Glenn Bleakney shares from Neuma Church on the topic of restoration and how the key to experience this is entering the rest of God. Learn more at https://AwakeNations.org
Kingdom Community TV Podcast
Enter Rest and Experience Restoration
Well, good morning, sons and daughters of the Most High God, wow, what a privilege, right? What an honor. Bless you guys. Please have a seat. Pastor Simph, Lynn and I, I was just, you know, worshiping the Lord and I just started to weep inside and it was just like the Lord just said to me, "See what I've done." Like see what I've done. I mean, it's an answer to prayer, it's our hearts cry to be here among you and among what the Lord is doing, honestly. And this is the right time, the right place, the right people. And I'm telling you, God isn't, He's barely begun, He's barely begun. I'm not trying to devalue what has happened, but as I was just leaning into worship this morning, I felt so strongly like the Lord said, "There's so much more." And I'm super excited about that. So today we're going to do something that unfortunately, in a lot of churches they don't do anymore, we're going to read the Scriptures. Ooh, yeah, Paul talked about that to Timothy's son. He said, "You know, I want you to preach the Word, I want you to teach it." But he said, "I want you to devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture as well." And so we're going to read out an entire chapter of the Bible. Don't worry, it's only 600 verses. But it's Deuteronomy chapter 8 this morning. Deuteronomy chapter 8, the fifth book in the Old Testament. So if you find numbers, just go right, and then Joshua, go left. How's that? All right. Deuteronomy chapter 8, we're going to start at verse 1. Powerful passage of Scripture, the whole commandment that I command you today, this is Moses, "You should be careful to do that. You may live and multiply and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. And you shall remember the whole way the Lord your God has led you these 40 years in the wilderness that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. Verse 3. "And he humbled you and he let you hunger." Whoa. "And he fed you with man of which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that. He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by." Every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord, your clothing, did not wear out on your foot, did not swell these 40 years. How many would love to have that grace on your life? Okay. Save a lot of money, being good health. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, say good land, a land of brooks and water of fountains and springs flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley of figs and fig trees and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of all of trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing. Wow. And then he says, "You will eat bread without scarcity, you'll lack nothing, a land whose stones and iron are of whose hills you can dig copper, and you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you." But then here's an admonition of warning, "Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes which I command you today. Bless when you've eaten and are full and have built good houses, and live in them and when you have herds and fox multiplying your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied that your heart be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manner that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you to do you good in the end." That's a powerful statement right there, "Beware lest you say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have forgotten me this wealth. You shall remember the Lord your God for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God. Maybe passage, but I believe we're going to go away greatly encouraged by the end of this. I want to speak this morning on the topic of enter rest experience restoration. Enter rest and experience restoration. So the book of Deuteronomy was actually written at the tail end of Israel's journey in the wilderness for 40 years and it documents them coming out of Egypt obviously and how God brought them through the wilderness. We know the story. It was never his intention that they would be in the wilderness for 40 years but through their disobedience and they tested God ten times. It ends up that the scripture says that he said this generation is not going in but the next generation will so they prolonged their stay in the wilderness up to 40 years. But here they are now they're literally on the verge and they're about to enter in they're going to cross the river Jordan and possess all the promises that God had made to them. They're going to enter into Canaan which is also known as the Promised Land. And when they cross over and when they go into Canaan things are going to be very different. I mean can you imagine in the wilderness for 40 years manna every day same clothing. I mean a pillar of fire and a cloud and I mean you didn't know what was going to happen you couldn't plan ahead not even a day ahead. I mean it's time to stop it's time to go it's time to stop and they were in a place of complete submission and subjection to the Lord and Moses was leading them. And here they are now they're about to move into the Promised Land things are going to be completely different totally unlike what they had experienced during these 40 years. Now how many know that when God wants to bring us into a new season what he wants to take us to a new place in him that there is a process of preparation. The Lord wants to bring us from prophecy to destiny but there is a place