Stop Trying to Escape Your Problems - Here Is What They Are Actually For

-or says, Consider it pure joy.The Bible says, Consider it pure joy.Who in, in is entirety a human being can literally say, If something bad happens to me, I must have joy"?The Bible says do, to be specific in, in James 1.If we can go to James 1.James 1.And I'm going to read from one.James, a servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ, to the 12 tribes, which are scattered abroad, greetings.Now when you, when you're looking at the 12 tribes, you will understand the 12 tribes.I'm not going to get into that, but it's speaking specifically about us Christians.So if you are not in Christ, this might not be the one I'm speaking to.You might not be the one I'm speaking to.But I'm speaking specifically to th- to through11?So, verse2.first James, I mean, James 1:2.It says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations.So it means that you need to get into that temptation where you feel like swearing.And it's not in your nature to swear.It's something that when you f- you're not a, a person who steals, but yet there's a temptation to steal.At least if the m- something like that happened, you need to say, Yes, I count it all joy.The reason being is that this will then allows me to go on forward knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.So it means that even if you want to steal, and this is the reason why I say too many people, that when they come to the Lord, it will not be a one second turn, then you are out of it.With some people, it literally happens that God touched them once and they are out of it, all of it.But when they come to the Lord, they expect to have the holy then thou already, while it's not going to happen, because this is why the Bible says, My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, knowing that this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.But let patience have her perfect work, that she may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.I got so angry in my spirit that we've went through so many things during the course of only this week and last week.It was such a, a, a, aYou can almost say such something that I felt like I needed to, to, to start retaliate against the enemy.But do you know what, wha- wha- what it does?It just lower my levels to their level.Because what the devil is trying to do, is trying for you to stand face to face with him, with boxing gloves.And it's not going to happen.The reason being that he, he's standing in front of you trying to, to, to, to, to get you to his level is so that you may fall.Now I want to, I want to make an example of the 2 of you.During the course of the week, my daughter, for some reason, get out of the car, trying to move the, the, the, the door.And the next thing, my, my, my son's hand, the, the one, ma, is the one that he's writing with at school.Mm-hmm.And it got stuck in the c- the door.And as a, as a, as aWe'll say, man, as aas a grown up-if ever something didn't touch you there, you won't know what I'm talking about.You won't know that kind of pain that it's, it's going through.I remember my, my, my, my eldest daughter, somewhere, 2013, 2012, she also had the same thingwhere she, she lost her, her, her, that's a messy face.TheMiddle finger.MiddleMiddle finger.And the, the, the nail grew so ugly that her, her whole nail was ugly.And she said, Ooh, I will just put onuh, what's that called?Uh, pin point, pin, polish.What?Cutex.Cutex, yeah.I will put on Cutex just to make it look nice.And when she go to school, she would always hide this finger and as she hide this finger, I kept on saying to you, Don't you know that this is a sign of you being brave?And she kept on saying, No, it's not being brave.Look how ugly it is.It's showing the pain that she went through and she endured it.Now that is what people don't understand.When you go through so many trials and tribulations.My son got angry because he, he didn't know what happened.My daughter got scared because she knows it's her fault and she started crying.And I had to now explain to her a situation.This is the situation.LaShae, please, don't worry.Your brother is not angry atHe's not fighting you.He's fighting the pain that he's going through at this moment, because 2 of his fingersThis one nail is only on one part, so there's 2 parts.Your nail is in 3 parts.How do you say, man?He's, he's gonna anchorYour nail is anchored in 3 parts and 2 of these 3 parts has been torn off.So the nail is literallyIf your nail is here, the nail is sitting like this.So it's only this part that's holding the nail.The pain that this guy must go through, picture that.As a human being, if you have not gone through pain as yet, it's very painful.Some said that there's more higher levels of pain than that.But I'm saying to you, any pain is painful.Regardless how small it is, regardless of just, uh, your foot against the bed and it becomes blue, it's painful.I remember when I was younger, I was running from, from the backyard.Now, when we, when we moved to Potche there wasn't wire, uh, drat.Yeah, yeah, wire.There, we didn't have drat there.So it was onlyHow they, they, they differentiate between the houses was a pole with 3 wires.That's