Lisa Bevere shares a powerful message out of her book “Girls With Swords: How to Carry Your Cross Like a Hero” at the 2015 Desperation Conference.

you guys doing okay I’m so excited to be

here with you guys I can just tell you

are leaning in and you are ready I’m

going to talk really fast because I’ve

had a lot of caffeine so if you can

listen fast this will work okay all

right I’m going to open up with my

family because I need you to know a

little bit about me I have four sons and

so we’re going to put a picture up of

them I believe they’re all coming up if

not that’s just my shoulder there we go

okay so I live with a lot of men so my

youngest son right there is in the front

his name is art and he is 20 years of

age and he leaves actually tomorrow for

Hillsong Sydney he’s going to go for a

year a Bible College there so we’re so

excited about that and then behind him

is my oldest son Addison he is 29 years

of age then there is my husband of 33

years John Bevere who will be speaking

tonight he is my favorite minister not

because of how he preaches but who he is

in private and then behind him is my

second son Austin he is 26 and then my

son Alec who is 24 and then my grandson

Asher and I’m going to show you a

picture of Asher a little bit closer I

think all grandchildren should be

celebrated okay

he has a gouge on his face and I picked

its picture for a reason I did all of

the Hillsong color world conferences

last year I did two weeks in Sydney one

week in Cape Town one week in London and

when I came home art of Asher came over

I need the scratch on his face and I am

a half Sicilian grandmother and so when

somebody hurts my grandchildren

something inside of me gets upset and I

was like Asher who in the world did this

to you do I need to go to daycare and

have a talk with somebody but before he

could even answer me I saw a hand go up

and it was my granddaughter Sophia

Sophia had scratched Asher Sophia is the

first female born to my family in more

than 50 years I was the last one she is

fiercer than all of the bull

he’s put together we expected a little

butterfly to float into our world but

you know there is a generation of

daughters coming on the face of the

earth right now that understand they are

designed for a purpose

and they are going to come alongside the

men in strength and in fierceness but

they also need to be saved

one of things I Sophia does is when I

put her in her car seat she begins to

yell I need Jesus I need Jesus and what

she’s actually asking for is for me to

put on you make me brave

but we need Sophia to get saved before

she is brave because right now she’s

just me and then I have a mother

granddaughter her name is Lizzie and

yeah everybody has a sweet reaction to

Lizzie and you should because Lizzie is

sweet so I’m going to show all three of

them together and then you get a better

image of what this looks like in real

life so I am a grandmother and that’s

exciting because grandmothers are

understanding something that mothers

don’t understand and that is something

called perspective I believe that

grandmothers want something truly grand

for the next generation and so even

though I might have a problem seeing

small print what I see in the distance

is a glory uprising for the Church of

Jesus Christ I believe we’re going to

end your days of sons and daughters and

mothers and fathers standing on the face

of the earth and releasing the words of

heaven I’m also going to show you two

more pictures I’m going to show you

something called the Tough Mudder I

don’t know if you know what this is but

it is basically a special-ops race and

one of my sons entered the Tough Mudder

and I have decided since I genetically

produced him that I am a tough mother I

don’t know if you are familiar with this

but this is for people that like to be

electrocuted

swim through ice and run for ten miles

at 12,000 feet above sea level so I’m

like okay I am genetically superior if I

had wanted to be in that race I would

have won it and so last year when I came

home

Hilsum my son pick me up from the

airport he’d win in another race it’s

called the Spartan Race and I think

we’re going to show the picture of the

Spartan Race and I wanted to know had we

won I was like Alec did we win the race

he was like no mom you did not win this

race he said we didn’t win he said but I

discovered something it’s actually more

fun helping other people over obstacles

than it is crossing the finish line

alone and I don’t know if you know this

or not but you have a course to run you

have a race to run and we are not

competing against one another but I am

here today to make sure that you cross

that finish line I’m going to do a

couple of things I’m going to give a

couple of things away and I’m going to

need some help here so I have what’s

your name again Kayla okay so I’m going

to give away a curriculum suck I want a

leader I want a leader here who traveled

what Ledo traveled the farthest you have

to be outside of Colorado okay where did

you travel from you need to be loud what

Puerto Rico okay but do you speak

English is that your first language okay

the Nazca I’ll give you a Spanish girls

