Manifesting Prophetic Destiny, Part 1 | Dr Mike Woods, Sr | 10 November 2024

We thank y'all for joining us live. Glory to God. Do me a favor, make sure if you're joining us now, please share this, whether you're watching this live or by replay. I'm not going to hold you long, but I do want to give you what thus saith the Lord. Is that okay? Glory to God. Um, if you would, if you have a Bible, iPad, a phone, whatever you use, glory to God, I want to talk to you a few moments. I want you to go to Jeremiah 1:5. We're going to read that first, and then we're going to read— glory to God— Isaiah 46:10 also. Glory to Jesus. Hallelujah. Glory to Jesus. Glory Jeremiah 1:5, you'll find these words. The Bible says, I chose you before I formed you in the womb. I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. I'm gonna read that again because it's just all right to read the Bible. Amen. He says, I chose you before I formed you in the womb. That's powerful because he said, I chose you before you even got in your mama's belly. I set you apart before you were born. Before you came into this earth, you were sanctified, you were set apart. We're going to talk about this in a moment. He says, I appointed you to be a prophet to the nations. Glory to God. All right, we're going to read Isaiah 46:10. Bible says this: I declare the end from the beginning. This is God talking. He says, and from long ago, what is not yet done, saying my plan will take place and I will do my will. I'm read those two again. Also Isaiah 46:10. This is God talking. I want you to listen. He says, I declare the end from the beginning. Now I want you to see really quickly how that connects. He says, before I formed you in the womb, I knew you. Before you were born, I gave you an assignment. I set you apart. I gave you a voice. So the beginning is not when you were born in the hospital. The beginning was before you got in your mother's belly and had fellowship with God. He said, I declared this, I could declare your end. In other words, God knows where you're going. And from long ago, what is not yet done, saying my plan will take place and I will do all— thank you, Father— my will. Glory to God. This morning, and I'm going to be talking about this, glory to God, all month, but I want to talk about manifesting prophetic destiny. Touch your belly, everybody, do it for me. Well, y'all so far away, it's like two whole rows right here. Glory to God. But I'm, I'm gonna mess with y'all today. I'm gonna just come close. Glory to God. Touch your belly. Say this, say I have inside of me. Come on, y'all, I know y'all. I promise you, if I got some of y'all in another setting at a basketball game or football game, y'all be super loud. Glory. Come on, y'all help me say, I got— I have inside of me a prophetic destiny. That's what I want to talk about, manifesting prophetic destiny. Every person in this building, from the youngest to the oldest, has a prophetic destiny inside of you. There's something that God wants to come forth out of you that— watch this— if you're not careful, you can actually die and it never come forth. I'm gonna say that again. If you're not careful, you could leave this earth— hear me— and the destiny that's in your life— hear me, guys— could go to the grave with you. Hear this: the richest place in the world is not diamond mines, gold mines, banks, oil wells. The richest place in the world is the graveyard because so many people have died with so much destiny in them, so many things that needed to be produced that wasn't produced. Just touch yourself, say, I got something to produce. As a matter of fact, these two verses we read suggest that you're special. Watch this. The first one said, before I formed you in the belly, I knew you. So not after you got there, before you got there. So first of all, that means you're not a mistake. Say that with me. Say, I'm not a mistake. Come on, say it. Say, I'm not a mistake. You're supposed to be here. There was no oops. There was no, I wish I wouldn't have got pregnant. No, you're supposed to be here. Because before you were formed, God connected with you. Matter of fact, he put something down inside of your DNA that you needed to bring to this earth. Destiny suggests that you are God's delivery system in the earth. You are here to deliver a package. Just like, glory to God, Uber Eats or DoorDash delivers you, just like UPS or FedEx delivers something to your door, there's always a destination before the driver leaves. There was a destination for your life established before you left heaven, so you have significance. You're supposed to be here. There is no accident. You're special. Say it again. Say, I'm special. If you believe it, come on, say, say, I'm special. Say, I'm here to deliver something. Oh boy, okay, y'all, y'all get with me before it's over. All right, say it again. Say, I'm special and I'm here to deliver something. So believe it or not, God knows exactly what he's doing with your life. No matter how it looks right now, no matter how hard things may be, there's a prophetic destiny that's greater— glory to God— than