Hebrews 11:24-26: It was by faith that Moses, when he grew up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to share the oppression of God’s people instead of enjoying the fleeting pleasures of sin. He thought it was better to suffer for the sake of Christ than to own the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking ahead to his great reward.
When my sister was a child, our mother took her for piano lessons. However, after she had gone to a few sessions, the teacher told mom that giving my sister the lessons was a waste of money. It wasn’t that my sister could not play the instrument. It was that God had given her a natural talent and ability that had its own way of manifesting. I use my sister’s story here to share a principle with you that will encourage you to seek the Lord and His will more and more each day.
When Jeremiah was a young boy, God told him that He had known him even before Jeremiah had been formed in his mother’s womb. God also revealed to Jeremiah that He had called and ordained him to be a prophet to Israel. Can you imagine being a very young boy and have the God of heaven and earth declare such a prophetic utterance over you? To say that Jeremiah was slightly intimidated would be a gross understatement.
I bring up these stories to prove to you that the unseen God has already mapped out your new life in Christ. Here’s a very important key to discovering your purpose in Christ that many have failed to lay hold of: If you desire to live the life and fulfill the purpose God has for you, you must be willing to seek Him first. As we seek God by faith, He will begin to reward us for our diligence. This is the awesome part of seeking God. Once He sees us set our hearts on knowing and serving Him, He begins to unlock for us the treasure and the mystery of who we are in Christ.
There are people who have made fortunes seeking out and finding lost treasure. Even so, as we seek God, and in return discover the treasure that He has buried deep within our hearts, we become the new person that God intended us to become before we became sin conscious. This is part of the redemptive work of Christ that is released in our lives once we choose to follow God’s path; it began on the cross, but is completed in each of us who believe in Jesus.
There are two schools of thought I know of which are used to discover and develop the hidden potential in each one of us. Many people in the Bible were raised and developed in a formal setting. Nevertheless, there are many others who had no formal training, yet seemed to have a natural ability to know just what to do and say. Just as we need teachers and mentors in our lives that can see our hidden potential, we also need to maintain a healthy communion with the Lord, so He can reveal to us our potential to serve His purpose.
You may feel as though God overlooked you when it comes to possessing great talents and abilities. However, let me remind you that God has a great purpose for every believer in Christ. Our roles may not seem considerable in man’s eyes, but they are in God’s, and in ours, if we will humble ourselves and accept our place. In Christ, God has already accepted us; nonetheless, when it comes to us accepting ourselves, there can be a huge struggle. This is why God gives to every person the measure of faith that Paul tells us about in Romans 12. It is our faith in Christ that empowers us to overcome what the world has called us; and it will also be our faith that will cause us to move on to become what Christ has ordained for us.
Through faith, Moses refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He didn’t fit the “person or identity” that the world placed on him. Why and how did he know these things, since he was raised in Pharaoh’s house? Remember, when he was a baby, Moses’ mom placed him in a river and his sister watched over him until he arrived where Pharaoh’s daughter was bathing.
Without Pharaoh and his daughter knowing what was happening, Moses’ sister told them of a woman who could nurse the baby, who happened to be his own mother. God reunited the two in the house of Pharaoh, the enemy of Israel’s new-born males. This time of nurturing was a great opportunity for Moses’ mother to teach him about his Jewish heritage.
Once Moses came to the age of accountability, he began to accept his calling from the God of the Jews; he now knew what that had been buried deep inside his heart. He also knew that there would be a reward if he chose to fulfill his calling. Most of us have come up in life under very harsh circumstances, but God has been with us the entire way. He has waited on us to arrive at the place that we would accept Him and all that He has called you and me to fulfill in the earth.
If you’re not fulfilling your heavenly calling and purpose in Christ, make a commitment to step out in faith today. Don’t allow what the world has said and done to you hold you back from being all God has called for you to become. Like Moses, know that there is a better day coming, and when that day arrives, you will be greatly rewarded for breaking out of the mold and into God’s liberty. —submitted by Pastor Asa Dockery, US