It Won’t Always Be Like This

Open your Bibles to 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and meet me at verse 17 and 18.

2 Corinthians 4 · chapter mention

2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 17 and 18.

2 Corinthians 4:17

The Apostle Paul, the writer of this epistle says, For our light affliction,

which is but for a moment, notice it's not everlasting, it's but for a moment,

is working for us, you mean my affliction is working for me?

A far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Verse 18 tells us, while we do not look at the things which are seen,

but at the things which are not seen, for the things which are seen, watch this,

are temporary, and the things which are not seen are eternal.

Today I want to talk to you about this title It won't always be like this,

It won't always be like this.

How many of you, if you would be honest, are facing something right now that

you wish would hurry up and change?

You're going through something right now. There's a circumstance,

a situation, and you wish it would just move quicker.

Hurry up, change. Let's get there faster. What's taking so long?

I've been sowing. I've been praying. I've been believing.

And maybe you're a parent with your child. I've said that over and over and

over and over again. It's time for you to pick this up, mature, grow up, change.

You are in the middle of something and you're waiting for it to change.

I have some good news for you today that anything that you can see or even feel is temporary.

Whatever you're going through, whatever is impacting your sight,

your ears, your feeling, your touch, your taste,

whatever is impacting your five physical senses, I want to let you know today

it is temporary and subject to change.

Your situation, your pain, your delay.

It may be real, but it is not permanent.

It is temporary and subject to change. What you see is temporary.

I want to say this over and over again. If you can see it, it's temporary.

If you can feel it, it's temporary. Temporary means not permanent.

Temporary means not long-lasting. If you can see it, if you can feel it, it's subject to change.

At any moment, whatever you see can change.

Whatever you're going through can change. Whatever you're experiencing can change.

It's temporary and it's subject to change. It won't always be like this.

One of the tactics of the enemy is to tell you that whatever you're going through,

you're going to always go through this, but it won't always be like this.

One of the devices of the enemy to tell you that you're stuck in this situation.

You're always going to be in this situation. Your children are not going to

talk to you anymore. Your parents aren't going to communicate with you anymore.

You're never going to get that promotion. You're always going to be in that

pain. You're never going to receive that healing.

You're never going to have that right relationship.

Well, that's one of the tactics of the enemy is to tell you that things are always permanent.

But I'm here to tell you today that it It is temporary and it is subject to

change at any moment. Come on, somebody say amen.

What God said is permanent, but what you're experiencing is temporary.

What God said is eternal, but what you're experiencing is not permanent.

It's temporary and it's subject to change.

The enemy magnifies what you can see, but God wants you to magnify what he said.

Let me say that again. The enemy will magnify what you can see,

but God wants you to magnify what he said.

Actually, he wants you to think about the promise more than the problem.

He wants you to magnify his promise more than you magnify the problem.

And how many of you know it's so easy to magnify the problem?

It's so easy to look at that situation and make it so much bigger than what

it really is. It's so easy to feel that pain and feel like it's never going to go away.

But God is saying to you today that it is temporary and it's subject to change.

I believe the Lord is telling me to tell you that whatever you're going through has an expiration date.

Are you listening to me this morning? Who am I talking to today?

There's an expiration date. It's got to end.

It's got to stop. It's got to quit because there's an expiration date on it,

and you're strong enough. You're tough enough.

You persevere. You have stamina.

You have endurance enough to go through it because it's temporary and it's subject

to change. Come on, shout amen.

When you know that it's temporary, you can do anything for a short period of time.

If you know it has an end date, you can do it for a short period of time.

You can go through it. You can get through it.

Matter of fact, God is so faithful that he won't even allow you to go through

anything that you cannot get through.

That's how faithful he is, that if you go through it, you can get through it.

He has surveyed your ability, your capacity.

He has looked at your knowledge and your experience.

And he says, you know what? They can get through this temporary season because

they have everything they need.

That's what makes them faithful. They have everything they need to get through it.

All they have to do is just continue to go forward.

