exodus

Walls of Wonder and the Way for Moses and Us

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It is a blessing to be home at my family north, ut is a different land even if it’s not that far away. And I marvelled at the tree colors in the mountains – so beautiful. It was a wall of wonder and one could appreciate that but I didn’t stop for a picture, I keep driving past, I remembered previous times I tried to take a photo, didn’t come through to the extent of the beauty, you will have to take my word for it.

While in this wall of color, I was catching up on my sermon listening to Pastor Joe of Calvery Chapel, online, tremendous teaching! We walked with Moses out of Egypt and now are right up against the Red Sea with Pharoh’s chasing fleet close behind, actually camped knowing there was no way out, stuck, surrounded…  Moses and the Israelites were down but not doomed. Pastor Joe reminded that we need to get to the place where it is ONLY God we look to.

It was an amazing miracle, one that we imagine but you would have had to be there to experience it luke that – in awe but in sure-footed march accross the bottom of the riverbed, no mud, just marvel…  and swiftly… Walls so enormously tall. And like the colors but much more impressive, a marvel while moving… You couldn’t even imagine… 

So, we do know God rescues. God leads and covers us. Moses visualized a cloud pillar and a fire pillar protecting and guiding and we have that in our souls now. We have guidance and have to look while walking. God makes a way where there is none. This is Salvation’s Way too… see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. 

The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.

These stories were explained and remembered, written down, taught… Future generations all the way in Isaiah’s time were taught: For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

It is ONLY God in His righteousness Who can rescue, recover, redirect, reassure… Let us believe and rely on Him always. AND KNOW HIS RIGHTEOUSNESS IN US NOW.

Lord, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us. Isaiah 26:12

Our saving is His Grace upon us. In MERCY AND LOVE.

WE DO WONDER, AND KEEP WALKING. Walls of Wonder and the Way.

AMEN

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Pastor Joe teaching 10/4:

SAM1448 https://share.google/o6om40tneoWu7QUkG

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Exodus 13: 21-22 NKJV

And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead the way, and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so as to go by day and night. He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day or the pillar of fire by night from before the people.

Exodus 14:13-31 NKJV

And Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

And the Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward. But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea. And I indeed will harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow them. So I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, his chariots, and his horsemen. Then the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I have gained honor for Myself over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.”

And the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them. So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that night.

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea into dry land, and the waters were divided. So the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea on the dry ground, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. And the Egyptians pursued and went after them into the midst of the sea, all Pharaoh’s horses, his chariots, and his horsemen.

Now it came to pass, in the morning watch, that the Lord looked down upon the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud, and He troubled the army of the Egyptians. And He took off their chariot wheels, so that they drove them with difficulty; and the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.”

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen.” And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and when the morning appeared, the sea returned to its full depth, while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea. Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained. But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea, and the waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left.

So the Lord saved Israel that day out of the hand of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore. Thus Israel saw the great work which the Lord had done in Egypt; so the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord and His servant Moses.

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Isaiah 26:9-13

With my soul I have desired You in the night, Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early; For when Your judgments are in the earth, The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness.

Let grace be shown to the wicked, Yet he will not learn righteousness; In the land of uprightness he will deal unjustly, And will not behold the majesty of the Lord. Lord, when Your hand is lifted up, they will not see. But they will see and be ashamed For their envy of people; Yes, the fire of Your enemies shall devour them.

Lord, You will establish peace for us, For You have also done all our works in us. O Lord our God, masters besides You Have had dominion over us; But by You only we make mention of Your name.

When SHOULD We Give Up Control? 

