WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.740 Welcome to Pomoja Ministry. There is a phrase 00:00:03.740 --> 00:00:06.519 hidden throughout scripture that reveals another 00:00:06.519 --> 00:00:10.419 dimension of divine intervention. It is not always 00:00:10.419 --> 00:00:14.140 spoken with the exact same words. Sometimes it 00:00:14.140 --> 00:00:17.940 appears as a command, sometimes as a limitation, 00:00:18.739 --> 00:00:22.699 sometimes as a boundary, sometimes as protection. 00:00:23.379 --> 00:00:26.839 But the message is the same. You may come this 00:00:26.839 --> 00:00:31.440 far, but no farther. And perhaps this is one 00:00:31.440 --> 00:00:33.859 of the most comforting truths we can discover 00:00:33.859 --> 00:00:37.320 about the sovereignty of God. Because there are 00:00:37.320 --> 00:00:40.000 moments when God does not prevent the battle 00:00:40.000 --> 00:00:43.560 from approaching. He does not always stop the 00:00:43.560 --> 00:00:47.380 fire before it is lit. He does not always prevent 00:00:47.380 --> 00:00:50.960 the lions from being around you. He does not 00:00:50.960 --> 00:00:54.640 always stop the storm from forming. He does not 00:00:54.640 --> 00:00:58.159 always prevent the enemy from pursuing. He does 00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:01.060 not always prevent the trial from entering the 00:01:01.060 --> 00:01:05.099 story. But scripture repeatedly shows us something 00:01:05.099 --> 00:01:09.819 extraordinary. What God permits to approach does 00:01:09.819 --> 00:01:12.840 not automatically receive unlimited permission 00:01:12.840 --> 00:01:16.060 to destroy. There can be a boundary. There can 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:19.480 be a limit. There can be a line established by 00:01:19.480 --> 00:01:23.280 divine authority. And when heaven says, no farther, 00:01:23.920 --> 00:01:26.799 nothing crosses that line without permission. 00:01:28.329 --> 00:01:31.250 One of the most powerful pictures of this is 00:01:31.250 --> 00:01:34.930 found in the book of Job. God speaks about the 00:01:34.930 --> 00:01:38.670 sea and asks, who shut up the sea behind doors 00:01:38.670 --> 00:01:42.049 when it burst forth from the womb? And then God 00:01:42.049 --> 00:01:47.109 says, this far you may come and no farther. Here 00:01:47.109 --> 00:01:50.810 is where your proud waves halt. Think about that 00:01:50.810 --> 00:01:55.150 image. The sea is powerful. The waves are violent. 00:01:55.439 --> 00:01:59.480 The water moves with enormous force, but God 00:01:59.480 --> 00:02:02.680 tells the sea where to stop. The ocean does not 00:02:02.680 --> 00:02:06.319 decide its own boundary. The waves do not determine 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.300 how far they are allowed to travel. God establishes 00:02:10.300 --> 00:02:13.919 the line, and perhaps creation itself is preaching. 00:02:14.699 --> 00:02:18.520 The waves can rise, but there is a limit. The 00:02:18.520 --> 00:02:22.719 storm can rage, but there is a boundary. The 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.969 water can move. But heaven has already said, 00:02:26.430 --> 00:02:30.969 this far and no farther. And perhaps some of 00:02:30.969 --> 00:02:34.490 us need to hear that in our own lives. There 00:02:34.490 --> 00:02:36.750 are things that have already come farther than 00:02:36.750 --> 00:02:40.689 we wanted. A problem came farther than we expected. 00:02:41.129 --> 00:02:44.650 A betrayal went deeper than we imagined. A trial 00:02:44.650 --> 00:02:47.889 lasted longer than we hoped. A battle reached 00:02:47.889 --> 00:02:50.610 areas of our lives we thought were protected. 