Somebody say go forward. Oh, I know it's easy to go backwards,

but you got to go forward.

It's easy to stay where you are. It's comfortable to just stay right where you

are, but you got to press forward.

You got to keep moving forward. The best is yet to come.

God's got a wealthy place. Yeah, I said a wealthy place for you just ahead if

you would just keep moving forward.

If you'll get out of your comfort zone and get out of your own way and get out

of your pain and get out of your desire to see things take place and get into

his time frame and in his way of things and his way of thinking and you'll begin to think like him,

you'll start seeing these little temporary things as minors.

Compared to the glory that's before you.

But you got everything you need to get through it. I come to tell you today, you got it.

You got it. You got everything you need.

You got the wisdom you need. You've got the understanding you need.

You've got the stamina you need.

All you need to do is just go forward.

Not quit. And the temptation to quit is strong.

How many have ever felt the temptation to quit? It is strong.

And I believe the stronger the temptation to quit, the closer you are to the

manifestation of the blessing.

I mean, at any moment, if you just quit, you could literally be one day away from the breakthrough.

That's what keeps me going. I could be just one day away from the breakthrough.

I could just be one moment away from the manifestation from the phone call from

the good news, but you got to keep going You can't quit.

You can't stop. You're not a quitter Say I'm not a quitter You're not a quitter.

You got to keep moving forward because the best is yet to come Temporary doesn't mean defeated.

It implies Transition You just you're walking through the valley of the shadow of death.

Don't stop in that valley Walk through that valley of the shadow of death and fear no evil.

His word doesn't change even when everything else does.

His word remains the same. Everything else may be changing in your life,

but his word remains the same.

The enemy tried to tell us, you know, we're in a transition period at True Life

and it's orchestrated by God that we're leaving this facility and we're going

to a temporary facility and we're going to get our permanent facility in 2026. Amen.

I believe it. But the enemy tried to tell me, oh, just go on and quit.

Y'all had a, true life had a good run, you know, go on and just wrap it up, you know.

Hey, them people, they'll find somewhere else to go to church,

you know, just quit. I said, no, devil, you a liar.

God, the best is yet to come for us. God, we didn't even scratch the surface

of what God's got going for us. We're going forward.

And so when you, when you, when the enemy's talking to you, you know he's lying.

If he's talking, he's lying. I like when the enemy starts talking to me.

Yeah, just go on and wrap up. So I say, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, he lying.

Because he knows something else good about to happen. In my life, he lying.

Yeah, talk some more, you liar. Because everything you say is a lie.

And the truth is not in you. So if you're telling me that, it's a lie.

And you know that something is on the other side. See, the devil don't know everything.

But he's been around a long time.

Don't discredit your enemy. This being has been around for a long time,

Centuries after centuries after decades after years He's been around so he doesn't

know everything but he knows when something good's about to happen He don't know exactly what it is,

but he's like oh some god about that He about to do something in rose his life.

I can see it I got to get her to quit if I can get her to curse God if I can

give her to give up If I get her to stop reading her Bible and praying If I

can just hinder her And stop her Then she'll quit and never receive what God's got.

He can see that kind of realm. He can see, oh, Lord, it's coming.

Nothing I can do. He can't stop God.

He can't even stop you. So he tries to get you to stop yourself.

Are y'all listening to me today? If he can get your words to be stout against

your own self, get you all riled up and quitting, you're about to cuss somebody out.

And then all of a sudden you didn't you didn't lost your dignity,

dignity and all that stuff be over something ridiculous.

And now you got to. Oh, Lord, I got to apologize. I think God for his grace

and mercy. He'll forgive you. But sometimes it's that's a step back.

Are you listening to me today when you ought to just keep marching forward? Somebody shout. Amen.

God uses temporary seasons to grow, strengthen you.

He doesn't waste seasons. He uses these seasons to grow, strengthen you.

How do you get stronger? By pressure.

Pressure applied against you is how you get stronger.

So everything can always go your way. I wish I could preach a gospel to you

that everything's going to work out.

And then everything's every time you say something, it's going to happen.

