Don't Let Limitations Limit Your Vision

Don't Let Limitations Limit Your Vision
by Rick Warren

"[Esther] won the king's favor and approval ... . So he set a royal crown on her head and made her queen." Esther 2:17 (NIV)
"Sometimes what looks like a disaster in your life is part of a much bigger plan. But you will never fulfill your destiny if you are having a pity party. "

God will not only use your gifts to fulfill your destiny, he'll also use your limitations.

Let's look at Esther again. She had several big limitations that made her perfect for the role God wanted her to fulfill. She was an orphan adopted by Mordecai; she was a minority, a Jew living in a Persian country; and she was a single woman. A single woman in a male-dominated society had zero rights.

God used all of these things, along with the gifts of her beauty, brains, and personality, to fulfill her destiny. Think about it ... if she had been a married man, she wouldn't have become queen. And if she hadn't been a minority, she wouldn't have cared about the Jews and what was going to happen to them.

Sometimes what looks like a disaster in your life is part of a much bigger plan. But you will never fulfill your destiny if you are having a pity party.

A lot of people live their lives in resentment, always looking at people and saying, "Well it must be nice to be them." If you have that attitude you will never fulfill your destiny. We have to realize that the unpleasant obstacles in our life are often God-ordained opportunities to make a difference.

It's hard to see that when you're in pain. Look at Job. He was the wealthiest man in the world and then God allowed everything to be taken from him - his family, his wealth, his health.
Then, when Job starting asking God why, he was silent. Job said, "I do not see him in the north, for he is hidden. I turn to the south, but I cannot find him. But he knows where I am going ... Hi mind concerning me remains unchanged ... Whatever he wants to do, he does. So he will do for me all he has planned. He controls my destiny" (Job 23:9-10, 13-14 NLT).

We might be in a situation right now where everything is going wrong and you can't figure it out. But God knows. Nothing in your life is accidental. The pleasures and pains, the opportunities and obstacles, God can use it all. There is nothing God cannot use for good in your life if you'll give it to him.

Listen to God, not Your Doubts

It was by faith that Noah built a large boat to save his family from the flood. He obeyed God, who warned him about things that had never happened before. Hebrews 11:7a (NLT)

I don't see what God's going to do in my life over the next ten years, but I'm certain he is at work. I'm trusting, I'm hopeful and I have faith in what God will do.



"Jesus, I want to listen to you, not the voices of doubt. I know that in the days ahead there will be people who will try to discourage me, but I want to listen to what you say just like Noah did. I want to do exactly what you tell me to do and I want to refuse to give up just because I feel like giving up. I want to hold onto the dream that you give me."

Raine Growth Journal: Reasons for Waiting - Lesson 3

Raine Growth Journal: Reasons for Waiting - Lesson 2

Now let’s look at our 3rd teacher - Peter.
Peter is going to teach us how God uses the ingredients of the wait to produce a miracle.

3. God uses the INGREDIENTS of the wait to produce a miracle.

God is going to use the ingredients of the wait as the recipe of a miracle. God used the ingredients of the long route Israelites took before entering the promised lands. He uses our obedience, patience, a changed heart, the tears we shed, and the crying out to God to create a miracle. He never wastes our hurts and waiting.

“On the very night when Herod was about to bring him forward, Peter was sleeping between two soldiers, bound with two chains, and guards in front of the door were watching over the prison. And behold, an angel of the Lord suddenly appeared and a light shone in the cell; and he struck Peter's side and woke him up, saying, ‘Get up quickly’ And his chains fell off his hands. And the angel said to him, ‘Gird yourself and put on your sandals.’ And he did so. And he said to him, ‘Wrap your cloak around you and follow me’.” (Acts 12:6-8)

So we can see that the angel asked Peter to do the following, and Peter followed all of them

Get up quickly

Gird yourself

Put on your sandals
Wrap your cloak
Follow me

When we have heard about testimonies of miracles such as the blind can see, the sick ones get healed, we might think that miracles happened instantly. On the contrary, most of the miracles actually did not happen immediately. Miracles happen gradually and are in process like Peter’s situation. Peter didn’t know it was a miracle in motion while he was following the angel. Peter could have said no when the angel instructed him. If he had said no, the miracle wouldn’t have happened. But he obeyed God, and his obedience to the angel was used as part of the ingredients for the miracle of being rescued.

