A Picture of Hope

Today I want to talk to you from Matthew chapter 5 and Ezekiel chapter 12, if you'll turn to both of those if you can so we can follow along together. The message is entitled A Picture of Hope, A Picture of Hope. Now Father, I thank you Lord God with all my heart.

I thank you for this season in which we're living. I thank you for the wonderful strength that you are willing to give to all of us as we turn to you with hearts that are full and assured with your goodness and your faith and your purpose for each of our lives. I ask you God with all my heart today for an anointing from heaven.

I ask you for the ability to speak and to hear, especially now God, would you give us as your people ears to hear and we thank you for it with all of our heart today. We praise you in Jesus name, amen. A picture of hope, Matthew chapter 5 beginning at verse 14.

You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. So who is the light of the world? You are.

Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your father which is in heaven. Now I once spoke a message in this church several years ago and it was called the final warning comes in pictures.

Some of you may remember that. It was a message about a society that when its people become so bonded to their sin that they're no longer able to hear the warnings of God about where it's leading them. That it's at this time that God begins to show them firstly the reasons why their coming judgment is just.

And secondly he shows them what their future without merciful intervention is going to look like. Now a textbook case of this is through the life of the prophet Ezekiel in chapter 12. God made this man a final picture to a nation that would soon be taken fully captive.

They were already partially captive. Babylonian empire was already coming in and they had begun the first and second of what would be a third. There was a coming third and final deportation and destruction of Jerusalem.

The only thing that was going to be left were a few poor people really to talk about the things that God had done and why he had done them. The people had become so hard that they couldn't hear the gospel anymore. Even those that were already captivated were still believing and they had prophets that were assembled to them to reinforce their erroneous viewpoint that the captivity was only temporary, that the best days were just ahead of them, etc., etc.

And they couldn't believe that their captivation was going to be a very, very lengthy one. And the people who were still back in Jerusalem were also erroneously believing that the testimony of God and the city of God as they had known it couldn't possibly ever be conquered in spite of their behavior, in spite of their rejection of God, their lifestyles. They just simply didn't believe.

And folks, it's important to us to understand these things because if you and I can see where we are today, then we'll begin to understand what our place is in this moment of time in which we're living. We could be living. We could be.

And I'm just going to throw it out as it could be to you so that nobody will turn me off today. But we could be living in a moment that is the final stage of America as we have known it. This nation is already... There's a captivity.

Folks, you realize there's a captivity happening right now in our society. It's dark. It's happening swiftly.

And there are still voices, of course, that are thinking, well, this is only temporary. It's all... It's going to be behind us soon. The biggest and the best is just ahead of us.

That's exactly what they were saying in Ezekiel's day. And so God established this man, Ezekiel, to be a picture. And I'm going to explain that to you in just a moment to the nation.

Chapter 12 of Ezekiel. It says, Now the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of man, you dwell in the midst of a rebellious house which has eyes to see but does not see, and ears to hear but does not hear, for they are a rebellious house. Therefore, son of man, prepare your belongings for captivity, and go into captivity by day in their sight.

You shall go from your place into captivity to another place in their sight. It may be that they will consider, though they are a rebellious house. Now here's the point.

They've come to the point, if you go back in the book of Ezekiel, you realize that God called this man in to prophesy at a time that nobody's going to listen to him anymore. They were so gospel-hardened, so entrenched in doing things in a certain way, the only thing left for God to do was put a picture, as it is, before the people. And it says, It may be that they will consider, and I thank God that we might be in a moment like that in this time now in which we're living.

Verse 4 says, By day you shall bring out your belongings in their sight, as though going into captivity. And at evening you shall go in their sight like those who go into captivity, dig through the wall in their sight, carry your belongings out through it in their sight. You shall bear them on your shoulders and carry them out at twilight.

You shall cover your face so that you cannot see the ground. In other words, Ezekiel, I want you to gather your belongings, dig a hole in the wall. I want you to do it in the daytime.

I want you to do it in the nighttime. I want you to show them that the people are going to go into captivity and there's going to be a time of shame. All the bravado, all the bold speaking, all the talk about rebuilding is going to come to nothing.

The people are going to be shamed in the sight of the whole world, really, at that time. And they're going to go into captivity and their faces are going to be bowed towards the ground. Verses 10 to 12.

