Midweek Service Message

Today’s Topic: The First Step: Preparation and Leaving the Burden in the Deep.

“Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness. He will again have compassion on us. He will tread our iniquities under foot. You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” Micah 7:18–19

Monthly Theme: Season of Divine Acceleration

Date: Wednesday, 2 September 2026

The Message: The First Step of Preparation

Opening Session: Connecting Sunday’s Vision to Tonight’s Walk

Welcome to church tonight, dear brothers and sisters. We are so glad you are here on this first Wednesday of September 2026.

Last Sunday, we all felt so happy and excited when we heard our new theme for this month: “The Season of Divine Acceleration.” We heard the wonderful promise that God wants to give us divine speed. We lifted up our hands and thanked God with all our hearts. We thought about how God can give back the good years we lost. We thought about how our stopped dreams will start moving again. We cheered because God is going to bring quick help where we have waited for a very long time. We left church on Sunday with big faith in our hearts. But tonight, the Holy Spirit wants us to pause and look at something very important before the fast-running starts: The Quiet Place of Preparation.

Think about a big airplane before it flies high into the sky. Before it can go super-fast, it must sit on the ground first. The pilot checks everything carefully. The workers make sure the plane is not carrying any bad or heavy bags that do not belong there. They check the path to make sure the road is totally open and clean. God does the exact same thing with our lives. God loves you so much, and He does not want to push you fast while your heart is still tied down with heavy iron chains. If you try to run as fast as you can with big heavy rocks in your pockets, your legs will hurt. Your chest will burn, and you will fall tired. God does not want you to run tired and hurt. He wants you to run light, happy, and free. That is why our first step tonight is not running yet. Our first step is putting down all the heavy bags. We are getting our hearts ready so God’s good wind can push us forward with no trouble at all.

Divine speed is not just about running fast in a hurry. It is about running with God’s peace and staying strong all the way to the end. When God makes your life move fast, He does not want you to fall down halfway because your heart is full of old sadness, shame, and fear. God always fixes the floor before He builds the roof. He waters the little roots deep in the soil before He makes the tree grow tall with sweet fruit. Many times, we want to run fast right away, but we do not want to sit quietly and let God wash our hearts first. We want the strong wind to blow our boat, but we forget that our heavy metal anchor is still stuck deep down in the mud. Tonight is our special time to get everything right with God. The Lord is telling us to stop, breathe, and put down every bad thing we have carried for too long. When your heart is clean and quiet with Jesus, God’s speed will not make you tired or stressed out. Instead, it will give you big smiles, real rest, and deep joy every day.

Understanding the Tender Heart of Our Father (Micah 7:18)

Let us look at what the prophet Micah says about our good God:

“Who is a God like you, who pardons iniquity, and passes over the disobedience of the remnant of his heritage? He doesn’t retain his anger forever, because he delights in loving kindness.” (Micah 7:18 WEB)

Micah looked at all the people in the world around him. He saw people who were very scared of fake stone idols. Those fake gods were mean, cold, and always angry. Then Micah looked up at the real, living God who made the sky and the dirt. Happy tears came out of his eyes, and he shouted: “Who is a God like you?”

Look at how gently God takes care of your hurting heart:

1. He Pardons and Looks Past Your Failures

When you come to God, He does not stand at the door with a stick to hit you. He does not hold a long paper listing every bad thing you ever did. Because Jesus died for us on the cross, God forgives you totally. He looks at your heart with deep love and chooses to look past the times you made big mistakes.

In the world, human courts and judges are very strict. If you break a rule, they write your name in a book of bad records. That bad paper stays with you for years, and people look at you and say you are a bad person who cannot be trusted. People love to put bad names on you and never let you forget where you failed. But God’s house is completely different. God works with sweet grace. When God looks at you through the red blood that Jesus gave on the cross, He does not see your dirt anymore. He sees the clean, bright goodness of Jesus. He tears up the long paper of your bad deeds and throws it away forever. You do not have to live like a scared prisoner on watch, always waiting for God to shout at you. God’s forgiveness is total, true, and lasts forever. He passes over your bad past because Jesus paid every single penny for your freedom on the cross.

