Waiting on the Lord

“Wait on the Lord.”
Psalm 27:14

It may seem an easy thing to wait, but it is one of the postures which a Christian soldier learns not without years of teaching. Marching and quick-marching are much easier to God’s warriors than standing still. There are hours of perplexity when the most willing spirit, anxiously desirous to serve the Lord, knows not what part to take. Then what shall it do? Vex itself by despair? Fly back in cowardice, turn to the right hand in fear, or rush forward in presumption? No, but simply wait. Wait in prayer, however. Call upon God, and spread the case before Him; tell Him your difficulty, and plead His promise of aid. In dilemmas between one duty and another, it is sweet to be humble as a child, and wait with simplicity of soul upon the Lord. It is sure to be well with us when we feel and know our own folly, and are heartily willing to be guided by the will of God. But wait in faith. Express your unstaggering confidence in Him; for unfaithful, untrusting waiting, is but an insult to the Lord. Believe that if He keep you tarrying even till midnight, yet He will come at the right time; the vision shall come and shall not tarry. Wait in quiet patience, not rebelling because you are under the affliction, but blessing your God for it. Never murmur against the second cause, as the children of Israel did against Moses; never wish you could go back to the world again, but accept the case as it is, and put it as it stands, simply and with your whole heart, without any self-will, into the hand of your covenant God, saying, “Now, Lord, not my will, but Thine be done. I know not what to do; I am brought to extremities, but I will wait until Thou shalt cleave the floods, or drive back my foes. I will wait, if  Thou keep me many a day, for my heart is fixed upon Thee alone, O God, and my spirit waiteth for Thee in the full conviction that Thou wilt yet be my joy and my salvation, my refuge and my strong tower.”

Charles Spurgeon

Becoming a Dangerous Christian Pt. 2

Num 13:26-33

V.30 – Then Caleb quieted the people before Moses, and said, “Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it.”

Caleb was a descendant of the tribe of Judah.  Caleb was a disciple of Moses.  He was apart of Moses elite team of special forces.  Although, we quickly find out that this team doesn’t take on any mission.  And they definitely have not been broken before God.  Caleb was a no nonsense kind of guy.  He was one of the original twelve guys sent to spy out the land that God wanted give to the children of Israel.  He was a fierce warrior for God.  His heart was filled with faith and his life was completely surrendered to God.

Here is a man speaking in faith!  He is viewing this land through eyes of faith.  His says man lets all of us go.  Lets not wait a minute longer, lets go now.  He says we are well able to over come.  I know there are giants in the land I saw them as well but do you know who my God is?  Don’t tell God how big your mountain is; tell your mountain how big your God is.  Caleb was speaking in faith.  We already have the victory.  Let’s put our resources together, let’s get our weapons, paint our faces and let’s go possess the land that our God is giving us.  Come on what are you waiting for?  Let’s go!  Let’s go pick a fight!  He’s a dangerous man of God!

Well that speech didn’t go over to well because the other 10 spies brought about a really bad report to children of Israel.  They told everyone that there were giants in the land and we are nothing but grasshoppers in there sight.  So these 10 spies filled the hearts of all the people with fear.  And the bible says that the people screamed and cried all night. Then the people said man we like this desert living, it’s not all that bad, so what if we don’t have a permanent house or city or country to call our own.  We never go hungry, we never get sick, we never lack, why do we need to bother others let them keep that land.  But Caleb saw something totally different.  He said I’m tired of walking around.  We have been doing this for forty years.  It’s getting old and besides God has given us a land of our own and these people are in it.  It’s not there’s it’s ours.  They are in our land.  We must go and take it back. The reason Moses paid no attention to the negative report is because he knew Caleb and Joshua.  He knew that they were Dangerous Men of God.

Well the people of Israel didn’t care too much and so they said let’s select a leader and go back to Egypt.  That is just like the enemy.  When God is getting ready to bless you he wants to fill your heart with fear so that you get scared and want to return to your past.  He tries to speak to those people close to you to try to convince you to turn around.  Even though you’re so close to your promise that you can see it, smell it, and feel it, he will try to flood you with fear so that you don’t possess it.  I encourage you to you’re your heart with faith in God!  Gen 18: 14 states that there’s nothing to hard for the Lord!  Don’t ever settle for less than Gods best!

