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Better Together

How to Receive Your Blessing | Better Together Episode 1168

May 20, 2026 | S8 E1168 | 50:59

How to Receive Your Blessing | Better Together Episode 1168
Experiencing God's blessing begins with checking the condition of our hearts. When we surrender our lives to God, we find supernatural wisdom in abundance. Our current circumstances become small compared to His limitless provision. | TBN Prayer Line: 714-731-1000
#Blessing #Wisdom #Faith #Discernment #Prayer #Obedience #Purpose #Righteousness #Holiness #Anxiety #Depression #Sin #Surrender #TrustGod #Parable #Seed #FearoftheLord #Reverence #WordofGod #Revelation #Distraction #IdentityinChrist #Love #LaurieCrouch #SheilaWalsh #DeeDeeFreeman #FaithEuryCho #NonaJones

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Better Together | How to Receive Your Blessing | Better Together Episode 1168 | May 20, 2026
  • - to receive god's blessings, we must come to him with
  • 00:00:00.090 --> 00:00:03.259
  • An open heart.
  • 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:04.594
  • Walking in his wisdom and truth is the key to prosperity of
  • 00:00:04.594 --> 00:00:07.597
  • Mind, body, and soul.
  • 00:00:07.597 --> 00:00:09.065
  • Come on, let's talk about it.
  • 00:00:09.065 --> 00:00:10.533
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:00:10.533 --> 00:00:38.294
  • - literally every time on better together, i learn something from
  • 00:00:38.294 --> 00:00:41.397
  • Every single one of you.
  • 00:00:41.397 --> 00:00:42.565
  • Some little nugget that i just tucked into my heart.
  • 00:00:42.565 --> 00:00:45.135
  • And so today we're talking about how to receive your blessing.
  • 00:00:45.135 --> 00:00:48.638
  • And we're talking about wisdom.
  • 00:00:48.638 --> 00:00:50.440
  • How do you get wisdom?
  • 00:00:50.440 --> 00:00:52.275
  • And i wrote down a scripture that i thought was really cool.
  • 00:00:52.275 --> 00:00:54.711
  • The advantage of knowledge is this.
  • 00:00:54.711 --> 00:00:57.046
  • Wisdom preserves those who have it.
  • 00:00:57.046 --> 00:01:00.049
  • But i found myself reading through the story of the sower
  • 00:01:00.049 --> 00:01:04.420
  • And the seed and it's in three of the gospels.
  • 00:01:04.420 --> 00:01:08.124
  • It's in matthew and mark and it's in john.
  • 00:01:08.124 --> 00:01:10.960
  • But i wanted to read just a little bit from mark's version
  • 00:01:10.960 --> 00:01:14.564
  • And then things that i saw that i hadn't really seen before.
  • 00:01:14.564 --> 00:01:17.233
  • Do you ever have that when you go back into passage and you
  • 00:01:17.233 --> 00:01:19.435
  • Know so well?
  • 00:01:19.435 --> 00:01:21.137
  • So jesus gets in a boat and he starts to teach.
  • 00:01:21.137 --> 00:01:23.673
  • And it must have been something people could see.
  • 00:01:23.673 --> 00:01:26.409
  • You know, i imagine him saying, looking out and looking, look at
  • 00:01:26.409 --> 00:01:29.012
  • That guy over there who's planting.
  • 00:01:29.012 --> 00:01:30.280
  • The farmer went out to plant some seed.
  • 00:01:30.280 --> 00:01:33.016
  • As he scattered across his field, some of the seed fell on
  • 00:01:33.016 --> 00:01:35.451
  • The footpath and the birds came and ate it.
  • 00:01:35.451 --> 00:01:37.353
  • Other seeds fell on shallow ground with underlying rock.
  • 00:01:37.353 --> 00:01:40.723
  • The seed sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow,
  • 00:01:40.723 --> 00:01:43.760
  • But the plant soon wilted under the hot sun.
  • 00:01:43.760 --> 00:01:46.429
  • And since it didn't have deep roots, it died.
  • 00:01:46.429 --> 00:01:48.498
  • Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the
  • 00:01:48.498 --> 00:01:51.568
  • Tender plants so they produced no grain.
  • 00:01:51.568 --> 00:01:54.470
  • Still other seeds fell on fertile soil and they sprouted,
  • 00:01:54.470 --> 00:01:57.740
  • Grew and produced a crop that was 30, 60 and even a hundred
  • 00:01:57.740 --> 00:02:02.645
  • Times as much as had been planted.
  • 00:02:02.645 --> 00:02:04.747
  • Then he said, anyone with ears to hear should
  • 00:02:04.747 --> 00:02:07.016
  • Listen and understand.
  • 00:02:07.016 --> 00:02:08.318
  • So i found myself asking the lord, okay, how do we maintain
  • 00:02:08.318 --> 00:02:12.755
  • The soil of our heart?
  • 00:02:12.755 --> 00:02:14.157
  • And what are the potential dangers?
  • 00:02:14.157 --> 00:02:16.159
  • And one of the things i thought was interesting, i'm thinking of
  • 00:02:16.159 --> 00:02:20.196
  • People in ministry, and i'm thinking a lot of our viewers
  • 00:02:20.196 --> 00:02:23.733
  • Have ministry in different ways, home bible study
  • 00:02:23.733 --> 00:02:26.569
  • Or different things.
  • 00:02:26.569 --> 00:02:27.937
  • He makes it clear from this that some of the seed you throw out,
  • 00:02:27.937 --> 00:02:31.507
  • It's just not, you're not going to see the fruit.
  • 00:02:31.507 --> 00:02:34.611
  • It doesn't mean your seed wasn't good.
  • 00:02:34.611 --> 00:02:36.879
  • It doesn't mean you weren't supposed to throw it.
  • 00:02:36.879 --> 00:02:38.848
  • But when i was looking at how they do seed planting in israel,
  • 00:02:38.848 --> 00:02:42.485
  • These long strips and then the stony path in between each one.
  • 00:02:42.485 --> 00:02:46.489
  • So if the seed lands on the stony path, it doesn't have a
  • 00:02:46.489 --> 00:02:49.759
  • Chance, you know, because there's nothing there.
  • 00:02:49.759 --> 00:02:51.628
  • But i found myself almost more interested in the stuff that is
  • 00:02:51.628 --> 00:02:55.632
  • Choked out by the thorns.
  • 00:02:55.632 --> 00:02:59.502
  • And then i read this thing.
  • 00:02:59.502 --> 00:03:01.237
  • I'm a fan of a guy called william barclay.
  • 00:03:01.237 --> 00:03:04.040
  • He's a scottish theologian.
  • 00:03:04.040 --> 00:03:05.675
  • And i've got most of his commentaries on the bible.
  • 00:03:05.675 --> 00:03:08.578
  • But this one line that i wrote down, he said, the worst enemy
  • 00:03:08.578 --> 00:03:11.614
  • Of the best is not the worst.
  • 00:03:11.614 --> 00:03:14.717
  • It's the second best.
  • 00:03:14.717 --> 00:03:16.252
  • The worst enemy of the best, of god's best, is not the worst.
  • 00:03:16.252 --> 00:03:21.090
  • It's the second best.
  • 00:03:21.090 --> 00:03:23.226
  • Because i think if god told us to do something and we saw
  • 00:03:23.226 --> 00:03:26.296
  • Something that was completely the opposite of it, we're like,
  • 00:03:26.296 --> 00:03:29.265
  • Oh, absolutely.
  • 00:03:29.265 --> 00:03:30.099
  • There's no way god's in that.
  • 00:03:30.099 --> 00:03:31.734
  • But i wonder how often we settle for second best because the best
  • 00:03:31.734 --> 00:03:34.971
  • That god is offering seems a little outside of our comfort
  • 00:03:34.971 --> 00:03:38.374
  • Zone or requires a little bit too much faith.
  • 00:03:38.374 --> 00:03:41.744
  • But when i look back over my life, i see so many places where
  • 00:03:41.744 --> 00:03:46.449
  • God would ask me to step into something.
  • 00:03:46.449 --> 00:03:48.251
  • I was talking to my husband about this last night.
  • 00:03:48.251 --> 00:03:50.386
  • I have never in my life applied for a job.
  • 00:03:50.386 --> 00:03:52.722
  • I've never-- i contacted a book company.
  • 00:03:52.722 --> 00:03:55.992
  • I've never gone to a record company and said, hey, i think
  • 00:03:55.992 --> 00:03:58.795
  • I'd like to make a record.
  • 00:03:58.795 --> 00:04:00.129
  • It's been like literally the lord saying, okay, here's this
  • 00:04:00.129 --> 00:04:02.532
  • Next step.
  • 00:04:02.532 --> 00:04:04.934
  • It's like that whole scripture that the word of god is a lamp
  • 00:04:04.934 --> 00:04:08.004
  • To my feet and a light to my path.
  • 00:04:08.004 --> 00:04:10.340
  • Lamp to my feet means i'm only seeing the next step.
  • 00:04:10.340 --> 00:04:13.109
  • And when you see the next step and you take that, whereas the
  • 00:04:13.109 --> 00:04:16.879
  • Light, the path, it's like it's, yeah.
  • 00:04:16.879 --> 00:04:20.350
  • You have a direction that we're always going in.
  • 00:04:20.350 --> 00:04:22.752
  • But to find the will of god in your life and to know the
  • 00:04:22.752 --> 00:04:25.655
  • Blessing, the wisdom, it's literally what is the next step.
  • 00:04:25.655 --> 00:04:28.758
  • And sometimes i think we want to think, well, okay, lord, if i
  • 00:04:28.758 --> 00:04:32.528
  • Take that, then what comes next?
  • 00:04:32.528 --> 00:04:34.097
  • And god says, no, that's, you know, it's like when i would
  • 00:04:34.097 --> 00:04:38.768
  • Tease my mom, she would love that scripture.
  • 00:04:38.768 --> 00:04:40.770
  • You know, i know the plans i have for you, plans to prosper,
  • 00:04:40.770 --> 00:04:43.373
  • Not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope.
  • 00:04:43.373 --> 00:04:45.775
  • And i would say to her, i would like to see the plans.
  • 00:04:45.775 --> 00:04:48.111
  • If i could just make a few suggestions, then i'll sign up
  • 00:04:48.111 --> 00:04:50.613
  • For the plans.
  • 00:04:50.613 --> 00:04:52.181
  • And i would say to her, you don't know what god's plans are
  • 00:04:52.181 --> 00:04:55.218
  • For you, mom.
  • 00:04:55.218 --> 00:04:56.386
  • I mean, i watched her go through so much in her life.
  • 00:04:56.386 --> 00:04:58.154
  • But you're still saying, yes, lord, every morning.
  • 00:04:58.154 --> 00:05:01.491
  • And she said, yes, i don't need to see the plans.
  • 00:05:01.491 --> 00:05:04.060
  • I've seen the man who makes the plans.
  • 00:05:04.060 --> 00:05:05.595
  • When you understand who god is, and i think sometimes that only
  • 00:05:05.595 --> 00:05:10.633
  • Comes, wisdom only comes through walking and taking
  • 00:05:10.633 --> 00:05:13.636
  • The next step.
  • 00:05:13.636 --> 00:05:14.937
  • - there are some that may feel stuck and you know god has
  • 00:05:14.937 --> 00:05:19.041
  • Called you to do something greater.
  • 00:05:19.041 --> 00:05:21.411
  • Well, you have a role in righteousness to play.
  • 00:05:21.411 --> 00:05:25.748
  • The bible says that faith without works is dead.
  • 00:05:25.748 --> 00:05:28.451
  • So you may have to trigger something.
  • 00:05:28.451 --> 00:05:31.487
  • You may need to get up and go and start something.
  • 00:05:31.487 --> 00:05:34.657
  • You want information and you want increase.
  • 00:05:34.657 --> 00:05:37.360
  • It's like me.
  • 00:05:37.360 --> 00:05:38.861
  • I think about even going back to school.
  • 00:05:38.861 --> 00:05:41.798
  • I didn't go back to school because i wanted something at
  • 00:05:41.798 --> 00:05:44.066
  • That particular time.
  • 00:05:44.066 --> 00:05:45.368
  • But i realized when i went back to school, an increase
  • 00:05:45.368 --> 00:05:48.304
  • Came to me.