00:02:50.990 --> 00:02:54.099 And because it came that far, we became afraid 00:02:54.099 --> 00:02:57.580 that it could go anywhere. But that is not necessarily 00:02:57.580 --> 00:03:01.259 true. The fact that something reached you does 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:04.460 not mean it owns you. The fact that something 00:03:04.460 --> 00:03:07.479 wounded you does not mean it will finish you. 00:03:08.120 --> 00:03:10.479 The fact that something entered the story does 00:03:10.479 --> 00:03:14.000 not mean it controls the ending. Because there 00:03:14.000 --> 00:03:18.400 is still a God who can say, no farther. This 00:03:18.400 --> 00:03:22.689 becomes even clearer in Job's story. Satan appears 00:03:22.689 --> 00:03:26.789 before God and speaks about Job, and God allows 00:03:26.789 --> 00:03:30.849 Job to be tested. But notice carefully what happens. 00:03:31.389 --> 00:03:34.830 The testing is not unlimited. God establishes 00:03:34.830 --> 00:03:38.349 boundaries. At one point, Satan is permitted 00:03:38.349 --> 00:03:41.830 to touch what belongs to Job, but not Job himself. 00:03:42.569 --> 00:03:45.990 Later, Satan is permitted to afflict Job physically, 00:03:46.469 --> 00:03:50.370 but God says, you must spare his life. There 00:03:50.370 --> 00:03:54.979 is a boundary. Satan has desire, but desire is 00:03:54.979 --> 00:03:59.159 not authority. Satan wants destruction, but destruction 00:03:59.159 --> 00:04:02.740 is not automatically permission. Satan pushes, 00:04:03.259 --> 00:04:06.500 but heaven establishes the limit. And this is 00:04:06.500 --> 00:04:09.740 important because sometimes we imagine spiritual 00:04:09.740 --> 00:04:13.759 warfare as though God and the enemy are equal 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:18.379 powers fighting for control. They are not. God 00:04:18.379 --> 00:04:21.600 is not struggling to remain sovereign. God is 00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:24.600 sovereign. The enemy operates as a creature. 00:04:24.959 --> 00:04:28.639 God reigns as creator. And even in Job's darkest 00:04:28.639 --> 00:04:32.379 season, Satan never became sovereign over Job's 00:04:32.379 --> 00:04:35.480 life. The boundaries remained in God's hands. 00:04:35.839 --> 00:04:39.639 Job lost things. Job suffered. Job questioned. 00:04:39.980 --> 00:04:43.560 Job grieved. But Satan could not simply decide, 00:04:43.740 --> 00:04:47.759 I will take everything, including his life. There 00:04:47.759 --> 00:04:50.939 was a line he could not cross. And maybe there 00:04:50.939 --> 00:04:53.660 are moments when we need to stop magnifying what 00:04:53.660 --> 00:04:56.500 is attacking us and remember who still holds 00:04:56.500 --> 00:04:59.819 authority over the boundary. The enemy may be 00:04:59.819 --> 00:05:04.000 loud, but God is sovereign. The trial may be 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.620 severe, but God is still God. The storm may be 00:05:08.620 --> 00:05:11.480 violent, but the storm does not become Lord. 00:05:12.939 --> 00:05:16.420 Now go with me to Daniel chapter 3, Shadrach, 00:05:16.720 --> 00:05:20.089 Meshach, and Abednego. are thrown into the fiery 00:05:20.089 --> 00:05:24.129 furnace. Nebuchadnezzar is furious. The furnace 00:05:24.129 --> 00:05:27.329 is heated seven times hotter. The soldiers who 00:05:27.329 --> 00:05:30.569 throw them in are killed by the heat. Everything 00:05:30.569 --> 00:05:34.490 about the environment says destruction. And yet, 00:05:34.790 --> 00:05:38.029 when the king looks inside the furnace, he sees 00:05:38.029 --> 00:05:41.529 something impossible. The three men are walking 00:05:41.529 --> 00:05:46.449 around, unbound, unharmed, and there is a fourth 00:05:46.449 --> 00:05:49.629 figure with them. Think about what the fire was 00:05:49.629 --> 00:05:53.029 allowed to do. The fire burned the ropes, but 00:05:53.029 --> 00:05:56.350 not the men. The fire touched what had bound 00:05:56.350 --> 00:06:00.170 them, but could not consume what God was preserving. 