Jentezen Franklin - How To Get Over It
I just wanna sing this old song.
♪ When peace like a river ♪
♪ Attendeth my way ♪
♪ When sorrows ♪
♪ Like sea billows ♪
♪ Whatever my lot ♪
♪ Though has taught me to say ♪
♪ It is well ♪
♪ It is well ♪
♪ With my soul ♪
Maybe my favorite verse.
♪ My sin oh The bliss ♪
♪ Of this glorious thought ♪
♪ My sin Not in part ♪
♪ But the whole ♪
Pause. He hasn't kinda, sort of, forgiven you. Past, present, future, the whole thing, what did He do?
♪ It's been nailed ♪
♪ To the cross ♪
♪ Thank God I bear it ♪
♪ No more ♪
♪ Praise the Lord ♪
♪ O my soul ♪
♪ It is well ♪
♪ It is well ♪
♪ With my soul ♪
♪ It is well ♪
♪ It is well ♪
♪ With my soul ♪
♪ And Lord haste the days ♪
♪ When my faith ♪
I'm gon' see it one of these days.
♪ Shall be sight ♪
♪ The clouds be rolled back ♪
♪ Like a scroll ♪
♪ The trumpet shall sound ♪
♪ And the Lord shall descend ♪
♪ Even so ♪
♪ It is well with my soul ♪
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord. Somebody praise Him in this place this morning. If He never answers another prayer, it is well with my soul. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. I give you the glory, Lord. I give you the praise, Lord. He's conquered death. He's conquered the grave. Why should I be afraid? He's with me. "Lo, I am with you always. Even until the end". Thank you, Jesus. Glory to God. You may be seated. Psalms 18, this is the word of the Lord. And I'll begin reading with verse 29. "For by you I can. For by Him I can run through a troop and by my God," notice, that's the key. Not trying harder, not fighting stronger, not positive mindset. That's not enough. That's good, you need all of that, but that won't get the job done. "By thee have I run through a troop. By my God have I leaped over," what? "A wall".
I want to talk to you for a few minutes on how to get over it. This is an amazing text in Psalm. The whole Psalms 18 is an amazing song that was written by the psalmist David. For sure, we know that David wrote 73, and this was one of them. And what's interesting about the songs is theologians and... They understand, and they have tied to, I don't have time to get into it all, but they know the backdrop of some of these Psalms. They know the setting, they know the circumstances through which they were conceived, and written, and penned, and that brings more to them.
You know, if you understand what somebody was song through when they wrote a song or a sermon, it makes a difference. It really does flavor it with a depth. And the thing about David is he wrote songs either while he was going through it or on the other side. He wrote a Psalm one time after he lost his baby, his baby died. And the Bible said he fasted for seven days believing for God to heal his baby, and God didn't heal his baby and his son died. And the scripture said he went in, and this is the backdrop when he wrote this song, he wrote the words, "This is the day the Lord has made". He washed his face, he changed his raiment, he wrote a song, and he went to church. Went to the temple and worshipped God, and what was the song that he wrote? "This is the day the Lord has made".
His saddest, worst day, he understood praise is not circumstantial. Praise is not conditional. It may be the darkest day of your life, but you always have a reason to praise the Lord. You always have a reason. And that's what David was so powerful, that's why he is known as a man after God's own heart, 'cause he learned how to worship God through everything. What is particularly interesting about this text, and I want you to see it in the scripture, if you turn over to 2 Samuel 23, it tells us in Chapter 22, in verse 1, "Then David spake to Lord, the words of this song on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the hand of all of His enemies". That means this is a, I don't have time to explain this all and show you in scripture, but this is the, this is the end of his life, and from the hand of Saul.
And what was the song? Well, this is the second time, this is where it was, this is where it was birth, this is where the song came from, and here's the words to it. Now, I won't read it all but verse 30, "By you I can run through a troop, by God I can leap over a wall". Well, what was taking place? Read the rest of that. That's 2 Samuel 22. 2 Samuel 23, now watch, first verse. "Now these are the last words of David," it's in reference to the song. In other words, and if you read about the death, the Bible in Chronicles takes you into the bedroom of the palace where he is dying. He's on his death bed and he says, "Give me a pen, give me piece of paper".
This is David's last song of praise and victory to God. And I love it because he's reminiscing, he's having flashbacks, he's going down memory lane, he realizes now that I'm not just facing the shadows of death, this... I'm not in the last year of my life or the last months of my life, or the last weeks of my life. This is it. I'm dying. This thing, I'm leaving this world. The Bible said, "He was 70 years of age, and he was full of days". I love that phrase, "Full of days". If you look it up, it has reference to, "Don't just live life with mundane days, but fill 'em up".
And one thing about God, you can look back over your life, and we are full of days. And here's a man on his death bed who had lived 70 years, and that's all we're promised by the way. In the book of Psalms, it says we're promised 70 years, and anything beyond that, and some by reason, the scripture said, live longer. Anything past 70 is a gift from God. Be thankful, my God. There's a lot of people who didn't get where you are. Full of days, full of friends, and full of foes. I want you to see him. Come on, go with me. See him pulling the covers up. And the Bible said he was cold when he was dying. He got cold and he pulls the covers up, and he starts reminiscing, he starts going down memory lane.
And he's... Looks over his life, full of days, full of friends, and full of foes, and full of victories, and his mind full of defeats, and full of fortune, and full of failure. And he's lived in palaces, and he's lived in caves. Full life. He's gone from nothing, to something, back to nothing, and built back up to something. He's been through it. He's been through the loss of two sons, one of 'em murdered and one of 'em died. And a daughter that was raped and that... Oh, those days that were full, sexually abused child. His own failure, his own mess up. His father-in-law, Saul, trying to kill him. And he's been through so much. He's fought a bear, he's fought a lion, he's fought a giant, he's fought Philistines.
