Our God is an active, present tense God. He has purpose and direction. Because of His nature, He is doing something among His people and He doesn't ask our permission concerning His actions. Even if we don't like what God is doing, it is always wonderful when God moves. When He takes action, it means that things begin to change. When something new occurs that also means that we have to change in order to keep up with what the Lord is doing.
One of the best examples of God moving in His sovereignty is when He called Abraham to leave his country and come to a land that He would show him.
Acts 7:2-5 NASB
(2) And he said, "Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran,
(3) and said to him, 'LEAVE YOUR COUNTRY AND YOUR RELATIVES, AND COME INTO THE LAND THAT I WILL SHOW YOU.'
(4) "Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.
(5) "But He gave him no inheritance in it, not even a foot of ground, and yet, even when he had no child, He promised that HE WOULD GIVE IT TO HIM AS A POSSESSION, AND TO HIS DESCENDANTS AFTER HIM.
God, in His sovereignty, intervened in Abraham's life, which required major change in Abraham and his circumstances. First, God's instructions are clear: Abraham must leave his country and he must leave his relatives in order to go into the land that God wanted to show him. Abraham was only partially obedient. He left his land but he didn't leave his relatives.
Many times our relatives get in the way of us doing what the Lord wants us to do. Jesus recognized this and spoke clearly to the issue.
Matthew 10:34-38 NASB
(34) "Do not think that I came to bring peace on the earth; I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.
(35) "For I came to SET A MAN AGAINST HIS FATHER, AND A DAUGHTER AGAINST HER MOTHER, AND A DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AGAINST HER MOTHER-IN-LAW;
(36) and A MAN'S ENEMIES WILL BE THE MEMBERS OF HIS HOUSEHOLD.
(37) "He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; and he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me.
(38) "And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me.
The plan, purpose, and promise of God has priority over our family relationships. This is hard for us to deal with, especially when we have so many examples of cult leaders who require that all ties with family must be cut. However, we must evaluate whether it is a man wanting us to break our family ties or if it is God who is calling us in a direction that is not endorsed by our family. Only God has the right to take preeminence over our family.
Apparently, it was hard for Abraham too. His entire family left Mesopotamia with him and settled in Haran. And there they stayed until Abraham's father died. Then, Abraham continued on with the Lord but he still took Lot with him, which caused him a lot of trouble later. The interesting thing is Haran is about half way from Mesopotamia, the land of the Chaldeans, to the land that God wanted to give Abraham and his descendants.
To leave all that you know as Abraham did is one of the most difficult things that we can do. He had to leave his familiar, comfortable place and go into the unknown with only the promise of God. Maybe, that was why he kept some of his family with him, so that he wouldn't feel so completely alone.
All progress that we make in God requires change and change is difficult. Each time that this occurs, it presents us with a new set of challenges, We face a new set of problems, a new set of issues, a new set of adjustments. The moment that we get comfortable with the new circumstances, the Lord moves on requiring us to continue to change and adjust to his purpose.
The only way that we can reach the future is to let go of the past. As long as we cling to the past we can never reach the future. We end up in Haran—half way there. Many times God will use someone to push us. We need that, even though God is speaking to us and revealing His plans to us, we have to overcome that initial resistance to change. The Lord uses both people and circumstances to help us move in the right direction. Nobody changes because they want to; people change because they have to.
Whether we like it or not, if we want to move on in God, there are five areas where we will need to make adjustments and change.
To fulfill His purposes we must be willing to adjust our life, our beliefs, our plans, and even to adjust where we live, if necessary.
We must be willing to adjust any or all of our circumstances, including our work, our finances, our recreation, all of the things that surround us on a daily basis.
We must be willing to adjust our relationships, including our business relationships, our social relationships (our friends), and any prejudices that we hold. God is no respecter of persons—He holds no prejudices, neither can we. Our methodology of creating relationships may also need to change. The Lord doesn't establish relationships through networking but through His Spirit.
We must be willing to adjust our predispositions, traditions, and doctrines, including how the family is structured, how the father is supposed to act, what it means to be a husband or a wife.
