Let the Fruit Be the Proof

"Now it came about in those days,

when Moses had grown up,

that he went out to his brethren

and looked on their hard labors;

and he saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew,

one of his brethren." 

Exodus 2:11

In most of the storybook versions of Moses we are given the impression that Moses had no idea he was a Hebrew until much later in his life. Scripture, however seems to point to the fact that he always knew he was Hebrew.

In Exodus 2:7-10 we read that it was Jochebed who was hired by the Pharoah's daughter to nurse Moses until he was of age to be weaned. In this day a child was not weaned until around the age of two or three. Anyone who has, or has just been around, a child at this age knows their amazing intelligence level. I have to believe that as Jochebed, this mother whose name meant Jehovah-glorified, nursed her son, she must have been whispering the promises of God to him.

I imagine she rocked him and told him of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. I imagine she told him of Joseph and how he saved the world from famine because he trusted in Jehovah. I imagine that she told him about the covenant. I imagine she told him about circumcision, the seal and sign of that covenant. I bet she talked of the flaming torch and the smoking oven that passed between the pieces. I am sure she shared with Moses how Abraham took Isaac up to Mt Moriah and how God provided. I know she must have spoke of the day that Jacob became Israel.

So I believe that even if his heritage was never spoken of again once he was weaned and became the Pharoah's daughter's son, in his heart these truths remained.                                                               

Now we learn from Acts 7:23 that Moses was approaching the age of forty when it entered his heart to visit his brethren. Forty years is a long time to watch your people suffer. We learn in the book of Hebrews that this must have been the time when Moses finally understood that he needed to do something. 

By faith Moses, when he had grown up,

refused to be called the son of Pharoah's daughter,

choosing rather to endure ill-treatment with the people of God

than to enjoy the passing pleasures of sin,

considering the reproach of Christ

greater riches than the treasures of Egypt;

for he was looking to the reward.           

Hebrews 12:24-26

Moses had watched his people endure much suffering and when he witnessed up close and personal the abuse of one of his brethren he took matters in his own hands and killed the Egyptian. Moses appeared to think that his people would rejoice at what he had done, but they did not. They were not impressed by this man who had spent his life in the palace while they where slaves. "...Who made you a prince or a judge over us?..." (Exodus 2:14)

Little did this man who made this statement in Exodus 2:14 know that God Himself had made this man judge over him, and the entire nation of Israel. Jesus said in Luke 4:24 "...no prophet is welcome in his hometown." Moses is just one of the examples of the truth of this statement.

Perhaps you have experienced it yourself. Perhaps the glorious truths of faith in Christ were taught to you when you were young and as you grew you were taken from these truths and consumed with other things. Perhaps the people around saw the way you lived just like them and they mock you when you come and share with them about the gospel of God.

Perhaps you lived many years in disobedience and rebellion to the God of your youth, and then one day God called you to salvation, to receive these truths by faith. He didn't just call you to come home, but he called you to go out, to preach, to teach, to reach those who needed God's salvation in Christ. Where do you first desire to go? Who does your heart first burn for to share eternity with?

Most likely you started with those closest to you, your parents, your children, your brothers and sisters. Maybe you felt like Moses. Maybe you have heard theses very words, "who made you a prince or judge over us?" come from the mouths of your brethren. Maybe your earthly father mocks you. Maybe your brothers and sisters get angry with you. Maybe your children refuse to listen now because they lived years under you in your unredeemed state and they bare the scars...  

Oh precious one, don't give up. Walk in obedience to the calling of God. Remember those who walked before you, and walk on. Endure the mockings. Persevere through the anger. Show mercy, be quick to forgive, and speak always with grace. Let them see the fruit that proves that you are indeed new in Him.

Don't try to take matters in your hand as Moses did. God will never bring deliverance or salvation through the works of our flesh, but only through the power of His might. It is His life and death that changes people, our life and death are just the evidence before men that it's true. Don't tamper with the evidence. Don't let it be destroyed or discredited. Evidence is there to prove the truth, we never need to prove the evidence. We just simply let the evidence speak for itself.

Oh Father,

Help me to never give up. Help me Father to not turn and run when You have called me to stay, but also Father help me to be obedient when You have said it is time to step away. Let me remember that "The Lord's bond-servant must not be quarrelsome,..." (2 Timothy 2:24). Yet also let me remember that You have not given me a spirit of timidity, but one of power, love, and discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). Help me to act in wisdom and not according to my emotions. Let me not allow the enemy of my soul to heap condemnation on me because of a rebellious past, but let me return this condemnation with the memory of my wondrous justification by faith in Christ. Let me remember and boldly share how I am a new creation in Christ Jesus, that I am born again, that I am being conformed to the image of my Savior. May I, for the glory of Christ and for the hope set before me, press on. May I press on through hurtful words, through difficult people and circumstances, through the stand of Satan himself, might I press on to the victory in Christ Jesus my Lord.

