Faith in God Can Only Happen in Relationship With…

Monday May 30, 2022

Scripture 1 Kings 17 Now Elijah the Tishbite, from Tishbe in Gilead, said to Ahab, “As the Lord, the God of Israel, lives, whom I serve, there will be neither dew nor rain in the next few years except at my word.” 

– What we have here in these opening passages concerning the prophet Elijah is a revelation of what authentic faith in God really looks like.  Authentic faith in God works in cooperation with God!

– Why is this particular characteristic so important?  Faith in God does not run ahead of God, it does not lag behind God, it does not endeavor to go around a problem or excuse away the concern.  Faith in God can only happen in relationship with God.

– We hear from God, we speak to God, we wait upon the Lord, we move forward because we sense the conviction of the Spirit to do so!   This is faith in God! 

– The pronouncement of judgment that came from the mouth of Elijah was birthed out of his relationship with God.  It was not his own assessment, but the prompting of the Spirit at work in him!  It would not be Elijah who would stop up the heavens, it would be the Hand of God! 

– But hear this, the judgment would not come except by the word of Elijah and so too the deliverance would not come except by his word!  

– What this means is simply this, God has ordained that you and I are to be His messengers of His judgment and of His salvation.   We are partakers of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:4) so that we declare His message to the world. 

– That message will at times confront wickedness and consequently it will not win you friends.  At other times and equally important that message from God will declare deliverance, healing, and salvation!   

– Here’s the rub, we are not in a place to declare God’s Word if we are not hearing from God, speaking to God, waiting upon the Lord, and moving forward because we sense the conviction of the Spirit to do so!  “Consequently faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word about Christ”, Rom. 10:17.  How can we declare His message if we have not heard His Word?  However, if we hear His Word we had better declare His Word! 

– By faith we will hear God’s Word and by faith we are to declare God’s Word convinced that His Word will never fail!  God’s Word will not return to Him void! 

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Push Past the Crisis and Lay Hold of God…

Wednesday May 25, 2022

Scripture Ex. 17: The whole Israelite community set out from the Desert of Sin, traveling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ² So they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?” ³ But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?” ⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go out in front of the people. Take with you some of the elders of Israel and take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?” ⁸ The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. 

– Are you prepared to hear a difficult truth?  Grumbling and complaining is not only an affront to God, it is an open door for the enemy to attack.

– Time after time God intervened for Israel, delivering them, saving them, providing for them; but with each new challenge they returned to the captivity of complaining. 

– They were a freed people but they lived as though they were still in bondage! 

– Christ has won your freedom but you too can choose to live in bondage. 

– The people of God were literally delivered out of Egypt but their heads were still stuck in that awful place!  They allowed problems and trials to defeat them spiritually, then the enemy came in and attacked them mercilessly. 

– Conversely, their only hope of salvation was through faith!  The true servant of God, Moses stood up and raised his hands toward heaven by faith!  By faith he held his hands up to God and kept them uplifted to God until the battle was won! 

– Whining, complaining, and feeling sorry for yourself will erode faith, offend the Lord who is your savior, and open the door for the enemy to attack you and to take you captive!  Faith in God that perseveres will push through the pain as well as the threat and hold fast to God! 

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We Have No Reason to Fret Over Our Momentary…

Tuesday May 24, 2022

Scripture Ex. 16: The whole Israelite community set out from Elim and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had come out of Egypt. ² In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

– God had recently delivered the Israelites from Egypt, gone before them in a cloud by day and pillar of fire by night, opened the Red Sea so that they could cross over on dry ground, and then drowned Pharaoh’s army in that same sea, but here we see the same people God has delivered grumbling and complaining about their current situation! 

– How like the people of God to cry out to God for help, receive His help and then soon afterward turn back to complaining at the first sign of problems.  

– Are we aware that every time we grumble and complain it is an offense to God?  Why is grumbling and complaining an offense to God? When we respond in this way we are showing that we have no confidence in God to provide, no faith in God regarding the concern, no trust that God will see us through, and no hope in the God of our salvation. It is impossible to grumble and complain and yet possess the victory that faith makes possible. 

– We think we are complaining about an issue or a person, but ultimately we are complaining against God and His provision for our lives.

– In our complaining we exalt the problem instead of exalting the Lord.  We might say we believe that with God all things are possible and yet by our grumbling and complaining attest to our doubt and disbelief. 

