Tag Archive | isrealites

Exodus 13

Jan21

Good morning y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 13.

Be blessed 🙂

In verse 5, Moses tells the children of Isreal they are to celebrate the day of Exodus every March when the Lord brings them into the land He promised them.

“When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land He swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month:”.(Exodus 13:5 NIV)

What caught my attention here is the use of the word ‘when’. Moses could have said ‘if the Lord brings….’ rather he said ‘when’, which suggests that there was assurance and surety that God was going to do what He said He will do.

Do we have assurance that God will come through for us or are we wavering thinking He might or not?. The word, ‘If’, suggests a probability but ‘when’ is certain. That is it will definitely happen. Let’s hold on to God’s word knowing He is definitely able to perform.

I am reminded of the story of the leprous man who came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord if You are willing, you can make me clean’.

“A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if You are willing, you can make me clean.” (Matthew 8:2 NIV)

This leper believed in the power of God to make him clean but he wasn’t sure if Jesus was willing to heal him. I love Jesus’ response to him -“I am willing”.

“Jesus reached out His hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” He said. “Be clean!” Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy”.(Matthew 8:3 NIV)

Let’s stop doubting and believe that God is able and it’s only a matter of ‘when’ and not ‘if’ because He will surely do that which He has promised to do.

Verse 8 says they must explain to their children why they are celebrating. It is very important that they do not forget the reason why they are celebrating. It mustn’t become a ritual. And also they need to pass it on to their children so they can continue with the instruction from God. In the same way we ought to tell our family and friends of God’s goodness in our lives. We are not to keep all he has done for us to ourselves.  Every time we testify of God’s goodness, it’s a reminder of how great our God is and the devils defeat.

Verse 17 and 18 I find very interesting 🙂 . God did not lead them through the direct route because He felt if they encountered any obstacle on their way, the people might be discouraged and return to Egypt.
God led them through the wilderness; a route where they would have to think twice before trying to return back to Egypt…lol..smart God 🙂

When we are discouraged, naturally we would want to go back to our last known place of comfort. Even if that place of comfort or familiarity is not the best place for us, because it was the last place where we felt safe, we will return there. God knew the Israelites would choose to go back to Egypt rather than have to fight their way through to the promised land. They would rather remain in slavery than experience a bit of discomfort and be free in their own land where there is abundance, and more importantly, the presence of God.

Isn’t this same with us? For some of us, God takes us out of our comfort zone to another place so He can develop us and take us to the next level. But at the first sign of trouble we panic and go back to where we came from. We basically halt the growth process and the work God was doing in us; and become stagnant and comfortable in mediocrity. Whereas if we had persevered, we would have enjoyed the new level God was taking us to and most importantly a deeper knowledge of Him.

Today let’s not halt what God is doing in us because it is uncomfortable. Change is meant to be uncomfortable but the end result  usually outweighs the initial discomfort. It’s like a woman in labour: the labour pains aren’t comfortable but when the baby comes out I’m told you forget about the labour pains. You don’t even remember them. Let’s persevere and hold on to God.

Another crucial point to note in this chapter is that; God didn’t leave them alone to fend for themselves. No! He was with them every step of the way. He knew this was uncharted territory for the children of Israel and He wasn’t going to leave them alone. Verse 21 and 22 tells us He was with them during the day as a pillar of cloud and pillar of fire at night and the cloud and fire were never out of sight! (God is just tooooooooooooooooo awesome 🙂 )

None of us has chartered 2015 before and it could be daunting to think of all that lies ahead of us this year, but I believe God is reminding us today that we are not alone. He is here with us; and will direct and guide us in the way to go as He did for the children of Israel. Proverbs 3:5 -6 tells us to trust in the Lord with all our heart and He will direct our paths.

Don’t allow fear hold you back this year. Step out in faith knowing God is with you and won’t let you fall or fail you.

Prayer:
Thank you dear Lord for today and the opportunity to dine with you :). You are simply amazing!. Thanks for reminding us of your power and that you are a willing God who is able to do what He has promised to do. Help us to hold on to You and trust You to direct and lead us along our journey. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.

Thanks for joining today.

I am blogging through the bible a chapter a day with Good Morning girls. Check us out at http://www.goodmorninggirls.org.

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***

Exodus 2

Jan6

Good morning y’all. Today we in chapter 2 of Exodus.

In today’s chapter, we see God’s divine providence at work.

