Sarah Jakes Roberts | Flourish Conference 2019

can you help me acknowledge pastor barb in this incredible church if this is your church make some noise hi guys is anybody glad to just be out of the house like I'm glad to be out of the house on a Friday night okay got my Spanx on and my lipstick I'm somebody tonight can you guys do me a favor and just turn to the woman beside you and say girl you look good girl you smell good get your brows are done your edges are leg girl I have to tell you I'm really honored to be here this is my first time ministering in Ohio so I feel like we got to do something special in you here tonight and I brought my husband with me so I got some extra covering some extra noise him just thank God for a good man in this season amen they never go out of style do you understand what I'm saying I wanna get into the word I've been steady and I've been praying I believe that God's gonna breathe in this room continue to breathe in his in this room his worship not been absolutely incredible worship was so that I thought I could sing I want to join in the worship team I'm gonna be in Luke 1 um I don't know what the custom is of this house but if you guys want to make me feel at home you would stand for the reading of the word but if you say girl you at my house and you got to do what I say do that's fine you can sit down I'm gonna be in Luke 1 verse 39 if I could get you let's see I pay people to do that everywhere I go I was waiting girl get your paypal I love you too Luke 1 verse 39 and this is not an unfamiliar text of Scripture you guys have heard it a thousand times but I believe that God's given me a perspective and an insight that's going to be helpful in our mission to flourish I don't know who came here to stay the same but that's not the mission of why some of us are here tonight some of us are here tonight because there are some areas down on the inside of us that have to flourish I can't keep living the way that I'm living I got to grow from this I gotta become somebody that divorce tried to take me out I gotta become somebody after this that pregnancy tried to hurt me I'm trying to flourish after this I want to talk about God partnering with a woman to facilitate her flourishing verse 39 begins it says now Mary arose in those days and went into the hill country with haste to the city of Judah and entered the house of Zacharias and greeted Elizabeth and it happened when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary that the babe leaped in her womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit then she spoke out with a loud voice and said blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb but why is this granted to me that the mother of my lord should come to me for indeed as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears the babe leaped in my wound for joy blessed is she who believed for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the Lord blessed is she blessed is she who believed blessed is she who believed in spite of all of the odds that were against her in spite of all of the things that tried to make her give up her belief blessed is she who believed God we want to be counted amongst those women who are blessed because they believed so god we're asking that this would be a moment that you remind us of those promises connected to our name God I thank you for every woman represented in this room for every household represented in this room that I recognize that when you touch the woman you change a community so God I'm asking that this would be a moment of radical transformation that not one person would leave this place the way they came in got if your glory Falls I think that mean but break out in a new anointing God if your glory Falls I believe that it could reach outside of the walls of this church and it can take over this city and it could overflow into this day God if your glory Falls I think that we can change this nation God if your glory Falls I think that we could change this world so god we're asking that we would stand in all of your glory tonight that it would be no denying that you met with us so God in order for that to happen there has to be none of me so I turn myself over to you and I simply say have your way God use any part of my story use any part of my knowledge use any part of my wisdom so that lives may be changed and strongholds would come down and chains would be broken in generational curses would be broken just that crazy radical signs and wonders would take place tonight in Jesus name Amen now you can get comfortable I love I love that this conference is called flourish when I looked up the definition of flourish it says I want to share it with you I'm sure so many of you already know but just indulge me for a moment the definition of flourish means to grow or develop in a healthy or vigorous way especially as the result of a particularly favorable environment so flourishing an environment have a lot to do with one another I believe that as I was praying that God shared with me that his plan for women in this season is to restore them back to their original intention when he created them so when we go back to that original intention we have to study Genesis in the Garden of Eden in which God created a favorable environment for Adam and Eve to flourish he says this is the place in this space in which you can grow vigorously in which you can be accelerated in your purpose and this favorable environment there is no insecurity in this favorable environment you are not in competition with the woman beside you this is important for us to understand because when we recognize God's original intention for us as women then we recognize that I shouldn't be threatened by another woman and I shouldn't think that I missed my window because God has facilitated an