Make Room - Week 10: Make Room In Your Head

Tim Ross | December 12, 2021

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All right. If you have your Bibles, I want you to go to the book of Psalms 23. We are in a series called Make Room. I told you last week that God gave me a burden over the next three weeks, including last week, this week, and then going into next week, to preach three messages that tie up this entire series. Last week, does anybody remember what the name of the message was? Louder.

Make room in your heart. This weekend is, make room in your head. Next weekend is, make room in your home. Last weekend was make room in your heart. Hopefully, you did that. This weekend is, make room in your head. Next weekend, make room in your home. Got it?

Now, I'm so grateful that we got saturated in worship today as it related to waiting because if you are not a good waiter, you can frustrate yourself when it comes to making room. If you don't wait well, you won't receive well. Last week, we talked about making room in the heart. In making room in the heart, we discovered that Sarah, by making room in her heart, was able to appreciate the gift that God gave her. That at 90 years old, she was holding a baby in her hand just like He said she would. He's that type of God.

This weekend, I want to talk about making room in your head because your heart is one thing, but this is the thing that'd be going crazy.

Anybody beside me?

Would anybody be shocked and appalled if all your thoughts came up on this screen? Would anybody fake like you were going to the restroom, but just really hit the car and just drive off if we heard the last seven days, not of what you said out of your mouth on the screen, but what was rolling around in your head? Anybody holy enough, been consecrated enough, been in the presence of God long enough that if the last seven days of your thoughts came on this screen, you would be trying to be like, "That day, what had happened was I was a little mad, and so that image came up.

That image, I saw that when I was 11, and I don't even know why it's still rolling around in there." Anybody? This thing has to be protected. You have to protect your head, you have to protect your mind. When I asked the Holy Spirit, "Okay, make room in your head, where do I go? There's a lot of places I could go for the head." He said, "Psalm 23." I said, "Really?" "Make room in your head. Psalm 23." "Really?" Here's what He told me. He said, "Tim, if you were carrying the book of Psalms on a cargo ship, all 150 chapters, and the cargo ship crashed, and all the Psalms spilled out, all 150 of them, you could take Psalm 23 and soak up all of the rest of the Psalms."

The six verses in the book of Psalms, if you make room for it in your head, will calibrate you for the rest of your life on your very best day, and on your very worst day. See, you need to make room in your head for anything that comes, for any season of life because it will rain on the just as well as the unjust. You making room doesn't mean that you are exempted from going through trials, but also you making room does guarantee that you are going to have some very bright days. You need to have a calibrated mindset, in your head, on how to govern yourself on your very best days, on your very worst days.

I'm just going to go through all six verses, and then I'm going to be done. Starting with verse 1. It will be disappointing for everybody to realize that I am not reading from the King James or the New King James. I know that's how you would like it to ring in your head. "The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He restoreth my soul." It's not happening. I'm reading the NLT, and as I read it, some of y'all would be like, "That's not exactly how it's supposed to be said."

Get over yourself. I want to disrupt it a little bit because I want you to see and really let it soak in. Again, make room in your head for these six verses. Are y'all ready? If you're ready to go say, "Let's go."

If you're ready to go say, "Let's go."

If you're ready to go, with attitude, say, "Let's go."

All right, Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need."

Deuces.

[laughter]

"The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need." Now, what's interesting about this verse is the semicolon. I don't know if y'all know about semicolons if you studied in English, but a semicolon is a period and a comma. I don't know who thought about it. I don't know who the person that came up with it, but after putting a series of periods after some statements, and some commas after some statements, somebody was not satisfied. They said, "Ooh, I know I wrote two different things, and I know I could put a period behind one and a period behind the other, but actually, even though these are two different statements, they actually belong together.

I need to have some indication that it is a statement and a continuation." "The Lord is my shepherd;" that's how it gave birth, "I have all I need." "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need." Here's what the statement could not say, "I have all that I need." 23:1 could not simply be, "I have all that I need," without declaring first, it is only because the Lord is my shepherd that I have all that I need. I love the fact that David is the one that writes this, because David is considered by Israel, a shepherd. The kings in this day were actually called shepherds, but David calibrates everybody's expectation of him by properly putting himself under who the real shepherd is.