00:06:00.629 --> 00:06:03.870 There is a mystery here. The same fire that killed 00:06:03.870 --> 00:06:07.370 the soldiers outside the furnace became powerless 00:06:07.370 --> 00:06:10.850 against the lives God had decided to preserve 00:06:10.850 --> 00:06:14.670 inside it. And perhaps this is one of the clearest 00:06:14.670 --> 00:06:18.160 pictures of divine boundaries. The fire could 00:06:18.160 --> 00:06:21.600 surround them. The fire could heat the atmosphere. 00:06:22.279 --> 00:06:25.439 The fire could destroy the ropes. But there was 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:29.519 a line it could not cross. It could not consume 00:06:29.519 --> 00:06:32.660 them. And perhaps somebody listening needs to 00:06:32.660 --> 00:06:36.279 hear this. There are fires that may burn things 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:39.399 around you without being permitted to burn what 00:06:39.399 --> 00:06:43.680 God has placed his hand upon. There are seasons 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:47.500 that may strip away what bound you. while leaving 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:51.120 your purpose intact. There are trials that may 00:06:51.120 --> 00:06:54.720 change your environment, without changing God's 00:06:54.720 --> 00:06:58.100 intention concerning you. And when Nebuchadnezzar 00:06:58.100 --> 00:07:01.939 calls the men out of the furnace, scripture says, 00:07:02.620 --> 00:07:05.920 the fire had not harmed their bodies, not a hair 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:09.620 of their heads was singed, their robes were not 00:07:09.620 --> 00:07:13.199 scorched, and there was no smell of fire on them. 00:07:13.980 --> 00:07:17.279 That is extraordinary. They had been inside the 00:07:17.279 --> 00:07:21.560 fire, but the fire did not have the final authority 00:07:21.560 --> 00:07:25.220 to define them. And perhaps one of the greatest 00:07:25.220 --> 00:07:28.680 testimonies of divine intervention is not always 00:07:28.680 --> 00:07:32.879 that you avoided the fire. Sometimes it is that 00:07:32.879 --> 00:07:38.120 you came out and the fire could not take what 00:07:38.120 --> 00:07:43.199 it wanted. Then there is Daniel. Daniel is thrown 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:47.009 into a den of lions. The lions are real. The 00:07:47.009 --> 00:07:51.230 danger is real. The sentence is real. But Daniel 00:07:51.230 --> 00:07:54.829 survives the night. And when the king asks whether 00:07:54.829 --> 00:07:58.350 Daniel's god was able to rescue him, Daniel answers, 00:07:59.089 --> 00:08:02.709 my god sent his angel. And he shut the mouths 00:08:02.709 --> 00:08:06.850 of the lions. Notice what God did not do. He 00:08:06.850 --> 00:08:09.709 did not remove the lions. He did not make the 00:08:09.709 --> 00:08:12.970 den disappear. He did not prevent Daniel from 00:08:12.970 --> 00:08:17.220 being thrown inside. Instead, he placed a limit 00:08:17.220 --> 00:08:20.199 on what the lions were allowed to do. They could 00:08:20.199 --> 00:08:23.139 be present. They could surround Daniel, but they 00:08:23.139 --> 00:08:26.339 could not consume him. There it is again. No 00:08:26.339 --> 00:08:29.660 farther. You may enter the den, but the lions 00:08:29.660 --> 00:08:32.960 cannot eat you. You may enter the furnace, but 00:08:32.960 --> 00:08:36.700 the fire cannot consume you. You may be sifted, 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.600 but your faith will not be surrendered to destruction. 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:43.120 The sea may stand before you, but God can open 00:08:43.120 --> 00:08:46.580 a path. through it. The enemy may pursue you, 00:08:46.720 --> 00:08:50.399 but there can come a moment when God says, enough. 00:08:51.639 --> 00:08:54.259 We touched Peter in our previous conversation. 