My God. You talk about days of life that were full of triumph and tragedy. And he looks back on it all and he's laying in the bed, and his breathing now is becoming labored. And he knows, "I'm leaving this world, let me write my last song". And in that song is the testimony of a dead man that God has been faithful to, and he pens these words in summary of everything that's happened in his life over the last 70 years. His magnificent life, his incredible life. Incredible highs and deep, deep lows. And he says these words, "By my God I have run through a troop and leaped over a wall". David's testimony is all of our testimony. That somehow, my God has got me through some things.
And before we go any further, we ought to celebrate the things that God has brought us through. Turn to somebody and say, "Through it all". Tell somebody, "He brought me through that". I think we ought to give Him a, "He brought me through that" praise. Just close your eyes and look at it. Remember the room, remember the moment, remember the call. Remember the bad news, and then just throw up a hand and say, "He brought me through that. By Him, by Him I have. By Him. I can't think of a better song to sing than to close my life out. This is how I want to go. I don't want a bunch of old, sad sacks all around me. I want to go out saying, By Him, I have. And I'm about to make it over. I made it through, but I'm about to make it over.'"
Because the enemy tried to use it as a wall. He tried to wall me in by what I went through. To isolate me. A wall of containment. A wall of isolation. A wall that formed a pity city all around me. And I'm not making light of what you've been through, but, at some point, you have to realize that the same God who brought you through has every intention of taking you over. He doesn't want you to live like what you been through, look like what you been through, talk like what you been through, think like what you... You either have a getting over mentality, or a victim mentality. He doesn't want you to live mangled and messed up. God doesn't want you to just get through it, He wants you to get over what they said about you. He wants you to get over what they accused you of. He wants you to get over the family trouble. He wants you to get over the divorce, and over your own personal failure.
God wants to restore the spark and the pep in your step. God wants to put a smile on your face again. An enjoyment of life again. Yeah, I went through it. Yeah, I was abused. Yeah, I was raped, but I am not that person anymore. He got me through it and He's getting me over it. I'm free. Somebody throw up your hands and give God praise. Praise Him like you know He can do it. Can you see David writing his last Psalm? He's not pitiful. He's not a victim, he's an overcomer. Genesis 49, Jacob's on his deathbed, he has 12 sons, and he calls in his son named Joseph. And if you read the verses before, it said, "Joseph, the archers". He's seeing this prophetically. He just calls in the young boy named Joseph.
None of the stuff has happened yet. He prophesies and he says, "The archers are gonna shoot at you. I see you in the future, and I see you under great persecution and attack. The archers". He didn't tell him the archers would be your own brothers, and they'll strip you of the coat of many colors and throw you in a pit. He didn't tell him that the Potiphar's wife will shoot the arrow of false accusation and you'll end up in prison for 20 years.
You're about to go through something. But he said, "Joseph, in the end, you're a fruitful vine. A fruitful vine by will". And here's what I like. "And his branches, your branches will run over the walls. What you go through should have hemmed you in, isolated you, and contained you, but when you look at your brothers who did you so wrong and you forgive them, and you say to your flesh and blood, 'You meant it for my evil, but God meant it for my good'". God says, "I'm not gonna just get you through it Joseph, I'm gonna get you over it".
Lemme say this, you would think the children of Israel when they came out of Egypt... Look at all God brought 'em through. Chains, slavery, 470 years of bondage, and through the Red Sea. It stood up like Jello on both sides and they walked across on dry land. Then they turned around and God said, "Look, Moses. These enemies you shall see no more". And Pharaoh and his army gets swallowed up and killed. You would think that would be enough, but do you know when they got out in the wilderness, they got through it, but they didn't get over it. And the people begin to whine and complain. And they said, "I wish we had the onions and the garlic that we used to have in Egypt".
They still had halitosis... a breathing bitterness. And if we're not careful, God can bring us through so many amazing things and we still have it in our mouth, and we still are talking it, and we're still talking it, and God says, "I can't handle that". I wanna wash your mouth out this morning. I want you to take some Holy Spirit water and gargle with it until He gets all the onions and the garlic of Egyptian yesterday out of you, and you're not just through it, you are over it. Give me the manna, the Bread of Life, Jesus. He is the healer of yesterday, today and forever. I want you to say this:
I'm gonna win against the wall. I'm not just going through. I'm going over. By Him I can. I will not feel like a misfit. I will not be numb. But in Jesus' name. I will not wither. I don't have to languish. I have a song of victory. By Him. By Him. I have a getting over mentality. By Him I will go through, and get over. I'm over it. (Say it:) I'm over it. I'm letting it go this morning. I'm over it.
Stand to your feet all over the room, at every campus. Who am I preaching to? How many of you would say, "Pastor, I made it through it but I'm not over it, and I'd like to get over it". If that's you, get out of your seat and come stand at every campus. This is so important. The pastors are coming, but I want you to respond to this word today. Those of you who are in your home watching by television, the Holy Spirit has you watching. Because God has the power to get you through your darkest days, and God has the power to get you over what you've been through. Everybody pray out loud with me these words.
Lord Jesus. I mean it. Wash me. Cleanse me. Give me mouthwash. Get that old talk out of me. Get unforgiveness out of my breath. Get bitterness out of my breath. Wash me and cleanse me. (Say that:) I receive you Jesus, and the blood that you shed. To forgive my sins. I am forgiven. I am through it. And I am over it in Jesus' name.