Don’t Write a Check You Can’t Cash!

0:23 for where it is that God is getting ready to take you. God burdened me with this word over a week ago, and as a consequence, I invited you, challenged you to bring journals on today. If you did not, whether you have an Android or iPhone, It allots space for you to take notes. It'll be very prudent for you to find that free application when we go into the Word of God. Habakkuk chapter 2, verse number 2. Rebecca chapter 2 verse number 2. Why don't you say I got it? Come on let's read it together. And the Lord answered me and said.

1:15 Make it plain. Let's read it again with a little bit more vim, vigor, and vitality. Come on, everybody. And the Lord answered me and said, Write the vision and take the plan upon you. And the Lord said to me, write the vision. You may be seated. I'm going to preach a little while today using as a subject, don't write a check you can't cash. Look at the person beside you and tell them, you should know that by now. Don't write a check. You can't cash.

2:10 Friends, I want to introduce you to a man by the name of Dr. James Pennebaker. Dr. James Pennebaker. He's a professor of psychology at the University of Texas in Austin. He's not a therapist. He's a research scientist. and he has spent the last 30 years measuring what happens to the body when people process what has happened to them. He couldn't understand why some people come through trauma while other people get stuck. and today you are going to have to make a life-altering decision whether or not you are going to allow trauma to trap you.

3:15 trauma is an event that is beyond a person's ability to master it at the time that it happens hospitals have entire wards designated to shock trauma But the church must be a recovery rehabilitation center for those who have been impacted not necessarily by a bullet, but by the trauma of an abrupt divorce.

3:57 Witnessing a death. Walking away from an accident. living with an illness, battered by abuse, tossed into neglect. climbing their way out of an adolescent incident. are just trying to cope so that you don't collapse.

4:33 Some people rebound while others elect to stay bound. today God had you in this place because you are not going to stay bound what they unearthed at the university is that people who recovered found a way to etch the experience into words hear this they didn't post it they didn't text it they didn't email it it's an exercise to transfer what's stored in the body into language a professor at the university of texas in austin ran a series of experiments where he asked participants to write about their most difficult experiences for 20 minutes a day.

5:50 Here's what he asked them to do. Write about your traumatic experience for 20 minutes a day for four days in a row. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or starting today, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. He asked them to write about your traumatic experience 20 minutes a day for four days in a row. No therapy, no medication, no videos, just write. somebody who is sitting around you in this moment god is about to break writer's block it's about to break writer's block they're not going to tell you they're not going to discuss it they're not going to articulate it but it is the writer's block that has um been an obstacle to them finishing the application you have no idea what book is inside of them if they would just get the energy to edit the blog.

7:14 They have everything it takes to start a sub stack. You have no indication. Only 3% of black people have a PhD and you have no idea that the only hurdle they have left is finishing the dissertation. all that is necessary for you is to submit the proposal do you know how much resources are waiting for you but you refuse to write the grant god is saying i am getting ready to break writer's block after six weeks of people just writing about their trauma, writing about their incident, writing about their issue. After six weeks, they found there was a reduction in depression.

8:13 There was an alleviation of pain. There was a reduction of doctor's visits. and here's what's uncanny. The results didn't come from talking about it. Didn't come from talking about it. It came from writing it. I need you to hear this and I want you to hear it well. Trauma is stored in the body. Trauma is stored in the body as an unprocessed emotion. Trauma, hear this, is an incomplete complete experience. The nervous system keeps them active. Why? Because the trauma was never finished. And the trauma was never finished. Why? Because you never named it.

9:16 Particularly in the black community, we have been forced to act like it didn't happen. Don't discuss it. Don't report it. Don't tell nobody about it. Keep it in our house. People in the street don't need to know our business. And so now for years, you have been holding in your body the trauma you couldn't name and you couldn't discuss. It's never been named. And further, after not being named, you never gave your trauma an expiration date. Nehemiah wanted to build the wall and the king asked him, when do you want it finished? And Nehemiah, having no building experience, began to declare when he wanted the wall finished. I wanted to ask you, when do you want to stop being traumatized? how long you want to be a victim how long you want to keep looking over your shoulder how long do you want to be robbed of your sleep even milk has an expiration date today marks the beginning of the end writing ladies and gentlemen causes the brain to bring stuff to order so it doesn't just float in reckless abandonment the enemy is hoping that you just shout and don't write as long as you ain't writing then it is not real when the brain organizes an experience into language it shifts when the brain organizes an experience into language it shifts from the amygdala where threat lives to the prefrontal cortex where meaning lives. I think I lost you.

