Confess your sins to one another and pray for one another that you may be healed. That's James five sixteen, and this is destined for victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd. Up next, we'll share his message. Deal with how you feel, but first, there's an important conversation I once had with Pastor Paul that just might help you get to know our mission and purpose a little better. I asked him what he would say to you, our listening friends and partners, about the power of partnership, and here's what he had to say.
I want them to know your partnership is very, very important and necessary. When you think about it, starting way back, I'm thinking about Moses. He could not have been Moses without the partners God gave him. God raised up Joshua. The Bible called Joshua Moses' minister before it called him God's minister.
And Joshua was one of those key people. Aaron, his brother. Was one of his key partners. Every man or woman of God since then, all the way into, of course, when you get to the ministry of Jesus, Jesus Himself required partnership. Isn't that amazing that the God Man needed partners?
He took Peter, James, and John farther into the Garden of Gethsemane, and He said, "Just stay here and watch with me." And He cried and poured out His heart. To get ready for that moment when he would lay down his life for us, and he needed that partnership. He had Peter, James, and John. He also had Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Then, when you look at the apostles, there is no Paul without Timothy, without Silas, without Barnabas, and on and on.
All of us need partners.
So the bottom line is, I'm so grateful for every man, woman, boy, and girl who has become a part. For our ministry, so you can keep on providing this platform, so that we can reach even more people for the Lord Jesus Christ. If you share our vision for reaching people with the saving message of Jesus Christ, I hope you'll prayerfully consider partnering with us today. When you make that commitment for as little as twenty dollars a month, we'll send you a few thank you gifts, including one of our most popular CDs, "The Best of Let My People Smile." Now, this. Pastor Paul is absolute best, and two things we know for sure: you will learn and you will laugh.
We're not sure which one you do more of. Call 855-339-5500 to find out more about how to become a Destined for Victory partner. Make your pledge over the phone or mail your gift to Destined for Victory, Post Office Box 1767, Fremont, California 94538. And you can also become our partner from our website, PastorPaul.net. If you can't become a partner but would like to send a generous gift to the ministry today, we'd love to.
You our latest booklet, "A Miracle in the Midst of Madness." For more information on this great new resource, please stop by PastorPaul.net. The second principle then is to allow others to know how you feel.
Now, here's where some of us mess up because you might admit to God because you understand that He already knows you anyway. But the second principle from Scripture is allow others to know how you feel. You may have no trouble being honest with God about where you are. After all, you're not telling Him anything He hasn't already known. But what about being transparent with a few trusted brothers and sisters and Christ, on today's "Destined for Victory" with Pastor Paul Shepard, you'll see that being honest with others is not only beneficial; it's biblical.
And although it may be a difficult step to take, it's crucial to our growth as believers in Christ.
So, let's get started with today's "Destined for Victory" message. Deal with how you feel. Deal with how you feel. Life has put you on a roller coaster, and you know that in life, after highs come lows.
So you have to watch the day after syndrome, or you have to watch the season after syndrome. If you go through a high season, everything is going good. You got to be careful because there's another season coming. It's the way life balances itself out. You can't stay high all the time.
So a low is coming, and Elijah, when his low hit the next day, the man went from calling down fire and being spiritually cocky. To running from one woman, Jezebel put out a contract on him. My man got scared and took off.
Now here's what I want you to know: when he ran away, the Bible says his servant was with him in the early part of the trip. Then he told his servant at a certain point, "Stay here," because he wanted to be absolutely alone. He's feeling isolated emotionally, and he wants to be physically isolated from everyone. And so he takes off and goes a day's journey, and sits under a tree. And we're told there in First Kings nineteen and prays that he might die.
See, some of us have been there, and your emotions have you at a place where you just say, "Lord, I just please just get me up out of here. Let me go hang out with you the rest of my life." That's where he was. That's not what he needed. He didn't need to die.
So God, knowing him, knew what he needed. Bible says he fell asleep under the tree. When he woke up, you who know the story, you know what happened. What did God do? God didn't zap him with a fresh anointing of the Holy Spirit because that wasn't the felt need of that moment.
What did God do? God let him get a good sleep, and then an angel tapped him, woke him up. And when he woke up, he's in the wilderness now, showing you how much God loves you and how much He'll provide for you if you'll admit to where you really are. He wakes up to find water and hot bread in the wilderness. God cooked the man some bread.
That's how much He loved him. Gave him water and bread to strengthen him because the journey God said to him is too much for you. You can't operate on empty, and so the Lord fed him, and let him go back to sleep. Let him rest his body. Let him eat.
