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 to the Word of God before
she ministers to you. Michelle Jackson serves the 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 (00:40):
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 Isachar knew the times
and seasons of life, and they knew, by the spirit

(01:25):
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

(01:47):
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 in African Americans, and what we found is that

(02:11):
through the Multi Maloma Foundation and the Leukemia Oomphoma 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,

(02:33):
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 first time you're

(02:54):
hearing a little bit of my story. Both my parents
are in glory now. Both of them were pastors, leaders, men,
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

(03:37):
I didn't have before, and a strength that was already
inside of 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 in their life.

(03:59):
Because of the challenges, 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

(04:22):
look at this first third 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

(04:43):
as a part of what 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 this He was rejected, a man of sorrows,
acquainted with deepest grief. So even Jesus was acquainted with

(05:08):
deepest sorrow and deepest grief. And I think sometimes when
we're going through challenges in our health or challenges in
our 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, to know him

(05:31):
in the beauty of his resurrection and the power of
his erection 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 the medical testing

(05:55):
and the ups and downs of all that they physic
we 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, to see

(06:16):
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 of

(06:38):
the challenge for me that caused me to fall into depression.
Don't forget I am 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 radiation's working. Oh, the radiation not working. Oh there's

(07:01):
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,

(07:21):
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

(07:41):
before him, he endured it. And so the Lord he
takes us through challenges. And 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. And while they did not receive
they're healing on this side of glory, meaning on the

(08:05):
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,

(08:25):
the raised Christ from the dead, is alive in the believer.
And it is when our body is plagged or our
mind or our emotions are plugged 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

(08:49):
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

(09:09):
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

(09:32):
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

(09:54):
I named all the names, you would know them. They're
all the leaders of the intercessory Prayer movement in the
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

(10:16):
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

(10:37):
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

(10:58):
he knew what was happening to him 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

(11:18):
medical 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

(11:41):
Book 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

(12:01):
there was 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, it's very easy

(12:21):
to become despondent and 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

(12:45):
that that was going to 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,

(13:06):
even in the midst of 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
came upon Jesus because he was anointed to bring joy,

(13:28):
the oil of joy 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

(13:53):
you feel, the depression 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 Jesus so that he could

(14:19):
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 trees of righteousness, the planting of
the Lord that he might be glorified. As you exchange

(14:45):
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 yourself. 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.

(15:08):
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. And even we have to understand there is
a natural grieving. But what I'm talking about today depression,

(15:29):
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 that in David's story. Even
with Bathsheba, he knew he sinned, but he wanted that
child to live, even though the Lord said that that

(15:51):
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 a place for godly grief. But
in the place of ungodly grief, there's an impartation from

(16:12):
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 had
been tormented. And in my case, that's where I was.
I was as so lost about what the future would hold,

(16:36):
and the fact that my parents, you know, 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, or this,
and that. All of these things broke my heart in
such a way that I didn't know if I could

(16:58):
go on. But the annoying of the resurrected Christ came
upon me, and I chose to exchange heaviness for a
garment of praise and the oil of joy for ungodly grief.
And I began to see that the Lord began to

(17:19):
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, in your circumstances, I
just want you to be encouraged and for you to

(17:39):
know that Jesus Christ can be glorified even in your divorce,
even in your illness, even in your financial challenges, no
matter the test, no matter the trial, no matter the situation,
no matter the devastation. No matter how long you've been
stuck in, no matter how long you've been underneath, the

(18:02):
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 of the Lord, the Majesty of Jesus is
arising over you to bring healing to your broken heart

(18:25):
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 look like deliverance ministry, receiving deliverance ministry, and may
look like having pastoral counseling, having your pastor stand with

(18:48):
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. 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

(19:12):
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 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,

(19:34):
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 our concerns your feet, as we lay our depression,
our grief, our concerns, our despair, our disconcerting feelings, as

(19:55):
we lay them at your feet. Today, Father, I thank
you that you promise in your word that it was
fulfilled Luke for eighteen that that was fulfilled through the
life of your son, 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

(20:15):
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, I thank you that
you came to bring freedom to those who are oppressed,
and Lord, I thank you that we will receive that

(20:38):
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 (20:54):
Thank you for listening. Catch Pastor Michelle on pray dot
com Radio Monday 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

(21:15):
friend today