Hey everybody, we're back.
We're back on Saturday, Supernatural Saturday.
Very excited for what's coming, you guys.
I have to admit to being a little giddy this morning
because we were working on all of the marketing
and logo for, wait for it, Spirit Mate Match.
Spirit Mate Match is here.
We have the technology to go forward.
We have the platform to go forward.
And we are going to be going forward fast.
If you don't know, this one thing about me,
which you should definitely know now,
is that I love to throw it against the wall
and see what sticks.
That is the type of entrepreneur I am.
And I feel in my heart, you really can't do something
unless you're just willing to try it out.
You just gotta try it out, see what works,
see what doesn't work, tweak it, bring it back.
And so we are ready for that beta testing level
of Spirit Mate Match.
And guess what?
It pays to hang in there, doesn't it?
Because all of you are grandfathered into that.
All of you are grandfathered into the testing of this.
It's unlike anything that's out there.
I'm really excited about how we're gonna use it
and what we're gonna do.
I put in all of your app groups.
If you're not in your app yet,
you gotta get in your app, okay?
Gotta get in the app that we also had customized
and built for you,
so that you would have your curriculum at your fingertips,
so you would have each other at your fingertips,
so that it would be a more cohesive place of community
besides being spread all out over social media.
And so if you're not over there
on our last year single app,
then email us because you should be there.
You should have been there.
I think there's only one group
that is kind of still migrating over there.
So if you're in phase one on the app,
if you're in heart work still,
don't email us.
We will email you because we're just slowly migrating you
as you graduate out of phase one into phase two
and into the app, okay?
But I did post something over there.
And just so I don't leave anyone out,
I'll go ahead and post it in our Facebook groups as well,
even though we're phasing those out slowly.
I will post it and it just asks you,
where are you in the world?
What's your city, state, country?
And the reason why is because I'm going to be using
our SpiritMate match platform
to put together curated matchmaking events.
Yes, that's right.
Events where you show up and you know
that there's at least one or two people
that have matched with you behind the scenes.
And we're gonna have some fun with that.
Maybe we'll tell you who they are.
Maybe we won't tell you who they are.
We're also going to set up
for different levels of clientele,
blind dates, shuffle dates.
What's a shuffle date?
It's when you have more than one date in a day
where you get to meet several different matches
that we have put together for you.
Guys, I'm excited about this.
I hope you are because wow.
And guess what?
We've decided to use for our logo
for our brand new global matchmaking platform.
That's right, the little toucan.
Because one can't, but two can.
And so that cute little toucan, that little buddy,
he is our little mascot.
And all of us behind the scenes,
we know what that means, right?
That rhymed, so that must be Holy Spirit.
All of us behind the scenes, we know what that means.
We know that that little toucan means that God is on this.
He gave us that word.
He said that we were better together.
He said that we needed to partner in this season
more than ever before.
And so I'm excited.
I'm so excited.
In fact, I'm staring at the side
of my refrigerator right now.
And I can't let you see my face
because I had a procedure done on it yesterday.
Oh, who knows that aging is not fun.
I had a little microneedling done on my face
and I literally look crazy.
But I'm looking at the side of my fridge right now.
And the side of my fridge is full of pictures
of couples that I have helped come together.
And there's a little toucan magnet from Cartagena.
He's sitting there too.
But couples that I've helped come together,
wedding invitations, reception announcements,
all of that is here on the side of my fridge.
And one such couple,
I just happen to be looking at them right now,
have such a supernatural love story.
Before we even get into Supernatural Saturday
and the word that we have from the Lord,
I just wanna encourage all of you
that I have seen the craziest love stories come to pass.
If you think that your situation is impossible,
then you're in good company.
Because the things that I have seen happen
in the last four years,
as I've had a front row seat on this wild ride with God
to help in the revival of marriage and family,
it's just...
of this world, the stuff that has happened. It could never
happen. I went and saw a love story last night. It was
supposed to be a love story. I haven't been to the movies in a
million years. I went with my husband to see this. It ends
with us. I didn't really hear about what the movie was about.