Let him recover and recuperate until he could run on with some strength. See, sometimes your problem isn't spiritual.
Sometimes your problem is you're dishonoring natural law. You're dishonoring the fact that your mental faculties have a limit. You can't take but so much.
Some of you are crabby and irritable. You just need to change environment. Go somewhere and see that God is bigger than your messed up world right now. That things don't look as bleak as they look in your world. You've got to get somewhere, see something else, talk to some other folks.
Get away from the same old, same old. And so we have to admit, Lord, here's where I am, so that we can get the help that we need. Admit to your feelings. The second principle then is to allow others to know how you feel.
Now, here's where some of us mess up because you might admit to God because you understand now from His Word that He already knows you anyway.
So, okay, Lord, I admit, here's the way I feel. But the second Principle from Scripture is allow others to know how you feel. James chapter five tells you confess your sins to each other. See, not to God in that moment. It says confess your sins.
Verse sixteen of James five, to each other and collectively pray for each other, so that you may be healed. What is he getting at? It's not enough for you to tell it to God. Why? Because God so designed the body that we are to bear one another's burdens.
And some of us need to understand this principle that the sign of spiritual growth and maturity is not spiritual independence. In fact, let me shock you: when you are spiritually independent, when you operate without a felt need and a need that's being addressed of reaching out to the body of Christ, you are proving your spiritual immaturity. See the Bible. Says that we depend on each other. We confess our sins to each other, and we pray for each other.
Then, over in First Corinthians chapter twelve, you see why that's so. You see that you're told things like verse fourteen of First Corinthians chapter twelve: the body is not made up of one part—that's you—but of many. That's others that you need to surround yourself with. Skip down to verse twenty-one. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you," and the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you." On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are really indispensable.
And the parts that we think are less honorable, we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty. Why is that? Because you need every part of your body.
So if it's unpresentable part, you still need it. You just cover it up and address its felt needs. But you need the entire body. A big eye rolling around—that's science fiction. There's nothing healthy, normal, right about that.
So what are you doing? Trying to operate in the world, not telling people where you are, not reaching out to find the help and the grace that God would give you through other parts of the body. You're proving your immaturity, because the book says the body is meant to support itself in love. Verse 25 of First Corinthians 12: There should be no division in the body. Not just talking about doctrinal issues, but dividing yourself from others when you need them, separating yourself from people that you really need to reach out to.
It says there should be no division, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. Verse twenty-six: If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part rejoices with it. We are connected. See, there are three stages of emotional development and spiritual development.
The first is dependent. We all start out dependent, both emotionally and spiritually. Emotionally, you start out dependent. A baby comes into the world, doesn't know who he or she is. They don't have a sense of self worth, self esteem, anything.
They need you to give them everything.
So it is a very you oriented stage. You tell me you love me. You affirm me. You coo. You laugh in my face.
You giggle. You kiss me a hundred times. See, that's the baby needing you. Doesn't know who he or she is until you tell him. I love you.
Oh, you're so special. Oh, you're so wonderful. Oh, and you do that spiritually when you come to faith in Christ. The body of Christ has to help you understand. We love you.
God loves you. He has a plan for your life. You are going to be marvelous in His plan. He's going to do great things through you. We've got to tell you that you don't know it till you get into the Word, until you get into the body.
And have truth spoken to you, so that you can develop a spiritual self-image. That's what the Bible means when it says, "Grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ." You got to know Him, and you got to know who you are in Him. And your time in the word and in prayer, and your time with the body, helps you to develop in those early stages, emotionally and spiritually. We start out dependent. It's a you-oriented stage.
You help me. You preach the word to me. You give me what I need. But if you're growing properly, you move from that stage to independence. That's the second stage of both emotional and spiritual development.
Independence, where you have now internalized the messages.
Now, some of us have to deal with how we feel because, even emotionally, in our dependent stage, our parents didn't do their job. They put all the wrong things in you. Told you you were worthless, you were no good, and all of that sent you negative messages that God reinforced through other people, dysfunctional people around you, and so you were handicapped because God gave you parents to build you up and to show you who you were, to teach you and train you in the fear and admonition of the Lord. If they had done that right. You would have been emotionally, psychologically prepared to grow up in a normal fashion.
But here is the wonderful thing about being in Christ: even if my parents blew their job, in Christ I become a new creature. And so what happens now is the Holy Spirit has a way of saying no, no, no, no. All of those things they told you were lies.
