Oct. 8, 2026
Learning to Hear God's Voice in Every Season of Life
Key Takeaways
- Debbie Barker emphasizes that growing in sensitivity to the Holy Spirit requires believers to be led by their spirit rather than temporary feelings or emotions.
- Navigating season changes and transitions often brings a need to reset daily rhythms, create necessary life margins, and surrender personal expectations to God's better plan.
- Drawing from Ephesians 5 and Psalm 90, believers are encouraged to redeem the time, number their days, and gain a heart of wisdom that prioritizes eternal impact.
- Unresolved disappointment and unanswered prayers can hinder spiritual growth unless surrendered to God, allowing Him to bring fresh revelation and renewal.
- Recognizing that your life is not your own—having been bought with a price—leads to daily surrender where your will, voice, and actions align fully with Christ.
In this episode of the iRefresh Podcast, Debbie Barker shares an honest, vulnerable message on navigating transition, redeeming the time God has given us, and growing in sensitivity to His voice.
Drawing from Ephesians 5, Psalm 90, and Ephesians 1-3, Debbie reflects on turning 65 and stepping into a new, unexpected season of ministry — one with more margin, more listening, and a deeper trust in God's timing rather than her own striving. She talks candidly about disappointment when prayers seem unanswered, the pressure to "make things happen" instead of resting in God's plan, and what it means to truly surrender your will, mind, and emotions to Christ each day.
This message is a gentle but powerful reminder: your life is not your own, your days are numbered by a loving Father, and no matter your age or season, God still has a specific, purposeful plan for your voice and your life.
00:00 Introduction: Learning to Hear God's Voice in Every Season
00:24 The Reality of Being Human: Led by Spirit Not Emotions
02:40 Surrendered Life: When God's Plan Looks Different Than Expected
03:37 The Season Change: Recognizing New Rhythms and Margins
04:52 The Prayer That Changed Everything: Redeeming the Time
08:21 Walking Circumspectly: Making the Most of Every Day
09:45 Your Specific Place in the Body of Christ
10:25 Numbering Our Days: Gaining a Heart of Wisdom
12:36 God's Predestined Plan: You Are His Handiwork
15:05 Growing in Confidence to Hear God's Voice
19:21 Trusting God Through Disappointment and Unanswered Prayer
20:22 Bought With a Price: Living a Surrendered Life
21:50 Binding Your Will: Daily Surrender and Alignment
23:00 Life as a Vapor: The Urgency of Today
24:32 The Impact of Age: Your Voice Matters More Than Ever
25:20 Finding Margin: Hearing God in New Ways
29:05 Clearing the Plate: When God Refreshes and Refires
29:54 The Secret Place: Fresh Revelation and Living Light
31:41 Activation: Hearing and Acting on God's Voice
33:44 Closing: Keep Pursuing the God Who Changes Everything
Website: https://www.irefresh.net/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/irefresh
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irefreshministry/
Frequently Asked Questions
Who is Debbie Barker on the iRefresh Podcast?
Debbie Barker is a guest speaker on the iRefresh Podcast who shares a vulnerable and honest message about navigating life transitions, turning 65, and learning to hear God's voice in every season.
How can I learn to hear God's voice more clearly according to Debbie Barker?
Debbie suggests practicing in the smallest of everyday situations, such as praying in the Spirit when you lose something and getting quiet to listen, which builds confidence to hear God regarding major life assignments.
What does it mean to redeem the time in Ephesians 5?
Redeeming the time means being aware of how short life is, avoiding wasted days, and using your remaining strength, resources, and opportunities for God's highest purposes.
How do you handle disappointment and unanswered prayer in a new season?
You must give your disappointments to God, allowing Him to heal, refresh, and refire your faith while continuing to trust Him completely rather than letting past outcomes dictate your belief.
Transcript
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And I think immediately I just tried to figure it out.
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Okay, it's this, now we're going to go to this.
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And he's like, oh no, I'm going to clear the plate here.
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And I'm going to refresh and refire things in you that you've forgotten about.
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Welcome to the iRefresh podcast, where every conversation points to the life-changing power of God's living Word.
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Let's pursue God together, one conversation at a time.
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Tonight I'm going to share with you, and I want you to see that sometimes I think we look at people who are in ministry, or in full-time ministry, and they think...
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They never deal with that.
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They must never feel this, or I'm sure that question has never hit their mind.
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And what I want you to see is that it does in every one of us because we're human.
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Now, we're all spirits.
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We're human.
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that live in a body, that have a soul, a mind, will, and emotion.
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And when I was first coming to Christ, I accepted the Lord when I was a young little girl at five years of age.
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My parents were first-generation Christians, and I was raised in the church, and I received my prayer language when I was seven years old, and I never really walked away from that.
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I've sought Him.
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I've loved Him.
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But I will tell you, I was a very emotional, more tight person.
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Now, I was probably a little less outgoing as a child.
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I think in some ways I was somewhat shy.
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I know that might be a little challenging to believe, but I kind of was when I was younger.
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And then just learned how to express it.
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But I had to allow the Spirit of God to teach me how to be led by my spirit and not by my feelings or not by my emotions.
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So I think what happens is, is we, these emotions can start to dictate in our life directions that if it's not in line with this, it can take us off.
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Even as we mature, even as we're in Christ, that never means that the enemy is going to stop wanting to tempt us.
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to be led by our feelings versus our spirit.
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He's never going to just leave us alone and go, wow, well, she's really committed to Christ, so let's just move on to somebody else, okay?
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No, he's going to consistently want to challenge us, but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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And the power and authority that Jesus Christ has given you through his word is still powerful.
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And this is the most powerful sword you are ever going to have.
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And I will do nothing but encourage you to be led by the Holy Spirit and let this be the absolute guide for your life.
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So when we keep the word in us and we stay strengthened in the word, then our feelings will not override.
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Even when they seem really, really strong.
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I think sometimes we look at our lives and we think, this is what it's going to look like.
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And I was just sharing with my friend Brenda the other day, I was like, you know, my life has never really looked exactly like what I dreamed or thought.
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In so many ways, it's bigger and better, but in so many ways, I thought this was the direction and then we went left.
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Or I thought, this is where he's going and he went right.
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But either way, it's always been amazing.
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Because what I want you to hear is when we live this surrendered life to Christ,
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It will always be bigger and better than we dreamed or imagined.
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But that doesn't mean that in that transition or in that change of season that we don't refresh the surrender to Christ and we don't refresh the hearing God afresh and anew for the season that we're in.
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Everything changes.
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Everything changes from the momentum of what my life was to where it is now.
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It's in ministry, but it's in a totally different way.
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And you're revamping.
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You're resetting.
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You're finding your new rhythm of life.
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And I began to recognize things that I didn't realize how fast I was running.
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in that momentum.
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I didn't realize how much no margin to little margin did I have in areas of my life.
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There were things that immediately, as in that season change, that the Spirit of God began to show me and talk to me and tell me.
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And I began to go, did I not hear you before about this?
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Or was I not in a place that I could?
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And I don't really think for us it's a time to question, as it is a time to stay open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
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He is your guide.
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He is your counselor.
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He is your strengthener.
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He is your standby.
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He wants to do and to be all of these things when we allow him to.
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And so I will share more in some passages that he brought to me.
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But how all this came back to me is here we are months later, and I was actually cleaning some things in my garage.
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And I had a sermon on that Brother Keith was preaching, and he made a reference to this prayer.
