Being thankful for God’s grace and mercy is the Heartbeat topic of the week.

I don’t know where to begin. Tonight I had tears in my eyes when we were singing

“I sing your praises forever, deeper in love with you. Here in your courts where I’m close to your throne, I’ve found where I belong. You are holy, holy, Lord there is none like you. You are holy, holy, glory to you my Lord.”

I am finally beginning to believe these lyrics, and am in awe of God who loved me so much to pursue me for 40 years when I rebelled and hated Him so deeply. God did not give up on me and in His mercy and grace He sent people into my life to plant seeds that one day would sprout.

I am most grateful that God sent Pastor Don into my life. This man spent two years counseling with me, helping me sort out my past and come to a point where I finally realized that I needed God in my life. It took a lot of patience to deal with all the issues that I had and all the brokenness that I brought into our talks. He helped me to break free from the bondage of the occult and from the bondage of my past. Although, when I thank him for his time with me, he points out that it is God who did the liberating, not Pastor Don. One time he told me that I spent most of my life waiting for the other shoe to drop and he would not drop the other shoe. He hasn’t in the six years that I have known him. It was through his love and gentleness that I could finally comprehend God’s love. I am thankful for godly pastors who so lovingly guide their sheep, but at the same time will bring correction when necessary.

I am also grateful that God is restoring what the locusts ate in my life. That what satan meant for harm God turned to good. Now God is beginning to use me to reach out to others who are hurting, and letting me share His love with others. If you would have told me six years ago that God would have healed all the hurts of my past, that I would come to a point of trusting God, and feeling forgiveness for my abusers, I would have laughed at you. Yet God has done all that and more. The path hasn’t been easy, and I am still dealing with stuff, but one thing I trust beyond anything – God is there with me helping me to deal with the stuff. I am not alone. I am so thankful that God gave me the mercy of forgiveness and the grace (which comes with the empowerment) to do what He wants me to do.

Heather

My heart is heavy regarding the election results, but encouraged by reading Exodus. It seems like wherever we read in the Bible is applicable to where we are in our lives. In Exodus we see a pompous Pharaoh who thinks he is god, and can do what he wants, regardless of what God says. Well Pharaoh will find out who God is, and Pharaoh will realize that his choices have deadly consequences. If I did not know about Matthew 24 and 25 I would be heartsick over some of the choices our country made yesterday, but knowing that Jesus predicted what would happen, and Paul illustrated it with the book of Romans, I at least know that nothing happens outside of God’s sovereignty. Right now I am studying Beth Moore’s Living Beyond Yourself and we are dealing with God’s faithfulness. God will be with us in the midst of this. I only hope that this is God letting our country come to the end of itself, so that it finally realizes it needs God, the God our country was founded on.

A few extraneous thoughts about Exodus 7 – Exodus is a book about redemption, and God redeemed Israel in spite of itself – I am fervently praying God redeems our country in spite of ourselves.

I still am impressed that Moses and Aaron (two witnesses – kind of reminds me of the two witnesses in Revelation), did all that God commanded. There are warnings for those who do not do as God says, God does not randomly judge without warning. We just need to read the signs of the times and the writing on the wall. Daniel 5, Belshazzar’s decision to use the holy vessels to serve wine at a party was met with a hand and finger writing on the wall, “Mene, mene, tekel, upharsin. Dan 5:26 This is the interpretation of each word. Mene: God has numbered your kingdom and finished it. Tekel: You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. Peres: Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians. Do we want God to judge us and find us and our country lacking?

2 Timothy 4:3-4 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap upon themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables.

What also crossed my mind is that God WILL redeem Israel, but it will not be a redemption that is easy, they will face some of the same tribulations that Pharaoh and his people faced, there will be challenges and hardships along the way to the Promised Land. But God will use the same redemption of Israel to show Egypt (the world) and Pharaoh (world leadership and a symbol of antichrist) who He is. It is God giving them a chance to change their ways too.

What also impresses me about Moses is that all of a sudden he too is speaking to Pharaoh, and he is not that shy, fearful person he was at the burning bush. It seems that doing God’s will gives confidence we do not expect. I suspect that Moses realized that God came through for him. Kind of reminds me of a kid facing a bully and thinking that he backed the bully down when the bully turns and runs, not realizing that his father is standing behind him and the bully is running from the father, not from the kid. We see this transformation in many people’s lives. Saul becomes courageous, David stands strong, Peter is transformed, and of course Saul/Paul was a major transformation, as is the transformation in all the the disciples once the Holy Spirit empowered them.

This is the classic contest of good and evil God is Good (white hat) Egypt is evil (black hat). We will see that Egypt represents the world and Pharaoh is a representative of satan on the earth. And there will be the triumph of God, and it is not conditional.

What is interesting is that there are other cases of hardened hearts in the Bible. Deuteronomy 2:30 -Sihon would not let the people pass through his land, and because of that action, God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, so that God could deliver them into the people’s hands. Also mentioned in Numbers 21:22-23

Joshua 11:19-20 The Hivites and Gibeon did not make peace with Israel, so God hardened their hearts and they came against Israel in battle and lost.

Romans 9:18 Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.

Revelation 17:17 For God has put it into their hearts to fulfill His purpose, to be of one mind, and to give their kingdom to the beast, until the words of God are fulfilled.

I know that Pharaoh probably felt that God did not do anything for 400 years, so why should Pharaoh shake in his sandals? Well, just like today, Pharaoh should have realized that just because God did not immediately act does not mean that God condones what is going on. God sometimes lets things go on hoping that a few more souls will be saved. Today, people are seeing many “new” understandings of God’s Word, seeing people pick and choose what they will believe. People are living lives that are morally corrupt, and God is not pleased. He is waiting, hoping that they will change, but if not, one day a judgment will come down.

When God passed judgment on Egypt, He did it with a series of plagues, many of which are mirrored in Revelation. One day, God will pass judgment on us, and it is important now for us to decide where do we stand. I choose God.

Although Exodus does not tell us much about the magicians who will for the first three plagues be able to imitate what God is doing, the scripture does give us further information. We can best find out about scripture by searching scriptures.

2 Timothy 3:8-9 Now as Jannes and Jambres resisted Moses, so do those also resist the truth; men of corrupt minds, disapproved, concerning the faith; but they will progress no further, for their folly will be manifest to all, as theirs also was.

Now we know the names of the magicians, and we will see that after the plague of lice they mention to Pharaoh that God is God, and then the magicians are seen no more. Their folly was made manifest to all including Pharaoh when they could no longer duplicate God’s plagues. I hope that they realized their folly and repented.

In Exodus 7 the magicians resisted Moses by imitating his signs and wonders. That is what satan will do. As these end times come upon us we too will see an increase in signs and wonders. What is important to ascertain is by whose authority are these signs and wonders being done and who gets the glory. Only if God ordains them and God gets the glory are they true, if not they are imitations set out by satan to confuse the people and pull them away from God.