it.So you have the pole and then like a, a meter and a half away is another pole and then there's this, there's 3 wires.Now I was running and I, I remember it vividly as if it was is like every- as it was yesterday.I remember perfectly.And that height would have been just about a meter high or just a small bit higher than a meter.And as I was running from the house behind us, which is, umAuntie Barbie's house, coming from that side, by the time I wanted to run, the next thing, that thing hit me on my throat.And you know the throat, the moment something hits you, it stops you from breathing.And I fall on my back.That makes me, even up till today, I feel the fear of dying because that was soYou can't getYou can't catch your breath because it's not just the throat that gets cut here but it's also the falling on your back.And if anybody of you have ever fallen on your back, you will hear.You know what I'm trying to say?Like, there's no air if you fall on your back.You- your lungs got squashed for a second and then you can't breathe.And that is how I felt.And when my son explained the way, when the dog hit him, he felt his heart almost as if your heart was standing for- still for a few seconds.And that makes me to think back to the day when I fell like that.Why am I explaining this to you?Why am I explaining this to you?It's because of my message.My message is entitled, don't pray the storm away.Don't pray the storm away.And I'm saying to you, here's why.So my message is entitled, don't pray the storm away, here is why.And I'm going to give you a few things that you should know, why you should not pray your storm away.Now, when growth happenAnything that's starting to growMust first die.A seed must first die.Now, let me, let me give you a scripture in- in- in- in Isaiah 54.Isaiah 54, eh?And I'm going to read Verse 2.It says, Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation;spare not, lengthen thy cords and strengthen thy stakes.It says to stretch.Now, when you growshould actually make this example, eh?Do you know that anytime when a- a weightlifter or somebody who's a bodybuilder, anytime they pick up a weight, it literally tones the ligaments?It tones this muscles.And every time when it tones the muscle, the muscle start growing back again.So it keeps on toning and it grows back.It tones and it grows back.And the way it tones, it's- it makes the- the muscle to grow bigger.So it's about enlargement.So growth will always been- begin with discomfort.A seed being in dark places.So how do you know that you are in a dark place?It's when you go through this pain.The one when- when- when- when you feel like your mom has just been picking on you the whole time, just know it's growth pains.It feels like your- your- your boyfriend kept on saying the wrong things and it's crying, it's hurting.Its growth pains.It- it's- it's like as if you are- if you are saying, Lord, enlarge my territory.But when He enlarge, He's- He's always saying to you, Okay, now you got a bigger house, get a bigger TV.Enlarge.Now that you got a bigger- a bigger challenge, He gives you a bigger room to- to- to be challenged in.Enlarge.Now, when youWhen growth begins with discomfort, it's the stretch of the pains that makes it.How will you grow as a young girl of 9 years old, knowing that sometimes you feel likeit's my fault?Because when- when- when Lashai was talking to me afterwards, she said to me, I think Leighton think it's my fault.Okay.It's not your fault being- getting that- that Leighton got hurt.The reason being accidents do happen.It could have happened in any other way.But just because you were there, the- the enemy is trying to put the- the- the pain within you to make you feel discomfort so that you can start talking to yourself, Ah, it's my fault."It's my fault that my daughter gets pregnant at the age of 13.It's not your fault that your daughter got pregnant at the age of 13.The, the fact of the matter is, this is a way of showing that you have beenIt's like anybody saying that, I like stretching.I mean, I don't love inc-I, I mean, I love increase, but I don't like stretching.It's like, like as if you are saying you are comfortable walking with the devil.And when you are comfortable walking with the devil, he will not fight you.So when you walk with him, it means that you areYou don'tIf nothing happens to you, it means that the devilYou are in his camp.If you are not in the devil's camp, it's where he will keep on attacking you.He will make you feel discomfortable.Now, the Hebrew word for, for, for enlarge or, or, oryeah, let's call it enlarge.It's rakhah.It means to broaden, to go beyond limits.So he says here, Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide.Now, when I, when I look at a house being stretched, the moment the house is bigger, the, the moment the, the house need more furniture.So it comes with every territory has some sort of aUm, it, uh, that scare you.It's like, it's likeIt's, it's rubbing you off wrongly.It's hurting you.Some people say, I like to, to, to, to get the, the, the buff of my arms.But then they say, But I don't like push-ups.It's like you saying, I don't like the devil fighting me.But you like the growth that God has given because Satan will