Experiencing God
Day 4: God Works Through His Servants, Part 1
Day 4: God Works Through His Servants, Part 1
You cannot stay the way you are and go with God.
We often act as though God tells us what He wants us to do and then sends us off by ourselves to try and do it. Then anytime we need Him, we can call on Him, and He comes to help us. That is not the biblical picture. When God is about to do something, He reveals it to His people. He wants to accomplish His work through His people or His servant.
When God is about to do something through you, He has to get you from where you are to where He is, so He tells you what He is doing. (Later, I will help you understand how you can clearly know when God is speaking to you.) When you know what God is doing, then you know what you need to do: you need to join Him. The moment you know God is doing something where you are, your life and its activity will be thrown in contrast to God and His activity. You cannot stay the way you are and go with God.
Seven Realities of Experiencing God
The illustration summarizes the way you should respond to God’s initiative in your life. The text of the realities follows.
1. God is always at work around you.
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.
1) Complete the following to begin learning the seven realities. Use the foregoing text of the realities that you’ve read.
a. Highlight key words or phrases that help you recall the seven realities.
b. Record the key words or phrases on the following lines. ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
c. Slowly read each reality. Record questions about any of the realities you do not fully understand.
d. Using only the words or phrases you recorded, see if you can mentally summarize all seven realities. Review before moving to the next question.
e. On a separate sheet of paper, try writing each of the seven realities from memory. They do not have to be word for word, but they should cover the important information. Start with your key words or phrases if that helps.
Most of this course will focus on one or more of these realities to help you understand them more completely. You may notice that I frequently repeat different aspects of this cycle. I use the repetition in different situations to help you learn how you can respond to God’s activity in your life.
In the previous assignment, you could have selected various words or phrases. Yours may be different, but I chose God/work, love relationship, involved with Him, God speaks, crisis of belief, adjustments, obey. You may have asked questions like these:
• What is involved in a love relationship with God?
• How can I know when God is speaking?
• How do I know where God is at work?
• What kinds of adjustments does God require me to make?
• What is the difference between adjustment and obedience?
As I’ve worked with people in many settings, I’ve been asked questions like these. I will answer as many questions as possible during the remaining units of this course. Richard and I will address other issues in the DVD messages that accompany this course.
We can identify three similarities in the lives of Bible characters through whom God worked:
1. When God spoke, they knew it was God.
2. They knew what God was saying.
3. They knew what they were to do in response.
Wouldn’t you like for your walk with God to be such that He worked through you that way? He wants to move you into that kind of relationship. I trust this course will help you grow in your understanding of God.
Moses’ call and ministry are good examples of the way God worked with people in the Bible. Exodus 2–4 describes his early life and call to ministry. Other passages of Scripture also help us see how Moses came to know and follow God’s will. Using the seven realities , let’s look at Moses’ call and response.
(You may want to read Ex. 2–4 first.)
Reality 1. God was already at work around Moses.
“The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (Ex. 2:23-25).
Reality 2. God pursued a continuing love relationship with Moses that was real and personal. God took the initiative to come to Moses and initiate a love relationship with him at the burning bush. God told Moses He would go with him into Egypt. Many texts throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy illustrate the way God pursued a continuing love relationship with Moses. Here is one example:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.’ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the L ORD settled on Mount Sinai. Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights”
(Ex. 24:12,15-16,18).
Reality 3. God invited Moses to become involved with Him in His work.
“I have come down to rescue them [the Israelites] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land. So now, go.
I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt”
(Ex. 3:8,10).
2) Answer the following questions about the three preceding statements.
a. Reality 1: What was God already doing for Israel?
________________________________________________________________________
b. Reality 2: What evidence demonstrates God wanted a real and personal relationship with Moses?
________________________________________________________________________
c. Reality 3: How did God want to involve Moses in the work He was already doing?
________________________________________________________________________
(1) God had a purpose He was accomplishing in Moses’ world. Even though Moses was an exile in the desert, he was on God’s schedule, in the fullness of God’s timing, in the middle of God’s will. When God was about to deliver the children of Israel, the important factor was not God’s will for Moses. The critical truth was God’s will for Israel.
(2) Time and again God invited Moses to talk with Him and to be with Him. God initiated and maintained a growing relationship with Moses. This relationship was based on love, and God daily fulfilled His purposes through His friend Moses. (For other examples of the love relationship, see Ex. 33:7–34:10; Num. 12:6-8.)
(3) God’s purpose was to deliver the children of Israel. Moses was the one through whom God wanted to work to accomplish His purposes.
Whenever God prepares to do something, He reveals to a person or His people what He is going to do (see Amos 3:7). God accomplishes His work through His people. This is the way God will work with you. The Bible is designed to help you understand God’s ways. Then when God starts to act in that manner in your life, you will recognize that it is He who is working.
Amos 3:7
“Surely the Sovereign L ORD
does nothing
without revealing his
plan to his servants
the prophets.”
This is a two-part lesson, so we will continue with statement 4 tomorrow. This two-part lesson will be summarized at the end of day 5.
You cannot stay the way you are and go with God.
We often act as though God tells us what He wants us to do and then sends us off by ourselves to try and do it. Then anytime we need Him, we can call on Him, and He comes to help us. That is not the biblical picture. When God is about to do something, He reveals it to His people. He wants to accomplish His work through His people or His servant.
