Stephanie Ike Okafor - You Are Light

Oh my goodness, yesterday was so special and what a treat that was. Once more, I am just overwhelmed by what God wants to do, and it's already doing in this place. We were on the way and it was just the spirit of God just took over my heart on what He's doing with the women in this conference. And so I'm excited for how the Holy Spirit is gonna flow. Amen. And once again, family, I want each and every one of us to take a moment to honor the senior pastors of this house. P w a Pta, you are incredible woman of God and I am just so blessed to serve the vision that God has given you for the women He's entrusted to this house. Can we honor the staff, the volunteers. Amen. I'll be honest with you. I have I've traveled a lot, but there is a spirit of excellence on this house. Yeah, it is. It is. It's tangible. You can see that there is an intentional effort it to have it as part of the culture. And what I love about excellence is our Lord God is excellent and so when we embody that nature of excellence, it unlocks a dimension of His power in what we do, and there is such a spirit of excellence here on like anything I've seen, and I've been in many churches, but yeah, no for that, honestly, you need to give a big Christ Jesus. Amen, Amen, Amen. And just finally I want to just take a moment to honor my husband, he's in town with us. These are my daughter right now. Honor my senior pastors who also allow me the grace to do what God has called me to do. So passor to Ray Roberts, Pastor Sarah Jax Roberts, I honor them. Let us pray. Heavenly Father, we thank you, We thank you for what you have purpose to do tonight, Lord God, this is another opportunity all day today, Lord Jesus, you have been releasing words and insight and transformation has been happening. And so, Lord God, we don't take it lightly to come together as a corporate body in seeking your presence, and so as we do so, Lord, may every distraction just be eliminated, that our so focused would be on you and that which you seek to do. Ray, Heavenly Father, that every spirit of doubt be cast out in the name of Jesus, that the words you release to your daughter's Lord, that they would receive it as truth. They will not receive it as an idea or a suggestion, but they would receive it as their identity. That what you released to them. Oh God, may they receive it and be good soil anything that will cause their hearts to be corrupted and not be good soil for the word. Lord God, I pray that you will touch it right now in the name of Jesus, have your way in Jesus' mighty name. Amen, Amen, you may be seated. Yesterday I was sharing my have a book coming out in August, August twenty seven, and I'm so excited about this book because of the assignment on the book. This book for me was obedient. Any author will tell you writing is not fun. It's a long process, it's a lot of sacrifice. But it was the obedience to what the Lord was calling me to do. You know, the Bible says that in the last days that the old men will dream dreams, and sometimes we confuse what does that mean? The old men will dream dreams because the reality is that everyone dreams, both young and old. Babies even dream. And one of the things that the Lord has taught me about that scripture. It doesn't have to do with age. It has to do with a certain level of maturity in the spirit, because it doesn't just say that they will dream, but that they will dream dreams. They would have a consistency in the flow of revelation from God to them even through their dreams. You see, the beauty about dreams is, first of all, you already sleep for a third of your life. The average person sleeps for a third for about twenty six years of their life is sleeping. And the Lord does not want that to be a place that you don't encounter him. He wants that to be a place that you would also consistently have encounters with him. But here is something about God. He does not speak to gossip and he does not speak to waste words. So your inability to discern his voice in your dreams could cause him to pull back from dropping revelations. That is critical to your destiny and what He desires to do through you. And so this book is not just about learning how to interpret, because that is actually one of the easiest parts when you tap into the flow of the Holy Spirit. One of the key things that we're going to talk about that in the book. But one of the key things about the book is to bring you to a place of understanding your dreams as holy ground, understanding how to interact with the Holy Spirit before you go to bed and when you wake up, that you would have the ability to remember your dreams and to amplify the voice of God through your dreams. There are so many things that can be avoided if you received a word from God concerning it. The warning dreams that God sometimes would give you, and in his mercy, he will cause you to have re occurring dreams because He's trying to tell you I'm sending you a message and you still have not understood the weight of it. And so this book is an assignment. I encourage you, after everything, pre order the book for yourself and for someone you love, and is going to be a rich blessing. Amen. Now let's get into today. Yesterday, like I said, was such a blessing and we laid a foundation for what we're going to build upon today. One of the key things that we discussed yesterday that I want you to take away with you is the understand that creation. When we look at Genesis one the accounts of creation on the first day of creation, the Father said, let there be light, and the Bible says and there was light. But yet on day four God created the sun, the moon, and the stars to give light to the earth. So on Day one it was not about the natural light, but rather the manifested presence of Jesus, because Jesus would also say, I am the light of the world, and