LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 17, 2024

When was the last time you were speechless with awe? It happened to me this morning. I was speechless with awe when I read Exodus 19:4 where God speaks to Moses and says, “I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”. I am having one of those moments when words are inadequate to express the overwhelming joy and gratitude that has come over my heart as I consider the incredible impact of that statement.  

The story of the deliverance of Israel from Egyptian bondage is to be for us a picture of our deliverance from the bondage of sin. There are several important lessons for us to remember. These lessons may seem simple, and you may have heard them before, but my prayer is that the impact of God’s grace will overwhelm you as it did me and you too will be refreshed in your spirit.

1.      All of the glory for their deliverance goes to God, who did it all. Man receives no credit for playing any role in his freedom from bondage. We are unable to change our sinful situation. We may try to change our situation by thinking we can earn our way into a state of spiritual freedom through knowledge or good works, but this leaves us more desperate than before. We may try to alleviate the pain of the situation with the worldly aspirin of drugs, alcohol, sex, money, possessions, and relationships, but these all fail in the end and leave us more destitute than ever. It is only in complete surrender to Jesus Christ that we are carried into the eternal rest of God’s arms.

2.      This eternal rest involves the destruction of all that held us in bondage in the past. God chooses to use the analogy of being carried on eagles’ wings. The eagle was considered in biblical times a scavenger bird that fed on death. The Hebrew word means “to lacerate”, and is the same word translated “vulture” in other Hebrew literature. When Israel was delivered from Egypt, the enemy was destroyed, and the people were carried to safety by the same power that fed on the death of the enemy. When Jesus died on the cross, His offer of salvation to mankind includes a guarantee of death to those who reject it. The same power that carries me into the forgiving arms of the Heavenly Father will destroy all those who oppose Him.

3.      Now the point that emotionally overwhelms me – God brought me to Himself. He did not simply deliver the people of Israel from Egypt and start them on a new direction, leaving them to fend for themselves. He did not turn over their well-being to their own ability to provide for it. He did not leave them with only hope in their own wisdom to make decisions and complete the course. No, He brought them to Himself. He brought them into a permanent relationship that is defined by the picture of a perfect Father and His love and care for His children. His love sought me when I was lost because He bought me by His death on the cross. He picked me up and carried me into the security of His everlasting arms. His hand has folded around me, and He will never let me go. HALLELUJAH! I AM HIS FOREVER!

I pray that the Holy Spirit impresses on your heart today the incredible depths of God’s love and His deliverance from sin for all who believe in Jesus Christ as their Savior. He has carried us to Himself.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 15, 2024

There is something very addictive about authority and power, especially to a person with insecurities. Moses was a man with insecurities. He had run away from his people once because his actions were misunderstood and rejected, and he had fought God’s call to return to his people as their deliverer because of the fear of additional rejection. When God empowered him to accomplish the deliverance of the nation from Egypt, and when God empowered him to meet all the needs of the people during the exodus, Moses probably started to feel pretty good about himself. This authority and power that he had was satisfying, and it certainly felt a lot better than rejection. The people actually needed him, and he may have been enjoying the attention and sense of security it brought.

But just like any addiction, there was a serious price to pay. Moses’ price was burnout. All attempts to cover our insecurities and fears with human resources and pursuits end in destruction. Moses needed the wise input of a veteran leader to help him see the error of his thinking. This wise man was his father-in-law, who gave him some incredible leadership advice – delegate!

Exodus 18:13-14  The next day Moses took his seat to serve as judge for the people, and they stood around him from morning till evening. When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, “What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?”

If you keep reading that passage you will find that the advice was broken down into four elements. They give us some insights into how we can become better leaders of the people God has brought into our circle of relationships. Let’s look at the first one today.

1. Make sure everyone knows that God is the final authority, and you are just serving Him. Moses was told that “You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him.”  It is very dangerous to take personal credit for decisions and actions when God alone is responsible. Leading other people and helping them with their problems is not about gaining personal value or status with that person. It’s about honoring the only One who has all the answers. We have been called to intercede with God on behalf of people so they hear Him, not us. Don’t get in the way.

