BSPM 2017 PESACH/FUB E-NEWSLETTER (PART 2--MAIN STUDY)
THE STARTING POINT OF DESPERATION AND FRUSTRATION
I
AND NOW ON TO OUR MAIN STUDY…
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[Note: All verses cited are from the Bible In Basic English version as cited by E-Sword 2004 unless otherwise noted…]
BEFORE I take the pause button off Coy’s story that I started in the Intro, I FIRST need to show how a story like this relates to the upcoming festivals of Passover and Unleavened Bread. Let’s do that by taking a quick look at Exodus chapters 3 and 4:
Exo 3:1 Now Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he took the flock to the back of the waste land and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Exo 3:2 And the angel of the Lord was seen by him in a flame of fire coming out of a thorn-tree: and he saw that the tree was on fire, but it was not burned up.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, I will go and see this strange thing, why the tree is not burned up,
Exo 3:4 And when the Lord saw him turning to one side to see, God said his name out of the tree, crying, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Exo 3:5 And he said, Do not come near: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy.
Exo 3:6 And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God.
Exo 3:7 And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Exo 3:9 For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behaviour of the Egyptians to them.
Exo 3:10 Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
Exo 3:11 And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Exo 3:12 And he said, Truly I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain.
Exo 3:13 And Moses said to God, When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you: and they say to me, What is his name? what am I to say to them?
Exo 3:14 And God said to him, I AM WHAT I AM: and he said, Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
Exo 3:15 And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my sign to all generations.
Exo 3:16 Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause, because of what is done to you in Egypt;
Exo 3:17 And I have said, I will take you up out of the sorrows of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, into a land flowing with milk and honey.
Exo 3:18 And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God.
Exo 3:19 And I am certain that the king of Egypt will not let you go without being forced.
Exo 3:20 But I will put out my hand and overcome Egypt with all the wonders which I will do among them: and after that he will let you go.
Exo 3:21 And I will give this people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go out you will go out with your hands full.
Exo 3:22 For every woman will get from her neighbour and from the woman living in her house, ornaments of silver and gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and your daughters; you will take the best of their goods from the Egyptians.
Exo 4:1 And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord.
Exo 4:2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.
Exo 4:3 And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it.
Exo 4:4 And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand:
Exo 4:5 So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.
Exo 4:6 Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow.
Exo 4:7 And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.
Exo 4:8 And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign.
Exo 4:9 And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.
Exo 4:10 And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.
Exo 4:11 And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
Exo 4:12 So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.
Exo 4:13 And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send.
Exo 4:14 And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.
Exo 4:15 Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.
Exo 4:16 And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.
Exo 4:17 And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs.
The above story should be familiar to those of you out there who’ve read the Bible at least several times in their lifetime. We have for the most part a pretty good grasp of the story—and this particular account of the children of Israel in Egypt has definitely been preached many times in many ways over the years. But I think now in trying times like these that it once again merits a fresh examination from an angle rarely explored.
You see—we’ve seen a lot of how this mess in Egypt originally took place through a national leader who “…remembered not Joseph” and/or even knew and/or feared God in the first place. We also know plenty about how this story eventually ends—with Israel eventually crossing the Red Sea on dry land and leaving behind Pharoah and his chariots behind as fish food.
But I wonder if you and I have left out something from the equation that connects Point A (i.e.—Joseph) and Point B (the Red Sea). There’s a crucial Point B that this overall line MUST go through in order for ALL dots to be truly connected and for the overall story to make sense. What IS that point, you might ask? I formally submit to you that it necessarily involves a starting point of desperation and frustration!
What do I mean by this “starting point”? Let me ask you this—what times are you most likely going to experience feelings of frustration and desperation? I can almost guarantee you that it’s NOT usually when everything seems to be going hunky-dory in your world. When the bank account’s full, you’re in good shape healthwise, and everything is falling into place and clicking your way, I’d presume that you’re not exactly up in the middle of the night walking the floor and worried sick over something.
So when exactly could you be at that point of desperation? I’d rather imagine that it’s when you’re raging in the cage wanting to get out of the prison you’re stuck in. It’s when you’ve got a mountain of bills that you can’t pay…that diagnosis of a terminal disease in which you only have at best a few months to live…that wayward teenager on the verge of a fatal drug overdose…you can name the situation and fill in the blank…it’s THAT pesky situation that makes you feel like Coy did in the Intro story. It’s THAT situation that usually gets us to seeking Him and DEMANDING some answers from Him FAST!