Before y'all get it twisted, before you think that I'm arrogant in any way, I want you to understand, you call me shepherd, but I have a shepherd. I am under his leadership and his influence, and because he is my shepherd, I will always have all that I need. If y'all get this in your spirit without me reading any other verse to you, your life will never be the same. On your best day, "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need."

On my worst day, "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need." When trying times come, "The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need." You can look at your bank account right now and declare, "The Lord is my shepherd, I'm going to always have all that I need." Now, notice it didn't say "want." Some people get their wants and needs confused. They're not the same thing, but the Lord definitively is my shepherd, and I have all that I need. If you can make room for that verse in your head, what can life throw at you that that could not be the response?

I've been fired from jobs justifiably. Can I just be honest? Because everybody, usually, that has a testimony that they've been fired, it was always somebody else's fault. I've been legitimately fired for stuff I did. I just didn't do right. I didn't have the maturity to handle the stewardship responsibility I was given, and I got fired. Still, the Lord was my shepherd.

Before you go thinking that, "I did this to myself, and so I need to be on punishment, and that's why God is not going to help me," the Lord is your shepherd on your best day and on your worst day. The Lord is your shepherd when you do right and when you do wrong. The Lord is your shepherd when you make the right decision, and when you make the wrong decision. There may be some consequences that you have to face, but He is still your shepherd. He is not a fickle stepfather that is only stepping into your life when you do right and then stepping back when you do wrong.

This is your daddy. Not your stepdaddy, not no in-law, this is your daddy. He made you. He spoke you into existence, and steps back, and invites you to come closer to him. You may stumble along the way, but He's still saying, "That's my baby. Keep coming. That is my daughter. Keep coming. That is my son. Keep coming." Because He's that good, you will always have all that you need. There's two. "He lets me rest in green meadows;" semicolon, look at that thing making a cameo appearance two verses in a row. "He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams."

He lets me rest. He gives me permission to rest.

I want to break the back of the grind culture. I want to break the very back of that hustle culture. "I'm out here making moves. I'm a boss. I got to go out and get it." He lets me rest. I'm not supposed to be working 15 hours a day on 3 jobs, listening to Gary Vee every single morning as my motivational speaker, trying to get my first million. I'm supposed to take a nap.

Y'all got the most exotic Starbucks coffee drinks of all time, trying to stay up two extra hours to get four more dollars. Take a nap. "He lets me rest." Oh my God. "He lets me rest in green meadows."

"He leads me beside peaceful streams." Sheep will not drink in troubled water. You can't constantly have drama in your life. You have to have a place that you protect and put some boundaries around, where you can rest, and you can drink without being agitated, without being triggered. This is going to mean, for some of you all, that you're going to have to break up some friendship circles. Not because something is wrong with them, something has changed on the inside of you. You can't be around that much drama anymore because it stirs up the water to the point that you can't drink in peace.

He gave you a Sabbath day on purpose. Six days the Lord created the heavens and the earth, and everything that inhabits the earth, and on the seventh day without ever being indefatigable, without ever being exhausted, He rested.

A God that never got tired decided to step back and chill out. Never broke a sweat making mountains, ozone layers, cosmos, universes, galaxies, angels, animals, humans. Never got tired. On the seventh day, He said, "I ain't doing nothing. I could, I'm not doing nothing else." "You tired?" "No, I'm not tired. I'm just resting from creation." "Then what do you do on the day that you rest from creation?" "I recreate." "You do what?" "I recreate. I take a day to just sit back and look at what I did, and I just call it good. Y'all better be happy I stopped because had I kept talking, y'all can't figure out what I've done in them first six days.

You still finding out about species I created at the beginning of time. You haven't hit the depths of the sea. I got fish down there that you still haven't looked at with your eyeballs. I got insects in the Amazon that you still haven't put your head around, you don't know what to name it. My glory is so splendid you can't handle what I did in six days. You better be happy I stopped." If God didn't get tired and chose to rest, what you doing? He lets you rest. He's given you permission to rest, and he's going to lead you by someplace peaceful. "Tim, you don't understand.

