Steven Furtick - When The Odds Are Stacked Against You
This is an excerpt from: When You Just Can't Win
For everybody who’s in a war today, and the chariots and horses are greater than yours; for everybody who’s dealing with mental disorders, and that thing seems stronger in your mind than your will and resolve; for everybody who’s dealing today with a challenge that has been going on so long you have convinced yourself it is insurmountable, I want to give you a word, and I want you to listen well. If the battle is really the Lord’s…
Now, we need to stop right there. Is it his battle or is it yours? When we are fighting to protect our pride and deflecting to keep our ego intact, then the battle is ours. See, Moses is speaking to people who are taking land God has promised to give to them under the leadership of Joshua. So he says, «As you take this new ground…» Some of you are in a season where God is giving you new ground, and you’ve never seen it before, so it feels weird to be at war. It feels weird to be fighting these battles you’re fighting at this stage of your life. The Lord said when you fight these battles you’ve never fought before, if the battle is truly the Lord’s, the math won’t matter. This is good for everybody who’s more of an English kind of person. The math won’t matter.
I discovered in my life that when it’s God’s battle, the math doesn’t matter. I discovered in studying God’s Word that if it’s his battle, the math doesn’t matter. You can be 5'6" like David, and he can be 9'2" like Goliath. If it’s God’s battle, the math won’t matter. You can be a little boy with five loaves and two fish, and the crowd can be 5,000 strong just in the men department, but if it’s God’s battle and he wants to feed the crowd through you, the math won’t matter. You can have been stuck in something for 38 years at the Pool of Bethesda (John 5:1-7), and everybody around you might be quicker than you, and you might feel like, «I just can’t win. I just can’t get there. When the water is stirred, I have no one to help me».
But when Jesus shows up, if he wants to heal what’s hurting in you, it doesn’t matter how many people are in front of you who are faster than you. If it’s God’s battle, the math doesn’t matter. I don’t care how long it was like that. One moment in his presence, one moment of his favor, one moment of his holy fire can burn away all the dross. I’m coming out of this, because the math… Do you hear what I’m saying to you? The prophet said, «Do not be afraid of them, for those with us are more than those with them». Stop looking at what’s surrounding you. Touch your neighbor and say, «I’m bad at math». «I’m bad at math, but I’m good at faith». «What do you mean, 'I’m bad at math'»? «I’m too old, but I’ve got faith. I’m too young, but I’ve got faith. I don’t have money, but I’ve got faith». If it’s God’s battle… I don’t know who needs to hear this. Your kid is developmentally delayed, but they are going to bloom in a season that is just right for them.
Let me tell you another one. Oh, I love this. Some of you think you aren’t good at anything. That’s not true. You are good at something; you just think it’s a small thing, but one small thing you’re good at in the hands of God who gave it to you can make everything you’re bad at irrelevant. Ask David what one stone can do. «You can’t fight a giant». «Yeah, but I can kill a bear». One stone saved a whole nation? Yeah, because when it’s God’s battle, the math won’t matter. You’re going to get there when you’re supposed to get there. The math won’t matter. God will make up for all of the days you called wasted, and the math won’t matter.
What you thought was a failure is going to contain the seeds of your growth, and the math won’t matter. The conflict was kind of developing your character so that when you get to a place, you’ll have the fruit of the Spirit called patience, and the math won’t even matter. So, when you go to war and face an enemy that’s bigger than you, remember your plan Be. I want to give you three things today, because sometimes when I preach I get so excited I don’t give you anything to write down. I feel bad about that, that you would come all the way to church and not get a single note, so I’m going to give you three words today for when you feel like you just can’t win. Now, that phrase you just can’t win can be taken two ways.
In Deuteronomy 20:1, it says, «When you face an enemy you can’t beat, I’ll be with you». So, you literally cannot win this, but God still will be with you and give you the ability. The way to connect to that is, first, remember. Just remember. Just as simple as that. He said when you face an enemy that is bigger than you…more chariots, more horses…when you face something that’s absolutely beyond your comprehension or your ability to deal with… You know exactly what that is in your life right now. Do not lie to the Holy Spirit. I’m not even making you say out loud what it is. Just acknowledge it in your heart. When you face that, remember that the Lord who brought you out of Egypt will be with you. He said, «I’m the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, and I will be with you».
