Michael Todd - The Things You Love That Don't Love You Back
Today we’re starting a brand new series. This is week one of a series we’re calling «Cuffing Season.» Can we give God some praise right there? All right, all right, all right, all right, all right. I am grateful for this message that God has given me, and I think this is one that you’re going to revisit for decades to come to figure out how to move away from the things that no longer serve you. Uh-oh, I’m going to go ahead and start right in on this one, okay? I have too many notes for the time limit.
Many of us, as I journey through my adulthood, are finding that adulthood can be challenging. Let me just say it: adulthood can be tough. Kids, stay kids as long as you can; adulting can be a struggle. On my journey of adulting, along the way, we pick up many things that we connect to or cuff to that serve us in one season, and we never uncuff from them when they’re no longer serving us. It used to be the only way you could function, but now it’s hindering you because you’re still dragging along the things—ideas, perspectives, and even some people—that are no longer serving a purpose in your life.
Everybody, say «cuffed.» For me, I try to provide something that is easy for everyone to understand—something that’s usually cultural or a parable of the day—to help you grasp the concept, and then I try to go deep theologically in the Word to bring out the truth and ensure you see it differently. I want you to experience transformation.
I started to think about what it looks like in culture when you’re connected to something that may not be the best thing, and there is this terminology called «cuffing season.» Cuffing season usually occurs in the fall and winter; it’s the time when people connect to things that are below their value. Let me give you a good definition from the Urban Dictionary of what cuffing season is: it’s a time when, because of loneliness and desperation, you settle for a relationship that is beneath your standards.
Cuffing season is a known season; if someone says, «Cuffing season,» and you’ve never heard of it, I’m telling you right now, it is a time when—out of loneliness and desperation—people settle for relationships that do not meet their standards. When I look around, those are two things prevalent in every area of culture: loneliness and desperation. «I’m lonely, I’m desperate; I feel like nobody sees me, and I don’t know what else to do, so I’m just going to do this.»
Because of loneliness and desperation, you settle for a relationship that falls short of your standards. This may not apply to everyone, but I need to let you know: if you’re a child of God, if you put your faith in Jesus, if you have been redeemed by what Jesus Christ did, and you’re a child of God, there is a standard. I’m going to say it again: the only way you know you’re falling below a standard is that there is a standard.
So many people are settling for things that are beneath the standard God has set for His children. If I go to my house and see Isabella Monetad eating out of the trash, that is below the standard of the Todd household. Now, we do have the five-second rule; that chicken nugget did cost a lot, so pick it up! Okay, let’s be honest. But once it hits the trash receptacle, it’s over. Why? Because it is below the standard. Do you know how many things you’re doing right now—how many things you’re living with right now, working through right now—that are below the standard of what God has prepared for you?
The crazy thing is that when I say «standard,» the way you view that word determines how you see God. Because when I said «standard,» most of you thought «rules and regulations.» When I say «standard,» you thought, «I can’t do this,» and «I can’t do that.» When I say «standard,» it’s about what you get to do, what you get to receive. The standard is you are loved; the standard is, «I shall supply all of your needs.» The standard is, «I have plans for you to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you a hope and a future.»
But your view of God is skewed because when I mentioned «standards,» you thought of rules and regulations. The reason I don’t want my daughter eating out of the trash is that I want to protect her. I don’t know what else is in there. Some of you are in unhealthy relationships, and God has been asking you, «Would you rise to a new standard? I’m trying to protect you. I don’t want that bacteria in your life; I don’t want that bacteria on your blessing.»
I don’t want other people’s DNA, their germs that they’ve introduced and contaminated, to affect what I have anointed just for you. I’m trying to raise your standard. So, when I look at what people are cuffed to, what they’re dragging around, and what we don’t profess publicly but nurture privately, I found out that relationships are less about people and more about patterns.
Many people, when I say, «Oh, cuffing season, we’re going to learn about relationships,» think, «Yeah, yeah, but I don’t want to cover relationship goals part three right now.» We want to address the reason why you keep getting into relationships, why you keep getting cuffed and bound to the same things. It’s not about the people; it’s about your patterns. Let me put it this way: all relationships are about patterns before they are about people.
That passivity—it’s a pattern you’ve carried since you were young. That people-pleasing started when you were four. The perversion; that was a teenage thing—you picked that up as a pattern too. The power tripping—you always feel the need to be in control—that’s a pattern. You do that on the basketball court; you do that in Uno. Oh, we see the Hulk come out of you in every situation—it’s a pattern.
So why are you confused when you enter a relationship and it doesn’t go how you expected? And then you want to blame someone? It’s not about the people; it’s about the pessimism. I say pattern; you’ve been seeing the glass as half-empty since you were picked for the elementary school basketball team. You’re already negative before anything even happens. You have already planned your exit because of your disappointment—that is a pattern.
And literally, when God’s promise is right in your face, you revert to your patterns. Oh my God, this is going to be a long series. How do you change your patterns? You have to change your paradigm. «Paradigm» simply means your thinking, your mindset, how you process things.
Oh my goodness, the Bible talks about that in Romans 12:2, our church’s foundational scripture: «Do not conform to the patterns of this world.» But how do I get transformed? «Be transformed by the renewing of your mind.» Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is. You want to know God’s will? Change your mind.
«I just want to know God’s will for me, Pastor Mike. I’ve been fasting for 14 days, and I really want to know—is God telling me to move here or move there?» You’re taking your same patterns wherever you go—LA, New York, Miami, Atlanta—it doesn’t matter. You’ll find the same connections wherever you land if you do not address your patterns.
So you’ve got to change your mind so that you can fulfill God’s perfect and pleasing will. So, Pastor Mike, how do I renew my mind? Your mind is renewed by God’s principles. Okay, I want to help you and give you a playbook. Today is just an appetizer. I have so many messages for this series that I won’t get to teach all of them, but today, I have to set you up to receive the rest of them.
This is the problem: our patterns can only be changed by God’s principles. Why do you read the Word, Pastor Mike? Not to get a gold star or a streak from the YouVersion app; that doesn’t help me live. Some of you are inclined to check off a box, but you forget the principle. What did you learn? What do you remember? What are you going to apply? What does it mean for your life?
If it’s merely checking off a to-do list, you’re still going to follow the same pattern. That’s why people can say, «Okay, can I confess something?» Have you ever read your Bible and then sinned? I remember reading my Word and then, in less than four hours, engaging in activities that were not right. You see how quiet it got right there? I got one amen; she said, «My God, today.» That’s what he said too, because it’s perplexing how we practice faith but don’t change our patterns.
