God Didn't Bring You This Far to Abandon You

Today is a special day where we are praying for deliverance. We are praying for people to be set free. And, you know, I have a lot of, not a lot, just a few critics. But one of the funny criticisms that I received was that in the earlier days of my ministry, which was four years ago, I did a deliverance video and I was praying for people and I said, a demon that causes thumb sucking to come out of people. Somebody cut, it's like literally an hour and 40 minute video. Honestly, I even forgot I said that. Somebody cut that and made a big video and, you know, started to attack my ministry. Look, Vlad believes it's demonic. And I was like, wow, that's weird. Did I say that? I mean, I know that stuff, weird stuff can happen. So three days ago, I meet a family. This is a pastor and his wife. They have a seven-year-old son, seven-month-old, seven-year-old son, not seven-month, seven-year-old son who has a problem sucking his thumb. And I said, like, and there's a serious problem. She's like, oh, yeah, it was demonic. It was so severe that the nail came out. Skin was coming out, bleeding all the time, could not stop under no circumstances, no matter what they did, which doctor they took him. So the mother took him three years to Hungry Gen prayer line, and he receives prayer. And they're there in Texas at Pastor Matt's wedding and they're testifying to me. They said since three years ago when they came to the prayer line, the son completely stopped sucking his thumb and the skin grew, the nail grew and he's completely set free. So some of your weird behavior is demonic. I didn't say all of it. I said some of it. Or maybe your neighbor's weird behavior. But a lot of people think that demons are responsible for the crazy things. But sometimes it's the weird things. I remember a story in Kazakhstan, a boy, a teenager boy, I got this story from his parents and photos that they sent me, and this is just coming to my mind right now as I'm sharing this. He had an unusual way of feeding himself by eating his collar. So he would eat the collar on his shirt. He would eat the collar on his t-shirt to the point that they took him to the doctors. They took him in all kinds of psychiatry and all of this stuff just didn't work. And then he had a He had a problem with his skin. He picked up Break Free book and read it in every chapter. There's a prayer there. As a teenager, young man, he would read the deliverance prayers and then something he felt came out of him and supernaturally God took away the desire to eat his own clothes and the skin disease that he had. They showed the pictures before and after. The skin completely cured and God completely set him free. Let's give the Lord a clap offering. Jesus still sets people free today. But today I want to build your faith. I want to speak a message that will be titled, When You Are Trapped or When You Are Trapped In. A lot of times what happens in our life is that we are put in between a hard place and a rock. And when that happens, we get discouraged. When that happens, fear kicks in. When that happens, our logic plays tricks on us. Typically, when it rains, it pours. You have a spiritual problem at the same time. Sometimes demons exploit the natural circumstances. And then our own mental strongholds, mental issues surface. And then the circumstances seem to be not favorable. And we feel like we're just squeezed in. During those times, the enemy does an amazing job to bring everything from our past as an evidence that this has always been happening in our life. That somehow this is our problem that has been happening for all of our life. And he begins to twist how we view God. And we begin to look at everything and everyone as a confirmation to this bias. That we're cursed. Our life has no purpose. God will never do anything good in our life. And all the good things happen to everyone except us. There's a story in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus. Chapter 14 verse 11. Then they said to Moses, because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you so dealt with us to bring us up out of Egypt? I want you to notice what fear does. Fear will exaggerate the devil while faith exalts God. So all the 10 plagues, Moses didn't cause the 10 plagues. Moses didn't deliver them. Moses didn't bring them. It was God. But when you get to an impossible place, a difficult place, the enemy repaints your reality. And in that reality, this is what he says. He always makes it seem like you brought yourself here. Someone brought you here. So there's always blame game. Or that is taking credit, when in reality, they didn't bring themselves to the Red Sea, nor did Moses bring them to the Red Sea, God did. So we begin to forget everything God has done, and we only see what He hasn't done. We only see what man has done, what we have done, and God is removed out of the picture. I know this may sound like a Pinterest quote or an Instagram quote, what I'm about to tell you, but it's been an anchor to me for a very long time. If God brought me to this, he plans to bring me through this. I didn't bring myself to this place. It's not through my self-effort. It's definitely not through my good looks. It's not through my education. It's not through my