>Let the Fruit Be the Proof

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“Now it came about in those days,
when Moses had grown up,
that he went out to his brethren
and looked on their hard labors;
and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,
one of his brethren.” 
Exodus 2:11
In most of the storybook versions of Moses we are given the impression that Moses had no idea he was a Hebrew until much later in his life. Scripture, however seems to point to the fact that he always knew he was Hebrew.
In Exodus 2:7-10 we read that it was Jochebed who was hired by the Pharoah’s daughter to nurse Moses until he was of age to be weaned. In this day a child was not weaned until around the age of two or three. Anyone who has, or has just been around, a child at this age knows their amazing intelligence level. I have to believe that as Jochebed, this mother whose name meant Jehovah-glorified, nursed her son, she must have been whispering the promises of God to him.
I imagine she rocked him and told him of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I imagine she told him of Joseph and how he saved the world from famine because he trusted in Jehovah. I imagine that she told him about the covenant. I imagine she told him about circumcision, the seal and sign of that covenant. I bet she talked of the flaming torch and the smoking oven that passed between the pieces. I am sure she shared with Moses how Abraham took Isaac up to Mt Moriah and how God provided. I know she must have spoke of the day that Jacob became Israel.
So I believe that even if his heritage was never spoken of again once he was weaned and became the Pharoah’s daughter’s son, in his heart these truths remained.                                                               
Now we learn from Acts 7:23 that Moses was approaching the age of forty when it entered his heart to visit his brethren. Forty years is a long time to watch your people suffer. We learn in the book of Hebrews that this must have been the time when Moses finally understood that he needed to do something. 
By faith Moses, when he had grown up,
refused to be called the son of Pharoah’s daughter,
choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God
than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,
considering the reproach of Christ
greater riches than the treasures of Egypt;
for he was looking to the reward.           
Hebrews 12:24-26
Moses had watched his people endure much suffering and when he witnessed up close and personal the abuse of one of his brethren he took matters in his own hands and killed the Egyptian. Moses appeared to think that his people would rejoice at what he had done, but they did not. They were not impressed by this man who had spent his life in the palace while they where slaves. “…Who made you a prince or a judge over us?…” (Exodus 2:14)
Little did this man who made this statement in Exodus 2:14 know that God Himself had made this man judge over him, and the entire nation of Israel. Jesus said in Luke 4:24 “…no prophet is welcome in his hometown.” Moses is just one of the examples of the truth of this statement.
Perhaps you have experienced it yourself. Perhaps the glorious truths of faith in Christ were taught to you when you were young and as you grew you were taken from these truths and consumed with other things. Perhaps the people around saw the way you lived just like them and they mock you when you come and share with them about the gospel of God.
Perhaps you lived many years in disobedience and rebellion to the God of your youth, and then one day God called you to salvation, to receive these truths by faith. He didn’t just call you to come home, but he called you to go out, to preach, to teach, to reach those who needed God’s salvation in Christ. Where do you first desire to go? Who does your heart first burn for to share eternity with?
Most likely you started with those closest to you, your parents, your children, your brothers and sisters. Maybe you felt like Moses. Maybe you have heard theses very words, “who made you a prince or judge over us?” come from the mouths of your brethren. Maybe your earthly father mocks you. Maybe your brothers and sisters get angry with you. Maybe your children refuse to listen now because they lived years under you in your unredeemed state and they bare the scars…  
Oh precious one, don’t give up. Walk in obedience to the calling of God. Remember those who walked before you, and walk on. Endure the mockings. Persevere through the anger. Show mercy, be quick to forgive, and speak always with grace. Let them see the fruit that proves that you are indeed new in Him.
Don’t try to take matters in your hand as Moses did. God will never bring deliverance or salvation through the works of our flesh, but only through the power of His might. It is His life and death that changes people, our life and death are just the evidence before men that it’s true. Don’t tamper with the evidence. Don’t let it be destroyed or discredited. Evidence is there to prove the truth, we never need to prove the evidence. We just simply let the evidence speak for itself.

