It’s Okay to Grieve: The Biblical Key to Emotional Healing | John Giftah | Christian Sermon

0:01 Speaker 1: Do you ever look around and think, wow, the world is a crazy place, and it just seems to get crazier and crazier? Ease your mind and take a break. This is Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We're a hub for inspirational Christian sermons, practical keys for Christian living and Christian discussions and interviews. You'll be inspired to live the life that you were created for. Your host is a top ranking podcaster, bestselling author, world record holder, aerospace engineer, life coach, evangelist and founder of John Gifta International.

0:41 Speaker 1: Welcome to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta.

0:46 Speaker 2: Hello everyone, welcome to this edition of the Fuel for the Soul with John Gifter podcast. All through this week, we're going to look at various lessons about dealing with incidents where maybe you're disappointed by what people have done. Maybe somebody hurt you. Maybe you're dealing with something from the past that is giving you so much of pain and turmoil and you're still crying or you're still trying to make terms with whatever happened. See, I'm going to talk about something very important here, right?

1:12 Speaker 2: Because we want to get started from the very beginning. When you look at 1 Samuel chapter 16, this is a moment when the Lord speaks to Samuel, the mighty prophet Samuel in verse 1. And the Lord says, Samuel, how long are you going to... weep over Saul how long are you going to weep over Saul now I want to talk about something very important here the Lord is not saying Samuel I'm really disappointed with you Samuel how dare you Samuel what do you think of yourself how could you cry how could you weep over a man you gotta look up to me man this is not acceptable is that what the Lord says No, that's not what the Lord says.

1:54 Speaker 2: In fact, the Lord is asking, how long will you weep? How long will you moan? In one of the translations, it says, how long will you mop over Saul? See, I want to talk about something very important here. We as Christians sometimes have this idea that.

2:10 Speaker 1: You know what?

2:10 Speaker 2: Grieving... Maybe expressing the pain, crying is something that's showing lack of faith. But that's not the truth. That's not showing lack of faith. In fact, the part of processing the pain involves grieving. The part of processing the pain involves a time you take off and start weeping over what you've been through. That is the way you got to process it. Many, many years ago, I remember interviewing a lady called Joanne. She was interviewed on my podcast on the old YouTube channel. You can check it out.

2:46 Speaker 2: And she had authored a book on the three-step process to forgive people. She said something very important. See, we think as Christians, oh, you know what? Be like Jesus. What did Jesus do? Father, forgive them for they do not know what they do. Jesus just forgave. So you got to just forgive and move on. That is true Christianity. That is the kind of way you got to be. But what I want you to understand, she said there's a three part step process in which you need to forgive people. And the first step in that is to take time to grieve.

3:20 Speaker 2: And that is something that really made sense because I believe many times we think, oh, grieving is a sin or weeping shows a lack of trust in the Lord. But the Lord was showing us here in the way he asked this question to Samuel. Hey, how long are you going to mourn? He's not asking, why are you mourning? He's asking, how long are you going to mourn? We'll talk about how long to mourn in the next segment. But today I want to tell you, it's okay to mourn. It's okay to process. See, I think one of the biggest issues is not unforgiveness.

3:52 Speaker 2: The biggest issue is not going through this pain and things like that, I think some of the biggest issues people face is because they don't take time to mourn. They don't take time to grieve. Today, this is a wake-up call for you. Maybe there's something that you're dealing with and you think, oh, you know what? I need to act like I'm really holy. I'm really in the Lord. I'm led by the Spirit of God. I have the Spirit of Excellence. I am led by the Holy Spirit, so I don't need to grieve. No. Sometimes, The part of a loving God to heal you involves a loving God to just embrace you as you grieve.

4:30 Speaker 2: Say, God, I'm crying over this pain. God, this is too much for me to handle.

4:36 Speaker 1: Lord, I'm crying.

4:37 Speaker 2: I was talking to someone. I said this. See, crying because of unbelief is different from crying because of the pain. And we try to confuse the two. We think that, oh, if you cry, that means you don't have faith. No, no, no. Sometimes you're not crying because you don't have faith. You're crying because of the pain. And I challenge you to take that step. Because I remember last year when I went through this mass layoff, it was a very unexpected thing. And when that happened, the next day, I was so disappointed and distraught.

5:10 Speaker 2: I spent the whole day crying. It felt like I was so imbalanced. It felt like people were saying, oh, this guy has no lack of, you know, the fruit of the spirit, self-control. How could you cry so much? Because I really loved the organization. I loved the company. It was so unexpected. I loved the job. It was so bad. But I understood this principle. I had to process that pain. And one of the best ways to do that was to allow myself to just cry, just cry. I cried to the Lord. I went to the church, spent hours crying.

5:42 Speaker 2: I went and met with a few friends. I spent the whole day crying. I called it the crying day. whereas there were others who felt they were much stronger they didn't cry they were like trying to put it all together but you know what by the end of that day I had released all the pain and I had cried and the next day I was ready to face what needs to be done so I was in a place where I was like you know what yesterday I spent crying now I'm in the clear mind so that I can move ahead you know what I mean so That is what I want to tell you.

6:15 Speaker 2: The next day, I started taking steps towards the next steps for me to get a new job. And what happened was people who did not take that step to grieve and moan and cry, they had a very mixed route for the next two weeks. And by the end of two weeks, some of them We're really in a very bad place. They are not taking any step for a new job. They are not still overcome the pain of losing the old one because they didn't grieve properly. Whereas by the end of the two weeks, my new CV was ready. I had already done three new courses and I was in a much better place compared to them.

6:56 Speaker 1: You know what?

6:57 Speaker 2: At that time, people realized, John, you knew how to grieve. You knew how to process the pain and you did it in a better way than some of the people who had quote unquote more experience. See, this is what I want to tell you guys. Maybe there's something that is affecting you. There is something that's bothering you. But today, maybe the message to you is take time to grieve. The message to you is take time to weep and cry to the Lord. And I'm telling you, when you allow that to happen, that's one of the best places to be.

7:30 Speaker 2: When you let it out and tomorrow I will talk to you on how long you can cry so that you can move forward. to the next thing that God has in store for you. If you're checking this out on the YouTube channel, I challenge you to leave a comment. And I really recommend that you will share this with someone. And I will see you back next time. God bless you.

7:49 Speaker 1: You've been listening to Fuel for the Soul with John Gifta. We hope you were blessed and inspired to live the life that God has for you. Make sure to subscribe to the John Gifta YouTube channel for regular uploads of sermons, skits, interviews and more follow john gifta on instagram for regular inspirational posts and don't forget to check out the best-selling books written by john gifta who am i which will help you understand your identity and the latest number one bestseller unveil your purpose helping you discover your purpose and to start walking in it.

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8:52 Speaker 2: Thank you.