We'll just jump straight to you, Melinda, and hear your story, and then we'll come back
to Patty when she gets back in the zone.
We've got just about everyone back.
Eli, welcome.
Jamie, welcome.
Michelle, welcome.
Natalie, welcome.
And Linda, why don't you unmute, and everyone else just stuck yourself on mute.
Okay.
And we'll get into it.
Are we good to go?
Yeah, go for it.
Okay.
Good morning, good evening, whatever it is for everyone.
But it's morning here.
I'm doing this scared, going to be totally honest, because I just have a barrage of emotions.
And I'm going to push my way through it.
When we first did the first session, what was going on was just permission to hear that
I had permission to fail.
And it was like a new concept to me.
So that Sunday, I guess it was here, I just worked through that paper, the PDF, and just
wrote down a lot of lies I was believing based on that.
And throughout the week, I was trying to think of, I felt a lot of confusion, and just overwhelming
by these feelings of, okay, what, I don't think I even got the next assignment.
I couldn't find it about, I guess it's writing your biggest failure.
And as I began reading others and thinking about, okay, my biggest failure, I wasn't happy
with just saying, well, my marriage, I thought of instances where I felt like a real failure
in not hearing God, not being obedient to God, a time that actually was where I felt
like I was being obedient to him and was present for the birth of our first grandbaby's twins
that didn't make it.
And that really toppled my whole world as far as believing God for miracles and healings,
because I'd seen them in the past, walked out in those kinds of things.
But it just, I was devastated.
And out of that, God spoke to me about entitlement.
And I don't know if I'm all over the map here with my thinking, but I was more or less trying
to get to what's the real root cause of this.
And today I just felt like because I've tried to be the fixer of everything and everyone,
that that has been my biggest failure in relationships, in taking things into my own hand
and just believing that I've had to fix life for everyone.
And so going forward, and Benji, your testimony as far as my marriage was injuring through whatever
because I believe in covenant.
And taking that seriously, that there's some mix of coming from a broken home, not wanting that,
and then at the end, loving through even how do we love our enemies, whatever enemies look like.
And yet still not lose ourselves in that. So that's sort of where I'm at.
And just really asking God to bring clarity in those areas.
Yeah.
It's the real, that's the real stuff, eh,
when we start looking at failure.
So thanks for being vulnerable.
We all appreciate that.
I'm sure everyone can feel it's releasing their love
all around you right now.
I know, I know, I'm really, I'm just gonna get,
well, we'll bring you back on shortly, Patty,
just to finish off your declaration.
But how about we have Ashley,
how about you just take a moment just to pray for Linda
and that'll be awesome.
So if you just pray for Linda,
and Linda, we really appreciate that vulnerability.
Yeah, Lord, I just thank you for your precious child, Linda.
God, that she is beautifully and wonderfully made
in your image with incredible plans and purposes,
Lord, that you have given her.
God, and I thank you, you are the God of restoration, God,
the God of healing, the God of many chances, God.
And I thank you for the deep work
that you are doing in Linda.
And I thank you and I praise you for the breakthrough,
the healing and the freedom in her life, God.
I thank you, Holy Spirit, for giving her the courage
and the strength to go deeper in you, God.
And I just thank you for what lies ahead, God,
that she is meant to walk in the fullness of her identity
and glory in you, God.
So I thank you, God, for Linda,
and I just pray and bless, God,
that all you are doing in her, God.
We bless her, Lord, we love her,
and we're just gonna pray and stand in the gap
for her right now, Lord, in your precious name, amen.
Amen.
Thank you.
Thank you so much.
Thanks.
Lots of love to you guys.
And thanks, everyone, for sharing as well.
Thanks for sharing your failure stories.
It's bizarre how encouraging hearing about failure is, eh?
It's like, it's kind of a crazy thing, right?
You're reading someone's most heartbreaking moment
and strangely being encouraged at the same time.
And I think part of that is the fact
that we realize we're not alone in our valleys of failure
and that we walk deeply.
So, Hattie, you were just about done on your declaration.
You'd just gone past an adventurous, carefree Andy.
So if you wanna pick it up just from just after that
and then finish that off would be awesome.
Got to...
Hattie, you were just about done on your declaration.
You'd just gone past an adventurous, carefree Andy.
So if you wanna pick it up just from just after that
and then finish that off would be awesome.
So if you wanna pick it up just from just after that
and then finish that off would be awesome.
So if you wanna pick it up just from just after that
and just turn your volume down on your device.
That would be awesome.
You have to wait for the leg.
Did you say you wanted me to turn my volume down?
On your device, because we can hear it looping.
You were just about done on your declaration.
Right.
You'd just gone past an adventurous, carefree Andy.
Can you actually, can you mute that?
Just turn your volume down on your device.
Yeah, I'll have to expect full screen to do that.
Just a minute, yeah.
Is that better?
To turn my volume down?
Is that better?
Yep.
Correct.
I need to turn your volume right down, Hattie.
It's on your device.
Turn your volume button to no volume.
I'm sorry, I can't hear you now, Benji.
What do I need to do?
Read the comments.
Read the comments, sorry.
I can't do that, okay.
I need to turn your volume right down, Hattie.
It's on your device.
Alright, go for it, from an adventurous carefree Andy, finish off that declaration, be great.
Yeah, Paddy, so just go for it, just finish off your declaration, last chance, okay, last
chance, if we don't get it this time, we're gonna have to get you to copy and paste it into the
comments. This, this is like, this is a fail right here for everyone who is wondering what
the definition of failure is, that's right, it's a healthy process, failure is the pathway to
success, it's worth failing to, something's worth, yeah, so Paddy, are you reading the comments,
you can't hear me now, so, Paddy, you're not reading the comments, we've got no communication,
Paddy, we've lost Paddy, Houston, we've lost Paddy, I know I asked you to turn your volume down,
but it was because it was lagging and looping and it was going to chaos, so I'm gonna move on,
sorry Paddy, so I'll keep chatting with Paddy in the comments, but someone else want to jump in
there, we'll take one more testimony of someone who's really got something on their heart, you
know, from, from the week that they love to share, and then I want to chuck something else in there
for everyone to just be chatting and processing together, so who would love to jump in there now
and share, on Zoom or on Facebook, sorry, on Zoom, yeah, oh, go for it, yeah, I'll be, I will go for it,
so we're talking about stories of failure, yeah, okay, I've actually just got done working on
part of my failure worksheet that we had, the homework, and I think for me, one of my biggest
failures is just, I kind of looked down at it recently, just looking through that whole worksheet,
that fear failure is one of the root causes, I said that helps me struggle with a lot of things
that I go through in terms of my identity, in my walk with, like my identity in Christ,
I guess, like one of the biggest failures that I've been experiencing recently is just this
whole idea of grace that the Lord's been constantly teaching me, is understanding what grace is,
and I feel like He's been, like, nailing that concept for me, and I feel like every time I
get this concept that I always mess up on the concept of grace, and so, you know, throughout all
of those moments, I just, you know, when you get to those moments of failure, you're like, man, Lord,
you just taught me what grace is, and then I just messed up on the idea of grace, and then you start
saying, like, man, God, I keep messing this up, and yet you've already told me what it was, but why can't
I seem to get it? Then you get into that moment of, like, your emotion starts to go down, you know,
and you get to that moment of despair, but yet, for God's just been very faithful with me about grace,
and every time He's teaching me about grace, He's like, Eli, I'm still giving you grace,
and then you're, like, trying to wrap your mind around it, and then He's just like, Eli, just
believe in grace, you know, receive grace, and so, I just, I share that story, because I know He's been
teaching me what grace is. He's been fortifying the whole idea of grace is in my life, in specific
areas in my life, and also just the whole idea of failure. As we're reading these stories, He just
kind of re-highlights me, like, these are, this is grace, you know, when you fail, that's my grace
that gets you up, that's my grace that keeps you on going forward, and even reading these guys, like,
J.K. Rowling, the story of J.K. Rowling, you know, and Colonel Sanders, like those things
really encouraged me because that's showing the grace of God over their lives. And I'm just like,
man, God's moving in grace even in non-believers. And that hit my heart because it just shows the
goodness of God towards everybody. And so that just re-encouraged me again to keep saying,
hey, Eli, I'm still with you in your process right now. I know you. I understand you. So even
when you fail, you didn't really fail. So he's been kind of re-encouraging that for me. And
it's literally by the grace of God. So yeah. That's amazing. Who got a lot of value out of
just reading all those stories of your quotes on failure and stories of failure? Who enjoyed that?
Yeah. Encouraging, eh? Just seeing how people have just walked through so much failure. But
it's such a, like when you look at someone's life from kind of like this distant perspective
and you go, wow, their life was just so full of failure, but we never get to see that. All we see
is the victory story, the triumph at the end, but not realizing how their pathway to success
was a brutal life of failure, where the only thing that really got them to that point of actually,
that point of success was just determination not to give up completely on life,
because they were just dragging themselves basically through these valleys of failure
till this moment where, oh my gosh, all of a sudden it actually clicked. So I just find it
pretty encouraging, that process. Now, so I want to put one thing out there for us for
discussion. I'm just going to pull my curtain because the sun is so bright here.
I've got a verse for us and a concept that I just want to share about, because the thing that I've
been thinking about a lot this week is our secret in a narcissist. So narcissism at its base is just
selfishness. It's just selfishness, but it's a selfishness that produces a blindness. And
narcissism is like, it's a really popular word right now to go around saying everyone's a
narcissist. You're like, oh, that person's problem is they're a narcissist, right? But
if we want to take extreme ownership, we have to actually stop pointing the finger about everyone
else being a narcissist and actually identify what narcissism is and how it's impacting our own lives.
Because I would never have labeled myself a narcissist. I would never have said that was
an issue for me. Who would, right? Who would go around saying that, oh, my issue was my narcissism.
That's the real issue for me. Who's going to want to go around with that testimony?
