Elevation with Steven Furtick - Take The Lid Off A Little

Episode Date: August 3, 2020

You may not feel like you have enough, but God can do a lot with a little. In “Take The Lid Off A Little,” Pastor Steven Furtick turns to the story of the prophet Elijah during a time of famine to show us how God isn’t limited by “not enough.” When what you have feels insufficient, God may be getting ready to reveal just how sufficient He is.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, this is Stephen Ferdick. I'm the pastor of Elevation Church, and this is our podcast. I wanted to thank you for joining us today. Hope this inspires you. Hope it builds your faith. Hope it gives you perspective to see God is moving in your life.

Enjoy the message. Hey, Siri, are you ready for the word? Hey, Tiff, are you ready for the word? Hey, Joey, are you ready for the word? Hey, EFAM, are you ready for the word? Stay standing. Stand up, stay standing or stand up. Just make sure you're standing. I want to read to you from 1st King 17. There's something that the Lord was showing me today that I think is really going to speak to your situation.

Please take a moment and share. If you're just joining us, make sure to let us know in the chat where you're watching from. It was so cool last week that after the sermon was posted, everybody who watched the sermon went and said, Here's where I'm watching from, and they said, I'm here for it. And it was so cool to see all the places and And our team then gets to go through and they get to pray for you by name that God would speak to you. So put it in the chat. But also, don't just be blessed today. Be a blessing. Be a blessing.

What if you took a moment right now to share this experience with someone and it lifted them out of depression? What if you took a moment to share this with someone right now and it helped them to breathe deeply and not have a panic attack later this week? What if you shared this message with someone? someone right now, and God spoke a word that kept them from doing something stupid that was going to mess up their life. I'm telling you the Word of God is powerful, and you're going to see that in the text. But by faith, right now, share it. Hit the share button or text somebody.

You know how to do it, and you know who God puts on your heart. And let's move into the Word of God together. We've already had an awesome time of worship. We've already praised God. We've already been singing to Him. We spent this week serving, and now let's go to the Word and see what God will give us to sustain us for these crazy days we live in. First Kings chapter 17.

Now Elijah, the Tishbite from Tishby in Gilead, said to Ahab, as the Lord, the God of Israel lives whom I serve, there will be neither due nor reign in the next few years except at my word. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah, leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the Carrath ravine. East of the Jordan, you will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. We talked last week about unschedulable blessings. Unschedulable blessings. It's a word I made up.

It's a thing you can't put on your calendar, but God is going to come through for you. He's going to come through for you sometimes after you've given up. But this is an unusual way for God to provide for his servant. It's an unusual source. So he did what the Lord had told him, verse 5. He went to the Carith ravine east of the Jordan and stayed there. The ravens brought in bread and meat in the morning and bread and meat in the evening. and he drank from the brook.

Sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him. Go at once to Zarifath in the region of Sidon and stay there. I have directed a widow there to supply you with food. Now watch this. So he went to Zarath and when he came to the town gate, a widow was there gathering sticks. He called to her and asked, would you bring me a little water in a jar? Just a little water.

Just a little water. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Uh-oh. Hang on. Let's see if we could get that fixed. Little water. Isn't it weird?

Come on out. Tech support. Help me out real quick, because I know we can get this fixed. Isn't it weird? Come check this out. I'm broadcasting right now. Can you fix it? It's not weird.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, no, no. Yeah, see if we get fixed. You can't fix it? Don't think so. No? Fix it in the back and bring it back. Isn't it weird?

Look, look, we're broadcasting to the whole world. Well, I can't, you don't let me hang in. We're broadcasting to the whole world. Isn't it weird how something's so little? I mean, we're broadcasting all over the world. Isn't it weird how something so little can't can control something so big. Bring that back to me when it's done.

We'll see if we can fix it. He said, bring me a little water. How much water? A little. So let me have a drink. And as she was going to get it, he called, and bring me, please, a piece of bread. As surely as the Lord your God lives, she replies,

I don't have any bread. Only a handful of flour in a jar. and a little, how much? A little olive oil in a jug. A little flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. I am gathering a few sticks to take home and make a meal for myself and my son, that we may eat it and die. Now, here's the word of the Lord.

Elijah said to her, don't be afraid. Go home and do as you have said, but first make a small loaf of bread for me from what you have and bring it to me and then make something for yourself and your son. For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel says. The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord sends rain on the land. So she went away and did as Elijah had told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family. For the jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah.

