Galatians 4 -- Lots To Boil Down In This Chapter

Boiling down this whole chapter into a few paragraphs is impossible, but some important things from my commentary stuck out:

 

“The New Testament word for adoption means “to place as an adult son”.  It’s more about our position that our condition, it said.  “Under grace, the believer is a son of God with adult standing in God’s family … Like the prodigal son, the Galatians wanted their Father to accept them as servants, when they really were sons … Since we are adopted – placed as adult sons in the family – we may begin drawing on our inheritance right now … The son has a future, while the servant does not … The Galatians were dropping out of the school of grace and enrolling in the kindergarten of law!”

 

“We must lay aside childish things.  How easy it is for us to hold the toys of our earlier Christian days and fail to lay hold of the tools of the mature believer.  The child does not enjoy being weaned, but he can never become a man until it happens…”

 

“God began with grace, not law.”  He clothed Adam and Eve in grace before giving the law.

 

“Legalism is one of the major problems among Christians today.  We must keep in mind that legalism does not mean the setting of spiritual standards; it means worshipping those standards and thinking that we are spiritual because we obey them.  It also means judging other believers on the basis of those standards.”

 

Father, help me to digest all of this and apply it to my life.  Remind me that You have adopted me as an adult son into Your family.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Galatians 3:15-29 How The Law And God's Covenant Of Grace Cooperate

Paul was an excellent Jewish lawyer and debater, and God had shown him amazing truths that the Judaizers had never considered.  They thought the law was the end-all, be-all of their existence.  He showed them that it could not override or overrule the covenant God made with Abraham centuries earlier.  That covenant, between God and Abraham and Abraham’s seed (singular, not plural – Christ) could not be altered by the law given through Moses centuries later.  There were no “if’s” in God’s covenant, either.  It was entirely of grace, and the law had a terminus point, “until the Seed (Christ) shall come,” my commentary said.

 

The Judaizers saw conflict between the two, while Paul saw cooperation.  The law could not give life, but they were worshiping it as if it could.  All it could was reveal sin.  It was acting much like a child guardian slave that people were used to seeing back then – instructing the children and even disciplining them – but the slave was never the father of the children he guarded.  He trained them for adulthood.  That’s what the law did as well.  It trained them to be adult sons of God.  Through Christ, we become heirs and adult sons of God, not through the law, and that makes us Abraham’s seed as well.

 

Father, thank You for reminding me that I am an adult son in Your family – an heir of Yours!  Help me, as my commentary said, to draw on my inheritance.  Remind me often that I am Yours!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Galatians 3:1-14 More About The Fight

Paul was in a battle for the hearts and souls and minds of those Christians he loved in Galatia.  The enemies – the Judaizers – were trying to capture their hearts with their Gospel+ arguments, and Paul was going to fight hard to get them back.  He first asked them about what they’d personally experienced.  They’d been bewitched into forgetting what it was like when they became Christians – the burden that had been lifted from them.  They’d been seduced by the legalists’ tantalizing proposal that their experience wasn’t complete – that there was something more to do.  Who’d want to miss out by skipping an important step, after all?  That’s what got them – a lack of trust that Christ was all they needed.

 

My commentary says, “Since the Judaizers wanted to take believers back into the law, Paul quoted the law!  And, since they magnified the place of Abraham in their religion, Paul used Abraham as one of his witnesses!”  The law said God’s righteousness was credited to Abraham’s account only because he believed God’s promise.  The Judaizers that their physical relationship to Abraham guaranteed their salvation.  They failed to understand that “God has no grandchildren,” my commentary said.

 

Paul also noted that the law mentioned that Abraham’s blessing was going to be for the Gentiles as well, who weren’t physical descendants of Abraham.  So how was that going to work in their arguments?

 

Paul also quoted from the law, “Anyone will be cursed who does not always obey what is written in the Book of the Law.”  None of the Judaizers could dare claim that they’d always obeyed everything in the law, so those teaching legalism were clearly cursed!

 

Paul wasn’t finished with them.  He was just getting started.

