I began to weep. He said – “When you pray, you’re just praying for everything to go right in your life; and I’m not committed to your comfort, I’m committed to your character. Then He said to me this: “You know how you feel about your daughter. I feel that about My people too, when sin defiles their lives.” I just began to weep and weep as I felt the heart of God, and I let go. I said: “God, I thank you that You’re going to help us.” Within a space of 3 months, my daughter had an amazing encounter with angels, and her life changed. God supernaturally came to help, and the situation turned around.
Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord. He turns to the Lord in the midst of sorrows and troubles, instead of trying to control it all and bury it in the heart. Blessed is the man who turns to the Lord, and makes choices that turn the valley into a well. You can choose to trust God. You can choose to follow His way. It says in that scripture, we’ll read it again now: “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.” In other words, whose heart is willing to go through a process. We just want someone to pray and fix us, but God wants you to journey with Him and trust Him. So I went from strength to strength to strength.
When I think about that situation now, there’s no pain in my heart. I’m sad that it happened, but God has given great victory; and we have prayed for hundreds of people to be set free, who were grieving over a similar trauma. “Blessed is the man whose strength is in the Lord, whose heart embraces God’s process. They go through the valley of sorrow and make it a well, and the rain fills them, and they go from strength to strength, and they experience God.” That’s what the Psalm is saying.
Blessed is the man or woman whose strength is in God, who turns to the Lord in the midst of their trouble and says: ‘God, I’ll go through the journey and the process with You.’ They pass through the valley, they don’t stay in the place of being bitter and angry and sad and resentful - they turn it into something sweet. Instead of being angry, they forgive; instead of cursing, they bless; instead of being bitter, they do good, show kindness. That person goes from strength to strength, blessed by God, enjoying the presence of God.
You can’t enjoy the presence of God when you let bitterness in your heart. When Paul wrote, he said: don’t grieve the Holy Spirit. Don’t let there be bitterness and anger and fury in your hearts. Don’t let there be malice, payback. Rather, be kind, tender-hearted. Forgive. Enjoy the presence of God. I love the Holy Spirit. I love the presence of God. I want my life to be free. So whenever sorrows come, you must make a choice whether to stay in the valley, or turn it into a well.
Please just close your eyes right now. Tonight there’d be people here who don’t know Jesus. You were born into this world separate from God; but God loves you, He has a destiny for your life. Jesus came and died on the cross for your sins, and rose from the dead after 3 days. This is what He said: to everyone who received, to everyone to believed on Him, He gave power to be a child of God.
If you’re here tonight and don’t know Jesus, I want you to make that decision tonight. “I will receive Jesus Christ. I will turn to Him – the God who loves me. I’ll trust my life to Him and receive Him into my heart.”
[Sinner’s Prayer]
“Father in heaven, I come to You in Jesus’ name. Thank You for loving me. Thank You for sending Jesus to die on the cross for my sins, and to rise again from the dead. Tonight I turn away from sin. Tonight I turn to You. Jesus, I receive You as my Saviour. I ask You to forgive all my sins. By faith now, I receive forgiveness. I receive Your Spirit into my heart, and I give You my life tonight. Before heaven and earth I declare, Jesus Christ is my Saviour and Lord, and my friend forever. Amen.”