Navigating the Unexpected

Listennnn! Even the most organized and prepared among us can get caught slippin! And when things hit us that we didn’t see coming it may look as if we won’t recover. But sis, God sits above our circumstances. YOU WILL RECOVER. Get your power and authority back and stream the full sermon of Wet Wood Still Burns on Woman Evolve TV.

I’m gonna be in first kings. 18. Oh yeah, that sounds good. First Kings 18.
I’m gonna start in verse, I’m gonna start in verse 32.
This text is not necessarily unfamiliar, but for those of you who may need a little bit of background, I wanna bring you into what’s happening in this moment.
In this moment, the prophet Elijah is returning back to Israel after having been away, you see Israel has drifted away from God and have started to worship El and in the process of worshiping bail, they have removed the covenant that they have with God, but Elijah is there because Elijah reminds them of who they’re supposed to be.
There’s gonna be a showdown between Elijah and the prophets of bail and this is where we are in the text.
It is now Elijah’s turn to see if he can bring fire down from heaven. First kings.
18 verse 32 he’s building the altar and it says then with the stones, he built an altar in the name of the Lord and he made a trench around the altar large enough to hold two seas of seed and he put the wood in order, cut the bow in pieces and laid it on the wood and said, fill four water pots with water and pour it on the burnt sacrifice and on the wood, then he said, do it a second time and they did it a second time and he said, do it a third time and they did it a third time.
So the water ran all around the altar and he also filled the trench with water and it came to pass at the time of the offering of the evening sacrifice that Elijah, the prophet came near and said, Lord God of Abraham Isaac and Israel let it be known this day that you were God in Israel and I am your servant and that I have done all these things at your word.
Hear me, oh Lord, hear me that this people may know that you are the Lord God and that you have turned their hearts back to you.
Then the fire of the Lord fell and consumed the burnt sacrifice in the wood and the stones and the dust and it licked up the water that was in the trench.
Now, when all the people saw it, they fell on their faces and they said the Lord, he is God, the Lord.
He has got my subject. For those of you who like to take notes is wet wood still burns.
What would wet wood still burns?
I don’t know if you’ve ever been camping and tried to build a fire with wet wood.
It doesn’t burn the way that you think it should when the wood is dry.
But this text proves to us that wet wood still burns the spirit of the living God.
We invite your presence, not just into this house but into the homes of every person watching.
Father. We say, let your glory fall. Father, we say, let your fire fall.
We present to you every circumstance, every issue, every obstacle.
And we say, Father have your way God, you and I, we’ve walked through this word together.
And so father, I simply pray that you would allow me to be a vessel in this moment that there would be nothing off limits, no fears, no insecurities, just your word, your anointing your fire.
God standing strong down on the inside of me, breathe a great God that you are.
We receive it in advance.
We receive your plans in advance and we say have your way in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
You know, family a couple weeks ago, I was watching from Los Angeles as Dallas went through a winter storm, a winter storm like we had never seen before.
And though I live in Los Angeles, now, there was a part of me that wanted to kind of be in the storm with my family.
There’s something about seeing your family go through a storm that makes you wanna be a part of what they’re going through and I have to tell you, I felt a little bit guilty because as their pipes were bursting, I was sitting outside with the girls having a tea party because sometimes the weather in California, it just feels a little unfair compared to what else is going on in the world.
Now. That’s not to say that we don’t have our weather issues.
I mean, it was 40 degrees not too long ago. Ok. Freezing, freezing frigid. Ok.
But, um, one thing we do have though are winds. We have really strong winds.
As a matter of fact, if you’ve ever heard of the California wildfires, part of the reasons why the fire spread so rapidly is because of the wind.
And we actually had one of those strong winds come through our neighborhood not too long ago.
These winds are so strong that one time it knocked over a swing in our backyard.
So it was two o’clock in the morning and the wind was blowing and the house was shaking and I thought this is going to be one of those days where something gets knocked over next morning.
I go outside, I check there’s some pillows tossed around, but for the most part, everything was fine.
The swing was still standing. And so I went on about my day now, I’m on a zoom meeting when my 11 year old knocks on the door.
Now, shout out to all the parents who are walking at, working at home with Children who try to mess up your professionalism and knocked on the door and she says, mom, there’s a chair in the pool, says what she said, the chair is in the pool.
I go outside and sure enough the chair is in the pool.
Now, we’re trying to determine who’s going to go and get the pool, the chair out of the pool, you know.