2. He Does Not Hold On to Anger

People in this world love to stay angry. A friend, a worker, or a family member might remember an old fight from five years ago and still look at you with an angry face today. But God is not like human beings. Micah tells us that God does not keep His anger forever. God never wants to crush you down; His only wish is to pick you up and make you well.

Many people use their anger like a weapon. They stay mad at you on purpose so you will feel small, guilty, and scared around them all the time. When someone stays mad at you for years, you feel like you are walking on broken glass every day. But our Father in heaven is not like that at all. God’s heart does not keep secret hate or cold feelings toward His children. Even though God hates bad things that hurt us, His heart loves you with a huge, burning love that never stops. The Bible tells us that His anger is very small and lasts only for a tiny second, but His sweet love lasts for all your life. He does not keep a secret list of your old cried-over mistakes to throw at you when you pray. When you come back to Him, you will never find a cold shoulder or a shut door. God wants to wipe your wet eyes, hold your hands, and walk with you like a loving Father.

3. He Truly Delights in Loving Kindness

Please hear this and let it sink deep into your heart: God loves to show you mercy. Showing mercy is not a boring job that God hates to do. It makes His heart super happy to put His arms around a crying son or daughter. When you run to Him crying, you are not meeting a boss who is tired of you; you are meeting a daddy who has been waiting at the front door to hug you.

The words “loving kindness” in our Bible mean a deep, strong love that never breaks, never gives up, and never runs away. Mercy is not just something God does once in a while; mercy is who God is. So many good people think that God is always mad at them. They think God only forgives them because He has to, and that He shakes His head in sadness every time they come to pray. That is a big lie. God sings happy songs over you, and it makes Him so glad to pour His sweet kindness on anyone who asks for help. Think about the story Jesus told about the boy who ran away from home and lost all his money. When that dirty, hungry boy walked back home, his father did not cross his arms and yell. The father saw him, ran fast down the road, hugged his neck, and kissed him. When you bring your weak heart to God, you are not making Him tired. You are letting Him do what makes Him the most happy: loving you, washing you, and holding you close.

The Divine Washing: How God Cleanses Your Story (Micah 7:19)

In verse 19, the Bible shows us the three gentle, strong steps God takes to heal your whole life:

Step 1: “He will again have compassion on us”

Have you ever made a mistake, asked God to help you, and then made the same mistake again the next day? The devil comes to your ear and whispers: “Do not pray today. You did it again. God is totally sick and tired of you.” Look at that soft, beautiful word written in your Bible: Again. God does not say He will love you only one or two times. His love never runs dry; it is brand new and fresh every single morning when the sun comes up. When you fall down in the mud, His hand is already reaching down to pull you out.

That little word “again” is like a strong rope thrown to a person drowning in deep water. It means that God does not run out of love when you have a bad day or when you trip on the same rock. People in the world will say, “I am tired of your words; this is your last chance with me.” But God’s love is bigger than the whole wide sky and deeper than any dark hole you fall into. God’s compassion is not just a fancy thought; it is real, warm love that makes Him jump down into your messy room, clean your cuts, and hold you tight until you are strong again. When the enemy tells you that you have used up all of God’s patience, tell him about this verse. God will have mercy on you again. He will pick you up again. He will clean your heart again. He will make you smile again. You can never fall too far for His kind hands to catch you.

Step 2: “He will tread our iniquities under foot”

Many people feel stuck in bad habits, old hurts, or family problems that seem way too big to stop. You do not have to fight these heavy things with your small, tired strength alone. God promises that He will come down Himself and step on those bad things with His own feet. His strong grace breaks the power of bad habits so you can stand up tall and breathe clean air again.

A long time ago, when a strong good king won a fight against a bad king who was hurting the people, the good king would put his foot on top of the bad king’s head. That showed everybody in the whole town that the bad king had no power anymore. This is what God does for you. Bad habits, fear, and family sadness want to act like mean bosses over your life, making you think you will always fail just like the people before you. But you are not fighting all by yourself. The great, strong God comes right into your life. He puts His big, strong foot on top of your bad habits and crushes them flat. You cannot run fast with divine acceleration if bad habits keep pulling you back to the floor. God’s grace does not just say “it is okay”; it gives you real power to beat the bad things. The chains that tied up your hands and mind are being smashed into tiny pieces under the feet of your King.

