This point in the text, you all may be familiar with the story of Lazarus dying and Jesus resurrecting him. There's a lot of context to this particular moment in the text, but as I always do, I'm going to ask that those of you who know the end of the story suspend the knowledge that you have to, for a moment, join Martha and Mary in the unknown of what's going to happen. Sometimes when we know the ending, it takes away from the impact of the process. And yet when we find them in this text, they don't know what the end is going to be.
I'm in John. I start at verse 20 from chapter 11. Martha and Mary sinned for Jesus. They were friends with Jesus. And so when their brother, come on, all the church girls are standing for the reading of the word.
And I know y'all's feet hurt, thank you. Martha and Mary are friends with Jesus. They think to themselves, I'm in trouble, but I have a friend who can get me out of trouble. I can't imagine what that was like, to be friends with Jesus in such a way that you think surely my...
trouble, my emergency will be his crisis and he will respond. They send word to Jesus, but Jesus doesn't respond. And because Jesus doesn't respond, not only are they dealing with the the grief of losing their brother, they're dealing with the reality that this connection they thought they had with Jesus is not as strong as they thought it was.
She's trying to figure out why he didn't respond when she reached out to him. Jesus begins to head to where they are, and Martha meets him there. It says, now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him.
But Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you. I want you to understand that when she says this, she's not saying, okay God, so now you can bring my brother back to life.
What she's saying is, I'm trying to make sense of this reality, that you had the power but didn't use the power. I know that whatever you ask of God, He'll do, so I'm trying to figure out why you didn't respond to the thing that I need. And Jesus says to her, your brother will rise again.
And Martha says to him, I know that he's going to rise again in the resurrection at the last day, but I needed you to bring him back to life four days ago. I needed you to keep them alive. And Jesus says to her, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in me shall never never die.
Do you believe this? And she said to him, yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the son of God who is to come into the world. And when she had said these things, she went her way and secretly called Mary, her sister, saying, the teacher has come and is calling for you. My subject is the moment of increase.
Spirit of the living God, there is no way in the world I could do this without you. And even if I could, I wouldn't want to. God, the fact is that I got nothing but you. So this is my offering. I lay it all down.
These are your daughters. Take them to places only you can take them. Give me divine insight, wisdom, and prophecy that makes it clear that it is not me. at all, but it is you calling them to a deeper place in you. God, I pray that at the conclusion of this message, that they will walk out lighter than when they came in, that their faith will be stirred up, and that me, myself, I will be reminded that you don't need my plans. You just need my surrender.
In Jesus'name I pray. Amen. Oh Lord, help me. Early on in our lives, like in the infancy stage of our life, whenever there are doctor's visits, the doctors ask certain questions and the questions are meant to check our development.
They ask things like, is the baby's head sitting, can the baby sit up on his own? Is the baby able to handle the weight of his head? Is he rolling over?
Is she scooting across the floor? Because what they're looking for are milestones of growth and development. If they have these particular milestones of growth and development, it's a sign that they are maturing biologically in the way that they should.
That is usually just biological and cognitive development, but then when we go to school they're not just looking at our cognitive development, they're also looking at our emotional and social development. They start looking at things like how well do you play with other children, do you respond, do you listen. They're checking to see are you developing appropriately as other children in your age group are.
You're sitting next to someone or maybe you know someone and they talk all the time. They didn't just find out that they talked all the time. When they were in second grade, the teacher left a comment on the end of that report card that said, this one got a mouth on her.
Because as a part of their process, they're checking to see how you develop. They're checking to see do you share with others. We've been introverted our whole lives. We never wanted to be in the middle of the group.
We never wanted to share the toys with everyone. We wanted to be by ourselves with our own snacks and with our own toys. This is the way that we have always been and there are usually signs throughout our development that shows who we are when we mature.
An interesting happens though when you begin checking enough boxes. When you start checking off the biological boxes, the cognitive boxes, they stop asking these questions. I don't know if it's around 14, 15, 18, but eventually they stop asking, are you walking well on your own? Are you holding your head up anymore?
Nobody cares if you're developing anymore. And that lasts for about two decades before the doctor starts asking a different set of questions. And some of these different set of questions are like, do you have any pain in your body that feels unfamiliar?
