Transcription
Today, uh, we’re actually going to be in the Book of Judges. We're going to talk a little bit about a man named Gideon, and I believe there are some promises in God's word that are for you today. Somebody say, "I receive it."
So, we're going to start in chapter 6, verse 1. If you don't have a Bible, it'll be on the screen for you. It said, "The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord. For seven years, he gave them into the hands of the Midianites because the power of Midian was so oppressive. The Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain cliffs, caves, and strongholds."
Verse 6, we're going to skip ahead. "Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to the Lord for help."
Today, I want to speak from the subject, "I'm excited about it. Hold your ground. Hold your ground."
Let's pray. Lord, thank you so much that you're in the room. God, thank you so much that when we open up your word, when we read your promises, it's not just promises to read, but it's promises to receive. God, I pray right now in the name of Jesus that we will receive what you have for us in this place today. We believe that you're working, and today we open up our heart, we open up our mind to what you're about to do. It's your precious, powerful, and matchless name we pray. Come on, everybody said, "Hey!"
One more night, one more time for Jesus. Can we put our hands together today? We're going to preach together.
I don't know about you, but after that promo, I want a chocolate strawberry. Dakota, stop! Uh, I'm pumped to be with you. Like I said, I'm a part of the team here at Vu Church, and if you know me, if you've met me, you know that family is a huge part of my life.
This past month, my high school sweetheart and I celebrated nine years of marriage. Everybody, thank you very much! Next year's 10; we're getting old. It's not just me and my girlfriend in the house anymore. Not just me and my wife anymore. We got three incredible kids. Our oldest is four; her name is Ellie. Our second is two; her name is Ava. And then we got a little boy named Dak; he's seven months old. Praise God! It's not just me with a bunch of girls anymore.
But for me, before I had kids, before I was married, family has been a huge part of my life. I'm the last of seven kids. I grew up getting beat up. No, you know if you're the baby, you get it. But my older brother right above me, his name is David D. He's one of my best friends.
David D and I, growing up, we did everything together. We made good decisions together; we made bad decisions together. We went to church together, we went to school together, we played sports together. But let me make it clear: our favorite thing to do growing up was this—compete against one another.
Doesn't matter what the game is—me versus you, let's go! Could be video games, I'm here for it. Ping pong, I'm here for it. Paper football at the restaurant, let's make mom and dad mad, I'm here for it. The variable was the game that we played, but the result was consistent: David D was the winner, and your boy was the loser.
But my dad had a peculiar rule in our house. We didn't grow up with a ton of rules, but this one was really important. You can steal for your home. He taught us one thing: we were never allowed to quit.
My dad made that rule not because whenever we were winning in a game, we would want to quit. He knew when we would want to quit is when we were losing. So my brother would be beating me like 49 to nothing on Madden on Xbox, and I'd be like, "I'm done." He's like, "You can't quit! I'm going to tell Dad."
'Cause it's one thing to lose; it's another thing to be a loser. It's one thing to experience defeat; it's another thing to live defeated. It's one thing to have a tough year—come on, you know what I'm talking about—it's another thing to have a tough decade.
Your boy Gideon, he did not just have a bad week. He did not just have a bad month. He didn't have a bad year. This was a tough seven years. Somebody's like, "That's me right now."
Some of us can relate because sometimes when life is going really, really difficult, here's what we have the chance to do: respond. But how do we respond? Well, we see in the verses that we just read, the Israelites responded by going to a place where they would have a little bit of shelter. They went to cliffs, caves, and strongholds.
That doesn't sound like Coral Gables to me. I don't know what kind of schools they got in the cliffs, caves, and strongholds district, you know what I'm saying? This doesn't remind me of like a suburban neighborhood that you dream of raising your kids in.
But they had to make their place in cliffs, caves, and strongholds because it's the only place that they could get relief. It said in the verses that we didn't read that their donkeys—guess what?—the Midianites took. Their camels, the Midianites took. When they sowed seed, the Midianites harvested. Everything that they had was stolen from them.
