The Key To Becoming Strong And Stable | Steven Furtick

Comparison will leave you discouraged and distracted. But when you change your frame of reference, you can become grateful quickly. This is an excerpt from “But Now Be Strong.” To watch the full message from ‪@elevationchurch‬, click here: https://youtube.com/live/WgrTJj9Emxc #faith #peace #hope #stevenfurtick #elevationchurch #disappointment #perspective #discouragement #distraction #strength #faith Chapters: 0:00 – Change Your Frame Of Reference 3:50 – When Disappointment Leaves You Discouraged 5:40 – Making Peace With Your Present 7:56 – But Now Be Strong 10:27 – Before The Walls Fall Scripture References: 2 Corinthians 3, verses 17-18

You keep comparing your foundation with other
people’s finishes, so you are distracted,

and you are discouraged, but if you change your
frame of reference…I mean, really, really change

your frame of reference… Remember how Dad used
to talk about heads of hair? He was a barber.

We’d be going out to Ryan’s… Did
y’all ever go to nice restaurants?

Or where they had the yeast rolls…Quincy’s. When
we would be eating, he would be doing calculation,

how many heads of hair he’d have to cut to
pay for the meal. Heads of hair. Then, today,

God will do a little something for you. God
will bless you a little bit and all of that.

I guess, compared to some people, I don’t
have a lot, but compared to some people,

I have so much, yet either one is a death trap.
When I think about my dad who had to drop out

of school when he was still in middle school
to help with the family expenses, and I look

at what God did through me (or for me, really;
it wasn’t even me) and the foundation he laid…

I can get so grateful so quickly, and stuff
stops being such a big deal when I reframe…

That’s the word: reframe. It’s your frame
of reference that makes you praise God. It’s

your frame of reference that makes you
have a pity party. Same foundation,

different frame. Honestly, some people probably,
if they had all of the things God gave me, would

do much better with it. You know what I’m saying?
Some people who you look at and are jealous of…

The stuff they are hiding from you, the expense
of what you envy, the people you think you want to

trade lives with… Some of them would give anything
to have what you take for granted. Graham asked me

the other day, “Would you trade [this and that]
to be Kanye?” I don’t want to be Kanye. I said,

“So, I get his creative brilliance and all that,
but I don’t get to be your dad? No. Bad trade.”

Deal is off, Devil. I’m going to be me. I’m going
to dance over this foundation that God gave me,

and I’m going to work on it, and
I’m going to get better at it.

I’m going to read The 7 Habits of Highly
Effective People and Proverbs and Philippians,

and I’m going to do it, but I’m not going
to wish I was you, because wishing won’t

work. Neither will worrying. You’ve been
so disappointed you’ve become distracted,

discouraged, and comparing the empty rows
in the arena… What in the world has the

Devil gotten you focused on that is so bad you
can’t just simply look around for a moment? So,

I’m working on it. It’s hard for me. For me,
I’m more of a tears than a trumpet person.

I’m more of a “What’s wrong” than “What’s
right” person. Glass half empty. Didn’t I

tell you last week? I’m not a glass half empty
or glass half full; I’m a “Who spilled the

water so I can…?” But I’m working on it.
I’m working on what God gave me. Isn’t it

crazy? Their enemies opposed the rebuilding
to the temple, but they couldn’t stop them,

yet what their enemies couldn’t do, they
could do to themselves. For 16 years the

foundation sat there until the word of
the Lord came through Haggai and said,

“What God is going to do next will
be better than what he did before.”

Better will not be found in going backward.
Second Corinthians 3:17-18 says, “Now…”

There’s that word again: now. So, they wrote
the book Making Peace with Your Past. I wonder,

does somebody need to write a book called
“Making Peace with Your Present,” with how

it really is? The idolatry of tomorrow and the
lie of yesterday. “Now the Lord is the Spirit,

and where the Spirit of the Lord [was]…”

Wrong answer, Furtick. “…where the Spirit
of the Lord [will be]…” Pay attention,

class. “…where the Spirit of the Lord is, there
is freedom.” But now be strong. “And we all,

who with unveiled faces…” That’s the old veil they
had to wear to look at the glory. Moses would come

down wearing a veil so they couldn’t see his
face, but they don’t need that anymore. Now

we contemplate not the old glory, not the former
glory…the Lord’s glory. We are being transformed

into his image. The hard part is God gives you
an image of himself. That’s who you’re becoming.

But the Enemy gives you a different image:
worst-case scenarios, past mistakes,

other people’s lives. The Bible says,
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is freedom.” It is the freedom to
become the version of me that God sees.

It is the freedom to build the life with the
resources he gave me that he called me to build.

We are being transformed into his image. So,
when I say our word as we end the year is better,

I’m not saying that because you’re going to get
a better spouse or a better house. I’m saying

that he is transforming you, the better image,
with ever-increasing glory. And watch where it

comes from. It comes from the Lord. It
comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

The trumpet… Did you get a trumpet? I don’t
know, LJ. That doesn’t sound too much like

a trumpet yet. Oh, you know what? We
don’t need it. They have one. If you

believe the word that came through Haggai,
I want you to give God 60 seconds of glory!

But now be strong! Yesterday is over, but now
be strong. Lift your hands. Come on, open it

up! Riverwalk, open; eFam, open. Open, open, open!
Come on, open your mouth! But now be strong. Not

one day in the future when you get stable, but
now be strong. Does it not look like nothing? But

now be strong. The Spirit of the Lord is here. But
now be strong. “I will grant peace in this place.”

When Joshua got ready to fight the battle,

he was looking at walls. God told him something
very strange. He said, “Before the walls fall,

blow a trumpet.” That’s the exact opposite
of logic, but when you have faith, when you

have Holy Ghost, ever-increasing glory,
“The Spirit of the Lord is here” faith…

When you have that Haggai word of
the Lord, “The glory is coming…”

When you have that kind of faith, you announce
to the Enemy, “I am strong in the Lord and in

the power of his might,” and get back to work.
For 16 years you’re going to stand there and

cry over something that’s never coming back. Be
strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

We give you glory, Lord. Some people will look
at this sermon, and they’ll laugh at it. “Oh,

they look so stupid shouting like that.” Well,
God, I’d rather look stupid shouting than be

depressed crying. So I give you my shout, my
hallelujah. I give you glory! We’re not shouting

over the finished product; we’re shouting over
the foundation. The deeper you dig, the higher

you build, God, so thank you for everything
you’ve dug out. Thank you for everything you’ve

cleared away. Thank you even for the tears,
because the tears taught us how to praise you.

I pray for every man and woman, boy and girl
who heard this word today. Not just that the

word would come through the microphone, but that
it would get into their temple. And the glory of

this present house…the one I’m looking at
right now, the job you gave me right now,

the place you put me right now, the
challenge you gave me right now,

the season you gave me right now…would
be greater, above anything I could ask,

beyond anything I could imagine. We receive
this word right now. In Jesus’ name, amen.