Overview
This teaching examines “Be Where You Are and See God There” through Philippians 2, Hebrews 13, 2 Corinthians 12, Lamentations 3, showing how know, perspective, every shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Transcript
Understanding Be Where You Are and See God There
Well, thank you very much and good morning and God bless you. If you would turn the pages of your Bible and locate Philippians chapter 2, please. I shouted up to my friend, hey, which way will bring us back? The only sign I’ve seen for the last hour is watch out for bears, which is not the sign you want to see when you’re on the side of a mountain.
Um, my perspective had suddenly changed. I had been relating to the natural beauty of Whistler Mountain in British Columbia, Canada. This is just a few months ago and it was just spectacularly beautiful.
It was serene, it was lovely and suddenly it didn’t look the same to me. I felt lost and kind of disoriented. I looked around even though the sun was still shining and we hadn’t really done anything else differently.
We were just twisting and turning through different trails and hikes and I just became disoriented and fear began to creep up the back of my neck and I hollered to my friend. I said, hey, we could die up here. We need to stop and figure out where we are and, and get back to where we were.
Uh, and well, we didn’t die up there as you can see, but we could have, at least that’s how I felt about it. And at least that’s where my perspective had changed too. We started the hike and all was well and we were going along beautifully.
And then all of a sudden it wasn’t so beautiful and nothing really changed in our environment. What changed was my perspective of where I was and what I was doing. So we did stop and we did stay calm and we did reorient ourselves and we moved forward and we knew, we knew that father was there because along our track back down the mountain, we saw embedded in the trail were his blessings.
Every which way we looked, we knew we were going the right way, but we had to move forward and keep our minds focused that God is where we are. And he helped us along this path that day and it was great. And we made it back down and we kind of laughed a little bit over a cup of coffee, um, about how we had found ourselves in a place where we, our perspective could have changed so quickly.
So look in Philippians with me, um, chapter two, verse 12, wherefore my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And that little, that little section of scripture right there reminds me to every day as I wake and open my eyes and see that God has been on the job while I’ve been sleeping cozily in my bed, he’s watched out over me.
I’ve been able to go to sleep and pretty much be, uh, you know, oblivious to everything around me and the earth still orbited. And then the sun, the sun came up out of the dark sky and here he was again. And every day I bring the liveliness of my salvation to mine.
Nobody else can do that for me. And what I wanted to share today is be where you are and see God there. It’s about perspective.
The Biblical Foundation
Perspective is about how we orient our thoughts routinely every day. And when we find ourselves in adverse situations, when we routinely look and see father walking with us, that perspective is our default angle in life. It’s how we look at things.
Perspective determines how we relate to others, to ourselves and to the situations that we find ourselves in. We cannot control all the circumstances or people we will encounter or need to relate to. That’s just never gonna happen in life.
But what we can prepare is our perspective every day. See the liveliness of your salvation every day. And that, and that perspective will ground you in our, in our mental stability and that liveliness of our salvation and knowing that where we are, God is, will help us to govern how we relate to and respond to ourselves and our emotional well-being, how we relate to others and how we relate to the environment that we find ourselves in.
Because in every adverse circumstance there are blessings embedded because God is for us. He is always present. He is present in the Christ in us.
So be where you are and see God there. If you’ll take a moment and go over to Hebrews chapter 13. Hebrews chapter 13.
I like how this is a companion sort of truth to Philippians. Hebrews chapter 13 verse 20. Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus.
It’s where God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. I just love how he writes that. How the God of peace brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the everlasting covenant.
Verse 21. Make you perfect. This is really a prayer.
Paul is praying. Make you perfect or mature in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight through Jesus Christ to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.
Examples and Spiritual Lessons
I just love how when my perspective is God is for me no matter where I am and what I’m doing or who I’m with. God is with me and for me. Be where I am and be where you are and see God there.
Turn to 2 Corinthians please. Chapter 12. 2 Corinthians chapter 12.