Do you notice that your heart rate exerts when you're doing things that used to be easy? These two are signs of development. It's just development in a different direction. This level of development is trying to assess where you are on the decline, trying to determine whether or not you're moving in from a stage of stability into a stage of declining. Are you having any difficulty walking or moving around?
This, too, is development. And developmental research shows us that development is not just progress. Oftentimes when we hear the word development, we think about growth.
We think about expansion. We think about increase. But when researchers look at development, they define it in three different characterizations.
And that is growth, stability, and decontrol. All of this is a part of the development process. I'm either developing and growing, I am developing into stability, or I've reached a stage in my life where I am developing into decline.
What's interesting is that there is no announcement when you move from the growth stage to the stability stage. The doctor doesn't say, okay, I'm going to stop asking questions about how you're developing biologically or cognitively. they just stop talking at all.
And then nobody says, okay, now you've reached a stage where I'm going to start asking you a different set of questions. There is no announcement when you move from one stage to the next. And that's why you often need someone to ask you questions, because they know what to look for even if you don't know what to look for.
Because they understand what to look for, they ask you the kind of questions to help you understand where you are in the development process. When a doctor looks at a baby and says they're a little behind for their age, they're able to... ...for intervention so that they can move them into a space of development that is more appropriate.
Sometimes you can be increasing and not even realize it until someone says to you, you're developing in an area but you don't even see that development. I think about Mary when Jesus was at the wedding. When Jesus is at the wedding and they've run out of wine, she nudges him, she tells the servant, whatever he says, do. And Jesus says, woman, my time has not come, but... he performs the miracle anyway because Mary knows something about his development that Jesus doesn't realize yet.
Mary knows that in Luke 2 when we come to the end of Jesus being lost in Jerusalem At 12 years old, the scripture tells us that Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and men. He was growing, but he also needed Mary to let him know that what you have gone through is now ready to be released into the world. I want you to know that you have developed enough to release what is on the inside of you. The stage has been set, and sometimes you do not know that you have increased until someone lets you.
you know that you have developed enough to move into the next stage of your destiny. Sometimes you don't know it because you get so locked into the process that you settle into development forever. But there is a time where you move from growth into stability. And when you move from growth into stability, you may need someone to tell you that you've done enough reading, you've done enough listening.
It's time for you to release what's on the inside of you. I'm telling you that you have increased enough to move into the next stage of your destiny. And the reason why we miss this is because increase is often disguised.
Increase is often disguised. We don't always see it when we increase. We don't always feel it when we increase. Increase doesn't make an announcement.
Sometimes you just look up and you're not who you used to be. to be anymore because increase didn't let me know that I was changing. I was just being obedient.
I was just following the voice of God. I really wasn't even looking for increase. I was looking for obedience. I really wasn't even looking for increase.
I was looking to offer myself as a living sacrifice. I wasn't looking for increase. And that's why you need someone to let you know when you have increased. Because if not, you will think that you are the same person you used to be. But sometimes you need someone to let you know that you're walking a little bit differently.
You're talking a little bit differently. And they're trying to figure out what it is. And you don't even know what it is.
But I'm trying to let you know that you have increased. That you're not the person I remember when some of you wouldn't have. Me?
even been in this room on a Thursday night going out of your way to be at a conference to hear about Jesus. But for some reason, I just had to be in the room. Why did you have to be in the room?
Because I was increasing. God's been calling me into something. He's been moving me into something and I've increased in such a way that this is the only place I want to be. I could be anywhere in the world, but for some reason, I want to be in a room with a few thousand other women lifting up. up the name of Jesus, which is crazy because I used to want to be out with a few hundred people doing some things that we won't even talk about.
And I can't tell you how I went from there to this, but I think God must have increased me. I need someone to get a revelation in this room that this is not your first time surrendering, that you have surrendered in the past. And that's why you're in this room in the first place. There are some women in this room who know a thing or two about surrender.
And when you surrender, you're in the room of surrender. And when you surrendered, God increased you on the low. When you surrender, God says, now I can pour more trust in you. Now I can pour more faith in you.
Now I can give you more of my spirit. You're looking for financial increase. I'm trying to let you know that the increase that God has done on the inside of you is better than any dollar amount that you could ever receive outside of you. Baby, I'm stronger than I was before.
