5 Solutions to Avoid Regrettable Outcomes in Life

You're listening to the Miracle Word Podcast. We believe that the Word of God gives you the power to experience never ending increase in every area. If you're ready for revelation that will take you to the next level, you're in the right place. Here's your host, evangelist, author, and founder of Miracle Word University, Ted Shuttlesworth Jr.

Five solutions to avoid a regrettable life. That title changed about 13 times to make it as nice as I can without saying, five ways not look stupid after making dumb decisions. But we're going to go with five solutions to avoid a regrettable life. You don't want to get, not to the end of your life, you don't even want to get to the middle of your life and be in the middle of regret.

You don't want to be regretting at 50 and regretting at 55. You know, your life, you know, you want to live a life where you have fulfillment, knowing that you are doing what God's called you to do. The first thing I will say is for a Christian, if you're a believer, if you belong to Jesus, there should be no life choices that you're making without consulting the Lord. There should be no life choices.

I should never make a big life choice of any kind. I don't even make smaller ones without consulting the Lord. And I thought, obviously that's the best thing to start this with because we are fasting and praying right now. What are we doing?

Part of what we're doing is seeking God for the future. Fasting, praying. Why are we fasting? We're fasting not just because Jesus expects it of his followers, but also because fasting actually has spiritual benefits.

Now, if you go back and you watch yesterday's broadcast, Fast Day One, I talked about the number one obstacle that is keeping you from your glorious destiny, which is your flesh nature, your carnal nature. That's number one. So one of the things fasting does is that it subdues that carnal nature. It puts it under and it moves it out of the way in a sense.

It's an obstacle. So it moves it out of the way so that your flesh is weakened to the point that you can literally hear what the spirit is saying. You're renewing your mind each day. Why?

So we can hear what the spirit is saying. There should be no decisions made in my life, in your life, that we did not consult the Lord about. I'm always blown away by people that just do whatever. I'm blown away by that.

Like, and I don't mean people in general. I mean Christians. I'm like literally it blows my mind when people just make moves without consulting the Lord. It's totally, I have no words.

I can't get, I can't wrap my mind around it. People just do stuff to do stuff. And then they wonder why they regret later what's going on with their lives in shambles. It's because people don't consult the Lord.

You know, people act, people like to act like they're all sold out to God and everything. They don't even talk to him. They don't even talk to him. They don't pray.

They don't fast. And it's like, how are you surprised? That's a good way to put it justice. It's like driving in the dark with no lights on.

Driving in the dark with no lights on. How in the world do people just, and I'm talking about things that affect their whole life, will affect their children, will affect their grandchildren, you know, whatever. Life decisions. You know, I'm not saying you got to be one of those like super spiritual people, like, where you stand in the closet each morning, like Lord, which shirt is for today, just show me right now is it the blue one Lord is at the green.

How will it affect people at work? If I wear the blue, will the green one bring the anointing God? I don't mean that. There are people like that.

I don't mean that. Just put a shirt on. Just put a shirt on, would you? But I'm talking about things that make a difference in life with your life.

And people just literally do whatever. Don't do whatever. Please don't be somebody that just does whatever and never consults the Lord about it. You know, I've always pointed this out that David was in a very, very dire situation that he had all of his men with him coming back from battle.

And they found that their wives and children were abducted, livestock gone, possessions gone. And he's still prayed about whether he should go back to recover his wives and children and livestock and all theirs too. The men were ready to kill him. First Samuel chapter 30.

He's like, no, bring me the ephod first. I got to pray about this. Even David, I mean, I could tell you right now, David's far more spiritual than me. If my wife was abducted and my children were abducted and I knew where they were, I don't know that I'd pray about it.

I think I'd just be out the door with my AR-15. I don't know if that's going to get this taken down off of you too. But anyway, yeah, but David's like, no, unless the Lord's going to be with us, I'm not going. And so wouldn't even, I mean, that seems like something so obvious.

I got to go back and get my, especially if you're a man of war with an army behind you, I got to go back and get our wives and children. But David prayed about it, prayed about it. And there's people that do stuff, they don't even pray. They don't pray about where they go to church.

They don't pray about what jobs they take, or if they should take it, they don't pray about who they marry. They don't pray about anything where they should move, what they should do with their life. They just do stuff. It's true, Carolyn.

I will turn into Liam Neeson. My wife in the comments, you'll turn into Liam Neeson. Taken. I have a very particular set of skills.

Don't pray about, they don't pray about anything. What's up for now? And so when you're going to be a child of God that wants to see God's best in your life and not live a life of regret, you know, there's people that just do whatever they want. And then later, they're all, they regret it.

I can't believe I did that. I don't know why I did that. I wish I'd have never done that. We'll pray about it first.