The truth is, there are many people practicing religion today. They are lifting their hands in worship, getting dressed, putting on fancy cologne, and doing everything—but what they’re doing is practicing religion, not leaning in and being transformed by principles. Until you allow God to change your mind through principles, you will always have the same pattern.
You can get married and divorced four times, and they will all end the same way, with different partners, because your pattern is that you won’t apologize. The pattern is that you can’t be wrong. In every situation, you never accept being wrong, yet you have three different failed relationships. But you’re not wrong? You are the only common denominator in all these relationships, yet you’re never at fault? C’mon now!
Let me tell you what I learned about principles, though: God’s principles always come with parameters. If you want to change your pattern, you have to abide by God’s principles. But if you’re going to listen to God’s principles, they will always come with parameters, borders, lines, limitations, and boundaries. This is the stuff free Christians don’t like: «Whom the Son sets free is free indeed,» as my baby said. Everything God does comes with parameters.
All the way back to the Garden: «Eat of every tree.» Let me establish a parameter around this. What if the parameter is there solely for protection? The reason I give my children parameters is not to keep them from anything but to keep them safe amid everything.
Most of us, when it comes to parameters, think, «Why shouldn’t I have sex before marriage?» You might wonder, «Why would God give me all of this?» It’s because, in the night, it can feel warm, but remember, God built the container of marriage for a reason. It’s to protect you. I mean, on the journey, you don’t want to be with someone who doesn’t know what they’re doing—get educated together.
All I’m saying is all these cultural notions we believe can leave you in your marriage bed, sharing with 15 other partners, and calling it «experience» when it’s actually extraction. They took something from you, so now you’re laying with someone that was meant to be a promise for you while you’re comparing them to Johnny, Jim, and Jerome. The parameters are for protection, and every principle of God comes with parameters.
If you do not heed the parameters of the principle, you step outside of God’s protection. Many of the things that have happened to you are not because God wanted them to happen—it’s because you stepped out of the parameters and into a war zone, and you got hit with what happens outside of protection. «Why would God let this happen to me?» Well, why did you go beyond the boundary designed to protect you?
I’ve just come to the conclusion that many of the things I’ve been cuffed to have not been within God’s parameters. I’m going to talk about me because I know some of you are still uptight and skeptical right now as I start a series, thinking, «That can’t be me.» Yes, it is! God’s parameters are always for protection, and ignoring those parameters inevitably leads to problems.
Much of what I pray for when it comes to people isn’t as much about spiritual attacks as it is about the consequences of our ignorance. I want to say this, though: Most pastors don’t want to say this. «Pastor Mike, God told me not to move.» You had the money, that’s fine. He said, «Stay here and serve Him well.» Yet, you might say, «They don’t see me, Pastor Mike. My gift is bigger. My calling is for the nations.» I never said it wasn’t! I just said to stay here.
I have peace about it. Do you know how many times I’ve heard, «I have peace about it?» You know I do too! But does that peace fade when everything falls apart after you stepped outside the parameters? I’m really trying to help someone, and what I’ve discovered is that we have to stay within God’s parameters to effect change. Our patterns must align so that we can truly reach our purpose. This is all about purpose; this is all about cracking the code to the reason you were created to come here. Before you were formed in your mother’s womb, it says He knew you. He programmed you with a specific task to accomplish on this earth, and everything in Hell is trying to stop you from fulfilling that purpose because when you fulfill your purpose, you give God glory. So, if we’re going to fulfill our purpose, that means we have to change our patterns by listening to God’s principles and staying within the parameters.
Okay, all right, has anybody ever been cuffed before? Let me phrase it differently: has anyone ever been arrested? Hands up! I need y’all to expose yourselves! Thank you, I love all of you, all the gangsters in the house! All right, come on in the chat, put your hands up one more time, just for all the bougie people who thought they were saved and spoke in tongues all their lives. If you’ve been arrested before, Jeremy, the sound man, has been arrested, yep. The I.T. director has been arrested. Pastor Charles has been arrested. Broderick, you’ve been arrested, brother Roger? Yes, he had that Paul and Silas anointing in jail praying. Huh, I want you in jail with me, Broderick!
Now, if you’ve never been handcuffed, that’s a very interesting experience because your whole life, you have use of your hands, and you take it for granted. You don’t realize how many things you do with your hands until they have the audacity to put them in metal objects, and usually, they put them on too tight! Somebody said, «Always.» How many times have you been arrested? Dang, always! Oh my God, always! Let me tell you about the time I was arrested. I’ve been very open and transparent. I’m humble over here; I share my story all the time.
So, I had a little situation with car insurance fraud and found out it was all going to go down, and I thought, «You know what? I don’t want the problems; I’m going to turn myself in.» So, I went with my dad. I was a grown man, but still scared. Been this way before; that’s why you need a daddy. I went with my dad to the bail bondsman, we paid the money, and I thought we were just going to do it civilly—like, sign the papers and do community service, you know what I’m saying? Just keep it moving. We paid the money; I had a fresh haircut, I was wearing a nice Hall & Curtis shirt—you remember those shirts, Will? I had on a big high-collar shirt and my suit jacket. I was just going to walk in there and represent what it looks like to be a model citizen and turn myself in for committing a criminal act.
I go in, and he says, «All right, now we go.» This is good, he closes the book and says, «Well, now we have to go down to the jail.» Excuse me, sir? I didn’t know! He said, «Yeah, I have to take you in. It’s a formality; you’ll probably be in there for about six to seven hours, and you’ll make it happen.» I was like, «Okay.» He said, «But don’t worry; it’s going to be okay.» He puts me in the back of his car and takes me to David Elmore, and then he has to buzz in to get into this fortified situation. I felt like the NBA; it felt like he was going into a tunnel, and it was something cool, and teal. He said, «Put your hands out.»
I said, «For what?» He said, «I have to cuff you.» I said, «Sir, when we embarked on this journey a few hours ago, I thought it was a mutual gentleman’s agreement that we were going to just go in and do that.» He said, «No, no. When I walk in here, you have to be cuffed because they have to know who’s in control.» I said, «You’re in control, sir. You’re definitely in control.» He said, «No, we don’t know what you will do if you’re not cuffed, so it is a sign to everybody watching that this relationship is under control because you’re cuffed.» It messed with me because cuffing—write this down—is all about control. Whatever you’re cuffed to has control; whether it’s a certain amount of money, an idea about your family, or tough compromises to peer pressure, criticism, or curiosity about things that are not of God. Whatever you’re cuffed to has control.