 

Father, thank You for showing me plainly years ago how much You loved me by setting me free from all of the demands of the law.  You weren’t giving me a license to sin.  You were instead giving me a reason not to sin – the love of You and Your Son shown to me on the cross.  And love is a much better reason to obey than a curse.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Galatians 2 Continued -- Not Really Paul vs Peter

Paul had to take Peter to task for retreating on the issue of legalism.  He traveled to Jerusalem and met with Peter, James, and John, then with the Jerusalem church.  My commentary wondered how different Christianity would have been if Paul’s philosophy had been “peace at any price”.  Would we have just become a minor sect of Judaism?

 

Paul decided that God was directing him and once he shared his firm beliefs with the council, they agreed.  My commentary also said, “The leaders recognized that God had assigned different areas of ministry to different men.”  Paul to the Gentiles and Peter to the Jews, much like some men do an excellent job working with you while others are much better with adults today.  It’s not about competition, but cooperation in spreading the Gospel.

 

Father, please continue to direct me to that group that You have uniquely gifted me to serve.  Show all of us where You want us working.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Galatians 1-2 What Was Worrying Paul

Paul is showing anxiety over the Christians in Galatia.  Something has changed quickly and for the worse!  They’d allowed themselves to be swayed by legalism and that argument had caused them to think they had to earn grace, when it was a free gift of God.

 

Paul is saying, “This isn’t how I raised you!” in effect.  He goes back to his own life to show them how the power of Christ had led him to do a 180.  They’d also made a change, but they were allowing themselves to be persuaded by others to change again – for the worse.

 

Father, I don’t know how this happens, but I’ve watch it myself.  I know the anxiety Paul is feeling and the anguish in his heart that those he’s taught and won to Christ should turn from what they knew in their hearts.  Protect those I love from the lies of Satan that attempt to pull them away from You, Father.  What they see as harmless, let them understand to instead by eternally deadly.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 38-40 Getting It Exactly Right

The appointed craftsmen fashioned everything for the Tabernacle just as God had commanded.  Moses then personally inspected every piece to make sure that it conformed to God’s design.  “God could not and would not dwell in the Tabernacle unless everything was done according to the pattern He showed Moses on the mount.  Too many sincere people have tried to do God’s work their own way and then have asked God to bless it.  But ministry doesn’t work that way.  First we find out what God wants us to do, and we do it to glorify Him.  If we obey His will and seek to honor His name, then He will come and bless the work with His powerful presence,” my commentary said.

 

Once it was all assembled, on their New Year’s Day, the glory of God filled the Tabernacle and abode there.  “So powerful was the presence of God’s glory that Moses wasn’t able to enter the Tabernacle!” my commentary added.

 

Father, I know things are different now that Jesus has come, died, and been raised to life and the Holy Spirit now indwells believers.  Please let the abiding of the Holy Spirit in our lives be as awesome as the abiding of Your glory here in this chapter – filling us up so there is no room for sin!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 35-37 Willing and Able

It was time to gather materials and to construct the Tabernacle and everything associated with it.  God supplied the skill needed to accomplish it by filling “Bezalel with the Spirit of God and by giving him the skill, ability, and knowledge to do all kinds of work … also the Lord has given Bezalel and Oholiab … the ability to teach others.”  I thought about what it must have been like to have received that skill from God and to have been selected for the task of constructing the Tabernacle and everything in it, including the Ark of the Covenant.  A normal person would probably worry a lot about whether they could perform the task and whether they’d messed up at any point without knowing it, but I imagine that these two men worked with a God-given confidence in everything they did, amazed by how the designs just appeared in their minds unbidden!

 

Something else caught my eye – “Let everyone who is willing bring this offering …”  The Egyptians had loaded the Israelites up with treasure as they were leaving their country, and now God was going to use that treasure to construct the Tabernacle.  “Everyone who wanted to give came and brought a gift to the Lord.”  It was entirely voluntary.  God didn’t want any part of the Tabernacle to have been given grudgingly.

 

Each morning additional gifts would arrive, entirely voluntarily, to the point that a good problem developed:  “The people are bringing more than we need to do the work the Lord commanded,” Bezalel reported to Moses.  Moses finally had to issue a command for them to stop giving!  “So the people were kept from giving more…”

 

I think these people realized that everything they had was God’s, and they also trusted God to take care of their material needs.  It wasn’t like they’d be passing large malls on their journey and wouldn’t have the money to buy anything.