And every time you believe, it's going to come to pass. That's not the gospel.

That's not because sometimes you are praying and believing things that God don't

even want you to participate in.

So you got to get the heart of God first before you even, you know,

you need to hear from God before you even start praying.

So you know what to pray instead of praying what you just want to pray.

Let me hear, Lord, you already know what I have need of before I ask.

So let me ask you what I need.

Did y'all catch that? He already knows what we need before he asks.

Why don't we just ask, Lord, what do I need?

There was one particular time when we first started the church,

and this is important. Hear this.

I was walking on a track, and I was walking on this track praying,

and I was asking the Lord about the future, the future of true life,

and what he wanted to do here and there.

We had just got the church going, and I'm like, Lord, share the future with

me. What do you want to do and see?

He said, on Sunday, I want you to preach on X, Y, Z.

I said, glory to God, I'll do that, but I want to talk about this future.

You know, what do you see in the future? He goes, Sunday, use this verse.

Tell the people this verse.

Okay. And now tell me about the future. You know, what do you want us to accomplish in the future?

He goes, on Sunday at the end, I want you to say this to this person.

Okay. The future of true life. What about the future?

And finally, it hit me. He don't want to talk about the future.

He won't talk about Sunday.

You need to find out what does the Lord want to talk about?

And get in line with what he wants to talk about, because he knows more than you.

Who knows more? You are the you are the Lord. Well, let the Lord talk about

what he wants to talk about.

And in prayer, let him talk about what he wants to talk about,

because he is growing you and strengthening you.

And he doesn't waste seasons.

If you're in a temporary transitional season, he's growing strength in you.

There are things that I have learned through tough times that I would have never

learned through comfortable times.

There was one particular person, and I'm embarrassed to tell you this story,

but this one person had gotten stabbed in the back.

Somebody they love had really misused and abused them, stabbed them in the back, betrayed them.

And I said something to them that I wish I could take back, Josh.

I said, build a bridge and get over it.

I thought that was the right thing to say until I got stabbed in the back and

betrayed and used and abused and made made fun of and mocked and widespread and it hurt.

It hurt. It took months for me to really even feel like that I was moving forward.

And if somebody would have told me just build a bridge to get over it,

I'd have punched them in the face.

See I had to go through some experience To now have some compassion For the next person.

See, when you're going through something, it's not always just about you.

It's about you gaining some strength to help somebody else.

When you're going through something, it's difficult, it's tough.

Yes, you're in the middle of it. And yes, you're feeling the pressure.

But think this is this is for someone else's good.

Once I get through this, I got a story to tell. Once I overcome it is I got

a I got a testimony to share that's going to help somebody else.

And so what feels like a delay is often spiritual weight training.

What feels like a delay is often spiritual weight training.

In the moment, in the process of delay, God's building strength in you.

You'll start learning things about yourself that you didn't realize.

And you'll start learning things about God that you didn't realize.

It's in moments of delay.

Somebody say delay. What's taking so long? My goodness.

What is taking so long? One of our precious members, Ms. Jeanette,

she's probably listening online right now.

And we love Ms. Jeanette. We've known her for a long time.

And she asked me one day, she's believing for healing in her body.

And she said, Pastor, what's taking so long? I said, Ms. Jeanette, I don't know.

But what I do know is God's doing something in you.

He's working something in you. He's building something in you.

You're stronger than you think

you are. There's more fortitude on the inside of you than you realize.

You just got to not quit because today at 1 p.m., breakthrough could take place.

I don't know when breakthrough is going to take place. It could be today at

1 p.m. You just got to hold on just a little while longer.

And I don't know. I don't know what's taking so long. I don't have those answers.

Deuteronomy says the secret things belong to the Lord. There are some things that you'll never know.

And you've got to be okay with that. Because in order to have peace that passes

all understanding, you've got to understand and give up your right to understand everything.

If you want peace that surpasses understanding, you've got to give up your right

to understand everything.

And so I don't know what's taking so long, but I do know this,

that delay is spiritual weight training.