My whole life is chaotic right now. I'm single mom with four kids, and everybody is just going crazy. Where's my little peaceful stream?" You better find it. "You don't understand. If I don't work this fourth job, then I won't make the bills come together." Are you sure? Because a budget will give you a revelation that hustle never will. You can't have Disney Plus, and Paramount Plus, and Netflix, and Hulu, and Peacock. You cut the cord on cable to spend $250 on-- "This was only $4.99, and that was the introductory 3 months for only $1.99. Then this one was--"

Stop yourself. My momma, I got to call her my momma. My momma worked for the LAPD for 30 years, and at least for a decade, at her lunch break, her peaceful stream was the women's restroom. That's where she had her lunch break for a decade. While everybody else went to lunch, she went into a woman's stall, locked the door and sat there, and put her Bible on her lap. That was her peaceful place for one hour. Now, she did admit granted, some women came in there during that lunch hour, and blew up the spot.

She said it with her own lips. I don't think you can go into a women's stall for a decade, consecrate it to God, and not have somebody blow that thing up next to you. It happened a couple of times, but she committed that she was not going to live without a peaceful stream. Her mindset changed to the point that, "I'm going to have time with the Lord. I'm going to have a peaceful place. If I got to get up three hours before everybody else and go to bed two hours before anybody else, I am going to have a place where it's quiet and peaceful."

I understand there are different scenes of your life, you can't do everything at once, but you can get a Sabbath day in.

You found a way to tire, you better find a day to rest. I felt that. Verse 3, anybody making room in their heart with their head? Thank you. Lord have mercy. What is-- "He renews my strength," period. Who renews it?

He renews my strength. I can't get renewed any other place. I can have some other things refresh me, entertain me, but nobody else will renew my strength like my shepherd will. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to his name. This right here, ooh, this messed me up in my study. "He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name." Let me break down this part. "He guides me along right paths bringing honor to His name." The Holy Spirit will literally lead you and guide you in a way that brings glory to His name.

The Holy Spirit wants to lead you in such a way that, as you are being led through the life you're going through, people will honor God when they see where the Holy Spirit is taking you. Hear me. He guides you along the right path. Why? So He can bring glory to His name. What He's saying is, "There's no way you're going to make a commitment to me, and I'm going to embarrass you because if you wind up embarrassed, I'll look bad." There's no person that's ever going to be led by the Holy Spirit, who God is going to allow to go off the road because that would not bring glory and honor to His name.

He literally says this, "If you follow me, glory will come to my name if you just come this way." Anybody can admit, "I decided to go my own way," and it didn't honor God? Anybody? Quick poll, quick poll. January the 14th of '96 I gave my life to Christ. I had no idea what I was in store for. He's brought glory to His name because of the way that I followed Him. It wouldn't have mattered if I became a preacher or a product manager, glory comes to His name when you are led by Him. Number 4. "Even when I walk through the darkest valley," stop it, David, "He leads me."

"He's the one guiding me, bringing glory to His name." Then you would think because we live in such a consumeristic American Western Christian culture, that every day is supposed to be the best day. Your whole life is supposed to be the best. You ain't ever supposed to have no problems because you prayed, and you gave, and you sowed. Therefore, you are somehow incubated from life. David says, "He's my shepherd. I have all that I need. He's going to give me a place to rest. He's going to give me a stream to drink of that is not troubled.

It is quiet. It is still. He renews my strength. He leads me and guides me for His own name's sake even when I walk through the darkest valley." The same God that can put me on a nice bright trail could lead me into a dark valley. You have to have maturity to get to verse 4. You cannot be immature and understand verse 4. "Even when I walk through the darkest valley I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me." You can lead me on a bright path and sometimes you lead me into the darkest valley. Why? Because there's something I learn about you in a dark valley that I will never learn about you on a bright path.

If I'm going to be a mature well-rounded believer, I can't just have good stuff happen all the time. Somebody is going to die, something is going to change. Relationships are going to get frayed. I have to be mature enough to be able to say, on those days, "God, you are still in the middle of this situation. Even though it's a dark valley I will not be afraid. Why? Because you are close beside me." It's in the darkness when you no longer can see, but you can still sense. You ever woke up in the middle of the night? It's going to be scary for some people because y'all single and live alone.

You ever woke up in the middle of the night, and just thought, "Somebody in here."?

Anybody beside me? You're just, "I know I locked that door. Feels like somebody is in here." When you mature you get to the sense of knowing that even on my darkest days, He's right beside me. He might not be saying anything, but He's here. He may not be giving me a update where I may be crying, "Lord, will you just please … I just need to feel you. I just need to-- Something, Lord. Just please, Lord," and He's just right there. He's not saying, [sings] "Stand still and see my glory. Stand still and see my glory come."

