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: Wednesday, February 03, 2021
Chapters: Exodus 13-15
Message: Conquer Every Test
Hello My Friend,
How often do we say to God that we are going to do something, not a vow, but quit some habit or something, and then a few days later we are right back to doing it? I never realized just how weak my flesh was in my own ability until I dedicated my life to Christ. And let me tell you, when I do break out and actually follow through with something, it is not I that I am giving that credit to, it is God. I spent a good hour this morning pleading with God in the Psalms. You know when you are reading a verse and feel it deep down inside of your soul? That is when you know you are really speaking those words to God and He hears you, and that is when He also pricks at your heart, reminding you that as wretched as you are, you are forgiven and His grace is the only thing sufficient to carry us through this life and into eternal life, [II Corinthians 12:9a And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.]
Grace; We who know Christ as our Saviour truly come to understand that grace is the unmerited favor of God through our faith alone in Christ. Grace is so much more, if it were not for God’s grace, we would not last two seconds on the earth because quite frankly, we still come short of the glory of God even at our best. When God sent Moses to get His people from under the bondage of Egypt, who are now referred to as the Israelites, He had a purpose, plan, and promise to fulfill. While they certainly could have worshiped God in Egypt, that was not the plan, it was time for them to understand who they are, and that the life they lived could be so much more if they trusted God and just listened to Him. God did not want them to forget who they are and what He freed them from, therefore, He instituted the Feast of Unleavened Bread to be observed every year.
[Exodus 13:1-5 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out from Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out from this place: there shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came ye out in the month Abib. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, a land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.]
[Sanctify unto me all the firstborn,] Sanctify; To set apart or appoint to a holy, sacred or religious use. Every first born of every household, whether it be a child or animal belonged to God to be set apart for whatever it is that He appoints them for. The second we accept Christ, God’s only begotten Son, we belong to Him, we are sanctified and set apart for His use, [Hebrews 2:11 For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren,]
[that thou shalt keep this service in this month.] So, why were they to observe this day every year? God explains why. [Exodus 13:8-12 And thou shalt shew thy son in that day, saying, This is done because of that which the LORD did unto me when I came forth out of Egypt. And it shall be for a sign unto thee upon thine hand, and for a memorial between thine eyes, that the LORD’S law may be in thy mouth: for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt. Thou shalt therefore keep this ordinance in his season from year to year. And it shall be when the LORD shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, as he sware unto thee and to thy fathers, and shall give it thee, That thou shalt set apart unto the LORD all that openeth the matrix, and every firstling that cometh of a beast which thou hast; the males shall be the LORD’S.]
[for with a strong hand hath the LORD brought thee out of Egypt.] They were to never forget that it is God who set them free and also set them apart from all people. Our salvation can never be bought, we are only saved by the grace of God, through our faith in Christ, but that does not mean we are to continue in sin, we are to keep the Law not only our our own sake, our children’s as well. [Titus 3:8 This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works. These things are good and profitable unto men.]
What profits us is not actually following every command written in the Bible, one reason being is that they do not all apply to us, some of them were specifically for Israel to follow at the time of the Exodus. Now, I am not saying that we are to push the Law aside and pick and choose commands, there is a purpose and a place for all commands. What I am saying is that we are most profitable when we trust God and when we mess up, the Holy Spirit will tell us we have, then we confess it and move on. That is what grace is all about, we do not dwell on the past, we look forward to Christ, and keep heading toward the promised land. That was the Israelites biggest problem, they could not see the promised land, even though they were headed there. Now, God could have led them down a path that would have gotten them there rather quickly. Instead He took them down a longer path. Why? Because He knew the second that danger came, they would head right back to Egypt.
[Exodus 13:17-18,21-22 And it came to pass, when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt: But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt. And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.]
[And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud,] God does not put us out, which was the desert by the way, and let us fend for ourselves the second we get saved, He is right there leading the way. The reason we get delayed or it takes longer is because we are afraid to move forward. Did it ever occur to you that the reason why God takes us the long way around is so that we can learn to lean on and trust Him? Well, God was about to test the Israelites to see if they would trust Him.
[Exodus 14:8-12 And the LORD hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand. But the Egyptians pursued after them, all the horses and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his army, and overtook them encamping by the sea, beside Pihahiroth, before Baalzephon. And when Pharaoh drew nigh, the children of Israel lifted up their eyes, and, behold, the Egyptians marched after them; and they were sore afraid: and the children of Israel cried out unto the LORD. And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.]
[For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians,] More often than we care to admit, the first reaction when our faith is tested is asking ourselves why we stepped out of that bondage in the first place. Whenever I start thinking of how good I had it when I was in bondage that is when Jesus reminds me of what He broke me free from, and it was more than my sin, He broke me free from a life that would have been hell on earth. Moses reminds the Israelites that God is still with them, and will help them, they just have to stand still. [Exodus 14:13-16 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. And the LORD said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea.]
[Wherefore criest thou unto me?] I was working with a customers order yesterday (I have headphones on my ears) when I hear this siren go off. My boss had altered me that he sent me a private message. I thought I was in trouble because I had been honoring discounts to customers who mentioned a promo that had expired. Well, we messaged to tell me that I was doing a great job and that he was impressed with me, this after only three weeks. I am telling you this because, while we do need some faith, we also need to make an effort as well. Of course, God is there for us, and when we trust Him, He will see us through every test, but we cannot just sit there and wait let the world overtake us, we need to do what we can in our ability and then let God do the impossible. And God did do the impossible here, He literally divided the water.
[Exodus 14:19-22 And the angel of God, which went before the camp of Israel, removed and went behind them; and the pillar of the cloud went from before their face, and stood behind them: And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel; and it was a cloud and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to these: so that the one came not near the other all the night. And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon the dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand, and on their left.]
[And it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel;] I love this, and of all the testimonies we are given of the Trinity of God, all three are right here. Every saved born again Christian has the Almighty Father, watching over them, as the Son, sits at His right hand, interceding for us, all the while we have the Holy Spirit lighting the way for us, [Romans 8:26,34 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.]
As saved, born again Christians, we need to stop fighting God on what matters to Him, trust Him, lose the sin, lose the attitude, lose the doubt, the fears, and the unbelief. Do you understand why God tests us? He does this to weed out the ones who think they are fooling the rest of us into believing they are Christians, and to keep us faithful. After God led them across the Red Sea, you would have thought they had great faith, and they did, for about three days. That was when God led them to bitter water to test their faith.
[Exodus 15:22-26 So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.]
[and there he proved them,] Prove; To try; to ascertain some unknown quality or truth by an experiment, or by a test or standard. God tests us, even though He already knows our heart, to see if we are truly a believer or just as Jesus puts it, one that comes to be fed. You see, If we truly believe, we are going to stick to Jesus through think and thin. Are we sinners? Yes, we are. But if we trust Him, and keep our faith, we will conquer every test. [Romans 8:37-39 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.]
Jesus Christ Magnified: [Exodus 13:21 And the LORD went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night:]
Today’s Prayer: God, Thank You truly for Your grace, and for saving a sinner like me, through my faith alone in Your Son. God, You know that life itself is a big leap of faith and has its own tests, and while You are not the only one who brings the tests, You are the one who always sees us through them and helps us conquer them when we trust You, and let You lead us through them. Lord, Lead us and guide us, instill the power of the Holy Spirit in us to trust You while we do our part, knowing that You Your Light and grace is all we need to pass each test. I will not fear, I will stand still, and see Your salvation. 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.