Steven Furtick - The Power of Pre
We're coming from a little bit of an unknown Scripture. This is not like "Stairway to Heaven" or a Led Zeppelin song that everybody knows. This is a deep track from the book of 2 Kings 13:14-20. I want to read it quickly for you. "Now Elisha had been suffering from the illness from which he died. Jehoash king of Israel went down to see him and wept over him". He uses this expression that was used when Elijah was taken up to heaven. He was the prophet who preceded Elisha. He says, "My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel"! He didn't know what he would do as king if he didn't have the man of God giving guidance and strategy. So he's weeping over an opportunity that is passing. Elisha, instead of giving him some sort of "Chicken Soup for the Kingly Soul" gives him a set of marching orders. He gives him something to do.
Most of us, if we would do what we already knew, could see victory in our lives. It's not a lack of knowledge a lot of times; it's a lack of courage or a lack of conviction. He understands that he has to get Jehoash, the king, to move out of apathy and to own the outcome and fight for himself. It's almost as if Elisha is saying, "Stop crying. Man up". Look at verse 15. "'Get a bow and some arrows. Take the bow in your hands.' When he had taken it, Elisha put his hands on the king's hands". Our theme, we said, was in verse 17. "'Open the east window,' and he opened it". He wanted him to view the victory before he fought the battle. It's the power of a preview. I don't know about you, but I'm looking into my future with expectation and anticipation. I don't need any news network to define the future for me. I have a preview of heaven's agenda for my life, and I'm pointing my expectation in the direction of my destiny, believing that the best is ahead.
Touch somebody and say, "Your best is before you". Your best is not behind you. The Devil is a liar. You have not seen your best days. The best is yet to be. Open the window. Stop staring at the wall. Stop thinking about what you lost. Get what you have left. Open the east window and shoot. Take the shot. "…and he shot". He proclaimed, "The Lord's arrow of victory, the arrow of victory over Aram"! Everybody has an Aram. Everybody has a next battle to fight. Everybody has a keystone conquest that if you win this one it'll set you up for success in all of the other ones. I don't know what your Aram is this year. It might be very, very practical, but he told him to aim at Aram. Don't run from it. Face it in faith, but don't put your eyes on Aram; put your eyes on the arrow flying over Aram. Kind of like Peter.
If he would keep his eyes on the one who was above the wind and the waves he could float. The bottoms of his feet were somehow water resistant, but when he looked at the wind and the waves… When you look at Aram, you always become afraid, but if you watch the arrow… Watch the arrow. Keep your eye on the promise of God over your life. He said, "You will completely destroy the Arameans at Aphek". We said last week that the arrow is flying over your life. The window of opportunity is here. What comes next is so important, because what just happened is a powerful prediction of victory, but what happens next is a practical assignment. Here I want to spend my time on the second week of Work Your Window.
"Then he said…" Sometimes it's what happens after you come to church, get inspired, worship God, move the mountains, and all of that, and sometimes it's the little things. Sometimes it's not the mountains; it's the molehills. "Then he said, 'Take the arrows,' and the king took them. Elisha told him, 'Strike the ground.' He struck it three times…" He was in compliance, but he wasn't fully committed. "…and stopped". Remember, the man of God said, "Get a bow". He said, "Take the bow". He said, "Open the window, take the arrow, strike the ground," but he didn't say, "Stop". There's something in your life today that God has not said, "Stop" about. "The man of God was angry with him and said, 'You should have struck the ground five or six times; then you would have defeated Aram and completely destroyed it.'"
Sometimes we do just enough to survive but not enough to really succeed, so we stay stuck. In fact, we tell ourselves the story that we're stuck. Is it that you're stuck or is it that you stopped? "You would have completely destroyed it. But now you will defeat it only three times". Watch the window close in verse 20. "Elisha died and was buried". It's over now. "You should have done it. You didn't do it". I want to pick up right where I left off last week on The Power of Precision. I talked about "Determine the decision before the battle begins". This message is called The Power of Pre. Just pre, like premarital counseling. Holly and I had some premarital counseling before we got married. Straightened her out, got her dysfunctions not completely eliminated but manageable. Then I got her some prenatal vitamins after we got married, because I got her pregnant. The Power of Pre.
We did not have to sign a prenup. We didn't have no pre-nothing to sign it over. The Power of Pre. That's what I want to preach about. I sent my kids to preschool. I'm trying to get them prepared. I believe in the value of preparation. I really do. Let me say it like this. Not only do I think that the outcome of the battle is often decided before it begins (predecided, pre-cision), but I also think most of us are not currently performing at the level of our potential; we're performing at the level of our preparation. It's just a simple way of saying what Elisha said to Jehoash. "There was more that God had in store, but you stopped short".
