The living archive is loading.
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year. Anyone who understands agriculture knows that if you sow a seed in 2022, you don't see the fruit until 2023. But Genesis 26:12 gives us reason to shout early—Isaac sowed and reaped in the same year.
I'm prophesying over your life: that which you sow this year, you will reap this year. If you're a sewer, shout, "I got seed in the ground." It's coming this year. Farmers understand this principle—if you want fruit next year, you sow it this year. But according to Genesis 26:12, God is doing it in the same year. He reaped a hundredfold.
During our DVOEnergy this week—our five-day virtual devotional from 7:21 a.m. Monday through Friday where we break down the weekend message—we stumbled into a series entitled I Got the Keys. This week on DVOEnergy, I was on every day except Friday. I had nothing left. Between performing, preaching, football practices, kids at the building, and meeting with contractors, I sent my brother a message around 7:15: "Ain't got nothing left. It's on you, Doc."
But it's been so powerful. I want to prophesy something over your life: In 2023, doors are opening in the natural and doors are opening in the spiritual.
I've got the keys physically and spiritually. What does that mean? First the natural, then the spiritual. We have a home getting prepared as we speak. I got the keys physically and spiritually.
Put your right hand up—that's tangible, stuff I can touch. Put your left hand up—that's intangible, stuff I can feel. What I touch and what I feel aren't the same thing. I touch money, but I feel overflow. I touch joy, but I feel my help coming. I touch a new house, but I feel this is a home.
I don't just want something in the natural. What God is doing for me in 2023, my natural and my spiritual are about to hit at the same time. New job and my children blessed. Refund and breakthrough. It's all coming at once.
I'm not just excited about physical keys. I see doors unlocking in the spiritual. I need to separate the real from the fake. Some of you only shout for natural keys. We shout when we get the keys to a car, when we close on a house, when we get the job—the keys to our next level.
But if you really want to praise God, you haven't shouted until you've seen God open a door that no man can close.
When God opens a door for you to get a job, there's a man on that job who can close that door. Your supervisor can decide they don't like you and slam that door and get you fired. So what is God saying? He's saying you've been shouting for doors that aren't even the doors He was talking about. God's doors aren't physical.
Every morning you wake up, death is hovering over your bed saying, "Close the door, close the door." But God didn't see fit to let any of these things be. I serve the God of open doors. That's why I can say: I got the keys.
But I need to separate the real from the fake. I'm grateful for every door God has opened. I'm grateful for every door God has closed. I thank God for every no He gave me, for every person He did not let me hook up with, for every job He did not get me—because His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts.
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
When I say I got the keys, I'm not talking about a physical key you can unlock a door with. I was recently in Columbus, Georgia performing, and the mayor's office brought me a key to the city. I asked, "Does it work?" He said, "No, it's not a literal key. It's figurative. The key represents that you're always welcome, that you are a friend of our city."
Similarly, when the text says, "Behold, I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven," what it's suggesting is: you are a friend of God. If you apply these principles, you have access.
"Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed."
Let me fix something I said earlier. Bind is present tense, but bound is past tense. Yet the scripture says "will be bound"—future tense. So what is the scripture suggesting? Once you do it, it's done but in the process of being completed.
Let me translate this for you. Bind literally means to restrict. If bind means to restrict, then loose means to release.
Here's my issue with 21st-century Christians: you've been doing too much binding and not enough releasing. Whenever you bind something, you should always loose something. If all you're doing is binding something, the devil will send something else to fill the gap.
When you bind something, you should loose something. If I restrict something and don't put something in its place, something else will fill the gap.
Let me show you how to pray:
Your neighbor doesn't know what they're sitting next to. You ought to grab their hand and say, "I bind whatever's blocking your breakthrough, and I loose the overflow that's about to overwhelm you this year."
When you get the keys—not just physical but spiritual—this is why Bishop T.D. Jakes said, "Woman, thou art loosed." He realized that for years we had been bound, and he was trying to help us understand: once you get the keys, loose everything God's working for your good.
Keys are principles. Put this in your notes. The principle of God, which are the keys, release the promises of God, which is His kingdom.
Every atmosphere you step into has keys. All my football players—throw your hands up. On the football field, there are certain words that unlock things universally. "Hut" means go. There's a kingdom and a language to that kingdom.
All my lawyers—in the kingdom called the courtroom, if you stand up and say something, you say it in a specific way. In every kingdom there's a language. Many of us aren't blessed because we haven't been able to decipher the language barrier. "I want it" isn't the language. There are certain principles you must abide by.
If you're on a paleo diet, there are certain things you can eat. If you're on a high-protein diet, only certain things. If you're vegan, there are principles to being vegan—even the stuff you wear can't come from animals. But as you get into that kingdom and learn the principle, certain people tweak the principle to fit their preference.
You wake up Sunday and say, "Monday I'm doing right. I'm on this diet." Monday you get a smoothie. You walk into work and announce your principle: "I'm on a diet." But then someone says, "We're getting tacos," and you begin to tweak your principle. You call that day a cheat day.
When it comes to the kingdom of God, there are no cheat days. There are only drop keys. Keys are principles. When you drop a key, you're dropping a principle.
I'm working with my boys on this. Miles is in children's church now and didn't want to go. He's a disruptor, a renegade, a rebel. But I don't want to break that spirit because he's going to need it. He asks why, which is powerful.
I had to pop Miles in the mouth the other day because he kept saying, "Yeah" instead of "Yes, ma'am." Every time he says "Yeah," I tell him, "That's not the key." I'm teaching him there's a language principle, a key.
The other day he said, "Yeah, miss ma'am"—and he caught himself. He said, "Wait. Yes, ma'am." Later, he asked, "Dad, can you give me something to drink?" I said, "Yeah." I got him a drink and some goldfish. I said, "What you going to say?"
He didn't understand. I said, "I got what you want. But there's a key." All you have to say is what? Please. "Dad, can I have that, please?" If you say please, that unlocks whatever you need.
Most of you are living in pressure because you don't live by principles. Principles are keys. Keys that unlock what God desires for you in the heavenly realm.
Some of you are looking at me thinking, "Well, Pastor Mike, that's easy for you. You're a pastor." Hear me: the keys work no matter who uses them.
