Location matters
When you hear someone say, “I’m praying about this”, whether it’s for a job, a mate or a mess, it sounds profound but lacks movement. Is that enough to find the breakthrough they seek?
Here’s a tough truth: Without understanding of your problem, any solution is temporary. What you do not uproot, will only grow back.
Think about a fearless kid who keeps trying new jumps on his dirt bike. His fractured arm will heal but more trips to the emergency room are inevitable unless he changes his practice.
To shift our lives forward, we must seek the Lord to identify the point of grace.
When God created the earth, He created different places. Not every place was created for man. God created the birds to dominate the air and the fish to dominate the waters. Yet God created man and placed them in a garden.
Man is not made to flourish in all environments. Try a walk in the desert at noon. You will quickly determine this is not your ideal environment! Or just try crossing Antarctica in the winter. Just a few minutes in subarctic temperatures could mean your demise.
As anointed as we are, there are environments where we will thrive and there are environments where we will certainly die.
A believer must discern where they are called. They must review their environment and determine if the place they are in will bring the fruit they desire.
A baby in a mother’s womb is a safe place but the baby cannot remain in the womb forever. After nine months, if a baby stays, the same place of blessing will become a place of compromise. The baby needs to trust their mother’s body and leave that place to survive.
Nature is full of this principle. Plants die slowly from lack of water. The leaves crumple, the flowers fade, the petals fall and then it dies. Yet truly, it died weeks earlier, when we forgot to nourish it with water or sunlight; something stopped coming to its roots.
In Ruth, Mahlon and Chilion died ten years earlier, when Elkannah decided to leave the Bethlehem, the House of Bread, the land where God was. What we choose impacts our families! We must discern the location where we can hear the word of God.
Think upon Elijah’s life: God told him about a coming famine and promised Elijah His provision (1 Kings 17: 6). Yet consider the instructions: To survive the famine, Elijah needed to go to the stream where God would feed him with the ravens.
Have you located the place God has prepared for you? Dear friends, location matters.
The location that will destroy you
Psalm 1: 1-4 says, Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.
Sinners have a way of doing things. The counsel of the wicked is a place of death. Get out of that place. Make a good choice to leave all that behind.
A location filled with mockers will crush your future. Avoid people who will mock your dreams.
Our Lord Jesus could not minister miracles in Nazareth because of the unbelief of his hometown. If you are in a place with people who mock your God, flee from that location and fellowship with those who revere the Lord and His ways.
The Bible is filled with people who learnt to thrive in the location God designed for them.
Abraham went to the land God showed him, and is forever known as the father of nations.
Ruth had the wisdom to know her blessing was attached to Naomi, and in her staying, she birthed Obed, who begot Jesse, who then fathered David, the covenant king of Judah, whose lineage begot Jesus Christ.
Location, whether land or a person, determines your outcome.
In the New Testament, some were offended by Jesus’ teachings and left. Jesus asked his Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” But Simon Peter answered “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6: 67-69).
Beloved, the location God has determined for your house will bring favour, grace, and understanding.
Locate your place and stay rooted and flourish!
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