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And I went...
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That prayer.
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When did I pray that prayer?
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And so I pull my notes out.
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I look out when I had heard it.
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And I heard the Spirit of God say on the inside of me, You are walking in the season that you are today because of the faith you released when you prayed the prayer.
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This is a fulfillment of what I had you pray.
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So when you realize that the Spirit of God is leading you, because part of this ministry is huge in prayer, and that I want to encourage you, we do know this, but sometimes we've got to hear it again.
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Those effectual, fervent, heartfelt prayers, they avail much.
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And when we are truly being led by the Holy Spirit, you didn't just pray it for the fun of it.
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You just didn't pray it because you thought, woo, that sounded like a good prayer today.
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The Holy Spirit is inspiring you to pray what he's wanting to fulfill in the days ahead of your life.
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He's truth, and you can trust him.
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So here's the prayer.
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Father God, you told us to redeem the time, so we are asking you to help us to be aware of how short it is and not waste it.
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Give us wisdom, awareness, and understanding.
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Grace us, quicken us, lead us so that we use our remaining days, our remaining strength, our remaining resources and opportunities for your highest purposes, your best uses.
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I ask it in Jesus' name.
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Lord, I'm in your hand.
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I'm yours to command in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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when I began to pray that, his highest, his best, I've always been one of those that I don't want to get to heaven and go, okay, here's what I had for you, but you wouldn't use your faith, or you didn't hear and obey me, and so this is what you live, but this is what I had.
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I always want his highest and his best.
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And I think as I began to mature in age, that I...
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You look at your life different.
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For you younger ones, it just kind of happens.
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All of a sudden you go, how did I get to this age?
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And then you go, well, thank God we're here.
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But now what?
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What does this look like?
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What does this mean?
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Because I don't think any of us ever, you know, think about past 30, you know, maybe 40.
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But I mean, you don't really think at those ages what they're going to look like or what they're going to hold.
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But I always wanted his highest and I always wanted his best.
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What I realize now as I talk about this and I look back, that there was an area that I believe the Spirit of God was speaking to me.
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that he was trying to talk to me about, but maybe I allowed, and I don't blame anyone, I take responsibility, I allowed the momentum of my life.
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I allowed the choices and responsibilities I took on to hinder me in really maybe having the sensitivity that I could have.
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You know, maybe there should have been a no versus yes, you know.
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And I think it's so important that we really ask him to lead us and to show us that we're saying yes to what he wants to say yes to.
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And no to what he wants us to say no to because we are responsible for hearing and following the voice of God.
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So if you have your Bibles, I'm going to have you turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
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We're going to look at verses 15 through 17.
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Now the King James Version says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
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So I want you to see that it's important that we live in a place.
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It wasn't just a prayer that I believe that was for me.
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I really believe one of the messages of my heart that the Holy Spirit has put on anywhere I speak or one-on-one or group setting is to encourage, exhort whoever that is to hear the voice of God and to recognize the season and the time that we're in.
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In this season, it's not business as usual.
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In this season, we very well can be the ones that usher in the coming of Christ.
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I believe that.
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So for the body to function the way he's called us to, to come back for a bride truly without spot or wrinkle, we've got to be in the position that he's leading us in.
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We've got to not just be kind to in.
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We need to be all in.
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It's like with your body.
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When, you know, just pick any organ that doesn't work like it's supposed to, and it can affect every other part of the body.
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When the body functions, all the organs function, muscles, tendons, everything else, function the way it's supposed to, your body feels great, and it functions the way it's supposed to.
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We are making up this body of Christ,
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And I want to challenge and encourage you, there's a specific place he has for you to walk in.
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The gifting, the calling he put inside of you is for something specific.
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And it wasn't just for in your 20s or your 40s or your 60s.
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You have breath in your body.
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There's purpose within you.
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And there's a specific part you are to play in the body.
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Now, let's not just do some half-baked job of it.
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Let's be fully in, anointed, and equipped in what he's calling us to do.
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And so, it's important that we're making the most of the time.
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I wanted to show you by Scripture, Psalms 90, verse 12, Amplified says, "...so teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom."
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Teach us to number our days.
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The living says, teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are.
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Help us to spend them as we should.
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So what is the purpose of that prayer?
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What was the purpose of these words?
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The goal is to gain a heart of wisdom which helps us to prioritize what matters most in light of eternity.
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When we recognize that living here isn't for here, that everything we're going to do here is going to determine where we rule and reign in the next life, you'll live your life a little more purpose-filled.
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You'll want to make sure that you're not just hearing the voice of God, but you're obeying the voice of God.
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For any of you that have read any of John Bevere books or read some of those that talked about Driven by Eternity, you recognize that God has a specific purpose and calling for us.
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And to hear, well done, good and faithful servant, is not about you just doing what you wanted to do and you accepted him as Savior.
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It's about you accepting him, but then making him Lord and then hearing what your assignment was and then following through with that assignment.
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And so I remember even as a Bible school student, Brother Keith would say, don't tell your kids they can be anything they want to be.
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Teach them how to hear the voice of God and say, you're going to be all that God's called you to be.
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Because that's going to be the biggest and the best lie for them.
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Because anything outside of that is not God's best.
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And so in this season, it's easier, the more mature you get in natural age, to go, I want to hear, I want to do, I want to follow through precisely what he's leading me to do.
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So the goal is to gain that heart of wisdom, helping us prioritize what matters in light of eternity.
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Ephesians 2 verse 10.
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For we are God's own handiwork, his workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, he planned beforehand for us, taking paths which he prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live."
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Now, this particular passage, the Holy Spirit gave me revelation on many, many years ago.
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Because I was so, didn't want to miss the purpose of God.
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Didn't want to marry the wrong one.
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Wanted to make sure I was in the center of his will.
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And I remember when I was reading in Ephesians, this particular passage just jumped off.
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Amplified version.
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And he said, Debbie, I've already written this out for you.
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I already have a God plan that I predestined.
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I've prepared it.
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I've made ready for you ahead of time.
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And that you can walk in it and then live the good life that I promised you.
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He said, the key is you live a surrendered life to me, my purpose.
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You ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and obey whatever he speaks.
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You don't have to make this happen.
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You don't have to, oh, if I'm just not at the right place, then I'm going to miss what God has.
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He's like, I know exactly where you're at.
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I know how to get you where you need to be.
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Quit putting the pressure on you.
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The pressure's on me.
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I'm the one who called you.
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I'm the one who gave you the gifting.
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I'm the one that knows the very steps that you need.
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But so many times in this world, as we naturally mature, as parents, we want our kids to take on more responsibility.
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But there's somewhere in...
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In there, I think the enemy many times deceives or distorts women.
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I'm sure he does with men too.
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I'm speaking to women.
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That we think it's all on us.
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I, I got to do this.
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I've got to become this.
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I've got to do this.
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And I can remember feeling this pressure.
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I'm big in responsibility.
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And that's good to a degree.
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But when I take on more than what's not even mine, then I'm missing it.
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And what he wants us to do is true faith is rest.
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To rest that in the love of God, that he loves me so much.
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Grow in my sensitivity to hear his voice.
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that I know that I hear him.
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He tells me I'm his sheep and that I'm gonna hear him, that I grow in my confidence.
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I remember when one of my mentors in my life said, I just wanna encourage you, you need to grow in your confidence to hear God, because you do, and it's obvious that you do, but you don't believe that you're hearing him.
