Priscilla Shirer, Joyce Meyer, and Christine Caine empower you to let God write your story, as you trust and know hIm.
trying to rationalize things you will
never understand there comes a point
where you will not understand what God
is doing and you’re gonna have to learn
to trust him what other
other father and hand of God that was
aligning your footsteps and setting you
in the right place at the exact right
time the Manifest presence of God
sometimes we’re ready
we think we’re ready
but even sometimes people that are going
to need to work with you aren’t ready
right you know so there’s a whole lot
that God has to do before we can go do
this thing that we want to do
[Music]
around with right now
some snake the snake of bitterness in
the last few years
the snake of offense
the snake of anger
the snake of division
it is amazing to me the amount of people
that are walking around in the body and
if we could see in the spirit
the amount of offense
that Believers are carrying around is
startling to me
the bitterness
the unforgiveness
the anger
it is incredible to me and we’re
wondering why we’re not getting much
done
and we’re not dealing with the snake
because we’re still complaining about
the storm
and we’re not dealing with the snakes
because we’re still complaining about
the shipwrecks and we’re so busy blaming
God for the storm and the Shipwreck that
we’re allowing the snakes to just take
hold and we’re walking around and we’re
being so ineffective because we’re
walking around with a heart we’re not
dealing with a bitterness with the anger
with the offense with a division with a
guile with the lust with agreed with the
Envy we’re just allowing that thing to
hang on to us but scripture didn’t say
that Paul allowed these things to stay
on him when the snake came the Bible
says he shook it off that’s what he did
he shook that stuff off he said that
Venom is not getting on the inside of me
that Venom is not has got no power to
take me out and we’re seeing in the body
of Christ a whole lot of people being
taken out by anger by Confusion by
division by offense by a whole lot of
divisiveness by unforgiveness by
bitterness by not coming to the foot of
the cross and Allah Allowing God to
cleanse them and to break them new and
to deal with all the Brokenness and the
pain and we’re walking around and we’re
allowing the Venom of the Viper to take
us out instead of shaking it off and
walking free in all the Christ has
called us to be and all that Christ has
called us to do it’s time for some woman
in Fort Lauderdale to shake it off shake
off the bitterness shake off the offense
shake off the anger shake off the
depression shake off the anxiety Shake
It Off
Shake It Off
because this Venom will take you out
if you don’t learn to Shake It Off
and I’m about done
with a number of years that we’ve had
now
particularly the last three years
where we’re excusing
sin and iniquity
attitudes of the heart
because we’re walking around like
victims and it’s not my fault and look
what they did and look what happened it
is time to shake it off and know that we
serve a resurrected King who shed his
blood for us to set us free Shake It Off
Shake It Off
Paul says shook it off
and sit around and have a big dialogue
with God I can’t believe it
not only did you send me into a store
and then you send me to a shipwreck
but now I got a snake
we had a whole bunch of Christians
sitting
and lamenting the snakes
not talking about the freedom that’s
housed in Christ
but talking about the snake and
resenting the god that allowed the snake
to bite them when they were serving this
God
saying really God
of course you’re not true
really if you were real
would I have gone through that storm
if you were real and you were really
good good you are good that’s what we
sing
as if you were to Let Me Get Shipwrecked
not only that
if you were a good good father yes it’s
who you are it’s who you are would there
be a snake hanging off my hand right now
well surely you’re not good
and if you’re not good I wonder if
you’re really real
surely surely I really wonder
I wonder if the Bible’s really real
I wonder if any of this stuff’s really
real
because we’re allowing
a snake that has no power over us
sink his teeth into us
and poison us with his Venom
just says be very careful
about a root of bitterness
defiling many
you read social media lately
do you know how many people are tweeting
out of a root of bitterness
that is defiling multitudes in the body
defiling multitudes
it’s not tweeting out of a root of
wisdom
or love or Grace for that matter
but it’s tweeting out of a root of
bitterness
and I’m watching the Venom spread
through the body
because your bitterness doesn’t just
defile you scripture says it defiles
many
and I’m about done
I’ve been really quiet for a little
while
just watching this thing and I’m about
done