Another example of satan imitating God is in Revelation, there will be two mouthpieces for the antichrist, and Pharaoh had two magicians. God has two witnesses in Revelation and also Moses and Aaron were God’s two witnesses to Pharaoh. These are just a few examples of satan imitating God.

Exodus 7:14 So the LORD said to Moses, “Pharaoh’s heart is hard; he refuses to let the people go.

God knew this would happen, and Pharaoh will become more hardened as time goes on. I think in this he is not much different from us when life presents us with a lot of challenges. I know that when I lived through my abuse, instead of trusting God through it (although I didn’t know God back then like I know Him now), I turned angry at God, hardened my heart and refused to communicate with Him for 40 years. I am so glad that God got through my hardened heart by sending Pastor Don into my life to help me break down that hard heart. But I know that at some point, if I had refused to respond to Pastor Don, God might have sent someone else, but there would have come a time when God would have said, ok, Heather wants her hardened heart, I will give her the desires of her heart, and I would have been lost forever. God sent these plagues to Pharaoh (yes, God is sovereign and knew that Pharaoh would choose to stay hardened, but God loved even Pharaoh enough to give him a choice). The other thought that just came to my mind is that Pharaoh knew Moses, was raised with him, and I know that Moses knew about his people, was trained about God, so Pharaoh also had some of that input as a child. God extended a lot of chances to Pharaoh which were refused. Please, if you have hardened your heart to God, if you have listened to false teachers, if you have issues with God, bring them to Him. Let Him minister to you, let Him reach into your heart and heal these issues. God does care and He really doesn’t want anyone to be lost. He sent Jesus to die for us ALL, but if we refuse the gift that Jesus gives us, God will honor that. There will be no second chances, our choice here on earth is binding for eternity.

The Egyptians worshipped water. They were dependent on the two growing seasons, which were linked to rain (the former and the later rains). The Nile would flood and leave fertile soil which produced abundant crops. During the times of flooding, the pharaoh would travel the kingdom in a barge, and people would worship him because they thought he was god on earth. They would also bring statues of various idols on the barges for the people to worship. So it is fitting that God would first bring attack on their provision.

Exodus 7:15-18 Go to Pharaoh in the morning, when he goes out to the water, and you shall stand by the river’s bank to meet him; and the rod which was turned to a serpent you shall take in your hand. And you shall say to him, “The LORD God of the Hebrews has sent me to you, saying, “Let My people go, that they may serve Me in the wilderness”; but indeed, until now you would not hear. ‘Thus says the LORD: “By this you shall know that I am the LORD. Behold, I will strike the waters which are in the river with the rod that is in my hand, and they shall be turned to blood. And the fish that are in the river shall die, the river shall stink, and the Egyptians will loathe to drink the water of the river.”

Remember that the Egyptians had an aversion to blood, and their livelihood was fish. The water would be undrinkable, but God did not prevent them from digging for fresh water.

Exodus 7:19 Then the LORD spoke to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their streams, over their rivers, over their ponds, and over all their pools of water, that they may become blood. And there shall be blood throughout all the land of Egypt, both in buckets of wood and pitchers of stone.

One thing to notice is that even the Israelites had bloody water, there was not a separation of the Egyptians and Israelites in this. Moses turned water into blood, Jesus turned water into wine. Revelation 8: 8-11 mentions the second trumpet where 1/3 of the seas were struck and turned to blood and 1/3 of the living creatures in the sea died and 1/3 of the ships were destroyed. Then a star falls from heaven and falls on 1/3 of the rivers and springs of water. When the people did not repent, even after other judgments, then we find that the judgments become more severe in the bowl judgments. Revelation 16:3-7 talks about two bowl judgments – the second one where the sea turned to blood and every living creature in the sea dies. And the third bowl judgment where the waters and springs became blood. and an angel of the lord says, verses 5-6 “You are righteous, O Lord, the One who is and who was and who is to be, because you have judged these things. For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and You have given them blood to drink, for it is their just due.”

Just like the Pharaoh in Moses’ day, those in the end time will refuse to listen to God and will harden their hearts. I find it interesting that the angel points out the shed blood, don’t forget that Pharaoh also ordered the shedding of the blood of Israelite boys, wanting to reduce the population. With no water, it is hard to survive, and the death of the fish and the crops due to lack of water would hurt the economy of both Egypt, and the world in the end times.

Exodus 7:20-21 And Moses and Aaron did so, just as the LORD commanded. So he lifted up the rod and struck the waters that were in the river, in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants. And all the waters that were in the river were turned to blood. The fish that were in the river died, and the Egyptians could not drink the water of the river. So there was blood throughout all the land of Egypt.

Now watch what the two magicians do (I assume it is two because of 2 Timothy), they do exactly what Moses did, replicating the water turning to blood – but isn’t that just what satan does in our lives. I think the magicians would have been more useful turning blood into water, instead they take water dug up and turn it to blood too, making even less water for the people to drink. When satan comes into our lives he never makes it better, only worse.

Exodus 7:22-24 Then the magicians of Egypt did so with their enchantments; and Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them as the LORD had said. And Pharaoh turned and went into his house. Neither was his heart moved by this. So all the Egyptians dug all around the river for water to drink, because they could not drink the water of the river.

Notice, Pharaoh who was considered god, could not do anything to make the lives better for his people. His magicians were feeble imitators of God, and they only made things worse. The people dug for water (so God in His mercy did not keep them from drinking water), and the dug water was used for the magicians to make blood – not really a good use of the water.

Exodus 7:25 And seven days passed after the LORD had struck the river.

Genesis 7:10 – after the ark was loaded, seven days and then the water was on the earth. I am wondering why seven days and if there is any connection.

I can’t help but contrast Pharaoh’s reaction for the plight of his people with God’s. God who so compassionately sent his Only Begotten Son to redeem us. Pharaoh had the power to speak the words to free his people from the plague of the bloody waters, and he chose not to do it. And he just callously went back into his house, and left the people scrabbling for water by digging.

God will bring His people out of Egypt, but the liberation is not always easy. Fortunately, God has things in control.

Hoping you have a blessed day. It is pouring rain here, and dreary.

Heather

Well, Moses obeyed God and spoke to Pharaoh, asking permission to go three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to and worship God. After 400 years of slavery, that was not a huge request, but we got to see how unreasonable Pharaoh is through this example. Instead of letting the people have a mini vacation, he increased their workload, making them produce the same amount of bricks but also gathering straw. When the people complained to Pharaoh (instead of taking their trouble to God), Pharaoh explained that they had to produce the amount of bricks instead of listening to Moses and Aaron, they should have stayed busy.

Well, the people were not happy, and came grumbling to Moses about their predicament. From their perspective, their life is harder, and certainly they were not any closer to the Promised Land. It is funny how things in our life tend to get harder before freedom comes. God is going to use these experiences with Pharaoh, and their challenges in the wilderness to form the tribe of Israel. God doesn’t permit trials and trouble in our lives without a plan and a purpose for them.

