Sarah Jakes Roberts: Let God Order Your Steps to Your Purpose! | TBN

we serve a God who pays attention and sometimes in order to keep you in your lane he does have to go ahead of us and make our crooked path straight in order to keep us in our lane he does have to do some things that help us to recognize that only God could do this but what I love the most about God is even when we swerve out of our lane he shows up there too I know you're wondering how God is going to work it out but I hear God saying that when I wrote

in the scriptures that all things were going to work together for your good I wasn't just talking about the people in the text I was talking about the people who would hear my voice and follow what I said to do so don't let this idea of the promise going through a hostile environment convince you that the promise doesn't exist anymore there are moments where you do need to see what's happening but you also need to have enough wisdom to know when you can't handle it anymore there are moment where you need to see what God

is doing in the life of other people it blesses you it encourages you it edifies you but then there are moments where you need to stop looking at what God is doing in the lives of other people cuz when you finish looking at what God is doing in the lives of other people you come back over to your life and you're like God I don't even see you moving at all in my life I see this person got married I see this person got the finances I got to pay attention to what's happening in my

life and what we learn when we bring our attention back to what God is doing in our lives is that we serve a God who sees us sometimes we have these moments where we make it seem like blessings just fell into our lives the blessings didn't just fall into our lives we serve a God who paid attention to what we needed and gave it to us right when we needed it if I had about 10 seconds and about 10 old school church folks we could have testimony service in this room and we could talk about

those moments where God showed up in our lives in such a way that there was no denying that you were paying attention to me you see God has just blessed some people but God has done some things in my life that helped me to recognize that you were paying attention to me you knew exactly what I needed in that grief you knew exactly what I needed when I was going through that pain you knew exactly what I needed no one but God could have known that I needed that word when it came no one but

God could have known what I needed out of that worship service but God you pay attention to me it gives me a Psalms 3 praise where I start thinking like David BR thought in Psalms 8 in Psalms 8 David said how is it that this God who considers the heavens and the works of your fingers the moons and the Stars which you have ordained God you set the ocean in motion you put the Sun in the sky you place the Stars over the Galaxy who am I that you are mindful of me that you pay

attention to what I need little on me God I barely paid attention to you but you paid attention to me you knew I wouldn't have the father but you gave me the uncle you knew I wouldn't have the family but you gave me the teacher God you didn't just leave me with nothing to pull from you paid attention to what I needed he paid attention to me he paid attention to what I needed he paid attention to the areas where I had Brokenness he's already gone ahead of you that means that I'm paying attention before

you even step into the room that you have the right people when you get into the room he's paying attention right now in this moment when you feel lost and Forsaken and Confused God says I'm paying attention when we talk about him restoring what the Locust have eaten we're talking about a God who paid attention to everything you lost along the way I'm paying attention to everyone who walked away I'm paying attention to everyone who portrayed you because when the time is right when you step into restoration you're going to see that I didn't leave

you when you step into restoration you're going to see that I understood what you needed along the way I know your life feels random I know it feels like you're scattered all over the place but God says I paid attention to everywhere your foot treaded I paid attention to everything they said I paid attention to every dream I paid attention to every hope I paid attention to every desire I paid attention to you oh God who am I that you would be mindful of me God knows how to stay in his Lane and your lane

too that's what that verse shows me in Psalms 8 that I know how to stay in my Lane I can still run the Galaxy I can still sit high and lift it up but I also know how to get down into what bothers you that's the whole thing with me being omnipresent I know how to be everywhere all at the same time I can be in your lane and my Lane I can be in her Lane and your lane just because I'm doing it in her life it doesn't mean that I'm not doing it in

your life too I know how to be in everybody's Lane at the same time and I'm paying attention to what you need and I'm paying attention to what hurts you and I'm paying attention to what's still dormant inside of you we serve a God who pays attention we pay attention God pays attention because he recognizes that I'm trying to keep you in your lane and sometimes in order to keep you in your lane he does have to go ahead of us and make our crooked path straight in order to keep us in our lane he

does have to do some things that help us to recog Rec iiz that only God could do this but what I love the most about God is even when we swerve out of our lane he shows up there [Applause] too David said again in Psalm if I make my bed in hell you'll be there which means that he's not just God when you're doing everything right and he's not just showing up just because you showed up in all of your righteousness and Holiness but when we look back over our lives I bet a few of

us see sometimes where I swerved out of my Lane but God was still there in the midst of it all that God said I know you don't have no business being over here at this hour of the night I know you don't have no business talking this person at all that's why I'm going to flicker the lights to let you know that I'm over in this Lane too I wish I had some people in here who tried to live wrong like I gave it my best shot like I was the best at doing bad but

