The Guided Mind & The Guarded Heart

First Kings, Chapter twenty. First Kings Chapter twenty remains standing for the reading of God's word. It's good to see my niece Hattie with blonde hair. I barely recognized her. Wow, a lot has changed. I used to have blonde hair, Hattie. Look it up. It's on Google. First Kings, Chapter twenty, versus one through thirty four. You want to hurry today? Okay? Are you hungry? Hungry for the bread of life, the manna from heaven? I have food to eat that ye know,

not of Okay, King James, let's do it. One Kings twenty verse one. Now ben Hadad, King of Aram, mustered his entire army, accompanied by thirty two kings with their horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab, King of Israel, saying, this is what Ben Hadad says. Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine. And the king answered, just as you say, my lord, the King, I and

all I have are yours. How are you going to give up that easy on what God gave you? I and all that I have are yours. And the messengers came again and said, this is what ben Hadad says. I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives, and your children. But about this time tomorrow, I'm going to send my officials to search your palace. In the houses of your officials, they will seize everything you value

and carry it away. And the King of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, see how this man is looking for trouble. When he sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him. Let's key in on these next verses. The elders and the people all answered don't listen to him or agree to his demands. So he replied to ben Hadad's messengers, tell my Lord the King, your servant will do all you demand it the first time, but this demand I cannot meet. And

they left and took the answer back to Benidad. They left and took the answer back to Benadad. This demand I cannot meet. Don't listen to him or agree to his demands. Now that that scripture was probably unfamiliar to most of you, how many you never heard that one before? Don't remember hearing it? We can't start my first Sunday back with y'all, lion right here in church. Come on, how many of y'all like I don't really know much about Benadad. I'm gonna balance. I'm gonna balance this and

give you a familiar scripture, and then we'll preach. But look real quick at Philippians chapter four. Philippians chapter four, verse six. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer, petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So for the next few minutes, let's talk about the guided mind and the guarded heart. And in case that's

too pretty, here's the other title. Take it back. Take it back, Father, I thank you for this day of deliverance. Do what you said you would do. In Jesus' name, Amen, on your way to your seat, punch your neighbor gently if they are not COVID conscious, and say, take it back. We need to get a new Touch your neighbor, Oh, touch your neighbors. Take it back. So I want to make a confession to you. This is one of my friends advised me not to share this. I'm gonna share

it anyway. About ten years ago, I went to have a consultation for liposuction. Buck went with me. This is not an endorsement or a negative publicity against cosmetic surgery in any way. But I went to get an endorsement for what do you call it? A consultation to see if the doctor thought I should do liposuction. I didn't do it. He talked me out of it. And the reason I went is because I want to have abs and I like fried rice, So that's why I went.

That's what I told him. So when he heard me talking, he said, oh, you're one of these guys, And I said one of what guys? And Buck was there, so he was there with me. He said, these guys you just want to You want me to fix the fat, right, but you still want to eat the food, he basically, And I think the guy had a lot of integrity because he said, get out of here. He said, come see me after you've changed your processes. Come see me after you've changed some things, you know, maybe your diet,

you're exercising all that. Then if you still he said, but but don't come to me asking me to fix what you are unwilling to change. So I left and I didn't do it, and I still haven't done it to this day, but I might one day. I don't know making any commitments like that. What I've noticed a lot of times spiritually is that we bring God our problems, and that's good. I want you to know you can bring any problem that you ever have into the presence

of God. Your problems are welcome in God's presence. You might as well bring him into the presence of God. It's not like he doesn't know about them anyway. My problems are welcome in God's presence. And that helps me to know that there's nothing that I'm dealing with that I have to carry by myself. I don't get extra credit for holding it to myself. When I come to God, I can start talking about you know, like Paul said in Philippians chapter four, anything he said, don't be anxious,

but instead pray. And I'm so grateful that there's nothing that I have to hide from God. I can bring him any problem that I have, not just a big one but a small one. Not just a small one, but a big one. God doesn't have a scale where he weighs my problems and says that's too big. I'm busy. And on the other hand, God doesn't have a must be this tall to ride sign in his presence where he says, if your problem isn't a certain amount, I'm not concerned with it, because He's number the hairs on

