Scripture: Exodus 40:34 - 35 Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle. And Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation, because the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.
Observation: Wow, imagine the very presence of God filling a tent. Did everyone weep, laugh, fall on their faces? Was it like the presence of God that we experience today? Or was it like a million times more powerful?
Application: God told Moses to build the tent so that he could dwell with them. God wants to be with us! When we humble ourselves, and seek him, he will show up. He loves us, and he wants to be with us. If you have ever experience a drop of God's presence, you know it is the most wonderful thing in the universe. Get hungry for it.
Prayer: Dear Jesus, teach us your ways. Help us to know you in a new and more intimate way so that we can live in your presence. Help us to make you the owner of our lives.
Sunday, April 25, 2010
Saturday, April 17, 2010
I saw God, and lived to tell about it!
Scripture: Exodus 24: 9-11 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself. But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
Observation: Can you imagine, seeing God himself? This experience on Mount Sinia must have been like none other. Later in the exodus it talks about the top of the mountain being covered with holy fire. The pure power and goodness of God in one place! These fellows were not able to come too close to God, but they were close enough to see him and live to tell about it.
Application: We can see God and know him too. We have something that Moses and his leaders didn't, we have the reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus made a way for us to be with him always, on earth and in eternity. We only need to love him, and give him charge of our lives.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus that you are life, and that you are all that is good. Thank you for your love, in that before we knew you, you loved us and made a way for us to be with you always. Help us to love you each day, and live each day of our lives for you alone.
Observation: Can you imagine, seeing God himself? This experience on Mount Sinia must have been like none other. Later in the exodus it talks about the top of the mountain being covered with holy fire. The pure power and goodness of God in one place! These fellows were not able to come too close to God, but they were close enough to see him and live to tell about it.
Application: We can see God and know him too. We have something that Moses and his leaders didn't, we have the reconciliation to God through Jesus Christ. Jesus made a way for us to be with him always, on earth and in eternity. We only need to love him, and give him charge of our lives.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus that you are life, and that you are all that is good. Thank you for your love, in that before we knew you, you loved us and made a way for us to be with you always. Help us to love you each day, and live each day of our lives for you alone.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
The greatest commandment?
Scripture: Exd 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
Observation: Exodus 20:3 is the first of the ten commandments which God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. However, it was not the commandment chosen by Jesus as the "Greatest Commandment" The Greatest Commandment was to Love the Lord God with all of your heart, and all of your soul. It seems to be the tendency of mankind to latch on to the first of the ten commandments, to have no other gods, and feel that we are right with God. It isn't so. If we say that we know God, and that he is our God, but we don't love him passionately, we have missed it. Big Time missed it.
Application: It isn't enough to be Christian in name only, we need God's love. We will be empty and miserable without it. We MIGHT have a ticket to heaven, but we may have hell on earth without God's love. Do you want God's love? Give and it will be given to you. Give him your love, and you will open your heart to receive his love. He already loves you, but he is a gentleman, he wont force his love on you. He will wait until you open your heart to his.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus for your Love. We know that before the worlds were formed, that you love us. You knew us, you cared for us. Break our hard hearts, and help us to be used by you. Help us to know you m0re intimately. Help us to meet you each day.
Observation: Exodus 20:3 is the first of the ten commandments which God gave Moses on Mount Sinai. However, it was not the commandment chosen by Jesus as the "Greatest Commandment" The Greatest Commandment was to Love the Lord God with all of your heart, and all of your soul. It seems to be the tendency of mankind to latch on to the first of the ten commandments, to have no other gods, and feel that we are right with God. It isn't so. If we say that we know God, and that he is our God, but we don't love him passionately, we have missed it. Big Time missed it.
Application: It isn't enough to be Christian in name only, we need God's love. We will be empty and miserable without it. We MIGHT have a ticket to heaven, but we may have hell on earth without God's love. Do you want God's love? Give and it will be given to you. Give him your love, and you will open your heart to receive his love. He already loves you, but he is a gentleman, he wont force his love on you. He will wait until you open your heart to his.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus for your Love. We know that before the worlds were formed, that you love us. You knew us, you cared for us. Break our hard hearts, and help us to be used by you. Help us to know you m0re intimately. Help us to meet you each day.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
He is our Saviour
Scripture - Exd 12:29 And it came to pass, that at midnight the LORD smote all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh that sat on his throne unto the firstborn of the captive that [was] in the dungeon; and all the firstborn of cattle. Exd 12:30 And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.
Observation - How could a loving, good, God kill babies? This is a tough question, but there is a good answer. God is a loving father, a Saviour to his people. There were over 1 million of his people in Egypt, all children of Jacob and his twelve sons. In four hundred years, they had multiplied from 70 people into over a million. However, there was an evil regime oppressing them. They had become slaves, and they were abused daily by cruel task masters and their children were killed at birth to prevent further population growth. If those were your children, wouldn't you be angry? Wouldn't you save them, even if it meant having to take a weapon to those who were killing your family? God tried t10 times to get Pharaoh to let his family go free, but Pharaoh would not. In the end, God had to allow the destroyer (Satan) to do something horrible. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The Egyptians had killed the babies of his family, and so God allowed the Egyptians children to be killed.
Application: Sometimes the right thing to do is to get angry and protect those who need protection, even when that means violence or death.
Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you took God's Anger upon yourself, so that we don't have to face it. Thank you that you took all the things that we did, or will ever do upon yourself and you took the punishment for us so that we can live righteously even though we don't deserve it. We love you Jesus, and we trust your with our lives. Protect us, and those we love.
