Tag: Sabbath

Our Daily Walk with Christ Devotional – July 19, 2024

“Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live.’ ” —Exodus 1:22, NIV

The story of Moses’ life is proof of God’s Divine Love and Sovereign Power. Despite the obstacles of oppression, enslavement, and Pharoah’s decree to put all of the Israelites’ newborn sons to death, no human defiance or satanic power can stop God’s Divine plans from coming to fruition.

The Giant Leap of Faith—Making Courageous Decisions

“Now a man of the tribe of Levi married a Levite woman, and she became pregnant and gave birth to a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him for three months. But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him.” —Exodus 2:1-4

Moses’ mother and young sister demonstrated great faith and courage by hiding him for three months and then taking the baby [God’s chosen one] to initiate God’s Divine plan for Moses’ life. “Ancient Egypt was rich in natural resources, including the Nile River, which provided fertile land and a major route for travel and communication.” God intervened by not allowing the river’s natural current to dislodge the small basket from the reeds on the bank nor did other travelers notice the basket or hear the baby’s cries.

God’s Plan is Revealed

“Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the riverbank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her female slave to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. ‘This is one of the Hebrew babies,’ she said. Then his sister asked Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?’ ‘Yes, go,’ she answered. So the girl went and got the baby’s mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.’ So the woman took the baby and nursed him.” —Exodus 2:5-9, NIV

“For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” —Jeremiah 29:11

How is it possible for us not to trust God? Not only did God spare Moses from a certain death, but Moses’ mother was paid by Pharoah’s daughter to nurse and care for her own son. As the story progresses, Moses is returned to Pharoah’s daughter, raised in the palace, and enjoys the status of a prince.

Although his life was overflowing with tangible wealth and princely power, Moses embraced his mother’s teachings of the One and Only God and his Hebrew heritage. As he grew into manhood, Moses faced the test of every Christian, to choose God or the world’s wealth and status.

“One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand” (Exodus 2:11-12, NIV).

“The next day he went out and saw two Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, ‘Why are you hitting your fellow Hebrew?’ The man said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?’ Then Moses was afraid and thought, ‘What I did must have become known.’ ” —Exodus 2:13-14

God proclaims that everything done in secret will eventually be revealed. Moses’s decision to take another person’s life was revealed, exposing him as a murderer. The ancient Egyptians valued the sanctity of life unless self-defense was proven and accepted by the judges, the punishment for murder was the death penalty.

God revealed His great love and mercy by allowing Moses to escape for his life. Even in his wrongdoing, God did not forsake Moses who fled to Midian, married, and lived with his wife and father-in-law. While Moses was enjoying his new life, the Israelites remained enslaved and severely oppressed under the rule of a new Pharaoh.

God Calls Moses: “When the Lord saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ And Moses said, ‘Here I am.’ ‘Do not come any closer,’ God said. ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.’ “The Lord said, ‘I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering..’ ” —Exodus 3:5-7

God Reveals Moses’ Commission: “And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” —Exodus 3:9-10

Moses’ Insolent Response to God: “But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ ” —Exodus 3:11

God’s Promise of Protection and Source of Strength: “And God said, ‘I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this mountain.’ ” —Exodus 3:12

Moses’ Character Flaw: Moses’ inability to control his anger propelled him to kill the Egyptian. Sadly his anger would surface again—in an emotional outburst, he broke the original stones on which God wrote the Ten Commandments. Moses allowed himself to become agitated due to the Israelite’s incessant complaining. Many years later, another temperamental episode prevented him from receiving the reward of entering Caanan, the Promised Land.

In anger to the people’s complaints of not having water, Moses disobeyed God by striking the rock instead of speaking to the rock. The people who God loved and emancipated still disobeyed by participating in Egyptian pagan worship. Because God worked miracles through Moses, the Israelites regarded Moses as a god instead of giving reverence to the True and Living God. God’s command for Moses to speak to the rock had a spiritual purpose, to reveal God’s Sovereign power to the Nation of Israel.

“The LORD appeared to us in the past, saying: “I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness” (Jeremiah 31:3). With hearts filled with gratitude, we thank God that His love and mercies still extend to fallen humanity despite our character flaws and continuous disobedience. Christ is still knocking on the door of our hearts to send us to witness and complete the work on this earth.

“For many are called, but few are chosen.”—Matthew 22:14

Christ appointed and anointed twelve disciples to be apostles, yet, there are six times in the Scriptures that Jesus chose Peter, James, and John to go with Him to various places including the Mount of Transfiguration: “After six days Jesus took with Him Peter, James, and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. There He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light…” (Matthew 17:1-2).

“You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” —John 15:16

Are you one of the Chosen? Has the Holy Spirit spoken to you and revealed that Christ has chosen you to do a great work for God? Yes, deep within your heart, you cannot deny it, you have heard Christ’s call saying “Follow Me.” God has set you apart as His disciple to exalt Him and to witness His saving power of salvation. But your love and loyalty to God wavers because of the familiar ties to family and friends, your church membership, or your current lifestyle choices.

“And he said to all, ‘If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.’ ” — Luke 9:23

To take up our cross daily and to follow Christ is to surrender oneself every day in faithful obedience. Our sacrificial offering of love, loyalty, faithful surrender, and obedience is required of us 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The commitment to give the rest of our lives in service to God is the life of all chosen disciples of Christ. What is the one thing [belief, tradition, habit, or person] preventing you from wholly surrendering to God?

“Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ…” —Philippians 3:8

As the apostle Paul testifies, the one chosen for a definitive ministry will suffer many earthly losses. To align ourselves with God’s goal to give us eternal life, we must give up our desires and dreams for God’s service. Daily we approach God in prayer with the humility and obedience of a child to hear His will and perfect plans to guide us in our ministry to others. A life of sacrificial self-denial is one of continual testing of our faith, love, and loyalty.

“We need a spirit of love and of true dependence upon God. When we have implicit faith in Him who is Truth, we shall realize that worry and anxiety are unnecessary.” Sharing the Vision, EGW

“And because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold. But he who endures to the end shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.” —Matthew 24:12-14, NKJV

Christ is no respecter of persons, His loving call to accept Him as our personal Savior is poured out to all humanity. After we say yes, to Christ, our responsibility is to witness in our communities, share our testimonies, and help those in need. To demonstrate the love, compassion, and saving power of Jesus Christ is the responsibility of every Christian believer.

Still, as the Apostles Peter, James, John, and Paul were set apart for assigned ministries, the chosen few were selected to walk side by side with Christ to prepare them and receive strength for a heavier burden in their earthly lives. As we study the books of the Bible written by Paul, Peter, James, and John [the Revelator], we are reminded that our lives are not our own when we agree to fulfill our Christ-appointed ministry.

To The Chosen, you can’t run from it, you can’t hide from it, you were anointed and appointed before the foundation of this world! Choose the Eternal! Amen.

Lord God, we ask You to reveal Your will and plans. We know that You have chosen us and like Jonah, many of us have run from our spiritual assignments. We ask for the anointing of wisdom and spiritual discernment from the Holy Spirit. Speak to us that we can serve You faithfully in humility and obedience. In Jesus’ Worthy and Righteous Name, Amen.

© 2024 Steps 2 Success with Spiritual Solutions Ministry