Heat and Drought of Human Life (part 3)

[Music] [Voiceover] Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths. These are words of instruction and righteousness from Family Tent Ministry. May you be blessed as you listen. [Speaker 1] [Singing] Praise Thee from everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. I will praise Thee from everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. I will praise Thee from everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. I will praise Thee from everlasting, everlasting to everlasting. We want to thank our God again for this time of coming together for our discipleship class. We want to welcome everybody again to the class today. Our brethren who are joining us on Mixlr, our brethren who are joining us on Telegram, we who are here physically, we want to welcome everybody. We want to thank the Lord again for the opportunity to gather in His presence to learn together. And we trust the Lord that as we gather to learn together, it will be a time indeed of refreshment. It will be a time of encounter in the name of Jesus Christ. We have been looking at this matter of heat and drought in human life. And we have been looking at the matter gradually, systematically, looking at how it applies in different ways, and the meaning of it, the implication of it. That believers are not—they are inevitable. And we were looking last week at why they were inevitable. We have looked at it in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ, why heat and drought, why they are inevitable. We went again to look at what Apostle Peter said about heat and drought. We looked at what Apostle James said about heat and drought. And that was where we closed the matter last week, that we will pick it up from there. Now we have looked at heat and drought. They are inevitable. We began to look at why are they inevitable. And we will now go to James to take it up from where we left it last week. When we are through with that of James, I said we will go to that of Apostle Paul, what he said about it in Romans chapter 5. So, let us take it from where we left it last week. And for brethren who may just be joining us today, please, so that you will be able to properly know what we are doing, you may need to check online, check on our website for episode one, episode two, and now we are on episode three of Heat and Drought. So, you might need to listen to one and two to be able to understand what heat and drought, what they actually mean. We literally said they are challenges, time of difficulty and problems and all of that. And then we said that they are inevitable. And then we began to look at why they are inevitable. So, today is a continuity on why they are inevitable. Why suffering, why challenges, why difficulties, why they are part and parcel of our Christian life. Let us have a word of prayer. Almighty God, we thank You as we gather unto You. We pray this evening that You would speak to our hearts. Lord, meet us where we need You most. Lord, let Your word come to us. Let there be an encounter for everyone, a life-changing encounter, a permanent encounter. Thank You, Father. In Jesus' name we pray. James chapter 1. James chapter 1. The book of James chapter 1, where we stopped last week. James 1, now I read the NLT translation last week. "Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy." Whenever trouble comes your way, let it be what? [Speaker 2] James chapter 1 from verse 2, that was where we read verse 2, 3, 4 last week. In the NLT translation, the New King James says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials." NLT says, "Dear brothers and sisters, whenever trouble comes your way, let it be an opportunity for joy." The Message says, "Consider it a sheer gift, friends, when tests and challenges come to you from all sides." Amplified, "Consider it wholly joyful, my brethren, whenever you are enveloped in or encounter trials of any sort or fall into various temptations, count it all joy." Why? Verse 3, "Knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience." NIV, "Because you know that when the testing of your faith, sorry, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance." NLT, "For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow." For when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. Honestly, nothing develops, nothing really brings maturity as going through difficult times, challenges, you learn a lot of things under them. Now verse 4, "But let patience have its perfect work that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing." That's KJV. NLT, "So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character, ready for anything." Amplified, "But let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work, so that you may be people perfectly and fully developed, with no defects, lacking in nothing." [Speaker 1] So you see that to mature us, to make us better and better, like I said last week, when you are in 100 level, except you write all kinds of exams, you don't go to the next level. When you are in 200 level again, all kinds of exams. So actually, these things are designed by God. And like we showed last week, God knows how to control the heat, such that when the thing is well heated, it is pulled back, hammered to the desired shape. and then they put it back again, hammered to desired shape. That is what God is doing with challenges, trials, difficulties, when these things come around our life. That is why they are inevitable. And then this was where we stopped last week. So for this week, I said we still need to read a little down, down and down in that chapter in the book of James. Because there is something I still want us to see in that what the Holy Spirit pointed out in this apostle so that we can