Stephanie Ike - The Flip Slide (01/20/2026)
In this sermon titled «The Flip Side,» the preacher uses the analogy of a coin’s two sides—obverse and reverse—to illustrate how opposites like chaos and purpose coexist. Drawing from the story of Job, she explains that God allowed suffering not out of insecurity but to expose and eradicate Job’s hidden fear, transforming him through exposure therapy-like divine process. Chaos reveals inner issues for healing; discernment—exercised through spiritual senses of sight and hearing—helps see God’s purpose amid turmoil. Applied to personal struggles and national chaos, the message urges flipping perspective: hold onto God’s word, seek His view with love, embrace self-awareness, and trust that nothing is random—God works all for good, restoration, and fulfillment.
The Flip Side: Seeing Purpose in Chaos
Today’s message—today’s message is titled «I’m for first-time people.» I–I joke a lot. That’s just how I am, but today’s message is titled «The Flip Side.» And it sounds kind of like some South Central rap music, you know, but uh, «The Flip Side.» And what actually inspired this title is a coin. And I actually have a coin right here. I was going to bring a cent, but I didn’t want to look cheap, so I brought a quarter, right?
Now, the fascinating thing about a coin that just fascinates me is the two sides that make up a coin, right? You have heads and you have tails. And this is the makeup of a coin. And heads and tails—these are extreme opposites of each other. Now, I’m sure that you know the makeup of the coin; there was no deep, you know, message behind it. We’re going to go a little deep with this coin, all right? Heads and tails—opposites, but they make up the coin.
When we think about good and bad, or good and evil, whichever way you have it—right and wrong, heaven and hell, you know, all these opposites—they exist for each other. How would we know what is good? How would we be able to identify a thing as good if we don’t have knowledge of what is bad? So a lot of times we are so caught up with one side of a thing that if we flip our perspective on it, it’s a whole different message.
The two things that really—and it was a few weeks ago when this was so pressed on my heart, and all of a sudden, you know, preparing for this message, it all came up. But the two things that really stood out are chaos and purpose. They exist for each other. And a lot of times we are so distracted by the chaos that we lose sight of the purpose. We lose sight of God. Are you actually doing something in the midst of all of this?
You see, the technical term for heads or tails—I did a little research, and I wanted to come and sound smart, you know, technically—but the technical terms I just found so fascinating because the heads is called «obverse, » and the tails is called «reverse.» Now, to observe a thing is to discern something. And we’re going to talk about discernment in a little bit. And the reverse, obviously, is the opposite of something.
So could it be that in times when something looks not like what God showed you—when you’re experiencing a situation that is nothing like what God told you, it’s nothing like what you believe your life is called to—when we see the state that America is in—could it be that in the midst of all of that there is purpose? And all we have to do is flip our perspective. Amen? Yes, sir.
The Story of Job: Fear Exposed Through Chaos
And so, as we look into this message—I mean, the one person that can, you know, be my wingman on this message is Job. You see, a lot of times we know about—I mean, most of us might know about the story of Job, but I’ll do a little background, right? And even homework: you know, study Job, all of Job, you know, one to the end of Job, right?
Now, Job—this is so fascinating because in the Bible, Job is a man that, you know, is described as one who feared the Lord and turned away from evil. I mean, God even described Job as a man who was upright, blameless, that there’s no one on the earth like Job. Now, all of a sudden, one day God is chilling, you know, He’s having a cup of coffee or something, and then, you know, the enemy shows up, and God is like, «Hey, you know, where you been? What you been up to?» right? So the book of Job is in there—I’m just kind of putting my own lyrics to this song. So God is just like, «Yo, you know, where you been at?» The enemy says, you know, «I’ve been searching the earth.» Now, anytime the enemy is searching anything, it’s always bad, right? Because the Bible tells us that his mission is to steal, kill, and destroy.
And God—God is the one who recommends Job. God says, «Have you considered my servant Job? There is nobody like him, » right? Now, this is so funny because first of all, we see that to those in Christ, the enemy cannot even touch you unless he gets permission. Now, why is God giving him permission? This is the question of life, right? God is like, «Yeah, you know, shut Job out.» And the funny thing about the enemy that just baffles me is that he’s so prideful. I mean, pride is what kicked him out, but he’s so prideful that he thinks that he would entice God to give him permission.
Because when you read the story, the enemy says, you know, «Oh, is Job faithful for nothing? You know, if you allow me to just touch him a little bit, if you allow me to take away a few things from him, he will not serve you.» So the enemy is trying to do the same thing he does with Eve—you know, «Let me entice you a bit.» But he’s so prideful that he doesn’t understand that he is in the plan of God for Job. He thinks he’s the one making a negotiation with God.
You see, the God we serve is not insecure. He doesn’t need to prove a point to anybody about your life. He doesn’t need to prove a point—and definitely not to the enemy—about your faithfulness. He’s not insecure. Insecure folks would do that. Yeah, yeah. «Test him a little bit.» You know how sometimes people in relationships can say, «You just walk past my boyfriend. See if he looks at you twice.» You know, but God is not that kind of man. He’s like, you know what? «Just keep walking, girl. Just keep walking, » right?
