John Gray - Keep Breathing
I would encourage you to just say that out loud. Its going to happen, say that. In fact let's take it a step further. It must happen. Now let's go another further and say, its happening now. Now let your faith catch that last one, that its happening now as in this American moment. I wore green while you're praising. I wore this 'cause I wanted the enemy to see me. I wanted, I didn't wanna blend in tonight. I wanted to make sure that if he was around you saw me, I'm still in the house of the Lord. I'm still here. I will not go away quietly into the night. I will not whisper my praise to God. I will not retreat at the attack of the enemy.
In fact, I'm right here. Hit me with your best shot because greater is he that's in me than he that's in the world. My pastor just said, those that are with us are more than those that are against us. So come on with it, devil. 'Cause only a third of heaven's angels fell which means for every one demon its at least two angels. Come on in here! I feel the Holy Ghost. We interrupt this regularly scheduled Wednesday night service to bring you a special announcement. This service has been taken over by the Holy Ghost. I'm not interested in being average tonight. I'm not interested in being regular tonight. I'm not interested in going quietly into the night. It would seem that we have underestimated the resolve of our enemy to frustrate us, to attempt to break us with circumstance. Attack after attack. Tragedy after tragedy. But the enemy is also surely sorely underestimated the resolve of the Holy Ghost on the inside of us. Am I talking to anyone tonight?
I want you to know that at some point tonight something's gonna break. And I'm not saying this to play. I'm saying this prophetically. My pastor's know today is a very significant day for my family and i. And the fact that I'm able to stand up here and preach the Word of God is a testament to his power and his favor alone. And I wanna thank God for this great church and these great leaders. So much integrity and character here. I'm very grateful for this house. I wanna encourage you tonight, I want you to leave here with joy in your heart and your spirit filled with faith.
I want you to know that the attacks on your life are indicative of the level of calling that you possess. If every door seems to be getting shut. If you've been hearing more no's than usual, if your money is a little more funny than usual. Change slightly strange. If its been difficult to get that peace on the inside, those are sure signs of spiritual attack. And its because you always hit hardest before the breakthrough. I think somebody caught that. I'd like to say it again. You're always hit hardest before the breakthrough, sir. Healing comes to your house, healing comes to your body. I bind cancer in the name of Jesus. I declare healing. And if he can shout with lymphoma you can shout with whatever you got going on.
I declare healing in this church tonight. Miracles begin to break out even online, at home for you and your loved ones. May the Lord meet your house with miracles. May the Lord meet your family with miracles. May healing be the children's bread. May the king of glory show up in miraculous ways. Starting right now, it's happening now. It's happening now. It's happening now. It's happening now. Get your faith stirred up. Believe it, confess it, declare it, that the Word of God is active in your life. It's happening right now. I'm trying my best to maintain my decorum so that I can get through the word and honor this moment.
I wanna take just this second and tell you how grateful I am that I'm in a church filled with believers tonight. Because when you are attacked you wanna know that you're around some people that know how to say the right thing at the right time. I know I'm not the only one. You know its one thing to go through but its a whole 'nother thing to go through with some folk that'll get in the trenches with ya. I don't need nobody on the top of my trench. I'm about you alright down there? Let me know when you get out, I'll come pray for ya then. I need somebody that'll climb down there with me and say hey, hey I'm with you. Like my man Aaron Lindsay. Came to check on his brother and I know that when I struggle I got my man and he's like yo, you need me to come scoop you? You need me to come roll?
I need people like that in this season. Identify the people that will get in the trenches with you because those are the people that you cannot only count on but make sure you count them as a part of your table when God elevates you. Oh 'cause its coming. It's coming, you can't have this kind of attack without some kind of blessing that's gonna blow your mind. Devil, I don't know what you thought you were doing. All you did is setup my miracle. All you did is add more favor to my life. More blessing to my life. You will be my footstool before this whole thing is over. Glory! I told you that before this service was over something was gonna break. And its gonna break in your favor. I said its breaking in your favor. Hallelujah.
