How to get to the Other Side of Hopelessness

[Music] i don't know who this is for but i believe it's going to be for somebody i want to talk to you about how to get to the other side of hopelessness the uh how to get to the other side of hopelessness god i thank you that you came i thank you that you so loved the world that you gave your only begotten son so that we could have life today i i acknowledge what a precious gift we got when we got jesus we got everything i thank you for that and today lord as i declare your word please speak through me i don't know every person that's watching i don't know their the levels of of possible hopelessness that they are are have found themselves in but god you know and so i ask you to use me today to speak to them and to give them some tools to help them eq be equipped to make it through all that we have to face in life use us for your glory send the kind of anointing that makes preaching easy and hearing the word a sweet delight and we will thank you for it in jesus name a man and eight men you know i want to just take a moment and i was thinking last night about um what 2020 uh has taught me and you you would do you would be it would be remiss of you and me and anybody else to go through what we've been through and not ask god what we needed to learn in the middle of this kind of a year one of the things that it has taught me is that life is fragile i've lost a lot of friends this year um lost people that i had relationships with this year so i understand how um how fragile life is people are gasping for their breath all around the world this morning and the very fact that we're able to breathe that's enough to praise god right there that's enough for you to not need really anybody to cheer lead you or to try to get you to worship god or to bring to god the gifts that you have for him uh just the fact that you're able to take a deep breath i walked around my house late last night and i took a deep breath i actually sat i had been walking around the house i sat on the edge of my bed and i just took a deep breath and as i took that breath in i just prayed for people who were not able to do that and so i've learned in 2020 the fragility of life i've also learned that life is precious it is very precious and if you have been blessed to live through this year then you have got to know in your heart of hearts and down deep in your soul that you have survived for a reason you have life for a reason that and you have to know that god doesn't just give and extend life to people for absolutely no reason there is there is a purpose and there is a mission for your life there is i'm going to say that again there's a purpose and there is a mission for your life and one of the best favors that we can do for ourself is to understand exactly what our life's mission is all about the whole reason that jesus came to the earth was so that we could have life and that we could have it with a purpose that we could have it more abundantly so he prepared us and when he put us when he took us out of eternity and he put us into time when we came into the earth we came fully packed fully prepared uh fully charged for what he has called us to do we came up with a mandate when i came into the earth on april 17 1960 i came with an assignment i had no idea what an assignment was i had no idea what a kingdom purpose was but when i came into the earth i came prepared for this day i didn't know it but god knew it and he all along the way he had groomed my life caused me to know who i needed to know caused me to be in touch with who i needed to be in touch with he fed me uh by whom i needed to be fed so that i could have the opportunity to get right to where i am today because when god calls us he gives us a purpose and we got to remember that we have not been given life just so that we could live in any old kind of way or we could do any whatever we wanted to do with it absolutely god not god is so much bigger than all of that he's bigger uh he's bigger than our cause he's bigger than our reason he's bigger than our purpose he's bigger than our goal and he's bigger uh than our mission for life so whatever we do when god has given us a mission the worst thing that you can do is try to run from that mission because your blessing is tied to your mission your blessing is tied to your purpose your peace is tied to your purpose the fulfillment of your life your days your years your hours they're all tied into the purpose of god for your life so the best thing that we can do is not run from the purpose or run from the mission but it is to run towards the mission the worst thing that we can do is to try to run away from it and that is what happened with a man by the name of jonah jonah ran from his mission he was a prophet of god he knew god but he had come to a point in his life where he began to run from god he began to run from the assignment of god that was on his life god had told him what he wanted to do and instead of being obedient he didn't want to do that and so he found himself running from the purpose of god and as a result he found himself in a very painful place god spoke to him and said jonah arise and go to nineveh jonah when he heard those words jonah was like you've got to be kidding me i'm not going to i'm not going to go to nineveh nineveh is is is a place of idolatry it's a place of sin it's a place of cruelty and and uh by the way god they oppose you in nineveh why would you want me to