If you have ever read Revelation 6-19 you will see that many of the plagues that are going to challenge Pharaoh’s life and kingdom, will be similar to those which will happen in the Tribulation mentioned in Revelation, also known as the time of Jacob’s trouble.

What I love about God is that He doesn’t promise us freedom from tribulation, challenges, or hurts. And often He tells us directly in His Word that there will be tribulation, Jesus even tells His disciples this. The one thing we, as Christians, have that our non-Christian friends don’t have is the sure knowledge that when we walk through these tribulations, we have company – God has promised never to leave or forsake us. I had a challenge with this promise of God when I was a child because I sure felt forsaken when God did not strike my father dead or make him stop my abuse, but God was there even though I did not perceive Him. Feelings are not facts, and so often we go by what we feel. “I feel like God isn’t in this, I feel distant from God, etc.” The truth is, God is there, omnipresent, but we just don’t see what He is doing at the time. During my abuse, God preserved my life, my sanity, and ultimately he got me out of that home – I did not catch a disease, get pregnant, or a lot of nots. So often we look for what God is doing in the gots, I got this from God, I felt that from God, but so often God is in the NOTS, in the crop failures that happen when our sins are not multiplied, in the preservation of things that are beneath the surface, in the hurts and punishment not received. And sometimes the nots are more important than the gots. We just get it in our heads that God is going to respond to us in a certain way, and when He doesn’t cater to our expectations we automatically assume that He is not responding. But often we are just looking in the wrong place.

Exodus Chapter 7:1-2 So the LORD said to Moses: “See, I have made you as God to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I command you. And Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to send the children of Israel out of his land.”

You know, I have read the whole book of Exodus and know the end from the beginning. But pretend we are walking this through in real time next to Moses, I want to give you an example of how we might think:

Ok, God told Moses to be His messenger, Moses gave God grief and a lot of reasons why he couldn’t do what God wanted him to do. So God offers to let Aaron speak for Moses. Why not eliminate the middle man? Why not just push Moses aside and speak to Aaron? We have all played the telephone game and know how messages can get skewed. And then why give Moses the message, then Moses tells Aaron, who then tells the people, seems like there is an unnecessary step there, not efficient. If Moses would argue with God, forget him. It is a good thing I am not God, because my understanding would be very limited. Well, from knowing the book (sort of a God perspective) we get to see a bit of Aaron’s leadership skills. Aaron, when Moses was up in the mountain gets talked into building a golden idol and allowing the people to worship like they did in Egypt. God, who knows the end from the beginning, knew that the best Aaron could do was to be Moses’ mouthpiece, that he couldn’t be trusted to lead the people to the Promised Land, following God’s directions without being influenced by public opinion. Moses, on the otherhand had a heart for the people, and interceded for them, even when there was a promise made that God would make him the Father of all nations, replacing Abraham because of the peoples’ rebelion. Instead of being lured by that, Moses prayed for the people. We may not always understand why God picks particular people to lead us, but we can be sure that God knows far more about the choices than we consider.

Exodus 7:3 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and multiply My signs and My wonders in the land of Egypt. But Pharaoh will not heed you, so that I may lay My hand on Egypt and bring My armies and My people, the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch out My hand on Egypt and bring out the children of Israel from among them.”

I used to have a hard time with the hardening of Pharaoh’s heart. (sorry couldn’t resist). But I finally realized that God does give us the desires of our heart, and at first it wasn’t God hardening Pharaoh’s heart, but Pharaoh doing the hardening, and ultimately God honored that desire. It is very easy to fool ourselves into thinking that we do not have to obey or listen to God. Pharaoh was taught that he was god, and the people worshipped him. Remember he asked Moses why he should listen to Moses’ God. Today many are also thinking that they do not have to obey God, and they are willingly choosing to harden their hearts. They will face the repercussions of those choices when God does honor their requests. Remember, Pharaoh did have two choices – one was to let God’s People go and recognize that God was God, the other was to refuse. Pharaoh made the wrong choice.

Here is God’s plan in a nutshell in these verses. 1. Liberation for His children, the nation Israel, and 2. Revelation to the Egyptians exactly who is GOD, and it is not who they think it is.

Sometimes God works many things through our tribulation, but God is still working in our lives even when it doesn’t feel like he is. We have to realize that God does not exist solely for our individual problems, he has bigger plans than our immediate comfort. His plans are more far reaching than our own limited perspective.

Exodus 7: 6-7 Then Moses and Aaron did so; just as the LORD commanded them, so they did. And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh.

OH DOES THAT BLESS ME, I often have worried that I waited so long to come to God and frittered away a lot of my time for service to Him, but He used Moses and Aaron at a ripe old age, and He will use us too, if we are yielded vessels. Thank God for the goodness and mercy and grace of God, who uses us at all ages from the very tiny to the oldest among us. Nothing is wasted in God’s kingdom.

What I also love is that Moses and Aaron did EXACTLY what God told them to do. I want to get to that level of obedience, not stepping one step to the right or to the left from what God tells me to do.

What we are going to see now is a type and shadow of Revelation 13 – remember the antichrist will come and imitate Christ. He will do signs and wonders as spectacular as those of Jesus. For us, the best way to tell if it is Christ or antichrist is to see who gets the glory in the end – is it the doer or antichrist? Or is it God? If God gets the glory, it is a true sign and wonder, if anyone else or anything else gets the glory, not of God.

Exodus 7:8-10 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying, “When Pharaoh speaks to you, saying, ‘Show a miracle for yourselves’, then you shall say to Aaron, ‘Take your rod and cast it before Pharaoh, and let it become a serpent.’” So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and they did so, just as the LORD commanded. And Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants, and it became a serpent.

Do not fail to notice the few words “just as the LORD commanded.” They did not do it in their own power, because they felt like it, to show off. They just simply (and simple is not always easy) obeyed God and did what HE said to do.

Exodus 7:11-13 But Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers; so the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For every man threw down his rod, and they became serpents. But Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. And Pharaoh’s heart grew hard, and he did not heed them, as the LORD had said.

Three miracles that Moses will do can be imitated by the demonic powers of these sorcerers, but when the plague of lice comes, the sorcerers could not imiate it. I want you to notice that while the magicians and sorcerers could imitate what Moses and Aaron did under God’s direction, their imitation did not make the situation any better – instead of one serpent, they now had many. Notice that God is more powerful than the magicians – His rod in the hands of Aaron swallowed up the magician’s rods. Anything that satan can produce on this earth is not as powerful as God. It only took an angel to cast satan into the pit – a single angel – and not one of the mighty warrior angels. Pharaoh will see so many signs and wonders that it is a wonder that he did not believe God and obey God, and worship God. But that is what happens when we choose to disbelieve, and disbelief IS a choice we make. Unfortunately, if we choose to disbelieve it has eternal consequences.

I have a great heart for those in the new age and those who practice the occult because I was deluded at one point with those beliefs, and now see them for the lies that they are. We can get so blinded by our intellect, feelings, and desires that we don’t see truth. I pray that those who are deluded have their eyes opened.

