This Is the Enemy’s Last Attack Before Your Next Level

The last attack before the next level. Usually that attack is the worst, is the craziest.

I want to speak to you about fighting fatigue. It's when you develop a fatigue from fighting, tired from fighting. And I'm not talking about fighting your spouse; I am not talking about fighting your children. I'm talking about being engaged in spiritual fighting. If you have your Bible, let's go together with me to 1st Samuel 27:1, "But David taught to himself," so this, he has a conversation in his own head. He's thinking to himself, "One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand." David, remember David and Goliath? He killed a Philistine. God protected David all the time from the hand of Saul. God supernaturally did not let Saul succeed, but this continued for many years and one day, this is, this is a story, this, this picture right here shows to me that even a man after God's heart gets tired of trusting God for continuous deliverance. God never failed David. It's that trusting in God for the same thing all the time gets exhausting. It gets tiring. Can I be real here? Believing, and God isn't giving up on you, but after a while you're like, can I just like not do that and do something else? And David, the Bible says, he thought to himself, if I could just simply go to the Philistines, Saul will no longer chase me. Tired of trusting in God for continuous deliverance, fighting fatigue, and so he leaves the land of Israel. He goes to the land of Philistines; he pretends to be a madman, saliva coming out. He's not manifesting demons; he's faking a mental illness because those kings would not kill a mentally ill person because there was a rumor going on, if you kill a mentally ill, you pretty much offend their gods and you will be cursed. So David pretends to be mentally ill, crawls to fit in. Here is a guy who killed the Goliath, and they were singing songs. He's fitting into the Philistines' territory as a mentally ill, climbs the ladder of their success, gets entrusted with the village and actually goes from a warrior to a mercenary. No longer fights for honor, he now fights for money. You see, during this time not a lot of Psalms were written, not a lot of prophetic words were given. This is David's darkest time, and he was actually the closest to the next level. He got so tired of trusting in God's continuous deliverance that he walked away from the battle and settled in a spiritual vacation.

I'm going to share with you a few thoughts today. Number one: If the devil cannot destroy you, he'll wear you out. If the devil cannot destroy you, he will deplete you. The Scripture says in the Book of Daniel the following, Daniel 7:25, "And he shall speak words against the Most High, and shall wear out the saints of the Most High." So if he cannot destroy you directly, he will use your trusting in God for continuous deliverance to wear you out. David did more damage to himself by doing this than King Saul and any Philistines could ever do to David. God never allowed David to suffer any harm by Saul or Philistines. David experienced more harm to his family in this situation by simply doing something that seemed like a wise decision, seemed like common sense, but I want to share something with you. The armor of God that God gives us doesn't have a backplate. You're most vulnerable when you run. You're most exposed when you get tired and instead of saying, I need to get some rest, you say, I'm tired of this and I'm going to stop fighting. Never stop fighting. Get rest, but don't stop fighting because the moment you stop fighting, you get away from the battle; you're thinking your life will get easier. The only area of your life God has no protection over is your back, why? Because you're always supposed to be facing, not running away from it. And what David did, anointed by God, God always protected him. Yes, he needed another deliverance; yes, he needed another breakthrough; yes, he needed another intervention from God; yes, he needed to trust God every single day, every single day God provided mana, and finally he got tired of this and he says, you know what? I just, you know what? This is just exhausting to keep trusting in God, keep believing in God. I am tired, and I'm going to leave this constant warfare, constant expectation. There must be an easier way to live my life. Yes, there is, with your back being exposed, your family being exposed. So it wasn't easier. He exposed his family, exposed his children to the worst attack in his life because he stopped fighting.

