Steven Furtick - God's Hand Is On You
What you face is no match for our God who fights for you. In “God’s Hand Is On You,” Pastor Steven Furtick of Elevation Church reveals that our shame doesn’t disqualify us from being used, it gives God the opportunity to do something mighty through us. I learned a few things about God's hand. I learned that God's hand is provision. I learned that God's hand is protection. But I also learned that God's hand is power. He said, "I know that he will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him". A mighty hand, and the mighty hand of God in the judgment of the 10 plagues against Egypt was what God used to release his people into ultimate freedom. A mighty hand.
The Lord tells Moses, "It's not going to happen in your own strength. It's not going to happen in your own intellect. It's not going to happen in your own ability or your strategy. It's not going to happen even in the leadership gifts I've given you. It is going to take another hand". The thing about it is this is what God showed me. I was looking at the passage, and I looked at it again a few times after I preached it the other night, and the Lord said, "You missed something". I said, "What did I miss"? He said, "You missed the other hand". I said, "What's the other hand"? Look at verse 19. He said, "I know that the king of Egypt…" That's Pharaoh. "…will not let you go…" Do you see it? I didn't see it either. "He won't let you go". That means your enemy thinks he has you so strong in his grip, and he won't let go unless there is another hand that is stronger than his hand.
So while you feel like the Devil has you like this… You know, let's be honest, a lot of the chains in this room are 42 years old. These are not saplings anymore. These are oak trees that go down deep. I mean there's some real deep stuff that's holding you in here. It's got you like this. I mean, by the throat. I mean, it's got you. It won't let you breathe. You try to move, you can't move. You try to move up, you can't move up. You try to step into a new opportunity, you can't do it with a free heart. It's got you like this. It's got you so strong. But God said to tell you about the other hand, and this is what Moses needed to know. It's no different for everybody in the room today, that your Father is stronger than your Pharaoh.
So like with Graham… He wrestles me. In fact, since you're here, do you want to do it really quick just to illustrate it? Come here really quick. Come here. I'm going to show you, He hates when I do this because he's strong. Graham is so strong. He's 13. He won the state championship for freestyle wrestling. It was a small tournament, but it was still a state championship. I won a state championship when I was in eighth grade too, but there was nobody else in the weight class, so I won the state championship. So we'll have battles, and I'll say, "Old man versus young man. South Carolina versus North Carolina state champions". He's so quick, and he's so good, but what I do is… I've got old man moves. I've got old man moves. I got pressure points. I can do… Right here. See right there. Right there. That spot right there. Right there. In my hands, I can stop him. All I need is this anointed 41-year-old thumb, and all of a sudden… Watch this. It doesn't matter how much youth you have; I will put my thumb in his pecs right there.
Now, I'll let him wrestle me, but if it gets too rough… Because he's getting too strong for me to play with him. I can't play with him anymore. He'll get on my legs so quick. I'm not going to go out like that. I don't know who's videoing this. I don't know if this is Instagram Live. So sometimes I have to just…pop! Put him right there. All right. You're done. Go back down there. He wants to fight right now. I saw it. I saw him getting in his stance. I'm not getting taken down in front of the world. God said, "I know where to put the pressure. See, that's why I'm God. I've been doing this a long time, and I see your enemy shooting in on you. But when I use my hand… I have a mighty hand. I have a strong hand. I don't even have to flex. I'm God". So Pastor Mickey didn't tell me that part. He told me God's hand was on me. I thought it meant God is my provider. I didn't know that the same hand that brings provision also brings pressure and how God will use the pressure of life to bring me into freedom. I know it won't let you go unless a mighty hand…
Twenty-five years later, I can tell you that God has a mighty hand. Ten plagues later, Moses and Pharaoh knew it was a mighty hand. It's a mighty hand. It's a mighty hand. It's a mighty hand. It is a hand that you can't always feel it. You can't always see it. But see, Moses was well acquainted with this hand whether he knew it or not, because when he was a baby, all the little Hebrew boys were getting killed by Pharaoh, not him. His mom made a basket and put him in the Nile River. This is Exodus, chapter 2. The Bible says that that basket floated to the daughter of Pharaoh, and she saw the basket, and she drew it out. She felt sorry for Moses because he was crying, and she took him, and God raised him. As a matter of fact, as I thought about that basket floating down the Nile River, I thought about your life and my life, because what are the chances that a basket would float down the Nile River and miss all of the alligators unless there was a hand? I'm grateful for God saying how he guided me past certain attacks. You know, the same hand that did this sometimes does that. Sometimes God just did that with his hand.
