For Anyone Holding A Disappointment | Steven Furtick

I learned something about God’s opportunities,

about the love he’ll bring into
your life, about the blessings,

about the extensions he will give to you of a
new season of purpose. I learned something. I

learned that hope and disappointment swing on
the same hinges. This is why you’re guarded.

To open your door to hope is to open
your door to disappointment. Let me

give you this like a friend. Okay? Are we
friends? Okay. I want to be your friend for

a moment. Avoiding disappointment
is not a strategy for happiness;

it’s a recipe for resentment. Avoiding
disappointment is not a strategy for happiness.

Now, maybe this is just for all of the middle-aged
men like me. Maybe the youth can take a nap while

I preach this, but for everybody who dragged
two or three disappointments through the door

with you today, I need you to know that the
way to deal with the disappointments is not

to close the door of hope. It is not just to
accept “I’m always going to be an addict.”

It is not just to accept “I guess I
ruined that relationship, and I don’t

deserve another one.” It is not to accept “My
family has always been treading water. I’m

just lucky not to drown.” The grace of God
is here, and Jesus is standing at the door

and knocking. You think Jesus is knocking on
the door just so your house won’t burn down?

He wants to come in. He wants to eat with
you. He wants to cook for you. He wants to

create with you. He wants to collaborate
with you. He wants to guide you. He wants

to fill you. He wants to reconcile you. He
wants to make you a masterpiece according

to his blueprint. He wants to do it! Are you
open? She said, “No. My door is always open

to you if you want something, but my door is
closed if you want to do something for me.”

Elisha gives us a picture of the persistence
of God, the persistence of his presence.

“Here I am. I stand at the door and knock.”
A Scripture that was written to disobedient,

lukewarm churches. “Here I am. I’m still
here.” Boom, boom! Your heartbeat is telling

you he’s still here. Boom, boom! This word
is telling you he’s still here. Boom, boom!

That person who came into your life last week,
and you’ve already tried to shut them out… That

was God at the door. That was God knocking. That
thing inside of you that flutters a little bit

and flickers a little bit when you get under
a good word and you put Facebook off of your

phone for 15 minutes and let this word come into
your heart… That’s God knocking. He still is.

He is the Alpha and the Omega, he who was and is
and is to come. Elisha lays there for a minute.

She tells him, “No, I don’t want anything.” That’s
like those of you who have said, “I don’t make

resolutions. I don’t make plans. I don’t set
goals. I don’t do anything. Leave me alone.”

I went to the dental hygienist 10 years ago,
and I said, “I need you to know something about

me before you start working on my teeth.
You can say anything you want to say. You

can give me anything you want to give me.
You can knock me out and put me to sleep,

but when I go home I’m not flossing. You could
give me a sponsorship for flossing, and I’m not

flossing. I’d rather bring my teeth to you in
an ashtray and ask you to put them back in than

floss.” Isn’t it amazing what we already decided
we won’t do before the word even went forth today?

We’re not talking about a lazy lady.
She already built a room. Yet there is

one thing in her life (there is one thing
in your life) that she will not mention,

and Elisha is about to find out about it. That’s
the thing God is looking for today in your heart.

Elisha said (verse 14), “What can be done for
her?” Persistent little prophet, isn’t he?

“I’m not a freeloader. I want to do something
for her. What can I do for her? I can’t build

her a room. I don’t even live here.
I can’t cook for her.” Then Gehazi,

the servant, said, “Well, she has no
son, and her husband is old. I mean,

did you see him carrying the table up the stairs?
That was sad.” Elisha said, “All right.” This is

the turning point of the text. We have to
get here together. Elisha said, “Call her.”

You’re like, “He already called her.” No,
no, no. The first time she came to Gehazi,

but this time he called her back. I
believe God is calling somebody back today,

because last year this time you had some
things in your heart. You thought they

would have happened by now. They didn’t. You have
allowed your timeline to cause your faith to die.

You have allowed your timeline to become
the throne at which you worship. You have

allowed your heart to become so crowded
with disappointment you cannot receive

what God is doing today. Elisha says and
God says, “Call her. Tell her I want her

to come back.” “So he called her…” In all of the
years I’ve been preaching this Scripture since

I was 17 years old… I have preached about
what that woman did, how she was obedient.

I have preached about when she did it, just
whenever he came by, but I have never preached

about where she stood when he spoke the word
that changed her life. I saw it this week like

it was a word for each and every one of us on
every continent, in every county, wherever life

finds you today. The Bible says he called her
and she came. “…she stood in the doorway.” Just

a few months ago, this was not a room at all.
It was just an open space on the roof. But one

day she decided, one day she committed, one day
she intended and did it, and she built a room.

Now she is standing not in the room she built
but in the doorway of the room she built. I

believe somebody is standing in the doorway
today. You are standing between two things,

and there is a voice calling you forth.
It is the voice of the Lord calling you

forward into freedom, calling you forward into
movement, calling you forward into legacy,

calling you forward into purity,
calling you forward into abundance,

calling you forward into generosity,
calling you forward into your future.

The hinges of the door that swings open to
Elisha’s chamber were on the same little

hinges that were just a simple act of obedience
days earlier. I’m trying to get you to see that

you keep waiting for God to open a door.
Maybe he wants you to make your own door.

This is going to help somebody from dying
in the wilderness of “one day when.” “Oh,

when God opens the door…” There was no door at the
beginning of 2 Kings 4. There was no room at all.

