Joyce Meyer - It's Time To Push

Faith takes step one before it ever knows what step two is. If you're waiting to have a full blueprint for your life and know everything that's going to happen, then you're on the wrong plan because that's not the way God works. He gives it to you one little step at a time. Maybe that's just like an, "Amen," from heaven, I don't know. You must take a chance on being wrong to find out if you're right. If you're not willing to be wrong, then you're never gonna go forward with God because you just gotta step out in that blind faith believing that God put somethin' in your heart. And, there's always that fear, "Well, what if I'm wrong, what if I'm wrong, what if I'm wrong"?

Well, hopefully, we established that it's not the end of the world. Just because you make a wrong decision doesn't mean you're wrong. It just means that you're kinda workin' your way through tryin' to find out what God wants you to do. And, I think God appreciates that kind of boldness. Anybody who thinks they can always do what they've always done is a fool. Because there's always things changing in our lives. Our goal should be to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit. That should be every believer's number one goal, to be led and guided by the Holy Spirit, to be a God-pleaser not a people-pleaser. Amen.

And the spirit-led life is a very adventurous life. Now, God gives all of us gifts. Everyone of us has some kind of gift, talent that God has given us. We're not all like each other. And we have to be very, very careful that we don't let the little green monster of jealousy get in our way and start causing us to want what somebody else has. Because, I can tell you, if you want what somebody else has long enough and strong enough, you're gonna end up resenting them. And, God wants us to love one another. Our body works together. My hand helps my foot get its shoes on. This hand helps me get this ring on, this hand helps me get that ring on.

Just the way our body works together and is not jealous, one part's not jealous of the other. Some parts are more hidden than others, some are more out in the open, some are never seen by anybody but else, at least we hope the ones that shouldn't be seen are not seen. That's not always the case. Sometimes we find that we still have to tell Christians how to dress. Which, to me is amazing, but we do. No wonder Jesus calls us sheep. Sheep are the dumbest animals that exist. Did you know that? And I don't think he meant as an insult, he just meant you need guidance and you need leadership.

And, that's why I think that it's so good when you have a pastor or a Bible teacher who takes the time to teach you the practical things that you need for your everyday life and doesn't just always teach and preach some kind of religious doctrine that sounds like they know a lot but doesn't really help you in your everyday life. Amen? And so, be very careful about wishing that you could do what somebody else does because if you spend your time wishing you could do what somebody else does you're going to miss what God wants you to do.

And there's one little example that I've used that I'm not going to take too long to do, but I think it makes my point. You know, my fingers get to wear rings, and I'm particularly fond of this one because somebody gave it to me. I gave away my wedding ring many, many years ago, somethin' that I felt like God wanted me to do in faith. And, it wasn't worth anything but it was the only thing that I had at the time. And, I set myself to believe God for a really nice diamond ring, which I certainly could not afford. And, like most prayers I had to wait a good long while.

And, a lady actually came to one of our conferences and had this ring in a box and gave it to Dave and she said, "This is from a previous marriage that I had and it's the only thing I have that belongs to me that my current husband has nothing to do with, and I want joyce to have it". And, it's a beautiful diamond ring. But to me, it's from God. And so, I particularly... Now, you know for a while when I was given this ring I wouldn't wear it because I didn't want anybody to judge me. And I want to tell you somethin'. You need to be bold enough to wear the gifts that God gives you. You know, because the truth is somebody may judge me, but that's the problem with judgment, we judge people about stuff we don't know anything about at all.

"Well, yeah, she's probably just using all those offering she gets to buy those fancy clothes and that diamond ring". Hey, don't ever be jealous of what somebody's got if you don't want to do what they did to get it. Amen? So, I will admit that my eyes enjoy looking at that. Especially, after I get my nails done... Just think it's pretty. Well, my hand gets to wear the ring. My hand can't see the ring, it gets to wear the ring. My eyes get to look at the ring, but it never gets to wear the ring. Now, what if my eye was jealous and said, "I'm tired of looking at your ring". "And if God doesn't give me a ring then I don't think God loves me as much as he loves the finger".

