Steven Furtick - Drag Your Doubt Into The Light
This is an excerpt from: Challenge The Shadow
Sometimes what you're going through feels like the end. It is a valley. But one thing you have to remember about a valley is the only way there can be a valley is that there is a mountain on either side of it. That is the very essence of a valley. So, the thing you're going through right now in your life, while the Enemy would love to use it as evidence that God has left you, is actually the evidence that God has something ahead of you. In the meantime, we must believe God in the shadows to be who he told us he was in the light. This image of the shadow shows up in psychology as well.
If you remember from your freshman psych class, you'll remember they talked about the shadow self, the parts of your character you would just as soon disown, not deal with, not acknowledge. Depending on which psychological theory you adhere to, some people would say, "No, you really have to bring out that shadow self and deal with it in many different ways, because if you take the embarrassing, shameful parts of you and don't deal with them, they will eventually get stronger and overpower you and show up in ways you don't want them to". That's why I'm really glad for the cross of Jesus Christ. He showed me on his cross what to do with my shadow.
There is nothing I ever have to be ashamed of in his presence. He already knows it, he already paid for it, and he nailed it to his cross. So I never have to be ashamed. I will never have to stay away from God because, "Oh, he might see who I really am". I would never have to go, "Well, I could pray about it, and I would pray about it, but I can't pray about it because I have these things in my life". The things in your life are the things you need to pray about. So, you drag it out of the shadows and into his presence. Quick tip. Next time you're in church and we're singing and you're like, "Man, I can't sing 'I trust in God' because I'm doubting," sing "I trust in God" even louder, because what singing that will do… I'll tell you what I do. If you drag it out of the shadows, it'll take that doubt out of the shadows, and the Devil is like, "Oh no. No. No! Please don't bring it into the light".
If you bring your doubt into the light, your doubt will disappear in the presence of a God whose name is greater than anything you can name, any disease you can name, any disorder you can name, anything a doctor can diagnose you with. I know a PhD. I know a perfectly holy deity. I know a great God who can raise you up. Hezekiah said, "I don't want to have a conversation with you about this. I've got to pray about this one. I've got to turn my attention to a higher authority. I've got to get my focus off of what was spoken". Even though the prophet wasn't wrong. Y'all, it's hard enough not to believe the Enemy when he tells you you're going to die.
What would you do if it was Isaiah? It is not the lies the Enemy tells us that keep us in defeat. It is the things that get whispered to us that we secretly believe are true, but sometimes God will call you to accept it. My dad died of ALS, and no amount of prayer reversed it. As a matter of fact, every time we die, it's just a matter of when. It's not like Hezekiah lived to be 3,093. He died, but he didn't die here because God had more for him to do. Sometimes you let things die too soon in your life. Sometimes you let dreams die too soon in your life. Sometimes you let relationships die too soon in your life because of what you won't work through, because of what you won't pray through, because of what you won't face.
God sent me today to give you this message that some of the stuff you have been allowing in your life… I'm not saying that if you have sickness, it's a lack of faith. That's not my belief system. I don't believe you can support that from the Bible or from life. I am saying that sometimes what you accept as the consequence of a hardship is actually the opposite of what God intends to give you through the hardship. Sometimes you go through the breaking, but you don't get the benefit. Sometimes you go through the problem, but you don't access in that problem the power you could have if you learned what I want to teach you today. What I want to teach you today is no matter what has been spoken over you or inside of you, if it does not align with the assignment God has placed on your life… The moment you decide to focus your faith and drag it out of the shadows and into the light, things change. Things change. They really do.
People still do get married in their 40s. They really do. People still do live after experiencing the worst tragedy. Things change. People who formerly were so depressed they couldn't even get out of bed go on to found companies. They really do. People who get fired from jobs for being incompetent later get celebrated for being innovative once they find their fit. Things change. They really do. Things change. People who once struggled with sin to the point that they identified themselves as a recovering alcoholic become mentors for other recovering alcoholics. Things change. They really do. Families where nobody ever went to college, families where nobody ever really got out of high school go on to produce some of the greatest leaders you've ever seen. Things change. They really do.
I don't know who this is for because it's not in my notes, but the Holy Ghost got ahold of me to tell you, "Things change. They really do". I'm not preaching fairy tale. I'm not preaching sweet tarts. I'm not preaching pop-up promise, get a blessing. I'm preaching that when you turn your face to the wall and turn your attention to the heavens and walk away out of the shadows of what has been there is a light. God said, "Let there be light," and there was. I reckon whatever he speaks still works. So if he says, "Let there be joy," get ready to get happy. If he says, "Let there be peace," get ready to see the storm start to be still. High-five three people and say, "Things change. They really do". You're standing next to a living witness that things change. You're standing next to an exhibit A that things change.
