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Part 8 of 19COURAGE TO COMMIT VOL. 2
Understanding Frustration and God's Keys
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Part 8 of 19COURAGE TO COMMIT VOL. 2
Understanding Frustration and God's Keys
Continue exploring
Connected by scripture or shared themes.
Jesus said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Many of you have been living too shallow. It's time to go deeper. Simon responded honestly: "Master, we've worked hard all night. I put in overtime, I tried everything, and I ain't got nothing to show for it. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
This is about unlocking your frustration. We're in a series called Courage to Commit, volume two. The title of this message is I Got the Keys—and keys represent the principles of God that unlock the promises of God.
There are some promises of God that are yours if you access them. I have a friend who recently got a letter from an attorney he didn't know. His stepfather, who passed six or seven years ago, had left him close to half a million dollars. The letter had been sitting there for four and a half years—but it was still there, waiting on him. Three of you are going to catch this.
Your heavenly Father allowed your heavenly Big Brother to die for you, and He left you an inheritance. You didn't earn it. You inherited it. All you have to do in this season is grab your key and unlock it.
The first principle is generosity—a heart willing to give that leads to a life that freely gives.
What I believe about myself often determines what I believe about God. What I believe about myself often determines what I believe about God. This is why anxiety, self-doubt, and self-worth are weapons the enemy uses. If the enemy can get you not to believe in you, you will project your insecurities and inadequacies onto God.
The principle of multiplication suggests that God did not simply create us to maintain, but He called us to multiply.
The principle of freedom suggests that freedom is not doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were created to do. God created us to worship. One thing the pandemic taught us was that facility shouldn't stop worship. Even from your home, you're still being effective in doing what God called you to do.
Trusting the wrong people will make you worse, but trusting the right people will help you. The principle of partnership is one of the greatest assets on earth. The power of partnership is not just what you have—it's also who you're with.
If you ain't got it, you can be depressed. But when you're connected to the right people, when you don't have it but they have it—we got it. I need somebody in my life that when I don't have, they have. Your family would treat you better if they realized the reason they should celebrate you is because if God ever lets you get it, everybody connected to you is going to have it.
Your family is going to be blessed because of you. Your community is going to be blessed because of you. God said, "I will give to you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over."
You can't spell "men" without spelling "me." I want to prophesy that God's going to bless you in such a way that you're going to be the man or woman who blessed your family and flipped your situation. If you're looking for somebody to take you to another level, you better connect with me.
The question ain't what you got. The question is who you with. People are going to think you're arrogant this year because they're going to be calling you. But you're going to realize it ain't even about the money. You're going to have to ask them: who you with? If I connect to you, but you're connected to somebody who's toxic, the mess on them will get on me through you. The devil has been using toxic bridges in your life.
Keys are not only God's principles, but can also be God's people. I had to speak and perform at Disney. I didn't even know what I was doing there. I showed up in jeans and a jeans shirt, and there were celebrities everywhere—Haley Bailey, people from Black Panther, hip-hop artists. I spoke life to the parents, then performed at a graduation. Mickey Mouse and Goofy were there. Then they said, "We're going to let you go to the park."
I said, "No, I'm tired." They said, "You haven't experienced Disney with Disney." So they took us to the back entrance, walked us straight to the front, straight to the rides. My armor bearer Terrell got on one ride multiple times in a row. He was having the time of his life.
But I was ready to come home. I changed my flight to leave early. Terrell stayed in the van with the guide and said, "Once Pastor Mike leaves, we're coming back to ride that ride again." The guide said something powerful to Terrell: "No, I want to be very clear. The moment he leaves, this is over."
When Terrell called me and told me what the guide said, I called back and asked the guide. He said, "I'm going to be very clear. This is only because they're with you. Had they not been with you, they would have been in that hot sun waiting in that line."
I need to tell somebody: thank God for everybody who left you early. Because God said that if they had stayed with you in this next season, you would have felt obligated to bless them where you're going. But God said, "I'm about to bless you." Good measure, pressed down, shaken together. The question ain't what you got. The question is who you with.
In today's text, we see how God used multiple people in Peter's life as keys to unlock abundance and his assignment. That's critical because some of you are going to miss God because all you want is abundance. But my assignment now is way deeper than my abundance.
You can have overflow and be crazy. Yet you could be broke and be at peace. Who's ever had a season in your life where you had everything you ever wanted, but something still felt like it was missing? Conversely, in some of the worst seasons of your life, you had the most peace you ever had.
Some people are going to miss God because they think abundance is going to fix it. But true abundance will be secured in your assignment.
You've been living right. You've been blessed. You've been giving. You've been tithing. You've been praying. Abundance is about to hit your life. Look at your neighbor and say, "Don't shout too loud. You don't want nobody to see your abundance all the time." But what I discovered is anybody can walk into abundance, but not all abundance is secured.
There are certain people who may not be kin to you but are a key. My goal is to be a key in your life. Ask yourself this week: Am I unlocking or locking in people's life?
There should be a season where you do both. There are certain seasons where I have to lock stuff because people are going to hurt themselves.
I want to be a good father. I saved up money from a tour and bought my oldest son, Xander, his first car in cash—a little Chevy Malibu. I was so proud. But ask me where it is now: in the driveway. Ask me where the keys are: in the cabinet. Ask me how he gets around: in my backseat.
In his eyes, I'm negative. "My daddy won't even give me my keys." But twenty years later, he's going to thank me for protecting him. Every locked season ain't punishment. Every locked door ain't denial.
When we arrive at the scene of today's text, Simon is washing his nets. Simply put, he is frustrated after fishing all night and catching nothing. There are so many people watching and listening today who are frustrated because they have worked hard and feel as if they have caught nothing.
Who feels like you've been killing it, then you look at your account and think, "But where is it?" You almost want to fuss with your person: "Did you do something?" And here's what's crazy—it don't even be big numbers. Wendy's 522, Wendy's 527, Starbucks 395, Starbucks 414, Lashes 36.97.
Here's something we don't talk about in church: frustration. I'm made to look like I don't have faith if I show frustration. But the presence of frustration does not mark the absence of faith. Frustration is faith fighting to remain.
Stand still and know that I am. Frustration is when you're standing but rocking because you're wrestling with the facts. Faith says stand. Facts say fall.
Frustration is a sign that you no longer have an appetite for the level that you're on. I need you to hear this: frustration is an indication that your taste is changing.
All frustration is not created equal. Sometimes God uses frustration to make you uncomfortable so you never settle for the level you're on. Some of you are frustrated because you ain't doing enough. Others are frustrated because you ain't doing enough.
Wait—did you catch that? One of you is frustrated because God looked at you and said, "No, there's more in you." The other is frustrated because you're not even using what's in you to begin with. All frustrations aren't created equal.
