Happy Wednesday, sweet ladies! You have been on my heart like crazy!
My world has kept me so busy that I feel like I can barely catch my breath sometimes. I’ve been living life in 5th gear for about 3 years now, and I’m just slap worn out. Ever feel like that?
Today, I want to share something with you that the Lord has been dealign with me about for quite some time. My life has been so stinkin’ loud that it’s pretty hard to hear God’s still small voice say, This is the way, walk in it.
It’s so east to get so distracted by life, that our lives become so loud and we drown out the still small voice of God and then wonder where He is.
I’ve actually spoken on this very subject many times at various conferences. So you’d think I get this right by now.
But I have to keep dragging my busy self up to the altar with the same issue week after week, month after month, and year after year.
Well… I’m ready to lay it down and I’m posting this so you can hold me accountable.
So, grab your Bible and let’s do some digging.
“Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp.” Exodus 33:7
You see, in Exodus 32, the people had just finished building the golden calf while Moses was up on the mountain in the presence of God receiving God’s Commandments. When he made his way down the mountain, he discovered the blatant rebellion of the children of Israel. Knowing that judgment was coming, Moses took a step back and gave the people an option. Choose God or don’t. The choice was up to them.
Those who chose God stood on one side, those who didn’t, were slain.
Moses interceded for the people and God told Moses to head for the land He had promised to give him. God promised to send His Angel before him, that He would be sure to defeat the enemies along the way…but that He would NOT BE WITH THEM.
A Promised Land without the presence of God is not worth living in.
You see, we can move forward in what we are doing…we can walk into the vision or calling God has for us, but if we try to do it apart from Him, then it’s an empty pursuit. Without God’s presence, nothing makes sense, nothing really matters.
This journey is only worth it if He is WITH US!
In Exodus 33:7, we find that GOD CALLS US OUT IN ORDER FOR US TO ENTER IN
God longs for us to meet with Him, to bask in the beauty of His presence…but while you and I stand in need of hearing from the Living God, many times, we are SO distracted by all the things that are going on INSIDE THE CAMP that we don’t take time to leave it.
Inside the camp represents the whole of our lives…
- Our families
- Our friends
- Our homes
- Our jobs
- Our circumstances
- Our busy days filled with the clamor of chaos
- Our dishes, doctors appointments, dailies and distractions
- Our marriage, our ministries, our meandering and our mom stuff.
We’re so busy with all the activities INSIDE the CAMP, that we don’t stop long enough to GO OUTSIDE THE CAMP so that we can truly ENTER IN.
It is when we are willing to INTENTIONALLY step OUTSIDE of the CAMP (away from the busyness of life, the distractions of our days, away from everything that holds us captive) and ENTER INTO the TABERNACLE OF MEETING (The PLACE where you can get ALONE WITH GOD) – – – The place where we can be STILL and KNOW THAT HE IS GOD, long enough to hear His voice say, “THIS IS THE WAY, WALK IN IT.” ~ It is then and there in that place of meeting that God will speak to you like a FRIEND. FACE TO FACE, HEART TO HEART.
It’s in the TABERNACLE OF MEETING that you can have a TWO-WAY CONVERSATION with God. It’s in the TABERNACLE OF MEETING that you can come to God and REMIND Him of HIS PROMISES and exemplify the faith necessary to believe what He told you. It is in the TABERNACLE OF MEETING that you can interceded for others.
If we are going to intercede, we must be willing to close the door on our own personal camps, remove ourselves mentally and oftentimes, physically far from all that distracts us and make our way into the TABERNACLE OF MEETING where we can meet with God, not only to worship Him…not only to seek His face for His direction and His grace, but that we may STAND IN THE GAP FOR THOSE WHO CAN’T OR WON’T PRAY FOR THEMSELVES.
Today, I want to encourage you, challenge you…even beg you…won’t you step OUTSIDE the CAMP so that you can ENTER IN to the presence of God and bask in the beauty of knowing Him? Revel in your relationship with Him-enjoy meeting with Him-because it is for that relationship that Jesus died.
Is your life too stinkin’ loud too? What camp is keeping you captive and preventing you from going out, so you can enter in?
- Ch…ch…ch…CHANGES Are Coming in 2017 for TMI - December 27, 2016
- What New Thing Are You Ready to See God Do in Your Life in 2017? - December 26, 2016
- Heaviness and Newness - December 23, 2016