APPLICATION

We might be in the middle of a miracle now and we don’t even know.

If you are waiting now, sitting in a situation that is like a prison, remember that there is a reason for the wait. God might be refining you through your devotions, or any other areas in your heart. You might still have the tendencies to grumble, lose focus, quit or settle for less. But God is putting you in the wait to resolve these tendencies.

God is strengthening and refining my heart. He will take all these ingredients of the wait to create a miracle for me and to prepare me for the wonderful future He had designed for me. i know He never wastes any wait.

Waiting is not easy, but there is a reason – it is to strengthen and refine my hearts. I get upset sometimes while waiting, but God says dont be - He will refine me. He is not done with me.

I will stay faithful in Him and follow Him, there is a reason for the wait.

Reasons for Waiting - Lesson 2

http://raine-growthjournal.blogspot.com/2010/10/reasons-for-waiting.html
The wait has its OWN assignment

Our 2nd teacher - Naaman the Leper.
He was the captain of the army in Aram. Aram was allied with Israel at that time.
Naaman had leprosy and couldn’t find any way to be healed. His wife had an Israelite servant and this servant suggested that he see Elisha, a prophet of the Israelites, for healing. So Naaman took ten talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold as gifts to see Elisha for healing.
Elisha asked Naaman to dip himself seven times in the Jordan River and he would then be healed. Naaman became furious because he wanted Elisha to heal him instantly instead. But the servants who went with Naaman asked Naaman if he would have climbed the mountain if Elisha said that was the way to be healed. And Naaman said yes. So the servants showed Naaman that dipping seven times in the Jordan River was a lot easier, and convinced him to follow Elisha’s instruction. So Naaman agreed and went to Jordan and dipped himself for seven “boring” times. And something must have happened during the wait while Naaman was dipping himself in the Jordan River seven times.

2. God uses the wait to REFINE our hearts.

“Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, ‘Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean.” (2 Kin. 5:10)

Naaman might still have been grumbling when he dipped himself in the river the first and second times. But as he dipped himself further and got closer to the seventh time, his heart was being refined and humbled, and began to feel sorry for his earlier grumbling.
How many times have you experienced God putting you aside to wait? You might first grumble, but God will speak to you. Then your heart changes and you will just want to serve God regardless.

The scripture also said, “So he went down and dipped himself seven times in the Jordan … and his flesh was restored like the flesh of a little child and he was clean.” (2 Kin. 5:14)
Naaman was healed after his heart had been refined. There are times in our life that seem so boring, and you get angry and cry out to God. But God will refine your hearts and you will learn to be still with the wait. You will be fine even if a raise has not come yet, a promotion at work has not happened, or a resolution has not occurred. Healing starts while your hearts are being refined like Naaman.

The heart change often comes first - then the healing begins.

Reasons for Waiting

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40:31)

Reasons for waiting. I hate to wait?

People have said that we are the microwave generation, which means that we don’t wait; we just get what we want instantly. For example:

• when you are hungry, you put your food in the microwave oven and it will be warm in a minute.
• We go to the drive-through to order food instead of going inside.
• We can download songs and music from iTunes and it will be ready to play in seconds so that we don’t even need to go to the store nowadays.
• When we drive, we also watch see which lane has fewer cars and switch to that lane so as to get to our destinations faster!

“But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Is. 40:31)
Maybe God has a reason for us to wait and there is an assignment attached to the waiting that we need to do. Waiting is not a waste of time. If we don’t understand this, we will end up grumbling and being angry during our wait, and fail the assignment God has given us to do while we wait.

