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

LifeLink Devotions for Thursday, October 3, 2024

Today we jump way ahead in the story of Moses, and a lot has happened. There have been plagues and promises, broken promises and more plagues, all followed by death and deliverance. You can read about it all in Exodus chapters seven through fourteen. But we come today to the end of the deliverance from slavery, and to the finalizing of the people’s faith on the right foundation.

God has led them to the edge of the Red Sea, and again their deliverance seems impossible. Pharaoh has decided he made a mistake and lost too much by letting the Israelites go, so he organized the army, and his pursuit is coming up fast on the rear of the Jewish entourage. The people are terrified because their focus has been shifted from God’s leadership to the enemy’s advance, and they begin to complain. They go so far as to wish they were back in their slavery. They have totally lost their focus on the goal and left their faith in God and His promises. They believe that the solution to this problem must come from themselves, and they are overwhelmed with the realization of their inability to handle it.

How often do we take our eyes off God’s leadership and promises and wish we could go back to the seeming comforts of our sinful ways? How often are we overwhelmed because we believe we must resolve all of our difficulties, and we know we cannot?

Then, in one of the most exciting and encouraging statements in the entire Bible, Moses turns to the people and says with the authority of God Himself, “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.” 

God tells Moses to have the people refocus on the goal and to move on. When they obey, God goes to work to bring glory to Himself. The people got out of the way by getting under way, and God provided a way. The waters of the sea were parted, and the people passed over on dry ground. But notice how their focus had to stay on the goal. While they were crossing the sea, the water was piled up beside them. That’s scary! One look at that and fear could cause a panic. Jesus demonstrated this same lesson to Peter and the disciples when He came walking to them on the water. So long as Peter kept his eyes on Christ he was delivered from the waves. When he looked at the water he sank. The Israelites had to keep their focus on God in the pillar of fire or fear would have overwhelmed them as well.

When all was done, and the Egyptian army had been destroyed in the sea, God was completely glorified, and the people finally got the point – their faith was to be in God alone.

Exodus 14:31 “And when the Israelites saw the great power the LORD displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.” 

My friends, maybe it is time for your faith to be refocused on God alone. What waves of circumstances, insurmountable obstacles, and approaching enemies have caused you to take your eyes off of God? Your faith has been minimized by a wrong focus. Refocus on God, and your spirit will be restored, refreshed, and reenergized to reach the goal God has given you. Fix your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith!

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Wednesday, October 2, 2024

Yesterday Moses was left in a state of fear that he had caused more problems for the people of Israel than he could solve. He complained to God that things weren’t going well, and he even boldly told God that He wasn’t doing what he had promised. Moses said, “you have not rescued your people at all.” But God wanted Moses and all the people to learn one inescapable truth through all of this – He alone gets all the glory for everything.

Exodus 6:6-8 “Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’”

Just think, if Pharaoh had responded to the words of Moses at their first meeting, whom would the people have trusted as their deliverer? Moses, right? Of course, and they would have placed their faith in the wrong person. God made it very clear to Moses that He alone would be the Deliverer and that He alone would be worshiped, and He wanted all the people to understand that.

This is a beautiful picture of our salvation, and here’s why: God alone is responsible for it all and receives all the glory for being our Deliverer. We, like the Israelites, were in slavery. We were in slavery to our sin. It controlled every aspect of our existence, and we were powerless to change our condition. Word comes to us that there is the possibility of freedom, and we emotionally respond to that message because of the benefit that it would bring to us. We could be released from slavery and enjoy the promised land of eternal life. We are quickly convinced to place our hope in the benefit, and we think we are saved. But the enemy still has us in his control because our faith has not yet been placed in the Deliverer but rather in the deliverance. Things get tough on us as the enemy imposes stricter control to keep us in bondage. We must reach a point of hopelessness about our condition so that all of our faith and hope is in God and not in our own ability (or someone else’s ability) to deliver ourselves.