Oh Father,
Help me to never give up. Help me Father to not turn and run when You have called me to stay, but also Father help me to be obedient when You have said it is time to step away. Let me remember that “The Lord’s bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,…” (2 Timothy 2:24). Yet also let me remember that You have not given me a spirit of timidity, but one of power, love, and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Help me to act in wisdom and not according to my emotions. Let me not allow the enemy of my soul to heap condemnation on me because of a rebellious past, but let me return this condemnation with the memory of my wondrous justification by faith in Christ. Let me remember and boldly share how I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, that I am born again, that I am being conformed to the image of my Savior. May I, for the glory of Christ and for the hope set before me, press on. May I press on through hurtful words, through difficult people and circumstances, through the stand of Satan himself, might I press on to the victory in Christ Jesus my Lord.
My Jesus, it’s in Your name I pray,
Amen

Names of God – Jehovah-rapha

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It’s time for another post in the Names of God series. We have done a little study on the names Elohim, El Elyon, El Roi, El ShaddaiEl OlamAdoniaJehovah, and Jehovah-jireh. And now we move onto a new name… Jehovah-rapha.

We are introduced to this name of God and discover its meaning in the book Exodus. To set our context the children of Israel have just been set free from Pharoah’s hold by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob… and the God of Moses. We are introduced to this name, this attribute of God right after they have crossed the Red Sea.

Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea,
and they went out into the wilderness of Shur;
 and they went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 
When they came to Marah,
they could not drink the waters of Marah,
for they were bitter; therefore it was named Marah. 
So the people grumbled at Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 
Then he cried out to the LORD,
and the LORD showed him a tree;
and he threw it into the waters, and the waters became sweet.
   There He made for them a statute and regulation,
and there He tested them. 
And He said,
“If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God,
and do what is right in His sight,
and give ear to His commandments,
and keep all His statutes,
I will put none of the diseases on you
which I have put on the Egyptians;
for I, the LORD, am your healer.”
Exodus 15:22-26

Here God let the children of Israel know that “for I, the LORD, am your healer” or for I am Jehovah-rapha. He wanted them, and us, to know that He is the God who heals.

Now lets go back a little further and look at our context a little more.

The LORD was going before them
in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way,
and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light,
that they might travel by day and by night. 
He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day,
nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.
Exodus 13:21-22

Here in this passage we discover that God himself was leading them. He led them in the day and He led them in the night. Never at any time did He remove the pillar of His leadership. If that is true then what also must be true?

Do you think that God just led the thirsty children of Israel to a spring that He thought would be good for drinking and then got there and was shocked that it was bitter and had to figure out what to do next to appease a bunch of grumbling and complaining kids?

Nope. God is God. Remember?

Therefore, He had to have led them to these bitter waters on purpose for a purpose.

He had a lesson to teach them. It was test time.

This is true with us as well. Sometimes God leads us to bitter waters. We may not like it, but it is true. But if we will submit to His will and trust Him in surrendered obedience, He will indeed make those bitter waters sweet.

Our God is Jehovah-rapha.

He is Healer.

Our God heals.

He heals our land.

and My people who are called by My name
humble themselves and pray and seek My face
and turn from their wicked ways,
then I will hear from heaven,
will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14

He heals our sin.

and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross,
so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; f
or by His wounds you were healed. 
For you were continually straying like sheep,
but now you have returned to the Shepherd
and Guardian of your souls.
2 Peter 2:24-25

He heals our broken heart.

He heals the brokenhearted
And binds up their wounds.
Psalm 147:3

He heals our diseases.

Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget none of His benefits;
Who pardons all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases;
Psalm 103:2-3

As we look at God’s introduction to this name Jehovah-rapha we must take note of the instructions that came before He shared this name. We must remember the “if

If you will give earnest heed to the voice of the LORD your God,
and do what is right in His sight,
and give ear to His commandments,
and keep all His statutes,…

There was a prerequisite for experiencing God as Jehovah-rapha… and was obedience and submission to Him. That obedience includes confession of disobedience and repentance when God makes it known to us.

 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
Try me and know my anxious thoughts;
And see if there be any hurtful way in me,
And lead me in the everlasting way.
Psalm 139:23-24

Many times before God will heal us we need to first take care of our sin. Sometimes that sin is simply to obey Him in His simple request to trust Him. Jesus commanded us not to worry. He beckons us to cast our burdens on Him. When we choose not to… we have stress. It is a proven medical fact that stress kills. Stress leads to depression. It leads to obesity. It leads to blood-pressure issues. It leads to countless other ailments. God would heal us of all these if we would trust Him with our problems and our anxieties and our regrets and our fears and our failures. If we would simply obey Him and surrender our will to His will.