The reason many of you, even as I’m saying this, feel like you are not cuffed to things that you actually are cuffed to is that everyone else can see you’re cuffed to it. I don’t have a drinking problem; I just have to have wine every night, and every Thursday, I go do shots with the girls. I don’t remember last Friday, but I mean I have full control—full control. And everyone can see you’re cuffed to it, but the trick of being cuffed is if you’ve ever seen those shows where the wild people are handcuffed and still trying to fight, still trying to jump fences. Have y’all ever seen those? Am I the only one who’s seen those shows where they try to escape? It’s because, somewhere deep down, even though you’re cuffed to it, you still feel like you have control over it.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Write this down as a point: you can never be cuffed and in control. You can’t be cuffed to success and still be in control of your pace. I’m going to say it again because some of y’all need to hear this: you cannot be cuffed to success, saying, «I gotta grind, I gotta hustle,» and still be in control of your pace. That’s why I had to uncuff from being successful. I’m going to be in purpose, and I want to complete my assignment, but success changes every day. Is success having a house? Is success having a plane? Is success having five cars or multiple partners? What is success if it’s not defined by the word of God?
Some of y’all are listening to me today as part of your ritual plan of learning as much information as possible from all types of places to become successful, but it’s not going to help you because you’re cuffed to it—you’re not in control; it’s controlling you. Now, I’m not telling you what you’re cuffed to, but some of you are cuffed to clothes. Oh, you thought it had to be something deep. Some of y’all have four closets and a bathroom full of clothes that don’t fit your body. Oh, don’t act like you don’t have clothes you’re never going to wear! You should have seen this woman’s face! But you are cuffed to the idea of presenting yourself in a certain way because the real root of it is that you care so much about what people think of you that you will do everything you can to present yourself a certain way. The brands and labels give you an identity instead of God.
So, you get excited when you get a new Louis purse, but you’re not as excited when you find out God loves you. You would rather have Louis than love! Oh God, I gotta stop! You’re cuffed to it! Yeah, yeah! Some of you are cuffed to your careers. Let me mention one that’s not popular: some of y’all are cuffed to ministry. If you’re not the head of the team, if you’re not the leader of this, if you’re not doing a podcast over Philippians 3:2—who are you? Y’all know everyone is giving their daily encouragement. «Hey y’all! This is me giving your daily encouragement! I just want you to sit here and know that God is for you, and He’s with you, and He’s gonna do this for you. You’ve got four views on that, but the reason you keep doing it is not because God told you to, but because you want somebody to see you. You’re cuffed!
You’re cuffed to something that is controlling you. Charles, we’re not going to make it through this today. I don’t even know if I’m going to get through it. The truth is, what I’m finding as I counsel people, as I pray for people, and as I look at the DMs that come into TC and the messages people are writing in, what I’m uncovering is that many of us are cuffed to something we love—people giving us affirmation. The reason we get dressed and do all of that, and you put on all that makeup you hate putting on—you break out—you have to cover three new pimples the next time you do this, but you love when people say, „Oh girl, look at you!“
The truth of the matter is that many of those things we’re not in control of; they’re dragging us around. They’re leading our finances, they’re making our faith leak because they’re at the forefront, and God is saying, „In this series, I need you to not be cuffed to these things.“ Because the truth is, you’re cuffed to something you love, but it doesn’t love you back. There is nothing worse than being in love with someone or something. Now, I know some of y’all have never experienced this, but when you’re out there putting it all on the line for someone who isn’t even checking for you—a lot of the things we’re cuffed to are robbing us silently of our identity, our self-worth, and our ability to believe God. We love it, and yet it doesn’t love us back.
But I believe that by the end of this series, there will be faith that rises within many of you. You’ll say, „This has served me for the past ten years, and I thought I needed to be cuffed to this for the past five years. I thought that living in this house and this neighborhood and having a bunch of codes to live in a gated community made me what I am!“ But I’m going to be set free! I feel that right now; there is freedom coming to God’s people as we find out that cuffing season only needs to happen one time—by cuffing to God. When you’re cuffed to Christ, I don’t have to worry about everything that is happening in my life. When I’m cuffed to culture, when I’m cuffed to chaos—some of y’all are cuffed to chaos—your job situation is chaos, your baby daddy is chaos, everything is chaos—or you’re cuffed to criticism. Nothing is good enough. Look at this—are we staying here? Look at that praise and worship; they flopped—everything you do feels insufficient because you’re cuffed to criticism.
Thank you, Lord! I believe the constraints are about to come off some people in this series, in the name of Jesus. Okay, so principles, patterns, parameters— I found a story in the Bible that I need y’all to study this week. I’m going to give you a couple of points, some highlights and stuff, and then we’re going to send you home to digest all that has happened today so you can prepare for what we’re about to do next week.
So, I found a story about Samson. It’s so funny how they sanitize Bible character stories. I don’t know why we do that, but we have little kids watching all this other stuff. Samson’s story is rough; if you’ve ever read it, everyone just knows, „Oh, Samson had his hair cut, and he died!“ But this story is about God giving parameters but someone following their own patterns, which leads to a bunch of problems that result in their power being stolen. The reason God is trying to set you up—in a way that is safe for you—is that He doesn’t want the power He placed inside of you—your genius, your uniqueness, your creative assignment on this earth—to be stolen. So many people, just like Samson, are losing their power because of where they lay their heads, what they rest their thoughts on.
I’m preaching now. It’s not that you had the thought; it’s where you lay your thoughts. You get a pillow, and you lay in the lap of things that actively try to steal your power. You’re cuffed to it! Oh my God, that is serious! I came to help the church today; there’s no amount of prayer that can change your decided patterns. We can pray and scream and tarry all day, but if you decide to answer phone calls after 10:30 PM, we can shout and dance, but if you have already decided not to bring people you’re in relationships with into the community for them to check them out, and you make all your decisions by yourself because „I’m a grown woman and I’ve been my own boss since I was that,“ what is this?