my head. He cares about what I care about. But lately I felt the Lord challenging me. And I'm want to start this teaching with you today and this will just really be the beginning of it. But God's been challenging me instead of always just bringing me your problems,

which you're always welcome to do. Why don't you start bringing me your thoughts instead of coming to me, you know, like in an emotional state where you're all worked up and you're so depressed, and you're so anxious and all these other things that I know I'm not supposed to be, but I get there and then asking God, will you please suck it out? It's been a while. Have y'all prayed any prayers lately? God? Would you please suck this out of me? Have you ever come to the Lord

for light? Bo is what I'm trying to say, where I'm asking God to deal with the consequences, and that's fine, and I would not discourage you from that. There's nothing that you've brought in here today that God hasn't seen before. Please don't ever be arrogant enough to think that you have created a new category or species of sin that God is somehow going to be repulsed or surprised by.

And please don't ever think that you're going to bring God something that he would be intimidated or insulted by. At the same time, wouldn't you like to find out what it would be like that instead of letting the problem get to the point where it's so tangled up inside of you that you have to bring it to God as a full grown problem. What if you started involving God earlier in the process, at the level of

your thought. When I read you the scripture from One Kings twenty, it was a surprising scripture for me that God led me to to preach, because the main character in the passage is not King David, or you know, Man after God's own heart, or Moses who was no ordinary child, but a king that we don't preach much about named Ahab. Now, the only time you ever hear Ahab's name is in connection with the problem that he caused.

And AaB caused a lot of problems in fact, for any of you who feel like you're too bad for God to bless you, or you can't like really give what God has for you. The Bible says in One King sixteen that Ahab was the most wicked king who ever lived, all right, So that's who we're talking about.

And the Bible says that thirty two kings came to attack him, a confederacy of thirty two different kings led by ben Hadad, who AaB fought three different times and I'm just giving you all this background to remind you that Ahab, in One Kings Chapter twenty, the king who needed for God to do something. Let me read it again. Isn't it crazy? I just read it again that the king of Israel, the nation that belonged to God, didn't even ask for God's perspective before he agreed to the

enemy's demands. If you notice, there is no section in this scripture that Ahab stops and calls for a prophet. There is no section in the scripture that I read you that Ahab stops and says, well, let's see what the Lord says about this. There is no there is no indication see aep I hate Ab because he caused all this trouble for the nation and then wanted to blame the enemy for an agreement that he him elf

made with the enemy. How many times in my life, in your life, have we asked God to deliver us from an agreement that we made with the enemy without consulting him. Oh, you're one of those kinds. The life of suction doctor said to me, you just want me to suck it out. You just want to bring me the results of your habits and have me fix them without adjusting any of them. AaB is so quick to agree with the enemy. I wonder how many times in your life have you agreed with the enemy without even

consulting God. You know what I mean by agreed with the enemy. It comes along in the form of anxiety. I'm not one of these people who wakes up to my first alarm clock. In fact, my default disposition in the morning is despair and discouragement. Holly, that's too loud of a laugh, and you just keep it down on that front. Row my default position. And so in some ways the verse I read you in Philippians. I know you don't think these two scriptures go together, but I'm

going to show you how they do. Because Philippians four six to someone like me is just about the most annoying Bible verse in the Bible, where Paul says, don't be anxious about anything. And I want to file that. My first instinct is I want to file that in

the court of useless advice. And I also want to argue with Paul because his kids didn't have Snapchat, and so when he's telling me don't be anxious about anything, he didn't even have kids, So how are you going to sit here and advise me on a situation that you never had firsthand experience of. And I want to argue with Paul, don't be anxious about anything, because to me, at first it seems like an impossible demand. So then

he says something else. He says, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. Now, this is the end of a letter that Paul wrote to the Philippian church. This is not the first thing that he said to them. This is not your annoying friend that gives you unsolicited advice. This is a church

that he had a great relationship with. This is in a time of his own imprisonment where he has more to worry about than they have to worry about. And when we see the word anxious, I know you can't relate to this. But a few people in the church have had more anxiety in the past year than they ever had before. There's a few people in the church, just a few dirty sinners. And what the to me?

