In Exodus Chapter 4 verse 2 it says " Then the Lord said to him, what is that in your hand?" In this chapter we see that God is calling Moses to fulfill His purpose with regards to bringing the children of Israel out of captivity. Moses knew that he was supposed to approach the Pharaoh and represent God and demand that he let His people go. You know the story, we have all read it in Sunday School.
Our pastor is out of town at a Chaplains convention in Chicago IL. Our visiting speaker used the scripture reading out of Exodus Chapter 4 verses 1 through 5 for his sermon topic. The following points were made and I feel that they speak powerfully to our lives if we will only let them.
Sermon points by Doug Dickerson at Grace Fellowship Church September 21, 2003
Moses doubted his ability to do what God asked of him. He doubted because of "doubt and fear" and "low self esteem".
God will help you work out your fear but will NOT work with your fear.
God desires for us to rise above our circumstances and inadequacies so that He can use us to fulfill His purposes.
God is not interested in "what ifs" but rather what is in your hands.
God empowers us through our obedience
Who God IS, is more important than what our circumstances or problems
What is in your hand?
What can God use in your life to touch others?
The very thing that keeps us from using what is in our hand is in our hearts. Doubt, fear, low self esteem, low self confidence etc.....
What is in your hand is the very evidence of God
What is in your hand is an extension of God
God works through His people to accomplish His purposes
In obedience we bring our gifts to God, no matter how big or small, then God takes those gifts and he multiplies them so that he can use us to accomplish his purposes
We can be blessed with the gift God brings us or we can choose to bless others with that gift
What I do not have is not what matters, it is what I do have and what I do with it
What is in your hand is an expression of God. Love, mercy, compassion, forgiveness etc...
God takes our gift , multiplies it, then uses our hands to distribute the blessings to others that need them
If we dont use the talents God gave us we will loose them
God gives us gifts and talents so that they can be used not so that we can horde them and keep them to ourselves and become stagnant.
We need to invest in the lives of other people with these gifts
Examine what is in your hand and ask yourself how long you will keep hanging on to it
We should pray that God will show us how to let our hands be an extension of who He is to the community of people we are in.
Here are a few thoughts of my own as I reflect on what I got out of todays message and challenge.
Heb 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.
When we read the word of God we need to count the cost and realize that God's word is not designed to make us feel comfortable but rather to reveal Gods glory, majesty, holiness, righteousness and purpose for our lives.
Jam 1:22 Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says.
Jam 1:23 Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror
Jam 1:24 and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.
Jam 1:25 But the man who looks intently into the perfect law that gives freedom, and continues to do this, not forgetting what he has heard, but doing it--he will be blessed in what he does.
The Holy Spirit takes the scriptures and brings relevance to our lives by speaking to our spirit about where we are at and where we have come from. We are admonished to do what is right with regards to our relationship with God and we are encouraged to be all that we can be for the kingdom. We have a choice to either get with the program and become the men and women of God or we can choose to ignore what the Holy Spirit is teaching us about our character and purpose.
I am thankful that in the past I have been blessed to both receive a gift or talent and to use that gift or talent to bless others. Like Moses I too have had to wrestle with fear, doubt and low self esteem. My confidence level was not where I wanted it to be when God has chosen to use me in whatever endeavour that He chose for me at those times in my life. I can remember several occasions where the task at hand was very daunting and I doubted my ability to make the grade. Do you really want to use me Lord? Then after the doubt comes all of the "but what ifs?" What if they perceive me as inadequate Lord?
What if they think thus and so? What about my looks Lord, I am too fat, thin, tall, short etc.?? How many times do we compare ourselves to our neighbors and feel so inadequate next to them?
So, the question that I leave you with is the same one that I was asked today. What IS in your hand? What has God given you? What talent or gift has God given you and are you still holding on to the gift and have not let it go ? Is your talent or gift blessing the life of someone else today? Yes, it is good that I have been blessed in the past and that God has used me back then. Those days are in the history book so I must not revel in what happened in the past and look to the future to see HOW God is going to use me today. How will we invest in the lives of our fellow man and bless them? We have the power of life and death in our tongue. How will we motivate others into love and good deeds?
Heb 10:23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.
Heb 10:24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds.
Posts
