and a
dishonor that it paralyzes us.
God says you magnify me and you magnify
my son.
You remember what, one more time, how I
have clothed you.
I have covered your sin and I have
clothed you.
And do not let this kind of shame
and regret clothe you that it paralyzes you.
He says it is your right, it is
your heritage to turn to the enemy and
say the shame you are trying to put
on me, let it be on thee.
He's saying that when the enemy comes and
says, You're going to all your life live
in confusion.
You're going to live in shame.
And that failure will ever be before your
eyes.
God says magnify me and remember my cross,
remember my blood.
He says let me be magnified.
And he says then remember the Lord has
pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
For those who have a contrite spirit, God
says I can't give enough to you.
When the enemy comes in and says, and
reminds us constantly of that open sin and
regret, say God I thank you that it
is my heritage to be clothed, that it
can be covered.
That Lord, when I have a contrite spirit,
you've given me a new heart and you
are now going to show me, God, you're
going to lead me out by your spirit.
You're going to show what was the root
in me, but you're going to come and
your spirit changes me.
As we heard this morning, as I behold
you, as I look to you, Jesus, and
your word lives in me, you change me
and I don't live in the shame of
the past because I'm a new creation.
Hallelujah.
Says the Lord has pleasure in the prosperity
of his servant.
That means the Lord has great pleasure in
letting us know we are secure.
That he brings us success against our enemy.
That our well-being, he gets pleasure in
our well-being.
He gets pleasure with a harmonious state of
soul and mind.
God is glorified when there is a peace
in our soul and our mind.
And when we remember to magnify the Lord
over the enemy's magnification of repented sin, of
sin that has been covered, it is our
glory to say, My God, I thank you.
You take pleasure in prospering me.
You are for me.
Now, for many, they say, Well, if the
Lord has such pleasure in my prosperity, why
one battle after the other?
Why for a season is there an unrelenting
assault?
And in Psalm 37 verse 12, we see
this.
And it says, The wicked plot us against
the just and gnash upon him with his
teeth.
You see, beloved, God is saying now that
those that are willing to trust God in
suffering, He says you have to know something.
That the wicked one and the ones he
control plot against the just.
He plots.
He meditates.
He schemes.
He resolves.
He, we are an unholy obsession with him
on how he can trap us and shame
us and confound us.
There are situations conceived in hell to trap
us so that we will dishonor Christ.
So we will lay down our testimony.
So then in our hour of greatest need,
people will say, Where is your God now?
It's great when it's going well to praise
your God.
But when you need him the most, where
is he?
And I tell you, plots conceived in hell
come against those that are determined to trust
him in their suffering.
And the scripture says, And gnashes on him
with his teeth.
And this tells me this is this is
a very personal time.
This is a very personal attack.
This is painful.
This is a time of agony, of ripping.
It is a time when to live is
to bear the burden of life.
Some people know what I'm talking about.
When to live is to bear the burden
of life.
When it would be so much easier to
run away, to hide, to give up.
And it's a plot conceived in hell.
We can't begin to know the depth of
it.
We can't begin to understand it in our
own mind.
We can't begin to even share it one
with another because we don't understand the half
of it.
And they can't feel what we're feeling.
And there's that kind of suffering.
So that finally, we give up.
We may never say the words.
That clearly.
But we say the words.
In our hopelessness.
In our despair.
In our not turning to him anymore.
And are not talking to him anymore.
And are not crying out, God.
God.
You alone can rescue me.
God says, I wrote like this.
So that you would know, I know the
depth of this pain.
I wrote it like this.
So that I know how personal this attack
is.
So that when he comes with this plot.
With this thing from hell.
He's gnashing on us with our teeth.
When it is a savage attack.
God says, I have given this type of
suffering to those whom I have prepared for
it.
There is a work of grace that goes
on in a prepared heart.
You see, a prepared heart is a person
who's starting to hunger for the word.
Who's starting to desire to pray like never
before.
It's a person who, they can't explain it.
But it is a yearning so deep going
on, they can't get enough.
That's a prepared heart.
Because God knows we cannot make it without
a continual cry for his spirit.
That it be his presence.
And that his word would bring light to
us.
And that only his word would bring light
to us.
Because of this kind of attack.
You can't have a neighbor on the phone.
And you can't have a counselor holding your
hand through this one.
And God says that those are determined to
trust me through this.
And will glorify me in this.
He says an awesome thing.
You are declaring to all the world that
I have prepared you for this.