with swords okay I need a curriculum

somebody that traveled not quite as far

as Puerto Rico but I’ll give you guys

something from from the US that is a

leader can you give us away to them find

out find out who wins you got to give

this to them just give it to them I

trust you okay and then I’m going to

also and so that’s the curriculum we’re

going to have out there we believe that

people find out who they are in the

company of other people and I’m going to

tell you a little bit of a story because

a lot of times women do not know how

crucial they are to this mix with God I

think the guys know hey it’s okay for us

to be strong it’s okay for us to be bold

but the truth is that God needs strong

sons and strong daughters and so I’m

going to tell you a little bit of a

story on something that I’m going to be

preaching a teeny bit on I’m actually

mixing two things but basically I wrote

a book called lioness arising

and I was about women waking up and

discovering who they were and you know

this is embarrassing but sometimes my

life is so busy that I do things as

afterthoughts and so my book was already

out and published in five languages and

I’m driving in my car and I was like

okay Jesus um I forgot to tell you I

published a book called lioness arising

I hope that’s okay with you I know that

you’re independent of time so I can ask

you something afterwards and you can

work with me and I’m like I would just

like a confirmation that that was all

right and so that night I was in the

throes of a school project with my

youngest son I had you know found out at

8 o’clock at night that he had a school

project due the very next day I was like

are you serious I tore apart the three

older boys school projects brought him

the poster board he was like no this is

the wrong poster board so then I braved

a blizzard to go out and get the correct

poster board and I paid the other boys

money to cut out pictures and to let him

you know dictate his paper to them and

when I came home all of this was

happening in my house when my husband

did something he likes to do on a

regular basis he called me now that’s

not bad but what he actually does when

he calls me is he puts me on the phone

with random strangers I have tried to

tell him I don’t want to talk to these

people these people don’t want to talk

to me I don’t know if it’s an exit

strategy for John when he’s in a

conversation that he wants to be over he

just dials my phone and hands them to

people but my husband was like hey I

have somebody I want to talk you want

you to talk to and I said absolutely not

I am in the throes of a school project

you don’t understand this because you

have never done this John but I need to

be involved with this and he’s like

listen the guy you don’t he talked him

right now I gave me your cell phone

he’s going to call you back just like

who does that to their wife and so when

the guy called me back I tried to sound

exhausted he I was like hello and he’s

like is this is this Lisa Bevere I was

like yes he said well your husband held

up your book tonight lioness arising and

he said lions are the best killers but

lionesses are the best hunter

and I said well of course he would say

that that’s all he knows he doesn’t read

my books he said well I’m calling you to

tell you why your book is important he

said let me tell you what I do here at

Fort Bragg he said I am in charge of

special ops team he said I don’t know if

you know but we are not winning the war

in Afghanistan I said I actually do know

that he said do you want to know why we

are not winning the war I said yes in

the middle of my son’s school project I

must know why we are not winning the war

in Afghanistan he said well one of the

reasons we’re not winning the war is we

can’t speak to their women and he said

if he can’t speak to the women you can’t

flip the culture and if you can’t flip a

culture you can’t win the war he said up

unto this point we have been sending in

special operative teams of men he said

but now we’re sending in special

operative women and they’re going to

tell the Afghan women they have boys and

valued they’re going to tell them why

democracy will serve their sons and

daughters well they’re going to take

care of their minor medical needs and

deliver their babies he said and the

name of this group is team lioness

they’re about ready to be a deployed may

I have a copy of your book for all of

them and so I got to outfit team lioness

before it went out of Fort Bragg then I

got to outfit team lioness before it

went out of camp lejeune

why am I telling you this because if the

US military understands that without the

involvement of women you will fight but

you will not win then it is time that

the Church of Jesus Christ understands

that God has always made it about one

man and one woman with one heart

standing together and that is a vision a

promise whether we realize it or not the

church is Jesus’s bride and we are

supposed to be one accord with our Lord

so I’m going to show you what the enemy

is afraid of I’ve got a picture of two

lions he is afraid that the men and the

women will stand side by side face to

