TD Jakes - The Night Shift
My God, my God, my God, stand to your feet as we prepare our hearts to go to the Word of God, that we might hear what the Spirit of the Lord is saying to the church. For the flower fades and the grass withers, but the Word of the Lord shall stand forever. We’re going to 1 Samuel chapter 3, beginning at verse number 1, and we’re going to read down to verse 10. When you have it, say Amen. We’re reading out of the NIV this morning; there’s some clarity of thought that the NIV provides that I think is pertinent to the text today. The boy Samuel ministered before the Lord under Eli. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare; there were not many visions.
One night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. The lamp of God had not yet gone out, and Samuel was lying down in the house of the Lord where the Ark of God was. Then the Lord called Samuel. Samuel answered, «Here am I!» and he ran to Eli and said, «Here I am; you called me.» But Eli said, «I did not call; go back and lie down.»
So he went and lay down again. The Lord called Samuel, and Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, «Here I am; you called me.» My son, Eli said, «I did not call; go back and lie down.» Now Samuel did not yet know the Lord; the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. A third time, the Lord called Samuel. Samuel got up and went to Eli and said, «Here I am; you called me.» Then Eli realized the Lord was calling the boy. So Eli told Samuel, «Go and lie down, and if he calls you, say, 'Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening.'»
So Samuel went and lay down in his place. The Lord came and stood there, calling as at other times, «Samuel! Samuel!» Then Samuel said, «Speak, for your servant is listening.» Can you say Amen? Go back to, I think it’s the second verse, if you could, and let’s look at… yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, might… yeah, yeah, that’s it right there! Yeah, yeah, yeah, that’s why I want… that right there, one night. That’s all I want is it, one night. Look at somebody and say, «One night.» If I were to use a subject, my subject would be «The Night Shift.»
Now, this might not be for everybody; it’s just for people that have been feeling like they’re on the verge of a shift. A shift creates turbulence, mayhem, confusion, and a little disorder, but you can tell that God has been working on something. The Lord wanted me to tell you that He’s going to work. He’s going to work the night shift. You were looking for Him in the morning because weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. But no, God said this time He’s going to work the… yeah! If you’re watching online, type it on the paper, type it, type it in the notes: «The Night Shift.» The Night Shift. He’s coming on the Night Shift. He’s coming on the Night Shift. The Night Shift. He’s moving on the Night Shift.
Spirit of the living God, fall fresh on us while we endeavor to declare your word. There is no, O God, like you; you’re in a class all by yourself. I thank you for being who you are, and who you are is who you were and who you will be. For you are the Lord our God; you change not. Your mercy is new; your grace is new; your revelation is new. Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. In Jesus' name…
With all of your might, shout out! You may be seated in His presence. Yeah, let’s go to work. Many, many years ago when I was in West Virginia, and a much, much younger man, I worked shift work. I had never worked shift work before, but the idea behind shift work, particularly in factories, was so that the company could have 24 hours of production. Because of union laws and restrictions, they could not work one individual for 24 hours, so they divided the 24 hours into eight-hour shifts. So as far as they were concerned, they were getting 24 hours of production, and as far as we were concerned, we had three shifts.
The first shift was from seven to three, and that wasn’t so bad. The second shift was the one I hated; it was from three to eleven. I hated that shift because it was right in the middle—too late to be early, too early to be late. You just… everything… and then once you got used to it, now you have to get used to it again. There was always the night shift. Yeah, and once you got used to the night shift, you woke up, you had plenty of daylight and time to do whatever you had to do. The bosses didn’t work the night shift, and we had a little bit more peace; it was kind of quiet on the night shift. You could be more productive; you could pray on the night shift while you got your work done because they were going to check you out in the morning. But you didn’t have the oversight that you had during the day.
The funny thing about it was we were going to work when others were leaving work, and we were leaving work when others were coming to work. And as it is with shifts, so it is with life. While we are leaving, there’s always somebody coming, and while we are coming, there’s always somebody leaving. The funeral homes are full at the same time that the nurseries are. The cycle of life is forever rotating from shift to shift. I could go back through church history and show you how God has never left Himself without a witness. No matter how great the preacher or teacher may have been, there has always been somebody who came along and continued to flow under that unction because God will never be left without wisdom, without a word, without insight.
As great as Moses was, God still had Joshua, and the beat continues from generation to generation. God understands shifts. It is only our arrogance that makes us think that we are irreplaceable. None of us, none of us, none of us are irreplaceable. Not a musician, not a singer, not a choir member, not a preacher, not a business owner, not a company—there’ll always be somebody who creates something new. There will be another innovation. There was Apple I, then Apple II, III, IV, V, VI–I don’t know what number they’re on now, about 15. You know, there’s always a recycling. And so when we come into this text, we come into this text understanding that we are in the middle of recycling, shifting. Shifting sounds good, but it doesn’t always feel good. Shifting is tumultuous, and shifting is emotional, and shifting is painful, and shifting is disruptive.
