The harm of prosperity gospel that views Christianity as a transactional relationship only becomes so heinously apparent when you are on your knees sobbing yourself into a headache for a year straight, even begging God to take you up like the prophet Elijah did. It does not speak about the martyred disciples, it does not sermonize on, “in this world you will have tribulation, but I have overcome the world,” nor does it edify the church body all going through their own individual “thorns” based off the teachings of Paul.
Prosperity gospel does not speak about Job seasons that turn into a year or maybe years for you, nor does it tell you how to hold on for the almighty hand of God who will flip it all around in a second in a way where your years of striving never could.
If you are going through a Job ‘season,’ or maybe it feels like a Job life—this is for you. It is only at rock-bottom that any human being can truly encounter the living God. It is at every pit in life that I have had inexplicable miraculous encounters with our blessed Lord Jehovah, Rapha, Yahweh, Adonai, Elohim. And no, it is not just about God being Jehovah Jireh (the Lord who provides), and rescuing me out of trouble but showing me His love and peace which surpasses all understanding in the most unbearable times. Times where I stood alone carrying an urn, sobbing out to the heavens while waiting for a rideshare because I was rejected by my own family, and times where I just literally had no way through my human agency.
It is at rock bottom that you encounter God, and it is at the end of yourself—of your human autonomy, that God steps in so that He may be glorified. Remember Lazarus? Jesus let his beloved friend’s body sit for four days. Of course Mary and Martha felt human disappointment despite their great love and faith in Jesus Christ. They didn’t understand God made them wait for a great glory—ressurection of their friend Lazarus (who Jesus wept over), not just healing. Jesus didn’t heal Lazarus in time and instead waited to resurrect him to prove to them that He had the power to also be resurrected upon His atoning death at Calvary. We often don’t understand waiting in our own lives, nor suffering, but the promises of God to prosper us (yes, even on this earth) still stand even if we may suffer and lose, and come out the other side of tribulations and refining fires with our own ‘thorn’ in our flesh of what seems like an unanswered prayer.
Strength Through Suffering (Before Testimony)
That is the big question. Suffering—why? When I lost my beloved angel of a pet Bertha, I couldn’t understand the purpose, and well, my human brain still can’t but I know God did not cause it and He grieves with me. What I do know is everything I’ve learned about suffering from a Biblical perspective and through revelation from the Holy Spirit.
It’s important to understand the ‘why,’ and God’s comfort through it, before even stepping into the other side of it—deliverance, restitution for what the locusts have stolen, healing, and blessings. You can not just discuss testimony from the other side of the mountain, without discussing the living water and Holy Spirit and divine strength that will carry you when you can not even lift yourself off the ground.
God’s Promises Are for Earthly Life Too
And yes, God’s promises aren’t just about eternal salvation, He will deliver you and does have plans to prosper you, so don’t fall into self-imposed Christian nihilism of “only being a pilgrim on this earth full of ‘vanities of vanities’” as I did. Meditate upon God’s Word (Joshua 1:8), reside in fervent prayer (Acts 12:5-9), in stubborn, child-like faith (Matthew 18:3) which surpasses all understanding instead of walking by sight (Hebrews 11), praising the Lord even while sorrowful (2 Corinthians 6:10), decreeing life (Proverbs 18:21) and rebuking evil (Mathew 18:18), and cling unto the hem of Jesus’ garment (Luke 8:43-48) to both allow Jesus to renew your heart and mind (Ephesians 4:23), and for Him to work where He does best—where you feel helpless in your human autonomy. Put on the full armor of God and wage war in the spirit (Ephesians 6:10-18)! Faith precedes the blessing.
Suffering
Firstly, Christ suffered while being killed by humans. He forewarned us we too would suffer and even be persecuted for His sake. So when unbelievers point to suffering as an argument against the love of God it makes zero sense.
-Christ Himself said evil can not cast out evil (Matthew 12:26)—evil and suffering comes from this natural fallen Eden.