God commands us to share our problems, our sin, with others. Holding onto unconfessed sins and unforgiveness can make us sick. Holding onto our struggles because we fear the shame of them being exposed can easily lead to death. God tells us to find someone, a fellow believer, to share these things with. we must expose the things hiding in the dark so that the Light of Christ can shine on them. A germ likes to grow in the dark, so does mold, all things that kill, steal, and destroy like the darkness. They like to hide. Let us bring them to the Light.

Is anyone among you suffering? Then he must pray.
Is anyone cheerful? He is to sing praises. 
Is anyone among you sick?
Then he must call for the elders of the church
and they are to pray over him,
anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord; 
and the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick,
and the Lord will raise him up,
and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him. 
Therefore, confess your sins to one another,
and pray for one another so that you may be healed.
The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much.
James 5:13-16

However, not all sickness is due to a personal sin. Jesus makes that very clear in His Word.

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. 
And His disciples asked Him,
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he would be born blind?” 
Jesus answered,
“It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents;
but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
John 9:1-3

I must share that the day that I shared about this beautiful name of God in our co-op chapel time I was sick. I mean flat-out could lose my pop-tart any minute sick. However the Lord sustained me through the chapel time and through my zoology class and through one daughter’s piano lessons and another daughter’s violin lessons and I didn’t lose my pop-tart until safe at home in the sanctuary of my own bathroom. So I am thankful that as I studied this name of God I was able to rest in the truth that not all sickness is due to personal sin… but in all honesty Psalm 139:23-24  is where I began my evaluation when I realized sickness had hit me.

If it was an attempt to get my attention to fix a division between me and my God then I wanted to seek that out. I want to know every wicked way that there is within me so that I can confess it before my God and lay it at the foot of my Saviors cross. I want to live a life of repentance not a life of regrets.

When God brings me to bitter waters and I am thirsty… I pray that instead of grumbling and complaining I will look at those bitter waters and ask my God what He is wanting to teach me. What lesson do I need to learn? How, my God, will you make these bitter waters sweet? I pray that I will look for the tree…  and always remember that my God is Jehovah-rapha, my God is Healer.

Heal me, O LORD, and I will be healed;
Save me and I will be saved,
For You are my praise.
Jeremiah 17:14

>Waiting Room Thoughts

>I am sitting here in the surgery waiting room as my sister is back in surgery having the steel plate removed from her leg and as many screws from her knee that the doctor can safely remove. I spent a lot of time here a little over a year ago. On the way here I was listening to Way-FM and they were doing a listener call in to the question “What was the worst day of your life? How did God get you through it? Did good end up coming from it?”

As I answered the question to myself on this drive to the hospital… my mind went to this first trip that I made to this hospital to get to my sister. I have had more “worst days” that God has seen me through, but today my mind took me to this one.

This was the worst day because it was the first time that I was faced with asking God whether or not I could ask for a loved one’s life to be spared. Every other time before, I just simply selfishly asked for the life to be spared… 

This is the car that my sister’s life was spared from. This is the death that our God delivered her from. Every bone in her body was broken… except her skull. Her brain and all internal organs with the exception of her lungs were safe. Both her lungs were punctured. However the One who breathed life into her in the beginning continued to breathe life into her despite punctured lungs.
You can read her journey here: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/tracysmith3
If you have a loved one fighting a medical condition Caring Bridge is wonderful site to keep loved ones updated and it was a great strength to my sister to be able to read the prayers that were covering her during her trial.
What I know is that God sustained my sister during this trial and He sustained our entire family and yes He received glory from this worst day.  

>Choose Life

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“…And she named him Moses, and said, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.'”
Exodus 2:10                                                                               
 
Moses, his name in Hebrew is Mosheh, which means rescued. It comes from mashas which means to pull out or draw out. In Exodus 2:10 we read that the Pharoah’s daughter named him Moses because she drew him out of the water, but precious one, God named him Moses for a much bigger reason.
 
This Moses who the Pharoah’s daughter rescued from the reeds of the Nile, God will one day use to rescue an entire nation by pulling them through the divided waters of the Red Sea. Are we not grateful that the mother of Moses chose to trust God.
 
