!st March 2026 - Inattentional Blindness - Pastor Clarance Shashi

How many of you have uh experienced this phenomenon where you're looking for something and uh let's say let's let me give you an example especially if you're a guy or you're a child or you if you're in the children category, you're looking for something, let's say you go, mom, where's the sauce?

And mom says, it's in the cabinet, and then you go to the cabinet, you open the cabinet, it's not there.

Mom, where's the sauce?

Mom, where's the sauce?

Mom, I looked in the cabinet, the sauce is not there.

And then mom comes, she opens the cabinet, and it's right there.

And you're like, what sorcery is this?

Oh, even guys, sometimes you know, where's the keys, Debbie?

Where did you put the keys?

It's in the drawer.

And you're looking at the drawer, it's not here.

Where is the keys?

It's in the drawer, and I say it's not there.

And then she comes and she opens, and the keys just miraculously appears.

How many of you have experienced that before?

Oh, see, everybody's actually, you know, uh, as I uh now that you know I'm a parent, so I've developed a superpower as well.

The other day, my son was looking for his specs.

I won't tell you which son, I don't wanna embarrass him, but I've only got one son who has specs.

But he was looking all over for his specs, he was in the room, he was in all the turning on all the lights, looking for his specs.

Uh then uh I go downstairs and all the lights in the in the from the hall, from outside to the hall to the kitchen, all the lights are on.

Looked like we were celebrating Dippawali.

The festival of lights.

And I said, Why?

Why are all the lights on?

I can't find my specs.

I need the lights on to look for my specs.

And I go towards the TV cabinet and I said, Are you talking about these specs?

And I throw it to him, I pass it to him.

How did you know it was there?

I said, I looked.

And it was right there, next to the chair that you were sitting on, resigned to the fact that your specs is gone forever.

Yeah, you're right.

That's the excuse, Emily.

No, because I don't have my specs, so that is why I couldn't really see my specs there.

But actually, this is uh it is a phenomenon that has been acknowledged by psychologists.

It is called inattentional blindness.

So there is actually a term for it.

Where you're looking at something, it is within your scope of vision, but you don't see it.

And it has nothing to do with your physical eye, but it has to do with your state of mind.

It's either you're distracted in your mind, you don't perceive it, not because it's not there, but because you're distracted, or your mind is not engaged, or you have a predetermined outcome already set in your mind.

It is not gonna be there.

I know she didn't put the keys in there.

So I'm standing at the drawer looking at the keys, and the keys are invisible to me because my mind already decided it's not gonna be there.

So it is an actual phenomenon, it's something that happens in our mind that we don't see things that are within our scope, scope of uh vision.

And the why I'm sharing about this today is because uh I want to talk about this from a spiritual perspective because I think as Christians, many times we can struggle with a spiritual inattentional blindness where God is doing a work in our lives, where God is at work, we know the word of God, we know the Bible, we come to church, we pray, but then we face situations and we think God is not there.

And we ask ourselves, Christians, where is God?

Where is God in this situation, Pastor?

Why isn't God doing something something about this?

So we don't see him or perceive him sometimes, and and it's not because he left the building, it's not because he abandoned you, it's because our minds are distracted or disengaged, or maybe we already have a predetermined outcome or predetermined idea of how we think God should work in our situation, but we know for a fact that God is there.

The word of God promises us that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus.

The word of God says that the God of Israel never sleeps or never slumbers, he doesn't have an off day, he's not taking an off day while you're going through that problem.

The word of God says he's your ever present help in time of need, ever-present.

He never leaves us nor forsake us, but yet at times we don't see it because maybe we are distracted by things that are happening.

Maybe we are distracted by the magnitude of the problem that is before us that we don't notice the God who is with us in the problem.

So I'm gonna be reading out of 2 Kings chapter 6, verse 8 onwards.

2 Kings 6:8

I'll give you a breakdown of this story.

It is actually talking about a time in history where Syria was at war with Israel.

And the king of Syria wanted to destroy Israel and wanted to kill the king of Israel.

So he has all these meetings with his war generals, with his servants uh in the privacy of his war room, and and he discusses plans.