I wonder if you are living beneath the level of your potential. I'll admit the world doesn't really celebrate preparation these days. We live in a post-oriented world. Speaking of marriage history between Holly and me, I'm going to tell you something real quick. I've told you this before. I've told you this several times. She's a great cook, and she got me voluptuous in our first 18 months of marriage. Recently, she found a picture of me with my shirt off looking kind of filled out. This isn't a nutrition class. I understand you didn't come for all that, and I don't claim to be a model of health or any of that. I just found what works for me, and I work it. What works for me is just to plan.
The reason I got fat when we got married is we didn't plan our meals that much, so it was Mexican at the last minute, 9:30 at night. Remember, this was pre-children. This was back when you could just pick up and do that and you didn't have to prepare anything. We were just enjoying everything. I figured I got my woman, so I don't need to look good. (I'm just kidding.) She found a picture of how I looked back then, and it looked… You've seen the infomercials late at night. Like that "before" picture. I had my eyes closed. I didn't even remember the picture. I was just having some fun, and I went and found a picture of me now and put them side by side, just for me.
I sent it to Holly and said, "How many men get better looking as the years go by"? She started praising the Lord. She sent me some praise hands emojis. I was showing Elijah, my oldest son. He said, "You should post that, Daddy". I said, "I'm not…" I said, "Boy, let me teach you something. Everything is not meant to be posted". My first point (I have four points in this message) is the post. We live in a world where everybody wants to post everything. We have people who are more interested in posting than they are in progress. One man was talking about the game Guitar Hero, the game where you can press the buttons and pretend to play the guitar. You don't have to prepare; you can just pretend. He said, "Everybody wants to be a rock star, but nobody wants to learn the chords".
Preparation is underrated. Preparation is not very celebrated in our culture. We want to post, and we need instant validation. We live in the age of instant outrage and instant validation. We learn to tweet before we learn to think. Just post everything you think, like everybody needs to hear what you know. I'm thinking about doing a lesson, because it's disturbing me, and show you the difference between a journal and a Facebook page. Everything you think does not deserve an audience. Some of y'all are shouting because you're hoping that your Aunt Suzie in Oklahoma hears this message. She's embarrassing you and the whole family. The post.
I know you're wondering how I'm going to get back to 2 Kings 13. I know exactly how to get back there, because I prepared to preach. What would you do if I came up here to preach and instead of telling you to turn in your Bible I asked, "So, anybody got anything you want to talk about this week? Anybody? What do you think? Old Testament, New Testament? Look at some Scriptures. Anybody? Let's see if I can find them". I wonder why you expect me to prepare to preach… I'm not going to be mean about it, but just a question. Are you prepared to receive? The last time I checked, it's often the quality of the soil that determines the harvest more than the quality of the seed. Sometimes when Chunks will tell me, "That was your best sermon you ever preached," I say, "No, you finally just listened. I'm preaching good every week. You're just awake this week".
When the king went down to see Elisha… Remember, he had recently been appointed to his post as king. Elisha has not been mentioned in the Scriptures for something like 45 years, but he's still on his post. There's something about staying on your post. It is the lost art of being planted. You are never going to fulfill your purpose until you commit to your post. I'm thinking about posting a couple of different ways. I'm thinking about how God has posted some of you in places that seem insignificant. Isn't that really the message of 2 Kings 13:14-20? We were talking the other day in a little group about this passage, and one person said, "I feel sorry for the king. If Elisha would have wanted him to strike the ground five or six times, he should have told him to strike it five or six times".
I think the message here is that God leaves a lot of it up to you. How far do you want to go? I don't think God makes all of the decisions for your life. I think he lets you decide within certain parameters how much purpose or potential you want to fulfill. I don't think God pre-cides everything about our lives Do I believe that we each have a purpose? Yes. Do I believe he's God whether or not you marry Jimmy? Yes. Do I believe that you quitting your job will cause the cosmos to collapse or that any presidential office could thwart or overpower the presence and preeminence of God? No. I believe he's sovereign, but I also believe that within his sovereignty he has left space for you and me to take responsibility. The post.