No, not me. But the thing is that it wasn't until I actually took ownership of that reality,
right? That I was narcissistic in my own marriage and it was my own narcissism that was
the epicenter of my greatest problems in my life. But the problem is, so here's the verse,
right? Here's the verse that I want to share with you, which is Matthew 6, 23.
Because narcissism, the thing about narcissism that makes it so dangerous is it makes us blind,
or it makes us blind to our own failures. It makes us blind to our own weaknesses,
and it's totally connected to our fear of failure, right? We get so freaked out and triggered,
so when we're afraid to fail, when we've got this real fear of failure, it triggers
emotional responses, right? It triggers feelings that actually, that emotional overwhelm
will blind us to what's right in front of us, right? So when you trigger out of fear,
you get blind to what's right in front of you. So when you're afraid, you're blind.
So if you go deeper into the root of why we get narcissistic, it's actually because a person is
absolutely terrified. They're so terrified of reality that they have an emotional reaction
that shuts down their capacity to see reality. You just get blinded. You know what we have sayings
like, love is blind, pride is blind, love is blind, love is blind, love is blind, love is blind.
Pride is blind, well, fear is blind too.
And fear is possibly blinder than everything else, right?
Like if love is blind,
who can relate to love being blind totally?
For me, I can relate to love being blind.
I can relate to, you know, pride is blind now,
but fear is blind, right?
Fear is like on a whole nother level of blindness
to everything else
because fear operates at an unconscious
and subconscious level.
So what happens with fear
and what happens with fear turning us into narcissists
is that it's taking place
at a subconscious and unconscious level.
So we don't even realize this process is happening.
You know, we're not even consciously aware
that this process is happening
because it's not a mental process.
It's a much deeper process
of the deeper things of our hearts,
the deeper things of our minds.
And so it doesn't actually require you to think about it.
It doesn't actually require a cognitive process
for you to go through this process and go,
well, you know what?
I feel so afraid right now, I'm just gonna shut down.
It happens on a much, much deeper level.
You're not even,
your thought life isn't even involved on it.
You can't even access that level of depth of your beliefs
until you really meditate and go really deep
and get really, really serious about hearing
and figuring out what's happening.
And that's why failure is actually your friend, okay?
Because failure, I love some of these quotes about failure,
like Dave Riddell's quote,
failure isn't fatal, it's just feedback.
That to me is so powerful.
You know, failure isn't fatal, it's just feedback.
But when we view failure as fatal,
when we view failure as, oh my gosh, the end of the world,
when we have that perspective
that failure is a really, really bad thing,
what happens is anytime we're around failure,
we start triggering this intense fear of failure.
So let's go, whoa!
And so we have that triggering happening,
but it's because of this deep level mindset
that we have that failure is a bad thing,
failure is fatal, failure is a terrible thing,
as opposed to, hey, failure is okay,
and failure is a part of the journey towards success.
Failure is normal, failure is healthy.
What if our mindset, what if our deep-rooted belief
is that failure is healthy and failure is my friend
and failure is gonna be my coach and my guide
into my greatest success?
Because if you, imagine sitting down at a table, right?
Imagine if you sat down at a table
and one person that you sat down with was your best friend
and one person that you sat down with was your worst enemy.
And your best friend was really safe,
but your worst enemy, you couldn't trust them
because at any moment, any moment,
you thought they might kill you.
And you knew they were dangerous,
you knew they had the ability to kill you,
you knew that they were armed and dangerous,
they were sitting there as an enemy.
Which one are you gonna be able to listen to?
And which one could you take some advice from?
See, the reality is that failure is both of those people,
and it depends on our perspective on failure, right?
So if our perspective on failure
is that failure is our worst enemy
and failure could kill us in an instant
and failure can't be trusted and failure
is our great nemesis, then who's gonna feel safe?
You're not gonna feel safe
if you think your life is in danger, you're gonna trigger,
you're gonna be like, your heart rate's gonna be raising,
you think this is life or death, oh my gosh.
And you're gonna think that they're your enemy,
so they're trying to attack you,
they're trying to take from you,
they're trying to destroy your life,
so you're not gonna wanna hear what they've got to say.
You're not gonna relax and open your heart up
and go, okay, hey, what do you have to share with me today?
As opposed to if it was your best friend
that you're sitting down at the table with,
you've got a cuppa, you relax, you're chatting,
and then they say, hey, I'd really like to share with you
something that I think's an amazing opportunity
for you right now, just to make a little change here
that's gonna really help your life.
Can you go this track with me
in terms of how this actually works?
I have a subconscious, unconscious thing,
it's not even part of our rational thinking process,
it just is completely dependent on our core belief
of what failure is.
And if our core belief that exists
in the very depth of our psychology,
the depth of our heart, the depth of the core of our being,
if our core belief is that failure is our nemesis,
failure is our enemy, failure is a life or death thing,
then at that point, what happens is we...
we start, any time we get around failure,
we think about failure, we start triggering
an emotional response that's happening
and a spiritual response that's happening
that makes us blind to the information
that failure is trying to give us.
Whereas when failure is our friend
and when we see failure as a coach and failure as a friend,
you know, like, I'm gonna tell you a really funny
but awkward story, right?
So there I am when I was working in youth
and I was having a chat to one of the dads of the kids.
I just, I was picking up the kids
to take them to a pre-meeting
but the dad wanted to chat with me.
And so we're standing out.
It was actually a really cold morning.
We're standing out there and it was like 7 a.m.
So we're picking the kid up for pre-meeting
and the dad's in his pajamas.
But here's the awkward, crazy thing, right?
Like the dad's penis was hanging out
the front of his pajamas.
And I was like, oh my gosh.
And I was just like, I just want to leave, right?
I just want to leave.
I want to like, I don't want to be around here.
And I'm like, how can this guy not tell what's going on
because it is so cold out here.
I'm like, this is not happening, right?
This is not happening.
Now, what are you gonna say to that guy, right?
I was just like, I just like,
I didn't really, I just tried to finish the conversation
as quickly as I could and just leave, right?
I was just like, oh my gosh.
But if you were out in public, you know,
would you want someone to tell you what was going on?
Would you want to live your whole life like that?
Not with no one telling you?
See, failure is your friend.
You know, like failure is the one that's going to tell you
there's something going on down there, mate.
See, I wasn't that guy's friend.
I was just like, I'm out of here.
But you know, but what if that was,
but that's the thing, like failure is your friend.
It's going to give you the feedback
that no one else will give you.
Failure will be like, hey bro, like seriously,
stop, like go back in the house,
sort yourself out and then carry on with your life.
But the problem is, right,
is that when we don't listen to failure,
it's like we're that man standing on his porch
with his willy hanging out.
And then he's like, flip, I should go and do the groceries.
I should go and do the groceries now.
Like, da-da-da-da-da, da-da-da-da-da, striding around.
But it's like, this guy can't seem to get like,
like there's all these awkward looks going on.
You know, like there's people going,
hey, what's going on with this guy?
Like, huh?
But that guy can't, if you can't process failure, right?
If you're so afraid of failure that you can't hear it,
it will actually blind you to reality.
So you'll be like, na-na-na-na-na, doing my groceries.
Hey, going to the petrol station.
Yeah, living my life.
Going to church now.
Yes, here we are, we're going to church now.
All right.
And like, you're so blinded by your fear of failure
that you can't take any feedback.
Is this making sense?
So here's like the line that Jesus had on that.
Jesus' line on that was Matthew 6, 23, he said,
but if your eyes are unhealthy,
your whole body, if then the light within you is darkness,
how great is that darkness?
So this is the key part.
If the light within you is darkness,
how great is that darkness?
Because what fear of failure does,
is fear of failure is so terrified of reality
that you fail.
It's so terrified of it, that it makes up a new story.
It makes up a new story and substitutes truth
and substitutes reality for your new story.
So fear of failure is so terrified of failing
that it goes, instead of listening to the truth,
instead of listening to the feedback
that failure is giving me,
I'm going to tell myself a new story.
And in that example, right?
It will be that guy saying, there's nothing wrong.
You're like, there's nothing wrong with my dress code.
You know?
It would be like him telling himself,
hey, my dress code is awesome.
I might go to a restaurant right now.
I might go out to the pub right now.
I might, I'll tell you what,
I might go visit my mother.
My dress code is fantastic.
That's the story in that scenario.
That's the story we tell ourselves,
but is it reality?
It is not reality.
And that's exactly where narcissism,
that's what narcissism does, right?
Narcissism blinds us to.
reality, and we substitute reality for our own made up story that makes us feel better
about our circumstances.
And that's exactly what I was doing in my marriage, right?
And that's why I couldn't take ownership for the fact that I was responsible for at least
50% of the issues in my marriage, I was responsible, right?
Because my fear of failure was blinding me to my own mess and causing me to, instead of hearing
the story of my own mess, instead of taking feedback from failure, which was coming in the
form of pain over and over, pain over and over and over, and I'm going, oh, where's this pain
coming from? And I was, but the light within me was darkness. So I'm wondering, I was so
confused. I was like, where's all this pain coming from? I just can't figure it out. Where's all
this pain coming from? And the pain was coming because I was making bad decisions, right?
But my fear of failure had triggered such a like, oh, no, this can't be me. Surely not me.
Surely I'm more of an angel than a narcissist, right? So my fear of failure caused me to
substitute reality for my own made up imaginary story. So I lived in a fantasy,
right? Like in my mind, I'm in a fantasy, but the pain in my heart is not very fantastic.