A little olive oil in a jug. A little olive oil. Here's what the Lord sent me to tell you today. Take the lid off. A little. You ready? Yeah. Father, we stand under an open heaven thanking you for your blessings.

We thank you for rain in due season. We thank you that you speak what we need when we need it and when you speak. There's nothing the enemy can do to snatch what is sown. Our hearts are good soil. We are open to your word. We are open to the possibility that in this season you are leading us like never before into a place that you prepared for us before the world began. We give you praise for it in Jesus name.

Everybody who receives this word, clap your hands. Amen. You may be seated. Take the lid off a little. That's crazy, Jack. How a little thing, y'all be seated. How a little thing, something so little can affect something so big. I mean, this word, I just told you, is going all over the world and one little wire.

Warrs. We were in a church one time and the sound guy said, quit on hooking my wars. We had our little sound system. We were setting up and he said, quit messing with my wars, my wars. Isn't it weird? One little thing? And in the text I was reading, they're going to think we worked this out ahead of time, but we did it. Isn't it crazy? In the text we read, the Bible says it didn't rain for three years because of the word that came from Elijah's mouth. How can the word from one man's mouth control the weather? How can something so little affect something so big? Well, it happens all the time in your life. I mean, the littlest thing in your day can set you in a direction that you don't even realize until it is so depressing.

That's why I have to be so very careful. What, the first thing I look on my phone for when I get up in the morning. Because it doesn't take much. It doesn't take much. And I don't care who you follow on Instagram. They find a way into your feed. The people you unfollowed, they find a way back in. The algorithm will attack you.

Somebody said, the devil is a lorin lion. So is the Instagram algorithm. It is looking for someone to devour. That's why they call it a feed. I figured this out. He's looking to eat you alive. Something so little. It said that the word from Elijah's mouth controlled the weather system.

How could something so small, how could a wet market on the other side of the world, have you shut down and grounded from traveling? There's never been a better time for me to preach this message that one. to preach today. Because everybody has to agree in this moment, if you've never agreed before, that the littlest thing in your life or the littlest thing in someone else's life can affect you in a way. I'm telling you right now that the littlest things in your life right now, if you can receive this word from the Lord today, are controlling the things. And maybe we can help make this connection through studying Elijah a little bit, controlling the things that you have no control over.

And I'll do my best to break it down as we move. I've always read Romans 828 with a very specific categorization. Romans 828 is my favorite Bible verse because it gets me through anything. It says that all things work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose. How could I have quoted it for so long and only seen it through the lens of good things and bad things? I always read Romans 828 that all things, whether good or bad, work together for the good for those who are called according to God's purpose. Now I realize that Romans 828 doesn't just apply to good things and bad things.

things, it applies also to big things and little things. Turn the lights on and wake them up. I can't get any help out here. It said all things, turn the lights on and wake them up. Do something. Pull the lights up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's better. I need to see y'all sleeping. Y'all are sleeping on me. I'm about to clear out the whole room. It doesn't just mean good things and bad things. It means that the big things and the little things, and that's why you cannot despise the day of small beginnings. Because everything little leads to something big. That's how you got here. I'm going to give you all a minute for the YouTube delay. That's how you got. That's how everything you see got here. It started with somebody's thought. An impulse in the brain that you cannot

even see with the human eye. A virus has shut down the world. Show me a coronavirus. You You can't. Show me the effects of it. You can't get away from it. How can something so little affect something so big? How can something that happened to you when you were 12 still be haunting you when you're 42? How can something so little control something so big?

And that's the lens at which I was looking at the prophet Elijah's life. I was saying, he controlled the weather with his word. And I thought about how our words control the weather, how when we speak things, when we say things, when we say them not even out loud but to ourselves, it affects the weather of our heart. Yeah. How can a little thing like a thought lead you? you down the track. I mean, it's such a little thing. But little things lead the big things.

Little things lead the big things. So the prophet Elijah prophesied a drought. It's a wonderful story, and we could elaborate on it for days, but we just want to talk about this little instruction that God gave them in verse 2. Then the Word of the Lord came to Elijah, Leave here, turn eastward, and hide in the careth ravine east of the Jordan." That verse right there, it kind of sounds on the surface like God will tell you everything that you need to do in your life. But I want to show you something very interesting about how God spoke to Elijah. One time someone asked me, what do you mean when you say God spoke to me?