Baby, I believe God in a way I never believed God before. That heartbreak wasn't increase in disguise that betrayal was increasing disguise I didn't know it but it pushed me closer to God I didn't know it but it made me start crying out in a way I would have never cried out before Increase in disguise. Increase in disguise. It only looks like a problem because you don't recognize that increase is in disguise. It only looks like they walked away from you because you don't realize that increase is in disguise.
has come in a disguise. When the angel of the Lord comes to Mary and the angel of the Lord says to Mary, blessed are you and highly favored are you amongst women, she gets afraid because she doesn't realize that this is increase in disguise. Sometimes God visits you and what makes you afraid is actually increase in disguise.
The bush is burning. Moses turns away. He doesn't realize that it's increase in disguise.
I don't know what you're up against right now, and it may look like it's actually up against you, but I want you to understand that it is actually developing you, that this is increase in disguise. I know you're tired. I know you're weary, but I want you to understand that every obstacle is an opportunity for increase.
My money may go down, but my faith is going to go up. You don't get to just take everything from me. God, if I have received a deficit, show me where the increase is. Because I know you wouldn't leave me with less than where you met me.
So there's got to be increase somewhere. I want to talk to somebody in this room who's felt like they've been robbed, who felt like something was taken from you. And I want you to understand that God would not allow something to be taken from you if he didn't know how to multiply you in such a way that what was taken from you changes who you are on the inside and you become increased. Increase in disguise. It's not betrayal, it's increase.
It's hard, but it's increase. It's going to take everything you got, you're right, because it's increase. And you want it to take everything you have, because when God gets ready to multiply it, you don't want to have withheld anything.
God, I'm going to lay it all down. I could hold half of it back, but I'm going to lay it all down, because when I give it to you, there's increase. Increase.
It's often something that we just step into. And when God sends someone to push us, he's also helping us to realize that there are some people who see you better than you see yourself. And even if they don't know who you are, God knows who you are. Can I tell you a little something about increase in disguise?
Increase in disguise will have you looking at a shepherd boy with a lunchbox thinking that he could not possibly run up on Goliath saying to him you should go back to the field and let the big, strong, bold people take care of this giant. They said he wasn't enough. God says this is increase in disguise. See, there are some people who may look at their situation and think, Lord, this is not enough. God says you are increased in disguise.
Don't expect for them to see what God sees. David had more courage on the inside of him than they had muscle on the outside of them. He was increased in disguise. That little boy had two fish and five loaves of bread.
They said, Jesus, we don't have enough. Jesus said, that's more than enough. That's increased in disguise.
I want you to start looking at what you have to work with and recognize that you may say it's not enough, but God says, I'll take whatever you... you have because whatever you have is something that I can use. It's increase in disguise.
Something happens when we begin to recognize that it's possible to move from one stage to another stage and never realize it. You know what's scarier? Not realizing the moment where there has been increase in disguise.
or missing the moment when I begin to decline. I think, I think I'd rather miss increase than to miss decline. David, this warrior, this man after God's own heart, would not fight a battle without asking God, shall I go up? Some kind of way this same person who was so committed to following the heart of God finds himself in a situation where he is home from battle and when he's home from battle he begins making choices. that he should have never made.
So much so that when the prophet Nathan comes to him and tells him a story about himself, he doesn't even recognize himself because he has been declining and doesn't even realize it. Sometimes we decline and we don't even realize it. We're shocked to find out that while we were so busy producing, so busy people pleasing, so busy showing up, that they were getting the results but we were getting the decline.
I don't know what's worse. How does Jonah, the prophet, God's mouthpiece, find himself in a situation where he will not do what God told him to do? He declined and didn't even realize it. There are people in this room And they don't even realize how much they have declined in their faith, how much they have declined in their hope, how much they have declined in their courage, because it happened so suddenly that we don't even know how we got there. I know in a room this size, it's not everyone's testimony.
But I don't know about you, there have been some times where I looked at my life and I was so far off track that I couldn't even retrace my steps. Moments in my life where I was so far off track that I didn't even realize that I was walking by sight and no longer by faith I had declined. So busy having my purpose, my vision, my talent come to life that I didn't realize that I had taken ownership of something that started with God. I started declining and didn't even realize it.
It started off a blessing, now it feels like a curse. What happened? When did I start declining?