If I ask to borrow someone's car keys, I can drive off in their car. Whose car is it? Theirs. Whose car can I drive? Theirs. Why? Because regardless of who uses it, the keys work. The word works whether you've been in church 20 years or 20 minutes.
But church has tricked us into believing that because I study black church theology under James Cone and William Myers—look up James Cone, the originator of black liberation theology during the civil rights movement—we've been told access is limited by position or seniority.
Most of you are living in pressure because you don't live by principles. Principles are keys. Keys that unlock what God desires for you in the heavenly realm.
Some of you are looking at me thinking, "Well, Pastor Mike, that's easy for you. You're a pastor." Hear me: the keys work no matter who uses them. If I ask to borrow someone's car keys, I can drive off in their car. Whose car is it? Theirs. Whose car can I drive? Theirs. Why? Because regardless of who uses it, the keys work. The word works whether you've been in church 20 years or 20 minutes.
But church has tricked us into believing that because I study black church theology under James Cone and William Myers—look up James Cone, the originator of black liberation theology during the civil rights movement—we've been told access is limited by position or seniority. During the civil rights movement, you had Dr. King who said turn the other cheek. But then you had Malcolm who said pull out a gun. James Cone was in the middle, watching both perspectives, and he created something called black liberation theology—recognizing that there are godly principles, but also places where we've been too soft.
I studied at Ashland with Dr. William H. Myers under James Cone, but then I also did two years at Yale Divinity. So I got a chance to sit in black liberation theology and also spend two years at Yale. And you know what I discovered? Whether you was fight the power or we shall overcome, it don't change the principle.
You've got to keep in mind: the church was the only place a black person was anybody. He was a boy or nobody in a plantation field. But in church he was a chairman. The psychological implications of that have leaked into the church, and we now call religion what is actually religious tradition—as if it's biblical.
Because the pastor and leadership wanted you to see them in a certain light, they made it appear as if everything that you needed from God had to come through them. So you would be at home sick all week waiting to get to church Sunday because you thought all the power lied in the pulpit. It is some power in the pulpit. But if I give you the keys, if you get sick on Tuesday, you can touch yourself on Tuesday.
I serve the same God that you serve. What's the difference? I may apply the keys just a little bit bolder and just a little bit different. Live by principles, not by pressure.
Principles are predecisions. A principle is a standard—the standard by which I move. When you're in high school next year in a football locker room, you're going to hear everything you could possibly hear about what they're doing with girls, who's smoking weed, who's drinking. And because they're the legends at that time, you're going to think it must be okay because they're where you're trying to get. But when you're in the midst of peer pressure, you have to lean on your principles.
Our babies deal with peer pressure in class. We're dealing with peer pressure from social media. Everybody's rushing to do stuff God ain't called you to do because everybody on your timeline looks like they're winning. They look like they're winning—it's the facade. We can take a picture and look like we're winning when we're almost killing each other.
When pressure comes, I don't trip because anything that tries to knock me down will only knock me up against my principles. You want to know why you fall? Because principles are predecisions. It is a standard. Here is the standard for which I move by. When difficulty comes, if you have principles, you can take those little hits.
But when what looks like an achievement—which is actually an ambush—shows up, that's different. When the job comes and says, "We'll offer you 20,000 more," you don't realize the company like the bank in California woke up in the morning and the whole bank was dissolved overnight. Some achievement might not be achievement—some ambush shows up. When you're faced with that decision, something you can't take, you can fall.
Now if you're in love and the relationship is moving faster than you want, but you said your principle for this relationship is we're not going to touch and we're not going to do certain things, and you're going to stand on your conviction. But then it seems like they're everything you want and they're telling you, "I don't know if I can be with you if we don't do certain things." You get hit with one boom—but your principle says we're going to be all right.
Most Christians don't have principles. None of us are going to be perfect. We all trip. We all fall. We all mess up. But I've discovered for me, my principle determines how quickly I rise. It is a predecision.
When principles are clear, decisions become easier. You know how much stuff I miss out on because it collides with my principles? You know how many times I could have been on certain stages but it conflicted with my principal?
There are two things. We talked about this on DVO Energy: the person of Jesus and the principles of Jesus. The person of Jesus is simply stated who he is. Salvation is having a personal relationship with the person of Jesus.
Let me free you real quickly: The person of Jesus deals with my salvation. The principles of Jesus deal with the systems by which I operate—the personal spiritual strategy for my life. It's principle.
A life of wisdom is a life that is principle-centered.
I almost missed a huge opportunity today. They do this thing in Miami called the Miami Jazz in the Gardens—super huge. They had Charlie Wilson, Erykah Badu, Kesha Cole. Then they said, "We just want a little bit of Jesus," and they were like, "Pastor Mike Jr." I was ready to go kill it.
Only one problem: I didn't see all this coming. We have a new building, crazy energy, God is moving. I can't miss church right now. Something in my gut said, "I can't be missing." I got a principal decision that's very easy now: "I'm so sorry, but I can't do it."
My advisory team says, "This is put on by Live Nation. To say no to them almost kills your career when it comes to tours." I got a principal decision. I can't do it. You can clearly feel God in this season. Some of you woke up and were like, "You know what? I'm going to church today." You can feel something.
So I stood on the principal. "Hey, so sorry, but I can't make it." Then I realized once I made a principal decision, they messed around and said, "Well, if it was any kind of way you could get there after church, that would be dope." Then they said, "Well, we can just get you a situation."
They said, "Well, just go to the airport and it'll be waiting on you." I said, "That's cool. But the way TSA set up, it's going..." They said, "We never said nothing about TSA." I said, "You're going to fly me to Miami?" They flew your boy out to Miami. They said, "Get to the airport. We'll get you there by 4." I was like, "Okay, okay."
I had no idea that was even possible until I leaned on a principle. Somebody got an opportunity this month and you've been telling yourself, "Whatever I got to do, I'm going to take it." But Holy Spirit is telling you if you just stand on your principle.
I don't have to chase money. It's going to chase me. When you stand on your principle, the very thing that you need—not the thing that you want—is going to be so big because you stood on your principle that it's going to be bigger than the thing you wanted. > "My God shall supply all of my needs."
