God is bigger than our problems, said Emmanuel Mbakwe at Spring Harvest in Minehead today.
The national leader of the Apostolic Church, one of the UK's leading Pentecostal movements, gave a powerful and impassioned address on the second night of the Christian holiday gathering.
He referred to a period of frustration in his own life and said: "My problems seemed to be bigger than the God I served."
He was speaking from Isaiah 40: 31, in which the prophet says that "those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength". Mbakwe said: "Many of us have lost sight of the God we serve. But God is the Lord God Almighty. He can do all things."
He told the congregation, which packed the huge Skyline venue to capacity: "Our position determines our perspective, and where we stand determines what we think and feel and pray and do."
He said that many Christians might be feeling frustrated and dissatisfied with their life and ministry, and that they might think they had wasted their time. But this was because our human problems had become bigger than God himself.
"If we're not truly seeing what God looks like, we're in the wrong place," he said.
"My prayer is God will cause us to shift our position, and God will give us a fresh perspective."
Referring to the Isaiah text, he said that as we wait for God, pray and listen to him, we receive power, energy and stamina to rise with wings like eagles', to run and to walk.
"We need to see God as he really is," he said. "God wants us to see him afresh as the great and awesome God."
He encouraged the congregation to seek a "place of intimacy with God" and to wait in his presence.
"God takes us away so that our focus is not on our issues, but our focus is on the greatness of God," he said.