But God is not insecure. So the question is, why did God allow the enemy to touch Job? You see, the enemy affected everything connected to Job. Job had—I mean, he had 10 kids: seven boys and three girls. Killed all of them. Job was a very wealthy man. Wiped out his whole, you know, money, industry—yeah, camels, all those, you know, things that describe a wealthy man back then, right? Now, if you have sheep, you look rich. But everything that was connected to Job’s wealth, he wiped it out. Eventually, he even caused Job to be sick. He had all these sores on his body.
Why did God allow the enemy to do this? You see, there’s a passage in Scripture that talks about there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out all fear because fear brings torment, and the one who fears is not perfect in love. Now, when everything happened to Job, the first thing he says: «What I have greatly feared has come upon me.»
Now, Job is almost like God’s perfect representative on the earth. God delights in Job. The Scripture also says that whom the Lord loves, He corrects. You do not correct something where there is no—some know there’s nothing wrong in the picture. You see, on the outside, Job lived a life to follow the ways of God. He respected God because when the Bible says, you know, to fear God is a reverential type of fear. It’s a respectful type of thing. It’s not like I’m, you know, shaky like Ghostbusters or something type thing—none of that. But it’s literally—he respected God so much.
And so everything Job did on the outside reflected one who honors God, but on the inside, Job was messed up. Could it be that Job’s decisions were triggered from a place of fear? He said, «That which I have greatly feared has come upon me.» Now, when God looked at Job, He said, «This is the best candidate I have on the earth.» God’s will for your life is always to see you better, is always to see you fulfilled. It’s never for you to be okay on the outside and your insides are messed up. He’s a Father, and no good father would see something going on in their children and ignore it.
You see, something about Job: Job had anxiety issues, and I’ll tell you why. In Job chapter one, it talks about how, you know, his kids—they would have all these parties. They would go on feasts and events, right? And probably they were drinking, right? They were a little drunk or something. They needed to cut it, right? That’s my jam, you know—"Cut it.» Job would be so afraid. The Scripture says—and this is so funny—He said, «What if they had cursed God in their heart?» Not even that they said anything. He said, «Lord, oh my gosh, this kid might have said something in their heart against you.» He was so panicked that just the thought of that—the thought that, oh my gosh, my kids could have said something against God—I don’t want them to die. And then he would go make, you know, like these burnt offerings because back then, you know, Jesus hadn’t come yet. So what he’s doing is to cover the sin. And the Bible says in Job chapter 1 that he did this continually. He lived in perpetual fear that, «God, I am so afraid to lose my kids. I don’t know if they’re cursing against you. I don’t know what they’re doing, but I need to just cover this up because I just want my life to be—I love how it is right now.»
But God saw that Job is not living out of love. He’s living through fear. You see, the Scripture says that God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind. That’s a lot of things for one thing—three things we had to announce for one thing, right? He said, «Not fear, but one, two, three, » right?
Now, when you think about this, I thought about a few things that fear does in a person compared to the things that the Scripture mentions. So it says of love—when you think about love versus fear—love is transparent. Love is truthful. Fear lies to you. It comes up with all these thoughts and imaginations of what could happen, and then you start tripping, right? And the tripping leads to the next thing.
Power—power is one of the things that power does. It gives you a choice. You are not empowered in a thing if you don’t have a choice in the matter. Fear controls you. It tells you that there’s no options—it is this or nothing.
You see, Job—if he was moving through love, there would have been options. Because first of all, for him to be so panicked about his children, it shows that maybe there were some character traits in them that were a little questionable, right? But why cover it up? Why not confront it? Why not say, «Lord, let me try and teach them your ways»? Why only do one thing continually? Not saying, «Let me show you…» There’s a passage in Genesis—it’s so powerful. And it’s when God was one of the reasons—when God was talking about why He chose Abraham, and He said, «For this man would teach, would lead his children and those after him in my ways.» Why didn’t Job feel like there was an option to correct his children, to say that the way you guys are going is not the ways of the Lord? But instead, his mind just went to one thing: cover the sin, cover the sin.
And then we think of sound mind, right? Love—the Spirit of God gives you clarity. That’s what love does. Fear gives you anxiety—multiple thoughts just running wild. You can’t even figure out, you know, what’s lunch and dinner, right? We need a little laughter. But that’s what fear does—you’re tripping out.
And God loved Job to the point He said, «I’m going to factor…» The enemy does not even know that he’s a part of my plan, but I’m going to use him to do something in your life. You see, God always works with us from the inside out. He saw that, «Job, this thing needs to be—we need to just eradicate this issue.»
