Here's a story

Dear Christian Brothers and Sisters, I'm going to tell this old tale even though I'm sure most of you already know it. (If you have, don't stop me!) The best way to train a pack mule is at the center of a dispute between two elderly prospectors. The first one maintains that you must be more firm with a mules from the start in order to establish who is in charge immediately. According to the other prospector, if you want to win over a mules, you need to be gentle and sweet with him. The mule can then be made to do anything, he asserts. The first prospector denies everything and demands evidence from the second. The second individual concurs before striking the mule squarely in the head with a log. "What do you mean, please be gentle?" The initial inquiry Is striking him in the head considered "gentle"? The second prospector responds, "No, sir." "But you have to get his attention first!" Now, the reason I'm telling this story is to illustrate the way I want the Lord to talk to me. I am not a masochist, no. I don't want the Lord to hit me in the head with a 24. I just want Him to draw my attention and let me know that He is truly present and speaking to me! Really! I hope that some of you will be able to relate to me. The dramatic way that God spoke to Moses might be a much better illustration: "Moses was taking care of Jethro's flock, his father-in-law and priest of Midian. He brought the flock to Horeb, the mountain of God, at the west end of the wilderness. He saw the GOD-angel as a ball of fire rising from the middle of a bush. He examined. The bush didn't go up in flames, though. "What's going on here?" Moses inquired. This is unbelievable to me! Amazing! Why does the bush not burn? God recognized that he had paused to look. From the bush, God spoke to him, "Moses! Moses!’ He replied, "Yes?" I'm here right now! Don't come any closer, God said. Take off the sandals that are on your feet. Your feet are on holy ground.' After that, he declared, "I am the God of your father: the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." Because he was afraid of God, Moses covered his face. (The Message in Exodus 3:1–6) (As an aside, the King James translation of Exodus 3:5, in which God commands Moses to “Draw not near hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground,” is one of my favorite versions. A God moment like this seems to fit the majestic old language. Hey, if He spoke to me in that way, I would make sure to draw "not nigh hither," and I would take my shoes off in a record time!) And what if God spoke to us in the same way He did on the way to Damascus: A flash of bright light from heaven suddenly surrounded Saul as he was getting close to Damascus. As he sank to the ground, he overheard a voice say, "Saul! Saul! Why are you treating me so cruelly? "What are you?" Saul inquired. Jesus was the Lord's response. You are being so cruel to me. Now get up and go into the city; you'll be instructed on what to do there. (Acts 9:3-6) Of course, you must understand that, following Paul and Saul's example (Acts 9:8–9), I would just as soon skip the three-day blindness, even though the three-day fast might help me. Am I being precise? I'm trying to make the point that I occasionally wish I had one of those Cecil B. Demille, The Ten Commandments, Charlton Heston's Moses experiences in which "God is in the building" is without a shadow of a doubt But then I think... First, I'm sure that if you've been a Christian for any amount of time, like I have, you've had times when your hair stood up on the back of your neck, when you've had "goose bumps," and when the order of events has made it clear that HE has spoken. That was also evident without the need for widescreen, Technicolor, or Dolby Digital sound! Second, I've come to the realization that what I really want is not these 3D/IMAX encounters with God, which may only happen once in a lifetime if at all, but rather the regular, intimate relationship that Adam and Eve had with God in the Garden. You and I have regained this close relationship through the death of Jesus, the second Adam, while they lost it due to Sin. The ultimate lamb died as a sacrifice to atone for our condition. Our salvation, along with his resurrection, ascension to the Father, and indwelling of the Holy Spirit, are the entirety of the reason that God now sees us without spot. Jesus is what He sees when He looks at us, and Jesus is our mediator. If we have regained it, then why do we appear to lack it and how do we acquire it? “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know,” God tells us, is the response. (NIV, Jeremiah 3:3) God promises to respond to our calls because He delights in revealing Himself to us. Is it too easy? The simple Gospel, or Good News, of Jesus Christ is that God does everything because we are powerless. Through my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, an admission and a request marked the beginning of my relationship with God. When I acknowledged my condition of sin and my complete inability to deal with it on my own, when I expressed my belief in Jesus as my Savior and Mediator, and when I accepted that Jesus' death on the cross was the full payment for all of my sins—past, present, and future—I also gave control of my life to my Heavenly Father. Only grace can bring it about. In addition, a truly intimate, loving relationship with Jesus Christ must be established as part of that responsibility that I have placed on Him. I must ask Him to build