Something's been happening in this church over the months and I can feel it. And I just sense that today is that day where the Lord's just gonna be like, surprise your miracle is here. Surprise, the breakthrough is here. Surprise, the answer has arrived. Surprise. We all have one thing in common in here. That too. Somebody's is like, Jesus! We have Jesus in common, that's right. The other thing that we have in common is that we all are in the same space using the same oxygen. We are connected. Everybody do me a favor, take a breath in. Breathe it out. One more time, breath in, breathe it out.
This is for those who have been under relentless attack. This is for those who have been crying at night. This is for those who don't see a way out. This is for those who don't know what to do next. This is for those whose marriage is on the edge. You've been smiling but you've been crying behind the smile and you've been holding onto the external thing because you want people to think its together and you're barely holding on. This is for you tonight. This is for the ones with the doctor's report. This is for you tonight.
This is for those with the business that's right on the edge of failing, sinking, never to return. This is for you tonight. This is for the one that the enemy said, its over, forget about it, its done, give up, quit, bow down. This is for you tonight. Breathe in, breathe out. Because this is the word of the Lord. Genesis two and seven. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being.
And tonight I wanna speak to you from the subject heading. Keep breathing. Keep breathing. One more deep in. Let it out. That exchange happens over and over in every life on this planet every day. You don't will it, you're not even aware of it. It happens. You can try to control it. Sometimes you cough, it stops it. If you wanna act silly you can hold your breath but then you eventually... There's something about that oxygen that literally strengthens the body. But you're breathing in what you need and breathing out what you don't. You didn't ask it to. You didn't tell your body, get rid of the toxins. Get rid of the stuff I don't need. It just does it on its own. It's automatic, it's autonomic, it just is. You don't have to regulate it. I have to make my hand do that, but you don't have to make me breathe.
Somebody say keep breathing. I want you to know that in this season the attack has come to steal your breath. Have you ever been so overwhelmed by something and you literally just pause, you just stop? The enemy wants to take your breath and here's why. Genesis two and seven is what the devil can't get over. Why would God take dirt of all the things, and breathe into it? And make it a living being and say that's my image. Why, when all I did was say in my mind I'm going to ascend to the Mount of the North and I'm gonna be like God. I got kicked outta heaven. I had one chance and I got kicked out.
And these dirt creatures mess up day in and day out but he keeps givin' 'em chance after chance. Because even though angels were created God didn't breathe into 'em. They might see his face, but I've got his breath. Only you take my breath away only you take my breath away only you take my breath away and breathe new life into me they might see his face, they might know his form but I've got his breath. And the moment he breathed into dirt and declared that dirt now runs the earth. He gave dominion to the planet that the enemy fell into. He gave us dominion over him. The thing he fell on just got on top of him.
So every time you breathe in and out is a reminder of his final position. That's why he wants to stop your breath. And if he can't stop your breath he wants to shut your mouth. He wants to hinder your praise. He wants to keep you bound up. He wants to keep you from clapping. He wants to keep you from declaring. He wants to keep you from confessing because the enemy knows that in this season if you have enough strength even in your most broken moment, to declare the word of the Lord God must be true to his word. He is not obligated to respond to our emotion. He is not obligated to respond to our anger but he is required to respond to his word and so we shall put him in remembrance of his word.
I wanna stir your faith up, family. That I want you to start declaring the word of the Lord over your house. Husbands, I want you to get home tonight and I want you to do what Dr. Paul did last Wednesday when he was talking about Joshua 24. As for me in my house, we gonna serve the Lord. I want you to walk into every room. I don't care if you got teenagers. That ain't their room, its your room that you lettin' them borrow. Go on in that room, kick the door open, cut off the computer, take the headphones off, pray over 'em, "I bind every spirit that would try to take over my children in the name of Jesus". I declare this house is holy ground. I declare no devil in hell can take anything from me. I declare healing, wholeness over my life, over my children, my family.
