Lift Up Your Eyes | Victoria Osteen

1:45 I know that he is pleased with us today You know, if we're going to see the fullness of God's promises in our life we're going to have to develop the ability to see beyond where we are right now. You see, God is always taking us to new levels, to greater places. He's always wanting us to stretch and grow. He's wanting to increase our faith. He's wanting to deepen our strength. And He's wanting us to see new victories in our life. So today I want you to know where you are right now is not your final destination. God's got amazing things in store for you. I think about the hero of faith, Abraham. He's the father of our faith, and you can find his story in Genesis. And when you read his story, there's amazing things about his life. But there's something I want to point out today. And many of you know the story of Abraham and how he left his father's home to follow God, to go to a place that God would show him. And he declared over Abraham's life that he would be a blessing, that he would bless people all over this world, that he would be a great nation, that God would do amazing things in his life. So as he was traveling with God, he had his nephew Lot with him. I know you know this story. So he and Lot took off to follow God.

3:11 scripture tells us that there was a point in time where he and lot became too numerous they had too much livestock between the two of them their families grew their herds grew and it became too much to support two families like this on one piece of land there was some quarreling going on between their employees the herdsmen and there was some strife that was taking place because there just wasn't enough land to sustain the wealth and the possessions that they had acquired through the blessings of God. So Abraham said, Lot, you know, let's don't ruin our relationship. For sake of a good relationship, let's make a decision that we're just going to part ways right now. And Lot, you take the first choice. Where do you want to go, Lot? If you go to the right, I'll go to the left. If you go to the left, I'll go to the right. He said, whatever you want, Lot, you have first choice. So Lot looked around, and the Bible describes this one place eastward like a beautiful garden, just lush. I can only picture it looking like Hawaii or something.

4:19 They called it the well-watered garden of the Jordan. Well, Lot saw that, and it looked great to him. So he said, Abraham, I'm heading eastward. So Abraham turned the other direction, and he went on his way. Now Abraham, he didn't walk into a lush garden. The Bible says he walked into a lot of dirt and a lot of dust. And listen to what God said to Abraham when he was standing in the middle of this plain that looked like a bunch of dirt and dust. He said, Abraham, I want you to lift up your eyes from where you are right now. I want you to look beyond where you are right now. You see, God was saying, Abraham, don't get a picture of this dirt and dust because it's not your destination. He said, Abraham, I want you to look past the dirt and the dust, and I want you to start meditating on what I have spoken over your life. You will be a great nation.

5:18 People will be blessed all over the earth because of you, Abraham. He was saying, Abraham, get a picture get a vision of what I am saying about you you see when he said Abraham lift your eyes he was setting the tone for Abraham's life he was literally saying Abraham what I've caused you to accomplish is only going to be accomplished by lifted eyes see you can't look at the dirt and dust Abraham you can't turn around and think maybe it wasn't such a great idea that I gave Lot the first choice. Well, you know, maybe I shouldn't have separated from Lot at all. No, don't get that in your mind. Don't look at the dust, but lift your eyes from where you are because I'm taking you to great places. See, Abraham had to do something before he could take hold of that promise. You see, he could have looked at the dust, he could have looked at the dirt, he could have looked at the circumstances, but he had a choice to make. Am I going to believe God?

6:22 or am I going to stand here in my circumstances? And you know what his choice was? He chose to lift his eyes. He chose to look through his eyes of faith and see the promises of God. See, God is declaring great things over you today. But you're going to have to do exactly like Abraham. You're going to have to make the choice. Am I going to sit here and look at my circumstances? Or am I going to believe on the other side of my circumstances, on the other side of even where I am right now, whether it's good or bad, God's got greater things in store for me. See, you may be in a good place right now, but God is saying, don't get comfortable. I made you for more. Do you know Abraham's father got comfortable? He set out on a journey and he found a place that was comfortable and he settled there. He settled there for 200 odd years, the accomplished what he accomplished by lifting his eyes and going on with God. You know, sometimes we can get so distracted by our circumstances that it begins to distort our vision. We can't see where we're going. We can't have that vision of victory. And so we have a tendency to just stop.