God wouldn't let me get out of my Lane God kept calling me God I wanted to turn the sermon off I didn't want your presence to reach me I swerved out of your lane because I've got too much shame and I got too much guilt but for some reason God came and chased me down goodness and mercy kept following me so much so that I had to turn around and finally say God what is it that you want from me you know I'm not good enough you know I'm not smart enough you know all of

the things I've done in my past but every time I swerve out of my Lane you keep pulling me back to where I'm supposed to be you keep calling me my name in spite of what I've gone through what kind of God do we serve who won't even allow us to get out of line and treat us the way we treat people when they get out of line I'll leave the 99 to come get the one because I'm so committed to who you can be that I don't care who you used to be I'm so

committed to what's in you that I can't give up on what came out of you I'm so committed to what I placed inside of you that I want to let you get tossed up in any old environment in any old circumstances he's coming to get [Music] somebody he's coming and get us and what we learn in this text the reason why I believe God highlighted this for me is that we see in the children of Israel the reality of what happens when we serve a God who doesn't mind swerving in and out of these Lanes

with us we think I thought that God was trying to keep us in the lane because that's just where we're supposed to be what I know now is that the reason why God Is So committed to us staying in our lane is because he created created this Lane for us and in the context of this Lane there are promises that only manifest when you stay in your lane when you stay in your lane there is covering there are some people in this room who you are right they should not be on the path that they

are on I should not be looking at generational wealth I should not be looking at generational wholeness but because some kind of way I stayed in my Lane now the promise that God spoke over my family is a reality it's going to be the year where the deals that you made with the Enemy the deals that you made with your shame the deals that you made with your insecurity are broken because you stay in your lane and because you stay in your lane you make some commitments to God God I don't know why you plac

me here God I don't know what you're seeing me but I'm going to stay in my Lane the old folks will say I think I'm going to run on and see what the end's going to be I'm going to stay in this lane cuz there are some promises connected to this Lane I'm going to stay in this Lane because there are some weapons that I see forming and everything in me wants to step out of my Lane to move out of Dodge to get out of Target but I'm going to stay in my lane and

trust that the promises of the Lord are yes and amen I see the weapons for me but I see myself running I see the weapons coming for me but I also see goodness and mercy following me you don't think I see you I see you baby but what I see more than that is the path that God has for me I think I'm going to run on and see what the end's going to be I think I'm going to run on and see how all things work together for the good of those who stay in

that lane I think I'm going to run on though he slay me yes shall I trust in them I'm going to stay in my Lane though the weapons are formed I'm going to stay in my Lane though they talk about me I'm going to stay in my Lane baby this is my Lane he created this Lane for me Can't Nobody Do my Lane the way I do my Lane I can't give up on my lane cuz if I give up on my Lane a generation may not be saved so I'm almost stay flat footed in

the lane God gave me the enemy trying to run somebody out of position the enemy is trying to scare you out of position I hear God saying you're wondering what the strategy is the strategy is stay focused on the lane the strategy is stay focused on the call the strategy is stay focused on the [Music] mission that's my strategy I don't have a 10-point business plan I don't have pages and pages of a PowerPoint all I got is me staying in my Lane all I got is what God told me when God flip the script

