Finding God through the pain of 2025!

This New Year call to worship centers on letting God lead when pain blocks the view. Drawing from 2 Chronicles 33, the journey of Manasseh—who lost his godly father Hezekiah at age twelve—illustrates how grief, confusion, and the wrong voices can misdirect a life. Rather than processing his loss with God, Manasseh buried pain, embraced idolatry, and became a conduit of spiritual relapse. The thread is painfully contemporary: when hurt is not surrendered, it becomes the steering wheel. In that space, voices that do not love God will happily offer shortcuts, false strength, and counterfeit comfort.

A parallel story shows the same arc. Lenita, raised by a faithful father, rejected his God after his death and wore bitterness like identity—until illness forced silence, stripped applause, and brought her to a raw prayer: “God, help me.” There, the Lord met her, healed her body, and, more importantly, redirected her soul. So it was with Manasseh: God, in severe mercy, removed his crown, crowd, and confidence through Assyrian captivity to quiet every misleading voice. In isolation, he remembered not his father’s “rules,” but his father’s prayers. Humbled, he sought the Lord, and the Lord heard, restored, and reoriented him.

The path forward is not complex, but it is costly: refuse to carry the buried hurt of 2025 into 2026. Do not normalize spiritual distance or make grief the excuse to drift. Cast your care on Christ instead of internalizing it. Name the losses—death, betrayal, financial strain, setbacks—and bring them to Jesus. Allow Him to dismantle false security; strength does not come from loudness or control, but from surrender. God has a place of blessing prepared, yet He will not teleport anyone there. He orders steps; He rarely shortcuts formation. Some detours (Jerusalem to Babylon and back) are not providence but pride—and can be admitted and amended today.

God still loves, still listens, and still leads. He removes the wrong voices, restores discernment, and places a new song in the humbled. Start the year clean: lay down the baggage, accept God’s timing—even in death—and let Him lift you from the valley to the mountaintop. The invitation is simple: trust God, bring the pain, and walk the path He lights.

Key Takeaways

• 1. Pain can misdirect your steps When loss or disappointment is buried instead of prayed, grief becomes a guide. In that vulnerability, the enemy supplies counselors who weaponize your hurt and normalize disobedience. Name the wound, refuse isolation, and bring it to God before it hardens into direction. [45:20]
• 2. God removes false securities to heal Sometimes love looks like loss—of status, crowd, or self-made safety—so His voice can be heard again. Isolation is not abandonment but intervention when lesser crutches must fail. Strength begins where surrender starts, not where willpower blusters. [1:07:10]
• 3. Bring your pain to Jesus Christ invites the weight you cannot carry, not a polished image you cannot maintain. Take the job loss, betrayal, anxiety, and unpaid bills to Him in honest prayer. Refusal to do so keeps you circling the valley you were meant to pass through. [53:55]
• 4. Choose God’s path, not bitterness Bitterness interprets every providence as insult and keeps you stuck in yesterday’s wound. Trust says “yes” to God’s timing—even in death—and asks for a new heart rather than a new narrative. The mountaintop call still stands; don’t recruit others for the valley. [59:29]
• 5. Pray for discernment in the silence Not every friendly voice is faithful counsel, and not every religious voice is wise. Ask the Spirit to expose flattery, pride, and manipulative guidance, and to light the path you should walk. Discernment is protection for a soul newly re-centered in God. [1:20:07]

Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [32:34] - New Year reflections and plans
• [35:39] - Scripture: 2 Chronicles 33 and theme
• [37:53] - Letting God lead when pain blocks view
• [40:47] - Lenita’s turning point: remembering prayers
• [43:10] - From Ahaz to Hezekiah: spiritual backdrop
• [45:20] - Manasseh’s grief and misdirection at twelve
• [48:28] - Trusting God when “why” has no answer
• [53:55] - Take every burden to Jesus
• [57:22] - Mortality, acceptance, and God’s timing
• [59:29] - From valley voice to mountaintop witness
• [1:01:23] - “He hearkened not”: bad coping patterns
• [1:07:10] - Assyrian captivity: mercy through stripping
• [1:09:14] - A humbled prayer God hears
• [1:10:26] - False security vs. strength in surrender
• [1:15:32] - God’s place of blessing requires steps
• [1:17:54] - Owning detours: Jerusalem–Babylon–Jerusalem
• [1:21:27] - Altar call: don’t carry pain into 2026
• [1:38:05] - “It is done”: praise by faith
• [1:40:33] - Offering and gratitude
• [1:43:59] - Closing announcements and dismissal
• [1:46:19] - End

1. In 2 Chronicles 33:9–13, what did Manasseh do to make Judah and Jerusalem “err,” and what changed in him once he was “in affliction” and humbled?
2. According to the story shared, what was stripped from Manasseh to quiet the noise around him—his throne, army, and crown ([01:07:32])? Why might that detail matter in the story?
3. What simple prayer rises at the turning point—“Lord, help me” ([01:09:37])? Where do you see that line up with the text’s “he humbled himself greatly”?
4. In verse 13, when did “Manasseh know that the LORD, he was God”? What was the sequence that led to that knowing?

1. How can God using Assyria to humble Manasseh be an act of love rather than abandonment—removing false security so his voice can be heard again ([01:07:10])?
2. “He hearkened not” is a strong phrase. What does a pattern of not listening do to a heart and a community over time ([01:01:23])?
3. Accepting mortality and God’s timing shifts the inner talk from “Why me?” to “Yes, Lord.” What changes in a person when that “yes” is offered to God’s timing—even in loss ([59:14])?
4. Discernment protects a newly re-centered soul. What kinds of flattering or manipulative voices does the Spirit expose, and how does that protection work in daily choices ([01:20:07])?

1. Name it, don’t bury it. What pain from 2025 are you tempted to carry into 2026—death, betrayal, money stress, setback? What does it look like to bring that exact weight to Jesus in honest prayer this week ([01:21:27])?
2. Quiet the noise. Which voices keep you stuck—friends, feeds, inner scripts? What concrete step will you take to create silence so you can hear God (turn the phone off, a set hour with Scripture, a fast from certain inputs) ([01:08:07])?
3. Trade false strength for surrender. Where have you been leaning on a false security—control, loudness, image, money, independence? What is one act of surrender you will practice (kneel to pray, confess, ask for help, submit to counsel) ([01:10:26])?
4. Take the next step. God won’t teleport you; he orders steps. What is one clear step of obedience God is lighting, and when will you take it (call, reconcile, apply, serve, show up) ([01:15:32])?
5. Move from valley voice to mountaintop witness. If bitterness has been narrating your story, what would repentance look like? Who do you need to forgive, and what conversation do you need to stop recruiting others into ([59:29])?
6. Refuse isolation. Where have you withdrawn—skipping church, dodging community, ignoring calls? What’s your plan this week to re-engage (text someone, join a group, ask for prayer) so you stop “hearkening not” and start walking with others ([01:01:50])?
7. Praise by faith. What will “Thank you—it is done” faith look like for you this week? How will you thank God before you see the result (journal, song, testimony, generous act) ([01:38:05])?