Recently I was studying Moses and the burning bush, boy was I surprised when Priscilla Shirer used that as a reference as we are studying the roll of the Holy Spirit in our lives and how to know when God is speaking to us. And yet, I was not surprised because God truly does know how to get me to hear when a message needs to be heard and this was one of those times! In discussing Moses’ calling I thought this was something you would all get meaning from as well so below are some thoughts I wanted to share with you about Moses and the burning bush as per my study.
If you recall Moses was in the desert herding sheep when he saw the burning bush, his curiosity got the better of him and he had to go “see it for himself”, lets face it, how could a bush be burning yet not turn to ash or anything around it catch on fire. In a hot desert that’s a miracle in and of itself. To say that God’s presence was in the bush is yet another miracle of how he can physically present himself to us! From Exodus 3:1-7, 10 we can learn many things about our own calling. Moses did not have to go check out the bush, he could have taken other’s words for it and just figured oh well, it’s a freak of nature but that’s not what happened. What’s even more astonishing is that he left his job to go see the bush, got there, realized he was on holy ground, took off his shoes and stayed to have a conversation with God. In those days, people believed that if you had that kind of encounter with God you would die, because no one could see God’s face and live. God knew how Moses would react before he even got there, so he said, “take your shoes off and come hang out with me for awhile while I tell you what you are going to do for me.” Just as a side note, by this time Moses was 80 years old!
Do you remember why Moses was in the desert? There was a contract on his life for killing an Egyptian so he fled, for 40 years he lived in the desert as a sheep herder and then God revealed himself. Why not a few years into Mosses’ exile, why 40 years later? Because we all need desert seasons in our lives to become equipped to fulfill God’s calling. I am thanking God right now for those desert seasons and the ones to come because not only will they make each one of us stronger but the lessons we learn will help us lead others through their own seasons and equip us with God’s mighty word to minister to others.
How does God equip us? First of all, he equips us with dedication. Each new circumstance in our lives teaches us a dedication to Him, His word and prayer, we learn that without those three things the circumstances can virtually become unbearable, with those things we are given a mighty strength that comes from God, alone. We are his creation and God prepares these things ahead of time so that we can walk in his word when the time is at hand (Ephesians 2:10).
The second thing God prepares us with is directions. God uses what we are involved in now to prepare us for the future. In Jeremiah God tells us that He has plans for us, plans for a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11). Every single thing you deal with today will prepare you for something you will have to deal with tomorrow.
Third, God equips us with a destination. He leads us to the mountain and into His presence, in the midst of our circumstances he stands beside us and says, “here I am, lean on me”, much like the footprints poem, in the times we are most alone, he is carrying us, He knows the real you! He says, “You are worthy and I love you”. He promised us in his word that we would never be alone. John 14:15-17 tells is that the Holy Spirit will come so that we will always have someone with us, reminding us of God’s truth. It also tells us that all of this is preparing us to one day stand before God’s presence and hear him say “well done good and faithful servant”.
So don’t miss the burning bushes God is placing in your path, when you see the supernatural markers God has placed before you how do you react, with dread, or with an open heart willing to receive the lesson? When you encounter the voice of God it is because he wants to develop intimacy with you. Take off your shoes and worship! Zephaniah tells us in chapter 3 that God is singing over us, that he is our strong warrior here to save us! Psalm 25 tells us that He will plan only the best for us and that if I keep my eyes on him I won’t trip over my own feet!
His plan for us will change the course of our lives. Our life plans are tucked into the plan that God has for the whole universe. In John 4 when Jesus meets the women at the well, he already knew all about her, because of that encounter she went back to her village and witnessed. The entire village became believers because of one conversation at a well. When Saul was converted in Acts 9 and renamed Paul, he became one of the greatest biblical evangelist and wrote more of the books of the New Testament than any other believer, all from one encounter on a dirt road when he was persecuting Christians. We have absolutely no idea how our encounters with God will change our lives but if we are willing to meet him, our lives will be changed. Moses met him at a burning bush, where will you meet him today?
I am praying right now for each one of you as you deal with your burning bushes, let God lead you where he is calling, the rewards will be far greater than you can ever imagine!
