Good morning. God bless you. This is Jeremiah Johnson with Good News in the Morning, and I just want to greet you today, and I want to remind you that God loves you and that the cross was an absolute success, and God is for you. God's on your team. God's on your side. All the good stuff, man. All the good stuff. I hope you had a great Christmas. I know that this will air the day after Christmas on December 26th. And I hope that you did have a good Christmas. And I just want to encourage you, you know, regardless of how your Christmas went, whether it was amazing or whether it was challenging or whatever. I know that sometimes in the holidays, man, there can be like this pressure for everything to be good and everything to be happy. And I understand that. And it's so important in these moments to begin to see things from an eternal perspective. You know, for me, like this is going to be the second year that, where I don't have my, my mom is not on earth during Christmas. And so I know that that is, it's been a, you know, a challenge, you know, it's a, it's a different world on the other side of your mother, you know, passing. And of course, you know, you guys have heard me share testimony of all the stuff that me and my mom went through and, and a lot of challenges and stuff like that. But, you know, I love my mom, you know, and I know that she's healthy and strong and happy in heaven. But it's another Christmas without her. And so for many of you, I know that Christmas can be difficult and hard. And for some people and for other people, it's not. It's just this absolute joyous thing. But I just, regardless of whether it was absolutely awesome or if it was a challenge. I just want you to understand that to look at things from an eternal perspective and And from just a heavenly perspective, because everything, you know, that happens down here, it's finite, man. It's short term, you know, and whatever you're going through, it has the ability to work for you a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Whatever challenges you're facing, whatever you got going on in your life, if you're having a hard time or, you know, or you're going through challenges, just remember like this life isn't the only life. There is another life, and there is a life that is coming that death will no longer have dominion over. You know, death is the last enemy to bow its knee. Death will be swallowed up in mortality. And with death being swallowed up, it's, you know, all the ramifications of death, aging and sickness and lack and, you know, all these things, you know, it's not going to last forever, you know. And eventually God will establish his kingdom and it will be completely established and we'll have a king and we won't deal with any type of lack or poverty or not enough or, sickness or disease or separation or death any longer. And the Bible says that he'll dry every tear and that we'll live in this eternal state of joy and love and purpose. And so whatever you're going through down here, and we have, man, we have challenges. I mean, we do and understand that. But I think that if you can develop a mindset of this and to understand that your greatest opportunities of growth are in times of adversity. If we can develop that mindset, it's not an automatic mindset. It's something you have to develop. But if we can look at that, even our struggling times, that God will be with us in the valley. God will be with us in those times of struggle. And if we draw near to him, he'll teach us how to overcome. But the key is not to be offended at God. That's a huge thing. It's not God's fault when bad things happen. He's just not like that. He's not a God that is in partnership with death and destruction and misery and pain and evil. He's just not. Jesus said, pray that God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven. In heaven, God's will is being perfectly done. There's no death. There's no poverty. There's no lack. There's no sickness. There's no disease. There's none of those things. And we are in contention for the will of God to happen on earth. And we do that through prayer. We also do that through renewing of our mind. when we change the way we think, when we have repentance and we allow ourselves to align with truth and we can prove the perfect will of God in the earth and, you know, in our own lives and all these types of things. And so don't get offended at God. Like I'm not upset at God because my mom's not on earth anymore. I mean, that's a part of, of, of, of what happens down here, you know, and it's, it's a hard life and it's a hard life for everybody, for the believer, for the unbeliever. You know, you can just watch the news. It's a challenging, it's a challenging place. But, and I'm saying all of these things, like, don't get offended at God because something happened. Because I'm telling you, God didn't do it. And his will for it now, his will for you is healing and wholeness. And he'll take what the enemy meant for evil and he'll turn it for good, no matter what it is. And in these moments of adversity, when we're going through hard times, whether we're emotionally. Struggling with depression or sadness or whatever that we're dealing with, if you can draw near to the Lord, then you can learn that there is growth and development in that place of adversity and there's strength for you in the battle. The difference between Joshua and Caleb and the other 10 spies when they were going into the promised land is Joshua and Caleb were wrecking a couple of differences, but, they reckon, I said, the giants are bred for us. In other words, everyone else was scared of the giants. Joshua and Caleb saw the giants as an opportunity to feed, to eat, to grow, right? And that's the type of attitude that you want to learn how to take with your challenges and your adversity is to understand that in this moment, there's an opportunity for growth and development. You know, when Samson killed the lion, there was honey in the carcass of the lion, you know, in the challenge, in the trouble, in the storm, there was sustenance. There was something to feed him. You know, once again, Joshua and Caleb, they said, the giants are bred for us. And when you can begin to develop this understanding, then no matter what this world throws at you, you recognize that it's just opportunity for growth. It's just opportunity for development. If I can draw near to the Lord, if I can get his grace and his strength in this situation, then I can have growth and I can have development. And then you stop taking things so personal and we just start to see things the way that God sees things. And that'll help you, give you an eternal perspective on things. And then it'll also give the opportunity to access strength in the midst of