Dear Friend,
Happy Wednesday! We are literally nine short days away from this year's Let There Be Challenge, and there's still time to register. Of course, if you're just now signing up, you will have a bit of homework to do, but it's all manageable.
In last week's post, I spoke about being chosen to do what I'm doing now. I also shared about the tension I've been holding for about two years and how it has disconnected me from the job that I'm currently performing. Ultimately, I tell you this to keep the door of transparency open between us.
Anywho, today I want to chat a bit about how obeying God in the dark has shortened the journey in the light. Publicly, I've shared that the Let There Be Challenge was never supposed to be a challenge and how God tricked me into public teaching. At the same time, I've shared about how I was already learning and sharing about the New Testament Kingdom when the challenge went viral.
Back in 2022, it felt like I was holding two uniquely separate concepts/ideas in my hands with no clear way to bridge them. This feeling persisted through 2023 and much of 2024 because I couldn't see how one concept (the Kingdom) related to or informed the other (The Let There Be Challenge). As a result of feeling frustrated with two seemingly separate ideas that had no real traction, I often threatened to give up. Essentially, it didn't make sense to continue trying to get something to work year after year just for nothing to happen. It didn't make sense that God was directing me in these two ways without actual results. Yet, I kept trying to work the two systems because I'm not a quitter.
It wasn't until I started preparing for this year's Let There Be Challenge that I discovered that I wasn't holding two things in two hands. Instead, I was holding an overarching concept, which is the Kingdom message and a subconcept, which is the 40-Day challenge. Let me put it another way: I discovered that the challenge fit perfectly under the Kingdom study because the Kingdom is voice-activated. And, since it is voice-activated, the decree challenge falls seamlessly under the kingdom framework.
But what if I would have abandoned either? On the one hand, what if I would have decided that the Kingdom was too complex to figure out despite Jesus' assurance that He has given us the knowledge of the secrets of the Kingdom (Matthew 13:11)? On the other hand, what if I would have abandoned the budding Let There Be challenge not realizing that it stands on Jesus' promise to give us the keys of the Kingdom (Matthew 16:19)?
To be clear, when I initially set out to begin prep for the challenge, I still appeared to hold two separate and unique strands. However, as time progressed, and I continued to prepare more Kingdom teachings and contemplate this year's challenge, the strands began to form a braid with God in the middle. Indeed, it was a slow process, but I kept working on it. I kept showing up. I kept asking for revelation, and suddenly, there it was.
(Sometimes that's how suddenly works, too.)
Revelation: I stumbled upon the revelation that The Let There Be Challenge comes under the Kingdom mission, and isn't that submission? The challenge comes sub to the overarching Kingdom mission.
If you're still reading at this point, I encourage you not to give up, even though it might not make sense right now. As you can see, it took 3 years for me to catch up with the revelation of what was in my hands. Though both were foreign to me, they became familiar over time. And, each time I showed up to study and teach, I stood in an Ecclesiastes 9:11 moment, where time and chance aligned.
This blog post is about endurance amid blindness. I stood blind before you for 3 years, trying to understand what God was attempting to teach me. Though I was learning it in real-time, I taught the only message He gave me. For 3 years, I curated and facilitated a challenge that I feared might be counter-cultural to the faith. For 3 years, I tried, and I'm just now seeing the fruits of my labor.
If it can happen for me, it can happen for you, too.
Keep working the plan!
Have you registered for the Let There Be Challenge?
3 years it took Jesus to complete his ministry. 3 years for you to get your revelation. God is definitely at work here.