 

These people had gotten with the program, trusted God, and were more than willing to help.  God said nothing about those who didn’t give anything.  After all, He’d made it voluntary.  Those people had missed out on a chance to be a part of something big God was doing.  When it was finished, they surely realized their loss and the fact that God had gotten it done without them.  What a sinking feeling that must have been. 

 

Father, I pray that You will fill me with a spirit of giving whenever You present a need.  Remind me of how much I’ve benefited by the generosity of others You’ve raised up.  Help me to want to be a part of everything You’re doing.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 33-34 Moses Asks God

For eighty days, Moses had been fasting and praying in the presence of God.  The people were waiting anxiously after having sinned grievously.  Their sins of idolatry and unbelief had cost them the presence of God for the remainder of the trip to the Promised Land, it seemed.  They had ruined their situation by their sin.

 

Moses had moved his “Tent of Meeting” outside of their camp, where he could personally meet with God, for God didn’t want to meet where such a rebellious people were.  My commentary said, “Sin is always costly, and Israel’s sin had not only led to the death of thousands of people, but it had robbed the nation of the presence of the Lord in the camp and on their pilgrim journey to the Promised Land.  God never permits His people to sin successfully.”

 

Because God had called Moses His friend, Moses believed that he could talk with God about forgiving his people and agreeing to fulfill His promises despite the sin of His people.  “It is faith’s work to claim and challenge loving-kindness out of the roughest strokes of God,” my commentary quoted.  That was what Moses was trying to do.

 

God listened to Moses and then said, “Cut two more stone tablets …”  How Moses’ heart must have leapt for joy!  God had just decided to renew the covenant with His people, and that was the evidence Moses needed of God’s forgiveness.  God also knew how discouraged Moses had become, so He allowed him a fresh vision of Himself, and Moses’ face shined from the encounter.  The people could see this when Moses returned, and at first they were even afraid to go near him – an appropriate response of sinners in the presence of God (seen on Moses’ face).  The glory, though, would begin to fade before long.

 

Father, I so need a fresh vision of You right now!  I’m feeling so beaten down and kicked around.  Some of those I love remind me of the people in this chapter – in need of You but not even knowing it.  Lead me to guide them, Father.  Give me a closer glimpse of You again.  Show me that it will be alright soon.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 30-32 Moses Learning More About God?

Moses had been away from the people, receiving instructions from God on Mt. Sinai, for 40 days.  In their impatience, “they rebelled against the goodness of God,” my commentary said.  “It was a great sin because of what they had already experienced.”  They’d witnessed all of God’s miracles, so they were sinning against a flood of light.

 

The amazing thing to me was God’s discussion with Moses about what He was considering doing!  God said to Moses, “Do not stop Me!” as if Moses physically could restrain God from taking out His vengeance on them!  My commentary really seems to treat this whole conversation as God’s way of seeing if Moses would both fight for God’s reputation and care enough about his people to want them to reach the Promised Land.

 

God’s anger was certainly righteous.  The people deserved punishment.  Moses begged God for their lives.  He restated what God had told him about God’s promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to take their descendants into the Promised Land.  I am coming to understand that through this episode, God was showing Moses how God would keep His promises despite our NOT keeping OURS.  That reveals so much about God’s faithfulness despite human sin.

 

Regarding God’s repenting or changing His mind, my commentary said, “Moses used human terms to describe divine actions.  The Hebrew word means to grieve, to be sorry and describes God’s change of approach in dealing with His people.  God’s character doesn’t change, but God does respond to the prayers and confessions of His people.”

 

Father, I’m so thankful to have a God like You Who knows my propensity to sin and rebel against You, yet Who loves me despite myself.  I can’t imagine You giving up Your Son for me, but I’m so thankful that You did.  Please help me not to rebel against Your goodness, but instead to appreciate it all the more.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 27-29 Shades of Today From Yesterday

There was much preparation that had to occur as the Aaronic priesthood was established and Israel learned how they were to communicate with God who’d chosen to live among them and just how to seek His will.  Back then, an ordinary believer couldn’t approach God – only the priests could enter the Tabernacle and offer sacrifices.  How much we should value the privilege we have been given to come before the God of Heaven!