Frustration reveals that there's a need for change. But be careful how you apply this. Just because you're frustrated doesn't mean there's another level. Some of you are frustrated because God wants you to do more. Others are frustrated because you're sorry. See, in church we make everything good you and everything bad the devil. But sometimes you need to mature to a place where the devil ain't even attacking your money because you're bad with it. The devil ain't attacking your peace because you walked back into a relationship that almost killed you.
Some of you have been stuck because you've been to people frustrated like you but not frustrated from the same thing you're frustrated with. Because you have the same surface-level frustration, you start giving each other advice, but the advice is on two totally different levels.
Turtles eat grass. Giraffes eat green foliage from the top—leaves. Both eat green. So on the surface, if they get hungry, the conversation is going to be, "I'm frustrated because I can't find green something." But if the giraffe lives off the advice of the turtle, he will never experience what God has him to do at that level.
You keep thinking your frustration is equal to someone else's. And now you are adopting a strategy that's beneath what God is calling you to do.
Not all frustration is created equal. Some of you have been stuck because you've sought advice from people who are frustrated like you but not frustrated from the same thing you're frustrated with. Because you share the same surface-level frustration, you give each other advice, but that advice operates on two totally different levels.
Turtles eat grass. Giraffes eat green foliage from the top—leaves. Both eat green. So on the surface, if they get hungry, the conversation is going to be, "I'm frustrated because I can't find green something." But if the giraffe lives off the advice of the turtle, he will never experience what God has him to do at that level.
You keep thinking your frustration is equal to someone else's. And now you are adopting a strategy that's beneath what God is calling you to do.
Just because someone believes God for a miracle doesn't mean you need the same strategy. The frustration in the wilderness isn't the same frustration in the promise. It feels the same, but it ain't. All weight ain't created equal—and if all weight ain't created equal, then all frustration ain't created equal either.
Sometimes you're heavy not because of what the devil put on you, but because of what God is trying to get. There is a tug of war between where you are and where He's calling you. Frustration is often the result of failed expectations or unplanned devastation. Frustration often shows us what matters.
We must learn to listen to our frustration.
Simon is in transition from who he's always been versus who Jesus is calling him to be. Like Simon, we are in transition—moving from where we've been to where God is calling us to be. And nothing stirs frustration like transition.
Everybody wants the promises of God, but don't nobody want to deal with the process. If God gave you a new car right now, you would shout until you got the bill. We are raising a generation of believers who want the promises of God without the process of it.
For many of you, the frustration you feel is because you're in transition and didn't know it. God is transitioning you out of certain circles. Some of you are experiencing this for the first time—you found somewhere where your spirit can exist. But your flesh is uncomfortable. You want to come to where God is calling you, but you're over the youth here. You got position. You got title. It ain't that many people. So you feel like you're more than you are sometimes.
Better sometimes comes with a season of bitterness. There is a season of what could be called "blessing remorse"—like when you buy something, get excited, then a couple days later you're like, "I shouldn't have even bought this." Even if you move to a new season, there can be a season of regret.
We all live in a gap between what we expect and what we experience. Sometimes frustration is in the gap. This gap is real, and it creates pressure.
Simon came to Jesus washing his nets. Before Jesus, Simon was washing his nets. But with Jesus, he is casting his nets. He came there with nets—not a fishing rod. Had he brought a fishing rod, that would have suggested he was believing God for a couple fish. He brought a net because he just knew he was leaving with overflow. He expected overflow.
Some of you are frustrated because you got net faith. You showed up thinking "This is my job." You showed up thinking "This is my season." You showed up thinking "The doctor is going to say he can't find nothing." You said "This marriage will work." But the gap between what you expect and what you started to experience birthed your frustration.
If my frustration is in the gap, my faith is in the gap. If my pain is in the gap, my praise is in the gap. Anybody can shout from the other side. But I wonder who can praise God from the gap.
Your neighbor don't want to shout because they don't want you to know they frustrated. Just look at them and say, "I'mma shout for you, baby." The truth of the matter is, I expected millions. I expected folk to treat me like I treated them. I expected you to be as loyal to me as I was to you. I expected good measure, pressed down, shaking together, running over. But lately, all I get is no run over, no leftover, no press down, no shaking together. What do I do when I showed up with expectation, but my expectation don't match my experience? It's the gap.
Forgetting about the devil for a moment—my kids frustrate the heck out of me. How do you get out of bed you didn't have to pay for and can't even make the bed up? How do you got on Jays when I had to wear XJ900s? How do you got on all this name brand and I got my stuff from Walmart? Then you got the nerve to stomp?
I expected you to be "Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir." But what I'm experiencing is different. I just want to free some of y'all who done almost keyed somebody's car and almost went to jail. That wasn't you. You was just stuck in the gap.
When Jesus shows up, Simon is washing his net. This is the equivalent of unplugging stuff. Ladies, this is the equivalent of you taking your girdle off. His action is an indication that he had accepted failure.
But think about it—if he ain't caught nothing, why do I need to wash my net if the net is in water? Why wash a net that ain't had nothing in it? In my brain, he was catching stuff. He wasn't catching what he could use. So maybe he cast the net and seaweed came, he dumped it. Cast the net again, something else got caught in it, he dumped it.
The scripture says they "hadn't caught anything." To the common eye, anything means nothing. But remember the biblical principle—nothing don't always mean nothing. Nothing translates to mean usable. Which is why some of y'all got a whole lot of people, but you feel alone because you crowded, but they ain't worth anything to your purpose.
Jesus rose up on the wildest one—Peter, who cusses, who cuts people, who is always strapped. Peter is sitting there like, "Well, I just want to thank God that I ain't caught nothing today." But in his head, Peter is like, "This don't make no sense. I've been out here all day. I ain't caught nothing."
Favor is not the indication that God is about to start. Favor is the indication to the devil that this is about to be over.
God does to Simon in essence what He's about to do to you. The question ain't what you got. The question is who you with. If you got a partner, you can shout because your confidence isn't in what you have—it's in who you're with.
When Hulk Hogan would get beat up over and over, he would look a certain way and talk a certain way. Then they would hit him one more time, and Hogan would say something, and whenever he said it, the end would be near. That signified his special move. When God's favor shows up, that's not the start—that's the signal that it's about to be over.
When a man sits in that driveway and has that talk with you, and because of her immaturity and the pressure on her, both of y'all are in the gap and expressing frustration differently. She don't know how to deal with frustration except to talk it out. So she's sitting there asking you questions that you can't answer.
Instead of being emotionally vulnerable and telling her you don't have the answers, you feel like you got to be the man because society has programmed us to be the man. So now you're sitting there trying to give answers, but the answers don't make sense. She realizes the answers don't make sense, so she keeps coming hard and you keep pushing back. Before you know it, both of y'all are screaming and hollering about to kill each other because there's pressure in the gap.