You know, so in my mind, if the light within me was darkness, and when the light within you
is darkness, the pain in your life is going to start increasing and increasing and increasing
until, and so for me, what happened is the pain in my heart started increasing and increasing
and increasing until I got to a place of desperation, where I had to, in that place of
desperation, I finally allowed myself to meditate deeply enough and come to that point of like,
so if we go back to that analogy, where you're sitting at a table, and you're sitting at a table
with failure, you know, are you going to see your enemy? Or are you going to see a friend? So
basically, what happened for me is I sat at the table of my own pain and disappointment and
discouragement, with so much desperation, trying to figure out where the pain was coming from,
that the enemy in front of me slowly changed. And I actually realized the enemy,
you know, failure who was sitting in front of me wasn't my enemy and was my friend, and I could
listen. And I finally out of desperation, not because I was smart, I was just in so much pain
that I couldn't figure out a better another option. I was like, okay, my marriage is at stake here.
What am I going to do? I've got absolutely no idea. I'm backed into a corner. I've got no idea
how to save my marriage. I've got no idea what to do with this pain. I'm desperate. I've got nowhere
else to go. I was so desperate that I kind of sat down with my enemy, you know, like I sat down in
that place with my failure, desperately wanting to figure it out until I actually could
finally hear the information that failure was giving me. Is that making sense to you guys?
I feel like this is a real deep thing that most people don't ever get to have this conversation,
but if the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness? Yeah, Eli, totally.
Um, so I kind of get, I get what you're saying. Um,
so my thing that I've been struggling with recently is I get a lot of like thoughts of guilt,
shame, condemnation being thrown at once. And then sometimes when you're doing those things,
like you get thoughts that you're not, you're discerning, are these my thoughts? Are these
the enemy's thoughts? And then, and sometimes like when you do hear the Lord, I do hear there's
this couple of times where I did hear the Lord convict me and it, it just, it just, it just
sounded scary at first, you know? Um, scary in a sense of like, maybe that's true, you know?
Does that make sense? Like, and so like, and so like recently, I guess like as you're sharing
this, like I've been having these thoughts, like, like what, what am I, what's, what's,
what am I processing right now? Like, I feel like it's kind of like I'm processing these
positive things, but then at the same time, I feel like I'm missing something, you know,
if that makes sense. Yeah, totally. And, um, and this is like, here's a crazy thing, right? Here's
a crazy thing that makes life really difficult is that we're, when we're on it, we all start
out on a journey where we've got to discover our identity, right? Um, but when we're in a place
where we're on our, on our identity journey, we're
discovering who we are, for me that whole journey,
you know, the beginning of that journey
was a place where I didn't know my identity, right?
I was in a place of shame, self-hatred, condemnation,
and it was really easy.
Like I had all these triggers
and I had all this sin in my life
that gave the enemy a platform to actually operate
and to speak into my life.
And so our mind is like, our mind is a total mess, right?
Our mind is a total mess.
And then you're on top of that, trying to process,
okay, right, failure, right, let's do a failure as well.
So it's kind of like, if I was just to be real
about what my mind used to be like,
my mind used to be kind of like this omelette.
You guys make omelette, like scrambled eggs,
you just chuck a whole bunch of, like omelette for me,
I loved omelette when I was growing up,
that was an easy meal to make
because I could just take leftovers and some eggs
and just whack it in a pan
and then it would be done in a few minutes.
I'm like, wow, this is awesome.
I just like grabbed the leftovers from dinner and some eggs
and I put them in a bowl,
just kind of swirl them all around
and then like tip it into the frying pan
and in no time I had a great meal.
It's like, yes, you know,
I can make that as like a little kid.
I'm like, yeah, this is awesome, I'm a pro.
But imagine if you were making an omelette
but your omelette was condemnation
and self-hatred and shame
and like a whole bunch of evil spirits
speaking their perspective of your identity
and then also your own failure
and then also your own pain
and then also your own confusion
and then also your own like trying to, you know,
like all the negative voices
that have ever spoken into your life
and then all the negative experiences that have happened
and the abuse that's happened
and, you know, and you're like,
you're right in the middle of failing.
It's like, oh my gosh,
like how am I gonna ever get any good information
out of this chaos that's going on in my mind?
So I guess what I'm saying is,
Eli, I can really relate to what you're saying
because my mind used to be a destructive omelette
of chaos and confusion
and it makes the process of getting good information
to make good decisions really slow and difficult.
And it also means that you make way more mistakes
in the process.
You know, for me, that's what it was like.
It was slow, like progress was slow.
Making mistakes was not like common.
You know, it's like trying to do life
with everything that could possibly hold you back,
holding you back,
except that the battle is all raging in our minds.
And that's why, you know,
that's why Paul writes in, you know, Romans 12,
there's to be transformed by the renewing of your mind
because it will totally transform you.
Like when your mind goes from like an evil omelette
of chaos to a masterpiece,
think of it.
You know, how much easier is it going to be
to get good information?
How, you know, so what my life looks like now
compared to what it used to look like
is mistakes aren't as common.
So I've always got way better information.
You know, it's like confusion is rare.
I hardly ever get confused.
If I get confused, it's usually just
because I'm actually solving a really difficult problem.
It's not anything to do with life or identity
or anything like that.
It's usually because I'm taking on
a really, really big challenge
and I'm solving that problem.
And I'm also not having to use up all my emotional energy
trying to process all that chaos anymore.
You know, it's like Paul writes as well in, you know,
2 Corinthians 5.10,
take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ.
So what I'm saying about that, about where you're at
is that this one heck of a journey,
but there's one heck of a price.
The renewed mind is so outrageously powerful.
It will give you more energy.
Imagine a life where you didn't have to,
like when you process negative emotions,
it robs you energy.
And when you process positive emotions,
it gives you energy.
So just that one thing, like people often ask me,
man, how have you got so much energy?
And a big part of the reason is
because I'm always processing positive emotions,
but I'm very, very rarely ever having
to process negative emotions.
And yeah.
Oh, I'm sorry.
No, I, so the reason why I'm asking is.
It's like a lot of times when people bring up things like not narcissism,
but in the past when sometimes, you know, you, you point out like, Oh,
you might be narcissistic or you have like condemnation and you're like,
Oh my goodness, what if that's me? You know? Yeah. And in the past,
what the Lord has been teaching me is like, I'm writing my notes.
I've been journaling a lot, you know,
and these homework assignments have been helping me is he's been telling me to
just keep, don't investigate in those motions, you know?
Like, so he's been teaching me not to like get caught up in dwelling
on those emotions or those thoughts, or like trying to investigate my,
what's wrong with me, you know? But at the same time,
like when I'm hearing what you're saying,
I also understand that there's a realistic aspect where you do need to
evaluate yourself, you know?
And so during this process, it's kind of like
that learning of discernment of evaluating versus like in trying to
investigate what's going on. Does that, does that make sense?
Genius, man. That's really, really important part, right?
Because you talked about condemnation and conviction,
you know, like condemnation. When you get in,
you can get into that flow of kind of condemnation and self-reflective and just
exploring all the reasons that things that are wrong with you, you know,
condemnation is always going to bring negativity.
But when you spoke about conviction, it sometimes can be challenging,
you know,
like you're in that place where there's a voice of condemnation speaking,
but God's also bringing conviction. So yeah, it's a beautiful place, man.
There's a balance there.
It requires that process of actually just like really journey with the Lord and
this whole thing about failure and what I was talking about,
that chaos and what you're talking about, condemnation versus conviction.
It's really just like holding fast,
going on the journey and you just get better and better and better.
The more times you fail, you'll get better. You know, like the more,
like you listen to the voice of condemnation and get the wrong information and
implement it and get really bad feedback. Like, Oh, that didn't go so well.
Then you'll be sharper for the next time.
So conviction and you'll find that conviction will bring encouragement and
condemnation will bring fear. Like when,
so when I was processing, you know, in the,
in the early days of my journey of like, I don't God, I had this really funny,
I had this really funny moment, right? When I was,
when I was 18, God really got a hold of my life.
And then I started really praying like, okay, God, you know, like deal with me.
Like, I really want you to God. I just started seeking God. And so,
but what I didn't realize is that he wanted to tidy up my mess.
And I was like, Oh no, we're just going to like, I'm just going to have this,
you know, intimacy with God. Right.
But so there I am praying for intimacy with God and going on a journey into
intimacy with God. And then he starts turning up with conviction.
I was like, there's got to be something wrong with this whole process, right?
Because I'm just trying to enjoy God. I'm just trying to get close to God.
And he did,
Holy Spirit just kept on convicting me of all the chaos in my life. It's like,
you know, like this drinking is not working out for you, Benji.
Like that real nasty music is not working out for you.
These behaviors aren't working out for you. And I was like, ah,
so I kind of like surrendered to this point of leading the Holy Spirit convict
me of all my surface issues.
And then he's like getting closer and closer and closer to the real core issues
of my life. And I'm like, Whoa, this is not comfortable. It's not good.
You know, like this is, this is the opposite of good.
And then Holy Spirit started like, he got, he hadn't like, he knew my,
he hadn't like, he, he had me, you know,
in his sights and he had my secret sin in his sights because he knew that was
the core of my dysfunction. And he's like, I got to get this root out.
I got to get this poison out.
And that was the thing I was most fiercely guarding.
And that was the thing he was most aggressively going after.
And so we had this awkward relationship where I was praying.
I was getting up every morning early to go and seek God and pray. And then he,
and then he's trying to convict me. And so I'm getting up early and, you know,
to go and pray, but at the same time doing my very best to avoid God.
Like I was in this total, like crazy place. Cause I was like,
I want more of you guys,
but I don't want to hear anything you've got to say to me right now.
Cause all the stuff you're saying is really annoying.
Like really getting on, like, not just annoying, like triggering me.
Like it was exactly this narcissistic thing where I was so afraid of my secret
sin. Right. This was like stuff that happened in my childhood that I was like,
Oh my gosh, I'm taking that to the grave. I had a trigger there.
You could press that button. And I would, I would rage up.
I would get violent. I would rage up. I was like, no, like you couldn't press.
There was no one was allowed to mess with that or press that button.
Like no one was like, and then when God started to get in there, I was like,
what? No way. And so I finally.
wrote it down in my journal, confessed it to God, and said I was taking it to the grave,
and he had to shut up. I'm like, done deal, we're moving on. And he was like, no.
