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Episode Transcript
[00:00:02] All right.
[00:00:05] Okay.
[00:00:07] So as a visitor, I'm going to risk.
[00:00:12] And, you know, if I don't get invited back, I don't get invited back.
[00:00:19] Right.
[00:00:20] I do have a sermon I'm going to give, but before I do that, he mentioned this thing called shifting atmospheres.
[00:00:29] We're going to do something, because how many of you are in this region?
[00:00:37] Yeah. How many of you are, like, in this region? You're just like. It's hard to get up.
[00:00:46] It's a lot of lethargy.
[00:00:50] Right.
[00:00:52] I'm going to laugh about that.
[00:00:55] If you were at the conference. Yeah. That was totally triggering one of our speakers, and I thought it was so funny. I said, we're going to actually, Bishop Andrew said, I'm going to have him come with the demo. We're going to turn all of our cell phones on. We're just going to trigger him like crazy. That was so funny. Okay.
[00:01:15] So I woke up this morning, and I had plenty of time, and we are staying over somewhere near stairway church. Do you know where that is? Okay. And then we get in the car, and we start to drive, and we have this great driver, cute little car. And I'm like, I literally could not keep my eyes open. And we're going through, like, almost like I would call it in America, kind of like a green belt, you know? And I'm like, it's beautiful.
[00:01:43] I literally could not. All I could do to keep my eyes open. You guys came from there. Did you notice that on your way? No, you didn't? Okay, so then I get here, and right before we turned into this little subdivision, I'm like, okay, well, it's better here. It's better here.
[00:02:03] But I'm still struggling to stay awake. Okay.
[00:02:08] And then I'm trying to figure out, God, what is it? So the whole way I'm thinking, usually if there's that spirit that puts you to sleep, it's a spirit of control or it's a religious spirit. It wasn't feeling right. Okay. And I'm just gonna risk. And then if it pertains and you agree with it, we'll take care of this.
[00:02:28] So I was asking the Lord, what is this? And I really felt like it's a lethargic spirit.
[00:02:37] And then I heard the word shushing.
[00:02:41] It's a shushing spirit. Sh, sh.
[00:02:47] And even to the point, the false side of peace is like a lullaby. Like you're shushing the little baby to sleep. There we go.
[00:02:58] And I really feel like there's a spirit over this area from where we were coming to here, a little less here, but it's coming this way to keep you silent, to keep you dry. I love to speak to the dry bones. Exactly. Right. To keep you from speaking. Shh. Right. It's a false peace. Right. And then it's almost like a false calming.
[00:03:26] It's meant to silence you, keep you in a state of flatlining. I hear the word compliance, and then I heard the word anguishing. And I went up to Susan. What does that mean? Languishing is the word I heard, languishing spirit. And it's out of strength.
[00:03:45] You're languishing. You're alive, but you're.
[00:03:52] So if this makes sense, I want you to stand up and we're going to pray.
[00:04:00] So years ago, Benny Johnson had this preaching, and it's called wake. And she was talking about the angels around, and she would go, wakey, wakey. Like, wake up the angels. And so we're going to kind of do that in a fun way, but we're going to come under the Lord because you don't actually attack a regional spirit. We had some teaching about that yesterday, too. So, like, the Lord God rebuke you. But we do expose it. We do see it, right? So we know. My husband would say, if you don't know what you're aiming at, you won't hit it. Right. You're sure to miss it as you go. So what I'm going to do is we're going to first put ourselves in a place of repentance. So I would say, repeat after me. Father God, I ask you to forgive me if I have come under this languishing spirit.
[00:04:57] Wow. If I have partnered with the shushing spirit, where I have kept silent when I should have spoken, where I have felt lethargic and worn out, and I speak to the angelic realm, the angels that bow their knee to Jesus and call him Lord, and I say, wake up.
[00:05:39] Wow.
[00:05:52] And Father God, would you rebuke the spirit off of this region?
[00:06:02] And we speak to the region and we declare life, abundant life, excited life.
[00:06:17] I just kind of sense a reboot, is what I'm sensing. Kind of like, come on, just begin to praise, just begin to release.
[00:06:40] Okay.
[00:06:42] How many of you feel more awake?
[00:06:47] How many of you feel like you were working so hard and so great to get us encouraged? How many of you start to feel like, oh, I could do that now, I couldn't do that. I was trying and I was like, he's doing so good coming out from under that spirit, but I'm like, I can't get up and do it right, so.
[00:07:10] Right? Come on.