So they had one choice: I'm going to go to cliffs, caves, and strongholds because I just need a safe place to land. Whenever I think of a safe place to land, maybe like you, I think of my grandma's house. We call her Grammy, and my Grammy's house was a safe place to land for our family, but it was also a safe place to land for people in the community that were going through a difficult time.
Anybody got one of those grandmas? Like you don't have to wonder where Thanksgiving and Christmas is going to be; it's always at her house. I love my Louisiana away, you know what I'm saying? Like she cooks, but when I taste the food, I don't just taste the food; I taste the love that she made it with.
One day, Grammy was cooking in the kitchen, and when she cooks, you just let that girl cook. She's doing her thing. We don't bother her. When she's done, she was looking for a little bit of refreshment, so she went to grab her Diet Coke. But the problem was there was someone that had finished their Diet Coke at the party that night, and after they got done, they started spitting in their Diet Coke. Dear God, help us!
So Grammy, after she needed some refreshment after her hard day of cooking, reached for her Diet Coke, and she went to take it, and the rest is history. Dear God, help us! But good news is Grammy turns 90 in January, everybody! She's doing great!
What am I trying to say? I'm trying to say sometimes when we go through a difficult time, we run into a stronghold. Some of us find ourselves in a difficult position, and it's not because the enemy put us there; it's because we walked into it and made a shelter there.
There is a storm, so you sought refuge. You just sought refuge in the wrong place. You're going through abusive relationships, so you found comfort in alcohol. The stress of work was oppressing you, so you used meds and dope to get you through. Your father and your family abandoned you, so the toxicity of the relationship that you're in was tending to you. You were hurt, so you reached for medicine, but you didn't realize there was poison in the bottle.
Martin Luther King said, "You cannot drive darkness out with darkness; only light can do that. You cannot drive out hate with hate; only love can do that." Then why do we, after we go through hate, reach for hate? Then why do we, when we go through hurt, reach for hurt? Because we're looking for a refuge. We're looking for a stronghold.
But I just came to tell somebody Psalm 99, 'cause we have another option. It says, "The Lord is a refuge for the repressed and a stronghold in times of trouble." You can run to a stronghold, but come on, somebody, run to the right stronghold.
No matter what's going on in your life, in His refuge, your peace will be protected. In His refuge, your joy will be protected. In His refuge, your family will be protected. Come on, has anybody ever been protected from the storm in the stronghold that is Jesus?
Because look, we're going to be oppressed, but we can still be protected. We can't always control the circumstances, but we can control where we hide from the circumstances. He is our stronghold. Somebody say, "He's my stronghold."
So run to the right one. Run from your stronghold today and run to the stronghold. That's where He finds Himself. He finds Himself in a season of defeat, but we continue on because an angel of the Lord was about to visit him.
It says this in Judges 6:12-16: "Then the angel of the Lord appeared to Gideon. He said, 'The Lord is with you, mighty warrior.' 'Pardon me, my Lord,' Gideon replied, 'but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our ancestors told us about when they said, "Does not the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?" But now the Lord has abandoned us and given us into the hand of Midian.'
The Lord turned to him and said, 'Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian's hand. Am I not sending you?' 'Pardon me, my Lord,' Gideon replied, 'but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.' The Lord answered, 'I will be with you.'"
Come on, somebody say, "I will be with you."
Reading this text, there's one overwhelming revelation that I get. Maybe you got it as well, and it's this: Gideon doesn't see what God sees. Let me say that again. You read that text, and you understand that Gideon and God were on two different pages.
But let's be honest: we do not see what God sees. Whenever I think about not seeing what somebody else sees, I think of this stupid little dress that I'm going to put up on the screen right now.
Anybody ever seen this thing? Now this dress right here, you got to be careful. This dress has divided families; it's divided homes; it's divided our country. 'Cause is this dress black and blue, or is it white and gold? Somebody tell me! I don't know! Don't fight with your neighbor. I speak unity in the name of Jesus!