connections. It's not because of this or that. It's been the grace of God that got me to this place. So if in this place, it's difficult. If in this place, I am between a rock and a hard place. I trust that the same God that has worked behind the scenes up to this point did not forget my address. He plans to bring me through this. I heard this story one time that is a bit funny but it's kind of true how we think of God. There was a guy who was hit by a car and woke up in a coma and sees his wife there holding his hand and he opened his eyes and he looked at her he said honey you've always been there for me. When I failed college exam you were there. When I couldn't find a job you were there. When I got When I got fired from a job, you were there. When I failed at my next job, you were there. And now I am here, just had an accident and you are here. Every setback in my life, you've always been by my side. And the wife started to tear up and she says, oh, this is so sweet. And he said, no, I think you're my bad luck. Isn't that how fear is? There is God every step of the way with you. And what fear does, what the enemy does is paints him as the problem. When in reality we live in a broken world, Attacked by Satan, attacked by our own bad decisions, and God's presence is always there. When you see the story of Israel, Israel comes out of Egypt and they just got delivered by God supernaturally. Ten plagues. I mean, God just literally had a showdown. He crushed all the gods of Egypt, destroyed them, shattered them. Israel was set free. On the way out, God decided to pay them back for everything that they worked for that Egyptians didn't pay them. By making Egyptians' hearts open toward them, that Egyptians gave all their possessions to Israelites. Actually, I heard a lawyer, an Egyptian lawyer, taking Israel to court. Because 6,000 years ago, or 5,000 years ago, Egyptians supposedly robbed them. But they were slaves. They never got paid. So God made sure they got paid. So they got prosperous, and they got delivered. And the Bible tells us that there was a shortcut to the promised land. But it would have meant that they would face war. So God, at first you seem like, oh, God is so nice. He really wants to make their life easier. And the God doesn't take them through the shortcut. He takes them through a little longer road. And then you find out God actually pins them in the most impossible situation. You're like, I thought you wanted them to have an easier path. God will never want to make your life easier. I know nobody said amen to that, but I'm just going to say it one more time. His yoke is easy. Your life will never be. God takes them supposedly to an easier path, but then you see one instance in Exodus 14, 13, and 15. It says, they got to this place and God told them to churn. So they actually went a little bit backwards. And I tried to study the maps, but because there's two different train of thoughts about... How the map went and there's the modern scholars who say that if you take this route that the Red Sea was so shallow there was no way they would have drowned. And so atheists argue and they say well Israel went through the sea. God never split the sea because it was very shallow. How did Pharaoh's army drown there? So either you believe in a miracle that God split the sea or you believe in the miracle that the sea was so shallow and God drowned the army in the shallow sea. Either way, it's miraculous. But the point being is that God brings them into a place where he sandwiches them between a mountain and a Red Sea. And then the scripture says the reason why this path was not the wisest path or the smartest path is because God specifically brought him there. And the Lord said to Moses, Pharaoh, when he finds out. How you guys are taking a route to the promised land. He will say, people got lost in the wilderness. Meaning, God took them in such a way where the Egyptians will think they got lost. But God did it on purpose to put them in a difficult situation so God can one more time show his glory. I want to tell you something. God sometimes will lead you in the way that is amazing and sometimes God will lead you in the way that you feel like if God could have only asked me for my opinion, man I would have helped him. If God would have only consulted me or took me into his executive team, I would have really helped God a lot. I know he knows everything but there's stuff I can bring to the table that could really help him out. Has anybody ever felt that? lean not on your understanding but trust in the Lord your God. God on purpose will take you to places where trusting in him, listen to me very carefully, is not optional. All we desire, many of us, is to live a life where depending on God is not necessary. Let's be honest. We build 401ks, we go to school, we eat our broccolis, we run, we exercise, we want to live a life where we could trust in God as a bonus to our life, but let it not be our life. Because that carries this idea, I will always struggle. I will always have a difficulty and I don't want to live like that. I want to live a life of ease. I want to live a life of comfort. I want to live a life where I could trust in God for you, for them. But not because I am in the call of God. This was confronted with