  • 00:05:48.304 --> 00:05:49.939
  • It opened up so many other opportunities
  • 00:05:49.939 --> 00:05:51.307
  • That i didn't even look for.
  • 00:05:51.307 --> 00:05:54.444
  • So think about it, pray about it and ask god, what is it that you
  • 00:05:54.444 --> 00:05:57.980
  • Need to do to open up a door for god to be able to do something
  • 00:05:57.980 --> 00:06:02.952
  • Great in your life?
  • 00:06:02.952 --> 00:06:04.187
  • - i remember when i was about to graduate from seminary,
  • 00:06:04.187 --> 00:06:07.390
  • Everybody else had a plan in place.
  • 00:06:07.390 --> 00:06:09.659
  • They all knew where they were going.
  • 00:06:09.659 --> 00:06:11.060
  • I had gone because i thought god wanted me to be a
  • 00:06:11.060 --> 00:06:13.129
  • Missionary in india.
  • 00:06:13.129 --> 00:06:14.063
  • I'd even started learning the language.
  • 00:06:14.063 --> 00:06:15.665
  • I had a map of india up on my wall and god absolutely
  • 00:06:15.665 --> 00:06:18.301
  • Closed the door.
  • 00:06:18.301 --> 00:06:21.737
  • And it's literally, we graduate in a week and everybody knows
  • 00:06:21.737 --> 00:06:24.073
  • I'm going off to this church, i'm doing this, i'm in
  • 00:06:24.073 --> 00:06:25.541
  • This ministry.
  • 00:06:25.541 --> 00:06:26.609
  • And i'm like, i don't have a clue.
  • 00:06:26.609 --> 00:06:28.478
  • And there was a little chapel at our seminary.
  • 00:06:28.478 --> 00:06:32.048
  • And most of the students had already done all their classes.
  • 00:06:32.048 --> 00:06:35.318
  • You know, they were done.
  • 00:06:35.318 --> 00:06:36.652
  • They were just celebrating because they're about to be off.
  • 00:06:36.652 --> 00:06:38.321
  • And i went and i locked myself in that little chapel.
  • 00:06:38.321 --> 00:06:40.556
  • And i was like, lord, i don't understand.
  • 00:06:40.556 --> 00:06:42.792
  • You know, i know you told me to come here, but i thought you
  • 00:06:42.792 --> 00:06:46.596
  • Told me to come here because i was going to go there.
  • 00:06:46.596 --> 00:06:49.165
  • That door has closed now.
  • 00:06:49.165 --> 00:06:51.534
  • So, i felt this beautiful invitation to lay down
  • 00:06:51.534 --> 00:06:57.073
  • Everything that made sense to me.
  • 00:06:57.073 --> 00:06:59.041
  • It was like, do you still trust me?
  • 00:06:59.041 --> 00:07:00.910
  • Or do you just still, do you trust what you understand of me?
  • 00:07:00.910 --> 00:07:04.180
  • And i'm like, okay, lord, my understanding of you is
  • 00:07:04.180 --> 00:07:07.216
  • Way too small.
  • 00:07:07.216 --> 00:07:08.718
  • So right now, i remember singing a song that larry norman had
  • 00:07:08.718 --> 00:07:12.889
  • Taught me years ago, and it was called, i am a servant.
  • 00:07:12.889 --> 00:07:15.525
  • And it was literally, i remember kneeling down with my hands open
  • 00:07:15.525 --> 00:07:19.295
  • And saying, lord, i give back to you everything that makes sense,
  • 00:07:19.295 --> 00:07:23.666
  • Everything i thought you would do.
  • 00:07:23.666 --> 00:07:25.268
  • And i just want to say whatever it is.
  • 00:07:25.268 --> 00:07:27.403
  • I'm all in.
  • 00:07:27.403 --> 00:07:29.071
  • - you know, when you think of surrender, you can think of it
  • 00:07:29.071 --> 00:07:33.142
  • In a couple of different ways.
  • 00:07:33.142 --> 00:07:35.778
  • There's the idea of surrendering under duress, where someone has
  • 00:07:35.778 --> 00:07:40.216
  • A gun to your head or they're threatening you or maybe they
  • 00:07:40.216 --> 00:07:43.452
  • Are threatening the lives of your loved ones.
  • 00:07:43.452 --> 00:07:45.888
  • And so you surrender to them because you don't feel like you
  • 00:07:45.888 --> 00:07:49.725
  • Have another option.
  • 00:07:49.725 --> 00:07:51.193
  • Because if you don't surrender, you will somehow be punished.
  • 00:07:51.193 --> 00:07:54.463
  • But there's another form of surrender.
  • 00:07:54.463 --> 00:07:57.466
  • Which is the type of surrender that says, yeah, i could choose
  • 00:07:57.466 --> 00:08:00.536
  • My own way, i could choose my own will, but i trust you so
  • 00:08:00.536 --> 00:08:05.741
  • Much that i'm going to actually yield my rights because i
  • 00:08:05.741 --> 00:08:09.145
  • Believe that your will for me is better.
  • 00:08:09.145 --> 00:08:12.114
  • That is a surrender that actually comes with rest.
  • 00:08:12.114 --> 00:08:15.351
  • That is a surrender that comes with promise.
  • 00:08:15.351 --> 00:08:17.887
  • And that is the type of surrender that i believe god
  • 00:08:17.887 --> 00:08:20.089
  • Wants from us.
  • 00:08:20.089 --> 00:08:21.624
  • - one thing i love about the fact that you shared from mark
  • 00:08:21.624 --> 00:08:26.362
  • 4, i think it's so sobering that jesus gave that parable of
  • 00:08:26.362 --> 00:08:29.498
  • The seed to a crowd. yeah.
  • 00:08:29.498 --> 00:08:31.834
  • And i could only imagine him just looking around all these
  • 00:08:31.834 --> 00:08:37.306
  • People that wanted to hear his teaching, wanted to be healed by
  • 00:08:37.306 --> 00:08:43.212
  • His touch.
  • 00:08:43.212 --> 00:08:44.547
  • And he's just basically like, y'all are not all getting it.
  • 00:08:44.547 --> 00:08:48.384
  • - some of you are going to get it and some of you
  • 00:08:48.384 --> 00:08:51.387
  • Are not. - exactly.
  • 00:08:51.387 --> 00:08:52.388
  • And i'm like, it's like, that's so sobering.
  • 00:08:52.388 --> 00:08:56.459
  • Because i think some of us feel like, oh, it's just enough to
  • 00:08:56.459 --> 00:08:58.761
  • Hear the message.
  • 00:08:58.761 --> 00:09:01.163
  • It's just enough just to read and be inspired.
  • 00:09:01.163 --> 00:09:04.066
  • And i think sometimes we just stay inspired.
  • 00:09:04.066 --> 00:09:07.903
  • We use god's words as a good luck charm to just get
  • 00:09:07.903 --> 00:09:12.775
  • Through the day.
  • 00:09:12.775 --> 00:09:14.043
  • Instead of a lamppost or a lighthouse to get through
  • 00:09:14.043 --> 00:09:18.180
  • The storm.
  • 00:09:18.180 --> 00:09:19.582
  • And it's so interesting because, you know, i asked jesus,
  • 00:09:19.582 --> 00:09:23.152
  • Like, why?
  • 00:09:23.152 --> 00:09:24.954
  • Like, why are you preaching in parables all the time?
  • 00:09:24.954 --> 00:09:26.322
  • Just say it.
  • 00:09:26.322 --> 00:09:29.725
  • You know what i mean?
  • 00:09:29.725 --> 00:09:31.193
  • Just tell us, right?
  • 00:09:31.193 --> 00:09:32.028
  • Just make a plane. right.
  • 00:09:32.028 --> 00:09:33.362
  • But, you know, what i think is so beautiful about mark iv is
  • 00:09:33.362 --> 00:09:36.699
  • That when the crowd left, it was the 12 that drew in and asked,
  • 00:09:36.699 --> 00:09:42.171
  • What did that mean? right.
  • 00:09:42.171 --> 00:09:45.274
  • And i wonder, like, one, are we really getting it?
  • 00:09:45.274 --> 00:09:51.747
  • Or are we just settling for inspiration and comfort?
  • 00:09:51.747 --> 00:09:55.017
  • And are we willing not to be offended by what we don't
  • 00:09:55.017 --> 00:10:00.256
  • Understand and walk away?
  • 00:10:00.256 --> 00:10:02.892
  • Does the mystery repel you or does it draw you near?
  • 00:10:02.892 --> 00:10:08.297
  • For the disciples, they drew near.
  • 00:10:08.297 --> 00:10:11.067
  • And they were willing to stay with jesus through the mystery.
  • 00:10:11.067 --> 00:10:16.072
  • You don't wait for understanding and then
  • 00:10:16.072 --> 00:10:19.108
  • Go to jesus you go to jesus and then
  • 00:10:19.108 --> 00:10:21.811
  • Understanding comes, right and i think sometimes,
  • 00:10:21.811 --> 00:10:23.779
  • We because we don't get it um we feel rejected by god.
  • 00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:28.951
  • But we have to draw near and i wonder how many of us still hold
  • 00:10:28.951 --> 00:10:32.488
  • On to that crowd mentality.
  • 00:10:32.488 --> 00:10:34.390
  • - that's good. - so the seed is the
  • 00:10:34.390 --> 00:10:36.425
  • Word of god. but the condition of the soil
  • 00:10:36.425 --> 00:10:40.362
  • Determines the outcome. - right.
  • 00:10:40.362 --> 00:10:42.064
  • - so the soil has to be humble, has to be
  • 00:10:42.064 --> 00:10:45.601
  • Teachable, has to be open, has to be nourished.
  • 00:10:45.601 --> 00:10:50.172
  • And so it's the condition of our hearts.
  • 00:10:50.172 --> 00:10:53.909
  • Let him that has ears to hear, let him hear.
  • 00:10:53.909 --> 00:10:57.246
  • I think that the challenges that we go through so many times
  • 00:10:57.246 --> 00:11:01.517
  • Actually shows us what kind of fertile soil we actually have.
  • 00:11:01.517 --> 00:11:05.888
  • And it can test us.
  • 00:11:05.888 --> 00:11:07.823
  • And so i think about am i being repentant?
  • 00:11:07.823 --> 00:11:12.928
  • Am i praying?
  • 00:11:12.928 --> 00:11:14.764
  • Am i keeping my heart soft towards god?
  • 00:11:14.764 --> 00:11:19.201
  • Where am i being choked out at times?
  • 00:11:19.201 --> 00:11:22.004
  • Where am i being distracted?
  • 00:11:22.004 --> 00:11:23.672
  • So keeping a teachable heart, i believe, is so important in
  • 00:11:23.672 --> 00:11:29.111
  • Having the ground that god is looking for to go deep
  • 00:11:29.111 --> 00:11:32.648
  • Inside of us.
  • 00:11:32.648 --> 00:11:34.183
  • So sometimes we have to go ahead and get in
  • 00:11:34.183 --> 00:11:36.385
  • Our hearts and start digging things out, digging out the
  • 00:11:36.385 --> 00:11:39.388
  • Distractions and all the things that might distract us from
  • 00:11:39.388 --> 00:11:43.259
  • Really receiving god's best for our lives.
  • 00:11:43.259 --> 00:11:46.095
  • You know, i love in matthew 13, the disciples said, why do you
  • 00:11:46.095 --> 00:11:52.201
  • Tell stories?
  • 00:11:52.201 --> 00:11:54.170
  • And he said to prepare readiness, to nudge people
  • 00:11:54.170 --> 00:11:57.706
  • Towards the insight of the kingdom of god.
  • 00:11:57.706 --> 00:12:01.510
  • - come on, come on.
  • 00:12:01.510 --> 00:12:03.312
  • - but i love to nudge people.
  • 00:12:03.312 --> 00:12:05.915
  • - yeah. - it's not just to slam people over the head.
  • 00:12:05.915 --> 00:12:07.349
  • I'm giving them a taste and seeing. yeah.
  • 00:12:07.349 --> 00:12:09.685
  • You know, but the soil.
  • 00:12:09.685 --> 00:12:15.191
  • So the soil is our hearts. - yeah.
