Hebrews 11 G
{11:24} By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be
called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter
{11:25} Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God,
than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season
{11:26} Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures
in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward.
The reproach or Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt and WE know that Egypt had great, great treasures. People have been hunting for those treasures for thousands of years. The wealth of kings at your fingertips and for Moses it might as well have been nothing more than dust. Christ meant more to Moses than all those treasures.
{11:27} By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king:
for he endured, as seeing him who is invisible.
By choosing to leave Pharoah and follow the people of God, Moses made a choice to give up riches and a life of ease. By forsaking Egypt, Moses did not let the wrath of the King shake his faith, he endured why.... seeing him who is invisible! Seeing God.
{11:28} Through faith he kept the passover, and the sprinkling of blood,
lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.
Through faith he listened to God and put the blood on the mantle of the house so the firstborn of Egypt wouldn't be destroyed.
{11:29} By faith they passed through the Red sea as by dry [land:]
which the Egyptians assaying to do were drowned.
Through faith he passed through the Red Sea, the same Red Sea that killed the Eygptians.
Moses' walk by faith is amazing! We need to study that walk. We need faith in the invisible! Faith in God! Faith. We need it so desperately. We need to live beyond this world. We need to grab hold of God by faith and not let go. We will be tried. People will tell us we're fools. People will say there is no God. People will say that it's foolish to believe in the unseen without any proof. We will be mocked. We will be ridiculed. Doubt will be thrown at us all the time... all the time. We will be assailed on every side. People will throw logic at us, they'll try to get us to doubt our believe. Satan- an unseen enemy will do the same without all his angels helping him. We aren't safe on our own. By faith we need to cling to the cross and walk with Christ now and always!
By the mercy and grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ now and forever. Amen.
2/12/10
Heb 12:11 Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
Heb 12:12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
Heb 12:13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
Heb 12:14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord:
Heb 12:15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled
Exercised by chastening.
Our biggest hope as parents is that our children learn from their mistakes and sometimes even learn from the mistakes we've made so they don't have to go through the pain that making mistakes can bring. We need to learn from any chastening the Lord sends our way. If we don't learn then we will reap the rewards of not taking the lessons given to us by God. Being chastened by God isn't pleasant, it's a horrible experience, an experience that rips at our hearts and souls sending us into many a tailspin. The chastening is grievous and we can relate to that because we know what it feels like to be chastened by our parents or caregivers as we do wrong and need the chastening. Can you think of at least one incident of chastening in your life that you learned from? Sometimes we have a moment when we do something and we know in that moment of reckoning we vow to never do that thing again so that we don't have to experience the pain of being chastened. God wants us to learn from our mistakes. God wants to chasten us so that we learn and from that learning we will experience the peace of Christ's righteousness. We HAVE to open our hearts to God's chastening. Our first instinct is to run, to hide, to bury the pain, to do anything to get the horrible pain of chastening out of our lives. However sometimes we embrace the chastening to readily letting ourselves wallow in the pain of the chastening without learning from it. We get caught up in the wallowing and live our lives right there in the despair and pain without being exercised by it at all. We cry out why me?! And we keep crying that out daily. Christ cried out for God to take the cup from Him, but did so by saying not His own will be done, but God's. Our will isn't to suffer, but sometimes the suffering is for a reason beyond our comprehension and we have to let go and let God work His will in us and by His grace and guidance pray that we can be exercised by the chastening we suffer.
We have to lift up our hands when all they want to do is hang low and wallow. We have to take our feeble knees and lift them up high when all we want to do is fall down upon them and yes...wallow in our misery. We have to make a straight path for our feet and that path is Christ's path and keep on that path so that we will be healed. If we don't keep on God's path our entire lives will be lame, useless, the wallowing will consume us fully.
We must have peace with ALL men.
We must have holiness with ALL men.
We have to look and not just glance but really look hard for Christ in our lives so that we don't fail of the grace of God.
We have to make sure NO bitterness fills us and it will try, it will try very hard to consume us. Bitterness is an enemy of God it overshadows hope, it kills faith. We can't let bitterness take over our lives and it will try very hard to do so. Depression is a form of hopelessness and can lead to bitterness, we have to lift up our hands and knees, we have to make our paths straight, we have to follow peace and holiness with all others and we will see God because it's through God this is possible.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior may we cling to Christ even when we don't understand any of what is going on in our lives, even when the horrors of live assail us. By the Holy Spirit may we live grasping hold of Christ's righteousness now and forever.