We say, «You know I’m shifting, hallelujah!» But shifting in the moment means that nothing is stable. The people who are coming are getting ready to go to work, and the people who are leaving are getting ready to leave. And if you’re not careful, if you work in a hospital and they’re changing a shift, you get ready to call one nurse, and she’s getting off, and so she doesn’t respond. The other one might be slow because she’s coming on. When shifts go, there’s a certain amount of turbulence and entangling and confusion, and this text is written in the middle of a shift. It’s a shift! It’s a shift! It’s a shift! It’s a shift! And the funny thing is that God often works His greatest works when things are in their darkest hours. God often works His greatest works when things are in their darkest hour.
I know you think God did His greatest work when you solved the breakthrough, and when the answer came, and when the lumps shrunk, and when the mountain moved, and when the check came. But those are the aftereffects of what He did when you thought He wasn’t doing anything at all. But God works the night shift! Look at Paul and Silas at midnight. Paul and Silas prayed, and God sent angels to shake the prison, and the prison doors came open. Or Peter, who was locked up, and the inner sanctum of the jail was laid out, not in the morning, but in the middle of the night. Look at somebody and say, «I’m coming out at night!» Or what about blind Bartimaeus when Jesus was on the way to the cross? Jesus stopped and healed him and blind Bartimaeus was delivered.
Oh excuse me, I know you’re saying, «Oh Bishop, you got confused! Bartimaeus got healed in the daytime.» Yes, it was daytime to the disciples, but it was nighttime to blind Bartimaeus. I wanted to use him because sometimes while everybody else is having day and they’re bragging about what a great day it is, you’re having your own personal darkness, your own personal midnight. Is there anybody in here who understands what it’s like to have your own personal night while other people are having day? It creates a different dynamic in the worship service because they’re half praising God because it’s daytime, but you’re screaming out, «Jesus!» because you’re having your own personal night.
Look at your neighbor and say, «I know what time it is for me.» You might not know what time it is for me, but I know what time it is for me. Just because you got daylight, don’t mean I have daylight. Just because your rent’s paid, don’t mean mine is paid. Just because your marriage is going well, don’t mean mine is going well. Every now and then, God allows us to have a personal night. Still, Jesus stood still and started working in blind Bartimaeus' night because He’s God! Jesus walked on the water at night. He waited until it was dark and came to meet the disciples in the darkness of night. Can you recognize Him in the night season? Jesus was born at night; that’s why the Wise Men followed the star. They understood that Jesus was born in the night.
The Bible says that the shepherds were grazing in the field at night when Joseph came to put Mary in the barn and the baby was born in a manger. Born at night, works at night, heals at night, liberates at night, sets free at night, gives sight at night, shakes the earth at night. Expect Him to do great things, great works, great works at your nighttime! Somebody say, «At night! At night! At night! At night! At night!» The bridegroom comes at night! The bridegroom comes at night! That’s why you got to keep your lamp trimmed and burning because He comes at night. The creation started at night, and God said, «Let there be light,» and there was light, and it was good!
Eve was created at night. Adam was put into a deep sleep, and God pulled Eve out of him in the middle of the night. Abraham entered into covenant with God at night, and while he slept, God turned into a smoking furnace and a burning lamp and started walking in the midst of His people because God is working at night! I don’t know whose night season it is, but God sent this word to you. Jacob laid his head upon a stone, and God appeared to him in the middle of the night, and the heavens opened up with a ladder descending.
And I’m telling you, you’re more anointed at night than you are during the day. You might dance more during the day, but you’re more anointed at night. When all hell is breaking loose and demons are trembling, it seems like you’re not going to get out—that’s when the anointing of God is keeping you! It might not be shaking you, but it’s keeping you! It’s holding your head together; it’s keeping you from collapsing; it’s keeping you from having a nervous breakdown. God often does His best work. Expect Him to do His greatest work at night!
Now, to put the text into context, we must realize before we consider Samuel, we must consider Hannah, his mother. Because your story never begins with you; your story doesn’t begin with you; neither does your struggle. Your story and your struggle began before you were born. So it would be inappropriate for me to just leap over Hannah and talk about Samuel because if there were no Hannah, there wouldn’t be any Samuel. Samuel is born out of Hannah’s night, out of Hannah’s barrenness, out of her dark season, out of her pain, out of her tumultuous thirst to have something that she couldn’t have. That’s how Samuel was born in the first place. And the other thing you have to understand is Samuel is Hannah’s offering. It’s amazing to me that Hannah doesn’t get more credit for her offering.