Whatever bait you use to catch it will be the bait you use to feed it. And if compromise is what you use to get it, compromise will be what you have to use to fuel it.
The moment you abandon your principal, you're going to have to go see the principal.
My oldest boy got caught cussing. He said the word. He's standing in line, and he says, "Man, I ain't got time for this." The teacher hears it. Xander gets put in in-school suspension. I couldn't whoop him because I lived in in-school suspension. I felt hypocritical.
I realized: Is this a whooping or a moment? It's a moment. I had a good talk with him. Then I took him to practice the next morning. I said, "Talk to me. Tell me what you said." He said, "Dad, I said I don't got time for it." I said, "Okay. Why?"
I said, "Zander, I never whoop you for the cuss word. But I will whoop you for your mindset. So, either you just flat out are a cusser, or it was somebody in that environment you were adapting to. Their principle was stronger than yours."
He told me who was standing around. I said, "Did you feel cool? Do you feel grown?" He was 16 at that age. Then we started having very real conversations about my failures as a 16-year-old. I said, "Daddy used to cuss too. I'd be on the football field cussing. I was in in-school suspension all the time. Daddy was sort of an embarrassment. When grandma and papa would come to school, they would be embarrassed to say Mike was their son."
I said, "So you've got to ask yourself this question: Do you want to be blank? Do you want to move like blank? Do you want to see like blank?" What I'm trying to do in these boys is give them keys. You can't beat the principal in them.
Think about how many weapons you got and you got whooped every week. What I discovered is what I'm trying to give my babies are keys. Why? Because as your pastor, it's not my job just to give you Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's also to be a type of example. Here's what I'm dealing with. Here's how I'm trying to solve this.
At the end of the conversation, it was almost like a medical commercial: "I love you and we're not going to talk about it anymore. But the next time you do it, you may suffer in severe pain. You may be hitting your lip. You may be punched. You do it again, it may cause you to be put out. So don't embarrass me again."
The principle of generosity is a heart that's willing to give that leads to a life that freely gives. It's a principal decision.
The principle of generosity is not just about money. I'm a giver. I gave him grace. Parents, what if God beat on you every time you drop the key? Generosity starts with my giving grace.
This week, I showed you four types of giving. First type of giving was tithe. The motivation for my tithe is obedience. I want to show you something that we've done a horrible job at as the church at large: the only time we talk about money is when we need something. I talk about money because it's the greatest tool to shift character.
The motivation for tithing is obedience. It literally means I tithe because God said so. A person who cannot be obedient will be abusive. If they won't submit to God, they'll never submit to you. Ladies, if they won't submit to God, they will be abusive when in authority. If they won't do it for the person who made them, they definitely won't be what they should be with the person they're made with.
Tithing is returning, not giving. You do not give a tithe. It's not yours. That's the equivalent of you giving somebody an outfit, then they tell everybody, "Hey y'all, I just blessed them with a new shirt." No, that's my shirt. Tithing definition: returning 10% of all my increase. Anything that hits my life, I give God 10% of. If I get my little paycheck on Tuesday, 10% going to God. If I go sing somewhere and they give me some money, 10% going to God.
Generosity begets generosity. Every time they would say, "Pastor, it's time for you to be blessed," I've never missed because generosity begets generosity.
Generosity begets generosity. When I receive my paycheck on Tuesday, 10% goes directly to God. If I go sing somewhere and they give me money, 10% goes to God. If somebody walks up and gives me $20, I receive it and immediately give $2 to God. I tithe off my increase because I see a principle: if He's going to bless it, I need everything blessed.
For all my business owners, I say this consistently: if you have a lawn company, find a yard and just bless them. Look at Chick-fil-A—they're not even open on Sunday, yet they gross more than companies open seven days a week because they tap into a principle. If I honor God first, He'll cover the rest.
The motivation for tithing is obedience. The second type of biblical giving is first fruits, and its motivation is generosity. As Proverbs 3:9 says, "Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase."
What's the difference between tithe and first fruits? Tithe is 10% from what I already have. First fruits is offered in faith for what God wants me to have.
Let me go deeper:
Here's a practical example. I get paid $10. Uncle Sam takes $3, so I bring home $7. I'm still giving God $1—I'm not going to let Uncle Sam dictate what I honor God with.
For first fruits, I'll share what happened in my own life. We had been believing God for a building for years. We've been going to various facilities, but I never made money a central issue. I focused my first twelve years on souls—how do I make you bigger, not us bigger?
I was preaching during Christmas, virtually, when I heard the Lord speak to my heart. Sometimes God tells you something and you say it before you can even process it. I heard God getting ready to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing we wouldn't have room enough to receive. I was on social media and saw a church in Kansas City believing God for a building. The Holy Spirit moved on me, and before I could think about it, I said, "Oh, City of Truth Church, we will be blessing you with $100,000. And God will begin to do exceeding and abundantly above all we could ever ask, think, dream, or imagine."
The moment I said it, in my head I'm thinking, "Wait, how do I take that back?" But I kept preaching. Later I thought about cutting it from the sermon, but then I realized: the devil is a liar. We're going to bless them.
Then I said, "We're going to bless Ramsay's boys football team." In my head, I was planning to do it in summer, but coach called and said they needed to order uniforms immediately. I almost told him to get somebody else, but I caught myself. I'm not going to tell God when I'm supposed to be a blessing.
After that, Christmas organizations and different things came up, and I found myself in a position. But then, during the week of our church anniversary, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "Call that building again." I called and the person said, "Hey Pastor Mike, it's funny you call. The contract fell through this morning." I asked, "How much do you want?" He said, "Right around 5.5 million."
Do you think I had 5.5 million dollars? But I had seed in the game. So I said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do," and I laid out a plan. I didn't ask permission—I just needed them to call back with the response. When the deal was done, my wife Tiffany said, "I don't think you see this." She told me the exact amount we gave away earlier—they came down by a tithe. Yes.
When I look back at it, what I did for City of Truth, what I did for Ramsay and other organizations was a type of first fruits. I gave based on what I was expecting, not just what I already had.