go there god said i want you to go there and i want you to call them into repentance and and and jonah was like no i i i'm i am not going to go there god said go jonas said no and then god said oh okay so i see i see how you are i see how you're going to be and on that note jonah goes in the exact opposite direction of the will and the purpose of god for his life god said to him i want you to go east to nineveh and guess what this little jonah did he decided no i'm going to go west to tarshish god said go east he said i'm going to go west and he went out as far as he could go outside of the will of god for his life and and what he did is he bought a ticket and he got onto a ship and he climbed in that ship and he fell asleep and he fastly now is sailing outside of the wheel the purpose and the intention of god for his life and while he is asleep in on the ship there were all kinds of people on that ship many people had bought tickets to be on that ship and it was okay for them to do it because uh it wasn't god didn't tell them to go uh to nineveh and so they bought their ticket they're out there on their cruise they're enjoying everything uh but here we are here we have jonah who is being he was totally being ruled by disobedience uh and while he is out there because he is disobedient there comes a storm up on the ocean that it's really an unthinkable storm and it took over when i tell you it took over the sea as you read his story you'll begin to understand the severity of the storm and most of us know the story but the ship i'm going to try to get right to my point today so the shipmaster after he could after they threw everything that they could throw over uh and the storm did not cease the shipmaster started asking everybody that was on board to begin to pray to their god and uh he he it still did not stop the storm and so they begin to uh cast lots or throw dice and and and in trying to figure out okay who is on this ship that has no business being on this ship and when they threw the dice um the men uh that were on the ship it it all let's just say jonah was the only one that was identified by the dice and so jonah said listen it's me it's my fault i am i i serve god but i i i and and i i love my god but uh i i i'm on this ship and i am disobedient and so they took jonah and jonah said just throw me overboard so in his mind he's thinking if they can just get rid of me maybe it can save everybody else that was on the ship because this is my fault i was i was the one that was disobedient i should make them have to pay for this and so they took jonah and they threw him overboard and the moment that they threw jonah overboard the bible said that the storm ceased because when wrong people leave your life wrong things stop happening and so they pitched him overboard and these men they were so amazed at how quick that that the storm stopped that they were converted and they began worshiping god now just just look at god because here god is using jonah and jonah didn't even want to be there he he didn't even want god to use him and he was in disobedience and he was in rebellion but god was using him anyway unfortunately jonah himself was on his way down but in the nick of time just like only god can do god sent a big fish the bible doesn't say a whale it says that god sent a big fish but whether it was a whale or whatever it was he sent it and he sent it for the purpose of catching jonah and hauling him back into the will of god for his life and so now jonah is trapped inside of the belly of the well and he is in the bottom of the ocean and he is in the very presence of the very god that he was trying to get away from uh but let me tell you something when god has an assignment on your life when god has a purpose for your life when god has a mission for your life before he lets you get too far out of his will for you he will send a whale of a circumstance a whale of a storm a whale of a situation and he will catch you and he will hold you and he will preserve you for his purpose and because god had so much purpose in the life of jonah the bible says in jonah 1 and 17 that now the lord had arranged for the lord had arranged i love that right there this is in the new living translation that the lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow jonah and jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights you know that those of you that know your bible you know that three represents the number of resurrection and so the lord uh because there was so much purpose in jonah's life see when god puts purpose in you he has marked your life and i don't know who might be watching me today and you might you might not have thought that god would speak so directly to you but god said to tell you stop running from your mission and start running toward your mission and when you do your life is going to get better uh but god had so marked him that god knew the mistakes that he was going to make but and because of that he arranged god arranged some things he designed that means he custom made and he ordained for this great fish to swallow up jonah now jonah's life is going downhill and jonah is feeling rather hopeless and as you read his story it is amazing to me the detail the the vividness that that that you can hear in jonah's voice now now you might say to me well what does that have to do with me today pastor brady what does that have to do with my life well i believe that there are several things that are uh