Changing the World: What Just One Man (Or Woman) Can Do

One of the most exciting stories in the Bible (at least to me) is the story of God's wrath after the children of Israel made the golden calf. 

You probably remember the details. Moses was on the mountain with God, getting the ten commandments, for forty days. The people had counted on Moses as their deliverer and leader. Aaron made a poor substitute.

Mankind has an inherent desire for an object of worship. While Moses was away, they remembered the gods of the Egyptians and wanted something tangible. 

"Make us a god to go before us," they told Aaron.

"Sure. Great. Take the earrings from your wives and daughters ears and bring them to me. I'll make you a great little idol." (This is the Leanna Paraphrase, as are the following "quotes".)

It's a good thing I'm not God, because I would have zapped Aaron on the spot when that stupidity came out of his mouth.

On the other hand, I'm no better than Aaron. Although I don't make idols from earrings, I am as adept as anyone at attaching a greater significance to "things" than I should.

But I digress.

God, of course, knew about the "earring idol". He was ready to destroy the people and start over, but Moses begged for them. 

"No. It will make you look bad among the surrounding peoples. They will think You couldn't deliver your people so you killed them."

God relented on destroying them, but He was still angry. He'd just delivered them from Egyptian slavery and done a flashy and fabulous miracle with the Red Sea. 

"Go ahead to the Promised Land, Moses. I'll send you an angel to help, but I'm not going in your midst."

The people did a kind of "ornament fast" and mourned the loss, but God did not relent. Moses begged for them again. 

"Don't make me go without You."

"Okay, Moses. You win. I'll go with you, but I've still had it with these people."

Moses begged one more time. "No, Lord. If Your presence doesn't go with us, don't make us go."

A miracle happened during that quiet time between God and Moses. The Lord God Almighty relented and agreed to go with the Israelites on their journey to the Promised Land.

"And the Lord said to Moses, 'I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight, and I have known you by name." Genesis 33:17 nasb)

The people who journeyed to the Promised Land didn't know it, but they enjoyed the presence of God because of one man's passion for Him.

One man's passion for God can make a difference we can't begin to imagine. 

D.L. Moody's friend, Henry Varley, once said, "The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him." Moody vowed to be that man. He went on to have an evangelistic ministry on two continents that resulted in more than one million conversions.

One ordinary man, serving an extraordinary God, can do things most of us don't dare to dream. 

I'm just an ordinary woman. You're probably ordinary, too. It's easy to discount the kind of impact we could have on the world, but our surrendered lives, in the hands of God, can be part of incredible blessings. We can impact more than just the people around us. We can impact the world for God. 

If we will.

Varley was right. The world has yet to see what God can do with and for and through and in a man or woman who is fully and wholly consecrated to Him.

