– Scripture:

                        No Harm

I am God. The blood will serve as a sign on the houses where you live. When I see the blood, I will pass over you—no disaster will touch you when I strike the land of Egypt.

                       Exodus 12:12-13 MSG

 – Reflection:

 In the Old Testament, God sent plagues on Pharaoh and his people for not letting the Israelites escape slavery. The final plague was that the firstborn sons were going to die. God told the Israelites they had to put blood on the doorposts of their houses. When the death angel came, no harm would come to their family if they had blood over their house. That night thousands of Egyptian lives were lost, but none of the Israelites who lived nearby. What was the difference? One had the blood, and the other didn’t. One was under the shelter of the Most High; the other wasn’t.

Where do we go from here?

When you keep the blood over your house and honor God, He hides you when trouble comes. Things that take other people out can’t take you out. The trouble that defeats others won’t stop you. You don’t have to live worried, fearing what might happen, fearing disease, fearing being laid off. You have blood on your doorpost. You belong to the Highest God.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank You that I am covered by the blood of Jesus. Thank You for protecting me in every area of my life and family. I believe You have put a bloodline of protection around me, and no weapon formed against me will prosper. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

– Scripture:

                    God Speaks, To Us

“I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd puts the sheep before himself and sacrifices himself if necessary.
My sheep recognize my voice.

                    John 10:11, 27 MSG

– Reflection:

God’s had direct, personal, reciprocally communicative relationships with many men. Abraham, Moses, Gideon, David, Paul. What about you and me, though?

Many of us, to the extent we think about it at all, assume those guys were unique, different from us. And so, we decide God probably wants a different type of relationship—more indirect, impersonal, and non-reciprocal go to church, read the Bible a bit, and get on with our lives. That would mean, though, that God’s purpose in bringing us stories of these men was to simply demonstrate something unattainable—a divine taunt of sorts. It would reveal a desire to impress upon us how extraordinary were his Biblical supermen, so we’d gaze upon them and wonder why he created us so. un-super.

Where do we go from here?

Begin to open your mind, people. God wants to speak to you directly to you. In Scripture, he spoke with his own audible voice; through dreams and visions; through intermediaries, such as angels and other human beings; and directly into thoughts, using his “still, small voice.” While the others are admittedly rare, using people as his intermediaries and using his still, small voice is pretty common.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank you for allowing us a relationship with you and giving us the visions that we need to have the necessary conversation to follow your message and get it out to the world for the path we each are walking. We are not on the same path; some are doing other things while we are some to work together. I know you will bring everything to fruition in your time, and we are truly grateful. Amen.

 – Scripture:

                        Stay Off The Mountain

God said to Moses, “Get ready. I’m about to come to you in a thick cloud so that the people can listen in and trust you completely when I speak with you.” Again Moses reported the people’s answer to God. God said to Moses, “Go to the people. Get these people ready to meet the Holy God for the next two days. Have them scrub their clothes so that on the third day, they’ll be fully prepared because, on the third day, God will come down on Mount Sinai and make his presence known to all the people. Post boundaries for the people all around, telling them, ‘Warning! Don’t climb the mountain. Don’t even touch its edge. Whoever touches the mountain dies—a certain death. And no one is to touch that person; he’s to be stoned. That’s right—stoned. Or shot with arrows, shot to death. Animal or man, whichever—put to death.’ “A long blast from the horn will signal that climbing the mountain is safe.” Moses went down the mountain to the people and prepared them for the holy meeting. They gave their clothes a good scrubbing. Then he addressed the people: “Be ready in three days. Don’t sleep with a woman.” On the third day, at daybreak, there were loud claps of thunder, flashes of lightning, a thick cloud covering the mountain, and an ear-piercing trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp shuddered in fear. Moses led the people out of the camp to meet God. They stood at attention at the base of the mountain. Mount Sinai was all smoke because God had come down on it as fire. Smoke poured from it like smoke from a furnace. The whole mountain shuddered in huge spasms. The trumpet blasts grew louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered in thunder. God descended to the peak of Mount Sinai. God called Moses up to the peak, and Moses climbed up. God said to Moses, “Go down. Warn the people not to break through the barricades to see God lest many die. And the priests also warn them to prepare themselves for the holy meeting, lest God break out against them.” Moses told God, “But the people can’t climb Mount Sinai. You’ve already warned us well: ‘Post boundaries around the mountain. Respect the holy mountain.’ ” God told him, “Go down and bring Aaron back up with you. But make sure that the priests and the people don’t break through and come up to God, lest he break out against them.” So Moses went down to the people.