So many pastors are dying from suicide because of the gap. How do I stand and preach that God will make a way when He does it for everybody but me? How do I have a church full of people who look at me and say, "We are Rock City," but when it gets thick, it's me?
Don't walk up to nobody and ask them what they doing if you don't check on how they are. Heart, head, hands. We try our best to deal with heart, head, hands. Thank you for just showing up. You didn't have to come here to do this. You get a paycheck, but you could go work anywhere in the world. It matters to me because I never know.
That's why every time I look at you, I say, "Thank you." That's why every time I look at Justin, man, thank you for just showing up. You didn't have to come here to do this. You didn't have to set that stuff up. You get a paycheck, but you could go work anywhere in the world. It matters to me because I never know.
This is why I'm telling all my ministry workers: heart, head, hands. We try our best to deal with heart, head, hands. Don't walk up to nobody and ask them what they're doing if you don't check on how they are.
Right now, I'm going straight to the hospital. My best brother in the church be with me all the time. Every time I've been in the hospital, right outside the door, it's him. His mother had two strokes—brain dead. We've been right there praying all day, going right back to the hospital, tired as I am. I'm going to be standing right there at the door.
I told him, "I'm your armor bearer today. You—this your mama. When he cry, no, I'm holding. I'm standing right there standing strong because right now he's in a gap." That's why life happens.
I told you frustration comes from failed expectation or unexpected devastation. Peter's devastated. How am I going to feed my family tonight? Look at the Bible through the real life lens you look at your life through.
Imagine if you go work 40 hours and your check is negative. Bills hit at the same Friday your check hits, and you're at work like, I'm so ready to go somewhere. Then all of a sudden, you check your online banking and forget about something. That one was supposed to hit six weeks ago, it never hit. Then it decided to hit the week you wanted to do something. So now I'm tired of being broke.
Because the right partners will help close the gap between frustration and faith, Jesus doesn't just see a man with an empty net. He sees a man who's frustrated. The principle of partnership means the right partner will close the gap.
If my frustration is lasting long, I need to examine me or examine us. We all live in a gap. Our greatest disappointments should lead to a deeper commitment.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch."
You missed your first show. There's so much preaching in there. Multiple nets. Multiple streams. Can I free you?
What does Simon do for a living? He's a fisherman. So when Simon got blessed, Jesus flipped his business. He's the flipping Jesus. This is why I tithe from my businesses because I need him to step in every area.
Here's the scripture: in the instruction is a blessing. You just caught that. In the instruction, but you're so frustrated. I want you to see this because I'm going to show you how silly we will look. I'm going to show you how the frustrated you is going to block your favor.
Simon answered Jesus, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything."
Look at verse five. "But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
We're not going to glow over the fact that he almost blew it. I see a principle here. What if Simon would have just said, "Man, I've been out here all night. I'm gone"?
Remember when Elizabeth got pregnant and God told Elizabeth she was going to have a baby and her husband started speaking negative and He silenced him? That's a principle. If it happened, that means it could happen again.
What would have happened if Simon would have said, "I've been out here all night and your mouth..."? This is why when I start my business, nobody asked me that. Where's your church by myself? Where in the scripture does Jesus ask for his resume?
If Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, when I was Jesus, I would have checked him in such a smooth way. I would have said, "Well, brother, when I rolled up on you, I saw you washing your nets. I can look at your boat and tell you ain't got nothing. So I don't need an explanation. I just need obedience. And I need obedience with expedience. I don't need you to procrastinate. I need you to do it and do it quickly."
The blessing is in the instruction.
The text says, "Launch out into deep waters." He was disappointed. And God tells him, "Cool. Go deeper."
Why you want me to go deeper when I failed in the shallow? Can I free you? Why didn't Jesus just bless him where he was?
You get dumped after the relationship you thought was going to work. Then God shows up and says, "Marry this one. I don't know. Marry him. Go deeper."
But what I am saying is shallow commitment will cost you. I'm in too deep to back out now. If this doesn't work, that's it. I end up back somewhere. But I'm in too deep now. I'm in too deep.
Can I get real with y'all? I almost didn't even do it. Our offerings couldn't handle this. Y'all want to have a real talk? Y'all want to have commitment talk? Our offerings couldn't handle this.
I started mapping out how many concerts I would have to do to do it. I started mapping out what she could sell to do it. Those of us who are ready to die to this, we know what it's going to take. If I do 17 shows at a certain amount of dollars, if I raise my price to this right here, that'll be XYZ. So that just means if I go on the road two to three times a month, that'll cover this.
Don't say, "I can't do that. I can't do that. I can't do that." Then the Holy Spirit said, "Go deeper."
From the day I told God, "Yes, I do not know where the money's coming from." Every time there's a need, God sends a supply. It's to the point now where I'm almost scared. I call our team and I'm like, "Are y'all sure? If y'all miscount, I'mma fight somebody!"
They say, "Pastor, I don't know what happened. So and so just called." This lady from Mississippi called during a staff meeting when we were discussing what we were going to do for the children's wing. I look at them and say, "We ain't got enough money to do all that." The Holy Spirit tells me to tell Ebony, "Leave the staff meeting and go back to the office. Don't ever not forward the phone calls." The phones at our church don't ring because most of y'all got our numbers.
The day she went to the office, someone called and said, "I heard Pastor Mike preaching. Can I send $5,000 to the children's wing?"
Shallow represents what you can do. The deep represents what I can do with you. And the question today is, are you going to stay in the shallow or you get ready to go?
That's why tithing is my heart. I'm always going to be a giver. I'm blessed because I live in the deep.
Many of y'all are going to be frustrated in the next six months because you're going to be trying to be in the deep while holding on to shallow people. Do you know one of the quickest ways to drown is trying to save somebody?
If you want to stay in a kiddie pool, be my guest. But for me, I'm getting ready to walk in the deep because what God got for me—eyes have not seen, ears have not heard.
Never allow disappointment to make you disengage. He failed at the right time.
I see a principle. Why didn't he catch anything? Whose fault is it that he didn't catch no fish? Is it the fisherman's fault he put down a net? Or is it the fish wasn't in that place? Did he misjudge the place?
Let's break down the text. What if he's in that place because that's been his hot spot? When you go fishing, you know where you're going to go. You and your pops go to a certain spot. "This is our little spot right here. When I come right here, this is when I really catch them." What if he went to where it had always worked?
God doesn't just give him overflow. Entrepreneurs, leaders, anybody who's believing God for another level, write this: God gives him new strategy.