that. And if you're really down, what I'm saying is you're probably not enjoying what I'm saying. You know, you're like, man, Jeremiah, what are you talking about, man? Like this trouble is going to feed me. What are you talking about? Well, you know, then I'll, I'll, I'll switch gears a little bit and I'll say it like this. Hope. Hope, hope, hope, hope, hope. Hope will restore vision in times of trouble. Hope is the positive expectation of good. In the Greek is the word elpis, and it means I am positively expecting good to come. And what it does is it gives you a vision for a change in the future. And when we get hopeless, all of our vision is everything's going to be bad, it's going to stay bad, or my best days are behind me. And that's not true. The scripture declares that he is the God of all hope and that he will comfort us in the midst of loss. He will comfort us in the midst of challenge. And if we draw near to him and allow him to open the eyes of our understanding, then we can see the way that he sees. Because I promise you, if you're going through a challenging time, God has great things for you and your future. Okay? Seasons change. We come around the corner. We come around the bend. We step into the next place of victory, the next place of breakthrough in our lives. And then, of course, we'll have our next opportunities for challenge as well. He never promised us that we would have a life without trouble. There's no place in the scripture where it promises that. Earth is a place that's filled with trouble, but it's also filled with opportunity to overcome together with your God. This is your only shot to do this. You don't get to do this in the next life. Eventually, there'll be no more enemy, and we will never have an opportunity to co-labor together with our God to overcome our enemy and his enemies together. This is our only shot to do this. And so we really, if we look at it properly, we can relish these opportunities to work together with God to overcome, to win these battles. Battles are not forever. They're short-lived. And so enjoy them while you got them. And I know that sounds like a crazy thing to say, but honestly, you're just not going to have this chance again to fight together with God. You know, and, you know, eventually we're going to be spending our, you know, our eternity with all those that have passed on before us and family members. And, and, you know, we'll be able to sit down and talk to King David and talk to Moses and talk to Abraham. And, you know, we're all going to share our stories, you know, and the things we're probably going to talk about is our challenges is in, in when us and God together overcame, you know, talk to Moses, and say, man, what was it like when you were standing there and, you know, the Egyptian army was chasing you down and there you were. And then all of a sudden, you know, you called out upon the name of the Lord, you raise your staff and then bam, the waters parted, right? And so, you know, we're probably not going to be talking about Moses's perfect day where everything was great. And, you know, he was out playing with his kids and the shepherd's pasture or whatever. We're going to be talking about when all hell broke loose and him and God together conquered something, You know, water coming out of the rock and man from heaven and David beating Goliath and all these things. And so, you know, we may not be splitting the Red Seas or fighting literal giants, but we have our own challenges. And if we'll invite God into those places and recognize that every battle has an expiration date, it's not going to last forever. And if we'll allow God to restore hope, then things will change and they'll be good. And then we'll have a story to tell. We'll have a testimony to give when we're in heaven and we're seated at the marriage supper of the Lamb and all this stuff is wrapped up. We'll have something to talk about, right? Moses would be like, well, tell me about you, man. What did you go through? How did God come through for you? I was like, well, you know, and then we can all share. And so I think that sometimes when we can have more of a heavenly perspective, we'll on life itself, it will help us to endure these times of tribulation and challenge that seem like they're lasting forever, but are really only going to last for a time. Weeping may endure for the night, but there's joy in the morning. And so I felt strongly led to now pray for you. So Father, I just thank you. I thank you for those that are listening to this, whether they're listening to it on the radio or podcast, whatever way that they're hearing my voice, Lord, I thank you. There's no sound. There's no time or distance in prayer. And Father, I just thank you that by your spirit, you overshadow them with your strength. Lord, that you restore hope, that those broken places, those broken dreams, the weeping that seems like it will endure beyond the night and just last forever. I thank you, Lord, that you comfort those places of hurt and heartbrokenness and even bitterness and pain. And that you would, I thank you that by your grace, that hope will begin to flower again in their hearts and that they would begin to dream again, to have vision for the future. That they would know that their best days are not behind them, but their best days are in front of them, that you know the thoughts that you have towards them to give them a future and to give them a hope, that you are the lifter up of their head, that you are the strengthener of their physical body, that you are the strengthener of their hearts, that you supply their needs, Lord God, that you take care of them, you supply for them, that you are a God who will comfort and strengthen and help in time of need. And Lord, I just thank you that you raise them up and you strengthen them and you give them a purpose and that, Lord, you just restore to them the joy of their salvation. Help them to remember that this life is not the only life, that there is another life and that heaven is vibrant with life and existence. Those of their loved ones that may have passed on, that they're doing well in heaven. And Lord, just help us to see through the veil. Help us to know that there is something beyond what we're currently experiencing. Lord, I just thank you that in their hearts that you help them to turn the page, that there be a fresh place of hope on the inside of them, that their vision and their hearts would be restored, that you would strengthen them and that you would give them newness of life. I thank you, Father, a spring in their step and that gratitude and help would be restored to them that they'd begin to be thankful for all the times where you came through and know that you are gonna do it again. In Jesus's name, amen.
