What to Do When You Don't Feel Close to God

hello hello this is david diego hernandez joined by my good friend stephen martizuma and we're so happy to be joining with you again the spirit family it's always a joy when we're gathered together with this wonderful community of believers as we go into the word of god and experience together the presence and power of the holy spirit going to be a great stream today i want to talk to you today about what to do when you can't feel the presence of god this is a question that we get put to us quite often there are many believers who are wondering who are worried about the fact that they can't sense the presence of the holy spirit in their lives and this leads to all sorts of questions and doubts and concerns and we're going to address this subject head on i'm going to give you some scripture i'm going to give you some truth out of that scripture so that when you face these seasons in life when you begin to wonder about the distance that god is from you when you begin to wonder why you can't sense his presence in these moments you're now going to be equipped so that you never come to a crisis of faith you never come to a weak spiritual point just because you may face these seasons so that's what we're talking about today uh but steve what's going on on the chat over there so we got a lot of people on chat right now and i just let them know if they're ready go ahead and say or type in the chat a one if you are ready for today so a lot of people are logging on it's really exciting i see emily typing one i see lightest ortiz hello hello i see our friend rebecca it's so awesome to see everybody here on this stream and i can see all the members the channel members there i can see your the beautiful dove logo that you have for those of you who don't know steve's actually joining us in the chat right here so you'll see stephen mark the zuma's name in there that's actually him he's interacting make sure it's the real stephen you'll know that by uh the little um this looks like a tool next to your name i'm not even quite sure what that is you can tell i'm not into that sort of work myself but anyway um we have a great stream today i do want to give you a few announcements before we get into the message itself um that is that we have several events going on coming up very quickly and we're very very excited about this i'm very excited to announce that on june 27th we will be gathering in southern california once again to experience the presence and power of the holy spirit i'm going to be ministering the word of god praying for the sick and ministering the power of the holy spirit to those who are spiritually hungry i'll also be sharing a word that god placed on my heart really in my spirit and it's about drawing closer to jesus in this season now more than ever we have to cling to jesus and so in that message i'm going to really challenge the believer to grow their spiritual roots deep again that's june 27th that's a sunday evening at 6 00 p.m and that is our monthly meeting in southern california and then i'm also very happy about the partner zoom call coming up on june 29th now this is a tuesday we like to mix up the partner zoom calls because we want to give everyone a chance to attend them we have various people in various different time zones so depending upon the time zone that you're in you can come to one meeting or the other so we like to adjust sometimes the weekends sometimes during the weekday sometimes in the mornings sometimes in the evenings and this gives everyone a chance really to participate in these partner zoom calls so the partner zoom call will take place tuesday june 29th and that's going to be at 4 pm pacific standard time you can look it up online if you would like to verify which time that is for you locally and also i'm very happy to be announcing this one's a big one we haven't been here in a while steve this has been this has been a long time coming i think the last time we were here was just at the beginning of i don't even know when i think it was last year but uh we're going to be in northern california once again and that's going to be on july 10th and 11th again july 10th and 11th that's the you know the san jose san francisco it's all relatively one area when you're from southern california so we're coming up to northern california i want all of our friends all of our supporters all of our spirit family partners everyone to join us for these two amazing nights in northern california make sure to be a part of that so just to recap on june 27th that's a sunday evening we're going to be in orange california june 29th we got a partner call and july 10th and 11th we have a two night encounter service in northern california for information on these events and to get information really on any of the events that are upcoming go to davidhernandezministries.com events when you go there you'll also be able to see the long list of events that we have planned we're constantly adding nations we're constantly adding states we're constantly adding cities so make sure you're part of one of these events by connecting with us again at davidhernandezministries.com events well steve before i pray and get into this message anything you would like to say to our viewers remember steve is in the chat today guys so yes i am with you guys in the chat i'm excited to be here and i pray that you guys will just receive today and remember continue to spam the chat with your comments and share this like this share this with someone that you believe needs it go ahead and do that right now so they can get the full message and i pray that it is going to be a powerful time so stick with us through the whole thing it's going to be exciting and i again i'm with you guys right here in the chat so father i pray in the name of jesus that you would anoint our time together father put a fresh word in our spirits let us hear from you today let your voice rise above every voice that tries to speak let your truth emerge in the midst of all distraction and i pray lord for that one watching right now and i ask you father to touch them to anoint them to anoint them to hear your word in the name of jesus we pray i want you to type it in the comments section if you agree say amen so again i'm talking about what to do in these seasons when you feel like the presence of god has been taken from you you know people come to me often and they bring to me questions like david what do i do if i can't fill the holy spirit anymore although i ask something a little more condemning in nature and they'll say is god angry with me did i do something wrong has god withdrawn his presence from me forever or even worse people ask did i commit the blasphemy of the holy spirit and the good news is concerning the blasphemy of the holy spirit at least that if you're concerned about having committed the blasphemy of the holy spirit then you certainly have not committed the blasphemy of the holy spirit so you can rest assured there but still there are these seasons in life that we come to where we're wondering about god in the distance and we feel like god is a million miles away we struggle to hear his voice we can't feel his presence we're growing tired spiritually and this of course brings to us in these seasons some concerns but i want to arm you with some truth today so that when you face these seasons when you sense as though god is a million miles away from you that you never again falter that you never again come to a crisis of faith that you never again feel like quitting this can come about as the result of grounding yourself in truth so when you begin to enter these seasons and we all face them myself included there are seasons when i sense i feel like god is far away from me and this is why it's important that we know the word because in these seasons that's really all we're going to have is what we know to be the truth to the word of god so in these seasons it produces fear fear begins to arise because we begin to wonder have i finally done it have i finally committed the final sin that's going to do me in have i finally gone far enough for god to give up on me and for him to take his holy spirit from me have i finally crossed that line and we imagine that god is standing there in heaven looking down on us with his arms folded frustrated with our progress and ready at any moment to withdraw his presence from us as if we're hanging by a thread as if we're on god's last nerve and this truly just isn't the case we're not on god's last nerve in fact the scripture says that his mercies are new every morning so that means every morning that you wake up there was a brand new fresh start waiting for you not just every