And he asked it very innocently. He said, I hear you preaching and say, God spoke to me. I'm not sure God ever spoke to me. What do you mean when you say God spoke to me? And the challenging thing about it was he was hearing that as a voice, but really I meant it as a thought. I don't experience God through my ears. I experience him through my thoughts.

And then I call it, God spoke to me, but I didn't hear a voice. And here's what's interesting about how God was leading Elijah, because you got to pay attention to the small things in the text. because the little things matter. It said, he told him, leave here, turn eastward, and hide into Carith ravine east of the Jordan. You will drink from the brook, and I have directed the ravens to supply you with food there. Whoa, can we stop for a minute and talk about how ridiculous? How's this going to work? We just read it, right? We just skip right past it. Yeah, yeah, yeah, go down there and the birds bring them the birds. Get ready.

for God to explode your box of how you think he's going to provide for you. We have all these limitations on ways that we think God can take care of us. We have all these limitations on ways that we think that God can take care of our family. We have all these limitations on ways that we think God can use us. We have all these limitations on ways that we think that God can order our life and ways that we think. But God said, get ready for me to take the lid off and start blowing. blessing you through birds. And not just birds, not just any kind of birds, but I'm going

to use ravens, unclean birds, dirty birds. Have you ever had God bless you through a dirty bird? I need you to put a dirty bird blessing in the chat. If you ever had God use something just ridiculous, didn't make sense, didn't see it coming, didn't even like it. God has used people I didn't even like it. to bless me before. Dirty birds. The ravens were dirty birds. God said, I'm going to use a dirty bird to feed you by the Carruth ravine. And he does this for a while. If I could tell you the whole story, I would, because Ahab now, he needs to see that God controls the rain, not bail. He needs to see that God controls the rain, not bail. He needs to know that that that

that God is in control, that God is not only in control of the big things in our life, but the small things in our life. Follow me. I promise you this is a powerful, profound word for those who can receive it. So he takes Elijah to a place where he feeds him what he needs in that season. You've been in a season lately where God hasn't been feeding you the same way he used to feed you. The word is so relevant right now because up until now you had a certain way of how you thought it had to be.

I had a certain way I thought church was supposed to be. I thought in order to have church, you had to let people in the building. But God took the lid off of that. Come on. God is trying to take the lid off of that just to show me that church is not just going to be contained to a physical location. And now I'm setting you up. is trying to show you the same thing in your life. You've had some people leave you because

God wanted to show you that you don't need them to make it. Let's clap. Y'all were clapping when I talked about closing the church. That was weird. You just left me. Because watch what the Bible says. It says that every day the birds brought him bread in the morning and bread and meat in the evening and he drank from the brook. But in verse 7, it says that sometime later the brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Let's talk about cause and effect. The brook dried up because there had been no rain in the land. Why had there been no rain in the land? Because Elijah spoke there will be no rain in the land. So now he is the victim of the consequence of his own obedience. It's cause and effect.

And every day he goes out to get some water from the brook, there's a little bit less. And every day he goes out to get water from the brook, it's a little bit less. And every day he goes out to get water from the brook, it's a little bit less. And you've got to be wondering right about now, when is God going to stop it from going down? Have you been wondering that lately? Like, when is God going to stop it from decreasing? And this is not a message for everybody. If you're living at a time of overflow, it's wonderful.

I'll see you next week. I'll preach next week. I'll live it in the overflow. But this message is about the little bit. Every time he came to the brook. This didn't happen all at once. It's just a little bit less, a little bit less, a little bit less, a little bit less until the point where one day he comes to the brook and there's nothing there. And he has to move to the next miracle.

So how does God move you to your next miracle? Let me ask you a question. It's a conversation now. Do you want God to lead you? How did God lead Elijah from the brook to the widow's house? How does God get us from where we are to where he's taking us? How does he get us from the good work he began to the good work he wants to finish? It may not be the way that you think, because the Bible says that God led Elijah.

to his next assignment through a limitation. I'll get my teaching stool. We often say things like where God guides, he provides, and he does. He'll put a dirty bird to feed you by a brook. He'll show you a secret stash that nobody else in the neighborhood even knows about. How many know I'm right about it? God will encourage you in ways that are specific to you. But just as sure as that is true, this is also true.

