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God is invested not only in your elevation but also in your liberation. God's plan for you is so you can experience not only higher levels of success but also deeper levels of freedom. God just doesn't want you to go up—He wants you to come out.
Liberation is not the same as freedom. Freedom is often a choice, but liberation means you've been set free. In order to be liberated, there must be a liberator—someone who loved you enough to do something that may have cost them so you could be free.
Liberation is the act of setting someone or a group of people free from imprisonment, slavery, or oppression. It is a release. Christ's death was so profound because you were bound and didn't even know it. His death liberated you.
The devil discovered a strategy: if he kills the liberator, everybody else will remain bound. Think of Harriet Tubman—she's remembered not just for being free, but for being a liberator.
Once you become free, you become a liberator. The freedom you obtain is so precious that you cannot keep it to yourself. You risk your freedom to go back into bondage to liberate those who are not free. God isn't giving you money so you can show off—He's giving you money so you can liberate people. God didn't give you anointing so you can be powerful; He gave it to you so you could be a liberator.
Many of us will never become what God desires because we believe comfort is freedom. When your bills are paid, when you don't have to lock your door, when you know where you'll eat tomorrow—you think you're free. But the devil realized his biggest strategy isn't to attack; it's to leave you alone so you think where you are is safe.
Consider those who grew up in dangerous environments. At one point, you didn't even realize you were in danger. You threw footballs in the streets at one in the morning without fear. But once you became aware of the dangers around you, you started realizing you'd been in bondage the whole time. Awareness brought the desire for liberation.
This is why some people fall out with their circles—they still don't understand what the enemy is doing. But once you come to awareness, you start moving differently. Some people say, "Why are you acting scared?" You're not acting scared; you're acting alert. You realize that if you don't make a move, those around you will never come out.
Don't expect the oppressed to understand what a liberator does. This is critical: there are many liberators watching the stream when your circle should be on this journey with you.
God is concerned with your liberation because it's more difficult for God to free us from ourselves than from external circumstances. God could easily free us from things, but it's harder for Him to free us from our own minds.
The children of Israel illustrate this perfectly. When God leads them out of Egypt into the promised land, He has gotten them out of Egypt, but He has not gotten Egypt out of them. You can take a child out of Egypt, but you can't take Egypt out of the child.
They escaped physical bondage, but not mental bondage. They were freed from a place but not freed from a perspective. This is critical.
Some of us will stay bound because we want one person to free us in every area of life. But there are certain places you won't be freed from because that person doesn't have the expertise, discernment, or insight required.
For example, I needed to liberate my sons' minds regarding education. I'm not a teacher or educator, and I don't have the patience. So I found the right liberator—a skilled tutor who could help where I couldn't. Some of us need a liberator for our mental health. There are certain things you can't pray off. You've been struggling for a long time with deep roots going back to childhood trauma. You can't expect one person to pray all of that away in a single prayer.
You need a liberator—somebody skilled enough to deal with the deep roots of your issues. This is why this church believes in both prayer and counseling. I can preach you out of something, but sometimes it's hard for me to preach it out of you. It is my job to teach you out of it, but there are certain seasons where you need to find somebody to help pull it out of you.
Once you become aware of the dangers around you, you start realizing the devil is a liar. This is why some of you are falling out with your circle—they're still ignorant to what the devil is doing, but you came to Rock City and now you deserve better. They're telling you things like "Why are you acting scared?" I'm not acting scared; I'm acting alert. I realize if I don't make a move, we're never going to come out.
I don't expect the oppressed to understand what a liberator deals with. There are many liberators watching the stream when your own circle should be on this journey with you. What is the use of getting saved, getting healed, getting whole, getting your money, getting a degree, getting a relationship if you don't have a circle that's going to insulate you?
God is not just concerned with your elevation; He's also concerned with your liberation. God could easily free us from things, but I've learned that it's more difficult for God to free us from ourselves. This is critical.
The Bible is filled with instances that support this. Most notably in the lives of the children of Israel: God led them out of Egypt into the promised land. When we meet them in Exodus chapter 13, God has gotten them out of Egypt, but He still has not gotten Egypt out of them. You can take a child out of Egypt, but you can't take Egypt out of the child.
They have escaped physical bondage but not mental bondage. They have been free from a place but not freed from a perspective.
