It's Time for a Turnaround

I'll never forget the moment I finally turned around.

It was seventh grade in Queens, New York. Every day I'd ride the Q28 bus to school, and every single day, this girl Melissa would be waiting for me. She was three times my size, and she made my life miserable. She'd kick me, push me, flick my hat, and call me names. I tried everything to avoid her. I'd get on the bus earlier. She'd be there. I'd get on later. Still there. The crazy part? She didn't even go to my school.

One day, I called my older brothers for backup. They promised they'd be there to deal with the bully. So when I got off the bus, full of confidence, I yelled, "The bully's here! The bully's here!" But my brothers never showed up. Melissa laughed harder and pushed me even more.

Finally, I'd had enough. I turned around and said, "Melissa, leave me alone."

And you know what happened? She left me alone. I never saw her on that bus again. Not once.

I could have ended it a long time ago if I'd just been willing to turn around.

What's Been Following You?

There's a story in Acts 16 that should be familiar to most of us. Paul and Silas get thrown in prison, and at midnight they start worshiping, and God shakes the prison doors open. We love that story. It's a Pentecostal favorite.

But here's what we often skip over: what got them arrested in the first place.

Acts 16:16 says, "Once when we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a female slave who had a spirit by which she predicted the future." This woman followed Paul, Silas, Luke, and Timothy around, shouting, "These men are servants of the Most High God, who are telling you the way to be saved!"

Now, you might read that and think it doesn't sound so bad. She's saying they're men of God who are preaching salvation. But she wasn't celebrating them. She was mocking them. That's the enemy's strategy. He doesn't always have to contradict what you're doing. Sometimes he just says it in a tone that suggests you're foolish for doing it.

"Oh, you want to tithe now? Oh, you're going to lead a small group? Oh, you think you can change?"

The passage says she kept this up for many days.  And then finally, Paul became so annoyed that he turned around and said to the spirit, "In the name of Jesus Christ, I command you to come out of her."

Notice he didn't speak to the woman. He spoke to the spirit inside of her.

At that moment, the spirit left.

The Power of One Turn

The entire passage turns on one word: turned.

One turn changed everything. One turn broke a pattern. One turn broke bondage. One turn created breakthrough.

There is always a turnaround hidden in the moment that you finally confront what's been bothering you. That turn will lead to thanks. That turn will lead to praise. That turn will lead to worship. That turn will lead to peace. That turn will lead to authority. That turn will lead to revival in your family, your city, your ministry, and your marriage.

Distracted or Deceived?

What you're dealing with isn't just slowing you down. It's stopping you. It's halting your development, your formation, and what God wants you to experience. You were headed toward destiny, but you're being bothered, and now there's been a detour. Joy feels non-existent. Peace feels absent. You're battling doubt, anger, paranoia, and ultimately fear.

Everything you're dealing with is a distraction. Your anger is a distraction. Your anxiety is a distraction. I'm not saying they're not real; they're very real. But the goal of what you're dealing with is simply to distract you. You've spent so much time worrying about the enemy, that you've missed what God is trying to do in you and for you.

Most people admit they're distracted, but they never realize they're deceived.

The deception comes into play when you spend more time  worrying about what you should be dealing with rather than actually dealing with it. There's a big difference between thinking about something and dealing with it.

Jesus Should Be Your Focus, But the Devil Has Your Attention

What you're dealing with feels urgent. It feels demanding. I agree it's worth paying attention to, but I disagree that you should be spending as much time worrying about it as you are. You've given it so much attention that the attention has become your current reality. That attention has become your trap, and this trap is keeping you from the presence of God.

You're so focused on what's attacking you that you have no awareness of what God wants to form in you. You're missing out on the beauty of the presence of God.

Jesus should be your focus, but the devil has your attention.

You can love Jesus and still be mentally exhausted by what's following you. You can love Jesus and still be consumed by the attacks of the enemy. You can believe God, but still be dragged dragged down by the same distraction over and over.

Your attention follows your distraction.  And because your attention goes to the distraction, it's taking your attention away from the presence of God, which satisfies the enemy.

Attention is worship.

Whatever you give your focus to eventually shapes your faith.

The Enemy Knows What Happens When You Pray

Look at when the enemy showed up in Acts 16:16: "As we were going to the place of prayer."

Not after prayer. Not instead of prayer. But on the way to prayer.

Why would the enemy show up when they're heading to prayer? Because the enemy knows what happens when you actually get to prayer. He understands that prayer is where clarity comes, identity stabilizes, and purpose awakens. When you pray, heaviness lifts and gratitude forms.

The enemy is not afraid of you praying. He's afraid of who you become when you pray.

He's afraid you'll go from negative to positive. From doubtful to hopeful. From faithless to faithful. He's afraid you'll become the man or woman of God you're destined to be. He's afraid you'll stop the cycle in your family, and that you'll be different from the generations before you.

If he can keep you from prayer, he wins.

This is why you need to take your intimacy with the Holy Spirit more seriously. This is more than just going to church to check a box, more than reading a verse of the day so you can tell your spouse you read your Bible, more than playing a worship song as a ritual instead of actually taking it in.

This is the moment where you graduate from casual to consistent. This is becoming a man or woman who understands that spiritual warfare is real, so you read your Word and commit to it. You get on your knees and call out in prayer. You get time with God, and you're not worried about anybody else. You're concerned with who you're becoming.

When I get in the presence of God, I become the better version of who God created me to be. I get a little bit stronger. A little bit wiser. A little bit bolder. A little bit more mature. Fear starts to have less of a grip on me.

The enemy doesn't care if you read the Bible. He's afraid you'll become the verse. He's not scared that you worship. He's scared you'll become a man or woman who worships in spirit and in truth.

