Day 340: "...That He May Minister As Priest To Me."

Day 340: "...That He May Minister As Priest To Me."

Read: Exodus 28, John 15:12 - 17

Straight is the gate and narrow is the way and few there be that find it. Ponder that statement for a moment. Just sit still for a time to consider the depth of what that is saying to you as you walk your walk and talk your talk. This devotion, based on the entrance of the High Priest into the Holy of Holies explores the question, What are the requirements for entering the presence of God? What are the requirements for going where few have ever gone before? God had established a “Tent of Meeting” where he would come down, dwell in the midst of his chosen people. Every part of that building is designed by God. So, who then may enter that he may minister as Priest to me?

Consider the breadth of what is being described throughout Exodus 28. Moses wrote down in breathtaking detail every single part of that building which was designed by God, who, inspired Moses to write down even the minutest detail of how it was to be built, of the materials that were to be used, the manner in which the all of work was to be completed. Our God is a God of order and everything he does is meticulously planned and executed. He leaves nothing left to chance, nothing to be questioned, nothing is left unfinished. God is in all the details of our life. Repeat that phrase over and over. Let it sink in deeper than ever before. Why? God has chosen us to minister as His Priests!

God is the one who chose to come to sinful man, not the other way around. Man had no thought of God and, even if the Children of Israel had desired to approach God’s presence, there was simply no way to enter into his spiritual realm, meet his highest demands for holiness and righteousness. Man had zero chance to get close to God. I am personally "put through the floor" with disappointment when I read all of the "fine print" of this chapter. With such exacting detail, such an impossibly high standard of appearance, such a rich array of clothes that I could never hope to afford in several lifetimes. How may the ordinary everyday person ever hope to enter into God's presence?

The Good News! God came to us. God continues to come to us. It was God’s mercy, God's grace and God's love that brought about the establishment of a “Tent of Meeting” where he could come to dwell and commune with man whom God had created to worship, love and serve God. God chose the Israelites just as God is still choosing people to serve him today. God is still “Looking for a Few Good Men”; not good in the sense of holy or righteous, or deserving of his grace, for not one of us will ever be worthy. God is looking for a “good man” in the sense that He's looking for a man who'll allow God to dwell within, desiring us to become as much like God as a human being can become.

Let Us Pray: Psalm 8 ... "When I consider Your heavens, the works of Your fingers,... What is man that You take though of him, and the son of man that You care for him? Yet You have made him a little lower than God, And You crown him with glory and majesty!... O LORD, our Lord, How majestic is Your name in all the earth! Amen

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=em55qFGQ-pk
A Few Good Men live w/ Lyrics - Various Artists
www.youtube.com
Various Christian Artists singing on a Grand Reunion with Gaither, Steve Green, etc.

A Few Good Men live w/ Lyrics - Various Artists

www.youtube.com

Various Christian Artists singing on a Grand Reunion with Gaither, Steve Green, etc.

Day 339: "Thus His Hands Were Steady Until The Sun Set."

Day 339: "Thus His Hands Were Steady Until The Sun Set."

Read: Exodus 17:8 - 20

Well, it is sorta good to be back. I have spent the last four days on vacation with my wife. I took no computer with me and neither did she. What a truly glorious and blessed time it was. Her and her intense devotion to her school work and my own intense devotion to bringing the Word of God to the breadth of the world community who are drawn by God to read and give consideration to it. It was quite the adjustment to be without our technology, our link to the rest of the world and we did miss it to some degree. What we both really needed was a time of intense devotion to ourselves and utmost to our God. What we really needed was a break from life, we needed husband and wife time. We needed husband, wife and God time. We needed to re-experience, re-share with each other God's love for us!

Our lives are so busy that often times we will feel like we are neglecting what is most important like our times of communication with God. Our husband and wife time, our prayer time with each other, our devotion to our prayer and share relationship with God are matters of the highest priority to us. However, life and school and a host of
other things, other distractions kept becoming inserted into the middle of it. We could feel it. We could could share it. We could pray about it. However, the opportunity to do anything about was remarkably fleeting. Times never quite meshed. Truth be told today, four days ago, I was not as devoted to prayer as I would like to or should be.

Perhaps this devotion has more application to me than it does to anyone, because many times I am speaking to myself. I do not dare to pretend to share what I share and claim to have it all figured out or mastered. I do believe that God answers prayer still today. I truly believe that people’s lives and hearts can be transformed through prayer. I do believe that our world can be turned right side up through prayer, but why is that we don’t always pray like we should. Perhaps why prayer is so much a difficult thing; because it is a very unnatural thing. Like in the Scripture passage today, Moses could not keep his hands steady until the sun set. Like Moses, our arms get too tired.

In much the same way that Aaron and Hur chose to devote themselves to holding up Moses’ arms resulting in victory, when the people of God choose to devote to lifting up theirs and each others arms and voices in prayer, when the people of God choose to take the time away from the battle raging front of them to supporting each others arms, helping them keep their arms and hands steady until the sun set and beyond, their enemies have no chance to win. The Bible never gives us a specific command for how much time we should spend in prayer. The closest we come is when it says, “pray without ceasing”. It's time well spent as God steady's our arms through prayer.