When did I lose the honor for the thing that God gave me? When did I lose the honor for this opportunity? I started declining, maybe I should have rested. When somebody said that they would help me, maybe I should have asked for help because now I'm in a situation where I'm declining. Maybe I should have talked to somebody because now I'm in a situation where I'm declining.
Maybe I should have asked someone to give me some. some wisdom and some insight instead of being superwoman because now I am declining and nobody knows it because I'm still producing. Nobody knows it because I'm still showing up.
Nobody knows it because I'm still singing the songs. Nobody knows it because I came out of my way to go to Woman Evolve Conference. They think I'm here because I'm such a good church girl. I'm here because I can sense I'm declining.
I'm not as sharp as I used to be. I'm not as solid as I once was. I feel myself declining. I used to have power and authority, but I feel myself declining. I used to believe that no weapon formed against me will prosper, but some kind of way I'm declining.
I used to believe that I could rebuke the devil and the devil would flee, but some kind of way I'm declining. And the more that I decline, the more quiet I become because I don't want anybody to know. That I'm declining. What happened to me?
What happened to me? When I meet Martha in this text, Martha is declining. Which is really interesting. Because most people would look at this text and say, well, she's lost her brother. Of course she's declining.
But when I look at this text, I realize that we're not just looking at a woman who's grieving a person. We're looking at a woman who is grieving the loss of her plan. It's one thing to grieve a person. It's another thing to grieve a plan. Yeah, maybe I lost the person, but at least I didn't have a plan.
But this Martha, she had a plan that should have saved her from being in this situation. She had access to Jesus. She thought to herself that though he is sick, I know someone who can fix him.
And I got a plan. I'm going to send a word to Jesus. And I'm going to make sure that this doesn't progress any further.
Have you ever tried to intervene on your own situation and your plan did not work where you thought I have a divine mandate from God and I will not let anything happen on my watch and you did all of the things you knew to do but your plan still did not work she's grieving her brother She's grieving her plan. She's also grieving her faith. Oh God, help me.
She's grieving her brother. She's grieving her plan. Now she's also grieving her faith. Because loss is not just monolithic.
When we grieve something, we're not just grieving what we lost. We're grieving what we believed. We're grieving what could have been.
We're grieving what will never be again. Grief. Grief. That is the issue with surrender. I've been trying to figure out for the last few days, how do I make surrender easy?
God, help me to understand how I can give them a hunger and an appetite for surrender. And God told me, Sarah, you want to lie to them and tell them that surrender is easy. Surrender is only easy when you're on the other side of it.
But when it's time for you to lay it down, surrender is grief. When we find Jesus in the garden and we get those famous words, nevertheless, not my will but your will be done. We act like that was the final part of what he said, but it's not. In Luke 22, verse 44, it says, and being in agony, he prayed more earnestly. Being in agony.
He said it, but he said it from a place of agony. Because if you were waiting for surrender to be easy, you will never lay it all down. You have to be willing to grieve that thing that must be surrendered. People ask sometimes, why can't you just get over it?
Why can't you just get over it? You don't understand that in order for me to get over it, I would have to create a memorial service for this thing. I gotta make preparations to lay this thing down.
You don't just... come into a space and lay down something that you thought would save your life, something that you thought would be your destiny, something that you thought would make the difference in your life. You don't just lay that down easy. It takes a certain level of grief connected to that.
And what I love... Martha in this text, when she comes up to Jesus, she asks Jesus, she tells Jesus, if you would have been here, my brother would not have died. What I hear Martha saying is, if you really cared about me, you would have responded to the thing I asked you to do.
What she doesn't realize is that she wants to know if God cares about her. But what Jesus wants to show her is it's not that I just care about you, that I want to care for you, that I want you to understand that caring about you you makes it seem like am I anywhere in his perspective but when you recognize that Jesus wants to care for you you recognize that no I didn't necessarily come when you wanted me to because I had a plan that was bigger than you could have imagined but I can't came right here, right now, because I can care for you in such a way that makes you realize that I still see you, that makes you realize that I still have a plan. If you could get over not being cared about, you will begin to know Jesus as the one who cares for you. I want to care for that broken heart.
I want to care for that disappointment. I want to care for that discouragement. How do I care for it? I want you to know that I'm coming to get it.
I'm coming to get that grief. I'm coming to get that disappointment. appointment.