forever be a job situation with you.He will say, God, it's only because You keep Your hand on them.That's the reason why they serve You.Discomfort.I've said to you number one.Let me, let me give you numbers so that, so that we can go together.Don't pray the storm away.Here's why.Number one, the growth begin with discomfort.That's now strength, stre- stretching.Growth always meets resistance, number 2.1 Corinthians.In 1 Corinthians 16.Let's read 1 Corinthians 16.Yeah, man, um, yeah, 16 verse 9.1 Corinthians 16 verse 9 says, For a great door and effectual is opened unto me and there are many adversaries.Do you think the door will open for you?There is adversaries.It will always brings adversary.Now, when you go to the Greek word for adversary, it's anteikai.It's anteikai.So this is to stand face-to-face in oppositions.Now, how do you know resistance?You, you remember I said to you previously, the devil isn't bother, uh, uh, bothering you.Maybe he's not bothering you because you're not bothering him.If you're not bothering the devil, it means that you are istorybla.He always want the opposite.He always want the opposite of what you want and you and God wants.Let's say it that way.Nobody wants to kill somebody.If you are killing somebody, it means that something is not right with you, because it's not in our nature to hurt others.It's not in our nature.It's literally not in our nature to hurt others.So when you go forward, you will always meet resistance.Let me make an example.A ship can only be a ship if it's on the sea.It will only be a ship when it's on the sea.If the ship is standing in the harbor, it has no use.It needs to s- to, to get the wind from behind, or from the front, or from wherever.So there is resistance in a ship always.And that is the reason why, uh, only a ship can be on bo- on, on the sea.As a human being you can be in the sea or on the sea, but you won't last from one ship shore to another shore.Resistance.Now, when you're talking about the opposition face, neh, opposition face is that you are in the devil's camp.And when you are in the devil's camp, the unfortunate part is, if you're not with him, you're against him.And therefore, you will always get resistance when you are against him.And do you know that when you grow, there's another one, number 3.Growth requires pruning.Something needs to be cut off.Something that is not going to allow you to move will be cut off.You can't go with an extra baggage in heaven, because the, the, the, the, the door of heaven is too small for you to pass through.You can't.For, for weird reason, if you have to be moving somewhere, pruning needs to happen.Let me s- think I'll, I- I'll not go to the Bible.I'll just read it from my notes.Every branch in me that bears fruit, he prunes, that it maybe bear more fruit.If I look at the roses, a roses that is not pruned, it looks scattered.Can you see the roses that is in front of our yard?It hasn't been pruned, so it doesn't look in form, and there's not enough flowers.But the moment we start pruning it, it makes the flower to even look better, healthier.The same withIf a barber doesn't cut your hair, let me ask you, if a barber doesn't cut your hair, if, if the barber doesn't let your hair, imagine that thing.Your hair will look like boomba.It's not that he hate you.He cut because he want to make you look good.Now, where we're talking about this pruning, neh, the Gree- Greek word is keitairo.It means to clean, to cleanse by cutting off.It's cleaning to cut off.Now, now, nowEish, this thing is disturbing me with beautiful things there.Now, when you require pruning, it doesn't mean that you are useless.That is why He cut you off.No, it's because you are fruitful.That is why He cuts off certain people from your life as well.Have you ever, have you ever wondered why my first friend that I had in, in, in my entire human being is no longer my friend?It's not because of the, the, the, the friend is a bad person.It's just that you've out- outgrown them.Because everybody's uniquely them and how uniquely you are, it makes you to lose some things that is not helping you to grow.You justI mean, you've been friends with somebody for many years.And suddenly one day, you just feel like, "Uh-uh, now this one is no longer adding value to me."You just let go and say bye.It's not because of the, the friend is bad.It's just that the value that you've, they've added has come to an end.There's no longer value in that.Number 4.Now when we say growth produces endurance.Endurance, you know when, when we talk about endurance, it's where James 1:3 says, "The testing of your faith produce endurance."Now endurance, it's to remain under without breaking.That's the, the, the word hypomone.Hypomone.To remain under without breaking.Now picture this now, if a deep sea diver keep on going back up without the pressure that he has there, they won't go deep enough.They will just be called a swimmer.Swimming is for, uh, uh, how do you call it?Swimming is for somebody who go from one side to another.They never go under.A deep sea diver is somebody who goes under to go see what's at the bottom.But they need to endure the pressure that comes with it.But, but, but let, let's, let's talk about, let's talk about patience now.Have you ever noticed when you pray, the day when you pray, "Lord, give me patience."Is the next day the traffic is more than double, and you're stuck in traffic?It's like as if theyPatience is something that you need to practice.That's how youYou can almost call endurance the building phase.It's to build.Uh, coal under pressure becomes a diamond.Did you know that?Coal, like ？