You know, I'm gonna be here, I'm gonna do this, we're gonna set this trap here and all that.

And and and much to his frustration, it seems that the king of Israel always knows what this guy is planning, always seems to be able to avoid all the traps that the Syrian king has set for him.

So one day he calls his team together, and this is this happened a few times.

He a few times, he called his team together, and and he says, Which one of you is for the king of Israel?

Which one of you here is a spy?

And and they say, No, no, none of us are the spy.

Then one servant comes forward and he says, My master, it is not any of us, none of us are spies, none of us are informing the king of Israel of your plan, but Israel has got this prophet by the name of Elisha, and God reveals to Elisha your plans.

In fact, Elisha is the one who tells the king of Israel everything that you're going to do, every plan that you have.

In fact, he can't the discussions that you have in the privacy of your bedroom as well, he knows, and he reveals to the king of Israel.

That is how the king of Israel is able to avoid all these traps.

So then, of course, the the Syrian king is upset, so he says, Okay, let's get this guy.

We need to get this prophet.

So it says he in in verse uh 13, and he says, Go and see where he is, that I may send and get him.

And it was told to him, saying, Surely he's in Doton.

Therefore, he sent horses, chariots, and a great army to the city of Dotan.

They arrive by night and they surround the city.

So this great army, a massive army, comes and they surround this city at night where Elisha is staying at that point.

So early in the morning, it says, uh Elisha's servant, you know, just had his coffee, going out to the veranda, a big yawn, and much to his surprise and shock, he sees a massive, massive army around the city.

Needless to say, he panics, he's in deep fear, and and he he he goes to his master Elisha and says, Master, Alas, my master, Alas is the old-fashioned way of saying, Oh my god, dear Lord, Alama.

What shall I do?

What shall we do?

And uh and Elisha answers like this.

He says in verse 16, do not fear, for those who are with us are more than those who are with them.

And can you imagine the servant in a bit of a shock?

What do you mean, those who are with us?

It's me, one plus one, two people.

A great army has surrounded us, chariots, horses, people ready to trap us, uh, capture us, kill us.

God knows what their plans are.

What are you talking about?

And then Elisha prays his prayer over him.

He says, Lord, I pray that you open his eyes that he may see.

Then the Lord opened the eyes of the young man and he saw.

And behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha.

How amazing is that! So, in this scenario, we see two men standing at the same spot, looking at the same problem, the same challenge, the same adversity that is before them.

One panics and is in fear, where and the other is cool and calm.

The servant sees death, he sees an impossibility, he panics, he cries out, What are we gonna do?

What shall we do?

Elisha is chill, he's relaxed, and he declares, Do not fear, because those who are with us are more than those who are against us.

Elisha sees a different reality while looking at the same situation.

Every challenge that you face, or you are facing, or you're about to face, every adversity that you're looking at before you, every hurdle, every mountain that you're looking at before you right now, maybe some of you are looking at a challenge, you're looking at a season of uncertainty, you're worried about so many things.

Every challenge that you're looking at has two perspectives there's the natural perspective, and that's the spiritual perspective.

And as we go through life, as we go through challenges, many times we see things in the natural.

In the natural, you could be facing odds that seem impossible, circumstances that seem to have no hope of you getting out of them.

Where your soul is even at that point where it's crying out, What am I going to do?

Maybe it's a doctor's report, maybe it's a financial situation, maybe it's a relationship issue, maybe it's something to do with your family, maybe a deal that you've been working on for so long, you've been believing for banking your future on just fell through.

And you're like, What am I going to do?

There's no hope for me now.

But I want you to know that there is another perspective, there is a spiritual perspective to the problem that is before you.

Maybe you're looking at something, and there's nothing that you can do by your own strength to change or overcome.

But I want you to know that there is a different perspective.

And I pray that today your eyes will be open to the spiritual realities of what God wants to do and what God is doing in your circumstances.

When you read this story, the first thing we need to understand is this the problem that Elisha and his servant were facing wasn't sent to them by God.

It happened because Elisha was obedient to God, doing God's will, fulfilling the call of God upon his life, doing what God had called him to do.

