Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer – Claim Your Victory

Priscilla Shirer (born December 31, 1974) is an American author, motivational speaker, actress, and Christian evangelist. Her father is Dallas mega-church pastor Tony Evans and her brother is Christian entertainer Anthony Evans.
The daughter of Tony Evans, senior pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Texas,[1] Priscilla grew up well acquainted with the Bible. As a freshman at the University of Houston, she interned with a Christian radio station. Soon listeners were calling the station, inviting Priscilla to speak at their Bible study groups and other events. Soon she was invited to lead a weekly Bible study at the Zig Ziglar Corporation and then to join its speaker team. Priscilla has worked as an independent contractor for CBS and hosted a local television show, but recently she has focused solely on Christian ministry opportunities. She calls Anne Graham Lotz, daughter of evangelist Rev. Billy Graham, her mentor in ministry.

Together the Shirers established Going Beyond Ministries, a speaking bureau featuring Priscilla. The parents of three young boys, the Shirers share ministry and family responsibilities. While Priscilla continues to minister full-time, Jerry manages his schedule and other business aspects of Going Beyond Ministries.

Priscilla speaks around the world at churches and other events, including the LifeWay Christian Resources-sponsored Going Beyond conference and Deeper Still: The Event, where she shares the stage with Beth Moore and Kay Arthur. She has also authored several books.

Shirer graduated from Duncanville High School and Dallas Theological Seminary, earning a master’s degree from the latter in Biblical Studies.

In 1993, Shirer was a freshman at the University of Houston. Shirer was married in 1999 to Jerry Shirer, former Hilton Hotels executive. The couple has three sons.

In 2013, Shirer was a speaker at the 2013 Women of Faith conference. In 2015, Shirer made her film debut in the Kendrick Brothers film War Room. In October 2016, Shirer was recognized as one of four prominent women of faith during the 10th anniversary of God’s Leading Ladies Life Enrichment Program at The Potter’s House.[1] Shirer also featured at the 47th GMA Dove Awards.

