The Aha Moment

2nd Chronicles 20:12 “…we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

The narrow gate, the very entrance to the Kingdom of Heaven is in recognizing that we are poor and powerless apart from the Spirit of God and of Christ. “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 5:3) Yet we do not enter through this gate only once in our lives. We must enter through it many times. Often circumstances of our lives bring us back to this point when we realize that we’ve been trying to do something in our own strength instead of His. We must come to a point where we say, “I can’t do this!” Then the aha moment comes where God tells us that of course He knew all along that we could not. Then we must ask for help and He comes through in ways we couldn’t anticipate. Then we remember that all along, whatever we have done through His power and strength in us. Then we give Him glory and thanks.

Yet like King Jehoshaphat in the passage above, we must learn to give Him glory and thanks before the circumstances get better. When His Word reminds us to trust Him and give thanks “for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Ephesians 5:20b) We must do this before we’ve seen the answer to prayer. King Jehoshaphat, instead of sending his army, sends some worshippers forward to face Judah’s enemies. They sing “Give thanks to the LORD, for his steadfast love endures forever.” (2nd Chronicles 20:21b) As they do so in faith, the LORD sets an ambush against their enemies. He changes the circumstance so that Judah is victorious.

As we give thanks and sing praise to God, it even changes our brain chemistry. As the saying goes, sometimes He calms the storm, sometimes He calms the one in the storm. But God in his sovereignty brings us to these points where we realize our need for Him. Even His Son, when faced with the cross went to the garden and prayed fervently in faith. And because He was forsaken for us, we shall never be forsaken! So let’s sing praise and give thanks NOW while the difficulty is present and see what the LORD will do on our behalf.

We at Envision Mission could use your prayers for these things as we give thanks and look to the LORD together:

Healing for many of our friends from mental illness by whatever means the LORD wants to do so

So many of our friends are homeless and in need of housing or on the edge of homelessness

That workers would be raised up for the harvest who are willing to get into people’s lives and help them for the long term

Pastor Mitchell Senti