I want to spend some time on the first plague, Waters become Blood, so will stop here. Please know that God wants so much for us to reach out to Him, He does not want us to have hardened hearts. God says in Psalm 95:7 For He is our God, and we are the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hand. Today, if you will hear His voice; do not harden your hearts as in the rebelion, as in the day of trial in the wilderness.

Please do not harden your heart like Pharaoh did.

Heather

Don’t miss Friday’s Bible study below this entry, but my sister-in-law sent me the following video which blew my mind – imagine how hard this must have been to coordinate.

Treadmill video

Heather

I love Bible Studies, I don’t think I have ever attended a boring one. Fridays are wonderful because we fellowship over a potluck lunch, then study the Word. We are fed so well with the Word and good food that the time seems to fly by. Today one of our members asked Pastor Don the above question. Pastor Don pointed out that he always prays before teaching Bible study, then listens over our conversations, and God usually confirms what Pastor Don is to teach and this was the topic.

Pastor Don pointed out that if we trust God, God will confirm where He is leading us. Sometimes though, we ask the wrong question. God may give us the answer for another question that we have asked awhile ago, and we mistake the answer for our current situation. We tend to forget that God does not work for us, He isn’t at our beck and call, He isn’t our employee. He is much bigger than our needs and immediate situation.

 In answer to the above question, Pastor Don directed us to Matthew 16

Jesus will show us that there are people who THINK they know God, but they don’t.

Matthew 16:1 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would show them a sign from Heaven.

They are coming to God Himself and stating that they know God, and trying to ascertain if Jesus knows God. They are asking the WRONG question.

Matthew 16:2-3 He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red; and in the morning, it will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ “Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.”

Jesus points out that they are asking the wrong question. The Pharisees and Sadducees are asking questions from what they know intellectually and from the carnal mind. They can tell the weather from the sky, the trouble is that they are focused on their circumstances. They are not seeing the bigger picture of what God is doing, historically and prophetically. They are missing the whole shooting match. Wanting the signs and wonders, but not realizing that that is not where God is.

Pastor Don pointed out that lately the periodicals of today are trying to come to terms with God. There are articles about how the Big Bang wasn’t the ultimate Big Bang, dinosaur discoveries that supposedly bring back the dates of creation. They are trying to figure out what the truth is. But they are looking for God in all the wrong places. They aren’t asking the important question: Let’s prove God. We are not omnipotent like God is, for we do not know what is going on in life prophetically. God is in charge, and he is above everything on earth. In an aside, Pastor Don pointed out that God is even above the election results that will come about by this upcoming election. Pastor Don told us to do our duty and vote.

Matthew 16:4a A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”

What was the sign of Jonah? Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights and faced death, burial, and resurrection. This is a reference to what would happen in Jesus’ life on earth – death, burial and resurrection. Pastor Don pointed out that in marriage a wife and/or a husband, as well as any person on earth, faces death, burial and then resurrection of their circumstances. They die to self, the old self is buried, and what emerges is a new person, in the new role. 

So many struggle to find out what God wants in their life. So often they are struggling to find out where God is or struggling to yield to God. They are struggling for things or position. Matthew 6:33 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. If they just focused on God, their struggles would sort themselves out.The important thing is to seek the Kingdom of God, the rest is fluff and God will take care of our needs. God is our stable foundation.

Matthew 16:4b And He left them and departed.

The Pharisees and Sadducees did not get what Jesus was teaching. They did not realize that Bible prophesy was being fulfilled in front of them. Signs and wonders were not the important issue. Jesus foretold in Matthew 16:4 his death, burial and resurrection. THAT was the important sign.

In this instance Jesus was fishing for those who could believe in faith. That is the beauty of the Gospel. We serve the meal (the gospel) to everyone, and minister to whom ever is left. They make the choice. Do they know God, or want to know God, or not. If not, we move on and cast our net somewhere else.

Matthew 16:5-7 Now when His disciples had come to the other side, they had forgotten to take bread. Then Jesus said to them, “Take heed and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and the Sadducees.” And they reasoned among themselves saying, “It is because we have taken no bread.”

Pastor Don asked us what was the mistake that the disciples made in this passage? The mistake is that they REASONED AMONG THEMSELVES. They had the Savior there, and instead they relied on their own reason instead of asking Jesus what He meant. When we reason among ourselves, we will come to wrong conclusions.

Matthew 16:8 But Jesus being aware of it, said to them, “O, you of little faith, why do you reason among yourselves because you have brought no bread?”

Pastor Don stated that this is an inditement against the Body of Christ, where we so often go wrong. When we reason among ourselves from our worldly choices, we don’t get to the place to find a sound answer. We are not to guess what the answer might be. They had a relationship with the Lord, they should have gone to the source for the answer. So often when we don’t understand something in our lives we turn to others to try and puzzle out the answer. We need to first go to God, then if God directs us to someone, go to them.

If Jesus had gotten out of the boat, they would have reasoned among themselves and come to the wrong conclusion. Why, because they were asking the wrong question. Jesus wasn’t talking about bread, he was talking about the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

If you have a problem or don’t understand something that is going on in church, if you are part of a praise team or on some other team that serves the church and there is a problem or misunderstanding, rather than going to lots of people and talking, go to the leader of the group and ask them directly, in the right spirit. If more people did that in the church, more things would get done in a peaceful and orderly manner.

As it is, Jesus will now answer their question, but notice that there is a bit of an edge to the words Jesus used. He says, “O, ye of little faith – and points out that He wasn’t talking about BREAD, but about leaven.

They were not the NOUN of the sentence, in verse 6 Jesus was talking about the Pharisees and Sadducees. The disciples were not in that group of people, so why were they putting themselves into it, assuming that they did something wrong. What makes them so egotistical that they have to put themselves into the center of the discussion, when Jesus was not talking about them?

(Heather’s note, so often in my insecurity I find myself doing this, assuming that when a correction is stated, that somehow it applies to me too. It doesn’t in many instances, but I fret and worry. Guess it comes down to trying to listen more closely to others and to God, so that I make fewer mistakes in interpretation.)

Why are we so quick to assume that we are guilty and put ourselves on the chopping block of life? Bad things happen to good people. Satan makes random selections in his wandering to and fro on the earth, and when we put ourselves on the chopping block, it gives satan a chance to tear us down. Sometimes, we Christians, give satan too much credit. Satan can’t be everywhere. We so often demonize our circumstances. Pastor Don pointed out that a tree fell down across the road to his property. He realized that it fell because of the amount of rain that we had, the flooding we had, and that it was a natural thing that the root structure was weakened, especially because of the beavers that are near his house which blocked a culvert and caused the flooding. He could have tried to turn the natural situation into an attack of the devil by asking himself what trees represented and found a passage in the Bible about the trees clapping hands, and then tell himself that he wasn’t worshipping enough and that is why the tree fell down. Sometimes circumstances are just circumstances.

