Devoted '25 - Session 1

Minding the Gap

Scripture References:

• Hebrews 13:8
• Hebrews 10:23
• 1 Kings 18

Intro:

Welcome! This sermon explores trusting God's unchanging faithfulness ("Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever" - Hebrews 13:8), even when facing fear, doubt, or difficult "dry seasons." We often wrestle with trusting God completely, especially when our plans conflict with His or when we face challenges. But God's faithfulness isn't dependent on ours. Even when afraid, we can choose faith. We'll look at Elijah's example in 1 Kings 18 to learn how to "mind the gap" – the space between God's promise and its fulfillment.

Key Points: How Elijah Minded the Gap (1 Kings 18)

1. Listen and Obey Even When Life is Hard: Despite exhaustion and danger after a long drought, Elijah obeyed God's command to confront Ahab. Don't let hardship stop you from listening and obeying.
2. Focus on God's Narrative & Declare It: Before any physical sign, Elijah declared "the sound of a heavy rain." Listen to God's perspective (through scripture, prayer) above fear, critics, or circumstances. Speak His truth.
3. Climb Up and Get Low: Elijah went up Mount Carmel (seeking higher perspective/God's presence) and then put his face between his knees (humility, dependence). We need to separate ourselves, seek God's perspective, and humble ourselves, recognizing our inability and His power.
4. Start Looking for Signs of Breakthrough: Elijah sent his servant to look for rain. Actively expect God to move. Look for small signs, practice gratitude – what you focus on gets reinforced.
5. Don't Give Up When Nothing Seems to Happen: The servant reported "nothing" six times. Elijah persisted. Endure the "nothing" stage without lowering expectations or walking away. Faith withstands the invisible phase; much can happen unseen before breakthrough.
6. Celebrate the Little Things: When a tiny cloud appeared, Elijah immediately proclaimed massive rain was coming. Don't despise small beginnings. Celebrate and praise God for any sign of movement; it nurtures faith.
7. Run When God Empowers: After the rain came, the Spirit empowered the exhausted Elijah to outrun Ahab's chariot for ~20 miles. God can empower you supernaturally, even at your weakest, to do impossible things when you partner with Him in faith.

Conclusion:

Like Elijah, we face "gaps." We might be tired, afraid, or feel like we're in a drought. But God is always faithful (Hebrews 10:23). Our hope isn't in a specific outcome, but in Him. Don't confuse trusting God with trusting an outcome. In scary moments, like the speaker's experience in Nairobi, we have a choice: faith or fear. Choosing faith, even a tiny amount, allows God to move supernaturally. It's not about denying reality but aligning with heaven's perspective and power.

Call to Action:

In this season, what are you choosing: faith or fear? Do you truly believe God is who He says He is? It's time to mind the gap, get your fight back, and believe God for the impossible again. Stop playing it safe. If you're feeling the weight of fear or discouragement, choose faith. Pray, seek God's perspective, look for His faithfulness, and don't give up. It's time to run the race God has for you, empowered by His Spirit. If you need prayer for overcoming fear or regaining your fight, seek it out.

Transcript

Um, yeah, you can clap and cheer. Um, Jenny is, um, a long-time radiant friend. Um, Jenny, um, is a long-time personal friend. Uh, we met when we were in high school. She, um, hails from the beautiful city of Dinuba. Yeah. And, um, our, our youth groups did some things together and I remember meeting her in a park in Dinuba and encountering her passion for Jesus and being like, I have to know this girl. I have to know her. And, um, we were college roommates. Yes, we were. We lived in a house with four, four other girls, three other, I don't know. And those were really good times. She, she married a Guatemalan man and, she, they lead a church down in LA called Expression 58.

 She, yes, they've, yes, they've been in ministry as long as Trav and I have. And, um, it's just been a total joy and honor to know her and to watch her, um, faithfully love Jesus, um, to keep her oil, um, fresh for him to keep her fire, her flame bright. And, um, yeah, this is like a long time coming, isn't it? So I, it's just a joy to have her. She's such a gift and a total treat. And so I'm so excited that she gets to kind of come and bring, um, the cup of what she carries to us and, um, influence us and draw us to Jesus. So father, thank you for this beautiful woman. Thank you, um, for the flavor of You that she carries that I was so attracted to all those years ago in a park.

 Thank you for her heart for You, Jesus, and her heart for the lost and the broken and the marginalized and those on the outside for, uh, her heart for her city in LA and the way she's contending for Your kingdom to come there. Um, and we just honor her and we ask that You would come and speak through her, that You would anoint her, that Your word would come through so clean and clear through this beautiful vessel, that she would be free, that she would be at total peace. And, um, You would have Your way through this time of her sharing. We bless her in Jesus' name. Amen. There's a lot I forgot to say about all the other things you do, but it'll probably come up along the way.

 Oh my gosh. Oh, you know, tonight it was, it was so beautiful watching Tiff stand here with this devoted behind. It was making me weepy in the back, just thinking about, you know, something to be said. Long obedience in the same direction and, um, watching the way you guys have had long obedience in the same direction is such a picture of just devoted how you've been devoted to Christ and devoted to loving this community. And it's beautiful. And it's an honor to be here. Hi, everybody. So many people I love in this room. So many people that I don't know yet, but I know I will love you as soon as I get to know you. Um, I am from Dinuba. So in a lot of ways, it feels like coming home.

 I haven't lived In the Valley for a long time, but, um, definitely feels just feel so familiar and good being here. Um, but although Dinuba and Visay are quite different, you know, I remember our youth groups coming together and we were like, wow, Visay, this is different. This is different than Dinah. This is a little different. So beautiful. All right. Well, um, our teenage years, when I was a teenager, my greatest fear truly was that God would disappoint me. And I wrestled big time with that. Like, could I really trust him? If I really gave him everything, if I really like surrendered to his way, could I really trust him? And I, you know, I wrestled with that so much because I was so, I was still learning about who he was in a way that I could really trust him.

 And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, um, you know, I grew up in a little four square church, uh, Deb, where's Deb at? Over there. Deb knows exactly where that is. Um, a little four square church, you know, 20 miles down the road. And if you know anything about four square churches, um, almost all of them have the same verse inside their churches everywhere, all over the world. And it's, uh, it's Hebrews 13:8, and it's this: Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's like the defining verse of the denomination, and it's this belief that God is the same-this God you read about in the Bible is the same today. Right, the God that was faithful then is the God that will be faithful in your future.

 And you know as a kid growing up, when the sermon would get long or whatever, I would zone out and I would look at that verse and I was constantly reminded, 'Is it true? Is this God I read about in the Bible really gonna be just as powerful, just as wonderful, just as good in my future?' And um, you know I had a lot to to wrestle and figure out um with this question of would God really be faithful? Would he really be faithful? And you know I wanted to believe wholeheartedly that if I surrendered everything he would be faithful. But I also like I wanted to date cute boys, see right? And my team. I wanted to do things my own way. I had a plan for my life.