I needed to liberate my kids' minds regarding education. I'm not a teacher or educator, and I don't have the patience. So I found the right liberator—a skilled tutor who could help where I couldn't. Some of us stay bound because we want one person to free us in every area of life. There are certain places you won't be freed from because that person doesn't have the expertise, the discernment, or the insight to free you from it.
I need liberators when it comes to my mental health. There are certain things you can't pray off. You've been struggling for a long time with deep roots going back to childhood trauma. You can't expect one person to pray all of that away in a single prayer. You need somebody who's skilled enough to deal with the deep roots of your issues.
This is why this church believes in both prayer and counseling. I can preach you out of something, but sometimes it's hard for me to preach it out of you. It is my job to teach you out of it, but there are certain seasons where you need to find somebody to help pull it out of you.
Let me show you something from Exodus chapter 13, verse 17:
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road that runs through the Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the promised land.
God brings them out of Egypt but not using the path they expected. God has given them a promise, but they aren't fully prepared for it. So He decides to use an unpredicted path to prepare them for their promise.
What if you can only reach the places you desire the most by taking a path you desire the least?
This is what I call the principle of the detour. The principle of the detour states that God can use an undesired route to get you to a desired result. Dr. Tony Evans defines a detour as "an unexpected shift in a preferred route to a desired destination."
We don't like detours; we like shortcuts. There's a difference between a detour and a shortcut: one gets you there quickly; another gets you there safely.
Most of us know our plans: graduate from high school, go straight to college, finish in three or four years, get a master's degree, start your own business, make 2.5 million dollars, have 2.5 children, a dog, a picket fence, a vacation house, a truck and a car, and weigh under 100 pounds. But that was not your route. God says, though I could have gotten you there quickly, there's only one problem: you wouldn't have been ready.
Just because you are on a path you don't desire does not mean it is a path God didn't design. When you see a detour sign, the person working it didn't find it. Somebody sat in an office, did the schematics, did the maps, walked through it, and got it approved. Once the detour has been approved, it is deemed safe enough for the person who's taking it and the people who are watching them take it.
Every detour is experienced by three parties: the person taking the detour, the people being disrupted by the detour, and the person working the detour.
Just because you're on a path you don't desire does not mean the path isn't designed. Sometimes God does not expedite; He marinates. Sometimes He doesn't put it in a microwave; sometimes He marinates it. He puts you in something you don't want to be in because He realizes the flavor needs to be in you, not just on you.
God gives you a detour in an area where you have a deficiency. If you have pride, God gives you a detour that checks your pride. The problem is you don't realize it's checking your pride, so you come out on the other side bitter instead of grateful.
The songwriter said, "When I look back," and it's hard to look forward and shout because you're dealing with all the detours. But there are some of you who can now say: it was that detour that made me who I am.
Whenever something is designed for you, it's the sign for you. Think about tailoring: they don't just fix it by looking at you; they get your measurements. They measure your leg, your arm span, your chest, your stomach. Everyone else ran from Goliath because he wasn't designed for them. They hadn't gotten measurements.
David had been measured for Goliath because he had fought lions, bears, and wolves. Every attack leading up to Goliath was him being tailored. If a bear stands up, it feels like a giant. If a lion roars, it sounds like Goliath would talk. If a wolf shows up in a pack, it's like Goliath with his army. So when they saw Goliath, they said this isn't for me. But David said, I think that's my design.
No shortcuts. If David had run from the lion, taken a shortcut from the bear, taken a shortcut from the wolf, he would have done exactly what everybody else did. But because he didn't take shortcuts, when Goliath came, David was ready.
I had weight loss surgery in 2019. My doctor said at the pace I was running, I wasn't going to make it. So I went and had surgery. But the surgery is a shortcut. If you get the surgery but don't change your habits, it comes right back—sometimes in places you'll be looking in the mirror wondering what this is.
The surgery was meant to jump-start a new lifestyle. I've met people on their third surgery because they developed a dependency on shortcuts. Maybe you're taking a shortcut with gambling, thinking you can get rich quick instead of the long route of tithing and trusting God. Maybe you're buying into someone's twelve-step program promising you 36 million dollars in 36 days if you just flip houses and buy a plane.
Don't make me think that's the truth. The shortcuts don't tell you about all the failures, the low points, the fixing you'll have to do. What shortcuts don't tell you is that dumb financial decisions don't come back. There are no refunds.
