The Shadow of Greatness

How do you survive the shadow of greatness when you feel little, but you’re hungry? It starts by filling today’s cup, however small that is, and remembering that within you there is One who is greater. With every twist, things are turning for good. God’s intention is not to bury you in the shadow, but to keep you little. Because when you’re little, He can prime you into position. And when you’re hungry, nothing will stop you from getting there. God has a breakthrough with your name stamped on it!

Today…….I am asking all my prayer warriors to say a prayer that may help others. So many people are hurting right now. Many are struggling with finances and need jobs. Some are facing foreclosure and don’t even know how they are going to make it from week to week..

Many are lonely. . Many are heartbroken. . Many are facing sickness and health is fading. . Some are dealing with difficult family members. Many have lost HOPE.. Tonight, let us put our prayers and faith together decree and declare breakthrough over our families. Financial miracles WILL take place. Jobs WILL be found. Our Bodies WILL be made whole & sickness WILL flee. Marriages and relationships WILL be restored. Family members WILL find Jesus. Heartbreaks WILL be healed. JOY WILL be restored and HOPE WILL be found. In Jesus Name. Amen!!!!!! Keep God First…….

I was praying about what I could share with you.
And um not just about my dad’s life, but about your life asking God, how can we use this moment where we’re celebrating bishop to also take inventory of our own lives to also be stretched, changed and transformed in our own life.
And I believe God has given me a word that will be helpful.
So I’m just going to ask that you would be patient with me as I was praying on the way in though I couldn’t figure out.
So I study and I prepare for my word.
But then I know also that God has a word for me before I step into the moment.
And as I was praying like God, what is the word that I need to have with me?
As I step into this moment, I felt God tell me two things.
I’m on the way, felt God say, I’m gonna meet you there.
Then I felt God say there is great glory assigned to this day.
And I don’t know exactly what it means.
But I believe that somewhere along the line as we’re in this message that God is going to make it clear what that means.
But if you sense glory, don’t hold it in because I believe we’re gonna push each other into whatever it is.
God has for us in our time together.
I’m gonna be in First Kings chapter three.
If you’re visiting and you just sat down, welcome to the Potter’s house.
We stand for the reading of the word.
Yes, you’ve been standing during worship, but I promise we’ll be fast.
I’m so honored to be here.
It’s always just incredible to come home and serve in the place that grew me up and raised me.
I have to tell you, I’m super excited in November.
I’m gonna be hosting my women’s conference here in Dallas at the Potter’s House of Dallas.
It’s November 5th through the sixth and we have some limited in person seats available, but we also have a virtual experience and I asked our team if we could just have a discount like a family discount because the Potter’s house, Dallas is family and they told me that we would have a promo code for $10 off registration.
All you have to do is use the code Dallas.
I have been praying about what this moment will mean for every woman connected to it.
And God just told me that this is gonna be a space in which women can come and finally exhale.
I don’t know who else has been holding their breath in this season.
But God told me that woman evolve is gonna change and it’s gonna be woman exhale and that women are gonna stop holding their breath and inhale God’s presence.
And so if you know a woman or a woman, I want you to meet us here, November 5th through sixth for Woman Evolve online or in person.
And there’s even registration outside today. You can get a free gift if you register today.
First Kings three, I’m gonna start in verse four.
My subject is the shadow of greatness, the shadow of greatness.
And I’m going to start in verse four.
If anyone’s wondering, reading out loud is the most intimidating part of preaching.
And I’ve got eight scriptures for you. Amen. This is Solomon.
Solomon is king at this time, Solomon, the son of David has become king and after securing his position and expanding his territory, he goes to the high place.
He has an intimate encounter with the Lord.
And my text begins, it says now the king went to Gideon to sacrifice there for that was the great high place.
Solomon offered 1000 burn offerings on that altar at Gideon.
The Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night and God said, ask what I shall give you.
And Solomon said, you have shown great mercy to your servant David, my father because he walked before you in truth, in righteousness and in uprightness of heart with you.
You have continued this great kindness for him.
And you have given him a son to sit on his throne as it is this day. Now.
Oh Lord, my God, you have made your servant king instead of my father David.
But I am a little child.
I do not know how to go out or come in and your servant is in the midst of your people whom you have chosen a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.
Therefore, give to your servant an understanding heart to judge your people that I may discern between good and evil for who was able to judge this great people of yours.
This speech, the speech pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing.
Then God said to Him because you have asked this thing and you have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked for riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold I have done according to your words.
See, I have given you a wise and understanding heart so that there has not been anyone like you before you, nor shall anyone like you arise after you?
Spirit of the living God fall in this place as only you can do.
God, you have already decided what this moment will be in heaven.
Our job is to be free enough and open enough to receive everything that this moment has for us. Father.