                           Exodus 19:9-25 MSG

 – Reflection:

This is a long passage that mainly talks about waiting until you hear from GOD before you make the move up the mountain. How many times have we thought we heard something but really didn’t, and something terrible happened? In this passage, people would have lost their lives if they climbed the mountain before GOD blasted the horn.

Where do we go from here?

Listen to GOD’s heart before you move on to significant things in your life.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, Your promise to be with us, dear God. Fix our senses to your presence and deepen our faith in you. Amen.

– Scripture:

                       You Can’t Do This By Yourself

The next day Moses took his place to judge the people. People were standing before him all day long, from morning to night. When Moses’ father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, “What’s going on here? Why are you doing all this, and all by yourself, letting everybody line up before you from morning to night?” Moses said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me with questions about God. When something comes up, they come to me. I judge between a man and his neighbor and teach them God’s laws and instructions.” Moses’ father-in-law said, “This is no way to go about it. You’ll burn out, and the people right along with you. This is way too much for you—you can’t do this alone. Now listen to me. Let me tell you how to do this so that God will be in this with you. Be there for the people before God, but let the matters of concern be presented to God. Your job is to teach them the rules and instructions, to show them how to live, what to do. And then you need to keep a sharp eye out for competent men—men who fear God, men of integrity, men who are incorruptible—and appoint them as leaders over groups organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They’ll be responsible for the everyday work of judging among the people. They’ll bring the hard cases to you, but in the routine cases, they’ll be the judges. They will share your load and that will make it easier for you. If you handle the work this way, you’ll have the strength to carry out whatever God commands you, and the people in their settings will flourish also.” Moses listened to the counsel of his father-in-law and did everything he said. Moses picked competent men from all of Israel and set them as leaders over the people who were organized by the thousand, by the hundred, by fifty, and by ten. They took over the everyday work of judging among the people. They brought the hard cases to Moses, but in the routine cases, they were the judges. Then Moses said goodbye to his father-in-law who went home to his own country.

                             Exodus 18:13–27  MSG

 – Reflection:

It’s hard to top Jethro’s wisdom: you can’t do it alone. At this point in the narrative, Moses has been called by God to lead the people out of Egypt, confronted Pharoah, led the Hebrews through the Red Sea, and is now leading the people through the wilderness (navigating all the complaints and questions that come along with that). Of course, they’re surviving on Manna and water from rocks too. Are you exhausted just thinking about it? It’s no wonder Jethro recognizes that Moses has taken on too much.

Where do we go from here?

It’s important that we not just think about how we rest, but also about how we work. The Sabbath isn’t just about resting so that we can go back to work the next day. It’s not about recharging, just so we can go back to being drained. The Sabbath is about reframing how we live our lives. It invites us into a new understanding of our relationship to God and to the world. Part of that new understanding is that we do not have to do it alone.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, we give thanks that you call us to put down what is too heavy. We give thanks that You made us for the community to nurture and care for one another. We give you thanks for the wisdom and grace of rest. Amen.

 – Scripture:

                     Full of Self, but Soul-Empty

And then God answered: “Write this. Write what you see. Write it out in big block letters so that it can be read on the run.
This vision message is a witness pointing to what’s coming. It aches for the coming—it can hardly wait! And it doesn’t lie.
If it seems slow in coming, wait. It’s on its way. It will come right on time.

                          Habakkuk 2:2–3 MSG   

 – Reflection:

Sometimes we want something so badly that we get out of balance. We feel like we’re falling behind or losing our grip and start to panic. We’re not going to be happy unless God does it our way. You have to release control of how and when God will bring it to pass. Hold tightly to your dreams but hold loosely to how God will do it.

Where do we go from Here?

There is a time for GOD to save us from whatever ails us; whether it is financial, a sickness, or a self-created problem, we hope to turn to our favor. All these things will be settled on your behalf but on GOD’s time, not ours. We will want it to be on our time because we feel that our time is best. How can that be when we have messed things up so many times, wanting a miracle to get out of the mistakes we have made? When you finally allow Christ into your heart and become that new person you are designed to be, then you will see clearly; not yet. Even though the human condition will continue to want.

Our Prayer for Today

Father, thank You that this is my appointed time for favor and You are never late. Thank You that You are ordering my steps and helping me do what I could not do on my own. I believe that my set time is established, and You will make it happen. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.