Husbands I'm encouraging you, speak life over your family tonight. Fight for them. Got one hallelujah from one man of God. I'm gonna ask the men of God one more time. I want ya to declare the blessing of the Lord over your family. And if you don't know a whole lot of scripture don't be intimidated. You can start with Psalm 103 and just start declaring Psalm 103 over your family. Just keep speaking it until you see that thing come to pass. Keep breathing. The enemy wants to mute your voice. Here's the problem with you. The moment you became alive, you became a threat. Every time you breathe in and out, you're one breath closer to walking in your destiny.
Every attack of the enemy is designed to keep you frustrated to the point that you either give up as you move toward your destiny or stop believing that you have a destiny all together. But I've come tonight to let you know that the attacks were designed simply to get you disoriented. But may the voice of your Creator bring you back into alignment with the thing you were created for. Father, calibrate the ears of every person under the sound of my voice that they would begin to move in the direction of their destiny removing every person, every word, and every lie that does not line up with your will for their lives. Even if they're people that we like and care for in this season this is not about being nice, this is about getting to destiny. And if they're not helping us to get to destiny we've gotta move forward without them and we'll pray for them as we go.
Let us calibrate our ears to the frequency of heaven. The moment you became alive you became a threat because everyone who has God's breath has his authority. Do you understand the authority that you have in your mouth? Do you understand the power of what you carry? Do you, do you? Some of you are there and I love you, bless your hearts. Some of y'all are just chewing gum. I guess, I don't even know. I'm just here, I mean this is my second time. I'm not sure I'm just. I like pastor Joel's hair, it looked nice on TV. I wanted to come and see for myself.
Let me tell you something. You are the most critical piece to the puzzle. And every day that you're alive, hell is nervous. Oh hallelujah. Keep breathing through the attack, keep breathing. Through the pain, keep breathing. Through the questions, keep breathing. Don't stop, get up, wake up. Even if you don't know which way to go, just get up. Keep breathing, say something, speak something. Keep breathing because as long as you're alive you got a chance to get to destiny. And there's nobody in this room that's been disqualified from destiny.
If you can hear me, if you're here its already clear you want more of God, you wanna get closer to God and we're praying and believing with you that God pushes you into that thing that you were designed to. Understand this, the reason why you've been under attack like you have is because of the size of the threat that you are. The enemy only attacks threats. Some people are like, how come they not going through anything? They seem to just be living good. Its just everything's good with them. They don't ever be sick, everything just works out for them. They don't even go to church. Because they're not a threat so they're getting all their reward right now.
You can't worry about them because God is developing you not only for now but for eternity because he is producing in you a far more exceeding and eternal, eternal forever weight of glory. So the weight of glory, sometimes you gotta wait while the weight is put on you. Oh but the Bible says they that wait shall renew their strength. I feel my strength rising in here. Anybody else, I feel my strength rising in here. So you need to put a smile on your face the next time bill collectors call, the next time you get a pink notice for final notice and they gonna shut it off.
Get it the next time the supervisor says, you know what you really gotta step up your production. The next time you know you get another call from the doctor, I know that it's emotional but go ahead and put a smile through your tears. And be like, oh that's great this is crazy, God I don't know what you're about to do but whatever it is it must be great because the devil is doing everything he can to discourage me and I'm not gonna let him do it. I'm not gonna let him do it.
Cause he's my Savior, oh, oh Savior alright. And if you've got a big attack, the bigger the attack, the bigger the threat. So there's some people in here that are one more attack away from breakthrough. One, two, three, four. You're one... You're one more attack from breakthrough. Just one more blow from the enemy. And then, right when you feel you can't take it no more, watch your Father stand up and say, that's it, devil. Get your hands off my child. And you got to pay him back for everything you took. I really want to shout in here, but I'm gonna act right. Hey! And you have to pay them back for everything that you took. And I'm not just talking about money, I'm talking about joy. I'm talking about peace. I'm talking about nights of sleep. I'm talking about healing in your heart. Payback! Keep breathing. Keep breathing.
