Stop Looking At Your Limitations Pastor Steven Furtick

And the first thing God told me to tell you

is view the victory.

He told him to open the window. Open the window.

You've been staring at your walls long enough.

Open the window.

You've been looking at your limitations long enough.

Open the window.

Open the window.

And after he had opened the window, he told him

to do something strange. He told him to shoot an

arrow in the direction of Aram. Aram was a loose

confederation of nations that would only assemble together to fight.

A common enemy.

You might know it better as Syria. You probably never

heard of King Hazael, but he would be similar to Hitler.

The way he had oppressed God's people, the way he had.

Decimated the fighting forces of Israel, he seemed unbeatable. And

the man of God tells the newly minted king, open

the window, the one that faces your enemy and get

your bow and get your arrow.

And shoot your arrow over Aram.

This is important because the battle hasn't even begun yet,

but the prophet wants the king to see the victory

before the fight starts. This is why I love being

a Christian, because I don't fight for victory.

I fight from victory. I need you to.

See this here, the arrow of victory over Aram before

you fight the battle. Your next battle might be tough,

so you got to get your victories really embedded in

your spirit to give you the strength.

And the courage to fight.

But Elisha was not telling the king to look back

on a battle.

He was telling him to.

Look forward to a battle as if it had already

been won.

View your victory.

You got to see it before you can seize it.

You've got to see it before you can seize it.

And to see it before you can seize it, you've

got to see it before you see it.

That sounded kind of confusing, didn't it?

All right. Hebrews 11 says that faith is the substance

of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.

So close your eyes real quick. Will you do this?

I promise nobody's going to take your purse. This is

a safe place. We've got great security. Close your eyes.

And I know that this concept has been abused and

people use it for all kinds of purposes, but I

want you to visualize. Visualize your victory this year. I

want you to see yourself according to what God has

spoken over your life. I want you to see yourself

healed See your heart whole. See yourself passionate. See yourself

fulfilling your purpose. See yourself powerful and mighty in God.

See yourself pulling down strongholds. See yourself free from pornography,

free from drugs, free from alcohol. See yourself loving. See

yourself kind. See your marriage in a different light. You've

got to see it before you see it. You have

to see it before you see it. We should understand

as Christians how.

To see the unseen.

We should understand more than anybody the hope of an

empty grave. Sometimes you have to see resurrection while you're

still hanging on a cross. Sometimes you got to see

liberty while you're still in bondage. Sometimes you got to.

See joy while you're still weeping over the.

Dying body of Elisha.

My faith is the substance of things hoped for and

the evidence of things not seen. I see an arrow

flying over Aram. I am more than a conqueror. through

him who loved me. Why don't you take 17 seconds

and give God a pre-praise for every victory he's going

to bring to pass.

In your life this year by his word.

This is called a preview praise. This is when you

see yourself in the future stronger than you've ever been,

wiser than you've ever been, and you rejoice and advance

like it's already done.

I got a preview. I win.

I see an arrow flying over Aram. Everybody's got an Aram.

Everybody's got something oppressing you. State of mind, situation in life,

emotional dysfunction. I could spend three minutes with you and

guess your era. I've been pastoring people a long time.

I know I look 23, but I got experience.

I met crazy people.

Rich crazy people, skinny crazy people, poor crazy people, fat

crazy people, black crazy people, white crazy people, Latino crazy people.

I know crazy when I.

See it, and I'm looking at 27,000 crazies in the

church today.

Everybody has an arrow. Why are you cheering about that?

It's awkward. Cheering because you're crazy.

It's that thing. Watch this.

View the victory, but focus the fight. He told him

which window to open, which signified which battle he.

Needed to fight. And a lot of us aren't.

Winning anywhere because we're trying to win everywhere. Y'all don't

remember this scene, but Rocky told Paulie, he said, I

see three of them out there. He was fighting Drago

in Russia on Christmas Day.

You need to know your history. And Paulie told him, right?

I think it's a word for somebody. He said, hit

the one in the middle. I got it coming from

the north and the south and the east and the west.

I don't know where to fight first.

Any IT department will tell you that you can't do

any work if you've got too many windows open.

I'm going to help you this year. Open one window

at a time.

View your victory, but clarify the conflict.

God, here's a prayer to pray. Pray this prayer. God,

show me where to shoot.

See, because action without aim leads to exhaustion. And a

lot of people go into a new year not with

a sense of apathy, but with a sense of activity

that is aimless, and they are out of arrows before

February starts.

17 resolutions. Can't keep one. Too many windows. I could

preach on the power of priority.

It's not just that the prophet showed him the victory.

He showed him which one. needed to be next and

you know God wants to speak to you if you

will get with him the.

King went down to the prophet and the prophet pointed

not only at the victory the arrow flying over Aram

everybody in here has an Aram and everyone has an

arrow are you more focused on your Aram or your arrow.

A lot of us get.

So focused on the Aram that we're facing that we lose.

Sight of the arrow of victory.

We become discouraged in the fight because we have no focus.

Watch the arrow.

Because if you look at Aram, you'll always be intimidated.

If you look at how big the enemy is, you

will always lose strength, heart, and courage.

But if you watch the arrow.

If you'll look for the activity of God, he will

show you where to shoot. He will show you what

to work on. And you can't win everywhere at once.

I've had to learn this the hard way because I

can be a very arrogant person. I can think I

can handle stuff I can't handle and do more than

I can do.

Until I collapse. It was in a ministerial meltdown that.

Pastor Craig taught me the most valuable lesson he ever

taught me, and he's taught me a lot. He said,

you've spent your whole life trying to figure out how

to win. Now you need to decide.

Where to win.

Where does God want you to win? I'm asking you,

where Concord? Where Lake Norman? Where Blakeney? Where does God

want you to win? Because you can't win every battle

at once. Aram wasn't the only enemy. It was the

next one. I can't win everywhere at once. I'm going

to tell you something else. I can't please everybody. I've

got to let some people down in order to aim

my life in the direction of my destiny. I can't

please everybody. Can you imagine what kind of pastor I

would be if I tried to please everybody? How many

times would I have to change clothes during one sermon

if I wanted to please everybody? Can't please everybody. I'm

not aiming to. If I please God and Holly, I'm good.

Did you notice the footnote? I'm aiming at something. I'm

aiming at something. I'm aiming at something.

I'm not just I'm not just shooting every direction this year.

I'm aiming at something.

That means I have to be realistic, not only about

where I want to win, but where I might have

to lose. I don't want to hurt your feelings, but

you might not get around to all of it this year.

Okay?

You might lose some this year. You might not get

to eat organic food. and get out of debt this year.

You might have to save.

A little bit so you can afford to shop at

Whole Foods.

So get the money, then get the apples. You follow me?

You might not get to.

Take the promotion while your kids are young and be

at the house like you want to. You might need

to make a little less. Because the window of more

money will be there in 10 years, but the window

of childhood is closing.

You might have to make some decisions to win, to aim.

You might not get to take Tina to every dance competition.

You might have to teach her that we go to

church on the weekends.

He said, shoot out the east window. God, show me

the right.

Direction to aim my arrows this year.

I don't want to waste my time. I don't want

to waste my money. I don't want to waste my thoughts.

I don't want to waste my pain. I want to

apply myself in the direction of my destiny. Hey, thank

you for watching.

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Thanks again for watching.