Regaining Lost Ground

Pastor Shane Idleman: You don't need more than God's grace and that intimacy upon a person's life, deep relationship they have with their savior. That's what keeps them steadfast. So Lord, we got to say, I can bear this thorn if your grace will flood my heart. I can bear this thorn if your grace will come upon my life. I'm going through pain, I'm going through this difficulty. I don't understand. I've got a lot of whys, but Lord, let your grace flood my heart and through that brokenness and that dependence and that crying out to God, that he begins to fill you with his spirit.

Guest (Male): Thank you for joining us here at Westside Christian Fellowship, located in Leona Valley, California, one hour north of Los Angeles. Today on Regaining Lost Ground, we hear the second part of this liberating message from Pastor Shane titled, "The Dark Night of the Soul."

Theologian and Pastor R.C. Sproul once said, "The presence of faith gives no guarantee of the absence of spiritual depression. However, the dark night of the soul always gives way to the brightness of the noonday light of the presence of God." Listen now as Pastor Shane lifts up every believer seeking to be free from torment of mind and soul and freely abounding in the true joy of the Lord.

Live fresh today, right here on Regaining Lost Ground. You can hear the whole message at Pastor Shane's YouTube and Rumble channels. Make sure to subscribe today. For more information, visit us online at WestsideChristianFellowship.org. We also encourage you to hear more truth from Pastor Shane with the Idleman Unplugged weekly podcast. And now from Westside Christian Fellowship in Leona Valley, California, here's Pastor Shane Idleman.

Pastor Shane Idleman: One post I did a week ago has got 2.2 million views and I've never been called the F-word more in my life. My whole day is block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block, block. You shouldn't do that. It's my page. Go do something on your own page, you clown. Sorry, told you I don't speak perfectly for an hour. Sometimes the flesh gets in there a little bit.

But you think that if I could just get this, the higher you go, the deeper you better go in humility. That's why you see ministry, this person falls, this person falls, this, this. It's because they don't have the foundation of character and they're trying to build the name instead of build Christ. It's hard to fall when you're on your knees a lot.

And I've heard it and you've said it, "God has forsaken me. God has forsaken me." No, he's trying to awaken you. Big difference. By the way, he never forsakes. He's there, it just feels like it. He's trying to awaken you. But what do you do if he doesn't deliver you or heal you or fix you or those you love? What do you do then? Because that's why we're sometimes joyful and encouraged, like God's going to do this, he's going to heal me, he's going to fix this. And then you kind of realize, "You know what, this isn't happening like I thought." Has anybody thought a certain way and God's not really inclined to follow your way of thinking?

And guys, this is so important. I want to get this point across. I know I did a little bit last week, especially the older you get. You've got to trust in his sovereignty. You've got to trust in his sovereignty. Now, trusting in his sovereignty is not just an intellectual exercise. "Ah, yes, I know that." Trusting in his sovereignty is really a life grounded in belief. It's anchored in faith and it's sustained by worship.

Sovereignty, trusting in sovereignty is not just a one and done. It's a lifestyle pursuing him and seeking him so the hand of sovereignty gets anchored into your life. That's the anchor because of worship, because of prayer, because you've been seeking him, because of the word. That's your anchor. That's the anchor that holds everything in place.

Now let me drop some truth bombs. It does not mean that things will go as planned. I learned the lesson the hard way on that one because I thought when you become a Christian, God's sovereignty, my plans, yes, I will truly have my best life now. Retire by 40, have a bass boat, go to the mountains. God's sovereignty, yes.

But the reality is people become sick and pass on to glory. Some careers and marriages don't work out. Some calls to ministry never materialize and some dreams do die. Guys, I'm not trying to be a negative Nelly. I'm trying to shoot you straight because when you're prepared for life, you get through life.

And also here's one of my big concerns, especially with what they call charismatic churches. You cannot always blame something on a demonic attack when it may be God's sovereignty. And we start to say things like this, I've heard, "God always wants to heal you. Always." So the problem's not on his end, it's on your end. I've seen people with much better faith than me pass away.

And then these people, their life gets rocked because this genie in a bottle called God, this butler, isn't answering the prayer the way they thought. Sovereignty is, "Lord, I trust. I know you can heal. I have no problem. I believe, but help my unbelief." But Lord, I trust in you because often we pray for that healing to get us out of the fire. Let's be honest.

But sometimes God allows us to stay in that fire. Not everything is a demonic attack. You can't name it and claim it. You can't speak it into existence if you just have enough faith. What about all the people healed in the Bible who didn't have a lot of faith? Now Jesus says because of their unbelief, "I could not do many miracles there." So that obviously plays a role of a grumbling, complaining, "woe is me," Winnie the Pooh fans. That's not good. Was it Eeyore in Charlie Brown? Oh, Winnie the Pooh. Yeah.