I pray that in this moment, there would be no distractions that we would not be plagued by the questions or the fears, but that we would clear the channel and that you would speak so clearly.
Father, let there be none of me and only you.
No nerves, no anxiety, no weariness, gather your strength, your power standing on the inside of me.
To the extent that lives would be changed, that curses would be broken, that hell itself would back up off of your people because that’s what happens when you breathe in a room, God and don’t just breathe in this room, God, while they’re in this room, breathe in their house.
God breathe in their car. God breathe over their families. God don’t let it just happen in this room.
Let it happen to every room they ever walk in that your breath would meet them before they even step into it because we know you’ve gone ahead of us and you have certainly made every crooked path straight.
We turn this service over to you and we say have your way.
Great God that you are in Jesus name. I pray. Amen. Amen again.
You can sit down now and you don’t have to worry about standing again until it’s time to go home.
You ain’t got to go home. She got to get up out of here.
You know, I don’t know if I’m the only one who’s ever had this experience, but there have been moments where I’ve had an idea or opportunity.
That is so great that I didn’t even know where to start.
It’s like in my mind, I understand that I wanna write a book and I know that that entails getting a laptop.
But how do I actually write the book or moments where you’re maybe starting a podcast or even trying to get sober?
There are moments in our life where we have a great opportunity but we don’t have the small steps.
God, what do I do with the greatness that is within reach.
But yet so far away, I was thinking about this, this notion that we can have a great opportunity but not get started because we don’t understand the small steps or we are discouraged by the process connected to greatness.
And so instead we stay stuck often stagnant, not because we don’t know how to get started, but because we don’t know how to finish, it would be one thing if I knew how to finish.
But sometimes there is a process connected to greatness that is intimidating because I don’t know what I’m gonna have to go through in order to get to that final vision that God has casted for me.
There’s a metadata engineer named John Saddington and he created this graphic and it’s called the emotional journey of creating anything great.
I don’t know whether or not they have this graphic to put on the screen.
But in this grass, it’s almost like there is this ramp from getting to great idea to manifestation of greatness.
And what happens in the ramp is that you start off high before you actually go down.
When you start off high, you have thoughts that like this is a good idea and I can’t wait to get this started.
But the more that you begin to pursue that greatness, you recognize that this is gonna be harder than I thought that I’m not as qualified as I thought.
And little by little what started off Hyde now begins to descend into what I like to call the shadow of greatness.
It is the shadow that we must all survive in order to actually step into greatness.
All of us in this room are living in the shadow of greatness, not just a great opportunity, but sometimes it’s great grief.
Sometimes when we hear the word greatness, we automatically assume that that greatness is something that is good and exciting.
But there are some moments where the greatness feels like the valley of the shadow of death.
And the shadow is where we get stuck in the pursuit of greatness.
And I was praying about this message and asking God to reveal to me the steps that we need to take in order to survive the shadow of greatness, the unavoidable moments in which our, our tenacity and our strength is put on test because we aren’t sure whether or not we can actually measure up to that it’s where we get stuck.
It’s where we start to give up. It’s where we become divided. I wanna have a great marriage.
But now that I’m in the marriage, I realize that the shadow of having a great marriage means I have to survive that we don’t know how to communicate.
I wanna start a business and I wanna have a great business.
But in order to have a great business, I have to survive the shadow that comes with me not knowing anything about numbers or building a website or marketing.
I wanna be a great person.
I wanna overcome and have integrity, but I have to survive the shadow of greatness.
And there are some moments where I think I’m just gonna die in the shadow of greatness that I won’t actually be able to experience it at all.
Maybe that great marriage isn’t for me. Maybe the wholeness isn’t for me. Maybe the happiness isn’t for me.
It’s what happens in the shadow that deters us from moving forward.
This is why Paul tells the church in Galatians to not be weary and they’re well doing.
Paul had to write this letter to the church of Galatia because he recognized that if they don’t survive the shadow of greatness, then they will become divided and the church will not be established.
He was trying to tell them you gotta survive the shadows, you gotta stick together in the shadows, you gotta be focused in the shadow you gotta persevere in the shadow.
I know the shadow was trying to divide you but don’t lose heart in the shadow, keep your heart and maintain your faith.
Because if you keep going, you’re gonna reap God, you’re gonna reap.
If you don’t faint, you gotta stay plugged in, in the shadow. I’m raising that child in the shadow.
I whose word is this? Somebody is standing in the shadow and you’re trying to figure out is the shadow trying to bury me or is it trying to prepare me?
And I want you to know that the shadow is trying to prepare you for the greatness connected to your name.
When you started praying for greatness, you didn’t know this but you were praying for shadows.
When you started praying that God would elevate you. You didn’t know this but you were praying for shadows.
No wonder. David tells us though. I walk through the valley of the shadow of death.