We must be willing to adjust our beliefs and our actions. As we move on in God our actions change according to our understanding of the ways of God and if we hold incorrect beliefs, we have to adjust to the truth of His Word.
These five adjustment points cover all aspect of our lives. We cannot withhold any area from the Lord and expect to make the changes necessary for the new move of God.
We are on a journey just like the children of Israel who went from Egypt to the Promised Land. We begin the journey because of the promise of God; but, we continue by the leading and direction of the Lord.
Exodus 13:17-18 NASB
(17) Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, "The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt."
(18) Hence God led the people around by the way of the wilderness to the Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up in martial array from the land of Egypt.
God did not lead them out of Egypt to the normal caravan route to Canaan. He knew that in that direction they would have to fight enemies and they were not yet ready to do that. Seeing war would change their minds and cause them to return to Egypt so God took them in a different way.
Why was this necessary? It is because they had a slave mentality. They had been slaves for a number of generations. Their mindset was a slave mindset. They thought and acted like slaves. Even though they left Egypt in martial array, that is, in ranks like an army, they were actually a mass of slaves. Though they looked like an army, they were not an army. They didn't think or act like an army.
God moved them down to the edge of the wilderness purposely so Pharaoh would come after them. He didn't want them to see war and yet God, Himself, put them in a place where the armies of Egypt would come after them. That doesn't make a lot of sense, does it?
When they saw Pharaoh's army coming and they were hemmed in by the wilderness and the Red Sea, the people cried out to Moses and Moses cried out to God.
Exodus 14:15 NASB
(15) Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward.
“Why are you crying out to Me?” Considering the circumstances that sounds like a dumb question to us. However, consider God's viewpoint.
The destination had not changed. Nothing will prevent us from reaching our destination as long as we move in the direction that God has told us to go. It doesn't matter what is in front of us, His divine power will split apart anything in the way as long as it is the direction He told us to go.
The Children of Israel had 3 choices in their circumstances. They could surrender; they could escape or hide in wilderness; or they could fight. None of these were viable as each would result in disaster for them. However, God always has a fourth option. An option that exceeds our natural abilities and that is always in line with His purpose for us. This was the Lord's first lesson for them. There is nothing that stands between us and His promise that He will not provide a way through if we will continue in faith.
The Children of Israel were slaves when they left Egypt. Even though the Lord had physically freed them from Egypt, their mindset, their thinking process was still one of slavery. But the Lord knew that when they reached the Promised Land that they would have to fight to possess it. To do this, their mindset, their mental process had to be that of warriors instead of slaves. They would have to think like warriors.
God spent forty years with them in the wilderness changing their thinking processes, their mind set, their whole philosophy of life. It was necessary for them to change their whole concept of who they were, and what they were doing. And why they were doing it.
The Promised land is the inheritance promised to them and the Land of Promises is the inheritance promised to us. We, like them, have to let go of the past in order to reach the future. This requires a change of thinking, a renewing of the mind.
As we attempt to renew our minds and change our thinking processes, there are a number of hindrances. One of these is our set of expectations. When the Children of Israel left Egypt they had a set of expectations. What were they? They had heard good things from Moses about the land. That it was flowing with milk and honey. They had heard the promise of God that He had given it to them and would take them to it.
Their first erroneous expectation was that it would be a quick and easy journey. Their second expectation was entirely self centered—they would have houses that they didn't have to build and fields that they didn't have to plant.
What happens to us when our expectations crash and burn as theirs did? We lose hope and become disillusioned. We must adjust our mindset about our expectations if we want to avoid this.
[If this lesson was beneficial to you, then you might want to consider these other lessons:
Present Truth Teaching Letter: “When Dreams Crumble”
Teaching Article: “Bad Decisions and Bad Council”
Teaching Article: “Basic Process of Change”
Teaching Article: “Faulty Foundations and Fuzzy Patterns”
Present Truth Teaching Letter: “Proceeding Word”]
© 2011 Art Nelson www.lifestreamteaching.com