We often talk about Abraham offering up his son Isaac on Mount Moriah, but we very seldom give Hannah credit for having also offered up her son. It was Elkanah that offered him up; it was Hannah that offered up her son. Isn’t it funny how we maximize what men do and minimize what women do? Come on, stay with me; I’m headed somewhere. I’m headed somewhere… But truth be told, Hannah went through the same thing that Abraham did. Abraham’s loins were shut up; he couldn’t produce a child. God finally gives him a child and then requires of him a first fruit offering to offer up his son, his only son, his only begotten son, and to take thy son whom thou lovest and offer him upon the mountain.
In the same way, Hannah has been barren all her life, prayed that she might have a child. She’s sitting up in a situation where Peninnah’s having children, and all of a sudden, she finally prayed her way into having a child under the premise that she would give her child to God. Now, I know there are how many mamas do I have in the room? Yeah, I know every mom in the room knows that no matter how much you love your children, they get on your nerves sometimes. Yeah, they pluck your last nerve. My wife has a little sign in the bathroom that says «Mama’s Last Nerve.» Yeah, yeah, yeah, sometimes they pluck your last nerve, but they never pluck your nerve so bad you want to give them away. You might threaten them, like you’re going to give them away, but to give your son away? We can hardly get you to give an offering! Now, Hannah gave — come on, somebody — Hannah gave her son away.
Unlike most mothers who decide to give their children up for adoption — and there might be some situations where it’s necessary to do that — generally, they take the baby at birth, and the mother doesn’t have any experience with her child. She just relinquishes all rights to the child, and the child is given to the adoptive mother or an adoption agency, and they take it away because they don’t want any bonding between the mother and the child. But that was not the case with Hannah. Hannah got to keep her child and nurse him; in other words, she kept him until she had weaned him, so she had time to bond with him and still had to give him up.
There must have been a certain feeling of abandonment with Samuel because while everybody else got to have a mama, he didn’t have a mother except once a year when his mother visited him and brought him a coat. That creates certain feelings and predispositions. We all have our struggles in our stories. You see, you’re praying about your circumstance, but your struggle is in your story. Your circumstance is just fruit from your story. The story started before you got here. Your mama wasn’t acting like that if she didn’t have a story; your daddy wouldn’t have walked away if he didn’t have a story. And you think it’s all about you, like life began with you, but you’re just one shift in the cycle. This has been going on before you even got here, and you were set up. Some of you were set up in such a way that you have a predisposition to being more needy than other people, more thirsty than other people, more sensitive than other people, more angry than other people. That’s why your neck goes to popping; you snap on people real fast. You don’t even understand you were placed in a situation that leads itself to hostility.
You go off on people in your life now over things that happened back then. It’s all continuous; it’s a cycle; it’s a setup. You’re just one shift in the cycle of what God is doing. But the Lord told me to tell you He’s going to work on your shift. He’s going to work on your shift; He’s going to move on your shift. There are some people in this room; you’re going to get a breakthrough on your shift that the day shift didn’t get, that the afternoon shift didn’t get. God saved it for such a time as this, and God’s going to do it for you. So yes, God, my God, my God, I’m not blaming anybody; I’m not making excuses; I’m just acknowledging the fact that my birthday wasn’t my start day; that’s just when my shift began. But the engines were already running, and the manufacturing had already started, and so I was born into a shift.
Sometimes, when you work shift work, if there’s something going on, you inherit somebody else’s problem. Yeah, yeah, sometimes you have to fight somebody else’s battle. Glory to God! David had to fight Goliath, and Goliath wasn’t even his battle. Sometimes you were born into a fight you didn’t even ask for. I wish I had ten witnesses that would holler at me right now! Yeah, yes! Shout «I didn’t ask for it!» But you got the right one, baby! Yeah, yeah, it might not have started with me, but it’s going to end with me. It might not have started on my shift, but before this night is over, I’m gonna get a breakthrough on this situation. If that’s your story, take a second and give Him a 30-second praise! It’s going to end on this shift! God is gonna do it!
The text introduces the story to us in verse one; it kind of sets the stage. It says that the boy serves under Eli. In those days, the word of the Lord was rare, and there were not many visions. It’s setting the stage so that you can see that the barren boy is now in a barren temple. He has gone from a barren mama to a barren temple. The word of the Lord is rare, and there is no open vision. Now, the word of the Lord being rare in the temple is much like Hannah’s womb being barren, and God has taken him from one barrenness into another. He has predisposed him in such a way that he is able to survive in environments that other people wouldn’t be able to survive in because he was born; his normal is different from other people’s normal. His predisposition is different from other people’s norms. Some people couldn’t survive in the atmosphere that he grew in, but since he came out of a barren womb and stepped into a barren temple, he was used to surviving in isolation and barrenness.
