WEDNESDAY'S WORD - CAMOUFLAGED - 05/16/18 - Sadell Bradley - New Life Covenant Cincinnati

"Remember, God provides the best camouflage  several hours out of every 24."   -David M. Shoup   Can you spot the Snow Leopard in the photo above? Yeah, I couldn't either, because it's CAMOUFLAGED. In nature, CAMOUFLAGE is an animal's natural coloring or form that enables it to blend in with its surroundings.  It is also the disguising of military personnel, equipment, or installations by painting or covering them to make them blend in with their surroundings (left photo).  Figuratively, CAMOUFLAGE means the actions or devices used or intended to hide or disguise the presence of a person, animal or object; to conceal their existence. It's there, but someone doesn't want you to know it. Sometimes God allows things to be hidden in plain sight. When God camouflages someone, no one will find them until He wants them found.     God told Abraham his descendants would be slaves for 400 years to a people who would treat them harshly. After those years were accomplished, He would bring them out with great spoil. Joseph was used both to deliver the Jews from a famine, and into this prophetic reality. In Egypt, Israel's numbers grew so much that Pharaoh was afraid and decided to enslave and oppress them - but the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. He instructed the mid-wives to kill all of the male babies during childbirth, but they allowed them to live saying the Israeli mothers birthed them so fast they could not get to them in time. God blessed the midwives for this, but Pharaoh commanded that every male child be thrown into the Nile River. (Ex. 1:12-22)    Moses' mother hid him for three months in her home. When she could conceal him no longer she made a papyrus basket, coated it with tar and gave him to his sister to place in the River.  Pharaoh's daughter saw the baby in the basket and felt sorry for it. She took the child in to raise as her own. She asked his sister to find someone to nurse him and eventually paid his own mother to do it! The name Moses means, "because I drew him out of the water." (Exodus 2:1-10)  God's chosen deliverer for the Jews was CAMOUFLAGED undetected in the home and family of their oppressor. Masterful! If God has camouflaged you; nobody's going to see who you are until it's time! I'm a witness, He will make you undetectable. Moses' ill-fated attempt at delivering his people by killing an oppressive Egyptian didn't bring him out from under God's radar. In fact, it led him into 40 hidden years in the desert as a shepherd. Moses knew he was the deliverer, but God wasn't ready to reveal it.     You are going to be camouflaged until God is ready to unveil you. It's frustrating because there's really nothing you can do to accelerate that process. The LORD is working the proper character inside to prepare you for your next assignment. For years, people thought Joseph was just a slave, then an inmate. As a child, David's family believed he was a shepherd boy, not a king. Folks even assumed Jesus was just a good man with a prophetic mantle. The fact that He is the Son of God is still hidden from many. It was a revelation only the Father could give. (Matt. 16:15-16) Jesus told His disciples, "My Father has entrusted everything to me. No one truly knows the Son except the Father, and no one truly knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him." (Matthew 11:27) Camouflage is sometimes necessary and always purposeful. I bet you can see the Snow Leopard now...

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