I can tithe off my current check. But what if I give a first fruits based on what I want my check to look like? Because tithing commands order—it gets my life in order. First fruits demands overflow.
The third type of giving is alms. The motivation is compassion. Proverbs 19:17 says, "He who has pity for the poor lends to the Lord." To give to someone in need is to give unto God.
I want to be very clear: if you need it back, don't give it to them—that's a loan. Be real and say, "I need my money back by Thursday." Or just be a blessing. If I'm going to give it to you, I consider it alms given and God's going to pay me back.
The fourth type of giving is seed giving. The motivation is faith and reward. If I'm talking to you and you say something that blesses my life—especially if I've been wrestling with something—I'll sow a seed into you. If I'm wrestling with something and you suddenly say just the right word that addresses my concern, I'm going to put something in your pocket. I want to sow a seed into that word.
Let me show you what seed giving looks like through Isaac's story. "Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold."
But here's the context: "Now there was a famine in the land besides the previous famine in Abraham's time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands and confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.'"
Isaac is in a famine—nothing is growing, water is gone, crops are gone, animals are gone. It's a biblical depression. What did his father do when faced with famine? He ran to a place that seemed to be doing better. But God tells Isaac, "Stay your butt still."
That's for some of you who are always running into greener pastures. Your grass would be green too if you watered your lawn. If you stopped looking at what they're doing and applied principles to your life, you would have it too.
It is better to have a famine in the right place than to have a feast in the wrong place. Let me free you. Because a feast in the wrong place will cost you, but a famine in the right place will elevate you.
What if you don't have a seed problem, but you're struggling because you have a soil problem?
I have a friend who was about to buy 56 acres of land. I told him about a time our church was going to buy land and had to do a soil test. When they did, they discovered something in the soil that made it unfit to build on. It was a flood zone and other issues. We had walked the land, prayed over it, done all the work—but the problem wasn't our seed. It was the soil.
Some of you think you have a love problem. It might be the person you've been giving love to. Some of your circle is a soil issue.
This is why I'm telling you: if you're going to be a blessing to somebody, be a blessing to them. But all ground ain't good ground. With certain people you have to say, "I love you, man, but I'm just going to bless you with this because at this point, I can't keep sowing in."
Sowing a good thing into a right place will cause reaping. Sowing a good thing into a wrong place will cause rejection.
God didn't give Isaac this promise because of something he did, but because of what his father had done. Kingdom keys don't just unlock heaven for me—they also open the floodgates for my family.
This is why I'm pushing all of you to grow in God and grow in the kingdom of God. Who's coming behind you? Generational poverty, generational curses, and generational bondage. If I abide in that, I lose generational blessings.
Now notice the timing: "Isaac sowed in that land. Now that I told you a famine was happening, you can look at the scripture differently. Isaac sowed in that land and reaped the same year." What was going on in that land? A famine—nothing was growing. Yet Isaac sowed and reaped in the same year. His seed broke the famine. For everybody.
That's why you catch more hell than everybody in your family. That's why it feels like you can't get away with stuff your circle gets away with. The devil knows the difference between you and them. If you do it, everybody comes out. I am a famine breaker. My mama is going to be blessed. My cousins are going to be blessed. My brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, children—all going to be blessed. I am a famine breaker.
Three things about seed:
Number one, I give systematically. For me, my tithe is automatic. When I get paid, I tithe. It's systematic. It's not about anybody asking me or telling me. For me, giving is systematic—like how you might have your side of the bed where you always sleep, or your favorite spot. You're a systematic sleeper. I'm a systematic giver.
Number two, I'm a sacrificial giver. Sacrificial means I give until it hurts. I give until it hurts. That means there have been times I've literally heard God tell me to give it all. One year was the roughest year of my life. I emptied everything. I was sitting in a conference and heard a word spoken, and I literally heard the Lord say, "Give it all."
Number three, spontaneous giving. Spontaneous giving is when something in your spirit says, "Be a blessing." That's how I live my life. I'm a systematic giver when it comes to my tithe. I'm sacrificial when I hear the Lord say first fruit or if I hear the Lord speaking to my heart, and I'm spontaneous at moments where something in my gut will be like "yep, yep."
For me, giving isn't just about money. One of the biggest arguments in my house is literally not coming home with the stuff I had on. I was wearing a nice watch, and a young dude walked up to me and said, "Pastor Mike, that watch is nice." I said, "Man, I'm a bless you with it." When you're a giver, you're a giver of it all. I don't have a bracelet now—I gave it away yesterday. It's just stuff to me.
You'd be amazed how many young people come to church based off of me giving them a fitted hat. They'll say, "Oh, where'd you get that fitted from?" and I tell them, "That's you, boy." Then they ask, "Where's your church at again?" Sometimes people can't hear you till you bless them first.
When's the last time you just walked up to your mama and said, "Mama, put this in your hand"? Your mama did the best she knew to do with what she had. Just tell her, "Mama, I just want to bless you. What are you eating for lunch? Mama, let's go to Baumhower's real quick. I got it." Be spontaneous with your giving.
Father, I speak by faith that we will never run out. That you will continue to bless us with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. I speak by faith that we bind poverty and we loose prosperity.
I speak by faith that families will be blessed, united, and covered in the blood of Jesus. Not by power nor by might, but by your spirit, we will continue to walk in the things you predestined and ordained for us.
I bind poverty, I loose prosperity. I bind anxiety, I loose peace. I bind low self-esteem, and I release confidence and holy boldness. I loose every spiritual gift that's needed, every spiritual fruit that's needed to maintain what you placed in their life.
God, I thank you right now for what you're doing in their life. There's a supernatural shift happening for them financially. There's a supernatural shift happening for them economically. I bind mental blockage and I release creativity.
For some of us, you don't have to give us money—give me the idea. If you give me the idea and you give me the resources, I'll make it happen. So right now, I speak creativity, ingenuity, resources, favor, influence, and connection. You're doing it, God. You're doing it right now. In Jesus' name we pray.
Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year. Anyone who understands agriculture knows that if you sow a seed in 2022, you don't see the fruit until 2023. But Genesis 26:12 gives us reason to shout early—Isaac sowed and reaped in the same year.