I shall fear no evil. I gotta walk through shadows.
Some shadow walkers in this room. There’s some greatness in this room.
There’s some breakthrough in this room.
I hear God saying your fear is afraid of the dark, but your faith is a light that will help you survive the shadow.
There’s some who are you? Who is the shadow walker in this room?
I’m not gonna give up in the shadow. I’m not gonna quit in the shadow.
I’m not saying that I don’t recognize what it is.
But I recognize who’s working down on the inside of me.
Grabs God’s calling you to be a shadow walker.
I’m gonna do it in the shadows. The breakthrough is gonna happen in the shadow.
This isn’t gonna be a miracle that everyone can see.
This is gonna be a miracle that only takes place in the shadow. Where is the shadow?
The shadow is my spirit, man. The shadow is my soul.
God says, I’m gonna pull you through in the shadow, in the shadow, in the shadow, the shadows, the shadows, the shadows.
I see your shadows. I hear your shadows but I’m gonna keep pushing through anyway.
I feel your shadows but I’m gonna keep moving in the shadows.
The problem is that nobody tells us just how expensive greatness is.
The cost of greatness is so expensive that you can’t even buy at full price.
You gotta make payments on it in the shadows.
I’m making payments on this thing. I’m making payments on greatness.
That’s why I went to therapy. I know y’all don’t believe in therapy, but I gotta make payments on greatness.
I know you don’t believe in communicating and sweeping things under the rug, but I gotta make payments on greatness.
I know you’re still at home, but I had to get plugged in the church because I gotta make payments on greatness payments.
I gotta make payments on this thing. God says I can’t give it to you full price.
I can’t give it to you outright that each time you go from glory to glory that you make payments on greatness and the shadows.
How we collect them payments, baby.
It’s expensive to be great.
And I just want you to know that I’m not talking about the type of greatness that makes you famous or rich.
That’s cheap. That’s cheap.
Let me be very clear in an age where you can show a little something and become famous that the kind of greatness that I’m talking about breaks generational curses off of your.
No, no, no. I’m talking about real greatness.
I’m talking about the kind of greatness that attracts heaven’s resources because I’m trying to do something that’s bigger than me.
I’m talking about the kind of the greatness that changes the way my family has ever done everything I’m talking about real greatness.
I’m talking about when God puts oil on you.
I’m talking about when people start confessing that Jesus is Lord without ever stepping foot in church because they had an encounter with you.
I’m talking about real greatness where all of a sudden your child gets an epiphany about who the Lord is.
Greatness. Greatness, greatness. Oh God, I feel you chasing down these shadows.
God, I feel you. This is the kind of greatness that everyone ought to be hungry for, but only few of us are sensitive enough to understand that we have to survive the shadows in order to get there making payments on greatness.
God, I wish you would just give it to me overnight.
But you keep making me make payments on this greatness.
I keep going through trial after trial.
I know I asked you to make me a strong tower, but I didn’t mean put me in the fire in order to do it.
God says I’ll answer what you pray for but you gotta survive the shadows in order to get it.
Daddy. How many payments did you make?
Over 45 years of ministry payments on greatness?
When we find Solomon in our text, he’s been trying to make payments on greatness.
You really have to read chapters one and two to get full context on where he is in this moment.
But he becomes king after one of his brothers and he have a disagreement about who should receive the crown.
His mother intervenes and reminds David that he said that Solomon would become king and now he’s placed in a position that he didn’t necessarily fight for.
Someone else fought for him to be in the position and someone else wanted it.
But just because someone else wants, it doesn’t mean that they can have it when it’s already assigned to your name.
I wish I could say that somebody thought they were going to hustle their way into the position, but they can’t hustle their way into what God has already assigned to your name.
And God will make someone else, your advocate to where you don’t even have to fight for the position because God’s gonna let someone else advocate for where you’re supposed to be.
I know you’re not in the room but they talking about you in the room because somebody’s already advocating for your right to be in the room.
Alright. Right. That should have broke something off of somebody who’s been hating the fact that they’re not in the room because God says you don’t have to be in the room to be in the room.
Oh God.
Oh God, they don’t tell us what Solomon is doing when Bath Sheba is trying to make sure that he gets what’s rightfully his.
I know somebody in this room has never had someone fight for you, but I hear God saying that you don’t have to have someone fighting for you to trust that I will fight on your behalf.
God says there’s something happening in the shadows that wasn’t even supposed to be my message.
But imagine being Solomon minding his business and all of a sudden bath, Sheba is in the shadows working things out and he doesn’t even understand what’s happening.
I hear God saying that you can’t see the shadows in which I’m preparing the way for you to step into the moment.
You don’t see what’s happening behind the things.
That’s the only problem about being front and center is that you have no idea what’s happening behind the scenes.
Oh Solomon had some work happening behind the scenes.