in jonah's story that can help us when we find ourselves feeling hopeless there's a lot of hopeless people today there's a lot of hopeless people that is watching me this morning and and you know we have a good way of covering it up and we kind of act like everything is okay i got to be strong i got to be strong for mom and dad i got to be strong for my kids i got to be strong for my spouse i i got to be strong and and a lot of times people are dealing silently with hopelessness and today whether you might be feeling hopeless because of your own behavior or your own decisions or maybe you're feeling hopeless because of what you have had to fight your way through because there is a fight that will wipe you out uh but if you fight if you feel like you're hopeless maybe because you have had to fight your way through 2020 either way hopelessness is not a place for you to stay it's not a place that you should live in yes we might all visit there from time to time but as a child of god it is not where we should live you might travel through hopelessness but never by property in hopelessness okay i'm not meant to live there you are not meant to live there and i hope um that that you are are not there period and not there right now uh but if you are secretly there then god has a word for you today in case you feel like you've been thrown overboard of a situation in case you feel like you've been swallowed up up by life's circumstances swallowed up by worry swallowed up by guilt in case you feel as if you are drowning in the depths of depression or despair maybe you feel surrounded by depression or despair today i want to give you just a few things that you can do to get to the other side of hopelessness because that's where we're going we are going to the other side i'm going to say that again and i dare you to say it with me we are going to the other side we're not going to stay where we are we're not going to live in this dimension we're not going to live on this level we will get to the other side of hopelessness and we're going to pull a few things today from jonah's story jonah chapter two beginning at the first verse there are a few things that he did when his life hit bottom oh does anybody know what it's like for your life to hit bottom the first thing that jonah did when he felt like his life had hit the bottom if you read the scripture it says from inside the fish jonah prayed to the lord his god so number one the first step that we do when we have hit bottom in our lives is we do what jonah did he looked up to god i don't know what you might be feeling with dealing with or feeling the stress the anxiety the pressure of whatever is going on in your life wherever you are you might feel like you've hit bottom but god just paused today and he allowed you to connect with me so that i could tell you right where you are you need to look up to god i mean i've hit bottom but when you've hit bottom there's nowhere to go but i i i've hit bottom but i'm going to look up to god when you hit bottom that is the moment that you need to look to god in prayer this this whole second uh chapter in the book of jonah it's a prayer that he prayed himself as he found himself drowning in hopelessness that whole chapter is really just a prayer that that jonah was praying to god and he he doesn't exactly know uh what he's going to do and so when you get in a situation where you don't know what you're going to do all you can really do is pray and so jonah prayed when you find yourself in a situation that you don't know exactly what's going on what is happening you got to do what jonah did and you got to say i don't know what's going on i don't know why that happened and i don't know why that happened but i am i am going to call on god and so you look up to god and you pray somebody might even say well i feel like my life is out of control in those moments that's when you look to god because and then somebody else might say well well if god is so great and he has such a great plan for my life and if he really is in charge uh if he is really alpha and omega if if if the god that started the work is going to finish the work then then why should i even pray but the reason that we should pray is because while god is sovereign in all of his wisdom uh he and while he designs the end that he wants us to ultimately obtain uh and and and that means also uh while he's already planned our future uh and he wants us to obtain it he still wants us to be involved in the plan that gets us there i said god wants you and he wants me to be involved in the plan so part of his plan is to use our prayers to accomplish what he intends to do in our life that's a good reason to pray right there that is how we partner with god when it comes to our purpose is through prayer and being able to pray about that thing is really a privilege because he could do it without us he could do it without us saying anything but instead he chose to involve you and me in his plan and there are just some things that that the only way that they're going to work out in your life is when you begin to pray somebody has given up on prayer but god sent me here today to tell you no you are part of this we are partners together and as you pray i will bring my purpose to pass there are weapons that are formed around you but at the same time as you pray i can pull down those things i'll move i'll shift because i am god and i've got more power than any weapon that's trying to be formed