I'm prophesying over your life: that which you sow this year, you will reap this year. If you're a sewer, shout, "I got seed in the ground." It's coming this year. Farmers understand this principle—if you want fruit next year, you sow it this year. But according to Genesis 26:12, God is doing it in the same year. He reaped a hundredfold.
During our DVOEnergy this week—our five-day virtual devotional from 7:21 a.m. Monday through Friday where we break down the weekend message—we stumbled into a series entitled I Got the Keys. This week on DVOEnergy, I was on every day except Friday. I had nothing left. Between performing, preaching, football practices, kids at the building, and meeting with contractors, I sent my brother a message around 7:15: "Ain't got nothing left. It's on you, Doc."
But it's been so powerful. I want to prophesy something over your life: In 2023, doors are opening in the natural and doors are opening in the spiritual.
I've got the keys physically and spiritually. What does that mean? First the natural, then the spiritual. We have a home getting prepared as we speak. I got the keys physically and spiritually.
Put your right hand up—that's tangible, stuff I can touch. Put your left hand up—that's intangible, stuff I can feel. What I touch and what I feel aren't the same thing. I touch money, but I feel overflow. I touch joy, but I feel my help coming. I touch a new house, but I feel this is a home.
I don't just want something in the natural. What God is doing for me in 2023, my natural and my spiritual are about to hit at the same time. New job and my children blessed. Refund and breakthrough. It's all coming at once.
I'm not just excited about physical keys. I see doors unlocking in the spiritual. I need to separate the real from the fake. Some of you only shout for natural keys. We shout when we get the keys to a car, when we close on a house, when we get the job—the keys to our next level.
But if you really want to praise God, you haven't shouted until you've seen God open a door that no man can close.
When God opens a door for you to get a job, there's a man on that job who can close that door. Your supervisor can decide they don't like you and slam that door and get you fired. So what is God saying? He's saying you've been shouting for doors that aren't even the doors He was talking about. God's doors aren't physical.
Every morning you wake up, death is hovering over your bed saying, "Close the door, close the door." But God didn't see fit to let any of these things be. I serve the God of open doors. That's why I can say: I got the keys.
But I need to separate the real from the fake. I'm grateful for every door God has opened. I'm grateful for every door God has closed. I thank God for every no He gave me, for every person He did not let me hook up with, for every job He did not get me—because His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts.
"I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven."
When I say I got the keys, I'm not talking about a physical key you can unlock a door with. I was recently in Columbus, Georgia performing, and the mayor's office brought me a key to the city. I asked, "Does it work?" He said, "No, it's not a literal key. It's figurative. The key represents that you're always welcome, that you are a friend of our city."
Similarly, when the text says, "Behold, I give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven," what it's suggesting is: you are a friend of God. If you apply these principles, you have access.
"Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven. And whatever you loose on earth will be loosed."
Let me fix something I said earlier. Bind is present tense, but bound is past tense. Yet the scripture says "will be bound"—future tense. So what is the scripture suggesting? Once you do it, it's done but in the process of being completed.
Let me translate this for you. Bind literally means to restrict. If bind means to restrict, then loose means to release.
Here's my issue with 21st-century Christians: you've been doing too much binding and not enough releasing. Whenever you bind something, you should always loose something. If all you're doing is binding something, the devil will send something else to fill the gap.
When you bind something, you should loose something. If I restrict something and don't put something in its place, something else will fill the gap.
Let me show you how to pray:
Your neighbor doesn't know what they're sitting next to. You ought to grab their hand and say, "I bind whatever's blocking your breakthrough, and I loose the overflow that's about to overwhelm you this year."
When you get the keys—not just physical but spiritual—this is why Bishop T.D. Jakes said, "Woman, thou art loosed." He realized that for years we had been bound, and he was trying to help us understand: once you get the keys, loose everything God's working for your good.
Keys are principles. Put this in your notes. The principle of God, which are the keys, release the promises of God, which is His kingdom.
Every atmosphere you step into has keys. All my football players—throw your hands up. On the football field, there are certain words that unlock things universally. "Hut" means go. There's a kingdom and a language to that kingdom.
All my lawyers—in the kingdom called the courtroom, if you stand up and say something, you say it in a specific way. In every kingdom there's a language. Many of us aren't blessed because we haven't been able to decipher the language barrier. "I want it" isn't the language. There are certain principles you must abide by.
If you're on a paleo diet, there are certain things you can eat. If you're on a high-protein diet, only certain things. If you're vegan, there are principles to being vegan—even the stuff you wear can't come from animals. But as you get into that kingdom and learn the principle, certain people tweak the principle to fit their preference.
You wake up Sunday and say, "Monday I'm doing right. I'm on this diet." Monday you get a smoothie. You walk into work and announce your principle: "I'm on a diet." But then someone says, "We're getting tacos," and you begin to tweak your principle. You call that day a cheat day.
When it comes to the kingdom of God, there are no cheat days. There are only drop keys. Keys are principles. When you drop a key, you're dropping a principle.
I'm working with my boys on this. Miles is in children's church now and didn't want to go. He's a disruptor, a renegade, a rebel. But I don't want to break that spirit because he's going to need it. He asks why, which is powerful.
I had to pop Miles in the mouth the other day because he kept saying, "Yeah" instead of "Yes, ma'am." Every time he says "Yeah," I tell him, "That's not the key." I'm teaching him there's a language principle, a key.
The other day he said, "Yeah, miss ma'am"—and he caught himself. He said, "Wait. Yes, ma'am." Later, he asked, "Dad, can you give me something to drink?" I said, "Yeah." I got him a drink and some goldfish. I said, "What you going to say?"
He didn't understand. I said, "I got what you want. But there's a key." All you have to say is what? Please. "Dad, can I have that, please?" If you say please, that unlocks whatever you need.
Most of you are living in pressure because you don't live by principles. Principles are keys. Keys that unlock what God desires for you in the heavenly realm.
Some of you are looking at me thinking, "Well, Pastor Mike, that's easy for you. You're a pastor." Hear me: the keys work no matter who uses them.
If I ask to borrow someone's car keys, I can drive off in their car. Whose car is it? Theirs. Whose car can I drive? Theirs. Why? Because regardless of who uses it, the keys work. The word works whether you've been in church 20 years or 20 minutes.