11:24 Just by you writing the experience, something happens in your mind. The trauma goes from the amygdala, which is where threat lives, to the prefrontal cortex to where meaning lives. when you have been able to write about your trauma, write about your experience, write about your circumstance, then the enemy no longer has the authority to threaten you. because what used to be a threat now has a meaning. I went through this because now I understand what was happening for me. Jesus said about Lazarus, this sickness is not unto death. It is only so I can get glory out of your life. The enemy meant it for evil, but God is going to work it out for my good.

12:26 Come on, no weapon formed against me will be able to prosper. In the time of trouble, he shall hide me. When you understand that what I went through didn't kill me, but it strengthened me for a reason, I no longer have to live in shame and embarrassment and worry about what you think about the incident. All you got to know is it didn't break me. It built me stronger to be who I am today. Yeah.

13:09 Kim Burrell said, you can't drag my name. It's too heavy. Where you gonna take it? After you write it down, hear this, the immune system stops preparing for a threat that no longer exists. You have been so on edge because you think it's going to happen again. You have a shortness of breath because you believe it has not ended. You are living with PTSD as if you served in Vietnam. The memory of your trauma as of this moment has no authority. I don't care if it was a rape, it was a molestation, it was an abandonment.

14:02 it was an abuse it was an accident it was death whatever it is stop giving it the authority that it does not have greater is he that is in me let me remix it greater is he that is in me than what happened to me y'all didn't hear what I just said I better say it again greater is he that is in me than what happened to me Thank you. the exercise, the exercise that you will get ready to go under for the next four days is called expressive writing. It is expressive writing. Now, here's the catch. It's going to be hard for you because in this writing, you got to be honest. you know, don't, don't, don't give me the PG version.

15:01 You got to be authentic. Remember you ain't posting this. You're not emailing this. This is just for you and for the God of your salvation. It's got to be reflective. I am not asking you to write an SAT essay, right at your own speed, at your own space, at your own comfortability and in your own language. Don't write like you in the King James Version of 1611.

15:34 Of thee and thou and ye. You got to write, I can't believe this Negro did this to me. Come on, y'all ain't saying nothing to me. I should have never gave them a chance in the first place. I don't believe my own family made me audition for the truth that nobody stood up for me. I can't believe I had to fight for myself and I had to grow up that early and I had to suppress what it is that I was feeling. I can't believe that the teacher didn't see the sign that I was acting up, not because I had behavior challenges, but because I needed some attention for somebody to intervene on my behalf. I'm still mad that my daddy didn't pick me up. I'm still upset that my grandmother had to raise me. I still got a problem that it was clear I wasn't the favorite child. I'm still bothered why God made me born with this dysfunction and this deficiency.

16:34 You got to write like you should be praying. church part of the problem in the church is we make people move on unhealed y'all didn't like what I just said yes I'm glad you came to the altar yes I'm glad they put oil on your forehead yes I'm glad they lay hands on you and made you fall out but you still got to do the work come on y'all ain't saying nothing to me yes God's got the power to do it immediately but there's some things in your life you're gonna have to pray through and cry through and walk through and shout through. I ain't talking to folk that ain't been through nothing. I'm talking to those of y'all that love God, but you're still hurt.

17:30 You love God, and you're still wounded. You love God, and you want to cuss under your breath. This don't make no cotton-picking sin. That folk that live reckless and raggedy lives are going forward, and here I am with a pure heart and clean hand. and folk treat me like a disray. God, what's up with that? So because the church told you to move on and to move on unhealed, get over it. Stop talking about it. Stop dealing with it. You now have become a citizen that resides in chronic tension.

18:22 You have unexplained illnesses. that don't show up in the MRI. Back just start hurting out of nowhere. You got a headache. Y'all ain't saying nothing to me. Just all of a sudden, your neck just locking up on you. Got no idea with all of the tension that's on you that your foot just falling asleep. I can't hear nobody in here. How you pulling a hamstring and you don't even do sports? You ain't even walked around the corner, but your whole body is breaking down because it's holding on to the tension that you've been carrying. But I declare and decree the blood of Jesus, Satan. I now renounce every worker of iniquity that's trying to put my body under hostage. He that the Son sets free. I don't want you to live in chronic tension.

19:23 I don't want you to live in unexplained illnesses. I don't want you to have functional anxiety. Where you wear it all the time. Every time a blessing happens, you think it's too good to be true. You waiting on the other shoe to drop. Every time there's a parade, you waiting on the rain.

