Samuel Rodriguez - When Your Praise Is Louder Than Your Pain, Nothing Can Stop You
And find the other neighbor who's basically your second choice, and tell that neighbor: when your praise speaks louder than your pain, nothing can stop you. And before you're seated, can you give God the kinda praise that lets him know that you know, not that you feel, not that you hope, not that you think, that you know. That you know. You may be seated. Alright, so, here's the story, here's the backdrop. Yesterday, I arrive back from our travels and speaking in different conferences and so forth. I arrived back, landed in Sacramento. I haven't been here in a week and all of a sudden, I find myself with this blistering heat and we haven't been home for a week so, I drove home and, you know, and here's the blessing, I arrived to my home just to find out that, well, there's a power outage in my neighborhood.
So, I walked into the sauna and I just got drench and I'm sweating up a storm and I'm just there and, you know, I'm going like, alright, this is just not right. My wife is still on the east coast and so I'm, you know, by my lonesome self. Loneliness is such a lonely word. So, I was there and, you know, and I just went like, alright this is not gonna happen. So, immediately I left my home and I got into my jeep and drove over to, of course you know it, my place of refuge, my safe space. It's a coffee establishment who's name I never mentioned. So, I went there and then this happened. I'm there and its summer so you don't order hot coffee, you order Fraps 'cause we're biblical. So, I ordered a Matcha Green Tea Frappuccino, no classic, extra matcha almond milk. Because supposedly it's healthy.
And so, I'm drinking my Matcha green tea frap and this happened. I had a narrative I had written for the last three days and the Holy Spirit just filled me and God just, I felt the Spirit of God just inject me and in fusional the Spirit of God and I knew it was God, that it wasn't me, my mind, my thoughts, my inclination. And this is the narrative, 1 Chronicles chapter four. Let me read you a story, interesting story. "There was a man named Jabez". Somebody say Jabez. "Who was more honorable than any of his brothers". His mother named him Jabez because he was, "His birth had been so painful". This is crazy. "He was the one who prayed," that's how famous he was. "To the God of Israel, 'oh, that you would bless me and expand my territory! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain'"! There's that word pain again. "And God granted him his request".
This is the story of pain, praise, and a prayer. Here it is. This is God's word for you today, if you're taking any notes. Here's the outline, manage your pain, master your praise, make your prayer, and watch God show up. Manage your pain, master your praise, make your prayer, and watch God show up. The first point is manage your pain. Once upon a time there is a man named Jabez. When he was born his delivery was so painful that his mom literally called him the pain. Mom called him the pain. She named him the pain. Imagine if you were born and you would be called the pain. Don't point to anyone around you. When parents say that kid is a pain, in Jabez's case, literally, that's who he was.
So, mom didn't call him blessed, anointed, chosen or gifted, she called him pain. Jabez literally means the pain. O the pain. Pain according to Wikipedia is a distressing feeling that is caused by intense or damaging stimuli. Every one here has experienced pain. No one is immune from pain. If you're here, you're online, you're watching on various platforms, many have experienced pain. There is physicals pain, spiritual pain, by the way, mental pain, emotional pain, family pain, financial pain. Pain is real. How man here have experienced pain? How many have experienced a lot of pain? How many know someone in your life who is the pain? You can't point, you're not allowed to point. You can't do that. I can see people go like. Pain. Pain is real. Pain hurts. Pain is a pain! But we all have a choice to make. Some people experience occasional pain, some people live, hence phrase, I am in pain.
Alright, here's a question we have to asked 'cause it's been debated. There's a teaching, there's a teaching out there, even in certain religious quarters and sectors include Christiandom. There is a teaching especially in certain sectors of Christiandom. Unfortunately, that tells people that if you're suffering or you're experience pain, you're somehow out of alignment with the will of God. There is actually famous, well know and God bless 'em preachers who actually say, "If you're in pain, you're in sin. If you're suffering, you're in sin". Does it mean if you're in pain that you are not perfectly right and you're out of alignment? When he makes it clear, the Bible never states that if you are a Christian, you'll never suffer. The Bible never states that if you're a believer you will never experience pain. The Bible does say that when you are a believer the purpose of God will break through the pain. What does this mean? There is purpose behind the pain.
