Make Room for Jesus and Praise Him in Trials

Summary

This English evening outreach and worship service set out to praise God for who He is, not merely for what He has given or might give. Several young believers opened the night with testimonies, telling how God answered both small and large prayers - a longed for dog, a home, a coming child, and finances during the pandemic - once they stopped trying to control everything and surrendered it to Him, trusting His care and seeking first His kingdom.

Pastor Peter then opened John 8, where Jesus tells the religious crowd there is no room in their hearts for His message because those hearts are already occupied, just as there was no room for Him at Bethlehem. The call is to make room for the living Word of God, illustrated by a woman ruined by sin who was healed and restored the moment she received the message of salvation.

From Acts 8 and Daniel 6 came the main charge: like the scattered believers who kept preaching under persecution, and like Daniel who knelt three times a day and praised God with his windows open toward Jerusalem even under threat, we are to worship and pray persistently when life is hard, and then carry the gospel to a hurting world.

Key Points

• Praise God for who He is, not only for what He has given or might give.
• Surrender every concern, large or small, to God and trust Him with the outcome (Proverbs 3:5-6; Matthew 6:33).
• A heart already occupied by sin, offense, or unforgiveness leaves no room for the Word of God (John 8).
• The message of salvation has power to heal and restore even a life destroyed by sin.
• Real maturity is learning to praise and seek God alone, kneeling in deliberate prayer, not only in easy times.
• Like the scattered believers in Acts 8 and Daniel under threat, keep worshiping and preaching through the trial.
• Invite people to Jesus, not merely to church - ask the Holy Spirit who to reach.