Look at the scale... it says 200 pounds on it when what’s weighed is actually 170. That’s a bad scale. That’s a bad scale if I’ve ever stepped on one. That’s a scale that isn’t scaling or measuring correctly. That's a scale the user has to pick up and retune... or you might say recalibrate. You climb a mountain without scaling the mountain correctly, and you can slip and fall... tumbling your way down. You ever use a measuring device, such as a ruler...? If the measuring pieces aren’t clear you can miss-measure whatever it is being measured. That’s a bad measuring device if I’ve ever seen it. You ever measure water and the device you’re using is chipped in some type-a-way... maybe it doesn't show the actual amount it can measure? That’s a 2.5 cups of water mistake versus the required amount of 2 cups of water for making brownies... that’s a bad recipe. Those are runny brownies. Last time I checked, if I just bought a new measuring device I’d be okay there then. You ever use Waze and before you can even use it, it shows itself recalibrating and takes 20 seconds to load up as it reads all the traffic, all the road closes or the police sightings it has? That’s a good map system for me. I’d like it to recalibrate so I know what road/traffic to avoid.
May I introduce you to 2019: the year of Recalibrate? That’s a word God gave me last January of 2019. I remember getting out of my prayer time seeking God for vision or a single word in 2019 and the word recalibrate came upon my heart. That’s a powerful word. Honestly, ‘twas a bit frightened when that dropped on my heart. But it’s a word that when we look at Biblically... that it’s a time of transition... a time where God is setting something up for a greater calculation. Get that Pythagorean theorem out here or Quadratic formula... ya to all my high schooler algebra people out there sing it with me! X= -B +-sqrt(B^2-4AC)/“all over 2A!”
Google, during 2019, released the news that their Google Quantum Computer hit a level of calculation that in pre-historic 2019 times would take the "world's best supercomputer 10,000 years to complete." In 2019, Google announced it was able to perform the specific task in 200 seconds. That’s fast. That’s a good computer.
But may I introduce to you the fact that you MAY have thought you were good, fine, spiritually sound, spiritually secure, whole, kind, reaping a harvest but then God shows you a WHOLE ‘nother level. That’s what occurred there it seems. That’s a whole ‘NOTHA level of computational capacity. May I introduce you to the fact that your season of pruning or recalibration or whatever type of shift occurred in the past is a setup for a greater push in the future?
That under your subjectivity, you thought you were good. Apple may have thought they were good when they built the first Apple computer... I mean that thing was stinkin’ brilliant for its time until the creators at Apple believed they could and would do more to craft a better and cheaper computer and follow their vision to unleash that and sell one for every household. You thought the first Apple iShuffle was good? Did you see the iPod? That was great.
Did we even THINK we needed the newest iPhone until Apple convinced us we needed it? I think we didn’t even think we needed the newest Air Pods until we were marketed to and convinced we needed it.
Did we think we needed God when the people of pre-Noah’s arc-first generation sinned unequivocally to the point where God, under His subjectivity, thought it’d be good to send a flood to ‘recalibrate’ humanity?
My point here is God is DOING and has been doing things in YOUR life you don’t EVEN think YOU need! He is doing SOMETHING and unveiling things BEHIND the curtain that you don’t even think you’d even like to see in the future. How’s that FOR a good good Father? That He can drum up a level of demand or a level of character or capacity in your life you didn’t even know you needed but received anyways. That’s a gift, too. It’s like salvation... I didn’t even know I needed God deeply in my life until about 3 years ago... when my own brokenness and lack ‘there of’ caught up to me.
That’s why I’ll say and the Apostle Paul says we should thank God for our sufferings because they end up producing a level of steadfastness you and I didn’t EVEN know we needed.
But back to the Recalibrate concept. So, of the times God recalibrated Scripturally, it was pretty fierce and widespread. First, we could say a recalibration occurred during the flood in the book of Genesis where Noah built the arc, rain/flooding over 40 days and nights, 2 of every animal, widespread loss of people, you know the rest of the story... Secondly, another potential recalibration factor occurred through the rise of the Prophets in the old Testament who came to warn people of the current and the future that there would be a dude dubbed the King of Kings who would go on to lead a master recalibration: Jesus Christ. Now, isn’t that a good Savior...? Coming when we least expected Him, to deliver us the gift of salvation for something we didn’t even know we needed but actually need (for some of us out here) or needed? Then, the third recalibration was in the actual coming of Christ, in the flesh, walking as man, to the point when He died on the cross.
