RECEIVE YOUR DELIVERANCE

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“And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.” Exodus 14:13-14

The passage above is not only a very well known one, it is a very comforting one. It is used as a battle cry of sorts for the Christians who proclaim it when they are going through challenging times. It reminds us of not only who our God is, but also of what he is able and willing to do for us when we are “hard pressed on all sides”.

This week, the Lord opened up this passage to my understanding in a very personal way.

The passage, as it is written above, is in the King James Version.  However,  many other versions of the bible write it as:

“Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” NIV

“And Moses said to the people, “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you today; for the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall never see again. The Lord will fight for you, and you have only to be still.” RSV

“But Moses told the people, “Don’t be afraid. Just stand still and watch the Lord rescue you today. The Egyptians you see today will never be seen again. The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” NLT

While these versions say “The Lord will fight for you, you need only be still/stay calm”, the KJV states “The Lord shall fight for you and ye shall hold your peace.”

This message is not a comparison of bible translations. When The Lord sent me to this passage, the 3 versions that quote verse 14 as saying  “just be still” were not in line with the message He was giving me. However, when I read the KJV, it all just made perfect sense.

I personally struggle with fighting back when I feel I’m being verbally  attacked. Whenever I am or feel accused, I vehemently fight back by defending myself and it almost always leaves me feeling wretched,  spent and very angry.

It has been a continuous prayer of mine, that the Lord make me, so that I am not affected by what people say to me. It has been a life long struggle, and the older I get, the more it wears on me. As I am  growing in Christ, The Holy Spirit has made me aware that this self defense  mechanism of mine is not a trait that is pleasing to the Lord.  But I just can’t help it. When I’m verbally attacked or provoked,  I engage in the discord by not only defending myself, but mounting a counter-attack on whomever I believe is attacking me.

So it finally got to a breaking point where I confessed to God my bondage to this trait. I was enslaved by it, and I prayed “Lord, I can’t break this chain of bondage…but YOU CAN!

That was when The Spirit sent me to Exodus 14.

Why I say that the KJV of these verses spoke to my dilemma over the others is this:

What does the term ” hold your peace” translate to? It means “to keep silent; to say nothing”. In my dilemma; my challenge, my struggle; that is what my issue has been. Not responding. Not speaking . Not engaging verbally. My struggle has been resisting the indignation that rises within me when I feel that I’m being attacked, or bullied or oppressed.

Therefore,  when the Word of God, brought to Life by His Spirit, tells Me to “Stand still and see the salvation of The Lord. That this “oppressor” (this tyranny of Satan that has had such a hold on me all my life and I could not “change it” by my own power or free myself from it’s chains that bound me) which I see today, I will see it no more!” This bondage; the enslavement;  the powerlessness; “today” God says, “I will set you free! I will deliver you!”

He then sealed it; spoke to my particular condition; and said “I will fight for you AND you will hold your peace.” Meaning, He will fight for me and I will no longer have to fight for myself; defend myself;  rescue myself;  be my own advocate.

I can remain silent under attack, with the ABSOLUTE ASSURANCE that if I trust Him and obey Him, He will fight for me and I won’t have to do a thing!

What a glorious deliverance!

Brethren, is that not all The Lord asks of us? To hand over our fears, anxieties,  worries, concerns over to Him?

Because where we cannot deliver ourselves from these things, HE is more than able to deliver us!

If only we will just trust Him and obey Him.

Think of the story about the woman with an issue of blood for 12 years that is referenced in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke. We apply this parable when we are looking for healing from physical infirmities.

But does it really apply to physical infirmities alone?

We all have habitual “issues” of one type or another. That we have had all our lives. Traits that we just accept are alright simply because we have always been that way.

Yet, the whole premise of being born again is that “I am a new creation. Old things have passed away…”. By “old things”, Jesus is referring to all those things in us and of us that are of the carnal nature –which the bible says “is enmity against God”.

If these traits do not exemplify love (the 1st Corinthians 13 definition of love) then they don’t glorify God. If they don’t glorify God, then how can we not accept that we need to be rid of them.

But since they are a very natural part of who and how we are, then as the woman with the issue of blood was desperate to be healed, we should be desperate to be healed of our “issues” as well.

2 Corinthians 3:17 says:

Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

And John 8:36 says:

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

Our liberty is not unto the flesh to do as we please, as the Apostle Paul said in Galatians,  but when the grace of God reveals to us through the Holy Spirit, where in ourselves – our personalities, our ways , our habits, our mindsets, our thinking, our understanding, what we argue for, what we insist on, what we can’t let go of – we are in bondage – enslaved to carnality – the same grace of God, in Christ Jesus, where we now lay our whole selves at His feet acknowledging how we are powerless to change or free ourselves – saves us. He then says to us, just as He said to the Israelites through Moses “Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which I will shew to you to day: for the Oppression whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.”