He answered, "Master, we worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
Because you say so. I want to free you. It's going to be real, real, real serious. Everyone that hears you can't help you. Everyone that hears you can't help you.
Don't let people convince you that you're being prideful if you didn't tell them because you couldn't help yourself. To share my problems with someone who can't help me means I'm being messy. I'm showing immaturity. Why would I tell you about a problem you can't fix? I don't need comfort. I need to come out. I don't need you to rub my back. I can rub my own back. I need you to lift me out of this. I don't talk to people who aren't strong enough to lift me out of it.
Simon shifted into what I call frustrated faith. He says, "We caught nothing all night. But because you said so, that can preach." But frustrated faith is when we know the truth but struggle to trust.
We know the truth. Give and it will come back to you in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. That's a truth. You don't wrestle with the truth. You're wrestling with the trust of the truth.
When the truth of the text says He calls me righteous, in other words, He puts a cover called grace on me that makes me look like something I'm not. That's called grace. So you wrestle not with truth. You wrestle with trusting the truth.
We will always know who God will be, but we do not always know what God will do. And that's why we wrestle with trust.
He is a healer. Right now, one of my best members is believing God for healing. The amount of healing it would take would be incredible because to have no brain activity this long, that would be a miracle. God is a miracle worker. But even if he doesn't, if he doesn't heal, does that mean he's not a miracle worker? No. I know who he is. I struggle and become frustrated because I don't always know what he would do.
That's why so many young people are giving up on God. For years, we've only taught who God is. We never told them about the frustration when he does not do what we want him to. I know God will be a healer, but I don't always know how. Contextually, sometimes the greatest healing is to be a place where you don't hurt anymore.
I know God will be a provider. I just don't always know when.
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
I want you to see the power of partnership. Who is Jesus talking to? How many people are present? I don't know. But the Bible shows us it's a group. The group doesn't get the attention. Simon gets the attention. But because they're in partnership with Simon, everybody got over.
I'm going to be a little bold. For some reason, God liked me. He really liked me. I don't know why, but he did. In my life, I want to be a Simon. I want to be a Peter. God, I'm a little scared, but if you say so, I want you to be a Peter.
The text says, "But because you say so, I will let down my nets." I don't see where He ever spoke to them. Simon started laying down his nets, and his partner said, "If he's doing it, are you going to church? I guess we're going to church. Are you praying? I guess we're praying. Are you giving? I guess we're giving. You serving? I guess we're serving."
Hear me when I say this: If you ain't invoking or we in your circle, that's proof you going with them. They not coming with you.
They let down the net. This brother struggles, and frustration is doing it with boldness. Even when you don't have what it takes to do it right, he lets down his net. The team starts singing. I didn't tell them to sing. They got in it.
Some of y'all are going to miss God because you're always having to give instructions to the people who are supposed to be riding with you.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When God sent overflow, we would try to put all that in our boat, go back to shore, come back and get some more. Come back, get some more. Went home, put it up, came back, got some more. It's mine.
But verse seven says, "Y'all come get some of this." I don't have to hate on you. I'm so excited. I need you to catch this.
The thing I love so much is so much of my career in the beginning was because my partner had a Luke 5:7 spirit. They didn't invite me, but he said, "You know what? They gave me enough space. Bring your boat over here. Bring your boat over here."
What I'm trying to get you to realize is God allowed me. They allowed me to take over a whole Apple playlist.
When God sent overflow, communities often try to capture it all themselves—putting everything in their boat, going back to shore, getting more, going home to store it, and coming back for additional blessings. The mindset becomes possessive: "It's mine." But verse seven shifts this perspective entirely with an invitation: "Y'all come get some of this."
The beauty is that you don't have to harbor hatred toward others when God blesses you with abundance. Instead, you can share in genuine excitement about what God has provided.
Much of my career success in the beginning came because my partner had a Luke 5:7 spirit. They didn't invite me initially, but recognized they had been given enough space and said, "Bring your boat over here." God allowed me to take that blessing and multiply it.
When someone blesses you in that way, the natural response is to pass it forward. When they told me to bring my boat, I then turn around and tell someone else, "Bring your boat to me." And that person will tell the next person, "Bring your boat." This creates a cycle of overflow that benefits everyone.
You end up frustrated with staff or teams when you haven't prepared adequately. Many times we're so talented and so busy that we stay up all night making things work, but the real issue is that we didn't prepare well from the beginning. Preparation minimizes frustration.
Prayer produces pivots. One conversation with Jesus made Simon pivot from cleaning his nets to casting his nets. When Jesus says, "Do it," and Simon talks back to Jesus, that becomes a conversation—an out loud prayer. One conversation changed everything.
Casting nets into deeper waters is the result of a deeper prayer life. Where you express your frustration matters enormously. Expressing frustration to the right place—to God—leads to fulfillment. But expressing frustration to the wrong people and places leads to fear. Some of us are getting more fear than faith because we're expressing our frustration in the wrong direction.
In Luke 5:11, after catching so much fish that their boats nearly sank, they "pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him." This is the crucial ending so many miss. They caught this incredible abundance, yet they left everything they caught.
Here's what matters: God gave Peter everything he believed for—riches as a fisherman—just to show him that it doesn't matter because God is all he needs. When priorities are right, frustration loses its grip. God was essentially saying, "I'm all you need," and Peter's response was to abandon the very wealth he had just acquired.
You have to push through the pressure. It may not sound like it's supposed to sound, but don't allow the frustration of the process to make you lose the power of the outcome. There's strain, but increase is visible all around.
If you've been blessed with everything you thought you needed, and it still doesn't fulfill you, that's by design. God wanted to prove something to you. The boat, the fish, the success—none of it was the point. The point is that God is all you need.
I'm not going to promise you that your circumstances will get better. I don't know that. It may be your season of struggle. What I will tell you is this: if you stay committed to God, you will get better. And if you get better, it will get better.
There are seasons in my life where God didn't fix the things I prayed about. He fixed me. And because He fixed me, it doesn't bother me the way it used to. When God changes you from the inside, external circumstances lose their power over your peace.
Re-prioritize what's important. It's not about the money in your bank account. It's not about the title outside your office. It's not about whether your car is a Mercedes, Kia, Bentley, Ferrari, or Expedition.
What matters is that when you close your eyes, you hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. Now, let me make you ruler over many."
When we get to heaven, some people will have a crown, and some will have jewels in their crown. I want a crown from God that says, "I wasn't perfect, but I was always committed." You don't get to heaven because you're perfect. You get to heaven because you committed to trying to give God your best.
Frustration is human. You're not a superhero; you're not Jesus. Everyone gets frustrated—even Jesus wept in frustration with those around Him who wouldn't believe. But He still said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done."
