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The enemy fights anointed people differently—that's critical to understand. The church has become so focused on haters that we've given the real devil a pass. We are fighting a very real devil. There are demonic forces at work that are strategically planning your demise while you're going about your day. They're having staff meetings, trying to put together the perfect formula to shorten your destiny, kill your influence, and destroy your favor.
You may be mad at people, but the people aren't the problem—it's the demon behind the people, manipulating them into attacking you. You are not just dealing with obstacles; you are dealing with opposition. This distinction is critical.
The greater your calling, the more strategic the attacks are. The enemy doesn't use the same tactic on everyone—he tailors the attack based on your gifts, purpose, and weaknesses.
Take time to examine yourself:
The devil studies this three-part profile and designs his attacks accordingly. If your purpose is to love people and your gift is to make people feel good, the enemy will put people in your life who attack you. If you're insecure with the people around you, you'll never be the blessing to others that you're meant to be.
Many of us are searching for our purpose when we should spend 60 days identifying our weaknesses. You will never be effective in your purpose if you don't know where you are weak.
A lack of spiritual intelligence will cause you to confuse obstacles with opposition, which leads to either unnecessary frustration or wasted energy. This is the foundation of how we move differently in 2025.
Obstacle: A challenge that tests your ability to persist, grow, and develop. The source is God, life's process, or natural circumstances.
Opposition: An attack specifically designed to stop or derail you from fulfilling your purpose. The source is the enemy, spiritual warfare, people used by the enemy, or systems set up against your purpose.
This distinction is life-changing: If it's an obstacle, God sent it to develop you. If it's opposition, the devil sent it to destroy you.
If you don't have spiritual intelligence, you'll be fighting something that's supposed to help you and loving on something that's trying to kill you. That's why some of us date the wrong people—when you lack spiritual intelligence, you fall in love with a demon and run off your angels.
The key question is: Is this making me better, or is it trying to destroy me?
To navigate life effectively, you need:
You can be smart but emotionally unstable. You can be emotionally aware but spiritually lost. Each type of intelligence serves a different purpose, and you need all three to operate at your highest level.
Natural Intelligence:
Emotional Intelligence:
Spiritual Intelligence:
If you want to go to the next level, you have to use logic. That means being prepared for the hurt. You need emotional intelligence to know if you can handle the fall. But you also need spiritual intelligence to move by faith when logic doesn't make sense.
Many of us are trapped because we don't know which intelligence to use. We want to go forward logically, but then we get emotionally attached to people who can't see what God is doing. Or we try to be spiritual about decisions that require natural problem-solving.
When Moses stood before the Red Sea with mountains on both sides and Pharaoh behind him, he had a logical problem. God asked, "What's in your hand?" Moses said, "A rod." God said, "Stretch it out."
If Moses had only natural intelligence, he would have argued: "What good is a rod going to do? I need a boat." But because he had spiritual intelligence, he obeyed—and the sea split. If you lack spiritual intelligence, you waste time being convinced when you should be moving.
Some of you try to explain spiritual moves to people who only know how to think logically. You tell them, "I'm going to walk off my job and start my business by faith." They respond, "You might want to be careful. You have bills. You have kids in daycare."
Now you get emotional: "Why doesn't anybody ever believe in me?" But they're not hating on you—they're thinking logically. They don't have spiritual intelligence, so they can't see what you can see.
Grow up. You don't need their approval. You have grace and mercy. If you want to go to another level, don't ask people who don't have the faith. You don't want anybody having anything over your head when you reach your next season.
Be careful who you take advice from. Certain scope of advice is limited based on the attacks people have been through. If they only have natural intelligence, they can only give you natural solutions. If they lack emotional intelligence, they won't understand relational problems. And if they lack spiritual intelligence, they can't guide you into God's purpose.
Six of you are going to have to change your circle in 2025 because they keep trying to logically talk you out of your dreams. You say, "I got faith. I got favor." And they respond, "Yeah, but logically..."
Stop being mad at people for making logical decisions. But also understand: if they can't level you up, they need to get out of your life. When favor is on your life, you're going to get attacked by people who don't want you to progress.