I'll flip the script but if we still doing this God I'm still the one for the job if we still going at it I got you when you in your lane I can rescue you when you swerve but if you want all of Heaven's resources to back you up I can't back up no foolishness you got to get back in your lane if you want all of Heavens re you want demons to tremble you got to get back in your lane you want hell to get nervous you got to get back in your lane I

know you've been scared I know you've been depressed we got to have a multi-lane highway in this joint I need about six or seven of you can't be in your lane I got to be in my Lane I can't do what you do I got to do what God called me to do I'm going to be honest with you do one call me to do it's scary it's not easy people don't swerve out of the lane because the lane was easy to navigate it's scary in that lane I see you mama somebody's been waiting to

feel like when am I going to feel the strength of the new year when I'm going to feel the momentum I'm used to feeling a certain thing and it just hasn't turned the corner yet cuz said it's supposed to feel like that cuz your lane is getting narrow oh God I'm be honest this text got on my nerves I'm just preaching what God gave me cuz in numbers 14 we see the lane it's getting narrow the cost of swerving at this point is detrimental o right before the promise they're within Striking Distance of the promise

and now the people who I started with don't even believe that we can access it this Lane is getting narrow God God how could this slan Jesus when he was headed to the cross the lane got narrow right when he was in Striking Distance of salvation Striking Distance of Glory the lane got narrow David when he was killing they said David killed his tens of thousands and Saul killed his thousands but when it was time for him to actually become king the lane got narrow it's tight but it's right I had to say [Music] it

Lane is getting narrow for them and Caleb and Joshua and Moses and Aaron are one of the few who believe that they can navigate narrow Lanes oh God the other children of Israel they want to go back where the wider lanes are even if the wider The Wider lanes are in the wilderness quite literally they say let's get another leader and go back to Egypt cuz this Lane is too narrow there's not enough room in this Lane for your fears for your pride for your ego this laning got too tight for your Associates and your

comfort zone this Lane's gotten too tight this righteous Lane has gotten too tight this Integrity Lane has gotten too tight I'm starting to lose people and and it would be okay if it was just momentary but the lane is getting narrow when I still got work to do [Music] and God highlighted to me when I was reading this word that many of us are more like those who want to go back than those who want to stay how do I know this because what the children of Israel say In This Moment those who want to

go back what they're saying is really quite practical they're saying that the land is already inhabited and those who are inhabiting the land are mightier than us they are more powerful than us you will know that you are beginning to talk yourself out of the lane that God has curated for you when you become more practical than you do miraculous you see this didn't start in the Practical it started in the spirit when he brought them out of Egypt it was a miracle the plagues he brought God front loaded them with Miracles so that you

would understand that this is starting as a miracle there is nothing practical about a baby being placed in a basket being drawn out by exactly the right family fleeing then coming back because of a burning bush this all started in miracles and if God starts it miraculously you don't get to make it practical there's some people in this room the fact that you are even up against this type of enemy is a miracle because of where you came from and what you've had to work with you shouldn't even be facing off with the type of

giant that you're facing off with you shouldn't even be talking about the type of generational blessings that you're talking about this is a miracle that you even think the way you think that you even have the desires that you have this started in the spirit this didn't start with something you started on Instagram this didn't start with something someone else told you somebody said something that confirmed what God had already placed on the inside of you it's started in the spirit [Music] I can't I can't make the Practical become miraculous so I got to choose

do I move into the lane of the Practical or do I dare stay in the lane of the miraculous do I stay in the lane that's going to require me to call on God do I stay in the lane that is going to require me to depend on God do I stay in in the lane that's going to mean the numbers are getting smaller but my spirit is getting greater God it's a hard decision because there is a safety in the Practical it makes sense on paper I don't have to wonder how God is going

to do it I don't have to wonder if it's going to come through when I do it in the Practical and I don't know who you are but somebody in here has shrunk their dream and Shrunk The Vision that God gave them to make it more practical than miraculous because it got so hard that you said I don't think the lane can be this narrow and me survive so I'll just make it practical maybe I don't want the thing God wants for Me Maybe I want what I can do in My Own Strength you need

to know when the lane starts getting narrow and things start getting tight you need to understand who really has what it takes because when you are engaging with the battle the actual battle is not even invading the land the actual battle is dispossessing who's in the land who should shouldn't be there and you need people who see things the way that God sees them you need people who understand that you're looking at it the way that man looks at it but I'm looking at it the way that God looks at it and yes they are

big and yes I am outnumbered but the glory is on my side and because the glor I need people who see Glory I know you see numbers but do you see Glory I know you understand analytics but do you see Glory I know you understand Finance but do you see Glory I know you understand d but do you see Glory you've calculated everything but you missed out on the glory because when the glory calls me the numbers may look confusing when Glory calls me the data may not make sense when Glory calls me it'll upset

