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Divine Invitation

Words of Faith Final

Divine Invitation
Words of Faith 9-15-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
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Exodus 3
[5] "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." [6] Then he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob." At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
[7] The Lord said, "I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. [8] So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey--the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. [9] And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. [10] So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt."
[11] But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?"
[12] And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain."

So what was this flaming bush all about?
It was a Holy communication upon Holy ground. God was getting the attention of Moses so that He could communicate a crucial plan. God had heard the cries of His people and was now going to act to bring them out of slavery. And Moses was invited!
The response of Moses to this Divine invitation was to object based on his own inadequacy. "Who am I that I should do such a thing?" It is pretty standard that, in our human frailty, we will misunderstand the invitation of God. The call was not for Moses to develop a plan of liberation. The call was simply to announce what God was doing. The role of Moses was to bring this message to Pharaoh and the Hebrew people.
God's answer to Moses' objection is critical for understanding all encounters with God. "I will be with you..." It is not about you, Moses, your strength or power. It is about me.
The thing we miss most often about the call of God is that it is not about us-- our relative strength, power, or adequacy. The invitation of God is always about God and His immeasurable strength, power, and sufficiency.
The invitation of God creates what Henry Blackaby has called a crisis of belief. That is a very descriptive phrase. When God calls us, it is always to something beyond ourselves. How we respond reveals what we really believe about God. We often say that we believe God is all-powerful and able to meet any need, but what we really believe is revealed in either our refusal or obedience.
This is also a point at which our faith can grow tremendously. When invited by God, we are faced with the fact that the vision of God is always beyond our resources, yet never beyond the resources of God. We also realize that doing things within our capability is not faith but religion. God does not want us to be religious. He wants us to trust Him and obey Him. This is a relationship, not religion.
The vision that God gives will always take our breath away. This is not to say that we are to "dream up" outlandish endeavors for God. But we do need to realize that Lord's plan will always be entirely beyond our ability. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the Lord (Isaiah 55:8).
Are you listening for God? Is Your eye out for His work and plan? He is at work all around You. He is doing things that You have never noticed. He is reaching out to people You would never have dreamed. Is He calling You to get involved with His plan? Is He trying to get Your attention? Is God inviting You to be part of the most exciting possibilities? Trust and obey.

Dear Lord, Your plans and thoughts are beyond any dream I could ever imagine. Your ways are so much higher than my ways. Show me what You are doing and how You want me to be involved. In Jesus' name.

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© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
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The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.