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Standing on business simply means when God is calling you to show up when life is provoking you to shut down. The family might be shutting down. The relationship might be shutting down. Your career might be breaking down. Money might be a little funny, but keep showing up.
You've gotten a lot of things wrong in your life, but one thing you can look yourself in the mirror and say: "I'm going to keep showing up with tears in my eyes. I will show up whether you leave me or if you stay with me. I will keep showing up." When you keep showing up and you're surrounded by people who leave you hanging, you must understand that your ability to stand strong may mean standing strong even if it means standing alone.
A kingdom key is a principle of God that unlocks the promises of God. For example: "If my people who will call by my name, humble them, pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways." That's a principle. The promise is: "Then I will hear from heaven and I will heal." If you do your part, God will do His part. If you do what's necessary in the natural, God will put His super on top of your natural and you'll experience supernatural results.
Today's kingdom key represents the principle of partnership. It's a sad thing to be saved but keep making bad picks. You can be saved and have an unsaved marriage. You can be saved on Sunday but live like the devil on Monday.
The principle of partnership suggests that trusting the wrong people will make you waste, but trusting the right people will make you wise. Notice it says trusting the wrong people—not just being around them. Why is that important? Because relationships move at the speed of trust. Whenever a relationship progresses slowly, it's evident that trust is low.
For some of us, we feel like we're not moving at the pace with God that we think we should be moving at. Could it be that God is saying, "I know you love me, but your behavior is showing that you don't trust me"?
You can't keep wasting your time trusting the wrong people. The wrong people will waste or cost you time. They will cost you tears. And some wrong people will even cost you money. Have you been connected to somebody, and when you look back over your life, you see they brought the worst out of you even though you thought they were going to bring the best out of you?
What we really need to deal with today is ungodly soul ties. When Paul says "Don't be unequally yoked," he's not talking about a literal yoke—he's talking about an invisible yoke. Ungodly soul ties represent when bonds become bondage.
There are some people that you have a bond with that has you in bondage and you don't know it because the bondage is invisible. They have you in bondage so you can't accomplish your dream. They have you in bondage so you can't be your true authentic self.
God is calling you to have the courage to cut ties that are pulling you away from being who you've been called to be. Thank God for who they used to be, but who they used to be in your life does not serve who you are about to be. You cannot abort your destiny being loyal to your history.
Principles aren't just keys, but people can also be keys. What if everybody that's your kin is not a key? Just because they're your kin does not mean they're a key for you. Some of the greatest keys in your life may not have your last name.
Jesus said, "A prophet is without honor amongst his own people." This shows us that one of the greatest detriments to your faith is becoming familiar. The devil takes a good thing—relationships, partnerships—and corrupts it.
The enemy is not a creator; he's an imitator. He cannot create anything. What he does is take what's already been created and imitate it. He takes a blessing and makes you confuse a blessing with bait.
In the beginning, he took a tree with fruit that was good and used it as bait. Adam and Eve didn't eat bad fruit; they ate good fruit. They chose what was good over what was God. It was bait.
The enemy often uses relationships as bait in the body of Christ. He makes believers fall in love with making attachments that lead to no adjustments. We have a whole lot of high-fiving but no adjustments. A whole lot of hanging out but no adjustments. A whole lot of shouting but no adjustments. A whole lot of connecting but no adjustments.
Clickbait is when we make attachments that lead to no adjustments. When you get closer to your group than you are to God. Some people got saved and joined the click but never committed to Christ. It's clickbait when you're saved, but you act more like your people than you do Jesus.
How do you know if you're in the click? Clicks don't like when new people try to join them. Just because you benefit from it does not mean you're being changed by it. God is calling you to a level of sacrifice—letting go of what you benefit from that will never change your life.
What if you're going in circles because of your circle? Young people in high school and middle school, you've got to be careful with who you call friend. The enemy knows what you're attracted to, and he'll send what I call fatal attractions. He'll have you connecting to someone, something, or somewhere when you're young that will really delay you once you get old.
Most of the attacks in your life right now are not about where you are right now. The enemy took a peek into your future. So he'll throw temptation at your life right now because he sees where you're about to be.
In Luke 17:12, we see 10 men sick with leprosy, but only one making adjustment. When you had leprosy back in the day, you also had to live in a lepers colony—connected with other people who shared your same issue.
As Jesus entered the village, 10 lepers stood at a distance.
Why are they at a distance? Because leprosy was considered a death sentence. It was highly contagious. You had to stay at a distance and be quarantined so you didn't spread it to others.
