Dharius Daniels - It's Up From Here

Let’s talk about this subject and our time together: «It’s up from here.» Clap your hands if you’re ready for God’s word. It’s up from here. I want to begin our time of teaching by informing some and reminding others of a truth that I think is extremely important yet often overlooked, and that truth is this: Listen to me, God’s got plans for you. I say this not as some church colloquialism; I’m not giving you religious rhetoric. I’m not trying to provide you with some biblical nursery rhyme. I say that with confidence because I overheard a conversation that God had with His people through a gentleman named Jeremiah. He said to His people through Jeremiah, in Jeremiah 29:11, these words: «For I know the plans that I have for you, plans to prosper you, not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.» I think what’s so profound about this phrase isn’t just what God says; it’s when God says it. He says it to a group of people who are experiencing exile. Their homeland has been invaded by enemies, their villages have been burned, their loved ones' lives have been taken away, and those that survive the siege were taken out of their homeland in chains and placed in a foreign country. They are suppressed. They are oppressed. They are depressed. They are discouraged. They are disoriented. They are discombobulated. They feel like their whole life has fallen apart, and in the midst of this calamity and chaos, God tells Jeremiah to tell them, «I got plans.» Did you hear what I just said? «I got plans.» And He didn’t tell him, watch this, what the plans were. He didn’t say, «You know the plans.» He said, «I know the plans.» He says, «Tell them I’ve got plans, and I’m not going to tell them what the plans are, but I’m going to tell them what the plans are like: I’ve got plans to prosper them, not to harm them.» Listen to this: «I’ve got plans to give them a hope and a future,» meaning that your current condition is not your future predicament, meaning that the way it is right now is not the way it’s going to be, meaning that this current season you’re in is not a period in the sentence of your life; it’s a comma in the sentence of your life. I’m telling somebody, God’s getting ready to do something on the other side of the comma. People are looking at you one way now, but check me out after the comma. I’m crying right now, but watch me after the comma. I’m on my last leg right now, but watch me after the comma. Somebody open your mouth and say, «It’s comma season.» It’s comma season! This is not the end for me. God’s getting ready to transition me. He says, «I know the plans I have for you: plans not to harm you, plans to give you hope, and plans to give you a future.» And I want to talk to some people who may feel like they’re experiencing their own metaphorical exile. You may not be experiencing a literal exile, but maybe you’re experiencing a metaphorical one. You’ve experienced—watch this—what happened with exile: there were people that didn’t survive the siege, and there were people that survived it. Those that survived it were taken away and held captive in another land. Listen to me now: they’re grateful that they survived, yet they still sense something’s got to be better than this. And I want to know, have you ever felt conflicting emotions where you felt like, «God, I’m grateful for what You have done»? I realize I survived some things that other people didn’t survive, that I overcame some things that other people didn’t overcome, that I made it through some things that other people didn’t make it out of, that I have come much further than I ever would have imagined. So, God, I don’t want to come off unappreciative, yet if I’m honest, if I’m keeping it real with You, I’m grateful and frustrated at the same time. Am I talking to anybody online? Anyone in the room? I’m grateful for where I am, but something on the inside of me keeps telling me there’s more. There’s a longing on the inside of me, and God’s like, «Yeah, that longing is because I got plans. I got plans; I got plans.» So I will never let you be comfortable in a place I don’t intend for you to settle. Yeah, He said, «’Cause if I make you feel okay where you are, you will feel okay staying where you are.» So what I’m going to do is I’m going to give you a divine agitation. I’m going to give you a holy frustration, and the frustration is an indication that where you are is not where you’re going to be. Come on, come on! He says, «I’m going to give you a want to. I’m going to give you the desires—not just, watch this, the desires of your heart. I’m not just going to give you what your heart wants; I’m going to give your heart what you want.» Did you hear what I just said? Yeah, He says some of the stuff you want, I put the want to on the inside of you, but I know you can’t get it for yourself just by me wanting it for you. I gotta make you want it for yourself. So stop acting like you don’t want it. Stop talking like you don’t want it because it lacks integrity and authenticity. Just go ahead and admit, «I want it.» Why? Because some people don’t want it. Some people are okay staying stuck. Some people are okay settling. But God put a want to on the inside of you, because sometimes what you…