Not Someday, but Right Now
A powerful call to move from a "someday" faith to a "right now" faith, believing God for present-day miracles, healing, and breakthroughs.
Service: GIFT Worship Family Day
Speaker: Rev. Trent Gilliam
The Promise Still Lives
When the children of Israel entered the promised land, the Bible says they took it little by little. They did not take it all at once. They had waited many years to get there, but when they arrived, they did not immediately take over everything. They were not yet large enough to handle all of the land at once.
The Bible says the Lord allowed the enemies to stay in certain places to care for the land, plant the vineyards, and build the cities. As Israel grew in might, they began to take over those areas. By that time, the crops were already planted, the vineyards were ready, the cities were prepared, the walls were already built, and the homes were standing.
This is what faithful ministry looks like. Sixteen years of prayer and believing, not that this city will remain a city of sin, but that it will become a Holy Ghost city. Little by little, God has been preparing. God has been growing. God has been strengthening. The promise still lives. The vision remains. And God is going to do what He said He would do.
Not Someday, but Right Now
The text for this message comes from John 4:23-26:
“But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. The woman saith unto him, I know that Messias cometh, which is called Christ: when he is come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am he.” John 4:23-26 (KJV)
Notice her mindset. She said, “I know it is coming… someday.” But Jesus had already spoken clearly: “The hour cometh, and now is.” She was living in the hope of someday while the fulfillment was standing right in front of her.
Her expectation was set on the future. Someday the Messiah will come. Someday deliverance will come. Someday anointing will come. Someday worship will come. Someday things will get better. But Jesus said: say not someday. Say right now.
And so the Holy Ghost spoke in prayer and said to tell this wonderful church that the miracles you have been praying for and the revival you have been seeking, it is now.
God Can Work Miracles Right Now
There are many needs and many prayers in this place. There are people seeking the will of God. There are people who need deliverance. There are people who need a touch of God in their heart, in their family, and in their mind.
We live in hope and anticipation of the moment when we will be healed. But we must be careful. If we live in the hope of “someday” for too long, we can lose our confidence and our faith for today.
We do not serve a God who can only work miracles someday. We serve a God who can work miracles right now. There is nothing too hard for Him.
Heaven and earth adore Him. What a mighty God we serve. There is nothing too hard for our God. There is nothing impossible for Him. He is still a healer. He can still raise the dead. He can still deliver anyone. The blind can see, the lame can walk, and the deaf can hear.
Our God is not dead. He is still alive. He has not gotten smaller. He has not gotten weaker. The Bible says the end shall be greater than the beginning. We do not serve a God who is getting weaker. We serve a God who is most powerful, and we are living in the day of His power.
Do Not Lose Heart in the Waiting
It is the will of God for someone to be delivered today. It is the will of God for someone to be healed today. It is the will of God for you to be filled with the Holy Ghost, to be delivered, and to be renewed in the Spirit.
But as human beings, it is so easy to become discouraged when we pray and it feels like nothing happens. Let this be an encouragement to you: every time you pray, God is at work. You may not see it, but God is working even when you do not feel it.
“Greater is he that is in me, than he that is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 (KJV)
When you have the Spirit of the Lord living on the inside of you, you do not have to be afraid. You do not have to worry. God is moving.
God rewards patience with the fulfillment of promise. In our patience, we possess the maturity of the things of God. But there comes a moment when, if we do not give up, God will do what He said He would do. If God gave you a word, He is going to bring it to pass. If He said He would heal you, He is going to do it. If He said He would deliver you, He is going to do it. If He said He would bring your family back together, He is going to do it.
The Space Between Promise and Fulfillment
Nobody gets discouraged when God is blessing them. When God is pouring out provision and saying, “Be blessed,” nobody pushes it away. Nobody gets mad at God when He provides miracles. Nobody gets frustrated when God gives promises either.
But many people become discouraged between the promise and the fulfillment. Between the moment God speaks a word and the moment it comes to pass, sometimes there are days. There are weeks. There are months. There are years. We do not always know why.
But because we walk in faithfulness, we praise our way through. We praise our way into the miraculous. We praise our way into our healing. We praise our way into the things of God.
Israel’s “Someday” Mindset
For generations, Israel lived in a “someday” mindset. Someday we will be delivered. Someday we will get out of bondage. Someday a deliverer will be born. Someday healing will come by His stripes. Someday salvation will come by His sacrifice. Someday the answer to their troubles will come. Someday their sin will not just be rolled ahead for another year, but will be washed white and taken away.
