Are you looking for answers right now?
Do you need a “win?”
Do you just want next level accomplishments?
Or do you just want some reward for all your hard work?
So how do you do that? How do you find the answers that you’re looking for?
I’ve been studying this a lot lately because the “grind it out” messages just don’t work for me. Like the “work harder, do more, rise and grind” kind of slang just doesn’t do it for me.
Plus, in times like this, when our lives have flip flopped and the entire world is asking BIG QUESTIONS, looking for REAL ANSWERS, I think it’s fair to find a new way to find answers.
So if like me, you’re not digging the whole “grind it out” way of doing things nor are you actually finding the answers you need, join me in a pattern interrupt. Cuz truth be told, if you keep doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep getting what you’ve always got. Right or right?
So today, I want to talk about how to find answers.
Welcome to A Lesson in Finding Your Answer.
Now, I start this with this idea that we don’t want just any ol’ answer.
We need sustainable answers.
We need Heavenly answers.
We need to be where God is, hearing straight from Him, especially in these times.
So these are not short term, make you feel good answers, these are legitimate, God move mountains, do something that I can’t kind of answers and truth be told, where ever God is, I want to be because where ever He is, “wins” are inevitable.
But lets really look at the process of finding an answer… the process of winning.
If you look at lives within the Bible… David, Moses, Joshua in the battle of Jericho, even Jesus’ life, they all have a common theme in winning… in finding their answer… Which we are going to look at today.
Today, I am going to focus in on the life and reign of King Asa, who I had never really known of or studied before. We find more about him in 2 Chronicles chapter 5, which is where I’ll be teaching from today. Turns out, this guy does amazing things for God in a rather crazy time – kind of like the one we are in now. The Bible is clear that in this king’s era, there was a lot of war and turmoil. It says in verse 5, “In those days it was not safe to travel about, for all the inhabitants of the land were in great turmoil.” Sound familiar, yo?! It goes onto say, “One nation was being crushed by another and one city by another, because God was troubling them with every kind of distress.”
Hold up… God was troubling them with every kind of distress?!
What the…
That doesn’t sound like God, does it?
Why? Why would God allow this?
Why is God allowing this?
If ya wanna talk about finding BIG ANSWERS, lets just start by asking BIG QUESTIONS:
Why in the world is God allowing this? COVID? 2020? All the crazy we see today?
Because distress creates dependency. And believe it or not, this is Step 1 in finding your answer: Distress creates dependency.
I’ll say it again, distress creates dependency.
But here’s the key, where are we putting our dependency?
Where are you running with your dependency?
Because in theory, it’s not to drive us anywhere else but to the feet of God. To the very God that holds this entire universe in the palm of his hands. It’s supposed to drive us back to him because if you’re like me, when times are good and you’ve got your plan in a perfect little pocket book of understanding, I don’t need God. I begin to do it all in my own power, understanding, and way. Then crazy hits and it reminds me of how far I’ve gotten from God’s presence.
NOTE: God didn’t go anywhere. I went somewhere.
Too often we think, “Where did God go?!” God doesn’t go anywhere. It’s us who moves. But that’s a lesson for a different day.
Ok so in this distress, where are you putting your dependency?
Too many of us are putting our dependency on the government, social security, 2019, even the news but you guys (and gals), this is NOT where we should be putting our dependency. Alcohol sales, up 300%. Home Depot paint department, up 300%. Guys and gals, we’re going to come up short. Scared. Worried. And fearful because this is not where we should be putting our trust, dependency, or faith.
Distress is designed to create dependency in God because when done right, it’ll cause me to turn to Him. I’ll go to Him, I’ll commit my life and my plans and all the things to Him. So this is Step 1 in finding your answer: Distress -> Dependency in God.
Then, in verse 2 it says, “The Lord is with you when you are with him. If you seek him, he will be found by you, but if you forsake him, he will forsake you.” Verse 4 says, “But in their distress they turned to the Lord, the God of Israel, and sought him, and he was found by them.” When you seek God, you will find him. He is not cruel. This is not a hide and go seek game. It’s simply us being able to take our attention off of all the things OUT THERE and to put our attention on Him, in here, within us. Step 2: Seek Him. First things first, when all else fails, and everywhere in between.
Hebrews 10:15-16 says, “This new plan I’m making with Israel isn’t going to be written on paper, isn’t going to be chiseled on stone; This time I’m writing out the plan in them, carving it on the lining of their hearts.”
Did you read that? Because when I first read this, I fell off my chair! And this is the whole premise of my book DREAM – I Dare You!!! The plan isn’t written on paper. It’s not on a strategic plan. It’s not a duplicate of 2019 or what someone else is doing. The answer is not “out there” or in news media or social media. The answer is IN YOU. IT’S ON THE VERY LINING OF YOUR HEART!!!
