We need to learn how to see some things. The Bible talks about how the kingdom of heaven suffers violence and the violent take it by force. Without getting too much into that, it’s really all about learning how to seize the things we need. Does anyone need to see something right now? Does anyone need to seize victory? Is anyone in a battle? You can’t just sit around waiting for victory to come. I just need about three or four people, maybe three or four hundred people, to say, «I’m going to seize everything that God has for me today.» If that’s your word, say, «I’m seizing it.» Put it in the feed right now: say, «I’m seizing it. I’m seizing it. I’m seizing it. Hallelujah! I’m seizing it! I’m seizing it!» Thank you, Lord! Thank you! Ah, I feel the Lord! It just feels good to be here; it feels good to be home in every sense of that term. But I won’t get into that. I was praying recently, and I was moved a few days ago to come down into our theater here in Los Angeles, as a relatively expensive renovation took place while we have been out. It was a great time to do some really wonderful upgrades to create a better experience for those who come in when we begin the process of slowly and methodically introducing the in-person dynamic to our hybrid model. As we prepare for that, I just felt like before we even got into it, I needed to come into the house of God and really pray to the Lord about what we’re doing in this season. That’s a whole other thing; maybe I’ll talk to you about why I felt I needed to do that. It was just that as we’re beginning to add more elements to what we’re doing, I wanted to ensure that my heart, our hearts, and ultimately our mission were completely aligned with the mission of God. That was very important to me. In essence, it was about asking God, «What do you want?» and God spoke to me very clearly about what He wants and what is important to Him. What is important to God, first and foremost, is that He wants to make Himself known. God desires to be known because to know God is to be liberated by God. It’s interesting; when Jesus was asked what the greatest commandment was, He responded that there are really two: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength, and then love your neighbor as you love yourself. I thought that was powerful. If you don’t read what Jesus was saying in that moment properly, you might think that He was trying to force you and me into loving Him. But in essence, to know God is to love God. Ultimately, what He is saying is that the greatest commandment, the greatest thing you and I can do, is to know God because when we know Him, we will experience His love in such a way that we will fall in love with God. This creates an incredible relationship with God, which is the precursor for an incredible relationship with ourselves. You can’t have a great relationship with others until you have a great relationship with yourself. I know I went on a tangent a little bit, but the point I’m trying to make is that God wants to be known and experienced. So, as I pray, «Lord, what should our continued focus be? What should we fine-tune our focus on in this season?» God began to tell me, «I want to make Myself known. I want people to know Me.» Quite frankly, this has always been the mission of God; this is not a new mission. In fact, usually, the moment you start going to church or the moment you get saved and enter a relationship with God, the idea of making God known—or what we will call witnessing—is something you pick up pretty early on. But if we’re honest, sometimes being a witness can be a little intimidating, at least in the beginning, until you understand it. Can I just talk to some real people for a second? I remember when I first started walking with God, and I was attending the church where I got saved. They had a ministry called the Evangelistic Outreach Ministry, which were essentially the foot soldiers. Every Saturday we would go out with the desire to touch people, armed with tracks—remember the Four Spiritual Laws? Those little booklets you would hand out—along with some sandwiches. Those were our tools. We would go out, wanting to make God known, with our sandwiches and our Four Spiritual Laws. To be honest, I had a desire to make God known, but I was a little intimidated because I didn’t understand that there is more to making God known than just handing out a track and sandwiches. Eventually, I would often feel most comfortable talking to Leroy, the wino at the liquor store, rather than others.
