“But when they looked for Saul, he had disappeared! So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?” and the Lord replied, “He is hiding among the baggage…” (1 Samuel 10:22-23 NLT)
You can’t feed your fears and your future at the same time. And you are feeding one or the other…
God sees something greater in you than you see in yourself.
And, God sees something greater for your life – your family – your finances – your ministry – your future –your influence – than you see for yourself…
Every great man – every great woman – that has been called by God – has dealt with fear. The message of this book is that you and I serve a great God who will find you in your hiding place of reluctance, insecurity and fear – meet you there – encourage you there – remind you who you are and who He is – and bring you out!
God met Gideon in his hiding place.
“Now the Angel of the Lord came and sat under the terebinth tree which was in Ophrah, which belonged to Joash, the Abiezrite, while his son Gideon threshed wheat in the winepress, in order to hide it from the Midianites. And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to him, “The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!” (Judges 6:11-12 NKJV)
God saw something in Gideon that Gideon did not see in himself.
God saw something in Gideon that his own father did not see in him. Even at your lowest point, God sees something greater in you and for you than you or anybody else sees.
God doesn’t see what you are; He sees what you can be…
This powerful truth began to change my life 32 years ago in an Oral Roberts University student chapel service when our guest speaker, Dr. Morris Cerullo powerfully ministered from his classic, “Proof Producers” message.
He shared how in one verse of the 16th chapter of the Gospel of Mark, Jesus rebuked all eleven disciples for not believing those who said He was resurrected…but then in the very next verse He turned to these fearful, running from the cross, Jesus-denying, unbelieving disciples, encouraged them and entrusted them with the Great Commission:
Check it out…
Afterward He appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them, which had seen him after he was risen. (Mark 16:14 KJV)
Then in Jesus’ next breath, He turns to this same group and instead of sending them back to square one, or giving up on them, or delaying their destiny, He commissions them!
And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mark 16:15 KJV)
WOW! In a simple, but profound and powerful statement, Morris explained how God could entrust and empower these men in their weakness, and how He still does the same with you and me, when he said…
“GOD IS NOT DEPENDING ON ANYTHING YOU POSSESS; GOD IS DEPENDING ON WHAT HE CAN MAKE OF YOU!” (MORRIS CERULLO)
I wrote this book to tell you that I discovered the greatest faith in all the world is not the faith you have in God, but the greatest faith in all the world is the faith that God has in you!
God met Moses in his hiding place – in his fear and rejection- in the backside of the desert. He met Moses not to rebuke him or to embarrass him but to encourage him right where he was, and to bring him out!
We read in Exodus why Moses, a Hebrew, who was raised in the Egyptian palace of the Pharaoh, found himself hiding from his destiny in the backside of the desert.
“Many years later, when Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his own people, the Hebrews, and he saw how hard they were forced to work. During his visit, he saw an Egyptian beating one of his fellow Hebrews. After looking in all directions to make sure no one was watching, Moses killed the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. The next day, when Moses went out to visit his people again, he saw two Hebrew men fighting. “Why are you beating up your friend?” Moses said to the one who had started the fight. The man replied, “Who appointed you to be our prince and judge? Are you going to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?” Then Moses was afraid, thinking, “Everyone knows what I did.” And sure enough, Pharaoh heard what had happened and he tried to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in the land of Midian.” (Exodus 2:11-15 NLT)
All of a sudden, Moses became a man without a country. He went from having everything to having nothing. A great man with a great calling in a place of great fear, rejection and hiding.
There were three 40-year stages to Moses’ life:
The First 40 years, Moses thought he was a somebody.
The Second 40 years, he found out he was a nobody.
Then in his Final 40 years, Moses learned what God could do with a somebody who knew he was a nobody!
God met Moses in his place of fear, hiding and rejection to encourage him and to bring him out into his promotion. It was God’s time to show Himself strong on Moses’ behalf, to bring him out and to fulfill his dreams by a demonstration of His power…
Even while Moses was hiding, his promotion was in motion… and so is yours!
You are not reading this book by accident. Now is God’s time to visit you, remind you who you are, who He is, and for you to stop feeding your fear and start feeding your future!