where you are. As a matter of fact, can I submit to you in here and those watching that the way it is now is not the way it's gonna be? And I know All of us have gone through some hard things, and you may be dealing with— even again, even our teenagers deal with pressure, deal with challenges. The reality is things change, but you have to embrace the fact that you're on a trajectory toward a better place, because if you accept where you are as the end. Ultimately, guess what? That's what you're gonna get. But I'm telling you right now, it's not the end. I'm telling you right now, there is more. I need somebody to say that. Say, there is more. Glory to God. When I, when I, when I understand, even in my own life, how God takes us through process, it's only God putting me on the road to divine destiny. Oh, y'all ain't got to say much here. Listen, when, you know, there have been times even in as being establishing local churches, I planted 8, and I've been in this place with a few people a lot of times. And I will, I will often wonder, God, why could I go on the road and preach to several thousand people and have to come home and preach to 4 people? But God, that's a part of the process. It's a part of going through what God's got to take you through. Watch this, to qualify you to keep where you're going. Because again, before he formed you, he knew where you were going. Say this with me, say, he knows where I am and he knows where I'm going. Oh, that's good to know. So no matter where you are, God can locate you. He knows exactly what you're in the middle of. And so there's no reason to quit, there's no reason to give up, because he knows where you are. So you got to understand this process of destiny. So let's jump into this. Let me give you some quick facts about destiny. So we, we're clear again that destiny— let me just get a working definition in case we missed it. Destiny is God's idea for your future. It's his optimal reality for your future. It's the endgame. It's where he wants you to end up. It's not where you are. Destiny is again where you're going. It's the destination. It's what God decided. Watch this. Destiny is never your decision. It's your discovery. Destiny is never your decision, it's your discovery, because it's already been decided. Now you have to discover what God decided. How do I do that? Glad you asked. This is the first fact I want you to remember about destiny: your decisions now will cause you to discover destiny. While your decision is— watch this— has already been made about your life, where God wants you to go, you have to make the right decisions to get you to destiny. Oh boy, you don't get to decide what the destiny is, but you got to make the decisions to get you there. If you make bad decisions You stay stuck. You keep going in circles. Watch this, you have to make precise, accurate decisions. Decisions with precision make incision. So precise, accurate decisions make incisions. They cut off things that don't belong. Because watch this, everybody can't go where you're going. Oh boy. Matter of fact, just, just declare this: everybody can't go where God is taking me. So you got to make some decisions that will move the things out of the way that don't belong. Jesus put it like this in John chapter 15. He said, any branch in me that bears not fruit, I take it away. So if there's something in your life that's not bringing forth fruit, God will take it away. Are y'all here? So you got to be willing to cut off things and people that can't go. One of the craziest things we could do in pursuit of destiny is try to carry folk that we not supposed to carry. Are y'all hearing this? Listen, you just got to make up in your mind, sometimes cutting away from people that don't belong in your process, it will hurt because Incisions hurt. Y'all ain't got to talk now. Yeah, glory to God. Incisions hurt. But what's better? Hear me. The sharp pain, glory to God, of cutting away something that doesn't belong, or the nagging pain of keeping it? Because nagging pain hurts constantly, all the time. So you got to decide, I'm gonna get rid of this because all it does is keep breaking my heart. All it does is continue to hurt me. Are y'all hearing this? All it does is continue to slow me down and stop my progress. And it may hurt, but sometimes you got to make decisions with precision and be very accurate and very distinct and say, look, I got to let this go because it's not good for where I'm going. So decisions determine destiny, but they do not decide destiny. God has already decided it. You have to make the decisions to manifest it. When destiny doesn't happen, it's because you've been making bad decisions. Can I submit to you, your life is a product of the decisions you made. Where you are right now is a product of decisions. We in this room right now this morning because of a decision. Glory to God. I made a decision that we were going to use this building as a location for this church. We're here. It decided it. Are y'all here? You're driving your car because of a decision. You may not even like the car no more, but