After Pharoah had declared that all male children under the age of 2 be killed, Moses was born but his mum couldn’t part with him rather she left him in a basket by the bank of the river believing that He will be found and would be taken care of. Note this was the same river Nile that Pharoah ordered all male new born to be thrown into. This Nile had taken the life of other new born boys but in Moses case, this Nile was used by God to rescue him.

Friends, everything that the enemy intends to harm you, God will turn it around for your good. The Nile should have taken Moses life, he should have been drowned, but God caused pharoahs daughter to bathe in the Nile and notice the basket Moses was in. She was filled with compassion for him despite the fact that she knew he was an Hebrew boy.

I ask myself why did Moses mother choose to take him to the river? Did she know that Pharoahs daughter was going to come to the river to bathe? If she did, why did she want him to be adopted by the same Pharoah who decreed Hebrew male children to be dead? I don’t have the answers, but I believe it was God ordering and leading her to make the decisions she made. Pharoahs daughter could have decided not to bathe that day but God being God and knowing all things decided to make her bathe in the river and notice Moses.

The enemy planed to kill Moses and make sure he didn’t fulfil destiny but God proved himself to be greater than the enemy. He had a plan and purpose for Moses’ life and no matter how much the enemy tried he couldn’t succeed.

Friends no matter how much the enemy tries over your life this year, he won’t succeed. God will keep you and preserve you. He will make sure you fulfil destiny even if it means using the same enemy that intended to harm you, to bless you and lead you into your destiny. This is what happened to Moses. He was adopted into the same household that decreed his death. God will divinely orchestrate your footsteps to your place of destiny. Be encouraged, the enemy cannot thwart God’s purpose for your life. He can try but he won’t succeed. Bible says the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. He has the ability to divinely connect you with your destiny helpers. Some might say it was coincidence that pharoahs daughter saw Moses, I beg to differ. In God’s economy there is nothing like coincidence, rather it’s all about God-incidents. I believe it was all orchestrated by God because He knew Moses would be the one to lead His people out of Egypt.

Moses grew up in Pharoahs house and one day he was walking about and saw an Egyptian mistreating an Hebrew boy. The deliverer in him came out and he killed the Egyptian and hid his body. Now, there was something inside of Moses telling him he was meant to deliver his people from the Egyptians; that was his purpose in life, but in this passage it wasn’t yet time for him to step into the deliverer role. He was too zealous and ended up killing and hiding the dead body.

Friends don’t run ahead of God’s plan for your life. Wait for his timing before you step out. Even though God has placed the zeal in you, you need to make sure you are walking in the purpose at the right time. Proverbs 19:2 says, ‘Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes.‘ (NLT).
Sometimes God needs to develop characters in us so we can be effective where he is taking us.

Moses fled Egypt after the killing incident. He relocated to Midian. Now when he got to Midian, he was faced with a similar test to see how he will respond, if he saw people being mistreated. He got to the well and there were some shepherds mistreating the women who came to draw water from the well. Scripture says Moses got up to rescue the women. Again the rescuer or deliverer in him came out, but thank God this time he handled it well and didn’t kill anyone :). Not only did he rescue them from the shepherds but he also watered their flocks.

Friends God will keep bringing tests till he develops the character he needs to develop in you in order for you to be effective where He is taking you. You can either cooperate with God and let him do his work or you can oppose him and prolong your testing period. The choice is yours 🙂 .

Moses stayed in Midian and got married and had a son. Meanwhile the Isrealites continued to suffer under the hands of the Egyptians. Verse 24 and 25 tells us that God heard their groaning and was concerned about them.

“who heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He saw the slavery of the Israelites and was concerned for them”. (Exodus 2:24-25 GNB)

Friends, God hears you. He is aware of your situation. He hasn’t forgotten you. He is concerned about you. Did you hear me? The God of Heaven and Earth, the Creator of all things, the One who spoke it all into being, the Almighty, All Powerful One says He is concerned about you (I’m excited 🙂 …. simply amazing to know that we are on God’s mind..wow!) In this year, He will send you help and come to your rescue. Don’t loose hope, your God will deliver and rescue you. I’m reminded of 2 Cor 2:14 which says, “thanks be to God who always causes us to triumph in Christ…”.

No matter what the enemy throws at you this year, remember you are already triumphant through Christ.

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thank you for reminding us that you are the God of providence. We pray you help us keep trusting you and believe that we are already victorious in you. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name. Amen

Thanks for joining us today. Feel free to leave your comments or thoughts on the chapter.

I am blogging through the bible with Good morning girls. Check us out at http://www.goodmorninggirls.org

Have a blessed day 🙂

***With God all things are possible***