LET MY PEOPLE GO!

 Ex 2:23-25 Now it happened in the process of time that the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out; and their cry came up to God. So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant and looked upon the children of Israel, and acknowledged them. (NKJV)

Why did God leave it so long before He delivered the people of Israel. Let’s face it, He could have snapped His fingers and it would all be over in a nano second.

 Instead, they were in bondage and slavery for 400 yrs! before God moved and released them into freedom.

 There are times in our lives when we ask God to set us free, answer our prayers and respond to the cries of our hearts, only to be met with silence.

 Why is this, what is God doing, can’t He see that I need help now!

 Let’s look at 3 ways that God answers our prayer:

1) Admit Your Need In Prayer

 The Israelites had to wait 400 yrs because they weren’t willing to admit their need of God’s help. They held on and on until their bondage became too much to bear and then they cried to God.

 But as soon as God heard their cry, He knew they were ready to receive His help and He sent Moses to be their deliverer and saviour.

 Many of us Christians have a go it alone mentality when it comes to our problems. We want to be our own saviour and deliverer. It’s only when we are hanging on by the skin of our teeth do we call on Jesus for His help.

 The Lord is committed to  meeting all our needs because He wants to be intimately involved in our lives. He wants to answer our prayers whether they be big or small!

 2) Let Go And Let God

 The Israelites were not only not willing for God to help them, they also were not willing to let God fight their battles for them.

 Many of us have difficulty leaving our problems with God for Him to fight our battles for us.

 Why so? We want to hold onto them so we can worry and stress over them. We don’t want to let go of them!

 Worry, self effort and self strength are the fruit of dead works. Worry says, “I am playing a part in resolving my issues.”

 Jesus exposed worry as a root of dead works when He said, “Which of you by ‘worrying’ can add one cubit to his stature?” (Mt 6:27 NKJV)

Worry also prevents God from working in our lives.

We work — God rests.  We rest — God works.

So , let’s stop worrying and instead yield our prayers up to Jesus and stand back and allow Him to work on our behalf.

  Phil 4:6,7 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. (NKJV)

 3) The timing of God: God has a plan for our lives. He works this out in His perfect timing. Our part is to respond to His timing.

 Ecc 3:1 To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven. (NKJV)

 How do we respond to His timing. It’s by giving our lives over to God (Rom12:1), thus when difficulties, problems or set backs occur, we are to give them over to Him and rest and wait for Him to resolve them.

 King David had this to say in Ps 27:14 Wait on the Lord; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the Lord ! (NKJV)

 In this psalm, David was surrounded by his enemies, but he had learned the art of waiting for God to deliver him. God is never to early and He is never to late!

 Jesus waited for 4 days after Lazarus had died before He raised him from the dead. He could have done it much sooner but was waiting for God’s  perfect timing so that when Lazarus was raised His Father would get the glory. (Jn 11:4)

 Are you caught up in circumstances you cannot resolve — Jesus says to you today, “Give those things to me. Let me deal with them in my time. Your part is to wait and rest and then you will see what I will do. If I can release 3 million Israelites from the grip of a dictator called Pharaoh, I can release you too!”

Meditation Point: The answer to our prayers lies not in worrying and striving, but in resting and waiting for God to move on our behalf.

 

 

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 Lk 11:20-22 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. “When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own house, his possessions are safe. But when someone stronger attacks and overpowers him, he takes away the armour in which the man trusted and divides up his plunder. (NIV

 God sent Moses as a deliverer and Saviour to set the Israelites free from the bondage and slavery of Egypt. Moses was to perform signs and wonders to show Pharaoh and the Egyptians that God was El-Shaddai, the Almighty God. (Ex 3:7,8,10)

 Moses performed 10 signs. Each time he performed a sign, the magicians of Pharaoh duplicated it. But by the 4th sign — (a swarm of mosquitoes [lice] that covered the land), the magicians could not duplicate it.

