Sometimes longing for things in our life can hinder us from reaching the fullness of what God has for us. We stray away from our path when we desire things and ache for things. We start to show up different. We might even lose patience. But God will never leave you longing. Watch this sermon and let God redirect your longing. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Watch the full sermon “Longing for More” on the Woman Evolve TV App. For audio-only, head over to Spotify, Google Podcasts, or Apple Podcasts. Stay plugged into the Woman Evolve community: www.womanevolve.com www.womanevolve.tv download the app from any mobile device’s app store, first 7 days are FREE! Want to support this ministry? Text WEGIVE to (833) 611-9066 FOLLOW US ON THE SOCIALS: Instagram: Woman Evolve and Sarah Jakes Roberts Twitter: Woman Evolve and SJakesRoberts Facebook: Woman Evolve and Sarah Jakes Roberts”””
God’s original demand how can I be
fruitful and multiply how can I fill the
Earth how can I subdue and have dominion
over everything connected to my name and
then God if it is within your will for
my life align me with someone who has
the same Mission as me
[Music]
verse 31 and it says
when the Lord saw that Leah was unloved
he opened her womb
but Rachel was barren
so Leah conceived and bore’s son and she
called his name Reuben for she said the
Lord has surely looked on my Affliction
now therefore my husband will love me
my text continues it says then she
conceived again and bore a son and said
because the Lord has heard that I am
unloved he has therefore given me this
son also and she called his name Simeon
she conceived again and bore a son and
said now this time my husband will
become attached to me because I have
borne him three sons therefore his name
was called Levi
and the last scripture says in verse 35
and she conceived again and bore son
and said now I will praise the Lord
therefore she called his name Judah then
she stopped bearing
God we recognize that when you begin to
set us up to produce
to walk in our purpose
to be affirmed in why you created us
that there will be obstacles
and God I pray that this time together
for the purpose her conference will be
an opportunity where those obstacles are
made clear
where it becomes increasingly evident
not just that something is standing in
our way but what it is how we can
overcome it and why we must overcome it
for the sake of what you want to do on
the earth God I thank you that you
continue to shake heaven and Earth on
our behalf let this message be further
evidence that you are with us that you
are for us and that we have work to do
in Jesus name I pray amen amen if you
are like me you’re a Church Girl and you
can’t just say Amen one time like you
got to say it twice or it doesn’t count
I was studying this text and once again
I have seen it over and over again and
it really just stood out to me I have to
tell you if anyone knows my story and if
you don’t
I don’t want to take up the whole time
telling you my story but I’ve gone
through all of these different Ebbs and
flows in my life and it wasn’t until I
really got filled with the Holy Spirit
and started living a spirit-led life
that I began to see incredible
transformation take place in my life
and as a result of that transformation
it really made everything that I faced
before then begin to make sense
when I was studying this message
I was reminded of a season of My Life
when I was facing something but I didn’t
realize I was facing it
let me maybe take you back in time
when I was in college I was waitressing
at a place that was where people went to
take their clothing off for money okay
bear with me stay with me stay connected
some people would call that place a
strip club and it’s not because they
sell New York strips stay focused stay
with me I’m still with you at the time I
just dropped out of college
and I was looking to make cash I needed
to make money fast I had a son I needed
resources I couldn’t wait the three
weeks you put your two weeks in and then
a week later you get your check I didn’t
have time to wait for that process I was
dropping out of school I had my son I
knew I couldn’t go home and live with my
parents after making some of the choices
that I made and so I was working really
hard waitressing
now I was waitressing at this place
because I wanted to make money quickly
but the truth is that if you looked
beyond the want what you would have
discovered was truly a longing
not just for financial stability
a longing for value for worth
for acceptance and purpose
you see
the difference between wanting and
longing
is that wanting is something that is
within your control
and yet longing is something that is
beyond you it feels like something that
is so out of your control that it
literally creates a Melancholy desire
that’s what that word longing means
I don’t just want to finally find peace
I’m
longing for it
I don’t just want my child to be
redeemed I’m longing for it I don’t just
want to be married I’m longing for it a
longing is an ache that is out of your
control and that is so undeniable that
it becomes a part of the undercurrent of
how you show up in your life are there
any women with us tonight who know what
it means too long
I mean
the kind of longing that you can’t even
put into words
longing for someone to understand
exactly what it’s like to be you longing
to feel someone appreciate you and
protect you and defend you a longing is
something that is created as a result of
our Brokenness or
how someone broke us
when we experience the Brokenness of
life it creates this longing on the
inside of us
and I always wondered when reading this
text and hearing about Leah I love to
hear about uh David’s God I love to hear
about Sarah’s God I love to hear about
Mary’s God I even love to hear about
Eve’s God come on somebody but what do
you do with
the God who causes or allows rather
someone like Leah
to go through a circumstance where she
was
unloved
these are the stories and narratives
that we skip over because we can’t quite
explain how we could be in a situation