in between an interim space where he does a work to prepare us for what's ahead. And this is what the journey in the wilderness was all about and so God was doing something in the children of Israel to prepare them to teach them valuable lessons. So here now at the end of the 40 years Moses says look back remember the ways that I've led you these past 40 years and the Hebrew it actually says this was a journey I took you in various places and it was very intentional it was very clear and I want you to remember not just that I led you but how I led you in the wilderness these past 40 years and recall the valuable lessons that I was trying to teach you because you must remember what I was showing you and what I was doing in you during this time in the wilderness. The journey was coming to an end they were about to land in the place where God was going to do something completely different and I want to say to you that perhaps you're here this morning and you feel that you're in the wilderness you've been on a journey for a long time and you've not been able to come to a place where you're able to put down roots you're able to settle you're able to thrive but you just feel that you're going around the same mountain time after time you're stuck in the wilderness. Well I'm here to tell you this morning that I believe by the time we leave this service that God is going to give you revelation to understand the purpose of the wilderness and also how to be promoted out of the wilderness. The wilderness is essential. Now we can't avoid the wilderness but we can prolong the wilderness. Only one of us will go into the wilderness. Even Jesus says in Luke 5 16 he often withdrew into the wilderness to pray. Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights. He was tested. He was tested in the wilderness the wilderness is a place of testing. As we read in Deuteronomy 8 it was a place where God was exposing them their heart. He was humbling them. He was dealing with things in their life and he was saying whether or not they would obey him. They would obey his commandments. And we are on a journey. It's an important journey. It's an essential journey. It's a critical journey. But the question is where are we headed? Where are we going? I mean what's the journey all about? Surely it has an ultimate destination. I mean can you imagine you get together with your friends and you plan a road trip. You gather all the necessary supplies. You pack your bags with excitement and you jump into your car ready to hit the road and then you look at each other and you go oh by the way where are we going? Like I don't know. We haven't even discussed the destination. We don't know where we're headed. We're excited about the journey but obviously we don't know where we're going and we're not able to prepare ourselves for the journey unless we know the ultimate destination. Without a clear destination in mind you'll find yourself driving aimlessly. I'm sure of where you're going and what you can expect along the way. Now I know this is absurd but it's true for many of us as followers of Jesus. I mean what is our purpose? What does the Promised Land represent to us today? Some people would say well that's heaven. When I die I'm going to heaven. That's the Promised Land. Well actually the Bible doesn't teach that. The Bible speaks of a reality in which we enter into the Promised Land here now. Now the absolute culmination and the ultimate fulfillment of that is when we are with the Lord for eternity but it is something that we can step into now. You see the Promised Land was known as the place of rest. And in Joshua 21, 43 through 44 it says the Lord gave to Israel all the land that He swore to give their fathers and they took possession of it and they settled there. They settled there and the Lord gave them rest on every side just as He had sworn to their fathers. The word settled in Hebrew doesn't mean that they were just visiting there for a short period of time. Now this isn't about visitation, this is about habitation. This isn't about vacation, this is about vocation. By the way the word vocation in Latin literally means a calling. It's a calling. It is a calling. What is called you and me to enter into rest, the type and shadow of rest is seen in Israel crossing over the river Jordan and entering the Promised Land. But the spiritual fulfillment of that for us today is found in Christ Jesus. He is our rest. He Himself said in Matthew 11, 28 and 29, "Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls." I love the book of Hebrews. In chapter 4 verse 8 it mentions that if Joshua, Joshua, Moses, A, the son of none, had truly managed to provide them rest, God would have not spoken about a future day of rest. In other words, when they did finally cross over the river Jordan and settle in the Promised Land, that wasn't the ultimate expression of God's rest. It was a spiritual, it was a physical anti-type, but it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. We find a rest in Him and rest in Jesus is something that He desires that we live in and experience. It's not a place that we kind of occasionally, well, I feel good today, I feel like I'm at rest. No, it's actually a place of habitation. It's our new normal. It's our ultimate destination. It's our calling, and it's our place of residence in Jesus Christ. The Promised Land to Israel was a place where they would settle and flourish. Settle and flourish. It was their ultimate destination, their intended place of permanent residence. Deuteronomy 12, verse 10 says, "But when you go over the Jordan and live in the land that the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, you