My God Will Hear Me

I was reading, and getting my mind around the word that I felt like the Lord had placed in my spirit this week. And something rather unusual is that the Lord was ahead of schedule. What I mean by that is: in most Apostolic churches — we here especially, I can speak knowledgeably about this place — we're planners. We like to plan things, and we do our best to schedule stuff out, and to operate. Because we believe that we can have the best plan, and then God can show up, and if he chooses to change the plan, we're all for that. But if he doesn't, we'll just move forward with what we feel like is right. And often times, especially if I'm doing Sundays and Wednesdays preaching, and other engagements throughout the week, that usually I have ideas that I've worked on. And what I mean by "work on them" — I've wrote them down in my notebook, and I kind of let them marinate, for lack of a better way to say there. And then, as I get past Wednesday, moving towards the weekend, I become a little more earnest towards moving in the direction that I feel like God has. And as I'm praying and studying, and putting things together — and I've been doing this a long time, I have my routine that I go through — usually that leads me up until Sunday morning, when I finally put the final touches on everything, and I send it to Jeff and his team, for the title and the scriptures being out there. But it was Friday afternoon, around — I don't know, Jeff, what I go in your office? About 2:00, maybe? And I was like, "Hey, surprise." Now, I say surprise, because the Lord has done this many times, to where I felt really good about what I was going to preach, and then Sunday morning I scrapped everything, we started over. I'm not a fan of that, just letting you know. And the Lord and I talk a lot about that when that happens. I'm like, "You know, I don't like this." Lord doesn't really get me anywhere, but I just go ahead and make sure that my comments are noted. But I was ahead on this.

And I was reading in Micah, which is an interesting book, if you've ever read into the prophets there, the major and the minor prophets. There's a lot going on there. But it was in Micah that I was reading, and I came across Micah 78, which is probably the most famous passage in the book of Micah. It's not a long book — it's only seven chapters — but it's the one that a lot of people, we know. It says, "Rejoice not against me, oh my enemy: when I fall, I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, Lord shall be a light unto me." Now, I'm just curious, in this room, how many people at some point in your walk with God have prayed this verse? Yeah. And if you've been around church in any format at all, any length of time, you probably have heard somebody reference this verse that's there. And I, the same way. But as I was going through this, this past week, there was something that jumped out to me in verse seven, before I got to eight. And it just really stuck out. And it's from that I want to preach on today. So I'm going to read verse 7 to you in the King James, and I'm going to read seven and 8 in the New Living Translation.

From the King James, it says: "Therefore I will look unto the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation: my God will hear me." From the New Living, says: "As for me, I look to the Lord for help. I wait confidently for God to save me, and my God will certainly hear me. Do not gloat over me, my enemies! For though I fall, I will rise again. Though I set in darkness, the Lord will be my light."

And it's from the phrase in verse 7 I want to bring my title in my thought today: My God Will Hear Me. My God will hear me.

You know, if I was to do a survey — and I think this is something we could all just mentally do in this room today, as we look around — just those that are here right now, I think we could draw the conclusion that there's a whole lot that is in common with you and I. And what I mean by that is, we have our differences. They can be physical differences. They can be appearances. They can be the way we talk, the way we do things. But what I have found out is this, a common thing amongst all the humanity, and that is this: we are needy. Have you noticed that? We are needy. Now, some of you are more needy than others. But the truth of the matter is this: we are all needy. We have things that we just need in our lives. And as smart as we are, and as intellectual as we are, and as smart as our world has become, and as brilliant as men and women are, we still cannot find a way to work out all of our problems. There's no way to have a problem-free life. You may have that dream. You may have that aspiration. You may have that goal. And we do have a lot more conveniences in our life than we have ever had. But we have not been able to eliminate all of our needs. We still have not been able to solve all of life's mysteries. There's a lot of questions there. There's a lot of uncertainties that we face in life. But our text gives us a response. And to me, it gives us a whole lot of encouragement.

