I have no idea how many books I have read over the years — nor if I am honest, can I remember a lot of what many of them contained. But there are a few books, and a few sentences in those books, that have lodged so deeply in my heart and mind that I can honestly say, they have shaped my life in ways I can’t begin to describe. They are like launching pads, for discovering the person I can become. One of those sentences is found in Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s book “God’s Ultimate Purpose”. In which he repeatedly reminded his readers, that “our greatest need is to become who we already are in Christ.” *…..2 Timothy 1:6 "Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you …" I was a throw away child, who was given away 4 times by my foster mom, after my biological mom gave me away to her. (that makes 5) They kept bringing me back. But the fact that who I was going to be, was who was already within me, gave me equilibrium in all of that… That God had a plan for me and it was encoded within me. My foster mom, told me that finally, God spoke to her, and told her that He had His hand on my life, and He had entrusted me to her care to raise me for Himself. It has placed in me a deep desire to help others discover their real identity in Christ, and to know that God has a plan, which He has already put in place for their lives, if they will only embrace it, and receive it…
Think about championship racehorses. On the screen is a picture of Seabiscuit and 7 little biscuits he sired. (how many are looking at the Power point and counting?) Race horses have generation after generation after generation of winners in their blood. However, when the colt is born, it’s legs are wobbly and skinny. It’s not very attractive, but the owners don’t get discouraged. They know inside that wobbly colt has the DNA of its father. That’s how you need to see yourself. You may be wobbly sometimes. You may not look exactly like you want. You may not appear to have the talent, or abilities, or skill set, but inside of you are the strength, abilities, wisdom, and fortitude, and everything you need to win your race. If you’re living with less than you should or could be, check your DNA. You may not look like much right now but wait till they see you then! Our God has put His Spirit in you, and He never fails….When you were born, He knew what you were capable of Today, we’re making the transition…..When we transition from being what we thought we needed to be or aught to be, to becoming what we already are, we shift from wishing and hoping, to receiving and applying the gifts which God has already placed within us in Christ. There’s a good reason why the windshield is a lot bigger than the rear view mirror! Thank God He has brought you this far, but what we’re dealing with today is that because of what He has already done, you can look out through the windshield with great rejoicing and expectation! I want to use as my scripture text today…. Galatians 4:1 “What I am saying is that as long as an heir is a child, he is no different from a slave, although he owns the whole estate. v2 The heir is subject to guardians and trustees until the time set by his father. v3 So also, when we were spiritual children, we were subject to the spiritual forces of the world. v4 But when the time appointed had fully come, God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under the world system,
v5 to redeem those who were subject to those same spiritual forces, that we might receive adoption into sonship. v6 Because we are His true sons, God sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” v7 So you are no longer under subjection, but you are God’s child and since you are His true child, God has made you also an heir”.
When people come to faith in Christ, our first instinct is to teach them what to do or not to do. But sometimes that is like the cowboy who jumped on the horse facing backward. You can keep turning the horse, but the cowboy will always be backward. We need to get off the horse and face the right direction… and that starts with who we are in Christ.
If we are to successfully negotiate the maze called “living for Christ” in all the muck of life, and cope with the ups and downs of our emotions, and the whims of circumstance, the injustices and stuff that hits us out of the blue, and the sheer pressure of our human brokenness, then the first step is to make sure that we know who we are as children of God. Or I should say WHO WE ALREADY ARE, as children of God. This is the underlying truth that will enable us to get out of bed in the morning and face the delight and despair, the ups and the downs, the defeats and the successes of our world. It will enable us up to walk humbly and yet confidently with Christ through the day, and at the end of the day stand with a steadfast faith, that will allow us to lay our head on our pillow and sleep in perfect peace.
A little humor about identity…. The Recording said - "Hello, Welcome to the Psychiatric Hotline." If you are obsessive-compulsive, please press 1 repeatedly. If you are co-dependent, please ask someone else to press 2. If you have multiple personalities, please press 3, 4, 5 and 6. If you are paranoid-delusional, we know who you are and what you want. Just stay on the line until we can trace your call. If you are schizophrenic, listen carefully and a little voice will tell you which number to press. If you are manic-depressive, it doesn't matter which number you press. No one will answer.
On the other hand 2 CORINTHIANS 5:17 tells us “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” (Now that sounds like a much better deal)
Lets make another phone call here, and we get…
Philippians 2:12 “Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed, not only in my presence, but now even more in my absence, continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling. 13 For it is God who works in you to will and to complete His good purpose”.… (this is about becoming who you already are) But we need to be careful, because as D.L. Moody has said, “God sends no one away empty except those who are full of themselves”. Someone else said, “The smallest package in the world is a person wrapped up in themselves”. There is a big difference in knowing who you are and being full of yourself!! Then there was the guy who said “You can be whoever you want to be!" And now he is currently serving time in prison for identity theft. When a king is still a child, his mom disciplines him, and he is provided various training opportunities and disciplines to enable him to fulfill the high office which is his by birth, but he has yet to master the skills and abilities which will allow him to receive the crown and begin to rule in his appointed time.
Who are we? The good news gospel announces to us that as those who have believed and received Christ, and repented of our sin, have been born of God. We have been adopted into God’s family, as His children.
So, we stand before God forgiven and cleansed and yet with a propensity to sin, forgiven yet flawed, secure and confident in Christ, while understanding that there is much work to do, as we press on into that for which Christ Jesus has made a claim on our lives.
Sometimes winning or losing is about reaching the point of no return. It’s known as the ‘Tipping point”. If you’re half way across a frozen lake and the ice starts to crack, which way are you going to go? You’ve already come this far, you might as well finish the crossing! We move from “Who am I?” to “Who He says I am”…..
Philippians 3:12 “ It is not as though I have already obtained all of this, or already been made perfect, but I press forth to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus already made available tome. v13 Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have arrived. But one thing I do, forgetting what is behind (what I used to be)I strain forth, toward what is ahead, (who I am in Christ)”
Knowing who we already are in Christ enables us to make that choice day after day to press forward, beyond the obstacles and distractions, into who we are becoming, for the rest of our lives.
I call it “Being satisfied with a dissatisfied satisfaction”….
In school we learned to sound out words, and it was clumsy at first, but it was so exciting to begin to speak and to read fluently. We learned to say the letters of the alphabet, and then write the letters and spell words which would allow us to form and express our thoughts on paper, and cyberspace. And there was Math, Science, History and Geography and sports. We were being prepared to take our place and become a productive member of our community by improving our skill sets in all of these areas.These were foundational things that we would continue to build upon. Our foundation determines what we can build upon it….
How much more important is it that we approach the word of God the same. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit, have all taken a personal interest in our growth and development since we have been given rulership, authority, and power in God’s kingdom. All of my children have cars of their own and drive them everyday. But I would be insane to give them my car keys and say, “well one day you will have a car and you will drive, so, at 6 years old, I want you to drive to the grocery store and get the weeks groceries”. I would not only put their lives at risk, but many others as well. And I would probably have soda, pop-tarts, chocolate CoCo puffs, and candy bars to eat for the entire week!