I'm coming to rectify the situation. I didn't intervene when you wanted me to, but I did not ignore you all together because I care for you. I care so much for you that I took the time to have an exchange with you. You have to understand that Jesus did not have to tell Martha. He didn't have to have this exchange with Martha.
Jesus could have walked right past Martha and went straight to the tomb and brought Lazarus back to life, but because he cares so much for you, much for her. Even though he knows that he has a plan that's going to help her, he cared enough to take the time to hear your disappointment. He cared enough to take the time to hear your discouragement. I don't need any perfect Christians who make it seem like, oh, he's been good to me every single day.
Maybe he has been good in hindsight, but there have been some moments where I wondered if he was still going to be good to me. There have been some moments where I felt like he forgot me. I learned after the fact that he didn't leave me. or forsake me, but in the moment, I felt like he wasn't going to show up. God, if you had been there, I would have never been touched.
God, if you had been there, I would have never gone through that divorce. God, if you would have been there, I would have never gone through that betrayal. God says, you can go through it because by the time I get finished taking care of you, you have no question about whether or not I cared about you. I know how to take care of that.
God says, I didn't want it to happen for you or to you, but I know what to do with it. because I know how to care for you. I know how to care for you.
In a room full of 40,000, I know how to care for you. I know how to care for you in a way that your friends could never care for you. I know how to care for you in a way that your mother could never care for you.
I know how to care for you in a way that you don't even know how to verbalize. You serve a God who will go out of his way. He'll stop in his track to make sure that you are seen about because he cares for you. And when we see Martha having this exchange with Jesus, Jesus is revealing to her that I didn't come when you needed me to, but I got a plan in the midst of everything that's happening. What I love about this is that Jesus doesn't try to convince her to not grieve.
Jesus doesn't tell her to just get over it. Jesus starts asking her questions about what she believes. This is important because I need you to understand that in moments of grief, when it will not let go of you, the only thing you may be able to do is grieve and believe at the same time. Oh God, help me to say this real good. Jesus doesn't strip her of her grief.
He says, you can keep your grief. I want to know what you believe. Because if you can grieve and believe at the same time, then I need you to understand that your belief will overwhelm your grief.
I don't even need to attack the grief. I need to focus on your belief. Can I tell you what God told me when I was looking at this text?
God told me that when he was talking to Martha, that he needed Martha to believe on a different level. Oh God, I feel my help coming. God needed Martha to believe something about God that she has never had to believe before.
Oh, I feel like preaching. I feel like I'm about to turn the corner in this room. You have to understand that when he asked Martha, do you believe this?
That Martha starts repeating Pharisaic belief. Yes, I believe in the last days that he's going to come back. He says, no, no, no. I have a new belief. You're going to have to believe something about God.
that you have never believed before. This is not a season for recycled belief. If you are going to break out of your grief, if you are going to break out of this situation, you are going to have to believe something about God that you have never had to believe before. God, I wanted you to be here, but if you didn't show up, maybe you are increasing my belief. I'm going to have to believe that that destiny is not ruined.
I'm going to have to believe that you can heal me and restore me. I wanted to believe that I would never go through it. But now that I'm going through it, I got to believe that you'll get me through it.
I got to believe that you'll give me wisdom. I got to believe that you'll give me strategy. I got to believe something about God that I have never had to believe before.
I don't know who you are in this room, but I hear God saying that you're not going to get the job done with recycled belief. I need you to put some grace. grandmother's faith down. This ain't a job for your mother's faith.
This ain't a job for your pastor's faith. This is a job for new faith. This is a job for new belief. You're going to have to believe something that the debt is already paid, that the mortgage is already sealed.
You will have to believe something about God that you would never believe before, that I am never forsaken, that I may be alone, but I'm never lonely, that there are angels watching over me. me. You're going to have to believe on a different level. God says, if you're going to have breakthrough in your life, it's not going to happen because you just stayed seated in your grief.
Baby, I'm grieving, but I'm also believing. I'm still believing that I got a shot. I'm still believing that my best days are ahead of me. I still believe.
I still believe. I'm not saying it didn't hurt. I'm just saying I still believe. I'm not saying you didn't break me.
I'm just saying I still believe. I'm believing something about God that I've never had to believe before. When you talk about breaking a generational curse, we're talking about believing something that no one in your family has ever...
