CampfireTALK - (05/31/2010)

YOU JUST GOTTA "DO IT"!
Last week I was listening to a preacher speaking about when God sent Moses to be "his mouthpiece" in freeing his people from the slavery of Egypt.  Then again, last night, it was on TV.  The Spirit of God kept speaking to me about this ... 

Here's just a portion of that message for you, with some insights ... I call the message ...
"You Just Gotta DO IT!" 

[Excerpt from the message:  JUST DO IT!] 

Did you ever consider some of what Moses had to go through when he answered the call of God on his life?  I mean, I can identify with some of it!  He was basically "called away" from Egypt to go through some serious ministry training and preparation for his future task!  He spent the next 20 years in the desert!  He had no idea that he would be "teaching" others to live in the desert!  He had no idea that he was going to be a "Survival Trainer" after all of this!  And he certainly didn't have any idea of the size of "classes" he was going to be teaching either!  MAN!!  A whole "nation", mind you!  That's a lot of folks to have in a class!  And these weren't the most cooperative students either! 

Here's just a look at the steps in Moses "Training Program"!
 

LEAVE HOME! 
The very first thing that Moses had to do was to "leave home" and head off for .... well, God knows where!  His entire "comfort zone" was totally upset, and everything he'd grown to know as "home" was ... well, it all changed, and he had to leave!  His "nest" became uncomfortable.  God "stirred things" and the next thing he knew he was running away!  
 

20 YEARS OF GOING NOWHERE! 
Look at the training for Moses calling and how it started out!  He spent his first 20 years in training ... as a "sheep herder"!  And, in the desert no less!  He was basically going nowhere!  What was he thinking the whole time he was doing this?  Obviously not your or my idea of any "training" for a calling of God, is it!  He must have been thinking that he "missed God"  He must have felt like he was not getting anywhere ... like he was wasting his time.  He basically felt like a failure, at least in the area of what he thought he was called to do by God!

How many times have you felt that way?  Like God has no idea what you're up to, or how you got where you are now.  And, from your point of view, it certainly looks like He's forgotten the whole thing! It looks like you're going nowhere, in a hurry!  But are you?   


YOU'VE GOTTA GET "FIRED" UP FOR YOUR CALLING! 
While Moses is out in the desert, tending to some of his flock, he has a "visitation" from God!  He encounters a "burning bush".  Now what is so unusual about this burning bush is that it doesn't burn.  There's no smoke!  And there was no lightening, and no ignition source around, to have caused this fire!  I mean this thing is seriously ablaze, and there's no burning up the bush!  It's just there, burning and burning ... and burning!  It is never consumed!  No smoke, no ash!  But it's on fire, there's no mistake about that! 

Can you imagine coming up on this one?  You grab the first bucket you can find, fill it, and you head for the fire!  You throw the bucket of water on the fire and "poof" ... nothing but water vapor!  It's like the water instantly turned into "clouds" and then vanished in the hot desert sun!  You go get another bucket, and throw it on the fire!  There it goes again!  "POOF!"  Instant cloud, and then it's all gone!  And the fire?  It doesn't even "hiss" when the water hits!  No smoke!  No nothing! 

YOU'VE GOTTA LEARN TO RECOGNIZE GOD'S VOICE! 
If that's not bad enough that you cannot put out this fire, you now find out that the fire is possessed, or at least it seems to be!  It "talks"!  That's right, it "talks"!  Talk about hair standing up on the back of your neck!  That bush is talking!  Yes, goosebumps 'n all, there is ole Moses, and the bush is all talking to him, "MOOO-SSSSES"!  "MOOOO-SSSESSSSS"!

Don't you know he's thinking, "Man, I've been out here too long!  It's gotta be the heat!  I mean, bushes don't "talk"!  Bushes - do - not - speak!  Yet there it is!  There stands a bush, talking ... and this bush knows you by name! 

The bush talks again!  "Moooo-ses"!  "Moooooo-ses"!  (brrrrrrrr!)  Ok, now the hair's standing up on the back of your neck!  There is no amount of hairspray that's gonna get these neck hairs back down either!  And that voice?  This thing's got Charlton Heston beat!  IT'S SO DEEEEEP!  It's loud!  And when it speaks, the voice goes down to the core of your bones!!  Talk about a "WAKE UP" call!  Man! 
Your knees are going weak!! 

And after all of these theatrics, what is the message?  Bottom line?  "Moses, you're gonna have to go back home and have some serious words with your step-brother!  God wants you to tell him that you are here to shut down his construction operation, and take all of his workers, their families, and their goods, and leave!  "AND" (if that's not enough!)  you're also going to tell him that the whole town is going to have to take up a collection and give these folks all of their gold and silver, enough to re-imburse them for their labors these past 400 years! 

And you thought your calling in life was hard?  Don't ever think that what God has assigned YOU to do is so hard!  Compare it to Moses!  I'm sure you're getting a break!


BE WILLING TO "DO" WHAT HE SAYS TO DO!
Just when you were thinking that this was about to get hard, God comes up with this neat idea to get the Pharoah's attention!  He tells Moses to set his staff down on the ground.  When throws the staff down to the ground, it turns into a snake!  Now I've got no problem with this neat little trick until it comes to the part where God says basically, "Ok Moses, now reach out and grab the snake by the tail and pick it up!" Did I hear Him right?  Did He just say, "Grab the snake, Moses!" ?

Whoa!  That's ... you ... what?  You want me to do what?  Hey!  I'm an old cowboy here!  I don't like snakes!  Where I come from, the only good snake is a dead snakeI  And folks, let me tell you something!  I "know" what happens when you grab a snake by the tail and pick it up!  The "business end" moves around to survey what's just happened to the back end, with the full intent of taking a bite out of the hand that's holding it up in the air! 

I'm really glad I was not Moses, because that, my friends, really took a lot of guts to do!  You've gotta know for sure that you're hearing from God when He tells you, "Now, grab that snake by the tail and pick it up!" 

I can hear my youngest son, John, with that one! 
"Now God, did you just say pick it up?  Seriously?" 


[end of exerpt]

SUMMARY: 
So, when God calls you to do something ...
You can expect some "shaking" ... you can expect that your world around you is about to change!  Your "comfort zone" is going to be removed!  You're probably going to be taken "out" of your element, and placed into a training scenario that may not make any sense to you at all! 

Moses had no idea that the time he spent in the desert was "training" ... for him, so that "HE" could help a nation ... to survive in the desert, while they were waiting on the "timing" of God! 

Be willing to do some strange things when you begin to serve God in your calling.  What he tells you is not always going to make sense.  And, like the "snake" incident, God may have you do something that goes against your past experiences, or what you believe to be the way to do things!  Just be willing to "grab the snake"!  Be willing to "do" what he tells you to do, no matter what your fears!  Just "DO IT"!  Do it!  And watch God's plan unfold before your eyes ... 
Make me proud!