Let me tell you what, I’m not gonna do.
What I’m not going to do is lose my voice because I got something to do today.
Solomon has come to this phase in his life in which he has the luxury of no longer knowing what to do.
And chapters one and two, we see how Solomon becomes king.
And the first thing that he does is everything that he can do to get rid of his father’s enemies so that he can make sure there is no threat for when he is properly positioned.
And I call it the luxury of no longer knowing what to do.
Because when you no longer know what to do, it means you’ve done everything that you can.
And when you’ve done everything you can, then you make a demand on God and say, God, I don’t have anything left to do.
It’s a powerful thing to know what to do with a dilemma.
Oh, if I get a flat tire, it’s a nightmare because I don’t know how to change a tire.
But if someone else gets a flat tire, it’s just an inconvenience because they know what to do.
And sometimes we’re asking God to step into a situation that we haven’t even stepped into.
And God says, if you would do everything that you can, then I can do everything that I can.
But what if God is only given, according to the level in which you give, you want God to give everything while you sit on the sidelines.
And God says, if I do everything and you do nothing, then this is not partnership, but partnership is when you say God, I’m going to do everything that I can do.
I’m gonna make sure that every enemy I can put under my is under my foot.
God, I’m gonna clean house. John would say it like this.
Sometimes you got to prepare the way for the Lord and you want the Lord to move in your life.
But I wanna understand. Have you prepared the way for the Lord?
Have you done everything that is within your power to make sure that when God steps into the room that there’s nothing that I could have done instead, Soloing Solomon has done everything he can.
Has anybody in this room done everything they can. I’ve done everything that I can.
I don’t have anything left to give.
I don’t have any other enemy that I can chase down with my own resources.
I’ve called every single person I could and now Solomon is in the shadows, the shadows of not having anything else I can do because he’s in a position that feels so much bigger than him.
If we were looking at that ramp, we would see that he’s come down to the point of what my husband would call diminishing return.
That if I give any more right now, I know that I’m not going to get anything else back.
It’s so important that we make sure that we do everything that we can so that when we finally begin to pray that we show ourselves worthy of the prayers that we’re praying for God, I forgave God, I prayed about it.
God, I applied everywhere I could apply God. This is not something I can do within my own power.
I need to tap into a power that is greater than mine.
But I’m not gonna ask you to spin while I withhold God.
I wanna come to you when I let me tell you something.
If you want to borrow something from me, I would highly appreciate if you was broke when you asked for it because I want to believe that you gave everything you could before you began to call me.
God says, have you given anything towards that very thing you’re praying for? You want that child to be saved?
But are you saved yourself? You want that marriage to be healed? But are you healed yourself?
You want that career? But what are you doing to train? What are you doing to study?
I want to say that God, I did everything that I could so that when exceedingly and abundantly comes that it’s taking off at the end of my capacity that is taken off from the end of my expansion.
God, I’m gonna do everything that I can do.
I’m gonna make sure that I read every book that I listen to every podcast because God.
God wants to have a well that he can pull from God.
I studied for this message and I was studying stuff that didn’t even have anything to do with this message.
Because when I step into the moment, I wanna make sure that I’ve done everything I can so that you can pull from whatever you need to pull from.
God says I wanna make a demand on you too, but I wanna make sure that when I pull from you that you’re willing to give and God’s been pulling on somebody pulling on you to forgive pulling on you to go back to school, pulling on you to align yourself, pulling on you to shut your mouth and lift up your hands, pulling on you to step into the moment.
God, I feel you’re pulling and I’ve been resisting because I don’t know how you’re gonna pull me from where I am to where you took them.
But I hear God saying if you would stop focusing on them and allow me to pull that thing on out of you.
I don’t know who you are. But I hear God saying there’s more in you than you think there is.
There’s more anointing on you than you think it is. There’s more strength in you than you think it is.
And this situation is pulling out what I put in you.
I hear God saying, I know what I put in you and I’m trying to pull it out.
I’m trying to pull it out. You’re great for this. You’re anointed for this. Pull it out.
Somebody yell, pull it out. Somebody yell, pull it out. Somebody yell, pull it out.
I hear Heaven pulling it out.
And then I want you to yell, pull me up, pull me up, pull me up out of this depression.
pull me up out of this second guessing.
Pull me up, out of this fear, pull me up out of this grief.
Solomon did everything he could.
Now it was time for God to pull him on up.
God, I’ve done everything that I can do. Oh Glory. I feel you in this space.
Somebody is about to get pulled up. Somebody is about to experience breakthrough.
Somebody is about to go out of this place not thinking the way that they came in.
I hear God saying when I pull you up, I’m gonna pull up your mind.
I’m gonna pull up your language. I’m gonna pull up the way that you connect.
I’m gonna pull up your relationships.