So months and months went by this awkward conversation where, again, it was this fear
of failure that was causing me to, I knew what God was saying, but I was refusing to hear what
he was trying to say, because it would mean that I would have to confront my greatest failure in
life. I was like, oh God, no. And so eventually, it took months and months and months, but
eventually he kind of broke me down and came to this point of surrender. I actually dealt with it.
And I guess what I'm just trying to share with you guys about is that
it's okay. And part of this process, right, of me, it was like the secret sin for me,
everyone's stuff will be different, and if you can't really compare one person's story to another,
it's just going to be your own story, because your own story is the only one that matters
in your heart. You can't compare to anyone else's, but my story was when we were kids,
we had a season there where we played doctors and nurses, and a handful of kids would come around,
we'd get naked, we'd kind of do just random stuff, pretending we were doctors and nurses.
It was really pretty innocent, there wasn't really that much in it, but for me, it became the source
of like extreme shame and self-hatred, and that there was something intrinsically wrong and evil
about who I was. And then it gave a platform, because it was a secret, and it was like this
terrible, terrible thing in my world, it created a platform for, you know, just,
for the enemy to get in there and get in my heart and just relentlessly convict me. And I could go
from the best, doing the best I'd ever done, to rock bottom emotions in an instant. I just,
there was a button there, you press that button on me, just bring up that memory, bring up that
story, and I would go from the best day of my life to the worst day of my life, just like that,
to the worst day of my life, just like that, because there's that button there. And,
and I was just terrified of ever dealing with that, because for me, that was my biggest life
failure. And so I carried it for years and years and years and years. And then when God wanted to
deal with it, and actually get me free from what I thought was my biggest failure, I was so terrified
of my own failure and my own secret sin, and my, I was so terrified of,
of what had happened that I had to shut God out. I shut him out, I couldn't handle him talking to me
about it, I couldn't handle God's feedback to me about it, right. But then when God finally did get
in, I had to go and I think I had to go and speak to like seven different people was his, his remedy
for me. I was like, God, this is insane. Like, I wasn't willing to even talk to you about this.
Now you want me to go and have conversations with seven different people about my secret sin.
And I'm not saying this is his, you know, his pathway for anyone else. But I was like, this
is insane, God, like, how the heck can this even happen? Right. And then so but I was like, this
was, this was kind of the like, one of the biggest life breakthroughs for me. Actually, this processing
this failure was actually what I attribute, like every success I'll ever have in my life comes
back down to this moment when I was like, dealing with this secret sin about 19. Because there I was,
God faced me off and he said, Okay, this is it. This is the moment it has to happen. All he
narrowed me down, he kind of backed me into a corner. I used to live in the very bottom of the
at this time, I was doing I was studying I was, you know, a couple of plane flights away from where
my family was where my hometown was. But I went back to my hometown for a weekend. And he's like,
everything has to be done this weekend. He gave me a list of like seven people. I was like,
this is a terrible weekend. Because this stuff that I wasn't even willing to talk to God about
now I've got to have conversations with all these people. And I know that this is what you want me
to do. And so you know, like, I was just like, Okay, God, you got to give me courage, because I
can't do this by myself. So he gave me courage, but took one step, took another step. And then
it was, oh, my gosh, I got to this place where you know, you say, I saved the worst to last, right?
I saved the worst conversation to last. I was like, Oh, my gosh, this is the worst conversation
I could possibly have. I don't want to have this. I just can't go and visit my neighbor
and have a conversation with my, with my neighbor about stuff. And I was just like, Oh, my God.
And I remember, like
almost being unable to physically move my body walking to the neighbors. I was like, God, you
have to be real right now because there's no way that I can do this because I was so overwhelmed
with emotion and fear that I'm like, I can't do this. God, you have to be real for me right now.
Just the grace of God came on me and I was actually able to run. I actually ran to my
neighbor just out of nowhere, going from terrified and barely being able to move to
running to my neighbor's place. We lived on a farm, so it was quite a distance.
Then after having the conversation with every single one of these people,
it wasn't even a big deal for anyone. It wasn't a big deal for anyone. All I was met with was
grace and compassion and encouragement. It wasn't a big deal for any one of those people,
but for me, this is the most terrifying thing that I'd ever done, the biggest failure of my life.
The thing that had been holding me back from God and holding me back from my destiny,
holding me back from everything for years. The thing that was the trigger that could put me
from the best day of my life into a total triggering out on total rage and total dysfunction.
That moment, I remember walking back from that conversation. Before that, I used to visualize,
I used to be able to see. I'd look at myself and in the spirit realm, I could see manacles. I could
see these manacles, chains on my hands. I would have pictures of these of myself in chains,
like a slave, living life. I would have pictures of this is who I am. This is what my life looks
like. From that moment, I went from that place to being totally free. I just had never experienced
freedom on my life like that. Actually, from that, that was the foundation. God got to the
core of everything in my life. That was the foundation that I attribute that moment of
processing that failure to be. That was the core. Everything now that is built on my life is built
on that foundation. It was total surrender. It was just total surrender, but it led to total freedom.
I don't know if you guys had moments, you're like, that was the moment that opened everything
up for me. For me, that was the moment. I grew up in a Christian household, so I didn't have a
moment where I just, I received Jesus. I just always knew Jesus. If there's a moment that I
attribute back to the best decision of my life that set me up for a foundation for everything
that will ever come, it was that weekend, it was that moment that led to freedom like I've never
known before. Then my journey with God, everything just went through the roof.
I guess what I'm just trying to say is it's just this whole dynamic of processing failure.
There's unresolved failure inside of us. It can be crippling. That was crippling for me for years.
It is this whole dynamic of made me a narcissist because the fear caused me to shut down reality
and tell myself a whole another story, which is pride, ego, it's all of that. I just wanted to,
I just felt like I should, I hadn't planned on sharing that story with you guys specifically.
It just came up and just remembered it, but I just feel like, man, for me, processing failure
is like, that was the most, that's what set me up for the rest of my life. Eli, thanks for
triggering me. Cool. I just see in the- Could I go off of that in a sense?
Yeah, we'll give one more time, one more chat for you, Eli, and then we'll share the
mic around a little bit. Yeah, jump on. I guess in a sense, I believe I'm at that similar spot
of what you're saying. Yeah, I guess I'm in that similar spot in what you're saying.
Yeah, I don't know. I just felt like sharing that.
Awesome. Awesome.
Kind of like, I don't know. Yeah, I guess, I don't know. In a sense, I just felt like that. I don't
know. I appreciate that. I would just say to you in that moment, for anyone who feels like they're
in that moment, this could be the most powerful moment of your life. As you process failure,
this could be the very foundation that sets you up for the greatest success that you'll ever-
walking in your life. So, yeah. How about Esther, could you just pray for Eli?
Yeah, Esther, that'd be great if you just want to pray for Eli.
Yeah. Father, I thank you that Eli is your son and that you surround him with your grace,
whether he understands it or not. I thank you that you are taking him through this process
because you have such beautiful things in store for him. And I thank you that you will help him
sort through everything in his life that he is not supposed to investigate, because you already
know. And you will show him what he will need to see and what he will need to get rid of. Father,
you are in him and around him. And I thank you for the beautiful future that you are walking
with him. In Jesus name. Amen. Amen. Beautiful. Thanks, guys. All right.
To me, I'm just trying to follow some of the comments here.
OK. So, yeah. A handful of comments. That was a pretty funny story about my friend
standing on the doorstep in his pajamas. It's a good story to think about in terms of wanting
good feedback, especially before you go to church. I say, OK, so in the comments here,
tell me, if you were that guy, if you were that guy and you were about to go out to town,
would you rather have an awkward conversation with someone telling you that your dress code
was inappropriate or go to town and just see what happens? Chuck it in the comments.
Say, like, correct me or don't correct me.
Yeah. Correct me. Correct me. Correct me. You'd want to know, as a female, I would not have
corrected a guy, but a woman, yes, for sure. Yeah. It would be awkward.
Yeah. So, I was messaging some people and I've been unheightened. You know, your body gets all
shaky when fear and all that. And so, the other day at work, I realized that a mistake had been
made, but it's by someone else, but I didn't catch the mistake, that they clearly lied. So,
a narcotic med card went missing. And so, when I read the number to the med card, they clearly
told me a number, but I didn't know that they were lying. And so, right now, I have not spoken
to my boss yet. She left me a message. This is a new boss who doesn't know me. He's never met me
or doesn't know my character. And I already know right now, before I talk to her, that I'm fired.
And when you have a job in senior care, elderly, you know, you're doing the best you can, but it's
almost like it's a matter of time before you make some mistake for which they'll fire you, even if
you're the best worker in the world. So, I know exactly what's going on. I have peace, but yet my
body's on this heightened alert because I am, you know, in this program. I'm in Kingdom Builders
Academy with Tamara Lowe about to do a launch. I'm with Pedro Odeo about to do a challenge launch,
but I don't know if I'm going to do that. And my bank account will be at $3. Well, and my save at
$50 and can't pay for any platform after the end of this month. And so, it was like working
overnights. I know what's going on in my spirit. And, you know, I could say the devil's stealing
my job or God is saying kick in the pants. Now, it's time to just run hard and fast and get this
done. And I also paid for, at the same time that I paid for your program, which you know which won
the $3,800. I also invested $3,800 in an e-commerce store. At the same time, this past month, I
literally launched my
of with no physical capability of keeping up with all of it
because I'm so tired of all the time from working overnights.
Now I have no excuse because as of right now, before I'm even
told, I know that I'm fired because they asked my coworker
to take my shifts, and they posted the other shifts. So
that's what's happening right now in my life. And I'm when I
get off this call. And the failure was I was literally
teaching a new person how to do this particular job, this
particular piece of the job, and then literally 10 minutes later,
somehow, I failed at that, even though it could have been that
my coworker lied to me and read a number on an art card that
wasn't there. So there's no proof and I've never taken drugs.