Two kinds of suffering: self-imposed from disobedience and sin, and natural consequences of fallen world that God allows like He allowed Job
Natural consequences from sin – antithetical and countereffective counterfeits to our God-given desires. Exodus 33:19, God says to Moses, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The LORD.’ And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
Job-like suffering
God weeps with us
In this world we will have tribulation but Jesus has overcome the world
Suffering is not the absence of God’s love
Christ suffered for all of us. Job—God’s devout servant cried out he wished he was never born, Elijah prayed for God to take him up, David was depressed, Moses had anxiety. The disciples were all persecuted and many martyred.
Waiting: God’s plans which are best have a divinely appointed time
David, anointed to be king since childhood despite his small stature, spent 12 years running from Saul hiding in caves. Abraham waited 25 years for a son, Joseph 13 years in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, Jacob worked 14 years for Rachel, Hannah waited years for her prophet son Samuel to be born. He will turn your life around once you surrender and trust in Him. Be still and trust in God’s perfect timing. That God’s plan is better than your’s because He is omniscient and loves us beyond measure unconditionally and sacrificially (agape).
Hebrews 11:3: Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
The Refining Fire
Stripped me completely of dependence upon my own human ability.
Pruned the bad fruit.
Swallowed me up into the belly of the whale and spit me out into my calling.
Self-Serving Gospel
A relationship with the living God is not a self-improvement tool, nor is it a candy dispenser. Prosperity gospel contends that we are rewarded according to our righteousness, or works, or charity. Self-serving Christianity that completely absolves itself of the message of the entire Bible to take up your cross and serve Christ, and love one another as Christ has loved us (sacrificially), is just more self-help worldliness masquareded of the gospel that commands us to be disciples of Christ, not just believers. Even evil knows Christ exists. And the second step for a Christian who has been rescued out of the pit of worldliness or tribulation, is to serve and crucify your own selfish desire to live for yourself daily.
This is why the Scripture speaks about lukewarmthness. It is more than habitual sin, it is a matter of a selfish heart that accepts salvation, loves God, and then lives for itself instead of heeding the command to make disciples of all nations.
Job – Was a Righteous Man
Job was the most righteous man and God allowed for him to be tested—giving the enemy permission— for that reason. To prove Job would not deny God despite any tribulation sent against him by the enemy.
Job’s friends wrongly accused him of having committed some sin to bring the wrath of God upon himself, but it was not God, it was the enemy.
Jesus even told his disciples sickness is not punishment.
John 9:1-3: And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his birth. 2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind? 3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
It is true—the enemy does not try to rob an empty soul. And evil does not attack evil.
Remember, Yahweh Himself said evil can not cast out evil (Matthew 12:26).
The enemy is defeated, so God allowed trials in Job’s life, but He placed a limit. For Christians, the sanctification, or pruning process of the refining fire and ‘Job seasons,’ looks many ways.
But above all you have to remember, God did not cause the suffering, but He will work your entire life for good. And our ultimate hope is in eternity, but do not fall into Christian nihilism because God wove you in your mother’s womb, numbers the hairs on your very head, and created you for a purpose He will reveal if you just surrender your entire life and every decision to Him.
His promises still stand through our tribulations—of his agape love, forgiveness, protection, provision.
Testimony
“Where is your God? Why doesn’t He hear you?” a family member sneered at me as I fought for my pet dying of cancer’s life during my Job year of pure loss—unemployment after half a year of scapegoating at work, lost my business, one pet emergency, then more spiritual warfare from someone while at my lowest until God sent undeniable prophetic signs to flee from evil.
Until suddenly.
Suddenly, the God opened a door no man can shut.
And then another one.
I crawled out of that household sobbing, grieving, having panic attacks, alone in the flesh, but never in the spirit.
God carried me through the waters, and led my exodus out of my own Egypt.
God is the God of suddenly, it may seem like blessings take too long or aren’t happening, but when it’s the appointed time, God will make happen in an instant, what human effort can’t make happen in a decade.
Storms
“Storms” are meant for sanctification, and God will carry us through them, not let us evade them. God’s ultimate goal is discipleship, not just salvation. This is the part most believers miss out in life—He called us to make disciples of all nations.
Dr. Stanley taught me this—God may not be the author of every storm (natural consequences of sin and disobedience may cause them), but God’s sovereign presence, provision, path, and protection is in every storm. You are never alone.