  • 00:12:15.191 --> 00:12:17.660
  • - so how do we stay humble and teachable and not thinking we
  • 00:12:17.660 --> 00:12:23.165
  • Know everything better than god would?
  • 00:12:23.165 --> 00:12:26.235
  • - i love that, though.
  • 00:12:26.235 --> 00:12:28.170
  • When you realize that what you have and who you are
  • 00:12:28.170 --> 00:12:30.539
  • Has not been acquired by your own skills,
  • 00:12:30.539 --> 00:12:34.376
  • And your own ability then you're able to
  • 00:12:34.376 --> 00:12:36.979
  • Realize that god i give it all to you so i can keep my
  • 00:12:36.979 --> 00:12:42.518
  • Heart you know pure because i can take no credit for where i
  • 00:12:42.518 --> 00:12:46.288
  • Am not one single ounce of where i am like my life how i came up
  • 00:12:46.288 --> 00:12:56.232
  • And what i saw didn't depict this.
  • 00:12:56.232 --> 00:13:00.936
  • It was something totally different.
  • 00:13:00.936 --> 00:13:04.106
  • Like, to be sitting on better together on tbn is like
  • 00:13:04.106 --> 00:13:08.477
  • - looking fly with a doctorate degree.
  • 00:13:08.477 --> 00:13:12.882
  • - wait a minute, wait a minute.
  • 00:13:12.882 --> 00:13:13.716
  • Okay, okay, okay.
  • 00:13:13.716 --> 00:13:14.850
  • No, but really, it's like, this is insane to me.
  • 00:13:14.850 --> 00:13:19.355
  • But because of that, i am where you...
  • 00:13:19.355 --> 00:13:22.925
  • Have been, like to say, to have prayed for certain things.
  • 00:13:22.925 --> 00:13:28.964
  • I don't pray for this.
  • 00:13:28.964 --> 00:13:30.666
  • I've never prayed, god, let me be in somebody's pulpit.
  • 00:13:30.666 --> 00:13:33.969
  • Let me go to somebody's church.
  • 00:13:33.969 --> 00:13:36.338
  • Let me be somebody.
  • 00:13:36.338 --> 00:13:37.573
  • I've never prayed for this because i have always kept my
  • 00:13:37.573 --> 00:13:41.710
  • Heart right and wanted to, oh crap.
  • 00:13:41.710 --> 00:13:45.547
  • We just want to please god.
  • 00:13:45.547 --> 00:13:49.018
  • I have seen god just orchestrate my life and just lead me.
  • 00:13:49.018 --> 00:13:53.756
  • I realize that i'm not here for me.
  • 00:13:53.756 --> 00:13:57.059
  • I'm not here to please, make a name or establish a reputation.
  • 00:13:57.059 --> 00:14:01.363
  • It's like, god, i just want to be used by you.
  • 00:14:01.363 --> 00:14:05.100
  • He's doing a much better job with my life than i would
  • 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:09.305
  • Have done.
  • 00:14:09.305 --> 00:14:10.272
  • - i'm in the same boat.
  • 00:14:10.272 --> 00:14:11.640
  • I would have never asked.
  • 00:14:11.640 --> 00:14:13.275
  • You know, i often say...
  • 00:14:13.275 --> 00:14:16.879
  • When i look back over the last 45 years, i never knew this
  • 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:19.548
  • Life, you know, and i'd get letters about your hair and
  • 00:14:19.548 --> 00:14:23.886
  • About your makeup and what you have on.
  • 00:14:23.886 --> 00:14:26.121
  • Nobody taught me how to be on tv.
  • 00:14:26.121 --> 00:14:28.457
  • - right, right, right.
  • 00:14:28.457 --> 00:14:29.692
  • - i had to learn the hard way, you know, of everything.
  • 00:14:29.692 --> 00:14:33.128
  • And so god calls you to do something that you couldn't do
  • 00:14:33.128 --> 00:14:37.533
  • Without him.
  • 00:14:37.533 --> 00:14:38.867
  • - well, he says he uses foolish things to confound the wise.
  • 00:14:38.867 --> 00:14:40.869
  • And i often marvel...
  • 00:14:40.869 --> 00:14:44.239
  • When i tell you about the boat, i marvel at what the lord allows
  • 00:14:44.239 --> 00:14:47.643
  • Me to do.
  • 00:14:47.643 --> 00:14:49.378
  • I have a tongue tie.
  • 00:14:49.378 --> 00:14:50.746
  • Like through elementary school, i was tripping over my words.
  • 00:14:50.746 --> 00:14:53.916
  • People made fun of me.
  • 00:14:53.916 --> 00:14:55.818
  • And i still have it.
  • 00:14:55.818 --> 00:14:57.119
  • But that's the thing.
  • 00:14:57.119 --> 00:14:59.288
  • See, god...
  • 00:14:59.288 --> 00:15:00.656
  • God has shown his power, and i know that, but i still have it.
  • 00:15:00.656 --> 00:15:04.526
  • And god has literally given me a ministry that i should
  • 00:15:04.526 --> 00:15:08.831
  • Physically not be able to have.
  • 00:15:08.831 --> 00:15:10.566
  • Physically, i should not be able to have, and he did it.
  • 00:15:10.566 --> 00:15:15.404
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:15:15.404 --> 00:15:23.545
  • - sometimes when you hit a problem, you discover even more
  • 00:15:23.545 --> 00:15:26.949
  • About god than you knew.
  • 00:15:26.949 --> 00:15:28.183
  • You know, you walk through something and you think, oh
  • 00:15:28.183 --> 00:15:29.785
  • Gosh, i didn't see this coming, but you realize that god did and
  • 00:15:29.785 --> 00:15:32.187
  • He is with you.
  • 00:15:32.187 --> 00:15:33.622
  • So i don't know what you're facing in your life right now,
  • 00:15:33.622 --> 00:15:36.091
  • But i want you to know, a, none of it was a surprise to god, and
  • 00:15:36.091 --> 00:15:40.062
  • B, jesus is with you, and c, he will give you what you need.
  • 00:15:40.062 --> 00:15:43.799
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
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  • Moments from today.
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  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:16:05.921 --> 00:16:07.008
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:16:07.008 --> 00:16:10.260
  • - what came to mind for me, psalm 25, verse 12, we were
  • 00:16:10.260 --> 00:16:13.963
  • Talking about the soil.
  • 00:16:13.963 --> 00:16:15.065
  • I think the soil of our heart is
  • 00:16:15.065 --> 00:16:18.401
  • Made healthy when we have a healthy fear of the lord.
  • 00:16:18.401 --> 00:16:21.337
  • We honor him when we revere him.
  • 00:16:21.337 --> 00:16:24.140
  • And he even says this, who then are those who fear the lord?
  • 00:16:24.140 --> 00:16:27.444
  • He will instruct them in the ways they should choose.
  • 00:16:27.444 --> 00:16:31.314
  • They will spend their days in prosperity and their descendants
  • 00:16:31.314 --> 00:16:34.984
  • Will inherit the land.
  • 00:16:34.984 --> 00:16:36.920
  • This is the part that just does me over every time.
  • 00:16:36.920 --> 00:16:39.456
  • Verse 14, the lord confides in those who fear him.
  • 00:16:39.456 --> 00:16:44.427
  • He makes his covenant known to them.
  • 00:16:44.427 --> 00:16:46.763
  • To be in a place where the god of the universe confides his
  • 00:16:46.763 --> 00:16:51.134
  • Secret wisdom, like what kind of prosperity could there be
  • 00:16:51.134 --> 00:16:58.842
  • Beyond that?
  • 00:16:58.842 --> 00:17:00.210
  • Like that to me is the ultimate blessing, but it starts with the
  • 00:17:00.210 --> 00:17:04.080
  • Fear of the lord.
  • 00:17:04.080 --> 00:17:05.748
  • I got to a place when i was transitioning out of actual work
  • 00:17:05.748 --> 00:17:09.152
  • And going into ministry, i got to a place where i was like,
  • 00:17:09.152 --> 00:17:11.788
  • Lord, you know what?
  • 00:17:11.788 --> 00:17:12.822
  • I said, i only want what you want.
  • 00:17:12.822 --> 00:17:14.991
  • I said, i'm not going to make stuff happen.
  • 00:17:14.991 --> 00:17:17.127
  • I said, i'm not going to call and do all types of deals and
  • 00:17:17.127 --> 00:17:19.262
  • Strategies and all that.
  • 00:17:19.262 --> 00:17:21.097
  • I said, god, if you want something to happen, you're
  • 00:17:21.097 --> 00:17:22.899
  • Going to have to bring it to me.
  • 00:17:22.899 --> 00:17:24.234
  • And the reason i'm doing that is because i need you to retrain
  • 00:17:24.234 --> 00:17:26.669
  • The way that i fear you to the point where if it's a door you
  • 00:17:26.669 --> 00:17:30.473
  • Want me to go through, you're going to open it.
  • 00:17:30.473 --> 00:17:32.342
  • If it's not a door you don't want me to go through, you're
  • 00:17:32.342 --> 00:17:33.910
  • Going to close it.
  • 00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:35.011
  • I'm not going to make anything happen.
  • 00:17:35.011 --> 00:17:36.479
  • And when i tell you he did it to the point where i look back and
  • 00:17:36.479 --> 00:17:40.884
  • I'm just like, man, i spent 42 years of my life orchestrating.
  • 00:17:40.884 --> 00:17:43.520
  • And i've seen god do more in the last year.
  • 00:17:43.520 --> 00:17:49.159
  • - amazing. - just taking my hands off.
  • 00:17:49.159 --> 00:17:50.560
  • - if you feel like you're not really at that place of being
  • 00:17:50.560 --> 00:17:54.964
  • Able to give god your full yes, and you want to grow into that
  • 00:17:54.964 --> 00:17:59.602
  • Place, you know what?
  • 00:17:59.602 --> 00:18:01.771
  • That is so human.
  • 00:18:01.771 --> 00:18:03.106
  • And i would say give the yes that you can give today.
  • 00:18:03.106 --> 00:18:06.176
  • And that yes will be even bigger.
  • 00:18:06.176 --> 00:18:08.645
  • And you know what?
  • 00:18:08.645 --> 00:18:10.246
  • As you start to take those steps and try to remain faithful
  • 00:18:10.246 --> 00:18:13.950
  • Regardless of how you feel, i would say keep going into that
  • 00:18:13.950 --> 00:18:18.888
  • Secret place of prayer.
  • 00:18:18.888 --> 00:18:20.156
  • Because as you deepen your intimacy with the holy spirit,
  • 00:18:20.156 --> 00:18:22.659
  • You cannot help but enlarge your yeses to god.
  • 00:18:22.659 --> 00:18:27.430
  • It's in his presence where our ways tend to just die.
  • 00:18:27.430 --> 00:18:33.970
  • Our sins and our ego tend to die and it's
  • 00:18:33.970 --> 00:18:37.207
  • When his will start to formulate in our lives.
  • 00:18:37.207 --> 00:18:42.045
  • - let's unpack the fear of the lord.
  • 00:18:42.045 --> 00:18:45.615
  • For those who might think, what does that mean?
  • 00:18:45.615 --> 00:18:47.984
  • Am i supposed to be scared of him?
  • 00:18:47.984 --> 00:18:49.485
  • What is the fear of the lord?
  • 00:18:49.485 --> 00:18:51.788
  • - it's a reverence.
  • 00:18:51.788 --> 00:18:53.890
  • - it's just a reverence of god.
  • 00:18:53.890 --> 00:18:55.158
  • Just that honor and respect of who he is and what he has
  • 00:18:55.158 --> 00:19:00.530
  • Already done.
  • 00:19:00.530 --> 00:19:01.331
  • It's not a fear, like i'm afraid.
  • 00:19:01.331 --> 00:19:02.899
  • That is a very good question because a lot of us look at the
  • 00:19:02.899 --> 00:19:07.804
  • Relationships that we've had with our fathers and things that
  • 00:19:07.804 --> 00:19:11.774
  • Have happened in our lives.
  • 00:19:11.774 --> 00:19:13.476
  • And we think god is like and it's like our fathers.
  • 00:19:13.476 --> 00:19:17.547
  • And so it's like if we are afraid of them, we are supposed
  • 00:19:17.547 --> 00:19:21.050
  • To be afraid of the father.
