God Is With You In The Valley | Jabin Chavez | City Light Church

and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley. It was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley. The bones were very dry. "The hand of the Lord was on me," He said, and He brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord. "The hand of the Lord was on me." And today I want to talk from the subject. God is with you in the valley. God is with you in the valley. Let's just get a good faith confession before I preach. Put your hand over your heart and say, "Thank you Lord, that you're with me in the valley." All right, now find somebody around you, encourage them, say, "God is with you in the valley." Come on, tell them, "God is with you." All right, find somebody else. They weren't very friendly. Find one more person. Tell them, "God is with you too." Yeah, that's better. That sounds better. That first greeting was cold. That was like married couples that were just mad at each other. So God is promising these beautiful promises in the book of Deuteronomy. Moses is writing to the children of Israel as they are leaving the wilderness. They have had 400 years of slavery in Egypt called the land that we call of not enough. They're now leaving the wilderness after 45 years, the land of just enough, and now they're about to walk into what's called the promised land, the land of more than enough. Boy, it's going to be amazing. A promised land for the people of God. And let me just pause real quick and tell everybody in this room, this is good news, God has a promised land for you, a promised place for you, a place where you use your gifts and your talents and your abilities, where the thing that God put on your life you're able to use for His glory and for His honor and for His fame, that God has a place for you, that God has a place for your family, that God has a place for your last name on the earth. God is a good God and He has what we call it a destiny. It's what is a destiny. It's the God destination for the people of God and you have a promise. Can I get a name in right there? Now this promised land is amazing. He said you're going to have houses that you didn't have to build and you're going to have vineyards, you didn't have to plant, you're going to have wells you didn't have to dig. It's going to be a land flowing with milk and honey. What does that mean? I don't know but it's good. Okay and and it's ain't heaven. This is still earth. You're going to have giants and you're going to have enemies and you're going to have battles. You're going to have blessings and battles. You're going to have some amazing situations in your life and you're still going to have some storms in your life. That God's going to give you this thing but the devil's going to do all he can to stop you from taking what God has purchased for you. So Moses would

describe the promised land this way in Deuteronomy 11, 11. The land I'm giving you will have hills, mountain tops, amazing and valleys. Oh you're going to have some mountain top moments with God where the favor of God is on you and it feels like the wind of God is at your back and man it just feels like you can't lose its its momentum and its beautiful and its blessing and you're going to have some valleys. You're going to have some moments where it's like God where are you and God what are you doing and and God I thought this was my promise but the valley is just as important as the mountain top. Listen to me there are no valley-free lives. Sorry. The series is not entitled how to get out of a valley, how to avoid a valley or if you just had more faith you wouldn't face the valley. That's not what this series is. This series is you have faith and you love God but you're still going to have to walk through a few things in your life and in that moment it's what you do in it that determines the next season of your life. There is no fruit on the mountain. Just look up a Google image today of Mount Everest. You're going to see a lot of snow and a lot of wind and a lot of cold and a lot of dead bodies. The mountain is great and you get a great view from the mountain and it's wonderful but then you've got to come off of it because the fruit grows in the valley. The river flows in the valley. The rain falls in the valley. yes has enemies and yes has some challenges and yes has some things. But that is where the life is. That is where the maturity is. That is where God blesses you. That's where God shows you who you are and who he is and what you can do in the valley. Can I get an amen at this 11 o'clock service? When you're in it, you hate it. When you're in it, you rebuke it and cast the devil out of it, bind it, loose it, anoint it with oil and fast and pray and God get me out. When you're in it, you hate it, but when you get out of it, you look back. Life is lived here, but life is understood in hindsight. When you're able to look back and go, "Oh, oh my God, I see God now. Oh, I see His hand now. Oh, I see His grace now. Oh, I see His mercy now. Oh, God has actually sustained me through that. Wow, now I see what I couldn't see. If I knew then what I know now, I would have slept a lot better." I don't know if you've ever read about Joseph in the Bible book of Genesis. Joseph's incredible and Joseph goes through literally 13 or 14 years of really hell on earth. But here's what you read in Genesis and God is with Joseph and God is with Joseph and God is with Joseph and God is with Joseph and God is with Joseph and God is with Joseph and the Lord is with Joseph and something in me tells me that Joseph died, got to heaven, read the book of Genesis and