that God would allow that God would
allow us to face that would leave us
feeling leave us longing
unloved
unseen under appreciated God
how could you leave me longing
I was studying this
text in mind because I recognize that so
many women feel like Leah
unseen
not valued
in an environment that is supposed to
accept them
it would be one thing if you go to the
grocery store and they don’t want you
there you get in your car you go home
because you have somewhere where you
feel loved and valued but what do you do
when the place that is supposed to
accept you is the place where you feel
the most rejected what do you do when
the church is supposed to be the place
where you feel the most safe and now you
feel more spiritually abused than you
ever have what do you do when the job
where they created the role where you
applied for the role and they said that
you were perfect for the role it’s a
place where you don’t know exactly where
you fit what do you do when you can tell
that your environment doesn’t want you
there and yet God has called you
somewhere positioned you somewhere
placed you and birthed you into an
environment
that doesn’t quite get you
and then we want to be in purpose but
the truth is that sometimes our purpose
demands that we see beyond the lack of
acceptance or comfort from those around
us and instead learn to trust God that
God if you put me in this position even
if no one else around me can affirm me
even if no one else can validate me
because you have placed me here I have
to be I have to be strong enough and
brave enough to ask God if you allowed
me to be in this space then what is it
exactly that this space is supposed to
produce in me or what am I supposed to
produce here
that’s one of the most challenging
things that any of us can ask because it
requires that we override our human
basic need to be understood seen valued
and loved and instead come to a place of
discipline and perspective that says God
I don’t necessarily need for everyone to
love me although God knows I wanted and
Leah cannot overcome this truth that
she’s stuck in a circumstance where she
doesn’t feel loved
unloved it says
and when our text begins
it says that the Lord saw
Leah was unloved if I could name this
message anything I would call it longing
no more
because as I was reading these
scriptures I realized that God was
trying to position Leah in such a way
that she would get that longing off of
her that he was trying to prove to her
that that longing that is down in your
spirit doesn’t have to stay there and I
want to dissect for the short time that
I have with you how God allows our
circumstance to become servants so that
that longing is no longer in control of
us you may not think that longing is in
control of you but if that longing is in
your heart that longing changes the way
you see everything that’s taken place in
your world that means that no matter how
blessed you are on one side because you
have that longing it’s still never
enough that longing creates an emptiness
down on the inside of you and you miss
where God is moving and you miss how God
is breathing on your life and you miss
how God is shaping and shifting things
so that you can still come out on the
other side because until that longing is
addressed then that longing tells you
you are inadequate that longing tells
you that you’re working from
disadvantage that word longing that
desire
is so powerful that in Genesis 3
it’s the very first time that we even
see that word that is translated desired
actually means longing it is the first
time that we see it and yet we see it
again Echo throughout scripture in
Genesis 3 and 16. it says that God told
the woman that I will greatly multiply
your sorrow and your conception in pain
you shall bring forth children your
desire that word desire means longing
your desire shall be for your husband
and he shall rule over you
this is so powerful to me because right
here we see in scripture why it is that
we have so many women so many incredible
successful beautiful single women who no
matter how much they accomplish or not
or how whole they become still have this
longing it was part of the curse where
now they feel like I need the man to be
a part of completing me when before this
curse even occurred the woman wasn’t
longing for her husband all she knew was
that she was blessed by herself God
blessed them and he told them to be
fruitful and to multiply she wasn’t in a
position where she felt less than where
she felt inadequate God’s original
intention for women was not for women to
feel like the only way that I can be a
full woman is if someone comes into my
life and completes me no God said you
were complete before that you were whole
before that because sin has entered the
world now this woman has a longing that
she was never meant to have but I want
you to know sister if you’re watching
this that your identity is greater than
who you are or are not married to that
your identity began in heaven where
there are no relationships where there
are no marriages your identity started
in a realm that is above you and our
goal on Earth is not to just figure out
who will marry us and complete us knows
this our goal on Earth is to get back to
God’s original demand how can I be
fruitful and multiply how can I fill the
Earth how can I subdue and have dominion
over everything connected to my name and
then God if it is within your will for
my life align me with someone who has
the same Mission as me because at the
end of the day if I align with someone
who has the same Mission as me then we
can take even more territory but God
empowered you before then but the
longing the longing it blurs your eyes
that’s exactly where we find Leah in her
in this text
Leah
is living God another woman’s curse
Eve’s curse is on her shoulders
and what she wants more than anything is
for that longing to be met
that longing to be satisfied
and that’s my text says it says when the
Lord
saw her
someone being unloved is not something
that you just see
you could be dressed up walking down the