The black coals, when they're under pressureAll I'm saying is, when you endure the pain, endure the pain, like it's painful, but yet I'm not cutting off my finger because of the pain.I can still make it.And I need to, I need to make this a part of my message, because if I don't, it might just stop us from growing, because growing will never happen if there's no unity.This is number 5.Growing will not happen.Let's say growth demands, i- in fact, it demands unity.Why I'm saying it demands unity is because of me, me and, and, and, and how do you call it?Me and you, if we are looking for the sameWe are in the same vision, neh?We wanna go the same path.We need to unite ourselves.Um, make an example, neh.Me and my wife, if we both don't want this judgment that is under our name to be taken away, we can't get it away from us.If my wife decides that she wants the judgment to be taken away, and me, I say, I don't care, because we are in, uh, what?Community.What did you say?Community of property.Eesh, we are married in community of property.A judgment affect both of our names.So regardless of whatever, if we are, for argument's sake, God forbid, something like that happen, if we divorce today, the judgment will go with both of us.It will go with my wife, and it will go with me.So unity makes us to, to strive towards the same goal of getting this judgment off from our names.And I can tell you now, I can literally get that judgment off with a few bucks.But it will, it will h- it will only happen if I can, uh, what do you say?Make a sacrifice.Maybe pay for a few months, not the s- kid's school fees.Then once I, I don't pay the school fees, I can pay towards that judgment.My money is so stretched, neh, that it's short few places.But if my wife and I are not in, in, in, in unity, we won't get away from it.I mean, if you're not united, neh, you're like, you're like, uh, uh, you can say, as a churchIf we are divided, it's like- Yes.like having a, a, a wifi with no password.You have the wifi, but no password.So everyone's on it, but nothing can load.Yeah.So unity keeps that kind of signal stronger.As a church, we wanna grow forward.And growing forward means that certain things in our, uh, uh, church ways, we have to unite.Yes.And how to unite is by uniting against Satan's attacks.Yes.How do you, you know, unite against Satan's attacks?If I'm under attack, I pray for y- uh, you pray for me.If you under attack, you pray for me.I mean, I pray for you.If I don't pray for you, it means that you going to get hurt, and I will feel the pain.I remember there was a time when, when, when me and my wife, um, uh, uh, eesh, I, IOkay, I, I, I've already started it.We were in so much distress, neh, that we helped somebody from the church that was in jail.We helped them pay their, uh, what is that inBail, neh?And the bail was over $3,000.It was $3,500, $3,800.And we were sitting with a, a, a electric bill of $20,000 rand at that time.By the time I took the money and paid the person's bail, I didn't expected anything back from them.Even up till today, I'm not expecting anything back.It's just because of the pain that they went through at that time made the pain to me, because I couldn't see somebody in jail.It was painful.And lo and behold, I'm not saying it's because of the 3,000 rand that I've paid them, but the, the debt went so high that it went to 80,000 rand electricity bill.But because of the, the, the fact that I felt like it doesn't matter, that pain that they are going through, I can't let that affect me because I would feel, feel bad.We paid it.After we've paid it, I have not even spoke about it, I have not said it to anybody ever after that.I have not done it.In fact, me and you, we have not even talked about it till, tillI wasI think there was one day, like years ago, that we spoke about it and weI said to you, Can you remember who I bailed out?And you were like, I can't even remember.The way we didn't spoke about it.And she didn't even know who it was.The way, the way we didn't focus on the person itself, we just focused on getting the person out.Today, let's call it 10, 15, probably between 10 and, 10 and 16 years after that, I forgot about it.But the fact of the matter is, theyOr, or their pain become my pain and I even made me to come short because of I wanted to keep the unity.So growth demands unity.A kingdom growth multiplies when we walk in togetherness.Alone you can'tI mean, alone you can be anointed as you are.But together you are unstoppable.You are un-stoppable.Number 6.And I think this is the last one.3 more.The 5th, the 5th one was, umOh, let me say 4 is growth produces endurance, 5, growth demands unity.6 is growth ends in glory.It's, it, it always reveals God to something.HabWho's image?What do I mean by that?Habakkuk 2 verse 14.Habakkuk 2 verse 14.Habakkuk 2 verse 14 