Someone at our study asked how do we discern if it is a spiritual thing or just a matter of fact that something happened, or if we have it wrong. How can we know if it is of the Lord, if it is a wrong conclusion that we come to, or if we have missed it completely. Pastor Don said that we have to improve our hearing. If it is about me Daddy (God) will say so, we may not want to hear what He is saying, and if we need to hear it, God will keep saying it until we get it. We have to trust in the Lord, He can get through to us, if not in one circumstance, in the repeating of circumstances until we get it.

In verse 8 when Jesus says, “Oh, ye of little faith,” this is not what I am talking about. He then addresses the correct question, not the question that they were asking in verse 7.

We do this all the time with God. We ask Him questions and it is the wrong question, not what God is dealing with us about.

We ask God a question about X, Y, Z and God is giving us an answer for A. We take the answer for A and come to a wrong conclusion about X,Y,Z.

For example, if the job situation in our area is poor, we may decide in our own understanding to move to Ohio, and then ask God which of the three houses we looked at in Ohio is the house we should buy.  But that is the wrong question – God never told us to move. Maybe God wanted us to stand on the promise that He would supply all our needs. Unless God tells us to move to Ohio, which of the three houses in Ohio are the best one to buy is moot, and certainly not the right question to ask God.

(For all my Ohio Xangians, Pastor Don went to college there and has inlaws in Ohio, so that is probably why he used this state.) So regarding the question of Ohio, after asking God the question about the houses and meditating and praying, what if you get 1 Thessalonians 5:22-24 Abstain from every form of evil. Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely; and may your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is faithful, who also will do it.

You may assume that God is answering the Ohio houses question and come away with great joy saying, “God will do it in OHIO!!!!!”  But God wasn’t answering your X, Y, Z question, he was answering your A question.

Sometimes when we ask a question of God it seems that He is silent, not answering. It is for this very reason that He does not say anything, God knows that we will apply the answer to our A question to our X, Y, Z question and come to the wrong conclusion. So He remains silent to protect us.

What the 1 Thessalonians passage is saying, is that God has a plan. If we stay silent and rely on Him, he will clear a pathway for us to supply all our needs. He will open up doors and lead us. How easy it is to miss God. Some of us hang out a fleece. The problem with a fleece is that satan also knows about our fleeces and may imitate the response to keep us from doing God’s perfect will.

In order to know if an answer is of God we have to know God, know God’s Word, know God’s character, and then operate within that knowledge.

Matthew 16:9-11 “Do you not yet understand, or remember the five loves of the five thousand and how many baskets you took up? Nor the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many large baskets you took up? How is it you do not understand that I did not speak to you concerning bread?–but to beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

Jesus points out to the disciples that He did not speak to them regarding bread or provision, they should have realized that Jesus could supply whatever they needed. Instead, Jesus was telling them not to be like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, not to ascribe to their leaven. Then the disciples got what Jesus was saying.

Matthew 16:12 Then they understood that He did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the doctrine of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

That Jesus was talking about sinful doctrine, majoring in the minors of legalism. The Pharisees and Sadducees forgot Hosea 6:6 For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. The Pharisees and Sadducees were into a form of worship, but not of relationship.

This is what is wicked about idol worship. That we focus on the miracles of God, and not on the presence of God. Asking for a sign is not a relationship. We end up wanting more and more signs and wonders.With a sign we notice the power of God, but may not notice the person of God. Jesus was disapproving of the disciples because they should have known His character better than that.

As a believer, the worst thing we could do is think that we have God all figured out. Pastor Don said that God is much bigger than his understanding of God, and that is the way it should be. We are all going to miss the mark at times, not make right choices. But God is there, bigger than us, to guide us to where we should be.

Given most of the disciples were from the Northern regions, they would not have even been close to the Pharisees and Sadducees, because they looked down on the Israelites from the North, thinking that they were second class citizens. Remember that it was asked how anything good could come out of Nazareth. They were guilty of SPIRITUAL REDUCTION.

Jesus did big signs and wonders, the disciples saw them, but Jesus wasn’t about the signs and wonders, he had a purpose for what He was doing, and was leading the people to that purpose. It wasn’t about the signs and wonders.

Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the son of Man, am?”

As a result of the above discussion, he now initiates a discussion. Because they have put themselves at the center of a discussion that did not involve Him, He now wants them to realize more about Him, that He is God’s anointed.

Matthew 16:14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”

That is what some say, now Jesus asks them, who do you say I am.

Matthew 16:15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”

Pastor Don said that he would have loved to have been there at this time to see how long it was between the question in verse 15 and the answer – was it 10 seconds, 20 seconds or a long one minute or more.

Matthew 16:16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”

Because of this answer, Jesus will change Simon Peter’s name to Peter. There is something about a person’s name that tells about them, and in those days names were very revealing about the character of a person. Simon was a person of common understanding, that is why we have Simple Simon met a pieman, and Simon says. It implies that Simon was not a rocket scientist. But Simon Peter moved here in this verse from carnal knowledge about Jesus to a spiritual revelation about who Jesus is. That is why Jesus changed his name to Peter.

We know God because God first knew us, and chose to reveal Himself to us. If we refuse to seek God, then God will not reveal Himself to us. That is why those who profess to doubt God are still doubting – it is because they are not seeking and God is not revealing Himself to them.

Matthew 16:18-19 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.

It is the same for us, when we realize that Jesus is our rock we are new creations in Christ, and we too have the keys of Heaven, and the power to bind and loose. The reason we can know that the above verse applies to us, is verse 20

Matthew 16:20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ.

So that means, since the disciples obeyed Jesus, that if we get the revelation that Jesus is the Christ, that Jesus is the Son of God, it is because God reveals it to us. Those whose names are not written in the book of life will not have this revelation. They will deny Jesus.

So how can we know we know that we know who Christ is? It is because we have the keys of heaven and the ability to bind and loose.

If someone gives you the title deed to a car and the car keys, and says on my word I am giving this car to you, it is yours. How do you know if they are telling the truth? You check out the deed, put the key in the ignition and see if it fits and drive off. If you can drive off they were telling the truth. Faith without works is dead.

The Body of Christ today is in trouble. There are a lot of people who know Jesus as Lord but they don’t know Him fully.

2 Timothy 3:5 having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!

The Pharisees and Saducees had an external form of godliness. They kept all the rules, knew the scripture, and did all the right things, but they did not know Him. We do not put our full trust in Him.

The gates of hell will not prevail against Him. We have to cast our faith on Him, and use the keys to the Kingdom here on earth, which is why they were given to us. So often we give excuses and refuse to use the keys given to us. We set up a system of righteous behavior, but not apply the power He gave us. We then end up in trouble.

