Walking Through the Dark Places
Bishop Henry Fernandez Preached on 11/5/2020Psalm 139:23
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39:48
Summary
Bishop Henry Fernandez teaches that dark places are not signs of God's absence but are necessary training grounds where faith intensifies and believers are prepared for their ultimate purpose. By inviting God to search their hearts, believers can move from being emotionally driven to word-directed, ensuring they emerge from trials with a powerful testimony.
Key points
- •Dark places (financial struggles, family discord, grief, or personal attacks) are inevitable, but they are the primary environment where faith grows and intensifies.
- •Before seeking an exit from a trial, a believer must invite God to search their heart and motives to avoid self-sabotage and emotional reactivity.
- •Maturity in Christ is not found in emotional worship experiences but in the ability to remain stable and word-directed during periods of resistance and uncertainty.
- •Hidden within every uncertainty and dark season are great possibilities and opportunities for God to prepare a person for their purpose.
- •Experience in the 'fire' qualifies a believer for ministry; God uses seasons of disrespect, criticism, and hardship to train his people to handle future leadership and success.
Scripture
Faith
Spiritual Growth
Trials
Purpose
Perseverance
Life application
This week, when you encounter a dark place or a moment of anxiety, stop and pray Psalm 139:23. Instead of asking God to change the situation immediately, ask Him to search your heart and order your steps according to His Word rather than your emotions.
Reflection questions
- What dark place are you currently walking through, and how have you been responding to it emotionally?
- Why is it important for God to 'test' our anxious thoughts before He promotes us to the next level of our purpose?
- In what ways have past trials prepared you for the responsibilities you have today?
- Are you currently word-directed or emotionally driven in your decision-making?
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Full transcript
0:03praise the lord everybody welcome to
0:05church
0:06we're so glad that you have joined us
0:09on today i believe
0:12that god's going to speak to you you see
0:15if you can show up virtually
0:17then you've done your part now the rest
0:20is up to god
0:21for god to empower you and that
0:24i'm quite sure he's going to do if this
0:27is your first time streaming
0:29i appreciate you logging on and to the
0:32faith center family
0:34welcome home we love you we appreciate
0:37you
0:38joining us today let's pray father we
0:41thank you for your goodness thank you
0:43for what you're going to impart
0:44unto us this evening
0:48lord we put our country before you once
0:51again
0:52we know that your will will be done
0:56and on top of that we are so glad that
0:59our
1:00faith doesn't hang on who gets
1:03in power lord our faith is
1:06in you and we know that you're going to
1:09take care
1:10of your church your people so therefore
1:14we just ask lord that your will will be
1:17played out in all of this and all the
1:19anxiety and everything that people are
1:21going through
1:22help us lord to be still and know
1:26that you're a god in jesus name
1:30amen all right let's get right into the
1:33word of god
1:34praise the lord so the election is over
1:38we're still waiting to see who will lead
1:40this country
1:42the next four years if you are watching
1:45from outside of the united states
1:47please pray for us we need it
1:51just pray for us we need it i'm telling
1:54you but
1:54god is still in control all right so
1:58you know even up to yesterday so many
2:00people are going through a dark place
2:03you know right now they're people who
2:05are going through a dark place
2:07they're panicking over the results of
2:09the election
2:11maybe it's personal issues they're
2:13having they're worried about certain
2:15situations in their lives
2:18maybe you're battling sickness you're
2:20battling
2:21depression you know perhaps you're
2:24struggling
2:25in your finances and so forth so i want
2:28to talk about
2:30walking through the dark places
2:34walking through the dark places that
2:37you've got to walk
2:38through them let me give you a scripture
2:41first i want to help you with this
2:43and it is found in
2:46in psalm 139 verse 23
2:49psalm 139 verse 20
2:533. um i believe that this will
2:58kind of be a confirmation to how many of
3:01you are feeling
3:02and uh that's the reason why god sent me
3:06to speak to you
3:07this evening for you to understand
3:10that you're not alone when you're going
3:13through
3:13your dark places we all go through dark
3:16places
3:18every one of us every one of us we have
3:21seasons
3:22in our lives where we go through
3:25dark places so let's do a little
3:26exercise here for a moment
3:28right as you're viewing right now think
3:31about
3:32what what are some of the dark places