You're standing next to somebody who one time thought, "I'm not going to make it". But hey, Isaiah, turn around, get back, because God said, "You're overruled. The shadow can't have you yet". Hey, Isaiah, get back here. God said I can live! Hey, Isaiah, I'm not saying you were wrong. I'm not saying God changed his mind. I'm just saying I've set my faith and I will not die. I should warn you as I preach this that I'm preaching to you what I have walked through. You say, "Pastor, we didn't hear that you had boils on your body". No, no, I'm not talking about boils on my body. I'm talking about beliefs I carried. O God. I mean, these beliefs were painful. They were progressive. There were times that I believed things about myself that I was beyond love. There were times I believed things about myself that I was beyond help. There were times I believed things about my thought patterns that they were just genetic and they couldn't be changed. There were times I believed things about my potential that I wasn't the one for the job, even though God had called me to it.
Now, the thing about believing a thing that isn't true is that you don't know it isn't true, because once you know it isn't true, you don't believe it anymore, so you don't know it isn't true while you're believing it. The moment you know it's not true you stop believing it. That's why I love this passage. The Devil didn't tell Hezekiah, "You're going to die". The prophet did. This is where we have to get more sensitive to the Holy Spirit than we are to our senses. Even if the sickness doesn't go away in your life, through your suffering God is going to be glorified more than you could ask or imagine. I know that doesn't really give the same kind of relief it does when Isaiah tells them to get some figs and rub that… What did they call it? The poultice.
Did you see that word in verse 7? I thought that was a crazy word. "Then Isaiah said, 'Prepare a poultice of figs.'" I had to look that one up. It's an ointment. A poultice is an ointment. That I thought was powerful too, because for the healing we need in our lives, it's not just the prayers; it's the poultice. It wasn't just he said, "You're going to live" and he waved a wand. There was a process involved in that. So, I wonder sometimes if we are taught that it's all about what we do, and then other times we're taught it's not about what we do. Somewhere in this message today God wants you to hear that you have to choose to challenge the shadow or the shadow will swallow you. Think about it. Go with me.
Can you go with me back in history just a few hundred years? Go back and see that shadow stretching down the steps, and see the prophet's word coming to announce, "It's over for you, Hezekiah". I wonder if you have felt that shadow stretching over an area of your life lately. Has God brought me to your life today to give you a prophetic word for that situation that you think can't change? Even if the situation doesn't change, the way you see it must. That is the first step: not that the situation would change but that the way you see it would change. God gave me this one time too. He said, "Everything you're praying about today as a burden you were thanking me for as a blessing before it got heavy". Everything in my life that I was praying about as a burden… "O God, this is so hard, this is so heavy" …was something God gave me that I asked him for. It was just growing bigger. Everything has to start with how you see it.
That's what a prophet does. He's a seer. Isaiah had the ability to see hundreds of years into the future where he prophesied the birth of Jesus Christ. So, how does Hezekiah and his tears and his prayers stop a prophet as powerful as Isaiah in his tracks? Isaiah is walking back. He's all the way to the middle court. He's like, "Well, God, I really didn't want to tell him that, but…" And he can't take another step because something arrests him. Now, he doesn't know what it is yet. All he knows is "I told Hezekiah he was going to die. I turned my back. I went back to go home, and something stopped me". What he didn't know was at the moment that Hezekiah's tears were hitting the pillow, his feet got heavy, and he couldn't take another step.
"What are you saying, Pastor Steven? Are you saying that if I cry enough, God will change my situation, or that if I just pray this prayer? Can we pray that prayer from Hezekiah and get it back and get it restored? Can I pray this prayer from Hezekiah and get everything that was in my life that was missing put back together again"? I do not believe it was the formula of his prayer that brought healing. I believe it was the change of his focus. I believe that when he wept bitterly and prayed fervently… When he chose to rehearse truth through tears… Everybody say, "Truth through tears". That is a valuable confession. It is one thing to quote truth when you have evidence that absolutely supports that truth, but truth through tears is a completely different level of trust in God. That kind of trust in God will say to the shadow, "Hey, you say it's over. God says it's a new beginning". I believe that's what happens in our lives when we really make the shift into faith. God shows us that what we've called an ending is a beginning.