little slice of heaven.. going to Hillsong Live this weekend and worshipping Jesus with an auditorium packed full of people
but in particular getting to experience it with these AWESOME people.. some new friends, some old friends.. love love the beautiful body of Christ and worshipping together…
We had the AWESOME opportunity to go to Elevation church while there. I had heard a ton about it– and it did not disappoint. From the amazing greeters, to incredible worship.. but most of all to the SERMON. It was a direct word from the Lord to me. .. well and I bet everyone else in there.. but God really spoke to me.. and I thought I would let you in on it..
Pastor Steven preached a message based on his new book GREATer. I HIGHLY recommend it! He preached from His chapter on Digging ditches.. from the passage in 2 Kings 3:9. Basically to sum up this passage the King of Israel approaches Elisha.. He’s in a rough spot. There is no water.. and the livestock and the army need WATER! So Elisha does something in verse 15.. He calls a harpist to play and then the hand of the Lord comes and He prophecies. You need to go to www.elevationchurch.org when they put the sermon up called digging ditches to hear Pastors stephens talk about how much a different background music makes.. hahha it is hilarious!
Anyways.. Verse 16 gets me. I’m going to give it to you in the message paraphrase..
16-19 He then said, “God’s word: Dig ditches all over this valley. Here’s what will happen—you won’t hear the wind, you won’t see the rain, but this valley is going to fill up with water and your army and your animals will drink their fill. This is easy for God to do; he will also hand over Moab to you. You will ravage the country: Knock out its fortifications, level the key villages, clear-cut the orchards, clog the springs, and litter the cultivated fields with stones.”
Dig ditches all over this valley.
It doesn’t matter if you are thirsty and afraid you cannot go on.
It doesn’t matter if all the circumstances look completely BLEAK and hopeless
It doesn’t matter that you may have even forgotten in this moment what the rain looks like
DIG YOU some ditches in this valley–
This valley will fill up with water!
Ditch digging is hard work… sometimes you may even forget why you are digging.. you may want to give up.. give in.. give back the digger thingie (hahah. i had a really odd moment right then when I could not think of the name for a digging apparatus.. hahaha.. it’s a shovel.. it finally came to me!! hahah)
but as Pastor Stephen said faith is not just asking God for rain, it is willingness to ditch a ditch in preparation for rain.. digging a LOT of ditches.. even if you don’t know it’s going to rain..
and in 2 Kings 3:18 I love it.. it says THIS is a LIGHT thing for the Lord. The message says this is easy for God to do. What is easy?
It’s easy for God to bring the rain we need.. maybe not in the time we think we need it. Maybe not in the way we think we need it.. but God can do Ephesians 3:20 more then we can ever ask or imagine..
So I want to get my shovel.. dig some spiritual ditches and watch what God does with the rain…
One last thing about that.
Today I walked out of my house.. I must admit I was very very excited because it was pouring rain. It just seemed fitting to me.
and guess what..
I walked out and I saw a man in my little parking lot WASHING his car.
I have to admit my 1st thought– WHAT is He doing.. that crazy man. Why in the world is He washing His car in the RAIN? I mean I’m not genius about things. I never wash my car. Toby the Taurus would not even know what to do if I did. He would probably have a heart attack and his motor quit working.
But I know people get mad when they wash their car and it rains.
So why was this man washing His car in the rain?
(This is not my neighbor I found this picture on google images)
Then I thought about it.
There is no outside water spickets in my little apartment complex area.
and if that man lives in my apartment complex place.. I can guess He may be on um.. how can I say it.. a budget..
because let’s be honest
you don’t necessarily live in a place with shag carpet and avocado appliances if you are rolling in the dough.. haha
so maybe he didn’t want to pay the big bucks to go through a car wash.. (hahah. that seems like big bucks to me right now!)
So he thought.. it’s raining.. pouring actually
so why don’t I USE THE RAIN!
See that’s what I want to do.
I don’t want to just stop at digging ditches and waiting for the rain
When God brings the rain sometimes I think we move on to fast.. we forget we were looking for it.. forget how desperate we were for it..
forget how much we needed God to do it..
or we get scared and we run from it
we don’t like the feeling of WET.. we don’t want to ‘mess up our hair”, or look rain soaked and silly–
so we go back inside where we were warm and comfortable.. maybe we are still watching the rain
but we are not IN IT!
so I want to dig me some spiritual ditches: for me that means.. continuing to work hard to be apart of what God is doing as I start coming alive ministries. It means writing a book even when it’s scary, I have no idea what I am doing, am scared, don’t feel ENOUGH.. it means getting down and dirty and working hard
I want to see the rain
And when the rain of God’s presence, His provision, His power comes
I don’t want to go back inside my shag carpeted avocado colored appliance house and hide because it’s comfortable.
I want to USE THE RAIN!!!!
Jenn–I loved the voice of your excitement in this post. 'Dig some ditches to get ready for the rain.' What a great parallel. I think I'll go look up that story of Elisha…
awesome post.
I loved your comment also. I am a minister and preach for the Association of Christian Truckers in Brownstown, Illinois. I preach this same sermon on "Digging your Ditches" and how we ministers have the same minds in Christ Jesus to teach and preach practically the same words. Awesome post. Godspeed and many blessings upon your ministry, Rev Franklin and Carol Miller
I loved your comment also. I am a minister and preach for the Association of Christian Truckers in Brownstown, Illinois. I preach this same sermon on "Digging your Ditches" and how we ministers have the same minds in Christ Jesus to be able to teach and preach practically the same words. Awesome post. Godspeed and many blessings upon your ministry, Rev Franklin and Carol Miller
Such a great article. I love how you used Pastor Steven's message, then went further with it. Don't stop digging ditched because the rain has not come yet. Keep digging, and God will fill them when he is ready.