It has not caught you unawares.
He says I'm going to be there like
a Niagara.
He says that those are facing this kind
of attack.
If you will stop and say, God, you
know, you understand.
I may not have realized you were preparing
me.
But this hunger, this desire to pray, this
thing to say, God, no matter what you
have to do in my life, do it.
I don't care.
I want you to be magnified.
I want you to be glorified in me.
That's a prepared heart.
And I love what God says to this
one in verse 13.
Because as ferociously as we are attacked, we
need to know the end of the story.
It seems like such a story of tears.
But verse 13 says the Lord shall laugh
at him.
That's our enemy who's attacking us.
For he seeeth that his day is coming.
Our suffering is temporary.
We've got a heaven.
We've got a glory.
We've got a Jesus to comfort us.
But we've got an enemy that has been
plotting and conceiving against us that he may
sully the name of Christ.
And Christ says, I see your day coming.
And it is without end.
I see your day coming.
And for reasons known only to him, there
is a bride in the fire that I'm
going to lead through that are going to
glorify my name.
And it's going to make your time in
hell twice as bad when you remember them.
Hallelujah.
Says verse 14, the wicked have drawn out
the sword and have bent their bow to
cast down the poor and needy.
That's us.
That's those trusting in the fire.
And to slay such as be of an
upright conversation.
Their sword shall enter into their own heart.
And their bow shall be broken.
And God's saying everything that the enemy planned
in this wicked thing from hell.
When he took that sword to run us
through, God says, no, no, no, no.
It doesn't go through your heart.
It goes through his.
If you'll trust me, when he says, I'm
taking you down, we can remember, my God,
you prepared my heart and your word is
a shield to me.
And when he runs at me, what he
thinks is the final blow that will take
me down.
I'm going to trust you.
And that word is going to be a
shield to me.
And it's going to bend and turn around
and enter his own heart.
God, that what he said he's going to
do to me.
There is a glorious opposite at work.
God, everything he prophesied over my life.
If I trust you and I won't let
go in this fire, it comes on his
own head.
Hallelujah.
Their sword will enter their own heart and
their Bible shall be broken.
And why?
Because verse 14 to slay such as such
as be of upright conversation.
Of those at the time of the fiery
trial will say, God, by your grace, keep
my mouth.
Keep my lips.
Keep my testimony.
God, I'll pour my complaint out to you.
God, I'll let you know it all because
you know it anyway.
But God, I'm going to have that upright
conversation that will magnify you.
I choose to magnify you when hell breaks
in.
I'm going to magnify you.
God says you're going to see bows broken
when you magnify me because they can't get
at you.
As you lift me up, I am your
shield and the glory and the lifter of
your head.
Hallelujah.
Those that be of upright conversation, those that
have that manner of life that will say,
God, I have to hang on to you
because I won't make it through otherwise.
But God says, I'm going to be rich
in that time.
I'm going to be rich in that time
to you.
The Lord laughs.
This assault will utterly backfire.
You know, sometimes at the worst of moments,
we have to laugh.
And I pray God will open our ears
to hear holy laughter.
God says, I have prepared you.
Trust me, I will keep you and your
testimony will cause their plans to backfire.
Those in the fire will magnify the Lord
above their pain.
Hallelujah.
Now, many upon hearing this will start to
think, God, I don't know if I can
withstand such an assault.
I mean, I'm hearing, God, how your word
will bring about glorious absence.
But I think when I hear of how
the enemy so ferociously goes against those that
are determined to glorify him in their suffering,
I don't know if I can withstand an
assault like that.
That's for the brave and the powerful.
God says in verse 36, no, he says
in verse 14, it's for the poor and
the needy.
Fear builds.
If I face a plot conceived in hell,
I'm never going to stand because Lord, there
are times before even my time of intense
trial and adversity or suffering.
There are times I can barely stand now.
And beloved, if we're honest, we would say
I fall as much as I stand at
times.
Oh, yes.
I want you to know everybody has that
in their testimony.
And that's why the gray hairs among us
minister with such love.
I love my husband's testimony at the Bible
college.
He says, well, when I'm talking about the
grace of God, he says, all I can
say is that I've served him for 25
years, failed him 10,000 times.
And the plan for my life goes on.
And we fall as much as we stand.
But, you know, for a prepared heart, beloved,
there's something extraordinary that goes on in a
time of suffering, in a time of intense
trial and pain.
There is another thing at work.