[00:07:14] Yeah. It was awesome, because you were in the spirit combating what was going on around. I don't know if you just know that or you just, like, that's who you are, because we've met before, but, yeah, you're fun.
[00:07:28] Yeah.
[00:07:29] All right, so just shake it off and go ahead and have a seat.
[00:07:35] All right. How's that feel?
[00:07:38] Okay.
[00:07:40] Pay attention when you're going somewhere. Pay attention before you go. How do I feel? As you go, what do I feel? And when you're there, what do I feel?
[00:07:54] You're picking up atmospheres, and usually we're coming under them, but I'm not teaching on that today, so here we go.
[00:08:03] I will say this, though, in atmospheres.
[00:08:07] I taught this to a group of musicians in the Bethel music, and this one group came up to me and said, hey, we used to travel as a team, and they would travel and travel, and he said, and we would love each other. We'd have so much fun. And then we'd get to this one county line, and we would start grumbling, we would start arguing, and by the time we got through the county, we were like, we don't ever want to travel again. And he said, and we learned. It happened every time we went through that county. And he said, and you're totally making sense. And we learned because we didn't know it wasn't. They didn't know it was a spirit. They just thought, what is going on? But they learned because they've traveled so much around doing the music. They were like, okay, guys, we're about to hit the county.
[00:08:53] Nobody says a word.
[00:08:55] And they wouldn't. They wouldn't allow anyone to talk the whole time through the county because they would quarrel, they would fight, they would hate each other, and they'd get through the county, and they'd start to forgive and release. And he says, you totally made sense. This stuff is real. Right? But we aren't to be under it.
[00:09:17] But I find so many times we're under it because we aren't paying attention and discerning it. So there we go.
[00:09:28] Okay. That was a risk, you guys. Okay. Okay. All right.
[00:09:33] All right.
[00:09:34] Well, I've had so much fun teaching and having fun with the other speakers. It was great to meet people that I hadn't met before. I have done stuff with Brother Andrew before. That was fun. It's always fun to have someone in a clerical outfit because you feel like you should be way more reverent. But we were sitting right next to each other, and he was talking about, oh, there's a portal over there. And I'm like, that's hilarious. You can use that word.
[00:10:04] If I use that word, they say I'm new age, so I don't say anything.
[00:10:10] Anyway, here we go.
[00:10:12] So I was here last year, almost a month in Australia with Debbie and Susan, and we were traveling around. And most of you that know, how many of you saw me last year when I was here? Okay, so most of you know, I was limping really badly.
[00:10:28] I was in so much pain. We actually, we were at the other pneuma. I don't know what you call it. City, right? And literally, our hotel was about a block and a half from. And they picked us up by car and drove. I felt so bad, but I'm like, they picked us up by car, drove us back sometimes here, because I couldn't move around. I couldn't do anything well, when I got home, I ended up having my knee replaced. So I have a metal knee, so it's going to be part of the story here.
[00:11:01] Discouraged, I limped around the world for years, but it just got so bad, I just said, okay, lord. And in my discouragement as an inner healing, as a healer, praying for people whose knees have gotten recklessly healed, I go home and have knee surgery. You know, I have these conversations with God. And so now for this story, I'm. Now it's January, so it's two months after my knee surgery. It wasn't fun. People had surgeries, and they were like, yeah, in three weeks, I was great. I was playing tennis. I'm like, shut up.
[00:11:34] At six weeks, I went into the doctor in tears, and I said, when does it get better than before?
[00:11:40] I mean, it worked better. He was so impressed with his work. Hey, that works. It's awesome. I'm like, yeah, and it hurts so bad. What is going on here, right?
[00:11:49] And so fast forward to, well, let me go. Right before I go in.
[00:11:54] I'm struggling with God. Have I let myself down? Have you let me down? Why am I having to have surgery? And as I'm asking him, he says to me, my grace is sufficient, which I knew meant I'm going to have surgery. Because Paul, remember, I asked, but what it really meant inside of me is God was like, you haven't done anything wrong. You don't have a generational curse you need to break anymore. You know, you don't have any open doors anymore. He said, my grace is sufficient. So it was like, just go and it was miraculous that I got in and had knee surgery within a week.
[00:12:33] You know, I've had a lot of prep and lineup, and my friend is still waiting. It's been almost a year and a half, and she's still waiting to get her knee operated on. My grace is sufficient. Okay. So there's some conflicting stuff going on in my life.