In psychology, they call this exposure therapy. And what that is—even, oh gosh, look at human beings—we create therapies from the Bible. Hallelujah, Jesus. Exposure therapy is basically when someone with anxiety, they expose you to what you’re afraid of because they believe that the moment you are exposed to the very thing that is causing you to trip out, you would realize how much stronger you actually are. And by experiencing that thing, it would break off of you.
You see, when Job experienced the thing he feared—it’s so powerful to me because obviously there was something in him that kept him going. For him to say things like, «Though He slay me, yet shall I trust Him.» There was something that had broken off in him to say that, «God, you’re doing something in me. I might not know it, but in the midst of this chaos, there is purpose.»
Restoration and Discernment
And it’s so funny because one thing that blew my mind is—obviously God gives the enemy permission to touch everything that Job has, but nothing happened to his wife. I said, «What?» You know, she is kicking—she is having a ball. And at some point in Job, it talks about how she left him, but obviously she came back at the end. But I was like, «God, why didn’t anything happen to the wife?»
And there were two things that came into my spirit. One—obviously, you know, and this is, you know, we could debate on this—but one thing, you know, the Scripture says that when a man and woman come together, they’re one. So if the enemy didn’t have permission to kill Job, he couldn’t touch his wife. Now, another angle is that the wife represented the promise of restoration.
You see, everything else in Job’s life could be gotten back through just gifts, right? Through hard work, through all of that. But the children given to him by this woman—any other woman in the picture, it would be different. It would not be an experience that they shared.
You see, at the end of Job’s life, God gave him everything back double portion. The only thing that was not double was the kids. He had the same amount of kids he had in the beginning—he had at the end: seven sons and three daughters. And I believe it was by this same woman.
You see, in the midst of chaos, there is always a promise for restoration. And we have to be able to flip perspective to say, «God, I know all of this looks so crazy, but we need to flip this around. What are you doing?» And this is where discernment comes in.
Job’s friends had no discernment. If you read the book of Job—which, you know, when you read the book of Job, it’s so crazy because first of all, these people are described as his friends, but they falsely accuse him of everything in the book. They called him wicked. They called him—like, everything going on in his life is the judgment from God. All these things—they had no discernment to see that God is actually doing something in this guy’s life.
I want us to open quickly—I believe it’s James 5:11. See, now the passage says, «Indeed we count them blessed who endure, » right? To endure—to hold on. You’re holding on to what God showed you about your life. Even when everything is just ripping apart from you, you’re holding on because you have a word from God. And that is your vision, not your circumstances. It’s so powerful.
Another thing that Job said that really blew my mind—and it’s in, I believe it’s in Job 23:10 or so—maybe now, if it’s not, Google it, right? —and he said this: he said, «Though He slay me…» It’s coming back—I’m thinking of a different passage. It says, «After He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.» (I was about to say «though He tried me"—in this King James-ish.) It says that after He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold.
Job had—in the midst of his issues—there was something that he understood about the situation. He said, «Look, this is a test"—I mean, not a test in the terms of God is testing you type of thing—but he’s like, «I am going through a process here, and when I’m done with it, I will come out better than I was before.» He had endurance.
You see, a lot of things very similar to what’s happening right now in the States is happening in some of your lives—there is a lot of chaos. But the heart of this message is that in the midst of your chaos, I promise you, God is doing something.
Now, it says that you have heard of the perseverance of Job and seen the end intended by the Lord. All along, God knew what He was doing. God had a plan for Job’s life. It wasn’t just something out of the blue—"Let me just play with this people a bit.» We’re not, you know, puppets, right, on the earth. We are children of God—people. That’s a powerful thing, right?
So it says, «You’ll see the end intended by the Lord.» And this reminds me of one of our favorite, you know, Scriptures here—Jeremiah 29:11—when God says, you know, maybe not God saying, but it’s saying that God said in the passage, right? It says, «For I know the plans I have for you, » declares the Lord, «plans to prosper you, plans of peace and not of evil.» Peace—what Job was going through in his life, there was nothing peaceful about the matter. When you’re living in anxiety, there’s nothing peaceful about your demeanor. But God says that my plan for you, my thoughts toward you, is to give you peace, a future, and a hope. He wants you to be fulfilled, family. He wants you to experience the best part of yourselves. And that’s what He did for Job.
And this passage just cracked me up at the end because it says that the Lord is very compassionate and merciful. Now, when you read this, you’re wondering, «Compassionate, right? Didn’t you cause it?» right? But to show compassion to someone is to show kindness to their suffering. To show mercy to someone is to bring relief to their pain. All of this was going on in Job’s life, and God came in to bring relief to him and to just elevate this whole issue in his head—to remove fear from Job.
Dream About America and Exposure
You see, recently, with all the events that were happening in America, there was a dream I had, and it was so interesting to me. And in the dream, there was a lady. The lady—her name was America. So the lady represented the country. And what God was showing me was basically what He’s doing in the midst of everything going on. Because as hard as this—even as hard as this might sound—things are… you see, there’s a Bible passage—let me connect to a Bible passage. There’s a Bible passage that talks about that because of the increase of wickedness, the love of many will grow cold. There is going to be—even though it looks like, you know, we’re making progress—but there’s going to be other things that are going to start coming up in this country, and it’s going to literally be an increase of wickedness, right? But check this.