I want you to know God breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. Imagine how powerful this one breath is, pastor. One breath that quickened all mortal life. God didn't breath multiple times into multiple people. He breathed once. And inside of one breath, was every invention, idea, thought, song, creative idea, every recipe. Everything that you see, hear, all of these things were in one breath that he breathed into one man. That is the power of the expansion of the kingdom. As long as you're breathing, the kingdom is expanding. As long as your lungs keeps expanding and contracting, please know that the kingdom is expanding. The enemy wants to shut your mouth, but if I were you, I'd fight through, and I'd praise through, and I'd break through, if I were you.
I want you to know that it's going to require some tilling in your garden. Say, "I got a garden". I need you to understand that in this season, your garden is faith. Listen to me. Faith is a garden. Faith is a garden. Say, "Faith is a garden". Three things you need to know about gardening: there are seeds, weeds, and deeds. Let's get it again, seeds, weeds, and deeds. In this season, you've got to seed your garden with the faith of your confession. Hear me, I believe prophetically that what you speak, as it lines up with the Word of God, you will see it come to pass in your life. I'm not playing church games or word games. I'm saying that if you can have the faith to repeat what God has declared over your life, you will see it come to pass in your lifetime.
I dare you to say, "I'm gonna live and not die to declare the word of the Lord. I am the head and not the tail. I'm above and not beneath. I am the lender and not the borrower. I declare I'm rich in houses and land.' I'm going to live in houses I didn't build, drink from vineyards I didn't plant. There's increase with my name on it. I have inheritance that I know not of. My Father has a plan for me, to prosper me, to give me a future and a hope, to bring me to an expected end".
Proverbs 16:3, "Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed". "So I'm submitting my life to God. I believe my life will succeed. I declare that the Word of God is active over my life. I lay down my sin. I lay down my pride. I lay down my shame. I lay down my guilt. I lay down my previous confession, and I pick up the word of the Lord, and I declare that if God said it, I believe it and that settles it".
Seeds, weeds, and deeds. In this season, you got to make sure you're planting the right seed. You got to plant the right seed. Now, some seeds don't grow in certain climates. You don't grow banana plants in Michigan. Because a banana plant is a tropical plant. Subtropical climate. It needs a different level of moisture, different soil. And if you're young in your faith, don't be mad if something you're believing for big doesn't come to pass right away. You're still growing in your garden. You go from faith to faith. Which means from one place of faith, God does it. Now your faith is strengthened. You grow. Now you believing for something a little bit bigger.
So, don't get mad. You just got so much faith, and God says, I love your hunger, but let me teach you the process, so that you understand that there's a development to this thing. Even Jesus, Luke 2:52, had to grow in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. So, please, rest in the process. And rest in where you are right now buy sowing worthy seed in this season. I know you want the six million dollar house, but let's believe God for the two bedroom apartment first.
Now I'm not saying not to have your eye on it. Keep walking by, 'that's mine.' you got a bus card. 'but that's mine.' maybe you're working a job that doesn't pay enough to pay a mortgage on that. 'but that's still mine.' do you understand every time you sow a seed it's going to that part of the garden, even while you're tilling this part of the garden? I'm trying to help you. Don't stop believing, but still sow in this season the right seed. Whew! Then you gotta be aware of the weeds. There're seeds, and there are weeds. Everybody say, 'weeds'. Weeds are always going to be words. Weeds are always going to be words. If you sow a word of faith, please now that the weed that'll try to choke it is an opposing word.