It didn’t bother him that Eli had no vision; it didn’t bother him that Hophni and Phinehas were sinning all over the church; it didn’t bother him because he was used to bearing this. Nor did it affect him because he was able to withstand his environment. See, he was born into what he had to deal with. So, the writer takes the time to set the stage for us in verse one, giving seemingly unimportant details, and yet they are important for many reasons, some of which I will address shortly. Can I preach on?
See, everything is normal until verse two: one night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak that he could barely see, was lying down in his usual place. Listen to this: one night, Eli, whose eyes were becoming so weak. Now, there is one thing for Eli to be lying down, and it’s another thing for him to have bad eyesight. He is a priest with bad eyesight! He is a priest with bad eyesight, and he could barely see. He was lying down in his usual place. Miss, why did you take the time to tell me that he is lying down in his usual place? Everything has become usual; everything has become routine; everything has become mundane!
That’s what I’m scared of in the church. He said things become usual; we get too much routine going on. You can be contemporary and still become routine. I don’t care how you change what you wear, what you do, what you put on, or what kind of songs you sing; it can still become your routine. At any time it becomes a routine to you, you don’t get the revelation because you’re in a routine. I came to dig somebody out of a rut! Hallelujah! You go to work the same way, you drive home the same direction, you always get on the same interstate, you always take the back road, you always go to the same grocery store, you always go to the same church. I came to break your routine! I came to break your routine! I came to break your routine! Because God’s getting ready to shift things in your life!
You’re getting ready to shock the devil because you’re not going to be in the same place you used to be. God is getting ready to shift you! God is getting ready to shift you! The devil thought he was going to kill you — but the devil is a liar! Because I feel a shift coming in your life! I don’t know who I’m talking to, but make some noise if I’m coming your direction! Everyone was gone to sleep! Everyone was gone to sleep! Everyone was gone to sleep in their usual place, at their usual time. No unpredictability exists in this temple! No unpredictability exists in the temple! A good service should be unpredictable! See, it’s unpredictable. Now, that bothers a lot of people, but if you can walk with God, you’ve got to be used to things being unpredictable!
When I got ready to pass you the torch, the staff kept asking me, «When do you want the bench? When do you want the oil? When do you want this?» I said, «Don’t worry about it; just follow my lead. In the moment, I’m gonna show you what to do when it’s time to do it!» Unpredictable! Sometimes, we plan too much; we don’t leave room for God to do what He wants to do, however He wants to do it, because we’ve got to keep God on our schedule. But God said, «I won’t work on your schedule!»
«I’m not gonna do it just because you have an attitude. You can’t stick out your lips and make me change my mind! You get rid of that little pouty face you have, 'cause that’s not gonna move me! I’m going to move; I’m going to heal when I intend to heal; I’m going to take who I’m going to take; I’m going to raise who I’m going to raise. Ain’t no need in you being jealous; what I got for you, can’t nobody get it but you! You just got to wait till I’m ready to release it in your life!»
Everybody had gotten into a routine. In verse four, God breaks the pattern and deviates from the norm. Verse four is where the disruption began! Verse four is where God breaks the pattern! I came to tell somebody, you might be watching online: God is getting ready to break the pattern! You’ve been in a routine for a long time, but God is getting ready to break the pattern. He’s getting ready to break things up; He’s getting ready to shake things up; He’s getting ready to move some things you thought couldn’t be moved; He’s getting ready to break some milk stools that couldn’t be broken. He’s getting ready to bring down some strongholds that have been standing for generations! God’s getting ready to break the ritual and break the routine.
God is going to be a disrupter! God’s gonna break into your life and shake things up in your life! Verse four introduces the disruption, because in the silence, God speaks, and He breaks the silence; He penetrates the darkness, and He invades a temple that He has pretty much forsaken. I just thought about some people that the devil thinks he has — and he doesn’t think they’re going to get away — but God’s gonna do a comeback! God’s gonna do an encore! God’s gonna do an uprising! God’s gonna do a release in your life! God’s getting ready to break the cycle and break the routine! Tell every addiction to get off me! Get off me! Get off me! Get off me! God’s getting ready to break the routine in your life! Shout hallelujah, somebody!
You gotta be ready! You gotta be ready for this! You gotta be ready for this! You gotta be ready for this! Because whenever God sends a disruption, it’s going to affect everything around you! Because people have gotten used to you being in your usual place, and when you get out of your usual place, they get an attitude because you’re not where you usually are! But I want to release you right now from living up to other people’s expectations! This ain’t about their comfort; I’m getting ready to make somebody uncomfortable! Some of your friends might not want to be your friends anymore because you’re not going to be in your usual place.