against you god has certain things that are predicated in our life but that are that are predestined in our life but they are predicated upon us opening up our mouth and crying out to god in prayer so he wants us to be involved touch somebody hit somebody slap somebody look at somebody across the room and say he wants you involved in this plan you have to partner with god you pray and you cry out to god but there i'll tell you there are some situations and there are some problems in life that will only be resolved if we learn to pray through them and we pray persistently now i'm not talking about just that little prayer oh i'm thinking about that so one time i'm gonna pray but if god don't do it then i'm gonna give up that's not what i'm talking about because if you only care about something enough to just pray one time then you don't really want it anyway you've got to be willing to say god i'm here on monday and i'm asking in your name i'm here on tuesday and i'm asking in your name i'm here on wednesday thursday friday saturday sunday and i'm asking in your name because anything that you really want to see happen in your life you might have to pray over and over and over and over again for that thing why does god make us pray for something over and over again pastor brady because he wants us he wants to help us distinguish between what is a real desire and what is just a whim that we we kind of just thought about that but he as we begin to pray he helps us to separate the whim from the real desire nina was telling me the other day that she had taken mariah which is my three-year-old granddaughter they had went out to the store and mariah saw this particular doll and and and she didn't want to let go of it she wanted that doll she wanted her mama to buy the doll and and and nina is like well i'm not going to get it today we'll we'll get it you know we'll get it another time and so mariah just has a meltdown right there in the store and and she the the thing about it was that she didn't stop just talking about the doll when they walked out the store she was talking about the doll several days afterwards so do you understand what i'm saying to you today i can i i told nina i said she really that's something that she really wants and i'm like go buy that child that dog because that's my grandbaby and i want her to have it uh but i i i i i it because she was persistent continuously talking about it i sent nina a text about four or five days later and i said is that dog part of our family yet because if it's not then i'm gonna go get it myself uh because why because that baby wanted that doll and see god says i can tell by your persistent fervent faithful prayer just what it is that you really desire in life you want a husband you can't pray just one time you want a wife you can't pray just one time you want a healing you want god to change your career then there has to be something in you that is willing to say god i'll cry out for i'll cry out to you whatever you want in life you've got to want it enough to continue to pray about it to continue to cry out to god about it see god will use that waiting time to build our faith so that's one of the reasons that he doesn't answer immediately because god is more interested in building your faith than he is in answering your prayer i said god is more interested in building your faith than he is in answering your prayer so there are some occasions where god will keep us waiting not to be mean but he keeps us waiting to make us stronger to build up our faith to cause us to say lord i don't know i don't know when you're gonna do it but i know you're gonna do it i trust you're gonna do it and in that process when he does bless you with it then you realize god i thank you i was uncomfortable i i i had to wait but lord i thank you for being faithful and you'll find yourself stronger because of the process let me tell you something god is not a slot machine you can't just put a prayer in and immediately pull out everything that you want it it doesn't work like that because he wants us to grow so but by way making us wait then he's helping us and he's teaching us what we really desire uh mark chapter 11 24 he says to us whatsoever things that you desire when you pray whatever you are hungry for whatever you are craving whatever you are yearning for whatever you are hoping for whatever you are passionate about talk to me about that in prayer some things only come about by prayer and by fasting and there are some problems in our lives that are so deep rooted in our past and they're deep rooted in our lineage and they're deep rooted in the traumas that we have come through in life that the only way those things are going to come out and lose their hold is when you are willing to say god i'm going to stand here and pray until heaven hears me if i got to pray all week all month all year i'm gonna stand here and pray until everything is broken off of my life some things only come about by prayer and by fasting and prayer is really the starting point now at this place in jonah's uh journey it is actually as he began to look up to god uh then that tells us uh that actually that was one of the first things that jonah had done right he had rebelled against god he and there was a storm that was stirred up because of him other people's lives were in danger and he ends up getting thrown overboard but it ultimately worked together for his good because now he is willing to pursue god in