this relationship for me if I don't already have one. "Lord, I want to walk alongside you, talk to you, and hear from you moment to moment every day of my life. I want to experience you. Lord, I acknowledge my inability to do this, as with everything else. I request that You bring me nearer to You. When You speak to me, make me instantly aware of Your voice. Give me the power to put Your presence into practice wherever I am and whatever I am doing. Don't argue about this internally. Don't say, "Oh, I'll try, but..." just give Him your whole heart. Maintain this mindset. Put it off for a while. Take it on as your own. You must ask God to do this for you, just as your salvation came after you asked for it. We cannot save ourselves, and neither can we live the Christian life alone in any way. God was the beginning of salvation, and the same is true of our relationship with Jesus. Read 1 John. We are Jesus the Shepherd's sheep. "I am one of Your sheep, Lord," declare you to him. Allow me to hear Your voice. Your prayer life will begin to experience powerful changes as a result. Twila Paris wrote a song that has a powerful message about the sweet, intimate moments that can occur when we step away from the crowd and simply ask God, "What do You have to say to me today?" “When You Speak To Me” is the song. When You converse with me, When I sit down to listen, There's more to it than what I imagine and feel. When You converse with me, The motion stops when I sit still. There is only what is real left. Every question has a solution. The response is You. When You speak to me, the heavens open. shedding light on my heart of waiting And the music quietly and quietly fills an ocean. When you converse with me, When You converse with me, When You call and surround me, I respond. Any suffering can be covered by peace. When You converse with me, When You embed Your word in my mind, I'm full and strong once more. Every desire has a rationale. You are the reason. When You speak to me, the heavens open. shedding light on my heart of waiting And the music quietly and quietly fills an ocean. When you converse with me, My Christian brothers and sisters, I am aware of your desire to regularly, intimately, and deeply commune with Him. Additionally, there is a cause for this yearning: Him. God longs for that connection with you. The heavens will open up for you once you get there. He will encircle you. He will illuminate your heart as you wait. Additionally, He will instill His word in you. Spend some time listening to Him right now. Love, Bill the Brother

Dear Christian Brothers and Sisters, Lord, I am here. Lord, am I the one? You were calling in the night, and I heard it. Lord, I'll go. If you direct me, I'll keep your people close to my heart. (Words and Music, written by Dan Schutte in 1981; Carlton R. adapts. Young, 1988) Robbie, a dear friend of mine, recently provided me with fresh insight into the significance of this song. I told her how much I liked it while we must have been singing it at a church service. She asked, "But have you ever considered the seriousness of the words—about what you're saying when you sing this song?" The beginning of a new journey with the Lord begins here... I had to tell her and myself that I had not really given it much thought. Because the song is so upbeat and we typically sing it with such a high level of enthusiasm, it gives the impression that I am willing to do anything for Jesus' cause. "Lord, send me anywhere! I'll go to any length! I'll be a missionary when I go to Africa or the popular third-world nation of the month! Lord, I will put my life in danger for You! I'll give up everything to help you! But then I start to sound like Peter, who lived before Jesus' crucifixion and was ready to walk on water, even get in front of Jesus and stop Him from going to the cross, or run out and cut off someone's ear. Before the arrest actually occurred and he was recognized by an adolescent girl, Peter was prepared. Poor Peter, impulsive. Yes, and poor me, who is reluctant! And maybe I'm not the only one who doesn't really think about the cost of volunteering for a cause. The prophet Isaiah 6 is the source of the song: "Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send?'" And who will travel with us?' And I declared, "Here I am." I'm ready! (NIV, Isaiah 6:8) We may respond in a variety of ways to the Lord's call, but they generally appear to fall into one of two categories. The first, which Isaiah provides, could be referred to as: "Lord, what do you want me to do?" To be fair, let's take a look at what happened before Isaiah rushed to volunteer, without giving any specifics about what he was going to do. “I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted, in the year that King Uzziah died, and the train of his robe filled the temple. Each seraph had six wings, two of which covered their faces, two of which covered their feet, and two of which allowed them to fly above him. "Then they called to one another, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the entire earth is full of his glory." The temple erupted in smoke and the thresholds and doorposts shook at the sound of their voices. "''Woe to me!'' I sobbed. "I'm doomed!" My eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty, for I am a man with unclean lips and live among people with unclean lips. After that, one of the seraphs flew to me holding a live coal that he had removed from the altar with tongs. He touched my mouth with it and