Forced Pt.2
Acts 9:3 - Pastor Mike McClure, Jr.
Acts 9:3-4
Before God can use you publicly, He has to process you privately.
Hidden Seasons- When God is actively working on your character, capacity, and clarity without external validation, visibility, or applause.
Some of what you’ve been calling interruption is really a ‘forced multiplier.’
Forced Multiplier- God-used pressures that accelerate development, reveal capacity, and push you into levels you would not have reached thru your comfort zone.
Pressures, systems, or decisions that make growth happen faster than your comfort would allow.- A Word.
Some of the decisions I made in my past are holding me hostage in my present, making my future seem unattainable.
Forced multipliers refuse to let you stay the same.
Acts- Acts of the Holy Spirit
We’re introduced to the Holy Spirit in the Book of Acts.
What was the forced multiplier that God used to convert Saul to Paul?
Divine Interruption- Heaven’s way of correcting your direction without canceling your destiny
God will sound an alarm in your life when something deeper needs your attention.- A Word!
God does not operate in time, He operates outside of time.
We operate in real-time- chronos-Man’s time
God is the beginning, the middle, and the end.
God says, “Do I let them self-destruct or do I divinely interrupt?”
Proverbs 16:9- “We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”
Old Testament- Hebrew
New Testament- Greek
Plans- Hebrew= chashab ; to think, calculate, design, strategize ; It implies intentional effort or intelligence.
Intelligence= Intel- Who are we to think that we have more intel than God?
Determines-Hebrew=kun ; to establish, secure, make firm, direct ; It carries the idea of ordering something so it stands.
Steps-Not the whole journey ; the details, movements, timing, and sequence
Solomon is the writer of Proverbs. Solomon is known for his wisdom.
He’s not attacking planning in vs.9, he’s correcting pride in planning.
God is not against planning, He’s against self-sufficient planning.
You can have the plan, but He determines the steps.
God doesn’t just care about your destination , He governs your process.
You are responsible for your plans, but God is responsible for your path.
Interruption feels live disruption before it feels like direction. Why does God interrupt my plans?
If God doesn’t interrupt you, you might succeed in the wrong assignment.
Divine Interruption- when God stops what you won’t stop!
Jonah 1:1-4 - The storm wasn’t to destroy Jonah, it was to disrupt his disobedience.
The interruption in your life is never about you, it’s about the you you’re about to become.
God divinely interrupts those who are gateways to others.
The Cost of Obedience vs. The Cost of Avoidance
Jonah 1:2- Get up and go..
Vs.3-But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction…
Partial obedience is not obedience.
Report Card:
Prayer Life: __
Loving People: __
Tithing: __
Living Right: __
Abstaining: __
With God, it’s either pass or fail.
Vs.3-“He bought a ticket”
He’s paying in disobedience, what would have been free in obedience.
You will either invest in obedience or finance your disobedience.
Provision is often built into obedience.
Provision- God supplying what is needed to fulfill His will; God giving you what’s necessary for your assignment.
The word “provision” comes from the idea of “to see ahead.” God provides because He sees before you get there.
God going ahead of you, making a way for you.
Genesis 22:24- “The Lord will see it” -Yahweh Jireh
The it is interchanagable- my it isn’t your it.
Provision is not just supply, its divine foresight turned into timely supply. - A Word!
Provision is when what you need shows up, when you need it, in the way God chooses, for what He assigned.
God doesn’t fund comfort, He funds calling.
Provision is designed to pull you forward, not let you settle
Interruption creates divine encounters.
Example: The woman at the well- Her day was interrupted, but her life was changed.
Interruption requires response.
Exodus: 3:2-4
God didn’t speak to Moses until he made a move. Because interruptions require a response.
Your next instruction is sometimes hidden in your response to the interruption.
Divine Interruptions Do 4 Things:
They reveal what God is doing.
They redirect where you are going.
They refine who you’re becoming.
They release you into purpose.
Divine Restriction- When God limits your ability to persevere your spiritual assignment ; protection through limitation.
Acts 9:4-8- What Saul could do naturally was threatening what God wanted to do spiritually.
Why would God take his sight? God restricted his sight to realign his vision.
God interrupted his functionality. You can be fully functional and completely misaligned.
Blindness isn’t the end for Saul, it was the bridge.
Sight = What’s physical, immediate, familiar
Vision = What’s spiritual, future, divine
A person who cannot see the future will be a slave to the immediate.
How Does God Restrict Us?
He restricts opportunities. Doors don’t open, things stall, invites stop coming. Acts 16:6-7 ; Closed doors are often divine directions.
He restricts resources. Money gets tight, support becomes limited, access gets reduced. He does this so you don’t confuse His provision with your independence. Exodus 16:4-5 “for that day” ; God will reduce supply to increase dependence.
He restricts relationships. People leave, circles shrink, support systems change. Genesis 13:8 ; Sometimes peace requires distance. Some separations are strategic, not emotional.
He restricts momentum. Things slow down, progress feels delayed, you feel stuck. Slowing down forces you to reflect, recalibrate, and realign.
He restricts ability. Confidence is shaken, skills feel ineffective, what used to work stops working. God is upgrading you and your old methods won’t fit your next assignment.
He restricts clarity. You don’t see the full picture, you can’t plan everything. This forces you to walk by faith and not by sight. Genesis 12:1 ; God gives direction, not always explanation.
Divine restriction is God protecting your future from your present self.
God is not stopping you from moving, He’s stopping you from missing it.