Steven Furtick - God Has What You Need. Ask Him
This is an excerpt from: Plot Hole
I want to teach you a prayer called the plot hole prayer for you to pray when it makes no sense. I'm going to give this to you, and the only thing I ask in return is you use this sucker. You're like, "But I don't know if I want to yet". It's from the Bible Bible. I'm about to show you… It's only in the Bible Bible. I didn't make it up. It's when Peter is trying to figure out what to do next. Are you trying to figure out what to do next? Okay. Then you need this prayer. It's when Peter is in a position that is new for him. Are you in a season of life that is new for you?
Come on, everybody over 55. It's new to be old. I'm going to show you two things. I'll come back here in a moment, but let me get to it. They nominate two men, and they know for a fact that they are nowhere near smart enough to know what to do next. They're probably smart enough to know that they would have picked Judas if they had been given the choice, and that didn't turn out too well. So they prayed. They prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen".
Now, the essence of the prayer is "God, help me choose what you've chosen, to believe that you have a path for me, that you have a plot for me, that you have a purpose for me, that you have a calling on my life, that you have an anointing on my life, that you gave me your Spirit for an assignment, not just for leisure. I believe that, Lord. So, believing that you have given me an assignment and believing that you are writing a story that is unfolding with time in my life, I want to pray this prayer like Peter prayed. Lord, you know…show us".
That's the plot hole prayer, people. When you don't know why it happened, when you don't know how it will, when you don't know what would possess somebody to act like that and why God didn't stop it, pray this. "Lord, you know…show us". Now, whatever you need to put in that blank, fill it in. They prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart". By the way, this is how I would show you in the Bible Bible if we were just hanging out. That's why I've been trying to circle and highlight. When I want to show my kids something in the Bible Bible, I pull them over and say, "Here's this, and here's that," and I start writing and showing, because I get so excited. I saw this in the Bible, and I thought about us, and I thought about you. I thought about the hole you're in, and I thought about the deficit, and I thought about the thing you feel behind it. I thought about the thing you can't figure out, and I thought about the thing that can't make sense.
I figured if we could just get you to pray this… "Lord, you know…show us". Whatever needs to go in that blank, you can bet this is true about it. Whatever is in this blank… Oh, I wish you could see this right now. I wish you could see it like I see it. Whatever you put in this blank… They said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us". Whatever you can put in that blank… "Lord, you know how long it's going to take. Show me how to stay strong while I wait". "Lord, you know who is supposed to go into the next decade of my life with me, so show me who to pick up along the way to make up for the people who I thought would still be here right now". "Lord, you know what I'm going to go through for the next few years".
You could even start praying boldly like this. This is a plot hole prayer. This Scripture Peter is quoting was written centuries before he needed it. He did not wait until he needed it to know it. I read it again and again, and I asked the question, "How did Peter know 'Therefore it is necessary'"? How did he know? How do I know what's necessary at this point in my life? How did he know what was necessary? It's because he knew what was written. The more you know this, the better you can figure out this. The more I know about what he spoke, the more I can see what he's showing me to do. So, you come up on a situation. You come up on a Red Sea, but you read about a Red Sea somewhere, so you don't stop and die at the Red Sea.
You read about Moses who stretched out his staff, and you say to yourself, "Self, I don't have a staff, but I've got a praise. I don't have a staff, but I've got a 'hallelujah.' I don't have a college degree, but I've got a calculator, and zero plus God equals infinite if he's with me". "I know something. I know enough Scripture to pull the Scripture out like a sword". Some people will say, "Well, that's what they did in the Bible Bible days". Huh? They didn't even have the Holy Spirit at this point. You have something they didn't even have.
So, when you get in your Bible, you'd better have your ribbon ready so you can go, "All right, Devil. I don't even need this Scripture right now, but the next time you show up on my door…Boom! I'm going to hit you with that Scripture that I read when I didn't need it, because I remember what I read when I didn't need it, and I put a ribbon in it". Oh, yeah, Beyonce. Put a ribbon in it. Not a ring on it…put a ribbon in it. When you come across something God gave you for manna, put a ribbon in it. So, the next time the Enemy starts reminding you of your shame, you say, "There is therefore now no condemnation. I read it in my Bible". "I don't really feel like this sermon is for me today. Nobody left me. I'm doing pretty good".