what we were unpacking yesterday is the is the mystery in how God creates that for anything to be tangible in the sight of God and to be accepted before God, for the Lord to call something good, it must come from the presence of Jesus. So Jesus began the haence of creation because everything was created by him. That is why in John one it says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and all things were made by the Word. So in order for God to see something as tangible as acceptable, it must come from the presence of God. It must come from the Word of God. That is why Jesus would say, abide in me and I in you, for without me you can do nothing. When you invest the strength of your life laboring in things that Jesus never recognized he never called you to, He never assigned you to. No matter how effective you are in it. If he did not assign you to it. Before the side of God, it is called nothing. That is why Jesus would say, what would it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul? That is why there would be moments where Jesus would tell people leave everything you know and follow me. Why because what you have been doing is nothing. But if you follow me, you will come into the truth of who you really are, and your life would produce the assignment of God. When he sent you to this earth. There is a call on your life. You're not random, You're not just living to get by. You're not just living to establish you know, wealth on earth. There is a call of God upon you that must be revealed in your lifetime because what happens when we drop the ball, This is when we start talking about mantles that what was assigned to you, because the word of God cannot fail if your life does not execute that vision. Now, the Lord has to give it to someone in your lineage. You see, when the Lord called me, I remember there were a series of dreams that he gave me, and in one of them, he began to speak to me about how the call began, what started with my great grandmother, and then talk to me about my grandmother, talk to me about my mother, then talk to BE about myself, and he says, if you do not do this, I did not call your daughter to it, but it would be it would have. I would have to give it to her. She has her own path. He spoke to Be about what my daughter would do in her life, but he said, you must do the thing that you have been assigned to because for this reason I sent you on the earth. But if you don't, because do you know that you are a word. You're not just a person occupying space. You are a word from God to your generation. You are a ward from God to the time and season he placed you on this earth, and that word cannot fall to the ground. So if you do not fulfill the assignment on your life, that is when the Lord has to now give it to another person. So that's why you start seeing people who are effective in many things, and you're wondering, how are they so talented in several things because they're not only carrying the call on theirs, but they're also carrying the things that were falling. So the question is do you desire to live in the truth of your destiny or would you want it to be passed down because you lack the ability to discern what God wanted to do through you. You see, in the natural, ignorance is not an excuse. If you commit a crime and you go to court and you tell the judge, oh, I did not know it was a crime, that would not excuse you. If you parked in a place that you are not supposed to park and you say, oh, I didn't see the sign, that will not excuse you. You will still have to pay the fine, you will still have to experience the consequences for that action. And the same way in our spiritual lives, ignorance is not an excuse before God. And why is that because He gave you his Holy Spirit. He didn't leave you without a helper. He said, I will send you a helper who will teach you and guide you into all truths. But you see, the Holy Spirit will never force himself on you. You make room for him. And the beauty of the Holy Spirit is that there is no junior or your Holy Spirit. There is just the Holy spirit. But how you make room for him in your life is what opens the door for how he engages with you. You see, one of the beautiful things that the Lord has taught me in this life is the understanding that you are a sent one. Your life did not start on earth. You were sent to earth. Your life started with God. You see the only difference. And when I say only, I don't mean in the weight of Jesus's life, I'm referring to when he walked the earth. The difference between us and Jesus is that he had a consciousness that he was sent. He knew where he came from. And then he says to his disciples, as the Father sent me, so I send you. You didn't start here, God sent you here. That is why when you receive prophecies about your children, what do you think that is? There is an insight God is releasing about a child that he is about to send to this earth, not so that they can bear the limitations of their experience, but that they would bear His image and carry the assignment he called them to establish on this earth. You see, I love this theme of light because Jesus there are very few identities that he shares with us. Jesus will call himself that he is the light of the world. And then check this out in Matthew five from fourteen to sixteen. Jesus will say this concerning you. He would say, you are the light of the world. The cities that is set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all those who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven. When the Bible talks about how men will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven, he's not talking about charity. He's not talking about being a good person like society would say. Because when you are just a generous person, when you are a humanitarian, you know who, they glorify you, they applaud