The Lord Jesus Christ left His glory and Kingdom and came down to this
earth. He offered His whole body to be broken and blood to be shed. He became
poor, emptied Himself and gave all, to be our Saviour. That itself is a proof to us that
our Lord had a very grand and lofty purpose in saving us and calling us to Himself.
In the beginning, Moses never knew why God called Him. But he knew God had
spoken to him and called him by his name saying, "Moses, Moses". God's call to me
for His service became clear to me two years after my salvation, but He spoke to me
about His service soon after I was born again. A month after my conversion I went
for a meeting. Nobody knew me there. As an utter stranger I was standing there
outside the church building. One tall man came near me and enquired who I was. I
told him, "I am also a Christian". He said to me, "Why don't you go to India and
preach the Gospel?" I said to him, "Sir, I am an engineer. I spent so many years
studying engineering. To make things worse, I stutter and stammer. To make things
still worse, I am shy. How can such a person be a preacher?" He said nothing
afterwards. But somehow these words came to me again and again. "Why don't you
give up engineering, go to India and preach the Gospel?" I could not understand
why, but I knew that the same voice was coming to me. Only after two years I could
fully realize what God had called me for. So after we are born again, to have a desire
to serve the Lord is good. We realize that the Lord wants us for something, and we
have to pray definitely, "0 Lord, make your call clear to me. What are you expecting
me to do for you? Even though I know my limitations, weaknesses, failures of the
past, and my handicaps of all kinds, I know you have some purpose for me". After
you are truly born again that must be your prayer. God has saved you for
something. He paid the price for something. You should find it out.

When God spoke to Moses, he answered saying, "Here am I" (Exo.3:4). Then
God said to him, "...1 am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look upon
God" (v.6). And straightway God made him see the great purpose for which He had
called him -to be His mouthpiece, as a witness, a servant and a messenger. That
purpose is mentioned in verses 7 and 8. "And the LORD said, I have surely seen the
affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of
their task masters; for I know their sorrows; And I am come down to deliver them
out of the land of the Egyptians, and to bring them out of that land unto a good
land..."

God wanted Moses to be His partner and co -worker for two great purposes.
He wanted to deliver His people from the bondage of the Egyptians and to bring
them to the land flowing with milk and honey. God saw that His people were in great
affliction and bondage under cruel taskmasters. They were working hard the whole
day and received no pay. The Lord saw the affliction of His people, heard their cry
and wanted to deliver them from the bondage. He wanted Moses to be His co -
worker for that great deliverance to .be wrought through Him. Secondly, God wanted
Moses to bring His people into Canaan. "I am come down to deliver them out of the
hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a
large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey" (Exo.3:8).

Even though God may not call us like Moses for a very big task like that, yet
He does call everyone of us for some task. Whatever work He gives us, it is equally
precious in His sight. To everyone of us our job looks very big like a huge mountain.
Zerubbabel felt the same way. If you want to grow spiritually, you must be willing to
hear God's call and obey Him. You can pray, "0 Lord, please show me which way I
can serve Thee, obey Thee and be of some use to Thee". Then He will guide you and
help you day by day. But you must be conscious of the call of God that He wants to
use you for His glory , for the deliverance of those who are in bondage and lead
them to their inheritance. Those who are in bondage should be delivered through us,
and after being delivered they must come into the possession to enjoy their
salvation. We find that more than seventy-five percent of believers do not enjoy their
salvation. They live just an ordinary life, coming for the meetings and going away.
They do not have any understanding of the deeper truths of salvation. If we
understand God's purposes, then through love and fellowship we can help such
believers.

When God was calling Moses to be the great deliverer of His people, he was
saying, "Lord, who am I? What am I? I am nothing. I know my weaknesses, and my
failures, my shortcomings and my limitations. How can such a man be useful unto
Thee?" By knowing our nothingness, and by understanding God's purpose in saving
us, we become unto God more useful.

Now in Exo. 3:6 and 14, God gave His four names to Moses to prepare him
for his great task. "...1 am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, and the God of Jacob...And God said unto Moses. I AM THAT I AM: and he
said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel. I AM hath sent me unto you".
God called Himself the God of Abraham, God of Isaac. God of Jacob and I am that I
am. Through these four great names God was preparing Moses for a very effective
service.

The first name is "The God of Abraham". That has a double meaning. First of
all, Abraham began to see the true meaning of righteousness. Here you have the
true meaning of the Name. The God of Abraham. God appeared to Abraham twice in
Genesis 12 and then in chapter 13. In chapter 14 He appeared to him. in the form of
Melchisedec. Then He appeared to him in chapter 15 and then in chapter 17 by which
time he was 99 years old. Only at that age, he began to believe in God's wonderworking power to give him a child. Before that he was hoping to have a child in his
own strength, but when he became very old, that is, when he was a hundred years
old, when both he and Sarah passed the age of child -bearing, when they had the
least hope of having a child, then God opened his eyes. God provided a new power, a
death -conquering power, to be poured into him to make him righteous and that is
the power of resurrection. Only with that power he became righteous and it was
imputed to him for righteousness.