Over the course of the pandemic is very interesting. It's almost by getting me to indulge in the little thoughts I noticed that he had. He had, he had tempted me to make agreements that I didn't even know that I made. That almost that almost caused me to give up what God gave me, an agreement with the enemy. So Ahab has a wife named Jezebel, and she has taught him to depend on idols. She is a Phoenician woman. She does not serve the God of Israel. She has

taught them to serve the rain god. Bail the rain God. But he has just been proven false on a mountain called Mount Carmel under a prophet named Elijah. And now after a state of famine, the nation is weakened, and so Benedad makes a strategy. I will attack them while they are still week from the famine. And it's not just one enemy that you got to worry about. The Bible says that he went and got thirty two other kings. Because you need to know before you agree with the enemy.

He always brings company that you didn't count on an agreement with the enemy. Have you made any agreements with the enemy that need to be broken? Today before you can move forward into the promise that God has for your life, do not be anxious about anything. I don't like that verse because frankly, I like my anxiety, and I'm not talking about as a medical condition. You know, terms get so culturally loaded. They mean different things to different people. I am not telling you not to consult

a professional. That is not the point of this sermon. But many of us have made an alliance with anxiety somewhere deep in our hearts, and we have actually grown so accustomed to our anxiety that it now feels normal to us, and peace feels foreign. And so now you get used to just waking up feeling weird all the time, and now you get used to feeling on edge all the time, and you begin to think that it is normal because it's all that you've ever seen. And I

love what the elders said to Ahab. This is what I believe the spirit of God is saying to somebody today, and it's the message God gave me. Do not listen to your enemy or agree to his demands. Just because my enemy speaks something doesn't mean I have to agree with it. After all, it is not the voice you hear that determines the life you end up with. It's the voice you believe, and before the enemy can get you to agree with it, he has to get you to believe it. So in order to get you to

believe it, he'll get somebody to say it. And how many have found out you cannot believe everything you hear? Not these days, I was reading the list of things that Paul said that we should think about, because he's trying to give us a new perspective. You have to believe everything that crosses through your mind. You have to accept everything that comes across your heart. He said, don't

be anxious about anything, but pray about everything. Now he says, there are some things we should think about verse eight. Whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely. But see, I stopped at part one when he said, finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, think about such things, because I wondered, how do I even know anymore what that is? How do I even know what is true? How can I possibly know?

In this culture of headlines and highlights. Now you don't even just believe the headline. You believe the retweet of the retweet of the retweet of the retweet. How do I even know what is true anymore? How do I even know? Because if I make an agreement with the enemy. That's why I was excited about uth X. I think that if we can undo some of the untruths and keep our young people from making some agreements with the enemy. Now,

this is what I'm praying. This is what I'm praying, not only for this week, but I'm praying this for my kids all the time. You'll know I've got a good prayer life because I've got three children that are still living in my house. You'll know I got a good prayer life because one of them as his driver's permit. You'll know I got a good prayer life because I have a beautiful ten year old daughter. And oh, I'm praying every day. Don't let my daughter, don't let my sons,

don't let me make agreements with the enemy. Don't let me make an agreement with the enemy. You know, sometimes you get in this self pity mode and you kind of go with it and you start thinking, oh, I'm just worthless, I'm just this, I'm just that, I'm just the other. You know why you do that, because it takes the pressure off for a minute. You know why Ahab gave up his silver and his gold, and the Bible said his best wives not you can have the other ones, but Lord, let me keep the best ones.

I'm gonna take your silver and your gold, and I'm gonna take your best wives and your best kids. In other words, I'm attack the land. They have said, okay, because if I agree with you, maybe you won't attack me. So sometimes we find ways to make the attack stop that actually make the battle worse and weaken us on the inside after the fact. This is the root of addiction. Oh, I was praying for our kids when y'all were standing up earlier. I was praying, God, don't let them make

an alliance with something early in their life. Don't let them make an agreement with something. Some of us make agreements with things that provide us with temporary relief. But they are false gods. They cannot save, they do not serve us, they do not satisfy us. They are broken

cisterns that cannot hold water. So if we're going to preach about anything, if we're going to preach about repentance from sin and dead works, we have to first understand that before the problem, this is my sermon, before the promise of God can be received, your agreement with the