2 Corinthians chapter 12 verse 9. And he said unto me, Paul writes, God said unto him, my grace is enough for you. He had found himself in very adverse situations, Paul did. You read all about it in the book of Acts and he recounts it and brings it to mind as incidents of victory throughout the epistles.
And when he was asking God for help and a way out, God says to Paul, listen son, my grace is all that you need. And it is his grace that we’re called from death to life, isn’t it? It’s by grace that we’re saved. God’s grace covers everything that I need in life and that you need in life.
Turn to Lamentations chapter 3. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Lamentations. It’s a small book, so right after the book of Jeremiah is nestled the book of Lamentations and it’s right before the book of Ezekiel. One of my verses and sections of the word that the truths bubble up and give me comfort is in Lamentations chapter 3. Let’s read it together.
Verse 22. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed. Grace is what I need and covers my need and mercy is what rescues me from the perils of this life.
In this second heaven and earth, there are perils. There are adverse situations. The body, soul, and spirit, that’s who we are.
And there will be days where we wake up and inside of that day will be adverse situations. There will be, not every day, but some days. It is the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because his compassion, they fail not.
God is good to us every moment of our day. From the moment we accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and believe that God raised him from the dead, we were set apart. Before the foundations of the earth, we were in his line of sight and he knew us and cared for us and gently led us to pastures of green grass and fresh water.
Verse 23. They, the mercies and compassions, are new every morning. Great is God’s faithfulness.
Faith in Action
I have disciplined myself in a very encouraging way that when I wake in the morning and my head still rests on my cozy pillow in my dry house, in my safe neighborhood where I am, I raise my eyelids and I look and I say, God, thank you for this new day. I know you’ll walk with me. I know you’ll keep me safe.
I know you will embed blessings throughout the day and the encounters that I’ll have. And when I need you most, you will rescue me because your mercies and compassions are new every day. Verse 24.
The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope in him. Hope is for things that are unseen. I don’t know what lies around the corner and neither do you.
In fact, I can only see as far as my headlight and you too. And I trust that there will be asphalt road ahead of me. But what about in life when we walk out our door in the morning or get up in the morning and find our way through our day? I trust not as far as my headlights can see.
I trust my God because I hope in him and I know that he will provide for me. Verse 25. The Lord is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him.
Remember Philippians chapter 2 in verse 12 and 13? We read to work out our own salvation. We read where he is for us. We read that.
Our liveliness, our perspective of our salvation should be lively every day. We need to look for that and to see it and to seek it. Verse 26.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the Lord. Sometimes we are in situations where we need rescuing. Maybe it’s a relationship with a co-worker.
Maybe it’s a neighbor that’s gone AWOL and cracked up. Maybe it’s your health. Maybe it’s a spouse or a child.
Walking in Love and Confidence
Maybe it’s your bank account. Maybe it’s the flooding waters that are filling your room like ours last Sunday night. Whatever it is, we know that God will provide because he is our rescue.
Look at Psalm 46 with me. Go to the left. Psalm’s Proverbs, Psalm 46.
Most people I know that love God and his word have Psalm 46 somewhere hanging in their house. We are no exception. We have this great verse, this great truth, this great promise hanging on our wall.
Verse 10. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen.
I will be exalted in the earth. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge.
Selah. You know, we just read in Psalm 46 and we read in Lamentations 3 to be quiet and at rest and to look and to be peaceful and to seek God’s grace and his mercy. You can turn to Philippians chapter 4 with me, please.
Philippians chapter 4. One of the hardest and most challenging things for us humans to do when we are in adverse situations. And you name your situation. We could, you know, turn off the mute button and go around and every one of us can tell us about a most recent adverse situation that you have faced in all categories of this life and living.
And some of them could be downright scary. Some of them can be downright life-threatening. Others are just minor inconveniences and are annoying.
Nonetheless, they’re adverse. But you know what the scriptures lift up and tell us? To know that God is with us. God is for us.