and I want to declare and decree that it
is time to shake it off it is time to
deal with some of this stuff and Shake
It Off and understand that God is who he
says he is
[Applause]
what Paul did is
so many of us we ask the question you
know God how can I be attacked when I’m
doing something wrong
honey the fire came it was the fire that
woke up the snake
and sometimes when you get more on fire
for God and when you’re getting closer
to the purpose of God and you’re
becoming more effective in the things of
God don’t be surprised when some snakes
come out and try to attach themselves to
you but I want you to know their venom
cannot touch you if you learn to Shake
it Off in Jesus name he does not have to
attach itself to you
he can shake it off
rather than lamenting I can’t believe
this must be true because if God was
real this snake wouldn’t be on me or
dare I say the Viper woke up
because the fire inside of you got
hotter
when it’s a maturity in the body
where we don’t run from adversity
first snake bite
like are you kidding me
this is a sign that we’re on fire
that we’re doing something effective for
the kingdom of God
we’re so busy telling everyone how to
live their best life now we’re
forgetting to tell them how to fight for
the sake of taking the cause of the
Kingdom forward there was this is not
all unicorns and rainbows honey
we are in a spiritual battle
we’re in spiritual battle
and what we need to do is wake up from
our slumber wake up from our sleep
walking
and not be surprised
by these things that are attaching
themselves to us listen first Peter 4 12
to 13.
I want you to know trials and testing
storms shipwrecks snakes
are part of life first Peter says
beloved do not be surprised
I laugh because I’m always surprised but
anyway I know I try I do I said this to
God recently something happened and when
you tell me not to be surprised I’m
always surprised that’s not fair can’t
you warn me okay so beloved do not be
surprised at the fiery trial when it
comes upon you not if it comes
when when it comes upon you to test you
as though something strange
were happening to you but rejoice in so
far as you share Christ’s sufferings
that you may also rejoice and be glad
when his glory is revealed this is for
Glory
why are we freaking out as if it’s some
strange thing
I don’t know whoever sold you a
Christianity that said it was all going
to be unicorns and rainbows
and it was all going to be fantastic and
beautiful and just every day was going
to be fantastic we live in a fallen wall
there is Brokenness there is pain there
is suffering there is sickness there is
disease
we don’t need to be overwhelmed by these
things because in and through Christ we
are more than conquerors through Christ
Jesus who strengthens us but that does
not mean we float through life
so we’ve got to get good at fighting
through life
but we’ve lost our fight
we’ve lost our fight we’ve forgotten
that this is a spiritual battle this is
not it like it’s all about my comfort
Jesus just wants me to be comfortable
and Jesus just wants me to be safe I
mean guide me with a spoon where is that
in the Bible
Jesus did not come to make you nice or
safe or comfortable I promise you
he did not come from Heaven to Earth die
on a cross
such a brutal death and rise again on
the third day so I could be comfortable
I mean are you kidding me he came to
make us dangerous to the kingdom of
darkness that we would establish the
kingdom of life that’s what he came to
do
so do not be surprised
at the fiery trial
when it comes to test you
I’ve had to remind myself of these
scriptures over the last couple of years
because it just seems like whichever way
I turned there was a fiery trial I
needed a lot of refining I want you to
know
a lot of refining
John 16 33 I have said these things to
you that in me you may have peace in the
world you will
have tribulation
doesn’t that make you happy
I’m like Jesus said it it’s in red in
the Bible say you know he always talked
in Red so it just that’s it and I love
what he says but take her
I have overcome the world I’m like Jesus
seriously that’s why you’re God and I’m
not but anyway
tribulation will come not might
so when the snake bites jumps up to bite
you I’ve shaken them off so well I can’t
find them anymore
so all the teams got to be freaking out
but when the snake comes up to bite you
don’t be surprised
I I don’t know why we we freak out like
it’s some strange thing there is nothing
strange about the way I’m standing
before you right now there’s nothing
strange
but this is what happens
when the devil tries to sabotage your
commitment to God your faithfulness to
God your commitment to church don’t be
surprised
when he tries to take you out with
disappointment and disillusionment don’t
be surprised
when
he tries to mess with your head and your
intellect and tell you you’re really
dumb that you believe this stuff about
