 Today I'm going to go straight in and share with you something that God has put on my heart today. I'm going to talk about serving in your struggle, serving in your struggle. I want to go first of all to a Bible verse in 1st King chapter 17 and share an encounter that Prophet Elijah had with the widow of Seraphat. And this is something that when I read this, I actually get shocked it's quite shocking to me. Let's go into Scripture 1st King 17 verse 8. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah saying, Arise, go to Seraphat which belongs to Sidon and dwell there. See, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. So he arose and went to Seraphat and when he came to the gate of the city, indeed a widow was there gathering sticks and he called to her and said, please bring me a little water in a cup that I may drink. And she, as she was going to get it, he called to her and said, please also bring my morsel of bread in your hand. So she replied and said, as the Lord your God lives, I do not have bread, only a handful of flour in a bin and a little oil in a jar. And see, I am gathering a couple of sticks that I may go in and prepare it for myself and my son that we may eat it and die. And Elijah said to her, do not fear, go and do as you have said, but make me a small cake from it first and bring it to me. And afterward make some for yourself and your son. Now this Bible verse here, it shocks me a lot because I have never in the whole Scripture seen any man of God who is more insensitive to someone's plight. Think about it for a moment. A widow, she's a widow first of all, not only is she going to die, her offspring is being eradicated from the surface of the world. There will be no memory left of you or your family, your lineage is being erased. And she goes to a man of God and says, can you bring me some water? Yes, man of God, I'll bring you some water. Okay, also give me bread. Oh, man of God, sorry, I only have bread enough for us. And he said, oh, that's fine. I don't mind that. You go and prepare what you want to do, go and do what you did. But before you do that, just give me some bread first. What an incredibly insensitive question for a man of God to ask. If I was that widow, I would have probably been like, excuse me? You're supposed to give me bread. What are you talking about, sir? And truly, that is how it happens to her. She came in and the whole situation was so incredibly insensitive. Now, the sermon that I'm talking about today is serving in your struggle. I'm not referring to financial offering and tithe and stuff, although the message could be angled in that way. I'm talking about pouring out of yourself. Many of us are here today and you have witnessed people receiving deliverance, just like Lisa did on the prayer line here. You have witnessed people receiving breakthrough and healing. And yet you seem to still be struggling. Maybe you have, you know, you have heard testimonies. Oh, that person, their family member received salvation. Finally, the family is restored. That marriage is restored. Their children have been restored. That healing has finally happened in their life. And here you are actually still struggling. And we wonder God, how many times will I go to the prayer line to receive? How many times when will I receive my miracle? But there is a secret here in which the widow of Saraphat discovered. She chose to do three things in the midst of her struggle. Three things, it's choice. These are not things that happen by themselves. The number one thing that the widow of Saraphat did in the midst of her struggle that eventually led her out of her struggle is that she could have chosen to be offended. Yet instead she chose to be obedient. Many today they are in their struggle. Maybe you are in your church today and you have been asked to serve. And you're like, excuse me, I'm a single mother. I'm a single father. I have this amount of kids and this is a, you should take care of me. Who is this life group leader to ask me to lead life group? Who do I can't? I'm struggling. The widow of Saraphat was struggling. Yet she chose obedience instead of offense. She didn't know at that point that that thing that she was looking for, the way out of her suffering, the answer was in the form of a man of God asking her to give a little more. Number one, number two, the widow of Saraphat, she could have given up, but instead she chose to go on. Many of us are here today and we experience that sense of, I just want to give up. The widow of Saraphat could have looked at the prophetess and said, oh, you're asking for bread? Sure, I'll get you bread. I'll be right back and then just head home and do what she's supposed to do. Because obviously this prophetess out of his mind to ask me for bread, she could have given up. She could have returned to her home, to her house of starvation. She could have returned to her house of rejection, her house of isolation. She could have chosen to go back to her house of infirmity, her house of poverty, but instead she chose to go on. When he said, can you do this? She said, yeah, I'm going to do it. I'm going to do it. I'm not going to give up because I believe that something is about to happen in my life. Thirdly, she could have missed the opportunity, but she chose to make an effort. It actually says here in the first, in the Bible verse here, he says, God told the Elijah, Prophet Elijah, he said, I have commanded a widow there to provide for you. God had given her on a command to provide for the man of God. And when he came, she could have chosen to stay in her house. She would have missed the opportunity because she was like, oh, I'm busy praying and asking God to make a way. I don't have time to serve. I don't have time to help. I don't have time to get involved. I don't have time to minister. I don't