What are you waiting on? LIFT up and STRETCH out!

Did God ask us to be an optimist?  God asked us to be so MUCH MORE than an optimist.  God asked us to believe in the impossible, because all things are possible with God.  Look at the children of Israel when they were parked up against the red sea.  In your minds eye, see them at the edge of the red sea, which was blocking off any forward movement.  And coming up from behind them was Pharaoh's army.  And the army behind them was hell bent on killing them all!  They couldn't go forward, they couldn't go backward.  Now, in their situation, you tell me if the glass is half full, or if the glass is half empty.  Did God ask them to look at the possibilities, and to pretend the sea was gone, and the army was gone?  Did he tell them to block out of their minds the idea that there was destruction on them from all sides?    Did he tell them to quote the Word of God until a possibility opened up in front of them?  Did he tell them to pray until they got an answer?   Did they go to the bank and get a loan for a few boats that would carry them all across the sea?  Hey, doesn't borrowing a cool million dollars or more fix all problems?  Isn't that God answer for everything?  Absolutely not!   These are some of the things we try when we are faced with impossible circumstances, but guess what, God never asked Moses to do any of those things! 

Exodus 14: 8-16  And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with defiance.  But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamped by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon.  And when Pharaoh drew near, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were greatly afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD.  And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, have you taken us away to die in the wilderness? why have you dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?  Is not this the word that we did tell you in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.  And Moses said unto the people, Fear not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will show to you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall see them again no more forever.  The LORD shall fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

Crossing the Sea  And the LORD said unto Moses, Why do you cry unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:  But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.

 

The Lord said to Moses, why do you cry out to me.  Speak to the children of Israel to move forward...

 

Move forward!  Oh!  Of all the brilliant ideas!  Hello, there is a sea in the way!  Do you realize that no matter what obstacle you are facing, God is expecting you to move forward.    How many times have I heard people say something like, "I can't do this because of this, that or the other thing that is in the way."  Or they will say, "After I get this resolved, or this other thing taken care of, or go to the bank, or get transportation..."  What God wants to know is why are you waiting?  The ONLY thing we are to wait upon is GOD, once he gives you direction, the wait is over.  People often say, "I am waiting on God to give me this or that, or provide the way, or to open the doors."   Listen, Israel had NO OPEN doors here, yet God says, "Why do you cry out to me, tell the people to move forward."  What did he tell Moses?  Lift up your rod and stretch out your hand.  Oh,  we don't like to lift up and stretch out do we?  We want God to hand us an open door without us lifting up or stretching out don't we?   We sit and pray.  We pray and wait.  We look for an opportunity to borrow money, I mean surely you can't get across this big sea without spending money can you?    I know people that go down and borrow money from a bank, get what they want, do what they want with it, and then say God did it.  God did nothing.  Money opened that door for you, not God.    Someone may say, "Well, God helped me get the loan."  In the days we are living in, I know bankrupt people that are getting loans.  It doesn't take the hand of God to get a loan in the days we are living in.  When someone tells me what God is doing in their church, I want to know how much money the had to borrow to get it done.   Any church where big money is going out, and people are going in debt to obtain that money,  God is doing very little, I can promise you that!   If you borrowed a  lot of money and got door opened, then call it that, but don't call it a move of God!    How does God open a door for us we got to lift up, and stretch out!

 

Look at Joshua and the walls of Jericho.  Are  you telling me that they knocked those walls down without having to go to the bank and borrow a lot of money?  Wow.   They lifted up their voices and stretched out their legs to march, and the walls came down.  Are you lifting up and stretching out what you got, or are you sitting down making excuses 'waiting' upon God, when he already told us to move forward?    Look at Noah.  Are you telling me he built that boat without taking on a huge debt?  Is it a sin to build up debt?  No.  But the Bible says that the borrower is servant to the lender.  In this generation we don't move forward inch by inch in the patience and power of God.  We just borrow money and do it all at once and get our self in a financial mess.    There is no record that Noah borrowed money, or hired a construction crew.  What did he do?  He lifted up and stretched out, and built a boat.  He wasn't sitting around waiting upon laborers, and money, and better circumstances!    Why are you sitting around waiting upon more laborers to help you accomplish God's plan?  Get yourself up off your hind end, lift up and stretch out whatever God's already put in your hand, and move forward on dry ground.  When you lift up and stretch out, your will find that God miraculously opens up a door right in front of you!   It was there all the time!  Just keep moving forward!