God
you believe this stuff about the Bible
you believe that Jesus really rose again
like really
this is so
part of what’s talked about in the Bible
don’t be surprised when there’s
persecutions don’t be surprised when
people think you’re an idiot
because Christianity is not bad don’t be
surprised just because you lived in a
nation where once it was cool to be a
Christian now it’s not cool to be a
Christian don’t be surprised don’t be
surprised
don’t be surprised that your taste your
faith will be tested
don’t be surprised when that Venom tries
to take you out it actually has no power
but you’ve got to remember your power to
shake it off because if you forget the
power that you have in Christ to shake
it off you’re just going to keep
accruing more and more snakes
and that Venom will take you out
bitterness will take you out trying to
rationalize things you will never
understand there comes a point where you
will not understand what God is doing
and you’re gonna have to learn to trust
him
because listen Isaiah 55 says his ways
are not our ways his thoughts are not
our thoughts you cannot possibly
understand God he is infinite we are
fine I don’t know whatever made us think
that we could shove him in a test tube
and prove him or put him in some
mathematical formula and make him fit
into our little world we’ve got to pee
on little finite brain he is an infinite
almighty God entirely other to us you
cannot understand him you must trust him
that Jesus is there
in this difficult moment in your
marriage in this trying moment in your
finances in this struggle on your job in
this difficulty in this relationship
you’re rubbing Corners with your boss or
your spouse or this struggle you’re
having on your University campus or in
your high school campus this hard time
that you are having he is there he just
may have come in the package you don’t
prefer
and that oftentimes the Fingerprints of
God are not recognized not because he’s
not there it is just because the
expectation we have set up about what he
looks like and how he will speak and how
he will move the prayer request the
solution that he will bring doesn’t
align with the prayer request that we
have prayed we have boxed God into the
way we want him to answer instead of
believing that his ways are not our ways
and his thoughts are not our thoughts as
high as the heavens are above the Earth
that’s how high his thoughts are above
our own and so we box God in when we say
Lord answer my request in this
particular way do you know that you
limit not God but you limit I limit our
experience of God when we say Lord
answer my request exactly this way I
have learned to pray here Lord is my
request you said that I can make it
known here’s how I would like to see you
move in my circumstance thank you Lord
that I can come boldly and make my
request known so I’ve made my request
but at the end of that prayer I’ve
learned to pray Lord Do It
or do something better
because do you know there are categories
of options that our brain doesn’t even
know are available and accessible to us
and if we limit God to what we can think
and what we see as the way we have not
even considered the categories of
opportunity that this Divine holy
Almighty being has accessible to him
y’all he’s not just thinking about you
he’s thinking about your children and
your grandchildren and your
great-grandchildren and those that
aren’t to come and how his kingdom
purposes are going to be outworked in
this generation and so on this occasion
the Messiah shows up and nobody
recognizes him except somebody say
accept
except a guy named Simeon
he had been told and promised
just like we have
that we he would see the Manifest
presence of God he’d been told it
he’d been promised
like we’ve been promised because of our
relationship with God through Christ
Jesus and the Holy Spirit indwelling us
that we will see the Fingerprints of God
working in our lives this is called the
Manifest presence of God
it is unique to omnipresence
omnipresence means that God is
everywhere all at the same time I’m so
grateful for God’s omnipresence because
God’s omnipresence means that when I fly
back to Dallas where I live when my new
friends that I just met from Uganda fly
back to where they live
um that when you all fly back to
wherever it is you’ve come from whether
all over different areas of California
or afar it means that no matter where we
go he is as much with me as he is with
you
because he is omnipresent
but if you’re anything like me you’re
grateful for a zombie presence but you
want more than that
you want the manifested presence of God
I’m talking about where you can look
back over your circumstances and realize
that his fingerprints were all
throughout that thing I’m talking about
where you can see footprints in the sand
as you actually recognize that God was
walking beside you the whole way I’m