Uh, slap somebody and tell them I’m coming out! Coming out of my usual place! I’m coming out of my usual routine! I’m coming out of my usual expectations! Expect me to be unusual! I’m gonna dress unusual, I’m gonna move unusual, I’m gonna say some unexpected stuff! I’m not gonna fit in your pattern and fit in your routine, and you just gotta be able to deal with it! If you can’t deal with it, leave me alone! I’m not gonna stay in a box just so you like me! I’m not gonna shut down just to get along with you! The devil is a liar! If I get a chance to break out, I’m gonna break out! I’m not gonna be in my usual place.
You’ve been delivered from a lot of things, but God’s getting ready to deliver you from people! Alive! Who am I preaching to? I release you today. You should have your life in your usual place! If you don’t want anybody to say anything about you; if you don’t want anybody to talk about you, then you don’t want what God has for you. Because if God shifts you, you can’t stay in your usual place! I need one second of crazy praise from some crazy people who are getting out of your usual place!
Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’m coming out of my usual place! I don’t normally jump, but I’m gonna jump this morning! I don’t normally holler, but I’m gonna holler this morning! I don’t normally worship up front, but I’m coming up front this morning! I’m getting out of my usual place! I want hell to know that I’m not gonna stay in the same place I was! I’m coming out of my usual place! Who just got released? Holler at your boy! Some of y’all coming to this church at all is a breakthrough; you’re not in your usual place! The devil’s looking for you at your old church and you moved out of your usual place! He’s looking for you to stay at home, and you moved out of your usual place! God’s got a blessing in here for somebody who’s willing to step out of your usual place! Get out of your comfort zone! God is getting ready to break things up! Somebody give Him a praise!
Yes, yes, match your name and tell them I’m about to be unusual. If you don’t like unusual, you aren’t going to like me because I’m about to be unusual. I’m about to break out of my shell. Don’t expect me to stay where I used to stay, because I heard a word from God that’s going to disrupt my sleep pattern. God is going to do some amazing things! Shout out, Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Sound Hallelujah! Shout Hallelujah! Come down! Come now! I gotta regain my composure; I gotta regain my composure; I gotta regain my composure because I feel I’m about to take over this place. I feel I’m about to wreck this place. I feel something’s about to set it off in this place. Here’s your turbo shot. I feel like being unused, so, uh, it is yellow. Thank you!
Now, I gotta get out of these first four verses and add some insights here. When the Bible says in the first verse that Samuel served under Eli, and that the word of the Lord was scarce, and there was no open vision, it’s a hint—a preview. See, Samuel is not so much Eli’s successor; you can’t use Samuel as Eli’s successor like Elijah and Elisha, like Paul and Timothy. Not only are they not in the same chain, they’re not of the same order. Eli is a priest; Samuel is a prophet—perhaps one of the greatest prophets of the Old Testament. What God has done is force a prophet into the house of a priest. This is the beginning of the formation of the Messiah, who is prophet. You see? All we have up until now are priests, but out of the barrenness of Hannah’s womb comes Eli’s prophet.
And the reason the prophet had to connect is that the prophet is the one who anoints the king. God has an order; He doesn’t even explain it to you. He does things for His own reasons. He’s got His own methodology; He works all things according to the purpose of His own will. Say Amen! So we are watching the shift from the priests to the prophets. The prophet is under the priest, but before it’s over, the priests are going to be under the prophets. That double shot takes care of it.
See, oh God, I want to go so deep. When we worship, when we praise, when we give offerings, we’re working like priests. When I get up to preach, I’m working like a prophet. Hallelujah! So all while you’re worshiping, I’m under you, but when I get up to preach, you’re under this anointing. We just acted out what the text is all аbout: if the priest comes first, here comes the prophet. You provoke the word of God by how you worship. You provoke the word of God by how you lift Him up. You provoke the word of God by how you raise your hands. The priest comes before the prophet is released. This is not just a succession; this is a transformation. This is a revolution.
And the irony of it is they said the word of the Lord was scarce in those days and there was no open vision, yet the prophet was growing in that scarcity. Y’all can handle this: prosperity grows in poverty. That’s why the Bible said, «Let the poor say that I’m rich; let the weak say that I’m strong.» You can be weak on top and strong underneath. Y’all hear what I’m saying? You can be poor, but have prosperity growing within you. It does not yet appear what you shall be, but it’s still growing up. That’s why I use the NIV, because the prophet is still a boy, but he’s coming. He’s coming! Your prophecy is still a boy, but it’s coming! It’s coming! It’s still under your priesthood. That’s why I’m trying to get you to worship, because when you worship, you’re getting closer to releasing that prophetic utterance that exists in your life. And that’s why the devil doesn’t want you to worship, because worship makes the water break; it makes the baby give birth; it releases a prophetic utterance. Somebody shout yes!