Come on, now. This is just the way we are, you know. And so, sometimes we wonder why God doesn't give us what we want and answer our prayers. Well see 'cause sometimes we're prayin' for stuff that doesn't make any sense. We couldn't even handle it even if God gave it to us. You gotta remember when God gives somebody an ability, he also gives them the grace to use that ability. And so, if God answered the eyes prayer and said, "Oh, well, I don't want you to feel bad so I will give you a ring of your own".

So, there we have it. Okay now. Here, just hang on. I can't do this long. Here's the point. If my eye got what it wanted then it can't do its job in the body... Come on. And so, I end up being crippled by what I thought this thing was that I wanted, and had to have, and was jealous of, and felt like God didn't love me as much because I didn't have it. Trust God enough to believe that he gives you what you have the ability to handle. And, that every part that God gives anybody is an important part, and it doesn't matter to God if you're on the platform or in the basement, all that matters to God is that you happily and joyfully do the part that he gives you to do, to the very best of your ability, and your reward will be just as great as anybody else's. Amen?

Matthew chapter 25 "For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property". I'm starting in verse 14. "To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, to each according to his ability". Do you see that? He gives us according to our ability, which he also gives us, so... He gives us our ability then he gives us gifts according to our ability. And you know why he gives us gifts according to our ability and not beyond our ability? Because, he doesn't want us to be all stressed out. Come on. And there's so much stress in the world today. And, a lot of it is the competition and the comparison, and people trying to find out who they are. And, they think their worth and value comes from what they do.

And, to be honest, who you are in Christ has nothing to do with what you do. Amen. Joyce: you're just as much God's child if you're in the basement, as you are God's child, if you're on the platform. Doesn't make one bit of difference. God loves us all equally the same. So, I love this. He gives them gifts according to their ability to handle them because he does not want us under stress and pressure all the time. Does anybody understand that the stress and the pressure that people live under today is not the will of God? And I can tell you that the world is not going to change and if it does it's only gonna get worse.

So, if we wanna have peace, we have to change. We have to stop playing the game. We have to stop playing the game that the world plays, and understand where our real worth and value is. We have all these, you know, things on our phone now. You can get podcasts and all these different things, I forget what they're even all called. Oh, Instagram. That's a new one, Instagram. Well, maybe, it's not that new but it's new to me. I mean, some of the stuff that you can get, my staff don't even let me have because they're afraid of what I would do with it, you know. They're like, "Nope, you are not gonna have the ability to post things, it's gonna go through us because we don't know what you would put on there". But, I have Instagram and so, I like to kinda see what our ministry's doing.

Well, you know, every once in a while they'll have these list of people, "You might also like to follow these people". And so, I found out that every one of those little buttons that you push it tells you how many followers they have. I mean, we are just into numbers, aren't we? And you know, I know better than this. But, a few days ago, I saw this guy that I like and listen to sometimes and I thought, "My gosh, that guy's got a lot of followers. Well, he's got a lot more followers than I do". So then, all of a sudden, I find I've spent probably 10 minutes checking all these numbers on all these people to see how many followers they all have and wanting to see if they all had more followers than me. And, I thought... "Joyce! What do you think you're doing"?

And see, it's almost like these little demons out there are tryin' to suck us in. I mean, what is that anyway, "A follower"? I mean, does that mean are they even watching, or did they just, you know? And then, "The likes," man, if they not only follow, but, "Like". I'll tell ya what, there is no hope for us at all if we don't know who we are in Christ, amen? "Do you want to be my friend on Facebook"? What in the world is a friend on Facebook? You don't know if they're your friend. Are they gonna be there for you when you need them? We don't even know what a friend is anymore. "Oh, they're my friend on Facebook". You need to go back and study what a friend is. A friend is somebody that's gonna be there for you when you're sick, and be there for you when you need to move, and be there for you when you're havin' a bad day, and be there for you when your heart is broken.

