Use what you Got!

     I’m reading from the King James version of the Life in the Spirit Study Bible.  We’ll be coming from the second book of the Bible in Exodus 4:2 and Exodus 14:16. Exodus has 40 chapters, 1,213 verses, 32,692 words, 1089 verses of history, 129 verses of fulfilled prophecy, 2 verses of unfulfilled prophecy, 58 questions, 73 separate messages from God, 827 commands, 240 predictions, 28 promises and 35 of 42 miracles by Moses.    

                                                          

      Exodus means exit or departure; going out; decease. That’s just what the children of Israel did when they left Egypt. Their leaving Egypt is referring to their deliverance from bondage.  Even for us, it is deliverance from religious and spiritual darkness and ignorance that has been placed upon us through philosophy, vain deceit, traditions of men and the rudiments of this world. (Colossians 2:8)

     We made our "exodus" when we died to sin and were born anew to righteousness in Christ Jesus. We have been made the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21).  Exodus 4:2: "And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod."                                                                                                                                Exodus 14:16 “But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea and divide

it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.”         

                              

     Now Moses had been chosen of God to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. He didn’t have anything to do with his being chosen. It was already predestined. How many of you know your being chosen is already predestined, and there is nothing you can do about it?  St. John 15:16 “Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain”. We have to realize that because he has chosen us, we, like Moses, sometimes feel inadequate to take on the tasks he has purposed SPECIFICALLY for us to do. Why is it that we doubt ourselves when the Potter, our Creator, is the one who has chosen us?  He has chosen us for a specific work because He knows for a surety the work will be completed. In chapter three of Exodus, Moses has this great experience with God, and God speaks to Moses out of the midst of the bush that was burning, even though it was not consumed. How many of you know that our God is a consuming fire and that same fire burns on the inside of us? Lets look at a few things here concerning Moses:

1.     God already knew Moses by name.  (Exodus 3:4).

2.      Moses was sent. (Exodus 3:12).

3.      God gave Moses instructions telling him why he chose him and what he must do.   (Talking about using what you got!).

     In Exodus 3:10, God says to Moses, “Come now therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou mayest bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt."  Exodus 3:12: “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”.  Can you see that when God sends us, he has already given us the victory? He had actually told Moses in that verse that he would be victorious. Evidently Moses heard God, but he was not listening. How many of you know that listening is an art? Had Moses been listening, he wouldn’t have even been carrying on the conversation with God in chapter four where he’s making all of those excuses about why he couldn’t go. But guess what, it didn’t change Gods’ mind about sending him. SO BELIEVERS, NO MORE EXCUSES!     

     In chapter four, God is equipping Moses for the task to be done.

1. First of all God inquires about the rod that is in his hand in verse 2. Moses had used this rod to herd sheep, and here God asks him, “What is that in your hand?”  And Moses answers and says, “a rod”. God is using what Moses already has. That rod was being commissioned by God to be used by Moses for all the miracles he would perform. This same rod that he used to herd sheep has now become the "Rod of God", Exodus 4:20. You can read about how Moses used that rod of God throughout Exodus chapters 7:9-10; 8:5,16-17; 9:23; 10:13; 14:16; 17:5-9; and Numbers 20:11. You can see that Rod was busy. God had put his super on an ordinary rod, and it became a medium of miracles. Can you image God putting his super on our human?  What is a rod? It comes from the Hebrew word Mat’taw’, meaning a branch (as extending); a tribe; a rod whether for chastising (correction), ruling (a scepter), or a support of life.                                     

