- “Morning Chapel Prayer Playlist”
Jeannie shared…
Lately He’s been talking to me about the seed and the power of the seed. And throughout that whole conversation, then He brings other things and like different pieces of puzzles that start to fit together. And so, Holy Spirit, I thank you that you show me how to bring these pieces together in the most eloquent way, in the way that you would do it.
So in First Kings 18, the Message version. It says, “A long time passed. Then God’s word came to Elijah. The drought was now in its third year.” So let’s picture that. A long time had passed. God’s word came. And it had been three years of drought. Three years of nada, nothing happening. “The message: “Go and present yourself to Ahab; I’m about to make it rain on the country.” Now, if I’m Elijah, I’m thinking, “Okay, so what does “I’m about to” mean?” Does it mean another five years? When we have that conversation with Him, He always answers us.
Book, “Atomic Habits”
I’ve been reading a book called “Atomic Habits.” And it all ties together with where I believe a lot of us are in the body. We’re all in a place where we can see what He’s doing. We can hear what He’s doing, but we haven’t seen what He’s doing. So in the book, Atomic Habits, it starts with the definition of atomic. So as I read these definitions to you, think of it in terms of these scriptures. Do not despise these small beginnings, for the Lord rejoices to see the work begin. So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time, we will reap a harvest of blessing if we do not give up. And let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and doing right, for in due time and at that appointed season, we shall reap. There was a drought for three years. If we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
So the title Atomic Habits, I mean I can’t even tell you how much this confirms what God is doing, what God is saying, at least for me, and I’m hoping now for you.
Definition of Atomic
Atomic: an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system. Does that sound like faith? An extremely small amount of a thing? Does it seem like small, teeny, tiny things are happening? In fact, we will be reading in First Kings 18, about how it’s started with the drought. It started with God’s Word. And then it was Elijah seeing and hearing rain. And then it was the cloud, the size of a man’s hand. But they had to go back seven times and look. And it rained over the entire country.
Atomic: an extremely small amount of a thing; the single irreducible unit of a larger system. Another definition: the source of immense energy or power. Atomic: the smallest thing is the source of immense energy or power. Seed time and harvest. It’s that time part that can be the problem. But that seed, which is the smallest, it’s the smallest representation of the big thing is actually the source of immense energy or power. And here we have a book, Atomic Habits of some guy who’s probably not even a believer who’s been studying what happens when we make small, teeny tiny changes consistently, and the immense impact that they have had. It’s the word come alive.
Definition of Habit
Habit: a routine or practice performed regularly; an automatic response to a specific situation.
What has been our automatic response? What does God say about this time? What does the Word say? When we watched the news? When we see what’s happening in our families. When we see what’s happening anywhere. It doesn’t matter if you are afraid first when your automatic response is eventually, “what does God say.” What I’m here to tell you today is it is making a difference and you’re about to see His goodness in the land of the living.
And if you’re already seen His goodness, you’re about to see it in the way that you know it’s coming to pass in a huge immense way.
Example in Atomic Habits of bike team winning Tour de France…
So couple examples He gives here in Atomic Habits. He gives an example of … now I’m going to butcher this. Okay? But you know, those … what do you call those people that ride bikes in France. You know, like the Tour of France. Well, anyway, it talks about this team, all these people that ride their bikes. And they had decided that, okay, we’re going to win. How are we going to do this? So they had a goal to win the Tour de France in five years. So they started making teeny, tiny itty bitty inconsequential changes. And, as they did this and they were consistent with these teeny, tiny 1% changes, they actually ended up becoming world champions, not in five years, but in three years. Like tiny things, like painting the inside of the thing where you carry the bikes white. So you could see the dust show up, just like things that you would think wouldn’t matter. You know when the enemy tries to tell you what you believe doesn’t matter. Why do you think he does that? Because he knows the power of the small. God made the seed. He made particles at the atomic level, and they are actually the most powerful particles, the atomic level.
And then here God is in His Word, encouraging us to keep the habits of belief, to keep the habit of pressing in, to not give up because harvest time is coming. And then you have this guy writing this book about atomic habits. He talked about another guy who lost a hundred pounds. How did he do it? He started by just going to the gym every day for three minutes. And then it built and built and built. And he’s kept it off now, I believe for over a decade. That’s where we’re at. We’ve been at this for a long time. There’s been a drought for a while. Yet God’s promises are sure and they’re not changing. So let’s just hang in there. This is about to break wide open.
