God Is Preparing You to Take Territory in

God Is Preparing You to Take Territory in

2027

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OJw5jZy6y28

Central message: What holds your attention influences your faith, expectations, and response to circumstances. Apostle Marla challenges believers to keep their focus on God’s Word, learn to rest in His faithfulness, and resist the repeated fears that pull them away from His promises.

1. Opening: God Is Preparing You for What Comes Next

• Apostle Marla opens with prayer for the congregation to receive the Word and be filled with God’s presence.
• She shares what she believes the Holy Spirit is saying: “I’m setting you up.”
• She describes 2026 as a year of increase in believers’ understanding of Christ within them.
• That increase includes:

○ Greater capacity to believe God. ○ Greater sensitivity to the Holy Spirit’s prompting. ○ Greater willingness to respond in obedience. ○ Growing expectation of God’s provision and healing.

• She presents 2027 as a year of “taking territory,” connecting future assignments with present spiritual preparation.

Main emphasis: What God is teaching you now prepares you for what He is calling you to do next.

1. Why We Need to Hear God’s Word Repeatedly

Scripture references: Habakkuk 2:3; Luke 18:1–8.

• Previous messages provide a foundation for understanding and applying new teaching.
• Hearing a truth once does not mean we have exhausted its meaning or learned to live it.
• The response “I already know that” can keep us from receiving deeper understanding.
• Apostle Marla uses a recent teaching on spirit, soul, and body as an example of familiar material opening a new area of understanding.
• Repetition should move believers toward:

○ Greater comprehension. ○ Stronger discernment. ○ Practical application. ○ Consistency under pressure.

• She contrasts hearing God’s truth repeatedly with repeatedly entertaining the enemy’s lies.
• The parable of the persistent widow reinforces the importance of perseverance in faith.

Application: Identify a biblical truth you know intellectually but still need to practice consistently.

1. Faith Rests in What God Has Prepared

Scripture references: Hebrews 4:3; Hebrews 11:1; Genesis 1:1–3.

• Israel experienced deliverance from slavery but continued looking backward.
• Their example illustrates how attention to the past can interfere with trusting God in the present.
• Hebrews 4 connects believing with entering God’s rest.
• Apostle Marla emphasizes the passage’s statement that God’s works were completed from the foundation of the world.
• She connects this with Hebrews 11:1 and its description of faith as the substance of things hoped for.
• Using the creation account, she teaches that God’s Spirit and Word bring forth what He has prepared.

Main emphasis: Faith begins with confidence in God’s provision and faithfulness rather than pressure to produce everything ourselves.

1. Hope Gives Faith Direction, and Praise Expresses Hope

Scripture reference: Psalm 71:14.

• Hope is described as a confident expectation of good.
• Apostle Marla connects hope with the vision of what believers trust God to accomplish.
• David’s response to hope is continual, increasing praise.
• Praise directs attention toward:

○ God’s character. ○ His faithfulness. ○ His promises. ○ What He has already done.

• Circumstances may compete for attention, but believers can deliberately return their focus to God.

Application: Make praise part of how you wait, rather than postponing it until circumstances change.

1. Trust God Without Having to Explain the “How”

Scripture reference: Mark 4:26–29.

• Apostle Marla introduces an illustration from Quantum Faith and the observer effect.
• Within the message, she uses this illustration to contrast trusting the outcome with trying to control every part of the process.
• Her spiritual emphasis is that constant calculation can become striving.
• Jesus’ parable of the growing seed supplies the biblical illustration:

○ The farmer scatters seed. ○ He sleeps and rises. ○ The seed grows even though he does not understand how. ○ He harvests when the crop is ready.

• The farmer has responsibilities, but he does not personally cause every stage of growth.
• Believers likewise have a part to play without taking responsibility for God’s part.

Main emphasis: You can obey God without understanding every detail of how He will work.

Application: Ask, “What is my responsibility today, and what am I trying to control that I need to entrust to God?”

Outline note: The quantum-physics material is presented here as the speaker’s illustration, rather than as scientific verification of the spiritual claims.

1. What You Sow Shapes What You Reap

Scripture reference: Galatians 6:7–8.

• Apostle Marla contrasts sowing to please the flesh with sowing to please the Spirit.
• In her application, pleasing the flesh includes insisting on visible explanations and personal control.
• Sowing to the Spirit includes:

○ Trusting God’s Word. ○ Responding to His direction. ○ Praising Him. ○ Keeping attention on Christ.

• She urges listeners to examine what they repeatedly feed through their thoughts, words, and focus.

Application: Consider whether your daily habits reinforce trust in God or rehearse the same fears.

1. Contentment and Confidence Are Learned

Scripture references: Philippians 4:11–13; Proverbs 4:7; Hebrews 5:8.

