It’s the first Hey You of the year, and we’re kicking it off in the best posture-surrender! Dr. Anita Phillips gives us the 3 critical steps to fully surrendering to God. If you’ve been searching for rest-this message is for you.
the New York Times bestselling author
Dr a girl and every time she see you she
be like I got to St excuse me excuse me
excuse me um yeah help us let’s go let
me tell
y’all it’s been a day of surrender so
God had me he was like you going to walk
this out a little bit just so you don’t
come in here just talking
extra can I can I pray real
quick
father you are already speaking to us
from the
worship to Mother uh Jay’s
message to what Pastor Sarah’s just
shared with us to what I believe you’ve
given me to share you’ve been speaking
to us through the women who have been so
vulnerable you’ve been speaking to us
open our ears so we don’t miss a
thing we came in the room heavy laden
but we want to leave that room
rest father anoint
us with the
determination to surrender and to remain
surrendered let Sabbath be our guide in
Jesus name amen amen so today earlier
today let me tell you guys one of the
things I actually really love
ministering I love talking I’m that
little kid that talked all the time and
so she likes talking to people it’s not
a problem I look forward to speaking I
look forward to sharing Sarah knows that
and so today I was like listening well
yesterday today I’m listening God what
do you want me to share and when I tell
you
crickets crickets and so yesterday I was
like okay and and I didn’t don’t believe
I didn’t wait till just yesterday but
yesterday I finished another two week
retreat thing so I turned my full
attention but I have been asking God and
I’m just crickets crickets Cricket I
went to sleep last night I woke up I’m
walking around in there today and I’m
like okay and now sometimes when I don’t
hear anything when I have to minister I
have another sense that God’s going to
speak prophetically so he’s not
preparing me because he’s going to speak
on the spot I did not have that sense it
was crickets and empty I mean just
nothing there I sat down for an hour no
phone in front of me just sitting there
I’m like listening for God I could some
worship I came back I walked
nothing I thought I heard of something I
thed it up it didn’t make sense my brain
it was like it wasn’t working so finally
I just said okay God I show me the
evening so I closed my eyes I saw the
room and I saw people handing out paper
and like the women were going to write
something down on paper so I’m like okay
well maybe that’s something God wants to
happen I didn’t know it was going to
happen so I finally just gave up I text
Sarah humbled
myself is there anything I’m missing
about tonight cuz I didn’t want to scare
her and be like I ain’t got no word so I
just so I just text her I was like am I
missing anything anything in your
spirites that you want to share with so
she called me on the phone and she said
well let me tell you how the service’s
gonna go so she was like we’re gonna
make sure that the women have a chance
to write this down to handle the paper
so first I got excited like okay the
Lord was giving me something but then I
was like but they were already doing
that and he done show me something was
already happening and I still don’t
know okay and so we talked and we did
find she did share some things that
moved my spirit we hung up the phone and
so I thought something was coming it’s
like I thought I saw a little light and
then it went out again so I went in the
bathroom start curling my hair and I had
this moment and I heard God speak to me
he said
surrender and I said God is it
pride because if it’s not me that you
want to speak through
tonight I will admit that name face on
the flyer and
everything and right after that I felt
this wave of peace come over me and he
said now
rest pride is a theme
tonight and I didn’t I not text that to
you Sarah I said was this was a pride
fire drill cuz that must have been what
happened and then Mama Jay walked right
in and start talking about Pride that
was one of the things you mentioned it
stuck out to me then this young sister
was talking about wanting to know things
and I thought to myself pride and then I
said well Anita you don’t know if that
was pride and she said out her mouth
Pride I said
okay and so this is not something that I
usually talk about but God told me to
call out
Pride as one of the reasons that we do
not
surrender because we’re going to figure
it out we’re going to work it out we’re
going to push it through we’re going to
make it happen we know what we know how
to do when to do if I don’t do it it
won’t get done so we don’t delegate we
intercede too short and run too fast we
talk about faith with without works is
dead but your works are dead cuz they
have no faith behind them you are moving
with
[Applause]
pride that is stopping us from
surrendering Pride fuels
anger it’s one of the reasons we get
frustrated so quickly with other people
when they don’t do things the way we
would do things when we would do things
Pride fuels
anger and it hardens
Hearts now I’m you don’t need the send
me a DM and say I tried to find pride in
my heart Dr Nita but I don’t think I had
that honey maybe you’re one of the Holy
ones in here tonight and God sent you to
intercede for the rest of
us or tuck it away for another day
Hebrews chapter 4 God sent me to this
verse Hebrews chapter 4 verse starting
with verse uh nine there remaineth
therefore a rest to the people of God
for he that is entered into his rest he
also have ceased from his own works as
God did from his verse 11 let us labor
therefore to enter into that rest lest
any man fall after the same example of
