Stephanie Ike -Stewarding Transitions

Hey, Greeting's family is Pastor Torey. Welcome to the one YouTube channel. You're getting ready to hear a profound word, and I don't want you to miss any profound words. Make sure to subscribe and set on your notifications so that you can experience all that God has for you. Let's get into this word. It's gonna bless you and I'll be back with you at. The end as you're taking notes. Today's message is so in alignment with just the declaration of our worship. You know, the Lord put on my heart to speak on Steward and transitions because I believe that not only are we experiencing transitions as a house, but you see, you're only connected to this ministry because what flows from this ministry also speaks to your life. That is why God is very intentional about the places that he positions people and the shepherds that he places over them. You see, there's a time in Scripture when the apostle Paul wanted to go preach in the province of Asia, and the Bible said that the Holy Spirit stopped him at that time because it's God is very intentional, because what is flowing through his life is also to minister to the people that he's called to. And I believe that for many of us, if not all of us, if we're not in it right now, we're about to experience that place of transition in our lives. And so the scripture is Isaiah forty three from verse eighteen to nineteen, and I just love the way the message Bible translates this. And you know, sometimes some people don't like the message, but it really just hit home. You know. It says, forget about what's happened, don't keep going over old history, be alert and be present. I'm about to do something brand new. This is the Lord speaking. Just reading it alone will speak to you. You see. The Lord is saying, forget about the old. Because just like even this as we were worshiping this morning, you know, Kyle was talking about the woman with the issue of blood. Every day she saw it as a brand new opportunity. She didn't allow her past disappointments to plague her. Now every moment that she was awakened to she said, this is a new opportunity for something brand new to happen. And the Lord is declaring over us, I know you've experienced some pain in the past. I know maybe you feel like you've been. Here before and it didn't work out, so you're moving with one eyes closed, one eyes open. I bless you with something amazing in your life, but your anxiety is not allowing you to enjoy it because you just feel like God, I think I've been here before and it didn't work out the last time, so I don't want to get my hopes up. And now the Lord is declaring this over us. This was so personal, the way the Lord just brought this home and he instructed me to minister from this. He said, forget about what's happened. I know you've been hurt. I know you've been disappointed. I know you felt like you know what, God, where are you? But just like we declared and worship, Jesus would always show up at the right time, he says, don't keep going over old history. Be alert, be present, because if you pay attention to what's happening now, you will see that it is not the same thing. That this is not that he said, I'm about to do something brand new. It's bursting out. Don't you see it? There? It is the Lord is speaking and he's performing all at the same time. And he says, I'm making a world through the desert and rivers in the bad lands. He's making rivers in the places that water was never supposed to flow. He's making rivers in the dry places. Family, let us prayer. We're going to go into this word, Heavenly Father. We thank you. We thank you, Lord God, because your word tells. Us that your mercies are made new every morning, that every day is a day that we have never been or seen before. We may wake up in the same environment, call the same friends, have the same things around us, but Lord, spiritually we're in a different place. We have never been in this moment before. And Lord, so as your mercies are new every morning, there is something new you have for us each and every day. Lord, even right now, we repent so God of treating each day as though it was familiar. When each day that we are wakened to with sacred because it's a place of encounter with You, to encounter what you have ow always known before time about our now before we ever walked in it. Lord Jesus, as we have come before you, we pray for the grace of God to forget about what happened. We pray for the grace to let go. We pray for to be empowered, O God, that we would not be plagued. By our past, by our hurt. But Lord, we will. See that you are doing something new. And wherever you send us, O God, that is where we will go. We will not take on the narrative of our experiences. We will treat each moment as sacred before you in Jesus' mighty name. Amen. Amen, Amen, family, you maybe see that, you know, I just love this whole understanding of about transitions, right, because when you think about transitions, you think about change, but it's really about evolving, right that you're steward in evolution, You're steward and what God is about to do in your life. You know, I'll just take you even into a personal story for me. You know, there's a lot of I'm just experiencing transitions in many ways, and one of the ways is you know, in relationship. Right. So I'm about to get married pretty soon. Amen. But amen, that's love. Ah, yeah, so soon. But let's focus on Jesus around, let's focus on the Lord. But I share that, you know, because you know the folk that the story is to point us to Jesus because I didn't realize. You know, sometimes you don't know the things that trouble you in your heart until the an environment reveals it. You know, I didn't know my father when I was eight months old. He was murdered, and a couple weeks back, I just started having this bit of anxiety the closer the data's approaching, and I couldn't really put a finger on it, because you see, sometimes you don't even want to go to the depth of what it is. You just want to stay in this place of pan again. And so I really just had to press it and I say, God, what is going on, Like where is this anxiety coming from? And I realized there was this fear that was unchecked. There was this fear of Lord. My mother, you know, had a time in her life she was excited about marriage. She got married, She saw the future of what her life would look like. She had plans, you know, she met my father, all that. Stuff, they had kids, they made plans of what would happen in you know, ten years on the line, twenty years, thirty years, and then you know, abruptly his life was ended. And I didn't realize that. In prayer, I was like, God, if you're going to do the same thing to me, just like nix it. Right now, I don't know if I want to go through that. And the Lord began to minister to me that you're already placed yourself in an outcome that I have. I've not even it's not even part of your story, that because the history you have concerning marriage ended in tears and loss, that you're carrying the baggage into something new. And the Lord began to show me that even this idea of when we carry disappointment is only because we call the season something different from what the Lord called it, Because every experience that we have in life carries a purpose, and when you don't understand the meaning behind the experience of the season. We call it disappointment. That God, I'm disappointed about this because I never understood the point of it. And so when I don't have understanding behind it, I see it as a pattern. Then I look at it as if this happened to my father, Am I going to experience the same thing? And the Lord began to speak to me and remind me of the reasons why he took my