Maybe you're here today, and it's hard to trust in God to save your husband. Every day you're believing, and you want to quit. It's hard to trust in God to save your children. They're on drugs; you want to quit. Maybe you're here today, and you're hoping for God to really bring that breakthrough in your life. And it's just, it's just hard, and you're like, you know what? I'm going to find an easier way. I'm just going to walk away from the place of a battle; I'm going to walk away from that spiritual warfare, and I will just simply settle. I'm going to find comfort in the enemy's territory. I'm going to find comfort in that Philistine land. I'm going to tell you one thing: you will not. You're the sharpest when you're in the battle; you're most humble when you're in the battle; you're most hungry when you're in a battle. Sometimes the battle is what actually keeps you spiritually sharp. It's what keeps you spiritually on your toes, and yes, it's exhausting, yes, it's annoying, yes, when will this be over? It will be over, and you will be upgraded to a different type of battle that you would only hope and dream to go back to the battles you're currently wanting to escape. And you say, man, those were fun days because now I'm not facing lions and bears; I'm facing Goliaths. There is no such a thing as life without battles. If you walk away from the battle, you'll end up in bondage. Twice in his life David walked away from the battle. One time he went to the Philistines, and the other time David didn't go to fight and found himself fighting a battle with his eyes he couldn't win. Battle is good for us; spiritual warfare is good. Oh, but I don't like them demons and everything. Trust me, that means that you're not on their team as long as there's opposition. It is good for us. One of the writers of the Bible, he says it was good that I was afflicted. Some of that stuff is good, why? Because man, that wakes you up, that keeps you spiritually into it, and no, don't get me wrong, I don't like it. But on this side, I get lazy; on this side of eternity, I get complacent, and sometimes God uses that to wake up a warrior inside of me. Continuously trusting in God, 10 years already, 15 years already. When is this going to be over? It will be over, but usually as we see with David and you see this in our life, right before the new level, what begins to happen is the battle gets most intense. Even a man like David who trusted in God, a man like David who was after God's heart, yet you see he got so discouraged that he found comfort in the enemy's territory. If this could happen to David, you and I are prone to that. And maybe you are here today, and you gave up on your dreams, you gave up on God's promises, and you're just spiritually cruising. But man, you're no longer in that spiritual warfare; maybe you're in spiritual bondage, and perhaps what happened to you is what happened to David. It didn't turn out to be like he expected. The Bible says that Amalekites attacked that village. See, this is what happens when you have no backplate. You have a breastplate but no backplate, and Charles Spurgeon said the following, he said that, "Do you think of turning back? You have no armor for your back. To cease to fight is to be overcome." To cease to fight is to be overcome. There is something worse than being in constant spiritual battle: it is to be in spiritual bondage. As long as you're fighting, you're in the center of God's will. God is delivering you; God is seeing you through; God is supplying you the strength. Don't give up, warrior; don't give up, mom; don't give up, Dad; don't give up, that husband; don't give up, wife; do not give up, kids believing and trusting in God for your parents; don't give up, pastor; don't give up, leader, why? Because as long as you are fighting, yes, it may seem like but this is, this is a prolonged, dragged battle. Well, number one is God is developing your tenacity; He's developing your strong spirit. And Satan is using this to wear you out because he cannot get you any other way. Everything he tried failed: porn failed, drugs failed, bad relationships failed. And he found one more thing he's going to use against you, and that is necessary for you and I to be tested in this thing is to try to wear us out. I want you to notice, he loses everything in 1st Samuel chapter 30, and if we start with verse one, "Now it happened, when David and his man came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire." So while David is with the Philistines playing double agent, doing more of a mercenary work than being a fighter with honor, his family experiences this. Verse two, "And had taken captive the women and those who were there, from small to great; they didn't kill anyone, but carried them away and went their way." Verse three, "So David and his man came to the city, and there it was, burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons and their daughters had been taken captive." Verse four, "And David and the men who were with him lifted up their voices and wept, until they had no more power to weep." Verse 5 talks about David's wives were taken, and now verse six. "Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters." Before I finish that verse, I want to highlight the second thing. The enemy, if he cannot destroy you, he will distract you. I want you to see this is the men of David; David's men wanted to kill David. Now David was guilty, but he didn't steal and burn the city to the ground. When the enemy notices, before many people succeed in spiritual battle, everyone I believe will have to be tested with a wrong battle that you and I get enticed into fighting when we play a blame game. So David loses everybody; he loses his family, he loses his kids, he loses his wives, he loses his city, the city gets burned down. And then he comes in; he's extremely stressed out; he's extremely overwhelmed; he's weeping; he has no more power to weep. And then what I love about David is that David begins to recognize, the light begins to come in, okay, this was wrong. I should have not done that. But David does not spend any time guilt tripping; you don't see David trying to cut himself; he's not blaming himself, even though he was at blame. It's not going to help anybody. Blame game doesn't win the war. God didn't call us to play a game; He called us to win a war. So David understands, this is not going to help anybody if I'm going to blame myself right now. His men, on the other hand, they say, well, let's kill David. Well, great guys, how is that going to help? They said, let's cut his head off. Well, how is that going to help you to bring your family back? Yeah, well, it's going to make me feel better. Yeah, it's going to make you feel better, but it's not going to help you be better. Anyone who wants to be effective in spiritual warfare not only has to be persistent for God to keep on delivering but has to be persistent not to get entangled in the battle that has no spoil. And what is that? That means every battle is not the same. If you want to be effective in winning the spiritual war for your family, be careful not to get involved in battles that are very easy for your flesh. They're called fighting. It's when you start fighting people, but you're not fighting principalities and demons. The Bible says in Ephesians chapter 6, before we fight against principalities, it says, and our warfare is not against flesh and blood. In fact, can I go a step further and to say that if you're engaged fighting flesh and blood, you're not going to have any anointing left to fight real enemies. If you engaged fighting your spouse all the time, you're not going to have any power fighting the demon and generational curses causing those fights. No one can win the spiritual battle by constantly engaging with battles with flesh and blood. Even if your spouse has a demon, fighting them will not defeat that demon. Even if there is a generational curse and you're like, man, there's a generational curse of infidelity, and generational curse of lust and criticism. And whatever that generational curse is, as long as you are fighting the flesh, you can't win the battle that is spiritual. And what the devil does is that he emotionally triggers you, so you snap out, flying and foam coming out of your mouth. You're not manifesting; you're just angry; you're just very emotionally charged. And the next thing that happens is you won the argument, but you didn't win the spiritual battle. When I was just married to my wife and there was a generational curse my wife was battling with, and my goodness, I first fought her, not her demons. And I mean, and I was telling her, try harder. And then, why are you acting like this? And a lot of my personal insecurities were exposed. She moved into a new place, new city, and she just like, like turned off spiritually. And for me at that time it was far more important what people thought of her than how she was doing. So she would come to prayer and you know and just stand there like Lot's wife. Like chosen frozen. Absolutely no reaction, so I would like, pray. Fake it till you make it. I was like, you're pastor's wife, behave like one. At home I don't care if you can pray Baptist. In here we are Pentecostal. There's seven of us, half of our relatives. Open up your mouth, and God will fill it. And my wife, she's absolutely she doesn't care what people think about her, which gets me in trouble. And she's like, I'm not going to fake it for you; I'm not