September 7, 2023 • 25 mins
Imagine being in an uninhabited, wild territory for years, feeling lost, and yet forging on. That's the wilderness experience I've lived through for over two decades, and it has been a journey of faith, obedience, and ultimately, hope. Today, we'll traverse this wilderness together, as I share my journey, illustrating how the wilderness appears differently for each of us.
Now, imagine hearing a whisper, a faint call in the midst of this wilderness. That's the voice of the Lord, a beacon of hope. In our upcoming conversation, we'll emphasize the essentiality of hope and how a relationship with the Lord can guide us through the wilderness. We'll also confront the tough subject of temptation, equipping you with spiritual tools like prayer, the comforting presence of Jesus, and scripture reading. Let's gear up to tap into the power of the scripture, seek the ultimate source of hope - Jesus, and bless each other on this insightful journey.
#PropheticDream #WildernessSeason #BibleStudy #Encouragement #Thursday #prayerwarrior #blessed #community #empowered #proud #inspired #inspirational #biblereading #powerfulmotivation #prayer #prayersforhealing #tdjakes #mrspie #joycemeyer #wilderness #prophetlovy
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome back y'all to anotherCome Out of the Wilderness
Thursday prayer.
I am back.
Michelle and I are so blessedto be here.
There are some days when Ican't wait until the intro music
just stops so I can just getstarted.
I'm so excited.
But we're going to be talkingabout something today that I
(00:39):
think is going to bless a lot ofpeople, including myself.
So before we go further, let meget the admin things out of the
way and just for all of you,all who are watching in the
three different Facebook groups,please, if y'all could tag
someone that folks know that weare on, share it with your
friends, your family, but thoseof y'all who are on LinkedIn and
(01:02):
YouTube streets, drop us in thecomments.
Also, let us know where you'rewatching from.
And a huge shout out to all ofthe folks who are watching us on
ParadecTV live on the FaithChannel, and we're just so
excited to be here.
So we're here every Thursday,y'all.
Every Thursday, 7 am, I am here, and then, a couple of days
(01:24):
later, you can listen to thereplay on wherever you get your
podcasts, listen to the audio.
So today we're talking aboutfinding hope in the wilderness
and I wanted to just share alittle bit, because when I
originally got this teaching Iusually get it sometimes it's a
(01:45):
week in advance, but everythinghas to be done and dusted and
prayed over before I come beforey'all.
I'm not just showing up andwhen the Lord was directing,
you're inspiring me to talkabout wilderness, come out of
the wilderness itself.
Just to give y'all a little bitof context, I'm going to be
wearing my heart of my sleeve alittle bit, okay.
(02:07):
So come out of the wildernessitself.
As a prayer started over a yearago on my personal Facebook
page and it didn't have thistitle at all.
Come out of the wilderness issomething that the Lord.
It was actually called Pi TeenPrayers and even before that it
was just me, I was not evengiving it.
There was no title at all, butit started out of a need to pray
(02:31):
for kids.
So every Thursday at 7am I wasin my home by myself praying for
kids routines because I wantedto reach and basically lift up
and pray for families, andthat's how it started more than
a year ago.
And then the Lord started tomove me out of a very
(02:54):
interesting space which was, atthat time, my wilderness.
So when I talk about being in awilderness y'all.
I've been in the wilderness for20 something years, y'all.
What you're seeing now is onthe other side, but there is
actually hope, even while you'rein that period.
So I think it's important forme to share some of the context
and the story and the historybehind what's happening here,
(03:15):
because I, alongside many people, have been witnessing how the
Lord has been using my obediencein the wilderness because of
him, y'all because it ain'tShelley doing it, it's literally
the Holy Spirit giving me thestrength to do it.
But I've watched him use thisbroken and chipped vessel to get
(03:37):
his word out to his peopleglobally.
So we started, like I said,thursday morning prayers and now
we're on multiple platforms andevery week there's thousands of
people that hear us and theintention behind Come Out of the
Wilderness.
He's also encouraged me tostart some other smaller groups
(03:57):
in different places, not justinspiring on the job, but in
many, many places, many, manyplaces.
And as I was sitting here thismorning thinking about finding
hope in the wilderness, I justwanted to share that sometimes
the wilderness looks differentfor some people.
So what is the wilderness?
Let's just start there.
Actually, before we even getstarted.
(04:20):
Let me just say a quick, let mejust say the prayer that's on
my heart Father, thank you forthis day, thank you for this
opportunity to come again beforeyou.
And, father, if I have foundfavor in your sight, if I have
found favor in your sight, I askthat you will give us a wisdom
(04:42):
and understanding of your word,so that we know what you're
saying, we get inspired andencouraged by the Holy Spirit,
and that you will take over thiscall so that lives will be
changed and minds will even betransformed and people will find
more hope in you, not in me.
Glorify yourself through me,lord, this broken and chipped
vessel, and draw your folks,draw your people back to you and
(05:08):
demonstrate the power of yourHoly Spirit through love and
hope today in this message.
Amen, all right, yeah, we can'tgo any further to do that.
So when I, when I, when I sharethis, this every week, I share
the kind of the context or themefor what we're going to be
talking about and today'sFinding Hope in the Wilderness
(05:29):
and I talked about thewilderness.
That is literal andmetaphorical.
