Christine Caine - Developed, Not Discovered - Part 3
I'm so glad that you joined us again, I'm loving this series on being "Developed, Not Discovered". And of course we're focusing around the life of king David, who was anointed in 1st Samuel 16, to be the king of Israel. But he was not appointed, until 2nd Samuel chapter five, 20 years, 20 chapters a lot happened. And I was just thinking to myself, as we got ready for this week that, I am really grateful that once Samuel anointed David to be king, I'm so glad that David didn't take a selfie while the oil was coming on him and he did like upload it, and put hashtag king of Israel, I mean it would have been like a bit of a loser. Because it like it would have taken 20 years later, before that came to pass. Sometimes some of us, we get a glimpse of what God wants and we think we need to hashtag and put it straight up on social media. Maybe we need to pause and we need to wait, before we start telling everyone else what God has told us.
There were some things that you can just ponder, and you can keep to yourselves. I don't tell, I speak a lot. We know that, that's what I do. I do that for a living. I talk a lot and I talk every day. But I wouldn't even tell you 10% of what God tells me. Some of these things that even now as I'm talking on television, you know, I've been sitting on for 10 and 15 a particular message in this series, I have been sitting on for 20 years. I've got my notes out from 1997, and I pulled them out to prepare for something that I was speaking in 2017. And so a lot of times we just quickly put things out there prematurely. And then what we do is we expose ourselves to people going, well, that isn't true.
Imagine if David did that, he would have had 20 years of people saying, you're a loser. What do you mean you're a king? You're running around and you're hiding in the wilderness. Who do you think you are? Thinking you're a king, and what you do, is you save yourself a lot of persecution. If you don't just go talking about, everything that you think that the Lord has told you to do. As I have discovered, 31 years of following Jesus, if it's God, it's gonna come to pass. No demon in hell and no person on earth is gonna be able to stop what God has for you. So you don't have to panic. You don't have to blog about it. You don't have to tweet about it. You don't have to send out your bio. You don't have to build a platform. You don't have to tell everybody. If you know and God knows, then you just get about the father's business, and you watch God make a way where there is no way, and he'll make it come to pass.
Now, what do we learn? We've read all of 1st Samuel 16, when Samuel came to anoint king David. And the thing that I found interesting in this, the Bible says, "The Lord said to Samuel, how long will you grieve over Saul, seeing I have rejected him from being king of Israel? Fill your horn, I will send you to Jesse, for I have provided for myself". And in verse eight to 10, when all of the brothers were coming before the prophet, the Bible says in verse eight, "Then Jesse called Abinadab and made him pass before Samuel. And he said, neither is the Lord chosen this one". In verse nine, "Neither is the Lord chosen this one". And so what we see here, and this is what I need you to understand is that God chooses, God chooses. It doesn't matter who you try to put in a place. If God hasn't put them in that place, it's not gonna come to pass. The Lord said to Samuel from the outset, "I've chosen for myself".
Now, what happens to a lot of us is we try to do all the choosing ourselves, and we get really frustrated, when we decide, I choose that I want to be this. Rather than saying, God, what have you chosen for me to be? I think a lot of people are frustrated in Christianity, because they're trying to run their race in somebody else's lane. Because they have seen something that they like, and they've chosen it. Just because you've chosen it, doesn't mean God's chosen it. God, I didn't choose to put myself here. I didn't choose to start A21, I didn't choose to start Propel. It's not that I woke up and went, gee, this is gonna be a good idea. Knowing all the work that it takes, I definitely would not have decided that's what it would have happened. But the point is, God chose. And so if God chose that takes all the pressure off me, because I'm not looking over my shoulder. People going, you know, you look at, what? No, I didn't put myself here.
So I don't have to try to keep myself here. God put me here. So that is what I'm gonna do. So the point is that God chooses. And I think in our day of what's your dream? And what's your plan? And what's your desire? I'm watching a whole bunch of people, that are out there just doing what is in their own heart, without asking, is this God's heart? And I'm not saying they don't always go together. Because often God gives us and he gives us gifts, and he gives us talents. And he gives us desires, that are in alignment with our future, and with our destiny. But a lot of people are highly frustrated, because they're trying to do something that they were never anointed to do, and nothing, and something that God never called them to do. Just because you like it, and just because you wish you could do it, doesn't mean God has asked you to do it.