So in the dream, the first round of what was going on—which was really this whole thing about, you know, police brutality coming to the surface—what happened is that because that was exposed, the woman who represented America—she was full of like all these unclean spirits. And I’m going to talk about, you know, what this all means now. Maybe, you know, we talk about unclean spirits like demonic spirits—you know, Jesus would cast out demonic spirits, right? Now, there’s a passage where Jesus, when He was casting out, you know, certain unclean spirits from a man, He asked a question and He said, «Who are you?» right? And the spirit responded through the man and said, «We are Legion, for we are many.»
So now—and before this happens, in the dream—in the dream, I had a vision where God was showing me that this woman is going to come to you, and there’s a spirit that’s going to come out of her, right? I said, «Oh, it sounds cool.» So I was walking in the path that He had showed me in the dream. So people bring this woman to me, and she had, you know—and her name was America—and then I asked her, but not speaking to her but speaking to the spirit that had come to the surface in her, and I said, «What is your name?» And the spirit said, «Miscarriage.» And I said, «Huh?» You know, I was like—very interesting. You know, in the dream I was still like, «Oh, that’s quite nice, » you know. And as the spirit was coming out of her, it talked about how there were others in the woman. But right when the thing came out, so it comes out of her, and then she’s acting like everything was all good. But the moment she was acting like it was all good, the other ones remained dormant.
So it was almost as though chaos was needed for that spirit to reveal itself. Now, when I woke up and I was talking to God, I was like, «What does miscarriage have to do with America? You know, America’s not pregnant, » you know. And what He showed me was premature death. And so the more that these things come to the surface, right—when we look at, you know, police brutality, even, you know, things against the police—but when we look at these things, because have it or not, there is a fear in this country that people have toward the police, right? And it’s not just because of a few bad apples—because we have police officers here; they are great people, right? So but there is a legit fear. You know, you’re speeding or you’re not even speeding—maybe your windows down, you have some Tupac playing—you see a cop car, you change into country: «Making my way downtown…» The cop car: «Hi, sir.» And there is a legit fear.
And so God brings these things to the surface because the attention on it is going to cause—literally because there’s so many deaths that’s been happening, and these deaths are so premature. And so because of that, there’s going to be a—I would even use the word—stop in faith, a stop to those things, to premature death in our country, right? And so it was so fascinating to me because when things were chaotic, that’s when it revealed itself. And the rest of it couldn’t reveal itself because it needed a certain type of condition to be exposed.
A lot of times, even in our lives, there are things that we don’t even know—how quick-tempered we are or how, you know, just crazy we can be—until a circumstance arises, and then God reveals, brings to surface something in you that He wants to wipe clean. And so it’s never—it’s never about, «Oh God, what is going on?» We have to use discernment. That’s good. We can’t look at the situation and talk to God from what we see in the natural and complain about it. We have to say, «Lord, what are you doing in the midst of all this so I know how to direct my prayers, I know how to direct my life? What is your plan? What is your intended plan—by doing this or, in the midst of it, by allowing it in some cases?» Not everything that is allowed, right? But God always has a plan.
Moses and Holding onto God’s Word
And what is His plan? I want us to go to a passage—I believe Hebrews 5:14. And in this, I want us to just talk a little bit about discernment, right? Because we’re going to need it very greatly in these times and especially in our lives. Because some of you—the word that God had given you does not look anything like your circumstance. It does not look anything like what’s happening around you.
You know what’s so fascinating? Because even now, I’m reminded of Moses. Now, in the book of Exodus—I believe this might be in the fourth chapter or so—in the book of Exodus, it’s so fascinating because first of all, God calls Moses, right? He tells Moses all these great things like, you know, «You’re going to be the one to deliver the Egyptians"—no, deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians. You know, Moses has his rants about excuses and all that stuff. And God is like—He shows him all these great—He tells him to do all these great signs. He said, «Look, Moses, when you go there, show the signs, and you’re, you know—the Pharaoh, they’re going to—you’re going to deliver your people.» Basically, you’re going to lead them to the promised land.
Moses—such a funny guy. Moses is going with the intention that by the time I do all of this, I am taking these people out of here. So Moses goes, he does all the things that, you know, God showed him, taught him to do. And he’s telling the Pharaoh to allow the Israelites that are in captivity to go home. The Pharaoh says, «You know, you guys have a lot of time on your hands. You’re very idle—that’s the problem.» And he says, «You know what? I’m going to increase the labor of the Israelites because it seems like y’all don’t have nothing else to do, right? That you’re coming up to me with all these ridiculous statements.»
