“How Long Since the Last Dance” was spoken by me, The Jesus Chick, at a conference held at Kerrs Creek Baptist Church in Lexingon, VA on the 9th of May, 2015. It is written in speakers form and it’s my prayer for those who heard it that day, and for those who read it today that you will step out in leadership and discover what grand things the LORD can do with your talents. The painting of Miriam in the background of the photo above, I painted in the inspiration of this study. It was awarded as a gift to a conference attendee and what great joy it  brought to share with them. The song mentioned in the body of this study will hopefully be recorded soon and posted with this study. If this study blesses you, and you’d like more information on booking me for a conference or retreat please use  the contact form below.

We’re going to be in the book of Exodus today and I hope you came with an open heart, ready to step out in faith when the Lord prods you along.

My heart for the ministry is two sided. One side is sold out to discipling youth and the other is encouraging women. And today I’m in the height of glory because I’ve found a study that does both; on Miriam. A woman we watch grow from a child of  faith into a woman of faith and she’s an awesome study because like us she also made some mistakes that we can likely identify with and hopefully learn from.

 Exodus 2

1 And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.

9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the women took the child, and nursed it.

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

So we now know that the name Moses means “Drawn out.” But what about the name Miriam. According to the Egyptian translation (we have to think about where she was when she was born and who’s influence they were under) it means “Beloved.” As does the name Mary, which is an Egyptian form of Miriam. But Miriam in the Hebrew form, means “Rebellious one.”  I found that interesting because we see both character traits in her life. And it goes to prove that God will love and use even a rebellious child.

Faithful from childhood, purposeful from childhood. Here Miriam was at a young age, I’ve heard from seven to young teen, and you can say that they were different times when children matured much sooner and had expectations laid to their charge that we would not put on a child.  But, she was still a young child. My two oldest grandsons are seven. We do not trust them with the younger grandbabies. They would become a redneck science experiment kind of thing. They have little concept of the danger or the need to care for their siblings. And if Miriam’s mom would have had a choice besides this desperate act to save her son, she likely wouldn’t have put Miriam in this position either. But she didn’t have. Desperate times call for desperate measures. Ladies we are in desperate times.

Today as we study Miriam I hope we’ll take what we learn and apply it to our ministries and that each of you will become successful leaders in your own right, in your own church.

Miriam wasn’t your typical teen even for the era she was raised in.

She had the weight of the nation of Israel on her back in so much that if she was caught they would kill her brother and likely her. But she stepped up to the plate. I want to use the young Miriam as a cry to the young ladies here today, and to the moms, grandmoms, aunts, Sunday School Teachers and anyone else who has a part of training young girls. Start raising leaders.  When you send your children out into the world, send them with purpose and confidence.

Four things about Miriam that showed leadership strength from childhood to old age.

1 – Miriam Risk

I’m not saying that anyone should put a child in harm’s way, but I think as mothers and grandmothers we shelter our children for too long from the responsibilities of ministry.

We say:

Let’s let them be children…

They don’t need to be in church every time the doors are open…

You’ll burn them out too young…

Burn them out, we haven’t even caught them on fire!! How can we burn them out?

I’m not saying we need to make preachers and prophetesses out of our little girls, but there seems to be a lack of preparedness on both girls and boys for the ministry.  Praise God for His faithfulness of calling out ministers, I’ve witnessed Him calling them out of a home that in no way encouraged their sons to be ministers, and unfortunately they sometimes went by the way of the world because of lack of support. To the extreme of that I don’t want momma’s and daddy’s calling their kids into the ministry. But… for a fact God calls every child to work in the ministry. Before I was saved I was called to do this. God did not open up any door until I was saved. But as a kid I imagined and played speaker. That is not a typical childhood playacting. I didn’t practice singer because the world had already told me I wasn’t one. But God proved them wrong. I practiced speaking. – As a young girl God was laying the ground work for Miriam, and I believe she knew it. And I believe our little girls, when their hearts are still tender, know what God is calling them to do. But the world oftentimes gets in the way and oftentimes it’s through good parents who want to give their kids everything in the world. I was one of them. If there was an activity at school my girls were in it. I encouraged it. Because busy kids are less apt to get into trouble.  And while that’s true… my girls will tell you that they made room to get into trouble. But what happens is, we get our kids so earthly focused that the voice of God is drowned out by the applause of men.

I’m not naysaying activities. But I’m yaysaying church. Yes, if possible, every time the door is opened. And less activities. Let them be kids and let them have time to hear what God wants them to do. That may be sports, band, music, etc. but it may not. And if they are so busy that they never have time to play with a hairbrush microphone, and sit under the word of God and good mentors, they may miss it all.  And along with that they’ll miss the blessings of God. And you too in seeing your child serving the Lord!