Say to them, thus saith the Lord God, this burden concerns the prince in Jerusalem and all the house of Israel who are among them. In other words, it's going to be from the greatest to the least. Nobody's going to escape.

God said what I'm about to do and say, I am assigned to you as I have done. So shall it be done to them. They shall be carried away into captivity and the prince who is among them shall bear his belongings on his shoulder at twilight and shall go out.

They shall dig through the wall to carry them out through it. He shall cover his face so that he cannot see the ground with his eyes. Verse 24.

For no more shall there be any false vision or flattering divination within the house of Israel. For I am the Lord, I speak and the word which I speak shall come to pass. It will no more be postponed.

For in your days, O rebellious house, I will say the word and perform it, says the Lord God. Again, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, look, the house of Israel is saying, the vision that he sees is for many days from now. And he prophesies of times afar off.

Therefore say to them, thus said the Lord God, none of my words will be postponed anymore. But the word which I speak will be done, says the Lord God. When any people, any nation such as theirs and ours has determined to pursue sin and cast away the word of God, then once again, God himself being righteous in judgment will set pictures before us so that we may see what we have become.

You'll see this pattern in scripture. It's all through scripture. God says, you'll no more listen to me.

I can't warn you. I can't talk to you. I can't, I can't woo you.

I can't make you afraid. I can't do anything to cause you to turn from the course that you're on. So before I judge you, I'm going to show you what you are.

The final warning does come in pictures. Here in New York City, this month, we are erecting an archway to Baal in times, or Baal, as it's called in the Hebrew, in Times Square. If we were to put up a nativity scene in Times Square depicting a young couple cherishing a child of hope and peace, there would be a public outcry.

Undoubtedly, there would be demonstrations. It would occupy the media and possibly even our court system for days to come. People would say, this is offensive.

Get this out of our sight. Why would you consider offending us with such a display? It has no validity anymore in our season. However, erecting a monument to a temple founded on public lewdness, rampant immorality, sexual intercourse as an act of worship in public, coupled with the violent sacrificing of children is somehow heralded as culturally relevant and a very noble thing to do.

It's a picture, folks, of what we are. One writer that was writing about this says, well, we are an immoral society and we sacrifice our children just like they did, so why shouldn't that kind of an altar and archway be put up in Times Square? We look today at our political system, dysfunctional, lacking integrity, boastful, without true intelligence, direction, clear vision, morality, and civility. And even in this present election cycle, we get a chance to look at what we have become as a people, what we are.

Where's the statesman today? Where are those whose words cause our hearts to burn with a passion for truth or a returning to God? Be careful who you vote for, by the way. We won't tell you in this church who to vote for, but when you go into the voting booth, you have a tendency to vote for the person that looks the most like you. A friend of mine is voting for his next-door neighbor, he says he's the most honest man that I know.

False prophets giving smooth words, assuring peace to the undedicated and unprepared. As judgment approaches and the days grow darker, we have them abounding in America just like Israel did in their day. The biggest invest is just ahead.

No need to pray, no need to fast, no need to be concerned, no need to worry. Ezekiel chapter 13, verses 1 and 2, it says, the word of the Lord came to me saying, son of man, prophesy against the prophets of Israel who prophesy and say to those who prophesy out of their own heart, hear the word of the Lord. Verse 14, he says, I'll break down the wall you've plastered with untempered mortar and bring it down to the ground.

In other words, you'll build a false security, I'm going to bring it down and I'll bring it down to the ground so that its foundation will be uncovered. It will fall and you will be consumed in the midst of it and then you shall know that I'm the Lord. Thus will I accomplish my wrath on the wall and on those who have plastered it with untempered mortar and I will say to you, the wall is no more and those who plastered it, that is the prophets of Israel who prophesy concerning Jerusalem and who see visions of peace for her when there is no peace, says the Lord.

Verse 22, chapter 13, because with lies you have made the heart of the righteous sad whom I've not made sad and you've strengthened the hands of the wicked so that it is not turned from his wicked way to save his life. Therefore you shall no longer envision futility nor practice divination for I will deliver my people out of your hand and you will know that I am the Lord. Remember, the deliverance was going to come because of captivity and so we look at our nation today, I don't see much difference in the present society I'm in today than that society of that time and I want you to remember that the Lord says, I am the Lord, I do not change and the way God, we know how God deals with nations by studying the way he has dealt with nations.