Moses is panicked. He goes back to God, and he says, «Lord, why would you do such evil that the Pharaoh has increased the burden of the Israelites?» And then this is what he says: «And you have not delivered the people.» Well, Moses didn’t realize it was a process at the time. He didn’t realize that, no, it’s gonna—it’s going to take some time, and things might get harder before it gets better.
And so a lot of times, family, God gives you a word. He said, «Moses, you’re going to deliver these people.» Moses goes there, and it increases their pain. Well, a lot of times, that’s how it is. Job’s situation—it just got from bad to worse, but then it gets better. And we cannot lose hope.
You see, family, this is a time that you must remember what God said to you in the light when you’re in darkness. You cannot let go. There is a reason why David would say, «Your word is a lamp to my feet.» You only need a lamp when it’s dark. I wouldn’t need a lamp now for what—you know, as a fashion statement maybe, but—when David says your word is going to guide me because I might be in a dark place and I don’t see anything that you said, but if I hold on to your word, I’m going to be led by your word to the place until it manifests and turns this whole darkness to light. Amen.
Discernment Through Spiritual Senses
And so we have to hold on—not just in our lives but even in this country. America has a place of authority in the world. There is a reason why what happens here affects culture everywhere. There is a reason why you can go to any country and probably talk about, you know, Beyoncé—everybody knows what you’re talking about. They don’t even speak English, but they’re, you know, speaking their language and mixing it with her lyrics. I love my country—I’m Nigerian. Come on. But that’s a—but I might mention some artists, and you’re going to be looking at me like, «Who’s Sha John?» right? Like, «Who? What you talking about?» right? And this could be some of the, you know, just incredible, and you don’t even know what I’m talking about.
There’s a reason God has given this country a place of influence and authority. And all authority belongs to Jesus. He doesn’t just give it away by accident. Everything that happens—even when something looks like the enemy—trust me, God is somewhere behind that. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
And so if God is going to position this country in a place of authority, then it has to reflect Him. He cannot look at things going on in the midst, and people are crying out to Him, and He doesn’t intervene. There are things that are going to shake up a lot in this country. But we also have to hold on to what we know God is doing in here. We have to use discernment to know how we navigate our prayer life, everything.
Now, this passage says, «But solid food belongs to those who are of full age.» And when it’s talking of full age—spiritually mature, right? And not just swayed by, you know, any little natural wind, right? And it says, «to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason"—this is the key here—"by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.»
Now, when He talks about senses, we have natural senses; we have spiritual senses. There’s in the spirit, you know, sight, taste, hearing, smell—all of that. And when we’re talking about this passage, there are two things—two senses that are key—and it’s sight and hearing.
And so when it’s talking about by reason of use of your spiritual senses, then immediately it’s telling you that discernment is not connected to the natural. So when we talk about sight, you cannot discern a thing based on just what you’re looking at in the natural. Because when you’re looking at chaos in the natural—oh, judgment, God is judging us. You cannot discern a thing from a natural perspective. It comes by revelation: «God, what are you doing? What does this mean?»
And then hearing—now, very, very important, especially when it comes to hearing. You know, a lot of times—and this is, I’ll digress a little—but especially when it comes to people, you know, sometimes we like to feel real spiritual, like we can read people. But when you’re discerning a person or trying to discern a person, first of all, you have to be very self-aware. Come on. Because a lot of times what you’re discerning might be a product of your insecurities or gossip.
So somebody told you something about this person, and it’s like—you see, the funny thing about life is that when you’re looking for something, you’re going to see it even though it’s not there, right? One reason why I just—I never really like people having my phone—because, and people know this, like, «Yeah, uh-huh. Locked, uh-huh.» Because if you’re looking for something, you’re going to find it even if it’s not there. And what I mean is that you’re going to misunderstand everything if you’re focused on «I knew it, » right?
Especially when it comes to people, family—let’s not use the Spirit of the Lord is just telling me, «No, no, no"—that could be your insecurities telling you something. And that is why we have to be very self-aware, because when you’re aware of yourself, you know what is you speaking and what is God speaking. And there’s no problem with that—trust me, everyone has insecurities. It’s not some kind of demeaning thing because we’re in the flesh. We get hurt, we get—you know, things happen—and then there are little things. Yours might not be mine or whatever, but we all have something. So it’s not a bad thing, but you have to be aware of yourself so you’re not placing a false accusation on somebody for something they didn’t do.
Especially—imagine you being in a situation, right? And you’re trying to find advice, like, «I don’t know what’s happening in my life. You know, it just looks like God is not here.» And then the person is discerning it from the natural or something they heard from you: «You know, I think God is just trying to, you know, wake you up» or something—I don’t know what people say, whatever they say. Because the funny thing is that Job’s friends, when they falsely accused him, it was a product of what they thought about him all along. And they were just waiting—they were waiting for an opportunity to say, «Yep, we were right.»