Look at Psalm 8:4 “What is man, that You oh God are mindful of him, and the son of man, that You visit him? v5 For you havemade him a little lower than the angels, and You crowned him with glory and honor. You made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands, You have put all things under his feet (or subject to him)”.
If you know the end game, then you begin to prepare yourself, in order to bring it to pass. A runner can have all the things physically that would make them a world class runner. But many of those very people are sleeping on the streets, without purpose or meaning, because they lost their way and forgot the end game.
There are thousands who should have become doctors, scientist, engineers and professors, who would have changed the world we live in. But they died on a drug overdose or from alcoholism, because they never realized their purpose and their God given destiny.
While walking through the forest one day, a man found a young eagle chick who had fallen out of his nest. He took it home and put it in his barnyard where it soon learned to eat and behave like the chickens. One day a game warden passed by the farm and asked why the king of all birds should be confined to live in the barnyard like a chicken. The farmer replied that since he had given it chicken feed and trained it to be a chicken, it had never learned to fly. Since it now behaved and thought like the chickens, it was no longer an eagle. "But Still it has the heart of an eagle, and can surely be taught to fly." And he lifted the eagle toward the sky and said, "You belong to the sky and not to the chickens. Stretch forth your wings and fly." The eagle, however, was confused. He did not know who he was, and seeing the chickens eating their food, he jumped down to be with them again. About that time, a majestic eagle, flew overhead and let out a loud eagle call. The young eagle looked up and answered the call, and in a moment, recognized who it was. It spread it’s wings and mounted up to become who it had been all along! Sometimes you may feel like an eagle living in a world of turkeys, or scratching around with the chickens…IT’S TIME TO LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES AND LOOK UP TO HIM!
We do not begin with some distant end or goal in mind of who you want to become but we begin with the truth of who wealready are.
If you have received Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, here’s a list of who you really are. You are a new creature in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). You are an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ (Romans 8:17). You have been rescued from every curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13). You are now God’s child (1 John 3:2). You are kept by the power of God (1 Corinthians 1:8). You have been given God’s divine nature (2 Peter 1:3-4). You are the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19). You are forgiven of all past sins and washed in the blood (Ephesians 1:7). You have been delivered from the power of darkness and placed in God’s kingdom (Colossians 1:13). You have healingby the stripes of Jesus (1 Peter 2:24). You are raised with Christ and seated in heavenly places Ephesians 2:6). You have overcome the world (1 John 5:4). You don’t have a spirit of fear, but love, power, and a sound mind (2 Timothy 1:7). You are part of the family of God (1 Corinthians 12:27).
You are given all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ (Ephesians 1:3). You have been justified (just as if you had never sinned) (Romans 5:1). You have access to God through Jesus Christ (Hebrews 4:14-16). You are now a citizen of heaven (Philippians 3:20). You have peace with God (Romans 5:1). You have everlasting life (John 5:24). You cannot be separated from God’s love (Romans 8:35-39). You are qualified to receive your inheritance (Colossians 1:12). God will finish the good work that He started in you (Philippians 1:6). God is for you even when others are against you (Romans 8:31).
Speaking of not knowing what we already have, every time my kids come home, they show me features in my smart phone, and my lap top, that I already have but never use. It’s there, it’s available, and it’s already mine but because I don’t know what I have, and how to access it, it doesn’t do me any good…. (do I have anyone that knows what I’m talking about)
Romans 8:31 “What shall we say about all of this? If God is for us, who can ever be against us? v32 Since he did not spare even his own Son but gave him up for us all, won’t he also give us everything else? v33 Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. v34 Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us. (You have the best attorney in the universe) 38 And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. v39 No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord”.
Now, when you want security, there’s security for you! I heard a story about a man passing a tattoo shop. In the window were displays of different tattoo designs, so he stopped to look. One of the designs read, “BORN TO LOSE.” The owner saw the man looking and came out and asked if he wanted a tattoo. He said no, but does anyone really tattoo themselves with “BORN TO LOSE”. The owner said, “Oh yes. Before it is tattooed on their body, it is tattooed on their mind.”
What is our mind tattooed with? If it is tattooed with failure, rejection, unhappiness, resentment, or injustice, then you will live out failure, rejection, unhappiness, resentment, and injustice unless you change that tattoo. Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our INNERMOST THOUGHTS and desires. It exposes us for WHAT WE REALLY ARE.
Once two blind men came to Jesus to heal them. Here is what he said. Matthew 9:29 “Then He touched their eyes, saying, According to your faith, so be it unto you”.
In other words, “I touched you, but you must believe you can see”. God has touched your life. You must believe your life is something more than you have been seeing before.
ONCE JESUS TOUCHES YOU, WHAT YOU BELIEVE ABOUT YOURSELF, SETS THE LIMITS OF YOUR LIFE ORIT BREAKS THE LIMITS OFF OF YOUR LIFE.
Remember, no one can cause you to live below your potential without your permission. INSIDE of you is the DNA of an Overcomer. INSIDE of you is more than a conqueror. You are a new creation, in Christ. Let me close with ….
Deuteronomy 28:13 “The Lord your God has made you the head and not the tail—you have been placed above and not beneath—if you obey the Word of the Lord your God that He is giving you today to keep and observe. v14 Do not deviate from any of His Word, neither to the right nor to the left..”
Are you ready to pray the closing prayer….. “Lord Jesus, I pray that You would unlock my heart that I might be fully alive to my true identity in You. Give me clear revelation to see myself the way You see me. Help me to stand in Your truth over the enemy’s attacks against my mind,so that I might guard my heart with all vigilance. Help me to identify the enemy’s false accusations, and reveal to me any places where I am chained to the past in a negative way. Lord, I repent of judging myself by the failures and faults of the past. Teach me to hear Your voice and not enemy’s lies about who I am. I thank You for my uniqueness and that I am made in Your image. I want to understand and receive the deep things in Your heart for me. I choose to see myself the way You see me. I thank You that I can have hope for the future and know the good destiny that You have for me.
Lord, You give me vision for my future. I receive greater authority in my spiritual life. I want to know You on a deeper level, and I thank You that I have been justified and I belong to You. I have been established, anointed, and sealed by You. I am chosen by You before the creation of the world. I am forgiven and I am adopted as Your child. I have purpose, I have hope, I am included in Your family, I am an overcomer and I am qualified to share in Your inheritance.
I have been given the righteousness of God and I am part of Your Kingdomplan. I am beginning to understand more and more what Your will is. I have God's power operating within me by the Holy Spirit, that enables me to live a victorious life. Thank You for the identity I have in You. Help me to live out Your reality in my life every day. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Lord, anoint our eyes to see, our ears to hear, our minds to understand, our hearts to receive, our spirit to embrace and our feet to walk in all that we have already received from you, In Jesus name, by the power of Holy Spirit!