I've never believed before, but I hear God saying that you're the woman for the job, baby. Because you are the only one who can believe on the level of what this takes. You're going to have to believe.
That's why the recycled belief isn't working. That's why those same old prayers don't have the power they once had. That's recycled belief. It worked for you back then, but you're gonna have to surrender what you used to believe to lay hold of this new belief. There's a new belief, and I want you to ask God, what am I gonna have to believe about you?
that I have never had to believe before. I'm moving from one stage to another stage and nothing I've done in the past is working for where I am now. I'm gonna have to believe something about God. that I have never had to believe before. I'm gonna have to believe that I can make it in this world without that person I wanted here.
I'm gonna have to believe something I've never had to believe before. I have to believe. I can do this by myself if I have to. I gotta believe something I've never had to believe before. I gotta believe I can walk into that room and I can take up space in that room.
I'm gonna have to believe something I've never had to believe before that I can raise this child and break this curse. I gotta believe something I've never had to believe before. I ask God, this message has been so heavy on me.
I've been waiting on that sound. Because that's the sound of grieving and believing. That's the sound of though he slay me, yet shall I trust in him. Hallelujah. Jesus.
Jesus says something to Martha that he doesn't even say that often in scripture. Jesus for the most part says, who do men say that I am? He never fully owns who he is except for in a few particular moments.
And in a moment... Where this woman is struggling to believe, because I'm going to show you something about me that nobody else sees. He gives a moment of her greatest disbelief.
He gives her a revelation this disbelief. He gives her a revelation that even the most faithful don't get to hold. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. You have to understand that everything that Jesus did was about sticking and moving.
He doesn't go around talking about who he is. He just embodied who he is. But because this woman is struggling so much, he says, come here close to me.
I'm going to tell you who I am. God, show this woman who you are. In a way she can't deny.
Cuz this woman's gotta believe something about you that she's never had to believe before. And she can't do it on the outskirts of revelation. She needs a personal encounter.
Cuz what she's gonna have to lay down? Her plan. Her idea of what her life should have looked like.
Her idea of where she should be by now or what the kids should be doing or where the man is or isn't. The addiction. She wants to be clean.
She wants to be sober. She wants to be righteous. She's never seen it done before.
She's going to have to believe something about you. That she's never had to believe before. Jesus, Jesus gives her this revelation about who he is because we serve a God who will take us in deeper even when we're trying to pull away.
There was something about this text that stood out to me that helped me to understand that the first step of surrender It's not laying it all down. It's grieving. Then believing. Then laying it all down. Can I tell you, I found it fascinating that when Martha has this moment with Jesus, that the text tells us that she says, yes, I believe it, but we can tell there's still a little dissonance in her belief.
And it says she goes to tell Mary, her sister. that the teacher has called for you. So I went and read again in the book to see when Jesus called for her.
Jesus never said, go get married. It's almost as if when Martha couldn't believe it on her own that she had to go find a woman. who could believe on a level that she couldn't.
It's almost as if she needed a sister to go and hear what Jesus had said because I'm struggling to believe it on my own. But if I get Get a sister who can believe what God said. Maybe she can help me make sense of what's happening in my life.
Woman Evolve, I want to let you know that you're in the right space. And you sit next to the right woman. Because what you cannot believe on your own, God says, I'm going to help you be in connection with another woman who can help you believe on a level that you don't know how to believe yet.
When she went to go get married, she did not just go get any ordinary woman. I'm about to close. She went to go get a woman who knew how to pour out her oil and wash his... speed with her hair.
She went and got a woman who understood that I don't always understand his plans, but I trust who he is. I don't know if you are Martha or Mary, but I know that if you're in In this room, you got to be one or the other. No woman should be untouched in this room because we're about to believe God on a level we've never had to believe before. We're getting ready to decree miracles in this place. We're getting ready to declare breakthrough in this place.
We're getting ready to destroy the works of the devil. We're getting ready to go to war with that woman's depression. We're going to war with that woman's depression.
suicidal thoughts. We're going to war with her loneliness. Why? Because your belief could be the thing that pushes her belief to the next level.
You know something about God that that woman is just learning, but baby he's got her next to the right one. I know him to be a healer. I know him to be a way maker.
I know him to go ahead of you and make your crooked path straight. I know him to create a business plan. I know him to help you raise your children.