Some of you are confused. You're like, "What? What are we talking about?" I'm looking at a photo, looking at a dress. There's a color. No, no, no! There are people in the room that see different colors than you.
Take it down, 'cause people are just... they... and after years and years of fights and arguments and hurt and pain and strife, finally someone taught us what's going on with this photo. This photo was created in a way that the color of the dress depends on the way your eyes perceive light.
So what does that mean? It means you can say it's black and blue; I can say it's white and gold. But there's not a correct answer on which color the dress is. It depends on the eye of the beholder.
But let me be very clear: there is a right and wrong way of viewing yourself in terms of how God can see you, and it is determined by the Creator. You know, the next breakthrough in your life may not be by something that you do. It may not be by a new habit that you implement in your life. It might be in a change in the way that you see.
It might not be in a change in circumstance; it might be a change in the way that you see your circumstance. What am I saying? You got the same job, but now you see it different. You got the same family, but now you see it different. You got the same crazy kids; now you see them different.
You used to see them as a burden; now you see them as a blessing. You used to see them as a have-to; now you see them as a get-to. I don't know about you, but I want the eyes of my Father.
So what did Gideon see that God didn't see? Well, we see a lot of times, like Gideon, and the first thing that Gideon said to the angel was, "God, I'm abandoned. I'm all alone."
But the first thing the angel said to him is, "The Lord is with you." I just came to speak some life to somebody. Not only does God see you, but He's standing right beside you in the darkest storms, in the darkest night. He has not left you; He has not forsaken you.
Come on, has anybody experienced the fact that God walks with us? He's with you! That's not the only lie that Gideon believed that sometimes we believe. The second thing he says, "God, okay, but I'm weak. I'm weak. How are you going to use me? I'm weak."
The angel tells him the opposite. He says, "You're a mighty warrior." Today, I hope somebody's changing the way that you're seeing yourself. If you see yourself as useless, oh no, no, no! You're useful in the hands of the King. You're not weak; you're a warrior!
"But God, I'm in a wine press threshing wheat." If you didn't know and don't have context, whenever you thresh wheat, you're supposed to be on a mountaintop. The wine press is the lowest place that you can go. Why was he there? Because he was hiding.
Even in your hiding today, some of you are hiding from your past. Some of you are hiding from things no one knows about. I just want you to know the angel of the Lord is coming to you today to say, "No, you're a warrior! You're not weak! I see you! I can use you!"
But this might be my favorite part. Not only does he say, "You're a mighty warrior," but he says, "Go in the strength that you have."
Eddie is a good friend of mine, and he runs a gym here. When Eddie sees me, I know he sees, uh, not a lot of product; he sees more potential. He's like, "Dakota, I could add strength to your life physically. You know, if you just picked up one weight in the next two months, it would change everything for you."
Now, Eddie's encouraging; he loves me. So some of us, whenever we think about being used of the things of God, we're like, "God, you're going to add strength to me and my new assignment. I'll go in new strength. I can't wait to walk in my new strength."
But that's not the language that He uses, is it? He says, "You're going to save Israel in the strength that you have." You know what that tells me? It's not a strength problem; it's a sight problem. It's not a resource problem; it's a sight problem.
And somebody needs to stop underestimating the Jesus that you serve. Somebody needs to stop underestimating the power that's inside of you, 'cause my Bible says that greater is He that is in me than he that is in the world.
Come on, does anybody walk into a new authority this year? I want to walk in what He has. Go in the strength that you have.
Then he says this: "God, I'm the least in my people." I'll be honest with Gideon. If somebody kept saying all this stuff, I'd be like, "Bro, you are dramatic. This is a lie. Chill out, bro! I am the weakest! I am the least!"
"Alright, Gideon, I'm the least of my people." And how does the angel respond? "No matter what you say, you think you're the least of your people; you're about to save all your people."
Gideon asked a good question: "How?" And here's what the angel says: "Because I will be with you."
