CASTING CALL: GOD WANTS TO MAKE YOU A STAR

Have you ever prayed to God and suddenly knew that you had struck ‘pay dirt’? Knew that something that had come out of your mouth had hit a home-run with God – and that God Himself was taking ahold of your words and sealing them to His purpose?

It happened to me in the wee hours, one morning as I wept before the Lord. Here I was, I mourned, way beyond my middle years with little to show for my life as a Christian.

I was a goof-off. Not a bad person, just a goof-off. ‘Oh, I probably didn’t look too bad on the surface – but I knew deep in my heart that my walk with God had been hit and miss. Most of the time, miss. Twisting and turning in the wind of my ambition, I moved in every direction but the one that would truly lead me to the heart of God.

The years I had wasted thrown away came to haunt me as I cried. The endless schemes, the failed dreams, and the empty endeavors crowded my mind that morning. I had spent my Christian life going off on one tangent after another – opening a restaurant, writing a cookbook, not counting all of the shaky ‘stabs’ I had made at the ministry. Striving, always striving to make a mark somehow.

I even tried to climb the ladder in church leadership, proudly wearing a little badge and sitting in a reserved seat in the congregation. I guess it all looked pretty good, but it eventually led me to this place of dismay before the living God who sees and knows the heart of all of His children.

So broken and in despair, I cried out to the God who had so dramatically saved and lifted me out of the pit of destruction so many years before. The poignant realization hit me that I had never really surrendered my life to Him! I had always followed my near-sighted agenda.

THE PRAYER THAT CHANGED MY LIFE

These are the words I spoke as I poured out my heart to God: “Lord, I have missed you. All of these years, I have missed your will. I have done many things for you, but I have not truly connected with you. I have not yielded my life to You! Nothing that I have done has worked. Nothing. “‘Lord, time is running out for me! I don’t have much time left,’ I cried in anguish, tears now streaming down my face.

“I have done it my way all of these years I have done it my way! Now I come to you to ask You for a chance at just one thing. Just one thing! Lord, would you put me in what you are doing? I know you are doing something on this earth today. Would you include me in what You are doing? The hour is late for me, but would you give me a part in your plans. It doesn’t have to be a big part’, I pleaded. ‘Just a small part just the tiniest part – anything at all, Lord. As Boaz left a hand-full on purpose for Ruth – Lord, would you leave a hand-full of your will just for me?” And then, I will never forget it. The sweetest presence of God’s approval and acceptance fell gently upon me. Gratefully I wept before Him, humbled by His great mercy and love.

And you know what? God took me at my word. He began to draw me aside, instructing me, correcting me, and teaching me His paths. I was amazed at how He corrected me on some things that I thought were perfectly okay – religious stuff that was not the mind of God. We do not know as much as we think we know.

As the unrest that was ever in my bosom began to lift, lightness and assurance replaced it. Spend much time studying the bible. And as I read, God opened my eyes to His ways. It was not an overnight thing, and it never is with God. Slowly but surely, I could see my life being shaped by His hand and renewed my mind.

And then, I could hardly believe it; he began to use me. He began to use me! For He did indeed begin to put me in what He was doing. For the first time in my life, I felt God gave me the grace to labor for Him. What a privilege. And at last, I was in my “calling.” Later, as I pondered all of this, I realized I had discovered a great truth.

GOD HAS PLANS – HE REALLY DOES

Yes God has plans and does not need our input. Not really. He already has a ‘To Do’ list that spans the decades and even centuries. Did you know that we don’t have to come up with something for God to do? To kind of ‘hatch a plan’ … then hurry to God to get Him started. God then thoughtfully peruses our ‘idea’ and replies, “Hmmm, that might just work. Yeah, let’s try that.”

No, God already has projects in His ‘pipeline’; and He is never in a hurry. Years can go by as God carefully shapes each person and element of a situation into perfect harmony.

Abraham was childless when God first spoke to him about the great plan for his descendants. In Genesis 15:13-14, God tells Abraham that his people would go down to a strange land and be enslaved for four hundred years. Afterward, God said, that nation would be judged, and his people would come out with great substance. It was God’s plan – hundreds of years before any of the characters in this drama were even born.

LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTON!

As the time drew near, God began to assemble the players in this great drama; His cast. First off, he would need an arrogant king of a powerful, ungodly nation. Pharaoh fit the bill and was groomed by God for his role. Listen to how God addresses Pharaoh in Exodus 9:16: And in very deed, for this reason, have I raised you, for to show in you my power: and that my Name may declare throughout all the earth.

God declares to Pharaoh: “I have raised you so I can knock you down! I have made you big so that when I flatten you – the whole world will sit up and notice my power. Because of this, my Name will declare throughout all the earth.”

Next, God needed a Deliverer, a Star for His drama. He chooses Moses. It is where the plot thickens. God then brings in a twist that only He can engineer; the upbringing and nurturing of Moses into a mighty prince … right in Pharaoh’s house, right under Pharaoh’s nose. (Boy, can God write a story!)

And this same God writes stories today. Stories include all of us – sometimes even grand productions that He wants us to ‘Star’ in. People who see a need and run out and try to ‘work’ for God miss it. These are the people who get involved in a ‘ministry’ that is outside of the mind and direction of God. It might look pretty good to the untrained eye, but they are not on God’s set and a member of His production. They have got their ‘own production’ going. Far better to wait and let the Master Producer put you in your place.

CASTING CALL – GOD IS LOOKING FOR A STAR

God is looking for Star material. In 2Chronicles 16:9, it says: For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward Him. A supporting cast is not so difficult to find. But, you don’t find a Star every day. Hollywood knows this.

That’s why the eyes of the Lord are going back and forth over the whole earth looking for just that ‘right’ person – that person whose heart is so right with Him that He can make him a Star. A person that He can ‘show off’ with. A person that He can bless so dramatically that all eyes will be on His power and purpose. A person that He can bring to such triumph that His Name will be exalted.

MOSES ‘BLOWS IT’

One day, when he was grown, Moses went out to visit his people and look on their burdens; And he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his people. He looked this way and that, and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. (Exodus 2:11-12)

Moses ‘blows it’ – loses his temper and kills an Egyptian. When Pharaoh finds out about it, Moses has to run for his life. Moses then spends the next forty years of his life in exile, hiding out in the desert of land of Midian.

Did you know that Moses delayed Israel’s deliverance from slavery by thirty years by this one rash act? Yes, this is the sad truth of the matter. A whole nation remained in bondage thirty years longer than God intended!

Remember in Genesis 15:13, when God told Abraham that his descendants would go down and live in a strange land and be enslaved four hundred years. It was according to God’s original script. But let’s read what happened because Moses got off track: And it came to pass at the end of four hundred and thirty years, even to the very same day, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt. (Exodus 12:41)

Moses blew it, and there were dire consequences for Israel. It cost them dearly. And notice how meticulously God controls the timing of this whole operation. To the day – to the exact day they were delivered four hundred and thirty years later! And it should have been only four hundred years. They have held enslaved people for thirty long years while God had to work on Moses to get him to where He could use him.

God’s intent was for Moses to deliver Israel when he was only fifty years old, not eighty! Man! It is a sobering fact that one man could derail the plan of God to such an extent. That our actions – our actions – can even throw God’s plans off-course. When we ‘lose it’ – more can be lost than we realize.

Yes, pressure mounts, trials come, and tempers can flare. “Stuff happens!” We can fly off the handle and have a meltdown. Afterward, we can repent, confessing blithely: ‘I lost it!’ Yes, but often more is lost than immediately meets the eye. Listen to me: your failure affects more than you, and your failure affects every life that is linked to yours in God’s grand plan.

And God’s plans can thwart – deliverance, healings, and blessings can be stalled. People can wait in chains as God has to bring us time and again back to the drawing board. Paul writes in Romans 14:7 that no man lives unto himself. God is weaving our lives together in a grand tapestry of His purpose. It can vibrate with tragic consequences even to generations to come when we fail.