These are the words of a man who is extremely saddened, and upset with how his life was going, and the situation he found himself in. Just listen to his words at the beginning of chapter 7, as I read them to you. "How miserable am I!" Boy, there — anybody identify with that one? Listen, is he tries to paint a picture. This is interesting. "I feel like a fruit picker after the harvest, who can't find anything to eat." It's like a guy that says, "I feel like somebody who worked in the pie factory, and I can't find a pie to nibble on." "Not a cluster of grapes, or a single early fig, can be found to satisfy my hunger. The godly people have all disappeared. Not one honest person is left on earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers. Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil. Officials and judges alike demand bribes." Boy, sounds like today, doesn't it? "The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme and twist justice. Even the best of them is like a brier, and the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly. Now your time of punishment is here, a time of confusion. Don't trust anyone, not your best friend, or even your wife. Oh my. For the son despises his father, the daughter defiles her mother, the daughter-in-law defiles her mother-in-law. Your enemies are right in your own household."

I don't know about you, but I just don't feel good after reading that. This is obviously a man who's describing that his life is not ideal. He is dealing with problems, and situations, and circumstances, that are beyond his control. And at his best effort, everywhere he looks, it just seems like things are downcast and wrong. Life has obviously overpowered this man, and he is lacking something. But when he is overwhelmed — all of a sudden, we see inside this — when he gets to verse number seven, something changes in his life. Verses 1 through six, it's bad, it's despair. Matter of fact, you can go chapters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and six, and then the first six verses of chapter S — it's all doom and despair, gloom. Everything is bad. Everything is wrong. But in verse number seven, there's a shift that takes place. And what I want you to note is this declaration, that this man, and his progression of thoughts and his attitude, it begins with the word "therefore." Everybody say, "Therefore." Therefore. Therefore means it's — the next thing is coming. It's there for you to understand something is changed. Therefore, the writer turned away from one thing, over to something else. he' been looking in one direction. He had drawn one conclusion. It seemed like this is exactly what was going on. But he changed his response to certain things in his situation, in a certain way. begin to change — something changed his mind. And we see what took place, is his attention went from one thing to another. He decided to turn his attention somewhere else. And this gives us the first point. If you're a note-taker, here's the first note you need to take right here: direction determines destination. Direction determines destination. If you're always looking at the bad, it's always going to feel bad. If you're always looking at what's wrong, all you're going to feel is like everything is wrong.

When I went and got my motorcycle license, many, many years ago, we went to motorcycle school. Yes, you can go to motorcycle school. It was a two-day course. Now, I had been riding motorcycles my entire life, but I never went to the official school. And I'm glad I did, because I learned a lot of things during that motorcycle school. One of the things I learned about — and it's a very, very important lesson. In fact, this lesson is so important, that every time I ride a motorcycle, I'll reflect back on my instructor. He is talking to me when I ride. And that is this important detail, that sounds so simple, but yet often times it can be very difficult to remember. And that is, that you have to look through the turns. If you're riding a motorcycle, you have to look through the turns. And the reason is, is because if you become fixed on something in the road, you will drive into it every time. So if you're going into a curve — and if you case you didn't know this, motorcycles lean. That's usually how you can tell if someone's a novice driver. If you see a motorcycle that goes through curve and it's standing upright, he's a newbie, and he's nervous. Yeah. If you really ride a motorcycle, it's called pushing lean — whatever, whatever. If you're going to the left, you push the left handlebar. Now, you would think you would turn, but you don't do that on a motorcycle. If you're really riding a motorcycle, you push and lean, and you look through the corners. Because wherever your head is pointed, that's where you're going. And if you're looking at the big boulder that's in the ditch, in the middle of the curve — guess what? You're going to drive right into the big boulder that's in the ditch, 100% of the time. You can get fixed on an object, and drive into it.

