Lesson
15
PREPARATION FOR USEFULNESS
By Ruth Mahoney Swaim
CALLED - CHOSEN - FAITHFUL
Revelation 17:14
III. Faithful
PREPARATION FOR USEFULNESS
By Ruth Mahoney Swaim
CALLED - CHOSEN - FAITHFUL
Revelation 17:14
III. Faithful
Having had a glimpse of the choosing process in the last lesson we now get to see the way God begins to show Himself in our life both through us and to us.
We have come through one of the steps He outlines for us and learned to hear His voice and become sensitive to the way He deals with us. Through the choosing process (furnace of affliction) we have been sensitized to the spiritual realm.
We now come to the place where we are putting our experience and faith to work. As we step out in faith and obedience, He shows His faithfulness.
Then we experience the joy of seeing fruits of our labors and works of His hand through us. We are little by little going from faith to faith and seeing His glory.*
We look forward to hearing His tender words to us "...well done thou good and faithful servant."
God
Speaks
Moses is now coming to the end of his sojourn on the backside of the desert and God finally speaks. He shows Himself. Moses gets a wake up call and God gets his attention.
How?
By Fire !!
Exodus 3:1-6: "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian. And he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, but the bush was not consumed. Then Moses said, 'I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn.' So 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.' Then he said, 'Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 'Moreover' He said, 'I am God of your father - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' and Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look upon God."God often speaks by fire. "Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." Isaiah 48:10
Fire speaks of cleansing/holiness
Fire burns away the dross
Fire burns away dry refuse
Fire is also used to prepare food
This is a spiritual experience - Baptism of Fire
He wants to show His holiness through you and it must be pure and clean. Without righteousness in your life, the powerful anointing of God can kill you. It can be your downfall and a cause for stumbling.
Witness the many powerful ministries who fall and are destroyed by that very anointing, having neglected to stay daily connected with God, failing to allow His cleansing process and His dealing with secret sin in their life.
We all run that risk. It behooves us to pay attention to the still small voice of the Holy Spirit.
Holiness and righteousness always precede power.
Rev. Brian Bailey says "He had to prepare Moses in holiness and righteousness before He could trust him with power."
This was pointedly emphasized when Moses was on the way back to his people. When he had failed to circumcise his son, God actually sought to kill him.
You cannot handle the power of God without complete obedience or it will destroy you. You must be prepared to handle the power of God. Exodus 4:24Now God is about to show His Faithfulness and Moses is about to enter into the opportunity to be found FAITHFUL.
Two Points:
- God is always faithful
- You must be found faithful
Simply because we come out of the choosing period does not mean that trials and testings are left behind. Oh no! It is just that now you have come up to another level in faith. You will start going from faith to faith...then from glory to glory!
It is now time to put faith to work and test the faith-fulness of God.
Moses is now saying what you are probably thinking; "I can't deliver a nation. I can't bring people out of bondage into liberty."
What a contrast to his original intent to slay the Egyptians and rise up and take over!
Now it's "No Way."
God drives you into a wilderness experience for one purpose, to start the choosing process and this is to work two things into you:
- Dependence
- Obedience
Matthew 7:24 and Luke 8:21: Therefore whoever HEARS these sayings of mine, and DOES them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock."You must get to a place where you HEAR and are dependent on not only the written word of God but the spoken word to your heart, then OBEY and DO this word of God imparted to you.
In Moses case, the scripture says that an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. Exodus 3:2
You remember in the book of Acts, chapter 2, when the Holy Spirit was first poured out on the church, there were tongues of fire on them. This wasn't just for a goose-bump feeling. This was significant. It was a Baptism of Fire.
They were to be set apart, filled with the fire of holiness so that the power of the Holy Spirit could work through them.
Now you may experience this next step in many different ways. You may go through deprivation, illness, bereavement, family trials, misunderstandings and downright persecution.
In Daniel 3, Shadrack, Meshack and Abed-Nego went through a furnace of fire.
Isaiah 4:4-6; Isaiah 31:9; Isaiah 43:2: "When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you."I would like to again point out the tense used in the above verse. It doesn't say "IF". It says "WHEN you pass through..."
You can count on the processes of God taking you through these tests. But remember, it is a process and you come THROUGH it. He doesn't leave you there AND, He walks through it WITH you.
There may be a special move of God taking place in your church or your area or in your life and God begins dealing with you anew with fresh fire and vision.
He will begin touching the little things in your life that you thought unimportant. Things that need to be burned off. I suggest you submit to His dealings, His cleansing, His subtle voice. OBEY!
Suddenly an opportunity will open up, a new door will open. New awareness of His presence will be a delight to you.
In any case, it is God who is speaking to you and eventually you learn to recognize it as God.
Note: By the time God is ready and has gotten you ready, you will probably feel your time is over. You will feel inadequate.
Moses said "Who am I?" Exodus 3:11
You must HEAR the Word of God;
You must OBEY the word of God.
HOW?
Earlier Moses asked several questions:
- What do I do?
- What do I say?