This is supposed to be a serious message, guys. Here's something I probably shouldn't tell you, but I liked Eeyore. I remember as a kid I wanted to watch Eeyore, not some big teddy bear put his hand in honey. Everything's negative. But we can't always blame something challenging on a demonic attack. Or "No, no, no, God doesn't want this." What about when Jesus said that in the garden? "Father, take this from me. Take this from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but your will be done."

Lord, take this from me, fix this. But what about if it's going to lead my kids to the Lord? What about if it's going to lead to a very deep and intimate relationship with God? Sometimes he might leave that thorn. You might get that diagnosis you have to live with for the rest of your life. What about the God who heals? What about the God who uses that to break you? What about that God too?

See, this whole thing on healing has got me upset sometimes because it sounds good, but then when it's applied, it's not working out. And then they lose their faith. Their kids walk away from the Lord. You've got to get that into your soul just like Daniel. "My God will deliver me. But even if he doesn't." Can you say that? That's the key. Is that not the key? You're going to throw me into this fire. God's going to deliver me. But guess what? Even if he doesn't, I'm not bowing to you. I'm not walking away from my creator.

He said, "Take this cup from me." What about on the cross? "Father, why have you..." We don't know who holds the future. That's why sovereignty is so important. What if God extended 15 years on your life and you birthed a Manasseh? Let me fill you in. God gave the king warning, "Put your house in order. Your time's up." And he cried out to God. God said, "Okay, I'll give you 15 more years." And in that 15 years, his wife gave birth to the most wicked king that Israel had ever known.

Again, I'm not preaching doom and gloom. I'm trying to prepare people for the dark nights of the soul. Because when you're prepared, you can get through the storm. You guys remember we probably still do it with our kids, but I remember when I was little and the storms would come. If my parents were good, I'm good. Oh, we see this when I was younger. It'll come, it's no big deal.

Or like me, I don't know if I should tell you this either because I'm being vulnerable, but I like to sit in a plane upfront and then I can watch the stewardess. How are they doing right now? If they're talking, they're on their phone, okay, good. But if they're like [gasp]. Preparation. And pastors don't always have the answers. We're supposed to point you to the one who has the answers.

Here's the key. Don't ask why. I'm preaching to myself, by the way. Don't ask why, ask what. What are you teaching me? What do you want me to learn? How can I grow from this? Because the whys are never-ending. And here's why, maybe you're different than me. I want to know why so I can fix it. Correct? "Lord, why am I feeling this way? Because you need to fast." Oh, okay, I'll fast and fix it.

"I need to be carnivore. That'll fix it. I need to be plant-based. That'll fix it. I need to know why. Do I get on this medication again? Why? Lord, tell me why is this happening to my kids so I can fix it." And rarely will he show you the why, maybe later, but it's the what that we need to unpack.

This is from Dr. David Jeremiah's book, *When Your World Falls Apart*. And if you want to listen to part one of what I'm giving now, it's not really part one, but it goes in line with this, listen to last Sunday. But Dr. David Jeremiah wrote a book, *When Your World Falls Apart*. And this is a letter he kind of said like you could see it being from God. And he said, "My child, I have a message for you today. Let me whisper in your ear that it may overcome any storm clouds that may arise in your life and smooth out the rough places upon which you have to tread. It's short. It's only five words, but let them sink into your innermost soul. Use them as a pillow upon which to rest your weary head." And the five words are, "This thing is from me." This thing that you're going through is from me. Nothing can get to us without going through God.

"Are you passing through a night of sorrow? This is from me. I am the man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. I have let earthly comforters fail you so you turn to me unconditionally. This thing is from me." Boy, that's a perspective change, isn't it? I've meditated on that all week. Because if we're not careful, we think, "Oh, this is from the enemy. This is from this person. This is from this." And we get scared because God, what's going on? This enemy's stronger than you? Even if the enemy attacks you, God first has to allow it under his sovereign control.

And again, I got a lot of why questions myself. But if you look at things this way, or at least say this, "God allowed this. God, you allowed this for a reason and hopefully for a season." Because I've seen this many times too on this topic of healing. We forget that sometimes it's time to go home. It's time to go home, the Lord says. Yet we pray healing, we claim healing. "No, no, no, Lord." But what about, we all die. So you get healed at 65, it's time to go at 70. I mean, and let me tell you, heaven's a lot better from 65 to 70 than now. A million times better.

So just be very careful on this topic. We forget that it's time to go home sometimes and we can rest in that. "Oh, no, no, you just have enough faith." I want to go home. I want to go home. I've had people, I don't want to say their names in case their husbands are watching, but I've went and I prayed and then they said, "Pastor, don't pray for me. I'm ready." Whoa. "Pray for comfort, pray for my spouse, pray for, but I'm ready."