have a balanced understanding. Now, in verse 5, we are going now into today's business. It says, "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally without reproach, and it will be given to him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord. He is double-minded, unstable in all his ways." Now, there is something very important that I want us to see that the Holy Spirit is pointing us to in the matter of suffering, in the matter of challenges, in the matter of difficulty when we look at this epistle. Now, it is important to see that he said after he has concluded in verse 4 that you must allow patience to have its perfect work so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing. Or from the NLT point of view, when he says, "So let it grow, for when your endurance grow, when your endurance is fully developed, you will be strong in character and ready for anything." He now noted something very vital in the verse 5 which we must not overlook. He said, "But if any man lack wisdom," what should he do? The person should ask wisdom from God. Now, he said God will give this wisdom. God gives wisdom liberally without reproach, and it will be given to the person. However, the person should ask for that wisdom in faith, not doubting. He should ask and believe that he will receive. He should ask and believe that the Lord will speak. And as He begins to speak to you, you begin to act on those things that He is giving you to do. You don't need to be wavering. No. You ask Him and then He begins to point your heart to what to do. You begin to take the step. What he's saying is that while the challenges, while they last, there is need for wisdom. While the challenges last, why you are going through those things, there is need for wisdom on what to do and how to do it. There's need for wisdom on which step should I take? What is it? What can I be doing now while this challenge lasts? I give you a good example. I was reading the testimony of a sister before she got married. Her Bible study life and prayer was honestly something that was a strong part of her spiritual life. I mean, it was an area of her life that was so refreshing. It was the area of her strength. Studying the Bible and having good time to pray. She got into marriage and while she's still trying to understand how marriage works, she got pregnant. While she was trying to understand pregnancy, she had given birth. Everything just went in that succession. By the time the children are there, everything, I'm talking of everything within the space of one year. Of course, children come within nine months. She was trying to still understand marriage. Within the first two months, she was already pregnant. Within the next nine months, she had already given birth. So within a year, three major things have happened: marriage, pregnancy, childbirth. Within that one year, her prayer life, her Bible study life was just scattered. She kept on asking the Lord, "What? How do I do it?" And then God gave her wisdom. And then God began to give her wisdom. Wisdom, what was the wisdom? She said the Lord told her, "Look, circumstances have changed now. Don't wait until you can lock up yourself to pray. Those times while you are washing the napkins and you are washing plates, be praying. Be talking to Me. I can hear you. Talk to Me." Before she knew it, the housework was combined with her prayer life. Talking about wisdom. The time she would be inside the vehicle, she had to go and pick the baby at the daycare. And courtesy of the way things were, where the daycare was and where, because of certain circumstances around her, she would spend almost an hour taking transport to get to where the baby is. She said the Lord told her, "See, get audio Bible. That one hour inside the vehicle, put something in your ear. Be listening to the Bible." Before she knew it, she said her prayer life and her Bible study life was back. The circumstances have not changed, but wisdom to manage it came. That's what James is saying. That while we are going through difficult times, there is need to ask the Lord for wisdom. There is need to ask the Lord for steps to take. Why you are being patient? The patience is not passive, just waiting when will things change, when will things change. No. The patience is active. What makes the patience active is wisdom. Steps to take when there are challenges, steps to take when there are difficulties, steps to take when there are trials, steps to take when things are working against you. What practical step can you be taking while the situation lasts? There are practical things you need to do, but you need the wisdom of God to know what to do and how to do them. So that while the experience will make endurance to grow and endurance will develop character, wisdom will have taught you steps to take while they last. So if any man lack wisdom, let him ask God. And if he's asking God, let the person ask God in faith. That is what I wanted to add in the book of James. Why suffering? Why heat, why drought? Why are they inevitable? Let's look at what Apostle Paul said in the book of Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5, I read from verse 1. "Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God." Now, look at verse 3. Please look at something. We were justified by faith. We have access by faith to the grace. And we are rejoicing in hope of the glory of God, that very soon Jesus will come to take us home. We have a joy that we have a home in heaven. Verse 3, "And not only that, it's not only that we are justified by faith. It's not only that we have access by faith. It's not only that we are rejoicing that we have been saved by faith and we have eternal home that we'll be going to. It's not only that. There is a fourth thing. What is the