How do you preach about the value of preparation in a post-oriented world? How do you preach to a… It's not really an age thing. It's not really a social media thing. I put stuff online too, just like the rest of you. I wonder sometimes if we want recognition before we've taken responsibility. Do we need the pat on the back? The battle is won or lost in preparation. This is true of athletes. Any athletes in the house? Are there any professional athletes in the house? Any NASCAR drivers in the house? Y'all know NASCAR is not that simple. I mean, it is a very sophisticated sport. I only know because of Joey and Brittany. If he isn't racing, I don't watch. I'm not a NASCAR fan. I cheer for 22. He comes to my church. He told me to come out to see him race. I didn't really want to go to the NASCAR race.
After I went, I was fascinated. I got to hear his team work and everything. Chunks, who I mentioned earlier, who only half listens to my sermons sometimes (I'm kidding about Chunks)… He turned to me and said something, because when I went to the race Joey won. I'm not saying it was the favor of God because your pastor was at the racetrack. I would never say something like that. I would only imply it. Chunks looked at me on the way home and said, "You know what's interesting about that race? That race wasn't won on the track; it was won in the garage". He had been talking to one of your team members during the race, explaining how all week the team… It's 350 people, he told me, working on that car. You see one driver, and he's a good driver, and if he can't drive they don't win, but no matter how well he can drive, it's not what happens on Sunday.
I feel like preaching a little bit, because I think this has something in common with spirituality. It's what happens Monday when they're trying to make the car a tenth of a pound lighter. Just a tenth of a pound lighter can make all the difference. Just a little bit, just a little tweak on the motor, just a little race note on this track and this turn. I'm making stuff up, because I don't know a lot about NASCAR. What I'm trying to say is maybe God is more interested in the garage than he is the track. God is a God of preparation. He would not feed the multitudes until they sat down in the grass. Why? Provision awaits preparation. You've been asking God to send it, and he's been asking you to form it, because he can't fill what you don't form. Post. It was decided.
The battle had not been fought yet, but Elisha predicted the outcome based on the king's persistence and preparation. Here's what he said. "If you won't do the groundwork when it doesn't seem to make sense, if all you want is this…" Great marriage. Happy family. Eight pack. Prayer life. Whatever. I don't care what it is. I'm telling you, it's about the garage. He is the God of the garage, tweaking stuff and fixing stuff, stuff you can't see. My second point is the point. I don't think I've ever had a sermon point about the point. Here's the thing about perspective. If you're watching the news sometimes and you're seeing somebody you disagree with and your first instinct is to argue with them, before you argue with them, try to get their perspective. Try to get an inverted perspective. That's called empathy.
Jonathan was texting me yesterday about reading the Bible and preaching and all of this, and I was trying to show him some things. When you take Jehoash as a villain and a lazy man and don't stop to think about what's happening here… How many times have you stopped because it didn't make sense? The reason I believe he stopped is because arrows are supposed to go like this. What sense does it make to put an arrow in the ground? I want to point this out to you. To do this with something that's supposed to do this… It's hard to be persistent when you can't see the purpose. That's all I'm trying to say. I guess what I wanted to tell you, Daniel-san, is that Mr. Miyagi isn't always going to explain to you why you're painting his fence. He's not always going to tell you why you're waxing his car.
I know that you would paint the fence if you knew the purpose of painting the fence, and I know you would wax the car if you knew the purpose of waxing the car, and I know you would stay a virgin if God would give you your wedding date. Jehoash had a calling, and Elisha enrolled him in a class. Write this down. Don't expect the class to look like the calling. Don't expect your training… Don't expect your preparation to look like your promise. The place God prepares you the most is the place that seems the most pointless to you. I laugh when people talk about Elevation Church being a marketing phenomenon. I laugh because in a sense they're correct. "Who lights a lamp and puts it under a bowl? You put it on a stand and it gives light to everybody in the house".
I didn't get the gospel to keep it to myself. I didn't start a church so I could get 120 people, send everybody else to hell, bolt the doors, and everybody sing, "Kum Ba Yah" while the ships come sailing by. So in a sense you're right. We want to get the word out. But it takes me back to my preparation. To understand why Elisha was angry, you would have to understand something about his process. You can't understand someone's priorities without knowing their process. I didn't start marketing the church with a budget. I started marketing in ministry, if you want to call it marketing, printing out flyers, because Jamie Williams gave me his code to the copy machine at First Baptist Church and let me run off 300. He said, "No more than 300," but I gave them out every Monday to FCA at Berkeley High School. I was marketing with a copier code. I was marketing on the summer Impact team.
