(Audio Sermon) When You Come to the End of Yourself

It's a good day to be in the house of God. Amen. You love the Lord? Today I'm preaching a message that I never intended to preach here this morning. I, I was working on another message and Holy Spirit changed it probably because he knew you'd be here. I don't know who this is for other than myself and anyone else who may. Uh, if this doesn't apply to you today, file it away, you're going to need it. It's entitled when you come to the end of yourself, when you come to the end of yourself, would you go to Psalm 38, please? Psalm 38. Praise the Lord. Let's begin to read a verse. We'll start, uh, verse six. David is speaking. I'm going to start verse six. I am troubled. I'm bowed down greatly. I go morning all the day long. Verse eight, I am feeble and sore broken. I've roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart. Verse 10, my heart panteth. My strength faileth me as for the light of mine eyes. It is also gone from me. Verse 13, but I, as a deaf man heard not, I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. Verse 14, thus I was as a man that heareth not, and his mouth are no reproofs. When you come to the end of yourself, heavenly father, I don't question why you put this on my heart today. I intended to go another direction, but you put me in this direction for some reason, known only to yourself, but I obey you, Holy Spirit. There are people here in the annex listening to me, people in the choir, people in the main auditorium, wherever it may be, that are going through the experience that we're going to describe this morning, and they need to hear the word of the living God, how to get out of this condition. Lord, we pray for a miracle of hearing. Give us a hearing ear to hear what the Holy Spirit has to say. God, anoint my lips, anoint the word that comes from my heart and mouth, sanctify it, and let it be life-changing to all of us, I pray in Jesus' name, amen. Now, here in Psalm 38, David has come to the end of himself, godly, righteous man who feels drained of all human strength, and he's troubled that he can't understand how a man that's so hungry for God could be going through such a low period of total discouragement. And you're listening to a man in this chapter who's literally come to the end of himself. He's come to the Lord in prayer. He's bringing this thing that he's going through to the Lord because he can't understand it. He's saying to God, I've really come to the end of my rope. I'm at wit's end, and I don't know why it's happening. I don't know how it happened. He's trying to figure out why he's so discouraged, and he feels so empty. He's sore broken in mind and spirit, and he can't put his finger on the cause. Amazingly, he tells the Lord in so many words, Lord, I've been a foolish man. Have all my past sins, my past foolishness left me wounded and beyond hope? And David seems to be slumped over in the presence of the Lord in prayer. He's just slumped over in despair, feeling like a failure about all the foolish things he's done in his life in the past, every wicked thing that he's done, the wounds he's inflicted on himself and others around him. And he is so low, he figures the Lord's chastening him, that somehow the wrath of God has been kindled against him. He said, no, you must be whipping me, Lord. That's the only thing I can figure out. He says, Lord, you're shooting your arrows of anger into my heart. I feel your anger toward me. I have no peace. I have no rest. Lord, my sins are over my head. In verse two to four, my sins are a burden I can no longer carry. This is a godly, holy man speaking. Now, before I go a step further, let me tell you, he's not only describing his own condition, he's describing a condition that happens to very godly people, very godly, devout people who love God with all their hearts. There will come a time when there is a sudden unexpected experience in your life of absolute, total discouragement. You don't know how it happened, where it came from. It's suddenly there. And this is a situation that David's in. Now, David can't understand this, but he's under a satanic attack. This is an absolute spirit. The spirit of discouragement is the devil's number one most potent weapon against godly people, against the elect. A spirit of discouragement has nothing to do with the flesh. It's not something you bring upon yourself. Of course, there are people who bring discouragement on themselves because of sin. There are others because of rebellion and pride and all of these things, certainly. But this is not the case with David. It's not the case with many of us here who love the Lord passionately, but you find yourself overwhelmed at times with a sense of absolute frailty, the absolute end of your endurance and strength to go on. This is what David is speaking about. And the Bible makes it very clear that Satan gets an advantage