morning but every moment his mercies are new because of the grace of god so what can begin to happen though and you have to be careful about this because there's a real danger that comes when we enter into this season where we're looking around desperately for some type of sense of god because we may feel in our emotions that god has disconnected himself from us some of us who are used to sensing that heavy weight of glory upon our physical beings in seasons of prayer and fasting or in seasons where we draw deeper into those places of glory we may freak out because we no longer feel those physical sensations upon our bodies and then what begins to happen is in these seasons please be careful because you will become vulnerable in these seasons we become desperate for an experience or an encounter and the believer becomes so desperate for an experience or an encounter that the believer at this point is in danger of accepting any emotional or physical experience as an encounter with god and that's what makes you vulnerable in these seasons when we feel like we're distant from god when we feel like there's something not quite right when we feel like the heavens are brass or like they're shut or there's no access to us into the throne room of god this is where we become concerned and if we we we don't allow the spirit to rule in these moments what begins to happen is we begin to seek out the holy spirit by the flesh and in seeking out the presence of the holy spirit by the flesh we go after all sorts of carnal experiences disguised as spiritual breakthroughs you know often you'll see people having emotional breakdowns and we call those sometimes encounters with god when really the person is just having an emotional breakdown because they've worked themselves into a frenzy because they've worked themselves into a desperate state because they become so desperate for an encounter with god that they've pretty much accepted anything that comes their way and that in fact is dangerous now what do we mean when we say we don't feel god i really want you to think about the question because in that question you'll find that there are actually some beliefs that we have that are not even biblical so what do you mean when you say i don't feel god when you say i don't fill his presence i feel i don't feel his power what do you actually mean do you mean that you're lacking in peace do you mean that your mind is tormented do you mean that you're lacking in love or the joy of the spirit that joy that normally overflows just isn't quite operating like it normally does what do we mean when we say we no longer feel the presence of god are we talking about the power that we might feel you know some people when they feel the power of god in our meetings they describe his power as like electricity moving up and down their beings they describe his anointing as like a weight of glory that comes on them some fill them like a heat some fill them like a wind some fill them like water as if they're standing in a stream and these are wonderful manifestations of the presence of the holy spirit but if you mean that you don't feel the presence of god because you don't feel these things then your faith is in a feeling and not in the word now i love these manifestations i love when god moves in such a way i love when i can feel these physical signs that god is with me but that doesn't mean that i rely upon these in order to know that he is with me some people not even realizing it some believers i should specify without even realizing it actually are looking for a new age way of living and they don't even know it's so religious and they don't even know it in other words they're looking for kind of this state of hypnosis this meditative state almost like where they're walking around going home um and they have kind of like this balance and they're feeling one with everything around them and they feel at peace and almost like if they feel woozy and drowsy they think that they're in the spirit and the problem is that too is an exterior expression that cannot cause anything to happen in the spirit so we have to be careful when we talk about the presence of god we have to be very careful and be specific and really understand what we're talking about you know sometimes we feel peace and joy and sometimes we feel love but really peace joy and love are not always something that you necessarily feel sometimes they're just a truth that you know that causes you to behave and to think in a certain way and sometimes these feelings of one with god or these feelings like this almost hypnotic state these fillings of sensations all over your physical being yes they're wonderful but that doesn't mean that when these things are gone that we're not feeling the presence of god my question to you is why are we looking for god who is spirit in places that aren't spiritual think about it why are we looking for god who is spirit in places that are not spiritual a true spiritual experience listen to this a true spiritual experience can bring about manifestations but manifestations themselves can never produce a true spiritual experience encounters with god are really just moments with god that we become aware of his presence encounters with god are really just moments where we cut we become aware of his presence in our lives it's a spiritual sense i remember we just had a service i think was last month britain was it last month that i called you out in the middle of the service to kind of explain this to you so britain was working in the back at one of the services recently so i'm preaching i'm ministering and while i'm standing on the platform i sense the holy spirit in the room now i didn't feel at first like electricity coming on me i didn't feel like this heavy weight i didn't feel this heat i didn't feel like i was in this state of hypnosis though that sometimes you do reach these very tranquil places when you have those manifestations all around you that can happen but i was just aware of his presence just like when your friend walks in a room and you're just aware that they're in the room with you that's really how it is with god and that's how my daily walk is with him as i move about my day he's just so real to me he's so real to me that i don't need to feel him he's so real to me that i don't need those sensations he's so real to me that i don't always look for those manifestations he just is we just are we're just connected with one another and that's the place the mature believer finds their confidence not in these manifestations as you mature as a christian you will seek out fewer experiences and look instead for truth you will seek out fewer experiences and instead of seeking experiences you will seek him because we become endangered when we start to look desperately for experiences because then anything can fill those gaps and we'll take anything we can that can be thrown at us oh i'll take oh you say this is my problem i'll go with that oh you're telling me this is my problem i'll go with that oh you say you have the solution over here i'll go with that and we go chasing the presence of god as if he's not in us we have to come to the place where we realize like i did on that platform when i explained to britain i told him i i said britain i can sense him i said this is what i'm talking about he's in the room i didn't sense in that moment those physical manifestations but everything in me knew that the presence of god was in that room with me and i knew that he was on the platform standing there with me and that is what i'm talking about that is coming to this place of maturity of completeness of wholeness of absolute faith where you're not looking for these manifestations rather you're looking for jesus i want you to say this my feelings don't create my reality i want you to say that out loud type it in the comments even my feelings don't create my reality i want to say it one more time i want you to get this in your mind let's renew the mind how do you renew the mind do the washing of the word to the truth being repeated my feelings don't create my reality what i feel isn't always what is true sometimes you feel distant from god but that doesn't mean you actually are distant from god sometimes you feel like god is angry with you but that doesn't mean that god is actually angry with you and some of us we even project these things on other people who we love well they're tired of me or they're going to leave me or they're going to abandon me or they're going to turn on me and those are projections of insecurity that we place on other people and we become vulnerable to this when we go into these seasons where we cannot sense the presence of god i want to read a verse