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P2: Moses Asked, “Show Me Your Glory”

Saturday, July 31st, 2010 By 3 Comments

Happy Saturday Everyone!

I came into my family room just like every other day, opened my macbook, turned on one of my newest worship albums, sat down to write this message, felt compelled to reread yesterdays blog first… so happy I did.

Now I sit here alone, but I am not alone. God is here, He is close. This moment feels like a thousand million butterflies rushing through a tiny channel of goose pimple sensors! It’s like the tears falling from a fathers eyes as he gives away his daughters hand in marriage. This moment is so precious, so indescribable.

God is tangible. He longs to be felt! God never pushes himself on anyone. He just waits, and waits… for one of us to make Him our chief desire. And when we do, it really doesn’t take much for us to draw Him in close.

When I think about the obsessive things we do… the energies we expend running after physical desires. When I consider how much time and money we use up to taste the temporary. We are out of our minds for pursuing God so lightly.

What if we desired Him as we desire money, or fame, or pleasure? What if we obsessed about Him as we obsess for romance, or hobbies, or any other earthly thing? Could we know Him like Moses knew Him?

Exodus 33:12-18 NLT

One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”

The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”

Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”

And God did show Moses His glorious presence. God did just as He promised. He personally went with Moses. And everyone knew it! There was no wondering if Moses belonged to God. There was no wondering if God existed as long as Moses was alive. Moses carried God’s glory on his person! When people encountered Moses, they oftentimes encountered God.

Call me a crazy person if you will, but I sometimes feel just like Moses felt… just like it!

I see the cloud, I step in
I want to see Your glory as Moses did
Flashes of light, rolls of thunder

Pre-chorus:

I’m not afraid, I’m not afraid

Chorus:

Show me Your glory, show me Your glory
Show me Your glory, show me Your glory

Verse 2:

I’m awed by Your beauty, lost in Your eyes
I want to walk in Your presence like Jesus did
Your glory surrounds me and I’m overwhelmed

Bridge:

I long to look on the face of the One that I love
Long to stay; in Your presence is where I belong

Tag:

Oh how we love You, oh how we love You
Oh how we love You, Jesus

I’m posting the Jesus Culture (Show Me Your Glory) videos from yesterday… one more time, to give everyone the chance for something deeper.

I just finished praying for you all. Make this a most triumphant day! With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Filed Under: Journal & Message

Moses Asked, “Show Me Your Glory”

Friday, July 30th, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Happy Friday Everyone!

Last night at prayer, we centered our focus around Exodus 33:12-18

One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”

The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”

Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”

So we prayed for 2 hours on this topic… and once again, prayer meeting was more precious than anything in the whole universe.

If anybody knew about the glory of God, Moses did. God worked through Moses to send the plagues on Egypt. Moses was the guy who split the Red Sea and led Israel across on dry ground. Moses was the guy who spent 40 days in a mountain and received the Ten Commandments, a document carved into stone tablets by God’s own hand.

So it makes sense that Moses would ask for more of what he had tasted before. Ask anybody who has ever tasted God’s glory and you will find a hunger for more.

Moses said, “For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

Is this true of God’s people today? Are we distinguishable from other people groups because of God’s obvious presence on our lives? Is the fire of His glory burning on our altars, or has that fire long gone out?

Just like Moses, I’m having conversations with God in the year 2010… conversations about something richer than being a Christian by name only. I want more of what I have tasted at various times throughout my past 20 years. Dear God, decorate my life with your glorious presence!

Let’s read these verses again, pretending that we are Moses and this is our burden. Let’s meditate on the possibilities… until an appetite for the glorious presence of God rises in us like it did in Moses… until we have it, like he did!

One day Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Take these people up to the Promised Land.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. You have told me, ‘I know you by name, and I look favorably on you.’ If it is true that you look favorably on me, let me know your ways so I may understand you more fully and continue to enjoy your favor. And remember that this nation is your very own people.”

The Lord replied, “I will personally go with you, Moses, and I will give you rest—everything will be fine for you.”

Then Moses said, “If you don’t personally go with us, don’t make us leave this place. How will anyone know that you look favorably on me—on me and on your people—if you don’t go with us? For your presence among us sets your people and me apart from all other people on the earth.”

The Lord replied to Moses, “I will indeed do what you have asked, for I look favorably on you, and I know you by name.”

Moses responded, “Then show me your glorious presence.”

That’s it for today. I just finished praying for you all. Make this a most triumphant day! With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Filed Under: Journal & Message

Capture Your Special Moments

Thursday, July 29th, 2010 By 5 Comments

Happy Thursday!

Here are a few random photo’s from this year. See how many of them you’re able to explain. Tell me where they were taken, if you can.

I love capturing moments! It’s amazing to me, how a photo can take me back in time! Without them, I can’t imagine how many special moments would be forgotten.

