Greetings,
God wants to bring a change in us, not merely a change of what we do. It is the change in us that will bring the change to the world. God is an I AM not an I DO. We must become a testimony of “i am” in Christ. As leaders, knowing who we are is more important than knowing what to do. We are not called to merely lead people in doing things for God. We are called to lead people in becoming who they are meant to be in Christ. The confession of our hearts cannot be one of the acts of our life, but that of the character of our lives. The character of who we are will not only define what we do, but also the reason for which we do all things. Knowing what to do is not enough. We must first know who we are. When we know who we are, we can easily discover the why of all the things we do in life. Knowing why we do what we do is more powerful than merely knowing what to do. Knowing why we do what we do will empower us to do anything and everything necessary in our path of destiny. Merely knowing what to do can leave us easily swayed from destiny. Our focus and our passion can be easily extinguished when what we do is more powerful than why we do it.
Moses was destined to be a deliver to his people, Israel. He was rescued as a baby in the river Nile and raised as an Egyptian prince in the house of Pharaoh. When he came to the age of forty, he saw the mistreatment of an Israelite and he rose against the Egyptian that was doing the abuse and he killed him. Having been seen by others, he fled to the wilderness of Horeb, where he established a family and a way of life among the people of Midian. Moses was an Israelite by birth and an Egyptian prince by upbringing, but he was destined to be an Israelite deliverer for his people. He had spent a generation knowing the ways of Egypt (40 years), but he had to see his Egyptian identity die in the wilderness and his Israelite roots restored for the task that was before him. He had entered a generation of discovering who God was and who He was in God’s plan of life. His time in the wilderness was a time of discovering who he was, but to discover who he was he had to discover who God was in his life. He already had a sense of what to do, when he killed the Egyptian abuser in Egypt. He had to know who he really was before he could lead his people, Israel, to their destiny in their journey as the people of God. In order to discover who he was, Moses had to discover who God was.
Exodus 3:1 Now Moses was pasturing the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
There are some names of prophetic significance in this story of Moses. He was serving in the family business of his father in law Jethro. The name Jethro means, abundant or his excellence; his posterity. Moses was living under the shadow of one who was abundant and excellent. Jethro was of the tribe of Midian. The name Midian means, judgment. Moses was in the wilderness of Horeb. The name Horeb means, waste, desert; solitude; destruction. It would be easy for Moses to see himself as under the shadow of his father-in-law. It would be easy for Moses to feel like he was being judged by the measurements of another. It would be easy for Moses to think that he was wasting his time in the wilderness. Moses thought that he had fled to the wilderness for his action of killing the Egyptian, but Moses wasn’t in the wilderness because he had to run for fear of the actions of his past. God had brought him to the wilderness for the sake of the future of others. Moses wasn’t running from his Egyptian inheritance, he was brought into a 40-year season of his life to discover who he really was. Knowing who he was, was more important than knowing what to do.
Exodus 3:2 The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a blazing fire from the midst of a bush; and he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, yet the bush was not consumed. 3 So Moses said, “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”
Moses didn’t turn aside to see the bush because it was on fire. There were probably many fires in the wilderness. The wilderness is a dry place and things burn easily and things burn up easily. Moses didn’t turn aside because of the fire. He turned aside to see why the bush was not consumed by the flames. The bush was a message for Moses. Moses had to become a bush that would not burn out. He had to discover God, who was in the bush. He had to discover God in his own life for the task that set before Him.
It would be easy for Moses to see himself as under the shadow of his father-in-law. It would be easy for Moses to feel like he was being judged by the measurements of another. It would be easy for Moses to think that he was wasting his time in the wilderness. If you feel like you are under the shadow of others or you feel as though you are being measured or judged by others, you need to find your confidence in Christ. Christ in you is the hope of glory and only Christ in you can give you the power to burn with a zeal for God, His family, and His purpose in your life. Don’t seek the fire of God, seek the presence of God! The presence of God in your life will lead you in discovering the purpose of God in your life.
Food For Thought,
Ted J. Hanson
The Egyptian Moses died there in the desert, and was reborn the Israelite Moses. As a shepherd in the house of Jethro, Moses came to understand the way of the goat. Moses had to adapt to a simple humble life of solitude with only goats for company most of the time. I think Moses began to know God in his time dependence on others for his very sustenance. Moses was becoming a friend of God. In my life, I never truly began to know God until I became totally dependent on Him for my life. God appeared to me in the burning bush of an illness I had no control over. Transformation happened suddenly and is an on going transformation of love and grace. I thought once that I knew what direction my destiny was moving, but have found that that was only my own self interests manifesting itself as God. In other words ego was my God even though it was well intentioned. Yes I thought I was serving others but it was only to prop up my own sense of failure. God could not use my vessel in this predicament. I now have no idea what my destiny is and rely on Holy Spirit to reveal what He wants of me on a day to day basis. My relationship with Him is now much sweeter then before and I sense His presence with me to lead, comfort, and encourage. My heart has opened and love has begun to issue forth for others. If He will just stay and abide with me I am satisfied, and seek to do as He wills what ever that may be. The love of others is all that really matters for me and I want as much of that love to flow though me as possible in what is left of my time on the earth. I know only this, without his presence I will not move or speak, because self must die so that Jesus in me can live.
This is a powerful message–I have been studying the “Fire” of God and wish to understand more on the subject. The Pillar of Fire in the wilderness represents the presence of God traveling with the people of God. We have that Pillar of Fire within us in the Holy Spirit yet the presence of God extends into the Holy of Holies which we also have access to through the blood of Jesus. When John tells us: “He will baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire,” I understand that to mean that fire is a different baptism, although it accompanies the Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I feel that the Baptism of Fire is an ongoing baptism of transformation–“From Glory to Glory.” I agree that to seek the face of Jesus in communion with Him brings us into His transforming power–“To live and move and have our being” in every aspect of His nature, ways, power, and authority. When we are in His presence, we are in His fire so to speak where the supernatural supersedes the nature, ways, and dictates of the world. The Word talks about “refining fire,” in terms of allowing the fire to burn away the dross of this world and our nature to become like Gold–the Gold is Jesus. I believe that the doctrine around the scripture referring to ” burning away the chafe” in speaking about the chafe in our lives–not hell fire and damnation. It is the Holy Spirit who identifies and brings out the “wheat” in our lives that was placed there at the foundation of the world. It is Grace that reveals the wheat in our being to be who we are created to be.