Today
we have another article about good nutrition
from Maureen.
We had some really good feedback about last week’s article and I
know this one is going to bless you too.
And today, I have another surprise; artwork and a poem from Chico,
another inmate we are corresponding with who has repented and given
his life to Jesus. He wants to use his gifts and talents for God and
also to help others who might just listen to the lessons he’s
learned the hard way. He hopes that his words might stop someone
else from committing a crime. Links to both of these pages will be
at the bottom of this page. I’m really excited about these things
that God is doing in our midst.
Romans
8:28 (Amplified) We are assured and know that [God being a
partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting
into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called
according to [His] design and purpose.
When
we walk in our purpose, everything in our lives will work together
for our good.
Moses had a purpose and after spending 40 years herding sheep in the
desert, God told him what that purpose was.
In our last
study, God called Moses from within the burning bush. Moses
responded with many objections, excuses, arguments. God had enough
of it and ended the argument. Moses finally obeyed; he had been
born for a purpose and now was his time to begin fulfilling it.
God
sent him back to Egypt.
I’M SURE THAT IF Moses had a list of places he did not ever want to
go—Egypt would have been at the top of that list. He’d been there,
done that, and would have happily spent his life avoiding Egypt.
I can relate
to that. When God called us into the Ministry, my first thought was
“anywhere but Miami”. It's not a good idea to tell God
"anything but that". Miami was where my husband and I had both
grown up and it was a tough place to minister, especially since our
family and friends were there. You know what Jesus said: “a
prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his
own house.” So we wanted to be called to someone else’s
place—where some other prophet was without honor instead of us. But,
it was not to be.
God was
sending us back to our own town—Miami Beach. We all have places
we don’t want to go back to. Or maybe it’s a situation that you
don’t every want to go through again. But if it’s part of God’s
purpose for your life, you will have to---or else you will just have
to say ‘no’ to God.
Moses had left
Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian and Pharaoh sought to kill
him. Well, the old pharaoh was dead and a new pharaoh reigned in his
place. But, Moses was still on the “wanted” list. But, he had to go
where God sent him. But, remember, on the way back to Egypt God
stopped him and Moses almost died because he had failed to
circumcise his own son—something God had commanded the Israelites to
do as a sign of His covenant with them.
GENESIS 17:9-14
9And
God said to Abraham, As for you, you shall therefore keep My
covenant, you and your descendants after you throughout their
generations.10This is My
covenant, which you shall keep, between Me and you and your
posterity after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. 11And you shall circumcise the flesh of
your foreskin, and it shall be a token or sign of the covenant (the
promise or pledge) between Me and you. 12He
who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male
throughout your generations, whether born in [your] house or bought
with [your] money from any foreigner not of your offspring.
13He that is born in your house and he that
is bought with your money must be circumcised; and My covenant shall
be in your flesh for an everlasting covenant. 14And the male who is not circumcised, that
soul shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant
That was
a pretty serious omission on Moses’ part; in fact, it was a deal
breaker. There are certain things that God requires of us that, if
we refuse to obey, will be a deal breaker and prevent us from
fulfilling our destiny and hearing God say “Well done, thou
good and faithful servant, enter into the joy I have prepared for
you.”
There are
things in our lives that may be hindering us that we aren’t even
aware of and, if we ask God to show us what they are, He will. But
then, we are responsible for confessing it as sin, repenting—turning
away from it. God will help us and it may take time to change.
But,
the kind of thing I call a deal breaker is not like that at all.
This kind of thing is not hidden from us. We know it’s there even if
we have tried to forget it. It’s a serious thing and it’s not
something we can gradually change—it’s something we have to deal
with immediately—confess, repent of, and change right away. For
instance, let’s take some extreme cases:
IN THE AREA OF
SINS COMMITTED…
If you
were a serial killer and then you came to the Lord, you are not
going to be allowed to cut down on the people you murder and
gradually wean yourself off of your addiction to murder.
If you
swindled elderly people out of their life savings, you’re going
to have to repent and change and make restitution and God will
not close His eyes and let you do just a “few more swindles for
old times sake”
If you’re
cheating on your husband or wife, you’re not going to be able to
cut down the cheating to only twice a month.