The mother of Moses, Jochebed, was a woman of great faith. In Hebrew Jochebed means Jehovah-glorified. This was a woman who knew that a child was a gift from God. “Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” (Psalm 127)
 
Jochebed was a woman, who even though a death sentence had been placed over her son, she chose to hide and protect her son. This was a woman who did not fear the words of man, but trusted in her sovereign God. This was a woman who instead of allowing her son to be killed, she chose to allow another woman to raise him as her own.
 
When Jochebed looked into the eyes of her newborn son she did not see the burden of sleepless nights, she did not see the fear of society coming to kill him, she saw that he was beautiful. She looked into her baby’s eyes and she saw a hope. She saw a child that had a future and she did all that she could to give him life so that he might walk in that future and in that hope. She sacrificed her own heart, that he might live.
 
Yes, Jochebed also was rightly named as she glorified her Jehovah with her choice for life. How we need more Jochebeds in our world today. How we too need more Pharoah’s daughters. This daughter of Pharoah took a known Hebrew child into her arms to love and raise. A Hebrew child that her father, the ruler of all Egypt wanted dead. This woman stood up against her family and her society, to rescue a three month old child.
 
Oh where are the daughters of Pharoah today?
Where are the Jochebeds?
Where are the women who are ready to take a stand for life?
 
During the days of Hitler, their where many women who took this stand, some very young girls. I was a told of a young girl, unwed, who in the 1940’s bore the shame of an illegitimate child to be able to claim a Jewish baby as her own in order to save his life.
 
Where are these women today when the abortion clinic doors stand wide like an open grave calling out for death to enter? Where are the women who look into the eyes of a child and see a beautiful future and hope, not just for themselves, but for a family, a community, a nation, even the world? Where are the women who will look into an other’s eyes and share the beautiful possibilities of the glorious hope that is found in Jesus Christ?
 
Oh precious one, will you be that woman?
 
 
Oh Father,
 
Forgive me for my complacency. Oh Father, how I desire to be one who glorifies Your name. How I desire to be someone who stands for life. My Father in heaven, show me how to stand not just for this life but to stand for the eternal life that is found only in Christ. Teach me how to be one who draws the sentenced to death out of the Nile of the world. “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death” (Romans 8:2) Oh Father I know the One who is able to set free from the body of this death (Romans 6:4). Help me to go out and, in the confidence that is mine in Christ, share without shame the ministry of life. Let me not miss an opportunity to share the hope that is within me (1 Peter 3:15).
 
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen

>Will the True Church Please Stand Up

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“But the midwives feared God,”
Exodus 1:17
 
Psalm 111:10 tells us that “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;…” How much damage has been done by those who feared man more than they feared God? 
 
In my travel with the March of Remembrance and Hope I was reminded of what atrocities can occur when mere men cause us to tremble. Hitler rose to power and men feared him. I sat in a room filled with every race, every religion, and listened while this woman shared her experience and studies of the “church” during the Holocaust. In my stomach grew a knot and anger rose up within me as this woman shared the truths of the lack of action of the “church” as a whole.
 
My anger came from the fact that this woman had lumped the “church” all in one. These men ,who by the world were considered the church because of there position, misrepresented the kingdom of God. Thus the reason for my quotation marks. The true church is not a building, it is Holy Spirit filled believers.
 
In Romans 6:6 we are told that in Christ we are freed from sin’s power, these men were not free. In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told that God has not given His children a spirit of timidity, but one of power. These men did not walk in the power of God. There is a difference between those who profess Christ and those who possess Christ.
 
Oh precious one if sin still controls you, check yourself. Make sure that you are indeed in the faith. The leaders of this “church” coward in thier fear. In this fear they allowed Hitler to do horrible things. Not just in his close knit circle, but throughout the nation of Germany and throughout the world. They turned their backs and a blind eye to his hate in order to protect themselves. Evil men rise to power and rule because good men stay silent.
 
In Acts 5:27-32 Peter and the apostles have just been set free from jail by an angel of the Lord. They were in prison because they shared the testimony of Christ. When they are freed they go right back to preaching Christ. The Jewish Council rises against them again but Peter and the apostles do not tremble before them. They simply answer, “…We must obey God rather than men.” (Acts 5:29)
 
Jesus Himself said, “I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!” (Luke 12:4-5)
 
Oh precious one these mid-wives stood against the most powerful man in the world, they stood against Satan himself. This slaughter of the Hebrew boys was not just a Pharoah’s idea to protect his power, it was instigated by the enemy of the people of God, Satan himself, as only one of his many attempts to destroy the promised seed of Genesis 3:15.
 
