Toure Roberts - He's Still Good (01/14/2026)
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Even when the fig tree doesn’t blossom, the vines bear no fruit, the olive crop fails, the fields produce nothing and the stalls are empty, Habakkuk declares that he will still rejoice in the Lord because God’s goodness isn’t tied to circumstances. The preacher’s core message from Habakkuk 3:17–19 is that God is still good, His goodness is His kindness toward us (not ease or constant blessing), and only a fresh revelation of that unchanging goodness gives us the strength to rejoice, trust, and walk on high places no matter what we’re facing.
Reading the Text — Habakkuk 3:17–19 (KJV)
I want to draw your attention to Habakkuk, the 3rd chapter, beginning at the 17th verse. Habakkuk chapter 3, starting at verse 17, and we’re going old-school today. I’m going to read this passage from the King James Version. It says, «Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. Although the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls; yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon my high places.»
This is the word of the Lord.
He’s Still Good
I want to speak from these words today: He’s still good. Do me a favor and just turn to the person next to you and boldly declare, «He is still good.» Come on, He is still good! He’s a faithful God; He is still good. He’s still good! Come on, turn to your other neighbor and put it in the atmosphere: He is still good. Come on, He is still good. Somebody needs to say it; just saying something’s going to break off of your life. Come on, say, «He’s still good.»
Now I want you to shout it out! Come on, pray with me. God, if You are nothing else, You are good, and Your mercy endures forever. God, we thank You for Your word; we don’t live by bread alone, but we live by every word that proceeds out of Your mouth. Hallelujah! And so we are grateful to be here today. You said in Psalm 23 that You prepare a table for us in the presence of our enemies. In the presence of our difficulties, You spread out a table and say, «Come and eat from My table, and you will be satisfied.» And so, God, that’s why we’re here. All of the worship, all of the prayer, all of the music, the lights, everything is all about You preparing a table for those You love so much, and that would be us.
So, Father, today I thank You for the spirit of wisdom, revelation, insight, knowledge, prophecy, and the full use of all of heaven’s resources to touch every person in here who has not so adored every single one. You know every strand of hair on the head of all who are here and all who are watching via livestream—those in California and those abroad. So God, move in our service today, and we want You to renew our minds. We want to be changed; we want there to be a shift in our perspective about You—a shift in our perspective about You so much that it will elevate us, and we will walk out of here more elevated than we were when we walked in. We thank You; we love You; we claim it in Jesus' name. Amen, amen.
Just be real kind to somebody on your way to take your seat.
What Sets God Apart — His Goodness
One of the things that I think is really critical, the key thing that sets God apart from anything and everything else is His goodness. There’s a passage where Paul writes, «It is the goodness of God that leads men to repentance.» It’s a very powerful thought when you think about it. Sometimes we try to scare people into faith; sometimes we try to condemn people in the faith or judge people in the faith—if you don’t do this, this is going to happen to you. But Paul, who was a man full of revelation, gives us insight into how people truly come to embrace God. It is not because they are afraid. What really brings people to repentance? You can be religious and not repentant. Fear will make you religious; the goodness of God is what will bring about change. Are you tracking with me?
The gospel itself is good news; it is the goodness of God. If you’re here and you’re only here because God has been good to you, holler at me! Come on, LA, holler at me! If you know you’re not here because you are afraid, but you’re here because you have tasted and you have seen that God is good, and it becomes your reasonable service to respond by entering into His gates with thanksgiving and into His courts with praise. There is something about experiencing the goodness of God that is so overwhelming that it causes you to change.
I don’t change because I’m afraid; I change because I’ve seen something.
Moses Asks for Glory — God Shows Goodness
And speaking of seeing something, I want to show you something in Exodus chapter 33. It’s really interesting because Moses, as he is trying to come to a place of trusting God in a way that would be critical for him to walk out his purpose and his calling, asks God, «Show me Your glory.» God responds very interestingly. In Exodus 33:19, Moses says, «Please show me Your glory, » and then God responds. He says, «I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious, » and He goes on.