Now here's my word. Here's who I say you are. And when I say you're that, don't take the word of somebody who didn't know what they were talking about.
So when God redefines you through His Word, then the body of Christ is supposed to be part of that process.
So you come to them with your brokenness. You come to people with here's where I messed up and here's. Why? And let them see the pain that you're dealing with. God designed the body so it can handle that.
You don't have to be ashamed of who you are. We can handle who you are, because if the truth be told, there's a whole lot of people in the body who were who you are and worse. And so we're not going to look down on you, and we're not going to make you feel horrible about yourself. We're going to cover you in love. And begin to walk you through the stages of emotional and spiritual development, because your new creation in Christ allows for you to become whole, no matter what brokenness you've come from.
You're listening to Destined for Victory with Pastor Paul Shepherd, and we're only about halfway through today's message, so stay with us. One of the things we love to do for friends and listeners like you is to pray for you when you're in need.
So if you do have a prayer request, please visit PastorPaul.net and use that contact feature to share it with us. Our ministry team is always happy to lift you up in prayer. And of course, when you stop by our website, remember that's where you can listen to any of our recent messages on demand. Pastor Paul. dot net.
God is always up to something good in your life. He wants to take you to a place of emotional and spiritual maturity. To see what that looks like, let's listen to the rest of today's "Destined for Victory" message. Deal with how you feel. You have great hope.
You have great promises in God, and so you get to independence—that place where you've internalized, "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I do know that God will supply all of my needs. I do know that if I put first His kingdom and His righteousness, all the things I need will be at it. I know some things. You move from the you stage where you tell me till the I stage. I know it.
Even in children development, it's normal. You see them move to that stage where now they want to button their clothes themselves, independence, and you're supposed to encourage that as a parent. Don't treat them like a baby all their life. Come here. You don't know what you're doing.
No, no, no, no! Let them do it. Let them do it. It's a normal, natural stage. They might have it buttoned wrong.
Let them try. Let them try to tie their shoes as early as they can, and you make a big deal over it. You see them. You look at. You did that all by yourself.
See, that's what you do. You make a big deal over, and they stand there just beaming.
Now the thing's about to fall apart soon as they take a step. But you want to reinforce that independence because it's a natural stage. You call somebody from another room, honey. Come in here. Look at what this child did.
They run in. What? What? What? Look at him.
He tied his own shoe. You did that all by yourself. See, you make a big deal about it. Blow trumpets and all of that. It's a natural stage.
Same thing in the spiritual. But if you get stuck in independence, you'll become a selfish, no good person who eventually is messed up with no hope, because your selfishness has driven you into isolation. And the help is in the body. And so, the third stage of emotional and spiritual development: you go from dependent stage one to independent stage two to interdependent stage three. Spiritual maturity is found in interdependence.
Look at the Apostle Paul. All that anointing, all of that revelation, writing to all these churches, giving us God's word, being one of God's mouthpieces. But he knew who he was. He knew his strengths and his vulnerabilities, and so he would write these great letters, giving us great revelation, and then he ended by saying, "Brethren, pray for me." Why? I need you just like you need me.
I can't make it on my own. It's not like my anointing to minister covers every area of my life. In fact, many times having an anointing to minister makes you more vulnerable and more needy of other people to come and to support. Because when you do all that giving out, where's the replenishment going to come from? And Paul understood that, and you see him constantly saying in his letters, "Pray for me.
I need you. I need your prayers. I need your support." That's why it meant something to him when he writes like Second Timothy and says, "Here I am in jail, and Demas forsook me." I mean, that hurt because he'd spent his life giving out and ministering to people, and when others don't come through, sometimes it's really painful. And so you have to allow others to know how you feel. The body is designed for that.
You've heard me illustrated before with the toe. When you are walking in the darkness and you stub that last toe on the foot of the bed or on a chair, catches just that last toe. You know that feeling. For a moment, you think Jesus is coming again. I mean, everything just changes.
Lights appear in the dark room. Pain is indescribable. But the body rallies. What happens? Your other foot, the one that didn't get hurt, hops your back to the bed, so you can sit down, take the load off.
See what I mean? That other foot is there. I got you covered. Don't worry. Don't worry.
I got you. Hops your back, you fall back on the bed. Your mouth flies open to express what the toe can't say. Mouth flies open. You say, "Oh Lord, help me!" And before you got saved, you said some other things.
