Mrs. PIE
Welcome to ' Mrs. PIE' We are savoring life with inspiring conversations and teachings. I'm Shelley Jeffcoat, your guide in this journey of faith, innovation and inspiration.
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Shelley Jeffcoat, CEO & Founder of LCM Group and Grace and Grit Media, is a dynamic Business and International Christian Woman Speaker, Author of the 'What’s My P.I.E' book series, and the engaging host of the 'Mrs PIE' podcast series.
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Mrs. PIE
Unveiling Grace and Favor: Transforming Your Life Through Divine Wisdom and Purpose
Ever wondered how grace and favor can truly transform your life? This episode promises to reveal the profound ways these divine gifts can empower your journey, drawing inspiration from the book of Ephesians and the remarkable story of Esther. We kick off by celebrating the global embrace of our message, connecting with listeners from Singapore, Pakistan, and the US. As we navigate through scripture, there's a call to recognize how grace levels the playing field, allowing us to rely not on our achievements but on divine wisdom and guidance.
Our exploration takes us into the heart of Esther's story, demonstrating how grace and favor can open unexpected doors, regardless of one's religious standing. By identifying and nurturing the "seed" or purpose within us, we align ourselves with God's plan, whether it’s to resolve personal challenges or achieve career milestones. The conversation also sheds light on the dynamic between gifts and talents, affirming that while gifts might open doors, it is through grace, favor, and diligent effort that we sustain our presence and impact in the spaces we occupy.
As we gear up for a new year, there's an urgent reminder to harness grace and favor in setting ambitious goals. From taking bold steps in faith during trying times to planning effectively for future milestones, the episode inspires a proactive approach to goal-setting. We invite you to a free virtual event in January, focusing on aligning your aspirations with actionable plans while seeking divine guidance. As the holiday season approaches, there's a heartfelt wish for the love and grace that surrounds us all, along with a reminder that while we love you, Jesus loves you more.
Come join us at our virtual events monthly. Visit our website to learn more.
no-transcript so many different aspects of the study that we've been doing really throughout the year, of the study that we've been doing really throughout the year, but all of these things combined give us hope, and our hope is in Christ. I'm excited to talk about grace today. This is probably one of my favorite subjects to talk about. I am a living witness of God's grace and favor. Good morning, I'm just going to grab Dr Tracy. Good morning, thank God for wisdom and peace, and things might not go how I want or plan, but always amen, always for your good, and we're going to touch on grace and go a little bit deeper than just favor. All of us need it. All of us want it. So we thank you, heavenly Father, for even giving us your grace this morning in favor just being here, showing up on this timeline and being able to open our eyes and inhale and exhale this morning and giving us breath. I thank you for helping us this morning to get a better understanding from your perspective, from your mind, lord. Give us your mind to help us to understand what grace truly looks like and favor and how do we access, how do we access more grace from you? How do we get that and then what do we do with it, lord? So I thank you for the teaching this morning, I thank you for the blessing this morning, I thank you for the encouragement this morning and just a reminder that we don't lose his grace or favor. We thank you, lord, for everything. Amen. Good morning Ricky Price, good morning y'all, good morning and good morning folks who actually listen to us on the audio platform. So obviously I'm here on video so you can see me, but we have a lot of people across the world y'all. So shout out to our community and friends in Singapore, what In Singapore? And there I think I got a report that was saying, I think from last month, our highest number of viewers or listeners to our weekly, this weekly Thursday, they're in Singapore. So hello, friends and family across the world. Pakistan was another one and, of course, the US. So voices go out, blessings go out and I thank you, god, for the opportunity to serve wherever, wherever you are, all right. So now let's talk about, like I said, grace is kind of one of my favorite subjects, favorite things, favorite areas to talk about. I have three different scriptures that I want to share and I'm going to slow walk this just a little bit. I'm not going to rush this thing, because there's also something I want to share with you in the word, this grace that we have. The way that we see grace, we see it in the form of favor. That's the easiest way that I can explain it, but I'm going to share my screen, so I remember, I say these things, so the folks that are listening know what I'm doing. Okay, but I'm going to share my screen.
Speaker 2:And the first scripture I want to go to is in Ephesians. So let me see one second here, ephesians. I'll read it out y'all. Obviously, I'm going to use the ESV English Standard Version, jokingly known as the A Shelley Version, but I'm going to start with this scripture first and just release this one. And it says for by grace, you have been saved through faith. So this is also a whole mouthful.