you, they honor you. This is different because the Lord is revealing that there is a type of works that you are called to do will cause people to see you and believe in him. He's not just talking about living a good life. He's talking about something that is particular that it will not make sense how this is happening through you, that how could you be the one doing this? There is something, there is a type of works that will cause people to see your life and glorify Jesus. And that means it is a work that is connected to Him as the source. It goes beyond you, creating you coming up with your own ideas of nice things to do. This is talking about when you are in alignment with the counsel of God for your life and he causes the supernatural to be made natural through you. He causes you to walk in a type of favor that doesn't make sense. He causes you to defy the odds of life that when people learn about you, they want to understand what is it about this person? And then what they begin to glean from is that, oh, wait, God must be good, God must be true, Jesus must be real, because I can see the evidence on their lives. You see. I love it that the Lord talks about how he created us in his image, and then we see these different expressions of what that image represents. One being like one of the issues we have, and we see that even in the Biblical times they experience this very same issue is that people were taking on the image of the experiences of their families, the traumas of their past, the limitations of what society says about them. Talk about a man like Gideon and the Bible. An angel encounters him, and the angel says, mighty man of valor, and Gideon is like, bro, I don't know who you're talking about, and pay attention to his reason for doubting the weight of the message from the angel. He says, my clan is the weakest. And do you know when he says my clan is the weakest, that word can be translated to poor. That we are not equal to the others. So there is a perceived limitation that Gideon has placed on himself because he's like, look, my family and the tribe I come from, we're on the bottom. We are not equal to those they call great. We are not like the people that the world acknowledges as the great ones. We are in poverty. People don't look at us the way they look at them. They look at us like the bottom feeders. And then Gideon goes even further. He says, and to make matters worse, I am the least in my father's house. Gideon is saying, not only am I the youngest, but I am seen as the one who is insignificance, So you cannot be speaking to me. The issue with Gideon is the same issue we face today, that we have placed false boundaries on our lives because of the experiences we've been through. We have placed false limitations on our lives because of the mistakes we've made. But this is where the Lord begins to say, let your light so shine, because you are not created in the image of your mistakes. You are not created in the image of your parents' limitation. You are not created in the image of societal expectations based on your story. You are created in the image of God. And he is the only one that can set the boundaries of your life. He is the only one that can tell you this is what you can do, and this is what I permit you not to do. He is the only one. And so God has a record and has a pattern of using the least likely to do things that make that even the strong will not even be able to accomplish. So he uses people like Gideon. He uses people like the apostle Paul, that the one who was persecuting the Christians becomes the one who was raising them up. This is the nature of God. And so the Lord says, you are the light of the world. What does that mean for us? You see, oftentimes when we see darkness in the land, when we see darkness in our families, when we see darkness in society, when we hear about crazy stories. You would often hear people say, God, where are you? God? Why would you allow this to happen? God? Where are you in this situation? But do you know that God also has a question to humanity, and his question is where are you? Because I created you in my image. I sent you to be a problem solver. I sent you because there is something about who you are that will speak to the issues in your family, the issues in your generation. You say, I want to say this to women in this room, and this is not about shame or condemnation for any mistakes you've made in the past, but I want to speak to things in the future. Do you know the reason why there is such an agenda for women to take on this idea of my body, my choice. Do you know the reason that the enemy is pushing this agenda to normalize abortion like going together smoothie? Because children carry assignments of solutions. Anytime a child is sent on the earth, they carry the presence of God in their form. And what do I mean by that. I don't mean the Holy Spirit, because you have to go through a whole process and accept Jesus. But what I mean is that that child is a word from God. The presence of that child is an answer to a family. The presence of that child is an answer to a community. The presence of that child is an answer. And when the enemy sees the lights on that child, he begins to take over territories, He begins to whisper ideas to people in leadership, just the same way when the king was after Jesus, he was after Jesus so much so that he caught every child under two to be killed. He said, everyone, do you know where that inspiration came from? It wasn't the king. He was influenced by the enemy, because the enemy saw a light that he could not comprehend. The Bible says that when light shines, the darkness cannot comprehend it. And so when the enemy is afraid of what you carry, he's also thinking about the future. So how can we eliminate solutions let us get them to believe abortion is as normal as getting lunch. Do