the plans of the enemy when Glory calls me he'll take the foolish things of the world and now you sitting somewhere looking confused because you didn't take into account the glory the glory the glory the glory I don't know what your promise is but I hear God saying you need Glory Seekers I need people on my squad who are seeking God's glory I need people on my squad who know how to get a prayer through I need people I need somebody on my road who understands that this is not a regular fight this is a

glory fight you can't look at me and size me up because you can't see that greater is he that is within me there's Glory within me the spirit of the Living God dwells on the inside of me you don't think I look big enough but you can't [Music] see the the glory the glory so my text begins it says so he he this he is Jesus and Simeon so Jesus is Just Born to the Virgin Mary and she is following the customs and rituals of that time and she is presenting him in Jerusalem they make

it to Jerusalem and they are presenting him to Simeon and so he that he is Simeon came by the spirit into the temple and when the parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said Lord now you are letting your servant depart in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before me which you have prepared before the face of all people a light to bring Revelation to the

Gentiles and the glory of your People Israel and Joseph and his mother marveled at those things which were spoken of him then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother behold this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be spoken against yes a sword will pierce through your own soul also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed God I want to thank you for opportunities like this opportunities to be in your presence and amongst your people and so father you and I

have spent time communicating and me receiving your perspective on the women in this room my prayer God is that you would flow through me that there would be nothing that stands in your way no nerves no fear no anxiety just your strength your power your Rich Revelation about women in this season and generation that it would flow and that it would break chains in this room that it would give new identity in this room that it would give us power like never before Lord let your glory fall as only it can do that our lives

may be radically changed in jesus' name amen had to pray to get the Jitters off so I am part of the reason why this is going to be a little awkward is because if all of my father's children I was the least likely to be in Ministry and um because I thought the Bible was boring which Lisa already told me I was boring it wasn't the Bible it was me it's fine um but part of my mission in life is to make it less boring for people and so I like to share Ministry in a

way that is relatable part of what I think God wants me to do I'm just waiting for confirmation is to create an ebonics version of the Bible I don't have a release yet but I feel like it's going to happen before it's all said and done in this ebonic version of the Bible I would just like jump right into the story you know so like genesis would just begin with Eve just going in telling us how she messed it all up for everybody but it's ebonic so she's got to say it in a way that

we can understand she would be like in the West Garden of Eden I was born pulled out and raised by the Euphrates is where I spent most of my days chilling out maxing in relaxing all cool till creepy little serpent came up and messed up my groove sionic it's going to be amazing it's going to take off you guys should pre-order it on Amazon right now sell like hot cakes um the only thing that I haven't quite figured out for my ionic version of Eve's story in the Bible is how I'm going to explain the

beef that took place between her and the serpent because in the ebonics version I want to say that her and the serpent had beef you know um for those of you unfamiliar with beef actually not talking about filet I am talking about a word that we use in some circles in culture that explains when you have a disagreement of sorts with someone yeah I would say that they had beef but I love the way the King James version puts it it says that they have enmity enmity is such incredible word I looked up the definition

because I wanted to share it with you enmity means the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something in Genesis 3 and 15 God says to the serpent I'm going to put enmity between you and the woman and that her seed will bruise your head but your seed will bruise her heel that word enmity I love that word enmity I'm going to read it one more time it says the state or feeling of being actively opposed or hostile to someone or something and I don't know about you but there are

moments for me when I feel that enity I feel that opposition from the enemy I feel that hostility from the enemy it's like I take two steps forward and sometimes he takes me 10 steps backwards it feels like every time I start pursuing that vision and that identity that God has for me that he sends someone who reminds me of who I used to be or the shame from who I was creeps up behind me I feel that hostility every time I start pressing towards the mark and so that enmity is such a powerful word

that I don't think that I could replace it with anything else but what I love is that God didn't just say that I'm going to put the enmity against the woman from the serpent he says that this enmity is going to be a two-way street that the woman is not just going to feel opposed by the serpent but that the woman is going to represent opposition for the serpent as as well somebody understands that what I'm saying is that when a woman steps into her purpose and when a woman steps into who she is in