These, of
course are ridiculously extreme examples, but it’s surprising how
many people allow things in their lives that are not much different
in their seriousness. For example, fornication—such a big
word for having sex with someone you’re not married to. In God’s
eyes, that’s a big deal. You can’t have fellowship with God if
you’re fornicating. Doesn’t that word sound harsh? We might like to
say—having an affair, being intimate, making love. The thing is, God
ordained sex within marriage. It’s a beautiful thing. Any other kind
of sex is called fornication.
Some people
believe that all sin is alike because the scripture says: “whatever
is not of faith is sin” but, for a believer, all sin is NOT alike.
This is what the Bible says.
1
Corinthians 6:17
17But
the person who is united to the Lord becomes one spirit with Him.
18Shun immorality and all sexual looseness
[flee from impurity in thought, word, or deed]. Any other sin
which a man commits is one outside the body, but he who commits
sexual immorality sins against his own body.
19Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very
sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have
received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,
Here’s
another ‘biggy’ and it’s a favorite among Christians: little
white lies. There’s no such thing. Satan is the father of all
lies.
John
8:44 44"You
are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your
father He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand
in the truth because there is no truth in him Whenever he speaks a
lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the
father of lies.
Here’s a
Biblical list of the “biggies and deal breakers” you don’t want to
be having anything to do with. I really hate to even quote these
scriptures and I know that most of you have nothing that’s on this
list. Nevertheless, God put it on my heart for today and so, there
may be someone listening to this who is in danger. I plead with you
today to make this right with God. Confess it, repent (turn from
going your own way to going God’s way) and stay away from these
things.
Revelation
21:7-8 7He who is victorious shall
inherit all these things, and I will be God to him and he shall be
My son. 8But as for the cowards
and the ignoble and the contemptible and the cravenly lacking in
courage and the cowardly submissive, and as for the
unbelieving and faithless, and as for the depraved and defiled
with abominations, and as for murderers and the lewd and
adulterous and the practicers of magic arts and the
idolaters (those who give supreme devotion to anyone or anything
other than God) and all liars (those who knowingly convey untruth
by word or deed)--[all of these shall have] their part in the
lake that blazes with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.
Now, I want to
say right here that this doesn’t mean that if you’ve done these
things you can’t be forgiven or start over. Just the opposite. God’s
greatest desire is to see people repent and be forgiven. The Bible
talks about the great joy He has over one sinner that repents. So
don’t let satan tell you there’s no hope for you if any of this
applies to you. God loves you and wants you to be in fellowship with
him.
Luke
15:7 7Thus,
I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one [especially]
wicked person who repents (changes his mind, abhorring his errors
and misdeeds, and determines to enter upon a better course of life)
than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of
repentance.
THERE
IS THE OTHER KIND OF SIN THOUGH, THE KIND THAT MOSES COMMITTED. HE
DID NOT OBEY THE SIGN OF THE COVENANT FOR HIS SON—CIRCUMCISION. To
me, that would be like trying to go out on the mission field when
you haven’t given your heart to Jesus and accepted Him as Lord.
But there are other sins of omission that can keep us from getting
God’s blessing and even bring us into God’s great displeasure.
Withholding our tithes is another “biggy”.
Malachi 3:8-11 8Will
a man rob or defraud God? Yet you rob and defraud Me. But you say,
In what way do we rob or defraud You? [You have withheld your]
tithes and offerings. 9You are cursed with
the curse, for you are robbing Me, even this whole nation.
10Bring all the tithes (the whole tenth of
your income) into the storehouse, that there may be food in My
house, and prove Me now by it, says the Lord of hosts, if I will not
open the windows of heaven for you and pour you out a blessing,
that there shall not be room enough to receive it.
11And I will rebuke the devourer [insects and plagues] for
your sakes and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground,
neither shall your vine drop its fruit before the time in the field,
says the Lord of hosts.
It’s not just old testament. Tithing was there before the
Law—Abraham tithed to Melchizadek. And it remains after the law.
Jesus stated this:
Luke 11:42But
woe to you, Pharisees! For you tithe mint and rue and every [little]
herb, but disregard and neglect justice and the love of God.
