Out of the Red, Into the Black

Written by Doyle DeGraw | 13 February 2010

Nobody likes to come up short. There is nothing worse than discovering at the end of the month, there is not enough left to pay the bills. How many of you have stood in line at the grocery store with a weeks worth of groceries only to realize you did not bring enough cash and forgot your checkbook? Maybe you went to purchase tickets for a concert you have looked forward to for months, only to find out that it just sold out! Anybody out there ever get those notices from the bank that tell you that your checking account went into the red when your checkbook showed you were in the black. Even worse, you find out the bank is right!!!

Nobody wants to be in the red. Sometimes we can feel like we come up short when serving God. That isn’t His intention you know. That is what the Cross was all about. Jesus went to the cross to take our name out of the deficit column and move us to the surplus side of the ledger. The core of the Story of Redemption is that God wants to move us out of the red into the black. It is illustrated over and over again throughout His Word. Moses was afraid to lead because he could not speak. God find a way to use him anyway. Joshua had to be reminded to stay encouraged. David put himself in the red, and confessed his way back into a place where he could gain his inheritance. Gideon almost brought God’s plan to a halt with the paralysis of analysis. However, through learning to worship God, he was able to tear down the strongholds that weighed him down. Instead of the deficit of defeat, he conquered kingdoms as one powerful in battle.

That is what you would like in your life, isn’t it? What are you going to do to move from the red into the black? Where should you begin? I want to suggest something simple, yet profound. The move from less to more always begins with an encounter with God in worship and intimacy with Him. There is no other way. To get where God wants you to be means you must spend time with Him. Don’t struggle to find something to say, just tell Him you want to spend some time with Him and watch what happens.

What's Holding You Back?

Written by Doyle DeGraw | 03 February 2010

Gideon was part of a great line of judges, kings, and prophets who through faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, and gained what was promised. God wants your name to be in that list. He wants you included in the names of heroes who conquered, brought change, and pulled the promises of heaven to earth.

One thing that will hold you back from obtaining what God has promised is a passive and complacent spirit that seeks to rob the church of revival and renewal in God. In the life of Gideon in Judges 6, we learn about other things that will hold us back. They include a spirit of despair caused by oppression, a wrong mindset caused by idolatry, and a spirit of fear caused by personal bondage.

The book of Judges describes a pattern that afflicts God’s people. It is a pattern of experiencing revival, slipping into apathy, embracing compromise, committing sin, and being tied up in bondage. When this occurs, we must cry out to God to find our place in Him and be revived by His power. If this sounds like your life, there are answers so that you are not held back from your destiny in God.

The key for Gideon to find His way was worship. In the second half of Judges 6, Gideon is encouraged to set up an altar of worship to God before he deals with the strongholds in his life. It is easy to think we have to try harder and work harder to get rid of the issues in our life that hold us back. We need to complete a broken circle in our lives through worship and intimacy with God to see things go that are holding us back. Worship is at the heart of those who conquer kingdoms, administer justice, and gain what is promised, (Hebrews 11:32-34).