to you it's found in 1 john 3 20. this one is very powerful they all are powerful but as far as the topic at hand this one speaks right to it first john 3 20 says even if we feel guilty of course the context said there it's talking about moments where we sense in our consciences that we violated god's law that's true but look at what else is true god is greater than our feelings i love that that's first john 3 20. god is greater than our feelings and he knows everything god is greater than your feelings god is outside of that realm god god doesn't even need you to feel in order to be working on you someone needs to hear this god doesn't need you to feel in order for him to be working on you he just needs you to have faith some of us we forget that even when we don't feel him he's there and see we hear that we believe that intellectually but in our hearts we're troubled when we don't feel the presence of god so having established this basic truth that the presence of god is greater than our feelings that we shouldn't necessarily rely upon exterior signs to demonstrate to us whether or not we're walking in the presence of god having laid that foundation let me now go to the main one of the main points here and i want to talk to you about what actually causes you to feel distant from god and take a look at some of the comments here i see holy spirit ministry says god is greater than our feelings agreeing with me daisy lopez says amen i agree anthony moreno says amen anaya says amen marita says powerful truth pam says have faith and she put a nice little dove in there karla leskowski he is creator or he is greater than our feelings i read that as a c instead of a g uh thank you carloskowski although also for those uh fire emojis that come for our members there geology thank you david this speaks to me a lot pamesa's faith over fears iris s sometimes i think having peace is faith so i feel guilty if i don't feel peace but anxiety we're going to talk about that in a moment there uh iris while you're at it guys do me a small favor you know this actually helps more than you realize you hear streamers talking about these things and sometimes you hear it so often that you kind of become numb to reacting to it but i want you to know that when you comment and when you leave a like and when you share this stream you actually really help expand our reach so take a moment right now and go ahead and hit that like button depending upon where you're watching this stream that may be in a different spot but make sure you hit that thumbs up that actually helps our stream so i need everyone to go do that right this moment i'm going to get into this first point as to why why don't i feel the presence of god what's going on there i'm going to give you actually in this message i'm going to see based on time i'm going to try to get to all of them i'm going to give you five i'll give you five reasons as to why you can't fill god so number one here's a cause of why you feel distant from god why you can't sense his presence number one please hear me now is wickedness wickedness this is sin in our lives now to be clear god can reveal his presence to anyone at any time think about how saul was on his way to murder christians and even in this act of disobedience toward god he didn't know he was disobeying but he was even as in this act of persecution even in this act of defiance saul had an encounter with god that was more vivid than likely anything you and i will ever experience and that's okay with me but you know god can touch anyone at any time god can reveal himself to anyone at any time but the reality is that generally speaking if you're walking in wickedness god will hide his face from you if you're walking in wickedness that sense of god's presence is not going to manifest on you that that sense of glory that sense of power is not going to manifest on you i'll never forget one time i was ministering in chicago illinois we did a two-night service there it was a powerful time that we had but i remember while getting ready in my hotel room preparing for the service i was praying listening to worship music going over my notes the final time before i got into the car and as i'm getting ready right there in my hotel room i sensed the tangibly manifested presence of god entered the room it was like a wait it was one of those moments where i just kind of felt this tranquil peaceful sense about the room about the atmosphere about my being and i just knew that the tangible touch of the holy spirit's presence had come upon me some of you feel this in our meetings when you come on that platform or even while you're waiting in line for a service and so we're there i'm sensing the presence of god and i get a text saying hey the uber driver is downstairs now this is when we still used uber drivers i've learned not to use uber drivers because they disturb my piece sometimes they play worldly music sometimes they drive like maniacs either way i'd rather have control of the atmosphere in that car so i get to the lobby and as i'm standing in the lobby waiting for the uber driver i'm standing there was me steve i think tim was there ishmael was there reuben were you there in chicago at that time yet so there was other people there who were there with us i don't remember exactly who um but there was a group of ministry team members we're all in the lobby there and i'm sensing this great weight on me good way it's the presence of the lord and then all of a sudden i look over at the tv screen and i notice that there's some program that's being played now this program in particular didn't have anything that was necessarily sinful about it in fact i would have felt perfectly comfortable leaving that program on with my daughter in the room i would not have had any hesitation at least in the natural realm there would have been no hesitation there but i noticed that as i began to see and hear what was coming through that programming the weight of god's presence that i sensed manifested on me began to lift and began to diminish and weaken and i was like oh my goodness okay so i turned away from the television screen and i i walk over to my ministry team and they're all talking to each other now their conversations were perfectly wholesome there was nothing they were saying that was sinful or ungodly but they were just having regular conversation i think they were talking about a movie or sports or anything like that and in listening to their conversation i began to sense the glory that i was sensing in my hotel room i began to sense that dissolve weaken and start to lift and i said oh my goodness like i gotta protect whatever this is that's on me and so i told steve i said steve listen can you just kind of keep a conversation going with the uber driver and the team i said i'm going to have to be a little rude but i don't want to hear any conversations right now i don't want to look at anything and i remember when you were saying that too because i remember we were all in the car and it was really loud that like deega was saying there was music going on and then there was almost like a shift um in in what he was doing he said please please just let uh kind of steer the conversation i said you got it man so i thank god for stephen being on these trips with me he's very sensitive to the holy spirit along with me and it actually helps uh when when we're we're in those moments so i'm there in that moment sensing the presence of the holy spirit we're getting into the car steve now knows okay i'm not going to let anybody really talk to me and i wasn't being a snob by any means i wasn't of course trying to do that i just remember that in that moment i was sensing the presence of the holy spirit i wanted to protect it so i get in the car i have my you should have seen me i had my headphones on i'm staring at the back seat in front of me i sat in the back and i'm staring at staring at the seat in front of me and i remember that when i would turn my head and i was looking at restaurants and advertisements and billboards that even just the sight of regular life began to weaken what was on me it was almost hear me now this this is this is this is this was so profound when it happened to me because it it really changed the way i saw the anointing when i was in that moment i realized that it was as if the mediocrity of the things of everything everything that we experience in life the mediocrity of this world just the mediocrity was an insult to the very glory of god it was as if just the mediocrity itself was an insult to the glory of god and my mind was completely i was shaken because i realized lord it's even just mediocre things can cause this to be lifted that's why god calls you