So you know, I'm sick, you know, illegal drugs. So there you go.
And I have no no one to have my back because it happened on my
watch the next morning when I read the number on that card,
the card wasn't in the box. So if I read the number on the card
the night before, and my coworker read how many pills
were in that card, there's no proof that I actually did my
job. So there we are.
Yeah, so it's real. That's very, very real, very real. And so
and I tried to connect my affiliate with your program. And
every time I try to put in a password, it freezes, it won't
do it. So I'm gonna have to just send it manually. So that
didn't even get that ball didn't even get rolling yet. So I
didn't even get rolling yet for any income in that way as well.
So I'm right up against the wall.
Yeah, now this would be this would be this is like
here's a good, here's a good moment, right? In terms of a
teachable, a teachable moment. Because I gotta ask you guys,
has he was he ever a story in the Bible? Like, Debra, I just
want to say massive compassion for you right now. Like massive,
massive compassion for you right now. But let me also speak into
perspective, you know, for you and where you're at right now
is, was he ever a story in the Bible, where God didn't have a
strategy for victory? You know, was it was there ever a story
where it was like, Oh, no, man, like, I'm out of ideas. Now,
there's Israel trapped by the Red Sea, and Egypt's army bearing
down on them. And it's like, God's like, Oh, sorry, like, I
used it all up on the plate. So I got nothing left. Sorry. So.
So first thing I would encourage everyone on here is, can you
just look back on the faithfulness of God on your
lives? Can you can you in the midst of what we're going
through in the midst of our faithfulness, like our failures,
the midst of like, literally our families, right? Because God's
faithful to us in the midst of our mistakes. God's faithful to
us in the midst of our own failures. And plenty of those
stories that we looked at, you know, in terms of the
testimonies and that that are in the in the template, these
people right there that have bankrupted themselves multiple
times over, Walt Disney. Oh, no, you know, like, Deborah,
this might just be what you needed. You know, like, this
might just be God, I know that this is exactly what you need
right now, in order to have your Walt Disney story. Walt Disney,
how funny is that, right? Walt Disney got fired for a lack of
imagination. Is that does anyone think that, you know, you know,
if Deborah gets fired for a lack of integrity? And you know, my
response would be, well, Walt Disney got fired for a lack of
imagination. That just means that my boss is out of whack,
you know? And what I'm, what I want to say is, think about it
like this, right? Jehoshaphat. There's King Jehoshaphat, two
Chronicles, chapter 20, and three armies banded together to
come and destroy King Jehoshaphat, right? So what is
Jehoshaphat feeling like right now in three armies that Israel
has
no hope of contending with on a military aspect, they've got no
capacity, they've got no ability to contend with these three
armies. So there's Jehoshaphat, he's the king, and he's
responsible for providing for the nation, right? But now
they're all going to die. This is like, oh, we're all going to
die. And I'm sure that there was a lot of people in that moment
that were just like, yeah, we're all going to die. That's what
these guys do. They kill everyone. That's why they've
seen in three armies here is to kill everyone. So what would
you, let me ask you for a moment, like, what would your
perspective be for everyone here? What would your perspective
be in the midst of that moment, where it looks like certain
doom, it looks like certain failure, it looks like this is
the worst moment of your life. It looks like this is the end.
It looks like this is total failure, that things couldn't
get worse. What would your perspective be in that moment?
Now, we've got a little bit of a blessing, a little bit of a
benefit here is the fact that we're not actually in the
moment, right? So when you're in the moment, what happens is
what's happening for Deborah right now, is all the triggers
that they could possibly be, for lack, they just go off. So
what's that going to do? It's going to set off an emotional
reaction, and it's going to produce a chemical reaction
that's going to shut down all the smart part of your brain.
It's called an amygdala hijack, right? Where your brain, this
tiny part of your brain that's wired for fight, flight, or
freeze, it's wired for survival, when that gets triggered. This
is another reason why, you know, when we're in the process of
failure, why we do dumb things right after failure, or in the
midst of failure, like, maybe you have, like, make a massive
mistake, right? Or you do something crazy. And then it's
like, oh my gosh, like all the fear kicks in, like, who's had
that? Who's had a freakout, right? You're like, ah! Like,
who are you? And in the comments, just do like, are you
fight, flight, or freeze? Now, do you know what you are? Are
you a fight, flight, or freeze? I'm a fight. And I have to be
aware of that, right? Like, if someone scares me, I don't, I
go, ah! Like, that's the first response. I'll like, lunge out.
I'm a fight fighter. Some people go, like, they freeze, and some
people go, ah! And they run. But for me, I'm a fighter. What's
your response when there's, when you get, you know, like, ah!
Something happens. So I'm a fighter. Like, if people scare
me, like, they might get hit. And I'm like, I'm sorry. I
didn't plan that, but I just punched you. Sorry about that.
This sometimes happens, right? Like, ah! Like, you get that.
Same, right? Same in the midst, can be the same in the midst of
how our emotions react when our circumstances go crazy. So what
are you, let's just say, hypothetically, everyone heard
today that you're losing your source of income, and you're
losing your home. What if that was the news you got right now?
Okay, all your income is going, and your home is going.
What would, what would you do? How would you process that news?
What would happen if you got that news? What would you, what
would happen, right? Because for Jehoshaphat and those guys, it's
way worse than that. It's not just your income is gone, and
your home is gone. For them, it's your income is gone, your
home is gone, everyone you love is about to be killed. That's
big news. How are you going to process that? So again, our view
of the failure is really important for our problem
solving process. Because we have an amygdala hijack, what happens
is when we have that fear response, that what it does is
the amygdala is a tiny part of our brain, it's about the size
of a pea. But when there's the fight, flight, or freeze moment
takes place, what happens is the amygdala shuts down access to
the frontal cortex, which is where all of our clever, like
that's where all the clever part of our thinking happens. We're
all the smart stuff, we're all the creative stuff, we're all
the geniuses locked up in that frontal cortex. But when you
have a trigger, like, wow, you freak out, or you're afraid, or
you're like, something happens and you trigger, it shuts down
access in our brain to our frontal cortex. And then our
brain, like all of our thinking starts happening just out of our
amygdala. And all your amygdala can do is it can only go fight,
flight or freeze. It's like it's got three big buttons in front
of it. And it can just go and hit one of those ones. It's
gonna fight, it's gonna freeze, or it's gonna run. So, but what
we need in those moments, see, here's what Jehoshaphat did,
here's what those guys did, is they actually start, they went
into prayer and fasting, they went into worship, right? And as
they went into prayer and fasting, into worship, into
seeking God, into waiting on God, something happened. And
they actually came out of, they weren't operating in the fight
fight or freeze mode anymore, right? So, prayer, worship, fasting, seeking God, that's going to get
you out of the fight, flight or freeze mode. That's going to be one of the most important
things that you're going to have to do if you're in that place where you get the worst news of your
life or you have the worst failure of your life. The important thing to make sure, right, is that
you can actually think right, because otherwise you become your own worst enemy. If you're stuck
in that place, and some people are always stuck in this place of fight, flight or freeze,
it's just stuck in there. But the problem with that is fight, flight or freeze releases
cortisol and adrenaline into your body, which it's like, wow, this is like, it'll give you
super strength. It'll give you super energy for that moment. But if you're constantly stuck in
fight, flight or freeze, all that cortisol and adrenaline leads to adrenal fatigue and you get
all these long-term issues. But we're not supposed to stay in that place of fight,
flight or freeze. We're not supposed to live in that place of fear. We're not supposed to stay in
that place of anxiety and stress and overwhelm. We've got to get out of there. So, Jehoshaphat
and those guys, they did something really amazing, which is they went and they started to seek the
Lord, because as they started to seek the Lord, it brings them out of that fight, flight or freeze
place and into a creative space where they're now able to actually tap into the spirit realm
and hear what God's saying. And they're operating out of their frontal cortex and they're operating
out of listening to God, what God's doing, what's God doing, what's God saying. And so I want to say
that for all of us. The first thing that you want to do is you've got to get yourself out of that.
And that's the amazing thing about King David, Psalm 27, verse one, two and three says,
the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is my light and my salvation,
whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life, of whom shall I be afraid?
Then he says, when an army surrounds me, my heart will not fear, though war break out against me,
even then will I remain confident. How amazing is that? How amazing is that, right?
Like you would think, okay, this is failure, but there's a dynamic that we can actually live in,
there's a space we can live in, there's a heart posture and a mindset that we can have,
that even in the midst of our, what would you would say, this is the greatest failure of your life,
there's actually a place that you can live, a dimension that you can live from,
where my heart will not fear and I will remain confident. Though my enemies and foes,
you know, attack me, you know, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall.
This is wild. So David lived in this space and let me just, I'll pull up Psalm 27 for you and
I'll read it for you right now, just to meditate on this for all of us. And Deborah, this is for
you as well, Psalm 27. Psalm 27, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The
Lord is the stronghold of my life, whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked advance against me to
devour me, it is my enemies and my foes who will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear, though war break out against me, even then I will be confident.
Now, verse 4 is David's secret to always being able to live above the storm, to always being
able to have a victorious mindset regardless of the circumstances. Verse 4, this is the reason
why he was able to always be confident. One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek, that I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple. Verse 5, it goes on and I'll just read verse 5 for you, Deborah.
For in the day of trouble, who can relate to for in the day of trouble? That's the moment when you
get the news, that's the moment when you find out you've lost your income, you've lost your house,
you've lost your family member, you've lost something of great value to you, it's gone and
you'll never get it back or your whole world has changed forever because of this one moment. Maybe
it's something you did or maybe it's something you didn't do, it's maybe something someone else did
for whatever reason, the day of trouble has come on you. But David says, for in the day of trouble,
he will keep me safe in his dwelling, he will hide me in the shelter of his sacred tent and set me
high upon a rock. And so here's something, you know, is that we were created by God to live
overwhelmed and it's going to determine, right, like we were created to live overwhelmed and so
something is always going to overwhelm us. Now we were created to,
we were designed by God to live overwhelmed by his presence so nothing else could ever overwhelm us.
