Steven Furtick - The Best Tool For Stress Management
This is an excerpt from: Move It to The Middle
Let me give you this principle real quick. Selflessness is the most underused tool for stress management. Selflessness. I don’t mean thinking less of yourself; I mean thinking of yourself less. Selflessness is the most underutilized tool for stress management. Being at the center is keeping you stressed. I’ll show it to you from Moses, and then I’ll show you why, and then we’ll have a big party in the place and go home. Moses gets all caught up in main character energy, and we forgive him, because look.
The Lord calls his name and says, «Moses, Moses,» and Moses is like, «That’s me. Here I am. I’m here in Midian». «'Do not come any closer, ' God said». This is verse 5. «The place where you are standing is holy ground. Take your shoes off. You’re not going to run from this one». Remember, Moses ran to Midian, fleeing and hiding, and then God is bringing him to this bush, and he says, «You’re not running away this time». Now that he’s standing and not running, turning and paying attention to what God is doing, the Lord says, «The place where you are standing is holy ground». Then, the next thing God said is, «I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob».
God has been doing this a long time, y’all. God’s miracles didn’t start with your mortgage payment. The God you prayed to has done much tougher stuff than what you’re asking him to do right now. This man led a nation out of slavery. You don’t think God will show you how to raise those kids? Have you lost your mind? You forgot who you’re talking to. You forgot who called you. You forgot who promised to keep you. You forgot who lives in you. But just about the time we get the perspective of who God is and what he’s come to do… Verse 8: «I’ve come down to rescue my people out of the Egyptians' hands and to bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey». Verse 9: «And now the cry has reached me».
Verse 10: «'So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.' But Moses said to God, 'Who am I…? '» This is where I think we miss it. (Go to the drums real quick, cameraman.) That is the total wrong focus. When God is speaking and you shift your attention back to you… Let me say it this way. When the Great I Am is talking and you say, «Who am I»? you need to shift your attention back to me, back to the one who is speaking to you, back to the one who put you in the basket, back to the one who floated you down the Nile, back to the one who made sure you survived. There’s one thing about it for sure.
The Enemy has already made so many attempts to end your faith journey, to end your life, to end your hope, to end your optimism, to end your faith, to end your progress, to end your sanctification process. The Enemy has already tried to end it, and he didn’t. Why is that? Because he couldn’t. Because it was what came after what God called Moses («Moses, Moses») that mattered more than what Moses was. I’ll put it to you this way. When Moses got confused and said, «Who do I say sent me to them if they doubt me»? God said, «Tell them I Am That I Am». You didn’t know this verse, but Exodus 3:14 teaches us something very powerful. God’s name, Yahweh, is I Am. He wasn’t «Was». He isn’t «Going To Be». He is I Am.
Now, I’ve taught you that before, and I’ve taught you that his name being I Am means he’s a present help in the time of trouble, but what I never taught you so clear before is when he said, «I Am That I Am,» the place of that is meant to represent every place where God will express his power in your life. So, let’s say in this specific season of your life God wants to accomplish a purpose, and in order to accomplish his purpose, he is going to have to open a door for you that you can’t open for yourself, and only God can do that. Well, I Am That (open door) I Am. Let’s say you’re in a season in your life where it looks like there’s no way you’re going to be able to move through this next month. It is so busy. It is so hectic. It is so overwhelmed, and you need a sustaining power in your life. Come on.
A sustaining energy over your life. Some of you are so tired, your biggest prayer last week was, «I can’t do this». You didn’t even have the faith left to ask. Every time you thought about it, it started twisting up inside of you. But what you didn’t realize about God’s name is that that feeling, that place, that need is the place where God wants to express his name. So, if tired is the place where you need God to show up, that is the place where God’s energy will be. Wherever it is that he has positioned you, that’s where it is that he will empower you. I’ll take it further. If there is an insecurity in your life that makes you think you can’t do it, that’s good.