Speaker 2:So, lord, been saved through faith, so this is also a whole mouthful. So, lord, we also ask that you give them wisdom so that they'll be able to, holy Spirit, understand what the word is saying and apply it into their own lives. And, lord, as you're working through this relationship with us, as you're speaking to us, as you're revealing things to us, as you're confirming things to us, lord, you know we want more of you, we want to understand you, we know that you are spirit. So beat us in spirit, lord, god, but help us to understand how to apply your words in our daily walk, in our daily lives. Amen, right, because it's one thing to know scripture, it's one thing to know where to go in the Bible, but you have to know how to apply it, not just in your natural but also in your spiritual walk, your relationship with God. So the word said for by grace you have been saved through faith, right.
Speaker 2:So again, if we just break this down, there's a faith, there's a requirement. You have to have faith, right, for by grace you've been saved, through faith, right. And it's saying that this isn't listen, this isn't something that we do, and I know I've spoken, I've taught on this scripture before. But it helps to remind, it helps to be reminded that this is nothing that we did, this is a gift. So the, the grace and the favor that we have, that God gives us, is a gift. It's not something that we can earn. It says not a result of works. So that why no one may boast of it, and I shared before that when God is giving you favor in situations that you know, you absolutely know. I ask the Lord to give me the kind of opportunities that people will know that it is all him. You know solving the kind of problems that people know. That's all him, that's got nothing to do with me. I can't manifest, quote, unquote. Manifest my way through anything. I can't do, quote unquote, manifest my way through anything. I can't do that. Right, it is all him. But this grace and favor that we have is a gift. So it's not a work that we do so that none of us can boast about how great we are, how good we are in his kingdom. Okay, so it's almost like a leveling field. So that's the first thing I want to share. I'm going to go somewhere, y'all I promise, but I just want to make sure that I tie it back to scripture before I go even deeper into this word.
Speaker 2:The next thing I want to show you now is an example of grace in a way. Maybe you guys have read this in the Bible, maybe you haven't. I love Esther. I love Esther because the work that she did. So this is Esther in your Bible, y'all.
Speaker 2:The work that Esther does is a lot of the work that I do. I see myself in her, not obviously not in a same where I'm taken to a king, but I am seated with kings. I am seated with industry leaders of industry. I am seated at the table, if you will. I am in the marketplace, but the Lord set me there and when he sets me there in front of it could be whatever it could be, anyone from the security guard to the janitor, to the, to whoever that I want favor and grace and favor in God's sight, and that's what allows me to sit at that table and to be able to operate. I'm just talking now. We're talking like in the business community, right, because that's where we are.
Speaker 2:When you have the kind of grace and favor, when God gives you this grace and favor, he sets you before decision makers. Maybe you're one of those. I have a lot of folks that watch and listen that. They're leaders in their own right Doctors, lawyers, you name it right. They are the table, okay, but when you have this grace and favor and the Lord set you apart, again, there is a great work to be done. It's not something that you've earned, quite frankly, which is just a reminder.
Speaker 2:So in Esther 2.16, I just wanted to share this out. But those of y'all please go back and read the story, because even as you read this story of Esther, it doesn't show where Esther was meeting with God. All the time she was having a conversation with her mentor, so there clearly was a relationship in order for her. God saw her and yet she wasn't the most religious woman, which is kind of why folks get upset. Right, they might see you out there, y'all, and they can't understand why you have grace and favor in his sight, in God's sight, why he's opening doors and even though you know, even in times of trouble, when it looks like you're going to be overtaken by you know the enemy or your own thoughts, or you know people are coming for you, all the things, and yet God gives you his grace and favor and he always has a way out.
Speaker 2:Now it's still up to us to make a decision to go through the door that he opens for us. It's not magic, right? It's not magic. It's a relationship when the Holy Spirit gives you a word and says go here, you go here, right? If you go there, then you're going to miss it. So the word says and when Esther was taken to King, I am not going to try to pronounce his name into his royal palace in the 10th month, which is the month of Tibet, in the seventh year of the reign.