Observation - How could a loving, good, God kill babies? This is a tough question, but there is a good answer. God is a loving father, a Saviour to his people. There were over 1 million of his people in Egypt, all children of Jacob and his twelve sons. In four hundred years, they had multiplied from 70 people into over a million. However, there was an evil regime oppressing them. They had become slaves, and they were abused daily by cruel task masters and their children were killed at birth to prevent further population growth. If those were your children, wouldn't you be angry? Wouldn't you save them, even if it meant having to take a weapon to those who were killing your family? God tried t10 times to get Pharaoh to let his family go free, but Pharaoh would not. In the end, God had to allow the destroyer (Satan) to do something horrible. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. The Egyptians had killed the babies of his family, and so God allowed the Egyptians children to be killed.
Application: Sometimes the right thing to do is to get angry and protect those who need protection, even when that means violence or death.
Prayer: Thank you Jesus that you took God's Anger upon yourself, so that we don't have to face it. Thank you that you took all the things that we did, or will ever do upon yourself and you took the punishment for us so that we can live righteously even though we don't deserve it. We love you Jesus, and we trust your with our lives. Protect us, and those we love.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Let it Be
Scripture: Exd 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Observation: "I AM" is the Hebrew word Hayah, which means to exist: Past, present, future. The best English equivalent is the forms of the word "Be", of which "I AM" is the present tense. All tenses are implied here, I Am, I was, I will be. In fact in the book of Revelations God uses all three tenses to say his name. In Revelations 1:8 God says "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty"
Application: God is eternity, he exists in the eternal. His ways don't always translate well into the past, or the present, or the future exclusively. In fact we can look at what he did in the past, without considering what he will do in the future, and it wont make any sense. Or we can look at prophesy in the future without looking at what he did in the past or present and that wont make any sense. Our brains dont process eternal existence well, we are time based creatures, but our destiny is eternity.
Prayer: Dearest Jesus, we love you Lord. I know that you have only good in your heart for me, and I trust you, even when I don't understand what you are doing. Help me to understand your works, and yet be wary of the devil who seeks to destroy your works.
Observation: "I AM" is the Hebrew word Hayah, which means to exist: Past, present, future. The best English equivalent is the forms of the word "Be", of which "I AM" is the present tense. All tenses are implied here, I Am, I was, I will be. In fact in the book of Revelations God uses all three tenses to say his name. In Revelations 1:8 God says "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty"
Application: God is eternity, he exists in the eternal. His ways don't always translate well into the past, or the present, or the future exclusively. In fact we can look at what he did in the past, without considering what he will do in the future, and it wont make any sense. Or we can look at prophesy in the future without looking at what he did in the past or present and that wont make any sense. Our brains dont process eternal existence well, we are time based creatures, but our destiny is eternity.
Prayer: Dearest Jesus, we love you Lord. I know that you have only good in your heart for me, and I trust you, even when I don't understand what you are doing. Help me to understand your works, and yet be wary of the devil who seeks to destroy your works.
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Scripture: Gen 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him [shall] the gathering of the people [be]. Gen 49:11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
Observation: The prophesies of Jesus Christ are amazing, they extend back to the very beginning of the Bible, and throughout its many books. This prophesy is of Judah, who was the ancestor of Jesus. One of its meanings is that Jesus will be with us until the end (Shiloh, a time of peace).
Application: We can have assurance that Jesus will never leave us, he will always be with us until he takes us to that place of peace, which is ours for a possession... a gift from him.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus, that your blood secured eternal peace for us. I pray that none would refuse you, and the eternal destiny that you have secured for us.
Observation: The prophesies of Jesus Christ are amazing, they extend back to the very beginning of the Bible, and throughout its many books. This prophesy is of Judah, who was the ancestor of Jesus. One of its meanings is that Jesus will be with us until the end (Shiloh, a time of peace).
Application: We can have assurance that Jesus will never leave us, he will always be with us until he takes us to that place of peace, which is ours for a possession... a gift from him.
Prayer: Thank You Jesus, that your blood secured eternal peace for us. I pray that none would refuse you, and the eternal destiny that you have secured for us.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Commitment
Scripture: Gen 17:23 And Abraham took Ishmael his son, and all that were born in his house, and all that were bought with his money, every male among the men of Abraham's house; and circumcised the flesh of their foreskin in the selfsame day, as God had said unto him. Gen 17:24 And Abraham [was] ninety years old and nine, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. Gen 17:25 And Ishmael his son [was] thirteen years old, when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin.
Observation: Can you imagine grown men being circumcised? Can you imagine what it would take to convince a grown man to allow himself to be circumcised? But that is what they did, the same day that God told Abraham to do it! THAT is Commitment!
Application: How committed are we to our God? If he asked us to do something so painful, would we do it?
Prayer: Dearest Jesus, we love you Lord. Thank you that you first loved us. You know our hearts, you know our minds, you know our sin. Thank you that you have forgiven us and cleansed us. It is by you that we pray that we would have the commitment of Abraham, that our faith would be as strong as Abraham's through you.
Observation: Can you imagine grown men being circumcised? Can you imagine what it would take to convince a grown man to allow himself to be circumcised? But that is what they did, the same day that God told Abraham to do it! THAT is Commitment!
Application: How committed are we to our God? If he asked us to do something so painful, would we do it?
Prayer: Dearest Jesus, we love you Lord. Thank you that you first loved us. You know our hearts, you know our minds, you know our sin. Thank you that you have forgiven us and cleansed us. It is by you that we pray that we would have the commitment of Abraham, that our faith would be as strong as Abraham's through you.
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