As wonderful as this country has been, we will not be the exception on the earth. We've done violence to the word of God and we've done violence to the ways of God as a nation and there remains perhaps one final and one hopeful sign to whoever can still consider their ways in this darkened hour and in chapter 5 of Matthew in verse 14, it begins with the word you. You are the one final and hopeful sign for this generation.

You are. Not some new preacher, not some fancy church in a corner somewhere, you are. You are the light of the world.

You are a city set upon a hill that cannot be hidden. You are the one that God will put on a lampstand to give light to all who are in the house. You are the one who will be enabled by God if you choose to, to do things through your life that only he can do.

If you will let him raise you up, if you will let him separate you from what weakens you, if you will be a city set on a hill, that hill is Calvary. If you will let your heart be set on that hill and say, God, you sent your son and you died for the sake of others, would you help me, oh God, to escape living for myself? Would you help me to escape the self-consumption that's in this whole society? It's in the air, it's in the water, it's in our speech. It's in everything we've become.

Everything is about ourselves. Everything is about selfishness. Everything and you have allowed that picture to be literally posted before us so we can see what kind of altars we're worshiping at.

What kind of people we are considering as our leaders. What kind of prophets we're letting speak to us in the house of God and lead us astray and promise us false hope when we're sliding at an accelerated rate into an immoral social political abyss. God, would you help me? Would you raise me up? Would you put light in my eyes? Would you put passion in my heart? As the son of God was lifted up and not hidden on that hill, would you lift me up as a follower of Christ? Would you raise me up above the crowd? Would you put something inside of me that would set me upon that hill, that would make me a living demonstration of the Christ who went to a cross that none had to perish? The one who rose from the dead promises newness of life to everyone who turns to him.

God Almighty, would you lift me up above the masses around me and set my life on a hill? Would you light this lamp of your Holy Spirit inside of me and put me up on a lampstand? Would you give me courage to get this light out from under the places where it's been hidden that men and women don't see it? Would you begin to do works through my life that people would know that only God could do this? Would you speak through me in a way that only you can speak? Would you give me courage that could only come from God? Would you put love in my heart that I don't have? You and I are the final picture of the power and goodness of God to those who are choosing darkness in this day. We're the final picture. We're called to show them the way to where God can be found.

We're called to be lifted up for their sakes. No more living for ourselves. God will give us the power to escape it.

That as they did on the day of Pentecost, we'd have the courage to step out of that place of prayer. Folks, you've got to understand the historical context of Acts chapter 2. When they came out of that upper room, they were not behaving like fools in public, as some would try to have us believe. They walked out knowing most were going to die for what they believed in.

Many of them did die. They died in Roman arenas. They died from the sword.

But they were willing to be given for the sake of others around them, that people would not have to perish in their sin and could come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. You see, folks, we're at the point where an argument can no longer persuade people. Nobody cares anymore.

They don't care what you believe. They don't care what I believe. They don't care to hear it.

They don't want to hear it, and they can't hear it. And so the only alternative now is that we must become a visible demonstration, a picture, might I say, of who God is and what He can do to those whose hearts turn towards Him. Because mercy still triumphs over judgment.

A picture of what God can do. A picture of who God is. A picture of all that God promises.

A picture of what the temple, the modern-day temple of the Holy Spirit looks like. A picture of the supernatural. A picture of true worship.

A picture of statesmanship, might I say. A picture of morality. A picture of a singleness of focus.

What it really means to have a heart for other people. When the whole of society is running away and focusing on itself, a picture of not being afraid of the days ahead of us. Folks, you really have to be an ostrich not to be concerned in this generation.

Mad men are getting hold of nuclear weapons. How long do you think it's going to be before somebody unleashes one? And we should be especially concerned in New York, because every insane despot around the world in New York is their target. As Peter says, seeing these things should all be dissolved.

What kind of people should we be in all conversation and godliness? What kind of people should we be? We have no guarantee of tomorrow, folks. I love the picture in the book of Acts, chapter 27, when Paul was taken on this journey, and nobody would listen. He tried to tell them, you shouldn't take this journey, because it's going to result in the loss of life, potentially, and the loss of this vessel that's carrying us, and the cargo and everything else, and dreams and hopes and visions.