well hi y’all it is a privilege to be

with you it is a gift to my husband and

I we came in from Dallas where we live

and just had a privilege to be able to

meet your pastors and leaders the people

who we’ve heard so much about we’ve

heard so much about your church and what

God is doing in this city and in this

state and even beyond to this church I

don’t know if you know that or not but

the reputation of God’s people here and

what God is doing through you

it really does sleep well beyond the

walls of this this community and so we

have heard about you for so long to have

to have the privilege to come and to

serve you in this way on this Sunday

morning is a gift to us I’m excited to

be able to do it too because I believe

in the power of the word of God anybody

believe in the power of the word of God

y’all it really is living and active and

sharper than any two-edged sword I’m

telling you the blood of Jesus saves you

from your sins the Word of God saves

your mind

it changes your mind and your soul and

it makes you a different person and so

every single time we open up the book

together corporately like this or just

alone when you’re at home you know your

kitchen table and you have your quiet

time every single time you open up the

Word of God you ought to feel the warm

breasts of God brushing across your

cheeks as God speaks a now word into

your life and so the reason why you were

here today as this theory starts for

your church this whole next level going

to the next step the next place the next

dimension in your relationship with God

the reason why he would have us here

today at the beginning of this it could

only be if he has the next level up his

sleeve for you and he fully intends for

you to be prepared to get there so even

if you you just happened to come here

your first time visiting on this Sunday

you need to know that this is a divine

setup my friends the only reason he

wanted up here is if he had something

for us he was trying to prepare us for

and so I’m fully expecting that God is

going to speak to you and to me

personally through this very simple word

from Scripture that if we apply it to

our life it will change us forever so

let’s pray lord thank you so much for

your words thank you that in these next

few moments we’re about to spend

together you

can take tip one little message you can

multiply it thousands of different ways

so that every single person hears a

direct personal word straight from the

mouth of God Lord nobody needs to hear

me they need to hear you so I’m pregnant

you will speak we need a word from you

we’re your servants we are listening we

are sitting on the edge of our seat

because we cannot wait to hear what the

Spirit will say to the church in Jesus

name everybody says amen

Jerry and I have three little boys I say

little boys I always say that because

obviously they’re my sons but they are

not little boys I have an 11 year old

who wears a size 11 men’s shoe somebody

help me feed these kids got an eleven

year old a nine year old and a 5 year

old our five year old is our surprise

baby we still don’t even know how he got

here we got Jackson he’s our oldest

Jerry jr. we named him we call him JC

our second and then Jude is our baby boy

he’s 5 years old now we call names Jude

Jude because that is as close as I could

get to Revelation because it is finished

it is the end of the line we’ve done so

I got these three boys and they aren’t

they love sports or whatever sport

happens to be in season at that

particular time that is the sport that

we are playing so football football

season and basketball basketball season

baseball season has just begun our

second son really does enjoy baseball

and it kind of is his niche it’s his

thing he’s a pretty big nine-year-old he

has a lot of power behind him so he can

already hit a ball over a fence line and

he’s great at first base he stops a lot

of balls and great stops great catches

at first there so we’re pretty proud

proud of him and we think that’s his

niche baseball any of you to have

children that are involved in baseball

you know that it’s so great when the

season starts because it starts in the

spring so you’re out there during

practice and games on Saturday and the

weather is still particularly conducive

to you being out there and enjoying

yourself but you know after a couple

months of summer rolls in and we got

that hot Texas Sun that starts to beat

down on us and the sweat is rolling from

our brow again

you can still kind of handle it when

you’re just in the regular season

because it’s just one game on a Saturday

that you’ve got to be out there for but

then towards the end of the season the

series starts so you’re in a tournament

and if you have children in Little

League you know what I mean

that means you go out early in the

morning on one Saturday and basically

you might play three or four games in

one day until your team loses and then

your team is disqualified and I don’t

know if there is ever a point where it

gets to be okay that you pray your kid

loses so you can go home

can I get one witness come off somebody

tell me I’m not alone but you’re out

there and you’re sweating bullets and

it’s just ridiculous and we were last

summer in the Little League World Series

by World Series they mean all the teams

that live right here in your

neighborhood are gonna get together for

a tournament and so we were out there

for the World Series and we were about

at that point when I was ready to pray

that prayer I mean it was hot we still

had more games to play for the day the

team was doing pretty good so they were