My Jesus, it's in Your name I pray,

Amen

Choose Life

"...And she named him Moses, and said, 'Because I drew him out of the water.'"

Exodus 2:10                                                                               

Moses, his name in Hebrew is Mosheh, which means rescued. It comes from mashas which means to pull out or draw out. In Exodus 2:10 we read that the Pharoah's daughter named him Moses because she drew him out of the water, but precious one, God named him Moses for a much bigger reason.

This Moses who the Pharoah's daughter rescued from the reeds of the Nile, God will one day use to rescue an entire nation by pulling them through the divided waters of the Red Sea. Are we not grateful that the mother of Moses chose to trust God.

The mother of Moses, Jochebed, was a woman of great faith. In Hebrew Jochebed means Jehovah-glorified. This was a woman who knew that a child was a gift from God. "Behold, children are a gift of the LORD, The fruit of the womb is a reward." (Psalm 127)

Jochebed was a woman, who even though a death sentence had been placed over her son, she chose to hide and protect her son. This was a woman who did not fear the words of man, but trusted in her sovereign God. This was a woman who instead of allowing her son to be killed, she chose to allow another woman to raise him as her own.

When Jochebed looked into the eyes of her newborn son she did not see the burden of sleepless nights, she did not see the fear of society coming to kill him, she saw that he was beautiful. She looked into her baby's eyes and she saw a hope. She saw a child that had a future and she did all that she could to give him life so that he might walk in that future and in that hope. She sacrificed her own heart, that he might live.

Yes, Jochebed also was rightly named as she glorified her Jehovah with her choice for life. How we need more Jochebeds in our world today. How we too need more Pharoah's daughters. This daughter of Pharoah took a known Hebrew child into her arms to love and raise. A Hebrew child that her father, the ruler of all Egypt wanted dead. This woman stood up against her family and her society, to rescue a three month old child.

Oh where are the daughters of Pharoah today?

Where are the Jochebeds?

Where are the women who are ready to take a stand for life?

During the days of Hitler, their where many women who took this stand, some very young girls. I was a told of a young girl, unwed, who in the 1940's bore the shame of an illegitimate child to be able to claim a Jewish baby as her own in order to save his life.

Where are these women today when the abortion clinic doors stand wide like an open grave calling out for death to enter? Where are the women who look into the eyes of a child and see a beautiful future and hope, not just for themselves, but for a family, a community, a nation, even the world? Where are the women who will look into an other's eyes and share the beautiful possibilities of the glorious hope that is found in Jesus Christ?

Oh precious one, will you be that woman?

Oh Father,

Forgive me for my complacency. Oh Father, how I desire to be one who glorifies Your name. How I desire to be someone who stands for life. My Father in heaven, show me how to stand not just for this life but to stand for the eternal life that is found only in Christ. Teach me how to be one who draws the sentenced to death out of the Nile of the world. "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death" (Romans 8:2) Oh Father I know the One who is able to set free from the body of this death (Romans 6:4). Help me to go out and, in the confidence that is mine in Christ, share without shame the ministry of life. Let me not miss an opportunity to share the hope that is within me (1 Peter 3:15).

My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Will the True Church Please Stand Up

“But the midwives feared God,”

Exodus 1:17

Psalm 111:10 tells us that "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; A good understanding have all those who do His commandments;..." How much damage has been done by those who feared man more than they feared God? 

In my travel with the March of Remembrance and Hope I was reminded of what atrocities can occur when mere men cause us to tremble. Hitler rose to power and men feared him. I sat in a room filled with every race, every religion, and listened while this woman shared her experience and studies of the "church" during the Holocaust. In my stomach grew a knot and anger rose up within me as this woman shared the truths of the lack of action of the "church" as a whole.

My anger came from the fact that this woman had lumped the "church" all in one. These men ,who by the world were considered the church because of there position, misrepresented the kingdom of God. Thus the reason for my quotation marks. The true church is not a building, it is Holy Spirit filled believers.

In Romans 6:6 we are told that in Christ we are freed from sin's power, these men were not free. In 2 Timothy 1:7 we are told that God has not given His children a spirit of timidity, but one of power. These men did not walk in the power of God. There is a difference between those who profess Christ and those who possess Christ.