Then, I want to point out the extreme generational change. It is not that Samuel and Eli just represent two generations. The truth of the matter is Samuel is a boy when Eli is an old man. Samuel is young enough to be Eli’s son, so you have this grandfather character who is old, and on the other extreme, a boy in the house. It is an extreme shift; it’s going to skip a generation. You don’t see it where you thought you would see it, but here it comes from the place you didn’t expect and from a person you didn’t expect— from a woman you thought was drunk! Here comes the change that God’s going to bring into your life. That’s why you’ve got to stop looking down your nose at others and calling people by their names, because sometimes God will use somebody you thought was drunk to be the next level of blessing in your life! Somebody holla for me! I feel like hollering this morning! I feel like screaming this morning!
When I was praying about it, the Lord said He wants you to know that in the night shift, the light shimmers. The night shift—the light shimmers. Night doesn’t mean total blackout. It says, «And here the lamp of God went out.» Now, you all were raised with electric lights, and I was too. But when I went to my grandmother’s house, they would have candlelights and oil lamps. When the lamps were going out, as they started to go out, they flickered. Flickering in the night has shimmering light moments of illumination, glimpses, shadows—moments of revelation, moments of insight. You can’t see it clearly because it’s shimmering, but you catch glimpses. You would have fainted, but you caught shimmers of light. Every time the devil thought he had you, God let the light shimmer.
You’re still in a night season, but you’ve got a flicker of light! You’ve got a flicker of light! And sometimes, a flicker is all you need. If you get a flicker of light, you can hold on a little while longer. Some of y’all came out with a flicker of light. You’re like the woman who said, «I don’t need the loaf; if I get a crumb, I’ll come out.» I wish I had some crummy people who’ll come out on a crumb! If you give me half a chance, I’ll scratch myself out the rest of the way. I may not have daylight, but if I’ve got shimmering light—if I know two scriptures, if I know one and a half scriptures, if I can sing a little bit—I may not be on the praise team, but if I can sing while I’m doing my dishes, I can break a yoke over my house!
I want to talk to some people that are standing in shimmering light—make some noise! Shimmering light! Shimmering light! Shimmering light! Shimmering light is somewhere between night and day. Shimmering light casts shadows. It’s just enough. It is in shimmering light that, in the most holy place, the shimmering candlelight, there’s still some oil. It hasn’t all gone out yet; there’s still a little bit of oil left. It may not be in the lamp, but it’s in the wick. Thank you! Ah! The devil tried to wear you out, but you still got a little bit of oil left! Come on! Make some noise! I still got it! I still got shimmering light! I still got shimmering light! I did some things I was ashamed of, and the devil’s trying to make me feel guilty here and spend the rest of my life in condemnation. But the devil is a liar! My lamp might be empty, but my wick is wet!
See it—flickering light! The light in the temple is the word of the Lord; it is a flickering light! Every now and then I catch a word. Every now and then I catch a word. In the outer court, you have daylight; in the inner court, you have divine light; in the holies of holies, you have glorious light. And here, the lamp went out, and the voice of God spoke, «Samuel! Samuel!»
Thank you! Now, when He calls him, He calls him twice. I don’t know whether He called him twice or Samuel heard it twice, because the Bible said, «Once have I spoken, twice have I heard it"—power belongs to God. I don’t know whether God speaks from heaven and it echoes on earth, but He said all I gotta do is say it one time, but when it echoes, «twice have I heard it"—power belongs to God. «Samuel! Samuel!» Or «Moses! Moses!» «Take off your shoes; the ground you stand on is holy ground.» Or «Surely, surely» or «Verily, verily.» Whenever you hear an echo, «Thy will be done now on Earth as it is in heaven.» «Samuel! Samuel!» Thank you!
Who am I preaching to today? You have a covenant-keeping God! You have a God that’s made an old-time agreement. Your witness is in heaven! Your record is on high! God says, «I swear I’m gonna bless you!» Oh, y’all don’t believe it! Let me find somebody—God says, «I swear I’m gonna bless you!» Let me find somebody—God says, «I swear I’m gonna bless you!» Y’all almost got it! Let me try these over here—God says, «I swear I’m gonna bless you!» Let me call it an appointment—God says, «I swear I’m gonna bless you!»
Praise Him like you’ve got the blessing on you! Now, I’m gonna bring it right here. Samuel, a big boy raised up in the temple serving under Eli, knows the service of God, but he doesn’t know God. He knows the service of God, but he does not know the voice of God. I’m going to go a little bit deeper—some people know the word of God, but they don’t know the voice of God. They can quote scriptures all day long, but they don’t know the voice of God.
And so, Samuel is laying in his bed, and he does not know the voice of God because the word of the Lord was scarce in those days. He hadn’t experienced the voice of God; he had only experienced the voice of Eli. So when God spoke to him for the first time, He sounded like his teacher. So he wakes up and says, «Eli, you called me?» «I called thee not. Go back and lay down again.»