You know, the enemy says, you're going to
fall.
You're not going to make it.
You're going to, you are going to fall
right into my arms.
You're going to fall into my clutches.
You can't survive this kind of attack.
Others you could, but you can't, you're not
going to survive this one.
And beloved, that is the tactic the enemy
uses against us all.
That is the recurring fear among godly people.
Yes, there's been a history of testimony of
God's faithfulness to you, to me.
But this time, this time, you're not going
to make it because you know your own
heart and I know my own heart.
And we know that we have fallen as
much as we have stood some days.
And the enemy says, you're going to fall
right into my arms.
You are not.
You're going to be swallowed up.
I have a plot that will take you
down.
And if we don't know the depth of
our own weakness, yes, we are very vulnerable.
But the Lord has a word in the
time of the hottest part of the fire.
And it says in verse 17.
For the arms of the wicked shall be
broken, but the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
And he says, you're going to fall into
my arms.
I'm not just going to, you're not just
going to hold on.
I'm going to keep you down.
And the Lord says to those in this
fire, he says, no, no, no, in this
fire, in this trial, he says, I want
you to know that I have broken the
arms of the wicked one.
He can't hold you, let alone keep you.
He can't hold you to keep you, him
close to you.
And he can't keep you down.
His arms are broken.
But the Lord upholdeth the righteous.
The Lord said, it is me that is
going to hold you.
In this time, if you will seek in
this time of your greatest trial to glorify
me, underneath are the everlasting arms and I
will never let you go.
And where the enemy for a season was
allowed to oppress and seem to put his
arms around you.
He says, when I come in this trial
and this fire, I break his arms.
He won't be able to hold you and
he won't be able to keep you down.
Hallelujah.
God says you will not be utterly cast
down.
He says, it is me who is holding
you.
I will uphold you and you will fall
down, but you will only fall so far.
You will only fall enough to get the
fear and the pride knocked out of you.
Hallelujah.
And when I began to read these verses,
there was like a faith arising in my
soul.
It was like, Lord, for a minute, I
stood on high ground.
And I saw these glorious promises.
I see how unstoppable you are in the
time of our trial and fire.
And it was like, I was like this
little kid jumped up and down.
But then I remembered a story.
My son, this past summer, he decided to
go skydiving.
He wanted to jump out of a plane
at 10,000 feet.
And some staff members went with him from
this church.
And he was sitting on the edge of
the plane, 10,000 feet up with the
door open.
With his legs dangling over the edge of
the plane.
He said that was a bad moment.
Wondering why did I agree to this?
And he got voted to go first.
And he looked over the guys behind him.
He goes, I want you guys to know
if this doesn't work, there's a few jobs
on the line.
But he said when he jumped out of
that plane, somewhere from the depth of his
being, a scream came forth.
He didn't think he was capable of screaming.
Everything from the roots of his being came
out at the top of his lungs at
full force.
He was screaming in absolute fear a third
of the way down.
And then at the end, he just kept
screaming for joy, for release.
Because when all of a sudden, when that
chute opened up, and all of a sudden
the adrenaline rush hit him, by the time
he hit the ground, he said he was
jumping up and down.
I want to go again.
I want to do it again.
He said the euphoria that came over him
was incredible.
All he wanted to do was get back
up in that plane and jump again.
And I thought, God, this is the, what
we've been describing here in some ways.
Oh God, when we will trust you and
leap out of that plane, for it's the
worst moment of our life.
And it's the best moments of our life.
When the enemy oppresses like that from hell,
it's like we'll never make it.
But something pushes us out in that time.
And when we let out a cry for
him, he answers it.
And when we touch on his ground, it's
God, do it again.
Give me the grace to obey you again.
Give me the grace to trust you again.
God, you were so awesome in the fire.
You were so awesome in the trial.
I want to do it again.
Hallelujah.
But Psalm 35 verses one and three says,
plead my cause, oh Lord, with them that
strive with me.
Fight against them that fight against me.
Take hold of the shield and buckler and
stand up for mine help.
Draw out also the spear and stop the
way against them that persecute me.
Say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.
Now, beloved, when that word plead is an
awesome word.
It's a word that means physical, verbal or
legal combat.
And it's saying, God, come on every dimension
and fight for me.
And you can hear this warrior fight against
them that fight for me.
It's a combat word.
When I plead God, come and fight against
those that fight.
Fight them that fight me.
And the verse two says, stand up for
my help.