enemy has to be broken. And there are things there are things about you that are not true, that are not right, that are not noble, that are not good, report that are not virtuous, that are not praiseworthy, that you have begun to believe, because sometimes it is easier to believe the lie that looks like the evidence I can see, then believe the truth that is new. And it's easier for me to bring God my love handles

and ask him to suck them out. Have you ever crawled up in the presence of God when it's so bad that you can't even hardly pray anymore? After you've been fifteen rounds with Oh God? And I've had God help me in those times. To be honest with you, I wouldn't bear if he didn't help me in those times. So there's nothing wrong with that. But I heard the Lord say to me the other day, this would have been easier if you'd have brought it to me earlier. Listen,

it starts before you see it. Say that out loud. It starts before you see it again. It starts before you see it. That's true for a leak in your roof, that is true for an emotional state. I was so, I was so obsessed with Paul's instruction to the Philippians. He said, the peace of God will guard your heart and your mind. In Christ, he says, look at this in verse seven, and the peace of God. So I want the peace of God. God, give me your peace. I'm so stressed out, I'm so anxious. I don't know

what to do about it. And he said, well, if you don't guide your mind, it's impossible for God's peace to guard your heart. How many know your mind needs to be guided. Oh? Let me, Oh, I need to break it to you. Your mind needs guidance. Your mind is an undisciplined, rabid dog that will bite the whole neighborhood. God, your mind needs guidance. That powerful computer of your mind, that mind needs guidance. Elon Musk didn't make a self driving mind yet, y'all. I don't think there's one coming

on the market. So if I'm going to bring God into my problems but not bring him into my process, what's what's going to happen? Every single time? When the King said to the enemy ben Adad, I can't meet these demands. The Lord gave a promise in verse thirteen. Listen to this. This is Firse King's twenty thirteen. A prophet came to Ahab, King of Israel, and announced, this is what the Lord says. Whoo, this is what the Lord says. I'm supposed to read what comes next, but

that's where I'm stuck. This is what the Lord says. Everybody say it. This is what the Lord says. What did I come to church to hear what the Lord says? What do I want to fill my heart with? What the Lord says? What do I want my kids to believe? What the Lord says? What am I building my life on that can't be shaken with a storm? What the Lord says? What has the power to defeat and uproot every lie? I believe? What the Lord says? What am I steering my life according to what the Lord says?

What has the final say over what happens to me in this season of my life? What the Lord says? What has divine power to demolish strongholds and defeat every devil in hell? What the Lord says? This is what the Lord says, I heard what you said, Nadadh. But this is what the Lord says. Do you see this vast army. Do you see these problems? Do you see this situation? This is what the Lord says. I will give it into your hand today. Then you will know.

I am the Lord. Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I'm divorced, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I'm twelve, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I got a learning disability, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I got an eating disorder, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I don't have any friends, Well Pastor Steve. That doesn't apply to me. I got a ge d. If God did it for Ahab him sure enough to do it for me. I

amn this child, Do it for me, Lauren. Do it for me, Lauren. I have been carrying the burdens of battles that my decisions created. I have been anxious about agreement that I made with the enemy. But the Lord said, I'm gonna I'm gonna deliver them into your hands today. Then you will know. Then you will know, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mine. Wait a minute, what's the difference heart and mine? Heart and mind? The heart is the emotions.

The mind is the thought process. And I can't pray my way out of emotional states that my thinking cost. Y'all didn't shout too good over that heart. Sit down, We're still we're still just getting started. I'm not very I'm not very good at vacation. I don't know how you can be bad at vacation, but I am. Usually I'm too lazy to do anything fun with my kids and make any memories. But then sometimes when I try stuff,

it just goes horribly wrong. In fact, every time I try to do something a little interest, it goes wrong. We were talking this summer. We went to the beach this summer, and and they've had kayaks that you can ride in the ocean. But it's different. When Holly gets in the kayak, it's peaceful. When I get into kayak, it's cursed. And there's three three times we got in the kayak that it went bad all in one week

last summer. I didn't get into kayak this summer. It's this cursed when I get in one of the times that the kayak had ended with a man with scissors pointing them at me, telling me he was going to stab me with the scissors. And that happened. That happened, and we don't have time to talk about that, and I don't really want to talk about it. It's a horrible memory. But even when I'm not in the kayak, listen how bad I am. Listen how bad I am

at adventures. We swam in the ocean two summers ago, and I think I told you all this story where the rip title. Yeah, I told you that, But it's a conversation that I had with Elijah that I wanted to say to you. And maybe I'll say more about this at Youth Thanks, because they're gonna let me preach a session too, and I might have talk more about this.

