A New Transition

True Grit

You must pay for everything in this world, one way or another. There is nothin' free except the grace of God.
-Mattie Ross, True Grit

In 1 Samuel 17 we find the story of David and Goliath. I'm sure we all know the story of David and Goliath. Goliath and King Saul were both big and mighty warriors. Saul stood between 6' and 6'6" and Goliath stood over 9 foot tall. They both towered over all the people of Israel.

However, David had what is called grit. Grit is courage, determination, and resolve. David toppled Goliath, not with his strength and mightiness but with his grit.

Today I was posed two questions by Lisa Bevere. The first question was, "what are some areas where you are gritty?" Needless to say with a question like that I just sat there and stared in deep contemplation. After an extended period of silence I finally had an answer.

In this season in my life I'm gritty in pursuing God's calling on my life. I'm chasing after it and I'm running through every mountain that is put in my path. This is obvious in the fact I am uprooting my life and moving across the country for YWAM.

It isn't the area I'm gritty in that God wants me to speak on tonight, but the area in which I lack grit in. The second question posed to me was, "what are some not-so-gritty areas that need to be strengthened?"

It takes true grit to receive what it is God has in hand for you. A person has true grit when they are able to take the alter by the horns until their knuckles turn white and they sweat blood. A person has true grit when they say, "GOD! I'm not leaving until You give me what I'm waiting for!" That's true grit. It's true grit because they know that when they receive whatever it is, that is when it gets real and crazy. That's when "to whom much is given, much will be required" comes into play.

"I do not entertain hypotheticals. The world itself is vexin' enough." -Colonel Stonehill, True Grit

We cannot live in hypothetical Christianity. We can't live on bread crumbs or hearsay. We know that according to the Bible if we ask we will receive and we know all the requirements in asking, but until we put it into play it's totally hypothetical.

There's not much we can do with the hypothesis. When witnessing to unbelievers we can tell them our hypothesis of how God works. However, when they ask us, "how do you know this is true?" All we can do is quote them the Book they don't believe in because we ourselves have not experienced it because we don't have true grit. That's why in 1 Corinthians Paul said, "And so it was with me, brothers and sisters. When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.  For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spiritʼs power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on Godʼs power."
1 Corinthians 2:1‭-‬5
We cannot demonstrate His power until we step out of the hypothesis, take the alter by the horns, and leap into knowing. Paul could demonstrate the power because he had grit, unlike when he was Saul.

Mattie displays true grit. She has courage, determination, and resolve to bring the man (Chaney) who killed her dad to justice. However, here Mattie attempts to bring this man into custody without the help of the Marshall's.

Similarly, many of us often fail to receive from God because we don't follow His guidance in asking. We ask with selfish motivations rather than kingdom motivations. So along with having true grit we have to have the right motivations. Otherwise, things might go awry like they did when Mattie tried to take Chaney into custody.

The question here tonight is, do you have true grit?

Heavenly Father, help us to have true grit. Help us to be able to stand firm with courage, determination, and resolve to receive what it is You have in store for us. Help us to take the alter by the horns and stand our ground. Lord, not only that but help us to do so within Your will with Kingdom motivations.