It's all going to be lost, but they wouldn't listen, and they relegated him to the belly of the ship among the prisoners. The type of a society that says, listen, we don't want to hear what you have to say. And so the scripture tells us that a storm came, and it was so fierce that they simply cast themselves to the wind.

They put up the sails, and they were just driven by the wind. It sounds like our generation now. We're just driven by the wind.

We have no direction anymore. We don't know what is right. We don't know what is wrong.

We don't know what is moral. We don't know what is immoral. We're casting off all restraint, and we're being driven now by the wind.

We're being driven by just the thoughts of man, and they can change week to week and day to day. And then finally, when the storm got to the point where everything seemed to be falling apart, and it had to be dark, because the scripture says, it was many days there was no light, so it was dark where Paul is. And I know for many of us, you fight in your mind.

It's dark, and you find yourself among those, like in Ezekiel's day. You sigh and groan for all the wickedness that's done in society. There's something even in your heart that says, God, I want out of here.

Would you just come and get us tomorrow? God, save my children and cause that angel to stand and blow that trumpet and let the dead in Christ rise and we who are alive and remain, let us be gathered. I want out of here. This world is falling apart.

Now, Paul was down in that ship, and there had to be something in his heart that just said, God, I don't know if I can take this anymore. I don't want to hear the news of what's going on above deck. I don't want any more reports coming down.

It's already dark enough here as it is. I don't want any more bravado talks talking about how we're going to make it. I just don't want to hear the news.

I don't want to hear how fierce the storm is or what sail is torn now or what mast is gone or what new strategy. They're coming up to get us through the storm. And so Paul, in the midst of it all, not knowing what else to do, he just began to pray, and when he began to pray, God began to speak to his heart.

God began to show him a future, and God began to place something inside of him. So finally, when that society he's part of, that little society of 276 people, starts to fall apart, and it looks like they're all going to drown, suddenly, somebody, I don't know, I suspect it was the captain of the ship, is saying, where is that man who told us we shouldn't take this journey? He claimed to have heard from God. I want to hear from him one more time.

You see, Paul was a man whose heart was set upon a hill. Paul was set upon being given for the sake of others. He did not live for his own comfort.

He did not live for his own survival, his own safety, his own retirement, his own future. And then suddenly, in this last moment of time, the people on that ship are given a picture of hope that a surrendered man of God had placed among them. Suddenly, as everyone is wringing their hands, nobody has a plan anymore.

All the bravado is gone. They don't know what to do. These are not novices.

They know the sea. They know the waves are so big, nobody could survive. Even trying to get to shore in your own strength is almost a virtual impossibility to do because of the undertow dragging back into the ocean.

But suddenly, when they would not hear the word of God, God places on the deck of that ship a picture. A picture of what we can become when Christ is at the center core of who we are and why we live and our reason to exist. Suddenly, on the deck of that ship is a confident man.

Listen to me, he tells them. If you listen to my voice, the ship is going to perish, but not one hair of your head will be lost. A confident man, a caring man.

Be of good cheer, he says. Doesn't chastise them, doesn't curse them out for what they've done, doesn't rub their noses in their failure. He just says, be of good cheer.

I have a word from God. And if you listen to this word from God, we're all going to make it. He's a forgiving man.

He was dragged along on this journey. No doubt mistreated, no doubt marginalized, pushed to the side, but he was a man with a forgiving heart because he was an ambassador of the one who went to a cross, who was set upon a hill, a man of vision. He saw a future when everything in the natural was falling apart.

He saw something that natural men don't see. He saw a day ahead. He saw what God was able to do.

And he was a worshiping man. Thanks be to God. I have an artist actually painting a picture for me.

It's supposed to be ready soon. And I've seen the rough draft. It is a phenomenal picture.

You see this ship going down into a huge swell in the ocean. These waves were big enough to destroy a ship that could carry almost 300 people plus cargo. It wasn't a small ship.

It was an ocean-going wooden sailing vessel. People are hanging onto the railing. All their plans are gone.

Their hopes for the future are gone. And standing right in the middle of them is this man. And he's got a half a loaf of bread in each hand.