No, He just didn't. Don't think He's going to treat you any better than He did His own son. "Eli, Eli lama sabachthani? My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" God said nothing. "It's part of your purpose. I have no updated word than the one I gave you when you came out of the Jordan River, This is my son in whom I am well-pleased. Nothing has changed about that because you're going through a dark time." Nothing has changed about that because you're going through a season of life where you feel like you're getting crushed.

Nothing has changed about what He has said about you just because everything is not lining up with the word that you received. He's still there. Even when He's silent He's still there. He has not left you. When you mature, you can take dark days and contextualize them to where you can still give Him glory. Through tears, you can throw up your hands and say, "I still love you, and I still worship you, and you're still good. Even though you haven't talked in four months, you're still good. It's the darkest season of my life, I don't know how we're going to make it.

I've already asked you to come through, you said you was. You're a little late. I'm looking for my package. You seem to have lost your Amazon anointing. I double-tithed, and I gave a liberal offering I thought that was prime," because you thought you could work your way into a faster miracle. Let me stop. "Your rod and your staff, protect and comfort me." Now, you know I got a vivid imagination. I see everything that I read. I just saw the Lord in the middle of your darkest hour, bopping your enemies with that rod. "If you don't get your--" You can't even see what He's doing, but in the dark valley that you are walking through--

Please, keyword, operative word, please say "Through."

Say it louder, say "Through."

He didn't walk you into a dark valley to live there for the rest of your life. He's walking you through something. You not stuck there. You're actually going through it. Now, 8 miles of darkness seems like you live there, but if you keep moving, at some point, you're going to be on the other side of it. Two years from now, your testimony is going to be, "Remember when we thought-- Y'all remember in 2021 when I did all that complaining, and I was crying, and I was acting a fool, thinking that God wasn't going to come through?

Look at here 24 months later and we back on top, back worshipping, back on a bright path, back doing exactly what God said we were going to do," because in the night, he just bopping. "If you don't get your--" Do you not know God is working on your behalf in ways that He could never explain to you? If He pulled back the curtain and showed you, you would be like, "You did what to who for me? When? Where and how?" "Your rod and your staff, they protect me and they comfort me." That staff is good for hooking. "I just think right here-- I really love to go off there."

He's protecting you from yourself. There's doors that you wish you would open, but he keeps closed. Why? He's protecting you. I know you wanted to date that person. He's protecting you. I know you thought that was the job. "I filled out the application. I aced the interview. The package and the benefits looked great, the compensation, and it lines up with the degree and everything." The Lord is like, "Mm-mm, don't go in there. You go in there, you're going to lose your soul. You go in there, you'll be at a strip club in six months talking about you evangelizing.

Talking about, it's just part of my job to entertain the clients, and this is where they want to go to close the deal. I'd never be looking." Just being in that atmosphere will start desensitizing you. I can't tell you how many doors He's closed. Do you know God has closed more doors for me than opened? [laughs] Y'all went, "He's a door-opening God. He's a way maker, miracle worker, promise keeper. In order to keep His promises, He has to put you on a very narrow path. "Don't go there. Don't go there. Don't go there. Don't go there. I blocked you from going there. You didn't have no gas to go there."

Okay, let me stop. "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies." You got to make room for all of this in your head. This is what I'm trying to get you to do. If these six verses get into your head I promise you there will never be anything you face in life that one of these verses won't fix. I don't care what you go through in your life, one of these verses, you'll be able to stand on that verse and be like, What season are you in? I'm in verse 4 season. This is the season for verse 4.

It's a dark valley but I'm standing on this word. We know also, in Proverbs 37:4, I know it's all soaked up in here, I'm standing on this word right now. "You prepare a feast for me in the presence of my enemies," period. Whoo. Juliet and I went to Delaware a couple of months ago, and these two incredibly astute real estate agents who make gobs and gobs of money just bought a farm on the outskirts of New Jersey. They just bought a whole bunch of land. A cute little couple. The husband was definitely the brains behind the thing, but the wife was the one that had flipped all the land.