3:35you have been
3:36through or been to uh yourself or
3:39let's put it this way what are some of
3:41the dark places you
3:43are walking through or have been
3:46through in the past all right in just a
3:49moment i'm going to go over there
3:51and i want to see people kind of show me
3:54you know i want you to respond tell me
3:58what are some of the dark places you've
4:00been through some people
4:02may say i've been through a dark place
4:04with my children
4:06you know my son perhaps your son is on
4:08drugs
4:09i've been through a dark place with my
4:12relationship
4:15maybe it's a career uh issue maybe it's
4:18a little
4:19legal battle perhaps you are a spiritual
4:22leader of a church and
4:24right now during this pandemic you are
4:26going
4:27through a dark place well let's talk
4:30about that for a moment
4:32right remember you won't conquer what
4:35you won't confront
4:37you have to confront the issue so let's
4:38talk about it for a moment
4:40what are some of the dark places you've
4:41been through someone is just saying my
4:43marriage
4:44that's that can be a dark place all
4:47right
4:48you know uh what are some of the issues
4:50that you're having
4:51and there's a reason why i'm asking you
4:53to to do this because i want to help you
4:56let's go over here
4:58and see this person is saying mental
5:01illness with a family member that's a
5:04dark place
5:05a dark place in my marriage again a dark
5:08place and losing my mother
5:10and brother the death of my dad
5:13i can relate to that uh bad relationship
5:18family and finance here comes marriage
5:20again
5:21issues at my job my marriage again
5:25my my grandma's death
5:28finances i went through a divorce that
5:31can be a dark place
5:33all right another person is saying my
5:35mother passed last year
5:37anxiety family discord
5:40finance again finance my finance
5:43i've been positive for covid
5:46okay my education divorce
5:50anxiety unemployment my health
5:53i mean the list i lost my mom divorce
5:56again the death of my dad
5:58depression my health being a single
6:01parent
6:02unexpectedly finances relationships
6:07well we've all at some point in time in
6:11our lives
6:12all of us have been through situations
6:14like that somebody's saying sickness
6:16here
6:16family discord finance and and again so
6:19many people
6:20are talking about marriages right but
6:22look at psalm
6:23139 and we're going to look at verse
6:2723 and
6:30and i want you to let this verse settle
6:33in your spirit
6:35and hopefully it will be the foundation
6:38on which i will be or build
6:41i should say the the the message on okay
6:45so it says search me oh god
6:48and know my heart test me
6:52and know my anxious
6:55thoughts people are still listing their
6:58dark place
7:00okay search me so the writer is saying
7:04search me the first thing i want people
7:07to
7:08to know is this when you're going
7:10through a dark place
7:13before you try to find your way
7:16out or before you can get through that
7:20dark place
7:22you have got to ask
7:26god to search you so
7:29that your motives are right so that your
7:32emotions don't get in front of you
7:36so that you can uh if you will
7:39um get through that dark place
7:42in your life um in a positive way
7:46because you can come through a dark
7:48place but by the time you get through it
7:50you're ruined
7:51you're messed up you're unfulfilled
7:54you're not happy and you don't win
7:56at the end of the day when you get
7:58through a dark place you want to win
8:01all the things that you guys have listed
8:03at the end of the day
8:04you know your reality is your dark place
8:07right
8:08every one of us will go through it so
8:09when you go through a family discord and
8:12your finances
8:13and you're really struggling when you
8:16get through those
8:17areas of your life you want to win you
8:19want at the end of the day
8:21for that experience to become your
8:23testimony
8:25you should never go through a dark place
8:28and at the end of it
8:29you don't have a testimony it's not
8:32god's will for you to go through
8:33anything in life and it doesn't bring
8:36him glory
8:38are you with me it has to bring him
8:40glory
8:41so you have to ask god search me so lord
8:45search me i want to make sure that my
8:48thoughts are correct
8:49i want to make sure that my motives are
8:52right
8:53and i want to make sure i'm sensitive to
8:55the leading of the holy spirit
9:00not very long from now i'm going to
9:03revisit
9:04the series i did some years ago on
9:07recognizing the voice of god
9:11and to be absolutely sure
9:14that god is speaking to you
9:18because for you to win for you to be
9:21successful
9:22at the end of the day you want to make
9:24sure you know god's voice
9:27you want to make sure that you can say
9:30without a doubt god spoke to me
9:34i know that was god and it's not an iffy
9:36situation
9:37you're not guessing you know it's god so
9:41for you to get through a divorce