winning and kept going from game to game

just about that time we had a little bit

of a break went out for lunch sat in the

air-conditioned cooled off for a little

while came back to the field got all of

his gear out so that we could head over

to the fields and put his stuff in the

dugout and get ready for the next game

and as we walked over I noticed

something about my second son as he

prepared for his game my second son is

normally a very gregarious outgoing

confident young man he believes in

himself he’s got a good level of

confidence he normally walks with his

head held high he looks forward to games

look forward to the challenge but I

noticed as we proposed for approach the

diamond for the next game he he changed

his countenance changed his head started

to hang down a little bit and I saw him

start to wring his hand he looked

insecure and nervous I looked around to

try to figure out what was going on as

we were walking over towards the field I

watched him looked over and realized

that he was seeing the team he was about

to play they were all seated underneath

they were kind of sprawled out on the

grass underneath the shade of a big tree

getting ready for the game and as I

looked at this team I immediately knew

what the problem was

this team had played my boys team

in the season they had met up with his

team before and with this team had

played my kids team they had annihilated

my boys team I mean it had been an

embarrassment these boys on this other

team are serious baseball players you

know the kind of when their parents gave

birth to him they put a mint on one hand

and a baseball on the other and they’ve

been playing every day serious serious

serious player serious parents you know

those kind of parents of serious hearing

so this team with a serious team my boy

was getting nervous we had to walk past

this group laying on the grass as we

went over to the dugout and as we walked

past them we overheard a few of the team

members whispering to each other they

thought they were quiet but we could

hear them and this is what we heard

there’s that kid from the other team you

know the one that hit that ball over the

fence the last game you know yeah he was

the one at first base it made all the

outs that we got remember he was the one

catching the ball then one of them

leaned over and said yeah that’s that

shyer bowling when my son heard his name

passed the lips of the opposing team

team members all of a sudden that head

that had been hung down all of a sudden

was back up a nagging that little

insecure walk he had all of a sudden he

got his swag Mac because it’s amazing

how your countenance changes how your

insecurity will fade when you really

understand what the enemy thinks about

you I don’t know what battle you’re up

against or what it is you were facing or

the difficulty that’s ahead of you but

this I do know if you and I could just

discover what the enemy thinks about us

we wouldn’t be insecure or fearful or

lack courage anymore because listen even

if you don’t believe in the enemy

believes the word of God he knows that

you have been forgiven the enemy knows

for sure that your guilt and shame has

been removed he knows for sure that

there is therefore now no condemnation

for those who are in Christ Jesus well

he knows for sure is that second

Corinthians chapter 3 says you have been

made competent by the Spirit of God what

he knows for sure is that you and I have

been given access to a power and an

authority that he will never ever have

access to what he knows my friend is

that he can form a weapon against you

but that it will never prosper

well he knows for sure well he knows for

sure is that in the end you win what a

travesty

it would be for the enemies to believe

more about your potential than you do

for him to be fully convinced about

everything that God says and by the way

he’s convinced he knows he knows and he

knows if we ever get around to knowing

he’ll be interested so the attempt of

the enemy is to keep you from knowing

for sure who you are in Christ as you

and I go to the next level the next

dimension take the next step in our

relationship with God the reality is

that there are going to be some hurdles

that you have to cross there going to be

some giants that you have to slay there

going to be some things that you have to

subvert there going to be something that

could potentially stand in your way if

you allow it to when it occurs to me and

I want to tell you this morning in fact

I woke up this morning with this fall on

my mind so I want to share it with you

that some challenges are less about the

enemy being against you and more about

God wanting you to see what it looks

like when he is for you that’s something

that you might be facing right now it’s

all about the fact that God has allowed

that situation to be in your life

because he wants you to know what it

looks like for him to be God in your

experience so the children of Israel

they’ve got a message for us today

because they were on a journey with God

they were trying to go to the next level

out of slavery in Egypt into the

Promised Land the place that represents

the favor the provision the grace of God

in their experience on a daily basis

but on the way there was this obstacle

they could not figure out how to get

across just like for you there may be a

situation you’re figuring out how to

traverse in your life a marriage

struggle a financial struggle problem

with this particular child or on your

job there’s an issuer in your ministry

or just in your own mind in your own

heart you’re just struggling with with