There was just a woman with a heart for God to do
something for him, to be obedient and to be open.

Can God have your heart? We keep
saying, “I surrender it to God,”

but surrender shouldn’t keep you from
taking initiative. Surrender should

give you initiative to find a way to be
a blessing, to find a way to be free,

to call one of the counselors whose cards you’ve
been looking at for years. There was no door.

I wish I could preach this message at
the Matthews Campus that literally used

to be a shopping center. When we went to
lease 42,000 square feet, circa 2007/2008,

we were told by one of the tenants in the strip
mall, “No!” “No, can’t put a church here. No,

can’t have a religious institution
here. It’ll strike business down.”

So, for a minute I thought, “Well, maybe we
can’t put a church there,” because when you

are told “No” from the outside or the
inside, and everything you try to do to

move it forward doesn’t work or makes it
worse, you get to a place… Watch. She’s

standing in the doorway. Verse 16. I have
to give you this. Elisha calls her and says,

“About this time next year…” Where do you want
to be this time next year? What are you looking

forward to having the victory over or at least
incremental leverage over this time next year?

Do you want to know a few Scriptures you
can quote? Do you want to be able to say,

“I’m leading a group of middle school
boys now and helping them not to be

as dumb as I was”? Where do you
want to be this time next year?

Elisha says, “I know you didn’t ask, and I know
you said no, but about this time next year, you

will hold a son in your arms.” Her response, this
woman of great faith, was “No.” The Devil didn’t

say, “No”; she did. The Devil isn’t blocking you;
you are. “No, because I’ve been here before.”

My third point is you have to be obnoxious.
Holly and I had a fight. Oh, y’all are paying

attention now. You want to see, “Where is
he going with this? Pastor Steven might be

sleeping in a room on the roof in my house
tonight. Holly is going to kick him out.” We

had a fight at the end of last year. Not 2023.
In 2023 we had no fights. It was 2022. It was

a fight about her (I can’t believe I’m sharing
this with you) trying to get me to see that God

had put more in me than I was giving. Not in
a nagging way. Not in a way that was saying,

“You’re not doing enough,” making me feel bad.
It wasn’t shame-based. There was something…

We’re talking in the text about
a woman who couldn’t have a baby,

but it could represent anything you can’t
have that is a God-given desire. I’m not

talking about all the stuff you want because you
spend too much time shopping. I’m talking about

the stuff you can’t have, but it is a part
of your future and you can’t have it yet.

She kept telling me, “There are more messages
in you.” Now, the thing you don’t know… We

keep promoting, and we’re going to promote
it even more that I’m putting a book out

in a couple of weeks, a week before my
birthday. I appreciate your enthusiasm.

Holly was trying to get me to see
when she was yelling at me…I mean,

when she was exhorting me… She wasn’t yelling.
Holly can yell in a whisper. It’s annoying. It’s

obnoxious. She was just speaking to the part of me
that knew I was supposed to put out a book. But I

wrote a book in 2020, and when I went to publish
it, even my own agent said, “No.” It wasn’t it.

Nine months of writing a book, and then for it
to just sit there in a binder… I told the Lord,

“I will preach for thee, I will post Instagram
clips for thee, and I will be a blessing to

those you’ve called me to intersect in
life, but I’m not writing another book.”

So, I was preparing this message, and I
wasn’t thinking about me. I was thinking

about the thousands of people who will hear this
message. You’re holding a disappointment that’s so

heavy you have no room to receive the thing God is
speaking in your life. What is that thing for you?

Would you identify it? The Holy Spirit will do
a whole lot better job than I could. That thing.

While I was getting this message ready, I read
what the prophet said to the woman. Verse 16:

“About this time next year, you will hold
a son in your arms.” She said, “No! Please,

man of God, don’t mislead your servant!”
Do you think maybe that’s because she had

encountered a few false prophets before?
Do you think maybe some other prophets

had stopped by and ate her food and slept
in her guest room and made her promises?

We’ve all been disappointed. We’ve all been
let down. Now life has let you down so many

times you won’t even let hope in when it comes
to avoid the disappointment. But I love God,

and I treasure him, and I honor him as the
God of my life. If Revelation 3:20 is true,

that means that while my voice is
saying “No,” his hand keeps knocking.

The Bible says in verse 17 that even though she
said, “No,” and even though in this area of her

life she didn’t believe it was possible, the woman
became pregnant. I read that text over and over,

because I was looking for the point where
she said, “I believe you,” but she never even

said it. Even though she didn’t believe it was
possible, the Bible says she became pregnant. Why?

Because she didn’t have the faith to become
pregnant, but she had the faith to build a

room. I came to say to you today that you
don’t have to know how God is going to do

it. You don’t even have to completely believe
that he will do it. You don’t have to quote

all of the right responses back to God,
but God keeps knocking through your “No.”

God is faithful even if you’re faithless. I
declare and decree over your life this day

that about this time next year… I said,
“About this time next year.” I said,

“January 2025.” About this time next year,
you will hold a promise in your arms.

Isn’t it cool how Holly was right and there
was another book in me? The book came in the

mail this week as an announcement to you that
whatever disappointment weighed you down, drop it.

God said, “I’ve got another box with your name on
it, and if you’ll give me some room on the roof…”

Come on. We’re knocking through the
“No.” I feel the Spirit of God like

a flood raising up a standard against the Enemy.