Pray about it first. Don't just do stuff. Pray about it. Because when you pray, here's the awesome thing about prayer.

Prayer is not a monologue. It's a dialogue. God speaks back to you. In fact, that's the most important part of prayer, is not what you say, but what God says back to you.

When we get access to His words, His leading is direction. That's the most important part. That's the most important part. So we fast and pray.

You know, do so. Didn't we already do this in January? We did. Now we're doing it in June and in July, because our lives are important.

Our lives are important. Our futures important. Our callings important. Our purpose is important.

Our families are important. Life is not to be lived flippantly. I want you to write that in the comments today. Life is not to be lived flippantly.

It's a mistake. Life is not to be lived flippantly. I've seen too much over the years. I've seen too much over the years and it blows me away, man.

Some people are going to be like, what are you doing? Dude, what are you doing? What are you doing? Let me help you.

Let me help you. And so if you're going to make a move, don't make one until you fast and pray. You know, here's a great principle that's like a default principle people could live by. Keep doing the last thing God told you to do until he tells you something new.

That's a great principle. People should just live by that. Keep doing the last thing God told you to do until he gives you something new. Don't get bored in your purpose.

Don't get bored in your calling. Don't get bored in your life. Keep doing the thing God called you to do until he tells you to do something different until there's a switch, until there's a leading in a different direction. You know, that's how I've tried to live my life, where I went to school, what I did after school.

You know, and it did change my own plans. I thought I was going to be doing something different multiple times. I like that quote, AJ. Life is not fun, fair.

It's warfare. Bishop David O'Depel. Life is not fun, fair. It's warfare.

And so many times, now get this, I made choices based on the leading of the spirit that I never thought I would make ever in my life. I was positive. I was going to go be a my cousin's roommate at Bible School, my cousin, Pastor Jonathan. I thought for sure, I was going to go and we had all planned out.

Of course, now we realize we probably get kicked out of college, but would have been fun. And I was all we that's where all my family went, then I prayed and fasted and things changed. Then after I got out of Bible School, kept my word, did some work that I was supposed to do. But knowing I was called to be an evangelist, the Lord spoke to me to go be an associate pastor for a number of years with my uncle.

I wouldn't have thought of that because it didn't seem like what I was planning to do, but the Lord had a different, Lord had a different direction for me. I never planned to move to Florida. The Lord told me, the Lord told me to. And then I never planned to be a pastor.

The Lord told me to. I never planned to launch a church. The Lord told me to. So there have been many times in my life that I did things that I never thought I'd be doing, but fasting and prayer changed my course, changed my direction, changed my totally changed my direction.

And there's people, you know what? Let me tell you, because this will help you. Many people do things for a couple of reasons, and it's the wrong reasons. Number one, many people do things because of family tradition or past tradition, a pattern.

I could have easily done that. I could have followed the shuttlesworth pattern. It's a bad idea to just do something out of tradition or a pattern. Tradition cancels God's transaction.

Remember that tradition cancels God's transaction. God told Isaac, don't go down to Egypt like your father did. Go to a place that I'll show you and I'll bless you there and I'll be with you there. So where did Isaac go?

Girar, Genesis 26. In a time of famine, sowed in that land, reaped a hundredfold, became so wealthy that the king asked him to move away. If he would have operated by tradition, it would have canceled God's transaction. It's a dumb thing to do things just because everybody's always done it this way.

Don't do that. Another reason people do things is because it's the convenient or comfortable thing. And that's a huge mistake. They do stuff just because it's convenient and comfortable.

Don't do that. Don't do that. Don't make choices just because things are easier or things are more comfortable or things are more readily available or convenient for you. You know, we go to this church, you know, it's only like three minutes from our house and you know, it's the closest one and we just like to get over there and, you know, and get out and get home for lunch.

Yeah. And it's dead. The church is dead. It's three in the morning.

You're going to raise your kids in it and they're going to sit in a dead church that doesn't believe in the power of God or the baptism of the Holy Spirit because it's three minutes from your house. It's a dumb idea to make decisions about life because things are convenient or comfortable. Very, very dumb idea for people to do that. And tons of people do it.

Tons of people do it. It is not smart by any means. And there's so many people. You know, it was just easier.

You know, we have because we've got three kids and so it's only and then they do stuff and then later on, they're like, I don't know when my kids don't serve the Lord. It's because you raised them in a church that doesn't believe in the baptism of the Holy Spirit, the power of God. They don't preach about sin. They don't equip people for life in Christ.

But it was three minutes from your house. You got to save all that gas money and time to get back to, you know, some kind of a casserole. You got back to the casserole just in time. Three minutes, you know, it's three minutes from our house.