A one-degree shift…
So from Atomic Habits, “what progress is really like.” Don’t we want to know! Imagine that you have an ice cube sitting on the table in front of you. The room is cold and you can see your breath. It is currently 25 degrees. Ever so slowly, the room begins to heat up, 26 degrees, 27, 28. The ice cube is still sitting on the table in front of you. That thing is still sitting in front of you and it looks like it’s not changing. But what did God say? 29 degrees, 30, 31 still, nothing has happened. Then 32 degrees, the ice begins to melt. One degree shift. A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it has unlocked a huge change. Breakthrough moments are often the result of many previous actions, which build up the potential required to unleash a major change.
A critical threshold…
This pattern shows up everywhere. Cancer can spend 80% of its life undetectable, then takes over the body in months. We know that the Word is greater than that. Bamboo can barely be seen for the first five years as it builds extensive root systems underground before exploding 90 feet into the air within six weeks.
The most powerful outcomes are delayed…
Similarly, habits often appear to make no difference until they cross a critical threshold and unlock a new level of performance. In the early and middle stages of any quest, there is often a valley of disappointment. You expect to make progress in a linear fashion. And it’s frustrating how ineffective changes can seem during the first days, weeks, and even months. And sometimes years. It doesn’t feel like you are going anywhere. It’s a hallmark of any compounding process. The most powerful outcomes are delayed.
The beauty of God…
Here’s the beauty of God. He set it up this way. He knew it would be this way. And He continues to encourage us to continue to move forward until we see it. And then there are people out there that are discovering these same things that are already made, just completely and fully known to us in the Word. This is one of the core reasons why it is so hard to build habits that last and here’s God encouraging His people understanding that it can be tough to keep going. He tells you not to get tired because He knows you’re tired. We have a Father that gets it. He understands. People make a few small changes, fail to see a tangible result and decide to stop. This is why faith doesn’t go by what it sees, but it keeps going knowing you will see it. and we are about to see it.
The plateau of latent potential…
You think I’ve been running every day for a month. So why can’t I see any change in my body? Once this kind of thinking takes over, it’s easy to let good habits fall by the wayside, but in order to make a meaningful difference, habits need to persist long enough to break through this plateau. What I call the plateau of latent potential. If you find yourself struggling to build a good habit or break a bad one, it’s not because you’ve lost your ability to improve. It’s often because you’ve not yet crossed the plateau of latent potential. Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from 25 to 31 degrees. Your work was not wasted. It is just being stored. All the action happens at 31 degrees.
Your prayers, your declaring, your crying out have not been wasted. They’ve all been stored. The Word talks about prayers, viles of prayer being poured into vessels, about to be poured out on the earth. It’s the same principle. When you finally break through the plateau of latent potential, people call it an overnight success. The outside world only sees the most dramatic event rather than all that proceeded it. But you know that it’s the work you did long ago when it seemed that you weren’t making any progress, that makes the jump today possible.
The Father is about to do things and answer prayers we’ve even forgotten about. And perhaps have only prayed out in our Holy Ghost language. Because He hasn’t forgotten His promises. All of His promises are yes and amen. Absolutely all of them. And everything that He ever promised is coming to pass.
And I just declare right now over the Church, over the people of God that that valley of depression is now being lifted and we continue to move forward, lean in, press in, stay on it and watch it breakthrough.
Mastery requires patience. Change can take years before it happens all at once. It is the human equivalent of geological pressure. Two tectonic plates can grind against one another for millions of years. The tension slowly building all the while. Then one day they rub each other once again, in the same fashion they have for ages, but this time the tension is too great. An earthquake erupts. Change can take years before it happens all at once.
Mastery requires patience. It was through faith and patience. It’s through faith and patience that we attain the promise, but here’s the deal. We are attaining the promise. It’s a spiritual law. It’s a physical law. It has to come to pass. There’s no getting around it. This is coming to pass.
All big things come from small beginnings…
All big things come from small beginnings. The seed of every habit is a single, tiny decision. Today even the tiniest decisions, the tiniest decisions for victory, the tiniest decisions to believe are making a huge, tremendous, giant, massive, ridiculous impact. Where would we be if we had seen the goodness of God in the land of the living? We are in good company longing to see His goodness…