God didn't send the Syrian army to kill Elisha and his servant.

The wicked Syrian king sent the army to kill them.

And I need to say that because many people, uh, even Christians, go through difficult circumstances, they face challenges, and many times their understanding is God is doing this.

God sent me this problem.

If you're sick, you know, God is trying to humble me.

Uh God is maybe God is punishing me.

Uh, a financial problem, God is breaking me, He wants to, He wants to uh teach me humility.

Uh, if you're going through hardship, it's because uh God wants you to go through this struggle.

God doesn't tempt people with evil, he says it is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance.

So we need to understand that that not everything that you're going through in life is sent to you by God.

There are other realities at play.

The first reality we need to understand is that we have an enemy, enemy called the devil.

And the devil's agenda is as the Bible describes, he's the thief that comes to steal, kill, and destroy.

So everything that you're facing now that has the fruits of being, you know, robbing and uh stealing and and killing and destroying, you know where the source is.

It is the enemy.

The enemy doesn't want you to fulfill God's plan for your life, the enemy doesn't want you to fulfill your destiny, so he comes and he tries to sabotage your destiny, he sends enemies your way.

So we have an enemy at work, nothing to do with God, but there's another reality that is at play, which is your own free will.

God gave us free will.

And as after years of being a pastor and spending doing a lot of counseling, talking to people, I can safely say that a bulk of your problems is definitely not because of God, and it's also not because of the devil.

A bulk of the problems and challenges we face is because we used our free will and made poor decisions in life.

And our poor decisions opened us up to certain circumstances that has brought challenges into our world.

People have made poor decisions in their finances, people have made poor decisions in their in their relationships, and they're facing challenges now, and they cry out, God, why did you do this to me?

No, God didn't do that to you.

You used your free will and made bad decisions.

You made decisions contrary to the word and the will of God for your life.

Deuteronomy chapter 30, verse 19 says, This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses.

Deuteronomy 30:19

Then he goes on to say, Choose life so that you and your children may live.

He's saying, My will for you is that you make the right decisions, that you choose life, that you choose this blessing.

I've placed it all before you.

Do it so that you will live a blessed life, so that your children will live a blessed life.

That's God's will.

Yet we can't help but notice many people, in spite of knowing God's will, choose death, choose curses, choose paths that are in direct contradiction to the word of God for their life, for their future, and then they end up in difficult situations.

But the good news is, the good news is they may have made their bad decisions by their own free will.

They could be facing problems right now because of certain decisions that you made, or maybe it's even the enemy that has sent things your way to try to sabotage your destiny.

The good news is God does not give up on us.

They made the decisions but uh by their own free will, but God is still in there with us in spite of our decisions.

Yeah, it's like that GPS unit, right?

We all got ways nowadays, and uh you I don't know how many times I've gotten into an argument with ways.

Because I clicked on the particular destination, ways is taking me off the path that I'm comfortable with, the part that I know is right, I know it's right, but ways seems to be directing me in a different direction.

And I've learned my lesson because it can't be like something is wrong with the ways, something is wrong with the GPS.

This is actually the correct part.

I recognize this road.

The last time I took this road, so after arguing with ways, I go my own part, and next thing you know, I'm stuck in some traffic jam somewhere, some accident somewhere, and then and then I think I should have just listened to the voice of that nice lady on my ways.

People always say, once we were traveling to Ipo and we were on the highway, and the waist suddenly tells me, turn left, get off the highway.

And and I had this split second to make the decision.

Oh, go say, but this is the path I know.

This is the path that everybody takes.

Why is it taking me off the highway?

And the the road looks clear.

But because I've learned my lesson, I said, okay, I'm gonna listen to ways.

And I turn off and go into this kampong area, and we're driving through this small town, and uh, good 30 minutes of driving through some space that I don't know where I am, but I just listen to the voice, keep following, and next thing you know, it leads me back to the highway.

And I was like, what was all that about?

And then I find out there was an accident right behind me, and because of that accident, people were stuck in that stretch of highway for more than an hour.

But because I chose to listen to the voice of God, voice of God.

See, that is what happens when you're too dependent on waste, ways becomes God in a life.