– The Israelites complained, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” In their grumbling they forgot the reality of the bitter bondage God had saved them from and instead began to long for the days when, although they were enslaved and mistreated in Egypt, they had what they referred to as pots of meat to eat and plenty of food.

– In their near sightedness, they could not see the value of their new found freedom because of the momentary longing of their stomachs! This issue is one we all wrestle with on an ongoing basis.  Yes! God has delivered us!  Yes!  God has saved us from eternal death through Jesus Christ!  Yet, we still struggle to believe God, even though we know what God has already done for us, will help us in our current struggle.  The God who has saved us eternally can help us in our momentary struggles.  If God has moved heaven and earth to save us, we can trust Him with any and every crisis we encounter!  

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The Seemingly Relentless Pursuit of the Enemy!   

Thursday May 19, 2022

Scripture Ex. 14: 23 The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. 24 During the last watch of the night the LORD looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. 25 He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The LORD is fighting for them against Egypt.”

– All of us experience those days when trouble seems to be pursuing us relentlessly.

– As odd as it might sound it was a good thing when Pharaoh’s horsemen and chariots followed Israel into the sea!  It is difficult for us to appreciate the good in trouble staying hot on our heels! However, God had a plan and that plan included Pharaoh’s army pursuing Israel even through the midst of the Sea that would end in their own destruction. 

– Israel wanted relief from their captors, they wanted God to intervene decisively in their plight and to save them but to their distress the threat remained even after God had opened the Sea before them.  

– How are we to respond after the Lord does a mighty miracle of deliverance and then seemingly permits the source of our fears to remain? See also 1 Kings 19:1-9.  Have you been delivered from a threat only to find out later that the threat remains?

– When we go through such experiences God is challenging our faith, and those are the times we need to dig in and trust the Lord as we watch and pray! God is working out his plan for our ultimate deliverance and that only comes by faith!

– The enemy may pursue you relentlessly but God is watching over you! We might exalt the threat but remember God has to look down from His lofty position above, God is above all things (Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world!) and God unhinges the enemies means of attack and throws his plan to defeat and destroy you into ultimate chaos!

– Flash forward from the Red Sea to the cross of Calvary and the borrowed tomb; Satan’s plan to defeat Christ looked pretty promising Friday morning, but Sunday morning came and the power of the Resurrection shattered the devil’s scheme into oblivion! 

– You are not forsaken in your fear or in your torment!  God Almighty looks upon you and He will vindicate you!

– Stand firm Christian and you will see the salvation the Lord will bring you! 

– The enemy may be fighting against you but the Lord is fighting for you against him!

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God Has Not Left Us, He has Repositioned Himself…

Wednesday May 18, 2022

Scripture Ex. 14:⁹ Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, ²⁰ coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.

– I wonder if Israel was aware of the fact that the angel of God was out in front of them as they journeyed away from Egypt.  They, like us may not have fully understood the protective presence of Almighty God who went before them every step of the way. 

– It was the Commander and Chief of the LORD’s Army who was out in front of Israel’s army!

– They no doubt wondered about their own capabilities as warriors, when what they really needed to do was acknowledge the capabilities of the One who went before them!

– The angel withdrew from going before Israel and moved behind them.  This sudden transition might have caused some to ask, “Is the Lord abandoning us?” upon experiencing this phenomena.  Sometimes we allow ourselves to think this way.  Trouble comes and we get this uneasy feeling that maybe God has abandoned me.  We are looking for God out in front of us when He has moved behind us, Psalm 91: ¹ Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.

– If we do not perceive His presence, we panic!   “Where is He?” we cry!  God is with us but He is no longer where we might expect Him to be or where we are looking for Him, He has moved.

– Why, why would God do this?  He does it so that He stands between us and the terrible threat bearing down on us.  Instead of crying, “God, where are you!?”  We should declare, “My God is with me and He stands between me and my enemy!” “God is with me and God will deliver me!” 

– God’s presence had an entirely different effect on those who were His own and those who were not!  To those who were not of God, His presence brought darkness, symbolic of their lost estate and the eternal darkness awaiting all who refuse to repent and believe.  To those who were His children His presence brought light – the light shines in the darkness and no amount of darkness can ever put it out, (John 1:3)! 

– He is the Light of the world, whoever follows (Him) will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life, John 8:12. 

– This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil, John 3:19!  Is this not what we see played out in this amazing act of God as portrayed in Ex. 14:20?!  Walk in the light as He is in the light!

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