So, let's just stop all the comparing, and the being jealous. I mean, if you're caught up in that, I mean, I was so caught up in that at one time in my life. Instead, of all that nonsense, let's push and give birth to the things that God wants us to give birth to. The things that are gonna glorify him, that are actually gonna make a difference in this world. Let me tell you somethin'. I refuse to pass through here and be useless. And I refuse to pass through here and do nothing but be a taker, and be selfish and self-centered, and spend my whole life just tryin' to get blessed. Let's forget about ourselves and be a blessing to somebody else every single day. Amen?

So, "To one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one, each according to his ability. Then he went away. And he who had received the five talents went at once..". I love that. Let's quit wasting time. You don't have to go home and pray anymore about whether not you should do what's been in your heart for five years. Go home and at once, get busy doing somethin' worth doing. "And he took 'em and he traded with 'em, and he made five more. Also, he who had two, made two more. But, he who had received the one talent went and dug in the ground and hid his master's money".

Now, this is just the guy we're after this weekend. What happens when you're afraid? Ya hide. What was he afraid of? He was afraid to take a risk. And, that's what we're talking about a little bit today. Don't be afraid to take a risk. Don't be so afraid of being wrong that you'll never take a step to find out if you were right. If there's something that you want from God, ask him. It's amazing what happens if you'll just pray bold prayers that are so big that even you can't hardly believe you've got the nerve to pray it. Amen? "He went and hid his master's money. Now after a long time the master of those servants came and settled accounts with them". Do you see that? Settled accounts with them.

Now, when Jesus comes back, we're, "All gonna give an account, "The Bible says. Now, if you are a true believer in Jesus Christ, and you've received him as your Lord and Savior, you are not going to be judged concerning salvation. There's scriptures, I don't have time to go to in 1 Corinthians that tell us plainly, that we will, "All pass through the eyes of fire". When I think about this day, I get excited, and I have a reverential fear. And, it says that whatever we've done that we've done with true motives that are pure gold, we will be rewarded for. But the things that were made out of wood, hay, and stubble, in other words, the things that we did with wrong motives, or to be seen, or to be noticed, or to be well thought of, or to be popular or whatever, the Bible says those will all, "Be burned up in the fire". And, we will lose the reward of any of those, although, the person themselves will be saved as if by fire.

So, our salvation is not based on any of our good works. It's based on our faith in Jesus Christ. But, make no mistake, the Bible is very clear that there will be rewards or the loss of rewards for the works that we do while we're here on this earth. Are you with me? But, are you understanding me? Jesus is coming back. Now, you know you're clapping when I say Jesus is comin' back but you better make sure that you're living in a way now that's gonna cause you to clap when the day comes. But, come on, let's get serious about this. Amen?

And so, do all the good works that you can possibly do, but do them for the right reason. You don't need to bother tryin' to do good works to get God to love you. He already does love you. Matter of fact, I'm gonna tell you somethin' and this is the honest to God's truth, God will never ever love you anymore than he loves you right this moment, no matter what you do. Well, see for some people that's kind of a downer. "Well, if he doesn't love me anymore no matter what I do then why do I want to bother tryin' to do the right thing"? Because, we do the right thing because we love him not to get him to love us.

Come on, did you hear that? I want to treat people right because I believe it blesses God when we treat people right. I want to do all I can for him because of all that he's done for me. It's the hardest thing to get through our heads that God loves us freely by his grace, by his mercy. We're saved by grace and mercy, but that still doesn't mean that we don't try to do all the good works that we can possibly do. We're not saved by them, but if we love him and appreciate what he's done for us, then we will do them. So, let's get over the idea that everywhere we go, we're going to get our blessing. We need a whole complete turn around in our mindset and everywhere we go, we need to go to be a blessing.