have time to pour out of myself because I am here struggling. God get me out of the struggle and I will serve. No, she chose to make an effort. And what happened? It was that struggle that led her out. It was that serving that led her out of her struggle. Many of us are here today and we want our answers from God to happen in a specific way. How many have prayed and God didn't answer what you prayed for? Straight out. I'm the number one, especially as you were younger, you kind of prayed more selfish prayers. And then as you grow older, you begin to realize that praying for a house in a car and stuff like sure, it can happen, but if I pray for humility, that prayer will get answered for sure. And if you pray for patience, God is like, oh, that one, I'll answer that one straight away. But as we are young, we pray and we ask God for things, and it seems not to happen the way we want. We pray maybe God. You have specific prayers. You want God to give you something, but you also want to dictate how he should give it to you. God, I pray for a house, but not an old one. God, I pray for a car, but not a used one. God, I pray for a wife, but not a nagging one. And God may answer your prayer, but not the way that you expect it. Because he knows he's not concerned with what you want. God is concerned with what you need. You want a submissive wife. You want a wife that will obey your every command. God, give me a wife that will never argue with me. But he knows that what you need is someone will stand up to you and say, excuse me, sir, I know you're the man of this house, but I'm not going to agree with that. Because he knows what you need. That's what he's concerned about, not what you want. I want to give you an example. I have a friend. He has a son. His son is a couple of years, eight years old or so now. And a couple of years ago for his birthday, his son really wanted a bicycle. He was asking his father, please, Dad, I want a bicycle so bad. All my friends have bicycles. I want to bike. Dad, I need a bicycle. And his father was like, okay, I'm going to teach my son a lesson, you know, bring them up in the way of the Lord. Okay. I mean, I would probably, when I have a child, I'll probably be tempted to do similar things. So he said, you know, my son, I may not be able to give you a bicycle for your birthday, but you know what? Pray to God. Pray that Jesus Christ will provide a bicycle for you. And let's see. I think we serve the God that answers prayers. And he had all along intended like, okay, once my son prays, I'm going to give him the bicycle. And he's going to see that when you pray, you receive. So, you know, he was sneaking to his son's bedroom door listening and he could hear him inside there. Oh God, give me a bicycle, Lord, and it will be used for your glory. God, if you let me bike, I will bike to the ends of the world with the good news. He was like, oh yeah, my son is really going for it. So the time came for his son's birthday and he wrapped the bicycle. And those of you who have ever gifted a bicycle is kind of, you can't wrap it easily. Okay, either you put it in a huge box, but he wrapped it and like when the son came time to see the gift, he's like, dad, it looks like a bicycle. He's like, yeah, it does, doesn't it? So he opened it and there was a bicycle in there. And the father was like, oh, you see, son? Jesus answers prayers. God answers your prayers. And the son was like, yeah, yeah. He's like, what's wrong? What's wrong, son? And his son said, God, God gave me a bicycle, right? But it's red. I prayed for a green one. So the father, in order to save God's skin, in order to be like, oh, God doesn't make mistakes, son. Okay, it's for a purpose. So he told him, you know what? Maybe there's a greater purpose to why God gave you a red bicycle and not a green one. For example, isn't red your sister's favorite color? Maybe you meant to share it with your sister. So he had to kind of save the situation so that his son would not think that God couldn't hear him. The point of this story is to make us understand that many times we pray for something, but God doesn't give it to us the way we expect. Many people come here expecting to receive deliverance from God on the prayer line, or maybe you are here and you have been watching and joining and participating and you have seen so many testimonies being restored. But here you are still having those nightmares. Here you are today still having that sickness in your body. Here you are today still your husband hasn't come to Christ. You still haven't received that breakthrough in your career. You still haven't gotten the promotion you're waiting for, that son, that daughter still hasn't been saved. And we come and we expect that God will give us some kind of a lottery ticket here. Where the prayer line is actually like a lottery. Let me pull my lottery ticket of deliverance today. Let's see who wins the lottery. God is not a lottery, people of God. You will come here and you see, oh that guy won the ticket today of healing. That guy won the ticket of deliverance. I want to receive my deliverance today. And they come and they're like, oh God, and you hope and you think that it's by luck that you receive your deliverance. It's not, it's not by luck that you receive your deliverance. In fact, a better mindset to have, rather than thinking that God is some kind of a lottery, is to think that that deliverance that you're looking for the breakthrough or that salvation to the family member, it's actually the inheritance of the saints. It's not something you win by luck. It's something that is rightfully yours. You just need to claim it. Behind me right now, you're going to see a photo of a painting is called The Woman of Gold. Has anyone heard the story of The Woman of Gold that wasn't in the first survey? The Woman of Gold is a famous painting. You can show the second picture, which is Maria Altman. This is Maria Altman. She's an old Jewish woman who lived and was born in Austria in Europe. Her family was Jewish and during the Second World War, her family received persecution because of where they came from, because of who they were. And she and her husband managed to escape and get established in USA. But the family wasn't that lucky. And all their wealth, all their possessions, not only were the family persecuted to the point of death, all their wealth and possessions were taken by the Nazis. And at the end of Second World War, the Nazis gave those things or the Museum of Vienna claimed it. So it was given to the historical museum of Vienna. And that painting was there in the museum for 60 years. And it became a national treasure of that country. 