fourth thing? What is the fourth thing? Not only that, but we also do what? Glory in what? In tribulation." We also rejoice in tribulation. We also take joy in tribulation. We also glory in tribulation. Why are we glorying in tribulation? Why? Verse 3, "Knowing that tribulation produces perseverance. Perseverance produces character. Character produces hope. Now, hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit." Are you seeing something? Let's check that in NLT. "We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us. They help us to learn to endure." Verse 5, "And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confidence. Confidence expectation of salvation." Are you seeing that? Do you notice that the writer of Hebrews, James, Peter, Paul, these four epistles, is there any difference in all that we have been saying? Is there any difference? There's no difference. There's no difference. They were saying the reason why—because the reason why you see these things, we are repeating this from different apostles, is because the Bible says in the mouth of two or three every word will be established. The way Apostle Paul saw it was the way Apostle Peter saw it, was the way Apostle James saw it. And if the Hebrew writer is Paul, then we are already talking about Paul. If the Hebrew writer is Peter, we're already talking about Peter. If the Hebrew writer is unknown, as some have claimed, that unknown writer said the same thing. In fact, he said that same thing in the life of our Lord Jesus Christ. So you can see why we should why you notice that part and parcel of the salvation are heat and drought. They are part and parcel of our salvation. So every believer should get that, get their mind prepared, get their mind set. And as I want to leave that, I will not leave without making reference to 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13. [Speaker 2] "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." [Speaker 1] Thank you for the reading. 1 Corinthians chapter 10 verse 13, New King James. "No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man. But God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able. But with the temptation will also make a way of escape, that you may be able to bear it." NLT, "But remember that the temptations that come into your life are no different from what others experience. God is faithful. He will not keep the temptation from becoming so strong that you can't stand up against it. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it." Are you seeing something? Is it making sense to us? Are you seeing the way of God? Let's look at Amplified. "For no temptation, no trial, regarded as enticement to sin, no matter how it comes or where it leads, has overtaken you and laid hold on you that is not common to man. That is, no temptation or trial has come to you that is beyond human resistance and that is not adjusted and adapted and belonging to human experience and such as man can bear. But God is faithful to His word and to His compassionate nature, and He can be trusted not to let you to be tempted and tried and assayed beyond your ability and your strength of resistance and power to endure. But with the temptation, He will always provide the way out, the means of escape to a landing place, that you may be capable and strong and powerful to bear up under it patiently." Are you seeing what the Bible is saying? What are the three things we can bring out here? Three important things about suffering. Three important things about trial. Three important things about challenges. Three important things about heat and drought. Three important things about difficulties when they come, when things just emerge in your life. Number one is that you must commonize them. That's the number one thing. There is nothing special about them. You must realize that they are common. The Bible says it has happened to others. Number one is you must commonize it. When you say commonize it, understand that you are not the first person God want to take through that thing. God have taken several people through it. And God have proved Himself to be faithful. So if people have gone through it and they came out of it, why are you afraid? Commonize it. That is why you will notice, even in everyday thing, why can't we believe God? In everyday thing, if a carpenter want to work for you, you say, "Who has he worked for before?" Am I correct? By the time the person comes, he say, "Ah, you mean Mr. Paul? Hey, if you see the way he did my roofing, it is not just fantastic, it is praiseworthy. It is even bombastic." The person is narrating, the person is telling you what it was. And then another person says, "Ah, if you see the one he did for me. My own was not my roofing, he did furniture. That furniture is one in town." Then you meet a third person, they say, "Ah, that man. It is not only that he is good at doing roofing and furniture. He is also good in every household furniture you will need. Any household thing: cupboard, shelf, wardrobe. And not only that, the man is honest to the core." You meet a fourth person, "Ah, that honest man! He will not take your one kobo." Please, what happens to you? What happens to you and that work? You will be calm. You will be settled. The same thing. I remember another time we wanted to use a doctor for something, and the question was, "Who has he done it for before?" And by the time you hear, "He's this, he's this," you notice that you want to hear testimony. That is what he is telling you, that see, there are testimony, go and listen, God has done it with several people. And if God have done it before, He can do it again. Whatsoever things are written down, they were written down for our word, for our learning. So that we can know what God can do. I tell