In the middle of prayer last night, God told me:
"I will begin to move my children. Some will be elevated and some will go through warfare. As I shift them they may wobble, but the foundation still stands. I am your foundation."
After hearing this, I thought, "how can we prepare?" But before I could ask God that question He said, "Don't get stuck in a comfort zone."
God is going to put us in places that will makes us uncomfortable. But as long as we allow God to be our foundation, we will be ok.
To prepare ourselves, we must seek God's presence. This week I am pulling myself away from anything that isn't about God. For me this means straying away from the sitcoms I watch on YouTube, and the movies I watch on Netflix. I challenge you to do the same. Use this week to give God your complete and undivided attention.
For those who will be elevated
Let's not get things twisted. Elevation can be just as uncomfortable as warfare. Both positions require us to step out of our comfort zone. Jesus said in Luke 12,
Luke 12:48 From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Maybe your elevation will be in the world and God will trust you with a new job, relationship or connections. Or maybe your elevation will be spiritual and God will awaken gifts that lie dormant in you, or entrust you with a new ministry. Whatever the case is, we must remember God. Think of yourself on a elevator, and God is the floor of the elevator you are standing on. Although you are in movement, God's foundation is keeping you steady. Without that foundation you would fall.
Learn from Saul's mistakes. After God anointed Saul and made him king through His servant Samuel,
1 Samuel 10:25 Samuel explained to the people the rights and duties of kingship. He wrote them down on a scroll and deposited it before the Lord. Then Samuel dismissed the people to go to their own homes.
Meaning immediately after his elevation, God told Saul everything that was required of him. There were people who doubted him, but God prepared battles for him and won on his behalf in the presence of the naysayers. Once the people saw what God was doing through him, it was confirmed that he was meant to be king.
But Saul's heart wasn't where it should have been. He heard words from God through Samuel, but he didn't allow God to be his foundation. So the moment he began to elevate, he lost his balance and fell. The first time he disobeyed God was during a battle with the Philistines. After his son attacked one of the Philistine outposts, the Philistines began to gather to attack Saul and his army. Many of Saul's men fled at the sight of the Philistine army, and the remaining men were terrified. Saul was told by Samuel to wait there seven days until he came. But when Samuel didn't come at the appointed time, he began to panic. He went to try to set up burnt offerings for God's favor. Sometimes we want to please God on our terms and times, but nothing pleases God more than obedience. When Samuel arrived, he rebuked Saul.
1 Samuel 13:1315 “You have done a foolish thing,” Samuel said. “You have not kept the command the Lord your God gave you; if you had, he would have established your kingdom over Israel for all time. But now your kingdom will not endure; the Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people, because you have not kept the Lord’s command.”
Samuel's rebuke/prophecy was fulfilled when Saul disobeyed God a second time. After battling the Amalekites, he disobeyed God by not destroying everyone and everything in that town as he had been told.
1 Samuel 9 But Saul and the army spared Agag and the best of the sheep and cattle, the fat calves and lambs—everything that was good. These they were unwilling to destroy completely, but everything that was despised and weak they totally destroyed.
Once again he chose to glorify God on his own terms. He kept what he wanted to keep and destroyed the rest. He told Samuel his reasoning for keeping the best animals was because he wanted to sacrifice burnt offerings to God. But once again and it's worth repeating, the best way to please God is through obedience.
1 Samuel 15: 22-23 But Samuel replied: “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”
I personally made the mistake Saul made after God elevated me last year. I went through a season of laziness in the spirit. I began to push God aside and only spent time with Him when I felt like it. I would say, "after this show goes off and there's nothing good on TV, then I would talk to God." I had a spirit of arrogance and God had to knock that out of me. So He took everything away from me. There are things today that God still hasn't given back to me. It was a hard year to go through, but I thank God for every moment. Now when God elevates me again, I know to keep Him first in everything I do.