talking about what other people call
coincidence encounters you see The
Sovereign hand of God that was aligning
your footsteps and setting you in the
right place at the exact right time the
Manifest presence of God
I wanted to know what made simeon’s eyes
open to recognize what nobody else in
this scenario did I figured whatever
opened up his eyes might open up our
eyes as well are you ready three things
that I want to point out to you it says
in verse 26 about Simeon it says that it
had been
actually verse 25 I want to start there
there was a man in Jerusalem whose name
was Simeon he was righteous devout
looking for the consolation of Israel we
could spend a whole lot of time in those
three but here’s where I want to harden
the Holy Spirit was upon him
the Holy Spirit was upon him
it says
that he came into the temple verse 27 in
the spirit
verse 26 says it had been revealed to
him by the Holy Spirit
look at the presence of the holy spirit
permeating this text look at how the
author has over and over and over again
highlighted the work of the holy spirit
in opening up simeon’s eyes to be able
to recognize the manifested presence of
God before him in the person of Jesus
Christ Luke here he is just in the
second chapter of this book and by the
way just in these first two chapters he
has already alluded to the spirit 10
times the work of God’s spirit is so
powerful and so needful to a fruitful
experience in the life of the of the
believer that even before the book of
Acts even before Pentecost even before
the spirit has come
Luke points out the movement of the
spirit here in the life of Simeon this
shows you how important the spirit’s
work is how critical it is to making
sure that your spiritual senses your
spiritual radar is heightened so that
you can detect the presence of God
the Holy Spirit was upon him now I want
you to see the work of God’s spirit this
is just the first uh characteristic of
Simeon but I want to just just take some
time for just a few moments on it the
work of God’s spirit is so important it
deserves a little bit of our attention
here there are three ways that the holy
spirit is described as relating to
Simeon in these few verses just just a
few ways that the Holy Spirit relates to
Simeon in these few verses the first
thing it says is that the Holy Spirit
was upon him now listen I want you to
know that if you have placed faith in
Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit lives on
the inside of you
Ephesians chapter 1 says that the moment
you believed you received the Holy
Spirit you were sealed by the Holy
Spirit of promise I want you to know
that at the moment you became a believer
in Jesus Christ you received the most
incredible gift you will ever receive
this side of Eternity and that is the
very presence of God living on the
inside of you the holy spirit is not a
ghost or a wind or a fire or a dove he
is often symbolized by those things but
don’t minimize him that ain’t who he is
the holy spirit is the third person of
the Trinity not third because he is
least in value just third because he’s
the last to be revealed to us in the
pages of scripture but all of the Power
all of the glory all of the authority
all of the Grandeur of God the father is
in the person of the Holy Spirit
which means
if you’re a Believer and the Holy Spirit
lives in you
that means all of the Grandeur and all
of the greatness all of the authority of
God himself now lives on the inside of
you so if you are a Believer you have
the Holy Spirit you are not waiting on
more of the holy spirit all of the Holy
Spirit you ever gonna get you got the
moment you got saved
now you do need to be filled by God’s
spirit so that his influence in your
life grows and grows so that you operate
under the gifting of the spirit so that
you can live according to the fruit of
the spirit that means living beyond your
natural capacity it means when your
patience runs out you can still have
more patience with that person it means
when gentleness has long since left the
building you still find you’ve got a
little gentleness for that when
self-discipline I mean you just don’t
have no more self-discipline in that
area we need the fruit of God’s spirit
so we need to be filled by the spirit as
we yield to him in obedience we are
filled which means he influences us more
our mind is renewed and transformed we
are Sanctified into the image of Christ
Jesus
so the holy spirit is in you
Simeon
his relationship with the spirit is not
described in that way
it doesn’t say that the spirit was in
him it says that the Holy Spirit was on
him
which means
there is a difference between the spirit
being in you
and the spirit
listen to me
the gift of God’s spirit in you oh this
brings tears to my eyes
the gift of God’s spirit in you
he will never leave you nor forsake you
there is nothing you can do to work