I’m getting ready to pull, I’m getting ready to pull, I’m getting ready to pull, lift your hands.
If you don’t wanna be missing the pool getting ready.
Solomon says, if you gonna pull up, don’t miss me, pull up on me, pull up on me.
God, I’m ready for you to pull up on me. God, I had man pull up on me.
I saw businesses pull up on me and all of them left me empty.
But when you pull up on me, you’re gonna feel me like I never been filled before.
When you pull up on me, I’m gonna have a slingshot.
When you pull up on me, I’m gonna be different than I’ve ever been.
I’m gonna do something you’ve never seen done before. You’re gonna become someone you never thought you could become.
And it’s not gonna be because you held back, it’s gonna be because you poured it all out and when you poured it all out, I’m gonna stretch your capacity.
Pull up, Solomon.
I’m positioned for greatness, but I don’t feel great.
I’m positioned for breakthrough, but I don’t have strength.
You gonna have to pull up on me.
Mhm And so Solomon goes to a great high place, a place higher than the level.
Mhm Then the kingdom he’s been assigned to because no matter how great that kingdom is, there is a greater kingdom that I have access to.
And sometimes I gotta move up to another way of thinking, I gotta move up to a place where I have no distractions.
I’ve gotta move up. Oh God, I don’t know who you are but you pulled out of a situation because it kept pulling you down when God was trying to pull you up and nobody understood it and you couldn’t even communicate it.
But I hear God saying that you separated so I could pull you up, that you moved out of the way so I could pull you up.
And so he found a place where he could worship without distraction.
He found a place where he could sacrifice without distraction, without someone wondering what is he praising about?
What is he praying about? He found a way to be intentional about going higher.
God.
I hear you taken me higher, but I cannot be pulled up and carry everything along the way.
I’ve got to be intentional about creating an environment where you can meet me for the greatness that you have assigned to me.
God. I wish I could say it.
God, I see it but I can’t lay hold of it, but I must, I must lay hold of it.
It’s not optional. I gotta break this curse. I got to tap into this anointing.
I gotta write this book. I, I have to change the world for little people who experience the things that I experienced.
It’s gotta come out of me. I feel like Jeremiah sometimes is shut up in my bones.
I gotta reach for this thing and I got to disappoint some people in the process because oh God Solomon had to disappoint Bath Sheba because Bath Sheba was trying to navigate his position and you may have got me to it, but you can’t tell me how to do it.
Oh That’s somebody’s word right there just because the person holds the door open, doesn’t mean that they get to tell you how to work the room.
I thank you for holding the door open and now it’s between me and God, what I gotta do here now, it’s between me and my anointing what I gotta do here.
I thank you for being the door that God used, but you are not the door that God said gotta stay with me.
God, you may have opened the door through them, but you really opened the door because of who I am.
And I don’t wanna be so busy being loyal to them that I am disloyal to the God who brought, I gotta be loyal to the God who sent me.
I gotta be loyal to the God who gave me the gift.
I gotta be loyal to this moment because you told me, oh God, I don’t know who you are but God has been telling you who you are and you’ve been so busy trying to be loyal to them.
You’ve been disloyal to the anointing that’s on your life.
But I hear God saying that everything’s gonna break in this room.
That the glorious sign to this room was for you to remember who was God and God alone, to remember who you are and to pull yourself up to a place where you can hear the miracles when they happen.
Sometimes we can’t hear the miracles when they happen because I’m too busy here and why I shouldn’t be here, too busy hearing my own fears, my own shame.
But there is a great high place that you can go out God.
And I’m gonna tell you how we get there.
Solomon.
The most powerful thing he says in this text is that in order for Him to come to God in this moment, he had to be willing to not be king.
He didn’t come to God with his resume.
He is king.
And at this point has established himself as king.
But when he goes to this great high place, he says, but I am just a little child but you came but I’m a little child but you grown but still I’m a little child but you’ve been in business.
But still sometimes I feel like a little child, but I’m grown with grown kids.
But sometimes I still feel like a little child. I didn’t come to God with my resume.
I didn’t come to God with everything that I’ve done. I came to God because of who he is.
And in order for me to see who He is, it made me feel little and it made me feel small and God because that’s how I can work with you.
Because in order for you to become small, you got down on bended knees.
And when you got down on bended knees, I said, now you recognize who the great I am is now you understand who the God you serve is.
I am. But a little child. Look at my grown broken self, look at my grown worldly self.
Look at my grown lustful self. God, I’m still a little child. God, I’m still a little baby.
And yet yet you’ve called me to greatness.
Go God.
I’m gonna have a great family. I never seen it before. God. I feel like a little child.
God, I’m too little for this 45 years of ministry.
God, I’m too little. I’m too little for this greatness.
The shadows, the shadows do you a favor because they make you little.