 I knew what college I wanted to go to. I had career plans. I had things I wanted to do my own way. Could I really trust him to bring me the right spouse? Could I really trust him you know what if he asked me to pack up and move across the world what if he you know all these things that i feared and what's interesting is you know time would pass and although god would ask me to chill on dating cute boys for a minute right god would ask me to hey lay down your dream for your dream school and i want you to go to this school instead that's just how i got to room with your incredible pastor

 um he would eventually ask me to move to another country and and do things but here's what i want i want you to hear tonight you know you know i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i i I would get to the thing I was afraid of in my future, and he'd already be there. And then it wouldn't be scary because he was there. And I'd find out, even in the scariest thing I could imagine, he's still faithful. And you know, as time would go on, and you know, in my early 20s, and I had a new set of things to be afraid of, right?

 Keeping small children alive. It's like a full-time freaking job. Like, what are we talking about? Like, my kids came out of the womb with like a death wish. I was like, could you not jump off everything from everything, you know? Like, I remember my third baby coming home fresh, fresh out the womb. Like, came home day one out of the hospital, and my two-year-old walked by and head-butted him, and just, and I was like, welcome to your life. I don't even know what to say to you. Like, he had this huge egg, like goose egg on his head, first day out of the womb. And I was just like, I wish. I wish I could tell you it's going to be better. Like, get ready.

 Like, it's just, you know, I had, I had plenty of things to worry about, right? And it felt bigger, and it felt new to me. But God, would you be faithful in this season? And sure enough, he would. And then time would pass. And now I have three teenagers. And it feels like, okay, yes, God, you were faithful, but those were small problems. That's, that's a whole other. This is a whole other level. The problems we're dealing with now at this point in our life are so much more complex, so much crazier, so much scarier. They're harder. I don't know, God, will you come through? Will you be faithful? Will you be good? And every time He reminds me, it's new to You, but I am the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 And I'm going to be faithful. And I wish I could stand up here today and tell you, You guys, I've mastered it. I don't stress out anymore. Every time some new scary thing is lurking in my future, I'm like, we got this. I freak out still every single time. It's human nature. And thank God he's gracious with my humanity, right? But part of being able to grow in your walk with God is to be able in those moments to speak truth to yourself and to remind yourself he really is who he says he is. He will. He will be there. The worst thing I can imagine, if it happens, he'll be there, and he'll be good, and he'll provide, and he'll be faithful. He is always good. He is always faithful. He is always worthy of our trust, and I can stand here now after 45 years. You know, I encountered Jesus at two years old. Two years old. I was afraid of the roosters our neighbors had. It's the very valley of me.

 I was afraid of our neighbors' roosters. I was afraid they were going to come through the window and peck me when I slept. And at two years old, Jesus walked in my room, sat on my bed, and told me, it's okay. I'll watch your window for you. And I loved him ever since. I loved him. That's how. Kids in the valley get saved.

 But I can honestly stand here and tell you, after 45 years of life, in every situation, in the things I didn't think I could weather, in the hardest times, in the hardest things, in the craziest things, every single time, God has been faithful. He's been good. He is who he says he is. He's still the God who does miracles. He's still the God who can move mountains, who can do the impossible. Truly, I know this, I know this, I know this to be true. It's true for all of us. Hebrews 10: 23 says, 'Let us seize and hold tightly the confession of our hope without wavering.' For he who is promised is reliable. For he who is promised is reliable and trustworthy and faithful to his word.

 You know, the God who's been faithful since the beginning of time, right? When you read the Bible, the God who was faithful to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and everybody else you read about in the Bible, the God who was faithful to the early church, the God who was faithful to the missionary stories you read about, the God who was faithful to your grandparents and your parents is the same God who will be faithful to you. And your children and your grandchildren. I don't know about you, but I'm incredibly grateful that his faithfulness has nothing to do with mine. It's not if I'm faithful, he's faithful. Even if I'm faithless, he is faithful. It's who he is. You know, I've been wrestling with lately, what would change in my life if I truly believed that he is the same yesterday, today, and forever?

 It's one thing to read the Bible and believe it. It's another thing when you believe it at like such a cellular level. Like when you read all things are possible for those who believe, and you really believe it, you don't go, 'Guess I'll just go live my normal boring life today.' Like if we really believe that we're like all things, but like, wait, what? What do you like? All like A-L-L. Like, what are we, what are we talking about? Right? What would change in our lives if we truly, truly believed He will be faithful to us? That He is who He says He is. That He is going to be just as powerful and good and present in our future as He has been in the past.

 And I think for a lot of us where we struggle, at least for me, is what I call the gap. We struggle to believe he's moving if we can't see it. Right? We struggle to, to, to feel like, 'God, do you even hear me?' Me? I'm the, am I the only one? None of you have ever been like, 'do you even hear me?' Do you even care? It's, am I just the most dramatic person? Like, this is me to God. Like what is happening? I prayed 6,000 times. Right? We start questioning. God, are you, are you good? I don't see you moving. We start, you know, wondering, can we really trust him? Do you care? Do you hear me? We get discouraged.

 Maybe we walk away from the thing he's called us to do because, well, we tried, it didn't work. We start spiraling in despair or anxiety or, or we downgrade our faith to what we can just do in our own strength. I've experienced this so much for myself and pastoring for 20 years. I have watched so many people wrestle with the gap. What to do with, I know he's good. I know he's faithful, but I am struggling to see it right now in my life. Can anybody relate to this? Okay. We're really noisy where I come from in LA. I love it. I was telling Tiff; we have like, we have like 60 different ethnicities in our church, which is my absolute favorite. So you get everything under the sun.

 Like, you know, I just love it. I'm like, yes, I love when the, like, the Korean crew over there is, you know, and then the, the Jamaican group and then whatever. I just love it. Because you're just like, you get everybody's like feedback, you know? So feel free to make noise. You know, I think sometimes we go through these hard seasons where we're like, man, it feels dry. It feels hard. It feels hard. It feels hard. It feels hard. I'm believing for something, but I'm not quite seeing it yet. Or maybe you've had words spoken over your life, like prophetic words. And you're like, I want to see that happen, but I'm not seeing it yet. And it feels like there's this gap from what you're reading and what you're experiencing.

 And tonight I want us to, too, look at together how to mind the gap, how to mind the gap, how it, when there's a gap. How do you stay in the game? How do you stay focused on the right things? Because I think so often what happens is people don't know how to mind the gap and they walk away and they miss out on what God had for them. They miss out on the breakthrough. They miss out on what he was doing. It's like we, have you guys heard, like, what is it? I think the attention span of Americans is like 11 seconds or something. It's like that of a goldfish. Have you heard this? Jesus, take the will, like the whole will, all the will, take it all. What is happening?

