Further Faster

God, at times, seems to take His time. Have you ever felt that way? In 2 Peter chapter 3, Peter tells us that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years is as one day. God lives outside of time in eternity. He seems not to be in a hurry. Jesus has been coming quickly for two thousand years. If I get a call from my wife that she is coming home quickly and needs my help with the groceries, I had better have my shoes on and be standing at the door in a minute or two, or she’s gonna be asking where I've been. Our quickly and God’s quickly seem to be different. However, when God breaks into a situation, He does it suddenly!

A suddenly is an immediate miracle outcome, an answered prayer, a breakthrough, a harvest, or whatever you want to call it. And all suddenlies have a back story. No sudden breakthrough of God comes by happenstance. Suddenlies follow the everydays. There are many different examples of suddenlies that happened throughout the Bible, so let's look at a few. In Acts chapter 2, it's recorded that “suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting” (v.2). This is a record of the outpouring of God’s Spirit that initiated the birth of the church and is still the greatest move of God to date. But how did it transpire? The previous chapter in Acts tells us the backstory: “These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers” (Acts 1:14). It was the everyday prayer meetings that led up to the sudden outpouring because sudddenlies follow the everydays!

Daniel the prophet, in Daniel chapter 10, had an angelic visitation with a revelation from God of what would happen to His people in the latter days. We could nonchalantly write off this encounter since Daniel seemed to have many of them, or we could look into it to see if there is more to the story. In verses 2 and 3 of Daniel chapter 10, it is revealed that this suddenly was the reward of the everydays of 21 days of prayer and fasting. Remember, this didn't come by happenstance; it was Daniel's everyday prayer and fasting that was rewarded with a divine encounter. And just like the believers in the upper room and Daniel the prophet, God has a suddenly for us if we just continue to do the everydays.

Sudden breakthroughs from God are His reward and plan for His children. And even though, at times, it seems God is taking His time, He actually desires to accelerate you and me for His kingdom purposes. I like to say it like this, He desires to take you and me further faster. Here are some examples of this: In the book of Acts, we read of how the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away after he baptized the Ethiopian eunuch. He looked up, and all of a sudden, he was in Azotus. So he started preaching the gospel and did so in city after city until he arrived in Caesarea. God translated him from one location to another so the gospel of Jesus Christ could be preached to the lost in those cities (8:39-40)!

Another example of God taking His people further faster is in the gospel of John. Jesus’ disciples left Him on land while they boarded their ship to cross the lake. When they rowed three to four miles in, Jesus came walking to them on the water. Scripture says, “they willingly received Him into the boat, and immediately the boat was at the land where they were going” (John 6:19-21). Notice that when they let Jesus into the boat, they were immediately at their destination! Now that's acceleration! Are you willing to let Jesus into your boat — the boat of your life, marriage, family, ministry, business, etc? And if you are, like both Philip and the 12 disciples, God will move you further faster for His kingdom purposes!

God wants to break in suddenly to your situation! And God desires to take you further faster for His kingdom purposes! In addition to these, God declares over you and me today that there will be no more delays! In Ezekiel, God declared this. Now, the context of these verses concerned judgment on the children of Israel, but I believe they can be applied in a positive light to us today as New Testament believers:

“For I am the Lord! If I say it, it will happen. There will be no more delays .… I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken!” Then this message came to me from the Lord: “Son of man, the people of Israel are saying, ‘He’s talking about the distant future. His visions won’t come true for a long, long time.’ Therefore, tell them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: No more delay! I will now do everything I have [said]. I, the Sovereign Lord, have spoken.’” (Ezekiel 12:25-28)

Come on! I love this verse and what God is saying! When others are telling you it will take a long, long time, God declares: No more delay! God was speaking in Ezekiel's day to a rebellious and unbelieving people. They were saying, "The days are prolonged and every vision fails" (v. 22). But God wanted them to know that He was going to put that proverb to rest by doing what He said sooner than later! God wants to quicken the fulfillment of His Word over your life, so that others will know that He is the Lord and He fulfills His Word!

However, though these desires of God (the suddenlies, taking you further faster, and no more delays) for you are true, you have a part to play. These things happen to those who are doing something. God blesses the work of our hands, as Deuteronomy says. A story in 1 Kings 17 speaks to us about what I am saying here. God speaks to Elijah about a widow who will sustain him. When Elijah shows up, this woman is doing what she knows to do: picking up sticks. Many of us are doing what we know to do to provide for our families, live our lives unto the Lord, and be faithful to what God has given us; yet we don’t realize that a word from God is about to encounter us. Our everyday tasks are about to be met with a word that will change our lives forever for the better.

That’s what happened to this woman. She did what she knew to do and, at that point, she was doing it for the last time (or so she thought), but her suddenly was arriving. She obeyed the man of God's instructions to serve him first and then the suddenly came: Her bin of flour did not run out, nor did her jar of oil run dry, and Elijah and her household ate for many days (vv. 14-16).

I encourage you to just keep picking up sticks. Do what you know to do because you are about to encounter a word from God that will change everything! In our world, they define insanity as doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. Yet at times in Scripture, Jesus tells us to do the same thing over and over again and expect different results. In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus tells us to ask, seek, and knock. However, these verbs in Greek are in the continuous tense. The New Living Translation captures best what Jesus said, “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”

Friend, keep on praying, giving, fasting, and doing what you know to do unto the Lord, for your suddenly is about to break in, for God will accelerate you, taking you further faster for His kingdom purposes, and He will no longer delay the fulfillment of His Word. He will do all this to show others that there is a God in heaven who cares about His people and is a man of His Word!