Then she started buying animals, and she had all these animals. She had ducks and chickens, she had turkeys. They weren't all just pets because they had a freezer full of dead bodies. They had turkeys for the next 14 Thanksgivings. It was just amazing. They were showing me the gate that they put around the animals, and they were like, "Yes, we had all the ducks and stuff out here, and we caught them on the cameras. The wolves just came in, picked one of them up, and just skirted off just [mimicks]. Just brazen." She was like, "They weren't just coming at night.

They was daytime, broad daylight. Just walking in, taking one, and just going off like, If y'all going to leave it out, we going to eat." She says, "We put we put this fence around it, and then we electrified it, and we haven't lost one of our animals since." They throw all the feed out there, and all of the animals are eating, and all the prey are watching. The prey want to eat, but they no longer have access. Not because they wouldn't take them out. A hedge of protection has been built around them.

See, I'm trying to tell somebody in here that He will make a way for you to eat in front of the enemy that's been trying to take you out, and the only thing they can do is watch you. They can't get to you. The only thing they can do is watch you. They might want to kill you, but they can't kill you. All they can do is watch. Now, here's the way this text has been preached erroneously. "God is going to make a way for you in the middle of your haters, and your haters are going to watch. All the haters, participators, instigators." This has nothing to do with haters.

You don't know that many people. I know I'm going to break somebody's heart. You haven't done enough, long enough to be hated by-- Some people don't like you, but hate you with intent to come and kill you? I'm from Inglewood. We've lost rappers. They just getting killed in broad daylight, and they all on videotape. Nipsey Hussle got murdered in broad daylight two years ago. Slim 400 got murdered in front of his house, five days ago. Young Dolph got killed in Memphis trying to get some cookies. Haters, but they were on a path that leads to destruction. The murder is not justified at all, but the lifestyle draws certain--

Your enemy is never a person. Before you assign verse 23:5 to Tamika, before you start head-bopping, "Yes, Freddie needs that, yes, Freddie," y'all just had a disagreement about work. Freddie in there at the house like, "I'm a-- I'm a-- Next time that fool hit crispy cream, he's getting marked." Keep your enemy the enemy. He's the one that hates you. He's the one out to steal, kill and destroy. Can he influence people who leave themselves open? He absolutely can. We wrestle not against what?

What is Tamika?

What is Freddie?

What do we wrestle not against?

But against?

Come on, church, y'all okay? Nobody was like, "Oh." Come on, Bible IQ, let's go. He will prepare a feast for you in the presence of your enemies. "You anoint me by anointing my head with oil, my cup overflows with blessing." Now, there's two periods behind that. Let me hit these quickly. "You honor me by anointing my head with oil." One of the best honors you could ever have in ancient Eastern culture was when you got to somebody's house, they would pull out some oil and anoint your head. It was a sign of honor, it was a sign of refreshing.

You've come from a long journey, you've made it in, and they would just honor you by anointing your head with oil. I want everybody put your hand on top of your head, repeat after me, "I have an anointing."

Say it again, "I have an anointing."

One more time, "I have an anointing."

Now, with your hand still on top of your head, let me tell you what the anointing is. The anointing is simply God's approval on the life He gave you. He's anointed you, He predestined for you to be here. Now, He gave you free will, you can do whatever you want to. He gave you free will to be here, but you have to know that there's an anointing on you. You would act different if you were consciously aware that you were anointed. There would be certain places you would never go again, not because you're stuck up, not because you're bougie, you just know what you carry.

There is certain company you would no longer entertain, not because you're judgmental, but simply because you recognize what is on you. It's not that what is on you can get rubbed off. It's just that what is on you can wind up contaminated if you're in a different culture/company. "You honor me by anointing my head with oil. My cup overflows with blessings." [sings]

Count your blessings, name them one by one

Count your blessings, see what God has done

Count your blessings, name them one by one

Count your many blessings, see what God has done

That's a old song, I didn't expect to get 100% participation on that. Maverick City hasn't remixed that song yet.

I'm going to call Dante and see if he can. Do you count them, though?

Do you actually count your blessings, or have you allowed the negativity in your life to get so close to you that you can't even recall what God has done, is doing, and has promised to do? Let me tell you something. 25 years into this relationship that I have with Jesus, I'm the type of person-- I did a message last year called Dayenu. Anybody remember that message?