Anytime you’re in a shift, there is a period of confusion. «How can I lay down? Every time I lay down, He calls me. Every time I get up and go to what I’m used to, I keep going to what I’m used to trying to figure out what I’m going to do.» I keep leaning on what I’m used to. I keep showing up in my usual place, but what’s calling me is unusual. I have no point of context for it; I have no point of reference for it. So all I can do is go to what I know. «Eli, did you call me?» «I called thee not. Go back and lay down again.»
Now this is the routine: he lays down again. God calls him again. He goes back to Eli. Look at how he serves! Look at how he serves! He will get up in the middle of the night to serve a priest that’s going blind—a priest who has lost control of his house. But none of that affects the level of Samuel’s service to Eli because Eli is still the priest. He is serving a priest that God has rejected, but he is still the priest. Until we respect the position, not just the person—the position!
So he goes back to him. «I called thee not. Go and lay down.» Now this is the tug. Watch this! This is the tug between generations. The young man can hear God, though the man couldn’t hear Him. Now the Bible said he couldn’t see, but it didn’t say anything about his ears. However, he cannot hear what the young man can hear. The young man can hear God and he can hear God to the point that he’s disruptive, anxious, irritating—disturbing his sleep, keeps getting up again!
Some of you can hear God so clearly, and then when you try to act on what God told you to do, they send you back. When they send you back, it plays into your rejection issues, your abandonment issues. You think they don’t believe in you because they send you back, but they’re sending you back because they don’t hear what you hear. All they can do is send you back because they haven’t heard what you heard!
Somebody holla, «I hear it!» My money’s not right, but I hear it! My friends are not right, but I hear it! I don’t have a building for it, but I hear it! Somebody holla, «I hear it!» I’m preaching to somebody online; I hear it! It won’t let me rest; it won’t let me lay down; it won’t let me speak because I keep hearing it! I don’t know how to do it, but I hear it!
Now watch this! This is why we can’t throw either extreme away. I’m not talking about you and your parents; I’m talking about from grandparent on down. Eli can’t hear it, but he can’t interpret it. Samuel can hear it, but he doesn’t know what to do with it. So when Eli perceives that the Lord had called him—not only did he perceive that God had called him—he told him what to say. See, some of us God has kept us in the Earth just to tell you what to do with what you got! We’re not trying to control you; we’re trying to stop the vicious cycle of going back and forth. So, we’re going to script you—it’s going to be your job, your anointing. I’m just giving you the script.
Eli told him, «Let me know.» Eli said, «Go back and lay down in your place.» In other words, go back and be where God expects you to be—in the position where He talks to you. Go to the place where you hear from God. Who am I preaching to? God said, «Eli told him, 'Don’t be in another place. I want you to lay in the place where God is talking to you, where it feels like somebody has been reading your mail, where it feels like somebody’s in your business, where it feels like they’re speaking about stuff that you’ve never talked to them about. Go back, because that is the place of revelation.' And lay there. Don’t leave there; lay there. If He calls you again, I’m going to tell you what to say.
Now, if you’re hard-headed and you think, 'Ain’t nobody telling me what to say, ' then you’re going to miss what God has for you. Because even though you’re right, I can’t hear it anymore; I still know how to respond to it. So, he told him, 'Go and lay down again in the place.' I can’t get off that point—in the place where God expects you. There’s something about being in the place. In other words, God isn’t going to go somewhere else. If this is your place, do you remember when Hagar was running from Sarah? She ran out into the wilderness with her baby and was about to die. God didn’t feed her in that place; He told her to go back to the place where my provision is. He sends Samuel back to the place to wait. The one thing boys hate to do is wait because you’ve got all that energy, passion, and excitement, but some things you have to wait on.
So, you have to wait on Him to call you again. He said, 'If He calls you again…' 'Lord, I blew it the first three times you called me. I went to the flesh the first three times you called me. I tried to find the solution in people the first few times you called me. But if you would just give me one more chance, I’ve got direction now on how to respond. I wasn’t disobedient; I was ignorant of how to respond. I had never heard you talk to me like that before; I didn’t know how to respond. If you call me again, now imagine waiting, wondering, „Will He call me again?“
Oh yes, Lord! I wonder—will He call me again? Have I gotten so far out there? Have I made so many wrong turns that maybe You have somebody else? I’m waiting, and the light is going out. Things are getting worse instead of better; it’s getting dark, and I’m running out of time. I’m not sure He still wants me. I wonder, will He call me again? Is He through with me? Has He forgotten me? He had to be thinking like that because, three times in his confusion, he had messed up his past opportunities. This should have happened on call one.