something that is keeping you from

getting to the next place in God the

children of Israel know how you feel

because when they left Egypt they came

upon this situation they had to deal

with called the Red Sea they’re going to

teach us how to get across it to the

if you have your Bible with you and you

want to turn with me to Exodus chapter

14 that’s where we find the story you

actually still use a Bible with paper

pages like I do or you can just use your

thumb and clip-on over there with your

iPhone your iPad any manner of highness

just get to Exodus chapter 14 or I think

they’ll put it on the screens and you

can read it there Exodus chapter 14

verse 13 and 14 says this Moses said to

the people do not fear stand by and see

the salvation of the Lord which he will

somebody say he will which he will

perform for you today for the Egyptians

whom you’ve seen today you will never

see them again for ever the Lord will

fight for you while you keep silent I

want to read that again listen Moses

said to the people do not be afraid

ain’t nobody got time for that stand by

and see the salvation of the Lord which

you’ve got on top was for you today it’s

already done

the Egyptians which you’ve seen today

you will never ever see them again

forever the Lord is going to fight for

you if you’ll just be silent test within

these two verses you’ll see it there

there is a promise of victory he said to

the children of Israel you don’t have to

figure out or strategize or contemplate

or maneuver your way through this red

sea God’s gone through the hard work

no sweat equity necessary all you have

to do is obey these four commands to

claim the victory God has already given

you the victory is yours

you just have to claim that victory and

so he tells them four things that you

that they needed to do the Holy Spirit

will teach us those four things today so

that as you go to the next level the

next step across that red sea you will

be able to claim victoriously all that

God has planned for you he said to the

children of Israel these four things he

said be fearless

do not fear he says be still stand by

he says be watchful see the salvation of

the Lord and he says Shh be quiet the

first thing that he said to the children

of Israel was we got to deal with this

fear issue he says you need to be

fearless now it makes sense to me that

he would need to tell the children of

Israel is because the Israel the

children of Israel the Hebrews are

approximately 2 million of them that

came out of he jumped all of them having

the opportunity to go to Canaan of those

2 million do you know that there were

only actually ever of the original 2

million there was actually only 2 of

them that actually made it to Cayden

Joshua and Caleb 2 and a 2 million

that’s one in a million that got to

experience the promises of God now I

don’t know about you but if there’s only

going to be a handful of people that

actually get to walk in the Promised

Land experience all that God has for

them I would like to be one of them

Moses says I’m going to tell you how to

get there you cannot be afraid you can’t

allow your fear to control you they

needed to be told this because it made

absolute sense that they would be the

Red Sea was in front of them an enormous

body of water that looked quite

intimidating they kept on could not see

one end from the other they could not

see across the other side to dry ground

and to make matters worse Pharaoh and

his army didn’t stay comfortably tucked

away in Egypt just allowing them to

leave Pharaoh’s heart was hardened again

he decided to come after them there were

thousands upon thousands upon thousands

probably millions of people that were

with Pharaoh that day that were coming

after Israel scholars say that these the

army would have been so broad that they

didn’t just come up behind the children

of Israel they would have spread out

around the East and around the West so

it happens Israel was completely

surrounded a body of water in front of

them at enemies all around them some of

you know exactly how that feels

because right now you’re not just seeing

a problem in front of you when you look

to the right there’s still a problem

when you look to the left of another

problem when you look behind you there’s

another problem you feel like you are

completely surrounded and just like for

the children of Israel it makes absolute

sense that in a situation like that you

would be afraid it makes it our human

tendency our natural frailty

is thrown towards fear which is why the

holy spirit needs to tell us today

exactly the same thing that Moses had to

stare in the faces of the Israelites and

tell them do not be afraid doesn’t mean

you won’t feel it

it means don’t entertain it it doesn’t

mean you won’t be prone to it that you

won’t have a tendency toward it

it means don’t engage it don’t rehearse

it don’t nurse it don’t go over it it

means to separate yourself in the name

of Jesus from your tendency to be afraid

which means listen you got to do battle

against that thing listen I have a

friend of mine she was struggling with

fear in the area of her life she

literally found promises in the Word of

God that has specifically had to do with

her situation and with fear she wrote

them down on three by five parts and

posted them in her house in her car and

on the wall of the cubicle in her office

space she put them everywhere she was so

that everywhere she went she had an

opportunity to quote that thing out loud

and to tell the enemy Unocal mess with

me today because I’m not going to be

afraid I’m going to use the sword of the

