Are You Down To Nothing? #2
As I mentioned in the previous message if you are at a point where you can do nothing about the situation that you are in then congratulations you are ripe for a miracle from the LORD! If there is no way that man can help you this is just the position that God wants you to be in. He is the one that engineered the circumstances to place and maneuver you where you are. You may think that you are doing something wrong but no! He is arranging events in your life to promote you to a higher spiritual level.
In Exodus 3 Moses had killed an Egyptian while defending an Israeli, had escaped Egypt and now was hiding in the backside of the desert watching his father-in-law’s sheep. He was really down to nothing and felt nothing like the one who could deliver and lead his people out of Egypt. He probably felt that he was helpless in rescuing his people from the clutches of their taskmasters, the Egyptians. However God spoke through a burning bush that was not being consumed. This was a sign to Moses that his dream of leading his people out of captivity into freedom was not over. The enemy could not consume his dream. You see, there was nothing that Moses could do to rescue his people and God chose this time to come on the scene. He is waiting for some of you to run out of your self, to cease from your own labors. He wants to move on your behalf now. After God said that He has heard the cry of His people and has come down to deliver them into a new land that is flowing with milk and honey, He said that He wants to send Moses to lead His people out. Moses felt like he was nothing and how could he do it. God again was trying to get his attention on Him and His power. He told Moses to tell the people that “I AM THAT I AM.” God was actually saying that He will do it and be anything that he needed Him to be. As you know it was God who performed all the plaques and all Moses had to be was a mouthpiece for Him. God is the ONE who put the pressure on the Egyptians to let His people go free, not Moses. God is the ONE who caused the Egyptians to give their gold and silver to the children of Israel (Ex. 12 verse 36). You see, God wants to move for you and He doesn’t want you to focus on what you can’t do but let Him do what only He can do. In so many instances in their deliverance from Egypt all Moses had to do was stretch forth his rod (Ex. 14 verse 16).
In the book of Judges Chapter 6, God’s people were surrounded by the enemy and Gideon was so afraid he was hiding out and threshing out wheat by the winepress! It was not the season for grapes, so he felt protected from the enemy. Gideon really was down to nothing! This is the one that God was going to use? He knows you may be weak right now but He wants to make up for your weakness and win for you. Gideon started telling God that he and his family was poor and how could God use him (verse 15). God doesn’t need you to have money to move for you. He will provide what you don’t have. He is working right beside us. We are co-laborers with Him. You are not in this alone. In verse
16 the LORD says that He will be with Gideon and that He will win the victory with him alone! God then cut down Gideon’s army from 32,000 to 300, really bringing him down to nothing! All Gideon had to do was follow God’s plan by surrounding the enemy and startling them by blowing the trumpets and breaking the pitchers of light and God gave him the victory. Gideon did so little and God did the rest. God loves when you are down to nothing and you can’t look to man for help.
In Joshua Chapter 6, the LORD tells Joshua to look at Jericho which was formidable to the natural eye. In the natural Joshua had no hope. Since Joshua was down to nothing, God was able to move and He did just that. He gave Joshua a plan to go around Jericho once a day for 6 days and then 7 times on the seventh day, a total of 13 times. Some people thing that the number thirteen is a “unlucky” number, but no! It is a number of deliverance. Joshua did what the LORD said and God won a great victory.
In 2 Chronicles Chapter 20, Jehoshaphat was really down to nothing and cried out to the LORD, saying that he had no might against the enemy. This is all God had to hear. He gave Jehoshaphat a plan of sending the praise and worship leaders out first and then the LORD caused discomfort among the enemy and they killed each other (verse 22). Jehoshaphat and his army never had to fight. All they had to do was pick up the spoils of the enemy (verse 25).
Jesus was down to just Him and His Father as He was in the Garden of Gethsemane and as later as He was being crucified. Everybody else ran away and deserted Him. He relied on His Father for strength and wrought a great victory for us. Because of what He did for us He received spoils of the victory and can now distribute these spoils or blessings to us (Isaiah 53 verse 12). Besides salvation, which is the greatest spoil that we can ever receive, Isaiah says that these are some of the other spoils we can now receive:
1.) We can now sing for joy (54 verse 1)
2.) We can enlarge our expectations (verse 2)
3.) We will break forth and expand (verse 3)
4.) We need to no longer fear (verse 4)
5.) We will not be put to shame (verse 4)
Remember again, when you are down to nothing your Father is up to something! He wants you to not trust in man, but Him! He is just trying to bring you closer to Him and show you more of His power in your life! Praise Him!