Speaker 2:So again, historical context the king loved Esther more than all the women, all the women, and she won grace and favor in his sight, in the king's sight, more than all the virgins, so that he, the king, set the royal crown on her head and made her queen instead of Vashti and you can go back and read the context again about Vashti was kind of caught up in herself, had a little bit of ego, and when the king called her to come to him she was like no right, so she was replaced. So this also tells you that the kind of grace and favor that you have, the potential to have with the Lord, that I know I have, he will remove people and place you in places you don't deserve right. But it's for us to do a great work there, amen. And then the king gave a great feast for all his officials and so basically he was celebrating Esther and it was Esther's feast, and he also granted remission of taxes to the province and gave gifts, et cetera. So this was a huge deal.
Speaker 2:So this was an example of how Esther, who was not a religious woman, not an overly religious woman, the way you see the other women in the Bible and yet she, the Lord, gave her grace and favor. When I understand that Esther had this seed in her belly, she was going to do something. The Lord was preparing her and she was willing to do it to help her people be set free. So it's not just God giving you grace and favor so you can shine, or get grace and favor so you can look good on Facebook or any social media. It's not just that she was carrying this thing in her belly. She had a seed, she had a reason. So there's a reason behind why God gave her grace and favor and in order for Esther to complete her assignment, she needed God's grace and favor from the king. She needed to be able to have that.
Speaker 2:So what is it in your life that's in your belly, the thing that you want to accomplish? But in order for you to accomplish this thing, y'all and I'm talking, you know getting out of debt, turning your health around, resolving family matters right, resolving issues in your family, coming out of guilt, coming out of depression, y'all. I mean these types of guilt, coming out of depression, I mean these types of things. Like you know how we always talk about generational curses and we want to break the curse and we want to be blah, blah, blah. Right, but you need God's grace and favor in order to do that. If you want to be promoted on your job, you also need God's grace and favor. So, in the sight of the folks who make the decision right, you have to win their grace and favor. So it's not just looking at it in the Bible and saying, oh, it's just that we see grace and favor operating. Let me stop sharing and come to y'all real quick. I have one more scripture I want to share, but it's going to take a little bit of a turn. But sometimes we see grace and favor working out in other people's life and you just don't understand why it seems easier for some people to do some things because they're walking. That's kind of their anointing, that's what they do. And so something that I had to learn a long time ago is to understand what it is that I do. Very, very well.
Speaker 2:What is the gift and what is the talent? All right, and they're two different things, right? So there's these. You know how they float around these like quotes, these pretty quotes all over social media, and I think there's one I saw a long time ago that said that a gift gets you in the room, but talent keeps you there. Right, you can have the gift of gab. Right, you can have the gift. Listen, I have the gift, I have gifts, I have multiple gifts, right, and my gifts might get me in the room, meaning they get me the opportunity in front of a decision maker, a CEO, a leader, in front of y'all. Right, I have a particular gift that brings me, gives me, the opportunity to put me in front of y'all, but it's my talent that's going to keep me there.
Speaker 2:It's not just having the gift. There's some work that has to be done In order for me to come on. Every week, there is study, there is pressure, right, jesus pressurizing me. I have to be stripped to be able to come and talk to you about some things, or I'll just show up in my own flesh talking about me, right? So there are things that we have to do.
Speaker 2:There's grace and favor that we get in order and how we communicate with people. You ever have these conversations. I have this happen to me all the time, y'all, when I say I am the least of these, when I tell you that I am the most broken and chipped vessel, and yet he still gives me his grace and favor, is because, in my well, I've only been on these platforms for two years. Why are there people in Singapore listening to her? Okay, that is God's grace and favor, why? So his word can go forth, right, that is something that is the grace and favor. He gave me the grace and favor so that his work, his assignment, can be completed, y'all. And if I'm disobedient and I don't do it, he surely can find somebody else to do it. And in the same way that I need his grace and favor in all of my decisions, so do you. We all need it. We all want more favor in our lives, right, we all want it. So just again, remind you that this is something, it is a gift, and you can ask for the increase.
Speaker 2:I ask God, lord, give me more grace. I ask for that all the time. Father, increase your grace and your favor. Give me more of your favor in my life, because you know, here are all the things you know I need. You know these decisions that have to be made, the places I've got to go, the people to see all the things, right. But Lord, give me your grace and favor, even with my enemies, so that they become my advocates. You ever prayed those prayers. Lord, give me your grace and favor, even with my enemies, so that they become my advocates. I literally have my enemies, unwillingly knowing that they're advocating on my behalf, right, isn't that awesome? Isn't it awesome? It's all about his will. So I take everything in my life, I put it before the Lord. I say Lord, I want your will, what you want me to do, what do you want me to do with these gifts, the talent, the friends, the connections, this prayer group? What do you want me to do? But, lord, anything you send me to do, I can't go without your grace and favor. No-transcript. We pray.
