"Teach me Your ways oh Lord".

[Dr Howard Barnes]

Moses said….“Now, if I've found favour in your sight, please show me your ways so I may know you”.  Ex 33 v 13

David said….”Teach me your way, O Lord, and I will walk in your truth; give me an undivided heart, that I may fear your name.”  Psalm 86:11

Both Moses and King David went beyond a determination to sincerely obey what God commanded them to do; they became students of God's ways. His ways were not just His acts. His ways were about the ‘way’ he acted and the reasons why He acted as He did. They included His motivations and desires and emotions.

Something had happened in the hearts of both these men to cause them to want to know what wonders, pleasures, and fearsome things filled the heart of God. Both men had many responsibilities and challenges as leaders, warriors, statesmen and counsellors, but they spent their best energies trying to understand what emotions burned in the personality of God. Their overwhelming desire was to understand the heart of God and as a result they had a unique grasp of His emotions, intentions, and passions. What they saw drew them closer to Him and motivated them to satisfy His heart, His desires and not their own. They like Isaiah longed for Him to see ….”the travail of His souls and be satisfied” Is 53 v 11. This must be our one desire too.

You see Jesus came to give us rest. He said “Come to Me and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me. For my yoke is easy and my burden light”. So many of us are too anxious to ‘succeed’ and consequently….too tired. We reflect the world’s thinking. We strive to perform and to earn His favour.  You would think that He had said “Come to me and I will give you stress”. We are not called firstly to DO but to BE! … to love Him, to know Him and then to serve Him. All effective service comes out of that relationship. Why? Because He has already done it all! He has already lavished is love and grace upon us when He died upon that cross. It is and always will be about His Grace and not about us.

Both David and Moses served the Lord incredibly well but their preoccupation was not to know His ACTS and then try to copy them but to know His WAYS and become like Him. They say that if you live with someone you grow like them. So it is with us and Jesus.

Have you ever wondered what it means to be ….a successful Christian? Immediately we think of things we have or have not achieved. Success is measured by our ‘Acts’. However that is not how God measures success.

One day I was in prayer and the Lord Jesus spoke so clearly to me and said….

”My son, I don’t want you to use the word ‘success’ anymore when evaluating your Christian life. My world AND my Church have corrupted its meaning so much. Success in their eyes is measured by the number of people who they have witnessed to or who have got saved by their testimony. They fill My Church libraries with books that give ‘Ten points to be a successful Pastor’ or ‘Ten ways to increase your Church congregation’, as if there was a formula or strategy that would guarantee success.

No! I don’t want you to be successful. BUT I DO WANT YOU TO BE ETERNALLY SIGNIFICANT!”

If we are to be ‘eternally significant’ then we must follow in David’s and Moses’ footsteps toward an understanding of God's own heart. We must have the same focus as them which is the one focus that Jesus Himself had. Jesus said…” I have come to do your will Oh God and to make You known”. We must yearn to know how God feels, how the passions of His heart move, and as we discover the same truths about God's heart, we will find ourselves living the way that Moses and David did. In fact the more we become scholars of God's heart the more we will live like Jesus Himself and so fulfil the call of God that is upon us in this, our generation.

PRAYER

Father, motivate me to desire to understand Your emotions, intentions, and passions. I want to know what You feel and what makes Your heart break; what gives You joy and pleasure. And causes You to respond to me in love.

Amen