Are you hearing me? We need to go to be a blessing not to get my blessing. And, if you set your mind to be a blessing then God will always make sure that you are blessed in return. Come on... That's the Christian way of thinking, by the way. Amen? And, if we don't do this, then we're no different than the rest of the world. The master came back to settle accounts with them and I'm not the least bit afraid of that. I look forward to the day that Jesus comes back. I don't believe I'm gonna have anything to be ashamed of. And I don't want any of you to have anything to be ashamed of either. That's why it is urgent in my heart to do all I can to get people to be the best that they can and now. Are you understanding me? I mean, every person in here can make a decision today to come up just a little bit higher. And it doesn't matter what you do out in public when you can be seen as much as it matters what you do behind closed doors when nobody's lookin' because that's the real you. Amen?

"And he who had received the five talents came forward, and brought five more, saying, 'master, you delivered to me five talents: here, I've made five more.'" Now, watch this. "And his master said to him, 'well done.'" we all want to hear that, "Well done". Well, we've just found out how to hear it. We take the abilities that God has given us, and we use them, we invest them so somebody else can be blessed and then when he comes back to settle accounts we'll hear, "Well done". "His master said, 'well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a little: I will now set you over much.'" I like much, don't you? I'm not a big fan of little. But I am a big fan of much.

And so, I like the well done part. I like the good and faithful servant part. I like the much part. But I'm gonna tell you somethin' here that I like better than all of it. And, I think it's somethin' we don't pay enough attention to, he says, "'You have been faithful over little: I will set you over much. Now enter into the joy of your master.'" That's what we're after, right there. Let me ask you a question. What does any of us really want other than to just be happy? I mean, isn't that really what you want? You just want to be happy. Doesn't really matter what you own, if you're not happy nothing is worth anything. Come on, we just want to be happy. And, he tells us here how to be happy. Take what you have and invest it, so you can hear, "Well done thou good and faithful servant, now enter into, the joy of the Lord".

In order to give birth to your dream, your vision and to see it brought all the way through to the finish, we have to learn somethin' about faithfulness. And, there are too many people that are addicted to excitement. And, excitement doesn't have anything to do with faithfulness, actually faithfulness would be defined, and my way of defining it, as continuing to do what you know you're supposed to do when there's not one drop of excitement left. Come on, now. So, I'mma tell you somethin' and I hope you understand this and it doesn't come across wrong, I've wondered for two days about whether to say this to you or not 'cause I know not everybody understands. But, if you're mature enough, you'll understand what I'm getting ready to say.

People have been asking me for weeks, "Well, are you excited about the women's conference"? And actually, I wasn't. See? You say, "Well, that don't make me feel very good". Well, I've done a few thousand of these. I'm excited for you. I wasn't excited for me because I knew how hard I was gonna work. And I know what I'm going to feel like tomorrow when the party's over. You should be here two hours from the time this is over and see what this place looks like. You should be here with all the people with sweat drippin' off of their bodies, tryin' to clean the place up, and reload the trucks, and try to get airlines to go back home, and miss planes and all that kind of stuff.

In order for one person to be helped, somebody else always have to sacrifice. Are you out there today? So, if you think that bein' in ministry is just all gonna be excitement and fun, you are wrong. It'll be exciting, the first several women's conferences I had I would get so excited that I would wear myself out with excitement. And then, when the excitement was over, then I'd feel kinda down, ya know. And I don't want to be looking for somethin' to be like... "Whoo," about. And then "Aww," because it's over. And then, "Whoo..".

Come on, see, the thing is, is I wasn't excited but I was committed. I am committed to you. To every single person that God has assigned for me to teach, I can tell you right now, I am committed to you until the day I die. I can promise you that as long as I can talk, I will be on that television five days a week, every morning, every evening teaching you the word of God to the best of my ability. And, as long as I can walk, and talk and move I will do these conferences because I care about you. And, just because I'm not excited doesn't mean a thing. I'm satisfied, I'm content. Get over the need to be looking for something all the time that excites you, and just get committed to doing what you know you're supposed to do whether you feel like it or you don't feel like it, whether it's convenient or it's inconvenient.

