And I'm digging around in this Abraham story and working on some projects or clarifying stuff.
Sometimes you'll see something in the prophetic or something in the Word and you're like, oh,
that's what's been happening to me for the last two years.
You knew you were going through something and this just said, and that's what it is.
You know, you're like, oh, okay.
So last week, just to refresh, we talked about the covenant with the bemelech in
21 verse 22, it talks about that, where they noticed, as far as Abraham, they noticed God
is with you in everything you do.
His Philistines noticed that.
They were not, you know, they were not looking for the Messiah, all those things.
These are Philistines that were like, we noticed this and you're in our land and God's
with you in everything you do.
So they recognize the blessing.
People should recognize the blessing in our life.
It's, you know, not by what we own, although that's part of it, right?
It can show the blessing that you're just blessing all things in all ways at all times
and you're able to give and all those different things.
But God just being with you and everything you do, even when something comes against
you somewhere that he makes a way where there seems to be no way.
He's with you.
We should be recognized like that.
And so because of that though, that was very threatening to them because they felt,
you know, like, well, he, he could do something here because God's with him
and we're not really serving that God.
So I don't want, I don't want that to happen.
And so they made an oath with each other.
We talked about that and there wasn't a lot of conversation according to the word
because they said, you know, we treated you with kindness.
Be sure that you take care of the king was asking this and his, his captain of the guard.
It's like, I don't want you to come against me, my children, or my children's children.
And I need you to make an oath that we can live here in peace.
Well, how threatening could he have been?
I mean, Abraham had a big family, right, servants and all that.
He had a lot of stuff, but this is a king.
And this is the king's commander of the army is there.
So, but still they felt threatened because of the blessing of God.
So here we are.
And it goes on and, and we talked about how Abraham just said, sure, I'll swear that I'll,
I'll participate in this oath.
We can make that.
He said, but then he brought up a complaint that he had.
And that is that they covered over one of Abraham's wells,
but they did it according to the amplified in a violent manner.
Some of your guys came in covered over a well that we dug in a violent way.
And we can't have that.
So it was a settling of any form of strife,
because we know where there is strife,
there dwelleth every evil and wicked thing.
Yeah.
And so I just see it where God is going to,
in chapter 22, he's going to run him through a bigger test,
but it's best that the heart get dealt with in these ways.
And that there's peace in the land in these ways.
And then he asked him to take Isaac up the mountain.
So we've been going through settling of things
where we've literally said I'm going to make an oath with God
or I'm going to, in that way, we're saying,
yeah, I agree to forgive this person.
I agree to let this go.
I agree to just want to live here in peace.
And God's been working on us in that in the last couple of years.
So now, as he's revealing this,
it's more we can look back and go, oh, that's why, that's why.
He was running us through a filter this whole time.
We're not done.
That filter will always be there
because there's always something, amen?
And there's always some other test that's coming.
But here he is.
So he said he'll swear to the oath.
And then he gave sheep to mark the spot
that they just made a covenant
that nobody's going to cover over anymore at Abraham's wells.
And so they agreed to that.
And verse 31 said,
therefore that place was called Bereshiba,
well of the oath, or well of the seven
because they're the two of them sworn oath.
So they settled some things.
Then after that, we talked about
how Abraham planted a tamarisk tree at Bereshiba.
And tamarisk means new beginnings or a new start.
You can't have new beginnings in a new start
if you're operating in the old thing, right?
There has to be an interest common sense that says
we can't plant a tree here and say that
if we're still not finished with this.
But because of the oath and because of the covenant,
it was brought to closure.
We use that term in counseling a lot.
Things that are hanging out,
there are the things that torment you.
The things your subconscious just can't handle.
Because your subconscious tries to solve problems
24 hours a day.
So if you tried to get a good night's sleep,
even if you were, even if you slept 12 hours.
Lord, Lord, that sounds good.
That's happened for me for a while.
