Live the Word Bible Studies

Welcome to Live the Word

I am happy you have visited this site, where my goal since 2001 has been to help people all over the world understand and then apply the word of God in their lives. If you look on the right hand side of this blog site, you will see the name of each book in the New Testament, where you will find what I call a devotional commentary for every verse in those books. My goal was not to do a technical study, but rather a practical one that presented not only insights, but also questions and recommendations to help you apply or live the word. I have now published those studies in book form, but it's time to expand my work with something new (pictured here are two of my commentary covers, and they are all available in paper or Kindle format from Amazon).

For several years, I have had the idea to develop a Purpose Study Bible, similar to others on the market like The Spirit-Filled Bible, The Leadership Bible, The African Bible, and The Student Bible. Each one of those incorporates insights about a particular topic right in the Bible itself, like an easy-to-use commentary. I have been teaching on the topics of purpose, creativity, goal setting, time management, and faith since 1991, and have gained insight and often taught about or written about those topics from a biblical perspective. For the remainder of my days, I want to share what I have learned with my readers on these five topics I have labeled the five Gold Mine Principles, and this format seems like an economical way to do so (since I am not ready to undertake publishing a Bible). This particular study will begin in Genesis and move on in an orderly fashion through the rest of the Old Testament. Should God prolong my days, I will then move into the New Testament.

I also want to learn from my readers, so I invite you to post comments to supplement, adjust, or augment what I have written. My goal, however, is not to make us all experts on what the Bible has to say about purpose or creativity, but rather to help us become people of purpose, for as Jesus said, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (John 13:17). That is why my commentaries are called Live the Word, for that is what we are expected to do.

I hope you enjoy reading these studies as much as I enjoy writing them, and I hope you will be an active participant by sharing your own insight and testimonies. Thank you, and may the Lord bless the study and reading of His word!

Purpose Study Bible 62: The Need is Your Call

We are almost finished with our study of Moses’ comments during his encounter with the burning bush. We now come to Moses’ fifth excuse, which was:

“Moses said to the Lord, 'O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue'” (Exodus 4:10).

With this fifth excuse, Moses had moved from honest questioning to procrastination. He was laboring to come up with some excuse, any excuse, so he wouldn’t have to go to Egypt. If we look hard enough, we are confident we can always find a reason to exempt us from fulfilling our purpose. Some of these reasons are: “I’m too young; I’m too old; I don’t have the education; I don’t like to speak in front of people; I don’t have the money; My spouse/pastor/leader/supervisor/children/siblings/neighbor doesn’t feel good about me doing that or going there; I’m not sure it’s God’s will; I’m waiting on the Lord’s timing.”

Consider the last excuse: “I’m waiting on the Lord’s timing.” A leader once said, “The need that you see is your call; once you see it, you must move to meet that need.” He meant that seeing an existing need is often the only “call” from God you are going to receive. While you may assume everyone sees what you see if they just pay attention, in most cases they cannot see what you see. Who God made you to be and your values qualify you to see certain things that no one else can see like you do, no matter how obvious you think it is.

The good news is that God, who has given you the ability to see the need, will also equip you to address the need. The Lord responded to Moses: “Who gave man his mouth? Who makes him deaf or mute? Who gives him sight or makes him blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say” (Exodus 4:11-12). God is saying the same thing to you as He told Moses and that is to “go” and do. As you go, He will help you speak or accomplish whatever it is He wants you to do. Stop procrastinating and finding excuses to justify your delay.

If you have passed on your "call" in the past, it's not too late to do something now. The God of your purpose is extending to you another opportunity to do His will as only you can do it. Don’t disappoint Him or make Him find someone else. If you see it, you can do it. What’s more, you must do it if you are to be a person of purpose. The good news is that you don't have to do it alone; He goes with you wherever you go—even to the ends of the earth.

Purpose Study Bible 61: What Do You Have?