Let Us Pray: Psalm 66

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=de6wDgVziAE

Hillsong Unites - Up In Arms with Lyrics - Acoustic Version

www.youtube.com

Hillsong Unites Up In Arms with Lyrics Acoustic Version

Day 338: “Fear Not, Stand Firm, And See The Salvation Of The Lord,..."

Day 338: “Fear Not, Stand Firm, And See The Salvation Of The Lord,..."

Read: Exodus 14:10 - 15

The children of Israel have just been delivered from the strong, oppressive hand of Pharaoh. God with a mighty deliverance has brought them out of Egypt the land of slavery and oppression. They had started their journey energized with high hopes and higher yet perhaps more somber expectations toward the land that God had promised. They have marched only a few days and suddenly they seem to be stopped in their journey. They have encamped by the sea. Before them is the great Red Sea, on one side of them is a mountain, behind them are Pharaoh and his army closing in fast. On the surface it seems they're hopelessly trapped, apparently there was no way out.

But in the midst of chaos and confusion (isn't there always a lot of this going around?) the people come to Moses and begin to cry out to him, and as they cry to him Moses goes to God and he says God, what do you want me to do? They are getting ready to stone me, what in the world do you want me to do? Nowhere to go! The only answer
in front of you is drowning in the sea of chaos and confusion and we know that is not an option for obvious reasons. What do we do? Turn around, go back to where we came from saying "Well, at least I had something to look forward to, however bad it was for me?" "Fear not, Stand firm, Look forward, and See the Salvation of the Lord!"

Israel had trusted God for their deliverance but not for their circumstances. But this is not new. David despaired and said, “I will perish one day at the hands of Saul.” Elijah hid in a cave and asked to die (1 Kings 19:4). If we are Christians, we have trusted him to save us from sin but all too often we wont trust him with our circumstances.
There are lots of things that cause us not to trust. We are diagnosed with a disease for which treatment requires making major life altering decisions or there is no cure. We have more month that we do money, we get behind on paying the bills. We have a child who is more about rebellion. We loose our job. So, just where is our trust in God placed?

God tells Moses, there's not but one thing to do, get up and GO FORWARD! I did not bring you out to take you back; I didn’t bring you out to leave you now. I didn’t bring you out to camp here, this is not the land I promised you. There is so much more!! There is nothing to go back to. All that is left is to GO FORWARD! The Lord would tell us today, there is nothing to go back to. If you go back you will be destroyed or have to return to slavery. If you do not pull up stakes now you will probably be destroyed. The best thing for you to do is GO FORWARD! Set your eyes upon the impassable sea and GO FORWARD! “Fear Not, Stand Firm, And Witness The Salvation Of The Lord..."

Let Us Pray: (Psalm 27:3 - 6) "Though a host encamp against me, my heart will not fear; though war arise against me, in spite of this I shall be confident. One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: That I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, To behold the beauty of the Lord And to meditate in His temple. For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle; In the secret place of His tent He will hide me; He will lift me up on a rock. And now my head will be lifted up above my enemies around me, And I will offer in His tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord." In Jesus' name, Amen!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zplX5FDDuH0
Where I belong- Building 429 lyrics
www.youtube.com
No copyright infringement intended. Just a fan-made video. Love this song and the band. One of my new favorite songs! For this world is not our

Where I belong- Building 429 lyrics

www.youtube.com

No copyright infringement intended. Just a fan-made video. Love this song and the band. One of my new favorite songs! For this world is not our permanent hom...

Day 337: "I Carried You On Eagles’ Wings And Brought You To Me."

Day 337: "I Carried You On Eagles’ Wings And Brought You To Me."

Read: Exodus 19:4 - 6

Let me tell you of the safety and protection that you get from another source, the Lord says, ‘I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” Let God tell us of the safety and protection He affords to us. Safety and protection from the Lord our God. I say to that a whole lot of very serious 'Amen's'. God bore us away on wings of a great eagle. Swooped down upon us and as neat and smooth as you please, picked us up right out of our worldly circumstances and concerns. Bore us aloft to His Mountain on wings that would never break nor shatter nor die, they would carry and keep you and me safe forever. Why does God talk so much about eagles while talking of strength?

I looked it up. The eagles’ feathers are lightweight, hollow and flexible, yet also very strong, they protect the bird from weather, including excessive heat, cold winds and snow. The eagle also has a truly sharp eye and with four to eight times the resolving power of a person’s eye. It can spot it’s prey nearly a mile away, from an altitude of 1,000 feet. Likewise, our Lord would in advance target your enemy, pick you up and will hide you under the shelter of His Wings. Amen! God spots the trouble in our lives from the very deepest outposts of eternity. Without hesitation, will swoop down from those deepest outposts when we cry unto Him from the miry pit we have fallen into!

You may wonder to yourself, between you and your spouse, between you and your friends or co-workers why seemingly out of nowhere a whole array of circumstances suddenly throws your life out of kilter. You are laid off or fired from your work. The brakes, engine or transmission in your car chooses that moment to fail. You are a child who is incessantly bullied and teased and mocked at school. Sudden violence comes to your doorstep. House burns down, family and friends turn on you, betray you. You are addicted to drugs and/or alcohol. You suddenly find yourself homeless. You go to your Doctor, they tell you that your life is now being impacted by cancer.