Is anybody there? Anything new is exciting, but when it's not new anymore, it's not gonna be exciting. You're excited when you first meet the man you're going to marry. I'm committed to my husband, but my knees don't get weak when he comes in the house. Come on. I mean, you can't stay married for 52 years on excitement. Did you hear me? You cannot stay married 52 years on excitement. You gotta have faithfulness. You gotta have commitment. And that's what you signed up for at the altar, "Till death do us part, in good things and bad things, in sickness and health, for richer or for poorer, I'm committed". And, how many people that doesn't last one year because soon as the goosebumps are gone, and the excitement's gone, and their heart doesn't sound anymore they're looking for another new thrill.

Come on, I'm talking to you. I'm talkin' about who is going to actually get committed enough to bear down and give birth to the things that God has put in your heart. Amen? Come on, I'm doing my best this afternoon to get somethin' across to you. Today, everybody's hopping from one thing to another. We're church hoppers, and job hoppers, and friend hoppers, and... So what, if you've got, you know, I don't know how many people are on our Facebook and I don't care. I don't even want 'em to tell me. If I find out at the office, I find out accidentally. I mean, it's huge numbers. I don't care. How many friends do I really have? I don't know, maybe three or four. You know, I mean, really, really true friends, you know. But, I've got one friend that sticks close that will never go away, and his name is Jesus. Amen.

Now, Dave and I love each other. And, I'll tell you the truth, I don't even know how many people really love each other when they get married. They're romantically attracted, but I don't think you even begin to know what love is until you start going through some stuff together. Amen.

Alright, if I'm gonna even come close to gettin' finished I gotta move on here. So, got a scripture I want to read you. And then, I got a few little ladies that'll come up here and help me. 1 John 3:9, "No one born (or begotten) of God deliberately, knowingly, and habitually practices sin". So, see, I like this. It's like, nobody that's truly born again can live a sinful lifestyle. That doesn't mean you can't sin, 'cause we all make mistakes and sin. But, the person who really is a lover of Jesus, I mean, the minute you sin, you're convicted and you are so quick to repent. So, "Nobody born of God deliberately, knowingly," this is amplified Bible, "Deliberately, knowingly, habitually sins, because", now, I want you to get this. Because, "God's nature abides in him".

When you're born again, you get a new nature. God's nature, who God is, his character comes to live in you. Everybody say, "I've got it". And, I love the amplified. This is gettin' right down to it. "The divine sperm," Lord, God help me, "Remains permanently with him: and he cannot practice sinning because he is born and (begotten) of God".

Now, I don't know how we're gonna get this scripture to fit together with some of the stuff we're seeing in the world today from people that are callin' themselves Christians and going to church every week. I'm not trying to be judgmental, only God knows a person's heart, but we are expected to be different. We are expected to live a different life and Jesus said if they hated me they're gonna hate you. If you're expecting to be a full-on, committed, fruit-bearing Christian, people are not all gonna like you. You know why? Because, your presence convicts them. Come on, listen to me. Just your presence convicts them.

Now, if you compromise your morals to keep them comfortable... And there's a lot of that going on today. You know, we want to make everybody feel comfortable, wanna make everybody feel welcome, and you know, God's just a God of love and he just wants us to love everybody. Well, maybe you better go back and read some of the stuff that Jesus said to some people. "Whoa unto you, you vipers and snakes". I don't know what "Whoa," is but I've already decided I don't want any of it because it sounds really bad to me. So, when I read this scripture and I'm just gonna be plain, you know, when a man's sperm is planted in the womb of his wife she becomes pregnant. And this says, "The divine sperm of Almighty God is in us".