9:42for you to get through some legal
9:44situations for you to get
9:46through unfair this person is saying
9:48unfair legal situations
9:50the death of your aunt for you to get
9:53through that because that can be you
9:56know
9:57an emotional rollercoaster for you to
9:59get through those things
10:00that those dark places you're going to
10:03have to ask god search me lord
10:06help me not to be the one to
10:09self-sabotage
10:11myself and rob myself
10:14of the success that i so desperately
10:17need so it says search me god
10:21and know my heart know me it's so it's
10:24so
10:25it's crazy man we we want to know what
10:28other people are doing what other people
10:29are thinking
10:30we want to even know what god is doing
10:32what he's up to
10:34but we don't want to find out who we are
10:37and what we're up to
10:38what's really on the inside of us
10:41what's our motive who are we
10:45think about that for a moment because
10:48then he says
10:49test me and know my anxious
10:52thoughts test me in other words he's
10:55actually inviting god to test him
10:59most of us don't want to do that most of
11:01us are saying don't try me god
11:03i want no drama i don't want no problems
11:05i just want to live
11:06happily ever after but the writer of the
11:09psalm
11:10this particular psalm was actually
11:13saying
11:13i don't mind being tested because i want
11:16god to test me to the point of
11:20identifying my anxious thoughts
11:24so i can get rid of them so i can get
11:27rid of them
11:28so i hope ladies and gentlemen you will
11:31understand
11:32that that god wants you
11:35to win he wants you to be successful and
11:38yes
11:39success is possible but you've got to
11:41walk through the dark places
11:44i wish i could tell you you know being a
11:46christian
11:47you don't have to struggle you have to
11:49go through these issues
11:50you don't have to live with
11:52uncertainties it's
11:54a part of life but remember
11:57hidden in uncertainties are
11:59possibilities
12:01somebody needed to eat that hidden
12:05in uncertainties are possibilities
12:10yes there's a whole lot of possibilities
12:14hidden in uncertainties it's it's like
12:17what our country's going through right
12:18now
12:19you know we're uncertain of the results
12:21and you know
12:22and on edge and you know well hidden in
12:25it are great possibilities
12:28you just got to look for it hidden in
12:30your drama
12:32whatever you've just posted on you know
12:35the social media or on youtube whatever
12:38your dark place may be
12:40i'm telling you hidden in those dark
12:42places
12:43are great opportunities opportunities
12:47there are great possibilities there
12:49yes think listen it could go either way
12:53i choose to go with the positive
12:57because the way you think that's what
12:59you will be
13:00so if you think you're going to be
13:01defeated in that if you think a divorce
13:05is going to define who you are that okay
13:08fine it's broken
13:10um you know the the the court of unity
13:13is no longer there
13:14so because you're divorced you know okay
13:17well there's no hope for you whatever no
13:19no you can choose to think
13:21that way and that's how you're going to
13:24live your life
13:25for the rest of your life or you can
13:28think okay there's some lessons learned
13:31there's some things i i got from it and
13:34i know what to do what not to do again
13:37and and so forth
13:38but it doesn't mean that i would cancel
13:40that i can't love again or whatever the
13:42situation may be
13:43maybe your family is family drama okay
13:46come on all right
13:48you can say well my family will never
13:50get better my family will never
13:52be in unity and be in love or you can
13:54say no i believe
13:56i believe that i am the seed i am the
13:58good seed
13:59that can turn my family around so i'm
14:01going to keep on praying
14:02see i'm talking about great
14:04possibilities here i'm talking about
14:06opportunities to create change
14:11you know recently i read a beautiful
14:15and inspirational card
14:18and it says faith shines
14:22even brighter when the road ahead
14:26looks dark that's powerful
14:30faith shines even brighter when the road
14:32ahead
14:33looks dark so what it's actually saying
14:36is when it comes to to faith
14:41faith is always looking for it's
14:44opposite
14:45whoo i love that faith is
14:48always looking for its opposite
14:52so if you're saying god i want to live
14:54by faith
14:55increase my faith because as a child of
14:58god
14:58we are required to live by faith the
15:01bible says the just
15:03we're god's people right when he says
15:05the just the righteous
15:07should live by faith if you're going to
15:10then
15:10live by faith exercise your faith what
15:13makes you
15:14think that you're going to be placed in
15:17an environment of perfection
15:22you know faith cannot grow in places
15:26where everything is perfect in fact
15:30faith is not necessary in those