prayer and once he was swallowed up by the fish he looked up to god and here's my second point the second thing you do when you hit bottom when you hit the bottom of hopelessness is you pray passionately okay he looked up to god that was the first thing you do when you've hit the bottom i don't know who i'm talking to today but when you hit the bottom it does not mean it's a time to give up but it's a time to look up it's time to look up to god the second thing you do is you begin to pray passionately i'm talking about praying with some emotion i'm not talking about some kind of boring meticulous uh memorized mechanical uh methodical prayer that people pray i i'm not talking about that some kind of a rhetorical prayer that we pray all the time like but god said i i don't you know i just believe god gets bored with that and god said i want to see some passion come out of you he said i i don't i'm tired of hearing you say with your mouth what you don't really want in your heart make sure that whatever you want in your heart is what's coming out of your mouth because there is a difference now as a parent you know what i'm talking about if if you are a parent or a god parent or an enter or you got somebody in your life that you love if you've ever took a child to the to the store and you're walking down the aisle with them you might be going down the toilet aisle well they oh i want that i want that and they get that and they look at it and that's what i want that's what i want and and and and your you if you take it away from them and put it back up and and just keep walking you'll find out if you go up the next aisle they'll get over here and they want something over there and they've totally forgot about what they were wanting over here and and that's that's that's how we are with god god said you ain't really passionate about that and and and god said i need you to be passionate about it i need your i need to see you get emotional about that because it helps us to differentiate the difference between what is a real desire and what is a whim in our life i cannot for the life of me imagine job once he is not joe but jonah once he has been thrown overboard i can't imagine him going down saying now i lay me down to sleep i pray the lord my soul to keep no he didn't pray that kind of prayer as he was going overboard he began to holler out help i need help he started crying out to god he said in verse two of chapter two in the book of jonah he said in my distress i i didn't i didn't just pray any old kind of prayer he said in my distress i cried out i cried out bartimaeus cried out and when when you're crying out for help you are saying i need help he is frantic he is emotional he is desperate but let me tell you something today god answers desperate prayers god answers frantic prayers god answers emotional prayers oh yes he does don't hide behind all of the pretty kind of prayers sometimes you just gotta go for broken say god i need you and if you don't help me i am not going to make it god said don't talk to me about it with your mouth if it's not what you want in your heart he is saying you're worshiping me with your lips but your heart is far from me so when you talk to me he said i i want to hear what he's saying to his church is i want you to be real with me i want you to tell me what's really on your heart i don't want to hear you say just something that you think that i want you to say he said i want you to get real with it i want you to be real with me i want you to be authentic i want you to be emotional i want you to be passionate i i want you to be honest with me so when jonah hit the bottom he looked up to god number one second thing he did was he prayed passionately oh don't just look up open your mouth and cry out cry out when you hit the bottom cry out when you feel overwhelmed cry out when you feel like you have been swallowed up by your circumstances and the word for cry out there it it means lamenting it it means lamenting crying crying out to god is to it it is a lament and a lament means yes it means to complain wait a minute pastor brady are you saying that it's okay for us to complain to god of course you can complain to god he said have you got to complain just bring it to me we a lot of people have been brought up in such tradition that they they come and they try to say all the right things to god and god is just saying listen that ain't even your heart tell me your heart no i want to hear your heart not your head i don't want to hear what religion has taught you i want you to open your mouth and cry out to me god is interested in how i feel he is interested today in how you feel he is interested in the details of your life and there are times that i find myself saying god this is awful this stinks right here this is unfair i don't like this if i'm shocking you then i'm sorry but i am going to be honest with you god i don't deserve to have to go through this this is called lamenting and the book of psalms is made up of of 150 personal prayers but let me tell you something they are not all happy they are not all cheerful they are not all sunshiny they are not all like tomorrow the sun will come out tomorrow it is not like that a third of the entire book of psalms is uh it's simply complaints to god 50 of the 150 psalms are people saying god this is awful this is unfair this is not how it should be that is lamenting let me tell you how important it is there's a whole book in the bible of