In my Bible reading today I came across a law given by God to Moses that was so meaningful for me. In the seventh year of service the master was to set his servant free. However, if the servant declares “I love my master…” and does not want to go free, then the master could take him before judges and then “take him to the door or the doorpost and pierce his ear with an awl” (Exodus 21:6). Then he would be a servant for life.
When I read these words I was reminded of something Dr. Bill Bright, co-founder of Campus Crusade wrote in the foreword of my book, Revive My Heart, many years ago. He wrote, “A most memorable occasion was in the spring of 1951, when Vonette and I got on our knees in our home and prayed. This was a very special and unique devotional time that changed our lives and that, by His grace, the Lord has used to touch literally billions of people all over the world with His message of love and forgiveness. We prayed, ‘Lord, we surrender our lives irrevocably to you and to do your will. We want to love and serve you with all of our hearts for the rest of our lives.’ We actually wrote and signed a contract committing our whole lives to Him, relinquishing our rights, all of our possessions, everything we would ever own, giving Him, our dear Lord and Master, everything. That Sunday afternoon, in the words of the apostle Paul, Vonette and I became voluntary slaves of Jesus, by choice, as an act of our wills. In Romans 1:1, Paul wrote of his love for Christ and said to the Christians in that great city: ‘This letter is from Paul, Jesus Christ’s slave, chosen to be a missionary, and sent out to preach God’s Good News’ (TLB).” Dr. Bright continues on, “Astonishingly, within twenty-four hours of that prayer and in another quiet time, the Lord gave me the vision for Campus Crusade for Christ and helping to fulfill the Great Commission!”
I am moved today as I read those words of commitment by a humble man who is now face to face with His Lord. There’s a song related to this passage of Scripture in Exodus that is my prayer: “Pierce my ear, O Lord my God. Take me to Your door this day, I will serve no other gods. Lord I’m here to stay. For You have paid the price for me, with your blood you’ve ransomed me. I will serve you eternally, a free man I’ll never be” (© 1980 Dayspring).
May we all serve the Lord with a whole heart and willing mind and spirit. Everything we do, from the smallest thing to the greatest, is in service to the King of Kings. We can never forget that someday we will be face to face with Him. And we want to always live in the present with eternity in mind. And so, today, may we “walk in a manner worthy of the Lord” and “please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to share in the inheritance of the saints in Light” (Colossians 1:10-12). God bless you today!
Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to do something I have wanted to do for a long time. I surprised Jim Smoke in front of about 60 Southwest Community Church staff members with the dedication of Passionate Prayer to him.
I wanted to honor him because he is such a servant of the Lord. And he has had such a profound impact in my life. So many doors have opened for my books and writing because of him. He is, of course, a successful author, with many books - the most well known is Growing Through Divorce. I have included the text of my dedication to him here for any who would like to read it.
I asked Bob (our pastor) to give me just a few minutes because I wanted to share something special with all of you that means so much to me. A verse the Lord gave me many years ago was Hebrews 13:7 and I want to read it to you out of the Bible that I used for more than 20 years of my walk with the Lord: Remember those who led you, who spoke the word of God to you; and considering the result of their conduct, imitate their faith. Next to that verse I have written names of those the Lord has brought into my life who have been examples for me, who have helped me along my journey of becoming the woman God wants me to be, and have helped me walk into God’s plans and purposes for my life - Names like:
Josh and Dottie McDowell
Dr. Bill Bright and Vonette Bright, co-founders of Campus Crusade
Ney Bailey
Ann Kiemel
Kay Arthur
Dr. Wessel my New Testament professor in seminary
My mother
One of the names next to that verse is sitting in this room today. I’ll never forget the day I received a phone message – Catherine, this is Jim Smoke, let’s meet! And then, in his first day here on staff, he came into my office sat down and started encouraging me and cheering me on.
Since I’ve known him, I’ve written 11 books – books that are getting into the hands of hungry hurting people all over the world.