When Pharaoh finally let the people go, God did not lead them along the main road through Philistine territory, even though that was the shortest route to the promised land. God brought them out of Egypt but not using the path they expected. God had given them a promise, but they weren't fully prepared for it, so He decided to use an unpredicted path to prepare them.
What if you can only reach the places you desire most by taking a path you desire the least? The principle of the detour states that God can use an undesired route to get you to a desired result. According to Dr. Tony Evans, a detour is "an unexpected shift in a preferred route to a desired destination."
There's a critical difference between a detour and a shortcut: one gets you there quickly; another gets you there safely. When construction blocked my usual route through Irondale, I was forced to take roads I'd never seen. Had I bypassed the detour and kept going the "quick way," I probably would have hit a rock slide, a road that was no longer there, or a ditch.
Many of us keep crashing because we're trying to get somewhere quickly and we're not mature enough to understand that God's trying to get us there safely. If I had taken time and gotten there safely instead of trying to get somewhere quickly, it wouldn't have cost me as much money, as many headaches, or as many long nights. Live long enough and you will learn that the shortest route isn't always the best route.
We don't want to take detours. Your plan was to graduate from high school, go straight to college, finish in three or four years, get a master's degree, have your own business by age twenty-five with 2.5 children, a dog, a picket fence, a vacation house, a truck and a car, and stay under 100 pounds. But that was not your route.
God says, "Though I could have gotten you there, there's only one problem: you wouldn't have been ready." The detour wasn't desired, but it was necessary.
Just because you are on a path you don't desire does not mean it is a path God didn't design. When you see a detour sign, the worker in the vest didn't find it—someone in an office did the schematics, walked through it, and got it approved. Once approved, it's deemed safe for the person taking it and the people watching them take it.
Every detour is experienced by three parties: the person taking the detour, the people being disrupted by it, and the person working it. Sometimes God doesn't expedite; He marinates. He doesn't put it in a microwave; He puts you in something you don't want to be in because He's trying to put something greater in you, not just on you.
When I was fitted for a double-breasted suit at the last minute, I was anxious about how it would look. My designer Felipe had measured me, tailored it, and when I tried it on, it was perfect. He said, "I had it made for you. Because I had it made for you, the things you are insecure about have been designed to fit your insecurities."
God gives you a detour in an area where you have a deficiency. If you have pride, God gives you a detour that checks your pride. The problem is you don't realize it's checking your pride until you come out on the other side.
Now that you look back, you can say: It was that detour that made me who I am.
You don't know why everyone ran from Goliath—he wasn't designed for them. They hadn't been measured for him. When something is tailored for you, they don't just fix it by looking at you; they get your measurements. They make you stand completely still and measure every detail.
David had been measured for Goliath because he had fought lions, bears, and wolves. Every attack leading up to Goliath was him being tailored. If a bear stands up, it feels like a giant. If a lion roars, it feels like Goliath talking. If a wolf shows up in a pack, it feels like Goliath showing up with an army.
When they saw Goliath, they said, "This ain't for me." But David said, "I think that's my design." Because it was his design, he knew he was different from everybody else—because he was a liberator.
You don't get that from a shortcut. If David had run from the lion, taken a shortcut from the bear, taken a shortcut from the wolf, he would have done exactly what everybody else did. But because he didn't take shortcuts, when Goliath came, David was ready.
I had weight loss surgery in 2019. My doctor said at the pace I was running, I wasn't going to make it. But the surgery is a shortcut. If you get the surgery but don't change your habits, it comes right back—sometimes in places you'll be looking in the mirror wondering what this is.
The surgery was meant to jump-start a new lifestyle. I've met people on their third surgery because they developed a dependency on shortcuts.
Maybe you're taking a shortcut with gambling, thinking you can get rich quick instead of the long route of tithing and trusting God. Maybe you're buying into someone's twelve-step program promising you 36 million dollars in 36 days if you just flip houses and buy a plane. Don't make me think that's the truth.
They tell you about the perfect marriages, the perfect lifestyles, but they don't tell you about all the failures, the low points, the fixing you'll have to do. What shortcuts don't tell you is that dumb financial decisions don't come back. There are no refunds.
You make a crazy financial decision, and just like when a paycheck gets garnished, sometimes your blessings get garnished. Have you ever gotten a paycheck but you were in the negative? Remember how hard that hit your stomach? You were already making plans, but that money was supposed to hit and you were negative six, so instead of the thousand you expected, you only had $374.14.