19:47 There is an overarching feeling of being incomplete. What a job the enemy has done on you to be anointed and inadequate. how did he do such a scam on your thinking that you think less of yourself than god does when he chose you he knew your vulnerability he knew your weaknesses he knew your handicaps he knew your brokenness and still chose you anyway and you allow people to talk you out of a job you never interviewed for? You never asked God for this level of favor and this level of grace and this level of mercy, and you mean you letting unleaded people try to explain away why you don't deserve what it is that God's got for you? Shut all of them up and say, I know I don't deserve it, but I'm grateful for his love for me. I'm appreciative that while I was yet a sinner, He died for me.

21:00 You don't even know what's happening. It's like leaving all of your apps open. You leave all of your apps open in the background and don't know why the battery is running low. you got to close some applications.

21:22 The body, I want you to write this down, the body doesn't forget what the mind refuses to process. The body, I'm trying, the body doesn't forget what the mind refuses to process. So writing closes the file even if it doesn't resolve the experience. Lord, that's good.

21:54 Writing closes the file even if it doesn't resolve the experience. The healing begins in the writing. Dr. Pennebaker says you may feel worse in the first four days. while you're writing, you're not going to feel good because you are stirring what is unsettled and you are activating what is dormant. It's going to get better with time, but you're going to have to deal with the inconvenience of acknowledgement. He said, writing is in the healing.

22:42 This is what the Lord was trying to communicate to his prophet Habakkuk. Habakkuk is so wearied about the corruption in the White House. You saw all of these fake assassination attempts. trying to justify ballroom while they at war, seeing the wicked engage in illegal warfare, all in a quest for wealth and dominion. He told him in the first verse to stand as a watchman, to see the dismantling of what tried to destroy you. Pastor, you went too fast.

23:37 He said to the man of God, I need you to look around because what tried to destroy you is about to be destroyed and I want you to see it. I better give it to you another way. Who tried to destroy you is about to be destroyed and I want you to have a front row seat and see it all happen in real time. I said to you just a moment ago, I said to you a moment ago, is that writing, hear this, does not resolve the experience.

24:20 It just helps bring it to closure. An amazing quote by one of my favorite writers, Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou said this, a bird doesn't sing because it has an answer. it sings because it has a song a bird doesn't sing because it has an answer it sings because it has a song you are writing not because you got the answers you writing because you got to get something off your chest you got to write because you got this monkey on your back you got to write because ain't no way you gonna be able to function as a mother as a grandparent as an entrepreneur still dealing with an issue that's unresolved. I sing because I'm happy. I sing because I'm free. His eye is on the sparrow. I know he's watching over me. John chapter 8. John chapter 8 is a peculiar story that I wanted to refresh your memory about.

25:28 John chapter 8, it says a woman was caught in adultery, not in masturbation. Why am I underscoring that? Because I'm trying to figure out how she got caught by herself. it take two to tango y'all like yeah where her partner at where where the person that she's with that's a whole nother sermon for a whole nother day a woman is caught in adultery and the people at the church want to stone her they don't say nothing about deacon so-and-so, you know, come on, y'all ain't saying nothing to me today, they just, they just want to stone her, and from the oldest to the youngest, they put a circle around her, and they are prepared to stone her, and then Jesus does something we never seen God do, Jesus stoops down, and he does something we ain't never seen God do, God just starts writing, God I love this so much and the problem I got with John is John never tells us what Jesus wrote all we know is that the people that wanted to stone her start walking away and dropping their stone y'all got to help me right here I believe that when Jesus stooped down he just started right don't worry about them girl all have sinned and fallen short of his God y'all ain't saying nothing of me you sinned every day by thought by word and by d he just started right some of them want to stone you because they didn't sleep with you some of them are jealous because they were trying to get to you and it didn't work but i declare if i am for you who can be against look at your neighbor say don't make God write you up for trying to handle me Right now, for somebody that'll give God glory,

27:37 God told me to tell you, if you give me glory, I'm rewriting who you are. I'm rewriting your reputation. I'm rewriting what people think about you. I'm redoing your whole brand in the earth. And here's why you got to shout. God is rewriting who I am and I'm guilty. I did it, but he still loves me. I did it, but he still cares about me.

28:12 Hallelujah. You may be seated. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. I don't know who this is for, but your story ain't finished yet. This is my story. This is my song. I'm praising my Savior. All the day long, perfect submission. All is at rest.

