i also remember a season or actually a couple of seasons where
my praise had to be expensive because it did cost and i remember some of you know my story
of going through domestic violence when i was 20 i thought i was grown and i lived in a domestic
violence situation for a while god delivered me from that found myself in another situation where
now i'm married and now i'm being betrayed and so my heart was just broken and
in the seventh year of being going through that betrayal he gave me a little course he gave me a
little song and i would sing it on my bed with my guitar in the place where i felt broken the most
and i would sing i know my redeemer lives i know my redeemer lives all of creation testifies like
the one who's gonna buy back my pain and my shame he lives and from that pain i was like okay god
i'm gonna offer you the best that i have i'm gonna offer you my faith in you my declaration of what
you have done and what you're going to do and for many years that has been a song that has kept me
in and even in the midst of constant brokenness and even more betrayal that happened even after
that but what's it saying about who i am and so oftentimes it was not just a pretty song that
i'm trying to sing it was this is my battle cry this is my truth in the face of a lie you know
and so that was what god gave me and and i'm happy to say you know that uh well i'll say this things
didn't work out and that was a 21-year span you know and in the 14th year of redeemer being out
that marriage fell apart you know and i thought okay god you know i'm still going to worship you
through it i'm still going to declare who you are i may not be loved in the natural i may have been
betrayed in a natural i may have been abused in that natural i may not be blah blah blah blah in
the natural but you say i'm loved you say that you buy back my pain and my shame you said that
i am new you say that i am whole so out of your truth i'm going to sing and you know so seven it's
been seven years now you know and god has redeemed me in the love area you know and and part of it is
my declaration of faith even in the midst of it even when i didn't see it and it reminded me of
job who had lost all of his kids he lost all of his health all of his wealth he was faithful to
god i was faithful to god serving god and still god will allow us to suffer at times but i think
the real test is what will we say about god when we don't see him what will we sing about god
when we don't feel him what worship will we give when we'd rather do something else but job in the
midst of his pain is the one who said it first he was like i don't know what's going on y'all
i don't know the end of my story he didn't know god was going to give him twice as much wealth
and health and 10 more children and he was going to restore in his relationship he didn't know that
but in the middle of it that's where job said i know my redeemer lives and then the last day he's
going to stand up on the earth and because he said it i was able to say it thousands of years later
and say yeah i'm going to hold on to the hope that's sure that has been tested and that has
proven to be able to deliver and so this same god that we say that we are talking about worshiping
is the same god that we don't just wait until the answer comes but i believe that before the
answer comes what we declare in that night season makes way for the day to come it makes way for
the increase to eventually to be ours and and as we wait on the lord and as we as worship becomes
our weapon our strength is renewed right yeah that weight on the lord shall renew their strength they
shall mount up with wings like eagles so i i you know several years ago our youngest son
um who's 12 years old now at the age of four he was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder and
um it was like the the most painful thing i have we have ever gone through as parents for
sure and you know we still were walking that out right it was a diagnosis that is that that we
you know we overcome every day and we continue to see progress and oh
my goodness our son is amazing but my heart literally felt like it was broken in pieces
and that was really when i got the revelation that my worship is not just sitting at the lord's feet
and adoring him and in the sweetness of worship but that was really that season when my worship
became a weapon and and my worship got like some real edge on it you know what i'm saying
yeah and so because as we worship him and confuse the enemy cece i think you said that earlier this
week our worship confuses him yes how is how is this happening in her life and she's choosing to
worship god man it confuses the enemy and and and so we're actually you know we're able to prophesy
over our situation and we gain strength we gain muscle in the spirit yeah as we worship him i
love um second corinthians chapter 10 verse three and 4 though we walk in the flesh we do not war
according to the flesh for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal they're not weapons of
the world but mighty in god for pulling down strongholds and uh so that our worship as a
weapon is the most one of the most powerful tools we have yes at tbn our mission is to
use every available means to reach as many individuals and families as possible with
the life-changing gospel of jesus christ thank you for helping make the gospel of grace go around the
world and it's because of you that partner with us that this ministry continues god bless you