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Running AMOK: Random Musings for the Creative Hands of the Body of Christ by Dave Weiss
I was out on my prayer walk today and three verses came too mind that perfectly described the journey for creative Christ-followers. They are:
With God all things are possible. (Matthew 19:26)
I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (Philippians 4:13) These show us our limitations when if comes to doing what God has called you to do. There are none! If God is calling, go for it, let Him steer and trust Him to bring you through.
The final one keeps us in check:
Without me (Christ) you can do nothing…John 15:5 Without keeping hat one in mind we may get off track. I decided I needed all of those where I do most of my work, so I made a wallpaper and I’ve decided to share it with all of you. All you have to do is click the image below and put it on your monitor according to your computer’s instructions.
I hope this blesses you as much as it blesses me and if you like it, share it.
Today when I checked my web stats I was surprised to see that that post alone had over 240 hits last week and 60 today. Anybody know what’s happening? I love the quote and hope that is exactly what all Christ following artists will do to the glory of God.
By the way, if you like the image on this page and the sentiment. It’s available on a t-shirt by clicking the image.
Moses was an amazing man with an amazing relationship with God. The Bible says The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks with his friend but it wasn’t always that way. When God called Moses at the burning bush, Moses was terrified. You see Moses’ people the Israelites had been enslaved by the Egyptians for almost 400 years. The Israelites cried out to God. Exodus 3:7-9 says, 7 The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. This had to be great exciting news but in verse 10 God turned the corner and said to Moses, So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” You see Egypt was probably the last place Moses wanted to go. He had been raised there as a prince in Pharaoh’s household but one day Moses saw a slave driver beating an Israelite slave and he rose up to defend the slave killing the slave driver and Moses fled from Egypt, determined never to return.
Did you ever feel like you didn’t want to do what God was calling you to do? What did you do? I know what I do and it’s what Moses did. He made excuses. His first excuse was Who am I to do this? He feels unqualified. God’s response to him and us is I will be with you. When God sends us, He goes with us. It doesn’t all depend on us.
His second excuse Is what if they don’t believe me? What if the people I go to speak to, don’t believe that you sent me? He’s saying what we sometimes say, I don’t have enough. Whether it be education, resources, power, whatever, God’s answer to Moses is once again the same as it is to us. What’s in your hand? Moses had a staff a simple wooden stick and God used it to do miraculous signs. Forget about what you don’t have, look at what you do have and use it faithfully. God will take care of the rest.
Moses’ third excuse dealt with his inability to speak. We all do this. We start to say it’s not that I don’t have enough, it’s that I’m not enough, I don’t have what it takes. God says I know everything about you and exactly how I made you and if you’ll trust me. I’ll bring you all the way through and give you the help you need.
And finally Moses said send someone else and God said no. He says the same thing to you and me. His call on our lives is for us to complete. He doesn’t want someone else. He wants you.
You might notice in the painting Moses is facing away from the Burning Bush. You might think that’s wrong but it isn’t. God has answered every one of Moses’ excuses and wiped them all away. For Moses there’s only one thing left to do. Obey God and do what He said. Moses is leaving the bush and his excuses behind and heading to Egypt.
What’s your excuse? Trust God and leave it behind. The time is now to step into God’s call.
I just finished reading a really great, thriller of a book by Robert Liparulo called The Thirteenth Tribe. I got the book through booksneeze.com. The book is an action packed page turner.
A mysterious group of immortal terrorists are on a mission to commit an attack on a target in the name of God. They’ve been doing this for centuries, trying to win God’s favor by punishing sinners. Along the way, they collide with the book’s hero, Jagger Baird, who gets recruited to stop them. How do you stop an unstoppable enemy who’s covinced God is on their side. I’d love to say more, but I don’t want to give too much away. This is a book I would highly recommend to anyone who loves a good thriller. Beyond the thrilling story line are a lot of thought provoking themes like the dangers of trying to earn salvation and what happens when believers take the word of God out of context as well as what happens when head knowledge supercedes having Christ in your heart.