yourself out of a relationship with the
Holy Spirit
okay
but him being on you
you got to live a life I I want to live
a life that is a magnet for the presence
of God to rest on me
we can sit in this conference until
we’re blue in the face and applaud the
truths of God and say Amen to the truths
of God but if we leave this room and
live in a way
that is out of alignment with the truth
of God we will not have the spirit rest
in
if you want the mark of God’s presence
on you I’m talking about where other
people can see you operating in your
gift moving about in the assignments
that you have been given where they can
just see there’s a unique favor on your
life toward that particular task or that
particular Endeavor where you are marked
by something that gives you favor that
gives you his grace for a particular
area of your life then you must live I
must choose to live in a way that honors
God so that God’s presence can rest upon
us
because he will not force himself on you
he offers you this resting of his
presence and his grace upon your life if
you will choose to live in a way that
does not uh disturb his presence that
does not keep him from being able to be
near you because you have chosen here it
is to be
sometimes you get down the road and
something wasn’t God’s will and you get
about when have you have you ever
confused one of those two things that
you’re not doing something that God’s
will but you don’t want to give up on it
because you know when do you give up
when do you don’t is there a story in
there of something that you can help us
understand when to bail on something or
when to stay consistent so that we can
finish well yeah absolutely I you know
when you can learn what God’s grace is
on and what it’s not
that is one of the best ways to know
whether or not you’re in the will of God
okay I want to hear a lot about that
okay so for example bringing anything
through to the Finish is hard there’s no
doubt about it you got to be determined
you’re not going to give up but
there are things that if God doesn’t do
them
then you’re not going to have a choice I
mean you there’s certain things that you
know like for me in the beginning
when I started
I had to have
some kind of child care some kind of I
had to have somebody that’s going to
come along and say uh you know I feel
like there’s a call in your life I want
to help you with your kids I didn’t have
any money to pay them you know I didn’t
even really have anybody proper to ask
and so when I look back not only do we
need God to provide for us financially
but we need God to provide lots of other
things in our life and I was just
telling my son coming over here I am
amazed
at the amazing people that work for us
that have been there 15 years 20 years
you know nobody’s been there as long as
me but some have been you know really
close and it’s amazing when somebody is
that committed
to somebody else’s Vision wow so God has
provided those people yeah he he but if
he didn’t
I couldn’t do what I’m doing
so
for example
sometimes
something’s not working not because it’s
not God’s will but it’s not God’s time
we’re very good about getting ahead of
God yeah and so which is understandable
you know we we feel something in our
heart we’re excited we want to do it we
know it’s God but it just doesn’t work I
tried to go on television
a few years before God put me on
television
so I uh
was going to take a few of my lady
employees and I was going to do a talk
show
and we rented a little studio in St
Louis
got on a couple of free cable channels
What year do you think this was oh it’s
been at least well I’ve been on
television 20 I mean it’s probably been
maybe close to 30 years ago 30 years ago
something like that and um
so I was going to do this little
interview thing
and it’s really hilarious because I’m
just not good at interviewing I’m just
not I ask a question and then I won’t
let the person I ask the question to
answer
so I’d much rather hear you talked
anyway so honestly I mean that’s not my
strong now they’ve taught me and I’ve
learned and I can pull it off decently
now but I mean if I ask somebody a
question I’d like their answer I was
really great at rerouting it and getting
it around you to what I thought and so
uh it just I wasn’t I wasn’t any good at
it you know I had these five people
sitting there but I didn’t let anybody
talk to me and then
do you have any of those old tapes
I hope not if we can find them trust me
I want to see him okay good I mean even
now with my current show when we started
occasionally doing an interview guest I
mean we had people writing in and saying
will Joyce let the guests talk and so
finally my staff had to come to me my
son and our the head of our TV and he
said we need to talk to you about
something well at first I got my back up
you know I was like well you know don’t
don’t tell me I know how to talk about
you