The insecurity is the insurance policy that lets you know that when it gets done, you won’t be tempted to take the credit, because you’ll know and they’ll know and everybody who knows you will know, «It had to be God. I watched them in the basket. I saw them make a mistake, but somehow God kept drawing them out». That’s what I see in this season for your life. You’re going to be drawing from the God who drew you out of the water, and you are not going to run out of resource because you will not run out of God. You are not going to run out of wisdom because you will not run out of God. You will not run out of meal because you will not run out of God. You will not run out of support because you will not run out of God. You will not run out of it because you will not run out of him. You will not run out of it because you will not run out of him, because I Am That I Am.
Take your need and move it to the middle and make a Great I Am sandwich. God says, «I Am That I Am». Boy, if I’d have planned this better, I’d have brought some bologna and some pumpernickel bread up here, and I would have showed you how to sandwich your situation by the presence and the spoken promise of God and move it to the middle. What we know that Moses doesn’t know… And that’s a bold statement, because the Bible said, «Other prophets have I spoken to other ways, but Moses I spoke to face to face».
Now, that’s in Numbers after they complained to Moses and didn’t appreciate him. Oh, I almost forgot to say this. Thank you, Lord. His hesitancy to do what God called him to do, because he argued back and forth with God… His hesitancy to do it wasn’t rooted in rebellion; it was rooted in rejection, because he tried to do this. The first time, it didn’t work. The first time he tried to fight for his people, it cost him 40 years in the wilderness. Now you understand why you’re uncomfortable receiving love from others, and when people try to treat you good, you treat them bad just to get things back to the natural habitat you’re used to, seeking the lower state because it’s the state you know. He wasn’t rebelling against God. That’s Jonah. He wasn’t rebelling against God. That’s Jonah. He was rejected by them, and the rejection takes root. It gets to the place where you go, «I don’t really want to put it out there like that anymore».
I love when y’all get quiet. Thinking about those hesitancies in your life to trust God because of a root of rejection where the first time it didn’t work. After 40 years, you pretty much assume, «This is it, and there’s not much I can do about it». But Moses should have known, because he was no ordinary child, that even in those 40 years, and even with his perceived lack of natural talent to speak… Watch this. He should have known «This can’t be the end. It’s called Mid-ian». This can’t be the end. It’s Midian.
Now, a few years ago, I was having my own sort of Moses moment. I know. «Boo-hoo. Wah-wah. Tell us your therapy session, Pastor Steven. That’s what we came for». No, no. I’m just trying to relate this, because it’s one of the most powerful things I ever did in my life. It helped me so much. The story that was going in my mind was a little bit like the Moses story in that I had had a few things I tried to do in an effort to trust God, and I’m sure I didn’t do them perfectly, but I was doing them sincerely. Have you ever been there? I’m not saying I did it exactly right, but I meant well. I’m not saying it wasn’t a mistake, but I meant well. That’s Moses' story. That’s why he’s in Midian. «I meant well. I was trying to protect an Israelite, but I ended up killing an Egyptian. Maybe I shouldn’t have got in the middle of it».
So, now he’s on the far side of the desert in a place called Midian. This place will ultimately be the mountain where God will give the Ten Commandments, Mount Sinai, but it’s not yet, because this is just the middle. Now, here’s Moses, tending his sheep. All of a sudden, the burning bush (go to Otis) becomes the focal point, and Moses moves over in order to see why it doesn’t burn up. (Okay, now go back to the normal camera shot.) As he’s doing this, the voice of the Lord speaks to him about the future God has planned for him, which revolves around the purpose God has created him for. Now, that’s what this is about in your life…nothing else. For a few days, forget about your preference and your plan of the way you want this situation to turn out, because I see you going through a valley, and that feels like that’s all there is.