to private places when he wants to manifest his presence like that or there must be a focus in the room that comes on the glory of god but that's what i'm talking about now the holy spirit never leaves me but the sense of that presence the physical manifestation of that presence and power can can intensify and weaken it intensifies and weaken holy spirit remains in me he's there he's abiding he's a faithful friend he does not abandon me by the way for those of you who imagine that god's going to take his holy spirit from you just because you mess up i want to remind you that your holy your connection with the holy spirit is your only chance at being holy now why would god remove your only chance at being holy as a punishment for you not being holy he just wouldn't do it okay so god can reveal himself at any time but that manifestation of that glory that presence that power generally speaking only comes on those who are who are consecrated sanctified who are who are focused on the lord and that's what i learned in that moment now in chicago when i got to the service and i stepped on the platform that's what that which i had protected was multiplied in that atmosphere the moment i stepped on the platform i'm serious i walked out i stepped on the platform and i sensed what i had protected began to fill the room it was as if i brought with me this tiny ember like this little glowing flame and when i got to the room god set the rest of the room on fire and that's how it works when you carry the glory of god but if you're walking in wickedness the sense of that glory will not be upon your life you see anybody can move in power you can have power without the presence you can have gifts without the glory you can have charisma without character but only those who truly walk with the holy spirit will be marked by his presence anyone can demonstrate power the seven sons of skiva were known exorcist that is until they came into contact with the powerful demon that was outside of the rank that they were able to handle but the truth of the matter is that you can carry a certain degree of power just read matthew chapter 7 without ever carrying the presence of god when i preach the word there's power when i declare the truth of the word of god there's power i mean look at all of the business principles that are being taught today in a lot of the internet guru sessions and e-courses oh come on a lot of the business principles that they teach are actually biblical and really they're stealing just bible truths that actually work so biblical truth will work for anyone so if you get a guy who's living a life of hypocrisy and he stands on the platform and he declares that jesus is lord and jesus will save you well people can get saved listening to this hypocrite preach the gospel because the gospel is that powerful that's why paul said some preach out of impure motive and some preach out of the proper motives he says never mind why they preach the gospels being preached and in that i rejoice so god can use people and his power will always back his word please hear me now god's power will always back his word but his presence backs his people god's power will always back his word but his presence backs his people so when you live a life of wickedness the sense of that glory the manifestation of that power is lifted from off of your life and i i can't think of anything more tragic than that than to have walked in that to have carried something so pure and powerful and something so life-changing to go and compromise in a way that god removes it from you now god can restore that upon your life but the reality is that if you're living in wickedness god will not allow his presence and his glory to be manifested upon you because no flesh should glory in his presence now i'm going to read a portion of scripture because this is going to encourage you and it's going to shake you up i'm telling you this portion of scripture read in this context it's it's going it's going to to to encourage you but it's also going to shake you up here now i'm looking at some of the comments um stephen zuma says his presence is with you and that's with an exclamation point uh by the way guys steve moctuzuma is in the chat room he's also here on set with me so he'll be interacting with you the whole time uh carla dunning says thank you jesus for this word annabelle says fire and hands emojis leanne says so how do you get filled again if we feel so far away from him i am glad you asked this is why this is going to encourage you and it's going to shake you up psalm 32 i'm going to read verses 1-5 go there now if you have the scripture and by the way for those who are wondering i typically read out of the new living translation which is a great translation because it balances both readability and accuracy so i think it's one of the good translations to use at least while teaching so this is coming from psalm 32 i'm gonna read verses one through five psalm 32 1-5 where the scripture quite simply says this oh what joy for those whose disobedience is forgiven whose sin is put out of sight yes what joy for those whose record the lord has cleared of guilt whose lives are lived in complete honesty now watch this watch this now this is talking about the believer this is talking about the believer who experiences the presence of god even well in sin you can still experience god's presence if you're a believer you can still experience god's presence even while you're in sin but it manifests in a different way watch this now when i refuse to confess my sin my body wasted away and i groaned all day long watch this now verse 4 this is so powerful day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me my strength evaporated like water in the summer heat finally i confessed all my sins to you and stopped trying to hide my guilt i said to myself i will confess my rebellion to the lord and you forgave me all my guilt is gone do you notice here that when david was living in sin the presence of god did not leave him rather the presence of god weighed heavy upon him as convicting guilt as a convicting pricking of the conscience he sensed the hand of god weighing heavily on him even though he was in sin now this is an encouragement and it's somewhat of a rebuke because realize first and foremost that even when you've fallen into some type of wrong way of living we call it sin but maybe there's a pattern maybe there's a struggle maybe it's lasting a few days maybe it's lasting a few years does it matter these patterns are lethal and what begins to happen to the believer is the sense of god's presence that is the glory the manifestation that type of power begins to lift from off of them but when you begin to walk in wickedness god doesn't leave you he blesses you with the heavy weight of conviction see we look at conviction like it's a punishment even what god sent to saul i truly believe that the tormenting spirits that god had allowed to come upon the life of saul were there specifically to cause him to repent i believe god was trying to break him down to bring saul to the point of repentance so god will allow your mind to be troubled by the things that you do wrong please hear me now come on god will allow your mind to be troubled by the things that you do wrong by the sin that you allow in your life now you may think that god is far from you but rejoice in the fact that that conviction that heavy weight of god's hand upon you is actually his presence in the midst of your perversion now this is a is a is a mind-altering thought because we imagine that when we sin god moves away but here we see in the scripture that when we sin god weighs heavy heavy heavy on us not to say he doesn't weigh heavy on us to say good job son good job daughter god doesn't weigh heavy on us to say hey i approve of your lifestyle god may not even weigh heavy on us to show us that his presence is manifesting around us or even to touch people through our lives but when we sin god weighs heavily upon us to cause us to repent to urge us to turn from the wickedness it is his presence in the midst of your perversion and that is really the grace of god what a merciful god what a wonderful jesus we serve that he allows his presence to be felt even in the midst of our wrongdoing that he allows us to keep his spirit even when we sin what mercy is this what love is this now again this is not god affirming our wrongdoing this is by no means god encouraging us to continue in what we're doing that we know is wrong but rather this is his way of making sure that we don't stray too far he weighs heavily upon us in the midst of wickedness so number one you may feel that god is distant from you but you can sense him in the