See, some of us, uh, it's a little bit easy for us to believe the first promise: "I am with you." But I help oversee a ministry here at Vu where young adults come to be a part of this thing called Vu College. They come from all over the world; they get trained; they get sent out.
And I love Vu College, but in two weeks, it's going to start, and I know in three weeks, I'm going to get called in for some meetings with some of these students. And they're not going to be talking about their problems of today; they're going to be talking about their worries of tomorrow.
Some of you are okay with today, but the unknown of the future has you bound by fear, has you bound by anxiety. "How will I save Israel?" God gives an answer that I think He's given to you today. It's this: "I will be with you."
"How will I walk in my calling that you have in front of me?" God, "I will be with you."
"God, I've never seen a godly marriage modeled in my own home. How could I walk this out?" "Because I'll be with you."
"God, I don't know how to raise kids that love you. How will I do that?" "Because I'll be with you."
"God, how do I walk into that new season that you're asking me to do? I don't have the answers." "I know you don't; that don't matter. I'll be with you."
"God, I don't know what's in the future." "Oh, but you know who's going to be with you in the future? I will be with you."
Here's what Scripture says: "Go to the heavens; I'll be there. I make your bed in the depths; I'll be there as well." Somebody needs to understand this: He goes with you.
You know, in heaven, it says that God goes before us and prepares a place for us. I just want to comfort you: it's not just that He's walking beside you in the future; it's that He's also in front of you in the future, and He's clearing a path, and He's making a way, and He's got future blessings, and He's got future promises.
What do you have to do? Just have to keep walking with Him. Have to keep trusting Him. You have to stop seeing yourself the way that you see yourself, and you have to see yourself the way God views yourself.
Some of us are walking in a false humility. All it is is an unbiblical view of ourselves and the way that God wants to use us.
Let's stand up. Some of us would have the same answer that Gideon had: "Okay, God, but is it really you?"
Anybody ever ask that prayer? "Go and minister to that person at the Starbucks." "Enemy, is that you?" Like, He would say that! You know, "I want you to be nice to your boss today, regardless of what he's done to you."
"Enemy's got to stop talking." It's like, "That's not the enemy, bro! That's God!"
But we ask these questions: "Is it really you?" Here's what I've discovered: sometimes we question not because something's bad, but because something's big.
And I just felt like I came on assignment today. I just believe that signs and wonders are about to happen this fall. Somebody needs to get their hopes up. Somebody needs to get their expectations up. He's about to move in a mighty way.
Come on, does anybody have a little faith for what He's yet to do?
Is it really you? Well, now he's accepting it. So what does he do after he accepts what God is telling him to do?
In verse 24, it says, "So Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and called it 'The Lord is Peace.' To this day, it stands in Ophrah, not Oprah, of the Abiezrites."
That same night, the Lord said to him, "Take the second bull from your father's herd, the one seven years old." How long have they been in captivity again? Seven years!
"Okay, tear down your father's altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole beside it. Then build a proper kind of altar to the Lord your God on the top of this height using the wood of the Asherah pole that you cut down. Then offer the second bull as a burnt offering."
Some interesting Old Testament language, but let me just simplify it for you. Whenever Gideon accepted that he was going to be a part of the Israelites getting out of captivity and he was going to be a part of going to the battlefield, before he faced a public battle, he was about to face a private one.
Some of us think the public battles are the most important. Can I tell you this morning? No, it's the private ones that are much more important.
What does he do after accepting? What is this private battle? He does two things. If you're taking notes, I want you to write this down.
Number one, he builds an altar. Number two, he tears a false altar down.
You say that again: number one, he builds an altar to God, and then number two, he tears an altar to a false god down.
See, some of us, we get the components of this, but we get the order wrong. Some of you are in the room, and you're just trying to dip your toe in, but you're not going to get really plugged in. You're not going to really answer a salvation call because you have a twisted, perverted view of the Gospel.