Two ways you got leprosy:
If you had leprosy, it was not because of you; it was because of who you were connected to. What do you do when you're not suffering because of what you did, but you're suffering because of who you picked? What do you do when you may not be suffering because of who you picked, but because of who picked you?
Might I suggest we all have a form of leprosy? Leprosy represents our sin nature. Because of the Adamic fall, we all inherited a sin nature that we cannot control. Just like your strengths pick you, your weaknesses pick you.
Leprosy for some of you can represent a bad attitude. What do you do when you're saved but your attitude's not? What do you do when your leprosy is the inability to control your mouth? What do you do when your leprosy is lust—when you're saved in public but addicted in private?
Leprosy was a skin disease that would cause you to itch so badly you would scratch until parts of your flesh would fall off. Some people would lose limbs because the leprosy would eat at the skin. What has been falling off in your life? Has your faith fallen off because of your leprosy?
But what I love about the text is that with leprosy and all, they didn't allow the pain to stop their praise. In verse 13, the text says they were "crying out." The text did not say they shouted. The text does not say they said it. Crying out means there was a level of desperation—they said in this moment, this is my only option. I have to forget about my reputation, forget about what people may say about me, and I'm going to give God all that I have.
This part ain't for everybody, but it's only for the crazy people that don't care what your neighbor has to say about you. Every now and then, you've got to start crying out: "Jesus, master, have mercy on me."
All 10 of them cried out. But what do you do when you're crying out for one thing, but the people connected to you are complaining about another thing? I don't know if it was the cry that got Jesus' attention or the cry on one accord that got Jesus' attention.
When everyone gets on the same page, that's when things happen. It's like being on an airplane: when the pilot came over the intercom, he said, "When everyone gets in their assigned seat, this plane can take off." Your life is about to take off when everybody on your row gets on the same page.
Here's what you're missing: the text literally says while they stood at a distance, they began to cry out. Some of us are waiting until we feel close to cry out. But might I suggest that the more you cry, the closer he gets. You might not feel close, but keep on crying. It might not look close, but keep on crying.
Praise will get you the blessing, but crying will get you delivered.
Israel was in bondage for over 400 years to Pharaoh and Egypt. But scripture says when they cried out, when they cried out, God raised up Moses to go and tell Pharaoh, "Let my people go." What if your inability to cry out is keeping the people you love stuck in bondage?
When they cried out, Jesus gives one of the most nonchalant miracles: they're crying out, they're desperate, saying, "Jesus, have mercy." But their problem is leprosy—a physical illness. If someone is sick physically, wouldn't they cry out for healing? But they cried out for mercy first. They got a deeper revelation.
Grace is when God gives you what you don't deserve. But mercy is when God does not give you what you do deserve. I deserve a lot of punishment and penalties because of what I did. But mercy—mercy is what I need.
When they cried out, Jesus gives one of the most nonchalant miracles. They're crying out, desperate, saying, "Jesus, have mercy." But their problem is leprosy—a physical illness. If someone is sick physically, wouldn't they cry out for healing? But they cried out for mercy first. They got a deeper revelation.
Grace is when God gives you what you don't deserve. But mercy is when God does not give you what you do deserve. I deserve a lot of punishment and penalties because of what I did. But mercy—mercy is what I need. I thank you not just for your grace, but also for your mercy. The psalmist said, "Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life."
Jesus looks at them and says, "All right, go show yourself to the priest." You mean to tell me I've been screaming, slobbing, crying, laid out in public, and you're just going to keep moving? The question becomes: do you want assistance or do you want attention?
Some of us are going to miss our miracle because we want the attention more than we want the blessing. When you don't get the attention that you want, you miss the assistance that you need. Humble yourself. Is your ego robbing you of your breakthrough?
Go show yourself to the priest—not even realizing it was a prophetic instruction. To show yourself to the priest as a leper meant that you could not be declared ceremonially clean until the priest approved it. In other words, Jesus was looking at them sick and all and said, "It's already done." While you're trying to figure it out, He's already worked it out. When you get there, you'll see the proof, but just go show yourself to the priest.
While they're going, all 10 of them, the text literally says, "As they went," the miracle was in their movement. We often shout when God does it immediately. We often shout when God does it suddenly, but I've learned how to praise God when he does it incrementally. He begins to give me a breakthrough, and every little step I take, every little move I make, what was stuck on me begins to fall off.
I dare you to start moving right now. I dare you to start walking because your miracle is in the movement. Why are you still stuck in the same spot you were in? If you move, He'll move just like that.