Samson’s parents could not have children; I’m going to give you the backstory. You’ve got to go study this whole thing because it is the most outrageous story ever. Parents couldn’t have children, then they got a prophecy… all these P words that I’ve got to love! They received a prophecy stating that you will have a child, and I am going to fulfill my promise, but I must give you certain parameters. He said this child, as mentioned in Judges chapter 13, verse 4, should have no wine or fermented drink, must not eat anything unclean, and must not cut his hair.
In a modern remix of this passage, he should have no wine, no meat, and no edge-up; he essentially should be a vegan. Do you understand what I am saying? This is the thing about parameters; they don’t have to make sense. Why? They don’t have to; they never did. I don’t see you questioning them: „Why, God?“ You don’t have to understand to obey God. In this passage, no explanation is given. It could have simply stated, „Don’t cut his toenails“ or „Brush six times a day.“ There was no reason; it was an opportunity for them to honor God.
Obedience is never about our outcomes; it’s about honor. I don’t have to understand why, but I honor who you are in my life, and I’m going to obey, knowing that your ways are not my ways and your thoughts are not my thoughts. As high as the heavens are above the earth—come on, y’all! —in this Google generation, we feel like God owes us an explanation. Just because I can explain everything, like, „Siri, how many miles am I from the moon?“ doesn’t mean God is obligated to tell me the timing of when He’s going to make His next move. Let me stop. Because of the parameters that God set for Samson, that was where his strength was found. His strength was locked up in the parameters. Oh my God! The greatest version of you is not the „I can do anything“ version of you. The greatest version of you is the disciplined version of you. The greatest version of you is the version that has parameters.
„No, I don’t do that. I don’t drink that. I don’t go there with those people. I’m focused. I have a prize ahead of me. I have fixed my eyes on Jesus. I know what I’m supposed to do, and that ain’t it. I have to stay right here.“ It’s the version of you that has parameters. Your power is in those parameters. They said you changed. No, no, no; I just can’t hang with you. It’s not that I didn’t change; I just reevaluated the priority of my parameters. Okay, so Samson’s power was in the parameters that they set. This boy lived a crazy life—he literally goes and disobeys everything God tells him to do. He kills a lion on the side of the road and gives the meat to his family—a completely unclean thing! He found this girl and said, „Girl, come here,“ and then all hell broke loose.
Y’all have to read the whole story; it’s exhausting to recount. His life was just tragic. He goes through this whole situation about to marry this girl, but then he has this thing with riddles and starts doing these riddles without telling the girl what they mean. He finally tells her the answer, and she forgets it. Then he gets mad and turns into the Hulk because that’s been his pattern. He storms off and, while he’s away, everyone else thinks, „Well, I’m in a wedding dress and your best man looks good.“ So the best man and his girl get married. I’m telling you, it is a mess! He comes back—mad and depressed—and moves back in with his mom.
Then we get to our text today: Judges chapter 16, verse 4. Sometime later, Samson fell in love with a woman named Delilah, who lived in the valley of Sorek. The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, „Entice Samson to tell you what makes him so strong.“ You know people are plotting against your power! They didn’t go to Samson; they went to someone close to him—someone he was attached to, okay? Entice Samson to tell us how he can be overpowered and tied up securely. Then each of us will give you 1,100 pieces of silver. So Delilah, this manipulative woman, went back to her man and said, „Sammy, baby, please tell me what makes you so strong. You be flexing and stuff; I’m just wondering, what would it take to tie you up securely? What would it take to cuff you?“
She wasn’t discreet at all. She literally came right out and asked him, „How can I cuff you?“ The same way I believe some of the things we are tied to aren’t even trying to be discreet. How can I cuff you? Let me say it a different way: how can I contain you, constrict you, confine you, compress you? Let me take it a step further: hey, tell me how I can contain your calling, constrict your consistency, confine your capacity, and compress your character? This fool was so in love.
Okay, I need you to go back to verse four real quick. Go back to verse four, because love will make you do some stupid things. It says sometime later, Samson fell in love; but in this whole scenario, it never mentions Delilah’s feelings toward Samson. Samson loves something that does not love him back, and she approaches him asking, „How can I constrain your calling, constrict your consistency, confine your capacity, and compress your character? How can I cuff you?“ Samson replied, „If I were tied up with seven new bowstrings that have not yet been dried, I would become as weak as anyone else.“
So the Philistine rulers brought Delilah seven new bowstrings, and she cuffed Samson; she tied him up with them. Can I just encourage you? Everything that Samson had been through before, with all that wild stuff that happened, he never dealt with. So his future was about to be defined by his past pain. It just says, „Sometime later,“ not after counseling, not after submitting, not through any process, not even allowing time to pass. It was just sometime later. He fell in love with something because he was feeling desperate and lonely. You can fall in love with anything when you’re desperate and lonely. Y’all ever seen that movie „Cast Away“ with Tom Hanks?
If you’ve never seen it, the premise is that he is on an island by himself, with nothing except a volleyball. One of the major manufacturers of volleyballs is Wilson. This man is so alone and desperate that he gives the piece of rubber a name and treats it like his only friend. Some of us are loving and giving our allegiance to things that don’t even have the capacity to love us back. Delilah was chosen by Samson out of his pain. When you pick from your pain, you will never choose correctly. If your pain fuels your decisions, many of us, because we have not dealt with the pain, haven’t sat still long enough to let God uncuff us, free us, or deliver us from some of the things we’re walking through, your next choice will be worse. You’re picking from your abuse. You’re cuffed to the cycles, the deception, and the facade. If you don’t deal with it, it’ll just repeat itself.
This is why I believe in theology and therapy. Some of you, the most spiritual thing you could do this year is get into counseling. You literally need to take all of your baggage— and I know some of y’all say, „I mean, it’s in the past,"—but it’s in your present. It may have occurred in your past, but it’s still affecting you in your present. I don’t need to know who my daddy is. I don’t need to know if that’s my real brother and sister; can’t nobody change that—we’re blood, except for the DNA test that makes you confront what you have to deal with. And I know the church has done a really bad job teaching you to escape the pain, pray the pain away, or believe that pain doesn’t come. Pain is proof you’re alive.
Who’s the last dead person you heard say, «Ouch»? Dead people don’t say, «Ouch.» So even though it hurts, it proves you’re still living. Even the hard work of walking out your life makes you feel miserable every time—it’s proof you’re still alive. Even though you don’t have the title you used to have and people’s perception of you may differ, the fact that it hurts means you’re still breathing. And if you’re still breathing, that means God’s not done with you. If you’re still drawing breath, that means God has a plan for you. I could be dead, but I’m still alive. That means I will still experience pain, and maybe some of the greatest things to actually make it on the other side of pain are to confront the pain.
