Bishop Brandon Jacobs Tried to Leave Her Alone Then This

When Faith Learns to Stand Even in the Hardest Season

The service begins with an almost playful exchange between the preacher and the congregation.

Someone appears to want a woman to sing, and the preacher jokes about being handed a microphone, insisting that whatever is about to happen was the congregation’s doing, not hers.

But within moments, the atmosphere changes completely.

The congregation moves into worship, singing about being protected under the shadow of Almighty God.

The words evoke the imagery of Psalm 91, portraying God as a place of refuge where fear, danger, pain, and uncertainty cannot ultimately overcome those who trust Him.

The repeated declaration is simple but powerful: there is safety under God’s shadow.

There is healing.

There is help.

Whatever someone has been asking for, the message insists, help is available in God’s presence.

The worship becomes increasingly emotional as the preacher reminds the congregation that God is near to the brokenhearted and will not reject a contrite heart.

The emphasis is not merely on celebration but on reassurance.

People who have arrived carrying wounds, disappointment, fear, or unanswered prayers are encouraged to believe that they are not abandoned.

The congregation responds with shouts of praise.

The preacher then brings the emotional worship back toward Scripture and begins explaining the biblical foundation behind the confidence being proclaimed.

The focus turns to Paul and the famous declaration found in Philippians: “I can do all things through Christ.”

But the preacher argues that the verse is often misunderstood.

The statement is not merely a slogan for achievement.

It is not simply a declaration that believers can accomplish whatever they desire.

Paul’s words emerge from a very different context—one involving contentment through radically different circumstances.

Paul explains that he has learned how to live with abundance and how to live with very little.

He has experienced fullness and hunger, prosperity and deprivation.

The important word is “learned.”

The preacher emphasizes that Paul did not automatically possess this kind of confidence.

He developed it through experience.

He learned how to survive different seasons.

That distinction changes the meaning of the familiar phrase.

The “I can” is not limited to moments when everything is going well.

It also applies when everything is going wrong.

The preacher challenges the congregation not to reserve Christian confidence for seasons of success.

It is easy to proclaim faith when prayers appear to be answered, opportunities are opening, finances are improving, relationships are healthy, and life seems to be moving in the desired direction.

The more difficult question is whether that confidence survives when circumstances change.

What happens when the promotion does not come?

What happens when the relationship ends?

What happens when a dream collapses?

What happens when someone experiences failure after believing success was inevitable?

According to the message, those moments do not invalidate the believer’s confidence.

They reveal what that confidence is actually built upon.

Paul’s declaration was not made from a place of uninterrupted triumph.

His ministry involved persecution, imprisonment, hardship, rejection, uncertainty, and suffering.

Yet he learned that his ability to endure did not depend entirely upon the circumstances surrounding him.

That is why the preacher describes the confidence as “sanctified confidence.”

The phrase captures the difference between biblical confidence and ordinary self-confidence.

Ordinary confidence can depend on circumstances.

Someone may feel powerful because they are successful, admired, financially secure, or surrounded by people who support them.

But when those things disappear, ordinary confidence can collapse with them.

The preacher argues that Christian confidence should operate differently.

It should remain when circumstances change.

The congregation is encouraged to understand that “I can” means more than “I can succeed.”

It also means, “I can survive failure.”

That is an important distinction.

Many people are comfortable talking about faith when the expected outcome is victory.

They celebrate breakthrough, promotion, healing, increase, restoration, and success.

But Christianity also has language for disappointment.

There are seasons when prayers appear unanswered.

There are seasons when doors close.

There are seasons when people experience loss.

There are seasons when believers must continue walking even though they cannot see the outcome they hoped for.

The preacher argues that these seasons are not evidence that God has abandoned someone.

They are part of the process through which endurance is learned.

Paul’s testimony therefore becomes less about achieving everything and more about remaining faithful regardless of what happens.

The phrase “I can” becomes a declaration of endurance rather than entitlement.

The message then returns to the congregation with a direct challenge.

No matter what season someone is currently experiencing, they can continue.

If the season is good, they can continue.

If the season is difficult, they can continue.

If they are experiencing success, they can continue.

If they are experiencing failure, they can continue.

The source of that strength is not supposed to be the person’s circumstances.

It is Christ.

This makes the message particularly relevant to people who feel that their current situation has somehow disqualified them from hope.

Failure can be especially destructive because it often changes the way people see themselves.

Someone who succeeds may begin to believe they are capable of anything.

Someone who fails may begin to believe they are incapable of anything.

The preacher challenges that second conclusion.

Failure is a season, not necessarily an identity.

Hardship is a circumstance, not necessarily a verdict.

The believer’s confidence is therefore meant to remain intact even when the external evidence looks discouraging.

That does not mean pretending that pain does not exist.

Paul’s own life demonstrates that biblical confidence does not require denial.

He knew what hunger felt like.

He knew what deprivation felt like.

He knew what hardship felt like.

His confidence existed alongside those realities.

That may be one of the most important aspects of the message.

Faith is not presented as an escape from every difficult season.

Instead, faith becomes the strength to walk through those seasons without allowing them to define the final outcome.

The earlier worship about being hidden under God’s shadow fits naturally into that message.

The imagery of God’s shadow represents refuge.

The preacher’s later teaching about Paul’s contentment represents endurance.

Together, the two ideas create a larger picture.

The believer may need protection.

The believer may need healing.

The believer may need help.

But the believer may also need the strength to continue when the answer does not arrive immediately.

Sometimes faith looks like shouting in celebration.

Sometimes it looks like quietly enduring.

Sometimes it looks like believing for a miracle.

And sometimes it looks like learning how to remain standing when circumstances refuse to change.

That is the lesson the preacher draws from Paul.

The “I can” is not arrogance built around personal power.

It is confidence rooted in Christ.

The preacher even describes it as an “apostolic arrogance,” using provocative language to describe a holy refusal to surrender simply because circumstances look unfavorable.

The point is not that believers should become proud or believe themselves invincible.

The point is that they should refuse to allow temporary circumstances to determine their ultimate confidence.

Paul had learned the secret.

He could live with abundance without allowing abundance to control him.

He could live with scarcity without allowing scarcity to destroy him.

He could experience success without becoming dependent upon success.

He could experience hardship without concluding that hardship had defeated him.

That is the kind of maturity the sermon calls the congregation toward.

The ultimate challenge is therefore simple but demanding: learn to remain faithful in every season.

Not just when prayers are answered.

Not just when doors open.

Not just when life feels victorious.

But also when the future is uncertain, when failure hurts, and when circumstances appear to contradict everything someone hoped would happen.

The message ends with a declaration that circumstances do not have the final word.

The believer can continue.

The believer can endure.

The believer can remain anchored.

And the reason is not that every season will be easy.

It is that Christ remains present through all of them.

The confidence being preached is therefore not the confidence that life will always go according to plan.

It is the deeper confidence that, whatever season arrives, faith can survive it.

And perhaps that is the real meaning behind Paul’s famous words: the greatest “I can” is not the ability to win every battle.

It is the ability to keep walking when the battle does not end as expected.