But it’s interesting; Moses says, «God, show me Your glory—show me the essence of who You are. Just show me what is absolutely incredible and amazing about You.» You know God says about His glory that He will not give it to another. His glory is His unique and distinct attribute that sets Him apart from everything and everyone else. When Moses asked God to show him His glory, God says, «I will cause My goodness to pass before you.» This means that the most glorious thing about God is His goodness—not something else!
And then Moses goes, you know the story, and he puts him in the crack of a rock, and God passes by, and He shouts out His identity. When He shouts out His identity, He starts talking about how good and how gracious and how merciful He indeed is.
The Enemy Always Attacks Your Perception of God’s Goodness
I think that there is a place, a posture, and a disposition that all of us need to get to in order to be everything that God has called us to be, to be the water-walkers He has called us to be. The only way that we are going to get there is to have a broad, profound, and accurate revelation of the goodness of God. This is so much God’s strategy to get you to be everything that God has called you to be, that the perception of the goodness of God is always under attack.
In fact, in the very beginning, it was the perception of the goodness of God that was under attack. In the garden, if you think about the story, Adam and Eve were given an instruction. They were in the glory of God; they were in the goodness of God. And you know the story—“All of this you can have; leave that alone.» And Satan comes in, and his narrative is, «Did God really say?» And he says, «Well, God just knows that if you do this, then you will be like Him.» He basically paints God as jealous and insecure, ultimately attacking your perception and my perception of the goodness of God. There will always be an attack on it, and it is a strategic attack because, watch this: Your trusting God is based on your perception of His goodness.
Trusting God = Deliverance
Can I teach you today? Your trusting God—which is fundamental to your destiny in God—is predicated on how you see His goodness because it is His goodness that makes Him trustworthy in our eyes. At the end of the day, in the beginning, in the garden, when they ultimately turned away from what God said, it was because they were convinced that He was not good, that He was not good enough to be trusted. The challenge with that is that when you don’t trust God, you are exposed to deception. Oh, can I take my time and teach this here today? When you and I are not building our life and our hopes on trusting God, we become exposed. We become accessible to anything that promises trust. Are you tracking with me?
When I don’t trust God, I trust money. When I don’t trust God, I trust my looks, or I trust my sexuality. Trusting God is a deliverance. It’s deliverance from what the Bible talks about in the Old Testament as harlotry. See, when I don’t trust God, I’m open. When the Bible says that God is a jealous God, we humanize God with that concept. We think that God is jealous of us, and sometimes when you preach it like that, people say, «I don’t want a God that’s jealous.» No, you missed the point. He is not jealous of you; He is jealous for you. Are you tracking with me?
He doesn’t want us making the foundation of our lives things that cannot profit us. Trusting in other things does not hurt God; it hurts us because God knows they have eyes but can’t see, ears but can’t hear, mouths but can’t speak. He doesn’t want us to trust in idols because He somehow feels intimidated by idols. That’s not His motivation for saying not to put your trust in idols. He’s not in competition with idols; He just knows that idols cannot profit you, and you will become less than who He created you to be when you trust things outside of Him. Are you listening to me, California? So trusting in God is deliverance. I feel the Holy Spirit right there. It’s deliverance. It’s not to make me so wonderful and for God to pat me on the back and say, «Oh, you sure are a good trustor.»
I’ve got to trust God because there are a lot of false things in this world that are chasing after me, trying to get me to bow down to them. And I’ve got to trust God because if I don’t trust God, I am susceptible to every wind, every doctrine, every good idea, and everything. So it’s a deliverance; it’s for me! But in order to trust God, I’ve got to see His goodness.
Pain’s False Narrative About God’s Goodness
Now, can I take my time and teach today? Pain has a false narrative about God’s goodness. Pain has a false narrative about God’s goodness, and if you’re not careful, you’ll buy into it and suffer in a way that is greater than even the pain itself. Get your notepads out today! Pain, pain, pain has a false narrative! If you’re taking notes, take this thought down: The presence of pain is not the absence of God’s goodness. The presence of pain is not the absence of God’s goodness.