The children of Israel were in exactly a spot like this when they finally cried to the Lord:
Exo 2:23 Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God.
Exo 2:24 And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind.
Exo 2:25 And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel and he gave them the knowledge of himself.
How did God decide to answer those cries for a release from their bondage and troubles?
Exo 3:6 And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God.
Exo 3:7 And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Exo 3:9 For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behaviour of the Egyptians to them.
Exo 3:10 Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
Is this striking a familiar theme with you right now or what? But how did the person who GOD decided to use as HIS particular answer for the deliverance for the children of Israel originally respond?
Exo 3:1 Now Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he took the flock to the back of the waste land and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Exo 3:2 And the angel of the Lord was seen by him in a flame of fire coming out of a thorn-tree: and he saw that the tree was on fire, but it was not burned up.
Exo 3:3 And Moses said, I will go and see this strange thing, why the tree is not burned up,
Exo 3:4 And when the Lord saw him turning to one side to see, God said his name out of the tree, crying, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
Exo 3:5 And he said, Do not come near: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy.
Exo 3:6 And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God.
Exo 3:7 And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows;
Exo 3:8 And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.
Exo 3:9 For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behaviour of the Egyptians to them.
Exo 3:10 Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.
Exo 3:11 And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt?
Apparently we’re not the ONLY ones who have had the gall to actually tell Him “NO!” when He asks us to do something. Moses seemed in this exchange to be an astute expert on one thing…how to make the greatest excuses to the Almighty why He COULD NOT do something! (Now let’s not go pointing fingers here…you know as well as I do how WE make excuses to Him! Now DON’T deny it—fess up! I’ve done it like you have even recently in some form or fashion…let’s be honest here! Let’s cut Moses a little bit—but not too much—slack on this, of course!
But in spite of the barrage of Moses’ excuses, our gracious Father God absolutely refused to take the pressure off of him or let him off the hook on this “special opportunity”. As chapter 3 progresses, Moses keeps giving God excuses why he can’t…and God in response tells Moses how he can with His help. But Moses doesn’t relent to God’s request without a fight.
An interesting substudy of this chapter reveals at least FIVE different excuses that Moses made to God WHY he felt he COULD NOT serve as the Lord’s deliverer of the children of Israel. Let’s review them real quickly and maybe give what might be appropriate modern-day translations to them, shall we?
EXCUSE #1—“I’m a nobody…a total nothing…Am I REALLY the RIGHT man for the job? Are You absolutely sure about this?”
POINT…MOSES’ EXCUSE?
Exo 3:11 And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt?
COUNTERPOINT…GOD’S ANSWER?
Exo 3:12 And he said, Truly I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain.
EXCUSE #2—“But they might not know when I tell ‘em who YOU are!”
POINT…MOSES’ EXCUSE?
Exo 3:13 And Moses said to God, When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you: and they say to me, What is his name? what am I to say to them?
COUNTERPOINT…GOD’S ANSWER?
Exo 3:14 And God said to him, I AM WHAT I AM: and he said, Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you.
Exo 3:15 And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my sign to all generations.
Exo 3:16 Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause, because of what is done to you in Egypt;
Exo 3:17 And I have said, I will take you up out of the sorrows of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, into a land flowing with milk and honey.
Exo 3:18 And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God.
Exo 3:19 And I am certain that the king of Egypt will not let you go without being forced.
Exo 3:20 But I will put out my hand and overcome Egypt with all the wonders which I will do among them: and after that he will let you go.
Exo 3:21 And I will give this people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go out you will go out with your hands full.
Exo 3:22 For every woman will get from her neighbour and from the woman living in her house, ornaments of silver and gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and your daughters; you will take the best of their goods from the Egyptians.
EXCUSE #3—“Lord, You know that these folks are going to think that I’m “loco en la cabeza” when I tell them this stuff, right? They sure ain’t going to believe You OR me!”
POINT…MOSES’ EXCUSE?
Exo 4:1 And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord.
COUNTERPOINT…GOD’S ANSWER?
Exo 4:2 And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod.
Exo 4:3 And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it.
Exo 4:4 And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand:
Exo 4:5 So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you.
Exo 4:6 Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow.
Exo 4:7 And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.
Exo 4:8 And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign.
Exo 4:9 And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land.
EXCUSE #4—“Lord, I can’t talk right. I didn’t get to take public speaking courses when I was in school. I stutter—people gonna make fun of me when I talk and think I’m stupid!”
POINT…MOSES’ EXCUSE?