went, "Man, this would have been great to know." Because I didn't feel none of that. He was in a pit and God is with him. He was in a prison and God is with him, part of his wife lied on him and God is with him. The butler and the baker forgot about it and God was with him and his brothers hated it and God is with him and his father rejected it and God is it and he's going, "I didn't know any of that then." But I just come to tell somebody God's with you in the valley, God's with you in the uncomfortable place, God's with you in the stretching season, God's with you when it don't feel like He's with you but He's right there. Somebody thank God that he's with you today. Come on, clap those hands and praise him for it. The valley is the uncomfortable place where God stretches us and enlarges us and reveals Himself to us. All right, so how do I how do I make it through? Well, number one, remember God's hand. I'm in a valley but here's what Ezekiel said. I'm in a valley, God's hand is on me. Dry bones, God's hand is on me. Feels like death, God's hand is on me. Feel like I'm living in a graveyard, God's hand is on me. The hand of the Lord is on me and the hand of the Lord is on you. God is with you and God is for you and if God be for you, who can be against you? And no matter what you're going through right now, God is with you and here's what the great John Knox said. A man with God, a woman with God is always in the majority. If you've got God, you've got possibilities. If you've got God, you've got options. If you've got God, you've got to weigh out. If you've got God, you have everything you need when it feels like the whole world is up against you. If the hand of the Lord is on you, you can make it through any season. If you don't quit, you always win because God has a way of specializing in valleys. God knows how to navigate valleys. God knows how to lead you through a valley. God knows how to be your field guide in a valley. God is with you. Look at Psalm 23, "Yay, though I walk through the valley, through the valley." Don't set up camp in the valley. Don't die in the valley. Don't quit in the valley. Don't settle in the valley. I'm walking through the valley. This ain't a life sentence. I've got more life in front of me. This is a chapter. This is not the entirety of my story. This is a part of my journey, but it's not my entire journey, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death. I will not fear evil. Why? Because God's with me. His rot and his staff are comforting me. He's protecting me. He's pushing enemies away from me. He's moving enemies far from me even in the valley. Look at this. He prepares a table for me. I'm going to eat in the valley. I'm going to be anointed in the valley. I'm going to get that anointing oil on my forehead and I'm going to glow in the valley. People would look at me and it would look like I'm winning and it would look like I don't

have any challenges and it would look like I'm eating good. I am eating good. I'm still in a valley. But the anointing makes terrible seasons pleasurable because I refuse to stop eating in the valley. I refuse to stop functioning in my gift in my valley. I refuse to give up in my valley. God's anointing me. My cup is running over. God will make the worst times, the best times for the people of God. I know I'm screaming and it's only awkward because you're not talking back. (congregation cheering) Woo! I'm a buy an organ. I'm done. I'm buying an organ to fill in the quiet spaces of this church. (congregation cheering) Surely goodness. This is where I need it right here. Shall follow me all the days of my life. (congregation cheering) And I will dwell in the house of the Lord. I'm not in the valley forever. I'm in the house of God forever. I'm in the presence of God forever. The valley is a season. The house of the Lord is a destination. Woo, you know, okay, I'll come down.

(congregation cheering) I think that we have this, I want you to capture what David's saying. I'm in a valley, but I will dwell. Here's where I'm at, here's where I'm at and it's very real, but here's where I'm going. Here's how I want to say this, that there is always a gap between what I believe and what I feel, and the gap is called maturity. You can fill that gap with bitterness and complaining, or you can fill that gap with a mature faith that says, "I will eat, I will be anointed." God is with me. So right, we sing songs like, "Even if I can't feel it, you're working." Even when I don't see it, you're working, right? We got TJ on those drums and then he starts getting, ♪ If it's not, not, okay ♪ You start filling yourself on a Sunday and then Monday you wake up and go, "Where's God?" (congregation laughing) That God goes, "I'm right here." You sing about this in the whole moment. And it's in that gap that you grow and it's in that gap that you get stronger and it's in that gap that you mature. So I've got to remember God's hand number two,