going to fake it for nobody. I was like, don't come to church with me, pretend that you're sick at home. She's like, no, I want to come. Then pray. And she's like, do you want me to pray or do you want for me to appear that I'm praying so that you think that we have a good marriage? I said, I don't care, just, just, just, just make it something. And this started to, and I realize that I started to fight her; my own insecurity started to come out, and God couldn't deliver her until I had to stop fighting her. I couldn't win the battle with the spirits as long as I was fighting my wife. You can't win the spiritual battle as long as the enemy got you on the bait. And some of you, you have to understand, each one of us are fighters. If you're not going to fight demons, you're going to fight people, but you're going to fight. And some of you, you have a feisty spirit, fighting spirit in you. You're a fighter; you're going to fight something. If you're not going to fight spiritual powers, you're going to fight some kind of a power, and just because you can fight and you can out-talk somebody, and just because you throw a little tear works, and just because you can manipulate your way with words, it doesn't mean you win a spiritual battle. You can beat a skunk any time of the day, but is the smell worth the fight? You got to ask yourself a question: Is this battle bringing shift into the your family, or is this battle causing everything to stink like a skunk afterward? No one can be a great spiritual warrior until they discipline themselves from not engaging in battles that have no eternal significance. This is one of the reasons you will not see us engaging in a contest on YouTube defending our name, why? It is only one name God exalts, and it is not the name HungryGen. So did you watch this person made a video? No, I didn't. What did they say? They said something bad. I said, I am a lot worse than what they said. I am way worse than they said. I need God so much more Jesus had to die on the cross; this is how bad I am. Oh, but aren't you going to defend, people are going to be misled? Who? People who follow them? I don't want them to follow our ministry. We are not going to win these battles, why? Because some of these people, listen, that is their thing is they, because they're not fighting spiritual battles, they're fighting anybody online. So if that is what they're doing, God bless them, but that is not my job. My job is not to go and wrestle with the pig in the mud because the pig likes it, and I will look like a pig in the mud. [Applause.] That's not my calling. Our desire is not to do that. Now do we have to make statements? Sometimes we have to do, but if you live your life fighting everybody else instead of fighting real spiritual powers, my friend, you will waste the anointing of God upon your life. HungryGen, we are here to win souls and make disciples. We are here to heal the sick and drive out evil spirits. We are here to raise people; we are here to plant churches; we are here to make hell nervous. We are not here to prove some YouTuber in the basement of his mother's house wrong. We are not here to put to shame some Facebook theologian. That is not our mission. That's why we don't get into the comments and try to wrestle and fight and all this stuff. Why? We preserve our peace. We simply unfollow. We simply mute and block, why? Because your peace is worth protecting. Some of you, you lose the anointing of God on your life because, and you're literally like you're manifesting on the keyboard, but your finger cannot type fast enough. You're like, man, I'm going to prove him, and some are like, I'm going to defend Pastor Vlad. Why? Leave him alone. David did not fight his men; his men wanted to fight David. David had to learn this; David had to do this a lot. Before he fought Goliath, the Scripture says he comes up and just asks his brothers, hey, what am I going to get from winning the battle with Goliath? What a dumb question. You're a teenager; no war experience. You should be asking a question, where will they bury you if you lose? David's question is this: what will I get? Really? He's like, is the reward worth the fight? Smart guy. Pretty much he's saying, just because the invitation to a battle is on the table, I need to know if I win, what will I get? Because that will decide if I'm going to get engaged in this battle. And they told him you're going to get a woman. He says, sign me up. Then he says, no more taxes. Sign me up twice, and David says, okay, now I'm going to fight. See, most people, when they look at the story, they would think that David said, David would say, God, is this Your will? No, David was asking, what am I going to get for it? Every time you get engaged in the battle with somebody, you need to ask yourself the internal question: What am I going to get out of this? Am I going to get out of this feeling like, oh, I won an argument? Did you win a soul? Did you, at what cost? Did you lose your peace? Oh, yeah, but I, I beat the Goliath. No, you beat a mosquito, not the Goliath. And what did you get? You got stung. Don't win every battle. There are some battles; it's better for people to think you're a fool. Because you did the math, and you're like, I'm not getting anything out of this. Instead, I'm going to lose the anointing for the battle God called me where I can go to the next level, but I wasted my anointing fighting all these small battles because I wanted to be Instagram famous. No, that's not what the Lord called us to do. Do not waste the anointing cutting somebody else's head off that you're not supposed to be fighting those battles. That's not your battle to fight. If you want to be anointed to win battles, do not take a bait to every battle that you're invited. There are some places you just have to say, I'm not getting involved. Not because I cannot win, I just don't have time, and this doesn't pay well. This doesn't pay well. But people will think about you. Let them think what they want to think. You think Jesus didn't say anything to Pilate and all the people that accused Him because He had nothing to say. You can't catch a fish with its mouth closed. Sometimes silence is the strongest thing that you can do. The Bible says, and He was silent before His accusers. It's not because Jesus had nothing to say. It's that no matter what He would have said, it wouldn't change anything, so why waste it? He simply just said nothing. But to His Father He said, Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit. Choose your battles. Don't let the enemy distract you, cuz you'll lose it, and you'll go in the shower, and instead of spending time in the presence of God as you walk through your day, whatever you do, you're arguing in your head with this enemy online. You're arguing with your head with your spouse; you're arguing with somebody who is not your real enemy. And David recognized, these guys who are mad at me right now, they're not my enemy. They didn't take my wife; they didn't burn the city. I'm not going to engage in a battle with them. Yes, I can finish them, but is that going to bring my family back? No, it won't. He didn't do that. And the Scripture says, being distressed, he didn't take it on his men; he didn't take it on himself, but David strengthened himself in the LORD. God, now I do want to highlight something. The Bible does not say, but God strengthened David. And why I want to highlight that is because a lot of times what happens is when you are in a spiritual fatigue, you're spiritually depleted, you're spiritually tired, distractions are there. You come and you're like, God, fill me up. And God is not doing it. God strengthen me, and it seems like God is not offering that. You have to learn to strengthen yourself in the LORD your God. When God doesn't feed you is because you're no longer a toddler, and there is food in the fridge. When God no longer zaps you with power, it's because the power of the Holy Spirit is inside of your spirit. You know how to speak in tongues. Open your mouth and speak in tongues. But I don't feel it. You're not a toddler; you're not a spiritual baby. You are a spiritual teenager; you are a spiritual soldier, which means that you're not supposed to be living in your head and living in your emotions. Oh, but it's overwhelming. Yes, it is overwhelming, but the Bible says that he who prays in the tongue, he edifies himself. Meaning God gives you a chance; God gives you an opportunity, and He says, if you are in a spiritual battle and you do not feel my strength coming into your life, listen, I want you to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. Pray in tongues. Somebody say, strengthen yourself in the Lord your God. If God is not strengthening you, learn to strengthen yourself. I just don't feel God anymore. Then fill yourself with God by praying in tongues. Why did you say praying in tongues? Because the Bible says, he who prays in a tongue edifies Himself. When you're young in the Lord, every time you're discouraged, the right song comes in the radio right away. You're young in the Lord; you come to church; the pastor has a word. It's exactly for you. You're looking at your friend; did you tell him? But can I tell you that's not going to last all your life. You keep growing in God; you come to church; you're not feeling good, and the pastor doesn't have the word for you. He's preaching about stuff; your like, man, we don't even need this stuff. Why did we even come to church today?