Psalm 91:1, 4 says, “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty… He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge.” Some of you may be going through the wilderness of sickness, discouragement, death of a loved one, financial stress and much more. I have come to tell you today that He would bare you on His wings and carry you to a safe place very soon. Read today's verses again and again. Cry out to God, and pray them through. Let me tell you of the safety and protection that you get from another source, the Lord says, ‘I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.” Amen!

Let Us Pray: Psalm 90 "A Prayer Of Moses, The Man Of God". Followed by Psalm 91.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQq3vGvhyGc

I Can Feel You - Bethel Music/Jenn Johnson (Worship song with Lyrics) 2013 New Album

www.youtube.com

Bethel Music - I can feel You, Featuring Jenn Johnson, Album: Tides, Year: 2013 To purchase

Day 336: "Now Then, If You Will Indeed Obey My Voice..."

Day 336: "Now Then, If You Will Indeed Obey My Voice..."

Read: Exodus 19:1 - 9

All that God ever requires of us is that we make a commitment. All that God will ask of us is to freely give, freely surrender all of who we are and have ever been, all of who ever we will ever become in this earthly life He has gifted to us is this: To Climb God's Mountain as often as He, God requires it of us. Age not withstanding, physical limitations not withstanding. Height of Mountain not withstanding. Your own struggling hearts desires to remain behind and just brush God off not withstanding. He, God is saying to us in no uncertain terms, "you'll make the commitment to climb up to Me, do it!" "Now Then, If You Will Indeed Obey My Voice..." If indeed we will commit to God...!

If indeed we will fully commit ourselves to God... If indeed we will commit to moving beyond the limitations we have committed ourselves to live within... If indeed we will commit ourselves to believe there is more to just living our lives than just living out our lives... If we are indeed ready to commit ourselves to brush off the dust of what we have become trying to do our own thing in our own way... If we will indeed make the commitment to wipe the sleep and complacency of this world from our own eyes we'll see that "Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob and tell the sons of Israel:" If we...!

If indeed you will, In the midst of committing to your daily lives, the incessant outflow of useless energy devoted to attending to your own turmoil, you'll choose to commit to diverting, sharing and channeling this incessant outflow of turmoils very useless energies to lifting your eyes, focusing your ears raising your voice to God's voice ... If you commit to doing all that what could, will you learn about your truest relationship with God? First, is that it requires a lot of energy, a lot of focus, a lot of surrendering, a lot of re-learning, a lot of re-living, a lot of turning ourselves around - "about faces." Basically, a lot of everything we would probably choose to never do without incentive.

If indeed we will ever choose to commit to giving up so much of ourselves, human nature says that there had better be significant incentives, substantial rewards for doing so. When you commit to listening, to obeying God you should expect the Lord to call you to something grand and lofty. You should expect God to challenge us and to call us to something higher than ourselves. You should expect God to call you to Mountains you would otherwise never give yourself consent to climbing. God asked the Israelites to commit to doing something great. They did ... they committed to lives of grumbling against God, 40 years of stumbling around in the wilderness. Your commitment IS...?

Let Us Pray: (Psalm 24:3) "Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in His holy place?Lord God, which of Your children shall come to choose to commit themselves fully to you? Should it be I, Lord? Is it I, Lord? Will it be I, Lord? Let the Living Words of Your Scriptures reach out to me. Let them reach out to those areas of my life which I need to re-share with you through prayer and refocus and redirect toward You that You, through Your Son Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit may subtly or not so subtly re-guide me back to You. Lord, I pray, Lord, that You will show me where I need to recommit myself to climbing, re-climbing Your Mountain to stand in Your presence. I Pray, Lord, Help me to give, to surrender myself fully back to You.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bBC0c3ei5vc

"I Give Myself Away" WILLIAM MCDOWELL LYRICS

www.youtube.com

NEW:"Tyrone Went to Hell"-Updated-A Former Pimps Trip to Hell & Back click link below to see

Day 335: "Who Am I, Lord, That I Should Go...?"

Day 335: "Who Am I, Lord, That I Should Go...?"

Read: Exodus 3:10 - 14, Ephesians 2:4 - 10

One of God's truly great promises of redemption by grace revealed in this one verse, (10)"Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.” I prayerfully ask each of you to consider this awesome verse as you go through this coming week. God's call on Moses' life, God's call on your life. The presence of God is right there before you with the free offer of your redemption by His grace alone. Up close and personal, His great arm is around your shoulder, pulling you, drawing you and me into this time of divine conversation. God is taking control. When one's life is spiraling in complacency, God takes control.

I have a distinct memory of studying this story as a teenager in Hebrew school. I was in the midst of a very bad time in my life having been bullied from seemingly every which direction I could look. I had no friends. Nobody was going out of their way to try to befriend me. Even the principal and the teachers at the synagogue were going out of their way to express their displeasure at my being there. "You do not belong here" was a phrase that unfortunately I became quite accustomed to. Except for a kind and compassionate Rabbi named Isaac Klein, a Cantor named Daniel Gildar, I had zero to look forward to by being there. So I cried, "Who Am I, Lord, that I should go there?"