Good for you. Good for you. I would drive an hour hours. I know people are watching this broadcast right now that drive well over an hour, one way to go to a Holy Ghost church because they felt like that's where the Lord told them to go and planted them there.

I take my hat off to you. I applaud you for doing what the Lord told you to do. And I say, well, you know, there's a church that's like, you know, two minutes from our house. I applaud you for doing the thing that is uncomfortable and not at all convenient.

Not at all convenient. It's not convenient. We got people in our church that drive over an hour to come. It's not convenient at all.

My hat is off to you. I applaud you for being where God called you to be. And you don't care. You don't care that it takes time to get there.

As somebody said, once a church alive is worth the drive. But it's not just about where people attend church. People do it with everything with everything. Well, you know, my family's in business and I'm probably just going to go into the business with my family.

Did you ever pray? Ask the Lord if he had something else for you to do in life? Did you ever? You know, I felt called to preach, but then, you know, we don't actually have any other preachers in our family.

And my parents told me it would actually be a good idea if I went to college and got a degree first. So I have something to fall back on. And so I did that. And so now I can be a dentist if I want to.

And so if ministry doesn't work out, that's how people live. They live like that comfort, tradition, convenience, all of that, what they've known. And then they're wonder why they're frustrated and they don't feel fulfilled. God had something for you to do.

And you didn't even ask him what you should do with your life. I tell my kids, because I heard Brother Copeland say this one time. So I'll never forget it. He said, when you're our kids, as believers, he said, our kids can't just grow up and be whatever they want to be.

He said, stop telling your kids. You can be whatever you want to be when you grow up. You can't, not as a Christian. You have to be what God called you to be.

You've got to be what God called you to be. Not what you want to be. What am I? Am I the master?

Am I the master? I'm not the master. I'm the servant. I'm the servant.

Gen is in the comments. We have people who drive almost an hour to our church and are there every Sunday morning for setup. They're never late and they stay back to tear down faithful, awesome, wonderful, anointed people because they know that's where they're supposed to be. They know that's where they're supposed to be.

My ad is off. I applaud you. I applaud you. Doing what's not convenient, what's not comfortable, but you know what God's called you to do.

And so I heard Brother Copeland say that once. I'll never forget it. Never tell your kids that they can be whatever they want to be. They have to be what God called them to be.

We're not the master. We're the servant. I'm his child. I'm his servant.

I'm his worker. I'll do whatever he tells me to do. I'm consecrated. And so the number one thing in these five solutions to avoid regrettable outcomes in life is number one, pray and fast, especially about life decisions, especially about things that will change your family's trajectory.

Don't just live life flippantly. Seek God's face. Get a word from heaven and then follow it and then keep following it until he gives you something new. When the Lord told me, the Lord specifically told me, Erica says in the comments, there is a grace when you do what God says to do.

You are right, Erica. You are right. She said our Tampa drive never felt hard before we moved. We were excited to be here at our church in West Palm Beach.

That's not a short drive. What would you say that is Erica? Three hours, two and a half hours from Tampa to West Palm? Let me know in the comments.

And I agree with that. I agree with that wholeheartedly. There was a time, let me tell you a story. There was a time after the Lord spoke to me to go help my uncle, Pastor Terry Shuttlesworth, launched that church in Virginia Beach that I was still living in West Virginia.

And I would work for my father's ministry from Monday through Thursday in his office. And then I would leave Friday morning and drive from Fairmont West Virginia, all the way to Virginia Beach, which is about seven hours. It can take a little longer, about seven hours. And then I would do a Friday night service with my uncle, Saturday night youth group service, Sunday morning church, and then drive seven hours back to West Virginia to start work again on Monday morning with my father.

And I did that for a while, for a while, seven hours, one way, seven hours back, 14 hours of driving in three days, to go to church where God called me to go to church and to work there where God called me to be. And she's exactly right. There's a grace that comes upon your life to do it. And Jenna's right, that grace will come upon your whole family.

It'll come upon your children. It'll come upon your wife. It'll come upon your husband. That grace comes upon your family to obey the Lord in the thing he's commanded you to do.

Yes, that's right. My wife says West Virginia and Virginia, which are, by the way, two separate states. I used to say to people, people would say, where do you live? And I'd be like, West Virginia and then you go, oh, Western Virginia, that's a beautiful area of the country.

So no, not Western Virginia, West Virginia. There was this thing called the Civil War. Then I'd give them a whole history. The whole family will receive that grace in Jesus name.

