Willie George on Turning Obstacles Into Opportunity
March 3, 2011 | No Comments | Leadership
At Seeds Conference, Willie George of Church on the Move (Tulsa, OK) discussed turning obstacles into opportunity.
Every generation has to be reached on its own terms. We aren’t talking about compromising the major things. We are talking about small adjustments here and there.
The opportunities that God places before us often do not look like opportunities but rather obstacles.
See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.
Deuteronomy 1:8 (ESV)
Anything worth having comes with a struggle. The easy thing to do is to go to the place that no one wants to be – the wilderness. The easy thing is to retreat from the struggle.
When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they did not want the struggle of taking the land that God wanted for them. But in Numbers 13, there is symbolism in what the Israelite spies brought back from the land. They brought back grapes, pomegranates, and figs.
- Grapes symbolizes blood. This means there will be redemption here.
- Pomegranates symbolize worship. You will never have your full worship experience unless you take the land.
- Figs symbolize life. God symbolically showed them that this land is where He would feed them.
In Joshua 14:6-14, Caleb and Joshua were older than everyone else because they were the only ones in their generation willing to go take the land.
One of the greatest lessons you can learn in life is that you are not the first one to do what you are going to do. Do not become isolated and forget that others have gone through what you are going through. Do not forget that others have gone before you, and when you take steps of faith, the God that blessed them will bless you, too.
Every obstacle is an opportunity in disguise. When the Israelite spies came back from the land, they refused to see anything but the giants. When you run up against something that looks like an impossibility, your faith can turn it into something that is bigger than you have ever done.
In Numbers 13:26-31, the Israelites were afraid to attack the many people groups living in the land that God wanted for them, but Caleb knew they could do it. They did not have to attack them all at once. They can possess the land by conquering one group at a time.
You don’t have to do it all at once. God will very often only put one thing in front of you at a time.
Catastrophes are not obstacles but opportunities to reach your community.
We need to see the grapes, pomegranates, and figs in the situation.
Further Reading:
2012 Church Conference Calendar