But anyways, even if you did that,
you think I'm going to wake up refreshed or whatever.
Not if your soul doesn't have closure on different things.
Because literally your soul will work on that all night.
It'll just keep running the math problem.
Two plus two is what?
What?
What?
The problem here with grandma is what?
And it's looking for an answer.
And it's looking to solve it.
And if it doesn't solve it,
it's because it needs new information.
And what does the word repent mean?
Get new information.
Regret the old way you did something.
And let's make a change.
So the regret was here for a memolec to say,
oh, I didn't even know those guys did that,
covered over your well.
Sorry, dude, I didn't know.
Yeah, let's make a covenant that never happens again.
He was willing to settle it,
even as a person who didn't know God.
He was willing to settle it.
And they brought it to closure.
That's why the tree was planted.
God is looking for closure on the things that are left hanging.
Peace comes through closure.
Sometimes we'll ask him for peace
because we want him to mask over the thing
we don't want to have to deal with.
Come on, give me peace.
Give me peace.
I'll know when he gives me peace
because then this won't bother you anymore.
No, you'll get peace when you bring that thing to closure.
When it's settled.
When you say, yes, I will swear to that.
Amen.
So here, that's a very important part
before we go on with the rest of the story.
It's a constant checking of the heart.
It's a checking of the attitudes.
And you'll know if you think, oh, no,
I think I got things settled.
You'll know because life itself
will push the buttons inside of you
where you have things that are not closed out yet.
You won't have closure.
And when we don't have closure,
sometimes another one that we do is
we'll blame it on the devil.
I'm still under attack.
I'm still under attack.
And see, he's still coming against me.
I still can't.
And I've taken authority over this.
And I'm done.
Your brain is still just looking for closure.
That's what it's looking for.
Your heart is saying, let's close this out.
Let's settle this, but it's unsettled.
There has to be something that we can grab a hold of
and say, here's the settlement.
This is what we've agreed on and plant the tamarisk tree.
This is how we're going to start anew.
So part of closure is not just getting rid of something
by closing it out.
It's like, here's how we're going to close it.
And here's the new beginning.
Here's the way that we're headed.
That makes sense?
So it's very, very important.
And if we blame all that on the devil.
So sometimes, yeah, he started it with the power of sin.
But he doesn't get to finish it because we're Christians.
We're the ones who can bring it to closure.
Okay, so you got one in on me.
I either caused it or I participated in it
or someone did this to me or whatever.
But I'm going to close it out.
We're going to give her a closing account.
Yeah, yeah, just close that puppy out.
Just get rid of it.
And that's what he wants done.
So he's going to put his finger on us,
even continuing through the story in this year for sure,
because he's cleansing us from all unrighteousness.
And he wants us to come to a place of peace.
Peace, remember, shalom, nothing lacking,
nothing broken, nothing left wanting.
And so if we're walking in that,
it is the peace of God that gives us the power
to come against any form of curse,
anything that wants to rob from us,
because we've settled something.
And when you settle something,
there has to be a peace about it.
It's not the kind of settling.
I could get flying, dawn, whatever.
There, we settled it.
No, we didn't.
I agreed to whatever that I didn't really agree to,
because my heart is still upset about whatever it is.
It has to come to the point where we have good boundaries,
so we're not allowing a person to run us over,
but we're loving them the whole time
because we have the peace of God on it.
And there's an oath and there's a covenant that says,
this is how it's going to roll.
Amen?
Then when we plant the tamarice tree,
part of that is for everybody to see the closure.
The other part of it is for us to tend the tamarice tree.
Make sure it's watered, because it's a new beginning.
Amen?
And if we're tending that tree, we're looking at,
nope, nope, I'm bringing reality check.
We already closed that out.
Here's the tree.
We have a new beginning.
Sometimes that has to happen.
I mean, you could settle something in a marriage
in two days later.
You thought you had it settled,
now you're arguing about it all over again.