But church has tricked us into believing that because I study black church theology under James Cone and William Myers—look up James Cone, the originator of black liberation theology during the civil rights movement—we've been told access is limited by position or seniority.
Most of you are living in pressure because you don't live by principles. Principles are keys. Keys that unlock what God desires for you in the heavenly realm.
Some of you are looking at me thinking, "Well, Pastor Mike, that's easy for you. You're a pastor." Hear me: the keys work no matter who uses them. If I ask to borrow someone's car keys, I can drive off in their car. Whose car is it? Theirs. Whose car can I drive? Theirs. Why? Because regardless of who uses it, the keys work. The word works whether you've been in church 20 years or 20 minutes.
But church has tricked us into believing that because I study black church theology under James Cone and William Myers—look up James Cone, the originator of black liberation theology during the civil rights movement—we've been told access is limited by position or seniority. During the civil rights movement, you had Dr. King who said turn the other cheek. But then you had Malcolm who said pull out a gun. James Cone was in the middle, watching both perspectives, and he created something called black liberation theology—recognizing that there are godly principles, but also places where we've been too soft.
I studied at Ashland with Dr. William H. Myers under James Cone, but then I also did two years at Yale Divinity. So I got a chance to sit in black liberation theology and also spend two years at Yale. And you know what I discovered? Whether you was fight the power or we shall overcome, it don't change the principle.
You've got to keep in mind: the church was the only place a black person was anybody. He was a boy or nobody in a plantation field. But in church he was a chairman. The psychological implications of that have leaked into the church, and we now call religion what is actually religious tradition—as if it's biblical.
Because the pastor and leadership wanted you to see them in a certain light, they made it appear as if everything that you needed from God had to come through them. So you would be at home sick all week waiting to get to church Sunday because you thought all the power lied in the pulpit. It is some power in the pulpit. But if I give you the keys, if you get sick on Tuesday, you can touch yourself on Tuesday.
I serve the same God that you serve. What's the difference? I may apply the keys just a little bit bolder and just a little bit different. Live by principles, not by pressure.
Principles are predecisions. A principle is a standard—the standard by which I move. When you're in high school next year in a football locker room, you're going to hear everything you could possibly hear about what they're doing with girls, who's smoking weed, who's drinking. And because they're the legends at that time, you're going to think it must be okay because they're where you're trying to get. But when you're in the midst of peer pressure, you have to lean on your principles.
Our babies deal with peer pressure in class. We're dealing with peer pressure from social media. Everybody's rushing to do stuff God ain't called you to do because everybody on your timeline looks like they're winning. They look like they're winning—it's the facade. We can take a picture and look like we're winning when we're almost killing each other.
When pressure comes, I don't trip because anything that tries to knock me down will only knock me up against my principles. You want to know why you fall? Because principles are predecisions. It is a standard. Here is the standard for which I move by. When difficulty comes, if you have principles, you can take those little hits.
But when what looks like an achievement—which is actually an ambush—shows up, that's different. When the job comes and says, "We'll offer you 20,000 more," you don't realize the company like the bank in California woke up in the morning and the whole bank was dissolved overnight. Some achievement might not be achievement—some ambush shows up. When you're faced with that decision, something you can't take, you can fall.
Now if you're in love and the relationship is moving faster than you want, but you said your principle for this relationship is we're not going to touch and we're not going to do certain things, and you're going to stand on your conviction. But then it seems like they're everything you want and they're telling you, "I don't know if I can be with you if we don't do certain things." You get hit with one boom—but your principle says we're going to be all right.
Most Christians don't have principles. None of us are going to be perfect. We all trip. We all fall. We all mess up. But I've discovered for me, my principle determines how quickly I rise. It is a predecision.
When principles are clear, decisions become easier. You know how much stuff I miss out on because it collides with my principles? You know how many times I could have been on certain stages but it conflicted with my principal?
There are two things. We talked about this on DVO Energy: the person of Jesus and the principles of Jesus. The person of Jesus is simply stated who he is. Salvation is having a personal relationship with the person of Jesus.
Let me free you real quickly: The person of Jesus deals with my salvation. The principles of Jesus deal with the systems by which I operate—the personal spiritual strategy for my life. It's principle.
A life of wisdom is a life that is principle-centered.
I almost missed a huge opportunity today. They do this thing in Miami called the Miami Jazz in the Gardens—super huge. They had Charlie Wilson, Erykah Badu, Kesha Cole. Then they said, "We just want a little bit of Jesus," and they were like, "Pastor Mike Jr." I was ready to go kill it.
Only one problem: I didn't see all this coming. We have a new building, crazy energy, God is moving. I can't miss church right now. Something in my gut said, "I can't be missing." I got a principal decision that's very easy now: "I'm so sorry, but I can't do it."
My advisory team says, "This is put on by Live Nation. To say no to them almost kills your career when it comes to tours." I got a principal decision. I can't do it. You can clearly feel God in this season. Some of you woke up and were like, "You know what? I'm going to church today." You can feel something.
So I stood on the principal. "Hey, so sorry, but I can't make it." Then I realized once I made a principal decision, they messed around and said, "Well, if it was any kind of way you could get there after church, that would be dope." Then they said, "Well, we can just get you a situation."
They said, "Well, just go to the airport and it'll be waiting on you." I said, "That's cool. But the way TSA set up, it's going..." They said, "We never said nothing about TSA." I said, "You're going to fly me to Miami?" They flew your boy out to Miami. They said, "Get to the airport. We'll get you there by 4." I was like, "Okay, okay."
I had no idea that was even possible until I leaned on a principle. Somebody got an opportunity this month and you've been telling yourself, "Whatever I got to do, I'm going to take it." But Holy Spirit is telling you if you just stand on your principle.
I don't have to chase money. It's going to chase me. When you stand on your principle, the very thing that you need—not the thing that you want—is going to be so big because you stood on your principle that it's going to be bigger than the thing you wanted. > "My God shall supply all of my needs."
Whatever bait you use to catch it will be the bait you use to feed it. And if compromise is what you use to get it, compromise will be what you have to use to fuel it.
