When Faith Takes A Beating

Imagine being in a boat in the middle of a storm.

The waves are rising.
The wind is raging.
The boat is filling with water.
There seems to be nowhere to go.

Scary?

Now imagine Jesus in that very same boat with you.

Would you still be afraid?

Life has a way of bringing storms we never expected. Sometimes they come in the form of health concerns, financial pressure, challenges at work, strained relationships, or a new project that feels bigger than our ability to handle.

So what is the storm surrounding you today?

• What's rocking your boat right now?
• What mountain seems impossible to move?
• What challenge is demanding all of your attention?
• And are you focusing more on the problem—or on God's promises?

In this episode, we explore one of the most powerful truths - God has promised that He will never leave us or forsake us.

But how do we hold on to that promise when circumstances seem overwhelming?
And what exactly is faith?

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. 

- Hebrews 11:1 NKJV

Faith is choosing to believe God's promises before you see the outcome.

Faith is trusting what God's Word says about your situation, even when the evidence around you seems to say otherwise.

What happens when we stop staring at the storm and start focusing on what God has spoken?

What changes when we look beyond the mountain and trust the One who can move it?
If your faith has taken a beating, if you've been discouraged by circumstances, or if you're struggling to see a way forward, this episode is a reminder that God's promises remain true—even in the middle of the storm.
Because faith isn't the absence of challenges.

It's choosing to trust God in the midst of them.

If this episode speaks to you, share this message with someone who needs their faith strengthened today. Sometimes one reminder of God's promises is all it takes to help someone keep believing.

Transcript

Opening And Scripture Focus

SPEAKER_00 0:13

Hallelujah. I'm getting straight into the word of God this beautiful morning because I'm excited for today's word. And I'm going to start at a time when Jesus was on this planet. And what a time to have the Son of the Most High walking amongst his creation, talking to people, healing them, teaching them, chilling with them, having meals, telling them parables and stories, speaking about the kingdom of heaven or the kingdom of God. Hallelujah. What a time. And Jesus always used to talk in the crowds, uh, talk to the crowds that were surrounding him. He was healing people. Followers were running to everywhere that they knew Jesus was. And you know, every time Jesus spoke in parables, for the for some of you who don't know, there were a lot of parables that were not understood by the people and his disciples. He would go and explain those parables to his disciples because he knew that these are the people who are going to do my work after I'm gone. Hallelujah. So he would explain things to his uh disciples in private multiple times. The Bible says that he would take his disciples to the side and explain it to them. Uh, it's just information that has nothing to do with today's word. But today I wanted you to picture in your mind this time that I'm taking you to, and the next set of events that are about to happen. So, as I said, Jesus always has people around him, and there are crowds following him, and he's healing people of all kinds of diseases I've heard or known on the planet. And now he's talking

Jesus Calms The Violent Storm

SPEAKER_00 2:00

to the crowds, and it's uh the day has passed, the Bible says, and he tells his disciples that they need to go on to the other side. So a lot of times Jesus actually spoke on a mountain, excuse me, to the people, and then they would disperse from there. So he tells his disciples that they need to go on to the other side. Jesus knew that he had to travel within places and spread the kingdom of the most high. And this time it says that they were on the boat. His disciples and he are in a boat together, and the Bible says, and I'm reading it to you, there arose a fierce gale of wind, and the waves were breaking against the boat so much that the boat was filling with water. As I said, you can take your time and imagine it yourself, and you should know that the Bible says that now he's in a boat with his disciples, and there's a bad gale, which is a huge gush of wind, and the waves are banging against the boat now, so much so that the boat is beginning to fill with water. And the Bible says that Jesus is at the stern. For those of you who don't know what's a stern, it's the back or the rearmost part of the boat. And he was asleep, the Bible says, on a pillow. And the disciples rush to him and they say, Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing? And Mark, the fourth chapter of the 39th verse is what I'm sharing with you from this beautiful morning. Mark, the fourth chapter, the 39th verse. And he got up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, peace be still. And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. Hallelujah. Another version says, And he got up and he rebuked the wind and said to the sea, hush, be still. And the wind died down and became perfectly calm. Hallelujah. Jesus speaks to the window and he rebukes it. He speaks to the sea and he tells it to calm down. He says, Be still. He says, hush and things of the planet obey him. Hallelujah. And then the next set of statement, uh, the next statement rather that Jesus makes is something that I want to get into this beautiful morning. He turns around and he said to his disciples, why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith? Another version, which is the NKJV version, says, Why are you fearful? How is it that you have no faith? So you see, Jesus is in the boat with his disciples, and he's urging them to have faith, and he's asking them, in fact, why are you fearful? Now you I told you you have to imagine this that Jesus is already in the boat with them, and yet they're fearful because they see the wind and the waves and what's happening to the boat. And yes, they're in the midst of a storm, and yes, you know, it's a bad gale, and a subsequent follow-up of events is the waves thrashing onto the boat, and the water starts to enter it.