These you ought to have done without leaving the others undone
An old country
preacher explained tithing this way to me: It’s one ‘tater out of
ten. You don’t have no ‘taters you don’t have to give any, but if
you have one—a tenth of it belongs to God. You’re not giving when
you tithe. You’re paying God what’s His. And the ninety percent you
have left will go a lot farther with God’s blessing than the hundred
percent would go without it. But the part that would scare me (and
the fear of God is the beginning of knowledge) is 9You
are cursed with the curse, for you are robbing Me.
The only thing we have to do to change a curse into a blessing is to
repent and do what God says to do!
Moses had to
repent and make things right with God. We all have things in our
lives that need to be made right before we can get on with our
purpose. And, it’s only when we live our lives to enter our purpose
that all things will work together to our good. I for one, want
things in my life to work together for my good—especially since my
life and my prayers affect the lives of those I love the most.
Romans 8:28 (Amplified)
We
are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all
things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and
for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and
purpose.
God
will be our partner in all we do, but God will never be a SILENT
PARTNER. He always speaks to us and we need to listen for His Voice
and listen to His words. He leads---we follow. Any other way won’t
work.
God had given Moses a summary of what would happen when he went to
Egypt:
He would
gather the elders together and then tell them God’s plan of
deliverance.
16Go,
gather the elders of Israel together [the mature teachers and tribal
leaders], and say to them, The Lord God of your fathers, the God of
Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, appeared to me, saying, I have
surely visited you and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;
17And I have declared that I will bring you
up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the
Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
to a land flowing with milk and honey.
2.
The elders would accompany him to see the King of Egypt and Moses
would say “Let my people go”
18And [the elders] shall believe and
obey your voice; and you shall go, you and the elders of Israel, to
the king of Egypt and you shall say to him, The Lord, the God of the
Hebrews, has met with us; and now let us go, we beseech you, three
days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord
our God.
3.
The King would say “no”
19And I know that the king of Egypt
will not let you go [unless forced to do so], no, not by a mighty
hand.
4.
God would teach the King and the Egyptians a few lessons about Who
they were saying no to and how false the gods they worshipped were.
Only after all of this would Pharaoh let God’s people go.
20So I will stretch out My hand and
smite Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in it; and after
that he will let you go.
5.
And God would give the former slaves favor and respect in the sight
of the Egyptians so that Israel would not leave empty handed. They
would leave with the wealth of Egypt—the overdue payment for their
labors in Egypt. God will always see to it that we are reward for
our labor so..
21And
I will give this people favor and respect in the sight of the
Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you shall not go
empty-handed.
Galatians 6:9And
let us not lose heart and grow weary and faint in acting nobly and
doing right, for in due time and at the appointed season we shall
reap, if we do not loosen and relax our courage and faint.
22But every woman shall
[insistently] solicit of her neighbor and of her that may be
residing at her house jewels and articles of silver and gold, and
garments, which you shall put on your sons and daughters; and you
shall strip the Egyptians [of belongings due to you].
6.
But the Israelites were to ask for it. In the same way, we need to
ask God for the things we want:
MATTHEW 7:7-8 7
Keep on asking and it will be given you; keep on seeking and you
will find; keep on knocking [reverently] and [the door] will be
opened to you. 8For everyone who keeps on
asking receives; and he who keeps on seeking finds; and to him who
keeps on knocking, [the door] will be opened.
But, between each step of the plan were things he did not tell Moses
because if He had, Moses would have been really scared.God does the same with us. He tells us step 1, 2, 3 etc, but He
does not give us all the details or we would lose heart before we
even begin.
It’s all on a “need to know” basis with God. We may think we need to
know everything but God KNOWS we don’t. Too much information at the
wrong time can destroy our incentive. We just need to commit our
works to God and He will direct us in the way to go. He will tell us
what we need to know and give us what we need to have.
Moses
needed a staff. God gave it to him. And He anointed it. God will
give you your own staff. He will put something in your hand that
will enable you to fulfill your calling and your purpose.
Proverb
16:23Commit
thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Let’s remember to keep Rhonda in prayer for her upcoming surgery.
