The Healing Word

Pastor Jack Morris: I believe we can still walk on water. I believe, I believe in Him. And if you believe in Him for your marriage, for your business, for your children, for your parents, whatever it is, expect a blessing to come. Pray and expect a blessing to come. And you and God together will make it happen. You will help God in creating that miracle to happen in your family, in your life.

Narrator: Thank you for joining us for The Healing Word, as we conclude our series, Entering His Presence. Pastor Jack Morris reminds us that Christian life is a journey. Along the way, there will be valleys, disappointments, and seasons when our faith is tested. Yet God's word calls us to keep looking forward with confidence, trusting that He is faithful to fulfill His promises. If you've been waiting for God to move in your life, today's message is filled with hope and encouragement. Here's Pastor Morris with Expect A Blessing.

Pastor Jack Morris: Look at the scripture today. You have a sermon outline and the word that I want you to write in is the word, expect. I want you to see what the word, I put the definition there for you. It's to await a reaching out in readiness to receive. To watch toward, to look forward to to as that which is likely to occur or appear. Something wonderful is going to happen. Are you expecting it? Are you looking for it? It's coming right to you. It's coming your way, and God is going to do this great and wonderful thing that you are expecting Him to do.

The word expect is a capacity within us that attracts. It draws, it pulls toward you that which you are expecting. It helps create and bring to pass the thing that you are expecting. Now I want you to turn with me. I don't have the page number, but to Philippians chapter 1, verse 20. Would you turn over there? Philippians chapter 1, verse 20.

Now this is what Paul said. "I eagerly..." What? What is that next word? "I eagerly..." Say it again. Okay. That's why Paul had the blessing of God upon him and the anointing of God because he expected with eager expectation he looked forward. Now, let me let me just read this verse and you just follow along. "I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always, Christ will be exalted in my body whether by life or by death."

Let me give you a little bit of background here. Paul was in prison at this time. He was under house arrest for two years. And for two years he kept expecting. You see, we're we're into that which is instant everything. We want instant gratification, instantly. But for two years, Paul under house arrest, not knowing whether he was going to live or die, not knowing what the courts were going to decide. But this is what he said to this Philippian church that he wrote to, the church that he was the founder of. He had established that church and that church maintained an emotional spiritual connection with Pastor Paul, even though Paul was under house arrest.

And they would send offerings to him and clothing and things to help him in Rome while he was under arrest. And so he writes to them and he tells them, "I haven't lost hope. I haven't lost my ability to expect. I'm expecting God's intervention." Then he goes on to say what that intervention might be. He said, "It may be," number one, "it may be that the courts are going to release me." Now he was there because he preached the gospel of Jesus Christ, and many people had been converted and it was a threat to the political parties involved and so they silenced him. They put him, they arrested him.

And he said, "Now it may be that the courts will free me. And that'll be wonderful and I'll accept that as from the Lord. And if they do, I expect to go right out and preach the gospel and win more souls to the Lord." Secondly, it may be that the court will sentence me to death. And if the court sentence me to death, then I expect to go right into the presence of Jesus and see Him face to face. So he said, "No matter what happens, I'm going to be a winner. I'm going to be a winner."

Now I want you to think about what's going on in your life as I preach the sermon this morning. Where are you? What's holding you down? Now Paul was arrested. That's what was holding him down. What's keeping you from going forward? What's keeping your marriage from moving forward? What's keeping your family from accomplishing those things and dreams that you want to see accomplished? There's there's something arresting could be arresting and holding you, deterring you, hindering you. You're just not soaring like you thought you were going to, but don't stop expecting.

Expect is like hope. It has to do with faith. This is what it is. Now, let's go back to Psalm 84 and look at the Psalm 84. And I want you to look at verse 5 with me and hold your Bible up and read verse 5 together with me in unison. Together. "Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage."

This Psalm, you can write down the first word, life is a journey. In your outline, point A, life is a journey. And this is what the psalmist is saying that he has set his heart on this pilgrimage that that God has called him to. And he is on his way to Jerusalem, to the temple, to the house of God, which would be to him the very presence of God in a very spectacular and unusual way. God is always with him, but he wanted to be at the temple in Jerusalem. And he had to pass through the Valley of Baca in order to get there.

So, we're going to spiritualize this and this is why the Lord has given it to us, to help us to know that you and I are on our way not to the old ancient Jerusalem as was the psalmist in Psalm 84. You and I are on our way to the new heavenly Jerusalem. In the meantime, we have to live life down here. And life down here can have many many difficulties and problems. There's there's not a person here today, I would I would dare say that has something in your life that you want to see happen, a prayer answered, some expectation, something from the Lord.