When Real Life Feels Like Waves

SPEAKER_00 6:01

And I want to tell you this beautiful morning. I want you to picture the situation as you know uh the situations that we face on our life on this planet, the boat. Some of you can feel the presence of God already, praise God. And um, you know, sometimes uh these things just happen. The storms of life, the mountains of life, they just happen. And you know, they can be scary, they can be over multiple areas of uh multiple aspects of life. Let me say, you know, health, it could be financial, it could be people related, work-related, family and friends-oriented. And I want to tell you, especially the difficult ones, they come unannounced, they come like a whirlwind, they rock your boat, they rock your core, they rock your surroundings. And these situations can sometimes even infiltrate other aspects of life. It's like the water coming onto the boat. And it happens because we're all on this planet living in the flesh, and aligned with the word of God today, and in the words of Jesus, I would like to ask you this morning, no matter what the situation, are you fearful? And are you at a point where you have no faith in the words of Jesus, why are you fearful? How is it that you have no faith? I know it's easier said than done, but as I said, aligned to the word and the words of Jesus this beautiful morning. Are you fearful? I'm asking you. I'm asking you to think about it. And are you at a point where you have no faith, or maybe your faith is depleted, or maybe you've taken a beating. And I want to tell you, just as when Jesus was in the boat with his disciples when all of this happened, I want to reassure you this morning through the word of God that Jesus is in the boat of life with you. His word says in Hebrews 13:5, I will never leave you nor forsake you. And you've heard you've heard me say this beautiful passage, quote this beautiful passage of scripture multiple times. I will never leave you nor forsake you, which means when you are in that boat of life, I want to show you that Jesus is in the boat with you. And just as those times when you have your eyes on the storm, just like as the disciples did, and hey, I'm not blaming you for it, I'm not calling you on short for it, uh, or calling you short for it. I want to tell you that we are human, and that's just a human thing to do. That when you focus on the storm of life, when you're focused on the gale, when you're focused on the waves, when you're focused on the things rocking your boat, when you're focused on the water coming into your aspects of life that you don't want to spill over on, we forget that Jesus is right there in the boat with us. And you know what happens to all of us. But the good part is Jesus is in the boat with us. Hallelujah. And it's easier said than done. But Jesus, I'm telling you in his words, with his disciples, why was he always with his disciples? Because he knew those were the close ones, and to the close ones, he said, Are you why are you fearful? Why do you lack faith? Why do you have no faith? And this beautiful morning, I'm telling you, Jesus is asking you, the close one, the one who's purchased by his blood. Why are you lacking faith? I have a short word, but I want to tell you this morning Jesus expects you and me to have faith.