Exo 4:10 And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue.
COUNTERPOINT…GOD’S ANSWER?
Exo 4:11 And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
Exo 4:12 So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say.
EXCUSE #5—“Why can’t You send someone else to do it? I just don’t want to do it—PERIOD! There’s surely someone much more qualified than I am that could do the job better? Why can’t you find him and use him? I just won’t do it! I just REFUSE to do it! Find somebody else to do it—PLEASE???”
POINT…MOSES’ EXCUSE?
[Personal note and observation here—My own question for Moses in this case if I were Him talking probably would be along the lines of “…But Somebody Else ISN’T available right now! You’re the ONLY one I can find that can do this! If you DON’T do it, then this thing absolutely WON’T get done! Your brothers will STILL be in slavery, mistreated, and then killed while you’re down here by yourself with a bunch of sheep! And if you say NO to this, then I’m holding YOU responsible for all of this if ANYTHING happens to these precious souls of Mine!”]
Exo 4:13 And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send.
COUNTERPOINT…GOD’S ANSWER?
[Personal note and observation here—At this point in time, if I would have been in the Almighty’s shoes, I surely would have not only swore to myself that I would NEVER, EVER answer a single prayer of this guy EVER AGAIN…but I would even go so far as to make that permanent…by using that burning bush fire to burn Moses like burnt toast in my toaster for having the absolute nerve to turn me down faster than some girls who have guys they absolutely cannot stand and will never date under ANY circumstances even if they were on a desert island! But that’s just me, of course…I’m quite thankful I’m NOT Him…and for the sake of the children of Israel (and for the rest of us by extension), I’m sure glad that our God didn’t take any of Moses’ attempts to say “NO!” to Him as his final irrevocable answer!]
Exo 4:14 And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.
Exo 4:15 Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do.
Exo 4:16 And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God.
Exo 4:17 And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs.
We don’t necessarily see in the Exodus account a specific verse after this that basically tells us the point where Moses probably finally decided to say “UNCLE!” to God and tell Him that he FINALLY gives up and do what God wants Him to do. But behind the scenes beyond the Biblical stage curtain, there was surely a sort of Divine arm-wrestling match where Moses finally decided to surrender to the call. I won’t necessarily bore you from here with most of the rest of this particular story from here except to fast-forward the virtual literary videotape highlights a few chapters afterwards that gives us a clue on how the rest of the Exodus account turned out and what Moses and the children of Israel all would have missed had God taken any and/or all of Moses’ “NO”s at the burning bush as Moses’ final answer.
Exo 12:1 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt,
Exo 12:2 Let this month be to you the first of months, the first month of the year.
Exo 12:3 Say to all the children of Israel when they are come together, In the tenth day of this month every man is to take a lamb, by the number of their fathers' families, a lamb for every family:
Exo 12:4 And if the lamb is more than enough for the family, let that family and its nearest neighbour have a lamb between them, taking into account the number of persons and how much food is needed for every man.
Exo 12:5 Let your lamb be without a mark, a male in its first year: you may take it from among the sheep or the goats:
Exo 12:6 Keep it till the fourteenth day of the same month, when everyone who is of the children of Israel is to put it to death between sundown and dark.
Exo 12:7 Then take some of the blood and put it on the two sides of the door and over the door of the house where the meal is to be taken.
Exo 12:8 And let your food that night be the flesh of the lamb, cooked with fire in the oven, together with unleavened bread and bitter-tasting plants.
Exo 12:9 Do not take it uncooked or cooked with boiling water, but let it be cooked in the oven; its head with its legs and its inside parts.
Exo 12:10 Do not keep any of it till the morning; anything which is not used is to be burned with fire.
Exo 12:11 And take your meal dressed as if for a journey, with your shoes on your feet and your sticks in your hands: take it quickly: it is the Lord's Passover.
Exo 12:12 For on that night I will go through the land of Egypt, sending death on every first male child, of man and of beast, and judging all the gods of Egypt: I am the Lord.
Exo 12:13 And the blood will be a sign on the houses where you are: when I see the blood I will go over you, and no evil will come on you for your destruction, when my hand is on the land of Egypt.
Exo 12:14 And this day is to be kept in your memories: you are to keep it as a feast to the Lord through all your generations, as an order for ever.
Exo 12:15 For seven days let your food be unleavened bread; from the first day no leaven is to be seen in your houses: whoever takes bread with leaven in it, from the first till the seventh day, will be cut off from Israel.