to live there." It's something that we're called to inherit. There are many people today that really struggle with, are struggling with burnout. I think COVID really exposed that and it took it to another level in business, in ministry, and so people go on sabbaticals. We practice a Sabbath day rest. It's important that we give ourselves time to wind down and to rest. But let me say something to you. You can go on a sabbatical. You can actually practice the Sabbath and still not be in a place of rest. There are certain characteristics of rest. We've been looking at the calling here and we're talking about more than just something that we experience. It's actually a residence or a realm. There's a realm of rest. So even when life is hectic, even when things are chaotic, even when you don't feel good and you are super tired, perhaps even exhausted, there is a place of rest in him. Lynn and I have been in ministry more than 30 years. I have people that ask us, "How have you done it?" The grace of God. Trust me, there have been many times we have tried to move out of that space, that calling. But like Paul said, "Won't it me if I do not preach the gospel?" But there's a place where it's not burdensome, it's not exasperating. There's a place in Jesus where we live in and experience rest. Rest is our calling. It is a place where we live and it's found in Jesus. When we abide in rest, abide, Greek word meno, if you speak the Greek language, anybody in the house speak Greek? Do you eat Greek? I like Greek. You know, in the Greek, even in modern Greek, there's a phrase that basically says this, "I'm staying right here. I'm not moving. I'm here." And the idea is it comes from the word meno, which is the word in John 15 for abide. In John 14, there's a word that is translated. It's a bold, and a bold means a residence, a place of habitation. So we are called to make Jesus our habitation. We are called to live and move in Him. In Him, we live, we move, we have our being. It's in Him. He's in us, and we are in Him as a place where God wants us to stay. And when we stay, when we abide in rest, we will experience the blessings of God, the supernatural favor of God in an unprecedented way. I'm telling you that the key to experiencing the supernatural is entering into rest. And we'll document this from the Scripture. Rest is also a place of abundance. Remember what Jesus said in John 10, verse 10, He said, "The thief has come up to steal kill and destroy, I have come that you might have life, and have life what?" In abundance, more abundantly. It means all over, through, and round about. It's translated, that same Greek word is translated, for example, in Mark 651, is translated beyond measure, that you might have life beyond measure, beyond measure. God is not the God of enough. He's a God of more than enough. Think about the children of Israel, when they were in Egypt, they were slaves, they were shepherds, when they were in Goshat, and they had just enough, just enough. I mean, I'm sorry, they didn't even have enough, they struggled, but then God takes them into the wilderness where they have just enough. The canon is a place of more than enough, in Egypt, it was a place of destitution and debilitation, in the Promised Land, it would be a place of dominion, a place of having more than enough and operating in authority and seeing breakthrough and supernatural grace and power released. There's that interim space called the wilderness, the place where we learn the most important lesson as believers that we can, and that is that he is enough, that he is enough. The point and the purpose of the wilderness was to teach them that man does not live by bread alone, stop looking to the material realm, don't look to things in this world, but listen and give heed to the voice of God. But every word, all words is what it says that come forth from the mouth of God, every word. And when we're at that place of rest we experience the fullness of God's provision and the fulfillment of all his covenant promises. When you imagine experiencing the fullness, the fullness of God's provision and the fulfillment of all his covenant promises, that's what the Bible says, Deuteronomy 8, 9 and 10, "I'm bringing into a land which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, and you shall eat and be full and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he's given you." Then in Joshua 21, verse 45, Joshua was saying, "You know, we brought the children of Israel into this Promised Land, into this place of rest." And he says to the Lord and to the people, not one word of all the good promises that the Lord made to the house of Israel has failed, all has come to pass." Wow, some of you this morning, you're waiting, you're hoping. God bless you for not giving up. Some of you, you said, "Hey, I'm not really expecting God to do this anymore. I've just kind of, you know, resigned myself. And if it happens, great. God knows where I live. But I'm not expecting it anymore. But I'm telling you the delay is because we've not yet learned to enter rest. When you're in the wilderness, there's a purpose in the wilderness. But when the right time comes and when the Lord says, it's time to cross over and go into the Promised Land, we have to be obedient and step into that place. Otherwise, we'll stay stuck in the wilderness and we'll never experience the fullness of his person, his provision and the fulfillment of his promises. Rest is also a place of safety and freedom. We read in Deuteronomy 12, 10, it says, "When the Lord gives you rest from all your Deuteronomy 12, verse 10, it gives you rest from all your enemies round about so that