Speaker 2:Thank you, god, that the year is ending. I'm not yielding everything I wanted this year, but I thank you, lord, for your grace and favor, for the doors you shut because I had no business opening. I thank you for turning things around in my life. I thank you for all the opportunities that are coming to me. Lord, god, these are prayers, y'all. I thank you for the success that we're going to yield, how we're going to be productive and blessed and we're going to be breakthrough. We're going to be winners next year. There's victory for us. I thank you for love and joy and peace. I thank you, god, for the power of the Holy Spirit. I thank you all that increase your grace and favor and do mighty works through me and through everyone connected to me, y'all. Those are the types of prayers that I pray when I'm asking God to increase grace and favor in my life.
Speaker 2:It is not a secret, y'all. It's not a secret. It's not something you got to plant. You know, sow a seed to hear. Grace is a gift from God. There is absolutely nothing, nothing that we could ever do to deserve it. It is his gift.
Speaker 2:Now I want to switch a little bit. I want to share something, because I heard this and I know church folks say this a lot. But I want to show you something, because this is a slight correction and I'm just I'm being vulnerable. Ok, I'm going to tell you something. I'm going to show you something in the word, because I like to back things in the word. So first let me pull up my screen. I'm going to go to Exodus 32, and this is going to be verses 7 through 15. And obviously the ESV version going to be verses 7 through 15, and obviously the ESV version.
Speaker 2:The reason I'm showing you this is because here I am talking to you about supernatural grace and favor. Everybody ain't got it Okay, so everybody doesn't have it Okay. So now, as someone who I'm declaring I have it, amen, you can declare that for yourself. I have his supernatural grace and favor. Amen, that's it. I have it.
Speaker 2:But something that I hear church folks say all the time is that God is unchanging. God is never changing. And I'm going to show you where that you are absolutely right and wrong at the same time Right and wrong at the same time and why you have to understand, ask him for wisdom and understand. God is spirit. He's not like man where we can say, well, he did one thing in 2007 for me, so he might not do it in 2025. And the reason I'm showing you this is because there's some of us who you know maybe you've gone through a season of disappointment. And even in 2024, can we be honest? And you're thinking well, I'm going to let that dream go, because it's never going to happen for me, because God won't bless me, because God won't be blah, blah, blah. So for those of y'all who have that little seed of doubt that God is never going to change, I'm going to show you something in scripture and I pray that you will come to understand God better as spirit.
Speaker 2:Okay, so this is Exodus 32, seven through 15. I'm not gonna read all of it and, as always, I always tell people please go back. I want you to have Bible study and I want you to learn his word and I want you to understand what he's saying fully. So verse seven. It says and the Lord said to Moses now watch this, go down for your people.
Speaker 2:All of a sudden, israelites are Moses' people, your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves. They have turned aside quickly out of the way that I commanded them. They made for themselves a golden calf and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it and said that these are your gods of Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And the Lord said to Moses I've seen this people and behold, it's a stick, stiff neck people. Verse 10. Now, therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you. So here you have, a conversation between thank you, abba, between the Lord and Moses, and the Lord is like they're your people, they're your problem. Look what they did. Okay, they turned away from me, they turned away from my commandments. They made themselves a golden calf and they're worshiping it, they're sacrificing to it. Right, they're even saying to these same gods, these golden calves oh, you know, that's what brought you up out of the land of Egypt. The Lord and Moses saying I see these people Again. Notice, god is not saying my people here. He's saying Moses, these are your people and they're a stiff neck people, so leave me alone. My wrath is going to burn hot against them. God had made a judgment, because he's a righteous God, right, and he says that so I may consume them in order. He was going to make a correction in order that I may make a great nation of you.