unbelief a few verses earlier it says
that we should come into the rest that
Jesus is offering us that when we are
invited to rest not to harden our hearts
but that we should labor to enter into
rest rest is important because surrender
is the beginning of the journey to
Sabbath How will I know when I’ve
surrendered when Sabbath begins to grow
in my
life How Will I Know What to Do Well if
I’m not resting that’s what Sabbath
means if I’m not resting then I have not
fully surrendered and so I want to
continue pressing my way to Sabbath rest
will be how I know that I have
arrived at surrender so we make the
decision and we begin but then it’s like
what do I do next the reason that God
gave us sleep
physically is to teach us something
about rest
spiritually what happens when you are
resting in your body what happens when
you are asleep well your hands are still
you’re not doing
nothing you are
still so in order for you to truly
surrender you are going to need to stop
doing the things that were associated
with what you are
surrendering not surrender and keep
fiddling
some of you God told me that some of you
he’s going to speak to you’re going to
go on an activity fast that is related
to the thing you
surrendered God what school should I
apply to what graduate program should I
go to 30 days no
searching look at they like wow but what
did you think surrender
means
stop see you think surrender means just
trust God instead of yourself while you
still keep doing the
stuff yeah yeah yeah yeah uhhuh see yeah
you think that that means well well I
was trying to find the mate myself I was
trying to pick out the school myself I
was trying to look for the job myself
but now I’m going to do all those same
activities knowing God’s actually doing
it through
me you don’t know the difference
yet so God said you’re going to need to
be
still that’s what happens when we’re
sleeping
we’re still ain’t nobody sleeping and
cooking nobody’s sleeping and folding
laundry nobody’s sleeping and Braiden
hair if you are they have medication for
that because when people walk around in
their sleep and do things at Sleepwalk
they wake up feeling exhausted because
they did not truly
rest and so God said you’re going to
have to
stop these unproductive activ activities
that you have already been doing
associated with the thing that you want
to surrender because the reason you’re
exhausted is because you’re doing too
much and you’re going to have to get
past the thing that says well so I just
do nothing yes that’s
surrender so stop something else that
happens in your body when you are
asleeping your heart
repairs people who don’t get enough
sleep people have insomnia It’s
associated with high blood
pressure and strokes because because the
heart needs you to be resting now it’s
still beating while you’re
sleeping but it’s not under the same
kind of
stress so you may still have emotions
when you are surrendered but it should
not be the same level of intensity that
goes with you trying to make it work
your heart literally repairs while you
rest one of the ways that happens and
surrender is you’re not staring right at
the problem
so after you stop doing the things that
have been uselessly associated with what
you surrendered the second thing you
need to do is look
away because the Temptation will be to
watch this
spot okay God I’m not doing
nothing what you
doing and you’re just staring at the
problem staring at the problem and your
heart
just but God it still looks bad but God
the child is still on drugs but God I
still didn’t hear back from anybody but
God they still in prison but God I still
don’t cuz you’re staring the
problem and so your heart’s not getting
any
rest because you’re looking at it but
when you’re
asleep your eyes are
closed so you don’t need to check every
day every
hour look away y’all taking notes number
one get your hands off number two look
away so your heart can
rest and the third thing that happens
for your body when you’re sleeping is
your brain
recovers toxins that build up in your
brain during the day from all the
thinking and the thinking and the
thinking and the thinking that you’re
doing get flushed out while you’re
sleeping so rest means get your
mind off of it
do something else think about something
else thinking is you asking questions
all day ask questions about something
else or else you just unsurrendered
it because you’re not
resting now this is hard work this sound
hard to anybody well it is hard I know
it’s hard because the Bible said it’s
hard
in verse 11 Hebrews 4:11 it says let us
labor therefore to enter into that rest
that means it’s going to be hard to get
there but it’s worth the
work because it is easy to continue to
worry and stress it’s easy to do it but
it’s hard to live with it’s hard to push
into rest but once you get there it’s
easy to live
with you’re going to strive towards
something so why not in the direction of
rest yes Ma’am why not labor for rest if
I got my hands all in the trash pile
trying to fix the situation I’m laboring
so why don’t I do the hard work
of holding my
hands if I’m thinking about this problem
247 that’s hard so why don’t I do the
labor required to shift my mind in
another Direction staring at it is hard
so why not labor to look to the hills
instead we are under the impression that
rest means suddenly I
just he laid me down he laid us down cuz
we
was some of us he got to lay us down by
the pasture and sit on
us it’s not easy right away to rest I’m
sharing that with you so you know that
you’re not doing it
wrong because we think it should be
peace and ease well I’m resting child
you might see me with a tear streaming
down my face what you doing
resting I’m right as I’m
resting Lord I’m
