Do you have that innate ability to look in the natural and see what seems to be beyond repair? Whatever “it” may be, it’s neglected and/or left for dead, and in that view, you don’t see the ruins? You see the rising of a dream home, the training of a star athlete, an incredible singer, a car awarded, First Prize in a show, or a champion dog who just happens to be sitting in a shelter? Are you able to see the fruition of a well-laid plan instead of a nightmare?
Many of us, if you pulled us aside and asked what we thought of an investment, we’d inform you of how you just threw your money away. Many see broken marriages, financial struggles, fragmented relationships, addictions, and abuse and say, “What a nightmare! What a shame! I don’t see how that will ever change.” As believers, we should see possibilities, messes that God can turn into messages. For every test that is overcome stands a testimony.
You may be in the middle of that mess, looking at a wreck of a home, a wreck of a marriage, a wreck of your finances, a wreck in your relationships? God is asking you the questions… Well, what do you think? Can I help? God has a plan for you: a dream house, a dream relationship, a dream bank account and blessings beyond measure. Just look at Malachi 3.
God doesn’t look at your situation and see ruins. God sees the ability to create, to provide, to heal, and to deliver. In other words, God sees an opportunity to be God.
When God gets involved in things, He doesn’t simply fix the leaking roof. He makes all things new. When God sees chaos, He speaks order. When God sees darkness, He can’t help Himself but to send light.
In the beginning (Gen 1:1), God entered into darkness and showed off His power and authority.
He spoke words that turned darkness into light. He spoke words that turned emptiness into fullness. His words took chaos and created order. His words took the dust of the earth and created the majestic birds of the air and the beasts of the field, as well as our ancestors! (Genesis 2:19-22)
From this point on, our enemy, Lucifer, has made it his mission to take the order God created and turn it back into chaos. The words of Jesus tell us of the intent of our enemy. In John 10:10, it states that he comes to steal, kill and destroy. It is the polar opposite of what Jesus came to do, which was and is to heal, find, and restore.
This the battle of the ages: God turns it around and the enemy does all that he can to turn it back around. Satan got man to turn authority back over to him in the Garden of Eden. He thought he had won the battle, but along came a baby born in a manger, the greatest turnaround story in history. This baby restored hope for all mankind and returned authority back to the sons and daughters of God. God gave us power to confront and defeat the enemy each and every time he attacks. God turned it around. What you need to do today is remind Satan exactly who’s in control of the turn-around!
The Opportunity To Be God
No death, no curse, no enemy can prevent God from being God in your life. We cannot allow our circumstances to compromise what we believe and what we have already received. Christ paid the ultimate price for what we have. We don’t dare back down now!
We were headed to eternal damnation but we encountered the blood. We have received eternal life. We were headed for destruction, but now we are reconstructed as the body of Christ. We were without hope and now have hope! We were without joy and now we have joy, joy that is unspeakable and full of glory! Get that in your spirit today as we seek to remind ourselves that we just need to let God be God!
We were at war with God, but now have peace with Him (Romans 5). We were denied access, but now have access through Him. We are changed forever. We simply have to let Him do His work through us. Job could testify that God is Who He says He is. The same with Joshua, Moses, Gideon, Peter, Paul, and Thomas. What about you? Can you testify that God is God?
We’ve tried it our way, right? Let’s give God the opportunity to be God.
God doesn’t exactly approach situations like we would. In Isaiah 54, He tells a distraught, barren woman to sing and shout for joy because more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife. Here God required action. He used that action to turn this life around. The action of singing and shouting for joy is the perfect example of this woman lining up with the promise instead of the problem. We can’t sing for joy and complain in misery at the same time.
God knew this woman needed to hear something different in her ears than just the sound of her problems. Can you relate? He wanted her, and He wants us, to hear the sound of victory!
God wants us to sing in the struggle because the struggle is not the end. Our barrenness is not the end but rather the beginning of you allowing God to be Who He is, God, in your life.
Wreckless God?
Are you struggling with a critical spirit? Even Jesus was criticized for how He responded to people in need.
After all, He rubbed spit and clay into one guy’s eyes. Probably not the way you might have tried to help him.
He took some poor kid’s lunch; yes, to feed a huge, hungry crowd, but still…
Jesus also waited 4 whole days to go see His friend Lazarus’ grave. What in the world took Him so long? What could have possibly been more important?
In the Old Testament, 2 Kings 4, a woman with nothing is told to go find more empty vessels that could be filled. Don’t you wonder if she was thinking, “But my house already has empty vessels. I don’t think you understand the problem here.”
In 2 Kings 5, a man named Naaman is instructed dip himself into a river 7 times. You may not have spent much time in rivers, but you probably know that they’re not considered clean bodies of water. A dirty river cleanses a dirty disease. Huh?
1 Kings 17 tells the story of a starving widow using her last tiny bit of flour and oil to make the prophet of God a meal.
Reckless it would seem, crazy to some, but these are the instances by which God’s power is shown to the whole world.
Isaiah 61:1-3 lets us know that God’s spirit rests upon us for a specific purpose. We have purpose! He has anointed us, you and me, to turn around the desolate circumstances, to bring those who are broken wholeness, and those who are imprisoned freedom. We are called not just visit the captive, but to free the captive! We are not called to simply remove the ashes, but to replace them with a crown of beauty!