Going Beyond Ministries with Priscilla Shirer – Girded in Truth

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.

their truth but there is a standard an

objective standard that has to be the

guideline for our lives and here’s the

thing y’all you can be in church every

Sunday and still not be a person who is

girded in truth you can see a Bible

study every Tuesday a Wednesday but but

never be a person that is guarded and

true you can happen at all of see about

14 hours of revival we’ve had over the

past few days and have celebrated all

the messages and all that good singing

and still not be somebody who is girded

in truth there will be somebody that the

enemy can just run roughshod over your

life because you have not made a choice

and here’s what it means to be guarded

in truth to make sure that God’s

standard is the compass for your life

that no matter what politics says and no

matter what it’s politically correct or

not no matter what the other ideals and

values and moral whether than everybody

else in your office or in your

university have you have decided like

Joshua as for me in my house what we

don’t do is we go serve the Lord we’re

going to follow God when you make that

choice which is only a choice you know

whether or not you have made in your

heart in your mind it does not matter

how I feel it doesn’t matter what sounds

rational to me it doesn’t matter what my

friends think it doesn’t matter I’m

going to always have my god what is your

opinion and then I’m going to align my

behavior to that opinion that means

you’re girded in truth yo let me tell

you why this is critical and that that

is the first the first stop for the

enemy in your life because his MO the

enemy’s MO is deception that’s their

mouth okay

and here’s the tragedy and the hard

thing about deception y’all embedded and

embedded within deception is a blinding

agent so that the person being deceived

doesn’t know it

see that’s what’s so hard about the

session you’re on the edge of the cliff

but you don’t know you on the edge of

cliff you think you can take another

step

now the people around you they can tell

you’re on the edge they can tell you’re

about the fall also when they can tell

that relationship is no good for you

they can tell that’s not the job you’re

supposed to take they can tell you don’t

even level on that side of town in the

house they can tell the contract you’re

about to fine

have some fine points that you have not

quite ready yet everybody else can see

it clearly except the one being deceived

who y’all the enemy is a master

illusionist he causes you to think

things are there that are not he causes

you to hear things that are not as they

really are he causes your perceptions to

be misaligned so that they are few just

enough to take you off to the left or to

the right of what is God’s will and his

standard for you he is counting on you

trusting in your own feelings leading to

your own understanding confetti know he

can take you on a ride but for a person

that is girded in truth that always

check back with the compass of God’s

Word he knows he’s been blocked before

he’s even really begun

[Applause]