To the voice of the GPS unit, the God positioning unit.

Because I listen, I escaped that whole thing.

You know, some of us are stuck in a jam in life because, in spite of what God was saying to us, in spite of God's directions for our lives, we still choose to do what we think is right.

What we are comfortable with, what we are familiar with.

And then we're stuck in this jam and we're wondering, God, where are you?

Why are you doing this to me?

What is happening, God?

So there could be some of us here, but like I said, the good news is God may not have caused a problem, but God is already present with you in that problem.

That's that's the beauty of having a God that never never gives up on us.

I was listening to this testimony about this guy who was a criminal, and he ends up in prison.

And um, in that prison, he finds a Bible and he starts to read the word of God.

In that prison, someone comes and ministers to him.

And of course, to make the long story short, his whole life changes today.

He shares about Jesus, he talks about God.

But the thing is, he ends up in prison.

Did God want him to end up in prison?

No, he ends up in prison as a result of his own bad life choices.

But God meets him in this prison.

In this prison.

God meets him where he is through his word.

God sends people there, and God doesn't give up on this guy to try to lead him back to the right part.

And that's the good news.

You may be in a situation now that you're that you're struggling with that came about as a result of your your own bad choices, your bad decisions.

But I want you to know that at any point right now you can say to God, God, I'm ready to get back on track again, I'm ready to trust you again, I'm ready to give my life to you again, I'm ready to surrender to you and trust your will.

Yes, I've made mistakes, but I'm ready to get back on the right path.

I'm ready to obey and hear your voice, and God will lead you out of this situation.

So, going back to the scripture, the enemy sends an army, a mighty army, to capture Elisha.

And the servant panics.

Why did the servant panic?

This guy has been a follower of Elisha, he has seen how God has done so many things, how God has protected them over and over again, how God has done mighty miracles through Elisha, yet now, in a new situation, facing a new challenge, he immediately panics.

He immediately worries.

And as Christians, many times we know God has done great things for us throughout our life, He's delivered you over and over and over again, He's helped you.

All of us have got testimonies, but now you're facing a new challenge and you're going to a place of fear.

And why do we fear many times?

Why do we go to that place?

It's because we forget.

So I can say that this servant forgot.

He forgot how powerful the God whom they worshiped was.

He forgot how much, how many great miracles God had done through their lives.

That this was not too big a problem for God.

You see, if we forget what God has done, we won't.

See what God can do.

Amen.

And we end up in fear and uh facing when we are facing new challenges.

All of us can write down at least three stories of how God has delivered you.

If you look back at your life five years ago, last year, ten years ago, all of us can write down at least three powerful testimonies how you were in a situation where you thought you had no hope, where you thought there was no deliverance, where you faced a huge problem, and how God came through and delivered you.

All of us have these testimonies.

Yet, when we face a new problem, the first default thing, the default setting for all of us is to go to fear.

We kind of developed this inattentional spiritual blindness.

We are distracted by the problem.

And when we forget, it can open the doors to all sorts of other spiritual battles or struggles.

If you read the Bible, you realize that one of the reasons why Israel went into idolatry was because they forgot.

Psalms 106, verse 19 says it.

Psalms 106:19

Thus they changed their glory into the image of an ox that eats grass.

And it goes on to say, they forgot their Savior who had done great things in Egypt, wondrous works in the land of Ham, awesome things by the sea.

When you forget, you start to look and look for and create idols.

Your job becomes your idols, your your possessions becomes your idol, money becomes your idol, relationships become your idol.

You look to these things to sustain you, to protect you, to get you through the problems that you're in, and God takes a back seat.

And you know, sometimes we allow the blessings that we prayed for and asked God for become an idol in our life, become our source, and we take our eyes off the blesser.

And these things become idle in our lives.

Idols in our life.

Remember, Pastor Ryan spoke last week about how the Lord leads us to green pastures.

Here in Hosea chapter 13, verse 6, it says, When they had pasture, they were filled.

Hosea 13:6

They were filled and their hearts were exalted.

Therefore, they forgot me.

This is God.

They allowed the blessings to become more important than the blesser.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen Christians go through this.

