Jentezen Franklin - When God Puts You On Hold
Acts 16, and I wanna read verse 25. «But at midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God and the prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there came a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken and immediately all the doors were open, and everyone’s chains were loosed». Suddenly there came a great earthquake and it was happening, according to verse 25, at midnight. I wanna preach to you. I really felt the Lord lead me in this, and I felt like it was confirmed in the first service.
I wanna talk to you about what to do when God puts you on hold. In the midst of prayer, in the midst of praise, in the midst of singing, God suddenly invaded that prison house, and every door that was closed opened, and every chain that bound was loosed, suddenly. Tension is good when it’s used on the violin. It’s the bow and the tension of the string that causes the beautiful music. But the tension that I’m preaching on is the kind that if they press too hard on the bow, it will break the string. And the tension of where you are and where you want to be sometimes is that in between place where God puts you on hold and you know that midnight is God’s invasion of your problem, but there’s 11:59.
At 11:59, Paul and Silas had no idea when they were praising in pain. When their backs were bleeding. When it was so dark. It was midnight. They had no idea at 11:59 that everything, suddenly, was about to change. And that’s what I’m preaching on. When God has you on hold one minute away from a breakthrough. One minute. There’s always a timing to God’s miracles. At midnight, the earthquake came, and the doors open, and the chains fell. And many of you right now are at that unrecorded 11:59 and you have to make it to midnight before the earthquake comes.
And I want you to understand this morning that Paul was at a place in his life where he was feeling forbidden, and he was feeling like He did not understand everything that was going on, but He praised anyhow. I want you to look with me for just a moment at this familiar story. And if you’re living in an 11:59 and nothing’s happening, I wanna encourage you. When nothing’s happening, keep moving in the right direction. When nothing’s happening, keep praying. Keep praising. Great apostles live through the 11:59 to the 12. Paul tried to go to Asia in Acts 16:6, and the Bible said the Holy Ghost forbid him.
Have you ever tried at your best to make something happen and all God gives you is a stop sign? But what God did with Paul was every stop sign, and it’s important to understand that when the door is closed by God, it’s working for your good. If it hasn’t happened yet, it’s working for your good. Paul backed into the will of God instead of walking forward into the will of God. He was forbidden from going where he thought He was supposed to go by now. And God said, «No, it’s not time». You see, a closed door is as much God’s will when He gives you one as an open door is. If the door’s been closed and it has not happened, and you keep saying, «I can’t wait till I get in the will of God».
A closed door is as much the will of God as an open door. And don’t ever forget that. It’s important. If God has closed the door it’s just a matter of timing. And you’re in 11:59, but midnight is coming. I’m preaching this morning on Midnight miracles are on the way, come on. And if you’re in the holding place, you gotta keep praying, and praising, and moving in the right direction.
Don’t get discouraged. Little did he know that four verses later, God would give him a vision, and he would see a man in Macedonia saying, «Come here, we need help». And when he got there, this is where this story is centered that I just read out of the Bible. When he got there, there were women praying by the river. And the power of God began to move. He even went to the elders and said, «Is this the will of God? 'Cause the last time I tried, it didn’t happen». The elder said, «The Lord’s in this. Go». And he went, and when he got there, he was encountered with a demon possessed woman. And he cast the devil out of her.
Now, I want you to think about what I’m saying. Paul had a vision, he had a word from God, God told him what to do, the elders confirmed it. And all of a sudden, he’s fighting devils. I wanna preach to you that sometimes we have the wrong assumption that everything in God’s will is gonna fall in our lap. And sometimes, you’re right in the middle of God’s will and you don’t even feel like it, and nothing seems to be working real easy and real fun. Nothing happened like he saw it in the vision. He saw a man, but when he got there, there were women praying by the river. No men. And then, he prays, he gets to preaching, and a woman starts following him full of devils, and she was a fortune teller, and you better leave that stuff alone. you better leave those little fortune tellers alone, you better leave that Ouija board alone, you better leave that psychic alone, especially a California psychic.