Should have just stayed home and watch Netflix. You turn on, you flip through the worship songs, man they don't touch you like that anymore. You turn on the radio and they, they do fundraising. You're like, man, what is this? Why do they want my money? Where do they, where? Who's going to touch my heart here? Doesn't God know I'm depressed? Doesn't He see me? No, you're not a toddler anymore. So what does God expect me to do? Strength yourself in the Lord your God. How do you do that? Well, few, one of them is you sing songs to God. Secondly, you speak in tongues. Thirdly, you speak to your soul. You don't live in your soul, you speak to your soul.

So I sing to God. When I don't feel God, I sing to Him. When I don't feel like praying, I sing to God because something happens with worship. It changes my perspective. As long as I complain to God, I go deeper in the mud. But the moment I begin to thank God, I begin to sing to God, something just within about first song, second song switches my perspective. I'm no longer aware of my feelings, I am aware of the greatness of God and God inhabits the praises of His people. Somebody touch your neighbor and say, sing to God.

But you know the other way to strengthen yourself in the Lord your God when everything is going bad? And I said it again and I'm going to say it again is you speak in tongues. But Vlad, I don't feel like speaking in tongues. Again, you're not a toddler. You speak in tongues. Paul did not say, if you really feel like speaking in tongues then speak in tongues and edify yourself. You know what? If I would have been feeling good, I wouldn't need to be edified. The Bible doesn't say to speak in tongues after you've been edified. It said to speak in tongues to be edified. Meaning to be strengthened and to be built up. That means sometimes I walk into a prayer room and I am confused and my mind is all over the place, I cannot focus my thoughts, I am discouraged, I am depleted. And [starts speaking in tongues]. And your mind is saying you're crazy, you're crazy, you're coming up with stuff, and you're like, [starts speaking in tongues]. And then what happens after about 10 minutes, listen to me, about 10 minutes and your mind says okay, this guy is serious. And the mind goes like this. Okay, okay, okay. We're fine, we're fine. No confused, no more confusion. We're not, we're all right. Everything's fine. Whatever you want to do bro, whatever you want to do. Emotions, your mind, take the back seat and the spirit takes the drive, and guess what happens? You become stronger. Your life didn't get easier, you got stronger.

What many of us do though when the warfare happens, when we're depleted is we ask God for an easier life, for an easier war. But God wants to strengthen you, not reduce the pressure. If God is not lowering the stress, it's because He wants to increase the strength. The Bible doesn't say, those who wait upon the Lord will have no stress. The Bible says those who wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. The problem is not that the battle is too hard. The problem is that the strength is too weak, and when you're like, but God give me strength, God give me strength. Well sometimes God doesn't just directly give you strength. He puts the Spirit of God inside of you and He says strengthen yourself in Me, strengthen yourself in My Spirit, strengthen yourself. You're not 6 months in My kingdom, you've been six years. You know how to speak in tongue, you know My Word. Strengthen yourself. The Bible says, and David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And then he inquired of the Lord, Lord what should I do? And God spoke. If God doesn't feed you He won't lead you.