“Look What’s Coming Out Of The Wilderness” We are all transitioning from the world’s system into God’s system or Kingdom culture, so this message today is about transitions. When God delivered Israel and brought them into the w lderness, it was to transition them and prepare them for a new place and a new position.. A transition is defined by Webster's Dictionary as "The period of passing from one condition, form, stage, activity, position or place to another condition, form, stage, activity, position or place. Someone has said that when you lose your way in the wilderness, you will eventually find yourself…. Because the Wilderness holds answers to more questions than we have even learned to ask so far.” Many people have been chosen for a special calling. They are frustrated, and they are eager to get going. They cannot understand the “why” of their wilderness experience, but God is proving them and testing their faith and loyalty. They want to get started, but they have no vision firing their passion and they easily lose their spiritual true North.
A loaded mini-van pulled into the only remaining wilderness camping area. They had driven 7 hours to get there. All the children leaped from the vehicle and began feverishly unloading gear and setting up the camp. The boys rushed to gather firewood, while the girls and their mother set up the camp stove and cooking utensils. A nearby camper marveled at the hustle and teamwork, and said to the youngsters’ father, “That, sir, is some display of teamwork.” The father replied, “I have a system — no one goes to the bathroom until the camp is set up.” Nothing works like good motivation.
If God didn’t originate it, He isn’t required to back it. But praise God He is compassionate and merciful… The nation of Israel had lived in a culture of bondage and compromise that kept them far beneath their calling and divine appointment. They had to walk away from one culture in order to embrace another. Their biggest struggle was that they kept trying to bring the old culture over into the new culture that God was creating and it kept hindering them from entering in. They were struggling to live out kingdom culture. God doesn’t always step in and interrupt our actions, but He does let us reap the consequences of those actions. You can leap from a sixty story skyscraper and halfway down ask God’s forgiveness. You may get his pardon, but the law of gravity says that you’re still going to have a sudden meeting with the pavement. No one ever has and ever will outwit the law of reciprocity… what you sow is what you will reap. The wilderness is a chance God gives us to adjust our sowing so we can change what we reap… If you go into the wilderness leaning on Him, you will come out walking by His side….Walking in His anointing, walking in His perfect will, walking in surrender, and walking in relationship and in your rightful position of authority.
Deuteronomy 32:9 “For the Lord’s portion is His people, they are his allotted inheritance. 10 He (God) found him (Israel) in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye”. v11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them aloft. 12 The Lord alone led him..” God has it all, but what He yearns for is our devotion, our worship, our hearts. It says that the Lord’s portion is His people, they are His inheritance….
Jesus told us that we were in the world but not of the world and I love the analogy here, of God and the Eagle. And God compares us to the eaglets who are growing in the nest, like a small child being cared for in their home, and everything they need is provided for them, decisions are made for them, they just go with the flow and no pressure but to just let mom and dad care for them. But then the time comes when the eagle decides it’s time for junior to learn to fly, and get its own food and care for itself, they tear the nest apart, (Junior is thinking, “mom and dad have gone crazy”) and the eaglet discovers that underneath the soft dawn and thatch, are thorns. What was so comfortable isn’t comfortable anymore, and the risk of leaping out of the nest is looking better than stepping on the thorns all day. But Mom and Dad eagle are there when they take the leap from the nest, and if they fall, to catch them and bear them up again… Until they are able to fly like eagles were meant to fly!
Some folks get so religious that they can’t recognize a miracle when they see it. A doubter and his friend are going duck hunting out in the wilderness and the friend went to get a good dog. The friend asks the kennel for his best retriever and he gives him one that can retrieve any duck they shoot. The next day the doubter and his friend go hunting and shoot a duck so the friend sends the dog to go get it. He runs on top of the water and comes back with the duck. This happens 6 times and the friend says to the doubter "Do you notice anything unusual about my dog?" and the doubtersays "I don’t think Your dog knows how to swim." Sometimes we have our minds so made up about something that we can’t see how muchGod is at work right where we are.
Deuteronomy 8:2 “And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way through the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. v3 “So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that you cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD”. Two of the synonyms for the word “desert” are “ A place of correction, or A place of discipline” Often our wilderness experiences come to expose what’s inside these hearts of ours like nothing else. It exposes our idols. What is an idol? It is anything that keeps you from putting God first in your choices, in your workplace, in your home, in your heart. If it pushes God out of first place, and God has to stand in line behind all of that, then it’s an idol. (seek first the kingdom, and all these things will be added unto you)
The wilderness teaches us delayed gratification. It teaches us to stand in faith for the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. It teaches us that scratching every itch doesn’t necessarily lead to happiness, and that strength and power are not always externally shown, but true strength and power are internal expressions of peace, joy and contentment, no matter what is happening around you.
The wilderness teaches us all, the power of surrendering to God and ceasing the struggle, so that it is as John the beloved said, “less of me and more of Him, I must decrease that He might increase in me”. The wilderness is a place of re-evaluating our priorities. Romans 11:36 “For from Him and through Him, and for Him are all things. To Him be glory forever, amen”. But the self life wants to run the show and keep singing the Sinatra tune, “I did it my way”….and establish its own pecking order and hierarchy. Our lives become all about my money, my car, my house, my feelings and my life…. Jesus said, “He that saves his life shall lose it, but he who surrenders his life, shall save it for all eternity”….We have nothing which we have not been given. And the bank probably owns your car, your house, and Visa and Master Card owns a lot of the rest, anyway…
Indiana Jones was at the doctors and the doc asked him, how his day had gone. So he said, "Well, yesterday afternoon, I waded across a lake, escaped from an alligator in the heavy brush, marched up and down some hills and valleys, trekked through the sand, stood in a patch of poison ivy, crawled out of quicksand, and narrowly avoided an aggressive snake." Inspired by the story, the doctor said, "You must be an awesome outdoorsman!" "No," Jonesreplied, "I'm just a really lousy golfer."
Maybe you too haven’t felt you’ve done very well! But I’ve discovered that the wilderness is a place of rebuilding what has been torn down, a place of restoring what has been lost, and raising up something new in place of what has been demolished. God will never take anything without giving something better in its place. And wherever Satan has come to kill, steal and destroy, God will rebuild, and raise up something far greater and better in it’s place. But we must let go of the rubble, of the wilderness, move past what has been lost or taken away, and make room for His new thing in our lives.
Solomon certainly experienced his own wilderness, but listen what he learned from it… “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.. a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to refrain; a time for confrontation, and a time for peace. He has made everything beautiful in its time”.
I actually find it encouraging that it says in Matthew 4:1 “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness!…. I say this is encouraging, because this tells me that the wilderness is part of God’s plan for us, so, we can either spend our time complaining or we can spend the time learning the lessons, from “Wilderness 101”.
