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Our weekly newsletter filled with news, updates, and inspiring stories of how God is working in the Bay Area.

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*Some call it a quiet time. We call it a Vision Quest. This is a simple Bible study to help you along your journey of discovering God’s purpose for your life.*

This quiet time is about Moses relationship with God and how God talked to Moses like a friend.

It was Moses’ practice to take the Tent of Meeting and set it up some distance from the camp. Everyone who wanted to make a request of the Lord would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp.

Whenever Moses went out to the Tent of Meeting, all the people would get up and stand in the entrances of their own tents. They would all watch Moses until he disappeared inside. As he went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and hover at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. When the people saw the cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, they would stand and bow down in front of their own tents. Inside the Tent of Meeting, the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. Afterward Moses would return to the camp, but the young man who assisted him, Joshua son of Nun, would remain behind in the Tent of Meeting.

Exodus 33:7-11

Moses set up a special place where he and God could talk face to face without distractions. This teaches us that if we want to be close to God, we have to make it special. If you have never done it yourself you can join someone else who has.

There’s a lot you can do to make your time with God more relational. Spend time with God like you would with a friend! You can cook with God, go on a walk with God, ask God questions. Moses cherished his relationship with God.

What can you do to make your time with God special and personal?

(Now Moses was very humble—more humble than any other person on earth.) So immediately the Lord called to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle. Then the Lord descended in the pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam!” he called, and they stepped forward. 6 And the Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say:

“If there were prophets among you, I, the Lord, would reveal myself in visions. I would speak to them in dreams. But not with my servant Moses. Of all my house, he is the one I trust. I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the Lord as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”

Numbers 12:3-8

Moses humility enabled him to see God’s face more clearly. If you are struggling with unbelief and doubt, then the problem is most likely pride that you’ve not been dealing with in your heart.

Self-reliance is one way we know that we’re proud. When you rely on yourself that means you’re putting more faith in your ability than in God’s own hand or his ability to work through others.

What areas of pride are keeping you from seeing God?

But Moses protested to God, “Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?” God answered, “I will be with you. And this is your sign that I am the one who has sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God at this very mountain.” But Moses protested, “If I go to the people of Israel and tell them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what should I tell them?” God replied to Moses, “I am who i am. Say this to the people of Israel: I am has sent me to you.” God also said to Moses, “Say this to the people of Israel: Yahweh, the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.

Exodus 3:11-15

Moses expressed exactly what he was thinking to God. He expressed a lot of self doubt and God worked him through his doubt in a powerful way. Even so Moses was still unwilling to do God’s will and told God that. God responds to honesty. He may not always respond the way you want, but he does respond.

Go out and pray through every single one of you doubts and ask God to make you stronger in your belief. Then you can go and ask friends and look to the bible for convictions.

What doubts do you have about God?

And Moses said to the Lord, “Why are you treating me, your servant, so harshly? Have mercy on me! What did I do to deserve the burden of all these people? Did I give birth to them? Did I bring them into the world? Why did you tell me to carry them in my arms like a mother carries a nursing baby? How can I carry them to the land you swore to give their ancestors? Where am I supposed to get meat for all these people? They keep whining to me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ I can’t carry all these people by myself! The load is far too heavy! If this is how you intend to treat me, just go ahead and kill me. Do me a favor and spare me this misery!”

Numbers 11:11-15

Sometimes we get really mad and angry with God. It’s important to express those feelings to him too. Remember a relationship with God is like a friendship and just like bitterness in a human friendship can kill it, so can bitterness in your friendship with God.

It’s not easy to understand looking forward how God is going to connect all the dots in your life. It’s much easier to be negative about the future and about God.

What things has God done in your life that you believe are unfair?

Pray through the unfair situations and really see how God is working his plan.

But the whole community began to talk about stoning Joshua and Caleb. Then the glorious presence of the Lord appeared to all the Israelites at the Tabernacle. And the Lord said to Moses, “How long will these people treat me with contempt? Will they never believe me, even after all the miraculous signs I have done among them? I will disown them and destroy them with a plague. Then I will make you into a nation greater and mightier than they are!”

Numbers 14:10-12

God has feelings too and it’s just as important for us to talk to him as it is for us to understand God’s emotions. Many times it’s hard to experience God’s emotions because they put external pressure on us when we’re so used to indulging our own emotions.

Try and explore the breadth of God’s emotions. His anger can stand out a lot, but try to understand his jealousy, his love, his passion, and other emotions.

What emotions from God are you ignoring?

Challenge: Take everything you learned today and pray through all of it. Then take a piece of paper and write down what you think God’s response to your prayer would be. Use scriptures to backup what you think he would say.

Written by

Bay Area Christian Church

This was created by a member of the Bay Area Christian Church team.