you know that sometimes you might be in a very weird situation financially struggling, you find yourself pregnant, and it seems like the solution to alleviate the stress is to eliminate the child, not realizing that when God saw the burdens on your life, he said that will send you a child that would wipe your tears away. But then you discerned it wrongly because in the atmosphere the principalities of the air have normalized the thoughts. So you say, you know what, this is just not the right time. Let me eliminate this child. You know that there are many things that we are experiencing on earth right now that it has nothing to do with God where are you? But they were set ones that were eliminated before they could get here, and we're waiting for another cycle for God to send another solution. The solution comes as you. That is why you have the creation of man. And when the woman was created outside of her being created to be his wife and companion, she the second human on earth, was created as a solution. It is not good that he would be alone, not just about what was not good. The fact was that she was created to answer something. And this doesn't stuck with Eve. This has everything to do with every child who is sent on this earth. You are God's solution, to your family, to your generation, to your community. This is why the enemy tries his hardest to distract you from being who you are, because you are not a threat when you're just living life. You become a threat when you're connected to the source of your life. You become a threat when you begin to reflect what he knows about you. You see, my encounters with God have always they started supernatural, and so there are things that is just part of the grace of my life to see a lot in the spirit. And one thing I will tell you is that in the spiritual realm you appear as lights. There are people that sometimes your light might be dim, or your light might be very bright and powerful. And how the enemy knows who and what and who to mess with and who not to mess with is according to the brightness of your lights. There are people they will see. The Sons of Skiva was a perfect example. They went, if you don't know the story, you have to write it down and study the sons of Skiv, the apostle Paul is casting out demons, and he's casting demons out in the name of Jesus. The sons of Skeeva see him and they say, wow, it must just be about the name, which the name of Jesus is powerful in itself, but that name, you have to have a revelation of the name, because in California we have a lot of people call Heyeseus, same same thing, So there must be a revelation that backs it up. So the sons of Scheva they go to cast out a demon. They said, in the name of Jesus that Paul preaches, and pay attention to what the demon said. The demon said, Jesus, we know Paul. We know that they have intelligence about you. They said, we know who authority and who doesn't, because when we see you, we see what you carry. So when they looked at the sons of Schema, they say, you do not have authority over us. So that's why they didn't leave it there. They beat them up, and the Bible literally said they tore their clothes and they went about naked because the dealers are like, how dare you you one of us? You look like us, and you're coming here telling me we cast you out. They said, oh, we're gonna teach you a lesson. There is knowledge about you. When they look at you, they can see the brightness of that light. That is why the Bible says, let your lights not even just shine, so shine because the brightness of it is according to how aligned you are to God's counsel about your life. You see the ways of God. We see it in creation. Do you know that the moon does not produce light. It produces no light. The moon's ability to produce light is according to its alignment to the sun, and so the moon is only reflecting the light that comes from the sun. God is telling a story even through creation, because creation speaks to the creator. Design speaks to the artist. And what is a story God is telling? Your light shines according to your alignment with his son, when you are aligned to Jesus with accuracy, because in your light, that is where your power in your life, that is where Heaven backs you up in your life. That is where you have authority. You see you will Their preachers will often tell you this. When the preacher, sometimes the preacher might be sick. Let me even talk about myself. I've had experiences where Monday through Saturday I could barely get out of bed because I was going through something, you know, something in my body or what have you. But Somenday I had to deliver a message. And as long as I get myself to the location, the moment i'm there, the sickness comes off. Why because when there is alignment, I'm not preaching because preaching is fun. I'm preaching because I was called by God to do this. So when I show up and what the counsel of God revealed about my life, even the infirmity has to bow to it. So there is an authority that starts to speak concerning you, even without you doing anything. Do you know that there's a popular scripture that we sometimes use when we say, you know, don't speak. You know when people speak against men and women of God, and they're like, do not speak against you know? Do how does the word go? Say it with me, touch not my anointed, and do my prophets no harm? Do you know that that was not what they said about themselves, but rather it was what God said concerning them. We try to defend ourselves and say, look, do you know I'm anointed. Do not speak against the anointed, and do good God's prophets no harm. No, it's what God said concerning them. Why am I saying this. When you're in alignment, the Lord begins to fight for you. When you're in alignment, you don't have to defend yourself. You actually begin to have compassion for what