Tomorrow we will look at the other principles. But for today, spend some time evaluating your relationships with others and asK yourself this question – “Do I consistently direct their needs to the Lord or do I look for the honor that comes from doing it myself?”

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 14, 2024

Far too many people are trying to make it on their own in this life. For reasons of insecurity, fear or pride, they take on the responsibility, burden, and outcome of everything and share none of the load except in the cases where there is personal benefit and advancement. Moses was one such man, and in the process of growing his faith God was about to change him.

I can relate to Moses. I would naturally move to the authoritarian style of leadership and try to handle everything on my own. I did that for many years and discovered that after the honeymoon period that is granted to every new leader by the group being led, things begin to fall apart. People become discontent because they feel unneeded, unnecessary, and unfulfilled.  They respond to such feelings by either withdrawing or attacking, and I have experienced both. The pain that results does not easily heal.

I am so very blessed to have been granted the grace to change, and to learn the life-changing principle that great leaders surround themselves with people who are better than themselves. I now realize how relaxing it is to have gifted and qualified people in charge of their specific areas of ministry and let them do it their way. That’s the lesson Moses had to learn, and the doorway to change was opened a crack in today’s story about the Amalekite attack on the Israelites.

 Exodus 17:8-9  The Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hands.”

Moses started out by proclaiming that he alone would stand on the top of the hill and direct the battle with the staff of God in his hands. But Moses allows two other men to go with him, and when he grows tired these men partner with him. We see no indication that Moses asked for the help, but he humbled himself to accept the help when it was offered. His partners saw a need, they developed a plan to meet the need, and they carried out the plan to completion. They put their faith into action. Moses took the first step of change when he allowed himself to be served.

There are two main challenges for us from this lesson today:

1.      Don’t let pride, insecurity, or fear cause you to be a control freak. I see so many people who are compulsive controllers, and they kill relationships and ministries. Remember our foundational statement of faith – “It’s not about me, and it’s not about now: it’s about God and His glory.”

2.      Become a faith partner of action. Don’t wait to be told what to do – take the initiative to get involved. When you see a need, develop a plan, put it into action, and stick with it until it’s done.

Have a great day.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 11, 2024

The first time we read about a Sabbath day in Scripture is at the time God gives the Israelites directions on gathering the manna He is providing for them as food every morning. At creation we were told that on the seventh day God rested from His work of creation, but until now there has been nothing said about the people doing the same. God has not yet given Moses the Ten Commandments, which included a command to honor the Sabbath day. This is the introduction of the principle of Sabbath rest to the Israelites and to all of us.

Exodus 16:23-26  “This is what the LORD commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’” So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it. “Eat it today,” Moses said, “because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today. Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any.”

God makes it possible for the people to be nourished for a period of two days so that on the second day they do not need to labor. The manna they gathered on Friday would not spoil and be sufficient to cover the needs of Saturday.

In this I see a picture of our salvation, and the permanence of it. As we discovered previously the manna God gave the Israelites is a symbol of the covering of sin God provides for us every day in the Person of Jesus Christ. But we do not need to pick up the manna of salvation every day. It is not necessary to be saved from our sin over and over again. He showed us this in the creation of the Sabbath. We understand this when we discover the truth of Hebrews 4:9-10, which says, “There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from his own work, just as God did from his.”

The teaching of Hebrews 4 can be summarized this way: once we realize that it is not by works that we are saved, and by faith we receive Jesus Christ as our Savior and are covered by His blood, we enter the permanent rest of eternal security. God was illustrating to the Israelites that one day His mercy and grace would cover permanently all sin and there would be no need to work for it any longer. Once the gift of grace was given on the day before the Sabbath it was sufficient for all the needs of the next day. Once the sacrifice of Jesus was given it was sufficient for the spiritual needs of the whole world, and anyone who collects that gift enters the permanent rest of salvation.