I know him to help you build a ministry. I know him. I know him to do it. I know him to heal you. I know him to break the curse off of your mind.
I know him to set you free. I know him to deliver you. Woman evolve if there's another woman in this room who knows something about God that another woman needs to know. I dare you to release it in the atmosphere. Who do you say I am?
What do you know about me? What do you believe about God? I believe that it's not over. Samantha, come take these shoes off my feet. We got work to do.
If y'all gotta go, I know you've been up all day, and I know some of you are ready to go home. But we got a stronghold to break. We got work to do in the spirit realm.
Nobody came all this way to stay the same way. Nobody went out of their way to walk out of here believing the way they believed before. I said I'm looking for a woman who's had to believe something about God.
That she's never believed before. I want to prophesy in this room about the God I know. I can't tell you about Buddha.
I can't tell you about Allah. But baby, I can tell you something about Jesus. I can tell you he's the sweetest thing I know. I can tell you that the blood still works. I can tell you that if you knock, he'll answer.
I can tell you that if you thirst and hunger for righteousness, that he'll fill you. I can't tell you what I don't know, but one thing I do know is he will back shame up off of you. I know that he will protect you. Know that he'll feel you.
I can't tell you. What I don't know. How y'all doing up there? Has it been good to you? Has it been better than good to you?
They must be over here. Do you know something about God? Cancer, I rebuke you.
Tumors, you gotta get out of here. Fibroids, I rebuke you. I've seen them healed.
I've seen wolves pregnant. I've seen the blind see. I've seen the lame walk. Not in the Bible. I'm talking about in the year of our Lord, 2024, that He's still doing miracles.
I know he causes all things to work together. I know that. Cuz there are some things in my life that should have never worked. But he worked them.
There's some things that I know. That I shouldn't even know, but he made sure I had access to knowledge that I couldn't get from anywhere else. It's not enough to have your plan. It's not enough even to have your grief.
If you don't have belief, fresh belief, I know it costs you to be in this room, but why would you come in this room to have a recycled faith? Why would you come in this room to have a repeat of what you already know? God says I want to give you something that you would have never had otherwise.
I need you to believe God for healing, not just in your body. But in the area where you've had to surrender, I need you to believe, not that Jesus cares about you, but that he cares for you. I care for you.
I care so much for you. I protect you. I care so much for you. I kept you here.
I cared so much for you that I sent that grandmother, I sent that teacher. You keep giving me a list of all the things that make you feel like I didn't care about you, but you're missing the ways that I cared for you. And I didn't just care then. I care now.
Martha's trying to figure out. We were friends and I know you cared then, but do you care now? Now I want you to know that being in relationship with Jesus, it doesn't mean that he always responds in the way that we anticipate.
And I'll be honest, that's frustrating. Because I have an idea of what care looks like. And having to surrender your definition of what care looks like. God, if you really cared about me, my business would have succeeded.
If you really cared about me, if you really, if you really cared, if you really cared, if you really cared, I care for you. But me caring for you doesn't always mean that you get the things that you want. But what it does mean is that what I give you in return is going to show you that I couldn't give you what you wanted when you wanted it.
but what I had for you was worth the wait. I want to prophesy over somebody in this room that what God has for you is going to be worth the grief, that what God has for you is going to be worth every tear you have shed, is going to be worth every heartbreak you've ever had. And my prayer for you...
Is that you won't miss the moment of increase. Because increase is often disguised. Sometimes it looks like heartbreak.
Sometimes it looks like loss. But if we are only expecting response in one area. We may miss the increase that is available to us in other areas.
And so my question to you is what do you need to grieve? And what is it that you need to believe? Maybe I don't have to work twice as hard.
Maybe I need to let that person go. Maybe I need to forgive and let that situation hurt me because sometimes I'm so tough I won't admit that it hurts. But maybe grieving for me is admitting that it hurts. But don't let the enemy get you stuck in grief. You can grieve and believe at the same time.
Your homework for tonight. I'm a college girl so I can give homework now. It's to offer yourself as a living sacrifice. You're here, we got one day down, we got two days left.
This moment, this weekend is an altar. It's an altar for you to say. Not just what do I need to lay down, but also God, what do I need to pick up?