So was it really settled?
When you plant the tree,
it isn't that you go into denial
to anything that happened.
You know you've made an agreement
of where you're going to go,
and now we have a new beginning.
Here's where we're starting.
There has to be a starting point of doing that.
That's the power that we have
to be able to do that in covenant.
Start over.
That's called deliverance.
I know where, you know,
a lot of times we think deliverance is
puke and green in your head turns in circles.
Right?
And we're like, they got delivered.
No, a bigger deliverance you're going to see
is when you're delivered within your soul
and you're at peace.
And you can plant a tree
and anything coming against you's like,
hey, sorry, no, I got a tree over here
that told me I have a new beginning.
And I'm going to tend to that.
I'm not going to get sucked out
into all this over here
because I have a new beginning
and I'm tending to that tree.
Makes sense?
Yeah.
So, so important that we get this
because if we take lightly
just the things that God has asked us to do,
we'll still go through this.
Life will funnel us through.
We'll still go through a filter
because here we are as Christians
walking through this earthly world,
this place that we're just,
you know, passing through,
but it's wicked.
And then we come into the presence of God
on Sundays in our prayer time,
all those different things.
You cannot be in wickedness
and then come into holiness
and it not go,
you're going to get run through the filter
whether you want to or not
because you get touched by this world.
It tries to convince us one way or another
of things that are not even of our Father's kingdom.
And the only thing that keeps our heart
straight is being in His presence.
In His presence there is joy
and in His presence there is peace
and in His presence
there's everything that we need
in His presence.
He is the all in all.
He is the complete.
And when we're hanging out with Him,
it gets on us.
We got to hang out with Him
for it to get on us.
Now we are in chapter 22.
Here we go.
I like how it says it
because it clarifies,
you know, when you start a chapter,
if it says therefore,
then you have to ask the question,
well, what for?
And go back and read the chapter before
so you know what the therefore was about, right?
Well, this says now after.
That's how it says in the amplified.
Now after.
And what's crazy is my amplified
says it in all caps
when it says now after.
I don't know if they all do,
but now after these things.
So when you see something in all caps,
it does mean like pay attention.
Now after these things,
after the going through of this filter,
after the establishing of the heart.
Now after these things,
God tested the faith and commitment of Abraham.
Now, if he would have tested,
sometimes we think, you know,
God's probably testing me or whatever.
Well, he doesn't move on to the next test.
Do you get the first test?
You can get stuck in a test.
He's not going to say,
I'm going to see if you're as full of faith
and you're going to be committed to me,
if you can't even love your brother.
Right?
Well, what's the point of moving on to this?
To that bigger thing if we didn't get the first thing.
That's why it's so important
that now after is so important.
We have to get this.
We have to know how to plant a tree.
We have to know how to bring things to closure.
And then, you know,
some things it takes a bit to bring to closure.
I mean, there are big things.
And then after a while,
you'll find that big things close faster
when you get in the habit of knowing how to do it.
You get in the habit of knowing how to approach it,
how to bring it to a settlement.
This is how we're going to go.
It does not go on and on.
Of course, like I said, I wasn't there.
I didn't see the movie.
It's one of those things
where it doesn't give a lot of conversation.
You know, like, we got to settle this.
So we're going to be talking about it for weeks.
And then I'll argue with you
and you argue with me.
And then I'll come back with my point.
No, you messed with my well,
but we're going to get this thing settled.
That's how a lot of times
things try to get settled in our households.
That's not what happened.
I mean, both of them, it was interesting.
Both of them, when he brought up,
Abraham brought up the complaint,
Abamelech answered him immediately.
I do not know who did these things.
Indeed, you did not tell me,
and I did not hear of it until today.
Sorry, dude.
I mean, it was like, instead of like,
what? We didn't do that.
He was an argument of about it.
The same way Abraham answered, I will swear.
He didn't say, well, let's talk about it first.