00:08:54.820 --> 00:08:58.679 Jesus tells him, Simon, Simon, Satan has asked 00:08:58.679 --> 00:09:02.720 to sift all of you as wheat. The sifting is coming. 00:09:03.320 --> 00:09:06.919 Jesus does not say Peter will avoid it. But then 00:09:06.919 --> 00:09:10.559 Jesus says, but I have prayed for you, Simon, 00:09:10.940 --> 00:09:14.620 that your faith may not fail. Peter still fails 00:09:14.620 --> 00:09:18.840 publicly. He still denies Jesus. He still weeps 00:09:18.840 --> 00:09:22.320 bitterly. But the failure is not permitted to 00:09:22.320 --> 00:09:26.720 become final destruction. Why? Because Jesus 00:09:26.720 --> 00:09:29.639 had already prayed for the preservation of Peter's 00:09:29.639 --> 00:09:33.639 faith. This is another kind of boundary. The 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:36.860 shaking will come, but it will not take everything. 00:09:37.779 --> 00:09:41.019 The failure will hurt, but it will not erase 00:09:41.019 --> 00:09:45.240 the calling. The night will be dark, but it will 00:09:45.240 --> 00:09:48.580 not become permanent. And perhaps there are seasons 00:09:48.580 --> 00:09:50.899 when God does not prevent us from being shaken 00:09:50.899 --> 00:09:53.519 because there are things that need to fall away. 00:09:54.460 --> 00:09:58.480 Pride, self -confidence, dependence on our own 00:09:58.480 --> 00:10:03.139 strength, false ideas about ourselves. Peter 00:10:03.139 --> 00:10:06.460 told Jesus, even if everyone else falls away, 00:10:06.500 --> 00:10:10.539 I will not. Peter was confident in Peter. Then 00:10:10.539 --> 00:10:13.700 the night revealed Peter to Peter, but the sifting 00:10:13.700 --> 00:10:17.179 was not the end. Because after resurrection, 00:10:17.539 --> 00:10:21.179 Jesus restores him. And later, Peter becomes 00:10:21.179 --> 00:10:24.460 a pillar of the early church. The enemy touched 00:10:24.460 --> 00:10:27.659 Peter's confidence, but did not take Peter's 00:10:27.659 --> 00:10:31.100 calling. He touched Peter's emotions, but did 00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:34.659 not own Peter's future. He touched a chapter, 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:38.679 but did not get the book. And perhaps it is the 00:10:38.679 --> 00:10:41.820 revelation. The enemy may touch a chapter without 00:10:41.820 --> 00:10:46.580 owning the story. Paul gives language to this 00:10:46.580 --> 00:10:50.220 mystery. He says, we are hard pressed on every 00:10:50.220 --> 00:10:53.700 side, but not crushed, perplexed, but not in 00:10:53.700 --> 00:10:57.559 despair, persecuted, but not abandoned, struck 00:10:57.559 --> 00:11:01.240 down, but not destroyed. Listen to the structure, 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:05.200 pressed, but not crushed, perplexed, but not 00:11:05.200 --> 00:11:09.220 despairing, persecuted, but not abandoned. struck 00:11:09.220 --> 00:11:13.620 down, but not destroyed. There is pressure, but 00:11:13.620 --> 00:11:17.120 there is a limit. There is pain, but there is 00:11:17.120 --> 00:11:20.360 a boundary. There is attack, but there is still 00:11:20.360 --> 00:11:24.019 preservation. There is falling, but there is 00:11:24.019 --> 00:11:28.259 not final destruction. Paul is describing the 00:11:28.259 --> 00:11:31.320 difference between what happened and what God 00:11:31.320 --> 00:11:35.200 did not allow it to become. That is divine intervention. 00:11:35.899 --> 00:11:38.940 The pressure was real. But it could not crush. 