BRANDON J. SUTTON
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Rock Bottom

12/17/2019

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“I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken.” – Psalm 62:1-2

Most likely, the thing(s) you are worried about today will not be the thing(s) that disrupts your life tomorrow. It is the unexpected diagnosis, layoff, expense, separation or death that will shatter your preconceived notion of how your life was supposed to be into a million different pieces. In those shattered pieces, we try to make meaning of our life.

I remember the exact moment when I hit rock bottom. I was sitting in a jail cell and had just gotten off the phone with my wife. She had informed me that our daughter would have to be temporarily removed from our home. In that moment, I lost my will to go on. I felt angry, depressed, shame and abandoned by God. Your rock bottom may not have come in a jail cell, but the feelings at the bottom are the same.

“But in my distress, I cried out to the LORD; yes, I cried to my God for help. He heard me from his sanctuary; my cry reached his ears.” - 2 Samuel 22:7

God Has Not Forgotten About You: God is never late but He is rarely early. Just ask Lazarus. When word got to Jesus that Lazarus; the one whom He loved, was sick, Jesus did not leave immediately. He instead took four days to go to him, and by the time He arrived, Lazarus was dead. There is something that you have had to endure where you believe that if God is who He says He is, then the thing that hurt you would not have happened. Nothing is truly dead if your faith remains in Christ, for He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25). Like Lazarus, God has not forgotten about you. He knows your pain, He wants to resurrect you, call you out and give you a new beginning if you just have faith and believe in Him.

Your Destiny is at the Bottom: At the bottom, I lost my freedom, job, daughter and money. But I found out who I am and most importantly whose I am. What you are currently going through and what you lost in the last season of your life has no bearings on what God is about to do for you. Joseph was betrayed by his brothers and thrown into a pit, but God was with him and at the bottom of that pit, God began to take the things that were meant to harm him and use them for his good (Genesis 50:20). God strips away all the trivial things we tend to value in this world so that we can find the true value and purpose that lies within us.

Jesus is the Rock at the Bottom: When a disabled man sought Jesus for healing but could not get close to Him, his friends cut a hole in the roof where Jesus was teaching and lowered the man before Christ. The lower the man went, the closer he got to Jesus and the further he got from those who brought him. Learn to let go of what has brought you to this point if it is not of God. Let go of the grief, sadness, resentment and anxiety. Leave behind negative speech, perverse thoughts, gossip and unhealthy relationships. Do not be afraid of the descent, for even if you made your bed in Hell, God will be with you (Psalm 139:8). No matter how low you go, Jesus will be there waiting at the bottom.
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Move On

12/4/2019

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“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”
- Philippians 3:14
 
My mother recently stopped by my house and I asked if she was here to pray for me. She responded; “no, we already prayed for you. It is done!” Oftentimes, we allow ourselves to get stuck in our prayers, constantly praying for the same thing but never truly believing God for it. Christ proclaimed, “whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.” Prayer is a two-step process. We must first pray then move in faith trusting that God will do what He says.
 
Moving on from a loss, disappointment or traumatic experience is never easy, especially when you cannot see any improvements in your condition. We do not serve a static God. He is always on the move. The Lord goes before us by day in a pillar of cloud to lead us along the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give us light, that we might travel by day and by night. God goes before us and follows us. He places His hand of blessing over our lives. If you want to move forward with God you will have to rename and reposition yourself.
 
Rename:
“… as [Rachel] was having great difficulty in childbirth, the midwife said to her, “Don’t despair, for you have another son.”  As she breathed her last—for she was dying—she named her son Ben-Oni. But his father named him Benjamin.” – Genesis 35:17 - 18
 
Rachel named her son Ben-Oni which means “son of my distress”, but Jacob renamed him Benjamin, the “son of my right hand (the right hand symbolizes a place of honor)”. If we do not move forward with God, we risk dying in our sorrow. How sad would it be to die without receiving all He has for us because we refused to move on after a setback?  Do not allow a difficult situation to define you. Moving on with God will require you to rename yourself. You are not your divorce. You are not your layoff. You are not your debt. You are not your addiction. You are not your shame. You are not your bad decision. Move on from whatever hurt or embarrassed you and accept the new name God has for you. You are God’s friend. You are loved. You are more than a conqueror. You are forgiven. You are enough!
 
Reposition:
“He said, ‘Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find [a blessing]. When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of [how large the blessing was]. - John 21:6
 
We move forward with God by not focusing on our past but instead by repositioning ourselves for the future. Focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. There is nothing we can do about our past and God tells us not to worry about tomorrow. He has already provided us with everything we need to succeed, all we have to do is transform how we think and speak. We already have the skill set, personality and gifts to complete the good work God has began within us. So, cast your net (hopes) on the other side of what hurt you and get ready to receive a blessing larger than you can ask or imagine.
 
When Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to Jesus’s tomb an Angel told them, “He is not here…”. Stop looking for the Lord in empty places. You have prayed about it enough, now move on from your hurt, trusting and believing that your present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in you.
 
Get moving!

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