You think that you should come in here, learn some principles, put them into action, and then give your life to God. That's not the Gospel! He built an altar before he tore an altar down.
Some of you are trying to clean yourself up. Oh, can I tell you? You're putting way too much hope in yourself, and you're underestimating what He did on the cross.
Guess what? There is only one cleaning solution that can wipe out the stain of sin, and it will only be one solution, and it's the blood of Jesus Christ. Some of you are doubting that, and you think your past is more powerful than the blood. It's not! He can wash you clean; you just got to commit to Him first.
Some of us, we don't get the order wrong; we just don't fulfill the whole order. I see some people in church. This couple right here on the front row holding hands in church—make some noise for them! This is a godly couple right here. I want to be like you guys!
I know some of you guys, you have big plans. It's a Monday; you get through Monday. It's Tuesday, and you're just feeling like it's a good week. "Babe, Friday, me and you, we're going on a hot date. I might even wear a collared shirt. Babe, let's stay out late, like 10:30, 10:45. It's going to be a crazy Friday!"
But I know what happens. I know it! 4:00, 5:00 p.m. on Friday rolls around, and you send that text: "Babe, I got a great idea! What if we stay in, have a movie night? What if we order food in? Like, the food could come to us, babe!"
Every time! So what do you do? You get on that incredible app, Uber Eats, and you order that food. Oh, you splurge too! You go for it! Oh, and you get excited—order confirmation! Oh, it's on the way!
Babe, Henry is on the way with the food right now! You're so happy! You start interceding on behalf of Henry. "God, I pray right now against traffic. God, I pray against delays in the name of Jesus. God, I pray right now for his feet that if somebody would stop swiftly in front of him, that he would be agile enough to stop ever so slowly, that my food wouldn't topple over. God, you're not the God of chaos; you're a God of..."
You're just getting into it, you know? Food gets there; you're psyched! "Oh my God!" Take the first item out, but it's not just one item. Why? 'Cause there was a BOGO! Take the second item out, and then you know that stupid sound the bag makes when you're searching for stuff in it.
"Everything okay?" "Yeah, babe, everything's here!" "They forgot the sauce!" "They forgot the sauce! They always forget the sauce!"
Here's what I've discovered: when we don't fulfill the order, we miss out on the full experience. Some of you don't have a great taste in your mouth of this Christianity thing, but could I submit to you? Maybe it's because you haven't gone full in on this Christianity thing.
You keep coming Sunday after Sunday; you keep making commitment after commitment, but on Monday, you go back to your old life. On Monday, you go back to that thing that continues to take priority over your relationship with God.
You need to fulfill the order because when you don't fulfill the order and you add to God, that's what I call Israelite syndrome. You're like, "I got another syndrome, dude? Dang!"
Yeah, Israelite syndrome is what they did. They rarely said, "God, you're not good," but they would add gods to God. And so they weren't saying, "God, you're not good." They were saying, "God, you're not good enough."
And if you want to walk in the freedom that God has for you, I want to encourage you to understand that Christianity is not addition; Christianity is submission. And submission requires demolition.
Hear me today: there are some things that need to come down, and you know it. There are some things that the Holy Spirit is even illuminating right now. It's time for them to go. Don't just build an altar, but walk in the fullness of what He offers and tear the false altars down.
Somebody say, "Thank you, Jesus!" This is how we walk in freedom.
But what I feel for Gideon is he has the same story as so many people in the place because guess what? He did not build that altar to Baal. Did you read the Scripture? It said it was his father's altar.
Some of us are facing generational patterns right now, and I just want to encourage you: fight the good fight! Because before he ever got to the battle, he had to face his own backyard.
Listen to me, listen to me: you don't want to fight? Okay, somebody else is going to have to. You don't want to tear it down? Somebody else is going to have to.
I pray that there are some fathers that will stand for their family and say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!" I pray there are some mothers in our church that will say, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord!"
I know it's dark; I know it's scary, but it's worthy work. You better fight for your legacy; you better fight for your family because it's worth it! Somebody say, "It's worth it!"
