When it’s bad, don’t rant and rave. It makes it worse.

Steve Brown:
When it’s bad, don’t rant and rave. It makes it worse. Let’s talk about it, on Key Life.

Matthew Porter:
If you’ve suffered too long under a do more, try harder religion, Key Life is here to proclaim that Jesus sets the captives free. Steve invited Jerry Parries to teach us this week. Jerry is an author and the pastor of Christian Family Worship Center, House of Grace.

Steve Brown:
Thank you Matthew. Hi Jerry.

Jerry Parries:
Hey Dr. Steve, how are you?

Steve Brown:
Hey, yesterday was so good. Jerry taught us yesterday that when we go through hallway experiences, you want to very quickly tell us again what a hallway experience is?

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, I was sharing yesterday that my brother in law said, I told him that God never closes a door, that he doesn’t open up a window and he says, I don’t have a problem with the door closing. I don’t have a problem with God opening up the window. It’s the hallways that gets me. And so, we’re starting to teach on how to handle hallway experiences, how to handle those dark moments in your life while things have shut, but you’re not quite there to the window that it’s ready to open to take you out, but you’re in the hallway. How do you handle those moments? When you’re in a hallway experience.

Steve Brown:
And yesterday, jerry told us that in every situation, no matter how dark that God has promised, you can find joy there. You have to look for it sometimes. But if you find it and Paul said, rejoice always.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And so, the first step is to find the joy. And to rejoice in God.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Okay. There’s something else. The text says.

Let your gentleness be known to all men. The Lord is at hand.

Frankly, when it’s hard, I cuss and spit and rant and rave. You would suggest that’s not a good thing to do, right?

Jerry Parries:
No, no, no. That’s not the right approach. With Philippians four and four says.

Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice.

Verse five says.

Let your gentleness be known unto all men.

In other words, don’t let life see you sweat. You know, there used to be a commercial to say, don’t let them see you sweat. Don’t let the enemy see you sweat. You know what? I want to share this Dr. Steve to somebody. The devil does not read minds. In fact, he’s a fallen angel. He’s not God. He cannot read your mind. You have to give him the information to work with in order for him to handle your situation or to defeat you in your situation. And when you get into the hallway, sometimes we run our mouths in the wrong way. Instead of giving God glory, we mumble and complain, and we say stuff that we shouldn’t say, I can’t stand this. I hate this. And we speak into our own lives, the enemy gives us gets the tools to use it against us. So, the Scripture says.

Let your gentleness be known unto all men.

Be gentle, be kind, just hush, just meditating God at that moment. Why are you doing that? Because it’s right here in the Scripture. Verse five says.

Because the Lord is at hand.

In the darkness of your house or in the darkness of your life, God is there with you. And so, you don’t have to worry if he’s in there with you, you’re going to come out of the fire, like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. You’re going to come out of there and ain’t going to be no smoke on you. Ain’t going to be no, you know, your clothes is not going to be burnt. You’re going to come out of this hallway experience. Just be cool. Just relax in God and allow the gentleness, allow the Lord, don’t panic, be cool. The text says that God is with you through these situations and He is going to allow you to come out of it.

Steve Brown:
You know, that’s hard sometimes. I remember one time when my wife and I were in an automobile accident. Nobody was hurt. But somebody rammed us and I used language that a preacher shouldn’t use. And, which was not very pastoral or Christian. And I looked at my wife and she had her head bowed and she was praying. And she said out loud, Lord, You’re in charge of this, too.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
And I want to praise you for it. And I went, oh spit.

Jerry Parries:
Ha ha ha ha.

Steve Brown:
You’ve got to, the Holy Spirit needs to remind you, doesn’t he?

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
Because it’s so easy to rant and rave when bad things happen.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah, you have to speak the word over your life. I remember Noah’s Scripture that I use when I’m feeling like, man, I’m being crushed and crunched.

My God shall supply all of my needs according to his riches and glory.

Not according to my bank account, not according to what I have, according to his riches and glory. So, I’m leaning on the richness of God in this moment. I don’t have the emotional and stability of whatever. So, I’m just going to rest in Jesus. I know he’s in there with me because the Lord is at hand. He’s not coming. He’s not there. We pray, God, would you help us? Would you come? Would you be? No, God is there. He is there in the midst of your darkness. He is there in the midst of your tears. He bottles up every tear. He is there with you. So, I want to talk to somebody who’s driving or sitting at home or listening to this broadcast. And you feel, man, I am in this moment, and I feel all alone. Nobody’s here to help me. I want you to know that God is right there beside you. He is there in it with you. And so, therefore, you can relax. Get the worries out of your life. Just enjoy the journey getting to where you’re going.

Steve Brown:
And that’s not wishful thinking. That’s the truth.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah.

Steve Brown:
I mean, and it’s a trigger. When we do that and the Holy Spirit reminds us, when we do it, it opens all kinds of favor and blessings, doesn’t it?