I’m going to go ahead and tell my story. All right, so I’ve been working out, and on October 27th, it was Bubba’s birthday, and he turned six. Bubba loves the trampoline park. We rented out Sky Zone. I’m jumping, doing all sorts of active things as a father, and one of my competitive friends asked me to race from one side to the other. I’m going to leave him nameless, but I’ll fight him. We start running, and I’m a naturally competitive person. Some people here were at this event; this is a real account of something that happened. I begin to run and I’m beating him. You know how trampolines aren’t steady? You start running and when you think you’ve got power and strength, it suddenly sinks. I hit this trampoline at just the right angle that jammed my ankle. I mean, I felt it—just like you felt right then. It flipped me over; I did a full front flip in the air.
My entire butt came out! Y’all, I’m talking, I mooned the whole place! All my church members saw all of the glory—do you hear what I’m saying? There was no hiding it; they even got it on video. It’s really ridiculous. I’m telling you first in case it ever leaks. It was so bad that nobody laughed afterward because they thought it was fun, but they knew I was hurt, so they rushed over. I made a sound I’d never made before: «Oh!» I was hurt, but I tried to play it off like it didn’t affect me. «Oh, I’m good,» I said. I tried to get out there and jump some more. I went to work out the next week, and I thought to myself, «What in the world?!» I thought, «If I just keep doing what I did before,» but this really hurt. I’m older now; I’m in a different season of my life.
I hit that trampoline—at 22, I could bounce back and do a backflip. But at 35? My wife, my community said, «You need to go to the doctor. You need to get checked out.» «That costs too much!» I thought. Costs too much time, too many resources to deal with it at a place where it could be corrected. To deal with the pain at the root level? «No, no, I’m good!» I learned how to function with my ankle not at 100 percent. Two months later, after learning how to cope with the pain—because that’s what many don’t know—I started wearing an ankle brace to the gym. Every time I walked, I could feel it, but I tried to play it off. People would ask, «What’s wrong with your ankle?» «It’s fine, I’m good,» because I had enough support around it that I didn’t feel it while I was working out.
I worked out fine as long as I wore the ankle brace, and then I forgot about it—until my right knee started hurting. I thought, «I ain’t never had that!» I’m telling you, I’m in the gym and can’t do what I’ve been doing because the untreated pain of my ankle caused me to overcompensate for my knee. I didn’t even have a traumatic experience, but untreated pain over time starts affecting every area. I began to think, «What in the world?!» And guess what I did? I got a knee brace! I’m up here looking like the Bionic Man walking into each workout, because I won’t go get the pain treated. You never pick right when you’re picking out of your pain.
This man picked Delilah and told her a lie, which lets me know—look at verse 9: she had hidden some men in one of the inner rooms of her house, and she cried out, «Samson! The Philistines have come to capture you!» But Samson snapped the bowstrings. Who here snaps a piece of string when it’s burned with fire? So the secret of his strength was not discovered. Afterwards, Delilah, with her own manipulative self, approached him again. «You’re making fun of me,» she said. «Why do you keep telling me lies?» «No, I’m giving you one more chance,» she continued. «Please tell me how you can be tied up or cuffed securely.» And Samson replied—hold on, after the first incident, the relationship would have been O-V-E-R! But for some reason, this man is still communicating and connecting with something that is actively trying to cuff him. Now you’re judging him, but many of us are still actively communicating and connecting with things…
That you know are trying to cuff you. Let me put it plainly: cuffing only happens with connection and communication. If he walks away from Delilah now, he retains his power. That’s why the Bible says you flee from youthful lust; you don’t converse with it, you run. It has no ability to connect to you, it has no ability to convince you, it has no ability if you get away from it. But some of us are so prideful we think we are better than we are. «I can watch that movie now at six o’clock; that movie got into your spirit, and you were good, and it only had two sex scenes.» I got a little lamb, and at 3 a.m., little Derrick said, «I don’t even like what you’re doing, little Derrick.» «Nothing, just, you know, I had a bad dream.» «We don’t need accountability; I can handle all this money.» «I don’t know; nobody has enough.» «I don’t know; I gotta be in my money!»
The truth of the matter is that a lot of things we’re cuffed to can only stay and hinder us because we’re communicating with it and staying connected to it. There are some of y’all’s high school friends you should never talk to again. No, this is real life; you know they’re pulling you away from your calling. Ten-year high school reunion, your frat brothers and sorority sisters, I’m coming for you. «Okay, great, all the cute…» «Oh, okay, okay, but are you cuffed to a calling?» See, some of y’all know what I’m talking about. The way they say «wrong call,» and they saw that you’re cuffed to calls—that every time you’re about to do good, they have a get-together. I’m going to stop because this is stuff I know; I’m not projecting. I watch people yearly fall into bad decisions because of commitments they made in a season they didn’t understand. Their calling and they cuffed to those things, and now they have to fight being fake or real when they really need to prioritize the calling of God on their lives.
Okay, this man replies to Delilah; he keeps connection and communication, which deepens the cuff. He said, «If I were tied up with brand new ropes that had never been used, I would become as weak as anyone else.» Does this fool not hear himself? This is arrogance when you’re anointed. He knows he’s anointed, so he walks in arrogance. This is a literal disease in the church right now: people that are anointed, which the gift is without repentance. You’re going to be able to prophesy even if you’re a prostitute. You’re going to be able to declare what the holy God says even if you doubt it. You’re going to be able to do all of it, but your arrogance, because of the anointing that God’s given you, has you playing with stuff that’s going to take away your power. This man is still conversing with compromise, but he was arrogant because he thought, «Ain’t nobody as strong as me; I can rip a lion’s whole face off.»
I mean, think about that. It’s like a good story to walk into the club with. «Hey, there goes Samson; you know he rips lion’s faces off—people think of me a certain way.» Positions are given to people, and you become arrogant because you’re anointed. That’s why I pray every day; I know God has anointed me, but I’m surrounded by community. I’ve been given a wife; I’ve been given accountability that keeps me humble before God. My first pastor said, «You don’t need to fast; you need to live a fasted life. You need to keep putting your flesh under subjection to the will of God because if you don’t, arrogance comes with the anointing.» I need to probably do a whole series on that because people don’t talk about it. How were you on for that many years and then you fell off? It’s because somewhere, you stopped praying; somewhere, you stopped worshiping; somewhere, you didn’t come in and actually serve anymore.