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And so ask him to show you how to do that.
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We know what he sounds like because he sounds like his word, but I practice in the smallest of things.
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I lose something, I pray in the Spirit, I ask Him to reveal the hidden things, I get quiet, I listen.
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He tells me.
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And I get thrilled every time I find what it is.
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I'm like, if I can hear you about that, then I know I'm going to hear you about this.
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My husband jokes about it.
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He'll go, we lose anything, can't find something, can't remember, just ask Debbie.
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She prays in the Spirit, he tells her every time.
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And he'll get so tickled because he'll hear me somewhere in the house going...
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You're so good.
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You're so good to me.
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I mean, ladies, this may sound kind of, I don't know, to you.
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I can remember even just this last week, there was something specific I was looking for because I wanted to look a particular thing up in preparation for a meeting I'll be speaking at.
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And I was like, where is that?
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I stopped.
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I prayed.
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I heard, I could see it with my spirit eyes.
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I went up to that bookshelf, there it was.
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And I was like, okay, you just amazed me.
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You just amazed me.
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You are so awesome.
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But what it does is it encourages my heart that he loves and cares about something so small.
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Do you think he doesn't care about me fulfilling the divine purpose and plan, the very reason I was given life?
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Do you think that he hasn't heard that prayer that you've prayed every day for the last few weeks?
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Do you think he hasn't heard you about that loved one or that son or that daughter that has yet to make the decision that you want them to make because you know that's God's best?
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I think sometimes we begin to grade him by what we've seen manifested.
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And what he's wanting us to do is mature to a place that whether it's an immediate or there might be a season, my praiser doesn't decrease.
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My joy isn't affected.
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My countenance isn't showing what I've yet to walk in the fullness of.
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Now, I'm the one standing here, and it's real easy for me to be animated and to show you that.
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But I'm going to tell you, I get challenged with the same thing.
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Because in this new season, I went from running to...
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And then it was a whole new season.
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Even though my husband and I had stayed in traveling ministry, we weren't on the road.
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Our job demanded that we really came off the road for a lot.
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And we were even asked to slow it down.
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So in that season, I'm like, I'm going to have to remember to pack all this stuff.
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And we're going to set up.
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I mean, there's things I did my whole life.
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And then it's the open doors.
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There was nothing on the calendar.
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God just began opening the doors.
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I mean, there's these things that you just go, I know you told me.
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I'm going to trust you and say yes, and now I'm going to watch you walk out what you have for us.
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And it's been growing.
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I saw that there were muscles that had not been used in a little while in certain places.
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I had been using muscles in a different way for what my responsibilities were.
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And now it's different.
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And all of a sudden I went, what happened to that muscle?
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It used to be strong in my 20s and 30s.
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This one we used all the time.
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And now it's, hmm, same thing you do with your body.
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You pick the weight back up.
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And you speak life to the poor little thing.
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And you say you can do this.
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And that you are going to be led by the Holy Spirit.
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And that you're anointed and you're equipped and you're strengthened.
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And then you get another special age for your birthday.
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And, you know, everyone around you wants to tell you what that age means, even the government.
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And so you just kind of go, I'm a senior?
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Really?
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Well, I was telling Mary, well, then I'm going to use all those senior discounts they say that you get.
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If I'm truly a senior, I'm going to ask for discounts.
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But the point of this is, is that he loves us and he wants to lead us and he wants us to guide us.
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And he wants you to know you are his handiwork.
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He's created you and he's made you.
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And even though something you have prayed, I fail to say this very strongly, there's
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Someone here that you have prayed and specifically believe for something, and it did not happen or it has not happened, and you've allowed your disappointment to dictate your belief and your all-in to what he's asking of you.
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Because, ladies, let's just be really honest.
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We get disappointed sometimes when things don't happen the way we thought they were going to.
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But he wants us to mature that we can give him the disappointment and let him heal and let him refresh and let him refire what we don't understand.
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Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, trust him.
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Trust him.
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with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding.
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Acknowledge him.
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Keep acknowledging him in all your ways.
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And he said, I will direct your path.
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But sometimes we can get stuck in those places, and we've got to move past that.
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And...
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And the scripture that I would use out of 1 Peter 1.19 is that my life is not my own.
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I've been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
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So these hands are his.
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This voice is his.
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These feet are his.
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Every part of me is his.
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But it was a refreshing of a revelation that I go, God, my life is not my own.
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I've been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
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And ladies, when you will live in that revelation.
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Any desires that are carnal or selfish can quickly die away because you surrender and you replace it with his heart to say, I want your will, not mine.
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Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, showed us that by example, especially when he went to the cross.
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Not my will, but yours.
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And I think sometimes we don't recognize how much we've hung on to our will, how much we've hung on to the way I think it should be.
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How we've hung on to, I thought you said this and this was that.
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And this is a way I need it to be.
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To a place of surrender to say, God, I want your will, not mine.
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This is your life.
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It's in you I live and move and have my being.
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So I have an agenda for today, but you can do whatever you want to in it.
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And one thing that I have been doing in this new season, I've done it at seasons in my life, but it was something that I really felt very strong in...
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reestablishing and refreshing and resetting the table for the season that we're walking in.
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And in it, it was, I bind my will.
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We have the power of binding and loosing.
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I bind my will to the will of God.
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I bind my mind to the bind of Christ.
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I bind my emotions to the fruit of the Spirit every day.
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And then I agree with what you wrote in your book about me today.
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Lord, may I hear it and follow through with whatever you speak.
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Because what I know he wrote in his book, Psalms 139 says, before I was born to my mother's womb, he's written all of my days before there was one.
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They're going to be bigger and better than anything I could come up with, dream, or imagine.
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And what I want to know, especially in this season of my life, is that I'm hearing and that I'm doing, I'm obeying whatever his spirit speaks.
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And allowing him to reset my table and to direct and to show me things that I had not seen.
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Psalms 37 2 I said that our steps are directed and established the shortest thing that we're ever going to do is this life
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This life is the shortest thing we'll ever do, and many times we make it like it's the biggest thing because it's all we know.
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But ladies, we're not doing this for this short little pssst on earth.
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It's for eternity.
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The word says in James 4, 14 that our life is like a vapor.
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Now, I've never really liked that scripture.
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Who wants to, you know, you're on this earth, it's all you know, and you want to think, I don't want this thing to be short, Lord.
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You kind of want to think, so then you jump over to Psalms, and you want to say, with long life, he will satisfy me.
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You know, and we all are believing for that.
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I mean, I believe in healing.
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I believe in wholeness.
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I believe in us living that life.
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But I want you to say when we look in that sense, we do not see, and for lack of a better word, the urgency of what today is.
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When we're constantly thinking, I have a tomorrow, and the scripture tells us you're not even promised that, you have today.
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It's not to scare you, it's to say, right now is what counts.
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Right now is what you've got to get aimed for.
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Right now is what you've got to hear that you're supposed to walk in, because when you do, it now prepares you for tomorrow.
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Amen.
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It now is the preparation.
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And what I see now is all those years of all the different ways he's used my life in ministry is preparation for what he's called me to do today.
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There is something in the season of your life as you mature that you don't want to go back to those 20s.
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But I remember when I turned 60, the Holy Spirit said, Debbie, by age alone, I'm going
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your voice will have a greater impact for the next 10 years.
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I want you to hear and be sensitive to what I'm saying.