But if we're not completely overwhelmed,
overwhelmed and undone by who God is and by his glory.
And like David is stuck in this place for all I did,
like my whole being exists to seek your face.
If we're not in that place where David was,
where he's so, and this was not talk as well,
because David literally had walked through this
multiple times, where aunties besieged him,
where his own son turned against him,
where he fled for his life
because his own son was coming to kill him.
Multiple times this happened for David.
This is not talk.
This is literal.
This is reality for him.
He literally lived in a space where he was so overwhelmed
by the goodness of God and the presence of God
and the grace of God and the beauty of God's presence.
And he could literally say, this is,
though an army, though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear, though war break out against me,
even then I will be confident.
All right, so if we go back now to Jehoshaphat,
well, they were in this place of overwhelm,
but then they went and started seeking the Lord
and the Lord started giving them revelation
of what they needed to do there.
Okay, so for the first, what I'm gonna say is,
we've got to make sure we,
if we have the day of trouble comes on us,
we've got to get out of the triggering zone.
We've got to get out of the overwhelmed zone.
We've got to get out of the fight, flight, freeze,
because there's no revelation there.
There's no hope there.
There's no victory there.
There's no strategy there.
All that's there is the day of trouble.
And a lot of people have the day of trouble
and that's all they do.
They just stay there.
They stay in the day of trouble
and all they see and hear
and all they receive is the day of trouble
and they remain in that place of overwhelm.
And then they have adrenaline and cortisol,
like all that stuff, fight, fight or freeze,
and it just totally wears out their body.
But we're gonna get out of that
and into where David lived
and into where King Jehoshaphat in Israel went,
where they went to seek the Lord,
because that's the space of revelation, right?
And in that space of revelation and creativity,
that's the strategy.
That's where you'll find that there's a strategy
that will give you victory in every scenario,
every circumstance.
There's always a revelation.
There's always a flow of revelation right now.
God has always got a plan
that will take you from glory to glory,
from strength to strength.
God's design for your life right now
is not chaos and destruction.
It's to take you to a place where you've got...
He wants to take you where you've never been before.
He wants to take you into Ephesians 3.20,
exceedingly, abundantly, above and beyond
anything you've ever did to ask, dream or imagine.
And God's like,
it doesn't matter what's happening in your world.
Everything else is irrelevant
compared to where I want to take you right now.
And if you'll get in that revelation stream,
if you'll get in that place,
He will take you there, all right?
But if you're in that place of overwhelm,
you are not in the river
that will take you into your victory.
You are trapped.
You are stuck.
If you're in the day of trouble,
if you're in that place of overwhelm,
you're not going to go anywhere.
You've got to get out of there
and you've got to get into the river of revelation.
You've got to get into that stream of the presence.
You've got to get into that place
where you're overwhelmed by His glory.
I was in a place in a situation
where we were doing a big kingdom project
and I literally had,
I had to raise a figure of,
in the equivalent of a million US dollars
within less than a week.
And I didn't,
that was not really a space that I would,
I didn't live in that space, right?
I was like, okay, God, this is a big deal.
It's not just, it wasn't my project.
It was someone else's project.
But if that money didn't come in,
years worth of work would collapse.
And that was a big deal.
You know, it was a huge thing.
There was a huge moment, right?
It was a really, really big deal.
And so I was like, okay, God,
here I am.
I felt like Jehoshaphat in that moment.
And so I was like,
I got to apply the same principles
that Jehoshaphat applied
because Jehoshaphat said,
a vast army is attacking us
and we do not know what to do.
And that's the day of trouble.
So just be honest.
Like, okay, God,
a vast army is attacking us
and we do not know what to do.
I got nothing going here.
I got no ideas.
I got no idea what to do right now.
A vast army is attacking us
and we do not know what to do.
But, then he said,
but our eyes are on you, Lord.
So their eyes weren't on the army that was coming.
Their eyes weren't on the day of trouble.
Their eyes weren't on the circumstance.
Their eyes, he's like,
but our eyes are on you.
And so in that moment,
as their eyes were on them,
and you know, they had every reason
to justify putting their attention
on these three armies that were coming.
They had every reason to justify
why they should be thinking
about all the things that were going wrong.
They had every reason to justify that.
All I'm saying is they didn't.
They said, a vast army is attacking us
and we do not know what to do,
but our eyes are on you.
And so they put their eyes on the Lord
and revelation started coming
and God said, go out to meet them in battle.
Which is crazy, right?
A tiny little army going against three armies,
go out to meet them in battle.
Now, what's happening right now
is they are in the stream of revelation.
They are in the flow of revelation.
I want to tell you,
when you're in that place,
you are invincible.
You are invincible.
And think about this, right?
Invincibility doesn't mean you won't lose a battle.
battle or two. Invincibility means that you're like, you're going to be like Colonel Sanders,
right? He was rejected over, his recipe was rejected over a thousand times.
But now there's over 18,000 KFC restaurants all around the world.
Did he lose some battles along the way? But did he win the war? And what I'm going to say to you is
invincibility doesn't mean that you won't lose a few battles along the way. It means that if
you're in that flow of revelation, God has got a strategy that will make you invincible as you're
stepping into your destiny. God has got a strategy for every single one of our lives to walk us into
where we are ultimately going with this adventure, which is into Ephesians 3.20. It doesn't matter
what your circumstances are. God has a strategy for every single one of us, regardless of our
failures past, present, or future. God has a strategy that will walk us into Ephesians 3.20,
which is exceedingly abundantly above and beyond all that we've ever dared to ask, dream, or imagine.
And what we should be aware of is that most likely, it's almost a certainty for all of us that
we will have to walk through a few valleys of failure in the process of actually walking into
Ephesians 3.20. It's going to be adventurous. It's going to be a wild, wild adventure.
And you know what? Like what we should be taking from this, you know, this week of processing
failure is not only is failure normal, it's healthy, it's okay, it's to be celebrated.
Failure, it's in that valley of failure that you're most likely going to get the tools, the revelation,
the resources, the insights that you need to actually finally succeed and step into your
Ephesians 3.20 journey. Like my valley of failure of actually processing my big failure and dealing
with my secret sin became the foundation that actually launched me into my destiny.
What are you going to find in your valley? You're going to find something in your valley
that enables you to step into your wildest dreams. There's going to be something in your valley.
There's going to be something in your failure that is the key to your future success. There's going
to be something there. So if you're in that place of failure, if you're in the place of the day of
trouble, where Deborah is right now, if you're in that place of the day of trouble, like don't
undervalue it because there's a key right now for you, Deborah. There's an open dynamic to
revelation. There's an open door. There's a grace on your life right now in the day of trouble that
isn't on your life at any other moment. There's a grace that's every... And let me tell you one
other thing about grace is sometimes we're really good at projecting into the future that there
won't be enough, but you've got to look backwards. You've got to move forward looking backwards and
look back at the faithfulness of God and look back at how everything seemed like whatever you
went through, God was faithful. And sometimes we're not good at projecting his faithfulness
into the future, but what we have to learn to do is even if you're facing days that are beyond what
you've ever faced, even if you're going into something that's beyond what you've ever gone
into, what you've got to be able to project is that tomorrow's grace is not the same as today's
grace. Tomorrow's grace is more than enough for tomorrow's situation. Tomorrow's grace, the grace
of the future is not the same grace that you know now. The grace of the future is the grace that's
more than enough for whatever the future will bring. Because God's going to take you glory to
glory and strength to strength. So that means if he's going to bring you bigger battles, bigger
challenges, bigger obstacles, that means that you can understand and you can know that there's a
greater grace about to be released on your life that will make you victorious regardless of your
circumstance. But you've got to stay in that river of revelation. You're going to stay in that flow
like David did, like Jehoshaphat did. So Jehoshaphat went out with his armies, but they said let us go
out and let us put praise, let us put worship at the front of our army. And so they just
went out delighting in the Lord. That was their battle strategy. This was the day of
trouble for them. They put the light at the forefront of their army. What was David's strategy
in the midst of overwhelming odds? One thing I seek, this only do I desire, that I may dwell
in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to seek him in his temple and gaze upon the beauty
of the Lord. It's the same thing. It's just this delight in the Lord. It's delight.
Delight is the secret. So Jehoshaphat goes out with delight. David lived in delight.
And then it brought a key. So it says in 2 Chronicles chapter 20
that as Jehoshaphat went out in delight, the Lord set ambushes among the three armies.
And the Lord started actually doing what no one expected. So Deborah, in your circumstances,
for everyone else in your circumstances, as you start delighting in the Lord, what no one expected
to happen starts happening. What no one believed could happen starts happening. Not just could
happen, did happen, will happen. Will happen. As you start delighting in the Lord, what no one
believed could happen.
will happen. It will just come out of nowhere. God will start moving. It's like what we've
talked about before, is that the fabric of reality starts shifting and changing and rearranging.
Grace starts moving. Favor starts moving. Angels start moving. Heaven starts moving.
Things start changing and rearranging. You literally restructure reality with your faith.
And these are the moments in the day of trouble where you make a declaration that was so powerful,
Deborah, in this moment, to make a declaration of God's faithfulness going forward. Because
the declarations that you make in the day of trouble can actually define your life for years
to come. You know, the declarations that you make in the day of trouble can be the things that
literally become the fabric of what you walk into in your future. They can define what your future
is going to be. The declarations you make right now. So Jehoshaphat, they start worshiping. They
start colliding. God sets ambushes in. The two small armies band together against the big army
and completely wipe the big army out. Then the two small armies turn on one another and they
completely wipe themselves out to the last man. So Israel gets up to the pass of Ziz overlooking it
and all they see is three armies completely wiped out to the last man. Not a single army standing.
