Move your but! Yeah, I said it! No, I’m not talking about your gluteus maximus, I’m talking about where you place the but in the words you use. What do I mean?
Christians often say things like, “I know God is my healer, but this doctor’s report is really bad” or “I know God will meet all of my needs according to His riches in glory, but I can’t take this job God is calling me to take because it doesn’t pay enough.” When we proclaim the promise of God and then follow it with how bad the problems are, we are demonstrating what we really believe. What you and I believe is on the other side of our but! What’s the solution? We need to move our but!
A great example of this is found in 2 Chronicles 20. In this story Moab, Ammon, and the people of Mount Seir surrounded the nation of Judah. Judah was badly outnumbered and the situation looked hopeless. Then their King Jehoshaphat led them to seek the Lord and as they prayed Jehoshaphat said:
12 For we have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.”
I want you to notice that Jehoshaphat didn’t deny things were bad. Faith doesn’t deny the existence of a problem, it just denies the problem’s ability to determine our outcome. He talked about how bad things were and that Judah didn’t have power against their enemies, but then he said, “but our eyes upon You!”
Jehoshaphat put His focus on God in the midst of the problem and found out the will of the Lord. As he focused on the Lord, a prophetic word came forth that revealed God’s plan. God said Judah would be victorious because the battle belonged to the Lord. He then appointed those who would sing praise to the Lord in front of the army and they began to worship the Lord as they marched into battle. In the midst of their worship, Judah’s three enemies began to turn on one another and they destroyed each other. As Judah drew close to their enemies, they discovered they were all dead and they gathered three days of spoil!
What was the key to the victory? Where they put their but! They talked about the problem, but then they looked to the Lord and got His opinion on the matter. When they heard His word they believed and acted on it! Remember, what we believe is on the other side of our but! The key to living victoriously is magnifying God’s word above our problems! In order to do this we need to spend time in His word and prayer until His reality gets bigger on the inside of us than our problems!
I hope this article has encouraged you! God wants you to overcome any obstacle that is in your way! If you’d like to learn more about living victoriously in the midst of difficult situations, check out this message I taught at Grace Life Church.
