Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, 'The LORD has not appeared to you.'" The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff." Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it. But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"--so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand-- "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign. "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground." Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." The LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say." But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will." Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, "Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. "You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do. "Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him. "You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs."
(Exodus 4:1-17)
Moses had faith or grew in belief because He had an encounter with God that was life changing. Do we want to take the time for a life changing encounter with God or do we want to go out and make a difference in the world? Fulfilling our purpose and making a Godly impact in the world is a good thing. It just cannot be done in the flesh, by human genius or by sheer determination. We must “work while it is day” but often the work we are seeking to accomplish is our agenda and not the Lord’s. We are trying to perform the impossible with our skills and ability. We need God’s supernatural help or it is impossible for us to do what He is calling us to do.
Does this mean that we all should wait until something on the same scale as Moses takes place? No – we should wait until our call is matured into a commissioning or sending. Like Moses the world is full of people who feel a call in their heart and then they try to fulfill that calling. Like Moses this tends to result in our “killing people”. Moses felt the call to be a deliverer and deal with the injustice of his people. Yet Moses was not ready to do the impossible – but that day would come. Many passionate believers have been released into the public work of the ministry based on passion and not maturity, need and not inner conformity to Christ. The result is usually wounding and insecurity covered by the projections of “I am called by God”, “I am working hard, very hard” and “things would go better for me except for _______________”. Maturity is taking all the bad things on yourself and making life better for others. Moses became like this, like the Christ who was to come.
A prayer room can be a real blessing in your life as it provides a place to come and seek the Lord. Every believer should have a place of prayer so that they commune with God and in relationship pray.
A pitfall of the prayer room is when it becomes a hiding place and not a resting place. If people come to the prayer room to avoid obeying the Lord, then the very thing meant to be a blessing is a cure to them. This is not just a pitfall of the prayer room but of all the “places” we have in Christ. The worker who avoids prayer by work and the prayer who avoids work by prayer are both missing the will of God for their lives. In the same way the leader who uses the call of leadership to neglect humble service to others and the one who hides in acts of humble service to avoid the pressure and burden of leadership are again missing the will of God. All this is illustrated here in this passage about Moses.
Come to the place of prayer to enter into a relationship with God that compels you to live the life He has for you. Come to Christ Jesus to know and do His will. Come to be reassured, revived and renewed in your mind, heart and soul. Come to the Lord as you eat, walk, work and go through life’s daily grind.
So how often should a person enter the place of prayer? Do we receive from the Lord a onetime encounter and then use that single encounter as the source of our encouragement for the rest of our lives? Yes –and no!
We should do a much better job than we do or remembering all the words the Lord has spoken to us, both through His Scripture and through promptings. Most of us tend to need a new word from the Lord because the last word was not hidden in our heart. We tend to love the encouragement of a fresh word more than the obedience that word was to produce. It is a desire for a “new seed” to be planted rather than for the “old seed” to grow into maturity. But this desire is normal. Tending a garden is hard work with daily duties.
While we tend to make lists and have written goals and plans for things we seek to accomplish, turning your relationship with God into a list of “to do’s “ is not a good idea. While your mate may enjoy the diligence of your actions of love from a “to do” list, at some time they want a personal relationship more than a “this is what I do for you” list. God is the same way. Don’t try to replace a relationship with a plan. Instead let the plan keep flowing from the relationship.
The fruit of this relation to action living is ever increasing faith. Since without faith it is impossible to please God, having faith is a nice thing. You will increase your truth, believing, faith; as you live a life out of common union with God. You will see supernatural things happen in your life as a result of God intervention.
Just recently I planned a “wilderness retreat”. I felt this was in God’s heart to offer this event to people. At that time we had no money in any of our accounts. I wrote a 30 page manual and then rewrote it into a 43 page booklet. In other words I invested time into this time, yet I wondered how in the world where we going to pay for food, gas and camping. My mortgage was due and there was no money. If money came in should I take that for the event or provide for my family. I set the price for the event as low as possible so that people could freely come. Now I was dealing with the issue of even affording the printing of the booklet I labored to write. My wife criticized me for not increasing the price enough to cover some of the unseen cost. These cost were coming out of the family money, which was almost zero at the time. They she would feel compelled to help, give or go and cause an even greater demand for resources that were not there.
Now during this time prior to the event some situations arose that required common daily faith. We had about a quarter tank of gas in each vehicle. Then we found ourselves in a situation where people needed rides, helping others out required extra trips, running errands for the event and family needs seemed to expand. Even as we responded to these needs God sent someone to give us gas. Each day there was enough. Over and over again God gave us the very thing we needed for that day. It was never so much that we could bank it, but God was again showing us that He is faithful and that we could bank on Him.
Over and over again in planning for this time and during this time God prompted us to do something and when we did, things worked out. Promptings to buy extra food, bring a certain camping item, leave behind a normally essential item all fell into place for a blessing in the daily flow of life.
As we gave God kept giving to us. Money came in from friends. People who know us but have never sent us money gave us gifts, others who do support us did so again. It is a mini example of God confirming His will for our lives, not with a rod and leprosy, but with gas, food and fun (if you call the wilderness adventure fun).
And so here I am again, starting a new week. Just like you I desire that my life this week makes a difference. Last week and those Godly interventions are gone. They increased my faith so that I can trust and serve Him this week. I grew in walking by faith and thus in pleasing the Lord. Just like you, I take my situation, my life and connect it to the Father. We together cry out for His supply and direction so that our lives perfectly reflect His will. Let’s take all that the Lord has done for us, hold it in our hands and never doubt. Desiring to grow in wisdom and revelation, we grow in obedience and love. God has called us to live the impossible, so we might as well get on with it.
