King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34
Date: Sunday, January 31, 2021
Chapters: Exodus 4-6
Message: Power of The Humble
Hello My Friend,
[Humility; freedom from pride and arrogance; humbleness of mind; a modest estimate of one’s own worth.] Humility is not something that comes natural to us, no one wants to admit they have done wrong. Yet until we bring ourselves to admit we are sinners, and our goodness compared to Christ’s is, but filthy rags, God will not save us or use us for anything, but maybe as an example of what happens when we think our own righteous is going to save us. However, when we are humble, calling out for His mercies, that is when He will exalt us.
[Luke 18:10-14 Two men went up into the temple to pray; the one a Pharisee, and the other a publican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.]
In order to be exalted by God we need that humbleness of mind, in that when He calls us to do something we are asking Him, “Do you really want me?”, but He also wants us to have that confidence in that we can do all things through Christ. Now, here is Moses, he has been living in Median for the past forty years, after he killed an Egyptians. The Israelites (Hebrews) call out to God, He hears them, remembers His covenant that He had with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, He decides to use Moses to lead His people to the promised land. This is the very first time that God is speaking Moses, and it is through a bush that is on fire, but not being consumed. God tells him that He is sending him to Egypt to get his people and lead them to the promise land but he was going to have to first convince the Israelites that God was with them and would free them.
[Exodus 4:1-5,10-12 And Moses answered and said, But, behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice: for they will say, The LORD hath not appeared unto thee. And the LORD said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he said, Cast it on the ground. And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it. And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand: That they may believe that the LORD God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath appeared unto thee. And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue. And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD? Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth, and teach thee what thou shalt say.]
[and I will be with thy mouth,] I remember when I started my ministry, it was in 2007, in the beginning, I would subscribe to other devotionals, and kind of follow their guidance on what God’s Word had said. Then as I started reading the Bible, studying it, God has given me His voice, I even ask Him to speak through me, and He does. I know it is not me who writes these devotionals, it is God directing me through the Holy Spirit. In fact, He is our mouth when we speak anything concerning God, [Matthew 10:19-20 But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you.]
There is a saying, “God does not choose the qualified, He qualifies the chosen.” God does not choose the “Bible Scholars”, the “Theology Majors”, or the “I read the Bible once, and know everything about God.” people to do His greatest work. He chooses the saved, born again, believers of His Son, Jesus Christ, whom have faith, are faithful, willing, and sometimes obedient. I say sometimes because, except for Jesus, we all mess up, we all sin, in fact, most of the people God used messed up quite a bit, and yet, He used them until He brought them home. Now, Moses did not hesitate when God called him to go back to Egypt, he met his father-in-law, told him what happened, packed up his things, his wife and kids, and went to meet up with Aaron. Something happened along the way, God was extremely angry at Moses.
[Exodus 4:21-25 And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go. And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn: And I say unto thee, Let my son go, that he may serve me: and if thou refuse to let him go, behold, I will slay thy son, even thy firstborn. And it came to pass by the way in the inn, that the LORD met him, and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet, and said, Surely a bloody husband art thou to me.]
[and sought to kill him.] Why was God going to kill him after He was so adamant about telling him to go Egypt? Moses did not know the covenant of circumcision, his sons were not circumcised. It was required that all males be circumcised, it was what distinguished them as His. In this odd illustration, the foreskin represents sin, the blood, Jesus Christ, and the removal of it as Jesus cleansing us from all sin. We cannot be clean from sin unless we have His blood upon us, and when we do He removes our sin, and cleanses us, [Colossians 2:10-11 And ye are complete in him, which is the head of all principality and power: In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ:]
God is looking for humble, willing souls, those who first; believe in Him, second; want Him in their lives, and third; allow Him to work in their lives. Now, we must realize that when we are doing the work of God, we are going to face some opposition, not only from those who oppose us, but even those we know. Moses and his brother Aaron stood before Pharaoh and asked him to let Israel take some time to worship God, he did not let them go, and even placed harsher burdens on them. Pharaoh did not release them, in fact, put more affliction upon them.