I need to seek God's direction. Okay, here's what I'm saying, seek God's direction. 'Cause when you're in a valley, you just want out. Can I get an honest Christian in the house? (congregation laughing) When you're in it, you're just looking for the exit. You're just looking for the off ramp. You're looking for relief. That's not wrong. It's just not gonna help you. You're not doing that 'cause you're a bad person. You're just, we're human and we crave relief. So when I'm in it, I'm looking for how do I get out? But what I need to do is how to invite the Holy Spirit in. I wanna say that one more time, it's important. I'm looking for a way out, but I actually need to invite God into it. I need to be led and to be led by the Holy Spirit is a choice you make to surrender to the Holy Spirit. He will not drive you, he will not push you and he will not force you to do anything. You have to be surrendered to the Holy Spirit. At the end of this service, we're gonna sing a song, Holy Spirit, I surrender, take over. And I'm just letting you all know that right now because a lot of you are gonna leave when we stand at the end of this message. And I'm telling you not to do that 'cause we're gonna sing a song and it's gonna be good for you to worship one more time.

So I'm just shaming you right now. (congregation laughing) In preparation. So that when everybody stands and he goes, let's go beat the traffic, don't let the Holy Ghost take over, listen. You're like, man, he already knows my plan, stop it. I promise you, Cracker Bear will still be there when we're done, I promise you. Your country club will still be open. I promise you, okay, so everybody relax. Listen, here's what I'm saying, I have to be led by the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit lead me. 'Cause everything in me wants relief, but what I need is your leadership. Everything in me wants ease, but what I actually need is to mature. So when you're single, you're just looking for anybody. Somebody. And then what do you do, you settle. You settle for companionship instead of partnership. Maybe you can't leave early, I don't care, you know, if you need to. You settle for just a warm body instead of a kingdom partner that's going to help you do all that God's called you to do. I'm not judging you, I'm saying you got to be careful, and then you get married and then you go through a tough season of marriage and it's like I just want out. And actually what you need to do is not look for a way out, you actually need to look for a way to dig in and get closer, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. It happens in work, you hate your job so you quit.

It's like, wow, I didn't know that was an option. I didn't know you could just hate your boss and that's it. For some of you, you're so mad at your manager, but what if you stayed and became the manager? You haven't stayed long enough to be promoted. So for some of you, for 15 years you've made $50,000 a year and you're praying God prospered me, but God can't prosper you because you haven't been planted long enough to be prospered. Tithing will not replace a poor work ethic. Don't even try, don't even try this, don't even try, I'm too deep in the, I'm too deep in the cut. David, I've been tired of God, he blessed me, because you keep, you keep having to start over. Well, I'm just a barista, well, what if you're supposed to own a Starbucks? Well, I'm just a line cook. What if you're supposed to own a in and out or a Chick-fil-A or a makeup? Does that make sense? You haven't stayed like, like some people don't like that God has blessed my life, but here's what you need to know. I've just done one thing since I was 18. I've just yelled at people in saying since I was 18 and now I'm 42. You do anything long enough and I've done that through betrayal and I've done that through tough seasons and I've done that through rejection and I've done that in a lot of different economies and I've done that through, I've just kept working my craft until I've gotten where I've gotten. I just think you have to reframe some of this. Wow, well, I don't like Vegas. Vegas is windy. It is, yes, it is, it's windy, and I just think we've got to reframe, we've just got to reframe. Look what Paul prays. He prays for the church in Colossae, he's praying for the church that is deeply and highly