I pray for you today by the power of the Holy Ghost that this grace to obey God's instruction and to walk in the path he's designed for you would come upon you today in full force in Jesus name, that you would not lose the grace to do the thing God's called you to do. That in the name of Jesus, new strength comes upon you on day two of this fast to do everything God's commanded you to do and not lose it in Jesus name. Receive that today by the power of the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus Christ, the grace to obey your calling, the grace to do what is inconvenient and uncomfortable, but it is the command of God in Jesus name. So that's number one, number two, and this kind of ties in the second decision or solution to avoid regrettable outcomes is to always operate by direction.

So you can fast and pray, but then when you get the direction, you got to operate by it. The question people have for me always is how do I know that's God's direction for my life? That's the question I always hear. So number two, you've got to be able to identify God's direction.

Just drink in my electrolytes. You've got to be able to identify God's direction. How do you identify God's direction? I'll tell you how you identify it by supernatural peace that passes all understanding.

You identify God's direction by a supernatural peace that passes all understanding. It doesn't mean your flesh always feels good about it. It's that your spirit man feels peace in that direction. You know, anytime I've ever gone in a direction that Lord told me to go and it was like out of left field for my flesh, out of left field for my mind, I would always operate by the peace of God, always, always.

So for example, if I, you know, let's say I had three choices and I really feel like man, God's leading me to make this one choice. I have these options, but the Lord's really telling me to do this and it seems like the one that's the least convenient, the one that makes the least amount of sense. But when I meditate on it, I got perfect peace about doing it. Perfect peace about doing it.

You know, it's like when the Lord spoke to us to do things we've never done, my wife and I. And it's like, are you serious? Are you serious? You know, for us, you know, there was such a violent increase and God continues to increase us.

There was such a violent increase in that period of time when we were traveling and ministering as evangelists out of Virginia Beach, Virginia. And then the Lord gave us a word to move to Florida. And I couldn't understand it because at the time, being centrally located, there were still a lot of revivals that my wife and I were driving to. And so I thought to myself, Lord, you're going to move us down to the tip of Florida and we drive to a revival.

It's going to take us one day just to drive out of the state, not even taking into consideration the fact that when you obey God's voice, he also increases you. He doesn't just allow you to move in his plan. He increases you violently. When you've got violent obedience, you'll have violent increase.

People that move quickly when God speaks, they don't delay for six years thinking about, well, I don't know, we're still trying to put things together. No, they just do it. Quick increase comes from quick obedience. And we made it, we made it happen quick and got out of there and got down here where God called us to be.

And then everything blew up. And then staff was added to the ministry and these offices and these studios and equipment and all the stuff that God was doing, the doors came wide open for meetings and meetings here in the States and meetings overseas and then partners increased. And we started not just flying, I didn't start flying everywhere, then my family's flying everywhere, then my family and our staff is flying everywhere. And all that, just like this, why?

Because of direction and I had peace. It didn't make sense to my natural mind at the time. I was like, Lord, you're going to move me down there and it's going to be all this extra work just to do what you call me to do. And he knew a better way because his ways are higher than mine and his thoughts are higher than mine.

So we got down here and everything started increasing because of that obedience. Obedience brings increase. That's a great way to say it, Christam. The provision is on the battlefield.

Is that your as Christam or did you hear somebody say that? Be honest, don't say it's like I've always said provisions on the battlefield. It's a good quote. Provision is on the battlefield.

Isn't it interesting? In 2 Chronicles chapter 20, they had three armies coming against them. And the Lord said tomorrow, see, they're believing God to take care of their problem. God said, tomorrow you go out against them.

That's right, Jessica. The Lord did not move you to do less for the kingdom, but to do more. Amen. And in 2 Chronicles 20, though those three armies were aligned against God's people, God said tomorrow, I want you to go out against them.

And of course, he was going to go with them, but they had to do something. That's right, Jonah. Nothing like coming back home to South Florida. And they went out against them.

And the Bible says, as they praised God and worshiped God, God went out ahead of them and brought confusion into the camp of their enemy. Their enemies drew their swords, began to fight with one another until they were all destroyed. And when God's people got there, they found all of the spoils of war in the enemy's camp. It took three days, think about this, it took an army of men, three days to carry back all the provision, all the spoils of war, three days, three days to carry it all back.

The provision is on the battlefield. And so when you operate by peace, when you operate by peace, think about that, God's taking you to a place where his provision already exists for your life. So number two, operate by direction, but that direction is sensed by the voice of the Lord, which then gives you peace about where you're going. Your mind might still be trying to figure it out, but the peace, the peace of God, I wish Jessica and Jared Burton were here in the studio with me right now to tell the story of what they felt in their spirit, because the Lord started leading them before we even announced miracle word church in South Florida, before we ever announced it.

And they felt in their spirit that they were supposed to move to South Florida, just they knew they're supposed to move. And Carolyn and I were like, man, these guys are making a big life choice. We should probably call them, let them know. We hadn't told anybody at that point.