This week we continue our study of Moses’ comments during his encounter with the burning bush. In this study, let's look at Moses' fourth excuse, which was an answer to a question God asked Moses:

“Then the Lord said to him, ‘What is that in your hand?’ ‘A staff,’ he [Moses] replied” (Exodus 4:2).

Moses was concerned he would fail because of all the things he didn’t have. According to his inventory, he only had a staff. In other words, he didn’t have enough knowledge about God, he lacked the confidence, he was too old, he wasn't as powerful as he used to be, and he wouldn’t be able to respond properly to the peoples’ questions. God asked him a simple question, however: “What do you have?” Moses was honest with God; he told Him that he only had a staff, which hardly seemed adequate to accomplish the task. God went on to show him it was enough as described in Exodus 4:3-9:

The Lord said, “Throw it on the ground.” Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it. Then the Lord said to him, “Reach out your hand and take it by the tail.” So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand. “This,” said the Lord, “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.” Then the Lord said, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” So Moses put his hand into his cloak, and when he took it out, the skin was leprous—it had become as white as snow. “Now put it back into your cloak,” he said. So Moses put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored, like the rest of his flesh. Then the Lord said, “If they do not believe you or pay attention to the first sign, they may believe the second. But if they do not believe these two signs or listen to you, take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground. The water you take from the river will become blood on the ground.”

Will you allow God to prove to you that you do have what it takes to do His will, as long as you submit what you have to Him? Are you ready to move beyond the land of excuses to the Kingdom of obedience? Are you ready to face your fears and obey God? In the process, you must also learn to surrender what you do have to God’s empowering touch so that you will be equipped to fulfill your purpose. Why not make this the week  you do those things, so  you won’t delay any longer in doing what God has put in your heart to do?

Purpose Study Bible 60: Fear Not Trying

In the last several studies, we have considered the fact that Moses was less than enthusiastic when the Lord ordered him to Egypt during their encounter at the burning bush. His first objection was that he wasn't capable; the second was he didn't have enough information to respond to the people's questions. Let's read about his third excuse in this study. Moses' third excuse was,

"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you?'" (Exodus 4:1).

Moses was asking, "What if I fail? What if I'm obedient but the people don't respond? What if they don't believe me or accuse me of being a fraud?" Fear of failure is a common stumbling block for people trying to be more purposeful and productive. They can be so afraid of doing the wrong thing that they end up doing nothing, missing potentially significant opportunities.

Are you afraid of failure? Is that what stands between you and any attempt to fulfill your purpose or achieve your goal? As you think of your answer, consider what former American President Theodore Roosevelt had to say about failure:

It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly. Who errs, and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

If what Roosevelt said is true, then you should fear not trying even if you fail. It is better to fail trying to do something great than to succeed at doing nothing, for the latter isn't really success at all. Don't be reckless but when it involves your purpose or creativity, calculated risks that will benefit many people are where your faith can win the day and change lives.

Are you ready to face your fear of failure? Are you ready to replace it with a fear of not failing? Are you offering God and others the same excuse that Moses offered? Are you asking, "But what if things don't work out?" The way to avoid even answering the last question is never to take action. Stop allowing fear to paralyze you and then act. Be more concerned with the consequences of being purposeless than the consequences of trying and failing.

In the last several studies, we have considered the fact that Moses was less than enthusiastic when the Lord ordered him to Egypt during their encounter at the burning bush. His first objection was that he wasn't capable; the second was he didn't have enough information to respond to the people's questions. Let's read about his third excuse in this study. Moses' third excuse was,

"What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you?'" (Exodus 4:1).

Moses was asking, "What if I fail? What if I'm obedient but the people don't respond? What if they don't believe me or accuse me of being a fraud?" Fear of failure is a common stumbling block for people trying to be more purposeful and productive. They can be so afraid of doing the wrong thing that they end up doing nothing, missing potentially significant opportunities.