That was their reality: a “someday” world. A mindset of hope, waiting on God for a better day to come.
When Jesus spoke to the woman at the well, He knew she was living in the hope of a better someday. We do the same thing. We live in a “someday” world. We sing songs about it. “Some glad morning, we shall see Jesus coming in the sky.” We sing about someday when it will be better, someday when we will have our miracle.
But Jesus said, “Now is.” She said, “Someday.” He said, “Now is.”
The war was not between her and the devil. The war was in her mindset. She was so locked into “someday” that she was missing the revelation of now.
A “Right Now” Miracle
Here is a testimony worth hearing.
During a revival in the States, there was a man who had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. He was close to dying. While preaching that night, the Lord spoke clearly: “I want to heal him right now.”
But a feeling gripped the heart. The mind said, “Lord, I know someday You can heal him. I know someday You will heal him. But right now? What if I call him out and You do not do it? What if I call him out and nothing happens?”
The Lord responded with a stern word: “You do not believe Me for right now miracles. If you preach that God will heal someday, that is very safe. You do not have to step out of the boat in the storm if you only say someday. You will have healing someday. You will have revival someday. You will be delivered someday. You will be set free someday. The hour cometh. But I say to you, it is right now.”
That moment revealed something the woman at the well must have felt. She had faith for someday, but she missed the right now.
And the Lord spoke again: “You are worried more about your own reputation than you are about following My word. I said that I will heal him now, and I will do as I said.”
The man went to the doctor the following week. They put the X-rays on the wall. The previous scans showed tumors all through his body. The new X-rays showed no tumors at all. Stage 4, close to dying, and then nothing. Completely healed.
Nothing is impossible with our God. It is not impossible for this church to change this city. It is not impossible for you to be healed. It is not impossible for you to be delivered. It is not impossible for you to be touched by God. Nothing is impossible.
Lazarus: What Do You Believe for Right Now?
Read John 11.
When Lazarus died and Jesus came to Mary and Martha, they were grieving. They came out to Him and said, “Lord, if You had been here, our brother would not have died.”
That was powerful. They had faith for the past. They were saying, “You are so powerful that if You had been here, the sickness could not have killed him. You would have healed him.” Then they looked at Him and said, “Lord, we know that someday, in the resurrection, he will rise again.”
They had faith for the past and faith for the future. But here was the problem: what did they have faith for right now?
The Lord said, “Take me to where you have laid him.” And their response was, “Lord, by now he stinks.”
These were people of faith. But they missed the revelation of what God wanted to do right now.
God is saying, “I want to do a work right now. I want to heal you right now. I want to deliver you right now.” Many of us have been praying, but we have been disappointed for so long that we settle for someday. The Lord said when you pray, pray “as it is in heaven, let it be on earth.” There is healing in heaven. As it is in heaven, let it be on earth. That means healing is available right here, right now. You do not have to wait until heaven to find help.
The Pool of Bethesda: Waiting for “Someday”
Read John 5.
At the Pool of Bethesda, there was a great multitude of people. Some were impotent. Some were paralyzed. Some were blind. Some were crippled. Some were afflicted in other ways. But the one thing they all had in common was this: they were all waiting.
They were waiting on the troubling of the water. Someday, when the angel comes down and stirs the water, the first one in will be healed. They had faith to believe that someday they could be healed. But they were all waiting for that day.
Some of us have been waiting a long time. But now is your time. The call today is to have faith for right now. You have great faith for the future. You have great faith for the past. But do you have faith for right now?
Now is the time to pray like never before. Now is the time to worship like never before. Now is the time to run, shout, and rejoice like never before. God is looking for somebody who will grab hold of the revelation of now. Revival now. Blessings now. Miracles now. Holy Ghost outpouring now. Somebody who is willing to pray beyond the safe prayers. Somebody who is willing to step out of the boat.
Now Is the Accepted Time
“And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” Romans 13:11 (KJV)
“For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.” 2 Corinthians 6:2 (KJV)
Now is the time. Now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.
Closing
Maybe you have never received the gift of the Holy Ghost. You can repent today. You can tell the Lord, “I am sorry for everything I have ever done. I cannot make it without You. Fill me with the Holy Ghost.” And God will come down, forgive you, and fill you with His Spirit until you speak in a language no one ever taught you.
Maybe you are hurting. Maybe you are sick in your body. Maybe you are hurting in your mind. Maybe you have been praying and God gave you a promise.
Do not settle for someday. Believe for right now.
The miracles you have been praying for, the revival you have been seeking, and the breakthrough you have been waiting on: it is now.