And then there was a point of maturity.
There was a point there
where they could see what an oath and a covenant would do.
Because when you make a promise,
you're tied to that spot.
You know, I promise I'll take the garbage out.
Well, you just tied your words
and your deeds to that spot, right?
If you said, I'll see if I can take the garbage out.
If I get to it, if I have time, that's different.
When you say, I promise, that's an oath.
If you both agree on it,
those things have weightiness in the spirit.
And so sometimes God will ask us also to go back
and make restitution or go back and do the thing
we should have done 10 years ago
that we said we were going to do.
Because you either missed it on the front end
or you're missing it now.
Think about it that way.
I had a lady come up to me
and sometimes people get emotional
and that's exactly what this was.
She was like, your sermon was amazing,
oh my Lord, she's going on.
And I was like, it was way too far over the top.
You know, if you're going to compliment something,
go ahead and compliment.
But this was way too far over the top.
So I was just like, you know, she's wanting something
or she's looking for something here
because it just went on.
And finally I just kind of stopped.
And she said, no, I want to tell you,
I'm going to give $1,000 to your ministry.
The Lord told me, I don't have it in my hand right now,
but I'm giving it to you.
That never happened.
That actually never came back to the church.
That happens a lot.
People get emotional and then they'll get emotional
and they get emo driven.
And then all of a sudden they'll make big statements.
Do not make vows like that.
How do you plant a tree around that one?
So sometimes we've got that going on.
And God will ask us, if we've ever done that,
He's like, go back and fix that.
Well, I said, I was sorry.
Go back and fix that.
Either go and talk to the person about whatever it is
you promised and say, look, I missed it.
I'm so sorry.
Right?
Make a new beginning out of it or fulfill your oath.
Because otherwise it's left hanging.
And they settled what they could settle,
the important things, and now after comes.
Now after these things,
God tested the faith and commitment of Abraham
and said to him, Abraham,
which is really saying, Father of many nations,
that's what he was saying.
He was saying the covenant that he had with Abraham.
He was saying the call of God that was on Abraham.
He was announcing what will happen to Abraham.
Through Abraham, through the word Abraham itself,
when he said Abraham, Abraham and said to him,
Abraham and he answered, here I am,
which we've talked about before,
which is big and you can go nice concept
until you have to walk it out.
Here I am means the all of me is here
when we answer God.
Now you can get all emo like that lady.
She felt like the all of her was here.
She was like, this is amazing.
God's touched my life.
I mean, I'm going to even give $1,000.
She just went over the top,
but it was all emotionally based.
Take a bit.
Take a bit.
We had somebody one time
that wanted to give $20,000, right?
And my husband said, go home and pray about that.
We could have said, thank you.
Go home and pray about it.
And when he did, he was like, I missed it.
I guess I got caught up and I missed it.
We have to know when God speaks to us.
And that's that way we can have things settled.
But now after these things, God tested.
Some of you have planted a tree
and you are in the now after.
You're in the now after right now.
That in itself is a holy statement.
Because the tests of the faith
and the commitment to what?
Abraham's name.
To why you were called who you are
to the destiny that you're carrying.
That's why it's so important, Pastor,
speaking on destiny.
We have to pay attention
because when he calls your name,
he's calling your destiny.
Like I said, when he says, Mary,
there's many Marys,
but his voice intent for me,
my destiny shows up and says, here I am.
I can't say here I am sorta
or I'm kind of here.
Here I'm a little bit.
No, because the word I am means the complete.
That's a hard thing to do.
We have to do that by faith
because sometimes we'll say, I'm all in.
And then we'll find out.
Apparently I was not.
I thought I was all in,
but stuff happened.
And I realized I wasn't so much in
is what I thought I was.
So I am is the complete of who you are.
How would I even gauge
that my whole heart is in something?
I can take a guess at it.
You know, some of the things would be
there'd be such passion about it
that even if I'm tired,
the passion would carry me.