Are you afraid of failure? Is that what stands between you and any attempt to fulfill your purpose or achieve your goal? As you think of your answer, consider what former American President Theodore Roosevelt had to say about failure:

It is not the critic who counts. Not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood. Who strives valiantly. Who errs, and comes up short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming. But who does actually strive to do the deeds. Who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions. Who spends himself in a worthy cause. Who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worse, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.

If what Roosevelt said is true, then you should fear not trying even if you fail. It is better to fail trying to do something great than to succeed at doing nothing, for the latter isn't really success at all. Don't be reckless but when it involves your purpose or creativity, calculated risks that will benefit many people are where your faith can win the day and change lives.

Are you ready to face your fear of failure? Are you ready to replace it with a fear of not failing? Are you offering God and others the same excuse that Moses offered? Are you asking, "But what if things don't work out?" The way to avoid even answering the last question is never to take action. Stop allowing fear to paralyze you and then act. Be more concerned with the consequences of being purposeless than the consequences of trying and failing.

Purpose Study Bible 59: "I Am not Ready"

There is no one greater than Moses in the Old Testament, but we saw last week that Moses was just like you and me. He was willing to do God's will to a point, but then he began to produce excuses that he hoped would exempt him from going back to Egypt, a job he clearly didn't want to do. In the last study, Moses offered his first excuse that he was not the right man to go. Next he tried a different ploy, claiming that he wasn't ready to go.

"Suppose I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask, 'What is his name?' Then what shall I tell them?" (Exodus 3:13).

Moses was trying to talk God out of His decision to send Moses, saying in so many words, "I am not ready. I don't have all the information I need. I need to know more about God and be better equipped to handle people's objections and questions. I need more education and training. "

Perhaps you feel the same way about an assignment or idea in your heart. You may say, "I'm praying about it," but are you really? Maybe you are thinking, "I don't have the education or training," or "I am not spiritual enough; I have to get this or that fixed in my life before I go and do." You may indeed need more training or education, and you may also need to address a deficiency or problem in your life. Yet those issues don't disqualify you from doing something today to see God's will furthered in your life. Usually, you can address your issues while you are fulfilling your purpose instead of before even trying to fulfill it. Don't try to figure out all the implications of God's will before you start doing it; start doing it and make your changes and improvements as you go.

Are you procrastinating, delaying the first steps you need to take where your purpose or goals are concerned? What excuses have you come up with that sound logical, which have almost become second nature to you? Are you ready to face the truth of why you are delaying? Hopefully you are, for God knew your lack and weakness before He gave you the idea or directive. In spite of your lack, He is offering you a chance to fulfill your purpose. Are you ready to stop delaying and to take action? Today would be the time when you finally stop asking questions and offering excuses.

Purpose Study Bible 58: "I Am not the One"

When Moses had his encounter with the burning bush, the Lord spoke to him and informed him that He was going to do the following:

"And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt" (Exodus 3:9-10).

It is intriguing that this great man of God, who has been held up as the model of obedience and productivity throughout the ages, was an excuse-maker just like we are. Let's take a look at his excuses over the next few entries, starting with the first one he uttered after the Lord spoke to him that he was going on a trip back to the land of his birth. When God told Moses what he was to do, Moses said in so many words, "I am not the one!" To be specific, Moses responded, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11). It seems Moses was suffering from low self-esteem. God had just revealed and confirmed Moses' purpose to him, a purpose that Moses at one time knew and proclaimed, yet there he was, trying to explain why he wasn't the one to do the deed. 

Have you ever done the same thing? Are you doing it now? You pray to know and fulfill your purpose. When God reveals it to you, however, you may be surprised when God complies with our request. A litany of excuses often follows that revelation when you inform God that you don't have the talent, time, money, education, experience, or permission from your spouse to do His will. Are you struggling with low self-esteem or lack of confidence in your purpose quest? As you grappling with the fact that it is not enough to know God's will; you must submit to it? Does your mind focus on reasons why you cannot do God's will instead of ways you can? If you answer yes to any of those questions, you can take some consolation from the fact that Moses struggled with the same thing, yet went on to do great things. In future entries, we will look at more of the excuses Moses produced and see if you identify with any (or all) of them.

