Elevation Point Church

Being told to leave a stronghold doesn’t make sense. A stronghold was/is a safe place for David during his time running from Saul. If someone told us to leave a place we felt completely safe, we’d question them as well. And yet, that’s exactly what the prophet, Gad, told David to do. Because sometimes, the place of isolation that we think keeps us safe and protected, turns into the most dangerous place we can be.

Waiting is never fun. And honestly, waiting can be tiring — mentally and sometimes physically. There is a proper time for God to work in our lives, but the reality is that His proper time rarely lines up with our ideal proper time. In our minds, we have a proper time. Our time tends to be now, or at the very least — soon. Yet, because God’s proper time doesn’t always line up with our proper time, there are moments where we are tempted to quit or give up. But it’s always worth holding on and waiting for God’s timing; because if we don’t, we’ll miss the good part.

We’ve all experienced moments of desperation. Moments where something was not functioning the way we wanted it to. Bartimeus was desperate for his healing. We know he was desperate because he shouted. And when those around him told him to be quiet, he shouted even louder. While these moments can feel discouraging, they can also bring freedom. They allow us to see that our identity is not in what we’re going through or who is around us. Our identity is in the truth that Jesus has called us. And that is how we’re able to cheer up and have joy in the midst of difficult moments. Because our circumstances and surroundings do not identify us — our calling does.

It’s a difficult feeling whenever we think that something is over. That the chances, the hope, the possibilities we were believing for are over. That the calling, dream, vision God gave us is over. But one of the greater tragedies in life is that many call things over that are really just beginning. We think it’s over because it looks dead and done, but Jesus says there’s still life left. For many of us, we’ve given up too early — and Jesus is saying, “stop saying it’s over.”

A lot of our frustration in life comes when we feel like we missed the moment. We tend to feel as if opportunities come and go; and that once they’re gone, that’s it. We also feel as if the stars have to align perfectly and that if it doesn’t happen in a certain environment, then it can’t happen — that if we don’t have people’s approval, or if people are inconvenienced, then it’s not possible. However, Jesus wasn’t limited by people’s time, environment, and preferences. He showed up whenever He wanted to show up. Because with Jesus, it can always be time for a miracle.

Whenever things get difficult, our greatest tendency is to overreact. Either we do too much, or we give up all together. Both are overreactions and not the way God intends for us to respond to adverse situations. Perhaps surprisingly, He encourages us to rest. To rest in Him, in His power, and in His strength. While we tend to be taught that the answer is to work harder to overcome everything, God looks for us to rest and obey Him. This doesn’t mean we don’t do anything, it just means we don’t do anything alone or in our own strength. Rather than overreacting, many of us are needing to chill out and rest.

The father in John 4:46-53 had a good desire. He wanted his son to be healed. He also had a good expectation. He expected that Jesus could (and would) heal his son. However, the father also had the wrong method by which he thought Jesus would do it. The father of the boy had his plan, but Jesus had an even better plan. The ironic thing in life, is that many times we view our plan as the only plan. We view our way of doing things as the only way to do things. This causes us to miss out on the best plan — Jesus’ plan. It’s important that we believe, but it’s also important that we be flexible in how we believe Jesus will do it. Thankfully, this father in John 4 was willing to lay aside his plan and embrace Jesus’ plan — because in the end, he just wanted whatever works.

We live in a world that strives to convince everyone we have it all together. That we’re strong enough to handle anything. That we’re smart enough to figure it all out. In II Corinthians, Paul encourages us to embrace the weakness, and allow Christ’s power to bring the strength. Any strength we can accomplish on our own is temporary, but strength found through Him is never-ending. Understanding the role that the grace and power of Jesus plays in our lives is essential to all we do. He’s not looking for us to say, “I’m strong enough to handle it on my own” — He’s looking for us to be honest and admit, “I’m weak.”

We all desire peace. We all look for peace. The danger is, however, that there are many things around us that profess peace, but lead to a lack of it. God gave us the Holy Spirit to follow in alignment with peace; and whenever we follow the Holy Spirit, that’s what it leads to. However, we are also given the freedom to choose to follow our flesh; and whenever we follow that, it leads to destruction. They both may look good, but only one leads to life and peace. The choice is easy, but it’s not always obvious.