So, everybody in here, even the few men that got in by special invitation you're pregnant. And here's what it is, you're pregnant with God's nature. There's a seed, you know, Jesus is called, "The seed". Capital, "S". Come on, I'mma fly off a here. The seed, the sperm of Almighty God dwells in the womb of your spirit. The Holy Spirit has come to live inside of your spirit. And, everything in your spirit is holy. Now, the Holy Spirit comes committed to work with us for the rest of our life to help get what's in us, out of us, so somebody can see it. Can I have my ladies come up, please. Somebody had the job of going around and finding pregnant women and sayin', "How far along are you"?

Okay, now, they're just going to stand and they're going to stand sideways. Okay, I hope you can see them. Is the pulpit in the way? 'cause I don't want the pulpit to be in the way. Well, you'll get 'em on the screen. Alright, now, when you're first born again, you got all this stuff happening on the inside of you. You're feeling things, you're feeling changes, your feeling emotions, you know. You got, you know, it's like when a person gets a dream from God, it's like when God spoke to me and said, "You're gonna go all over the world and teach my word," I mean, I was just like, "Wohow, whoo"! But when I started tellin' people, they laughed, they thought I was crazy. They didn't want to have anything to do with me anymore. You know why? I wasn't showing yet. I knew I was pregnant. She's pregnant. How far along are you?

Female: Seven weeks.

Joyce: Seven weeks, you know, you're pregnant, right? Are you already feeling any changes?

Female: Morning sickness.

Joyce: Morning sickness, yeah, see, she's got some stuff going on. But, I see her and I'm like, "You sure don't look pregnant to me". Well see? That's what happens when Jesus comes to live on the inside of you, and you know that you're now a new creature and you're tryin' to tell everybody else what's happened, and they're like, "Well, you're not acting any different. You're no different". We're not showing yet. Well see? There's a real problem if nine months from now she's still not showing. Come on, this is what's wrong with the church. Christians are 30, 40, and 50 years old and they're still not showing. Come on. So, we're not expected to show after being born again a month. God works in us. In Philippians 2:12, it says, "Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling not in your own strength, but while God effectually is at work in you". So, he's saying the good thing that's in you, work now with the Holy Spirit. Follow the Holy Spirit, obey the Holy Spirit, stay in the word, water that seed with the word and you'll grow. Little by little from glory to glory, you'll be changed into his image. Well, now, how far along are you?

Female: Six weeks, third baby.

Joyce: Six weeks, third baby. Well, you know, you're not showin' much either. How 'bout you?

Female: Seven months.

Joyce: Seven months, wow. Look at that, we got somethin' going on here. Now, I can tell that you're pregnant. By the way, I bless these babies in the name of Jesus. They're going to be healthy, and strong, and whole, and serve God and be a blessing to these mama's. How far along are you?

Female: 30 weeks.

Joyce: 3o weeks. How many weeks do you have left then?

Female: Ten technically.

Joyce: Ten, hmm... I carried all my babies ten months. Ten months, that's why what comes out of me is well done. Okay, now, I can tell she's pregnant. Everybody? How many of you can tell that she's pregnant? How 'bout you?

Female: 36 weeks.

Joyce: 36 weeks. Okay now, do you feel pregnant?

Female: Oh, yes.

Joyce: Are you ready to deliver?

Female: Yes.

Joyce: Your ready. Any day would be fine for you, right?

Female: Yes.

Joyce: We'll see, come on, get a hold of this. If your pregnant with a dream, God has put somethin' in your heart. I don't care if it's to get out of debt or to go to the world preachin' the Gospel. Whatever your dream is, it's important to you and if it's important to you, it's important to God. So, we're not just talkin' about people being in ministry. You gotta be patient, and you gotta be faithful because satan is the one who came up with the idea of abortion, and he is a dream thief. And, he wants you to abort your dream. And, if he can't get you to abort it, then he wants you to birth it early. Premature births don't always make it. And, he wants you to do things out of God's timing, and birth a buncha sickly things that don't have any real life that you're really not ready to do yet.