Purpose Study Bible 57: Curiosity

We know that Moses tended sheep in the wilderness for forty years. Moses had to work in the desert heat year in and year out, and probably every now and then a dry bush would burst into flames due to the super-hot conditions. Then one day Moses saw something unusual that captured his attention:

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up" (Exodus 3:1-3).

What was unusual about this bush is that it burned, but it was not consumed. It just kept on burning. Moses could have easily dismissed this sight and went about his business, but he decided to investigate further.  Upon closer examination, he had a surprising thing happen: "When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am" (Exodus 3:4).

God did not call Moses over to the bush.  It was his curiosity that caused him to pause and look and then, and only then, did God call out to Moses and initiate a series of events that changed the course of history. In this order of events, first came Moses' curiosity, then his reaction, God's call, and finally Moses' response to God. There is another example of this from the New Testament. Do you every stop to think that it was Saul's interest, his obsession with persecuting Christians, that led him to become a Christian and later serve as the Apostle Paul?  If God can use Saul's misdirected interest to direct his steps, then God can use your curiosities to do the same. What does this have to do with your purpose success?

There are many people waiting for God's call and perhaps you are one of them. Did you ever consider that the call may be in what interests you? You are busy and don't see how what interests you can develop into a career, so you don't pursue what is in your heart. Because you don't trust what is in you, you go about your business and wonder why God is not answering your prayers to be used or promoted. Where do your curiosities lie? In history? Math? Engineering? Poverty and how to alleviate it? Have you ever considered that God may want to use these curiosities like He did with Moses and Saul?

Make a list of those curiosities and then do something simple: Ask the Lord to help you understand them and to speak to you out of them, just like He did to Moses from the burning bush. Then turn your curiosities into action whether it be study, travel, or teaching, among other things, and see where those curiosities and interests take you.

Purpose Study Bible 56: Me, Myself, and I

Once we learn that Pharaoh's daughter adopted and raised Moses, we are not told anything else about him until he is grown. Stephen's speech before his martyrdom, however, did tell us a few things about those silent years:

Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action. When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not (Acts 7:22-25, emphasis added).

Stephen reported Moses knew his life purpose was to rescue his people. Unfortunately, he thought it would happen through his own power and military might, so he started his liberation movement by slaying an Egyptian. That was one down and three million to go.

Look at the passage below and you will see a lot of me-myself-and-I actions (in bold) but not a lot of what God wanted Moses to do or how God wanted him to do it:

One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?” The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “What I did must have become known" (Exodus 2:11-14, emphasis added).

After Moses realized he had been found out, he was afraid and assumed the only way to survive was to run, which he did.

What about you? Do you know your purpose? If you do, what kind of results are you getting? If they are meager, are you acting alone and in your own understanding of how it will be accomplished in and through you? If you have some failures or missteps, are you now living in fear, perhaps running away from your purpose call? The answer is neither self-willed actions or fear-filled conclusions. Instead, the way forward is for you to submit to God's work in your life and ways He has designated for you to fulfill your purpose. That may be in your home area or someplace else in the world, and it may be in ways you never thought possible.

Purpose Study Bible 55: Ideas to Cash

Let's stay in Exodus 2 this week and continue to look at the story of the first months and years of Moses' life. We have seen already that Moses' parents saw purpose in his life and protected him as long as they could. After that, they put him in the river as directed, but first constructed a waterproof basket for his protection. Then we read

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?” “Yes, go,” she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So the woman took the baby and nursed him (Exodus 2:5-9).

Here we learn that a mother's faith was rewarded not only with her child's salvation, but also with provision for him and her family. Pharaoh's household not only adopted Moses as their own, but also returned the baby to his mother for care and nurture until he was weaned. Moses' mother got to hold her child again, nurse him, and keep him from the king's death edict. In a sense, Moses' mother was financially rewarded for her wisdom and creativity with both salvation and provision.

