Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Guided Mind and The Guarded Heart

Episode Date: August 14, 2026

Get back what the enemy took. In “The Guided Mind & The Guarded Heart,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reveals how you can start reclaiming your peace — one thought at a time.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. And I've been waiting to ask you, are you ready for the Word of God? Are you ready? Come on, y'all better stretch for this word. All right. Quit banging on those fongos and let me preach. First Kings chapter 20, remains standing for the reading of God's word.

It's good to see my niece Hattie with blonde hair. I barely recognized her. Wow, a lot has changed. I used to have blonde hair, Hattie. Look it up. It's on Google. First Kings chapter 20, verses one through 34. You want to hurry today?

No. Okay. Are you hungry? Yes. hungry for the bread of life, the manna from heaven. I have food to eat that ye know not of." Okay, King James, let's do it. First Kings 20, verse 1.

Now Benhaddad, King of Aram, mustered his entire army, accompanied by 32 kings with their horses and chariots. He went up and besieged Samaria and attacked it. He sent messengers into the city to Ahab, King of Israel. saying, this is what bin Haddad says. Your silver and gold are mine, and the best of your wives and children are mine. And the king answered, just as you say, my lord the king, I and all I have are yours. How are you going to give up that easy on what God gave you?

I and all that I have are yours. And the messengers came again and said, this is what bin Haddad says, I sent to demand your silver and gold, your wives and your children. But about this time tomorrow, I'm going to send my officials to search your palace in the houses of your officials. They will seize everything you value and carry it away. The king of Israel summoned all the elders of the land and said to them, see how this man is looking for trouble?

He sent for my wives and my children, my silver and my gold, I did not refuse him. Let's key in on these next verses. The elders and the people all answered, don't listen to him or agree to his demands. So he replied to Benhadad's messengers, tell my Lord the king, your servant will do all you demand it the first time, but this demand I cannot meet. And they left and took the answer back to Benadad. They left and took the answer back to Benad. This demand I cannot meet.

Don't listen to him or agree to his demands. Now that scripture was probably unfamiliar to most of you. How many you never heard that one before? I don't remember hearing it. We can't start my first Sunday back with y'all lying right here in church. How many of y'all are like, I don't really know much about Benad. I'm going to balance this and give you a familiar scripture, and then we'll preach. But look real quick at Philippians chapter four.

Philippians chapter four, verse six. Do not be anxious about anything. But in every situation, by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all under. understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So for the next few minutes, let's talk about the guided mind and the guarded heart. And in case that's too pretty, here's the other title. Take it back.

Take it back. Father, I thank you for this day of deliverance. Do what you said you would do in Jesus' name. Amen. On your way to your seat, punch your neighbor gently if they are not COVID conscious and say, take it back. We need to get a new touch your neighbor. Old touch your neighbor is.

Take it back. So I want to make a confession to you. This is one of my friends advised me not to share this. I'm going to share it anyway. About 10 years ago, I went to have a consultation for liposuction. Buck went with me. This is not an endorsement or a negative publicity against cosmetic surgery in any way. But I went to get an endorsement for, what do you call it, a consultation to see if the doctor

thought I should do liposuction. I didn't do it. He talked me out of it. And the reason I went is because I want to have abs and I like fried rice. So that's what I went. That's what I told him. So when he heard me talking, he said, oh, you're one of these guys. And I said, one of what guys?

And Buck was there. So he was there with me. He said, you're one of these guys. You just want to, you want me to fix the fat, right? But you still want to eat the food. He basically, and I think the guy had a lot of integrity because he said, get out of here. He said, come see me after you've changed your processes. come see me after you've changed some things, you know, your diet, your exercise and all that.

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

into the presence of God. It's not like he doesn't know about them anyway. My problems are welcome in God's presence. And that helps me to know that there's nothing that I'm dealing with that I have to carry by myself. I don't get extra credit for holding it to myself. When I come to God, I can start talking about, like Paul said in Philippians chapter 4, anything. He said, don't be anxious, but instead pray. And I'm so grateful that there's nothing that I have to hide from God. I can bring him any problem that I have. Not just a big one, but a small one. Not just a small one, but a big one. God doesn't have a scale where he weighs my problems and says, that's too big, I'm busy.

