The Graduate“Oh, that My people would listen to Me, that Israel would walk in My ways! I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn My hand against their adversaries” (Psalm 81:13-14) There are three levels of preparation for graduation that are required of God’s leaders. First, there is a time when the leader is separated from his former life. Consider Abraham, Joseph, Moses and Paul. In order for God to shape them into His image, He had to remove them from their old life. Abraham was asked to leave his country and his kinfolks, Joseph was dumped in the pit by his own brothers and left for dead, Moses left the splendor of Egyptian royal life after he murdered someone, and Paul was strucked blind on the Damascus Road and lost all his power as The Enforcer. Next, God brings leaders into solitude in order to get their undivided attention for Hosea 2:14 says, “I will allure her, will bring her into the wilderness and speak comfort to her.” The Apostle Paul was sent to Arabia for two years to be alone. Joseph spent years in prison before he was promoted to be The Prince of Egypt. Moses spent 40 years in the backside of the Midian desert herding sheep for Jethro his father-in-law before he met the burning bush. The final step toward graduation is pain and discomfort. Abraham traveled through the inhospitable deserts from Ur to Canaan on camelback via the crescent northern route, or from present-day Iraq to Israel. Long before Osama and Harrison Ford, David never caved in, for he lived in caves as The Fugitive hiding and fleeing from King Saul. Paul was whipped, bitten, shipwrecked, imprisoned, persecuted and stoned more times than Sir Mick Jagger. While Paul was in prison, however, he wrote 13 epistles or 2/3 of the New Testament. Do you have what it takes to be The Graduate? Are you ready for the grueling process to be a godly leader in your family, your business, your school, your job, your neighborhood or wherever you are planted? You don’t need Dustin Hoffman, Mrs Robinson, or Simon & Garfunkel. All you need is God’s grace to embrace the trying times of preparation, to listen to and obey His Word, to walk in His ways so you can graduate with honors for the rewards are wonderful, and they can be Supersized if you want to. Copyright © 2002 Eddy Ministries. All rights reserved. Subscribe/Unsubscribe:
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