street and it’s not like there’s a big
label over someone’s head that says she
feels unloved
unloved is
a desire that is buried deep in the soul
that longing
is deep in the soul which means that
when my text says that when the Lord saw
that she was unloved
what my text is saying is that God
looked at her soul
aren’t you so glad that we serve a god
you want to talk about God moving Heaven
and Earth just for you you serve a God
who looks at your soul
that even though you can still show up
for everyone else and you can still put
on the clothes and you can still fry the
bacon and you can still take care of the
children and you can still lead the
worship team and you can still go out
for group Ministry and go out with your
girls that God is still looking at your
soul God doesn’t care how you show up
for other people God cares about how
you’re showing up in your own soul and
because God cares about how you’re
showing up in your soul he will not
allow something in your soul to go
unchecked I feel that for somebody
sometimes we’re frustrated because God
won’t allow something in our soul to go
unchecked but God says what kind of God
would I be if I walked around knowing
that you were bleeding in this area and
didn’t try to fix it so God wouldn’t let
Leah Escape what was in her soul and
God’s not going to let you escape what’s
in your soul that means he’s going to
keep throwing therapy in your face he’s
going to keep throwing message after
message in your face he’s going to keep
having someone bring a tough
conversation to you because God God will
not allow you to go ignoring what is in
your soul he sees what’s in your soul he
sees what you don’t have the courage to
cry God understands how you got there
most importantly because when God looks
at our soul I feel this so strongly for
myself because there were so many
moments that I was afraid to open up my
soul because I was afraid that someone
would make a judgment about how I was
feeling in my soul but when God looks at
your soul he doesn’t look at it with a
judgment God looks at your soul with
compassion God says I understand how
that issue has been affecting you for
Generations God understands how you not
having that sense of acceptance and that
sense of identity has caused you to give
yourself away to anyone who would just
blink at you when God looks at your soul
he sees it with compassion he sees why
you do the thing that you do
not just what you do
God’s looking at your soul
and what we see in this text is that God
doesn’t just look at Leah’s soul
but he tries to give her soul a remedy
and in the process of trying to give her
soul a remedy he allows her to produce
children oh my gosh
I just got a download he he allows her
to produce children because in that
culture though when you are able to Bear
children it makes you a more valuable
woman and because Leah was looking to
find her value God gave her something
that would make her valuable but the
reality is that it wasn’t so that she
could be valuable in the culture it’s
that he was answering what her soul
needed I wish I could break this
download down to you the way that I just
received it but what happened was that
God was saying because she is unloved
I’m going to allow her to produce
children which will feel that need to be
loved but because Leah could only see
things through the eyes of her longing
she took what God gave her and tried to
use it to satisfy that longing and
instead of using it to satisfy that
longing she recognized that she was just
going to have to keep producing over and
over and over again because she was
trying to build a life that would cure
the longing instead of seeing that God
would Overlook what man could not you
see leave felt unloved but God said she
was lovable Leah felt that she wasn’t
worthy but God felt that she was worthy
but because she wasn’t getting what she
wanted from the source that she wanted
it from she missed all of the ways that
God had been affirming her and I want
you to know purpose her that when we
talk about God moving Heaven and Earth
just for you that heaven and earth could
be moving but you could miss it because
you’re waiting for heaven and earth to
move in one particular area but you
serve a God that says if it never moves
right there can you see how I moved it
around you if it never becomes what you
hoped it would be can you see how I
still allowed it to be built up around
you and God says I’m going to get love
to her by any means necessary but it is
going to be on her to come to a place
where she recognizes I see you God
I see you God answering my longing I see
you God seeing where I am and where my
Brokenness is God I see you trying to
heal my soul I see you trying to affirm
me I see you trying to prove to me that
I am smart I see you trying to show me
that I do have strength I see you trying
to help me get it daily bread God you
keep giving me so that I can show up in
this life and show up in this situation
and so God my question for you
is is it possible
that I’ve been so busy focusing on what
I didn’t have
that I didn’t see how you were building
me up all along the way
my prayer for you
is that you would come to a place
where you were no longer blinded by your
longing
that longing changes the way you speak
it changes the way you pray
you begin shrinking your prayers because
your longing has to be met
so instead of asking God can you do
exceedingly and abundantly you only ask
God to do just enough God I just want
that marriage God I just want that job
God I just want that car and God is
saying but do you understand that I
could give you the Nations do you
understand that I could break a
generational curse after you do you
understand that you may be praying
prayers that are based on your longing
instead of your faith and God wants to
move you from a space of desolate he
wants to move you from a space of
feeling Barren and empty and into a
space where producing is all that you do
and I know this because as I was reading
this text I saw that Leah every time she
got something she then turned around and