The Song of Solomon 3:6 asks the question… “Who is this coming up out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved?” Which is where the title of this message comes from… Solomon is referring to the child of God who has learned to lean on the Lord as they come out of the wilderness…
Even though you might now feel weak, get ready to receive power. Let your wilderness time develop a new strength and power within you. He gives us power to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy. Power is the ability to act or to make a difference as things turn in a new direction. Power also signifies the possession of authority to command and direct events and circumstances.
There are transitions in music, and in language, also in art, in designing, in history and in science, but I want to look at Two major transitions that took place in the bible which are found in Deut. 34 and Joshua chapters 1 and 3 in the Old testament and then Acts chapter 1 and 2 in the New testament.
In the Old testament references, Moses has lead the peoplethrough the wilderness and God takes Moses up on the mountain so he can see the promised land, and he dies there, then the mantle of leadership falls on Joshua, and Joshua brings them to the Jordon where they cross over and into the promised land. (hold that thought)
In the New testament references, Jesus is taken up on the mountain, where He dies, and the disciples meet as they were commanded, in the upper room, where they meet the new leadership, and Holy Spirit comes down and fills them all, and commands them to go into all the world and preach the gospel. Heal the sick, raise the dead, and cast out devils in Jesus’ name. A major transition takes place…
In both cases, there is a transition in leadership for a new day, a new time and something far greater than anyone could possibly see at the time. These were major changes which called for major adjustments. During major transitions, we are prone to look back at some point when God moved, or something miraculous happened and want to go back to that, but God says no, keep moving forward, I have far better for you than you have seen before. I am doing a new thing, in a new way, at a new time!
Faith sees opportunities where doubt and unbelief sees obstacles… Even with his eyes plucked out and chained to a column of the Philistine Temple, Samson saw an opportunity… Even when he was betrayed, thrown in a pit, sold into slavery, and in an Egyptian jail, Joseph saw an opportunity… Embrace the new season you’re in. Stop visiting the past and what happened then, and follow Me. You have never passed this way before!When the Red Sea was in front of them, and the chariots of Egypt were bearing down on them, the people saw an obstacle but Moses saw an opportunity!!!
I love this scripture in all the seasons of transition…. Isaiah 22:23 “I will fasten you as a nail in the Holy place— I will establish My power in your hands, as a nail is driven and anchored in the solid timber of a house”. God is arrangingsome powerful and amazing situations for you…Others may see them as obstacles, but you need to see them as opportunities. He’s fastened it with 3 nails… 2 in Jesus’ hands and 1 in His feet! Sowe can declare in His own words… “it is finished, and I will not be moved”! When the world wants to knock us off balance, we remain established and centered because there are 3 nails holding us steady. 2 in His hands and 1 through His feet declare I shall not be moved!!
As Jesus fellowshipped with His disciples that night which we refer to as the last supper, He taught at length about the ministry of the Holy Spirit. In fact, He covered so much material that it took three chapters in the gospel of John to share it! However, one of the most important points Jesus made is found near the beginning of all He shared with His disciples. After that night, the world would see a great obstacle, transformed into the greatest opportunity….
John 14:16 “And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, (Holy Spirit) that He may abide with you for ever. v17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it cannot see Him, neither does it know Him, but you know Him, for He dwells with you, and shall be in you. v18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come (be available) to you. v19 Yet a little while, and the world will see Me no more; but you know me, because I live, you shall live your life through me. v20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I in you. v21 He that has my word, and keeps them, shows that he loves Me, and he that loves Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him and through him”.
This is a major transition between the Old and New covenants, which takes God’s people from the Holy Spirit resting upon them for special tasks and ministry, to Holy Spirit entering into and abiding with them and in them as a constant guide, equipper, counselor, revealer and life coach. And there is a powerful verse in Ephesians which should encourage anyone no matter what you’re going through, and no matter what wilderness you may find yourself in…..
Ephesians 2:20 “For you are being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone”. You are built on the same cornerstone as the apostles and prophets. Your foundation is the same with access to the same…. The same Spirit dwells in you that operated in them!
And I just have to have you look at this…. Listen you are more powerful than you ever imagined, and Satan knows it and hopes you don’t find out! Jeremiah 51:20 "You are My war club, (God speaking) My weapon for battle. With you I will crush kings of darkness and bring kingdoms of wickedness to ruin”. Your wilderness has been preparing you for some great things, that you cannot imagine!
Oh my, you may not look like much right now, but wait till we see you then… You may not look like a leader now, but wait till we see you then. You may not look like an evangelist, or prophet, or world changer now, or a business owner, or water walker now, but just wait till you come marching out of your wilderness! I WANT TO SAY TO YOU TODAY….
You’re getting ready to shift from the wilderness of mourning into the upper room of joy… You’re coming out of the cloud of confusion into the sonshineof clarity and understanding. You’re ready to leave the place of inconsistency and enter the place of Spiritual responsibility and availability. You’re leaving the place of compromise and entering the wide place of consecration and purity… You’re entering the place of provision and moving out of the realm of destruction and loss…You’re leaving the devil’s whipping post and coming into the place of overwhelming and defeating your giants…You’re leaving the place of isolation and loneliness and entering The great cloud of witnesses and divine connections.
Song of Solomon declares, “Well look what’s coming out of the wilderness”!! If Solomon is addressing the one who is coming forth leaning on her beloved, He’s describing you and the Lord who is your first love.
Where I live, everyone has dogs, some folks more than one. I see them, rain or shine, all hours of the day or night taking out their dogs. They stand there in the rain, in the heat, in the wee hours of the morning, while this dog sniffs a bush… If folks can do that for a dog, what should we do for Jesus, our first love!!? “Come out, come out, wherever you are”….God is calling!
Ezra 9:8 “But now, grace has come from the LORD our God to preserve for us a remnant in a safe and secure place, to enlighten our eyes, and to transform us in His holy presence. Even in our wilderness, our God has brought to us new life and brought light to our eyes. v9 Though we were slaves, our God has not forsaken us in the midst of our bondage, but He has extended to us His grace in the midst of the kings of darkness, giving us new life to rebuild and repair the ruined places, and He has given us a wall of protection.”
If I had a mirror for each of you, I would have you hold it up and declare “look what’s coming out of the wilderness”….
Matthew 10:7 And he began to send them (and us) forth and He said v7 Asyou go, preach this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is near.’ v8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, drive out demons. Freely you have received; freely give”. (Well, look whose coming out of the wilderness)
You may feel like you’re finding your way through the dust and barrenness of the wilderness now, but I declare, there is the light of a brighter day just up ahead. Your new beginning is waiting as you walk away from all that the past tried to do to you. You are not the whipping boy of the past anymore!