That's why you got to be careful who you have in your life in this season. I told my wife today, I said, "We got to guard what we watch on TV, we got to guard who we hand out with, because in this season, I need faith-filled believers". We're believing God for some specific things, and I don't want people saying, "Well, you know, sometimes it's God's will. You just got to trust in him. You know, everybody got to go through things. You know, there're seasons, you know. You can't always have sunshine".
I bind that devil in the name of Jesus. I'm gone live. There's gone be health. My family's gone be blessed. We're going to believe the word of the Lord. And I don't live in seasons, I live in a lifetime! I appreciate people wanting to be practical. But you can't be practical and supernatural. To have a supernatural mindset means you don't even see things the same way, you don't even think the same way that other people think. Other people think about clocking in and out for 40 years. You thinking about one day owning the whole place. That's supernatural! Am I allowed to jump? Can I jump? Just, can I? I know I'm big, but I want to jump. Don't mind me. I just... I just... Because, every now and then, you got to come out of that practical thing.
"Well, maybe, let me just play it safe, and let me just be grateful for where I'm at, and just enjoy the moment". No! I'm believing for more. I'm believing I was created for more than this, and I want it now. Seeds, there are weeds, and there are deeds. Now the deed, help me Holy Ghost. The deed that you have is irrevocable. When you have the deed to a thing, what can they tell you about your garden? So, the enemy shows up in your body. "Excuse me, devil, what're you doing here"? "I've come with disease". "You liar. You're evicted. I got the deed right here, written in blood. By his stripes, I am healed. I was bought with a price. I am garden that belongs to the king. I don't see your name anywhere on here. This was signed by Jesus Christ, 2000 years ago. 'you don't have any rights to this land. Get off my property"!
There are seeds, weeds. You better know what you own. Your family is off-limits to the enemy. Did you hear what I said? Your health is off-limits to the enemy. Your marriage, off-limits to the enemy. Your children, off-limits to the enemy. Your job, your dream, your vision, off-limits to the enemy. And your past, it's off-limits to the enemy. "You know what you used to be. You know what you used to do". No I don't! Because as far as the east is from the west, he casts my sins and remembers them no more. And if he chooses not to remember, I'm certainly not going fishing. I don't want to know it. I've passed it. It's over and you're a liar"!
The enemy wants to sow a seed of fear into your garden of faith. Fear is sent as a seed to steal the deed of your faith. Your faith is the thing you need to hold on to until the full promise arrives. And the deed of your promise is sealed by the words of your confession. You've got to guard your confession in this season. I've never honored and so respected my pastor like I do now. He's always talking about what you say, and speaking life, and staying in faith, and speaking the Word of God. And it's so funny that there are people who don't understand that, even though this is what the word says, "That the power of death and life is in the tongue, and they that love it will eat it's fruit". Which means I can speak life or I can speak death. Mmmm, let me figure out which one I'm gone speak. I'm going to speak life. I want to live.
Anybody else want to live? Anybody else want joy? Anybody else want peace? Anybody else want healing? I want what God wants for me. "Beloved, I pray that you would prosper and be in good health even as your... Soul prospers". And since he wants me to prosper I want what he wants. I want what heaven wants. "God, you want me to be happy, I want to be happy. You want me to prosper, I want to prosper. You want me in good health, then I'm gone to speak good health". I'm gone speak it and I'm gone live it. You need to understand that the words of your confession are the deed to your garden.
Now here's a couple of points and we got to go home. First thing is, now that you know there is seeds, weeds, and deeds, I got three more for you. Keep breathing, keep blessing, keep believing. Keep breathing, keep blessing, and keep believing. Now, you keep breathing, but I want you to keep your enemy breathless. Joshua 11:11, let me read it to you, "And they struck all the people who were in the city with the edge of the sword utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing". Love that. Love that.
You're like, "that's very violent". Let me help you to understand. So? It's not my word. The enemies of God are not playing hopscotch. They're not playing to injure. They're coming to steal, kill, and destroy. The enemy's coming for your mind. He's coming for your health. He's coming for you kidneys. He's coming for your lungs. He's coming for your marriage. He's coming for your children. He's coming for their innocence. He's coming for their identity.