Oh precious one if sin still controls you, check yourself. Make sure that you are indeed in the faith. The leaders of this "church" coward in thier fear. In this fear they allowed Hitler to do horrible things. Not just in his close knit circle, but throughout the nation of Germany and throughout the world. They turned their backs and a blind eye to his hate in order to protect themselves. Evil men rise to power and rule because good men stay silent.

In Acts 5:27-32 Peter and the apostles have just been set free from jail by an angel of the Lord. They were in prison because they shared the testimony of Christ. When they are freed they go right back to preaching Christ. The Jewish Council rises against them again but Peter and the apostles do not tremble before them. They simply answer, "...We must obey God rather than men." (Acts 5:29)

Jesus Himself said, "I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that have no more that they can do. But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who, after He has killed, has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4-5)

Oh precious one these mid-wives stood against the most powerful man in the world, they stood against Satan himself. This slaughter of the Hebrew boys was not just a Pharoah's idea to protect his power, it was instigated by the enemy of the people of God, Satan himself, as only one of his many attempts to destroy the promised seed of Genesis 3:15.

My friend, if the day comes where you are in such a predicament, will you be one who cowars before men or will you be like these mid-wives, like the apostles, and stand and obey your God?

Oh Father,

May I be as strong as these mid-wives. May I be as strong as those who in the days of the Holocaust did not bow to Hitler, but worked against his evil to protect others, not themselves. In these last days, may I share "...the whole message of this Life." (Acts 5:20) with boldness. Oh Father might I work out my salvation with fear and trembling (Philippians 2:12), before You and You alone. Give me strength my God and confidence to stand against all evil, knowing that if You are with me who could be against me (Romans 8:31). May I say with assurance the words of David, "...What can mere men do to me." (Psalm 56:4)

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Affluence vs Affliction

“But the more they afflicted them,

the more they multiplied

 and the more they spread out,”

Exodus 1:12

There is this amazing thing about the people of God, we grow in and through persecution. We may not like to admit it, we may not enjoy being in the midst of it, yet when we look back we cannot deny it.

Acts 8:1-8 tells us of the beginning of a great persecution against the church. This persecution began with the intentions of destroying and ending the message of the church, which was and is the gospel of God, salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Once again the words of Joseph should ring in our ears, “you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good...”(Genesis 50:20).

This new king who arose in Egypt persecuted the children of Israel in hope of destroying them, overpowering them, controlling them, but the more he afflicted them the more God blessed them. This truth is just not for us as a whole, but it also pertains to each of us individually. The old saying that “it is in the valley that we grow”

When do you spend the most time in prayer? Is it when life is good or is it when life is not so good? I think quite possibly Satan might have finally figured something out here in these last days. After all these years of trying to destroy the gospel of God and those who carry and spread the Way of salvation through persecution I think quite possibly the serpent of old has realized that affluence works much better than affliction.

I think he has realized if he can keep us appeased and happy, enraptured with the pleasures of the flesh, not wanting for any necessity of life, surrounded with comfort and entertainment, then he can control us.

I believe he finally has figured out that pain just causes us to look up and out for our one, true, living God, but it is pleasure that keeps us focused on ourselves and leaves us desiring to be our own god. Can you see this being played out in our world today? Can you see it being played out in your own heart? Oh precious one do not be deceived!

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come .

For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money,

boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents,

ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips,

without self control, brutal, haters of good,

treacherous, reckless, conceited,

lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,

holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power;

Avoid such men as these.

 2 Timothy 3:1-4

Oh Father,

Help me to not fall prey to the enemy's schemes. Oh Father keep my eyes opened and my ears attentive to Your Holy Spirit. Help me oh God to pay close attention to You and Your Word. My Jesus help me to keep my eyes focused on You and the glory of Your kingdom. Let me not get caught up in the pleasures of this world. Forgive me, my God, for when I have lost focus and gotten caught up in building my own kingdom instead of Yours. Help me to lay aside every encumbrance and sin that so easily entangles me (Hebrews 12:1). Oh Father, might my heart see affluence as affliction and may the disease of apathy stay far from me. Oh Father, help me to remember that I lay not my treasures up on this earth where moth and rust destroy but my treasure is You. My treasure is Jesus Christ. My treasure is the crown that I will lay at my Saviors feet when face to face we finally meet!

My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Devotions from Exodus Part One: Learning to Live in Freedom

Introduction

The journey that we are about to take through Exodus, is both a fulfilled Word and a great foreshadowing of Word to be fulfilled. As we proceed through the first 20 chapters of this amazing book we must take careful inventory of our hearts. We must examine ourselves and check the condition of our own hearts as we examine the heart of Pharaoh, of Moses, and the children of Israel.  