I’m pretty sure, that I’m the first person to officially welcome you to September, since you left August. If you look at your calendar, it is prophesying to you, if you will see the prophetic in the numbers…. September is the 9th month that is now declaring itself into our lives and God has a lot to say about this month…The ninth month is a turn-around month, if you are able to receive it….One of the properties and characteristics of the ninth month is the fact that it is the completion of the gestation period for human pregnancy and the birthing of new life.
ISAIAH 66:7-9: “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who hath heard such a thing? Who hath seen such things?” (that means, the things God is about to do, or make happen in your life would be an amazement to everyone) “Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children…Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? says the Lord: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? says Thy God.”
Zion always refers to the seat of power, as well as God’s spiritual kingdom. In Hebrews 12:22 Paul says, “We have not come to Mount Sinai, but “to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem”. The spiritual is operating through the physical…. Peter, refers to Christ as the Cornerstone of Zion: 1 Peter 2:6 “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame”.
When we receive Jesus as our savior, God places the corner stone in our lives. You don’t lay a cornerstone without the entire building being planned out which will be built upon it! God has the building for our lives planned out, He has the blueprint, and every item is covered as we live our lives open and available to Him. That cornerstone is the guarantee that the rest of the building is ready as we allow His will in earth as it is in heaven. Let the master build what He intends upon the cornerstone He has laid in you…
Revelation 19:10 “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy”. The word of God is a prophetic book, which is prophesying into all of our lives, if we will receive it, the blessings become ours, and the curses and plans of the enemy are broken as the schemes of the accuser are exposed and annihilated !
If you were to ask many guys what season it is, they would tell you it is either Baseball, Football, Basketball, and Hockey, (maybe racing season). But God wants to invite us to His season of intense promise, celebrated by the Jewish people as the month when the biggest Birthday of all took place. When the creation of the first humans on earth took place. Statistically, September is the most popular month for Birthdays, and the 9th of September is the most popular day of the month for births! Mary was born in September, and Jesus was actually born in September and not December… (sorry to pop your religious calendar bubble)
September is the month of beginnings. We did not begin as ameba’s that crawled out of the slime, grew legs and evolved into monkeys, that became humans. But as a fully formed, amazing, brilliant, perfect specimen of manhood, with Eve inside of him, in the form of his rib, waiting to be fashioned by God. Scientist were not there to observe, so they have a theory, but God was there to tell us about it!
After a lesson on creation at school, a curious young boy asked, "Dad? How did we get here?" the dad said "Remember God created EVERYTHING in six days. On the sixth day, he scooped up some dust and made Adam. He took one of Adam's ribs and made Eve. They had kids and their kids had kids and so on, so that's how we're here." Not entirely convinced, he asked his mom who was not a Christian, the same question. Well, his mom said, "Scientist tell us, It began with microorganisms. Over time they evolved--creating algae, fish, birds, tadpoles, for example. Eventually, -tadpoles ---evolved into monkeys and apes and eventually humans!!" Mom's explanation seemed more logical so the boy went back to his dad. "Dad are you sure about what you told me, cause Mom told me about evolution and how we came from monkeys." "Oh yes, Son. I told you the truth. Your mother was just telling you about HER side of the family."
September means “Seven” and was originally the seventh month on the Roman calendar, (that calendar was inaccurate) so it was changed to the ninth month on the Gregorian or Christian calendar in 1752. On the Jewish calendar, Rosh Hashana (The Jewish New Year) begins at sundown on Sunday, September 25th and ends at nightfall on Tuesday, September 27th. It is still positioned as the 7th month on the Jewish calendar, and represents “Completion”…
Jesus said “I am come that you might have life”…. But satanknows the cycle of gestation which births new life, so he commits himself to steal, kill and destroy, the new life that is being formed in each one of us…I need to tell you that when you check the back of the book, it declares in Revelation, that WE WIN! When Satan is attacking our family, our health, our finances, and our mission and ministry… I take a quick glance at the back of the book, and YEP, WE STILL WIN!!!
There was danger in the manger. When Jesus was born in September, Herod got word that a king had been born and Roman soldiers were sent throughout the area killing all Jewish babies from 2 years and under. So if you have been in a battle, then know that there’s an effort to kill the promise you carry within you before it can come forth. Jesus was born in September during the feast of Sukkot, which is the celebrated as the first day of harvest September 21-27th. This was the blessing of the harvest, I want to welcome you to your September harvest blessing….These feast are not one time things but operate in a repeated cycle of blessing. God operates in cycles, and the best is yet to come for you child of God.
Pregnancy is measured in three stages which are called trimesters. God is bringing you to your third trimester. Get ready to push! The month of September is “LABOR-ROOM MONTH”. If you have ever been in a labor room, then you know that the most common language of the labor room is “PUSH, PUSH, PUSH!” When Zion travailed she brought forth! Labor and travail can be painful, but you’re about to birth the new thing of God! He would not bring you to labor, if He didn’t include a successful birth in His plan.
Way back, deep in the woods, a redneck's wife went into labor in the middle of the night and the local doctor was called out to assist in the delivery. Since there was no electricity, the doctor handed the father-to-be a lantern and said "Here, you hold this up high so I can see what I'm doing" Soon a baby boy was brought into the world. "Hold on there," said the doctor "Don't be in a rush to put the lantern down....I think there's yet another one to come" Sure enough, within minutes he had delivered a baby girl. "Oh my, don't be in a great hurry to be putting down that lantern...It seems there's yet another one in there!" cried the doctor. The redneck scratched his head in bewilderment, and asked the doctor, "Doc do you think maybe that it’s the light that's attracting them? So child of God, welcome to some light that is breaking through in the LABOR ROOM of September.
September is about finishing what is incomplete, and bringing it forth to manifestation. Many of you will feel a movement in your spiritual womb (men and women). That movement is what God planted In your spirit and it’s been growing and developing. You’re going to feel a release as I’m speaking prophetically today. Your spirit is bearing witness with God’s spirit, that this is your truth. In the same way that Gabriel came to Mary and said that she was highly favored, I say to you that you are also highly favored. You did not conceive through natural means but through the Holy Spirit. The seed that has been implanted inside of you will be birthed as you yield to Him. Know that it is God who works in you both to will and to do His good pleasure.
Luke 1:38 “Then Mary said, “Behold the servant of the Lord! Let it be to me according to your word.” As we say this to God, we place the results in His hands and offer ourselves as His willing vessels. Every mom knows that she doesn’t decide when the baby is coming, the Baby decides when it’s ready. We may call it a “planned family”, but it’s God and the baby that decide when the birth happens. The labor room of September is a place of expectations. An expectant mom should spend her time declaring positive, affirming, faith building thoughts, or she can become anxious and fearful. The labor room of September is a place of conflict and warfare. Satan will do all he can to destroy what God is producing. So we must affirm that we are joint heirs with Christ and more than conquerors through Him. He has won and we are handed the victory! The labor room of September is a place where life and death hang in the balance. God says Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future”. (I’ll take God’s word for it) The labor room of September can be a place of joy or sadness… Isaiah 61:3 “I appoint unto them, beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness, that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.” (Who will we believe) The labor room of September is a place of fear or faith… Mark 11:24 “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and you shall have it”. (We choose to believe)
Satan wanted to turn September into a time of death at 9/11, But we chose to not let that happen. You may see the rubble of shattered hopes, broken promises, injustices, false expectations, trust that has been destroyed, and victims getting victimized again and again…. All around you… and it may seem that the good guy gets the left overs and the bad guys keep winning….