Spirit which is the word of God and do

battle against my tendency toward fear

scripture says he has not given us a

spirit of fear listen listen he doesn’t

give you which means if you have a

spirit of fear attached to your life in

regards to something specific then you

know God didn’t give it what you means

if he didn’t the enemy did the only

reason why the enemy has ever given

gifts if it’s because he is trying to

give you something to steer you away

from God’s best for you the only reason

why he gives gifts so one of the reasons

or the ways I am able to kind of detect

God leading in my life when I’m trying

to discern the voice of God I got to

make a decision or something if there is

one decision let’s say I’ve got to make

a decision between two things if there’s

one option that I really don’t want to

choose and when I boil down all the

reasons why I don’t want to choose it

the bottom line of it is I’m afraid of

it or unfair full of it I automatically

assume that that option is probably

God’s option for me because if the enemy

is going to work so high

to make me afraid of something he must

know there is something in that that he

doesn’t want me to have that my destiny

is wrapped up in that thing that the

promised land for my life is wrapped up

in that thing if he’s gonna work that

hard to paralyze me with fear so that I

don’t entertain that option then that’s

probably the option that is God’s best

for me if there’s something in your life

you are afraid of you’re intimidated by

my friend fight against fear the enemy

is trying to steer you away from that

which represents God’s best for you

Moses says do not be afraid Philippians

4:6 puts it like this it says be anxious

for nothing but in everything look at

that contrast be anxious for nothing but

in everything by prayer and supplication

with Thanksgiving let those requests

just be made known to God and then that

page that you’re looking for the piece

that will surpass all understanding and

comprehension it will guard your heart

and your mind in Christ Jesus that

basically says when you feel a fear like

when you feel fear rising on the inside

of you don’t entertain it don’t engage

it exchange it for an opportunity to

pray I remember when my boys first fell

in love with baseball I remember that

day because it was Christmas Day my

husband had bought the boys this little

toy baseball machine it’s the kind of

machine that catapulted out these little

plastic balls at a certain frequency in

a certain velocity and then you know my

little three-year-old standing up there

with that little plastic bat getting

ready to at least swing at as many of

those as he could they opened that up

highly on Christmas morning you know how

your kids get up early on Christmas

morning it’s supposed to be a holiday

but it’s kind of not for you you know

how that is and they open up that gift

and they immediately want you to go to

work they want you to put it together

they want you to take them outside at

6:30 in the morning and help them to

play with this and so there we were

outside cold outside we had our fluffy

bathrobes all we’re letting the boys

play with this little game and at the

time we only had our two big boys so the

little one was three then the older one

was five and that confident gregarious

one I told you about man he put on that

little plastic helmet three years old

took that little plastic bag

was at least swinging it every single

ball that came out of that shoe he could

not wait all the while my five-year-old

Jackson was standing off to the side

watching this man he saw those balls

coming out and he got more and more

nervous with every single one of them

he’s a little bit more cautious a little

bit more insecure sometimes about his

abilities and he stood there he wasn’t

sure he was like mama I don’t think I

can do that I said maybe you got it you

can do it I was just encouraging him you

can do it he’s like no mom I can’t I’ll

say yes you can and you gonna do it

because we bought this for you and it’s

early in the morning you gonna do it so

finally it’s his turn he stood in front

of the Machine and he was a little bit

uncomfortable and insecure waiting on

that first ball to come out how I wished

I could get that little five-year-old

brain to understand something that I

knew what I knew was that Jerry his dad

who loves him had gone behind the back

of that machine had opened up a little

flap that reveals some gears he had

manipulated those gears because they

control the frequency and the velocity

of all the ball so the bottom line is

the frequency and the velocity of the

balls was set up to suit Jackson’s

ability so Jackson could stand there in

front of that machine with complete

confidence because he had somebody who

loved him who had gone behind the scene

to manipulate everything to his benefit

the reason why you don’t have to be

afraid my friend is because you got a

Betty who loves you he’s already gone

behind the scenes he’s already

manipulated events and people and put

folks in the right place at the right

time and he has set up the scenario so

that somebody with courage can stand up

to the plate and be obedient to God and

when we do it will be set up to win

Moses says don’t you be afraid God’s

gonna part this Red Sea for you second

thing he says not only is to be fearless

he also says be still some translations

read stand by others say stand firm some

of the one I read today said stand still

notice the two parts of that command the

standing part and the stillness part

both of those sound like very passive