Usually what happens in the most stressful, depleted warfare times is this, God what do I do? God what do I do? God what do I do? What should I do? What should I do? What should I do? And usually response from God is silence. So then you text your prophet. You find that Facebook person who kept declaring to you every single day that you're going to have keys to your house and a new car, and you're like, what is God saying? They give you a word and then they send you a PayPal link. You're like yeah, I don't know this is really from God. You can't find it. You can't find a word from God. You can't find a direction from God. You go to sleep, you say, Lord speak to me through dreams, and you wake up with a nightmare. Like okay Lord, don't speak through dreams at all. Don't let nobody come to my dreams. I cannot get an instruction from You Lord, why? If God is not your source of strength, He's not going to be a means for your strategy. You know when David lost his family, he didn't ask God first for a strategy. He went to God for strength.

At the same time this is happening King Saul, so watch this. At the same time King Saul has Philistines attacking King Saul, and King Saul doesn't know what to do. And he does what every person does, what do I do Lord? what do I do? What do I do? He asked the prophets. No word from God, no dreams from God. The problem wasn't that God wasn't speaking. Is that Soul was disconnected. Don't seek for a strategy where you should be seeking for strength. God's strategy is always in God's strength. If you find His strength, you'll find His strategy. But if you look for a strategy, what do I do? How do I pray? How, God, God what, why, why, what, what, why, why? Wrong questions. You're in panic mode. Even if God says something, you'll be too deaf to hear it or too weak to do it. Even if God tells you what to do, you will still not be sure enough, why? Because there is nothing inside. There's no peace in there. What you need is all of this stuff to become down and that cannot come down until the strength comes. When the strength comes, there's a sense of clarity. When the strength comes, there's a sense of confidence. When the strength comes, you look at these men who were about to take your head off and you say, follow me and I will get you back your families. And follow me, we will take back and recover everything that we stole. When you get your strength, you get the strategy, you get God's anointing, you get God's grace. So what Saul does is the Saul doesn't have any strength. He's not near to God so he cannot hear God. He gets desperate, and see that's what happens when you go from panic to a desperation. Then you become impulsive and you become, you start doing anything, everything, just kind of all over the place. And he goes to a witch to hear from God. He didn't go to a witch because he wanted to do witchcraft. He went to a witch because he was desperate to hear from God. Saul, all you had to do is to repent, all you had to do is to sing some songs, all you had to do is to draw near, get your strength from God. And the Bible says that when the witch told him whatever he needed to hear, he fell like dead without any strength and eventually died, and lost his family in the battle. But this time they were not kidnapped, they were killed. David's family was taken, he got him back. Saul's family was killed and never got it back. Get your strength, you'll find your strategy. How do I talk to my husband? How, what do I do with my kids right now? Get your strength back first, cuz you're too weak, and you're not too weak because you're doing something wrong. It's that the previous season, the strength for the previous season was enough. The battle got so intense your strength is too weak.

|"But God is not giving me the strength." Well the food is in the fridge. The river is already in your spirit. The Lord is expecting you not to die out of hydration. He expects you to open up your mouth and He will fill it because you are in war. You cannot live in your feelings, you cannot live in your own thoughts. You are not your thoughts. Your thoughts are going to deceive you and trick you. You're going to have to trust in God, not in your thoughts. You're going to have to trust in God's Word and you're going to have to learn how to sing in the midnight hour when your feet are shackled up. And the Bible says that Paul and Silas were singing unto God because if you feel like you can't pray anymore, sing to God. Sing until something breaks, and when you stop singing open up your mouth and speak in tongues. And when you finish speaking in tongues, talk to yourself. What did David do many times? "O soul, why are you the disquieted inside of me, for I will yet praise God?" Wow. So that's what happens when you praise God, you go from your emotions and you are separate now. When you discouraged, depleted, your thoughts, your emotions is you. It's all of it is bundled down. But when you begin to speak in tongues, when you begin to sing to God, when the strength comes in you look at your emotions and you say, why are you like that? What's wrong with you? I, I is not you. You are around me but I will trust in God. I am not going to be living in you. I'm not going to live in my thoughts, I'm not going to live in my emotions. I am going to be above that because of the Holy Ghost. I strengthen myself in the Lord my God. You pull yourself out, not by your strength but by strengthening yourself in the Lord your God.

What I just shared with you is a secret. This is a life-changing secret of people who come out of the most difficult seasons and step into a new season. They endure it... Now I understand that none of the things that I just mentioned includes you standing in the line and one of the ministers praying for you. It's very important what we do when we minister to people. It is the grace of God and God invites us and gives people, ministers, other believers to pray for other believers. What I'm sharing here today is when you're home, what I'm sharing here right now is when the battle extends, and you're like man every single week I'm receiving the same prayer. I do not know what do I do. I don't know what to do. Strengthen yourself in the Lord your God, and you will know what not to do and what to do. For David, what to do was simple. Pursue, recover and you will get everything back. For you it might be different but when you get your strength, you will get your strategy.