I just knew Blake Lively was in it and this cute guy and I was
like, Oh, this is a love story. Yeah, kind of. It's kind of a
love story. It's more about domestic violence. So if that is
your background, trigger warning, you probably don't want
to go see that movie. Okay, you probably don't want to because
it alludes to enough doesn't show anything really graphic,
but it alludes enough to it, that if that is something that
you're still healing from, you probably do not want to see
that. But Hollywood tries their best to come up with these love
story scenarios. And there's at least here's a spoiler alert. So
plug your ears if you don't want anything spoiled for you about
that movie. But they try to kind of allude to a soulmate
situation. Okay, a meant to be together met when we were kids,
you're my person kind of situation. And it just falls
flat, in my opinion. It just falls flat. Because most
everything that Hollywood tries to do, they try to do it from
that flesh place, right? They are definitely hashtag team
flesh, aren't they? And so they try to do from that flesh place
and never really able to get into that spirit place. And so I
really want to encourage all of you this morning that God has a
spirit mate for you. A spirit mate for you. That is different
than a flesh mate. That's even different than a soulmate. It is
it is a person. Okay, a human being that's walking around, but
inside of that flesh casing, they have a spirit that is
intertwined in your story. They have a spirit that can partner
with your spirit. And you guys can get things done. It's like
the scripture that says one can put to flight 1000. But to 10,000.
And right if you keep doing the math, and it exposes exponentially
it keeps increasing, doesn't it? And that's why we don't just
need our spirit mate, we also need our spirit mates. And we
need to be surrounded by community. We have to have
community. And so what are some of the things that you can be
doing while your love story is unfolding? Remember, you're not
waiting for your love story, your love story is unfolding.
Right now the life that you're living is part of your story. It
is your story. And it's part of your love story. And it's
important for you to think from that perspective. That's a
heavenly perspective. Because if you don't, you're going to go sit
in some dusty, musty waiting room. And you're not going to get
any prep work done. You're not going to get any prep work done.
Remember, the word wait, actually means to expectantly
prepare, like being pregnant. And so you need to be preparing
as you're gestating. You're not waiting, you're gestating. Say
that over myself. I'm not waiting. I'm gestating. I'm
gestating. The things that I'm hoping for, they already exist.
They already exist. It's not a situation where I'm wishing and
hoping that this will manifest. It already exists. God has
already spoken it into motion. Now what do we need to do? We
need to be partnering with that. We've got to be partnering with
that. And so that is the that's the perspective shift that you
want to have is that I have an assignment on this earth. That's
not a one person assignment. It's a two person assignment.
I've been doing the best that I can with what I have up until
now. But there's coming a day very soon, when I'm going to
need a partner for what is to come. One can't, but two can.
Right. And so these are the perspective shifts that you have
to make in order to stay in a place of hope. You have to stay
in a place of hope. There's a scripture in the Bible that says
perfect love casts out all fear. Why? Why does it cast out all
fear? Why does it banish fear from our lives? It doesn't just
rent fear a room in the basement, it kicks it out
totally. The more that we allow love in, the more there's no
room for fear to abide. And it's important that we understand
that because with fear comes torment. Raise your hand if you
have worrisome thoughts that torment you in different areas.
You know, when they come, you try to push them aside, you
know, and you do a good job for the most part, but they just
come right back. They come right back. Maybe fears about your
health, maybe fears about your wealth, am I going to have
enough money to make it through? Maybe fears about this subject?
Am I going to die alone? You know, maybe fears about
about your children, fears about other relationships,
maybe even fears about eternity,
like what's that look like?
Lots and lots of hands up,
pretty much every hand should be up
because there's no one I don't think
that doesn't have intrusive and unwanted thoughts
at some level.
But if you have reoccurring intrusive and unwanted thoughts,
especially in a certain area, there's a root there.
There's a root system there.
Yesterday, I had a situation,
I can't go into the full story
because I feel like it would be too long
and I'd have to give too much backstory.
But I was faced with a situation that caused me
to understand that I don't trust God in this area of my life
because it's easy to say that we trust God
when what is happening in our life is still in our control.
Right, does that make sense?
It's easy to say, let's get that person muted real quick
so that we can,
make sure your little microphone is red
because if it's not, then it's you.
All right.
It's easy to say we trust
when there's nothing to trust for, right?
What's happening is definitely fully in our control
and we don't have to lean in to God's love.
We don't have to lean into,
hey, you know, I believe he's gonna defend me.
Remember, we talk about something
in this community called being God defended.
And it's easy to believe that you're God defended
when you don't have any reason to be God defended.
Do you guys see where I'm going here?
And I ran into that yesterday.
You know, I love God, I believe he loves me.
I believe he's for me and he's with me.
I believe that life is for me because of him.
I know that nothing is ever gonna be perfect.
I'm not looking for perfection,
looking for progress in my life.
But yesterday I was faced with a situation
where it was out of my control to know
whether or not I was in a safe place.
I couldn't check the boxes.
I couldn't look at the fine print.
I just had to shoot up a prayer to God and say,
hey, I need you to take care of this situation right now,
right here in real time,
because I'm not sure that the things
that are being done behind the scenes
are in my best interest.
