But Lord, through it all, you've still been with me and held me up. There's no other reason why I would stand if it wasn't for the grace of God. And Lord, thank you for showing us our own frailty, our own weaknesses, our own need for humility. And Lord, I pray that you just work a mighty work as only you can do, Lord. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. I've talked about this before. I'm going to throw this in that series with depression and things like that. There's a lot more people that go through this than what you realize. Anxiety, depression, discouragement, things like that. It's becoming a very big topic, actually. And it's kind of been pushed off to the witch doctors. And they've kind of taken it. And they've tried to give people medicine. And they've tried to drug people. and say that's going to make them better when most of those people commit suicide. Many of them do that are on psychotropics and things like that. I don't think they're the best judge of character or the best judge of those matters. Now, they may have some understanding of what's going on in the brain and how it works and everything, but they're not the best They're not the best. They don't have the solution. The solution is Christ, and to continue to trust Christ through all things, through the darkness. And if I couldn't find that in my Bible today, then you would have cause of concern. If I stood before you right now and I said, you know what? I've went through some desertion, some darkness, some depression, some anxiety, some traumatic experiences, and things like that that have done that. If I stood here before you and I said that, but I don't have an answer for you from the Bible, so I don't know what to say about that, then I would be a man most sorrowful and in a lot of trouble. But I can tell you from what I'm going to show you here today and many others that I do have an answer. I do have the answer. And I can tell you why I wake up every morning. I can tell you why I have the power to continue on by the grace of God through whatever is thrown at me. And I can tell you that because I can share something. I can show you from God's completed word. I can show you that it's inspired, it's infallible, it is perfect, and it can meet every need that you have. I can do that, I can show you that, and I can give great comfort to those with the comfort wherewith I've been comforted with, where sometimes I don't feel very comforted, right? I'll be honest with you, there's some days that I don't feel very comforted. There's some days that I don't want to step into the pulpit and even preach, right? Just being honest, I never felt that way before. I never could understand a preacher that said that before. I wish I quit saying things. I wonder why that guy's like that. Because every time I say something like that, it ends up happening to me. So what's with that guy? What do you mean that guy couldn't sleep all night? What's wrong with that guy? Man, that was a, how's a guy not sleep all night or something like that in my mind? Well, you sit up for a couple months and you figure out, well, that's how a guy don't sleep all night. Then I started looking at the Bible and said, well, David talked about that too. David said, God kept my eyeballs open. He wouldn't let them drop. God turned my night into day. My night runneth into the day. He said, I can't sleep. Asaph said it. Other men said it. I water my couch with my tears. That's right. I've been there before, too. Right? But if I didn't have an example of that in the Bible and a clear path that I was, it's no accident that I'm reading my Bible this week in Isaiah. All right. I'm reading in Isaiah. I wrote another sermon too, but I'll preach that some other time. Isaiah chapter 43, but I, I was reading my Bible and I, and I came to that portion of scripture that I'm going to show you. And that was a light that shined, right? No pun intended. But it did, and it showed me this is what you have to do. Now, I like it when God shows me what I'm supposed to do. The hardest part is actually doing it, though. Isn't that right? I mean, we see it, but it takes faith to continue on to do it. I never had anything in my life where I didn't, in my mind or in my heart, where I didn't wanna just keep doing something. I never had that, I never had, I didn't have quit in me. I didn't know what that was. You can ask Lee. For the first 10 years of this ministry, 10 years of this ministry, I didn't have any quit in me. I didn't know what that was. I remember him looking at me, don't you ever get discouraged? Like, not really. Not yet. Not yet, I should have said. Not yet. Man. Shut up, self. But not yet, right? And I didn't. It took a lot. It took a lot. And it actually had to come from within, not from without. But it came. Right? And traumatic experiences, what they do to our minds sometimes is they can set us into a place of darkness. And I didn't realize that until I had experienced it. Didn't realize that, didn't know that. I thought people that had depression just need to get over it. Matter of fact, you just get over it. Get up and be happy. Right? What's that? We're opening a box, right? Exactly. Yeah. Remember that? Yeah. Yeah. Stop it. I thought it was hilarious, but it's not. But no, it's not. It's not. But you know what? That's kind of the mentality of most people is that, well, why don't you just get over it? Why don't you just stop it? Why don't you just get over it, right? Well, if I could have done that, I would have done it already. right? And did you know it's something that you can't just, when it's, when it's a, a anxiety or a, you know, uh, a trauma based thing to your mind or depression or discouragement, whatever onset, you can't just pray it away. No, you can't just say, God, just take it away. See, I was used to just pray it and God just taking everything away, man, I was spoiled. Just used to God taking everything away. If I had a problem, I just prayed it away and it was gone. God just took care of me. I just kept moving. Right? No messenger of Satan to buffet me. But then one day the Lord said, no, this messenger is going to buffet you, and there's a reason for it. And it put a thorn in my flesh. put a thorn in my flesh where it wasn't easy. And I had to depend on, now more than ever, I have to depend on God. I have to trust him more than ever. More so than I ever have before. The dependence has to be stronger. Even so, you will never know how much you have trusted your own mind until it is put to the test. until you're tested with it, right? And it betrays you. Oh. The worst enemy you have is your flesh. You think Satan is the worst enemy? Oh, no. He's the worst outside enemy. But your own flesh, what does the Bible say? And I'm going to study that this week. But what does the flesh do? It wars against the Spirit. Did you know your mind is your flesh? That's why the Bible says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let. Let. Allow. Right? Put on. Because the worst enemy you have is inside. It's the flesh. Right? Your emotions can preach something entirely different than what God's Word says, and entirely unrealistic. Right? You have to do it. You have to do it, which we'll get to. It's the same thing as put on. Put on as the elect. We're going to get to that. OK. Isaiah chapter 58, verse number six. Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye may break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house, when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Look at verse number eight. I want you to pay close attention to this. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy rear reward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Thou shalt cry, and he shall say, here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity. And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise. Look at this verse. I want you to pay attention to the last part. And satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity. and thy darkness be as the noon day. So God is giving instructions here of how light rises in obscurity, how light rises in the darkness for a saint. He is speaking to his people here. He is speaking to Israel here, but they are his people. Now, there are times and seasons that God's men and women walk in darkness. We've discussed that before. The truth of these things cannot be denied. And God has showed me and given me a burden through the many trials that he has seen fit to send me through for necessity of growth and grace in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior. That God does let his children go through darkness should be no surprise to the believers in Christ. That our minds are creatures that are subject to vanity and to the vanity of this world. It should not be a surprise to the least of all of God's saints that your mind would be that way. In a fallen world, the mind of the best Christian is fallen. Some of that has to do, some of your mind has to do with the way that you were raised, the circumstances that you were subject to. If you grew up around manipulators or abusers, physically or mentally, okay? Mental abuse or physical abuse. Mental abuse is just as bad as physical abuse. Maybe worse, right? Because it's not something you can touch. It's something that programs your mind. Do you understand that? It programs your mind. And that's why the Bible says, keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. We need to teach our children not to give their heart to everyone. Not to their friends, to anyone, not to freely give their heart to everyone. To put it out there to be stabbed and to stomped on. but to be reserved, to be cautious, to be kind, but trust, but verify, right? That it is not that we do not give our hearts openly. Young ladies, especially, too, as well, do not give your heart that freely. Young men, even, do not give your heart to boyfriends and girlfriends and things like that as you're growing up. Do not freely give your heart like that because once your heart is worn on your sleeve, I have a personality like that, where you wear your heart on your sleeve. Well, that's an easy place to stab it. That's not, you have to be careful. You have to keep your heart. That's why God put it in here, right? That's a picture of your heart. God put it in a chest cavity to protect it with the breastplate of righteousness. Right? To protect your heart, to keep it so it's not damaged too much. Because too many times of that infliction will leave mental scars that are not soon removed and never will be. The mistakes that are made in this life and the things that we go through, listen, God forgives sins, but he does not erase consequences. You understand that? God forgives sins, but the consequences for our actions are still there. God doesn't erase those from us. He doesn't take all of those away. Now, in eternal life, yes. But in this life, whatever you brought in with this mind, it's going out with you to the grave. Do you understand that? That's why I tell children and everyone else, you stay away from pornography. You stay away from the wicked things. Set no unclean thing before your eye. Keep your conscience clear. Keep it void of offense between God and man. Protect your heart. Keep your heart. Put a guard upon your mind and heart. Don't defile yourself. He'll take it with you to the grave. It'll be a sore battle. A sore battle. Don't do drugs. These drugs that I smoked pot and hit mushrooms and did all that stuff, and all those things, and now later on in my life, I can tell that it affects my mind. It's a law of sowing and reaping. It affects your mind. There's a lot of people that smoked pot and everything, and you know what they're starting to come out with 20, 30 years later, 40 years later, they're starting to come out with mental breakdowns. Anxiety, things developed in their mind. Oh, it don't hurt you. Oh, yes, it does hurt you. It changes everything, just like pornography does. It rewires your brain. So does all those other psychoactive drugs, right? They rewire your brain. So my point is that you protect yourself from those things, because even after you get saved, you still got to deal with stuff. Now you have Christ and the Holy Ghost to go through it with you, but that's not gonna change, that won't change the effects that it has on your mind. It'll give you, God will give you the grace to get through it, but it will not change what happened in your mind. The effects of the fall on the mind, they do not erase. They do not erase at salvation. Right? They don't. They're still there. Now you're forgiven of those things, and there's great peace that will come from that, but it will not change the mind. Once you damage your mind with sin, once traumatic experiences and things happen to your mind, it's like soldiers. You can get saved by the grace of God. That's not gonna take your PTSD away. It won't take it away. God will give you the strength to cope with it. Right, it is. It is. But what did it do to you? It rattled your brain. It changed it. Do you understand that? So just because you're saved doesn't mean you're not going to have that anymore. Charles Spurgeon, when he had the traumatic experience of hearing seven people trampled in the screams that he heard, he was out of the pulpit for a month. But he was saved by the grace of God. He said, God healed him. He came back. Yeah, but you know what they'd catch him doing some days at the Metropolitan Tabernacle? on the side somewhere like that. His horse slipped one time and he flipped out, his mind went, it triggered his mind. It triggered his nervous system. Sent him to trauma. Now some of you, I understand, now listen to me very closely, and I'm gonna say this to you again. Some of you probably have zero compassion right now for what I'm saying, or very little. Be very careful with that. Because as one that did not have enough compassion, I can tell you that if you are, if you just say, I just can't see it. I mean, why don't you just get over it? Why don't you just stop? Doesn't work that way. Doesn't work that way, right? What's that? It is. It literally, Joshua, we talked about this. It literally like makes new pathways in your brain, right? That like burns that into that. It kind of like follows that down. Mental trauma is serious. It's not a joke, and it affects people. It affects them. Okay? Now, not every Christian will go through this kind of darkness, but every Christian should understand that he's capable of going through such darkness. When I read these songs, these hymns, I told Andrew I wanted to sing that song. I didn't know about those other verses in there. But when I read those verses, I was singing back there, I was crying back there, because I read those verses and I understood exactly what he was saying. I got it. Made sense. We have to understand that we are capable of going through such darkness of mind. It doesn't change the eternal state of your soul, but it does make the path dark along the road to that celestial city one day. But that God is ever merciful in trials of darkness and through the valleys of the shadow of death must be stated very plainly. If it were not for the grace of God, no Christian could make it through such dark times. And