And he's lifting his eyes to heaven. And he's giving God thanks for the ability that God has given him to stand as a picture of what it looks like when your confidence is in God, of how there is always a hope, there's always a future, there's always a reason to live, even if everything around you seems to be falling apart. And you see the people on that ship being drawn.

And I love the fact that this man, Paul, just simply because his heart is set upon a hill, the light of God is in him. He's now giving the orders. I love the fact that he goes from captain to captain in just a few moments.

The soldiers are going to try to escape in the lightboats, and Paul's saying, cut those boats off. You can't survive unless you stay with the ship. And the captain says, you heard the man.

Cut the boats off. The only possible escape route in the natural is God. Everybody is now dependent on the word of God that's coming through this one man that's been given to them as a picture of what we can look like when we fully turn to God.

There is no power of hell that can destroy us. There's no wall that's too high to climb. There's no valley that's too deep for us to get.

There's no sorrow that can overwhelm us. There's no power of evil that can take away our confidence in the living God. That's who we become in Christ.

Hallelujah to the Lamb of God. Thank you, Lord God. You see the people were drawn to that final picture that was set before him.

And when they did, they were given a future and a chance at eternal life. I don't know how many took it, but they were given a chance. They were given a final testimony in that final moment.

Now, they may have waited for the next ship and got on and said, well, it wasn't that great and ended up in hell. I don't know. But I have to believe that there were some in that crowd that said, whoever Paul's God is, is God.

And wherever he found that kind of vision and strength, that's what I want. They saw a picture of who God is and what God is able to do. And folks, it's so important that you and I learn to stand right where we are.

Oh, yes, there's a coming day of calamity. I have no doubt about that. This church was founded by a man who had a prophetic call on his life.

And when this church was founded, God told him there would be 1,000 fires one day burning in New York City, for those of you who didn't know that. And he sent him to establish a church right here in Times Square to warn of the impending judgment of God on New York City and to gather a remnant. Now, remnant means people who are willing to look like the original church.

That's what it means. It's a piece of cloth from the original. People who want to, who are willing in their hearts to say, I want to be a follower of Jesus Christ as that is defined in the Bible.

Not as I want it to be. Not as somebody whose theology is completely given to the gratification and elevation of themselves and the protection of themselves. I want to be a Christian the way it's written in the Word of God.

That's the kind of a Christian I want to be. And when you decide to be that kind of Christian, I promise you everything hell has got is going to be thrown at you. But I also promise you this.

Hell doesn't have enough to stop you from doing what God's called you to do. A time of social calamity is coming to this country deeper than you and I could even anticipate. I get that.

But today, there are people all around you who are already falling apart. Tomorrow won't make much of a difference to them. There are kids out on the street that are falling apart.

They have no fathers. They have no mothers. They have no direction.

They don't know the reason for life. There are people in your apartment building. There are people that work across from you in your workspace.

Their whole lives are falling apart. And God is giving you. They will not read a Bible.

You put a tract on their desk, they will not read it. And if they even glance at it, they can't fully comprehend it. That's how dark this time is getting now.

But I'm telling you one thing they can't argue with. That you become a picture of who God is and what God can do. And you begin to sing when everyone else is moaning.

And you tell the truth when everyone else is lying. And you build up when everyone else is destroying. God will put a bounce in your step.

God will put a light in your eye. It doesn't mean that you aren't going through trial yourself. Paul was going through trial, but yet he had that inner confidence in God.

You're talking about a man standing on the deck that hasn't had a bath probably in three months. Hasn't had a change of clothes. His beard has grown.

His hair has cracked. He doesn't look like the best thing that ever stood in a pulpit. But the glory of God is on this man.

And that's all people in our society are really looking for is reality. Don't tell me about your Jesus. Show me your Jesus.

Show me what he can do. Don't talk to me about it. Show it to me.

Show me, give me a picture of what you're talking about. And sometimes that picture will be made in the midst of your own struggle, your own trial. Sometimes you're just going to have to sit there and hum and they're going to say, how can you sing the song that you're singing? How can you be so at peace? And you can say, because the Bible says he prepares a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.

My cup overflows with confidence in God. No, not everything is the way I'd like it to be. But I tell you, everything is the way God has destined it to be.

And he will keep me. He will carry me. I belong to him.

My life will be a picture. And that should be the cry of our hearts this morning. Oh God Almighty, make my life a picture.