And when the shadows make you little, you look a lot like Matthew 18 two through four.
When Jesus says to the disciples, how do we make it into the kingdom of Heaven?
They want to know. And Jesus tells them that I’ll read it to you.
He says, then Jesus called a little child to him and set him in the midst of them.
And then it says assuredly, I say to you unless you are converted and become as little Children, the shadows make me little.
And I used to think that was bad.
But now I’m beginning to think that now it primes me for the move of God connected to my life.
I got a get little, oh God, I feel my help coming.
Something about being little.
Not just little Solomon wasn’t just little, he was little and hungry.
It’s one thing to be little, but it’s another thing to be little and hungry.
Some people give up at the crossroad of little because one path requires me to be hungry and the other path requires me to quit.
But God says, if you could master the art of being little and hungry, then I could allow you to enter the kingdom of Heaven.
Because when you enter the kingdom of Heaven, hungry, that’s when God can really unleash the fullness of who he is.
I may be little but I’m hungry. I may be little.
But I’m gonna get hold of what God has placed down on the inside of me.
I may be little but I’m still king. I may be little but I’m still anointed for this.
I may be little but there’s no one who can do what I’m called to do but me.
So God, I may be little but I’m hungry.
I’m hungry for you to pass me into a room where you can make a demand on what you put down on the inside of me.
I won’t put my crown down just because I’m little. God uses little things.
If you don’t believe me, ask the little boy’s lunch that fed the multitude little and hungry got together and miracles broke out little and hungry, got together and overflow broke out little and hungry, got together and we moved to Dallas and from Charleston, West Virginia.
Little and hungry. Got together and it brought your hips into this room.
Little and hungry got together and international ministry broke out from this house. Little and hungry.
Got together and that’s how God’s gonna do it in your life.
You’re gonna be little and hungry, you’re gonna try to be big.
But little is gonna have you because little is the way that God moves.
Miracle little Little Jamel.
If I could have my text in Matthew one more time, I’m almost finished.
Assuredly, I say to you unless you are converted, I look this word converted up in the Greek.
And what I saw is that it was translated, converted, but a more accurate word is actually twisted.
You’re gonna have to get twisted to become little.
You’re gonna have to let life twist Jewish or somebody’s in a twist, I’m gonna have to get twisted.
You’re not gonna do this unless you’re willing to get twisted into this guy twisted.
God’s been twisting you and turning you and you’re trying to figure out which way is up.
And I hear God saying, you don’t see it from the outside looking in.
But what I see is how I’m twisting you into proper position. I’m twisting you into humility.
I’m twisting you to who you need to become for the mantle that is connected to your life.
You’re gonna have to get twisted for this. And I hear God saying, don’t resist the twist.
I hear God saying, don’t back out of the twist. I hear God saying you’re more flexible than you think.
Twisted. Solomon said, I’m ready to get twisted.
I’m in the shadows to get twisted.
I’m gonna do what no one can see so that I can become who God has called me to be.
God says I’m twisting you in the shadows. I’m twisting you for the greatness. I’m twisting you for the ministry.
I’m twisting you for the marriage. I’m twisting you for the position. I’m twisting, I’m twisting, I’m twisting you.
I’m gonna twist you till you’re little.
I’m gonna twist you till you lose that pride. I’m gonna twist you till you lose that bitterness.
I’m gonna twist you till you’re hungry again. I’m gonna twist you until the words come out of your mouth.
I’m gonna twist you until the strength comes into your back. I’m gonna twist you into that room.
I’m gonna twist you into that business. I’m gonna twist you in the breakthrough.
The generational curse will be broken in the twist sink.
God, I feel you.
God. You got me twisted God. You got me twisted.
Who am I gonna become in this twist?
I want to praise God in advance 15 seconds of praise for who I’m becoming in the twist.
I don’t know what’s happening right now. I’m dizzy but I know I’m becoming in the twist.
I know I’ve got breakthrough connected to the twist.
I hear God saying when you get out of this twist, you’re gonna have more leverage than you ever had more thoughts than you ever had.
I’m gonna twitch you in the room you don’t belong in.
I’m gonna twitch that marriage until it looks like what I anointed.
I got twisted into this.
I got twisted in the ministry. I got twisted into this position and it made me feel little.
But I let God twist me anyway. I let God turn me anyway. I didn’t wanna move.
But God twisted me. I didn’t wanna do it.
But God twisted me, twisted her shouldn’t even be in this room.
But I got twisted into this, follow me and I will make you fishers of men.
I’m gonna twist you until you become a brock that I can build my church on all throughout the Bible.
We see twisting. How could David the shepherd boy become the king of day king of Israel.
He got twisted into position. Moses got twisted into position and it all happened in the shadows in the shadows of greatness.
God is twisting you.
God is twisting you in the shadows.
God, God, you got me twisted.