My friend, if the day comes where you are in such a predicament, will you be one who cowars before men or will you be like these mid-wives, like the apostles, and stand and obey your God?
 
Oh Father,
 
May I be as strong as these mid-wives. May I be as strong as those who in the days of the Holocaust did not bow to Hitler, but worked against his evil to protect others, not themselves. In these last days, may I share “…the whole message of this Life.” (Acts 5:20) with boldness. Oh Father might I work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), before You and You alone. Give me strength my God and confidence to stand against all evil, knowing that if You are with me who could be against me (Romans 8:31). May I say with assurance the words of David, “…What can mere men do to me.” (Psalm 56:4)
 
My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,
Amen
 

>Instruments of Your Grace

>Revive us O Lord…
Wake us up from our slumber.
Let us not be content in our comfort.
Nor be consumed with the pleasures of this world.
Let us spend less on entertainment and more on eternal attainment.
Let us see past our own noses into the depth of the eyes of others… Let us be willing to step into their hurts and see past their defences and introduce them to Jehovah-rapha, the LORD our Healer…  Let us be willing to stop and listen… Let us be purposeful to smile through even our own pain and bad days and not take our own frustrations out on others…
Let us, O LORD, be instruments of Your grace.

Revive us O Lord.
Teach us in Your ways.
Let us not continue to wander in our wilderness…
Nor grumble and complain.
Let us be renewed in our commitments and focused on Your face.
Let us see past our own selfish desires and submit our hearts unto Your lead… Let us be willing to die to ourselves and take up our own cross.
Let us follow You alone and not the ideas and philosophies and traditions of man… Let us be reminded of our blessing of the forgiveness of our sin and let us be willing to forgive as we have been forgiven…
Let us, O LORD, be instruments of Your grace

Revive us O Lord…
Let us, O LORD, be instruments of Your grace

>Affluence vs Affliction

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“But the more they afflicted them,
the more they multiplied
 and the more they spread out,”
Exodus 1:12
 
There is this amazing thing about the people of God, we grow in and through persecution. We may not like to admit it, we may not enjoy being in the midst of it, yet when we look back we cannot deny it.
 
Acts 8:1-8 tells us of the beginning of a great persecution against the church. This persecution began with the intentions of destroying and ending the message of the church, which was and is the gospel of God, salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Once again the words of Joseph should ring in our ears, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”(Genesis 50:20).
 
This new king who arose in Egypt persecuted the children of Israel in hope of destroying them, overpowering them, controlling them, but the more he afflicted them the more God blessed them. This truth is just not for us as a whole, but it also pertains to each of us individually. The old saying that “it is in the valley that we grow”
 
When do you spend the most time in prayer? Is it when life is good or is it when life is not so good? I think quite possibly Satan might have finally figured something out here in these last days. After all these years of trying to destroy the gospel of God and those who carry and spread the Way of salvation through persecution I think quite possibly the serpent of old has realized that affluence works much better than affliction.
 
I think he has realized if he can keep us appeased and happy, enraptured with the pleasures of the flesh, not wanting for any necessity of life, surrounded with comfort and entertainment, then he can control us.
 
I believe he finally has figured out that pain just causes us to look up and out for our one, true, living God, but it is pleasure that keeps us focused on ourselves and leaves us desiring to be our own god. Can you see this being played out in our world today? Can you see it being played out in your own heart? Oh precious one do not be deceived!
 
But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come .
For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,
boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents,
ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,
without self control, brutal, haters of good,
treacherous, reckless, conceited,
lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;
Avoid such men as these.
 2 Timothy 3:1-4
 
Oh Father,
 
Help me to not fall prey to the enemy’s schemes. Oh Father keep my eyes opened and my ears attentive to Your Holy Spirit. Help me oh God to pay close attention to You and Your Word. My Jesus help me to keep my eyes focused on You and the glory of Your kingdom. Let me not get caught up in the pleasures of this world. Forgive me, my God, for when I have lost focus and gotten caught up in building my own kingdom instead of Yours. Help me to lay aside every encumbrance and sin that so easily entangles me (Hebrews 12:1). Oh Father, might my heart see affluence as affliction and may the disease of apathy stay far from me. Oh Father, help me to remember that I lay not my treasures up on this earth where moth and rust destroy but my treasure is You. My treasure is Jesus Christ. My treasure is the crown that I will lay at my Saviors feet when face to face we finally meet!
 