And now I have a new book out, just released, entitled Passionate Prayer – Discovering The Power Of Talking With God. Jim doesn’t know about it because I wanted to surprise him today
Jim, could you come up here – I want to give you one of the first copies HOT OFF THE PRESS
Let me read to you, Jim, the dedication:
To Jim Smoke, author, pastor, and my dear friend, who has taught me about ministry and prayer, and who has shown me by his very life and words, what it means to love the Lord with all my heart, soul, mind, , and strength.
One truth that shines from the pages of God’s love letter to us, the Bible, is, “…there is no one like the LORD our God” (Exodus 8:10). Moses gave this truth to the Pharaoh, a powerful ruler in Egypt. But unfortunately, Pharaoh had a spiritual heart problem - we see that his heart “became hard”, he “did not take even this to heart”, and “his heart was unyielding” (Exodus 7:22-23, 9:7).
If ever we desire to know what God is up to, there is one thing we can count on. He desires us to know that there is no one like Him in all the earth (Exodus 9:34). God is all-powerful, all-sufficient, and Creator of the universe. All the powers of the earth, were they put together as one, are no match for the power of God. Pharaoh discovered this as God, again and again, demonstrated Who He was for the Egyptians and the Israelites to see. And yet, in the end, Pharaoh was unmoved and unyielding.
Moses, the man of God, demonstrated another kind of heart. He had a heart of wonder, humility, reverence, and worship. This man of God, in the face of such demonstrations of power, became a man of prayer. More than once, throughout the many plagues that came upon the Egyptians, Moses prayed to the LORD, and the LORD did what Moses asked (Exodus 8:12-13, 30-31).
There is a message in this for all of us, especially on this historic day. May we cultivate the majestic Wonder of God, and pray for His bountiful blessing upon all of us in this country, and throughout the world. And may God’s majesty and name be proclaimed in all the earth. God bless you all today!
Moses shows us the way to a powerful, dynamic walk with God. Moses was going about his business, tending the flock of his father-in-law. All of a sudden, while he was on the far side of the desert, a bush was engulfed with flames of fire, and yet it did not burn up. We are told that it was the “angel of the LORD” appearing to Moses in the flames of fire in the bush (Exodus 3:2). What would Moses do? He was busy at work. Would he continue, regarding this amazing sight as an interruption in his already-organized day? Moses stopped, and then turned aside to look at a fiery bush, and when he did, he was given a glimpse of the spectacular. The Lord was waiting for Moses - Exodus 3:4 tells us that “when the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’”.
Here is what happened when Moses stopped, in the routine of his day, and turned aside to look at God:
Moses heard God’s voice - In fact, he heard God call him by name. And in hearing his own name, he was reassured forever that God knew him. When you stop and turn aside to look at God, you will realize the true, eternal perspective of things. And one of the most powerful truths you will realize is that you are known by God. He created you and He loves you.
Moses spoke with God - This first conversation must have been astounding to Moses. God called out his name and Moses responded, “Here I am.” Perhaps he wondered for a split second if he would here anything else from the bush. Or maybe Moses could have thought momentarily that he was hearing things. Whatever he thought, the conversation continued as God met with him and conversed with him. One of the greatest privileges we have is to walk and talk with God in prayer.
Moses stepped on to holy ground - In stopping and turning aside to look, Moses went from the dust of the world to the holiness of God. God said, “Do not come any closer…Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5). When we stop and turn aside to look, our view moves from earth to heaven, and we are, like Isaiah, ushered into the throne room of God where the seraphim cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the LORD of hosts, the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3). We are to be holy as God is holy - it is the Holy Spirit who transforms us from the inside out and does for us what we can never do for ourselves. “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Moses saw a new view of God - God revealed Himself to Moses saying “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses realized he was truly in the presence of God and hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. There is a tremendous promise for us when we stop, turn aside and look at our God. God says in Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God.” When we will take time to be still before God, we will experience a great reward as God gives us a new view of Himself, something we have not seen or known before. Whatever we know of God, there is always more to know, for He is infinite and eternal.