Isaiah 43:2:
When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
Isaiah 41
Psalm 121
In one Dr. Stanley radio sermon, he speaks about the sea of Galilea storm, and how Jesus went up on the mountains top to talk to God, while the disciples feared the storm. While the disciples thought that they were off course in that storm, God was using that storm to get them to God’s desired shore.And what people miss is this—God uses storms to get us to His willed destination.
God’s purpose for storms are never to allow us to sink. He has plans to prosper us, give us hope and a future. When the disciples in that storm in the sea of Galilee arrived on land, they had arrived with Jesus onboard, and that is God’s very intention. We can not carry ourselves through lives storms. We can’t even arrive at God’s best without Jesus’ ‘onboard’ of the ship of our souls.
Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
God allowed Peter to sink just far enough for him to realize his utter dependance on Jesus to walk across the stormy, treacherous water.
Peter didn’t sink until he took his eyes off God.
God wants us to take a leap of faith towards His will, even when we fear, trusting that He equips us where He calls us. And the Holy Spirit resides in us, not only to seal our salvation (verse), not only to enable us to live a holy life of continuous sanctification, but to also carry out His purpose as disciples of Christ.
God’s timing is not the same as ours, and we will remain in storms as long as God wants us to be to accomplish His purpose. So the prayer becomes, “God what are you trying to teach me?” Not just, “God save me now.” When ___ was ___ he never once prayed for God to save him, but God did.
And most comfortantly and importantly—GOD IS SOVEREIGN in storms—even ones caused by. This revelation brought my overthinking, hyper-anxious mind that constantly ruminates if one non-sinful decision could ‘take me out of God’s will—which is the best. It’s a laughable though anxious thought, really. Dr. Stanley said that while the disciples feared, and were being battered around wondering if they’d arrive at their destination, God knew exactly what would happen, and the perfect timing. God is the sovereign God of the seas and of our lives. SOVEREIGN GOD IS ALWAYS IN CONTROL. HE MAY NOT HAVE CREATED THAT STORM, HUMAN FREE WILL MAY HAVE, BUT HE WILL CARRY YOU THROUGH THE WATERS.
You may not know where a storm is leading you, but God didn’t reveal it to the disciples either. God does not have to tell us the future, that would not be faith, it’d be sight.
So people who look for constant ‘signs’ and ‘confirmations,’ need to trust in God’s very WORD IN SCRIPTURE as the ULTIMATE SIGN OF HIS FAITHFUL, EVERLASTING PROMISES OF HIS PRESENCE, PROTECTION, PROVISION, AND AGAPE LOVE.
Dr. Stanley said, “he who holds the future holds us. and if he who holds the future holds us, and he who holds the future and holds us is living on the inside of us, we can trust the future to him no matter what
Rock Bottom
It is at rock bottom that you truly encounter the living God and all His glory. This is why storms, a Job season, tribulations are meant for sanctification meant to conform us to Christ’s likeness, and ultimately discipleship. My Job year stripped all my remnant desire to create meaning in a bohemian matrix of girlboss entrepreneurship and travel vlogging and vanities of vanities, as some sort of ‘step-up’ from the “corporate matrix.” Psychologists may wage on about “positive disintegration”—that is, rebuilding from a place of loss—but this is building upon sand
REBUILD YOUR HOUSE UPON ROCK—UPON JESUS CHRIST OF NAZARETH, the only peace, way, truth and life.
Have faith like Peter to step out into the water, and set you eyes on God, not on your circumstances—lest you start to sink. God waited until Peter saw his total dependance upon Christ, cried out “Lord save me,” and Jesus reached His hand forth and saved him. Jesus always has an eternal grip on us. So where is He in your storms? Upholding you, if you will just let him, carrying you through the fires and waters.
I’ll never leave you nor forsake you
God says, “don’t don’t look about you,” He says, “I am your God I will strengthen you ill uphold you with my righteous right hand.”
Philippians chapter 2 my peace I give unto you not as the world gives give unto you let not your heart be troubled neither
John 16
Claiming Faith in the Wilderness
Written June 12, 2025
Not even an echo answers your wails—you’re in the wilderness. You cry out to God—your only life-support, how death would be kinder than suffering—how you understand why being put out in legal in Belgium. But then you hear a voice answering your aching wails of “I don’t want my life Father,” telling you, His loved child, “then give your life to me, for it is not yours to live or take.”