And I started to get a lot of anxiety,
started to panic a little bit,
because it was a situation where
if those things were not in my best interest,
there could be a lot of harm that would come to me.
And in those moments of me not being able
to control that outcome,
or not being able to even control the information
that I was receiving,
I had to do what God has asked us to do
every day of our lives anyway,
and that is come up in his secret place,
come up under his wings of protection.
Remember Psalm 91?
To trust him to protect me.
And it was in that moment that he whispered this to me,
and I'm gonna whisper it to you.
He said, Jackie, you have to trust me.
You have to trust me.
I can't just say that I trust him,
I have to trust him.
That he is what?
That he is defending me, that he is taking care of me.
That he is making sure that nothing is happening to me,
even when I can't make sure that nothing's happening to me.
Come on y'all, follow me here.
Even when I can't make sure that nothing's happening to me.
And then he went on to say,
and the reason why is because if you can't trust me
in these kind of smaller things,
then how can I take you where I wanna take you?
Where there's gonna be much bigger things to trust me in.
Do you guys feel that?
Look, I'm not downplaying singlehood.
I know singlehood is hard.
I was a single mom for a brief moment.
I understand the fear and the worry
and all the different things.
And I understand that not having two incomes
or not having someone to lean on in hard times.
I mean, the list can go on and on and on.
But I'm gonna tell you right now
that marriage is public enemy number one
to the forces of darkness.
Okay?
And so when you ask God for a partner
and you're asking for marriage,
when you're asking for marriage,
what you're really asking for is an uptick in warfare.
You are.
You know that, right?
Now you don't just have to trust God for yourself
and for your own wellbeing.
You have to trust him for another person
and for a partner.
partnership, and if you're in this age bracket, for a family.
And possibly that partner comes with a ready-made family already.
So do you see what I'm saying?
There's going to be an increase in your need to trust God.
And that's what he was saying to me, he was saying, Jackie, this is small potatoes compared
to the potatoes that you have to trust me for if you want to go where I have promised
to take you.
So raise your hand if you feel like you could use some more trust.
Raise your hand if you're in the boat with me where, you know, we think we trust God
until we're faced with a situation where we're really not in control.
And now we're just really not that sure if it's going to work out okay.
Yeah, me too, me too, hashtag me too.
But the Bible says that perfect love casts out fear.
Remember, fear is the opposite of love, not hate.
Fear.
Hate's just a byproduct of fear.
You know what else is a byproduct of fear?
Control.
Control is a byproduct of fear.
That's why I write about control in the beginning of the heart work.
In the beginning of that curriculum, you see a lot about fear there, you see a lot about
control there.
The reason why is because that is the antithesis of what God is.
God doesn't just have love.
He is love.
It's important for us to understand that because when we're in fear, we're outside of God.
Come on.
Come on, friends, let's do this.
We are separating ourselves from the love in which we live and breathe and have our
being.
Now are we physically actually separated from God?
No, you're always in God.
But we're mentally separating ourselves from God.
We're emotionally separating ourselves from God when we side with fear, when we side with
the evil forebodings.
We all have the intrusive thoughts.
We can't get away.
That's the human condition.
I don't care who you are.
You have intrusive thoughts.
You have unwanted thoughts that show up, knock at the door, want to come in, want to hang
out for a while.
Some of us let them hang out a little too long, right?
Some of us may have an issue with letting them hang out a little too long.
Even the irrational ones, the irrational thoughts, the thoughts that if we told other people
what it is that we were struggling with in our thought life, they might think we're a
little cray-cray because the thought is that irrational.
I want to tell you that I have that problem.
I've come a long way, baby.
I have.
In my 20s, I had such severe what they call obsessive compulsive disorder that if I left
my water bottle in my house where there is no one else, but if I left it unattended and
came back to it, I would wonder what happened to it.
I would have intrusive thoughts about it being tampered with and possibly poisoned.
What is that, friends?
That is complex post-traumatic stress disorder at its finest.
That is being so hypervigilant about my safety and my well-being that my mind actually fragmented
and started to become so hypervigilant of danger that it was creating dangerous scenarios
that were causing severe anxiety for me.
Anyone else relate to this?
Anyone else relate to irrational thoughts, things that don't make any sense, things that
there's a very slim to no chance of ever happening and yet somehow it's renting space in your
head?
Somehow it's renting space in your head.
If you want to be brave this morning and practice James 516, well, go ahead and confess what
those things are.
I just told you one of mine.
I do not have that issue anymore.
I still don't like to drink after other people, but it has nothing to do with being poisoned.
Go ahead and put those in the chat.