If you trust God, who is the author and finisher of your faith, all things will work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
Jesus said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch." Many of you have been living too shallow. It's time to go deeper. Simon responded honestly: "Master, we've worked hard all night. I put in overtime, I tried everything, and I ain't got nothing to show for it. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
This is about unlocking your frustration. We're in a series called Courage to Commit, volume two. The title of this message is I Got the Keys—and keys represent the principles of God that unlock the promises of God.
There are some promises of God that are yours if you access them. I have a friend who recently got a letter from an attorney he didn't know. His stepfather, who passed six or seven years ago, had left him close to half a million dollars. The letter had been sitting there for four and a half years—but it was still there, waiting on him. Three of you are going to catch this.
Your heavenly Father allowed your heavenly Big Brother to die for you, and He left you an inheritance. You didn't earn it. You inherited it. All you have to do in this season is grab your key and unlock it.
The first principle is generosity—a heart willing to give that leads to a life that freely gives.
What I believe about myself often determines what I believe about God. What I believe about myself often determines what I believe about God. This is why anxiety, self-doubt, and self-worth are weapons the enemy uses. If the enemy can get you not to believe in you, you will project your insecurities and inadequacies onto God.
The principle of multiplication suggests that God did not simply create us to maintain, but He called us to multiply.
The principle of freedom suggests that freedom is not doing whatever you want to do, but doing what you were created to do. God created us to worship. One thing the pandemic taught us was that facility shouldn't stop worship. Even from your home, you're still being effective in doing what God called you to do.
Trusting the wrong people will make you worse, but trusting the right people will help you. The principle of partnership is one of the greatest assets on earth. The power of partnership is not just what you have—it's also who you're with.
If you ain't got it, you can be depressed. But when you're connected to the right people, when you don't have it but they have it—we got it. I need somebody in my life that when I don't have, they have. Your family would treat you better if they realized the reason they should celebrate you is because if God ever lets you get it, everybody connected to you is going to have it.
Your family is going to be blessed because of you. Your community is going to be blessed because of you. God said, "I will give to you good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over."
You can't spell "men" without spelling "me." I want to prophesy that God's going to bless you in such a way that you're going to be the man or woman who blessed your family and flipped your situation. If you're looking for somebody to take you to another level, you better connect with me.
The question ain't what you got. The question is who you with. People are going to think you're arrogant this year because they're going to be calling you. But you're going to realize it ain't even about the money. You're going to have to ask them: who you with? If I connect to you, but you're connected to somebody who's toxic, the mess on them will get on me through you. The devil has been using toxic bridges in your life.
Keys are not only God's principles, but can also be God's people. I had to speak and perform at Disney. I didn't even know what I was doing there. I showed up in jeans and a jeans shirt, and there were celebrities everywhere—Haley Bailey, people from Black Panther, hip-hop artists. I spoke life to the parents, then performed at a graduation. Mickey Mouse and Goofy were there. Then they said, "We're going to let you go to the park."
I said, "No, I'm tired." They said, "You haven't experienced Disney with Disney." So they took us to the back entrance, walked us straight to the front, straight to the rides. My armor bearer Terrell got on one ride multiple times in a row. He was having the time of his life.
But I was ready to come home. I changed my flight to leave early. Terrell stayed in the van with the guide and said, "Once Pastor Mike leaves, we're coming back to ride that ride again." The guide said something powerful to Terrell: "No, I want to be very clear. The moment he leaves, this is over."
When Terrell called me and told me what the guide said, I called back and asked the guide. He said, "I'm going to be very clear. This is only because they're with you. Had they not been with you, they would have been in that hot sun waiting in that line."
I need to tell somebody: thank God for everybody who left you early. Because God said that if they had stayed with you in this next season, you would have felt obligated to bless them where you're going. But God said, "I'm about to bless you." Good measure, pressed down, shaken together. The question ain't what you got. The question is who you with.
In today's text, we see how God used multiple people in Peter's life as keys to unlock abundance and his assignment. That's critical because some of you are going to miss God because all you want is abundance. But my assignment now is way deeper than my abundance.
You can have overflow and be crazy. Yet you could be broke and be at peace. Who's ever had a season in your life where you had everything you ever wanted, but something still felt like it was missing? Conversely, in some of the worst seasons of your life, you had the most peace you ever had.
Some people are going to miss God because they think abundance is going to fix it. But true abundance will be secured in your assignment.
You've been living right. You've been blessed. You've been giving. You've been tithing. You've been praying. Abundance is about to hit your life. Look at your neighbor and say, "Don't shout too loud. You don't want nobody to see your abundance all the time." But what I discovered is anybody can walk into abundance, but not all abundance is secured.
There are certain people who may not be kin to you but are a key. My goal is to be a key in your life. Ask yourself this week: Am I unlocking or locking in people's life?
There should be a season where you do both. There are certain seasons where I have to lock stuff because people are going to hurt themselves.
I want to be a good father. I saved up money from a tour and bought my oldest son, Xander, his first car in cash—a little Chevy Malibu. I was so proud. But ask me where it is now: in the driveway. Ask me where the keys are: in the cabinet. Ask me how he gets around: in my backseat.
In his eyes, I'm negative. "My daddy won't even give me my keys." But twenty years later, he's going to thank me for protecting him. Every locked season ain't punishment. Every locked door ain't denial.
When we arrive at the scene of today's text, Simon is washing his nets. Simply put, he is frustrated after fishing all night and catching nothing. There are so many people watching and listening today who are frustrated because they have worked hard and feel as if they have caught nothing.
Who feels like you've been killing it, then you look at your account and think, "But where is it?" You almost want to fuss with your person: "Did you do something?" And here's what's crazy—it don't even be big numbers. Wendy's 522, Wendy's 527, Starbucks 395, Starbucks 414, Lashes 36.97.
Here's something we don't talk about in church: frustration. I'm made to look like I don't have faith if I show frustration. But the presence of frustration does not mark the absence of faith. Frustration is faith fighting to remain.
Stand still and know that I am. Frustration is when you're standing but rocking because you're wrestling with the facts. Faith says stand. Facts say fall.
Frustration is a sign that you no longer have an appetite for the level that you're on. I need you to hear this: frustration is an indication that your taste is changing.
All frustration is not created equal. Sometimes God uses frustration to make you uncomfortable so you never settle for the level you're on. Some of you are frustrated because you ain't doing enough. Others are frustrated because you ain't doing enough.
Wait—did you catch that? One of you is frustrated because God looked at you and said, "No, there's more in you." The other is frustrated because you're not even using what's in you to begin with. All frustrations aren't created equal.