15:32environments
15:36so well you know if your family is doing
15:38well everything is great with your
15:40family
15:41nobody's dying in your family
15:44you know if if if you're not homeless
15:47if if you uh let's see if you you know
15:51you don't you're not sick or you know
15:55if your love life is going wonderful
15:57there's no drama your kids are doing
15:59well
16:00and so forth as someone will say here i
16:02feel stuck you know
16:04if everything is going perfect if on
16:06your job you got the perfect job
16:08you're making enough money watch this if
16:11you
16:11if you had plenty of money in the bank
16:13say six months of emergency funds
16:15everything is going perfect the question
16:19then my friend
16:22why do you need faith
16:25why do you need faith
16:29last time i checked every time in the
16:31bible faith was exercised
16:33it was always in a difficult situation
16:37somebody was blind somebody was crippled
16:40somebody was
16:41dead there was unbelief there was doubt
16:45the dark places but
16:49faith allowed them to walk
16:52through the dark places
16:55are you hearing me so
16:58when i read this it really connected to
17:03me faith
17:04shines so there
17:08there's um
17:11increase if you will um
17:16faith will increase let me put it that
17:17way faith will
17:19increase and intensify that's the word i
17:22was looking for
17:23intensify and become greater
17:26over time when it is
17:30placed in dark places
17:36so if you really want to see god
17:39at work if you really want to be mature
17:44in your faith journey and have a
17:47real good intimate relationship with god
17:52maybe you need to begin to embrace
17:57where he's taken you and what he's taken
18:00you
18:00through so it's important to note that
18:04if you want to grow
18:05in your faith like i said if you want to
18:08experience
18:09god at his best you must follow the path
18:13that will get you there you cannot rely
18:17watch this only on praise and worship
18:21the songs you sing
18:23and you know you know your you know your
18:26intercessors or you just praying every
18:28day
18:29and emotionalism to bring you
18:32to a solid place in god this is where we
18:36get it wrong
18:39i can't tell you how many christians
18:41think that
18:42it is when the worship is great the
18:45worship team
18:46is in sync and they're doing wonderful
18:48and we're in whether it's
18:49virtual or on campus and we're in a
18:52awesome praise and worship and the music
18:54is great i mean we're doing good man
18:56and all is well and they're thinking
18:59that's what's going to get them closer
19:01to god
19:02somehow we just believe just because
19:04there's a few people
19:05in the audience they're crying their
19:07hands are up their people
19:09dancing and and we say church was good
19:12man and so forth
19:13but i i hate to tell you that
19:16doesn't increase your faith
19:20that doesn't mature you
19:24because i'm telling you i've seen a
19:26whole lot of people
19:27they're very emotional in worship
19:30oh my goodness they listen
19:34they they they can dance real good they
19:36can shout real good
19:38i mean and god knows they can pray
19:42but very immature
19:46very immature in the faith
19:49very immature they can't take a problem
19:54very immature somebody talk about them
19:57they're ready to curse them out
20:00somebody rubbed them the wrong way
20:02they're ready to go off
20:06come on now they're ready to get mad
20:09okay um they don't like certain things
20:12they're ready to quit god they're ready
20:14to say all kinds of stuff this church
20:16stuff don't work god ain't
20:18doing this for me and so forth do you
20:20know how many people who go to churches
20:22in america go from one church to the
20:26next church to
20:27next church and they leave one church
20:29then they dog out the pastor and they
20:30dog out
20:31other people they dog out the
20:32credibility of the church and they go to
20:34another church
20:34and they do the same thing over a few
20:36years and so forth and it becomes a
20:38cycle
20:38why because watch this they're trying
20:42to become emotional in their faith let
20:44me tell you something
20:45when it comes to your faith you've got
20:48to make a decision
20:49where god plants you nobody's going to
20:51remove you
20:52what god is doing in your life you're
20:54not going to let anybody shift you out
20:56of that position
20:58you got to be strong in your faith man
21:03because faith will shine
21:06best when you're going through those
21:08dark places
21:10i learned this because i'm telling you
21:11man i'm a student of what i'm preaching
21:14i remember years ago you know being a
21:16young pastor i started preaching when i
21:18was 27. i started the church actually
21:20i should say when i was 27 i started
21:22preaching
21:23at the age of around uh 20. and in prior
21:26to that
21:27i was heavily involved in church i grew
21:28up in church
21:30but i started preaching at age 20.