conviction you can sense him in the tossing and in the turning at night you see when you have trouble sleeping at night because of that wrong that you know you're doing when you have trouble sleeping that night because of the sin that tossing and turning is the manifestation of his presence you see he hasn't abandoned you he hasn't left you it's in the tossing and the turning that you see that god is still there it's in the sleepless nights that you see that god is still there it's in the inability to enjoy anything until you've repented that god is still there why god loves us too much to leave us in our filth god loves us too much to leave us in our compromise and our worldliness god wants to restore dignity god wants to restore your divine identity god wants to restore you back to right living it's his presence in the midst of perversion wow god wants to keep you near he is in come on the sleepless nights in moments of weakness repent in moments of weakness in moments of wickedness repent i'm looking at the comments now hope johnson says revelation oh tay says thank you jesus nene says i believe conviction is his greatest way of showing his love to us that's right his conviction rescues us guys this conviction rescues us sasha says oh my goodness you are talking to me david that's the holy spirit speaking to you if this is speaking to you can you just type amen in the comment section uh your beloved says wow i needed this message tina lopez says that's right joy writes hallelujah brook says um why am i not hearing his voice i'm sure um it's because you're you muted the video the battlefield says i take communion at home alone wonderful so someone carlos says this is so good sheena says thank you lord pam may says presence in the midst of perversion that's right see this is this is this is something that religion will not teach you this is something that you will not hear in the systems of man this is the grace of god in that he's willing to put his hand on you i mean when when my aria i remember the other day um i was in the room doing something i thought jess had her jess thought i had her so she seized her opportunity to go and sneak away and sit in the window and steve you actually called me right yeah yeah i actually called you i was actually driving home and i seen i i thought it was arya i seen her in the window because obviously uh where did that you can see on the street and i was like whoa i think that's arya so steve sees my daughter sitting in the window now thank god we lock our windows but she's sitting in the window it's a two-story building so just for that split second she saw i remember she came and knocked on the door says dada i said yes arya and then she ran away i thought that's odd so i go in after and i look she had climbed onto the window seal and she's sitting there and in that moment i had to scold her now i don't like scolding my daughter i'd rather just speak you know just wonderful things but as a parent you're not called to be their friend you're called to be their parent so in that moment i said okay i have to make sure i have to speak sternly enough to where she knows you can't sit in two-story windows so i went and i spoke to her in that moment and of course she cried because she's she's yeah she's actually very responsive so if you speak just a little stern she's very responsive to that so i told her no window no window now in that moment it didn't feel good for her she didn't want to be told that she can't sit in the window she loved to sit in the window and wave at the cars and see uncle steve driving by on the road she loved to do that but in that moment i had to tell her no and see it wasn't that i left her when i saw her sitting in that window i went to get her when i saw her sitting in danger i went to grab her i went to i went to rescue her and that's what god does you see you're looking for him in a manifestation but god is with you in the conviction and this is this is what you should take note of when you are in sin that weight of guilt you feel on you that's god coming to your rescue and he has by no means left you number two why you don't feel god why you don't feel god number two you're waiting waiting for a miracle waiting on a breakthrough waiting for god to answer in the form of a promise that he made now here's where you have to be very careful because it's in the season of waiting that doubt can grow hear me now it's in the season of waiting that doubt can grow when you're believing for the healing but the healing hasn't come yet when you're believing for breakthrough in ministry but the breakthrough hasn't come yet when you're believing for god to restore a marriage but the marriage hasn't been restored yet when you're believing for god to save an unsaved loved one but they haven't given their hearts to jesus yet it's in that moment from the miracle to the moment you're in now it's that in between that waiting period that often concede doubt in our hearts because we don't know how to respond to that season we're believing we're hoping we're wishing we're wanting we desire to come to that place where the miracle manifests but in the season of waiting you may feel like you don't feel god you may feel like god how am i supposed to say i felt your healing touch when i'm still sick how am i supposed to say i felt your healing power when my family hasn't been saved yet how am i supposed to feel your provision when it doesn't seem like you're providing when i'm waiting on the miracle when i'm waiting on the promise what am i supposed to do in the meantime and this is a very difficult place to be because because it can be frustrating when you're waiting on god and nothing happens and it can be frustrating when you're waiting on god nothing's happening for you but even for the wicked it's happening that's frustrating in fact that's expressed that very thought is expressed in psalm chapter 37 verse 7 where the scripture says rest in the lord and wait patiently for him do not fret because of him who prospers in his way because of the man who carries out wicked schemes now what the scripture is saying there it says you just rest you just wait don't worry about the wicked person who's prospering don't worry about those wicked people who don't even obey god getting their way because sometimes that's where it can become discouraging you say what on earth i'm a child of god how are they prospering and i'm not even experiencing any of the breakthrough that i've been praying for for years yet they seem to be blessed even though they're not obeying god this is why the scripture teaches us to wait to wait psalm 27 14 says wait for the lord be strong and let your heart take courage yes wait for the lord it emphasizes wait for him isaiah chapter 40 31 says but those who wait on the lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint you must learn to trust in the midst of waiting in seasons of waiting let hope live in seasons of waiting let your trust remain intact it's those moments that we need to learn to rely upon truth and not emotion it's in those moments of waiting that we may feel like god is distant because we have this perception that if god doesn't do it now it's just never going to work or or what if god does it too late do you realize that the holy spirit can accomplish more in a moment than you or i could ever accomplish in a lifetime he just needs a moment he just needs a split second i mean god created all things in a matter of six days surely he can solve your problem surely he'll come through for you there's no reason to worry there's no reason to fret but in these seasons of waiting it often becomes a point of contention a point of frustration where we feel as though god is a million miles away that's amazing you know something i've realized in the waiting and i know a lot of you might have realized this too is in that moment you know you can take it two ways like deega is saying you can take it with either emotion or you can cling onto the word in the scripture and i know we've all been through something that has made us wait made us uh grow our faith and i think in those moments our faith is really what we need to cling to you know and like diego was saying you know emotions yes they can be a part of it but you can't let that be the driving force in the waiting moment so powerful powerful stuff here number three the wilderness so number one is wickedness number two it's waiting number three why you don't feel god you're in the wilderness now biblically speaking the wilderness represents isolation you look at when jesus went to fast when moses went away there were moments where they spent in the wilderness to try to find those pockets of isolation that they might