Jerry Parries:
It does. It does. I am just so reminded of the many times that doors have been closed in my life or people have walked out of my life and in the midst when they walk away or when doors shut. It just feels like, God, what am I going to do? Where am I going to go? What is the next step? And every time, not sometimes, every time God gives you something better or do something different that you can now see, Oh, this is what he was trying to do. This is where I was going with this. And if you knew the end of the story, you wouldn’t worry about the middle and so I want you to understand that in every, if you go back, I remember one time Steve. Let me let me just say the story, I remember one time when I was very young and I was struggling and I didn’t have finances to pay my rent and I was worrying and worrying and worrying. And the Holy Spirit spoke to me at the end of the year, I’ll never forget it, it was New Year’s. And I looked, the Lord said, now look back over your life. Did I bring you through? 20 or 1999. I said, yeah. He said, are you here? Yeah. Is everything paid? I said, yeah. So, he said, you wasted all of that time worrying about what I was going to already take care of. So, when the new worry comes, God says, he reminds me of what he did in the past. Like the children of Israel, didn’t I bring you through the Red Sea? Didn’t I deliver you from Pharaoh? Didn’t do all of these things. Why are you worried about this, if I took care of that. And if you remember that, man, you can get through the hallway.

Steve Brown:
Those are called memorials. God told God’s people to put up a pile of rocks to remind them that all he had done to lead them out of Egypt, to protect them, to win the battles. And he said, when your children see this pile of rocks, you tell them. And when you look at the rocks, you remember. It is so good to have memorials in our lives.

Jerry Parries:
Yeah. Yeah. And that’s what the Scripture is saying. Let your gentleness be known unto all men. Nobody should see you frazzled and cussing and spitting when you have an accident, they ought to see your wife over there with her head bowed saying, God, you are in control of this, too. And when you let your gentleness come, God shows up.

Steve Brown:
You know, I’m an old guy, I’m old as dirt and there are not many good things about being old, but one of the good things are the memories of God’s faithfulness. You know, down the hall, Robin. Who works for Key Life, incidentally, her husband is a professor at a university here. She’s worked for Key Life for a number of years. But I remember when she and her sister were in college, and Jerry, we didn’t have two dimes to rub together. There was no way we could pay for that. I was a preacher at a small church. And I was making enough to pay the bills, but I couldn’t afford to send them to college. And to this day, and it wasn’t today, it’s a hundred thousand for a college education. In those days, it wasn’t that much. But it might as well been a million, because I didn’t have it. And I remember Anna, my wife, and by the way, God gives me a pass sometimes just because of Anna. But I remember Anna saying, God will provide. And to this day, I don’t know how He did it. But we paid for their college education. I don’t know where it came from. I honestly don’t. I shouldn’t have been able to do that. But they’re both got their degrees and it was paid for. And God says, Remember,

Jerry Parries:
Right.

Matthew Porter:
Don’t forget.

Jerry Parries:
Right, right. And that’s what you have to do. I’m talking to somebody that are going through something right now in your life, but God brought you out before. There’s an artist named Ty Tribbett said.

If he did it before he can do it again. Same God right now, same God back then.

So, if he did it before, he’ll do it again. And you’ve just got to stand on that and be gentle. Allow that gentle spirit to rest in your soul.

Steve Brown:
Oh, Jerry, that’s so good. So, if it’s dark right now, remember when it was light, and don’t forget what he taught you in the light when it gets dark. And remember to be glad. God was faithful then. He’ll be faithful now. Don’t forget it. You think about that. Amen.

Matthew Porter:
Thank you Steve and Jerry. All this week they’re teaching us about hallway experiences. What a great way to express that time of waiting on God. We’ll continue this powerful series tomorrow. Do not miss that. Well, of all the places I’ve laughed, one of the places I laughed the hardest was at an uncle’s funeral. Is that weird? Is that inappropriate? Not necessarily. Not when you’re a believer. In fact, laughter and lament are more intertwined than we might typically think. Steve explores that idea in his latest book called Laughter and Lament. We took that book and created a special booklet that we would love to send you for free. Claim your copy right now by calling us at 1-800-KEY-LIFE that’s 1-800-539-5433. You can also e-mail [email protected] to ask for that booklet. Or to mail your request, go to keylife.org/contact to find our mailing addresses for the U.S. and Canada. Again, just ask for your free copy of the Laughter and Lament booklet. And before you go, if you value the work of Key Life, would you join us in that work through your financial support? Giving is easy. You can charge a gift on your credit card or include a gift in your envelope. Or give safely and securely through text, simply pick up your phone and text Key Life to 28950 that’s Key Life, one word or two. It doesn’t matter. Just text that to 28950, then follow the instructions. Key Life is a member of ECFA in the States and CCCC in Canada. And we are a listener supported production of Key Life Network.