Steven Furtick - Do This If You're Under Attack
This is an excerpt from: Cutting Room
I want to give you two things you need to do. When you find yourself under attack, when you can't breathe because of it, when you can't see straight because of it… When you're so angry you want to do some stuff you haven't thought about doing in a long time, but you feel it kind of coming back… When you're so sad you can't figure out how to get out of the bed… I want to teach you the re-frame. Two things.
First, go wide. Did you see how they started their prayer? They didn't start praying about, "God, that one Sadducee was so mean to me. I pray he'll have hemorrhoids tonight so you can show him your judgment". None of that. They're not starting with hemorrhoids or the problem or any of that. He said, "Sovereign Lord…" Sovereign doesn't mean a lot to us, because we think we run stuff. Sovereign doesn't mean much to you, because you thought it was your story, but it's his story. He's sovereign, and he made you. He gave gifts to men, and he stirred them. He seeded them. He watered them. He prunes them. He cuts back. He cuts off. He raises up. He brings down. He is the Sovereign God.
So, start with sovereign. You need some new words in your vocabulary. You need some big words in your vocabulary. You need some king words in your vocabulary. You need some "God is in charge; you're not" words in your vocabulary. You need some big God words in your vocabulary. So, for everybody who needs to go wide… Go wide and realize… I'm going to give you the statement that really helped me this week. I was processing some things, and I was processing them without God. It was really punishing me. It was really beating me up. I was really having a pity party, and it really felt good for about 30 minutes. Then you get sick of it, because you realize you're really just cutting yourself when you complain. You realize you're really just cutting yourself when you condemn. Whether it's you or others, you're really just cutting yourself.
So, the Lord dropped this, and I started saying it. "This is bigger than me". Give me a wide shot. "This is bigger than me". See what all we saw that we didn't see before they did what they did? That's what prayer is supposed to be. You have too narrow of a definition of prayer. You think prayer is "God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food". God is not inextricably linked to your digestive process of turning french fries into protein. "Bless this food to our bodies". That's too narrow for prayer. It's too narrow for prayer to pray before you have a big match, "O God, help me win this". What if the other kid prayed that more, and what if he's better than you? You can pray that, but prayer is much more than that. Prayer is an awareness that "This is bigger than me". That's why they said, "Sovereign Lord…" Watch what they prayed next.
Tell me this doesn't feel out of focus. "Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens…" Whoa! We're going all the way back. Yep, we're going all the way back to remember who the director is. We're going all the way back so we can remember the source material. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God". So, I'm going back to the one who spoke the Word so I can fight the word the Enemy spoke with the Word that was here before my enemy was a thought. So go wide. "This is bigger than me". Sometimes that means I'm just selfish. Just because I don't like it doesn't mean it's not the Lord. I told you it's a cutting room. Some of what we have to cut is some of the stuff we cling to that God wants us to grow out of to help somebody else. Waking up, praying, "God, just give me a blessing today". "God, make me a blessing today. I've been blessed so much".
You mean all this he gave you? The Devil will cut all that out and make you think you have nothing to give. Yes, you do. "Well, no, you do, Pastor Steven. You preach these words". Yeah, but you live the gospel, and you can cook good cornbread. Sometimes cornbread is better than a Bible verse if somebody is going through something. Make some cornbread and take it over to somebody. Watch what happens. God has given you gifts, and the Enemy wants to eliminate your gift consciousness to keep you stuck in selfishness. Go wide. "Holy Spirit, give me a wide shot so I don't get all zoomed in".
Zoom in. No, no, wide shot. Give me a wide shot. That's the reframe. Do you see it? Even if you find yourself in a situation right now where you feel like you are Peter and John up against the whole Sanhedrin, where you feel like you are up against an entire system…a boss who definitely is not going to watch this message online, a medical diagnosis they don't even have experimental stuff for, things that go on inside of you that you can't label, much less learn from yet… Even if that's you today, and you say, "This is bigger than me," remember how your prayer started: "Sovereign Lord…" Don't just go wide; go high. Go high to the Most High whose name is holy forever and ever. Go high until you are one with Jesus and joined with him who died for you. Go high until you are so far above the situation with him it starts to look small.
The next time you stand in front of it… "This is bigger than me. I'm small compared to this. I'm too weak for this. I don't have what it takes for this. These bills are bigger than my check. Don't you understand? This situation is bigger than my experience or my training or my knowledge or my wisdom". Say, "This is bigger than me, but God is bigger than this". That's the Holy Ghost to let you know "This is bigger than me, but God is bigger than this". Do you want a demonstration? I'll give you a demonstration. Abbey, stand up. Abbey, stand up next to Mom. Abbey is standing next to Mom. Now, Abbey, say, "This is bigger than me".