And the psalmist is saying that we're on our way to heaven. We're children of God, our names are in the book of life, we've been washed in the blood of the lamb, but in the meantime we have to live down here and do some journeying. I've been journeying now for about 63 years myself. How long have you been journeying? However old you are. That's how long you've been traveling this way. But now look at verse 6 and under point B you can write down the word root, the root of the journey.

It's not I-95 or 495 or anything like that. It's not nearly that smooth. Life life is not like that. Now hold your Bible up and read verse 6 with me. We're going to see the root that we're going to take. "As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs, the autumn rains also cover it with pools." Now notice, they pass through the Valley of Baca. This word, these words, Valley of Baca, those three words can be translated Valley of weeping, Valley of sorrows, Valley of lamentation, telling us. Listen, listen.

You're going to do some crying in this life. You can't live here without getting your heart broken. It's going to happen. I don't know how it's going to happen. It may happen to a parent through a child or a child through a parent, or a husband or a wife, or a job. But we are now going to pass from time to time through the Valley of Baca where things are going to happen that are going to be very uncomfortable, very unpleasant, and it's going to be a dry and arid place.

Dryness will come to your soul to the extent that you will feel, I wonder if I've ever become a Christian. I wonder if the Lord really saved me. I I feel so dry. I don't even have a desire to pray, to read the Bible or even to go to church. Hey, I'm talking to everybody this morning, right? You know what I'm talking about exactly. The journey of life will do that to you. Life has a way of beating up on people, destroying hope and hurting and doing things like that. I don't know where it's coming from. I don't know what your Valley of Baca is.

It might be a son, it might be a daughter, it might be a grandparent, it might be your job, it might be your spouse. But but you're going to be into into some very heartbreaking, heart-rendering situations that will literally take away your energy and make you feel so dry and arid inside. It might be a sickness, a great disappointment, a setback, but you are going to go through, and so am I. You can't live here without going through the Valley of Baca. But you have to go through it and we're going through it.

Now now notice, "As they pass," what's the word? Next word? Say "through." That means you're going to make it. You're going to go through. We're not going to stop and camp in the Valley of sorrow. So you need to keep expecting to come out the other end. We're going to pass through. You see the scripture holds out great and wonderful promises to us, to encourage us when we go through those difficult times, that we're not going to live there. You're not going to live in sorrow all the time. You're not going to be brokenhearted all the time. You're going to pass from oasis to oasis. But between oasis, there's going to be some very arid dry times.

We've gone through a pretty dry time here in the state of Maryland, haven't we? We've had a drought. You see, you just can't live without some drought. But the rain started coming again. Boy, didn't that sound good when they started falling? Oh man. How many times I've said, oh, I wish it would stop raining and the sun would shine. I'll tell you that liquid sunshine blessed me. I looked out, you know, I've seen it rain for years and years and years. I know what it looks like to rain. And I looked out and I saw the raindrops fall and it would hit a blade of grass and it would go pling, pling, pling. It's like playing a piano. Little birds were hopping around and it was wonderful.

So you're in an arid, dry time right now, but expect to go through. You're not going to stop there. It's going to be okay. If you have faith in the Lord, if you're following Jesus, if He is your shepherd God. Notice it says in in in verse 6, "As they pass through the Valley of Baca, they make it a place of springs." See, they they. You have to take, listen, you have to take some responsibility for your own spirituality.

Someone said, "Oh, my church, my church is dry. I think I need to I need something else." Hey, you make it something else. If it's dry, it's because you are dry. Your church didn't do it. You did it. You've just allowed the pressures and the and the sorrows and the various difficulties just to pile up and pile up. You don't tell me you have family devotions or you're having private devotions. No, you've you've ceased off, you've backed off. This past week a lady came in and she told me, she said, "Pastor, it's not like it used to be." And I questioned just a little while longer and I found out that the way it used to be was that she had prayer, she had Bible reading before she went to work in the morning.

And she said, "For some unknown reason, I just that just slipped by. I just don't do that anymore." What's wrong? What's wrong is you don't have prayer and Bible reading anymore. You don't have to be that intelligent, do you, to know that. And so we need to look at ourselves. Notice again, "they make it." Friends, you'll be as spiritual as you want to be. You'll be as happy as you choose to be. You'll be as close to the Lord as you want to be. That's a good Amen, wasn't it? Can you say Amen? Amen.