Exo 12:16 And on the first day there is to be a holy meeting and on the seventh day a holy meeting; no sort of work may be done on those days but only to make ready what is necessary for everyone's food.
Exo 12:17 So keep the feast of unleavened bread; for on this very day I have taken your armies out of the land of Egypt: this day, then, is to be kept through all your generations by an order for ever.
Exo 12:18 In the first month, from the evening of the fourteenth day, let your food be unleavened bread till the evening of the twenty-first day of the month.
Exo 12:19 For seven days no leaven is to be seen in your houses: for whoever takes bread which is leavened will be cut off from the people of Israel, if he is from another country or if he is an Israelite by birth.
Exo 12:20 Take nothing which has leaven in it; wherever you are living let your food be unleavened cakes.
Exo 12:21 Then Moses sent for the chiefs of Israel, and said to them, See that lambs are marked out for yourselves and your families, and let the Passover lamb be put to death.
Exo 12:22 And take some hyssop and put it in the blood in the basin, touching the two sides and the top of the doorway with the blood from the basin; and let not one of you go out of his house till the morning.
Exo 12:23 For the Lord will go through the land, sending death on the Egyptians; and when he sees the blood on the two sides and the top of the door, the Lord will go over your door and will not let death come in for your destruction.
Exo 12:24 And you are to keep this as an order to you and to your sons for ever.
Exo 12:25 And when you come into the land which the Lord will make yours, as he gave his word, you are to keep this act of worship.
Exo 12:26 And when your children say to you, What is the reason of this act of worship?
Exo 12:27 Then you will say, This is the offering of the Lord's Passover; for he went over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt, when he sent death on the Egyptians, and kept our families safe. And the people gave worship with bent heads.
Exo 12:28 And the children of Israel went and did so; as the Lord had given orders to Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Exo 12:29 And in the middle of the night the Lord sent death on every first male child in the land of Egypt, from the child of Pharaoh on his seat of power to the child of the prisoner in the prison; and the first births of all the cattle.
Exo 12:30 Then Pharaoh got up in the night, he and all his servants and all the Egyptians; and a great cry went up from Egypt; for there was not a house where someone was not dead.
Exo 12:31 And he sent for Moses and Aaron by night, and said, Get up and go out from among my people, you and the children of Israel; go and give worship to the Lord as you have said.
Exo 12:32 And take your flocks and your herds as you have said, and be gone; and give me your blessing.
Exo 12:33 And the Egyptians were forcing the people on, to get them out of the land quickly; for they said, We are all dead men.
Exo 12:34 And the people took their bread-paste before it was leavened, putting their basins in their clothing on their backs.
Exo 12:35 And the children of Israel had done as Moses had said; and they got from the Egyptians ornaments of silver and of gold, and clothing:
Exo 12:36 And the Lord had given the people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians so that they gave them whatever was requested. So they took away all their goods from the Egyptians.
Now with this backdrop of Pesach, Moses, and the burning bush still fresh on our minds, it’s now way past time to take the pause button off of Coy’s story in the Intro and finish that up.
As we were saying earlier, Coy was having doubts about why God wasn’t answering his prayers. God, in the meantime, was having a booger of a time trying to get the attention of SOMEONE who would be willing to help answer Coy’s prayers. FINALLY, after asking several people the same question [“Will you help meet Coy’s needs?”], He found this particular Believer who responded—“Well, I really don’t know Coy that particularly well…and I don’t know what needs this guy might have being on the Web and having self-published four different books already…but if You say so, I’ll go to see him and see if there’s something I can do to help meet his needs.”
So this particular Believer went to see Coy to ask him about those needs. He talked to Coy and agreed and prayed with him, for him, and over him. He also thought about some ways where he might be able to help Coy, made a few phone calls to some friends he knew…looked at his bank balance on his smartphone. He told Coy, “I can’t help with everything…but maybe this will get you started with trying to care of some of the needs you have.” He also told Coy about some of his friends that could also be of some help in his particular situation that Coy could go see.
After this Believer left, what did Coy do? WELL—he danced the two-step! Then he hollared like a banshee praising God for helping to meet some of the needs he once had! Then he ran (not for very far and not very fast, you know…he’s still a little bit out of shape…)! Then he danced some more (moonwalk this time)! He started feeling like a million bucks again and higher than a kite—all because someone FINALLY said “YES!” to God at the point of Coy’s needs!