On the other hand, God doesn't have a must-be-this-tall-to-ride sign in his presence, where he says, if your problem isn't a certain amount, I'm not concerned with it, because he's numbered the hairs on my head and he cares about what I care about. But lately, I felt the Lord challenging me, and I want to start this teaching with you today, and this would just really be the beginning of it, but God's been challenging me. instead of always just bringing me your problems, which you're always welcome to do, why don't you start bringing me your thoughts? Instead of coming to me, you know, like in an emotional state where you're all worked up

and you're so depressed and you're so anxious and all these other things that I know I'm not supposed to be, but I get there, and then asking God, will you please suck it out? It's been a while. Have y'all prayed any prayers lately? would you please suck this out of me? Have you ever come to the Lord for LIPO, is what I'm trying to say? Where I'm asking God to deal with the consequences, and that's fine, and I would not discourage you from that.

There's nothing that you brought in here today that God hasn't seen before. Please don't ever be arrogant enough to think that you have created a new category or species of sin that God is somehow going to be repulsed or surprised by. And please don't ever think that you. you're going to bring God something that he would be intimidated or insulted by. At the same time, wouldn't you like to find out what it would be like? That instead of letting the problem get to the point where it's so tangled up inside of you that you have to bring it to God as a full-grown problem, what if you started involving God

earlier in the process at the level of your thought? When I read you the scripture from 1 Kings 20, it was a surprising scripture for me that God led me to to preach. Because the main character in the passage is not King David or, you know, man after God's own heart, or Moses, who was no ordinary child. But a king that we don't preach much about named Ahab. Now, the only time you ever hear Ahab's name is in connection with the problem that he caused. And A'ab caused a lot of problems. In fact, for any of you who feel like you're too bad for God to bless you or you can't like really give what God has for you, the Bible says in 1st King 16 that Ahab was the most wicked

king who ever lived. All right. So that's who we're talking about. And the Bible says that 32 kings came to attack him, a confederacy of 32 different kings, led by binhaddad, who Ahab fought three different times. And I'm just giving you all this background to remind you that Ahab in 1 Kings chapter 20, the king who needed for God to do something, well, let me read it again. Isn't it crazy? I just read it again. That the king of Israel, the nation that belonged to God, didn't even ask for God's perspective. before he agreed to the enemy's demands.

If you notice, there is no section in this scripture that Ahab stops and calls for a prophet. There is no section in the scripture that I read you that Ahab stops and says, well, let's see what the Lord says about this. There is no indication. See, Ahab, I hate Ahab. I hate Ahab. I hate Ahab because he caused all this trouble for the nation. and then wanted to blame the enemy for an agreement that he himself made with the enemy. How many times in my life and your life have we asked God to deliver us from an agreement that we made with the enemy without consulting him?

Oh, you're one of those kinds. The life-suction doctor said to me, you just want me to suck it out. You just want to bring me the results of your habits. and have me fix them without adjusting any of them. And Ahab is so quick to agree with the enemy. I wonder how many times in your life have you agreed with the enemy without even consulting God. You know what I mean by agreed with the enemy? It comes along in the form of anxiety. I'm not one of these people who wakes up to my first alarm clock. In fact, my default disposition in the morning is despair and discouragement.

Holly, that's too loud of a laugh. You can just keep it down on that front row. My default position. And so in some ways, the verse I read you in Philippians, I know you don't think these two scriptures go together, but I'm going to show you how they do. Because Philippians 4-6 to someone like me is just about the most annoying Bible verse in the Bible, where Paul says, don't be anxious about anything. And I want to file that. My first instinct is I want to file that in the court of useless advice. And I also want to argue with Paul because his kids didn't have Snapchat. And so when he's telling me don't be anxious about anything, he didn't even have kids.

So how are you going to sit here and advise me on a situation that you never had firsthand experience of? And I want to argue with Paul, don't be anxious about anything, because to me at first, it seems like an impossible to man. So then he says something else. He says, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your requests to God. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation by prayer and petition with Thanksgiving, present your request to God.