environment that is favorable for my growth for my growth the thing is that in the garden he's messed it up she did she messed it up um a little bit she messed it up a little bit I and my walk with God have had to really confront Eve decisions in the garden so I said to myself I said self when I get to heaven gonna pull Eve to the side right in the middle of worship service let me say come here let me holla at you um girl was that fruit even good to you please tell me was it juicy to you because the rest of us suffered for generations after you ate that fruit I was vegan I was supposed to be vegan I was supposed to have a 6-pack not like the whole thing just like a starter pack where you can see the outline and then you had to go eat that fruit and now chick-fil-a has meat pounds in a way that I can't even explain God told me though I had to forgive Eve and I've actually created a ministry that has been inspired by Eve because God told me in the middle of me saying that I wanted to be petty in heaven that they don't allow that in heaven so any of you who have been waiting to talk to somebody when you get to heaven girl you might as well figure that out down here cuz when we get to heaven we're gonna be like worshiping and stuff there's no room for petty I told me I had to forgive Eve because he said that there had been moments when I knew better but didn't do better and so I had to be willing to forgive her for knowing better but not doing better and so when I studied this environment that was supposed to be favorable I recognized that what created this whole notion that Eve messed it up is that the environment never really changed her perspective on the environment changed when she has this encounter with the serpent that ultimately leads her to eating from the fruit she's still in the garden but because she has been awakened to something she should have never been awakened to that which was supposed to be favorable now represent shame [Music] like in a family when everything is supposed to be favorable and then there's a trauma that occurs and now the area that was supposed to grow me in the area that was supposed to support me has traumatized me and represents shame how do you flourish when the environment is not favorable god I want to be able to flourish in this marriage I want to be able to flourish at school but but there's this thing that's trauma this disappointment that has happened to me and now what was supposed to be favorable has stunted my growth this mandate to flourish it it sounds good until it's time for us to live every day and environments that don't always support what we're trying to do and who were trying to become that's why opportunities like this that Pastor barb has created is important because you can get in a room that's gonna help you flourish I can't control what happens when you get out of this room but I know that they've been intentional about making sure when you get in this room that there's an environment that will help you grow somebody ought to praise God right now that someone is thinking about you that someone made a decision that this had to happen it didn't matter what the budget was it didn't matter whether people came or not they said if one woman comes and she gets changed and transformed and she flourishes we can change the whole city you see I'm a church girl we don't need everybody to get say we just need one or two people who don't mind being set on fire for Jesus we just need one or two people who actually believe that they're fearfully and wonderfully made it may be old school I don't know but we just need one or two people who believe I could set this city on fire if I had to if you backed me up against a wall and I get in my prayer closet glory could break out that's a good word [Music] let me show you something okay guys I have a podcast things happen we say ciao all the time I paid them to come as well Yves has to figure out how to flourish in spite of what she's gone through and that is your mandate as well which means that at a certain point we have to forgive the people who ruined that environment that was supposed to grow us because as long as we are holding them hostage we have to recognize that we're holding our growth hostage as well that's why forgiveness is never about the other person and it's always about you because you cannot flourish and hold someone hostage at the same time in order to hold them hostage you got to stay at their level but when you decide that you've outgrown this when you decide that I'm bigger than this now I can let you go because I'm not even the person who you hurt anymore you heard an old version of me you broke an old version of me and I'm glad you did it cuz I put the pieces back together and now I'm stronger than I was before and I'm wiser than I was before cuz I've made a decision to flourish in spite of what happened to me and Eve makes this decision to flourish in spite of what happened to her I love in Genesis 3 and 15 God explains to the serpent that he's gonna be cursed or tricking the woman cuz the enemy was never really after her diet he was after her mind he never really cared whether she ate from the fruit it was all about what eating from the fruit would do to her because if someone can get you to change their diet to change your diet they know I can get you to change your mind I don't mean just food I mean if I can get you to start believing that this secret should just stay between us because no one will believe you then it changes your mind about who you are when someone convinces you that you don't have any worth and you don't have any value they change your diet and that's why some of us end up in relationships and situations that we should have never been in it really has nothing to do with that relationship and it has everything to do with what we