Defining Faith From Hebrews 11:1

SPEAKER_00 10:30

He expects you and me to have faith. Hallelujah. And I want to define to you what is the faith that Jesus expects you to have. I'm not leaving the core, I'm still holding on to it, and that is why are you so fearful? Is it that you have no faith in the words of Jesus? And I will come back to it. And as I said, I'm not blaming you or calling you short. It's a human thing. But I'm here to give you good news. And today I want to start with first of all, what does Jesus actually call faith? And I'll give it to you from the word of God, from the book of Hebrews, the 11th chapter, the first verse. Some of you know it, some of you don't, some of you know it by heart. Hebrews 11, the first says, now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Hallelujah. Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, hallelujah. Which means, in other words, I'm gonna break it down to you the way that I understand the scripture, to be sure of what you hope for. It is the evidence of the things that are not seen. In other words, what you hope will happen. Hallelujah. And you know, hope again can be a very big, large definition for a lot of people, and I'm not going to get into that because that will define your faith. If hope is a small definition, then your faith is going to be small. If your hope is a big definition, then your faith is going to be a big one. So I'm not going to get into that, but I'll tell you this through the word of God, and I'll leave it for you to meditate upon. Faith is the substance of things that you hope for, it is the evidence of things that you have not seen. Hallelujah. Some of you got it and some of you didn't. So read it in your own time and meditate on it. But that is the hope that you're the hope that you're supposed to have. That's the faith that you're supposed to have from Hebrews 11:1. That's the definition of faith in the Bible. And I'm telling it to you again: take your own time and meditate on it. Read it, close, shut the door, read it, and ask Jesus to explain it to you. What is faith? What does this mean? What is the meaning of it's the substance of things that I hope for? What is the meaning of the fact that it needs to be the evidence of things that I've not seen? Just last Sunday I told you about Gehazi and Elisha. You can't see the army, you can't see the chariots that are on fire. But it's there. That's what it is. Hallelujah.

Great Faith That Won’t Quit

SPEAKER_00 13:20

And I just have two examples, and then I'm done for this beautiful day. And I want to start with this beautiful woman from Canaan. And the Bible says that she had a severely demon-possessed daughter, and she asked Jesus to have mercy on her situation. And Jesus is actually leaving the place, and there's too much of a crowd, and he can't hear her. For those of you who know Jesus know what kind of a person he was when he was on this planet, but he can't hear her. And he's walking his own way. And the Bible says she calls out to him, she screams out to him loudly from the crowd. And the Bible even says that the disciples begin to get embarrassed at how loudly she's calling to him. The disciples are getting embarrassed. But she continues to call out to him. And she comes nearer to Jesus and finally falls at his feet, begging for mercy. Hallelujah. I told you some of you are going to feel the presence of God from the very beginning. Some of you are going to feel him walk into your rooms. And here it is from the the book of Matthew, the 15th chapter, the 28th verse. And her daughter was healed at once. Hallelujah. Another version says, Then Jesus looked at her and said, O woman, great is your faith. Let it be done to you as you desire. Hallelujah. And her daughter was healed from that very hour. Hallelujah. Why would Jesus say, Great is your faith, and let it be done to you as you desire? Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I told you it all is the definition in the word hope. What is your hope? Is it two coins? Or is it the GDP of an entire country? That's the outcome of your situation and what God will do in it. As simple as that. But as I said, it's easier said than done. Because Gehazi saw the army, but Elisha saw the heavenly army. And those are two very different perspectives. Great is your faith, you lovely woman. Great is your faith. Let it be as you desire. Hallelujah. What a beautiful example to make you understand what Jesus is asking you today. Why do you lack faith? Why are you so fearful? Hallelujah. And this is the last example I want to share with you. I told you I have a short word, but before I share this example, I want to tell you this is my favorite, most favorite story in the Bible. And I just realized it's been a while that I've shared it when I was looking at some of my notes. For those of you who know me, know that you already know which story this is. But I want to tell you this that some of you are going to experience the presence of God at such a level only because of the faith that these people had, only because of that. And I'll explain it to you through the word of God, what Jesus means when he says, Why? Why? Why