Like, not a single man left standing. No one there. So they've gone from their greatest
failure where they got the day of trouble, the worst news of their life, to now it takes them
three days. So they've got their entire army and they put their entire army to work and it
takes their entire army three days to carry away the plunder for a battle they never had to fight.
So what if, right, what if from God's perspective there was a different conversation happening to
what was happening for Israel? What if God had a different perspective going, what if God looked
at Jehoshaphat's life and was like, man, I really want to bless Jehoshaphat. And the Trinity starts
chatting and going, man, how can we really bless Deborah right now? Well, how can we really bless
Jehoshaphat right now? How can we really bless Eli right now? And God's like, I know how to
bless Jehoshaphat. And God Trinity's having this conversation like, what would be amazing for
Jehoshaphat? They're like, man, we should upgrade his army's weapons. We should give him, like, we should
give him a whole bunch of finances. We should give them, like, the biggest reason to have a party that
they've ever had. Yeah, like, come on, what else? Like, we should, we should, like, set Jehoshaphat up,
like, to have the greatest victory he's ever had. We should, you know what, we should set Jehoshaphat
up right now to become a legend that his testimony inspires people for thousands and thousands of
years to come, and not just thousands of years. We should set Jehoshaphat up to be a man
who inspires generations to come right throughout all eternity.
So maybe that's the conversation happening behind the scenes that you're not aware of,
that God's saying, how can I set you up for eternity to be an absolute legend, to be someone
who is famous throughout eternity? How can I set you up to walk in your destiny right now?
And the Trinity's like, yes, let's do it! And they're like, all right, how should we do it?
How should we set them up for the greatest success of their life? And they're like,
there's only one way. We've got to send an impossible army to kill them.
Like, right, like, this is God's conversation behind the scenes of what you're not seeing,
and God's like, how can I work all things for good? Like, actually, I have to bring some chaos first.
I've got to bring a storm to bless them. I've got to blindside them like crazy.
How will they see my faithfulness like they've never seen it before? They're going to have to
walk through a storm they've never walked through before. How will they see my glory in a way they've
never seen it before? Oh, they're going to have to have the whole of Egypt's army come after them
when they're trapped between the Red Sea and the army of Egypt, and then I'll bring a wall of fire
between them and Egypt, and then you know what? I'll just park the Red Sea. And then after that,
I'll be a fire by night and a cloud by day. So God's like, okay, how can I set you up for
the greatest success you've ever known? How can I set you up for the greatest success you've ever
walked in? I've got to bring you a storm that's beyond any storm you've ever walked through. I've
got to bring you chaos beyond anything you've ever seen before. I've got to bring you giants
to slay like you've never seen before. I've got to put mountains before you. God will put adversity
and opposition in your path for your victory, not for your defeat. God is setting you up for
victory, not for defeat. He's like, how can I make you outrageously victorious beyond your
imagination? Well, I've got to give you an opposition. I've got to give you adversity. I've
got to give you an enemy. I've got to give you a mountain. I've got to give you a giant. I've got
to give you something to overcome that's beyond what you've ever asked, beyond what you ever think
you could ever accomplish. A giant that you never think you could slay. A mountain you never think
you could climb. A storm you never think you could conquer. This is what God's wanting to bless you
with. God wants to bless you with the storm. God wants to bless you with the giant. God wants to
bless you with the mountain. God wants to bless you with the blind side, not for your failure,
but for your victory to take you to a place, take you to
dimension, take you to a realm, take you to a place of victory that you never imagined as even
possible. Because you're going to, but you've got to project that there's a greater grace
when you come up to that mountain, when you come up to that giant, when you come up to that storm,
you can be confident like David and he says, you know, David is like,
though an army besiege me, my heart will not fear.
How's that for a declaration for a confidence in the day of trouble? Though an army besiege me,
my heart will not fear. Giants come, I will slay them. Mountains come, I will climb them. Storms
come, I will rule them. That's the declaration, right? And your declaration in the day of trouble
will shape the fabric of reality that you will live in. Your declaration in the day of trouble
will literally create, release the power of God around your life to restructure reality all around
you. It'll release divine appointments. It'll release anointing. It'll release grace. It'll
release angels. Heaven will start moving. The cloud of witnesses will start happening. Revelation will
start flowing. Creativity will start coming. Strategies from heaven will start coming. And
listen, what Jehoshaphat did was the most genius thing you could ever do, which is Jehoshaphat,
they just started to delight. And so here's what, here's a quote I want to give you is,
you've got to see the blessing in the blind side before the breakthrough.
Before the giant is slain, before the mountain is climbed, before the storm is conquered,
this is what faith is. Faith declares victory in the midst of the storm. Faith declares victory
at the foot of the mountain. Faith declares victory, like David said, giant, Goliath comes
before David and Goliath is like taunting him, mocking him. And Goliath, it means mockery.
Goliath is mocking David, taunting David. He's like, you know what, boy, I'm going to kill you.
And David's like, you come against me with spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name
of the living God. And this day, this day, this day, I will kill you and I will cut off your head
and I will feed your body to the animals of the field and the birds of the air. Wow, like how's
that? It's before you've slain the giant, it's before you've climbed the mountain, it's before
you've conquered the storm that you say, this day, this day, I will cut off this giant's head.
I will feed your flesh to the animals of the field and to the birds of the air and we will
conquer this day, this day, we will conquer. It's before the battle, it's in the midst of it. And
Jehoshaphat, what they did is they stepped into the space of, they just stepped into the place
of delight. So what you've got to see is you've got to see there's a blessing in the blind side
before the breakthrough and not occasionally, every single time, every single blind side that
comes in your life is God's invitation to an upgrade. Every single battle you're facing is
God's invitation to a victory. Every single giant that you're facing, every mountain, every storm is
God's invitation to a greater level of victory, a greater level of breakthrough. This is how God
will walk you into Ephesians 3 20. It's through the valley of your, of your enemies. It's through
the valley of what looks like a failure. He's going to flip it on its head, but it rests.
Will you stay in that place of overwhelm and emotional hijacked and triggered, amygdala hijacked,
like fear, fight, flight, or freeze. You're stuck in that place. Or will you step out of that place
like David and Jehoshaphat and into the place of delight? Because whatever you do is going to
determine your future. Are you going to stay in the place of overwhelm and just the valley is your
destiny? Or are you going to step into that place like David did, like Jehoshaphat did, where you start
to frame your future. You start actually prophesying against these circumstances. You start, you're like,
no, I will walk in the greatest victory that I've ever walked in. I will go from glory to glory. I
will go from strength to strength. Though wicked men, you know, attack me, it is my enemies who
will stumble and fall. Though an army besiege me, my heart will be confident. So Jehoshaphat,
here's what I say. We have got to see the blessing in the blind side before the breakthrough.
And not just occasionally, every single issue, every single problem, every single giant. We've
got to see the blessing in the blind side before the breakthrough. It's when and then, right?
And so what that positions us to do is it positions us to delight.
You're in the midst of your greatest failure. What's your secret sauce? What's your secret
weapon? What's your key for breakthrough? If you're in the midst of your greatest failure,
you're in the great midst of whatever it is, your world's crashing down, you're in
overwhelm, whatever. What's your greatest weapon? Your greatest weapon is delight.
Your greatest weapon is delight. So just to come into that place of delighting,
start to see what it looks like for the victory. If you're stuck in overwhelm, if you're stuck in
fear, stress, anxiety, you're not in a realm of revelation. You can't engage your imagination
and you can't see Ephesians 3.20. You can't see the
exceedingly, abundantly, beyond what you've ever dared to ask, dream, or imagine.
You've got to get out of the overwhelm, you've got to get into the revelation, you've got
to get into the presence, you've got to wait on God, you've got to start to imagine what
does it look like when your problem becomes your victory and you're living it.
You've got to start seeing it and then you've got to start to declare that by faith before
the battle.
Because it's how you declare it, it's what you declare that will shape the process that's
about to unfold.
David, victorious every single time, didn't matter what army came against him, he was
never conquered.
And that was the secret.
Jehoshaphat, they carried away, they carried, they spent three days carrying away the plunder
from the victory.
Became a legend for all eternity.
Myself, when I was in that place and we needed a million US dollars just in like a week,
I was like, God, what do I do?
And he's like, he said, here's what he said to me in that moment, as I was really seeking
him and thinking about Jehoshaphat, he said,
there's a quote about the light, let me access the file.
The light, the light, the light, come on, quote about the light.
Can't access the file on my quote about the light.
Basically, I can't, I can't, for some reason, I can't remember my own quote that God said
to me.
Oh, is it the light?
Basically, delight is the key to your breakthrough.
I can't remember the quote, it sounded way cooler than that.
But delight is the key to your breakthrough.
So as I focused on the light, then, you know, what do you know, within less than a week,
we had a million US dollars for the project.
And it just applies to every situation, just applies to every circumstance that the light
is going to be the secret to your success.
Oh, look at this.
Speaking of the light.
Thanks, Ez.
Ez has just brought me some toast.
How nice.
Thanks, mate.
Can you say hi, bud?
Hi.
Sweet.
Yeah, Psalm 37 and 4 says delight yourself in the Lord and he'll give you the size of
a light, the light.
Yeah, I'll try and find you guys that quote.
But that was kind of a little bit unexpected, went on quite the adventure there.
But can I get, Jennifer, could you pray for Deborah right now?
Would that be right?
Yeah, can you hear me?
I'm making my declaration too.
Oh, you want to make your declaration?
Okay, well, let's have Deborah make your declaration and then we'll have Jennifer pray for Deborah
after that.
Go for it, Deborah.
Heaven is listening.
I declare because the Lord is my delight and he is my high tower and he is my victory and
my help.
And according to Psalm 93, which I've been preaching on live on Facebook this week, he
is in charge of it all, the entire world.