Anybody sign those "Do Not Resuscitate" orders? Hello? Yeah, let me go. But the reason many don't want to is because of fear. So you need to settle that this morning. Fear's normal. We all fear it. I actually don't fear death. I'm ready to some day be with my Lord. I just don't like the process of what that involves. I don't like leaving my family behind, things like that. That's a good thing. If we didn't feel that, we'd just jump off the cliff, "I'm ready to go." So there's a little self-preservation involved, obviously.

And don't over-analyze church. Oh my goodness, any over-analyzers there? Oh my goodness. "Well, if this is going on, then this could have caused it, this might have back then over there. That's what that will fix it." And what does it do? It robs you eventually of peace and joy. It will rob you of peace and joy.

Did you know that disruptive moments are often divine appointments? Ron Mehl said about these disruptive moments, they always leave us with a list of things to clean up and to fix. Isn't that true? You know as a believer you get some bad, you know, something's going on in your life. You're fixing things just in case it's causing it. "I'm fixing it. I'm getting my..." And God, we need those little recharges sometimes because everything's going good and everything's going great and then pride comes in. And God begins to spank us and level us. And he actually, he chastens those he loves. He disciplines those he loves.

There are times when God restores to us the things we lose through negligence and ignorance and rebellion or sin. And there's times we just have to trust in him. But I do know what he does restore, intimacy. Intimacy. Wouldn't you rather want that than good health, a big bank account? Some of you may not because you don't know what that is. Intimacy, intimacy. That relationship with God, there's nothing better. That's what keeps everything together. That's what keeps everything together.

I mean, I've heard of people almost committing suicide when Bitcoin dropped the last couple weeks. What's their trust in? We have to get our trust anchored in God and trust in God's sovereignty. Lord, trust and obey, trust and obey. Worship leader by the name of Jason Upton released a fairly new song. Talks about Jesus being the good, good shepherd. And he said, "If you let me in, Jesus said, if you let me in, I'll lead you out. I can't tell you where you're going, but I can tell you this, little lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd."

Little lamb, you've got a good, good shepherd who's going to protect you when the darkness settles in. I don't like it, but I prefer preaching through pain because there's a special anointing on the service, the message seems to bring life into others. And to be honest with you, that's the problem with many preachers, many teachers today, myself included, I can fall into this camp as well. They preach from pride and not from pain. Preach from pride and not from pain.

Same thing you could say with worship leaders. Any type of, if you lead through pride, you might be gifted and the people might say, "Not bad," but you preach through pain and they'll be touched. The tears keep you tender. Pride is replaced with passion and arrogance with kindness when you allow the hammer of God to continue to break you.

And we have to say like Paul, "God, I'll bear this thorn if your grace floods my heart. I'll carry this thorn." I'm so glad, aren't you, that we don't know what Paul's thorn was? Because we would say, "Well, yeah, Paul, but you don't know what I'm going through." Have you ever been there comparing? Paul, whatever it was, a messenger of Satan was sent against Paul. And Paul said, "Take this away, take this away, take this away." And God said, "No, my grace is sufficient." It means it's enough. You don't need more than God's grace and that intimacy upon a person's life, that deep relationship they have with their savior. That's what keeps them steadfast.

So Lord, we got to say, "I can bear this thorn if your grace will flood my heart. I can bear this thorn if your grace will come upon my life. I'm going through pain, I'm going through this difficulty. I don't understand. I've got a lot of whys, but Lord, let your grace flood my heart and through that brokenness and that dependence and that crying out to God, that he begins to fill you with his spirit."

I love what John Wesley said. He said, "Our people die well." The Methodist. And the Methodists of then are not the Methodists of today, by the way, just to let you know. We sing about the goodness of God. Have you heard that song? I've had it on rewind. What's her name? CeCe Winans. Just on rewind, on rewind, the goodness of God. We sing about it, but have we lived it? Have we lived it? "You have led me through the fire and the darkest night. You are close like no other." You can only sing that with emotion and understanding and let it get down deep into your heart when you've experienced, when you've walked through the fires and like the Bible says, "When the floods overcome me, it will not hold me down. The God will hold me up. When the fires come against me, I will not be scorched by the flame." Then you can sing those songs.

That church won't be the person who's never went through anything. They're like Napoleon Dynamite who needs to hit the weight room.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Regaining Lost Ground with Pastor Shane Idleman. You can find more information at WestsideChristianFellowship.org. That's WestsideChristianFellowship.org. And for all the latest on what God is doing with his ministry here, please be sure to follow us on most social media platforms. Westside Christian Fellowship is located 60 miles north of Los Angeles in Leona Valley, California. Thank you again for listening to today's message of Regaining Lost Ground, where we are reminded daily, times change, truth does not.