Stephanie Ike - Compassion

To Psalm one five, verse eight, and the scripture says, the Lord is gracious and full of compassion, slow to anger, and great in mercy. You may be seated. Amen. So sure verse there's another verse I'm laying around in today. But what I love about that is that the word I want to highlight today family, is the word compassion. You see, Compassion is the evidence of God's love because one of the attributes of love is that love is not self seeking, and so love in itself is the awareness of other people, and that speaks to compassion. Compassion is what will heal our nation. Compassion will heal our hearts, Compassion will heal our families, and especially during this time when it's the holidays, you know, for those that are not in the United States. Tomorrow we're going to be celebrating Thanksgiving and not to be you know, technical into it. It's a day that we gather, you know, with loved ones and we speak about the things that we are thankful for, and sometimes in a weird way, we start also maybe thinking about, you know, the things that may have not happened in the time that we wanted it to happen, or there are people here and It's interesting because our lives are in so many different seasons, and so while one person in this house may be celebrating over what God is doing, someone else may be mourning over the loss of a loved one. And so especially even during times of holidays, we have to remember to be compassionate people because we never know what someone may be going through. But I want to look at this a bit much deeper because if compassion in itself flows from God, because compassion flows from love, and God is love, and the Bible says that he who does not love does not know God, because God is love. And the measure at which we love God is at the measure which we love people because we cannot say, God, I love you so much, and then we treat our neighbor as though they are our enemy. To love God is to love people, because He is for people. And so while I studied compassion, they were four particular words. Is a scripture I want us to look in today, But there are four particular words that really stood out to me that identified with compassion, and the first world was discernment. You see, what I find interesting about the word discernment is that discernment is to see a thing in truth. Discernment means that you recognize that not everything is how it appears. That sometimes your boss or your co worker cursing you out, it's not because they feel entitled or you're rude, that they may be going through some hard times. And discernment is our ability to come before the Holy Spirit and say, God, what is the intention behind that action? And can you use me as a vessel of love towards that person. Discernment says that maybe you did not do that to me, Maybe your intention was not to hurt me, but maybe you're just broken. You see. I remember there was this apartment complex that I lived in, and not one person that I remember liked the manager. I mean she and you know, she was a bit rude. You know, she was a bit you know, a little aggressive and rude all at the same time. And but the thing is that I I am some somehow I'm drawn to people that are that people you know, dislike. I'm drawn to find out what is it about, what is actually the root of why you're this way? And so even though this manager nobody liked her, I made it my assignment to love on her. I was like, you know what, I'm just gonna get you a gift. I'm gonna stop until least in office, tell you you know, good morning, good afternoon, make myself coffee. Do you want coffee? Just I would just do the most. Because I want you to recognize that you don't have to be mean, and even though and even if you are mean, I'm still gonna love on you. And so literally I saw this woman transform, I mean towards me, maybe not towards everybody else, but. There was our relationship was different. She began the relationship that we had, it spoke to it, began even speaking to other people that people were wondering, do you guys know each other personally? And in my mind I would laugh about it because I understood that I labored love and so what I am reaping out of her is what I invested in her. And so so many times we just we look at a situation that is negative and then we take it and we want to gossip about it, we want to run about it, we want to speak down on the person, not recognizing. That what if it is not as it seems? You see, we live in a world even maybe just ask yourself or the people watching, or maybe ask your friends, when was the last time that you had. A real conversation with a friend. When was the last time you had a one on one heart to heart over a five minute conversation about your life. We're so busy to the point that we are so detached, and frustrations build up in people and then the only time, whenever there is a little light of an outlet, they just let it out. And unfortunately sometimes we're on the receiving end. But it's not because these are bad people. People are going through stuff and no one is even able to talk about it, and then we have I love social media, but sometimes we try to identify our highlight on social media with our real life. And so you might have just posted a fitness pick and then your friend asked you how you doing, and you just want to stay you know, strong and good looking, and you might be feeling depressed. When was the last time that we really have real heart to heart conversations with people? And so I'm saying this just to say that people are going through real issues and sometimes they may not have an outlet, and so then they threw their frustrations on us. But discernment, says God, show me the heart, show me the intention that maybe I ought to be a vessel of love to this person and not speak down on them. Maybe I have to labor. Maybe I even have to remember how where I came from. And the people that were patient with me, and the things I said to people, and they still forgave me. And that led me to the second thing that I found. So fascinating about compassion, and it was forgiveness. Forgiveness is a world I live by because I believe that God called us to live a lifestyle of forgiveness, because if things are not how they seem, then perhaps. We should always be quick to forgive. Because if I'm holding offense at you, I'm holding offense at the wrong person. You say a lot of times, family, the very things we hate are the things that God called us to change. But we cannot change what we hate, and so sometimes your very hate could be a distraction to your assignment, and God is saying that no, no, no, I called you to bring change to something. Jesus would often say that love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you. But the fascinating thing about an enemy is that someone is not your enemy because you hate them they are your enemy because they. Have a problem with you. And so Jesus is saying that if you give back what they. Give you, you were becoming effective. But even if they may have something against you, love them because your very love will purify them. Your very love will bring change to the very place that is broken. And the third thing I found fascinating about compassion was that compassion is gentleness. You see. This one really stood out to me because Biblically, the word for compassion means the gentle emotion of the mind. And I found that just mind blowing because when I think of the mind, you see family, our actions and our words are linked to our thought life. And so when it says. The gentle emotion of the mind, it speaks to the gentleness in our response with people. You see, oftentimes we know. One thing that I do believe that compassion is not is that it's not to enable someone's brokenness. But sometimes someone may come to us for something, and because we see that this person has been in a cycle, we want to just be harsh with them or give what we like to call tough love. But you can give tough love and still be kind. You can give tough love and still be gentle. It's not to just demand something from someone because you're frustrated with them. Because at the end of the day, who really in life wants to be stuck? Who really in life wants to stay me or callous? Like who really wakes up and says, wow, today's a great day just to be stagnant? But who does that? And so when you see people, when you see friends or family members, And I'm saying this because during holiday times it also highlights family members we may have issues with or friends that we're just like, now, I'm not gonna text you have a Thanksgiving But this ought to be our lifestyle because we have to be gentle with people. We have to be kind with people. We have to be kind with our words and our deeds and our actions. That you know what, it's not about me right now, because if love is self serving, it's not about me trying to prove a point or trying to have the last say. I want your life to say. What heavens be and not me having the last say of I told you so, or here we go again. Let me be gentle with you because. If I look at if I look at what I do in your life as seeds. I will take my time. If I think that it is you know what, this God witnced me to make this harvest a quick ton around, I will be frustrated with you. But if I look at it as you know what, let me just plant a seed in your life. It may not I don't know what nature of the seed it is. It may be an oak tree and take forever. But whatever it is, let me just do my part and pray for you, believing that God will speak to the. Very heart of what is going on. You see. The fourth word that really stood out to me also was that compassion is responsibility. And responsibility stands out to me because even the word compassion, it's rooted. The root is from like a Latin word that means to suffer with. My phone is ringing, okay, so it means it means to suffer with. And I found this so fascinating because Biblically, a lot of the miracles that Jesus did, the Bible will tell us that he had compassion and heal their sick, He had compassion and fed them. He had compassion, and through his compassion miracles came forth. And so what stood out to me is because if compassion is to suffer with, then there is something about what you're going through that I identify with. And if I identify with what you're going through, I have the responsibility to give you what I got when I came out of it. You see, Jesus, although Jesus at the time was not crucified, but he came on the earth with an understanding of what he must go through. And so although it did not happen to him physically, he was already there mentally because he was always aware of his path. And so Jesus is aware that. You know what, at some point in time, I'm gonna be on the cross. I'm gonna take on your sins, I'm gonna take on your illness. I'm gonna take on all of it. And at some point I'm gonna give my life and I'm gonna die, and at some point the Holy Spirit real resurrect me. And he had that Holy Spirit, and the power that resurrected him was the same power that flowed when he healed and when he did miraculous works, because he gave out of what he has gotten. Every time that someone with leprosy came to him, he put himself in your shoes because he was going to take it on that every time that someone was hungry, and the Bible says he had compassion on them. He knew what that felt like because he was already there mentally. And you see, family, the things that we go through is so that we can identify and recognize that where you are right now. God brought me out of it and there is something that this taught me, and it is my responsibility to sow that into you. It is not my place to want you to just you know, make say. It is my place to say, I recognize this because I have seen this person before. I was that person at some point. And so when compassion has the word responsibility connected to it, it gives weight to the things that we have overcome to say that no, no, no, I didn't just go through this just to make it go and keep going. I went through this to give you what I got from it. Jesus moved in compassion because he understood the power of the Holy Spirit. He understood that look, if this same Holy Spirit will resurrect me from the dead, he can heal your diseases, he can feed you, he can cause me miraculous works to happen. And there's a scripture in the Bible that I want us to look at in regards to compassion. And the scripture is in Matthew fifteen twenty nine, two thirty eight. And we will just begin to read as it comes on. Amen, hallayer akay, it's right there. So it says Jesus went on from there and walked beside the sea of Galilee. And he went up on the mountain and sat down there, and crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute, and many others. And they put them at his feet, and he healed them. So the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, the crippled healthy, the lame walking, and the blind seeing, and they glorify the God of Israel. Then Jesus called his disciples and to him and said, I have compassion on the crowd, because they have been with me now three days and have nothing to eat, and I am unwilling to send them away hungry. You see what is powerful about compassion is that compassion is solution driven. Jesus says, I am unwilling to send them away when we recognize that the very industries that God has put us in, that the very place is that God has given us influence, the very places that He has called us to. It's not for us to look at the problem and focus on the issue. It's for us to have. An unwilling in our spirit that God, I am unwilling for this industry to stay the same way when you have called me here, I am unwilling because I understand the power that you have given me. I understand the authority that I have when I am in Jesus, and so I am unwilling to see media continue to be this way if it is damaged in the minds of people. And I know what it feels like to be on the negative side of what the media can do. I am unwilling. You see your life, family, you are designed. Your life is designed to fight for somebody else. When Jesus says I am unwilling, that is coming from a place of a fight, that I am unwilling to send them away. So, first of all, he identifies that there is a problem that this people have been with me for three days and if they leave, they're going to fact. But I am unwilling, and. So it is that from that place of unwillingness that the resources of heaven begins to come together to back up your life. That the power of God is behind you. Because your unwillingness is not tied to you, is tied to people. Your unwillingness is not that Jesus would go days with our food. And even when he's hungry, they were ask him, Rabbi, have you had something to eat? And he will. You know, my food is the will of God and all this, you know, great stuff. But in that moment he was not even talking about food for him. And so I'm saying this because when we read about the miracle that happens, we have to understand that the miracle. Was birth from the place of compassion. The miracle was not birth because Jesus wanted to show off or the Holy Spirit is just time to shine. The miracle was birth because Jesus was concerned for people. Because you see it says that I am unwilling to send them away less they faint on the way. And the disciples said to him, where are they? Where are we to get enough bread in such a desolate place to feed so great a crowd, And. Jesus said to them, how many loaves do you have? They said seven and a few small fish. You see what I recognize about the disciples and the passages that they had enough bread for themselves. Because now when Jesus is talking about the crowd, they're saying that how are we going to have enough for them? We have enough for us. And so because they're looking. At what they have for themselves, they're good, and so the miracle will not flow from them because they're looking at, well, we have enough for ourselves. I mean, where are we supposed to get bread? Because their question was not even about solution. Their question is to tell Jesus, if you don't know, we are in the middle of nowhere. So they gotta go. But Jesus had an unwillingness in his spirit. And so when he tells them how many do you have, and they're like, yeah, we have seven and a few small fish, that was okay to feed them in the now. The twelfth Disciples and Jesus could have had a good old Thanksgiving dinner with those bread and fish, but the people would have starved. And you see, family, what I'm learning is that sometimes why we even we get comfortable in our comfort zones is because it gives us enough for us. And then we are in those places and we're praying to God for breakthroughs and miracles. But the breakthrough and miracles has no attachment to people. It only has attachments to what someone else can see in us. And so we were in this place of prayer and fasting. And if we're honest with ourselves, nothing that we're asking God for is really driven by our love for who would be on the receiving end of it. It is driven by our desire to have more finances, our desire to buy something you know, more, our. Desire for more hairs. I don't know what you want, but the point is that it is driven by what we want and not what God's people need. And so because when we start, and that. Is why oftentimes we start a project and it's so easy to stop, it's so easy to quit, it's so easy to move on to the next thing that looks like it will provide a better platform, because it was never about people in the first place. Because when you're doing something with a person in mind, when you're doing something that is driven your heart is connected to someone in mind, you will not easily give up you will put your life on the line when you know that somebody can live from what you have given. But when we are driven by selfish ambition, that is what is killing our generation. Because everything that we're. Doing is for us, is for us to shine. We have to ask ourselves real questions. What is it I am doing? What project am I after? And how does it speak to someone else? And what is really driving me? Because family, what drove Jesus was not the name of Jesus. What drove him was. The people that he was called to. And we see in this passage two different narratives. One person who says, no, I am unwilling for them to starve, and I am unwilling for them to leave. Another is fine because they're like, no, we're good. We got enough for the day. I mean, we shoot, we solid. But you see, the miraculous does not happen from that place. You would just always have enough to get by day by day. It will never be enough because that's all you're really focused on. You say it or not, Because if all you're focused on is what you need, then all you will have is what you need. There's a fascinating scripture in the Bible. It says that it is more blessed to give than is to receive. But what I find fascinating that word blessed, the root word of it. It also plays with the meaning of identity, and so it's almost like it says that it is more of your true identity to give than to receive. Because at the end of the day, everything that God gives you is so that it could flow through you. Because God is an unending supply, he will never be limited. There is no cap to what he can do in your life. And so you just become an open channel to say, God, you can just keep pouring through me and let this show keep going. You see, there was a time. That the Lord gave me a vision that this was a time that indeed, you know, I was ablut doing some selfish things in my ways, and I was praying that day, and I'm as I was praying, I just had this need to say, Lord, show me what I'm what isn't like? Just show me what this like my life looks like right now? In the spirit, I said, just show that to me. I didn't even know what I was actually saying. And right there in the middle of my room, I see a tank it was like a water tank and water is coming into it, but there were holes and it was leaking. But it was leaking and there was nothing to catch it. And so I said, what is this? And so what he showed me is that I am pouring into you, but because you're so focused on yourself, it's not going in any direction. It's actually being wasted. And so many of us God has poured in dreams, visions, ideas, book ideas, events, I mean, movies. You name it. But because we are so focused on us, Lord, what is this gonna cost me? Because if it doesn't give me what I need, if it doesn't put me on the stage I'm looking for, if it's not gonna give me the influence I need, then I'm just gonna move on to the next thing. And so Heaven's resources that is assigned to the life of someone else is leaking through your life because we are focused on what we want and not what the people of God need. And so the passage continues, family, it says, and directing the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish, and having given thanks, he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds and they all ate and were satisfied. Now this is the kicker. That they took up seven baskets full of broken pieces. Left over those who ate were four thousand men besides women and children. You see, what this speaks to me is that there was an additional miracle assigned to them. It was not just the fact that they could feed the four thousand plus people. Because that happened, what was needed for that day took place. But then the Bible tells us there were seven baskets full of additional resources, and the people that took the resources were the disciples, and so the miracle, there was an additional miracle of provision that was assigned to the disciples. But it was a sign to them being a miracle. It would not come if they were focused on themselves. What's gonna come through the vessel of being a miracle? First? You see, family, I'm learning that in the eyes of God we are one. That in the eyes of God, it's not just yes, he knows us individually and loves us individually, but. But the way he created us. Someone holds the key for something that he's called me to I hold the key for something. He's called someone else. To that we are all connected, and so the moment that we be a miracle to someone else, who are actually. Also being a miracle to ourselves. You see the additional provision because if not, the disciples could have had enough of that day. Go on with your lives and look for a provision again the next day. But they had seven baskets full, so they had additional resources, They had additional increase, they had additional provision. You see this brought me. When I studied this, I thought about certain events in my life that God has used to raise me. And one event in particular was when I started writing daily devotionals and it was like an email blast. But the truth behind those daily. Devotionals was that while I was a gatekeeper in this house, there was a lady I met and she was going through a lot of things. She was very you know, it was just a really rough time in her life. And when I heard all the things that she was going through, it was on my heart that, you know what, let me at least, let me just be alike to you. So I asked her for her email, and every day I would send her. I would wake up in the morning and I would write a devotional to send just to her. That the devotionals actually started just because of one person. That I wasn't doing it because I was praying that God, with this devotion news, give me a platform open doors for my life. No, the devotionals were birth from the place of one person's pain, that one person that I knew that. I was like, God, let it be that every morning she would wake up and know that she's on the heart of someone, because if she knows that a human being can think of her, surely she would know that you, God thinks of her. And so it started because of this one lady. And then based on the responses that she would send back, I was like, you know what, And actually she even encouraged me. She's like, you should send this to more. People, And I said, you know what you write, I should. And when I started, God used that and opened other doors for me. But the fact is that in the beginning it wasn't because I was saying, God, use this to bring me to this. No, I was doing it to answer one person's pain. If we can start, if our projects, our pursuits, if we can put a face to them. Heaven will back us up. But if the only person we're looking at is a mirror, then we're gonna stay where we are. Family, we have to live in the lifestyle of being compassionate because compassion is what releases the power of God. You see, what God identifies with is not power. He identifies with love. He says, I am Love. The Bible says God is love. It doesn't say God is power. It says God is love. That is his identity. So everything that He gives comes from who he is. And so if we want to move according to what God has for us, we have to become like him. This is a time, family, that we have to bring everything that we say that we desire to do before the Lord God, whose face is this attached to, and really just take a moment of honesty, what is this really connected to? Because the God that we serve is not a God that just agrees with everything you do. The God that we serve as a God that can convict you, that can't tell you the truth and say this very thing is about you, it's not about me. And so we have to take those moments and say, Lord, show me what this is really about. Because if it's about me, I don't even want it. Even if I think I do, give me a face, put a face to it, put put something in my heart that it moves me to the place that I would lay my life down for this very cause I would not lay my life down if it's just about my personal success. No, that's why we would just hop onto the next thing. But what moves your life is when you understand the impact that it would bring in the life of another, because. That is how we were formed. We were formed to make impact. We were formed to connect with one another, and that is why some of our greatest joys comes from the moment that we know that we made someone happy. That your greatest joys was not in the most expensive thing that you bought. Your greatest joy was something that you did. And someone said that touched me that when someone tells you thank you from the depths of their heart, it moves you in a way like no other. Because this is why we were created. But oftentimes the precious of society pulls us away from our truth. And I just believe that God is. Calling us back to come to a heart, to have a heart for people because all the chaos that we see in the world is the evidence that this is not there. The chaos that we see, the lack of awareness of others, it's coming from the place that we have lost our way, that we are not walking in the way of love. And it's time for the church to rise up. And the church is you. And I that the more hates we see in the world is not to give hate to hate, but it's to rise up in love. It's to say, you know what, I'm not just gonna respond like everyone else is responding. Let me actually take some time and seek this thing out. God, Let me seek You to understand what is behind this. Prayer is still powerful. Prayer can still change the hearts of people and who we are ultimately, because at the end of the day, the first Bible that anyone will read is you. And so if we cannot demonstrate the love of God, nobody wants to read it because if we say, hey, read this and we don't look like it, then what really am I reading? And so, family, today, I just wanted to bring this word that God put in my heart that we have to be willing to come back to the place of compassion, that everything that we say, we desire to do. Lord, show me how this moves your heart's lot, give me a heart that is like yours. You say, I remember there's a song. I can't remember how exactly the song goes, but the song talks about that, like, let my heart beat for what your heart beats for. But family, do you know that that prayer God does really answer it? That when you ask that prayer in sincerity, that all of a sudden you will find yourself in the middle of the night praying about the country you've never been and you're crying because when you come to the Lord in sincerity aware, I am the evidence of that, because I remember where there were things that just did not move me, and I was like, God, why am I not moved by this? Because the truth is that when you see things repeatedly, you kind of just lose your sensitivity. And I came to the. Lord and I say, God, let my heart beat for what your heart beats for. And that was my prayer. Day after day. I said, Lord, I don't want to lose what is my life. I don't want to lose what is my center, and that is love. But I'm finding myself being more insensitive to the pains of others, and so give me back a heart of flesh, not a heart of stone. Because when you. See tragedy after tragedy, day after day, at some point you just keep scrolling and then you see relationship goes and you tap that thing like oohoo, you know what, and you see. Someone who's having a tragedy and you're just like, man, just another story. But that tragedy is connected to a name, is connected to a family, It's connected to so much. And so when we come before the Lord and say, God, give me a heart like yours, only God. Will do it. That even when you find yourself almost like being insensitive, all of a sudden, the Holy Spirit will grip you and reveal to you what that person is going through. And so that is my prayer for today, that even on. The eve of Thanksgiving, that we would desire to be people that others can say, I am thankful. For that what they created was for me, what they did was for me. You see, one of my friends, he says something that when it comes from the heart, it goes to the heart. When it comes from here, people receive it here. And that is why sometimes you may see some things that just look amazing and no one can receive it because maybe it. Did not come from here. Family, may we stand. In this very moment, even as we talk about compassion, I want us to take a monk to pray for one another because the truth is that the person you may be standing next to is smiling and may have had their hands up doing worship, but they may be going through something that they would never speak about. And so in this moment, if you can just look at the person next to you, and if no one else is next to the person after you, just be in a group of three. And just say a prayer to one another. Say a blessing. Speak English, you know, because there is times to speak in tongues, but let the person understand what you're saying. They need to receive what you're saying. They can interpret the tongues. Okay, speak a blessing. Say your name, Hallelujah, Hallelliah. Hey man, family, if you're by yourself, just go next to somebody and just join their group. Halleluia. If this moment has blessed you, can we give God praise. This is love, this is God, And the truth is that you may have no clue what the the impact that had on someone. You may have no clue that someone just walked in here not knowing anyone, and now they can walk out saying that, oh, I made a friend today. You have no clue. Family, our generation is one of the most loneliest generations ever, if that's the phrase, or. But it's real. We are so detached from one another. And the truth is that the more that we become detached from one another, we also become detached from ourselves, and that we no longer even recognize how far we have ran from our truth. But where there is connection, there is truth. There is love. Jesus said, Father, May they be one as we are one. This is love. Let's make a commitment to say, God, show me ways that I can be more compassionate. And these are the times that even after a service like this, we go home and still sit before the Lord and say, Lord, show me how I can be more compassionate in my life and my work and my career with the platforms You've given me. Show me how I can be more of an extension of your love. And sometimes that is also revisiting the very things that God has told you to do, because when you begin to put faces to it. You recognize God has already given me assignments all along, that there. Already things that He has laid on my heart. And I cannot be choose to be comfortable because my life was not designed for me. It was designed to fight for somebody else. And so let's begin to have an unwillingness in our spirit. Lord, I am unwilling to watch people just lose their minds. Lord, I am unwilling to see this cycle happen over and over again. I am unwilling to see this patterns in my family. Lord, I am unwilling because where there is an unwillingness, when you have a heart that is solution driven, God will back you up. God will begin to give you wisdom and strategies and ideas to break curses, to give you things to break generational patterns, to give you wisdom for a nation, wisdom for cities, wisdom for industries. Because you have to have an unwillingness about something, let us pray, Father, God, we thank you, We thank you for this moment, Lord God, that even as your word spoke to me, Lord God is speaking to your people, Lord, that we would move in your love. Because the evidence of your love is compassion. Lord God, show us what our call is connected to. Show us, Lord God, show us the faces and the people. Show us, Lord God, that we will be moved by seeing them on the other side, by seeing them in their truth, by seeing them and. Who you have called them to be. God, move our hearts for what moves you. Give us wisdom, Give us strategy, give us understanding. Reveal to us, Lord, what you have called us to be unwilling about. Show us the change that you have called us to, even though it's a change that we may think we don't like, but we don't. Like it because it's supposed to change. And so show us Lord that we are your vessels, because Lord Jesus, you're not the next time you come on the earth is not to do what you did. You called us to continue that. And so may we be your hands and your feet. May we be your mouth and your heart. May we move like you did. Thank you, Lord, Thank you Jesus. Give us the courage, give us the boldness. Thank you Lord. There were people that fought for us. This house we're in is the evidence of someone who fought for us. And so we even pray right now for our pastor, Lord, that you would give him a speedy recovery as he had surgery today. Lord God, that you would give him a speedy recovery. Lord that you are with him, We thank you. Lord. Bring to our memory those that fought for us, great grandparents we never met, that prayed for us to be where we are today. Bring to our memory. Lord, the fight you instilled for strangers we may have never known. The times that we may have been in the gas station that someone else was just down the street and they saw us, and they spoke a word over our lives. Lord, that was what you were saying. Bring to our memory the prophetic influences that have been in our way, the coaches that told us that we can be more than we are, the teachers that spoke life into us. That when everything else in life was us what we are not, Lord, there were people you positioned in our lives to speak to our truth. Bring to our memory, Lord, the people that literally changed the path that we could have ended on. Bring to our memory, Lord, that we would be motivated and inspire to be that for somebody else. Because we did not show up here by accident. We are not even in this house by accident. There were things that people have labored in love for us to be at whatever stage we're in in life. And so Lord, may you give us that same fight for another. May you give us that same fight for your people. Rekindle our fire, Lord, right now, I pray that everyone listening, Lord, God, you would rekindle our fire in the name of Jesus, a fire of your love. Lord. We were speaking about the fires and the disaster that happened in the natural. But Lord, in the spirit, give us a fire of the Holy Ghost. Baptize us in the fire of your love. Lord, that when we burn with your love, that we want to pour out your love to the people. You have called us to have your way in our lives in Jesus' name. Amen, Amen, Amen,