The Old Testament gives us the pictures of New Testament salvation fulfilled in Jesus Christ. The institution of the Sabbath day was not intended to be a legalistic demand on our lives, but rather to be a picture of the completeness of our salvation by faith in the work of Jesus Christ on the cross. The Sabbath was instituted to show the people they can totally depend upon God for their lives. When we depend upon the gift of God in Jesus Christ for our salvation, separated from any work of our own, we enter the permanent rest of eternal life. We do not need to obey the legal demands of the Old Testament Sabbath to be a recipient of the blessings of salvation. In fact, the blessings of salvation allow us the freedom to celebrate every day as a Sabbath, for we are at permanent spiritual rest with our God. 

Spend some time today celebrating the permanence of your salvation!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 10, 2024

When you woke up this morning did you do what we learned in the devotional yesterday? Did you spend some time enjoying the manna of your forgiveness and salvation? Did you rejoice that today you have been shown mercy by God in that you have been given life despite the failures and sin of yesterday? If not, do it now, and then make a commitment to start every day that way.

God teaches us another lesson of faith from the provision of daily manna in Exodus 16.

“This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. No one is to keep any of it until morning.’”

Don’t demand more than what God is willing to give. God promised that the daily provision of sweet bread would be sufficient to nourish everyone for that day. No one was to try to carry over one day’s provision to the next, except where God made that possible to honor a Sabbath day. If the manna from today was saved for tomorrow, it would be useless. God wanted people to trust Him for every daily need.

But some of the people didn’t listen. I can imagine their thought process. It would go like this:

“Let’s pick up just a little bit extra, and not eat quite so much today, and we’ll save the rest for tomorrow so we don’t have to get up so early and go out a gather more. It’s going to be a hard day today and I want to be able to sleep in a little tomorrow. Besides. Isn’t it wise to plan ahead.”

Imagine a little further that tomorrow has arrived.

“Boy that felt good to get that extra hour of sleep. Look at all those people coming back from the fields with their manna. What poor planners they are. Let’s eat!”

They open up their jar and discover that their manna is ruined: filled with maggots. When they rush out to the field to get more, it is all gone, and for that day they go hungry. They learn a hard lesson – man’s plans never work when they are contrary to God’s direction.

My concern is that this philosophy has permeated our walks of faith as well. We will follow God for the benefits and use him to pad our comforts, but this daily dependence thing gets old fast. Then we wonder why our life is full of maggots. Why does the joy of the immediate benefit wear out so quickly? Why do we need to constantly be replacing the high with a new high? Do we realize the addiction we have to self-satisfaction? Why has God been relegated to the role of our personal trust-fund executor who must answer to our ever whim and wish?

We need to learn the lesson of faith that Jesus taught in Matthew 6, where He says, “Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”… “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear… So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Let the truth of daily dependence on God sink in and enrich your life as you live it!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Exodus 16:11-12 The LORD said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God.’”

After reading this passage we may get the idea that grumbling pays. God heard the grumbling of the Israelites just like a mother hears the immature and self-centered complaining of a child. She responds to the need with love, but then works to correct the method of expression used by the child. God saw the need of the Israelites, but he also worked to correct their immature faith in the process. Grumbling is immature and selfish. We can express needs to God, but it must be in a way that honors His authority.

The story of the feeding of the Israelites with manna is a great lesson in daily dependence on God. Over the next couple of days let’s learn some of the lessons God wants us to live. Here’s the first one.

Every morning the ground is covered with dew, and when it dries, thin flakes like frost covered the ground, and was sweet like honey. Now here is something I think is incredible. The Hebrew word for “frost” means “to cover”, and is the word used in the Old Testament to describe the covering of sin accomplished by the sacrifice of atonement. In fact, in Psalm 78, after describing the history of the exodus from Egypt and the faithless choices of a rebellious and stubborn people, we find this incredible verse – “Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath” (verse 38).The word forgave in this verse is the same word for frost – a covering for the sins of the people. The giving of the manna each day was to be for the people a testimony to the forgiveness of their sins by God. They did nothing to earn it or deserve it. Yet God was merciful.  That’s what kind of God we serve: a God who covers our weaknesses and our sin and gives us sufficient grace for each day.