In Jewish culture, they thank God for every single thing he's done. It's actually a song. It's got a dope little Jewish bop to it. It's [sings]

Day dayenu, Day dayenu, day dayenu

Dayenu, dayenu, dayenu

Day, day

It's a very festive-- They're getting it. They're like [mimics]

The end was mine. That was Gentile-ish. First part, theirs, last part, mine. He brought us together. Jesus paid for me to be able to do that. Never mind. They literally start off by saying, "Hey, if you had just brought us out of Egypt, but we would have died in the Promised Land, it would have been enough. If you would have just brought us into the wilderness but not given us the manna from heaven, it would have been enough." They just stagger it. They slow down. The Testimony isn't, "He's just been good to me." I think sometimes, by generalizing our testimonies, we undervalue the aspects of what He's done.

I think sometimes you have to know how much you're pouring in that cup because I guarantee you, everybody in this room, if you were to slow down and think about everything God has done for you, your cup would overflow with blessings. It's hard if you're only rehearsing negativity. "I've been praying, but it's just still bad." Now, Psalms is broad enough to handle all of humanity's emotions. David is in there talking about, "Break their teeth, Lord. Kill my enemies. Cut their tongues out. Saul is on my last nerve. You know I didn't do nothing. Kill them, Lord," [mimics] and went right back to playing the harp.

Expression of frustration in your life is not an issue. I don't like people that are going through really hard times, and they just gloss it over with, "I'm blessed and highly favored."

"How are you doing?" "Oh wooh, blessed in the Lord." Don't you have an eviction notice? Is that a blessing from the Lord? Don't you need some help right now? How are you blessed and highly favored? Aren't you struggling with a sickness? It's okay to be blessed, and highly favored, and be ill. God is big enough to handle both of them. Be honest about the situation.

Here's what I always say. Start off with all the bad stuff, and then end with the good. It's not either/or, it's both/and. "Hey, how are you doing?" "It's not going good right now. My marriage is in shambles. We listened to all nine weeks of Upset The Vows, and it still didn't work.

We also included the supplementary Upset The Vows unpack series. It's over 30-plus hours of content, and we still mad at each other. And, the Lord is good and He is greatly to be praised." That's the mature believer right there. I'm going to tell you what's wrong, and then tell you who will always be right. Wooh, that was good right there. My life doesn't always have to be going good for him always to be holy, and right, and good. I remember there were some people that would say, "I can't sing You're a Good, Good Father. Not right now because the way my life is going, I just don't know if I can honestly sing that He's a good, good father when my life is like this."

Yes, you can, as long as you contextualize the fact that your life is bad, bad right now. 

It's the bad, bad life

That's what it is, that's what it is

It's what it is, and I'm sick of it

Yes, I am, yes, I am

Yes, I am, but He's a good, good father

That's who He is. My life may not be good right now, but He's always good. God is good?

And all the time?

Verse 6. Y'all making room in your head for this?

I'm telling you, y'all going to-- Ooh, some of y'all-- See, I'm from LA. You know I'm from LA, and when we're confident about something, yo, there's a little extra. That's why in worship sometime, sometime I'll be crying, I'll be on the floor, and other times I'll be jumping all around. Sometimes I'm just like, "I wish I would because--" That's how I got Juliet, with her fine self. I saw Juliet. The first time I saw her, the Holy Spirit said, "That's your wife." I said, "That's right. Laid eyes on her on February '98, said hi to her in April. In May, called her on phone. I was like, "I'm intrigued with you, girl."

I said, "I don't know if you have a boyfriend or not, but you need to know that I like you more than a friend. If you do have a boyfriend, you're going to need to know why I'm mad about that. I don't know if you're dating anybody or not, but if you do, I just need you to know I like you more than a friend. If you are dating somebody, we can't be friends because I have intentions. I don't know if this is going to ruin our friendship, but I just need to let you know." Her response, "It won't ruin our friendship." That was not a green light, but it also was not a red light.

