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When You Feel Called to Something but Afraid to Fail · Daily Devotions for Busy Lives

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  Speak: Jack Williamson has stuttered since he was a boy. He
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  knew what it's like to get stuck on a word while a room waits. To
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  get stuck so badly on the phone that he can't even get his own
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  name out. As a kid, the taunting taught him to dread being asked
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  to speak. Then he sensed God calling him to preach. Of all
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  things, to ask a man who stutters. God was pointing him
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  toward a pulpit week after week in front of everyone. Every
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  reason to say no was right there in his own mouth. The truth was,
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  the one thing that disqualified him in his own eyes was the
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  exact thing standing between him and what God was asking. We'll
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  come back to what Jack did with that, but first...
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  Welcome to Daily Devotions for Busy I'm Bart Leger. When I
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  first sensed God calling me to preach, I had my list ready. I
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  wasn't a public speaker, and I didn't come from a family of
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  preachers. Mostly, I was afraid I'd stand up there with nothing
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  to say, and the people would figure out I had no business
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  being in that pulpit. I went anyway, and I've been at it a
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  long time now, and I still feel inadequate. I realized I just
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  need to trust the Holy Spirit and lean into his power. Some of
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  the most gifted Christians I know never do the thing God has
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  put in front of them because they're afraid it won't work.
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  You have an idea for a business or a ministry you could start.
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  You've had it for a while, and every time you get close to
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  beginning, the list in your head shows up. You don't have the
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  training, and somebody else would do it better anyway.
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  Here's what makes that list so convincing. Most of what's on it
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  is probably true, and you probably aren't the most
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  qualified person for their job, and you know it. Moses had a
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  list too, and his was a good It's in Exodus 4, verses 10-12.
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  But Moses pleaded with the Lord, O Lord, I'm not very good with
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  words. I have never been, and I'm not now, even though you
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  have spoken to me. I get tongue-tied, and my words get
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  tangled. Then the Lord asked Moses, Who makes a person's
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  mouth? Who decides whether people speak or do not speak,
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  hear or do not hear, see or do not see? Is it not I, the Lord?
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  Now go, I will be with you as you speak, and I will instruct
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  you in what to say. Look at what Moses leads with. I'm not very
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  good with words. I never have been. He's reporting something
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  he believes about himself, and he's been living with it a long
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  while. He's 80 years old, keeping sheep on the backside of
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  a desert, and God is telling him to go stand in front of Pharaoh
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  and talk. Then, look at God's answer. He never disputes the
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  assessment that Moses had of himself. He asks the question
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  back instead. Who makes a person's mouth? The question
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  moves the whole conversation off of Moses and on to God. God
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  doesn't tell Moses he's wrong about himself. He tells him the
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  mouth in question belongs to its maker. a thing God made on
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  purpose, and God doesn't make mistakes. Then comes the
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  instruction. Now go. I will be with you as you speak, and I
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  will instruct you in what to say. Notice what comes first. The
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  sending comes first, and the help arrives while he's talking.
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  You trust. You do. Then the help comes. So the question in front
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  of you is the same one. Who made you? God is asking for obedience,
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  and he already knows what he can do with you and his help
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  together. What's been running through your head is not always
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  about the full picture. Take the next small step. Then trust God
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  to do the rest. Make the one phone call. Write the first page.
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  Let him prove himself in the doing, because that's usually
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  where he does it. Jack went anyway. He enrolled in seminary
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  and started preaching, stutter and all. He didn't wait to be
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  fixed first. He leaned on the God who made his mouth, and he
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  kept stepping into the pulpit Sunday after Sunday. Forty years
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  later, he's still preaching. He came to see his stutter as the
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  way Moses could have seen his, that God didn't make a mistake
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  when he called him, and that the weakness he wanted gone was part
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  of the plan all along. God doesn't always remove the thing
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  you're afraid of. Sometimes, he sends you out with it and shows
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  up in the doing. Look at how Jack's story compares to Moses.
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  Two men with the same objection, and it came down to the same
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  body part both times. Both of them were right about themselves,
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  and in neither case did God fix the thing before he sent the man
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  out. Jack enrolled and stepped into a pulpit, and he found out
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  what God could do with a man who showed up stuttering. Four
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  decades of Sunday is a pretty long answer to a question he
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  asked once. Here's today's challenge. Write down the thing
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  you believe God has put in front of you. It only needs to be one
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  sentence. No hedging. Then, write down the reason you
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  haven't started it, and be straight about what that reason
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  is. Now, look at that reason, and ask God what he asked Moses.
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  Who made this? If the limitation you listed is something he made
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  or allowed in your life, then he knew all about it when he put
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  the thing in front of you. And then, do one piece of it today.
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  Something that takes you maybe under an hour. Not the whole
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  staircase, just the first step. Father, you asked Moses who made
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  his mouth, and you already knew the answer when you asked it.
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  Thank you that you call people who show up with a list of
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  reasons they shouldn't. for everybody listening who has been
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  holding an idea for years because they were afraid it
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  won't work, settle them enough to take one small step this week.
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  Go with them while they take it, the way you promised Moses you
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  would. In Jesus' name, amen. This podcast runs on the
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  generosity of listeners just like you. If Daily Devotions for
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  Busy Lives has encouraged you, would you consider supporting it
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  with a one-time gift or by becoming a monthly supporter?
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  Every contribution helps keep these devotions coming every
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  week. You can give at DailyDevotionsForBusyLives.com
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  slash support. Thank you so much. And thanks for joining me on
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  Daily Devotions for Busy Lives. Remember, God sent Moses out
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  with the same mouth he had been complaining about. Take the next
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  step and let him show up in the doing. Come back next time for
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  more encouragement to help you live grounded in God's truth.
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  Until then, God bless and have a great day.