It's considered a place ofisolation and challenge, and you
know, if you've been in thewilderness, you know it's not,
it's not the beach, okay, but Iwas looking up just the, just
the definition of the wildernessand just the common definition
of the wilderness is a wild anduninhabited area left in its
(05:52):
natural form, the wildness.
So I'm going to drop this inthe chat, okay, because I
thought this was so profound.
But this is just starting with,like, what is the wilderness?
And in a basic, natural sense,it is a wild and uninhabited
area that was left in itsnatural condition.
So I'm going to use myself asthe example.
(06:17):
Before I truly, truly yielded tothe Holy Spirit, gave my life
to Christ, I was chilling inthis wilderness, Okay, and this
wilderness was wild.
My thoughts were wild, mybehaviors are wild, my response
was wild, my prayer life waswild.
(06:37):
It was, it was uninhabited,meaning the Holy Spirit wasn't
here.
Y'all, okay, a lot of us areChristians and we say we've got
and we don't, we don't.
But it was a wilderness and itwas left to its natural
condition.
Everything I was doing, I wasresponding in a natural sense,
meaning I wasn't tapping intointo the Holy Spirit for
(06:59):
anything.
It was all about my flesh, whatI needed, what I wanted, where
I was going to go, how I wasgoing to do some things.
It was a wilderness, mythoughts were wilderness, my
actions were wilderness and allthese things, okay so.
So that is just the startingpoint of the wilderness, but as
I was in the wilderness becauseI've come out of that there were
(07:20):
there were some things, or fourthings, that I needed to learn,
and the first thing was arounddwelling.
So Ezekiel 34, verse 25, I'mgoing to drop the verses in here
because they're really short,I'm not going to share my screen
and do all that, we can justgrab it in the chat, y'all.
But Ezekiel, this is 34, 25,and I'm calling this dwelling,
(07:47):
and the word says I will makewith them a covenant of peace
and banish wild bees from theland so that they may dwell
securely in the wilderness andsleep in the wood.
Why is that so?
Even in this wilderness, evenin this place that is cut off
(08:09):
from the spirit, just operatingon my natural, the way I think,
the way you know where I thinkthings should be, the way I
believe things should go, I'moperating on my flesh, what I
want, what I need, etc.
Right, treating the Lord like aclause.
Okay, so, even in thiswilderness, there was hope, even
in the way that I was dwelling,because the Lord was securing
(08:30):
me even in this wilderness.
So, for example, there's a lotof us that are in the wilderness
on our jobs and I say I talkabout jobs a lot, because a lot
of the folks that I talk to areworking professionals or parents
okay, and so if the wildernessfor you right now is on the job,
(08:51):
where you feel like it's a wild, uninhabited area and it's left
into its natural condition,okay, even on the job, even if
that's your wilderness, even inthat place, the Lord is saying
that he will give, he will makea covenant of peace.
He'll banish the wild beastsfrom the land, the things that
(09:11):
would attack, right, thosethings that will come for you.
Okay, so that you'll dwellsecurely in the wilderness.
He's taking care of you andsleeping in the woods Imagine
the kind of peace that you haveto have to be able to sleep in
the woods.
So that is one example offinding hope.
While you're in the wildernessis how the Lord will provide a
(09:33):
place where you can dwellsecurely, you can feel secure
and you can even rest in thatsituation, knowing that he has a
covenant, a promise of peace, apromise of peace.
So the second one is aroundtesting, and this is Matthew 4,
verse one.
Again, I'm just gonna dropthese in the chat because it's
(09:54):
just a little bit easier thansharing my screen.
So Matthew 4, verse one, thisis testing, and the word testing
is mine.
The word says then Jesus wasled up by the spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by thedevil.
So let's break that down.
So then Jesus was led by thespirit big S into the wilderness
(10:19):
to be tested, to be tempted bythe devil.
So some of us are being led intothis place for a reason, for a
reason, and testing looksdifferent to everybody.
Testing is different.
Some of us are being testedwith patience, some of being
(10:39):
tested do you actually trust God?
So there's some things arebeing taken from you because he
wants to know are you moreinterested in these things and
these material things?
And you are in a relationshipwith him.
So you're gonna be tested.
You're gonna be tested as aparent.
You're gonna be tested as aspouse.
You're gonna be tested as afriend, and your response to
those tests in that wildsituation, in that wilderness,
(11:04):
determines how long you're gonnabe in that test and all of
those things.
So testing.
But even in the wilderness, thehope is that the Lord is not.
He's not setting you up to fail.
The test is to help you build abetter relationship with the
Lord and to understand whereyour actual strength comes from
Is to know that you can't doanything without him.
(11:26):
And so even the test is like acheat code, because once you
figure out that the Holy Spiritis gonna help you through some
things, if you're listening, ifyou're obedient, if you're
following, then even those testsyou can overcome.
So testing happening in thewilderness, and even those
testing, you can still have andfind hope.
So the other one that I wantedto share, I'm calling new things
(11:47):
and transformation.
New things and transformationis really important for me
because this is where Kamala thewilderness came from.
This is the verse that'sassociated with this entire
prayer platform, which hasbecome so much more than I ever
dreamed or hoped for.
(12:08):
And I'm shouting out of Mekishaand Shannon and Carla, other
women of God who joined thisjourney.