Frustration reveals that there's a need for change. But be careful how you apply this. Just because you're frustrated doesn't mean there's another level. Some of you are frustrated because God wants you to do more. Others are frustrated because you're sorry. See, in church we make everything good you and everything bad the devil. But sometimes you need to mature to a place where the devil ain't even attacking your money because you're bad with it. The devil ain't attacking your peace because you walked back into a relationship that almost killed you.
Some of you have been stuck because you've been to people frustrated like you but not frustrated from the same thing you're frustrated with. Because you have the same surface-level frustration, you start giving each other advice, but the advice is on two totally different levels.
Turtles eat grass. Giraffes eat green foliage from the top—leaves. Both eat green. So on the surface, if they get hungry, the conversation is going to be, "I'm frustrated because I can't find green something." But if the giraffe lives off the advice of the turtle, he will never experience what God has him to do at that level.
You keep thinking your frustration is equal to someone else's. And now you are adopting a strategy that's beneath what God is calling you to do.
Not all frustration is created equal. Some of you have been stuck because you've sought advice from people who are frustrated like you but not frustrated from the same thing you're frustrated with. Because you share the same surface-level frustration, you give each other advice, but that advice operates on two totally different levels.
Turtles eat grass. Giraffes eat green foliage from the top—leaves. Both eat green. So on the surface, if they get hungry, the conversation is going to be, "I'm frustrated because I can't find green something." But if the giraffe lives off the advice of the turtle, he will never experience what God has him to do at that level.
You keep thinking your frustration is equal to someone else's. And now you are adopting a strategy that's beneath what God is calling you to do.
Just because someone believes God for a miracle doesn't mean you need the same strategy. The frustration in the wilderness isn't the same frustration in the promise. It feels the same, but it ain't. All weight ain't created equal—and if all weight ain't created equal, then all frustration ain't created equal either.
Sometimes you're heavy not because of what the devil put on you, but because of what God is trying to get. There is a tug of war between where you are and where He's calling you. Frustration is often the result of failed expectations or unplanned devastation. Frustration often shows us what matters.
We must learn to listen to our frustration.
Simon is in transition from who he's always been versus who Jesus is calling him to be. Like Simon, we are in transition—moving from where we've been to where God is calling us to be. And nothing stirs frustration like transition.
Everybody wants the promises of God, but don't nobody want to deal with the process. If God gave you a new car right now, you would shout until you got the bill. We are raising a generation of believers who want the promises of God without the process of it.
For many of you, the frustration you feel is because you're in transition and didn't know it. God is transitioning you out of certain circles. Some of you are experiencing this for the first time—you found somewhere where your spirit can exist. But your flesh is uncomfortable. You want to come to where God is calling you, but you're over the youth here. You got position. You got title. It ain't that many people. So you feel like you're more than you are sometimes.
Better sometimes comes with a season of bitterness. There is a season of what could be called "blessing remorse"—like when you buy something, get excited, then a couple days later you're like, "I shouldn't have even bought this." Even if you move to a new season, there can be a season of regret.
We all live in a gap between what we expect and what we experience. Sometimes frustration is in the gap. This gap is real, and it creates pressure.
Simon came to Jesus washing his nets. Before Jesus, Simon was washing his nets. But with Jesus, he is casting his nets. He came there with nets—not a fishing rod. Had he brought a fishing rod, that would have suggested he was believing God for a couple fish. He brought a net because he just knew he was leaving with overflow. He expected overflow.
Some of you are frustrated because you got net faith. You showed up thinking "This is my job." You showed up thinking "This is my season." You showed up thinking "The doctor is going to say he can't find nothing." You said "This marriage will work." But the gap between what you expect and what you started to experience birthed your frustration.
If my frustration is in the gap, my faith is in the gap. If my pain is in the gap, my praise is in the gap. Anybody can shout from the other side. But I wonder who can praise God from the gap.
Your neighbor don't want to shout because they don't want you to know they frustrated. Just look at them and say, "I'mma shout for you, baby." The truth of the matter is, I expected millions. I expected folk to treat me like I treated them. I expected you to be as loyal to me as I was to you. I expected good measure, pressed down, shaking together, running over. But lately, all I get is no run over, no leftover, no press down, no shaking together. What do I do when I showed up with expectation, but my expectation don't match my experience? It's the gap.
Forgetting about the devil for a moment—my kids frustrate the heck out of me. How do you get out of bed you didn't have to pay for and can't even make the bed up? How do you got on Jays when I had to wear XJ900s? How do you got on all this name brand and I got my stuff from Walmart? Then you got the nerve to stomp?
I expected you to be "Yes, ma'am. Yes, sir." But what I'm experiencing is different. I just want to free some of y'all who done almost keyed somebody's car and almost went to jail. That wasn't you. You was just stuck in the gap.
When Jesus shows up, Simon is washing his net. This is the equivalent of unplugging stuff. Ladies, this is the equivalent of you taking your girdle off. His action is an indication that he had accepted failure.
But think about it—if he ain't caught nothing, why do I need to wash my net if the net is in water? Why wash a net that ain't had nothing in it? In my brain, he was catching stuff. He wasn't catching what he could use. So maybe he cast the net and seaweed came, he dumped it. Cast the net again, something else got caught in it, he dumped it.
The scripture says they "hadn't caught anything." To the common eye, anything means nothing. But remember the biblical principle—nothing don't always mean nothing. Nothing translates to mean usable. Which is why some of y'all got a whole lot of people, but you feel alone because you crowded, but they ain't worth anything to your purpose.
Jesus rose up on the wildest one—Peter, who cusses, who cuts people, who is always strapped. Peter is sitting there like, "Well, I just want to thank God that I ain't caught nothing today." But in his head, Peter is like, "This don't make no sense. I've been out here all day. I ain't caught nothing."
Favor is not the indication that God is about to start. Favor is the indication to the devil that this is about to be over.
God does to Simon in essence what He's about to do to you. The question ain't what you got. The question is who you with. If you got a partner, you can shout because your confidence isn't in what you have—it's in who you're with.
When Hulk Hogan would get beat up over and over, he would look a certain way and talk a certain way. Then they would hit him one more time, and Hogan would say something, and whenever he said it, the end would be near. That signified his special move. When God's favor shows up, that's not the start—that's the signal that it's about to be over.
When a man sits in that driveway and has that talk with you, and because of her immaturity and the pressure on her, both of y'all are in the gap and expressing frustration differently. She don't know how to deal with frustration except to talk it out. So she's sitting there asking you questions that you can't answer.
Instead of being emotionally vulnerable and telling her you don't have the answers, you feel like you got to be the man because society has programmed us to be the man. So now you're sitting there trying to give answers, but the answers don't make sense. She realizes the answers don't make sense, so she keeps coming hard and you keep pushing back. Before you know it, both of y'all are screaming and hollering about to kill each other because there's pressure in the gap.