I want you to know, that same principle applies into your life. It applies into your spiritual walk with God. Direction determines destination. The direction that you and I are facing will determine the outcome of our lives. And we can see that Micah had been looking at all the problems. He'd been looking at the circumstances and the situations that were going wrong in his life. How that you couldn't trust anybody. How that there was nobody doing right, and people are being bribed. And everywhere he looked, the people that should be in charge, and taking care of stuff, they were not doing the right thing. And that was making him feel overwhelmed by his circumstances. But all of a sudden, in verse number seven, he changes his direction, from the things he can't control, and he focused on the one thing that he could do. "I can choose what I look at. I can look at all the bad going on in my life. I can look at all the circumstances. Or I can choose to look up at my God. And I can choose to look at what he is saying about my life, and what he wants for me." Look at things that were beyond his control.

Anybody ever got too fixed on a problem? Anybody ever got something so built up in your mind, that it felt overwhelming, and beyond your control, as if it was everything that you thought about? And every breath you took, it was focusing on that situation, that set of circumstances and problems. And then, if you ever — have you ever took a moment to just speak out loud the problem to someone, and then have them look at you, go, "Yeah, that's kind of bad. But what's wrong with you?" "What do you mean, what's wrong with me? I just told you the problem I'm dealing with." "Well, I get it's a problem, but that's not all that life is — is that one problem." See, sometimes we give stuff way more power in our head than it actually really has in your life, because you sit and dwell on it. Anybody know what I'm talking about? Anybody allowed something in your mind to be way bigger than it ever should have been? Yeah. I know there's out there. That's happened to me, too.

What are you focusing your life on? Your mind is going to follow the direction you're looking. And if you're looking life right now, and everything you see is wrong, and nothing's working out, and you can't trust anybody, and you can't depend on anybody, and nobody loves you, and nobody cares — if that's you, no wonder you're anxious and depressed. No wonder you're overwhelmed, because all you're thinking about is negative thoughts. You need to learn to turn your gaze onto the one who holds your tomorrow. You need to know who has your future in his hand. It is him. You need to understand that, no matter what goes on, nobody can take you out of his hand. Nothing can separate you from his love. That's what his word tells us. But we don't live that way, far too many times. We allow things that are simply temporary to S youly control are forever.

There's no doubt in my mind that Michael was dealing with distractions all around him. And I know you and I are dealing with distractions. We're living in a distracted world. Chast and I talk about this a lot. I mean, you have to drive on the defense all the time, because everybody's got something. They got — this is how they go down the road. Yeah, shaving their face, and cooking a batch of cookies. You know, our cars have plugs in them now. So now they got an air fryer in the seat beside them, making breakfast, going down the road. You think I'm making it up. I'm being serious. They got studies out about how distracted we are in the world, and everything. Look, it's going crazy. And I'm going to tell you something. Here's a little tip. It's not going to get less distracting before he comes back. It's going to continue to get more and more distracting. Why? Because the enemy knows: if I can keep your attention over here, and if I can keep your attention over here, and if I can keep you focused on the problem, if I can keep you focused on this and that — as long as you're focused on all these things, you're not focused on him. But I'm here to declare, there's a prophet from long ago who understood the secret of life. "I can look at what's around me, that I can't control. But here's the decision I get to make every day. I can decide what I'm looking at. I can decide where my attention is. I can decide what I'm focusing on. I can focus on all this mess, or I can look up at my God." And all of a sudden, when I begin to look up at my God, this stuff down here begins to fade away. I'm not paying attention to the problems, and the disappointments, and the failures around me. I can focus on my God.