But on 911 we chose instead to rebuild, to hope, to believe that there was much more beyond and to arise from the rubble and shine brighter than before! If mere men can do that, what can your God accomplish in your midst!!! You may not look like much right now but wait till they see you then…The new trade tower which was raised from the rubble, is now the tallest building in New York. It is exactly 1,776 feet tall. How many know that 1776 is the year the founders of this nation, signed the Declaration of Independence, and have the right to rule ourselves under the banner of our God! “One Nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”
Genesis 18:14: “Is any thing too hard for the LORD? At the time appointed I will return unto thee, according to the time of life, and Sarah (her name means “to fill and release”) shall have a son.”
Genesis 21:1-2: “Now the LORD was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the LORD did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah (to fill and release) became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him.”
TODAY I WELCOME YOU TO YOUR SEASON OF BIRTHING THE IMPOSSIBLE, IN JESUS NAME. This is the season for things to happen when it looked like there was no way it could be possible. John 3:6 “That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit”
Four men are waiting in the lobby of the hospital due to Covid, while their wives are in labor. A nurse walks out and tells the first man his wife just had twins. He says, “That’s funny, I work for the Minnesota Twins!” A little later the nurse walks out and tells the second man his wife had triplets. He says, “That’s funny, I work at the 3M company!” Shortly after that the nurse walks out and tells the third man that his wife had quadruplets. Laughing he says, “That’s funny I work at the Four Seasons!” Finally, the nurse walks up to the fourth man who is very upset and extremely nervous. He is shaking and sweating. The nurse asks him what’s wrong and he replies, “I work at the 7 Up bottling Company!” This is your season of abundance, no matter where you work!!!! God has promised full measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over!!!
God told Israel, every place your foot shall tread, I have given it to you… Walking upon it was a way of taking possession of it. We walk on it, through praise and thanksgiving, through speaking and confessing God’s word, God’s intentions, and God’s promises. We walk on it through obedience and surrender. We walk on it by standing in faith and refusing to be moved. We walk on it by letting God position us and connect us in His way and His time…God is prophesying over your life through His appointed September.
This is the month of the latter rain which Joel prophesied about in the book of Joel for the last days…. The latter rain came in September to ripen the harvest, and bring the harvest cycle to completion. It was time for the harvest to go from the seeds planted in the field to the increase that is brought into the barn, from promise to reality and possession….The latter rain is prophesying into your life….
As I was writing this message, Holy Spirit said…
“September is your month for new things and open doors, in the name of Jesus. You will experience the hands of God over your life this month in an unusual way. God’s favor will be running after you and overtake you as you go! Your children will rise up with the blessing upon their lives becoming more evident and manifested. What others have failed to achieve, you will see come to pass. Curses that have been designed against your marriage, finances, business, ministry, or health are broken this month and its going to turn around. The seeds of offerings and tithe that you have given out in the past without much tangible results, will begin to speak out for you, and be gathered unto you beginning this month, in the name of Jesus. You shall be guided and protected from evil arrows that have been sent against you, and no weapon shall prosper against you. Sickness and disease shall begin to let go and fall away and off of you. You will feel the release that you have known in your spirit. In this month of September, whatever represent delay and failure that you’ve experienced, will be no more, it shall vanish like a mist. Court cases will turn around for your good, and the feeling that you are going up stream against the current, will change and push you instead of pulling against you. Surprise meetings will result in permanent friendships and relationships. The blessings from heaven shall fall like rain upon your family this month, in the name of Jesus. Every power and evil scheme, secretly attacking you shall be exposed in the name of Jesus. Every spirit of poverty and waste that has attached itself to your life shall be destroyed by holy fire, in the name of Jesus. The season of barrenness has expired and it’s shelf life has ended. The Lord is giving you a new garment of restoration, healing, deliverance, and success this month, in the name of Jesus. Problems you have carried for years, are ending this month, in the name of Jesus. There is a new anointing of favor coming to you, and prophecies that you have received before, they shall begin to manifest at this time, for it is the appointed time, in the name of Jesus”.
Let’s declare this together…..”We declare over the womb of September, there shall be good news conceived for our sake and the kingdoms. You shall not be aborted! You shall not be miscarried!! You shall not be still-born. You shall be birthed alive, In the name of Jesus. We declare that our Lord, shall protect and defend our harvest. Hear the word of the Lord, and bring forth my turn-around, and my breakthrough, in the name of Jesus. Because my help comes from the Lord, I have assistance and support beyond my abilities, so that the impossible becomes possible. In this birthing month, I will experience Divine acceleration and supernatural multiplication through my God. Holy Spirit, awaken all that is dormant within me, that it may be activated and manifested. I will lift up mine eyes unto THE HILLS, where my help comes from. My help comes from the Lord, which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer my foot to be moved. I declare the protective shield of the Almighty, over my life and family. I invoke the protective shield of the Almighty against every storm which is fashioned against my life. The Lord is my keeper, I shall not be hurt or stranded. The Lord is my preserver, my destiny is secure. I shall not want, for He supplies all my needs according to His riches in glory. He has arisen with healing in His hands and authority over every ailment and affliction. I am His and He is mine, and nothing can come between us. He has won the battle so I can enjoy the victory, and receive the rewards of His triumph, in Jesus Name”.
Receive it and give Him praise for it. Praise Him like you believe it! This is your latter rain month. Oh, yes, Welcome to September, welcome to your reward, welcome to your harvest, welcome to the promise fulfilled. You will not come to the birthing without bringing forth! We release it!
What about Jacob’s limp…. (That was actually my response around 12:30 Monday evening as I was lying there praying, and God told me to speak on Jacob’s limp this Sunday.. “What about Jacob’s limp”?)……So, I got up and wrote down a few thoughts as they came to me till about 1:45, because if I don’t write it down right away, it’s gone….vaporized. So, that’s how this message came about for today)….
Speaking of Jacob’s limp We have folks in our fellowship who have had parts removed, and parts installed. Winnie has had a hip installed, Scott is our bionic man, others have stints in their bodies and rods and bolts…In other words we are not the same as we were at one time…. It is estimated that the chemical elements of a human body are collectively worth $17.18. But when those chemicals are combined into vital organs, marrow, and platelets, the value of the average human body sores to approximately $45,618,575.82.(Hey, You are all millionaires)
I am sure you know that because of cellular attrition our bodies actually replace themselves every years. So every 7 years you get a new spouse without the messy process of leaving one for another. My wife is working on her 8th husband….and I’m working on my 8th wife….Children get new parents, Parents get new children, and as a pastor I get a new church, every 7 years. I’m saying this and realizing that I am in my 11th body. No wonder I feel so young!!!