so there’s this movie names called

inception do you remember that from

several years ago Leo DiCaprio is the

star in Inception I will tell you that I

have not seen that movie because I go to

the movies I want to see something that

requires no brain capability at all

that’s the kind of movies I like anybody

knows I’m s I want some hot salty

buttery popcorn I want a good coke and a

smile I want to enjoy myself and relax I

ain’t trying to think and have to figure

stuff out so dad told me about about

Inception

he said Priscilla Leo DiCaprio character

is in reality but often when he’s asleep

he’ll have a dream that takes into an

altered state of reality he’s in a dream

but everything is so real in his dream

that he thinks he’s in reality he has no

way of knowing whether or not where he

is is real or if it’s a dream he’s

absolutely if that’s not confusing

enough sometimes he’s in a dream and has

another level of dreaming so now he’s

not just in a dream he’s in a dream that

is within a dream that was within his

reality but in the dream everything

looks like it’s real so he’s making

choices and decisions as if he’s in the

real world with actuality he’s not in

the real world so there’s those choices

are getting him in trouble he said but

Priscilla if that’s not confusing enough

sometimes when he’s in that second layer

of dreaming he has another dream

so now he’s three layers deep in

dreaming and he cannot tell what is real

and what is not and he’s trusted in his

own understanding he has trust in what

he can see and what he can hear and what

he can feel and it has gotten him into

trouble I just wonder if anybody’s

feelings have ever gotten them into some

trouble I mean you thought it was real

when you said yes but it ended up being

being not what you thought it was but it

felt good to you and your feelings said

go and your feelings said yes your

understanding your perceptions to you

made you think you were in walking in

the truth when actuality there was fine

print on that contract you signed it you

didn’t know it until it was too late

so Leo character has this spinning top

he takes it with him wherever he goes

and he spins the top on the table top

and he watches it if it spins and

endlessly and never responds to gravity

it never slows it never topple over

topples over he knows he’s in a dream

because they can’t do that in real life

he knows if he spins it and it ends up

stalling okay I’m home I’m in the real

world what he does not do is just in his

own perception he has something outside

of himself that he can look to to

determine whether or not where he is is

real or not

oh the enemy hopes that you will not

have an objective sander

something that you go to and say wait a

minute this looks like a good

opportunity this looks like a good

relationship this looks like where I

should go and what I should do and how I

should be feeling but before I make a

decision as to whether this is a dream

or reality I’m going to pass it through

the objective standard of God’s Word

that’s how you gird yourself in truth

you make a choice not just to be in

church on Sunday I hope you are not just

to be in Bible study on Wednesday I hope

you are not just to be it’s a New Year’s

revival I hope you will be next year but

I’m so praying that in your life on

Monday through Friday you’ve made it

made a decision that for me in my house

this is the compass Paul says after you

gird yourself with truth verse 14 he

says you need a breastplate and your

breastplate is called righteousness

Jerry and I live with live in a fairly

rural part of dallas-fort worth we like

it that way kind of out in the country

it’s close enough to the city ten

fifteen minutes we can get to everything

we need really easily the Barnes and

Noble and the Starbucks and the Super

Target and all the stuff it’s it’s all

right there but we feel like we’re word

worlds away we just kind of drive back

on this little q lane road we live on a

little quiet two-lane road and somebody

got horses over there and there’s some

cows over there and I have a neighbor

across the street who is one of my

closest friends and she has a pond on

her property

I think the last time I was here I told

you guys that I’d like to go fishing

with my boys on this pond we have a

couple of fishing poles that we bought

on sale at the local Super Walmart have

a tackle box I also found on sale one

day there’s some extra hooks in there

because we always seem to need extra

hooks and we have extra bobber things

because we always lose those whole

bobbers and we need more I also have

gloves in that box because y’all know I

don’t mind going fishing but I ain’t

gonna touch no fish so we take all of

that I send one of the boys over to the

refrigerator to get whatever leftover

hotdog meat there is from the week

that’s our bait and we go and we stand

on the edge of the shore most of the

time of the pond and we put the line in

and fish but beside us on the pond my

neighbor’s also has a little rowboat

it’s a metal old boat they found on

Craigslist no big deal it’s just a shell

really

just sit inside and push out when you

want to and fish from the middle of fun

every now and then when I’m feeling

particularly adventurous that is what we

will do I will see that boat there and

I’ll say boys let’s get in the boat

today and go fish in the middle of the

pond the boat has always turned upside

down the owners leave it that way and it

makes sense because if there is water

that has collected during the last time

it was out it needs to be drained and

also if they left it upright and it

rained it would just fill up so it makes

sense they leave it up ended that poses

a problem for me because in order to get

in it I’ve got to turn it over I know

that since the environment created

underneath that up turned boat is damp

and moist and cool and shady I know that

when I trade over there on the edge of a

pond something is either going to hop

out from underneath it so is going to

waddle out from underneath it or worst

of all something’s gonna

y’all know so I scoot to the very very

back of the boat I miss the boys get the

sides I said we’re back on the edge of

the boat we flip it over and inevitably

something comes out from underneath the

boat I’m always amazed that I have never

once had to send out a clarion call into

the brush nearby to tell the critters we

have arrived and that they are welcome

to join us I have never had to write out

on the invitation a golden sealed

invitation and send it into the woods so

that they know that they can come and

join us on our fishing trip I’ve never

had to do it all there has to happen is

the environment has to be created and

the environment is invitation enough

righteousness is right side up living

that invites the favor and the peace and

the presence of God unrighteousness is

upside down behavior that creates an

environment that invites demonic

activity into your life lesson you don’t

have to invite Satan into your mind and

your heart in your marriage you don’t

have to send a clarion call or golden

field invitation to the demons to come

and make themselves at home you just

have to choose unholiness you have to

decide that you are not going to align

your behavior with the truth of God when

you walked in unrighteousness

you have creating an environment that

not only invites the demon but tells

them to stay and make themselves at home

which me y’all this means we can be