He was determined to look at God. That word "look" there, that's translated in that verse, is interesting. Because there were other words in the Hebrew language that you can use for "look." But this particular one that gets translated is not just a glance. It's Safa, is the Hebrew word. Most often, it is translated — over 20 times it's been translated — simply as "Watchmen." In other words, it's not just a casual look. It's a fixed look. It's you're intently looking at something. It's to stare at something. You ever been in a situation where somebody stared at you, made you uncomfortable? Yeah. Like, you're out in a public place, and you kind of look up, and you catch somebody's eyes. Most of us, when that happens, we're just like, we'll look away. And then, you know what you do? You look back again. If they're still looking at you, then you're like, "What is that person's problem? Why are they staring at me?" And then you look at the third time, you're like, "Man, thank God — what's to do? I'm fixing to go over and say something." All this indignation rises up in you. You don't even know — that could be daydreaming, for all you know. This is what it's talking about, though: is being locked in, to be intentional with your stare. Michael was steadfast about this. He had a resoluteness about him. He was confident about what he was doing. There was an assurance, because he had found the direction he needed to go. He was looking to God for his support. He looked to God not only for an explanation, but also for understanding. Isn't it amazing how we want to know the why behind everything? And if you don't believe this is true, just raise kids. For whatever reason, man, they figure that word out — "why?" — really quick. "Well, why?" And you try to give an explanation, and the next answerers, "Yeah, but why?" "Well, like I was saying, this —" "Yeah, I know, but why?" Like, where — what are you — why are you saying "why" so much? And then what's going on is, they're trying to understand — and and their limited ability, and limited exposure in their life, they're trying to formulate how they can properly process what's going on. It's in us from the very beginning. And I know for me — and I'll just speak for me today — there are plenty of times when I'm facing things in my life, that I'm know better than the three-year-old, saying, "Why? God, why? Why do I have to deal with this? Why does it have to be this way? Why am I going through all these things up there? Why am I having to do this? I don't want to do this. I don't want to go through this. I don't like this response. I don't like this outcome. I don't like those things. God, why, why, why, why, why, why?" Anybody else got a case of the wise, from time to time? Like, "Lord, I feel like I've been doing okay. I feel like I'm above average. I feel like I'm I'm least decent in what I try to do. I try not to cuss everybody out, and I try not to lie, and I try to do all that. God, I would think that if I was grading on the curve, I would be above the curve. But why am I dealing with this?" What are we focusing on? What are we focusing on?

Micah quit looking at everything that was uncertain. The people that were around him, the problems were around him, the troubles around him, all the wrong that was around him. He quit looking at the uncertainty, and started looking at what was certain.

God, I'm just going to — I've been fighting something since I stood in this pull pit, and I just going to have to say it right now, so pray for me. I am battling some skepticism in this room. I don't know how else to say it. I just feel there's skeptics that are here. I just want to say something. If you're skeptical about this, and you think this is just a bunch of emotionalism, and that people come in, and they just kind of get hyped up, and that's what we do in this place — I would simply invite — I'm not mad. I'm not mad. But I feel resistance in my spirit here, that's going on. I would just invite you to simply give it a chance here. There's a lot of people in our world who have really given religion a bad name. There's a lot of preachers and pastors who have really painted a very ugly picture. And I would ask you — in fact, as someone who is a member of ministry — would you please forgive those, forgive us, for misrepresenting God? Please don't blame God for this. I know — I feel an urgency in my spirit, that I'm pulling for somebody today. I'm trying to get your attention. You've dismissed for a long time what's going on. And God's pulling for someone today. I don't know who it is. I don't know who I'm speaking to in this room right now. I just want you to know that you can look to him. He can be trusted. He can be trusted. Maybe there's been a time in your life when you felt like God has disappointed you. I promise you, he is a good and a faithful God. More often not, I would dare say, it wasn't God that disappointed you, but it was circumstances around man that's disappointed you in these situations.