We have to do this ourselves. I can't make you happy. I really can't. I can't I just can't do it. You're going to have to choose this for yourself. You're going to have to choose spirituality and a walk with God. You you just can't come out here on Sunday morning and and me in one hour and 15 minutes do everything for you that you need to have done. You need to say, "I'm a responsible adult and I know at mealtime I've got to go to the table and eat or I'm going to get weak."

And we need to go to this table and the spiritual bread and wait before the Lord or we're going to become weak spiritually. No, the church isn't going to do it for you. "They make it." Notice. Say, "They make it." They make it. You've got to do that. "They make it a place of springs, the autumn rains also cover it with pools." Now the word pools can be translated in Hebrew, blessing. These two words can be used interchangeably. "The autumn rains also cover it with blessing."

You can bring the blessing of God down upon you, your children, your husband, your wife, your family. You can do that. You can make that happen by this expectation. As you begin to look to the Lord, as you begin to pray and begin to expect, you will draw, start drawing toward you the very thing you want and the very thing that you need. You have a great capacity within you to become part of the miracle. You can become part of that creation thing that you are seeking the Lord for.

Now, I hear some would say, "Pastor, I I just don't have great faith." And I know you don't. I want you to say, I want you to hear hear me. Friends, I don't have a whole lot of faith myself. Our faith is is weak. Our faith is faulty. Our faith really has some holes in it. Here in Mark chapter 9, the scripture that was read, here was this father with this son who was convulsing and foaming at the mouth, bringing his son to the Lord and Jesus says to him, "If you can believe." And the man was honest. You see, God loves honesty.

God sees right through us anyway. And the man said, "Lord, I don't have a whole lot of faith. My faith is very weak. But if you can do anything." Now what I'm trying to say and what the Lord is trying to let us see here today, you can be saved only this morning. And you have enough faith to expect something good from God and to have it happen in your life. You don't have to have a a lot of faith to be a deep theologian. You can have this expectation of God, pray to Him, expect to Him, from Him, and it'll happen.

And look what God did for this young boy. This young man was healed because his father went to Jesus with a prayer and he prayed face to face with Jesus, and he asked, he expected. If he didn't expect anything, he wouldn't have taken the son to Jesus to begin with. And when the disciples couldn't do anything, he still kept expecting and he said, "They can't, but I'm going to believe that you can. But my belief and faith isn't very strong." But the son got healed, didn't he? You don't have to have a real strong faith. You just need to get to Jesus and to tell Jesus the problem and the circumstances.

Now, under point C, I want you to write down the word "managing the journey." Managing. A is life, B is root, C is managing. Now here's how to manage the journey. Write down the word Psalm 46 verse 10. Psalm 46:10 which says, "Be still and know that I am God." Be still. Stop arguing with God. Stop grumbling. Stop blaming the church or the pastor or the choir or Just shut up!

You didn't know I could do that, didn't you? Just be still, you know. Just be quiet a minute. I mean, people have so much to tell me, you know. They got to tell the pastor. Their mouth never shuts up for the pastor to tell them something or to speak. They already have all the answers. They already know. And consequently, the joy isn't there. I mean, God is saying, "Hey, you talk and talk and talk and talk. Be still. Be still, just a moment. Be still. Be still."

Be still and then you will have an experience of knowing something that you don't know right now. You will know God and the power of God. Instead of talking so much and complaining so much, pray a little bit. Take it to the, come on. Someone said, "I want to see the pastor, I'm upset." Did you tell Jesus you're upset? You tell Him, then you tell me. But because by the time you get back to me, you won't be upset anymore.

You know, God wants to you to know that He is God and He will reveal His godliness and His God power to you and me when we take these problems to the Lord. We're always looking for the somebody to fix it for us. We always have to tell somebody. We need to go to the Lord and tell the Lord what the problem is. We don't have such a good relationship with the Lord. But this is what the scripture says and do you know what? I believe it.

I believe when He says, "Be still and then you will know the mighty power of answered prayer." When you're still before the Lord. Now, I know there there are people today who are really going through some hard places and difficult times and you will. Don't forget the message this morning that I'm preaching to you. Please don't forget it. It's the Word of God to you because He loves you and He wants to help you and to work in your life.

Be still and know. Now, some parents will will will will have difficulty with their children. I don't know of a parent who hasn't had some discipline problems with children. That's part of growing up and a child becomes a discipline problem when that child begins to individuate and become his own person, her own person. They they test the parent's value system because it is the parent's and they're in the process of making it their own and they're going to make some mistakes along the way when they begin to test the the value system of the parents and the parent's faith, the parent's Christianity.