“After Jesus had finished instructing His twelve disciples, He went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.
Meanwhile, John the Baptist heard in prison about the works of Christ, and he sent two of his disciples to ask Him, “Are You the One who was to come, or should we look for someone else?"" -Luke 7:18
Right after this passage, Jesus speaks to the crowd about John the Baptist, how John may have thought Jesus was gonna' come in blazing fire and fury. Probably driving a Buggati in luxurious fashion, maybe wearing nice Lululemon men’s pants. But the question John’s disciples asked alone attests to the fact that Jesus came in the way least expected...
because He comes in the areas of your LIFE where/when you least expect it. He delivered salvation when we least expected it. He knows when the time is right and He knows how to flip the situation around for His glory. It's just when you least expected Him to come through!
These were the areas of my least expected, but needed areas of my own personal recalibration during 2019:
1. Honed a deep passion for preaching the Word of God in a relatable, draw-you-in type of way. I can tell you I couldn’t preach before and discovered this through prayer. My gift is not in me but my gift is from He who deposits and my gifting rests in Him. I believe it may be my long term calling as I can’t shake the Words and deep thoughts I perceive God to speak into me, all I can do is walk in gifting by the Holy Spirit.
2. Began a new career. Allowed God to lead me to a company I believe in. Blessed, it was a divine and unexpected open door.
3. Graduated from UD. Being in the real world is honestly a breathe of fresh air.
4. Two words: prayer. life. you never know how much you need to pray for your situation and others until you step into arduous tasks and hear about the brokenness behind others’ situations more.
5. Dependency: God taught me a deep level of dependency upon Him: relationally, emotionally, spiritually.
6. Rest. He taught me to find rest in Him... not in vacation, not in vocation, not in relation, not in standard deviation, not in declaration, but in revelation of who He is. Ok I’m done with the ‘tions -- sorry had to!
7. Healing. It's found in Him.
8. Generosity.
9. Finances. Not boasting about tithing here but it's about trusting God with your finances.
10. Relationally: Who am I to say who God chooses to add or subtract from our lives?
11. Decision making. Consult God....THEN friends/family/coworkers for advice or analysis on key decisions. None of us has 20/20 perfect vision to see what God has purposed in the now or future.
12. Being a vessel = an outflow of whatever He has put in, stored in, and doing through you.
13. Hearing His voice more clearly. He speaks. You just have to get close enough to hear... if your prayer life is just you talking to God and never hearing/seeking Him for direction or whatever that’s all it’ll be. That’s what you call a one-sided relationship in a way. Those aren’t bad because sometimes we’re just meant to pour into or just receive, but you miss the blessing of hearing and following promptings and having a living, breathing relationship with God.
Onto 2020, the year of “Risk Taker” and “Step Into.” Stepping INTO the dreams God has laced upon our hearts. Stepping INTO the gifting(s) He has unveiled in our lives. Stepping INTO the call of the Father. Stepping INTO what He has in store. But to step into, you have to get past taking risks. I’m not talking about selling all you have and moving to Canada. Or putting all your eggs in one single stock in the stock market. I’m talking about real risk taking for the Kingdom, for promptings, or calculated risks you discern with the people around you.
Reflecting upon this concept after reading 1 Chronicles 17 --> "Now when David lived in his house, David said to Nathan the prophet, "Behold, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark of the covenant of the LORD is under a tent." And Nathan said to David, "Do all that is in your heart, for God is with you." In this passage, Nathan seemed to allude to the fact David was living under a nice house whereas the LORD's ark of the covenant, deemed to be the most holy object representing the presence of God, was under a tent. It was in his heart to build a home for it.
To Step Into, is to take steps TOWARDS. To step INTO is to step from. To step INTO is to muster up the energy and push on and play Frogger into the next step laid out in front of you, hoping that the level of risk you just took doesn't end up hitting you like a car would in the game of Frogger. That may look like starting that business, or starting that ministry, or putting yourself out there, or writing that book. Whatever it is, may we STEP INTO all God has in 2020.
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