In the Fire, Immanuel — On Finding God With You in the Dark
Joshua Giles
5 min read ⭑
You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow,
Say this: God, you’re my refuge.
I trust in you and I’m safe!
(Ps. 91:1-2, MSG).
We will feel like our lives are stuck not only when we’ve missed a God moment, but also when we find ourselves in a night season.
Some years ago, our church hosted several weeks of 24-hour prayer, during which thousands of believers around the world joined hundreds of our local members to pray every hour of the day. Each person chose one hour, and prayer went up day and night for ministries and their leaders; for the nations; for cities; for families and loved ones; for health, finances, careers and businesses; and for the will of God to be done on the Earth. It was a powerful time.
During these weeks of prayer, I was experiencing a spiritual night season. Midway through this dedicated time of prayer, I received a call from a ministry partner, who is a prayer warrior with a strong prophetic gifting. They sensed that something was going on and said we needed to increase our prayer coverage. I confirmed that that was exactly what the Holy Spirit had spoken to me. Following God’s leading, they prayed Psalm 91. I had prayed Psalm 91 many times before for protection and deliverance. But hearing this passage prayed over me this time from The Message translation delivered a word about night seasons that has remained in my spirit ever since.
dominik hofbauer; Unsplash
A few years later, I was on a 30-city speaking tour across the country and abroad. I was promoting a book and preaching at conferences, as well as doing pre-events for our main ministry gathering. It was taxing — taking flight after flight and living off two to three hours of sleep a night. Pushing myself in this way was not wise, but it was rewarding to see the people’s lives so positively impacted by the time of ministry. I finally got some rest and enjoyed a brief vacation. Then it was back to work. But near the end of the tour, my body started going haywire. At first I had some type of virus. It ran its course with about two to three weeks of symptoms, and then I felt better. All of a sudden, however, all those symptoms started returning and mixed with new symptoms. I’ve always been a healthy person; I’ve never had any major issues. This time my systolic blood pressure was 200. My vision was blurred, and my heart rate was extremely high. I was rushed to the ER. This scenario repeated several times over the next months. I couldn’t eat much and was having allergic reactions out of nowhere. The doctors ran every test imaginable but found absolutely nothing; although some of my numbers were extremely high, there was no evidence of a stroke, heart attack or similar event. Later, a doctor exclaimed, “Something was definitely going on in your body, but we’re not sure what. You are perfectly healthy now!”
I believe the cause was partly some mysterious virus and partly a spiritual attack because as my team and I prayed for my health, we saw things change. It was during this night season that I learned to trust God in the dark. I learned to believe him even though what I saw around me looked bad. I gravitated to Psalm 91. I had to spend the night season with El Shaddai.
If it has felt hard to see the light of hope, if you’re working to be humble, obedient and spiritually alert and yet, try as you might, your joy has evaporated and your way seems lost, then you know what it is to be in a night season. You may question, “What is all this about? What is God trying to show me?”
The psalmist writes, “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel; my heart also instructs me in the night seasons” (Ps. 16:7, NKJV). In the hard seasons of life, we can count on God to give us counsel and instruct us through those seasons. There is a treasure in every trial — a lesson that helps you pivot into the next season. We are going through difficulty not just for difficulty’s sake but for a door to be opened to us, leading us into greater levels of faith and revelation of who God is and what he has for us to do. So, it’s important that in these night seasons, you learn to quickly recognize them for what they are; don’t panic, don’t give up and don’t get stuck there.
“When you find yourself in the fire, you will also find Immanuel — God with you.”
Get your lesson, level up and shift out of it.
Learning how to leverage the blessings that come in the night takes practice. And Psalm 91 holds the key for how to do just that.
In El Shaddai’s Shadow
You who sit down in the High God’s presence,
spend the night in Shaddai’s shadow.
(Ps. 91:1, MSG).
Every believer must endure night seasons, and they are not pretty. They don’t look good, and they don’t feel good. They can be very difficult, but when you must go through a night season, go through it while resting in El Shaddai’s shadow. Spend it in the presence of the Lord.
Bring him into your night season by reading his Word. Revisit the Bible verses specific to the situation you are battling through. These will be your go-to night-season verses. For you, it may be Psalm 91. For someone else, it may be Psalm 72 or another set of passages. Meditate on God’s Word in the night seasons.
Then, invite his presence with worship. Play praise and worship music that will shift the atmosphere around you and lift your spirit. Remember how Saul had David play music to soothe his tormented mind? You can do this for yourself. Sing songs to the Lord. Comfort your soul with hymns that magnify the holiness and faithfulness of God. The Bible says that God inhabits, or lives in, the praises of his people. Be generous with your praise.
Finally, journal about the good things God has done. Practice thankfulness even in the darkest times and remind yourself about the things that are on their way.
I don’t know about you, but I’ve made up my mind that I don’t want to go through any trial without the Holy Spirit’s help and guidance. If I have to go through it, let me endure it with him rather than on my own.
When you spend the night with El Shaddai, he’ll change your life. He’ll turn your situation around. He is God, even in the night seasons of your life. He will not leave you or forsake you. He will be right there with you in the trial. When you find yourself in the fire, you will also find Immanuel — God with you.
Joshua Giles is the lead pastor of Kingdom Embassy Worship Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author and a sought-after conference speaker, preacher, teacher and psalmist. Joshua is the founder and visionary of the Mantle Conference, which gathers up to 30,000 people annually and continues to grow. A humanitarian and international speaker, he has traveled to more than 35 nations on prophetic missions.
Taken from “Shift Your Life” by Joshua Giles. Copyright © 2026. Used by permission of WaterBrook.