is coming up against you, because your position is your warfare. That is why even when the Bible talks about putting on the armor of God, what is the last thing it says, and when all is said and done, stamped Because in your alignment, Heaven goes to war against what is warring against you. It is what is when the cross, what happened on the cross begins to manifest over your life. You see on the cross, Jesus said that he made a spectacle of principalities and powers on the cross. He took captivity captive, and that begins to manifest in your life. When you are postured in the place God called you to, you begin to see the works of the Cross that is taking place. Now. This does not mean you will not go through trials and tribulations. No, it does not mean you will not go through persecution, because these are tools in the hands of God to equip you, to sharpen you, to strengthen you, to cause your roots to go deep. Because you have to experience being shaken and still stand so that God can take you to the next level of your life. Because if you're shaken on this level and you compromise, and you cannot be trusted with the next. That is why the Bible also says when persecution comes on the account of the Word. So when the Lord starts to reveal things about who you are, you have to expect persecution. You have to expect warfare. And sometimes not just because the devil is looking for you. It's because the revelation of who you are began the warfare. When you don't know who you are not a threat to the society. But the moment that God gives you a revelation of who you are, it begins the warfare, and what you're experiencing is retaliation. But if you think you're a victim to things just happening, you lose your power, You shrink, you become timid, and you start asking God why why, Rather than standing and saying, Lord, you have revealed something to me, and your word cannot fail. No matter what is coming my way. I will speak your word and not speak my doubts. You see alignment. This is how we come into the identity of lights. We align ourselves. And what does that mean? We see it all over the Bible, starting with the Lord's prayer. When the disciples understood how effective Jesus was in the place of prayer, they said, teach us how to pray. And when he began to teach them how to pray, one of the things he said, you will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We have to posture ourselves to hear from God, to receive his counsel concerning the seasons of our lives. Alignment is not always glamorous. I'll tell you that. It's not always about God tell me this big thing I'm supposed to do. Sometimes your alignment is consistency and faithfulness in the mundane. Sometimes your alignment is to show up with excellence in the place God placed you. Being bored does not change God's mind about where he sent you. Being scared does not change his mind. And so sometimes when we hear the messages about alignment, we always expect this grand thing, this grand thing that God would say that we should do and we need to have faith to believe for the big thing, And that's definitely there. But you know, sometimes you just need faith to endure. You need faith to be consistent that Sometimes it's not just about the grand things God wants to do through your life, because how He qualifies you for that is to see your faithfulness in the little. That's what the Bible will say. If you cannot be faithful over little, who will make you ruler over much? Sometimes your alignment isn't volunteering. Sometimes your alignment isn't showing up. Sometimes your alignment is showing up to that job you hate with love and compassion and understanding, because rather than you just whining and gossiping and complaining, you begin to ask the Lord to give you his heart for why he placed you there, and if you can be faithful there. You have no clue how God wants to connect the dots concerning you. Jo just aks Joseph in the Bible. Do you think that when he was in prison that he had a clear understanding of what God was doing? No, but he understood surrender, and in his surrender he kept his integrity in his surrender he kept a heart posture that was pleasing before God. Joseph had no clue. That's why he kept advocating for himself. He's like, please, I'm not from here and I was wrongly accused. Do you think if he had a clue that, Joseph, if you only knew that God is using the prison to teach you how to be a good steward over little, because very soon you're gonna rule over much, and what you rule over the whole earth will depend on it. If he knew, he would have been just. He will not even ask anybody to get him out of prison. Do you know what? Let me understand, Let me take my time to prepare. But why do we have these stories. It's not so that we find ourselves in cycles of doubt or insecurity. Is to learn the ways of God, the pattern of God, how God works, how he moves. God must always one of If the hand of God is on your life, you must go through process. Nothing about God is like a you know, a quickie, like a microwave thing. Nothing about God is on a fast pace, because He's building you to stand, whether you're in good and plenty, in lack and tough times, in warfare and fun. He needs you to know how to stand and so alignment. If there is a place that God sent you, and no matter how much you've cried and called on him and said I don't like it here, and he has not changed his mind, changed your posture, begin to ask. Begin to ask the Holy Spirit. Rather than asking the Holy Spirit, when when? When? When? When? When? When? Ask the Holy Spirit, Give me your perspective on why you placed me here, and then there's somewhere There are big things God has called you to do, and you need to align yourself to obey. You. See, light is bold. When the light comes on, darkness just is out. There's no fight, there's nothing. There is a