It was a yellow light, so, I proceeded with caution. In June, I stated my love for her. I told her I was in love with her, she laughed in my face. She laughed like all of your favorite comedians combined to write the funniest joke of all time. Laughed, veins popping in her neck. Laughed in my face. I'm standing there. "When you get done laughing, I'm going to be right here. You don't know me like that." July, I proposed to her. She said yes. We got married May 1st in '99. That's how that went. Confidence. I'm just mm. Now if I'm like that off of a word from God for my wife, don't think--

In the six years pastoring this church, I've gone through all kind of stuff. Been faced with all kind of challenges, but once I get a word from God, I'm like, "I wish you would come through here," acting like I don't know who my God is. If you make room for this in your head, that's how you're going to be walking around. Don't matter what life hits you with, "Thank you, Holy Spirit." In the best days, you won't be walking around arrogant. You'll be able to hold it with a open hand, like, "Oh my God, that car is bomb. Look at this house, it's so dope."

You'll just be like, "I love it, and we love blessing people with it." It can leave tomorrow, we can have the worst economic collapse of all time, I'll pile my whole family into an apartment, and we'll be blessing the Lord. If I ever think that I'm blessed because I got a house, then you won't think you're blessed until you have a house.

If you don't think you blessed until you driving a certain type of car, then you don't think you blessed until you get that car. Then what you doing right now? "I'm almost blessed. I got the B, L, and the E, but my next promotion will give me two Ses, and then I'll be closer than I've ever been." No, you're blessed now. Juliet and I were just as blessed when we were eating Texas double cheeseburgers at Wendy's in the parking lot as we are right now. I don't even eat beef no more, but in that season, we was blessed.

Listen, when I was growing up, my dad would take that bologna with the red tape around it, and make three slices in it when he put it in the skillet so it wouldn't bubble up. He'd toast two pieces of bread and put that French's mustard on there and some sandwich spread. Put it on there, and then hand me a bag of Fritos. My belly didn't know the difference between that and sea bass. I don't need bologna with red tape no more. I don't want to see it. I don't want anything. I'm scarred from my childhood. We had the government cheese and the peanut butter.

The cheese that didn't melt and all that. I do have some bougie tendencies now. I can't have Great Value come to my house. I don't care. I don't care. It's comparable. It's the same. I don't care. I will be triggered by Great Value, but trust and believe if all this went away, I'd be in the Great Value aisle. "Hey, what kind of butter is that?" "Just butter." It just says butter and it melts. Six. "Surely goodness and unfailing love will pursue me all the days of my life, and I will live in the house of the Lord forever." Nathan, come up here. Rory, come up here.

Goodness and unfailing love will pursue me. It will pursue me. I don't pursue it. I'm not after it. It's after me. He uses this word, surely. "Surely goodness and unfailing love," King James, "Goodness and mercy shall follow me," when?

It's behind me. This is why you don't have to hustle. The stuff you trying to put ahead of you is behind you. If you would get on the right path, it would just pursue you. If I speed up, I can't outpace God. Even if I speed up--

It's been with me in 1996, it's been with me in 2001. It's been with me in 2005. It's always been behind me. You don't have to catch it. It's in pursuit of you. If you would just calibrate your mind and make room in your head for this, you'll stop looking at what's ahead. Hopefully, you just turn around.

I'm so handsome, and know that everything that you're asking Him for is in pursuit of you. Last thing and we're done, "And I will live in the house of the Lord forever." Forever. Forever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever? Forever, I will be in the house of the Lord. I'm not talking about perfect attendance at a church building. My house is the house of the Lord. My workspace at work becomes the house of the Lord. This place is the house of the Lord. I am the house of the Lord. He's tabernacled on the inside of me. When you make room for this in your head, He changes the way you see every season that you're in. Thank you, gentleman, I appreciate you.

Y'all give it up for goodness and mercy.

Everybody do like this. Just say, Lord-

-I make room-

-in my head-

-for these six verses.

I make room-

-in my head-

-for you to be my shepherd.

For you to give me all that I need.

For you to give me rest.

For you to give me a drama-free zone.

Thank you for renewing my strength.

Thank you for honoring me-

-anointing my head with oil.

God, thank you for my brothers and sisters, your sons and daughters.

I thank you for everything that you're doing in our lives collectively. I know that you are the one who is making room for us. Last week we did it in our heart, this week we're doing it in our head. Next week teach us how to do it in our home.

We open up our lives to you. We're not afraid to be with you on the mountain top or in the valley. We know you're with us. Your rod is keeping the enemy back, your staff is protecting us. God, we love you, we adore you, we magnify you. As we've made room in our head, we wait on you.