Paul Daugherty - Dear God
David actually poured himself out to God and God loved it. In fact, God made sure that that book was in the Bible, right in the center, Psalms, prayers to God. Not every song in the book of Psalms was written by David, but over 80% of those 150 chapters is David crying out to God from when he was a little boy all the way up until he passes the crown off to his son, Solomon when he's in his old age. God invites us to seek him, to know him, to draw close. In fact, we got these journals out in the lobby, they're 'Dear God' journals. And when I was really little, I watched my dad, I would come into the living room. And I'll never forget this. I was thinking about it the other day, I would come into the living room, my dad would be in the living room with a journal open in his Bible and he would just be writing thoughts, writing prayers, writing questions, writing his feelings, his emotions.
By the way, journals aren't just for girls. They're for guys too, real men journal. I'm gonna get a t-shirt that says that, real men journal, dear God. But my dad, he would journal. He would write down, how many guys journal? How many guys have journaled before? I'm telling you there's something powerful. I think it's a spiritual discipline. I really do. And you're not gonna necessarily find those words written out in Scripture, but God told Joshua, "Meditate on my word day and night, ponder it. Think about it, process it, let it get inside you". This is how David would would process the pain of his life. This is how David would get from one season of demotion to the next season of promotion. Even when David was on the highest mountain of his success, he was journaling to God saying, "God I don't wanna forget that you're the one who got me here".
I don't wanna forget the miracles you did. I don't wanna forget that you pulled me out of the miry clay. You lifted my feet up upon a rock. You are my fortress, my strong tower. You are my salvation. God loves it when we open our hearts to Him. I would watch my dad do this. And as I got older and I learned how to journal myself my dad would encourage me, "Paul, write down your prayers to God. And when you read a book or you read a story in the Bible, write down what God was saying to you. Someday you might use it as a sermon, but even if you don't someday you'll look back on it, and remember what God was doing in you when you were 13 years old".
I believe God wants to write through you. God wants you to fill up journals. Your journals will be to you in years to come. Your journals will be testimonies to your kids someday. Your journals, will... What's your writing about in this season as you're crying out to God like David did. I think sometimes we read the Bible and we go, well, we're not supposed to put ourselves in there. It's only for them. Why would God give us a Bible if he didn't want us to find ourselves in there to say, "I relate to that". I've been through that. In fact, throughout the Bible, David wasn't the only one who journaled. Every author in the Bible journaled. That's why we have a Bible because Moses talked about it.
Joshua wrote down his stories, his thoughts, Esther, Mordecai, Nehemiah crying out to God, Jeremiah, God, I don't know what to do. I'm not the best preacher. I'm afraid of their faces. God's speaking to Jeremiah, "Don't be afraid. I knit you together in your mother's womb". These people who wrote this book they were not perfect people, they were flawed people. People who had roller coaster, emotional weeks, people who walk through painful seasons, but as they would journal and open their hearts and say, "Dear God, something's not right. Dear God, I need you to help my family. Dear God, I just wish we could get pregnant. Dear God, my kids hurting, dear God, my wife, dear God my husband, dear God". And as they would cry out to God, God would meet them in their prayers. And I think the Church has lost the art a little bit, but I think we're regaining it of how to cry out to God and how to hear from him and how to be vulnerable and brutally honest and broken before God 'cause that's what God's looking for.
In a world of chaos and disorder and insane confusion in our own nation, and laws being passed that we don't understand, We can either get mad and complain on social media or we can open our hearts to God and say, "Dear God, save America. Dear God, there's something going on and I don't know what to do about it, but I know you know. You're the only one who knows how to solve the problems. So God speak to me in the quiet place". Go to God about the issues that you're dealing with. Go to God about the frustrations you have with our nation. Stop going to everybody else except for God. So often I'll look at my phone and I go, "They can't fix these problems only you can, God". So I'm going to you. Everybody say, dear God. Dear God, I wanna give you four points on how to draw closer to God, how to create your own 'Dear God' journaled.
Number one, open the door to his presence. I often see songs, prayers, worship as a way of opening the door. When I sit down at the piano, I feel like I'm opening the door to something. You hear that? It's like a door just opened. There's something about prayer and worship that opens the door to God's presence. And by the way, you can open the door at any time in your day. You don't need a piano, you don't need to guitar, you don't need a Church service. I've learned to open the door when I'm just by myself with no music at all. I'll just start praying, "God, I thank you, Lord that you're with me right now. God, I thank you that you hear my prayers". That's what David said. He hears our prayers. Even the prayers we don't make verbally, the prayers in our heart. He knows our thoughts. And he says, "come, I stand at the door and I knock and anyone who opens the door I will come in and I will be with them".