This is what Jesus said, John 16:33: "On earth you will have man trials and sorrows," much pain, "But take heart, because I have overcome the world". Here's what Romans says, "So we are convinced that every detail of our lives is continuously woven together for good for we are his lovers who have been called to fulfill his designed purpose". Romans 8:28. This is what the Bible says about your pain, my pain. What we suffer now, your current pain is nothing compare to the glory that is coming your way. See, that's a shout up to God. I'm gonna repeat that for someone who is going through hell right now. What you're suffering right now, your current pain is nothing compared to the glory that is coming your way. Romans 8:18, it says, nothing compared. Here's what revelation 21:4 says, here's the promise. "He will wipe every tear from your eyes, there will be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying and no more pain. All these things are gone forever".
Simply stated, your current pain cannot compare to the upcoming glory. And your past pain cannot cancel your future promise. There is purpose behind that pain. There is promise on the other side. And when you are saved pain has an expiration date. Now, we cannot deny the fact that the most egregious of emotional psychological pain stems from what we know as trauma. As trauma. These verses and other verses in the Word of God admonish better yet they instruct us. Here it goes. This is gonna be hard. You cannot use your traumatic past as justification for sinful behavior. I'm gonna have to repeat that for the hearing impaired. There are people that use the trauma of there pass as a crotch. And even in church, church people. "Oh, the reason I messed up is because of the trauma. I'm a Christian now but I still messed up because of the trauma".
The trauma, the trauma. We're not negating the trauma. There is a biblical outline that we can't deny. The word is the word. You cannot use the pain of your past to justify your current reality. Not when you're born again. With great due deference is psychotherapy. And there great psycho therapist and I know psycho therapist. Psychotherapy when is done right is holistic and it helps facilitate healing. But any therapy that tells you that you are permanently wounded is out of alignment with the Word of God. Can we go deep here for a second? Any therapy session, and that it's out there, it's the new thing a little bit prior to COVID since about 2016 till now. It's the thing out there, it's therapy that tells you, if you went through traumatic experience, that traumatic experience defines you. The new therapy out there is that you are wounded for life and that you should learn to walk with your wound, learn to manage your wound not the scar, the wound.
And that's why we need to understand, God bless the great intentions behind it but that's not what the Word of God and the Spirit of God teach us. Here's what the Bible says, "He was pierced for our offenses. He was crushed for our wrong doings. The punishment for our well being was laid upon him and by his wounds," not we will be healed. Stop saying you will be healed. The Bible doesn't say that through Jesus we will be healed. Don't open up your mouth and say one day. No! The Bible never says that one day you will be healed. The Bible says, "By his stripes we...", somebody praise like you're healed. Isaiah 53:5. If you want New Testament 1 Peter 2:24: "He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sins and live for what is right: 'by his wounds,'" once again, current tense, present tense, "You are healed".
So, I'm writing this in Starbucks, it's a hundred degrees in grand bay. I was home, I was sweating up a storm. I'm in Starbucks. I walked outside 'cause I started preaching to myself out loud so people were looking around, looking at me. It's not the first time they look at me and go "You're weird". 'cause I am. So, I looked at my phone. I walked outside: it was hot outside. I'm walking around Starbucks and I'm preaching here and I'm just speaking into the phone and I heard the, and I notice it gon' sound awkward to some, I know. But it is, God still speaks today. The Spirit of God spoke to my heart and said, "Samuel, tell 'em when you speak tomorrow, tell 'em this will be a summer of healing". Y'all didn't get that. Tell 'em this will be a summer of healing. I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Tell 'em to get ready, there is a healing wave coming your way".
Forget about the heat wave. There is a healing wave coming your way. Healing is coming your way. Your mind, healed: your body, healed: your relationships, healed: your reputation, healed: your joy, healed: your peace, healed: your dreams, healed: your thoughts, healed. If you believe that God is a God who still heals, praise like you believe it. How many believe there is a healing wave coming? That we will see the finish work of Christ? Hence, you are already healed. That healing made manifest. Isaiah 58:8 says, "Your salvation will come like the Dawn and your wounds will quickly heal".