ate when we were younger that changed our mind about who we are but in this text in Genesis 3 and 15 God says to the serpent because you have tricked this woman you are cursed and part of that curse is that I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman that word enmity is war it's a two-way street though it's a two-way street this notion of enmity and he said I'm gonna put enmity between you and the woman and her seed is gonna crush your head but your seed is gonna bruise her heel which means that the woman is going to have to survive having her heel bruised in order to crush the head of the enemy that's that means that life is gonna change the way you walk but it will not change the promise connected to your name change the way I walked when I was 13 years old I got pregnant life bruised my heel changed the way I walked from there I changed my diet and I made decisions after decisions that were a reflection of what I thought about myself it bruised my heel but then something happened to me when I decided that I really wanted to flourish and when I decided that I really wanted to flourish I started to decide that it was better to start walking with a limp than to stay where pain met me that's all the word somebody needs tonight that you may not start off running after this trauma and you may not start off running after this heartbreak you may have to do it with a limp sometimes but you have to make a decision down on the inside of you that I'm gonna get up from this place where pain I'm gonna get up you know why because bruised hills still crush Serpent's head that means that I gotta take this bloody heel and I gotta take this divorce and I gotta put a baby on my hip and work paycheck to paycheck I'm willing to do that so that I can figure out the next dimension of Who I am I am NOT who my hurt says I am I am not worth the enemy made me I am who God says I am I can do what God says I can do and I'm crazy enough to believe that I can still do it I can still do it I can still do it it doesn't matter whether or not my mother did it doesn't matter whether or not my cousin did it I'm not here to bear witness over what they can do I'm here to bear witness over what Jesus can do in my life that's how you breaking generational curse you start measuring your progress based off of what everyone else did and you start minding your business that ain't got nothing to do with me I'm here on my own mission I'm here for my own purpose I'm trying to figure out why God put me in earth I'm trying to figure out why he put air in my lungs Eve makes this radical decision after her trauma to produce because she believed that there was still favor in her environment genesis 3:15 says that her seed would crush the head of the serpent that means I still have favor I still got a favor I love I love this definition because it says a favorable environment favored Abel favored Abel a favor is still able to come and give me favor it's still able to come and reach me favor is still able even in my darkest days favor is still able favor will look past my addiction to say I'm still able favor will have me working a job that I'm not even qualified for because favor is still able favor is still able to save my child favor is still able to break this depression off of me can we just flow in this room for a minute because I feel like somebody needs to know that favor is still able I'm still able to look past her mistakes I'm still able to look past who left you favor is still able to create an environment for you to flourish and so Eve puts favor to the test and she starts to producing she starts to grow because the promise is connected to her growth the promise is not connected to her staying where she is the promise is connected to her growth if she's willing to use what is down inside of her to produce it and let it come out of her that's what God can bless that can crush the head of the serpent he said your seed the seed that you produced the seed to see that's not just a book it's seed it's not just a business it's seed it's not just a marriage exceeded seed and seeds you got to see you properly because that seed is meant to crush the head of an enemy somewhere that seed is meant to crush the head of depression that seed is meant to crush your statistic about girls like us who do things like we do and still come out on the other side this is not just a ministry this is a seed my testimony was a seed and so Eve produces her seed and I love this because Eve never really sees whether or not her seed is the seed that crushes the head of the serpent but she makes a decision within herself that it doesn't matter whether I see it I just want to set it in motion because I realize if I set it in motion that God can do the rest sometimes we don't want to get started because we don't know how God is gonna finish it but I hear guys saying you don't have to worry about how it's gonna get finished you need to worry about setting it in motion there's some things in this room I feel the presence of God there's some things in this city that God has been waiting to set in motion and he's been waiting for a woman who didn't care whether or not she was qualified to do it or whether she could get the bank to approve it or whether she could get some friends to get behind it that she didn't mind setting it in motion even if she had to do it by herself I don't know who you are I don't know what that idea is that God gave you that he said what changed this city but I hear God saying you don't need funding you need to set that thing in motion that you don't need a minister you gotta set that thing in motion you can do it without the degree you can do it without the backing you don't need what everyone else needed because God does not follow a formula he said I can do exceedingly and abundantly above all