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God Feels Silent Sometimes Day 4 · HAVE FAITH LET IT BEGIN®

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  Hello everyone and welcome to Have Faith, Let It Begin. As we've been doing
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  this Real Faith Week, today is Thursday and I want to welcome you all back.
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  We're doing this episode called God Feels Silent Sometimes.
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  Yeah, I had to pause for a second when I said that.
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  And we'll be referencing scripture from Psalms 13. Yeah.
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  So I want to wish everyone a good morning and welcome back to Have Faith,
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  Let It Begin. My name is Angel.
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  As you know, again, this is day four of The Real Faith Week.
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  And today, I want to talk to you about something that a lot of people struggle with.
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  But don't always admit it out loud. What do you do when God feels silent? Not absent, just quiet.
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  Because there are moments in life where you pray and nothing seems to change.
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  You ask for direction. You ask for peace.
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  You ask for help. And all you hear back is silence. Yeah.
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  The silent treatment.
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  As I used to call it. I think silent, silence, I should say,
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  are some of the hardest seasons in spirituality.
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  Because when life gets difficult...
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  We naturally want reassurance. We want a sign, an answer, something.
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  But sometimes faith feels quiet. And if we're talking about how faith and waiting
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  and patience and prayer all work together,
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  that silence can make people question everything. Did God forget me?
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  I'm doing something wrong. These are the things you'd hear. Why does everybody
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  else seem spiritually strong except for me? Yeah, that was for me, Dave.
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  And then, of course, as I stated many times this week, social media doesn't help with that either.
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  Because online, everybody seems spiritually confident.
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  Everybody's posting victories, breakthroughs, blessings. Meanwhile,
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  you're sitting there wondering, why did I feel so stuck?
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  And sometimes, you know, maybe somebody listening today would feel the same
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  way, or maybe they're crying.
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  Maybe they're crying quietly. Maybe they're still praying. Maybe they're still
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  showing up and still trying.
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  But deep down inside, you feel that spirituality, that spiritually exhaustion,
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  right? As we've been talking about.
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  That's why I love Psalms 13.
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  Because David doesn't pretend. He doesn't sound polished. He sounds human.
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  He cries out honestly. And what encourages me about that is God included those words in Scripture.
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  Because real faith is not pretending you never struggle.
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  Real faith is staying connected to God even while you're struggling.
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  And maybe that's the lessons that somebody needs today. I know I did.
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  You don't have to be fake. You don't have to fake your faith.
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  You can be honest with God.
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  You could tell him, Lord, I'm discouraged. Lord, I'm tired. Lord,
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  I don't understand what you're doing.
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  God is not intimidated by your honesty because silence doesn't mean absence.
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  And here's the important part of this. Just because God feels quiet doesn't mean he's gone.
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  Some of the deepest growth in our lives happens where you don't fully understand what God is doing.
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  And unfortunately, those seasons and those days rarely feel comfortable.
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  But silence is not abandonment. And sometimes God is something or strengthening
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  your faith in ways that you can't even imagine. Ways you can't even see yet.
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  Sometimes he's teaching us trust, patience, dependence.
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  Yeah, I know that answer. It's always easy, right?
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  Because when your heart hurts, you want relief immediately. But maybe faith
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  is learning to trust God's presence, even when you can't hear his voice clearly.
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  Encouragement. So if you've been struggling spiritually lately,
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  please hear this clearly.
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  You are not failing. You are not failing because you have questions.
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  You are not weak because you feel discouraged. and you are not abandoned because
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  the moment you're in right now feels quiet, God still sees you.
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  God still hears you. And God is still working even in the silence.
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  Maybe today, instead of walking away from God because you feel frustrated, you stay close anyway.
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  Not because you have all the answers, but because somewhere deep down inside you still trust in him.
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  And we need to again and again. Let's pray.
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  Heavenly Father, the person listening today who feels discouraged,
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  meet them in this moment.
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  For the one struggling in silence, for the one questioning, for the one trying
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  to hold into faith or onto faith, I should say.
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  Remind us that, remind them that you are still near.
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  Help trust, help us trust that you,
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  even when you don't understand the situations we're in and give peace to those
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  who feel spirituality and spiritually tired right now. I know I am, my eyes are closing.
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  Teach us to be holding on even when life feels quiet.
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  I know we can do that together. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.
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  May God be with you. May he shine his light upon you and grant each and every
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  single one of you peace on earth. And never forget.
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  This Friday, we're going to take it to another level. Yeah, you're allowed.
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  The start of the story again.
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  That's going to be a rough one. Have faith. Let it begin.