you dwell in safety. Rest is a place where God literally does business with your enemies. We're going to see later on how he does this. But let me just set things up." There are many of us who are under constant harassment from the enemy. I shared a testimony several months ago when I preached that he's the God that makes wars to cease. My testimony was I went through a season where I was constantly under fire, attack after attack, battle after battle. Things were very dark. The pressure was literally, it was literally something overwhelming. But I came to a place where the Lord showed me how to contend, how to fight. And you see, the wilderness is a place of training for reigning. When God took them into the wilderness, one of the things that he was literally doing was teaching them the skills they needed to fight because they were shepherds. They were farmers. They were slaves. They were not skilled warriors. They didn't know how to fight. So God brings them into the wilderness and teaches them how to go to warfare. He's equipping them with the skills to fight because even when they cross the river Jordan and come into the Promised Land, there would be battles. There will always be battles. Not only does he equip them with the skills to fight, but he also refreshes them and restores them with the will to fight. See, some of us were battle-wearing. We're tired. I remember one time I was in Liberia in West Africa, and I had gone there literally just after the 15-year Civil Wars. And at that time, several prophetic words had come to pass regarding the destiny of that nation. It was full on. I'm telling you, it was a dark place. I met several scientists from Europe, and I asked them, "What are you guys doing here?" And they said, "Oh, we've come to replenish the animal population in the forests in this country." And they said, "Why?" They said, "Oh, there's no animals here." I said, "There's no animals. There's no wild animals. There's nothing." They said, "No, the people ate them all during the war." Whoa. And as we begin to talk, there was concern because there was an election coming up, and one of the individuals who was running to be the president was actually a warlord. And he was one who had literally fomented and instigated the war in the beginning. And people were concerned. And I said, "Do you think, if he gets elected, that the nation will be plunged back into war?" And several of the individuals said, "That's a possibility." But one man looked at me and he said, "No, I don't think so." And I said, "Why?" Because the people are too tired. They're exasperated. They're battle weary. They're worn out. They don't want to fight any longer. Some of you, that's where you're at this morning. You're here. You're tired. You've been in the battle too long. You've not had relief. There's not been reprieve. And it's been relentless and full on for you. But I'm here to tell you today that God wants you to understand how to step into a place where you see Him literally subdue your enemies and give you rest. Now that we know our calling and our ultimate destination, it's a place, a permanent residency. It's a place of habitation. It's a place where you experience the fullness of God and all He is and what He has for you as your His dearly beloved son or daughter. It's a place where you live in absolute freedom and safety. The word salvation in the New Testament, soteria, means freedom from the harassment of an enemy. Soed so is the verb. But it ultimately means freedom from the harassment of your enemies. Salvation is freedom from the harassment of your enemy. So now that we understand our calling and our destination, what is the requirement of rest? You see, when the Lord freed the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery by His strong hand, He did not immediately take them into the promise land. We know that. He led them into the wilderness. Now there was a quick way they could go into the promise land from Ramses in Egypt. And it was a direct route. It was like a super highway. And it was approximately 250 miles or 400 kilometers, the journey. And it could have been done quite easily. There are 2 or 3 million Jews that were on this journey. It could have been accomplished easily within a month by foot. But God did not take His children that way. He led them into the wilderness. It was a difficult journey. It was a harsh environment. But He had a purpose to test them, to prepare them, and see, God often doesn't just give us the easy way. How many know what I'm talking about? God, why can't you just make it easy? Because He's not the God. He's not primarily concerned about our being comfortable in life. Whoa. But He's primarily concerned about us being conformed to His life. The wilderness is the place where we learn valuable lessons. Three things very quickly. Number one, they had to learn, they learned in the wilderness, God was their sufficiency, right? God was their sufficiency. God is going to take care of us every day, except on the Sabbath there was manna. He gave them water. God was their sufficiency. He was going to take care of them. We have to learn that, guys. We have to come to a place of implicit trust where we trust. He's going to take care of us. We panic, and then we exhaust all of our resources and our options, and then we cry out to God. No, we need to change that narrative. Finally, they had to learn that God was their satisfaction. In the wilderness, Jeremiah 2, 2 says, "I remember the devotion of your youth, your love is a bride, how you followed me in the wilderness in a land not sown." In other words, I brought you into the wilderness to know me, to reveal my heart, to