Elevation with Steven Furtick - The Key To Starting Your Day Right (The Basin)

Episode Date: July 28, 2023

“Make your entrances with intention.” In “The Key To Starting Your Day Right,” Pastor Steven Furtick shows us how starting with gratitude can be a gateway to bring God into our day. If you’ve just made a decision for Christ, please respond HERE: http://ele.vc/tIepfr To support this ministry and help us continue to reach people all around the world click here: http://www.elevationchurch.org/giving/ Scripture References: Deuteronomy 26, verse 1See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Hey, I'm coming to you now from the Basin. This is a special bonus teaching that I recorded just for you. To break it down a little more, to take it a little deeper. I hope you enjoy this overflow message. Let me know. Let me know. Let's go.

I think how you enter something is really important. And for me, I have to build in certain things to enter my day. to enter my week, to enter my role, to enter conversations, even to enter something like a workout or to enter an appointment. There are certain things that when I do those things as an entrance ritual to remind me that this is a gift and that God has given me what I need, it goes better. you know, not only how you walk in a room. I'm not saying you should need that theme music playing behind you when you go to work Monday. But I am saying maybe we could be more intentional about how we make our entrance

because the children of Israel are entering the land and God says, hey, I want to give you a ritual and offering a ceremony that you can keep to remember that this is a gift that I'm giving you, that you can remember what the Lord did for you. And I think a lot of times when we start our day, if we could have a few rituals like prayers of Thanksgiving or just listing our gratitudes or sometimes sitting in God's word for a few minutes before we go into the day, that's what I mean by entrance ritual. Like this is a new day. I'm not saying you wake up and don't even need a snooze button because the favor of the Lord awakens you with brush of angels wings. and you feel so blessed and highly favored that you bounce out of bed.

I just mean making a decision to enter the day. This is the day the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it. And even if it takes you a cup of coffee to get there or if you shower first or whatever you do, that you kind of intentionally enter your day. Most people, I'm afraid, don't. And I've been there, and I still can get there

real quick if I'm not intentional, where I snooze to the last minute and I'm running around. Now all my interactions with everybody that I live with are going to be rushed. Every encounter is going to be rushed. I have no margin. It's very different than when I plan to say I'm going to have some time to decide how I enter this day. And like I've been preaching, I put on Christ. I shed off whatever the plaque is, like you have plaque on your teeth or whatever.

I'm going to take some time to get my perspective right, get all the plaque off my perspective. And I'm going to get my focus today on what I have to look forward to, what I have to be thankful for, get synced up with God so that what I'm stressed about today, I don't just feel it in my body and ruminate in my mind, but kind of process with him. And we're all going to have a different way to do this. But, you know, Holly is so good when we have a family calendar that she sends out every Sunday night. And it's so helpful because she takes some time on Sunday night, even after ministering that morning and usually kind of resting in the afternoon. But she knows Sunday night, hey, I got to get this week out in front of me,

because if I enter this week with absolutely no idea of who is where or it's all scattered or we don't have communication. we might find ourselves Tuesday or Wednesday in this week just needlessly frustrated or miss a lot. So she learned that. So she enters the week intentionally. That's why it's good to do premarital counseling. It's a way of entering marriage intentionally.

But you know, you can also do it real quick when you know you have to have a conversation with somebody, like just setting your intention before you go into the conversation. That's an entrance ritual. By ritual, I don't mean a first-fruits offering or that you, you know, spend around three times or anything like that. I don't mean something that even anybody else knows you're doing, but it could just be even mentally. And the key to this is when you enter the land, the Lord your God is giving you. That's what Deuteronomy 261 says.

I want you to enter it knowing that he gave it to you, which gives you confidence because God gave it to you. You're going into the land to fight battles. You're going into your day to fight battles that you know God has called you to fight. God didn't call you to fight every battle. But go into the day knowing that God has promised you his peace and his provision for every challenge you'll face today. He has given it to you. Say it out loud. He has given me this day.

He has given me this day. He has given me this day. And then whatever you're facing that day, knowing that this day is a gift, knowing that God has given you his spirit, God has given you his wisdom, the mind of Christ, that you have that you have connection with God, that you have forgiveness, that you have the power of God, working on the inside of you, you have the spirit of faith, you have gifts to be able to do what you need to do, that you got it. And when you enter the situations that you face, go into them, develop for yourself, figure out what they are, those rituals so that you pray before you start looking at everything that somebody else has posted, so that you think about what God has given you before you go into your day and start trying to earn or achieve more. All of those things are good, but as you enter a season, as you enter a challenge, as you

enter a room as you move from work to home or home to work or car to people it's important to have these little things that we do now this is a big one i'm not equating you know saying a prayer in the morning or doing some deep breathing before you walk into a stressful situation to give an offering from the harvest in deuteronomy 26 but again big picture principles work in very common daily situations And really that's where our life has lived out, not in a few special occasions or just an Old Testament historical example, but bringing that spirit of remembrance and intentional entries into your life. I think that would be helpful for you. And they might have to change. You have to experiment with this.

What works in one season may not work in another. Maybe you travel. Maybe you can't do the same thing every day. Maybe, you know, it's not as predictable for you. Maybe your rhythm got knocked off. Maybe you're facing a certain obstacle that you can't do all the things you want to do. But is there a way that you can enter your day, enter your week, enter those situations, enter those relational confrontations that you know are kind of difficult for you? Can you change the way you enter so that you remember the gifts that God is given?

And a lot of times, just remembering this day is a gift, this meal is. a gift, this moment is a gift. I think this is pretty basic, but that's why we say the blessing before we start a meal. And if we can do it from our heart, even if we don't say a 20-minute prayer, nobody likes that. I used to have your friend who'd say, don't catch up on your quiet time, just say the blessing, the food's getting cold. Don't use the time to show off how many different ways you can name Abba Father and slip in three Bible verses that you memorized, but just pray. However, taking the time to do it, pause it, say this is a gift and move into it. That'll help you, whether you do it out loud, whether you have some, you know, for years,

I've put a little anointing oil, scented anointing oil on my hands most weeks before I preach. It's just an entrance ritual before I get into pulpit. Boom. Athletes have these, but we can have them too. Those of us who are playing in the NBA, we still get to have entrance rituals. We don't have to be in the WWE to have a walk. out music. We can have a melody in our heart. Even singing is good, right? Enteres gates with Thanksgiving. So we enter in the presence of God sometimes before I'm getting ready to preach.

I have certain songs that help me enter that state of ministry so that I get out of my head and into my heart and flow in the power of God. And the more of these that we create, not so that we become superstitious or have to jump through a bunch of hoops just to move from one thing to the other. Hey, dang on, I'm doing my entrance ritual. I can't come in yet. But they can be quick ways that we enter with gratitude, enter with confidence, enter with intention. I think that's what I'm trying to say. Make your entrances with intention. Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast. And if you did, make sure to share it and subscribe so we can get you all of these new messages as soon as they're available. I also want to take a moment and thank all of you who are a part of elevation.

Whether you support us financially or serve with us or just share these messages, it's because of you that we're able to reach people all around the world. And if you want more information on how to be a part of elevation, click the link in the description. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to leave a review, share the message, and say, subscribe. God bless you. This is an IHeart podcast, guaranteed human.