 Ex 8:18,19 Now the magicians so worked with their enchantments to bring forth lice, but they could not. Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is the finger of God.” (NKJV)

 It was now obvious to the Egyptians that God was indeed El Shaddai. Only He was the Almighty God. He was showing that he was stronger than the magicians in Pharaoh’s house.

 Moses went on to perform the 10 signs by which time he forced Pharaoh not only to let the people go but to send them out of Egypt laden down with silver and gold. (Ex 12:35,36)

 Christ Brings In His Kingdom.

 This story is a prophetic picture of Christ and His Church, and how He establishes His kingdom upon the earth.

 1) Moses: Speaks of Christ. Christ is our great deliverer  and Saviour, who performed signs and wonders upon the earth to show that His Father was indeed El-Shaddai the Almighty God. (Acts 2:22)

 2)The finger of God: Speaks of the authority and power of God. (Lk 11:20, Mt 12:28)

 3)    The Israelites: Speak of the Church. People who were once in bondage and slavery to sin. (Acts 7:38)

 4)   Pharaoh: Speaks of satan who is the god of this world, the prince of darkness. (Jn 12:31, 2 Cor 4:4)

 5)   Egypt: Speaks of the house of this world which is ruled over by the kingdom of darkness. (Ex 13:3)

 Jesus came as the deliverer and Saviour of the world. He used the authority and power of God (the finger of God) to perform signs and wonders that set people free from the bondage and slavery of sin, demon spirits, sickness and death.

 He was and is the stronger man of Lk 11:20-22 who defeated satan on the cross. He stripped him of all his armour, thus putting him to shame. He overcame him and broke into his house, the kingdom of darkness and plundered all his goods.

Col 2:15 He stripped all the spiritual tyrants in the universe of their sham authority at the Cross and marched them naked through the streets. ( MSG)

 What are his goods? — They are the people he kept in captivity to sin and everything he stole from them. Their health, families, riches, possessions and lives.

 Now ‘in Christ’ we can have restored to us everything that satan has stolen from us. Praise The Lord!

 As we look to Him and trust Him, He not only saves us from sin, but also freely gives us all things to enjoy.

 Rom 8:32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? (NET)

 We can receive from Christ, everything we lost to satan!

 The Lord Jesus Christ is establishing His Kingdom upon the earth and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. They shall not be able to stop its advancement!

Meditation Point: Jesus has set us free from the kingdom of darkness, and as we look to Him, He will restore all the things that satan has stolen from our lives!

 

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Gen 6:14 Make thee an ark, and pitch it within and without with pitch. (KJV)

When Noah built the ark, God told him to ‘pitch‘ it inside and out with pitch,or as we know it Bitumin.

 The word, ‘pitch‘ in Hebrew means: To cover, appease, make an atonement, cleanse, be merciful, forgiveness.

 To atone means to cover with blood. When an animal sacrifice was offered up before God, it’s blood was presented before Him as evidence that a death had been carried out for sin. That is, the punishment for the sin of the people had been carried out on the animal because the punishment for sin was death. (Gen 2:17)

2 Chron 29:23-24 Then they brought the male goats of the sin offering  and the priests slaughtered them and purged the altar with their blood to atone (cover) for all Israel. (NASU)

 God could now release His forgiveness and mercy upon the people. But animal blood could only atone or cover the people’s sin, it couldn’t take it away, it couldn’t cleanse their conscience from guilt.

 Animal sacrifices were a prophetic picture pointing forward to The Lord Jesus Christ. He would offer Himself up as a sacrifice and shed His blood for all mankind.

 But His blood didn’t only cover sin, it took it away completely.