He knows what he's doing.
Lord, you reign as king from the beginning of time and chaos.
You said the exact two words, Benji.
Chaos once challenged you, the raging waves lifted themselves up over and over it.
And high above the ocean's waves, I am riding, even though they're letting out their mighty
roar and at the sound of my voice and at the sound of God's voice, they are stilled by
God's might.
And I am filled with God's majestic power to do the will of God, to carry the vision.
I bind and declare that I am free from fear of failure, fear of lack, fear of rejection
in Jesus name.
I believe in the Lord and trust him to be my provision, that he is my key and my open
door.
And I have value in his eyes as his daughter.
He is my provision and everything that I need is provided.
I will move forward.
I will be.
I am successful in business, ministry, life and relationships, and I am intimate with
God and I'm seated with Christ in heavenly places with Psalm 91 protection and everything
that I can imagine and even beyond is fulfilled and the will of God is fulfilled in my life
in Jesus name.
Amen.
That's beautiful.
Well done.
I love it.
I love that part of the song which is the sound of the sound of your, um,
What?
Where you going to save your life?
Yes, that's right.
It's like.
I'm going to save your life.
Yes, that's right.
It's like.
I'm going to say, the sound of your delight is the sound of your breakthrough.
No, no delight, not much breakthrough.
You might get a little bit just because of the goodness of God,
but if you want to live in what you're really called for, God and...
One last thing is that you're like,
oftentimes God doesn't give you a shortcut.
God oftentimes doesn't kill the giant that he sent for you to kill.
And we can be like, oh God, why didn't you help me?
He's like, oh, you were supposed to kill that giant.
I didn't want to take your victory.
You know, like that's your destiny.
That's your victory.
That was there for you.
That was a gift.
Because if I kill it, then I get the plunder.
But if you kill it, you get the plunder.
So the sound of your delight will be the sound of your breakthrough.
So in the midst of failure, whatever,
you've got to get yourself into the sound of delight.
You just have to turn up the volume of delight in your life to maximum.
I don't think there's ever a reason that we should ever justify
turning the sound of delight down off maximum, ever.
The sound of delight should always be stuck on full volume in our lives.
At every moment, at every chance.
It should be the state of being that we live in.
When people see us, they should basically feel like seeing delight on full volume.
That's just the place you want to be stuck in, live in forever.
Righto.
Jennifer, let's have you jump in here and pray for Deborah.
And then we're going to have to wrap it up.
Can you hear me?
Yeah.
Okay.
Father God, Lord, we just thank you and praise you for this.
First of all, your timing, Father God, just for Deborah, Lord,
that you would bring her here during this call, Father God, right before.
I mean, your goodness over her and over each one of us is just absolutely astounding and amazing
because you knew that she would need support, Lord.
And you are here with Benji and with all of us just to love and support her, Father God,
to give her strength, encouragement, to give her the words of truth, hope, and love and peace.
And I pray, Father God, that the peace that surpasses all understanding would guard her
heart and mind as she speaks to her boss, Father God, and as she transitions, Lord,
whatever the outcome, Father God, for her, we just decree and declare
that the outcome for her, Father God, is good.
It is good because you have a place of goodness.
You have a place of divine grace and favor for her, Father God.
And the steps of the righteous are ordered by the Lord.
And so, Father, I thank you, God, that every step that she has taken in faith
to invest into the kingdom and to invest into this other platform, Father God, this website,
Lord, her steps have been ordered by you.
Let her walk forth in confidence, Father God,
knowing that the steps of the righteous are ordered by you, Father God.
And so we just break off any residual fear, any negativity,
anything that might, any projected fear, Father God, regarding this meeting with her boss.
And I just thank you, Father God, that she will go in confidence
and in knowing that you, if you are for her, who can be against her?
And I pray, Father God, that this declaration that she wrote over herself, Father God,
Lord, I pray that you would impart that into every part of her soul.
Father God, that that would just go in deep into her soul.
That that will saturate her soul, that that will saturate her mind,
that that will saturate her will, that that will saturate her emotions,
that you will do a work in her, Father God, that that will not just go from head knowledge,
but will go to heart knowledge, Father God, that you will just impregnate her
with those words, Father God, and that she will have radical transformation
as a result of those declarations that she is speaking over her.
We thank you for the power in the declaration that she has written over herself, Lord,
and the power that is released, Father God, when your word is spoken.
And so we just thank you, Father God, we thank you and praise you and bless
Deborah in the mighty name, power and blood of Jesus.
Amen.
Yes.
Amen.
Hallelujah.
It's done.
God's will is done.
So good.
Well, good.
Go watch this space.
Go watch this space, family.
Good stuff.
Now, if I was, is there, if I was to create like another two-minute window because I literally
have to wrap this up pretty, like pretty much right away, but I would love to have
heard from more people, but we'll, we'll be again here next week, connecting with all
you guys.
Love you guys very much.
But was there anyone that was, oh, Patty, that's right.
Patty, we were going to get you to finish your declaration.
So Patty, now I'm going to be courageous right now.
We're going to try this again.
Are you going to be courageous?
So Patty, before you do anything, what I want you to do is I just want you to turn the volume
down on your device.
Don't do it now, but your device, when it's playing, it's, it's creating a loop in the
audio.
So what I want you to do is I want you to, before you unmute and just in one moment,
turn your volume down, not yet.
You want to go from the, from the part of the declaration where you're talking about
Andy being adventurous and carefree.
So you'd already done that bit.
So go to the next bit, go to the next bit after him being adventurous and carefree.
Turn your, so now this is what I want you to do.
I want you to turn your device down, unmute, and then make that declaration.
Okay.
You don't have to wait for anyone.
As soon as you've turned your device down, unmute, and then just make the declaration
right away.
Sweet.
All right.
Hit it, Patty.
Affectionate, kind, loving, romantic Andy.
And that's it.
Oh, fantastic.
Oh, beautiful.
Well done.
That is excellent.
Thank you so much, Patty.
We love that declaration.
Very well done.
Beautiful.
Now, is there anyone else who wanted to jump on like real, real quick?
Yeah.
Okay.
You guys, do you want to join in, like, a couple of...
Can we hear from anyone right now?
Really quick, and say something just in relation to this week's conversation.
Mike as well.
Good to have you here but see you jumping in.
Thank you.
Yeah.
So anyone...
Can you hear me?
Yeah, we can hear you.
Oh, okay.
Was...
Did you want to share something?
Just wondering if there's anyone who wants to take this last spot now that feels like
they're burning to share something.
I've been going through a rough patch here the past few days for myself, and your message
just now is gonna help me, I'm pretty sure, you know?
I've been really down, and sorry to bring this, but I haven't been able to see a way
out of my situation in a way, and I'm feeling abandoned, so to say, and I know the devil's
been hitting me hard, and I've just been trying to stay the course, and I haven't given up,
and that, yeah, I need to form a declaration, and holy ghost, I probably need prayer more
than anything just to kind of get me through this patch, but, and some encouragement just
to, you know, to kind of see where, you know, just help lift me up, you know?
Right.
Sorry.
No, that's fine, I mean, that's what this week is, this, the theme this week is Processing
Failure, and that's, you know, brought us all to, you know, face to face with real stuff
as well, so we can all relate, we can all stand with you in that, but also all stand
with you in seeing a better day.
Ron and Lorraine, why don't you pray for Michael, and just pray for us all as we wrap this up,
you'll be the, you'll be the final word.
Thanks, Mike, we appreciate it, we'll get these guys praying for you in a bit.
Thanks for sharing, my friend, we love you, standing with you, you're in good company.
And Lorraine and Ron, we're gonna pray for you now
and pray for us all to wrap up for today.
Father, I just declare grace over Michael today.
I declare for victory over his circumstance.
I declare that he will see the victory.
Father, I just pray that you would be with him,
give him peace.
Father, I just declare peace over him.
I declare that he would know that you're with him.
He would see the angel army,
that he would see the victory before it happens.
Father, I just thank you that you have given us all things,
that you desire for us to have victory in this world,
that you have set sonship upon us.
And I thank you, Father, for your sonship
that you've given us,
that we are in this world to be victorious over
rather than to be slaves.
And I thank you, Father, that you have set us free,
that by Jesus, you have set us free.
Thank you, Father, for Michael.
And I just pray that we would hear those praise reports
of his victory in Jesus' name.
Amen, amen, thank you.
Amen.
All right.
Great stuff.
Rona, did you wanna pray or are you good?
Sure, I'm gonna.
Father, I thank you for Michael.
Thank you that you're doing a great work in his life
and that you are upgrading him.
And we just declare, your word says,
behold, I have given you authority
to walk on snakes and scorpions
and authority over all the power of the enemy.
None will injure you.
And in 2 Timothy 1, 7, it says,
for God has not given us a spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of a sound mind.
And in Romans 8, 15,
for you have not received a spirit of slavery,
leaving you to fear again,
but you have received a spirit of adoption of sons
and daughters, which we cry out, Abba, Father.
So Abba, Father, we thank you for the work that you're doing.
Thank you for the work that you're doing in Michael
and that he can run to you.
You are the strong tower.
So Father, I pray that there would be no fear,
no fear this week,
and that he will be able to know that you're with him.
Everything that you have for him is good
and that you were a good father.
So Father, we thank you for peace.
We thank you for your revelation of truth
that you're giving him.
And we just give you all the honor and glory
in Jesus' name.
Thank you, Jesus.
Thank you.
Beautiful.
Amen.
Good stuff.
Amen.
You just arriving and just literally saying goodbye.
So thanks everyone for a great time.
Love you heaps.
For all those that were on the replay as well,
lots of love to you guys.
And next week,
stay tuned for next week.
I am aiming for 10 a.m. New Zealand time next week
as the live time for each of the meetings next week.
So 10 a.m. next week for the lives, New Zealand time.
And we'll catch you guys all real soon.
So bless you.
And catch you soon.
Bye-bye.