There was a man who was going through a painful situation. It was Luke 8:41. His name was Jairus. He was a pastor, a synagogue leader. He worked at the Church, right? He worked at the synagogue where people would come to pray and study the Torah and go through Scripture. And he came and he fell at Jesus's feet because he knew Jesus had the cure to his problem. Jesus was the real vaccine, right? So he comes to Jesus' feet and he's pleading with him. He says, "Please come to my house. Dear God, there's something wrong with my daughter. She's dying. She's 12 years old, dear God, don't you care"?
What was Jairus doing? He was getting real about what was going on in his house. I'm gonna come over here, 'cause this is the door I always come through when I come to Church, and this door is locked on the outside. So in order for me to get in, I have to find someone who has a key or I've got to get a key myself, but I'ma step out here. I can't get back in. Can you guys hear me out there? I'm locked outside the door. Can someone let me in? Yeah, just push the door open for me. Thank you so much. In order for us to come into God's presence, we have to find a way to open the door. How do you open the door to your heart? Some of us have closed the door to our heart for years we forgotten how to open it. To open the door, you have to be honest.
Hebrews chapter 4 says, "Let us come boldly into the presence of God to receive mercy in time of need". You don't receive mercy unless you come with an admittance to say, "God, I need you". Honesty opens the door. Vulnerability opens the door. Transparency opens the door. God already knows, but he wants you to come call on him. So Jairus could have kept his problem to himself but instead he opens the door and he says, "Dear Jesus, something's not right in my house. My daughter's dying. Maybe she's been dying for a long time and it just finally dawned on me. Maybe I wasn't paying enough attention to my own kids and now I see it, and I don't know what to do 'cause I can't fix it. I don't have the cure. I don't have the vaccine, but I know you do. You're the only one who knows, dear God".
There's something about opening the door to God and God says, "Yes, I can come and I can help your marriage. I can help your family. I can help your finances. I can help those problems that you don't wanna tell anyone at Church about," but you can count on God if you just open the door. David said, "I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of the Lord than dwell in the tents of the wicked". There's something about opening the door to God's presence, coming into his house. There's something, when I come into Church, I'm telling you things change when you get in God's presence. When you get in God's house, it is a place of power. It is a place of prayer. It is a place of communion. It's a place of faith.
How many of you guys feel it when you come to victory there's just a shift? Yeah, there's something about opening the door to God's presence. Jairus knew he needed it. Jesus, I need you at my house, I need you at my house. I need your presence, my family needs it, my daughter needs it. So Jesus comes, and if you call on him, he will come. I put that in that song, dear God, When I call your name, you come Jesus. That's a promise that he gives us that when we call on Him, He hears our prayers. Jeremiah 29:12. We all remember Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper to give you hope in a future". But verse 12 says, "You will call on me and I will listen to you". That is a promise, church.
So Jairus came to Jesus, he says, "Look, something's not right. I need your help right now". So Jesus starts walking, but he's not the only one who's gonna get honest and vulnerable. There's this woman who has this issue that no one else knows about. She's been hemorrhaging blood. She's been losing her life for 12 years. She's been bleeding and she's kept it a secret, but now she's dying. No one could heal her because no one knew the true problem that was going on. She comes up behind Jesus and she touches the edge of his cloak. I'm telling you, when you reach out to Jesus, when you say, "Dear God, saved me, dear God, I don't know what's going on. No one else can fix it, no drug can fix it, no person can fix it". She reaches out and immediately the bleeding stopped and Jesus turns around and he says, "Who touched me"? And his disciples said, "Jesus, there's people everywhere. There's crowds all around you".
I think God wants us to feel alone in a crowded room sometimes. I think he wants us to have an encounter with Him more than he wants us to see all the faces at Church. He wants us to come into His presence and He wants us to have that one-on-one encounter like this woman had. Jesus said, "someone touched me. Everyone else was bumping into me but someone reached out with faith. Someone reached out with vulnerability. Someone reached out with their issue. They weren't afraid, they didn't hide it". And when you stop hiding, God can start healing. And Jesus said, "Who touched me"?