When I begin to look at what Micah was doing here, and I looked at him, I see the difficulty in the situations. He was in trouble. He was facing adversity. But he began to look up, away from the things that he couldn't control, to the one who could control things. If you're taking notes, here's a second point. The thing I learned about Micah was that, he was a person who understood direction determines destination. But the second part was, he learned how to wait on God. Micah said, "I will wait on the God of my salvation." This tells me that Adam ude of his life — it was an attitude that he was thankful, that God could deliver him, that he was the God of his salvation. Did you notice? "I will wait on the God of my salvation." The attitude of gratitude, by definition, is a position. It's an outlook. It's an approach. It's a mindset. It's my thought pattern. It's the stance I take in life. And Micah realized he wasn't getting anywhere with what he had been doing. He wasn't gaining any ground, running back and forth between all the competing entrances, and the discouraging news that he was there, and all the disheartening things. So he turned his focus on God. "I will wait on the God of my salvation." God — he focused his eyes on the right direction. He focused his eyes on the right thing. And then he pulls his attitude, and his position, and his outlook on life, and his approach, back to where it needed to be. He began to say, "I'm not going to lose my mind. I'm not going to do something crazy. I'm not going to go to pieces. I'm not going to throw up my hands. I'm not going to scream. I'm not going to cuss. I'm not going to make Gus cuss. Not going to do any of those things. I'm going to choose to focus on God. I'm going to wait. Maybe it doesn't change today, and maybe it doesn't change tomorrow, but I'm going to choose to wait on the God of my salvation. I will wait. How long? I don't know. I'm just going to wait. How long are you going to wait? I don't know. This is what I know, is all of this has gone crazy. Everything around me seems to be out of control. And the one thing that I do know for sure is that he is there, and I'm going to wait on the God of my salvation. I'm not going to give into my tendencies of the past. I'm not going to give up. I'm going to have a new attitude." One translation says, "I will wait expectantly for the God of my translation." Whatever the cost. I don't care what anybody else does. I can't control them. I can't control what the government does. I can't control what the elections are going to be. I can't control the stock market. I can't control my boss. I can't control my job situations. I can't control my family. I can't control all these things. But what I can't control is me. I can't control me. I have the right to make a decision. I can't choose what I look at. And I choose to wait on him, the God of my salvation. And here's what I know. Here's what I realize: that if you get these two things right, that Micah did — if you get your direction right in your life, you start heading in the right direction, and you get a right attitude — then you can confidently say what Micah said: "My God will hear me. My God will hear me. He won't leave me. My God will hear me. I choose to look to him. That's where my direction is. And I will wait patiently, expectantly, on the God of my salvation, because my God will hear me. I'm confident. I may not know anything else. I may not see what everything else is going on. But I know my God will hear me. He is headed to help me. He is headed to strengthen me. He is headed to deliver me. He is headed to give me the things I need, to make it through."

And if you don't believe that, read the rest of the book of Micah, and you'll find his entire attitude changed, because he was anticipating a visitation from his God. God was his God, and he was going to hear him. And if you — I wish somebody would grab a hold of that today. We need a new revelation. We don't need a new doctrine. We need a new revelation. You need somebody to remind you that God will hear you. I don't care how bad it is. I don't care how dark it is. I don't care how evil it is, or how discouraged you are, or how disappointed, or how impossible it seems, or if nobody cares about you. I don't care what the government says. I don't care what psychologist say. I want you to know what the word of God is telling me: that if I'll fix my eyes on him, and I'll wait on his timing, he will hear me. He will hear me. He will hear me. My God will hear my cry.

These are the changes that liberated Micah. They made him have a different outcome. They moved him into peace and freedom, because of the knowledge he had. He was confident in what his God is. God is good. And that God is merciful, and God is faithful, and God is righteous, and God is loving, and God is my Father, and he's all-sufficient, and he is kind. But more than that, he is my salvation. That means it's not just sin, but everything that would cause me to be lost. My God is salvation. He is there for me. Anything that was trying to come against me — my God is for me. My God is for me. I don't care who's against me. I don't care what comes against me. I don't care what the enemy's trying to do. And even if I feel overwhelmed in the moment — don't rejoice now, because I'm on my knees. I promise you, my God's going to hear me, and I'm going to get back up again, because he's good and faithful.

