A Better Option

Today’s Bible readings are Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalm 22:19-31, & Proverbs 5:15-21

 

Exodus 4:11-12

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

How many times have you made the same mistake as Moses? How many times have you questioned your ability to do what God is calling you to do? I know that in my life, this has happened many times. For some reason, we tend to be more mindful of our weaknesses than we are of God’s ability to complete His will in our lives.

We are ever reminded of every time that we have tried & failed. We are constantly thinking about what will happen if things don’t go the way God has said they will. Or maybe we don’t know exactly how things will turn out & we are afraid of the unknown. For whatever reason, we are professional at talking ourselves out of doing God’s will. It is safer to do nothing than to take a risk & possibly fail.

That is what Moses was going through. He had been living in total isolation from his family for 40 years. He had failed miserably. Each day he had to face the fact that he had failed & lost everything. I’m sure this was not easy. Now God is asking him to do what seems impossible. He begins to remember what happened the last time that he stepped out to do what the thought God wanted him to do—he ended up murdering a man in his anger. He was only trying to protect & deliver his people. There must have been a sense in his heart that this was his purpose. Now it is coming back up but all he can remember is his past that was plagued with failure. He remembered the rejection that he experienced from the ones he desired to help.

How familiar this story is to most of us. I could make a list right now of the many times that I failed in my past. In fact, I spent a good may years as a Christian doing just that. I wrestled with my past, the whole time denying myself of the wonderful present & future that God had called me to in Christ. I finally realized that my past only had the power over my present & future that I was willing to give it. I made a decision that I would live in my new standing in Christ. That is when my life totally changed.

Things began to take off in my life because I began to step out. Blessing started to flow into my life because I was being a blessing to others. I started to realize that God truly had a plan & a purpose for my life. I saw how he was going to use even my past to bring glory to His name. I began to realize that nothing is ever wasted with God.

That is what I want you to think about today. What could be the possibilities in your life if you truly surrendered to Him? How far would you be able to go if you told Him, “Not my will but YOURS be done”? How many of things that you have told yourself you could never do would you find yourself doing if you put your life in hands?

I know this much, you will never know unless you commit. You will never experience Him in this way until you surrender to Him in this way. One of the greatest blessings of being people of the Spirit is have the option to be led by the Spirit. Few people learn what this really is because they are too busy trying to control things. They have fallen into the trap of telling themselves what they can & cannot do. This is slavery to self. You are limited when you live life like this. But there is another option. It is living by the Spirit’s control.

Romans 8:5-8

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

When we live in the Spirit we aren’t limited by our weakness, we are empowered by His presence. We find that we can do anything through Him. We are no longer hindered by what is lacking in our lives because the Spirit makes up the difference. If you are born again Christ’s Spirit is in you! Believe that! His Spirit will impart supernatural ability to you to do what you don’t think you can do in your own strength & ability. This is that greatest wonder of grace.

I want to challenge you today. For the next 7 days, I want you to say out loud to yourself this statement of faith:

Philippians 4:13

¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

As you say this to yourself, start to believe it. God has a call on your life. He wants to do great things through you. He needs you to believe that it is not dependent on you but on HIM! Let’s work to turn our attention to His ability & take the focus off of our inability. This is when we will see a greater work done through us.

Pastor Richard Schlotter