father, and he said, I've given you a promise concerning your marriage. I've given you a different word, concern in your marriage, and that is what you will stand on because you see, I'm doing something new in your life. And literally right after that, and I was in prayer and I was really going I didn't realize the weight that this had in my life. Right afterwards, I remember my mom called me. She prayed over me, just without even knowing anything. She was like, I just want to bless your marriage and she started to speak life, and all of mine did the exact same thing. We were on a family prayer call, and she was just like, you know what, the Lord just put it on my heart to speak life. And I recognized that the Lord was revealing, Look, this is not that. And you see when the Lord began to minister to me about this word in communicating this to you, he began to show me something because in the scripture, the very last verse, in verse nineteen, it talks about I'm making a road through the desert and rivers in the bad lands. I'm making rivers in the dry places. And the Lord began to minister to me about something that really blew my mind because as I was praying for you, he began to show me your deserts and your dry lands, because you see, in our lives, a dry land is the place of repeated disappointment, the place you feel like God, nothing grows here, no relationship ever worked. I tried so much with this business. It never worked. This is not the place where things grow. And you carry this disappointment into every season of your life. There are some of you you're in a relationship right now that God positioned and placed in your life, but you're still keeping one eyes open waiting for them to mess up. Because for you, that is your dry land. When it comes to the business, when it comes to the ideas, there are things that the Lord has put in your heart, but you're so afraid to move on it again because you're like God, I have repeated disappointment in this place. This very thing is the place that I have just accepted that you're not in. The Lord began to show me their women in this place, and you're listening, and you're believing God, even for a child, and that is your dry land. You're like God, We've been trying. We've been trying, you know what. I think we just want to give up because you feel like this is the place that God has purposed. That's how you see it, not to meet you in. And the Lord began showing me you see when you go all the way like in the Old Testament, right, and you study about Moses, and you study about the Israelites when he led them out of captivity into the wilderness. The Israelites in the wilderness, they were in dry land. And the reason that they kept complaining and even being so crazy to say, like, hey, it's better we go back and be slaves than be in the wilderness to die because they couldn't see where the water would come from. They couldn't see. They couldn't see, like where are the trees to get through if I'm hungry right now? This is a dry land. But then there was a moment where the Lord would tell, you know, Moses, he said, strike the rock and water will come out. When they looked at the rock, they thought it was just a random rock in the desert. This is, of course, this is a desert. All we have is rocks and dry land. But Moses will strike the rock and water will come out of it. Then another time the Lord said, speak to the rock. Even though Moses, you know, was disobedient. That's a whole different story. But the Bible actually reveals to us that what they thought was just a random rock in the desert was actually Christ. You see, there's a scripture I want to read to you, and we're gonna really just have some fun with this. In First Corinthians, chapter ten, verse four, it says, and this is just now, you know, giving an in site to what was taking place when the Israelites were on their journey. And it says, and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. You see, Family, the Israelites would leave one location to the next, and the rocks they would see was a reminder of their disappointment because they were looking for the streams, but all they saw were the rocks. But what they did not realize. That the rock that followed them in every season was actually Christ. That didn't naturally just look like another sign of disappointment. Where is the water? But all along Christ was following them in a hidden way. He says, I'm not going to reveal myself to you as the streams of life, but when I would give you an instruction and you will speak, I would respond, you see what the Lord began to parallel this to in your life. You think that the place of your disappointment is the place that God has abandoned you. But God is saying, the place of your disappointment is the place I've been following you because of what I want to do and reveal my glory through you. He says, the very thing that you feel is a reminder God, here we go again. I've seen this before. And he says, what you don't realize is that I'm actually trailing you, that I'm following you. That you thought this was just another failed relationship. You thought it was just another failed investment. But I'm waiting to reveal myself to you in my glory. You see, you thought that the dry place meant that God wasn't there, and he saying, no, the dry place is actually where I'm going to move next. And that is why when the Lord began to speak to me that in this time we are in, do not think of what happened in the past, because if you look at now through the lens of your past, you will miss it. Because when your steward in transitions to receive from it is to understand what is taking place and to walk in what the Lord has called you to do. And why I'm sharing this is because the Lord began to show me that many of you and those that haven't, you're about to even before the end of the service, the Holy Spirit is going to start ministering to you about the very areas where you have dealt with the most pain, to revisit what you abandoned, because he said, all along you thought that this was just going to be something dead. But you see Jesus as the lord over even the death things, and so sometimes he waits for it to die. He's actually the one following it into his death that he would reveal his glove through it. You see, earlier we were worshiping about here you go again showing up as friend. Even Lazarus they thought it was the end. But you know what happened. They came to Jesus right, They said, Jesus, the one you love is sick. That was a weighty statement. It's a statement many of us have said in a different way. It's a statement that when your mother, your auntie, that loved one, was going through pains, you said, God, how can the person who serves you be dealing with this? When they said, Jesus, the one you love is sick. They said, Jesus, you've healed strangers. You've healed people that you have no clue about. They didn't even tell you their first and last name. They just said that my servant is at the house and he's, you know, going through some troubles. Just send a word and he will be healed. Jesus, you've done things for people that you have never even had dinner with. But how can the one you love be sick? That was not just them trying to say, hey, Jesus. They could have just said, hey, Lazarus is going through some things. That was a statement that came from pain, that how could it be that you have eight with us, you have sat with us, and we recognize you as lord over everything, but the one that you love is sick, and you have told us stories about how you have healed strangers. It were words that came from a place of deep pain. But Jesus did not move in the way they wanted him to move, and instead he declares what the end would be. He