Years ago, the Lord said to me, “Steve, you don’t need more money, you need a new idea.” 

James 1:5 says, “If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him.” Part of wisdom is ideas. When I look in the Bible, I see so many situations where people had powerful ideas. Sometimes, they were ideas of what to do in the moment. Others were ideas of catalytic lifestyle choices. David, for example, had the idea as a boy to learn to use a slingshot. He practiced and practiced without knowing how big the impact would be. That idea changed everything!

In Exodus 17, Moses stood at the top of a hill and found that as long as his arms were in the air, Joshua succeeded in the battle agains the Amalekites. Whenever he lowered his arms, they would begin to lose. So Aaron and Hur had the idea of having Moses sit on a rock and each held up an arm for the rest of the day. It created victory for Joshua. (By the way, someone reading this is going to have a radical idea of a way to strengthen a leader in your life and it will change everything for them and those they lead.)

In Exodus 15, the children of Israel came to a body of water that tasted bitter. Someone had an idea to throw a tree in the water and it became sweet. This story prophesies to you that the Lord will give you unusual ideas that wil bring breakthrough concerning “bitter” situations you want to have changed. Often the ideas won’t make sense. How does a tree make water sweet? With God, unusual ideas that may seem irrelevant can bring major breakthrough.

The last one I’ll mention right now is another from the book of Exodus in verses 14:15. The Israelites are at the edge of the Red Sea with the Egyptians following closely behind.They are in a tough spot. Their future seems blocked (Red Sea) and their past wants to kill or enslave them (Egyptians).  All of a sudden Moses has a God-inspired idea to move forward. One of our favorite declarations here at Igniting Hope Ministries is “my forward movement causes Red Seas to part”. Getting an idea on moving forward in situations where we feel stuck can be catalytic in our lives. 

I believe this: in 2023, the Lord will release to you ideas that will change everything for you and for others. It’s fun to partner with Holy Spirit. My definition of joy is this: joy is the childlike wonder and excitement of working with God instead of working for God. We get to take a step, have an idea, or learn a skill that gives God something to work with, and He makes it something incredible.

One of my favorite stories of giving God something to work with is from 1965. A family was having a reunion in Cocoa Beach, Florida. At 2am, the grandma gets everyone up and says, “Everyone, get up! I have a word from the Lord!” It was a God-inspired idea. She said, “I believe we should get Coke bottles and put messages of hope, encouragement, and God’s love in these bottles and throw them in the sea.” They got Coke bottles (over 200!) and put these messages in the bottles, along with their address. Over the years, they received many messages of how people had received the Coke bottle at just the right time. But what happened with one of the bottles was incredible.

Nine years after they threw the bottles into the water in Florida, a woman in Ohio found one at just the right time. Her husband had passed away, her farm was going into bankruptcy, and she was deeply depressed and discouraged. She went down to the river and went to break the ice to jump in and commit suicide. When she broke the ice, guess what popped up? One of the Coke bottles with a message full of hope for her! She wrote to the family saying that message had changed everything for her.

An idea from nine years earlier that gave God something to work with had a major impact. One idea can change everything! When we give God something to work with and have ideas of small things to do, He uses them more than we could ever imagine.