focus better on god now in this season you may feel lonely you may feel disconnected from god and his people now in this moment i'm going to go off on a bit of a tangent i'm going to get off subject for just a minute because this was a warning that the holy spirit had me post oh just a few days ago and it was a warning against the dangers of isolation and i really need you to hear this and i really need you to show this to your loved ones because this is a problem that's prevalent not just in the united states but all around the world because of the way things have gone recently and i won't say the name of the situation that everyone is in because then youtube will censor this but i want to make sure that we understand that in this season many people are finding themselves isolated and lonely now in isolation you're going to find things like bitterness you're going to find things like strange doctrine you're going to find things like the elitist mentality and this is a tangent i'm going to go on i'm leaving the topic just for a moment because this is something that absolutely has to be addressed you need to hear me people of god it's time to gather with people again it's time to connect with your brothers and sisters in christ don't try to spiritualize your disconnect don't try to spiritualize your isolation don't try to excuse things i posted this the other day and i got on to instagram i got onto youtube i got onto all the different social media platforms and i i told the people i received a warning from the holy spirit based on the scripture and i said it's time now that we all begin to gather again it's time now that we all begin to seek the face of god together as the body of christ and oh my goodness i was flooded with excuses people told me things like well i am the body of christ and i said that's almost true you yourself are not alone the body of christ we are the body of christ when we gather together that's biblical somebody else said well god hasn't called me to gather with believers because i've been hurt or i can't find the church and this woman gave like all sorts of excuses and i was just shocked at the fact that she was looking at the word of god which said to gather and then she said well i don't feel like i'm called to do that some are called the different things look i'm not saying everyone needs to go to a church church as we would call it today like with the building and the worship team and the lights and all that i'm talking about the gathering with believers just in its simplest form and what's happening here in this season is believers are spiritualizing their isolation it's very very very dangerous they say things like well well you know i can't go to that church or i can't gather with them because they're not as deep as i am or they don't practice this or they don't practice that or that preacher doesn't preach on this enough and what's happening is there's this spiritual elitism this snobbery that's causing people to look at other believers and saying well they're not as spiritual as me so i need to disconnect because i'm set apart i don't want to be infected by their religious spirit when in fact they're the ones with the religious spirit because they're not obeying what the holy spirit is saying which is to gather and so we say things like oh i'm set apart oh i'm god's elite and and what happens is in this isolation we begin to embrace strange theologies we begin to embrace doctrines that don't matter we begin to embrace conspiracy theories and really that's one of the things that's happened in the body of christ that's quite alarming in these past few months really is that there's this conspiracy theory type move in the body of christ that's causing people to be these keyboard warriors who all they do is sit behind a computer they say i'm connecting but i'm connecting online and look i love our community i love you i love our spirit family and this is a wonderful thing that we do when we gather and i'm hurting myself by saying this but i'm telling you this because i love you this cannot be your only means of connecting with other believers you cannot replace the actual gathering together of the saints it cannot be done you must connect you must obey the holy spirit stop with the clever sounding excuses and just obey the word of god stop telling yourself oh i'm i'm the spiritually elite i'm i'm the leader they think that like they're like they're the gurus of the spiritual world and i'm the i'm the higher up i'm the i'm the i'm the elite group i'm i'm the specialist and people call me in when they have real big spiritual problems no no no no no that's snobbery that's elitism that's religious thinking you need your brothers and sisters in christ and i'm warning you the holy spirit is warning you against the dangers of isolation you will become bitter you will get into strange doctrines that don't matter you will have this spiritually elite mindset there's a difference between spiritual solitude and fleshly isolation jesus yes jesus withdrew but he didn't withdraw for months and and years at a time oh come on he he went and he would go be alone with god but then he would ultimately come back and connect with people people isolation is different than solitude solitude is a moment isolation is a lifestyle hear that again solitude is a moment isolation is a lifestyle that produces no fruit it doesn't make you more spiritual well the more isolated i am i'm disconnected from everybody because god has to separate me because i'm so awesome i'm so anointed i'm so spiritually equipped but i can't spend much time with the religious people i must go to the mountaintop and live there in isolation you're not spiritual you're weird you're not spiritual you're strange isolation does not produce power it produces strangeness it produces weird doctrines it produces bitterness i rebuke that religious spirit i bind it in the name of jesus and i say let the word of god live in you let the word of god like a hammer break that mindset come out of the hiding come out of the shadows come out of the corners of isolation and begin to gather with the people of god again don't let the enemy isolate you it's dangerous it's dangerous it's dangerous in any preacher who tells you that you need to leave your church and stop attending churches and just go online they don't care about you they care about their ministries hear me now if they're telling you oh all you need is the online thing just come connect with me you can leave all those spiritually dead people no no no no no they're they're they're manipulating you and they're using your vulnerable state because you've been in isolation to cause you to come into this mindset that is religious that's prideful that's ungodly and it's not of the holy spirit and i rebuke that in the name of jesus and i pray you be free from that mindset i i believe that was for someone watching i really do that you you spiritualize oh i'm set apart oh i'm spiritually elite and i know it's a harsh rebuke but you need to hear it because it's the truth and because the lord loves you and and we need to stop with all of that okay so so that's not what i'm talking about when i'm talking about the wilderness but in the wilderness we can find ourselves feeling lonely disconnected and this may cause you to feel like god is not near to you this may cause you to doubt the presence of the holy spirit in your life and i just want you to know that there's nothing that can separate you from the love of god i'm going to read a portion of the scripture that i think you'll find very encouraging and as i read it i want you to let the holy spirit speak to you but just take a moment real quick i want you to help me out by leaving a like on this video right now and make sure you're sharing the stream so leave a like if you haven't liked the video yet and make sure you're sharing this stream with your friends i'm going to read romans chapter 8 verses 31-39 the scripture says what shall we say about such wonderful things as these if god is for us who can never be against us since he did not spare even his own son but gave him up for us won't he also give us everything else listen to that powerful portion of scripture who dares who dares accuse us whom god has chosen for his own no one for god himself has given us right standing with himself who then will condemn us no one for christ jesus died for us and was raised to life for us and he is sitting in the place of honor at god's right hand pleading for us can anything ever separate us from christ's love does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity or are persecuted or hungry or destitute or in danger or threatened with death as the scriptures say