We are his. He will show us the way to walk rightly and uprightly above the flood of adversity. Be where you are, my friends, and see God there because he is with you and find a way to change and orient your perspective when things are calm and quiet.
Applying the Teaching in Daily Life
Make it a habitual routine, the joy of your soul to open your eyes and to know God Almighty, the creator of the heavens and the earth who gave you eternal life. He is with you right then and there. Seek him, know him, acknowledge him, invite him into your daily thoughts and walk.
Change your perspective to orient towards the North Star God. And when you do that, you will be prepared and in a platform of perspective to be able to relate to where you are in an adverse situation and be able to see him there and to follow his lead with your words, with your thoughts, with your actions, with your decisions. And he will give you grace.
Grace is all you need. Mercy rescues us. Grace covers our need.
It’s beautiful. Look at Philippians chapter 4. I’ll read it in the King James and then I’m going to read it to you from the Message Bible. In King James, verse 6, Philippians 4, 6, Be careful for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication.
With thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your heart and mind through Christ Jesus. That’s the King James.
Listen closely to the message translation. Philippians 4, verses 6 and 7, the message translation. Don’t fret or worry.
Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concern. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness everything coming together for good will come and settle you down.
First Corinthians chapter 10, please. Verse 13. There hath no temptation taken you, but such as is common to man.
But God, God, God, our Father is faithful, who will not suffer or allow you to be tempted above that ye are able. But along with the temptation that the enemy gives us, also he will make a way to escape that you may be able to endure. God already has a solution from before you ever woke up that morning, because he never sleeps.
A Life Shaped by God’s Word
And we can be free in our minds from limited options. Why? Because he will make a way to escape it. And always remember that verse in James.
You should mark it in your Bible if you haven’t already. Where this verse, First Corinthians chapter 10, verse 13, he tells us that he’ll make a way to escape the temptation. We always remember that God does not tempt man.
James chapter 1, verse 13. You don’t have to go there, but know it and note it. That God is, he’s not in the business of tempting his people or anybody.
We know who the tempter is. So this verse that Paul writes, it’s a given that the enemy is the tempter. But with every temptation to fear, which is our bottom line, natural man response is to fear.
God says he’s faithful and he will provide an escape route for us. It’s just beautiful. Turn to First Corinthians chapter 13, please.
Verse 12. And we’ll conclude here. For now we see through a glass darkly, but then, when? At the return of Jesus Christ, when we are gathered together.
Then, face to face, now I know only partially, but then shall I know even as I am known. And now abide faith, hope, and charity. These three.
But the greatest of these is agapeo, the love of God. This seeing through a glass darkly is like a riddle with parts or like a vintage mirror where we cannot see with perfect clarity. We don’t know how all of the pieces will fit together, but we know the one who does.
And one day, when we are gathered together, we will have crystal clear clarity. Today, we live on a need-to-know basis. And God will keep us informed.
Be where you are, my friends, and see God there.
Key Takeaways
- God’s grace covers everything that I need in life and that you need in life.
- But what we can prepare is our perspective every day.
- Because in every adverse circumstance there are blessings embedded because God is for us.
- And when he was asking God for help and a way out, God says to Paul, listen son, my grace is all that you need.
- Grace is what I need and covers my need and mercy is what rescues me from the perils of this life.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the main message of “Be Where You Are and See God There”?
This teaching examines “Be Where You Are and See God There” through Philippians 2, Hebrews 13, 2 Corinthians 12, Lamentations 3, showing how know, perspective, every shape a believer’s relationship with God, daily choices, and service to others.
Which scriptures are central to this teaching?
The teaching draws especially from Philippians 2, Hebrews 13, 2 Corinthians 12, Lamentations 3, Psalm 46.
How can believers apply this teaching?
But what we can prepare is our perspective every day.
Scripture References
Philippians 2; Hebrews 13; 2 Corinthians 12; Lamentations 3; Psalm 46; Philippians 4
This text was prepared from the teaching audio or source document. Please verify scripture references against your own Bible.