Caleb says in verse 9 – Only do not rebel against the Lord, nor fear the people of the land, for they are our bread; their protection has departed from them, and the Lord is with us. Do not fear them.”

Caleb is still trying to build their faith.  He’s doing everything he knows to do to try to convince these hard heartened people to trust God!  Well that really didn’t go over well because in v.10 the people picked up stones to stone he and Joshua and the only thing that saved them was the glory of Lord came down and appeared in the tabernacle of meeting.  I have got great news for you today, when you trust God with your entire life and when you do what God has called you to do than the glory of the Lord will be your shield from every enemy.  If the enemy wants to get to you than he has to go through Him and we already know that he’s defeated, he just can’t do it.

As result God kills a bunch of rebellious people who refused to trust Him and He tells Moses (Num. 14:24)

Num 14:24

24 But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.  (More to come…)

Becoming a Dangerous Christian

There are several different meanings of danger.  There is danger in the sense of physical harm.  When someone says he or she is a dangerous person.  Or stay away from them they may be dangerous.  Then, there is a different kind of danger.  There is the danger of athlete imposes to other teams. Michael Jordan, he’s dangerous.  Peyton Manning, Lebron James they’re dangerous. Sam Walton and his Super Walmarts are dangerous.  Warren Buffet and Bill Gates are extremely dangerous businessmen.  They’re dangerous because they take risks, major risks. They believe with every fiber of there being that whatever they do it will be successful.  They believe in themselves and they believe in the products in which they are selling.  And no one can convince them otherwise.

But does it mean to become a dangerous Christian?  A dangerous Christ follower?  Does it mean you have to pray more?  Does it mean u have to fast often? Does it mean you have to read your bible 2 or 3 hours a day?  What does it mean to “become a dangerous Christian?”

Not to long ago, I was reading an article about the elite Special Forces group known as the “Navy Seals”.  It is widely known that they are the best of the best.  The Seals never back down to anyone.  They never say no to any mission because there is no mission they feel is to tough for them or that they can not be victorious in.  And they never, ever under any circumstance will they compromise their beliefs or leave a man behind on the battlefield.   They say that the number one goal of the Navy Seal Drill Instructors during training is to break you completely down so that nothing remains in you.  They don’t want your ideas, your opinions, your dreams, your goals, your attitudes, they don’t want anything you have to offer. They want to completely annihilate you.  If those who were recruited cannot hang through the process they are welcomed at any point to ring the bell to signify they are quitting.  It is said that Drill Instructors do their best to encourage the recruits to quit, to ring the bell, to walk away, to leave but they do this simply because they only want those that are willing to give everything they have to this small group of warriors.  They want those who are so sold out that they would be willing to die for this cause.

They say the main purpose for breaking these recruits is because once they’re broken, they can put them back together the way they feel will be best for the Seals.  They want to put their ideas in you, their goals, their dreams, their beliefs, their work ethics, and their mindset.  They want you to become the most dangerous solgier you can for this small elite group of fearless warriors.  They do this because the success of the mission depends solely on the dedication of the soldiers who are involved.

This time magazine reporter who had conducted this interview asked one of the Seals; do you guys care that you never get credit?  No we like it that way.  All we care about is winning.  Wow!  What an absolutely incredible attitude.  We don’t want credit we just want to win!

Matt 22:14

14 “For many are called, but few are chosen.”

As I thought about this story and what seals go through during boot camp/ training, I couldn’t help but think of how similar it is when we come to Jesus. The bible says that He takes us and He breaks us and He takes all the old junk that we used to carry around and then He then puts us back together and fills us with His life, His Holy Spirit, His love, His dreams, His goals, His desires, and then He turns us loose and feeds us to a sea of humanity that’s in need of the Gospel!  The question I ask you today is will you take part in this mission or will you quit and ring the bell when it gets tough and almost unbearable?  Will you stay with it, will you persevere, when others around you are dropping out of the race and screaming for you to do the same, will you listen to them or will you listen to that still small voice inside your heart that says “My yoke is easy and my burden is light”.  His grace is sufficient for any task or mission that stands in your way.  He says to us all, keep going, don’t quit; the world needs the message that’s alive in your heart!

Matt. 16:24-25

“If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.

Can’t you hear Jesus beckoning you to “GO!”  Listen to His holy calling and embrace the mission He has given to all of us to rescue lost souls from an eternal pit of despair, loneliness, brokenness, hurt, confusion etc…Let’s go for it and by faith let’s go change the world!