They pray for a particular blessing when there are points of their life where they have nothing, no job, they're struggling.

And God comes true.

God is a good God.

He responds, he prays, he blesses them, and now the blessing has taken them away from God.

Exactly like the scripture says.

When you forget, you stop looking to God for counsel.

Psalm 106, verse 13 says, They soon forgot his works and they did not wait for his counsel.

Psalms 106:13

When people forget what the Lord has done in their life, they start to look for counsel in other things.

The last thing they do is seek God's word for counsel.

Another thing that happens when you forget is you start to live your life in fear.

Isaiah 51, verse 13 says, and you forgot the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens, laid the foundations of the earth, you have feared continually every day.

Isaiah 51:13

How many of you know what I'm talking about?

When you look at the news daily and all that is going on around the world, war, rumors of war, things that are going on in our country, all kinds of things, listen, you can't help but live in fear.

If you don't know that you have a God who is with you, if you don't know that God is faithful, if you don't know that he will never leave you nor forsake you, if you don't know that he is faithful even to a thousand generations, that he is your ever-present help in time of need.

If you don't know all those things, if you forget those things, fear becomes your default setting.

You wake up every day in fear, you read the news in fear, you go to bed in fear.

God does not want us to live like that.

Amen.

Because they forgot, even in the New Testament, the disciples had this problem.

They had just seen Jesus do many great miracles.

He just fed the multitudes, and now they are in a boat, and a storm hits, and the first thing they do is they panic and they cry out, uh they cry out to God.

Why are we facing this?

Don't you care that we are dying?

They shout to Jesus.

Don't you care about what we're going through?

They forgot.

The God that just multiplied bread, the God that cleansed the leper, healed the sick, raised the dead.

Now they're in a boat in a storm and they forget.

And they start to get angry with God.

Start to look back at your life.

Think of the different testimonies.

This I want to encourage you, write down.

Write down.

All of us should have a journal where we write down, or we should have a file on our computer or on your phone where you list down all the testimonies, all the miracles that God had done for you in your life.

Write it down.

It is so, so important because I can guarantee you, as you remember and as you write it down, faith will start to rise up in your life.

Amen.

Faith will start to rise up.

How could David be so confident in the face of a giant?

The same giant that all other military men looked at and were filled with fear.

They were hiding behind rocks.

David was so confident, looked at the giant, and said, I can take this fellow down.

And he reveals to us his confidence was this.

He says, The God who delivered me from the hands of the bear, the power of the bear, and the lion, it's the same God who will deliver me from this giant.

So, what did he do?

He judged his future problem based on the faithfulness of God in his past.

He remembered the bears, he remembered the lions, and then the giant didn't look so big after that.

Some of us need to remember the bears, some of us need to remember the lions, the things that God has delivered you from.

And then you will start to view the giants that are before you to the correct lens.

Amen.

Amen.

And maybe the disciples in the boat expected God to show up in a certain way.

I expected the problem to be dealt with in a certain way.

I expected God to respond in a particular way.

But God was Jesus was not responding the way they wanted him to respond.

Maybe they felt that, hey, I've got Jesus in the boat.

I shouldn't even be facing this storm.

Maybe that's what Elisha's servant taught.

We've seen God is with us, God's word is here, the prophet is here.

I shouldn't even be this army shouldn't even be here.

In their mind, maybe they we shouldn't even be going through this.

As Christians, sometimes we can have this expectation or belief that God should insulate us from all problems and challenges.

Because we've got Jesus, because God is with us, because Jesus is in our boat, we should not be facing any storms.

But that's not how God works.

The Bible doesn't say no weapon will be formed against you, but it does say no weapon formed against you will prosper.

Sometimes God delivers you from the fire, sometimes he delivers you through the fire.

Sometimes he rescues you from the pit.

Sometimes he journeys with you through the pit.

Sometimes he fights your battles for you, and sometimes he fights your battles with you.

Sometimes he delivers you from that problem, and sometimes he says, My grace is sufficient for you.

He gives you enough grace so that you can endure and go through this problem and come out from the other side more victorious.