The Lord promised you something—He put a Holy vision in your heart, yet youve faced suffering, delay, loneliness, heartbreak, spiritual warfare, and conflict from every end. This is a guide and testimony for anyone going through the wilderness, who is alive because of God. God has not said no—you are alive, God has a plan for you.
“Did He Sin?”
Evil comes from the world in attempt to tear down the faith of children of God—Jesus warned us, “in this world you will have tribulation, but take heart, I have overcome the world.” Jesus has overcome death, He has overcome sin—for us, none of us could ever earn the forgiveness and salvation His grace and love blesses us who repent and ask for forgiveness for.
Remember, God is not a man that He should lie. He only has plans to prosper us. That vision of that land overflowing with milk and honey is alive and God has called you to it for a purpose. Out of love for God and spite for the enemy, you must not work harder, but SURRENDER harder to God, in all your ways acknowledging Him. I’ll explain in everything God has taught me and told me amidst my desperate cries and trials.
Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD thy God
bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
The biggest lesson is—those who lacked faith caused a 40 year delay wandering through the wilderness—they decried God who had given them manna in the desert and even caused their foot not to swell. They measured giants against their abilities and cowered from the promise land in fear, instead of measuring them against God and knowing God created every atom in this universe and He will deliver you if you so much as believe.
Here are some of the biggest lessons the wilderness, I am not yet out of, but has has delivered me from the most important things in, has taught me.
God tells you, “Jesus wept too, but He still trusted me to move forward with His purpose.”
It’s okay to cry, but this season, this year of the wilderness has taught me the difference between crying and trusting God anyway—praising and resting in Him, versus despairing, fearing and self-sabotaging into an endless spiral. Whatever you have gone through, or may be going through, Jesus knows how you feel, and is embracing you as He will never leave you or forsake you
Jesus even asked God for mercy, He knows how much we would rather avoid pain as He’s felt that fear and human brutality in this world.
(Luke 22:42 KJV) “Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done.” Jesus felt pain and fear, “Jesus wept”
40 Year Delay Due to Lack of Faith
And you’re reminded of the Israelites who never made it to the promise land by decrying God’s exodus out of the hand of Egyptian oppression, and little faith—measuring the giants in the book of Numbers against their own capabilities, instead of against God’s, forgetting the former promises. I don’t know what your own Egyptian slavery is, but Jesus said, “are you of little faith?” He has never and will never leave you or forsake you if you surrender it all to Him.
I can’t begin to describe the year and some change of spiritual warfare and trials and tribulations I’ve faced. That is not the goal here.
ASK GOD TO HELP YOU HAVE FAITH
- Pray, praise and rebuke problems and infirmities – take on full armor
- praise and even music was used by David to break Saul’s depression
- Rebuke
- Pray over every situation
Have blind faith Hebrews 11 & don’t measure your giants against you ability but surrender it to God, lest you won’t see promise land
Whatever you shall ask for believing
According to your faith be it unto you
Faith as small as a mustard seed
Numbers 13:33 mentions that the spies saw the Nephilim there, which they described as descendants of Anak, and they felt like “grasshoppers in our own eyes” compared to them.
Remember that worldly rejection is God’s redirection towards His purpose—which is best for our lives. You will feel the peace which surpasses all understanding (Philippians 4:7). even in the wilderness Ask Jesus to align your will with His.
-positive disintegration
Believing it is both God’s ability and WILL – PRAYING IN FAITH AND THANKSGIVING
- My testimony
- Rebuking evil testimony and DECREEING blessing REALIZATION – I just had a realization, don’t you think that if in Jesus’ name you can rebuke evil, that in Jesus name you can also speak blessing according to HIS WILL
- -Mark 12:24: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
- -Matthew 9:27-29: And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
- -Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
- Matthew 18:18: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.
- Matthew 16:19: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven
- Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
Taking every thought captive to Christ: Feeling emotions but not identifying with it. Actively rebuking those negative thoughts and fears while experiencing them.