David is an example of how we should be when we are elevated. David didn't just wait for prophets like Samuel to give him a word from God. He actively sought after God and he truly loved Him. For that reason God told him,
2 Samuel 7:11-16 The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’”
Elevation and peace are not the same thing. We can't let our guards down because God has elevated us. Still seek and praise God the same why you did when you had nothing.
For those who will go through warfare
James 1:2-4 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
As long as you are a follower of Jesus Christ, no struggle you go through will be in vain. What you are going through are labor pains that must be endured in order to birth a blessing.
Let's examine when Jesus was taken to the wilderness to be tempted by Satan. Jesus had already fasted 40 days and 40 nights before Satan approached Him. Think about how weak His body must have been. For some of you who will have to go through warfare, you are already weak from what you've been through in the past. But God will take over and fight for you and through you. Staying close to God is the key to getting through this situation. Imagine standing outside during a heavy thunderstorm. God is holding an umbrella and He's telling you to come near Him. The closer you are to Him, the more you will be covered and protected from the rain.
The first thing Satan said to Jesus was,
Matthew 4:3 “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.”
Satan will try to attack you by questioning your worth because you don't have something. He will try to make you feel inadequate because you may not have the job you want, or the car you desire, a spouse, and any other desires you may have. But that is why Jesus came to us. He endured what we are going through and He showed us how it should be handled. He replied to Satan saying,
Matthew 4:4 “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
In other words, you may not have everything you want, but you have everything you need because God supplies it all.
Satan tried to hit Him with another blow.
Matthew 4:5-6 The devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’”
This is the premise of suicide. Many times, Satan will try to convince you that God has forgotten about you, and doing something extreme like suicide will get His attention. He tries to tell you if God sees you doing something that extreme, then He will get off of His throne to save you and turn your situation around because He sees what this trial is doing to you. But pay attention to how Jesus responds:
Matthew 4:7 Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’”
What Jesus is saying here is God has already proven Himself. He proved Himself way before you came into this world, and He is so sweet that He went out of His way to prove Himself specifically in your life as well. This is why it's important to write down every blessing God gives you (I feel convicted as I write this because I stopped writing my blessings down). Therefore you can look back at your blessings and know that God did it before and He will do it again. Rest in His strength.
Satan tried to attack Jesus again.
Matthew 4:8-9 The devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.”
Satan constantly tries to tempt us by showing us the things of this world that we are missing out on for God. How many times have you logged on to your Facebook and seen enemies or people with no relationship with God prosper? You are bombarded with people announcing new jobs, new romantic relationships, and enjoying fun vacations. You can't help but think about how those things haven't come to you yet. Perhaps you even begin to doubt if those things will come at all. But remember this--Satan showed Jesus the splendors of this world, but he conveniently left out the violence, death, and sorrows of this world. When you see people of the world enjoying life on social media, you are only seeing a snapshot. You don't see the emptiness they feel because they need God in their lives. You are doing the right thing by rejecting the world and serving God, even if it doesn't seem like it now. Jesus replied to Satan saying,
Matthew 4:10 “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’”
Jesus endured Satan's attacks because God is His foundation. Every response He gave came from the Bible. After the trials He suffered in the wilderness, God sent angels to strengthen Him and deliver Him out of that situation.
Matthew 4:11 Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
By looking at the bigger picture, it is clear Jesus had to endure those trials in the wilderness for His purpose. Now when we come to God tired and feeling down, we have a intercessor who knows what we are going through because He went through it as well. In this same way you are going through warfare for an important element of your ministry.
That leads me to the next point. During these times you are going to reach a point where you feel like you can't take it anymore. That's fine! Just remember to keep holding on to God. Meaning if you are upset with God because of what you are going through then tell Him. If you want to cry, cry. Just cry to Him. Jesus understands because He went through it as well. What you don't want to do is turn away from God or distance yourself from Him. Satan is going to tempt you to respond in that way, but you must resist as Jesus resisted. The closer you are to God, the more He can console you and strengthen you. Satan wants you to run away from God so he can attack you in ways that he couldn't do when you were closer to God. So hang on tight to your father and you will endure!
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