Flourishing In Hard Times by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Flourishing Like a Palm Tree

Psalm 92:12 says the righteous shall flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. No part of the palm tree is wasted - from its nuts you get oil, and from the seed itself something more can still be produced. When God says you shall flourish like a palm tree, he is saying that everything about you shall produce.

2 Timothy 2:3 tells us to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, because God knows hard times will come. Exodus 1:14 describes hard bondage. Genesis 35:16-17 describes a woman in hard labor - labor becomes hard when what is supposed to open keeps closing. But in the name of Jesus, what was hard shall become easy.

Key One: Connection to God

Job 22:28 says, "Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall be established, and the light shall shine upon thy ways." Ecclesiastes 9:4 says to him that is joined to the living there is hope. Your connection to God determines your flourishing.

• Salvation - if you are not saved, you are not connected. You can be in the house of God without knowing the God of the house.
• The fear of God - Job 22:21-23 says, "Acquaint now thyself with him, and be at peace." The fear of God is not terror but reverence, and reverence is born out of love. You do not follow God to avoid punishment; you follow him because you love him too much to want to grieve him.
• Time spent with him - the more time you spend with God, the more you begin to think, act, and look like him. Never trust in your own strength or ability, because both can fail.

Samson's story illustrates how compromise creeps in through what we love, not what we hate. He had three instructions: not to touch a dead animal, not to drink strong drink, not to shave his hair. When he tore the lion with his hands, that already violated his covenant, though it looked like a miracle. What looks like a testimony to one person can be a violation to another. Satan rarely tempts you with what you hate - he uses what you like, and can even disguise temptation as something that appears spiritual. Be careful of the small compromises that slowly cut every thread of your consecration, because Satan will not ask you to abandon God outright; he only needs you to touch what you were told not to touch.

Mark 3:14 says Jesus called the disciples so that they might first be with him, and afterward he would send them to preach. Character is formed in that place of being with him before it is displayed in ministry.

Key Two: Service and Diligence

Proverbs 22:29 says a man diligent in his business shall stand before kings, not before mean men. Romans 12:1-2 speaks of your reasonable service. God wants faithfulness in your service, not performance for reward.

Key Three: Don't Despise the Process

Job 8:7 says, "Though thy beginning was small, thy latter end should greatly increase." There is a season of process - a place where you almost give up before you break through. Anything royal will be tested; if it is not tested, it should not be trusted. Matthew 7:24-27 - the man who built his house on the rock stood the storm; the one who built on sand could not survive the same testing.

Prophetic Declarations

Isaiah 60:22 says the smallest one shall become a thousand, the least one a mighty nation, and the Lord will hasten it in his appointed time. Zechariah 4:9 says the hands that laid the foundation of the house shall also finish it.

The service closed in prayers of blessing, favor, and increase spoken over the works of every hand present, and a season of worship and thanksgiving.