Modern Day ‘Pharaohs’

“Moses said to the Lord, “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.” The Lord said to him, “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

Exodus 4:10-12

 

 

What are some obstacles you are currently facing in your life?

I’m not talking about a hangnail or what to wear to work tomorrow.

What are those genuine and significant obstacles in your life that you believe are keeping you from completing the purposes God has for you?

Moses was sent by God to give a message to Pharaoh.

God said: “Let my people go…”

Pharaoh said to Moses: “Why sure, I’d be happy to; how else can I help you today Moses?”

Not exactly!

His words actually were – “…Who is the Lord, that I should obey Him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go” Exodus 5:2

You see, Pharaoh became Moses’ obstacle.  

Please note that I did not say he became ‘Gods’ obstacle.’

That would be an oxymoron.

You know the rest of the story so you know that the Children of Israel, 1,000,000+ strong, not only marched out of Egypt, leaving the greatest and most powerful nation of that  day behind but they did so with gold, silver and other plunder.

This was not a hard thing for God.

But it was a tad unbelievable to Moses at first.

Moses saw Pharaoh as a huge obstacle!

He offered a lot of excuses (we like to call them reasons) why it couldn’t be or shouldn’t be him to carry God’s message and lead the people out.  

God had to have a man who would believe that what He (God) had commissioned him (Moses) to do could be done, no matter what the obstacles.

He had to have a man who believed God, not himself, was capable.  

Suppose God called you to a task far, far greater than what you felt you could accomplish.

Suppose the obstacles were like giants in the land.

This is what Moses faced.

Don’t be content with getting to heaven and saying:

“God, thank you for healing my hangnail – I knew you could do it!”

Instead, ask God – “Lord, what obstacle, what modern day ‘Pharaoh’ are you calling me to deliver a message to and to see removed by your power and under your anointing?”

In God We Trust?

“in God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid.
    What can mortal man do to me?”

“in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?”

Psalm 56:4, 11

 

 

“In God We Trust”

As of the writing of today’s blog those words can still be found on our currency here in the United States.

But a search of scriptures will not locate that phrase.

Instead, you can find our text above with the words “in God I trust”.

So what?

I am not opposed to the statement on our currency but I point it out only in this respect:

scripture does not call “we” to trust without first requiring “I” to trust.

In other words, God is a loving Father who desires a relationship with each of us individually and personally.

So often we use the ‘we’ to shield us from the ‘I’.

If ‘I’ can hide behind the ‘group we’ or the ‘family we’ or a ‘church we’ maybe ‘I’ won’t have to address the ‘I’ statements God presents in scripture.

Will I trust in God?

Will I believe His word?

What will I do with His Son?

Where will I spend eternity?

Or, the questions we have asked these 21 days of prayer and fasting at His Place:

Will I encounter His presence?

Will I experience His power?

Will I engage His plans?

I understand the preaching against the personal pronoun “I”.

It was the first word of several statements Lucifer declared that ended in his fall from heaven.

There is often far too much ‘I’ in me and you.

But ultimately, we are called upon to answer some of the ‘I’ statements I posed above.  

So how will the ‘I’ in you answer?

Will you trust Him when family deserts you?

Will you trust Him when nations no longer honor Him?

Will you choose Him over all other interests?

How will you address and answer the ‘I’ statements?

No Disrespect Intended

“Listen to my prayer, O God, do not ignore my plea;
     hear me and answer me.
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught”

Psalm 55:1-2

 

Would you please read the text above again?

Any thoughts come to mind?

As I read it, it can almost sound disrespectful or demanding of God on the part of David.

But there is, I believe, some light shed on David’s frame of mind as we read verses 4 and 5:

“My heart is in anguish within me;
    the terrors of death assail me.
 Fear and trembling have beset me;
    horror has overwhelmed me.”

There’s something about desperation that causes our prayers to “cut to the chase” so to speak.

When we are overwhelmed we jettison the pretenses and all the jargon.

Our prayers become – in the vernacular of a common manufacturing process – “lean”.

 We say what we mean and mean what we say.

Desperation has a way of ‘trimming the fat’ from our words.  

David was wounded deeply by a friend as he wrote this psalm.

It caused him to call out to God.

Reading the verse of our text it might be easy to imagine David shaking his fist at God as he spoke the words; except we know the context and we know the heart of David.

God knows the ‘context’ of your life and He knows your heart.

Don’t let false words get in the way of your heartfelt cry to God.

When you are desperate; when you are in a very difficult place, perhaps even questioning the purposes of God in that place, let your prayers be honest and direct with God.

Maybe you have put on a brave face for others but God knows you better than you know yourself so don’t pretend with Him.

I encourage you to take a few moments if you can and read the whole of Psalm 55.

It is rich in lessons.

I close with these words from verses 16 and 17 of that Psalm:

“But I call to God,
    and the Lord saves me.
 Evening, morning and noon
    I cry out in distress,
    and he hears my voice.”

What Say You?

“As long as it is day, we must do the work of Him who sent me.

Night is coming when no one can work.”

John 9:4

 

 

Jesus is the Son of God.

He was fully man and fully God as He walked on the earth.

He said in the Garden:

“Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels.”  Matthew 26:53

And it is said of Him in Philippians 2:6-7

“Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
 but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant,
   being made in human likeness.”