laboring I’m
resting but it’s going to be worth that
work
because you will get better at it you
will get better at it because when you
start seeing what it does for you you’ll
get more excited about it a year from
now y’all gonna be rest
Pros but this month you’re just going to
start get your hands off get your eyes
off get your
mind
off of the thing that you wrote down
well how do I do that child I don’t no
that’s you and your
paper it may be the things you stop
sometimes it’s the things you need to
start where’s my sister that said I I
want to surrender my
attitude now what if I said I need you
to hug no less than 100 people in the
next 30 days I just want you to start
hugging where’s she
at you like that word you like it you
like it all right good because she’s
said I am no I I’m not asking God about
I’m just going to go ahead and rest in
the new me so I’m just start throwing my
arms around people how else will she do
it if she’s sitting around like
journaling how much attitude did I have
today let me check my attitude scale on
a scale of 0 to 10 I think I had this
much forget it just start throwing your
arms around people go do something
else
labor to rest
there’s things that you can also engage
to look at your mind have your mind
another way why is this important
because there are things that God is
doing when you rest in Mark chapter 4
verse 26 I’m reading this in the ESV
version is the parable of the seed
growing y’all know there’s going to be a
seed in here
somewhere the kingdom of God is as if a
man should scatter seed on the ground he
sleeps and Rises night and day and the
seed sprouts and grows he knows not how
the Earth produces by
itself first the blade then the ear then
the full grain in the ear and when the
grain is ripe at once you will be able
to go and because your Harvest has come
but the key here is he scatters the seed
on the
ground and then he sleeps and Rises
night and day the seed sprouts and grows
he knows not how
God does things while you are
resting that you won’t know how he did
it but you have to lay down first so you
scatter the seeds that’s the word so
you’re receiving this word tonight you
were obedient to the word to write down
what you want to surrender you wrote
down the word that I’m giving you hands
off eyes off mind off you got that we’re
scattering it and then you know what
rest lay down down and it is significant
that he says that we sleep and
Rise not rise and then
sleep night and day not day and
night this Echoes back to the garden and
to Creation where God rested after he
had done all his work he rested why
because he had put a system in place
that would continue to run I don’t have
to recreate it every day all time every
week it’s done I am resting you have
done the things rest but what’s critical
here is that just as that book a parable
that Jesus told he said night and day we
know God Jesus was at creation because
he was the word that came out of God’s
mouth John 1 And1 says that and the
Bible constantly says in Genesis chapter
1 and the evening and the
morning were the first day and the
evening and the morning were the second
day the evening and the morning have you
ever wondered why it wasn’t the morning
and the evening because we conceive of a
day as morning and evening we say day
and night we said girl I’ve been working
working working day and
night that’s what we say but my Bible
says night and day that means that the
day begins with me at
rest the day begins when I lay down the
day begins when I go to sleep the night
is first when I have fully rested when I
get up God has done all the things now
the day
starts baby he didn’t make it for you to
work till you exhausted and then you lay
down he said you lay down I’ll deal with
it by the time you wake up your day is
half over all you have to do is step in
to what God did while you were sleeping
oh baby the word over 2024 is going to
be While You Were
Sleeping God did some things while I was
sleeping God worked it out as a matter
of fact I believe the first man that he
ever made and he identified the first
need that ever existed he said it’s not
good for man to be alone the man didn’t
know he had a need but God saw he had a
need he said no problem go to sleep
sleep because while you are sleeping I
will produce the thing that you need
that you didn’t even know you needed so
when you wake
up oh my God while you are
sleeping God’s going to turn it around
while you are
sleeping the need that you have is going
to be
met
woo
oh my god there was a man named Solomon
he was the wisest man that ever lived I
asked God to to give me that kind of
wisdom I said God if there was a wisest
man but you didn’t say who the wisest
woman was she me who you are teach me
who you are God loved Solomon because he
wanted to know him but do you know when
Solomon got that
request while he was
sleeping Solomon was asleep
and God came to him in a dream and said
because of the way you worship me and
served me during the day when you were
awake he came to him in a dream and said
ask me for anything and Solomon didn’t
ask Solomon didn’t ask him for riches or
for Mor while or C cities he said give
me understanding give me wisdom he was
rested so he knew what to ask for see
you so worked
up you ain’t had no rest you have not
surrendered so when God say what do you
want you ask for the wrong
thing cuz you got your eye on the
problem and so that’s what you ask about
but Solomon was sleeping so he woke up
and said what God said anything you
want and he asked for more of God and
God said because of this is what you
asked for and you did not ask for riches
and wives and cars and houses and all
the things you would ask for in 2024 I’m
going give you all that because of what