We were launching the church. We should probably call them, let them know as they're getting right to sell their house and move from Ohio to South Florida. And I remember when we called them, and Jess was like, I knew it. I knew it.

She knew in her spirit. They both knew what they're doing. And see, the Lord was speaking to them. The Lord was speaking to them.

And they obeyed. They felt peace and they obeyed. And God continues to bless and continues to bless and continues to bless because of obedience and peace that guides you, peace that guides you. Isaiah 55 12 says, you shall go out with joy and be led forth by peace.

You shall go out with joy and be led forth by peace. Yeah, that's back. That's back when Jenna thought his name was Gerard, because it's J. A.

R. O. D. She said, I thought he was a big black man, Gerard, Jayrod.

He's sorry, I'm at the partner regulator. I can't be him. He's white. Yes, his name's Jared.

And that's what happens. God speaks and you have peace. You have peace and you move forward. I'm led by peace.

I'm led by peace. If I don't have peace about something, I'm not doing it. If every time that I meditate on something, a decision, I don't have peace, I feel turmoil in my spirit or I feel a check in my spirit, I feel uneasy in my spirit. It's not God.

God is not putting uneasiness and a lack of peace in my spirit. He's not doing that. I'm led by peace. I'm led by peace.

All right. Number three, how do you avoid regrettable outcomes in life? How do you live a life where you're not regretting everything you've done? Fast and pray be led by direction and peace from the Holy Ghost.

Number three, here's a big one for everybody. And I'm going to say it this way. Fasting in prayer and supernatural direction and peace do not negate the importance of wisdom. I'm going to say it again for those that didn't even log on to the broadcast, supernatural direction, faith, all of that.

It doesn't, they do not negate the importance of supernatural wisdom. You still have to use wisdom even though you're operating by the supernatural. So what do you mean by that? There's people that literally, this is how people think, well, I understand what the problem is.

You know, I tithe and I give offerings at church. I'm a giver and I'm still financially struggling. Yes, you are because you spend like, I mean, you have your pockets have holes in them. You have no budget.

You spend all your money and do what the Bible says a fool spends all that he has. And somebody, I don't understand. I understand why I'm still struggling. I tithe and give.

That's not the only two things that are required to be blessed. You also have to use wisdom. You also have to use wisdom. Well, you know, I felt to move your pastor to church.

I went down there. I felt to go over there and then, you know, I went over it. It's like, yes, you did. I don't know why we're struggling.

You don't have a job. Get a job. And then you won't struggle. I had a lady come up to me in our church and she said, I just really need help.

I'm struggling and I need you to help me. I need you to help me pay my bills, pastor. I said, okay, I said, um, where do you work? She said, well, I don't actually work.

I was like, yeah, I've figured out the problem as well. You can't pay your bills. You don't work a job. Therefore, you have no paycheck to deposit into your bank account.

And that's why your funds are short. You know, I'm going to come up with these solutions. I'm going to know it to figure these things out. Well, she said, yeah, but well, you know, I can't really, I can't really work.

I said, why not? You're an able-bodied woman. Why can't you work? Well, my feet hurt.

I said, well, you know what, if you have a disability, they can't discriminate from hiring you at jobs because you have a disability. And there's plenty of jobs where you can sit down. So sit down and get a job. Well, I don't know.

I mean, I said, you want me to pay all your bills and you won't even work. You won't work. That's a lack of wisdom. In the Bible, it says, if you don't work, you shouldn't eat.

Shouldn't even eat. But here's, this is, this is many Christians today. Many Christians today, they will literally do all these things they think are super spiritual, and then they'll ignore the stuff that's natural that you got to do. I like this phrase right here.

Are you ready? I like this phrase a lot, write it in your notes, write it in the comments. Do all you can do and then let God do all he can do. Do all you can do and then let God do all he can do.

This is not a scripture. People quote it like it is a scripture. God helps those that help themselves. That's not a scripture.

But do all you can do and then let God do all he can do. Do you know what he promised in the old covenant to his people? He said he would bless the work of their hands. He'll bless the work of your hands.

If your hands have got no work, there's nothing for him to bless. Oh, there's tons of stay at home jobs now. People say, look, yes, look at all the stay at home jobs. Tons do all you can do and then let God do all he can do.

And many people are in a place of regrettable, a regrettable place in life because they've allowed laziness to creep into their life. Laziness, pure laziness, there's no wisdom in that. It's actually foolishness. And the Bible speaks against it.

It doesn't matter how you disguise your laziness if you're lazy, because the outcome will be the same no matter how you try to disguise it. Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 11, listen to this, go to the ant, oh, slugger consider her ways of wise without having any chief officer or ruler. She prepares her bread and summer and gathers her food in harvest. How long will you lie there?