face that they will remember that they

are intimate allies and not

and so to that end I’m going to talk to

you about some stuff and you know you

can go back to your seat you’re awesome

okay so basically we’re in a generation

at the time that is shifting so quickly

and when I look at your generation I

have to be honest with you I see nothing

but promise I’m not afraid for you you

were created for this time but you need

the strength you need the tools and so

when I wrote lioness arising it was a

wake-up call and when I wrote girls with

swords it was a weapon but I’m going to

actually position you with something

you’re going to need to go forward it’s

something that they have done all these

studies it is called grit they have

found out that people who have gritty

behaviors or the grit factor will

actually succeed more than people that

are intelligent more than people that

are rich the idea of people that have

this tenacious I will not quit I will

not be distracted I will not be deterred

those kind of people have the hood spot

that they need to make it but if you’re

going to have a grit factor that is not

just this world’s grit factor but a

spiritual grit factor then you’re going

to have to operate by faith and you’re

going to have to know who you are and

you’re going to have to know how God

prepares you so I’m going to open up

with Hebrews 11 33 it says through acts

of faith not gods to faith through acts

of faith they toppled kingdoms may

justice work and took the promises for

themselves

you have to lay hold of every promise in

God’s Word it will not just fall on your

head you need to be able to when you

hear a scripture or you’re singing a

song to understand that if something

begins to stir inside of you you say

that is for me you need to take hold of

whatever you need to be equipped for

this day and this age and what you need

to be equipped for this day and age may

be very different than what your parents

needed so you might have a little

of wildness you might have a little bit

of fierceness to you but that’s okay I

need you to be dangerous and I need you

to be fully awake to this season one of

my favorite scriptures and again I do

when I talk about things in the Bible to

have a feminine term I want you to think

of it as a church is Micah 4:13 this is

on your feet daughter of Zion be

threshed of chaff be refined of dross

for I am remaking you a people

invincible for a long time we have been

a people invisible there’s a lot of

people that are just waiting for the

rapture to come and they can disappear

but that is not what you were created

for you were created to rise up in these

last days

invincible you are not created for

anything you have seen you are creative

or something more than you have ever

seen with your natural eyes there is

something inside of you that says there

is something more than you have ever

seen and that is why you would be here

on a morning at the desperation

conference after you stayed up really

late but this is a preparation process

and to kind of set this story up I’m

going to tell you a ridiculous story

about me I actually travel a lot to

Australia and I was going to actually

plan at shakers on this particular trip

and I don’t know if they are kind of

like hey we spent so much money to fly

you down here you’re gonna have to speak

75 times but basically when I landed it

was like hey we got a pre leaders

meeting before the leaders meeting

before the lunch and I mean like at the

end of my time there I didn’t know who I

was I didn’t know if I was coming or

going what is my point with that I want

you to know I was vulnerable I was

exhausted

I don’t do jet lag well some people do I

don’t and so basically the very last

night that I was there we all gathered

at pastor Sam Evans house it was all

girls it was all quiet and I was sitting

there and a woman came up to me and she

said I have been watching you all

weekend and I finally figured out who it

is you remind me of and I said please

don’t say Paul Abdulle please – she was

like no no no it’s not an American Idol

judge she said

you remind me of the original Sarah

Connor and I went wait a minute

wasn’t she blonde and she said oh no no

it wasn’t her hair it was her buffness

my heart began to beat fast you know if

you tell a woman who is over 50 that she

is buff she don’t know it’s a lie but

she’ll want to believe you and I was

like oh okay why I’ve never heard that

before I got on a jet plane I flew home

I grabbed my son Alexander I said

Alexander I need you to find me some

pictures of Sarah Connor from Terminator

2 because I’m a Christian I’ve never

watched that movie I’m like can you just

show me some pictures well he did better

than pictures he sent some video clips

and so I began to watch these video

clips and my heart began to race again

basically I’ll tell you what I saw I saw

Sarah Connor I guess she was in some

kind of like prison sanitarium or

something and she had taken the twin bed

and she had put it up against the wall

and she was doing pull-ups on the

underside of her bed and I asked why

would she be doing this and they

explained to me that she understand that

