A Burning Bush Encounter

Hi my name is Stephen.

I'm new to this (setting up a website and blogging) but my heart's desire and prayer is that you will be blessed, encouraged and challenged by the messages that I share. Most of all I pray, that you will hear a distinct sound, a sound that will quicken and awaken within you a desire to align with God's purposes in these last days and as a result you will be positioned to receive the promised end time outpouring of God's Spirit.

As I was praying earlier, I started to pray that God would cause His Word Bride to arise.

That's the desire that God has put in my spirit, that a holy remnant, that royal priesthood of believers, the holy nation, the chosen generation and peculiar (special, purchased) people that God has called out of darkness into his marvellous light (1 Peter 2v9) will arise. That those who are called to the kingdom for such a time as this, will be awakened in this hour and that their ear will be tuned to hear what the Spirit is saying.

As I was thinking and seeking God about what I would write in this first blog or message, the Lord brought the story of Moses and the burning bush in Exodus 3 to my mind. Moses was at the backside of the desert. At 80 years old, the former Prince of Egypt had long lost his self confidence, princely authority and ability to speak fluently from a mind that was trained in the wisdom and learning of the Egyptians. (Acts 7v22)

At the age of 40, he had a sense of destiny and a deep conviction, that he would be used to deliver the people of Israel (Acts 7v 25), who were enslaved and in bondage to the mighty Egyptian empire. However, he didn't yet understand how God had to forge and change him in order to fulfil that destiny and he tried to deliver his people in the power and strength of the flesh. By killing the Egyptian, he became a wanted man and had to flee from the face of Pharaoh to Midian. (Acts 7v29)

Do you ever wonder how he knew that the Israelites were his people, even though he was brought up in the palace, as the son of Pharaoh's daughter? Where did this sense of destiny and desire to defend and deliver his people come from? (Exodus 3v11) No doubt God had his hand upon Moses and called him from his mother's womb but have you ever considered the role his parents played, especially his mother? His mother hid him 3 months because of Pharaoh's command to kill the male Israelite children and when she could do no more, she entrusted him to God's care and made the ark of bulrushes and put the baby in it on the river Nile. God's divine providence and protection ensured that he was returned to his mother by Pharaoh's daughter. His mother nursed him and got paid for it into the bargain. Only God! I suggest that while his own mother nursed him, she brought him up to know that the Israelites were his people and was used by God to instil in him the sense of destiny.

We need an encounter with the Living God

Anyway, having said all that, what I really felt the Lord wanted me to talk about was the burning bush encounter.

Moses disillusioned and dejected and feeling he had blown it and that he was forever destined to live out his life in total mediocrity, looking after a few sheep at the backside of a God forsaken desert, has an encounter with the living God. (Genesis 3)

How does God reveal himself to him - he reveals himself as fire in the midst of a bush.

Exodus 3v1-6 (KJV)

1 Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. 2 And the angel of the LORD appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt. 4 And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. 5 And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground. 6 Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God.

I want you to notice something. God revealed himself to Moses when he least expected it and when he thought he had blown it.

How many of us have felt like Moses? We had a sense of destiny but we feel we have been in the wilderness so long that this is our destiny now?

I have news for you, God is not finished with you. He is about to reveal himself as the God who answers by fire (1Kings 18v24&38), the consuming fire (Hebrews 12v29) and the One who baptises with the Holy Ghost and with fire!! (Matthew 3v11).

He is about to visit us with the greatest outpouring of His Spirit that this world has ever known (Joel 2v28-32). However, to experience it, we need to have a burning bush or Upper Room encounter with the Living God, with the God who answers by fire.

And what God has impressed upon me is, that as we prepare our hearts for such an encounter, by looking to Him and aligning ourselves with His purposes - by seeking his face and allowing the Spirit of Truth to lead us into all Truth and reveal His Word to us so that we are not conformed but transformed by renewing of our minds (Romans 12v1&2) - that we are going to hear the Spirit speak to our hearts these words

"Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground." Exodus 3v5

We like, Isaiah, in Isaiah 6, are going to have a revelation of the holiness, majesty and awesomeness of God.

Isaiah 6:5 (KJV)

5 Then said I, Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

But in that encounter we will know the touch of God upon our lives, as we are touched with the living coal from of the altar, which will purify, purge and prepare us to hear the words

"Go and tell this people" (v9)

We will receive a mandate and mission from heaven, to go and deliver the Word of the Lord to this generation.

And like Moses at the burning bush, God will also reveal himself to us, as the God of our fathers.

There will be a restoring of apostolic and prophetic power and authority that our Fathers knew. That Peter, James and John knew.

Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon God (v6)

Beholding and Becoming

But God is not finished and this is what I have been waiting to say. As we have a burning bush encounter with the God of our fathers, something is going to happen!

We will not only witness the burning bush we will become the burning bush!!!

Yes, you read it right, as we behold we will become!!!

We will be set on fire, as the early church was set on fire on the Day of Pentecost, when there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire and sat upon each of them (Acts 2v3)

Notice the effect seeing the burning bush had on Moses.

It got his undivided attention, he was drawn to the fire!

"I will now turn aside and see this great site why the bush is not burnt" (Exodus 3v3)

I tell you, that when we are set on fire, when we have that encounter with the fire of God and we become what we have beheld, we will become that burning bush, that is not consumed but goes on burning brighter and brighter to that perfect day.

Then many will turn aside to see and what will they see, not us but the fire of God. They will see the one who baptises in the Holy Ghost and with fire and they will be drawn to Him who is worthy of all the praise and honour and glory.

John 5:35 (KJV)

35 He (John the Baptist) was a burning and a shining light: and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.

Matthew 5:14-15-16 (KJV)

14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15 Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Proverbs 4:18 (KJV)

18 But the path of the just is as the shining light, that burneth more and more unto the perfect day

Hold On a New Day is Coming

If you are feeling discouraged and weary, hold on a new day is dawning. A day of darkness yes but also a day of great light, when the glory of the Lord shall be seen upon His people. Isaiah 60v1&2

Keep looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of your faith. Hebrews 12v1

Just a couple of final scriptures to encourage you.

James 5:7-8, 11 (KJV)

7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. 8 Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh.

11 Behold, we count them happy which endure.

Galatians 6:9 (KJV)

9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. (Ephesians 6v10). God is in control, in spite of how it seems. Even though the powers of darkness are busy preparing the way for the Anti-Christ, they can only do what God permits them to do. God is preparing a people who will rise up in His power, go forth in His name and proclaim His Word to this last generation. Many shall come into the Kingdom of God, many shall be delivered from the power of darkness, multitudes shall call upon the Name of the Lord and be saved. We will participate in the great end time harvest and our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ will deliver us from the wrath to come. We will not be bystanders, pew warmers or slaves to churchianity and religiousity. No, we will walk in the glorious freedom of the children of God and will be co-workers with Him. We will see the glory of the Lord, as in the words of the old chorus we will see "God move one more time in the earth, to fulfil his precious Word, every promise we have heard, God is moving one more time in the earth".

Matthew 24:14 (KJV)

14 And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.