 But I feel so often this translates into our spirituality. I pray it didn't work, right? We move on. I tried. It didn't work. I knocked, didn't open. And it's like, God is, you guys, for where we are headed in the times we are living in, we have got to have a spiritual backbone. We've got to. We have some spiritual grit. We've got to be able to endure the gap and know how to not walk away just because we're not seeing something happen right away. Just because you see, don't see something happen doesn't mean God's not moving because he's the same yesterday, today, and forever. You know, and so I want to start by just saying this. We're going to be in First Kings 18. If you have your Bibles, you can turn there.

 But I want to start by saying this. When we talk about trusting God, this is really, really important. Okay. This is the, this is the pastoral part of me that just needs to slip this in. When we're talking about trusting God, it is important that we don't confuse trusting God and trusting in an outcome. I watch people do this all the time. They say they're trusting in God, and the reality is they're trusting in an outcome. They're hoping for a certain outcome. And when said outcome doesn't happen, they're all, all kinds of messed up. Disappointed, offended. We are, our hope is not in an outcome. Our hope is in God. What that looks like when your hope is in God is no matter what happens, I know I'm going to be okay because he's going to be with me.

 I trust him no matter what. He is good no matter what. So it's not in a certain outcome. It is in him. We good? We clear? Okay. First Kings 18. Now I want us to look at, at Elijah for a moment. Um, how Elijah minded the gap in his own life. We're going to start in verse one and two. It says after a long time. Now, if you're the kind of person that likes to underline in your Bible, some of you are like, absolutely not. You just sent shivers down your spine of the idea of writing in your Bible. I feel you if you're the minimalist, but if you're like somebody who likes to underline, you might want to underline that word long after a long time.

 In the third year, the word of the Lord came to Elijah and said, 'Go and present yourself to Ahab' and I will send rain on the land. So Elijah went to present himself to Ahab. Let's pause there. So after a long time, God finally speaks to Elijah and, uh, it's been a rough time for Elijah. Now I want to give you a little context: This whole story kind of cliff notes version here is about a nation coming out of a really hard drought. It has been dry. It has been hard. You know, there's no here. It doesn't rain. And we're like, oh, that's a bummer. I guess I'll go buy my water at the grocery store, right? Like this is like with, without rain, they don't survive, right?

 So they, the whole land has been, has been suffering and God was using this drought. God. Elijah was a man who loved God and who was used as a prophet in his day. And so he's calling the people of God, come back to God, get rid of your idolatry, get rid of your mixture, come back to devotion to God. And God was dealing with the mess and his people because there was a lot of mess in his church. There's a lot of mess, a lot of mixture, a lot of pride, a lot of selfishness, a lot of idolatry, a lot of stuff. And God was using this drought to help draw his people back to him, to mature them, to realign them. You know, just like the rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.

 That means just like good things and blessings come to the good and the bad, right? Dry seasons come into all of our lives, all of our lives. Something's not wrong with you just because you might be having a dry season. Maybe it's a drought in your finances. Maybe it's a drought in your relationships, a drought in your marriage, a drought in your health, a drought. It feels like it's harder to hear God. It feels more difficult. It feels like, man, back in the day we saw so many miracles and now it just feels like not even Advil can help this headache, right? We all go through dry seasons sometimes. Um. Um. You know, and for different reasons, you know, maybe like this story where sometimes it's our own choices that have led us into a drought.

 And sometimes it's not even your choices. Elijah was doing exactly what God called him to do and he was in a drought. Sometimes God and his love, because he wants us to thrive, will lead us through drier seasons so that our roots grow deep, so that we can become more mature, that we can become stronger, so that we can, you know, um, grow. To grow and toughen up. You know, I think about this all the time. Recently, I was talking to somebody about how just the 90s were different. They're just different. And no offense to the Gen Z in the room, but we always joke with our kids, like, you know, have you seen that meme that's like, I'd love to drop my kids off in the 90s and be like, 'Find your way home?' You know, like, don't know how to make a collect call.

 Don't, I mean, none of it. Like, you know, like, there was something about, like, when you're a part of a generation, you just had to figure it out. That you figured it out, right? And so, there's sometimes God lets us go through some figuring it out a little bit so that we can learn the story. And I think that's a really good thing. Skills and have the grit to be able to endure, to have deeper roots. And so, you know, this story is about how in the midst of a dry season do you keep pushing in? How do you stare down an impossibility and see it shift? You know, and I want us tonight to get this sorted out because I believe that there are people in this room who are probably staring down some impossibilities.

 Who are called to do, to believe God for big things. And maybe you're like, I don't know, I feel like my drought was so long. I live there now. I'm not even trying to believe God for big things anymore. And I want to stir you up. And I want to provoke you to begin to believe God for big things again. Because He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. It's who He is. So, as this story starts, we find Elijah, and he's just gone through these three years of terrible drought. Okay? Life was hard. Jezebel, who was this wicked woman, wanted to kill him. He'd been hiding in a ravine. God had supernaturally kept him alive, drinking water from a brook. And then, this is so crazy and weird, he's eating bread and meat brought to him by ravens.

 Okay? Another thing to point out. Jews believed ravens were dirty. You know what? Don't despise where God wants to provide for you from sometimes. How many times are you like, ew, not like that? I want you to provide, but not like that. Ew. Right? We don't want it to be like that. Just saying. That was free. So, then the water runs out. You know, God sends him to a poor widow. I mean, he is now like knocking on the door of a widow like, do you have food? Like, this is low. He is at his rock bottom. Elijah is not, it has not been good. Okay? And sometimes God's got to send you to somebody who's got it worse than you. So, you can remember who God is. Right?

 And that breakthrough isn't just for you. It's for others as well. And so, in the middle of all of that, it's incredibly hard, but God is still moving. You know, there's the flour and the oil. I'm kind of giving the Cliff Notes version, but the widow multiplies and they eat. And so, they're seeing supernatural provision and there's things that are happening, but it's still hard. And maybe you can relate to this where it's like, man, one step forward with my kids, two steps back. Or, you know, one step forward in our business, two steps back. And it just, it's both things coexisting. And we've got to learn to live in the tensions. Because life is so much about this, living in the tensions. And so, you know, he's struggling. It's dry.

 It's hard. He's in survival mode. There's this huge gap in his life. And so, I want us to go tonight through seven things quickly about ways that we see Elijah mind the gap. Okay? So, the first thing we learned from Elijah about how to mind the gap is this. Number one, listen and obey even when life is hard. Even when it's hard. Remember, after a long time, he's at his lowest point. And God says, go and present yourself to King Ahab. And he obeys. He's exhausted. He's frustrated. Irritated with his community. It's been a quiet season. It's felt like bad is winning. He's done everything God has asked him to do. And he is, he is not hashtag live, laugh, loving. Like, he is not blessed. He's not feeling it. It is rough. I can just imagine, you know, like, it is so dry. And I just started imagining him the other day. Like, and I was like, oh, imagine his skin. Like, he's just such a prune. Like, he is literally dry on the inside and outside. I mean, he is at the bottom. Like, the worst he's ever been. The most depleted. The most exhausted.