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And whether it's one person or a group, be careful to hear me because I'm going to use your voice to say things that will reap a bigger impact.
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Well, last week or two, September 12th, I turned 65.
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I am a official senior.
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I said the word.
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I probably will never say it again.
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It'll be out there on those airways for people to find.
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But I'm like, I've arrived.
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As seniorhood, at the same time feeling like this new season can make you feel unsettled.
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Because my life was very filled.
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And I didn't see how filled it was.
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There was little margin.
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There was little days off with the responsibilities.
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And now it was this part of, do I fill it all again?
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And those were the things that I began to see.
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It's like, no.
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I had you pray the prayer because I want you to do my highest and my best.
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And many times we can think more is higher and best.
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Quantity does not dictate whether it's God.
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And it doesn't mean that it's less.
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It means that you've got to be led by the Holy Spirit.
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And so in this, as we're coming to an end, I also want you to look at yourself and to say, God, are there things I've said yes to?
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that were my yeses and not yours?
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Are there places that I thought I was being led, but I've just quit listening to you in that area?
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Because one of the most precious things that I've seen in this season is that I now have margin to hear him in ways I had not been hearing him.
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The grace and the anointing was there to do what the job was and was needed.
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And there was fruit.
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We always prayed for there to be fruit to remain.
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But the sensitivity that I get to hear is...
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The people he's brought across my path that weren't in that church setting or in that lobby.
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And it's someone at a restaurant or it's someone at the Ulta Beauty Supply.
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And I get to take the extra time because I don't have to be right back.
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And I can tell them about Jesus.
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And I can lead them to the Lord.
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And I can get their phone number.
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And I can give them the scriptures.
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I'm still making disciples.
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But I'm getting to do it in a different way.
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And I'm doing it in that one-on-one.
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And I walked out of that altar that day and I went, wow, that was fun, God.
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I don't know the last time I had the time that I just could sit and go, hey, I'm good.
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Let me do this.
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And what he's doing in my life is even taking the time to enjoy my husband.
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Amen.
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Now, we don't have kids.
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It's just been Ty and I.
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But when you're running fast, and even though you're running at the same place, it's still different than when your heart is at rest, and you can look over and take an appreciation for the gift that he's given you in the husband you prayed for.
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And the relationship is different.
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The relationship is deepening.
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Because of our schedule and opportunities, he went to Branson this week to speak at a men's retreat.
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He just got back because we'll head back to Carthage for a women's retreat that I'll be speaking at and we'll minister together.
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I don't remember the last time we hadn't been apart.
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I thought I forgot how to sleep alone at my house.
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I mean, that was my whole life.
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You're single, you just do this.
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And I thought...
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Well, Holy Spirit, I got to make sure the doors are locked.
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What's his job?
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You know, all of a sudden there was like something different, but what it caused me to do is to go, it's just me and you, Lord.
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I know what this was like.
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And I want to hear you in ways I haven't heard you.
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Yes, absent makes that heart grow fonder, and we were both excited to be back together and to go on our trip together.
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But there was something sweet about even taking that moment and go, let me hear you.
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Let me hear you.
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Let me hear you in ways I haven't heard you.
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And ladies, that's what I want to encourage you, that no matter the season, and maybe you're like me, that there's been a shift in the season.
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And I think immediately I just tried to figure it out.
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Okay, it's this, now we're going to go to this.
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And he's like, oh no, I'm going to clear the plate here.
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And I'm going to refresh and refire things in you that you've forgotten about.
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And I'm going to put things in you and call things out of you that you thought were a past season.
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And.
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And I'm going to, again, have you walk out my highest and my best purposes.
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Now, ladies, here's the key.
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I've got to be sensitive to continue to hear him.
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And I've got to be careful and sensitive to obey what he says.
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But I want to encourage you tonight.
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There is a place that he is wanting each one of us to be.
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Yes, we read it.
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It is called the secret place.
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But it isn't just for a select.
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It's for you, his beloved.
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He wants you to live in the revelation of how much he loves you.
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Another thing that I've done is I've preached this for so many years, but I felt to go back, and I've been reading Ephesians chapter 1 through 3.
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And I specifically go over the Ephesians prayers in chapter 1 and chapter 3.
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And the revelation...
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The things that he's been bringing me through his scriptures, I'm like, how did I never see that?
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Oh my goodness, it goes to this, it goes to that.
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Right now I'm doing a study that he's showing me, taking me through the ten virgins, the wise and the foolish, and he's connecting these scriptures, and I'm like, this is amazing.
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How did I never see this?
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And I'm like, he's manifesting his prayer.
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And what I want you to see is he doesn't want just to do this for Debbie.
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He wants this for you.
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We are in the last of the last days.
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We are living in the time that out of all of the span of the earth, he chose you and he chose me to be alive, no matter what your age is.
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But he doesn't want us to be this little half...
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lit light.
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He wants us to be a bright light that is illuminating who he is and what he is.
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He wants us to have a sensitivity to his voice that we can hear and discern and know.
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Gifts of the Spirit aren't just for a church setting or a prayer meeting.
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They are for every day as you get out and walk out for your husband, your kids, your family, the person in the grocery store.
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He's wanting us to be this chapter of Acts that you saw manifested in greater measures.
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That's us.
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That's you.
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That's me.
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So I just want to challenge you tonight that you take this moment.
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In fact, I'm just going to ask you to close your eyes.
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And as I'm going to just speak and pray over you, that in this moment, you allow the Spirit of God, who is truth, to speak to you in a clearer, more definite way than ever before.
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That you will have a hunger and a thirst for His Word and for His Spirit.
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And that you will receive the revelation, knowledge, the wisdom, the direction, the precise steps that you are to walk in.
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when I talked about increasing in knowing that you hear God, he wants me to tell you, you do hear me.
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You do hear my voice.
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Now thank me when you hear me and act upon it.
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Because when you hear and you act upon it, that faith has the corresponding action.
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That's what activates that to manifest in your life.
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And let that activation be there with whatever it is, the step of action that he's showing you, then you're going to see the manifestation of what it is.
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Many of you have the word of God that's in you.
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But he's wanting to bring a greater revelation and refiring and refreshing.
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That it's not just, okay, I read my Bible for today.
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But it's like, oh my goodness, I've got to come back.
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And you can't wait for the day to be over with whatever your other obligations are so that you can come back and get in his presence and look and see what he's going to show you in his word.
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Lord, I pray your blessing on them.
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I thank you, Father, for tonight.
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I thank you for their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
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And Lord, I just thank you for your precious spirit that is in us, on us, and upon us, how he counsels and leads and guides and directs and strengthens and equips us.
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to walk out this beautiful life and God plan you've ordained and predestined for each one of us.
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May we live that good life, and may we bring honor to you in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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If this episode encouraged you, don't let it end here.
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Open your Bible, seek God's heart, and discover the life-changing power of his promises for yourself.
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Until next time, keep pursuing the God who changes everything.
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And I think immediately I just tried to figure it out.
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Okay, it's this, now we're going to go to this.
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And he's like, oh no, I'm going to clear the plate here.
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And I'm going to refresh and refire things in you that you've forgotten about.
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Welcome to the iRefresh podcast, where every conversation points to the life-changing power of God's living Word.
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Let's pursue God together, one conversation at a time.
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Tonight I'm going to share with you, and I want you to see that sometimes I think we look at people who are in ministry, or in full-time ministry, and they think...
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They never deal with that.