that you could ask for imagine don't put me in a box baby I break out of them like it's a full-time job if that's the thing emotion and Mary is about to finish what you've started in Genesis 3 and 15 that text about the seed is actually a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ and it stands to reason that in that moment though it was just Eve that God knew that there was a Mary connected to Eve yeah that means that for every moment in your life where you knew better but didn't do better there's also a Mary connected to that version of you as well and that Mary is meant to birth divinity from the same place where the enemy tried to birth shame that says I can show you who I am from that place where the enemy produced shamed and so in my text Mary doesn't know it but she's about to finish what he started I felt that for somebody somebody's here because they're gonna finish what another woman started somebody's here because their great grandmother was a great woman of faith and they're here to finish what she started in the earth I feel like somebody's mother didn't quite get to where she wanted to be in life but that's okay because you're her legacy and you're gonna finish what she started somebody's got to receive that word for their family because what you said in motion' generations are gonna finish what you said in motion but you're also here to finish what some people started before you got here maybe it's not even in your bloodline maybe it's somebody else who did something in your city who did something in your community and you said you know what she's not here to finish it but she imparted something down on the inside of me that is gonna equip me to finish what she started when I look at great women and faith who are no longer preaching or ministering maybe they've gone on to heaven I don't I don't think to myself what a tragedy I think to myself let me pick up the baton and finish what she started and I wish that we as women could understand the power of us getting together and finishing what the other one stars because that's how movements are created and that's how menís trees are birth that changed the world Mary's gonna finish what this woman started so Mary's just planning her life according to what is acceptable in that time and she has this encounter with the angel of the Lord and when she has this encounter with the angel of the Lord he says something that troubles her he says blessed are you amongst women you are highly favored and that troubled her and I wish I could say I didn't understand why any one beach would be troubled and favored at the same time but the truth is that sometimes favor is scary that favor can set you apart and put you in situations and predicaments that you don't always feel qualify for I want to talk to somebody in this room who was afraid of the favor because there's a part of you that thinks she might mess it up because for some reason you messed up some things in the past or things didn't go the way that you wanted them to go in the past and there is an opportunity that is available to you but you're sabotaging it with your own fears and your own doubts and your own anxieties because troubles you it troubles you this idea of being favored so I invited Mary to flourish so that she can help us understand who we must become in order to lay hold of the favor connected to our names so Mary is afraid of this favor it troubles her and when this favor troubles her she has this dialogue she goes back and forth with the angel of the Lord and eventually she decides to just accept it and she says may it be as you say you know there's something in the text that really stood out to me as we just talked about flourishing that I realized should have been assigned to Mary that everything was going to be okay I didn't give them this text but in verse 28 it says rejoice highly favored one the Lord is with you when the angel of the Lord said that the Lord is with you that means the environment shifted and she was able to flourish as a result of the fact of who she was with because when the Lord is with you he creates an environment that is favorable and that environment allows you to grow that's why we have to be conscious of inviting him into every area where we feel like we're it's stagnant because if you are not flourishing than you are deteriorating but if you invite God to be in that place with you then he creates a favorable environment where all you can do is grow and I got here this morning to myself god I'm tired and I'm nervous but if you're with me I think we could shift some things in the spirit realm because when I'm with you the environment changes that's why it doesn't matter whether people like you at work or not that's why it doesn't matter whether or not people stay or go cos God is with me and as long as God is with me I'm in a favorable environment I know it may not look like it's favourable right now but wait till God gets finished growing me from this place I know it may not look like I have it all together right now but wait until God gets finished growing me from this place he is the secret sauce that makes everything that is connected to my name a little bit more flavorable than it was before the Lord is with me the Lord is with me I'm not just applying for this job by myself the Lord is with me that means that you can say yes or you can say no and it really won't matter because what's for me is for me and what God has for me no man can take away the Lord is with me I'm raising this child by myself and they're driving me crazy but that's alright because the Lord is with me and when the Lord begins something he plans to finish it the Lord is with me the Lord is with me the Lord is with me the Lord is with me the Lord is with me everywhere I go he's with me the Lord is with me I'm in the middle of