Drive Out the Little Foxes

Sunday Round Up

Pastor Joel Dorman — Sunday 26th April

This week Joel kicked off with an awesome song from Transformation Worship, “Let Him Cook.” I couldn’t help but smile as the music video played — the joy, the rhythm, the invitation woven through the lyrics. The heart of the song is simple but profound: sometimes the best thing we can do is step back, stop trying to control everything, and let God work. Even when emotions are swirling and life feels unstable, He remains the God of every season. We don’t always understand what He’s doing, but He is building, rising, and lifting our faith.

It was the perfect doorway into the message Joel carried — a message about discipline, clarity, and the courage to confront the small things that quietly sabotage the work of God in our lives.

Strength for the Disciplined Life

2 Timothy 2:1–13

Joel took us straight into Paul’s charge to Timothy — a call to live with the grit and focus of a soldier, the discipline of an athlete, and the perseverance of a farmer. These images aren’t glamorous; they’re earthy, demanding, and honest. Paul wasn’t painting a romantic picture of faith. He was describing a life that requires endurance, consistency, and a willingness to push through difficulty.

But the beauty is this: we don’t do it alone.

We trust the Word because we are joined with Christ — in His death and His life, in His victory and His surrender. He is faithful even when we are not. The fullness is His, and He shares it with us. Joel reminded us that God is renewing His people, strengthening His soldiers, and calling us into a life that is disciplined but deeply fulfilling — a life authorised by Him.

The pattern of God hasn’t changed. But it is a new day, and He is calling His people to rise with fresh clarity.

The Little Foxes That Ruin the Vineyard

Song of Solomon 2:15

Joel then shifted to a surprising but powerful scripture: “Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards…”

It’s not the big, obvious threats that often derail us. It’s the small, sly, seemingly insignificant things — the quiet lies, the subtle doubts, the whispered narratives that slip into our thinking unnoticed. These “little foxes” creep in by stealth and begin to nibble away at the fruit God is cultivating in us.

Joel described them as:

• sly narratives

• internal doubts

• familiar patterns that feel harmless

• thoughts that steal, kill, and destroy from the inside out

  
  

Driving them out is not passive work. It’s intentional, sometimes forceful — grabbing the lie by the neck and removing it with Christ. We don’t do this alone; we do it with Him. We are co-workers in the vineyard of our own hearts.

God is preparing His people. He is waking His army — prophets, priests, and kings — who know their voice, speak truth, and align with who He is. And He says to us: “You start, and we will do this together.”

Your testimony is your weapon. Your story is your proof. The evidence of God’s faithfulness in your life is the pudding — and the proof is already there.

When God Turns Up the Heat

Joel reminded us that God is turning up the heat — not to punish, but to refine. Refining is uncomfortable, but it is purposeful. And the refining is based on Jesus, not on our ability to keep everything perfect. If we try to do this in our own strength, we will burn out.

He took us to 1 Kings 13, where the man of God allowed himself to be deceived by a false narrative. He wasn’t forced into disobedience; he believed a lie because it sounded spiritual. That’s the danger of narrative roots — they tie us up, hold us back, and keep us living in shadows.

Joel challenged us to bring everything into the light: our weaknesses, our failures, our hidden thoughts. Success in the Kingdom isn’t about perfection; it’s about honesty. From this moment forward, Joel declared, God is bringing clarity — clarity to hear truth, clarity to walk in victory, clarity to recognise the voice of God over every competing narrative.

Wisdom for the Battle

Joel then moved into the practical outworking of this. Proverbs 20:19 warns us about gossip and slander — the kind of speech that destroys trust and fractures community. God wants us to succeed, but success requires wisdom. Charging ahead alone is not strength; it’s recklessness.

James 3 paints the picture clearly: a fig tree cannot bear olives, salt water cannot produce fresh water, and the tongue, though small, can steer the entire direction of a life. Our words matter. They shape us and those around us. God forgives, but the consequences of our words still ripple outward.

We have a choice: to bless or to curse. To build or to break. To heal or to harm.

And our calling is clear — we are to build and heal.

Fruit That Reveals Jesus

Joel reminded us that God calls us to bear fruit — but the fruit is not for us. A pear tree doesn’t eat its own pears. Fruit is for others to taste and see Jesus.

We can look polished on the outside and still be mushy inside. Discipleship requires work — rooting ourselves in Jesus as our water source, the Word as our lamp, and His presence as our soil.

Gifts are not for self-promotion. They require godly character to wield well. This is why the little foxes must be driven out — they twist the gift into something self-serving.

Break every lie. Stop giving false narratives authority. Think differently. Let God reshape your inner world.

A Prophetic Word Over the Nations

Isaiah 37:28–35

Joel then released a prophetic word over Wales, England, Ireland, and Scotland. He spoke of God raising a band of men and women — an army linked arm in arm. The lies that distract and confuse must be recognised for what they are. No earthly authority has the answer. Jesus is the only answer.

He spoke of:

• the sleeping giant of the Church awakening

• God’s sovereignty towering above every earthly power

• the reality that we fight principalities, not people

• God hearing the arrogant words of the enemy

• God refusing to be mocked

  
  

This land has been paid for by those who went before — the legends, the kings of old, the Frank & Seth’s who carried a dream that has not yet been fulfilled.

And God declares: “I will make them return the way they came.”

Joel prophesied:

• the enemy retreating

• strength and joy returning

• normality restored by the third year

• praise and confession flourishing again

• barren land raising a monument (Jesus)

• Davids rising again

• God’s strategy unfolding

• His people standing firm

  
  

We must resist the urge to bring our opinions. Let God be God. He is working all things for good.

A Season of Witness

Joel prayed with authority, declaring anxiety broken in Jesus’ name. He called us to fix our eyes on Jesus, not the problem. This is a season of newness, protection, harvest, growth, and witness — a season where people will literally “taste and see” the goodness of God.

Be bold. He goes before you. Let hope arise. Let Him cook. It may be uncomfortable, but it will be worth it.

Keep knocking. Keep seeking. The One who transforms minds is working with you and for you.

Joel’s Closing Prayer

“Lord, seal Your word. Shift disbelief. Drive out lies and narratives that have held Your people captive.

Thank You that You are faithful even when we doubt.

You never change.

You say, ‘I love you, Son, no matter what you do.’

There is nothing greater than Your blood. Salvation, rest from broken dreams, and healing are available because of You.

You provide fullness.

Be the centre of our nation, our town, our family.”

Amen.