boldness required to be you because who you are by nature is disruptive. The truth of who you are is disruptive. That is why as long as Jesus was undercover, nobody was bothered. The moment he reveals who he is, Oh, now it's chaos. Why because when you step into your true identity, it is disruptive to the systems of darkness. You see, sometimes the solution that you're crying out for your family, for your society, isn't you rising up to who God called you to be is in you becoming the counsel of God concerning your life, So you must first make room for it. I'm not telling you something that happens overnight. I'm telling you that with God, you have to be steadying it. You keep showing up, you keep seeking him, you keep calling on his name. Relationship and intimacy with God is not a one time thing. It's not a thing you do just when you need a promotion. If your life, if the weight of spirituality on your life is when you have a need, then then that's a problem in itself because it shows that Jesus is not your lord, He's just your means. You have to you have to examine your life. If the only times where you show up to pray and fast and worship is when you have a physical need, when you're looking for a new place to stay, when when time feels like it's running out and your family's harassing you to get married, right because parents be harassing people. Okay, but if that is when you are the most spiritual, that's a problem because it should be who you are. Your intimacy with Jesus should be who you are. Because you start to recognize I need his word to survive, the same way I need food in my body. That is why Jesus, when he wants to compare, he says, man shall not live by bread alone. So you have to look at the picture. Imagine not having anything to eat. Day one, you know you might not feel it, dependent you know, on how you eat. Sometimes twelve pm you're like, who wow, just feel like fainting. But day one, let's just say the average person might not feel it. Day two you're good. Maybe day three you're passing out. Day four you're angry. Just everything upsets you. The wind upsets you. Why is the air moving slow? Right? You start complaining about things that are not issues. Why can't I see the wind? Right? You just get foggy, You start having brain fog. Your body starts deteriorating. You can survive, do you know? Your body can if you drink water cool, but food, Your body needs food. Your body needs nutrients. So if you can imagine what a human being will look like forty days, sixty days outside of the glory of God. Because when we read about people fasting without food and water for forty days and X, y and z, what sustained them was the presence of God. Now I'm talking about the natural man. Eighty days you might be dead. But then think about your spirit. This is what the state of your spirit looks like when you're going weeks and months without a word from God, without intimacy with Jesus. This is what your spirit looks like. It's almost you're disconnecting it from the source of its life. And then here's the problem. And then all of a sudden, you stop feeling convicted about things that you would have been convicted about. Why because it's disconnecting from its source. So all of a sudden, Now, because many things have voices, your desires have a voice. The enemy can shoot thoughts. Haven't You've gone without having intimacy with Jesus for months? You just wake up one day, you hear something, you have a thought, something comes on your heart and you say, God told me. And then when things don't work out the way you thought it should. Now we are a lot of women in this house, so I know at least ten of you have experienced when you're like, God told me, that was my husband, and then you check him out and he is in a relationship. You said, wait, hold up, God, do you know what often happens. A voice said it. But the reason you could not discern the difference between if it was the voice of your desire, if it was the voice of the enemy to cause confusion, or if it was the voice of God, because you have disconnected yourself from your life source in the spirit, and so now everything depending on what suits your emotion. Then you say, oh, that was God. You start having dreams and you say, oh, God gave me this dream about this person, and when it doesn't work out, you get bitter, you get offended, you get disappointed, when God was never in the conversation in the first place. You have to have a connection, a place of intimacy. That's why Jesus said, my sheep know my voice, but he says, my sheep, you have to first be his sheep, not just by lip service, by your life, because you know what sheeps do. They are aimless. Without a shepherd. A sheep will literally go into fire. So the shepherd. When the shepherd trains them in a manner that they are in tune with the shepherd's voice, and wherever the shepherd goes, they follow. They don't follow the shepherd when they need to eat, they follow the shepherd always. It's not based on convenience, it is their lifestyle. If Jesus is convenient, if you follow Jesus according to what is convenient for you, deception would show up in your life. But if you're gonna be light and let that light so shine, you have to take on the posture of alignment that like the moon, you align yourself to the sun so that when that light shines, and then it says good works their works connected to your life. There are things that God has called and ordained to be birthed through you, and it would have his fragrance on it. That's why they would glorify Him when they see it. But these start first from the place of intimacy with Jesus. I want to pray. I want you to stand with me. Hallelu hallolu. You see, the Lord is calling many of you out of your comfort. He's calling many of you out of your convenience to a lifestyle that reflects His nature and his ways, to a lifestyle that