GIVE GOD THE BEST THING ON EARTH

In an attempt to please God, people have always offered Him things. All kinds of things. Gold, silver, prayers, fasting, pilgrimages, and vows, to name a few. Not to mention all of the monuments and temples built to honor God. Man loves bricks. ‘Aha,’ he thinks, ‘at last a substantial offering for our God.’

Somehow, God is not so impressed. Listen to God in Isaiah 66:1: Thus says the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build for me? And where is the place of my rest?

And get this. God does not seem too happy with all the sacrifices we come bearing. He reproves Israel in Psalms 50:10: Every forest beast is mine and the cattle on a thousand hills.

In other words, I don’t need your livestock. Nor do I think God is all that thrilled with the chocolates we forgo at Lent. Chocolates won’t cover it. God wants much more from you than that. So what, you ask, does God want? Well, He tells us plainly in Proverbs 23:26: My son, give me your heart and let your eyes observe my ways.

God will not come and take our hearts; He wants us to give them to Him. And like any other offering brought to Him – God loves a cheerful giver.

MAN’S HEART – THE FOCUS OF THE AGES

Yes, all eyes are on the human heart. The dramatic clash of two kingdoms occurs, where the real action on this planet occurs—man’s heart. In terms of significance, Mt Everest is not the highest point on the earth. Excluding God, man’s heart is the most important thing on this earth. There is nothing of greater value on the planet than the human heart.

We find the reason for this in Romans 10:8-10: The word is near you, even in your mouth, and in your heart: that is the word of faith, that we preach; That if you shall confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved. Man believes unto righteousness with the heart, and confession is made unto salvation with the mouth.

Do you see it? Man can believe himself right back to the Garden of Eden with the heart. It is a powerful truth. You see, with the heart believing and the mouth confessing the Word of faith, nothing can stop a man. No power can stand against him and prevail. It is where we can receive every promise of God’s great covenant with us and find ourselves living with joy and victory right here on planet earth.

By believing God’s truth with our heart, not only are we saved from all that can come against us – but we are ushered into full fellowship with a loving Savior. Consequently, this is where the devil draws the line and fights the hardest. He must not allow a man to believe the truth (God’s word) in his heart. The Truth: That we are more than conquerors. That the Lord is our Shepherd – and we need not fear…ever. That by His stripes, we were healed. That all things are ours and we are Christ’s. We have been given peace that passes understanding. That God will pour out His Spirit upon our seed and His blessing upon our offspring. That God loves us and sends new mercies to us each morning!

The devil clouds all of these truths with questions – ‘Hath God said?’ he whispers. And with this, he persuades us to write a whole ‘new gospel.’ A gospel that is not good news at all, for it is based purely on the context of our own experience and not the word of God.

PAUL TARGETS THE HUMAN HEART

Man’s heart is the great value in the world today. Paul understood this as he traveled and preached the gospel in many idolatrous lands. Regardless of the spiritual climate, Paul happened to be in, he always reasoned with men out of the scriptures seeking to touch their hearts. We see him doing this in Acts 17: 2-4: They came to Thessalonica, where there was a synagogue of the Jews. And Paul, as his manner was, went into them. Three Sabbath days reasoned with them out of the scriptures, opening and alleging, that Christ must need have suffered, and risen again from the dead; and that this Jesus, whom I preach to you is Christ. And some of them believed and joined Paul and Silas and of the devout Greeks a great multitude, and the chief women, not a few.

And now, I want you to notice in Acts 17: 16-17 what Paul does not do as he waits for Timothy and Silas in Athens. While Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city completely given over to idolatry. Therefore, he disputed in the synagogue with the Jews, the devout persons, and the daily market with them who met with him.

You do not see Paul doing a “prayer walk” to bind and cast down ‘ruling powers of idolatry,’ do you? Jesus never did anything like this, and neither does Paul. Jesus is perfect theology; His life is perfect theology. We don’t need a commentary when we have the life of Christ as our example. So just as Jesus did, Paul made his appeal to the human heart – for this is where the real action is.

Our problem with evil does not originate somewhere up in the sky with nebulous clouds of fallen spirits but in man’s heart. We learn this in Mark 7: 21-23: For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness: All of these evil things come from within, and defile the man.

