Reaching New Heights In God
Pastor Mark Stephens
If you're wondering "Why am I here" or "Where am I going," or even "What could I ever do for God" stop concerning yourself with those question. Relax, allow God to work in and through you and watch His marvelous plan for you unfold in your life.
You are strategically positioned by God on the road to where you need to be!
Our God is a God of progression!
Our God is a God of movement!
Our God is a God of growth!
For example, Geneses 1:3-5 records, "And God said, let there be light: and there was light. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. And God called the light day, and the darkness he called night. And the evening and the morning were the first day."
God is always advancing from darkness to light. For instance, Psalm 30:5 says, "Weeping may endure for a night, but JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING."
I want to encourage you, because I want you to know that if you dare to believe and renew your thinking with the Word of God that the Holy Spirit is about to intervene into your life and . . .
YOU ARE GOING TO SOAR TO NEW HEIGHTS IN GOD!
In the next few moments of your time I want to share with you an amazing truth about the nature and character of God as portrayed by an eagle. It begins in Deuteronomy 32:11, 12 (AMPLIFIED BIBLE):
As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, He spread abroad His wings and He took them, He bore them on His pinions. So the Lord alone led him.
Imagine, if you will, the children of Israel just leaving Egypt from over 400 years of bondage. They are now going through the wilderness. In the excitement and victory of the events of the last few days leading to this point, Moses begins to reflect on the purpose of God's dealings with them comparing God to an eagle.
It is with this in mind that I want to point out to you that we see the purpose of God in the eagle. We can't see the purpose of the eagle, but we can see the activity of the eagle. We see the purpose of God and not the activity . . . God's purpose is to lead us.
What is the method by which He leads us?
One: GOD DISTURBS YOUR PLACE OF COMFORT. God refuses to leave you as He found you---He is going to change you! The Lord rises us out of our lethargy and into reality. It is here that He takes us from our comfort zone, makes us walk through the fire and causes us to stand through the storm of adversity. As the Lord "stirs" us, we must reconsider our plans, rethink our programs, and remember it is He who is never watching out for us.
Two: GOD WILL HOVER OVER YOU. In the progression of the divine plan of God, as He hovers over us He speaks so gently: "you may not know what is going on, but I am here to take care of you."
He draws near to you in order to say, "I know it may look difficult, but I just want you to know that I am right here with you."
Our God is omnipresent---meaning He is always there with us and we can't escape His presence even if we were to try!
Three: GOD WILL STRETCH OUT OVER YOU. Our Heavenly Father begins to reveal His majestic power to us by spreading His everlasting arms over us. What is He doing? God is showing His strength to defeat our adversary at every turn. In our desire to be like Him, we begin to imitate Him, because after all, it was in the elegant garden of Eden that He formed us in His image to be the very top or best of His creation (remember after creating man He said "this is VERY good").
Ephesians 5:1 reads, "Therefore be imitators of God as well-beloved children" (AMP)
As we model His actions we begin to display our authority over the devil in every situation!
Four: GOD WILL CARRY YOU. The eagle teaches his young to fly by catching them on his wings. The last point in Deuteronomy 32:11 is that, like the eagle, God bears us upon His wings.
Exodus 19:4 the Lord proclaims, "Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself."
Sometimes you will be faced with criticism by those around you, and they will say to you, "you will never fly. You will never amount to anything." People may even laugh at you and mock you, but as you take a leap of faith and keep your eyes upon you King you begin to realize that . . .YOU MAY FALL BUT YOU WILL NEVER FAIL!!!
You may feel as the clay in the hands of the Potter that you are spinning out of control as He molds and shapes you into His image (Jeremiah 18:1-6). Perhaps your purpose seams unclear. You reach out to seize your answer, only to continue rocking and reeling under the mighty hand of God.
Rest assured, you may not know the purpose of this "dead end road" existence, BUT you know the person of the Potter! Like the eagle shakes and stirs her nest, so God shakes and stirs your place of comfort and leisure. He then hovers over you and stretches forth His loving arms around you. When it seems like you are whirling out of control, ready to hit the rocks of hopelessness and helpless situations, it is then that the Lord, strong and mighty in battle, sustains you.
It is here that you learn God's absolute strength as He leads you to new heights and develops within you His purpose and plan for your life!
WE SERVE AN AWESOME GOD!
Philippians 2:13: "For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Hold on child of God, your promise is on the way! So many are in a desperate situation and need to know there is a cross that bleeds and a King that redeems. When you open your spirit wide and allow the Holy Ghost to impart to you the truths of this message, you will receive a greater picture of the:
Plan of God for your life; Purpose of His dealings with you; and the Power of His unfailing love.