There has to be a shift in how we talk and sing as the church. We've got to have songs and messages that tackle your logic, your emotions, and your spiritual life together. Your grandmother knew this. She didn't have enough money logically. She knew emotionally she was about to be a wreck. But spiritually, she would say, "Just another day that the Lord has kept me."
Life isn't going to be easy. With every level comes another level of attack. As anointed as you are, there will be days when you want to be numb. Days when you're tired, carrying a lot, praying for a lot of people.
That's why I publicly talk about my anxiety. That's why I tell you there are days when I can't get out of bed, my mind is all over the place. There are days when something in me is saying, "Just go get something to drink or go smoke something so you can feel better."
But I have to sit in a room by myself and use spiritual intelligence. I have to discern: Is this an obstacle or opposition? Is this something that's going to develop me, or something that's trying to destroy me?
With natural intelligence, you make decisions. You have $500 and $453 worth of bills. Natural intelligence says: Pay half of this one and half of that one, which gives you another 30 days. Or call and put your car note on the back end. That's natural problem-solving.
But when you've been honoring God, doing your best, and you still ain't got nothing—that's not a natural problem. That's opposition. That's when you cut off your brain, get in the spirit, and pray: "Father, in the name of Jesus, I need You to be Jehovah Gyra—my provider."
Consider David. A prophet came looking for the next king of Israel and asked David's father to bring all his sons. David's father brought them all—except David, who was out keeping the sheep. The prophet looked at each son and said, "It's not any of you." Finally, the father had to go get David.
If David had lacked emotional intelligence, he would have responded with bitterness: "Y'all didn't even invite me. Now don't try to bring me in the house now." That attitude would have blocked his destiny.
Your attitude going to block your next level. You need emotional intelligence to handle rejection, to handle being overlooked, to handle the process of promotion. And you need spiritual intelligence to know that God's timing is perfect, even when it doesn't look like it.
Consider what would have happened if David had lacked emotional intelligence when the prophet came to anoint the next king of Israel. David's father brought all his sons to meet the prophet—all except David, who was out tending the sheep. When the prophet looked at each son and rejected them, David's father had to go retrieve him.
If David had responded with bitterness—"Y'all didn't even invite me, and now you want me to come?"—that attitude would have blocked his destiny. Your attitude will block your next level. You need emotional intelligence to handle rejection, to handle being overlooked, to handle the process of promotion.
God is calling you to move with three kinds of intelligence in this season:
You need all three working together. Think of it like a car: emotional intelligence is your brake fluid (knowing when to stop before you go too far), spiritual intelligence is your oil (what keeps everything running smoothly), and natural intelligence is your gas (what propels you forward).
Some of you think your relationships are worse than they actually are because neither person has emotional intelligence. When someone tries to talk to you, you react emotionally instead of hearing what they're saying. You get defensive about how it makes you feel rather than listening to what they're actually trying to communicate.
If a spouse has given you years of patience and peace, and you've responded with disrespect, their emotional intelligence becomes depleted because you're damaging their ability to engage. Emotional intelligence says your healing is deeper than my feelings, so I will lay my feelings to the side so you can heal.
I had an intense conversation with my wife Candace this week. She was sharing something important about where she is in her life at this stage, and for a moment I got in my emotions. I said, "I don't care, I'm tired, I've been in church all day, I don't want to have this conversation." But the Holy Spirit convicted me immediately. I stopped and said, "Wait, wait, wait. You matter to me. Tell me more. I didn't know that. I'm sorry."
Jesus is our perfect example of someone operating in all three intelligences simultaneously. He's a hypostatic union—not half man and half God, but fully God and fully man. He emptied himself of the independent use of His deity, wrapped it in humanity, and called it flesh.
Jesus operated with:
In the garden before His crucifixion, we see all three at work. Logically, He asked, "Why do I have to go through this? I haven't sinned, yet I have to be crucified while these people who act a fool don't have to sacrifice anything." Emotionally, He was so distressed He sweat drops of blood. But spiritually, He said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours be done."
Nevertheless thy will be done—that's spiritual intelligence. After thinking logically and feeling emotionally, He leaned on the Spirit.
What scares me is that we've gotten spiritual knowledge, but when we get emotional, we only lean on our logic. We abandon the spiritual intelligence we claim to have.