me last year, when we were in August already, and we were about to, you know, I thought, raise all the money we needed for the building, and then we have our meeting with our general contractor, and the person that was doing parking lot at the Traveler's Coffee, now it's Grounds Coffee, and I remember they presented to me the details and the information, and pretty much in a nutshell, is Vlad, we are $2 million short. And I was so upset. First about 30 seconds, I was angry, upset, disappointed. I didn't know, you know, wanted to punch, scream, yell. And I remember I kind of verbalized these thoughts and I said, it always happens. The word always came out. It's always like this. If it's not one thing, then it's another. And of course, I blamed our general contractor. I said, it's your fault. But because there were three people there, I said, I'm going to share that fault. And it's yours too, and yours too. And I said, you guys have a problem. Emotions came down. I got into my car. Then I said, God, and it's your fault too. And I prayed this prayer. It's not biblical prayer. It's an angry prayer. And I said, why can't you let me have peace? Why do I always have to have this situation where trusting you? It's the only way out. I want to, and this is what I said, that I am embarrassed to admit. I want to live a life where I could love you, but don't need to trust in you. And I remember in that car, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart and he said, have I ever failed you? Have I ever dropped you? Haven't I always shown my glory? Vlad, do you want to please me? Because if you do, Hebrews 11, 6 says, it's impossible to please me without faith. If you want to live a life of ease, then yes, faith is unnecessary. You're going to try to settle for a life of ease. But if you want to live a life that pleases me, faith will be your lifestyle. Because you cannot... Please me without faith. Which means if this problem gets resolved, tomorrow God will trust me with another problem, another issue, another challenge, another dream, another goal where trusting in Him will not be optional. It will be a necessity. Why? Because to please God requires faith and to have faith requires problems you can solve by yourself. So Moses is in front of this sea and I want you to notice what the Lord, what actually Moses tells the children of Israel. If you have your Bible in Exodus 14, 13, Moses said to the people, do not be afraid, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. So Israel has chariots advancing, Red Sea blocking their way, some ancient promise to Abraham that they will have milk and honey. There's a record of God's faithfulness but it seems to be so forgotten because the situation just got impossible and difficult. And Moses gives them an instruction, and he gives us three simple steps we're going to see. Number one is he tells them not to be afraid. Number two, he tells them to stand still. And number three, in the next few verses, he tells them to march forward. Let's unpack the number one. And that is see the cloud. Don't be afraid. Faith is not magical. Many people say faith is hard. Faith is not hard. Faith in faith is hard. That's naive optimism. Naive optimism is not faith. Naive optimism is an appearance of faith. Naive optimism is like a napkin. It has substance. If you put this napkin through fire, it will turn to ashes. Naive optimism will never survive an impossible situation. Because faith in faith or faith in the good feelings, faith in the universe, faith in the mood, faith in this, well I got it. You know I can do it. All of that is great until the devil slaps you in the face. All of that is great until the Red Sea is in front of you, the devil is behind you and all the pressure caves in. Christian faith is not naive optimism. Christian faith is confidence Confidence in the character of God. In what God did before, in what God said He will do it again, and in the presence of God. It is an intentional focus on the cloud. See, the chariots are loud. The cloud was there over Israel. In fact, let's read it in Exodus chapter 13, verse 21. And the Lord went before them by day, in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, by night in a pillar of fire to give them light. So as to go by day and night. Verse 22. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night from before the people. So I want you to notice there's they have two realities. The first reality is the chariots. The first reality is the red sea. The second reality is the fire and the cloud. And you will always have two realities. You will have a reality which is Which is the reason why you're afraid. The reason why we are anxious, the reality of the doctor's report, the reality of a backslide children, the reality of a children that came out of your house but now they do not Break. They don't have a breakthrough in their life and that hurts you. The reality that you have a strained relationship in your marriage. The reality that you are barren. The reality that you have children. The reality that you are single. The reality that you are not single but wish to be single. The reality is that you have a job. The reality that you don't have a job. The reality will compete. And see the reality is this. Reality is not eternal. And