The children of Israel had been enslaved for 400 years when freedom finally came. Now that they are out of Egypt, God has to get Egypt out of them.

We, like these children of Israel, are born in bondage to sin and enslaved to the world and the enemy of our souls. When in and through and by Christ we are set free, we like the children of Israel have to learn what all this freedom means. After we have been taken out of the world, God has to then get the world out of us.

Let us follow the Israelites through these first twenty chapters of Exodus as they learn to live in their freedom. May we take notes as we travel this journey with them and learn from the examples that God has recorded for us in his Word.  I pray your eyes and heart will be open to the Spirit of God.

MOSES MEETS THE I AM

Now a new king arose over Egypt,

who did not know Joseph.

 Exodus 1:8

Genesis 49:27 and Deuteronomy 10:22 along with Exodus 1:5 tell us that seventy persons from the loins of Jacob came down to Egypt. Of course Joseph first came as a slave. The rest of the family came after God had advanced Joseph to second in command over all of Egypt. Jacob and his family enjoyed many years of peace in Egypt, yet with a new king comes new rules. I believe even Joseph experienced bondage again.

In Genesis 50:24 Joseph is reminding his brothers of the promise given to their father Abraham, the promise of the land. He also reminds them that God will take care of them. Knowing us as people, I would say that the children of Israel are already experiencing hardship from this new king or Joseph would not be reminding them of this promise.

We as humans seem to be perfectly content wherever we are at, as long as things are going good. Like the eagle who has to make the nest uncomfortable so that the eaglets will attempt to fly, so God has to sometimes make where we are uncomfortable so that we too will attempt to fly.

Possibly the sons of Jacob thought that as they grew and multiplied and as Joseph reigned in command life would always be in Egypt. Most likely many began calling Egypt home, forgetting the LORD their God, the God of their fathers, but Egypt was not their home and God is now beginning to remind them of the promise of home.

We live in this world, yet this is not home. Jesus said to Pilate, “My kingdom is not of this world.”(John 18:36) If we have received Christ and thus entered into His kingdom, then we too are no longer of this world (John 15:19). God tells us in His Word that we are not to love this world nor the things in the world (1John 2:15-17), this world is passing away, and this world is not our home.

If we are believers in Christ our citizenship is in His kingdom (Philippians 3:20)  Jesus told us that in this world we would have tribulation (John 16:33), this tribulation stems from many sources, our on flesh, our enemy Satan, and the fact that this world is fallen and groaning for redemption itself (Romans 8:20-21). As believers our response to the pains of life should not be to grow angry at God, but simply to grow in our desire to be home.

Oh Father,

How easy it is to slip into a state of complacency and apathy in this world. Especially if you live in comfort. Here I am, never truly experienced hunger, never not had a roof over my head, always had a closet full of clothing, never experienced the tyranny of an earthly king, yet how often have I found myself in a heap on the floor with tears streaming down my face praying you would just remove my life breathe from me. How often have I felt overwhelmed by this world, by the things of this world, by the pains of this world. How easy it would be to grow angry at You and attempt to accuse You of not loving me, that is after all how the enemy of my soul wants me to respond, but oh my Father, I cannot. As Job said, “Thou He slay me I will hope in Him”(Job 13:15). This is what I know, I know I have peace with You through Jesus Christ, and because I do I can rejoice in all things, because I know that Your love is poured out on and within me (Romans 5:1-5). In You, my Jesus, this world is not my home, and any pains I suffer just remind me of that fact and cause my anticipation to grow.

My Jesus it is in Your name I pray,

Amen

Trusting in Forgiveness

When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!”

Genesis 50:15

Are you still holding on to guilt from a sin that God has long since forgiven you? Joseph’s brothers, after all these years, still have not trusted in his forgiveness. They still live in fear of his wrath. They could not grasp the love and forgiveness of Joseph that was his because of the faith in God that he treasured in his heart.

We can only experience forgiveness when we trust the word of the forgiver.

Joseph’s brothers concoct a message for Joseph, claiming that Jacob sent word by them, asking him to forgive them. The brothers come and fall down again before the feet of a weeping Joseph. Joseph wept not from the pain of what his brothers had done to him, but from the realization that his brothers had not believed and trusted in his word of forgiveness.

Joseph replies, “Do not be afraid, for I am in God’s place. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive” (Genesis 50:19–20).

Joseph had an amazing walk with God. We have no record of him ever doubting the sovereignty of God. I believe Joseph was able to forgive his brothers because he knew the wickedness of his own heart. He knew that it was only by his faith in God and his respect of God that he was who he was.

