Steven Furtick - Getting Past Your Insecurity
This is an excerpt from: Move In What You're Made For.
Do you think God just dropped you down in your life and didn't put in you everything you need to do everything he has called you to do? "Break it down, Furtick". All right. If God put me in it, he put it in me. But, see, I have surface words that have been spoken over me that create insecurities that keep me from believing what God said and moving in what he made me for. Can I tell you how much I suck at most stuff? I mean, really, really bad. (I'll be right back. I have some other stuff back here.) Now, when I say I'm bad at basketball… I mean, my kids started beating me at HORSE when they were 4 years old. I am so bad. I'm not saying, like, "Oh, I'm not really good behind the line". No. I'm saying I'm not good against the backboard. On a ladder I can't shoot a basketball.
Here's how bad it was. When God called me to preach… Now, we're talking about what you were made for. Don't get distracted like I'm giving you a history lesson on my life. I know you don't come to church for a memoir, but there's something like this for you. Okay? I remember when I first went around preaching, Holly and I would go to these little churches, and we would end up… After I preached, the kids would all want to go in the gym and play basketball, and then it would undo the good impression I made on the pulpit when they saw me play basketball. They were like, "That guy can't know God. Look at him out there. Look at how he moves". So I went to my friend.
Now, I'm going to tell you this, and this is a detail you may not need, but I went to my friend. She was the captain of the Lady Stags, the Berkeley Stags, the high school team. I said, "I need help". I said, "I'm out here preaching". She said, "I don't know anything about preaching". I said, "I don't need preaching. I need you to teach me about basketball". I said, "Can I come over"? We went out in her driveway, and after an hour, she said, "Maybe you should just ref". Okay. I'll be right back. Y'all hang out right there. Because I'm bad at that.
Another thing I want to show you… This one is a little bit more close to home. When I told them what to get me, I said, "Get a pink hammer," just to symbolize that Holly is a better handyman than I am. See, I don't like to tell you stuff like this when I preach, because I look kind of manly. I have a beard. I need to show you this because it's going to help you with something. It's going to set you free from something. When we first got married, I felt so insecure, inept, incompetent, incapable, insufficient, because I thought a good husband was a good handyman. That was the image I had. My dad could fix stuff. Her dad can fix stuff. What kind of husband can I be if I can't fix anything? Bird in a bowl. That's you. "O God, I'm not good at that. I'm not quick on my feet".
Well, be slow on your feet. Be deliberate. Be accurate. Chop them right in the throat when you hit. Boom! Right there. I was a fish in a tree in second grade. The teacher said, "Nobody wants to just hear you talk all the time". Oh yeah, baby! I'm a bad bird. I believe I can fly! Move in what you're made for. Let them say what they want. Let them count you out. You have what it takes! You were made for this, baby! Tell the birds, "Back up. I'm blessed". So, let's make a trade. She didn't need a handyman. She needed a holy man. Give me my mic. I just had the wrong thing in my hand. If you will focus with enough gratitude on what God gave you and how God made you, you little quirky bird, you little funky fish, you little weird… You get focused enough on what he gave you beneath the surface of what you see that's not what you thought it was supposed to be, and you can knock down giants, and God can break down walls, and you can see great and mighty things! So, I can't be her handyman. I'm her holy man. I like that. Make me a tee shirt. I'm your holy man. That's good. God prepared us in advance. Don't get me started. I'll start spelling words wrong. Prepared.
All right. Let's ask Vanna White if we can buy a vowel. I want to buy an I. Pre-paired. She was pre-paired. This is how I know God is God. On the second day, he made the water. On the fifth day, he made the fish to go in it. On the second day, he made the sky. On the fifth day, he made the birds to fly in it. The birds are smarter than we were, because we spent the first 30 years, 40 years, 50 years… How long is it going to take for us to go to fish school and learn what the fish and the birds knew from the moment God spoke them? You didn't see a fish flapping around in the sky, but you see people all the time trying to dress like something they're not, talk like something they're not, walk like something they're not. Quacking and wobbling all around, you ugly duckling. I'm putting all the fairy tales and Disney characters in this one, because I want you to get it. I want you to get that you're handmade. I'm not talking about marriage. This is an illustration. We were pre-paired. When you preached yesterday, I was so proud. My barber was cutting my hair, and he said, "Be still. I'm going to gap you up, and you're going to make me look bad on camera". I said, "I'm sorry. She's just doing so good".