  • 00:19:21.050 --> 00:19:23.286
  • And so that's a very good question.
  • 00:19:23.286 --> 00:19:25.555
  • - i have one good experience about the fear of the lord.
  • 00:19:25.555 --> 00:19:29.459
  • And it was marking a time where we were asked to do something in
  • 00:19:29.459 --> 00:19:35.798
  • The last few years and it scared me half silly.
  • 00:19:35.798 --> 00:19:40.370
  • And the fear of it gripped my soul because i knew we weren't
  • 00:19:40.370 --> 00:19:46.643
  • Capable to do it, right?
  • 00:19:46.643 --> 00:19:49.379
  • And the lawyer was saying, what are you doing?
  • 00:19:49.379 --> 00:19:52.615
  • And when i started praying about it, you know the story, i was
  • 00:19:52.615 --> 00:19:58.588
  • Just having this conversation with god.
  • 00:19:58.588 --> 00:20:01.758
  • And i was like, god, we need another sign.
  • 00:20:01.758 --> 00:20:04.694
  • God has never said this.
  • 00:20:04.694 --> 00:20:07.497
  • Man's name to me to get involved with, or i've never even
  • 00:20:07.497 --> 00:20:11.768
  • Thought that.
  • 00:20:11.768 --> 00:20:13.636
  • And you give me another word.
  • 00:20:13.636 --> 00:20:15.505
  • And all i kept hearing is, where is your faith?
  • 00:20:15.505 --> 00:20:19.375
  • Where is your faith?
  • 00:20:19.375 --> 00:20:23.012
  • And almost a disappointment of, man, i have brought you so far.
  • 00:20:23.012 --> 00:20:26.983
  • I have done miracles for tbn for 53 years.
  • 00:20:26.983 --> 00:20:31.454
  • Where is your faith?
  • 00:20:31.454 --> 00:20:34.757
  • I've been answering your prayers.
  • 00:20:34.757 --> 00:20:37.427
  • I've been doing you right.
  • 00:20:37.427 --> 00:20:39.028
  • I've been faithful to you.
  • 00:20:39.028 --> 00:20:40.630
  • Where's your faith?
  • 00:20:40.630 --> 00:20:42.932
  • And it wasn't condemnation, but it was conviction of my
  • 00:20:42.932 --> 00:20:45.835
  • Very soul.
  • 00:20:45.835 --> 00:20:47.570
  • And so i just started declaring what the lord has told us over
  • 00:20:47.570 --> 00:20:51.240
  • The few years.
  • 00:20:51.240 --> 00:20:52.575
  • I said, god, all i know is that you said we would have the
  • 00:20:52.575 --> 00:20:55.144
  • Entrance into the hearts of the ungodly without them knowing it.
  • 00:20:55.144 --> 00:20:58.681
  • You were going to bring the best in their field.
  • 00:20:58.681 --> 00:21:01.184
  • You will.
  • 00:21:01.184 --> 00:21:02.785
  • And i just started declaring the word of god.
  • 00:21:02.785 --> 00:21:04.287
  • And he was like, i'm doing that now.
  • 00:21:04.287 --> 00:21:07.523
  • Can you not see that?
  • 00:21:07.523 --> 00:21:08.791
  • And i remember i walked into matt, and he was already doing
  • 00:21:08.791 --> 00:21:11.894
  • It, probably without me.
  • 00:21:11.894 --> 00:21:14.097
  • But i said, let me just tell you something, because i was wrecked
  • 00:21:14.097 --> 00:21:18.000
  • In my soul after two hours of just conversing and going over.
  • 00:21:18.000 --> 00:21:22.071
  • And god just, i said, my fear has flipped.
  • 00:21:22.071 --> 00:21:25.608
  • I said, i was so afraid when i was told we can't do it.
  • 00:21:25.608 --> 00:21:34.050
  • And i said, my conversation with god just now and the
  • 00:21:34.050 --> 00:21:37.754
  • Disappointment that he might have in me because
  • 00:21:37.754 --> 00:21:42.658
  • He's telling us to do something.
  • 00:21:42.658 --> 00:21:44.861
  • And i'm like going, i need another yet another
  • 00:21:44.861 --> 00:21:47.597
  • Word from him.
  • 00:21:47.597 --> 00:21:48.898
  • When he told me 33 years ago, things like this were going
  • 00:21:48.898 --> 00:21:51.968
  • To happen.
  • 00:21:51.968 --> 00:21:53.269
  • Can't you see that?
  • 00:21:53.269 --> 00:21:54.337
  • Can't you perceive it?
  • 00:21:54.337 --> 00:21:55.905
  • And like isaiah said, you know, remember not the former.
  • 00:21:55.905 --> 00:21:58.908
  • Yeah. and i was wrecked.
  • 00:21:58.908 --> 00:22:01.511
  • And i said, my fear has flipped.
  • 00:22:01.511 --> 00:22:03.846
  • And i said, it is gone from fear of man and what might happen to
  • 00:22:03.846 --> 00:22:07.917
  • The fear of the lord.
  • 00:22:07.917 --> 00:22:09.318
  • And i said, at this point, i said, i know god
  • 00:22:09.318 --> 00:22:12.722
  • Will still love me.
  • 00:22:12.722 --> 00:22:13.956
  • I will go to heaven.
  • 00:22:13.956 --> 00:22:17.093
  • Everything's going to be okay with my soul.
  • 00:22:17.093 --> 00:22:18.461
  • But i said, if we say no, i don't think that the lord would
  • 00:22:18.461 --> 00:22:21.564
  • Ever ask us to do another thing for him.
  • 00:22:21.564 --> 00:22:24.634
  • And i felt that to my core.
  • 00:22:24.634 --> 00:22:27.036
  • God couldn't trust me to tell me to do something that i
  • 00:22:27.036 --> 00:22:30.673
  • Would obey.
  • 00:22:30.673 --> 00:22:33.476
  • And i said, the fear of the lord is with me right now.
  • 00:22:33.476 --> 00:22:38.614
  • And i said, we can't say no.
  • 00:22:38.614 --> 00:22:41.684
  • Because i just, it would be like, okay, all right.
  • 00:22:41.684 --> 00:22:45.588
  • I'll just leave you.
  • 00:22:45.588 --> 00:22:48.291
  • You sit in your little christian box.
  • 00:22:48.291 --> 00:22:50.526
  • You just have to be comfortable there.
  • 00:22:50.526 --> 00:22:52.895
  • Play safe.
  • 00:22:52.895 --> 00:22:53.996
  • You'll never do anything significant again for me.
  • 00:22:53.996 --> 00:22:56.766
  • And that's just the way i felt.
  • 00:22:56.766 --> 00:23:00.803
  • It wasn't condemnation, nothing like that.
  • 00:23:00.803 --> 00:23:02.905
  • But that was the fear of the lord.
  • 00:23:02.905 --> 00:23:04.607
  • I mean, to obey his voice, come hell or high water, come death
  • 00:23:04.607 --> 00:23:08.911
  • Or life.
  • 00:23:08.911 --> 00:23:10.713
  • It was like that was the fear of the lord where i felt it to my
  • 00:23:10.713 --> 00:23:15.117
  • Core that i had to step out and give god everything.
  • 00:23:15.117 --> 00:23:19.489
  • But that's out of the reverence, the honor and the respect you
  • 00:23:19.489 --> 00:23:23.292
  • Have for god, because some people wouldn't even have heard
  • 00:23:23.292 --> 00:23:25.995
  • That. oh, no.
  • 00:23:25.995 --> 00:23:27.663
  • They would have heard that and were like, oh, he
  • 00:23:27.663 --> 00:23:29.732
  • Doesn't mean it.
  • 00:23:29.732 --> 00:23:31.834
  • He'll give me something else.
  • 00:23:31.834 --> 00:23:33.703
  • He would have still said no.
  • 00:23:33.703 --> 00:23:35.037
  • Yeah, still said no.
  • 00:23:35.037 --> 00:23:37.406
  • But for you to honor who god is, to say no, god, i don't ever
  • 00:23:37.406 --> 00:23:40.910
  • Want to disappoint you either.
  • 00:23:40.910 --> 00:23:42.378
  • Let me just obey.
  • 00:23:42.378 --> 00:23:44.881
  • - since that, and i know i felt it before, but since then, it's
  • 00:23:44.881 --> 00:23:47.350
  • Like nothing matters.
  • 00:23:47.350 --> 00:23:48.784
  • We say nothing doesn't matter.
  • 00:23:48.784 --> 00:23:50.353
  • I'm telling you. seriously.
  • 00:23:50.353 --> 00:23:52.221
  • Except the voice of the lord, right, and being obedient.
  • 00:23:52.221 --> 00:23:54.290
  • So now i just choose to do what he told us to do and leave the
  • 00:23:54.290 --> 00:23:59.562
  • Consequences to him.
  • 00:23:59.562 --> 00:24:02.331
  • Takes the weight off, doesn't it?
  • 00:24:02.331 --> 00:24:03.799
  • It's like, come unto me all weary and heavy laden with all
  • 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:06.802
  • The stuff that makes sense to you, and i will give you rest.
  • 00:24:06.802 --> 00:24:08.938
  • - in order to keep our hearts teachable to god's voice and
  • 00:24:08.938 --> 00:24:13.876
  • Direction, you need to actually have space for god's words
  • 00:24:13.876 --> 00:24:18.281
  • And directions.
  • 00:24:18.281 --> 00:24:19.782
  • I think so often our minds and our days are filled with our own
  • 00:24:19.782 --> 00:24:25.588
  • Thoughts and our own plans.
  • 00:24:25.588 --> 00:24:27.356
  • But is there a holy and sanctified pause available for
  • 00:24:27.356 --> 00:24:30.126
  • The holy spirit to interject and possibly even change
  • 00:24:30.126 --> 00:24:35.565
  • Your directions?
  • 00:24:35.565 --> 00:24:37.233
  • Is there space for him to speak to you?
  • 00:24:37.233 --> 00:24:38.701
  • Is there space for you to change your mind?
  • 00:24:38.701 --> 00:24:41.404
  • Or are you dead set on what you're trying to do and you just
  • 00:24:41.404 --> 00:24:45.474
  • Want god to affirm it?
  • 00:24:45.474 --> 00:24:46.909
  • And so really, is there space for that voice that allows you
  • 00:24:46.909 --> 00:24:49.478
  • To make sure that you are attuned to it?
  • 00:24:49.478 --> 00:24:52.515
  • On the most practical level, i think it's really just taking
  • 00:24:52.515 --> 00:24:56.252
  • God at his word.
  • 00:24:56.252 --> 00:24:57.753
  • When i first went into ministry, i was pretty young.
  • 00:24:57.753 --> 00:25:01.724
  • You know, i went into ministry at 19.
  • 00:25:01.724 --> 00:25:03.659
  • And i remember this one prayer intercessor person, she came up
  • 00:25:03.659 --> 00:25:08.264
  • To me and she looked me in the eyes and she said, god's going
  • 00:25:08.264 --> 00:25:12.134
  • To give you wisdom.
  • 00:25:12.134 --> 00:25:14.103
  • To which, as foolish as i was, i was thinking like, i need, like,
  • 00:25:14.103 --> 00:25:20.476
  • Other things.
  • 00:25:20.476 --> 00:25:22.044
  • You know, like, i mean.
  • 00:25:22.044 --> 00:25:25.815
  • Come on, solomon.
  • 00:25:25.815 --> 00:25:27.149
  • That is so funny.
  • 00:25:27.149 --> 00:25:29.185
  • I ain't no solomon, i'll tell you that.
  • 00:25:29.185 --> 00:25:31.087
  • Like, i was like, but wait, like, i need, like, a
  • 00:25:31.087 --> 00:25:33.990
  • Financial blessing.
  • 00:25:33.990 --> 00:25:35.491
  • I need, like, a healing anointing.
  • 00:25:35.491 --> 00:25:39.662
  • Like, you know, because i was, like, discipled under a lot of
  • 00:25:39.662 --> 00:25:43.432
  • Very charismatic revivalists.
  • 00:25:43.432 --> 00:25:46.335
  • And so i was like, wisdom?
  • 00:25:46.335 --> 00:25:48.671
  • I don't know.
  • 00:25:48.671 --> 00:25:49.939
  • And obviously like i ate my words and the next couple of
  • 00:25:49.939 --> 00:25:52.775
  • Years, i mean, i went through it because wisdom is not human
  • 00:25:52.775 --> 00:25:58.014
  • Logic, right?
  • 00:25:58.014 --> 00:25:59.382
  • Even the devil has logic, right?
  • 00:25:59.382 --> 00:26:01.817
  • And you see that play out in the gospels.
  • 00:26:01.817 --> 00:26:05.021
  • Like when they're like, wait, you know, if you're casting out
  • 00:26:05.021 --> 00:26:07.790
  • Demons, are you [indiscernible]?
  • 00:26:07.790 --> 00:26:10.559
  • Like, you know, even the devil has logic, right?
  • 00:26:10.559 --> 00:26:12.795
  • And i think sometimes we feel like our knowledge and our
  • 00:26:12.795 --> 00:26:15.231
  • Logic is enough.
  • 00:26:15.231 --> 00:26:16.565
  • I've shared this before, but like just on a genetic level, i
  • 00:26:16.565 --> 00:26:22.071
  • Do wrestle with depression.
  • 00:26:22.071 --> 00:26:25.408
  • Anxiety is just something that has been a battle.
  • 00:26:25.408 --> 00:26:28.544
  • And i remember just being engulfed into it during those
  • 00:26:28.544 --> 00:26:33.082
  • Years and feeling as though my life was just falling apart
  • 00:26:33.082 --> 00:26:39.755
  • Internally and externally until finally one day i was like
  • 00:26:39.755 --> 00:26:45.561
  • God, i am so tired of being a miserable christian.
  • 00:26:45.561 --> 00:26:49.098
  • Like i am so tired of it.
  • 00:26:49.098 --> 00:26:53.102
  • Like you got to make some of this enjoyable, like just some
  • 00:26:53.102 --> 00:26:54.704
  • Of it, any of it, you know?
  • 00:26:54.704 --> 00:26:57.206
  • And funny enough, i go to psalm one and it starts off with
  • 00:26:57.206 --> 00:27:02.278
  • How happy.
  • 00:27:02.278 --> 00:27:03.512
  • And some translation blessed.
  • 00:27:03.512 --> 00:27:06.215
  • You know, like how happy is the one who does not walk in the
  • 00:27:06.215 --> 00:27:10.619
  • Advice of the wicked or stand in the pathway with sinners.
  • 00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:14.690
  • Or sit in the company of mockers instead his delight is in the
  • 00:27:14.690 --> 00:27:20.162
  • Lord's instruction and he meditates on it day and night
  • 00:27:20.162 --> 00:27:24.867
  • And basically it's saying whatever he does prospers and i
  • 00:27:24.867 --> 00:27:28.904
  • Realized oh you've been trying to give me happiness all along,
  • 00:27:28.904 --> 00:27:33.342
  • Right and it literally says how happy i used to just take it as
  • 00:27:33.342 --> 00:27:36.746
  • Poetry as just like optimism maybe a hyperbole you know
  • 00:27:36.746 --> 00:27:42.284
  • Just like blessed are you move on but we're just realizing he
  • 00:27:42.284 --> 00:27:46.489
  • Really meant it.
  • 00:27:46.489 --> 00:27:48.124
  • How happy are you who meditating and delighting in the lord's
  • 00:27:48.124 --> 00:27:52.928
  • Instruction, receiving the lord's wisdom and letting that
  • 00:27:52.928 --> 00:27:56.999
  • Take space in your mind?
  • 00:27:56.999 --> 00:28:00.736
  • And you know what?
  • 00:28:00.736 --> 00:28:03.005
  • For a season, that's what i did.
  • 00:28:03.005 --> 00:28:04.473
  • I'm like, stop thinking.
  • 00:28:04.473 --> 00:28:05.741
  • Just stop thinking.
  • 00:28:05.741 --> 00:28:06.809
  • And i'm just going to think about this.
  • 00:28:06.809 --> 00:28:08.410
  • And i really tried to meditate.
  • 00:28:08.410 --> 00:28:10.312
  • Like anxiety is just really meditating on everything wrong
  • 00:28:10.312 --> 00:28:13.649
  • That could happen, you know, and imagining a world where god is
  • 00:28:13.649 --> 00:28:16.852
  • Not going to, you know, be by your side.
  • 00:28:16.852 --> 00:28:19.588
  • And so i just started to be like, you know what?
  • 00:28:19.588 --> 00:28:21.957
  • Stop thinking.
  • 00:28:21.957 --> 00:28:22.725
  • Because it's not helping you.
  • 00:28:22.725 --> 00:28:23.592
  • And just meditating on god's word.
  • 00:28:23.592 --> 00:28:25.327
  • And can i tell you the shift that happened within me
  • 00:28:25.327 --> 00:28:27.363
  • Physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually, in
  • 00:28:27.363 --> 00:28:32.067
  • All ways.
  • 00:28:32.067 --> 00:28:33.769
  • And the thing is, it was there all along.
  • 00:28:33.769 --> 00:28:37.072
  • I can't tell you how many times i preached off of psalm 1.
  • 00:28:37.072 --> 00:28:39.508
  • But, you know, the fear of the lord is really just taking god
  • 00:28:39.508 --> 00:28:43.979
  • For his word.
  • 00:28:43.979 --> 00:28:45.314
  • You know, i was treating it like information.
  • 00:28:45.314 --> 00:28:47.683
  • But the fear of the lord is saying, oh, you said it.
  • 00:28:47.683 --> 00:28:50.719
  • You mean it, and therefore it is true.
  • 00:28:50.719 --> 00:28:54.323
  • - well, that's the difference between information
  • 00:28:54.323 --> 00:28:55.357
  • And revelation.
  • 00:28:55.357 --> 00:28:56.525
  • Because knowing what the word says, but then having a
  • 00:28:56.525 --> 00:28:59.428
  • Revelation based on the life season that you're in and
  • 00:28:59.428 --> 00:29:01.664
  • Applying it and believing it.
  • 00:29:01.664 --> 00:29:03.299
  • And i think sometimes we don't experience the power of god's
  • 00:29:03.299 --> 00:29:06.068
  • Word because we know it intellectually, but we haven't
  • 00:29:06.068 --> 00:29:08.470
  • Had a revelation.
  • 00:29:08.470 --> 00:29:09.839
  • So sometimes people confuse wisdom and knowledge, and i want
  • 00:29:09.839 --> 00:29:14.443
  • To make the distinction.
  • 00:29:14.443 --> 00:29:16.278
  • Knowledge is essentially the gathering of information.
  • 00:29:16.278 --> 00:29:19.748
  • So you have a repository of data.
  • 00:29:19.748 --> 00:29:23.786
  • You have a repository of information that you can call on
  • 00:29:23.786 --> 00:29:27.056
  • At any time.
  • 00:29:27.056 --> 00:29:28.390
  • Wisdom is what happens when that information meets a revelation
  • 00:29:28.390 --> 00:29:32.962
  • From god and it becomes applied to your life.
  • 00:29:32.962 --> 00:29:36.332
  • There is an application.
  • 00:29:36.332 --> 00:29:37.933
  • It's so important to pursue wisdom because through wisdom,
  • 00:29:37.933 --> 00:29:42.137
  • You will be able to understand the hidden mysteries of god.
  • 00:29:42.137 --> 00:29:45.841
  • Wisdom is actually what informs faith, because i may not see the
  • 00:29:45.841 --> 00:29:50.613
  • Thing, but wisdom actually teaches me that the god of the
  • 00:29:50.613 --> 00:29:54.116
  • Thing is faithful.
  • 00:29:54.116 --> 00:29:56.385
  • And so all the information might be pointing in a direction
  • 00:29:56.385 --> 00:30:00.522
  • That is bad.
  • 00:30:00.522 --> 00:30:01.891
  • But i know romans 8:28, through the wisdom of god, says that all
  • 00:30:01.891 --> 00:30:04.226
  • Things will be worked together for my good.
  • 00:30:04.226 --> 00:30:06.428
  • That is where wisdom trumps faith, excuse me,
  • 00:30:06.428 --> 00:30:09.765
  • Trumps knowledge.
  • 00:30:09.765 --> 00:30:11.066
  • So we have to be willing to walk in wisdom, even when the
  • 00:30:11.066 --> 00:30:14.303
  • Knowledge seems counterintuitive.
  • 00:30:14.303 --> 00:30:15.771
  • I'm telling you, girl, when i say i understand, the way that i
  • 00:30:15.771 --> 00:30:19.475
  • Delight, having preached since i was 17, i've been a preacher
  • 00:30:19.475 --> 00:30:24.280
  • Since i was 17.
  • 00:30:24.280 --> 00:30:25.547
  • And it's like, the way i delight in this word, that's why i
  • 00:30:25.547 --> 00:30:29.285
  • Have highlights and markers and just everything through because
  • 00:30:29.285 --> 00:30:31.453
  • It's like i read through things i've read through for years and
  • 00:30:31.453 --> 00:30:34.657
  • It's like it's lifting off the page and it's just like wow i
  • 00:30:34.657 --> 00:30:37.159
  • Didn't even realize that happened and look at that and
  • 00:30:37.159 --> 00:30:39.028
  • How they did this and-- once you delight in this i like
  • 00:30:39.028 --> 00:30:41.063
  • This to me is my most prized possession this morning i was
  • 00:30:41.063 --> 00:30:45.968
  • Getting ready and i miss i didn't know where my bible was
  • 00:30:45.968 --> 00:30:50.039
  • Like i was literally tearing up the room because i was like i
  • 00:30:50.039 --> 00:30:52.574
  • Can lose my shoes i can lose my jewelry i can lose everything
  • 00:30:52.574 --> 00:30:55.978
  • Where is my word?
  • 00:30:55.978 --> 00:30:58.781
  • This is life.
  • 00:30:58.781 --> 00:31:00.149
  • When i'm going through seasons of discouragement, it's like, i
  • 00:31:00.149 --> 00:31:02.251
  • Know i can open up the word just this morning.
  • 00:31:02.251 --> 00:31:04.019
  • I literally flipped open the bible and it landed on the story
  • 00:31:04.019 --> 00:31:07.056
  • Of elisha.
  • 00:31:07.056 --> 00:31:08.257
  • But it's like, god was like, this is what i want you
  • 00:31:08.257 --> 00:31:10.092
  • To teach.
  • 00:31:10.092 --> 00:31:10.826
  • And i'm reading through it.
  • 00:31:10.826 --> 00:31:12.161
  • I'm seeing things that i've read this story a million times and
  • 00:31:12.161 --> 00:31:13.462
  • I'm seeing it differently.
  • 00:31:13.462 --> 00:31:14.296
  • - yeah, the word is alive.
  • 00:31:14.296 --> 00:31:17.099
  • It breathes.
  • 00:31:17.099 --> 00:31:17.967
  • I mean, it's inexhaustible.
  • 00:31:17.967 --> 00:31:20.602
  • It's always speaking of new revelation, freshness unto us.
  • 00:31:20.602 --> 00:31:24.840
  • I love that.
  • 00:31:24.840 --> 00:31:26.175
  • It's so funny because so many people read the word like it's
  • 00:31:26.175 --> 00:31:29.111
  • Just, you know, just a bunch of words because out of duty
  • 00:31:29.111 --> 00:31:33.949
  • Opposed to out of revelation.
  • 00:31:33.949 --> 00:31:36.251
  • It's so important to spend time in the presence of god and in
  • 00:31:36.251 --> 00:31:40.255
  • His word.
  • 00:31:40.255 --> 00:31:42.257
  • There are so many benefits that already exist in the word.
  • 00:31:42.257 --> 00:31:47.296
  • There is nothing that you can desire, nothing that you can
  • 00:31:47.296 --> 00:31:51.734
  • Want that god has not already taken care of.
  • 00:31:51.734 --> 00:31:55.604
  • Your life is not an emergency.
  • 00:31:55.604 --> 00:31:58.707
  • I know it feels like it is, but it's not.
  • 00:31:58.707 --> 00:32:01.877
  • Go into his word and find out the benefits that exist.
  • 00:32:01.877 --> 00:32:06.682
  • I think about someone on, you know, a job and they have all of
  • 00:32:06.682 --> 00:32:11.320
  • These benefits that they are entitled to.
  • 00:32:11.320 --> 00:32:13.622
  • But if they never go to the hr department to read the
  • 00:32:13.622 --> 00:32:19.128
  • Documents, to see what they are entitled to, surely they're
  • 00:32:19.128 --> 00:32:23.799
  • Going to work for 30 years or 40 years and never be able to be a
  • 00:32:23.799 --> 00:32:26.201
  • Partaker of the benefits that that job has to offer.
  • 00:32:26.201 --> 00:32:29.671
  • That's the same way it is in the world.
  • 00:32:29.671 --> 00:32:31.974
  • In that same way it is with your relationship with the father.
  • 00:32:31.974 --> 00:32:34.443
  • Learn your benefits so you can know what you are entitled
  • 00:32:34.443 --> 00:32:38.013
  • To today.
  • 00:32:38.013 --> 00:32:39.581
  • I think about the whole wisdom piece on when
  • 00:32:39.581 --> 00:32:43.152
  • I first got married, i was so unwise.
  • 00:32:43.152 --> 00:32:46.355
  • - not you.
  • 00:32:46.355 --> 00:32:49.258
  • - so unwise.
  • 00:32:49.258 --> 00:32:50.526
  • I didn't understand anything about marriage, even though my
  • 00:32:50.526 --> 00:32:54.063
  • Parents were married for years.
  • 00:32:54.063 --> 00:32:55.831
  • But i always saw my mother do things just in her own ability.
  • 00:32:55.831 --> 00:33:00.302
  • So when i wanted to get things done, i didn't understand there
  • 00:33:00.302 --> 00:33:05.574
  • Was a way to get it done.
  • 00:33:05.574 --> 00:33:07.176
  • And so i had to grow and ask god for wisdom in the scripture.
  • 00:33:07.176 --> 00:33:11.814
  • It was that james 1 and 5 says, if any man lacks it, let him ask
  • 00:33:11.814 --> 00:33:15.384
  • Of god.
  • 00:33:15.384 --> 00:33:17.152
  • Because he gives it liberally.
  • 00:33:17.152 --> 00:33:18.854
  • I mean, he gives it to us.
  • 00:33:18.854 --> 00:33:20.522
  • And i just didn't have that concept.
  • 00:33:20.522 --> 00:33:23.459
  • I would just, like, i was a nagger.
  • 00:33:23.459 --> 00:33:27.529
  • Like, come on, you know this needs to be fixed.
  • 00:33:27.529 --> 00:33:29.098
  • Go fix that.
  • 00:33:29.098 --> 00:33:29.765
  • And he wouldn't fix it.
  • 00:33:29.765 --> 00:33:31.133
  • So i learned how to operate in the wisdom and what i would do.
  • 00:33:31.133 --> 00:33:32.801
  • Instead of asking him again to go and fix something that was
  • 00:33:32.801 --> 00:33:38.974
  • Broken, like the stove.
  • 00:33:38.974 --> 00:33:40.309
  • I had fixed it all.
  • 00:33:40.309 --> 00:33:42.044
  • The stove, the washing machine, the refrigerator, get some kind
  • 00:33:42.044 --> 00:33:45.581
  • Of understanding of it.
  • 00:33:45.581 --> 00:33:47.983
  • I would go in and start just pulling it all apart.
  • 00:33:47.983 --> 00:33:50.919
  • That got his attention.
  • 00:33:50.919 --> 00:33:53.655
  • But i didn't do it in a manipulative kind of way.
  • 00:33:53.655 --> 00:33:57.025
  • I honestly went to do it...
  • 00:33:57.025 --> 00:33:59.194
  • To just say, hey, i'll fix it.
  • 00:33:59.194 --> 00:34:01.897
  • Let god just deal with you.
  • 00:34:01.897 --> 00:34:03.765
  • You get up off that couch or whatever, and i'll go and do it.
  • 00:34:03.765 --> 00:34:07.769
  • But i saw that was a way that god used to get his attention.
  • 00:34:07.769 --> 00:34:14.843
  • And it's like, whatever we get, the bible says to get wisdom.
  • 00:34:14.843 --> 00:34:18.714
  • And all things get wisdom.
  • 00:34:18.714 --> 00:34:21.283
  • Well, we get money, get wisdom.
  • 00:34:21.283 --> 00:34:23.585
  • We get friends, get wisdom.
  • 00:34:23.585 --> 00:34:24.720
  • You get a husband, you need wisdom.
  • 00:34:24.720 --> 00:34:26.622
  • You know, your wives.
  • 00:34:26.622 --> 00:34:28.157
  • Get wisdom, whatever it is.
  • 00:34:28.157 --> 00:34:29.925
  • And i think we try to do life again in our own abilities, in
  • 00:34:29.925 --> 00:34:33.929
  • Our own understanding what we have obtained through our
  • 00:34:33.929 --> 00:34:38.233
  • Upbringing or in the barbershop, the hair salon, opposed to
  • 00:34:38.233 --> 00:34:41.470
  • Really seeking god, saying, god, give me your operational insight
  • 00:34:41.470 --> 00:34:48.210
  • Into what it is that i need to do in this situation.
  • 00:34:48.210 --> 00:34:52.581
  • - one of the prayers that my husband and i have had since our
  • 00:34:52.581 --> 00:34:57.052
  • Son was not even born yet, is that we would pray for him that
  • 00:34:57.052 --> 00:35:01.790
  • He would be given wisdom and discernment.
  • 00:35:01.790 --> 00:35:03.759
  • And my husband prays that over me every single day.
  • 00:35:03.759 --> 00:35:07.462
  • Because, you know, we live in a world of opinions.
  • 00:35:07.462 --> 00:35:10.365
  • And if you're involved with social media at all, people are
  • 00:35:10.365 --> 00:35:13.101
  • Always talking about all sorts of things.
  • 00:35:13.101 --> 00:35:15.037
  • And they can present a very convincing argument.
  • 00:35:15.037 --> 00:35:17.639
  • And two minutes later, somebody else can present the argument
  • 00:35:17.639 --> 00:35:20.075
  • That's the opposite of that and be equally convincing.
  • 00:35:20.075 --> 00:35:22.611
  • That's why i believe in this world, we need the
  • 00:35:22.611 --> 00:35:25.480
  • Wisdom of god.
  • 00:35:25.480 --> 00:35:26.782
  • But what i love is if you read in in james it says if any of
  • 00:35:26.782 --> 00:35:30.586
  • You lack wisdom ask god and he will give it to you generously
  • 00:35:30.586 --> 00:35:34.423
  • ♪ (music playing) ♪
  • 00:35:34.423 --> 00:35:42.197
  • - we can receive the blessing by just receiving christ.
  • 00:35:42.197 --> 00:35:46.635
  • The bible says that we are the blessed of abraham we are
  • 00:35:46.635 --> 00:35:50.405
  • The seed of abraham.
  • 00:35:50.405 --> 00:35:51.907
  • When he blessed abraham he blessed us so he gave us the
  • 00:35:51.907 --> 00:35:55.611
  • Blessing when you receive him but then there are blessings
  • 00:35:55.611 --> 00:35:59.481
  • That we all desire to receive from this relationship that we
  • 00:35:59.481 --> 00:36:04.486
  • Have from the word, and god has already given them unto us.
  • 00:36:04.486 --> 00:36:07.990
  • All we have to do is to make our requests known unto him, and
  • 00:36:07.990 --> 00:36:13.228
  • Then he begins to manifest those things in our life.
  • 00:36:13.228 --> 00:36:17.032
  • So just receive christ today, and you will receive
  • 00:36:17.032 --> 00:36:20.869
  • The blessings.
  • 00:36:20.869 --> 00:36:23.238
  • - let's keep the conversation going.
  • 00:36:23.238 --> 00:36:24.740
  • You can find the better together podcast on your favorite
  • 00:36:24.740 --> 00:36:27.142
  • Listening platform.
  • 00:36:27.142 --> 00:36:29.044
  • Subscribe today.
  • 00:36:29.044 --> 00:36:30.679
  • (music playing)
  • 00:36:30.679 --> 00:36:34.004
  • (music playing)
  • 00:36:34.004 --> 00:36:42.292
  • - when god challenges your opinions or stances, that's
  • 00:36:42.292 --> 00:36:45.862
  • A good sign.
  • 00:36:45.862 --> 00:36:46.996
  • That means you're actually hearing from the lord.
  • 00:36:46.996 --> 00:36:50.500
  • I would get more concerned if someone says that their god
  • 00:36:50.500 --> 00:36:53.903
  • Never disagrees with them.
  • 00:36:53.903 --> 00:36:55.571
  • So i would say, one, that means you're hearing from god, which
  • 00:36:55.571 --> 00:36:59.208
  • Is so healthy, so great.
  • 00:36:59.208 --> 00:37:00.743
  • And i would say, really look into your heart and ask
  • 00:37:00.743 --> 00:37:03.946
  • Yourself, are you teachable?
  • 00:37:03.946 --> 00:37:05.648
  • Are you moldable?
  • 00:37:05.648 --> 00:37:06.983
  • And if god disagrees with you, are you willing to grow from it?
  • 00:37:06.983 --> 00:37:10.186
  • Or are you wanting to stay in your own lane and stuck in your
  • 00:37:10.186 --> 00:37:14.223
  • Own ways?
  • 00:37:14.223 --> 00:37:18.394
  • - one of the things i think to have good soil is to
  • 00:37:19.495 --> 00:37:23.166
  • Avoid distraction.
  • 00:37:23.166 --> 00:37:25.535
  • Because i think that, you know, when i'm thinking about jesus
  • 00:37:25.535 --> 00:37:28.805
  • Telling that story and the picture people have in their
  • 00:37:28.805 --> 00:37:31.941
  • Mind and some seeds really growing up but then getting
  • 00:37:31.941 --> 00:37:34.277
  • Choked, you know, i think it's like when you face hard things
  • 00:37:34.277 --> 00:37:37.947
  • In life, i can either decide to be broken by them or allow the
  • 00:37:37.947 --> 00:37:41.884
  • Word of god to break me.
  • 00:37:41.884 --> 00:37:44.220
  • And if i allow the word of god to break me, it changes
  • 00:37:44.220 --> 00:37:46.823
  • Who i am.
  • 00:37:46.823 --> 00:37:48.124
  • And my heart becomes even more receptive as opposed to just
  • 00:37:48.124 --> 00:37:50.927
  • Getting distracted by all the things out there.
  • 00:37:50.927 --> 00:37:52.895
  • I think that's what he may have meant in that thing about the
  • 00:37:52.895 --> 00:37:57.166
  • Worst enemy of the best is not the worst.
  • 00:37:57.166 --> 00:37:58.801
  • It's the second best, you know, of settling for less than what
  • 00:37:58.801 --> 00:38:01.971
  • God really wants.
  • 00:38:01.971 --> 00:38:03.339
  • Let me finish up my story.
  • 00:38:03.339 --> 00:38:04.974
  • So i'm in the chapel and i'm like, okay, lord.
  • 00:38:04.974 --> 00:38:07.677
  • I'm all in.
  • 00:38:07.677 --> 00:38:08.845
  • I have no idea.
  • 00:38:08.845 --> 00:38:10.179
  • And i go out and i realize that in our other large building,
  • 00:38:10.179 --> 00:38:13.416
  • Somebody's playing the piano.
  • 00:38:13.416 --> 00:38:14.751
  • So i just wander in to see who's playing the piano.
  • 00:38:14.751 --> 00:38:19.222
  • And it's a guy i don't know.
  • 00:38:19.222 --> 00:38:20.223
  • It's definitely not one of my lecturers.
  • 00:38:20.223 --> 00:38:21.491
  • But i walked up to him and i just sat in the front and he
  • 00:38:21.491 --> 00:38:24.093
  • Said, i've been waiting for you.
  • 00:38:24.093 --> 00:38:25.428
  • And i'm like, excuse me.
  • 00:38:25.428 --> 00:38:28.064
  • His name was ted grote and he was with european youth
  • 00:38:28.064 --> 00:38:31.134
  • For christ.
  • 00:38:31.134 --> 00:38:32.468
  • And he said, i've heard about you and i heard that you sing.
  • 00:38:32.468 --> 00:38:34.871
  • And i said, well, yeah, a bit.
  • 00:38:34.871 --> 00:38:37.373
  • I mean, not a lot, but i do a bit.
  • 00:38:37.373 --> 00:38:39.142
  • And he said, well, i'm here to meet with you because the lord's
  • 00:38:39.142 --> 00:38:42.612
  • Told me that we're going to put this thing together.
  • 00:38:42.612 --> 00:38:44.414
  • It was called oasis.
  • 00:38:44.414 --> 00:38:46.682
  • His vision was he was going to take a musician from every
  • 00:38:46.682 --> 00:38:49.051
  • European country that they were working in and put them together
  • 00:38:49.051 --> 00:38:52.889
  • Into one band.
  • 00:38:52.889 --> 00:38:53.856
  • So i was in the uk.
  • 00:38:53.856 --> 00:38:54.991
  • Our guitarist was from italy.
  • 00:38:54.991 --> 00:38:57.026
  • Our drummer was from germany.
  • 00:38:57.026 --> 00:38:58.795
  • And it was just that i'm thinking, lord, is this right?
  • 00:38:58.795 --> 00:39:01.931
  • This doesn't feel like being a missionary in india.
  • 00:39:01.931 --> 00:39:04.434
  • I'm going to be traveling all over you.
  • 00:39:04.434 --> 00:39:06.235
  • But it was simply, sheila, do you trust me or do you trust
  • 00:39:06.235 --> 00:39:09.672
  • What you understand?
  • 00:39:09.672 --> 00:39:10.940
  • And it was like, no, actually, lord, i trust you.
  • 00:39:10.940 --> 00:39:15.378
  • I don't know what this is going to look like.
  • 00:39:15.378 --> 00:39:17.513
  • And i don't know any of these people.
  • 00:39:17.513 --> 00:39:18.815
  • But that's the next step that you've shown me.
  • 00:39:18.815 --> 00:39:21.651
  • So i will take the next step.
  • 00:39:21.651 --> 00:39:23.886
  • And honestly, from that point onwards, that's the way
  • 00:39:23.886 --> 00:39:26.923
  • It's been.
  • 00:39:26.923 --> 00:39:28.925
  • It's just been something that would happen and somebody would
  • 00:39:28.925 --> 00:39:31.594
  • Say, hey, what do you think about doing this?
  • 00:39:31.594 --> 00:39:34.530
  • And it's like, you look and the light's there.
  • 00:39:34.530 --> 00:39:36.132
  • It's the next step.
  • 00:39:36.132 --> 00:39:37.033
  • So you take it.
  • 00:39:37.033 --> 00:39:38.367
  • So i'm just thinking of people out there who feel overwhelmed
  • 00:39:38.367 --> 00:39:39.469
  • By making mistakes.
  • 00:39:39.469 --> 00:39:41.370
  • You know, how do i find god's will?
  • 00:39:41.370 --> 00:39:43.940
  • I don't think it's lost.
  • 00:39:43.940 --> 00:39:45.408
  • You know, i think it's just to stay close to jesus and take the
  • 00:39:45.408 --> 00:39:49.011
  • Next step.
  • 00:39:49.011 --> 00:39:50.880
  • - you know, we're all familiar with hebrews 11 and 1.
  • 00:39:50.880 --> 00:39:53.783
  • We're familiar with faith being the substance of things hoped
  • 00:39:53.783 --> 00:39:56.319
  • For and the evidence of things not seen.
  • 00:39:56.319 --> 00:40:00.857
  • We hear that and we memorize that, but sometimes we only know
  • 00:40:00.857 --> 00:40:02.458
  • It intellectually.
  • 00:40:02.458 --> 00:40:04.227
  • But if you really read what it's saying, what it's saying is that
  • 00:40:04.227 --> 00:40:07.230
  • Faith there is an expectation of something that comes with the
  • 00:40:07.230 --> 00:40:11.234
  • Faith because it is the evidence of what you don't see.
  • 00:40:11.234 --> 00:40:13.569
  • It is the substance of what you hope for.
  • 00:40:13.569 --> 00:40:17.573
  • Faith in and of itself requires expectation of that which you do
  • 00:40:17.573 --> 00:40:21.811
  • Not yet have.
  • 00:40:21.811 --> 00:40:23.813
  • And it's so important.
  • 00:40:23.813 --> 00:40:25.181
  • To have faith because the bible tells us that without faith it's
  • 00:40:25.181 --> 00:40:26.516
  • Impossible to please god we have to believe that god is who he
  • 00:40:26.516 --> 00:40:31.888
  • Says he is we have to believe that god can do what he says he
  • 00:40:31.888 --> 00:40:34.957
  • Can do we have to believe that we have what god says we have
  • 00:40:34.957 --> 00:40:37.560
  • Even if we don't have the manifestation of it and that's
  • 00:40:37.560 --> 00:40:42.999
  • Why the expectation that comes with faith is actually one of
  • 00:40:42.999 --> 00:40:46.969
  • The most important signs of vitality in the life of
  • 00:40:46.969 --> 00:40:50.106
  • A christian.
  • 00:40:50.106 --> 00:40:51.340
  • - i think too sometimes we ask the wrong question.
  • 00:40:51.340 --> 00:40:55.344
  • Because we ask like, what is it that god wants me to do?
  • 00:40:55.344 --> 00:40:57.413
  • And if you notice, like if you look at the example of moses,
  • 00:40:57.413 --> 00:41:01.117
  • For example, you look at moses, gideon, saul, all these people
  • 00:41:01.117 --> 00:41:05.021
  • Who god called to an assignment.
  • 00:41:05.021 --> 00:41:07.823
  • He didn't call them to an assignment first.
  • 00:41:07.823 --> 00:41:09.625
  • He actually called them to an identity first.
  • 00:41:09.625 --> 00:41:11.294
  • He called them to a place where he actually trained their faith
  • 00:41:11.294 --> 00:41:14.530
  • To follow him.
  • 00:41:14.530 --> 00:41:16.933
  • Then he gave them the assignment.
  • 00:41:16.933 --> 00:41:18.501
  • And so that's why i think this conversation is so important
  • 00:41:18.501 --> 00:41:20.303
  • Because i believe that what god is calling us to do is going to
  • 00:41:20.303 --> 00:41:22.905
  • Be on the other side of the identity he's giving us.
  • 00:41:22.905 --> 00:41:26.075
  • And so even in your obedience, it's like he was changing your
  • 00:41:26.075 --> 00:41:30.346
  • Identity, right?
  • 00:41:30.346 --> 00:41:31.981
  • Because you're thinking, oh, i'm going to be a missionary
  • 00:41:31.981 --> 00:41:33.149
  • In india.
  • 00:41:33.149 --> 00:41:34.450
  • And he's like, actually, i'm calling you to this band that
  • 00:41:34.450 --> 00:41:36.519
  • You weren't even thinking.
  • 00:41:36.519 --> 00:41:37.720
  • And you're like, but that doesn't have anything to do
  • 00:41:37.720 --> 00:41:38.888
  • With it.
  • 00:41:38.888 --> 00:41:40.189
  • He's like, exactly, because there's an identity i need to
  • 00:41:40.189 --> 00:41:41.057
  • Birth in you through this assignment.
  • 00:41:41.057 --> 00:41:42.992
  • And so the question i would even pose to people is just, who is
  • 00:41:42.992 --> 00:41:46.062
  • It that god's calling you to be in this season?
  • 00:41:46.062 --> 00:41:47.863
  • That's good.
  • 00:41:47.863 --> 00:41:49.231
  • - now, my favorite verse, acts 20:24 could be, i mean, i would
  • 00:41:49.231 --> 00:41:53.035
  • Get it tattooed on my arm if my husband would let me.
  • 00:41:53.035 --> 00:41:55.671
  • But it's like when paul says, toward the end of his life, my
  • 00:41:55.671 --> 00:41:59.141
  • Life is worth nothing to me now, unless i use it for finishing
  • 00:41:59.141 --> 00:42:01.911
  • The work assigned by the lord jesus christ.
  • 00:42:01.911 --> 00:42:03.913
  • The wonderful work of telling others about the glorious grace
  • 00:42:03.913 --> 00:42:07.016
  • Of god.
  • 00:42:07.016 --> 00:42:08.451
  • And that's what the lord showed me because i was raised in a
  • 00:42:08.451 --> 00:42:12.588
  • Small baptist church where it was, if you're a man, you can be
  • 00:42:12.588 --> 00:42:14.590
  • The pastor.
  • 00:42:14.590 --> 00:42:15.658
  • If you're a woman and you want to serve god,
  • 00:42:15.658 --> 00:42:17.760
  • You're a missionary.
  • 00:42:17.760 --> 00:42:19.795
  • And that's why i chose, i'll be a missionary because i'm
  • 00:42:19.795 --> 00:42:22.131
  • Not a man.
  • 00:42:22.131 --> 00:42:24.900
  • But it was incredible because what god was showing me was no
  • 00:42:24.900 --> 00:42:26.602
  • Matter where i take you, no matter what your role looks
  • 00:42:26.602 --> 00:42:28.938
  • Like, your job's the same.
  • 00:42:28.938 --> 00:42:30.840
  • You're going to tell people how wonderful i am.
  • 00:42:30.840 --> 00:42:33.376
  • And so it's an exciting adventure.
  • 00:42:33.376 --> 00:42:36.946
  • - so you said something about one of the threats to spiritual
  • 00:42:36.946 --> 00:42:40.449
  • Faithfulness is distraction.
  • 00:42:40.449 --> 00:42:41.951
  • So jesus says that some seed is choked by cares, riches,
  • 00:42:41.951 --> 00:42:48.758
  • Pleasures, and the desire for other things.
  • 00:42:48.758 --> 00:42:51.827
  • That's not always open rebellion, right?
  • 00:42:51.827 --> 00:42:55.564
  • But it's just a distraction or it's a slow drift
  • 00:42:55.564 --> 00:42:58.868
  • Towards distraction.
  • 00:42:58.868 --> 00:43:00.036
  • Good things become controlling things.
  • 00:43:00.036 --> 00:43:02.438
  • Attention becomes divided and affection becomes diluted.
  • 00:43:02.438 --> 00:43:06.876
  • A teachable heart must continually weed its garden,
  • 00:43:06.876 --> 00:43:11.647
  • Removing whatever competes with devotion to christ.
  • 00:43:11.647 --> 00:43:13.649
  • So i think that's where we lose the word sometimes when we're
  • 00:43:13.649 --> 00:43:17.353
  • Talking about the seed of the word of god.
  • 00:43:17.353 --> 00:43:19.955
  • Becoming fertile soil for that seed.
  • 00:43:19.955 --> 00:43:24.760
  • You know, it's got to go deep into our souls.
  • 00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:27.296
  • - it's an interesting thing.
  • 00:43:27.296 --> 00:43:29.632
  • There's quite a gap between hearing god's word and then
  • 00:43:29.632 --> 00:43:33.269
  • Applying it to your life.
  • 00:43:33.269 --> 00:43:34.837
  • One of the things that i've been learning over the last few years
  • 00:43:34.837 --> 00:43:38.607
  • Is when i read scripture, i find myself asking the holy spirit,
  • 00:43:38.607 --> 00:43:41.911
  • Like before i even start, i'll just ask, holy spirit, help me
  • 00:43:41.911 --> 00:43:45.715
  • To understand what i might miss without you.
  • 00:43:45.715 --> 00:43:47.683
  • Give me eyes to see and give me ears to hear what you're saying.
  • 00:43:47.683 --> 00:43:51.087
  • The ability to obey what god's word says, it's like to put
  • 00:43:51.087 --> 00:43:55.624
  • Yourself in a position in the stream of what god is doing,
  • 00:43:55.624 --> 00:43:58.961
  • Because god's made it very clear.
  • 00:43:58.961 --> 00:44:00.996
  • You read through the psalms and you'll see that those who
  • 00:44:00.996 --> 00:44:03.933
  • Delight in the lord and in his word will prosper in the ways
  • 00:44:03.933 --> 00:44:07.603
  • That really matter.
  • 00:44:07.603 --> 00:44:08.938
  • - i had a 14-year-old girl come to me not long ago, and she
  • 00:44:08.938 --> 00:44:13.442
  • Asked me, she said, how do i maintain?
  • 00:44:13.442 --> 00:44:18.614
  • My focus in a world that's so full of distractions.
  • 00:44:18.614 --> 00:44:22.451
  • I'm like, you're 14.
  • 00:44:22.451 --> 00:44:25.955
  • To have that question was amazing.
  • 00:44:25.955 --> 00:44:28.991
  • I said, do you play sports?
  • 00:44:28.991 --> 00:44:32.528
  • And she said, i do.
  • 00:44:32.528 --> 00:44:33.429
  • I said, what do you play?
  • 00:44:33.429 --> 00:44:34.396
  • She said, i play volleyball.
  • 00:44:34.396 --> 00:44:35.698
  • And i know she plays sports because all her family
  • 00:44:35.698 --> 00:44:38.801
  • Are into sports.
  • 00:44:38.801 --> 00:44:39.869
  • And she said, i play volleyball.
  • 00:44:39.869 --> 00:44:41.704
  • I said, oh, wow, that is so good.
  • 00:44:41.704 --> 00:44:43.372
  • I said, how is it that you see the ball and
  • 00:44:43.372 --> 00:44:46.842
  • Hit it to the other side?
  • 00:44:46.842 --> 00:44:49.545
  • She said, i just keep my eye on the ball.
  • 00:44:49.545 --> 00:44:51.547
  • I said, oh, that's what you do.
  • 00:44:51.547 --> 00:44:52.948
  • I said, you mean to tell me you don't pay attention to all of
  • 00:44:52.948 --> 00:44:56.152
  • The people that are around you before you decide if you're
  • 00:44:56.152 --> 00:44:59.021
  • Going to hit the ball?
  • 00:44:59.021 --> 00:45:00.156
  • She said, no, i just...
  • 00:45:00.156 --> 00:45:01.390
  • I watch the ball.
  • 00:45:01.390 --> 00:45:02.725
  • I say, well, that's how you maintain your focus and keep it
  • 00:45:02.725 --> 00:45:05.728
  • Off of the distraction.
  • 00:45:05.728 --> 00:45:08.130
  • That's wisdom right there.
  • 00:45:08.130 --> 00:45:09.365
  • It's like you have to maintain your focus on what you
  • 00:45:09.365 --> 00:45:12.868
  • Are after.
  • 00:45:12.868 --> 00:45:15.371
  • And so, i mean, planting that seed and having that on the
  • 00:45:15.371 --> 00:45:17.573
  • Inside of us, our job, like you've been saying, is to
  • 00:45:17.573 --> 00:45:21.811
  • Steward that seed.
  • 00:45:21.811 --> 00:45:23.345
  • To keep it in a place where we'll continue to be fertile so
  • 00:45:23.345 --> 00:45:26.949
  • God can continue to grow that thing up in us so he can
  • 00:45:26.949 --> 00:45:30.352
  • Be glorified.
  • 00:45:30.352 --> 00:45:31.487
  • - you know, if we get real practical about it,
  • 00:45:31.487 --> 00:45:34.223
  • - stop sinning.
  • 00:45:34.223 --> 00:45:35.558
  • - come on.
  • 00:45:35.558 --> 00:45:37.326
  • - step one.
  • 00:45:37.326 --> 00:45:38.561
  • - step one, stop doing the things that you know you're
  • 00:45:38.561 --> 00:45:41.030
  • Not supposed to be doing.
  • 00:45:41.030 --> 00:45:41.964
  • I think that's super practical, but
  • 00:45:41.964 --> 00:45:44.433
  • Comes and chokes the word right out of you.
  • 00:45:44.433 --> 00:45:47.403
  • - because it messes up your confidence, too.
  • 00:45:47.403 --> 00:45:50.706
  • - totally. and your identity.
  • 00:45:50.706 --> 00:45:52.575
  • All of it.
  • 00:45:52.575 --> 00:45:53.442
  • All the things.
  • 00:45:53.442 --> 00:45:54.610
  • Let's live for the lord.
  • 00:45:54.610 --> 00:45:56.579
  • Let's do this right.
  • 00:45:56.579 --> 00:45:57.813
  • Let's stop messing around.
  • 00:45:57.813 --> 00:45:59.515
  • That's so good, lord.
  • 00:45:59.515 --> 00:46:00.716
  • And sleeping with your boyfriends and living with men
  • 00:46:00.716 --> 00:46:04.553
  • And all those things that we're not supposed to be doing as
  • 00:46:04.553 --> 00:46:07.990
  • Women of god.
  • 00:46:07.990 --> 00:46:09.925
  • And get our hearts right with god.
  • 00:46:09.925 --> 00:46:13.529
  • You know, i think that if we just realized how much we are
  • 00:46:13.529 --> 00:46:17.199
  • Loved, how much god loves us, god loves you.
  • 00:46:17.199 --> 00:46:22.404
  • And you know what?
  • 00:46:22.404 --> 00:46:24.573
  • It's that love that frees us.
  • 00:46:24.573 --> 00:46:26.208
  • It's that love that makes me not want to sin against god.
  • 00:46:26.208 --> 00:46:30.613
  • And so if we have a heart that when we miss the mark of what we
  • 00:46:30.613 --> 00:46:37.686
  • Should be doing, that we get a conviction in our spirit that we
  • 00:46:37.686 --> 00:46:45.060
  • Know is wrong, that what i just said or what i just did is not
  • 00:46:45.060 --> 00:46:49.465
  • Pleasing to god, the holy spirit is with you to overcome.
  • 00:46:49.465 --> 00:46:54.737
  • He gives us the power to overcome the desires, the
  • 00:46:54.737 --> 00:47:03.212
  • Attitudes, the things in our lives that would distract us and
  • 00:47:03.212 --> 00:47:06.282
  • Turn us and keep us from missing the mark.
  • 00:47:06.282 --> 00:47:09.151
  • To actually stop sinning, to actually become your
  • 00:47:09.151 --> 00:47:14.323
  • Consciousness is free of sin.
  • 00:47:14.323 --> 00:47:17.593
  • And so you're not thinking about sinning.
  • 00:47:17.593 --> 00:47:20.362
  • You're thinking about how free i am to not sin.
  • 00:47:20.362 --> 00:47:24.833
  • I don't have to sin.
  • 00:47:24.833 --> 00:47:26.535
  • And so it's just a freedom to follow after god with heart.
  • 00:47:26.535 --> 00:47:33.108
  • And when you do sin, man, it's a quick fix.
  • 00:47:33.108 --> 00:47:35.811
  • It's a, god, i am so sorry.
  • 00:47:35.811 --> 00:47:38.013
  • I am so thankful for the conviction of the holy spirit
  • 00:47:38.013 --> 00:47:41.750
  • That instantly i can feel, i shouldn't have done that, lord.
  • 00:47:41.750 --> 00:47:45.154
  • I'm so sorry.
  • 00:47:45.154 --> 00:47:46.088
  • Thank you for your forgiveness.
  • 00:47:46.088 --> 00:47:47.389
  • And may you carry on.
  • 00:47:47.389 --> 00:47:49.124
  • You keep right on going.
  • 00:47:49.124 --> 00:47:51.327
  • God loves you.
  • 00:47:51.327 --> 00:47:52.494
  • - you're right on point as far as i'm concerned.
  • 00:47:52.494 --> 00:47:56.298
  • It's because it goes into, like you said, messes up
  • 00:47:56.298 --> 00:47:59.401
  • Your identity.
  • 00:47:59.401 --> 00:48:00.736
  • But the confidence, you won't even be confident enough to go
  • 00:48:00.736 --> 00:48:03.105
  • To the father boldly and petition something of him when
  • 00:48:03.105 --> 00:48:07.710
  • You don't even feel like you have done everything that you
  • 00:48:07.710 --> 00:48:11.013
  • Are supposed to do.
  • 00:48:11.013 --> 00:48:13.215
  • I understand that we're not saved by our work.
  • 00:48:13.215 --> 00:48:16.552
  • Through grace we are saved.
  • 00:48:16.552 --> 00:48:18.487
  • I understand that.
  • 00:48:18.487 --> 00:48:19.455
  • But we do have a role in righteousness.
  • 00:48:19.455 --> 00:48:21.523
  • Because we're not saved by our works, but there is a level of
  • 00:48:21.523 --> 00:48:25.160
  • Proximity to god that we end up surrendering because of the
  • 00:48:25.160 --> 00:48:29.465
  • Distance created by us not living a holy life.
  • 00:48:29.465 --> 00:48:32.101
  • And the amazing thing about god is it's not, like when you share
  • 00:48:32.101 --> 00:48:37.006
  • That, laurie, which is absolutely 100% on, it's not
  • 00:48:37.006 --> 00:48:39.541
  • Like god's trying to ruin your social life.
  • 00:48:39.541 --> 00:48:41.844
  • It's because god cares about you and has these incredible plans.
  • 00:48:41.844 --> 00:48:46.849
  • So don't settle for second best when god has what's best.
  • 00:48:46.849 --> 00:48:49.852
  • - living a holy life is purity, yes, and it involves sexual
  • 00:48:49.852 --> 00:48:57.092
  • Purity, yes, but it's so much deeper than that.
  • 00:48:57.092 --> 00:49:00.763
  • Holiness is not about perfection, it's about love.
  • 00:49:00.763 --> 00:49:03.032
  • It's about fully dedicating yourself to god.
  • 00:49:03.032 --> 00:49:06.735
  • And when you do that, all the actions and disciplines and
  • 00:49:06.735 --> 00:49:10.406
  • Habits, they follow.
  • 00:49:10.406 --> 00:49:11.840
  • And i think when we try to aim for perfection before love, that
  • 00:49:11.840 --> 00:49:15.811
  • Is when holiness feels impossible.
  • 00:49:15.811 --> 00:49:18.847
  • But when you cultivate that love for jesus, then holiness becomes
  • 00:49:18.847 --> 00:49:23.952
  • The fruit.
  • 00:49:23.952 --> 00:49:25.754
  • - father, you're so good.
  • 00:49:25.754 --> 00:49:27.589
  • - yes, you are.
  • 00:49:27.589 --> 00:49:29.091
  • - every single one of us sitting in this room and every single
  • 00:49:29.091 --> 00:49:32.294
  • Person sitting in rooms around the country, around the world,
  • 00:49:32.294 --> 00:49:36.165
  • Wherever they're listening, we could all tell of things that
  • 00:49:36.165 --> 00:49:40.235
  • You have done.
  • 00:49:40.235 --> 00:49:41.537
  • And lord, what i want to say right now is, lord, i want my
  • 00:49:41.537 --> 00:49:45.274
  • Heart to be even more fertile.
  • 00:49:45.274 --> 00:49:48.243
  • I want to be so teachable, lord, that you don't have to keep
  • 00:49:48.243 --> 00:49:51.880
  • Repeating yourself.
  • 00:49:51.880 --> 00:49:53.348
  • That you just, you tell me something and immediately you
  • 00:49:53.348 --> 00:49:56.819
  • Get my yes.
  • 00:49:56.819 --> 00:49:58.187
  • And i pray that for all of our family here at better together.
  • 00:49:58.187 --> 00:50:01.723
  • That we would grow into wisdom where our yes comes
  • 00:50:01.723 --> 00:50:06.462
  • Quickly to you.
  • 00:50:06.462 --> 00:50:07.863
  • And then our faith will grow.
  • 00:50:07.863 --> 00:50:10.299
  • Then eyes are fixed more on you, and we don't take the
  • 00:50:10.299 --> 00:50:14.136
  • Eye off the ball.
  • 00:50:14.136 --> 00:50:15.471
  • We keep our gaze fixed on you, the pioneer and perfecter of our
  • 00:50:15.471 --> 00:50:19.041
  • Faith, who for the joy set before you endured the cross,
  • 00:50:19.041 --> 00:50:22.444
  • Despising its shame, and now you're seated beside the father.
  • 00:50:22.444 --> 00:50:25.614
  • Thank you, lord, for who you are, and help us to become more
  • 00:50:25.614 --> 00:50:30.886
  • Like you every single day.
  • 00:50:30.886 --> 00:50:33.122
  • In jesus' name, amen.
  • 00:50:33.122 --> 00:50:35.424
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