When I feel like I don't know what to do, what next step to take and I feel overwhelmed, my immediate natural tendency is to panic, get desperate. And if I allow that to keep running its course, I will make the dumbest decisions that I will only regret, and I have done those decisions more than I can count. None of those decisions ever bring me any peace, any victory and it just leads me into more and more chaos. And sometimes the best thing that I personally found for myself is I pull back a little bit and I realize, hell just broke loose in my life. I'm not thinking straight, I'm not feeling straight which means I cannot make permanent decisions based on temporary feelings. What I need to do is that Vlad needs to get stronger and God is not strengthening me because God wants me to strengthen myself in Him. I drag myself to prayer, sometimes in the park. Turn on some songs, some worship songs and I sing them under my breath. If that doesn't work, if that doesn't break something in my spirit and I understand this may frustrate some of you who come from places where you were taught you can only speak in tongues if the Holy Spirit zaps you, but I will speak in tongues. My mind will like still think its own thoughts, still saying their own things. It's, it's fine, my spirit is praying, my spirit is praying and in about the 10 minute mark, 12 minutes, 12 to 15 minutes, some something just breaks and you just know it. You're not the same person. You went in like a cat, came out like a lion. Like there's fire in your eyes, you're like come devil, right just, just come, just, just, I, just come. And something just, just, it's just... Problems are the same, you're different now. There's a sense of clarity. There's a sense of I know what I must do. Sometimes you don't know what to do but you, you know I just need to keep on going, just need to keep on going, everything's going to be fine. You're coming back to your family and now you're not, oh I don't know. You're like, no everything's going to be all right. They're like no, everything is [inaudible]. Trust me, everything's going to be all right. And they're looking at you, they're like I don't know what's happening to you but you, you got something. Why? When you got your strength, you got your strategy. Are you with me? Is this helping anybody?

I want you to notice that he got his strategy and his strategy was to go and to pursue his enemy. But I want you to notice what happens after that is that as he goes in to pursue his family, I want you to write down number four and that is spiritual warfare is not an excuse to stop helping other people. I do want to highlight that because the moment he gets a strategy from God, God clearly speaks, David I got you, David you just got strengthened in Me. David you go, you gonna get those Amalekites back. Everything's gonna be all right. And so David is motivated, David is encouraged. David, his men are no longer wanting to kill him, they want to follow him. Everything is finally and momentum is picking up, we're on fire, everything is good and as they are doing that two things happen. One, 200 of his men get tired. And I want you to notice how David does not treat them as toxic. It's very important. David lets them rest. He doesn't say, "Huh! How dare you guys. Well where is your faith? You want your family, you want your family? What do you think? I'm going to get your family for you? You don't want to fight? Well you know what, how dare you do that." See when you get your strength, you have enough of that strength for people who don't have it. You'll cover them, and you will have sometimes a spouse, you will have children, you see they're not toxic. They're just tired, and they're, they're not bad. They're just, they're just hurting. They're not wicked, they're just weak. And David has enough strength not only to lead but also to cover those who cannot follow right now. They will follow later. They will catch up later when you win the battle but right now they cannot go, and David doesn't berail them, he doesn't belittle them, he doesn't curse them and he doesn't do anything bad to them. He says just rest. Only a man with a strength can do that. A man without a strength will stomp on them, guilt trip them, how dare you're not pray. I'm over here fasting, and I'm fasting for our family and why you're not fasting for our family? I'm praying right now for our finances, and you're over there sleeping and you should be praying as I am praying. See, a man who lacks strength doesn't have room for other people's weaknesses. Have strength, and if you're a woman and your husband is right now weak in that area, your strength is not to put him down. Be a blessing, he'll come around. Those men did come around, but not only the men that were weak with David, but the second thing I want you to notice, he meets a hurting slave that's dying. And David doesn't kill him, David feeds him. You know what's the interesting part? The strategy was in God's strength, the keys were in the person that David helped. You know who knew where Amalekites were hiding? The very guy he just fed. If he would have looked over that person and said, oh I lost my family, I am so weary, I am so discouraged, I don't have time to do this. I am taking a sabbatical right now guys, I cannot be available to serve. Why? I am too tired. Spiritual warfare has been very intense. I can't be serving anymore. Why? Just taking a, just, just kind of recouping my spiritual energy. Do you know the fastest way to come out from that season is not to stop serving but to continue to serve. Pastor Vlad, you're promoting spiritual burnout. I'm promoting spiritual maturity. How can I give what I don't have. oh really? Let me ask you a question then. How could Abraham pray for healing when his own wife was barren, and God healed the women he prayed for and his wife was barren? Oh but pastor Vlad, how can I give when I don't have? How did Joseph translate the dreams of a man when his own dream was on delay? See you don't give what you have you give what Christ has, and when you step out of your own little self-pity, when you step out of this, oh my life has been hard, my life has been difficult. There has been a spiritual warfare and I cannot serve right now. I've been hurt by the church, I cannot commit to a church. The key is you help someone when you are the one that needs the most help. I'm going to say that again. The key, the strategies in God's strength, the key is at that moment God wants to see, will you love someone? Will you help someone? Did you know the most of the letters you and I read and study were written by Paul in jail? Nobody goes writing a book in jail. Nobody's like, God placed in my heart to write a book. I'm going to go through a jail where I get beaten and there I'm just going to write best-selling books. What if Paul would have said, I'm going to wait until God delivers me from this season and then I'm going to start writing. That is not how it happened. Spiritual warfare is not an excuse where you shouldn't be committed to the church. Spiritual warfare is not an excuse that you don't come on Sunday and you say, you know what, I'm going to serve. And I'm not serving because everything is all right. I am serving because it is well with my soul. I trust in God. I can't save my kid, I'm going to minister to other kids. Right now I cannot save my marriage. I've done all that I can. It's in God's hands. But you know what I'm going to do, I'm going to invest into somebody else's, why? Because God might do to my marriage what I am blessing somebody else's family. Spiritual warfare is not an excuse to not help that Egyptian because that Egyptian knows exact coordinates of your breakthrough. Joseph your delay is not an excuse why you're not helping the jailers because that guy holds the key to eventually inviting you to the palace. Help somebody, serve. Don't use it as an excuse. I'm burned out, I am tired, I can't do this anymore, I'm not going to preach. When we couldn't have kids for more than 13 years, I prayed for the sick people all the time. Now my brain sometimes says, why are you doing that? I remember when people looked at me and they would say, you know you can't be praying for healing, look what happened to your own eyes. I was like, I can't heal a fly if my life would depend on me but God commands us to pray for healing. So well Vlad, why are you doing that? Why are you praying? What happened to your own eye? Well first of all I have a perfect vision, so problem is not with the vision and my eyes don't hurt so it's just cosmetics. But God wants us to serve others. Sometimes in the very areas where we still hoping for a breakthrough. If you can be trusted with God to care enough for other people that you step out of your, first of all you won't have pity anymore because you can be pitiful and powerful at the same time. If you're going to be powerful you're going to stop being pitiful. Stop giving too much attention to those pitiful feelings and you say, I'm going to serve, I'm going to love, amen.