2. He reassures Moses that he would certainly be with him to tell him what to do and say.  (Exodus 4:12).

3. He sends his brother Aaron with him as a spokesman in Exodus 4:16.

     We know the story.  Regardless of all the excuses Moses made, God wrought a mighty deliverance of the children of Israel by him. He used what he had. All that he had was a rod, God’s presence, and God’s word.                                                                             

     There was a widow of Zarepheth (1 Kings 17:9-16) who used what she had. Just what did she have? She had two sticks, a handful of meal in a barrel, a little oil in a cruse, and instructions from the man of God.  Now Elijah had spoken a word of judgment from the Lord, and the word was against disobedient Israel, and God withheld rain for 3 1/2 years. Elijah had hid himself by the brook Cherith.  It was at the Brook that Elijah was being fed by the Ravens. After the Brook had dried up, God had instructed him to go to Zarepheth, and there he would meet a widow woman who would sustain him there. When he came to the gate of the city, she was there gathering sticks; and he asked for water.  As she was going to get it, he called to her, and said, “Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.  She said, As the Lord liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse; and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die,” And Elijah said unto her, “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son.”  (1 Kings 17:14)  “For thus said the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.”

 

     The widow would sustain the Prophet, while at the same time he would strengthen her faith and give material blessings at a time when she felt that all was lost. Don’t we sometimes feel that all is lost when we look at our circumstances, our finances, our situations and surroundings, and all that is happening?  We feel that all we desire to do for the Lord is down right impossible and hopeless.  BUT GOD!!  She obeyed the man of God, and God took that same little oil in a cruse, two sticks, and a handful of meal in a barrel, and it sustained not only her and her son but the man of God also. 1 Kings 17:15 says "they ate for many days". 

2 Chronicles 20:20b says, “Believe the Lord your God, so shall you be established”.  In the Hebrew, established means so shall you be built up; firm or faithful; of long continuance; turn to the right.  How many of you know the right is the right hand of power!  HALLELUJAH!! GLORY TO GOD!  Believe his Prophets so shall you prosper.  The Hebrew definition for prosper is to push forward; break out; come (mightily); go over; be good; be profitable.  This widow woman is a symbol of love in her response to Elijah, though she lacked wisdom in that she failed to believe that God could provide for her and her son even in the midst of famine. This is where the man of God shows forth the wisdom of God. When love and wisdom connect, it produces crescere (growth; multiplication; increase)!   I Kings 17:16 says, “And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.”

    THERE was David. He used what he had to bring down the giant.  (I Samuel 17).  What did David have?

1. First of all he had GUTS: he was fearless; he had intestinal fortitude; he was not afraid at all. How many know God doesn’t want coward soldiers?      

2. He had trust in God.                                                 

3. He had unfeigned faith.  David knew from experience that God had delivered a bear and a lion in his hands, and this uncircumcised Philistine certainly would be no problem. Not only that, for this Giant to defy the Living God was enough for David to know he had to die! It didn’t matter about the three rewards that would be given to the man that killed him. None of it mattered to David. The man that killed the Giant would be rewarded great riches, and the King would give him his daughter and make his father’s house free in Israel. All David knew was that the Giant defied the Living God, and he must die!  What else did David use?

4. He had his sling, a staff in his hand, and five smooth stones that he took out of the brook and put in a shepherd’s bag.

          

  With guts, trust, unfeigned faith, and the right stone of warfare, David could bring down any and all Giants. 

    I believe he reached into his shepherd bag of the Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor and Teacher and pulled out the TEACHER!  But with the gift of discernment,  David saw the weak place in Goliath’s armor.  Guts, trust, and unfeigned faith propelled the TEACHER that crushed the forehead of the Giant!  David used what he had!

     Now, what does that say for the Body of Christ?  The same God that Moses, the Widow woman, and David trusted is the same God today!  So we, the Body of Christ, must use what we got!!

     Someone may be asking, “What do we have”?

1.     The Anointing (Isaiah 61:1; St. Luke 4:18).

2.      God’s Word (Matthew 4:4; Romans 10:14-15).

3.      The Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).

4.    God’s Righteousness (Isaiah 61:10; 2 Corinthians 5:21).

5.      A Command To Go (Mark 16:15)

     Brothers and sisters, all excuses have been abolished. Therefore let us go into all the world preaching and teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ!  It may be next door, the work place, the school, or the supermarket.  Wherever the Spirit leads us, let us go, USING WHAT WE GOT!!!  We MUST do this because the creation is waiting for us, THE SONS OF GOD!!! (Romans 8:19).

~ Evangelist Mary Perry