I didn’t know this was going to be
comedy I didn’t either
so they had to talk me off the wall you
know down to where I would listen a
little bit and so I’ve learned how to do
it better you know I can actually I’m
not doing too good on this show but I
can do it better
but you’re interviewing me I’m not
interviewing you aren’t you glad
so anyway all right so I went on I was
trying to do the show it wasn’t working
so in six months of being on TV we got
one piece of mail
there was so many
money you know six months and so finally
my Lightning Fast brain said this is not
working so the thing is I have a tear
running down the sideline when you try
that hard to make something work and
it’s just not working that’s probably a
good time to say you know this may not
be God
I was just way ahead of myself and I’m
on television all over the world but
then I couldn’t get one piece of mail in
six months wow because I just it just
wasn’t
the right time thing and so I think
that’s one of the ways that you can tell
if something is right or not I mean what
happened then when it was right because
it’s right now so what what was the
change what do you think what do you
think happened that that’s a great
example okay what what happened well
first of all my husband went out and
bought a TV Camera
which I think I remember at that time it
cost like seventeen thousand dollars
well I was so mad yeah I was like yeah
you haven’t talked to me about that why
did you do that we don’t we don’t have
that kind of money and he’s like I just
I just felt like that every time you do
a teaching of course he thinks I’m a
good teacher so he’s like we’re losing
it and I I don’t know what we’re going
to do with it but I feel like we need to
capture it for something so uh I was
like not ever going to go on TV because
I thought I failed at it you know I was
just like I’ll just stay on radio and
keep traveling doing meetings but I
won’t go on TV so one morning Dave was
shaving getting ready to go to the
office and I was trying to get out of
the house and he
after a little bit he was in there by
himself and he said come here I need to
talk to you about something so
I said Dave I’m in a hurry I get to the
office can we talked I just said nope I
need to talk to you now and and God
actually spoke to him in a very clear
way and he was just like you could tell
that he was really moved and even shaken
and he said God said
I want you to go on television I’ve
prepared you all this time
I want people to get that I’ve prepared
you all this time wow preparation comes
before promotion
and so we need to take the time to let
God prepare us sometimes we’re ready
we think we’re ready
but even sometimes people that are going
to need to work with you aren’t ready
right you know so there’s a whole lot
that God has to do before we can go do
this thing that we want to do so Dave
was over all of our finances then he did
a great job at it and of course he’s
having this little communication with
God and he’s like well we can’t afford
that
and he actually saw something in the
spirit he saw a hand on a water faucet
and he said he felt like what God showed
him is I’ve got it turned up this far
enabling you to do what you’re doing now
and I won’t have any trouble turning it
up more
enabling you to do the rest of what I’m
asking you to do now it is so hilarious
because when
when we
started to try to go on television we
did not know you needed a TV producer
we have we did not know one thing
about what we were supposed to do that’s
why telling these stories is so great
because
sometimes God calls people
to do things that don’t know what
they’re doing right wow and if you take
it a step at a time
talk about a walk of Faith In A Journey
of Faith I always tell people you step
out and you find out and if you step out
and it don’t work then you take a step
back and you reroute and so I mean this
is just the way God works he like
somebody had a television producer had
applied for a job with us a few months
before and we thought we don’t need that
we’re not on TV and we just stuck it in
the back of a file somewhere and so then
when we started realizing we needed one
then we called him and he became our
first TV producer Matt and Laurie the
first show that we did on TV
was done in a little Ballroom
I don’t remember where it was at now I
mean it was little
and the place was in such bad condition
we didn’t have any money I mean we the
the ceiling tiles were falling down and
it was a real low ceiling which is lousy
for TV we had one camera
and our backdrop was a blue shower
curtain oh you had a shower curtain too
but you know what happened
that first day 125 people called
wow and so when it’s God it doesn’t
matter what you don’t have if you have
him yeah
yeah and if it’s not God it doesn’t
matter what you think you do have right
if he’s not for it it’s not going to
work