THE END! (EXCEPT…for the following…)
SO WHAT SAY YOU AND WHAT SAY I TO ALL OF THIS??? Simply that the facts of the case are as follows…that if you’re in a situation right now similar to Coy, sometimes not all the hindrances to answers to prayer are necessarily involving you. (Although it never hurts to check yourself from time to time with Him and see if everything’s right between you and Him and whether or not you’re at peace in your soul…) Remember as you await His deliverance from a situation, God’s probably trying to work much harder than you think in getting the job done as far as meeting needs is concerned. The problem on His end is sometimes the fact it takes two to tango—and if He can’t get someone else to dance with you, it’s not necessarily His fault if a particular man or woman He might wishes to use decides for one reason or another to tell Him “NO!”
As for the Believer in today’s story, the overall moral could be summed up with this…When our God is calling you to do something for someone else, consider the following BEFORE you answer Him when He speaks to you:
(1.) Do YOU have needs YOURSELF that you’re asking HIM to meet? Put yourself first in Coy’s shoes and imagine what Coy might be thinking if somehow God would have told him that the main reason his prayer to Him wasn’t answered was because of YOUR unwillingness to obey Him! Then on the other side, ask if this might be an opportunity for you to sow a seed to Him through helping to meet the needs of folks such as Coy’s!
(2.) For those of you who normally would be tempted to respond along the lines of—“But let SOMEONE ELSE do it!”…consider this! WHAT IF SOMEONE ELSE WASN’T there to do what He might want to do—and for sure, YOU’RE IT! And if YOU don’t do it…then it will NEVER EVER get done!
(3.) Think about the possible blessings you might miss out on by NOT helping meet Coy’s (or someone else’s, for that matter) needs! What you’ve been seeking Him for may be waiting for you around the corner ONLY AFTER you have FIRST done what He told you to do! If you dare to disobey, you might be kicking yourself afterwards and finding yourself with a ton of regrets and “shoulda-dones” and “shouldabeens” about what you DIDN’T do and what you missed out on as a result.
(4.) If you find after all of this that you STILL must say “NO!”, make sure that you can at least go before Him and His Holy Presence with a clear conscience and VALID reasons why you can’t be of assistance at this time. And then still believe along with God and Coy (and/or whoever) that in due time FOR SURE Coy’s needs will still be met.
(5.) BUT….BUT…BUT…BUT—if you find that there IS some way you yourself can be of help to someone else’s needs, then PLEASE…if He tells you to do something…DON’T be so stupid and insane to tell God “NO!” when He might ask you to do something for someone else. See what things you CAN do in that particular situation, meet with that other person involved, and THEN do your part. That’s ALL our God’s asking for anyway. ONCE you have gone to the limit of what you can personally do, then from them stand in agreement with the person who has their needs that whatever else may be lacking will be taken care of as swiftly by Him as is possible.
It all starts from a starting point of desperation and frustration. What should be the end of the story for all concerned? The finish line could be dependent on two primary things. The first obviously is Him and what He is able to do…great things He can do for the children of men. But He CAN’T do His part UNLESS the second thing takes place. What is that second thing? Well, I’ll give you a clue…it’s the man/woman in the mirror you look at every day in the mirror. Guess what? The biggest person that can make a difference in the situations of others who pray and seek Him involves a much bigger element is the same person who I’m writing to now. Find out who that “biggest person” is first and then let’s get those needs met and in the rear view mirror ASAP, ok???
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Before I take my leave of you again and wrap up the books on this edition, I’ve attached (as has been my usual tradition around this time of year) included a special gift attachment at the end of this newsletter in the form of a special handout called “My Passover Exam”. The detailed story on this you’ll find in my book “A’Wise And A’ Foolish In Canaan’s Land”—but the backstory involves a unique experience I had when I was in college that made this handout especially practical and useful to me over the years. Based originally from a combination of a sermon given to me by a former pastor and a sermonette by a former church elder, I now offer this to you as a way to appropriately prepare for the commemoration of the death, burial, and resurrection of Y’shua/Jesus.
In my personal experience, I find that most people when it comes to the actual observance of Communion/the Lord’s Supper usually fall into two camps—either they tend to take it too lightly and don’t heed the Apostle Paul’s admonition to “…take heed to yourselves…examine yourselves and see whether or not ye be in the faith or not…”—OR go to the opposite extreme and act like scared fraidy cats who feel as if God the Father Himself would strike them down as they take Communion because of an inappropriate self-perception of themselves not being worthy enough to be in the same planet as the Almighty…much less be worthy to partake of a special costly gift He gave us through the death of His Son on the cross that could be used as a tool to remind us of the very blood He shed SO THAT we could be truly healed, restored, renewed, and refreshed.