Remember it's the parent's faith and it's the parent's Christianity. A lot of children had no choice at all what church to go to. They just grew up. The somebody dedicated them and they're in the church. Now, they're starting to grow up and they're starting to question. That doesn't mean they're going to be an atheist or a communist or an unbeliever. That means they're a person. And I pray for the parents. It's hard on parents. I went through it. Caron and I went through it very severely with both of our children, and more so with our son than with our daughter.

And he's what 32 now, right? 35! I just need to get on with preaching, shouldn't I just? He's 35 years old. I knew that! I just forgot. We visited him this this past week and no, just a few weeks ago and his wife and two children. And that boy stopped coming to church while I was pastoring here. Most a lot of you people remember my son, Jack. And we go to the table. They have have prayer together. They go to a church and this past Sunday they one was serving. My son, Jack, was serving as an usher and his wife was serving as a greeter.

And she goes to the church during the week and she volunteers her time. She has a job. The daughter-in-law has a job, but she'll go to the church and she'll give a couple of hours each week and folding bulletins and getting involved in the church. And they have these children and the youngest one, I better be careful on this one, how old's the youngest one? 15 months. 15 months. You know, to have a 15 month at home and you have a full-time job plus you could take time to go to the church. And those kids are growing up knowing the Lord. They have Bible books for them, they read them.

Now, my son really rebelled. I mean, he wasn't just a bad boy. Well, he wasn't never a bad boy. He just went out and tested his dad's faith pretty pretty strongly. But I mean he he got involved and he was drinking and he was smoking and I mean he let his hair grow way way down and he had this big feather that he put in his ear and it came all the way down to his waist. I looked at him one day.

I mean I shave. Some of you men have beards, but I mean you keep it nice. You fellows look nice. I I mean I I used to talk to Phil Maz the barber about helping me, but he never helped me, so I don't have a beard. But my son now is very much a part of the church, loving God, serving the Lord, teaching at a at a community college and many's pastor, he wanted me to meet his pastor. "Dad, I want you to meet my pastor."

I mean, parents, it's going to be okay is what I'm trying to say. Expect expect things to get okay. Take it to the Lord. Talk to God, pray about it. Don't give up, but have expectation. God, when you pray to the Lord, God's going to work it all out and it's going to make it okay. God's going to do it and you have to have that expectation. See, but I as being pastor here, and I've gone through it and I know you parents are going through it. When a parent has when the parent's children become teenagers.

Now, I've been here going on 28 years. Let me tell you something. That's when the parents start coming to me and say, "Pastor, we've got to have a better youth program. Pastor, Pastor, we need a youth pastor." You know, and they'll start that with me. Now, I've gone through it and I'm not complaining to you. When my son hit the teenage years, I tried to find youth pastors. I did the the same thing. But after they go through, those parents sort of quiet down. You know, I don't. But then another family has some teenagers and here it goes all over again.

You'll be surprised how many of them have come to me through the years. And I don't blame them for doing that. I did the same thing. I did the same thing. But I'm here to say, God answers your prayers. God loves parents, and God's going to help you and to bring those children through. But remember this, parent, notice what it says here, "They make it a place of springs." Parents, you have some expectations of God, but God has some expectations of you.

Let me say that again. You have some expectations of God, but God expects you to keep up your prayer life, your spiritual life, train up a child. You can't wait till that child's a teenager and start having a family alter. You can't do that. One young mother went to the pastor and she said, "You know, I want to get married and I want to have children someday. How old do you think the child should be before I start bringing that child to church?" And the pastor said, "You need to start bringing that child to church 20 years before it's born."

You develop the habit. You develop the spirituality. Don't expect your kids to be more than you are. This is what he is saying. You make it a valley. You make it a valley of springs. It'll happen to you. What about the marriage? A lady I talked with, just such a kind lady told me, she said, "Pastor, last year, divorce was on my lips. Divorce was on my husband's lips." She said, "But things have changed." See, you have to expect things to change. When you pray, expect things to change. But most people are expecting things to change, but they're not praying and they're not putting much effort into it themselves.

You've got to make it a Valley of Springs. You've got to make your marriage and home a refreshment, a spiritual refreshing time. And she said to me, she said, "It is like we're on a on a honeymoon right now." She said, "It's like being on a honeymoon." She said, "He tells me he loves me. He takes me out on dates." She doesn't know when it just exactly when it started happening, but she this woman prayed, she comes every Sunday to the house of God, and she said it it happened and it is wonderful.