And lastly, David finally goes in, he wins the battle, brings the spoil. You know what I find interesting? While he got his family back, he got flocks back, such a happy, jubilent time. And David is finally in a place where he's good. He's good with God, God speaks to him, he's strengthened in the Lord, the guys that were weak in his team got everything back, and the poor Egyptian guy never got, you know went back to his family. Everything is good, and I want you to notice that the next chapter David becomes a king of one tribe. Lord put something on my heart today as I was even praying more into this, not just about the strengthening of God, not just about the serving in the midst of warfare but one thing that I wanted to mention is this. God is eager to bring the breakthrough that you need so He can get you finally to focus on the assignment He brought you into this earth for. God's goal isn't the breakthrough. God's goal is the assignment. God's goal is the calling that's buried so deep because you got so many problems in your life that you can't even think about it. And God knows that so He wants to bring the breakthrough to clear the way, not so he can give more breakthroughs but you can finally start thinking about what matters. Why you were born, why you were saved. God didn't save you just so He can fix problems in your life. He saved you so He can bring some clarity, so He can clear some problems and so you can step into your purpose. You were raised for such a time as this Esther and that purpose is to be a salvation to your generation, and that purpose is so that you can fulfill your calling. Listen businessman, listen businesswoman. God doesn't just want to give a breakthrough so you can just have a bigger business. It's so that you can start doing what you're called to do. Money is just a means to an end and the end is your assignment. The growth in the church is just a means to an end and that end is our assignment. We're placed on this earth for our assignment. God brought him to breakthrough, he got his family back and everything. And God, it's almost like God was saying, well David, can, you got your family back. Can I get a king back? Can I get a king back because you needed your family, I need a king, why? Because Saul is dead. There is a vacuum that happens somebody needs to a vacuum. All these years I've been preparing you on the back end of the desert, why? Because right now the reason why you had a such an intense battle leading up to this point because you were about to step into your assignment. Don't step into comfort, step into your assignment. Don't step into prosperity step into your purpose. Prosperity is a means to an end, the purpose is that end. The assignment on our life is that end. My friend we all are going to die six feet buried underneath. They will not, you will not take your house, you will not take your truck, you will not take your business, you will not take your inheritance. Nothing. What's going to follow your life the Bible says, what will follow us is not our money it's our works. Will you live your life on the assignment for God? Will you simply live your life getting back with the enemy stolen? Yes, get back your peace, get back your healing, get back your family, get back your business. But all of that is just a platform for your purpose. All of that is just a means to fulfill your assignment, all of that is just a means not to retire and live happily ever after, but to step into the purposes of God and say, Lord here I am. Do to me what seems good to You. Lord, here I am. Not my will but your will be done. Lord, here I am. You have blessed me so much I don't need to believe for healing because You gave me good health. Use my body for Your purpose. You blessed me financially. I don't need to believe for a breakthrough. I have more than enough. Use my business, use my time, use my finances to finance your kingdom. Lord here I am, use my life for your purpose. Prosperity, fame, breakthrough is shallow if you don't end up doing your purpose. Your purpose, Pastor Ilya didn't come with his wife to Everett but for one reason, the purpose of God.

He had a comfortable life. In fact, a very comfortable life, a very good life. He was in the middle of his family; everything was fine, but see, something begins to happen.

When the time comes and God begins to poke on your heart and say, “Listen, you were born for something greater. I know you’re not comfortable. I know you are right now scared of that thought, but listen, I didn’t save you so that you can just have a healing and have a breakthrough.” All of that is a means to an end. I use all of that to almost like create an appetite and say, “Listen, now that you don’t need to worry about this, can we get on with business?” Why I saved you, why I anointed you, why I gave you your family, why I gave you those things, why? Because I have an assignment for you. There is a vacuum that is left in the Seattle area, and that vacuum must be filled. “Listen, David, you got to go and fill that vacuum. You got to go and bring the delivering power of Jesus Christ to the other side of Washington State. You got to go and bring the delivering power to the schools on the other side. You got to help Sal, you got to help Natasha, you got to help Jose, you got to help others, why? Because there’s a calling inside of you, there is an assignment inside of you, and you got to fulfill that assignment.”

Don’t just fast because you have a problem; fast because you have a purpose. Don’t just pray because you need a breakthrough; pray because you have an assignment on your life. Jesus didn’t go into a 40-day fast because His mama was sick. He went into a 40-day fast because God’s, Father’s assignment of His life was to bring salvation to this world.

