Stay Where You Are - Trusting God for the Next Level

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Quick Summary

On the Sabbath day God commanded the people to stay where they were. In Hebrews 4 it tells us there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God and that rest is TODAY. If we follow God's leading in our lives he will position us in the perfect place at the perfect time, but this takes trusting his leading. In our lives desires often come for more. This could be a desire for a better job, growing a business or ministry, more out of our relationships, a better house, a better car, etc. When these desires come there are two paths we can take. We can try to figure it out, effort, force, or manipulate our way to the next level or we can give these desires to God and trust him to figure out how to make them happen because promotion, growth, and increase come from God. Give these desires to him and then focus on resting and trusting TODAY by showing up and becoming a good steward of the current place he has you positioned. At the perfect time he will move you to the next level. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray for all those watching, listening, or reading this and their families, friends, and all those connected to them along with our church and governmental leaders.

Thank you for releasing us from darkness and transferring us into the light, into the kingdom of your dear son. Thank you for your purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.

I ask that you the father of glory would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so we would know you better. That the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know the hope to which you have called us, and the riches of your glorious inheritance that is in us, and the immeasurable greatness of your power to us who believe. The same power that you exercised in Christ when you raised him from the dead, and seated him at your right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,and every name that is named. Not only in this age but also in the one to come. And you put all things under his feet and made him to be the head of all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.

Heavenly Father, bless us and make your face shine upon us. Let us find grace and favor in your eyes.Expand our borders and our territory. Expand our capacity to receive your purpose and grace, and all that you want to do in our lives, and to let it flow through us so that we do good and are a blessing to people all over the world. Keep your hand on us and help us do TODAY what is right and best in your eyes. And to do it with peace and joy, and confidence in you. And as we do stretch out your hand to heal and do signs and wonders. And keep us from evil and pain.

Through the mighty name of Jesus. Amen

Communion Meditation

In Exodus 15:26 God says "If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, and pay attention to his commands and keep all of his decrees I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, because I am the Lord who heals you. 

Job 36 says God is wooing us from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction and our table laden with choice food, and it is his voice that leads us out. Getting tuned into his voice and following his leading is very important. As we follow his voice he positions us in the perfect place at the perfect time, and that is where the grace flows. Being out of position can shut off the flow of grace. 

When we take communion we are supposed to be examining ourselves. These verses say we need to be listening to God and then taking action. On a very practical level, are we taking time to listen to God and follow his leading? Are we doing what we know to do TODAY and are we doing it with a good attitude? As we do it keeps us positioned in the flow of grace. 

Philippians 1:9 the apostle Paul says his prayer is for the love of the people to abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight so that they would know or be able to discern what is right and best. It is love that teaches how to do what is right and best in God's eyes. Love is the most important commandment. 

Either we are functioning in God's love or we are not. Is our love for God and people growing and increasing? It is either growing or diminishing, there is no in between. We should be seeing exponential growth in our love because God has given us his love within us. God is love and he is in us. 

Every time we take communion we should be taking it with holy awe. The body of Jesus was broken for us. His death marked the transition from the old to the new.

When we take the cup it is a reminder of the participation in the New Covenant in the blood of Jesus. A covenant is a partnership. God has promised to be our shield and great reward, he is among us as one who serves, and he is working to make us great. He has given us everything he has...His wisdom, his righteousness, his leading, his mind, his peace, his joy, his love, his power, and so much more. 

Our role in this partnership is to stay connected to him, to abide in him, to walk in all he has given us, to follow his voice because he is leading us to a spacious place, to do what we know to do and do it with a good attitude. Our role is also to stay in love and avoid strife. Another part of our role is to stay positioned where he has put us. Part of our covenant is also that if we are ever in trouble we can call out to God and he promises to deliver us. 

Stay Where You Are: Trusting God for the Next Level

Before we get into the main message I want to tell a story. We have a rental apartment and when our last tenant checked out they accidentally misplaced a blanket. My wife and I were discussing how to handle the situation and I was reminded of something I learned from Kenneth Copeland. He once said not to let anyone steal or take anything from you even if it was not on purpose. He said the better option is to let it go and give it to them. God has promised that if we will give we will receive. So I told my wife, "Let's just let it go, and give it to the tenant, and not think anymore about it." Then I told my wife, " Don't be surprised if people start sending you blankets." Two days later a package comes in the mail with a new blanket. My sister had been knitting a blanket for my wife for several months and hadn't told us. The new blanket was much nicer than the one we gave. 