The moment you abandon your principal, you're going to have to go see the principal.
My oldest boy got caught cussing. He said the word. He's standing in line, and he says, "Man, I ain't got time for this." The teacher hears it. Xander gets put in in-school suspension. I couldn't whoop him because I lived in in-school suspension. I felt hypocritical.
I realized: Is this a whooping or a moment? It's a moment. I had a good talk with him. Then I took him to practice the next morning. I said, "Talk to me. Tell me what you said." He said, "Dad, I said I don't got time for it." I said, "Okay. Why?"
I said, "Zander, I never whoop you for the cuss word. But I will whoop you for your mindset. So, either you just flat out are a cusser, or it was somebody in that environment you were adapting to. Their principle was stronger than yours."
He told me who was standing around. I said, "Did you feel cool? Do you feel grown?" He was 16 at that age. Then we started having very real conversations about my failures as a 16-year-old. I said, "Daddy used to cuss too. I'd be on the football field cussing. I was in in-school suspension all the time. Daddy was sort of an embarrassment. When grandma and papa would come to school, they would be embarrassed to say Mike was their son."
I said, "So you've got to ask yourself this question: Do you want to be blank? Do you want to move like blank? Do you want to see like blank?" What I'm trying to do in these boys is give them keys. You can't beat the principal in them.
Think about how many weapons you got and you got whooped every week. What I discovered is what I'm trying to give my babies are keys. Why? Because as your pastor, it's not my job just to give you Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. It's also to be a type of example. Here's what I'm dealing with. Here's how I'm trying to solve this.
At the end of the conversation, it was almost like a medical commercial: "I love you and we're not going to talk about it anymore. But the next time you do it, you may suffer in severe pain. You may be hitting your lip. You may be punched. You do it again, it may cause you to be put out. So don't embarrass me again."
The principle of generosity is a heart that's willing to give that leads to a life that freely gives. It's a principal decision.
The principle of generosity is not just about money. I'm a giver. I gave him grace. Parents, what if God beat on you every time you drop the key? Generosity starts with my giving grace.
This week, I showed you four types of giving. First type of giving was tithe. The motivation for my tithe is obedience. I want to show you something that we've done a horrible job at as the church at large: the only time we talk about money is when we need something. I talk about money because it's the greatest tool to shift character.
The motivation for tithing is obedience. It literally means I tithe because God said so. A person who cannot be obedient will be abusive. If they won't submit to God, they'll never submit to you. Ladies, if they won't submit to God, they will be abusive when in authority. If they won't do it for the person who made them, they definitely won't be what they should be with the person they're made with.
Tithing is returning, not giving. You do not give a tithe. It's not yours. That's the equivalent of you giving somebody an outfit, then they tell everybody, "Hey y'all, I just blessed them with a new shirt." No, that's my shirt. Tithing definition: returning 10% of all my increase. Anything that hits my life, I give God 10% of. If I get my little paycheck on Tuesday, 10% going to God. If I go sing somewhere and they give me some money, 10% going to God.
Generosity begets generosity. Every time they would say, "Pastor, it's time for you to be blessed," I've never missed because generosity begets generosity.
Generosity begets generosity. When I receive my paycheck on Tuesday, 10% goes directly to God. If I go sing somewhere and they give me money, 10% goes to God. If somebody walks up and gives me $20, I receive it and immediately give $2 to God. I tithe off my increase because I see a principle: if He's going to bless it, I need everything blessed.
For all my business owners, I say this consistently: if you have a lawn company, find a yard and just bless them. Look at Chick-fil-A—they're not even open on Sunday, yet they gross more than companies open seven days a week because they tap into a principle. If I honor God first, He'll cover the rest.
The motivation for tithing is obedience. The second type of biblical giving is first fruits, and its motivation is generosity. As Proverbs 3:9 says, "Honor the Lord with your possessions and with the first fruits of all your increase."
What's the difference between tithe and first fruits? Tithe is 10% from what I already have. First fruits is offered in faith for what God wants me to have.
Let me go deeper:
Here's a practical example. I get paid $10. Uncle Sam takes $3, so I bring home $7. I'm still giving God $1—I'm not going to let Uncle Sam dictate what I honor God with.
For first fruits, I'll share what happened in my own life. We had been believing God for a building for years. We've been going to various facilities, but I never made money a central issue. I focused my first twelve years on souls—how do I make you bigger, not us bigger?
I was preaching during Christmas, virtually, when I heard the Lord speak to my heart. Sometimes God tells you something and you say it before you can even process it. I heard God getting ready to open the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing we wouldn't have room enough to receive. I was on social media and saw a church in Kansas City believing God for a building. The Holy Spirit moved on me, and before I could think about it, I said, "Oh, City of Truth Church, we will be blessing you with $100,000. And God will begin to do exceeding and abundantly above all we could ever ask, think, dream, or imagine."
The moment I said it, in my head I'm thinking, "Wait, how do I take that back?" But I kept preaching. Later I thought about cutting it from the sermon, but then I realized: the devil is a liar. We're going to bless them.
Then I said, "We're going to bless Ramsay's boys football team." In my head, I was planning to do it in summer, but coach called and said they needed to order uniforms immediately. I almost told him to get somebody else, but I caught myself. I'm not going to tell God when I'm supposed to be a blessing.
After that, Christmas organizations and different things came up, and I found myself in a position. But then, during the week of our church anniversary, the Holy Spirit spoke to my heart: "Call that building again." I called and the person said, "Hey Pastor Mike, it's funny you call. The contract fell through this morning." I asked, "How much do you want?" He said, "Right around 5.5 million."
Do you think I had 5.5 million dollars? But I had seed in the game. So I said, "Okay, here's what we're going to do," and I laid out a plan. I didn't ask permission—I just needed them to call back with the response. When the deal was done, my wife Tiffany said, "I don't think you see this." She told me the exact amount we gave away earlier—they came down by a tithe. Yes.
When I look back at it, what I did for City of Truth, what I did for Ramsay and other organizations was a type of first fruits. I gave based on what I was expecting, not just what I already had.
I can tithe off my current check. But what if I give a first fruits based on what I want my check to look like? Because tithing commands order—it gets my life in order. First fruits demands overflow.