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They must never feel this, or I'm sure that question has never hit their mind.
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And what I want you to see is that it does in every one of us because we're human.
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Now, we're all spirits.
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We're human.
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that live in a body, that have a soul, a mind, will, and emotion.
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And when I was first coming to Christ, I accepted the Lord when I was a young little girl at five years of age.
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My parents were first-generation Christians, and I was raised in the church, and I received my prayer language when I was seven years old, and I never really walked away from that.
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I've sought Him.
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I've loved Him.
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But I will tell you, I was a very emotional, more tight person.
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Now, I was probably a little less outgoing as a child.
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I think in some ways I was somewhat shy.
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I know that might be a little challenging to believe, but I kind of was when I was younger.
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And then just learned how to express it.
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But I had to allow the Spirit of God to teach me how to be led by my spirit and not by my feelings or not by my emotions.
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So I think what happens is, is we, these emotions can start to dictate in our life directions that if it's not in line with this, it can take us off.
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Even as we mature, even as we're in Christ, that never means that the enemy is going to stop wanting to tempt us.
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to be led by our feelings versus our spirit.
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He's never going to just leave us alone and go, wow, well, she's really committed to Christ, so let's just move on to somebody else, okay?
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No, he's going to consistently want to challenge us, but greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world.
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And the power and authority that Jesus Christ has given you through his word is still powerful.
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And this is the most powerful sword you are ever going to have.
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And I will do nothing but encourage you to be led by the Holy Spirit and let this be the absolute guide for your life.
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So when we keep the word in us and we stay strengthened in the word, then our feelings will not override.
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Even when they seem really, really strong.
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I think sometimes we look at our lives and we think, this is what it's going to look like.
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And I was just sharing with my friend Brenda the other day, I was like, you know, my life has never really looked exactly like what I dreamed or thought.
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In so many ways, it's bigger and better, but in so many ways, I thought this was the direction and then we went left.
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Or I thought, this is where he's going and he went right.
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But either way, it's always been amazing.
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Because what I want you to hear is when we live this surrendered life to Christ,
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It will always be bigger and better than we dreamed or imagined.
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But that doesn't mean that in that transition or in that change of season that we don't refresh the surrender to Christ and we don't refresh the hearing God afresh and anew for the season that we're in.
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Everything changes.
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Everything changes from the momentum of what my life was to where it is now.
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It's in ministry, but it's in a totally different way.
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And you're revamping.
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You're resetting.
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You're finding your new rhythm of life.
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And I began to recognize things that I didn't realize how fast I was running.
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in that momentum.
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I didn't realize how much no margin to little margin did I have in areas of my life.
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There were things that immediately, as in that season change, that the Spirit of God began to show me and talk to me and tell me.
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And I began to go, did I not hear you before about this?
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Or was I not in a place that I could?
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And I don't really think for us it's a time to question, as it is a time to stay open and sensitive to the Holy Spirit.
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He is your guide.
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He is your counselor.
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He is your strengthener.
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He is your standby.
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He wants to do and to be all of these things when we allow him to.
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And so I will share more in some passages that he brought to me.
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But how all this came back to me is here we are months later, and I was actually cleaning some things in my garage.
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And I had a sermon on that Brother Keith was preaching, and he made a reference to this prayer.
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And I went...
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That prayer.
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When did I pray that prayer?
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And so I pull my notes out.
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I look out when I had heard it.
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And I heard the Spirit of God say on the inside of me, You are walking in the season that you are today because of the faith you released when you prayed the prayer.
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This is a fulfillment of what I had you pray.
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So when you realize that the Spirit of God is leading you, because part of this ministry is huge in prayer, and that I want to encourage you, we do know this, but sometimes we've got to hear it again.
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Those effectual, fervent, heartfelt prayers, they avail much.
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And when we are truly being led by the Holy Spirit, you didn't just pray it for the fun of it.
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You just didn't pray it because you thought, woo, that sounded like a good prayer today.
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The Holy Spirit is inspiring you to pray what he's wanting to fulfill in the days ahead of your life.
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He's truth, and you can trust him.
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So here's the prayer.
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Father God, you told us to redeem the time, so we are asking you to help us to be aware of how short it is and not waste it.
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Give us wisdom, awareness, and understanding.
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Grace us, quicken us, lead us so that we use our remaining days, our remaining strength, our remaining resources and opportunities for your highest purposes, your best uses.
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I ask it in Jesus' name.
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Lord, I'm in your hand.
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I'm yours to command in Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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when I began to pray that, his highest, his best, I've always been one of those that I don't want to get to heaven and go, okay, here's what I had for you, but you wouldn't use your faith, or you didn't hear and obey me, and so this is what you live, but this is what I had.
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I always want his highest and his best.
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And I think as I began to mature in age, that I...
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You look at your life different.
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For you younger ones, it just kind of happens.
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All of a sudden you go, how did I get to this age?
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And then you go, well, thank God we're here.
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But now what?
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What does this look like?
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What does this mean?
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Because I don't think any of us ever, you know, think about past 30, you know, maybe 40.
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But I mean, you don't really think at those ages what they're going to look like or what they're going to hold.
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But I always wanted his highest and I always wanted his best.
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What I realize now as I talk about this and I look back, that there was an area that I believe the Spirit of God was speaking to me.
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that he was trying to talk to me about, but maybe I allowed, and I don't blame anyone, I take responsibility, I allowed the momentum of my life.
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I allowed the choices and responsibilities I took on to hinder me in really maybe having the sensitivity that I could have.
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You know, maybe there should have been a no versus yes, you know.
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And I think it's so important that we really ask him to lead us and to show us that we're saying yes to what he wants to say yes to.
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And no to what he wants us to say no to because we are responsible for hearing and following the voice of God.
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So if you have your Bibles, I'm going to have you turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
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We're going to look at verses 15 through 17.
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Now the King James Version says, See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil.
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So I want you to see that it's important that we live in a place.
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It wasn't just a prayer that I believe that was for me.
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I really believe one of the messages of my heart that the Holy Spirit has put on anywhere I speak or one-on-one or group setting is to encourage, exhort whoever that is to hear the voice of God and to recognize the season and the time that we're in.
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In this season, it's not business as usual.
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In this season, we very well can be the ones that usher in the coming of Christ.
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I believe that.
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So for the body to function the way he's called us to, to come back for a bride truly without spot or wrinkle, we've got to be in the position that he's leading us in.
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We've got to not just be kind to in.
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We need to be all in.
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It's like with your body.
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When, you know, just pick any organ that doesn't work like it's supposed to, and it can affect every other part of the body.
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When the body functions, all the organs function, muscles, tendons, everything else, function the way it's supposed to, your body feels great, and it functions the way it's supposed to.
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We are making up this body of Christ,
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And I want to challenge and encourage you, there's a specific place he has for you to walk in.
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The gifting, the calling he put inside of you is for something specific.
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And it wasn't just for in your 20s or your 40s or your 60s.
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You have breath in your body.
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There's purpose within you.
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And there's a specific part you are to play in the body.
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Now, let's not just do some half-baked job of it.
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Let's be fully in, anointed, and equipped in what he's calling us to do.
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And so, it's important that we're making the most of the time.
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I wanted to show you by Scripture, Psalms 90, verse 12, Amplified says, "...so teach us to number our days, that we may get us a heart of wisdom."
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Teach us to number our days.
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The living says, teach us to number our days and recognize how few they are.
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Help us to spend them as we should.