commands they sound like the commands

you don’t want to hear when you’re

facing a problem because I’d rather be

strategizing and plan

maneuvering and trying to figure out

seems like there’s something so much

more active that I need to be doing in

this scenario but Moses says don’t do

anything except steps and stand still

sounds so passive and like you’re

disengaged from the reality but I want

you to think about this for just a

moment when you come home from a long

day at work when I do when I’m working

or out with the kids all day and I come

home and I’m tired the last thing I want

to do is stand anywhere I take off my

shoes you know you loosen up your tie

when you come home from the office you

getting something to relax and what do

we do we sit down find the most

comfortable chair we can and we take a

load off we sit down which means the

responsibility for carrying our weight

is no longer on us it’s on something

else we have completely relax ourselves

into the control of something else

on the contrary standing it’s not

passive at all standing requires a

resolve of your mind a decision of your

will it requires muscles that you might

not otherwise use to plant your feet

firmly and stand and control your own

decision to to firmly be rooted

somewhere as opposed to relaxing it to

the control of something else Moses says

God’s part has to fight your battle your

part not a passive part you’re very

necessary active part of crossing your

red feet is to stand firmly on the

promises of God to not be relaxed to not

allow yourself to be swayed with our

crazy culture that is redefining family

and redefining philosophies and trying

to come up with their own standard of

truth to our world to the subjective but

really there was only one objective

standard of truth by which there has to

be a remnant call the Church of Jesus

Christ that says hit on that what y’all

do window stand firmly on the promises

of God and believe that God is who he

says he is and that he does not change

with the culture he can still accomplish

what he says that he can accomplish you

got to decide am I going to my part of

this battle am I going to stand am I

going to believe that whatever God is

teaching me applies to my life and I’m

supposed to stand on it I’m not just

supposed to clap about it

or wave my hand to it or say Amen to it

when I’m hearing it on Sunday

that’s just supposed to be a

prerequisite to how I live Monday

through Friday see it’s a waste of time

y’all if we meet here on Sunday your

pastor meets with you every single

weekend and you gather here and you hear

the truths of Scripture it is a waste of

time if everybody hears it and

celebrates and then everybody goes home

and live like they didn’t hear anything

on Sunday what has to happen is there

are a group of people called called the

family of God the Church of Jesus Christ

what Paul called in Ephesians three this

mystery race of people that live by a

different standard that don’t adhere to

the standard of society they here to a

different truth they plant their feet

firmly on it and they stand having done

all to stand

Ephesians six and firm their place your

feet and stand now I was thinking about

this because we had a friend of ours

named Katie she was traveling with us

and Katie’s from Baton Rouge Louisiana

she came to Dallas to intern with us for

about three months and we traveled with

her quite a bit during those three

months and I got to tell you the Baton

Rouge Louisiana Airport is a little bit

different than dallas-fort Worth Airport

a little bit different she had never

been to DFW Airport if you’ve been there

you know what I mean when I say it is

it’s a monster when you want to get to

your flight you first have to just know

what terminal you’re going to we got by

you either going to a or B or C or D or

E so you got to know where you’re even

headed first now when you get there

there’s about thirty to thirty-five

gates inside each terminal which gate

then some of the gates tell apart a and

a Part B so you might be going through

terminal D gate 22a

which we were on this occasion all five

of us my boys me and Jerry we’d normally

traveled all together we were traveling

with Katie we got to the airport

terminal D to catch our flight we went

into the airport and began to take off

all of our clothes so we could go

through security

five of us were in one line me in the

family and Katy was in another line and

we went through some reason our line

went through really fast and her line

was having trouble you know was just

going kind of slow and stopping and

starting so all five of us got through

to the other side and Katy was still

back there waiting to go through

security so Jerry said you know what

let’s just go ahead and go to the go to

our gate and we’ll just wait there for

Katy and so he sent her a text over

through security and said we’ll meet you

at gate 22a she gave us a thumbs-up she

got the message

so gate 22a was literally when you came

through security it was right to the

left of security you can literally see

the gate from the outside of security so

we walked over we sat down for a while

waited for Katy she hadn’t shown up yet

so we thought you know when they started

boarding we’ll go ahead and board and

take our seat and we’ll wait for Katy on

the plane we boarded everybody boarded

the whole flight was boarded

Katy was still nowhere to be found we’re

worried we’re texting her we’re trying

to figure out where she is she’s not

texting us back I mean literally they

are getting ready to close the door of

this plane they call her name over the

loudspeaker

