When God says "Move" and when He says "Stay"....

As I was reading my Bible today I was reading in the book of Numbers chapter 9 I came to the verses in this chapter that read "¹⁷ Whenever the cloud lifted from above the tent, the Israelites set out; wherever the cloud settled, the Israelites encamped. ¹⁸ At the LORD’s command the Israelites set out, and at his command they encamped. As long as the cloud stayed over the tabernacle, they remained in camp. ¹⁹ When the cloud remained over the tabernacle a long time, the Israelites obeyed the LORD’s order and did not set out. ²⁰ Sometimes the cloud was over the tabernacle only a few days; at the LORD’s command they would encamp, and then at his command they would set out. ²¹ Sometimes the cloud stayed only from evening till morning, and when it lifted in the morning, they set out. Whether by day or by night, whenever the cloud lifted, they set out. ²² Whether the cloud stayed over the tabernacle for two days or a month or a year, the Israelites would remain in camp and not set out; but when it lifted, they would set out."

I went to continue reading and my eyes kept going back to this passage....In verse 18 it says "At the Lord's command the Israelites set out and at His command they encamped." God spoke to me through this verse..."Where would my people be if they moved when I told them to move and stayed when I told them to stay?" I was like "I don't know God. He said to my spirit "They would be right where I need them to be when I needed them to be there to make the biggest impact for my Kingdom!" Wow! How many of us (myself included) have missed being where God needed us to be because we didn't move when He told us too or we moved too soon?

In the verses that follow we see that God chose to keep them encamped for a few days, a few months, or even a year! How many of us are willing to be obedient and wait even a few hours in His presence for an answer to prayer, let alone a year or more? In this microwave society, we want it our way right away! The problem with that is we do not serve a microwave God or a genie that we can snap our fingers at and expect Him to move! God is not moved by our commands or our demands, He is moved by our love and obedience to Him and to His will.

God's challenging His people to begin again to seek Him, listen to Him, allow Him to direct our paths, and be obedient to what He is telling us to do and to where He is telling us to go. If we simply hear what He says but are disobedient, He cannot use us. We have free will and if we walk in rebellion and disobedience, He can and will find someone else to fulfill what was intended for us to do. We will have missed God's timing and His call.

We need to take the time to get to know Him so that when He speaks we know that it is Him we are hearing. Take time each day to quiet yourself before Him, take time to LISTEN and not always ask. When we are doing all the talking how can we hear what He is trying to say? Our conversations with Him cannot be one sided if we are going to be in the right place at the right time.

I challenge you to make time for God and He will bless you! It is SO easy in this life to get so busy that we don't take the time to spend with Him. But I am telling you that in this day it is ESSENTIAL to your spiritual survival as a Christian to spend time with HIM!!! God is done with the mediocre, He is looking for a Bride without spot or wrinkle, a Bride whose lamp is not empty, a Bride that is ready for their Groom!!!! Are you ready?