begin to think about this thought — I begin to get excited the last few days — because begin to think about others that did what Micah did. He wasn't the first one, but the Bible's full of examples who had the same kind of outcome. Think about a moment, about Abraham. God's going to destroy Sodom and gomore, but he had such a relationship with Abraham, that he decides to go by and have a conversation with him first. How powerful is that? But think about this for a moment. In the middle of what's going on, in the middle of this transpiring, Abraham understands just how good his God is. And he begins to say, "Will you destroy all that are in the city? Will you destroy the righteous among the evil? God, what if there's 50 righteous?" And what we see is a holy negotiation going on, because Abraham understood and knew that God is a good God, and he's a faithful God, and he's God that can be trusted. And he's begin to negotiate with him. And all that — Genesis 18:23: " Abraham drew near, and said, wil thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Pre-venture there be 50 righteous within the city: will thou also destroy not spare the place of the 50 righteous that are therein?" And it goes from 50 all the way down the 10, because God kept negotiating with Abraham over this. God will hear me. God will hear me. God will hear me. God will hear me. This is what Abraham is saying. God — he can hear you. He's not some far-off God, that's not able to identify with what you're going through. He will hear you.

Isaiah's assurance, when he came to the Messiah, and talking about the coming Messiah, in Isaiah 42 and 4, he says this: "He will not fail nor be discouraged, till he has established Justice in the earth." Think about Moses, reminding Israel at the border of the promised land, in Numbers 14: "The Lord Delights in us. He will bring us into a land land, and give it us; a land that flows with milk and honey." Or his his party message to that same group of people, in Deuteronomy 31:6: "Be strong and of good courage, fear , nor be afraid of them: for the Lord your God, he is the one who goes with you; he will not leave you, nor forsake you." He will hear. He will hear. He will hear. He will hear. I'm talking about God. Our God will hear you. He will hear you, if you'll determin to talk to him. He will hear you. I don't care how you failed. It doesn't matter how you've messed up, or how miserable your life is, or how many mistakes you made. When you humble yourself before the Lord, and when you get the direction in your life right, and your attitude right, he will hear you. He will hear you. My God will hear me.

I think about Hannah's prayer, over a once baren womb. Listen to me: over a once baren womb. We know the story in 1 Samuel, how she went in, and she began to plead with the Lord. She was so engaged in prayer, that the prophet thought she was drunk. She wasn't drunk. She was talking to God. And God answered the prayer. And here we see again an example. I'm going show you a verse of Hannah praying again. I can see her, just holding her hand over what was a once bearing room. She says in 1 Samuel 2:9, "He will guard the feet of his saints." He will — how could she say that? Because she understood that God hears. He hears. He's not far away. And I don't know what somebody's going through, but I'm trying to tell you, he will guard the feet of you. He will watch over you. He is for you. And regardless of what has happened, I promise you, God is for you.

I think about the pronouncement that David made over Goliath. The little boy coming up to fight — a scrawny little kid coming across the brook, with a slingshot, and five stones. And in 1st Samuel 17, how Goliath ridiculed him, and how he made fun of him. But if you get down to verse number 37 through verse 47, you see that David begins to declare — "Is there not something right here? Is there not a cause in what's going on?" And he kept his focus on God, and what was happening. And it was David defeated the giant that was there, because he knew his God would hear him. It was that same David, who later on is retreating, when he's fleeing from absolem's rebellion, when he's struggling with what to do. And all of a sudden, the priest shows up with the ark of the Lord, at the edge of Jerusalem. And he tells Zadok the priest, in 2 Samuel 15:25: "Carry the ark of God into the city: if I find favor in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back, and show me both it, and his Dwelling Place." Why? Because my God hears me. My God hears me. I know things aren't going the way — I know I messed up. David knew he messed up. He made a mistake. And all of a sudden, he had one son killed another son, and his daughter was being raped, and everything was happening, because of what he said in motion a long time ago. But David still understood: even though I've made mistakes, and even though I failed, and even though I'm having to retreat, and my son's chasing after me — "You take the ark back to where it goes. And if God's favorable to me, I know he'll hear me. I know he'll hear me. I'll not only see it, but I'll also see God's dwelling place." David was confident, that my God hears me.