people, when you are reading Bible, it is giving you the testimony of God. You say, "God did like this. God did like this. He did like this. In this. Ah, then I can be rest assured." If you can be rest assured about a man, ordinary man who dresses in his no street, why can't you be rest assured about God? Why can't you read the testimony of what God did with people inside the Bible and you cannot be rest assured? You cannot be confident? Yes, if they tell you somebody wants to do I remember one of my colleague, he wanted to paint his car and said, "Dr. Musher, that your car that you painted, please, I like the way it has been as it is." I said, "Ah, even me myself, I'm enjoying it. Since he has painted it, the thing have not it have not faded." He said, "Ah, I would rather come and meet your painter. I don't care the amount, than just anybody that I don't have a testimony." It was just one testimony that he used to make up his mind, and he was sure he will get a good job from just one testimony. You know how many testimony God gave for us in the Bible about the power of God, about the might of God, about the greatness of God, about what God can do, about what God will do, about who God is? That's what He's telling us. That there is no temptation that comes your way. Number one, what should you do? Commonize it. Number two, three things to look at in that place. It said number two, God is faithful. What is He faithful about? God is faithful to make sure that the trial that comes your own way is not the one that is beyond you. Hallelujah! The trial that will come your own way, that thing that God will bring, oh, I just remember again what I was saying last week about the blacksmith. The blacksmith work with different kind of iron. Is that not? He will put this one in the fire. When he notice that the thing have gotten to a point that the heat will spoil it, what will he do? He will withdraw it. If ordinary blacksmith, listen, the blacksmith, the reason why I say ordinary blacksmith is that he can make mistake. While he's doing the thing, like what happened to me this afternoon. I was trying to get something through, I forgot it on fire. Blacksmith can even forget and the thing will get bad. But the blacksmith, the reason why he will do everything for the thing not to get bad, he went to buy those materials with money. He does not want to waste his money. Now, in our own case, God redeemed us by the blood of His own Son. We are not bought with gold and silver the way the blacksmith went to use money to buy those iron. We were redeemed by something precious than gold and silver. It was the death of God that led to our redemption. I want to make you understand how precious you are to God. Because I keep telling people, the shepherd has more stake in the life of the sheep than the sheep. The sheep doesn't have more stake in its life than the shepherd. Now, the Bible say God is faithful. In bringing the trial, God will make sure that the one that comes your way is not beyond you. God will faithfully guide it. Now, you can now understand that any particular heat or drought that comes your way, what can you quickly say about it? It is the one that I can bear. Because the faithfulness of God guarantees that you will never be tried beyond what you can bear. If anybody is tried beyond what they can bear, God ceases to be faithful. God is no more faithful. So, that's the number two thing. Number two thing is that I can never be tried beyond what I can bear. My challenges, my difficulties, those things that will come my way, they can never be beyond me. Once they come, I can confidently say, "I pass you. If I'm not more than you, you will not come my way. The fact that you came tells you that I'm an overcomer over you. I'm the one to overcome you, you are not the one to overcome me." Once it comes, you are telling it, "Oh, okay, you are the one that I can bear. You are not the one that can destroy me." That must be our attitude towards challenges, towards difficulties, towards trials. That must be our attitude towards them. Number three, what's the third thing about it? He said God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tried beyond what you can bear. But with the trial, with the trial, what will God do? With the trial, the Bible says when you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you will not give in to it. And please, that is why when there is a trial, apart from knowing that you can overcome it, apart from knowing that as number one, you have commonized it, number two, you have told yourself you can overcome it, please, that is not where to stop. Number three, you must be asking God, "Baba, which is the way You have provided as a way of escape for me?" For every trial, there is a way of escape. You must learn to ask God for the way out of that trial because if you take a way that God have not provided, there could be problem. With every trial, God will provide a way. There will be a way. So, that is why I was saying something, please, bring me back again to what we said from the book of James. "If any man lack wisdom, let him ask God." So in other words, we are now getting it very clear here that the wisdom we are asking God is what? Wisdom for the way out. And I pray for you wherever you are listening to me, the wisdom for the way out you will not miss it. The wisdom for the way out, the Lord will show it to you. The wisdom for the way out, your eyes will see it. The wisdom for the way out, your ears will hear it. The wisdom for the way out, your heart will perceive it in the name of Jesus. You will not miss the way out. You will not miss the way out. You will not take the wrong way in the name of Jesus. Together, me and you, we will always escape. We will always escape. We will always escape