I said, Elijah, You've got to be so careful how far you swim out from me, because even if I want to get to you out there, there is a place that you can get so far away from me. I'm your dad, I'm your father. If I could get to you, I'll get to you. But in this particular instance, the undertow was so bad I had Abby on one arm, and Graham was hanging on the other. And they weren't care if I lived or died. They were just using

me to get out as an object. And I said, if you get too far out, it won't be about whether I want to come get you. There is such a thing, and I used it to parallel to them, not just the water. But I just talked about in your teenage years, in your decisions, there is a place where you can get far enough out. Now. I'm not saying God's love can't reach you wherever you are, especially for y'all in the back, how y'all doing. I'm not

saying you're too far away for the Lord. But what I'm saying is you can't make an agreement with the enemy in your soul and then ask for peace in your life. If you do, it's going to be cyclical, and you're just going to keep bringing your problems to God over and over again and he'll accept them. But the Lord has been asking me, do you always want to be bringing me your problems or do you want

to bring me your thoughts before they become problems? So I think we have to decide will we be willing to let God guide our minds, so that is peace can guard our hearts. And the term is a military term. It's a great, amazing picture that Paul gives. It's a military term. Is talking about a detachment that God will set up at your heart, the peace of God. There are two things mentioned in Philippians chapter four. You may not notice them on the surface, but they're both right there.

One is the peace of God and one is the God of Peace. In Philippians four seven, it says, in the peace of God which passes all understanding. And every time I call someone who's going through something that you can't imagine or can't figure out how to deal with, or you can't counsel, the standard thing that I will pray for them is God, And I pray that your peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart of mind.

Because you know, when you're calling someone who lost their child as a pastor, or when you're calling somebody who is in the fight of their life and dealing with things that you know they didn't cause for themselves, it's no good for you to try to explain it to them. So I'll just pray that the peace of God that passes all understanding would guard their heart and their mind in Christ. But some of the agreements that you make with the enemy, instead of keeping out anxiety, peace of

God wants to keep out anxiety. But sometimes your agreements with the enemy keep out the peace of God. You know when I tell myself I'm not worthy. In psychological terms, they talk about rumination, and a lot of us we think that we're overthinking things. We're really under thinking things. We're just thinking the same thing over and over at the same level. Never involve God. Just give the enemy whatever he wants. Just give him our mind. Just believe

anything that goes through our mind. Right, But the peace of God will set up a guard at your heart. That's your emotions if you guide your mind. And that's why he says there's power and prayer. I don't. I don't pray like I like I could, like I should. Sometimes I don't pray till the pressure gets so bad I feel like I'm about to explode, And the Lord's like, are you Are you done with that? Now? You want

to come on over here? And if you drag that far enough across the floor, you've got low enough now. But what if you don't have to wait till it gets to that point. Lord, keep me from doing something crazy in the next five minutes. It's gonna take me the next five years to what if you prayed that? What if we prayed about What if you involved God earlier in the process, like before it goes all the way to level ten? What if God wanted to meet you at two? Oh, this is slipping a little off tray.

Like if you drove your car like you guided your mind, you being a ditch. Just let go of the wheel until the last minute. You're steering into a semi Now you want to drive, but we do it with our souls. We wait until let's see exact last minute. Oh, God, deliver me from the decisions that I've made all week. You no, I'm serious, y'all. Do me like that in one hour on Sunday. You want me to preach a word that will deliver you from the decisions just spend

all week making. That's not right, it's not fair. I told the dental hygienist one time, I'm not gonna flyss. I'll be here every six months. Do the best you can whenever you can get out of my teeth in that time. Just do it and the rest. Leave it, and it'll grow for the glory of God until you remove it again. I know it's gross, but I let it build up until the last minute. And God has been saying to me, you can bring me your problems,