Furnace Faith That Refuses To Bow

SPEAKER_00 17:10

are you fearful? Why do you lack faith? And I'll give it to you today from the beautiful next level substance of faith. As the word goes, oodles of substance and oodles of faith from these three guys, Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego. And this beautiful story comes from the book of Daniel, the third chapter. And they're Daniel's friends. In fact, Daniel had a very deep uh uh relationship with God. He had he was he was blessed by God, and he was blessed by God, I believe, because of the way he looked at God, as simple as that. And so were these three guys, and there was a king at that time called King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of the land, and he had appointed them as leaders, responsible in high positions in the land. By the way, Daniel was the head, and the story so goes, and some of you know, but uh, if you don't, I'm gonna tell it to you, it comes from the book of Daniel, the third chapter. He sets up a statue of gold, and he makes a decree that every time there will be instruments that play a horn, a flute, a harp, a lyre, and a psaltery. And everyone in the land who hears it will have to go down, bow down to the gold image that King Nebuchadnezzar has built. And I want to tell you that the guys who gave him this idea, and I've written them all down, were the governors, the counselors, the satraps, the administrators who wanted to trap Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego because they knew one thing. These three Jews had some god, and they would not bow down to anyone else. Imagine that. So they decide that they will go to the king, make this decree, and once the king passes it, Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego would be trapped. And guess what is the decree? Anyone who does not bow down to that image of gold that the king has built will be thrown into a fiery furnace. And the Bible says that the image of gold was set up 90 feet tall, and every day when the music was played, the whole land would bow down to the image, except for three. And it only says three this time, but I know it's four because Daniel 2 would have been in that list. But since the story is about these three guys, it says these three Jews believed in the living God, and they never bowed down. And of course, the news went to them, to the king, because these guys were actually planning to, you know, get them caught. And the Bible says that the king was enraged and he calls to them and he says, Is it true, Shadrach, Neshach, and Abednego, that you do not serve my gods or worship the gold image which I have set up? And he tells them, I'm going to play the music, the instruments that I've decreed, and you will bow down to the image. And if you don't, you shall be cast immediately into the midst of the burning furnace. And Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego, who is the God who will deliver you from my hands. That's the question, Yah, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. I will play the music, and if you don't bow down, I will throw you in the furnace. And I'm asking you three guys, who is the God who will deliver you from my hands? Hallelujah. I want you to picture the situation. The three of these guys are probably standing in front of the king in the court of the king, with all the accusers standing around them who knew what position they would put them into. And everyone's looking at them, and the king has given them one ultimatum. One ultimatum. You bow down or I burn you. You bow down or I burn you. And who is this God who will deliver you from my hands? I'm the king. Who is this God? But Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego knew a God. And they said, Oh king, we don't need to answer you in this matter. And if that is the case, our God who we serve is able to deliver us from the fiery. And that's probably the amount of rage that he had when somebody challenged him, saying that we don't need to give him any answer. And the Bible says that the king passes the decree to throw these three guys in the furnace. And they're bound. The Bible even says that the furnace was so hot that the guys who were carrying them to throw them into the furnace got burnt and were killed. It was that hot. And is that the end of Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego? As I said, some of you know the story, and some of you don't. And it comes from Daniel, the third chapter, and you'll be ready for this. The third chapter, the 24th verse onwards. They throw them into the furnace, and as I said, you can imagine it as the way you like. The king is sitting on his throne, I don't know, probably eating, there must have been dancers there, music must have been playing, they must have been feasting, who knows what they were up to. And then King Nebuchadnezzar Nazar is astonished. And he gets up in a haste, the Bible says, and he speaks to his counselors, the guys who came and trapped Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego. Did we not cast three men bound in the midst of the fire? I can only imagine this chaos fear. And I don't even know what other kind of emotions he might have been going through. Did we not cast three men into the fire? And the answer, O king, yes, we did. Look, he says, Look, oh hallelujah. I see four men. I see four men walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt. And the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Look, I see four men loose walking in the midst of the fire. Are you are you serious? Yes, I'm serious. Daniel, the third chapter, the 24th verse, and the 25th verse. You can only imagine the astonishment of the king. I'm gonna say use the word the horror of the king when he sees four men walking in that furnace in the midst of the fire, and he says, Look, the forth, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God. Hallelujah. I want to tell you, Jesus had to come down for them. Jesus was not even named before this, he was not even named after this, he was always there, but the name was never given to us. I want to tell you, and the Bible says, I want to tell you, in fact, that Jesus did come down for them. That's the amount of faith he had. And I want to tell you, this is my take on it, that their faith was so strong that every time Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego are coated, you will feel the presence of God because that kind of faith is next level faith that God still has to honor it. Hallelujah. Just when he hears their name. Hallelujah. He saw the substance, I want to tell you, of Shadrag, Meshach, and Abednego. He saw their substance and he chose personally to come for them. And I want to tell you, uh you can read it in your own time. Daniel, the third chapter. You can read the whole the whole of the third chapter. It's in the 24th and the 25th verse. The Bible says when they pull them out of the furnace, they don't even have the smell of smoke on them. Neither was a single hair on them singed, the Bible says. Singed means even halfway burnt. Hallelujah. What is that? You'll say, I'll tell you what that is. That is having faith. That is having next level faith. And as I told you, the way you define the word hope is the way God will work in your life. Hallelujah. I want to tell you this beautiful morning. In the words of Jesus, why are you so fearful? And how is it that you have no faith? And when I look at these two stories that I just shared with you, it's exact it's the exact opposite. There is no fear, that is only faith. Hallelujah. To the point where Jesus came down on this planet many years before you've even heard of his name. Because of the faith of three men. Hallelujah. I want you to understand this beautiful morning. Just believe, don't doubt, no matter what your situation. You know, there's there's a there's a song that we used to sing. I walk by faith and not by sight, because your sight is your view of the storm, the waves, the boat crashing and moving and tossing and turning, and the water coming into your life. That's your sight.