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So what is the purpose of that prayer?
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What was the purpose of these words?
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The goal is to gain a heart of wisdom which helps us to prioritize what matters most in light of eternity.
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When we recognize that living here isn't for here, that everything we're going to do here is going to determine where we rule and reign in the next life, you'll live your life a little more purpose-filled.
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You'll want to make sure that you're not just hearing the voice of God, but you're obeying the voice of God.
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For any of you that have read any of John Bevere books or read some of those that talked about Driven by Eternity, you recognize that God has a specific purpose and calling for us.
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And to hear, well done, good and faithful servant, is not about you just doing what you wanted to do and you accepted him as Savior.
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It's about you accepting him, but then making him Lord and then hearing what your assignment was and then following through with that assignment.
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And so I remember even as a Bible school student, Brother Keith would say, don't tell your kids they can be anything they want to be.
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Teach them how to hear the voice of God and say, you're going to be all that God's called you to be.
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Because that's going to be the biggest and the best lie for them.
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Because anything outside of that is not God's best.
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And so in this season, it's easier, the more mature you get in natural age, to go, I want to hear, I want to do, I want to follow through precisely what he's leading me to do.
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So the goal is to gain that heart of wisdom, helping us prioritize what matters in light of eternity.
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Ephesians 2 verse 10.
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For we are God's own handiwork, his workmanship, recreated in Christ Jesus, born anew, that we may do those good works which God predestined, he planned beforehand for us, taking paths which he prepared ahead of time, that we should walk in them, living the good life which he prearranged and made ready for us to live."
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Now, this particular passage, the Holy Spirit gave me revelation on many, many years ago.
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Because I was so, didn't want to miss the purpose of God.
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Didn't want to marry the wrong one.
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Wanted to make sure I was in the center of his will.
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And I remember when I was reading in Ephesians, this particular passage just jumped off.
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Amplified version.
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And he said, Debbie, I've already written this out for you.
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I already have a God plan that I predestined.
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I've prepared it.
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I've made ready for you ahead of time.
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And that you can walk in it and then live the good life that I promised you.
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He said, the key is you live a surrendered life to me, my purpose.
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You ask the Holy Spirit to guide you and obey whatever he speaks.
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You don't have to make this happen.
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You don't have to, oh, if I'm just not at the right place, then I'm going to miss what God has.
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He's like, I know exactly where you're at.
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I know how to get you where you need to be.
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Quit putting the pressure on you.
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The pressure's on me.
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I'm the one who called you.
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I'm the one who gave you the gifting.
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I'm the one that knows the very steps that you need.
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But so many times in this world, as we naturally mature, as parents, we want our kids to take on more responsibility.
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But there's somewhere in...
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In there, I think the enemy many times deceives or distorts women.
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I'm sure he does with men too.
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I'm speaking to women.
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That we think it's all on us.
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I, I got to do this.
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I've got to become this.
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I've got to do this.
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And I can remember feeling this pressure.
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I'm big in responsibility.
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And that's good to a degree.
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But when I take on more than what's not even mine, then I'm missing it.
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And what he wants us to do is true faith is rest.
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To rest that in the love of God, that he loves me so much.
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Grow in my sensitivity to hear his voice.
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that I know that I hear him.
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He tells me I'm his sheep and that I'm gonna hear him, that I grow in my confidence.
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I remember when one of my mentors in my life said, I just wanna encourage you, you need to grow in your confidence to hear God, because you do, and it's obvious that you do, but you don't believe that you're hearing him.
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And so ask him to show you how to do that.
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We know what he sounds like because he sounds like his word, but I practice in the smallest of things.
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I lose something, I pray in the Spirit, I ask Him to reveal the hidden things, I get quiet, I listen.
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He tells me.
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And I get thrilled every time I find what it is.
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I'm like, if I can hear you about that, then I know I'm going to hear you about this.
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My husband jokes about it.
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He'll go, we lose anything, can't find something, can't remember, just ask Debbie.
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She prays in the Spirit, he tells her every time.
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And he'll get so tickled because he'll hear me somewhere in the house going...
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You're so good.
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You're so good to me.
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I mean, ladies, this may sound kind of, I don't know, to you.
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I can remember even just this last week, there was something specific I was looking for because I wanted to look a particular thing up in preparation for a meeting I'll be speaking at.
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And I was like, where is that?
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I stopped.
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I prayed.
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I heard, I could see it with my spirit eyes.
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I went up to that bookshelf, there it was.
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And I was like, okay, you just amazed me.
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You just amazed me.
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You are so awesome.
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But what it does is it encourages my heart that he loves and cares about something so small.
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Do you think he doesn't care about me fulfilling the divine purpose and plan, the very reason I was given life?
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Do you think that he hasn't heard that prayer that you've prayed every day for the last few weeks?
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Do you think he hasn't heard you about that loved one or that son or that daughter that has yet to make the decision that you want them to make because you know that's God's best?
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I think sometimes we begin to grade him by what we've seen manifested.
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And what he's wanting us to do is mature to a place that whether it's an immediate or there might be a season, my praiser doesn't decrease.
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My joy isn't affected.
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My countenance isn't showing what I've yet to walk in the fullness of.
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Now, I'm the one standing here, and it's real easy for me to be animated and to show you that.
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But I'm going to tell you, I get challenged with the same thing.
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Because in this new season, I went from running to...
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And then it was a whole new season.
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Even though my husband and I had stayed in traveling ministry, we weren't on the road.
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Our job demanded that we really came off the road for a lot.
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And we were even asked to slow it down.
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So in that season, I'm like, I'm going to have to remember to pack all this stuff.
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And we're going to set up.
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I mean, there's things I did my whole life.
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And then it's the open doors.
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There was nothing on the calendar.
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God just began opening the doors.
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I mean, there's these things that you just go, I know you told me.
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I'm going to trust you and say yes, and now I'm going to watch you walk out what you have for us.
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And it's been growing.
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I saw that there were muscles that had not been used in a little while in certain places.
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I had been using muscles in a different way for what my responsibilities were.
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And now it's different.
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And all of a sudden I went, what happened to that muscle?
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It used to be strong in my 20s and 30s.
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This one we used all the time.
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And now it's, hmm, same thing you do with your body.
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You pick the weight back up.
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And you speak life to the poor little thing.
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And you say you can do this.
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And that you are going to be led by the Holy Spirit.
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And that you're anointed and you're equipped and you're strengthened.
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And then you get another special age for your birthday.
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And, you know, everyone around you wants to tell you what that age means, even the government.
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And so you just kind of go, I'm a senior?
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Really?
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Well, I was telling Mary, well, then I'm going to use all those senior discounts they say that you get.
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If I'm truly a senior, I'm going to ask for discounts.
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But the point of this is, is that he loves us and he wants to lead us and he wants us to guide us.
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And he wants you to know you are his handiwork.
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He's created you and he's made you.
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And even though something you have prayed, I fail to say this very strongly, there's
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Someone here that you have prayed and specifically believe for something, and it did not happen or it has not happened, and you've allowed your disappointment to dictate your belief and your all-in to what he's asking of you.
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Because, ladies, let's just be really honest.
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We get disappointed sometimes when things don't happen the way we thought they were going to.
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But he wants us to mature that we can give him the disappointment and let him heal and let him refresh and let him refire what we don't understand.
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Proverbs 3, 5, and 6 says, trust him.
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Trust him.