What I love about God is He is a gangster because He said, "Tear that altar down, but don't throw away the pieces." He said, "Use that same wood that was used to give somebody else glory and build an altar that will give me glory."
If you didn't know, the God you serve is in the waste management business. And for a few pieces of wood, it's called recycling, but for humanity, it's called redemption.
Come on, are there any redeemed people in the room today? The same lips that used to curse God are now blessing God. The same family that used to tear down the church is now building the church. The same voice that used to curse God is worshiping God.
Why? Because He uses every part of your story. If you give it to Him, He'll use it. Look at me: stop cursing your story. Look at me: stop cursing your past. Because the same thing that you found freedom from, you're about to help somebody else find freedom from.
The same dark season that you pulled yourself out of, you're about to help somebody else be pulled out of it. If you give it to Him, He will use it. Thank God we serve a redeemer!
Every part of your story. I pray that somebody looks at your past different because there's not one part that will be left wasted if you give it to Him.
Gideon didn't just have an altar torn down, but he also had the men that he was supposed to fight with torn—not in half, but even a lot more than that. You see, when Gideon said, "I'm going to go fight; God's called me to fight," there were 32,000 men that were going to fight with him.
Sounds like a lot. The only problem was the enemy had 130,000 soldiers. But God was like, "That's unfair! You got too many soldiers, Gideon! Take it down from 32,000. Put them through some tests."
And in two tests, God had it from 32,000 to 300. This is the real 300! Sorry, King Leonidas, you're done! 300 men!
How does that make sense? That's unfair! You're looking at it from the wrong eyes, friends. 132,000 against 300? No! It's 300 and the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob!
It's 300 plus the God who spoke light into existence! It's 300 plus the God who made the sun, the moon, the stars, the oceans! It's 300 plus the God who created the earth that the 132,000 walk on!
It's not unfair for us; it's unfair for them! Judges 7:15 says this: "He returned to the camp and called out, 'Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.'"
We're going to skip down to verse 20. After Gideon had given some instruction, he had these 300 men make a circle around the valley that the enemy was encamped in. They were spread out; they were in different positions.
But this is the result of their obedience to God. It said, "The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars, grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow. They shouted, 'A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!'"
While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled. And when 300 trumpets sounded, the Lord caused—listen to this—the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords.
Does anybody still believe in the miraculous at the 845 of us right here?
So what was the strategy? Gideon let them get in the circle. What do you mean, get in the circle and do what? Take a light in your hand. We're going to shout when I tell you, and we're going to shine when I tell you.
Man standing and shouting, that's cool, but where's my sword? We're going into battle! You don't need a sword; you need to stand, and you need to shout.
It says this: "As each man held his position." I love Sunday church because we're all in the same room, but Monday is pretty cool because it's when the church gets out in the city.
And I believe we just make a big circle around Dade County. I love when we're all together, but hear me: our mission is walked out when we each hold our position.
Somebody needs to put some purpose on their season. Somebody needs to put some purpose on their family. Somebody needs to put some purpose on their school. Somebody needs to put some purpose on this year.
Because if you hold your position, He's going to hold your future. If you just hold your position, you're going to be holding the victory. If you just stand your ground, He will take your ground.
You don't have to swing a sword; you're just going to give a shout. Well, why wouldn't we hold our position? It's because of two things: either things that we see look too good, or the things that we see look too bad.
I just want to remind somebody: if you don't quit, you win. But we don't always quit because things get hard. Sometimes we quit because things get good.
We have this event called the Easter egg drop. We drop a bunch of Easter eggs from the sky, and the kids are around the field at the same time. All we try to tell them is, "Hold your position!"
It's hard for them, though. They're like, "900,000 eggs in front of them! Hold your position!" "Why isn't that my promise?" "Yes, but it's not your time yet."
"But I see an opportunity!" "I know, but that's not the opportunity I have for you. Hold your position!"
"But I could make more money right now! This is easy!" "This is Hold Your Position!"