And she said, "I just wanted to stop by not to bellyache to you, but to tell you that God has done great things. God has done great things." You see, she did her part. She made it a Valley of Springs. She stayed sweet. How did she stay sweet? She got her energy and strength from the Lord. She humbly waited on God and she expected God to do something and expectations has the has the the ability to bring toward you that which you are expecting.

You have to cooperate with God. You and God make the miracle happen. God doesn't do it without you. You certainly can't do it without Him, but you and God together makes the impossible possible. Amen. Now, I'm going to tell you one more story. A man was having a financial problem years ago. His name is Earl. That is truly his first name. He lives in one of the southern states. We were just trying to buy this piece of property here.

And Earl came by. Earl was doing fine in the business world. And this piece of property, nine and a half, 10 acres, he he came by and he looked at it with me. I said, "This is where I believe that God wants the Largo Community Church to be. I believe in my heart the Lord has led us to this place." And Earl looked over the land, we walked all the way back through the weeds. And Earl is a little bit younger than I am. He said, "I'll give you a thousand dollars."

Now, 28 years ago, a thousand dollars was a big big piece of money. It's a lot of money right now. But Earl fell on hard times. And what happened to Earl was that things went went down, really went down for Earl. And he he lost just about everything. Well, he he finally did. But Earl was one of these yo-yo type Christians. He was up when he was up. He was up when he was down, he was down. And one day he called me and he said, "Pastor Morris," he said, "I I want to come over." He lived over in Virginia at the time. He said, "I want to come over. I want to pray I want you to pray with me."

He said, "I'm in a terrible situation." He said, "I'm on the verge of losing everything." Just on the verge of losing everything. He said, "My wife and daughter are just about ready to go." And he said, "And I'm I'm about to lose my house." Well, I was shocked. I was shocked because Earl has always been rather successful and in in the business world. He came over and we prayed. We prayed sincerely and we expected the Lord to do something. Well, God did. You see, when you pray, when you take matters to the Lord in prayer.

When you stop saying, "Why did this happen? Where is God?" No, you get down before him and you say, "God is right here right now to answer my prayer and to help me. He'll help me do what I can't do for myself." Well, God blessed Earl. I mean, God started blessing him and he stopped coming to church. Just stopped coming to church. Well, to the church he was going to. One day I got a call from him again. He said, "Pastor," he said, "I'm down at the Washington Hilton at a convention." He said, "Basically, the big business deals were just about ready to take place."

He said, "I I need some guidance." He said, "Can you come down here and and talk with me?" And I went down and I talked to and he gets out a big notebook and his pencil. We got in the lounge. And business people everywhere. He said, "Give me some ideas. Give me some ideas. What do you think I need to do?" And he he he was all ready. And I looked at him and said, "Earl, where are you going to church?" Well, he didn't want me to say that. "Well," he said, "you know, business," he said, "and my family and business and I just."

"Earl, how are you doing spiritually?" Yeah, I saw the pencil just sort of dwelt. I said, "Earl, I can't tell you, I'm I'm not a not that kind of a businessman. But I can help you to know the Lord and I can help you to get back to where you used to be. And you know it already without me ever even telling you." And Earl put his head down and he shook. He said, "I said, Earl, go back to church, get back to the house of the Lord. Get God back into your family. You have to start with getting God back into your life, back into your your family, back into your business."

Earl was making big money. I mean, when we prayed here that time, Earl I I heard that Earl by his own testimony, he told a friend of mine who came back to me that he he became worth personally over three million dollars. He then took that money and he invested it in a in a in construction and the construction went defunct and he lost everything. I mean, he lost everything. God gave it all to him and then he forgot God. Then he ignored God. "I have done this by my own hands."

And he lost everything. To the extent that his wife told him to get out of the house. Earl left the house and Earl told this story that he said, "For months, I found an abandoned house and there's where I slept at nights." Now, here's this multi-millionaire. I know him. He gave a thousand dollars here. He prayed with me back there. And today Earl's back to the Lord. But his family's gone. Yes, he's back to the Lord. But he never got his business and his money back.

But I'm happy to say that Earl said to my friend, who just gave me the word yesterday. The friend told me yesterday, who knows Earl and was one of Earl's business partners. He said, "Earl tells me that he's happier than he's ever been in his life." He he's more broke than he's ever been in his life too. You you see, God will take you back. God will help you back. But but when you lose it, he lost his family, he doesn't get his family back. He lost his wealth, he doesn't get his wealth back.

