The Converge Network with Pastor Michele Jackson

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
Today on the Converged Network, Pastor Michelle will be sharing
God's heart with you through the Word of God before
she ministers to you. Michelle Jackson serves as Senior Pastor
of Hope Christian Church in Belfielle, Maryland. She is the
founder of the Converged Network, which is home to Harry
Jackson Ministry's Hope Connection and her podcast for Women Life

(00:24):
in the Overflow. Today's teaching, we'll explore how the Lord
is using people like you and me to build his
kingdom and usher in a new air of glory. Here
we go.

Speaker 2 (00:39):
Hey, everybody, Michelle Jackson here. You know, it's amazing. For
everything there is a time and a season under the sun,
Ecclesiastes tells us, and we have to steward the seasons
of our life with diligence and the Word of God.
That's our topic for today. I'm so excited that you're
here with me today. Listen. I have been in such

(01:02):
a unique time of growth and expansion in the ministry,
and I want to take a retrospective today as we
talk about stewarding times and seasons, or discerning the times
and seasons of our lives. You know, it's important as
prophetic people because the sons of Isacar knew the times
and seasons of life, and they knew, by the spirit

(01:24):
of God what to do. So I remember, probably i
am goodness, twenty years ago, I had been accepted to
business school and at that same time, my mother had
contracted a terminal cancer and so at that time, my

(01:46):
father had asked me if I would be willing to
forego that opportunity to attend a very prestigious MBA school,
top ten in the country, to help steward my mother's
health and to walk her through the process of treatment.
Multiple myeloma is the seventh most prevalent form of blood
cancer and African Americans. And what we found is that

(02:11):
through the Multi Maloma Foundation and the Leukemia Omphoma Society,
we found that there were only about approximately five drugs
on the market that she could take for chemotherapy. But
it was very rare that anyone was cured from this
form of cancer. So of course our family was devastated.
Our family was shattered. We were like, oh, my goodness,

(02:32):
like we don't know what to do, especially because my
father had had stage four very aggressive esophageal cancer and
by the grace of God, the Lord raised him up
and he lived fifteen years beyond that. And for those
that don't know my story, maybe this is the first

(02:53):
time you're hearing a little bit of my story. Both
my parents are in glory now. Both of them were pastors, leaders, minister's,
incredible people, but they face significant health challenges. And in
the midst of that, I fell into depression because I
didn't know how to steward the time and the season

(03:15):
that I was in with my faith. So I want
to talk to you today about what do you do
when great challenge is the time in the season that
you're in. When I reflect on that time, I know
that the Lord used the shaking in my life to
produce joy and faith in Him and a resiliency that

(03:38):
I didn't have before, and a strength that was already
insided me that I didn't know was there. So let's
go to the word of God. I want to look
at a few scriptures today that I believe would be
an encouragement to anyone who might be facing depression, who
may be facing challenges right now life because of the challenges,

(04:03):
maybe you're not sure how to handle bad news emotionally.
Maybe you're shattered in thinking about the pending doom or
gloom that a diagnosis can place in your life. But
I want to tell you what my father told me
in an incident. So let me tell you a quick story.
But I want you to look at this first third

(04:25):
John chapter two, Beloved, I wish above all things that
you would prosper and be in health, even as your
soul prospers. The Father God wants for us to walk
in good health and prosperity as a part of what

(04:45):
he purchased for us on Calvary. Isaiah fifty three forecasted
for us prophetically through the voice of Isaiah, who Jesus
would be for us and what he would go to
the cross for us to acquire. He was despised, He
was rejected, a man of sorrows, acquainted with deepest grief.

(05:06):
So even Jesus was acquainted with deepest sorrow and deepest grief.
And I think sometimes when we're going through challenges in
our health or challenges in and our relationships, we forget
that Jesus was a man of suffering, and that we
have an opportunity in that challenge to glory in the suffering,

(05:31):
to know him in the beauty of his resurrection and
the power of his direction resurrection, but also in the
beauty of his suffering and Jesus suffered that we might
be made whole. And so this was the revelation that
I received through that time, in that challenging time with
my parents and the ups and downs of testing and

(05:54):
the medical testing and the ups and downs of all
that they physically had to go through in order to
maintain their health in that season, and recognizing for me,
the biggest assault was that, hey, I had looked up
to these two people my whole life. Who doesn't look
up to their parents, right, And to see them struggling,

(06:17):
to see them needing support in the ways that they
needed support, even for me, was a very challenging thing
because my parents to me were like Superman and Superwoman, right.
They could do all things through Christ, and they were
taking over the world and they were doing such an
amazing job helping so many people. And I think some

(06:39):
of the challenge for me that caused me to fall
into depression. Don't forget. I'm going to tell you the
story about my dad and what he shared and the
revelation that'll help you. I didn't forget, but I think
one of the things that for me at least, that
was challenging in terms of navigating the ebbs and flows
and oh, the radiations working. Oh, the radiation's not working.