So, Delilah took new ropes. «I’m bored; I’m about to whoa. I’m about to run.» And she tied him up. She did what he told her. The men were hiding in the inner; where are these men coming from? Nobody can hear? Okay, just wanted to clarify—okay, they were hiding in the inner. Delilah cried out, «The Philistines have come to capture you again!» But again, Samson snapped the ropes from his arms as if they were thread. Then Delilah said, «That’s it! You have been making fun of me and telling me lies. Now, just please tell me how can you be tied up securely?»
Imagine being Samson’s friend. Now, imagine being your friend; this is the same situation. There are different people, but it’s the same situation, and everybody else can see this cuffed thing is doing the same thing to you over and over again. Now you’re mad at the people who are supposed to help you and hold you accountable because you don’t like what they say. Why? Because you’re in love with it. It’s very difficult to say anything to anybody about something they’re in love with because when you attack love, then you send people into what I call «Romeo and Juliet» mode. They’re going to defend it even when they think, «Maybe I shouldn’t.» Nope, I can’t be wrong.
This is what I found out about comfort, because obviously Samson is comfortable now with Delilah. He’s so arrogant in his anointing that he can entertain this threat over his life. It’s a threat on his life, but he’s so comfortable that he throws caution out the window, and he is now compromised. Samson replied, «If you were to weave the seven braids of my hair…» No, hold on; he just got closer. This is the first time he mentions or gives any clues to what actually can take his power.
He’s so comfortable he’s become careless. She is wearing him down, and there are people, places, situations, and things that you are going to give keys to your downfall because they have been wearing you down. He says, «If you take the seven braids of my hair into a fabric on your loom and tighten it with the loom, I will become as weak as anyone else.» Remember the parameters? No strong drink, yes—my mom was like, «Tommy, what is 'syrak'?» She can pray down the heavens but doesn’t know about the surroundings. I love multi-generational ministry! Okay, no, no, no. «Syrak,» okay, no unclean thing, no haircut. Those were the parameters God gave him from birth, but now he’s flirting with the thing that’s trying to make him vulnerable. She does it, and he busts out again.
Okay, verse 15: Then Delilah pouted, «How can you tell me I love you?» She’s using manipulation; it is so nasty because she’s using what she knows about him to take away what’s great about him. Be very careful when somebody uses what they know about you to try to take away what’s great about you. Give me an example: my transparency—how I share everything. When you start listening to people who say, «But you know Mike Todd, and you know he did this,» and I’m telling you what I did, I’m telling you what I did. Be careful about people who will take what they know about you and try to pervert it to take away what’s powerful about you. The reason people listen to me is that I actually tell the truth; I’m going to tell what’s going on.
Be careful because this man has a woman who’s manipulating him. «Because you didn’t share your secrets with me, you made fun of me three times now, and you still haven’t told me what makes you so strong.» She tormented him with her nagging day after day until he was sick to death. I told y’all the Samson story is way deeper than you thought it was. He entertains her so long that he wants to die but still doesn’t walk away. At any moment, he could have uncuffed from her. This isn’t even his wife; they don’t even have any confidence. You’re just a needy side chick. But he loved her; he was in love with something that did not love him. As we’re talking about him, I just want you to take inventory of your own life. What has you worried to death, frustrated to death? What has you in a place that you could actually uncover from but you would rather die than walk away? I’ll put it in point form: Consistent toxic connections lead to the cutting of your calling.
I just want to let you know your calling is about to get cut short because of all of the toxic connections that you are staying cuffed to. And I’m not even just talking about people; your connection to fear is ruling you. You are connected to fear; you are connected to poverty. It’s a toxic relationship you have with poverty. I just want everybody to hear me. Get people out of your mind for a second; it’s the patterns, and you have a relationship with things that keep the patterns going. They mess up the principles in your head that make you go past the parameters of God and make you walk into all types of problems. All I’m saying to you is that if you keep the consistent pattern…
She came back day after day. Verse 17: Finally, Samson shared his secret with her. «My hair?» It’s my hair you want to know. «You want to have all my secrets? You owe me nerves; it’s my hair. I told you everything. I love you this much to expose myself—all of me—and I’m putting it in somebody’s hands who’s not trustworthy. My hair has never been cut, he confessed, for I was dedicated to God…»
Oh, hold on. I was dedicated to God as a Nazarite from birth… Oh God, you tell all your business! If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as anyone else. Verse 18: Delilah realized he had finally told her the truth. The truth has a different tone; he’d been telling her stuff the whole time, but this time she was like, «Got him!» So she sent for the Philistine rulers. «Come back one more time,» she said, «for he has finally told me his secret.» So the Philistine rulers returned with the money in their hands. All of this? I mean, we couldn’t have made money with his strength? We couldn’t have made money? But I just—really, as a business plan, as an entrepreneur—we could have taken Samson’s strip on the road. But why are we trying to kill him one time for 1,100 pieces of silver? It’s because there was a toxicity in Delilah; there was something on the inside of her that didn’t see the value in the relationship. That’s why she couldn’t love him back.
Okay, this part scares me every time. Verse 19: Delilah lulled Samson to sleep with his head in her lap. The lap you lay in can limit your life. The lap that you lay in, the place where you put your thoughts, the place where you trust your secrets, the place where you go, can limit your life. He has no idea while he’s dreaming he’s about to be destroyed. He laid his head in the wrong lap, and it’s about to limit his life. I just want you to see the progression. He laid… she lulled… wherever you lay, it has the ability to desensitize you. Why don’t I watch certain movies? Not because they’re not funny; they’re actually hilarious, but it’s hilarious in perversion. That plant starts in my head that takes me back to a season that was unsubmitted to God and then tries to reprogram principles in my life that will put me back in patterns that will end me up with problems. At the moment I do something outside of the parameters, bye-bye Pastor Mike; Transformation Church is gone. Nobody cares. I’m in counseling with my kids, and nobody will care. I will just be another fallen pastor that y’all remember.
When? So the reason I say it’s so simple: «It’s just a movie.» No, no, no, no, no. It’s the lap that I’m laying in. If I lay in certain laps—and some of y’all are so arrogant 'cause you’re anointed, you’re so gifted, you’ve got so many degrees, you’ve got so many businesses that were successful, and you’re playing with the thing that’s going to cut your life off. Be cuffed to it. He laid, shelled, and he ends up losing. And then she called the man to shave off his seven locks. «He was a brother! Dang, Samson had dreadlocks! Seven of them?» It’s so crazy; his locks being gone locked him up. It was what he lost in his locks that ended up locking him up. Look what it says: «She began to bring him down.» Oh, and they called the man to shave off the seven locks of his hair.