Can we obey when it doesn't make sense? Can we hear a no and still obey? Some of us love a good yes from God, but today I believe He's given some no's right now, and we need to listen because they're just as important as the yeses.
Hold your ground!
But I also just sense that the Holy Spirit this morning is going to give some strength to the people that are weary. My Scripture says, "Do not grow weary in doing good." Why does it say that? Because sometimes when you do good, things get hard.
And I just want to encourage you: hold your position! What could God do with a church that holds their position? What could God do with a man that holds their position? What could God do with a woman who holds her position?
Don't quit! Hang on! Because He's about to do something great!
Does anybody believe God's got something on the way for you? Why don't you stand up on your feet right now?
I'm going to pray for some people—people in the room, online, wherever you are. If you can just shut yourselves away with God right now, not the time to be distracted, the time to talk to a neighbor right now. This is a moment between you and God.
Holy Spirit, right now in the name of Jesus, I pray that you would speak. I pray that you would illuminate. God, just as your word said, "Get up! You're going to give the victory to the Israelites."
God, I pray right now that you're saying that to us. Some of you are tired; it's time to get up. Some of you are weary; get up! Why? Because He's about to give something to you.
Don't quit! Get up! But the enemy speaks time and time again: "Give up!" He says, "Give up that marriage! He says, give up that family! He says, give up that dream! He says, give up that calling! He says, give up your faith!"
Oh, not today! In the name of Jesus, I pray strength! If you're in a season right now where you felt like giving up in an area of your life, and today you need some strength—whether you're in the room, whether you're online—I just want to pray for some people.
We're going to sing this song; it's called "I Trust in God." You know when worship works the best? It's when you make the lyrics a prayer.
So today, we're not just going to sing these lyrics; we're going to expect these lyrics. We're going to prophesy these lyrics that no matter if I haven't trusted God before for me in my heart, today I declare that regardless of the obstacle, regardless of the storm, that I trust in you.
That's what we're about to do. But before we do, I want to pray for you. If you're in the room right now and you say, "Dakota, I need some strength. I need some help. I've been running to the wrong stronghold. I want to run to the stronghold."
If that's you in the room, will you just lift your hand right now? "Dakota, I need strength. Supernatural help." Thank you, God! Thank you, God!
Let me give you just a moment. Anyone else? I know He will heal what we reveal, but He won't heal what we hide this morning.
Anybody else? Anybody else? If that's you, thank you, Jesus! I believe healing is in the room right now.
Lord, I pray right now by your Holy Spirit that we would understand that you're not just the God of yesterday, not just the God of today, but you are the God of our tomorrow.
God, I pray for any person right now that has a weary spirit. God, I pray for any person right now that has a tired spirit. God, I pray for people right now that have lost hope, that have lost expectation that you're going to do something.
God, I pray right now that in this moment, strength would be released. God, I pray right now in this moment that peace would be released. God, I pray in this moment they would declare that they will trust you again, that they will hope in you again.
God, I pray we'll get our hopes up. God, I pray that we'll get our expectation up. We give you glory; we give you praise for what you're going to do, and it's your powerful name we pray.
Come on, everybody said, "Hey!"
This is Rich and Don Wilkerson, and we want to say thank you so much for watching and engaging with today's content. Maybe today you want to make the decision to follow Jesus. Why don't you pray this prayer with me?
"Dear Jesus, today I choose to entrust my life to you. Forgive me of my sins; make me a new creation. I love you. In Jesus' name, amen."
We're celebrating with you the decision that you've made, and we want to walk this journey out alongside you.
Yeah, and if you just prayed that prayer, why don't you go ahead and follow the prompts that are on the screen right now? We're so glad that you took some time to watch today's message.
Do us a favor: if it encouraged you, if it impacted you, go ahead and share this. And if you haven't already, go ahead and subscribe to the Vu Church YouTube channel so you can continue to get more content like this.
We love you guys, and we're declaring the best is yet to come!