In Scriptures, Jesus uses two examples – the one is the separating of the sheep and the goats. When we are lead by satan to accept wrong teachings, we end up being like the goats. Jesus will say, “I never knew you.” Remember, as C.S. Lewis (I think) said, if you want to poison a dog, you don’t feed him a large amount of poison – the dog will refuse. Rather you give him a little bit of poison in a piece of good meat and then keep adding more poison. (I know some of you are dog lovers and I am sorry to use this example, but it is probably the best way to describe the process). So satan will make sure we get a tiny lie fed to us, if we accept that lie, then another tiny lie until we don’t notice that we have strayed far from the truth.

One of the buzz words of today is an example of how this works – TOLERANCE – we get used to a little adjustment to the truth of God’s word, and then a little more, and a little more until we get so far from the truth.

Another example is Jesus telling the parable of the 10 virgins – all are virgins (Christians), but only five had oil in their lamps. The ones without the oil ended up on the outside when the bridegroom came. The instructions were to BE READY, and in those days at a wedding party that meant oil in the lamp.

We cannot measure who knows God on the basis of good works, knowledge, signs and wonders. Only their response to the revelation of Who is Christ is what sets people apart. We are expected to be fruit tasters and testers, for by their fruits we shall know them.

Good people can be good, but not know God. It is easy to be good when things are going well – how does a person respond under pressure? How do we know we know God?

Relationship has a context of communication. Are you listening to the Holy Spirit within? Are you listening to your conscience? Are you teachable? Do you realize that when you sin in secret that God knows?

Pastor Don then went into an aside pointing out that some of us can situate our lives so that we can separate ourselves from people who irritate us, but that is not always the best thing to do. It is those irritations that help us know where we are weak in our walk with God. Pastor Don talked about how he was at college in, yes – Ohio, and he came home and complained about the people, how they weren’t sophisticated like New York City people, how they didn’t know jazz, wore jeans, etc. His dad pointed out to him that you have to make your own happiness wherever you are. You have to decide to know the people around you and make peace with them. It is the same in our lives, we have to make our happiness in spite of circumstances. Real Joy is not dependant on circumstances.

Well, this was a long study but soooo good. I couldn’t figure out how to split it into two parts so I hope you do not mind the length. If you want to (I didn’t type out the text, you might want to read Matthew 24 and 25 so that you can see more about how Jesus will judge).

Hoping you have a blessed Sunday.

Heather

Pastor Don pointed out that while we all assume God made us, we don’t always realize that God made us with a purpose. There is a reason for doing what we are doing, for why we have the gifts we have, why we have the fruit of the Spirit, why we have the goals we have, and the works we have to accomplish.

We are taught for a purpose, the anointing is for a purpose, and the fact that we are gathering crowns and leaving them at His feet is for a purpose. We are to run the race, but even that race has a purpose. Jesus came to Earth to fulfill destiny. Paul was knocked off his horse for a purpose. Timothy, Titus, Peter, the disciples all had purpose. And sometimes we lose track of our purpose, or do not succeed at first. John Mark went with Paul on his first mission trip, and failed so badly that Paul did not want him on the next trip. Barnabas took John Mark under his wing, and he matured, so much so that Paul requested his company later in life, and he was able to write the book of Mark.

Destiny – For example, Esther – due to a fluke of circumstances, was a poor peasant Jewish girl who ended up a queen. And she saved the lives of all Jewish people. Her uncle told her,  4:13-14 …“Do not think in your heart that you will escape in the king’s palace any more than all the other Jews. For if you remain completely silent at this time, relief and deliverance will arise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. Yet who knows whether you have come to the kingdom for such a time as this?”

There was a purposeful design in the placement of Esther. She still had choice in this, she could choose to fulfil her destiny or not. Destiny is optional. Will you accept your destiny or reject it?

Pastor Don pointed out that Saul fulfilled his destiny in some areas, but in a point of disobedience, Saul stepped out of his destiny and that was his ultimate downfall. Had he obeyed God completely his life would have been different and he would not have gone into insanity. The Holy Spirit would have remained with Saul. Saul did achieve many great things, but missed God’s perfect destiny for his life.

In the spiritual realm, the designer of individuals (God)  sees our destiny, our problems, our pivotal points, our turning points, our places where we lose the path, and our good and bad choices. While it is hard to comprehend with our limited understanding. God is able to give us free will to make choices, but at the same time, God is Sovereign and what He wills will occur. There are different time lines – the line of Eternity (God) and the line of time – us on earth. When Eternity crosses our time, changes occur.

Time was invented for us in this realm, but God’s understanding is out of our willful understanding, out of our time frame. God’s understanding is beyond anything we can think or imagine. When Eternity enters our time frame, it can alter anything in our life.

Pastor Don asked us if we have ever experienced those moments of the supernatural where time and eternity meet – where you can think you prayed for five minutes and an hour has passed or you think you have prayed an hour and only a few minutes have passed.

God sits outside of our time frame, looks into our time lines, and makes different conclusions than we make in our three dimensional time frame. We cannot understand all the functions of our human brains, how can we even think to understand the far reaches of God?

The Word of God, in our time frame, gives us situations in which we have to make a choice.

So often we won’t see the full result of these choices in our time frame, but that is where faith enters in. Faith exists in our time frame. If faith was part of the supernatural time frame, we would not be able to use it. Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. I am in time, and am choosing to believe by faith something that is outside of my time frame.

If I choose not to choose I am still choosing. God puts me in a situation, I have free will, but I can choose not to exercise that free will. If I don’t make a choice I will die. Even if I believe that I am like a rat in God’s maze, if I just sit down and do not move in the maze, do not make decisions to go straight, to the right or to the left, I will not get the reward (food) and I will die. With our life, if we do not make choices we will not get anywhere, we will not end up doing God’s will in our life, and we will not be effective.

Love does not function in a vacuum or out of control. Love is only love if it comes from the free will to choose to love. Love without commitment is not love. We say we love Jesus, but do we really? If we are making willful decisions out of our own will and not obeying God, is that choosing to love God? God gives us free will to choose. God designed us to be purposeful, he wants us to pick ways to be purposeful in His kingdom.

Everything on our planet was made by intelligent design. It is easy to see that if one thing was changed in our universe it could have killed all life. One degree closer or further away from the sun would affect life on earth, the atmosphere is perfect for life, etc. Why would we not think that we too, were created with intelligent design?

God redeems souls for His purpose. Everyone in creation has opportunity to fulfill their best design. Nowhere in the Bible does it ever indicate that God wanted anyone to be miserable. When we are miserable it is because we are not seeing the process that is leading towards our purpose. We become miserable when our purpose doesn’t line up with our dreams (joyful contemplation of possibilities), with our wholeness, our happiness. Satan tries to get us off track, getting us to lose focus of our dream, so that we start getting mired in our circumstances instead of holding onto our dreams.

Pastor Don reminded us of the following Disney song:

A dream is a wish your heart makes
When you’re fast asleep
In dreams you lose your heartaches
Whatever you wish for, you keep

Have faith in your dreams and someday
Your rainbow will come smiling through
No matter how your heart is grieving
If you keep on believing
the dream that you wish will come true

Our dreams are something that we think about and then at some point apply faith to so that you can arrive at your destiny. Our destiny is God’s purposeful plan for you to fulfill what you have desired to do.