28:44 Hallelujah. You may be seated. Hallelujah And that's not how three days later I'm coming out of this thing look at your neighbor tell him it ain't a period it's just a comma today marks the end of a chapter but if you give God glory a new chapter in your life is getting ready to unfold Be seated, please.

29:28 Revelations. Revelations chapter 21, verse number 5. John is in jail. Revelation 21, verse number 5. John is in jail and the Holy Spirit, the Bible says, sat on him. he's in a cage he's in bondage and the holy spirit sits on him while he's in a stronghold hallelujah and he begins to write i see new stuff god i can't hear nobody well i feel new stuff is getting ready to happen behold all things are new now the reason why you don't know how to shout is because you don't even understand God will show you new stuff while in bondage. God, he didn't show me the new stuff when I got out. When I was in the middle of my circumstance, he had to remind me it won't always be like this. Sooner or later, it's going to work in my favor. And John had to write what was the new stuff he saw. Be seated, please.

30:44 Come on. And so in all of the chapters of Revelation, I want you to be mindful that we have reworded it incorrectly. It is revelation, not revelations. it is revelation not revelations it is only one revelation with several chapters in it god i can't hear nobody the reason why you got to give god glory over the next four days god is about to give you one revelation about the chapters of your life that are getting ready to happen. I'm thankful that God is speaking to me while I'm still bowed. He's talking to me while I'm in between a rock and a hard place.

31:40 if writing is good for trauma if writing is good for trauma it must also be good for triumph writing is good for trauma it's also got to be good for triumph ladies and gentlemen I need you now to open up your journal I'm almost there I'm almost there thank you he said write the vision for what you see happening. Something good is getting ready to happen in this room. Hallelujah. That's what he said in Habakkuk. Start writing what you see for yourself. Start writing the future you see for your children and for your business and for your assignment and for your oil and for your anointing and for your household and for your bloodline.

32:42 Start writing. Hallelujah. He said, I need you to start writing and I need to warn you, what you writing is going to take a minute. Hallelujah. Though it Terry, wait for it.

33:04 Hallelujah. Now, you got to understand something crazy is getting ready to happen that most of y'all are getting ready to miss. He says, you get ready to find out who your real friend is. I'm telling you, you're getting ready to find out who's really with you and who's really happy for you and who really wants to see the best for your life. Now, he said, write it. You ain't got to email it. You ain't got to post it. Come on here. You ain't got to put it on your Facebook page. He said, write it. Then here comes the catch. show it to a runner okay y'all just missed it you ain't even got to get high on your own supply show somebody who really want to see you do well and they're gonna start running for you i'm in the book y'all don't like her becca chapter two verse number two she said you got to write the vision show it to them and then let them run for what you getting ready to walk into. Look at the person beside and say, I'm scared to show you what I wrote.

34:23 Because if I show you what I write, hallelujah, I'm scared you're going to tear this whole church up. Because only you and two other people know what kind of hell I've been through. That I had some good days and I had some bad days, but my good days, they outweigh. Be seated, it's coming. Now only thing I need you to do, I'm almost finished. Your journal is open, the app is open, where are you able to take notes? Are you on the back of a blank envelope? You watching me at home? I'm getting there. Here's what I want you to do real quick. No preaching is complete without a practicum. We can't just be hearers of the word.

35:15 We got to be doers also. Thank you. So I want you to write down, here it is, what you want God to do this summer. I'm past your trauma. I'm at your triumph. What do you want God to do this summer? I need him to heal my mom. I need him to shift something in my son. I need two solid contracts for my business. I got to move between now and Labor Day. Come on. I can't hear nobody. I got to figure out how this tuition is going to get paid. I need a reduction of the mass that has developed in my breasts. I want God to take me off this medication that makes me feel like I'm not myself. I need God to either change the spirit of my supervisor or get me another supervisor. Come on, I can't hear nobody. Write down what you want God to do for you this summer. Between Memorial Day and Labor Day, this is what I want God to do. I I said, write it, write it, write it down, write it down.

36:23 Let it be raw. Let it be authentic. Let it be clearly you. Let it be transformative. Let it be transparent. But I want you to write down what you want God to do for you between Memorial Day and Labor Day. Hallelujah. Once you have it, once you finish writing it, I need you to lift up your journal, lift up your phone, lift up your tablet, lift up your iPad. Just so I know that you have finished writing. If you're still writing, I'm not rushing you. I just need an indication of who's there and who's ready. I'm almost just at a third of the room. Write down what I need God to do.