And verse three says, stop the way against
them that persecute them.
And I could see me and my faith
jumping up and down like Jared on the
ground.
But then that verse that says, say unto
my soul, I am thy salvation.
And God said to me, Teresa, there's something
you'll want you to understand in all this.
You and I, when we trust God in
our fire, God says there's going to be
a testimony produced in us that all the
world is going to recognize and all the
power of the enemy will have to bow
down before when we can say, God, when
God can say to us, I am thy
salvation.
And I realize that when God takes us
through these trials that I've just enunciated and
we begin to see that God says when
the enemy speaks to us, the glorious opposite
is true.
And get in my word and find out
what he's saying to you, how it can
be turned against him.
And I will see you through.
But God's saying there's something greater and deeper
than that.
He's saying, I want a people in the
end that's not just light, but heat.
That can say that when God says, I
am thy salvation, they know it to the
core of their being.
And my last scriptures are Psalm 31.
I want to show something to you that
the Lord showed me.
It says in Psalm 31, it begins in
verse nine.
It says, have mercy upon me, O Lord.
For I am in trouble and my eye
is consumed with grief.
Yea, my soul and my belly for my
life is spent with grief and my years
with sighing.
My strength faileth because of my iniquity and
my bones are consumed.
Beloved, I want to close with this last
one.
You see, in the fiery trials, when we
are determined to glorify him in our suffering,
we have to understand one thing.
Our times are in his hand.
And there are going to be times when
we are going to declare the works of
God.
And we're going to see every weapon of
the enemy formed against us, not prospering and
turn back into the soul of the enemy.
But God was saying to me, there is
one thing, Teresa, that in order to have
this kind of magnifying me in the suffering,
right through to the end, means we have
to go right through to the end.
Because there's a kind of a grief.
There is a kind of a weeping that
does not go away quickly.
There is a kind of suffering, beloved, that
is longstanding.
There is a longstanding pain.
There is a longstanding grief.
There is the kind of thing that there
is a, there is something going on in
this one that we can almost sound trite
when we speak to them, because everything I've
said to you, this point is gloriously true.
But there are some people that God has
specially chosen and marked, and they're in it
for the long haul.
And God is saying, there are some people
that are not going to see a resolution
quickly.
And I'm going to prepare their heart, but
they have a special place in the body.
They are needed in the body.
We need their testimony.
We need to know this.
We need to understand that there is a
kind of a suffering and a trial that
is not over in a day.
It's not over in a week.
It doesn't have a Pollyanna ending.
It's not 30 minutes with a happy ending.
But there is a time that God is
saying in verse 9 and verse 10, it
says, my life is spent with grief and
my years with sighing.
And this now is a picture of something
that we need, the long suffering of God,
a special grace, the most special grace.
And it says, God, because of my iniquities,
my bones are consumed.
Let me tell you what that means.
It means that under the pressure, that under
the weight of this period of suffering that
is long.
It says there's an iniquity of that time's
giving way to fear and despair, to doubt
the goodness of God in my life.
Even though you've proved yourself over and over.
But a long standing suffering and grief has
made an inroad and God knows that.
And it says my bones are consumed.
It says there's no skeleton left.
I can't stand anymore.
And beloved, if we will know this kind
of trust where we will glorify him and
magnify him in the suffering, there's going to
be some who are appointed to have to
go all the way through in their praising
him.
And the scripture describes these people.
It says in verse 11, I was approached
among my enemies, but especially among my neighbors.
I can understand, you know, those that dislike
me don't like what I stand for.
Don't want my testimony.
Don't want to hear or see or know
me.
But he says, when it's my neighbors and
I was a fear to my acquaintance because
there's not a quick resolution, people begin to
pull away.
Because it's not this kind of happy ending.
But there seems to be a suffering, a
grief that is a constant thing.
People pull away from that.
It's almost like by association.
I better stay away.
Something might happen to me.
It's talking about a loneliness and an aloneness
in this kind of thing.
And the scripture says in verse 13.
For I've heard no verse 12.
I am forgotten as a dead man out
of mind.
I am like a broken vessel.
And verse 13, for I've heard the slander
of many.
Fear was on every side while they took
counsel together against me.
They devised to take away my life.
No one wants to know me.
The word always seems to me to be
wait.
That's what these people would say.
My word is always wait, wait.
Seems God has all the patience and ours
has run out.
You know, because when we wait, we have
to fight voices.
And this scripture says these voices are slanders.