Finally, the woman realized she couldn't hide it any longer. She said, "Dear God, it was me. Dear God, I've had issues for 12 years. These issues have caused a lot of pain and it's been affecting other areas of my life 'cause I thought it would just affect this area, but now I haven't been able to get pregnant and then no guy wants to marry me. And then this is happening, this has happening, all these issues are connected to this internal issue that no one else knows about, but you know". And Jesus looks at the woman and he says, "Not only are you healed internally, but I'm saying you are whole, daughter. Go, your faith has healed you. Go in peace". When we opened the door to God, not only does He do internal healing, He does a healing of the entire soul. Not only does He heal the body, but He heals the things that no one else sees.
Number two, in order to draw near and to truly experience a dear God encounter, you gotta close the door on distractions. I remember when I was 12 and I had done my first piano recital, and I'd worked really hard, took lessons from Ms. Edison. And I had been working for for a long time on this piano recital. And there was a hundred people that showed up. We were over in the Victory College building that used to be at 81st in Delaware. And I was so nervous, right? I'm 12 years old and hundred people in the room. I dressed up. I had like a nice like suit on and I looked spiffy as a 12 year old boy, combed my hair over to the side. And I looked out in the crowd and I saw my dad, my mom, my sisters, my brother, my gran gran.
And by the way, gran gran turned 97 this past week. Happy birthday, gran gran. It's amazing. She's doing healthy doing well. But I was so nervous and I cared so much about everyone's opinions. So I got up there and I started to play the piano and this is how it sounded. I literally hit like tons of wrong notes and it was terrible and I froze, and I wanted to cry. And I didn't even wanna look at the room 'cause I just felt like I had messed up in front of everyone. I failed at my piano recital. But I looked over at the only eyeballs that I was most concerned about looking at, which was my dad's. And when I looked at his eyes, he was smiling with two thumbs up and I was like, no. I don't deserve your two thumbs up. I'm unworthy, I messed up, I failed, but he was going, you got it, you got it, you got it, Paulie.
And I went back. I played better when I'm not listening to all the opinions of everyone else. When I'm only listening to the opinion of my father. When we're not caring about everyone else's opinions and approvals, that's when we can really lock in with God. And I think sometimes for me, I get distracted by like Peter I get distracted by the wind and the waves, by the other disciples who are watching me, am I doing it right, am I handling the Church right? So when I started preaching as the pastor of Victory, I felt like I was auditioning for people. I was trying to be the best version of my dad. So I was wearing clothes that he wore. I was wearing his own shoes. My mom had given me a pair of my dad's shoes and I was auditioning.
And when I wrote this song, "Dear God," I was reflecting on moments in my life where I felt unworthy, unqualified, unequipped. I felt like I was the wrong pick, like Gideon. When God showed up to Gideon and said, "You're a mighty warrior". And Gideon said, "I'm the weakest in my family. I'm the youngest in my family. I'm the wrong guy, dear God, pick somebody else". But God always picked people who needed him the most. He didn't pick the smartest or the strongest. He picked, whoever was vulnerable to say, "God, I need you so much". And he says, "My grace is sufficient for you". So Jesus, when he got ready to heal Jairus's daughter, watch this, this is in Luke chapter 8. It says, "Someone came from Jairus's house".
I want the keys to come out. And said, "Your daughter is now dead". God's too late, the miracle can't happen. I wonder who's told you that. You're never gonna get married. You missed your train. You missed your opportunity. You won't have kids. You're gonna be stuck with this addiction the rest of your life. I wonder, who's told you that your situation is hopeless. Sometimes we have to shut the door on our own thoughts because it's our thoughts and our judgments against ourself that is keeping the miracle from happening.
I don't know what you've told yourself or what lies you've listened to, but God is not finished with you. God is not finished with your story. God's not finished with your song. God's not finished with your testimony. God's not finished with your marriage. God's not finished with your daughter. God's not finished with your husband. God's not finished with your son. God's not finished with America. God's not finished with Tulsa, Oklahoma. God's not finished with Victory Church. God's not finished. And whatever lies you've kept inside the room it's time to kick them out and shut the door on the distractions. Jesus shows up and he says, "Don't be afraid, just believe". People were telling Jairus, "Don't even bother Jesus anymore, your daughter's dead".
This thing won't turn around. There's no way. There's no way your family's getting back together. There's no way you're having kids. There's no way this adoption's gonna work. There's no way you're gonna be free from this addiction. Jesus arrives at the house of Jairus and it says "He did not let anyone go into the house with him except Peter, John, and James, and the child's mother and father". Why? Because not everyone had the same faith that Jesus had.