You'd better put a ribbon on this. You'd better remember I was up here telling you, so when you find yourself in a plot hole… "I'm not really in a plot hole. I make careful, wise decisions. I have avoided the calamity that comes with living a foolish life. I don't really need it". You're going to need this plot hole prayer when you raise your kids exactly right and they still act a little crazy. It only takes one fool friend to mess the whole plan up. Then you'd better pray, "Lord, you know. Show us".
Have you ever had somebody explain something to you, and then after they explained it you felt so stupid that you acted how you did before you had that piece of information? I was mad at this guy the other day because he didn't do his job. I was speaking to his supervisor, and his supervisor said, "I understand your frustration. Let me fill you in a little". He told me the man had a terminal disease, and he hadn't even told his whole family yet. That's why he had been distracted at work. Do you think I listened differently? Do you think that gave me a different lens? All because somebody in a superior position filled me in. What do you do when your story hits a plot hole?
You say, "Holy Spirit, fill me in. I've got this plot hole, and I need something to fill it". If the Holy Spirit doesn't fill it, the Enemy will. Are you going to let him keep tormenting you like that? The Devil will fill in details that aren't real. He will make you block people who could have blessed you because you had a bad temper, because you got offended. Maybe they needed you. One of the biggest revelations I ever had about people when I'm preaching in church… I'll just share this with you in case it ever happens in your life. Some of the people who look like they're getting the least out of the sermon need it the most. So, where I used to think, "Oh, that person looks very bored; they hate me," now I think they're hungry. It changed everything.
Now, that's something that I say, "Lord, you know what they're going through; show me. You know; fill me in". It's like when you had Kristin Hannah on the Book Club. This is Holly's favorite author. She has read a lot of her books. I was going to say, "All of them," but I think she has written about 30 books. I bet Holly has read about 10 of them. When she got her on the Book Club, she was so excited. She always wanted to talk to Kristin Hannah. I watched her do the interview, and Holly did such a great job. I could tell Kristin Hannah was like, "I would talk to you for hours," because Holly is so good at drawing stuff out when she's listening and talking. She has a real gift for that.
That's why I call her the "Holly spirit," by the way. They talked about the book and what happened, and they did all of the spoilers and all that. Everybody listened and asked questions. "How did you write it? What did you do"? Then at the very end… This was a move I never saw before. Holly said, "So, do…" Let's say the characters names are Jim and Nancy. She said, "So, do Jim and Nancy get together in the end"? Because the book ends without revealing the end. Kristin Hannah said, "Oh, yeah. Absolutely. Of course". Not because it was in the book but because it was in the author. See, when we talk about the Holy Spirit, some people get scared. "Are you going to be talking in tongues"?
Maybe. I sure will. I will talk in tongues in a minute. I will, but that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about today, like, goose bumps and excitement. A UFC fight can give you goose bumps. What only the Holy Ghost can do is show me what he knows that I don't. It's a very natural starting place to just say, "Lord, you know". If you would reinstate that core belief in your life, it would help you so much with your stress. See, from his perspective it's a twist, even though from yours it's a hole. The cross was always where Jesus was going. Peter was always meant to be the one to preach on the day of Pentecost. Even when he failed, his future was secure. So, when Holly asked Kristin Hannah, "Do they get together in the end?" she did it because she was in a unique position. She had an audience with the author.
I came to tell you today, my brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, Peter and Matthew and Bartholomew… I came to announce to you today you don't only have a Savior who died for you. You do have a Savior who died for you, but that's not all. You don't only have a Savior who defeated death and held the keys of death, hell, and the grave, although you have that and he's seated in heavenly places beside the Father, making intercession for you right now as I preach. But you also have an audience with the author.
That means if you want to, you can get in the presence of God anytime you want, starting right now, and say, "Lord, you know. You know the plans you have for me". "You know the plans you have for me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. You not only know how my story ends; you know what's not going to be written in the book that time will reveal through the corridors of eternity. You know". Why do you keep taking opinions from the crowd when you have an audience with the author?