There'd be such thought patterns about it.
There'd be obedience that would show up or whatever.
But I don't, I can't say
my whole heart is in something.
I can say it by faith.
But do I know me that well?
So what happens
is first you answer him
and then he runs the test.
And that's how you know if you're all in.
Some of you are in the test right now.
And it's painful.
You're like, why would he ask this of me?
I don't see where I should have to.
All of that kind of stuff going through.
It doesn't say that Abraham
went through any of those things.
You know, I know I would.
And you want to believe
that your whole heart is in.
But he's going to test us to make sure that it is.
And wherever it hangs itself out
that it's not,
then it's not a condemnation.
It's like, oh, I see you.
What are you doing outside of the will of God?
That's the part of me.
I'm going to have to wrangle.
And I'm going to bring it
to the thing we settled.
And all of me is showing up.
So that's like beat your body into submission.
That's like choose to control yourself.
That's the fruit of the Spirit saying,
ah, all of me is going to show up.
But by faith, we say,
yeah, the all of me is going to show up.
And then when the test really comes,
you'll find that the all of you is not there.
I'm leaving that sink in.
It's not a condemnation.
He filters us not to see,
I got to see if I can trust you.
He's filtering us also so we can see
if we can trust ourselves.
He's filtering us to see whether or not our word,
we can look at ourselves and go,
I said I was in, but now it's kind of like some people say like,
yeah, I know I could go through martyrism
until somebody makes a threat and then they're out.
Look, because you think you know your heart, but you don't.
And there are people who would be like,
I don't know if I could do that.
I don't know if I could face the enemy like that.
I don't know if I would,
and those will be the people in that time that will stand firm.
Because they can see their weakness,
and they grab that weakness,
and they force it to come over to where their strength is.
We are going, all of us is showing up.
I say this, and this once again is not,
I don't know, you can get in your mind that,
I'm trying to manipulate you regarding the building or whatever.
We'll get it out of your mind because I'm not.
But I'm going to use this as an example.
Because I did research and they said,
in churches that have building projects,
or some big thing that you're doing.
It can be missionary based or whatever,
but it's got some hope to it.
People will leave, and a lot of times they'll leave for a season,
and they'll feel called out for a season,
you know, or they'll suddenly get disgruntled.
But most of the time they said in the article,
it says that they just believe for a season,
and they feel God's calling them out.
Well, then once the building's built and everything,
I've mentioned this before,
they come back around and I'm like,
oh thank God he's moved me back here,
and they weren't a part of any of the climbing of the mountain.
Of laying anything down.
But at one point a lot of those people will say,
I'm all in.
So guard your heart for that in any area
where you'll say, no I'm all in, I'm there.
All of me is there,
because when you do that, that's like an oath.
And to have a covenant with God looks that way.
Sometimes people will see people get saved,
and they're like, oh thank God I'm not going to hell.
I received Jesus so I'm not going to hell.
Not actually, you just made a covenant.
The kingdom of God is now in you,
and you covenant with him.
And now he's the king and you're not.
See how there's a...
It's not presented right,
it's just like you want to get saved
from all the bad stuff you're going through?
Okay, well we really should be saved,
then make Jesus Lord.
But we don't offend anybody or whatever.
I take that chance and offend people sometimes.
But a lot of times people are waiting for you
to tell them the truth.
What am I getting myself into?
The gospel was presented to me like that,
where he wants the all of you.
And so it was everything for me to be able to say,
I can't go up to the front and give him half of me.
I have to make an attempt to give him the all of me.
Even though there was flesh that was run in the other way,
I had to by faith make that statement.
And then you can see where all the unfaithful part
of myself would hang itself out.
That's where sanctification comes in.
But you stick to the oath that you made,
and it will cause the need for sanctification.
So when you commit to something,
you stick to the oath that you said.
But the weakness when it shows up,
you're like, sanctify me God.
Sanctification is needed.