Step 3: “You will cast all their sins into the depths of the sea”

Where does God put all your bad mistakes after you give them to Him? He does not leave them sitting on the beach where people can walk by and point at them. He does not put them inside a clear glass jar to show you later when you do something wrong. He throws every single bad thing into the deepest bottom of the big sea. The bottom of the ocean is very dark, super deep, and far away. When something drops down miles into that deep water, no person can ever swim down to get it back. When God forgives you: it is gone forever; it is drowned in the big ocean of His love; God puts a sign over your life that says: “No Fishing Here.”

Think about how deep and big the ocean really is. Deep down at the very bottom of the sea, the water is dark and heavy, and no human diver can ever go down there. Anything that falls down to the bottom is lost forever, covered by miles of water, never to be seen by anyone again. That is where God throws your bad mistakes. He does not throw them into a small, clear puddle where your friends or family can reach in with their hands and pull them out to tease you. He throws them into the deepest water where they disappear forever. When God forgives what you did through Jesus, He chooses to never, ever think about it again. The devil loves to go with a fishing pole to your old memories, trying to pull up dead, ugly mistakes that God already washed away. But tonight, God says your past is buried at the bottom of the ocean, and you are totally free to walk forward and never look back.

What Heavy Weights Are You Carrying Tonight?

If we want to run fast with the speed from Sunday’s message, we must look inside our hearts and drop the four common heavy weights that slow us down

1. The Burden of Hidden Shame

Shame tells you that you are broken and no good. It makes you pray tiny, scared prayers because you think you are too dirty for God to be good to you. Tonight, hear what Jesus says to you: You are washed clean. You are picked by God. You are loved with all His heart. You do not have to hide behind the door anymore.

Shame is a very heavy, ugly weight that hurts your whole heart. When God talks to your heart about a mistake, He is very gentle, showing you the problem so you can say sorry and feel better. But shame is mean and attacks who you are. Shame does not just say, “You made a bad choice.” Shame says, “You are a bad person, you are broken forever, and nobody will ever love you.” When shame lives in your mind, it makes you want to run away and hide from God, just like Adam and Eve hiding behind the bushes in the garden with leaves over their bodies. You start pulling back from good jobs, good friends, and good blessings because a bad voice inside says you are fake and everyone will find out. But Jesus took all your shame on Himself on the cross so you never have to carry it. He took off your dirty clothes and put a beautiful, clean white robe on you. You can hold your head up high tonight. You are not an unwanted child; you are a cherished son and a beloved daughter of God.

2. The Burden of Regret

Regret is always saying sad words: “I lost so many good years,” “I made such a silly choice when I was young,” and “Why did I not listen to good advice?” Listen with your whole heart: Regret cannot change one single second of your yesterday, but it will steal the happy sunshine of your tomorrow. Our God is the God who gives back lost years. He can take your broken pieces and build a beautiful story. Stop looking at the back mirror of your car.

Regret is like throwing a heavy rock into the mud of yesterday, stopping your little boat from moving while God’s good wind is blowing all around you. It wastes all your energy thinking about old words, crying over missed chances, and being sad about things that are already done. So many people spend all their days crying over doors that shut ten years ago, so they never see the big open doors of acceleration right in front of them today. You must know this for sure: God’s power to fix your life is a million times bigger than your power to mess it up. In the Bible, God makes a great promise: He says He will give back the years that the bad bugs ate up. God does not just fix things; He can give you back lost time. Things that take other people twenty years to do, God can do for you in one single month when His speed touches your life. Stop crying over old burned ashes, and let God give you a happy crown of beauty today.

3. The Burden of Bitterness and Unforgiveness

You cannot run light and fast if you are carrying all the bad things other people did to you. Staying mad at someone hurts you way more than the person who made you cry. Tonight, just like God threw your sins into the sea, you must throw the bad things other people did into that same sea. Let them go. Put them in God’s hands so your own hands are empty and ready to hold God’s gifts.