Paul knew this and found success in Athens when ‘certain men joined Paul and believed: among them Dionysius the Areopagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.’

The Bible records only one place where Jesus Himself could do no great works. His hometown. The people there said: “Isn’t this that carpenter guy? We know him and his family, too and he’s no big deal!” And it says in Mark 6:5 that: He could do there no mighty work, except to lay hands upon a few sick folks and heal them. And He marveled because of their unbelief. Jesus did not ‘marvel’ at the strong-holds of darkness and unbelief over the city of Nazareth. He marveled at the unbelief that was in the heart of the people.

It was unbelief in the hearts of the people then, and it is unbelief in the hearts of God’s people now that prevent Him from doing ‘mighty works.’

MAN’S HEART – THE MAINSPRING OF THE SPIRIT

Your heart is the mainspring of your life. It is the very core of who you are and resides in your spirit, which is eternal. You are a spirit like God because you are made in His image. You have a soul, a mind, and you live in a body. (Matthew 22:37)

Your heart is the real you—the center of all you value and treasure. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:2l that where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. So everything you truly love and value is in your heart. It’s who we are. Therefore, God says: “That’s what I want. Give me that and nothing less!” For out of the heart comes the true substance of our life. And what takes place in our hearts affects everything and everybody around us.

We are told in Proverbs 4:23 to: Keep your heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues (springs) of life. The seat can compare to a natural garden, for we are called to ‘keep’ it. We need always to cultivate the heart’s soil so that it is tender and sweet; and use diligence to keep it free from wrong attitudes, desires, emotions, opinions, and thoughts.

I remember as a young person observing the embittered countenances of some older people. Their faces would be like stone, with the evidence of disillusionment, hurt and unhappiness etched in. Their eyes are cold and wary. I vowed in my heart that I would never let my face look like that. Never. No matter what life dealt me or what I went through.

Yet I have seen elderly people with tender eyes and gentle, happy countenances. Does this mean they have not experienced the same hard blows in life as their miserable-looking counterparts? Not at all. It all depends on how we process the events of our lives in our hearts. Disappointment, ingratitude, betrayal, and sorrow come to all. We have a choice: we can close down and become bitter or become better by learning to love, forgive and put up with others just as our Loving Savior bears with us.

Joyce Meyers relates that at one time, as she was going through some hard circumstances, she confided in Darlene Zschech – and Darlene had only one question for her. She asked, “How is your heart?” When Joyce replied, “Oh, my heart is fine.” Darlene then assured her, “You’re all right then.” It is true that when our heart is fine – we are truly ‘allright.’

BRINGING YOUR HEART NEAR TO GOD

Jesus says in Matthew 15:8 that: This people draws near to me with their mouth, but their heart is far from me.

There is only one way to bring our hearts near to God. Are you ready for this? Complete surrender of our lives to God. Listen as Jesus speaks to His disciples in Matthew 16:24-25: If any man comes after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever will save his life shall lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

Jesus tells us here what is required to come after him. Not after a certain position in a church, or a pet doctrine, or even ‘our ministry.’ He says come after ME. I am all that you need. And we come after Him not with our feet but with our hearts. Jesus says here that we will have to deny ourselves some things. Not just bad things, but even good things that are weights. We get a kick out of things that do not lead us close to God. (Uh-Oh, I don’t like the sound of this!) We want all of our ‘stuff” + Jesus. It has been tried before and will not work.

You see, Jesus calls our attention here to a cross, but not His cross. Oh, I know we hear a lot about Jesus’ cross, and we sing songs about it and cry. Yes, I know the great work of Calvary’s Cross is the basis of our salvation, and we take nothing away from that. But here Jesus speaks of another cross our cross and the life of self-denial we are called to before we can truly follow Him. We have to add our cross to Jesus’ cross to see the real results of the gospel. Paul said he suffered the loss of all things counting them but dung that he might ‘win’ Christ through this’ cross.’ Nothing has changed; Christ is still the Prize, the Grand Prize set before us in this last hour.