Steven Furtick's Blog, page 99

Is God Your Guidance, Or Your Guide?

“If God told you everything that you needed to do, you wouldn’t need Him and God will never create a life for you that does not necessitate Him every step of the way.”



If you’d like to learn more about how to seek God’s will in uncertain circumstances, watch the entire Grey Matter series.

For 24/7 inspirational content from Pastor Steven and Elevation Church, visit the Elevation Network.

The Orange Initiative

Last year, under Pastor Steven’s leadership, Elevation Church set an audacious goal of service for our city and solidified our commitment with what we called The Orange Initiative. We vowed to serve 100,000 hours of community service and donate $750,000 to outreach partners working to feed, house, clothe, and care for our neighbors. We wanted to make an impact this city has never seen. Watch this video to see the results of a year’s worth of effort.

Are You A Frustrated Fixer?

This weekend we celebrated Mother’s Day with a special message from Pastor Steven entitled, “Frustrations of a Fixer.” This message was challenging, uplifting and taught us how to release ourselves from some of the frustrations we encounter in life. If you missed it, read some of our favorite moments below or watch the entire message here.

In 1 Samuel 1:1-11, we read the story of Elkanah and Hannah. Elkanah, a wealthy man, had two wives, Peninnah and Hannah. Peninnah had children, but Hannah had none. Hannah was often taunted and tormented by her rival over this fact. Meanwhile, Elkanah showed great love for Hannah through everything he did. Yet, none of his efforts could relieve the pain that Hannah felt as a result of her inability to bear children. Pastor Steven likened this story to the frustrated expectations we face today as we try to fix situations that only God can fix. Here’s some of the things we learned through their story.

It’s not all about you. Often, as Pastor Steven said, we approach people “from the center of ourselves,” expecting that any troubles or frustrations are a direct result of something that we did wrong. This tension is the root of our frustrated expectations and ties the peace of God in our lives to our ability to fix other people. We need to say, “I will not allow anyone else’s frustration to define me as a failure.” When you bear the responsibility of fixing things, there’s nothing more frustrating than a lack of progress.

Don’t expect a relationship to fulfill a purpose that it was not designed to fulfill. At the heart of Elkanah’s frustration was his desire to use his love to compensate for the grief that plagued Hannah. Meanwhile, Hannah was still frustrated with her unhealed brokenness. Either way, any affirmation someone could give them would ultimately leak from their broken hearts. As Pastor Steven said, many of our disappointed or frustrated relationships are a direct result of us placing the responsibility of affirmation and healing on people that are just as broken as we are.

Give God His job back. Pastor Steven challenged us to release these people from the responsibility to play God in our lives. Once you relinquish yourself and others from being God, you can cooperate with what He wants to do in your life. We all have either tried to fix something that only God can fix and we’ve all found frustration in expecting others to fix something that was meant for God to fix. If you’ll just let God do His job, He will do it far better than you ever could!

What’s one relationship you need to release control of to God?

To watch the entire message from Pastor Steven click here. To learn more about building great relationships in the context of marriage watch The Mr. & Mrs. Betterhalf series.



 

Frustrations of a Fixer

Elevation Church loves celebrating the women and mothers in our lives. We have a very special worship experience planned for Mother’s Day weekend with a message from Pastor Steven and a special gift for every mom.

How to Suspend Your Disbelief

One of the greatest skills you can ever learn to walk with Jesus Christ is to having a willing suspension of disbelief concerning anything that contradicts His promises for your life.

To learn more about God’s promises for you, watch the entire Living A Better Story series.

For 24/7 inspirational content from Pastor Steven and Elevation Church, visit the Elevation Network.

You’re Part of a Bigger Story

Your story, your marriage, your singleness is a part of a bigger story that God is writing. He’s a master author who knows what He’s doing and He knows the end from the beginning.

If you’d like to learn more about God’s plan for your relationships, watch the entire Mr. & Mrs. Betterhalf series.

For 24/7 inspirational content from Pastor Steven and Elevation Church, visit the Elevation Network.

How God Orchestrates Your Wait

This week, Pastor Steven closed the “Waiting Room” series with another timely, energetic message on how to wait on God. This week, Pastor Steven used Habakkuk 2:1-3 and 2 Peter 3:8-9 to display how God is everlasting and perpetually in control, even as we go through seasons of waiting.

