Nothing Into Something

Exodus 31:1-6

Context - Moses is having an encounter with the Lord on Mount Sanai. Told him to go back to Egypt to free His people.

Reluctant obedience is still obedience.

He delivers the people and takes them on a journey through the wilderness.

Not an easy journey.

The Lord lays out intricate details for him to build a tabernacle and what it's supposed to look like.

God is so intentional about building this dwelling place.

• He gives him resources and template to build it.

When times change, it can change the way you think about your anointing.

Now is not a time for you to change or forget what God has given you.

II Timothy 1:6

Therefore I remind you to stir up the gift of God which is in you through the laying on of my hands.

stir = to rekindle a fire that already exists

Allow the gift of God to be released regardless of the circumstances.

In the midst of the fire, find a way to keep your fire alive.

Remember what God placed inside you - sometimes we go through seasons where we forget.

It's still inside of you.

Paul tells Timothy to stir up his gift.

II Timothy 1:7

For God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

God has given you power to step into your identity.

• If you allow fear to keep you silent, cannot step into the power.

Given the ability to function in power and love; to show up encouraged.

Love balances your power with compassion, wisdom and strategy.

Don't be afraid, just tap into what God gave you.

• It requires a sound, steady mind that allows you strategy and wisdom.

The context does not change the call.

Fear itself is not a sin - it was originally used to help us understand dangers of our life.

• Was never meant to control us.

Fear went from being an emotion to becoming a spirit.

Fear was meant to keep us alive, never meant to keep us from living.

When you're led by the spirit of fear, you make decisions to protect what God already covered.

Don't let fear become your God.

• It sounds like safety but it's really control.

Genesis 12:3

I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you.

All Jesus did was stay focused on His mission.

• His fear was not being who God called Him to be.

• He was afraid of not being in the will of God.

Break covenant of being controlled by fear by doing the opposite of what fear is telling you.

Identify what you're truly afraid of.

• Fear has an objective to protect you from something God already has covered.

Acts 18:9-10

Now the Lord spoke to Paul in the night by a vision, "Do not be afraid, but speak and do not keep silent; for I am with you, and no one will attack you to hurt you; for I have many people in this city.

Context: Paul is afraid. He's experienced ridicule of being a follower of The Way. He was considering a time of silence when his ministry could take off.

• Because he doesn't want to experience what he experienced last time, he is afraid to try again.

• Paul was trying to control the outcome.

If you do it again this time, God will not only just be with you - He's sending backup.

You have the protection to do it with ease, power and grace.

Get out of your comfort zone and start connecting with people again.

They're waiting on you.

All Paul had to do is activate what God put inside of him.

Step into the fullness of who you need to be.

Do the opposite of what fear says and it will unlock God's strategy and properly position you.

• It should impact your sphere of influence.

Release your anointing.

Can't afford to be afraid, what He's put in you will activate what's in someone else.

God has a strategy for what He placed in us.

Obedience restores the trust that you lost.

• He wants to show you how to trust and surrender again.

Move in the direction of what He's called you to do.

Don't have to be limited by past mistakes.

Trust what God has placed inside of you.

Ezekiel 36:25-27

Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.

This spirit will have wholeness, peace, confidence, etc.

God is wiping the slate clean.

Tear down the walls that fear and rejection built.

Make sure that everything God put inside of you shows up in everything that you do.

Now is not the time to stay hidden.

There's deliverance connected to you.

Do one thing that's opposite of fear - let your faith lead.

God interrupted Moses because the life he built out of fear had an expiration date.

Living by fear makes you so comfortable that you don't see it's a trap - trapping you of your anointing.

Comfort is a trap.

Can't be fueled by fear. Must be fueled by His presence.

When you want to change your outcome, can't be fueled by the same thing that put you in a deficit.

Moses begins to change as a result of his relationship with God.

Recognize the wisdom of God.

• requires intimacy with Him

He stayed close enough to God to see that He made provision for every part of his journey.

Saying YES to God anyway.

Wisdom = Discernment

If you don't understand the wisdom of God, you cannot access the wisdom of God.

For where God is sending you and who you're going to have to become, you're going to need the wisdom of God.

Proverbs 3:19

The wisdom of God is what established the earth.

God's greatest attribute in this season is His wisdom.

In this text (Exodus), for the first time, the Lord fills someone with the spirit of God.

Gives them the skillset to build the tabernacle and turn nothing into something.

Built it so the Lord would have a place to dwell to get the glory at that time, in that season.

When God fills you with His spirit, it's all you need.

You have access to the wisdom of God.

• Study the scriptures - everything is connected.