What are the scenarios that torment your mind?
They're irrational.
You know that you shouldn't worry about it.
You try to turn those fears over to God, but they do come back, the areas where they do
come back.
I turn my fears over to God too, friends, but there are things, there are areas that
continue to try to torment me in certain areas.
Let's call it habitual worry.
free if that makes you feel better instead of evil, foreboding, intrusive thoughts.
We can just call it habitual worry.
There's things.
There's things that try to continue to steal our joy and separate us from the love that
we're living in.
God is love.
You are loved.
You live in love.
You have been made for and made by love.
So I had kind of more of a clinical issue in this area, right?
And I got it honestly because my father before me had been diagnosed with these disorders
and my brother, who's been homeless for almost 30 years, had been diagnosed with these disorders.
And as I met Jesus in my 20s and it didn't get better, I want to make sure that I say
that because we do such a disservice when we say, oh, you met Jesus, everything's better
now.
No.
I had the potential of everything getting better, but even Jesus himself said that you
will need to continue in my word and you will know the truth and it will make you free.
So don't give up on Jesus just because everything hasn't been better in the snap of your finger.
I promise you one thing, because I've lived both ways, because remember, I didn't meet
Jesus until I was, you know, an adult.
It's better to suffer with him than without him.
It is.
Okay.
In this life, there will be suffering.
There will be times of hurt and pain.
There will be trial and tribulation.
There will be.
But suffering with him is much better than suffering without him.
But there's good news.
And the good news is that he has overcome the world.
He has overcome the things that want to overcome you.
Say that to yourself.
Jesus has overcome the things that are trying to overcome me.
Every single thing that those, those fears, those unwanted and intrusive thoughts are
rooted in, he has overcome at the finished work of the cross.
That memo just hasn't caught up to your body yet.
A lot of us, we have been through so much hard times and so much abuse that our body
is hypervigilant of our safety.
That's where the anxiety comes from.
That's where the panic attacks come from.
That's where the intrusive worry comes from.
It's just you trying to protect you.
You trying to protect you.
That's what worry is.
Worry is hypervigilance, right?
We're thinking about something over and over and over again, as if by thinking about it,
we can keep it from happening or we can be ready for it.
We don't have to get sacri punched or blindsided because we're keeping it in our scope.
No, we can let it go.
We can LIG it.
We can let it go.
He said, cast all your care upon me because I care for you.
And this is not an advertisement for your Jesus cares board, but if you haven't made
one, you definitely should because can I tell you after I've been explaining to you the
way that my mind worked from having complex post-traumatic stress disorder, my childhood
was the type of childhood where you did not know what was going to happen from moment
to moment.
You did not know what was going to happen.
So often when you had your guard down, something terrible happens in my childhood.
And so I learned to live guarded.
I learned to live looking over one shoulder.
I learned to sleep with one eye open.
Do you feel me?
And those are hard habits to break.
I've come such a long way in the 28 years that I've been walking with Jesus, but hopefully
it is encouraging to you to know that I'm not all the way there.
I still have to choose team spirit.
I still do.
There's still irrational, unwanted thoughts that try to come and steal my joy.
The difference now is, is I don't let them hang around for long.
I used to let them hang around for days and weeks and months and sometimes years.
In my twenties I had been diagnosed with anxiety disorders and panic disorder, obsessive compulsive,
you just name them.
And all they were was my inability to cast my cares upon Jesus.
I didn't know him that well yet.
Let's just be honest.
I met him.
It was amazing.
It was incredible, but I didn't know him that well yet.
There were little things.
that I could give into his care, but the bigger things I still thought were my issues to bear.
Especially if I had created the problem myself.
That's an important thing to look at, especially if I had created the problem myself.
If my bad decisions had created the problem, then there was no way that I was going to give him the
consequences. I was going to hold on to those consequences. I was going to live and suffer
in those consequences. This morning, I'm here to tell you that you no longer have to lay in
the bed that you made. You can lay in the bed that Jesus made at the finished work of the cross.
I want to encourage you to do that. The sheets are so soft. They smell so good.
It's such a place of rest and comfort.
It's not you that have been discipled by religion and legalism. It's not you
copping out of the consequences. It's not you getting away with it.
The hard truth is that when Jesus died for you and as you,
he vindicated you and he declared you innocent. I know that's hard to handle,
friends, especially for those of us that have been raised with punishment.
But when you understand that kind of love right there, guess what?
It kicks all fear to the curb, doesn't it? It kicks all fear to the curb, doesn't it?
That's what it means when it says perfect love casts out fear. If you really believe
that Jesus loved you like that, then there's nothing to be afraid of.