Now, he got his salvation back and he got his joy back. He's serving the Lord, he's going to church and he's happier by his testimony than he's ever been in his life. And I am so happy for him. But friend, again, we expect things from God, but God expects something from us also. We we're not free riders. God says, "Together. With God all things are possible." With your children, with your business, with your marriage, with your spouse, with God all things are possible, which simply means man and woman cooperating with God.

When you cooperate with God, God more than cooperates with you. You see, the when we started this church some years ago, a lot of years ago now, those of you who went through the membership class, you may remember the motto that we chose for the Largo Community Church. I wonder how many of you do remember the motto. William Carey, the missionary to India, in the year 1792, he went to India and he labored as a shoecobbler to pay the bills. He was not a supported missionary as we send money and support missionaries today.

He was like the Apostle Paul. Paul was a tentmaker and Paul said, "I, you know, I bring in my own money. I don't have churches sending me money. I work and I earn it myself." And this man went to India, William Carey. And when I and Caron teaches the membership class and those of you who have gone through it, matter of fact, is it next week or this week there's an announcement in there about there's coming up a membership class very shortly. William Carey's motto was, "Expect great things from God, semicolon, attempt great things for God."

Say that with me, "Expect, expect great things from God, attempt great things for God." That's been the motto of the Largo Community Church. That's pretty much the the the business acumen that I have. I'm not a businessman, I'm a believer. I believe in God and I believe what I read in the word to be factual. I believe we can still walk on water. I believe, I believe in Him. And if you believe in Him for your marriage, for your business, for your children, for your parents, whatever it is, expect a blessing to come. Pray and expect a blessing to come. And you and God together will make it happen. You will help God in creating that miracle to happen in your family, in your life.

Expect a blessing. Now, I'm going to bow with you in just a moment. And I I know as sure as I'm standing here, the Holy Spirit is speaking to me. There are there are people here this morning, you have not prayed about situations that are bothering you, hurting you, hurting your marriage, hurting your family, hurting your children. The Holy Spirit had just told me that you're His people, you people here. But you haven't even asked Him yet. Not I mean from a sincere heart, really coming down before the Lord and saying, "God, I thank You for saving me and washing me in the blood of Jesus. All my sins are gone. I thank You for putting my name in heaven in the Book of Life.

I I thank You for being my God. I thank You for walking with me through the Valley of Baca, the Valley of weeping, the Valley of lamentation, the Valley of sorrow, and I'm in that valley today, Lord." I mean, you haven't really sincerely gotten down before God. These one and two sentence prayers, God's not going to have time to get to your heart. And some of us haven't even done that. And yet you are so loved of God, and God so yearns to help you.

He's not telling me to embarrass you, He's telling you He wants to help you, but you have to ask. You have to expect. You have to believe. Let that be the motto, not of the Largo Community Church. God has blessed and prospered this church. But we we may be right now on the verge of forgetting that motto. We're trying to do something over here, but there's not a whole lot of enthusiasm or input. And if we forget God, if we stop believing, if we stop expecting.

If we stop asking, the scripture says, "Knock, seek, ask." If we if we shut down and we say, "Look, look at us. I'm comfortable. Everything always works out all right. Pastor will see to it." No, I can't. I'm just you, you're just me. You and I need to expect great things from God and attempt great things for God. You do it. You do that, then God will do what He's supposed to do. It'll happen every time. It's not difficult. It's just coming down before the Lord.

Narrator: What an encouraging conclusion to this series. No matter what valley you may be walking through today, God has not forgotten you. He calls us to keep trusting, keep praying, and keep expecting His goodness. The Lord is able to turn seasons of sorrow into testimonies of His faithfulness. If these messages have strengthened your faith, we invite you to visit thehealingword.com. There, you'll discover a wealth of biblical teaching, uplifting devotionals, and free resources to encourage your daily walk with Christ. If you have a burden in your heart, let us know. Our prayer team counts it a privilege to pray for every request we receive. The Healing Word is a viewer-supported ministry, made possible through the prayers and generous gifts of friends who share our passion for proclaiming Jesus Christ. If God has used this ministry to bless your life, we invite you to prayerfully consider becoming a ministry partner so that together we can continue taking the gospel to people across our nation and around the world. Until next time, may the Lord richly bless you, keep you close to Himself, and fill your heart with His peace. Thank you for joining us on The Healing Word.