said now my husband will love me but
something powerful happened in verse 35
when she conceived in verse 35 she went
from trying to produce so that her
husband could love her to saying
something so powerful she says now
now I will praise the Lord
all of a sudden
she went from producing so that someone
else could applaud producing so that
someone else could find Value in who she
was and instead said I’m going to turn
my face towards the Lord because if I
turn my face towards the Lord maybe this
longing won’t hurt anymore if I turn my
face to what God is doing maybe this
longing won’t hurt anymore and then my
scripture tells me that she stopped a
bearing after that why did Leah stop
bearing it was almost as if God said
that’s it right there I want to hold you
in that spirit I want to hold you in
that mindset and there is somebody who
think they registered for a conference
but I’m telling you that God has
registered you to come to a place where
you would stop bearing for other people
and instead turn your bearing into focus
on God that you would turn your life in
such a way that you would begin to say
you know what God my circumstance hasn’t
changed but I have changed in the middle
of my circumstance I see that heaven and
Earth has been shaken on my behalf and I
missed it all along the way somebody
needs to get into shaking what we see
happening right here is that Lee has
stopped bearing but her spirit started
shaking and that longing started
breaking off of her and all of a sudden
it didn’t matter what was happening and
I feel like God wants to do the very
same thing in your life that he wants
you to stop producing for just a moment
and turn your focus to what God has been
doing so that you can feel the ground
when it shakes I live in Los Angeles
California and there are some moments
where it feels like the ground is
shaking but in order to see if the
ground is shaking you gotta be still you
got to stop producing because you can’t
tell if it’s a trimmer or if you’re just
tripping and I hear God saying that
what’s your sensing right now is the
beginning of a Tremor what Leah was
sensing when she stopped bearing was the
beginning of a trimmer because we know
that Judah would go on to produce David
and David would be a part of the line of
the Messiah she produced something that
had Divinity connected to it and nobody
changed the way they felt about her but
she started focusing on how God saw her
and when she focused on how God saw her
it became increasingly evident that God
doesn’t care who didn’t do it it won’t
keep him from showing up God doesn’t
care who didn’t show up it won’t keep
him from still stepping into the room
and creating an earthquake in your life
sister I want you to know that the
ground is shaking sister I want you to
know that heaven and earth is moving on
your behalf and it is not just moving to
break everything up it is moving so that
everything can be in position and I feel
like now more than ever that in 2021
that we have a mandate from Heaven to
get serious we have a mandate from
Heaven to recognize what it is we are
producing and to stop abusing the grace
that God has given us for someone else’s
gain I’m going to say that again for the
people in the back there comes a point
in our life where we have to decide I’m
not going to abuse the grace that God
has given me for someone else’s gain yes
I’m here yes I’m supportive yes I’m a
prayer Warrior but at the end of the day
I am also aligned with what God is doing
in the Earth
and because I am aligned with what God
is doing in the Earth
I can’t allow this grace to be abused
by my own longing
because people don’t abuse us
unless their abuse satisfies a longing
our own insecurities create longings
that sign the permission slip that
allows someone else to abuse us
if we don’t come to a place where we
long no more
than everything we produce will be
tainted
by what we wanted someone else to do in
our life
when I was reading this scripture
and I was studying about
what it is that God gave Leah
I saw that in order for God
to satisfy that longing in her
that what he does more than anything is
that he gives Leah something to nurture
yes he allows her to Bear children
but everyone knows that bearing children
is quite literally the easiest part of
the whole thing
it is the nurturing
that small thing
that turns into a medium thing that
turns into a great big thing
that requires all of you
this isn’t just about nurturing children
right now what God has given you
to satisfy the longing on the inside of
you
it has to be nurtured
what God gives you doesn’t come in the
shape or the size of the hole that the
longing created
but if nurtured properly it will take up
the space where there was longing
so Leah’s got a nurture
what God gave her
and that’s what you’ve got to do too
that’s what I’ve got to do too
whenever I’m not nurturing what God gave
me I have a lot of time to think about
what God didn’t do but when I nurture
what God gave me I live with such
worship and so gratitude that what he
didn’t do all makes sense in context to
what he has done and some of us don’t
experience the goodness of God or the
glory of God because we don’t nurture
the goodness that is already in our life
which is why gratitude is so important
and taking time to worship and have
prayer is so important because it
nurtures what God gave us it nurtures
what God is doing in our life and
sometimes the only way we can nurture is
in prayer because my hands are tied and
I don’t know what to do but I know that
if I keep praying over this business if
I keep praying over this ministry if I
keep praying over this book that my
righteous prayers are going to Avail
much I’m nurturing something I’m sorry I
gotta get up earlier than I usually get
up because I’m trying to nurture
something I’m trying to nurture this
into what God has called it to be I’m
trying to nurture it into multiplication
I’m trying to nurture it into something
that looks like Jesus
what Leah nurtures
becomes something that she nurtures that
just looks more and more like Jesus