 

Some things I noticed from my commentary:

 

“In prayer it is better to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

 

“The priest didn’t rush into the Tabernacle … He prepared himself and reverently  approached the altar, knowing that he was in the presence of the holy God.”

 

“No amount of sacrifice can take the place of true praying.  The golden altar wasn’t a place for making bargains with God or trying to change His mind.  It was a place for adoring Him and praying, ‘Thy will be done.’”

 

“We are commanded to lift up holy hands as we pray, and to remove anger or disputing from our hearts.  If God killed every believer today who didn’t pray as He has ordered, how many of us would survive a prayer meeting?”

 

“Even in our praying we can sin!”

 

“God’s servants must walk in the fear of the Lord and be careful to obey Him and give Him glory.”

 

“’There is joy in serving Jesus’, but at the same time, we must cultivate ‘reverence and godly fear’.”

 

Father, You instilled in Moses, Aaron, and the Israelites a deep respect for coming into Your presence.  We’ve likely lost a lot of that today, feeling familiar with our Savior, Jesus.  Yet He is Your Son, the perfect sacrifice for our sins.  How humble we should be as we come before the One who opened the way to Heaven for us and who clothes us in righteousness so that we may come before You and seek Your will for our lives!

 

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 24-26 Looking Past The Details For The Big Picture

Moses received God’s covenant words for Israel and read it and reread it several times to the people.  Once is never enough to hear His word.  And three times the people promised to obey everything they were told.  My commentary said, “Israel had to realize their responsibility to obey the laws of the Lord.  The covenant was now ratified by blood, and God would hold them to their promises.  After all, they expected God to keep His promises! … God had redeemed His people and taken them to Himself as His people, and now He was about to come and dwell among them and be their God … Having the Lord dwelling in the camp was a great privilege for the nation of Israel … But the privilege brought with it a great responsibility, for it meant that the camp of Israel had to be a holy place where a holy God could dwell.”

 

God called Moses and 73 others to come up the mountain to meet with Him.  Moses and Joshua moved even higher, and finally Moses alone went up even higher and saw the glory of the Lord.  My commentary saw in this an illustration:  “We must grow in our worship experience with the Lord, and we are the ones who decide how high we will go.  The people at the base of the mountain were afraid to hear God’s voice and were satisfied to hear Moses speak to them, but Moses not only heard God’s voice but saw God’s glory!  How tragic it is when God’s people settle for the lowest level when there are new heights of blessing for those who seek God with their whole hearts.”

 

Father, I remember the big change You made in my life back in 1992, when You showed me so much more about Yourself and how I am to worship You.  Life has never been the same.  Still, though, I have much more to learn.  Don’t let me settle for where I’ve come to.  Keep me pushing forward to get closer to You.  Remind me daily that when You are present there must be no unholiness in the camp, and help me to live in a manner that won’t preclude Your presence in my life.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 23 -- A Big Warning

God was particularly concerned about the very real possibility of His people opening themselves up to false gods.  He didn’t want idolatry to ruin the relationship He had with each one of them, because it amounts to spiritual adultery.  Accordingly, He gave these commands:

 

“You must not even say the names of other gods; those names must not come out of your mouth … You must not bow down to their gods or worship them.  You must not live the way those people live.  You must destroy their idols, breaking into pieces the stone pillars they use in worship … You must not make an agreement with those people or with their gods.  You must not let them live in your land, or they will make you sin against Me.  If you worship their gods, you will be caught in a trap.”

 

They were going to eventually enter the Promised Land and the pagan rituals used to worship those false gods were very sensual and were meant to entrap others.  In much the same way that a husband and wife would get rid of everything related to ex-boyfriends or ex-girlfriends upon getting married, God was telling them to NOT bring any new gods into their relationship with him.

 

Not only was God telling them not to worship those false gods – He didn’t even want them discussed, because such talk would stoke their curiosity, even as it does us today, and lead them to imagine “what if’s” in their minds that would take them closer to the edge.