Sometimes God will lead you through what you lose. And this is the more painful thing to talk about, but I think it's very important. Is God trying to lead you by limitations? And is God trying to lead you just as much by the doors that he closes as the doors that he opens? If the brook had kept flowing miraculously, Elijah never would have been. have left that spot. If Elijah never would have left that spot, he never would have met that widow. If he never would have met that widow, that widow and her family would have died of starvation.

If he never would have gone to Zarathath, which was right in the heart of Bail territory, he never would have got to Mount Carmel where he called down fire and the whole nation repented. Isn't it crazy how a little thing can lead to a big thing? Isn't it weird? How something can go all over the world but start with one little connection? Isn't it crazy how God can use something in your life that you thought it was bad? But later you look back and say, no, it wasn't a bad thing. It was just a thing that led to a thing.

It's just a thing that leads to a thing. So all things work together for the good. So if the brook doesn't dry up, Elijah doesn't move on. If they didn't break your heart, you wouldn't have learned the lesson that you learned. If you didn't go through Goliath, you wouldn't have been ready to be a king. If you hadn't been thrown in a pit, you wouldn't have been positioned in Egypt to feed generations. You meant it for evil. But God used it for good.

Put it in the chat. Take the lid off. Take the lid off. We have all of these lids, or I could call it, all of these limitations on the ways that we think God can move. And if it feels good, we think it's God. And if it feels bad, we think it's the devil. But God is calling us to recategorize in this season of our life. I prove it to you.

came to Goliath and saw him as a meal ticket. The rest of the nation saw him as an enemy. The king said, if you kill Goliath, you never pay taxes again, and you can marry my hot daughter, the hot one. David said, what now? Let me do the math on this. Okay. How big is he? It doesn't matter. Watch this. Because a little thing. I'm waiting on him to catch up. You look like you know the power of a little thing. A little thing. Saul said, you're only a boy. You can't fight him.

He's nine feet tall. You think somebody as little as you can kill somebody as big as him? And David said, no, no, no. I only look little. See, the reason I look little is because I have to be hidden. I'm a secret weapon. A secret weapon can't be really. big. God had to sneak me to the battle line. And how did he get there?

How did he get there? Through bringing a lunch to his brothers. That's a little thing. What did he see when he got there? A nine-foot-tall giant. That's a big thing. Isn't it crazy how a little thing can lead to a big thing? How you coming through Monks Corner, South Carolina could lead to lead me to Christ? Isn't that crazy? That I went to North Greenville and met my wife because you came through Monk's Corner, because you signed up for the ministry and you? Obedious, little thing?

Take the lid off a little. Because I found out that what you call little might be the thing that God leads you to what is exceeding abundantly above or beyond what you could ask or imagine. So he gets there. Let's look at this a little deeper. want to keep going? Yes. Man, the Lord has been speaking to me.

It says that when he got there, he saw a widow who was working on her last meal. She was making the final arrangements for her and her son to eat. I think the reason the Lord led me to this text is because so many of us are worried about our families these days, on every level. I'm hearing it from people who have young children. I'm hearing it from people who have elderly parents. We're worried. It's hard for us right now to trust God with the things that we can't control. And as some of the parents here in Charlotte are getting ready to try to figure out, how am

I going to homeschool my kids another year when I barely got out of high school myself? And we're all in this thing together in a sense. The whole nation was going to go. going through a drop. But now notice Elijah was not led to somebody that was likely, and he was not led to somebody who was rich or wealthy. He was led to somebody that in the world's eyes was little. Be careful what you label little. When you label it little, it becomes a lid. Some of us have so compartmentalized how God works in. Some of us have even belittled ourselves. Now, you're going to see the woman coming to Elijah, and she needs a big miracle. How many would agree that for God to provide for you in a time of famine, that's a big

miracle? And I'm just going to take it one step further, if you don't mind being honest. How many of you need God in a big way in this season of your life, whether it's direction or comfort or energy or any of that? Raise your hand. I need God in a big way in this season of my life. So I was surprised when God led me to preach on little. in a pandemic. It felt obscene to preach about a little when some of us need a lot right now. And the prophet comes up to the woman and asks her for a little, everybody say little, say it in falsetto, little water. And as she was going to get it, he called Anna Piece of Bread. And that triggered her because she had so little.

When you feel limited, you operate in fear. This took me a while to realize because I thought people sometimes were being selfish. Beneath what appeared as selfish behavior was really that they were scared. It's easy to mistake scared for selfish. The woman sounds selfish on the surface because instead of giving hospitality to the man of God, she says, I don't have any bread, verse 12, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil. So watch this.