We've linked together and theLord is doing some amazing,
crazy things, shouting outNatalie and Audrey and watching
God work through their lives toexpand and do some amazing
things Out of obedience.
(12:28):
Being in the wilderness andcoming out of that New things
and transformation are my wordshere.
And the verse says behold, I'mdoing a new thing, a new thing.
Now it springs forth.
Do you not perceive it?
Don't you see it?
I will make away.
It didn't say Shelly will makeaway in the wilderness.
(12:48):
It didn't say Sophia will makeaway in the wilderness.
It didn't say Brenda will makeaway in the wilderness.
It didn't say Sam will makeaway in the wilderness.
It says I will make away in thewilderness.
And rivers, rivers in thedesert.
So there are things that springout of that wilderness and that
(13:09):
is another hope.
While you're in this period oftesting and refining and
purification, and the Lord iscalling you to come into a
relationship with me, you don'tneed to pay a profit to tell you
where your future is.
I'm talking about Spirit and hewill show you if you have eyes
to see, because new things, newthings are springing forth.
(13:32):
It's just you have to be able,you have to be positioned.
So He'll position you in thatwilderness, but there's still
hope.
While you're in this situationor this trial, this period of
your life that feels likenothing is making sense, this is
a perfect time that God isgonna show you what's coming for
you.
The last thing I wanna sharewith you is it's Hebrew 11,
(13:54):
verse one, and it talks aboutfinding hope.
This is so y'all this is like.
So I shared this verse in thecome out of the wilderness
prayer group yesterday because Iwas studying it in preparation
for today, and there were somethings that I learned as I was
(14:15):
studying it that Holy Spiritshowed me, and I'm gonna share
it really, really quickly withy'all, and then we'll go into
the prayer and we'll close thisout Now.
Faith is the assurance of thingshoped for, the conviction of
things not seen.
Other translation says faith isthe evidence of things hoped
for.
I did, thank you, lord.
(14:40):
The conviction of things notseen, but it starts with hope.
So, before you get to faith,you actually have to have hope.
It starts with hope.
It starts with hope.
You're not gonna be able to seeanything, you're not gonna be
able to perceive these newthings, you're not gonna be able
to hear the Lord, you're notgonna have any of those things
(15:00):
if you have zero hope, and sothat's why it's so important
that you have hope while you'rein this situation, while you're
in this wilderness right now,that you don't lose hope, you
don't lose faith, you don't losebelief.
Understand that while you're inthis period in your life,
whatever your wilderness Like Isaid, whatever the wilderness is
for you, whatever thissituation is for you, you're
(15:21):
going through testing, yes, buthe's still gonna give you peace,
even while you're in thissituation.
Learn the test so you can comeout of the wilderness.
He's still gonna take care ofyou.
Right?
You know, as you're in this,this period of life, of this
situation, whatever this is,sometimes he puts you in the
wilderness so that he can, youcan hear him clearly, much more
(15:42):
clearly.
You know the, the, their theirtimes when the Lord just cuts me
off from people because I needto be fully Engaged with him.
He wants my full attention,y'all Okay.
And they're gonna be times whenhe's gonna say I need your
attention, turn off the TV, putdown the phone, don't call
(16:04):
so-and-so, just sit with me,just just pray with me, just
just commune with me.
The Lord is gonna call you intothese, these, these moments In
time, so that he can speak toyou and share and and present
things to you.
Right, right, right, behold, Iam doing a new thing.
How are you gonna know whatthat new thing is if you're not
(16:24):
listening, if you're not hearing, if you're not in relationship
with the Lord, if you'relistening to too many people
tell you what God says about youand you don't know what he told
you because you won't evenlisten to him.
He speaks to you directly.
He speaks to you through dreams, he speaks to you through
sermons.
He's you know.
The Holy Spirit is gonna reachyou in different ways and he
(16:44):
will always have a confirmationbased on the word.
So it's not gossip, right.
It's not someone just sayingyou know, on tick-tock, you know
, the Lord says you're gonna,you're gonna, you're gonna,
you're gonna build houses thisseason.
Well, and he never told youthat, right, you have to have a
relationship so you can hearclearly.
That builds your hope, and thereason why a lot, of, a lot of
(17:07):
us lose Hope is because we'relistening to the wrong things.
So we're listening to peoplebuild us up our flesh to tell us
how amazing we are, and then,when the Lord puts you in a Test
, you find out you're not soamazing.
Now You've lost hope, right, hespeaks to you through dreams,
in different ways, and I hadthis incredible dream.
(17:28):
So I'm gonna share this dreamthat I had last night.
But those of you who are in thisperiod of this wilderness
period, and you're, you'retrying to figure out like what
does that mean?
How do I hear from God, eventhrough dreams?
A lot of us, a lot of people,don't get dreams, or they, they,
you know, they don't understandsome of the dreams, or they're
trying to make it morecomplicated than it is.
(17:48):
So, before I Rest my head atnight, I asked, I asked the Lord
you know, if it is your will tospeak to me through you, to my
dreams, and make it plain sothat I can Understand it when I
come out of it.
Holy Spirit, right, make itplain for me so that I
understand when I come out, andthen, if it's your will, I will
share it with others.
(18:09):
So here's an example of a dream,a dream that I had just last
night and it was very profoundand it was Already confirmed on
some things by some other people.