When God is about to do something through you, He has to get you from where you are to where He is, so He tells you what He is doing. (Later, I will help you understand how you can clearly know when God is speaking to you.) When you know what God is doing, then you know what you need to do: you need to join Him. The moment you know God is doing something where you are, your life and its activity will be thrown in contrast to God and His activity. You cannot stay the way you are and go with God.
Seven Realities of Experiencing God
The illustration summarizes the way you should respond to God’s initiative in your life. The text of the realities follows.
1. God is always at work around you.
2. God pursues a continuing love relationship with you that is real and personal.
3. God invites you to become involved with Him in His work.
4. God speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways.
5. God’s invitation for you to work with Him always leads you to a crisis of belief that requires faith and action.
6. You must make major adjustments in your life to join God in what He is doing.
7. You come to know God by experience as you obey Him, and He accomplishes His work through you.
1) Complete the following to begin learning the seven realities. Use the foregoing text of the realities that you’ve read.
a. Highlight key words or phrases that help you recall the seven realities.
b. Record the key words or phrases on the following lines. ________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
c. Slowly read each reality. Record questions about any of the realities you do not fully understand.
d. Using only the words or phrases you recorded, see if you can mentally summarize all seven realities. Review before moving to the next question.
e. On a separate sheet of paper, try writing each of the seven realities from memory. They do not have to be word for word, but they should cover the important information. Start with your key words or phrases if that helps.
Most of this course will focus on one or more of these realities to help you understand them more completely. You may notice that I frequently repeat different aspects of this cycle. I use the repetition in different situations to help you learn how you can respond to God’s activity in your life.
In the previous assignment, you could have selected various words or phrases. Yours may be different, but I chose God/work, love relationship, involved with Him, God speaks, crisis of belief, adjustments, obey. You may have asked questions like these:
• What is involved in a love relationship with God?
• How can I know when God is speaking?
• How do I know where God is at work?
• What kinds of adjustments does God require me to make?
• What is the difference between adjustment and obedience?
As I’ve worked with people in many settings, I’ve been asked questions like these. I will answer as many questions as possible during the remaining units of this course. Richard and I will address other issues in the DVD messages that accompany this course.
We can identify three similarities in the lives of Bible characters through whom God worked:
1. When God spoke, they knew it was God.
2. They knew what God was saying.
3. They knew what they were to do in response.
Wouldn’t you like for your walk with God to be such that He worked through you that way? He wants to move you into that kind of relationship. I trust this course will help you grow in your understanding of God.
Moses’ call and ministry are good examples of the way God worked with people in the Bible. Exodus 2–4 describes his early life and call to ministry. Other passages of Scripture also help us see how Moses came to know and follow God’s will. Using the seven realities , let’s look at Moses’ call and response.
(You may want to read Ex. 2–4 first.)
Reality 1. God was already at work around Moses.
“The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. God heard their groaning and he remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac and with Jacob. So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them” (Ex. 2:23-25).
Reality 2. God pursued a continuing love relationship with Moses that was real and personal. God took the initiative to come to Moses and initiate a love relationship with him at the burning bush. God told Moses He would go with him into Egypt. Many texts throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy illustrate the way God pursued a continuing love relationship with Moses. Here is one example:
“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.’ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the L ORD settled on Mount Sinai. Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights”
(Ex. 24:12,15-16,18).
Reality 3. God invited Moses to become involved with Him in His work.
“I have come down to rescue them [the Israelites] from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land. So now, go.
I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt”
(Ex. 3:8,10).
2) Answer the following questions about the three preceding statements.
a. Reality 1: What was God already doing for Israel?
________________________________________________________________________
b. Reality 2: What evidence demonstrates God wanted a real and personal relationship with Moses?
________________________________________________________________________
c. Reality 3: How did God want to involve Moses in the work He was already doing?
________________________________________________________________________
(1) God had a purpose He was accomplishing in Moses’ world. Even though Moses was an exile in the desert, he was on God’s schedule, in the fullness of God’s timing, in the middle of God’s will. When God was about to deliver the children of Israel, the important factor was not God’s will for Moses. The critical truth was God’s will for Israel.
(2) Time and again God invited Moses to talk with Him and to be with Him. God initiated and maintained a growing relationship with Moses. This relationship was based on love, and God daily fulfilled His purposes through His friend Moses. (For other examples of the love relationship, see Ex. 33:7–34:10; Num. 12:6-8.)
(3) God’s purpose was to deliver the children of Israel. Moses was the one through whom God wanted to work to accomplish His purposes.
Whenever God prepares to do something, He reveals to a person or His people what He is going to do (see Amos 3:7). God accomplishes His work through His people. This is the way God will work with you. The Bible is designed to help you understand God’s ways. Then when God starts to act in that manner in your life, you will recognize that it is He who is working.
Amos 3:7
“Surely the Sovereign L ORD
does nothing
without revealing his
plan to his servants
the prophets.”
This is a two-part lesson, so we will continue with statement 4 tomorrow. This two-part lesson will be summarized at the end of day 5.
| Review today’s lesson. Pray and ask God to identify one or more statements or Scriptures He wants you to understand, learn, or practice. Highlight them. Then respond to the following. What was the most meaningful statement or Scripture you read today? Reword the statement or Scripture into a prayer of response to God. What does God want you to do in response to today’s study? |