00:11:39.700 --> 00:11:43.519 The persecution was real. But it could not produce 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:47.240 abandonment. The strike was real. But it could 00:11:47.240 --> 00:11:50.200 not become destruction. And maybe that is how 00:11:50.200 --> 00:11:52.379 you need to reinterpret some things in your own 00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:57.679 life. Yes, it hurt. But you are still here. Yes, 00:11:58.120 --> 00:12:02.059 you were pressed. But you were not crushed. Yes, 00:12:02.620 --> 00:12:06.220 you became confused. But you did not lose your 00:12:06.220 --> 00:12:10.320 entire hope. Yes, something knocked you down, 00:12:11.019 --> 00:12:13.200 but something else kept calling you back to your 00:12:13.200 --> 00:12:16.759 feet. Maybe you have been focusing on what touched 00:12:16.759 --> 00:12:20.759 you, and not enough on what was unable to finish 00:12:20.759 --> 00:12:26.220 you. Now go back to the Red Sea. Israel has Egypt 00:12:26.220 --> 00:12:29.340 behind them. The sea is in front of them. There 00:12:29.340 --> 00:12:33.399 is nowhere to go. Moses tells the people, do 00:12:33.399 --> 00:12:37.029 not be afraid. Stand firm. and you will see the 00:12:37.029 --> 00:12:40.129 deliverance the Lord will bring you today." And 00:12:40.129 --> 00:12:43.789 then he says, the Egyptians you see today you 00:12:43.789 --> 00:12:48.509 will never see again. What a declaration. Israel 00:12:48.509 --> 00:12:52.870 had seen Egypt for generations. Egypt had defined 00:12:52.870 --> 00:12:56.590 their environment. Egypt had defined their labor. 00:12:57.549 --> 00:13:00.590 Egypt had defined their suffering. Egypt had 00:13:00.590 --> 00:13:03.429 defined their oppression. But God was establishing 00:13:03.429 --> 00:13:07.740 a boundary. Egypt had come far enough. Slavery 00:13:07.740 --> 00:13:11.519 had come far enough. Pharaoh had come far enough. 00:13:12.100 --> 00:13:16.019 The pursuit had come far enough. There came a 00:13:16.019 --> 00:13:19.200 moment when history changed because God said, 00:13:19.700 --> 00:13:23.399 no farther. The same waters that opened for Israel 00:13:23.399 --> 00:13:27.360 closed over Egypt. And suddenly, the thing that 00:13:27.360 --> 00:13:30.539 had pursued them no longer had access to the 00:13:30.539 --> 00:13:34.720 next chapter. Maybe that is another form of divine 00:13:34.720 --> 00:13:38.299 intervention. Sometimes God carries you while 00:13:38.299 --> 00:13:41.360 something pursues you. But there are moments 00:13:41.360 --> 00:13:44.980 when God refuses to allow what followed you out 00:13:44.980 --> 00:13:49.679 of one season to follow you into the next. The 00:13:49.679 --> 00:13:52.879 wilderness ahead belonged to Israel's journey 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:56.860 with God. Pharaoh could not come with them. And 00:13:56.860 --> 00:13:59.399 maybe there are things that God will not permit 00:13:59.399 --> 00:14:03.179 to accompany you into. where he is taking you. 00:14:03.779 --> 00:14:07.080 Not every relationship belongs in the next season. 00:14:07.820 --> 00:14:11.360 Not every fear belongs in the next season. Not 00:14:11.360 --> 00:14:15.240 every habit belongs in the next season. Not every 00:14:15.240 --> 00:14:18.019 wound is supposed to continue controlling you. 00:14:18.440 --> 00:14:21.940 Not every voice that defined you in Egypt receives 00:14:21.940 --> 00:14:25.539 permission to speak in Canaan. There comes a 00:14:25.539 --> 00:14:29.120 moment when heaven says, that went far enough. 00:14:30.639 --> 00:14:33.120 But there is something we need to understand. 00:14:34.139 --> 00:14:37.200 We do not always get to choose where the boundary 00:14:37.200 --> 00:14:40.919 is. We would prefer the boundary to be before 00:14:40.919 --> 00:14:44.840 the battle, before the furnace, before the den, 00:14:45.580 --> 00:14:49.399 before the sifting, before the betrayal, before 00:14:49.399 --> 00:14:53.320 the valley. But sometimes God draws the line 00:14:53.320 --> 00:14:56.299 farther into the story than we would have chosen. 00:14:57.360 --> 00:14:59.659 The Hebrews were not protected from entering 00:14:59.659 --> 00:15:02.690 the furnace, They were protected in the furnace. 