What a blessed gift to enter into the relief of God. Where we no longer have to be afraid or enslaved. He will fight for us, and we will be at peace.

Remain encouraged,  brethren. Remain steadfast. Remain faithful to Him. For He has promised that He will never leave us nor forsake us, and God is not a man that He should lie.  He watches over His Word to perform it!

May we continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

ALL OR PART OF JESUS?

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In John 5, we are told of Jesus healing a man at the pool called Bethesda, in Jerusalem. The beautiful thing about this miracle is the subtlety with which it is portrayed.

 

John 5: 1-9

“After this there was a feast of the Jews; and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. Now there is at Jerusalem by the sheep market a pool, which is called in the Hebrew tongue Bethesda, having five porches.  In these lay a great multitude of impotent folk, of blind, halt, withered, waiting for the moving of the water. For an angel went down at a certain season into the pool, and troubled the water: whosoever then first after the troubling of the water stepped in was made whole of whatsoever disease he had. And a certain man was there, which had an infirmity thirty and eight years. When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.  Jesus saith unto him, Rise, take up thy bed, and walk.And immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked: and on the same day was the sabbath.

 

This was a pool that was known to have “healing powers”. It apparently was true as the bible gives us the very account of an angel “stirring the water” at certain seasons.

 

Since we know that angels only operate at the command of God, we can say that it was God’s healing power that was upon this water and the people knew this. Which was why they waited for the water to be “stirred”. Then, when they rushed in to receive the healing and whoever got there first was in fact healed.

 

Now enters Jesus and he is having a conversation with this man who had an infirmity for 38 years. According to the text, this infirmity affected his mobility. That is why he needed help getting into the water when it was stirred. Hence, his response to Jesus about not having anyone put him in the pool.

 

What a sad and desperate predicament, wouldn’t you say?

 

Here is this pool of water, the source of his healing. So close that he can touch it. Yet, he can’t touch it as a result of his infirmity. The same infirmity he wants to be cured of is also the very barrier to his cleansing.  

 

Now, I’d like us to pay attention to verses 6 and 7.

 

6 When Jesus saw him lie, and knew that he had been now a long time in that case, he saith unto him, Wilt thou be made whole? 7 The impotent man answered him, Sir, I have no man, when the water is troubled, to put me into the pool: but while I am coming, another steppeth down before me.

Jesus, knowing why the man was there, did not ask him if he needed help getting into the pool. Instead, he asks him “Wilt thou be made whole?” To which the man – not knowing who Jesus was or what Jesus could do – answered in reference to the pool. The only source of healing he knew of.

Can you see where this is going?

How often do we, even though we are followers of Christ, seek “the healing of the pool”, when we should be seeking Christ Himself to make us whole?

Jesus did not ask the man if he wanted to be healed of his particular infirmity. He asked if he desired to me make “whole”.

Not a repair of a part. A restoration of the whole!

We are supposed to come to Christianity seeking Jesus. After all Jesus Himself said:

“ No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him” John 6:44

But when we get here, we take our eyes of the Christ who called us and start following after “pools of healing; showers of blessing; promises for worldly prosperity” and we lose sight of Jesus Christ!

Who in His very Life is contained “healing, blessing, prosperity.”

We don’t need the pools when we have Jesus!

We don’t need the showers when we have Jesus!

We don’t need the promises when we have Jesus!

Every day, He reminds us of His calling and asks us “Will thou be made whole?”

Then, we answer Him, “I have no one to put me in the water.”

So we wait…While the way to wholeness stands right in front of us.

 

“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.” John 7:37

“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”Matthew 11:28

“Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me. And ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.” John 5:39-40

“Jesus answered them and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Ye seek me, not because ye saw the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves, and were filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you: for him hath God the Father sealed.” John 6:26-27

Why do we continue to trust in the bread and not in The Bread Giver?

Why don’t we believe that Jesus, knowing Him and growing in Him, is enough?

Why don’t we believe that even though we don’t know how he will keep us, He WILL keep us, because He said He would?

Why do we struggle with loosening our “grip” on how we believe our lives are supposed to be and just surrender our lives to Jesus and allow Him to use our lives for the will of The Father?

Why do we insist on shows of His power for us when, we can have His power in us?

Why do we insist on bits and pieces of Jesus when we can have the whole of Jesus?

In us. Re-making our lives. For His glory.

“ I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.” Proverbs 3:5

Christ Seeker, Jesus is asking you today:

“Wilst thou be made whole”?

Unlike the sick man at the pool, you KNOW what Jesus can do.

So, will you say “Yes, Lord. I desire that You make me whole.”