a depression but I got to remind the depression sometimes that the Lord is with me I'm about to lose my mind in this marriage but I gotta remind this man's that the Lord is with me he'll lead me beside still waters he'll help me to understand the path that I take it's powerful when you've got the Lord with you because his presence shifts the environment his presence shifts the environment this would be just a room unless the presence falls it would be just a car unless the presence fall I prayed I said God let your glory fall in this place because it shifts the environment you see when we all came in here we were all carrying our own environments but when we come into one Accord about what this environment needs to look like that's when hell starts getting nervous because a few thousand women together and decided that heaven needs to touch earth in North Canton Ohio and if we get in this room together on one Accord I believe that there would be a sound like a mighty rushing wind and that the Spirit of God would fall in this place cuz the environments got a shift at my house the environments got it shift at my business I'm crazy enough to believe that we can make the environment shift at home by sending up a praise right now in this place if you got an environment that needs to shift this is your 10 seconds to let heaven know if you're shifting things don't miss my house if you're shifting things don't miss my account if you're shifting God if you're shifting he'll let the doctor have the loan report let cancer get out of my body like the press and let me go by your min until it looks like you shifted shifted shifted guys sisters sifted I've sifted sifted got shifted move it out of the way Khan move it out of the way I'm tired of fighting the same battle over and over again I get a little bit of peace and lose at the moment I walk into that room this environment for your glory shifts it shifted I want my city shifted I want my marriage shifted do you know what happened when we came into this room heaven is listening if you've got something that heaven needs to know sister sister got shifted sifts it got shifted one encounter with you and it'll shifts everything one word from you and it'll shift everything one word from you and I'll have my piece back one word from you and I'll find my joy again sifting gas sifted sifted God's sifted I hear the demons trembling in North Kansas City God's sifted let a principality be removed sifted God sifted shifted a flourish when the environment cysts I grow in the environment cysts depressing can't have me when the environment ship somebody came into this room depressed but when the worship started thinking is started lifting off of them your situation didn't change God shifted the environment that's your situation with him I can take anything if it's in the right environment God you can hand me anything I'll put it in the right environment you got an environment problem sis this is not a money problem this is not a relationship issue this is an environment problem you hold the key to shifting the environment you've been giving your power away hoping that someone else with shift the environment and finally see your Worth and finally see your value and finally give you the promotion and finally give you the apology you've been waiting for them to shift the environment and I hear God's saying you're the one who can shift the environment remember when I told you that enmity was a two-way street that means that the devil was constantly coming at the woman but if the woman had her mind when she would constantly be coming back at the devil to [Applause] God told the serpent that's your worst nightmare it's not gonna be that you are slithering on the ground like a snake the one thing that you need to look out for more than anything in the earth is a woman who understands the power of her bruise hill to crush a Serpent's head and I came here to let two or three people know that we just opened the road and that is time for you to let Hell know that you've been coming my way but I'm not to come your way I'm not to grow until the demons smooth to flourish until he'll get sucked away how you gonna do it I'm gonna flourish until it happens I'm gonna flourish until it happens I'm gonna grow in a favorable environment I'm gonna drive all the way to North Kerala Friday night because I gotta be somewhere that'll crow me up that's how I'm gonna get it done I'm not looking for anybody to hand me nothing I'm a grown my way out of this thing I'm gonna grow my way until I become what heaven had in mind when they placed me in this earth that's what I'm growing into God what did you have in mind when you place me in this city there's another definition of flourish that I want to share with you I know that the one that I read is the one that most of us are familiar with and maybe you are familiar with this one but as I was reading it in the context of this text it made me see things differently this definition of flourish is said in merriam-webster to be an act or instance of brandishing or waving brandishing or waving I was a little bit taken aback because I've never heard flourish used in that context and so I thought to myself God are you asking to flourish like grow in a favorable environment or are you asking us to wave our way into flourishing because when I thought about what it looks like when we start waving it resembles worship to me and I realized that the way that we invite God into our circumstance and the way that we invite God into our situation that creates the environment for him to grow us into who we need to be I see some women waving in the room I see snow I see some women flourishing in the room some somebody's waving somebody's waving like they need heaven to know that I'm ready to flourish somebody's waving like they're needing