says, this will not end in death, and even though they experienced and they mourned his death. For some time. He said, I allowed it to get to that place for glory to be revealed. You see each and every one of us in this house, global family. Your identity is to be a glory carrier. And you don't carry things to keep it. You carry it to let it flow out of you. That is why the Bible talks about out of your belly with rivers of living water flow. We don't carry things to just keep it within us. We see the technology of God in everything he does. Even in creation. A woman is not pregnant to keep the child in for the rest of her life at some point, and if that baby doesn't want to come out at some point, then they would have to actually, you know, a sea section. They said, No matter what it takes, this baby is coming out. Because we were not designed to just carry things. We were designed to carry that which needs to flow through us that the world will understand who we are and where we come from. And when God has caused a season in your life to release his glory. There are things that we go through and because we are not understanding why it's happening, we market as disappointment. When God says, I am just prepping you to release my glory on the earth. You see, family, as God is going to call you into new seasons in your life and evolving you to transition in ways that you have never imagined. Just like we prayed during the worship God, where you lead is where I'll follow. When you take a step, I will take a step with you, because I'm not going to look at this through the lens of what I've been through. I am going to look at this as a. New thing in you. You see, one of the things I love so much about the Lord. You know. First of all, before I even go into this scripture, I just want you to write this down because this came so strong this morning, and whatever this is, even as I'm talking to you about what the Lord is calling you to do, just write down. See this with fresh eyes. I want you to write that down before before I let that go in and just go into a whole different thing. See this with fresh eyes. See this with fresh eyes. And I'm talking about your expectation. You see, as we talk about transitions, We're gonna transition, Amen. But there are certain key things that the Lord was ministering to me when it came to this message, and with the time we have, I really want to dive into this because before you can steward the thing, you have to understand it. And there are four key things I want us to talk about when it comes to understanding Transitions. You see the first thing and you can write this down. Transitions are markers of growth. Now, what we mean by this? In Genesis one, from verse one to five, it says this, in the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was on the face of the deep, and the spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, let there be light. And there was light, and God saw the light that there was good. And God divided the light from the darkness. God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. So evening and the morning were the first day. Now, when we read Genesis, when you go through Creed that the story of creation, it's almost as though there is a creation that is happening in the spiritual realm, and there then we see it manifest in the natural. Light was older than time. Actually light created time. Now why I'm saying this is because spiritually light. You know, light points to Jesus, but light also speaks of illumination, revelation. And so one of the things that the Lord has been teaching me is that in the spiritual realm, your age is determined by the weight of revelation. You can your maturity in God is not because you turned sixty. Your maturity in God is not because you turned eighty. Your maturity in God is based on revelation. Revelation was what produced the day. You see, they said that it was the first thing God created or God. Revealed was light. He said, let there be light. And then after all the stuff he said, and he called the light day, and he called the darkness night, and then it goes into and then the first day. And so why I'm sharing this is the reason why a man named David in the Bible, as a teenager was called by God and anointed by God to be king because God was It. Was not after his age. David was a teenage boy. But David tapped into a revelation of God that he understood that as long as God is with. Me, I cannot fail. And the thing He's called me to do when God was so, for who could be anointed as king. He was not searching based on what birthday you just celebrated. He was searching based on the weight of revelation you have about him. Now, I'm sharing this because you can never look down on yourself because of age, whether young or old. You may feel like, God, I'm you know, I'm a teenager, or maybe I just you know right here early millennials, and you're calling me to do something that is beyond you know where I'm at. And he said, it's not about your age and a natural. In the same way you might feel like, God, I'm eighty, I had there's no way this can happen. I mean, I am just trying to I have an uncle or an uncle, you know, through my fiance, and he's ninety, right, and he's just a young guy. He just full of life, drives and everything. He says, I'm at the ninth floor of life. You know, this is where it stops. But what I'm sharing with. You is that even if you're not whether you are nineteen or ninety, when God is calling you into a transition, it has nothing to do with your age. In the natural, there is something He has recognized that you have a revelation of him in that he wants. To establish you in it. And so when he understood that, a boy, a boy, a teenage boy named David, understood carried the fear of the Lord. This teenage young boy understood that with God, all things are possible. If God is with me, who can be against me? God said that could do something with that. It was never about his age. And when you're looking at where you are in life, never look at your life. You see, in culture we do things according to age, right. You can't even rent a car until your a certain age right. And then thirty, oh my. Gosh, when you're approaching thirty, it's like life is ending all of a sudden. You're sorry, evaluating all your goals and plans of life. And then you pass thirty it's just like, okay, I am one year anniversary from thirty. Where am I at right? And we just start making it We do too much. And then maybe you're approaching forty you say, okay, I need to go revisit all the things from thirty and double them all right, And then fifty is coming up you start stressing out, Oh my gosh, oh my legacy. Ah. Then sixty you're like, oh, Lord, and you're maybe thinking about retirement. But we learn from Pastor Roosevelt rest over retirement, right. But why I'm sharing this with you is that God does not call you into a new phase of life. Because he's looking at how old you. God, God can sustain you through anything he's looking you. See. That's why there's some things that God does not release into our lives until we have a revelation to handle it. While you're feeling like God, you have forsaken me, God, where are you? And God is saying, I am bringing you through a process that will anchor you in a revelation about Me, because this is what will sustain the promise you see. For some of you, you may feel like, man, Lord, it's been how many years and this very thing I've been believing for it hasn't happened, and it's showing up in the time that you least expected it because you feel like God, it's passed the time. And he said, it was never about your age and the natural. It was about your light and the spirit. Lights is what produces things. Because