This message is from Pastor David Crank of Faith Church, our guest speaker for Revival Sundays.  

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I'll never forget the day my dad bought me that green, rusty bike with the torn banana seat. I was devastated. That wasn't my orange bike with high handlebars and chrome fenders (the one I'd been praying for with all the faith a kid could muster). Standing there in that travel trailer, looking at what my father could provide with his last $10, I had no idea what my Father in heaven was already preparing for me.

That moment taught me something I still carry with me today: we spend way too much time doing the math on our miracles.

Your Past Doesn't Determine Your Future

Listen, I get it. You've been through some things. Maybe you're sitting there right now thinking about that divorce, that bankruptcy, that failure, that season when everything fell apart. You're calculating in your head: "I made this much money, it took this much time, I had this setback..." And before you know it, you've convinced yourself that God can't possibly do something good in your life because of what you did or where you've been.

But here's what I need you to understand: just because you did bad doesn't mean you are bad. There's a big difference. Scripture tells us in Jeremiah 29:11, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." God's not sitting up in heaven with a calculator, adding up your mistakes and determining you don't qualify for His blessing.

Think about your own kids. Have they ever done bad things? Of course they have. Did you ever look at them and say, "That's it, you're too much, we're getting rid of you"? No! You give them as much time as they need because you love them. God's that way with you.

The Enemy's Math vs. God's Multiplication

We've got an enemy, the devil. You probably know John 10:10, "The thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy." He wants to steal your hopes, kill your dreams, and destroy your confidence in what God called you to do. He whispers, "You've been divorced, you've been betrayed, you've made too many mistakes."

And here's the really sneaky part: the enemy taps into the inner enemy. That voice in your head that keeps playing on repeat: "You're no good, you're no good, you're no good." It's like a broken record, and before you know it, you're focused on what you're not instead of focused on what He is.

But can I tell you something? This next week is not going to be like last week. God is working behind the scenes, doing something in you to revive you. Where you're at right now is probably not where you're going to go.

Signs Follow Believers

Mark 16:17 says, "These signs shall follow them that believe." Notice it doesn't say "these signs shall appear and then you believe." It says signs follow believers. Too many people are out there looking for signs before they'll believe. But that's backward.

I need you to stop looking for signs and start saying, "I'm a believer." When you're a believer, you're saying, "I believe these signs are going to follow me. God is working behind the scenes. He's working all things together for my good."

You've got to have a good mental image of who you are and develop what I call a mindset of blessing.

The Orange Bike Miracle

Let me finish that story I started. A couple weeks after my dad gave me that disappointing green bike, which he literally ran over with the tow car on the way to the next church, someone knocked on our trailer door. A man said, "Brother Crank, can you come to my house? I've got something for you."

We walked to this two-family flat, went up the stairs, and this man explained that his father had recently retired and owned the local Western Auto store. He'd sold everything except one thing he couldn't sell. He thought maybe I'd like it.

Out rolled a brand new orange bike with high handlebars, a banana seat, and chrome fenders.

That was MY bike.

Here's what blew my mind: God had that guy who owned the Western Auto order that bike way before I ever prayed for it. Everyone bought everything else, but nobody bought my bike. God knew the exact details of what I needed, and He was working behind the scenes the whole time.

My dad could not provide it, but my Father could.

Speaking Life Into Your Future

Genesis 1:2 in The Message Bible describes creation this way: "Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God's spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss. And then God spoke: 'Light.' And light appeared."

God didn't say what He saw. He said what He wanted to see.

You and I would've gone out there and said, "Man, it is dark out here. It's as black as a black cat eating licorice in a coal bin!" And it would still be dark. But God spoke the opposite of what He saw.

The Bible says we're snared by the words of our mouth. We shall have whatsoever we say. We have not because we ask not. So we've got to get specific about what we want. You can't just pray, "God, send me a man." What kind of man? You need to be specific, or you might end up with a bad man instead of the good man you actually need.

Without a vision, people perish. Get your vision crystal clear and realize that God said 

"I know the plans I have for you. They're for good and not for evil to bring you to an expected end."

The Power of "That's The Way I Want It"

I learned something powerful from my friend Sheldon that completely changed my perspective. He hired a consultant who watched him work for several days, and at the end, Sheldon asked, "What's my homework?"

The consultant said, "After everything you say—and I mean everything—I want you to say, 'And that's the way I want it.'"

Think about how this changes things:

"It's hard to find good employees... and that's the way I want it." 

"As soon as I get a dollar ahead, I'm ten dollars behind... and that's the way I want it."

You see what happens? We need to change what we say. We need to not be snared by the words of our mouth. When you can't find your dog, you start calling for a dog you can't see, and that dog comes running. You're calling things that are not as though they are.

When you adjust your thermostat from 78 to 72 degrees, you don't walk away saying, "I bet it won't work." You walk away in total confidence that if you paid your electric bill, that temperature is going down. You believe in calling things that are not as though they are.  So start speaking that over your marriage, your kids, your money, your ministry, your health.

Where God Guides, He Provides

My friend Sheldon's story proves this principle. He moved to Florida with $100 and his wife eight months pregnant. He started a trash business out of desperation—he needed $600 to make rent. But over time, as he surrendered his business to the Lord and became a faithful tither, God grew his company by 12,000% in value over ten years.

When he sold that company for $70 million, he could have stopped tithing. He could have said, "I gave you that $3 million building, God, we're good." But he didn't. He kept tithing every single week because he understood something crucial: God wasn't trying to get money from him. God was trying to get money to him.

But God can't get it to you if He can't get it through you.

Where God guides, He provides. If it's God's will, it's God's bill.

Your Preferred Future Starts Now

Remember those twin boys in the psychology study? They put one in a room full of manure, and he complained about the smell and the mess. They put his twin brother in the same room, and he started digging around saying, "There's got to be a pony in here somewhere!"

One saw manure. One saw potential.

How are you seeing your preferred future? We're about as happy or as sad as we want to be based on our thought process, because out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.

Everything you've been through, all that stretched you, broke you, and challenged you, was just something stretching your faith. It's giving you a testimony. It's allowing you to identify with the pain of other people. What doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.

The Revival Mindset

God called you to your church. He brought you there. But your job isn't just to show up and say, "Bless me, help me, feed me." You're supposed to go out into the highways and byways and compel people to come in. You need to tell people what God did for you, because the same God who did it for you can do it for them.

You don't just invite people to church, you bring them to church.

This is revival. And revival starts when you stop doing the math on your miracle and start believing that God is working behind the scenes in ways you can't even imagine. He's preparing your orange bike right now. He's orchestrating circumstances. He's positioning people. He's opening doors and closing others.

Your job is to believe it, speak it, and expect it.

And that's the way you want it.