over us when we're ignorant of his methods and of his devices. He gets an advantage. He wants you to get so discouraged, so down. He wants you to believe it's a result of your not having lived up to God's holy standards. He's trying to make you feel and believe that you have brought this on yourself rather than the fact that he has put it upon you as a cloud. It's come from outside of you. It's something that is demonic and something that is from the pits and the bowels of hell. And if you understand that, you take away the advantage of Satan. Let Satan should get an advantage of us, for we are not ignorant of his devices. It's a satanic weapon of shooting an arrow into your heart out of his own quiver. He wants you to get so low and so down on yourself that you more or less want to throw in the towel and say to yourself, my sins are over my head. I don't understand my besetting sins. I don't know and understand the battles I go through. I don't understand that why, after seeking God and pouring my heart out, it has to be so hard and difficult. Now, if I haven't come to you yet, it'll happen here shortly. Let's go on now, hearing David's heart cry while he's under this attack of discouragement. Now, listen to me, please. You've got to understand that you are walking in repentance. You love God passing. You love the Lord Jesus. You're not living in open sin. You're in a repentant spirit and you're in the word of God. You love the house of God. You are not living in sin. And yet you find yourself at the end of your rope. You find yourself in total discouragement, feeling unworthy, like you're not accomplishing anything in life. And suddenly it's there. You can wake up one morning and it's there. You've got to sleep one night. You feel good. Everything is all right. And you can't put a finger on the reason you're not in some kind of crisis. Nobody has hurt you, but there it is. This is what David is describing. He said, there's a disquietness in my heart. Oh, God, there's a feebleness that's gripped me. I don't know why, but I'm troubled. There's a deep mourning in me that I can't describe. Now, he suddenly feels like he's lost sense of direction and he's in prayer. He's coming to God. He said, and really, if you study the 38th chapter here and a few of the other chapters surrounding this, you'll find that David is feeling that he's not accomplished anything in his life. Folks, I'll tell you what, I have been there, done that, where I can come home from a great meeting where many, I've been in crusades over my lifetime, where literally thousands have been saved in mass crusades and I just finished writing a book and so many, many things happen and I'll go home and then on a Monday it'll hit me and I'll walk around and I'll say, I'm not doing anything. I just don't feel I'm accomplishing anything. That spirit of the enemy that comes and usually comes right after you have sought the Lord with all of your heart and been closest to him. He said, my strength is failing me. As for the light of my eyes, it's also gone from me. My vision of the Lord, my walk with God, the revelation is not there. I'm not seeing, I'm not feeling, I'm not reaching what I want to reach. There's something out there I'm not touching. My strength is failing and the light of my eyes, it's also gone from me. He's so discouraged, he's so confused, he can't even lift up his hand to God. You know, I taught under the message of the covenant that the Lord said, I will take you by the hand. Then David's in place, he can't even reach up his hand. He can't even reach out to the Lord. He's saying, I have nothing left in me. I am drained. I have nothing to give to people anymore. I have nothing. Listen to him. He said, but as a deaf man, as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth, thus was our man that heareth not and whose mouth are no reproofs. In the Hebrews, a man who has no more answers, no more arguments left. He said, I've tried to do my best. I've tried to give answers for people who ask. I've tried to be an answer man. I've tried everything, but I've got no more answers. I have nothing more to say to anybody. I am so drained. I'm so empty. I have nothing to give to people. He's loving God passionately. It's not anything to do with his love for God, has nothing to do with ever thinking of walking out on God, not at all, but he's not understanding why a holy man who's seeking God with all of his heart should be under this kind of a cloud. And you're sitting there saying, I don't even know what he's talking about. Well, then you'd not been very close to the Lord. If you don't know something about this experience, I'm a student, but I read biographies of men that God has used. I don't know a single man of God over all the years that I've studied biographies that hasn't gone through this. One of the great preachers, one of my favorite preachers, walked down the