Julie, one of our members, had in her Bible a page torn out from the devotional The Word for You Today, Entry from August 12 about dreams. “What’s your dream? When you dream you move closer to the way God sees things; you see beyond your limitations; you move from where you are to where He wants you to be; you begin to see your goals in their completed state. The question isn’t can you dream, but do you have the courage to act on it? If your dream doesn’t stretch you to the point of discomfort it’s probably not of God. Furthermore, God won’t miraculously lift you out of your dream and set you down in the middle of its fulfillment. The children of Israel dreamed of living in the Promised Land. But the only way to get there was through the wilderness. That’s where we learn to (a) trust God daily for the manna we need; (b) discover His power in the Red Sea situations of our lives; (c) be led by Him when there are no clear sign posts; (d) get up every morning with our eyes on our destiny and move steadily toward it; (e) refuse to become like those who complain and never make it out of the wilderness. Now for a warning; someone will always try to steal your dream. Always! Often it’ll be someone who never had a dream of their own, of if they did they abandoned it. It could even be a family member who reminds you of what God couldn’t or wouldn’t do through someone like you. What do you dream about? What has God enabled you to see that doesn’t yet exist? You’ll never out-dream God! For “God can do… far more than you can ever imagine.”

And an entry from August 13 “Pursue the dream God has given you no matter how farfetched it may seem, for dreams are like your children; they’re your offspring. They’re the joy of your present and the hope of your future. Protect them. Feed them. Encourage them to grow, for as long as you have a dream you’ll never be old. In spite of betrayal by his family, attempted seduction by Potiphar’s wife and false imprisonment, Joseph’s dream carried him all the way to his destiny as ruler of Egypt. Now, we’re talking about God-given dreams that lead to God-honoring results, not selfish ambition. Paul writes, “Long before we first heard of Christ…he had…designs on us for glorious living” (Eph 1:11-12) God has a dream for you and if you seek Him He’ll reveal it to you. But when he does, remember 3 things: (1) Dreams are specific, not general; personal, not public. God won’t give somebody else your dream, He’ll give it to you. He may confirm it through others, but He’ll reveal it to you. When He does, don’t share it with the wrong people our you’ll get hurt. Like Joseph’s brothers, they won’t be able to handle it, especially if it doesn’t include them. (2) Dreams are usually outside the realm of the expected. Often your dream will cause rational people to say, “You’ve got to be kidding!” Remember, that their opinion, not God’s; with Him “all things are possible.” (3) Dreams separate winners from losers. Dreamers are always a minority. Those who walk by sight will always outnumber those who walk by faith. So today, follow your God-given dream.”

Pastor Don asked us how can fulfilling scripture, doing what God desires for us, and doing what we dream about be the same thing?

Then Pastor Don said that he has hanging up on his kitchen wall the following scripture which he always starts his day off reading, Psalm 37:1-4.

Psalm 37: 1-2 Do not fret because of evildoers, nor be envious of the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and whither as the green herb.

We had to repeat many times “do not fret”. Pastor Don told us not to worry for God will step into our enemy’s lives and fulfill their worst nightmares. God will take care of the evildoers, we don’t have to return evil for evil. God is not a bully. If we are holding onto an evildoer in our life and asking God to whack him, God won’t do it. We have to let the evildoer go, take our hands off of him, and then God can deal with the evildoer (not always whacking though). He wants to reach all people, just like he reached us.

Psalm 37:3 Trust in the LORD, and do good; Dwell in the land, and feed on His faithfulness.

God will take care of our needs, He is faithful. He is sovereign. Our worry won’t change things because God has it in control.

Psalm 37:4 Delight yourself also in the LORD, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.

This is the verse that Pastor Don focused on. Pastor Don pointed out that there were two ways to interpret this verse. One is material – that God will give us what we desire in the physical. The problem is, that so often we say to ourselves that “If I had that car, boat, house, thing, then I will be happy. But that is a fleeting happiness because that thing like the car will break down. There will be repair bills, etc. But God knows best what is in our heart and will make us really happy. It isn’t the thing – it is what the thing represents. For example, if you want a mansion – it isn’t the mansion, but the security that having one’s own home provides. God knows what the real desire is, and it doesn’t always coincide with what we think the desire is.

The second way of reading this verse is that God actually places the desire that we have into our hearts. He knows what will make us happy, He knows what is in our best interests. When we ask God to put the desire in our heart, and then pray for that desire to come to pass, we are praying in line with God, and He will honor that prayer for the desire to be fulfilled.

He will put the desire into our heart that He knows will fulfill that deep need that is there.

Ecclesiastes 2:19-23 And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity. Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This is always vanity.

All the things we desire are fleeting, but God knows what is good for us. If our duty and dream don’t line up, we may not arrive at our destiny and all of our labor is in vain. For if we are working towards things that are not of eternal value, then they will pass away.

Lamentations 1:9 Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not consider her destiny, therefore her collapse was awesome; she had no comforter. “O Lord behold my affliction, for the enemy is exalted!”

The skirts refer to the external trappings, and were donned without considering the destiny, so the collapse was inevitable. She did not have the comforter (She being Israel in this case, but also us). The Comforter we know as the Holy Spirit who will help to guide us to our destiny.

John 14 – 17 talks about the Holy Spirit as a comforter. Without the guidance of the Holy Spirit we can get lost somewhere between our dream and our destiny, for we can get locked in time and circumstances. But the Holy Spirit can guide us with a sure hand towards our destiny.

2 Corinthians 1:8-12 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, you also helping together in prayer for us, that thanks may be given by many persons on our behalf for the gift granted to us through many, for our boasting is this: the testimony of our conscience that we conducted ourselves in the world in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom but by the grace of God, and more abundantly toward you.

Paul talks about the race, keeping the eye on the prize, and keeping the focus on the work for Christ. As you can see above, he caught lots of trouble in doing God’s will. We have to get it out of our minds that when we are walking towards our destiny the way will always be easy or without trouble. Not so, Paul, Jesus, the disciples, all had challenges. But they focused on the destiny, not getting caught up in the confusion of circumstances. God gave Him the grace (complete with the power and ability) to do what He willed.

Dreams and duty gives us the ability to step into our destiny. We have to get out and heed His specific commands for us. This goes beyond age – whether you are two or 102, there are things that we can be doing for the Kingdom. We don’t know what our final destiny will be. We do know that God wants us to be happy, and He will give us the peace that passes all understanding. We need to begin to walk out our dreams, not the dreams in our heads, but the dreams in our hearts. And as we walk, God will guide us toward the destiny.

Hope you have a blessed night!

Heather

Today was an intense day in Bible study, the subject of Patience – at one point Beth Moore pointed out in the video, that those who most challenge your patience might be put there by God to help form our character. God is sovereign, and can use a situation to grow both people involved.

God does not waste motions, and I think that as we look at the Israelites in Exodus we will see situations that do the exact same thing. God wants us maturing as Christians, and often it is the challenges that cause the most spiritual growth.