Staying mad is like drinking dirty poison and hoping the other person gets sick. When you refuse to forgive someone who was mean to you, lied to you, or broke your heart, you are not hurting them at all. You are locking yourself in a dark room with them, thinking about the hurt over and over every day. Being angry eats up all your happy energy, your peace, and your strength to move fast with God. You cannot run fast into your bright future while dragging the heavy, smelly box of old fights behind you. Forgiving someone does not mean that what they did was okay or good; it just means you are handing the problem over to God so He can take care of it. When you drop their bad deeds into God’s deep sea, you cut the heavy rope that tied your heart to that bad day. You let God put sweet healing medicine on your deep pain, making your heart completely light, happy, and free to fly into the great life He has ready for you.

4. The Burden of Trying to Do It All Alone

Divine acceleration is not about working until you drop down on the floor. It is about resting in what God said and letting the Holy Spirit show you where to step every day. When you stop running in human worry, God’s deep peace fills your heart.

Many good people think that divine acceleration means working three times harder, running around like crazy from morning to night, and sweating in big stress. They think following God is like running up a steep hill until they cannot breathe. But the Bible tells us clearly that it is not by our small human muscle, and not by our own smart brain, but by the Spirit of the Lord that big mountains are moved. When you only use your own small hands and your own tired thinking, you get stuck very fast, and you end up sad, tired, and empty. God’s speed is not about crazy human rushing; it is about smooth, sweet speed from heaven. It happens when you learn to rest your heart in God, trust His simple Word, and let the Holy Spirit carry you like a leaf on the water. When Elijah ran faster than the king’s fast horses, it was not because he had magic shoes; it was because God’s strong hand was on him. Stop worrying and let God’s hand carry you.

Simple Steps to Prepare Your Soul Tonight

Step 1: Open Your Heart (Be Real with God)

Getting ready always starts with being totally honest with God. God does not ask for big words, fancy speeches, or acting like you are perfect. He just wants you to tell Him the real truth about how you feel. When you pray, stop acting like everything is great if you are really crying inside. Bring out the hidden hurts into His bright light: the bad mistakes you are scared to tell anyone, the habits you fight with tears, and the deep sadness you hide behind a fake smile. Bad things love to grow in the dark, but their power breaks the moment you show them to God. Tell Him simply: “Lord, I am tired of acting strong. I am so tired of carrying this sadness, these mistakes, and this pain by myself. Here is my heart. Wash me clean, fix what is broken, and help me tonight.” The moment you open your heart fully, God’s sweet love rushes in, cleans out all the dirt, and makes your heart ready for divine speed.

When we stop playing church games and talk to God like a real child talks to a loving dad, wonderful things happen in our lives. God does not care about proud people who act like they never do wrong, but He runs fast to anyone who is humble and says, “Lord, I need you.” King David wrote that when he kept quiet and tried to hide his mistakes, his body felt old and sick, and his strength dried up like dirt in the hot summer sun. But as soon as he told God the whole truth and stopped hiding, God took away all his guilt right away and filled his mouth with happy songs. Stop trying to argue with God or make yourself look good with pretty words. He already knows every thought in your head, every tear in your eye, and every time you tripped over a stone. He is just waiting for you to trust Him enough to put down the mask and give Him the real pieces of your life. When you do, His healing love flows in like clean water, making your heart strong, light, and totally ready for the fast speed He is bringing to your life.

Step 2: Believe God’s Word (Trust His Promise Over Your Feelings)

After you pray and tell God everything, your thoughts and feelings will try to play tricks on you. Your feelings will whisper lies; they will tell you that you are still dirty, that you made too many mistakes, and that God will not give you good things anymore. When those sad feelings come, you must choose to stand on the Bible and not on your feelings. Feelings change all the time, but the Bible never changes. When Micah 7:19 says that God throws all your sins into the bottom of the sea, know that God means every single word. God does not keep a secret book of old erased mistakes, and He never pulls up what He drowned in His sea of love. When bad thoughts come into your head, answer them with God’s truth: “I am not what I did wrong yesterday; I am who Jesus says I am because He died for me.” Stand firm on His promise that you are fully forgiven.

Faith is not a warm feeling; faith is choosing to believe what God says, even when your feelings and your memories say something else. Your feelings change when you are sleepy, when you are hungry, when you are tired, or when someone says something mean to you. If you check your feelings every day to see if God loves you, you will be happy one day and super sad the next day. But God’s Word is set in heaven forever. It does not change when your mood changes. When God says you are forgiven, you are really forgiven. When God says you are clean, you are totally clean. Teach your mind to throw out every bad lie that comes to scare you. When doubt knocks on your door, open the door with the Bible in your hand. Put all your trust in the fact that God always keeps His word, and that He will do every good thing He promised to do for you.

Step 3: Stand Tall and Smile (Walk Away Light and Ready for Speed)

The last step of getting ready is to get up from prayer and live like a person who is totally free. When you stand up, make up your mind that you will never pick up that heavy bag of shame, guilt, and sadness again. Leave it sitting at the bottom of the ocean where God threw it. Take a big, fresh breath of air, put your shoulders back, lift up your head, and put a big, real smile on your face. You are not dragging the heavy chains of yesterday anymore; you are a happy, loved child of the great God. When your heart is light and free of heavy bags, you are ready for the Holy Spirit to move you fast. Divine speed cannot push a heart that is full of heavy guilt, but it moves fast through a heart that rests in God’s love. Go to your home, your job, and your friends with a happy heart. Walk in freedom, expect good things, and get ready to run fast with God in this great month.

Being full of joy is the best proof that you really believe God has forgiven you. When you know for sure that your debt is gone, that the jail door is wide open, and that your Father loves you with all His heart, you cannot walk around looking at the ground with a sad face. You stand up straight because you know who you are in Jesus. You start walking like a prince or a princess in God’s house. A happy, light heart is easy for the Holy Spirit to move; there is nothing heavy holding it back. As you go home tonight, let your heart be full of happy excitement like a little child on a holiday. Do not look at the days ahead with fear or worry, but look at them knowing that God can do anything. God is getting ready to do wonderful things in your life, your home, your work, and your church. You have dropped the heavy bag, the road is wide open, and your time of divine speed has started right now.

Guided Prayer Session

Let us come together with humble and open hearts before the Lord.

1. A Prayer for Gentle Cleansing

• Let us pray together: Dear Heavenly Father, I come to You tonight with an open heart. I lay down every mistake, every secret failure, and every burden I have carried in silence. Wash me clean in the precious blood of Jesus. Renew my spirit, bring peace to my mind, and make my heart pure before You.
• Scripture to hold on to: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9 WEB)

2. A Prayer to Break Free from Condemnation

• Let us pray together: Lord Jesus, tonight I reject all shame, guilt, and self-blame. When the enemy reminds me of my past, I will remember Your great sacrifice on the cross. I declare that my past is buried in the depths of the sea. I receive Your full forgiveness and walk in joyful freedom.
• Scripture to hold on to: “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1 WEB)

3. A Prayer to Forgive and Let Go

• Let us pray together: Father, because You have been so kind and merciful to me, I choose tonight to forgive everyone who has hurt me. I release every grudge, every disappointment, and all bitterness. I let them go into Your sea of mercy. Heal my heart and fill me with Your love.
• Scripture to hold on to: “Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other, just as God also in Christ forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32 WEB)

4. A Prayer for Divine Acceleration in September

• Let us pray together: Lord God, my heart is prepared and my burdens are gone. Now, let the wind of Your Holy Spirit fill my life. Give me supernatural speed in my spiritual life, my family, my health, and my daily work. Let Your favor open doors no man can shut. I step joyfully into my Season of Divine Acceleration in Jesus’ name!
• Scripture to hold on to: “Yahweh’s hand was on Elijah; and he tucked his cloak into his belt and ran ahead of Ahab to the entrance of Jezreel.” (1 Kings 18:46 WEB)

Closing Words of Encouragement & Blessing

Beloved church family, as we go home tonight, remember what God did for you in this place. You came here carrying heavy bags in secret, but you are leaving light, clean, and happy. You have finished the first and most important step of getting ready. Your past is not hanging over your head; it is sitting at the bottom of the deepest sea.

Walk forward with a brave heart. Speak kindly to yourself, just like God speaks kindly to you. Say nice words to someone this week, share this good news of mercy, and look for God’s quick help in your life every day.

May Yahweh bless you and keep you safe. May His face smile on you and give you sweet peace. May His mighty hand stay on your life, giving you strength, clear eyes, and divine speed in everything you do all through this month. Go home in peace and happy faith. Amen.