for your sake we are killed every day we are being slaughtered like sheep no despite all these things overwhelming victory is ours through christ who loved us you ever feel lonely read this verse 38 and i am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from god's love neither death nor life neither angels nor demons neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow not even the powers of hell can separate us from god's love no power in the sky above or in the earth below indeed nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of god that is revealed in christ jesus our lord in seasons of loneliness in that wilderness remember the truth checking in with you now chat i can see nemi hat says nothing can separate me from the love of god lula writes thank you it's me confirmation well praise god that he's speaking to you tina lopez says nothing she's affirming that in fact there's nothing that can separate us from the love of god uh stephen mark zuma says this scripture is for you amen steve prophesying in the chat room i love it and then i see um let me see here what else we have tina also writes glory carla says no one or anything can separate us from the love of god morgan whitlow left those beautiful fire emojis that are for our youtube members uh jessica lapena writes thank you for the word lord now everyone do me a favor make sure you're sharing it and make sure you're leaving a like i'm going to get into the next point here so i've talked about wickedness wickedness can cause the sense of god's presence to elude you waiting can cause the sense of god's presence to elude you being in the wilderness can cause the sense of god's presence to elude you and then there's wandering wandering so wickedness waiting the wilderness and wondering what do i mean by that i'm talking about the state of confusion i don't know what god has for me i don't know what i'm supposed to do i don't know what my calling is i don't know what my gifting is i don't know what the next steps are in this season it's important that you ground yourself in truth you see when we come to these places in our lives where we're wondering about what god has anointed us to do it's important that we ground ourselves in the scripture every believer wants to know what the perfect will of god is for their lives every believer wants to know how god has called them every believer wants to know what gifts god has given to them and we often ask ourselves what is god's will for my life some people get more specific and say what is god's perfect will for my life well in these seasons of confusion in these moments of questioning it's important to remember that god has called every believer to know the word god has called every believer to share the gospel god has called every believer to pray to live in holiness to worship to love one another to activate a spiritual gift there are certain things that you can find in scripture that are absolutely certain that god has called you to do in fact god has called every believer to do and once you're doing those things that you know you ought to do then you can ask for the specific instructions for your life the problem is that many believers are saying god reveals step three when god hasn't even been obeyed and they haven't even taken step one now here's the truth it's difficult to take a step of faith when you don't know what direction you're supposed to go it's difficult to take a step of faith when you don't know what direction you're supposed to go on say it again it's difficult to take a step of faith when you don't know what direction you're supposed to go and this is what happens when you're confused now in these seasons of confusion you can feel distant from god why because when i'm confused i don't know where to find him when i'm confused there's mixture of all sorts of things in my life when i'm confused i don't know how to ground myself in his word this is why it's so key believer child of god when you are confused identify the lie confusion comes whenever i'm believing a lie somewhere confusion comes when i'm grounded in something that isn't biblical for example there have been people who i've taught certain things concerning spiritual warfare i just released a spiritual warfare e-course make sure you check it out um it's something i've been teaching since around 2015. these things on spiritual weather and i probably teach on spiritual warfare once a month or so and every time i teach on spiritual warfare there's believers who come to me and they say brother david you say this but i heard someone else say this now i'm just so confused tell me who to believe and i always tell them the same thing believe the word always side with the word of god they say well why do i feel confused i tell them you're confused because you're you're trying to believe two things that contradict one another so confusion arises whenever somewhere deep down inside you're believing a lie how do you overcome the confusion that's found in the state of wandering of spiritual wandering of spiritual limbo if you will you overcome that confusion by exposing and eliminating the lie that you're believing how do you expose that lie will you ground yourself in the word john 8 32 says and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free why are you bound because there's a truth you don't know and if there's a truth that you don't know then whatever that truth would reveal leaves room for a lie that can grow when i am bound it's because there's a truth that i've not yet learned wow there's a truth that i've not yet embraced i may have heard that truth i may have heard someone allude to something like that but until i've embraced that truth in my life i will live in confusion so if you feel like god's done with you that can cause you confusion when you're trying to seek his face i mean think about that how hard is that to pray when you believe god is purposefully distancing himself from you if god wanted to distance himself from you don't even bother praying because no amount of praying could make up for what god was trying to do if god wants to disconnect he would disconnect thank god he doesn't do that thank god he is connecting with you so sometimes we believe those lies like in this example where we might say okay i i feel i believe that god is distancing himself from me because of something i did ah there's the lie therefore when i go to pray and i try to seek his face that lie is gonna prevent me from praying effectively because i'll always be wondering why am i even praying if god is trying to distance himself from me that's why it's important to expose and eliminate the lies of the enemy you'll know the truth and the truth will set you free now this last point i want to make is very key so far i've looked at what happens when you're living in wickedness when you're living in the waiting when you're living in the wilderness and when you're living in the state of wandering wickedness is sin that waiting is in that in between place the wilderness this loneliness or disconnection that wandering is the state of confusion but now i want to talk to you about something that many believers face oh my goodness i'll be preaching to us right now steve oh come on number five this is for the whole team i want you guys all to hear this is so important weariness oh my goodness if there's anything that's ever done someone in spiritually it's weariness weariness is when you're so overworked that you you lose all sense of grounding right that that that that really you're just so tired you don't even really want to pray you don't really want to read the word you don't even really want to bother with addressing those things inside of your heart weariness is dangerous look at what it did to the prophet now you have to imagine the prophet elijah god's man for the hour he goes and he challenges the prophets of baal he goes and he challenges the prophets of the false gods and he tells them that we're going to basically have a showdown you call upon your god i'll call upon my god and the god who answers by fire he's the true god so the false prophets work themselves into a frenzy and they try to hype themselves and they're using rituals and incantations and they're trying to get god to respond sounds like modern christians some modern christians working man's way religious systems trying to make it happen in their own strength nothing's going nothing's working they're working themselves up exhausting themselves cutting themselves even and then the prophet elijah prays one simple prayer and the fire of god falls what a powerful scene you would think that this prophet and by the way he actually executed all of the prophets who he had a showdown