Dear God, Thank you for the privilege of being able to commune with you through prayer. Thank you for speaking to me through your Word and teaching me through life's circumstances. Thank you for the beautiful birds that sing such a lovely song, for the sun that shines, for the rain that cools and replenishes the thirsty earth...and provides water for us to drink. I pray for those in lands where there is famine or flood; that you would balance the weather and provide their needs. Please reveal your power, your love, your presence to them in a mighty way; that they would know that you are God. With love and happiness that comes from the peace you give, Lord. Amen.
Glancing this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. - Exodus 2:12
Moses saw the pain of his people. He saw the bondage and the injustice. His heart was enraged, and he decided he would do something. He would take matters into his own hands. The result was murder. The motive was right, but the action was wrong. He went horizontal instead of vertical with God. Moses fled to the desert, where God prepared the man who would ultimately be the deliverer of a nation. But it took 40 years of preparation before God determined Moses was ready. He was a professional businessman - a sheepherder. It was during the mundane activity of work that God called on him to be a deliverer.
Moses was like a lot of enthusiastic Christian workplace believers who seek to solve a spiritual problem with a fleshly answer. The greatest danger to the Christian workplace believer is his greatest strength - his business acumen and expertise to get things done. This self-reliance can become our greatest weakness when it comes to moving in the spiritual realm. We're taught to be problem solvers. But, like Moses, if our enthusiasm and passion are not harnessed by the power of the Holy Spirit, we will fail miserably. Peter had to learn this lesson too. His enthusiasm got him into a lot of trouble. But God was patient, just as He is patient with each of us. Sometimes He must put us in the desert for a time in order to season us so that Christ is allowed to reign supreme in the process.
Before you act, pray and seek the mind of Christ until you know it is God behind the action. Check it out with others. You may save yourself a trip to the desert.
TGIF Today God Is First Volume 1, by Os Hillman
NOTICE: This Bible Study or Devotional is solely penned and/or owned by the person(s) or ministry who's website(s) is included. May the Holy Spirit give you understanding as you read this Devotional/Study!
"Prime Time With God, Reflecting on Faith, Work and Ministry." TGIF Today God Is First Volume 2, by Os Hillman. Copyright 2008 Ephesians Four Ministries, Church Growth Institute, PO Box 7, Elkton, MD 21922-0007 USA cgimail@churchgrowth.org Permission is granted and encouraged to forward this email in its entirety to others without making any changes or deletions.
