No!

At Elevation this week, we continued the Give.Me.Faith. series. The focus of the sermon was "When God Says "No."' The sermon was by a guest speaker from a church in the Atlanta area, Andy Stanley. Here are some of the points made during his sermon....

* The story begins in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul was sent by the Lord to tell people about Jesus. God knew however, that Paul was going to become very popular and many people would admire him. God did not want Paul to become arrogant and so he gave him a physical condition in order to keep him humble. It was such a severe condition that it would always keep him from becoming proud or arrogant. Some scholars think it was epilepsy or a visibly unappealing eye affliction. Paul asks the Lord 3 times to take this illness away. For a period of time God was silent and did not answer Paul's prayers.

* God finally did respond, and when He did, He said, "My grace is sufficient for you". In other words, "NO." God promised to give Paul the grace to endure, but would not take away the illness. God will not always choose to change our circumstances, but He will give us the endurance to lean on Him and make it through. We are to accept "No", and then accept His grace and endure.

* "For my power is made perfect in your weakness (verse 9)God is going to show off our weakness so that others will look at us and wonder what makes us be able to accomplish the tasks we do despite our weakness. It is then that others will be able to see God and His power in us. We need to have an extraordinary dependence on God. When God doesn't allow us to fill in the gap with our own strength but will fill it with His. Wow. I would MUCH rather have God's strength than my own!

* Your greatest weakness is God's greatest opportunity to show Himself strong in you. If you will TRUST Him. If you don't, any you walk away, you are choosing to walk away from His empowering grace.

*The only thing worse than disappointment with God is disappointment without God.

* When God says "No" it is not a reflection of your faith. It is an opportunity to become a reflection of His greatness!

Wow this was a message I needed to hear! I continue to pray for the Lord to send me someone to love. My heart is so full of love to share with someone but God keeps telling me "No." I know I am being prepared for someone awesome, and the Lord is preparing them for me as well. It is difficult to sit back as my friends move on and are getting engaged and married and having children. There are days I feel like life is passing me by because I am more and more on my own. This sermon really reminded me that I need to lean into God, to press in, and He will receive the glory. And isn't that what we are here for? Our lives are to glorify Him! My prayer this year has been to grow stronger in my faith, and man, the Lord answers prayers!

2 Corinthians 12:9-10- "But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, than I am strong."