I need this washed out of me.
Whatever it is, if it's fear,
it might be excopy.
I want to get out of this.
I don't want to be a part of this.
And it's requiring too much of me,
I need to be sanctified.
That is a big process.
And so after this first test,
God tested the faith and commitment.
Well, the faith is where you're sure.
You said you were sure on whatever it is.
Are you still sure?
That's what's going to be tested.
And then out of being sure comes your commitment.
I'm so sure I'm going to commit to this.
But if the first one's not operating right,
the second one will wane.
Faith and commitment.
That can apply to your marriage.
That can apply to your finances.
Whatever God's asked you to do in your life,
it can apply to that.
He's going to test us in that area.
And does he come up with some big tests?
Like, I'm going to run you through this or whatever?
No, he just watches how life works
and what you do with it.
Because in this world, there will be trouble.
He doesn't have to create trouble.
He doesn't borrow from the devil's kingdom
to set up a test for you.
But he will ask you to be all in
on whatever it is.
And that's the part.
That's why when Abraham answered,
when the father of many nations,
when the destiny of nations answered,
I am here.
It's probably the most important verse
in this whole chapter.
Because it doesn't matter if you're messed up,
you know, wounded,
all kinds of different things,
just be here.
He's going to take care of the rest.
He wants to know that you are
here, present with him, accountable.
Yes, sir, I am here.
The all of me has showed up.
God said, take now your son,
your only son of promise, first two,
whom you love, Isaac,
and go to the region of Mariah.
Mariah, one of the meanings to Mariah
is a place of teaching.
So no, you're, you know,
you're not just going to know how to say,
I am here and just go pull all this off.
No, you're going to have to be in teaching
to pull this off.
You're going to have to go to the place
of teaching.
That's why it's important to get the word.
That's why it's important because
to pull off the thing he's asked you
to do for you to stay present,
for you to be all here,
we have to be taught.
We have to know who he is.
It has to come alive to us.
That makes sense?
We'll continue on in the weeks to come,
but this morning I want to agree
on the here I am.
Now we've agreed on this already,
but I think people have,
you know, called me and stuff.
They're getting more revelation on
bringing closure to stuff.
And did I plant the tree?
I don't know, did I?
I don't know, did you?
These are conversations that we're having.
Did you plant the Tamarist tree?
Do you have a new beginning?
Is there a new marking point
that says
I'm showing up here I am?
We marked this, we closed out the old,
and now we're moving into the next thing
that God asks us to do.
So many times,
Christians get caught in the old thing,
and they stay there till they die.
God's waiting on them for like,
could you settle what's going on in the fam?
Could we just do this?
Can we, you know,
he'll put Institute something
and we don't know how to bring it to closure.
And it eats our lunch and it eats our destiny.
Let's stand.
He told him to take now your son.
Even the fact that he said your son
means he gave Isaac to Abraham.
He's your son, the son that you love,
the promise that you're carrying,
the one who wears the name.
Abraham has now produced Isaac.
And he's mentioning this,
and then he says,
first thing you do is go to Mariah.
Go to the region of teaching.
Get in with God.
Get into his word.
On that subject, on that thing,
Lord, show us, teach us.
But we come now with the first thing
of show us how to be in the spot
where we say, here I am.
Not in emotion,
not in some big promise,
not in something where we're in our flesh
and our soul goes, well, I have to
because other people are.
None of that where we come to a place,
Father, that by your spirit,
when he calls our singular name,
not the name of the church,
when he calls us, when he says,
Mary, I can say, here I am.
The all of me is here.
Do that in us, Lord God.
Do that in our hearts and in our minds.
Here I am.
Hallelujah.
I think we need to practice saying that phrase.
I know it sounds weird,
and it might even feel weird,
but, you know, there's something
that happens in the soul
when we're to make a commitment to him.
We think that it's an all or nothing.
That's immaturity.
You know, it's either you're all in
or you're all out.