37:01 I need him to level out my cholesterol. I need him to do something about my insulin. I don't want another season of an inhaler. I want God to arrest fibroids. I want God to do something about the anger management in my spouse I need God to do something about the spending habits that is in me come on what do you need God to do between Memorial Day and Labor Day I need God to get me out of this jalopy I need a car that's reliable I don't have to pray every time I put the key in the ignition I need God to do something I don't want a job. I want a career. I want something that puts me in alignment for what it is that I am born to do. Once you finish writing, I need you to lift up that journal, lift up that tablet, lift up that phone.

37:58 those of you who are at home once it is that you have finished writing what I what you are believing God to do for this summer I want you to put a lifted hand emoji in the thread even right now so I know that you're in alignment with what it is that we're doing I'm almost finished media team if you'll pull up for me i know you don't have it habakkuk chapter 2 verse number 3 our text today was habakkuk 2 verse number 2 i now want to go down one verse to verse number 3 if you'll get that on the screen for me as quickly as you can that hand is lifted would you just begin to wave god wave your hand in worship right there I'm going to speak something over what you just wrote.

38:50 I'm getting ready to speak something over what you just typed. I'm getting ready to speak something over what you just scribbled. Hallelujah. I don't even know what's on your paper. I don't know what's on your tablet. I don't know what's on your device. I don't know what's in your phone. But I'm speaking something over it. Whatever you just typed. here's what I want to speak verse number three here it is for the vision is for an appointed time whatever you just wrote it is for an appointed time but at the end what you wrote will start speaking God I can't hear no worshipers in here what you wrote is not a lie what you wrote here it is i hope y'all will shout about it what you want wrote is what god wants for you god i can't hear nobody did you hear what i said what you just wrote down is what god wants for you he said wait on it hallelujah wait on it and here's your shout i'm finished everything you wrote y'all ought to erupt in thanksgiving right here everything you wrote I make this as a declaration as a man of God in this house everything you wrote is coming to pass this summer come on I can't hear nobody everything you wrote down God is going to do it in his perfect time don't wait till the battle is over. I need you to shout right now like you trust God to perform everything that you wrote down. It's gotta happen.

40:48 Lift up both of those hands. The thing that he repeats twice. The enemy of your manifestation. The enemy of your manifestation. Third time for extra emphasis. The enemy of your manifestation is impatience. says it's gonna take a minute but i need you to wait on it you gotta trust me through the process that this ain't no overnight stuff i'm talking about but later in the midnight hour i'm gonna turn it around those of you who've been waiting on god to do something specific in your life a day to just lift up your hand and just begin to thank god that they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.

41:50 They that wait upon the Lord will mount up on wings as eagles. They that wait upon the Lord will run and not get weary. Come on, you got 10 seconds left. I pray over every lifted hand that God will give you discipline over the next four days. that you'll trust yourself to be free, to write what you have been through, to find language for what you have endured, to be able to no longer be hostage to what held you down, but to believe that this writing process is going to be your healing journey and that when you come through these next four days, you will not be writing about trauma. But you'll start writing about your triumphs.

42:48 I can't hear no worshipers in here. And when you start turning the pages back, you're going to start realizing, I got more triumphs than I got trauma. And I'm able to give God glory. Would you do me a favor? I hope you'll do it. Would you give God glory if today turns the page on your mental health? Come on, I can't hear nobody. I said, open up your mouth. Like today changes the page.

43:19 Who it is that you are. I want you standing all over this room. All over this room. The old people used to say it when I was coming up in church. That he's written your name in the book of life. Aren't you glad you have a God that doesn't just speak. You got a God that writes. and not only does he write but he knows my name he knows every hair on my head that's how much he's into me ladies and gentlemen i don't know where it is that you are but it is uh my overwhelming privilege um it's my overwhelming privilege to invite you to get connected to a God who is still writing your story, still writing what your chapter, the next chapter of your life is going to be like. I don't know who you are. I don't know what you've been through. I don't know what you endured. All I know is you didn't get here by accident.

44:31 God knew you needed this message. God knew your soul was going to do somersaults because finally you got water in the middle of the desert. This is where you are. You're saying, pastor, you got no idea how much my soul needed this today. How much my spirit needed this today. I hope you are energized that you don't need an energy drink. What you just heard should have you off and running, chasing your dreams, pursuing your purpose and answering your call. If this was a blessing, share it with somebody else. Don't be selfish. This is what God gave you so that you can be a blessing to somebody who needs it worse.