nothing but complaints it's called lamentations you know why because god cares about our complaints god cares about our pain and he would much rather us complain with honesty than to pray some memorized prayer that we don't really mean he wants whatever is in your heart to come out to him even if it is a complaint so when you are in trouble when you are feeling hopeless number one you you look up to god number two you pray passionately and the third thing that you do is you got to identify the cause of your hopelessness okay this is something i've done myself even through this pandemic there was a minute that i was beginning to feel hopeless and and i felt like it was swallowing me up and then i i was like but god you've been good to me so i i had to zero in because the enemy will make you think it's everything and it ain't everything it's one thing and you got to identify what that one thing is hopelessness can be a very vague feeling and you cannot rightly deal with a feeling that is vague so we have to identify what it is so that we can go to work on the thing that is making us hopeless the enemy will make you think it's everything and the task is too big and so therefore you can't deal with it hopelessness is your it's just where you are in life it's where you're going to be and many people lose their life at that point because they don't find a reason but the truth is it's it's it's not everything it's it's that one thing and you got to get a handle on that one thing and you can't get a handle on it until you identify it and when when you can finally name that feeling that is trying to wipe you out that is when you get a handle on it so if you have a vague feeling around you or on you uh like depression or like hopelessness then you need to stop and you need to ask yourself where is this coming from from whence cometh this feeling right here what is behind this you gotta pinpoint the source of your hopelessness i'ma help somebody today this is why jesus came he came so that you could have hope and not be hopeless you gotta pinpoint that thing and say why am i feeling hopeless and you gotta identify it so there are about there are several but i'm going to give you these really quick so you got to write them down i want to give you i'm i'm trying to give you some verb verbage or some help in identifying these things i'm going to give you eight really quick eight really things that can help you maybe identify your hopelessness hopelessness because hopelessness um it's really not the problem the problem is is what is causing you to feel hopeless to begin with so as jonah is going down he illustrates a lot of these common causes of hopelessness i'm going to read it to you first jonah 2 and 3 through 6. jonas is crying out to god and he said you cast me into the deep water and i sank to the bottom of the sea everything was churning around me and i was engulfed by powerful waves and oh and they overwhelmed me then i thought i have been banished from god's presence and i'll never get to see your holy temple again i was scared to death i was afraid i was drowning with water choking me and seaweed wrapped all around my head i was sinking down to into mountains that rise off the ocean floor i felt locked in a prison and i felt like i would be there forever there are eight things in those three verses that that we we need to identify and and they are causing job not job jonah to feel a sense of hopelessness here's the first one he said i'm feeling i'm feeling like i'm in over my head i'm i'm in over my head when he said you cast me into the deep water what he was saying is i'm i'm in over my head i'm in a situation that exceeds my knowledge i'm in a situation that exceeds my ability i'm in a situation that exceeds my finances i i'm in a situation where where people are expecting something to come for me that i don't have inside of me i'm i'm in over my head and because i'm in over my head i feel like i am hopeless what you what jonah is saying here is i'm in too deep i'm i'm in trouble i mean i'm in deep trouble i am in over my head and it's left me to feel hopeless then he goes on and he says i sank to the bottom of the sea that's number two he not only feels like he's in over his head but he feels like he's hit bottom he's saying i i can't go any lower this is the lowest i've ever been this is a this is an all-time low for me i don't know who's who i'm talking to today you might be saying these things under your breath even the people in your home don't even know that you feel this way but god knows that you feel this way and he's so arranged for me to have the opportunity to tell you i know where you at when you when you feel like you've hit the bottom he said i'm at a place that i've never been before the bottom has fallen out and i feel hopeless the third thing he said he starts to feel and you might feel this way when you feel like you have been overwhelmed he feels out of control and powerless he says these words everything is churning around me he felt caught up in this cycle of a of a wave or whatever he was the water that he was in he said it's out of my control and i feel powerless to change this that's what he was saying everything is turning around me everything is churning around me i'm losing my balance i'm losing my and life is churning it's churning on the right it's churning on the left and now i'm drifting without any direction i'm in motion but i don't have any meaning i've got activity but i