She says, I don't have any bread. I only have a little bit. And notice what the prophet tells her to do. He says, take the little that you have. If you'll make something out of what you have, God will make sure that you have enough. Okay, this is the word of the Lord. Take the lid off a little. A little bit of oil.

Take the lid off a little. Because you say it's a little. But the thing about God is, God likes little. He does. How did he send his son to the earth? As a what? You mean not as a superhero, but as a baby? Say it, God likes little.

Wait, Joy, this is your word. God likes little. Come on, God likes little. I'll prove it to you. I'll prove it to you. Who does God choose to start a nation with? One man. Y'all don't believe me.

Y'all don't believe me. God likes little. Okay. How about this? He wants to deliver the nation from Midianite oppression. Who does he come to? Gideon. Look it up in Judges chapter six in the Holy Bible.

In Judges chapter six, he comes to Gideon. And who is Gideon? The smallest in the least clan. Why? God likes little. Oh, no. I'm just, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just over here. God likes little.

I'll prove it to you. When Gideon got ready to fight, he had a big army. God took him from 22,000 to 10,000. Why did God do that? God likes little. Then God said something really crazy. You still got too much. You still will take credit.

If I do it with 10,000, you'll think it was you. So God had to take Gideon all the way down, get ready to shout to 300. This message is for somebody who has been reduced. You don't have what you used to have. You don't feel strong and sure. You used to know so much. Now you don't know as much. But God likes it when you come to him with a little bit.

It gives him something to fill. It gives him something to prove. It gives them something to work with. It gives them a canvas to paint on. God said, I want to get you down to the point. He must become greater, I must become less. Take your little. Get your little.

Get your little. I feel God on this. Get your little. Get your little praise and give it to God right now. Yeah, that's a little praise. That's a little praise. Exactly. Because some people right now, you can't give God a big praise.

Give them a little praise. Give him a little praise. Give him a little under your breath. Little, thank you, Jesus. Give him a little. Thank you, Jesus with the attitude. Because God likes little. Despise not the day of small beginnings, because I'm telling you what's going to happen. If you start getting grateful, if you start magnifying what God means to you, if you start giving God a little praise, watch out. It's about to snowball. It's about to get, come on and try it. Some of you have not praised God all week. So right now, give him a little praise in your little apartment, watching me preach on your

little iPhone. God likes little. Gives him something to expend, gives him something to grow, gets him something to get glory for it. Off a little. Come on, come on. Just a little. Just a little.

Just a little. Just a little. Take the lid off just a little. Come on. You don't have to run around the house or anything like that. Just a little. Just take the lid off a little. Just look up a little.

Just give God a little praise. Just lift your hands right here. Just the right here. Just lift your fingers. Lift your thumb. Lift your pinky. Give God a pinky praise. I promise you.

God likes little. God likes when you take your little bit and take the lid off and start pouring out praises in dry places. God said I'm going to visit you. But you got to take the lid off a little. Will you give them a little? You have to have a great bed. big faith? You don't have to, you know, we get so caught up on big things. God doesn't need you to have such a big faith. He said, if you have faith like a little seed, the little seed,

you see how high I'm with? No, no. No, no, no. He said, don't be afraid. Take the little that you have. I'm not saying it's not a little, but I'm saying take the lid off, a little. Take the lid off, a little. Take the lid off a little. Take the lid off a little. Why do we belittle what God gave us? Why do we do that? Why do we see ourselves as grasshoppers when God has given us a promised land called Canaan? You ever thought about the reason that the nation didn't go into Canaan was because they made them

themselves small. We're too little. We're too little. Okay. All right. I'll sit down. I'm going to tell you the story. I got in a fight with Holla yesterday. My fault wasn't a huge fight, but we don't even fight that much. I mean, it's been a minute. But she was trying to encourage me yesterday, and I couldn't receive it. That's the bottom line. You want to know the bottom line? This is what I had to go back and tell her an hour later. Because the Holy Spirit, you know how does the Holy Spirit will speak to you in that little voice? He's not real loud. Just a little voice. Told me, now, you know that she was trying to help you.

And you know that the reason that you really got angry is because you were really afraid. I'm going to tell you the story behind it. This will be my marriage therapy for the week. I've been writing for a few months. I've been working on a book. But I won't call it a book. I haven't called it a book. All I'll say is I'm writing, and I've been writing and revising and writing and revising.