at some point you liked it because you put some money down. Glory to God. You pay on it every month. It was a decision that created a destiny. You married somebody. Are y'all hearing this? And you may be married to him right now wondering what in the world have you done. Are y'all hearing this? That's what— and, and, but you made a decision that created that destiny. Are y'all here? Because everybody ain't happy. Y'all ain't got to talk to me here. Everybody married ain't operating at 100% joy. There's some single people looking at married folks saying, boy, if I can just get married, I'll be operating at 1,000% joy. And there's some married folk looking at you saying, boy, if I could just drop this dud and be single again, I'll be at 1,000% joy. Because marriage is work. So before you make that decision, you better pray and you better make sure it's God. Are y'all hearing this? Just cause it got flesh and blood, don't— and companionship don't necessarily— because you got to be there the rest of your life. Oh, y'all ain't got to say much. Hallelujah. Okay, so, so, so say, my decisions manifest destiny. That's point number 1. I'm gonna be out here in a minute, and we're gonna go back to these scriptures. I'm gonna break them down. Number 2, if you write notes, write this down. Destiny always has a devil. Usha. Destiny always has a devil. The greatest threat to the enemy is you achieving destiny. He does not want you to get what God promised you. Oh God, he don't want you to manifest God's plan. He would rather you keep living life trying to figure it out, going in circles, and never fulfill the promise and the prophetic destiny that's on your life. And when I say prophetic destiny, I want you to hear this: Whenever you hear the word prophetic, it doesn't necessarily just deal with that that pertains to a prophet, but it deals with that that pertains to prophecy. Prophecy doesn't necessarily— watch this— require a prophet. Oh God, okay, here we go. Prophets merely say what they see God say. So if the prophet is speaking what God says, prophecy doesn't require a prophet. If I can tap into God— oh, y'all ain't got to talk to me here— God can prophesy to me and talk to me about destiny. You got people that line up for prophecy and they run from Tintin. And I'm a prophet, I love to prophesy, that's one of my gifts. But the reality is I believe that prophecy and dreaming and visions are low levels of communication. I'll say that one more time: dreams, visions, prophecy, low-level communication. Why? Because God is real. And if you spend time with him, God ain't got to put you to sleep and give you a dream to talk to you. Yeah, okay, all right, okay, I know, because dreamers think they're so deep and wonderful because I had a dream. Yeah, you ain't praying, that's why you're dreaming. You ain't spending time with God and your ear's not tuned to his voice. Ask Joseph. Oh my God. Joseph, so many times God was trying to speak to him. I said, this joker ain't gonna hear me, let me put him to sleep so I can talk to him about what I'm gonna do. Because some of y'all looking at me funny, oh, my dreams are deep. No, they're not. It's low, hear me, it's low. Your relationship can stand some tightening because you could talk to God just like I'm talking to you and you can hear him. He's that real. So if you got a dream for him to communicate, he can't get your attention while you're awake. Oh God. So again, to my point, uh, prophecy doesn't require a prophet. It only requires God. The prophet is necessary to carry the message of God when people won't seek God themselves. Watch this. This is why the scripture says prophesying shall cease. Okay, yeah, I'm a very prophetic person. I'm not against prophecy. I'm just telling you, when we mature, we need it less. When we grow up We needed that. Watch this, when your children grow up, you're gonna talk to them less. I got grown children. I got one teenage child. He the only one I gotta talk to all the time. He's a smart kid, very athletic kid, but I still gotta guide him. He still needs my voice. My grown children, not so much, because they've established their way. So when you grow up in God You don't need someone always telling you, the Lord said do this, the Lord said do that. And some people, I don't get it, they don't feel like they're saved or with God unless somebody's telling them what to do and what not to do. That's religion. God wants to know you. So God prophesied to us in Jeremiah 1:5, and he said, before I formed you, I knew you. Watch this, that same word when we was lifting, yada, it's crazy how this Hebrew word translates to this. Yada in Hebrew means again to surrender and be grateful. Watch this, for what God has said. He said, so before God formed us, he knew us. He was intimate with us. He put thanksgiving in us. He put a gift in us. You came to this planet with destiny in you. That's why you can't— you ain't got to be out here looking for it. It's in you. Greatness is in you. Success is in you. Oh, Shia! I don't care what the color your skin is. Watch this, I don't care who the