So many pastors are dying from suicide because of the gap. How do I stand and preach that God will make a way when He does it for everybody but me? How do I have a church full of people who look at me and say, "We are Rock City," but when it gets thick, it's me?
Don't walk up to nobody and ask them what they doing if you don't check on how they are. Heart, head, hands. We try our best to deal with heart, head, hands. Thank you for just showing up. You didn't have to come here to do this. You get a paycheck, but you could go work anywhere in the world. It matters to me because I never know.
That's why every time I look at you, I say, "Thank you." That's why every time I look at Justin, man, thank you for just showing up. You didn't have to come here to do this. You didn't have to set that stuff up. You get a paycheck, but you could go work anywhere in the world. It matters to me because I never know.
This is why I'm telling all my ministry workers: heart, head, hands. We try our best to deal with heart, head, hands. Don't walk up to nobody and ask them what they're doing if you don't check on how they are.
Right now, I'm going straight to the hospital. My best brother in the church be with me all the time. Every time I've been in the hospital, right outside the door, it's him. His mother had two strokes—brain dead. We've been right there praying all day, going right back to the hospital, tired as I am. I'm going to be standing right there at the door.
I told him, "I'm your armor bearer today. You—this your mama. When he cry, no, I'm holding. I'm standing right there standing strong because right now he's in a gap." That's why life happens.
I told you frustration comes from failed expectation or unexpected devastation. Peter's devastated. How am I going to feed my family tonight? Look at the Bible through the real life lens you look at your life through.
Imagine if you go work 40 hours and your check is negative. Bills hit at the same Friday your check hits, and you're at work like, I'm so ready to go somewhere. Then all of a sudden, you check your online banking and forget about something. That one was supposed to hit six weeks ago, it never hit. Then it decided to hit the week you wanted to do something. So now I'm tired of being broke.
Because the right partners will help close the gap between frustration and faith, Jesus doesn't just see a man with an empty net. He sees a man who's frustrated. The principle of partnership means the right partner will close the gap.
If my frustration is lasting long, I need to examine me or examine us. We all live in a gap. Our greatest disappointments should lead to a deeper commitment.
When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch."
You missed your first show. There's so much preaching in there. Multiple nets. Multiple streams. Can I free you?
What does Simon do for a living? He's a fisherman. So when Simon got blessed, Jesus flipped his business. He's the flipping Jesus. This is why I tithe from my businesses because I need him to step in every area.
Here's the scripture: in the instruction is a blessing. You just caught that. In the instruction, but you're so frustrated. I want you to see this because I'm going to show you how silly we will look. I'm going to show you how the frustrated you is going to block your favor.
Simon answered Jesus, "Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything."
Look at verse five. "But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
We're not going to glow over the fact that he almost blew it. I see a principle here. What if Simon would have just said, "Man, I've been out here all night. I'm gone"?
Remember when Elizabeth got pregnant and God told Elizabeth she was going to have a baby and her husband started speaking negative and He silenced him? That's a principle. If it happened, that means it could happen again.
What would have happened if Simon would have said, "I've been out here all night and your mouth..."? This is why when I start my business, nobody asked me that. Where's your church by myself? Where in the scripture does Jesus ask for his resume?
If Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, when I was Jesus, I would have checked him in such a smooth way. I would have said, "Well, brother, when I rolled up on you, I saw you washing your nets. I can look at your boat and tell you ain't got nothing. So I don't need an explanation. I just need obedience. And I need obedience with expedience. I don't need you to procrastinate. I need you to do it and do it quickly."
The blessing is in the instruction.
The text says, "Launch out into deep waters." He was disappointed. And God tells him, "Cool. Go deeper."
Why you want me to go deeper when I failed in the shallow? Can I free you? Why didn't Jesus just bless him where he was?
You get dumped after the relationship you thought was going to work. Then God shows up and says, "Marry this one. I don't know. Marry him. Go deeper."
But what I am saying is shallow commitment will cost you. I'm in too deep to back out now. If this doesn't work, that's it. I end up back somewhere. But I'm in too deep now. I'm in too deep.
Can I get real with y'all? I almost didn't even do it. Our offerings couldn't handle this. Y'all want to have a real talk? Y'all want to have commitment talk? Our offerings couldn't handle this.
I started mapping out how many concerts I would have to do to do it. I started mapping out what she could sell to do it. Those of us who are ready to die to this, we know what it's going to take. If I do 17 shows at a certain amount of dollars, if I raise my price to this right here, that'll be XYZ. So that just means if I go on the road two to three times a month, that'll cover this.
Don't say, "I can't do that. I can't do that. I can't do that." Then the Holy Spirit said, "Go deeper."
From the day I told God, "Yes, I do not know where the money's coming from." Every time there's a need, God sends a supply. It's to the point now where I'm almost scared. I call our team and I'm like, "Are y'all sure? If y'all miscount, I'mma fight somebody!"
They say, "Pastor, I don't know what happened. So and so just called." This lady from Mississippi called during a staff meeting when we were discussing what we were going to do for the children's wing. I look at them and say, "We ain't got enough money to do all that." The Holy Spirit tells me to tell Ebony, "Leave the staff meeting and go back to the office. Don't ever not forward the phone calls." The phones at our church don't ring because most of y'all got our numbers.
The day she went to the office, someone called and said, "I heard Pastor Mike preaching. Can I send $5,000 to the children's wing?"
Shallow represents what you can do. The deep represents what I can do with you. And the question today is, are you going to stay in the shallow or you get ready to go?
That's why tithing is my heart. I'm always going to be a giver. I'm blessed because I live in the deep.
Many of y'all are going to be frustrated in the next six months because you're going to be trying to be in the deep while holding on to shallow people. Do you know one of the quickest ways to drown is trying to save somebody?
If you want to stay in a kiddie pool, be my guest. But for me, I'm getting ready to walk in the deep because what God got for me—eyes have not seen, ears have not heard.
Never allow disappointment to make you disengage. He failed at the right time.
I see a principle. Why didn't he catch anything? Whose fault is it that he didn't catch no fish? Is it the fisherman's fault he put down a net? Or is it the fish wasn't in that place? Did he misjudge the place?
Let's break down the text. What if he's in that place because that's been his hot spot? When you go fishing, you know where you're going to go. You and your pops go to a certain spot. "This is our little spot right here. When I come right here, this is when I really catch them." What if he went to where it had always worked?
God doesn't just give him overflow. Entrepreneurs, leaders, anybody who's believing God for another level, write this: God gives him new strategy.
He answered, "Master, we worked hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets."
Because you say so. I want to free you. It's going to be real, real, real serious. Everyone that hears you can't help you. Everyone that hears you can't help you.