God that the enemy may have some opposition but she is opposition for the enemy too that means that when you registered for Propel and you made arrangements for the kids and you decided that you were going to be in here by any means necessary I'm going to stand in line at 7:00 a.m. not because I don't have anything else to do but because I am opposition for the enemy and there's a word waiting somewhere with my name on it I am the enemy's opposition I know it doesn't look like it because of all I went

through but I'm just dusting off the what the dirt from what I went through so that I can become the enemy's opposition I'm not in here to be cute I'm not in here to play games I'm in here because I'm opposition against the enemy he's claimed too many of my women he's claimed my mother he claimed my sister but he can't have me I'm opposition I'm your worst nightmare I'm going need a little more heat in the microphone because I need somebody to know that they are the enemy's worst nightmare when you woke up this

morning and you dressed yourself to come into this room that demon started trembling because I didn't want you to get a revelation about who you are but I came to set somebody free and in this place you are his greatest threat a woman who knows who she is in God is the enemy's greatest threat I know that I went through some things that may have bruised my heel but you still better be afraid of me it wouldn't have looked like it when I was 13 years old and pregnant but I was the enemy's greatest threat

it wouldn't have looked like it when you were going through divorce but you were the enemy's greatest threat it wouldn't have looked like it when you were struggling with that addiction but you were the enemy's greatest threat you are his opposition and that is why there will always be War over what a woman can put in the Earth because a woman knows how to take a seed and turn it into a person she knows how to take a seed and turn it into a nonprofit she knows how to take a seed and turn it into

a business it wouldn't even make sense if you saw the seed if you saw what some of these women had gone through if you would have seen the seed that started Christine Cain you would have never believed that it would turn into Propel but she's a woman who recognized that I am the enemy's greatest threat and I don't know about you but I feel like it's about time for the enemy to start understanding that that enmity is a two-way street that you're not just going to keep attacking me and you're not just going to keep

depressing me and you're not just going to keep oppressing me that I don't care how I have to do it or who I must become or what I have to go through to make it to the other side there's going to come a point in time where you are opposing me not because of what I went through but because of what is still yet to come out of me still something that must come out of you and I asked myself I said God why is it that the enmity couldn't be between The Serpent and the

man why did it have to be the woman this notion that we are the weaker vessels then why not put the stronger vessel up for the fight but when I study my word and I look at the character of God and I believe wholeheartedly that he makes no mistakes it means that when he put enmity between the woman and the serpent the woman and the enemy that it wasn't just a fair fight that it was a fixed fight that he didn't put us into this position because he thought thought that a loss was even possible

that he put us in the position because he knew the win would be guaranteed that means that not only is it fair which means that if you roll up your sleeves and you be who God has called you to be and you start trusting what he says about who you are and what you can do in the earth that the fight is going to turn in your favor I hear God telling somebody you're the woman for the job I know what the doctor said about the cancer but I hear God saying you're the woman for

the job that I put you in a fight that was already fixed that I put you in a fight that you were bound to win I know the child is acting crazy I know they're cutting up on the job but you are the woman for the job if you don't hear anything else I say in this place I want you to know that there is nothing that is happening in your life that is designed to take you out that thing is designed to birth the best version of you my girl my sister you are the

woman for the job when the enemy tried to make me feel nervous I told the enemy you can't have my mind today cuz I'm the woman for the job I'm going to do flat footed what God has called me to do cuz I'm the woman I'm the woman for the job I'm the woman for the job somebody's got to start prophesying over that situation that's trying to tell you you're not going to make it honey I'm the woman for the job I'm going to raise that child anyway I'm going to start that business anyway I

don't care what the bank said I don't need a bank my God shall provide all of my needs I'm the woman for the job baby I'm the only one who can do what I do the way that I do it and you you're the woman for the job you're the woman for the job I want to rebuke depression trying to make you believe that you're not the woman for the job I want to rebuke suicide trying to make you believe that we would be better without you I bind you Satan you have no power here

and when you attacked my sister you attacked me I'm the woman for the job I know how to Warfare for the woman who can't War for herself I'm the woman for the job so when we talk about positioning and the way that life has the tendency of putting us in positions that we don't always feel qualified for I can't help but think about Mary and how God saw that she was the woman for the job even though Mary initially didn't believe that she was the woman for the job man I can relate to that someone