3 teachers from the Bible : Moses, Naaman the Leper, and Peter.

we learn from them the lessons and the reasons for waiting.

1st teacher - Moses.

Moses and the Israelites left Egypt and then waited 40 years in the wilderness to get into the Promised Land. The Israelites grumbled constantly during the wait. God took them out of Egypt instantly but made them wait for 40 years before entering the Promised Land. There was a reason. God was doing something in their hearts. Instead of taking them through the shortest route, God led them through the longest route because God used the wait to strengthen their hearts!

God uses the wait to STRENGTHEN our hearts.

We might be between jobs now or being put on hold in a relationship :( We might be waiting for something now and it seems like the waiting time is a waste, but it is not a waste because there is a reason to wait because God is using that wait to strengthen our hearts now.

As the Bible said, “When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them on the road through the Philistine country, even though that was shorter. For God said, ‘If they face war, they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” (Ex. 13:17) God took them through the longer route instead because their hearts were not ready. There would be tests like wars thrust upon the Israelites in the future and they would not be ready if they had taken the shortest route to reach the Promised Land. Therefore, God used the wait to strengthen them so that they would be ready for wars or any other future trials.

During the time of waiting, there are some tendencies that will surface. The first one is grumbling. We tend to grumble about our boss at work, grumble about us not being recognized at work, or not having a raise in our salary. And the second tendency is losing focus. We lose focus of us being Christian after the grumbling; then we forget about why God put us in the situation and forget to be God’s salt and light. The third tendency is to quit. We would just quit the situation because we are tired of waiting and our hearts wither. And the last is settling for less, and missing out on the wonderfulness God has for us in our future. But that is also why God put us into waiting periods - to resolve these tendencies that we have in our hearts.

We usually see the wait as a waste of time, and ask God to move things faster for us. But the waiting time is indeed not a waste as it has its own assignment from God! There is a reason to wait and it’s not an empty time. We have an assignment to do for God while waiting - to resolve our tendencies, and to build strengths and character in Him.

APPLICATION
God wants us to wait at times so that we are ready for the trials in our future. Without the wait, when the trials come, which could be unemployment, financial issues or sickness, our hearts will wither. That’s why God takes us through a time of waiting to strengthen our hearts.
Example: Running. Without training, my muscles would not have been strong enough to stand a real race, and I would not have developed the stamina and strength that I needed to run a race.

God put me to wait to give me strengths and character i need for my future. i will wait, and not do it my own way, for i will mess up what God has designed to be wonderful for me. i will plan and i will pray for guidance. but Thy will be done. i will not grumble or lose focus... i will not quit nor settle for less for i know God has the bestest of plan for me and my future

It is God's way or no way! He will give me strength and character for the wonderfulness He has prepared for me.
AMEN

Jesus changes water to wine

John 2: 1-11
Jesus Changes Water to Wine

This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory, and his disciples put their faith in him.

There was a wedding ceremony... and half way thru the wedding ceremony, the wine finished. So Jesus' mother told Jesus that the wine was finish...this being said, because his mother believed that Jesus can take care of the situation.

Jesus then ordered the servants to fill the jars with water from the stone water jars, the kind used by the Jews for ceremonial washing. (not even drinking water) then serve them to the master of the banquet!!!

Summary

1. As servant, we must trust our master, Jesus.
2. The servant knew it was only water (not even drinking water) but they did as Jesus told.

Application

1. if we pour water in the jar and serve...it will and definately be water
2. but if we put our water in the hands of Jesus Christ our Savior...He will at his time turn water into wine
3. today i had a heavy heart when i woke up...even when i was in the house of the Lord...i felt my heart very heavy. during the worship service every song sung touched me in so many ways...jz couldn keep my tears...
4. in You Lord i will trust... my every need you will supply.

Whatever plans I have in mind, Lord I surrender them to You. I will do the best I can but in the end, let Your will be done. Amen