It was a dying David, that said to his son Solomon, 1 Chronicles 18 and 20: "Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear , nor be dismayed: for the Lord my God, will be with you; he will not leave you, nor forsake you, until you have finished the work for the service of the house of the Lord." Why have confidence, even if things go wrong, that God will hear you? "Solomon, listen to me: my God will be with you. And he'll help you complete what it is he needs you to do in your life."

What about Nehemiah? Nehemiah 2:19: "But when Sam ballot the horonite, and to the Amorite, the official, and gesim the Arab, heard of it, they laughed at us and despised this, and said, What is this thing you're doing? Will you rebel against the king? So I answered them, and said to them, The God of heaven, himself will prosper us." Woo, what confidence. "You're laughing at me. Make fun of me. Mock me, if that's what you want to do. Tell me that I'm not going to do the things that I say God's going to do through me. Whatever you want to do. But the God of heaven will prosper us. Therefore his servants will arise and build." Tell me you won't stand up. Tell me it's not going to happen. I'll tell you that God's going to prosper us. God will prosper us. And he will rise. Why? Because he hears me. He hears me. He hears me.

There's a lot of stuff you can say about me. And a lot of it may be true. And there may be times I haven't been the best man. And maybe I haven't done everything as perfectly as I should have. And maybe there's a lot better — in fact, I'm confident there are a lot better pastors out there, that could do a better job. To me, this is what I know. This is what Kevin Allen is telling you: my God hears me. He hears me. He heard me this morning at 5:00, when I was in my altar, in my office in there, and I was laying before him, and telling him, "God, I just want to be obedient to everything you have to do." I said that with confidence, because I know my God hears me. He has showed up too many times in my life. There's been too many things that are not just coincidental. It's not coincidental. It's not just, "Well, that's just the way it was set to be." No. I'm telling you, they were going one direction, and I be to plead with my God, and I begin to tell him, "I need you right now, to show up in my life." And God heard my cry. He heard my plea, in the midst of everything going on. Even in spite of my failures, he still heard my prayer.

Am I boring you yet? Would you like some more? Psalms 145 and 19: "He will fulfill the desires of those who fear him." Oh my God, help me to understand the word. God, help us to understand.

What about Daniel, and the lions' Dan? When the king comes to him, and says, "Daniel, I know it was my decree, but Daniel, your God can keep you." What — I said it Wednesday night, I'll tell you, here's another example of the world preaching to the church. When the world grasp aold the concept, "Hey Daniel, I know your God hears you. I know your God hears you. You got caught up in a decree, and I didn't understand it, and there was some trickery going on, and somebody was trying to deceive. But hey, Daniel, don't be worried. Your God will hear. Your God will protect. He will keep you." I'm telling you, sometimes people in the world have more confidence in what God can do, than the people that are in the church. I'm here to wake somebody up, to tell you: God will hear you. God will hear you.

As I bring this to a close today — I think about, in the scriptures, and talks about, in the Bible, that God's going to restore the years of the caterpillar and the canker worm destroyed. The same passage in Joel, he said, "I'll restore it, and I will bring the rain." I need you to understand, God's going to be a rain maker in your life. I don't care how barren it's been. I don't care how dry it's been. I need you to know something: his love lasts forever. Forever. God's promises is, "I will cause it to rain." You can't stop it. I don't care how ugly it gets. I don't care how far away from God you are today. I'm here to tell somebody: God said, "I'm going to make it rain in your life." I don't care how long it's been since you felt his presence. He hears your cry. Oh, I'm speaking to somebody today. I don't know — maybe it's been a long time. Maybe you've been services, but you haven't really felt God. He is here. He will hear your cry today. He visits. What the scripture says — I don't have time to give you all the verses — but the Bible says: he will visit. He will establish. He will help. He will deliver. He will heal. He will bind up. He will raise up. He will guide. He will speak peace. He will regard the prayers. He will bless. He will swallow up that which intimidates us. He said, "I'll swallow up death." What do you have to be afraid of? What can man do to you? Man can't do anything to you. I'm telling you, you have a God who hears your cry, who hears your prayers. Listen to the simple words of the prophet: "My God will hear me." You need to do what Micah did. You need to entrench yourself with God, and his love, and his willingness to do good for you. Here's an encouraging word for you: God will hear you.