she needed to use a season of captivity

to develop strength because she would

not always be in prison and she wanted

to come out of that season in strength

so that she could rescue her son then

they had another image of her and she’s

like talking a gun with one arm well I

have a 16-point buck on the wall of my

house that I dropped with one shot and

then there was another picture of her

and she’s writing her Ducati which

looked like my black ninja so now all of

a sudden I’m feeling spiritually

connected with Sarah I’m feeling

skillfully connected with Sarah and I

made the leap of perhaps I was

physically connected with Sarah and I

did something I had never done I called

Gold’s Gym

I called Gold’s Gym and I said hey I

want that trainer that shaves his head I

don’t know what his name is

but he looks really fierce and they’re

like okay so the

I answers the phone I’m like Hello

Robert I know you don’t know who I am

but I am possibly one training session

away from Sarah Connor and I am going to

let you be my physical trainer and so

I’m gonna come in I’m gonna meet you and

he you know he kind of was like we’ll

we’re going to do an assessment first

and when he said that I should have

taken a deep breath and asked myself a

couple questions like have you ever done

a pull-up Lisa and the answer would be

no I actually haven’t

the other question I should have asked

was with Sarah Connor maybe 20 in her

20s in that movie and you’re in your 50s

that would have been another important

question but I didn’t I made an

appointment I called to my boys I’m like

hey guys mom is going to the gym who

wants to come with me they’re like we

will make you a clean pumpup mix we are

all coming to see this sign and Wonder

so I walked into the gym I was like

bouncing my head at that point my boys

are like scattering they’re like we’re

acting like we don’t know you now

because you’re acting like you can dance

when I made eye contact with Robert I

expected him to be a little bit more

excited than he was when he saw me he

had a clipboard he takes me into the

center of gold gym and he said drop and

give me ten push-ups and I said wait you

mean the girl kind right you can drop

and get me down I was like wait what he

said stop sorry I’m like began to panic

so I dropped and I gave Robert ten

horribly formed push-ups I hadn’t done

them since high school and then he said

get up

he said now do twenty-five jumping jacks

the way he said I couldn’t remember what

a jumping jack was I was like dude I had

stretch at the top he’s like god I’m

like oh my gosh and so I didn’t want him

to say I was cheating so I started

clapping and my boys were like ah oh my

gosh

look at our mother she can’t even do a

jumping jack correctly and I have to be

honest with you that was the best thing

I did that morning it went from bad to

awful to ridiculous and then Robert

brought me to the cubicle to share the

bad news with me I already knew I had

flunked the assessment but he had one

more test he was going to do he handed

me something that looked kind of like a

controller and he said I need you to put

this out in your hands and just like

hold it and push a button it’s going to

measure your fat percentage so I pushed

it and it shot an electrical current

through my body measured my fat

percentage

Robert was shocked by how high my fat

percentage was I was not as surprised as

Robert and I said well maybe I did hold

it right or maybe I’m dehydrated from

jet lag so I did it again and it went up

a percentage point at that point Robert

began to point out some larger sisters

at the gym and explained to me that I

was fatter than them he said you see

that person you have a higher fat

percentage than her you see that person

you have a higher fat percentage than

her now at this point I’ve just about

had it

I mean I’m humiliated I’m like I can’t

believe I’m here and so I said you need

to stop it right now

I am NOT a lazy person I am a busy

person he said oh I know that

he said you’re something we call skinny

fat what is that

he said you’re busy and because you’re

busy you burn muscle rather than build

it and he said if you want to be strong

you can’t be busy you need to begin to

be able to bear some weight and that day

when I left the gym I thought how much

of the church is skinny fat

oh yeah we’re busy but when it comes to

bearing some weight to stand up under

some pressure we came and if you think

trainer Robert was mean you should

listen to trainer Jesus revelation three

verses one through three says I see

right through your work you have a

reputation for vigor and zest but you’re

dead stone dead up on your feet take a

deep breath maybe there’s life and you

yet but I wouldn’t know it by looking at

all your busy work nothing about God’s

work has been completed your condition

is desperate think of the gift you

once had in your hands the message you

heard with your ears grasp it again and

turn back to God if you pull the covers

back over your head and sleep on

oblivious to God I’ll return when you

least expect it and break into your life

like a thief in the night

spiritual busyness does not build