He doesn't always respond the way we expect him to respond, but he always responds.

And there are times you won't see or understand or know what God is doing until you're on the other side.

Imagine Joseph going through all that he went through.

He was betrayed, brothers wanted to kill him, he was faithful, he was thrown into prison.

At that point, he would not have understood why he was going through all that he was going through.

But one day, when he's sitting in that position in the throne, on the throne as the second most powerful man in Egypt, and his family comes before him, and he's looking at his family.

And finally, you know what happens?

The family realize, hey, this is Joseph, this is the brother that we try to get rid of, and they beg for mercy.

At that point, he has this revelation.

He says, It's okay.

He says, Don't you see you planned evil against me, but God used that same plans for my good.

As you see all around you right now, life for many people.

Sometimes you won't understand what God is doing, you won't see what God is doing until you're on the other side of it or you're somewhere in the future, you look back and you're going, ah.

Now I understand why God didn't answer that prayer.

Now I understand why God allowed me to go through all of this.

Because God had a bigger picture.

You know, when I look back at my life, I thank God not just for the press that he answered, but I thank God for the press that he did not answer.

Because there were times in my life that I was praying for things that now I look back and I said, Thank you, God, for not answering those prayers.

I thank God he didn't answer my prayers to get me a place in RMC Royal Military College at 12 years old.

I went for the test, I didn't get through, and I was upset.

Why God didn't give me RMC?

No, I looked back and said, Thank you, Jesus.

I thank God that God didn't answer my prayer to sustain a relationship with this girl that I was in love with when I was 17 or 18 or 19, I can't remember.

I'm upset when the relationship ended.

God had prayed for this relationship.

I'm fasted for this relationship.

Nothing like that.

The fasting part is an exaggeration.

Only fast for Jesus.

Thank you, Jesus.

Thank you for not answering me.

No, no, no, I'm kidding.

I thank God for not answering those prayers.

At least for Debbie's sake.

God knows you'd have ended up with an ugly loser, suffering now somewhere, lost, back sliding in the world.

God saw all of this for him.

Didn't answer my prayer back then.

Amen.

Thank you, Mary.

Mary taking it personally, you know, Mary, sorry.

Debbie, Debbie understands.

How many of you can look back at your life right now and remember prayers that you prayed?

And like, my gosh, thank God you didn't answer that prayer.

Thank you, Jesus, for not answering that prayer.

Because God knows what my life would be in right now if you answered that prayer.

But the the point is this God is in the yes.

Right?

God is in the silence, in the wait.

You may not hear him there or the way you expect him to respond to your prayers, so you are uh to whatever you're going through.

He's in the yes, he's in the silence, and he's also in the no's.

A no doesn't mean God is not responding, it is a response.

God will not always respond the way you expect him to respond, but he will always respond, and his responses are always the right response for you and I.

We don't know, we only can see our life so far.

He sees your whole life, he sees generationally.

Amen.

But the good thing about his servant, Elisha's servant, he sees the situation before him, he sees what the problem is naturally, but then he goes to Elisha with the problem.

He says, What are we gonna do?

He goes to the voice of God to get the solution for the problem.

What shall we do?

And Elisha says, Don't fear, those who are with us are more than those who are against us.

He goes to God's word to get a perspective, a correct perspective of the problem that is before him.

Listen, sometimes you cannot see God in the circumstances that you face, but and when you can't see God in that circumstances that you face, you must learn to see God through his word.

Amen.

Find out what God's word is saying about that problem.

What is God's word for you in this situation right now?

That is how you see God through his word.

And you may be facing a situation in your life right now.

And I want to ask you, have you gone to God's word to find out what he is saying about the situation?

Many times we know what the circumstances are saying, we know what the enemy is saying, we know what the financial experts are saying, we know what the doctor is saying, we know what our friends are saying, we know what the politicians are saying, but do we know what God is saying about the situation?

Because there's always another perspective, and God's perspective is always the right perspective.

So the servant had what he saw in the natural speaking to him, but he goes to the prophet, he goes to Elisha to get God's perspective on the matter.

And like I said, Elisha said, gives him a totally different perspective that is in direct contradiction to what he's seeing in the natural.