That’s a powerful lesson to remember. And to help solidify it in your heart, I suggest you take the time to read the 78^th Psalm. It’s long, but it will be well worth the investment. I have printed it below for you. As you read it, let the mercy and grace of God overwhelm you as you see how He has covered our sin. Rejoice in the daily provision of your salvation.

Pastor John

Psalm 78

¹    O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.

²    I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old-

³    what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us.

⁴    We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done.

⁵    He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children,

⁶    so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

⁷    Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

⁸    They would not be like their forefathers- a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.

⁹    The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;

¹⁰    they did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law.

¹¹    They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

¹²    He did miracles in the sight of their fathers in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.

¹³    He divided the sea and led them through; he made the water stand firm like a wall.

¹⁴    He guided them with the cloud by day and with light from the fire all night.

¹⁵    He split the rocks in the desert and gave them water as abundant as the seas;

¹⁶    he brought streams out of a rocky crag and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷    But they continued to sin against him, rebelling in the desert against the Most High.

¹⁸    They willfully put God to the test by demanding the food they craved.

¹⁹    They spoke against God, saying, “Can God spread a table in the desert?

²⁰    When he struck the rock, water gushed out, and streams flowed abundantly. But can he also give us food? Can he supply meat for his people?”

²¹    When the LORD heard them, he was very angry; his fire broke out against Jacob, and his wrath rose against Israel,

²²    for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance

²³    Yet he gave a command to the skies above and opened the doors of the heavens;

²⁴    he rained down manna for the people to eat, he gave them the grain of heaven.

²⁵    Men ate the bread of angels; he sent them all the food they could eat.

²⁶    He let loose the east wind from the heavens and led forth the south wind by his power.

²⁷    He rained meat down on them like dust, flying birds like sand on the seashore.

²⁸    He made them come down inside their camp, all around their tents.

²⁹    They ate till they had more than enough, for he had given them what they craved.

³⁰    But before they turned from the food they craved, even while it was still in their mouths,

³¹    God’s anger rose against them; he put to death the sturdiest among them, cutting down the young men of Israel.

³²    In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe.

³³    So he ended their days in futility and their years in terror.

³⁴    Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again.

³⁵    They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer.

³⁶    But then they would flatter him with their mouths, lying to him with their tongues;

³⁷    their hearts were not loyal to him, they were not faithful to his covenant.

³⁸    Yet he was merciful; he forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath.

³⁹    He remembered that they were but flesh, a passing breeze that does not return.

⁴⁰    How often they rebelled against him in the desert and grieved him in the wasteland!

⁴¹    Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel.

⁴²    They did not remember his power- the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,

⁴³    the day he displayed his miraculous signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan.

⁴⁴    He turned their rivers to blood; they could not drink from their streams.

⁴⁵    He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them.

⁴⁶    He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust.

⁴⁷    He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet.

⁴⁸    He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning.

⁴⁹    He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility- a band of destroying angels.

⁵⁰    He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague.

⁵¹    He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.

⁵²    But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the desert.

⁵³    He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies.

⁵⁴    Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken.

⁵⁵    He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

⁵⁶    But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes.

⁵⁷    Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow.

⁵⁸    They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols.

⁵⁹    When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely.

⁶⁰    He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men.

⁶¹    He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy.

⁶²    He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance.

⁶³    Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs;

⁶⁴    their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.

⁶⁵    Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine.

⁶⁶    He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷    Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;

⁶⁸    but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.

⁶⁹    He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever.

⁷⁰    He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens;

⁷¹    from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance.

⁷²    And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

LifeLink Devotions for Monday, October 7, 2024

It is our tendency to allow circumstances to make us forgetful of past conquests. We seem to easily shift our focus from promises to predicaments. It happened to the nation of Israel as they started their faith journey to the Promised Land.  