heaven to know that I'm the right woman in the right room I preached a message a couple weeks ago I said you're the woman for the job somebody's waving like they want heaven to know I'm the woman for the job that's it ultimately what Mary and Elizabeth started to do they started coming into agreement with what God said they could produce by flourishing right there on the spider when we flourish by waving our hands it creates an opportunity for God to be with us and when God is with us it changes our environment and when God changes our environment then we're no longer afraid of being favored and we're no longer afraid of growing and we're no longer afraid of changing our plans for his plans because he's with us and he's changed our environment and so when I get into my text with Mary and Elizabeth I found this so beautiful because this is not the same Mary that we met when the angel of the Lord came and spoke to her this is a Mary who has accepted that she is favored and she decides to go and have a moment with Elizabeth who has also been favored as well because favorite people need to be connected with other people who understand what it's like to be favored that's why sometimes you you end up outgrowing friendships and relationships they don't change you just something happened where I started believing I was favored and and and when your favorite you're not jealous of another woman's favor because you realized that her favor is not my favor that girl was singing and I was like singing baby because that's not where I'm favored but when they hand me this microphone I'm a count on heaven and I will be favored in my realm and in my lane I'm not jealous of you when you are favored so this favorite woman gets with another favorite woman and when this favorite woman gets with another favorite woman then one of the favorite women end up getting filled with the Holy Spirit because when favor gets together there's gonna be increase I just need one or two favorite people to match my paper so that we can have some increase in the spirit around I just need one or two favorite people who wouldn't mind saying I'll add my favorite of your favor and let's see if the Spirit of God could break out in this place I need one or two people who don't mind saying since I'm not mad at you for being favored cuz god has an assignment on my life your grace doesn't threaten my grace your moves don't threaten my move I Know Who I am and who God has called me to be I just want to make your baby leap I just wanna do something down on the inside of you that makes sheeps happen to who God has called you to be I said God when I get finished preaching let somebody's baby start leaping down on the inside of them let somebody decide I'm gonna go ahead and write the book I'm gonna go ahead and struck the business trying to make your baby leap I'm trying to make your baby leap you need friends who make your baby leave you need friends who make your baby leave when I talk to you I start deteriorate and that's why I'm not available for lunch anymore when I get connected in certain rooms I start wondering what's down on the inside of me I start wondering who I could be if I surrender somebody's baby sleeping somebody's baby sleeping somebody's gonna get the help they need somebody's gonna stop playing with things that I need them and start asking God what is it that you have in mind for me cuz my baby is sleeping and when my baby is sleeping I gotta create an environment for this baby to flourish I gotta create an environment Elizabeth tells Mary blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb that means your blessing and your fruits blessing are two different blessings but they're both blessed that means that your business is blessed that means that that book is blessed that means that that child is blessed and you are blessed too that your blessing doesn't have anything to do with what you produce but because you are blessed when you produce with God everything you do is gonna be blessing I'm producing from my blessing I'm producing from my overflow I'm producing from what God did down on the inside of me that's why I wake up every day and I acknowledge what he's done for me coz if I acknowledge what he's done for me then I can acknowledge what he's gonna do through me there's something that needs to come out of you oh I feel that for somebody it's got to come out of you it's got to come out of you by any means necessary it's got to come out of you it's got to come out of you blessed are you and blessed is the fruit of your womb this city I feel this prophetically I don't know who you are this city needs what's in you the city needs what's in you is gonna change the environment your community your family I don't know who you are and I don't know what God placed down on the inside of you but I hear guys saying it must come out it must come out the moment that Mary and Elizabeth got together I know Hale got nervous because their growth was connected to one another see cuz when you're favored by yourself it can be hard but when you meet another woman who understands what it's like to be favored you get your confidence up a little bit cuz you say to yourself if she can survive getting pregnant at 13 and still find God and have a relationship with him then I wonder what he could do with my divorce when you need another woman who made it to the other side if you've made it past the other side of any kind of trauma molestation teen pregnancy divorce can you just let somebody else in this room who was wondering whether or not they can make it to the other side let them know that there comes a point that addiction has to let go of you there comes a point when heartbreak has to let go of you I know you're down in the dumps right now I just want to know if you could be a Mary and Elizabeth in