says, For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters covers the sea.It will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord as the waters covers the sea.Now the Hebrew word for glory is kavod which means a weight, an honor, a heaviness of presence.So it's a, it's, it's a, it's a heaviness of His presence.So every stretch, every resistance, every cut, every test leads to this specific.Whatever you go through, let them bring it on.See.Jesus.The, the hand that you write.Now my son is left.Left hand, both 2 fingers that you're supposed to hold your pencil with, has been hurt.He can't close his hands.That's how painful it is.It means that he now for the next probably 2 to 3 weeks, he have to write with the right hand which he can't.It's going to be tough on him.is a sign that God's glory will be shown through this.You going through the fact that you felt like Leighton was, was specifically fighting you.No, he did not fight you.He fought the pain that he went through at that time.So you don't have to stress, "Ah, Leighton doesn't like me because I hurt him."It was an accident.preacher.And this accident has not been caused by anythingDon't worry, Satan is, has have his hand in it, but God's glory will still be revealed.Is- it's like, it's like when you are weak, neh.Neh, neh, yeah, let me explain it this way.Yeah, when you are weak, is the time where God can flex through you.Says, "Ish, huh?Look what I done.Look what I've done."Then you don't ha- you don't have the power to, uh, to say, "It was me."You don't have the power because you were too weak to know that it was God.By the time God steps in, He can flex and says, "Ah, uh?"It's like the phone, you know, sometimes the phone, neh, when the battery is dead, you can brag about the phone.You can brag and says, "Ah, uh, iPhone 16."And then they say, "Eh, let me see if it's for real, for real."When its battery is finished, it's finished.You can't b- brag about it.Then they will say, by you saying that it's You say, "Uh-uh, I don't care what you are saying.But let my God be the one that shows you it's not And then you, you, you, you sudden- it suddenly shines, not because of itself, but because of the source, the plugging of it.The moment you plug in a phone into a socket of power and it shows the iPhone 16 real worth, it's the same like how you as a person need that source of God so that His glory can shine through you.So that His glory can shines through you.Ish, sometimes I, I, I wonder, neh, we think that growth is a punishment.Let them bring it on.You know Satan is an Satan and his brother, or whatever.Yeah, right here now.They sometimes bring something to you, and when they bring it, neh, they think it is for your downfall.But it's actually for your growth.The enemy comes in like a flood, but the Lord will raise a standard.Amen.Have you ever heard that scripture?It's like, they come in like, they coming in like 7, like one way, but they flee in 7.It's, it's likeLet me, let me, let me also explain to you something, neh.When growth happen in a seed, it's a downward growth first.How does that happen?When a seed is planted in darkness, it almost like you when you are in your dark situations, you are getting planted.And when you are in your dark situations, you need to be rooted on your knees.first go downwards to go upwards.Have you heard the prophetic?I'm saying to you, for you to be a seed in your darkest hour where they thought, they put soil on top of you to kill you because they now think that you are dead.But less did they know that you have been a seed that has been planted.And the more darker it becomes, the more downer you grow because down growth is starting with the roots.The roots is always the one that go and fetch the nu- nutrition from the ro- the, the, theYou know, you know what is, what is it?Is, fear is like, ah, there's a storm coming and you are like, Ah, what if it rains now?Do you know what you say?At least my water, uh, my plants get water.Don't let any storm make you to fear.Perfect love drives out fear.There's no fear in love but perfect life, lo- love cast out fear.1 John 4, verse 18.John 4, verse 18.There's no fear in love but perfect love cast out fear.You know, sometimes when we fear, neh, we forgot that God has given us, uh, uh, tools and, and, and, and, and what is the 000 name?Uh, weapons.Because when you speak the word, it silence the fear.Speak the word of God, it silence the fear.Eish, and I'm going overtime here, but I need to make sure that I cover this point.The Bible says, Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes in Ephesians 6, verse 11.So it doesn't mean that there won't be attacks.It means attacks will come, yes.But you just need to put on the full armor.They will, they will tell you, I'm notUh, this one, who is the mathematician in the house?You know my, my daughter, Lashai?We talk about number.The next thing she ask me, Give me 6 numbers and I'll give you the, what it is.And I'm like, Eish.You know, things like that.The whole time it's maths, with her, there's 4 bottles.If I take 3, I multiply it by 3, it's 9.The way she, she keeps on thinking maths, maths, maths, maths.She has a way of, of knowing.1, 2, 3, then she count.And, and, and, and it comes natural.It's