then there is the revelation of God's presence. That is the revelation of God's promise. And between your reality and the revelation is a gap where fear runs rampant. Fear focuses on the chariots. Faith focuses on the promise of God, on the cloud of God. It's easy to have faith if you redirect your focus. You simply focus on God. And you don't focus on God so He can get the problems out. You focus on God so you can please Him. Because pleasing God is the goal of a Christian life. Not getting out of the problem that we are in. Because sometimes walking with God brings a breakthrough. And sometimes walking with God takes us through the valley of the shadow of death. Sometimes walking with God, I remember being in a hospital where my wife was bleeding. And I was sure we lost our son. and then she continued bleeding for two more weeks until in the connect group they prayed for her and the bleeding stopped. and man what a joy it was when we had our son. and that's the presence of God. other times my wife lost a son which was last year. and in both ways God's presence is with us. See God's presence is not what always gives you desired outcome. It always gives you covering in whatever season and whatever valley that you walk through. Yeah I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I fear no evil. Not because I know the outcome. It's because I am covered by the cloud. He is with me. His presence is more than enough. So it's not that I know always that these chariots will die and never make it. It's that I know the cloud will never leave my life. God is always on my side. Faith. To have great faith, you have to aim to please God more than your aim to have a breakthrough. To have great faith, not only we aim to please God more, but we learn to praise Him not after the breakthrough, But in the middle. of the most challenging situation without knowing how the situation will turn around. Israel worshiped God on the other side of the breakthrough. They praised him. They worshiped him. But that's not real faith. Real faith, it doesn't take no faith to praise God when you've got the breakthrough. But it takes faith to praise God when all you're getting is a bad report, bad report, bad report, and bad report. And you say with Job, though he slay me, I will trust him. I know my God is alive. I know my Redeemer lives. I don't see the outcome. I don't get the good feelings and the good goosebumps. But the cloud is over me. God's presence is with me. God's promise is with me. And God's power is with me. And greater is he that lives inside of me than the one that is outside of me. Amen. I want you to notice they're facing a difficult situation. And there are three main enemies there. There's Pharaoh. He represents the enemy. Satan, demons, curses. The Red Sea, they represent natural circumstances that are working against us. But there was one more enemy and it resided right in Israel's head. And it was a slave mentality. And God wasn't just seeking to defeat Pharaoh, divide the Red Sea. God also wanted to develop ex-slaves into being victors inside. I wrote something down. I want you to remember this. There comes a time when God is no longer just doing miracles for you. He begins to work miracles in you, with you and through you. Watch the 10 plagues. In Egypt all the 10 plagues including robbing Egyptians did not require Israelite faith. They didn't have to believe for it. Never once God came to him and says don't be afraid. No he just did it. Whatever they did didn't matter. God was just bam, bam, bam, bam, bam. God was just working. Until it came to the Red Sea and you see God taking a break. You don't see God rushing to do a miracle because they're panicking. You don't see God rushing to do a miracle because the clock is ticking and Pharaoh is coming closer. You actually see almost God slowing things down. And then God is beginning to work with bunch of slaves to get slavery, complaining, victimhood, negativity out. So that they begin to act like victors. Before they see the breakthrough. Why is that important? It is not difficult for God to get rid of your demon. It is also not difficult for God to change your circumstances. What we call impossible for Jesus is easy. What is difficult for God is to get the stinking thinking out of my head. Because demons don't resist God. I do. Circumstances don't resist God. My mind does. So sometimes what the Lord will do is that he will allow the circumstances to almost like keep getting worse. And you're like, God, where are you? And there you have God saying, don't be afraid, don't be afraid. It's like, God, if you get rid of the devils, I won't be afraid. Until you get rid of them, I will be afraid. And God will turn around and say, until you're not afraid, I won't move. Look at the gospels. How many times Jesus, God in flesh, could have easily snapped his fingers, yet you will see him pausing. The sea is coming on to the disciples. They're panicking and saying, we will die, Jesus. And Jesus taking time. He says, why you of little faith? Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up. We're dying. And Jesus says, why are you of little faith? Why is he taking his time? Because to him to stop the storm is easy. For him to change you is not. And God is not just interested in changing our circumstances. He wants to change us that we are more and more like Him. And what a better way to do it than when you're squeezed like a lemon. What a better way to do it than when you are between a hard place and a rock and all the garbage is coming out. You're like, Lord, and we usually, I remember that's the excuse I used to use. I was like, Lord, if it had not been for him, them, and they, if it had not been for this circumstances and that, I would have never been so whining and complaining. But you realize complaining is not because you're reacting. It's because you have a habit. Sometimes the whining and the complaining is not because of the circumstances. It's just because we've developed Build up a habit and a mindset. I've heard a story of two mischievous boys were playing with their grandpa who fell asleep in the car and as he fell asleep they brought some cheese and they put cheese on his beard. So he wakes up and this particular cheese released odors that were not very pleasant. He wakes up and he says, oh this car stinks. So he quickly got out of the car and he got into the house and he gets into the house and he says it stinks in the house and he comes out of the house goes outside he said I need to breathe fresh air because you know in the air it's gonna be fine. He goes outside and he says oh the whole world stinks. No it's not the world that was stinking it was the stuff in his beard that was stinking. And Israelites were exactly like that. In Egypt, they complained. In front of the Red Sea, they complained. Every time, they complained. But it wasn't because their life was so difficult. It's that God was trying to work on them. And they were resistant toward the work of the Holy Spirit inside of them. God doesn't just want to heal your body. He wants to heal your mind. God doesn't just want to provide for you financially. He wants to provide for you mentally. God doesn't just want to get rid of demons. He wants to bring down the strongholds. God doesn't want to change your husband. He wants to change your attitude. God doesn't just want to change your circumstances. He also wants to change your heart and your posture. God is as interested in changing you, working on you. That's That's why he says, do not be afraid. He's working with you. He is working with your faith. He is working with your thoughts. He is working with your attitude. Allow him to do that. God hasn't forgotten about your problem. God hasn't forgotten about the demonization and the attacks of demons. But please understand there's one common denominator you are carrying into every job, into every relationship and into every church and that is you. And God wants to work on you. As much as he wants to work on those relationships, on those situations and the finances. I want you to see God says don't be afraid. The way I overcome fear is I change my focus. I look at the cloud. I don't look at my circumstances. Now can I just insert this focusing on God. Does not mean you ignore your disease. It does not mean you ignore the situation. It doesn't mean you're oblivious. It just means you don't give it a place of influence in your thoughts and in your minds and you fight aggressively to protect your focus. You fight aggressively to feed your faith. You don't just allow the circumstances to fill you. You intentionally feed your faith. If you're full of anxiety, begin to read things on faith. Begin to listen to things on faith. Why? Protect your faith in this season. Build your faith in this season. Fear will leave when your is strengthened in the word of God. Amen. When he says don't be afraid, he tells them the second thing. Stand still. I want you to notice he doesn't tell him first to run into the Red Sea. When you overcome fear, you usually, you and I are usually drawn right away to what do I do? What's next? How do I overcome this? Like tell me the strategy. Do I go A or do I go B? And God's solution is very He says, stand still. Stand still is not an action word. Stand still doesn't seem like, man, but I need breakthrough. What do I do? Stand still. That means before you can walk in faith, you have to learn to stand in faith. That means when you overcome the anxiety. When you overcome the night terrors, when you overcome the flood of negativity, when you silence the voice of man trying to get inside of you that says you will never make it, you're a failure. When the enemy starts using your circumstances to put a label on you, when you overcome that, before God gives you a strategy, there will be a season where you have to learn to stand still. Meaning you have to learn to trust in him while you know not what to do. You stand still. Jesus didn't stop the storm until he slept in the storm. He slept in the storm first. And then he stopped that storm. Great faith is not to know what to do. Great faith matures when you can be in the presence of a difficult situation. Not knowing the next step. You're knowing the one who guides your steps and who guards your feet. Ephesians chapter 6 says, after you've done all that you did, the warfare, the attacks, the fiery darts, all of the stuff, he says, stand still. Weak faith will always scream to God. Mature faith can be silent in God while the enemy is loud against you. You hear his voice. You