When you make dumb financial decisions, they don't come back. There are no refunds. Just as a paycheck can get garnished, sometimes your blessings get garnished. Have you ever received a paycheck only to discover you were in the negative? Remember how hard that hit your stomach? You were already making plans—that thousand dollars was supposed to hit—but you were negative six, so instead of $1,000, you only had $374.14.
Here's something critical: a shortcut gets you there faster, but a detour gets you there better. A shortcut is a route you found on your own. A detour is a route that has been planned.
Consider this: you're driving through a residential neighborhood at seventy miles per hour to prove you can arrive six minutes earlier—for people who won't arrive until twenty minutes after you anyway. That's the difference between a shortcut and a detour.
When God takes the long way, He is practicing something we would like to call pain prevention. Here's the question: How much of the pain you're experiencing could have been prevented?
Look at what happened with Pharaoh and the Israelites. After God convinced Pharaoh to let His people go, He did not lead them through the main road. God said, "No—don't take Route 459. Take them the back route." Why? Because even though the main road was the shortest route to the promised land, God said: "If the people are faced with a battle, they might change their minds and return to Egypt."
Do you see it? God didn't say they would lose the battle. He said at the sight of it, they would go backwards. Why does God sometimes take you the shortest route, and why does God sometimes take you the longest route? Because if He took them on the shortest route, they probably would have encountered a battle. God said, "I'm going to take them the long route because it's hard to win a battle with your hands that you have already lost in your head."
The Israelites left Egypt on an emotional high. They had experienced signs and wonders, seen plagues and plunder. Yet God knew that even after all that, it was possible for them to change their minds.
Here's why: Emotions can make a decision but not maintain one. That's why you get mad and break up and get right back together—that's emotional. You haven't made a cognitive commitment yet.
When we go on a twenty-one-day prayer journey, by day twenty-seven, we're not praying anymore because it was emotional. Some of the worst Sundays are the Sundays we shout the most because those were the most emotional moments. Stop making emotional decisions and start making committed ones.
Here's the truth: Detours are for your development. They are not desired, but they are designed.
I was driving in Nashville this morning with Terrell, and I have anxiety driving in new cities. I hate not knowing where I'm going. I was following my GPS, which said to go straight. But Terrell said, "Sir, I'm in Waze," and he took his finger, opened it up, and said, "Maybe they're trying to keep us from this." Six blocks ahead, there were police cars, red lights, and warnings.
That taught me something about discernment: One level of discernment knows the destination. Another level of discernment knows the detours. Sometimes you're connected to people you don't agree with—what if you stopped for one second and said, "Maybe they've been in this long enough to know"?
When I help young pastors, one of the most challenging things is that whenever you tell somebody something they shouldn't do, they default to calling you a hater. They get in their feelings. It's difficult.
But here's what I've discovered: Certain people who were healed can lend you advice from a detour. People who are still bitter will give you the fears of the detour. It's not that the detour isn't real—it's about what mindset the person is in when they're warning you.
I have people in my life telling me, "If I was you, I wouldn't do this." And you know what? I'm okay with that. I take their advice into account and pray about it. Why? Because I've discovered that stop being a slave to your opinion. Your opinion is just that—an opinion.
God led the Israelites around about way through the wilderness toward the Red Sea. The Israelites left Egypt like an army ready for battle. They were in the wilderness—a place they didn't pick and didn't prefer, but it was the place God had chosen to prepare them.
Here's the question: Is your preference hindering your preparation? The place you're in right now might not be the place of purpose, but it might be the place of preparation.
I know you don't like detours, and I don't like them either. I know you wish you could go from A to B directly. But here's what I've discovered: if God gave you something without preparing you for it, it would consume you. Sometimes being broke taught me management. Sometimes being broke taught me discipline. Sometimes detours in relationships hurt us emotionally, but if we stay committed and locked into God, we'll develop spiritually.
Every detour has been designed and carefully crafted by God. So don't be a people who complain about the detours. Some of us are in relational detours—battling separation, breakups, divorce, or even death. It's hard, and I don't diminish or downplay that.
But I believe by faith that on the other side of the detour, there will be glory. As one songwriter said, "My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus's blood and His righteousness. On Christ the solid rock I stand—all other ground is sinking sand."