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen
 

>Fast Accountability (2)

>It is 7:40pm and I have been successful in my fast today as in the not caving part… However, I still ponder the point of the fast… and why God has called me to it.

I am at the point now where I am having to fight little irritations that normally would not bother me. In all honesty I know I am far from starving. But at the same time I know that I could easily open the refrigerator door and consume every leftover that I know is in there.

So it seems that what God is teaching me is self-control and patience. Sometimes and opportunity is right there, easy and ready for the taking. But maybe I shouldn’t dive into old leftovers when quite possibly my God has something new and fresh for me if I will just be patient and wait on Him. Maybe what God is teaching me with this fast is the crucifixion of my flesh. Maybe He is simply strengthening me in my prayer to be kind and to love and to respond with grace. I still am not sure if the fast is over… or if it continues into tomorrow… my God will let me know.

I still am searching and seeking His face as I wait on answers to questions that have entered my head and heart during this day of fasting. Questions that pertain to future opportunities and directions of ministry. Life is about to kick back into full gear and the full gear comes with new studies, new speaking engagements, and new ministry opportunities. It comes with decisions regarding our home and family. I must trust God to open doors and close them and not barge through demanding my way… when it might not be His plan at all. 

I have stopped to write this post and my girls have interrupted me at least three times each… once to describe the jelly on their sandwhich, once to ask me if I knew that their pj’s were fireproof, once to ask if I would play a game, and etc… so I am saying goodnight to the blog and am heading into the living room to participate in a hardcore game of Phase 10 played our way before I send my youngens off to bed and then pour my eyes over and over the wisdom of the Word of my God.

>Devotions from Exodus Part One: Learning to Live in Freedom

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Introduction
 
The journey that we are about to take through Exodus, is both a fulfilled Word and a great foreshadowing of Word to be fulfilled. As we proceed through the first 20 chapters of this amazing book we must take careful inventory of our hearts. We must examine ourselves and check the condition of our own hearts as we examine the heart of Pharaoh, of Moses, and the children of Israel.  
 
The children of Israel had been enslaved for 400 years when freedom finally came. Now that they are out of Egypt, God has to get Egypt out of them.
 
We, like these children of Israel, are born in bondage to sin and enslaved to the world and the enemy of our souls. When in and through and by Christ we are set free, we like the children of Israel have to learn what all this freedom means. After we have been taken out of the world, God has to then get the world out of us.
 
Let us follow the Israelites through these first twenty chapters of Exodus as they learn to live in their freedom. May we take notes as we travel this journey with them and learn from the examples that God has recorded for us in his Word.  I pray your eyes and heart will be open to the Spirit of God.
 
 
MOSES MEETS THE I AM
 
Now a new king arose over Egypt,
who did not know Joseph.
 Exodus 1:8
 
Genesis 49:27 and Deuteronomy 10:22 along with Exodus 1:5 tell us that seventy persons from the loins of Jacob came down to Egypt. Of course Joseph first came as a slave. The rest of the family came after God had advanced Joseph to second in command over all of Egypt. Jacob and his family enjoyed many years of peace in Egypt, yet with a new king comes new rules. I believe even Joseph experienced bondage again.
 
In Genesis 50:24 Joseph is reminding his brothers of the promise given to their father Abraham, the promise of the land. He also reminds them that God will take care of them. Knowing us as people, I would say that the children of Israel are already experiencing hardship from this new king or Joseph would not be reminding them of this promise.
 
We as humans seem to be perfectly content wherever we are at, as long as things are going good. Like the eagle who has to make the nest uncomfortable so that the eaglets will attempt to fly, so God has to sometimes make where we are uncomfortable so that we too will attempt to fly.
 
Possibly the sons of Jacob thought that as they grew and multiplied and as Joseph reigned in command life would always be in Egypt. Most likely many began calling Egypt home, forgetting the LORD their God, the God of their fathers, but Egypt was not their home and God is now beginning to remind them of the promise of home.
 