The third type of giving is alms. The motivation is compassion. Proverbs 19:17 says, "He who has pity for the poor lends to the Lord." To give to someone in need is to give unto God.
I want to be very clear: if you need it back, don't give it to them—that's a loan. Be real and say, "I need my money back by Thursday." Or just be a blessing. If I'm going to give it to you, I consider it alms given and God's going to pay me back.
The fourth type of giving is seed giving. The motivation is faith and reward. If I'm talking to you and you say something that blesses my life—especially if I've been wrestling with something—I'll sow a seed into you. If I'm wrestling with something and you suddenly say just the right word that addresses my concern, I'm going to put something in your pocket. I want to sow a seed into that word.
Let me show you what seed giving looks like through Isaac's story. "Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold."
But here's the context: "Now there was a famine in the land besides the previous famine in Abraham's time. And Isaac went to Abimelech, king of the Philistines. The Lord appeared to Isaac and said, 'Do not go down to Egypt. Live in the land where I tell you to live. Stay in this land for a while, and I will be with you and bless you. For to you and your descendants, I will give all these lands and confirm the oath I swore to your father Abraham.'"
Isaac is in a famine—nothing is growing, water is gone, crops are gone, animals are gone. It's a biblical depression. What did his father do when faced with famine? He ran to a place that seemed to be doing better. But God tells Isaac, "Stay your butt still."
That's for some of you who are always running into greener pastures. Your grass would be green too if you watered your lawn. If you stopped looking at what they're doing and applied principles to your life, you would have it too.
It is better to have a famine in the right place than to have a feast in the wrong place. Let me free you. Because a feast in the wrong place will cost you, but a famine in the right place will elevate you.
What if you don't have a seed problem, but you're struggling because you have a soil problem?
I have a friend who was about to buy 56 acres of land. I told him about a time our church was going to buy land and had to do a soil test. When they did, they discovered something in the soil that made it unfit to build on. It was a flood zone and other issues. We had walked the land, prayed over it, done all the work—but the problem wasn't our seed. It was the soil.
Some of you think you have a love problem. It might be the person you've been giving love to. Some of your circle is a soil issue.
This is why I'm telling you: if you're going to be a blessing to somebody, be a blessing to them. But all ground ain't good ground. With certain people you have to say, "I love you, man, but I'm just going to bless you with this because at this point, I can't keep sowing in."
Sowing a good thing into a right place will cause reaping. Sowing a good thing into a wrong place will cause rejection.
God didn't give Isaac this promise because of something he did, but because of what his father had done. Kingdom keys don't just unlock heaven for me—they also open the floodgates for my family.
This is why I'm pushing all of you to grow in God and grow in the kingdom of God. Who's coming behind you? Generational poverty, generational curses, and generational bondage. If I abide in that, I lose generational blessings.
Now notice the timing: "Isaac sowed in that land. Now that I told you a famine was happening, you can look at the scripture differently. Isaac sowed in that land and reaped the same year." What was going on in that land? A famine—nothing was growing. Yet Isaac sowed and reaped in the same year. His seed broke the famine. For everybody.
That's why you catch more hell than everybody in your family. That's why it feels like you can't get away with stuff your circle gets away with. The devil knows the difference between you and them. If you do it, everybody comes out. I am a famine breaker. My mama is going to be blessed. My cousins are going to be blessed. My brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, children—all going to be blessed. I am a famine breaker.
Three things about seed:
Number one, I give systematically. For me, my tithe is automatic. When I get paid, I tithe. It's systematic. It's not about anybody asking me or telling me. For me, giving is systematic—like how you might have your side of the bed where you always sleep, or your favorite spot. You're a systematic sleeper. I'm a systematic giver.
Number two, I'm a sacrificial giver. Sacrificial means I give until it hurts. I give until it hurts. That means there have been times I've literally heard God tell me to give it all. One year was the roughest year of my life. I emptied everything. I was sitting in a conference and heard a word spoken, and I literally heard the Lord say, "Give it all."
Number three, spontaneous giving. Spontaneous giving is when something in your spirit says, "Be a blessing." That's how I live my life. I'm a systematic giver when it comes to my tithe. I'm sacrificial when I hear the Lord say first fruit or if I hear the Lord speaking to my heart, and I'm spontaneous at moments where something in my gut will be like "yep, yep."
For me, giving isn't just about money. One of the biggest arguments in my house is literally not coming home with the stuff I had on. I was wearing a nice watch, and a young dude walked up to me and said, "Pastor Mike, that watch is nice." I said, "Man, I'm a bless you with it." When you're a giver, you're a giver of it all. I don't have a bracelet now—I gave it away yesterday. It's just stuff to me.
You'd be amazed how many young people come to church based off of me giving them a fitted hat. They'll say, "Oh, where'd you get that fitted from?" and I tell them, "That's you, boy." Then they ask, "Where's your church at again?" Sometimes people can't hear you till you bless them first.
When's the last time you just walked up to your mama and said, "Mama, put this in your hand"? Your mama did the best she knew to do with what she had. Just tell her, "Mama, I just want to bless you. What are you eating for lunch? Mama, let's go to Baumhower's real quick. I got it." Be spontaneous with your giving.
Father, I speak by faith that we will never run out. That you will continue to bless us with good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over. I speak by faith that we bind poverty and we loose prosperity.
I speak by faith that families will be blessed, united, and covered in the blood of Jesus. Not by power nor by might, but by your spirit, we will continue to walk in the things you predestined and ordained for us.
I bind poverty, I loose prosperity. I bind anxiety, I loose peace. I bind low self-esteem, and I release confidence and holy boldness. I loose every spiritual gift that's needed, every spiritual fruit that's needed to maintain what you placed in their life.
God, I thank you right now for what you're doing in their life. There's a supernatural shift happening for them financially. There's a supernatural shift happening for them economically. I bind mental blockage and I release creativity.
For some of us, you don't have to give us money—give me the idea. If you give me the idea and you give me the resources, I'll make it happen. So right now, I speak creativity, ingenuity, resources, favor, influence, and connection. You're doing it, God. You're doing it right now. In Jesus' name we pray.