that the Bible says the steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord and he delighteth in his way, we should always remember. Right? We should always believe God's word. lest we grow weary and faint in our minds, the Bible says. So it is possible to grow weary and faint in your mind. If it wasn't, he wouldn't have warned you against it. God's word in times of darkness is the same word in the light, right? Even though it doesn't feel the same. It is the same. It is the more to be cling to, the more to be trusted in darkness. You know, it's interesting, isn't it? Because Job, when he went through his darkness, well, do you remember some of the things that Job said to his friends? He said, yeah, miserable comforters are you all? That's one thing he said. The second thing he said to me, pity me, oh my friends, for the hand of the Lord is upon me. Pity me. They said, no, you're just in sin. You're really a wicked dude. You've done something. We don't know what it is, but we're going to figure it out. They were just looking for a sin. Right? Just like Satan was. Right? But he said, pity me, oh my friends, for the hand of the Lord hath touched me. God's rod was sore upon him, and he knew it. God's words in times of darkness is the same word in the light, but it must be cling to more and believed so much the more in the dark than when in the light. How can you and I say that we trust God in all seasons if we have not been through all seasons? What did Paul say? I have learned whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content. He said he learned it. And I think there were times of Paul's ministry that, well, I know there was, I've read it, where he was completely stressed, full of anxiety, broken, alone, all Asia. That turned it back on me. Everybody. Whole continent. It all turned on me. Well, that's a terrible place to be. Right? I'm gonna get to him. Listen, sometimes it's easier to trust when I can see my path, isn't it? Easier. You know? When you can see it. But when I cannot see with the naked eye what lies before me, I have to walk by faith and not by sight. Sometimes when our spiritual eyes are dim, God does not allow us to see raw faith is all that we have and must be cling to in the darkness. What did that song say? He said, when darkness fails, Or when darkness veils his lovely face, I rest on his unchanging grace. I can't see it, but I can rest on it. That's what Isaiah 50 verse 8-9 said, too. Let him stay upon the Lord. When you walk through darkness, let him stay upon his God. peace whose mind is stayed on thee. Well, how do you know? How do you know that that will keep him in perfect peace unless your peace is challenged? Right? You know, it's easy to live those things and preach those things when things are going well. It's a lot easier, isn't it? To tell somebody that's not down and out, that's not discouraged, that's not going through a bunch of trials, that hasn't fought and battled some things. It's easy to tell them, hey, you know, just cheer up. Everything will be all right. Right? It's easy to do that when you're not going through it. It's easy to expect somebody to do that. Job's friends are like, come on, Job. Snap out of it. What's going on? Come on, Job. You know you're wicked. Knock it off. God wouldn't have let this happen to you, Job, if you weren't wicked. Job said he would retain his integrity. He said, no, I'm not. His wife said, just give up on your integrity. Curse God and die. I don't think she was a bad woman, either. I think she was just scared. She was pretty beat down. Her whole life changed. Remember, she lost 10 kids, too. Lost 10 kids, saw her godly husband that walked upright and lived for God, and served the Lord, and was charitable, and Job's character, period. An upright man that feared God and eschewed evil, right? Amen. What did he say? What'd she say? Oh, just curse God. Just, does that retain thy integrity? That's what he said, he runneth upon me like a giant. The faith that casts, sometimes we walk by raw faith. The faith that casts itself upon the sure foundation of Christ. The faith that says, though he slay me, yet will I trust him. Man, that's easy to say when the sun's shining and everything's going your way. Oh man, I'll trust God through anything. Amen, by his grace, I believe I will too. But trusting him doesn't mean that I always feel it. It's all gonna go well. It's to continue on, which we're gonna show you. That faith that casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. The faith that wrestles in the dark in the midnight hour and rising up another day to serve him. If you have his word, then you have all the light that you need and the grace to get through whatever darkness comes your way. Though your mind fail you and anxieties rise within you, fear not, the Master says. I am with thee. He is the same God in the dark. His eternal attributes I change not. I change not. So though darkness has come over you, he is still your father in the dark, as he was in the light. Think about that for a second. What does darkness cause a child to do? Be afraid, and what do they do? Cry for their father, right? The first thing that happened to me when darkness came over me, I cried. I cried out to the Lord. But that's the place that God wanted me. Because before when trouble came, I trusted too much in the arm of flesh. But when God puts you in a place where every man's hand is against you nearly, then he puts you in a dark place that you have to trust him, him alone. Then in the dark, you cry out, Abba, Father. That's where you cry. And that's what you cry, and that's who you cry to in the dark. Right? Right. It's like saying, Daddy, help. Like Jesus said on the cross. Now, we've discussed that darkness which can be felt, but what does God's word have to say about the light and how to receive light and darkness? There are some simple instructions for God's people. And number one, I will say this to you, we must be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. It is very true that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. But after I have heard the gospel, been born again by the spirit of God, I need to be a doer of the word and not a hearer only. Have to practice my faith. I Have to work out my own Salvation with fear and trembling for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure That's what this text verse was saying in Isaiah. You got to get busy. You got to get to work Because the longer you sit and think about yourself and your troubles and your heartaches and your depression and your discouragement and your anxiety You are going to get worse You make it worse. Right? If you would have light in darkness, then you must be like Jesus. And so many times we look for that light or hope within and not up. Our eyes must be on Jesus. He is the only one that can shine hope into a dark mind. Knowing him. I must learn to know Jesus. Jesus is the author and the finisher of our faith. So then knowing Christ will bring light, because He is light. And the more I think on Him and the less I think about me, the better off we'll all be, right? That rhymed, but I didn't mean it to. Amen? Your eyes have to be on Christ. Philippians 2.5. The Bible says this, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. Let this mind be in you, right? Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God. Now look at this, but made himself of no reputation and took upon him the form of a servant and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. So what does it say here? It says Christ was a servant. I need the mind of Christ in darkness. I get the mind of Christ through learning of Christ in his word. I get a glimpse of Christ, and it brings much light in darkness. Jesus is the light that lighteth every man that cometh into the world. If we would have light, we need more of Christ. And it all starts with that knowledge of Christ, looking unto Jesus. Where do I look into him at? Right here. Looking unto Jesus. When I look at his divine attributes, I then find in him, in his word, I look at not only who he is, but what he does. I understand that he was a servant. In the darkest times of his life, he was a servant. He served others, right? He served others. So number two, light and darkness comes from being a servant. Jesus came to be a servant. Look at Mark chapter 10. Let's turn there. Mark chapter 10, verse number 45. Jesus instructs his disciples. Mark chapter 10, verse number 45. The Bible says, for even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many. He was a servant. And his lesson to us was to be servants. We're told to be doers of the word and not hearers only, deceiving our own selves. By the way, that's an evidence of salvation, that when you hear the word, you do it. You follow it. Right? The quickest way to gain more light in darkness is to serve. What did Jesus say in the temple? He said, wish you not that I must be about my father's business. What drove Jesus was the mission that he was called to do. That's what drove him. The divine commission that he was given, it drove him to fulfill what his father had sent him to do. You and I are sent with a mission, and that is to love one another, and that we must be about our Father's business, laboring and toiling in the vineyard. If you look at most of the directions that are given in the New Testament, it is directed at service, work, or labor. The quickest way to relieve some of that anxiety, some of that tension, some of that depression, some of those things, is to lose yourself in service to others. To lose yourself in service to others. Right? To help others that desperately need it. Even if you don't feel like it. Especially when you don't feel like it. Right? If you have a morbid focus on yourself, it leads to more darkness, depression, and discouragement. Being consumed with Christ and modeling ourselves after him is to bring light. Now there's some examples of this. There's some examples of God directing his servants that were depressed, that had anxiety, that were taken by it, and they were consumed by it. The first example, I'm going to give you is 1 Kings chapter 19. We're going to go to look at Elijah again. I've talked to you about this story before, but this is a little bit different. I want to show you a little bit more specifics of what God dealt with when he talked to Elijah. Now, keep in mind the background of 1 Kings chapter 19 is that Elijah had one of the greatest spiritual movements ever that God ever did for a man, right? He had the fire come down from heaven, 500 prophets of Baal were destroyed, right? Isaiah, I mean, you could, I mean, what? Let me ask you a question. Besides the more sure word of prophecy that the Bible says you and I have, that we trust the more sure word of prophecy, right? That's what Peter said. Peter said, I've seen Jesus face to face, but we have a more sure word of prophecy. This, amen, the sure word. However, picture yourself being Elijah, all right? Well, maybe not you women, but you men. Picture yourself, picture. I would say picture yourself being Jezebel, but that wouldn't be good for the women. So, I'll just keep going with my story before I get in trouble. Alright? Anyway, so here's Elijah, right? He's on top of the mountain. He's laughing his head off at all these prophets of Baal. Because they can't get Baal to do anything for them. Maybe he's sleeping. Maybe he's taking a nappy-wappy. And he's just making fun of them like crazy, right? He's mocking them. Which wasn't wrong, by the way. But he's mocking them, and he's telling them, well, maybe he's asleep. Maybe he's on a journey. Right? Yeah, and one of the new versions say, maybe he's on the toilet. So, I mean, that's, we won't go with that one. But that's what they said, right? So, he's mocking them, he prays, fire comes down from heaven, licks up everything in the site, all the prophets of Bel are killed, right? And Elijah's standing there. after a very powerful movement of God. I think there's a few things that we've never noticed about this story, too. One of the things is, what do you think it would do to a man if he saw 500 people killed right before his eyes? I think it would affect him a little bit, right? Even though it was righteous in what God did, it still would affect you. I mean, think about Aaron. The day Aaron's sons died, Aaron said, well, I wasn't going to offer sacrifice to the Lord. You actually think God was going to accept my sacrifice? Because my sons just were killed right in front of my eyes. My heart wouldn't have been in that. Moses said, OK, I understand. God does too, right? So he didn't offer the sacrifice. You see what I mean? Why? Because that's a traumatic experience. You just watch your two boys get fried right in front of you. Right? So, Elijah just watched 500. No, it didn't, like, disappear, right? So, in his mind, he's going through this, and then, all of a sudden, verse 1, and Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and with all how he had slain all the prophets with the sword. I mean, he hacked them up himself. 500 of them. Right? Then Jezebel sent a messenger unto Elijah, saying, So let the gods do to me, and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. OK. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life. What? No, he stood there and said, come on, Jeze. I'm waiting for you. I'm going to stick this right through your heart as soon as you get here. Nope. Wait a minute, you just saw fire come down from heaven, Elijah. If you were sitting there, you'd be like, if you were like sitting on the side there watching this whole story go down, you'd be like, no, this don't make any sense. You just saw fire come down from heaven, you just slew 500 prophets of Baal, God just did an absolutely mighty work, and you are seriously gonna run from that woman that sent you that nasty letter? Man, women can be mean though, for real. But he, but he... They can be mean, man. You ever got a bad letter from women? I have, man. They're mean. I got some mean letters before. I'll read them to you sometime. Michael Landon fans, sir. Michael Landon taught me to love, but I hate you, sir. I tried to rip his soul out! I know what that's like. I know what it's like to get some of those nasty letters from Jezebels. I tried to reach in and grab his soul and I couldn't get to it! Watch too many horror movies. Anyway, thank God she didn't get to it. Anyway, she wanted to. Get in line, lady. Pick a number, right? Take a number, right? You're not the only one. But anyway, so here's Elijah, right? And he's taken off. He's running away. But he forgot all that God did up until then. But if you were standing on the sideline and you looked at that record of what God did, what would you say to Elijah? Where are you going, man? Stay here and fight. I'm out of here. This is mine. This is mine. It got to him. It got to him. Traumatic experiences will work on your mind. It will affect it. They will change it. They'll give you anxiety. Now, Elijah, let's back up and ask a question here. Was Elijah any less a servant of God? Did he lose his inheritance? Was he no longer used of God? Was he lost? Now, what did Elijah do? Well, probably in his mind, he probably thought, well, you