Anybody grateful for the times God did that. An anxiety came for your life. You've thought about ending your life, and the gators almost got you, but God's hand did that. We don't really even know how to praise God. When I say, "Praise God," and I say, "What do you have to be thankful for"? you don't even know the things that God did this, and if he didn't do this, you wouldn't be here. I'm thankful that he provided. I'm thankful that he pruned, took some things out. I'm thankful that he protected with his mighty hand and an outstretched arm. God said, "I see your struggle, and I know that it won't let you go easily. So since you've been doing it in your own strength, making bricks without straw, doing everything that you know to do to be free, but never finding freedom, it's time for my hand to work in your life". In fact, the Scripture says something powerful in Peter. He says, "Humble yourself". What a thing for Peter to say. He's not exactly Mr. Humility in the senior superlatives if you read the yearbook. But he's learned now. "Humble yourself under God's mighty hand".
Say that phrase: God's mighty hand. How is Pharaoh going to let you go? God's mighty hand. "How in the world is it going to happen this time? You don't even know the mess I'm in". I know you feel like Moses right now, but God came to reveal to you that his hand… What is it? It's a mighty hand, God's mighty hand. Pharaoh has a strong hand; God's is stronger. God's mighty hand. How many praise God for His mighty hand? God doesn't try to do anything. God does not intend to do anything he can't do. God's mighty hand. But that's not what I came to preach about today. I want to preach about the other hand. See, it seems like Moses didn't have a lot of trouble believing that God was mighty. He didn't argue with God at all. God said, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Jacob," and all Moses wanted to know is, "What's your name"? God said, "I am". I'm sure Moses waited around for a little bit more detail. But God said, "You better leave it blank because I'm going to do so much that you will not be able to quantify me by one word. Not an adjective, not a verb, not an adverb, not a…"
So the Lord, the very essence of true presence and being, says, "I am". After he gets done telling Moses what he's going to do and how he's going to set the people free and the mighty hand and all of that, Moses doesn't argue with God about what God can't do. Now here's where I need to just talk to you. Can we just talk like we've known each other all our lives? How many of y'all feel sometimes when I'm preaching like we know each other? I feel that too. So I was praying about this message, and God said, "It's not me they doubt most of the time. They believe I'm big. They believe I'm powerful. They believe I can do great things through others". Moses didn't say, "How will I know your hand is strong? How will I know you're great? How will I know you're stronger? How will I know"? No, he didn't doubt God at all, and that's what I want to preach to you about. Because after God told Moses what he would do, Moses answered… I'm only sharing this with you because I relate to Moses. Not in the sense that I can deliver a nation or anything like that.
I don't want to change jobs with Moses. I'm just saying how he feels, I've felt. Because you can know that God's hand is mighty, but watch this. He answered (Exodus 4, verse 1), "What if they do not believe me or listen to me? And what if they say, 'The Lord did not appear to you?'" Let me give you a hint. When he's talking about they, it's not really their doubt he's dealing with. A lot of times when we try to identify what the obstacles are of us being who God called us to be, because look what the Lord asked in verse 2. The Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand"? Whose hand? We talked about God's hand. We shout about God's hand. We need God's hand; it's a mighty hand. See, for me, it's not that hand that gets me in trouble; it's the other hand. My hand. The mighty hand? I like that one. My hand? That's a different story. Because watch this. Moses said, "How are we going to do this"? And God said, "What is that in your hand"?
