Look Up From the Pit: 7 Ways to Lift Your Eyes to the Lord

Sermon outline

Your help comes from the Lord, not from the world, your circumstances or people, so lift up your eyes to Him and you will see others, your challenges, your future and your strategy differently, because what He has done so far is only the beginning.

1. Lift up your eyes to see others

   At the well in Samaria Jesus was thirsty, yet He looked beyond His own thirst and ministered to a woman with a great need. We all have needs, but we must not be consumed with them, because people out there need the gifts and talents God has given us. As we look at the needs of others, God will see to our needs.

   Illustration: Jesus, thirsty at the well, giving the woman of Samaria solutions for her life.

   “Look beyond our needs and start to look at the needs of others.”

   • John 4:6-26

2. See positive: step out of your boat

   Peter asked the Master if he could step out of the boat, and Jesus said come; when he began to sink he cried out and the Master saved him. Stepping out of your boat becomes uncomfortable, but be positive naturally and supernaturally, believe God and look to Christ as you run the race. Don't be distracted by the shaking economy or the things going wrong.

   Illustration: Peter stepping out of the boat onto the water at Jesus' word.

   “Be positive in a negative world.”

   • Matthew 14:29-32
   • Hebrews 12:1-2

3. See a new perspective

   James says to count it all joy when you meet trials, because the proving of your faith brings out endurance and patience. Look at things positively and respond differently: you may as well smile and laugh at your challenges now, because later you will laugh at them anyway.

   Illustration: What once loomed over you as a giant is no longer a giant when you remember what God has caused you to overcome.

   “How you choose to look at something may well dictate the outcome of that something.”

   • James 1:2-3

4. See God as your source

   Keep your eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. He took the loaves and fishes, looked up to heaven and broke them, and they multiplied; what you have in your hands will multiply too. Don't despise small beginnings, and don't let the devil, circumstances or even family tell you that you can't do it, whatever your background, gender or culture.

   Illustration: A life group of five people can become 500, and the person mopping floors, setting up chairs or waiting on tables may become the owner of the restaurant or the business.

   “As long as God is in the equation, you are a success.”

   • Hebrews 12:2
   • Matthew 14:19
   • Zechariah 4:10
   • Job 8:7

5. See bigger

   After Lot left him, the Lord told Abram to lift up his eyes and look north, south, east and west, because all the land he could see would be his. He applies this to the church: wherever you are, lift up your eyes and look, because the God who began a good work in you is well able to finish it.

   Illustration: Abram standing where he is and looking out in every direction at the land God is giving him.

   “Irrespective of where you are, lift up your eyes and begin to look.”

   • Genesis 13:14-15
   • Philippians 1:6

6. See abundance

   God brought Abram out of his tent under the stars and told him to look and count them, for so his descendants would be. 'Look' is the word he wants people to take home, to work and to their places of study, as a constant beholding of Jesus and the finished work of the cross, so they can dream bigger, think out of the box and take more territory. Joseph kept dreaming through the pit, false accusation and prison, and because he obeyed the voice of the Spirit he lived to see abundance all around Egypt.

   Illustration: You might be a little Moses in a basket floating on a river, but look and see the deliverer who split the Red Sea and brought water out of the rock. And in a pit, if you look down you see only the floor and the walls; the only way to look is up at the stars.

   “When you're in a pit, the only way to look is look up into the sky and gaze at the stars, because that's what God has for you.”

   • Genesis 15:5
   • Exodus 2:3
   • Exodus 14:21
   • Exodus 17:6
   • Genesis 37:5-9
   • Genesis 37:24
   • Genesis 39:20
   • Genesis 41:47-49

7. See transformation

   God told Jacob to look up and see the speckled and spotted flock, because He had seen all that Laban had done to him. Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw strategy, and his circumstances were totally transformed as God's creative power came into play. When you see, you have vision; then put legs on your vision and join with others, because God has not made you an island and we will never reach our dreams alone.

   Illustration: Whether you repair shoes or have a stall on the side of the road, God has a strategy for you, and the stall on the side of the street can end up a mega stall.

   “Jacob lifted up his eyes and saw strategy.”

   • Genesis 31:12