I was a Christian who had been converted to Judaism then. Now being Christian and studying God's living word in Exodus, like a light bulb going on, I suddenly realized that virtually every detail of God's redemption story, every detail of God's deliverance of His people was dramatically, thunderously, summarized by (4-6) "But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),." It was one of those moments of stunning enlightenment that has permanently affected my understanding of my relationship with God. It was Moses then. Now, it is me and you.

God created us for companionship and to live in community with each other. God is love. He created us to love and be loved. God does not want us to be separated from Him. He wants us to be a vital, functioning member of His body. God called Moses to bring the Hebrews out of Egypt, offer them a covenant, a promise. First they needed a "first responder." Somebody who could and would tell them a story of their OWN redemption by God's hand alone. Throughout Scripture, God sent many men and women, used their redemption stories, their friendship with Him to spread the good news. I am one God's "first responders" today. Who Am I that the Lord should send me? I am Redeemed!!

Let Us Pray: Spend quality prayer time with the words of King David from Psalm 25. I encourage you to take the time to consider the implications that David's profound words have on your life today. Beginning with "To You, O Lord, I lift up my soul..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJ4jOX6f_1s
Redeemed by Big Daddy Weave (with lyrics)
www.youtube.com
"Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies."

Redeemed by Big Daddy Weave (with lyrics)

www.youtube.com

"Has the Lord redeemed you? Then speak out! Tell others he has redeemed you from your enemies."

Day 334: "Now Therefore Go, And I Will Be With Your Mouth"

Day 334: "Now Therefore Go, And I Will Be With Your Mouth"

Read: Exodus 3:1 - 14; 4:1 - 17

In the course of my studies of the Book of Exodus I came across this quote, "God’s will done in God’s way will not lack God’s support!" I went back and re-read the story of Moses standing before God on the mountain trying to beat back the will of God with an array of one excuse after the other why he was not the one to return to Egypt to
deliver God's people from bondage. I got to thinking about the reasons that Moses used trying so hard to get out of going. Why is it that we ourselves refuse to listen to our parents or our teachers our supervisors when they say go and do this and go and do that? Perhaps he just wasn't so eager to feel like he was prepared to be volunteered.

And so when there is a need, when somebody seems to believe we should volunteer, what goes on in our own minds? What stirs in our memories? When it is time to step up and meet a challenge, we think we should, but we hope we don’t have to. We think we maybe could, but then we suspect maybe we couldn’t. When it is time to be really
available, we know we know deep in our hearts that sincerely we shouldn’t feel this way, but we do want to say, “please send someone else.” Anyone but me, please. I know these lines very well from 18 years in the Navy and the Army where the first thing you hear from anybody is never volunteer and never let yourself be volunteered.

Moses had lived a rather unusual life. In fact, it was nothing short of a miracle that he was alive at all. Born into slavery, into a Hebrew family at a time when the powers that be in Egypt were threatened by the strength of their slaves, Moses should have been destroyed, along with a host of other young boys. But he was not. By the grace of God and the ingenuity of his mother, he was given not only his life, but was also an exceptional training, right in Pharaoh’s palace. Moses, like a lot of people, then made a mistake. A big mistake. Not just any little boo-boo, but a significant, life - changing blunder. He killed a man. Now it was time for Moses to come face to face with God.

God had other things in mind for Moses. God wanted Moses to volunteer to free His people. God expected Moses to be available for liberation. Moses knew he should be available, and so he spoke up, “Here I am”. And yet at the same time Moses was not so sure he really wanted to be a volunteer. Even while the words, “Here I am” were coming out of Moses’ mouth, he felt self-doubt, felt uncertainty, he felt unreadiness. I am prepared to say that doubting ourselves is actually a very valuable part of being available for God’s causes. Moses doubted himself; that’s a good thing. It made him available to be used of God, not for himself, but volunteered for God’s very own purposes.

Let Us Pray: God, I sit here believing I am prepared to be volunteered for service to your kingdom. Like Moses, I have much trepidation even when I am full in your great presence. I am eager to engage in the calling you have set aside for me, but I am also quite scared because I believe more in the power and might of my frailties than in your strength, in your grace, in your infallible unfailing promises. Nobody can truly be totally prepared, totally ready to give of themselves completely to the service of your kingdom, for man is ever to be more determined to be and remain bogged down in their own ways. It is always so much more of a struggle for us to believe we should simply disengage from the world we have made and crafted with our own two hands. To simply volunteer to just tear ourselves down that we might somehow allow you the time to build us back up is inconceivable. God, I pray that you'll set my confidence on a rock that will always be higher than I.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xzQwqpjHQV0

More love more power-Lyrics

www.youtube.com

More love more power by Michael W.Smith

Day 333: God Asks, “What Is That In Your Hand?”

Day 333: God Asks, “What Is That In Your Hand?”