Or will you continue to seek your blessings from the pool when the Lord chooses to stir it?

May we continue to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

A NEW DWELLING PLACE

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While I was on my way to church on the night of December 31st, for the New Year’s Day Service, I came across a devotional that ransomed my mind for the entire evening. The topic was taken from the very popular Psalm 91. The verse that was focused on, however, was one that I’ve probably recited hundreds of times. This time, due to the speaker highlighting it in the manner that he did, I derived not only an entirely new meaning of this verse, but a profound entry way into a deeper relationship with God.

 

“Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”  Psalm 91:9

 

Whenever this verse is read, it is usually acknowledged with a resounding ”Amen”, and rightly so! However, what the author of the devotional asked that really got me thinking was this:

 

The promise is contingent only on “if we have made The Lord our refuge and The Most High our habitation”.

 

Therefore, the obvious question is:

 

Have I made The Lord my refuge?

 

Have I made The Most High my habitation?

 

How do I know if I have?

 

If I have not, how do I do it?

 

There is a zeal that comes as a result of positive thinking.

 

“All will be well”

 

“Everything is going to be ok”; “Everything will turn out fine”.

 

Though there is nothing wrong with positive thinking, the truth is positive thinking is not an indication of Christian faith.

 

Positive thinking is a direct result of a positive/optimistic attitude.

 

That positive attitude can come from human nature, past experience or the profession of a belief that is non-Christian.

 

Believing “everything will be all right” because my spirits are high or because things have worked out well in the past is different from believing these things as a result of my hope in God.

 

If the promise of Psalm 91:9 is to become a reality in my life as a believer, it has to be of the utmost importance to me that The Lord become just that for me.

 

My Refuge. My Habitation. My Dwelling Place. My Home.

 

God must become everything!

 

The danger of “zeal centered” positive thinking for a Christian is that it causes us to make affirmations based on our hopes and desires. We then proceed to ask God to certify those affirmations. Then, when things don’t work out as we hoped, we question God and become disappointed. We have to make sure that our zeal for God is not separate from our knowledge of God, and it is only the Spirit of God, who can give us a knowledge of God.

 

Our faith has to be in God. In his Omniscience.

 

Not in a “good life”; not in things working out how we would rather they work out; but by a total surrender of our lives to Him. As willing vessels. Allowing Him to use us as He pleases. All the while, trusting Him completely as He reveals Himself to us through the Holy Spirit.

 

The only way we can intimate ourselves with God is by recognizing the purpose for which He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, and allowing that purpose to be made a living actuality in our lives via the Holy Spirit

 

The Lord being our Habitation means that He covers us – not our worldly existence, but our life in Him. Our lives are hid with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3) and the evil one cannot touch us (1 John 5:18, John 14:30b).

 

Under normal circumstances, one would say that making The Most High our Habitation is the easiest thing to do.

 

In theory it is.

 

In words, it is.

 

But in actuality; in the course of “working out of our salvation”, we realize that under the assault of “worldliness” in this present age, it is hard!

 

But for the grace of God in the person of Jesus Christ.

 

It is only the Spirit of Christ that can make it possible for the Most High to be our Habitation.

 

This is why unless we have deliberately sought the Lord in this manner, let us not assume that we have made Him what these verses ask that we make Him.

 

Look at what He saves us from:

 

“No evil will befall thee”

 

“No plague shall come nigh thy dwelling”

 

But only if we deliberately make Him our Refuge and Habitation.

 

“For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.”  Ephesians 6:12

 

Fellow sojourners, we need to understand that the evil one is not interested in “interfering with our happiness”, unless he knows that the disruption of our happiness will cause us to stray from God in our hearts. If it is all about happiness in this world, then, it is not about God. If it is all about God, then, we are devoted to Him whether we are “happy” or not. Satan is interested in stealing our joy in the Lord; in causing us to lose our crowns of salvation by losing faith in God.

 

That is why The Lord urges us to make Him our Refuge and Habitation. Because it is only in Him that the evil mentioned in Ephesians 6:12 “will not befall us nor come nigh our dwelling place” which is – our life in Christ.

 

The Lord in His infinite mercy has seen it fit to allow us to see 2018. But it is simply not about “not dying”, it is about “living to declare the works of the Lord” (Psalm 118:17).

 

For every morning that we are given the grace to awaken, let us place the Lord’s promise of Psalm 91:9 before Him in prayer, because He says, “I watch over My Word to perform it” (Jeremiah 1:12).

 

Let us ask Him to fulfill the promise.

 

To become our Refuge and Habitation.

 

The exact way He meant it when He spoke it.

 

The exact way He wills and purposes to be so.

 

That we may always dwell in safety. In Him.

                                                                                                                   His Handmaid