[00:12:49] The hope and, okay, we're gonna go this way and do it.
[00:12:54] And so I'm now in January, and I'm at a Randy Clark conference, and the first thing Randy Clark says, you know, and it still hurts, but I'm okay. But it still hurts. And he's like, we're going after metal in the body, right? He's like, we're gonna dissolve metal. And I looked up into heaven and. And I said, I swear to you, God, not today.
[00:13:22] You know, I kind of chuckled, but I was like, come on, you're not going to make me go through all of this just to dissolve it, right? Right.
[00:13:35] This is how the Lord and I talk to each other. You know, it's kind of like we get this, you know, it's like, would I have loved to have had it healed that way? Yes, I would. But I was honestly sharing my heart with him. It's like, really? Would you do that? Yeah, he can, but why would you make me go through this to do this? So, okay, so I'm just giving you an idea of what has been internally going on in me. I know you probably thought I was perfect.
[00:14:06] We now know. No, we were not.
[00:14:09] You probably think I never whine. No. We call it praying.
[00:14:17] Yeah.
[00:14:19] So I.
[00:14:22] During this season, I'm really struggling with the pain. I'm struggling with, should I have done this? Should I have not have done it?
[00:14:32] And I'm struggling with. I'm a healer, and in the healing, I had to get surgery, you know, so there's all this stuff the enemy is telling you. Okay. Going on. Okay. So one of our young ladies at the church was gonna be speaking at a women's, and I thought, you know what? I can't do much, but I can go and I can applaud and I can encourage them, and I can have my leg up and, you know, and so I thought, okay, I get there, and I think my job is just to love and just say, way to go, young one. You're doing great. And she literally rocked my world.
[00:15:09] So Libby Gordon stands up and starts talking about growing up as a Christian.
[00:15:16] And she said, as a Christian, she grew up reading the Bible and actually believing it. Worked.
[00:15:24] Well, I didn't grow up a Christian, and some of us grew up as christians and we learned to water down the Bible. But she literally would be like, well, no, because I read the Bible and it's his story. And in his story, these things happened. So she would go to school and mimic what she read in the Bible. So if Jesus healed someone, she would find someone that needed healing and they would get healed. I mean, there's no doubt because that is who he is and it's his story.
[00:15:53] And she tells a story about, she reads about Jesus multiplying the food and feeding the thousands. And she's like, oh, the Holy Spirit convicts and says, you know what? There are people at lunchtime that don't eat and they act like they're just not hungry. But he's convicting her and saying, but they don't have food. So she gets to school and she says to her friends, hey, look at this. God multiplied food.
[00:16:19] And so you know what we're going to do? We're going to take all our food, we're going to put it on the table and we're going to invite everyone. Everyone was fed.
[00:16:27] Why?
[00:16:29] Because it's his story.
[00:16:32] And she has this infectious love of him and his story. And I'm sitting there in my self pity.
[00:16:42] I'm sitting there in my discouragement. I'm sitting and I'm stepping past it to come out into public and smile and, you know, clap, you know, and I'm realizing something hits me in this sense. And I hear myself say, when I get this, it'll change everything.
[00:17:04] Because you know what?
[00:17:07] I've been a Christian a long time and Jesus has been the hero in my story a very long time.
[00:17:19] But I'm not so sure I've played the right character in his story all the time.
[00:17:28] You know, we get so used to our lives and we get so used to our roles in these lives that, you know, we invite him into our situations and yes, he wants to be in our situations. Yes, he loves being in our situation. But there's a much bigger picture that you are all a part of.
[00:17:47] We have this microscopic view because we're in it and we invite him to come and invite him to rescue, and he is the rescuer and he does show up, but there's a bigger picture. We are in his story and it's a shift.
[00:18:05] And as I was thinking about this, I'm remembering my son and daughter in law. They love, they work in movies when they can. And my daughter in law called us and she's from Hollywood, and she's like, I'm in this major, she's in this major feature film, and she's so excited. She goes, I've signed a confidentiality. I can't tell you that I'm in what it is, but I can tell you when it comes out, we can go watch it. I'm like, okay, this is great. We're applauding. She actually got paid.
[00:18:33] And she's like, but she's like, I go, well, that's so cool.
[00:18:37] I said, well, can you tell me anything? And she goes, well, it's not even really a speaking part.
[00:18:43] Oh, okay. So she's literally background, right? But she's paid to be background. Okay? So she's so excited, and we're thrilled for her. And the movie comes out and we're watching it on the screen, and she goes like, here it is, here it is, here it is. And it's this huge, like, baseball or football stadium, I don't know, just.