We live in this world, yet this is not home. Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”(John 18:36) If we have received Christ and thus entered into His kingdom, then we too are no longer of this world (John 15:19). God tells us in His Word that we are not to love this world nor the things in the world (1John 2:15-17), this world is passing away, and this world is not our home.
 
If we are believers in Christ our citizenship is in His kingdom (Philippians 3:20)  Jesus told us that in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33), this tribulation stems from many sources, our on flesh, our enemy Satan, and the fact that this world is fallen and groaning for redemption itself (Romans 8:20-21). As believers our response to the pains of life should not be to grow angry at God, but simply to grow in our desire to be home.
 
Oh Father,
 
How easy it is to slip into a state of complacency and apathy in this world. Especially if you live in comfort. Here I am, never truly experienced hunger, never not had a roof over my head, always had a closet full of clothing, never experienced the tyranny of an earthly king, yet how often have I found myself in a heap on the floor with tears streaming down my face praying you would just remove my life breathe from me. How often have I felt overwhelmed by this world, by the things of this world, by the pains of this world. How easy it would be to grow angry at You and attempt to accuse You of not loving me, that is after all how the enemy of my soul wants me to respond, but oh my Father, I cannot. As Job said, “Thou He slay me I will hope in Him”(Job 13:15). This is what I know, I know I have peace with You through Jesus Christ, and because I do I can rejoice in all things, because I know that Your love is poured out on and within me (Romans 5:1-5). In You, my Jesus, this world is not my home, and any pains I suffer just remind me of that fact and cause my anticipation to grow.
 
My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,
Amen

>Fast Accountability

>Okay so it’s after midnight and I have been searching my blog posts for a post I am pretty sure I did on the subject of fasting while studying Isaiah… although that could be one that was a draft then deleted or something I posted somewhere else or could be something I wrote in a journal with actual pen and paper…

The reason I was searching for it was to back up my reasons for this post and also to see where I was in my thought process concerning fasting when I wrote it. I feel the Lord has called me to a fast. However I do not have a set reason… other than the desire to be completely and totally in His will and walking in it with full confidence. There are several areas in my life where I go “well I don’t know… maybe this… or maybe that…” There are some areas that I need solid assurance not wishy washy maybes… because I know my God is a solid Rock… He is not wishy or washy… and He has a plan… I need to be still and see if He is willing to give me the heads up on what that plan might be.

However when I even think “fast” my stomach starts growling and my head starts hurting… and the excuses begin and the compromises come. So this is my accountability. I usually try a secret fast. The don’t-let-the-right-hand-know-what-the-left-hand-is-doing fast, but for me it makes it too easy to compromise and take a big ole bite of whatever.

Here’s the thing.
I will be teaching on love from 1 Corinthians 13 this coming Sunday morning as I finish up a study on spiritual gifts and then I will be leading an adult small group study from the book of Job beginning the next Sunday.
This Sunday, after my small group, I will immediately go to teach our children at church on Bible prophecy through the book of Revelation. 
On Monday I will be back to teaching during our homeschool co-op chapel time on the names of God and I also teach a Zoology class.
I also am involved in a prayer wall ministry and will be speaking at a ladies retreat in March.
Then of course their is my writing.
And being a wife to my wonderful husband.
And motherhood and homeschooling my girls.
And all the other stuff in between…

So many times people ask me how I have the time for all that I do… and I immediately begin to try to make excuses and justify and defend and basicly apologize for my service… I have no clue why I do that.

The simple truth is that as long as I am doing what He alone has called me to do, my God, the Author and Finisher, the I AM, the Beginning and the End, the One not bound by time, space, or matter, He always manages to make enough time for me to accomplish whatever He has called me to do. It’s all Him. And I have no clue how He does it… He just does.

So my fast…
My fast is to make sure that I am serving on His time, in His time, for His time, with His time, so that I always have time. In His strength not my own. Not my will but His will be done. No wishy-washy maybe but only a sold rock of assurance. I like my face set like flint, fully focused on the prize of my Christ. Obeying His Word, His Way, His will.

F aith
A mplifies
S urrendered
T ime

Accountability: to help me keep my mouth closed and my heart open

It’s 1am now…
I’ll let you know how well this fast goes.
Hopefully I will not be defeated with breakfast…