This is important because if you’re not careful, if you don’t know how to listen to the right voice, then you will come up with this narrative. Pain is a narrative, and the narrative will say, «Because you are in pain, God must not be good, because pain does not feel good.» Not realizing—and see, that’s why you’ve got to be self-aware—because those whispers, those voices will come in. When you begin to question whether or not God is good or whether or not God is good to you, what is happening is the foundation of trust is slowly beginning to be pulled out from underneath you, and we have to trust something.
Personal Testimony — The Last Crazy Months
Let me talk to you for a second. Pain, pain, pain will talk to you. Can I be a little transparent? A little transparent? So like I’ve had, like, the past—maybe let’s say past two months have been crazy for me. I mean, just like… in all fairness, the worst of times and the best of times. This has been incredible; God has done so much in my life this year—it’s absolutely incredible. But the past, like, the beginning of the last quarter, you know, it’s just… it’s been crazy! I’m like, «God, okay, what is this? Because this doesn’t feel good, and I don’t understand this.» What I’m coming to realize is that God is trying to take me to a deeper revelation of His goodness because we are wired to equate goodness with ease. Goodness is synonymous with ease. So if there is an absence of ease, then God is, at minimum, less.
Can we have a conversation? Maybe we’ll shout later; I don’t know. But we’re wired to believe that goodness is synonymous with ease. That is a false narrative! His goodness has nothing to do with ease! God sometimes will withhold pleasure to get you to progress. You need to catch that! You don’t like that? Catch it! Sometimes ease is the enemy of progress!
In the goodness of God, as He’s looking at the totality of your life, what He wants more than anything is for you to grow up and prosper. Above all things, I wish that you would prosper and be in health even as your soul prospers. And I’ll tell you right now, your soul does not prosper in prosperity; your soul prospers in the fire. Are you tracking with me? There’s a connection between discomfort and progress. Can we talk about it a little?
Sometimes God will make you walk through the shadow of broke to teach you to respect and steward money well. Are you tracking with me? Is He less good because He’s trying to produce good? Sometimes He has to bring you through discomfort in order to get you to the good of progress! Oh, hallelujah! Can we go deeper?
The Ishmael Syndrome & Torn Tricep
So it’s crazy—I’ve been in this season. It started in September, and all good things are happening, you know? Deals are jumping off all over the place, and I’m being sought out and approached for things that will take my entire life to the next level. I’m not even seeking it; it just falls in my lap. It’s just crazy, right? But I’ve got other stuff going on, and I just knew that this was the way it was supposed to be. If you’ve ever had something that you just knew was God, and then it’s taken away from you… I’ll try to be transparent here. You just knew! You prayed for it; hallelujah! And then it shows up, and then it’s not it.
And you try to be spiritual about it. «Oh, well, praise the Lord; you know what God has for me is for me.» But internally, on the real, you’re a low-key salty with God! On the inside, you’ve got the cute little church language. You’ve got the cute little Christian ease: «He may not come when you want him to, but He’s always on time!» And that’s cute, but sometimes you don’t really feel that way. You’re just saying it because of your religious conscience, but you can’t say, «God, I’m salty! I thought this was it, and it wasn’t!»
I’m mad at You! You won’t say it; you just say, «Oh, I’m saved, sanctified, and filled with the Holy Spirit!» But I was salty! I thought, «God, You promised me this!» And so, since You promised me this thing, and something that fits the criteria shows up, then this must be it. But then it turns out not to be it, and I was salty until I remembered the Ishmael syndrome.
How many of you know what I’m talking about when I say the Ishmael syndrome? It’s when God makes you a promise, and it is a sure enough promise, and then the counterfeit comes first to teach you some things so that you’re ready for the real thing! I feel that for somebody! You’re disappointed about Ishmael! Oh, that’s wonderful, but I hear God saying, «I’ve got an Isaac coming your way!» The real thing is making its way to you, and if you will praise Me even though your situation looks bleak, if you know Isaac is on the way, I dare you to take about ten seconds and give God praise for your Isaac that is on the way! Hallelujah! I’m not preaching today, but somebody needs to know that Isaac is on the way!