Delays develop endurance and pressure produces perseverance.

Delays develop endurance, and pressure produces perseverance.

Temporary pressure will produce permanent power.

Ooh, are you getting this? Temporary pressure will produce permanent power.

The pressure is temporary, but it's producing something in me.

It's working something in me and out of me. It's building something in me and out of me.

Yes, I'm going through this. And yes, it's taking a little longer than I thought.

But I see that I'm stronger than I am, than I ever thought I was.

I'm tougher than I ever thought I was.

I've got more fight than I realized. I got more fire than I realized.

I got more wisdom than I realized. You only develop that in pressure,

temporary situations, in the crockpot. Can I say that?

You only develop it, you're in the crockpot right now.

And anything that comes out of the crockpot, slow and it's good.

You can take it out of that crock pot. It's good. Give me something from the

crock pot any day over the microwave. Amen?

And so you're in the crock pot, but it's only temporary, and it's subject to

change. Come on, somebody say, it's temporary.

It's temporary. Now watch this.

2 Corinthians 4.17. Put that on the screen, guys, if you don't mind,

again, in the New King James Version. 2 Corinthians 4.17.

He says here, for our light affliction.

Notice it's light. He calls our affliction light. We think it's heavy,

but it's actually light.

You know why it's light? Because God's not going to give you more than you can

bear. You say, well, that's not a scripture.

First Corinthians 10, 13, read it.

He is not going to allow anything to come on upon you that you cannot overcome.

So he says here for our light affliction, it's light. I love this. which is but for a moment,

It's not long-lasting. It's not everlasting. It's temporary.

It's just a moment. And what is it doing? It's working for us.

Now, you can take that off the screen, but watch this, guys.

This light affliction is actually working for us.

It's not working against you. It's working for you. See, the devil meant it for harm.

But God's going to turn it around for good. I got some free weights at the house,

and these free weights, and you got 10-pound dumbbells, you got 20-pound dumbbells.

These things are heavy, and when I'm pushing and pushing, it's working for me.

It hurts. I want to stop. I want to quit, but I keep pushing because it's working for me.

That's what your affliction, that's what your circumstantial situation is doing.

It's actually working for you, and when the devil starts seeing that you are

just having joy in the middle of the situation. He's going to say,

stop, stop, stop, stop, stop.

I need to stop messing with them because they are taking what meant for harm

and they're excited about it and they're turning it around and making it work for them.

He's going to say, stop. I got to leave Adrian alone.

Stop because they are using it to work for them.

You need to start looking at your affliction and your pain and say, it's working for me.

It's working. Say it. It's working for me. it's working for me God didn't bring it,

it's the enemy but it's working for me God's going to use it to make it stronger

in my life it's temporary but it's working for me I'm excited this morning somebody say amen.

Glory to God, it's temporary whatever you're feeling it's temporary,

whatever status of life you're in it's temporary.

It's temporary. I remember when I was in the little apartment before I met Stacey

and lived in this 600 square foot apartment, maybe 700. I don't know. It was tiny.

I mean, I can I can hop from the bedroom to the kitchen.

I mean, just one big leap and I was there in the kitchen. That's how tiny it

was. I remember thinking I'm going to always be here.

I'm always be in this little apartment.

Oh, man. No, no. God was teaching me responsibility. If you could take care

of this little apartment, then I'm going to get you a house that you can live in.

And I moved into that house, and it was a bigger house. Praise God.

And begin to take care of responsibility there, and God said,

I'm going to get you in a bigger house. Why?

He was developing something with me. See, if I can't be faithful in the little,

I can't be faithful with much.

God is working on something in your life. Say he's working on me.

Say it again. He's working on me. If it's temporary, then don't give it a permanent response.

Don't make permanent decisions in temporary pain.

Listen to that. Don't make permanent decisions in temporary pain.

There have been times that I've been in emotional pain and I've been to cut

somebody off, making a permanent decision while I was in emotional pain. Like, no, no, I'm sorry.

I shouldn't have said that or done that, right?