Exodus 15:22-27  “Then Moses led Israel from the Red Sea and they went into the Desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter. (That is why the place is called Marah.) So the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “What are we to drink?” Then Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a piece of wood. He threw it into the water, and the water became sweet. There the LORD made a decree and a law for them, and there he tested them. He said, “If you listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the LORD, who heals you.” Then they came to Elim, where there were twelve springs and seventy palm trees, and they camped there near the water.”

How quickly we move from praise to petulance. The Israelites are only three days removed from their deliverance by the powerful hand of God, and they are already grouchy and grumbling. The focus of their faith has already shifted from God to man as they look to Moses to solve the predicament and supply their need. But God graciously answers their complaining cries and turns this into a teachable moment. He gives Moses a solution to the water problem, and then reminds the people of a significant aspect of their faith in Him.

Think back to the first plague that God brought against the Egyptians. He turned the water into blood. The fish died and the water was made to stink so bad that they could not drink it. Now here are the Israelites in a similar situation and they don’t know what to do. They have not connected the dots that if God is able to make good water bad, then He can also make bad water good. God wants them to learn a significant lesson of faith. He tells them that if their faith is properly focused on Him that none of the diseases brought upon the rebellious Egyptians would be placed on them. If they will listen to the Lord their God and put into action what they have heard, then they will be protected, and He will provide for them. God reveals Himself to the people as their Healer – Jehovah-Rapha. The word Rapha means to mend and to make whole. He has shown Himself to be their Deliverer, and now He wants them to experience Him as their Healer – the One who will fulfill their lives. He demonstrates this by bringing them to Elim, a place of rest, refreshment, and restoration. He has brought them to a place of wholeness.

My friends, the emotional excitement of the deliverance will fade. The realities of our physical condition and needs will tempt us to replace our faith in the Deliverer and focus on the tragedy of our situation. But God will reveal Himself to us as our Healer – the One who will provide and protect so that we are complete and fulfilled.

What kind of difficulty are you currently experiencing that has brought discontent and diminished hope to your life? Have you taken that difficulty to God Himself, or have you looked to the world and its residents for your solution? Has the focus of your faith shifted from God to self? Remember that the One who delivered you is also your Healer. Go to Him, and He will lead you to a place of shade from the heat of the day and a place of refreshment and renewal for the next part of the journey.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Friday, October 4, 2024

When faith is properly focused on the awesome nature and character of God, our hearts are inspired to praise. That is what happens after God’s deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian slavery.

Exodus 15:1-2  Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea. The LORD is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

Praise is what happens when God delivers people from the slavery to sin. Take a moment to open your Bible to Exodus chapter fifteen, and let’s look at the elements of praise from the hearts and lips of delivered people. 

Read verse one. We are to praise God’s exalted position. When you pray and praise, start with the sovereignty of God.

In verse 2 we see the phrase “He is my God.” We are to praise the personal nature of God’s relationship with us, and that in this relationship we find strength and deliverance.

Read verses six and seven.  We are to praise His majesty. The Hebrew word here is excellency ,and comes from a root meaning “to rise up and above all others in pomp and perfection.” God has risen up on our behalf and conquered all enemies because He will not share His glory with anyone. Then in verse 11 you discover that His majesty is based in His holiness, and that He will destroy any who oppose the purity of His nature.

Read verse thirteen. We are to praise His unfailing love, which results in guidance and protection for those He has redeemed. This leadership brings us into His holy presence, in our spirit today and in the flesh when He returns for us.

Read verse eighteen. We are to conclude our praise the way we began – with the sovereignty of God. He will reign for ever and ever.

Take some time today to celebrate God. I’m sure as you do you will think of the great wonders He has done. But remember to focus your faith and your praise on His nature and His character rather than on His works. When you do, your faith will grow and your relationship with God will deepen.

Have a great day of singing God’s praises.

Pastor John