If you're 38 years of age or younger raise your hand. All the 38 or younger raise your hand. Thirty-eight. Raise them up really high, let me see. If you wish you were 38 or younger, raise your left hand. If you're over 55, but you still act like you're 38 or younger raise both hands and a foot. If you're buying all the creams in the world that Amazon can offer, let me speak for one moment here with great due deference to everyone else. Let me speak to 38 and under for a moment. You're not just any generation, no joke, no hike. You are literally the generation that will change the world. I'm gonna repeat that. You are the Elisha generation, you will do greater things than any other generation in human history. Why do you think the enemy hates your guts? You are anointed, you're favored, you're gifted, you're created, you're blessed, you're full of God ordained unprecedented purpose. You are about to change the world. You guys have been through I mean, crazy stuff.
This generation, the emerging generation is crazy. The stuff you've been through, I mean you name it, you name it. I mean from technology exploding then to 9/11, then to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, COVID pandemic, all of the strife, the chaos. I mean, you name it. Johnny Depp and Amber heard, everything you've gone through. Everything you've gone, the generational dynamic is real. It's real. You can't deny it. I mean, think about it. There is certain things that are similar and we just speak to the differently, right. Like, in my generation we had lunchables, in your generation you call it charcuterie board, it's the same thing. It's the same thing, guys, it's just presentation, right. Am I wrong there? In my generation we called it leftovers, you call it meal prepping. It's the same thing! It's the same identical thing.
I know you're using different words but your generation, the greatest world changing generation, I wanna speak to you. There is a teaching out there that tells you that you will live with your wound forever. That you are permanently wound, that you are a victim for life. Jesus is greater than your wounds. Jesus is greater than your trauma. I mean, everything God has done for you, your testimony is much more powerful than your trauma. You overcome with the blood of the lamb and the word of your trauma. The word of your what? The word of your what? Raise your right hand. You don't walk around with a permanent trauma: you live life with a powerful testimony. Repeat after me, "My testimony is much more powerful than my trauma. My anointing is greater than my anxiety. My faith is bigger than my fear. And the heaven I'm going to is exponentially times greater than the hell I've been through". If you believe that give God your best praise like you know it.
Unresolved parental pain define our children. This is what this narrative teaches me and I never saw it before all my years preaching. I heard the Holy Spirit say, "Mama called him pain". She took her pain and she placed it upon Jabez. She placed it upon him. It wasn't his fault: it was on him. Somebody say, "But God". Somebody say, "But God". What time is it? It's 1:02 p.m. Here's the word of the Lord for you today. Today is just not any day, today is the day you stop carrying your parent's pain. What if I tell you today is the day you stop carrying your parent's pain, your family's pain, you family's anger, your family's inclination for sexual, whatever it may be? That darkness is coming to an end. Take a screen shot on your phone. This is the moment and the day you stop carrying multigenerational pain.
The Holy Spirit is here, the helper is here to empower you, to deliver you, to free you once and for all. 2 Corinthians 3:17. I love this. This is the day, not any day. This is not your normal Sunday. This is the day you stop carrying the baggage, the open and the weight of what was placed upon you by previous generations. Whatever label, whatever baggage, whatever lie, whatever lid, whatever limitation was placed upon you today in the mighty name of Jesus, it is coming off you. Today, you're about to reclaim you Judah. I don't know if you get this but you will. Everyone was given one of these sheets, find it. Put it in front of you. This is not a condemning message of the previous generation. 99.99% of the time that previous generation acquired and inherited pain from the previous. It goes down from one generation to the other but praise be the Lord that when Jesus sets you free, you are free indeed.
Here's what we're gonna do, when I say now, I want you to look a parental pain. Everything, whoever called you a Jabez, whoever said you were not gonna make it, whoever transferred over addiction, whoever ever transferred that propensity for you to pick up the bottle when everything goes wrong. For whoever transferred that inclination to open up a portal of sexual immortality and pornography and illicit behavior that is destructive to your soul, your spirit and your being, your physical body. Whoever transferred over that constant battle, that depressive element, not just neuropsychological but actually emotional. And I'm gonna talk about the kind of pain that it's counter intuitive for me to talk about.