And God says, "I want you to keep breathing. But I want you to keep them breathless. That means I want you to cut off everything that would give them life. If it's a person, if it's a television show, if it's an attitude or generational curse, I want you to cut it off, and I want you to cancel that thing, and I want you to declare the blood of Jesus over it, right now. And I want you to end the reign of the enemy in that area. And then I want you to put a praise on top of it". God says, "I want you to bury it and then dance on it".
I guarantee, I bet you tonight, if you write down the things that have been trying to attack your family, put it on paper, get it under your feet, and dance on it. I'm encouraging you to do something crazy tonight. I dare you to tape it, put it on social media, and say, 'I danced on it.' hashtag it. Keep breathing, but leave your enemy breathless. Cut it off completely. If it's a person, bye bye. Delete the number, do not answer, don't call here no more. Whatever it takes. Keep breathing, but leave your enemy breathless.
The second one is keep blessing. Psalms 34. Now this is hard, because when you going through attacks, it's hard to find a reason to bless God. It is. But it is a discipline. And if you can discipline yourself to bless God in spite of circumstance, you will find a faith that remains through trials. Psalm 34, I will bless the Lord most of the time. No! I'll bless him when it feels good. No! I'll bless him when it's convenient. No! I'll bless him when my health is at 100%. No! I'll bless him when I'm out of debt. No! I'll bless him when all the word makes sense. No! I'll bless him when all my prayers are answered. No! I will bless the Lord at all times. That means, your blessing the Lord is confusing the enemy.
"Why are they still praising when they just got that doctor's report? Why are they still praising and I'm trying to tear their marriage up? Why are they still praising and their children are smoking weed, cracked out, Messing around, sleeping with the wrong person? Why are they still going to that church after everything that we've tried to do to them? Why is his hands still up? Why is she still clapping? Why is she standing up? Why do they show up on a Wednesday and come back on the weekend? Why are they standing up with babies in their hand, declaring generational blessing? Why in the world won't these people be quiet? Why won't they stop? After everything I've done, they still gone bless the Lord, and God didn't have to do anything? He didn't have to give them special things? They just believe God at his word, even though the answer hasn't shown up"?
Yes, yes, yes! "I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth"! Glory! And while you're blessing, make sure you're boasting. This next verse says, "My soul shall make its boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear of it and be glad". It's time for you to start boasting. "Excuse me, did you know what God is doing for me? God is healing my body". "What? For real"? "Yes, he is, right now". "What you mean, you just left the doctor". "I know. That's just... I don't know how, but he's doing it". I dare you to boast on God. I know what he did before, and he's doing it again. I dare you to boast on God.
I encourage you to brag on your God. "He delivered me. He healed me. He set me free. He freed me. He blessed my marriage. He freed my kids. He did it before, he'll do it again". He did it before he'll do it again if he did it before he can do it again final thing, keep believing. I said keep believing. Romans 4:3, "For what does the scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness". In this moment, it's your right believing. And right believing is not a posture of belief. It's in whom you believe. I don't believe just based on my circumstance. I believe beyond my circumstance. I believe the God who's in charge of my circumstance.
There's nothing going on in my life that is outside of his control and his reign. All my daddy has to do is speak and angels show up with the answer. "Daddy, speak". And God, help me Holy Ghost. I got to get out of here. I know you got to go, but all my daddy has do is speak and all these attacks will stop right away. "You been Messing with me too long, devil, I'm going to tell my daddy. And if my daddy shows up, you don't want it with him. You might have a fight with me. But you ain't go no chance with him. I believe my daddy is bigger than your daddy. I believe my daddy can beat your daddy up. You don't want it with my daddy, because he's big". Devil, get out the way get out the way get out the way keep blessing. Hey. Keep on boasting. Hallelujah. Keep believing. Keep breathing.