But discernment—first of all, discernment is to see a matter truthfully. So it’s to see a matter from the eyes of Jesus. Amen. Now, Jesus says, «I am the way, the truth, and the life.» So when you’re discerning a situation or a person, first of all, you have an understanding of where it’s leading to. Yes, you can have—and then you also have an understanding of the truth of the matter, the real. Because you see, when you see someone, let’s say for example, acting out in jealousy—there is a root cause. Jealousy is not just—it doesn’t just spring up. There is something hidden in that.
And to spiritually discern a reason, you can’t just discern and say, «Oh yeah, God told me this person is jealous.» What? No. God will show you what they’re actually going through because it will give you compassion. It wouldn’t make you judgmental. And so Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. What He’s going to show you is actually going to be empowering to the person. It’s not going to be something to break them down or defeat them. Because in God, there is always a way. God is love. Discernment does not happen without love. That’s good.
And so hearing, family—whatever it is, even to your own lives—be careful about what you tell yourself. When you’re going through something, be careful about the things you start calling yourself, because nothing in God is going to keep you—is going to condemn you. It’s going to keep you entrapped or feeling guilty. God will always show you a way.
So the hearing comes from God: «God, what are you saying about this situation? What are you saying about this person?» God could assign a broken person into your life. Wow. And if you discern them wrongly, you would only look at the chaos in their life and the drama they can bring into your life, but you’re not seeing the purpose of you being in their life that actually transforms them to the purpose of God.
And so discernment, family—in the situations you’re going through—don’t accuse yourself. I’ve heard people say things about—you know, I remember at one time a friend was telling me how there was something she was going through, and she thought because, you know, maybe she wasn’t like paying her tithe or something, and then all these—and it was not even a financial situation. It was just some extra stuff. But she was looking for every reason to condemn herself, to fight herself. And I’m like, «God is not in that. God is not going to keep you down and say punishment.» Fear is punishment. God is not in fear.
And so even to ourselves, to everything: «God, what are you saying?» right? So it says now, «by reason of use"—obviously, «have exercised to discern"—have exercised. It’s your way of life in everything.
Self-Awareness and God’s Building Process
You see, one of the things—the beautiful thing about the sermon is that it’s wisdom. One of the things that the Scripture says about wisdom is that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, wisdom, all that. But when you respect someone in your life, right? You respect their opinion. You respect their insight. When you’re walking with God and you’re like—you put Him up here—you value His insight in all things. You value what He has to say in all things. So it’s something you exercise. You don’t just use it when trouble comes. Even on a good day: «God, what are you saying? God, what am I seeing?» Because even a good thing could not be a good thing. «God, this opportunity is coming toward me"—because literally there’s going to be some crazy opportunities that are going to be released, and what looks amazing might not be for you. Yeah.
And so even in the midst of the good thing: «God, what are you saying?» We have to exercise these things, and then you can discern both good and evil. If it was so easy—if it was «this is good, this is bad"—I mean, why are we exercising anything? But there is a reason to this, family. There’s a reason to this.
Okay, Lord—there’s something, something, something I hear the Lord say. You see, this—it’s like I—there’s some—first of all, I’ll just explain what it is so—a house, for example, right? Because I need to explain this perfectly—hopefully you—I’m going to put this in the simplest term. A house, for example. Now, when you want to rebuild a home, right? But if it’s been—and I like houses a lot, so I’m just going to use that to explain this—so if there’s an existing structure and you want to rebuild that home, a lot of times you have to demo—you have to destroy everything in order to build the beauty of what you know, of the potential of what you know it can be.
And I hear the Lord saying that there’s literally—that what we see even in our nation—it’s almost like it’s at a breaking point. And for a lot of you, literally your lives feel like it’s at a breaking point. But listen to this—and it’s not just a word of encouragement. I’m not just trying to, you know, slide you one like this is—this is just real talk right now, right? And it’s encouraging because God is encouraging, right? It’s like the Gerber baby—sorry. But literally, God is building—He’s building something so strong and lasting in you. And if you don’t give up hope on what He showed you and you keep pressing toward that in faith, you will see the manifestation of everything He’s promised you. Thank you, God. Thank you, God.
Altar Call, Healing, and Prayer
Family, stand with me. Now, what I love—what I love about God so much is He—and I say this, I’ve said this even, you know, before—He never just focuses on one, one, one pro—like when He focuses on a—when He’s touching a subject, He touches it across the board. And so even though as we’re talking about hearing and seeing, right? —and it’s a topic that even in the B series—it’s, I mean, PT—oh my gosh, the message is so incredible, right? Check it out on the website if you haven’t. It’s really incredible stuff.
But as we talk about—as even in a different way in terms of even discernment—as God is talking about hearing and seeing, He’s also speaking about it in the natural. And this is very different to how we do things, but if you are here—first of all, if you were here and you have hearing problems or eye problems, please come down. If you have like a hearing aid or something or an eyesight problem, please come down. I don’t know who it is. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
And if anyone—everyone here—if there’s any sickness in your body, just touch that part of your body. Just touch that part of your body. Someone from the worship team can sing for me, please.