president-elect is. Greatness is in you. There's a prophetic destiny on your life. You got all these church folk freaking out because Trump is the president. Why? Jesus is the King. Hallelujah. He's the King of Kings. So I'm not freaking out because of a man that's on the throne of power in the world. My God superimposes him. He's above him. And my destiny is not tied to Trump. Glory. Touch your belly and say, my destiny ain't tied to the president, the mayor, the governor. My destiny is tied to Jesus. The president didn't write this. Jesus wrote this. Glory to God. So here we go, number 2. I was, I was going there, I just had to back up and define prophetic destiny. So we got it. All destiny has a devil. The enemy hates you. He hates anointed people. He hates people who know who they are. This is why he fights so hard against identity and trying to make you be something that you were not created to be. He hates you. His whole goal is to stop you from manifesting that greatness that's on the inside of you. He fights people in every area— in their sexuality, in their finances, in their emotions, in their relationships. His whole purpose is to stop destiny. I want you to believe that the only reason you get fought so hard is because the enemy doesn't want to see your destiny come forth. So that, you know what you got to do when there's a devil? You got to lock in and go to war. You cannot allow the devil just to war against you. You gotta fight. You gotta fight for your destiny. And you gotta make up your mind that no matter what comes against me, against all odds, I'm going to fight to the finish because God has promised this is mine. Anybody here believe that there's something in your life that's yours? You got to believe it, and you got to see it before you see it. I'm gonna say that again. You got to see it before you see it, because guess what? The enemy saw it, and he's mad. I'm talking about he's mad as hell. He's mad. Hear me, he is mad. He's from hell, so I didn't cuss, and hell is in the Bible. He's mad because somebody said the preacher just cussed. No, I didn't. He's mad as hell, for real. And who God has created you to be. He does not want you to win. So you got to decide, I'm gonna fight. Before I quit, I'm gonna fight. Glory to God. And you got— you got to know this, that you're fighting— oh my God, this is powerful here— from victory. You're fighting a battle that's already won. Oh God, this battle, this fight is already in your favor. Just think about this. If you was a boxer and you was going in the ring, it's a $10 million purse, you're going in the ring, glory to God, against, uh, Floyd Mayweather. And you know, you know you can't beat Floyd Mayweather. But before you get in there with him, watch this, the Lord whispers in your ear, "You're gonna win." What do you do? Do you still be afraid of Floyd or do you get in the ring anyway knowing that you're fighting from victory because as long as God is on your side, you can't lose. As a matter of fact, the $10 million is yours. You just gotta fight. You got to go through the process and fight, because guess what the fight does? It qualifies you to keep destiny once you get it. Because once you defeat your enemy, that enemy no longer has legal right to attack you in that area again, but you got to fight. But if you keep throwing in the towel and don't finish the fight, you'll never get to destiny. So the reality is, expect the devil to show up. Expect opposition. Some people don't understand why they constantly get exposed to opposition. They go through opposition because of what's in you. You're great. Listen, if you didn't have no attacks, I would question who you are. But the very fact that the enemy comes for you is a sign that you got something, hallelujah, that's special and that the earth needs. That's in your— touch your belly and say, I got destiny in me. I'm almost through. Number 3, here's another fact about destiny. Glory to God. Lord, I love you. God, Jesus, he's so good. Destiny— watch this— destiny cannot be changed. I said in the beginning like this: God decided it, so you have to discover it. But sometimes things get so hard that you want to say, okay, I'll just do something else. I've been there. Glory to God. I listen, I don't throw it in the towel so many times. So God, let me just run my business. Let me just not— let me just go to church and be good and saved and give my tithe and worship. I don't have to preach. I don't have to lay hands. I ain't got to prophesy. I don't need to do none of that. That. Let me just not do this no more. I've been doing it long enough, so let's do something else. God says, no, you can't change what I've decided. So I need you to accept that right now. You can't change what God has decided. He said it. You have no authority to change it. You just got to keep fighting through. To the blessing, and the breakthrough comes out of it. And I'm telling you, breakthrough is coming. It's closer than it's ever been, but you can't change it. I'm gonna show you why when we go back to the scripture. There are things that will appear more attractive. Yeah, and you want to change what God said. There are things that appear easier and you want to say, no, I don't want to do this because, you know, God may say you're supposed to be a lawyer, that's going to take 8 years of school, but then there's this 2-year nursing degree. So I'm gonna just get that and I'll be all right. But you're never going to be satisfied because fulfillment comes with destiny. Matter of fact, the destiny is what brings ultimate fulfillment. You will never find fulfillment in something that wasn't destined— people, places, jobs, professions, nothing. If it wasn't destined, you're going to be constantly looking for fulfillment. Jesus, that's why people cheat. They're unfulfilled. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. They cheat on spouses, they cheat in life, they do things that they shouldn't do because of a lack of fulfillment. That's why you got to make sure the front door— this is what God said, and you're willing to fight through and never change it. Are y'all hearing this? This soul food. My intent was not to entertain you, I promise you. But I want you to get this, because your life is real, and you got to show up in the world and live out this destiny, because the world is what needs you. Ah, Shia. No, watch this. And as we move into 2025— I hear that, God— this, this, this, this year, 5785, which is the Hebrew year, we're going to see a manifestation like never spring forth of what we say. I hear that, God. And God says, as you begin to speak over the destiny in your life, as you discover destiny, speak to it, prophesy to it, it's going to spring forth in this year to come. You're going to start tangibly seeing what God said. You're going to see the hand of God move in your life. 5785 is hey, pay. It means to speak what God has spoken and to see what God has said. As you speak to what he has said, it's going to manifest in your life, whoever the president is. I say again, no president has control over what's in me. I'm on God's timeline. I'm on God's mind. He, he knew me. He sanctified me. He ordained me. And you You can't change it. Don't try to change it. I'm telling you, it may be rough right now, but it's what— what you're going through, it's worth it. You're gonna be able to look back over your shoulder and see it was worth it all. It was worth every tear. It was worth all of the hurt. It was worth all of the pain. Every time you had to bow down to him and lift your hands and say, God, help me, you're gonna look back and see that he was anointing you in that time where you could not help yourself. Say, I'm anointed for destiny. Oh boy, oh my God, tonight, Jesus, we bless you. Say it again. Say, I'm anointed for destiny. Say, the devil can't do anything to stop where I'm going. Write this down. Here's another fact about destiny. All destiny has a delivery date. Oh boy, all destiny has a delivery date. There is already an assigned— oh my God— date for your destiny to come forth. If I order something from Amazon and they tell me, glory to God, because I'm a Prime member, it's coming in 2 days, guess what? They put a date up there, I start expecting it on that date. Here's what I need to submit to you. There's a date for your destiny. There's a date for what God wants to do in your life to come forth, and you need to get some expectation. See, a lot of times we're not expecting nothing because we're just living from day to day mundane life, but I'm telling you, you need to expect it because any day now God's going to show up. Glory to God. And he's going to manifest his blessing and his authority in your life. Oh my God, it's gonna change. Hallelujah. I know. And glory to God. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. My wife just had this back surgery. Glory to God. And, and she, uh, this morning she said, I'll just be glad when all of this pain is over. And, and I didn't say nothing to her then, but the Lord said, I already got a date when all of this process will come to an end. You just have to keep pressing through the process. There's a date for your breakthrough. I'm telling you, there's a date for your healing. There's a date for your wealth and your prosperity. Listen, y'all just look at somebody and say, I got a date. So start preparing yourself. Y'all didn't do it. Just say, I got a date. Glory. I'm not talking about dating some dude, but you ought to get a date with destiny. You ought to get a date with your breakthrough, with your miracle, with your wealth, with the anointing, with your intercession. You ought to make up in your mind, there is more than what I have seen. I don't know about you, but I got a date. Glory to God. You ask me why I can preach so hard. With so little people because I got a date. Y'all not talking to me here. Why I can preach in this room like it's thousand in here? Because I got a date. Glory to God. With thousand. Keep watching. I got a date. Something's coming out of this. I'm gonna keep pressing until I see the hand of God. I got a date. I'm gonna keep building my business until I'm a billionaire. I got a date with the