hear the chariots. You see the dust picking up. You see the waves crashing and you don't know what to do next. Except you know one thing. God's got you. The enemy is coming closer, you don't know the directions, you know the one who is over you and you're confident in him. People will say that's irresponsible. People will say you have to have your way figured out. I know the way, he is the way, he has me figured out, I am in the palm of his hand. You won't have to be like this all the time because number three, it coming right after that. The Bible says Moses was told by God, tell the people of Israel go forward so we don't be afraid. We stand still and we go forward. That means we follow the cloud. We follow the Lord. Where do we follow the Lord in? Into the unknown. We begin to not only stand in faith, we begin to step into the unknown. Some of you, God brought you to this church and you're experiencing challenges right now. And in fact, some of you are doubting whether God brought you here. But just because God brought you, it doesn't mean you won't experience challenges. God who brought you here will bring you through. God who brought you in the situation that you're in will bring you through. And he tells you, don't be afraid. He tells you to stand still. And then he tells you, march forward. And when you march forward, he begins to open the doors. He might provide a fish to catch you. He might split the Red Sea. He might cause you to walk on water. But one thing that will never happen is he will not let you drown. He will walk with you every step of the way. You will see the glory of God. I know living in Washington is not easy. But the cloud of God doesn't depart because of our zip code. The provision of God will not depart because we have demonic policies in Olympia. The provision of God for your family will not depart because there is craziness being taught in our schools. God's protection and God's covering is over us and we are not just standing still. We are marching forward, fighting against every fog of confusion, every discouragement, every disappointment, every lie of the enemy. Amen. Yesterday I read a story as I was reading Craig Rischell's book on Think Ahead and he mentions a story of a lady named Florence Chadwick who became famous for being the first person, first woman to swim the English Channel both ways. And then she set another challenge to swim on July 4th, 1952 from Catalina Island to the California coastline. Now what's interesting She's saying is she actually didn't make it. Because she was swimming for about 16 miles and she didn't see the shoreline anymore because of the fog. And so when they picked her up in the boat, and not because of sharks, not because it was too cold, not even because she was tired. It's that it got so foggy, she couldn't see the shoreline. And little did she know is she was less than a mile away from finishing that goal. And she was very disappointed. And sometimes it's how we are. We are persevering one year, persevering second year, persevering third year. And we don't quit because it's hard. We don't quit because the devil is evil. We quit because we lose hope. We quit because it gets foggy right here. We quit because the financial problems create a fog. Because demons create a fog, an alternate reality. And we feel like this will never end. This will always be like this. So two months later, she trains again. And she goes for that swim. And while she's swimming, this time she knows she's prepared mentally. As she hits this fog again, at the same place, she pushes through the fog. And she eventually reaches and swims to the end. I want to encourage you today. Don't lose hope. Your God who promised you breakthrough. Did not forget about it. Your God who promised you blessing didn't forget about it. In the tight spot that you are in right now in your finances, when you knew that God led you to this place, and now it seems like everything is contrary to what you were expecting, God is planning something. He's working on your mind. He's working on your faith. And He's going to work on your situation. Our God is big enough to defeat a Pharaoh. Strong enough. To divide the Red Sea. And caring enough to build you as a person of faith. And he wants to accomplish all three things at once. He doesn't just want to do one thing. He wants to do two things. He doesn't just want to do two things. He wants to do three things. And changing you is one of his goals. Changing your circumstances is on his plan. He will see you through. Our God makes a way where there is no way. He will make a way for you financially. He will make a way for you relationally. He will make a way for you in your family. And he will make a way for you in your ministry. Learn to trust him. Learn to praise him. Learn to remove the cheese out of your beard. Learn to remove the stinking, thinking, complaining attitude out of your life. Right now, learn to do that. Not one day when you get the breakthrough. Right now, if you are single, learn to be satisfied in your singleness. If you are struggling financially, learn to be generous in that struggle. If your ministry feels like delayed, learn to serve somebody else's ministry. Right now be developed because God is working a miracle behind the scenes. Amen.