There's nothing to be afraid of.
Because if he died for you, wouldn't he also give you everything that you need?
He would. I want to talk about the word shalom.
It may be a new word to you. It may be a word that some of you use all the time because you've
heard other people use it and you're into the whole Hebrew plus English movements of church.
Like me, you celebrate Rosh Hashanah and you're into all the things that I believe are just,
we're just a continuation and a fulfillment of a lot of the things
that our Hebrew brothers and sisters had access to.
We're not a new thing, we're a continuation of a thing.
So the word shalom, a lot of people use that word to greet people, to leave people. Shalom,
shalom. People use it to talk about peace, our English word peace. And when we think about the
word peace in the Bible, the scripture that jumps out at me more than any is that I will give you
my peace that I will give you my peace. And I will give you my peace that I will give you my peace.
Understanding. What is that about? That's about human understanding, human intellect.
Something is happening when that supernatural peace and the prince of peace come to us,
Jesus. When that happens, when that comes to us through the power of Holy Spirit,
it surpasses circumstances and understanding. It doesn't make sense, that peace. It's where
you can have confidence and peace, where you can feel held and grounded. You can feel like
you're on solid ground when everything around you is shaking. Right? There's quicksand all around
you, but you're on this little patch of solid ground. It's that kind of peace. The kind of
peace that doesn't make any sense. I remember having that kind of peace when my mother was
leaving this life and transitioning in the ICU. The visage before me was pretty gruesome.
And yet when I walked into that room, all I felt was peace, the peace of God.
That's all I felt. I didn't even shed a tear in those times because I was being so held by
love and peace. And even joy was coming and paying visits.
All right, you guys, it doesn't make any sense. It doesn't make any natural sense.
So let's talk about the word shalom, because I believe that we're going to supernaturally
release that word over all of the worry, over all the intrusive and obsessive and unwanted thoughts,
over all the reoccurring narratives of, hey, this isn't going to work out. And I'm not just
talking about your love story, because you're already in a love story. You already have a love
story and you're already in that love story. The other character, the partner that God has
for you for the assignment, that might not have shown up yet in the story, but
You're already in the story.
It started with you and God.
Right?
That's the love story.
And yes, there are other characters in this story
that will come in and out of our lives
as we walk forward.
And one of those being a partner.
And yeah, I do say in and out
because we say till death or till transition
do we part,
but there are people here
that will outlive their partner.
You will.
Your partner will come and they will be with you
for a season, who knows how long that season is,
but you'll outlive them
and some of them will outlive you.
You see what I'm saying, right?
The permanent relationship
in the love story
is between you and God.
You and your Abba.
It's important for us to remember that.
And all of the other people
are players in this story.
People that have been written into the chapters
and lines and prose
of our story
to help us to heal
and to learn
and to accomplish and to
finish assignments and all different
types of amazing things.
And you have to hold it like that.
You have to hold it like that.
You are not waiting for your one true love.
He's already here.
I love my husband.
I love David.
He's a great partner.
He has brought so much healing.
And I don't want you guys to get this twisted
or think this is weird, but in a lot of ways
my husband has fathered me.
Is there anything kinky or weird going on
here, y'all?
So don't imagine what's not true.
But he has been a father to me
in so many ways.
I was a fatherless woman
and I have bucked and kicked
against that fathering
where he's trying to protect me
and he's trying to help me
in a very
fatherly way.
And then there's another layer
of our relationship that's very much
him being a husband
and a lover.
People can be things to you
and God will send people
to be things to you and to fill in
places where
you have been hurt.
And they will help bring that healing
that you need.
But that being said, I love him.
But if he transitioned
from this life,
I would still live.
Yes, that would be
a dark night of the soul. That would be a devastating
situation, but
I would still live.
I would still live. I would still go forward.
I would still complete assignment.
I would still raise my children.
Do you see what I'm saying? I mean, they're raised,
but I would still be there for my family
and my grandchildren. Do you hear me?
These players in your story,
these characters in your story,
these partners in your story,
if they're good, they're here
to help
connect you even more
to Abba.
That is the purpose of these relationships.
The purpose of relationship
between humans
is to show each other
what God looks like.
Do you hear me?
So it's time for us to let
Shalom in.
Let's let Shalom
in our lives.
Shalom is not just a word.
It's a picture.
So back to, you know,
we say the word.
We think we know what we mean when we say the word,
but the beautiful thing about the Hebrew
language is the Hebrew language
is a picture language.
Who's played Pictionary?
Raise your hand.
Who's ever played Pictionary charades?
Anything that, you know,
you've had to go up to a board
or to a big paper pad
and people with your crude drawings
have to somehow guess what it is
that you're talking about.
