IF you do this, THEN…

I found an interesting thing in reading the Word this morning. In Exodus 34 Moses asks God for favor and to be His inheritance (This caught my eye because part of Pastor Sammy’s teaching last night at Bible study was that we were His inheritance). He also asks for God to go with them and for the glory for all even though the people are wicked. Then God makes a promise to Moses but tells Moses to obey everything that He commands. The next three chapters are filled with tasks and I usually just run through them as unimportant but when I really looked at it every job had a purpose for preparing for a place for God in their lives and for what God was going to do. It involved men and women pulling together their abilities and resources…but only the men and women who had their hearts stirred…not everyone was onboard. In Exodus 40 toward the end (pasted below and highlighted) it says Moses finished the work assigned. The next verse starts with the word “then”….THEN (implies to me they the two passages are connected) THEN THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE. Hallelujah! Does that stir anyone else? God made a promise. Conditions for the Israelites were few considering that promise.

God really spoke to me through these passages and so today I feel called to pray for our people, that all of their hearts are stirred. He spoke to me to pray for the workers behind the scenes that may be overlooked by many of us as even I overlooked the importance of the tasks in these passages. He spoke to me to pray for people to complete the tasks assigned as preparation and to take their assignments seriously.

This really struck me and something I don’t think of very often… Moses didn’t do all the work. He did his part and he heard from God and told all the people what God had commanded and then the work was completed by those that had their hearts stirred and wanted to be a part of what God was going to do. Moses called the people and the people used their God-given gifts and talents and anointing to carry it out. When they all (those with stirred hearts) had worked in unity and done their part to obey all the commands THEN THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE.

This just excited me!!! Revival is probably many things. It speaks to me through these verses that living in the glory of God night and day, day in and day out definitely involves unity but not to get too hung up on those that are not onboard (YET) and it involves obedience in preparation based on God’s commands. While everyone may not be onboard because everyone’s hearts have not been stirred…it can still come for the benefit of all. Charles Finney said that, “A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.” Maybe he’s right. Maybe it starts with obedience or is revival to bring people to obedience. Maybe it is both. IF you do this, THEN…

Have more to say on this but some of it is still just stirring my soul, like an invention trying to bubble up or something, and I can’t get the word for it yet…if that makes sense.

Exodus 40:33-37

33 Then Moses set up the courtyard around the tabernacle and altar and put up the curtain at the entrance to the courtyard. And so Moses finished the work.

The Glory of the LORD
34 Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. 35 Moses could not enter the Tent of Meeting because the cloud had settled upon it, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

36 In all the travels of the Israelites, whenever the cloud lifted from above the tabernacle, they would set out; 37 but if the cloud did not lift, they did not set out—until the day it lifted. 38 So the cloud of the LORD was over the tabernacle by day, and fire was in the cloud by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel during all their travels