Don't let people convince you that you're being prideful if you didn't tell them because you couldn't help yourself. To share my problems with someone who can't help me means I'm being messy. I'm showing immaturity. Why would I tell you about a problem you can't fix? I don't need comfort. I need to come out. I don't need you to rub my back. I can rub my own back. I need you to lift me out of this. I don't talk to people who aren't strong enough to lift me out of it.
Simon shifted into what I call frustrated faith. He says, "We caught nothing all night. But because you said so, that can preach." But frustrated faith is when we know the truth but struggle to trust.
We know the truth. Give and it will come back to you in good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over. That's a truth. You don't wrestle with the truth. You're wrestling with the trust of the truth.
When the truth of the text says He calls me righteous, in other words, He puts a cover called grace on me that makes me look like something I'm not. That's called grace. So you wrestle not with truth. You wrestle with trusting the truth.
We will always know who God will be, but we do not always know what God will do. And that's why we wrestle with trust.
He is a healer. Right now, one of my best members is believing God for healing. The amount of healing it would take would be incredible because to have no brain activity this long, that would be a miracle. God is a miracle worker. But even if he doesn't, if he doesn't heal, does that mean he's not a miracle worker? No. I know who he is. I struggle and become frustrated because I don't always know what he would do.
That's why so many young people are giving up on God. For years, we've only taught who God is. We never told them about the frustration when he does not do what we want him to. I know God will be a healer, but I don't always know how. Contextually, sometimes the greatest healing is to be a place where you don't hurt anymore.
I know God will be a provider. I just don't always know when.
When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break.
I want you to see the power of partnership. Who is Jesus talking to? How many people are present? I don't know. But the Bible shows us it's a group. The group doesn't get the attention. Simon gets the attention. But because they're in partnership with Simon, everybody got over.
I'm going to be a little bold. For some reason, God liked me. He really liked me. I don't know why, but he did. In my life, I want to be a Simon. I want to be a Peter. God, I'm a little scared, but if you say so, I want you to be a Peter.
The text says, "But because you say so, I will let down my nets." I don't see where He ever spoke to them. Simon started laying down his nets, and his partner said, "If he's doing it, are you going to church? I guess we're going to church. Are you praying? I guess we're praying. Are you giving? I guess we're giving. You serving? I guess we're serving."
Hear me when I say this: If you ain't invoking or we in your circle, that's proof you going with them. They not coming with you.
They let down the net. This brother struggles, and frustration is doing it with boldness. Even when you don't have what it takes to do it right, he lets down his net. The team starts singing. I didn't tell them to sing. They got in it.
Some of y'all are going to miss God because you're always having to give instructions to the people who are supposed to be riding with you.
They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come help them. And they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
When God sent overflow, we would try to put all that in our boat, go back to shore, come back and get some more. Come back, get some more. Went home, put it up, came back, got some more. It's mine.
But verse seven says, "Y'all come get some of this." I don't have to hate on you. I'm so excited. I need you to catch this.
The thing I love so much is so much of my career in the beginning was because my partner had a Luke 5:7 spirit. They didn't invite me, but he said, "You know what? They gave me enough space. Bring your boat over here. Bring your boat over here."
What I'm trying to get you to realize is God allowed me. They allowed me to take over a whole Apple playlist.
When God sent overflow, communities often try to capture it all themselves—putting everything in their boat, going back to shore, getting more, going home to store it, and coming back for additional blessings. The mindset becomes possessive: "It's mine." But verse seven shifts this perspective entirely with an invitation: "Y'all come get some of this."
The beauty is that you don't have to harbor hatred toward others when God blesses you with abundance. Instead, you can share in genuine excitement about what God has provided.
Much of my career success in the beginning came because my partner had a Luke 5:7 spirit. They didn't invite me initially, but recognized they had been given enough space and said, "Bring your boat over here." God allowed me to take that blessing and multiply it.
When someone blesses you in that way, the natural response is to pass it forward. When they told me to bring my boat, I then turn around and tell someone else, "Bring your boat to me." And that person will tell the next person, "Bring your boat." This creates a cycle of overflow that benefits everyone.
You end up frustrated with staff or teams when you haven't prepared adequately. Many times we're so talented and so busy that we stay up all night making things work, but the real issue is that we didn't prepare well from the beginning. Preparation minimizes frustration.
Prayer produces pivots. One conversation with Jesus made Simon pivot from cleaning his nets to casting his nets. When Jesus says, "Do it," and Simon talks back to Jesus, that becomes a conversation—an out loud prayer. One conversation changed everything.
Casting nets into deeper waters is the result of a deeper prayer life. Where you express your frustration matters enormously. Expressing frustration to the right place—to God—leads to fulfillment. But expressing frustration to the wrong people and places leads to fear. Some of us are getting more fear than faith because we're expressing our frustration in the wrong direction.
In Luke 5:11, after catching so much fish that their boats nearly sank, they "pulled their boats up on shore, left everything, and followed him." This is the crucial ending so many miss. They caught this incredible abundance, yet they left everything they caught.
Here's what matters: God gave Peter everything he believed for—riches as a fisherman—just to show him that it doesn't matter because God is all he needs. When priorities are right, frustration loses its grip. God was essentially saying, "I'm all you need," and Peter's response was to abandon the very wealth he had just acquired.
You have to push through the pressure. It may not sound like it's supposed to sound, but don't allow the frustration of the process to make you lose the power of the outcome. There's strain, but increase is visible all around.
If you've been blessed with everything you thought you needed, and it still doesn't fulfill you, that's by design. God wanted to prove something to you. The boat, the fish, the success—none of it was the point. The point is that God is all you need.
I'm not going to promise you that your circumstances will get better. I don't know that. It may be your season of struggle. What I will tell you is this: if you stay committed to God, you will get better. And if you get better, it will get better.
There are seasons in my life where God didn't fix the things I prayed about. He fixed me. And because He fixed me, it doesn't bother me the way it used to. When God changes you from the inside, external circumstances lose their power over your peace.
Re-prioritize what's important. It's not about the money in your bank account. It's not about the title outside your office. It's not about whether your car is a Mercedes, Kia, Bentley, Ferrari, or Expedition.
What matters is that when you close your eyes, you hear, "Well done, my good and faithful servant. You've been faithful over a few things. Now, let me make you ruler over many."
When we get to heaven, some people will have a crown, and some will have jewels in their crown. I want a crown from God that says, "I wasn't perfect, but I was always committed." You don't get to heaven because you're perfect. You get to heaven because you committed to trying to give God your best.
Frustration is human. You're not a superhero; you're not Jesus. Everyone gets frustrated—even Jesus wept in frustration with those around Him who wouldn't believe. But He still said, "Nevertheless, not my will, but thy will be done."
If you trust God, who is the author and finisher of your faith, all things will work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