Solomon had come to a point where he’d run out of the bread crumbs that his dad left for.
And now he’s got to come into his own.
But one thing his father did teach him was about the power of shadows.
Yes, there will be shadows of death, but there will also be the shadow of the Almighty.
Yeah.
Psalms 91 1 says he who dwells in the secret place of the most high, higher than my circumstance, higher than my doubt, higher than my fear, higher than anxiety, higher than my pride, higher than my ego shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
So, yes, you are certainly in the shadows of greatness, a great call, a great marriage.
Great depression. Yeah, I see you in the shadows.
Sometimes it may even feel like the shadows of death, shadow of depression, shadow of shadow of God.
Will I ever think the way that I once thought about you? God, I’m in the shadows.
There is a shadow that is greater than any shadow.
And our one job is to be willing to twist ourselves from up underneath life’s shadows to get in the presence of the almighty shadow.
And if you’re wondering how you make it to the shadow of that greatness, it starts with you being little.
I wanna invite some people to the altar who recognize that they need to get twisted, converted to a little child so that you may have an encounter with God.
I want you to come to this altar if you’re standing in the shadows of greatness, but you feel so little because what you need now, more than anything is the kind of touch that allows you to say greater is he that is in me, then he that is in the world I love that scripture because it doesn’t refute that the greatness outside of the world is illegitimate.
There is greatness outside but greater is he that is in me.
If you haven’t been feeling that greater in you, I don’t feel that greater in my marriage.
It feels like the weapons are not just forming, but they are prospering God.
We’re running the risk of being divided in the shadows. God, where is this greater you speak of?
I need a touch from greater.
When Solomon goes to the great high place of Gideon, he does not go with the priest.
He goes by himself.
That means if you’re with someone who’s not ready to come down, that’s OK.
Sometimes you got access greater by yourself.
God, I wanna be greater than this and I’m not talking about cheap greatness.
I wanna be solid. I wanna be anchored. I wanna be rooted. I wanna be healed.
I wanna access your presence. I don’t want to be defensive. I don’t wanna use my mouth as a weapon.
I want to be greater than this. I want to have integrity.
I want to mean what I say and say what I mean. I wanna be greater than this.
I want to be a reflection of who you are on the earth. I want to experience greater.
Ey, and I don’t want to be jealous of the greater outside of me.
God.
I see other people’s greatness and it makes me feel little God says that’s OK.
Bring your little self to this altar.
I don’t need your big self that impresses the world.
I don’t need you to have it all together. I don’t know who that impresses.
I want you to bring that little bit of faith, that little bit of hope, that little bit of innocence you have left.
Bring it to this altar.
We could wait for the prayer or we could begin praying right now.
Solomon didn’t have anyone leading him.
He just took his little self up there.
I’m not asking you to recite the Bible or say your prayer as eloquent or fancy as you’ve heard your pastor or grandmother pray.
God hears little prayers, God prayers from little people and the shadows of greatness.
God where I don’t feel courageous. God. I don’t feel brave.
I don’t feel strong. I God, I’m weary. God, I’m tired. I didn’t even wanna come today.
I didn’t even want to watch this message. Gotta feel so little God. Nobody ever made me feel big.
Nobody ever loved me. I always felt little.
So I’ve been trying to be big God but little has got me. Little, won’t let me go.
And now instead of rejecting little, I’m gonna embrace the little, but I’m gonna bring my hungry with me.
God, I’m hungry. God, God, I’m hungry to understand how I’m gonna lead these great people.
How will I lead this family? How will I lead this ministry? How will I lead this team. God.
How can I lead myself? I lost my mother. How can I lead myself? I lost my father.
How can I lead myself? I feel so little God, everyone’s growing but me, everyone’s moving.
But me, God, how could you leave me here? Little but hungry.
Hungry for your presence. Hungry for your spirit.
Because where the spirit of the Lord is there is liberty.
That means I can be little but I can be free where the spirit of the Lord is there is hope.
That means I can be little. But I don’t have to be afraid where the spirit of the Lord is.
There is patience. That means I can be little. But I don’t have to pressure myself every single day.
Pressuring to, to become more and do more.
God meet me in my little God, meet me in the little spaces, the little places nobody knows about the disease.
I haven’t told anyone about God. Meet me in the little, the little, the little, the little, the little.
When I walk out of here, I’ll be big. But when I’m at this altar, I just wanna be little.
I put my crown back on when I leave.
But just for right now, I wanna be little, little old me. It’s me.
Oh God, little o me standing in the need of prayer.
Not another violation, not another disappointment, not another pain, not another rejection. Just let me be little.
I don’t want God.
I wanna say ouch God, I wanna say you kind of disappointed me too.
That I thought you had my back.
But God, I’m coming back to you because I believe that you are faithful to the liver. God.
