A Defining Moment

Let’s pray.

Father,

Open my eyes so I can see Your truth.

Open my ears so I can hear Your voice.

Open my mind so I can understand Your Word.

And open my heart so I may receive all that You want me to receive.

AMEN

Let’s talk about defining moments.

What is a defining moment?

A defining moment is any time in your life in which a choice that you make or an incident that happens causes something in your life to change. It is something that from that moment on defines some aspect of your life.

People have lots of defining moments throughout their lifetimes.

A defining moment can be when we move from being a child to a teenager. It can be the day we get married. It can be when we have our first child. A defining moment might be when you graduate high school or college. It might be during a death of a loved one.

As a Christian you can also have defining moments. They happen throughout our spiritual life.

The day you became a Christian was a defining moment. A time in your walk when you faced your first trial as a believer. A defining moment could be when you weathered a tough storm or when you discovered a Biblical truth for the first time.

There are two things about defining moments that are true; first, people are not limited to just one defining moment in our lives and second defining moments will have a huge impact upon our lives when they happen. Most likely, once you have a defining moment you are not the same again.

There have been many defining moments in the lives of human beings that changed their lives forever and set the course they would follow for the balance of their lives.

Many of these defining moments are recorded in God’s Word. The Bible is a great place to see good examples defining moments.

Moses had a number of defining moments in his life, like when he found the Burning Bush and God spoke to him.

Daniel, Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego had defining moments when they were taken into captivity.

Daniel had a defining moment when he was thrown into a lion’s den.

Shadrack, Meshach, and Abednego had a defining moment when they were thrown into a fiery furnace.

King David had many defining moments that affected him in positive ways and in negative ways.

Sometimes the decision we make can be the wrong decision. When David made the decision to sin with Bathsheba; it was a defining moment. Then when confronted by the Prophet Nathan about the sin, David had another defining moment.

The Apostle Paul had at least 3 defining moments. When Stephen was stoned, when he was on the road to Damascus and saw Jesus and when he accepted Jesus as his Savior.

I could go on and on with examples from the Word of God of people who ha defining moments that caused them to experience something that was beyond their human experience. Something that took them out of their paradigm of life. Something that made them move outside the box.

And when that happened, they were never the same again.

Take Joshua for instance. He had many defining moments that eventually caused the whole nation of Israel to have defining moments.

In Exodus 33 we get a hint of a defining moment for Joshua in verse 11 it tells us that when Moses left the Tent of Meeting Joshua would not leave the tent. He was spending some face time with God and it was changing his life. It was a defining moment.

In Deuteronomy 31 when Moses chose Joshua to succeed him as the leader of the Israelites and to take them into the Promised Land, that was a defining moment.

When Joshua came to the Jordan River at flood stage once again, another defining moment for Joshua and for the nation.

His defining moments lead the nation Israel to their defining moments.

When they stood at the banks of the Jordan River they had to make a choice to follow God and cross the flooded river or to stay put.

This event defined them as a people who could trust God to provide a way where there seemed to be no way.

As the water began to part and as the people began to cross over into the Promised Land on dry ground they had a defining moment.

Then right after that the people had another choice to make. As they stood outside the city of Jericho, a seemingly impossible task was before them.

It was the first city to conquer and the people who occupied the city were strong and well protected. It was far beyond their ability to penetrate the walls of this city and yet they obeyed God and had a defining moment when they let God win the battle.