in the name of Jesus. So, we have concluded why heat and drought. The next assignment I have is God's principle. What is the principle of God, the principle of God in dealing with heat and drought? How do we live through the storm? How do we live through the storm? The principle of God in living through the storm. I can summarize it like this. That principle can be summarized in two words or in a phrase: Trust and Obey. God's principle in living through the storm can be summarized in those two words: Trust and Obey. Trust and Obey. Trust and Obey. Now, this matter of Trust and Obey, we'll read a scripture that we read before again, Jeremiah chapter 17 verse 7 to 8. Jeremiah 17:7 to 8. Trust and Obey. If you are there before me, please, you read. [Speaker 2] "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a river bank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit." [Speaker 1] Thank you very much. Now, do you notice what the Bible says about the drought? Jeremiah 17:7-8. It says, "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence." So, God's principle for dealing with storm, drought, heat is Trust. You must trust Him, you must believe Him. You must trust Him. He said, "But blessed are those who trust in the Lord and made God their hope and confidence." What is it about them? They are like trees planted along river bank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are never bothered by the heat or worried by the long month of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they go right on producing delicious fruit. So in the time of drought, you can still be fruitful, ministering to life, impacting people, full of beneficiary things, reaching out while the drought is on. You will be somebody if you are someone who learn to put your confidence in the Lord, you will still be a fruitful life. In fact, the Bible says you will not know, it will look as if there is no heat. Whereas there is heat, but it will never look as if there is no heat because you are what? You are a tree by rivers of water. Trust make you to be a tree by rivers of water. Trust make you to be a tree that water comes around, you are by river. It means when you trust in the Lord, certain things begin to flow around you. They begin to flow. Like when we look at it in that place, when you ask, but you are not trusting, you are not asking in faith, nothing will be flowing. You will not receive. You will not receive a way out because you are not asking in faith, there is no confidence in God. But when the person trust and is asking, what happens? Way out begin to flow, ideas begin to come, what to do begin to come. Now, let's compare scripture with scripture. Look at this with Psalm 1. Psalm 1, I read from verse 1. "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in his law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf shall not wither, and whatsoever he does, he prosper." Now, are you seeing what it means to trust in the Lord? How do you know a man, how do you know a man who trust in the Lord? Who made the Lord his confidence? How do you know him? It's what we are seeing here. You will know that man, blessed is the man, who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. When you see people who truly whose hope is in God, they obey God. They don't walk in the counsel of the ungodly. They don't stand in the path of sinners. They don't sit in the seat of the mockers. The bottom line is, they are not conformed to this world. They are transformed by renewing their mind, they don't go the way of the world. So, the first thing to know whether your confidence is in God, I keep telling people, those who hope in God are faithful to God. Until you are hopeful, you cannot be faithful. It is where your hope is, that is who you will be faithful to. If your hope is in somebody else, any thing in which you put your hope, it is the person you will be faithful to, the person you will be obeying. It is the person you put your hope in that, "Ah, this is the person that can deliver me." So when you notice that you are not obeying God, when you notice that you go the way of the world, you sit in the seat of the scornful, please note, that's not one who does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly. There are godly people who walk in ungodly counsel. Like Rehoboam, he left the counsel of the old men, of the men who counsel his father. He went to listen to the young people. He was a godly man, but he walk in the counsel of the ungodly. So, the way to know that your hope is in God, that's why I said this thing is about trust and obey. You cannot separate trust from obey. Just like you cannot separate hope and faith. Hope is the only foundation for faith. Once you are hopeless, you will be faithless. The same way you cannot separate trust and obey. It is the person whom you trust that you will obey. Principle of God in dealing with the storm, in dealing with drought, heat: trust and obey. So we have looked at trust, trust into you look at it it's standing alone. But the way to know a man who trust in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is, is that he does not walk in the counsel of the ungodly, nor sits in the seat of the mockers. He does not go the way of sinners. Verse 2, it's not only that the person separate himself from the world. Number two, verse 2, the person separate himself unto God. Are you seeing it? Separation from the world, separation unto God. He does not go that way. What does he do? "But his delight is in the law of the Lord." And what is he busy doing? In that law, he meditates day and night. Why is he meditating day and night? Why? Joshua chapter 1 verse 8, it says, "This book of the law should not depart out of your mouth, but thou shall meditate on it day and night, so