Often, you pray for financial blessings and God responds not with money, but with an idea. When you act on the idea and bring it to fruition, then the finances come and your prayer is fully answered. Do you have any good ideas you can act on and convert to cash or even wealth? Do you have things of value around you that you have become so accustomed to that you are blind to the fact that they are an answer to your prayers for money? Are you undervaluing your own wisdom or creativity for which people would be willing to pay you to give them? Where are you currently giving away who you are, what you do, and what you to which you could attach economic value and have others gladly pay you for them? Stop overlooking or underestimating what you have around or in you. Then, start expressing, investing, or releasing what you have and see if the Lord won't bring a Pharaoh to provide for you in ways you previously thought impossible.

Purpose Study Bible 54: Purpose Parents

Last week, we looked at the birth of Moses and his mother's faith that saved him. Let's look at that story again this week:

"So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months" (Exodus 2:2).

What did Moses' mama see? What did Moses' mama see that made her boy beautiful?  She saw the purpose of God on him.  She saw past the imperfections and Pharaoh's edict and saw God's hand, as Stephen said while preaching to the Sanhedrin: "It was at this time that Moses was born; and he was lovely in the sight of God, and he was nurtured three months in his father's home" (Acts 7:20).

As we saw last week, Moses' mother obeyed Pharaoh's edict—sort of.  She threw her son into the river, but first she built and placed him in a waterproof basket. After all, Pharaoh didn't say that she could not do that, now did he?  She was creative to preserve her son's purpose from the ravages of culture, prejudice and fear.  This woman changed the world because she saw more than just her baby boy; she saw God's purpose for him, which made him lovely in the sight of God.

Moses’ parents must have imparted purpose to Moses, for he had a clear understanding of what he was to do with his life while still being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter: “For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand" (Acts 7:25, NKJV). While it took another 40 years for Moses to actually be the deliverer he knew he would be, the fact is that he knew his purpose at a reasonably young age.

So if and when you are a parent, what will you do? Will you choose to look at all the wrinkles, faults, and weaknesses of your children, or will you focus on his or her purpose? Will you do for them what Egypt says must be done, or will you do what God's purpose warrants for them? Will you send them into the river without protection or with a handmade basket to protect them from the dangerous elements of life so they can "float" to their divine destiny?

Moses' mother changed history by being a good purpose parent and you can, too. Don't waste time trying to make your children perfect, and don't just hand them over to Egypt. See in them what God sees and then do what you have to do to help bring forth God's purpose in them.

Purpose Study Bible 53: Creative Obedience

Perhaps this entry should be titled "Creative Disobedience" but you be the judge. Let's start with a verse from Exodus 1: "Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live" (1:22). Since the midwives refused to kill all the Israelite male babies, Pharaoh decided to enlist the help of all his fellow citizens. This was apparently effective until one young couple got married, had a baby boy, and decided not to obey Pharaoh's order—at least not right away:

Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him (Exodus 2:1-4).

Moses' mother decided to disobey Pharaoh's genocidal order and hid her baby boy for three months. After that, she obeyed Pharaoh's order but with a slight twist. She placed her baby in the river as ordered, but first she placed him in a waterproof basket. Now that was a brilliant strategy that at least protected the baby from drowning or being a crocodile's lunch. The plan would only work, however, if someone would find the baby, take pity on him, and adopt him as their own—which is exactly what happened.

What do you think? Was the baby's mother creatively obedient since she put her child in the river but in a little boat? Or was she creatively disobedient because she violated the essence of Pharaoh's decree? Either way, you must admit that this woman had a penchant for creative problem solving.

How about you? Are you facing a dilemma or problem you have been unable to solve? Do you need a creative breakthrough? Then perhaps you need to do what this mother did and look at the problem from a different angle or perspective? Maybe you need to consult with someone who isn't as close to the problem as you are? And if there is an edict or rule that is hindering your effectiveness, pray God will give you fresh insight that you will help you be creatively obedient—or disobedient, as the case may be.