No, it's like forgiveness.
I can choose to forgive you.
And my emotions will line up later,
but I did choose,
and I'll keep working on that choice
until my emotion changes, right?
So this, we work on this,
I am all here.
Here I am.
Here I am.
I am here.
I'm here to worship you.
I've made a commitment, Lord God,
and all the different things
you've asked me to do.
Here I am.
So let's just say that.
Here I am.
Say it again.
Here I am.
And Lord, we want you to use us.
We want you to change us.
We want you to reveal to us
to bring about the heart
that is all in.
We're all in, Lord God.
Wash out of us any wishy-washiness.
Any areas where we're sorted in.
Wash it out.
Start purging us, Lord God.
And through teaching,
through destiny teaching,
through teaching on revival
and all the different things,
we'll sit in Mariah
till you tell us when to go up
and we'll get the information
that we need
to stay in the here I am.
We're going to stay in the here I am.
We're staying put in the here I am.
So he's saying right now that
some of you are going through
what you call attacks or whatever.
And they can be,
but there's definitely distractions going on.
Because when we're being tested
in the area of faith or commitment,
something will happen way over here.
And it's to get your gaze to turn over there.
Well, when you're looking over there,
you're not looking over here.
We have to turn.
Not that we don't attend to those things,
but it's like this.
I'll get you, I'll take care of you,
but I got my eye on.
See, the importance is
I'm staying to my commitment.
I'm staying to him first.
I'm saying, well, what if it all blows apart?
Whatever, whatever.
I'm staying to where he is.
The distractions can be something stupid
like your dishwasher breaking.
And you get mad about it.
And suddenly that's all the focus.
And you lose a whole day
of moving toward the thing you committed to
over a dishwasher.
We have to learn how to put
the stupid things in the stupid spot.
That's just a stupid thing.
It's just a dishwasher.
And the end it'll burn.
That's how you have to look at stuff is like,
I didn't get to my dishes today.
I'm not saying to just turn into a slob,
but I'm saying I didn't get it to my dishes today.
But I did do the thing I committed to.
One day that's all gonna burn.
Anyway, this is not.
I'm gonna stay to my commitment.
I am here.
I am here.
Lord God, when you look to and throw
throughout the earth,
you're looking for people to say,
I am here.
So that you might show yourself strong.
You have to have that commitment that says,
I am here.
I am here.
I am here.
Distractions can be out of the spirit of adultery.
And it doesn't even have to be sexual.
It can be that it's something taking your passions
to pay attention to something
that you're not supposed to be focused on.
And it takes up time, space, and energy
in your mind and in your heart.
And then when you just go to say,
I am here, the all of you is not there.
Forgive us God.
For adulterous things.
Point it out to us.
Show us.
Show us what priorities are.
Reveal to teach us as we're in Mariah.
Teach us what a priority is.
Teach us what a priority should look like.
Teach us the weight and the gravity
of what should come first and what comes way last.
Teach us Lord God, the weight of that,
the heaviness of the thing that we put priority on.
It comes first.
Show us.
Line it up.
Even if it looks like from one to 10, Lord God,
priorities in our life,
you will be the one to rearrange those priorities
and we yield.
We yield to let you do that.
Because I am here.
I showed up.
I'm here.
In my house.
We pray for the people who aren't here
and the people at TBO and Red Lake
and in this region
that you would turn us upside down
if need be and correct our priorities.
Correct it.
Let us see it.
We won't get out of not seeing it.
We're just going to see it.
We're going to hear it.
We're going to look into it.
We're going to see it.
Priority, priority, priority.
Let's pray in the spirit for a little bit.
Lord God, we practice during worship being all here.
Lord, it doesn't matter if we're tired.
It doesn't matter if we're not feeling well, whatever.
We are here.
We are going to be all here
to the attempt of our heart.
We're all in today.
We override our flesh.
Here I am.
Here I am.