Read: Exodus 4:1 - 13, John 14:12 - 14

"It is out of my hands now!" "I wash my hands of this matter!" "I want nothing more to do with it!" "I have done the best I could and nothing has worked!" "I am done with it, let it be gone from my sight!" "I will hear no more of this troublesome matter!" "I do not have the skills!" "What if nobody believes me?" I guess by now you can figure out where this is going. There are times in our lives when those words become so real to us. There are other times when all we want to count on is – How many times someone has failed us, or hurt us? How many times a promise has been made but just not kept? How many times have we been the perpetrator? In my hands are my failures!

We remind ourselves that we have done all we know to do. We become frustrated with something or someone and we tell ourselves there really is nothing else we can do. How often do we simply say to ourselves, “It’s out of my hands!” How many times do we simply look at our hands and only visualize the failures we've crafted with them? Oh, we did know success. In fact our hands have crafted many inspired successes. We stood tall in the courts of 'Pharaoh'. My hands have crafted great victory from great defeat. However, I have fallen and fallen hard. Before me now when I look at my hands I see only the Egyptian task masters blood on my hands. I can simply see only my shortcomings.

Just how much more like Moses are we? Moses left Egypt behind. Wandered through the great wilderness wondering what is next for him. Tormented by his past successes and greater still by his fall from the throne of Egypt. He has spent 40 years in Midian trying to reconstruct, redeem and resurrect his life through quietly raising his family in relative obscurity. Then the burning bush and now God is calling him out. Moses is listening. So are we when we recount the works of our hands over the course of our lives. Not an easy thing to do. Not a very desired thing to do. In my minds eye when I look at the works of my hands, I simply see not so much that God should be too confident using.

What do you see when you look at the works of your hands? What are your hands telling you? If you were to have a conversation with them, what would they honestly say back to you? Moses', looking at his hands received a vote for 'no confidence here'! My hands hear these words “What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you.’” I hear these words and can only look at my hands to listen all too well to what they are saying to me. "Nope!" "I want nothing more to do with it!" "I have done the best I could and nothing has worked!" God interrupts Moses, us. Behold your hands now. God is about to do a greater work!

Let Us Pray: Pray tell me God, just what can you possibly do with hands like mine?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pbyRNOYkqc
Shout to the lord By: Christ Tomlin with lyrics
www.youtube.com
Shout to the lord by chris tomlin Pleas leave a comment , and god bless you I do not own this

Shout to the lord By: Christ Tomlin with lyrics

www.youtube.com

Shout to the lord by chris tomlin Pleas leave a comment , and god bless you I do not own this music

Day 332: "Now A New King Arose Over Egypt,"

Day 332: "Now A New King Arose Over Egypt,"

Read: Exodus 1:8 - 32

This devotion is one of encouragement to those who are going through tough times. When it seems as though there is no way out of a situation and everything is closing in on you, you can rest assure that God is just a whisper away to help you. There is a great chain attached to all of our spirits. I call this chain the fear of being free. The
fear of learning how to live in the freedom that God offers to us. Learning to live in freedom is one of the hardest things we will ever do. The Hebrew slaves in Exodus never learned to live as free people, many of us today struggle with that as well. The fear that is caused by the realization that we have complete freedom through Christ.

This complete freedom is terrifying to people, so we will act in all kinds of ways that deny our freedom. We blame others for our unhappiness. We say things like “I had no choice,” when actually we have tons of choices. We claim that others made us do this or that, when every single thing we do is actually by our own choice. We are free
to do anything we wish to do, as long as we are willing to accept the consequences – and it’s the consequences of living as free creatures that scares people half to death. Examine and study for yourself the interaction between Pharaoh and the midwives. A choice - "if it is a boy - kill it, if a girl then let it live." A choice, defy Pharaoh and die!

Ever thought about that before? Ever thought about the awesome responsibility that comes with freedom, about how much courage it actually takes to embrace your freedom and live as a free person? The freedom to choose, remain in bondage, defy the king of Egypt and risk death or (V.17) "But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live." The Hebrew Midwives chose to risk everything to live the free promise of life for the King of Kings. Tied down to a life of bondage to an earthly king, they chose to exercise their right of freedom to move beyond the harshness of their life's circumstance. A new KING arose over Egypt, GOD!

As I said, learning to live in freedom, I think, is one of the hardest things we will ever do. There’s a whole book of the Bible (called Exodus) that’s about the struggle of an entire race of people to learn to live in their new found freedom. Today for many of us we are ruled by kings called addictions, bullying, violence, racism, poverty, hunger,
oppression, threats of terrorism, traumatic memories of the events of 9/11/11. It is something that I and so many others struggle against, living beyond these things that bind us to our chains of fear, living in the freedom freely offered to us by God our One and only true Eternal KING! How do we learn to freely accept God's freedom, overcoming ourselves?

Let Us Pray: Psalm 17 (A prayer the Hebrew Midwives might have offered unto God)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ndbma-BQJK8

More to this Life by Steven Curtis Chapman

www.youtube.com

Day 331: "God, Why Did You Ever Send Me?"

Day 331: "God, Why did You Ever Send Me?