this room right now cuz there's a woman who needs to know that you can make it to the other side yeah you need someone who's gone a little bit ahead of you to let you know that you can count on this favor that God doesn't do temporary favor that when you come into alignment with who he says you are feel like God wants to change somebody's identity that you've been thinking that you are what happened to you and you've been thinking that you are who left you or maybe you think you are who stayed and I hear God's saying you're none of those things you're who I say you are and if you need a reminder that's why getting in our word is so important because when we get in our word we get a reminder of who God says I am God says I'm fearfully and wonderfully made but but God did you know that that I had that baby but God did you know that I had that right but guy he says you're still fearfully and wonderfully made he said I saw all of that and guess what all things work together for the good of those who love the Lord and are called according to his purpose so the question is are you gonna answer the call so that I can show you how I'm gonna make all of that work together for your good what is the call the call is simply surrender God I surrender to who you say I am I'm almost finished you can play God I surrender I surrender to who you say I am God I surrender to what you say I can do God I surrender to what you want to see happen in my city through me God I surrender the bitterness it is trying to take me out I'm so upset about occurred and what happened but God I surrendered that your love says that I'm gonna make it to the other side gotta surrender and when I surrender it creates an environment for me to flourish god I invite you into my surrender and we could start flourishing in this room with just a simple waving of our hands and a simple lifting of our voices we could say you know what God I need the environment to shift I need to flourish we could say in this room through our worship I don't want to feel like I'm deteriorating anymore like the best of me is behind me and that there's no more future left for me I don't want to feel like that anymore God I want to flourish for real not just that temporary thing where I feel good in church and then I go back home and I think nothing's actually changed I want to feel your presence with me everywhere I go and God when I flourish then you'll show me what my purpose is and you'll show me why I was the one who survived and why I was the one who didn't end up somewhere in tenth God just show me why it was me who found a way in the church no one in my family's even saved but but God you allowed me to find you God just show me that you always had an environment that could facilitate my greatness in spite of the environments that produce my brokenness what if I told you that the same time the environment that was producing your brokenness that there was another environment that all you had to do was step into I want to pray with you I want to pray for people who want to step into that environment I want to step into an environment that a man can't take away from me I want to step into an environment that a paycheck can't meet I want to step into an environment that isn't dictated or qualified by what other people think about me this environment produces wholeness this environment produces growth it allows me to forgive it allows me to believe again and if that's you if it's okay I want you to meet me as close to this altar as you can this is such a powerful gesture I love altar calls for me it's my favorite part of service because it's when we step away from who we were and it's when we step away from those old thoughts and those old patterns those old paradigms and we step out of an environment that was perhaps hurting us and breaking us and it's our way of saying you know what I want to be an environment that shows me what God sees in me I know there's a lot of women at the altar but if all you can take is one step it's worth you moving out of where you're standing because I believe that as you move that things are moving outside of these doors I believe that as you move it sends notice to hell that I'm moving out of the realm where you can play with my mind and you can play with my emotions I think when you move it tells depression that you and I had our last date and that I'm ready for a new lover the lover of my soul the creator of the universe I want to know what he knows about me I want to see what he sees down on me the inside of me I'm ready to move I'm ready to shift the environment God if no one else can give me peace and let me carry the peace of God wherever I go God if you can't change the circumstance and let me change the environment that the circumstance is in i were really praying for is that we would be so full of the spirit that it overflows and changes the environment we may not be able to get everyone to come into rooms like this but if they have an encounter with us they will be in a room like this and that's why the enemy will always be at war with the woman because a woman knows how to change an atmosphere if you're a mom you know that I know how to change the atmosphere it could be rowdy and if I come downstairs and I said quiet it down it's time for everyone to go to bed it shifts the atmosphere you're an atmosphere shifter but you got to release that glory that God placed down on the inside of you what does that mean that means before responding that I have to qualify my response it's my responsible enough God's glory because I cannot release me and him at the same time and when I release me I end up messing things up a little bit my mouth gets out ahead of me I start saying things that I know I shouldn't say but if I release his glory then they'll know I don't fool with you but I still love