«In this way, she began to bring him down.» If it’s beginning to bring you down—if it’s beginning to… if your speech is changing, if your faith talk is changing, if you’re starting to be pessimistic when you used to have hope, if you are now critical of everything, if you don’t give anybody the benefit of the doubt anymore to bring you down means your strength is about to leave. She began to weaken him, and his strength left him. Then she cried out, «She’s still playing on his emotions!» The Philistines came to capture him again. When he woke up, he thought—I assumed, I made an assumption—that God was always going to protect me, even when I stepped out of the parameters.
I thought I would do as before and shake myself free, but he didn’t realize the Lord had left him. Y’all, the worst thing about being cuffed to the wrong thing is not just the temporary consequences; it’s losing communion with God. The whole problem with sin is that when we sin, it cuts off communion with God. It’s not about a house; it’s not about a car; it’s not about a platform; it’s about communion with God. So many of us are waking up thinking we’re going to do what we did last time, but because we’ve been cuffed to something that was planning to really kill us, we’re going to realize we can’t do it the same way this time. The Lord’s not with me in this move. The Lord’s not with me at the church I started. I started this church to be a pastor—honestly out of my insecurity—because I wanted to be seen, but I was actually supposed to serve at that other church and work on my character. The Lord said, «I don’t put my house up for a second mortgage; I’m about to lose everything.» And God is standing there like, «I told you. Could you just come back when you’re ready?»
See, God is holy, and He can’t go back on His word. We always talk about how His word is always true—the ones we like and the ones we don’t like. This man is in paralysis, and you can read the rest of it: they make a mockery of him. They literally cuff him. The Philistines captured him, cuffed him, and gouged out his eyes; they took away his vision. It’s not enough to just take away your power; they want to steal your future—not just so you’re unable to conquer today but so that you can’t see tomorrow. My burden is that there are so many believers in Jesus who are cuffed to things that are now trying to gouge out their vision. «I don’t see a future for my family. I don’t know if I have a purpose. I don’t know if I’m called anymore.»
They’re literally trying to cuff and capture you. It says they took him to Gaza, where he was bound with bronze chains and forced to grind grain. I think about old terms and new terms: grinding is not a privilege; that’s a punishment. I can’t even go there, forced to grind. How are y’all running on this engine of success and making more zeros while losing your children, providing presents and gifts but not being present? When he lost his power, he lost his sight; he was forced to grind. But then there’s always grace.
Verse 22: «Oh, and some of you needed to hear this today, because this is going to be the thing that helps you uncuff.» But before long, his hair began to grow back. This is a cautionary tale for all of us to see maybe a little bit of ourselves and what we are cuffed to that’s costing us our calling. God is saying to many of you today, «Would you please stop loving things that don’t love you back?» You’re going to have to take inventory. I know for me, I wanted to be famous or have fans, but at the beginning of the year, when everything hit the fan, God had to use that pain to help me. I’m just being real with you. He used that pain for me—dealing with that pain, going through counseling for that pain, working through my own issues. Through that pain, I got free; I uncuffed from something I loved—the like, the attention.
Most pastors won’t tell you this, but I loved being liked. I loved the attention. I loved the thing, but it wasn’t loving me back. At the moment I realized it was coming after my calling, I had to uncuff. Now, when I get up here, I don’t care about what you think. You can tune in or tune out, but I’m going to stand here in the authority that God has given me and declare the good news of Jesus Christ. Why? Because this was what I was called to do when I was in my mother’s womb. If I stay within the parameters that He’s given me, let me say it like this: where you lay your head determines your legacy. Because Samson laid his head in Delilah’s lap, we don’t hear about generations of Samson. We don’t know if that power was transferable to another generation because he laid his life in the wrong lap. Stop loving things that don’t love you back! Oh, I feel the presence of God right now.
1 Corinthians 7:23 says, «God, my God, somebody say, 'My God! ' paid a high price for you, so don’t be enslaved. Don’t be cuffed to the world.» This scripture has let me know that whatever is not like Christ that I’ve been cuffed to, He paid a price so I didn’t have to be cuffed to it. I have a legal right as a child of God to no longer be enslaved to comparison. I’m talking about real stuff. I don’t have to be enslaved to perversion. I don’t have to be cuffed to confusion because of what Christ did for me. I do not have to be cuffed to all the things of culture; I can be free because I’m paid for. Today, some people have been cuffed to addictions, cuffed to people-pleasing, cuffed to what your family said.
I feel the Holy Spirit right now. Come on, everybody, just lift your hands wherever you are and say, «Holy Spirit, what are you trying to say to me through this message?» Ask Him: «Holy Spirit, what are you trying to say to me?» Because right now I’ve been talking, but the Holy Spirit’s been speaking. He’s been illuminating some things you’ve been cuffed to that have not been His best for you.
Today, Father, I’m thanking You that the spirit of evaluation would come all over this place—that You would give us self-awareness. There it is, Father. Today, I thank You that everything we were thinking was for somebody else, God. We would come into a place of humility and just start asking You to show us. Show us us. Show us the areas, Father God, that we have honestly made idols we’ve cuffed to because we love them, and if we’re honest, we love them more than You, God. But today, we’re repenting or turning back to You, and we’re asking, Father, that You would uncuff us from the things that have kept us from our fullest calling. In the name of Jesus, I pray that every lap that has been assigned to kill our calling—Father God, I thank You that we would wake up; we would not be lulled to sleep, but we would wake up and be able to walk away from those toxic connections. It’s by Your power, not by our might and power, but by Yours. Your spirit, speak to us this week, God.
If you know there’s an area right now, uh-huh, we’re going to get real in this series. This series is going to be therapy and theology. We’re going to have to come clean in this one. If there’s any area in your life that you know you have been connected to something that’s trying to kill your calling, I need you to stand all over this room, all over your house. I don’t care what it is. Let people think whatever they want to think. It doesn’t matter. This is between you and God. Would you do something? Would you lift your hands right there? This is a sign of surrender right now. Yep, there’s surrender happening right now. Uh-huh.
