Tag: christianity

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.

WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION

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An old friend and schoolmate recently passed away, after a long and brave fight with a very serious illness. She would have turned 40 this July.

She was very open about her illness; using FaceBook as her primary medium. She shared her struggles with the illness, and other very personal aspects of her life such as a failed marriage and incidents of some friends and family members turning away from her  with stories, experiences, encounters and very graphic photographs. And for all the criticism that she received for being that “open” about her life: the good, the bad and the ugly: she never wavered. She consistently put herself out there. But, in addition to the front row seats that she gave everyone concerning her personal struggles, she was also very  open, upfront and extremely unapologetic about a very important aspect of her life: her faith in God.

She often expressed in her Facebook posts that people would comment negatively about how every other word out of her mouth was “Jesus, Jesus” all the time. She in turn would ask those people why should she not profess the name of the only One, who in light of the physical ordeals that she was facing, still gave her something to look forward to; still give her something to draw strength from; still give her something that put a peace in her heart that no husband, parent, friend or doctor could. Why would she not use every living breath to proclaim His name and His goodness and mercy upon her life?

A lot of us run to God when the going gets rough. But we run away when it seems that despite our being with Him, things don’t seem to be improving. I’m certain that a lot of people must have said “all this God that she’s proclaiming, yet, she remains ill…”

If you are of that mindset that only easy  things come to the believer, then you have sorely missed the mark. Christ suffered to open the way of salvation for us, therefore EVERY BELIEVER will suffer in one way or another.

I’m not saying that everyone will suffer illness, or imprisonment or some tortuous act, I’m saying, as the bible explicitly states that :

 “Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.” 1 Corinthians 3:13

In other words, what you claim to be your foundation; what you claim to be your faith; will be tested!

It could be tested by  your spouse or significant other, by your friends, by your family, by decisions that you will be faced with, by situations that will confront you, by things in the open, by things behind closed doors, etc. But we will all face that test. Most likely more than once in our lifetime, and if we are still worried about whether people believe that we say “Jesus, Jesus” too much, then we need to  brace ourselves, because we will be in for a very rude awakening.

Philippians 2:12 says: “Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.”

Get to know Jesus for yourself!

Open your bible & look into these promises that God has made on your behalf and ask Him to show you how you can walk in them.

We can go on for days criticizing pastors that buy jets and engage in practices that we are disapproving of, but don’t make that your obsession because at the end of the day, that pastor has God to answer to, and guess what? So do you!

So work out YOUR salvation. Get on the Jesus bandwagon. Not so that you can speak Christianese, or have the ability spew bible verses from memory. But that you may understand the difference between knowing about Jesus Christ, and knowing Jesus Christ.

I don’t know what my friend’s faults and shortcomings may have been. As with anyone else, she was human and I am certain, imperfect. But what I do know is that her bravery during her illness; her unwavering devotion to God during her illness; brought ME a little closer to Him. She showed me a true to life example of “ But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry.”(2 Timothy 4:5). She made me come to the realization that if someone who is going through so many things that to the world are considered awful, yet, she evangelizes for Christ the way that she does, what excuse could I, who by His divine grace has not had to suffer anything even remotely close to that, possibly have?

Deuteronomy 4:29 says:

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.”

We aren’t promised tomorrow, brethren, so let us seek the Lord today. Let us desire to deepen and strengthen our existing relationship with Him today. Christ has never turned down anyone that has opened their heart to Him and invited Him in.

 Now unto him that is able to keep us from falling, and to present us faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. To the only wise God our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Share your thoughts that you might encourage your brethren.

In Christ,

The handmaid at His feet

 

 

 

I AM NOT ASHAMED

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Luke 19:1-10 tells the story of a tax collector named Zacchaeus who when he heard that Jesus was coming to his town “sought” to see Him. But because the crowd was so large, and he was so short, in order to make sure he saw Jesus, Zacchaeus climbed up into a sycamore tree to get a better view.

Even though Zacchaeus had already been labeled a “sinner”, Zacchaeus did not allow his sinful state to cause him to hide away in the midst of the crowd. Zacchaeus did not allow his deficiencies to prevent him from seeking Jesus out to make sure the he caught a glimpse of the Messiah.

For that reason, because of that EXTRA EFFORT, not only did Zacchaeus see Jesus that day, Jesus SAW Zacchaeus. That day Jesus dined in the house of the “sinner”, Zacchaeus and said to him:

“Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:9, 10 NKJV)

How many times have we knowingly transgressed against God and felt so ashamed of ourselves that we even found it difficult to come before Him in prayer to ask for forgiveness.

How many times has our prayer been along the lines of “Lord, I know I’m not supposed to do these things, yet I don’t know why I keep doing them” or “Lord, I know that you are disappointed in me because I claim to be your child, yet, keep sinning against you.”

Brethren, the purpose of this message is not to advocate that one not feel badly when they sin, on the contrary we should feel bad. We should feel terrible. Sin should grieve our hearts to the point that we are destabilized.

“And I said: O my God, I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift up my face to You, my God; for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has grown up to the heavens.” (Ezra 9:6 NKJV)

The purpose of this message is to encourage you that when we do sin, we should not feel too ashamed to come back and ask for God’s forgiveness. The purpose of this message is to stress that when we sin, it becomes incumbent on us to SEEK JESUS OUT! Climb that sycamore tree, and wave our hands frantically to get His attention. The contrition that a repentant heart produces should cause us not to run from Jesus, but to run towards Him.

The Lord knows when we sin. It in not our acknowledgement of our sins that brings the sin to His attention. But it is our acknowledgement and remorse of our sins, that brings to our attention our dire need for Christ.

Satan, the accuser, will come with every weapon in his arsenal and every trick in his book and lie to us that we are not worthy of forgiveness. Satan will lie to us that we can never be delivered from sinful ways. It is his tactic to keep us enslaved in sin! That is why it is important for the believer to understand that no matter how badly we’ve messed up, Jesus will receive us if we present ourselves to Him in our imperfection, and desire to come back to Him. He is the only one that can free us from the bondage of sin, so Brethren, what ever shame we feel should not drive us from Jesus, it should drive us to Jesus!

The bible tells us in Hebrews 4:14-16:

“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

May the Spirit of God bring us into the full knowledge to the redemptive power of the Blood of Jesus Christ, and how we can continue to abide in it. Amen.

Share your thoughts that you might encourage your brethren.

In Christ,
The handmaid at His feet.