Read: Exodus 5:22 - 6:1

"You hit the nail right on the head, Son!" I do not know how many times I heard that statement from my Dad. Identify a problem. Examine the problem from all possible angles. Systematically, methodically, start hammering away at it until the solution is found. Keep trying! Keep struggling! There is a solution! Be confident, Son, you will eventually discover the right solution to what ever the problem was. Keep hammering away at something like a nail on a 2x4 and it will go in eventually, guaranteed or you can give the wood back to the tree. Our lives are often like that nail that needs to be constantly pounded on by God. To do that I believe God allows struggle into our lives.

Struggles are God’s hammers. They pound away at us causing us to think right, live right, trusting in God's might. This is very important, if it were not for the struggles we face, we never give a thought to God, or the danger we are in as we live in this world. Moses was in a lot of trouble. Things were not going very well for him or his people. Pharaoh hardened his heart and told the people to make bricks without straw. For all of Moses' best efforts, all that seemed to get accomplished was one trouble after the other. Each one successively worse than the previous. People were hostile! The Good News: God can and will cause good things to come out of your Worst Struggles!

Can you hear Moses' frustration? Can you identify with Moses' response to that high grade frustration? God called Moses, Moses responded. This no different than when God calls us and we respond. Moses was most diligent in his efforts. He kept trying to work hard to bring success and glory to God and deliverance to God's people. Despite all of his best efforts the only result seemed to be a cascade of troubles, each worse than the one before. Can you hear Moses' cry in your own heart "Why did you ever send me?" If all that was to be accomplished by my going was gloom, despair, excessive misery, God, Why did you ever send me and You have not delivered Your people at all.”

One of the most important lessons we need to learn, it is not an easy one, is that this life is not our friend. Struggles teach us God's Truth about living this life in response devoted to God's call. Remaining wholly faithful to God, His mission and His call upon our lives despite all of the worst possible circumstances that may arise from our very best efforts. Struggle, while a difficult option for us to swallow or accept, is a means of grace which God will use to mature us in the faith (Philippians 1:6; 3:12 - 16). Our motto should be “I live, therefore, I struggle.” All of us struggle. It does not matter who we are, it does not matter how old we are, or how rich we are. We all struggle.

Let Us Pray: God, no one, no not one, including me has to tell you that your children are struggling mightily everyday fulfilling their call upon their lives. We hear the cry of Moses and the Israelites and each day they sound more and more like our very own. We try hard to love you as you first loved us when you brought us forth from the dust and first breathed life into us. Fulfilling the call of love like yours in this day and age only seems to yield a ceaseless array of struggles, each one worse than the one before it. My God, "Why did you ever see fit to send me into the fray called life?"

I pray God, help us so to realize and internalize that when we are commanded to do something by you, you have already provided every internal and external resource necessary to carry out that command, to meet each of the struggles head on and in your name. Let us live out the struggle called of love with grace and perseverance;
"But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ." "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:57 - 58)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRtFi2Mw-c8

Your Love Never Fails | Jesus Culture

www.youtube.com

VERSE 1: Nothing can separate Even if I ran away Your love never fails I know I still make mistakes But You have new mercies for me everyday Your

Day 330: "Now You Shall See What I Will Do To Pharaoh;"

Day 330: "Now You Shall See What I Will Do To Pharaoh;"

Read: Exodus 5:1 - 6:1

Lately, I have been reading deeper into the book of Exodus. In my reading, I noticed something strange, something that I had just not taken the time fully realized before. Tell me what you think of this observation. First, God has commanded Moses to go to Egypt, where he had fled from years before, to go and risk his own life by confronting
the Pharaoh. Then God turns around and says, in effect, “Oh, by the way, Pharaoh is not going to listen to you.” Did you just hear a very loud thud coming from Moses and his heart? First, whenever we do something, we generally tend to do it the quickest, easiest, way. It strikes me God is telling Moses to deliver His people by the hard way.

I mean, people do not usually take the long way home on purpose. People do not, will not usually try to do things the hard way. We perhaps expect that if God is calling us to do something for the benefit and blessing of His kingdom, He is going to show us the easy path to grace and glory. Walk in, Pharaoh yields just like that and out we will stroll out in victory. God will go before us and ahead of us, clear away the mountains and the valleys so the success of our journey is preordained to lead us to a victorious outcome. Yes, expect troubles, tribulations, but God will show the easy way forward.

Really? Are we who testify, witness, identify ourselves as Christians this complacent in our journey of faith? Witness to such powerfully negative verses like these from Exodus 5, bringing them ever forward into our own contemporary lives when we ourselves become confronted by the rigorous challenges of accomplishing the 'impossible' ~ “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw. Go and get your straw yourselves wherever you can find it, but your work will not be reduced in the least.’” (10,11) We are called out to do the impossible, called out to accomplish it but have our regular resources taken out from underneath us? "But God?!" But God's word tells us; "Guess what, Life is not always going to listen to you."

Do we excuse ourselves from having to do the work God called us to do because the conditions for accomplishing victory in His name became impossible to overcome? Is God just the 'brick' we can just stockpile in reserve, that when needed we can pick up and launch through the plate glass window of 'impossibles' store front so we can loot
and steal the supplies need to keep working? God is an absolutely essential resource! We can never do without God in our lives, nor should we ever try. We know what we shall see what God will do to Pharaoh to gain deliverance of His people. Perhaps God now desires to see "what I will do to Pharaoh" after God already hardens his heart!