 

God’s not stupid and He’s not overprotective.  He knows us all too well.  Plus He knows Satan’s tricks and how easily we buy the lie and fall in hook, line, and sinker.  That’s why absolute and total bans on even discussing false gods are so vital to our spiritual relationship with Him.

 

Father, we are as dumb as a cow when it comes to temptation.  We take the bait so easily that I imagine Satan laughs at our ignorance and our false sense of spiritual superiority.  But You’ll have the last laugh, Father.  Please intervene on my behalf each time You see him putting out more bait.  Flash warning signs when I’m too stupid to think rationally.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 21-22 It Just Goes Without Saying ...

I found myself getting WAY too hung up on how justice was administered instead of what these laws were all about.  Laws for indentured servitude became necessary because either society wasn’t taking care of those in need through charity or possibly because a person had to be made accountable for poor choices he’d made.  God was limiting the time of servitude and also integrating the servant into the family of the owner, rather than having him be treated as a slave.

 

Other laws were meant to be deterrents to bad behavior, such as abuse of parents, depriving others of their freedom, fighting, angry outbursts, injury to innocents, excessive discipline, and negligence.  The main concern was that people respect the rights of others, treat others fairly, and that they not, through inaction, cause loss to others.  If everyone maintained personal integrity and responsibility, there would be little need for these chapters.

 

“You are to be My holy people,” God said.  If we strive to do that, loving God with all our hearts, souls, minds, and strength, and if we also love our neighbors as we love ourselves, we would remain in fellowship with God and our fellow man, and these laws would never come into play.  But God knows our hearts and He knows that the heart of most problems is a problem of the heart, so He therefore had to give guidance for dealing with those problems.

 

Father, help us to love You and love others, so that we never have to have these laws or others like them apply to us.  Let others see You in us by how we deal with them.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 20 -- What God Personally Spoke

I liked the way my commentary fleshed out the Ten Commandments that God gave to the Israelites as His covenant with them.  Rather than “thou shalt nots”, it summarized them this way:

 

1)       Recognizing one true God

2)      Worshipping only the Lord

3)      Honoring God’s name

4)      Honoring the Sabbath

5)      Honoring one’s parents

6)      Honoring human life

7)      Honoring marriage

8)      Respecting personal property

9)      Speaking the truth

10)   Controlling desires

 

Under that last one, it said, “Covetous people will break all of God’s commandments in order to satisfy their DESIRES, because at the heart of sin is the sin in the heart.  To covet is to feed inward desires for anything that God says is sinful.  It was this commandment that ‘slew’ Saul of Tarsus and convicted this successful Pharisee that he was a sinner.”

 

It all comes down to the fact that it’s the thought that counts.  Saul had been looking only at outward actions and appearances, but in meeting Christ, he finally saw the wickedness in his own heart brought about by his desires, though no one else knew they existed.  But God is all-knowing and therefore knows our hearts.  We can’t hide anything from Him, including our thoughts, and anytime we allow ourselves to feed inward desires for things God has declared sinful, we are sinning as we do so.

 

Father, I know that I cannot dabble in thoughts about anything You call sin without awakening desires within myself that could lead to actions eventually.  I cannot excuse or justify doing so, for all I’m doing is buying into Satan’s lies.  You say to nip it in the bud, while Satan tells me to indulge myself.  I know whom I’m to believe – the One who has my very best interests at heart, Who loves me supremely, more than I even love myself.  When Satan whispers, please shout, Father.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 19 -- The Divine Appointment

A quote from my commentary set the tone for this chapter, where God was readying His people to meet Him and hear His voice:  “It took one night to take Israel out of Egypt, but forty years to take Egypt out of Israel.”  And hauntingly, it followed with this:  “How long is it taking the Lord to get us to fly, or are we nestlings who don’t want to be disturbed?”

 

God was emphasizing His holiness compared to their sinfulness.  They rightly had a reason to fear being in the presence of a holy and righteous God.  Moses set up boundaries around Mt. Sinai that the people couldn’t cross without incurring the death penalty.  They also had to prepare themselves to meet God and hear Him speak to them.