Walk By Faith Not Sight

SPEAKER_00 28:20

But if you look at it through faith, I want to tell you it's not there, it's just a lie. Hallelujah. I'd like to pray. I thank you for this beautiful time, Lord. I thank you for your double-edged sword that does not go back until it has achieved what it has been set out for, Lord. I thank you, Lord,

Prayer For Fear To Break

SPEAKER_00 28:45

for your beautiful presence that people can feel. Thank you, Lord, that you remain faithful when we are faithless. I thank you, Lord, that you're shattering that fear. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord. Build the faith of your people through these beautiful stories from your word that have happened on this planet. Hallelujah. Thank you, Lord, for your presence on this platform. Thank you, Lord, for always being there for us. Thank you, Lord, for your name that's above all names. Where every knee will bow on the earth, above the earth, and below the earth. I thank you that you will never leave us nor forsake us. And when we call unto you, you're always in the boat with us. Thank you, Lord, for always watching over your word to perform it. This beautiful day, Lord, I leave this time in your hands where you are changing situations, where you're changing people's hearts, where you have taken control of certain situations. Hallelujah. And just as you have done for the woman from Canaan with her daughter, and just as you have done for Shadrag, Nishak, and Abednego, you will be in the situation with your people. You will take control. You will walk in the situation with them. It may surround them, but it will not come near them. Nor will it even harm a single hair on their body. Hallelujah. This is for somebody this morning. It's from the book of Psalms 121, and I'm reading it to you from the Word of God. I will lift up my eyes to the mountains. From where shall my help come from? And it says, My help, hallelujah, comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. Hallelujah. Thank you, Jesus, for being my help. Thank you, Jesus, for being our help. On this beautiful day, as your word has been released, we look to the heavens, we look to the mountains. Where our help comes from, it comes from you, strong and mighty. Name above all names. All power, authority, dominion, title, now, in the past, and ever shall be, all under you, Lord. Thank you for your beautiful presence, Lord. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.