As you're moving in His house, He's moving in your house. When I'm moving right here, I'm putting faith that God is moving in other situations. I dare you to start busting a move so that everywhere your foot touches—move out of depression, move out of anxiety, move out of poverty, move out of stagnation, move out of sickness.
They didn't wait until the battle was over. They learned how to praise him in the middle of it. They learned how to praise him while they were on their way. I declare over your life: some of you are praising because whether you know it or not, you're on your way.
All 10 of them are healed. They thought they would die from this sickness. They thought it was impossible to get healed of this. But what's impossible to man is possible with Jesus. You have done all you could do in your own power. It's time for you to cry out. He is a balm in Gilead. He is Jehovah Gyra. He said, "Whatever you need me to be, I'll be that."
Imagine all 10 are walking. We're going this way, and we're all healed. We get to go see our family again. We get to rebuild our lives. And as they were walking, the leprosy began to fall off. But one said, "I'm going to catch up with y'all later. I got to stand on business. I got to go back and tell Jesus, thank you."
I don't know who this is for, but will you be the one today? You didn't come here to play church, but you came here today to tell God, "Thank you. Thank you for waking me up this morning. Thank you for putting a roof over my head. Thank you for forgiving me even when I didn't forgive myself. Thank you." Sometimes you don't have the words to say. You just got to say thank you.
The nine got healed and stayed closer to each other. But the one got healed and got closer to Jesus. When was the last time you came to Jesus? Because when you come back to Jesus, you get something that the other nine didn't get. God is the God of accountability.
Jesus says to him, "Didn't I heal 10? Where are the other nine?" Which means that sometimes your greatest test is not a mess, but a miracle. Because everybody can't handle being blessed.
The one comes back and he says to Jesus, "I don't know. I just know I had to come back and tell you thank you. I'm not trying to be like them. I'm standing on business. I'm not trying to become more like my group. I'm becoming more like God. I'm the one. I'm the one that's going to change my family bloodline. I'm the one that's going to change the circle in our current condition. I'm the one that's going to take my life to the next level. I'm not waiting on someone else to come and fix it. God, you created me to fix it.
Jesus said to the man, "Stand up. Your faith has made you well." The original translation says has made you whole. The nine got healed physically. But the one got healed physically, emotionally, and mentally. I'm declaring that God is going to do an emotional miracle and a mental miracle in your life. You won't be stuck with some of the mental health problems and emotional roller coasters.
Why is that important? Because if you don't get made whole, you're going to walk right back into what He just brought you out of. That's why we have to show gratitude and tell Him thank you, because it changes our posture.
Number One: Adjust Your Clarity
Everyone has a vision, but everyone does not have clarity. You cannot conquer where you are not clear. One of the greatest gifts that God gives to the believer outside of salvation is clarity. Clarity of your identity—who you are. Clarity of your assignment—what He's called and created you to do. And clarity of who you're supposed to do it with.
Sometimes we're moving too fast. We're picking too quick. The Bible says if it costs you everything, get wisdom. Wisdom is the principle thing. Some of us are making decisions irrationally and impulsively when God is saying, "No. When you move with wisdom, you're not just thinking about me. You're starting to think like me."
Number Two: Adjust Your Contentment
For the one, Jesus was enough. It wasn't Jesus and popularity. It wasn't Jesus and the dream job. It was like, "If I never get to see what I want to see, you're enough." Because we often trust Jesus with our salvation, but we don't trust Jesus with our satisfaction.
Are you saved with an old appetite? Contentment with godliness is great gain.
Number Three: Adjust Your Convictions
How long are you going to stay comfortable around sin? How long are you going to keep thinking it's cute? When are you going to adjust your convictions? The Holy Spirit shows up like a dove, not a pigeon. A pigeon and a dove come from the same family, but they have two different temperaments.
With a dove, you have to adjust to it because it's so sensitive. One wrong move and it will depart. So you have to adjust your whole life to the dove. If you really want to maximize the Holy Spirit in your life, you have to be willing to adjust your whole life, being sensitive to Him.
With a pigeon, it adjusts to you. Most of us are settling for pigeon religion—a faith that conforms to what you want, not God's will. It's what Dallas Willard calls vampire Christianity: where you want Jesus's blood, but nothing else.
Holy Spirit, break my heart with what breaks your heart. Forgive us for the times that I got blessed and I kept walking away from you. In this moment today, I'm making a U-turn. I'm coming back to tell you thank you. I receive your blessing, your healing, your wholeness, your holiness. My life will never be the same. In Jesus name.
