Dealing With Stagnation by Apostle Johnson Suleman: MP3 Download & Sermon Notes

Dealing with Stagnation

To be stagnant is to be stunted, limited, restricted, immobile. Satan cannot stop a vision unless he first attacks motion — every attack on motion is aimed at stopping vision, because without motion, vision is useless. Habakkuk 2:2 says the one who has the vision must run with it; there must be corresponding motion to bring it to pass. Mephibosheth's legs were affected so that his vision would be impacted. When the enemy cannot stop a man's vision directly, he attacks the man's health, finances, or emotions — because a sick or stranded man cannot fulfil a vision. Every attack on your person is really targeted at your future.

Kindness Reflects on God

David asked if there was anyone left of the house of Saul to whom he could show kindness. Proverbs 19:17 says whoever has pity on the poor lends to the Lord — anything done to a man reflects on God. To mock a man is to mock his Maker; to help a man is to acknowledge his Maker.

There are two lines that should never be crossed in a disagreement: never use another person's condition against them, and never use what they confided in you as ammunition in anger. Offenses should be addressed honestly rather than suppressed — Matthew 5 teaches how to relate to people and resolve conflict, not how to bury it.

No Matter Where Life Has Kept You

Lodebar means a place of no pasture, no growth, no news — a place of absolute silence. But no matter where life has kept a person, God can still pick them up. Mephibosheth stayed in Lodebar for years, yet heaven remembered him. When the nurse carrying five-year-old Mephibosheth fled the news of his father and grandfather's deaths, the child fell and was crippled — a fall that ordinarily would not cripple a child. Satan always looks for an occasion to carry out his agenda; behind many hardships and unexplained pains lies an orchestration the natural eye cannot see.

What Has Not Killed You Cannot Kill You

Battles may take a man's legs, but they cannot take his life — there is ability inside disability, and the word impossible really means "I am possible." Whatever has not killed you was not powerful enough to kill you. Believers should stay aware of the battles, mountains, and unseen dangers God has already brought them through safely.

Guard Your Name — the Spirit of the Third Voice

Zeba, Saul's wealthy servant, spoke against Mephibosheth to keep him from favor, illustrating what can be called the spirit of the third voice — a third party's opinion that restricts someone else's opportunity 2 Samuel 5:8. Because people trust those who claim to know someone, such voices carry unfair weight. Be careful who you call a friend, and be willing to publicly distance yourself from people who claim closeness while working against you. Whatever you do to people today is a seed; it becomes a harvest for tomorrow — this is why Jonathan's kindness to David 1 Samuel 18:1-21 Samuel 20:9-16 eventually returned as kindness shown to Jonathan's own crippled son. Galatians 6:7 warns that to expect to reap what was never sown — to mistreat people and expect good treatment in return — is self-deception, a mockery of God.

Illumination Brings Exemption

Once light comes, restrictions that seemed permanent for a family or a community no longer apply. There are things a family's history says can never happen — no one has ever married well, traveled abroad, bought a car, or graduated — but once illumination comes, exemption follows. Parents were charged to speak destiny over their children rather than character or condition: today's condition should not determine tomorrow's confession. What stopped others in the family will not stop the one who is illuminated; where they failed, exemption cancels the pattern.

When God Blesses You, He Keeps the Blessing

David did not merely give Mephibosheth a portion; he brought him to sit permanently at the king's own table, because Mephibosheth had no human helper to defend what he was given. When God blesses a person, He also keeps and protects the blessing — provision without preservation leaves a blessing exposed. Mephibosheth had no feet, but he was given a seat; when he sat at the table, the table covered what the world would have mocked. There is a blessing God gives that silences mockery and covers shame — the same people who once ridiculed a person can live to celebrate them instead.