Last week on our live Zoom training we got into the topic of whether to move jobs or positions. The conversation started with whether to stay in the job someone was in before they were saved, when they were feeling the call to more full time ministry. 

In 1 Corinthians 7 the apostle Paul is talking about husbands and wives staying in the position they were in when they were called rather than seeking a divorce or seeking to get married for those that are unmarried. Then it goes on to say the following starting in verse 17...

17 Nevertheless, each person should live as a believer in whatever situation the Lord has assigned to them, just as God has called them. This is the rule I lay down in all the churches. 18 Was a man already circumcised when he was called? He should not become uncircumcised. Was a man uncircumcised when he was called? He should not be circumcised. 19 Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing. Keeping God’s commands is what counts. 20 Each person should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

21 Were you a slave when you were called? Don’t let it trouble you—although if you can gain your freedom, do so. 22 For the one who was a slave when called to faith in the Lord is the Lord’s freed person; similarly, the one who was free when called is Christ’s slave. 23 You were bought at a price; do not become slaves of human beings. 24 Brothers and sisters, each person, as responsible to God, should remain in the situation they were in when God called them.

If God has placed us in a position we should stay in that position until God moves us. God knows the best path for us, and often we try to force or manipulate situations rather than trusting God to open the doors to the next level. 

On God's path there may be times when you can win your freedom. If those times come, these verses say to take them. But, keep in mind to make the move to more freedom will often require a step of faith and trust to go through these doors. 

This topic started for me last week on our Zoom, but then God began to reinforce it more with an issue we were having with a car. Over the last year we haven't used our cars as much because we have been working from home, but one of our cars started to have some issues. I could tell it was probably time to start looking for a new car but I was waiting for our tax returns to be finished before we made any decisions on the car. So I went into an idle waiting mode. My thought process was that I didn't want to put any money into repairs on the car because we were probably going to trade it in soon so the car just sat idle for a while.

Then my wife made the comment one day that it seemed like I was procrastinating on it. God began to show me some things about this. He reminded me that years ago when we moved to a new house, prior to moving we had made a commitment in our hearts to really fix up our current house at the time. After making this commitment within just a few months God moved us to a new house. We weren't even looking for a new house anymore but God moved us to a house that is a better situation than we could have figured out on our own.

Then another time right before I moved my gym I made a commitment in my heart to really fix up the location we already had. It seemed like every time God moved us to a new level it was always preceded by making a heart commitment to be thankful for and maximize what we currently had. This often meant investing money into repairs and maintenance. 

At one point my wife changed jobs, and she didn't make it happen. God moved her. As she has been with this company there have been many people who are solely focused on moving up in the company, but my wife's focus has been on showing up and doing good, and she has been getting promoted very rapidly. Don't focus on the next level and increasing, focusing on being present today and doing a good job, trusting that God causes the promotions to the next level. 

God wants to see us become very good stewards of where we are currently. Often we want to move the next level in areas of life and we try to effort, force, or manipulate our way to the next level. But, it is important to remember that promotion comes from God. We can give these desires for the next level to him and simply trust that if we become good stewards at our current level God will promote us at the perfect time. 

When we learn to rest and trust God in this he creates the opportunities for the next level without us having to make them happen. And these solutions are what I call beautiful solutions in that they set us free and create a ripple effect for good across every area of life. The opposite of this is trying to force or manipulate our way to the next level. This may get us to the next level but it can be oppressive and cause negative side effects. 

When we trust God and follow his voice he will put us in the perfect position at the perfect time. We must learn to trust him in this and allow him to position us. 

Here are some practical examples. Let's say you want a new job, to grow a business or ministry, a new house, a new car, or the next level in anything. Stay where you are, get very present and stay focused on doing good where you are with a good attitude. Show up and become a good steward of what you currently have. If you currently have a house or car or clients or a job become the best steward you can be of that current position. Steward it like you are stewarding what God gave you. This is choice from the heart. Give the desire for the next level to God and trust him to promote you at the perfect time. 