Will You Deny Me

Will you deny Me

Luke 22:33-34 – But he said to Him, “Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death.” Then He said, “I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me.”
Does this sound familiar to you? Can you relate to Peter with these promises he makes to Jesus? Have you ever echoed something similar to the Lord? I will do anything for you Lord, if I am called upon than I will go to prison and I’m even willing to die for you Lord. The Lord says, “Really?” Within 12 hours you will deny that you even know me, not once but 3 times. Wow!
You know often times we make similar promise’s to the Lord. We make these amazing commitments to Jesus in worship and within 24 hours we are denying that we know Him. Sunday morning comes along and during worship we find ourselves telling Jesus that we will do anything or go anywhere for you, we are willing to die for you Lord but as soon as we walk out of the church doors life comes flying at us through various avenues such as family challenges, jobs, finances, peer pressures etc…and its through many of these different avenues we find our selves in a way denying that we know Him. It may not be that we deny Him vocally; it may simply be that we deny Him through our lifestyle. Through the way that we treat our spouses, or loved ones, maybe our denial is through the way we respond to those who don’t agree with us or maybe don’t even like us. Our denial may come through the silence we keep when we hear others are bashing our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ. Maybe we deny Him in our own speech, conduct and way of life. Maybe we deny Him in the lack of our prayer life or personal worship or devotional experiences.
Question, can you hear the sound of the rooster crowing? The rooster is our spiritual alarm going off and calling us back home! That crazy rooster is calling us to fall on our knees and passionately renew our commitment to Jesus in our own personal lives. Lets do it today!

Love is Born

As I woke up this morning I read several reports that were posted all over the internet that a father, David Goldman after 5 long years was finally reunited with his 9 year old son Sean Goldman.  A father who refused to give up and literally gave anything he could to be with his son once again.  Apparently his son Sean, who was born and raised for the first 4 years of his life in New Jersey, was illegally taken from his father down to Brazil.  His father didn’t rest; he refused to give up hope of one day being reunited with his son. The natural love of a father for his son caused him to relentlessly pursue his son until he was safe at home in the arms of his paternal father.

As I followed this story over the last several days I couldn’t help but think of how a Heavenly Father would willingly give up His one and only son to come down to a little village called earth to save all humanity.  For some it’s hard to grasp because this is no ordinary son, this is God’s son! The bible describes Him as the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, wonderful, counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, prince of peace, a lover of all souls, He’s the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords, the spotless lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world…!  And God would deliver to us His spotless lamb through the womb of a young, unknown teenage girl.  She introduces us to Gods priceless gift, not through the beautiful palaces of Bethlehem, not through a five star hotel or best hospitals of the day but through a lowly manger on the backside of an unknown hill.  She doesn’t wrap Him in royal robes like He was accustomed to but in swaddling clothes and she placed Him in His first crib, which was a feeding troth and there she gives Him the name “Immanuel”, God is with us!

It’s really hard to fully grasp this story because God would deliver His precious Son to a people who would as the prophet Isaiah said would despise Him, reject Him, persecute and eventually kill Him. But somehow there was no other way.  There was no prophet or priest that could bring us back into a right relationship with God. It had to be God Himself.  And He loved us so much that He refused to live without us and so He gave us His only son that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.  The human race was separated from God because of sin and the mysterious, unfathomable, unsearchable, eternal love of the Father caused Him to pursue us with a reckless abandonment and bring us back into a right relationship with our Father.

In the natural it’s wonderful to see a father who never gave up be reunited with his son after 5 long years but its simply unexplainable and unfathomable to see a Heavenly Father give to us all an eternal gift that we did not deserve.  I pray that not only this Christmas season but that everyday we all remember “Immanuel” because God is truly with us!!

Merry Christmas,

Bernie and Nicole Moore

Will You Go

I received this email from a great friend of mine who thought I may be interested in the vicious threats that have been issued to all Christians in Sargodha, Pakistan.  Sargodha was the city I did a week long crusade in at the end of this past April. It was a glorious crusade! There we saw 11,000 Muslims turn away from the Islamic faith and embrace Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior!!  We witnessed so many mighty miracles!  It was truly amazing. Click on the tab below to read the article:

Taliban in Pakistan warns Christian leaders to convert to Islam

http://www.christiantelegraph.com/issue7359.html

After reading this article you will quickly understand why we must go! We must not sit idly by while so many suffer hurt, rejection, brokenness, isolation and abuse for their faith. We must go and shine an eternal light into their dark world.  No matter the risk or the price we are asked to pay – we need to be a living display of God’s love!