 I just imagine the thoughts running through his head. And I want to just say this, too. It's another, another pastoral freebie ad in here.

 You know, I think one of the greatest, there's a few out there. One of the biggest lies of the Western, maybe, kind of Christianity is that if you do everything right, that God owes you a good life. If I do everything right, I obey him. I do everything right. He's gonna just, I'm gonna get the cute house and the cute husband and the cute, kids who are gonna be so obedient. And everything's gonna be great. Nowhere in scripture are we promised an easy life. In fact, the opposite over and over and over. Over and over again. We live in a fallen world. We will have tribulations when it happens. Like, over and over, right? Like, and so I think sometimes we get bent out of shape as if God owes us something because we've done everything wrong.

 And anytime we have to learn how to open our eyes and to see the truth, as if everything's right, we turn to Him and say, that's not going to work. That's not how all this power works. You say, I did everything right and things aren't working out, or I've done everything right. I don't deserve this. Yeah. It's just a trap, I we can fall into him. So the Lord speaks. Go and present yourself to your worst enemy, is what he's telling him. He can see from what he sees. 16 if you want, but Ahab was literally the worst. The worst. He was the most evil king. He had dishonored and angered God more than any other king before him. His wife was Jezebel. They were awful.

 So he has not heard from God, and finally God speaks, and he's like, go to the worst. Cool, God. Can't wait. And I'll send rain. Now, I don't have time to tell you this part of the story, but as a lot of prophetic words are, he's got a long route to get there. He had to go take on 450 false prophets, call down fire on the mountain. It was a journey. It was a journey. Can we still listen and obey in a hard season, or do we get offended, get mad at God, just shut down in self-pity, start believing the lies about God and his nature? The fourth part of the story is, first step of minding the gap is to listen and obey even when life is hard.

 Elijah doesn't let everything that's happening outside of him to change what's happening on the inside of him. He stays willing to lean in and listen, obey. So he risks it all, and he goes to Ahab, and then let's jump down to verse 41. It says, and Elijah said to Ahab, go eat and drink, for there is the sound of a heavy rain, which brings us to our second point. Part of how you can find the gap is you have to focus on God's narrative. Get God's narrative, and don't be afraid to declare it. Elijah says out loud, hey, get ready. I can hear the sound of a heavy rain. How? What is he talking about? You can hear the sound of a heavy rain? It is dry as bones outside.

 There is not a cloud in the sky. What are you talking about? There's no physical evidence whatsoever of any kind of rain. What's he talking about? What's he hearing? You know, you might not see any physical evidence of breakthrough in your life. You might be in the driest season you've ever experienced, but what are you choosing to hear? Are you listening to what culture is saying, to the doctor's report? To what your bank account says? To what your critics are saying? Are you listening to the negativity? Or can you lean in and listen to what God is saying? Can you? Can you hear the sounds of breakthrough before you see them? Can you read the scriptures and hear it and hold on to it?

 Can you see what God says in scripture about who you are, your family, what God is saying over this city, over this nation, what God is doing? Or do you just listen to what God is saying? Can you just hear the impossibilities and how difficult this is, how impossible this is, that he'll never change? There's no hope for this. Part of how we mind the gap is we have to get really good at leaning in and listening and aligning our thoughts and words with what God's narrative is. Who does God say my spouse is? Who does God say? Who does God say this annoying person is that I have to deal with? Whoever it is at work or whatever. Like, what is God's narrative? And start coming into alignment with it.

 You know, maybe some of us just need to go on a good old-fashioned, good old-fashioned negativity fast. Right? What would happen when we start aligning our words with His narrative over the enemy's narrative? See, we are co-creators with God. When you begin to focus on God's narrative and you begin to speak out, what happens when the word of God goes forth, right? It doesn't come back empty. It's not just sounds. It's alive. The word of God is alive. So when you begin to speak the word of God, it goes into your environment and it goes to work. It begins to create, let there be light, or it begins to, to bring things into alignment. Yeah. Our words are powerful. Part of how we mine the gap is begin to focus on God’s narrative and come into alignment with it.

 Verse 42 says, so Ahab went off to eat and drink, but Elijah climbed the top of Carmel, bent down to the ground and put his face between his knees. Which brings us to our third point. Part of how you mine the gap is climb up and get light. Ahab goes off to tend to his flesh. And Elijah goes up to tend to his spirit. Elijah climbed up to higher ground, climbed up above his perspective. He forced himself to get higher. He pressed in for the presence of God. He removed himself from everyone and everything around him. And he sought the Lord. God knows he's had enough. He came to spend thirty years where there was nothing left away. Andrenched in the furniture, what do you know? Oh no! God knows he's had enough. Ahab went off to to tend to his flesh. Or to be spring from an abyss in the jungle. Home is where we are.

 Do you want to see? Ahab wrote to Elijah and he wrote, or to go to Ahab. Oh, Terry, I did write to you. Or separate yourself from the negative Nancys. Climb up. It is oftentimes hard to get heaven's perspective when you are in the same chaos as everybody else. We can't give what we don't have. Right? And so we've got to figure out part of how we mine the gap is, man; I am not singing. I've got to come up higher. I've got to get heaven's perspective. I've got to climb up. Everybody's over here tending to their flesh. I've got to go tend to my spirit. I've got to find Jesus. I had this powerful revelation. 45 years, well, technically 43 that I've known the Lord.

 Just this past year I had a revelation so deep. Ready for it? I need Jesus more than I need salvation. Sleep. Took 43 years for that one to hit. And it was a tough pill to swallow. But it's so true. I need Him. There's nothing I love more than my sleep. None of my kids slept. I mean, sleep has been the most contested thing in my life. And to realize I need Jesus in my day more than I need sleep was very liberating for me. I would do better with faith. I would do better with five hours of sleep and some Jesus time than six hours and no Jesus time. It's a tough pill. But it's the truth. Climb up. Fight. Fight to get that perspective. Fight to get that time in his presence.

 And then when you get there, get really low. Get really low. Get low in his presence. It's not about us. There's nothing we can do about it. There's nothing we can do. You know, my type of personality is like, if there's a problem, how can we fix it? And my top strength finder, if you're into strength finders, my top strength finder is strategic. So I'm going to have 47 solutions for you by 8 a . m. of how we can fix this problem. And I am going to be deeply irritated by 9 a . m. if we are not actively using one of these said strategies. To solve this very annoying problem. It is my natural tendency to want to fix it. Control it. Not even in a, not like a bad control.