I knew it was an award as well,but it was a dream that I was,
I Was, I was.
I was at a situation where andI'm not gonna try to skip some
(18:31):
of the details, but I was at asituation where I was just being
myself, and someone hadrecorded it and taken a clip of
Of me just being myself.
I was talking about some thingsand this thing ended up being
shared out on the internet.
I was just being myself and forsome reason I was at my
(18:55):
in-laws' house and we're justsitting around and I started
getting these texts saying thatthis clip of me was all over the
internet and the Jimmy KimmelShow was running it.
So now this thing blew up alittle bit bigger.
But keep in mind, I was justbeing myself and I realized that
in that space of being inmyself, I was actually being
(19:15):
myself talking about God.
Okay, I was talking about theLord, and so it wasn't an act,
it was just me being myself,being who I am.
And then there was a part of thedream where he brought me into
this yard and there werediseased and dead animal on the
yard.
A woman had come to see me andshe was pregnant.
(19:37):
She was fully pregnant, maybelike eight or nine months.
She was busting pregnant, andit was a woman that I had.
I was supposed to meet up.
She was supposed to come andget something from me.
There was something I wassupposed to give to her, but I
didn't expect her to show uppregnant and she was pregnant
with promise, okay.
So he had sent this woman to meand we're walking through this
(19:58):
yard and there are dead dogs allaround us.
So now I'm understanding thatthere are things that are gonna
die off and fall off around meright, it's not gonna impact me
at all.
And I'm moving this womanfilled with promise through this
yard and we get to this place.
That looks like different waysto go further.
(20:20):
So there was a set of stairs,there was an escalator and there
was an elevator.
Understand, there was a set ofstairs, there was an escalator
and then there was an elevatorright in the middle, and I went
in front of the steps and a manshowed up and said that's gonna
take too long.
I looked at the escalator andit was confusing.
(20:43):
It was going in differentdirections, do you understand?
And then he put me in front ofthe elevator and that was
acceleration.
And then we took the elevator.
Okay, so for me, he took theelevator and I knew for me that
was the Holy Spirit guiding me,that I was on the right path and
there was an accelerationhappening.
(21:03):
So this is, and how do I knowthis, it's because I have a
relationship with the Lord andhe will translate things for me.
Like I said, some of thesethings are already metered out
and confirmed in otherconversations I had with some
people.
And so, as I took this elevator, I ended up on a train.
And, for those who areprophetic, if you're moving in
(21:25):
the right direction, and thisthing just took off, and so
we're on the train, this thingjust took off and that was the
dream, and I woke up and thefirst thing I do was Lord, if it
be your will, if I have foundfavor in your sight, let me
remember this dream and share itwith others.
And so that's what I'm doingnow.
(21:46):
So why am I sharing this dream?
Because when you're in thewilderness, the Lord is gonna
start speaking to you indifferent ways.
So, like I said, this is adream.
I get many dreams.
Some of them they're not evenworth remembering because
there's nothing, there's not alesson, there's nothing
spirit-led about them.
(22:06):
It is just a dream.
Okay, but this one, I understoodwhat it meant, and some of you
are getting dreams and losinghope.
While you're in this wilderness, while you're in this period of
uncertainty, you're losing hopebecause you're getting dreams
that you're not evenunderstanding what you're
getting.
He's speaking to you but youdon't know what he's saying
because you're not connected.
And the only way that you canget connected is through the
(22:28):
word.
And then, like I said, he willsend confirmation.
He will send confirmation.
So, for those who areoverlooking the dreams and the
confirmation that the Lord issending you, and by virtue of me
speaking this thing out, mydream is now recorded so that it
will help somebody else.
So, as I'm in the wildernessand I'm finding hope, I'm coming
(22:51):
back and I'm inspiring andencouraging you to go back to
the Lord Jesus, and my words arenot falling on rocks, they're
falling on soil, do youunderstand?
And so that also builds up hope.
While you're in the wilderness.
It's to share and talk aboutthese experiences to help
somebody else, because I cantalk to myself all day, but it
(23:11):
means nothing if I'm notconnecting with God's people.
So I just wanted to share thatwith you.
That builds up your hope.
That builds up your hope.
So hope that helps y'all.
Like I said, the wildernessyou're gonna go through, we're
all gonna go through periodswhere the Lord has us in
(23:32):
wilderness, periods where youbecome a little bit isolated,
because he wants to get yourattention and work on you and if
you're smart enough and ifyou're hungry enough, you will
yield to the Lord when he doesthat.
So now we'll close and pray,lord.
We just thank you so much forthis another day.
We thank you, lord, that you'vegone ahead and the words that
(23:54):
I've spoken, lord, let them bemore than just words.
Let them be encouraging andhopeful and inspiring.
I pray, lord, that you aretouching someone's heart right
now, that only you know what'sgoing on with God and all of the
heartbreak and broken spiritsand broken dreams and loss of
hope.
Lord, god, I pray that you willrenew our minds and bring us
(24:16):
back to you and, in this day andthis hour, pray over every
single person who is watchinglive and watching the replay or
listening to us, wherever theyare across the world, lord God,
that they'll come to know you,lord Jesus, as I have, as I have
, and I thank you, lord, thatyou continue to bless us, that
we don't deserve it.