Moses has received his commission, has brought God’s message to the Israelites. While they first received the message with great joy and worship, their circumstances caused them to change their focus from God back to Pharaoh. Pharaoh told the people that they would have to gather stubble to make bricks, and that their quota of bricks could not diminish. The workload was heavy, and the Israelites murmured. First they went to Pharaoh to complain – instead of going to God, then they went to their pastor(Moses) to complain. Moses, instead of answering back, dropped to the floor and spoke with God for instructions. It is this humility that makes him a great leader. So Moses asked God about what was happening to his people, and tells God that it doesn’t seem that He has delivered the people at all. God replies:

Exodus 6:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh. For with a strong hand he will let them go, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land.

God reminds Moses that He is in control – that Pharaoh will end up doing what God promised Moses and the people that Pharaoh will do.

Exodus 6:2-3 And God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham , to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name LORD! I was not known to them.

So God appeared to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but He was not known by name – God gave Moses His name – I AM THAT I AM (LORD). Every time you see LORD spelled out in capital letters it is this YHWH – Jehovah. The name that God gave Moses because Moses was sure that the people would ask, and they didn’t ask. Remember it is I AM THAT I AM, not I was, or I will be.

Exodus 6:4-5 I have also established My covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, in which they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered My covenant.

God does not lie – He told Abraham that that land would belong to his descendants. While a famine drove the people to Egypt, the people have grown as God had said they would. God knew the timing of when He would deliver the people, and used that time to develop the people into a nation. God now remembered His covenant. Please know that God did not slap his forehead and say “Oh, I forgot…” Now it means that NOW is the time for God to act on that covenant promise. He will fulfill all the covenant promises, and some are being fulfilled today.

Exodus 6:6-9 Therefore say to the children of Israel: “I am the LORD; I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, I will rescue you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great judgments. I will take  you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the LORD your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and I will give it to you as a heritage. I am the LORD.”

This is an important passage. Count the number of “I wills” in the passage – there are seven. God doesn’t say, “I might,” or “Maybe” or “If possible.” This is a given fact that God WILL. And also notice that God doesn’t say, “I will do this if you do that.” This is one of the unconditional promises of God.

What are the “I wills”? 1. Salvation – I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. For us, Egypt is the world, and when God saved us, he saved us from our own personal Egypts. 2. Liberation from bondage – God will redeem us with great judgments and an outstretched arm. When we bring God into our lives, healing occurs, and we are freed from things that hold us back from Him. Our lives undergo a profound change and we find liberty in Christ. 3. Redemption and freedom from being an outcast. Jesus has canceled the debt of our sins, and has redeemed us from death and destruction. 4. Adoption. God adopts us when we come to Him In Christ. We will see that it is through Him, and only through Him that we are freed from burdens. 5. Revelation. As He acts in our lives we see the truth of how it is God and God alone that has freed us from our burdens, it is not something we do in our own strength. 6. Direction. God will lead us to our promised lands, He will lead the Israelites to their promised land. If we listen and obey God, He will take us to where He knows is best for us. 7. Provision. He will give us this for a heritage – it will be passed down through the generations. God provided for the people in the wilderness, and did not stop the provision of manna until they ate from the fullness of the promised land.

Exodus 6:9 So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel: but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage.

May I tell you that this verse hits at the core of my being. I did not heed people who tried to tell me about Jesus for many years because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. See the past abuse I received colored my perception of God, and all the yammering about how loving God was did not touch me, I was in too much anguish. Fortunately we are to just spread the seed, and God will water the seed and grow truth in a person. God patiently waited until I could let Him in. See I had mistakenly thought that I had to sort things out in my own power, but I didn’t realize that it took God to help to ease my anguish permanently. I beg of you that when people reject your comments about God and Jesus that you do not give up on them, just keep loving them with a Godly love, until you love them into the Kingdom. Pray for them and God will reach them.

Exodus 6:10-12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying: “Go in, tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the children of Israel go out of his land. And Moses spoke, before the LORD saying, “The children of Israel have not heeded me. How then shall Pharaoh heed me, for I am of uncircumcised lips.

I have to tell you that I can relate to Moses. I know my limitations and often bring them up to God. Moses, who probably had a stuttering problem, did not think that he could do what God wanted him to do. He also knew that he had uncircumcised lips. I suspect he knew that he was not perfect, and how could God use such an imperfect vessel? And then, if the Israelites rejected him, why would Pharaoh listen? These are such logical arguments about why God could not use him, but Moses forgot that God is God, and that it isn’t Moses doing the thing, but God working through Moses.

Exodus 6:13 Then the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them a command for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

Well, God certainly wasn’t impressed with Moses’ arguments. He just kept patiently reiterating the command. It kind of reminds me of how we sometimes have to keep patiently saying the same thing over and over to our kids. I used to think that I needed a tape recorder with numbered messages, #1. Pick up your toys, #2 do not hit your brother or sister #3 because I told you so. etc. and then I wouldn’t have to say the things over and over and over and over again. I think God could use one of those tape recorders in my life – Oh, I sincerely want to change, but there are times when strongholds are present and I keep revisiting them. God patiently gives me the same messages and lessons over and over until I “get it.” He is such a loving Father.

Exodus 6:14-25 is another genealogy. Since Moses and Aaron are God’s ambassadors for the Kingdom, God gives their credentials to show that they are in the line that God wanted them to be. We will see that they are from the tribe of Levi (just as Paul was from the tribe of Levi), and there are a few names that are very important. Verse 16 gives the descendants of the tribe of Levi, verse 20 points out that Amram and Jochebed are Aaron and Moses’ parents. Verse 23 mentions some names of Aaron’s descendants through Elisheba- we will see these names later on, Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

Exodus 6:26-27 These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies. These are the ones who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are the same Moses and Aaron.

God wants to make sure that we know who Moses and Aaron are – and when God repeats something more than once it is for emphasis. Remember the parchment that was used to record the scriptures was very costly, so God would not have wasted words. Each word was very valuable.

Exodus 6:28-30 And it came to pass, on the day the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt, that the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the LORD. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I say to you. But Moses said before the LORD, “Behold I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh heed me?”

What remarkable patience God has with us. If I were God I probably would have moved on to someone who would not be so argumentative, but God doesn’t do that. We will see in Chapter 7 that God gives Aaron to be Moses’ mouthpiece. But I am certain that if Moses had said, OK God, that God would have made sure that the important speeches were clearly enunciated. God so often will scale down things so that we can do the most that we can do and participate with Him. I am reminded of the disciples who were asked about feeding the multitude (the second time after Jesus did the great feeding) and they did not know what to do. I bet Jesus was hoping that they would bless the food and feed the multitude, when that was not forthcoming, he gave the disciples the task of sitting the people down in order. God will use us to the proportion that we are yielded to Him. The more we are yielded, the greater He can use us. I pray for yieldness.

Hope you have a blessed night!

Heather