you asked
for but oh if he had not been
sleeping the desires of your heart you
were on your knees Wide Awake begging
for them but God said this year while
you
are
sleeping there’ll come a moment when he
can ask you some of you have been
through so
much you feel like you’re about to be
dead emotionally mentally maybe even
physically you don’t even have to lay
down for rest because you feel like
you’re laying down and
dying you’ve been sing down and laying
down and laying down and people are
looking at you I think she dead I think
she’s out the game I think it’s been cut
off I don’t think it’s going to work out
and you’re laying there and it looks
like you
dead but even that is going to inspire
some people they’re going to go running
to Jesus asking for his help from you
but Jesus is going to say don’t worry
about my little girl she’s not
dead she’s only sleeping and then
they’re going to follow Jesus to your
bedside and he’s going to put his hand
and he’s going to say
girl get
up get
up and you’re going to get up what
happened while you were sleeping honey
people thought I wasn’t with you while
you were sleeping they came running to
me and as a result they got to know
something about me because of the way
you laid down you’re not dead baby but
while you’re
sleeping one more
thing there was a man named
Jacob and Jacob had got himself in some
trouble listening to his mama tell him
to do something he shouldn’t have did
and a grown man took his mother did what
his mama told him there a whole lot of
emotional mental stuff messed up in this
family line and he got him in trouble
and you know the story Esau Esau is mad
and now Jacob got to make a run for it
because he knows he’s going to get
killed and he runs on and he stops on
his way and lays
down on the
ground he makes a pillow out of a rock
baby that rest ain’t even got to be
comfortable just lay
down just lay down let the tears stream
down your face but lay down feel your
heart pounding with the strength but lay
down he laid down and he went to sleep
and while he was
sleeping a dreamy vision of a ladder
that went from the heavens down to the
ground let me tell you something there
is only one organ in our entire body
body that looks like a ladder
DNA DNA is a twisted ladder when you
untwisted it’s a ladder and he laid down
there and God looked at him and said the
fathers the I am the god of your
fathers and he watched Angels going up
and down the ladder the generational
work that they tried to
accomplish started happening while he
was
sleeping generational curses being
broken generational blessings being
brought down those angels went up and
down the ladder of his DNA the line
behind the people to come in the front
you are working so hard trying to be the
generational curse breaker baby let me
tell you something stop where you are
and lay down this year while you are
sleeping God is going to come and he’s
going to run through that family line
and he’s breaking physical diseases and
mental issues and addictions and
marriage issues parenting problems God
is breaking it he’s traveling up and
down and he’s going to get it
done my
God and when is he going to do
it while you are
[Applause]
sleeping if you just
surrender that means lay down the thing
and start fighting your way to Sabbath
start laboring your way to rest baby
it’s not easy always to get to rest if
you got to walk around your house saying
in the name of Jesus the blood the blood
of Jesus hallelujah hallelujah
hallelujah if you got to walk around
singing your worship off key it don’t
make no difference if you got to write
it down throw it away put your hands in
your pockets to keep from making the
phone call walk till you get some
rest I promise
you before this year is
out you will have this
testimony that while you were
sleeping he worked it out
Hallelujah that’s all he told me to tell
y’all that’s all he told me to tell you
while you’re sleeping needs will be met
while you are sleeping desires will be
uttered while you are sleeping what
looks dead in your life will get up
while you are
sleeping generational
curses spiritual
stuff
breaking in the name of Jesus do you
receive that word over your life I
received it over mine I’m going to do a
lot more resting this year I’m going to
declare what happened while I was
sleeping I do promise you
that and so knowing
that did you write down on all you
needed to
write cuz you still got
time grab your paper grab your thing and
here’s something I want everyone to make
sure they write
down
surrender the insatiable
thing I heard God say that today be sure
to surrender that insatiable thing the
fear that just never seems to
resolve put it
down that no matter how many times God
shows up it’s still you still worry
about this
area being alone starting new
things the insatiable thing it’s
underneath what you may have written
down like you may have written down
talking of that you have a fear of
rejection but does that also mean that
you need to surrender the belief that
you’re actually just not very
good and that is why you fear your
rejection you know what I mean dig down
there what’s the insatiable
thing put that down maybe you have
struggled so much to recover from an
abuse but it just won’t seem to release
you you’re still having the nightmares
you’re still having the flashbacks now
you know what I say there’s nothing
wrong won’t you to go to therapy take
your medication do the things that we
have that we have to do but but but
do not leave the spirit
out this is a spiritual
moment and sometimes we have gotten so
equipped that we
forget that we have the privilege as
Disciples of Jesus we have the privilege
as vessels of the Holy
Ghost to first and foremost move in
spirit