That's what Pictionary is.
You guys know what Pictionary is?
You're allowed to draw things, and if you're like me
and you can't draw at all, then people
have to kind of guess what it is that you're drawing
and they have to guess the phrase.
They have to guess
whatever it is that you're trying to communicate
through the drawing.
So it's like picture charades.
Okay, a lot of you have played that.
Good. Well, that's like
the Hebrew language.
The Hebrew language is like Pictionary
where
letters and numbers
interchangeable
a lot of times, and a lot of times
symbols, right?
There's symbols
for things, and if you look
at the word
Shalom
If you look in the groups, but if you look at it, it's a series of little pictures, little
squiggly lines, specifically four of them.
And they mean something, they mean something powerful, more than just your understanding
of the word shalom, peace, greetings, so much more than that.
So let's go through the little pictures in this word.
The first picture looks like a little W, and it means strong teeth to destroy.
That's what the meaning of that is, and it kind of looks like teeth, like a little side
thing of an animal, maybe, kind of thing.
And then the next picture looks like a hook, like a really crude kind of backwards J, and
that's a shepherd's staff.
That's a depiction of authority.
And the next little picture sort of looks like a cactus that lost an arm, or a really
crude little Y, and that little picture stands for attaching, like a tent peg.
Remember, these were nomadic people, they lived in tents, right?
And they used the tent pegs, pulled those tents down.
There's so many Bible stories, there's so many allusions in the Bible to tent pegs.
And then the last little picture is like the first picture, the W, but it's the other way,
and it's a little longer, looks like little mountains, and that's chaos.
It's a depiction of water, also meaning chaos.
Now let's put all that together, can we?
Strong teeth to destroy, a shepherd's staff for authority, a tent peg to attach, and water
in chaos.
And the meaning of the word shalom is to destroy the authority attached to chaos.
Oh, come on, Jesus.
To destroy the authority attached to chaos.
When you say shalom, you are saying chaos has no authority on me.
It cannot attach to me.
These situations that are attached to chaos, they are no longer attached to me.
Come on, y'all.
Can you feel Holy Spirit?
Because I can feel Holy Spirit all up in here.
Oh, Jesus.
To destroy it.
To destroy the chaos, the confusion, the swirl, but not the good swirl, there's a good swirl
and there's a bad swirl, the bad swirl.
When your thoughts start swirling, full of intrusive, unwanted, and obsessive thoughts,
you start to spiral into anxiety, shalom.
When the evil foreboding show up and try to tell you the story is going to end differently
than what your Jesus has said through his word, shalom.
When you partner with a page from the wrong playbook of this world and tell yourself that
it's impossible, shalom.
Don't partner with the world's playbook.
That playbook is obsolete.
Those plays have already been run by Satan and the spirits of darkness and Jesus has
come and taken the keys of death and hell and said it's finished.
Those plays don't work.
They only work if you let them work.
And that's why shalom.
That is your declaration and you coming into agreement
It's what has already been done.
It's already been done.
There's a scripture in the Bible,
spent 10 years just in the word
because I was so mentally sick
that I couldn't do really anything else.
There were long stretches of time
where I couldn't even leave my house in my 20s.
And this is as a believer.
But one of the scriptures that I kept going back to
and I kept holding on to,
and it became a scripture for me.
And I actually wrote it on a note card
and I carried it around with me in my purse
so that I could, I'm just pulling it up,
look at it whenever I needed to.
Whenever I needed to look at it, I could look at it.
It says, fear not, I am with you.
Do not be dismayed, I am your God.
I will strengthen you and I will help you
and I will uphold you with my righteous right hands.
All who rage against you
will surely be ashamed and disgraced
and those who oppose you will be as nothing and perish.
But then, this is Isaiah 41, 10 and 11, I just read.
But don't forget 12, you will search for your enemies
but you will not find them.
And those who wage war against you
will be as nothing at all.
Yeah, I know you've been in little skirmishes with humans,
y'all, you've been in some arguments and fights
and maybe you've even had to go no contact
with family members because they're not safe,
but I'm talking about spirits here
that have been assigned and attached to your life
to try to destroy you and keep you
from fulfilling the beautiful God destiny
you've been created for.
They have tried to attach, but what do we say?
We say, shalom.
You cannot attach to me.
Destruction, discouragement, disappointments,
you cannot attach to me.
You cannot bring your chaos here
because God has upheld me with his righteous right hand.
What is that?
That is Jesus Christ.
Shalom.
You guys, I lived this scripture.
I quoted it over my life.
I would sometimes have 20 or more panic attacks a day.