See, God, like my ankle and my knee, He can never heal what you won’t reveal. Today, God is saying all He wanted to get through this first series is a bunch of people that would reveal that they need the healer. If you need the healer, lift those hands right now. Father, I’m thanking You that the first step of healing is identification. Today, Father, here we are as Your children—not hiding from You, but saying, «Father God, we’ve been cuffed to comfort. We’ve been cuffed to culture. We’ve been cuffed, Father God, to the wrong community. We’ve been cuffed, Father God, to things that have us in a wrong place. We’ve been cuffed to criticism. Father, we’ve been cuffed to being critical. We’ve been, Father God, cuffed to crazy. We’ve been cuffed to confusion.» Father God, right now we’re asking, «Could You uncuff us and cuff us to You?» Today, we want to be cuffed to Christ. Father, I’m thanking You right now for every person under the sound of my voice, God, that today You’re starting to do a deep work. Father, we don’t want this little surface «I feel good for a second» kind of work. Father, we want You to transform us. But the way we are transformed is by the renewing of our minds. Give us Your principles again. Father, let us fall in love with Your word like never before. Let us devour it; let us be hungry daily, not weekly, but daily. Let us be able to get into the Scriptures, illuminate Your word, and give us rhema without a pastor—just Your Holy Spirit. Father God, speak to us and show us how to change the patterns by changing the principles.
Put your hand on your mind right now. Somebody say, «God, change my mind.» So take my heart and mold it; take my mind, transform it; take my will, conform it to Christ— to Yours, to Yours. Come on, lifted hands, open hearts. Take my heart and mold it; take my mind—oh, I feel God doing a work right now; transform it, and take my will, conforming, Lord, to Yours, to Yours. Come on, just one more time, let’s lift it up—hands lifted. This is our quiet phase. God, I’m giving You my will. Come on, God, You can do whatever You want to do. Change the patterns by the principles. Today, take my will; I want to be like You. This is the start of a journey, okay? I have kind of given up on the all-in-one message approach—where you hear it, get it, you’re delivered, you’re free, and go home. The level of trauma we’re going to be walking out of is going to take some weeks, okay?
I’m asking everybody to commit to at least the next eight weeks of us getting uncuffed from things. There are three people that are excited about it, but I’m telling you it’s going to change your life. Next week, God has given me a specific assignment to help challenge us, and I can’t wait to bring that message. But this week, there are things that were said in this message that have to be replayed. You’ve got to listen to this at least three times this week. Why? While you’re doing other stuff, something will pop out at you like, «Oh, God!» or you’ll just get out of an argument and be like, «Ah, there it is; it’s a pattern!» Or you’ll be going on date night with Delilah or Dwayne, whichever one.
Okay, look, and God will remind you: «Don’t lay in that lap! Don’t lay in that lap!» But we want our minds, our hearts, and our wills to be conformed to God. Just sing that one more time: «Take my heart.» It’s so beautiful. I’m clay in the Potter’s hands. Whatever You want to do, God, You transform. Take my will. If you’re in this room or watching online or watching on replay, the Holy Spirit has been drawing you all service. He’s been drawing you to Christ. See, everything I’m saying to you is talking about what you need to get away from, but the thing is, you don’t uncuff from something that’s bad not to cuff to something else. We were meant to be cuffed, but to the right thing: cuffed to Christ.
Today, I want to invite you into a loving relationship with Jesus. He’s the only one that can help you be truly free. How do you know, Pastor Mike? Because I was a liar, a manipulator; I was addicted to pornography. I had all kinds of crazy things going on. I was cuffed to crazy, cuffed to confusion, cuffed to compromise—being in the church, praising God, playing music, worshiping, writing Jesus songs, and then at night doing all kinds of dumb stuff. I want to be real with you: I didn’t have the power within myself to correct the crazy, but Christ went to a cross and died on Calvary to restore a relationship with you and the Father.
Today, all you have to do to claim it is believe by faith. The Bible tells us it’s by faith that we are saved through the grace of Jesus Christ. Today, I want to give you the opportunity to accept Jesus. It is by far the greatest human decision I’ve ever made because it’s given me a chance to transform all my pain into purpose and has given me security in my present and future because my eternity has already been settled because I put my faith in Jesus.
Today, let me give you an opportunity to cuff to Christ. I know culture would tell you—and even religion would tell you—you need to stop this and do this and change that and all this other stuff—that’s a bunch of people’s opinions. The Bible says all you have to do is repent, turn from what you’re doing right now, and turn to Christ. Bring your faith to Him, and He will accept you. Believe that He did it for you, and He will receive you as He received His Son. Right now, nobody can make this decision except you, and the church all over the world, and in this room, is beginning to pray because there are lives in the balance. Right now, nobody’s promised tomorrow, but you’re promised right now.
So today, if that’s you, on the count of three, we’re about to pray. It’s a simple prayer, but I want you to know there’s a war going on for your future right now, and there are many people at Transformation Church who are praying for you. No matter what you did last night, no matter what you’re doing right now, no matter what you smell like, no matter what you plan to do tomorrow, I’m talking about how you are valuable to God, and you are valuable to us. I’m telling you right now, today is the day of salvation. I believe God is about to do a miracle in your life, but it’s through your confession and your belief.
If you want to make Jesus Christ your personal Lord and Savior, on the count of three, I want you to shoot your hand up in the air. One: you’re making the greatest decision of your life. Church, I need you to pray. Two: I’m proud of you, but more than that, your name is going to be written in the Lamb’s Book of Life for eternity. Three: shoot your hand up in the air. Come on, there’s somebody in the room; I see you, I see you. There are people all over the world. I said there are hundreds, if not thousands, of people.
Now listen, I want you to boldly confess this prayer; it’s almost like an uncuffing from your old lifestyle. Today, God wants you to know He’s going to walk with you. I have good news: you never have to walk alone again. The reason why cuffing season does not have to be a part of your life in a negative way is that people who are cuffing do so because of isolation and desperation. Your isolation has just now been answered, and your desperation—Jesus is going to fill every void. This is your moment. So today, Transformation Church, let’s pray. We’re a big family here; nobody prays alone. Let’s pray together for the benefit of those coming to Christ. Everybody say:
God, thank You for sending Jesus just for me. I used to be cuffed to culture, but now I’m cuffed to Christ. Today, I believe that You lived and You died just for me. I’m giving You my life. Change me, renew me, transform me. I’m Yours forever. In Jesus' name, amen.