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with all your heart, don't lean on your own understanding.
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Acknowledge him.
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Keep acknowledging him in all your ways.
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And he said, I will direct your path.
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But sometimes we can get stuck in those places, and we've got to move past that.
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And...
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And the scripture that I would use out of 1 Peter 1.19 is that my life is not my own.
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I've been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
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So these hands are his.
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This voice is his.
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These feet are his.
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Every part of me is his.
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But it was a refreshing of a revelation that I go, God, my life is not my own.
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I've been bought with the precious blood of Jesus Christ.
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And ladies, when you will live in that revelation.
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Any desires that are carnal or selfish can quickly die away because you surrender and you replace it with his heart to say, I want your will, not mine.
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Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, showed us that by example, especially when he went to the cross.
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Not my will, but yours.
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And I think sometimes we don't recognize how much we've hung on to our will, how much we've hung on to the way I think it should be.
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How we've hung on to, I thought you said this and this was that.
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And this is a way I need it to be.
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To a place of surrender to say, God, I want your will, not mine.
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This is your life.
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It's in you I live and move and have my being.
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So I have an agenda for today, but you can do whatever you want to in it.
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And one thing that I have been doing in this new season, I've done it at seasons in my life, but it was something that I really felt very strong in...
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reestablishing and refreshing and resetting the table for the season that we're walking in.
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And in it, it was, I bind my will.
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We have the power of binding and loosing.
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I bind my will to the will of God.
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I bind my mind to the bind of Christ.
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I bind my emotions to the fruit of the Spirit every day.
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And then I agree with what you wrote in your book about me today.
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Lord, may I hear it and follow through with whatever you speak.
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Because what I know he wrote in his book, Psalms 139 says, before I was born to my mother's womb, he's written all of my days before there was one.
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They're going to be bigger and better than anything I could come up with, dream, or imagine.
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And what I want to know, especially in this season of my life, is that I'm hearing and that I'm doing, I'm obeying whatever his spirit speaks.
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And allowing him to reset my table and to direct and to show me things that I had not seen.
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Psalms 37 2 I said that our steps are directed and established the shortest thing that we're ever going to do is this life
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This life is the shortest thing we'll ever do, and many times we make it like it's the biggest thing because it's all we know.
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But ladies, we're not doing this for this short little pssst on earth.
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It's for eternity.
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The word says in James 4, 14 that our life is like a vapor.
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Now, I've never really liked that scripture.
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Who wants to, you know, you're on this earth, it's all you know, and you want to think, I don't want this thing to be short, Lord.
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You kind of want to think, so then you jump over to Psalms, and you want to say, with long life, he will satisfy me.
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You know, and we all are believing for that.
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I mean, I believe in healing.
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I believe in wholeness.
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I believe in us living that life.
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But I want you to say when we look in that sense, we do not see, and for lack of a better word, the urgency of what today is.
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When we're constantly thinking, I have a tomorrow, and the scripture tells us you're not even promised that, you have today.
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It's not to scare you, it's to say, right now is what counts.
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Right now is what you've got to get aimed for.
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Right now is what you've got to hear that you're supposed to walk in, because when you do, it now prepares you for tomorrow.
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Amen.
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It now is the preparation.
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And what I see now is all those years of all the different ways he's used my life in ministry is preparation for what he's called me to do today.
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There is something in the season of your life as you mature that you don't want to go back to those 20s.
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But I remember when I turned 60, the Holy Spirit said, Debbie, by age alone, I'm going
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your voice will have a greater impact for the next 10 years.
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I want you to hear and be sensitive to what I'm saying.
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And whether it's one person or a group, be careful to hear me because I'm going to use your voice to say things that will reap a bigger impact.
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Well, last week or two, September 12th, I turned 65.
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I am a official senior.
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I said the word.
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I probably will never say it again.
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It'll be out there on those airways for people to find.
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But I'm like, I've arrived.
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As seniorhood, at the same time feeling like this new season can make you feel unsettled.
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Because my life was very filled.
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And I didn't see how filled it was.
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There was little margin.
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There was little days off with the responsibilities.
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And now it was this part of, do I fill it all again?
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And those were the things that I began to see.
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It's like, no.
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I had you pray the prayer because I want you to do my highest and my best.
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And many times we can think more is higher and best.
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Quantity does not dictate whether it's God.
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And it doesn't mean that it's less.
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It means that you've got to be led by the Holy Spirit.
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And so in this, as we're coming to an end, I also want you to look at yourself and to say, God, are there things I've said yes to?
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that were my yeses and not yours?
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Are there places that I thought I was being led, but I've just quit listening to you in that area?
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Because one of the most precious things that I've seen in this season is that I now have margin to hear him in ways I had not been hearing him.
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The grace and the anointing was there to do what the job was and was needed.
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And there was fruit.
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We always prayed for there to be fruit to remain.
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But the sensitivity that I get to hear is...
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The people he's brought across my path that weren't in that church setting or in that lobby.
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And it's someone at a restaurant or it's someone at the Ulta Beauty Supply.
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And I get to take the extra time because I don't have to be right back.
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And I can tell them about Jesus.
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And I can lead them to the Lord.
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And I can get their phone number.
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And I can give them the scriptures.
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I'm still making disciples.
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But I'm getting to do it in a different way.
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And I'm doing it in that one-on-one.
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And I walked out of that altar that day and I went, wow, that was fun, God.
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I don't know the last time I had the time that I just could sit and go, hey, I'm good.
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Let me do this.
366
00:27:28.852 --> 00:27:34.256
And what he's doing in my life is even taking the time to enjoy my husband.
367
00:27:34.276 --> 00:27:34.376
Amen.
368
00:27:34.516 --> 00:27:35.697
Now, we don't have kids.
369
00:27:35.757 --> 00:27:36.977
It's just been Ty and I.
370
00:27:37.678 --> 00:27:50.945
But when you're running fast, and even though you're running at the same place, it's still different than when your heart is at rest, and you can look over and take an appreciation for the gift that he's given you in the husband you prayed for.
371
00:27:52.045 --> 00:27:54.226
And the relationship is different.
372
00:27:54.586 --> 00:27:56.247
The relationship is deepening.
373
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Because of our schedule and opportunities, he went to Branson this week to speak at a men's retreat.
374
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He just got back because we'll head back to Carthage for a women's retreat that I'll be speaking at and we'll minister together.
375
00:28:11.692 --> 00:28:13.973
I don't remember the last time we hadn't been apart.
376
00:28:14.553 --> 00:28:16.774
I thought I forgot how to sleep alone at my house.
377
00:28:17.174 --> 00:28:18.574
I mean, that was my whole life.
378
00:28:18.594 --> 00:28:19.875
You're single, you just do this.
379
00:28:20.015 --> 00:28:20.595
And I thought...
380
00:28:21.175 --> 00:28:26.078
Well, Holy Spirit, I got to make sure the doors are locked.
381
00:28:26.138 --> 00:28:26.878
What's his job?
382
00:28:26.898 --> 00:28:33.902
You know, all of a sudden there was like something different, but what it caused me to do is to go, it's just me and you, Lord.
383
00:28:34.362 --> 00:28:35.683
I know what this was like.
384
00:28:36.263 --> 00:28:39.065
And I want to hear you in ways I haven't heard you.
385
00:28:39.585 --> 00:28:46.467
Yes, absent makes that heart grow fonder, and we were both excited to be back together and to go on our trip together.