(07:01):
Oh there's a possibility of this transplant process that could
clean my mom's blood. And then oh, she went through
the whole process and incubated in the hospital in a
sterile room for several weeks and it didn't work. You know,
those great hopes being oh, there's a cure and then no,

(07:22):
there's not. One of the things that kept us in
that time was that we were able to pray together.
But then we were also able to recognize that Jesus
carried our weaknesses and it was our sorrows that were
awake to him. But for the joy that was set

(07:42):
before him, he endured it. And so the Lord he
takes us through challenges. And now what I want to
tell you is that both of my parents were victorious
and their assignments and their call despite what cancer tried
to bring into their lives. While they did not receive
their healing on this side of glory, meaning on the

(08:06):
side that you and I live on, they did show
a testimony of the ability to know the beauty of
the suffering of Jesus and the beauty of the resurrection,
life and power of God that is in operation in
the believer. Romans tells us that the self same spirit

(08:26):
that raised Christ from the dead is alive and the believer.
And it is when our body is plgged or our
mind or our emotions are plagued with disease or emotional
imbalanced such as depression, that we begin to know him
beyond just what the scriptures say. But the life of
the Spirit becomes alive to us as the Lord ministers

(08:50):
to us through his word and ministers to us by
his spirit. So here is a great example of what
I learned, and it's the story of my dad. So
my dad had to take a lot of radiation treatments

(09:10):
and blood draws because he had had stage four esophageal cancer.
And it was in this challenge of our family that
I received this revelation and it actually began to anchor
me and break me out of depression. When my mom
was sick. So my dad had a mini stroke and
he lost feeling on one side of his body. He

(09:33):
was no longer able to speak. They called us from
the hospital and told us to come because they weren't
really sure what was wrong with them. So how could
you preach the gospel if you can no longer speak
and you're paralyzed on one side of your body? Right,
So we began to pray. We called intercessors around the
nation that my father was friends with. We called if

(09:55):
I named all the names, you would know them. They're
all the leaders of the intercessory pyramid. Meant Mama, Cindy,
Dutch Sheets, pastor Matthew in the UK. We began to
call all of his personal friends to pray as we
began to make the hour drive to the hospital that
he was at. And by the time we made it
to the hospital, and by the time the staff of

(10:17):
the hospital let us see him, he was talking. He
was speaking, he was on the mend. And what he
shared with me that day when I got to see him,
of course, my mom went back first, but then my
dad let me come back to see him, and I
remember him laying across his hospital bed in his little

(10:38):
hospital robe, and he told me how he had been
praying in the Holy Ghost when they were taking his
blood draw and that he had continued to pray in
the spirit the whole time, and he knew something was
wrong because he was talking and praying in the spirit
and the nurse couldn't here understand him, and that's how

(10:59):
he knew what was happening to him. But he felt
the strength of the prayers of the saints. And then
the symptoms began to reverse themselves as quickly as they
had started. And there were they did brain scans and
everything to see if they could see the blood clot
or the skia. I'm probably butchering this for any medical

(11:20):
professionals that are that are listening, but this was like
twenty years ago. So anyway, they did the scans of
his brain and they were unable to see anything that
was out of order, and so they released him. But
right there in the basement of the hospital, he told
me this, if I perish, I perish from the Book

(11:43):
of Esther, And he said that for the time that
he was here on earth, that no assignment of the enemy,
or illness or trouble at any kind could keep him
from fulfilling what God had for him, and that he
was going to keep going as long as there was

(12:04):
life in his body to fulfill the call of God
upon his life. He was committed. Well, that is what
really began to minister to me in the moment of depression,
because you know, it's very easy to become despondent and

(12:26):
to become discouraged. And the enemy begins to torment us,
to tell us, well, if this were true, then that
and did the Lord say, He's been doing that since
the Garden of Eden? Right, we see that with Eve
and the apple. He said, well, did the Lord really say,
did the Lord really promise that that was going to

(12:48):
be the case for you? Because look at your circumstances.
Did the Lord really promise such and such right to
you and your family that you would be in good health?
And I just want to encourage someone today that God
is working both to will and to do of his
good pleasure in your life, even in the midst of

(13:11):
what you're going through. Because Isaiah sixty one was fulfilled
in the reading of Jesus, the spirit of the Lord,
the anoying of the Messiah. It came upon Jesus because
he was anointed to bring joy, the oil of joy

(13:32):
for the spirit of heaviness, the blessing of joy instead
of mourning, and festive praise instead of despair. So today
right where you are. I want to challenge you to
put your eyes on Jesus and to receive this exchange
of spiritually exchanging the feelings that you feel, the depression

(13:56):
you may feel, the heartache you may feel, the morning
you may feel, for joy, for festive praise. You know
it's so important because listen, we go through so many challenges.
But the Lord is saying the anoying was placed upon

(14:18):
Jesus so that he could bestow upon us what's physically
impossible for us to do without the presence of God.
The oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise
for the spirit of heaviness, that they may be called

(14:39):
trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord that he
might be glorified. As you exchange how you feel for
the truth of God's word, there is a supernatural impartation
of the Holy Spirit that comes upon the believer. And
guess what you can continuously determine within your li self.