would not live in the deception of just now, not living, a deception of living for my pleasure and for my wants. Do you know that there's a part in the Bible where it says their God was their belly, their appetites became their God. That is what I'm saying. Your desires have a voice. Your desires can lead your life. Your desires can become an idol. And the enemy's assignment is to keep you there. He wants to keep you in the place where you just keep circling through what you want and what you need and all of this because in that place you're not a threat to him. And so he shows up through media, he shows up through music. So the things that you constantly feed on is to keep you distracted. But you have to choose to break out of that norm and that your lifestyle becomes a lifestyle that is hungry for the Lord, that is always in a place of seeking after him. You have a relationship, a relationship with him that is tangible and true, that he becomes more real to you than the person you see. All of this is possible in God. He desires a relationship with you more than you could ever desire it with him. That is why, even concerning the Holy Spirit, all he says is ask. That is why even in a moment as we do a call for salvation, the Holy Spirit wants so much to abide with you that if you just confess and believe in your heart that Jesus is Lord, he is right on his way. God desires a relationship with you more than you know. He wants it to be real, to be tangible, that every day you commune together. There are things he wants to show you about your life. There are places that he will take you through. Their processes that he will take you through, but they mean something. Before I became a pastor, the Lord told me to serve in our local church as an usher for one year without missing a service. I did more than a year, but he said, for the very minimum, one year, never missed a service. And this is right after he told me I'm gonna raise you up as a minister. And the next instruction you would think is now I've told this person about you. No, the next instruction was volunteer as an usher. It was alignment. I had no clue why the instruction came, but I aligned myself. He said, for a year, that is all you're gonna do. And so when I was not in church, I'm praying for people. I was a full time minister with undercover because for that year He told me, do not work. And I say this as a disclaimer because I also had savings. I was responsible. Okay, it's not like I was. It's crazy out there. So the Lord you who he was talking to in the moment, and so he says, all you're gonna do for this one year is serve. You will talk to people when you hear the burdens, when you hear what they're going through, going the place of prayer. And so I did this in obedience. My family thought I was crazy. For some time. We did not really talk much. It was it was because it doesn't make it. Come on, does that make sense to you? My mom said, look, if you just love God so much, come back to Nigeria. They need him here while you're working. She said, maybe America is getting boring for you. Come come to Nigeria. You will work. I said, mom, it's not a work issue. This was alignment. And afterwards the Lord now revealed to me, he said, during that one year, I was shape in you to have a shepherd's heart that you would understand. Ministry is not what happens on the platform. Ministry is what happens with the people. You may not understand the process. God is bringing you through, but you have to trust his heart. There might be words upon your life, and where you are right now makes no sense to the word God gave you. Trust what He is doing. Trust that He is using that situation to prepare your heart in ways that only that circumstance could get things out of your heart and could help the Lord mold your heart. You see, you don't know what's in you. It's circumstances that bring it out. You don't know how you would respond to things if circumstances and events that cause it to be revealed. So you may not know you have pride until you're put in a situation where pride shows up. You see, I thought I was a very humble person because I just it's very hard for me to get angry. So I thought my ability to just become met. I was humble now because during that one year, things got tough and there were times where I had to take the train and take the bus, and I remember one time I was on the bus, I said, God, has it come to this, Maybe maybe I should go back to Nigeria. And no shame, I'm just telling you the pride that was in my heart and the Lord says, what makes you better than the person you're sitting next to. That is when it dawned on me the pride and the arrogance that was in my heart to think that riding the bus was a crime of society. I'm just telling you where I was. God had to break that out of me, because if I cannot see myself on a bus, then I will have preference over who I speak to. That when someone when the Lord raises me up, and then there are people that need to speak to you. And then you see someone coming in a ferrari and coming from a bus, you would be inclined to say, let me go meet the person in a ferrari. Why because you don't even know what motivated it, Because you don't know your heart. You will think, well, the Lord is just I just feel I'm supposed to talk to you. And after I talk to you, I just got a God no no. So there are situations. Whatever the call of God on your life is, God has to first break things out of your heart. You see, the Bible says this, We're gonna pray because we're out of time. The Bible says, guard your heart with all diligence. Because out of it flows the issues of life. But do you know what that word issues me? Boundaries that your heart determines the boundaries of your life. The state of your heart determines what God could do with you. It determines the boundaries He could set for the plans