By God's grace, let's commit to be that one.

~~~~~~~~~~~

Our next Friday Night with Friends guest blog will post at 6 pm this Friday night. You don't want to miss it!

In case you missed one of the past week's posts, here are the links: Friday Night with Friends: New Beginning, The Temperament Test and Married Oneness, Leaving a Legacy: Choices That Last for Generations, Jumping to Conclusions: The Terrorists That Were Not, Nothing is Impossible: Ayman al-Zawahiri, and Morning Quiet Time: Who Speaks First.
#chronologicalBible #powerofone #changetheworld #Moses #presenceofGod #passion #disciple

Behavior that Demonstrates Belief

The weather forecast yesterday was a confusing one for me. "We're gonna have a huge storm," people told me. "It's a bad sign when the weather channel sends a reporter to our town."

I head the reports, but I also looked at the weather maps. There was going to be a storm, but it appeared that it would miss my little town. I moved my car away from the trees, just in case, because I have a little experience with weather predictions coming true. 

My behavior demonstrated my belief.

Weather reports seem an iffy thing to me. They are based on predictions and directions of wind and air movement, and they're constantly in flux. What we think is coming here goes somewhere else. What we worry about dissipates. We never really know.

When Moses gave a weather report, though, you could count on it. 

If he said hail was coming, Pharaoh knew, without a single doubt, that it was.

That's the difference between man's wisdom and God's wisdom. 

I noticed today, for the first time, that some of the Egyptians believed Moses. When he said a bad hailstorm was coming and every living creature that was outside would be killed, a few Egyptians gathered their people and all their animals in the house and waited for the storm Moses predicted. (Exodus 9:20)

Most did not. They scoffed at Moses, left their animals outside, and lost every single one of them due to the hail.

We are so much like those foolish Egyptians, aren't we? 

People today still pick and choose what they want to believe. We still want to believe things will stay the same, that we will be safe. 

The Bible, however, paints a different picture. Suffering will come to us all. A great tribulation will come. 

One day, Jesus will come back for his church and we need to be ready.

We can tell what we believe by how we behave. Do we live as those who expect our Savior to return or not? 

One day, Jesus will return. One day His church will rise and meet Him in the sky. It's going to be an exciting day, but on that day, it will be too late to change our minds. We must prepare now for our journey heavenward.

If our behavior demonstrates what we believe, and it does, what does our behavior say about our faith in a Risen, Returning Savior?

Live like you believe.

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In case you missed one of this week's posts, here are the links:  A Little Good News: Working Together,  Things I've Learned: There is a God and I'm Not It, Cutting Down a Tree and Praying for Miracles, and The Tree That Preached a Sermon, The Wounded Deer and the Unsaid Words, Being Angry Without Sin, and Starting Over: It's Not as Easy as It Seems.

#chronologicalBible #livelikeyoubelieve #JesusChrist #disciple #secondcoming #weather #Moses

Teach us to pray, part 43: The Power

"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 'Give us this day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [ For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.' ] (Matthew 6:9-13 NASB

An interesting thing happened midway through the plagues in Egypt. The Egyptians had just watched in horror as all their livestock died in a terrible hailstorm (plague 5). The loss of their livestock had been quickly followed by boils on all the people and all the other animals. (plague 6) It was painful and horrible. No one was spared and the Egyptians were not happy. 

God spoke to Moses with an interesting message. Go back to Pharaoh and tell him that I said I'm about to send all my plagues on him. Say that, if I had just killed him, he'd be gone, but I have something else in mind. These next words are powerful and worth remembering.

"But, indeed, for this cause I have allowed you to remain, in order to show you My power, and in order to proclaim My name through all the earth."

Exodus 9:16 NASB

We know (from Exodus 2:22-24) that God had heard the cries of the children of Israel and was moving to deliver them. He could have zapped Pharaoh and zipped the children of Israel straight to the promised land. He could have spared the Egyptians all the plagues and spared the children of Israel the wilderness time. That would have worked well for delivering them from slavery, but His purposes would not have been accomplished. He allowed additional plagues to descend on Egypt in order to demonstrate His power to Pharaoh and the Egyptian people, but also to show His power to His own people. They had languished in slavery for years. They were miserable and thought God had forgotten them. When they watched the plagues that befell Egypt, they knew the power of God had moved on their behalf.

Sometimes, I forget about that power, especially when I am in the midst of a trial. I forget that the One who delivered the children of Israel from Egyptian slavery can also deliver me. I forget that my difficult situation, about which I am storming the gates of heaven, might be an opportunity for God to teach me something about Himself. Not long ago, I had a need. I was praying up a storm, hoping and hoping that God would do what needed to be done. In fact, I had begun to think that I might need to help Him out a little bit, because it seemed as if He was moving too slow. Right on time, exactly when it was needed, He did exactly what needed to be done. Actually, He did more than what needed to be done. His timing and His power left me awestruck, utterly amazed by the Mighty God we serve.

When I pray, when I ask God to provide for me, forgive me, and deliver me, it is important that I remember that the One I have asked has the authority (Thine is the Kingdom) and the ability (Thine is the power) to do exactly what needs to be done. 

As we pray today, let us bring our needs for provision, our needs for forgiveness, our needs for protection to the only One who can meet those needs. When we pray, let us also acknowledge the One who has all the authority, all the ability, all the glory needed to accomplish everything we ask.

For Thine is the Kingdom, and the power, and the glory. 

Amen.

Lenten series # 6: Moses

"The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. And she named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water." Now it came about in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brethren and looked on their hard labors; and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his brethren. So he looked this way and that, and when he saw there was no one around, he struck down the Egyptian and hid him in the sand." (Exodus 2:10-12 NASB)

The Pharaoh in Egypt was killing all the Hebrew babies, but Moses' parents took one look at him and loved him. They were desperate to protect him. After three months, it was no longer possible to hide him, but his mother had a very unusual plan. She put the baby in a floating basket and put it in the reeds at the edge of the Nile, then she set his sister nearby to see what happened. Amazingly, Pharaoh's daughter found him and decided to adopt him. In an even more amazing twist to the story, she hired his own mother as Moses's wet nurse. When he was weaned he became her son, he lived as a prince, and grew up in the palace, where he was trained in the leadership expected of Pharaoh's grandson.  

When Moses was grown, he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew workers. Pharaoh's daughter might have pretended he was her son, but it is clear Moses knew about his Hebrew heritage. He saw the man beaten and was enraged. In fact, it was a rage that resulted in the murder of the Egyptian. In an attempt to hide his crime, Moses buried the Egyptian in the sand, but his crime was discovered, and he ran for his life. 

In what seemed like the blink of an eye, Moses went from being a Hebrew baby in a basket to an exalted prince of Egypt to a fugitive murderer. Here is where the story takes another twist. He fled to the wilderness of Midian, where he became a shepherd. 

Forty years later, he saw a burning bush, God called to him, and he approached the bush. When he realized that it was God calling, he was afraid and hid his face. In that instant, God's plan began to come together. The years of training in administration and leadership in Egypt, followed by the years as a shepherd in the wilderness were not wasted. They were part of the essential preparation for the most important job Moses would ever undertake. He was to lead the Hebrew people out of Egypt and to the promised land. 

Over the course of the next forty years, Moses walked with God. In fact, he became a friend of God, so much that he met face to face with Him. Afterwards, his face shone so much that, instead of hiding his face from God, he had to cover his face with a veil and hide it from the people. (Exodus 34:34) Being in the presence of God left a change in Moses that everyone could see. His experiences caused another change, too. Instead of the angry, vengeful young man, Moses became the most humble man on earth (Numbers 12:3).  That humble man led millions of Hebrews to freedom from slavery as he walked with God. 

Remember the people in Sodom? Those people weren't humble. They were filled with pride, arrogance, and selfishness, and it ultimately led to their destruction. Moses, on the other hand, left his world a different place because of his humility and his faithfulness to God. Despite his rocky start and his immense sin, our God of second chances gave Moses a fresh start and the opportunity to change the world, and Moses ultimately embraced it.

Perhaps you, too, have made mistakes and have had a rough start to your life thus far.  In the shortest time imaginable, you can answer the call of God and He can begin to unfold your second chance.  He can reveal His plan to use all the mistakes in your past to make a difference in your future. No matter how far you have run, how low you have sunk, how long you have been mired in sin, our Lord can deliver, cleanse, and transform. We can't do it on our own. That's why we needed Jesus. He is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all we can ask or think. The most amazing thing is that He can use people like you and me to accomplish that work!