• Paul thanks the Philippians for their care while explaining that he has learned contentment.
• Apostle Marla repeatedly emphasizes the words “I have learned.”
• Paul learned to depend on Christ in both abundance and need.
• “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” is connected to that learned dependence.
• Spiritual maturity requires willingness to:

○ Receive instruction. ○ Hear truth again. ○ Practice obedience. ○ Develop wisdom and understanding.

• Proverbs 4:7 supports the call to pursue wisdom and become skillful in applying it.

Main emphasis: Steadfast faith develops as we repeatedly learn to depend on Christ.

Application: Replace frustration over what you have not mastered with a deliberate commitment: “I am going to learn to walk in this truth.”

1. Stay at the Table God Has Prepared

Scripture reference: Psalm 23:5–6.

• God prepares a table in the presence of enemies.
• The presence of opposition does not mean His provision is absent.
• Apostle Marla uses the table as a picture of the spiritual resources God has provided:

○ His Word. ○ His life and goodness. ○ The work of Christ. ○ The indwelling Holy Spirit.

• Her central instruction is: Do not leave the table because the enemy is in the room.
• Meditation helps believers continue feeding on truth instead of becoming absorbed in opposition.
• The passage’s images of anointing, an overflowing cup, goodness, and mercy reinforce confidence in God’s care.

Application: When pressure increases, return to the truths that nourish your faith.

1. Stand in Freedom Instead of Returning to Bondage

Scripture references: Psalm 107:13–16; Galatians 5:1.

• Apostle Marla describes God as the One who delivers, breaks chains, and opens prison doors.
• She connects deliverance with the instruction to stand firm in the freedom Christ provides.
• Familiar fears can invite believers back into patterns from which they have been freed.
• Examples include:

○ Fear of financial loss. ○ Fear of failure. ○ Anxiety about employment.

○ Fear concerning children and family. ○ Doubt about a promise previously embraced.

• Repeated fearful thoughts must not become the governing voice of a believer’s life.

Main emphasis: Guard the freedom you have received by becoming intentional about what you continue to entertain.

1. Keep Your Attention on What God Has Said

Scripture references: Numbers 23:19; Jeremiah 23:29; Psalm 16:6.

• Apostle Marla shares her conviction concerning Faith Center’s future:

○ An additional service. ○ Building expansion. ○ A church that equips people and sends them out.

• She acknowledges the pressure of continuing to declare a vision before seeing its fulfillment.
• Numbers 23:19 emphasizes God’s truthfulness and faithfulness.
• Jeremiah 23:29 describes His Word as fire and a hammer.
• Psalm 16 reinforces the picture of a life directed by God.
• She warns that misplaced attention can also affect relationships through suspicion, blame, and negative assumptions.

Application: Evaluate the thoughts shaping your attitude toward your spouse, family, church leaders, and workplace.

1. In the Storm, Remember What Jesus Already Said

Scripture reference: Mark 4:35–41.

• Jesus tells the disciples they are going to the other side.
• A storm develops while He sleeps in the boat.
• The disciples become afraid and question whether He cares.
• Apostle Marla emphasizes that Jesus’ direction came before the storm.
• She asks listeners to consider whose voice is telling them they are “perishing.”
• Fear can cause people to:

○ Forget previous instruction. ○ Question God’s care. ○ Blame others. ○ Spread their distress into relationships.

• The invitation is to return attention to Christ and respond from what He has taught.

Main emphasis: A storm does not erase the word you received before it began.

1. Closing Illustration: The Battle for Your Attention

• Apostle Marla recounts an illustration she heard from Nancy Dufresne concerning a telescope project and the pressure surrounding it.
• The story serves to reinforce the message’s central point: gaining someone’s attention can influence the rest of their life.
• She returns to the call to prepare for the coming year by deliberately training attention.
• Listeners are encouraged to refuse fear as the final authority over their future.

Application: Recognize recurring distractions and practice returning your attention to God’s truth.

1. Response: Repent, Refocus, and Learn

• The congregation is invited to acknowledge where fear, blame, or circumstances have captured their attention.
• The closing prayer asks for forgiveness and renewed dependence on God.
• Apostle Marla encourages believers to:

○ Learn from the Holy Spirit. ○ Return to God’s promises. ○ Grow in praise. ○ Stop repeating destructive patterns. ○ Respond to the Word through obedience.

• She offers an invitation to receive Christ or return to Him.
• The altar invitation provides an opportunity for personal surrender and prayer.
• The final blessing focuses on hearing God’s voice, seeing His way, and walking in His strength.

Closing takeaway: Train your attention to return to God’s Word, remain teachable, and practice trusting Him in the circumstances you face.