And they're going to slander God.
They're going to slander everything about our lives.
Slander is lies that breed fear.
And there is going to be a battle,
not just with our grief and long suffering.
But there is going to be a battle
that these lies that are forever pressing in
on us.
Not create a fear where we will let
go.
Not create a fear where we'll turn away.
Not create a fear, God, where one more
time we take spiritual inventory every so often.
Because when others get delivered and our word
is wait, we start taking spiritual inventory.
God, did I displease you?
Have I sinned away my chance?
Have I sinned too grievously?
And at our weakest, the scripture says that
the enemy now plans to take away our
life.
That means the life of Christ in us.
He's going to wait till we look like
the weakest when the questions are the biggest.
For those that whose word is wait.
For those that have it year upon year
upon year.
For those that don't have this life that
others seem to have.
But God says something so precious to these
ones.
He says, verse 14.
But I trusted in thee, O Lord.
I said thou art my God.
Verse 19.
Oh, how great is thy goodness, which thou
has laid up for them that fear thee,
which thou has wrought for them that trust
in thee before the sons of men.
Thou shall hide them in the secret of
thy presence.
God is saying that those that are caused
to bear a testimony of a long suffering
and await.
God's saying that those ones, he says, I'm
going to hide you in the secret of
my presence.
God is just.
And he says those that are in this
place where for many years standing, there is
a suffering.
God says it's to those that I'm going
to hide in the secret of my presence.
He says it's to those that I will
reveal myself the clearest and the most sweetly
and the strongest to.
He says it's to those I'm going to
hide.
And we're going to go to a place.
I'm going to reveal myself to you.
And you're going to come out with revelation.
Nobody else has.
He says the God of the earth shall
the judge of all the earth shall do
right.
And to those that are called to be
in long suffering.
He says, I'm going to reveal myself to
you.
I'm going to hide you away.
In a secret place.
And you're going to dwell in my presence.
Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion
from the strife of tongues.
He says over time, I'm going to learn
to take you to a place where those
that slander and those that speak against you
and those that judge and every lie from
the pit of hell conceived against you, he
says, I'm bringing to you to a place
where their words are not going to affect
you anymore.
But your words, your words are going to
have a power to break the enemy.
Your words will have the power to break
the back of the young, the old, the
sick, the infirm, the healthy, the wealthy, the
wise go through that trial of long suffering
and say, God, I'm trusting you through it.
Hang on to me so I can hang
on to you.
God says, I will hide you in my
presence.
And your relay, your revelation of me will
be glorious and your words will break the
power of the enemy.
Hallelujah.
Psalm 35, 10 says it this way.
All my bones shall say, Lord, who is
like unto thee?
When the enemy said, you've got no more
backbone, you've got no more bones to stand.
God says, I'm going to send my quickening
spirit upon you.
Hang on, glorify me.
Be determined to trust me in your suffering.
You'll have a new skeleton.
Those bones I will make as new and
you will stand in the fire and you
will glorify me and all my bones.
The ones you restored Lord shall say, who
is like unto thee?
Hallelujah, which deliver us the poor from him
that is too strong for him.
Yea, the poor and the needy from him
that spoileth him.
Oh, beloved.
When we seek to magnify him, lift him
up.
When we choose to trust him in our
suffering, in our fire, in our trial, no
matter what the length, no matter what the
duration.
Beloved, there is going to be a glory
in our soul.
We're not just going to be light, we'll
be heat.
You know, when we come to Christ, our
battle is not sin anymore.
That's taken care of at the cross.
If we've come to Christ and we trust
him and he accepts us and washes us
in his blood and now we have access
with the father, our battle is not with
sin anymore.
The sin question was settled, but our battle
is belief and trust in our time of
trial.
That's our battle.
That we'll keep on believing him and we'll
keep exalting him over what comes against us.
Our battle will be to believe and trust
him.
That God will be faithful.
God will be faithful.
He will uncover the lies of the devil
and he's going to let us exalt him
and magnify him in our trial.
Beloved, there are many here that God's going
to trust you with suffering for his glory.
Because we heard it this morning so well,
because those that can follow him down this
path and glorify him, you're going to touch
people, the untouchables.
You're going to reach the unreachables by who
we are.
Our whole lives are going to save you
could know his love.
It is enough.
You know, we're not saved because we suffer.
We're not better because we suffer.
But we have entered into the best school
in the kingdom.