 Like, I just want to, I'll make it better for you. Let me help you. Let me, let me help you. Right? But part of getting low is realizing this has nothing to do with me. And let me challenge you with this. If you can fix the majority of the problems in your life, girl, you are not doing enough. You're not. You're not believing for enough. You're not going after enough. You're playing it way too safe. Because the things we are called to go after are crazy. The things we're called to believe God for aren't things we can do ourselves. How? Somebody said this one time. And I was like, oh my gosh. How do you even know God is with you? If you don't desperate, like, if you're not going to die without him.

 And I'm like, oh. Because I already figured it all out. Because I already made it happen. We're called to go for things that are so outside of us. God has incredible things for your life. Right? Dreams for our lives. We're not called to play it safe. We're not called to cruise along at a two. When you're called to live. We're called to live at 10. You know what I'm saying? So part of this is we've got to get low so he can get big in us. We've got to get out of the way. Get our pride out of the way. Get our fear out of the way. Get our flesh out of the way. So that he can move big in us. I love that he climbs up and he gets low. I've watched a lot of people adopt the mentality. Hey, God said it. So I'm just going to sit around and wait for him to do it. But that also is not how it works. God's always looking for our partnership. Right? Faith without works is dead. God told Elijah, I'm going to send rain. But Elijah understood his actions mattered. His prayers mattered. That he needed to get up high and get low. He understood that that was part of it.

 Verse 43, Elijah tells his servant, go and look towards the sea, he told his servant. And he went up and he looked. There's nothing there, he said. Which brings us to our fourth point, how do you mind the gap? Start looking for signs of breakthrough. Elijah commands his servant to go and look towards the sea, right? Start looking. Start expecting. Is there any little, you know, signs of change? Change. Posture yourself to start looking for blessings. You know, sometimes I don't want to get my hopes up, so I don't want to look too much. I'll let you know God's moving when it's like 98% done.

 You know, some of us, we need to get up and we need to go, we need to turn our gaze and we need to start hunting for signs of breakthrough. Look for things to be grateful for. Look for the little increase and begin to praise God for it. You know something fascinating I learned about the brain? Our brains are wired to basically reinforce whatever you focus on. Subconsciously. So if you have a belief about something, you think about something, right? Women are bad drivers. If you have that belief, that thought, and you've entertained that thought a time or two, without trying, your brain will highlight for you every example where that is true. You will see it. And your brain will minimize for you contradictory data. You guys, this is crazy.

 So every time that women are driving great, your brain will literally minimize that data and your processing, and it will highlight the times where that other belief, it basically reinforces whatever you think, which is why we're told to take our thoughts captive. Be careful what you think, because it will take your thought, like it literally will go and do work for you. So if you're starting to think, 'Well, I don't know if God's going to come through.' Well, it looks like the enemy. The enemy is winning. Well, this kid's just, you know, my husband's never going to change. Well, this is never, you know, nobody cares. And you do that, your brain will go to work for you and show you every single instance to try to give you data that that's true.

 That's crazy to me and kind of scary. But the powerful side of that is when you focus on what God is doing and you are looking for a breakthrough and you do have an attitude of gratitude, right? Right? All of a sudden your brain goes to work for you and you begin to notice, oh, wait, God is kind of actually moving here. Oh, wait, this is kind of shifting. Oh, wait, things are changing. And you begin to see what God is actually doing. We have to be able to focus on what God is doing if we're going to mind the gap. Because the enemy is ready to tell you what he's doing all the time. Have you noticed? The enemy is always ready to give us a narrative. Part of how we mind this gap is we begin to start looking for signs of breakthrough.

 Number five, don't give up even when it seems like nothing is happening. The rest of verse 43 says, seven times Elijah said, go back. Seven. His servant is like, and nothing's there. Elijah's like, go again. Nothing's there. Nope. Unacceptable. Go back. Bro, nothing's there. Go back. I call this the 'there's nothing' stage. Where you try, you press in three, four, five times, six times. That's it. That door is slammed in your face. You've been praying. You've been believing. You've been pressing in and nothing is changing. Can we withstand that 'there's nothing' phase? I think a lot of us, you know, we think, oh, I probably just didn't hear God right. We just, we get angry at God. Well, I stepped out in faith and you didn't come through. We start spiraling in fear.

 You know what? I'm just going to walk off this mountain and go get a new dream. That was too crazy. I better downgrade what I believe God can do. Maybe he does crazy things for other people, but not for me. Maybe we even walk away from our faith. How do we handle the there's nothing stage? You know, if we're going to, if we're going to mind the gap, we've got to have some grit and some endurance. That might mean, you know, man, I'm going to keep pressing in. I see nothing has changed, but I know he's good and I know he's faithful and I know he said he's going to send the rain. And so I'm going to keep looking. I'm going to keep, I'm going to keep looking. I'm going to keep, I'm going to keep pressing in.

 Minding the gap looks like not having your identity and what other people think of you. Cause this is the moment. The moment you start to go, I look real stupid right now. This is, this looks foolish, right? Your identity can't be in that. Your identity can't be having your pride and certain outcomes. You can't be more in love with your comfort because you will die right there. That is, that is the death right there. When you're like, if it's about your comfort, it's over. But can we continue to trust that God is moving even when we can't see anything? You know, I; this is the; I don't even really know how to put this other than this. It; there's this truth I have come to know to be true in, in the things of God.

 And it's this; the last one standing wins. I; I've watched it so many times. If you don't sit down, you win. If you don't give up, you win. If you keep believing, he shows up. I feel like so often we've walked off of our mountain, the thing God called us to, a dream he put in our heart, something we went after because you know what? We tried three, four, five, six times and we got a; there's nothing. And we minimized our lives and our dreams. And our prayers. We started praying smaller prayers. We started believing for less things. Mature faith must withstand the invisible phase. Here's what's really incredible. Before you see a cloud in the natural, there is a whole process that happens that you can't see. Warm air starts to rise.

 It starts to expand and, and, you know, and cool off. And then there's these teeny tiny water droplets that begin to condense. And when billions of these teeny tiny water droplets come together, they begin to take the shape of a visible cloud. The whole time Elijah was praying, this was happening, but they couldn't see it. The whole time they were praying and he's sending, he's sending his servant out and the servant is saying, there's nothing. Actually, water was rising. Droplets were forming. Science was happening. Bless it, Lord. I had to Google that, by the way. Like, how does a cloud form? I forgot that part. Um, lots of science was happening. But they couldn't see it. What if he would have walked off that mountain because he saw nothing?