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My neighbor stopped and opened his window as he drove to his house tonight and joked: “Hey are you sorting your garbage?” – funny but true – and I was pulling recycling out and separating it from other trash which I was careful to keep together and not let fall in the road – I am good with my trash for sure, LOL… And we had a nice conversation after that about life and about health and about accumulating too much stuff – which he knows about from one of his family members and I know about stuff and stuff and stuff too – and well we pretty much are typical Americans with typically too much stuff – and yet we do like our stuff – and well so if it not a danger for us to walk around our houses then let us let stuff be stuff… But remember to not start to worship your stuff – don’t get too much stuff – nor get so stressed that you don’t toss some away too…

But organizing our stuff is a whole another story. I have been gearing up for a new side business of helping people sort their space and declutter their stuff – and well it is not mandatory that we toss anything or donate – but those are great ways to clean up and make room for more stuff – better stuff right?!? And in sorting stuff, which I have done for years with my own family and my own stuff and a few neighbors and friends, I know it is hard to get rid of stuff – for multiple reasons…  Sentimental YES – and valuable YES – and we are stewards of family heirlooms, YES. Hold onto good stuff – or at least partition it to others but don’t let it clutter too much nor go bad and become junk… And then there are those partial piles of stuff we hold onto YES = what I mean is that we want to find all the pieces of the puzzle or match the stuff together before we donate – or find all the game parts before we let it go – even if we have no control with what the people do with it then… But we DO (me too) try to right our own wrongs for losing things. We build bigger houses for more stuff. (I am glad I have to pare down for my small house).

This is typical – I have a whole display of single earrings because I lost the other and can’t bear to part with them. I hold onto those mismatched socks just praying to find the lost one – and yes, my kids toys, I have held them back from others who could possibly play with them until I find the last bits – but have to realize that when I give them away that I then have no control whether THEY lose parts… It is hard to be a responsible person but not a trash-aholic at the same time, geez… Basically it is hard to give up control…

But there is precedent for when we SHOULD give up control – that is when the One asking us is God Himself. God wants not to “be controlling” in a negative sense but to be known to “be IN control”. And honestly we can NOT take control away from God – we are NOT God. And although we do wander and wander and wonder until we get realization of where we are going – until then we should try to realize that we should listen – depend upon Him in the tough spots (and the easy ones too)…

Recently I have been listening to the bible teachings of Moses and the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt – and wow there were A LOT of those people. I appreciate Pastor Joe’s teachings online (like the link below, Exodus 13) and how he explains that the sheer number of people Moses was leading would have been millions stretched over 750 miles, protected undercover the cloud by day and led by a pillar of fire at night, which was only visible to them and not to the outside!  God was in charge of them but they were complainers and they were forgetful of miracles that they saw – God protected them but still they doubted God. (And they had to carry all their stuff with them too – but God provided the food – God gave the stuff).

I know I am (we are) like people with Moses doing some wandering ourselves, both exile and exodus traveling – not knowing the plan that God has – and not taking the time to focus towards Him, God wanting us to look, ask and listen, leaning in to Him… Moses’s people wanted to go back to Egypt when things got tough – but God wanted to get them to that Promised Land.

Clearly God knows the Way, and what God wants is for us to depend upon Him!!! God is keeping me (us) under His wing and we are to be trying to be okay even when things are not okay!!! 

Pastor Joe also reminded us that this is a reflection of how the Internal Fire, the Holy Spirit moves us today. We have an internal Saving Grace and we are to listen. And honestly we are to give up our control of our lives to His Will – this is tough but God knows best! https://resources.ccphilly.org/SAM1447

God has us covered too – and we have His internal Light to follow. Will we or when should we give up control? Well I am working on that too!!!  TO GOD – not to our will but HIS. One day at a time – one moment at a time… Keep remembering this day, month, year is a blip in our lives WITH the Lord – keep moving… We are to walk not wander, listen not get lost, hope not hear hype, comply not complain… AND KEEP MOVING!!! 

AMEN

Exodus 13:21-22   And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

AMEN

God’s VBS Staff Plan Sometimes Means Giving up our Own – a Memory of how God Moved Me in VBS

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A story of Moses must be the best reminder to listen to God and stop wondering about wandering – but listen to the Lord’s Plan over our own.