future. Y'all ain't got to talk to me here. And you got to make up in your mind, I got a date with destiny. I'm not gonna stop. I'm not gonna I'm not gonna give up. I have a date. Somebody write it in the comments online, right? I got a date. I got a date. I got a date. I've been through hell and high water, but I got a date. You watch me cry, you watch me struggle, you watch me go through, you watch me get ostracized, but with the same eyes you watch me struggle, you watch me cry, You watch me go through hell, God's going to make you watch me come out because I got a date. Oh God, I dare somebody shout it so hell can hear it. Watch me come out, I got a date. Glory to God. Oh, shabba. There's a few of y'all in here that got a date. I want somebody to get excited about the future. Your future has already been planned. The way it is now is not the way it's gonna be. You got a date with destiny. Hallelujah. His last fact, I want you to write it down. Write it down. Glory to God. Your destiny— oh, God, I love you. I praise you. Tataia. Oh, come on, just lift your hands. I hear the Lord saying worship. Just lift your hands, everybody. Close your eyes, open your mouth, and give God some worship for your date. Come on, worship God for your future. See, when you got a date in the natural, you get ready. You get your outfit ready, you get your hair and your nails done. Oh God, if you're a man, you get your money together, you pick a great restaurant because you got a date. Glory to God, you're trying to make an impression. You get the right cologne. Glory to God, you get a haircut. I wish I had somebody here that had a date with destiny and realized that God was about to manifest. Oh, come on, say, ayat ababaya. God, we give you glory. You can't stop what God's about to do. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. In God's eyes, watch this, your destiny is already done. Touch your belly, say it's already done. Phew. It's not getting done, it's done. It's not cooking, it's done. You're already healed. You're already rich. You're already successful. You're already happily married. You're already— hallelujah— the head and not the tail. You're already above and not beneath. You're already a lender— God have mercy— and not a borrower. Hallelujah. It's already done. Don't faint, don't quit. It's already done. Here's what God says, because it's already done, you got to stay anointed so that when it manifests— I told you before, you got to see it before you see it. Why? Because if you don't see it before you see it, when it manifests, you won't recognize it. Oh, you got to see it before you see it, because when it comes forth, you won't even know it's yours. The blessing can walk right by you, you won't even know it's the blessing of the Lord because you didn't see it in advance. I want you to see yourself today the way God sees you. He sees you blessed. He sees you healed. He sees you rich. I don't care what nobody said, the poor you had with you always, that's not you. His children are not poor. He's rich. I never met a rich daddy that had poor children. Y'all ain't got to say nothing. Our daddy is rich, so he sees us rich. We just got to see us rich. We got to see us blessed. We got to see us whole. But you got to be anointed. This is the last point. You got to protect your oil. So in the process manifesting destiny, the first thing you need to do is protect your oil. Say that with me. Say, I got to protect my oil. If you're online, write that in the comments. I got to protect my oil. I was in Las Vegas up until yesterday. Actually flew in in last night, flew back home last night, and I was at a pastor's conference. And yeah, the evening sessions on Thursday and Friday, I sat through the sermons, the soliloquy of two very, very popular preachers. Message homiletically sound, hermeneutically sound, exegetically sound. Here's the problem: there was no oil. No matter how popular we are, we need oil. No matter how many likes and clicks we get We need oil. No matter how much money we have in the bank, we need oil. Because you can't fight the devil with a million dollars. You have to defeat him with the anointing. You can't fight him with a Benz. You fight him with the anointing. Big words don't defeat devils. The devil is defeated because of the anointing. And I just want to say to you this morning, church, those of you watching, instead of going for the likes and clicks, go after the anointing. It's one thing to be skilled It's another thing to be anointed. I believe there should be a balance between skill and anointing. You, you ought to have skill, but let God anoint it, because when the anointing is present, yokes are destroyed. God have mercy. When the anointing is present, burdens are removed. When the anointing is present, no weapon formed against you can prosper. I don't want it just to be pretty and to look good. I need it anointed. And I sat there and I wept because I'm like, Jesus, people think this is it. And the Lord said, don't worry about it. You just keep being anointed. He said, because there's coming a time, and it's