walk with you in a place of intimacy. And then thirdly, that God was their shepherd. That they literally had to wait upon the Lord, didn't they? The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want him. He leads me in paths of righteousness, even in the wilderness, their paths of righteousness. He's leading and guiding you. Do you trust him on the journey? Will you follow him instead of trying to go your own way and take, make your own course of action? See, this takes practice. It's not like you go to the wilderness once. I'm good now. I've got this. Some of us, it may take very long. You see, the more powerful the promotion, the more profound the preparation process, sometimes even the more painful. I know we don't like that kind of preaching. It says the Lord tested them. The Lord made them hung go hungry. What? I'm not into a God that makes me go without food. It takes practice. Those that master the wilderness will experience the reward of rest. Only those that master the wilderness will experience the reward of rest. Would you like to know what the reward of rest is? Next sermon. No, just kidding. Make sure you come back. Egypt was a place of not enough. It was a place of debilitation. The promised land would be the place of more than enough, a place of dominion. The wilderness is a place where they learned that God is enough. The wilderness was their boot camp. It was their testing ground, the proving ground. It was literally the place where they learned discipleship in the desert. Think about Moses. When he approaches Pharaoh, he says, "The Lord says, 'Let my people go that they might go into the promised land.'" No, he never said that. Mythbuster. He actually said, "Let my people go that they might worship me in the wilderness." Another time he says, "That they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness." Was he lying? Was he trying to deceive Pharaoh? Perhaps. But ultimately, there was a purpose that was even more important than them going into the promised land. That was that they had to learn to worship God in the wilderness. It's easy to praise him in the promised land, but it's not so easy to worship him in the wilderness. God wants us to step into that place. When you learn the lessons of the wilderness, you will experience the reward of rest. What's the reward of rest? Go to Leviticus chapter 25 for a moment. Isn't it interesting in preaching on all those books that we never read, especially Leviticus? Leviticus chapter 25 verses 23-22. This is the Lord's instruction regarding the year of Jubileeah. I want you to watch this very carefully. Now, the 70th year, you know, that the 70th year, and it was a special time where slaves were emancipated, they were released from bondage, land and property was restored, and debts were canceled. So it speaks of cancellation, it speaks of emancipation, and it speaks of restoration. So how would Israel experience the blessing of God by stepping into a place of rest? The recall to even, and to literally embrace a process where even the land had to rest. Verse 20 of Leviticus 25. And if you say, what shall we eat in the seventh year, seeing that we're not able to sow or gather in our crop? In other words, sow in the sixth year, but let the land rest on the seventh year. So what are we going to do about the seventh year, God? Well, I think we've got this down to a science here. When we sow in this year, we reap in the same year typically. But what about the seventh year? If we're not going to sow in the seventh year, what are we going to do? How are we going to survive? And the Lord says in verse 21, "I will command my blessing on you in the sixth year so that it will produce a crop sufficient for three years." Then it continues, "When you sow in the eighth year, you will be eating some of the old crop. You shall eat the old until the ninth year when the crop arrives." Think about that. Guys, listen, what is the Lord doing? How is this going to happen, God? This is actually impossible in the natural. This doesn't happen. Hello? So what? He's God from everlasting to everlasting. He's God. He's not bound by time, space. I mean, physics talks about that. He's invisible. And the reality is it doesn't matter. A day with the Lord is as a thousand years and a thousand years as a day. It's totally irrelevant. It's not on His grid. All I need to do is command a blessing. If you obey me, here's what I'll do. Say in Joel 2, 25, he says, "I will restore to you the wasted years. How can God restore the wasted years? How can we go back and relive those years?" Obviously, we cannot do that. It is impossible. But God says, "Not only will I restore your life, but I'll restore the wasted years." How does He do that? He commands a blessing. If you follow me, if you obey me, if you walk in that place of rest where we live from heaven to the earth, where we only do those things we see the Father doing, yes, we are called to good works. But those works must be His works. They're not our works. Ephesians 2, 10 says, "Yes, we're called to good works." But ultimately, even in Hebrews 4, he talks about, I believe it's verse number 10, where he says, "As God's ceased from His works, so those who experience His rest have ceased from their works." So it's not that we do all, you know, that we just don't do anything, that we don't do good works, but they're no longer our works. It's not our effort. It's not our striving. It's not our attempts to enter into righteousness or to even fulfill our purpose and our calling or even to provide for ourselves. It's a place where we literally say, "I'm still and I know that you're God and I'm only going to move when you say to