with after that because the people turned on the prophet the false prophets wow so this guy goes and god uses him single-handedly to turn a nation after generations of idolatry god single-handedly uses elijah to turn a nation back to him in a day i mean my goodness some preachers spend months years we would love to see cities turned in a day or nations even turned in a day well i just saw that and then he he goes and this is what happens in first kings chapter 19 verses 4 through 8. watch this now then he went on alone into the wilderness ah he went on alone into the wilderness traveling all day so right after this i mean i can tell you if i preach a two three hour sermon well i'm a little different i'm energized after the service but after the anointing has kind of dissipated that manifested anointing the tangible anointing not the anointing within me the anointing upon me once that kind of dissipates i'm exhausted i can't tell you how many times me steve rubin will go out to dinner after after service and no one's even talking to each other i mean right after the service i'm like charged i'm more energized than anybody i want to go i want to pray for all the people we'll spend hours after the service laying hands on whoever wants prayer we'll meet with friends and pastors in the green room afterwards we're talking we're laughing we're joking i'm like alive i'm like electrified by the anointing and by the time i step out of the building and god says okay you don't need that right now and begins to remove that manifested power oh my goodness my body starts to feel the effects and then i start to grow tired and we'll go out to dinner me reuben and steve usually after every service and i'm sitting there and none of us are talking we're just staring blankly at the table we're exhausted now that's me after i preach a sermon steve that's you after you lead 45 minutes of worship oh yeah and then well more like three hours because you're pretty much up there almost the whole time that i am i mean would you would you say that's true yeah but at least 80 of the time that i'm up there you're up there and so we'll come after the service and it's just exhausting we're just tired like i just want to go to sleep and then i can't even imagine what elijah the prophet went through all day of standing there watching these false prophets call upon like so they're outside in the heat and they're all just watching they're watching the false prophets do their thing i mean i can't imagine what that would be like standing out there in the sun all day watching these guys run around calling upon their false gods and nothing happening and then you call upon your god you see it and then after that after all day now you have an execution you have to execute hundreds of them that's a whole other thing i mean i can't even imagine mentally what that does to a person emotionally to witness hundreds of people being killed like that and then after that he goes traveling all day by himself whoa this guy is worked over he's done he sat down under a solitary i love that i love all the terminology the scriptures using here so this is first kings 19 look at verse four then he went alone into the wilderness alone where the wilderness traveling all day he sat down under a solitary broom tree watch this and prayed that he might die i've had enough lord he said take my life for i am no better than my ancestors who have already died now this is depressing this is just sad now notice here that that nobody came along and said oh elijah that's a demon in you let's put you through a ritual let's have you repeat this prayer oh elijah you've got to renounce this and then no no look what happens verse 5 then he laid down and slept under the broom tree but he was sleeping as he was sleeping an angel touched him and told him get up and eat he looked around and there beside his head with some bread baked on hot stones and a jar of water can you imagine angel cooking for you i bet that was really good so he ate and drank and laid down again so he takes a nap angel wakes up hey wake up got a snack for you he eats and then lies back down verse seven then the angel of the lord came again and touched him and said hey get up and eat some more or the journey ahead will be too much for you is that prophetic or what so he got up and ate and drank and the food gave him enough strength to travel 40 days and 49th to mount sinai the mountain of god so this is obviously some type of supernatural meal that he was fed that he had strength for 40 days of traveling that that's supernatural in nature by the way now when we come into these moments of weariness should we pray yes should we read the word of course should we worship absolutely should we fellowship with believers of course but you know in moments of weariness sometimes you may feel tired i i'm telling you in moments where you're tired your flesh comes alive in moments where you're tired you have no filter in moments where you're tired your worst can come out you're cynical you're skeptical your you're moody you're hangry you're you're all sorts of those things that come about because of the tiredness because you're weary because you've been working so hard because it's finally all coming to that point of exhaustion you've given all that you have and you come to this place now in these moments i'm going to tell you something it's not going to sound spiritual it's not going to sound super super like oh my goodness that's revelation but you know what you need to do you need to rest sometimes relaxation is one of the best demonstrations of faith come on see when we're all wound up and worked up it's almost like we think that if i could think about it enough i can get it done if i can worry about it enough i can get it done if i can stress about it enough i can fix the problem but when you relax when you're when you're done and you just rest you're giving it to god i can't tell you how many times i've gone to bed knowing that what i was facing was impossible whether it be a fundraiser or a book deal or something we wanted to try as a ministry my wheels are turning i'm constantly working trying to improve our reach trying to improve things with them it constantly never ends and some days i just have to say lord i have to remember this is your ministry and i just give it to him and i go to sleep and the next day i'll take a little rest sometimes relaxation is one of the greatest demonstrations of faith just give it to jesus just let him take it let him own it lord it's your ministry it's your problem the good thing we gave our lives to him a long time ago it's not my life it's your life you do it what you want you get the glory so you lord you're going to help me put in the work amen so in these moments of weariness we must learn to rest so when you don't feel god what do you do whether you're facing some habitual sin that you're working to overcome whether you're in the waiting season lord where's my miracle in the wilderness sensing that loneliness in the wandering the state of confusion or you're weary and you're tired and you feel like giving up hear me now please spirit family when you're in those moments where you feel like giving up when you feel as though god is distant from you i'm talking to you i want you to hear this when you feel as though god is distant from you remember that god is greater than your feelings god is greater than your fears god is greater than your emotions second corinthians 10 5 says casting down imagination means whatever i think that is contrary to the truth i cast down in the name of jesus i i uproot it and i remove it in the name of jesus you know that he is near you can know that he abides how by faith by faith in the word of god claudine says amen amen daisy lopez says amen chase says so good angela says god is greater than your feeling sharoon patrick says amen hope johnson god is greater than my film men this is powerful it's the word of god god is greater than your feelings i want to pray now i'm just seeing so many comments i mean i can see all your comments coming in right here wow wow the response these are people being being touched by god's power they're people who are experiencing the truth and i ask you lord to begin to touch your people touch them i pray in the name of jesus lord father i love you and i honor you i love you and i honor you and i pray lord jesus that you be with him i want you to begin to pray in the holy spirit right now i'm serious pray in the holy spirit right now just each one i pray thank you lord i want you to say it because you believe it say amen

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Length: 69min 40sec (4180 seconds)

Published: Wed Jun 16 2021