Anyway, there are experiences in life that leave you a little different than you were before… and that’s what happened to Jacob in the bible…
Genesis 32:28-31. "And God said, your name shall no more be called Jacob, but Israel, for as a prince you have power with God and with men, and you have prevailed. v29 And Jacob asked Him, and said, Tell me, I pray, Your name. And God said, why is it that you ask my name? And He blessed him there. v30 And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel, for he said, I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved. v31 And as he passed over Peniel the sun rose upon him, and he halted (tsay-la'h …to limp)because of his thigh which God had touched."
The covenant promise first given to his grandfather Abraham, would now flow through Jacob and his offspring by the touch of God upon him! He would now spend the rest of his life, marked by that blessing in the form of a limp.
God was declaring, “Because of my touch on his life, this man will walk different now, than he ever did before”….Everyone would see Jacob’s walk and say, there’s a man who has been touched and blessed by God!
The path to blessing is the path of brokenness… Jacob started out full of himself, he rebelled against his father and mother, his brother, and most of the folks he encountered along the way. Most of you know that Jacob was a twin, and when his brother was born before him, he came out but Jacob was holding on to his ankle as though he was trying to pull him back in….
But now Jacob has encountered someone he can’t beat, someone he can’t hood wink, and someone who knows him better than he knows himself. His arms are too short to box with God, and the good news is that when you lose to God, it’s the best victory you could ever experience. That’s what this brokenness is about…. I’ll lose to God every time, because even though I may walk away broken, I now see myself in His eyes, I know myself as He knows me, and it causes me to walk a different way than I walked before. I was counselling a lady when she stopped me and made a statement which no one had ever said to me…. She said “You’re speaking to me out of your own brokenness, aren’t you.”? In that moment, I realized that all of the things I was sharing with her, had come forth from God’s touch on my life from the valleys I had walked through, and it pierced into a deep place within her… It’s not about the number of days in our life, but it’s about the amount of life in our days!!!
Brokenness tears away the sham, the pretense, and the phoniness … and allows the real you that God intended all along to be released.
All four gospels contain the story of a certain little woman’s brokenness, which is unusual, but God wanted to give it special emphasis for all of us….I’m going to use the one from Mark’s gospel.
Mark 14:3 “And being in Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as Jesus sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster box of ointment of spikenard very precious; and she brake the box, and poured it on his head. 4 And there were some that had indignation within themselves, and said, why was this waste of the ointment made? 5 For it might have been sold for more than three hundred pence, and have been given to the poor. And they murmured against her. 6 And Jesus said, Let her alone; why trouble her? she has wrought a good work on me”.
First, let me say that this alabaster box was made of translucent, white or tinted fine-grained gypsum which could be broken quite easily. These small flasks would be placed on a neckless to be worn around the neck of young women of marriage age. When their hand was given in marriage, they would break the flask and anoint their husband to be in order to honor him.
The word “gypsum” means (to take hold of) and in breaking the flask and anointing Jesus, she was declaring that there was no going back. She broke it so that once it was offered it was final….Next, the value of this broken container with it’s contents, was about 300 pence, which was nearly a year’s wages for a Roman laborer.
So something of value was involved here. This box represents something of value to us that we give to God with no intention of taking it back. Also, notice that they asked “why was this waste of ointment made”?.. Friend when we offer our brokenness to God, whatever it cost to bring us to our brokenness was not wasted, it was, as Jesus said “to bring about a good work, for His glory.”
Don’t despise the process of your brokenness, because it causes something valuable to be released in your life. A depth, and an insight, wisdom, discernment, humility, patience, compassion and maturity, which you did not possess before…And if we allow the process to come full circle, it leads us into Godliness…America is being broken because it needs to return to God… Without God we are a fragile nation….Revival is always conditional on a time of brokenness…
OK, The main character we’re looking at today is Jacob. And we want to look at Jacob’s limp. We have seen that his limp was because God touched him …. But the reality also is, that God uses this world with all of it's trials and troubles, pressures, and circumstances to bring us to our own places of brokenness before Him. And we’re usually kicking and screaming and fighting like Jacob, all the way…..But the Father is helping us to realize that we are no match for all that life throws at us in ourselves, without Him.
Jacob arrives at this God encounter, from a place of loss. And he is struggling with Losing someone special. The grave has it'slessons. It teaches us and reminds us how frail we are and how fragile life can be. It teaches us how dependent we are on one another. It teaches us that life is short! We don’t have forever down here to get it right! Some folks got up this morning, not realizing that today would be their last day on earth to get the answers they have spent their lifetime searching for.
Jacob’s loss has begun to weigh on him… He has lost his mom, his dad, and he comes to Bethel where the latest loss, his nurse from birth, who was around 130 years old, Is laid to rest at Bethel. She helped deliver his son Benjamin and his wife Rachael died giving birth to that son.
Jacob is struggling with those in his own household as well. He had sent his favored son Joseph, to find his brothers who were tending the cattle, and they stripped him of his robe, threw him in a pit, and sold him to a trader going to Egypt. Then they told Jacob that he had been killed by a wild animal. Their betrayal adds to another loss, the loss of trust.
The Jacob who came to Peniel was a man whom life had broken to the place that God was now ready to use him.
Peniel means “A face to face encounter with God”… It was show time, where the rubber meets the road, this guy was done fighting… It was a personal “Here I am God” time for Jacob….
When God touched him, he was still fighting, but the moment He touched him, he became a different man.
God said, “you shall no longer be called Jacob, but you shall be called Israel, which means, the prince who prevailed with God.”
It had been a long, hard road, but the time of surrender has come.
The fight has gone out of this man, and he’s ready to be used of God!
Little could Jacob know that a nation would come forth from him that would touch the world. That Jacob and 70 people would enter Egypt, but over 2 million would come out under Moses. But it could not have happened without the process of brokenness…
Jacob may have had a limp, but he is in good company….
Isaac was blind from the age of about 40…..Moses was a stutterer….Samson was born with a defect that affected both legs…. Ehud, one of the mighty deliverers of Israel, had a shriveled left hand…. In modern history, Albert Einstein was kicked out of school because his teacher thought he could not learn…..novelist Agatha Christie had a learning disability and could not write, she had someone else write all of her novels, plays, and stories while she dictated them…..Alexander Graham Bell had dyslexia….Thomas Edison had dyslexia and ADHD and had to be home schooled….. Franklin Delano Roosevelt suffered from polio
and could not stand or walk without crutches yet was elected four times as President of the United States, from 1932 to 1944, and guided this country through the “great depression” and World War II.