I wanna talk about the transfer of religious pain. Because there is religious pain. If you grew up in a certain religion or you grew up even in church, there are certain things from the church experience that are not in the Word of God that are cultural dynamics that can traumatize you. There are people that don't come to church 'cause they're traumatized of what they went through in church. And we don't even wanna talk about that. I'm here to give you good news. Today in the name of Jesus all of that will break by the authority of the Word of God.
So here it is, I wanna count to three. When I count to three, I want you to take this and I want you to break it and if you've had a lot of parental pain transfers, you wanna break it up into multiple pieces. But listen, here it is, every parental pain that was, every time they called you Jabez, every time they put something on you, every single time, it's coming and you won't be able, you're gonna get this right today. If you get this right today and you, do it by faith, your children will not inherit your pain, your children will inherit your praise. Somebody know what I'm talking about here? You're gonna get this right. You're gonna show your children that even in the midst of pain you can give God the highest praise.
So, we're gonna do this right now. Here it is, lift it up. What defines you is not your Jabez, what defines you is your Judah. Revelation 2:17, "To him who overcomes, I will give hidden manna, a white stone, and a new name". Isaiah 56:5, "To them I will give in my house and within walls a memorial and a name better than that of sons and daughters: I will give them a name, an everlasting name which will not be cut off". Your name is not pain, your name is praise: your name is not defeat, your name is victory: you name is not bondage, your name is freedom: your name is not hate, your name is love: your name is not wicked soul, your name is righteousness of God: your name is not addict, your name is anointed: your name is not broken, your name is blessed: your name is not victim, your name is more than conqueror: your name is not pain, your name is praise.
I'mma count to three and you gon' break this. One. Two. And you're not gonna transfer it over to your children or your children's children. I'm gonna show you what you gonna transfer over to your children. They're not gonna know you for your temper that came back from your dad and you dad's dad and your dad's dad. They're gonna know you when you're not even around on this planet they're gonna know you for, "Alright, what did my dad transfer over to me? Oh, I remember". 'hey you, why don't you get on your knees and pray the way you pray'? "Because my father prayed that way, and my grandfather prayed that way, and my grandmother prayed that way and my", you're not gonna transfer over your trauma, you're gonna transfer over an anointing for your children and your children's children to do greater things. Ready! One! Two!
And some of you should break it, put it underneath your feet, and then some of you should really get a little bit outside yourself and start dancing over the very thing that was placed upon you, that tried to hold you back. One! Two! Some of you are breaking multi-generations. You're going back two, three, four, five, six, seven. Here we go. One! Two! Three! Break that pain. Somebody praise like that pain is underneath your feet. Somebody praise like that pain is underneath your feet. Somebody lift up your voice like that praise, praise is greater than your pain! Your praise is greater than your pain! Your praise is greater than your pain.
Are there any Judah people in the house? All the Judah people lift up your hands. We're done. Is there any one here who knows what it is to praise even in the middle of their pain? Are there any crazy people here with the kind of testimony that states the following: the more the pain became unbearable, the more the praise became unstoppable. If that's you, is there anyone here who gave birth to new praise even in the middle of their pain? If the devil had a time machine, I am a 100% certain he would go back and rethink what he sent your way because instead of killing you without knowing it, he made you stronger. Does anybody have their praise in this place? Instead of dying of pain, you are living with praise.
All the Judahs lift up your hands. Stand with, oh, you are standing. I was gonna say stand with me. My mama said my name is pain but I'm part of something bigger, literally called praise. So, when he praise, he literally references his name. Bless me indeed, enlarge my territory. You have no idea what he's asking for, do you? Do you know what he's asking for? Read the rest. "Bless me indeed, enlarge my territory that I may experience no more... Pain". In other words, listen, I didn't do this to myself, somebody else put this on me. The only way for me to come outta this is if you bless me in such a way that I will not be known by what my mama place on me, I'm gonna be known by what you did for me. I'm preaching to somebody here. You will not be known by what was done to you, or by what you did to yourself, or even what you did to others, you will be know exclusively by what Jesus did for you.