 

Their freedom from Egypt wasn’t yet changing them for the better.  My commentary says:  “If freedom doesn’t lead to maturity, then we end up imprisoned in a bondage worse than what we had before, a bondage from within and not from without.  It’s bad enough to be enslaved by an Egyptian taskmaster, but it’s even worse to enslave yourself and become your own taskmaster …  True freedom means that we’re delivered from doing the bad, we’re able to do the good, and we’re accomplishing God’s will on the earth.”

 

God was about to speak to them, and they had to bathe and wash their clothes.  This was something that didn’t happen often back then, especially with 2 million people roaming through a desert wilderness.  It often marked a new beginning.  They cleaned themselves up the best they could, but that was only washing the outside.  Only God could clean up the inside, and it wouldn’t come from ritual – only from relationship with Him.

 

Father, too often I forget the awesome privilege I have to come before You, the Holy God, only through the sacrifice of Your Son.  Let me remember that the price for that was high, and I therefore owe my life to You both.  Forgive me when I fall.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 18 -- What Outsider Unbelievers Can Show Us

Moses’ father-in-law, Jethro, brought Moses’ wife and sons to him, and Moses shared with him everything that God had done for the Israelites.  Later, Jethro noticed that Moses was almost overwhelmed with the task  of settling disputes among the people.  “Jethro, being a Midianite, was a Gentile priest whose testimony indicates that he knew the true and living God,” my commentary said.  The Israelite priesthood hadn’t yet been established.  Jethro suggested that Moses establish a group of leaders to decide the less difficult cases, because he “new that Moses’ leadership was crucial for the future success of Israel and that any activity that drained his energy or wasted his time was bound to hurt the nation,” my commentary added.

 

It also said, “In matters of organization and management, God’s people can learn from outsiders, for ‘the children of this world are in their generation wiser than the children of light’ (Luke 16:8).”  Although Moses was hearing from God regularly, it took an outsider to shake off a few cobwebs and help him not to major on the minors.  The leader needed to be led in this instance.  It also said, “Whenever ministry and structure collide, and ministry is being hindered, God’s people must adjust the structure so ministry can grow.”

 

One other thing I read – this chapter is a relief from the constant trials and complaints of the previous chapters.  “Charles Spurgeon said that God’s people are prone to engrave their trials in marble and write their blessings in the sand.”  Everyone here was praising God for what He’d done.  My commentary added, “Praising God is much better than complaining to God; in fact, praise is a good antidote for a complaining spirit. ‘There is a great deal more said in the Bible about praise than prayer,’ D.L. Moody said, ‘Yet how few praise meetings there are!’”

 

Father, help us to see when we need to make adjustments so that ministry isn’t hindered.  Thanks for the reminder that sometimes You even speak through outsiders.  Remind us to listen when You do.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 17 -- Looking For An End

My commentary points out that “the Lord was still directing Israel into difficult and trying situations in order to prove His power and build their faith and character … Israel’s faith in God was very weak, for they thought their God had led them to a place where He couldn’t care for them.”  They were thirsty and had arrived at Rephidim but found no water.  They were almost ready to stone Moses!  God directed him to take some older leaders and come to Him where He would be standing on a rock at Mt. Sinai and He would make water gush forth from the rock, proving His watchcare over them.

 

After receiving this gift of pure water, the Israelites then had to face the attacking Amalekites.  God combined His power from heaven, Joshua’s battle skills, and Moses’ intercession, assisted by Aaron and Hur, to produce the victory.  My commentary pointed out that while we might not be soldiers in the battle, “all Christians can be like Aaron and Hur and help hold their hands as they obey God,” sharing in the battle by continuing steadfastly in prayer.

 

God also seemed to have a personal note for me today.  My younger son has been suffering from a stomach ailment for 10 days now, missing a lot of school.  My commentary started this chapter with a story that really seemed out of place, but certainly was right on time for me:  David Livingstone’s difficult and demanding years exploring Africa led him to rest his faith and his future on the parting words of Jesus, “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.”  One would think that he was focused on God’s constant presence, but in his journal, he noted something else:  “It is the word of a gentleman of the most strict and sacred honor, so there’s an end to it!”  He saw in Jesus’ words not just His guaranteed presence, but the promise of an end  to the trials he’d been facing.