not something that she keeps on doing, but by the time we, uh, she take my, my, my phone, she's not like other kids that goes on the phone and just goes straight to the games.She goes to the calculator.nice.Imagine going to a calculator.You, you, you're putting an armor on you to say, At least I'm going to hit the maths.Okay, let meThe reason I'm giving this fear for you is so that you can understand when you grow, fear will be there.But how do you c- overcome fear?Number one, pray in the spirit.Jude 1, verse 20.Fear cannot stay where tongues flow.Jude 1, verse 20.Number 2, worship louder than your worries.The way when, wh- when my, my, my, my, my, my, my son was full of blood, nehMa, he came from the gate, neh.And I was standingI was in the garage, neh.Or I was somewhere.Where was I?I was inside.You came to call me or what?On the, yeah, I was on the grass actually.Yeah, I was, I was, uh, I was doing the watering the grass.And when I go there, the only thing I saw is blood.And, and the heart, neh, it start it, it makes some worse than the, the Up Afrika beats.know Up Afrika, they make?That one was worse.When I saw him and I just see blood, I was likecouldn't even speak.The first thing, I'm like, H- h- wha- what, what, what, what?That, at that time was worrying me.It was worrying me too much.I felt like crying.But do you know what came out?I willHe has given me victory.I will lift Him higher.Oh, Jehovah.I will lift Him higher.He has given me victory.I will lift Him higher.Jehovah, I will lift Him higher.The only thing I could do is thank you, Lord, he's alive.So worship louder than your worries because according to Acts 16:25, Pray, shift focus on giants.I mean, From giants to God.You will read the, the Scripture afterwards.Uh, the, the one, first one I said pray in the Spirit, which is Jude 1, verse 20.The second one, worship louder than your worries, which is Acts, s- s- Acts 16:25.And then number 3 is confess Scripture daily.So what I mean by confessing Scripture daily is that according toIs it, is it, uh, 1 verse 9?What is the, um, 1 verse 9, j- j- j- j- j- it starts with a J, is it?1 verse 9 that says, Let the Scripture be in your mouth.Joshua.I, I,I knew it start with a J.Joshua 1 verse 9.So let the Scripture be in your mouth- Yeah.continuously.Because if you confess the Scripture daily, according to 2 Timothy 1 verse 7, every morning until it becomes your mindset.So 2 Timothy 1 verse 7, confess Scripture daily.And number 4, the unfortunate part that we don't do is stay in community.Do you know how you, you, you, you, you, you go out of here?Fear will makes you toWhen you are alone, you will fear more.Have you ever been in a, in a situation whereOkay, let's talk about anybody.Doesn't matter who.When you were younger, the moment you were left alone in the house and you were alone, fear will come in.Mm-hmm.Any sound that you hear-put fear in you.That's iso- isolation.So fear, it thrives in isolation.So be in community.Hebrews 10 verse 25.So take, take being together because that will makes you not to fear.You know fear is, uh, uh, is literally the shadow.Faith is the light.Shadows disappear when you face the light.If the, the, the light is in front, the shadow is at the back.So whatever you fear, if you are alone at home and you fear, you switch on all the lights so that you can see because fear is always something that is in the dark that you can't see.Okay.No, no, no.Let me rephrase.It's not always, but it's most of the time where there's something that you're not aware of or it's not been surfaced.If you hear you have not seen what it is, the first thing that comes to mindIf you're afraid of a mi- mouse, is it a mouse?If you're afraid of a snake, is it a snake?So whatever you're afraid of, the first thing that will comes to mind, is this a snake?But just the sound, it doesn't even sound like a snake because sometimes a snake is not that fast that it makes.But just the mere fact that you don't know what it is makes you to fear.Why the devil wants you to be afraid?The reason being simple and simple.He don't want you to grow.That's it.Let's leave it here.He don't want you to grow.Done.Done.Done.Always remember, He who be- began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.So whatever you're going through, it's still a work in progress.Heavenly Father, I come to you in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, and I pray that this morning as we have come together, Father God, that Your word which is casting out all fears, which is literally giving growth has come to us in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.And I pray that this day, as everyone has been going through so much trials and tribulations, every attack that the devil can give us, but yet Your glory will still be proven in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.Amen and amen.Now may the grace of our Lord, Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the sweet fellowship of the Holy Spirit rest and abide with us all until Jesus comes.Surely goodness and mercy shall follow us all the days of our lives, and we shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever and ever.In Jesus' name, amen and amen.There's just one thing that I want to-