So now after God tells him what he's going to do with his hand, he points to Moses' hand. I think this is where we should spend a little time today talking about the other hand. "Oh, God is awesome, and he's so great, and how great is our God. Sing with me, how great is our God. And all will see how great, how great is our God". That's not the part I have a problem with. Because 25 years ago, when Pastor Mickey said that God's hand was on me, he only told me half of it. You know, God's hand can be on you in a great way, but if you don't believe it, if you don't receive it… You know, God can put you in position. That's one thing about his hand. The Bible says if you humble yourself under the mighty hand of God, he will lift you up in due time. You don't have to do it yourself. You don't have to position yourself. You don't have to show off what you can do. God will do amazing things through your life if you stay under his hand. Yet the hard thing for me has not been God's hand. I can trust his hand. I can believe in his hand. I can see the evidence of his hand.
Listen to me. I'm from Moncks Corner, South Carolina. The things God has done for me in my life, the places he has taken me, are so far from where I started, I know it had to be him. In fact, even the people who mistreated me, they didn't know it, but God was using their hands to get me where I needed to be. Y'all don't believe me? Joseph told his brothers, "You intended to harm me, but God meant it for good. You sold me, but God sent me". How is that possible? Even what their hand did, even what they did to you or did not do for you has to pass through God's hand by the time it's over. It's not his hand I struggle with; it's the other hand. Are y'all really, on my second week back from vacation of the summer, going to look at me like you don't have another hand? "I don't know what you're talking about here, Pastor. For me, it's pretty like, just, you know, I am called, I am chosen, I am anointed, I am blessed and highly favored". You've got another hand. You've got it in your pocket right now. Jesus went to church one day. You all know this.
Matthew, chapter 12. Jesus went to church one day, and while he was there, he noticed something nobody else saw. This is an amazing Scripture. I'm bringing it right now because I think that represents how a lot of us came to church or logged on this morning. It says, "Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue". Next verse, please. "And a man with a shriveled…" Some versions say withered. "…hand was there, and looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, 'Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?'" "He said to them, 'If any of you has a sheep, and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you not take hold of it and lift it out?'" So Jesus is saying that just like you would take your hand and something that was valuable, you would pull it out, that's what he wants to do for this man. He wants to take you where you are, in the place that nobody else can see that you struggle… Because here's the problem: All of us have one hand that looks just fine. All of us have one hand… It's an amazing miracle because Jesus skips over the hand that's working to get to the one that won't work. He said to the man… This is such a crazy thing to say to somebody. "'Stretch out your hand.' So he stretched it out, and it was completely restored, just as sound as the other".
The Lord showed me something in this sermon. It's kind of warm to wear a jacket, but I needed it to show you this. A lot of us walk around showing people the hand we want them to see. I am coming for your other hand today, the one that won't work. And don't feel bad about it, because everybody you're sitting next to has another hand. There's the one they show you, and there's the one they know about and God knows about, but they learned how to keep it very carefully contained so nobody other than the ones who live with them know about their anger issue because they're nice to the server at the restaurant. The other hand. Nobody knows about the thing they struggle with in their own emotions because they make a lot of money. Nobody knows about the tears they cry over the things they can't get straight in their mind, because in their life, everything looks fine. But Jesus didn't want that hand; he wanted the other hand. When the man stretched his hand out, the Bible says that it was completely restored. This hand has always been on you. It was his hand.
How you just all of a sudden felt like you could stand after thinking you had collapsed, and something picked you up. It was his hand. That was his hand. It was his hand. But now it's time to stretch your hand, but you still don't believe it. You still don't believe that you're the one he chose for that situation. You still don't believe you have what it takes. You still don't believe that he in you is more than enough. You still don't believe that you have a spirit without measure. You still don't believe that the gifts you have are the ones you're meant to have, and if you will grow and develop those, you will be able to accomplish everything God has called you to accomplish. You still don't believe that. You're still looking at the other people's hands, but you're looking at their good hand and comparing it to your bad hand. The way this works in Scripture is that Jesus is healing a man (on the Sabbath, which is work) who has a condition that renders him unable to work. His entire identity has been consumed by this one issue, and God did a miracle for him. Can't he do the same thing for me? The other hand.