 This actually makes me, like, feel deeply convicted about how many mountains have I walked off of. Because I saw nothing. God is always moving. God is always faithful. Don't let your eyes deceive you. Don't give up when it seems like nothing is happening. Sixth thing to mind the gap is to start celebrating the little things. Verse 44. The seventh time the servant reported, a cloud as small as a man's hand is rising from the sea. I didn't discuss that. Guy was like, this guy's gonna kill me if I come back and say there's nothing one more time. He's like a fingernail of a cloud, maybe way over there-ish, potentially, is rising from the sea. So Elijah says, go and tell Ahab, hitch up your chariot and go down before the rain stops you.

 I call this the insignificant phase, right? You get a little sliver of breakthrough, but it's literally nowhere near what you need. It's like the story of my life. You're like, it's so nice. I am so, thank you. Thank you, Lord, for this five dollars. I needed five million, but this is beautiful. This little seed. Bless you, Lord. It's like something is happening, but it's real small. Well, the kid is passing one class, so let's focus on that, right? Like it's the, it's insignificant phase. You're like, it feels real small here, guys. But can you begin to focus on and celebrate the little things, right? I think sometimes, you know, I wonder if how we respond to the, the cloud, the tiny cloud is, determines if we get the rain or not.

 You know, often the way the enemy gets you to leave your assignment from God is just to convince you it's insignificant. Don't wait until it's actually significant. That takes no faith. Celebrate the little ways you see God moving. Call out the way you see his faithfulness right now in your life. Worship and praise. Nurture gratitude. You'll notice Elijah's response is totally out of proportion to what is happening in this situation, right? A micro cloud may be forming far, far away. He's like, go! Like, it's gonna rain. Like, it's like, whoa, whoa. What is happening, right? Don't devalue the little breakthroughs. Don't disempower what seems insignificant. You know, our response to those things could very well determine our outcome. Celebrate the little victories. And I want to say this: another one, one more, pastoral input, foot.

 We're not talking about toxic positivity. Oh Lord, help us. We are not talking about denial. We got zero time left for this, people. Like, we're not talking about name it and claim it weirdness. I'm talking, like, being able to recognize what's actually happening, but also can you hear what heaven is saying? Can you align with what heaven is saying? Can you celebrate what heaven is doing? Right? It's, it's not this weird, like, I think sometimes in charismatic circles, it just gets real, like, whoa, whoa. Bring, bring a little bit back. Bring a little back. You know, like, you can recognize what's happening, right? You can be honest and, and relevant in the world. You can be, you know, understand the reality of what's around you.

 You don't have to be, like, you know, everything's awesome, like, all the time. Like, you can be little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, little, living in reality, yet also be aligned with what heaven is doing. You with me? Be aligned with what heaven is doing. Tiff's not gonna be free. So, so his response is totally out of proportion, and I love it. He's, he's celebrating. And often, I think it's that praise and that proclamation that ushers in the breakthrough. So, don't hold back. Now, here's what's really beautiful. As a, as Elijah is, aligning with faith, as he is focusing on what God is doing, as he's more focused on what God is doing than what the enemy is doing, right? He has tended his soul.

 He has obeyed. He has leaned into what God is saying. He's aligned his words with what God is saying. He is looking for what God is doing. He is coming into alignment with that. And I love the way verse 45 starts, because as Elijah is doing this, verse 45, I'm, by the way, I'm reading out of the Passion Translation, so you might have a different translation, but it says, 'Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds.' As he's doing this, meanwhile, things begin to shift. Meanwhile, the sky grew black with clouds. The wind rose, a heavy rain started falling, and Ahab rode off to Jezreel. The power of the Lord came on Elijah, and Tiff's soul was aligned with what God is doing. And he's looking for what God is doing.

 His cloak into his belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel. Now, this brings me to my seventh point, which does not flow with any of my other points, but it was necessary, and it is this, girl, run. Girl, run. Okay. First of all, you need to understand the context of this. This is absolutely insane to me. Jezreel, where he ran to, is believed to be 17 to 20 miles away from where he is on Mount Carmel. Okay. Now, for context, King Ahab is in a chariot. It is believed that chariots during that time could go 35 miles per hour. Elijah just outran Ahab in a chariot, going 35 miles per hour, 20 miles away. Okay. So, he just ran 20 miles in 40 minutes by the absolute hand of the Lord.

 What? Bro is running two-minute miles. Like, what are we talking about? Wow. This is a very important detail here. The Spirit of the Lord comes on him. He runs. It is 20 miles between Visalia and Dinuba. And if you don't drive that direction often, maybe you go more to Hanford. It's 20 miles to Hanford. Pick your run. 20 miles. He ran that in 40 minutes. That is 80 laps around the football field. Absolutely not. Like, one lap and I'm dead. What are we talking about? This is wild. This is what you need to understand. This blows my mind. You know why I think this is so significant? Elijah. In his weakest. Skinniest. Parchest. Dryest. Crustiest. Most frustrated. Lowest. Hardest season. Because he minded the gap. Because he believed God is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

 Because he believed God was faithful, no matter what his eyes were seeing. Because he continued to believe. Because he pressed in. Because he did not give up. Last one standing wins. Because he did not give up. This man outran by the Spirit of the Lord the very best of his day. Hear this. He ran faster than those who were eating. He outperformed, if you will, than those who had been feasting this whole time. Listen, so often we think, I need more money. I need more connections. I need more time. I definitely need a chef and a babysitter. Right? I need to be more married. I need to be more single. I need to be more something else than I am. If I'm going to be able to do something great for God.

 Maybe in a different season. Maybe when my kids are grown. Maybe. And it's always something in the future. That maybe then I could partner with God for something great. What if it's actually just today? And you're tired, driest, weakest. Right? Because it's not about us. But when we press in, you see the Spirit of the Lord fill him. And he does what he could not do in his own strength. And you know what? The world has watched a lot of Christians do what they can do in their own strength. And the world is hungry to see what God can do through his people. The world is hungry to see what people filled with the Spirit of God actually looks like. And I don't know about you, but I'm hungry for it.

 I am tired of doing things in my own strength. Anybody else? It's exhausting. I want to see what God can do. We get one life. I want to see what God can do. I want him to get the glory. You know, this weekend we're going to be talking about all in, devoted, giving him everything. But we're going to struggle to do that if we are still struggling. We're struggling with the idea of, can I really trust him? Is he really faithful? And so we've got to get good at minding the gap. Because I'm telling you, there are women in this room who are called to run. In fact, why don't you look at your neighbor and say, girl, run. It's time to run. It's time to run.

 You know, we're living in a crazy time in history where everything that can be shaken is shaking. You know, Americans are the most unhappy we've ever been. The American church is deeply unwell. Anxiety and fear are at an all-time high. And if there was ever a time that we needed to mind the gap, it's right now. God is faithful. He's faithful. He's trustworthy. He is who he says he is. The God of the Bible who did the crazy miracles is the same God today. I don't know about you, but I don't want to get to heaven and be like, man, I just kind of floated. Because I had this memory recently of when my kids were young, it was like, just had my third baby.