Pruning: not only of sin, but also of old desires.(positive disintegration)
-sin is coutneefrective to true desires & creates a negative feedback loops whereby the consequences of your own sin separate you from God and ruin your life
- God’s grace & struggle sin – stop mischaracterizing God-yes he forgives, but He also wants FREEDOM for you, that’s what you should seek : God’s grace abounds but you shouldn’t continue to sin (Romans 6:1-2) and yes there are eternal rewards in heaven for those who don’t just repent last minute those who have not mocked God though He forgives (1 Cor 6:19 says the body is a temple)
-worldly desires fall away: stopped shopping, even enjoying escapism
Holy separation manifested as being alone, gbut not lonely, for Jesus is always with you) from the unequally yoked environments.
-found community in church after finally made time to
Discernment in wilderness only obtained when worldly things fall away – God reveals His calling
Faithful action-you can’t know God’s entire plan just can hear the call. Step outside the camp into faith like Moses
-knock and you shall be answered, seek and you shall find
Full surrender – “I only want your faith and obedience” you don’t need a master plan, only to put God first
-God only wants your faith and obedience – I was overwhelmed praying, everyday basic survival feeling like the most exhausting challenge on top of every problem I’m facing, but then hearing God tell me I don’t need to even resolve one of them
Gratitude: be trusted in “little things” is about transformation worthy of handling bigger blessings, not just “proving” yourself to God
-Be a good stewardess faithful in what you have, because how can God trust you with more—and it’s not just about convincing Him but being TRANSFORMED into someone who can handle things
Deuteronomy 8:2-7
-Tells us how the wilderness reveals our heart to God, and He is the one who provides through it—we’re to learn to rely on Him alone. To trust that He brings you into the promised land for His will for your life
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
3 And he humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man
live.
4 Thy raiment waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.
5 Thou shalt
also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.
6Therefore thou shalt keep the
commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him.
7 For the LORD thy God
bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;
God’s promises
God uses the wilderness for good
Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
On Trusting God’s Plans, Despite Sight
Joel 2:25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
Proverbs 3:5-6: Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Jeremiah 29:11
For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
Praying in faith, rebuking evil, and decreeing blessing
- -Mark 12:24: Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
- -Matthew 9:27-29: And when he was come into the house, the blind men came to him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto him, Yea, Lord.Then touched he their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you.
- -Matthew 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
- Matthew 18:18: “Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven”.
- Matthew 16:19: “I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven; and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven
- Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it shall eat the fruit thereof.
God’s Comfort
Matthew 11:28-30 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.
Philippians 4:6-7 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
Matthew 6:26-29 Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.
On healing
Raised Lazarus, healed a woman with a blood issue of 10 years, healed Roman’s loved one through His very Word, the God who breathed LIFE into the universe in in control of your life once you surrender to Him fully.
You can’t do better than God’s will.
Lastly,pray:
Psalm 91
Psalm 28
Psalm 23
___
- Faith & obedience – walking by faith not sight during storms – YES HAVE EMOTIONS AND CRY BUT FULFILL FAITHFUL ACTION GOD’S CALLED YOU TO – Jesus wept too
- Wilderness season & positive disintegration/spiritual pruning
- VICES AND SIN CAUSE DELAY-are counter effective to goals – deliverance
- Generationcurse breaking and spiritual warfare being tougher – “curses” are just new age saying for sin and sin patterns repeated from inherited trauma –
- Having grace and loving those that hurt you – don’t have to be around them but UNDERSTAND that they did NOT RECEIVE DELIVERANCE which is why they lash out..lead them to God
- God’s grace & struggle sin – stop mischaracterizing God-yes he forgives, but He also wants FREEDOM for you, that’s what you should seek : God’s grace abounds but you shouldn’t continue to sin (Romans 6:1-2) and yes there are eternal rewards in heaven for those who don’t just repent last minute those who have not mocked God though He forgives (1 Cor 6:19 says the body is a temple)
- Be a good stewardess faithful in what you have, because how can God trust you with more—and it’s not just about convincing Him but being TRANSFORMED into someone who can handle things
- Faithful action – knock and you shall be answered, seek and you shall find
- Praying in belief that it is not only God’s ability, but also God’s
- God only wants your faith and obedience – I was overwhelmed praying, everyday basic survival feeling like the most exhausting challenge on top of every problem I’m facing, but then hearing God tell me I don’t need to even resolve one of them