know, it's over. Well, we'll hear what he thought in his mind, some of the things. So he said, so let the gods do to me and more also, if I make not thy life as the life of one of them by tomorrow about this time. And when he saw that, he arose and went for his life and came to Beersheba, which belonged to Judah, and left his servant there. But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. So what did he do? He went off by himself. Why? Because he was depressed. That's what you do. Elijah didn't want his servant with him. He didn't feel comfortable. He didn't want to be around anybody. He wasn't even praying. He wasn't praying. He was going off by himself. He was depressed. He had anxiety. He was depressed. All he could think about was, that woman's going to kill me. That Jezebel, she's going to kill me. That witch has got me, man. She's going to come looking for me. It's all over. He couldn't think anything else. And I'm the last man standing. Nobody but me, right? But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. Where'd he go? The wilderness. Where's the worst place to go like that? The wilderness, right? Where does he go? He goes out to the wilderness. What's, why don't you do a study of scripture about the wilderness? What's out in the wilderness, Aaron? Loneliness, satyrs, right? Right? Owls, right? What's that? Temptation all kinds of stuff, right? That's what where did Jesus go? Where was he taken to right? Where did the spirit take him to to be tempted of? The picture right where did the Israelites wander through? Desolate places, right? So Elijah he takes off But he himself went a day's journey to the wilderness and came and sat down under a juniper tree. And he requested for himself that he might die. That's a depressed man. So next time somebody tells you, well, Christians don't get depressed. Believers don't get depressed. They don't get those things. I don't know what you want to call him. Right? But he had it. What did he say? That he might die and said, it is enough. I've had it. Now, oh Lord, take away my life. For I am no better, I am not better than my fathers. What did he do? He compared his life. He started to think about his fathers and the sins of his fathers, right? And he started thinking about that, and he's saying, well, I'm not special. I'm nothing special. Well, he's right. God is. But the point is that he was focused on himself. And that's what happens when you go through that type of darkness. You focus on yourself completely. Like you zero in. If it's anxiety, you can zero in on one thing. You can't get off of it. No matter what you do, it gnaws at you, and it gnaws at you, and it gnaws at you. And 99.9% of the time, it's not true. It literally is all in your head. Right? But you can't get it out of your head. You can't make it go away. That's what he did. Right? That's what he did. And as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, so what did he do? He just kind of lounged around, didn't want to get out of bed. Didn't want to get up. Now he was tired because he got jacked up after that happened when he was on top of that mountain. And then he took off, right? And he was, he was pretty pumped up. But once that adrenaline rush stopped and he saw, and all the burnout from the, from what he had just did by slaying all those profits and everything finally caught up to him. And Jezebel's letter, which is what made him run, right? He didn't know what to do. So he just ran. And where did he go? By himself. And he looked, and behold, and as he lay and slept under a juniper tree, behold, then an angel touched him and said unto him, Arise and eat. Well, that woke him up a little bit. And he looked, and behold, there was a cake baking on the coals, and a cruise of water in his head. What was God showing him? Well, I'm still going to take care of you. You know you ran away, and you're fearful, and you're afraid. I know the state you're in, and I'll still care for you. Right? What did he give him? He gave him a cake. He gave him bread and water in his affliction. Right? The water of life, the bread of life. Right? He fed him and sustained him. And he did eat and drink and laid him down again. He's done. He went back down, laid down again. He was done. Had nothing in him. He was gone. And the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, arise and eat, because the journey is too great for thee. Better eat something. You're going to need it. And he arose and did eat and drink and went in the strength of that meat 40 days and 40 nights unto Horeb, the mount of God. 40 days. That's the time of trial. That number 40 stands for that testings and trials. That's what that number 40 is for. That's what that stands for. Right? And he came thither unto a cave, and lodged there. And behold, the word of the Lord came to him. And he said unto him, what doest thou here, Elijah? What are you doing? What are you doing in this cave by yourself? What are you doing sitting here by yourself, Elijah? And he said, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I, only am left, and they seek my life to take it away. He said, Lord, I'm the only one that's left, right? I'm the only one that's left. You ever feel that way? You know, one case of depression, or anxiety or depression, you know, one of the things about that is that you will think you're the only one. No one else has gone through what you're going through. Right? No one else understands what you're going through. It's just you and you alone. Right? But it's not. It's not just you. You're not the only one that's been through it. You're not the only one that will go through it, right? There'll be more. Others will go through the same thing and have been through the same thing, right? Think it not strange, that fiery trial, which is to try you, right? That those some strange thing happen. Some strange thing. So God asked him, what are you doing here? And he said, Even I only am left and they seek my life to take it away. And he said go forth and Stand upon the mount before the Lord So God's rising him up to activity Get up and do something right get up and do something For the children of Israel forsaken thy covenant and Oh, I'm sorry. I went too far back here. And he said, go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord. And behold, the Lord passed by. And a great and strong wind rent the mountains. Yep. Right. Right. He didn't say stop it. He called him to action. That's the first thing you have to notice there. It was a call to action. Get up. Rise up. Get moving. Get doing. Right? You see that? He said, go forth and stand upon the mountain before the Lord. God's not trying to reason with his understanding in that way and trying to get him to say, well, Elijah, why are you thinking this way? Why don't you stop it? Why don't you just get over it? Why don't you? That's not what he said. No, he said, rise up. Get up. Go forth. Move. Get moving. Get doing something. Right? Get doing something. What he said to him. Go forth and stand upon the mount before the Lord. Stand! What does that mean? What do we say? Ephesians chapter six, what do we see? Stand! Therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, having on the breastplate of righteousness, your feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and above all, above all, above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith you're able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked. Stand up. Stand, therefore. Stand. Amen? Stand. What does standing mean? It means I take purpose of mind. It means that I set my face as a flint, and I stand. To stand means