7:44 we have a tendency to settle or even look down and lose hope. I heard a story about a man, and when he was younger in his life, he was looking down, walking one day, looking down at the ground, and he found a very valuable gold coin. He was so excited about that gold coin, he continued to look down on the ground. Do you know he spent his entire life with his face looking down for coins. And you know what? He did find some coins in his lifetime. But reality is, he didn't see the flowers and the trees and the mountains and the skies and the beauty he was meant to enjoy. Because he let that event in his life, that one event where he found a gold coin, dictate his whole life. From then on, he kept looking downward just to collect coins. But there was so much more in store for that man. And sometimes we allow an event in our life to define us. Maybe a broken marriage. Maybe a loss of a job. Maybe family troubles. And we think, you know what? I'll never get out of this. But I want to tell you, just like Abraham, God has made some promises to you. And if you don't get good at looking beyond where you are right now and lifting your eyes, you too will miss out on the great things that God has promised you. He's an awesome God. Do you know Jesus had to do this? The Bible says when He was on the cross and He was in great agony and great pain, it says that He lifted His eyes. He lifted His eyes so that He could endure where He was at to where He was going. It said that He lifted His eyes and looked at the joy that was past the cross. That's how He endured it. He looked at the finished product. He said, I'm not staying here. This is not my destiny. I'm moving forward. God is going to do great things through this. There was a purpose for the cross, but Jesus didn't get stuck on that cross.

9:56 He lifted His eyes. And you know what? You and I are going to have to lift our eyes if we're going to get to the places God wants us to be. Now I said earlier that the theme of of Abraham's life was lifted eyes. And I found this in the scriptures and I thought it was very interesting. When Abraham went through the twists and turns of his life, he was waiting on this promised child. God was taking him to places. He didn't really know where he was going, but he was following God and trusting God. And one evening, he was sitting outside his tent wondering, God, I am so old. When am I going to have this promised child? And the Bible says in Genesis 18, 12, it says when he was sitting outside his tent questioning and looking to God, it says he lifted his eyes and he saw three men coming towards him. Those three men were sent by God and they were there to tell him the exact time that Sarah would have the promised child.

11:01 But I find it very interesting that he wasn't sitting outside his tent complaining, saying, God, this has taken too long. You're taking me places I don't like. I don't understand. God, I can't even, I can't even think about or talk to you anymore and look down. No, he always had the lifted eyes. He always looked to God. Even when he was reasoning and talking, he was talking to God. He wasn't talking to the dirt. He wasn't talking to his circumstances. He was talking with lifted eyes. And when he had lifted eyes, he saw the promises of God. Another time, when he finally was able to see the manifestation of this promise come to pass, and he had his beautiful son Isaac, God asked him to do something in obedience, something he certainly didn't understand. He said, Abraham, I want you to take your son Isaac, and I want you to take him up on the mountain, and I want you to sacrifice him. But he thought, God, I've been waiting for this child for so long. Why? I don't understand, but I'm going to walk in obedience. He got the altar ready. He built the fire. He tied up Isaac, and he was, I'm sure, the whole time asking God, God, where are you? Where are you? Listen to what it says in Genesis 22, 13. It says right before he was about to sacrifice Isaac, he lifted his eyes and he saw a ram in the bush, that was the provision that God was giving him to replace his son Isaac.

12:36 Abraham, when he lifted his eyes, always found the provision of God. Always saw God's hand of miracles. He always knew if he would just lift his eyes, he would see God do great and mighty things. Psalm 121 says, I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? It comes from the maker of heaven and earth. The maker of heaven and earth. See, David knew when he looked at those mountains around Jerusalem, he knew that the blessings of God were there. The provision of God, the healing, the protection, everything he needed was up. I encourage every one of us to not get stuck in our circumstances, to not look at the dirt in your life, but realize beyond that is greater heights, greater measures, greater victories, greater strength, greater anointing.

13:33 The only way you're going to find the greater thing is to look up. Through all the twists and turns of Abraham's life, when he looked up, God was always there. So remember, we too are on a journey. The theme of the journey is lift up your eyes. Lift up your eyes. Don't get stuck. don't look down don't let one event define you but lift your eyes and you will see the King of Glory come in Amen