I was recently reminded that it can only be a valley if there are mountains on either side of it. So, now we’ve got a Moses who spent 40 years, rough start. He went through a dry season, and now God is bringing him to an expected end to be the leader God has always meant for him to be, and he’s in a place called Midian. As I was going through some of my self-pity in moments… Specifically, the narrative that was playing out is «The best is behind me». Now, I think that’s one of the lies the Devil tells that we don’t talk about very much that we all walk around wondering about. It’s like, «Is this going to be all there is for my life»? It doesn’t take a divorce to make you feel that way. It doesn’t take turning 45 to make you feel that way. It doesn’t take having to wear readers to make you feel that way. You can hit a wall in your life where you wonder, «Is this the most joy I’m going to experience? Is this the most difference I’m going to make? Is this the greatest accomplishment I’m ever going to accomplish»?
Then you hit a wall or you hit what you call a failure. It may not be a failure; you just see it as a failure. So then the Enemy says, «It’s the end». The Enemy loves to tell you where the end is. So does God. As I was sitting with this… I think it had been going on a couple of months. I was sitting with this feeling that «My best work is behind me. My best sermons are behind me. My best songs are behind me». It was an avalanche. I’m going to come to this side and see if anybody has ever felt this way before. They are looking at me like they are on a streak, man. They are on a roll over here. They are winning medals and getting raises and paying no taxes…6 percent body fat, $50 million net worth going on over here. Is there anybody over here who got to a certain place now, and it’s like, «This is Midian. I’m tending sheep. I’m very busy, but is this the end»?
Now, I did not get this idea that I’m going to tell you about from David Goggins. No offense to Brother David Goggins, but his energy gets a little intense for me sometimes. You know, that kind of, like, «You’re a piece of crap; get up and do something about it» energy. That doesn’t really work for me very long. I already have that voice in my head. I don’t need an external one. I didn’t get this piece of advice from some «Chicken Soup for the Soul» book with an inspirational thought. It was almost like the Lord gave me this. I’ve never shared it even with Holly. I looked for the notebook where I wrote it down, and I can’t find it. But something came over me, and I began to write about the next five years of my life as if they had already happened and as if God were with me.
I didn’t write anything… There’s a time to do this. I didn’t write anything about how bad I felt, how down I was, how lonely it was, all of the fears I had, all the stuff I was stressed about, all of the bills I needed to pay, and all of the people depending on me, because I’d done that enough, but I took what felt like the end, and I moved it to the middle. I picked up there, and I wrote down two words: but he. Somebody say, «But he». I wrote those words, and it was almost like, «Moses, Moses».
It was like I saw everything I had been, everything I had been through, everything I was wrestling with, and then that second Moses, «But he…» I began to write. My pen began to move, and I began to write about potential. I began to write, «But he continued to show up and preach, and God helped him and gave him messages that went around the world in order to help people with their struggles». «But he continued to write songs and collaborate with other creative individuals who were strong where he was weak, so he was able to continue to be a part of making music for the people of God to sing and be ministered to by. But he humbled himself and realized that he didn’t have to be good at everything as long as he was in touch with the one who was. But he…»
See, what happened was (I showed you this last week) I made a pivot. In that moment that I made a pivot with my pen, something started to come alive in the Spirit. I began to see that what I was dwelling on as the end… The Lord says, «I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you a hope and a future. After 70 years are completed in Babylon, I will come to you, and after I’ve come to you and delivered you, you will praise me on this mountain». God said to Moses, «After you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain». He is taking what Moses thinks is the end and moving it to the middle, because I’ll tell you something.
It can be the end if you let it be. If you let it end you, it will end you. If you let it make you tap, it will end you. If you let it define you, it will define you. If you let it bury you, it will bury you. But he who began a good work in you… Now I feel my preacher. He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. The Bible says that all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose. So, if it’s not good, God is not done. He said, «I’ll bring you to an expected end».
So, if his purpose isn’t finished yet for this situation, it is not the end. Move it to the middle. I’m talking about the thing you’ve been crying about. I’m talking about the thing you’ve been gossiping about. I’m talking about the thing that has had you so down you can’t rejoice. I’m talking about the thing that has blurred your vision and fogged your faith. I’m talking about the thing that has beat you into submission, the thing that’s got you tied up in knots. You’ve been treating it like the end, and you need to move it to the middle. So, when you’re telling this story, it is going to be a chapter and a scene, not a destiny.