he has concerning you. So when God wants to raise up a daughter, when God wants to raise up his weapon on the earth, there is a time and a place that you will go through a process for your hearts to be prepared for the assignment. Whenever God wants to take you from one level to the next, there is a work he must do in the heart. Because you don't know your heart like he does. And so the place that may feel mundane and boring, the place you may not like, begin to love it because you know that it is preparing you for the things God has for you. Your age does not disqualify you, because that is why God is also a restorer of time. It may seem like it's taken so long, but recognize, as long as you align yourself, the sun will always do its job. The sun does not choose when or when it doesn't want to give the moonlight. The moon just needs to be aligned. As long as you align yourself, the word of God concerning you will not fail. He will not put you to shame. Let us prayer. If you are giving your life to Jesus today, if you want to say yes to the Lord, you cannot do this life without him, and culture would have you confused to make you think that you can do Jesus and other things that Jesus can be in your life as a cool person. That is wow, such a great leader. And you're mixing and dabbling into all manners of things, call it new Age, call it African spirituality, whatever have you. You cannot mix God in any of that because all of that bows to Him, so you cannot put him on a level of what is beneath him. If you want to make Jesus your Lord and savior, not just recognizing him as Lord because he is Lord, but to make him your lord, that means you are submitted and surrendered to his word concerning your life. I want you to meet me at this altar very quickly. We're gonna pray, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, thank you Lord, thank you Lord. Very quickly, very quickly, very quickly, don't come to the altar. Amen. Amen, Amen, let us rejoice like heaven. What rejoice when people come to the family of the kingdom. Hallelujah. Very quickly. Now for those who are out and everyone, let's just join them in this. Just close your eyes and let her just repeat after me, Lord Jesus. You can even place your hand on your chest. Lord Jesus, I confess with my mouth and I believe in my heart that you are my Lord and Savior. On the cross, you put my sense to death, and when you were raised up, I was raised up with you, free and victorious. Now, Holy Spirit, come into my heart and make my life your home in Jesus' name. Amen. Amen, I have one more thing. We're gonna pray now. If you're in the room, and as the message was going forth, and you know that you have not been in a place where you have been aligned. You have postured yourself to be aligned with the counsel of God concerning your life. What hits you was the fact that you have made your life with God is based on what is convenient to your lifestyle. You are the most spiritual when you have a need. If that is you and you're saying Lord, let today mark the spot where it is not just about when I have a natural need, but that I would acknowledge that your word is life to my spirit. If that is you come out very quickly, and we're going to seal this in prayer. Thank you, Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. Hallelujah. Very very quickly, very quickly, very quickly, because there is a grace that is going to come upon you. You see, in the Kingdom of God, we just don't do things. It's not just the desire. When a desire is matched with his grace, you're unstoppable. And so the reason I'm calling you to come out is because of what I see. There is a grace that will come upon you, and all you have to do is partner with it. Because the grace is the empowerment of Jesus. He empowers you to do his will, but you have to partner and submit to it. There are things that used to that felt difficult, and no matter how much of good intentions you have, it felt like you just kept tripping up and tripping up and tripping up. But the Holy Spirit will help you when you have a desire for something and it is matched with the grace of God. Because it is not by power, not by might, but by the Spirit of God we win. So when you surrendering this moment to say, Holy Spirit, help me, the Lord is gonna help you. Let us pray, Heavenly Father, we thank you. We thank you because your presence is so evident in this place. And Lord Jesus, you see your daughters in the room, and you're showing me that even their sons in the room who came in to serve, but they are receiving a word concerning their lives. And I thank you for them as well, Lord God. Lord, as your children are crying out to say, help me, help me in the area to be consistent in the place of intimacy with you, Lord, I thank you for this grace that is coming up upon them, that they will begin to experience a divine help to execute the desires on their heart. And I thank you, Lord Jesus, as they spend time with you, as they begin to make more room for you outside of their natural desires, they desire to hear your word. They desire to know what has been established in heaven that you want to establish on earth through them, Lord God, as you begin to make it known on to them. I thank you for the place of obedience. I thank you for a spirit of boldness that will come upon them, and I thank you that you would give them a grace to endure their race, that they would be steadfast, that they would move and grow in patience, and ultimately, Lord God, they would trust you to know that with you they cannot fail. And you are the one who keeps the integrity of your word, because your word speaks of who you are. So every word that you have placed in their heart, Lord, let them know. Let it be a conviction of their life that that world will not fall to the ground. Have your way, Lord Jesus, in Jesus' mighty name, Amen,