This was the therapeutic writing #704 when I had to close down my old VBS only to have a great sermon lesson about Moses and then stepping into a new VBS about: MOSES, yeah cool…

VBS CEO Moses, Give up your Staff, it’s His Staff Anyway, 02JUL2019

A MAJOR processing devotion to how God changed my role – how He is using me NOW, and about me leaving my old role as the VBS CEO, as I let it go…

Over and over I’m being reminded that I am handing my VBS staff over to be the Lord’s staff, which they already were and are… just like some kids and volunteers (including me) are going over to an Africa VBS theme experience at a friend’s church next week – the perfect tag line for all of us is: “When life changes, God is good”

I had a $2 African photo box sitting unused ever since springtime. How fitting that now the few VBS core volunteers, who had fought for a “Roar” theme over “Power Lab” theme, are all now going to be able to go serve in a ROAR VBS! Yeah, hilarious Lord…

They are changing locations for their children’s ministry focus. I got to help coordinate to get them to a personal “Promise land” VBS theme of the year. You parted the seas and I pointed my staff in that direction. Actually Your staff, Lord, Your staff not mine.

“When life is unfair, God is good”…

“When life is scary, God is good”…

“When life changes, God is good”…

“When life is sad, God is good”…

“When life is good, God is good”…

How blessed… I am calmly watching my team dissipate into the future as if I was a retiring CEO. I had to close my company, lay them off and lay myself off too…

I feel to be the retired CEO of this VBS, I was the transition leader for just until You, Lord, made way and I settled the loose ends, finished my cleaning and moved ahead… I moved on because You assured me Lord that everybody will be OK. I am OK.

But Moses, I’m in tears now realizing that GOD HIMSELF made me realize that I am just like Moses….. that’s why a recent Moses sermon really touched me… It really did – Moses had to give up control of his walking stick staff to God’s needs for it… Moses had to move his/His people – I too move to where the Lord is calling me. Like Moses at the end, I will stop and rest and know God loves me and see everyone move on…

So don’t worry about me, He found me a place to rest. I’m uber blessed to rest, learn, SING. I know God pulled me to where I am… Oh, my shock is that I get to feel His peace in where I am today. Peace.

Now I am watching HIS people go into their future – to serve HIM!

It is a shockingly accurate description in scripture of how God knows EVERY hair on our heads – He knows how to shock me too – I wrote this title: “VBS CEO Moses, give up your staff” – and then GASPED at the wordplay of the word STAFF – I give up my VBS people staff – Moses gives up his staff to be HIS staff, the physical stick – and that’s the crux of the sermon I just heard – WOW. Yes, scripture that “sticks with you” is meant for you to find how it pertains to your own situation…  oh…. amazing…

I myself have future opportunities galore, I’m first going to be sewing dresses for Africa, another skill that the Lord gifted me – I have a serger, a sewing machine, a skill to share, and yet another gifted decompression opportunity while I remain busy as a bee… Perfect Lord…

I’m always on YOUR STAFF, Lord. Ready to bee me.

Better Rest in JESUS, Exodus 20

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Sunday is a day of rest – well it is interesting how we interpret rest.

We put a human interpretation on rest – as if God rested His weariness, His muscles, His mind from creating the earth in 7 days – but honestly we know that God did not slumber in rest – He totally was still God – but for creating the earth He took the time to say “I did it”…

Our rest can not be restful in a physical way if we don’t let ourselves rest.

Our rest can not be restful in an emotional way if we don’t acknowledge we need it.

Our rest can not be restful in a spiritual way if we don’t accept that “in God we trust” – that we let God be in charge – and that we acknowledge that in Him we will be OK.

Our rest is in God being in control.

Rest this Sunday also in an active way – IN PRAISE!!!

The rest that is personal is also praiseworthy. The rest from work work means time for worship. We can still work with our hands, allowing the Lord to work our minds.

And if God’s Command is to rest – to accept the worship of completeness in Him, then especially because we often can not keep all the 10 commandments perfectly without breaking them, especially the one about jealousy, nor the one about taking His Name in vain, nor the one about putting God and Love and Godly things first, then we forgiveness. We need to find the REST in the One who makes us perfecting and Who covers our sins with forgiveness” JESUS…  And Jesus is FOR us!!!

If Jesus is FOR us – then we can not fail – and we can not fail to have rest.

MAY WE REST IN JESUS!!! All PRAISE and Honor is Yours!

AMEN

MAY WE REST IN JESUS!!!

AMEN

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Exodus 20:1-17 NKJV
The Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
“You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work,  but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”