I'm in rooms right now—on calls with celebrities, with millionaires, with people in prison, with parents burying their children—and the consensus is always the same: "I just need God." But here's what I'm telling you: when you choose God, that is not going to be a get-out-of-jail-free card. The attacks are actually intensifying because you're a threat to the enemy.
Your spiritual intelligence, your emotional intelligence, and your natural intelligence will all be challenged. You're going to have to know how to move different.
I can't afford to "pop off" and react emotionally when people come at me. The headlines cannot read "Pastor of Rock City Church in altercation." If I react, the devil wins—not because he defeated me, but because he distracted people from the message.
You don't know what conversations happen about you that you'll never hear. You don't know the names your name is in. But here's what matters: if people don't know you personally, they don't actually know you.
I've stood there while people cussed me out. I've had hard conversations in the community. But our response as a church has been to show love: sending Starbucks gift cards to upset neighbors, fixing the tennis court, putting a walking track around the property, making sure we have bottled water for neighbors who walk on our grounds.
People told me logically I'm doing too much. But only people who aren't going to do too much will tell you you're doing too much. I'm reaching people. I'm showing them Christ.
I want to free you from a misunderstanding of Scripture. When God says "no weapon formed against you shall prosper," it does NOT mean the weapon won't hurt. If the devil pulls out a bat and hits you in the leg, it's going to hurt. It's going to break your leg.
What it means is the weapon won't work. Breaking your leg won't convince you to move away from God. The weapon won't accomplish its true purpose—which is to separate you from God's will.
Before you even get to that promise, you need intelligence—all three kinds—to know how you're moving in this season.
When Jesus said to the woman at the well, "Your faith has made you whole," I see that differently now. He wasn't just saying, "I healed you physically." He was saying:
You can imagine walking back home after meeting Jesus: "Hey, how y'all doing? Jesus touched me. Ain't nothing y'all can say about me. Jesus picked me." That's a different person.
I'm telling you right now: you are in a season where God is about to make you whole.
But hear me: there is warfare that comes with elevation.
I was on national TV this week in every home in America. So I stayed off the internet. I stayed out of comments. People say things about you when you get elevated—people who don't believe in God, people on YouTube saying I'm the devil. But God told me to tell my boys: don't be on Google a lot, don't be on Facebook constantly. Let them believe what they want to believe.
If you really want God to elevate you, you've got to say, "God, elevate me" and mean it. You've got to be willing to let the criticism come without defending yourself.
You may be in this room right now—or watching online—and you're saying, "Pastor Mike, I'm empty. I'm empty. I'm empty. I'm trying so hard."
Here's how you know you're running on empty: You don't have a hateful bone in your body. You're not a negative person by nature. But lately your spirit is running so low and your emotions are running so low that you're finding yourself getting bitter. That's not you. That's empty.
But I'm here to tell you: there is a refilling happening in this moment. From Birmingham to Baltimore to Brazil to Dubai—from this room to everyone watching online—God is doing something. And it's deeper than a praise break. It's deeper than shouting. It's deeper than good collars.
God is making you whole—physically, spiritually, and mentally.
As I close, I want to tell you about the days ahead. There are difficult times coming. When America gets sick, Black America gets pneumonia. There's a trickle-down effect happening in this economy and this world that many of us don't even see because we're not watching the news all day—we're just living our lives.
But here's what the Bible says: "If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, seek my face, and turn from wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and heal the land."
There's a turning and a seeking that has to happen. That's why I'm implementing prayer on Saturdays. That's why I'm turning down tours and opportunities. People tell me it doesn't make logical sense, but my spiritual discernment told me: if I leave again, I won't have a church when I get back.
There's no amount of money or fame that can take me out of that. I never wanted to be a famous singer. All I ever wanted to do was make a difference. That's my purpose. And I pray you discover yours.
My prayer for you is simple: "Lord, Your will—nothing more, nothing less, nothing else." In Jesus' name.
You're about to be proof. God allowed you to go through what you went through in front of people. When they see you again, they won't have to hear you brag—they'll see the glory on your life.
I don't want Rock City to be the coolest church or the best church. That's stupid. This is God's city. I'm just responsible for the fraction of people He's called me to lead, and I'm going to lead them well. And when God comes back, we're going to be accountable that we did our part.