In a 2005 issue of Discipleship Journal there is an article that contains the story of a man named Carlos. In 1979, when the rebels were seeking to overthrow the Nicaraguan government, Carlos had been an activist that was being pursued by the government. At home was his mother, who every Monday got up at 4:00 AM to pray for several hours, and one of her requests was for the salvation of her son. One day Carlos was passing out rebel literature on a college campus when the army showed up to break up the demonstration. Fearing for his life, he quickly stuffed all the literature into his shirt. As the soldier frisked everyone, he thought for sure he was caught, but when they got to him they found nothing. The literature had disappeared. On another occasion the soldiers trapped him, and they began executing everyone that was captured. When the soldier held his rifle to Carlos’ head and pulled the trigger, it jammed, and his life was spared. Years later, after coming to Christ, he proclaimed that God alone was able to deliver him, and that he was brought to a point of understanding his own hopelessness. 

This is what God was doing to Israel, and this is what God needs to do in everyone who wants to be saved. We have nothing to offer God that can purchase our salvation. We have no ability to save ourselves by our actions. He has done it all, and to Him alone be all the glory. When we reach that point of faith where we trust the Deliverer and not the benefits of the deliverance, then God destroys the power of the oppressor, and we are set free.

My friends, make sure that your faith is truly in the Deliverer – Jesus Christ. Faith in anything or anyone else will fail you.

Pastor John

LifeLink Devotions for Tuesday, October 1, 2024

As we continue our study of faith, we see Moses finally agreeing to answer God’s call to deliver his people from Egyptian slavery. The first thing Moses and Aaron did was to meet with all the elders of Israel to tell them what God had said. After hearing God’s plan and seeing God’s miraculous signs confirming His presence, the elders all fell down and worshiped God. But we will see later in the story that their worship was results oriented rather than God-centered. They worshiped God because of the benefit it would bring to them rather than because of Who God is. This is always a mistake, and God must correct it in our lives.

After the worship service, everyone is pretty pumped up. That’s what worship services should do for us – they bring us together in the presence of God and equip us to go out and accomplish God’s purpose. Moses and Aaron immediately set up a meeting with Pharaoh. They go into this meeting with every anticipation that in just one application of the Word of God everything will be fixed. But Pharaoh doesn’t respond as Moses expected.

Exodus 5:1-2, 22-23 “Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the desert.’” Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD and I will not let Israel go.” Moses returned to the LORD and said, “O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me?  Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble upon this people, and you have not rescued your people at all.”

Pharaoh makes some bold and arrogant statements and decisions. He first sets himself up above God by saying that he doesn’t need to obey anyone other than himself. Then he tries to prove his power by taking it out on the slaves: he makes the work more difficult for them. This isn’t looking anything like deliverance, and Moses takes it up with God.

Moses complains to God because the plan isn’t working out the way he wanted it to. Moses forgot that God had told him earlier that Pharaoh would not be an easy sell, and that there would have to be a mighty move of God’s miraculous power in Egypt with signs and wonders, and then after all of that the people would be released. Moses needed to be patient and wait for God to do it His way.

That is so hard for us to do, isn’t it? I can relate to Moses in this one – I want it done now! But God’s purpose is always more multi-faceted than the one outcome that benefits us. God was setting up a power struggle between Himself and the powers of evil represented by Pharaoh, and God was going to win and bring glory to Himself for all time. It would have been awesome enough from our perspective for Pharaoh’s heart to be softened immediately and to release the slaves. But God knows that no victory is real victory unless it is total victory, and total victory is the total destruction of evil. Pharaoh not only needed to be brought to his knees in surrender to a higher power, but he also needed to be judged for his rebellion against that power.

This is a beautiful picture of our salvation, and we will talk about that tomorrow. For today, learn the lesson of Moses about patience. Let God develop the plan and be in charge of the process. Guard your heart against looking for the quick solution that produces an immediate benefit. Participating in the purpose of God is not about us and what we gain, but rather it is about God and His glory. Be patient – in the end His glory becomes ours!

Pastor John