Tag Archive | presence of God

Exodus 24 – Free access to the Throne Room

Feb5
Good Afternoon y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 24.
This chapter is pretty awesome as we see Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and some of the elders of Israel see God and even dine with Him! It doesn’t get any better than this: dining with the Almighty God himself 🙂
I was particularly struck by verse 1 and 2 where God asked them to come up the mountain and meet with Him.
“Then the Lord instructed Moses: “Come up here to me, and bring along Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of Israel’s elders. All of you must worship from a distance. Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.” (Exo 24: 1-2 NLT)
It’s interesting that only Moses was allowed to get close to God. All the other prophets and elders could only worship God from a distance. Thank God for the sacrifice that Jesus paid on the cross of Calvary, we can now come boldly into God’s Presence.
throne room
“Because of Christ and our faith in him, we can now come boldly and confidently into God’s presence”. (Eph 3:12 NLT)
“So then, since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most”.(Heb 4:14-16 NLT)
The veil has been torn apart. We no longer have to worship from a distance. (Hallelujah !!!!)
“And so, dear brothers, now we may walk right into the very Holy of Holies, where God is, because of the blood of Jesus. This is the fresh, new, life-giving way that Christ has opened up for us by tearing the curtain—his human body—to let us into the holy presence of God”.(Heb 10:19-20 TLB)
God is here and living in us. We have full 24/7 access to him. We don’t need to go via a priest or prophet, we can approach God ourselves, through His Son Jesus. How awesome is this? The holy and magnificent God has made a way for us to enter freely and lounge in His presence…that’s absolutely mind blowing!!! Yet, some of us don’t take advantage of the free invite. We don’t like spending time with God. We would rather someone else do it on our behalf.
God is interested in having a personal relationship with us. He has extended the free invite to us, but it’s now up to us to accept the invite.
In Revelations 3:20 God says: “Look! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends”.(NLT)
Today, let’s take advantage of Gods invite and spend time in HIS Presence.
“You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore”.(Psalms 16:11 NKJV)
Prayer: 
Dear Lord we thank you for Today. We thank you for sending Jesus to die for us. Thank you that we can now come boldly into Your presence. We ask, Lord, that we may dwell in Your presence and gaze upon Your beauty all the days of our lives. Thank You, dear Lord. In Jesus Name we pray. Amen.
Thanks for joining today.
Have a wonderful day 🙂

 

Exodus 23

Feb4

Good evening y’all. Today we are looking at Exodus 23.

This chapter is a continuation of the laws God gave to Moses for the children of Israel.

Exodus 23: 1-12
While reading this chapter, I asked myself how would I have fared based on these instructions that God laid out for the children of Israel. Would I pass if I was to be judged based on those laws?

We could argue that those laws are old testament laws and therefore don’t apply to us (seeing as we are operating under the new covenant) but I realised that those laws were all summed up by Jesus in His teachings.  This means they are still applicable to us today 🙂 . If we read Matthew chapter 5, we will see Jesus talking about the laws of Moses and how they apply to us. Infact in verse 17 of Matthew 5 He said:

“Don’t misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose.(NLT)

I have listed out some of the instructions from verse 1-12:
– Don’t spread false rumours
– Don’t give false testimony against another
– Don’t follow the crowd to do wrong.
– If you find a lost item, return it back to the owner.
– Don’t walk away from people who require help
– Don’t cheat a poor person from what’s rightfully their’s just because they are poor
– Don’t sentence an innocent person
– Don’t take bribes
– Don’t oppress foreigners

Matthew 7: 12 says: “Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets.(NLT)

This verse rightly sums up everything we have been reading so far from chapter 21. If only we would treat others the same way we would have them treat us, the world would be a better place to live in.

So today, let’s examine ourselves using God’s word as the standard

Exodus 23: 20 – 33
God promises them his presence in the form of an angel. He wasn’t going to leave them alone to journey through the wilderness.  (I love me some God 🙂 He’s always thinking about us and how to make life easy for us). The angel was going to protect them and lead them safely to the promised land.

image

If they obeyed and followed His instructions, there were benefits/blessings that they would enjoy such as:
– Guidance
– Protection
– Deliverance from enemy
– Provision
– Divine health

In like manner we can relate this to the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  God has given Him to us to help us on our journey here on earth. He is there to teach and guide us on how to live our lives.

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate, who will never leave you.  He is the Holy Spirit, who leads into all truth. The world cannot receive Him, because it isn’t looking for Him and doesn’t recognize Him. But you know Him, because He lives with you now and later will be in you”.(John 14:16-17 NLT)

We are to obey the Holy Spirit and yield to His leading. That’s the only way we can be pleasing to God and enjoy the blessings He has for us.

Verses 24 and 25 reminds us that even though we are living in this world we are not of this world and so shouldn’t imitate the world or their ways of doing things.

“You must not worship the gods of these nations or serve them in any way or imitate their evil practices. Instead, you must utterly destroy them and smash their sacred pillars. “You must serve only the Lord your God…”(Exodus 23: 24-25a NLT)

This is also made clear in Romans 12:2

“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.”(Romans 12:2 NLT)

Let’s examine ourselves today. Colossians 3:1- 2 says
“So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, then act like it. Pursue the things upon which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what Christ is doing — that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.”(MSG)

Let’s stop hiding under the blanket of grace. Its time to get up and start doing what is required of us. Shall we continue in sin and say grace abounds? God forbid!

Prayer:
Dear Lord we thank you for today. Thanks you for your word. Pls help us to live in obedience to all that you have commanded. Thank you Lord. In Jesus Name we have prayed.

Thanks for joining today.

Have a wonderful night 🙂

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