The spiritual reality, God's word will always contradict what you're seeing in the natural.

You're seeing in the natural a disease that has no cure.

God's word says, by his stripes you were healed.

He's the God who heals.

You're seeing a family situation that is seems impossible.

People are becoming more difficult, and you're seeing maybe family members who are who are lost.

And then you go to the word, and the word says, You and your household will be saved.

The generations of the upright will be blessed.

Your children will be mighty in the land, they will be taught by the Lord, great will be their peace.

You look to God's word and you look to what you're seeing in the natural, it is in total contradiction, but you stand on God's word.

Amen.

You look to your financial situation and you say, Oh my god, how am I gonna get down, get out of this?

Then you go to God's word, and his word says, He will meet all your needs according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.

He gives you the power to produce wealth.

You get all these promises from the word, and that becomes your reality, amen.

So he gets God's word for the situation, and then Elisha praised his prayer.

He said, Lord, I pray.

Open his eyes that he may see.

And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw, and behold, a mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire all around him.

Notice this.

He didn't pray, God, remove the army.

He didn't pray, God, remove the problem.

He prayed, Lord, open his eyes.

Because Elisha knew the solution wasn't in the removal of the problem, it was in a revelation of God's presence in the problem.

And sometimes you're praying for the removal of a particular problem.

God, get me out of this, God remove this problem, God change this circumstance for me.

Maybe your prayer should be, God, open my eyes so that I can see you with me in this situation, so that I can be aware of your presence with me in this problem.

And that's my prayer today.

And the reason I'm so confident with this is because I had to go through something like this as well.

I know most of you have heard this story.

For those of you who have already heard this testimony about the gas explosion, just pretend you're hearing it for the first time.

But it illustrates my point.

So I'm gonna share this for those of you who have not heard it.

Uh some years ago, when we first yeah, just newly uh just uh into our marriage, the first year of our marriage, uh, we had a massive gas explosion in the house.

It uh we just moved into our new house and uh we were going to host Debbie's family for dinner.

And uh Debbie came, we got home early from church, and Debbie goes to the kitchen and starts cooking, preparing all this Chinese food, Chinese, she's half Chinese.

So these Chinese soups that you have to boil for many, many hours.

Yeah, this flowboy, she puts it on the she puts it on the stove and she's in the kitchen, and you know, being me being uh the supportive husband, I didn't want to get in the way, I go up and take a nap.

So her family was supposed to come and help her in the kitchen.

They were supposed to come by a certain time.

So so I I get up and I'm thinking, hey, how come they're not here yet?

So I go down to the kitchen, and Debbie's still slaving over the stove, doing her stuff and all that.

The family's like over over an hour late.

So I step out of the kitchen, I leave the kitchen, I close the door, I take three steps and I hear a huge explosion.

And glasses shatter in my house, pieces of the bathroom door flies out.

And you can imagine my heart kind of skipped a bit at that point because Debbie's in the kitchen because his explosion just came from the kitchen.

And I open the door, I run to the kitchen, and I see Debbie crouched towards the side of the fridge in pain, and and and a fire, and then uh the gas cabinet is open, and and there's been a huge explosion.

So I immediately take her out of there and uh uh we we rushed to the hospital.

And in the hospital, one of my friends came over and he asked me this question.

He says, Hey, you know you're serving God full-time.

Why didn't God protect you?

Why did God allow this to happen to you?

And it was quite a massive explosion.

Debbie suffered uh first-degree burns, second-degree burns on her feet, and her stomach, and and I forgot to say she was six months pregnant uh with Ethan.

So, in that moment I had to think about this.

Why where was God in all this?

And I had an eye-opening moment.

You know, God was in the fact that when Debbie got home from church, she didn't change out of her church clothes.

Normally she'd go up, change into something more comfortable, she'd wear shorts and t-shirt, and she'd go to the kitchen.

But she was still wearing her long pants and her maternity uh blouse and and and so forth.

Uh, and because she had these long pants and this blouse covered, her the parts were the pants covered was protected.

That's why she only got burnt on her feet, uh uh, the bottom part of her belly, because her belly was quite big, uh big by then.