So wherever you might fall on this scale, I recommend during the Pesach/Easter season that you FIRST take a look at this Passover Exam BEFORE you head to your local congregation and participate in the next commemoration of Communion/Lord’s Supper. THEN as you study the questions on this exam, take some special time to get with the Lord to ask you and Him these questions as part of the process of your spiritual self-examination of your heart and how your relationship might be with Him. THEN—after you have done this, go WITH CONFIDENCE to partake of those special blessed elements with the knowledge that all is right between not only you and Him, but also between you and man as well. DON’T go to the Lord’s table with doubts—take this Passover Exam challenge for yourself before you do Communion and then RECEIVE the special costly gift He left behind for you knowing that He loves and cares for you very much!
And once again, my final thoughts before I leave you once again until the next edition....Remember that it’s folks like YOU who have joined in the area of prayer, financial provision, and other ways that have made these Divine connections and opportunities possible. My tip of the hat personally goes out to each one of you for playing YOUR part in helping these ministry efforts go a little further down the road than it has been. I only simply ask that you not only continue to do so even more and more, but that each of you out there reading these things that’s interested in keeping these efforts going and being of some assistance to myself and these particular ministry efforts consider doing the following:
1) ) AGAIN ONE MORE TIME--BUY, BUY, BUY any one and/or ALL of the books I now have available on Amazon! That’s an IMMEDIATE way you can be of some help to me not only in the area of my own personal finances, but in also even helping me begin to reach some of the goals I have for this future ministry including such things as:
a) ) Formal filing of DBAs for all of these new business endeavors and also eventual formal incorporation of what would be called “Broken and Shattered Promises Ministries”
b) ) I also already have plans in the works once more financial and/or other resources become available to me to see that special edition copies of all of my new books would be sent and made available FREE of charge to various prison ministries and prison chaplains, domestic violence and/or sexual assault facilities and/or organizations, correctional officers and other law enforcement officials, families of offenders and/or ex-offenders, and victims of violent crime.
For too long, most of the Church and universal Body of Christ has given short shrift to those who have been affected by the criminal justice system here in Texas (or worse--done absolutely NOTHING at all while Rome burns). Through personal experience, I have seen in many ways that in the eyes of those affected by crime, the Church has a TON more work to do than it realizes. I say that very soon, though--if I have anything to do with this thing (as He gives me the grace, ability, and resources to do so), this will NO longer be the case...at least as far as things here in the immediate Plainview/Hale County area might be eventually concerned! Even if it’s ONLY a teaspoon full amount that can be done on my end initially, it’ll at least in my eyes be better than doing nothing at all.
a) ) And that, my friends, is where you can come in and participate...FIRST, seek the Lord and see what He might have you to do in regards to these things. If He doesn’t say anything, don’t sweat it. I am confident as always that if He has kept me from stumbling as I’ve walked for Him up to this point...then He’s more than able to provide all that I may need to continue to go the rest of the way that He may need me to go. But if He does point something that He wants you to be obedient to do (whether through intercession and/or something else), then I simply ask that you do what He says for you to do...and let me know once you do find out as well so that I can help you plug in and find a way to get involved.
b) AND DON’T FORGET—for a limited time until Pentecost, I’m looking for some PESACH PROVISION PARTNERS that could be the answer to Coy’s story that we’ve talked about here. Contact us for more info QUICKLY if you’re interested in helping us in this way!
As I personally pray Psalm 20 over you BELIEVING THAT ALL of the petitions that you’ve asked Him WILL BE HEARD EVEN as YOU in turn say “YES!” to Him who speaks on behalf of OTHERS who might have needs themselves—and ALSO in the Name of the One who died, was buried, and who rose again SO THAT He could in turn be THE ULTIMATE ANSWER to those in their greatest time of need…
Shalom rubakah and have a great Pesach and FUB--
Coy Reece Holley
Broken and Shattered Promises Ministries
AND Broken and Shattered Promises Online Publishing
PART I OF THIS NEWSLETTER AND THE “MY PASSOVER EXAM” SPECIAL HANDOUT” ARE BOTH ON SEPARATE PAGES…PLEASE CLICK ON THE BROKEN AND SHATTERED PROMISES MINISTRIES LINK ON THE TOP TOOLBAR TO FIND THE SECOND HALF OF THIS NEWSLETTER!)