«Break every chain…»
Thank you, Lord. There is power—thank you, Jesus. What’s the issue with this power? Okay, just close—and if we can worship, actually. Thank you, Jesus.
There is power in the name of Jesus
To break every chain, break every chain, break every chain…
All right. If there’s any sickness in your mind, just touch that part of your body right now. Touch that part of your body right now. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Jesus, Thank you, Lord, that you’re touching your people, Lord God. Thank you, Lord, that you are touching your people, Lord God, for healing is in you. And we receive the promise of healing in the name of Jesus. We release your power, Lord God, in this house, in the name of Jesus.
Lord God, is someone here having like a nerve issue? A nerve—something. I don’t know exactly what it is, but if it’s a nerve issue, can you come down? Nerve—something with your… Is it a nervous system? Oh, praise God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. That’s already—hallelujah. But a nerve issue—please just come down in the name of Jesus. Oh, wow. Thank you, Lord.
God is—and the beautiful thing is that God is touching you. Sometimes there are things that He will point out just to enhance a person’s faith. It’s not because, you know—it’s because sometimes just walking down here is a testimony of what you believe God can do. The things that He will point out is to enhance the person’s faith. For everyone here—when you touch yourself, you’re saying that God knows where your faith is, and He’s like, you know what? You’re good, right? You know, you’re good, right?
But if there’s like a nerve—you know, all I heard is «nerve.» I don’t know if it’s optic—well, I’m not a doctor. Praise God. Dana, take it away. Thank you, Jesus. Thank you, Lord.
There is power…
If you’re here—and 'cause God is literally going to—it’s going to—there’s going to be like a—your mind is going to have a renewal. If you know you’re here and you’ve been having some serious anxiety issues, just come down. Just come down, and the Lord is going to touch you in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus.
Your problem is not a problem. We just have to flip the perspective. We just have to flip it around and see what God is doing. Thank you, Lord.
No longer do you have to live in fear. 'Cause I see a lot of—a lot of the things that you’re doing—it’s, I see some people where you’re trying to save—it’s like you’re trying to save a position or you’re—whatever that position is, whether it’s in work, it’s in relationship—you’re trying to save something, but you’re living in fear because you’re so afraid that you will lose it that you’re not even—there’s no peace in your spirit 'cause every—you question everything that you do because you’re like, «I hope I didn’t do the wrong thing.» I hope—God is going to give you release in the name of Jesus.
Every chain over your mind is going to—is broken. Not even going to be. So if that’s you, just come down. Just come down. Anxiety, paranoia—it is not of God, family. It is not of God. It is not of God. We just have to flip things around: «God, what are you doing?» You’re a child of God. That means nothing happens to you randomly. Nothing, nothing.
Now, the ways of God are not our ways. So sometimes how He goes about things is not how you would approve, right? That’s why we’re not in the boardroom of God’s decisions sometimes, right? That’s a joke. Little laughter in here would cheer the room up.
But God is so good. God is so good. God is so good. And you hold on a little longer, you will see that which He intended for you. It’s always for your good. God is love. Amen. It is His being. He doesn’t do love. He’s not with love. He is love. It’s a very powerful statement because He’s saying that everything I do comes from this place. Everything I do.
When you don’t see love anymore in a situation, seek Him. Yeah. When you don’t see how this is working for your good, seek Him, because nothing—absolutely nothing—in your life is out of place with love.
Now, there is a call for us to be self-aware, right? We have to be aware of our actions. One of the things that I love that God said—and this is when He reveals Himself to Moses, and Moses said, «Who shall I say that sent me?» And He said, «I AM THAT I AM.» One of the most powerful places that you can be is when you are self-aware, because guess what? A lot of times we act like something else is controlling us, but it’s actually—it could be you. It could be things that are surfacing out of you.
So when you’re self-aware, where you can question yourself in a decision and say, «Why am I doing this? To what benefit is this going to bring me?» What happens when we see—when we talk about even like a demonic possession or all that stuff—it was a process of things that happened when you let go of your own control. When you think that you don’t have power over yourself and you let go and you remove responsibility from yourself, now you’re giving it to something else. And slowly but surely, then that thing becomes like a stronghold in your life, a strong influence in your life.
A lot of times we don’t want to acknowledge certain things about ourselves because it looks nasty. It just looks dirty. And under that is pride, because we don’t want to say that «I could think this.» We don’t want to acknowledge that «No, I could literally be the one thinking this.» And then because—when we say, «God, these are my thoughts, » we can bring it to Him, and He can heal it. Amen.
But if we act like, «Oh no, that is"—we—it’s not everything that we have to demonize. If we’re like, «Oh no, this is just the devil"—you’re giving him power over you. We are in the flesh. So sometimes we can be a little messed up, but we are like, «God, this is—you know, my mind is a little funny right now, » and we can bring that to Him.