don't have any clarity i feel pressure but i don't find purpose i got pressure without purpose i'm being swept around and by outside forces and it has all left this man feeling hopeless the fourth thing that he is feeling he's feeling overwhelmed he said i was engulfed by powerful waves that overwhelmed me i was engulfed the waves have overwhelmed me i don't know who's listening today but you're saying i feel like 20 20 has overwhelmed me i've lost my balance i've lost everything and i just don't know how i'm gonna get through it that's how you're feeling i'm feeling overwhelmed jonah felt the same way the fifth thing he was feeling is he felt rejection and he felt loneliness he said then i thought as he was this is all of him going down he said then i thought i have been banished from god's presence i've been left from god's presence in other words what he's saying i feel like god is a million miles away he's a million miles away i feel like he has rejected me i feel like i'm in this on my own i feel absolutely alone all of those things have left me feeling hopeless the sixth thing he said he was feeling remorse and regret he said then i thought i had been banished from god's presence and i'll never get to see your holy temple again he knows let me say this to you he knows he's the problem he knows that where he's at is his own fault he knows that he ran from god and it's breaking this man's heart as he begins to recall how life used to be david knew that feeling because he said in psalms 42 and verse 4 he said my heart is breaking as i remember how it used to be some of us are grieving 2020 because we remember how it used to be and we feel like god has left us and god has forsaken us but he brought this word to you today to tell you there is another side to this hopeless feeling the seventh thing that he said he was feeling he feels a crushing fear he said i was scared i was scared to death i was afraid i was drowning with water choking me and seaweed wrapped around my neck he feels like he's choking he feels like worry it is strangling the life out of him i don't know who i'm talking to today but you feel like worry is strangling the life out of you you don't even have no joy anymore you don't have no joy you don't have no strength because the joy of the lord is the strength it is what we need but because you feel like worry is struck it is strangling you you don't have it anxiety is absolutely choking the life out of you that's what's happening to jonah fear is literally choking the hope out of this man and the last thing he said that he feels is he feels trapped i feel trapped i feel he said i feel locked in a prison forever other translations say i felt like i was behind bars and someone had thrown away the keys jonah was in over his head he hit the bottom he felt out of control he felt powerless he felt overwhelmed he felt lonely he felt rejected he felt remorse he started to feel regret he felt crushed by fear and he felt trapped in 2020 or he felt trapped in the belly of a well are you feeling any of those things because it's only when you name it that you can specifically pray about it and once you know the cause of your hopelessness then you go on to number four and number four is you ask god for specific help if you're dealing with any of those things god i'm feeling regret i'm feeling trapped i'm feeling remorse i feel like i can't tell anybody i feel overwhelmed i feel like i'm having to to do things that i don't really even have the ability to do because of the demand that's on me i just want to throw up my hands and quit god said that's what i want you to talk to me about jonah said in two and two from deep in the world of the dead i ask for you to help me and you listen to my cry psalms 50 and 15 says call on me in your time of trouble and i will save you but what if i don't know what to say i will help you right here pray the word of god write this down when i don't know what to do i'm going to number one pray the word of god in other words quote scriptures back to god he loves it when you do that quote his word back to him that is exactly what jonah did and that is exactly how jonah got the miracle that jonah got everything that jonah prayed in that prayer is actually in the bible and it is in the book of psalms he started out quoting david god i i i feel this way god i feel that way but then he's and that's what you do you got to pray god's word back to him the second thing you do when you don't know what to do i'm sorry i just gave you the second thing the first thing that you have to do when you don't know what to do is is you pray the word okay here's the second thing pray truth pray truth okay here's what i mean by that god my circumstance is saying this but you're a great god you're a mighty god you're a bull walk that never fails you are present help in the time of trouble you are strong you are my tower you're my strength yeah it's been crazy but that doesn't change anything when the word tells me that you are a mighty god say those words back to god no matter what it's looking like in your life walk through your house and call him holy and call him righteous and call him jehovah sharma call him jehovah rapha call him jehovah my healer call on him so you pray the word of god you pray the truth and the third thing you do is you pray the promises of god god i can't tell you how many times i've had to do this god you promised me you promised me this god i didn't just think of this on