The emergency room knew me by name.
I comforted myself with the thought of death
as a believer
because I didn't know the one and true and living God.
In fact, truth be told, when I was in the world
living for the other gods,
because I didn't know the one and true and living God,
the forces of darkness left me alone for the most part.
Yeah, I was miserable.
I was a product of abuse and all different types of things,
to the lamp.
All of hell tried to attach itself to me.
And so if you're wondering what you've done wrong
to cause so much warfare,
maybe you should shift your perspective
of what you've done right.
And start using the weapons of your warfare
that are not carnal to shut that down
because you are seated with Christ in heavenly places
and the devil is under your feet.
Shalom.
Sometimes you won't be able to say anything more
because your mind is racing
and there's a whole different story
that's wanting you to partner with it.
And all you will be able to get out is shalom,
but it's enough.
Keep saying it.
Keep declaring it over yourself.
Keep partnering with that.
I partnered with this scripture, y'all.
I wrote it on note cards.
I had it in my purse.
In fact, it was the courage that allowed me
to get in the car and leave the house
and go five miles from my home.
I can't tell you how many grocery stores and how many restaurants I've had to leave during those years
because I was having such a bad anxiety attack, and I just had to leave.
Just had to leave my shopping cart in the middle of the store full of food and just leave.
My greatest desire in those years was to be a normal person that could do normal things,
like go to the grocery store.
I live these scriptures. Not only was God with me, not only did he help me,
he transformed me in those years, he changed me in those years,
but that very last scripture that says,
you will look for your enemies and you will not be able to find them,
that happened to me.
One day I just realized that I didn't have anxiety anymore,
and that I hadn't had anxiety for quite some time.
In fact, I hadn't had a panic attack in forever.
I just realized that the things that tormented me no longer had any access to me,
and it was so seamless that I didn't even notice it when it went away.
Come on.
I will tell you part of that was practical, and part of it was supernatural.
You're like, what is the practical part? I got divorced.
I'm not an advocate for divorce, but my divorce was a rescue mission,
and if I had stayed there, I would be dead.
I would not be alive.
At the very end of that marriage, if we can call it that,
at the very end of that marriage, I was in bad shape.
Some bad shape, real bad shape.
My pastor going to prison, all the chaos that ensued because of that,
God picked me up, pulled me out, and put me in a shalom bubble.
And I get to be here today,
and I can't tell y'all how many times I've gone into a restaurant
or I've been sitting in a waiting room somewhere or doing something,
and God has focused my eyes onto someone else in that room
who, even though no one else may notice it,
I notice that they're having a panic attack.
I notice their breathing.
I notice the look in their eyes and on their face,
and I have been able to go and sit next to them and put my hand on them
and say, it's just a panic attack. You're going to be okay.
And then they have melted into tears in my arms
or moved closer and almost cuddled into me for protection.
What am I saying there?
Is that whatever it is that you've been through,
it's not for no reason.
God didn't bring you to it. He will bring you through it.
But He also will use it, Genesis 50-20, to help so many other people.
Your suffering is sacred.
Please say that of yourself.
My suffering is sacred.
So sacred.
Yes, shalom, friends.
Shalom, shalom.
And I believe with all my heart
that we are coming into a time in this earth
where shalom is going to be more needed than ever before.
That's not a doom and gloom profession.
That's just me saying that it's our turn.
The curtain is rising and the bearers of shalom,
the people that's feet bring shalom in the gospel,
it's our turn to come on the scene.
It's our turn on the stage.
It's our turn to take center stage
in your schools and in your communities,
in your places of employment, in the restaurants,
in the places that you go in your communities,
the shopping malls, the TJ Maxx.
You are a bearer of shalom.
And you are bringing it.
And everywhere you go, chaos has to leave.
It has to cease.
It's not just for you.
You didn't think it was just for you, did you?
It's not just for you.
And please do not let it be lost on you
that there's 222 people on this call right now.
Do not let it be lost.
lost all of the little God winks that we have.
Partnership, agreement, divine revival
of marriage and family, original design.
That's what 222 is all about, favor.
It's our turn to bring Shalom to that boardroom,
to bring Shalom to that hospital.
There's so many nurses that are in this program,
male and female, to bring Shalom,
to bring Shalom to the families that you deal with
as a social worker, as a teacher, as a counselor,
as a therapist, to bring Shalom to the place
where you work, one of you works at a DSW.
I mean, shoes are pure joy already,
but you're bringing Shalom to that shoe store.
Shalom.
It's our turn.
It's a Matthew five moment.
You're like, what does that mean?
Go read it.
Go read it in the message translation.