As a child Miriam was a trusted leader. Her mother trusted her with her most prized possession, her newborn son and God trusted her with a nation.

Micah 6:4 says of Miriam

For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

Miriam was a key leader in the story of Exodus. We hear much on Moses, some on Aaron, but not too much on Miriam even though she lead alongside Moses and Aaron and God thought so much of her that He mentions her by name as a leader.

I hope that you ladies are encouraged at this retreat to step up in the ministry of the Lord and use your God given talents for the glory of God. As you do, to begin training young girls to follow suit in helping to build God’s Kingdom.

Don’t overlook the potential of young people.

When we think of the greatest event in the Old Testament the Exodus from Egypt has to rank at the top! Their escape into freedom from wilderness and eventually the into the Promised Land parallels the New Testament Story of what Christ did for us through His crucifixion, burial and resurrection.

Because of that we walk in freedom, heading toward the Promised Land. When we think of that story, Moses automatically comes to mind, but God said not to forget there were other leaders. Aaron and Miriam. God said I sent them before you to lead you to freedom. Miriam… a woman. What the world would have you believe that the Bible casts women down as less important and yet, there in the scriptures we find Miriam’s name listed in the Leaders to freedom. And it’s true of many other women throughout the Bible. So if God considers you to be a leader, who are you leading, how are you leading and where are you leading them to?

God called Moses, Aaron and Miriam into specific roles in leadership. Moses was the deliverer and lawgiver, Aaron was the High Priest and Miriam was a singer, poet and prophetess. She was an artsy smartsy kind of gal. And what I find so interesting about that is I’ve almost always considered that my own downfall in leadership. Yes I can sing, Yes I’m artistic, Yes I write songs and poetry but what does that have to do with leadership? How could it possibly fit in?

This study was for me a “Glory to God” moment where I realized that God really did have a plan in making me the strange woman I have become.

After Israel came through the emotional rollercoaster of deliverance, Miriam grabbed her timbrel and led the women of Israel in a praise concert of God for His deliverance.

In Exodus 15, verses 20-21 it’s reported that “Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them, Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.”

Miriam had soul… her music stirred the congregation in celebration. It is at this point in the Book of Exodus (which was written by Moses) that he referred to his sister as a prophetess. I believe we underestimate the power of our ministry. The most important of all is the Word of God preached by the men of God, but don’t underestimate the power of the music ministry in a church.

King David was one of the greatest kings in Israel but one of his greatest tools in his ministry was his music. He wrote over 72 Psalms which many of us can quote portions of and turn to for encouragement.

Martin Luther wrote over 25,000 pages of theology, but also wrote dozens of hymns and it was said of him that his enemies feared his music even more than his preaching.

Music stirs the soul, which in turn can drive someone to share the gospel or prepare the heart to receive the gospel. Music shapes culture today both positively and negatively.

If you don’t believe that look at John Lennon’s song “Imagine”

“Imagine there’s no heaven, it’s easy if you try
No hell below us, above us only sky, Imagine all the people living for today…”

Sound like any country you know?

In that song Lennon wrote about being freed from the shackles of God, religion and country. If there is no God, no heaven or hell I can live however I want, and they do. That song made atheism and utopianism much more effective than the colleges that are teaching it. Because that song went worldwide. To the educated and uneducated alike and they loved it. Music matters because it speaks to the heart.

This session is not about encouraging women to sing… because I’ve heard some women sing that I’m relatively sure that’s not their calling! What I’m saying is, God gives every single person a gift, a talent that is designed to be used for His glory and we’re not doing that in the church today. We’re not discovering our own talents and we’re not teaching young girls how to discover and use theirs.

I have three girls in my youth ministry that are no doubt church leaders. Not will be… they are now.

Two of them, some of you may know if you’ve met the family of Steve Boggs.

His daughters Chloey and Claire have been such a blessing my life.

Chloey, can sing, and play the fiddle, but at this present time that’s not the gift God is bringing out. She is a “matter of fact, shoot straight from the hip kinda gal.” She has such a heart for evangelism. And it’s going to serve her well because she’s marrying a preacher in a few weeks. Someone ask her why she was getting married so young and her response was, because Jesus may come back, why should I wait?” And I said Glory to God! I’d hate to know the statistic of young people getting out of high school and shacking up. Chloey wants to do it right. And she is. Yet the world penalizes her for that and tells her she needs to live her life.