[Exodus 5:1-2,5-6 And afterward Moses and Aaron went in, and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let my people go, that they may hold a feast unto me in the wilderness. And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. And Pharaoh commanded the same day the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying, Ye shall no more give the people straw to make brick, as heretofore: let them go and gather straw for themselves. And the tale of the bricks, which they did make heretofore, ye shall lay upon them; ye shall not diminish ought thereof: for they be idle; therefore they cry, saying, Let us go and sacrifice to our God.]
[for they be idle;] Pharaoh thought himself to be a god so, when Moses and Aaron asked them to let them go worship God he afflicted them even more if they have time to worship God, then they are not working enough. Of course, this did not go over too well with the Israelites when they had to do more work. [Exodus 5:20-23 And they met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh: And they said unto them, The LORD look upon you, and judge; because ye have made our savour to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to slay us. And Moses returned unto the LORD, and said, Lord, wherefore hast thou so evil entreated this people? why is it that thou hast sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he hath done evil to this people; neither hast thou delivered thy people at all.]
[why is it that thou hast sent me?] God will never force Himself on anyone, but He will give us every reason why we are fully capable to do the things He calls us to do. Of course, we physically cannot do the work God calls us to do on our own, we need His guidance at all times. God reminds Moses of the covenant He made with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He is the same God, but He was going to see a part of Him that no one saw before. [Exodus 6:1-5 Then the LORD said unto Moses, Now shalt thou see what I will do to Pharaoh: for with a strong hand shall he let them go, and with a strong hand shall he drive them out of his land. And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am the LORD: And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, by the name of God Almighty, but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them. And I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their pilgrimage, wherein they were strangers. And I have also heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered my covenant.]
[but by my name JEHOVAH was I not known to them] JEHOVAH; the Supreme Being, the eternal Spirit, and unchangeable God. To paraphrase God, “I am the Supreme Being, I will bring you out of captivity.” You see, the Israelites may have been afflicted right now with extra burdens, but what God was going to afflict the Egyptians with was much worse because He never forgot what the did in killing all those babies. He promises that He will be with them, set them free, and will bring them back home where they belong, but the Israelites did not want to hear that. [Exodus 6:6-9 Wherefore say unto the children of Israel, I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with a stretched out arm, and with great judgments: And I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God: and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God, which bringeth you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. And I will bring you in unto the land, concerning the which I did swear to give it to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it you for an heritage: I am the LORD. And Moses spake so unto the children of Israel: but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.]
[but they hearkened not unto Moses for anguish of spirit,] Bunch of ingrates, the Israelites did not want to hear what Moses had to say, their faith was dead because they could not see past the affliction they were facing. God allows affliction, not to punish or hurt us, but to grow us, prepare us, and to show us that He is JEHOVAH. Believe it or not, we are not the most appreciative people, especially when we are just handed things to us, which is why He uses affliction to grow our faith. And let me tell you, He will exalt you, that is, as long as you are humble, [I Peter 5:6-10 Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: Whom resist stedfast in the faith, knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world. But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Exodus 4:11 And the LORD said unto him, Who hath made man’s mouth? or who maketh the dumb, or deaf, or the seeing, or the blind? have not I the LORD?]
Today’s Prayer: God, Every single person born has a place and purpose in this world, we are fearfully and wonderfully made by You, and for You, and what we see as flaws or disabilities are the very things that you use to do Your work as long as we are humble and trust that we can only do them through Christ. Lord, lead us and guide us, keep us humble, let us continually be reminded that the work that You call us to do is not grievous or to punish us, but to strengthen and in due time we will be exalted by You. Give us Your mercy, grace, comfort, peace, and guidance, let the afflictions we endure become inspirations to do more by the hope we have in our Lord, Jesus Christ. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
Are You 100% Sure You Are Going To Heaven?: http://readytofollow.com/
Receive The KJB Daily Devotions In Your Email: http://eepurl.com/2WMzT
Missed A Message: http://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/
Visit I’m Following Jesus Missions: https://imfollowingjesus.com/Biblestudy/welcome/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/readytofollowJesus/
I’m Following Jesus On Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/imfollowingjesus
Copyright © 2021 I’m Following Jesus, All rights reserved.