And my thing is that God is not obligated to pay for something that he never started. And God is not obligated to sustain what he never started. And you quickly know, if it's God or if it's you. If I had to stop and think about my life and A21, and Propel and Equip and Empower, I have to stop and think, about how I would make this work in the natural, how we would resource the ministry, how I would be able to do all that we do in 12 different countries. I would have a nervous breakdown, there is no way that it is possible to happen. That's how I know that God, God makes it happen. Because I really don't stress about it. I put my head on the pillow at night, and I sleep all the way through. And I get up and I trust the people that God has put around us. And I'm not sitting here, thinking about it, anxious about it, or worried about it.
And that's how I know that God has enabled me to do that. That God has chosen me to do what he's .... That doesn't mean I don't work hard. You can ask anybody that works with me. I doubt that there's many that would work harder. I'm so committed to working hard, but working and striving are two very different things. You can work from a place of risk. And in fact, in the book of Hebrews were told to labor to enter into that place of risk. And so I do what I do from a place of risk. And I love, I'm a very goal-oriented person, I love to achieve things. Some people, they just like to sit on a rock, I'm like, awesome sit on the rock on the way to changing the world. I've just gotta kind of do it all. I love to do that.
But my point is that you have to understand that the greatest thing you can do in your life, is the thing that God has chosen you to do. And I truly believe that he's got something for you to do. And a lot of your frustration would go away, if you stop trying to do what you're not called to do, and you do what God has called you to do. You would find such an ease, and such a joy in doing that. The thing that I've also discovered in this text, is that you might not even get invited to your own party. Now do you know when king, sorry, the prophet Samuel was coming to anoint the next king. He was having, the Bible says a sacrifice festivity party. Now, Jesse was invited to the party, all of the sons, the seven sons of Jesse, all except the eighth one, David, were invited to the party.
Now, I'm glad that David wasn't sitting on the side of the mountain, with the shape and his harp, and that he wasn't scrolling through Instagram looking at, hashtag sacrifice festivities. Because if he did, he would have been really frustrated, because he would have seen his brothers at the party. He would have seen, how often have you been sitting and you go, I'm the only one not invited to this party? And a lot of us we get so distressed, we get so anxious. How much sleep have we lost? How many things that we written in our journal? Because instead of doing the thing that we are called to do, we are busy looking at what we're not invited to. And when you're busy looking at what you're not invited to, and you're not doing what you're called to do, you are only going to live in frustration. That whole FOMO isn't real. And everyone is has this great Fear Of Missing Out. But what we're doing is, not only are we missing out from what we think we haven't been invited to, but we're also missing out from doing what God has called us to do.
I bet you David was really glad there was no social media, because he couldn't be scrolling through anything. He was doing what he'd always done. He was singing, "How great thou art" to the shape or whatever oceans, whatever it might be. He was singing. He was busy killing a lion, killing a bear, loving the sheep. He was busy being faithful in his God assignment. So that when God wanted to find him, he'd already assigned him to the side of the mountain. He knew where to find him. A lot of us we have bought the position where God hasn't assigned us, so when it comes to find us, we're not there anymore 'cause we got frustrated, we went to the next place.
Imagine when he said go out and get the son. If David goes, I don't want to look after the shape anymore. Man this job, it's got not perks. It's not in the limelight. Nobody knows what I go through with the sheep. I'm gonna go and do something else that I wanna do. So then when they went out to look for him, he wouldn't have been in his place. I wonder how often God has sent people out to look for us, but we had left our place of assignment, because it wasn't glamorous enough. And we went looking for something else. And God went to the last place that he sent us. He's not chasing us where we are.
And so in this case, here he is. And he's not scrolling, but he's not invited to his party, and everyone else, everyone else is being paraded before the prophet. Jesse seven sons. I mean, how would you feel if your own father didn't acknowledge you? How would you feel if you were not even invited to your own party? You go, Chris, what do you mean, this is his own party? Because this was the party where they were anointing the future king of Israel. That was David.