God put new life into Abraham, and so he became righteous. "He staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to
God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to
perform. And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness" (Rom.4: 20 -22).
He could not glory in his own self or energy. We do not become righteous before God
by our Bible knowledge, rituals and activities. By receiving into us by faith the power
of resurrection, we become righteous forever. And that is the meaning of new birth,
which is a great experience. It is by that new life and death -conquering power that
day by day we have to serve God, by becoming righteous in His sight. "...Jesus our
Lord…was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification"
(Rom.4: 24,25).

The second thing we learn through the Name, the God of Abraham, is how
Abraham became the friend of God. "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith,
Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was
the Friend of God" (James 2:23). He became God's friend at the age of 99. Before
that he could have said truthfully, "God appeared to me; God spoke to me; I obeyed
Him" and so on, but he could not say, "God is my friend". Only after Genesis 17 he
became God's friend. We read in Gen.18: 17, " And the Lord said, Shall hide from
Abraham that thing which I do... ?" God could share with Abraham all the secrets
from that time onwards. By sharing our personal secrets, problems, shortcomings
and failures freely, we also become God's friends. Talk to Him like a Friend. There is
no fear in telling Him our personal secrets, temptations and failures. Share
everything with Him as your best Friend. Then wait patiently for His answer.
Similarly, ask God to show you His own secrets, His heavenly mysteries. Friendship
becomes thicker when we share secrets. And that is how God could speak to Moses
and He could carry out His task. As we walk with God like a friend we have the
privilege of serving Him more fruitfully.

Secondly, God is called by the Name, "The God of Isaac" (Exo.3: 6). In Isaac
we have the symbol of resurrection. The power of resurrection was available, not
only for Moses but it is for all those who obey the Lord. That power of resurrection
works in a threefold way. First of all, we become righteous by the power of
resurrection (Rom.4: 25). Secondly, by the power of resurrection we conquer all our
earthly trials and temptations (Phil.3: 10 - 14). That was the longing of Paul the
apostle -to know Him and the power of His resurrection, that he might win the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. That is possible by conquering every trial
and temptation by the power of resurrection. Whatever may be our trials and
temptations, weaknesses and shortcomings, we can say by faith, "0 Lord, in myself I
am weak and helpless, having so many failures. Will you kindly pour in me your
power of resurrection 'and make me an overcomer? Help me to overcome this
temptation. In myself I am nothing. I depend upon you". That is the second way in
which the power of resurrection works in us. Thirdly, by that power one day we will
be given immortal bodies. "But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal
bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Rom.8: 11). The same power by which our
Lord rose again will be poured into our bodies. When the Lord Jesus Christ will come
back again, by the efficacy of the precious blood and by the power of resurrection we
will be given immortal, glorified, heavenly bodies. But we must learn how to receive
and appropriate that power day by day, and not depend upon our own human
strength of any kind for victory.

The third name is the God of Jacob. When God first met Jacob he was full of
fear. He was fully transformed after going through many years of severe trials. Then
he became Israel, i.e. God's prince (Gen.32: 26-29). Then the God of Jacob became
the God of Israel. God has given us a high heavenly calling in the Lord Jesus Christ
to be kings, but very few believers enjoy it in experience.

Many believers live as beggars rather than living as kings. Instead of having
faith they are full of fear, doubts and anxiety. Our God is the God of Jacob. He has
called us to be kings and priests forever, in His heavenly Kingdom. Now upon the
earth we are being prepared for our kingship. Those who are washed by the precious
blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will sing the same song in heaven as we read in Rev.
5: 9, 10, "And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and
to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy
blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us
unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." One day we are
going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ as heavenly kings, as His co-workers forever
and ever. First we will reign upon the earth for a thousand years and then we will
reign in the new creation for eternity. Thus if we believe from the heart that my
Lord, my Saviour and my Redeemer, has redeemed me by His precious blood to be
His king to reign with Him, first upon the earth and then in the new creation for ever,
then we can thank Him for every trial in our lives. Our trials give us the training for
our position in heaven as heavenly kings. Thus we can overcome every trial, every
difficulty and every hardship in our lives.

The fourth Name is, I AM THAT I AM (Exo.3: 12,14). The meaning of that
Name is, the Lord will never change. What He has said, He will do. What He has
desired and declared, He will fulfill. "God is not a man that he should lie; neither: the
son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he
spoken, and shall not make it good?" (Num. 23:19). In the case of Moses, God
proved His faithfulness and fulfilled His promises. In the same way, we too need not
depend upon our own courage or qualifications, but claim God's promises day by day
and prove His faithfulness.

God prepared Moses for the very hard task of bringing God's people out of
bondage, by revealing His four Names to him. We are also being prepared in the
same way for an effective ministry. To become unto Him more useful and fruitful,
believe in Him as the God of Abraham and be His friend, sharing all your problems
with Him. Know Him as the God of Isaac, and claim from Him the power of
resurrection for all your needs. As the God of Jacob let Him prepare you for the high
position of becoming His kings by your earthly trials. Finally, know that the "I AM
THAT I AM", the living God, the faithful God, will always keep His promises.
Whatever He has said in His Word, He must, He must fulfill it. By experiencing all
that, you will become unto Him more useful and fruitful.