We thank you, lord, Thank you,lord.
(24:37):
God, bless everyone under thesound of my voice.
In your name, I pray, amen.
All right, temptation is real.
So I don't know why I just kid.
But don't be tempted.
Y'all Go back to Christ and goback and read some of these,
these chapters and verses, andexperience the word for yourself
.
Don't just you know, don't justlisten.
(24:59):
Experience the word foryourself, and God bless you.
I will be back next Thursdayand y'all have a great rest of
the week.
Thank you, thank you.
Good morning, good morning.
Welcome back y'all to anotherCome Out of the Wilderness
Thursday prayer.
I am back.
Michelle and I are so blessedto be here.
There are some days when Ican't wait until the intro music
just stops so I can just getstarted.
I'm so excited.
But we're going to be talkingabout something today that I
(00:39):
think is going to bless a lot ofpeople, including myself.
So before we go further, let meget the admin things out of the
way and just for all of you,all who are watching in the
three different Facebook groups,please, if y'all could tag
someone that folks know that weare on, share it with your
friends, your family, but thoseof y'all who are on LinkedIn and
(01:02):
YouTube streets, drop us in thecomments.
Also, let us know where you'rewatching from.
And a huge shout out to all ofthe folks who are watching us on
ParadecTV live on the FaithChannel, and we're just so
excited to be here.
So we're here every Thursday,y'all.
Every Thursday, 7 am, I am here, and then, a couple of days
(01:24):
later, you can listen to thereplay on wherever you get your
podcasts, listen to the audio.
So today we're talking aboutfinding hope in the wilderness
and I wanted to just share alittle bit, because when I
originally got this teaching Iusually get it sometimes it's a
(01:45):
week in advance, but everythinghas to be done and dusted and
prayed over before I come beforey'all.
I'm not just showing up andwhen the Lord was directing,
you're inspiring me to talkabout wilderness, come out of
the wilderness itself.
Just to give y'all a little bitof context, I'm going to be
wearing my heart of my sleeve alittle bit, okay.
(02:07):
So come out of the wildernessitself.
As a prayer started over a yearago on my personal Facebook
page and it didn't have thistitle at all.
Come out of the wilderness issomething that the Lord.
It was actually called Pi TeenPrayers and even before that it
was just me, I was not evengiving it.
There was no title at all, butit started out of a need to pray
(02:31):
for kids.
So every Thursday at 7am I wasin my home by myself praying for
kids routines because I wantedto reach and basically lift up
and pray for families, andthat's how it started more than
a year ago.
And then the Lord started tomove me out of a very
(02:54):
interesting space which was, atthat time, my wilderness.
So when I talk about being in awilderness y'all.
I've been in the wilderness for20 something years, y'all.
What you're seeing now is onthe other side, but there is
actually hope, even while you'rein that period.
So I think it's important forme to share some of the context
and the story and the historybehind what's happening here,
(03:15):
because I, alongside many people, have been witnessing how the
Lord has been using my obediencein the wilderness because of
him, y'all because it ain'tShelley doing it, it's literally
the Holy Spirit giving me thestrength to do it.
But I've watched him use thisbroken and chipped vessel to get
(03:37):
his word out to his peopleglobally.
So we started, like I said,thursday morning prayers and now
we're on multiple platforms andevery week there's thousands of
people that hear us and theintention behind Come Out of the
Wilderness.
He's also encouraged me tostart some other smaller groups
(03:57):
in different places, not justinspiring on the job, but in
many, many places, many, manyplaces.
And as I was sitting here thismorning thinking about finding
hope in the wilderness, I justwanted to share that sometimes
the wilderness looks differentfor some people.
So what is the wilderness?
Let's just start there.
Actually, before we even getstarted.
(04:20):
Let me just say a quick, let mejust say the prayer that's on
my heart Father, thank you forthis day, thank you for this
opportunity to come again beforeyou.
And, father, if I have foundfavor in your sight, if I have
found favor in your sight, I askthat you will give us a wisdom
(04:42):
and understanding of your word,so that we know what you're
saying, we get inspired andencouraged by the Holy Spirit,
and that you will take over thiscall so that lives will be
changed and minds will even betransformed and people will find
more hope in you, not in me.
Glorify yourself through me,lord, this broken and chipped
vessel, and draw your folks,draw your people back to you and
(05:08):
demonstrate the power of yourHoly Spirit through love and
hope today in this message.
Amen, all right, yeah, we can'tgo any further to do that.
So when I, when I, when I sharethis, this every week, I share
the kind of the context or themefor what we're going to be
talking about and today'sFinding Hope in the Wilderness
(05:29):
and I talked about thewilderness.
That is literal andmetaphorical.
It's considered a place ofisolation and challenge, and you
know, if you've been in thewilderness, you know it's not,
it's not the beach, okay, but Iwas looking up just the, just
the definition of the wildernessand just the common definition
of the wilderness is a wild anduninhabited area left in its
(05:52):
natural form, the wildness.
So I'm going to drop this inthe chat, okay, because I
thought this was so profound.
But this is just starting with,like, what is the wilderness?
And in a basic, natural sense,it is a wild and uninhabited
area that was left in itsnatural condition.
So I'm going to use myself asthe example.