21:33i remember motivated young men in
21:36brooklyn new york i would get on the
21:38train
21:39and you know i don't think if they allow
21:42it now but i get on the
21:44train and i'll open my mouth start
21:46preaching
21:48so this stage look i wasn't going after
21:53this
21:53i was comfortable in a train a subway
21:57preaching the gospel to
22:00lots of people and of course i've seen
22:03all kinds of stuff happen
22:05i've seen people look at me like they
22:07they wish i'll drop dead
22:09the ugly look they'll give me and so
22:13when i became a pastor
22:14watch this the treatment
22:17and the resistance that i got in the
22:21subway helped prepare me for church
22:24people
22:28[Applause]
22:30oh this is good man it helped me
22:33the subway ministry
22:37helped me and prepared me
22:41for ministry and i'm trying to tell you
22:44some of you
22:45the stuff you're going through the dark
22:47places you're going through
22:49god is preparing you for greater
22:52ministry
22:53but you're flipping out man
22:57you're saying god what are you doing to
22:58me oh yeah
23:00he's trying to put you in the dark
23:02places so your faith can shine
23:05so when i became a pastor from you know
23:08subway ministry
23:09now to pastor in and and you know small
23:12church
23:13and the church was growing and i can
23:15tell you how many times
23:17i've been through experiences where
23:20you know i've had bad encounters with
23:22people i've betrayed
23:24all kinds of stuff and and and it was
23:27hurtful
23:27and and and and it had to that
23:30experience
23:31taught me sometimes zip it
23:34just just don't say nothing but it also
23:38has taught me how to deal with people
23:40because i've made a commitment listen
23:42i've made a commitment i am
23:45not leaving god
23:50and i'm not going to let anybody
23:53or anything move me outside of my
23:57purpose
23:59why because i'm discovering now
24:03that over the years everything that
24:06happened to me
24:08god was using it for my good romans 8
24:1228 glory to god
24:16everything every problem i dealt with as
24:19a pastor
24:19i've been through some dark seasons
24:23and you know as as a pastor as a
24:26minister of the gospel
24:27and i appreciate those dark places
24:30because it increased my
24:32faith and some of you are screaming god
24:36get me out of this dark place
24:38and god is saying okay but if i get you
24:40out you're not
24:41prepared to handle what i got for you at
24:44the end
24:46because you have no experience you
24:50absolutely have no experience
24:54listen if i have a leak on my roof
24:58i'm not going to call a company
25:03with the owner or the repairmen
25:07who just recently were trained how to
25:11patch roof
25:13i'm sorry you may say well you need to
25:16give the small man a chance
25:18no you are not going
25:21to practice on my roof it's already
25:26leaking
25:28i need a professional i need somebody
25:30who's been through something
25:32if i've had uh three surgeries
25:36and i will tell you the first one was a
25:38deviated symptom
25:40and um they had to go into one of my
25:44nostrils it was completely closed and so
25:46forth
25:47and cut it out you know all the kind of
25:48stuff and i'm going to tell you
25:50something
25:51i asked that doctor a whole lot of
25:52questions
25:54and if i found out that he had just
25:57graduated from med school he ain't
26:00cutting me
26:02you not going in my nose
26:06i don't care if you got the degree oh
26:09you got it on the wall
26:10you see many of us as christians we got
26:12the title of a christian hanging on the
26:14wall
26:15but we don't have any experience because
26:18we keep flunking the task
26:20we keep screaming god get me out of this
26:22dark place and god has said no no i want
26:24you
26:25there because i need to train you the
26:27reason why
26:28i allow that doctor to operate on me
26:31but behind his name he has years of
26:35experience
26:36of performing the same surgery and he
26:38gave me
26:39comfort
26:42that he can do it
26:45it's like going in a plane
26:49if you go on a plane and you're
26:52traveling from
26:53from miami let's say to london
26:58and the captain comes on and the captain
27:00says hello this is captain fernandez
27:04i'm glad to have you we're going to be
27:07flying at about 37
27:08000 feet um
27:11weather is pretty much clear little
27:13bumps in there and so forth
27:15and glad to have you please relax the
27:17flight attendants will be
27:19giving you some instructions and so
27:21forth and uh and so forth so
27:23and and by the way i'm so glad i you
27:25know please
27:26i just got my pilot's license
27:30and i'm so excited to fly you all to
27:32london
27:33let me tell you something if
27:36i was sitting in that plane seat belt on
