LORD, I AM NOT...

Then Moses said to the LORD, "O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue." So the LORD said to him, "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say."
-Exodus 4:10-12

It is interesting to me to see how Moses responded to God's calling on his life. God had big plans to use Moses to bring the Israelites out of Egypt. Yet, when the Lord revealed Himself and His purpose for Moses' life, Moses responded with, "O my Lord, I am not..." as if to say, "Lord, I think you have made a mistake. If you haven't noticed, I don't speak very well." Worldly wisdom would tell us Moses lacked self-confidence or had low self-esteem because he had a speech impediment, but what does the Lord say to this? "Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the LORD? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." (Exodus 4:11-12) God knew Moses wasn't eloquent; He knew Moses was slow of speech and slow of tongue, yet Moses was the one God chose to speak to Pharaoh and lead His people out of Egypt. This reminds me of 2 Corinthians 12:9 when the Lord responded to Paul, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." God often calls us to do things that are bigger than anything we could ever imagine doing; bigger than anything we are even capable of doing in and of ourselves because of our weaknesses. Yet that is exactly why God wants to use us, because in that weakness God's strength is made perfect.

While I truly desire to respond like Isaiah when the Lord called him, "Here am I! Send me.", I find I often respond instead like Moses, "O my Lord, I am not..." My natural instinct is to look to myself; to my own abilities and doubt that I can do what the Lord has called me to. Instead of looking to the Lord and trusting that He will be with me and teach me what to say or do, I look to self and I doubt. The issue here is, not only do I doubt myself and my own abilities, but ultimately I doubt God and His ability to accomplish His purpose through me. When did I forget that God is the God of the universe? When did I forget that He parted the Red Sea? When did I forget that He created the heavens and the earth? Without realizing it, I have placed God in a box that only allows Him to work within the parameters that I can conceive. But God is so much bigger than that, He cannot be contained by any box I can conceive and while He doesn't need me to accomplish His purpose, He does use me for His purpose that His strength would be made perfect in my weakness and that He would be glorified.

God is calling you too and He wants to use you to accomplish His purpose. How will you respond?
COACH'S CALL TO ACTION

• What is the big thing the Lord is calling you to?
• Where have you put God in a box?
• How would things change if you stopped looking to self and started looking to God?
  

Copyright © 2009 Radiant Sun Life Coaching. All rights reserved.

HE WILL DELIVER YOU

“And the king, when he heard these words, was greatly displeased with himself, and set his heart on Daniel to deliver him; and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. Then these men approached the king, and said to the king, “Know, O king, that it is the law of the Medes and Persians that no decree or statute which the king establishes may be changed.” So the king gave the command, and they brought Daniel and cast him into the den of lions. But the king spoke, saying to Daniel, “Your God, whom you serve continually, He will deliver you.”’

-Daniel 6:14-16

King Darius was tormented with finding a way to save Daniel from being thrown into the lions den. He struggled with this burden until time had run out and he had to follow through with the commitment he had made by signing the decree. Only after his own efforts had been exhausted did King Darius surrender Daniel’s fate to the Lord, knowing only God could save Daniel now.

So often, when I am in a tough place, usually by my own doing, I find myself struggling to find a solution. This struggle creates stress and anxiety in my life; and as long as I struggle with this burden, the stress and anxiety grows, sleep evades me, food becomes my comfort and my family avoids me as I become more and more difficult to be around. When we try to carry our burdens alone, we fail miserably. We cannot deliver ourselves or others, only God can deliver us. Our only true option is to turn to the Lord for help, but we must first come to the end of ourselves and surrender it all to God. “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30)

Our first instinct is to “solve” our own problems; to come up with our own “solutions” and it is only when we have exhausted all other options that we finally take it to the Lord and surrender it to Him. We know that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13) and we can do nothing without Christ (John 15:5), yet we turn to our flesh for answers rather than taking it to the Lord immediately. We rely on our own wisdom and knowledge to “logically” find a solution, but if we were truly looking at things logically we would know that we cannot find the answer in and of ourselves. We willingly choose to struggle under our burdens until the weight becomes too much to bear and then we offer it up to the Lord. Wow, think of the stress, the anxiety, the sleepless nights that could be avoided if we took everything to the Lord in prayer first; if we surrendered all our burdens (big and small) immediately to the Lord how much more peace we would have and how much lighter our burden. I challenge you to take everything to the Lord in prayer today and notice the rewards.

COACH'S CALL TO ACTION

• What is the burden are you carrying?
• How long are you willing to struggle under the weight of that burden?
• When will you seek the Lord and cast your burdens at His feet?

Copyright © 2009 Radiant Sun Life Coaching. All rights reserved.

IT IS NOT IN ME

Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon; and he shaved, changed his clothing, and came to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. But I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream, to interpret it.” So Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.”
-Genesis 41:14-16

I love Joseph’s response to Pharaoh when he is called to interpret Pharaoh’s dream, “It is not in me; God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” Joseph knew his place, he knew that he was only a vessel for the Lord’s work and that his gift to interpret dreams was not of his flesh, but came directly from the Lord. Joseph is a great example of how we as the body of Christ are to humble ourselves and give the glory to God for the work He is doing through us and the gifts He gives us.

As you may know, God recently gave me “Transcend Your Weight: Building on the Rock” (a 12-week Biblical weight loss program that helps individuals overcome their struggles with weight loss by building on the Rock of Jesus Christ, that they would be set free from the bondage they are in). I know that some people look at me strangely or think I am off my rocker when I tell them that this program was not of me, but it was totally God. But I knew that the completed work sitting before me was bigger and better than anything I could ever do in and of myself. It was beyond my capabilities; it was not in me, but it had come from God. Yet even knowing this, there were times when I found myself doubting this program was good enough. I started to notice fear creeping in; I was afraid of what others would think about “my” program, afraid of being rejected by the church and my friends, afraid no one would want what I had to offer, etc. Then I would get that ever so subtle reminder from God; that little tap on the shoulder or the whisper in my ear, “But this isn’t yours, it is Mine. It did not come from you, but from Me.” At some point, without even realizing it, I had taken ownership of the gift God had given me; I had made it “my program”. All my fears and doubts came down to the fact that I had outwardly given God the glory for this program when I would tell others about it, but I had not truly given God the glory in my heart. In my heart, I still saw it as “mine” and all my doubts and fears came from the doubts I rightly had in my own abilities. However, once I gave to God what was His all along and really gave Him the glory for what He had created, my doubts and fears disappeared because I knew that there was nothing to doubt, nothing of this world to fear. God was on the throne, He was in control and this program was and is His; if I were to continue to doubt or fear, I would be doubting the power of God and doubting His perfection…how dare I.

The world tells us we need more self-confidence, more self-esteem, more self…the reality is we need to stop looking to self at all! We are called to die to self and live for Christ. Our confidence doesn’t come from ourselves and our abilities, but from God! We don’t need self-confidence and self-esteem, we can be confident in God; in His abilities, in His perfection, in His plan and purpose for our lives. Isn’t it great when we can say with confidence, “It is not in me, God…”?

COACH'S CALL TO ACTION

• Complete this statement, “If only I had more…”?
  
• What would it look like to die to self and live for Christ?
  
• Complete the following statement, “It is not in me, God…”
  

Copyright © 2009 Radiant Sun Life Coaching. All rights reserved.