strengthen I bet a lot of you already

know that Jesus values very different

things than this world values he doesn’t

value how many Facebook friends you have

he doesn’t value how many Twitter

followers or Instagram followers he

doesn’t value other people see you he

sees the real you and you need to be

very careful in this day of social media

that you are not so busy listening to

what everybody else says about you that

you forget who you truly are

Jesus saw through the works of this

church the very next church so in the

Book of Revelations which is a book in

the Bible he saw right through them he

said I know you inside it out and fight

little to my liking

you’re not cold you’re not hot far

better to be either cold or hot or stale

you’re stagnant you make me want to

vomit you brag I’m rich I’ve got it made

and I need nothing from anyone it sounds

like America oblivious that in fact you

are a pitiful blind beggar threadbare

and homeless here’s what I want you to

do buy gold from me gold that’s been

through the refiners fire then you’ll be

rich buy your clothes from me clothes

designed in heaven you’ve gone around

half-naked long enough and buy medicine

for your eyes from me so you can see

really see I believe the younger

generation has the ability to see some

things that the older generation has

lost sight of but in your strength you

need our wisdom and God wants to marry

all of these things but when you hear

these two accounts you might think man

Jesus is just harsh he’s just mean I

thought he’s like mr. Shepherd Jesus

well why would he talk like that we’ll

next verse revelations 3

the people I love I call to account prod

and correct and guide so that they will

live life at their best up on your feet

then about-face and run after God God is

plotting you guys not because he is

disappointed but because he said there

is something so much more on you than

you have ever imagined there is

something so much more on you than this

world has seen and I need you to move

beyond your ability your limits into

what I have put in your heart he is

prodding us he is correcting us so that

we can live life at our best

which brings us actually back to where

we began micah 4:10 says God will give

you new life again

he’ll redeem you from your enemies but

for right now they’re ganged up against

you I don’t know if you’ve seen what’s

been going on in this culture right now

but there are many godless people saying

to the church kick her when she’s down

they think we just lost something well

you know God didn’t fall off this room

God is God he was not taken surprised by

everything but I do think it needs to be

a wake-up call for us and it says these

blasphemers have no idea what God is

thinking and doing in this they don’t

know that this is the making of God’s

people that they are weat being thrashed

and gold being refined hardship is what

refines you hardship is when you find

out what you are made of hardship is

when you find out where you are strong

and where you’re a weak and we are

people to whom much has been given and

when much has been given to us much is

required of us and most people think of

that as a grumpy thing I don’t want you

to think about that as a grumpy thing I

want you to think about it as an

entrustment I want you to take it as God

believes that there is something inside

of me that he has given me some

but because we live in this day in time

the enemy in our nation acts very

different than he does in other nations

you go over to other nations they’re

beheading Christians one of our on-site

people and the Middle East was just

killed on purpose by a shelling attack

they couldn’t even recover his body

because it was in pieces what is Isis

call us what did they call us

does they me know what they call us they

don’t call us Christians what did they

call us they calls people of the cross

and sometimes I think Isis remembers who

we are more than we remember who we are

we are not Christians it is not some

Club we are people of the cross and the

cross represents our ultimate strength

and our ultimate power and so we need to

remember what actually has been

entrusted to us and if God needs to use

our enemies to remind us of who we are

then so be it in the US culture the

enemy’s number one goal is to distract

you he will distract you with

entertainment he will distract you with

the unreal and the unimportant if he

can’t distract you then what he will do

like if if any of you happen to say like

while I’m talking wait a minute I feel

like something is stirring inside of me

I just might be a hero he’ll say excuse

me who do you think you are he’ll try to

diminish you he’ll try to say oh your

way I know who your parents are

I know who you have been in the past

well if you heard my opening it is not

about who you’ve been in the past

because every single attack on your life

up until now is actually about who you

might be in the future not who you have

been in the past the enemy is always

attacking who you might be he really

doesn’t care about who you have been so

you need to get that mindset that if you

have gone through hell that there is

something inside of you that he is