Her eyebrows got singed, the top of her hair got singed.

God was in the fact that she didn't change out of her clothes, which was very uncharacteristic of her.

God was in the fact that I walked out of the kitchen, probably about less than five seconds before the explosion.

If not, I would have been burned in there as well.

God was in the fact that, which Debbie will testify, and she's testified of this, that before the explosion happened, she heard something, either a scream or a sound.

Or something she heard that caused her to step away from the stove and walk in the other direction next to the fridge.

And the moment she stepped away from the stove, the bottom part blew open and the explosion took place.

There was a fire there.

And the fire, God was in the fact that the fire, you know, fire takes a direction.

The fire took the other way.

It went towards the outside, the kitchen windows shut and all that.

And Debbie was on the other side of where the fire went.

God was in the fact that her mother and sisters were more than an hour late, even though they lived only 10 minutes away.

Because imagine if they were all in the kitchen, four ladies in the kitchen at the same time.

The damage would have been so much more.

God knows what would have happened.

God was in the fact that traffic was so clear on the way to the hospital.

God was in the fact that my brother-in-law three decided to go and check our house after we were we had left and gone to the hospital.

And when he went to the kitchen, there was a rug that was on fire that he put and he put out the fire.

Because if he didn't go, that fire could have spread to the cabinets and the house could have burned down.

God was in the fact that my unborn child at that point, Eaton, was perfectly safe and healthy in Debbie's stomach, no side effects, nothing, despite her stomach being burnt.

God was in the fact that her face was not burnt.

Hallelujah.

Praise the Lord.

Eyelashes burnt, hair burnt, face protected.

Thank you, Jesus.

God was in the fact that less than a year before this, I was kind of pressured to take an insurance policy for her.

Not really pressured, I mean insurance, you know how insurance agents are.

Sorry, you're the insurance agent.

But I decided, yeah, I've got to take an insurance policy for her.

Just, I think just about six to eight months before this happened.

And because of that, her trip to the hospital, everything, all the expenses was fully covered, didn't cost us anything.

So where was God?

I could say God was there months before it happened, preparing us.

God was right there in the midst of that fire in the midst of the explosion as it was happening.

God was in the traffic delay.

God was in there protecting my son.

God never left the scene.

He didn't work the way some people may expect him to work or have would have expected him to work, but he was at work.

He knew what we would need even before we came to that need.

And I share that because I want you to know God is with you.

He knows the problem that you're facing now or you're going to face may be a surprise to you.

This challenge or this new season that you're stepping into, all it may be a surprise to you, it may be a shock to you.

But what do you know?

God has already visited your future.

He's already made a way.

The devil may have had plans against you.

You may have made bad decisions that cause you to step into certain circumstances, but even through that, he weaves his will and his purpose through our bad, in spite of our bad decisions, in spite of the plans of the enemy, he causes all things to work for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

So the question is, are you ready to see God in your situation right now?

Are you ready to trust him in your situation right now?

Nothing that you're going through right now is a surprise for God.

You don't have to storm heaven.

God, what's happening?

God, do something.

God was already there.

And God's already secured your future.

Amen.

I want to invite you to stand right now.

Maybe you're facing something right now.

And I do feel this for most of you.

You're facing some uncertainties, certain challenges, and you're maybe in a place of fear or worry.

I'm gonna tell you there's nothing happening or going on with your life right now that God has not already seen.

That God has already made a way.

Today I pray that your eyes will be opened to see his hands, to experience his love.

To walk in that supernatural peace.

There is a father who loves you more than anyone else in your world.

I want to ask you today to trust him.

Say, Lord, I'm ready to trust you.

I've been worried.

Maybe I forgot.

Forgot your faithfulness.

I want to repent right now, Lord.

For forgetting who you are, your goodness, your faithfulness.

I want to remember.

Yes, Lord, I remember how you delivered me.

From the lions, from the bears, how you healed me, how you rescued me.

How you transformed my life.

How you've never let me go in every season.

And I know in this season, too, you are at work.

And I trust in you and I surrender to you, Lord.

Come on, let it be a prayer right now.