See, there are so many places and you think I'm left out of this meeting. I haven't been invited to this table. I wasn't invited to this party. You feel like you've been overlooked. And the whole thing is actually for you. It's just nobody knows it yet, but God does. But I wanna remind you, I love it. Because when all of the brothers had been paraded in front of Samuel, and he's going no, God didn't use him. No, he's not the one, God didn't choose him. The fact that David, one of the great giants in all of scripture, appears in the Word of God is the youngest. The youngest. But then when Samuel was ready to get him, he said, "Well, you better go get him". And when he was sitting down till he came, till he comes back. We're not sitting down, we're not taking a seat until he comes back.
I thought that was interesting that that was in the Bible. We're not sitting, I mean, how awkward like, I don't know how far was it like, a minute, five hours? I don't know. Like, awesome, awkward. Everyone's looking around. Can I go to the restroom? No, stand, it just no, no, you're just like, this is it. But here's what I've learned. That when God's ready to find you, it doesn't matter if you're invited into that room, or into that table, or into that position, or into that ministry. I know God will send out the very ones that tried to keep you out, to bring you in to the place where you are meant to be. You never have to go chasing in God. Never. Never, so many people like, how am I gonna get this promotion? How am I gonna get this opportunity? They're not even gonna get to see it. I'm hearing anonymity in obscurity and God says, I've got your back.
There is a link between seeing and thinking. He saw, someone that was very much like Saul. Eliab was the oldest son. Eliab was head and shoulders above the rest, just like Saul. Very good looking, very tall, very strong. And so what happened was the prophet was in the right house, but he saw the wrong thing. You can even have the prophet in the house, and he wont see the right thing. You can even have the father of the house, miss the right thing. Some of you, you think the father of the house, has not recognized the anointing, or the some of you think the prophet has not recognized what's... I'm here to tell you that your father can miss it. The prophet can miss it, but God will never miss it. If God has assigned you, God will find you, and it will happen.
And so what happened is the prophet is in the right house. He's seeing the wrong thing. And so what happened is, he saw Eliab and when he saw Eliab, what he was really seeing was Saul. And he said, "Surely this has to be the Lord's anointed". So what he was seeing was the next Saul. But God had not anointed the next Saul. The Lord said to Samuel in chapter 16, verse one, "I want you to rise up and go to the house of Jesse, I have anointed for myself a new king". He was looking for the next Saul, but God was doing a new thing in a new king. And sometimes we miss the new thing that God is doing now, because we're looking for the same old thing in a younger body. And so what he was looking for was the same old thing that king Saul was, but in a younger body, which was the body of Eliab.
And sometimes you miss the move of God, and you miss what God is doing in your midst. Because you're looking for the same old thing in a younger body. And God says, I'm not doing the same old thing. I'm doing a new thing. And so oftentimes you can miss the move of God. You can miss what's happening in your realm of influence, because God's not doing what he was doing, in the way that he was doing it. He's doing a new thing in a new way, "Behold, I doing new thing, do you not perceive it"? And we need to open up our eyes and go, I am not looking for the new version of Saul, which is just the new version of the same old thing. No, I'm looking for the new thing. I come to work and I look into the future for our ministry. I'm not looking for how it's been done before. What's the new thing? What's the new thing? What is it that we wanna do with women in Propel? What is the new thing? I'm not trying to see the same old thing.
And so many of us are missing what God has for us, because we're walking into the right place, but we're looking at the wrong thing. Some of you even pastors watching this, you're missing the next king in your house, because you're looking for the wrong thing. You're looking for a certain celebrity. You're looking for the same old thing that you had in a younger body. And there's a king in your house and you have overlooked it. Because you're looking at the outside and not on the inside. There are so many, there's a king in your child. So many of you are missing the goal that is in your children, because you're looking at their external, how they're acting, how they're behaving, what they're doing, and you're missing what God is doing on the inside. We need to go beyond outward appearance, into the inside. 'Cause the Lord said, "I don't look, in the same way that anybody else looks. I look at the heart, man looks at the outside appearance".