prophesied in the book of Micah, and the Lord spoke it to me just like this, where people will go from house to house and place to place looking for the anointing, looking for a true anointed word from God that— watch this— that not only changes lives in here here, but changes how you live out there. That's the important piece. So I say to each one of you who have a destiny, get trained to do whatever your destiny is, correct? But spend the necessary time with God to be anointed. Touch yourself, say, I gotta protect my oil. Oh my God. Yes. Oh God, you got to protect your oil. Glory to God. I mean, it gave me a headache, and I'm telling you, I could do nothing but weep. I had hope going to church Friday night because I thought, well, maybe this one will be a little better than Thursday. And I'm on my way to church in the car. I'm like, Jesus, please let this man have a word and let it be from you. And the waste of it is all those people who come in to see flesh. It's a dangerous thing. What's killing our future? Oh boy, it's not the devil. Evil is flesh, is when you depend on your flesh over God, and when you trust flesh to give you what you need. No good thing comes out of the flesh. Oh boy, go to Acts 10:38. Somebody say, was you just talking? No, we got to be anointed. Watch this, Acts 10:38. Hallelujah! Y'all getting anything out of this? Acts 10:38 says this: How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. Oh boy, touch yourself, say, I got to be anointed. Wait a minute, Jesus was anointed. What makes us think we don't need the anointing? Jesus was anointed. Glory to God. But we go around, just do stuff in the name of Jesus with no anointing. So let's talk about what anointing is. The word anointing, mechavesh in Hebrew, or the Greek word, actually means to smear upon or to become one with. I talked about this last week, to interpenetrate the essence of. So when I am anointed, I have interpenetrated the essence of God. I now operate in his ability and not my ability when I'm anointed. So it's not just throwing oil on somebody. Anointed means I become one with his essence, with his ability. Watch this, and many a times— here we go— that's born in pain. Pain breaks me, squeezes me, and produces anointing. I was— last year I was in a place preaching, got to preach and pray for all these people. Service was over, I was going out to the office because normally when I get through preaching, I, I leave out, especially if I'm in a city I don't know people and I'm traveling by myself. I went out, God caught me going off the stage toward the office and said, hey, Apostle Woods, I need you to pray for me. You pray for everybody, but you didn't pray for me. Could you please pray for me? I said, what you need prayer for, son? He said, I want the anointing that you have. I said, lift your hands. I put my hands on it. I said, Lord, let him lose everything. Let him go through divorce. Let him go through, glory to God, childhood issues. Let him have all the pain I had as a child through rejection and ridicule and improprieties and people trying to take my innocence. Let him— he said, wait a minute, I don't want that. I said, but you said you want the anointing I have. I said, these series of trials is what produced the anointing in my life. He said, oh. I said, so you got to go through your course so God can anoint you. What are you saying, Michael? Don't curse your crisis. The crisis comes to anoint you. So that's how you protect your oil. You protect your oil by embracing the crisis. So, oh, God must be finna anoint me again. Hallelujah! God must be finna elevate me. That's why this hell showed up. That's why there's troubles in my life, because there's another anointing about to be released. So you got to start looking at pain from a different perspective. Watch this. Pain in the natural is an indicator. When you got a pain, it's indicating that something's wrong somewhere, and it alerts you to either go to the doctor pray, whatever you do when you get pain, because you don't want that pain anymore. Well, when pain comes in your life, it's an indicator that something is happening somewhere else in the spirit. And instead of freaking out, embrace it and pray. Watch this: prayer plus pain equals the anointing. Because most people, when pain comes, they freak out. Because they don't know how they're coming out, how they're going to get through. But prayer plus pain equals anointing. And let me tell you something, you'll never be challenged with pain that your destiny has not equipped you to handle. So if the pain is there, you're already equipped to handle mentally. It's just destiny now working to bring it forth. Let me finish reading this and I'll be done. He says, how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth— what do you know? Who anointed him? God. So that's why I need relationship with God through my pain, through prayer, so he can anoint me like he anointed Jesus. What do you know him with? With the Holy Spirit and with power. So there's no way to separate Holy Spirit and power. All these people, everybody now is saying