Let Us Pray: God, you have called us forth from day to day lives and are sending us out into a world governed by "Pharaoh". You have heard our myriad of excuses and you have humbled them through your expressions of confidence in us. You have set us apart, you have pointed us in the direction you want us to go and emboldened by
your confidence in us, we go forth in your name. Thanks be to God for this calling! Thanks be to God for the confidence that you have in us to bring victory through you! One thing concerns me though God, so what if I encounter the impossible challenge?

What if the resources dry up? What if I encounter the 'hardest' of the hard ways? I know you will always be there for me when I cry out to you, you will never forsake me to ways of those who go to no end to freely give me the greatest resistance. I desire nothing more than to see victory and deliverance in your name. However, God
I have a question. In such a time as these, do I treat you as the 'brick' held back in reserve? Pray tell me, Am I, or Do I, just pick you up throwing you with all energies? God, do I just stop trying to be patient and resourceful? Do I just stop persevering? Help me to live the proper balance knowing "I AM that I AM" from "I am that I am."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alYxWu554ac

God is God - Steven Curtis Chapman (lyrics)

www.youtube.com

No copyright infringement is intended.

Day 329: You Shall Tell Them, "I AM Has Sent Me To You."

Day 329: You Shall Tell Them, "I AM Has Sent Me To You."

Read: Exodus 3:13 - 15

God Himself initiated the first meeting with Moses when He called out his name three times to approach the burning bush. "Moses," "Moses," "Moses." Now, substitute the name of Moses with your own and have someone repeat it from another room from behind a closed door three times. Place yourself in Moses' sandals as you consider what to do next. Was it perhaps "I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight," or was it perhaps something else like dismissing or disregarding the calling of your name and going on with your day to day life; "Nah, that wasn't God calling my name." Or was it God who truly thrice called your name and you felt something else going on inside of you?

There are times when we simply hesitate to do God’s will because of feelings of inadequacy. Moses felt so completely inadequate to lead the children of Israel that he had offered several excuses to God, but found God to be His adequacy. A right concept of God is absolutely essential to our serving the Lord with power, purpose and proper perspective. God not only reminded Moses of His covenant promise to Abraham, but God used the name I AM to teach him about his unchanging and need meeting nature. Let us look at 1 aspect of God’s nature that prayerfully enhances our sense of power, purpose, perspective. What can we who count ourselves Christians today be learning from this revelation?

Essentially, the purpose of this meeting was God revealing His name to Moses, to us. That sounds kind of strange at first because we are used to a name being simply just a tag that we use to identify one person from another. But in Holy Scripture, a name is in reality a description of a persons character. The name is not just who they are, but what they are like. Taking the time to notice what name is used by God when He is thrice calling you out by name, I pray, will profoundly impact your reading and appreciation of the Bible. The "I AM that I AM" teaches us GOD’S COMPLETENESS - learning that whenever we are feeling inadequate, God is totally sufficient, complete and adequate for all our needs.

He completes whatever we are lacking in may it be courage, wisdom or ability, He is our great I AM. He gives us the authority to do things that are far above and beyond the ability of human beings because He enables us with His Holy Spirit. So, how many excuses did Moses offer unto God as to why he was not the right person for the job called him to do? How many do we offer up? It is so important to stop and reflect on the name "I AM that I AM." With your eyes closed call out this name three times. How do you feel now? Intentionally seeking to personally know "I AM that I AM" in a more profound deeper sense we ourselves experience and prayerfully appreciate God's completeness.

Let Us Pray: Psalm 46

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vtxpkJmxkA
Here I am Lord- Lyrics
www.youtube.com
Here I am Lord w/ lyrics. Hope you enjoy! And please subscribe and comment!

Here I am Lord- Lyrics

www.youtube.com

Here I am Lord w/ lyrics. Hope you enjoy! And please subscribe and comment! :)

Day 328: "I Must Turn Aside Now And See This Marvelous Sight,"

Day 328: "I Must Turn Aside Now And See This Marvelous Sight,"

Read: Exodus 3:1 - 15

Today's reading is the familiar account of Moses' meeting God at the burning bush. It was very important as Moses' first meeting with God, but also foundational for future meetings that followed, his as well as ours. This initial revelation began while Moses was in the desert happily tending the flocks of his father - in - laws sheep. Moses was minding his own business. I suspect that upon first leaving (fleeing actually) Egypt, he was all about his getting away from all of the attractions and the distractions of a cosmopolitan lifestyle. He's now spent the last forty years in “God’s School of The Desert.” Moses had seen the suffering of the people and he knew that he was to be their deliverer.

In forty years in Egypt Moses had learned the skills of worldly leadership, how to be a leader of men. In “God’s School of the Desert” he had for forty years been taught the qualities of spiritual leadership: patience, maturity and sensitivity in listening to the voice of God. With the passage of time and the coming of his children, he came to most likely love the solitude and unhurried pace of his life of freedom. He was at peace with himself and his family and his new role as shepherd. No going back to see his old relatives suffering in Egypt. What a wonderfully idyllic place Moses now found just for himself. No going back! No looking back! What a wonderful place for us to be in too!