move and I'm only going to do what I hear you say and I'm only going to act out what I literally see you doing in heaven." Now that is ridiculous, because some of us, we're like, "How can we do that? I don't see anything." Listen, there's a place in Him where you begin to come sensitive and aware of what's happening in His space and what He's calling you and me, you and I, to step into. There's a place. Religion would never teach you that. Religion would tell you, "Do this, do this, do this, do this." If you're good enough and you acquire enough brownie points, God will bless you. Do you say brownie points here? I don't know. God says, "Hey, six-year supernatural compression. Bring you right through to the ninth year. No matter how many years you've wasted. No matter what has happened. God is a God of supernatural restoration." Let me close with this. In two Chronicles 29, there's a king by the name. This is how we say it in North America. It sounds like he needs to go on a diet. "Jahasha fat." All right. He's a fat dude, no. But here, what it actually says is that this king learned how to walk in a way that pleased the Lord. It says that his heart took delight in the ways of the Lord. What ends up happening, it says that as a result of him being a man who literally was completely yielded to the Lord, that honored the Lord. That was completely surrendered to the Lord. It says in verse 29, and also verse 30, "And the fear of God came on all the kingdoms of the countries when they heard that the Lord had fought against the enemies of Israel." So the realm of Jahasha fat was quiet for his God gave him rest all around. There's a place of quietness, a realm where God gives us rest. And it doesn't come through striving. It doesn't come as a result of trying to make it up to God. That's what we say. Don't we? He says, "I will restore to you the wasted years." And we're like, "I've wasted so many years. I have regrets. Is there anyone here this morning that that's you?" And you say, "I'm going to make it up to you, Lord. You've saved me. You've blessed me. I'm going to make it up to you." Stop, stop, stop, stop. No, no. I will restore to you. You can't restore your life. I will restore to you even the wasted years. Let's have the worship team come, please. That place of rest where God is your sufficiency, your satisfaction, your shepherd, even in the wilderness you worship him. There's a verse, Isaiah 30, verse 15, it says, "In returning and rest, you shall be saved." One translation says, "In repentance and rest, you shall be saved." Again, remember the word saved, or salvation means healing, deliverance, to be made whole, to be made complete, to be restored. How do we experience that? In returning and rest, rest. You know, when I started out in Lin and I, we were pastoring a church in Canada. Well, quite well, we ended up having a second campus and a third and a fourth campus. And the money was there. Things were going well. I had a budget. I was traveling to Africa doing massive crusades, other places in the world. And one day the Lord just began to stir us and he said, "Hey, I think we're there seven or eight years." He said, "You're done." And we're like, "Where do you want us to go?" And the more we prayed into it, the more we sensed Florida. Now coming from Canada, Florida obviously was quite attractive compared to the cold winters. But we moved there. We relocated and we had our plans. And we even had some individuals, some leaders that had made promises to us. We had at least three businessmen that were going to sow significantly into our ministry. And then in 2008, the global economic crash hit. And these businessmen lost everything. Guys, Florida is now the fastest growing state in America. Back then, everyone was leaving. It was terrible. And here we are in Florida in the midst of an economic meltdown. And we're like, "What do we do, Lord?" We were promised, "Oh, we're going to help you to establish this church to, you know, even this church that we were going to be. Take it over eventually and it didn't happen." And here we are. And we have literally limited resources, no income, nothing. I remember one day where we had less than $5. That was it. And we had very little food. And I was praying, and I said, "Lord, what is going on? You're Jehovah-Giver. I believe you're a God of more than enough." And the Lord showed me one scripture. It's found in 2 Corinthians 1 verse 9. It says, "We have the sentence of death in ourselves. Then we might not trust in ourselves, but in God who raises a debt." And I said, "Lord, what are you doing?" He said, "I'm bringing you into the wilderness." I was like, "I don't like the wilderness. I've been there. I can write a book about it." And the Lord said, "You're going into the wilderness, but this time, you see, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness. But when He overcame the enemy and He passed the test, it says, "He returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit." We went into a time of great testing, great testing. I prayed that night and a man that I did not know. In Brazil sent me $1,000. God has put it on my heart. There were times we didn't have any money at all. I mean, it was Christmas time, and we had just a little bit of money. And then I got invited by one of the most well-known ministries in the world to come and preach at that church, and the offering that they gave to us. I couldn't believe it. We had enough to obviously pay our bills to live for a while. How many of you know when you're itinerant, there's certain months of the years where you just don't get any opportunities, right? And so God provided for us