(06:17):
Before I truly, truly yielded tothe Holy Spirit, gave my life
to Christ, I was chilling inthis wilderness, Okay, and this
wilderness was wild.
My thoughts were wild, mybehaviors are wild, my response
was wild, my prayer life waswild.
(06:37):
It was, it was uninhabited,meaning the Holy Spirit wasn't
here.
Y'all, okay, a lot of us areChristians and we say we've got
and we don't, we don't.
But it was a wilderness and itwas left to its natural
condition.
Everything I was doing, I wasresponding in a natural sense,
meaning I wasn't tapping intointo the Holy Spirit for
(06:59):
anything.
It was all about my flesh, whatI needed, what I wanted, where
I was going to go, how I wasgoing to do some things.
It was a wilderness, mythoughts were wilderness, my
actions were wilderness and allthese things, okay so.
So that is just the startingpoint of the wilderness, but as
I was in the wilderness becauseI've come out of that there were
(07:20):
there were some things, or fourthings, that I needed to learn,
and the first thing was arounddwelling.
So Ezekiel 34, verse 25, I'mgoing to drop the verses in here
because they're really short,I'm not going to share my screen
and do all that, we can justgrab it in the chat, y'all.
But Ezekiel, this is 34, 25,and I'm calling this dwelling,
(07:47):
and the word says I will makewith them a covenant of peace
and banish wild bees from theland so that they may dwell
securely in the wilderness andsleep in the wood.
Why is that so?
Even in this wilderness, evenin this place that is cut off
(08:09):
from the spirit, just operatingon my natural, the way I think,
the way you know where I thinkthings should be, the way I
believe things should go, I'moperating on my flesh, what I
want, what I need, etc.
Right, treating the Lord like aclause.
Okay, so, even in thiswilderness, there was hope, even
in the way that I was dwelling,because the Lord was securing
(08:30):
me even in this wilderness.
So, for example, there's a lotof us that are in the wilderness
on our jobs and I say I talkabout jobs a lot, because a lot
of the folks that I talk to areworking professionals or parents
okay, and so if the wildernessfor you right now is on the job,
(08:51):
where you feel like it's a wild, uninhabited area and it's left
into its natural condition,okay, even on the job, even if
that's your wilderness, even inthat place, the Lord is saying
that he will give, he will makea covenant of peace.
He'll banish the wild beastsfrom the land, the things that
(09:11):
would attack, right, thosethings that will come for you.
Okay, so that you'll dwellsecurely in the wilderness.
He's taking care of you andsleeping in the woods Imagine
the kind of peace that you haveto have to be able to sleep in
the woods.
So that is one example offinding hope.
While you're in the wildernessis how the Lord will provide a
(09:33):
place where you can dwellsecurely, you can feel secure
and you can even rest in thatsituation, knowing that he has a
covenant, a promise of peace, apromise of peace.
So the second one is aroundtesting, and this is Matthew 4,
verse one.
Again, I'm just gonna dropthese in the chat because it's
(09:54):
just a little bit easier thansharing my screen.
So Matthew 4, verse one, thisis testing, and the word testing
is mine.
The word says then Jesus wasled up by the spirit into the
wilderness to be tempted by thedevil.
So let's break that down.
So then Jesus was led by thespirit big S into the wilderness
(10:19):
to be tested, to be tempted bythe devil.
So some of us are being led intothis place for a reason, for a
reason, and testing looksdifferent to everybody.
Testing is different.
Some of us are being testedwith patience, some of being
(10:39):
tested do you actually trust God?
So there's some things arebeing taken from you because he
wants to know are you moreinterested in these things and
these material things?
And you are in a relationshipwith him.
So you're gonna be tested.
You're gonna be tested as aparent.
You're gonna be tested as aspouse.
You're gonna be tested as afriend, and your response to
those tests in that wildsituation, in that wilderness,
(11:04):
determines how long you're gonnabe in that test and all of
those things.
So testing.
But even in the wilderness, thehope is that the Lord is not.
He's not setting you up to fail.
The test is to help you build abetter relationship with the
Lord and to understand whereyour actual strength comes from
Is to know that you can't doanything without him.
(11:26):
And so even the test is like acheat code, because once you
figure out that the Holy Spiritis gonna help you through some
things, if you're listening, ifyou're obedient, if you're
following, then even those testsyou can overcome.
So testing happening in thewilderness, and even those
testing, you can still have andfind hope.
So the other one that I wantedto share, I'm calling new things
(11:47):
and transformation.
New things and transformationis really important for me
because this is where Kamala thewilderness came from.
This is the verse that'sassociated with this entire
prayer platform, which hasbecome so much more than I ever
dreamed or hoped for.
(12:08):
And I'm shouting out of Mekishaand Shannon and Carla, other
women of God who joined thisjourney.
We've linked together and theLord is doing some amazing,
crazy things, shouting outNatalie and Audrey and watching
God work through their lives toexpand and do some amazing
things Out of obedience.
(12:28):
Being in the wilderness andcoming out of that New things
and transformation are my wordshere.
And the verse says behold, I'mdoing a new thing, a new thing.
Now it springs forth.
Do you not perceive it?
Don't you see it?
I will make away.
It didn't say Shelly will makeaway in the wilderness.
(12:48):
It didn't say Sophia will makeaway in the wilderness.