Now, this is the end of a letter that Paul wrote to the Philippian Church. This is not the first thing that he said to them. This is not your annoying friend that gives you unsolicited advice. This is a church that he had a great relationship with. This is in a time of his own imprisonment where he has more to worry about than they have to worry about. And when we see the word anxious, I know you can't relate to this, but a few people in the church have had more anxiety in the past year than they ever had before. There's a few people in the church, just a few dirty sinners.

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

She has taught them to serve the rain god, bail, the rain god, but he has just been proven false on a mountain called Mount Carmel under a prophet named Elijah. And now after a state of famine, the nation is weakened. And so Benadad makes a strategy. I will attack them while they are still weak. from the famine. And it's not just one enemy that you've got to worry about. The Bible says that he went and got 32 other kings. Because you need to know before you agree with the enemy, he always brings company that you didn't count on. An agreement with the enemy. Have you made

any agreements with the enemy that need to be broken today before you can move forward into the promise that God has for your life. Do not be anxious about anything. I don't like that verse because, frankly, I like my anxiety. And I'm not talking about as a medical condition. You know, terms get so culturally loaded. They mean different things to different people. I am not telling you not to consult a professional.

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

This is what I believe the Spirit of God is saying to somebody today, and it's the message God gave me. Do not listen to your enemy or agree to his demands. Just because my enemy speaks something doesn't mean I have to agree with it. all, it is not the voice you hear that determines the life you end up with. It's the voice you believe. And before the enemy can get you to agree with it, he has to get you to believe it. So in order to get you to believe it, he'll get somebody to say it, and how many have found out you cannot believe everything you hear.

Not these days. I was reading the list of things that Paul said that we should think about because he's trying to give us a new perspective. You don't have to believe everything that crosses through your mind. You don't have to accept everything that comes across your heart. He said, don't be anxious about anything, but pray about everything. Now, he says, there are some things we should think about, verse 8, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely.

But see, I stopped at part one when he said, finally brothers and sisters, whatever is true, think about such things because I wondered, how do I even know anymore what that is? How do I even know what is true? How can I possibly know in this culture of headlines and highlights? Now you don't even just believe the headline. You believe the retweet of the retweet of the retweet of the retweet. How do I even know what is true anymore? How do I even know?

Because if I make an agreement with the enemy, that's why I was excited about Youth X. I think that if we can undo some of the untruths and keep our young people from making some agreements with the enemy. No, this is what I'm praying. This is what I'm praying not only for this week, but I'm praying this for my kids all the time. Y'all know I've got a good prayer life because I've got three children that are still living in my house.

Y'all know I got a good prayer life because one of them has his driver's permit. You know I got a good prayer life because I have a beautiful 10-year-old daughter and I'm praying every day. Don't let my daughter. Don't let my sons. Don't let me make agreements with the enemy. Don't let me make an agreement with the enemy. You know, sometimes you get in this self-pity mode and you kind of go with it and you start thinking,

I'm just worthless, I'm just this, I'm just that, I'm just the other. You know why you do that? Because it takes the pressure off for a minute. You know why Ahab gave up his silver and his gold, and the Bible said his best wives. Now, you can have the other ones, but Lord, let me keep the best ones. I'm going to take your silver and your gold, and I'm going to take your best wives and your best kids. In other words, I'm going to tax the land. Ahab said, okay, because if I agree with you, maybe you won't attack me.

So sometimes we find ways to make the attack stop that actually make the battle worse and weaken us on the inside after the fact. This is the root of addiction. Oh, I was praying for our kids. When y'all were standing up earlier, I was praying, God, don't let them make an alliance with something early in their life. Don't let them make an agreement with something. Some of us make agreements with things that provide us. us with temporary relief, but they are false gods. They cannot save.