 And, you know, I did as we do, locked myself in a bathroom. I think I was crying. And just was like, two freaking seconds, you know, just was like, I just need a second. And kids clawing at the door, you know, and husband clawing at the door. Everybody clawing at the door. And I was sitting on the toilet just crying, like, just, oh, my God. And there was an Oprah magazine, Prophet Oprah. And it said, the front cover said, 'Are you leading your life? Or is life? Is life happening to you?' And I was like, 'it's happening to me.' And I picked it up and cried. And that moment marked me. And it was like this realization of, if I don't start intentionally living, I will be a victim to my life.

 Life will just happen to me. I have lived a lot of time like, I just got to get my kids out of the baby stage. I just got to do that. I've just got to get a little more settled. I just got to do this. And it's always. Trying to get to the next thing. Can anybody relate to this? Here's the reality. God wants to meet us right where we're at. Right? Right in the middle of, like, the dirty birds. I don't know. Like, right in the middle of it all. In the drought. He wants to teach us how to find him. How to press in. How to shift some weather patterns. In our families. In our communities. Listen, God is alive and well. He is powerful.

 You know, this weekend, we'll probably get to tell a few stories. And I hope that you are inspired and encouraged because I want you to know our God is still the God doing miracles all over the world. He is powerful and he is good. And church, it is; we've got to mind the gap. We have been through some shaking. And we've got to mind the gap. And get. Get back in our positions because it is time to see the rain come. It's time to see the rain come. And it's time for us to start running. And thank God, not in our own strength. We're going to run with the power of the Holy Spirit and do things we could not do in our own strength. I'm going to invite the worship team up here. I want to do a couple things. I want to tell one story to close. And I want us to pray. We're going to pray together. You know, I was thinking about this story as I was driving down. Driving up. I wasn't driving down. Yep. I drove north. Driving up here.

 Without going into too many details because it's kind of a longer story. But some of you guys that know me know this part of my story. I spent a couple years in my early 20s living in Africa, working in Africa. And we do a lot of international justice work and stuff. But in some of those early years, I had a very scary experience one time. I was 21 years old. And it was Christmas Eve. And I'd gotten very sick, almost died, all the things. I had just come out of the hospital. It was the day I had come out of the hospital. And I was staying at this missionary couple's house in Nairobi. I had only met these people when I got sick. I didn't know these people.

 They were very kind, very helpful. I couldn't afford to stay in the hospital anymore. And so they had convinced the doctor I was fine. They'd convinced the doctor to let me have seven days of bed rest recovery in their home. Which I was very grateful for. So it's Christmas Eve. They have a little, like a little, homeschool room in the back of their property. It's like a totally detached, separate little room. I'd never been back there before. Never been to this place before. And I walk back there. Now this is, listen, once again, it's like the 90s were different. This is early, this is 2001. It was different days. We didn't have phones. You know, I had no way to contact anybody in the house. I was by myself, like just alone out there.

 Okay, no internet, nothing. Just out there, me, myself, and Jesus. And incredibly weak. I had just, like, gone through this crazy health thing. And I'm laying in this room. And they go, you know, they're probably the distance of this building is where their house is to this little room I'm in. And I lay down. And as I double lock the door, there's two different doors, a gate and a door. I lock both. And I'm laying there. My little window's cracked. It's cracked open because it's warm. And as I’m drifting to sleep, I begin to hear what sounds like multiple different male voices outside. I’m like, “ what is going on?” And I quickly realize there were men in the yard. Now they have, like, a 10-foot wall around their whole property.

 And I’m like, “ this is awful.” What is happening? And right away, because the enemy’s a bitch. He’s a big jerk. And he’s always ready to give us a narrative. I heard the enemy just say, “I’ve sent these men to rape and kill you.” My first thought was, “I’ll be honest,” this is, you know, I meant we would make jokes. We’d call Nairobi, Nairobi. I’m like, “ this is the nicest house.” These white, like, American missionaries, I feel so bad for them. They're about. They're about to get robbed. That's what I'm thinking. I'm thinking, they are here because people know this is, like, an American family and a really nice house. They're about to get robbed.

 There's nothing I can do about it. I'm way over here. Nope, they weren't going for that house. They start to break in my door. And I'm starting to realize, as I was walking out there, the dog was growling. And I was like, they probably have been here the whole time. And instantly, as they start to break in the door, I am utterly, utterly overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed with fear. I'm talking the kind of fear where you can't breathe. Can't move, can't breathe, paralyzed. And right away, I heard the Lord speak to me. And he said, Jennifer, you need to make a decision. Hurry up. Your life depends on it. And I remember being like, what's behind door number two? How about I choose anything but this? What are you, make a decision?

 What are you talking about? Hurry up. Make a decision. And he says, is it going to be? Is it going to be faith or fear? What do you choose? And I remember telling the Lord, I, that feels like such a crazy choice. Like, I don't know how not to be afraid. I am utterly terrified. He said, 'I'm not asking you how you feel. I'm asking you, what are you choosing? Faith or fear? What are you going to partner with right now?' And I remember just telling, like, at this point, I can hear them. They're, they've come through, like, the gate has been broken through. And I'm like, 'Oh my gosh,' absolutely terrified, envisioning about what's about to happen to me.

 And I'm just like, 'I can't believe this.' And I remember telling the Lord, 'I don't know how not to be afraid, but I choose faith.' And it was the most pathetic whimper, like under my covers, frozen. It was, it was the most microscopic offering of faith one could ever give. And I was still full of fear, and that was okay. That was okay. It's okay to have emotions and feelings, but what are you going to partner with? What are you going to focus on? What are you going to choose? And I said, I choose faith in that moment. And I don't know how to explain to you other than this is truly supernatural. This is not natural. This is not my personality. Listen, I talk a big game.

 But that's kind of where it ends. Okay. Like not my personality. So I literally, it was like, I began in that moment just to think about scripture. Here's another, here's another good little pastoral nugget for you. Don’t wait till you’re in crisis to, to realize you need to get scripture inside of you. Don’t wait till you’re in a crisis to be like, mom, what’s a good verse for this right now? No, you need to have the word of God inside of you. Like Google, what should I, like, this is not the moment. Like you’ve got to have the word of God inside of you. Because I literally in that moment begin to recite like verses and reminding myself who God is.

 The Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? When evil men advance against me to devour my flesh, they will stumble and fall. This is a good one. You know, I’m literally like reminding myself of truth. Part of minding the gap, right? Is, is knowing how to build. Build up your own spirit. And as I was coming into agreement with the truth, it was like, I don't know what, how to explain what happened, but it was a supernatural, like divine exchange. Not natural. Because fear left my body. I'm talking gone. And I was, I felt like God gave me, I don't know. I don't know that I have even theology for this. It was like he gave me a supernatural gift of faith in that moment.