says Pastor I want to believe that I'm the woman for the job but if I'm honest I don't feel qualified I'm in position but I don't feel qualified for the position I'm in and the position is trying to make me believe that I don't have what it takes to make it to the other side and for a moment I want to glean some wisdom from Mary that I hope can help you in the position that God has placed you in because if we remember God doesn't make mistakes and if he called you into that position

no matter how overwhelming the position is it's because he believes that you are the woman for the job and so our Tas ask then becomes to ask God what is it that you know about me that would have you place me in this position because if you place me in this position then you know something about me that I don't know yet and sometimes our greatest prayer should be God would you open up my eyes so that I can see who I am supposed to be in your kingdom that I would not compare myself to

everything that came before me or the things coming up behind me but that I would trust that you place me in this position because no one else could do do it like me but me Mary teaches us that the most powerful thing that any of us can do when we have this feeling is to go anyway yeah so Mary doesn't feel qualified but she goes anyway she goes not knowing how she's supposed to take this baby and turn it into a king when the angel of the Lord appears to Mary he tells Mary everything that

that child is going to be but she doesn't receive the promise in the form that God said that it was going to end up in God help me to say it there are moments when we receive something from God that doesn't look like where it's going to end oh I feel like that's a word for somebody that you're looking at the baby wondering how the baby's going to become King you're looking at the small thing trying to figure out how is that ever going to become the big thing God you told me that I would

be the one that would break the generational curse but right now I look like every other generation that came before me how am I going to take this small thing and turn it into a big thing God you told me that you would bless my business but I can't even get the financing I need God says I didn't give it to you the in the form that it's going to end up in I gave it to you in the form that would grow you up into the person who could raise it into everything that it

could be I feel like somebody's got to get that down in your spirit do not despise the days of Small Beginnings that it started off small so that you could grow with it because when you grow with it it grows you up when you grow with it it grows you up and so Mary teaches us the power of going anyway she questions her ability initially but ultimately she chooses to trust God's plan for her life Mary chose to just go anyway sometimes you have to just go anyway God gives you what you need as you

go and sometimes we want all of the answers and God I want to know how you're going to do it I'm not saying I won't go I'm just saying can you tell me exactly how it's going to happen and God says I'll tell you how it's going to happen when you start moving be see because God is looking for someone who he can order steps along the way I feel like there's someone in this room that if God gave you all of the steps right now that you would feel more in control than you actually

are when you go anyway it is aign to God that I don't have to have all of the answers I just want to be where you tell me I am supposed to be God I don't know how you're going to do it in my marriage I don't know how you're going to do it in my family but I am going to go anyway and and when I go you meet me where you told me you were going to meet me when you go God meets you he's calling you to where he is that's why we

have to go because God calls you to where he is and when we move in that direction it is a sign to him that we can be trusted because there are moments when God orders our steps but we got to take them first I got to forgive I got to go anyway I want to stay stuck in this bitterness I want to stay stuck in this pain but I can't stay here so I got to go anyway and Mary starts going anyway and so some of you are wondering okay I'll go anyway I'll do what

God told me to do I don't know how he's going to do it I don't have all of the resources that I need in order to do it but I want to go anyway and so Mary teaches us a valuable lesson and if you're taking notes I want you to write this down because what Mary teaches us in those moments where we have to go anyway is that the power in going starts with you using what you know Mary begins to just follow the customs of the Jewish people at that time God gave her something

that is going to ultimately deliver Israel but right now she doesn't know how it's going to become a deliverer and so because she doesn't know how she's going to get from A to Z she just starts working what she knows she knows that when I have a baby that I need to wait until my time of purification is over and after that I need to go into Jerusalem and I need to present the baby she works what she knows while she goes the most powerful thing that any of us can do is activate what we

know because when we activate what we know it gives God permission to show us more and to teach us more imagine had Eve been in the garden and she simply activated what she knew there are things that we know about our lives that we haven't activated yet because we don't know what's waiting on the other side but when you use what you know it starts to lead you into the direction that God says he's calling you towards that means the relationship has to end that means that we have to have the Forgiveness down in our