386
00:28:46.507 --> 00:28:51.488
But there was something sweet about even taking that moment and go, let me hear you.
387
00:28:52.348 --> 00:28:53.468
Let me hear you.
388
00:28:54.148 --> 00:28:56.669
Let me hear you in ways I haven't heard you.
389
00:28:57.749 --> 00:29:04.031
And ladies, that's what I want to encourage you, that no matter the season, and maybe you're like me, that there's been a shift in the season.
390
00:29:05.652 --> 00:29:07.774
And I think immediately I just tried to figure it out.
391
00:29:07.854 --> 00:29:09.195
Okay, it's this, now we're going to go to this.
392
00:29:09.215 --> 00:29:13.178
And he's like, oh no, I'm going to clear the plate here.
393
00:29:13.619 --> 00:29:17.702
And I'm going to refresh and refire things in you that you've forgotten about.
394
00:29:18.503 --> 00:29:24.248
And I'm going to put things in you and call things out of you that you thought were a past season.
395
00:29:24.268 --> 00:29:24.368
And.
396
00:29:25.843 --> 00:29:32.845
And I'm going to, again, have you walk out my highest and my best purposes.
397
00:29:32.985 --> 00:29:34.105
Now, ladies, here's the key.
398
00:29:34.665 --> 00:29:36.686
I've got to be sensitive to continue to hear him.
399
00:29:37.266 --> 00:29:41.447
And I've got to be careful and sensitive to obey what he says.
400
00:29:42.547 --> 00:29:44.288
But I want to encourage you tonight.
401
00:29:44.928 --> 00:29:48.629
There is a place that he is wanting each one of us to be.
402
00:29:49.869 --> 00:29:50.909
Yes, we read it.
403
00:29:51.189 --> 00:29:52.990
It is called the secret place.
404
00:29:54.339 --> 00:29:56.360
But it isn't just for a select.
405
00:29:57.120 --> 00:29:58.601
It's for you, his beloved.
406
00:29:59.882 --> 00:30:03.164
He wants you to live in the revelation of how much he loves you.
407
00:30:03.964 --> 00:30:11.568
Another thing that I've done is I've preached this for so many years, but I felt to go back, and I've been reading Ephesians chapter 1 through 3.
408
00:30:12.489 --> 00:30:16.371
And I specifically go over the Ephesians prayers in chapter 1 and chapter 3.
409
00:30:17.111 --> 00:30:18.112
And the revelation...
410
00:30:18.992 --> 00:30:23.437
The things that he's been bringing me through his scriptures, I'm like, how did I never see that?
411
00:30:23.918 --> 00:30:26.040
Oh my goodness, it goes to this, it goes to that.
412
00:30:26.401 --> 00:30:35.672
Right now I'm doing a study that he's showing me, taking me through the ten virgins, the wise and the foolish, and he's connecting these scriptures, and I'm like, this is amazing.
413
00:30:35.712 --> 00:30:37.073
How did I never see this?
414
00:30:37.834 --> 00:30:40.576
And I'm like, he's manifesting his prayer.
415
00:30:40.956 --> 00:30:44.998
And what I want you to see is he doesn't want just to do this for Debbie.
416
00:30:45.558 --> 00:30:46.619
He wants this for you.
417
00:30:47.359 --> 00:30:49.240
We are in the last of the last days.
418
00:30:49.800 --> 00:30:57.164
We are living in the time that out of all of the span of the earth, he chose you and he chose me to be alive, no matter what your age is.
419
00:30:57.664 --> 00:31:00.386
But he doesn't want us to be this little half...
420
00:31:01.446 --> 00:31:02.186
lit light.
421
00:31:02.766 --> 00:31:08.708
He wants us to be a bright light that is illuminating who he is and what he is.
422
00:31:09.128 --> 00:31:14.209
He wants us to have a sensitivity to his voice that we can hear and discern and know.
423
00:31:14.269 --> 00:31:17.470
Gifts of the Spirit aren't just for a church setting or a prayer meeting.
424
00:31:17.770 --> 00:31:24.232
They are for every day as you get out and walk out for your husband, your kids, your family, the person in the grocery store.
425
00:31:24.512 --> 00:31:30.457
He's wanting us to be this chapter of Acts that you saw manifested in greater measures.
426
00:31:30.598 --> 00:31:31.238
That's us.
427
00:31:31.679 --> 00:31:32.259
That's you.
428
00:31:32.679 --> 00:31:33.280
That's me.
429
00:31:34.101 --> 00:31:38.184
So I just want to challenge you tonight that you take this moment.
430
00:31:38.224 --> 00:31:40.086
In fact, I'm just going to ask you to close your eyes.
431
00:31:41.247 --> 00:31:54.671
And as I'm going to just speak and pray over you, that in this moment, you allow the Spirit of God, who is truth, to speak to you in a clearer, more definite way than ever before.
432
00:31:55.952 --> 00:32:00.353
That you will have a hunger and a thirst for His Word and for His Spirit.
433
00:32:01.273 --> 00:32:10.236
And that you will receive the revelation, knowledge, the wisdom, the direction, the precise steps that you are to walk in.
434
00:32:11.897 --> 00:32:17.900
when I talked about increasing in knowing that you hear God, he wants me to tell you, you do hear me.
435
00:32:18.840 --> 00:32:20.081
You do hear my voice.
436
00:32:21.662 --> 00:32:24.683
Now thank me when you hear me and act upon it.
437
00:32:25.283 --> 00:32:30.046
Because when you hear and you act upon it, that faith has the corresponding action.
438
00:32:30.246 --> 00:32:32.847
That's what activates that to manifest in your life.
439
00:32:33.347 --> 00:32:41.031
And let that activation be there with whatever it is, the step of action that he's showing you, then you're going to see the manifestation of what it is.
440
00:32:42.417 --> 00:32:44.617
Many of you have the word of God that's in you.
441
00:32:46.598 --> 00:32:51.739
But he's wanting to bring a greater revelation and refiring and refreshing.
442
00:32:52.319 --> 00:32:55.139
That it's not just, okay, I read my Bible for today.
443
00:32:55.600 --> 00:32:58.240
But it's like, oh my goodness, I've got to come back.
444
00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:08.202
And you can't wait for the day to be over with whatever your other obligations are so that you can come back and get in his presence and look and see what he's going to show you in his word.
445
00:33:09.282 --> 00:33:10.783
Lord, I pray your blessing on them.
446
00:33:11.604 --> 00:33:13.666
I thank you, Father, for tonight.
447
00:33:13.966 --> 00:33:18.050
I thank you for their sensitivity to the Holy Spirit.
448
00:33:19.051 --> 00:33:30.061
And Lord, I just thank you for your precious spirit that is in us, on us, and upon us, how he counsels and leads and guides and directs and strengthens and equips us.
449
00:33:30.962 --> 00:33:38.246
to walk out this beautiful life and God plan you've ordained and predestined for each one of us.
450
00:33:38.467 --> 00:33:43.069
May we live that good life, and may we bring honor to you in Jesus' name.
451
00:33:43.910 --> 00:33:44.250
Amen.
452
00:33:44.710 --> 00:33:47.612
If this episode encouraged you, don't let it end here.
453
00:33:48.112 --> 00:33:54.016
Open your Bible, seek God's heart, and discover the life-changing power of his promises for yourself.
454
00:33:54.396 --> 00:33:58.559
Until next time, keep pursuing the God who changes everything.