 I mean, crazy faith. Doesn't make sense. Faith. Like, what are you actually talking about? Faith? Because I literally, I was so convinced all of a sudden I was like, clearly they don't know who I am. I am a daughter, the daughter of the most high God. Like I literally, and I was not, once again, not toxic positivity. You will not find me doing that. It was so genuine. I was like, I was 1000% convinced if they touched me, God would strike them dead. 1000%. I don't, it's bizarre. So much so that I started thinking, I don't want to see them die on Christmas Eve. Genuinely feeling bad for them. I'm once again, not natural. Okay. This is like.

 And so, because I felt so bad for them, I thought I'm going to go to the window that's cracked open and I'm going to tell them, guys, you have five seconds to leave or God's going to strike you dead. And I was convinced it would happen. Once again, I know it sounds crazy. I look back now and I'm like, that was really crazy. But in the moment, like it's what I needed. I don't know. And so I'm on the way. Have you heard the story, Tiff? Yes. It's been a long time. I'm on the way to the window to go tell them the word of the Lord for their lives. And I've never been in this room. And this is very classic Jennifer Toledo. I don't realize that there's a bag on the floor.

 A plastic bag. And in my pursuit, hot pursuit, I slip on this bag. Slide across the floor. Like hit the dresser. Boom. Like just all the things. Something about the sliding and the dresser and the whole thing. The guys by the window like kind of jerks, like his, you know, jerks his arm, which sets off the motion light. Like where has that been? Right? Finally, now that the motion light is on, the dang dog who slept through this whole thing begins to bark. And I can hear them. And they're like, somebody's coming. They have a gun. Somebody's coming. They've got a gun. And I'm like, it's a Walmart bag. Like, it felt like, like a very Gideon moment, like trumpets, whoo, you know, like what is happening? I don't know.

 It was like, I, and I literally wanted to get up and continue in my pursuit. I felt like God looked at me like, you're cute. Just stay there. How about you stay there and you let me handle this, you know? And, uh, and so I just laid there and literally they're going back and forth and they're like, somebody's coming. And they've got a gun. And these guys take off and scale back over this 10 foot wall and I don't get raped and I don't die. Feel free to give the Lord some glory.

 But I was reminded of this story because of this. I really believe now, listen, I'm not going to know until I get to heaven, but I'm convinced. Had I not partnered with faith in that moment, that story would have ended very differently. I really believe that. And I really believe that what we choose to partner with is actually creating our reality. And I believe that God is asking us, church, is it going to be faith or fear in this season? Do you really believe I am who I say I am? Do you really believe I'm going to be faithful? Do you really believe I'm the God that still does miracles? What are you going to choose? Because our choices are powerful. And it's not enough to say, oh God, I believe. I'm just going to stay right here in my little comfort zone. Because when you believe, you'll go. When you believe, you'll show up. When you believe, you'll be out on the limb. You'll take the leap. Right? Faith or fear? Faith or fear? What's our choice in this season? I want us to pray tonight. We're going to go into some time to just pray for each other and worship together. Why don't everybody just stand, if you will.

 I want you just to close your eyes, just begin to focus on the Lord. We're going to pray. We're going to pray. We're going to pray. We're going to pray. We're going to pray.

 God, I pray for anybody in this room tonight who has felt maybe trapped or suffocated in fear. Maybe it's fear of your future, fear for your kids, fear of what other people think. Maybe you're finding yourself like in a constant loop of catastrophizing.

 I felt like the Lord said he wanted to deliver us from fear tonight. Because it's time to run. It's time to run. It's time to run. So Father, I pray anywhere, where we've partnered with fear, we just confess, Lord, we don't want to partner with fear anymore. Forgive us, God. We break agreements with fear. Fear is not our portion. We break all agreements with fear.

 God, we choose faith. For real. We're going to choose faith in this season. Faith for our families. Faith for our health. Faith for this community. Faith for the dream you've been putting in our heart. Faith to believe for the impossible.

 See this picture right now of God just kind of like moving what feels like a lid or like a roof on some of our minds. Some of us, maybe, it's just felt very limited. We have a lot of faith for certain things. Up until a limit. And I just see God lifting like the lid and saying, 'daughter, it's time to dream big again.' You were not made to just play it safe. God, I pray that you would stir up faith in us. no matter our age no matter our season of life i thank you god that there is beautiful ways that you want to partner with us and i pray for a a reviving a revival of childlike faith in us every one of us lord

 god i pray for every woman in this room that has felt like she's been in a long hard dry season where it's felt quiet or it's felt just dry and difficult lord i pray right now for your grace to sustain i pray god that you would give her eyes to see the ways that you have provided water in the desert lord the ways that you have provided nourishment to us i pray that you would give her eyes to see the ways that you have provided water and god i pray that our ears would be open to hear what you're speaking lord i thank you god that seasons don't last

 god i pray lord that you would just give us our spiritual fight back yeah i feel like there's a lot of us to be able to tonight that need to get our fight back one of this this something i was sensing was just that some of us have just accepted the drought as the normal and i want to speak over you tonight he's the same yesterday and today and forever he's the god of the rain he's the god of the impossible he's the god who does miracles he's the god who doesn't forget his word he has spoken over you he's the god of a million chances

 but anywhere where we have just felt disappointed or discouraged lord i pray lord that we would get our fight back that we would be reawakened and reminded at how good you are.

 and Lord, for anybody in the room that has felt the weight of this past season, feeling like, 'Man, I've had I got to hold it all together; I got to keep everybody good; I got to keep it's like when I was praying, this kept coming to my spirit, just that there might be some people who tonight, who are feeling like you, just feel the weight, like it's on your shoulders, to make sure your family's okay, to make sure your husband's okay, to make sure everything's okay, that you constantly feel this weight and I just felt the Lord saying he wants to lift that off of you tonight, that he is the one he's the one that he loves your kids more than you do; he loves this nation more than you do; he loves this city more than you do; he loves this state more than you do; he loves this city more than you do than you do. So, Father, I pray, God, that you would meet us tonight, that you would lift every weight that needs to be lifted, that freedom would come to our hearts, that faith would be ignited in us, Lord, that we would get our fight back.

 God, I pray that you would stir it up in us.

 Let's go back into worship, and I want to maybe just invite the prayer team to come forward. And as we're worshipping, if something's stirring up for you and you're like, 'Man, I just want somebody to stand and pray with me for this,' if it's something we just talked about, if it's something going on and you just feel like God is stirring it up for you, speaking to you right now, these amazing women would love to just stand with you and pray. But let's respond to the Lord tonight, okay, whatever that looks like. If it's like, 'God, I am not walking out of this room with fear anymore.' Or if it's, 'Man, God, I need to get my fight back.' I need to get my fight back. Or if it's, 'You know, man, there's been this gap, but I know that he's good.' Let's just respond to the Lord in worship.