they have the Holy Spirit, and the reality is it is married to power. When the Holy Spirit shows up, power comes also. What is power? Exousia in Greek, it means authority. So that means now when you have the Holy Spirit, you say, Holy Spirit is living in me, I've been anointed with Holy Spirit, I got power over this, I got authority to deal with this, I got power to win, I got power to live right, I got power to do the right thing, I got power to lay hands on the sick and they recover. That stuff comes with the Holy Ghost. Here's another authority, watch this, prophetic power. Which is very important to your destiny. So what is prophetic power? It means as you tap into God, God speaks to you what he's saying about you. You use your prophetic power and say what God is saying. You gotta learn to say what he's saying. You got prophetic— say it with me, say, I got prophetic power. So instead of saying I'm sick, prophesy I'm healed. Instead of saying I'm broke, prophesy. Say what God says. The wealth of the wicked is laid up for the just. I'm rich. You got prophetic power. Speak to your future. Speak to your dream. Speak to where you're going. You can't have Holy Ghost and no power. Lift your hands, everybody that wants Holy Spirit. Say, Lord, I receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit with power. Say, I receive the anointing to fulfill my destiny. Hallelujah. Glory to God. He anointed him with Holy Spirit and with power. And watch this, and how he went about doing good and healing all those who are under the tyranny of the devil, because God was with him. And I'm done, I'm done today. Listen, you're anointed with Holy Spirit and with power. Hear me. Number one, you'll go about doing good. The word good in that text is bana, which means he went out doing that which was profitable. Profitable means that you're not a burden on people. Anointed people are not burdens on others. Anointed people help others to profit, help others to win. So that's a good litmus test for the anointing right there. Somebody saying they're anointed, they ought to be helping you to increase. They ought to be helping you to be better. Your life ought to be different because they showed up with their anointed self. Jesus went about doing good. I know some people that say they're anointed, but every time they show up, bad happens. They're no good to nobody. That's not the anointing. And we got to start marking those people and making people aware this one is not anointed because they not— they're in it for themselves. Watch this, even in the church, the body of Christ— I have to be careful saying this because I'm a part of the body of Christ— but even in the church, you got people who claim they're anointed, leaders, pastors And instead of looking at the people as souls who need the Prophet and who need to increase and do better in the world, they look at the people as stockholders and shareholders to keep the business of the ministry functional. And that's not what this is about— having a business and making sure that one person is taken care of. Ministry is about doing good to all, and your destiny is about doing good to someone else. It's about being gratuitous, about showing gratitude for other people. It's never about you. And that's what Jesus did. He didn't make it about him. Watch this. He so loved the world that he died He died because of the good he was doing. And so we should die to ourselves when we're anointed to do good for others. He went out doing good. Watch this. And he also went out casting out devils from all those who were terrorized by demons. I don't know, but when I look at ministry in this hour, I see very few people taking the time to get people free from demons. Demons are real. Just like God is real, the devil is real. I told you before, every destiny has a devil. Them. They're generational demons that we have to deal with. And when we anointed, we got to deal with those demons in our family. Those were those— watch this— those soul ties to family. You know, soul is mind, will, emotions. In your emotions comes the love you have for family and another person. So just like a soul tie could be sexual, it could also be familiar. So you can have a family soul tie that you're so tied to your family and their dead crusty self. Are y'all hearing this? That you never get a breakthrough to what God has for you because you're soul tied. Most people keep doing things in a certain vein with family because they emotionally attached. That's terrible. That's why, man, I love my family. Some things I ain't doing. I love them, but, but some things I know we can't roll right here because we don't think the same. Not even saying that they thinking is wrong, that's just who they are. I'm just saying I'm here, you there, we can't agree right here, so we can't walk right here. I love you, we gonna eat some cornbread dressing, greens, we gonna do all that together, but when we get through, I'm gonna do this. Are y'all hearing this? Love you, but we can't do this together because there's no agreement. Are y'all hearing me? Everybody stand up now.