afraid of and so you need to get a

little bit of an attitude of what is so

frightening about me

that the enemy distracts and diminishes

God’s assignment on my life and then if

you can’t distract or diminish he

divides oh the church has been divided

for so long we have that the men on one

side the women on the other side the

Baptist’s on one side the Assembly of

God on the other side we need to stop it

will never come into the unity of

doctrine but we will come into the unity

of faith and all of us have put our

faith in Jesus Christ and so if we have

put our faith in Jesus Christ then we

are brothers and sisters and we need to

stop being divided and if he can’t

distract diminish or divide he just

destroys which is what we’re seeing

happen in the Middle East it’s what

we’re seeing happening with so many

women right now there are a hundred and

sixty-three million women missing off

the globe right now it’s something

called gendercide see the enemy knows

that Jesus is coming back for a bride

before the birth of Moses and before the

birth of Jesus he was killing the baby

boys now he’s killing the baby girls

because it’s about the women now he

doesn’t want the women to come alongside

the men and lend their strength and lend

their voice and remember who they are so

he is causing division he is causing

distraction he is causing diminishing

and he is causing death doesn’t happen

here let me just tell you something what

happens over there we should feel over

here because we are all one and what we

tolerate for others will come into our

own life if we are not careful Exodus

15:3 says the Lord is a man of war the

Lord is his name

your father is aware he’s not a

part-time warrior and a part-time father

he is a man of war he’s not enlisted for

a season he is a man of war and if you

are a son and a daughter of the Most

High God then this is a personal battle

and you need to fight until

every enemy has been put under his feet

and that is the Church of Jesus Christ

the last one of those being death so I

want to talk to you about what you have

in your hand you know I I am have God

talked to me a lot at 2:00 a.m. in the

morning

that’s not my go-to choice that’s not my

first choice for when you should talk to

me but he seems to catch me as I’m

falling asleep or waking up and whisper

things to me and you know what I need I

need you to hear this God actually wants

to talk to you more than you want to

hear from him so if you’re not making

room to hear from him don’t be surprised

if you don’t hear from him but I will

say if you give them permission to speak

to you in the night watches if you give

him permission to speak to you first

thing in the morning sometimes you’ll

wake up and you’ll hear a song a song in

your spirit you need to begin to sing it

sometimes you’ll wake up in the morning

you’re here as scripture you need to

write it down you need to seize those

moments but at 2:00 a.m. in the morning

one particular morning I was up early

late have been the caregiver for my mom

for six weeks she’d had a stroke lost

the movement on her left side of her

body so I was up late every night early

every morning one night as I was just

falling asleep I heard the Holy Spirit

ask me this question

he said Lisa what does it mean to carry

your cross now I have written like 12

books I traveled the world as a speaker

of Christian things and I said okay it

means to lay down my life and he was

like no that is step one we’re good

about Matthew 16:24 up so you can see

this and I think we’re pretty all sure

that Matthew 16:24 is Christianity 101

do we all agree it says then Jesus told

his disciples do you know everybody here

is the disciple okay if it’s a matter of

you’re a pastor or not a banner woman

this is gender-neutral you are disciple

then Jesus told his disciples if anyone

would come after me let him deny himself

take up his cross and follow me and so

he said no he said lay down your life is

step1 deny

yourself and so I said okay it means to

sacrifice mommy said again Lisa that is

step one and he said it’s an order not

an ornament why can’t you answer me

I remember thinking all right I’m not

going to get this right

but that didn’t stop the questions he

said to me where do you keep your cross

Lisa how do you know when you’re

carrying it how do you know when you’ve

left it at home what does it weigh at

that point I decided for my bed and I

said I have absolutely no idea I have no

idea and he’s like exactly and he said

now go get your list earlier that day I

had drawn on the deep well of wisdom of

Twitter and Facebook and I had asked

what one word does the cross mean to you

I got over 400 responses they broke down

to 36 categories I was actually looking

for a word that nobody gave me I went

out into John’s office got my list began

to write it down realized wait I can’t

read this typed it into my iPad and when

I got to the very last word I heard the

Holy Spirit say behold the cross they’re

going to put up that image for you it is

all of these different words and this is

what Jesus said to me he said all the

the cross provided for you is what you