60 years later, the only surviving heir of her family, she made a legal claim to that painting. And even though it was her inheritance, it was her legal right to get there. It belonged to her and her family. Still, she had to go there and fight for her right. Many people don't understand that your deliverance isn't a lottery ticket. It is your inheritance. But even if it's your inheritance, you may still have to fight for it. Because as for Maria, there were people. The government of Austria didn't want her to reclaim what was hers. They didn't want her to win. They tried to trick her. They tried to distract her. They told her, you don't belong to that family. It's not rightfully yours. Actually, you belong to their family, but it belongs to another family. They tried every trick in the book. But it was her legal right to own that. So after going to court and taking the government of Austria to court, she won the court case. And on one faithful day, at the end of 1999 something, she traveled back home to the United States with a luggage of a $100 million painting. That is the victory. That is the inheritance that we are talking about here. Your deliverance and your healing, it is your inheritance. Yet sometimes you still need to fight for it. Philippians 2 verse 12 talks about working out your salvation. Now I looked into the original meaning of the word that is used in Philippians 2.12. And the word used for salvation is a Greek word called soteria. That word means the deliverance from the molestation of enemies. We have to work, not work, but we have to fight sometimes for what is rightfully ours. It's not enough to just go back to your house of starvation and say, oh, I'm poor. I live in a house of poverty and that's the end of me. No, you have an inheritance. The moment that you received Jesus Christ in your heart, you were adopted into the royal family of Jesus Christ. You were a branch and you were grafted into the true vine. And now it is your inheritance. So as much as our spirit is saved from the grip of the devil through salvation, so we must fight with fear and trembling for our deliverance from the molestation of our enemies. Sometimes they don't want you to walk in your freedom. And remember this, God is not so concerned with how you receive deliverance. What he is concerned about is your freedom. God is not concerned with healing. He's concerned with good health. How you experience good health differs. Some people come and they receive prayer and that is it. But maybe you are here today and you are waiting, saying, oh, I've been to prayer lines so many times. I've been waiting for my deliverance and my healing. It's not forthcoming. I'm telling you right now, the widow of Saraphat made a decision to serve her way out of her struggle. The story of the widow of Saraphat ends like this. She did everything that the Prophet asked her to do. And then he blessed her and he said, as truly as I am a man of God, your oint shall never run dry and your flower shall never run out as she served in the midst of her struggle. As she ministered in the midst of her misery. As she poured out of herself in the midst of her poverty. God made a way out for her. God wants to make a way out for you today. Have you been looking at why are you not receiving? Why is it not working like for everyone else? Why can't I be like Lisa Ludlow? Why can't I just come here and receive my deliverance? She had a journey too. You come here, don't think that you will one day by luck win that lottery ticket. It is yours, but you need to fight for it. Many of us, we find ourselves in a situation like the widow of Saraphat coming from a house of rejection, isolation, infirmity, and oppression. She didn't allow her situation to define her. To the human eye, she may have looked like she was standing still. Remember this. Have you ever heard this quote before? It's by Prophet T. B. Josh. He said, the slow movement of a tiger is not a mistake, but a calculated accuracy. What I mean to say with that quote is this. Not every car standing still is broken down. You may see cars standing still out there and you think they are broken down. No, just because you have a moment in your life where it seems like you are not moving forward. Maybe you'll find yourself in a situation where you have fallen into weakness. Maybe you have found yourself and it seems like you are just a failure. God Almighty still thinks great things of you. I want to read one final Bible verse for you here and then we're going to round up here today from the book of Luke chapter 22. Luke 22, people of God, verse 32. It says here, Jesus spoke to Peter and he said, But I have prayed for you, Peter, that your faith should not fail. And when you have returned, strengthen your brethren. Jesus prayed this before. He ever denied him. Did you know this? Peter, after denying Jesus Christ, never saw him again until he was resurrected. Jesus died and Peter saw him died. And the last encounter and experience that he had was