One of those is what he did, and one of those is what he is. He’s with you. He said, «Just remember that thing I did for you then». Why is that so simple and I suck at it so badly? Why do I constantly get into states of mind that pretend like this is the first time I’ve ever had a problem like this? I’m so grateful for perspective. You know, one thing I love about singing songs about God is it gives me perspective. I need that so much in my life. For me, songs of worship are like streams that flow to my heart when it’s dry.
One of the things it helps me access in that process, when I begin to remember it, is like, «Oh, yeah». I just have «Oh, yeah» moments in the presence of God. You can have an «Aha» moment where you realize something you never realized before, and then you can have an «Oh, yeah» moment where you remember something you temporarily forgot. Think about all of the things God has already done for his people by the time Deuteronomy 20:1 is spoken through the mouth of Moses. Think about how many odds they’ve overcome to be in this moment. Think about how many enemies God drowned in the Red Sea just to bring this generation to the wilderness. Think about how he rebuilt their self-image to see themselves no longer as slaves but as settlers.
Now, as they stand on the precipice of a new season, they need to remember what God did. I wrote a song I released on Friday so you can walk around your house and remember, so that when you face a war, you worship, because you realize you can have your back up against the wall, and God can take one stick and split a whole sea and bring a whole nation through. You have seen God do that in your life. You have seen him do things that were once unbelievable. You have seen him align opportunities and appointments and assignments. You have seen God, time after time, do things for you that the Devil is hoping you will forget as you go through this. You have seen God, time and time again, provide with one jar of oil and feed your whole family. You have seen God, time and time again… Just when you needed the strength to come, it came all of a sudden.
The temptation is… We are expecting God sometimes to come like a flood, and when it comes like a trickle, we are tempted to displace our trust, because our trust was in when it would happen, not who was going to do it. It goes like this: «If I was going to get it, I would have it by now. If I was going to be it, I would be it by now». This is why people stop coming to church. This is why people stop going to their counselor. This is why people stop trying to eat better. «I tried to eat better for three days, and it tasted bad, and I was mad, and I wanted to kill everybody on road rage, so I decided it was better for me to be fat than to kill somebody on road rage».
If that’s not enough, watch this. Everybody in here is tempted to forget where you’re winning because of where you currently feel weak. Yesterday, Holly came out and spoke for about 15 minutes to many of the leaders in our church. When we got home, I said, «That was so beautiful». I said, «How did you even find the time to do that»? because I know the week she has had. It has been insane. She was filming a study for our youth that’s coming out. She filmed five sessions for that. She attended a wrestling match (I already told you that) and a volleyball game. She made meals for our family.
Now, I’m not up here just to get points; I’m up here to make one, but if you can do both at the same time, why not? We just had a moment (I want to teach you this in case you don’t know how to do it) where we listed her wins. The Lord said to tell you, «List your wins». «Isn’t that bragging»? It depends on who’s behind it. When we went through all of the things she did that week, there was no doubt in my mind only God could have strengthened her to do all that. Then, a little bit later that night, she said something kind of weird, because we were talking about goals and my sermon. I was sharing a little bit of what I was thinking about preaching with her, but I didn’t tell her. I was just working it out with her, but she didn’t know it. She said, «You know, one place I didn’t win this week is my workouts».
Now, here’s where she’s different than me. She has the ability to laugh at that and to re-balance it. She realizes it’s probably not going to be the most significant, defining event of her year that she didn’t get her number of workouts this week. Me, on the other hand? If I miss a workout three days in a row, I don’t feel saved. «What does lifting weights have to do with lifting him up»? I don’t know, but it just spills over into every area of my life. I mean, it’s so quick, because I realize somewhere in my mind and in my soul an expectation was planted that I’m supposed to be winning everywhere all the time.
When you live in that kind of captivity, everything feels overwhelming. You have no strength for the enemy in front of you because you gave God no praise for the victory behind you. When you begin to integrate these things God has brought you through, and you draw from them, not as pride but as strength… When you draw from them as a sense of knowing, «God promised to be present with me,» and the proof of that is that he was… The proof that he will is the fact that he was. When you begin to do these things in your week and in your day, I’m telling you, it’s going to make a big difference. The truth of the matter is you are winning somewhere right now, but where you are not winning is causing you to feel weak, and where you feel weak, you become susceptible.