Prepare Our Hearts

Category: Christian Journey

  • But who am I?

    20150720_151113“But who am I?” Moses asked God. Ever been in that situation? Ever been called? Moses objected to God’s calling first (of four times) with uncertainty because Moses knew who Moses was. Why would the God of the universe want to use a man like Moses?

    Exodus 3:11

    But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelite’s out of Egypt?” He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain” (NRSV).

    “But who am I?”

    We doubt ourselves. We doubt god would or even could use someone like us. At this point however God does not list all of Moses’ qualifications or even his dis-qualifiers and a remedy of fixes. Instead He simply replied, “I will be with you”!

    How often are we asking this question of ourselves? I’m unqualified, under-educated, not intelligent enough, not well spoken, not good at details, calendars, my past is…

    BUT God said, “I will be with you.” It looked impossible to Moses.

    You know, sometimes it’s the things that look impossible that turn out to be the most incredible. I remember when I first heard of a mission trip to Haiti my church was taking. We were pay-check-to-paycheck then, still kinda are, and the cost was like $1500 to go. Plus you had to board a plane, and then on top of that you had to board a plane again, and again, and once again. I also had 4 little children at that time and my husband’s work does not give paid time off. Finding the money for that trip meant writing letters, selling guitars and sewing machines and collecting pennies. The pennies seemed to line every street I walked down however and the people who responded to the letters were the most unlikely, some not even Christians. God used that first trip to not only show me the ocean I’d never seen, and the conditions of our world but He used it to teach me about Himself. It looked impossible to go but I had to trust Him. I flew out of Columbus, Ohio with a 103 degree fever but nothing was going to stop me from seeing what He was up to! Now I keep going to Haiti and one day hope to get to live there and be a part of what He’s doing there.

    Why let you stand in the way of what God wants to do? Why let your dis-qualifiers be the thing that stops His work in your life? What if you just remember He is with you? And know that no matter how impossible (remember we are talking about the Pharaoh of Egypt, that Moses feared because he had murdered an Egyptian, and teams and teams of Israelite’s
    hundreds of miles from their destination) God is with you! Just like He was with Moses, when you are called, He is with you!

    Joshua 1:9

    “I hereby command you: Be strong and courageous; do not be frightened or dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (NRSV).

  • The Eagle Christian

    EagleWingsRaisedToFlyOutOfNest

    Today I was searching through some old journals and I came across an entry where I had taken notes on a talk by Joyce Meyer where she described “Eagle Christians”. She said, “Be an eagle Christian, the world is watching”, implying that the Bible says we are God’s personal representatives. Therefore our character is paramount.

    Isiah 40:31

    They that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not grow faint.

    Joyce then described several types of birds, we as Christians might compare ourselves with:

    Chicken – Afraid of life, seldom flies, flaps and stirs up dirt, runs, finds grub worms, when a storm comes they stay in the fence, they have no freedom.

    Deuteronomy 32:11

    As an eagle stirs up its nest,

    and hovers over its young;

    as it spreads its wings, takes them up,

    and bears them aloft on its pinions,

    Magpie – a harsh and pushy bird that doesn’t have the greatest singing voice

    Kookaburra – laughs and doesn’t take anything seriously

    vultureVulture/Buzzard – loves to corrupt, tears apart, doesn’t mind the smell of death, takes their prey alive

    To read more about this controversial photo, taken by Kevin Carter in the Sudan, go to this WordPress site.

    parrotParrots – parrots talk the talk but do not walk the walk, they’re copycats

    Cuckoo – removed mind, fruit loops, won’t work, sponges, uses someone else’ nest

    Peacock – flashy, showy, struts his stuff, big ego

    Pelican – eats all the time, fishes by wading around in shadowy areas but never dives into the deep

    Crow – pesters the eagle more than any other bird, out for himself

    Canaries – beautiful, but content to be locked up, canaries were often used by coal miners to check for high levels of poisonous gas if the bird died suddenly they knew to evacuate the minecanarie in a cage coalmining

    Eagle – bold, strong, committed, reliable, mates one mate for life, parent’s well, dwells on the rocks of high places, makes strong baby birds, even will throw them from the nest so that they will fly but will soar down and save them if they fail to spread their wings, can have a wingspan of up to 8 feet, does not have a large head, humans can see three basic colors, eagles can see 5 – they have amazing eyes.

    Find out more about eagles at National Geographic’s Bald-Eagle page.

    It looks like I may have taken the notes on Joyce’s bird talk clear back in 2007, as I was preparing for my very first trip to Haiti, but I want to share it with you. I can still recall the impact the Eagle Christian talk had on me. How I still long to be like that bird! I want to be an on fire Christian versus one God cannot use because I am lukewarm.

    Dear Father, let us be like the eagle today, let us soar to great heights, stay upon the Rock, do not let us be caged and carried to our deaths, keep us from the evil that lurks among us waiting to pick us apart, let us walk the walk with humility, give us boldness. Thank you for putting us among Your creation so that we can learn about life and thank you for people like Joyce who continue to speak challenges into our spiritual journeys.

    Amen.