They do not serve us. They do not satisfy us. They are broken cisterns that cannot hold water. So if we're going to preach about anything, if we're going to preach about repentance from sin and dead works, we have to first understand that before the promise, oh, this is my sermon, before the promise of God can be received, your agreement with the enemy has to be broken. And there are things about you that are not true, that are not right, that are not noble, that are not good report, that are not virtuous, that are not praiseworthy, that you have

begun to believe because sometimes it is easier to believe the lie that looks like the evidence I can see than believe the truth that is new. And it's easier for me to believe. Bring God my love handles and ask him to suck them out. Have you ever crawled up in the presence of God when it's so bad that you can't even hardly pray anymore? After you've been 15 rounds with, oh God, just . I've had God help me in those times. To be honest with you, I wouldn't be here if he didn't help me in those times.

So there's nothing wrong with that. I heard the Lord say to me the other day, this would have been easier if you'd have brought it to me earlier. Listen, it starts before you see it. Say that out loud. It starts before you see it. Again, it starts before you see it. That's true for a leak in your roof. That is true for an emotional state. I was so obsessed with Paul's instruction to the Philippians. He said, the peace of God will guard your heart. and your mind in Christ Jesus. Look at this in verse 7. And the peace of God. So I want the peace of God. God, give me your peace. I'm so stressed out. I'm so anxious. I don't know what to do about it. And he said, well, if you don't guide your mind, it's impossible for God's peace

to guard your heart. How many know your mind needs to be guided? Oh, let me, oh, I need to break it to you? Your mind needs guidance. Your mind is an undisciplined, rabid dog that will bite the whole neighborhood. Your mind needs guidance. That powerful computer of your mind. That mind needs guidance. Elon Musk didn't make a self-driving mind yet, y'all. I don't think there's one coming on the market. So if I'm going to bring God into my problems, but not bring him into my process. What's what's going to happen every single time? When the king said to the enemy, Benedad, I can't meet these demands. The Lord gave a promise in verse 13. Listen to this. This is First Kings 2013. A prophet came to Ahab, King of Israel, and announced, this is what the Lord says.

this is what the Lord says. I'm supposed to read what comes next, but that's where I'm stuck. This is what the Lord says. Everybody say it. This is what the Lord says. What did I come to church to hear? What the Lord says? What do I want to fill my heart with?

What the Lord says? What do I want my kids to believe? What the Lord says? What am I building my life on that can't be shaken with a storm? what the Lord says. What has the power to defeat and uproot every lie I believe? What the Lord says? What am I steering my life according to? What the Lord says? What has the final say over what happens to me in this season of my life? What the Lord says? What has divine power to demolish strongholds and defeat every devil in hell? What the Lord says. This is what the Lord says. I heard what

to set bin-edat. But this is what the Lord says. Do you see this vast army? Do you see these problems? Do you see this situation? This is what the Lord says. I will give it into your hand today. Then you will know I am the Lord. Well, Pastor Steve, that doesn't apply to me. I'm divorced. Well, Pastor Steve, that doesn't apply to me. I'm 12. Well, Pastor Steve, that doesn't apply to me. I got a learning disability. Well, Pastor Steve, that doesn't apply to me.

I got an eating disorder. Well, Pastor Steve, that doesn't apply to me. I don't have any friends. Well, Pastor Steve, that doesn't apply to me. I got a GED. If God did it for Ahab, he'll sure enough do it for me. I am his child.

Do it for me, Lord. Do it for me, Lord. I have been carrying the burdens of battles that my decisions created. I have been anxious about agreements that I made with the enemy. But the Lord said, I'm going to deliver them into your hands today. Then you will know. Then you will know. And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will guard your heart and mind.

Wait a minute. What's the difference? Heart and mind. Heart and mind. The heart is the emotions. The mind is the thought process. And I can't pray my way out of emotional states that my thinking costs. You're just, you know, didn't shout too good over that part.

Sit down. We're still just getting started. I'm not very good at vacation. I don't know how you can be bad at vacation, but I am. Usually I'm too lazy to do anything fun with my kids and make any memories. But then sometimes when I try stuff, it just goes horribly wrong. In fact, every time I try to do something a little of interest, it goes wrong. We were talking this summer.