Speaker 2:Now watch this verse 11,. But Moses implored the Lord, his God, and says so. Here again is intercession, moses being one of the greatest, most amazing, awesome intercessors. There is a different. I talked about this before and people got in their feelings. Be prepared to be in your feelings again. There's a difference between being a prayer warrior, meaning someone who has a lifestyle of praying, and someone who intercedes on behalf of a nation or on behalf of a community, on behalf of a people, on behalf of a family. Prayer warriors they go in their closets and they pray about their issues and they might pray about their small circle.
Speaker 2:Moses, as an intercessor here, implored the Lord, his God, and said oh Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people? Now Moses is pushing them back to him, pushing them back to God, whom you brought up. So what Moses is doing here, as an innocent, reminding God not only of his promises, but that we belong to you, these people belong, they're your people, it says, whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand. Why should the Egyptians say with evil intent did he bring them out? To kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth? Right? So he's saying you really want the Egyptians to say that's what the great God did, that you know to accuse God? Right, he's literally playing it back. You really want the Egyptians to say you had evil intent, father, to kill them and consume them, turn away.
Speaker 2:So now Moses is given an instruction. He's asking right, turn away, turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people, remember. So now Moses shifts to not only you know speaking, he knows, he knows God's man. Listen, don't miss these things. When you go in front of your pastor next time and they say God is an unchanging God, you have to understand again. God is spirit and there's a, there's a relationship that we have with him that when we go before him, you know how to speak to him. I know how to speak to him and that's why there's grace and favor on my life, right? So look at this.
Speaker 2:He says again why should the Egyptians say this? He talks about, basically, you want the Egyptians to say you had evil intent. I'm contextualizing so we can go through this y'all. And it says turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster. He pushes it against your people. Now. He brings back to memory you relent from this disaster. He pushes it against your people. Now he brings back to memory. Remember, remember. So remember Abraham, isaac and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self and said to them I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven and all this land that I promised I'd give you. They shall inherit forever. And verse 11, and the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people. So, yes, you can reach the heart of God. You can say a thing right.
Speaker 2:What was the end game here? Moses was playing back God's own words, his own promises back. That's what he was doing. So let me pause this. So you're in the season. Moses had the kind of grace and favor with God. He had the kind of relationship with God that he could say this to him. So grace and favor looks like this.
Speaker 2:We step it into a whole different level here. So some of y'all are going to ask for God give me grace and favor in my finance. God give me grace and favor in my family. God give me grace and favor in my business next year. I want your favor, lord. I want to do better. You're going to do all the things. Break me off of every disease or God protection all the things. But some of y'all are going to take a shift. Some of y'all are going to shift into the way Moses was interceding on behalf of a people.
Speaker 2:Now for those leaders who I'm talking to. Y'all know who I am. I never say I don't know who this is for. I know who this is for. This is for the leaders. These are for folks who are graced and favored to be leaders in their communities, leaders in their regions, and favored to be leaders in their communities, leaders in their regions. These people have whole regions. Okay, and your region might be, oh my God, a group of people on the job. It could be, you know, listen, a group of people in your community. God has graced you to go bigger. Right, you're the ones he's sending out. Okay, evangelists even, all right.
Speaker 2:But I wanted to show you that that I don't want you to fall into the trap of what just church people say, because if you just go by what church people say, you're going to miss the opportunities to increase your grace and favor from God. You're going to miss the access that you really truly have. You're going to miss it. So, just like I'm showing you in Exodus 32, where Moses the intercessor again people are going to get mad. Intercessors and prayer warriors are not the same thing. All right, I am an intercessor. Why? It's because he has put the seed in me to go out to many nations, right? Very different. So on my heart and in my mind are things that have to do with what God says and what he wants to do, concerning not just me, my family and my friends. Right, it's bigger than that, right? So that's the difference, okay, but I just want to drop it in your heart.
Speaker 2:If you're in a season where you feel like, again, it's never going to happen for me, or God isn't going to come through for me, or I can't change the Lord's mind, I can't tell you how many times I've gone before the Lord and I've been disobedient, y'all. He's literally. I had this happen to me on Tuesday. I had it happen to me on Wednesday. Wednesday, I had a meeting on my calendar and I just wanted to get through it. Same thing with Tuesday. I had a meeting on my calendar and I just wanted to get through it, and I was even asking God, can you remove it? Because I really wanted to take the break. I really just did not want to have conversations. Same thing yesterday I really didn't want to have this meeting. Lord, can you just remove it? Can you take this off?