He’s gone through three calls to Eli, but Eli was all he knew. He went where he knew only to go back to where he was, only to get called and go back to what he knew, only to go back to where he was. Can I help you? Oh, you don’t want me to? You didn’t answer me the same; you don’t answer me. You won’t give me an opportunity; you won’t help me get my business started. You’re just like my mama—rejection, rejection, rejection. Every time I come to you, you give me away. If he had severed his relationship with Eli, he would have messed up his relationship with God. Because in spite of all of Eli’s faults, Eli still knew how to respond to God. So, he submits. What I love about Samuel is that he submits and goes back to where he was, a child of God.
The Lord said, 'I wouldn’t play and say this: I have a meeting place between me and you, and all you have to do is get there, and I will always tell you what to do.' You’re not in the meeting place. Moses built a tabernacle in the wilderness. What is a tabernacle? It’s a meeting place. When God sent Jesus, He sent divinity to humanity because Jesus said, 'I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father except by Me.' Go back to the meeting place and lay down. If He calls you again, this illustrates the humility of the text. I cannot assume that I have endless opportunities to go back and forth. I don’t know if you’re going to call me again, but if you call me again, I know what to say now because I have served under Eli.
There’s this big argument going on in some parts of the world today—a generational argument between the former and the latter. They’re arguing over who’s relevant and who isn’t. They both are. The reason—He called the young because they’re strong; He called the old because they know the way. Eli was old, but he knew the way. He couldn’t run the plays, but he knew the way. You understand what I’m talking about? One doesn’t operate independently of the other. The day shift can’t go home before the night shift comes on, and the night shift can’t go home until the day shift comes back. God said, 'Until you learn how to work interdependently, you will never be effective.'
I can’t run the plays anymore, but I know how to play the game. The challenge of the older generation is not to be jealous of the younger generation to the point that you won’t give them the benefit of what you learned. The challenge of the younger generation is understanding that some old systems still work. In your desire to be innovative, there are still some laws you can’t break. One of them is to lay down in the right place and wait on the Lord. If I can’t make you call, that’s our time; I can’t make Him speak; I can’t even make you go to the place, but if you go back to the place…
See, the powerful thing to me about watching you run around the stage and preach is that I remember you as a little girl sitting right over there in the corner with your head down. You’ve come back full circle to the place. God said, 'I’m going to bless you right in the place where you felt rejection, right in the place where you felt disgrace, right in the place where you felt shame, right in the place where you thought nobody would ever accept you, right in the place where you thought you’d never be anybody.' God said, 'That’s still a place, and I’m going to bring you back to the place. I’m going to bring you right back to the spot—the very spot. Show me where you laid it down. Show me where you gave up. Show me where you wanted to quit. Show me where you wanted to run from. Show me where you tried to hide.' I’m going to bring you right back to the place.
Samuel, foreign; they see the woman preaching. I’m over here shouting because I see the little girl who thought her life was over. That’s what I’m shouting about, because you will always be my baby. I’ll see you like you’re still a child sitting over in the corner, big belly, holding Malachi in your arms. Not just for her—it’s for you too! Some of you—God is getting ready to do something in your life. He’s going to break every curse, every bondage, every shame, every struggle in your life. If I’m preaching to you, give Him 60 seconds of crazy praise! I mean, crazy praise—curse-breaking praise! Praise like you lost your mind! Praise like you just heard from God! Praise Him like you got another chance! Praise Him like He opened up a door!
The Lord said to me, 'There are some people in this room that He’s trying to call you back to the place of your confusion, your chaos—that there’s going to be a night shift.' Wait! Let me give you this prophecy: The Lord said to Samuel, 'I’m going to do things through you that cause both ears of them that hear it to tingle. I am going to use you like no other prophet has ever been used in the scriptures. I’m going to use you in life; I’m going to use you after your life. I’m going to use you to anoint kings. I’m going to bring you before princes. I’m going to bring you into positions of power.'
And I don’t know if you have faith enough to believe it. God said all of that when Samuel had not yet known the Lord. This is not just about churches; this is about your life, your business, your career, your degree, your entrepreneurship—whatever your calling is in the Earth. Everybody isn’t called to the pulpit; everybody’s not supposed to do this; everybody’s not created to do this. Don’t be one-dimensional; there are some things that God created you for that you’ve had some delays, some setbacks, some mistakes, and some mishaps. God wants you to come back to the place. Yes, God said, 'Go back to the place where you heard my voice.'
'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hears.' Say it all over the hill: 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hears.' Type it online: 'Speak, Lord, for Thy servant hears.' I’m not going to be up in God’s face telling Him what He ought to do. I’m not going to boss God; I’m not going to tell God how to run His business. I am going to obey whatever You tell me to do. If You open up this door for me, if You give me another chance, it cannot bind. He said, 'I’m working the night shift.' Every person in this room that’s been in a dark place—I don’t care how it looks on the surface. I’m not talking about the shimmer, but if you’ve been in a night place and there was no clear vision, come to this altar.