- What do I tell them?
As this point God gives Moses probably the deepest and most significant revelation of his life.
"But Moses said to God, 'Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?' So He said 'I will certainly be with you and this shall be a sign to you that I have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on the mountain.' Then Moses said to God, 'Indeed, when I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, what is His name? What shall I say to them?' And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM.' and He said 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I Am has sent me to you.'" Exodus 3:11-14God gives him explicit answers.
- You tell them "I AM" sent you.
- You tell them what you know.
- You tell them what I tell you.
When God speaks to Moses He takes him through a process.
He got his attention. Exodus 3:1-4He revealed His holiness (the shoes). Exodus 3:5He revealed that He is the God of the living (this was insight into the eternal). God of thy fathers, not the past tense. Exodus 3:6He revealed to Moses that He was aware of the state of His people and had compassion and wanted to help them/deliver them and take them to a good place. Exodus 3:7-10
He showed His power (the rod/serpent, leprous hand). Both are types of sin. Moses still revels in his inadequacies. Exodus 4:1-9
There is no indication of speech impediment before the wilderness experience. God frequently knocks the "I can" out of us and replaces it with the "I AM can." It is important at this point to remember that you never do any more or any less than God says. Numbers 22:189; 24:13
He tells Moses to first go to the Elders of Israel. Tell them what I tell you. Then go to Pharaoh, the King of Egypt and tell him.
Note: He first sent Moses to the Church, then to the world. He is to tell Israel something different than he tells the world. He tells the church that they are going on a permanent deliverance to a new country, a new life. He tells the King (the world) they are taking a 3 day journey to practice their religion. This ties in with Matthew 7:14: "Give NOT that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast your pearls before swine lest they trample them under their feet and turn again and rend you."
To illustrate in practical terms, remember that unbelievers are given enough faith to believe for salvation. This is all they can believe. You do not give them the precious truths of the Word so that it can be ridiculed, trampled on and desecrated. You only give them enough to believe.
"But He answered and said to them, 'An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.'" Matthew 12:39What was the sign of the prophet Jonah?
"For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth." Matthew 12:39The only sign they can see is what they have been given faith for and that is that Jesus loves them, died for them, was raised after three days from the dead and offers them salvation and cleansing from sin. He offers them life.
Don't argue biblical truth with an unbeliever. They are "dead in trespasses and sin." They have only been given enough faith to believe for salvation. You can't reason with a dead person. You can only raise them from the dead.** Ephesians 2:8
Faith
Step
It is now time to step out in faith, take that leap off the cliff and even take a tiny step of faith through that door.
You won't experience the glory until you exercise the faith. You won't see the red sea open up at the behest of your rod until you've gone through some tests of fire.
If you go on to read the life of Moses, the process does not stop with deliverance from Egypt. His greatest opposition always came from the people he was trying to help...the church and church leaders. Remember, it was the church leaders who kept them from going on into the promised land.
Also you will get great opposition from those you try to help. Ask any missionary. The people they want to help are usually the people who tried to kill them. As Paul says..."There are many adversaries." I Corinthians 16:9.So you see, from God's perspective, Moses was successful. He was obedient, humble and faithful. He was molded into a useful vessel of honor.
What a wonderful blessing it is when you come upon the rare saint of God who shines forth with that humble obedient spirit. Blessed are the poor in spirit (those who realize their own lack and need of God's Holy Spirit) for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven." Matthew 5:3They have no smell of fire on them but you can see the Gold of the Kingdom shining forth through them. They show you glimpses of Heaven.
Moses was probably the most humble of all of God's prophets. He never exhibited a sense of ambition for his own agenda. He never tried to exalt himself. He implored God to choose someone else, having no sense of worthiness.
He only wanted to do what God had instructed him and to reach the promised land.
He even interceded for the children of Israel when, in their disobedience, God wanted to destroy them (Exodus 32:10-14). Even though they had persecuted him, grumbled and resisted his leadership, he still had compassion on them. And because of Moses intercession for them God relented and held back his hand of judgment.
When he was told he wouldn't get to go into the promised land, he accepted it with humility and obedience, kindly handing the reins to someone else with instructions to lead righteously.
What a faithful man!
What a faithful servant!
What a faithful vessel of honor!
"Jesus saith unto them, my meat is to do the will of Him that sent me and to finish His work." John 4:34
Oh for that spirit in my life. To want only to please Him, hear Him, and obey His voice. To know Him, His ways, His pleasure.
As the chorus goes:
To know Him, to know Him
Is the cry of my heart;
Spirit reveal Him to me.
To hear what He's saying
Brings strength to my bones;
To know Him to know Him alone.
---
*See lessons on Growth of Faith, #11 and 12.
**And, by the way, you don't give newborns meat. You must feed them milk until they are ready for solid food. But this will be covered in another teaching on "How to Teach."
This teaching by Ruth Mahoney Swaim may be copied and used without charge for free distribution.
Copyrighted by Ruth Mahoney Swaim to protect it from commercial or other non approved use.
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