carry out into your everyday ordinary

world and you do it by following me I

was looking for the word that’s on the

bottom there I was looking for the word

weapon because there is no greater

weapon than a life laid down and we need

to be a people who are willing to give

all if that is what is necessary I had a

realization that the cross actually

looks like a sword with the point in the

ground Ephesians tells us that through

the cross God put to death the enmity

that was between

heaven and earth everything that the

Cross has provided for you and me is

what we should actually be laying holed

up in our life but when you only preach

a portion of the crosses benefits you

only see a portion of the crosses power

but we’re living in a day in an age

where we must preach all of the gospel

even the things that we do not

understand because God is not going to

give us a map when he has spoken a

mystery and we must be a people who are

willing to look up to go for it so I

want to talk to you about what it might

look like for you to begin to carry your

cost Romans 12 verses 1 through 2 this

is in the message version it says so

here’s what I want you to do God helping

you take your everyday ordinary life

your sleeping eating going to work

walking around life and place it before

God as an offering embracing what God

does for you that’s the cross embracing

all that God has done for you is the

best thing you can do for him don’t

become so well-adjusted to your culture

that you fit in without even thinking

instead fix your attention on God you’ll

be changed from the inside out readily

recognize what he wants from you and

quickly respond to it you know Isis

quickly because so many times God or

drop something to you and if you don’t

do it quickly you begin to second-guess

it you begin to doubt it maybe that

wasn’t God maybe God didn’t tell me to

give that person five dollars maybe God

didn’t tell me to go over there and

share Jesus with somebody quickly

remember Arden telling me a story from

when he was in high school he told me

this story he said um there was this

girl that nobody liked he said and he

said she was she was just weird

he said she was just weird mom she was

really dark and he said but I felt like

the Holy Spirit said I want you to talk

to her and he’s like I you know I’m

again can we just be really honest he

was like first of all if I talk to her

I’m where she’s gonna think I’m flirting

with her or she’ll think I like her and

that’ll be me

interpreted or other people will think

that like I’m BFFs with her and he he

hold on Holy Spirit say who do you serve

man or me I told you to talk to her so

he said all right I’m gonna go talk to

her so he he went over and he talked to

this girl and he just said something

nice to her it wasn’t massive it wasn’t

deep it wasn’t Jesus loves you and

you’re going to hell it wasn’t anything

weird it was just something kind and

when Arden talked to her she burst into

tears and she said I said God if you’re

real and you don’t want me to kill

myself tonight have one person be kind

to me today have just one person be kind

there might be just one person that

needs you to be kind to them

says you’ll be changed from the inside

out readily recognize what God wants

from you and quickly respond to it

unlike the culture around you always

dragging you down to its level of

immaturity God brings out the best in

you

develops well form maturity in you so I

kind of want to locate what you carry on

your life I don’t know how many of you

would know my background at all but

basically 50 years ago when I was 5

years of age I lost an eye to cancer

this eye right here is plastic I lived

all of my elementary days all of my

junior high days all of my high school

and college days hiding facedown afraid

never wanting anybody to notice that I

might have one eye

why because kids are mean I grew up

being called Cyclops I grew up being

called one eye and I carried myself like

a handicapped one-eyed person always the

victim always hiding never a cheerleader

this doing this would have been akin to

my greatest nightmare when I was in high

school you had to take either speech or

debate to graduate I was like I am NOT

getting up in front of people and

arguing it’s going to be awkward enough

to get up in front of people so I’m

going to just do the speech class I

remember preparing / preparing had the

little 3 by 5 cards get up to speak and

one of the boys in the back of my class

says what’s wrong Cyclops just mouthed

it and I froze and the teacher was like

if you want to go out of the room and

come back in you can so I went out of

the room came back in and there was

laughing and they were like making faces

and covering one eye and all of a sudden

I ran out of the room it’s a guidance

counselor and as I can’t do this

I can’t do this I cannot do speech it is

impossible for me I have one

and they said you know what you’re right

you’re right you’re handicapped you

should never be made to get up in front

of people I said thank you they said

we’re gonna waive the requirement for

speech for you I said awesome and then

they said now there’s another class I’m