that's why, from the very beginning, before anything else could be created, he said, lights reveal yourself because the light again is Christ. But light speaks to so many things. It's so layered in God. And so God is looking at the light in your life. You see, there's some circumstance sis you go through you need to thank God for and not curse them, because there are some things that when you look back on, you're like, man, this taught me about the hand of God. This showed me that Jesus is a healer. This showed me that Jesus is a provider. And when it establishes you in that when God requires something of you that will test where you put your trust in, you're like, God, were good. I've seen you move in one of the things that I thought would take me out. And so when transitions, you can never judge your transition based on where society said you should be at this time, because when you do that, you miss it. And this is when we start walking ahead of the Lord. You can never judge something by like, okay, Lord, you know culture, you know, because you know how many people wanted to do Forbes thirty under thirty, then forty. Then you just start increasing. You know, You're like Forbes, can you do it? Eighty under eighty? Let me build up some right. If you judge it according to culture, you would miss alignment with God because there are some seasons that God will bring you through. And I'm hearing this so clearly. There's some young people in this room and you have been you just feel like you are too young to been through Helen back, and you have been wondering God, like, why is my story so different? Why did I have to go through all of this? Why was this the story of my childhood? And God that's just showing me because He needed you for your generation and in order to equip you with revelation. It could only come from the place that you feel scarred you but the Lord said it was to equip you. You see, David, that teenage boy who was anointed by God to be king, he didn't just understand the ways of God just randomly. When you read the language of David, he will talk. His language was on in a way where his father didn't have a relationship with him. That he was a shepherd boy. And even when you hear how him and his brothers would have conversations, you would see that David was really a loner, not because but not by Troy's but that there was just something that him and the family didn't really see either eye, even though he was the shepherd of protecting the sheep. But in that place of isolation, I could only imagine, because look, when you're young and you don't have friends. Your pets become your friends. It was not your sheep one through five. It was you know, Josephine, Terry. You start giving all those sheep's names, because sometimes when you're reading the world, you have to ask the Holy Spirit, can you, you know, take me to the mindset of what is taking place here. When a lion attacked the sheep, they were not just attacking that sheep, they were attacking David's friend. David said, oh no, not Terry. You're not gonna get Terry now. So in David's place of isolation, God was actually building him in revelation. He said, David, the place of your pain is because I'm gonna have need of you in a few years. You don't even know about what is on your life. But if you don't go through this, you're not gonna have a revelation of me as a keeper. Because when David had the confidence to say that, I wrestled against the lion, I wrestled against the bear that came after April. Right. He had the confidence to say that because he survived it. But in the moment, it is safe to say that he may not have been too sure what would be the outcome. And so when the big giant Goliath came up, he had a history of God's faithfulness. So you might be looking at your life and wondering, God, why did I have to go through all of this? God? God, why in me? I'm seeing so many other people? And God is like, I have need for you now. And there's some things that cannot be released through your life until you have the revelation to sustain it. That when you understand me, when you see me in the light that is required for this. To flow, then I can release it to you. That's why there's sometimes where even God will just tell you, look, this is a season of preparation because if I release you too soon, this is going to be destroyed. I want you to be prepared in the words I've given you. I want you to be established. You see, even when I think of some of the things, the way that God has dealt with me before I could ever touch a stage, God gave me instructions to serve in the dark, in the place that no one could see. You just do just behind closes right, we would be I I was one of the gatekeepers walking down the osles, you know, passing out tissue and all that stuff. And beautiful because even when I was preaching, I was still passing out tis. I literally remember one time I was gaykeeping and walked up to the stage because until the Lord released me from it, I was not going to release myself. You see, you have to learn to recognize that every season of your life is ordered by God. You cannot let your idea or perception of your anointing or your talent leads you. Because you might be in a place that you're working as an assistant and you're like, God, I'm too talented for this, but you don't recognize that that is the place where your breakthrough would come from, that that is the place that God has assigned you to be connected to someone because in this life, at the end of the day, we are glory carriers and maybe what God wants to perfect in you as relationship with him. Because if you just think that life is just about the things that we can acquire you would miss it because in this in the in the Kingdom of God, we are after territories for the Lord. It is about dominion for the Kingdom of God to have dominion on the earth. But if you're only after your you and your family being satisfied and comfortable, the enemy has no problem with you. You are not a threat to him at all. He would actually quicken your success. He would say, you know what that is when all of a sudden, the very place God planted you in, people just start showing up like you're too big for this, You're you're you got too much in you to be staying where you are, and you don't realize they are leading you out of the place of your alignment. If Jesus had the humility to know that he is the son of God and still live a life like the son of a man named Joseph a Carpet, then what more us Who do we think we are to say I'm too annointed for this God, Nam I'm not doing that. I I'm too called for this. Who called you. And who placed the anointance on your life? So no matter where you are, family, I want you to understand, you're either in a season where God wants to perfect your testimony of Him in an area, or you're in a season that you have caught something in God, and as a way of establishing you in it, he's transitioning you that you have been saying, God, you are my keeper, and now he's calling you out of your familiar place and he wants to establish you in a way that it is only the knowledge of God being your keeper that will keep you there. That is the thing that will not cause you to back out too soon. And so that is the reason I'm talking about transitions are really markers of growth when the Lord is giving you an instruction to move you in any way in your life, whether it's out of a job into another one. Because at the end of the day, when it's an when it's something from the Lord, I'm not talking about the things that we try to put ourselves into. But when God is the one leading you, that means there is a new revelation that has come upon you, that there is something about you. It's so