All that surrounds us is just the here and the now. Only the future we try so hard to make for ourselves and our families. Going to work everyday. Sending the children off to school. Coming home after a long day at work to a meal prepared for us. Yep, it does not get better than this, loving our families, spending quality time together. I love that thought and kind of wish that maybe the Scripture writers would have left it alone right then and there. It would have been a perfect ending for us even today. I could preach many sermons, listen to many more on that subject and be satisfied. I believe God could easily lay back, love looking at a scene like this "Peace at long last!"

However, God had other plans for this relationship as He inevitably has for all of our relationships yesterday, today and tomorrow. He wants us to know Him. He wants us to be in love with Him. He wants us to know that we have an uniquely special purpose in life. The first thing to note about this passage is that this initial meeting came about
entirely at God's own initiative. God has used the burning bush as a device to arouse and peak Moses' curiosity. So Moses said (verse 3), “I must turn aside now and see this marvelous sight, why the bush is not burned up.” Then God called him by name. So, right now, how is God trying to peak Your curiosity, gain Your undivided attention?

Let Us Pray; God, are you speaking to me today? Are you trying to peak my curiosity, gain my undivided attention about some matter I am not conscious of or I'm choosing to ignore? Do you have a plan uniquely set aside for me and my life right now that you are waiting so patiently to reveal to me, for me to see, get all excited about? Are
you calling out my name right now as you did your servant Moses at this moment? Are you waiting for me to exercise my own initiative to respond respond as Moses did then? That I must turn aside from where I am now, see the truly marvelous sight you have prepared uniquely and especially for me? Speak Lord, I so pray I am listening!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0nV5xbu014

Show me your face Lord

www.youtube.com

Show me Your face, Lord Show me Your face Then gird up my legs that I might stand in this holy place Show me Your face, Lord Your power and grace I

Day 327: "Behold, The Skin Of His Face Shone, ..."

Day 327: "Behold, The Skin Of His Face Shone,..."

Read: Exodus 34:29 - 35, Luke 9:28 - 36

There is this enduring question that I have in my heart right now. What takes place in us while we spend time in the presence of God that will help us to more effectively communicate the message of God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit to those are still in darkness? Moses had spent another 40 days on the Mountain of Sinai with God. He
came down the mountain with the tablets of the testimony. He had to cover his face with a veil because the people were in awe and the people were afraid to look upon for fear of death. In Exodus we are awe struck by the radiance on the face of Moses that came from being in the presence of God. It really does reach out and grab you!

I have read and studied a bit of the transfiguration story from Luke 9:28-36 that tells about Jesus going up in the mountain with Peter, James, and John and experiencing the change of his appearance while He was praying. Gradually from the inside out Jesus' total appearance was transfigured with the brilliance of the glory of God. In particular the response of James, John and Peter who had been overcome by sleep; but when they were fully awake they saw Jesus' glory and the two men Moses and Elijah standing with Him. "Peter said to Jesus, it is good for us to be here, let us make three tabernacles ..." 40 days with God on the mountain; 3 years walking with Jesus.

The Shine: When Moses came down the mountain with the new tablets, "he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord" (Ex. 34:29). He had a shine on his face that wouldn’t quit. When the people saw him they were afraid to come near him. They backed away from him like he was "radioactive." Even Aaron, his brother, was afraid as well. Examine the people’s reaction to Moses’ shine as being your own if you were standing and living side by side with the Israelites of this story. What is going on in your heart at this moment? What is going on within your own spirit that helps you to identify with the people? Do you see, feel, the radiance?

Are you finding yourself afraid of it, being repulsed? Are you finding yourself convicted by it? Are you finding yourself in awe of it, being strangely, inexorably drawn to it? I find myself right now mostly in the midst of my fear. At first being repulsed for I am not used to witnessing the glory of God in the faces of those I encounter. I do not see
the glory of being in God's presence 'shining' on many of their faces. I am finding that I am convicted by my very own worrying of my own face not shining enough or at all. I find myself being convicted of putting on my 'veil' to cover my face because I feel I will repulse others. Why am I more desiring of building a tabernacle to/of my praise instead of just letting God what God is going to do through me and in spite me anyway?

Let Us Pray: God, where am I in this story? Am I running away repulsed by your glory afraid to bear witness to it because it shames me that it is not yet my own, that I am not spending sufficient time in your presence or running away in anger from the lack of your glory that I am trying so hard to see in others or feeling frustrated by having others not see or sufficiently commend the 'shining' in me as I spend my own time in your presence? Am I too afraid of repulsing others I feel called to bear witness to? Am I becoming too frustrated with my own expectations of what I feel should be the 'results' in your people from my daily extended time in your presence? Do I, like the
disciples, want to build more tabernacles of my own praise than just listen to you? Lord, help me remove the veil that covers your glory that I may shine for you alone!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0Yl14sFuzQ

Beauty Of Your Presence - Kim Walker-Smith & Skyler Smith - Home (2013) - Kim Walker 2013

www.youtube.com

Kim Walker-Smith & Skyler Smith - Home (2013) - Kim Walker 2013 01. Your Voice 02. Unstoppable