Maybe you guys have an online gallery of your special moments. Post a link if you don’t mind… I’d love to share in your memories!

That’s it for today… a very light blog. The perfect follow up to yesterdays much deeper “book excerpt.”

I just finished praying for you all. Make this a most triumphant day! With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Filed Under: Journal & Message

100 Years From Today…

Wednesday, July 28th, 2010 By 4 Comments

Happy Wednesday!

Looks like I’m driving to Virginia Beach this morning. Emily and I need to look at the college our son Coree hopes to attend this fall. He’s already enrolled at the Art Institute of Washington DC… and he wants to look at the Virginia Beach campus for a possible change (for the obvious reasons). At first, we were strongly opposed to this option. But after having many conversations with Coree and after looking further into the advantages of this campus, we’re now open to the possibility. Today, we’re touring the school and getting our questions answered for a final decision. Coree wants to open a web design company in a few years!

I’m so proud of Coree and Heaven! They both have a very clear vision of their future… at least until God swoops down and recruits them up for his eternal mission. It’s exciting to see them so excited to leave home and grow and learn and do something big with their lives. I know that God always calls active, motivated people. When I listen to them dream, it almost brings me to tears! God, please keep your hand on their lives! Guide them with your strong right hand.

At 39, I’m consumed always with thoughts and dreams of tomorrows better world. I’m living every day for the world I will leave as an inheritance to my kids… and yours. Here’s a great clip from my coming book on the subject…

Chapter 4: The Great Hope Of Tomorrow

One Hundred Years From Today…

Long after our last breath, a generation yet to live will look back on this critical hour. Hurry up! Catch my hand, and together we will run to the place I’ve been spending so much of my time lately. I’m asking you to imagine that we’ve been translated into the future. As you look around at the people, you can’t avoid noticing how their genetic features match yours, and you’re overtaken with the reality that these are your beloved descendants. For ten seconds, the sheer awe of this mystical experience leaves you panting. Tingling all over, you wipe your eyes to make sure you don’t miss anything; your curiosity has never been this out of control!

Not knowing how much longer this experience will last, your mind is engulfed with a few startling curiosities. Right now you must know, “What kind of world are my babies living in? Is it a better world, marinated in love and peace? Or is it an unstable one steeped in hatred and deep turmoil? Are they smiling or frowning? Are they laughing or crying? As they look back over their tiny little shoulders at you and me, are they gazing with gratitude or glaring in bitterness? Who are they admiring for their advantages? Who are they pointing fingers at for their privations?”

Have you ever given yourself a few hours to eyeball your future in this sort of way? One thing is for sure: your name may never find its way into their history books, but every move, even the slightest one, that you and I make during our short span of time here on earth is creating the world of tomorrow. Clearly, the cowardly bystanders are never held in remembrance. History consistently honors those selfless pioneers who voluntarily forward vast segments of their personal pleasure into their future—the heroes who live and labor for dreams they never even realize in their lifespan! These are the real champions of our civilization.

Don’t relax yet; because we still have one more stop on our way back to the present. From the future, let us now turn 180˚ and travel back in time, all the way into the awe-inspiring world of 1837. Truly this was a salient dash of time, sadly disregarded by our twenty-first-century populace. For more than 200 years, a legendary band of forerunners had been moving about the earth, contending for the 2.3 billion acres of terrain that would become one of the most illustrious nations to ever exist. How easy it would have been for those patriarchs to revel in their accumulated wealth and blessing, and deafen their ears to the piteous groans of their children and grandchildren to come. It would have been so natural for them to yield under the pressure of their fears and cower in the face of the unknown, to reach an awfully low sacrificial threshold, to offer up that which was convenient—and nothing more.

Fortunately, for the hundreds of millions of sons and daughters living and thriving in the United States of America today, there are scores of legends radiating from our sacred chronicles—beautiful legends, men and women who were far too noble to shove us out of their charitable hearts. We are the present legacy of these great legends. Because of us, and only because of us, they never would have tolerated themselves if they had not gone all the way, if they had sold away these future generations for their own personal fantasies. Look around, my friend. Look into the endless amenities we enjoy in this fairy tale country. Our legendary forefathers purchased America the beautiful at a premium so much more costly than any of us will ever know.

Just after the American Revolution and the War of 1812, and during the time of the Indian Wars, Jonathan Quincy Adams, the eighth president of the United States, sent a message echoing into his future. In 1837, while musing over the sacred bravery of his legendary contemporaries, he spoke to us with these impassioned words, “Posterity, you will never know how much it has cost my generation to preserve your freedom. I hope you will make good use of it!”