beautiful how God works that your revelation of Him connects you to a revelation of you that when you understand Him to be a keeper, a healer, a provider. Then God says, okay, I can. Trust you with the next dimension of you, because what is going to reveal you you will need to know I will provide. It's going to take you through some situations that are going to be very challenging. You're going to. Feel sometimes like God, I don't even know I'm going to lay my head. But when you realize I am your keeper, that would reveal who you are in the season. You see, when I look back on some of the things that had to go through, when it was only the knowledge that God is my keeper, that is what made me keep showing up in the place that others thought was obscurity. It caused me to keep showing up because for me, it wasn't just about like serving of volunteering. It was that the Lord said, walk away from everything. Y'all heard Pastor Road's message. I quit. That was my life. The Lord said, now you quit, quit from everything you know, and only do what I tell you. It was extremely challenging, but what I had known in God to be my keeper is what revealed my identity in that season. And so when you come into a revelation, maybe all of a sudden you know you've been studying about. God is my healer. And then some form of infirmity hits, or maybe some a loved one in your family is going through something and you're required to move out there whatever it may look like. But what you don't realize is that there is an anointing that wants to break out of you to reveal that the same spirit that is within you is the same spirit that raised Jesus from the dead. That you will begin to recognize that Lord, I can begin to pray for people and see you move in ways, and then all of a sudden, God will start calling you into new dimensions of your identity because of what you have seen in Him. And so don't despise wherever you are in life, because light is what matures you. Revelation of who God is is what matures you. And when God sees that you have caught a glimpse of Him, he begins to transition you into the next phase of your life. You see, because at the end of the day, if we don't have the Lord, it is not the excitement of next that keeps you there. Because excitement is fleeting. You get so excited and then you jump into a thing and all you see is responsibility. It's the excitement is actually it's what happened. You know, ahead of time you're like, oh that is so exciting, and then you jump in. It's not. Everybody else is applauding, but you only see responsibility. Burden, burden, burden, burden. Bird. He said, go ahead, clap now. But this is all looks like pain. So it is your knowledge of God that anchors you. The second thing, Families, you're writing this down. Fear is a demonic strategy of spiritual warfare. Now when I say this, I'm not talking about the fear that is healthy for you, right. You know, if you're afraid in the situation and things like that, it gives you strategy about how to exit. I'm not talking about the fear of the Lord, which is a reverence for God. I'm talking about the fear that cripples you, the fear that torments you at night, the type of fear when you're meditating on negative outcomes of things that will net are not even purpose by God to happen. This type of fear, and this is a scripture I want you to write down. Tewod Corinthians, Chapter ten, from verse three to five it says this, for though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of. Our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God, for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments, and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Now, this was so intriguing when the Lord highlighted this, because the apostle Paul is the one speaking, and he's talking about warfare, and he's talking about our weapons and what they are used for, and he says, the weapons of our warfare is to cast down arguments, every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity. And this was so intriguing to me because if this is how we win the battle, then that means when we let it go unchecked, is this also how we lose the battle? And I was trying to understand this. It just kept being highlighted that God, what is it about this text that the weapons of our warfare is to cast down every high thing? And this is. Talking about in the mind exalts itself against the knowledge of God, that thing that is tormenting you, that you're meditated on, and without you realizing, you are worshiping you. See. Job said something, and Job is a book that we always like to skip because when you read it, it becomes true. You say, God, not me, everything else, but this one, you know, that was me For a very long time. I would just see the Book of Job. I said, oh, the next you know, next chapter, next book, matter of fact. Right, But Job said something. You know, if you've never read the Book of Job, job went through I mean, just things that nobody wants to go through. Right, But Job said, this what I always feared has happened to me, and what I dreaded has come true. This is Job verse chapter three, verse twenty five. He said what I have always And why is it that that was important for us to know? And why is it that Job who had this fear? I mean, first of all, I'm trying to think about it. Job, how do you create this type of fear? Who is sitting down at home just thinking, Oh my gosh, I'm so panicked anxiety that God is just gonna come wipe out my whole family. Just give me sores on my body. My wife is not gonna want me anymore like the extent of what happened to job. How do you sit. Down and imagine that in your life? And then the Lord began to reveal something because Paul said, how we win the battle is casting down things that were planted, not by the Lord. He said, we have to cast. Down every high thing that exalts itself above the knowledge of God, and whatever exalts itself. The only person that has that personality is Satan. You would not be I love one thing. Our pastor said. He said, when did you start becoming against your own self? So, Paul, and you have to understand the person speaking. Paul was an apostle who said that he is one that God has entrusted with the mysteries of God. And so when he spoke about things, he was not just speaking randomly. He was trying to give us an insight to a mystery. He said, the things that you fear and that are created in your mind, it's not even coming from you. And the reason why the enemy is planting it hoping that it would be left unchecked, is because your thought life spiritually attracts things to you. Now, how many people have you ever had a dream and if this is you're just not if you've had a dream, I'll finish the sentence. But if you just put your hands up, I want to see something. Have you ever had a dream that you're in a place you've never been before in the natural. You're seeing people you've never seen. In the natural, but you know where you are and who they are, even by name. Show off hand, look at that, Look at that? And why is that? Because even in your dream life, because spiritually there is communication through thought. You see sometimes that's why you're when you're even like you know you're thinking, somebody calls you, You're like, oh my gosh, your I was just thinking about you. And it happens a lot of times because in the natural God has given us words. Right, if I want to call hell someone, I just call you by name, and you know that i'm calling you. And if I say your name, then you're like, hey, I'm right here. Then maybe you might approach me. But spiritually, what you meditate on, what you worship, is what you're attracting. And so the enemy. Knows the way that I can get legal grounds in your