Nobody else may be able to help you, as you stand with me. There's a significant truth I want you to bear in your mind: the same word in the Hebrew that signifies "God hears," also signifies that God answers. It's not just that he hears you, but God will answer you. He will answer you. Here's what I know. And I know, that I know, that I know, that there is hurt in this room today. When we are wounded, often times we go into this self-protection phase. It's there, and we wall oursel up. Now, listen to me, when I say wounded, I'm not just talking about wounds that others do — cuz that's a real deal, and I'm talking about that. But I'm also talking about wounds we self-inflict. Wounds that have been done to us — often times we wall up things around, because we don't want anything to get back to us. The wounds that we self-inflict, we wall oursel in, so that we don't mess up again. But either way, there's a barrier. Either way, there's a resistance. There's a wall that's there, and we keep oursel inside. And what happens is, we get so separated, and we get so isolated, that we even separate ourselves from him. And we can tell ourselves, "we okay, and I'm not being hurt anymore." But the reality is, if you're away from his presence, you are being hurt. The Bible says, in his presence there's fullness of joy. So you can't have the joy that you're supposed to have in your life, if you're not in his presence.

Now, this altar is open. Anytime you want to come, you're welcome to come. But here's some things I feel important for I need to be address, for some of you in this room. The wound that you have — that self-inflicted wound — you've tried a few times to change, but it hasn't. And because of that, you become very, very skeptical that it'll ever happen. I told you about 30 minutes ago, I was fighting some skepticism. I'm telling you, I feel everything in me: he is here to do a delivering work in this place, if someone will take a time to step out in faith. Today. Today. Somebody in this room has been bound by an addiction for years. For years. You need to step out. I'm telling you, there's a deliverance today in this place. I wouldn't said — please don't be — in fact, right now, if everybody's comfortable, just close your eyes. Just close your eyes. Somebody needs to exercise some faith today.

I know there are people in this room today who have been hurt by other people. The answer, and the key, to getting past that hurt, is to learn how to forgive. And I'm not trying to downplay whatever's been done to you. But the only way you can truly get past that — you may have to ask God to help you forgive. If that is you, I invite you to come down to this altar, and let us pray with you. Come on. Come on. Don't sit. Don't let it fester. Don't let it get any bigger. I promise you, God is going to hear you today. He is going to hear you today. He hears. He hears. For those that need salvation, I invite you to come. Come down. If you need to be filled with his Spirit, come on down here. I'm going to pray for you. He hears. He hears. He hears.

I'm going to pray. And as I'm praying, I want you to pray, too. But I'm also speaking to those in the ministry. Men and women of God, be sensitive right now. I'm going to need your help praying in this altar. God, we come before you. Lord, I have delivered your word to your church. And I pray right now, Lord, I turn this over to you. God, I pray that you begin to touch every life that is here. God, You' seen the step of faith that many have taken, walking down here today. God, meet them where they are in this altar. Meet them here, God. Those that are battling an addiction, Lord — been battling it for years — I pray right now, in the name of Jesus, those chains of addiction would be broken. That they would be broken right now. God, hear their prayer right now. God, those that are dealing with hurts and pains from past relationships, hurts and pains from people that they trusted, God — they've dealt with it for a long time. they struggled. Lord, I pray right now, you would help them forgive. here their prayer. Hear their prayer. And God, I know there are people who need an infilling of your Spirit today. God, I pray you'd pour it out in a mighty way. In the name of Jesus. In the name of Jesus.