Service date: February 8th, 2015 To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: https://tphla.org/giving/
thank God for struggle where you had to
thank them for for confusion and to even
thank them for your pain see I know it’s
really easy to get caught up thanking
them for the blessings but but what
about the struggle and the things that
make you cry it now how do we allow our
gratitude to extend to the things that
cause us pain to trust that we can be
thankful even when we’re hurting that
the broken can be thankful to that we
don’t have to have all the answers but
that we can thank him anyway that’s what
it means to live in his presence then we
can live in such a way that we don’t
have to sell out God’s plan for our
emotions
when everything that comes out of our
mouth is a reflection of gratitude
that’s when when people don’t seem to
understand how we could have joy in the
midst of our trials that’s that’s when
we say thank you when we don’t have to
have all the answers and I don’t know
that that I’m even going to get the job
and I don’t know that the relationship
is ever going to be what it was supposed
to be but but I can say thank you anyway
because I know that there’s a lesson in
there and even when I don’t understand
the lesson I’m trusting the teacher that
only other side of this I’m going to be
better and so I’m thinking you in
advance have you ever had to thank them
on credit I don’t really I don’t really
have it like I like I want to have it I
don’t really have the praise the way I
want to have the praise but but because
I’ve come into this atmosphere and I’m
surrounded by all of this gratitude and
all of these representations of God’s
grace I know that maybe if they can say
thank you that I can say thank you to
that I don’t know what it took to get up
on this stage or to come into this
building for each and every one of you
but I can trust that you’ve had to have
some level of struggle that life has
brought you to it to your knees in some
type of way and when you’re down to your
knees and your soul is crying out and
the tears won’t stop flowing can you say
thank you anyway can you say thank you
anyway
you see I believe we’re coming to a
place in our community where we don’t
have all the answers and we’re having to
be okay with not having the answers and
and not just in our community I mean in
our own lives and our own relationships
and our own jobs that we have all of
these question marks and we’re wondering
if things are going to work out the way
we see them in our heads our things ever
going to return to a place where I can
have joy again where I can have peace
and happiness again and I’m telling you
I don’t know when things are going to
turn around for you I’m very sorry my
prophetic signal is a little bit down
today I don’t know exactly when you’re
going to come out of your storm but I
know that it will begin the moment you
say thank you for the rain
when you say thank you for for the
endurance that is being built up on the
inside of me that my faith is being made
stronger in the midst of my my
desperation and my disappointments that
I don’t have it all together but I know
who’s holding me together so when I say
wrap me in your arms it means I won’t
wrestle anymore it means that I’m not
gonna be my enemy anymore you see the
incredible thing about asking God to
wrap you in his arms is that there comes
a point when even you’re holding a baby
where they they start to recognize their
own limbs and their own will and that
they don’t have to be held anymore and
so when we surrender and say wrap me in
your arms it means that I’m not going to
fight the process that I’m going to
trust your arms around me even though I
know I could have a plan and I could do
this and I could do that that ultimately
I only want what comes through the
Gateway of your arms and that is enough
for me and so we say thank you because
at any moment we can stop fighting and
decide to be held at any moment we
decide we can no longer create these
plans that were counting so much on our
plans that we have forgotten our purpose
that we’re no longer going to sell him
out for the validation and approval that
comes with the acceptance of this world
it might just be you and him in this
season
it might just be you and him and you
have to find a way to be okay with that
you may be the only one that understands
what’s been sparked inside of you and
you can’t need everyone’s approval
before you decide to ignite the flame
that God is trying to spark in your life
because when you hang that over when you
hand your flame over and say please
validate me please say that this is
enough please grant me your approval in
your validation you give them the power
to blow it out – so if you need them so
much that you forget about him you’re
going to always be counting on people to
give you something only God can give you
we don’t need the accessories that come
with being popular we just need the
faith that comes with being chosen
and the faith that comes with being
chosen means that gratitude and your
presence becomes my environment not my
feelings I can no longer live within my
feelings and what I feel like doing and
who I feel like becoming and what you
feel like accepting about me because
this is the year of authenticity and
that means that I don’t necessarily need
your approval to be authentic I just
need his hand on my life his voice
guiding me and leading me so that I can
become not more of what you need me to
be but more of who he’s called me to be
and I’m willing to go through whatever
struggle and baby it’s going to be a
struggle because the whole world is
trying to convince you to not be you
they’re trying to convince you that they
have figured out a way where you can
move through life and avoid all pain and
avoid all drama if you just get this job
and if you just get this relationship
then this won’t happen and that won’t
happen but the reality is it’s going to
happen anyway so it’s just a matter of
what we’re going to let that lesson
teach us
in the midst of the the whirlwind of
life that we can be anchored in the
peace and gratitude that comes with
serving the one who can calm the storm
and if he’s allowing it to rage there’s
a purpose in that too but I can’t afford
to be shaken and moved and uprooted from
my truth so that I can join your crisis
because ultimately I know that if he’s
called me to it
he’s going to bring me through it and he
doesn’t have to take a vote before he
delivers me he doesn’t have to poll the
audience before he decides whether or
not he can use me and because of that I
won’t eat there all I know that I will
do is that I will humble myself in such
a way that when he tells me to move I
can move without guilt
from what I’m leaving behind
there is no achievement no no award no
alkylate no career no relationship no
job more important than his voice and
anything that threatens to drown me from
hearing that voice I have to let go of
because we’ve been called to walk on
water and we can’t afford to let life
pull us down in such a way that now
we’re depending on the lifejacket that
comes with approval when we really just
need the faith to believe that we can
step over waves that we don’t have to
drown any morning and it’s so scary
because when you’ve drowned once before
it makes you more afraid of the water
but what if you learned your lesson what
if you don’t have to live in the
parameters of your insecurities any
longer what if you’re strong enough to
survive
again and again and again and again and
again and what if each time you survive
you teach someone else that they can
survive too
I guarantee you that there are eyes
watching you eyes that you would never
even see and they need us to survive but
if we don’t decide that we’re going to
survive not for them but for him then
we’re going to live a life dictated by
opinions requiring approval and
validation when ultimately all we need
is to walk with God so we’re going to be
held a bit tighter and we’re going to
we’re going to begin to know his ways
and we’re going to understand his heart
for us is never to see us in trouble and
it’s never to see us in pain is to see
us grow and we are going to withstand
this stretch that comes with growth the
confusion that comes with growth in the
the new identity that comes with
understanding that he is expanding our
territory our comfort zone does not have
to be our limits anymore is anyone
willing to be uncomfortable for God
is anyone willing to be uncomfortable
for the cost of authenticity is anyone
willing to be misunderstood is is anyone
willing to recognize that all we need is
what God says in our lives all we need
is his direction and that is more than
enough then the world against us