 Jn 1:29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world! (NLT)

 When sin is forgiven and taken away, it means that:

1) God will never bring it back to remembrance to accuse us. (Micah 7:19)

2) Sin is no longer counted against us. (2 Cor 5:19)

3) We  no longer have to be sin conscious. (Heb 10:1-4)

4) There is no guilt or condemnation for sin. (Rom 8:1)

 This is why God says of the New Covenant: Heb 10:17  “Their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” (NKJV)

Those who know Christ as their personal Saviour are completely free from the penalty of sin! Praise The Lord!

 Christ forgave and took away ALL our sin, past, present and future.

 1 Jn 1:7 The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from ALL sin. (NKJV)

 PAST: Do you still carry the guilt for sin committed in your past. For people you hurt, things you did wrong. Rejoice! Christ has taken away ALL your sin.

 PRESENT: Does satan accuse and condemn you for your mistakes, failures and sins. Rejoice! Christ has taken away ALL your sin.

 FUTURE: Whatever sin we may commit in the future, Christ took the punishment for them upon Himself 2000 yrs ago. Rejoice! Christ has taken away all your sin.

When this becomes revelation to us, we see that satan has no grounds to accuse or condemn the believer in Jesus Christ.

We can now live each day in peace with a guilt free conscience.

Meditation Point: God has not only forgiven ALL my sin, He has also taken it away!

 

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Continuing our series on Noah’s Ark as a type of Christ, the ark of our salvation.

The Ark was built on three stories. This speaks of the trinity of Father, Son & Holy Spirit. The Father is the bottom story, the Son the middle story and the Holy Spirit the top story.

 God told Noah to build a door in the side of the middle story.

When it was the right time, God told Noah to enter the Ark through the door. As he went inside, God Himself shut the door.

Gen 7:13-16 In the same day entered Noah into the ark: and the LORD shut him in. (Websters Bible)

God shut Noah and his family in the ark to protect them from the coming judgement of the flood.

 They were safe and sound inside the ark, nothing could get to them. When God closes a door, no one can open it. (Rev 3:7) They had food and drink, everything they needed to survive their time in the ark.

 The door is a picture of Jesus Christ who said, “I am the door to the sheepfold.” (Jn 10:9. NKJV). The ark is a picture of the sheepfold (Church).

 A shepherd would build a sheepfold with a protective wall around it leaving an opening for the door. But the shepherd wouldn’t hang a door. He would position himself in the opening. The sheep would have to push past him to get in.

He himself became the door. In this way, no goats (who in the Middle East look like sheep and are pictured as unbelievers) were able to get into the sheepfold.

The shepherd slept in the doorway at night with his club at the ready to protect the sheep from wolves, bears and lions.

 As believers, you and I have entered the sheepfold of salvation through the door of Christ. We are now, ‘In Christ’ the ark of our salvation. (2 Cor 5:17) It’s now the responsibility of our heavenly Shepherd to:

PROTECT: Ps 91:2 I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  (NIV)

The Lord has promised to protect us from all harm. Our part is to not only trust and rest in Him, but also to confess His protection. This verse says, “I will say.”

Confessing God’s word establishes it in our life and releases its latent power and strength enabling us to live it out.

As you go through times of pressure, see yourself safe in God’s hands and confess His promise often to yourself.

PROVISION: The world is in chaos today. Nations are falling because of  political and economic turmoil. But praise the Lord! You and i live under a different government – the Kingdom of God.

We must turn away from all fear, worry and anxiety and keep our eyes firmly fixed on Jesus Christ. He is our Shepherd provider. Many Christians sink into fear because their trust is in their job, business or pension. They are looking in the wrong place.

Ps 23:1 The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want. (KJV)

The sheep could not provide for themselves, that was the responsibility of the shepherd and the sheep instinctively looked to him. Jesus our heavenly Shepherd has promised to provide all our needs and wants. Rest in Him, look to Him and watch Him go to work on your behalf.

Heb 12:2 Looking away from all that will distract to Jesus, Who is the Leader and the Source of our faith. (AMP)

Meditation Point: We are protected, safe and provided for in Christ, the ark of OUR salvation!

 

 

 

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