Speaker 2:But in the same vein, I was saying but give me your grace and favor, I'm going to show up, but I can't show up without your grace and favor. And by showing up right because there's an action I had to take, I was receiving all that. I could have missed that. I could have missed out on that if I wasn't obedient. Even as uncomfortable as it was, I still showed up and I was blessed and highly favored. Right Now, people put that on their car. I'm blessed and highly favored. You can be blessed and highly favored because you got a car, but I don't want a car, I want a fleet. I want a fleet so I can bless millions. Right? What are you asking him for? The more you ask, the bigger you ask, the more grace and favor that you need.
Speaker 2:I want to be seated with Kings Lord. I want to change the environment. I want to do great for my community. I want to bless every person under the sound of my voice. Does this sound familiar? I want to help my community, god. I want to help generations in my family. I want to break off the curse that we don't want to be broke anymore, lord. I want to start the business in 2025, the business idea you gave me back in 2000. I want to bring that thing to life. I want to start the podcast. I want to write that book.
Speaker 2:I want to go back to school, y'all. It's not even too late. Some of us are in our 50s I'm a happy 53. And it's not too late to go back to school. What do you want to accomplish next year? The bigger the better, says God. That's what he says to me. What do you want to accomplish, shelly? The bigger the better, because the more grace I will give you right. Seriously, what do you want to accomplish next year? We can't go to another year, y'all, and come in December of 2025 and say, oh, it was such a tough year. Things didn't all work out. No, we are in victory mode. I want us to consume and take over the land. Right, the Lord has already gone before us and declared victory in our lives. All we have to do is grab hold of this grace and favor and do the work.
Speaker 2:It doesn't mean that if you go back to school, you're going to have to study. You're going to have to have discipline. You're going to have set time and be organized. If it's your home and you want to sell your home, well, we're going to start on a cleanup plan. How do you get it organized? Get things in order so you can make those preparations. You can sell it.
Speaker 2:If you've got kids going off to college, it's time to start looking at how we spend our money y'all. Everything ain't an Amazon and a Target trip. Okay, I love them, right. But we start looking at how we budget. How are you starting off the year next year? Right, come join us January 22nd. We have a whole event. It's free, it's virtual. We have a business coach talking to us about goal setting. Did you sign up for that? Are you really trying to make a change next year? Are you only asking God for grace and favor? He's going to meet you where you are. He's not going to give you more than where you are, because he doesn't want you to be consumed by your own desires. He doesn't want that to happen.
Speaker 2:We see so many people y'all, especially in ministry and they get more and they want more and they take more. Right, they go from pastoring to the choir now got a record deal to the pastor got podcast. The pastor got clips right. Then the pastor got conferences. The pastor got books. The pastor's wife got a Bentley. You can see it Literally. You can see just growing.
Speaker 2:The houses get bigger and bigger and they lose more and more attachment to the people, and we get upset because we can't understand why they are still in position, because there's still that seed in their belly that God is still using them to do a mighty work, and we disagree with it because it don't look right. It doesn't feel right to us when we see someone who we think does not deserve the favor on their life. So people get disappointed, they get frustrated, they get jealous. That's not what he wants us to do. In your belly, you have been given gifts and talent. What are you doing with? What are you doing with the gifts and talents that he's given you? If we're asking for grace and favor, what do you want to do? What are you going to do for the kingdom of God, not for this earthly kingdom, right? Don't get lost in what you see. What you see is temporary. Y'all. We're playing a long game. It is true that we will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I absolutely live that out. You do too right? But just remember this is a temporary place. Yesterday, I'll share this and then we'll close.
Speaker 2:Yesterday was my. My mom passed in 2018 and December 18th was the day of her birth. I don't celebrate what do you call those heavenly birthday. That's never been my thing. I just took a time yesterday to just honor her. My mom was a teacher and a Methodist minister, so I was talking to the person I was talking to yesterday, the meeting I was trying to get out of. The person was asking me why you know why I was looking into this other thing and, um, and I said I had, I had hesitation about even the M word ministry, and people who know me know that, like I didn't even want to say come out of the wilderness prayer ministry, right, until they were like this is ridiculous, this is a ministry and we're going to go even further. Okay, um, but I I realized when this gentleman said to me that I was carrying some of the scars of being a pastor's kid and I didn't really understand what that meant until yesterday.
