This comes by way of the Elijah List. I think it’s a timely and very-well-stated encouragement to deal with our situation as it NOW is rather than waiting for the breakthrough. Not that the breakthrough isn’t coming, but in one parable after another, the Lord taught us to be faithful during the dark seasons as we await the Light.

Conditions are right!

Jeremy Caris

One of the key things that I see God doing right now is re-positioning many Believers who will cooperate with Him, making adjustments that will allow for advancement. If you are in Christ, your conditions are already right. You simply need to allow Him to position you in a way that will enable you to take advantage of the existing opportunities that surround you. I see the grace of Jesus being released to re-position many right now. The details of your particular circumstances may be daunting facts, but God will turn the current circumstances of your life to your advantage. Better than that, He is ready to use your circumstances to His advantage.

It’s tempting to think that perhaps one day in the future the conditions will finally be perfect and then you will be able to settle into God’s ways and His design, but I hear God saying that today is the day. Now is the time to trust God with your future and thereby enter the rest of God. “So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:9-10, ESV).

How to Let Outside Forces and Circumstances Become Your Staircase to Ascend into God’s Purposes

God has already planned your life. You are in Christ and He is in you, so your future is now wrapped up within His present and eternal life. Your purpose falls within His purpose. Your inheritance is stored within His own. His works were finished before the foundation of the world (Hebrews 4:3), and now you must enter His rest by resting from your own works (Hebrews 4:11). Isaiah says, “O Lord, You will ordain peace for us, for You have indeed done for us all our works” (Isaiah 26:12, ESV). Therefore, Jesus declared, “…apart from Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5, ESV).

You see, a primary truth of your situation is that if you have truly surrendered your life to Christ, then you have given Jesus controlling rights to your future. There are no circumstances that are beyond His ability to overcome, but He is requiring that you trust Him to re-orient you and direct your life once again. He is asking you to surrender your plans and way of thinking in favor of His. Every time you do, outside forces and present circumstances become the staircase for you to ascend into God’s purpose for your life.

Often we want to calculate whether the circumstances we are in the midst of are God’s design, the enemy’s design, or our own design. When I consider it from all angles, it seems that it matters very little whose fault it is. What matters now is what to do about it. Of course, we know that we must resist the enemy, and we war with spiritual weapons like faith, truth, salvation, and righteousness. And we know that we must adjust our own wrong ways of thinking, bad habits, and the ways that we deal with things in order to be in alignment with Christ. But the most important thing that must be done is to surrender our life and future to God completely—from the deepest depths of the heart—in complete honesty.

An Example from the Life of Joseph:
Do You Feel as Though You Are Farther Than Ever from Living Out Your God-Given Dreams?

Joseph is an example of how God utilizes the things around you, that may seem like the end of the road, by turning them into stepping stones for your destiny. Joseph grew up accustomed to favor and blessing. The Bible says that his father loved him more than his brothers (Genesis 37:3). This set him up for trouble. Do you realize that God loves you that much? He loves you so much that he paid the ultimate price to be able to shower you with favor and blessing even though you didn’t deserve it. Maybe you have discovered that this has a way of creating unexpected trouble for you. When God’s favor and blessing is on your life, it tends to put you in the spotlight where you can become a target of jealousy and envy.

Joseph’s life seemed to go from bad, to worse, to horrible. He was thrown into a pit and left to die slowly. Then he was taken into slavery and forced labor. Every time his circumstances changed, he did the best that he could in his situation and always rose to the top, excelling beyond his peers and growing in favor with those who ruled over him. In fact, he was so trustworthy and successful that his slave owner put him in charge of his entire household.

Finally, things were starting to look a bit better. I imagine that he must have thought that maybe this would somehow lead to his freedom from the bondage of the world that was forced upon him. Instead, his owner’s wife deceived her husband into throwing Joseph into prison. Can you imagine what Joseph must have been thinking by this time? After years of doing his best to deal with his life and make the most of it, maintaining his honesty and integrity through many tricky situations, now he ends up in prison. When were the dreams that God had given him going to come true? It seemed that now more than ever he was about as far away from living out those dreams as anyone could ever imagine being.

Start Right Where You are At

I believe that, ultimately, Joseph must have held onto the dreams that God had given him, believing them with all of his heart. I’m sure that he surrendered himself and his future into God’s hand again right there in that prison cell. I can just imagine him reminding God of His promises and reliving the dreams that God had planted within his spirit. He held fast to God’s word concerning his life and future and refused to let it go. He would not give up or settle for his current situation. He set his sights on the promises of God and allowed God to re-position him by shifting his perspective. His circumstances became the very thing that God used to develop and promote him into a place that must have surprised even Joseph. He knew that he would rule within his family and people, but I believe that he was surprised to become second in command over all of Egypt.

God always has pleasant little surprises in store for us that are even beyond the dreams that He has shown us. He truly meant it when He said that He is doing a new thing that you do not perceive (Isaiah 43:19). This is especially true when you are contending just to continue believing what He has already revealed. If you are waiting for conditions around you to change before you can advance, you are missing your primary opportunity. The best place to start from is right where you are at. All that is necessary is that you allow God to re-position you by shifting your perspective. Through intentionally surrendering your life and future to God again, He will release to you a new perspective of faith and opportunity.

Jeremy Caris
Abiding Glory Ministries
Email: [email protected]

Jeremy Caris serves as the Media Director for Abiding Glory Ministries and as an Associate Pastor on the Pastoral Leadership Team at The Habitation. Jeremy longs to see the Body of Christ demonstrating both the character and power of Jesus which flows from the surrendered life. Jeremy typically teaches on the deep things of the Spirit in such a way that empowers Believers to shift into a lifestyle which releases “on Earth as it is in Heaven.” As he ministers, he demonstrates the Kingdom through prophetic ministry, healing, and miracles. He also equips Believers to minister prophetically and live in a deep awareness of the spiritual realm through his two schools, “Prophetic Ministry Boot Camp,” and “Advanced Prophetic Training.” Jeremy and his wife Mandy live in Knoxville, Tennessee, along with their two sons.