I remember when I gave birth to Sophia, and I birthed her on January the 10th. And about eight weeks later, March the 10th. I was speaking at our women's conference in Sydney, Australia color your world women's conference. Just a brilliant conference. Well it was in this 17,000 seat arena, the largest indoor stadium in Australia, and I was doing the closing night. And I remember that I had just had Sophia, and I was really conscious, because I didn't want to turn up eight weeks later to the conference, and have all the ladies go, you know, Christine, have you had the baby yet? I just was thinking, I wanna get my pre-pregnancy body back.
So I got a trainer and I'm working out, and some people say to me, and I like Christine. Christine, that's so carnal. God looks at the heart. What are you worried about? And I said, just I know, I know that God looks at the heart. But 17,000 women are looking at my shoes and my body. They are not looking at my heart. Only God looks at the heart. But if we are gonna be discerning in the day, and in the hour in which we live, then we have to make sure that we are not overlooking God's candidate, while we're looking for the worldly the best candidate. Because in our midst, God is doing amazing things, but often we can miss it, while we're looking for glamorous, we're missing God. Make sure that we stay focused. And the fact is God looks at our heart, because the heart is the control center of our life.
In Proverbs chapter four, verse 27, scripture says, "Guard your heart, with all diligence, for out of it flow all of the issues of life". See, so many times we think, all of the issues flow out of my bank account, or who I'm connected to, or what kind of promotional, or position, or title I have. But scripture teaches us that it is out of the abundance of the heart, that every issue of life comes socially, emotionally, relationally, it all stems from the human heart. So how's your heart today? Is your heart, what's your heart full of? Because whatever, it's full up, it's going to come out of you. Is your heart full of life? Is your heart flourishing? Are you full of joy? Are you full of peace? Or are you full of anger? Are you full of disappointment? Are you full of discouragement? Are you full of bitterness? Are you full of unforgiveness? Are you full of lust? Are you full of greed? Whatever your heart is full of, it's gonna pump it to the rest of your body, just like our natural heart.
I recently, I had to go for all these tests. I recently, when they put all those little things on you, very cold, and all the ... And then measure your heart, how's it all going? And I love it when they say Mrs. Caine, you have the heart of a woman half your age. I'm like, awesome. And so, but the point is, because if there's a blockage in your heart, it's gonna cause your whole body to absolutely stop functioning. If there's a toxic thing in your heart, it's going to be pumped into the rest of your body. Your heart pumps blood to the rest of your body.
So if it's blocked and it's not pumping like it should be, you're not gonna function like you should. If there is something toxic in it, then it is gonna be pumped all the way through your body. Well, it's the same with our spiritual heart. If your spiritual heart is blocked with anger, or bitterness, or unforgiveness, or shame, or guilt, or condemnation, or immorality, or you have been putting a number of different things, then your heart, your spiritual heart is not pumping the life of God, the Spirit of God that lives on the inside of you, through your life, to be able to touch a broken world around you. A heart is critical. That's why the Lord says I'm not looking at the outside, I'm looking at the condition of your heart.
When I'm looking to promote someone at work, or I'm looking for someone to oversee a new responsibility, I'm not just looking at their skill set. The skill set is the beginning. But let me just tell you, your heart is what will take you to your destiny. It is a person's heart that will actually take them to their purpose. So how is your heart? I had a lot of gifts and talent, but when I was full of shame and guilt from 12 years of abuse, from brokenness. Well, I'm telling you, my heart was full of unforgiveness. My heart was full of shame. My heart was full of anger. It didn't matter how gifted I was, I kept self-sabotaging, because my heart was not right.
So a lot of us, we go so far, and then we wonder why we have not fulfilled all of our destiny, or why we haven't gone further than we think we should. And we keep trying to think, well, I'll just get more skills. If I just know more people, if I just have more resources, and God says, no, your external progress is going to be made based on your internal progress. How deep will you allow God to go into your heart to take out the blockages, to bring healing, to get rid of the toxicity, so that the life, and the hope, and the joy, and the peace of God can flow through you. When it flows through you, it'll flow in the world around you, and you will make progress in the destiny that God has for you. In Jesus' name. Amen.