So I had a moment like that, and I got past that moment. I was okay, alright. Ishmael came to teach me something so that I’d be prepared for Isaac. I got it! I got the lesson, hallelujah! I got through that, and then revival breaks out in LA and then revival breaks out in Denver! Over the course of five services, I lay hands on about a thousand people, and the Spirit of God is breaking out! People are getting touched, healed, filled with the Holy Spirit, and God is falling out. This is wonderful, right?
But then I go in, I lay hands, and ultimately, I tear three of the two of the three muscles that attach my tricep to my elbow bone. I’m probably saying it all wrong; if you’re a doctor, don’t judge me—it hurts, and it’s messed up! So much so that I have been in chronic pain—this is real talk, family! I’ve been in chronic pain for three weeks—so I’m like, «Well, it’s just the enemy.» Of course, when you’re doing something for the Lord, you’re going to get attacked; it comes with it. I’m laying hands with the left hand until I get this fixed rightly again!
You know the stories you start telling yourself, okay? And then I go and get an MRI, and I pray, and I’m having moments where my arm feels better, and I go get my MRI. I pray because, I mean, the pain will not let up! It’s just crazy! And I go to my doctor, and my doctor comes in. He’s like, «Yeah, I got the reports on the MRI.» Not good! I wasn’t altogether shocked because it didn’t feel good, so the MRI was just confirming that something real bad was going on inside my arm.
He’s like, «You have to have surgery, and you need to get it as soon as possible.» Alright, he’s a great doctor; he’s the third opinion. I mean, he’s one of the best at what he does! So I walked out of there, and man, I felt something. It was like this sadness; I’ve never had surgery in my life. All my years, I’ve never had surgery one time. Never been cut—like, you know, not like that!
I’ve never been put to sleep; I like to be in charge of when I go to sleep, when I wake up, and what I dream about! I’m a control freak like that! Then I heard about the catheter, and I said, «Oh, Jesus, no!» Okay, I’m sorry! I’m sorry, you picked that up on the 25 or the 405 for you in California!
The Real Grief — A Faulty View of Goodness
So I’m like, «I was trying to figure out what is this feeling I feel.» And I believe in being self-aware. I believe you’ve got to know what’s going on inside, and you can’t just let yourself be, and you not know because you don’t know what’s going on. And what’s going on might jump up and bite you one day, so it is better to at least begin to process. If you can do it by yourself, great, or see a therapist, but you need to process—you need to figure out what in the world is going on inside of you.
So I started processing my feelings, and I had to be real with God. Can I take my time and tell the story? I had to be real with God. You know, and I started talking about how I felt, and I felt betrayed. I felt betrayed. Like, you can spiritually say, «God, you betrayed me, » but deep down, if you really get to the heart of the matter, if you get into the recesses of your mind and your thoughts, I was hurt. I felt hurt because I felt like, «God, you betrayed me.» I’m your guy who’s going to pack up his house and move to another state. I’m your guy who lays down his aspirations and dreams to serve You. I’m the guy—literally, I’m your dude! I’m the one You love the most! I know He loves all of you, but sometimes I feel like He loves me just a wee bit more.
I felt betrayed, and I’m so glad I took the time to process what I was feeling so that we could have a real conversation. God could bring me to a place of understanding, because it’s the worst-ever feeling to feel betrayed! Because guess what people do when they feel betrayed? They do not trust! I felt sad. I felt betrayed. And then I realized, «Wait a minute!» I realized what I was mourning: I wasn’t mourning my situation. I had a false perception about God’s goodness.
I had a false perception about the goodness of God and an expectation based on that false interpretation. You’ve got to get this! You’ve got to let me be Dr. Phil right now. I was mourning the death of a faulty interpretation of what God’s goodness had to look like in my life in order for it to truly be God’s goodness. Because your interpretation, your perception, creates your expectations. If I see the goodness of God as everything going the way that I want, what happens is there is a subconscious expectation that creates a standard by which I judge or qualify whether or not God’s goodness is in my life.