A picture of hope for so many that need to find their way out of darkness. You are the light of the world. A city that's raised up, may I put it that way, can't be hidden.

You are the light of the world if you will let God raise you up. Out of weakness and into strength, out of confusion, into clear thinking. Out of immorality, into morality.

Out of hopelessness and into hope. If you will let God lift you up, you cannot be hidden. Testimony of God will not be obscured any longer.

Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. They may see those things that only God could do. Really, that's what it actually means.

They may see things done through you that they know only God could do. Like when Paul stood on the deck, every soldier, every sailor, every merchant, they all looked, every prisoner. And they would have said, only God could do that for a man.

Only God could give him that kind of courage. He's in the same mess that we're in. He's going through the same storm that we're going through.

He smells just like the rest of us. But yet there's a confidence in this man. There's a light in his eye.

There's a kindness in his voice. There's a hope in him for the future. See, suddenly, although he had been for a season in the belly of the ship, now suddenly because his heart is set on living for other people, he is now set upon a hill and he cannot be hidden.

You see, we're all weak. But God is willing, if we are, to raise us up. There are no supermen or superwomen in the kingdom of God.

Just a supernatural God. The rest of us are all on a level playing field. I am willing, God.

I am willing. But it seems like I have to go through the valley of the shadow of death to get there. So be it, Lord.

If it means the saving of my neighbors, my family, even my enemies, if it means that, God, would you lift me up? Would you raise me in this generation? God, would you make my life a picture? A picture. That when I walk by, people look at me and they wonder. Remember he said to Ezekiel, it's possible they may consider.

They become hardened to the words of God, but when they see you, Ezekiel, it's possible they may consider. So that's kind of where we're at today. It's possible they may consider when they see us living the way God has destined us to live.

And so that's my altar call this morning. It's very, very simple. Make my life a picture of hope for so many that need to find their way out of darkness.

And I believe, God, as weak as I am, that you are able to do that. I include myself in this altar call this morning. Consider me the first one here.

For anybody that feels that in their heart, and it's for real, it's serious, it's God, this is not a game for me. I'm asking you to do something in me that makes me a picture. A picture to my own children, a picture to my family, a picture to my grandchildren, a picture to my neighbors.

You are the light of the world. That's it, folks, we are the final testimony. This is it.

There's no plan B. Plan A is you. No plan B. If you want to be that, and don't think you have to have it all together. You don't.

You just have to have the desire. God, I want to be what you're calling me to be for the sake of others, for the sake of the lost, for the sake of this generation. God Almighty, for the sake of our children, I'm asking you to make me a picture in Jesus' name.

We're going to worship for about 10 minutes or so, and I'm going to ask you to stand, and when we do, if that's your heart's cry, just come join with me today at this altar, and we'll pray together. We're going to believe God together. The Lord will do that.

Balcony, you go to either exit. Let's all stand up, please, together. In the annex, you can stand between the screens.

Just join these that are coming. God, thank God for you. I do with all my heart.

Thank God, because he won't fail you. As weak as you feel, as cowardly as you think you are, just come. Same thing in the annex.

You can stand between the screens, if you will, in North Jersey as well. People listening online at home, just stand up in your living room, wherever you are right now. Just stand up, and in a moment, we're going to pray together.

We'll take about 10 minutes to worship together. Let the words you've heard today sink deep into your heart. Praise God.

Just lift your hearts to the Lord, and your hands if you choose to, and just say, Jesus, make me a picture. In my generation, of who you are, and what you can do for people who turn to you, let my picture be full of light that people will be drawn to the light and long for the life and the direction and the courage that can only come from God. I thank you, Lord, that you are willing, even if my canvas is dark, to paint light all over it in a visible place that all may see and all may know that you give life to those who turn to you.

Father, I thank you for this with all my heart that you hear me today. You know I'm weak. You know I need your strength.

But you are willing to give me your life and to shine through me into the darkness that's all around me. O God, I thank you for the privilege of giving my life for this eternal purpose. Be glorified in me.

Glorify your name. Let people see the song that's in my life and turn to you as Lord and Savior. Father, I thank you for hearing this cry and not turning me away and granting to me that which I long for.

And I thank you for it. And I praise you in Jesus' name. Hallelujah.