27:38i said excuse me
27:41excuse me i get open that door open that
27:44door right now
27:46i'm not going on this flight y'all can
27:48take my bags to london
27:50send it back but i am not on that plane
27:53why he doesn't have enough mileage
27:56around this belt
27:58i don't care you say you don't trust
28:00people
28:02nope not when you just get your license
28:08i don't trust a believer who has not
28:10been through anything to counsel me
28:13i don't trust a believer watch this if
28:16you haven't been through the fire
28:18if you haven't been through the flood if
28:20you haven't been through the dark place
28:22do not lay your hands on me to get me
28:24out of my dark place
28:25you are not qualified
28:29oh but if you want god to use you i
28:32don't know if i'm helping somebody here
28:34but if you want god to use you you've
28:36got to be willing
28:38to allow faith to shine
28:42brighter as you're going through your
28:45dark places
28:46hmm that's good stuff man so you can't
28:50rely on just your emotions
28:52let god train you let god train you let
28:55god develop you
28:56whatever you're dealing with you're
28:58going to get through there
29:00you're going to get there just ask god
29:02search me search me
29:03am i really ready for where you're
29:06taking me
29:07think about that you see it is life
29:11experiences
29:12that makes us makes us value god more
29:19do i like some of the stuff i've been
29:21through no
29:24no there's some things i can tell man i
29:26hate that i hate that
29:28but you know what i appreciate it i
29:31appreciate what god is doing i'm not
29:33talking about stuff i got myself into
29:36right because all of us there's a
29:38permissive will of god
29:39and the perfect will of god there are
29:40things that we just did on our own
29:43but the grace of god is always there to
29:46rescue us
29:47so the body of christ has gotten its
29:50itself
29:50in a place where we're no longer
29:53word directed
29:57instead we're emotionally driven
30:02we're no longer word directed word
30:04directed says order my
30:06steps in your word it's okay lord
30:11man you're letting my family act the
30:13fool
30:14okay lord you're letting my children
30:16just do stupid stuff
30:18lord you're letting my husband just act
30:20in the fool you you're letting my wife
30:22act in the fool and
30:24why are you allowing this lord and boy
30:26they're putting me through
30:27all kinds of stuff and there's chaos in
30:29my house and there's chaos on the job
30:31there's chaos around me now i've got
30:33health challenges and
30:35and now i'm broke i don't have any money
30:37and so forth no no
30:38no what you're saying you're saying god
30:41okay
30:41i'm not you know what i'm not gonna
30:43allow these emotions to get me
30:46i'm not gonna allow these emotions to
30:48get the better part of me now lord
30:50it's what it is it's my reality so lord
30:54i thank you
30:55lord i thank you you know what god okay
30:58i'm going to be word driven now
31:00by your stripes i'm healed no weapon
31:03that is formed against me will ever
31:05prosper
31:07you see word driven every dark place
31:10you're in
31:10we're driven because as you're getting
31:13through the dark place
31:14the word is what's going to sustain you
31:16sustain you the word is what's going to
31:19undergird you the word is what's going
31:21to give you support
31:22the word is what's going to encourage
31:25you not your emotions
31:26because there are times i don't
31:30feel like things are working
31:33in my favor sometimes i don't
31:37feel god sometimes i don't know what god
31:40is
31:40up to sometimes i don't understand why
31:44will he allow or would he allow certain
31:46things to happen
31:48however because i am word driven
31:52what are my steps god
31:55order my steps order my steps
32:00i'm in a dark place but help me walk
32:03through it
32:04and while i'm walking through the dark
32:06place thank you god that you're teaching
32:08me some things you're
32:09teaching me some things you're teaching
32:12me some things you're teaching me some
32:13things
32:14you're teaching me you're teaching me
32:16self-answer turning ray wrath
32:18you're teaching me how to zip it you're
32:20teaching me you're
32:21teaching me that's not how you love
32:24that don't know that's not how you love
32:26you're teaching me
32:28uh don't worry leave that boy alone
32:30leave that girl alone
32:32because the lord you're reminding me the
32:34prodigal
32:35you know he did his thing he thought
32:38hey he laughed but we know
32:42how the story ended with him leave your
32:45girl alone leave your daughter alone
32:46leave your son alone
32:48let my word order your steps
32:52don't panic and get all excited and