but you can also bring me your thoughts. Now I'm at the point where I will pray about absolutely anything because you know why I do it, because Paul said I could, and he wrote the Bible. And I know you think there's certain things we're not supposed to pray about, but you didn't write the Bible. I don't care what you think about it anymore, because Paul said, don't be anxious about anything. Listen to this. Pray in Eva every situation. So in Greek every situation means every situation in that

deep I got a degree in the Bible. I'm gonna blow your mind. A porn addict can pray while he's looking at porn. I'll see y'all next week. We gotta do this. In doss LJ. You can pray in the middle of a panic attack, not after it's over and you're on the floor. You can pray, you know what. You can even start with a selfish prayer if you have to. You have to wait until you want the right thing to talk to God. You've been waiting the rest of your life. You're too dysfunctional to wait until

you want the right thing to pray. Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. He will put them in there. So I prayed the man who had the scissors at me, and the thing I pray, God, I want to take his sisters from him, because I was more fit than him. I could see it. I you know, I sized it up real quick. And I and so you know, they say pray for your enemies. It doesn't say what you pray for him. So you have to start somewhere like, Lord,

let him fall on his scissors right now. But but the important thing is that you involve God in the process. Right you ever had to pray in anger? Pray angry? I was getting ready to preach one time, and I start praying to the Lord, why will you hide your face from me? Wh're the block? Then I why have you forsaken me? I wouldn't feel anything to God. And I thought as if God was saying, oh there you are, there, you are. Why am I hiding my face from me?

Why are you hiding from me? You keep God out of the process, You keep God out of the then you end up just being just like a half Oh I hate a haveb but I gotta be honest. I kind of relate to him. Enemy is attacking me with thirty two kings. Okay, you can have it. You can have it. It is easier to just believe the lie than it is to you know, you got to train

yourself in truth. It doesn't come naturally. Paul said, whatever things that you have seen, received or heard from me, a lot of us have never actually seen a pattern of how to fight our battles with God's help. We believe the way that we've seen it done is the only way that it can be done. We don't really believe, like really believe that I can give my battle to the Lord. I don't really believe that the peace of God will guard my heart in my mind. But I

want you to watch what happened to Ahab. You know, the enemy doesn't just attack you once and if it doesn't work, he leaves you alone. Because the Lord gave Ahab a victory over Benedad. But just after the victory, the prophet comes back and came to Ahab again. And look at this. In verse twenty two, he said to the King of Israel, strengthen your position and see what must be done, because next spring the King of Aram will attack you again. I'm under attack again. I'm dealing

with depression again. Jesus died for me, and I believe that his blood cleanses me. But I'm struggling with unworthiness again. And the prophet said something very interesting. It's not just prayer, it's not just peace. He says, strengthen your position and see what must be done, because see the officials. Verse twenty three of the King of Aram had a theory on why God gave the victory to the Israelites the first time, and they advised him their gods are gods

of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. So do this, remove and replace them, or remove all the kings from their commands and replace them with other officers. Remove and replace would be a good sermon, by the way, to remove and replacement, not today. You must also raise an army like the one you lost. Horse for horse and cherio for chery. So we can fight Israel on the plains.

Then surely we will be stronger than they. And he agreed with them and acted accordingly. He agreed with the lie and acted accordingly. This has been a dad the enemy. He agreed with the advice of his counselors. He thought that God Yahweh, was like Bail of the Phoenicians. He thought that God was only limited to one geographical locale. So the reason they beat you was because you fought them in the hills. But if you fight them in

the low place. Now here's the thing. Some of you, the enemy attacked you on one level, and it didn't work because you still have your faith and you still have your sanity, and you didn't blow your brains out, and you didn't give in, and you didn't walk away. But now watch this, he's hitting you with a low blow. He said, if you fight them in the plains, will be stronger than them. But look what the word of the Lord says. And I want to show you this

in verse twenty eight, and I'm closing. I'm closing because it says that they lined up against them, and they seem like a flock of small goats, and they look too small, but they had God fighting for them. Verse twenty eight. The Man of God came up and told the King of Israel. Here it is again. This is what the Lord says. This is what the Lord says, because the Eramians think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys. Because the enemy face that if he hits you in your