heart even though we don't believe that the person is truly sorry our forgiveness is not predicated on whether or not that person is actually sorry my forgiveness is predicated on the fact that I'm going anyway that I'm not going to stay stuck where that pain met me I'm not going to stay stuck where that disappointment me me I'm going anyway so Mary begins to go anyway and she's using what she knows because learning how to go anyway and using what you know I think is is one of the most powerful things that any of us

can do so after she's come out of the presence Mary Begins the task of living out what God Said to God said to do and so in the process of doing this she is presenting this child Jesus into to Simeon and I have to be honest when I read this text I felt like I felt like it was out of order because Simeon says in verse 29 he he identifies with Mary and confirms with Mary what God already said about what she was carrying she says he says Lord now you are letting your servant depart

in peace according to your word for my eyes have seen your salvation which you have prepared before the face of All Peoples a light to bring Revelation to the Gentiles Mary already knew all of those things that that is what she was carrying and that's who the child would become so in many ways this is confirmation for her but then Simeon says something that seems like it is contradicting what he just said because he says behold this child is destined for the fall and rising of many in Israel and for a sign which will be

spoken against yes a sword will pierce through your own soul when the angel of the Lord came he didn't say nothing about no swords let's see bonic version slipping out again God when you gave me the promise when you told me what I was carrying when you told me who I would become when you told me I was fearfully and wonderfully made when you told me that all things were going to work together for my good you you didn't tell me about the swords that were going to be a part of the journey this feels

like a contradiction from from what you said I don't know if anyone else in this room has ever been in a position where God made you a promise but then a sword came and the sword didn't look like the promise and the trauma didn't look like the promise and the bankruptcy didn't look like the promise God how am I supposed to lay hold of the promise with a sword piercing through my soul I felt like Simeon should have given the bad news first and then the good news I felt like he should have said all

of these things are going to happen but he's going to be resurrected and everything's going to be okay in the end but for some reason it doesn't work like that he gives the Revelation and the promise first and then he gives the process afterwards because it is not on Simeon to remind you what the promise is it is on us to remember what the promise is in the middle of the process when I was studying all I could hear was God said I put the butt first I put that thing that you thought should be

the butt at the end of the bad news I said it first and then I started looking back over my own life and all of the moments where I felt like a sword was piercing through my own soul where I was waiting for God to say but this is going to work out in the end and but you're going to be healed and and but all things are going to work together for your good but God says I'm not going to repeat what I already told you I put the butt first and I just came

to Fort Lauderdale Florida to let somebody know that I know it took a lot for you to get into this room and I know you're wondering how God is going to work it out but I hear God saying I put the butt first that when I wrote in the scriptures that all things were going to work together for your good I wasn't just talking about the people in the text I was talking about the people who would hear my voice and follow what I said to do that means that at the end of the day

the bed is still on at the end of the day the promise is still yes and amen that means that no weapon formed against you will prosper I put that in there first I know you're looking at the weapon but but I'm telling you it won't Prosper I know you're looking at the depression but I'm telling you the joy of the Lord is your strength I know you're looking at the struggle but I'm telling you that when it's all said and done though he slays you you can trust in him I put the butt first

that means that you got to start telling your situation I know what it looks like but I know what God Said first and I'm hanging on to what God Said first in the middle of what's taking place I don't let the middle shake me I remember what God Said first God said I was fearfully and wonderfully made God said that I was going to make it to the other side God said that his Spirit would overtake me and it would show up right on time I put the butt I put it first I put it

first so don't let this idea of the promise going through a hostile environment convince you that the promise doesn't exist anymore because that hostil hostility remember is a two-way street and when we go silent when we feel that hostility it is one of the most dangerous things that we can do because then that hostility becomes a one-way Street and we start feeding off of the images of our past and the statistics about women like us and girls like us because that hostility is a one-way Street but all I wanted to do when I came here

was to open up that other side of the street again and to give you permission to really be propelled for sure to give you permission to really be activated again to give you permission to get back in position and recognize that God is still working in the midst of everything that is happening that our God is still in control and that he is looking for a few good women I know they did a movie about a Few Good Men but I'm telling you according to Genesis 3 and15 that he is just looking for a few