having a really hard time in and they

said what’s that

I said typing typing is impossible for

me back then we had a typewriter in

front of us and we had to look to their

side like I was like I might have other

kids I couldn’t even see my hands you

people are not even existing in these

two rows I only see here in here because

I have limited lines of sight they said

you’ll never be typing things for a

living will you I’m like never

they said well you could probably pay

other people to type your papers in

college I said I can so the two things

speech and typing that I got out of it

15 I thought I am so free God was

laughing he’s like look at her the two

areas that she’s afraid of I’m gonna

make her face one day because see God

understands that when you face what you

fear you become fearless and so God will

intentionally position your life to face

off with that one thing that you are so

afraid of and then he will bring it

through see God does not anoint the

areas of your life where you are song

and see him is unnecessary God annoys

the areas of your life where you are

weak so he can show himself strong

second Timothy vs. 167 this is why I

remind you I’m reminding you this

because there’s something on your life

this is why I remind you to fan into a

flame the spiritual gift God gave you

that I when I laid hands on you for God

has not given you a spirit of fear and

timidity but of power love and a sound

mind you know that they said that Jesus

was different than all of the Pharisees

you know why because he spoke as one who

had Authority he didn’t even mean he

said different things but he actually

knew he actually had lived what he said

and so many people study the Bible they

know about the Word of God but there’s

an area on your life that you carry the

Word of God because you don’t know about

it you know him in that area so I’m

going to locate that area because that

is an area that you carry the anointing

of God in your life in I’m gonna ask a

question who here is known Jesus as

healer if you have known Jesus as healer

I need you to stand to your feet right

now if you’ve known Jesus as healer

awesome

Jesus is healer why do we only preach

him as Savior are we trying to protect

his reputation what if people don’t get

healed well what if they do again I told

to you that if we don’t preach all that

he is he does not come on the scene who

here is known Jesus as the friend that

sticks closer to it than a brother stand

to your feet right now who here has

known him as the Prince of Peace who

here has known him as wisdom and counsel

when you didn’t have any way or

Direction he whispered something to you

who here has known him as Lord and

Savior

who here has known him as the anointed

God Most High

I need you to stand on your feet look

around this room look around of this

room whatever he has been to you he

wants to be to others

you carry the anointing of the Holy One

you carry something on your life and it

is time that you make room for it so

we’re gonna pay a simple prayer don’t

you lift up your hands and I want you to

say after me say Heavenly Father may all

that the cross purchase for me gain full

expression in my life I am ready for

signs and wonders and miracles I am

tired

I’ll being busy I am ready to be buff I

will stand up under pressure I will

build some muscle you can come to me

will you need somebody to step up and

not step back now I’m going to pray over

you you are the generation that will see

up close what other generations have

only seen in the distance you will speak

out loud for the generations before only

dared to whisper you will lay hold up

with your hands what we only handled in

prayer you are for signs and wonders and

miracles you are not for death and

destruction all that God lays

your heart do it with fierce joy with

strength with faith you are hero

destined to be remade and to a people

invincible in Jesus name and everybody

agrees say Amen and amen

I’m going to close with this scripture

I’m gonna close with this get sure I

want you to see this as I say this

things are changing I don’t know if you

see this blade it looks like a flame the

flame blade is what was turning all the

different directions in the book of

Genesis on its own keeping them out of

the Garden of Eden but when we begin to

worship the atmosphere changes and this

actually looks like a sound wave and we

begin to sing swords into the atmosphere

may begin to sing the Word of God over

our lives we are not people that use

swords to kill people we use the word of

God to set people free not beat them up

domina I’m gonna preach a scripture over

you Zachariah 9 12 through 13 it says

come home hopeful prisoners you’re not

going home the same way you came you’re

going home a prisoner of hope this very

day I am declaring a double bonus over

you everything you lost return twice

over Judah is now my weapon the bow all

poles setting f3m as an arrow to the

string I’ll wake your son’s a Zion to

counter your son’s Oh briefs from now on

people are my swords

you are sword in God can

just choose to live your life as a

living sacrifice holy and acceptable to

God in Jesus name Amen and amen