 

Father, I need intercession from others with You today.  I need my brothers and sisters to lift up my family.  My son needs physical healing.  We are all being spiritually attacked.  God, please fight this battle for us!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 16 -- We Just Can't STAND Not To Test The Boundaries!

It didn’t seem to matter what God commanded – the people had to find something to gripe about and they had to test the boundaries He’d set!  They complained because they no longer had the “fleshpots” of Egypt to eat.  God had gotten them to this point for a reason, though:  “I want to see if the people will do what I teach them.”  He set about bringing them mannah every morning except the Sabbath and gave them specific instructions regarding its collection.  And true to form, lots of people decided to try to game the system.

 

They tried gathering extra, but God leveled out the amounts collected so that every person had just enough.  Sometimes He allowed them to try to save extra, and then let it turn rancid and spoil to teach them to obey.  Some tried to gather it on the Sabbath and found none.  After a few days of this, God finally said, “How long will you people refuse to obey My commands and teachings?”  They weren’t letting God be God.  Like us today, they rebelled against any rule He made, just to show they could, and in spite of the fact that what He commanded was for their good!

 

Father, our sin nature is so insidious!  We’d rather cut off our noses to spite our faces, not trusting You to love us more than we even love ourselves.  Our hearts are deceitful above all else.  When You give us commands, please help us to just do it rather than disobeying, so that we can see that You are good and have Your best planned for us.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 15 -- Our Warrior God

Israel had to grow its faith in the Lord, for over those hundreds of years in Egyptian slavery, it had been severely beaten down.  In a way, they had to be reintroduced to God.  Seeing the plagues destroy Egypt had been a good start.  But watching as He opened up the sea, dried the seabed, got them across and then drowned the Egyptian army was quite another!  God displayed His love for them by battling others for them.

 

My commentary said, “If there is in this world an enemy like Satan, and if sin and evil are hateful to God, then He must wage war against them. ‘The Lord will march out like a mighty man; like a warrior He will stir up His zeal; with a shout He will raise the battle cry and will triumph over His enemies.’  Jesus Christ is both the Lamb who died for our sins and the Lion who judges sin, and one day He will ride forth to conquer His enemies.  To emphasize only ‘God is love’ and eliminate ‘God is light’ is to rob God of His attributes of righteousness, holiness, and justice.”

 

Father, I need a warrior to fight for my family against powers and principalities that I cannot see.  I need Your protection for us just as You protected these people.  No morals stop Satan from attacking.  He throws caution to the wind.  I need You to battle him and put him in his place.  Be OUR Warrior, Father.  Fight for my family!  Beat Satan to a pulp, Father.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Exodus 14 -- Fear Not, Stand Still, Be Still, Be Calm

The Israelites were taking a route out of Egypt that would appear to make no sense.  They’d just hemmed themselves in.  My commentary says that God purposefully did this to draw in the Egyptians for certain defeat.  They’d think the Israelites were wandering, lost, and ripe for capture.

 

“The Jewish people were told what God wanted them to do, but Moses was told why God was doing it,” my commentary said.  Since they weren’t privy to every thought and reason, they began to complain (as they repeatedly did through the long wandering in the wilderness).  “When you forget God’s promises, you start to imagine the worst possible scenario.”

 

But God gave them mercy and grace, moving the pillar of cloud behind them, between them and the Egyptians while God prepared the sea bed for their travel.  It made darkness for the Egyptians while the Israelites stood in light.  They then crossed the Red Sea on dry ground.  Once they’d all entered the sea bed and begun to cross, God drew in the Egyptian army, then kept the wheels of their chariots from turning.  Once the entire Egyptian army was drawn into the trap, God closed and locked the door.  The Egyptians all drowned and the way back to Egypt was sealed so that the Israelites could not return to their captivity.

 

God’s orders to them through Moses were,  ”Fear not …  Stand still …. Be still … Remain Calm … The Lord will fight for you.”  My commentary said, “Faith and fear can’t live together in the same heart, for one will destroy the other … faith is not believing in spite of evidence – that’s superstition – but obeying in spite of consequence.”

 

Father, fight my battles for me.  Help me as I watch to obey in spite of consequences.  Stoke up my faith.  Show me how You fight for me.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford