Stephanie Ike - Help My Mind Is A Mess

Hey, family, I'm Positoray, I'm past his dad and listen, you're getting ready to hear an incredible word from the Lord. I believe it's going to bless you. I believe it's going to be timely. Do me a favor. Share the message if it moves you, share the message, and then also you have an opportunity to be a part of not only helping us spread this message, but to be a part of our outreaches. We're doing a lot of practical things to be a blessing to someone. So feel free if God so moves you to use the information here in the video support what we're doing. We're being a blessing, not to just speakle spiritually, we're being blessed to people practically. We love you. Get into this message. I'll change your life here. Hallelujah. Family, is such a blessing to be with you today. Before we even get into the message, let's just have a moment of prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you, We thank you for this moment. Oh God, Lord got a moment that we can call upon Your name is a moment for divine encounter, and so Lord, I just pray that you would have your way, that there would be no distractions. Oh God, for what you have the ability to do in this time that we have together. And so Lord, do only that which you can do, not what man can do, but bring things to our understanding. Lord God, speak to us in a matter that is unique to each and every individual that is watching and paying attention to this. Lord God. We pray for healing, We pray for transformation. We pray Lord God for revival in our lives, in our spirit, and awakening of God of Truth in the name of Jesus. So we thank you, Lord for what you have purpose to do in this time. In Jesus' name. Nothing can stop what you have purpose to do. I love that song that we just came into, all the promises of God that yes and Amen. Actually I love there's a scripture that really talks about that, about that the promises are yes and God and our ammen through Christ. What I love about that so much is that God has already said yes to it in heaven. God has already established and ordained what it is that He has purpose for your life. But that this is that place of. Agreement, that our amen, that so shall it be, that indeed it is. So it's such a beautiful thing because this actually we will dig into this a little bit in today's message. And so before we get into it, let's start with the scripture. So I'm gonna be reading from Genesis chapter three, from verse one to thirteen. And it says, now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. First of all, how many cunning serpents were. They are cunning animals. But he was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, has God indeed said you shall not eat of every tree of the garden. And the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the We eat the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, you shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it lest you die. Well, God didn't say you say anything about touching it. But let's go go on. Then the serpent said to the woman, you will surely, you will not surely die, for God knows that in the day you eat of it, your eyes. Will be open and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food and it had it was pleasant to the eyes, and the tree desirable to make one wise, she took off the fruit and ate it. She also gave her husband with her and he ate. Now this is so interesting because Adam was there right Adam was right there next to Eve. And this whole. Time, you know, I know, we've been blaming it for a long time, but let's just continue actually before I get back into this, and it says, you know, so then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sowed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day. And Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord called to Adam, this is one of a very famous scripture, where are you? And he said, this is now Adam speaking. I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself. I was afraid because I was naked, and I hid myself, And then he said, who told you that you were naked? It's so interesting to me in this moment because Adam being afraid wasn't the issue. It was Adam being the awareness of being naked to to cause him to be fearful. There's something so much of this. I need to just go through this scripture before we get back into it. But it's so powerful to me because God didn't say to him Adam, where did this concept of fear come from? He said, who told you you were naked? It's almost like that the idea of the awareness of fear had existed even before, even way back in the garden of Eden. It was not the awareness of fear that was the issue, but it was what it produced. When you lean into it. That when we begin to lean into our fears, when we begin to engage with our fears, that all of a sudden, it produces a different type of outcome. That I was afraid that we realized that we were naked. We realized that, oh, my gosh, do we feel worthy of the presence of God? We were leaning into the fear of what does it mean for God to see us in this state? So God said, who told you. You were naked. I need you to go to the root of this thought. And then he said, have you eat from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat. Then the man said, the woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And the Lord said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. Now there's so much to unpack in this. But before I fully go into this story, let me actually take you on the journey to a personal story. You know, a few weeks. Ago, probably a couple weeks ago, maybe two months ago, the Lord had given me a dream. Now, one of the ways that the Lord speaks to me is through dreams, especially when it's an instruction that I may start questioning, and so he would just lock it in a dream and say, Stephanie, you're not fighting this one. And so there was a dream that the Lord had gave me, and in that dream there were these instructions. I knew that I was supposed to go to Atlanta immediately, and I knew that something about Atlanta was connected to going to Tyler Perry Studios, and so I was like, okay, this is a very interesting instruction. But there are moments when you know that you know that God you are speaking to me and you want me to do this, and I'm like, okay, you know. So I bought a ticket. I went to Atlanta for the. Weekend, and in my natural mind, I'm like, God, there has to be something else that you want me to do while I'm in Atlanta. Now, this was not the first time that I had gone to Atlanta on an assignment by the Lord, and so I'm like, there has to be something else. Is there something you want me to do? The first time that I went, there was a friend of mine, a member of our community, and she had lost her nephew. And I remember that morning, it was a Sunday morning. I was so burdened by it and I was like, God, this is not okay. This was a child of promise and that as I was burdened and I was talking to the Lord about it that morning, he said, then go to Atlanta and meet with the family. I said, you know what, Lord, I don't know this family. I know her, know her, the family of the of the nephew. But the Lord said go, and I'm gonna send you to be to represent me. There were things that the Lord had assigned me to do, and I bought my ticket that day and I went to Atlanta. So again the Lord is talking to me again about Atlanta that I have sent you. There's an assignment. There's something I want you to do in Atlanta, and I'm thinking, like, okay, there has to be something else, right, So I go to Atlanta. I plan my trip for three days and so I'm out there. The one thing that I knew that the Lord had assigned me to do was to go to the Tyler Perry studios, right, But I'm like, I'm thinking, there's something that I'm actually supposed to do. You know, it's nothing, you know, nothing that serious. And so the day that I'm leaving, I actually finally go to Taller Perrys Studios. So when I got there, we were I was so confident. I'm like, Okay, we're gonna get in, and then we see the signs that due to COVID that it's closed. I said, well, the Lord said, you know, we sent me to mention. I'm sure we just need to talk to the security. And we went up to the security say hello, else sir, and we're here to come in. He said, I'm sorry it is closed. I said, wow, this man must not hear the voice of God and we're trying to talk to him nothing. So I said, okay, Lord, I'm here, you know, and we can go in. So what do you want me to do here? And the Lord told me to just stand and look, and so I started looking as far as my eyes could see. I'm like, wow, this place is beautiful. That look at the empire that this man had built. Now, if you're not familiar with Tyler Perry's story, there was a moment in his life where he was homeless and living in his car. But now today Tyler Perry has built a successful empire, an incredible filmmaker. And this lot that I'm looking at, I mean there are people there were established studios and their lots combined. That's not even equal to what this man has done in that Atlanta And I'm looking at just whatever I could see from just standing outside, and it's beautiful. I'm looking at the different buildings that I was, at least the ones that were visible to me, and I'm like, God, what am I looking at? And he says, just stare at it, and as I was staring at it, all of a sudden there was this word, that this question that kept coming into my heart, and that question said who is greater than God? And I understood that this question was connected to the awareness that God, you are a God of possibilities. There is nothing that is impossible for you. That I am literally looking at a miracle, that it's not just about a studio, that this is a miracle, that I am watching a miracle that has unfolded. I am watching the testimony of another man. This is incredible. Who is greater than God? Who can move like God? Who can do the things that only God can do? This was the question that was in my heart as I was looking at this, and it dawned on me. I said, God, there is nothing that is impossible for you that when you speak to us, when you give us a vision. And what is interesting is that around this time the Lord began had been speaking to me about something that he has assigned to me. And it seems so big that you start questioning, you start doubting God, you know, are you sure it's in this time? Are you sure? And as I'm watching this, all of a sudden, my faith is activated God who is like you. When you speak a word, you are able all by yourself to accomplish it. All you need is someone who would believe you. And as I'm looking, the Lord said, I send you here to remove the limits of your mind. I send you here to remind you of who I am and what I can do if you simply believe me. That's Stephanie. I know what I've showed you, I know what I've spoken to you. It might cause you to have doubt, but do not be afraid that This is not the time to engage in your fear. This is the time to simply believe me. You see, when we think of fear, the truth is that fear has many faces. Fear can look like insecurity, It can look like doubts, It can look like anxiety, it can look like depression. Fear has many faces. Fear can look like even jealousy. And so when we find ourselves engaging in our doubts and engaging in all of this, what we don't realize is that we're losing the very thing that causes us to be believers, and that is our faith that there is a place that I can engage and believe and partner with the Lord. When I was looking at just the little that I could see, the Lord is speaking to. Me, my daughter, do not be afraid. Do you know that the commandment fear not is literally like the most repeated commandment in the Bible, fear not. We see it from the Old Testament to the New Testament. Because this is the type of fear when you engage it. Again, it's not the awareness of this fear, but it is when you engage it, when you begin to interact with it, when you begin to lean on it. This is the type of fear that causes you to start questioning who God is, the truth of Jesus's identity, the truth of what He's already made available to us. This is the type of fear that causes us to be crippled, that causes us to be crippled in the very things that God has called us to, that causes us to be crippled in order to embrace the promises of God and to walk it out Now. Earlier, you might be wondering, what does this have to do with the scripture that I just read right? What does this have to do with Adam and Eve in the garden. We know the problem was Eve. For centuries blamed Eve. But what if I told you that the fall of humanity was not about Eve being deceived, but that the catalyst for the fall of humanity was fear. You see, the scripture tells us, I want us to go to verse twelve and verse thirteen. I want us to look at this again. Now it says that then the man said, this is after the whole thing, right Satan. You know he's right there. He's he's talking to Eve, he's engaging Eve, and he's like, hey, you know this would be you know, the Lord doesn't want you to have all this wisdom, right, and Even's like, wow, this looks good. You know, this looks like it's just about right right, and Eve takes the apple, Eve or not the apple. It's so funny because we call it an apple. We don't know what it is. It's gonna been the mango tree. You coulda been the fruit that doesn't exist. You know, if there was a fruit that was in the garden of eating, it was probably a dragon fruit all this weird looking fruit, right. But we don't know what it is. It was just a fruit. And so we see that Eve ate the fruit, and she gave it to Adam. But look at this right. It says that when God confronted Adam and he said, hey, what is going on here? Who told you you are naked? Have you eating of the fruit of the tree? That I commanded you not to? Look at this dialogue that happens in verse twelve. It says, then the man said, the woman you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate. And it continues when the lord now said to the woman, what is this you have done? And the woman said, the serpent deceived me, and I ate. You see, Eve was deceived, but Adam wasn't. Eve was deceived by the enemy, but Adam wasn't deceived. Adam was right there when everything was going on. And in my person life, I've noticed that when a person is silent in the midst of chaos, they're thinking, we don't see Adam, you know, having any conversation with the enemy. The enemy was talking specifically to Eve. But I've always read this scripture and I used to think that it was about, you know, blame shifting. They were being shady, they were being petty. But then I realized that maybe pettiness wasn't in the garden of Eden. That what if Adam is literally saying it like it is when God said Adam, who told you? Adam is like God, you gave me a woman when I didn't find anyone that matched me. You see, in the beginning of before Evil was formed, Adam in the Bible is naming all the animals, and the Lord is watching, and the Bible says that he was watching to see what Adam would call it, and everything that Adam knew that was its name. So Adam was moving in this place of alignment with God. So when Adam was naming the lion and the tortoise and the sheep and all of that, what was happening was not just that Adam was giving them names, but Adam was also in this place of discovery that they all have their own mates. But I have not found someone like me. That this is a lion, this is a sheep, this is a dog, this is a cat, this is all this stuff, but there is no one that matches me. And then finally, God, you gave me Eve, and you have told me. You see, Adam and God had a different conversation about this tree Adam had the understanding that look, if we eat up. This tree, we will die. And if he's watching this woman, this jewel, that finally I have someone in my life who matches me. I'm not trying to mate with a donkey. Don't do that right, And He's like, who Eve is here? And if even when Eve ate of the fruit? What if? While Adam was silent, he was thinking, could this mean that I would lose Eve if I don't if I don't join her in this thing? What does this mean for me? Dude? Am I gonna lose my companion? You see? Because Satan is cunning, That's what the scripture even tells us. The very the very animal. The beast that was used was the serpent, and it says the most cunning of all the beasts. And so what that tells us is that Satan does not show his cards. In the beginning, Eve was not his target. Eve was not his main target all the while Adam. If Eve was his main target, then he would have done it when Adam wasn't even there. But Adam is standing right next to Eve, and he's thinking, could it be the moment that the. Lord revealed this to me? Could it be that while Adam was there, he was thinking about, Adam want to lose this woman, and in his fear he ate of the same fruit. Adam wasn't deceived by the enemy. Adam moved from a place of the fear of loss. What if this caused me to lose the very person that God you gave me. You gave her to me, You gave her to me, and I'm supposed to protect her. I'm supposed to. But Adam, what if that meant, you know, you should have stopped her? But was there fear in that from that very first place? Because you see in the beginning I talked about how I believe that fear was not the awareness of fear was not foreign in the garden of Eden because the same way that Satan had access to the Garden of Eden, when God allows certain things, it also shows you who you are. Why was it that Satan had access because he was not a threat. Because God recognized that Adam and Eve, I've given you dominion, and you have dominion. What we call a threat is not a threat because you have dominion over it. And so Satan could have access to the garden. Fear could exist in the garden book. They had dominion over it, and so it was normal if Adam had the awareness of fear that what if this could cause me to lose Eve? The problem is when you engage in that fear and you act out of it. Could it be that fear was actually the catalyst to the fall of man? You see what I'm learning because as we look at this story is that fear is a distraction to dominion. Now what do I mean by this? I want to take you into a scripture in Genesis two fifteen because before all of this nonsense, actually even in the midst of this nonsense, the scriptury read the first scripture re read. It shows us that, you know, Eve eats the fruit I'm calling an apple. You know, Eve eats the fruit. Nothing happened. Their eyes were only opened when Adam also ate of the same fruit. Could it be that the very thing that was causing Adam panic and fear? And okay, what if I lose God? You gave me this woman, What do you expect me to do? She ate the apple or the fruit? She ate it, and she gave it to me. What do you want me to do? You gave me her. But then again, if Adam realized that it was only open, something only shifted because you gave in. Fear is a distraction to dominion? And what do I mean by this? You know, many times, if you've been in a if you've been watching messages and all that stuff, that you may have been familiar with this idea of You know, in the fall of Man, Satan had took dominion. Satan had authority over the world. You know, the Bible talk calls him the prince of the Age. Why one of the questions I've always had is, you know when was this exchange? When did it happen? When did they give the keys of the world to Satan? But then it dawned on me, because when God placed Man in the garden of Eden, this is what took place. In Genesis two fifteen. It said, then the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and to keep it. Dominion started in the garden of Eden. When God placed Man in the garden, he said, now you're supposed to tend it and have dominion over it. The enemy understood if I could get him kicked out of Eden, there would be a vacuum created for dominion. And the truth about spiritual laws and principles is that there is no emptiness in the spirit. And so where there is a vacuum, Satan has rulership. Satan was not cast down on earth with any form of authority. His authority exists where there is unclaimed territory. And so when we don't claim our territory, Satan says, well, now I have authority here. Where there is unclaimed territory. Satan is a ruler over That is why they call him the ruler over darkness. This has been left. Abandoned, it is exposed, and now he steps in. He understood, Adam, if I can get you distracted, then I can take your dominion. If I can get you distracted by your fear, then I can take actually what belongs to you. I need you to ask yourself right now, what is distracting you? How is fear distracting you from the place of your dominion in God? You see our pastor preach the message? Not too long ago he talked. He talked about the difference a day makes, and it was so profound because it even enabled us. If you haven't watched it, you should, but it gave us this insight about an understanding of the power that each day holds the power to bring manifestation, the power to to you know, bring forth the promise and the purposes of God each single day. And some of you, actually, you might be watching this message. You woke up this morning and you just felt like you're waiting for the day to be over. You woke up this morning and your mind was under attack. A warning. When your mind is under attacked, whenever you lose inspiration for the day, for your assignment, for the things that God has called you to, your mind is under attack. And so some of you you're watching this right now, and it was even. A struggle for you to to get engaged in this because you're just like God, it's over. I'm done. I don't want this anymore. Your mind is under attack, and you have to get to the place of recognizing this fear, this doubt, disbelief. It is a distraction to my dominion. You see, even just today, while I was getting ready to come and preach the gospel, I was at home getting ready, and all of a sudden, their alarms are going off in my apartment building, and it's the fire alarms, And so in my mind I'm like, Okay, maybe you know, they found a weird time of the day to do an emerge. What do they call those things when they kind of like test the evacuation or whatever, you know, I can't remember what it's called, but yeah, a fake drill, right, a drill. So I'm thinking, okay, maybe this is one of those random things, right. So I called the man. I called the apartment manager. I said, hey, is is there an actual fire going on in the building. He's like, I don't know, I'm gonna check. And so my friend also lives in the building, and I call her. I'm like, hey, what's going on in this building? I'm like, do you smell smoke or anything? So finally she's like, oh, no, I smell smoke. And so I had a friend in the in my apartment with me because we were just I was getting ready and we're coming here, and so she opens the door and there is the whole hallway is filled with smoke, and so all of a sudden, the reality kicks in. Wait, there is there could be a fire in this building, and it's somewhere close to me. Because even just taking it in, I'm like, I start coughing and it like for maybe about two minutes straight. But I was like, wait, there could be a fire. So my friend is literally she's like, Stephanie, we have to go. We gotta go. And the only thing I'm thinking about is I gotta preach. I have a word I need to deliver. There is an assignment on my life today. There is a place that God has given me dominion over. I can't be distracted by this fire because you see, there is a narrative. The enemy wants you to believe that I could be in a place of panic and say, wait, I need to wait and see what happens. My belongings, my things, these things are immaterial. I looked at my home and I said, the only thing that actually matters to me is that I wear something quickly. I can grab my laptop. Actually I forgot my laptop initially, and I need to get to the House of God. And so I was like, okay, I'll grab my passport because no one wants to go through the headache of not having an identity. Okay, And I looked at everything. I said, God, all of this is material. You could give it back to me if there is a fire, which it looks like there's a fire in this building and I lose everything, It doesn't matter, because the day that you have made, there is an assignment in this for me, and I'm not going to allow the threats of destruction to distract. Me from dominion. You see, many times we find ourselves so shaken up and we don't realize that the enemy is playing us like a fiddle that I could be like, oh my gosh, God, how could you? How could he do? What if I lost everything? So what? There are people that don't even have a roof over their head and they still find a way to praise God. There's a scripture in the Sums that says, this is the day that the Lord has made. I will we will rejoice. And be gladden it. It was a decision. It was not that this is the day that the Lord has made, and he has favored me, and I have met my destiny helpers, and the doors are open not shut, and I met my boo. My bow has on my rooth, whichever one you want. To have it. It didn't say all of that. I said, this is the day that the Lord has made, and we will rejoice and be glad in it. I have made a decision with my mind that no matter the circumstance, no matter the cause, I will find a reason to rejoice and be glad in it because my mind is focused on the Lord. Today could have gone very differently. You know, it's crazy because we're all running outside. I'm like, let me just wear some real quick and grab every line and just run because it was crazy. So we get down downstairs, the firefighters are there and all that stuff, and it dawns on me. I'm like, oh my gosh, I left my laptop and my mindset is literally this. I said, God, I'm looking because you know, movies be messing with you, and the movies all of a sudden when they escaped and the fire just pH I'm like, okay, Lord, this is not the day. So I look up the look at the windows. I'm like, is there any five coming anywhere? And I'm like, okay, Lord, I just need to get my laptop because I need to preach, and so if there's a fire, please hold it back. I'm not gonna die like this. I need there's a word you assigned me to. My mind was not about things that were immaterial. My mind was about my assignment and the moment I went back upstairs because at this point I was ready to leave the apartment. The moment of going back upstairs and saying, God, whatever it is, just protect me, let me grab this and get out of here, all of a sudden it was revealed that this threat had no weight. It was actually my neighbor. So this is not just in my building. This was happening in my neighbor's apartment, and it was just it was food that was on the stove. Somehow, I don't know what happened. Maybe people are asleep, I don't know, and it went really bad. So in coming back upstairs, in saying God, I would put my life in this moment at risk for you, for your people, because at the end of the day, if I should die, I would rather die in my assignment than in my fear. If God would call me home, I would rather that God found me in the place of my calling and not in the place of hiding. And so in that moment, all that mattered to me is that God, if this is what it will take, I just need to grab this. Unless you just want me to go without notes, that's fine, so we can do that. But I understood that this fear is this. Fire or the threat of a fire is not a threat to my life. It's not a threat to my joy. It's not a threat to my ability to serve the purpose of God. And we have to get to a place where we would make up our You see, there is a scripture that says, with my mind, I will serve the Lord with my mind. I would serve the Lord. With my mind because you see so many times we're focused on feeling our spirit. But the mind is that place. The mind is a place of worship. The mind is a place of intimacy because you see, the mind is your creative realm. The mind is a place where you have intimacy with the Creator. The mind is the place. It's what pulls from what has been deposited in the spirit. So you can be felled in the spirit. But if your mind is not activated to believe what God placed in your spirit, nothing happens. With my mind, I will serve the Lord. You see, many of you have to make a decision today that God, with my mind, I would serve you that I'm not just going to serve my lust and my unforgiveness and all these things. With my mind, I will serve the Lord. It's a decision. It's when you begin to find yourself diving into the world of God. God, what does it mean to serve you? What the thoughts that I should not even engage myself with. But I should rebuke it because I realized that this is a place of worship. The mind. There's so many scriptures we find about the mind. Even when Paul talks about putting on the armor, the armor of God, the very first thing he talks about is the helmets of salvation, the mind. What protects your head, what protects your mind? With my mind, that will serve the Lord. It's not going to be your testimony. You see. I know that we came out of twenty twenty, and you know it may seem like twenty twenty made us felt panicked, Like God, what is real? What is stable? What is you know? What is going to be? What can last in my life? But that's the wrong perspective. The wrong perspective is to look at the year prior and say, oh, this makes me afraid of the future. It makes me afraid of knowing if I will be stable or not. Twenty twenty should have been the year that ignites your fear of the Lord, not your fear of man or structures or systems. It should ignite you to say who is like the Lord? Because in this moment, the only thing that I can find rest of my identity is in God. It should actually reveal to you that all things are fleeting and easily passing away. But the Lord is going to be the rock of my salvation. He is the one that I can hold on to. He is the one I can lean on. It is only in him that my identity can stand. Only the Lord has the capacity to manifest who I am, not a job, not a person, not a relationship. It is through the Lord. What people do. Is when the lif Lord can send someone who has the grace and the surrender to commit to what He has purpose for them to do in your life. And if they say no, God will find another person. If you came out of twenty twenty with a fear or a panic, feeling like God, I don't know what I can put my trust in, you missed it. Twenty twenty should have been the year that we say who is like the Lord. It should have been a year that brought us closer to the place of the fear of God, that only God can keep and sustain me. Only the Lord can truly be my provider. And so my things for you today, my assignment for you today. And if I failed the assignment, I couldn't preach about it. If in the moment of thinking that my apartment would have been burnt, I wouldn't be here right now. I'll be somewhere it's shaken up or panicing. I would not even flow in the manner that I am doing right now. But even when a threat came, I said, Lord, even if the fire showed up, so what even if I lost everything? So what you see, sometimes we're so spoilt by what we call blessings, and there are blessings that we forget that the only true gift, that my exceeding reward, is not in what God gave me. It is in God. He is my exceeding reward. He said that to Abraham, and he echoes that through every generation that came out of Abraham. He echoes that to you, that He is your reward. You're so hung up on the things you feel like you lost, But you didn't lose God, you didn't lose your relationship with Him. With my mind, I will serve the Lord, what has fear been distracting you from you? See, as I was praying, I said, Lord, what does it look like to have deliverance in this area? Because one of the things that we understand is that when a person feels bound by their mental life, your mind should be your safe space, not the place of opposition, not the place of affliction. And as I saw the Lord, what does deliverance in this look like? What he showed me? And I'm going to apply that in my life and I'm inviting you to join me in this that for the next twenty one days, that you become intentional and disciplined to move in the very thing that fear has crippled you from, whatever it is, do something each day that moves you in that direction. You see, the. Lord showed me something, and it shocked me that think about this like a fast. You see, when we think of a fast, we only think about food, right most of us food or social media. And during the fast we're like, okay, you know, I'm on this fast to build, you know, my intimacy with the Lord and to build my spiritual life. And that is very good and beautiful. But the Lord began to show me another type of fast, because just as being filled up in the spirit is important, having a healthy mind is important because if your mind is not healthy, it cannot draw from the spirit what God has deposited in there. And so think of it like a fast for your mind. I want you to look at this twenty one days that God, I'm fasting my insecurities. I'm fasting my doubts. I'm fasting the shame. I'm fasting the guilt. I'm fasting from jealousy. I'm fasting from comparison. I'm fasting from the things that are toxic to my mind. I'm on a mental fast. I'm on a fast that says no to toxicity and yes to truth. If you can fast food, I want you to fast your insecurity, if you can find joy and courage and say, oho, I just did a forty day fast. But what is a forty day fast if you literally the next day you're back in the bondage. Of your mind. And so God is filling up your spirit with so much wisdom and so much blessings, but your mind cannot receive it because it is in bondage. Of the enemy. A mental stronghold is very similar to what happens when there is a vacuum on earth and the devil takes dominion a mental stronghold. They are the areas. Of your thinking that are unchecked, the areas of your thinking that are not guarded, and in those places Satan has dominion. That is really what the stronghold is about. We have to be right now. Our pastor has been teaching us in a series called Starting Over, and that series has been about equipping us to be able to manifest the promises and the purpose of God. And connected to that is your ability is the discipline to guard your mind. You have to be as diligent about your mind as you are about other things in your spiritual life. The ability to guard your mind, it is pivotal to your walk as a believer. Because there's a scripture I want to share with you. I don't know if I gave this note, but let me see if I have it in here. It is in let's see. Let's see, And if I don't, I would explain to you what the scripture talks about. Now, I don't might not put it in my note because I want to give you what the verse actually is. Actually, I do have it it's Ephesians one and this verse three, and it says, blessed be the God and Father of our Lord, Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. In Christ. Everything you need. Is deposited in what is called a spiritual blessing. But if your mind is not healthy, that's what I actually call this message. Help. My mind is a mess, because if your mind is not healthy, if your mind is filled with the mess of fear and doubt and all of that, then. The spiritual blessing that has been. Given to you by God cannot be activated or accessed. You see, Jesus would often say something like, your faith has made you whole, your faith has healed you. But what does that mean? In that moment, you see that the person first of all, you have been given the spiritual blessing of revelation about who Jesus is, That this is the son of the Living God. When Peter said to Jesus, when Jesus actually asks Peter, he said, who do men say that I am? And then he says to Peter, who do you say that I am? And Peter says, oh, you are the Christ the son of the Living God. And then Jesus said, wow, flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father, who is in heaven, has revealed this to you. But you see, Peter had revelation in his spirit. He could communicate that revelation. But then all of a sudden, Peter in another moment, is called Satan when he was when Jesus is talking to them, and Jesus is talking about you know what I must go to the cross and all this stuff that he has to do, and Peter rebukes the Lord, and Jesus says, get behind me, Satan, and he says, your mind is focused on the things below. Your mind is focused on earthly matters. Your mind is not healthy, Peter. You can speak revelation, but your mind is not healthy to actually activate this revelation. Because if your mind could receive what you said, you will not rebuke me in this moment. You would recognize that if I am speaking, it's not for you to question me in what I'm about to do. It is for you to seek understanding. Lord, what do you mean? What does the cross represent? This is a this is a teaching moment, not a rebuke moment. So you might be the person who can recite all the scriptures. You might have done the one year Bible plan every year since you were twenty or eighteen or seven. I don't know. You know, if you grew up in your parents were pastors, maybe you know you started reading with the Bible. But just back to focus. The point is that can be revelation that you speak. You can talk talk about what God has said about you. There's a revelation about your identity and your destiny, and you share it with your friends. You're like, wow, you know God has said this concern in my life. God has said that concern in my life. But in the moment of opportunity, you run because your mind is not yet healthy to activate the revelation you have received in the spirit, and so join me in this twenty one day. You can use hashtag activate twenty one child. You know, in the beginning of this year, a pastor talked about how twenty one is the number for deliverance. And what I'm believing and what I will be praying during this time is that during this twenty one days, that you run towards your fears, you run towards the thing that you felt like you were too insecure to do the very thing that you felt like, I'm not the one for the job, the things that you feel unworthy for, that as you run towards them, that would break every mental. Stronghold of the enemy. That you would walk in freedom, and that you would walk in dominion, That you will begin to discover what God has assigned to your life, and you would walk it out. You know. For me, I'll tell you what I'm doing. You know, something I rarely share with people because when this happened, I had this encounter a couple of years ago. And in the encounter, I'm receiving this message that is connected to my calling. But it was something that I just didn't see how it fit right at the time. But then the Lord began to explain it to me. So INDI encounter there's a person of you know, a person of faith that has gone to be with the Lord that I admired so much. And during his time he taught a lot about fasting and all this stuff. Right, And so I'm seeing him. He's in the gym and he's like, you know, lifting weights and all that stuff, and he looks at me and for a second, actually the whole moment, I forgot that he has actually gone to be with the Lord. And he starts speaking to me, and he's talking to me. He said, you know what, during my time, and he's talking to me as someone who is saying, like, you know, obviously my time has ended. But it was so the reality of his presence was so strong that I forgot that he has actually passed on. And so he was talking to me and he said, during my time, I talked a lot about fasting. And I said, yes, I've watched, actually watched a lot of your messages and I listened to your sermons. And he said, the one thing that God had called him to do but he didn't lean into, was in the area of fitness, right, And I was like, oh, that's interesting because in the encounter he was buff. I said, wow, you know, did they lived weights in heaven? But I believe God was just trying to show me an image of something. So he starts talking to me. He said, fitness was part of his call because he was talking about even though with healing and all that stuff. Because one of the things that I know that this is a sign to my life is to reveal the healing power of God. And when I talk about the healing power of God, we all think that immediately supernatural, right in the name of Jesus, and of course, but also the discipline of what it takes to take care of our body. Some things, it's not a spiritual battle for healing. Some things could be a change of diet, it could be working out, not everything, but some things. Right. So he begins talking to me about this that you know, during his time, he was supposed to do this thing, and he was fitness was part of his calling. And that now that one of the things that he has seen in my life connected to even when it comes to just you know, healing, it was a different I'm just summarizing this conversation, right, And he said, now, Stephanie, I am entrusting this mantle to you. And I said to who, Because first of all, I like, you know, the idea of a sex pack, but I'm not sure how I feel about the reality of making it happen. And so when I came out of the encounter, I was talking to the lawyer. I said, God, you know, I'm cool with preaching the gospel. You know, I'm cool with certain things, but fitness is not my place. And the Lord said, who are you to say what is your place or what is not? Because at the end of the day, everything I've called you to I revealed to you. And so this is a place that I'm calling you to embrace. I'm calling you to walk out. I'm calling you to embrace what it means to walk in in the essence of healing, not just saying you are made well, but that your life communicates health, and that to me, if I'm honest with you, I have not seen myself as someone who is worthy of that. I feel like it's the people who love going to the is the people who like, you know, when I'm talking about maybe I'm talking about stock market, They're like, you know what, let's pound this protein shake real quick. That's not me. I don't know rap, this is just my head. But I have felt unworthy. I've doubted myself. I'm like, God, I'm not the person for that. Actually, I sometimes emotionally eat. I say you want me o, Lord, Now you got a wrong And as I was even studying for this message, the Lord said, Stephanie, I've not changed my mind. You thought you could bury it and just forget about it. But I've not changed my mind concerning what I said to you, and I had to realize that that unworthiness is a distraction to a place that God is saying, I'm giving you dominion. And so for me, for the next twenty one days, I'm doing no days off right sounds better than it's gonna feel. I'm gonna work out every day. It's very simple. You thought, maybe i'll say something spiritual now, but it's spiritual to me because if I don't take care of my body, I mean, how am I going to carry out the things that God has called me to? And no days of does not mean I'm gonna be going crazy some days. It could be, you know, a stretching party. But I'm gonna work out every day. I'm gonna be intentional about eating clean and all of that and feeding my body like I love myself. And so for you, I don't know what that looks like. It could be that you God has called you to be a voice and you just feel like God, no one wants to hear what I got to say. And maybe every single day you go live on Instagram or something and you have a talk whatever it is that pushes you towards the place of what you have been afraid of that. Maybe you're one that said, God, you know a preaching was for my parents, I don't want to do that. Start preparing your message. Maybe there's a business you know that God has called you to and the fear of failure has crippled you. Start working towards it, whatever it is. My prayer is that God will reveal to you what is the area that has crippled you from your dominion? How has fear distracted you from the place of your dominion. The Bible says that called to me, ask of me the nations. Ask of me, and I will give you the nations as an inheritance. But who has the boldness, who has the courage, who has the belief that God in an area, in an industry, in something that I'm not even familiar with, in something that I could be a baby in, you can give me authority and dominion because that is just who you are. Who is greater than God? Who can do what God? Who can do the things that God can do? Who I mean we're talking about there's stories I reading the Bible and when I realized the reality of it, that God will look at the sea and cause it to part so that his people can walk on dry ground. So I'm walking on dry ground and write. Then you know, Nemo is somewhere. We finally found him, right, He's right there in the water. We said, where is Nemo? He was at the Red Sea, just you know, swimming along. Dory was somewhere crying. But the thing that you fear, who is. Greater than God? In my head, God, if you can part a. Red sea, if you can cause the sun to stop, simply because your son believed it. There's a man named Joshua who called, who asks for the son to stand still. And God listened to him, simply because Joshua believed God. You see, when it says God listened to him, God listened to the belief. God listened to his faith. It was not just empty words. Joshua knew that what he was asking for with his whole self. He believed in it. Don't be one who just says things. Be one whose mind is healthy enough to activate it. Because if I can believe it, I can become it. You can't talk your way into becoming, you believe your way into becoming. What has God said about you and is fear distracting you from dominion no more. Join me in those In the next twenty one days, I'll be sharing my journey, you know, the days where maybe I will have a chicken leg walk. I don't know, but whatever it is, if you're joining me, just put in the comments. Right now. I'm in, I'm in, I'm in family. I'm going to be praying for you. I believe that God is going to do mighty things. I believe that every lie is going to be broken because I recognize that in this moment you have to make a decision that your actions have to back up the posture of your heart to say, God, I don't want to stay in this any longer. I don't want to be crippled by this fear any longer. I don't want to be crippled by this thought. Because you see, the threat has no power. I believe that God even allowed what took place. The enemy thought, if I didn't have the right perspective, he could have used this for his agenda. But the Lord understood, Stephanie, this fire is actually just a threat. This smoke is a threat. There's no fire. There's no fire. This is just a deception. It's no fire and family. Guess what, even if there was a fire, So what, God is with me. God is with you even if you fail. So what you have to have this mindset that even if my fear is failure and I fail, but you have to realize that then failure in the hands of God is not failure. In my life it may look like failure, but if I put my failure in the hands of God, then I would hold onto the promise that said He uses everything to work together for my good. So even that failure, God will look at it and say, hey, actually you can learn something from this. This can be and this could equip you. It could teach you something. You have to come to the place of Shadrack Mishak and the bed red nigger that says, even if he doesn't save. Us from the fire, it's all right. You know. You have to get to that place with your mind. You will serve the Lord. With my mind, I will serve the Lord. My mind is a holy ground. That is why the enemy. I'm just getting this. The enemy attacks a lot with the place of things like pornography, things like lust, because it is to distract your mind. Your mind is holy ground. Your mind is spiritual with it, you will serve the Lord, not serve the desires of your flesh, not not open doors for the enemy to just come in and say you gave me access. Jesus said something, He said, Satan comes to me, but he finds nothing in me. There is nothing that he can use as an open door in my life that he. Finds nothing in me. There is no hold. There is nothing Satan what you want because it ain't here. And I'm praying that for you, And so Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord Jesus for your word. We thank you, Lord God, that we are making a decision today that with our mind we will serve the Lord. That we are going into a twenty day fast for the mind, a twenty day fast from our insecurities and our fears and our doubts and the lies and the. Narrative that comes straight from the pit of hell. That we are taking a fast away from everything that is toxic to believe and to hold on to what you know about us. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Jesus. I'm just sensing that there's some of you that you been having there two people that God has showing me some of you You've been having dreams this reoccurring dreams of being pregnant, reoccurring dreams. You keep seeing yourself pregnant, and it has no natural, no literal. Symbolism to you. Like in your natural life. It doesn't mean anything to you in regards to you know, you might not even be in a relationship. So you're like, God, why am I seeing myself pregnant? But it's because and the Lord is showing me that you are overdue to deliver what. He placed in you. And you've allowed fear to cripple you. But this is the day that you choose to say no more, that you choose to fight back, that you choose to take territory where the enemy has been taking dominion because you left it unchecked. This is the day that you fight back. You said no, no, no, it's my mind. It is the mind that God has given me. And the only thing that should have influence over my mind is the mind of Christ. It says, take on this mind. The mind of Christ should be in you. But that is the only thing that should influence me. Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. And there's some of you you're watching this message, and you haven't yet made a decision to follow Jesus. You know him, you talk about him, but you haven't made a decision to follow him, so you still dabbling other things. You know Jesus and you know that. But on this day you feel a conviction in your heart, you feel a burning in your chest. You understand that I want to know you more. I don't want to live this flimsy life. With your mind, you will serve the Lord, but it begins by following the Lord in order to serve him. And if that is you, just put in the chat I'm coming home. I'm coming home. I'm coming home. I'm coming home. And just say these words with me, Lord Jesus. I believe that you are the son of God. You died on the cross for me, and when you were raised up, I was raised up to On this day, I say yes. To follow you and you alone. I will serve you with my mind. I will follow you with my life. I surrender it all to you. Make my heart your home. Give me the mind of Christ in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, Family, we love you, Attatatatatas