And so I wasn’t going to give up on God. I might have been hurt, but I’m not a fool. Because if I look back over my life, the evidence, the testimony, and the history of who God is is too rich! It’s too rich! So I’m not going to give up on You, but what I have to do now is reconsider what goodness looks like. Are we trekking together?
So, I was grieving the mistake of believing that because I had to go through something, that somehow meant that I had been removed from the realm of God’s goodness. He was working on me; He was teaching me. Sometimes, you have to mourn the loss of your interpretation of God’s goodness and your unrealistic expectations as a result of that interpretation.
There are some under the sound of my voice right now, and you need to have a funeral for your unrealistic expectations about God that caused you to not trust Him, or not call Him good, or to turn away when things don’t go your way. You need to have a funeral right now because He’s still good!
Goodness & Mercy — Psalm 23
I want to show you something. I want to show you something.
There’s a very popular passage of Scripture we all know: Psalm 23 is one of my favorite Psalms, and it ends with saying, «Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.» I think that we need to have a proper understanding of what goodness and mercy is. Mercy, in that we like goodness, mercy is great when you need it, but what we would choose is goodness. Mercy is great, but we don’t understand what goodness is.
Goodness and mercy are the full expression of God’s goodness. In fact, I think that mercy is actually the most revealing expression of God’s goodness, and here’s why: that word mercy is a Hebrew word, and mercy is great. A better translation of that word is kindness—it’s kindness.
God’s goodness is kindness. Now in kindness, of course, a kind person should be patient, forgiving, understanding, empathetic, gracious—all these things. Kindness has to do with someone’s heart for you. I’m kind because my heart for you is that I value you. I love you. I appreciate you. When someone is kind, it makes even a not-so-good situation feel better.
You ever had a mean dentist? Can you even imagine? «Come here, open your mouth and just start pulling teeth out!» But when you have a kind dentist, I mean, I get ready to snatch four wisdom teeth out of your mouth, but you go ahead just because there’s something about how they feel about you that makes you trust them.
The mercy of God, the kindness of God—that has the mercy of God! When you think about the gospel, even the entire gospel, the glory of the gospel is not that God is good, but that He is merciful. You’re not ready! The most glorious part of the gospel is not Him blessing you; it’s Him forgiving you. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us!
Oh, I feel it! If you feel like your goody-two-shoes, and you’ve never done anything wrong, first of all, you need healing right now. You come to the altar, and we’ll lay hands on you! But if you feel like you’ve never made any mistakes, you’ve always done something right, then the gospel doesn’t even move you! You’re just kind of religious. But if you know that you have been a mess at least a time or two in your life, and God continues to love you, forgive you, bless you, deliver you, and bring you out, that’s a different thing because that says you really love me!
It’s the mercy of God that manifests the goodness of God more than the ease of God. It is the fact that I didn’t deserve what I have! If I’m honest, I don’t deserve this mercy! I don’t deserve this love! I turn my back on You! I pushed You away! I said some crazy things about You! But goodness and mercy continue to follow me and chase me down. If you have been chased down and tracked down by the mercy and the goodness of God, I dare you to stand up and say, «God, I thank You right now!»
It’s the kindness! It’s the kindness! The goodness of God is not ease; it is His kindness! It is how He feels about you! I can trust Your heart when I don’t see Your hand because I know, though You slay me, yet will I trust You! David said, «I would have fainted unless I believed to see the goodness of God in the land of the living.»
What’s interesting is that if you study that, and in Psalm 27:13, the rider puts that in there so that we can just fill in the blanks. David basically says, «I would have fainted if I hadn’t believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.» It’s almost like what he would have done is almost too horrible to speak. In other words, I don’t know what I would have done; I don’t know where I would be if I didn’t believe that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.
That means that in order to really perceive God’s goodness, it can only be perceived by faith.
Back to Habakkuk — Though Everything Fails…
So, in the text, in the Habakkuk text, now it makes sense! The concept, the calm—the background of this text is that Habakkuk has to prophesy to Israel, who were basically suffering for a season so that they could come into alignment and be everything that God has called them to be. And he basically talks in the second chapter about how the vision is for an appointed time; wait for it! It’s going to speak if you don’t give up! And then he starts closing out his letter by saying, «Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat. Though the flock shall be cut off from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls.»