We went to the beach this summer, and they had kayaks that you can ride in the ocean. But it's different when Holly gets in the kayak. It's peaceful. When I get in the kayak, it's cursed. There's three times we got in the kayak that it went bad, all in one week. Last summer. I didn't get in the kayak this summer because the kayak is cursed when I get in. One of the times at the kayak ended with a man with scissors pointing them at me telling me he was going to stab me with the scissors and that happened

That happened and we don't have time to talk about that and I don't really want to talk about it. It's a horrible memory But even when I'm not in the kayak Listen how bad I am listen how bad I am at Adventures We swam in the ocean Two summers ago and I think I told you all this story where the riptide I told you that But it's a conversation that I had with Elijah that I wanted to say to you. Maybe I'll say more about this at Youth X, because they're going to let me preach a session

too. I might have to talk more about this. I said, Elijah, you've got to be so careful how far you swim out from me. Because even if I want to get to you out there, there is a place that you can get so far away from me. I'm your dad. I'm your father. If I could get to you, I'll get to you.

But in this particular instance, the undertow was so bad I had Abby on one arm and Cram was hanging on the other and they weren't care if I lived or died. They were just using me to get out as an object. I said, if you get too far out, it won't be about whether I want to come get you. There is such a thing, and I used it to parallel to them, not just the water, but I just talked about in your teenage years, in your decisions, there is a place where you can get far enough Now, I'm not saying God's love can't reach you wherever you are, especially for you all in the back.

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

bring in me your problems, or do you want to bring me your thoughts before they become problems? So I think we have to decide, will we be willing to let God guide our minds? So that is peace can guard our hearts. The term is a military term. It's a great, amazing picture that Paul gives. It's a military term. It's talking about a detachment that God will set up at your heart, the peace of God.

There are two things mentioned in Philippians, Chapter 4. You may not notice them on the surface, but they're both right there. One is the peace of God, and one is the God of peace. In Philippians 4-7, it says, and the peace of God, which passes all understanding. And every time I call someone who's going through something that you can't imagine or can't figure out how to deal with or you can't counsel, the standard thing that I will pray for them is, God, and I pray that your peace that passes all understanding will guard your heart of mind.

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

when I tell myself, I'm not worthy. In psychological terms, they talk about rumination. And a lot of us, we think that we're overthinking things. We're really underthinking things. We're just thinking the same thing over and over at the same level, never involve God, just give the enemy whatever he wants, just give him our mind, just believe anything that goes through our mind. But the peace of God will set up a guard at your heart, that's your emotions, if you

guide your mind. And that's why he says there's power and prayer. I don't pray like I could, like I should. Sometimes I don't pray until the pressure gets so bad I feel like I'm about to explode. And the Lord's like, are you done with that now? You want to come on over here and have you dragged that far enough across the floor? Have you got low enough now? But what if you don't to wait till it gets to that point. Lord, keep me from doing something crazy in the next five minutes that's going to take me the next five years to clean up. What if you prayed that? What if we prayed about, what if you involved God earlier in the process? Like, before it goes all the way to level 10, what if God wanted to meet you at two? Oh, this is slipping

a little off track. Like, if you drove your car like you guided your mind, You'd be in a ditch. Just let go of the wheel until the last minute you're steering into a semi. Now you want to drive, but we do it with our souls. We wait until it's the exact last minute. Oh, God, deliver me from the decisions that I've made all week. No, I'm serious. Y'all do me like that.

In one hour on Sunday, you want me to preach a word that will deliver you from the decisions you spend all week. Make it. It's not right. It's not fair. I told the dental hygienist one time, I'm not going to floss. I'll be here every six months. Do the best you can. Whatever you can get out of my teeth in that time.

Just do it, and the rest leave it, and it'll grow for the glory of God until you remove it again. I know it's gross, but I let it build up until the last minute. And God has been saying to me, you can bring me your problems. But you can also bring me your thoughts. Now I'm at the point where I will pray about absolutely anything. Because, you know why I do it? Because Paul said I could. And he wrote the Bible.

