Hi dear friends.
As I have been listening for the Holy Spirit’s direction this year, I have noted how on every occasion in Scripture when God was about to do a new thing, He would begin to tell about it. He would search out the people who would hear that new thing, and be able to carry it and run with it. Some examples are Moses, David and the major prophets.
When God was ready to deliver the Hebrews from centuries-long slavery in Egypt, He spoke to Moses. He had seen the people’s affliction, heard their cry, and knew their sorrows (Ex 3:7-10). God transformed an ordinary rod that Moses carried in his hand — a well-used, familiar shepherd’s stick — into an instrument that he would use with supernatural authority when he led the people to freedom (Ex 4). We can almost hear God asking the constant question through this story, “What do you have in your hand?”
With King David, God was ready to establish a kingdom, a throne and a lineage that would lead to the eternal Kingdom of Christ. God had sought a man after His own heart, and had found him (1 Sam 13:14). David carried the promise of the coming Messiah in his heart and spoke and sang of the coming Kingdom (2 Sam 7, Psalm 110:1-7). This time, we can hear God challenging us with a different question, “What do you have in your heart?”
The prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah became God’s voice to the Hebrews in their time. God had found men who would carry the weight of His instructions and share His heart, mind and promises with His people as a father would to his family. He had looked for and found men who would use their mouths to speak His words. Throughout their stories and writings, we can hear God asking, “What do you have in your mouth?”
I feel that God’s people seem to be needing a sense of “permission” to rise and serve in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. The Scriptures make it so clear that there is a priesthood calling for all believers, and an assignment for every one of us. Ephesians 4 calls the Church to be equipped, fully furnished and enabled with spiritual ministrations in order to come into full stature (Eph 4:11-15). This has become my personal ministry focus and has been significantly impacting Christian leaders and even the growth of Church movements.
In our next blog, I’ll share how God has been using amazing “ordinary” believers in the Philippines and Kiribati, and how He has been personally encouraging me about how each of us can “put on” the new thing that He has prepared for us.
Steve