Oh, sluggerd. When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest and poverty will come upon you like a robber and want like an armed man. And then you know what it does?

It turns you into a beggar. You become a beggar. Mooch and off of everybody else leaching off of everybody else because you're lazy. Obviously nobody on this broadcast or you wouldn't be here is probably somebody else that's going to watch the replay later.

You mooch, you leach and you're struggling because you're lazy. It's easy. That's why the Bible speaks against laziness so much. Do you know?

I know you probably don't hear this preached a lot because there's not a lot of messages, quote unquote on this. But did you know that in the New Testament framework, when they had framework to take care of widows, do you know that it was against the rules for widows to be young women? They had to be older women to receive the care of the church. They had to be older women who had been faithful to God, faithful to their husband and had a reputable life.

But they would not take somebody, even if they were faithful to God, faithful to their husband and lived a holy life, they wouldn't take them if they were young. Why? Because they said there's a danger in it that these young women that could be working, if we simply support them, the danger is that they'd stay at home and just become busy bodies and become very irresponsible with their time. And so they would not even allow young women who were able-bodied to be supported as widows in the church, even if they were widows.

There's a reason for that is because we are anointed and designed to work we are anointed and designed to work and God blesses the work of our hands. You can't lack wisdom and then expect God to bless you. I'm just going to move down there and we'll see about a job when I get there. Not smart.

Get a job lined up first. Get a job lined up first. I'm just going to step out on faith. You're stepping out on stupidity.

It's not faith. It's stupidity. I'm just going to believe God that when I get there's something to open up. No, get something open.

I've had people kind of mean to say, hey, it's a, you know, I want you to pray with me. Okay, how can I pray with you? Well, I just quit my job. I just didn't feel like I was supposed to be there anymore.

And that's fine. If like you and your husband have decided to do that, you don't need to work and all that. I'm talking about people that needed to work, needed to work. And there's people that are in the position where they can just quit and see what they feel like doing because they've got money in the bank and their bills are taken care of and they're at that place in life.

Not everybody's at that place in life. There's people that I'm talking, they need to work every week just to have the paycheck to pay their bills. They're in the building phase. Pray for me.

Okay, how can I pray for you? I just quit my job and I'm just believing God will open something better. You should have thought of that before you quit your job and found something better. Keep working the one while you're looking for another.

That way there's no break in your income and you're struggling and then begging and wondering how you're going to make it. That's just pure wisdom. This isn't even spiritual advice. That's just pure wisdom, natural wisdom.

It's like, and there's many people understand what I'm telling you today. There are many people that find themselves in regrettable places in life because they simply take steps that are unwise and they do it over and over and over and over and then they wonder why I'm struggling. Pick me. I can tell you why.

I can tell you exactly why. You have to use wisdom. Faith does not override wisdom. Just because I tithe and give doesn't mean that I do foolish things with my finances.

It's not going to matter because God's going to make up the difference. No, God's looking for good stewards, stewardship, wisdom. He's looking for people that will take care of what he's given. Unfortunately, many people are regretting where they're at today because they lack wisdom and you don't have to lack wisdom.

The Bible says in James chapter 1 verse 5, if anybody lacks wisdom, let them ask God who gives to all men liberally. I mean, so give you a lot of wisdom and will not rebuke you for asking. God wants you to have wisdom so much. He said, all you got to do is ask me and I'll give it to you.

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God who gives to all men liberally and will not rebuke you for asking. Amen. You can't say faith takes the place of wisdom. Now, I do understand that supernatural faith and supernatural direction do override natural wisdom because if God is telling you to do something, then his ways are higher than your ways and his thoughts than your thoughts.

But it's very rare that I've ever seen God tell somebody to do something that was stupid to do. I'm talking about their life. The Lord may lead you to go look for another job. It's very rare that I've ever seen.

Even with us, you know, when the Lord spoke to us to launch the church, he didn't tell us to stop our evangelistic ministry. He said, keep on doing what I've called you to do and also launch this church. Okay. And we added it on.

It's like we quit. I don't know anybody in West Palm Beach, but I'm just going to quit evangelism and I'm going to launch this church and hope something works out. No, we kept on working while we were working. Kept on working while we were working.

Keep on working while you're working. Amen. And here's the other thing. And that's number four, by the way, brings me to it.

Work and work hard. Work hard. Use wisdom number three and work hard number four. God's looking for hard workers, diligent workers.

The Bible says, let me read you Proverbs 22. One of my favorites, listen to this. I hope this is helping somebody today. Proverbs 22, 29.