And I know you think there are certain things we're not supposed to pray about. But you didn't write the Bible. I don't care what you think about it anymore. Because Paul said, don't be anxious about anything. Anything. Listen to this. Pray in every situation. So in Greek, every situation means every situation. Isn't that deep? I got a degree in the Bible. I'm going to blow your mind. A porn addict can pray while he's looking at porn. I'll see y'all next week. We got to do this in doses. L.J., you can pray in the middle of a panic attack. Not after it's over and you're on the floor.

You can pray. You know what? You can even start with a selfish prayer if you have to. You have to wait until you want the right thing to talk to God. You've been waiting the rest of your life. You're too dysfunctional to wait until you want the right thing to pray. Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart. He will put them in there.

I prayed the men who had the scissors at me in the thing. I prayed, God, I want to take his son. I was more fit than him. I could see it. I sized it up real quick. And so, you know, they say pray for your enemies. It doesn't say what you pray for them. See, you have to start somewhere. My Lord, let him fall on his scissors right now. But the important thing is that you involve God in the process. Right? You ever had to pray in anger?

Pray angry. I was getting ready to preach one time and I started praying to the Lord. Why will you hide your face from me? Elo, Elo, El-Mishabakh did I? Why have you forsaken me? I wasn't feeling anything to God. And I thought as if God was saying, oh, there you are. There you are.

Why am I hiding my face from you? Why are you hiding for me? You keep God out of the process. You keep God out of the... Then you end up just being just like Ahab. Oh, I hate Ahab. But I got to be honest, I kind of relate to him. Enemy is attacking me with 32 kings.

Okay, you can have it. You can have it. It is easier to just believe the lie than it is to. You know, you've got to train yourself in truth. It doesn't come naturally. said, whatever things that you have seen, received, or heard from me. A lot of us have never actually seen a pattern of how to fight our battles with God's help. We believe the way that we've seen it done is the only way that it can't be done. We don't really believe, like really believe

that I can give my battle to the Lord. We don't really believe that the peace of God will guard my heart and my mind. But I want you to watch what happened to Ahab. You know, the enemy doesn't just attack you once, and if it doesn't work, he leaves you alone. Because the Lord gave Ahab a victory over Benedad. But just after the victory, the prophet comes back and came to Ahab again. Look at this in verse 22. He said to the king of Israel,

strengthen your position and see what must be done. Because next spring, the king of Aram will attack you again. I'm under attack again. I'm dealing with depression again. Jesus died for me, and I believe that his blood cleanses me, but I'm struggling with unworthiness again. And the prophet said something very interesting. It's not just prayer, it's not just peace. He says, strengthen your position and see what must be done.

Because see, the officials, verse 23, of the King of Aram, had a theory on why God gave the victory to the Israelites the first time. And they advised him, their gods are gods of the hills. That is why they were too strong for us. But if we fight them on the plains, surely we will be stronger than they. So do this. Remove and replace them, or remove all the kings from their commands, and replace them with other officers. Remove and replace would be a good sermon, by the way, too. Remove and replace, but not today. You must also raise an army like the one you lost horse for horse and chariot for chariot so we can fight Israel on the plains. Then surely we will be stronger than they. And he agreed with them and acted accordingly.

He agreed with the lie and acted accordingly. This is Benedad, the enemy. He agreed with the advice of his counselors. He thought that God, Yahweh, was like bail of the Phoenicians. He thought that God was only limited to one geographical locale. So the reason they beat you was because you fought them in the hills. But if you fight them in the low place, now here's the thing. Some of you, the enemy attacked you on one level and it didn't work because you still have your faith and you still have your sanity and you didn't blow your brains out and you didn't give in and you didn't walk away. But now, watch this. He's hitting you with a low blow. He said, if you fight them in the plains, we'll be stronger than

them. But look what the word of the Lord says. And I want to show you this in verse 28, and I'm closing, I'm closing, because it says that they lined up against them and they seemed like a flock of small goats and they looked too small, but they had God fighting for them. Verse 28, the man of God came up and told the king of Israel, here it is again. This is what the Lord says. This is what the Lord says. Because the Arameans think the Lord is a god of the hills and not a god of the valleys, because the enemy thinks that if he hits you in your weakest spot, just be honest. How many of you the enemy has hit you with a low blow lately? Like in the place where it hurts the most. This is what the Lord says.