Moses heard the heart of God - God revealed what was on His heart and mind when He said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out…” (Exodus 3:7). This is a powerful statement for us to understand - God see and feels - He is not distant and impersonal, but intimately involved with us. Psalm 37:23 says “he delights in the details of our lives” (NLT).
Moses received a commission, a call from God - God told Moses, after He shared His heart, “So now, I am sending you…” (Exodus 3:10). There is the call, the commission. And we, too, have received a commission from God - it’s in Matthew 28:18-20, “Go therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”
Moses was greatly humbled in the presence of His great God - He said, “Who am I…” (Exodus 3:11). In fact, Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth (Numbers 12:3). God can use humble people. When you are in His presence, you will realized God’s greatness and the view will keep you humble.
Moses received a great promise from God - God said, “I will be with you…” When you are in God’s presence, you will receive His promises. And you will be filled with hope.
Moses learned God’s name - The greatest promises of all are God’s names, the promise of Who He is, what He does, and what He says. Moses learned the covenant, memorial name for God - Yahweh (YHWH) - the name that promises He is everything we need for everything in life - He is enough. What comfort to learn the promise of this name for God in the face of a great call from God.
Moses learned the next step for his life - God said, “Go…” (Exodus 3:16). And then God gave Moses directions for his next step. And that is what happens when we stop, turn aside and look at God - we will know, in God’s perfect timing, what is our next step in life.
Moses was given promises for the future - God said, “And so you will plunder the Egyptians…” (Exodus 3:22). We too, are given promises for our future - check out Revelation 19-22.
Moses saw the miraculous - God responded to Moses’ “what if” questions by giving him a glimpse of the miraculous. He caused a staff to change to a snake and then back to a staff. He caused Moses’ hand to have leprosy and then to be restored to health again. And when we stop, turn aside and look at God, we too, will be given glimpses of the miraculous where we see God do things only He can do.
Moses was equipped by God - Moses was afraid to answer God’s call because of his apparent inadequacies. “O Lord, I have never been eloquent…” (Exodus 4:10). But God equipped Moses to do more than he could ever do on his own, “Now go…” said the Lord, “I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:12). You can know that if God calls you to a great task, He will also equip you.
Moses was empowered by God - Our inadequacies and weaknesses always qualify us for the power of God. God said to Moses, “…see that you perform before the Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do” (Exodus 4:20). Paul discovered this same amazing truth when he turned aside to look at God in the face of his weakness. God said to Paul (and He is saying it to us as well), “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). May we say, along with Paul, “when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).
Moses became dependent on God - Notice that the staff Moses used to tend the flock had now become “the staff of God” (Exodus 4:20). And what did Moses do with it? He “took the staff of God in his hand”. Forevermore, Moses was God’s man for the hour, leaning on Him, and trusting Him for everything that came his way. And may we also lean on God, and trust Him with everything that comes our way.
Imagine - all of this came to Moses when he stopped and turned aside to look at God in the burning bush. May we also, day by day, take time to stop, turn aside, and look at God, opening the pages of His Word and communing with Him. Just think of all that we would miss if we didn’t follow the example of Moses, the man of God! God bless you all today as you continue on in the great adventure of knowing Him.
I’m so excited to tell everyone that we have just received our first copies of Passionate Prayer - A 30 Day Journey. We are sending out signed copies to all pre-orders next week. This book is filled with encouragement for your life of prayer. Included is a Prayer Growth Plan that the Lord has used in my own life for many years. And then, don’t miss out on Passionate Prayer - A Quiet Time Experience, due to arrive at the end of January.
I’ll be sharing about the secret to trusting God today at 
I’m getting ready to share with women online all about how to have a quiet time in the message “Finding A Quiet Place In A Busy World at