Tag Archive | Moses

Exodus 20 – Ten Commandments

Jan30

Good afternoon y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 20. In this chapter God gives the 10 commandments to Moses and the Israelites.

I often hear people say the 10 commandments are old testament laws, and since we are in the dispensation of the new testament, they don’t apply to us. I beg to differ because the 2 commandments Jesus gave in Matthew 22:36-40 is a summation of the 10 commandments:

“Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’  This is the first and greatest commandment.  A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

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I am going to split today’s blog into 2 sections; our relationship with God and our relationship with others.

Be blessed 🙂

Our relationship with God

“You must not have any other god but me. “You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love Me and obey My commands. “You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse His name. “Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy”. (Exodus 20:3-8 NLT)

The first four commandments focus on our relationship with God and they are summed up by Jesus’ words in Matt 22:37:

“Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.”’(NLT)

God longs for relationship with us. He wants to spend time with us. He is also a jealous God. He doesn’t want to share us with any other god. No one or anything should ever take God’s place in our lives. Not even our kids, parents, spouses, career or possessions. God should always come first in our lives. Let’s not forget He was the one who provided all the things in the first place, so why should we place the gifts above the giver? We should know that if we are in good fellowship with the Giver,  the gifts will keep coming.

I want to focus on the second and third commandments.

You shall not make any idol and bow down or serve them:
Sometimes when we hear the word idol, we automatically think it’s an object that we keep sacred and bow to daily. I’ve come to realise that an idol doesn’t necessarily have to be an object. It could be anything from money, tv programs, material possessions, kids, spouse etc. Basically anything that we place above God is an idol. If it’s the first thing we think about when we get out of bed and the last thing before we sleep and it’s all we focus our attention on then I think that is an idol.  Matthew 6:21 tells us that ‘…where our treasure is, there our heart will be also…’. If we treasure our material possessions more than God, then that’s where all our focus will be.  On the contrary, our focus should be on God; and how we can use the material possessions He has blessed us with to further His kingdom.
Today, let’s get rid of our idols and return back to God. Lets love Him with all our hearts, soul and mind.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain:
The message version says: “No using the name of God, your God in curses or silly banter; God won’t put up with the irreverent use of his name“. (***covering my eyes***. I’m guilty of this offence 😦 ). I wonder how many of us use God’s name in vain. ‘OMG’ we say it without even blinking. It’s like a natural response for most of us. Yet God clearly state we shouldn’t use His name in vain. He is a Holy and Great God. We shouldn’t become too familiar with Him that we regard Him in contempt. Yes, He is a loving and kind God but He is also a consuming fire.  Let’s learn to reverence His Name. There is so much power in His name. Jesus said in John 14: 13-14:
“And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it”.(NIV)

Our relationship with others

“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”; “You shall not murder.”; “You shall not commit adultery.”; “You shall not steal.”; “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.”; “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:12-17 NIV)

The next 6 commandments focus on our relationship with others and are summed up by the second command given by Jesus in Matthew 22:39:
“A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’”(NLT)

Imagine how peaceful and lovely the world would be if everyone actually obeyed those commandment and lived by it.
Imagine if:
-we all honored our parents;
-we stop killing one another just for the fun of it;
-we are faithful to our spouses;
-we don’t steal from one another;
-we don’t go round telling lies or giving false witnesses;
-and we are all content with what we have and don’t envy or covet other people’s possessions.

I believe it is possible to live by these principles. God won’t ask us to do them if they were not possible to attain. Thank God for the Holy Spirit. We don’t have to try to live out these principles by our own strength. He is there to help us and supply the grace. Let’s call on Him today and ask for help.

Prayer:
Dear Lord, we thank you for today. Thank you for your unfailing love towards us. We ask for grace to love you with all our hearts, mind and soul, that nothing will ever take Your place in our lives. Holy Spirit, please help us to walk in love daily. Let it be evident in our speech and actions towards our neighbors. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen

Thanks for joining today.

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

Have a blessed day and glorious weekend 🙂

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

Exodus 14

Jan22

Good morning y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 14.

Be blessed 🙂

From the 1st four verses of the chapter, we see that for everything God asks us to do, there is always a purpose – For His name to be glorified. God told Moses the purpose why he asked them to turn back. He wants his glory to be displayed and for Pharaoh and the Egyptians to see that He is the Lord (Yahweh): the one who own everything, who rules and reigns over the affairs of men.

In verse10, the people panicked when they saw Pharaoh approaching. To the people, it seemed as though God commanded them to leave and now it seems the enemy is going to succeed and kill them. At that point, it felt like God had deserted them or perhaps they started doubting if God was truly the One who told them to leave Egypt.