Can you do me a favor and touch the woman beside you? Oh God, can you imagine what she's up against? Can you imagine what it is that she needs to believe about Jesus?
That she's struggling to believe. I already know because I know girls like her because I used to be one of her. She don't even like that you touching her. Oh, y'all need to grow up.
I'd rather face this on my own. Don't touch me. You're making me feel things. You need to feel that. You need to let somebody hold you for a minute.
You need to let belief transfer in this room. Can you imagine what our collective knowledge of who God is could do in this room? There are literally people in this room where the doctor said that you don't have any more time.
And here they are years down the road still alive in this room. People in this room battling depression, people in this room battling anxiety, and yet someone else in this room on the other side of depression, on the other side of anxiety. That's what happens when we come into this room.
You're not the only one been high. You're not the only one been strung out. You're not the only one been looking for somebody to make you feel good so you didn't feel bad.
It's all in this room. And yet he really heals. He really delivers.
So I want you to squeeze belief in that woman's room. Belief. Belief. Belief.
Belief. Belief. Belief. Belief. Belief.
Belief. Belief. I believe.
I believe. I believe. I believe.
I believe. Stir up the gift of God that's on the inside of her. I believe.
I believe. I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe you're healed. I believe that God's going to walk you through it.
I believe that he's going to protect you and preserve you. I believe he's going to convict you and he's going to comfort you. I believe that he's going to transform you. you. I believe that he's going to call your people to you.
I believe that he's going to give you wisdom. I believe that he's going to give you insight. I believe he's going to give you patience. I believe he's going to give you joy.
I believe, I believe, I believe, I believe beauty for ashes. I believe, I believe, I believe that he will restore what the locusts have eaten. I believe who he says he is.
I believe he'll do what he says he will do. I believe he's still faithful. I know you're questioning, but I believe I've seen.
I believe that he will cause your feet to walk on high ground. I believe that he will call you into greater depths and greater anointing. I believe you haven't seen your best day yet. I believe that rivers of living water are going to flow out of your room. I can't lay hands on every woman in this room, but because you're touching her, I believe the same anointing that's on my life is down on the inside of that woman.
And it makes me feel better. come out in dancing and may come out in writing but who the Sun has set free my God is free indeed and I decree and declare everything that God put in you it must come out everything that God put in you it must come out everything that God put in you I demand it to come out. I demand it to come out.
I demand it to come out. Before you get back on the plane, before you lay your head down on the pillow, I believe somebody's gonna break out in tongues. Somebody's creativity is coming back. Somebody's peace is coming back.
I'm not waiting till you get home. I demand it to come forth. In.
In the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, in the name that is above every name, in the name that every mission of his name, every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess, I speak Jesus over your life, Jesus. Baby, I don't know who you are in that pink shirt, but I hear God saying that you needed to be as high up as possible. Because God says that he's got a bird's eye view of your life.
And when you see what he sees, you're going to recognize that it was all working out in your favor. I hear God saying you got the best seat in the house. Because when it's all said and done, you're going to see it the way God sees it. God, these are your women.
You know the steps they've taken. You know the tears they've cried. You know the areas. where they never got a chance to grieve and you know the spot where they need to believe something different. God I pray that you would take the limits off of their minds that the same The same mind that was in Christ Jesus would rest on the inside of their skull.
God, I thank you for renewed thoughts. I thank you for renewed hope. I thank you for a fresh surrender, not because it's easy. But because they are believing you in a way they've never believed before.
God, I pray that you would not allow the enemy to come and rob this word from them. I rebuke you. Hell, get out of here.
You have no space. What God has placed in this woman's womb tonight, what he has placed in her spirit tonight, generations will benefit from. Her great, great, great, great, great grandchildren and nieces and people in her community.
are going to benefit from what she received tonight. Because she has received a revelation of who you are that has caused her to be stretched. Thank you, God, for this opportunity. Yes.
Thank you for freedom. Thank you for somebody sleeping tonight. Thank you for somebody waking up with joy.
Thank you, God, that we're just getting started. And it's only up from here because you don't take us backwards. So I thank you God that this is a moment of increase. And from here we're going from glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to glory to glory until we look like Jesus in a way that proves.
that you were developing us every step of the way. This is my offering, God. I pray that it was pleasing and acceptable in your sight. These are your daughters. Do what only you can do.
I love you, woman of all.