Abbey Furtick: This is bigger than me.
Steven Furtick: Say it again. "This is bigger than me".
Abbey Furtick: This is bigger than me.
Steven Furtick: Truth to power. "This is bigger than me".
Abbey Furtick: This is bigger than me.
Steven Furtick: But now let's say we do this. Now there's something bigger than bigger. You're like, "Oh, she's going to tell you when you get home". She's not, because I'm only talking about height. She's a way better person than I am and more convincing. If I give you a physical demonstration, maybe you can see something with your spirit that you do not understand with your mental facilities. To reframe my situation is to acknowledge, "This is bigger than me, but God is bigger than this". I don't care what the this is. God is bigger than this. We need to re-edit this movie and remember for a moment who the real director is, who really backed your life, who really started your life, who really gave you those experiences, who really gave you those skills.
I see you staring at a mountain, and I know the mountain looks immovable, but when you pray, "Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth," you realize that while you've been staring at the mountain, you could have been talking to the one who made it. "This is bigger than me. I'm not going to pretend like I know what to do. This is bigger than me, but God, on a rainy Sunday morning; but God, in a hopeless situation; but God, in the middle of my loneliness; but God, in the middle of the process, is bigger than this". Somebody say, "He's bigger than this". Serve notice. "He's bigger than this. That's how I know I'm coming out, because God is bigger than this. I'm coming out with a testimony, because God…"
High-five six people and tell them, "God is bigger than this". He's bigger than this. "You don't know what my this is". I don't have to. God is bigger than this. God is bigger than what they said. God is bigger than what they didn't do. God is bigger than bipolar. God is bigger than depression. God is bigger than this. God is bigger than Twitter. God is bigger than this. God is bigger than AI. It's not going to wipe us out unless God wants us wiped out, and if he wanted us wiped out, he'd just send another flood and not tell us to put the giraffes on the boat. God is bigger than this. Stop stressing about stuff, stupid stuff. Save your strength for stuff God called you to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Re-frame it. "I'm going wide, I'm going high, because this is bigger than me, but my God is bigger than this".
I have to get in the cutting room, because Jesus said, "Every branch in me that bears fruit my Father prunes so that it will be even more fruitful". Oh, it is unpleasant at times to be in the cutting room, but if you stay there long enough and really give it to God, watch what happens. "They lifted their voices together in prayer to God. 'Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens. You made the earth and the sea and everything in them.'" Stuff I can't see, God can. Stuff I can't fix, God can. Stuff I can't fish out, God can. Stuff that I would drown in, God can save me from. That's what I mean when I say, "The reframe". Stop praying so much about the problem you never get to the God of the problem. Go to the cutting room.
God is the main character of this story, not you, not me, not your ex, not the person who walked out, and not even the people who stayed. God will support you. God will sustain you. God's hand is on you. God has anointed you. God has called you. God is with you. God is bigger than this. Even when you get a blessing, don't worship the blessing, because God is bigger than this blessing. Ask the children of Israel who were fed with manna. They thought, "This is what God has given us," but when their this disappeared, God had something else, because God is bigger than this. If God cuts it out, he already knows what he's going to put in its place. God is bigger than this. He has a thousand ways to provide for you. He has a hundred ways to help you. He has a million ways to see you through it. Don't get picky about it right now.
Let him prune what he needs to prune so you can be fruitful. This is a productive cut. The instrument of scissors is surgical in the hands of the Savior. It's masterful what he's doing in your life right now, and if you stay there long enough, if you pray there high enough, if you pray there wide enough, and say, "God, I'm in this right now, but I know you're bigger than this, and this is bigger than me…" "When they heard this, they raised their voices and said, 'Sovereign Lord, you made the heavens and the earth and everything in them. You spoke by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of your servant, our father David…'" What are we doing talking about David? He has been dead over a thousand years. "Because I'm going wide. I'm remembering this isn't the first time this happened to somebody".
As a matter of fact, church, what blessed me the most about the text was that after they quoted Psalm 2 from David, "Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain? The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together against the Lord and his anointed one," they revisit… See the power of it. Please see the power of it. I know I preached too long, and I know I should cut some stuff, but I just want to give it to you so you have something when you go back into your mind tonight.
Verse 27: "Indeed Herod and Pontius Pilate met together with the Gentiles…" The Gentiles didn't even know God. They met together with people who didn't even know God. "…and the people of Israel in this city to conspire against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed. They did [the enemy]…" "They did [the opponent]…" "They did [the ruler] what your power and will had decided…" They did what God decided. The Devil can't do anything to you without going through God first.