Claire is the sweetest little thing you’ve ever seen. She’s gifted in singing and dance. She loves to dance! But in the 7th grade she’s already had a prayer group going for several years in the middle school. She has a burden for her friends and has such a heart for missions. She’s amazing.

And the last is our new Pastor’s daughter, Shay. She’s a junior in high school and plays the piano like a concert pianist. She knows the Bible. But she’s got the most humble spirit. She’s not a showboat. She just does what the Lord gifted her to do.

I believe all three of these young ladies have the spirit of leadership because they’ve been trained by godly parents and I have had the privilege to be a part of that and so has my friend Gloria. They are who they are because God designed them that way, but they’ve had examples that have gone before them and encouraged them to serve God with those gifts.

That is what each of you were called to do, in some manner sitting here today. I’m not saying you’ve all been called into the youth ministry. Just like those bad singers I mentioned earlier, I’ve seen bad youth workers.

What would possess, a cranky, nasty, impatient woman to think that she was called to serve youth? I can tell you what I think caused her to go into that position. There was a fun, joyful, lover of children that listened to somebody or Satan and didn’t step out when they should of. And Miss cranky pants is there because nobody else would do it. And say what you want about her, at least she stepped out. If you’re not willing to step out… don’t go gossiping about miss cranky pants.

2 – Miriam Lead

And at a young age. We’ve already talked about that, so I’m going to go on to Point three.

3 – Miriam Inspired

Who has inspired you over the course of your lifetime? When Miriam danced on the shore of the Red Sea, she didn’t dance for a show. She danced to praise the Lord for what He had done in their lives. He had freed them from slavery. When is the last time you’ve inspired someone with your praise. When have you told someone what great things the Lord has done in your life? Your testimony, the good, the bad and the ugly all have purpose. God gave you that gift to share with others. When God does something spectacular in your life you should dance a little jig! We call it cloggin’ back home.

Gloria and I are blue grassers we love that music. But more importantly than that we’re Christian women who love sharing the gospel in song. I might also make note, that Gloria and I both began this ministry not too many years ago. So it’s never too late.

One of the gifts that God has given me that I have failed to use to its greatest potential is the gift of music. God’s given me a few songs to write, but one of them He gave me exclusively for this retreat. When I began studying Miriam and how God used her, I found a piece of myself and a message for every woman here who struggles with life. The Song is “Miriam’s Dance.” And the chorus says this… it’s been a long time since the last dance.

When is the last time you really danced for the Lord and rejoiced over what He’s done in your life? Maybe today it was all you could do, to get out of bed and get to church. Forget about dancing, you don’t even want to walk. You haven’t seen victory in your life for so long you’re not even sure you could spell the word. I’ll tell you how you spell Victory. J-E-S-U-S

Sing Miram’s dance…

That song pushed me so far out of my comfort zone. I wanted someone else to play the music. So I found a guy who could do it, it never happened. God shut every door. I sang in front of a couple of churches and played the guitar and wanted to crawl under the pew when I was done. True story. And yet… God still tells me, “You need to play that for Lexington.” And I’m like, “God, have the people not suffered enough.”

I’m an adequate singer, I’m a lousy guitar player.

And God said do it, and so I did. Because if I’m not willing to step out for Him, how can I ask you to. Bad or good, it didn’t matter. I just needed to do it so that I might inspire you to step out for the cause of Christ.

The last point is the hardest one.

4 – Miriam Failed

Numbers 12

1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)

4 And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.

5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.

7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.

8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.

10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.

11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.

12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.

13 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.

14 And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.

Miriam was not a failure because of her inability to lead, or that she did not have the power of God upon her when she composed music and dance and inspired the congregation. She was a failure because she had gotten in the flesh and couldn’t keep her trap shut.

I would like to stand here and say to you that I’ve never been that woman but I cannot. What I want you to understand and what God has really been dealing with me on, is God takes gossip serious. It can destroy a church. For seven days the congregation of Israel wouldn’t move because of Miriam’s gossiping tongue. And I can tell you for a fact that there are some churches stuck, not growing, because of a gossiping tongue.

Miriam’s stemmed from prejudice and pride. Whether we admit it or not, we likely have both. If not I’ll confess mine and you can look down your nose at me. I have a prejudice against well-educated and upper class people. I’m being honest. I cannot stand hoity-toity, know it all people who love making it known that they feel superior to lower class or less educated people.Now I have many well educated friends and a few wealthy friends who I know that not to be true of. But when I meet those who are, they do not see Jesus in me.

