Monday, October 18, 2010

Basket Riding

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, "Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew? "The man said, "Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses was afraid and thought, "What I did must have become known." (Exodus 2:11-14)
 We are not to take our destiny into our own hands, but wait for God to launch us off to our destiny at His perfect timing and His perfect location. We are to ride in the basket of faith down the river of the living water! I see the same reoccurring theme here as with Abraham and with Joseph! God had given them a vision of their destiny and they were impatient and took it into their own hands and did an “Ishmael”. When God gives us a vision, it is very important to not only store it in our hearts but to wait for God’s perfect timing, to have Him launch us out. We are not to take the vision, even though it is God inspired,  and to take things in our own hands, then try to make it happen in the physical world. God needs to be the director and orchestrator of our lives. I see this for me and the Prayer & Healing Ministry that I am involved with. I  know the plan and vision that God gave to me about where we are headed, but it is not up to me to “create it” and seek out opportunities to make it happen. If I did, then I am doing it in my own strength and effort and it would be doomed to failure! This is what happened to Moses. Like I had mentioned earlier in my Lego block illustration, I can prepare myself by doing my part but then God will come in and do His part and launch me off in HIS PERFECT TIME. He will bring those opportunities to me and all I have to do is be ready. We cannot take things in our own hands, but just be prepared and be ready to accept those opportunities that He brings our way. It is NOT about us making it happen by going out and finding the opportunities on our own. We are to be like little baby Moses in our reed baskets, being launched down the stream in protection and comfort by God – to a destiny that was created by God to fulfill His purpose. We just need to rest and await our destiny at the right place and right time. I am grateful to see the vision of me being in the comfortable basket and being launched on the living waters to the destiny that God has intended for me! What a wonderful ride  it is!


Question: Are you basket riding? Are you willing to go down the river and trust that God has it all in control?

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Man Forgets - God Sees

The Eye of the Eagle
"The chief cupbearer, however, did not remember Joseph; he forgot him." Genesis 40:23
We may be forgotten by man, but never by God! The words from Genesis 40, really stuck out in my mind, “he forgot him”. Isn’t that so common, that we can be forgotten or overlooked by man but we are never overlooked by God. How often have we done a task that took lots of time and effort, with the end result that nobody noticed?! That has happened to me and I am sure to you too. When you feel unappreciated or neglected and that can lead to a number one “pity party”. We can so easily want the approval of man, to get the acknowledgement of others, but what is important here is that God sees us! We should always play to the audience of one – for Him. Have we done the best in His eyes? We know that God “sees” because of His name, that was spoken in Genesis and that is El Roi (the God that Sees). I remember once that I had a lady that worked really hard on a seminar on the topic of health and fitness. We worked on getting the publicity out and she was ready for her presentation. We got there to the site and there was only one woman that was to take her class! She was devastated and wanted to leave. I pulled her aside and told her, “what about the one?”. I taught her about being flexible to what God wanted her to do and when we debriefed later, she said that the one area that she had the most difficulty in, was teaching in small intimate groups – for she was way better at standing behind a podium speaking. Now, didn’t God just orchestrate this? We pushed all the chairs in a circle and she had to facilitate instead of teach. That was the lesson she learned and she was forced to face her fears! She did well, and it taught us both a valuable lesson. We may think that we are forgotten, but God does not and often has a way better plan! God sees us when nobody else does. This is like the amazing eye of the eagle, which can focus on a specific area at an incredible distance. The eagle can narrow his vision down to seeing a fish in a stream while flying in the heights. That is our God, He Sees and knows everything we do.
Question: Are you feeling unappreciated or neglected? There is one that sees everything you do and that is the Lord that Sees, El Roi.