Because he hit you where you were the weakest, I am going to display my strength in the greatest way because the enemy thinks, oh, if I fight them there, they'll give in. But he's wrong about it. The harder he hits you in the most vulnerable place, the greater a candidate for the grace of God you become. Some of you, the enemy couldn't defeat you while you were awake, so now he started sneaking into your sleep. having dreams in the middle of the night about scenarios. You've been waking up in a cold sweat, not even rested. He couldn't fight, couldn't beat you awake, so now he's fighting you asleep. Some of you, the enemy took a lot from you personally, but it didn't cause you to lose your faith, so then he hit your kids. There was one thing for you to be dealing

with it, but now you're watching your kids suffer. Oh, if I can't beat them in the hills, I'll fight him on the plains. God said, I am the God of unconditional victory. I believe that God is calling somebody today to take back, not only the high places, but God said, because your enemy thinks that I am only the God of the hills, I am going to show you a victory in the valley. So you will know I'm not like bail. I don't operate based on physical. location. I don't need perfect circumstances to do my work. In fact, if you have faith to believe it, I hear God saying, I stack the odds against myself. That's what the Lord said. I'm making it so impossible because I want you to know that it's Yahweh. I want you to know that it's God. See, when they're fighting you in the mountains, when they're fighting you in the good time,

you think it's you, you think it's your leverage. This is what the Lord says. In this season, I'm going to do something in the lowest place, in the most vulnerable place, in your weakness. I am strong. So what does the Lord say? That's what I want to know. I don't want to agree with the enemy.

about anything that keeps me from hearing what God has said about me, whether it's why I'm unworthy, why I'm incompetent. In fact, Lord, right now, in the name of Jesus, in the name of Jesus, I break the power of the agreements that your children have made with the enemy. And we call on you God of peace to set up an armed guard at our hearts in Christ Jesus. We thank you that our position in you is permanent and it is fixed. Lord, today we don't want to give the enemy so easily what you died with your blood to purchase for us. And you came to give us peace. Right now standing all over this house in every location, watching on our house.

line. God said, take it back. You agreed with the enemy, but take it back. I know I agreed in my heart that I was worthless. I know I agreed in my heart that my best days were behind me. I know I agreed in my heart that I would never, but I take it back. Because this is what the Lord says. God, we're not going to be so quick to hand over the best of what you gave us.

We've let the enemy have enough. He's taken enough ground in this season. We've given up enough ground, not another inch. not another inch. I thank you that now in this moment you are releasing your peace, your unconditional victory. Lord, I want to pray for somebody today who has believed the lie that you are a God of the mountains only, that you can only win in the hills, that you can only use perfect people and that you can only work in perfect circumstances. It's a lie.

And because the Arameans think that you're only a god of the hills and not the valleys, I dispatch victory into the valleys of your people's lives today. Well, I thank you for it. I thank you for it in advance. We have heard your word today. This is what the Lord says. We have sung your word today. This is what the Lord says.

And we thank you, Jesus, in your name that over these next seven days of our life as we meditate on this word, we will not rehearse the reasons that we should feel defeated, and we will not rehearse the reasons that we should be afraid, but we will remember the victories that you have given and anticipate the ones that you have promised. All of God's people who agree with this word, lift up a great shout of praise. Lift up a great shout of friends. Thank you, Lord. Come on, lift your hands.

Lift your hands. I declare victory over your life. This is what the Lord says. I'm going to give it into your hands. Receive it. Receive it right now. I give it in your hands. It is a gift.

We receive it. All the people who receive this word, clap your hands and say amen. Thank you for joining us. Special thanks to those of you who give generously to this ministry is because of you that this ministry is possible. You can click the link in the description to give now or visit elevationchurch.org slash podcast for more information. And if you enjoyed the podcast, you can subscribe, you can share it with your friends. You can click the share button, take a screenshot and share it on your social stories and tag us at Elevation Church. Thanks again for listening. God bless you.

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