streets of London, one of the godliest preachers on the face of the earth. And he looks in a mirror one day in the streets of London, he said, I've got the blackest heart in Britain. I've got the blackest heart. This man, he had a sense of how how frail he was without the Holy Ghost. And he was he was often the great Spurgeon would have days of melancholy where he would think he has accomplished absolutely nothing. And this would come upon him. And he couldn't understand. He would cry out to God, go out into his garden and raise his hand and say, God, I've never wanted you more. And now why? I am in a situation here now where I am drained, wasn't physical, was a spiritual attack of discouragement. It's from the pits of hell. It's a spirit that comes right out of hell. David is voiced universal cry of a righteous soul enduring an attack of discouragement. And when under this attack, I tell you, God is very patient with us, very, very patient with our helplessness, our sense of helplessness. But the scriptures are very clear. Now, listen to me, please. The scriptures are very clear that in this time of discouragement, when you go through it, and I told you if it's not for you today, file it, get the tape. I don't make any profit out of it. And you'll say, I remember now I'm going through one of those times. I better get that out and listen to it. But you see, the scriptures make it very, very clear. We must never allow unbelief to set in in those times. Never. You can talk to God all you want to about how how you feel like you're a failure, how you are not doing this or doing that, not understanding this or that. You can go through that. You can ask him, Lord, why and how is this happening to me? But don't ever entertain a thought. Don't ever think a thought or say one word about God not hearing your prayer or being unfaithful to you. Very, very serious. In fact, I want you to go to Numbers 21 and show you how serious that is. Numbers 21st chapter. Starting with verse four through verse seven. Numbers 21, you have that in the Lord speak and they journeyed from Mount Hor by the way of the Red Sea to encompass the land of Edom and the soul of the people was what much discouraged because of the way and the people speak against God and Moses. Wherefore, have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? But there's no bread, neither is there any water. And our soul loatheth this light bread. This man, I know the words and the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people and they bit the people and much people of Israel died. Therefore, the people came to Moses and said, we have sinned for we've spoken against the Lord and against the prayer of the Lord. He would take away the serpents from us. And Moses prayed for the people. Now look at me, please. When when God, a loving heavenly father has to send fiery serpents and I read he sent fiery serpents, it bit them and they died when people are dying a snake bite. I've got to take this serious. I can't overlook it. I've got to look at it straight out. God will not allow this among his elect, those who love him with all their heart. This this is the number one sin against our precious Lord that after all that he's done for us, when we go through difficult times that we allow unbelief to set into our hearts. Beware of unbelief, beware of accusing God of not being there, of not hearing your cry. Now, let me share with you how the Holy Ghost has taught me to deal with these times when they come. Now, folks, before you think that any of these men sitting up here are angels and don't go through what you go through and what I go through, forget it. They all have gone through this. I need to hear some more amens from this side over here. I know Brother Carter has he shared it with me on a number of occasions. This is this is something that only really only the godly can understand. Now, when when when this comes on your side, let me tell you how you can tell it's an attack of Satan, when you are seeking the Lord with all your heart, you're loving him, you're not living in sin. It doesn't mean that you have won all your victories, but you are you are trusting the Holy Spirit to sanctify you. You're turning to him with all of your heart. You're into his word. You love him. You're not walking in rebellion or pride. And suddenly this spirit, this sense of total discouragement hits you. You can be sure it's an attack of Satan. Now, folks, once you know that, then that gives you the key to deal with it. You've got to know that rather than sit around trying to figure all the whys and the wherefores, how did it happen? Why did it happen? And sitting up half the night? No, you recognize it for what it is. It's a spirit. I didn't bring it on myself. It's come directly from Satan because I set my heart to seek God. Let me give you some of the ways that God has taught me by his Holy Spirit to drive