Esther became a queen, and Mordecai came in and said, “I know you reached the platform and your life is comfortable; you got the breakthrough. I know you were an orphan, but finally, life is good, life is comfortable. But listen, Esther, it’s for such a time as this you were raised. You did not elevate yourself into this place. It is not because of your looks. It is not because of your Instagram account. It is because there was a purpose of God. He raised you up, and He says, if you remain silent, if you ignore your assignment because you’re afraid to risk your comfort, you’re afraid to give up your convenience, God will fill the vacuum with someone else. You will be miserable in your palace; you will feel the void. I have everything, but I don’t want to live because, see, purpose gives fulfillment. Money doesn’t give fulfillment. More trucks, more bling and bling doesn’t give you satisfaction. What gives satisfaction is knowing you’re in the center of God’s will. And if you are fulfilling that assignment, even if you don’t have certain things, you will have the joy of the Lord.”

When our ministry started to grow and right now we’re in the place where it’s comfortable, where it’s great. I have very small dreams, you know. I had those dreams, all of them that I had came to pass last year. I had three things I wanted—three televisions I wanted to be on—and they all came to pass last year, and after that I said, “Lord, I’m ready to die.” And I felt the Holy Spirit say, He says, “Are you ready now to take on My dreams?” He says, “Now that we got your dreams out of the way, He says, can we now focus on what matters, what your assignment is?” And I said, “Lord, whatever that is.” Not going to lie to you, I don’t enjoy traveling. I don’t enjoy a lot of things in my flesh that I do, but I also do not enjoy not being in the center of God’s will. And I love Jesus so much that I’m willing to forego certain discomforts that Jesus is pleased. And I know the joy and the fulfillment I receive knowing He is pleased. He wants you to recover what you lost so you can reign in life, so you can reign in your assignment and reign in your purpose.

Listen, young men, you’re not just here to be free from porn. You are here so you can be used by God to bring freedom to others. Listen, young family, you are not here just to have a nice house with the picketed fence, have a truck, and have a retirement fund and go to Cancun once a year to vacation and that your children never get sick and never do drugs. Listen, you got to aim for something that God has for your life, and that is for your family to bear fruit in this nation, for your family to be used by God to win souls and make disciples. The best way to lose your family is to be focused only on saving it, but use your family to reach the lost, and God will preserve it and protect it.

The last attack before the new level. Are you experiencing that right now? That attack is not a sign everything will go bad. It’s a sign everything’s about to change. Don’t give up, don’t give in, don’t run from the battle. Tired of trusting in God for continuous deliverance? He’s always providing the mana; He’s always providing the mercies every morning; keep on receiving them. It is worse than you turn your back on the battle because you don’t have a back plate. He’s providing his strength for you. You’re here today and you feel depleted, discouraged, and tired. “I don’t feel God anymore.” The rivers of living water are inside of you. Open your mouth, and God will fill it. Worship your way out of it; serve your way out of it.

Are you here today, you’re like, “Pastor Vlad, this is a great message from my friend that came today, but I’m good. I’m doing really well. I’m not looking forward to tax seasons because I have to pay a lot of money in taxes. I am doing very well. God has blessed me; God has prospered me. Oh, I I’ve been making very good decisions, very wise decisions.” The reason why God has blessed you and prospered you is not a 100% because of your wise decisions, cuz you know people who made the same decisions and they’re not in the same place as you are. It’s because of God’s purpose upon your life.

People sometimes come up to me and say, “Pastor Vlad, how, why did your ministry blow up? Why did the online thing blow up?” And when I was younger and a little bit too conscious of what I did, I would tell them, “I did this, I did this.” It was after a 40-day fast; it was after this. And as I started to grow even closer to the Lord as the ministry started growing, I remember one time to be in the mountain with the Lord and I said, “Lord, so why did really things blow up?” And the Lord, I felt the Holy Spirit say, “You’re asking the wrong question. He said, stop asking me a question of why things blow up. He said, ask a question for what reason I caused it to blow up? And what are you responsible for? How to steward this to reach other people. Why I entrusted you with this, not why you got to this place because you didn’t get to this place on your own. It wasn’t your looks. It wasn’t your accent. It wasn’t none of that. It was My grace, and yes you did some things that you can attribute to that, but there are others who’ve done it better and they’re not in that. And it’s not because you’re special. It is because I have an assignment, and it’s because I have a purpose and for this purpose you were born, and for this purpose I raised you up, and for this purpose I delivered you, and for this purpose I prospered you, and for this purpose I anointed you.”

If you fulfill your purpose, I will increase the grace. If you fulfill your purpose, I will protect the grace upon your life. If you fulfill your purpose, I will protect the grace upon your life. I want you to rise to your feet. [Speaking in tongues] Raise your hands to the Lord right now, right there where you are standing. Even if you’re in the lobby right now, distance is not a barrier for God. If you are overwhelmed, if you are spiritually under attack right now, right there before you’re given opportunity to pray, if you’re filled with the Holy Ghost and you speak in tongues, just right there where you are standing, open up your mouth and just begin to pray in the Holy Ghost, begin to pray in the Holy Ghost. Don’t wait for something to hit you. The Bible says, “Open your mouth, and God will fill it, and God will fill it.” Strength like a river will flow from inside of your innermost; rivers of living water will flow from your innermost. [Praying in tongues] Holy Spirit is the water in the wilderness. Holy Spirit is the water in the weary soul. Holy Spirit’s presence, Holy Spirit’s river. Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah. We worship You, Lord. We worship You, Lord. We worship You, Jesus, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. We worship You, Jesus, for giving us purpose. We worship You, Jesus, for giving us the Holy Spirit. We worship You, Lord.