(15:00):
You know what, I Am not gonna go back into despairing.
I'm gonna bless the Lord at all times. I'm gonna
ensure that His praise is continually in my mouth. Therefore,
I will bless the Lord, I will make his name great.
And as you begin to do that, you're gonna receive
from the Holy Spirit impartation of the Oil of Joy.

(15:24):
And even we have to understand there is a natural grieving.
But what I'm talking about today depression, the spirit of heaviness.
What I'm talking about in terms of ungodly grief, there's
godly grief. We love much, therefore we miss our loved ones.
There is a place for morning and grief. We see

(15:46):
that in David's story, even with Bashib. But he knew
he sinned, but he wanted that child to live, even
though the Lord said that that child would not live.
And so he mourned and he grieved, and he wouldn't eat,
and he went through his process. But when the Lord
had worked out everything, he began to move forward. And
so I think that we have to understand there is

(16:07):
a place for godly grief. But in the place of
ungodly grief, there's an impartation from the Holy Spirit called
the Oil of Joy that begins to bring satisfaction, consolation
from the Spirit of God into the soul of the
person and the people that have been tormented. And in

(16:32):
my case, that's where I was. I was as so
lost about what the future would hold and the fact
that my parents wouldn't be here for so many milestones.
I know that they're proud of me, and I know that,
but at that time I was crippled by Oh, my goodness,
my father won't be able to walk me down the aisle,

(16:53):
or this, and that. All of these things broke my
heart in such a way that I didn't know if
I could go on. But the anointing of the resurrected
Christ came upon me, and I chose to exchange heaviness
for a garment of praise and the oil of joy

(17:15):
for ungodly grief. And I began to see that the
Lord began to fulfill the word of the Lord that
was spoken by Isaiah, that was fulfilled in the life
of Jesus the Christ. He began to rebuild and establish
me that he might get the glory. So right now,

(17:37):
in your circumstances, I just want you to be encouraged
and for you to know that Jesus Christ can be
glorified even in your divorce, even in your illness, even
in your financial challenges, no matter the tests, no matter
the trial, no matter the situation, No matter the devastation,

(17:59):
no matter how how long you've been stuck in, no
matter how long you've been underneath, the Father wants to
raise you up so that he can manifest his glory
through your life. You've not been discounted. You've not been discounted,
You've not been cast to the side. No, the spirit

(18:20):
of the Lord, the Majesty of Jesus, is arising over
you to bring healing to your broken heart and to
bring you out and into a wealthy emotional place. I
want to pray for you because it may look like
walking out your healing may look like what it looked
like for me. It may look like counseling. It may

(18:41):
look like deliverance ministry, receiving deliverance ministry, and may look
like having pastoral counseling, having your pastor stand with you
and pray over you and be there for you, and
may look like all of those things. They look like
a little bit of all of that for me. But
I want to encourage you that Jesus has never left you.

(19:02):
His name is Emmanuel, and he is God with us,
and his spirit has been poured out in order to
bring you into a wealthy place So, Father, in the
name of Jesus, Spirit of the Living God, we ask
that you would fall a pread afresh upon the hearts
of those who are in need of consolation, for those

(19:25):
who need comfort, for those who need to come up
from underneath the weight of the circumstances of life that
seem as if they would crush them. Lord, we fix
our eyes upon you, because you are the author and
the finisher of our faith, and right now we ask
for the great exchange. We ask that as we lay

(19:47):
our concerns your feet, as we lay our depression, our grief,
our concerns, our despair, our disconcerting feelings, as we lay
them at your feet. Today, Father, I think that you
promise in your word that it was fulfilled Luke for
eighteen that that was fulfilled through the life of your son,

(20:09):
who sits at the right at your right hand, right
now ever living to make intercession for us. And so Father,
we thank you that you went to the cross for
our deliverance. You went there for the chastisement of our
peace was upon you, and by your stripes we were healed,
and we're being healed right now as we pray. Father,

(20:31):
I thank you that you came to bring freedom to
those who are oppressed, and Lord, I thank you that
we will receive that life that is in Christ today,
that brings liberty and freedom from oppression. In the name
of Jesus, we have prayed and believed. Amen.

Speaker 1 (20:55):
Thank you for listening. Catch Pastor Michelle on pray dot
com Radio through Friday at six point thirty pm Eastern.
Stay connected with Pastor Michelle by visiting Thehope Connection dot
org forward Slash Converge network. You can follow her on
Instagram at Beauty trades Ashes. Share this program with a

(21:16):
friend today