praying and rebuking the devil and

casting out demons and all that from one

side of our mouth but if in the other

side of our life we are living in

unholiness we have wasted our time in

prayer righteousness is your breastplate

when you make a choice in your attitudes

and your actions to just live in a way

that honors God not to gain his approval

you already have that it’s because you

want to invite his favor and because you

don’t want to make a place for the

demons to fester in your life so

righteousness becomes a breastplate the

Roman soldier no matter how strong he

was no matter how much training he had

no matter how smart and wise he was

regarding the tactics that they had

planned against the enemy no matter any

of that one blow to the heart and he’d

be taken out didn’t matter how smart he

was how well-trained he was didn’t

matter how many classes he’d been to on

being a soldier none of that matters one

blow to the heart and he’d be out what

the physical heart is to the physical

body y’all with me the spiritual heart

is to your spiritual body your spiritual

life all of the vitality that you need

to function victoriously in your

spiritual life is connected to your

heart which is why the writer of the

proverb said in proverbs 4:23 guard your

heart for from it flows the Wellsprings

of your life

I have often always wonder what in the

world does the proverb rider mean gars

or how do I do that

the Apostle Paul comes along and he

seizes and he tells you how he says you

live right you turn that vote over you

live in a way that aligns with the truth

of God and you have put a breastplate

over your heart so that the enemy does

not have access to a full

to attack in your life

listen it’s a 12 o’clock service so I

have a few more minutes y’all alright

listen

hang with me hang with me listen your

heart is the centerpiece of your soul so

since it’s the hub of your soul listen

your soul you know this in this Bible

teaching Church I know your pastor has

taught you this we were just talking

about it last night your soul is

comprised of your mind how you think

your will what’s your purpose to do your

emotions how you feel and also your

conscience your conscience is that thing

when your momma told you growing up if

you get somewhere with your friends and

you just don’t feel good about being

there you don’t have to be able to

explain it it’s just something you go my

mama would say girl you don’t have to

play just call me I’ll come get you from

wherever you are she was saying you have

a conscience right your conscience is

not the voice of God your conscience

though is the microphone that the Holy

Spirit uses to help you hear the voice

of God okay which is why if I were your

enemy more than anything I would be

after your heart because if I get your

heart that means I have already crippled

your ability to think clearly

I have already tampered with your

ability to function in emotional health

I have already stripped from you the

opportunity to walk in the will and the

purposes of God and more importantly I

have short-circuited the wires that

allow the Holy Spirit to be able to

speak to you clearly so that you can

hear the voice of God so now not only

can you not think clearly and not only

so you don’t have emotional health

you also can’t even hear a word from the

mouth of God

so now you’re in your quiet time and

you’re sitting there trying to read

you’re wondering if God ever has

anything to say to you at all it is to

you is ink on a page that’s because the

enemy has short-circuited the wire

so now you can’t hear God all the

enemies don’t what you hear in God he

wants your spiritual leader to be so

dull but you can’t hear when God says go

that you can’t hear him when God prompts

you to say to forgive that person or to

give that gift or to offer yourself or

to stop doing something to separate

yourself he wants it so that we can’t

hear God so he poses a full-frontal

attack against your heart because when

he’s got your heart you’ve got

everything else connected to it so Paul

says you want a line of defense against

the enemy you gird yourself with truth

but then if you do the affirm the truth

of God that’s guarding yourself with

your firming the truth of God the

breastplate then is aligning your

behavior to the truth that you say you

affirm it’s straight-up old-school

holiness that’s what it is except what

all preachers used to say y’all they

just talked about being holy just living

right just making choices that honor God

the armor y’all it was heavy 70 pounds

about can you imagine trying to be

nimble and quick in warfare and you got

70 extra pounds on you that was a lot of

weight most of the weight that they

carried was in that breastplate all of

that weight on their shoulders dragging

them down not allowing them to be as

nimble and quick and effective as they

needed to be tired before they’ve even

really begun the weight of the

breastplate the good thing about the

belts is not only did it stabilize their

core but it also helped to take some of

the weight of the breastplate off their

shoulders it bores away so that they

didn’t have to carry it on their own the

truth took some of the weight of

righteousness off of their own shoulders

listen if you’re trying to be righteous

and your own standing your own power and

in your own strength that thing is gonna

weigh you down so that you cannot

function on a daily basis the enemy will

even use righteousness on your own

shoulder to you with

perfectionism so that you’re trying to

be the perfect one he doesn’t want you

to remember that the perfect one have

already come we don’t need another

perfect one

but listen y’all the truth of our great

God takes that weight off of your

shoulder and the truth is that when you

place faith in Jesus Christ you already

are the righteousness of God in Christ

Jesus that the Holy Spirit lives on the

inside of you and he is doing the work

of righteousness in you did you realize

that 2nd Thessalonians 2:13 says he is

sanctifying you that means he’s molding

you into the image of Jesus Christ so

that you can think like Jesus and talk

like Jesus and walk like Jesus that

means you don’t have to do the work

yourself

you just have to cooperate with him cuz

he’s doing it for you so as you

cooperate with him it takes the weight

off so that you can be free

[Music]

perfectionism is too heavy away to bear

Paul says you need a breastplate call

righteousness and he says shod your feet

with the preparation of the gospel of

peace he says you need peace and they’re

like shoes for your feet the Roman

soldiers shoes had many distinguishing

characteristics but most notably there

were prongs steel prongs at the bottom

of the booth so that if they were on

slick terrain or walking rocky ground

and they were trying to endure over a

long march they had something they could

dig into the ground so that they would

not be able to slip and and be able to

fall and trip easily they were able to

dig themselves in and stand up no matter

what kind of terrain they were

traversing in this world Jesus said you

will have trouble you don’t have to go

looking for trouble just keep living

troubles go communists go find you and

on slick and rocky terrain like that

unless you have an anchor that holds you

steady you will be so easily felled over

and push down and tripped up the enemy

wants you without peace but it’s the

gospel Paul says that gives you an

anchor in your soul

[Applause]