This is true for most of us. God asks us to do something, we do it but there are challenges on the way and we start to doubt whether it was God who called us or we just called ourselves.

We need to understand that God doesn’t promise that the road to the promised land will be easy with no pain at all. What He promised was that we will definitely make it to the promised land and that He will be with us. And we know God never lies so if He has said it, then let’s believe that even in the midst of the obstacles He is able to deliver us. (The invitation we are given is found in Matt 11:29-30; the reality we should expect is found in John 15:18; and the confidence we have is found John 16:33.)

The Israelites had seen God take them out of Egypt without them having to fight. He had been with them from the day they left as the cloud and fire. It seems to me that they didn’t recognise His presence with them.  I ask myself, if they did, why then did they start to panic when they saw Pharaoh and his chariots approaching? Was it that they thought God wasn’t able to deliver them from Pharaoh this time around?

I’m reminded of the disciples when they were in the boat with Jesus and the storm came. Jesus was sleeping in the boat during the storm. Notice He was in the boat with them but asleep. The disciples started to panic and went to wake Jesus up saying, ‘Lord, save us!’.

“Then Jesus got into the boat and started across the lake with his disciples. Suddenly, a fierce storm struck the lake, with waves breaking into the boat. But Jesus was sleeping. The disciples went and woke him up, shouting, “Lord, save us! We’re going to drown!”.(Matthew 8:23-25 NLT)

These are men that have seen Jesus perform miracles. Yet in the midst of the storm they panicked even with Jesus present in their boat. They didn’t fully understand the power of the One who was asleep in their boat.

Same can be said of some of us. The cares of this world has so distracted us that we do not even see God’s hand or presence in our lives and when the storms start to rage we panic. Jesus responded to their cry for help.

“Jesus responded, “Why are you afraid? You have so little faith!” Then he got up and rebuked the wind and waves, and suddenly there was a great calm. The disciples were amazed. “Who is this man?” they asked. “Even the winds and waves obey him!” (Matthew 8:26-27 NLT)

The latter part of verse 10 tells us the Israelites cried out to God.
” …..They cried out to the lord” (Exodus 14:10 NLT)

At least they knew to turn to God for help. Who do we turn to when things get out of hand in our lives? Do we turn to our friends, pastor, bank accounts or parents?.

Verses 11 and 12 suggests the Israelites would have rather remained slaves in Egypt than be free. It’s like they still didn’t know or understand the God they serve. God had worked miracles and yet at the first sign of trouble they are thinking of going back to Egypt and lamenting. It’s like they’ve already forgotten about God and his mighty power.

Let’s see God response through Moses to them.

“But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” (Exodus 14:13-14 NLT)

Stand still and see your God. That is, God is saying to them I don’t need you to do anything. I have all the power in my hands. All you need to do is be still and watch Me fight this one for you. All these enemies you see today, you will see them no more

I believe God is saying those same words to us today. Whatever challenges come our way, we don’t need to panic, we need to hand it over to him in prayer and thanksgiving and watch him come through for us. Philippians 4:6 tells us not to be anxious about anything but to pray about everything.
“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done”.(Philippians 4:6 NLT)

I love verse 15. This is my version of it – why are you sitting down feeling dejected and crying all over the place? Come on! Get up! Start moving: start doing what I have asked you to do. Yes there are obstacles on the way, but you keep doing and moving towards what I have told you to do and you will see me clear the obstacles for you.

Notice if the children of Israel didn’t move, they would have been killed by pharaoh and also they would not have seen the Red sea part. All we need to do is take the 1st step and God will sort out the rest for us. I once heard someone say faith is taking the first step even when you cannot see the staircase.

So the Red sea parted and the children of Isreal walked through dry ground. Pharaoh’s army tried to go in with them. God has a great sense of humor: He twisted the chariot wheels 🙂 and set confusion into the enemies camp…lol. At this stage, the Egyptians finally agreed it’s time to turn back because God is fighting for Israel but by then it was too late for them, for the Lord caused the waters to drown them.

Today, our enemies will turn back because they will see that God is fighting for us. Romans 8 says: “What shall we say about such wonderful things as these? If God is for us, who can ever be against us?” (Romans 8:31 NLT)

Prayer:
Dear Lord thank you for today. Thanks for all the wonderful things you have done for us. May we always be in awe of your majesty.  Today, we ask you help us not to be anxious but bring all our problems to you knowing you are able to help us with them and give us grace to step out in faith into all that you have prepared for us. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we prayed. Amen.

Thanks for joining. Please feel free to share your thoughts on the chapter 🙂

Have a blessed day 🙂

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