Amen.
2/12/10 B
Do you ever feel as if you don't quite fit in the world the way it is? Seriously, I'm not asking so I can point a finger at you and shout 'Crazy person!' We weren't created to live as we do, and as we strive to make sense of life and our place in it we can't be happy if we don't feel as if we fit in the way we should. A strange concept isn't it? To be happy if you don't fit in.
We strive so much to fit in, to be right with the world around us. We strive to live our lives in such a way things seem to be right with all we do. Unfortunately there are as many ways that seem right to us as there are people in existence. We don't often see eye to eye. Even within our immediate families there is a constant (albeit lessened) sense of not always seeing eye to eye.
Friction. We live our lives filled with friction with one another and the varying perceptions of things we all have. Finding two people who agree on a mostly consistent basis is a rare thing- they usually become friends, but as we ALL know even the best of friends have falling outs. You've heard the saying I'm all right you're all wrong haven't you? It's the way we feel on a constant basis, we are right-- my opinions, my feelings, my way of thinking is somehow more right than yours-- but it's not. We are all striving to fit in, each of our minds holding thoughts unique to us and those thoughts don't always mesh with another's thoughts.
How would God have us think, or not think?
Mat 10:34 THINK NOT that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
Mat 24:44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye THINK NOT the Son of man cometh.
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye THINK ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
Joh 16:2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever killeth you will THINK that he doeth God service.
Act 17:29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought NOT TO THINK that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device.
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, NOT TO THINK of himself more highly than he ought to THINK; but to THINK soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
1Co 4:6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us NOT TO THINK of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
1Co 8:2 And if any man THINK that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 1Co 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to THINK any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God
Gal 6:3 For if a man THINK himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things.
1Pe 4:12 Beloved, THINK it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you:
1Pe 4:13 But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy.
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There are some really interesting and very enlightening scriptures here. I want to point out a few that pertain more to what I was talking about than others--
Rom 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, NOT TO THINK of himself more highly than he ought to THINK; but to THINK soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.
We want to think more highly of ourselves than we should don't we? A lot of times we really do. We want to think we're *all that* and more. Our egos can sometimes grow so huge we constantly trip over them. We THINK more highly than we ought to and that gets us into trouble doesn't it? Seriously we have to note this don't we? When we begin to think we are something very special in and of ourselves outside of God's realm and God's control we are in grave danger. Grave danger meaning we are at risk of offending God by placing ourselves before Him. We have to take ourselves down a few notches and realize we are creations and by the grace of our Creator we have been given life and allowed the opportunity to surrender those lives to God.
1Co 8:2 And if any man THINK that he knoweth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. 1Co 8:3 But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
2Co 3:5 Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to THINK any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God
Gal 6:3 For if a man THINK himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.
We love to spout out our knowledge don't we? The words- 'I know' are very common to our tongues. I know this and I know that and I most certainly know all about the other thing. Pay attention to your words if you can and just try to note how often you say those two words- 'I know.' Loving God is much more important than knowing anything else at all. Loving God is everything. It's better for us to be known as one who loves God rather than be known as the one who knows of anything else.
Php 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, THINK on these things.
We are told what to think on and it certainly isn't ourselves and our own knowledge. We are to think on the true things, the honest things, the just things, the pure things, the lovely things, the things of good report, of virtues and praise. How would our lives truly be if we did this? Think about it for a long moment. Our minds get so caught up in things that depress us and drag us down into ourselves. Our minds dwell on ourselves and our emotions at the moment. Our minds get wrapped up in the cares of this life so easily. We need to ask ourselves what we should be thinking, especially when we begin to think on things that are ungodly and things that take us away not towards the Lord. If for just tomorrow you woke up and told yourself that today by the grace of God you are going to think on things that are lovely and then tried to pull your thoughts towards the lovely things of God wouldn't it be great if it made a difference in your life, even a small difference because even a small difference when that difference is directed towards a life in God is a difference that matters whole a lot.
By the grace and mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may we find our thinking what He would have it be now and forever.
Amen.
Sabbath Blessings!
2/12/11