you know you late when they start

calling your name we cannot find Katy

and we’re like this girl’s gonna miss

the flight finally right before they

close the plane pulls the door of the

plane Katy rushes on to the plane she

rushes down that little Iowa she’s

sweating her hair is plastered to her

face I mean she has been through an

ordeal she finally takes her seat when

she comes to herself and gets her

composure she looks up to find me and

Jerry looking at her like this

Weesa what happened she said I saw when

Jerry sent me a text that said gate 22a

but I just assumed he meant a 22 so I

got on the airport trans that takes you

from one terminal to another terminal I

went all the way around the entire

Airport from Terminal B all the way to

Terminal A went down to gate 22 before I

realized I’m at the wrong gate so I had

to get back on the tram go all the way

around the entire airport to come back

here I honestly didn’t think I was gonna

make the play Jerry looks back at her

and said something I’ll never forget he

said Oh Katie if you would have just

believed that what I wrote was exactly

what I meant I would have saved you so

much time and so much energy and so much

effort and so much sweat if you would

have just believed me can I just say

that some of us are too smart for our

own good we read what God says and then

rationalize ourselves out of believing

so much heroic is what he meant what you

take him at his word if he says you’re

free you’re free if he said you’re

forgiven you’re forgiven if he said

there is no condemnation there’s no

father nation if he says let us go over

to the other side he means let us go

over to the other side so my friend

hands your feet on the promises of God

until allow yourself to be swayed to the

left to the right

Moses says you want to get across this

body of water you want to go to the next

level well then you be fearless and then

you be still and then he says be

watchful he put it this way he said see

the salvation of the Lord see it open

your eyes and take all the details now

this is an interesting command that he

gives them because I’ll tell you about

myself and maybe some of you can relate

to this when I have a Red Sea situation

in front of me when I’ve got something

I’m dealing with that is a difficulty in

my life that I’ve got to traverse

through honestly I don’t want to look at

it I don’t want to see it I want to

close my eyes and sleep through it

god gets me out of here I don’t want to

be engaged with it at all I want to

distance myself from it and not see the

details of it Moses says don’t do that

your natural tendency is going to be

what to ignore the problem

hurry up God get me out of this he says

that’s the wrong thing to do

he says open your eyes even before the

whole Red Sea is divided Park that’s a

big miracle we’re going to see later

we’ll see that too but don’t close your

eyes every day until you get there open

your eyes up every single day because

there are little miracles God’s

performing right now you don’t want to

miss all the little details of how God

is causing events to come together and

people in the right place at the right

time you don’t want to miss the

fingerprints of God in the footprints of

God working in your life and in your

circumstances we’ll see the big thing

later but up until then keep your eyes

open and be watchful their stuff God is

doing even right now and I don’t know

about you but if God isn’t moving I

don’t want to miss any of it I want to

see all of it so he said to the children

of Israel keep your eyes open keep your

eyes open keep your eyes open he knew

that they needed to cease when Moses

lifted up that simple staff and

stretched out his hand he didn’t want

them to miss that they needed to see

when the angel of the Lord that was a

cloud in front of them all this time

moved behind them and became a rearguard

between them and the Egyptians they

needed to remember what it felt like

when that east wind started blowing

across their cheek slowly at first but

then began to build in intensity so much

so that it was able to park that body of

water they need to see the look of awe

and disbelief on the faces of their

family members and loved ones and they

saw this miracle occur he wanted them to

look down and see that their sandals

weren’t collecting any mud because they

weren’t on wet ground they were on dry

ground he wanted to make sure that they

saw how when Pharaoh and his army came

after them the waters were going to

collapse over them and swallow them up

he’s a listen I want you to just wait

for the big thing to see what God is

doing

I want you every single day to keep your

eyes open for all the little miracles

God is weaving together on your behalf

so listen yes you get down on your knees

you close your eyes long enough to pray

and ask God to divide your Red Sea but

as soon as you pray that prayer make our

requests known to God he says we can as

soon as you do that you get up off your

knees and then you open your eyes

and you say Lord y’all want to see that

too but today I don’t want to miss

anything you’re gonna do on my back

he says you open your eyes and you’d be

watchful to see what God’s intention is

one of our favorite restaurants of

Dallas is called babe do y’all know

babe’s anybody ever been to babes okay

you’ve got one hand that was raised here

you need to go to bathe the anointing of

God is at vane it’s the kind of place

where they just bring hot biscuits fresh

out of the oven and set it in front of

you and not just look you know a cold

Pat of hard butter they bring it out