weakest spot. Just be honest, how many of you the enemy has hit you with a low blow lately, like in the place where it hurts the most. This is what the Lord says, because he hit you where you were the weakest. I am going to display my strength in the greatest way because the enemy thinks, oh, if I fight him there, they'll give in. But he's wrong about it. The harder he hits you in the most vulnerable place, the greater a candidate for the grace of God,

you become. Some of you. The enemy couldn't defeat you while you were awake, So now he started sneaking into your sleep. You've been having dreams in the middle of the night about scenarios. You've been waking up in a cold sweat, not even rested. He couldn't fight you, couldn't beat you awake, so now he's fight you asleep. Some of you. The enemy took a lot from you personally, but it didn't cause you to lose your faith. So

then he hit your kids. There was one thing for you to be dealing with it, but now you're watching your kids suffer. Oh, if I can't beat them in the hills, I'll fight them on the plains. God said, I am the God of unconditional victory. I believe that God is calling somebody today to take back not only the high places. But God said, because your enemy thinks that I am only the God of the hills, I am going to show you a victory in the valley so you will know I'm not like bail. I don't

operate based on physical location. I don't need perfect circumstances to do my work. In fact, if you have faith to believe it, I hear God saying I stack the odds against myself. That's what the Lord said. I'm making it so impossible because I want you to know that it's your weegh. I want you to know that it's God. See when they're fighting you in the mountains, when they're fighting you in the good time. You think it's you,

You think it's your leverage. This is what the Lord says in this season, I'm going to do something in the lowest place, in the most vulnerable place, in your weakness. I am strong. So what does the Lord say? That's what I want to know. I don't want to agree with the enemy about anything that keeps me from hearing what God has said about me, whether it's why I'm unworthy,

why I'm incompetent. In fact, Lord, right now, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, I break the power of the agreements that your children have made with the enemy, and we call on you, God of Peace, to set up an armed guard at our hearts. In Christ, Jesus, we thank you that our position in you is permanent

and it is fixed. Lord. Today, we don't want to give the enemy so easily what you died with your blood to purchase for us, and you came to give us peace right now, standing all over this house, every location, watching online, God said, take it back. You agreed with the enemy, but take it back. I know I agreed in my heart that I was workless. I know I agreed in my heart that my best days were behind me. I know I agreed in my heart that I wouldn't ever. But I take it back, because this is what the

Lord says. God, We're not going to be so quick to hand over the best of what you gave us. We've let the enemy have enough. He's taken enough ground in this season. We've given up enough ground. Not another inch, not another inch. I thank you that now, in this moment,

you are releasing your peace, your unconditional victory. Lord. I want to pray for somebody today who has believed the lie that you are a god of the mountains, only, that you can only win into hills, that you can only use perfect people, and that you can only work in perfect circumstances. It's a lie. And because the Aramians think that you're only a god of the hills and not the valleys, I dispatch victory into the valleys of your people's lives today. Well, I thank you for it.

I thank you for it. In advance. We have heard your word today. This is what the Lord says. We have sung your word today. This is what the Lord says, and we thank you Jesus your name. Then, over these next seven days of our life, as we meditate on this word, we will not rehearse the reasons that we should feel defeated, and we will not rehearse the reasons that we should be afraid. We will remember the victories that you have given and anticipate the ones that you

have promised. All of God's people who agree with this word, lift up a great shout of braves, lift up a great shout of friends. Thank you Lord. Come on, lift your hands, lift your hands. I declare victory over your life. This is what the Lord says. I'm gonna give it into your hands. Receive it, receive it right now, receive it right now. I give it in your hands. It is a kid. See that. All the people who receive this word clap your hands and say Amen. So good

to see you again. I missed you. Have you missed me? Well, we're back back together again. I pray that you heard something from the Word today that you can put into practice. That's what Paul said, and Philippians for check it out. He said, and whatever you received, put it into practice. So you're going to practice what God says this week

instead of rehearsing what you heard from the enemy. I just pray that this week you come into agreement with what God says about your future, about your gifts, what God says about you as a person. He loves you, has a great plan for you. Thank you for being a part of the ministry, all of you who give and pray and share these messages and come here regularly. Just it's a blessing to be connected with you. I look forward for what God is going to do next. I love you. Take it back