When I say "Work Your Window," when I say, "Even if it's a peephole right now, if you work your copier code, maybe one day God will give you a billboard," I know what I'm talking about from my personal experience. It's not a theory or a principle or a philosophy. It is my personal experience that if you are faithful in little, he'll make you faithful in much. Why would he waste more if you're not working what you have now? We traveled to this small town in South Carolina. I don't remember if it was Camden. I think it was Camden. We were supposed to hold a youth rally. Holly can tell you. We were on a summer Impact team, a ministry team that crisscrossed the state of South Carolina hosting backyard Bible clubs and revivals.
We were so excited about our theme that we had developed called "Run to Win". I had a theme, and I had a team, and I put Holly on my team, because I liked her, and I figured "If I can get her in this van with me for 11 weeks she will get attracted to my anointing". I worked my window all the way to my wedding day. I'm just preaching what I practice. Look at me, y'all. We went to our first stop. I'm so excited. Run to Win. The youth is our first stop. We're going all summer. It's an 11-week ministry extravaganza across the state of South Carolina. The youth pastor said, "Well, I have some good news" when we got there. I said, "Cool, man". He said, "No kids signed up". I said, "How is that good news"? He said, "Oh, you can chill by the pool this week. Take a little break".
I said, "Bro, it's my first week. I don't need a tan. I need some kids". Am I lying, Holly, that we hit the streets so hard? Was it Camden? Am I getting the town wrong? I don't remember, but we canvassed that town. Let's call it Camden. We canvassed Camden. I mean, flyers on every door. By the last night of the crusade, we had it at 40 kids. You aren't clapping because you don't think that's big. Forty is big when you thought you were going to be by the pool at the Motel 6 all week in Camden. I know what you're thinking. "What's the point"? That's exactly what I was thinking. It's called ground game. It's called preparation.
Why would God have let me pastor thousands if I wasn't willing to hit the streets for 40? I wish I knew… I could preach so much better if I knew what God has you doing right now that seems kind of pointless. I would have stopped too. I don't even know if I would have put two or three arrows in the ground. It doesn't make sense to strike the ground with something that's supposed to fly in the air. It doesn't make sense to declare victory with an instrument of death called a cross. It doesn't make sense to kill a giant with a slingshot with the most inexperienced one on the battlefield doing the slinging. It doesn't make sense to deliver a nation with a stick in your hand. It doesn't make sense. God prepares you to trust the teacher by putting you in a class that does not look like the calling. Lions and bears don't look like Goliath, but they are the perfect preparation.
Now I've come to the point in my life where I'm learning to trust my Teacher to know that even if this doesn't look like it, everything is preparation. I mean everything. Every fence I paint, every car I wax, every offense is preparation. Maybe this won't take your pain away, but if you would start seeing your pain as preparation… I'm not saying God is the one who hurt you. I'm saying in his hands, whatever hurt you will become healing for where he's taking you. I'm prophesying to somebody. I don't know who you are, but God is preparing you. He's getting you ready. You're in the field. You're tending sheep. God is preparing you for what he has prepared for you. It's not failure; it's preparation. It doesn't feel like preparation. It feels like failure, but the failure was preparation so that I would have the infrastructure and the fortitude for the success.
God has me in the garage right now. The garage doesn't look like the racetrack, but God is not done. He hasn't hit "post" yet. "All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose". He's preparing me. The point is for you to trust the Teacher. That's the point. Take the arrow and strike the ground. I spent all week trying to figure out something. I was preparing this week. I wanted to come to the pulpit prepared. I knew there would be at least one person paying attention who would want to know, "Why would Elisha get so angry over something so simple"? Well, first of all, he was about 110 years old. I don't imagine there's much to be happy about at that age. You'd be crotchety too.
So that's first, but for my second clue I wanted to give you the third point: the plow. I figured there would probably be something about Elisha's process that would help me understand his insistence on perseverance. He could not believe what he saw. He could not believe that someone would have an arrow of victory in their hand but refuse to do what needed to be done to secure the victory. So I went back through his life and remembered a few things. This is one of my favorite Bible characters. He was the subject of my book called Greater, so he and I spent a lot of time together. One time, these kings needed rain. They needed provision from heaven, and Elisha told them, "Okay, you want rain? Dig some ditches".
It wasn't raining yet, so they didn't need an irrigation system. But Elisha knew the key to receiving provision is to make preparation before you can perceive it. So he told them to dig some ditches. The first thing he did when he took the mantle from Elijah, the one who left him in transition, was to heal some water in a town called Jericho, some water that had become toxic. To revive the economy he needed to heal the water supply, so he asked for some salt. Salt comes out of the ground. Of course we know this. It comes either from the ocean or from the mines, but either way it's manufactured by pressure. I could preach about the power of pressure too if I wanted to. It looks like pressure, but it's really preparation.