I’m running back to your arms. I may be little but I’m coming.
I may not have the faith I used to have, but I’m coming. I’m dragging myself.
I’m moving myself back to the space of grace God.
And I’m gonna have to twist myself to get there and let go of my pride to get there.
But I’m gonna come by any means necessary because the only thing that matters to me in this moment is mastering little.
Yeah. Little by little, little by little.
That’s how the change is coming. That’s how the breakthrough is gonna happen.
Little by little Jesus says, if you wanna follow me, you gotta be little.
You can’t be like the Pharisees coming in talking about all the things you didn’t do and how righteous you were.
You gotta be like the tax collector that says I’m a sinner and I’ve fallen short and I’m not even worthy of your mercy.
But God, if there’s any space for little old me and your plan, God, if you’re still doing miracles and you’re looking for a volunteer, God, would you choose somebody little God if you’re still doing breakthrough?
And you’re looking for a volunteer, you can use little on me.
You can’t hear it, but I can hear a little prayer from over here.
It’s ok to let go.
It’s ok to let it out.
You don’t have to worry about who’s watching.
Everybody’s got their own little to worry about in this moment.
I don’t want you to look back on this moment and wish you would have opened your mouth and I wish you would have lifted your hands, open your hands like heaven is pouring out greatness.
I prayed that God would breathe in this room.
And that while God was breathing, that He would breathe in every room you step in.
And when you open your hands, that’s the first room.
He wants to breathe in. Fill this room, fill this empty space, married couples.
God fill this marriage, single people. God fill this hole, business owners. God fill the gaps in my education ministry.
God feel the anointing God for where you’ve called me to go.
Fill it, fill it, fill it, fill this little cup.
I had a vision. I’m gonna pray. I’m almost done.
I had a vision and the cup was so little that it almost seemed like it wasn’t worth filling at all.
And I felt God sad that He knows the secret about the cup that the secret does.
That the cup doesn’t know that is the more that I feel it, the more that it grows.
Somebody came to this altar with a little cup.
And I hear God saying that as you receive that, I’m stretching that cup out that you had a cup for just a little bit of faith.
Somebody’s just been praying to make it day by day.
And I hear God saying that I’m ready for you to make it year by year, decade by decade.
I hear God saying I wanna move in this room. Who are you? I wanna have breakthrough in this room.
Who’s hungry for it? That your days of just surviving day by day could be over.
If you let me fill that cup, I’ll fill it to the overflow. What does that mean?
That means I’m not gonna say these same prayers next year because God met me at the altar right here and he fed me for generations.
My children’s children’s Children are never gonna thirst anymore because of the cup that’s being expanded in this moment.
Somebody caught that somebody received that for the household. Somebody received that for their spirit.
I see you sis, I see you sis. I like that cup getting stretched when she first came down.
She wasn’t hardly moving, but I see her over there getting breakthrough.
That’s what it looks like when that cup gets stretched. That’s what it looks like.
When you finally twist yourself into the position of breakthrough.
God, you told me, ah Gloria, let’s check out our check it that there was great glory connected to this moment.
You told me that and somebody standing in the manifestation of that moment.
You better be careful who you’re standing next to.
You may get caught up when God pulls them up, you may be living in the overflow of their glory.
You’re not just standing next to no regular person. You’re standing next to somebody who’s hungry for glory.
You better watch out. You may go home and get full off of my cup.
You may go home and get full off of what God is doing in my life.
You don’t know who you’re standing next to. There’s glory assigned to my name.
There’s breakthrough to connect it to my name.
Glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, generational glory, glory, glory, glory, glory, taking my mind back, glory.
Depression’s gotta go glory. I feel the spirit of God moving in this place.
I feel the spirit of God moving in your car. I feel the spirit.
You better watch out when you get to your car.
You may get to your car and find glory waiting on you.
You may get to your house and find glory waiting on you. You better start looking for glory.
I know what happened at this time. I’m looking for glory. Everywhere I go.
Where is your glory in this situation? Where is your glory in this business? Glory over this book.
Glory over this ministry. I won’t stop till I touch glory. I won’t quit till I touch glory.
Trying to stop spirit, God.
God without a doubt.
You have met us here, little but hungry, God.
We’ve been standing in the shadows of greatness and there have been moments were your sons and your daughters have been overwhelmed by the darkness, overwhelmed by the demand of the greatness that we see but cannot access.
And we’ve been trying to puff ourselves up to say that we got this and we can do this.
But at this altar, God, we have brought our little selves and God, we’re praying that like you did for Solomon, that you would do a hard work.
Give me an understanding heart that I can understand God.
The problem with the shadows is that it’s where I get confused.
But if you would give me an understanding heart, God, if you would give them an understanding card, you could change our expectations with an understanding heart, you could change our language with an understanding heart.
God do a hard work.