What a contrast!

We are the sons of God.

We too are called to be servants.

Just as Jesus got down on his knees and washed His disciples feet; we are called to be those who humble ourselves before Him in service to others.

A son of God, a servant of God, will engage the plans of God wherever God presents them and however He presents them.

Too often, we in the church are only willing to engage if our hands can stay clean.

Like the couple who live together without getting married we want all of the benefits without any of the commitment.

God bless ME, just don’t ask me to do anything that might inconvenience me.

Jesus could ask in return:

Like taking up your cross, you mean?

I don’t want to “guilt” anyone into service but I do want us to understand that the time is short and God is calling all of us to be engaged in His plans.

It is His mercy and His love that calls us because His desire is that we are found faithful and working at His return.

Look around you because the opportunities are there.

If you are having trouble seeing them, ask God to open your eyes.

He came as a servant and He calls you to service for Him.

What say you?

Little ‘Things’ Can Have Big Consequences

“This third I will bring into the fire;
    I will refine them like silver
    and test them like gold.
They will call on my name
    and I will answer them;
I will say, ‘They are my people,’
    and they will say, ‘The Lord is our God.’”

Zechariah 13:9

Every so often you will read of some celebrity who was “discovered” by a talent agent or someone in “the business”. They were sitting in a restaurant or some other place, minding their own business and “poof” the next thing you know they are on the cover of “People” magazine.

Everywhere you look you see their image!

They are the next great somebody.

They are the newest hot commodity.

They are an ‘overnight sensation’!

As believers we must understand that great men and woman of God are not ‘discovered’.

They are developed in the hidden places of everyday life.

There are no shortcuts to maturity in the Kingdom of God.

We may be ‘suddenly’ introduced to a person being mightily used of God and because we had not heard of them before we assume they are a recently “discovered star”.

After all, American Idol, The Voice and other shows in that genre’ try to make us believe it only takes one television season to churn out tomorrow’s newest star.  

But you’ve probably heard that old saying – “He puts his pants on one leg at a time” – which is another way of saying of others that they face the same tasks and issues that each of us do.

God is no respecter of persons.

If we desire to be greatly used of Him, we will have the opportunity to be faithful first in the little things.

The seemingly unimportant things, the ‘invisible’ actions (at least we think no one sees them) that God brings into our everyday lives to refine us.

 Some will pooh-pooh them as not worthy of their attention and certainly not important in the grand scheme of things.

But they are important to God.

He sees those choices made in secret and even the ones done in the full view of others that we have somehow regarded as of little consequence.

Little by little they too can become great.

Great evidence of a life that is not faithful to God in the little things

 – or –

great evidence of a life that is!

Do you want to be greatly used of God?

Then let God develop you in the hidden places of everyday life.

Everyday His Way

 “So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him.”

Romans 12:1 (Message)

 

Ho-Hum Everyday life!

The routines of our work-a-day world or school schedules can crowd out the priority of living for God.

Some settle into a “sameness sanity” devoid of any time for God.

We can move through life doing tomorrow what we did today which was nothing more than a repeat of yesterday.

But carving out a “special” time for God can become as ritualistic and routine as everything else on our daily planners.

How about instead – we give God the whole day and let Him direct our plans.

That doesn’t necessarily mean you stay home from work unless you hear an audible voice!

It does mean that whether at work, school, home or anywhere else; we are committed to giving God His way as He orders our steps, sometimes even re-directing them.

We often have unrealistic dreams that God can only use us on the mission field in some far-away country when truthfully, He is longing to use you to pray for your hurting co-worker one cubicle over.

The missions’ trip to a foreign land begins oftentimes with the missions’ trip to the next door neighbor.

You’ve heard it framed this way – being faithful in the little things so that God can use you in the bigger things.

If you won’t speak to your neighbor over the fence why would God send you halfway around the world to speak to someone else?

“Well that’s different” you say!

How so?

Maybe God will use someone else to share the Good News ‘story’ with them but that does not excuse us from living the Good News ‘life’ next door to them.

Everyday His Way!

Filling in the Blank

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.”

Romans 8:19

 

 

How do you think God might fill in the blank below concerning your life?

I want to do ________________________________ with your life!

What are your expectations of God’s will for your life?

Is it that you might move mountains by your faith in Him

Or

Is it enough to only believe that God wants you at church next Sunday?

Not that I have anything against church attendance but I suspect God just might have bigger plans for you and I than that.

We settle well short of what He wants to do.

We began the week with the same challenge – don’t put limits on God.

I want to end it by asking you to allow that blank line above to provoke you to prayer.

Seek God’s maximum and not your minimum.

Don’t be a “settler” when it comes to fulfilling your destiny.

Consider this – maybe – just maybe your life purposes being fulfilled are part of the “greater works” that Jesus spoke of.

One way that we honor Him is through obediently completing the works He gives us to do.

But if we can only believe God for the simplest of things then we miss His best for us.

And creation misses out on one of the sons of God it is waiting to be revealed.

We have been buffeted by strong winds the last 24 hours.

They have left an impact in our area of western New York state.

Should Jesus tarry and you are called home to be with Him;

what impact will the life you lived for Him leave on others?

How will you fill in that blank?