Posted on 27 March, 2016 at 22:50
Have you ever found yourself in a uncomfortable place, mentally or physically? I'm talking about a place where there's great opposition, confusion, bondage and just an intolerable place to be. You find yourself questioning why am I here and how do I get out! You sit and ponder different ways to get out of your current situation, paying no regard to what's or who's around. Only focusing on your circumstances, your situations, and your desire to get out of that place.
I was talking to this gentleman one day, and he began to tell me his testimony, how God took him off his job where he was absolutely miserable. He said that the thought of going to work every day literally made him sick, and that he would continuously pray and ask God to open up a door for him that he would be able to leave that job. Well a couple of years went by and he was still in that same place and didn't see no way out. He said he would distance himself from his coworkers, because he is a Minister and he didn't want to deal with the foolishness that was going on. Directly after his shift was over, he would change his clothes and bolt for the door!
Now three or four years have passed and he is still on this job having what I call a valley experience. In a valley experience it's dark, gloomy, depressing, joyless and physically and mentally draining. One day one of his coworkers came up to him and said "I don't know what God you serve, but whoever he is I need to know him". The gentleman asked the guy "Why do you say that?" The guy said "Because you always have a cool head and you never get involved in any of the foolishness that goes on around here" (watch this) He said "Whoever you been praying to is keeping and protecting you, and I want that too." The gentleman witness to the man who was Buddhist and began to pray for him, and he converted to Christianity. The gentleman said after that he continuously prayed for the man and others on the job, and their lives began to change and prosper. Then three weeks later (don't miss it! ) God took him off that job and he was released from that bondage.
The Bible says seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will have welfare. (Jeremiah 29:7) That means when you're in your valley experience don't just think about your pain, your situation, your misery, but think about others in that valley with you. Pray for them! Have you ever thought that maybe that's the reason why you're in the valley in the first place? Listen the Bible says when you pray for others welfare in its welfare you will have welfare. In other words when you take the focus off yourself and put it on someone else, God will not only bless them but you also. The gentleman prayed for three to four years for himself " Lord please release me from this job" notice that once he began praying for his coworkers, what he was praying for years for was released in three weeks!
Listen when Job was going through his ordeal, he didn't get blessed with the double portion until after he prayed for his friends. When you read the book of Job and realize all the hell he was going through, not only did he lose everything including his possession and his children and then sickness fall on him. Do you think in that moment Job wanted to focus on praying for his friends? However, the blessings and restoration did not come until Job took the focus off of him.
People of God listen I know we don't like being in the valley, however sometimes our assignment lays in that very place. The sooner we take the focus off of us and become the light that shine and overtake every dark situation or environment we're placed in, the sooner God will release us from it. My sister my brother don't sit in the valley experience longer than you have to, wrap yourself in your prayer mantle and intercede for someone else. In the midst of your prayers God will come rescue them and he won't forget about you!
I Love You With The Love Of The Lord
Evangelist Frances L. Banks
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