my own you gave me your word and i need you to perform your word in my life just do what you said that you were going to do pray your complaints to god pray god's truth and then start declaring god's promises so many times i've had to say god you told me you told me you would do it you know it's not like your kid if you promise them that you're going to do something and you don't do it they will get in your face and they will indict you like mama you said it you said you were going to do it god you said it you said you would be my strength when i'm weary you said you would be my hiding place you said you'd be food on my table you said you would be the strength of my life tell god what he said go through the word and find every promise that he made to believers the thing that you do what jonah did is you focus on the goodness of god when it looks dark and cloudy and gloomy when it looks foggy and you cannot see your way clear shift your mind change the channel stop thinking about the things that are overwhelming you you got the remote in your hand flip the switch and what should i flip it to start thinking about the goodness of god that's what jonah said in the seventh verse he said when i had lost all hope somebody hear this today when i had lost all hope i turned my thoughts once more to the lord [Music] if you've lost all hope turn your thoughts once more to the lord right there's the answer church right there is the answer to hopelessness when you feel hopeless and it looks hopeless turn your thoughts to the lord look back at his faithfulness look back at his track record look back at his love look back at him look at his greatness look at his power look at his might i turn my thoughts to the lord and my earnest prayer without to you god it went out to you ask god to help you change the focus i'm finished with jonah knew he knew the word so much he knew psalms so well that when he was drowning he quoted eight different songs from memory i said he quoted eight different psalms from memory you never know when you are going to need to pull on the word and you don't actually have a bible in your hand you got to be able to pull it up out of your will he starts quoting about the goodness of god and one of the psalms that jonah quoted was in 27 psalms 27 he said i would have despaired unless i wouldn't believe to see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living jonah was in a mess but he still knew that god was a still still a good god i don't know what kind of mess you might be in but there's a lot of us that have been in a mess you got to still know that god is a good god when life looks bad god is good when the day is bad god is good the lord is my light and you know that the lord is my light and my salvation whom shall i fear the lord is the strength of my life he said i we sing this he said i will remain confident in this that i will i declare i decree i will see the goodness of the lord not just when i get to heaven but i will see the goodness of the lord in the land of the living somebody watching me today i came to tell you that you got to open your mouth and declare yeah i might be in a hopeless situation but that doesn't mean that i'm hopeless that doesn't mean that my god is hopeless and i will stand on his word and i will declare when i can't see my way he is my light he is i can't see how i won't be evicted i can't see how i'm going to feed my family i can't see how i'm going to change my career after 2020 i can't see how to pay these pills but when i can't see the lord is my light he is my salvation my complete deliverance and him will i trust and i will remain confident in this but that i will see the goodness of the lord that i will get to the other side of this hopeless feeling and the reason you can do that is because the word became flesh and dwelt among us jesus had to come to earth he came as a babe he came and he set his face like a flint toward what god had assigned him to do he said i only do that that i hear my father say do i don't have time to waste pursuing things that it's not god i'm gonna pursue what god has for me jesus came he went through everything that we somebody's saying right now yeah but you don't know what it feels like to to be like this and you don't know where to feel let me tell you something i i know a lot more of those feelings than people can even imagine but what really matters is that jesus knows those feelings he came to earth to walk among us to go through the very things that we go through so that when you fall and stumble and you say oh god that hurt god this is hurting he said i know exactly how that feels i know what it feels to be betrayed i know what it feels to be light on that's why i came to the earth i came so that when you say jesus i've never felt a pain like this he said i know i know i know exactly what that feels like i want you to know that i know what it feels like to be you that's what he's saying today i don't know what you're facing or what you're dealing with but i will tell you you need the gift of jesus you need that gift you might say hey i'm wanting to i'm wanting this for christmas i'm wanting that for christmas but [Music] don't worry about all that when you got jesus you get it all you get it all

Channel: Sheryl Brady

Views: 4,591

Rating: 4.9436622 out of 5

Keywords: Pastor Sheryl Brady, Sheryl Brady, The Potter's House of North Dallas

Id: _zpNoKWw7ME

Length: 57min 23sec (3443 seconds)

Published: Tue Dec 22 2020