persecuted. They're persecuted because of the gospel. They have declared Jesus Christ as Lord and to declare Jesus Christ as Lord in the first century was to say, Jesus is Lord not Nero, Jesus is Lord not Caesar, Jesus is Lord not Rome. And so to be a Christian in the first century was literally to reject the mark of the beast and to carry the mark of Christ. The mark of the beast is not whatever you're told on YouTube. The mark of the beast is to embrace, to try to embrace Jesus and a world system at the same time. And the mark of Christ is to say, I will follow Jesus even if the entire world rejects me. That's what it is. And that's literally what's happening in the first century. They are taking on the mark of Christ and not the mark of the beast and because of that, they're highly persecuted. They're losing business deals. They're losing jobs. They're losing family. They're being rejected. They're being literally persecuted to death. They're being fed to lions. I mean, you name it. It's all happening. And here's Paul's prayer. I pray that you will be strengthened with all of his glorious power. Okay. Paul's a miracle worker. Paul's a dead raiser. Paul's seen more miracles than probably anybody in Scripture. And he goes, here's what I'm praying God's power does in your life.

I pray He gives you endurance. That might be the worst word in the Bible. I mean, after hell, that might be the worst word in the Bible. Imagine you're waiting for this letter from your great apostle and you're waiting for his prayer and his prayer for you is not God gets you out. His prayer for you is not God's going to give you a breakthrough. His prayer for you is not this season's about to end. His prayer for you is I'm just praying God gives you the endurance and the patience you need. That's offensive. No, that's offensive. If you come up when we have our prayer time, by the way, when I'm done preaching, we're going to have a time of prayer and worship and we encourage you to stay till the very end. I don't know if you knew that, but that's what we do at the end. Imagine you come up and you go, "Man, I just lost my job, I need a breakthrough." And Kiefer grabs you and goes, "Let's pray, Father, let's pray for endurance." That's offensive, I'm gonna be a Mormon, I'm out. (congregation laughing) I'm gonna go be a Catholic, I'm gonna go try that Eastern Orthodox thing. I'm done with this. But Paul knows what endurance and patience leads to. Endurance is the seed for the fruit called joy. And a lot of you want joy and you pray for joy, but joy comes through endurance, and joy comes through patience. If you've ever met a truly joyful person,

here's what you need to know about them. They've endured hell. If you've ever seen a joyful marriage, they had to endure some tough seasons. If you've ever seen a saint that just loves the Lord, full of peace, full of life, full of joy, if I just promise you, they have had to endure some things. Endurance is when your faith outlasts, the temptation, the trial, the frustration, and the season you're currently in. By the way, here's what happens when you endure. Here's what happens when you endure. You endure, and the next temptation, which by the way, they keep coming. It says, "In heaven, there's still giants in the land." Y'all tracking with me? Put it back up one more time, can I just see it one more time? When you endure the next temptation, it's not as tempting, 'cause you got stronger. The next trial isn't as trying, 'cause you got stronger. The next frustration isn't as frustrating, because you got stronger. The next season of challenge that you had to go through isn't as bad, because you got stronger. 'Cause you learn to endure. I don't know what I could bench press out of Jim, but I guarantee it's not a lot. Somebody tell me, somebody fit, tell me what I could, I don't know, 150 pounds, I don't know.

Maybe, I don't know. 200 things, man, that's kind. That's really kind. Okay, so let's say my max is 200. Does that mean I could push 201? No. No, I can't do more than my max. But if I'll keep working that max, and if I'll keep pressing, and if I'll keep enduring, and I'll keep letting those muscles tear, and I'll keep showing up. Before I know it, I'll go to 205, and before I know it, I'll go to 215, and before I know it, I'll go to 230. And like some of y'all tough dudes in here, I'll be pushing 300. What is it? It's not genetics, it's endurance. All right, well, I said two words. Endurance and patience. Patience is having faith for a long time. Just show it up. Over, and it's praying over and over. It's in the word over and over and over and over. And it looks like strong, radical faith, but it's really just patience. Goldie will come to me some afternoons that she'll go, "Dad, can I have a snack?" And I'll say, "No babe, we're about to have dinner." Can I please have a snack?