[00:19:09] And the actor's walking down and she goes there, right there. And we literally have to freeze it.
[00:19:21] Zoom in.
[00:19:24] And there is the back of my beautiful daughter in law.
[00:19:29] And she's so excited because she's in the story.
[00:19:36] Can you be excited no matter what role he gives you every day in this story?
[00:19:45] This is rocking me. I sometimes I wonder, am I even. I know I'm saved. But, you know, it's like when you're, when things come and they just take your feet and you're like, I'm not sure who I am right now because this is so mind blowing to all these years of him being in my story.
[00:20:09] I remember just the conviction of that. And I go home, and one of the next days, I'm going to get to drive again and I have to go to the bank, and my bank has changed and they are slower than molasses. And, you know, I'm just like, okay, I'm going to be standing. And, you know, if you have knees, it's like, it's just going to swell. And I'm practicing. Okay, what's my role in your story? And so I said, okay, lord, what's my role in your story today?
[00:20:38] And the Lord said to be kind.
[00:20:41] And I'm like, oh, come on. I thought you were going to say you're going to go up, pray for the bank teller or migraine's going to go away. You're going to see a miracle. And he said, sweetie, for you to be kind at the bank today is going to be miraculous.
[00:20:58] And, you know, what?
[00:21:00] It took a long time. It was effort, but I could be kind because that was the role in his story.
[00:21:11] See, I think we get frustrated and we misrepresent him because we are expecting him in our story the way we want him.
[00:21:21] But actually there's a bigger story.
[00:21:24] And so fast forward a little bit further. This is still going on in my life. What's my role in your story? And I'm about to preach. It's one of my first times out since my knee surgery. And, you know, I'm just like, okay. I'm a little distracted because of pain, but I'm okay. And I find out that this place I'm preaching is good friends with my pastor.
[00:21:46] So I'm like, okay, let's not bomb somewhere where the word's going to get back to pastor, right? And so I asked the night before God, what's my role in your story? Now I know I'm going to preach. I know. I mean, I know there's things I'm going to do, but what's my role in your story? And I heard him go, broccoli.
[00:22:07] I'm like, broccoli.
[00:22:09] And then I just start thinking, okay, you're just being silly. You're telling me, don't take yourself so, you know, serious. I wake up in the next morning, and I'm like, no, no, Lord, what's my role in your story? Today I have my sermon, but how do I present it to be in the role in your story? And he was like, he said celery.
[00:22:32] And then he said lettuce.
[00:22:34] And then I heard the word legume, which is French for vegetables. And then I heard broccoli, celery. Gotta be veggietales.
[00:22:46] It's time for veggie tails, you know? And I was like. And I'm laughing, and I'm like, oh, you're just being silly with me to get me. And then I realized, no, no, no. It hit me the night before we went to a very expensive steak dinner.
[00:23:03] How do you know it's expensive?
[00:23:05] Because there's nothing else on your plate but the steakhouse. And we had to buy the vegetables separate, and we shared the vegetables, right? And the Lord said, you know, you think because you're preaching, you're the filet, but actually you're the side dish, and your job is to make me taste good.
[00:23:31] What's our role in his story?
[00:23:35] You know, we have this myopic view when it's our story, it's our story. It's our story. But it's actually, like, your story is important to him. Yes, he will come into your story, but actually it's hopeful that maybe your story should be in his.
[00:23:51] And when you're lined up in his story, things shift a little bit differently. And so, you know, I have a friend that's a brilliant Bible scholar, and he teaches wonderfully, and he goes through and he calls the book of Mark Superman. Jesus shows on scene. Cause he just shows up. Miracles are happening, right? And I love the book of Mark because that's my role I've been in these last years is just the miraculous and all this stuff happening. So I thought, okay, lord, if I'm gonna find out what's my role in your story, I better reread your story.
[00:24:25] What is your story? Right? And I thought, I'm gonna go to Mark. Cause, you know, and the Lord said, you need to start in Matthew.
[00:24:32] And I'm like, oh, okay. You know, it's the gospel. So I started Matthew, and I start reading, and I'm getting all excited about his story. You know, am I going to do what she did? And I'm going to. God's going to help a paralytic, and I'm going to go practice out because that's in your story. And, you know, what happened is in Matthew, it starts with the genealogies and the record of the genealogy of Jesus, the Messiah, the son of David. And it's 14 generations and then this and 14 generations in this and 14 generations and then the Messiah. And you know what hit me? His story.