Jesus looks at us, and he says, “Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me” (John 14:1). Believe in what He says; trust in all He promises. Adjust your life to His Word.

Joseph had given his brothers his word that he had forgiven them, but his brothers had not united that word with faith. God has given us His word that if we admit that we are a sinner, confess our sins, believe that Jesus Christ died for our sins and rose again so that we might have eternal life, He would save us. We have His Word; we now too must trust His Word and unite it with faith. “For indeed we have had good news preached to us, just as they also; but the word they heard did not profit them, because it was not united by faith in those who heard” (Hebrews 4:2).

Oh, precious one, are you walking in what you know?

Faith is not just saying the truth and saying you believe. It is a surrender to those words; a surrender that produces action. My friend, are you wholly surrendered to Christ?

Oh Father,

Thank you for sending Christ. The enemy of my soul and the wickedness of my own heart nailed Christ to the cross. The cross was meant for evil, meant to destroy and to do away with, but you, my God, intended it for good, to bring about the present result, to preserve many people alive. “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life” (John 3:16). Oh, my Jesus, my Savior, my King, I praise You, for I know that Your suffering was not and never will be in vain. My Jesus, You endured the cross for the joy set before You (Hebrews 12:2). You endured the cross for me, not because I was worthy, not because You owed it to me; You endured it because You loved me. Oh Father, how great is Your love for me!

My Jesus, it is in Your name I pray,

Amen.

My Redeemer Lives

Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you

what will befall you in the days to come.”

Genesis 49:1

Jewish tradition speaks of the importance of a shepherd’s staff, and we also have biblical truth to support that tradition. It was the rod and the staff of God that David made mention of in Psalm 23. And we can remember in Genesis 38 that when Tamar asked for a pledge from Judah, his staff was one of her requests, and in Numbers 17:8, God used the budded rod of Aaron to show the sons of Israel that Aaron was his chosen high priest.

A shepherd’s staff was as good as DNA, as good as a social security number or driver’s license in our day. Tradition says that the shepherd’s staff held carvings that identified its owner. In this time in history, there were no stores filled with notebook paper for journaling, no computers on which to blog; the shepherd’s carved staff told the stories of his life.

Tradition also speaks of the passing down of the staff of the father to the son, a sign to show transfer of the head of the family. Hebrews 11:21 says, “By faith Jacob, as he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshiped leaning on his staff,” most likely the very same staff that he held in his hand in Genesis 32:10 when he cried, “For with my staff only I crossed this Jordan and now I have become two companies;” quite possibly the very same staff that once belonged to Isaac and once belonged to Abraham.

Now Jacob, Israel, is about to breathe his last. He has blessed the sons of Joseph and claimed them as his own sons, and now he calls in the other eleven. Traditionally, the firstborn son would become head of the family after the passing of the father, but sometimes that privilege is lost.

Jacob blesses Reuben, but Reuben will not receive the ruler’s staff, for in Genesis 35:22, we learned that Reuben greatly dishonored his father by defiling his father’s bed by going into Bilhah.

Jacob next blesses Simeon and Levi, but neither of them shall receive the staff, for in anger and in violence and in deception, they slew many in Genesis 34 because of the rape of Dinah and made Jacob odious in the sight of the Canaanite and Perizzite.

Jacob then comes to Judah, and he says, “Judah, your father’s sons shall bow down to you … the scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet” (Genesis 49:8, 10). Judah was worthy to receive the staff, and through Judah would come David, and from David, our Savior Jesus Christ. The promised seed of Abraham, would go through Isaac, Jacob, and Judah and would be fulfilled in our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:16).

In Revelation 5:5, John stands weeping. The elders before the throne of God tell him to “stop weeping; behold, the Lion that is from the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has overcome so as to open the book and its seven seals.” Oh, beloved of God, do you see the beautiful scarlet thread of redemption being woven through the Word of our Elohim?

Oh Father,

Not only is Christ the Lion, but He is the Lamb who was slain. My Jesus, worthy are You “to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing” (Revelation 5:12). Oh Father, You made a promise of redemption in Genesis 3:15, and in Christ that promise was fulfilled. “As for me, I know my Redeemer lives, and at the last He will take His stand on the earth. Even after my skin is destroyed, yet from my flesh I shall see God; whom I myself shall behold and not another. My heart faints within me!” (Job 20:25–27). Oh Father, as Job knows, so I know my Redeemer lives. Yes, my heart faints within me!

My Jesus, it’s in Your name I pray,

Amen.

Oh precious one, Jacob dies, Judah dies, David dies... but Jesus... oh my friend HE LIVES!