From the pure richness of this classic statement, it’s plain to see that President Adams wasn’t living for himself. He and his friends were dying for us. Oh, the warmth of their love gently blowing over my thankful soul. Some days, when I think about this long enough, real tears collect at the bottom of my eyes. I can almost hear them whispering in my ears, “Chuck Balsamo—hey, little guy, we are the legends who built your Eden. Even though we will never meet face to face, you need to know that we each carried a portrait of you in our right-front pockets. We held the dream of you deeply within our hearts, and even though it wasn’t easy at times, somehow we found a way to love you so much more than any of us loved ourselves. Please, don’t ever take this for granted; because if you do, it will all be gone.”

Every time I read quotes from people like President Adams and the hundreds of leaders and war heroes who forged my fatherland, something beautiful breaks open inside of me. To be such a young fellow, I’m uncommonly grateful to my predecessors for every blessing I enjoy. I am old enough to remember when schoolteachers still taught from the original version of our history. I still remember seeing God in the middle of our picture! I remember Him working brilliantly through so many highly religious American leaders! Our foundational stones were laid as biblical values were cemented together in Christian prayer! Despite recent efforts from the persuasive irreligious community to rewrite American history, our Christian heritage will never go away! No matter how decisively today’s humanistic society seeks to deny the God under whom we became one nation, they will never successfully eliminate the evidence of our Christian origin.

Like it or not, our honorable ancestors were never ashamed to openly and aggressively acknowledge the greatness that surged out of their profound relationship with God. Oh, the contrast between their words and actions, and those of the celebrity-leaders of our day. Where has these legends archetypal spirit gone? Where is that open and unashamed reliance on God they each modeled so impressively? Where is that old-fashioned honor and bravery, that selfless and sacrificial passion that ran through their legendary veins?

If you’re keen for a sobering check of reality, please hush for three minutes, mentally mute out your background, and listen to the silence you’ve created. What do you hear? Most people only notice the unpleasant sound of their impending personal problems. Yet, muffled behind the high volume of our twenty-first-century way of life, there is a muzzled protest reaching out for a listener. Sometimes for me it is very faint, while at other times it takes me over, deafening my heart to everything else. If you should ever hear this protest, you may never get it out of your head!

Who is protesting? What is the complaint? Listen a little more closely, and you will hear the upsetting lamentations of the departed—their blood is crying out to us from the past. Our forefathers are increasingly agitated, tossing and turning in their unsettled graves. They willingly poured out every last drop of their consecrated blood that we may take up the gauntlet and carry their visions into another generation. Without a doubt, their fading reverberation seeps up through the soil of time. “Is anybody out there? Kids, can you hear us? What are you doing with our precious sacrifices? How much longer will you turn your noses up at our gifts of love while squandering your inheritance on empty pursuits? Soon enough, you will be joining us. Posterity! Even though it seems like you’re going to live forever, your days are numbered. Very soon your time will be up, your brief episode in this cosmic saga will be over—and then what?”

That’s it for today. Please let me know what you think! I just finished praying for you all. Make this a most triumphant day! With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Filed Under: Journal & Message, The Book

Who Is Emily “Jillian Michaels” Balsamo?

Tuesday, July 27th, 2010 By 4 Comments

Happy Tuesday!

Emily has me running 6 miles this morning after run/walking 6 miles last night. I’m a little tired, feet are blistered and I’m slightly dehydrated, but don’t tell Emily! She’s like Jillian Michaels from the Biggest Looser! “Just shut up and run Chuck, before I break off your arms and beat you with them! Oh, what’s that? A tear? Are you crying, you little sissy! Do you want to spend the rest of your life on the couch eating donuts and wishing you were living your dreams? I didn’t think so! Now run! Get up and run… right now!!” lol

Sometimes, I thank God for Emily… other times I wonder what I did to deserve such cruel treatment. Haha! I’m just kidding! lol

Really, anyone who’s going anywhere in life has someone like Emily on their team. In fact, the more Emily’s we have, the better the chance we have at achieving our dreams.

Ecclesiastes 4:9-12 NIV

Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up.

But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up!

Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?

Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves.

A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

Today, I want you to think about all the people in your life that help drive you towards your dreams! Really dedicate some time to identify your dream team members. Then, consider how you might acknowledge these special people sometime over the next few days!

What if you hosted a special dinner in their honor, or you sent them each a handwritten card of thanks, or you gave them a thoughtful gift?

We should do this from time to time. We should always make absolutely certain that our Emily (Jillian Michaels) Balsamo’s always know how much they mean to us!

No wonder I’m making such a big difference with my life! I’m surrounded with such people! My dream team is epic! Just like the Apostle Paul, “Let me say first that I thank my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith in him is being talked about all over the world. God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son.” (Romans 1:8-9 NLT)

I just finished praying for you all. Make this a most triumphant day! With much love…

Dream Big, Live Bold, and Make the Difference!

Chuck

The Donate Link, Facebook, Twitter, Make me a Legend, Destiny Family Center, You Tube

Filed Under: Journal & Message
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