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Streaks of Clay
Jeremiah 18
There’s a Christian song out that goes something like this:
Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life's demands,
'Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be,”
As Tobymac sings these words one can’t help but bob your head and sing along. But the other day I wasn’t bobbing my head; I got stuck on the word “Clay”. The brown gooey stuff that sticks together so that artists can mold it, or the yucky red clay we had in Alabama that leaves streaks on your carpet and is impossible to clean. I began to wonder exactly what kind of clay God sees me as. I think I am the annoying red kind. When Jim and I lived in Alabama that red clay was one of the greatest sources of my frustration and cleaning it was a constant companion in my daily routine.
I began to wonder if God thinks of me as a constant frustration. A mess, he is constantly cleaning up. I know I can go for weeks as a mess God has to work on cleaning up and then I may have some pretty good weeks where my messes don’t seem so bad but I still think he gets frustrated.
The really cool thing about God is that He has infinite patience. Those red clay streaks on the carpet that is my life may have me pulling out my hair but he says it’s what he created us to do. He gets out the carpet cleaner and goes to work. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned (think red clay here) and are not good enough for God’s glory” We are all clay, our red streaks can be long and ugly but Romans goes on to say in verse 24 “all need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift.” God in his infinite wisdom says: “You are in my hands like the clay in the potter’s hands” (Jeremiah 18:6b) When a crack forms He sets to work remolding, remaking, repairing lovingly and painstakingly with the blood of His Son. As he begins the healing process the sin or dark clay streaks become “whiter than snow”.
Psalm 51 says, “Lord, take away my sin and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” No more ugly red clay streaks, just the white clay after the heat of the kiln has set me as the “Potter” fashioned me to be. A broken, ugly, clay vessel, molded, remade and fired clean, “whiter than snow”. You and I, because of the great love shown to us by God, because of Christ’s desire to have us in paradise with him are perfected and made “whiter than snow”. No more ugly red streaks on the carpet. I pray daily to be molded by the hands of my loving Father, singing and bobbing my head.
“Father God, I am clay in your hands, Help me stay that way through all life’s demands.”
There’s a Christian song out that goes something like this:
Father God, I am clay in your hands,
Help me to stay that way through all life's demands,
'Cause they chip and they nag and they pull at me,
And every little thing I make up my mind to be,”
As Tobymac sings these words one can’t help but bob your head and sing along. But the other day I wasn’t bobbing my head; I got stuck on the word “Clay”. The brown gooey stuff that sticks together so that artists can mold it, or the yucky red clay we had in Alabama that leaves streaks on your carpet and is impossible to clean. I began to wonder exactly what kind of clay God sees me as. I think I am the annoying red kind. When Jim and I lived in Alabama that red clay was one of the greatest sources of my frustration and cleaning it was a constant companion in my daily routine.
I began to wonder if God thinks of me as a constant frustration. A mess, he is constantly cleaning up. I know I can go for weeks as a mess God has to work on cleaning up and then I may have some pretty good weeks where my messes don’t seem so bad but I still think he gets frustrated.
The really cool thing about God is that He has infinite patience. Those red clay streaks on the carpet that is my life may have me pulling out my hair but he says it’s what he created us to do. He gets out the carpet cleaner and goes to work. Romans 3:23 says “All have sinned (think red clay here) and are not good enough for God’s glory” We are all clay, our red streaks can be long and ugly but Romans goes on to say in verse 24 “all need to be made right with God by His grace, which is a free gift.” God in his infinite wisdom says: “You are in my hands like the clay in the potter’s hands” (Jeremiah 18:6b) When a crack forms He sets to work remolding, remaking, repairing lovingly and painstakingly with the blood of His Son. As he begins the healing process the sin or dark clay streaks become “whiter than snow”.
Psalm 51 says, “Lord, take away my sin and I will be clean, wash me and I will be whiter than snow.” No more ugly red clay streaks, just the white clay after the heat of the kiln has set me as the “Potter” fashioned me to be. A broken, ugly, clay vessel, molded, remade and fired clean, “whiter than snow”. You and I, because of the great love shown to us by God, because of Christ’s desire to have us in paradise with him are perfected and made “whiter than snow”. No more ugly red streaks on the carpet. I pray daily to be molded by the hands of my loving Father, singing and bobbing my head.
“Father God, I am clay in your hands, Help me stay that way through all life’s demands.”