you and you got to go over there before the old me comes back in the evenings butter but she does not do better and I'm trying to be merry in this season okay I love you I believe in you my whole ministry is a result of me shifting the way that I thought about myself I'm still the girl that got pregnant I'm still the girl that dropped out of school I'm still the girl that waitress at strip clubs are all those things but I also shifted that environment where I wasn't penalizing myself for who I used to be or punishing myself for who I used to be or thinking to myself you don't deserve those things those are for the good girls who did everything the right way I started believing that I still had access I started believing that favor was still able to meet me where I was and when I started believing that favor was still able that environment shifted I wish I had somebody in this room who would make a decision to believe that favor is still able to shift my circumstance favor is still able to save my child favor is still able to pick me up out of this baby it's still able I don't care what the doctor says I don't care what the lawyer saying favors to Ava and I want to pray that that favor would collide the way that it collided with Mary and Elizabeth and made Elizabeth's baby leap that's what happened when favor collides coz all I see if this altar is a collision of favor I can't wait to hear what comes out of your city as a result of what took place in this room yeah we're clapping because those of us who understand the kingdom know that when we have an encounter with God that the kingdom is established and when the kingdom is established in North Canaan gun violence doesn't matter drug addiction doesn't matter because where the kingdom is there is no lack where the kingdom is there is no racism where the kingdom is there is unity where the kingdom is there is love where the kingdom is there is power where the kingdom is glory Falls and when glory foster our resources and provision connects it to the kingdom the kingdom is coming to you then through you lift your hands like you're gonna receive something lift your hands like favor is in the air and you don't want it to miss your house lift your hands like favors gonna touch children you have an even births yet lift up your voice like favors gonna touch your mother who's never even known the Lord like your sister's gonna get saved like your husband's gonna come to know the Lord lift your hands in this place like favor if you're still able I'm the woman for the job favor is just a label I know what house you can come visit favor favorite favorite favorite just a label sweet of the Living God they said it earlier the same power the raised Jesus from the grave just sat down in North Canton Ohio and God we have some things that need to be resurrected and so father God I present my sisters to you and I ask that you would resurrect everything in them that is trying to die that this would be a lifeline for somebody who didn't even know that needed it little will spring up from the inside of them Oh God let glory touch down on their house let's Lori touch down on their finances God is not a job this you can only do so God I'm asking you wherever there is a hand lifted and a heart open that you would restore our vision back to what you had in mind when you saw us God we're offering you our identities a jaded and broken as they may be and we're asking God that you would give us beauty for Ashes God shift the environment that hovers over I had I rebuked oppression in the name of Jesus I know that I'm not supposed to be a church girl up here but me and the devil we've been beefing for a long time and he's got one too many listen on me so I got a rebuke hail on behalf of my sister my sister may not be able to do it yet but I'm willing to war on her behalf you can tell on your sister's behalf every principality in the name of Jesus back to where it came from you have no more power here my god is free indeed and so what's happened to that power and what's happened to the authority that we had through Jesus and we say because he got on the cross and died and because he was raised with all power in his hands that I have access to power that man can't understand God release that power release that power in this city release that power in this church released that power over that book released that power over that marriage released that power released that resurrection power released that power released that power it came down yet the power hasn't reached him it can't go yet the power hasn't reached it you can't check out yet the power is coming the powers come and let it meet them when they get home let it be waiting for them when they get to the office but the power be waiting let that laptop the power the power the power wonder-working power miracle-working power is power that can only come from heaven let it fall and let it saturate until I cannot go back to who I used to be I can only flourish from here I can only grow from here repeat after me Heavenly Father I received this word I needed it let it take root and produce fruit in my life God I'm ready to flourish remove anything that is trying to kill the seeds you place down in me and create an environment that can water that seed so that it can become everything you knew it could be thank you for my sister the woman beside me and the woman behind me bless her dream bless her house bless her family may my blessing overflow and her blessing overflow until it changes our city then changes our state then changes our world for your glory in Jesus name Amen can I hear the sound of victory in this place

Channel: Faith Family Church

Views: 404,984

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Id: yCvKWvRzeXw

Length: 58min 34sec (3514 seconds)

Published: Wed Sep 18 2019