When God takes us to that path of
suffering and we say, God, by your grace,
I am determined to trust you and glorify
you.
Will you stand with me?
It's not a coincidence that the Lord has
spoken two words on suffering.
We're a society.
We fear it.
And we're being taught so much better.
We are a society that seems to think
we're a leper if we suffer, but we're
being taught so much better.
And those that are saying, you know, God,
I thank you for this grace.
I'm going to trust you.
Beloved, God needs this testimony and he's going
to be so glorious in it.
But there are some today that are saying,
God, I want to be able to trust
you.
I want to.
I want to be able to determine to
trust you no matter what.
But there have been things.
That you know, even now that you have
placed trust in other things.
Some of you that actually you've placed your
trust in fear and you think if you
look the other way, God won't call you.
God won't see you and you won't have
to walk it.
No, it is an incredible love that we
get to walk the way Jesus did.
He is, he, I'll tell you something.
It is a gift.
I read a book once where it was
called The Gift of Pain.
It was an incredible book.
Beloved, suffering will come to us all.
But the Holy Ghost is saying, who will
let a true heart search go on that
say, God, every any area where I fear
this.
But God, you know that I want to
trust you in it.
God, you know, I do.
I'm coming to this altar now and I'm
going to ask you to search my heart.
You know, my reigns, you know, my life.
You know, it's in the core.
God, I thank you that as I come
before you open that, Lord, you will reveal
things to me so that I may go
all the way through magnifying you and glorifying
you in my time of trial.
This is your heart's cry.
You come as the singers sing.
Those that have come to this altar.
I know that you were saying, God, I
want the heart to trust you through it
all, not halfway and not secretly in my
heart, angry at you and solemn and resentful.
God, I want you to do that thorough
work that may glorify you and know your
glory and presence in my life.
There's a scripture in Jeremiah 17, it says,
Curse be the man that trusteth in man.
Beloved, cursed is the man that trust in
men, because when you trust in man, you
only get what man can do.
That's why they're cursed.
But we determined to trust God.
We get what God can do.
That's why we're blessed.
And God will be faithful to you.
God will be faithful to you because we're
going to trust a God that cannot fail.
He will be faithful to us.
And he is going to teach us how
to glorify him in our suffering all the
way through, whatever he appoints for us, however
he appoints for us.
He said he will be more than there.
And beloved, we are going to have a
testimony of his love.
People are going to be so drawn because
our eyes are on Jesus.
And there's a love that flows through.
It's a healing love.
It's a giving love because we've received.
And beloved suffering opens our hearts.
It opens our minds.
It opens us up to him.
That's why we thank God for every trial
and tribulation, because Jesus reveals himself to us.
Now, you know why you've come and you
know what the issue is.
Many of you here.
I'm just going to ask you if you'd
raise your hands.
Before the God who sees all before the
God that knows us before the God who
tries us before the God who says the
fruit of your life, look at it.
That's really what's in your heart.
And now we come before a God who
sees that and knows that we say, God,
I offer you all Lord that where I'm
trusting in other things other than you and
Lord God, I curse it because it's a
curse because it's a trust not found in
you.
But Lord, those that will trust you will
be blessed.
Those that trust you will be blessed.
And God, I thank you that you're going
to give me the grace to go right
through that.
Lord, I'm going to be able to call
the devil a liar, that everything he whispers
to me is the glorious opposite, that everything
he says to me will happen to himself
and that Lord, I'm not going to fear
what he says.
He should fear what he says.
And the Lord, I'm going to trust you.
I'm going to let your word be my
meat and my drink.
Come now, those of you come and say,
Lord, I just want to be able to
let your this.
You're the Bible and your spirit to be
my meat and drink.
I thank you.
You'll teach me the Bible.
You will teach me what it means.
You will give me understanding.
And Lord, I'm going to feed on it.
And Lord, I'm going to grow big in
you.
Lord, I may have scars from the enemy,
but I wasn't captured by the enemy.
And then Lord, I'm going to grow big
in you.
And there's going to be a glorious testimony
of you in my life.
That's going to break the power of darkness
for many who will see my life.
And Lord, I'm going to say it's all
you, Jesus.
It's all you.
Hallelujah.
Now praise him, beloved, for this truth.
Praise him for this truth.
Hallelujah.
Thank you, Jesus.
Hallelujah.
Glory to you, Lord.
Glory.
We magnify you, my covenant God.
Thank you, Jesus.
Hallelujah.
This is the conclusion of the message.