In other words, he’s saying, «I’m having a real bad day! I’m having a terrible day! Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat.» Think about this—if you haven’t picked up on it yet, these are all bad things!
What is your version of the fig tree not blossoming? What is your version of the fruit that there’s no fruit coming on the vines? What is your version, your translation, of the labor of the olive that shall fail? In other words, there’s no oil; you’re in a dry season. What is your translation, interpretation of that? «And the fields shall yield no meat.» He’s saying that I have worked hard and labored to cause whatever that thing is to produce, to give me back what I gave to it! What does that look like in your life? What have you invested in and you’re saying, «By now, surely this thing should have paid me at least a little bit back for what I put in it»?
I feel the Spirit on this! There are some people who are disappointed under the sound of my voice right now. You’re disappointed, and here’s the thing—you didn’t even know you were disappointed until I started talking to you. You didn’t even know that your disappointment has brought you to a place where you don’t trust God like you used to. And whenever you don’t trust God like you used to, you don’t have intimacy with God like you used to.
Because our relationship with God, our intimate relationship with God, is based on our trusting God. I cannot even open up to You and worship You unless I trust You! I cannot even show You my pain. I can’t even show You my scars unless I trust You!
«Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat.» In other words, although all of these terrible, confusing, and seemingly inappropriate things are happening! Things like, «I’m reaping things that I did not sow!» «I’m so good, but I’m reaping evil!» «I’ve sown faithfulness, but I’m reaping disloyalty!»
He says, «Even though all this is going on, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.» In other words, he’s saying, «Naked I came in, and naked I’m going out!» I’m not putting my trust in God; I’m not basing that on things because things will come and things will go, but one thing I know is that surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life. I will praise God when I’m up, and I will praise God when I’m down!
See, it’s a lesson—it’s a lesson—it’s a lesson on goodness! I thought goodness was synonymous with my peace; I thought goodness was synonymous with everything going as planned. I was ignorant to goodness. You know what goodness is? It’s your understanding of His kindness!
He says, «Cast all your cares upon Me, » why? «Because I care for you!» You have to find the good narrative in the bad thing! Because there’s a good narrative, there’s a good narrative! You’ve been embracing a false narrative! There is a good narrative!
Altar Call & Closing Prayer
I want to pray for you. He’s still good; He’s still good! I’m praising Him for His goodness! I’m praising Him for His kindness! I’m praising Him for His mercy! I’m praising Him for His love! He’s still good! You’re not alone! Even Jesus struggled with it! Hallelujah!
God was getting ready to post across Jesus up in a way that was beyond what He could imagine, but the process even caused Jesus to question whether or not God was good! He’s on the cross, He’s in the process of becoming greater than He had ever been in His life, and in the middle of that process, the God was calling good, Jesus had a moment on that cross!
He said, «My God, my God!» It’s interesting because most of the times in the scripture, He called Him, «My Father, my Father, my Father!» That’s intimacy! «My Father, my Father, my Father!» That’s intimacy! But in that moment when He’s on the cross, He didn’t call Him his Father; He said, «My God, my God! Why have You forsaken me?» He had a moment—a moment of questioning!
And it was just a moment because in a few breaths later, He says, «Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.» I want to pray for people that are having a moment. If you’re here, and you feel like the Holy Spirit was speaking to you because you forgot that He was still good, and it was difficult for you to see because of your circumstance, but He was still good.
I want you to meet me at this altar. Come on, LA, come down to this altar! If you’re watching via livestream, I want you to just receive—I want you to just stand up and receive; you were talking to me! Come on, let’s celebrate! If you’re having a moment—you’re having a moment, you’re having a moment—don’t worry about who’s better! Come on, I see you, LA! I see you coming to the altar!
I see you—I see you, Denver! I see you—come to the altar. You’re having a moment! If Jesus had a moment, certainly we will have moments! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! I want to pray for you. I want to pray for you! We all have moments!