I for one am glad that God didn’t put up a sign at the entrance of His kingdom that said “No limping allowed.” No struggling, no questioning, no wrestling, no suffering, no brokenness, no shortcomings, no imperfections…. It doesn’t say…“Only six pack, muscular, triumphant, dominant, prosperous, rich Christians who have it all together are welcomed here.”
When I entered my first pastorate at age 33, I used to go down into the basement of the church and spend one hour just getting up the courage to go up and face the people for the service. I was handicapped by fear.
Jacob’s God would not buy into a loser’s limp and neither should any of us. Our limp, whatever it might be, changes the way we walk because it’s the walk of an overcomer. God said, Jacob, you’re not the same man, because you overcame all the odds, and you made it!!!
Jacob knew the old testament version of what Paul said…”It’sChrist in me the hope of Glory”…..
A while back I wrote a poem titled “Even now”, it says….
“Even now, I trust You Jesus.. Even now, I still believe…
Even now I know you’re with me. You are strong when I am weak.
The journey may get rough and hard. Sometimes I cannot see my way.
My heart feels like a house of cards. So I trust You Lord, for come what may. How much does it really matter. If I gain the world, it’s incomplete.
I could lose all I have gathered. But if I sow, I know I’ll reap.
So, even now I trust You Jesus. Even now I still believe.
Even now, I know You’re with me. You are strong when I am weak”.
How encouraging that Jesus said in John 10:10 The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it more abundantly.
Someone has said that our greatest potential lies just beyond the other side of our greatest fears. Jacob’s name before he met God face to face meant “loser”… but God said, I’m not having any of that, You shall be called Israel, for you have prevailed, you have overcome, you have overwhelmed what tried to overwhelm you!!!
Hey Jacob, why are you limping…. I’m limping because I let God have His way and I stopped struggling….
Hey Jacob, why are you limping…. I’m limping because God is reminding me, to put the past behind me, and be open to a brand new future…
Hey Jacob, why are you limping…. I’m limping because God is reminding me that I’m an overcomer, not a loser, He changed the way I walk!!
Hey Jacob, why are you limping…. This is to remind me that all the things I put my trust in will fail me, but He will never leave me or fail me….
Let me go back to the opening scripture for a moment…. When God tells Jacob who he is, He wasn’t looking for a name that described his past, his failings, or his short comings….
He was naming him according to his potential and his destiny!God will not name you according to your issues…. But according to His intentions. We were beneath, but now we are above. We were sick, but now we are healed. When God changes us, we will not be what people remember from our past but what God declares about our future!!! Lazarus refused to be called “Stinky” even though he was in the tomb long enough to stink…. But everywhere he went, they said “this is the man who was dead, but now he lives”!!!
Hey church, remember that Kamikaze pilots had a lot of potential.
But it turned out they were all one hit wonders. Don’t be a one hit wonder A tall, lanky, struggling student who was new at the school, was standing at the edge of the 3rd story roof of a school building and was about jump off and commit suicide.
When suddenly from the school grounds the basketball teacher yells to him, "Don't jump, I see you've got lots of potential, just let me work with you!" He saw what all the others had missed. You can’t judge a fish by how well it climbs a tree, and you can’t judge a pig by how well it flies! (unless it’s an elephant)
David had no social standing or public claim to fame, before he went up against Goliath. At that time, no one wrote of how he had beaten back a bear or laid a lion out like a prize fighter. When the famous prophet Nathan had shown up at the family home, even David’s own father overlooked him. He worked in faithful obscurity, but when he stood before Goliath, the nation learned that superficial, shallow human perceptions of this Giant killer disguised as a shepherd, were irrelevant when compared to his God-given potential when it was set free and released.
The obstacles that we all encounter are simply preparation for what comes next, in this life and in the next. The bear and lion we confront, are only rehearsals for the real fight which will reveal our potential. The obscure service is the proving ground where humility, patience and faithfulness are forged on the anvil of real life experience. Potential is like mining for gold, you have to dig through a lot of dirt to get to it, and bring it forth….but it’s well worth the effort.
God is empowering his people to be change agents regardless of where they might find themselves at the moment. This once unsung hero eventually wrote much of the Hebrew hymnal. And though he grew up undistinguished, God made him the standard by which all other kings would be judged.
As I was writing this message, the Lord said this to me….
This is a season when the Spirit of the lord is signaling that it’s time to launch out into the deeper water. Many have been satisfied to splash around in the waters near the shore, but a cry is going forth… “launch out into the deep, let go of the shoreline”… It’s time to do what you’ve been putting off, and what you’ve known in your spirit, but your mind gets in the way. It is in the deeper waters that the secrets of the Lord are revealed. It is in the deeper waters that the Divine flow is strongest. Go where the full current of the supernatural is drawing you, and allow it to take you where you’ve never been before. If you’ve only felt the river of God at ankle level, the knee deeplevel is calling. If you’ve only felt that river at waist level, the shoulder deep level is calling you. Fear will hold you back if you listen to it…. Know the shepherd’s voice and follow no other… For once you launch forth, you will never go back again. This is what you’ve hoped, dreamed and longed for, so let go now, and let the current take you, draw you, and bring you there….The deeper place is waiting…..
If you’re ready to walk in the new name that God has for you, and make that break once and for all, your potential is calling, and it’s louder than the voice of your past, it’s louder than the voice of your mistakes. You’ve been standing in that place where you wanted to take the leap, but you kept talking yourself out of it. Jacob decided it was time, David decided it was time, the woman with the alabaster box decided it was time. How about you….If that’s you would you stand this morning, right where you are…..
Prayer together…..Father, I thank You that You created us to reach our potential. In truth, You’re the only One who knows what we can achieve or who we can become. You know the plans You have for us, plans for good and not for evil, to give us a future and a hope. Our potential, like our lives, is shaped and fashioned for Your glory. Whether we acknowledge it or not, we exist to give You alone that glory. Lord, we can’t achieve that potential without knowing You. So for those who don’t know You, I pray that You would draw them to Yourself and bring them in. Let them come to know You as their all-in-all so they may find their everything in You.
And for those who do know You, Father, I ask that they would know You more and learn more about Your ways and Your desires. In that knowledge we can forgive ourselves and others who have wronged us as our lives line up with Your deep desires for us. Lord, You will never push us away or hold us back. You discipline us only for the purpose of renewal and restoration. You may move us to the wilderness for a season, but You always bring us out in love. You bless us that we might declare Your goodness and mercy. You burden us that we might press harder into You.
For those who don’t see their potential, whose eyes the enemy has blinded, I ask You to grant transparency, wisdom and vision. Let them throw off the old and burst forth into the new. Let their lives push past the pain and move over into the promise. And let them—let each of us—keep our eyes on Youas we press toward our true potential, the mark of our high and holy calling in Christ Jesus, in whose glorious name I pray—AMEN.
God desires for you to be healed and whole and free!
Could we all just stand with someone today and together take the journey of faith into a new walk in His strength, and covenant blessing….This is the latter rain!!