32:56let your emotions get in the way
32:59so could it be why you're struggling in
33:02the dark places
33:04is according to the psalmist is because
33:07you have yet to ask god to search you
33:12and know my heart
33:15am i driven to respond in a negative way
33:19or
33:21lord of my
33:24anxiety getting the best of me so i flip
33:30instead of resting in you think about
33:33that
33:37how are you handling criticism
33:40how criticism is a dark place
33:45no one likes to be criticized
33:49no one liked to be criticized
33:52nobody but it's a dark place especially
33:56unjust criticism it's one thing i don't
33:59mind you criticizing me
34:01if you're going to help me some people
34:04are professional dream killers
34:10there are some people who they find
34:14pleasure in criticizing
34:17to destroy how are you handling
34:21criticism
34:23how are you handling wrong assumptions
34:27of who you are
34:31there are people right now who just
34:34for whatever reason have assumed
34:38and they're so off but they do it
34:42how are you are you getting all
34:44emotional about it
34:46are you saying lord search me
34:50calm on my anxiety and
34:53let me walk through that dark place
34:57how are you handling disrespect oh i
35:00know i know
35:01our pride won't let nothing pass
35:04us by so somebody disrespect you
35:09you're going to spend the rest of
35:11november
35:13invented and spitting out anger
35:19because they disrespected you
35:22it's a dark place nobody wants to be
35:25disrespected
35:27how are you handling being unappreciated
35:32how are you letting god
35:36walk in you through or should say are
35:39you letting god
35:40walk you through that season of you
35:44being unappreciated
35:48you've been with this person you've done
35:50so much for that person
35:53and they've disrespected you
35:57your children you have done so much for
36:01your kids
36:03you have denied yourself you have given
36:06them
36:07everything things you did not get when
36:10you were a child
36:13and you have opened doors for them you
36:15have given them
36:16comfort there were moments when
36:20when you know you should have
36:21disciplined your child and when you know
36:23you should have
36:25stand your ground with your children but
36:27you didn't and now they have
36:29disrespected you
36:33they don't appreciate you
36:37you ask them to do one little thing and
36:40they have an attitude how are you
36:41handling that
36:44how are you handling rumors about you
36:46[Music]
36:49huh how you handling when you've heard
36:52oh they're saying this about you
36:56oh they're telling people about you it's
36:59not good
37:00how are you are you emotionally getting
37:02angry
37:03and and let your flesh lead you or are
37:06you
37:06saying lord walk me through this dark
37:09place
37:10[Music]
37:13because i know when i come out of it
37:15i'll come out well
37:17what about family crisis how are you
37:19handling that medical challenges
37:22workplace issues
37:25financial challenges how are you
37:27handling these things
37:29[Music]
37:31oh
37:34these are the things that i consider the
37:36dark places of our lives
37:39there's no question about it we can get
37:41through
37:43but it is the attitude in which you
37:46you function in that will determine
37:50if you will come through successfully
37:52[Music]
37:56hallelujah do me a favor
38:01right where you are could you just say
38:04lord search me
38:08just order my steps today come on
38:11just lift your hands and say lord
38:14order my steps in your word
38:19please lord
38:22let your word guide me
38:25come on worship team would you come
38:29just just in your word i
38:32need you god come on somebody's crying
38:34out to god right now
38:35i sense right where you are the holy
38:37spirit has already spoken to you
38:39i don't need to say anything else this
38:42was a right now word
38:43right now word come on singers please
38:45this was a right now word
38:48a right now word and as they're singing
38:51the song what are my steps in your word
38:54just take a moment in worship now come
38:56on i just sense that god is doing
38:58a purging that god's doing a cleansing
39:01why because you've asked him
39:03to search you you've asked him to search
39:06you
39:07in jesus name i'm waiting on you guys
39:08everyone this is henry fernandez and i
39:10want to thank you so much for watching
39:12this video my
39:14friends and i want you to subscribe to
39:16my channel
39:17and my friends give me a thumbs up if
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39:34and remember you can connect with me on
39:36my website henryfernandez.org or the
39:40faithcenterint.org
39:41my friends faith in your god will always
39:45move mountains
39:46out of your life