Do you see a man skillful in his work? He will stand before kings. He will not stand before or serve obscure men. The more you work, the more you excel at what you do, the higher you'll go.

Because God blesses the work of your hands. He'll give you increase because promotion doesn't come from the east or the west or the south. It comes from the Lord. He raises you up.

If you humble yourself before the mighty hand of God, induce season, he'll exalt you. And so when you do it as under the Lord, like the Bible commands you to do, I guarantee you, I've talked to people. We're exactly right, Denise. She said, this has happened to us, but we don't make doctrine out of an anomaly.

That's exactly right. We instantly obey God and he met us, but we don't live our whole life that way. Exactly right. I've seen it.

Like I said, I've seen it, but it's not the norm by any means at all. It's not the norm. And so I agree. I've had it where things didn't make sense to me, but I did them anyway.

But that's not my daily life. It might happen to you a couple of times, you know, in your life. Work and work hard. God unoints the work of your hands.

He anoints the work of your hands. If you just teach people all the time, all they got to do is give. That's not the only thing that brings blessing into your life. Try being a giver with no job.

Try being a giver with no job. You run out of things to give. Think about that. And there's people that are satisfied.

They're satisfied with subpar lives and they allow laziness to drive them into the ground. Don't allow anything to keep you from your productivity. Just remember this for the rest of your life. God is looking for producers.

God is looking for producers. You ask my team, you ask my wife, if a week goes by and I haven't produced anything, I feel I'm like, what is even wrong with my life? Let's see. What is my problem?

What is my issue? Getting snap out of it. Produce something. I promise you on that hardcore about it.

People are like, you need to rest. I'll rest. While I'm resting, I'll produce something. I can't not produce something.

God's looking for producers. People who produce fruit, fruit should be coming out of your life. Fruit should be coming out of your life consistently. God's inspecting the branches.

I know you know this. God is inspecting the branches. I release this to you today in the name of Jesus Christ. May a fire burn in your heart to produce for the kingdom of God, to produce for your family, to produce for your future, to produce for your calling.

I release a hunger in you to produce like you never have, to be a steward like you never have, to step out and to make things happen by God's power like you never have in Jesus name. I pray divine ideas would come into your spirit. I pray supernatural ideas and open doors would come to you by the power of the Holy Ghost in the name of Jesus Christ and that you would produce in the second half of the year like you've never produced for the kingdom in your life in Jesus name, in Jesus name, producing for the kingdom of God, producing for the kingdom of God. God's looking for it.

He's inspecting the branches, the Bible says. He's inspecting the branches. There's multiple stories in the in the gospels. I mean, you read just John chapter 15.

I am the vine. You are the branches. If you abide in me and my words abide in you, you can ask what you will and it shall be done. And then what happens?

The father who is the husband is looking at the branches to see who's producing fruit and who's not producing fruit. And he said, if he sees a branch that's not producing fruit, what will he do? He'll cut it down, throw it into a pile to be burned, and print the other branches so they'll produce even more fruit. Have you read the parable about the tree that was in the field?

And the master came by and said, this tree's not producing any fruit. Let's cut it down. And the one who's working the field said, no, master, let me first fertilize this tree. Give it another year.

The Lord so wants people to produce, he'll work with them, and fertilize them to give them time, time, time to produce. Not just fruits of righteousness, literally production for the kingdom of God. Do you know, you want to think about something wild? Take this down in your notes.

This is wild. The only man in the Old Testament that was filled with the Holy Ghost. You know that was something reserved for the New Testament. That even the prophets, even the prophets, the Holy Spirit would come upon them and then lift off of them.

You know that, right? Look at Exodus 31. There was one man in the Old Testament who was actually filled with the Spirit. You're about to find out why he was filled with the Spirit.

Look at this. Exodus 31, 1, the Lord said to Moses, see, I've called by name Bezelell, the son of Yuri, son of her, of the tribe of Judah, and I have filled him with the Spirit of God, with ability and intelligence, with knowledge and all craftsmanship to devise artistic designs. Wait, wait, wait, he anointed him and filled him with the Holy Ghost. What, to cast out devils, to heal the sick, to bring deliverance to the captives?

No, Bezelell was anointed. Why? With all ability, intelligence, knowledge and craftsmanship to devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver and bronze, in cutting stones for setting and carving wood to work in every craft. Huh, hold on a second.

This is telling us that the only man who was anointed and filled with the Holy Ghost like this in the Old Testament, the reason he was anointed to work, to do what? To devise artistic designs to work in gold, silver, bronze, cutting stones for setting and carving wood. Hold on a second. He needed to be anointed by the Holy Ghost and filled with the Holy Ghost for that?