And I just hear this in my heart right now. When's the last time you apologized to somebody? Mm-hmm.

When's the last thing you said, I'm sorry. I missed it there. I made a mistake.

I just throw that out there. We should be people that have right view of ourselves

and realize that, you know what? I need to repent.

I need to ask for your forgiveness about that. I'm sorry.

And so when you are in temporary pain, don't make permanent decisions.

Don't allow a moment to define your identity.

Don't allow a moment to define who you are.

Don't treat what you're going through as if you were stuck in it.

You're just passing through. It's temporary.

The relationship that maybe you have with someone, it's going through some rocky

times right now. It's temporary. It'll get better.

Let me give somebody some space and some time. There was a relationship that

I was involved in, and Stacy really helped me with this, and I was reaching

out to this particular person, and they weren't calling me back.

They weren't responding to me. Stacy said, give them a little space.

Give them a little time. I didn't think I did anything to hurt them.

I apologize. Hey, if I have done anything, and I really don't like that apology,

by the way. If I've done anything, you know what you've done.

Stop it. Stop it. Just tell them what you did.

But I was like, you know, this person responds. Stacy was like,

you know what? It ain't always going to be like that.

Just give them some space and time. They'll come back around.

And I was like, you know what? You're right.

Don't make a permanent. I ain't going to force someone to talk to me.

If you don't want to talk to me, it's your loss. Amen?

I mean, you got to feel the same

way about yourself. If you don't want to talk to me, that's your loss.

Right? You're going to go into your next season without me. That's on you.

I love you, but going on in that next season without me, that's okay.

But she said, give them some space.

Don't make a permanent decision. Because I was ready to cut them off.

I'm done. Delete them from the phone. She said, no, no, no. Don't make a permanent

decision if you're in temporary pain. Say amen to that.

Psalms 37, 23. Watch this. Psalms 37, 23. I like it in the New Living Translation.

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights. Watch this.

In every detail of their lives.

So he directs the steps of the godly. How many are godly are in the house today?

Online, you're godly. He's directing. He's ordering your steps.

He also delights in every detail of your life. So you mean to tell me when I'm

going to a tough time, God delights in that?

Yes, he does. Why? Because he's showing you something.

He's revealing something into you. He's teaching you something.

You're going to be stronger when you get out of it. See, the trial,

the circumstance, what the devil is sending your way, he's not doing that to

make you stronger. The devil's trying to take you out.

All right. He's not playing with you. He's trying to eliminate you.

But you take it and God knows you can handle it and you get stronger with it.

You use it to get stronger. And so he delights in every detail of our lives.

That means he orders steps, which means that God is about movement.

God is a God of movement He

is not about being stuck Being lethargic Being

complacent About movement So he's

ordering steps Notice he doesn't order leaps and

bounds He's ordering steps One

foot after the other One decision after the other He's ordering steps Your steps

are ordered by the Lord And he is moving you He is leading you So if he's moving

you and leading you Then I submit to you it's time for you and I to start enjoying the journey.

Just enjoy the journey. I know you may not be where you want to be.

I know you may not be where you thought you would be.

Six months ago, in our church, we were told that we had to exit this facility.

If you had told me six months ago that we still hadn't found it yet,

I would have been like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.

No, the Lord's telling me, just enjoy this journey.

Just, I'm leading, I'm guiding, I'm directing. Just enjoy the journey.

Say that. Enjoy the journey.

Oh, we get all riled up and beat up and stressed out and overwhelmed and not enjoying the journey.

God is, he's in every detail of our life. If you're godly, he is.

And he's in every detail.

Just enjoy the journey.

Well, I don't know what I'm going to do next. Enjoy that part too.

Amen. I saw a picture on Facebook that Jeannie, Josh's wife,

put of Rachel, their daughter.

And Rachel was probably three years old. And Jeannie put a little tagline under it, I miss this age.

And I thought, I said, I bet you during the moment she wanted to go to another phase.