[00:25:07] He's not in a hurry, but I'm in a hurry.
[00:25:14] I need to get there. I need to get through it. I need to graduate with good grades. I need to make all of this happen. I'm in a hurry, but he's not in a hurry.
[00:25:27] I thought, you know what? In his story, we can have peace because it will come to pass.
[00:25:36] But it might not come to pass the moment you're expecting it.
[00:25:41] And so I would wonder how many of you, like me, have been frustrated that he's not been in a hurry.
[00:25:52] Are there things in your lives you're dealing with right now where you're just like, goddess, where are you, God? Why aren't you showing up, God?
[00:26:02] And there's that sense of urgency and frenzy that we partner with, and if that's you, stand up, because we're going to pray.
[00:26:18] It's interesting that the number 14 actually represents deliverance and salvation.
[00:26:27] All right, so this is what we're going to do. We're going to say Jesus I ask you to forgive me for being so involved in my story and my projected timeline that I've not paid attention to your timeline.
[00:26:53] And I break agreement with disappointment, with a spirit of frenzy, with feeling out of control.
[00:27:06] And I invite you, lord, to give me back peace.
[00:27:13] And then I kind of feel like I want you to take this chaos and frenzy and fear out of your heart, just like, kind of physically, and just hand it to Jesus.
[00:27:28] And then say, jesus, as I give this to you, what do you give me in exchange?
[00:27:43] And then take what he gives you and put it in your heart and let it calm you to your core.
[00:27:55] My husband teaches, you know, God is a deliverer. It's not if, but when.
[00:28:04] Yeah, okay. Go ahead and have a seat. Hopefully you can feel that. How many of you can feel that shift, the internal shift of, wait a minute, I've been so focused on mine that I've kind of missed his picture.
[00:28:24] One more. As I start going through again, I'm like, well, you know, that wasn't what I expected to hear, but okay, you know, when the holy spirit speaks, you know, it's truth and it's sound, but you're like, I really didn't expect that was what I was going to see in your story, as I'm like. And then I start reading. I'm still in Matthew one, and I start looking at some of these things as we go through.
[00:28:47] We have the conception and the birth of Jesus, 118.
[00:28:54] And Mary's betrothed to Jesus, and before they came together, she was found with the child by the Holy Spirit. Would you call that a disruption?
[00:29:05] Surprise. Disruption.
[00:29:08] See, as I'm going through here, I start paying attention to this. How many of you, as you've read the Old Testament, you're like, all of those, almost all those prophets must be wrong, because every one of them tells you Jesus is going to come from a different city.
[00:29:25] He's going to be from Bethlehem. No, he's going to be in Nazarene. No, he's going to be. And you're like, how can this be right?
[00:29:33] Disruptions.
[00:29:36] And here we go in verse 22. Now, all this took place to fulfill what was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. Behold, a virgin shall be with child and shall bear a son. It shall call him Emmanuel, which means God with us, you know? Now, do you like disruptions?
[00:29:59] Most people don't. I'm not real fond of disruptions.
[00:30:04] But we find that Mary is living her life, and a disruption comes so that the prophecy will be fulfilled.
[00:30:17] Now, we're just starting here. There's a whole lot more going on here. And then, right, Joseph wakes up. They said, it's from me. Don't put her away. So he's okay. Kept her a virgin. And we talk about what happens. The census is taken. So he and his. We know the pictures, you know, the very pregnant Mary is riding on a donkey or something, and she's going this long, long way. That was probably not fun.
[00:30:47] And a disruption.
[00:30:49] And then they get to Bethlehem, and we know that there's no room for them, right?
[00:30:56] And then we keep going down here and we get to two. We're finally in chapter two to five, and they're being. The magi are being asked, where is this king gonna be? In Bethlehem of Judea. For this is what has been written by the prophet. And you, Bethlehem, land of Judah, are by no means the least among. I'm trying to have a hard time reading up here. For out of you shall come forth a ruler who will be my shepherd for my people.
[00:31:28] Second, disruption.
[00:31:31] Not fun. You guys are about to be disrupted up there. Be moved around. Right?
[00:31:37] But is it possible, rather than being angry about the disruption, we actually are leaning into his story, and we find out that the very thing that is making us frustrated, the very thing that seems like not real fun, actually puts us in the exact place we are called to be.
[00:31:58] Perspective shift. Because now I'm seeing his story, not just mine.