No pastor has a moment. You pray for your pastor! I have surgery on Wednesday, my very first one! Pray for me! I had a moment, and when I realized my sadness, I realized why I was sad. I was mourning a false narrative about God’s goodness. Goodness is not synonymous with ease! In fact, oftentimes, goodness very much resists ease because ease oftentimes is the hindrance of progress.
Are you tracking with me? Some of our deepest spiritual moments, times when we grow the most, are not in moments of ease but in moments of discomfort. And that’s why God said in Jeremiah 29:11, «For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and hope.» You want to know where they were? He had just told them that you’re going to be in captivity for seventy years! Study when you get a chance—read the verses before Jeremiah 29:11.
He said, «Now, it’s gonna hurt, but it’s important for you to understand this!» A better translation of Jeremiah 29:11 is, «For I know the thoughts that I think toward you—kindness, mercy; it’s how I feel about you!» If you can perceive how God feels about you, you can trust Him in the difficulty!
And it doesn’t last forever—it’s a moment! But our light afflictions, which are but for a moment, are working in us a far greater weight of eternal glory! I see you, LA! I see you! I see Bobby there at the altar! I see you! So many of you—I want to pray for you! Father, it is evident that You know where Your sons and daughters are!
If they’re not here in this moment, they will be one day! Surely if Jesus was, we will find ourselves there—in a place where we have to be reappointed with a deeper revelation and understanding of Your goodness and Your mercy, which does follow us all the days of our lives. Ease is one thing; Your heart for us is another!
Hallelujah! Father, I pray, God, there are some who have had a difficult moment because of circumstances, and the enemy’s strategy is to say, «See! If God, then this would not be!» God, I pray that there would be a breakthrough from that negative false narrative today, and that they would feel right there in the moment that they’re in—the situation that they’re in—but they would feel Your love, Your grace, Your commitment, and Your faithfulness and Your promise!
Some, God, are at the altar weeping over Ishmael—weep over that which represented what looked like it but was not! I hear God saying you can let it out! Weep over Ishmael! Weep over that thing you thought was it! That job you thought was yours, that college you thought you were getting into, that relationship you thought was the one—weep over it! Weep over it! Weep over it!
It has to die! But here is the promise: Jesus said, «Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.» Weep over it! There are some of you right now, and you’ve got to lay it at the altar, and you’ve got to have a funeral for how you thought it was going to be. You’re not giving up on your dreams, but you’re having a funeral for how you thought your dreams were going to come to be. God has a million ways! I am a testimony—He has a million ways to perform what He showed you!
Typically, it will happen outside of the way you think it’s gonna happen! For My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways—how I go about unfolding My promise—are different from yours! I am living right now in the manifestation of what God spoke to me years ago, and I thought it was going to happen one way, but that’s not how it was going to happen!
It was going to happen! His way! I feel it! It was gonna happen His way! So what God wants you to do is give them the grace to submit to Your way—to bury their insistence upon the promise being manifested their way and to embrace You!
I want you to repeat after me: «Heavenly Father, thank You for touching me. Thank You for Your love! Thank You for Your goodness and Your mercy! I receive it! You spoke to me today! I heard Your voice, and now I understand better. I trust You! Forgive me for not trusting You because it wasn’t easy, because I was disappointed, because I was hurt! I stopped trusting You the way I used to! Cleanse my heart from that spirit! I’m coming home!
I thank You for Jesus! Thank You for making Him who had no sin all of mine— all of my weakness, all of my shortcomings, all of my brokenness, and all of my pain! You placed in His body, nailed it to the cross and put it to death! Just like He was raised up, free and victorious over brokenness and pain, I’m raised up too! If You overcame pain, so will I! You didn’t promise a pain-free life; You just promised victory! I receive Your victory now!
Now, Lord, today, I crucify my need to see it done my way, and I say to You with all sincerity, „Not my will, but Your will!“ Jesus, I just pray that You would seal this in the hearts and the minds of all who are gathered here today, that they will hear Your words: The presence of pain is not the absence of Your goodness, but there is a good narrative even in my pain! And that narrative is Your kindness-Your mercy endures forever! Strengthen Your children in Jesus' name! Amen! Amen!