Steven Furtick - Stop Blaming and Start Healing
This is an excerpt from: Protect The Vessel
God said that some of you are going today from a posture of pain to a posture of power, but it's going to be a different kind of power. It's going to be a 2 Corinthians 4 kind of power. In 2 Corinthians 4, the great apostle Paul says, "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels". We have this glory in messy situations. We have this hope in choppy waters. We have this certainty in a crazy, chaotic world. We have this treasure in human weakness. We have this confidence in great chaos. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. We have this healing in snake-bitten hands. He went into Publius' father's bedroom, and in Acts 28, he did something really important that I want you to do. This is how you protect the vessel. Are you ready? Verse 8: "Paul went in to see him and, after prayer…" I want you to pray about it. "I am praying about it". No, you're not. You're ruminating. You're worrying about it. You're freaking out.
I'm going to do a sermon maybe after Easter called "You're Underthinking It". Everybody says, "I overthink things". No, you underthink things. You only process stuff at the level of your thought, never at the level of your spirit. He did something so simple. He prayed, because he knew he couldn't give any healing to Publius' father if he had venom in his own vessel. As we picture this, I want you to picture yourself in this season of your life. Here you are. "I should be here. I should be there". Pointing at where you should be will not result in progress or peace. We could all do that. "I thought I'd be… I should have been… If they wouldn't have, then I would have". Pointing with both hands. But watch this. After he prayed… I want you to see yourself doing this when I say it.
Paul went in and placed his hands… Not just the good hand, the hurt hand too. Does this give you a picture of what God wants to do through what you've been through? If it said, "Paul put his hand on him," I'd think, "Well, that's nice". But when I realize a snake had been on that hand just a few days ago, I think to myself, "God, what do you want to do through the places where I've been hurt"? Do you want this or are you ready for this now? I see a hand opening up, but it's not God's hand. His hand has always been on you. In every valley you've walked in, in every dumb decision you've made, in every bad thing you've ever believed about yourself and every bad thing anybody has ever done to you, his hand has always been there. It has never been the question about his hand.
How about yours? Are you going to walk around with that snake for another year, another five, another decade? Are you going to be an old man running around telling snake stories? With the same hand that could have killed him, he became an instrument of revival. The reason I didn't name my sermon when I started is because you don't always know what to call it until after it's over. Malta was called honey, but God brought Paul there for healing. Malta means refuge, but God brought Paul there for revival. I want us to spend some time believing today that when we do this… See, you can't do this and this. So which one is it going to be? Until you do this, you can't do this. Somebody I'm preaching to, if you can't do this for yourself, do it for your kids.
The whole island got healed because Paul didn't do this. When you do this to yourself, when you do it to an event… When you allow your identity to be consumed by an experience, it will always limit the flow of God's power in your situation. So, today, God sent me with a word for somebody to just know that life begins when you do this. Just this. I want you to use both hands. Stand to your feet in your living room. Stand to your feet in the auditorium and just do this.
Now look at me. This kills; this heals. This is accusation; this is acceptance. "Okay, I'm here," Paul said. "I might as well go over to Publius' house. I don't know what they're serving for dinner, but maybe God wants to do something through me". Do you know how many times God wanted to give me something but I was doing this? He wanted to give me a solution, but I was doing this. Then if you do this long enough, you start doing this, but God said, "Just do this". Just this.
Father, I thank you for your Spirit in moments like these. I know they're tender, some people, even as they try to push you away in this moment because it would, frankly, be easier to keep others at a distance. I thank you, Lord, that you know all things about me and everybody who's here. If there has to be a translation, you're telling them what Malta is. You're telling them what the snake is. You're telling them what Publius' house… You do those things. I can't do them, because you know them and love them. We just wanted to take a moment before we leave the building or before we log off and go on to something else to just do this, because this heals. We release those who hurt us, not even because they deserve it but because we don't want to spend the rest of our lives attached to something that almost killed us but didn't. We don't want to be defined by that. So, Lord, in the name of Jesus right now, we shake all shame off into the fire, all accusation and all condemnation.
"There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death". We shake that right now, like the dirt off our feet, like the snake off our hand. It couldn't kill us. It couldn't kill you. That's why you're still here.
Now take that same hand that was hurt, that same place in you that was hurt, and lay it on the next thing God puts in your life, because all the wisdom God gave you and all the compassion he gave you and all the healing he gave you… Just like the nail prints in his hand, this will be the place of the greatest release of power in the history of your life. I declare it. I stand in agreement with you for it. I testify of it. We have this treasure in earthen vessels.
Look at me. Protect your vessel. Protect your heart. Don't let it just run around anytime it wants. Don't keep your car cleaner than you keep your heart. Protect your vessel, because you have to get there. You must stand trial before Caesar. You must do it. Nobody is going to do this for you. What you're carrying is more important than what's carrying you. So, let the things fall away that have to fall away. That's all right now. What you need for where you're headed is in your hand. What's that in your hand? Should you be holding that or is it time for you to receive what God has next for you?