It didn't say Brenda will makeaway in the wilderness.
It didn't say Sam will makeaway in the wilderness.
It says I will make away in thewilderness.
And rivers, rivers in thedesert.
So there are things that springout of that wilderness and that
(13:09):
is another hope.
While you're in this period oftesting and refining and
purification, and the Lord iscalling you to come into a
relationship with me, you don'tneed to pay a profit to tell you
where your future is.
I'm talking about Spirit and hewill show you if you have eyes
to see, because new things, newthings are springing forth.
(13:32):
It's just you have to be able,you have to be positioned.
So He'll position you in thatwilderness, but there's still
hope.
While you're in this situationor this trial, this period of
your life that feels likenothing is making sense, this is
a perfect time that God isgonna show you what's coming for
you.
The last thing I wanna sharewith you is it's Hebrew 11,
(13:54):
verse one, and it talks aboutfinding hope.
This is so y'all this is like.
So I shared this verse in thecome out of the wilderness
prayer group yesterday because Iwas studying it in preparation
for today, and there were somethings that I learned as I was
(14:15):
studying it that Holy Spiritshowed me, and I'm gonna share
it really, really quickly withy'all, and then we'll go into
the prayer and we'll close thisout Now.
Faith is the assurance of thingshoped for, the conviction of
things not seen.
Other translation says faith isthe evidence of things hoped
for.
I did, thank you, lord.
(14:40):
The conviction of things notseen, but it starts with hope.
So, before you get to faith,you actually have to have hope.
It starts with hope.
It starts with hope.
You're not gonna be able to seeanything, you're not gonna be
able to perceive these newthings, you're not gonna be able
to hear the Lord, you're notgonna have any of those things
(15:00):
if you have zero hope, and sothat's why it's so important
that you have hope while you'rein this situation, while you're
in this wilderness right now,that you don't lose hope, you
don't lose faith, you don't losebelief.
Understand that while you're inthis period in your life,
whatever your wilderness Like Isaid, whatever the wilderness is
for you, whatever thissituation is for you, you're
(15:21):
going through testing, yes, buthe's still gonna give you peace,
even while you're in thissituation.
Learn the test so you can comeout of the wilderness.
He's still gonna take care ofyou.
Right?
You know, as you're in this,this period of life, of this
situation, whatever this is,sometimes he puts you in the
wilderness so that he can, youcan hear him clearly, much more
(15:42):
clearly.
You know the, the, their theirtimes when the Lord just cuts me
off from people because I needto be fully Engaged with him.
He wants my full attention,y'all Okay.
And they're gonna be times whenhe's gonna say I need your
attention, turn off the TV, putdown the phone, don't call
(16:04):
so-and-so, just sit with me,just just pray with me, just
just commune with me.
The Lord is gonna call you intothese, these, these moments In
time, so that he can speak toyou and share and and present
things to you.
Right, right, right, behold, Iam doing a new thing.
How are you gonna know whatthat new thing is if you're not
(16:24):
listening, if you're not hearing, if you're not in relationship
with the Lord, if you'relistening to too many people
tell you what God says about youand you don't know what he told
you because you won't evenlisten to him.
He speaks to you directly.
He speaks to you through dreams, he speaks to you through
sermons.
He's you know.
The Holy Spirit is gonna reachyou in different ways and he
(16:44):
will always have a confirmationbased on the word.
So it's not gossip, right.
It's not someone just sayingyou know, on tick-tock, you know
, the Lord says you're gonna,you're gonna, you're gonna,
you're gonna build houses thisseason.
Well, and he never told youthat, right, you have to have a
relationship so you can hearclearly.
That builds your hope, and thereason why a lot, of, a lot of
(17:07):
us lose Hope is because we'relistening to the wrong things.
So we're listening to peoplebuild us up our flesh to tell us
how amazing we are, and then,when the Lord puts you in a Test
, you find out you're not soamazing.
Now You've lost hope, right, hespeaks to you through dreams,
in different ways, and I hadthis incredible dream.
(17:28):
So I'm gonna share this dreamthat I had last night.
But those of you who are in thisperiod of this wilderness
period, and you're, you'retrying to figure out like what
does that mean?
How do I hear from God, eventhrough dreams?
A lot of us, a lot of people,don't get dreams, or they, they,
you know, they don't understandsome of the dreams, or they're
trying to make it morecomplicated than it is.
(17:48):
So, before I Rest my head atnight, I asked, I asked the Lord
you know, if it is your will tospeak to me through you, to my
dreams, and make it plain sothat I can Understand it when I
come out of it.
Holy Spirit, right, make itplain for me so that I
understand when I come out, andthen, if it's your will, I will
share it with others.
(18:09):
So here's an example of a dream,a dream that I had just last
night and it was very profoundand it was Already confirmed on
some things by some other people.
I knew it was an award as well,but it was a dream that I was,
I Was, I was.
I was at a situation where andI'm not gonna try to skip some
(18:31):
of the details, but I was at asituation where I was just being
myself, and someone hadrecorded it and taken a clip of
Of me just being myself.
I was talking about some thingsand this thing ended up being
shared out on the internet.
I was just being myself and forsome reason I was at my
(18:55):
in-laws' house and we're justsitting around and I started
getting these texts saying thatthis clip of me was all over the
internet and the Jimmy KimmelShow was running it.