denying his Savior. Can you imagine the guilt and condemnation that he went through? It wasn't like when Jesus was up on the cross, the Son of God dying and he came up to Jesus and whispered, I'm sorry, Jesus, I denied you. I repent. Forgive me. He didn't see him face to face until he resurrected. Those days where he faced that guilt, that condemnation and that shame, I can't even imagine because he had formally said, You are the Son of God, the Christ, and I will never turn my back from you. And that exact thing is what he did. Yet Jesus prayed, I pray your faith will not fail. What Jesus was telling him in other words is Peter, even when you fail as a person, I pray your faith will not fail. Even though you fall into weakness as a person, your faith will not fail. Peter could have easily been defined by his failure. His circumstances said, this is Simon, the fisherman, a failure, an angry man, someone that goes around cutting the ears of people, a rebel, hot tempered. The one that Jesus said, Satan, get behind me. His circumstances was defining him to be the one that denied his Savior. But Jesus Christ told him, I will not let your circumstances define you. I say to you, you are Peter. And on this rock, I will build my church. It doesn't matter what your situation will say about you, Peter. I say your faith will not fail. No matter what the world defines you as, your situation defines you as, I tell you that my definition of you will not fail. Maybe you're like Peter today, identifying with your weakness, with your failure, or like the leader of Saraphat coming from a house of rejection, going back to a house of rejection after church, a house of isolation, depression, anxiety, whatever it is that you face, a house of infirmity. What is that house that you are going back to? What is that situation, a failure, or a setback, disappointment that's trying to define you? The word of God says, Jesus Christ has said in his word, no matter what the world or your situation defines you as, I tell you today, I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions. You shall be the head and never the tail. You shall be over and never under. I will give you power to go out and be my witnesses. You are more than conquerors. Though a righteous man falls seven times, he will get back up. And Jesus told Peter, Peter, the season has come for you to get back up. It doesn't matter what house you are coming from. Serve your way out of your struggle. Serve your way out of your hardship. Minister your way out of your misery. Pour out of yourself even in the midst of your poverty. I have a testimony and I'm going to round up with this here today. I went through hardship and struggle. I'm not going to give you the story. Everyone knows that those of you that come frequently. I experienced struggling in my life recently and it was really hard. And in the middle of this struggle, I was going through hard times. I was going through depression, isolation, rejection, physical absence from my wife and many other things. And I was experiencing like, is this my story? Is this how I would be remembered? Like a total failure. And in the middle of that, and I confess before you, congregation and before God today, the man of God, Pastor Vlad, told me, why don't you start a life group? And I was like, excuse me? I'll start a life group when I'm out of this struggle. How in the world do you expect me to do that in a good way when I'm not okay? And he said, you know what? Just do it. I believe that God has a plan for you. As I started that life group and tell me, I wanted to give up. I wanted to be offended. I was like, Pastor, how about you help me? How about you help me? What can't you use some supernatural power and bring me home to US? It didn't work that way. I had to serve my way out of my struggle. And as I started doing that life group, it developed into the YouTube channel, Deliverance Podcasts, developed into digital deliverance. And one thing led to another. As God would have it, he had a plan. Every situation that you're going through, there's a plan behind it. And there were many times, those of you who were part of that life group that I used to do, people would be like, can you pray for me, man of God? This week again? Look at me. I need prayer. How about you pray for me for once? And I kept serving in the middle of that struggle. And God used that to break new ground, to make a new path out of that struggle. So if you are here today and you are expecting, oh yeah, for sure that, you know, let me just go to prayer line. And that's going to be the end of it. Not every deliverance happens through prayer line here. Not every situation is solved through prayer line. Prayer is good. Prayer is necessary. Incredibly important. But some situations, you need to outgrow that struggle. Some situations you need to outgive that struggle. Some situations you need to outpray that struggle. You need to outfast that struggle. You need to outlaw that struggle. You need to outgrow that struggle. And when you do that, God is making a way for you because it is your inheritance in Jesus mighty name. Hallelujah. Hey, thanks for watching this video. If you enjoyed this content and this was a blessing to you, would you help us and hit thumbs up so that it could help more people to discover this video? It cost you nothing, but it can go a long way to help with the algorithm. As well as if you're not subscribed to our channel, hit subscribe, click on the bell, so that you can be reminded each time that we upload videos. Thank you so much for being a part of this community. If you're interested in learning more about Hungry Gen, our internship, our conferences, deliverance, and so many other things, go to HungryGen.com for more information. And as always, remember, better is not good enough, the best is yet to come.