00:15:03.690 --> 00:15:07.090 Daniel was not protected from the den. He was 00:15:07.090 --> 00:15:10.190 protected in the den. Peter was not protected 00:15:10.190 --> 00:15:13.730 from failure. He was preserved through failure. 00:15:14.769 --> 00:15:17.809 Paul was not protected from pressure. He was 00:15:17.809 --> 00:15:21.470 preserved under pressure. And this requires a 00:15:21.470 --> 00:15:25.230 deeper kind of faith, because sometimes we pray, 00:15:25.529 --> 00:15:28.669 God, don't let this happen. And when something 00:15:28.669 --> 00:15:32.470 happens anyway, we assume God has lost control. 00:15:33.250 --> 00:15:35.850 But perhaps God is still sovereign even when 00:15:35.850 --> 00:15:39.429 the boundary is not where we wanted it. Maybe 00:15:39.429 --> 00:15:42.909 we wanted God to say, it cannot approach. And 00:15:42.909 --> 00:15:46.789 God said, it may approach, but it cannot destroy. 00:15:47.289 --> 00:15:51.590 We wanted no furnace. God said no burning. We 00:15:51.590 --> 00:15:56.330 wanted no lions. God said no devouring. We wanted 00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:00.840 No sifting. Jesus said, Your faith will not fail. 00:16:01.179 --> 00:16:03.840 That does not mean suffering is insignificant. 00:16:04.279 --> 00:16:07.240 It does not mean pain should be romanticized. 00:16:07.399 --> 00:16:10.419 It means God's preserving power is not limited 00:16:10.419 --> 00:16:13.679 to preventing difficulty. He can also establish 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:16.840 limits inside difficulty. And that is one of 00:16:16.840 --> 00:16:21.179 the great mysteries of divine intervention. Isaiah 00:16:21.179 --> 00:16:25.299 declares, No weapon forged against you will prevail. 00:16:25.639 --> 00:16:29.039 Notice something, the promise does not say no 00:16:29.039 --> 00:16:32.799 weapon will ever be formed. Weapons may be formed, 00:16:33.059 --> 00:16:36.779 plans may be made, opposition may arise, but 00:16:36.779 --> 00:16:40.559 formation and success are not the same thing. 00:16:41.220 --> 00:16:44.240 Something can be formed against you and still 00:16:44.240 --> 00:16:47.740 fail to accomplish its ultimate intention. That 00:16:47.740 --> 00:16:51.159 does not mean believers never experience pain 00:16:51.159 --> 00:16:55.179 or loss. Scripture itself gives us too many examples 00:16:55.179 --> 00:16:58.440 for us to say that, but it does mean opposition 00:16:58.440 --> 00:17:01.620 does not possess sovereign authority over God's 00:17:01.620 --> 00:17:05.779 purposes. A weapon can be real and still not 00:17:05.779 --> 00:17:09.880 be final. A plan can be serious and still not 00:17:09.880 --> 00:17:13.980 prevail. A battle can be intense and still encounter 00:17:13.980 --> 00:17:18.519 a boundary it cannot cross. So perhaps the question 00:17:18.519 --> 00:17:21.940 is not always. Has something been formed against 00:17:21.940 --> 00:17:25.900 me? Maybe the better question is, who has final 00:17:25.900 --> 00:17:29.279 authority? And for the believer, the answer is 00:17:29.279 --> 00:17:33.279 not the weapon, not the enemy, not the circumstance, 00:17:33.599 --> 00:17:37.500 not the diagnosis, not the opposition, not the 00:17:37.500 --> 00:17:42.420 accusation, not the valley, God. And perhaps 00:17:42.420 --> 00:17:45.740 this is where faith rises. There may be things 00:17:45.740 --> 00:17:48.440 in your life right now that have come farther 00:17:48.440 --> 00:17:51.759 than you wanted. Maybe the fire is already hot. 00:17:52.059 --> 00:17:55.099 Maybe the lions are already around you. Maybe 00:17:55.099 --> 00:17:58.279 the pressure is already real. Maybe the trial 00:17:58.279 --> 00:18:01.480 is already in motion. Maybe the thing you prayed 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:04.680 would never happen has already happened. But 00:18:04.680 --> 00:18:07.619 do not assume that because it came this far, 00:18:07.960 --> 00:18:11.420 it can go wherever it wants. There is still a 00:18:11.420 --> 00:18:15.619 God who establishes boundaries. The sea may rise, 00:18:15.900 --> 00:18:19.990 but God has a line. The fire may burn. but God 00:18:19.990 --> 00:18:23.809 has a line. The lion may roar, but God has a 00:18:23.809 --> 00:18:27.609 line. The enemy may pursue, but God has a line. 00:18:28.009 --> 00:18:30.869 And when his sovereign purpose says, no father, 00:18:31.450 --> 00:18:35.130 no force in heaven, earth, or hell can overturn 00:18:35.130 --> 00:18:39.029 his authority. So today, I refuse to surrender 00:18:39.029 --> 00:18:42.029 to fear simply because the battle has approached. 00:18:42.569 --> 00:18:45.809 I refuse to assume that proximity means victory. 00:18:46.109 --> 00:18:49.150 I refuse to believe that because something touched 00:18:49.150 --> 00:18:53.930 my life, it now owns my life. No, the God who 00:18:53.930 --> 00:18:57.930 carried me, the God who went before me, the God 00:18:57.930 --> 00:19:02.130 who fought battles I never saw, is also the God 00:19:02.130 --> 00:19:05.630 who establishes boundaries, and perhaps there 00:19:05.630 --> 00:19:08.089 are things that will discover something about 00:19:08.089 --> 00:19:11.970 my God before the season is finished. They cannot 00:19:11.970 --> 00:19:16.650 go as far as they intended. The fire cannot take 00:19:16.650 --> 00:19:20.470 everything. The lions cannot consume everything. 00:19:21.009 --> 00:19:24.750 The pressure cannot crush everything. The sifting 00:19:24.750 --> 00:19:29.069 cannot destroy everything. The enemy cannot follow 00:19:29.069 --> 00:19:32.910 me everywhere. There is a boundary, and perhaps 00:19:32.910 --> 00:19:36.170 the very reason I am still standing is because 00:19:36.170 --> 00:19:40.970 somewhere along the way. God already said, no 00:19:40.970 --> 00:19:45.309 farther. But there is another question. What 00:19:45.309 --> 00:19:49.289 happens after God establishes the boundary? What 00:19:49.289 --> 00:19:52.630 happens when the enemy has gone as far as God 00:19:52.630 --> 00:19:56.289 will permit? What happens when the sea has reached 00:19:56.289 --> 00:20:00.190 its limit? What happens when the night has gone 00:20:00.190 --> 00:20:03.690 as far as it can go? Because scripture reveals 00:20:03.690 --> 00:20:07.089 something else. There are moments when God does 00:20:07.089 --> 00:20:10.789 more than stop what is coming against you. Sometimes 00:20:10.789 --> 00:20:14.559 he reverses the direction of the battle. The 00:20:14.559 --> 00:20:18.779 pursuer becomes pursued. The accuser is exposed. 00:20:19.500 --> 00:20:23.039 The prison door opens. The stone is rolled away. 00:20:23.759 --> 00:20:26.740 The enemy that expected victory discovers that 00:20:26.740 --> 00:20:29.940 God has changed the outcome. And perhaps that 00:20:29.940 --> 00:20:33.599 is the next dimension of this mystery. Not only, 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:38.339 no farther, but sometimes. Now watch what I do. 00:20:38.680 --> 00:20:41.579 That is where we will continue next time as we 00:20:41.579 --> 00:20:44.960 keep exploring the mystery of divine intervention. 00:20:45.859 --> 00:20:50.819 Until then, stay in faith. Stay anchored. Do 00:20:50.819 --> 00:20:53.779 not measure God's sovereignty by how close the 00:20:53.779 --> 00:20:58.039 battle came. Remember, what approached you may 00:20:58.039 --> 00:21:00.160 still have encountered a boundary you cannot 00:21:00.160 --> 00:21:04.059 see, and what looks unrestricted to you may already 00:21:04.059 --> 00:21:07.920 have heard a command from heaven. This far, and 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:12.920 no farther. This is Pomoja Ministry. One conversation, 00:21:13.660 --> 00:21:18.259 one story, one revelation at a time. Until next 00:21:18.259 --> 00:21:20.740 time, God bless you.