said, "See, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for." He did this with it. (NIV, Isaiah 6:1–7) Isaiah takes center stage at this point and offers to help. Now, despite the fact that none of us are most likely referred to as the prophet Isaiah, he was just a human being, just like you and I are. It would be an enormous understatement to say that this was quite an impressive scene when I put myself in his position, regardless of how little I can imagine or feel it. Let's suppose that any one of us has witnessed something like this. I think of the overused word "awesome." It is used to describe a variety of things, including a movie and a worship song, but no one would dispute that it is misused in this context. In point of fact, it fails to adequately convey the experience of being in the presence of the All-Powerful God. It would be fatal for Moses to see God's face, but Isaiah appears to do so and naturally believes he is not long for this world. After that, one of the God-serving seraphim (the highest order of angels) cleans his lips. The crucial question is then posed by the All-Powerful God. I'd like to think that in these overwhelming circumstances, I would also wave my hand in the air and exclaim, "Me, me!," like a child who has finally learned the right answer in school. I’ll go!” But when I get back to the real world of my life, I realize that I frequently hesitate despite knowing that the Lord is asking me to do something. Oh, I'll gladly answer the call if it falls under the category of calling the equipped. I'll go, Lord, yes. In fact, I usually have to do something at these times that is well within my comfort zone and requires me to use the skills and abilities I know I have. Since I don't even have to wait for a call in these circumstances, I frequently say, "Lord, let me serve here." Now, I'm saying this fully aware of the fact that God does indeed bestow specific talents and gifts upon us and direct our use of them. Furthermore, their use is expected of us. He knows us better than we know ourselves, so He gives us ways to serve that help the Kingdom and—surprise, surprise!—make us happy. But doesn't He also equip the chosen? Could we be asked to put our faith in God and do something that doesn't seem to fit with our individual talents, gifts, or gifts? When a challenge is posed in response to my question, "What do you want me to do, Lord?" in those instances, my question changes to: “Lord! What do you want me to do? When the Lord told Isaiah what he needed to do, he didn't hesitate: He instructed them to "Go and tell these people: Be always hearing, but never understanding; be always seeing." but never comprehending.' Make this people's hearts calloused, dull their ears, and shut their eyes. Otherwise, they might turn, be healed, see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and feel with their hearts. I probably would have responded, "Well, then...what's the point?" It appears to be a waste of time and effort, and it also has the potential to be embarrassing—or worse. However, that is me, not Isaiah. The experience with Robbie and the memory of "Here I Am, Lord" only recently came to mind. I've been rereading Bruce Wilkinson's Prayer of Jabez. He writes in a book about how God typically responds to our requests to "enlarge my territory," “As God's chosen, blessed children, we are expected to attempt something substantial enough to guarantee failure—unless God intervenes. Take a moment to pray about how opposed that truth is to everything you would ordinarily choose: it goes against common sense, it contradicts your previous life experience, it seems to disregard your feelings, your training, and your need for security, and it makes you look foolish and foolishly lost. However, God has a plan for His most revered servants. "For most of us, our reluctance comes from getting our numbers right but our arithmetic wrong," continues Wilkinson. For instance, when we are contemplating the size of the territory that God has in mind for us, we keep a mental equation that looks like this: "My assigned territory is comprised of my abilities, training, experience, personality, and appearance, as well as my past and the expectations of others. “We simply gloss over the meaning of that one small word through, no matter how many sermons we've heard about God's power to work through us. Even though we say that we want God to work through us, we really mean by or in association with. However, God's message to us is the same as the one He sent to the Jews when they returned to their destroyed homeland from captivity: "Not by might nor by power but by My Spirit, says the Lord of hosts." Zachariah 4:16 Wilkinson goes on to say that "Our God specializes in working through normal people who believe in a supernormal God who will do His work through them," and he continues, "Our God." The invitation is what He is awaiting. This indicates that God's math would be more like this: "My expanding territory is my willingness and weakness combined with God's will and supernatural power." Peter stepped out of the boat in response to Jesus with his eyes fixed on Jesus, despite his impulsiveness and reliance on his own strength. He was fine as long as he did that. He only started to sink when he thought about the circumstances. Lord, please remind me that I am only able to serve you through Your spirit and not through my own might or power. I leave the boat today completely dependent on You. Let me join You today in Your work.