So, you get out in the world and you say a bunch of things that you can't pull off, and you make a fool out of yourself. How many people do we see today that get in ministry way too fast. They can sing really great, so all of a sudden, they're promoted, promoted, promoted, promoted because of their gift. And then, they have some massive moral failure and become a shame to everybody in the body of Christ, and now all Christians are judged because all these people are phonies. Don't try to birth somethin' before God's ready. Beg him not to give you any opportunity that's not an opportunity from him. Amen?

So, the longer you stick with it, come on. When I send you home, I don't want you to go home with some new vision for your life and have it last a week and then, have you throw it away, abort it, because you found out it's gonna take a little bit longer than you thought it would, be a little harder than you thought it would. It's easy to go on a diet Sunday night after dinner. Anybody can do that. But, what happens by Wednesday afternoon when you're hungry enough to eat everything on the table and then eat the table. That's when you gotta be committed.

It's easy to say, "I want to get out of debt," but when you have to be really committed is when you're out shoppin', which you shouldn't - don't ever shop for entertainment if you're tryin' to get out of debt. Only go when you have to buy something. You gotta be committed when it's 75% off, and you're already not paying for what you got. Amen? How many of you understand what I'm saying?

Let me tell you somethin'. You can clap, and cheer, and shout, and yell in here, when I send you home, I want you to know the excitement's not gonna last. The conference is gonna be over. It's gonna be the middle of the night and you're gonna wake up and the devil is gonna tell you some of the biggest lies you have ever heard in your life. And you're gonna look at the teenagers that are driving you crazy, and the husband that is driving you crazy, and the bills that are drivin' you crazy, and that's when the devil's going to sneak in and try to get you to forget your dream. Amen?

And, I want you to remember me saying, "Stay committed, stay faithful, don't give up". Thank you ladies. Oh, did I get to pray for all of you? Bless these babies in Jesus' name, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless, bless. You can name 'em after me. You know, there's a lot of different stages of pregnancy. There's all the crazy hormones. Come on. And some ladies when their hormones go crazy, they get really crazy. And then, you get to that stage that, that one girl was, and you just feel so fat, and you just feel like you're just gonna pop, and you're so uncomfortable.

And that's the way some of you are, like you're pregnant with somethin' from God. And you just think if I don't get this out of me. Man, I was so pregnant with the desire to teach God's people. I remember gettin' on the floor and just begging God one night, I'd been on a fast, and I mean, the spirit of God came on me and I was just like, I pleaded with God for hours. "God, please, you just gotta let me help more people, God. I gotta help more people. I gotta help more people". God puts that in you. And, I felt like if I couldn't give birth to something other than preaching to 20 people in the basement floor that I couldn't stand it anymore.

Does anybody know what I'm talking about? Come on, you know, anybody know what I'm talkin about? But, I stayed committed. There's a lot of different stages of pregnancy. There's transition, and that's one of the most painful times of pregnancy, by the way, when the baby's transitioning into the birth canal. Anybody in transition right now? I hope I haven't lost you. I guess if you're a man, you might be lost, but...

Now, you know, today women get epidurals. But, I'm gonna tell you something, there are no spiritual epidurals. No spiritual epidurals. If you want God to use you, he's gonna have to get you ready. 'cause you're not ready. You think you're ready, but you're not ready. Then I'm gonna tell you what, when you leave this place, you can expect, and I hate to even say this. I'm not tryin' to prophesy bad things, but I don't want you to be surprised. The devil is going to come immediately and try to steal from you what you got here. Don't you let him do it. As soon as he shows up lyin' to you, say, "No, you're a liar! God lives in me, his seed is in me. I am pregnant with everything that God is. He is changing me from glory to glory and I am going to do something amazing with my life".