So he had to shut the door on some people that were trying to talk him out of a miracle. Meanwhile, all the people were wailing mourning for her. "Stop wailing," Jesus said, "She's not dead, she's just asleep". Sometimes you have to shut the door on every thought that is holding you back from whatever God has called you to do, every lie from the enemy. Romans 8:31 says, "If God is for us, who can be against us"? The voice that matters the most is God's voice. So here Jesus is in the house with the only people who need to be in the room and he says, "Your daughter's not dead".
And he takes her by the hand, and this is my third point here. Stay in the room long enough for healing to happen. Stay in the room long enough. Sometimes I'm in such a hurry to finish things, to get out of things. I do everything back to back to back and keep the schedule so busy, so tight. And this year I've heard the Lord say, "linger longer linger longer, linger longer, stay longer, stay longer". When you sit down at the piano, don't run after 10 minutes, don't book another meeting. Linger in your journal a little bit longer. Read that book, "Redeeming Love" and read it for a while, and get lost for awhile in the Scriptures. Get lost for a while in your prayer closet. Stop running from thing to thing to thing that you're missing the moment to just be in His presence. Stay in the room to the miracle happens.
Jesus stayed in the house. And in that moment he laid his hand on the girl. He said, "Young daughter, my child, get up". I love it verse 54 that he says, "My child, my child". In other words, you are not what they have said about you. You are not your condition. You are not your addiction. You are not your problem. You are not your diagnosis. You are not what everyone else has said about you. You are my child. When he said, "My child get up," something inside her leaped and her spirit returned. And she stood up and Jesus gave the daughter back to the parents. He stayed in the house.
I remember, but when I was in 7th grade and I was at youth, and I was wearing this Oakland Raiders hoodie, and I was wearing, you know, like JNCO jeans and vans. And I was a cool teenager and youth got out, and my best friend his parents pulled up and they said, "Hey, we wanna take you over to the adult service 'cause it's still going on over at the school". And I was like, "Why"? And they were like, "Cause your parents told us to come and get you and bring you over there". And so I was like, okay. So hop in the car with them. And with my friend become over to the Church service here inside the school building, 77th in Lewis. And as I come in, I'm hiding in the back.
This preacher was preaching Tim's story. And he was doing like prophetic words. And he calls me out in the room. He says, "Hey you with the Oakland Raiders hoodie on". And I was like, I'm probably the only one with an Oakland Raiders hoodie on here. And I looked up and he said, "Come up to the stage. I don't know who you are, but God has a word for you".
And I did not want to be in the room. I wanted to leave right then. And I came up on the stage and he just started prophesying. And man, I just, I fell to my knees and I literally just closed my eyes. He didn't touch me, he didn't pray for me. There was no like knocking out. I just, and two hours later I get up and everyone's gone from the room. I'm like, where did everyone go? And I realized I've been here for two hours and I was crying. And I felt the Lord. It was like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. You don't get burdens lifted off of you when you run out of the house before the breakthrough happens. Sometimes you need to linger at the alter a little bit longer. Sometimes you just need to go to the prayer room and stay a little bit longer.
Number four, share your story for his glory. When it's the right time, someone needs to hear about what you wrote in that journal. Someone needs to know what you walked through and how you came out of it. Somewhere needs to hear your testimony. Revelation 12:11 says, "They overcame the devil by the blood of the lamb and the word of their testimony".
The goal for our Church this year is not to do activity after activity, after activity, after activity, after activity. The goal for our Church this year is to grow more intimate with Jesus, to have encounters with God, to be a purpose driven Church, not an activity driven Church, which means we're gonna linger longer at services. We're gonna spend some more time in worship. We're gonna take some time to really pray. We're gonna really be purposeful and intentional about what we do, and we're not gonna just do anything and everything that comes up on our plate. And when we have a story to tell, we're not gonna hide it, we're gonna share it because someone needs our testimony. I love that God used people who were real just like us, flawed just like us, people who were broken and just needed His mercy, His grace, His help.
And there was a moment where that song shifted for me. And I said, "God, I'm coming out of this. Whatever this depression is, this confusion, these feelings, the frustration". And it wasn't long, it was like a week or two but it was enough for me to write that song and reflect on God showing up. And I felt like I needed to share it with you because some of you, you're in the middle of it right now. And God's saying, "I wanna pull you through this. I wanna heal you. I wanna restore you. I wanna lift you up from the miry clay. I wanna set your feet. I wanna give you a Psalm to write about. I wanna give you a prayer, a song that you can sing. I wanna give you a testimony that you can share".