in September my grandmother on my

mother’s side went home to be with Jesus

we knew it was going to happen she was

very very healthy and then she had a

little minor stroke that just started a

very quick decline the nurses let us

know that was what was going to happen

she was 97 years old

had lived a beautiful healthy life the

day before it happened she had been

holding her great grandkids and playing

with them healthy woman so we were

shocked what had happened I found out on

a text message while sitting on an

airplane just about to take off to st.

Louis the kind agents let me get off the

plane so that I could rush to my

grandmother’s house and I went there I

walked in and when I saw her I realized

everything had changed

she couldn’t smile at me anymore she had

the day before her eyes could not really

find me I had to bring my head to her or

my face to her so she could see me she

couldn’t speak what a difference a day

makes

so we put her in her bed and for the

next four days her children eight of

them her grandchildren no telling how

many of us her great-grandchildren no

telling how many crowded into this

little 3-bedroom 2bath house we snuggled

up with her we had slumber parties we

were all in our pajamas sleeping on the

floor singing to her talking to her and

I watched her as she could barely make

any sounds but I watched her smile just

a bit just curl up one side of her mouth

let us know but she knew we were there

she we lifted up great grandchildren’s

hands a little little newborn so that

they could touch her cheek and she could

feel it and I watched my grandmama for

days I watched my grandmother slip away

and as I watched her and just sat in the

pool of my people my people all around

me for four days and the grandkids when

they get restless the great grandkids

they were out in her backyard and of all

the games they decided to play y’all

they played lots of things tagged and

stuff but they spent a lot of time

playing Church they appointed a pastor

they appointed a praise and worship

leader so while their great-grandmother

was on her way to meet Jesus the

great-grandchildren were outside

celebrating Jesus

and I watched her cheek curl up even

knowing she was on her deathbed

I watched the side of her cheek curl up

in the knowledge that even though things

aren’t so great right now

there is a piece in muscle a piece that

has enabled me to live so well through

trials and tribulations over the past

nine decades that I’ve been able to so

good fruit into my children and

grandchildren and great-grandchildren so

much so that now they’re all surrounding

me and my great-grandchildren are

singing the praises of God in my hearing

so that I can hear them and I know I’m

on my way to meet it but this is good

this is good and when I watch that y’all

when I watch that I said to myself now

that’s peace right there

[Applause]

and I said Lord would you give me a

piece like a piece that the world can’t

take away a piece that death can’t take

away a piece so that when I’m on my

dying set even if I can no longer talk

there is a smile that can curl itself

onto my lips in the knowledge that I’ve

got an anchor in my soul that makes all

of this okay the Holy Spirit would offer

anybody in this room today I’m saying to

the person that has not slept well and

as long as you can remember to the

person whose mind is so tormented whose

heart is so broken there is an anchor

that can keep you smiling even when

things are bad

[Applause]

if there is anybody in this room and you

don’t have a piece like that if there’s

anybody in this room you do not know

what it is to go through stuff but still

be able to give even the hints of a

smurf because you know God got this if

the enemy has been running roughshod

over you and you want victory and

freedom once and for all I cannot wait

to invite you to come to Jesus and so

ESS you under the sound of my voice and

you want to meet Jesus today and have

the opportunity to walk and freedom and

walk in victory this is your day would

you please not walk run down to this

altar so that together we can pray for

salvation in the name of Jesus anybody

come on you can have peace like a river

today

anybody need to play faith in Jesus

today this is your day this is your

opportunity come on I know there’s

someone who needs to even if it’s just

one we will wait for you yes sir come on

come on the enemy doesn’t have a chance

he’s made a choice

[Applause]

yes sir a couple coming good come on

even from the balcony y’all come on if

you need to meet Jesus

anybody in the balcony will wait for you

just come on down

come on sis

[Music]

come on y’all

[Applause]

come on sis I see you come on the good

day for freedom the good day for victory

there’s so much power in Jesus name

[Applause]

anybody else

[Applause]

[Music]

[Applause]

I just feel a little unsettled about

stopping we will but I just wonder if

you all would help me but just look at

the person next to you say do you need

to go I’ll go with you just ask them do

you have peace do you need it I will go

with you if you need me to go with you

tell them you’ll come

[Applause]

[Music]

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you