They need Jesus every bit as much as the poor folk. But they’ll probably have to find Him somewhere else, because I’ve already shut them down. There is no difference in that, than the prejudice that Miriam had because her sister-in-law was from a different race. She was an Ethiopian, and Miriam didn’t like it one little bit.

Miriam also didn’t like the fact that everyone was talking about Moses. “And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.

In my studies of Miriam I ran across this quote on bible.org that I thought was priceless.

Miriam’s problem is one that I think is very easy for women to fall into, and it’s one we have to be alert to guard against. We must be content with the influential role that God has given us within the framework he has instituted. Do you hear that? That’s really important! When we make a play for power we can often lose influence.

Key words there… and the LORD heard it.

You may have thought your little sister secret saver kept your gossiping goodness about sister her skirts too short…and her credit card bill’s too long. But it doesn’t matter. The Lord heard it too. One of the most detrimental things to the ministry is gossip and women are the worst. Men are bad… women are worse.

Proverbs 11:13

A talebearer revealeth secrets: but he that is of a faithful spirit concealeth the matter.

Proverbs 18:8

The words of a talebearer are as wounds, and they go down into the innermost parts of the belly.

Proverbs 20:19

He that goeth about as a talebearer revealeth secrets: therefore meddle not with him that flattereth with his lips.

Proverbs 26:20

Where no wood is, there the fire goeth out: so where there is no talebearer, the strife ceaseth.

I know many people who have kept their testimony together through a bitter divorce, the loss of a career, conflicts, loss of a family member and many other hard times, but I’ve seen success cause the best of them to fail.

When you’re put into a position of leadership it puts you in a fishbowl for the entire church to view. And they’re two types of people looking at you.

Those wanting lead

And those wanting you watch you fail as a leader.

Miriam failed this test on her leadership when she took her eyes off God and allowed them to go onto man. You’ll note that it didn’t happen while she was busy. It happened after they’d made it through the struggle of leaving Edypt and began wandering.

If you’re busy being a leader, and dealing with the many issues that come up in a church that need taking care of, you won’t have time to gossip.

But start wandering out in the wilderness… getting involved with people who are not Christ focused, start thinking about yourself and all of a sudden your mind is filled with prejudice and pride.

Before you count Miriam out on the prejudice issue, you have to understand that her brother had married a woman who also was a tad rebellious in that she had at one point refused to circumcise their child and when she finally did she did it herself and not very nicely. So… if she were your sister inlaw, you might have called her names too. But as for the leadership issues. God spoke clearly.

He told Miriam and Aaron that He had spoken to Moses face to face. Every other leader was spoken to in dreams and visions, but Moses was God’s main man at the time. And they had just trash talked God’s main man.

Worse than gossip in a church is somebody who talks about God’s main man, the Pastor. If you want to get on God’s bad side… talk about the preacher. That will get you there quickly and totally ruin your ministry. Because what happens is, all the little ears listening, young and old alike suddenly have doubt in the leadership and in so doing may doubt God.

Because Miriam’s name was mentioned first, it is suggested by one Bible study that she was the one who initiated the gossip and thus was held more accountable. Who would that surprise? Tell me who it is that “generally” not always, but most of the time stirs strife in a church. The women. Am I telling the truth?

While you’re discipling your young women, try not to teach them that characteristic.

I’m not above gossip…I can get sucked into in a heartbeat. Because Satan makes it fun. But I truly try not to get involved in it because I was a victim of church gossip about eight years ago or possibly a few more than that, but it almost destroyed me in the ministry.

Somebody launched an attack on me and I honestly didn’t think I could continue on, but God gave me the strength and I made it through. I wanted to leave our church. But God instructed me to see down and be still. Just wait… and so I did. But not without scars and a little bit of bitterness that would like to rear its ugly head sometimes. And as woman in a leadership position I have to tread carefully that I don’t get called to the door of the temple.

God immediately inflicted Miriam with the dreaded disease of leprosy, a slow death sentence. She was exiled from the Israelites. If you want to separate yourself from feeling the Spirit of God, gossip. That’ll do it quickly. Aaron and Moses cried out on her behalf and she was healed, but not without disgrace. God said her father would spit in her face.

That’s what God thinks about strife stirrers in the congregation.

But keep in mind that 700 years later in the book of Micah, God doesn’t talk about Miriam’s failures as a gossip, and strife stirrer, He mentions her as a leader. We all make mistakes, but it’s time to be restored and be used by God.

How long since the last dance?

If you are a child of God there is a purpose for you in the congregation of the Lord, a gift that has been given to you to glorify God, and to show to the coming generations of servants that they too have a gift a purpose, and then train them to find it and share it.