No babe, we're about to have dinner. Please, no babe, we're about to have dinner. Please, Goldie, no, we're about to have dinner. Her persistence is not faith. It's immaturity. It's like, "Girl, be patient and let me cook." (audience laughs) I hear the voice of my heavenly father telling somebody right now, "Would you be patient?" (audience cheers) And let me cook. I'm not saying no, I'm saying wait, because I'm preparing a table for you in the presence of your enemies. Don't settle for a snack when God's preparing a meal. (audience cheers) Can I get about 200 people to shout right there? I better feel that. (audience cheers) He's cooking something up. And I gotta learn how to endure the night so I can have joy in the morning. Lastly, let me have the team come. Once I've done this, once I've sought his direction now, I receive God's vision. Receive God's vision. Everybody say, "Lord, give me eyes to see."

Come on, pray that right there. Lord, give me eyes to see. Wow, here's what happens. And then verse 2, there's this moment he goes, "And I saw." I love that. I went from natural to spiritual. I went from eyesight to prophetic insight. I went from seeing life through these eyes, but here's what Ephesians says, "May the eyes of your understanding be open." You don't just have these eyes. You have your spirit man. You have vision. And you can live by eyesight or you can live by vision. So Elisha's surrounded by an enemy, Elisha's surrounded by an army. And his servant, Gahai's like, comes to him and says, "Master, Master, Lord, Lord, we are surrounded by an enemy." What do we do? And Elisha prays, "And Elisha doesn't pray, God, where are you and God, why is this happening in God? What are you doing? And God, what the heck?" "And God doesn't pray, Lord, take out my enemies. God doesn't." Elisha doesn't pray, you know, "God, we need a miracle." Elisha prays for his servant and he said, "Lord, can you open his eyes that he may see?" Gahai's eye wasn't blind, but he didn't have any vision. And then he prays his prayer, Mike, he says, "Lord, remind him there's more for him than there are against him." And Gahai's eye blinks and all of a sudden the army that's surrounding him is surrounded by angels.

It may look like I'm surrounded, but I'm surrounded by you. This is how I fight my battles, how vision. There's something worse than being blind. It's having sight without vision. Where there is no vision that people perish, they lose control, they lose control of their life because God opened my eyes, prayed again, God opened my eyes, God opened my eyes, God opened my eyes. Come on, I said, pray it one more time, God opened my eyes. My faith, Moses' parents hid him for three months because they saw, they saw by faith. They didn't just see their son through these eyes, they saw their son through their spirit. They saw he was no ordinary child. And they were not afraid of the king's edict, the king's edict was to kill every boy under two years old. A spirit of death, a spirit of murder, a spirit of abortion that was trying to take out the next generation. But Moses' parents by faith saw something in their child. And then Moses would do all he would do because of the faith that his parents saw in him. I bought a piano for our daughter a few years back, she's maybe five, I'm not sure. The first few months of owning that piano, she'd just go bang on the piano, bang on the piano. We'd play any song, we could be playing frozen, we could be playing praise and worship, it didn't matter, we could be playing anything. Whatever we were playing, she'd just go bang on the piano and sing along and play along. And she thought she was playing along. Amen, I was gasping her up. "Girl, you're amazing, you're going to be a worship leader, you're going to write songs that are going to change the world. God's hand is on you. Oh, you sound so good, oh my God, you sound so good." After a few months I realized, "Okay, she's into this."

So I hired her a piano teacher and I said, "Golding Monday, you're going to start learning piano." And a little five-year-old looked up at me and said, "Dad, I already know how to play piano." I said, "Fair enough," but she's going to teach you how to read music. She said, "Okay, you know, it's got to be her idea." She was living in a delusion from my faith, "Oh, may our faith be delusional." - May our faith be radical. May our faith be crazy. May our faith, may people look at me and go, what you talking about? It's a faith in God that even in the valley I believe all things are possible. God open my eyes. With these eyes I see the mountain, but with these eyes I see a mountain mover. With these eyes I see sickness, but with these eyes I see Jehovah rough on my healer. With these eyes I see the economy, but with these eyes I see Jehovah, gyro. My provider, with these eyes I see wars and rumors and wars, but with these eyes I see Jehovah, Shalom, and peace. God give me eyes to see. (upbeat music)