My Lord. I’d rather know the Holy Spirit is leading me, not some evil spirit, not some witch. I don’t need that, I’ve got the Holy Ghost, hallelujah, and He knows how to lead me and guide me into His will. And if he says, «I close the door,» I say, «I’ll stand here and praise in my 11:59 'cause the door is gonna open at 12 o' clock, right not time». Somebody praise Him. It’s God’s timing. You say, «Well pastor, it just feels like God’s put me on hold». I felt somebody this week, I don’t know who, but you got in my heart. And you feel so lonely, and you feel so forsaken, and you feel like it’s just not happening. And the enemy’s made you feel like that God has forgotten about you. And I just feel like that I’m on a hold. But when God put you on hold, make sure you don’t hang up.
If you won’t hang up in 11:59, His voice, oh, I know it’s been a long time, but his voice will come booming in the midnight hour with a midnight miracle that will open the door and loose you from the chains, and you’ll walk in a new thing that God is doing in your life. Give Him a great praise if you believe it. Let me show you something real quick. I want you to understand that midnight is God’s favorite time, which means 11:59 is Satan’s favorite time to double down on His discouragement in your life right before your miracle comes through.
The Bible said in Exodus 11:4 that at 11:59, they were slaves. At 11:59, they were in generational bondage. At 11:59, they were broke, and they were poor, and they were devastated. But at Exodus 11:4 said, «At midnight. At midnight, they were set free by the blood of the lamb». And I’m simply telling you that God was inactive for days, and months, and years, and they were put on hold. But you never know when you’re standing in your 11:59 moment, and you’re one moment away from a miracle in the middle of your midnight. And I believe I’m sent to preach to somebody today to say, «Just when the enemy thought», and by the way, the story that I read in Acts 16 after God opened the prison doors and set the captives free from the prison with an earthquake at midnight, the next verse says that the apostle Paul stopped the man from committing suicide and taking his life.
And I believe that somebody is in such a dark season that the enemies whisper to you, «There’s no hope and no future». And you know that’s the devil when you hear that voice. Exodus said the miracle happened at midnight. Do you know that Judges, or the book of Judges 16:3, it was at midnight the power of God came upon Samson, and he tore up the gates of Gaza off of the hinges. The power of God. I believe that the power of God is coming on the church in this hour. And if we’ll hold on through the 11:59, we’re gonna, and I’m praying for the nation of Israel to tear up the gates of Gaza, amen. And God would move mightily. I believe time for the spirit of Samson to come on this church and every church and the body of Christ not be a bunch of victims, but we tear. The gates of hell shall not prevail.
Somebody say, «Praise the Lord it’s midnight». There’s a Vietnam evangelist by the name, and I’m sure I’m slaughtering his name, Nguyen. And he was in Vietnam as an evangelist, a Christian evangelist preaching during the Vietnam war. And when the Communists took over, the Vietcong took over, they invaded the village where he was, found out he was a pastor, and imprisoned him and put him in what they call a rehabilitation camp. He was not allowed to read anything, he was isolated for two and a half years, and every day, he did the same thing two times a day. He cleaned the latrine. He cleaned the toilets, the filthy toilets. He had to get down and dig with a bucket and shovel and clean out the toilets of the Vietcong soldiers. And he hit a point after not having any Christian support, any hearing a sermon, hearing a song, hearing a encouraging word.
He got so low, that he said, «God, if you’re there, if you’re there, you’re gonna have to speak to me». He starts cleaning, and he notices something he has never seen in that latrine. He sees pages of paper. Not just any paper, but he recognizes that paper. One of those generals had decided when he found a Bible, to turn it into toilet paper, and he was using the Bible as toilet paper. And somewhere, when he said, «Lord, if you’re there, I need to hear from you». He reached down, and you say, «I wouldn’t touch it».
If you hadn’t seen the word in two and a half years, you don’t know what you’d go through to get to that word. And he got him a rag, and he cleaned it off the best he could, and he had found one page called Romans 8, and this is what he said he read in verse 35, «Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? As it is written for your sake,» wipe some off, I can’t see it, it’s blurred. «As it is written for your sake,» it’s 11:59, we’re counted as sheep for the slaughter.
«Oh but yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us, for I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height nor death, nor any other created thing shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Jesus Christ, our Lord». I don’t know who I’m preaching to, but I feel like telling you that you need to hold on because you’re at 11:59, and you’re one moment away from your breakthrough. And when it comes, it’s going to be suddenly, and you’ll see God open the door, and loose the chain, and perform His prophecy in your life. Give Him a great praise. Give Him a great praise in this room. Oh yes, I know He’s real. I know He’s real.