with some honey so you can drizzle that

honey on that warm biscuits the kind of

place where you order what any kind of

meat you want and they will fry it for

you just anything you can get anything

fried and they bring all the sides out

family-style it’s a great place where we

take our family we love it and when we

were there several years ago we’ve been

lost since but this particular occasion

I remember because one of my boys

ordered for his meal a fried fillet of

catfish off the kids menu fried catfish

when our food came she sat down that

fried piece of catfish in front of my

boy he sweetly innocently looked up at

her to ask her a question ma’am

I ask you questions yes young man what

is it he said innocently is he new house

ma’am could you just give this made out

of real cat

as you can imagine we laughed and

giggled and we’re completely stunned he

asked that question and he started to

just so frustrated he’s like why is

everybody laughing at me I want to know

the answer to my question and I finally

stopped giggling long enough there’s a

bear I’m so sorry we don’t need the

lavatory but we can’t answer your

question because you actually haven’t

asked the right question like it’s not

even the ballpark of the right question

to ask so we get frustrated with God

could we’re praying and praying and

praying it feels like he’s not answering

our question seems like he’s not

answering us sometimes I think God is

looking at us and saying I’m not

answering you because you’re not asking

the right thing you’re asking me to take

you out of this situation instead of

saying Lord will you open my eyes while

I’m in it instead of saying Lord while

I’m here I’m a quick I’m a quick beg be

honest I’m going to ask you yes you say

I can ask you to park this Red Sea I’m

going to ask you but until you choose to

I’m going to ask you Lord to make sure

my spiritual eyes are open and my

spiritual ears are keen that my

spiritual senses that the radar is up so

that every time you’re moving I pick up

on your presence every time you’re

speaking I pick up on your voice every

time you’re near I’m aware of the little

miracles occurring in my life every

single day ask the Lord to give you the

courage to be watchful to open his eyes

and celebrate everything he’s doing

every single day

and finally Moses says to them the most

difficult of the four commands he says

Shh

be quiet he has to tell the children of

Israel to be quiet

because these folks were just days from

being delivered

they were just celebrating the tenth

incredible miracles that their Yahweh

had done on their behalf just days into

the journey at the first sign of

difficulty the same mouths that other

praises to God on the same mouths that

are now complaining against God so he

says to them exactly what my momma told

me growing up if you don’t have anything

good to say

don’t say anything at all train yourself

against complaining oh man

I’m talking to myself right now you have

to make a decision of your will that if

I do not have a positive comment to make

about this scenario yes it is difficult

yes it is trouble troublesome yes I

cannot figure out how I’m gonna get over

this red seat but unless you have a

positive statement to utter out of your

mouth it’s better to be quiet than just

speak complaint while the Lord fights

for you guard yourself against

complaining it is our natural human

tendency to get complacent with the

blessings we were just overjoyed to

receive and to begin to complain against

the same God who gave us those blessings

train yourself to be quiet not to allow

your mouth to open in arrogance or in

complaint the Israelites trusted him for

their deliverance but not for them for

their circumstances so here they are

just a few days out of the journey onto

the journey and they are all ready

complaining you have to choose to be why

I was talking to a friend of mine about

a difficulty I was having in my life and

as I just tried to tell her the details

of the circumstances so she could pray

with me give me some wise counsel

apparently some of what I was saying was

coming across as complaining some of the

statements I was using a word choice

it sounded like complaining and my

friend Lisa wouldn’t wouldn’t have none

of that she stopped me in my tracks and

so hold on hold on oh we can keep

talking but I’m gonna need you to more

carefully choose your words she said the

words that you use are the substance

that the enemy uses to form the weapons

against you before you say that negative

statement he actually doesn’t have the

artillery that he needs to bring you

down when the words of negativity come

out of your mouth he grabs them right

out of the atmosphere and he begins to

construct a weapon to help demolish you

so she says you got to watch your words

because until you use those negative

words the enemy doesn’t even have

anything to hang his hat on

guard yourself stop yourself silence for

yourself against complaining in fact you

should just ask for accountability your

spouse your friends just tell them

listen if you hear stuff coming out of

my mouth that sounds like complaint

would you stop me because I don’t want

the enemy to have anything to use again

and then a fearless steadfast watchful

silent bunch of Hebrews saw the miracle

of a lifetime they cross safely on dry

ground in the movie The Ten Commandments

it took Hollywood 18 months to figure

out how to simulate what God did in a

split second and that same God can and

will work work work miracles for you as

you go to the next level your part is to

be fearless be still be watchful and Shh

be quiet