Think of Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane. Gethsemane means olive press. It was the pressure of the garden, so great that it was like drops of blood. When he sweat it was like drops of blood. I don't know if he burst the capillary or if it was like that metaphorically or literally. Either way, he was under pressure. His pressure was his preparation. Quit asking God to take the stress away. Start asking him to show you how to handle it. "Nevertheless, not my will but your will be done". He made a pre-cision. It's the power of pre. It's the power of preparation. It's the power of taking salt and throwing it in the water, and the water was purified. I was noticing how Elisha wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty, which took me all the way back to the first time I saw him in Scripture.
Elijah had had a little meltdown and threw a little hissy fit. God doesn't need you to be perfect. He just needs you to keep making progress. When Elijah went back, God said, "All right, I have made preparations for your success". Elijah was so tired he didn't know what to do next. Jezebel wanted to kill him, and he didn't have a backup plan. But God did. God said, "If you'll get back going the way you came, I have your succession plan already in place, and I'll show it to you when you get back in position". Elijah is walking. I had them pull this one Scripture for you, because it was so profound when it hit me. I understood at once why Elisha was angry when the king would not strike the ground. It's in 1 Kings 19:19. I want you to look at this. It says, "Elijah went from there…"
The place where he was making excuses, feeling sorry for himself. He went from there, the place of pressure, the threat of Jezebel, the anxiety of the future. He went from there on the word of the Lord. "…and found Elisha…" Please read with me, because what I'm going to show you next is going to explain to you why the season you're in doesn't feel significant, but it is so important that you do it with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength. He found Elisha, son of Shaphat, and Elisha was plowing. Remember, his calling was to be a prophet, but sometimes the classroom doesn't look like the calling. He wasn't prophesying; he was plowing. He was digging up hard ground. Not only was he plowing but, "He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair".
What do you think the view is like when you're last in line? At first I couldn't figure out why Elijah didn't go to the prophet school. If God was preparing somebody to take up the mantle of Elijah, wouldn't he get him from the prophet school? But he didn't want somebody who knew how to preach. He wanted somebody who knew how to plow, because if you're willing to plow I can teach you to preach, but I need somebody who's not scared, not backing up, not going to get tired and turn back. "He who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not fit for the kingdom of God".
I need somebody who knows how to plow. We have a generation that knows how to post but doesn't know how to plow. We have more windows than we have work. I mean, you came here today, right? You came to be in the presence of God. Am I right? Did you come to be in the presence of God? Come on, every location. Watching online, did you come to be in the presence of God? Okay. Presence starts with pre. You think this just popped up? You think it came down. No. Elisha understood the principle of preparation. Provision awaits preparation. I hope you enjoyed the music today. You should have. I know where I'm preaching right now… It's probably not raining in a lot of locations where you're watching this or you're watching this on TV, but it was raining today at church, and somebody had an umbrella.
There were parking team people who were preparing for you in the parking lot. Here's what I realized. I can preach as hard as I can preach, but preach starts with pre. If somebody doesn't park you, I can't preach to you. Elisha understood it's not the arrow flying through the air that gives the victory. It's the groundwork. It's the preparation. It's the underground stuff. It's those chairs you're sitting in at Ballantyne. How many of you are sitting in a chair? Do you know why you're sitting in that chair? Because Steve spaced them. He came out and measured them to make sure the seats were at the prime proximity to create maximum capacity. He plowed so you could plop. That's the way I'm trying to say it. If he didn't plow, you couldn't plop. I'm just pointing it out.
How many of you are going to use the bathroom at one of our campuses before the day is over or you already did? It's a little TMI. I'm not going to lie to you, but I'm trying to make a point. You might grab a little breath mint in the bathroom. The reason there's a breath mint in the bathroom is because Ashley comes every week. She's doing a little pre-praise service to God to make sure when you open your mouth and give God praise your neighbor isn't distracted. That's her pre-praise service to God. Before you got here, she was making sure it was clean. That Elevation pen you will steal, because we want you to steal it… We want you to steal it and tip big with it and then invite that server to church. If she can't come on Sunday morning, bring her on Saturday night, take her to Midweek, whatever. I don't care, but steal the pen.