So now this thing blew up alittle bit bigger.
But keep in mind, I was justbeing myself and I realized that
in that space of being inmyself, I was actually being
(19:15):
myself talking about God.
Okay, I was talking about theLord, and so it wasn't an act,
it was just me being myself,being who I am.
And then there was a part of thedream where he brought me into
this yard and there werediseased and dead animal on the
yard.
A woman had come to see me andshe was pregnant.
(19:37):
She was fully pregnant, maybelike eight or nine months.
She was busting pregnant, andit was a woman that I had.
I was supposed to meet up.
She was supposed to come andget something from me.
There was something I wassupposed to give to her, but I
didn't expect her to show uppregnant and she was pregnant
with promise, okay.
So he had sent this woman to meand we're walking through this
(19:58):
yard and there are dead dogs allaround us.
So now I'm understanding thatthere are things that are gonna
die off and fall off around meright, it's not gonna impact me
at all.
And I'm moving this womanfilled with promise through this
yard and we get to this place.
That looks like different waysto go further.
(20:20):
So there was a set of stairs,there was an escalator and there
was an elevator.
Understand, there was a set ofstairs, there was an escalator
and then there was an elevatorright in the middle, and I went
in front of the steps and a manshowed up and said that's gonna
take too long.
I looked at the escalator andit was confusing.
(20:43):
It was going in differentdirections, do you understand?
And then he put me in front ofthe elevator and that was
acceleration.
And then we took the elevator.
Okay, so for me, he took theelevator and I knew for me that
was the Holy Spirit guiding me,that I was on the right path and
there was an accelerationhappening.
(21:03):
So this is, and how do I knowthis, it's because I have a
relationship with the Lord andhe will translate things for me.
Like I said, some of thesethings are already metered out
and confirmed in otherconversations I had with some
people.
And so, as I took this elevator, I ended up on a train.
And, for those who areprophetic, if you're moving in
(21:25):
the right direction, and thisthing just took off, and so
we're on the train, this thingjust took off and that was the
dream, and I woke up and thefirst thing I do was Lord, if it
be your will, if I have foundfavor in your sight, let me
remember this dream and share itwith others.
And so that's what I'm doingnow.
(21:46):
So why am I sharing this dream?
Because when you're in thewilderness, the Lord is gonna
start speaking to you indifferent ways.
So, like I said, this is adream.
I get many dreams.
Some of them they're not evenworth remembering because
there's nothing, there's not alesson, there's nothing
spirit-led about them.
(22:06):
It is just a dream.
Okay, but this one, I understoodwhat it meant, and some of you
are getting dreams and losinghope.
While you're in this wilderness, while you're in this period of
uncertainty, you're losing hopebecause you're getting dreams
that you're not evenunderstanding what you're
getting.
He's speaking to you but youdon't know what he's saying
because you're not connected.
And the only way that you canget connected is through the
(22:28):
word.
And then, like I said, he willsend confirmation.
He will send confirmation.
So, for those who areoverlooking the dreams and the
confirmation that the Lord issending you, and by virtue of me
speaking this thing out, mydream is now recorded so that it
will help somebody else.
So, as I'm in the wildernessand I'm finding hope, I'm coming
(22:51):
back and I'm inspiring andencouraging you to go back to
the Lord Jesus, and my words arenot falling on rocks, they're
falling on soil, do youunderstand?
And so that also builds up hope.
While you're in the wilderness.
It's to share and talk aboutthese experiences to help
somebody else, because I cantalk to myself all day, but it
(23:11):
means nothing if I'm notconnecting with God's people.
So I just wanted to share thatwith you.
That builds up your hope.
That builds up your hope.
So hope that helps y'all.
Like I said, the wildernessyou're gonna go through, we're
all gonna go through periodswhere the Lord has us in
(23:32):
wilderness, periods where youbecome a little bit isolated,
because he wants to get yourattention and work on you and if
you're smart enough and ifyou're hungry enough, you will
yield to the Lord when he doesthat.
So now we'll close and pray,lord.
We just thank you so much forthis another day.
We thank you, lord, that you'vegone ahead and the words that
(23:54):
I've spoken, lord, let them bemore than just words.
Let them be encouraging andhopeful and inspiring.
I pray, lord, that you aretouching someone's heart right
now, that only you know what'sgoing on with God and all of the
heartbreak and broken spiritsand broken dreams and loss of
hope.
Lord, god, I pray that you willrenew our minds and bring us
(24:16):
back to you and, in this day andthis hour, pray over every
single person who is watchinglive and watching the replay or
listening to us, wherever theyare across the world, lord God,
that they'll come to know you,lord Jesus, as I have, as I have
, and I thank you, lord, thatyou continue to bless us, that
we don't deserve it.
We thank you, lord, Thank you,lord.
(24:37):
God, bless everyone under thesound of my voice.
In your name, I pray, amen.
All right, temptation is real.
So I don't know why I just kid.
But don't be tempted.
Y'all Go back to Christ and goback and read some of these,
these chapters and verses, andexperience the word for yourself
.
Don't just you know, don't justlisten.
(24:59):
Experience the word foryourself, and God bless you.
I will be back next Thursdayand y'all have a great rest of
the week.
Thank you, thank you.
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