life. Let me plant my agenda. And this is why you have to be a guard over your mind. You can't just let things sit and ponder. That has nothing to do with the knowledge of what God has spoken to you about your life. Job said the very thing I have feared. If you've never studied Job, study his life. That is not something you sit down thinking will happen to you. It is not something you just imagine what happened to you. It was planted in his mind and he cultivated that fear. He attracted something towards him. And that is why even can you imagine for God to tell Satan, have you seen my servant Job? Because there are certain things that give the enemy even legal grounds. There was something I shared with you all some time ago that Satan is yet to cross a boundary, because the only time that angels crossed a boundary was what we saw in the days of Noah when the Angel slept with the daughters of men and God recognized, no, this you cross the boundary. And those are the only angels we hear in the Bible that are chained in hell as a result of. What they did. God cast judgment on them immediately. But then Satan, the Bible tells that he is roaming the earth. But why is that because he is yet to cross a boundary. So whatever he does is either given permission by the Lord or by us. And how do we give him permission? Many ways? That's why the Bible even says something like this. It says, do not let your anger, Do not let the sun go down on your anger, because then you will give the enemy a foothold. But why does he say that. It's not that you being hot, ain't unbothered? You know the enemy is that who you know? I'm gonna dance with you? Because to let the sun go down on your anger means that you have entertained the thoughts of pride, and you have cultivated it. You have said to yourself, I'm not gonna forgive that person. How dare you? Who do you think you are? And what you don't realize that you're doing is that you're attracting the spirit behind that thought. So the Lord says, do not let the sun go down on your anger. If not, you give the enemy a place in your life. It's not about being angry, It's about what keeps you in the place of anger, and that is pride and ego and selfish ambition. And so I'm sharing this with you, because when you recognize that fear is not something that you just play with that you set a guard on your mind. Lord, this is not your voice. It is the same way that we hear the Lord even through our thoughts. Right, you might be driving all and the Lord is. Telling you to do something. So when the enemy wants to plant seeds of discouragement, seeds of doubt, do not entertain that because what you don't realize that you're doing is that you are drawing. You're saying that, yes, I'm inviting you, Yes, come on in. It is meditation, It is worship. What happens when we worship God. The Bible says that He sits on the praises of his people when we worship God, isn't it when you worship. God, all of a sudden you're like, wow, I sense the presence of God in this place. Because when you worship God, you are awakened to his presence, and there is a lifestyle of worship that brings you into what the Bible calls the Chakaina glory of God. It is that although God is everywhere, he manifests himself in a way. That it is unique to your experience. But I'm sharing this because if worshiping God reveals his presence, then worshiping that negative thought, because anything you meditate on is worship. Then when you're worshiping this outcome that is never supposed to be in the will of God, then you are drawing. That to your life. You see, we have to be giant in the Lord. Again, we're not here as a ministry. We just we don't want to just inspire you for the day. Then you're looking for the next high. You're not meant to just walk out of a church and the next day you're like, I need another word to just to get me through. There are things that establish you in God. Guard your mind. Guard your mind. Don't allow things to just marry, nate and be cultivated that have no roots in God. Right. The third thing, family is you're writing this down. The in between is holy ground. Now what do I mean by this? Exodus three five it says this, and this is when the Lord is talking to a man named Moses. Now, Moses, this was a place of encounter. If you know the story of Moses, it is such an interesting story. You know, he was. Raised up as a Hebrew boy in the palace, even though his own people, the Israelites, were being tortured as slaves and all this stuff. Right, if you don't know the story, watch Prince of Egypt. But Exodus three five, God encounters Moses in the place of Moses, where he has settled in life. He has run away from Egypt. He's like, I don't want to save anybody. He's in a place where he has a family and he has settled in life. He's in a wilderness. He's walking around. He knows the area he is in and all that that stuff, and the Lord is about to encounter him to transition him. He's about to encounter him that Moses, I know you're comfortable here, but I'm calling you. I'm calling you to reveal you because I've called you as one to bring deliverance. Right, I'm calling you to reveal who you are in this time, and you're going to deliver my people. But in this place of encounter, the Bible says, then the Lord said to him, do not draw near this place. Because what happened is that Moses saw a bush that was on fire, that was burning but not consumed, and so it intrigued him. And when he drew near a voice came out of the bush right, and it says, do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. And one of the things that the Lord ministered to me about this moment. You see, you only keep your shoes on when you know where you're going, when you're in a journey that you are confident. And of course your shoes are on. The Lord looks at Moses and he says, because it was not just about you, know, because if it was about that, Moses, what you're wearing is just it's not holy. He would have said, Moses, look naked. You came into this world. I need you to take off everything and draw near to me, because even in your garment smells like shit. You know, your sheep. I don't know if you all got that sheep. Sheep, she smells like sheep. Okay, and let's not stutter. But he tells him, take sheep, child, I said, sheep. He said, take your sandals off your feet. Y'all need to be saved, and then sheep bey all the sheep. But basically, let's go back to the world. It's about Jesus. But he tells Moses right, take your sound those off your feet because the place you are standing all this holy ground. And the Lord wanted me to say this to you. We are still beyond the time, but the Lord wanted made to say this to you. Recognize that where you are right now is holy ground. You have never been here before. You may have a history of moments that looks like where you are, but you have never been here before. You have never been in the type of relationship you are in right now. You have never had the type of business partners you have right now, the ideas that the strategy God has given you for the business. You have never had this type of strategy before. You have never worked with these types of people before. Do not bring the weight of your past into the now. God is doing a new thing. You may have memories of what a transition like this has. Been, but this is not that. God is doing a new thing in and through your life. And what does that mean? When you recognize that you're an in between phase of God calling you out of something but has not fully established you in the new thing. You seek the face of God. You need instructions from God. You see. What keeps you, like I said, is revelation, and the deeper you go in that, the more anchored you are. You cannot guide