Speaker 2:However, I've been carrying the grace in favor of my mother. I've been carrying because I picked up some of her mantle. I have a spiritual mother. I got some of her mantle. I got it, okay, but the grace that was assigned and connected, the grace that God had on my mom was shifted. Some of that grace was shifted to me by just me being connected to her. There are some things that God had planted in her and that assignment was going to be completed in me, not in my siblings, so it caused a lot of rifts, a lot of rifts, so there are. There's favor that I have.
Speaker 2:I'm talking to you because some of y'all in your household you're that kid that's the most um, uh, um I. I was always the most and still am misunderstood one in my family. Always. I've always been that oddball, okay, and I didn't want the one, the attention or people just not liking me for whatever reason they made up. You know what I mean, like, whatever it is. But I also came to understand and again it was just conversation yesterday about the grace that my mom had and the grace that fell to me because God saw to do that Right, and so again I want to encourage those of you especially like we, about to go into the holidays.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're going to see some of these people some of y'all don't like. We're going to see some of the people who've been talking about you on the streets. We're going to see some people who are literally in your family who is jealous, upset or mad. Now I'll tell you, right now, in my family unit that doesn't happen, right, we don't have that, thank you God. Okay, but you will have that on your job If you're still at work. You're going to have that in your marriage. You're going to have that. You're going to have that.
Speaker 2:You're going to go through seasons where people are going to see God's grace and favor and not really understand what's happening, because it doesn't make natural sense and it never, it was never meant to, because it wasn't a gift from the world, it was a gift from God. But I don't want you to squander when God gives you favor. When God gives you favor as you're closing out this year, he's going to start giving you insights about where you should go next year and you might not have the complete story. It might be something like you need to go to an event or you need to pick up this book, you need to call this one person and then you start to, as we say, make it plain, writing these things down and as he starts to show you where he wants, that in itself is also his grace and favor and he will open the doors as you take step, one foot before the other.
Speaker 2:But when you're around your family members over this next week, I don't want, don't hide the grace and favor, don't be offended, don't be upset, just thank God. Thank you, lord, that you've given me grace and favor and understand that the people who are connected to me also have that grace they have access to. They can't take it. There is no one that can take the favor on your life. Nobody can take it from you because, again, it's a gift from God. So I don't want you to get in that mode of like being so fearful that people, nobody can take the grace I have because no one's paid the price I paid, right.
Speaker 2:So just again, I've given you four totally separate lessons this morning. I hope I don't sound like I'm ranting, but I'm going to tie it up in this big bow. First of all, the first point is grace comes from God, it's a gift, it is an absolute gift and we should be grateful. We thank you. We thank you, lord, for increasing your grace and favor on us. I talked about that from Ephesians 2, 8 through 9. You can check that out.
Speaker 2:The second thing was I shared an example in Esther. That was Esther 2, verses 16 through 18. I showed you a story in the Bible and again, it's because I really want you to go back and start reading and absorbing the word a little bit. Right, I showed you how Esther, just in practical terms, the way that God's grace and favor enabled her to go before kings. So I'm talking to you, folks in business and your leaders and I know Dr Tracy's on here, as you're going in front of captains of industry and different events, as he's opening, is God giving you the grace and favor to do these amazing things right? But there's a seed, there's a reason. As he's opening God, is God giving you the grace and favor to do these amazing things right, so that. But there's a seed, there's a reason that he's sending you. So I just want you to go back and say Lord, as you're putting me in these rooms and you're giving me this grace and favor, show me what it is you want me to do.
Speaker 2:The last thing I share with you was this powerful point out of Exodus 32. This is for them, church folks who keep saying God is unchanging, god is spirit. So you have to know spirit to spirit. And so I shared that because I wanted you to see how Moses the intercessor, lord, make me Lord, I don't want to be Moses. Make me like the rod of Moses. Amen, that's my own personal prayer. Lord. Make me like the rod of Moses to make great changes for your people. Amen, that's my sidebar personal prayer.
Speaker 2:But you saw, moses, how God was kind of upset about the children and what he literally was like they're your people, they're your problem, moses. But you see the role of an intercessor, different from a prayer warrior, so I want for that to just sit in the belly of those. Again, none of us truly know the mind of God, but we know his character and we know how he works and you have to understand. Once you come to understand what's important to God, then you operate through that. You operate through that. He gives you the gifts, he gives you the talents and you operate to his end, amen. So that's what I had. Now. Next week I'm taking the whole week off, which means they won't be a Thursday live Next week.
