Realization actually means:
- Discover
- Restore
- Conceive
- Realized assets
- To bring into concrete evidence
- Accomplish
We know God is having us focus on what He is doing on the earth and what He wants to reveal to us, so that we can be effective for His Kingdom.
When I was praying and thinking about what concrete evidence is, the Lord started revealing something to me.
It is a small portion of understanding, but I believe this explanation will help you to begin a new journey to increase your thirst after Him and His ways, as this time of fasting continues.
So let’s start with Moses. Moses experienced a lot of signs and wonders and miracles, didn’t he?
Remember the burning bush that wasn’t destroyed by the fire?
Remember the rod that turned into a snake that turned back into the rod of God in Moses’ hand, by which he brought many miracles?
However, it wasn’t just signs and wonders and miracles which he experienced. It went way beyond that.
Moses had concrete evidence of God because he knew His WAYS.
Psalm 103:7 NASB
He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel.
“His acts” means an exploit of God, an invention, an occasion, a work of God.
If all you see are the works of God, then you don’t have that intimacy.
When I studied this out, it means that God had a heart-to-heart talk with MOSES.
When you know the ways of God, then you understand to know Him is to love Him, to love Him is to trust Him, to trust Him is to obey Him, and to obey Him is to be blessed.
In fact, the Bible says he spoke to Him as a friend, face-to-face. Moses knew His ways.
The word ways means:
- course of life or mode of action
- custom
- journey
- manner
- passenger
- pathway
It tells me this: God was on a journey to bring His people home to Him. It was not just to bring the Israelites into their Promised Land, but to bring ALL people back to God’s original intentions of intimacy with Him, through Jesus Christ.
God was revealing Himself to Moses through their personal times together.
I am going to spend a little time on Moses, because he was so AFTER GOD, as you will see.
Exodus 33:7 NASB
Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting.
Moses called it the tent of meeting. Guess who he was going to meet with?
Exodus 33:9 NASB
Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; and the Lord would speak with Moses.
Pretty dramatic appearance, but even better is this:
Exodus 33:11 NASB
Thus the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend.
I pray God would refer to all of us as His friends.
We don’t need a tent of meeting. He has sent Jesus to live in us and the Holy Spirit to give us revelation. We are blessed to speak to Him face-to-face, as His friends, also.
But it will take that desperate heart to meet Him and go after Him with all of your heart.
Moses was seeking Him, not only for himself but for a nation:
Exodus 33:13 NASB
Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found favor in Your sight, let me know Your ways that I may know You, so that I may find favor in Your sight. Consider too, that this nation is Your people.
This is how you become a friend of God.
- You WANT to KNOW HIM, not just about Him.
- You ask Him on behalf of others to know Him, too.
This moved the heart of God.
Exodus 33:14 NASB
And He said, “My presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.”
You would think this would be the end of the conversation because God has agreed to what Moses has asked Him. But look, Moses is with God, and he is still crying for more. He is not looking for the Promised Land, necessarily.
Do you know why?
He had found his Promised Land IN GOD’S PRESENCE!
Exodus 33:15 NASB
Then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here.”
He would stay in the wilderness if it meant God’s presence would be with them.
This is what we must have, too. God is looking for a hungry, desperate people that have such a desire to be with Him, that they will not be encompassed by their circumstances. Instead, they are willing to be anywhere He is. They are willing to do whatever HE IS DOING.
Moses had such a huge appetite for God that he lived with a holy discontent. It caused him to never be satisfied with how much he knew, because he realized that God was greater than he could ever know.
There is ALWAYS more of God.
Moses was invariably saying, “Lord, I want to know Your ways, I want to really know You.”
What was his concrete evidence?
Exodus 33:17-18 NASB
17 The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.”
18 Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!”
In Hebrew this means “Show me Your splendor, Your weightiness of who You are.”
God answers him with this:
Exodus 33:19 NASB
And He said, “I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you.”
His goodness! One of the definitions of good is “superlative concretely, the best.”
HELLO!
Superlative concretely = supreme, extreme, excellent, exaggerated, accelerated GOODNESS of God.
Okay, I am just so grateful to God! He is no respecter of persons. I want to know the fullness of His goodness. And then I want to be one of His outrageous people who loves Him—like Moses—who brings His goodness to others!
Let us remember, it is the goodness and kindness of God that brings men to repentance.
Let us bring tidings of the Good News to others. Let us introduce Him and His goodness to others. And let us always be deep searchers for more of Him, because there is always MORE.
I know this is longer today, please stick with me. I feel we must have the realization of what people do, and don’t do, when they want concrete evidence.
Do you remember Thomas?
John 20:24 KJV
But Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came.
He hadn’t seen Jesus since His death. He wasn’t taking their good news for himself. The truth was being spoken, but he wanted another kind of concrete proof.
John 20:25 KJV
So the other disciples were saying to him, “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them, “Unless I see in His hands the imprint of the nails, and put my finger into the place of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.”
We can get upset with Thomas when we read this, yet, we often want to see the signs, wonders and miracles before we believe. We want to experience the answer to our prayers in a concrete way.
But we must understand, WE are the people who are going to give concrete proof of His existence because we live a life of trust and love that will continue, no matter what we are experiencing on a personal basis. This is an awesome revelation!
Jesus is looking for those who hear the Good News and respond to it by FAITH.
But Jesus knows just what each individual needs in order to believe. Look how far He goes:
John 20:26-27 KJV
26 After eight days His disciples were again inside, and Thomas with them. Jesus came, the doors having been shut, and stood in their midst and said, “Peace be with you.”
27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach here with your finger, and see My hands; and reach here your hand and put it into My side; and do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
Jesus was willing to let Thomas shove his hand into His side. Think about that! How far will our Savior go to prove Himself to His people? Wow! Don’t just read that; imagine it! He invited Thomas to physically touch His scars that He received for him … and us.
John 20:28 KJV
Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
What do you need for concrete evidence that He is risen?
He has provided all that you will ever need to live a life that is accompanied by His presence. What do you need for concrete evidence to be filled with His glory? He has empowered you to be the ones who will be known as those that have been with Him.
Acts 17:6-7 NKJV
“These who have turned the world upside down have come here too.”
In this passage, the people had heard the Good News of Jesus but did not believe, and they caused a mob to go and look for the ones that had brought the message.
Though they did not believe, look what they acknowledged!
The real believers with the Good News (Paul and Silas) have “turned the world upside down.”
That is who WE ARE TO BE!
Then, guess what? WE ARE THE CONCRETE EVIDENCE to the world that Jesus is alive and He has made Himself available to all. Hallelujah!
Paul cried from his heart, after his deep desire to be the concrete evidence to the world.
Philippians 3:14-18 NASB
13 Brethren, I do not regard myself as laving laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, have this attitude; and if in anything you have a different attitude, God will reveal that also to you; 16 however, let us keep living by that same standard to which we have attained.
17 Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us.
The “cloud of witnesses” listed in Hebrews 11 are another example of the concrete evidence.
The many martyrs that have given their lives as proof of their living, willing-to-die walk with Jesus are the concrete evidence.
Would you be willing to be the walking, talking evidence for those that are lost and dying and crying out for something that is real?
Let us be escalated by love in 2022, and let the Good News of the Gospel that is displayed through us, be what HE DESIRES.
Prayer:
Oh my God, I want to know You and Your ways. I do not want to ever be satisfied with what I have already experienced in Your presence. I know there is more. I want the more of you SO THAT I can be concrete proof of Your existence so that others may realize the sacrifice You gave for them to know Your goodness and Your presence too. Today, let my house and my heart be our meeting place. Show me Your glory!
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