If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it 1,000,000 times… The answers don’t lie around us, they await within us!!
God has written out the plan, His plan, YOUR plan, the answers on the very fiber of your DNA, on the “lining of your heart.” This is clear. But how do you access this place within? How do you get out of your head? Off the air waves? Out of other people’s business and actually into your own?
It’s found in our next step. Step 3: Stop and listen! Here’s the key and the actual truth about “finding your answer”… that’s not what it’s about. It’s about HEARING YOUR ANSWER. Our answers are already on the inside of us IF we will stop long enough, unplug long enough to hear. Many of us admit we pray, we seek God, we throw up all over Him but then we bounce. But if we’re honest, are we leaving space to hear? John 10:27says, “My sheep hear my voice and they follow me.” Romans 10:17 says, “Faith comes from hearing.” Jeremiah 33:3 says, “call to me and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and hidden things that you have not known.” It’s not about finding… striving… looking… going, doing, pushing… it’s about positioning yourself to hear.
He’s going to speak.
My question is, will we listen?
Once he speaks, because again, he will, it becomes time for Step 4: Obey!
Great, you hear. It’s that still small voice, it’s those ideas plopped in your lap, it’s that word that comes to you, that prophecy, that nudge, your intuition to go for it. You hear but then are you doing it? Are you going for it? Or are you chalking it up as a bad idea? Are you letting your desire to be comfortable override God’s word? Are you tuning back into your fear, worry, and doubt and is that overshadowing what you heard to do? Truth be told, this might be the hardest part! Why? Because it’s gonna drive you out of your comfort zone. It’s going to cause you to do something that seems crazy, illogical, bigger than you. It’s going to draw you to do something new, different, abnormal. But check out Asa’s journey. In verse 8 it says, “…he took courage.” God spoke to him. Asa heard him and then, he took courage! He obeyed! Whatever comes up, whatever idea or spoken word comes to you, it’s going to take obedience. And in all my experience, it takes courage to obey!
Great and hidden things will blow your mind! It’s gonna blow away your comfortability, ego, and fears! It’s gonna force you to do something new. But here’s the real kicker… you must obey! You must go! You must TAKE COURAGE!!!
Then, Step 5: Do it with all your heart! In verse 12 it says, “They entered into a covenant to seek the Lord with all their hearts and soul.” This is conviction. This is resolve. This is your “can’t not,” as a I call it. You have to be ALL IN. No back up plan, no stage left, no excuses, no path of least resistant. Just the path God’s asked you to be on. Anyone can do it when it’s easy but will you do it when it’s hard? Cuz it’s gonna be hard but if you are resolved, if you are fully committed and you do it, whatever it is, with your whole heart, not half hearted, but fully, not perfection, but with all of you, you will find what you’re looking for!
Once you’re convicted, resolved, all in, it’s time for Step 6: Get loud!! Verse 14 says, “They took an oath to the Lord (resolve, whole hearted, commitment) with loud acclimation, with shouting and with trumpets and horns.” That means, you have to be louder than the fear. You have to be louder than the storm, louder than the mistakes, louder than your doubt. You have to let your faith rise up, your dreams rise up, your heart rise up and get loud!! Be louder than the injustice. Be louder than the odds.
Then, then… repeat after me, THEN you will reap a reward. Step 7: Reap your reward baby!!! Verse 15 ends with, “So the Lord gave them rest on every side.” It doesn’t say the Lord changed every circumstance or made it easier or even stopped the enemies, it said that He gave them rest. Verse 17 says, “Although he did not remove the high places from Israel, Asa’s heart was fully committed to the Lord all his life.”
You guys. This is the greatest reward we could ever ask for. God doesn’t just want you to win. He doesn’t want you to just have the answer. It’s not about the answer. It’s about your heart. Because whatever has your heart has your life. God wants your heart and when he has your heart, he has your life and when he has your life, you find your reward in ways you could’ve never hoped, thought, or even imagined.
It’s in these steps, in this place of testing that we are being developed. It’s in not just finding our answers but in hearing God’s voice, the voice in us and ultimately giving our hearts to Heavenly places because it’s in putting our hearts where it belong that we find ultimately everything… including our answers.
In summary, here are your steps to your answer:
Step 1 in finding your answer: Distress -> Dependency in God.
Step 2: Seek Him
Step 3: Stop and listen – hear!
Step 4: Obey
Step 5: Do it with all your heart!
Step 6: Get loud
Step 7: Reap your reward baby
I encourage you to make this about your heart. Not just finding your answer or hearing your answer but about getting your heart right.
Watch the entire weekly lesson HERE.
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