that I defend my ground. You ever heard that Florida law, stand your ground? That's what that means, to stand. It doesn't mean, well, I'll just kind of, no. It means you're standing. you are opposing. In that same verse, he says, withstand, that you may be able to withstand all the fiery darts. To war against, to fight. You know, when I always thought of enemies, I always thought of fighting Satan. I always thought of fighting, you know, the devil, outside enemies. I never thought in my life I'd have to fight my own mind. I never thought of it like that. I never thought of it like that, right? But the Bible says it. It says the flesh wars against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh. It's a war in your members, right? Oh, when my mind always agreed with God, it was going great. Right, casting down imaginations in every eye. What imagination? Yours! You, in your head, and that's not always pornography, fornication, all that. No, it's anything that exalts itself against that book, and what God said plainly, doctorly in that book. It is to be believed, not felt. It is to be believed, not felt. You want to take the senses and touch it and feel it. Well, that's because of the The sensory thing in your mind, that's because of the way your mind is reacting to things. So you need to feel that in order for it to be real. No you don't, because sometimes what you feel is not real. That rhymed again, but I didn't mean to. Right? Keep doing that, keep rhyming. Okay, we only have an hour and a half to go, so just hang in there. Alright, I'm halfway through. I only get one shot at you today, so I'm gonna make it good. All right, if the pizza's cold, you just get over it, all right? All right? And the angel of the Lord came again the second time and touched him and said, arise and eat. Right, we got to that part. Okay, and he arose and ate and drank. One of the strength, okay, yeah, that's right, sorry. All right, verse 11, he said, go forth. Right, so we talked about that. And break in pieces the rocks before the Lord, right? But the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind and earthquake, the Lord was not in the earthquake. All this stuff was happening. He's looking for God in all those things. And after the earthquake, a fire. But the Lord was not in the fire. And after a fire, a still, small voice. What is this still, small voice? Is it something I hear in my head? Or is it this? Man, you know what I have to learn the hard way, Brother Aaron? It ain't what you hear in your head. That ain't still. It's restless. It's awful. No, it ain't small either. This is the still small voice. Satan's voice is an agitating voice. It is a detracting voice. It is a questioning voice. It is the yea hath God said voice. Right. This is the still small voice. Exactly. This is the voice. God hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son all things. That's right. And what does this say? What is this? This is the word. And Jesus is the word. Right? So where do we get it? Where do we get the word from? And where is God's voice found? Right here. So I'm to believe what is written, not what I feel. Because this is unchanging. This is ever changing. Always. With whatever its circumstances are. But God doesn't change. God doesn't change. He says, I don't change. I change not. Okay, with a still small voice, but training yourself to understand that the thoughts that you have in your mind are not God. And that God is bringing you back to a simple faith. Always, that I believe what is said, not what I feel. Because I'm telling you, you may have it in your mind right now that you have such comfortable feelings of God, and that's good. But frames and feelings aren't to be trusted over the Word of God. Because those frames and feelings will fail you. They will turn on you. They are subject. Because they are creatures what? Subject to vanity. It's at a war with God. It doesn't agree with God. My flesh does not agree with God. My flesh will never agree with God on this side. It will war against God. It will always war against God. That battle will rage for the rest of your life. Right? Because you are saved. When you weren't saved, there was no commotion inside of you. You gave over to every passion that you had. There was no restraining force of the Holy Ghost of God and His power to stop you from doing that or to warn you. There was nothing in you. So the war comes when you're saved. That's where the war comes. Man, before you're saved, man, it's... You can do whatever you want, pretty much. I mean, you know stuff's wrong and it bothers you. It might bother your conscience a little bit, but it doesn't keep you. Listen, let me tell you something. When I was a lost man before 2002, when I was a lost man, I knew what was right to do and I tried to do some right things, but I couldn't. Because when I had an opportunity to sin when nobody was around, And I thought about that after I did it. Months later, and then when that old preacher preached, that's what really got to me was that sin. Because I said, you know what? How did I sneak around and do all this stuff covertly because I could get away with it because nobody knew? That's not the power of God. That's not salvation. And I didn't remember my testimony. I was like, I don't have a testimony. I don't remember that. When I was a kid saying a prayer, that stuff wasn't clear to me at all. And that showed me that I was not a child of God. But after I was saved, after I was saved, now I don't want to do anything in the dark. I don't have that desire to do that. That doesn't mean we don't have any temptations, but it means I don't have the desire to do that. I want to stay as far away from that as I can. I want to run from that as far as I can. I don't want to do that. I don't want to sin because nobody's watching. I don't want to do that. I want to live my life like that. Right? That's the difference. That's the difference the Lord makes, amen? And it was so when Elijah heard it that he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entering of the cave. And behold, there came a voice unto him and said, what doest thou hear, Elijah? He asked him twice, what are you doing here? Why are you out in the middle of nowhere here? Aren't you supposed to be working? Don't you have work to do? And he said, again, I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts, because the children of Israel forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword. And I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life. Take it away. All right, so now God's going to correct him. He's going to instruct him. And here's the lesson, one of them. And the Lord said unto him, go. That's the second time he said that, isn't it? Go. Return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, what is he saying to him? He's saying, get to work. Elijah was a prophet, what was he sent to do? To go prophesy, and to go train more men, and to go do the work of the ministry, and continue on for the Lord, no matter how he felt. No matter what he was going through, he was commanded to be faithful. God didn't try to reason with him in his depression and say, well, you gotta figure this out, you gotta, that's what we wanna do in our minds, man, I gotta figure this out, what's going on? I gotta go eat by myself and figure this out and think through this. That's anxiety. You don't wanna be around it, but you wanna try to figure it out. Like, okay, the room's spinning right now. I gotta figure this out. Not right now, but I mean... But it has. So I'm like, I gotta figure this out, right? No, you don't. You don't gotta figure anything out. You gotta go. Because you're not gonna figure it out. You know, one of the hardest things that I've been through in the last two years, I would say it's one of the hardest things is not having closure with people, never knowing what really happened. You know what that does to a mind? Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It means that we have to live with that and trust God through that. And where we don't know why something happened or the way that it happened. And what was the whole reason for it all? Why? And how many preachers like Paul said that was it all in vain? Find out one day. But I have to leave it to God's providence today. and keep moving, right? Keep moving. That's what we have to do. What does he say here? And he said, and he said, and the Lord said to him, go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus. And when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria. Did he say, look, Elijah, take some of these psychotropics here, take some of these drugs, eat this leaf, take this thing, and it'll help you. No, he didn't say that. He said, get back to work. Get back to work. Yeah, he didn't say, uh, cannabis was gonna help you, right? No, he said, get back to work. Get going. Get out of here. Go on. Get back to... What did he tell him to do? Look what he told him to do! Go return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus, and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, okay? Well, you're gonna anoint a king over Syria, and he's gonna go whoop some people. So get that done. You're not gonna beat these people, Elijah. I'm gonna. You're just gonna anoint the people that are gonna do it. Right? So what did he say? He said, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria, and Jehu, the son of Nimshi, shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel. And Jehu is going to take care of some business. You remember Jezebel? Now think about this. I want you to think about this. Jehu's the one that destroyed Jezebel. And God said, OK, I want you to go. I know what you want to happen and I know what she did to you and I know how that worked. But listen, you gotta trust me and you're gonna have to wait for me. This took years. This did not happen overnight. It took a while. You get back there and you anoint Jehu King. Right? Remember Jehu? Remember what he did? Oh yeah. Anoint Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel mellow mehelo shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room So Elijah, I want you to go invest your life into Elisha. I Want you to go make reproduce another son in the ministry go do the work I've called you to do get to work and Keep moving. Right? Look what he says here. And it shall come to pass that him that escapeth the sword of Hazael shall Jehu slay. And him that escapeth from the sword of Jehu shall Elisha slay. Yet I have left me 7,000 in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him. So he said, I still have 7,000 prophets there. You're not alone. Get back to work. Right? Get back to work. So we see that in the life of Elijah that God sent him. Those signs and wonders and an angel, it still didn't change him. What did he have to do? Get back to work. He had to get back to work. No one could doubt that Elijah was depressed. But God said, you got to keep moving. What did Jesus say? He said, Jesus went through terrible darkness. Here's another example. He went through terrible darkness, right? What did he say through that darkness? But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how am I straight until it be accomplished? I'm distressed, but I'm gonna turn the energy and focus forward. Not backwards, forward. Luke 9, 51, another example. And it came to pass when the time was come that he should be received up. What does it say he did? He steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem. He was entering the most darkest time of his life and he knew it. And I'll tell you what. You and I couldn't handle knowing that. But I remember before a really dark time, one thing I said, whatever happens, he's worth it. He's worth it all. I've had to live that. But I meant it then and I still mean it now. Isaiah 50, verse number 7, remember this. For the Lord God will help me, therefore shall I not be confounded. Therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed. He is near that justifieth me, who will contend with me. Let us stand together. Who is mine adversary? Let him come near to me. Behold, the Lord God will help me. Who is he that shall condemn me? Lo, they all shall wax old as a garment. The moth shall eat them up. Who is among you that feareth the Lord, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness and hath no light? Let him trust in the name of the Lord and stay upon his God. So then in distresses and in everything, in doubts and fears, if you can do the will of God, it is because you have the power to do the will of God. If you can be a doer of the word, that's because God has made you one. Elijah was ready to cash it in though, wasn't he? After the greatest victory of any prophet. Elijah, look at the record God gave. Look at all that he's done in your life. Nope, it's over. He was done. Christ, our great example. See, he was God though, and Elijah wasn't. But we see that God focused Elijah back on his work, didn't he? What trials he went through, what adversity he went through by God's grace. But do you and I not have the same wars that Paul did? Maybe not the same circumstances, but if God could get him through his and make him an example to us, then surely We can trust God through all of our things. 1 Corinthians 15, 9, Paul said this, for I am the least of the apostles, but I am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. Now, if you can't tell, that bothered Paul. He lived with that. Now, Paul was forgiven, right? But he could never forget it. But by the grace of God, I am what I am. That's an important statement. And his grace, which is bestowed upon me, was not in vain. Look what he said here. What did Paul do with that? He said, but I labored more abundantly than they all. Yet not I, but the grace of God, which was with me. Why did Paul say that I labored more abundantly than they all? Because he persecuted the church of God. He had a past. He had a past that haunted him. He couldn't forget about it that easily. It would come back to him. It was part of his testimony of salvation. Constantly reminded that he murdered the Lord's saints, and he provoked them to blaspheme. That he killed the Lord's servants, that he held the coat of them that killed Stephen. By the grace of God, he said, I am what I am. God's grace was with him, enabling him to work and labor for the Lord. Philippians 3.6. He talks about it again. He says, and this is important, because we're going to go all the way down to verse number 16 or 17 with this. Philippians 3, 6. Concerning zeal, persecuting the church, touching the righteousness, which is the law, blameless. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. Yea, doubtless I count all things but lost for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, that I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, You know, I used to talk about that a lot, how we like the first part of that, but we don't like the last part of that. And it's very true, and since I've lived more of it, I understand it better. We're okay with the power of His resurrection, but when we get to the fellowship of His sufferings, and He puts us through it, we don't like it. Our flesh hates it. Right? That I may know him in the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect. He's not already perfect? No. Neither are you. That's why you have to go through all these trials. Because without them, you won't be like Christ. But I follow after. What is he saying? I'm moving. I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended. But this one thing I do. I always thought that was important. I've preached on that verse a few times. It was always important, but this one thing, I do. That's an important thing, isn't it? If he said that this one thing I do. Paul had a problem forgetting his past. He had a problem with it. It was a battle. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind. and reaching forth unto those things which are before. Moving forward. Reaching. You have to reach, right? You can't just let life happen passively. But you have to, in your mind, you have to reach for it, right? I press toward the mark. You know what a press is, right? You know what it means to press? Yeah, force, move. Right, you've heard of full court press, right? I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded. He's talking about being complete, being whole, mature. Right? And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you. If you're not walking that way, God's going to reveal it to you. He's going to show you. Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing. Brethren, be followers together of me, and mark them which walk as ye have us. For example, Paul says, get to work. Living in the past is to live in darkness. You have to move forward. You have to move. Right? And I'm almost done. I just got some more verses for you. We're done. Lastly, serving others in darkness will bring light. Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, that thou bring the poor that are cast out of thy house, when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him, and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily, and thy righteousness shall go before thee. The glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. Then shall thy light break forth as the morning. When we're focused on ourselves, we can't expect that we're going to have any light. Because we're looking too much at ourselves. Not going to get any light by that. It'll stay dark. Right? That's how it works. But what are all these things that Elijah is talking about? He's talking about love. I think it's 1 John chapter 5. Let's turn there. No, that's not 1 John 5. I didn't write my reference down here. I'll start reading it and you'll find it. It's not that big of a book. Beloved, let us love one another for love is of God and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God. but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelt in us, and His love is perfected in us. 1 John 4, thank you. Verse 12. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his spirit. And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Herein is our love made perfect. that we have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. 1 John 4, 18, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because feareth torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us. If any man say, I love God, see, this is what he's explaining about love. If any man say, I love God and hate his brother, he is a liar. For he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? In this commandment have we from him that he who loveth God love his brother also. Now, what is this? Are you going to be perfect in love right away? No. The Spirit of God is in you. But you're going to grow in that love. But you have to practice that love. That love for others has to be practiced, tested, tried, abused, right? Rejected, despised. So then God has commanded us to love and to work in his vineyard and for the souls of men, and that is to love, to put on charity, right? Colossians 3.10, same thing. You're active and have put on the new man which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision or uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free, but Christ is all and in all. Put on therefore is the elect of God. Holy. and beloved bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another, forgiving one another. If any man have a quarrel against any, even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things, above all these things, put on charity. You gotta love people. You gotta love people. That's a practice. That's love in action. Right? It's how you and I deal with people that have hurt us. It's easy to love people that are always nice to us, that have never done anything wrong to us. But it's Christ-like to love those who have betrayed us. Right? What did Jesus say to Judas? Friend, betrayest thou the son of man with a kiss? Right? Wounded in the house of his friends? And above all these things, put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness, and let See that? Doesn't say it's gonna automatically happen. Doesn't say you're gonna automatically have all that peace. What does it say? And let the peace of God rule in your hearts. Let it rule. To the which also ye are called in one body and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. In all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him. And what does the end of the text verse say? It says this, then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer. Then shalt thou cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, putting forth of the finger the speaking in vanity, if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul, then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day given to others. It's like Jesus did when he was in the dark. You know, three times Jesus asked in the garden the same thing of God, that God would take away, if it be possible, take this cup from me. Three times. Right? Paul asked three times for God to take the thorn from him. He said no. But God said, I'll give you the grace to walk. I'll give you the grace to get through it. And you and I have to cast all our care upon him, for he cares for us. We have to throw ourselves at God's mercy and believe the same light that we were given when the day was shining, when the sun was shining, that we follow the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world. That we still believe Him in the dark as we did in the light. That we still trust Him. That He hasn't changed. His promises are still good. His promises are still sure. Sealed by His Word. Right? that he will never leave you nor forsake you through all of your trials, through all of your heartaches, through all your pain. God will be with you. Father, Lord, thank you. Thank you for the word. Thank you for the truth of it. Lord, I know there's people here that different things they're battling, that they're hurting, and challenges they've had in their lives, and things they've been through, and they may carry some of these thorns with them, Lord, that you've not removed from them. But Lord, I just pray that you'd strengthen them, that you would guide them, that you would direct them, and help us, Lord, to trust you, that you haven't changed. That you're still the God in the dark as you are in the light. And that God still dwells in the thick darkness. And light or darkness does not change thee. Lord, please strengthen us as we go about to do your will today. Please help us to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord. That we would know our labor is not in vain. Please, Lord, bless the food to our bodies, the time we have together. Thank you for it, Lord. Thank you for all you do. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.