What You Refuse to Confront, You Consent to Continue

What you refuse to confront, you consent to continue.

There are many of you who don't talk about it because in your family, you don't talk about it. You grew up saying, "We don't talk about those issues." But the issues are there. The lust is there. The womanizing is there. The gambling is there. The addiction is there. The alcoholism is there.

You dress it up as celebration, but in reality, you're just trying to swallow your fears. You're trying to suppress your pain. And the more you go along without identifying what's bothering you, you enable it to keep bothering you.

This issue is never going to go away by simply ignoring it or repressing it. To repress something is to enable something.

Maybe you have generational curses plaguing you that repeat year after year, person after person in your family. Or maybe you're struggling with something new that just appeared this week. Either way, enough is enough. You don't have to allow it to continue.

Unfollow them today. Respond to the email today. Let them know you don't play like that. Speak to that spirit and say, "Get out."

The longer you allow that spirit to remain, you keep the enemy in business. The enemy is banking on the fact that you're not going to say anything. But it wasn't until Paul turned around and said, "Get out of here. Get behind me," that breakthrough happened.

From Fear-Giving to Thanksgiving

Psalm 100:4 says we are to "enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise."

The enemy doesn't care if you enter God's presence. He just wants to mess with how you enter. God says He wants you to come in with thanksgiving, but you can't come in with thanksgiving because you've been too fixated on fear-giving.

You've given so much attention, energy, and emotion to your fear that you have nothing left for gratitude.

2 Timothy 1:7 says, "God has not given us a spirit of fear." If God didn't give it to you, then why do you keep tolerating it?

Some of us steward our fear better than we do our praise. You know how to go on social media, YouTube, read articles, read books, and do all the things that further you down the path of fear. With the internet today, you can find anywhere to agree with what you want to find.

You're going to have to make a decision: What do you want to believe? The word of fear or the Word of God?

Deal With It So You Can Praise Properly

Paul didn't say, "I'm going to wait until I get to the prayer meeting, then I'll pray about that girl." He dealt with it on the street.

Some of you think the answer to all your problems is a prayer meeting. I grew up in a church where everyone prayed but hardly produced. Your prayers are full of your attacks. You could deal with it before you come to church so that when you come to church, your attention can be where it needs to be.

When Jesus teaches us to pray in Matthew 6, He says, "Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Keep us from the evil one."

Notice there's only one sentence in that whole prayer about keeping us from the evil one. The rest of the prayer is praise,  honor, and glory to the King of Kings.

Perhaps you haven't gotten to praise because you're so fixated on your pain. The deception of your pain is that it has to consume your attention. But the Holy Spirit is saying if you want that thing to shift, turn around and deal with it.

Turn around and deal with what's been bothering your family. Turn around and deal with what's been bothering your legacy. Turn around and deal with what's been affecting your marriage. Turn around and deal with what's been affecting your children.

You want this thing to turn around? Turn around and deal with it. Call it by name. Deal with that spirit of greed. Deal with that spirit of jealousy. Deal with that spirit of addiction. Call it out so you can get to praise.

They Worshiped Because They Were Free

Paul and Silas ended up in prison, but they continued to praise the same way they prayed in the street, the same way they were going to pray in the prayer meeting. What's happening in you doesn't have to affect what's happening around you. What's happening around you can be directly impacted by what's happening in you.

Paul and Silas did not worship to get free. Paul and Silas worshiped because they were free.

There's a big difference. When you realize what spirit is attacking your marriage, your peace, your mental health, your purity, or your children, and you say, "I'm not tolerating this anymore," you turn around and call it what it is. You cast that thing out. You take authority over what the enemy meant for bad. You turn it around and use it for good; as a testimony. 

Isaiah 61:3 says He'll trade you a spirit of heaviness for a garment of praise. That happens when the worshiper rises up. The worshiper is able to rise up when they deal with what used to have their worship.

We say things like "worship your way through it" or "worship your way in front of it." My attention is worship. I'm not giving this anxiety all this attention anymore. I'm not giving this lust, these secrets, this greed all this attention anymore. I'm calling it out so I can move forward.

Your Turnaround Is Waiting

I'm Pentecostal--I believe in the power of prayer. I believe in the laying on of hands. I believe in the prophetic and in speaking in tongues.

I also believe in stewardship. I believe we cheapen the gospel when we try to exclude ourselves from what Jesus commissioned us to do. He says, "Go out into the world, make disciples, cast out demons, heal the sick, raise the dead."

The world is over here going, "God, deal with this," and He's saying, "I gave you the authority to deal with it."

Can we just deal with this stuff that's been chasing you? You keep tolerating it. You keep coming to God about it. How about you go to it? "Get out. Get out of my home. Get out of my marriage. Get out of my private time. Get out." 

Your future is full of praise. Your future is full of peace. Your future is full of joy. But you have to be willing to confront whatever that spirit is that's been on your tail.

Surround yourself with people who are going to praise with you. Make sure you're surrounded by people who will help lead you to breakthrough. Whether Paul worshiped first or Silas worshiped first, one of them worshiped, then they both continued to worship, and as they worshiped, everybody found freedom.

If you really want to see revival in your family and in your city, you've got to address it. Call it out. Continue to praise your Lord and Savior. When you worship, it won't only impact you. It will impact the people around you.

You say you love your children? Love them enough to turn around and call out that lust. You say you love your wife?  How about you admit you have that addiction. Admit you're dealing with depression. Admit you're overwhelmed by greed.

You want to see a turnaround? The turnaround will only happen when you're willing to turn around and address the issue.

It doesn't go away because you simply prayed on it. Deal with it so you can pray properly.

Your turnaround is waiting for you to finally turn around.