your life by what you see other people do, especially in the social media generation and culture. Just because your gift is similar to someone else's gift doesn't mean your. Path is similar. So just because you see them using their gift in this way doesn't mean that is the way God has called you to use your gift. So when you're in the in between, it is holy ground. That is when you start to seek the Lord. You go in prayer, you go in fact. God, I'm not going to treat this moment lightly. There's something new you want to do with me, and I want to understand what is it? How would you call me to move? You see, I truly believe that we are in a season where we're not just going to talk about the God that we have read or the God that we have heard other people talk about, but we're going to talk about the God that we have met. You're going to move in life with a conviction of what. Your assignment is in God, not just waking up and say, God, I want to do something grand for you. So I see this person doing this, you know what I want to do that too. Take some time in prayer. God, you're calling me out of something and you're calling me into something new. God, what is this? What does this mean in my life? Who are you calling me to be? You see, even personally, I'm living that out right now because the Lord convicted me. He says, you've never been where you are now. You've never been here before this marriage, You've never experienced it. You need to take time and prayer to hear from me the purpose of this union. He didn't just give me someone just so I could be like, hey, you know me and Bee you know and Cava you know now And even though that would be there, you know that's nice, but there's a purpose behind it. Everything serves a kingdom agenda. And so when you're in a place of transition, God, what is the assignment for this? What are you calling me into? What does this relationship symbolize? Right? This is how we become just I mean not even I don't even want to use the word warriors for Christ because he's the one firing the battle. But this is how we become giants for the Lord. That your presence begins to move things because God can trust you, right and The last thing family we're gonna pray is to recognize and this is something that it is so simple to us, but yet we are so challenged by it. But you have to recognize that change will always beget change. Change produces change. When your life is changing, there are things around you that changes right, and you cannot take offense to what are part what are the things that some of the things you have. To mourn in life right when God. Is shifting you. Not everyone can shift with you. When God is shifting you. Sometimes are relationships in your life that don't move forward with you. There are things in your atmosphere that can move forward with you, and you cannot take offense to it because taking offense to it is to be ignorant of the season you're in. You have to embrace that this is going to produce more change in my life. It's not just one area of my life changing. I am opening myself up for my environment to look completely different. In God, you will have your way. You can't take offense to the people that may leave, and you can't take offense to the things that God will shift to. Pull you away from others. Because sometimes we're either offended at people or were offended at God, and this actually limits the potential of what God wants to do in the season. Change always produces. Change, and when we embrace that reality, the journey is much smoother and we can see the hand of God through everything he's doing. Family, stand with me. Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. You see, I'm so excited for what God is doing in this house. I'm so excited for what God is doing in and through each and every one of you. Because as the Spirit of the Lord was showing me you, all I could see was literally, I mean, the best way I could describe it is when we talk about butterflies, right, and how they go through this stage of being in the cocoon and the whole metamorphosis, and you know, they go from caterpillars to literally how do you go from crawling to having wings? Right? And that was the imagery that God kept showing me. And when you're a caterpillar, you're like, you're living your best life. You know how to get from point A to point B, and you think you're moving with speed, right, You're just like, check me out, a caterpillar, having no clue that within you is the potential to fly, that there are wings within you, but something has to you have to go through this transitional. Period for that to be revealed. And what I want to assure you of is that as you embrace how God is going to shift your life. As you embrace as God is going to mold and move your life in whatever direction that He desires. And he doesn't desire it from being like a puppet master, because God is God alone. There's nothing we can do to make him more God or less God. He desires it for our God. He desires it so that the truth of our lives will be revealed. And so whatever that looks like, the Lord is like, you have no idea the potential that is actually in you. And as you embrace the manner and the vehicle have called have ordained to use to reveal you, it is going to shock you. It is going to blow you beyond your greatest expectations of. What you thought you could do. But it begins with surrender. Whenever you want to start having when you look at some of the ways that God is shifting you and you're just like, oh, Lord, think about what you know in God. That is the reason he could trust you with it now there are things that he has recognized that, Okay, you have laid the foundation of trust. I can trust you with this pain, I can trust you with this burden. That is why that scripture, there's a scripture we love to speak on as a ministry right when it talks about how when God says for I know the plans I have for you, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a future and a hope. But the people he's talking to, they were going through a transition. They were actually going into captivity. You'll be like, now, God, what in the world I'm about to go into captivity and you're telling me that, Hey, guys, on your way to captivity. Just now, I have plans to prosper you because he was giving them. He's like, look, there's a trust you've already established. So I can also trust you with this change in your life, because it's going to reveal something in you that is going to show you that you were always more than where you were a family. We have to trust the hand of God and the move of God. Don't be in a rush to do things that the Lord has not called you to do, and don't be in a rush to complain about the ways that he's calling you. We have to trust him. Now. If you know that you're in this house and you're like, God, that is me. I'm in transition right now and I'm fighting it. I'm wrestling with it. Matter of fact, I'm even wondering, like, are you sure it's me? You're thinking about your age and you're like God, it can be mean, and God is like, everything you've been through in life has prepared you for this moment. And God is banking not only he's not banking on you, like God is somewhere in the corner praying like please, please, God says, no, I know what's in you. It will carry you. It will carry you through. There are things that will flame that fire, but it will carry you through. I want to reveal to the world my glory through your life. I have been with you. Every disappointment was the rock following you. He said, you thought this was just a place to mark a desert, but Christ is actually in the midst of it, and out of that pain glory would be revealed. So, family, if you know you're in transition, I want you to meet me at Asualt. We're gonna pray. Thank you Jesus, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord, Thank you Jesus, Thank you Jesus. Just get as close. To the altar as you can, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. As close as you can. There is some a little bit of room in the front. Thank you, Lord. And family. If you're in this house and you want to give your life to Jesus, you know you walked in here and you're just like you know, I just want to see what this God thing is about. But he has convicted your heart and you want to make him lord and savior, not you know, adding him with other things in your life, but you want to make him your lord and your savior. I want you to just raise your hand in this room. We want to see you. We want to celebrate you. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you Lord. I want you to do like a loud raise. Look at that. I see you in the back. I see you, I see you, Thank you Lord. Family. Can we celebrate those that are saying yes to Jesus. We see you, Thank you Lord, Thank you Lord. Have your way, God, have your way, have your way, have your way. It's your season, ma'n. It's your season. And we just have to see it through the lens of God, because when you see it through the lens of God, when you're looking at it through the lens of culture, through the lens of expectation, it could look like disappointment. But when you see it through the lens of God, it just empowers you. It lights a fire in you because you recognize that if God calls you. Equipped, that is exactly who you are. No matter it might feel, it might feel uncomfortable, because at the end of the day, you see, we are not The call of God in our lives is not marked by the comfort of our lives. And this is where we sometimes miss it. We think that what we call success is comfort, and so when I am experiencing discomfort, then this must not be the thing God has called me to do. But let's talk about. Jesus, right, I mean, his whole call was very upsetting. The very thing he was called to do brought him to a moment where he is praying and the tears and not even the tears sweat, droplets of blood. Can you imagine the type of stress that he was in. But at the end of the day, he said, not my will, but you're to be done, so you cannot mark that because you're in a place of transition and it feels uncomfortable that you begin to question God. I don't even know if I heard properly. Yes you did, and you received three to five confirmations afterwards, and you wrote them all down in your journal. You called your friends and said, wow, God, it told me to move to Los Angeles. And then I was walking down the street and someone just looked at me and say, la right. And then because things got hard, you said, you know us looking like Mississippi. It's and you saw questioning. You said, I don't even know if God ever spoke to me, but he did, and he had several confirmations connected to the thing he told you to do. But because it got challenge and you're now questioning God, I just need a word from you. And then this is the worst part. We do this and we think we're in humility. Were like, God, if you just give me a word, I would know that you said I should be here, and he already did that with five backing up confirmations. And so the reason that in moments like that you may not receive something else is because he doesn't want to make confirmation you're high, because he's like, no, revisit what I've already said. Sometimes your deliverance is in your journals, it's in the prayers that you wrote down. That you need to go back and see the things that you and the Lord discussed that you're like, wait, I am tripping. We've been here before. Lord, you are with me and you will see me through this. Thank you, Jesus. Family, just lift up your hand before the Lord, Heavenly Father. We thank you. We thank you Lord for what you are doing in and through our life. So God, we. Thank you Lord that you are with us, that you gave us this promise that never would you leave us or forsake us. And Lord, I'm seeing some out there on the side of it. They have followed you. They have gone to the place you have sent them. And it may feel rough, Lord God, but these are just seasons. These are seasons, and every season has something in its purpose to birth. And so Lord, we. Will trust you with what you have placed within us, because you have purpose that out of us your glory would come through that place of pain. Lord, I thank you that you're rewriting the story. There is restoration all around this room, that place of pain, that place we said we will never visit again. God, I'm done there, you said, No, I was the one all along. I was following you because out of this my glory would be revealed. Heavenly Father, we thank. You, Lord Jesus. We thank you Lord for your sons and daughters. We thank you Lord that there are things that you have entrusted in their hands. You have entrusted their identity, the revealing of layers of what you have always known about them, to be revealed in the seasons that they're in. I thank you Lord that we will see our scars differently. We will see them all God as moments of encounters with You, that the very scars that we have will. Remember what was revealed to us about you through it. That Lord, no matter where I am, Hi, Your Lord, you are with me. You will keep me, you will guide me, you will provide for me. There are some of you in this room, and you're remembering when you were homeless, you didn't have a place to go, but then all of a sudden, there were people that began to open up their homes to you, and some of you you're presently there right now, but don't look at the discon first, look at the hand of God that has touched a few one two, three people to say, whatever you need, I got you, whatever you need, I got you. That is the sound of grace upon your life. That is a sound of the mercies of God. Upon your life. That I am with you in this hard place. I'm hearing some of you where you feel like God. I barely have a meal. For the day. And he said, but you had a meal I provided. I kept you. I'm keeping you, aren't I This is just the season. This is just the season, and. In the end, every season of your life would reveal glory. So Jesus, we thank you, We worship you, O God, that out of everything we have experienced, the world will see you glory. Our community will see your glory, Our environment will see your glory. And your glory speaks to your greatness. It speaks to your power, It speaks to your love. It speaks to the fact that there is no one else like you. That people would begin to wonder, who is this God that you serve. Who is a god that could make the impossible if possible? Who is a God that could cause things to rise out of nothing? Who is this God. Who is a God that will call you out of the place of obscurity into the place of prominence. Who is this God, Heavenly Father. Everything that we are, we surrender before you, everything that we are, just as we declared. Where you lead, we will follow. And whatever you call us out of and into, Lord, we continue to say, yes, this transition will end in glory and Heavenly Father. For everyone who has said Lord. I want to make you my personal Lord and Savior, we thank you for their lives. Oh God. And if that's you, just repeat after me. And just say, Heavenly Father, thank you, thank you for this moment of encounter. Lord Jesus. I believe that you are the son of God, that on the cross you put my sins to death, and when you are raised up, I was raised up with you. I confess with my mouth that you are my Lord and Savior. Make my heart your home in Jesus' name. Amen. Family, Can we praise God in this house? Hallelujah, hallelujah.