It's been about five years since I've put a book out. The reason it's been five years since I put a book out is because something got in my head and said, you're not an author. And isn't it crazy how a little thought can get in your head? And then something little, little, little, and five years later, and I hadn't put a book out. Turning 40 this year got me thinking like, we were talking about this the other day. I felt some urgency.

And when we were creating songs for our last album, they just kept coming, they kept flowing, kept flowing, just right till the last minute. And I decided I was going to try to write a book this year. And yesterday, I took the book through its second revision, and with my finger shaking, I put the mouse over send on an email and sent it to the editor. And Holly was trying to tell me congratulations. I didn't want to hear it. Because if I acknowledge that it's a big deal, then it means that it could fail.

I shouldn't be telling you all this. I really don't deserve to know all this about my marriage and all this. This is ridiculous. And I got mad, angry, because really I was afraid. And in the process of analyzing why I was basically telling her, don't try to encourage me, she said, He said, congratulations on sending your book off. I said, it's not a book yet. It's just a document.

You see what I'm doing? Be littled it. Because the moment I call it a book, that means others are going to read it. If others read it, that means they can judge it. So as long as I keep it little, it's a fear move. It's just a little oil. she was trying to get me to do, and she was right. You hear that? You were. She said, at some point, you have got to start speaking what you want to see. She said, it's a whole chapter

in your book. Speak what you want to see. I've been doing the chapter I wrote. Because if I speak it that makes it real. But if I make it little, I can hide it. Now do you see why you put yourself down? Because if you ever come out and say, you know, God can do this. I'm walking on the water. Say the word, Jesus, and I'll come. But if I come, that means I can slip. No, it's more than a good word. This is power of God coming through right now. This is a great word. Because this word is helping you to see sometimes why you talk to yourself the way you talk to yourself. I only got a little oil. Take the lid off a little.

God likes little. God likes little so much that when he wanted Neiman to be healed of leprosy, he used a little servant girl in his house to send him to the prophet. God likes little. And I'm going to tell you something. If you take the lid off the little bit that you have, it won't be little for long. Baby praises grow into big groom, big just whopping praises. I dare you to say it by faith.

It won't be little long. It won't be little long. I see a cloud the size of a man's hand. I see a cloud. the size of a man's hand. Now, see, at first, Elijah heard the sound of rain, right? This is First King's Chapter 18. I moved on from Chapter 17.

I'm moving to Chapter 18. He said, I hear the sound of the abundance of rain, but I can't see it yet. I can't see it yet. And then when the servant went to look for it, he said, I see it now, but it's little. But Elijah knows God likes little. God likes little. God likes it when you're untrained. God likes it when you feel like you're the only one.

God likes it when you need him. God likes it when you're not arrogant. God likes it when you humble yourself under His mighty hand. Would you take the lid off a little? Just go look again and say, God, you know, I know I know how much strength right now, but you have given me some strength. God, I know I don't have every gift, but you have given me some gift. It's only little.

if you look at it next to something bigger. By the way, I found this out flying on airplanes. Everything looks little if you get up above it high enough. Everything. If you get up high enough above it, everything looks little. Some of the things that look so big to you today that you don't see how you're going to overcome them. When you get the altitude, when you can get to worship God, When you begin to trust him in this moment and take the lid off, come on put it in the chat,

take the lid off, take the lid off, take the lid off. If you get up high enough, that's what worship does. That's what coming to the Word of God does. It takes the lid off. And if you get up high enough, I promise you your problems are not going to look as big as they look right now. And I'm speaking by the Spirit of the Lord to somebody who is a bit. I mean you're about to run out of ideas to save your business. You're about to run out of ways to get through to your kid.

You're about to run out of patience, desire, passion. You're about to run out. Here's the miracle. It does not say that when the woman did what Elijah told her to do that she got more flour and more oil. It says that what she had didn't run out. So here's what God showed me. It'll always look little, but it will never run.

right now. As I close this message, I want to know, are you willing to take the lid off of your little? And stop putting limitations on what God can do through you right now. I know it looks little. I know the little bit that you have to offer seems so insignificant in the face of the challenge that you're up against. But God likes little. In fact, the scripture says that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that will be revealed. What God is going to do through your life in this season is going to lead to something that will outweigh everything you've been through to get through.