This is your personal, defining moment.
At Moses’ defining moment, God supernaturally met him in the backside of the desert of Midian and spoke out of a burning bush, “Look! The cry of the people of Israel has reached Me, (your promotion is not only about you, but mostly about how God wants to use you to impact the people He is sending you to) and I have seen how harshly the Egyptians abuse them. Now go, for I am sending you to Pharaoh. You must lead my people Israel out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:9-10 NLT)
This book is your burning bush, may God speak to you from every page!
For every fear – every insecurity – every weakness – that Moses struggled with and verbalized– God did not rebuke him – or chastise him – He reassured him and equipped him!
When Moses doubted himself and asked the same question many great men and women have asked, “Who am I (to appear before Pharaoh)?” God answered, “I will be with you.”
When you struggle with who you are and wonder how you can accomplish God’s great destiny for your life, the Lord will remind you that He is with YOU!
David said, “I will fear no evil for You are with me…” (Psalm 23:4 NKJV)
When Moses asked, “Who will I say sent me?” God gave him a great weapon, His name, Yahweh!
Just like Moses, God is not sending you out in your own name, or in your own ability. He is sending you out in the Name that is above every name, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, who said, “You didn’t choose Me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit,
so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my Name!” (John 15:16 NLT)
I am convinced that whatever you or I ask the Father in the Name of Jesus to help equip us to fulfill God’s great, appointed destiny for our life and produce lasting fruit, He will give it to you!
When Moses doubted himself saying, “What if they don’t believe me or listen to me?” The Lord gave Moses His miracle-working power…
When Moses reluctantly continued, “I’m not very good with words. I never have been, and I’m not now, even though you have spoken to me, I get tongue-tied and my words get tangled.” (Exodus 4:10 NLT)
The Lord told Moses, “Now go! I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct you in what to say.”
(Exodus 4: 12 NLT)
Yet, even after receiving all this encouragement from the Lord, Moses was still not quite convinced, so God met him again at his place of doubt and reluctance. He didn’t reprove him, but instead gave him even more help and encouragement in the person of his brother Aaron, who God sent to be Moses’ assistant.
GOD IS NOT LOOKING FOR WAYS TO SHORT CIRCUIT YOUR DESTINY. GOD IS LOOKING FOR WAYS TO HELP YOU FULFILL YOUR DESTINY!
The God you serve is a patient God that is 100% invested in showing Himself strong on your behalf and giving you everything you need to successfully fulfill your destiny!
Thirty-two years ago through a dramatic, divine encounter, God stopped me in my tracks and called me to serve and stand by the side of the ministry of Dr. Morris Cerullo. I share the story in my book, The Blessing of Serving Another Man’s Ministry. For the past three plus decades, serving as Dr. Cerullo’s Vice President of Ministries has been the privilege and experience of a lifetime.
As a result, God has singularly blessed my life – my family – and my ministry serving Morris and Theresa these past 30+ years. By God’s grace, I have been faithful. My wife and family have been faithful.
My motive has been to serve – to be a blessing – without ulterior or hidden agendas.
Many times, world-renowned Pastor Tommy Barnett has very graciously referred to me as “America’s number one number two man!”
I have been blessed. I have been beyond fulfilled. God has given me success. I love Morris and Theresa and what God has privileged us to experience and accomplish together for the glory of God and His kingdom.
But I discovered that while God can use you – even in your success you can become comfortable and hide from your greater destiny…
Everybody likes to be comfortable and successful, but I wrote this book from a painful discovery: your greater future destiny can die in your present comfort zone of success!
Like the mother eagle – who begins to remove some of the comfortable things from the nest, the soft twigs, the leaves, and the thatch so that her baby eaglets begin to realize it’s time to move from the comfort of their nest – to spread their own wings and fly – for some time – Dr. Cerullo and the Lord have been nudging and prodding this 6’9” eagle to begin to spread his wings in a greater way…
One of the most unusual stories in the Bible is found in
1 Samuel 10:20-24 (NLT). Maybe you can relate to it. I know I did.
Let me explain…
“So, Samuel brought all the tribes of Israel before the Lord… but when they looked for Saul, he had disappeared! So they asked the Lord, “Where is he?” And the Lord replied, “HE IS HIDING AMONG THE BAGGAGE.”
