(Moses has fled Egypt and is living in the desert)
1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest
of Midian:and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came
to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him
in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush:and he looked, and,
behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And
Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the
bush is not burnt.
(God has a way of getting our attention when the call of God is on our lives and when God wants us to do something.)
4 And when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses.
And he said, Here am I.
5 And HE said, Draw not nigh hither:put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6
Moreover HE said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the
God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was
afraid to look upon God.
7 And the Lord said, I
have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and
have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their
sorrows; 8 And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of
the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land
and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of
the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites,
and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
9
Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto
me:and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress
them.
10 Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth my people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
(In his heart, Moses knew he would deliver the people of Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians ... Acts 7 ...
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and was
mighty in words and in deeds. 23 And when he was full forty years old,
it came into his heart to visit his brethren the children of Israel. 24
And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended him, and avenged him
that was oppressed, and smote the Egyptian:25 For he supposed his brethren would have understood how that God by his hand would deliver them:but they understood not...
But now, 40 years later, as it is going to come to pass, Moses fights
it though it has been in his heart for many years that he would be used
to deliver his people.)
11 And Moses
said unto God, Who am I, that I should go unto Pharaoh, and that I
should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?
12 And HE (God) said, Certainly I will be with thee;
and this shall be a token unto thee, that I have sent thee:When thou
hast brought forth the people out of Egypt, ye shall serve God upon this
mountain.
(The only thing that matters is that God will be with that person HE calls for the work of God.)
13
And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of
Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me
unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say
unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I Am that I Am:and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.
15
And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children
of Israel, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you:this is my name for
ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.
16
Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and say unto them, The
Lord God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob,
appeared unto me, saying, I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt:17
And I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt
unto the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and
the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, unto a land flowing
with milk and honey. 18 And they shall hearken to thy voice:and thou
shalt come, thou and the elders of Israel, unto the king of Egypt, and
ye shall say unto him, The Lord God of the Hebrews hath met with us:and
now let us go, we beseech thee, three days 'journey into the wilderness,
that we may sacrifice to the Lord our God.
19 And I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not by a mighty hand.
20 And I will stretch out my hand, and smite Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in the midst thereof:and after that he will let you go.
21
And I will give this people favour in the sight of the Egyptians:and it
shall come to pass, that, when ye go, ye shall not go empty:22 But
every woman shall borrow of her neighbour, and of her that sojourneth in
her house, jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, and raiment:and ye
shall put them upon your sons, and upon your daughters; and ye shall spoil the Egyptians.
==========
Comments by Joan Boney
Before
I was born again in 1975, I would hear people (from time to time) say
they had been "called" by God to do such and such. I thought that to be
such a strange thing and I wondered about it.
Then
shortly after I was born again, I was asleep and was transported into
heaven and was with God, with the Holy Spirit, with Jesus (seeing no images ... it was a spirit experience). And at that time I was merged into the body of Jesus, made one with the Word of God, as God and the Holy Spirit witnessed.
A few nights after this, exactly the same thing happened to me again.
I was then on fire for the Word of God. All I wanted to do was to read Bible.
Though I didn't know it at that time, I had a call on God on my life.
Others recognized it before I did because often individuals would say, "We know the hand of the Lord is on you." (I didn't know what that meant either.)
For
the next 5 years, I just soaked myself in Bible, reading and hearing
and doing scripture. I owned a business at the time but I had no
interest at all in the business after I was taken into heaven, though I
kept operating the business. I had 3 women who worked for me and they
ran the business and kept the shop hours. All I did was purchase the
merchandise for the shop. That gave me a mass of time to stay home and
read Bible. Bible is all I cared about.
At the end of
those 5 years or so, I was asleep in the night. I was awakened from
sleep by a very loud voice which was blowing words into my ear like a
trumpet. (I believe this was an angel of God speaking these words to me.) I heard these words: "Hartford, Seattle, KWJS"
God
had given me call letters to a radio station. Later I came to see the
Hartford, Seattle indicated the work would be coast to coast in the
United States which is exactly what happened.
I told God that I was not a speaker. I am a writer. (How could I speak?)
But
I was convinced it was all of God and I had been given the impression
to call the radio station manager which I did immediately, that
morning. He told me to make an audition tape 29 1/2 minutes long and
send it to him and if I fit their programming they would offer me a
radio broadcast contract. I made the recording that same morning and put
it into the mail that same day.
Within a week I was broadcasting exhortations on radio five-days-a-week.
It has been that way ever since. When God wants me to do something, HE makes it very clear to me and HE provides the way and the means.
This is how the call of God works.
It
is no different from Moses. God gets your attention. Then God shows
you what it is HE wants you to do. And the way and the means are laid
out in front of you and all you have to do is to go through the door to
the work for which you are called. (And God has HIS ways of getting you through that door.)