this spirit away. First of all, don't try to maneuver your way out on your own. Don't try to get out of it on your own skill or your own wit. It's impossible. This is too big. This spirit is too strong. It's above your human skill. You can't maneuver your way out. And getting on the telephone, trying to call a friend or calling somebody or a whole group of people or trying to get into some seminar group or some little group that you can share your guts and spill everything in your heart. It's not going to do you any good. Not at this point. If you're going to go there, you go in victory, but it's not going to help. All the people talking the world is not going to get you up. This is a spirit. This is a spiritual matter, and you're not going to get out through any fleshly effort. In a time of great discouragement, David could not figure out why he was so cast down and so disquieted in his heart. He said, Why are you cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in me? Now, amazingly, he says that the chapter begins like this. Here's how that where Paul and where David is saying, I don't know where this came from. I don't know why I'm so disquieted. And so discouraged. I don't know, because the chapter starts out with these with this amazing as the heart panteth after the water brooks. So panteth my soul after thee, O God, my soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? He's saying, Lord, there's never been a time I've loved you more. There's never been a time I wanted to be in your presence more. God, I hunger for you like the deer, the thirsty deer that's been running over the hills. I am so thirsty for you, O God. So why am I cast down? Why do I why am I experiencing this absolute, total discouragement? I want you to know Dave is not being judged. He's not being chastened for his sin. He's not walking in apathy. He's not in compromise. In fact, he's at that point in his life that he's never hungered or thirsted more than he is right now at this time. Now, there were times in David's life that he knew the pain of sin. He knew what the chastening of the Lord was. He'd been chastened many times when he numbered the people, numbered the soldiers of Israel. When he committed adultery with Bathsheba, he knew the chastening rod of God. Oh, he knew it well. And sure, that brought a measure of discouragement. But David examined his heart. He said, I can't see in that. And I don't know why he if there was something there he would have told us. He said, I, I, I can't see it because other times he would say, I've sinned greatly. I've grieved the Lord. But here he can't understand it because he has not grieved the Lord. This is not something he's brought on himself. Now, there are people, many today, who are discouraged because they've been living in rebellion. And there may be some of you right now are saying, well, yeah, I'm in totally discouraged. But you're discouraged because the Holy Ghost has been trying to help you get victory in your life. And you have shut him out and gone the way of the flesh. And that will lead to a lot of pain and discouragement. But I'm talking to the repentant today. I'm talking to those who are seeking God with all of their heart. There's something different here. And David finally cries out, Lord, my soul is cast down in me and I don't know why. It's cast down in me and I don't know why. The devil has a reason to cast this cloud upon the devoted righteous. Because, as I told you, discouragement is his most potent weapon. And he's used this weapon on godly people from the very beginning, especially since the cross. And I'll tell you why he does it. The day you get serious with God. The day you say no more games. The day you said, Lord, you said to seek me, I'm going to seek you with all my heart. And the day you get into this word and you start digging in to say, I want to know who Christ is. I want to walk according to his mind. And you have set your heart to follow him diligently. Not in your own strength and power, but you are trusting God. I tell you, you have been set up as a mark. You are set up as a mark. And you could better believe it, you better know it. I'm warning you, it's going to come. You may be shouting all day today in Times Square Church. You may dance. You may say, this is the greatest day of joy I've ever had. Watch out tomorrow. You become the devil's main target for this attack of discouragement. You're not to think it strange, however, when it comes. As if some strange thing has happened to you. As though, well, God's spanking me. God's mad at me. God's hurt. God's after something. I haven't yielded yet. Yes, he is. He's after faith. You allow the devil to test you, put you in the fire, to test your faith. To see if you'll hold on to him. Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fire trial, which is to try as though some strange thing has happened to you. It's not strange. Every time you think it's strange to happen to you, you think of Pastor Wilkins, Pastor Carter, the rest of your pastors, going through the same thing. It can't be strange. If they're going through it, and I'm going through it, and God's people have gone through it for years, it's not a strange thing. It's common to all flesh. Number two. When you're down, and you're under attack of discouragement from hell, number two, go to prayer, and give the Holy Spirit time to do his work. Because this is the work of the Holy Spirit. It's not your job. It's not mine. It's the work of the Holy Spirit. When you're under attack, when the spirit of discouragement's upon you, you're not going to feel much like praying. But I'll tell you what, whether you feel like it or not, you go into a secret place, and you shut the door, and you just talk honest to God. In these times, he's not interested in you being very intense, fervent, saying some brilliant thing. Go sit on the floor. Lay down if you have to. You don't even have to pray. Just say, help. Just sit in his presence. And even you have to think your prayer. Lord, I'm sorry, but I've reached the end. I am down, period. I can't play games with you, Lord. I'm down. I'm going through it. I've had it. Lord, if I get out of it, you have to get me out of it. I can't even reach up and touch you. And don't try to be spiritual. I'll tell you at this time, you're as spiritual as you can be if you're under the blood and trusting the Lord. But this time, it's not that you're unspiritual. It's not that you're being chastened. It's not that God's mad at you. The enemy has come to press you down and try to get you to just throw in the towel and give up and say, I don't understand God. Folks, I've been there. I've known what it is to go in and say, Lord, I don't understand Paul. I don't understand the old man, the new man. I don't understand death, the self and sin still there. I don't understand it, Lord. If you are going to help me, you're going to have to send the Holy Ghost and open my eyes because the light of my eyes has gone out. I hear the preachers get up and talk as though they don't have any problems and they've got it all figured out and I'm sitting there, well, where am I? I don't have it all figured out. I've got to get it from the Holy Ghost day by day. And he has to give an understanding. And the Lord's big, and I want to tell you something, the Holy Ghost isn't as fickle as we think he is. We get the idea that every time we fail the Lord, every time we go through something, the Holy Ghost flits away. The Puritan divines taught that, that there are times when we fail the Lord, the Holy Ghost leaves, but I can never accept that. Why would the Holy Ghost leave when I need him the most? And if the Holy Ghost is a sanctifier, and I'm in a need for sanctification, and he's not there to do it, I'm left to the powers of hell. And if I've grieved the Holy Ghost and he's gone, I don't even know why I grieved him. Because he's gone. It doesn't make sense to me. No, I'm not going to leave you. And I will pray the Father, Jesus said, he shall give you another comfort, that he may abide with you forever. That's Old Testament theology. And there's only one place you can find that, where he left him for a season to test him. But that's before the Holy Ghost had poured out. David had to encourage himself in the Lord, but not under the New Testament. That's the work of the Holy Ghost. He's the comforter. Glory to God. Paul calls him the spirit that dwelleth. He lives in you. And he's not just somebody who comes and visits. He doesn't jump in and out of my life, just because, you see, he's stronger than you. We get the idea, he's flighty. That he's fickle, he gets so easily hurt. No, the love of God sent him there, to deal with all these very things. Hallelujah. So if this has been your prayer, Lord, you're going to have to bring me out of this. But if you will just wait in his presence, they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength, they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary. But that's as you go to the Lord. Don't go to the telephone, go quickly. The moment this is, folks, this thing can set in on you. It can set in and stay for days and weeks and finally bring depression to your life. The moment it comes, go into the secret closet, shut the door and get alone with God, and just spill your heart out to him. And even if you don't have any, there are times you say, I can't even cry, I don't even have any tears. He's not asking you to shed a bucket of tears. He's just asking you to be dead honest with him. Open up your heart and let him come take you by the hand. The first thing the Holy Ghost is going to do is expose all the lies of the devil. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things. He will bring to remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. I was remembering this past week an experience similar to David that I went through. And it came to me at a time when I was, to my knowledge, closer to the Lord than ever been in all my ministry. I had been shut in with God. I'd been seeking him. I mean, hours and hours. I'd been pouring my heart to him. I'd been in the Word. I was in revelation knowledge. I was fruitful. I was being mightily blessed of God. But I was sitting one day at my desk and having prayed and had my Bible out and I needed a message. And at mid-morning, and sitting there for two or three hours and there was nothing. The words were running together and I felt so empty and I felt so drained. It wasn't health. It wasn't anything else. And I suddenly closed the Bible. I walked around in the house and that spirit was on me. There it was. Incredible. I couldn't explain it. It was one of those downcast moments of discouragement. I wasn't in debt. I had no family crisis. No sin. Good point. There was no condemnation. No guilt. No fear. But I was down. I know it wasn't my health. I was full of vitamins. Physically I felt great. Mentally, no reason to be tired. That's when I recognized it is a spirit. And I suddenly felt absolutely drained. I said, Lord, I am wiped out. I have nothing to give to anybody else. I am just empty. I've poured out my soul. I don't see anything there. I can't get a message. I can't pray. I can't study. It was there. I just felt lowly drained. I went to the Lord and I just sat down on the floor. And I said, Lord, I don't know what to do. I really don't. I feel so down. I can't reach out to you. I have no tears. I know I love you. Never loved you more. But I sure don't know why. I'm going through this, Lord. When I have, for the past two years, never prayed more. Never been closer to you. Never trusted you more. But now I am in this. What's it all about? And the Holy Spirit just whispered, just sit still. Just love me. And I just sat still about 40 minutes in his presence. You see, the devil will come with lies. This is how he brings the spirit. He'll come to you and he will absolutely bring lies. He will try to discourage you with one lie after another. He'll lie to you about your children. He'll lie to you about your family. He'll lie to you about everything. He'll try to bring fear. He will just flood your mind, injecting one lie after another. But that's the work of the Holy Spirit. When you just sit still in his presence, the Lord doesn't want you to try to climb up some ladder to reach him. He said, just sit still in my presence. Just wait on the Lord. And I waited on the Lord and suddenly a still small voice of the Holy Spirit. You are loved. You're greatly loved, David. You have no reason to be afraid. I'm not spanking you. I'm not chasing you. And the sweetest thing, all the lies that I had heard in one hour before this, just flooding into my soul that I was not really accomplishing anything. I was not really seeing what I need to see in the word. And that my preaching was light. And all of these lies of the devil. And all the past dumb things I've never done in my life. You know the devil will bring it up to you? I mean, when you're down, he'll just replay and replay every stupid thing. All your sins, all your failures. He'll just play and tell you, wow, Lord, I'll never make it. I can't make it, Lord. That's when the Holy Spirit comes. When you wait on him, get in his presence and wait. The first thing he does, he brings to remembrance all the precious promises of Jesus. All the word of the Lord that was spoken. I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. I'll go with you to the end. And the Holy Spirit just flooded my soul with promises. And then he says, David, I'm going to tell you something. It's not over for you. You haven't even started yet. The best is just ahead of you. And I finally stood to my feet. And I heard myself saying, why am I putting up with this? It's not from God. It's from the devil. And I just yelled, devil, that's enough. It's a trick. I know your devices now. And it's not going to work. I am loved by God. I walked toward the door of my prayer room and the Holy Spirit said, be glad and rejoice in the Lord. You have no reason to be afraid. That's the work of the Holy Spirit. He undoes the lies of the enemy. He brings the encouragement. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Now, finally, one other step that you've got to take. That's to dare to believe the incredibly good things the Holy Ghost is going to tell you in this condition. The incredible good things God, the Holy Ghost, is going to tell you while the devil is trying to lie to you. You know, it must grieve the Heavenly Father when he sees us coming into his presence so often, expecting only to be reproved. Boy, I lived for many years like that. Every time I'd go to God, if there was something that I didn't feel I had accomplished or lived up to some standard, I'd go into his presence. Every time I went to the Word, I expected to be rebuked. Every time I prayed, that voice was going from the Lord, the Holy Ghost, go rebuke me. When are we going to come to the place when we come into his presence? Ready and daring to hear the good word that he has for us. Now, I know there are people, there are whole denominations that don't preach reproof. They don't want to hear it. All they preach is love, mercy, and grace. And they have misused grace. They've despised grace, turned it into lasciviousness. There are people that absolutely refuse to look into the commandments of the Lord. And we don't do that here. We try to preach the whole counsel of God. We preach the judgments of God. We write books about it. We warn people. We preach against sin, yes. But folks, I'm talking to those who love the Lord. You're not living in sin and you have been depressed and you're down. You have got to believe now to dare that the Holy Ghost is going to speak to you. That God is going to fulfill every promise he's made to you. He's going to keep his word. I want you to go with me before I close to 1 Corinthians 2 to prove what I'm talking about before I close. I'll tell you, go to Isaiah first, Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64. May I hear the rustling of the leaves, please. Isaiah 64, verse 4. For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what he hath prepared for them that waiteth for him. I have not seen, ears not heard. Folks, it's not even recorded. It hadn't even been recorded anywhere. No one has ever seen yet the good things that God has prepared for them that wait upon him. Now, Apostle Paul picks up on that in 1 Corinthians 2. If you'll go there now, 1 Corinthians 2. Paul the Apostle gets this from Isaiah 64. The very verse that I read to you. Chapter 2, 1 Corinthians chapter 2. Verse 9. He's quoting this very verse that I just read to you. But as it is written in Isaiah 64, 4, in other words, I have not seen nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God, we're in the New Covenant now, we're in the New Testament. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. Now, look this way, please. Here's how the Lord works now. When you are going through this experience, if you will go and wait on the Lord and sit in his presence, be in no hurry. He waits till your spirit is quiet. And when your spirit is quiet before the Lord, and you will reach out by faith saying, Lord, you've sent the Holy Ghost, he abides in me. He's not a silent partner. He's been sent by covenant to reveal the mind of Christ, to comfort me and strengthen me and to lead me and guide me. Holy Spirit, I turn to you in simple childlike faith now. Speak to my heart. And I want you to know God is faithful. The Holy Spirit, if you would just wait in his presence, be in no hurry, and wait in faith, absolute faith, you're going to hear that inner voice of the Holy Spirit. Oh, folks, this has been my life. I thank God for the Holy Spirit. I thank God for the voice of the Holy Spirit. He'll not let you be deceived. He'll not let a false voice come because your heart is hungry. He knows you're hurt. He knows when you're down, and you go to him and say, Oh, Lord Jesus, you, by your spirit, give me those wings. Open up the snare of the enemy. This is from the devil himself. Now open it up. Give me the wings to fly out of this now by faith. And I tell you, he's going to show you the good things that he has ahead for you. God has a plan for everyone in this building, everyone listening to me. God has a beautiful plan. I don't care if there's a depression in the land. I don't care if the mountains fall into the sea. God's plan will not be aborted by this attack of the enemy. He cannot abort God's will in your life. He can't abort the plan of God. Impossible. God is going to keep his word to you. Hallelujah. I'll give you one last scripture, Isaiah 40, and with this I close. Isaiah 40. I just gave this to you a moment ago, but I want you to stand with me. If you have a King James, follow me, please. Will you stand? I want everybody to read me verse 28, 29, 30, and 31. Do you have it? Has thou not known, read it with me. Has thou not known, has thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary, there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagle. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Hallelujah. You're not going down, folks. You're not going to faint. You're going to come out of this more victorious, having your faith being tested. It'll come forth as pure gold. Hallelujah. Then the next time it comes, it won't throw you. See, I know how to deal with this. I'm going to my Lord. I'm going to the secret closet, and I'm going to wait on the Holy Ghost. God's going to see me through it. Hallelujah. Now, folks, I would have preached this if it were only to myself, but I know better than that. I know that there are many of you in the annex, balcony, main floor, behind me, around me. And if you hear right now that if you're not in it at present, you've been there in the past. And I can assure you, according to the Scripture, the Bible says the devil's going to come down in the last days having great wrath, coming down to the earth to try to deceive the elect. And this is his most powerful, most potent weapon. But you're not ignorant of it anymore. If you're here this morning, you say, Pastor, this message is for me. I have been going through a time of great discouragement. I didn't really know whether it was my own problem or attack of Satan, but I know it now. If you're up in a balcony, go to the stairs on either side and come down any aisle, I'd like to pray with you. And we're going to ask the Lord now to break this spirit. We're going to take authority over that spirit. Now, if you're not saved, if you're backslidden and you need touch from the Lord, I want you to get out of your seat and follow these that are coming. And in the annex, if you'll just go to the lobby, the people there will show you how to get into the stairs coming down and come right into the main auditorium and come and meet me right here in front of the church. And we'll pray with you. This is the day the Lord wants to give you victory. He wants you to leave this house rejoicing in him this morning. Hallelujah. As they sing, wherever you're at, up in the balcony, the stairs on either side, down any aisle, and in the annex and all the annex rooms, just go to the lobby. The ushers will show you how to get into this room. You come and meet me here and we'll pray with you and ask the Lord to chase this spirit. We'll take his authority over it and believe God that you walk out of this place delivered, knowing how to deal with the enemy. Lord, you that have come forward, look this way, please. I want you to help me now. The Bible said if two or three agree together concerning anything on earth, it shall be done of the Father in heaven. And I'm going to ask you to join me as I pray that the Lord lift this spirit. I'm going to pray in faith right now. Look at me, please. Do you understand that this is from the enemy? The devil is just trying to get you discouraged so that you'll jettison and get rid of your faith, so that you'll think that God doesn't hear your prayers, that God's not interested in you, that he doesn't love you anymore, or that he's mad at you. You know, the devil's won a great victory just to convince you that God's mad at you. He's not mad at you. The Holy Spirit is here right now to deliver you by his mighty power. He wants to do that now. I want everybody that came forward, just close your eyes. And I want you to lift one hand to the Lord and say, Lord, I'm just telling you, I'm reaching out that you take my hand right now. I want you to pray this with me right now. Jesus, I come to you. I have no strength of my own, no power of my own, no authority of my own. I can't win by myself. I can't do it on my own. But you have the power. Holy Spirit, I believe you. Lord Jesus, cleanse me. Blot out my sins. Take all my failures and put them under the blood. Lord Jesus, I believe your word. And I come now to be delivered from the spirit of discouragement and the bondage of fear. Now, I'm going to pray and I want you to believe God as I pray right now that that spirit, because of your faith and your trust in the Lord, because the Lord has turned the light on and you know it's from the enemy. I want you to believe God right now, right now, that he's going to lift this spirit and chase it. We're going to ask God right now to do the work in every one of you. Raise your right hand and let's believe God right now. Will you trust him? Lord, I come now in Jesus' name and take your authority over every spirit of discouragement, every bondage of fear and guilt and condemnation that has been injected into the hearts and minds of your people by the devil himself. Satan, you have no power, you have no authority because the Holy Spirit has come. The Holy Spirit has come to drive out by the spirit of truth, the spirit of truth. Now, I want you to pray this with me. Jesus, the spirit upon me is from Satan. I reject it. Dear Jesus, by your spirit, you bind it, you cast it out because I stand on your word and your eternal promises. I can be free right now. I shall rejoice and be glad in the Lord. Now, just tell him you love him. Just thank him right now, Lord. I give you thanks. I give you praise. Hallelujah. We're going to sing a rejoicing song here in just a moment, but listen, you've got to take a step of faith right now. I do not have to put up with anything the devil puts on me because greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. Hallelujah. Greater is he that's in me than he that is in the world. This is the conclusion of the message.