The words that the Lord spoke to Isaiah (Isaiah 6:1) ring out loud and clear in my spirit, “Whom shall I send and who will go for us?”  Will you answer the call to be used by God today?

The cries of the world are ringing in the precious ears of our Savior every minute of every day. Although the vast majority will never see it, I have witnessed it first hand.  I have witnessed the tears rolling down the faces of grown men as the accept Christ for the first time.  I have witnessed the tears of joy streaming down the face of a mother whose 7year old daughter has been touched and healed from a terminal disease by the Holy Spirit.  The world’s only hope is Jesus Christ, the son of the living God!  This is why we must not keep silent! Every time I get ready to minister I feel like the prophet Jeremiah felt when he penned these words, “His word in my mouth is like a fire shot up in my bones and I can not hold it back!” (Jeremiah 20:9)

Jesus said in John 4:35, “As you look around right now, wouldn’t you say that in about four months it will be time to harvest? Well, I’m telling you to open your eyes and take a good look at what’s right in front of you! These Samaritan fields are ripe. It’s harvest time!”

I beg you not to neglect the harvest! It’s all around you and whether you believe it or not there are so many people that need to hear you tell them about the precious, eternal love of the Father!  May the Holy Spirit set you ablaze for Him today!

Set ablaze by the Holy Spirit,

Bernie Moore

Lord Save Me!

Matthew 8:24-27

And suddenly a great tempest arose on the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves. But He was asleep. Then His disciples came to Him and awoke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”

But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus’ disciples were grown men and experienced boaters and fishermen and, yet, they were panicking and fearful for their lives. Certainly they had been in storms before but there was something different about this one. They had been in the boat all night and a storm arose quickly and had gotten so bad that they actually thought they were going to die!

You have to believe that they were trying everything they knew to try. They couldn’t navigate the boat in such a way that it could take on the waves. They may have been trying to throw the water out of the boat but the waves just continued to come crashing over the sides. Everything they tried quickly proved that their efforts were futile. They finished trying to save themselves and they all looked at one another realizing that there was only one option left: go to Jesus. But there is one problem; He’s sleeping. How could He be asleep? We are in the middle of a storm and He’s sleeping! Really! How can He possibly be sleeping? So they go to Him screaming, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” They were absolutely desperate. They couldn’t swim their way to safety. They couldn’t sail their way to safety. They couldn’t navigate their way to safety. They needed Jesus to SAVE them!!

Have you ever felt that way? You are in the middle of a big storm. The waves of life are crashing all around you and you feel like you are taking on water. You are slowly drowning. You don’t know what to do, where to go, or how to get out. The storms of life such as uncertain finances, loss of jobs, a tumultuous marriage, problems with kids, sickness, rejection etc… and you just don’t know what to do.

In the natural you try all the things you know to try, you try to talk your way out; you try to pay your way out; you try to work your way out; you try to study your way out; you cry your way out. If none of those things work then you attempt to ignore or mask the problems and the circumstances around you. But, no matter how hard you try, you just can’t ignore the storm that is slowly making you sink.

Meanwhile, you feel like Jesus is just sleeping while you are slowly drowning. You wonder to yourself doesn’t He care that I am perishing? Doesn’t He care that I can’t deal with this anymore? How do I know that He really cares about me and that He really loves me?

What do you do? Just like the disciples you scream at Jesus, “Lord save me! I am perishing!” There’s great news here: Romans 10:12-13 says,“For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Just remember, Jesus was in the boat with the disciples when they were going through this storm; a storm so bad that they thought they would die. Jesus was just waiting on an invitation from those guys to do something. And as soon as they got desperate enough they invited Him to take over. You may be going through different storms in your life right now. Please hear my heart when I say that Jesus is not sleeping while you feel like you are drowning, He is just waiting on an invitation from you and He will rise up on your behalf and do what you can not do, He will calm every storm in your life!

Don’t wait until it gets so bad that you can see death on the horizon, invite Jesus into your situation right now! Let Him take over everything in your life and watch Him calm every storm you face!

God Bless,

Bernie Moore