So they found him and brought him out… Then Samuel said to all the people, “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him!” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!”
WHEN IT WAS TIME FOR SAUL TO STEP INTO HIS PROMOTION AND BE PRESENTED AS ISRAEL’S KING, SAUL DISAPPEARED AND WAS HIDING!
When Samuel found Saul hiding behind the baggage, he graciously brought him out, gave him a grand and glorious introduction to all of Israel, never speaking a word publicly about Saul’s behind the scenes fearfulness and reluctance.
God did not embarrass him, or change His mind, or delay Saul’s destiny, instead He celebrated Saul and promoted him!
Neither will God forsake you or embarrass you when He finds you in your hiding place. Instead, He will encourage you, remind you who you are, who He is, empower you, bring you out, back you up and promote you!
Maybe you can relate. Maybe you know that there is more for you. I want to encourage you. Now is your time to come out of hiding from behind the baggage of your fears, your weakness, your failures, your excuses and even your successes, and take the next step into your greater destiny.
God knows where you are and will encourage you even now in your hiding place. He will meet you there, remind you who you are, and who He is, and bring you out!
And you are in good company…
God met Gideon in his hiding place…
He met Moses in his hiding place…
He met Jonah in his hiding place…
He met Adam in his hiding place…
And He met Saul in his hiding place…
As Saul came out from hiding behind the baggage, God announced: “This is the man the Lord has chosen as your king. No one in all Israel is like him!” And all the people shouted, “Long live the king!” (1 Samuel 10:24 NLT)
Today God is making a grand announcement over you:
“You are the man – you are the woman – that the Lord has chosen for a greater purpose… there is no one in all the world like you! The people that need you – those that I have called you to help – they are looking for you, they are waiting for you. Listen to them shouting now as you rise up to step into your destiny, “Long live ____________ (insert your name). There is no one in the Kingdom of God like you!”
Your destiny is too great and your life is too short to play it safe in your relationship with God and His great promotion for your life. God loves risk-takers…
Faith always takes a risk…
No risk, no reward…
And know this: The greatest battle over your life is what you believe about God and what you believe He believes about you.
There are two voices over your promotion…the voice of the accuser – and the voice of the Intercessor.
There were two voices over Peter’s life as the baton was about to be passed to him from Jesus when it was Peter’s time to step into his promotion…
“And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31-32 NKJV)
Though Satan will try to sift you, know this: Jesus is praying for you! And the voice of the Intercessor is much greater in heaven and in earth than the voice of the accuser!
I discovered that in my season of promotion (and every day of my life), the greatest investment you can make in your life is spending time in God’s Word and establishing the voice of God as the greatest voice in your life.
You will be prepared, encouraged and propelled into your promotion by the transforming of your mind through daily meditating on God’s Word, prayer and associating with those that challenge you to grow and reach your dreams.
When it was Joshua’s time to step into his promotion, God told him, “Study this book of instruction continually. Meditate in it day and night…Only then will you prosper and succeed in all you do.”(Joshua 1:8 NLT)
Listen to this prophetic declaration from Morris Cerullo that has encouraged and challenged me and many others countless times through the years…it is a word from God for you wherever you are right now…
“YOU ARE NOT WHAT THE DEVIL SAYS YOU ARE, BUT YOU ARE WHAT GOD SAYS YOU ARE, AND TODAY YOU ARE STEPPING INTO YOUR END-TIME DESTINY.”
Why don’t you say it: “I am not what the devil says I am. I am what God says I am. And today, I am stepping in to my end time destiny!”
With all my heart, I believe that now is your time to hear the word of the Lord encourage you, and take you by the hand to bring you out of your hiding place – and for you to take the next step into your greater destiny.
Your promotion, and more importantly, those that the Lord has destined for you to impact, are waiting for you!
This chapter is an excerpt from “Your Promotion Is In Motion: Seven Game Changing Words From God That Will Promote You To Your Greater Destiny” by Greg Mauro. To order the Kindle e-book or a printed copy go to Amazon>com or click here: Your Promotion Is In Motion!
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