During that three-year-old moment, like, I can't wait till you start bathing

yourself. for. I can't wait till you start doing this or that, right?

But when she looked back and saw the picture, she said, I missed this stage.

And I thought, wow, in the moment, I bet she didn't say that.

In the moment, you ain't saying that wherever you are, but once you get through,

you're going to look back and say, you know what? I got stronger through that stage.

I grew up. I matured a little bit through that. I got a little wiser through that stage.

You know what? I actually might miss it a little bit because I didn't know how

strong I was until I got after it. Somebody say amen to that.

Glory to God. Say enjoy the journey. Say it one more time. Enjoy the journey.

Declare, this will not break me. This will not define me.

This will not last forever.

Everything, everything is subject to change.

It's temporary. The good times too. Maybe you're just,

you're on cloud nine and you're going through some really good times and no

pain in your body and you're doing well and the bank account's doing well and

your relationships are doing well and work is going well and you're listening

like, what is this pastor talking about? Life is good.

That's temporary too. Yeah.

Listen, you either are in a battle or you are headed into one. It's temporary too.

And so realize and notice that whatever you see, it's temporary,

but it won't break you, it won't define you, and it will not last forever.

Say amen to that. If God made a promise, if God spoke a word,

if God has declared your future, then what you're facing must change.

Glory to God. What you're facing must change if God has made a promise to you.

How many have a promise from the Lord? Then what you're facing has got to change.

It has to line up to what God has said will take place.

It's got to change. And you got to begin to talk to it.

Amen? You better begin to say, no, no, no, no, no, no. This ain't going to last forever.

Y'all remember my testimony earlier this year, right? I went to the doctor and

just an annual physical. You need to go to your annual physical too.

Guys, I thought I'd get better. Amen. You need to go to your annual physical too.

Amen. You need to go get checked out. Listen, don't fear bad news.

Find out what they're saying so you can address it You don't want it just popped

up on you Oh what in the world, I didn't know I had that right Because you didn't go get it checked out,

So I go once a year and get to a physical, you know, get myself checked out.

And, you know, I feel like I'm a young man, even though I'm increasing in age every year. Praise God.

And stop saying this, too, while I'm on it. Stop saying I hate getting old.

It's a blessing to get older.

It is. You know how many people don't wish they were your age right now that departed too soon?

Yeah, I don't say that. I don't say it's like, oh, I just a pain.

No, it's a blessing to get older in Jesus' name.

And so I went to the doctor, and the doctor said, you know, some report had

said that I had some numbers that were in the red and the yellow.

They really wanted it in the green. It was in the red and the yellow.

And that doctor had said that the last five, six times I went.

Same organ, same numbers. I didn't do nothing. I just kind of got used to,

well, that's just how it's going to be.

And I started knowing it kept going up every year.

Finally, I came back and I saw them. They're like, yeah, this is still up here.

And they kind of moved on.

I mean, they'll move on if you don't stop them, too. You got to stop and say, hold up now.

Tell me a little bit more about that, right?

And so finally, I was like, tell me a little bit about that.

Oh, yeah, I mean, it's going up

there. You probably need to do something about it, but it's no big deal.

I'm like, well, I don't know. If I need to do something about it,

I need to do something about it.

And then the Lord said, what are you going to do about it? I heard the Lord

in my heart. What are you going to do about that?

I thought, well, I wasn't going to do nothing about it. I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing.

So I said, okay, you know, faith is both spiritual and practical.

Faith without works is what? Dead. And so I said, okay, I need to start drinking

a little more water in this area. I need to start cutting back on some of the

things here in this area of life.

And then I did the spiritual part. I need to start speaking to it.

I got to start talking to it. So that organ in my body, I began to talk to it.

I began to command it to be normal size, healthy function, and green numbers. Those are the three.

Organ you, normal size, healthy function, green numbers. I said it for a year.

I went back to the doctor and I have to show you all the graphic one day.

I went back to the doctor and that thing had dropped all the way down.

It went from high. I mean, all the way into the green. I said,

there it is. Praise God. Yeah. Give the Lord some praise for that.