that thou may observe to do." So the reason why you are meditating, you are looking at it, you are meditating, you are meditating. Please, it is not just that you are reading, it's not just that you are studying. Meditation means applying something to our lives. Meditation is not just reading. We read the Bible, we study the Bible, but what God want is meditate on the Bible. That is, see how it speaks to you. And that's why for our teenagers, we use the word SPEC, that covers five things about the Bible. Number one, meditation means as you look into the Bible, you check: Is there any sin in my life that this thing is pointing to? As you read the Bible, you see something: Don't be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. "Ah, but I have this person as my friend. I have that person as my friend. This is a sin I've been sinning, I must turn from this thing." You must be looking for: Is there a sin to turn away from? SPEC, number two, that is P: Is there any promise to claim? As you are looking at it, any promise for my life to claim? Is there any promise here for me to claim? Number three, you are checking: Is there an example for me to follow? Is there any example here that I should follow? An example to follow. Number four, is there any command to obey? "Thou shall not." There are word of God like that, "Thou shall not, you must not, you must not." Is there a commandment for me to obey? That's the C. And then the K is knowledge: Is there anything here that I didn't know about God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit that this place is talking about? That is what it means to meditate. You want to observe to do. What do you want to do? You want to turn away from sin. You want to claim promises. You want to follow examples. You want to obey command. You want to learn about God. That's meditation. So, he says, "In His law he meditate day and night." And do you see that? The man who meditate day and night is meditating so that he can observe to do, isn't it? So the person who is doing that, what happened to the person in verse 3? He is like a tree where? Planted by the rivers of water. And let me tell you one rivers of water. When you are somebody who meditate on the word of God, you meditate, you cry to God, "Ah, God, I've seen Your word, Your word says this," because as you read the word of God, you also pray them into your life. You are asking for something, "God, I will obey You in this matter. God, I believe You, You are with me." As people who do this thing, let me tell you one thing, they are the ones that encounter the rhema of God's word. They are the one that God open their ears, they begin to hear Him morning after morning, morning after morning. That is talking about the revelation. It becomes not only the reading of God's word, but also the rhema, the living, the living word of God. They begin to hear it, that is the rivers of water. God begin to reassure their heart. God begin to speak to their heart in His word. God begin to strengthen their heart. And they begin to follow God. That strengthening is what makes them go through the storm, and they will not look as if there is storm. We stop here today. The principle, the principle of going through the storm. What is left, what we'll be looking at next week is biblical example of all of these things that we have been discussing. We'll go and look at biblical example on this matter: Trust and Obey. Let's begin to pray wherever you are this evening. Talk to the Lord. We have been able to finish everything about why heat and drought. We have been able to finish everything about what is the principle, the principle of God in dealing with heat and drought. We've looked at the principle of dealing with it. And what we are left with that we'll be looking at is biblical example of all of these things that we have been discussing. Biblical example. I want you to talk to the Lord. The principle of God for dealing with it is trust and obey. And I believe from what we discussed today, I've been able to properly break down what it means to trust and obey God. Please look into your life, using the principle we just look at: SPEC principle. Look into your life. X-ray your life. Ask the Holy Ghost to x-ray your life, to help you. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. Our Father, we thank You for this evening. We give You praise and glory. We thank You for Your love and mercy. We thank You again for another time in Your presence. Lord, I just pray, beyond my voice this evening, cause men to hear Your voice in the name of Jesus. Beyond our gathering this evening, even in everybody's closet, in their quiet time, Lord, yes, speak to them on this matter in the name of Jesus Christ. Thank You, eternal Father. Blessed be Your holy name, our God. In Jesus' name we pray. [Voiceover] This message is coming to you from Family Tent Ministry, a Christian ministry involved in enriching the lives of singles and married through preaching and teaching of God's word, discipleship, family life enrichment, social and community development and mission heat. Our regular activities are: Discipleship class every Monday, 5:00 PM. Adolescents and singles club every first Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM. Marriage forum, second Saturday of every month at 10:00 AM. Family life seminars, regular school outreaches and every day counseling. For further counseling, you can reach us at our location, Life Camp by the first bridge, Ilere community, opposite the Rejoice filling station along Ijele road, Akure, Ondo state, Nigeria. You can also reach us through our social media handles: FamilyTent@yahoo.co.uk, FamilyTentMinistry01@gmail.com, www.FamilyTentMinistry.org. Our phone numbers are 08033861136, 07033613848. God bless you all.