Pastor Steven began this message by acknowledging the tension that exists between the two prevailing approaches to waiting on God. It seems that we are faced with the decision to either, “Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:10),” or to “Go get your own goat (Luke 15:28-32).” While many of our waiting rooms are a result of our failure to activate what God has already given us, there are still times where we truly are waiting for God to make something right in our lives. Using these Scriptures as a foundation, Pastor Steven gave us three frames of reference to show us what God is doing while we are waiting on Him.

God’s transportation system operates through hubs and spokes. Pastor Steven used a running analogy of an airport to describe what God is doing while we are waiting on Him. The airline industry is set up using a “Hub and Spoke” model. That is, if you are traveling somewhere that does not offer a direct flight, you will need to fly to a “hub” airport and use a connecting flight to finally get to your destination. You may have experienced something similar in your own life. God will often take you somewhere that feels like it’s opposite to where you are going. As Pastor Steven said, “Often you have to go through (the process) to get to (the place) because there’s something God wants to do in you first.”

God doesn’t put you in a holding pattern to punish you, but to protect you. When you’re stuck in the process between the potential and the perfection, you can find yourself caught in another level of frustration. Habakkuk 2 says that God will certainly not delay. Yet sometimes, you can find yourself in God’s holding patterns, where the destination is in sight, but God is taking you the long way around instead of landing you when you would like. As Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3, God is never slow to respond to us. Although it may seem like it, He is never putting us in a holding pattern to punish us, but rather to protect us. God’s delays are not denials. Continuing with the flight analogy, God cannot land you at your destinations until He determines you are ready. He has the vantage point to determine whether or not the conditions are clear enough to land. Pastor Steven challenged us to believe that it’s better to be late for the destination He has for us than to not arrive at all, or to not be ready when we get there. God is simply making sure that we are prepared to maximize what He has prepared for us at our destination!

Trusting in God means crossing over the supernatural date line.When you find yourself doing all that you can do, praying all that you can pray, but you are still waiting on God, it’s easy to ask, “O Lord, are you not from everlasting (Habakkuk 1:12)?” In fact, God is everlasting. He exists outside of our understanding of time. 2 Peter 3:8 even says that a single day for us is likened to one thousand years for God and one thousand years for us is likened to a single day for God. Pastor Steven used an illustration of his recent trip to Australia, where he crossed over the “International Date Line.” Since Australia is 14 hours ahead of our time zone, Pastor Steven explained to his son, Elijah, that it was tomorrow in Australia and Elijah asked, “Daddy, can you tell us what happens tomorrow?” Since God exists in eternity, Pastor Steven suggested that our prayers cause us to cross over a “supernatural date line.” We often worry because we simply do not see how God is going to bring about what we believe He has prepared for us. However, Romans 4:17 states that God “gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they are.” You may have questions about how God is going to orchestrate your circumstances to fulfill His promises for your tomorrow. But through His word and the power of His Spirit, He will carry you trough to tomorrow!

What can the Lord tell you about tomorrow? What are your greatest questions as you wait for tomorrow? Using His word and the power of His Spirit, what confidence is God calling you to walk in today?

To watch the entire message from Pastor Steven click here. To learn more about overcoming the low points in your journey watch The Dip series.



 

Hubs & Spokes, Holding Patterns, & The Supernatural Date Line

We’re all in a waiting room of some sort – between where we’re at and where we’re headed. It’s how you respond in those waiting rooms that determine where you’ll go. Join us for our new series as we learn why God chooses to make us wait and how to make the wait worth it.

The Assurance of Your Salvation

Without the cross, without the grace, blood and mercy of Jesus, it would have been over for us a long time ago.

To learn more about what your story says about you, watch the entire Storytellers series.

For 24/7 inspirational content from Pastor Steven and Elevation Church, visit the Elevation Network.

What It Takes For His Light To Shine Through Us

Sometimes God allows the circumstances in your life to go dark so He can shine forth His brilliance in your life.

To learn more about the catalyst of true joy through the most unlikely of sources, watch the entire Joy Genome series.

For 24/7 inspirational content from Pastor Steven and Elevation Church, visit the