And since we're dealing with how we feel, some of us to go to God and say, "I still say some other things." I know I'm saved, Jesus, but but your mouth flies open to express how the toe feels. Then your hand reaches down, says, "I just want to be there with you," and your hand just rubs and your mouth moans. Your backside supports your weight, and the whole body gets in on the healing process.
So you got to allow others to know how you feel, and then finally, most importantly, you have to apply God's word to how you feel. See, ultimately, you want to understand that feelings sometimes are very legitimate, sometimes are very substantive, and other times their feelings are flighty and fluffy and lack substance. But they're still there, and they have to be addressed in some way. But whether you have feelings with great weight, issues that are very genuine. Or whether it's just a feeling you need to shake and get over, the word speaks to it all.
God gave us His word. Psalm one nineteen says, "Thy word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my pathway." Now here's what you got to understand: when David writes this, of course, he doesn't write in a day where you can flick a switch and get light. He writes in a day where the only way to get light is to have fire. And you have to have that fire and place it on a torch, or place it in a lamp. And what happens is, as you walk the darkness, there are no streetlights.
As you walk in the darkness, you have to have a lamp. Or even when you move, not only outside, it's true inside of a house. But let's say you're taking a walk outside at night in David's day when he says, "Lord, your word is like a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." What does he mean? He means unless I have that torch or that lamp out in front of me to show me whether this is a safe step, a right step, I'm in trouble. If I don't have the lamp, I'm subject to step on a poisonous snake.
If I don't have the lamp, I'm subject to step off a cliff. If I don't have the lamp, I will go. I'll step into thorns. I'll get myself caught in a snare, in a trap. But the lamp you put out in front of you.
See, some of you have your feelings out in front. You're living with your feelings out in front. Your feelings lead, and that's why some of us are in the messes we're in because our feelings are leading. And your feelings, haven't you figured it out by now? Leads you to the wrong place all the time.
Cause God didn't make us to live by our feelings. Feelings are to be dictated to by the spirit-controlled man or woman. And so, the Word of God—you put it out there and you apply it in every area of your life.
So, when I'm worrying, I admit I'm worrying. I allow others to know I'm worrying, so they can pray and support me. And then I allow the Word of God to speak to that area of worry. And what does it tell me when I come to it? It tells me the same thing every time I worry.
Philippians four six. Do not worry about anything, but what should I do, Lord? Pray about everything. It teaches you, and the body of Christ can help you learn how to submit through supplication and request with thanksgiving. Submit everything to God.
Get that stuff off of you and give it over to the Lord and trust Him. Learn to pray in faith. Learn to pray in confidence. Learn to believe Him. Take Him at His word, and when you do that.
You're given a promise. If I pray instead of worry, then God will give me a peace that passes understanding, and it will take me out of the worrying lifestyle. I have to apply the light of that truth, though, to the area of worry. If I continue to worry, when the Bible said pray, if I refuse to develop a prayer life, if I refuse to give things over to God, I will always get the wrong results. Because I must apply the light.
If you see that this step is dangerous, you stick the light out there and you take it anyway.
Well, you know what results you'll get. And so the world says crazy things like, "If it feels good, do it." No, no, no. You don't let feelings lead. If it feels good, check it out with the Word, and the Word will tell you there are some things that feel good, some things that seem right to a man, but the ends thereof, the ways of death. There are people with STDs, sexually transmitted diseases, right now because they did what they felt instead of what the word said.
Word said live in purity. They said, "Well, here's how I feel tonight. Luther's playing on the radio, and here's a willing partner. Feels good. Seems to me there's nothing wrong here.
Well, you don't let your feelings decide. You let the word, the light decide." And the word will teach you not only to resist, but the word will teach you to stay out of situations where you have to go through all those changes in the first place. When you get in the grips of temptation, that's a little late to be praying. What are you doing in that situation with Luther and the low lights and all this?
Now you're trying to figure out how you want to live. Little late. You can still get out, but it's a little late.
So the word will teach you how to stay out of compromising situations as you apply it. Thanks so much for being here with us for today's "Destined for Victory" with Pastor Paul Shepard. It's always a pleasure to study the Word of God with you. For more information about our media ministry, our purpose, our passion, and our people, please visit our website, PastorPaul dot net. That's PastorPaul dot net.
I come with a word for those of us who are dealing with a stormy situation. Could be a marital storm, could be a financial storm, could be an emotional storm. But God's gonna teach you some valuable lessons about who He is while you're going through your storm. That's tomorrow in our continuing message, "A Miracle in the Midst of Madness." Until then, remember, He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion in Christ. You are destined for victory.