Self-awareness will lead us out of a lot of messy things because we can say, «Look, I’m actually the one thinking this. God, I love you. This is not you. I might go through with it, but I’m the one thinking this.» And we start taking responsibility: «Lord, no. No, I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to do that anymore. I don’t want to do that anymore.» Not «Lord, release this thing from me.» Some things—something is not about something coming out of you. It’s a choice. Yeah. «Lord, I don’t want to do this anymore.»
God said, «I AM THAT I AM.» He knew Himself. We have to start being more aware. Joyce Meyer said something that I love so much. She said, «Think about what you think about.» Think about your own thoughts: «What am I thinking about, and why?»
You see, a lot of times even when—for some of us—when we even say we’re depressed, we make it look like a spirit of depression. But if you’re honest with yourself, if you’re aware of yourself, what triggered the depression might have been, you know, seeing maybe your ex with someone who you didn’t want to see him with, and maybe you’re still single—just random examples, right? And that bitterness like, «Man, God, how is he happy and I’m broken?» And it turns into depression.
But when we are aware of ourselves, we know what triggered it. It’s not about a spirit of depression. No, literally I saw something that changed my mood. So we can’t—we can’t make this thing so—we can’t remove responsibility. «No, I saw this, God. It is affecting me. How do I handle this?»
So let us be self-aware—aware of our thoughts, aware of our ways—so we know that we can bring it to God, and we know that we have the spirit of power. We have a spirit of choice. We can choose what way we want to go. We are empowered to choose. Thank you, Jesus.
And if you’re here—and maybe you’re here already—but if you’re standing out there and you know that something that was just said triggered you because there are things that you might have been demonizing, and it’s really just you coming to terms with yourself and saying, «God, just—it’s me here. It is.» If that’s you, just come down. Amen. I see you. Amen. Amen.
God is so good, family. God is so good. Wow.
You know, there’s a passage where it says, «Pursue the way of love. Follow the way of love.» We’re making a commitment to say, «God, I choose to see things from a place of love. I’m not even going to look at myself as someone who can be controlled by something you defeated. I’m not going to do that. I trust you. My life is in your hand.» That’s—that’s all we need. That’s all we need, family.
And let’s pray. And if you’re watching and there’s something going on—whether it’s your eyes, your hearing, or any illness in your body—just touch that place. There is no distance in the spirit. God knows where you’re at, knows how to touch you.
Let us pray. Family, Father God, we thank you. We thank you for everyone here present and watching via live stream, watching this later on YouTube, Lord—however they get to it, we thank you for their lives. We thank you, God, that you are love. And sometimes we don’t understand what’s happening, Father God, but there is a purpose. And I thank you, Lord, that we would not be people that are moved by our circumstances but we be moved by what you say. That we would seek out what you’re saying, Lord God.
I thank you, Lord God, that you’re going to make us more conscious of ourselves—that we would not throw the blame around because this is just a deception tactic of the enemy to not pay attention and say, «Lord, this could be me, and I need you to touch me. I need you to touch that area. Show me what that really is. Heal me, Lord, from the inside out.»
Lord, I thank you for every healing that took place in this room—that everyone that looked to you for their healing, Lord God, that you’ve answered them, that you’ve answered them, Lord God, that you’ve perfected that which was even broken, you’ve perfected that which was ill, in the name of Jesus.
Lord God, we thank you for your love—such a great love that you have for us. We thank you for what you’re doing in this house, Lord God. We thank you for what you’re doing. We thank you for equipping us, Father God. We thank you that we, Lord God, are those that you can look to and say, «Have you seen my child?» And we’re not asking for a Job part two, but Jesus, that you can look at us and take pleasure in us. Such a gift, God.
We thank you for every life here. If you’re here and you don’t know God—you don’t know God for yourself—you’ve heard about Jesus, you’ve heard about all these things, and something is tugging at your heart, and you’re like, «Jesus, you’re here, but I want you to come into my heart.» If that’s you, just wave your hand. If that’s you, just wave up high. Oh, up high. Don’t be afraid 'cause you’re here. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.
God would never harm you. Jesus would not—how you don’t die for somebody to harm them. Lord Jesus, we thank you for the life, Lord God, of your son. We thank you for the life of anyone else here that says, «Lord Jesus, I want to know you for myself. I’ve kept you at a distance because I was afraid. I’ve kept you at a distance because I’m not really sure what this whole Christianity thing is about, but for some reason I’m still drawn to you. For some reason I’m here.» If that’s you—if that—if there’s another person here—because God knows your heart—you might be afraid to say, «And that’s me.» But God knows you’re here. If that’s you, thank you, Jesus.
But if that’s you, just wave. Just wave. Don’t be afraid. Don’t be afraid. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. God. Hallelujah, God.
Just repeat after me. It’s so simple. Just say, «Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, come into my heart.» Amen. So simple.
You know, hearing a speech—thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We seal this. We seal everything that took place in your name. Have your way. Continue to have your way, Lord, in Jesus' name. Amen.