In fact, I will.
Thank you, Holy Spirit, I will.
Y'all, the preach got on me today.
We got a preach going on here.
My nanny who's in heaven, if she's watching me,
she'd be proud of me.
She always wanted me to be a preacher.
I guess here we are.
Okay.
In the message.
So this is known as the Sermon on the Mount.
This is part of the Sermon on the Mount, I should say,
talking about you're blessed when you're this
and you're blessed when you're that
and all the beautiful things and go read it.
But I want us to go down to verse 13,
Matthew five.
This is the message translation.
Let me tell you a little bit about the message translation.
Let me tell you why you are here.
Come on.
Let me tell you why you are here.
If you've ever wondered, why am I here?
Why am I on this earth?
Why am I live?
What is life?
Let me tell you why you are here.
You're here to be salt seasoning
that brings out the God flavors of this earth.
If you lose your saltiness,
how will people taste godliness?
You've lost your usefulness
and you will end up in the garbage.
But here's another way to put it.
You're here to be light,
bringing out the God colors in the world.
This is my favorite part.
God is not a secret to be kept.
We're going public with this,
as public as a city on a hill.
If I make you light bearers,
you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket,
do you?
I'm putting you on a light stand.
And now that I've put you there on a hilltop,
on a light stand,
shine,
keep open house,
be generous with your lives.
By opening up to others,
you'll prompt people to open up with God,
this generous father in heaven.
Is that not powerful?
You've been created to shine.
You've been created to be seen.
You've been created to be on a light stand,
not hidden away in some place of isolation.
God's proud of you.
He's proud of you.
He wants to show you off to the world.
Yeah, you're going to make mistakes.
You're going to drop the ball for sure.
But he can bring more people to himself
through your failures than through
whatever perfection you think you have in your flesh.
As long as,
no matter what,
you continue to go back to the source
and be God defended.
As long as you invite him into those messes
so that he can Romans 8, 28 to you,
turn everything to your good.
Because people are watching.
People need
Shalom more than ever before.
And friends, I know that you need a partner
for your assignment,
but you don't start your assignment
when you get your partner.
You don't.
You start it now.
And your assignment, you just heard it.
It is to be salt and light in the earth.
It is to make people thirsty.
for God because of what they see in you, and to shine the light into the dark
places, and to keep a generous and open heart, life, and home.
Shalom. And so now when you meet your brothers and sisters in Christ, now you
know why the ancient members of our family used to say shalom to each other.
Now you understand, right? Now you understand. And so let's adopt that, if you
want to, when we see each other in person. Let's declare shalom over each other,
the devouring of all the chaos, the keeping us attached, John 15 to the vine.
We want to be attached, friends, but we don't want to be attached to chaos. We
want to be attached to Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. Father God,
I love you so much. I thank you for today. I thank you for this message for
myself. I take it for myself, Lord. I want to walk in peace. Shalom. Everywhere I go,
I want to be a purveyor of peace. When I walk in the room, I want chaos to walk
out of the room. Lord, I thank you for my brothers and sisters in Christ, and I
declare shalom over each and every one of them, over their households, over their
bodies, over their finances, over their relationships, over their futures. I
declare shalom over them. Lord, I thank you, God, for the big beautiful story that
you wrote about each and every one of them, the love story that they're already
living. I thank you for a shift in perspective. From this moment forward, a
shift in their perspective about why they are here, who they are, and whose
they are, shift in Jesus' name. Let them leave this call with confidence,
supernatural confidence that they have never felt before in you, and in your
word, and in your promises. Let perfect love overtake us. Help us to stop running
from it. Let it consume us, overwhelm us, overcome us, and cast out all fear and
all control. We ask all of these things in your beautiful, wonderful, precious
name. In Jesus' name, amen. I love all of you. I believe God's taking us to a very
supernatural place. As we head into Rosh Hashanah next month, I told you guys
we're going back to school. We had a dream interpretation session, but we're
going to have a dream lab. For those of you that want to dig into your dreams,
you want to learn how to interpret other people's dreams and your own dreams,
you're going to be able to go into a dream lab. It's not going to be teaching
at you. It's going to be interaction. You're going to be in breakouts with
different purposes. If that sounds great to you, then hold tight. Spirit Mate Match
is going to be launched in beta here in the next week or so. All of you will be
filling out a dating profile that will be customized to include non-negotiables
and all different types of things so that we can really use this beautiful
technology that we have access to in order to help God do what he's already
doing, and that's play matchmaker. I love you guys. Thank you so much for
believing in this movement and being part of it, being missionaries and
revivalists to marriage and family. May God bless you. See you soon.