supernaturally, time after time. And I want to encourage you today, no matter where you're at. You might be here and you're like, "I've been in the wilderness. I feel stuck, and I want to come out of the wilderness. What is the Father saying to you? What is it that He's wanting you to learn? Don't kick against the pricks. Don't resist what He's trying to do. Submit. Let go. Let go. I try to build my ministry during this time. Lord, I'm going to do everything I can to promote the ministry so people know who we are, and I'll get asked to speak, and the Lord allowed me to do that literally. He did. And there was some level of favor on that. But there came a point where He said, "Don't do that anymore. Trust. Let me do it." And after we left Australia in 2019 and went back to North America, which guys honestly, sometimes the journey just doesn't make sense. Hello? But we are still called to trust Him. Even when we make mistakes and we go ahead of Him, He's still gracious, or we lag behind. He's still gracious. We go back and I'm like, "Okay." And we had our plans, and then the Lord basically says, "You're going to go itinerant again." I went itinerant and then COVID hit. I itinerant during COVID. So I'm praying one day, and the Lord says to me, "Don't promote yourself. Let me promote you." Acts 2.22 says that Jesus was accredited by God through signs and wonders and miracles. He said, "Let the favor and the anointing on your life, let me move in that way and it will open doors for you." And what I did was I said, "All right, Lord, I began to pray." And the Lord said to me, "Think about Catherine Coleman because I shared my testimony. I had been healed in one of her meetings." And He said, "Do you think she'd have a problem during COVID?" And I was like, "No." I mean, people would still want her to come and speak. And He said, "That's right." He said, "If you seek to walk in that place of intimacy with me, that anointing will open doors for you." So I called up a friend of mine. Actually, He messaged me on Facebook. I hadn't talked to him in almost 20 years. And he was an older man, had a great ministry, international ministry, a general in the faith. And He said, "Glen, I see you live in Dallas, Texas." He said, "I live here now." He had previously lived in Tennessee. And I said, "Wow, that's amazing. We should talk." So we rang him. We were chatting. And He asked me, "What are you doing?" I said, "Well, at this point, we're stepping back into our tenorate ministry. This is what He said to me." He said, "That's crazy." In COVID, you're stepping into our tenorate ministry. He said, "The only way that will work is if you have the anointing of Catherine Coleman." Okay, Lord. But that anointing comes from a life that's so rest. You may be here this morning and you feel ashamed. You've done things. You're embarrassed about it. You've disappointed others. You've failed, perhaps. Others, you're here today and you're just like, "I know there's so much more that God wants to do. I want to experience the fullness of all that He has available. I want to be a blessing. Right? It's like J.B.'s. "Blessed me so I can be a blessing." What a wonderful thing. And you're here this morning and maybe you're disappointed. Hope deferred makes the heart sick. But the Father wants to restore lives today. He wants to restore callings. He wants to restore marriages. He wants to restore health and healing to your body. He wants to bring healing and restoration in so many ways. And I just felt the Lord asked me to pray for miracles to happen this morning. I want to pray with you and I want you to know that no matter what's happened, no matter even if you feel like I've wasted so much time, you know, I've failed. God, I want you to know this morning that He's not angry at you. He's here to restore you. You can't make it up to Him. He will restore to you the wasted years. Would you just stand with me? We're going to pray. I'm going to pray a prayer over everyone. Then some of you, you may want to come and just take about five minutes and just pour out your heart before God. But I would ask you, please, just to close your eyes. Now you've had for a moment. It's going to be a very simple prayer, but I believe it's going to be powerful. I want you to come and do agreement for restoration, restoration of your health, of your marriage, of your family, of your calling, of your business, restoration in whatever way that applies to you. Come on now, just raise your hand. Begin to pray in the Spirit right now. Just begin to pray in the Spirit right now. I'm going to pray of you. Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank you that you are the God of restoration. Father, as we enter rest, we experience restoration. You said in your word that you will command the blessing and it would be done. So we thank you that you are a God that loves to bless His children. You are a God of the supernatural. You are the God that leaves us even into the wilderness to teach us how to trust you and to depend upon you, Lord God. Thank you for all that you've done and even the difficult seasons of our life, Lord God. But Lord, even right now, for those who feel stuck in the wilderness, to those who are in the wilderness, I just declare in Jesus name, it's time to worship the Lord even right now in your wilderness. Even right now, begin to worship Him in your wilderness. So I command blessing. I command healing right now. I command restoration in the name of Jesus Christ. Right now, healing and deliverance and breakthrough and restoration and favor in the name of Jesus Christ. Let it be done for the glory of God to the glory of God. [Music] [Music] [MUSIC PLAYING]