Um, I don’t necessarily have the type of hair texture that allows you to just jump into the pool without preparation.
I need a moment. I don’t just dive into water.
And so while we’re having this debate in our home about who’s going to jump into the water.
I couldn’t help but think to myself, how did I miss the fact that the chair was in the pool?
I went out there.
I checked, I looked around, I just didn’t expect for the chair to be in the pool.
How did I miss it? How did I miss that?
The picture wasn’t the way that it was supposed to be.
Have you ever had a moment where you checked on what you thought should have been in trouble and while you were checking on that one thing, you missed, the very thing you could have never expected.
How did I miss the fact that the marriage was in trouble?
How did I miss the fact that the child was going through depression?
How did I miss the fact that I was headed towards bankruptcy. How did I miss that?
The chair was in the pool. How did I miss it?
Can we talk about it for a moment? Those moments when you just miss it?
I trusted the wrong person. How did I miss it?
I thought God called me to write this book. How did I miss it?
This ministry is not booming the way that I thought that it should. How did I miss it?
I thought I was doing a good job in this marriage. How did I miss it?
Don’t you think after all the things that we regret the most are the things that we missed.
I should have been able to catch that. I should have been able to see that.
I missed it. And this is exactly what happened to me when I missed this chair in the pool.
And I was thinking about how we often miss on one thing because I thought the trouble was gonna come from here.
It’s not that I wasn’t prepared. I was prepared to go to war. I was prepared to battle.
It’s just that you struck me in a part of my life.
I wasn’t ready for, I wasn’t ready for this.
I could have faced it if I would have known that this was going to happen to me, but I missed it.
And now you’ve caught me blinded and it feels like I’m drowning because I thought I thought I should have caught that God, I thought I should have caught suicidal.
I thought I should have caught that an alcohol problem. I thought I should have caught that. I missed it.
And if we’re honest, when we miss it, there is a part of us that doesn’t believe we can recover from this mess.
I don’t think I can recover from this one.
This is the one that’s gonna keep me from ever burning again.
This is the one that’s gonna keep me from ever trying again.
And I would like to submit for your consideration that I am not the only one who has a seat that’s drowning.
Ephesians two tells us that we are seeded in Christ, in Ephesians.
One goes on to tell us what that means that when I am seated with Christ, that means that I am seated above Principalities.
So the spirit of doubt that makes me believe I can never recover from.
This is actually a sign that my seat in Christ is underwater because I no longer have the power and authority that I ought to have over this situation.
I don’t have the faith that I’m coming out of this.
I don’t have the belief that this could help me to ever restore and recover.
I feel like I’m drowning and it’s really not that I’m drowning.
It’s just that my seat is drowning because I can’t connect with who I’m supposed to be in this season.
I want to talk to some real people today who would be honest enough to admit that I’m supposed to be on fire.
I’m supposed to have faith. I’m supposed to believe that I can come out of this.
But I miss so big this time that I don’t feel like I have the authority anymore.
I can’t tap into that prayer the way I used to, I can’t tap into the worship the way that I used to.
I’m tired of 2020 and 2021 all of its cousins. I’m tired of getting bad news after bad news.
I’m tired of nothing ever going my way.
I’m tired and you’re trying to tell me I’m seated in Christ above Principalities, but I feel like I’m drowning.
I know we can’t blame everything on the devil.
But I think the devil’s got a target on my back and he keeps hitting me right where it hurts the most.
Your seat is underwater drowning.
This is exactly where Israel is. When we find them in the text.
Israel, the chosen people don’t feel chosen anymore because I’m in a drought.
Oh God, how I’m gonna be chosen and in a drought, how I’m gonna be set apart and my child ain’t saved.
How I’m gonna be set apart and I’m living paycheck to paycheck, praying for a stimulus check to come through.
How am I gonna be the one that’s chosen in a drops?
That’s one way to look at it. But if you look at this text.
In hindsight, you see that the drought was actually the first step to the rescue.
It was not the last step before death.
Yeah, I need you to let that sink down in your spirit a little bit because the drought will convince you that you’re gonna die here.
The drought will convince you you’ll never recover from here.
And yet when God gets ready to save his people from drowning, he sends the drought because the drought airs things out.
The drought makes you come down to this space where you have to wonder, God, I gotta start believing in you in a different way because everything I was counting on turned out to be nothing.
So now I’m down to nothing.
And I gotta ask you God in the middle of this drought, could you still save me?