I have seen this in the gym over and over. If a personal trainer only had a few clients but they focused on making the most of those few clients, their client base would grow. 

The other day while I was praying I felt God nudge me to pray the Lord's prayer. After praying I felt like God was saying that I needed to ask him for my daily bread. I wasn't quite sure what God was referring to so I began to look up the original Greek version of the Lord's prayer. In the prayer the word " Daily," is only used one time in the whole New Testament and apparently it is one of the hardest words to translate. It is translated in a number of ways such as daily, enough, tomorrow's, or even more than enough. Think about Jesus feeding people, he always fed them more than enough. When Jesus multiplied the fish and the loaves there were baskets full of leftovers. 

In Exodus 16 is a story of Daily Bread but there is also a connection to staying where you are. 

The people have just crossed the Red Sea and entered into the wilderness and now God is going to send them manna. Here is what is found in chapter 16 of Exodus. 

16 The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. 2 In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

4 Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. (God gave them just enough for the day as a test that they would obey. This wasn't promised land living, it was wilderness living.)

5 On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that is to be twice as much as they gather on the other days.” ( The people were moaning and complaining against God and wanted to go back to a life of slavery rather than live by faith in God. God was wooing them to the promised land but they needed to show that they would listen to his voice and obey because it would have been dangerous for them to move into the promised land without following his voice.)

6 So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was the Lord who brought you out of Egypt, 7 and in the morning you will see the glory of the Lord, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we, that you should grumble against us?” 8 Moses also said, “You will know that it was the Lord when he gives you meat to eat in the evening and all the bread you want in the morning, because he has heard your grumbling against him. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against the Lord.”

9 Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before the Lord, for he has heard your grumbling.’”

10 While Aaron was speaking to the whole Israelite community, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of the Lord appearing in the cloud.

11 The Lord said to Moses, 12 “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”

13 That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14 When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. 15 When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was.

Moses said to them, “It is the bread the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to gather as much as they need. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”

17 The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. 18 And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had gathered just as much as they needed.

19 Then Moses said to them, “No one is to keep any of it until morning.”

20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

21 Each morning everyone gathered as much as they needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away. 22 On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much—two omers for each person—and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses. 23 He said to them, “This is what the Lord commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

24 So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. 25 “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a sabbath to the Lord. You will not find any of it on the ground today. 26 Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none. 28 Then the Lord said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions? 29 Bear in mind that the Lord has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where they are on the seventh day; no one is to go out.” 30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

This verse tells us to stay where we are on the Sabbath day. In Hebrews 4 it tells us that God set a certain day for the Sabbath rest for his people and that day is called TODAY. Here is what it says in Hebrews chapter 4...

4 Therefore, since the promise of entering his rest still stands, let us be careful that none of you be found to have fallen short of it. 2 For we also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because they did not share the faith of those who obeyed. 3 Now we who have believed enter that rest, just as God has said,

“So I declared on oath in my anger,
‘They shall never enter my rest.’”

And yet his works have been finished since the creation of the world. 4 For somewhere he has spoken about the seventh day in these words: “On the seventh day God rested from all his works.” 5 And again in the passage above he says, “They shall never enter my rest.”

6 Therefore since it still remains for some to enter that rest, and since those who formerly had the good news proclaimed to them did not go in because of their disobedience, 7 God again set a certain day, calling it “Today.” This he did when a long time later he spoke through David, as in the passage already quoted:

“Today, if you hear his voice,
do not harden your hearts.”

8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience.

On the Sabbath day, which is TODAY for us, we are supposed to remain where we are and focus on listening to his voice and following his leading, doing what is right and best in his eyes. We are to live a life of resting in God. Resting from our works and allowing God to work through us. We are to remain where we are. Stay in the position God has placed you. If desires for more come in your life, give them to God, then stay focused on being present TODAY doing what you know to do with a good attitude. Then at the proper time God will promote you to the next level and it will set you free. God causes the growth and the increase. When I look back at my own life all of the major transitions were opened for my by God rather than me working to make them happen.