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Expectations
It’s really tough living up to what others expect of you.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend who is a Pastor’s wife. She made an interesting comment. We were talking about how tough it is in society today to be a Pastor’s kid. She said many times in activities or events where they are not among those from their town and people don’t know her husband is a Pastor they purposely will omit his profession “for the kids sake”. The expectations one has of a Pastor’s kid, or let’s face it any profession that puts a parent in the public spotlight, can be so outrageous that possibly living up to those expectations is impossible. These children are set up to fail even before they start. Now, my parents never had jobs in the public spotlight, but we lived in a small enough town that if one of us made a bad decision, did something wrong or broke a law, our parents knew what happened before we ever got home. How much harder must that have been for our Pastor’s children, our Mayor’s children and the other children of parents in the public spotlight?
And yet, we all have expectations, piled on by others, piled on by the media, your family, your classmates, your co-workers. They can be tough if not impossible to live up to. I remember reading an autobiography about Ruth Graham Bell in which she talks about her divorce and how devastating it was. She tells how she was so ashamed because how could the daughter of Billy Graham possibly be a divorcee and how difficult it was to face her parents. She shares “as she drove up the long spiral driveway to her parents home, dreading facing them, she rounded the bend and there waiting for her with arms outstretched was her Father, saying welcome home daughter, how we have missed you and love you.” What Anne expected was censure, what she got was love and understanding. I can certainly relate, when I went through my divorce, I felt the black mark, the stigma and that was only 18 years ago, not a sadly accepted norm as it seems to be today.
As humans we concern ourselves every day with “measuring up”. The expectations of others become what we expect of ourselves. Yet, God tells us that His expectations are all we really need to attain, then all else is basically a given. His expectations are clear. Luke 6:31 says “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Further on in verse 35 he says “love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without hoping to get anything back.” Our rewards will be great for we will have met the expectations of our heavenly Father. Go ahead, keep reading in Luke, it says “Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High God, because He is kind even to people who are ungrateful and full of sin.”
Expectations. Praise be to God that the only expectation we are expected to fulfill is the one that comes from our heavenly Father. I could never measure up to the ones here on earth that others have placed upon me unless I first fulfilled the ones given by God, without Him what I achieve on earth would be impossible. Thank God, I don’t have to do it alone and neither do you. Start by achieving what he expects, you will be amazed at how all the rest falls into place.
Recently I had a conversation with a friend who is a Pastor’s wife. She made an interesting comment. We were talking about how tough it is in society today to be a Pastor’s kid. She said many times in activities or events where they are not among those from their town and people don’t know her husband is a Pastor they purposely will omit his profession “for the kids sake”. The expectations one has of a Pastor’s kid, or let’s face it any profession that puts a parent in the public spotlight, can be so outrageous that possibly living up to those expectations is impossible. These children are set up to fail even before they start. Now, my parents never had jobs in the public spotlight, but we lived in a small enough town that if one of us made a bad decision, did something wrong or broke a law, our parents knew what happened before we ever got home. How much harder must that have been for our Pastor’s children, our Mayor’s children and the other children of parents in the public spotlight?
And yet, we all have expectations, piled on by others, piled on by the media, your family, your classmates, your co-workers. They can be tough if not impossible to live up to. I remember reading an autobiography about Ruth Graham Bell in which she talks about her divorce and how devastating it was. She tells how she was so ashamed because how could the daughter of Billy Graham possibly be a divorcee and how difficult it was to face her parents. She shares “as she drove up the long spiral driveway to her parents home, dreading facing them, she rounded the bend and there waiting for her with arms outstretched was her Father, saying welcome home daughter, how we have missed you and love you.” What Anne expected was censure, what she got was love and understanding. I can certainly relate, when I went through my divorce, I felt the black mark, the stigma and that was only 18 years ago, not a sadly accepted norm as it seems to be today.
As humans we concern ourselves every day with “measuring up”. The expectations of others become what we expect of ourselves. Yet, God tells us that His expectations are all we really need to attain, then all else is basically a given. His expectations are clear. Luke 6:31 says “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Further on in verse 35 he says “love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without hoping to get anything back.” Our rewards will be great for we will have met the expectations of our heavenly Father. Go ahead, keep reading in Luke, it says “Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High God, because He is kind even to people who are ungrateful and full of sin.”
Expectations. Praise be to God that the only expectation we are expected to fulfill is the one that comes from our heavenly Father. I could never measure up to the ones here on earth that others have placed upon me unless I first fulfilled the ones given by God, without Him what I achieve on earth would be impossible. Thank God, I don’t have to do it alone and neither do you. Start by achieving what he expects, you will be amazed at how all the rest falls into place.
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