She was out there in Austin, Texas, preaching. When it was done, Fly Ty said, "You must be proud". I said, "You have no idea how proud". Because I know the process. I know all the insecurity she pushed through to preach like that. Let me tell you a few. Do you mind if I tell them? It's better to ask for forgiveness than permission. She has to forgive me for this, because this is what God told me to tell you. "Let the fish fill the water. Let the birds fill the sky". You will fill what you are formed for when you stop complaining about where you don't fit, when you find your water, when you find your sky, when you stop asking, "Can I be a part of that world"? Holly used to say, "I wish I could preach and be more Spirit-filled". Do you know what she meant? Spontaneous. Where we grew up, scripted and structure meant it wasn't Spirit-filled. So, she was a bird in a bowl. You love birds? Hold that bowl. She was in that bowl, the bowl of her belief about what God needed her to be for her to be effective.
Now y'all make me mad because y'all see me in the store and y'all say, "We love when Holly preaches". I'm like, "What am I supposed to do with that"? I love it when she preaches too. She's not as available for romantic interludes when she's preaching, so I'm not going to let her preach too much. Spontaneous. That's my gift. This is my water. This is my sky. This is me being me. Blame it on the birds. I got excited. They'll put on YouTube… They'll say, "This isn't preaching. This is a motivational seminar with a failed B-rate comedy hour on it". Okay. You swim in your sea. I'll swim in mine. We can both be blessed. I'll preach it how I preach it. You preach it how you preach it. They told Finney, "I don't like your style of evangelism". He said, "What's yours"? They said, "I don't have one yet". He said, "I like mine better". I like mine better. I like my wife better, because I watched you… He said, "You must be proud". I said, "I am because I know the process". Not the product. People will see the product, but God knows all the mess you're in right now, and by hand he's crafting and designing you for it, because he pre-paired it with you.
So I watched her. I watched her go from "I'm not Spirit-filled" to realizing that the Spirit of God can fill a script, that you don't have to wing it. (Bird reference.) The craziest thing is now when she speaks and I see the Spirit of God, it reminds me of Genesis 1:2, that the Spirit was hovering over the surface, trying to bring forth what was already there. Do you know how many birds are in bowls today because of the insecurity that imprisons them? You can't move in it because you weren't made for it. Quit trying to fit in with those friends who aren't good for you. Let me be dad for a minute. Let me move in what I'm made for for a minute. God has given me a parental anointing as well, and there are times in my kids' lives where I'm like, "You don't fit there because it's not for you. I'm not saying you're better than anybody, but you don't fit there because it's not for you. So, everybody who doesn't want to be your friend… The real you is doing you a favor".
Oh, I'm going to preach somebody free today. You've been in this bowl going like… Some of you are trying to be sinners, and you suck at it, because you're not supposed to be a sinner. You're a saint. You're the righteousness of God. You're a child of the light. You're a child of the light, and that's why darkness doesn't feel right to you. Make the confession. Say, "I'm a child of the light". Now let there be light over your life. I'm a child of the light. If it doesn't fit, it's not for you. Give me that blazer. I'm going to show you how silly you look trying to fit into the customs of this world. Some of y'all are encouragers, and you are trying your best to be negative because negative is so normal now, and you're not even good at it.
Some of y'all need to stop cussing, because y'all don't even know how to cuss correctly. You sound silly. Give me that. I could put this on. I told her I was going to do this. I said, "What if I rip it"? She said, "Then rip it if you've got to rip it". I want you to notice something. It wasn't made for me, so I can't move in it. That's the mindset you've been in. Y'all can't take me seriously. She said turn around so we can see how you look from the back. This is you. "Oh, I can't be free. Oh, I can't fly". Get it off you and get back and know that he is God! I'm blessed! I'm highly favored! Watch this, birds! I can fly too. Come on. You were made to praise. Do what you were made to do. You were made to glorify.