Stand on your feet in the room as I close. The Lord sent me here today to get your altitude up higher so that you can see things like he seized him. And what that woman had wasn't much, but it was enough. This is the tension that we live in. It's not much, but it's still enough. And if you can hold those two tensions, then you can live by truth and not by sight. Father, your word is powerful.

Your word controls the weather. And not only that, but your word commands birds to feed us in places along the way. We stand before you right now as a global community in the middle of a situation that we have no frame of reference for. Not only is that true of our nations, that's true of our households, that's true of our plans. And as we stand before you in this place, God, what we have seems so little in comparison to what we need. But I hear you say in take the lid off. And I think that means you want to exceed our expectations in this season. I want you to know, Lord, that I'm open to it. And for everybody who will come into agreement

with this word, I join my faith with them that it may look little, but it'll always be enough. It'll always be enough. The miracle is not that it overflowed all at once. The miracle is that it never ran out. And I speak over your life, and I speak over your family, and I speak over your finances. It will always be enough. I know it doesn't look like much, feel like much, and seem like much. But come on up here and get above it for a minute. Come on, get up here above it for a minute, where we are seated in heavenly places with Jesus. God always uses little things to lead us. And I'm going to stay in this moment, Father, because I feel you telling me to. For somebody who has just a little bit of faith, a little bit of strength, a little bit of

hope. I got a little bit left, the woman said. Elijah said, all right. Take the lid off of your little and watch God keep supplying. And that's exactly what God did. God has been using our problems to position us for his purpose. We are not here by accident and we are not insufficient. Thank you, Lord, for the little. As I go through my week this week, I want to see the little miracles you're doing. How am I going to sit around and wait on something big?

When these little miracles just keep happening all around me. Even right now, what a wonder that I could reach around the globe and speak a word that could reach somebody right in the middle of what they're going through. right now is hearing this word in the darkest season of their life. Somebody in the midst of their confusion. Somebody just needed an encouragement to keep going today. And your word controls the weather. Thank you, Jesus. Your word controls the weather. Help us to speak and see like you speak and like you see. We might feel like Moses sometimes. I just got a little staff in my hand.

What am I against so many? Lord, I believe you like little things. I really believe you like little things. I think you like it when we do the little things with excellence. I believe you are pleased with the people who are doing the little things. You who could be faithful with little, will be faithful in much. We thank you for it. Right now in this moment, God, I believe you're drawing somebody to yourself.

I pray for those who have felt far away from you during this season. I pray for those who have felt dislocated. And maybe even in their spirit, they have felt like giving up on themselves. They still believe in you, but they don't believe in them. They feel little, belittled. The voice inside of them is telling them so much they've started to believe it. But now, God, of all grace, we invite you to come into those places. and fill those spaces that are empty with your glory.

You can do that. As we lift our hands in your presence today, go ahead and get them up. We're taking the lid off. We're taking the lid off. You can come through the ceiling. You can come through the internet. You can come through YouTube. We're taking the lid off.

You can bless us through a bird. You can bless us through a widow. You can bless us in Xeraphat. You can do anything. You can do all things. The only thing you can't do is fail. So, God, we have faith to believe that the flower won't run out and the oil won't run dry until the day you sin rain. God, you control the weather.

We obey the word. Where you speak will go. I thank you, Lord. This is a turning point for somebody. This is a turning point for someone's heart. And we worship you in this moment. We worship you for who you are. we thank you that according to your word it will be done in Jesus name come on and give God a praise wherever you are

wow take the lid off a little I might need to do a part two on that I pray you received it it's so important right now that we open ourselves to all the ways that God wants to bless us and all the ways that God wants to use us and I just pray like he provided for a life with the birds like he provided for the lady in Zarifat through Elijah, that he would just meet every need in your life right now. I don't know whether that's emotional or physical, but I know that God is the one who can control the weather. And I just pray this week that you would see God's provision all around you in unusual ways coming from unusual sources. Maybe God's going to speak a word of encouragement through you this week to somebody. it is. Just know that we love you. Thank you for doing the little things. You know, those of you

who give, that's no little thing. We're able to continue to preach the gospel. Man, the world is dark. And times are uncertain, but Jesus Christ never changes. And I want to thank you for those of you who tithe regularly and give to this ministry. You're the reason that the word is going for. Thank you. We love you. I'll see you next time. Take the lid off. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human.