Normal size, healthy function, green numbers. I did some things practically

and I did some things spiritually.

And that number came down. Why? Because it's subject to change.

Change whatever number on that doctor report is subject to change it can change

don't just well this is what i've always have it can change in jesus name and

so the enemy says this is it,

but god says this is temporary glory

to god this is it the enemy says god says it's

just temporary and it's subject to change second corinthians

4 16 through 18 and the message says it

this way so we're not giving up

watch this we're not giving up say I'm not giving up how could we even though

on the outside is often looks like things are falling apart on us on the inside

where God is making new life not a day goes by without his unfolding grace,

These hard times are small potatoes.

It's light affliction. It's small potatoes.

You need to see it that way compared to the coming good times. The coming good times.

I said the coming good times. They're coming. The good times are coming.

The lavish celebration prepared for us.

Look at this next one. There's far more here than meets the eye.

The things we see now are here today, gone tomorrow.

But the things we can't see now will last forever. Hallelujah.

The good times are coming. I declare over you in the name of Jesus,

everything that looks stuck,

stagnant, settled, I declare in it to be temporary and subject to change in your life.

Your season is shifting.

Your strength is rising.

And your joy is returning.

Give the Lord some praise for that. Hallelujah.

Receive it. It's temporary, subject to change. And your joy is returning.

I said your joy is returning. your joy, your joy is returning,

Pastor Sam when he was here, he prayed over Stacy and I over here,

and he said the joy of ministry is returning unto you and I remember like,

well I didn't feel like I lost joy, and I got home I said,

I wasn't the same as when I first started.

Amen I came in there with rose colored glasses on and then y'all slapped me in the face praise God.

Knocked them glasses off. I put them glasses back on in Jesus' name.

I said, that's right. The joy is returning. Say, my joy is returning.

So there's four things I want you to do this week, okay? Four things I want

you to do this week. Jot this down.

Four things I want you to do. Number one, I want you to stay calm.

Stay calm. You're in the middle of it. You're winning. Stay calm.

It may even feel like you're losing. Just stay calm.

Stay calm. That's number one. Number two, control your thoughts.

You have the ability to control your thoughts. You don't have to think about

what everything wants you to think about.

You can literally control your thoughts.

I like what this, I don't know who said this, but the phrase is,

you can't control birds from flying over your head, but you can stop them from

putting a nest on your head.

Amen? Hey, those thoughts are going to come, but I don't have to think about those thoughts.

And how do you stop thoughts? Let me tell you this. You stop thoughts with words.

You stop thoughts with words. Let me give you an example. I want you to count

to ten right now in your head. Right now in your head, count to ten. Ready? Go.

Say your name. what happened to

the thoughts they stopped you don't even remember what number you was on.

Stop thoughts with words. Words stop thoughts, and that's how when thoughts

are coming to your mind, you stay calm.

You control your thoughts. That's number two. Number three, watch your words.

Watch your words. Watch what's coming out of your mouth during this temporary season.

Don't make permanent declarations in a temporary season. Watch your words, okay?

Stay calm. Control your thoughts.

Watch your words. and the last thing I want you to do is give him praise.

And you just give him praise and thanksgiving. Thank him in the midst of the

storm. Thank him right in the middle of the trial.

Thank him right in the middle of the argument, the situation,

the circumstance, the lack that's trying to come on you, the pain, just thank him, right?

Lord, I thank you right in the middle. I thank you, Lord. I thank you,

Lord. When my kids were smaller, they used to say, why do we always thank the Lord?

I said, this is what we do. We just thank the Lord.

I mean, you and mom just kind of got into it, and then y'all stopped and started

thanking the Lord. I said, why did y'all do that?

We just, we glad that we love each other, praise God.

We're not happy with each other right now, but we thank God that he's happy with her, praise God.

And so what's number one? Stay calm. Number two, control your thoughts.

Number three, watch your words. Number four, give him praise. Hallelujah.

Stand to your feet if you've got something out of the Word today.

This is how you experience true life.