The greeter team didn't just smile at you when you came in. They were pre… I'm trying to get a point across. You experienced the presence of God because somebody made preparation. Somebody prepared for you to be here. It's the power of pre. Recently I told my son Elijah I want him to start seeing behind the scenes, because I didn't want my kid growing up thinking that a church was a green room and a stage. So I was like, "I want you to go see the kids' ministry, which is amazing". He also wanted to see how the video works, because technologically what we do here is… I think it's pretty excellent. All the campuses… It's amazing what our teams do. Really. Over 7,000 volunteers.
By the way, this isn't a volunteer push, but I feel like the campus pastors might send me a gift card or something if I tell some of you… When are you going to stop plopping and start plowing? My God from Zion! Stop by that tent. There's a table at Ballantyne and tents elsewhere. If you go, there will be somebody to show you how. Somebody say, "Start plowing". So Elijah went back and said, "Daddy, you have to see it in V control," the room where they do all the video stuff with all the cameras and everything. He said, "It's amazing what happens behind the scenes". I said, "You like it"? He said, "No, I'm not telling you I like it. I'm telling you it's amazing". He said, "You have to see Chelsea. She's the one calling the shots".
I watched her, and I knew what he was saying. I snuck in today right before I preached. They were preparing. Before we got here and before I preached and before you praised and before we experienced the presence of God, they were plowing. They weren't paid to plow either, these people I'm about to show you. They were plowing because of the purpose of God. I want to show you. It's just a quick window into the work they do back there. Just roll it real quick. That's Chelsea. See the locations synced up? How cool is that? Every time she's saying that, it's switching a camera. I know I sound kind of like a redneck saying this, like, "Can y'all believe they have these cameras back there"? but I was blown away. You don't even see that, because it's underground stuff. "Two, taking two, taking three, taking four".
I was watching her one time. I was like, "How does she know how to do that"? You have to have musicality to do it. I found out how. She said her mom taught dance. In fact, her mom teaches my daughter Abbey dance. I didn't know this. She's been doing that for me for five years. She said she danced at high school. She said at high school that's the time where you either go professional or find something else to do. She said, "I wasn't good enough to go on and do something else. I danced all the way through high school and loved it. Then I came here to do this". She said, "I never would have imagined, though, that my mom teaching me dance would one day enable me to be on my post every week. I might not be a professional dancer, but I know how to plow".
Now look at her calling the shots out the east window. Go ahead, Chelsea. "Three, taking three. Four, taking four. One, taking six, taking five, taking seven, taking eight. Two, taking two". Don't you understand that God has been preparing you your whole life? You are in preparation right now. My fourth P is promotion. God said, "If you will keep plowing…" This is what I want to get into you over the next several weeks of this series. Really we're just getting started with this series. I really feel like God is doing something in this series. I might just preach this series until the year 2030. I might preach it until Jesus comes back, because I really believe that if you will plow, he will promote, and you can trust him.
Is it possible that the pre is more important than the post? Is it possible that what happens in the garage, what happens in the heart, is more important than what happens in my life? He's preparing me for what he has prepared for me. The preparation doesn't always look like the promise. It doesn't have to. When the time came for Elisha to be promoted, God knew exactly where he was. He was on his post. When it came time for Elisha to be promoted, he didn't have to point to himself. God pointed him out to Elijah. The post, the point, the plow. He was just simply doing what he had to do in this season. If you will humble yourself under the mighty hand of God and just keep striking the ground… This isn't the sexy part of spiritual development. This is the part where you don't see the point but you continue in the process.
Persistence is the key to the promise of God. Somebody shout if you know God is getting you ready. He will lift you up. See, God had an assignment for Elisha, and God has an assignment for you. He said, "You've learned how to plow hard ground. Now you have to learn how to plow hard hearts. Nothing you've been through will be wasted. Nothing you've been through was for nothing. Nothing you've been through was for no purpose. I've always been working. I've always had a purpose in mind".
God is working in my life. It is the power of pre. Prepare to prevail. I'm closing, but the arrow of Aram is flying over the life of everyone who will do the groundwork. I'm a living witness that if you will stay with it… I know God is giving you a great window to see the opportunities he's placed before your life, but how can he trust you with more until you are faithful where you are? God is cultivating your calling right now, and he might send you to Camden to do it. He might have you in the garage. He might take you apart so when you get to the track you are built to make it to the end. Somebody shout, "I'm getting ready"! You might want to shove your neighbor and put them on notice. "I'm getting ready. God sees me. God is preparing me. God has a purpose for my life, and it will come to pass. I don't know when I'll see it. I'm prepared. I'm ready now"!