good women who wouldn't mind letting hell know you picked the wrong woman you picked the wrong family you picked the wrong marriage you picked the wrong child this hostility is a one-way street I'm so sick and tired of the devil telling me who I can be and what I can do you don't have no power here when my savior got on the cross this hostility became a one-way Street it's a two-way street baby it's a two-way street and I want to prophesy that when you leave this place that eyes haven't seen and ears haven't heard

what God is going to do down on the inside of you not so that you can look good but so that he can look good I'm looking for women who don't mind making their life my stage I'm looking for some women who don't mind making their marriage my stage I want to be your stage I want to be a stage for the glory to fall I want to be a stage for the spirit to fall everyone else can be scared when they read the news that just makes me go harder because I recognize that everything

the enemy is trying to use for evil that my God is going to turn it around for good how do I know it for sure cuz he picked a few good women from Fort Lauderdale Florida to go to war with him as only they can do and that's why it had to be you because he needed a woman who would get so angry and get so tired at having their back up against the wall that when everyone else would lay down and Li she would wake up one morning and say you know what devil I've

had enough of you playing with my mind I've had enough of you playing with my finances I've had enough of you playing with my men marriage I wish I had some women in this room who didn't mind saying I don't mind going to war with the devil I'm not afraid of Darkness cuz I carry the light I'm not afraid of dying a flavor because I am the salt of the earth I need some women just one or two of you really cuz one of us could Chase 1,000 two of us could Chase 10,000 I wonder

if a hundred of us got together in this room room and decided that the days of women being oppressed and Silent are over that I've got something to prophesy over these dry bones and I won't close my mouth until everything that God has put in me comes out of me like fire shut up in my bones they going to make me preach in Fort Lauderdale Florida I promise I wasn't going to preach but now I'm starting to feel like it's some devils in this room and I came to run some devils out of Florida I

came to run depression out of Florida I came to make a woman get back in position and then take her rightful place as a woman who has victory over the enemy I got victory over that I've got victory over addiction I've got victory over cancer I've got victory over everything that's been happening in my family I've got victory over Suicidal Thoughts I got victory over that I know it doesn't look like Victory I'm telling you where it's going to end you're looking at the middle but I'm listening to what God Said first God said I

was going to come out of this God said that this thing was going to take me out I'm prophesying cuz I don't care what the middle says I care what God Said first and the most powerful thing that ever happened to me is when I was six or seven years ago I decided that even though I got pregnant at 13 had my son at 14 even though I dropped out of college even though I was waitressing at a strip club even though I did all of these things that were supposed to disqualify me the most

powerful thing that ever happened to me is I went back to what God Said [Music] first I stopped looking at where I was in the middle and I zoomed out of the picture and when I zoomed out of the picture all I could see was when I was formed in my mother's womb to where he promised me that I was going to make it to the other side what is the other side the other side is when his glory can be manifested through my life and I realized that I could not say zoomed in to

where I was and let glory be manifested through my life at the same time so I had to make a decision to clear the way for Glory to clear the way for his anointing to fall to clear the way for him to show up that's why Eve is really one of my favorite women in the Bible because Eve found a way to clear the path for the seed that was meant to bruise the head of the serpent to be birthed I love that Eve wasn't concerned with whether or not she would see the seed all

she was concerned with was setting the promise in motion so Eve has Cain and Abel and they had but she did not allow the fact that Cain and Abel did not look like the seed that would bruise the head of the serpent to keep her from still producing she chose to keep on producing even when the thing that was supposed to be the seed or could have been the seed died she said if that seed didn't work then there must be another seed if I had time I would preach a message called Throw Another seed

at at it cuz there are moments in life when the first seed doesn't look like the seed that is supposed to be the seed and we shut down all together when God really just wanted you to throw another seed at it Eve throws another seed at it through Seth and Seth becomes ultimately the first line of redemption that would lead us to Jesus so all Eve decided to do really was not not focus on whether or not she would see it but whether or not she could do something that would just set it in motion

that's my prayer for you activate is that you would not be so consumed with whether or not you are the one who actually pulls everyone over to the other side that you would not be so concerned with whether or not your business that is just starting off becomes a Forbes company right now you're you're thinking too big that you have to work what you know until you get to where God said you would go so the only thing that I want you to focus on is setting something in motion if you set it in motion

God will do the rest