Speaker 2:I was going to talk about Jesus, but come on, y'all, we got it right. Jesus is you know we, you know how we say the reason for the season, he's the reason for all of it. I just want to just stop and just thank my Lord. Thank you, jesus, for again just giving me the opportunity, giving me the platform. I've always said that, even if it was just one person showing up or nobody shows up, as me and the Holy Spirit and some angels, we're still going to go forth with his word. It's never about the clicks, it's never been about the likes. It's just about sharing his word so that maybe somebody will be encouraged, right? Maybe it shapes your day a little bit different.
Speaker 2:So, lord, I just thank you for your amazing grace. Oh, I thank you for your fullness of joy. I thank you for your favor that all of us are standing in need of. We all need an increase in this area. Lord, we're asking for great grace and great favor this morning on the names, on the family, every name that's coming to my mind, lord God. Every family that's represented, anyone who's watching or listening, lord God, anyone that's standing in need of your favor in decisions, in favor on their jobs, in their business, in their household, in their health, in their finance.
Speaker 2:Lord, those who are still asking for a miracle this season, as we close out this year, lord, I ask that you give them your grace and increase grace, give them the grace with heaven, the grace with angels, the grace with men, because we know that we can't do these things without your help, without your army, Lord God, you are the Lord of hosts. So, lord, I ask that you will send divine help our way. That's why we say the grace of angels. We don't pray to angels, father, I ask that you will give them an increase in grace with men, men and women, lord God, so that we will continue to make increase, expand and grow and be elevated here For your word, for your goodness, lord God, for your people.
Speaker 2:I thank you for all the intercessors that you've placed, lord God, around me. I thank you for those who are interceding on behalf of families and generations, folks who are interceding on behalf of their community, people on their job. They're not just praying for themselves. I thank you for the prayer warriors, those who are standing in their closets and they're beseeching, crying out to you that they are still believing in you, lord God, that you'll meet them, meet their needs, and that you'll give them increased favor as well, Lord God, the things that we're asking for, that you'll bless them, lord God.
Speaker 2:I thank you, father, for this incredible month of December. What a powerful example of your grace and favor that has gone forth as we closed out so many accomplishments in this year. It's only because of you you have done things bigger than you know. So big that only you can take credit for it. So big that you know everyone will look at this, come out of the wilderness prayer ministry and know that it has to be you. It's got nothing to do with me.
Speaker 2:I thank you, god, for everyone. I thank you for everything and as we're closing out this year, I ask that you give us peace and joy and love and self-control. Lord, god, I thank you for the new year that's coming and the victory and all the good things that you have for us. Thank you so much, lord. Thank you, lord, for the grace on this house, the grace that you've extended to me. I thank you that it continues to increase and I bless your holy name. Amen. All right y'all. I know we ran a little bit longer this morning because, as I said, I won't be around, I'm going to take next week off and I wanted to kind of capture everything, so that means that the next time I talk to y'all it's going to be in 2025.
Speaker 2:And I've been saying this, I hope I hope y'all don't mind me saying it I can't wait to see y'all in 22. I wait to see you next year. So I hope this bless you. Please, if you could love, like and share the video, whether you're on the Facebook streets or LinkedIn streets or YouTube streets, and then, for those of you all who are going to listen to the audio, if you're listening to the audio version, if you could tell a friend about it, that'd be great. I never asked for C's. I'm not asking for no C's.
Speaker 2:The best way to support us is to like and comment and drop a prayer request. Come to our prayer call and uh and share that's. That's literally all we want. Come to our free events you can find them on graceandgritmediacom and register for the January 22nd event. It's going to be fantastic. We are talking about goal setting. Before you do your vision board, before you start to even ask or declare don't start declaring yet what you want Come to that goal setting and let's set it up. Let's do this the right way, because we're gonna come back December 2025 and have so many things to be thankful for amen. All right, I thank you, dr Tracy. She said thank you for this teaching and your sacrifice to God. Be the glory. Yes, happy holidays, merry Christmas. Y'all have an amazing Thursday. Like I said, I won't be here next week, but I will be back the following week and I love y'all. I love you, but Jesus loves you more. Take care.