Yeah, because part of the power and the empowerment of the Holy Ghost is to anoint you to work better than anybody else works. To be smarter than anybody else is at your job, to produce more than anybody else produces at your job, to gain more clients and to make more sales and to have more favor and to have a better outcome than anybody else at your job until they can't stop promoting you, to be the best of the best of the best. Because you're anointed, you have an advantage that other people don't have and that advantage is the Holy Ghost. Thank you, Jesus.

I'm helping you today. You have an advantage that other people don't have. This mind is anointed by God. I can figure things out that nobody else can figure out because I have the Holy Ghost.

I've never taken a piano lesson, but I can play the piano all over the world. Why? I'm anointed in my mind to understand what others don't understand. Everything I've ever learned to do that affects the ministry for years now has come by the Holy Ghost.

I never understood how to do graphics design, but the Holy Ghost showed me how. Then I started a business and it blew up and I was making so much money and getting so many clients. I had to shut the business down because it was taken away from the ministry time at the church. I was like, I'm called a ministry, not business.

If I wasn't like 20 or 19 years old, I probably would have had even more wisdom to just hire workers and have them do it all for me, but you live and you learn. I didn't know how to edit videos. I didn't know how to do television, broadcast television programs for network television. I didn't know how to build websites.

I didn't know how to create radio programs for radio stations. I didn't know how to do any of those things, but the Holy Ghost showed me how and I did them all. Did them all because the Lord will anoint you to do anything that He's called you to do, empower you, give you the wisdom and make you fruitful, make you supernaturally fruitful. God will give you business ideas that nobody else has even thought of.

And then after He gives you the idea, He'll anoint your hands to do it and bless you while you're doing it literally because you have supernatural advantage in the Holy Ghost who's in you. You're anointed for such a time as this in Jesus name and then you've got to go to work and you work like nobody else works. If people think the ministry is easy, there's many days, there's days. I love my staff.

They don't. I tell them, I mean, when do you hear this? When a boss has to tell us that you need to take time off, you need to quit working so much. That's the kind of team I have around me because I have drawn to me what I am.

You will always draw to yourself what you are. The reason our team is so excellent is because I spend all those years by myself working 12 hour days and going after it with everything I have doing everything I can do and letting God do everything He can do. I'm not going to allow the fact that I'm anointed and then I'm a Christian make me some lazy bum. So will God work it out when He's ready?

How'd that minister tell me like, well, brother, I don't have a website. I let God do my marketing. I've actually had people say that to me. So yeah, well, He's not doing it.

He called you to do it. That's why nobody's having you into preach because no one knows who you are because you're going to let God be my marketer. He's my PR guy. Nobody knows who you are.

Do everything you can do and then let God do everything He can do. Did God build the boat for Noah or tell him that rain was coming and tell him how to get it done and give him trees in the kind of wooden pitch and then Noah built it. Noah built it. Did God kill Goliath for David or did David have to go do it?

David had to do it. I'm just letting God fight my battles, brother. While we're waiting. No, just do something.

Do anything. Something. There's you'd be surprised by the things people have told me and it's sheer stupidity. Well, I don't believe in promoting myself.

Okay. There's a difference between being prideful. People want to say stay so far away from pride. You know, if I never made any announcements that we were going to be live on these fasting and prayer broadcasts, you know, we got like 400 people sitting here.

It's like preaching to a church of 400 people. I've got like 400 people right now listening to me and more will listen on the replay. So I've got 400 people sitting in front of me right now to get this word. But if I'd never announced it and put graphics out and did a video and told you that we were going to do it, there'd be maybe, you know, a quarter of that that had seen me go live and like, oh, he's live for some reason.

Let me go on and see. It's not pride to let people know what you're doing. Well, I don't do any marketing, brother. I let the Holy Spirit be my marketer.

I'm not into promoting myself. Okay. Well, good luck in anonymity. Good luck with nobody knowing who in the world you are.

And having no impact because you think it's pride to let people know what God's doing. It's not. It is not. Well, brother, Jesus didn't have a business card.

There weren't business cards. I guarantee you that Jesus would have a staff who prepared him a website today. We really care about our generation brother. Do you know that we changed our form online?

If people want me to come preach at their church and people say, brother, Ted, we'd love to have you come. We really want revival, really believe for revival in our area. We're believing for souls in our area. And I say, all right, what's your website?

Put it in the, we have a field where people have to type their website. What's your website? Well, we don't actually have a website, but we have a Facebook page. You don't care.

Don't tell me you care about your, we care about our region. How's anybody going to find you? Nobody even knows where you are. They don't even have a way, you don't have a website.

So they don't even have a way to find your church. We're just believing somebody's going to find us on the phone book. Like I get it. Not everybody's like savvy with doing like online ads and paid it.