Be Thankful For The Needs

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King James Bible StudyAnd 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: Thursday, February 04, 2021
Chapters: Exodus 16-18
Message: Be Thankful For The Needs

Hello My Friend,

I started back up with school again to get my diploma in Business Management after a year when I left the school I was attending because it taught the way of evolution. I have to create a budget plan, in one column has I have to list my needs, those things I cannot live without, and another column for my wants, those things that I can do without. So, as I was reading the chapters for today, this verse immediately came to mind, [Matthew 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.].

There is a huge concern among many Christians today, their wants have become more of a priority than their needs. We have all been blessed with so much, and yet our desire for the things that we want often take place over the things we really need. Instead of being grateful, especially through this pandemic, we are often ungrateful, murmuring in fact, of the wants that we lost or cannot have at this moment. And the thought of waiting for something or being without them does not sit well with us. So, if we want the things we desire, we need to start listening to God more often, and start being thankful that He always gives us what we need. [Luke 12:23,28-30 The life is more than meat, and the body is more than raiment. If then God so clothe the grass, which is to day in the field, and to morrow is cast into the oven; how much more will he clothe you, O ye of little faith? And seek not ye what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things.]

It has only been thirty days since the Israelites left Egypt, during that time they witnessed the great pillar guiding them, the parting of the Red Sea, walking across it on dry sand, the Egyptian soldiers plunged to their death, and bitter water turned sweet to drink. That is a lot to go through and not have any faith in God. And yet, their flesh could not see past their faith, in fact, their faith was ridiculously small, I do not even think that it was the size of a mustard seed because they quickly lost it the second they were challenged. Once again, they started not just complaining, but murmuring when the food supply started running low.

[Exodus 16:1-3 And they took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came unto the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after their departing out of the land of Egypt. And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness: And the children of Israel said unto them, Would to God we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the flesh pots, and when we did eat bread to the full; for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger.]

[And the children of Israel said unto them,] Remember, there were other people among them. I am sure by now the Egyptians and others that went with them had great faith, but not the ones who are supposed to know that they are His people. Once again, God hears their cries and provides food for them. [Exodus 16:4-5,8 Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. And Moses said, This shall be, when the LORD shall give you in the evening flesh to eat, and in the morning bread to the full; for that the LORD heareth your murmurings which ye murmur against him: and what are we? your murmurings are not against us, but against the LORD.]

[that I may prove them,] Again, God is testing them, He wants to see if they are going to trust Him, stop all the griping, and obey Him. Well, they saw something incredible happening right before their eyes. [Exodus 16:10,12-15 And it came to pass, as Aaron spake unto the whole congregation of the children of Israel, that they looked toward the wilderness, and, behold, the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. I have heard the murmurings of the children of Israel: speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread; and ye shall know that I am the LORD your God. And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host. And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat.]

[the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.] They were too wound up in their flesh that they failed to see that God was right there with them in that cloud that they saw in front of them. The second we ask Christ to save us, we belong to God, that means, He will always take care of our needs, we may not have everything we want, but He never fails to provide for us the essentials that we need. I will tell you what, there is pretty much not a day that goes by when I am eating something and not telling myself or asking God to forgive me for eating because it has white sugar or wheat in it. God just reminded me that it is not necessarily what I eat that is the problem, it is whether or not I am thankful and grateful for what He has provided me with. We must not take for granted one morsel, and must be thankful for everything we are given. [Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.]

God does not mind that we ask Him for the things we need and want, in fact, He encourages us to do so. What He does mind is the constant asking with little to no faith, and not listening to Him. Manna actually means, What is it? God would send this bread, every morning, except on the Sabbath until they got to the promised land. God said that He was going to prove them, and to do that He commanded that they gather just enough for the day, leave none overnight, only on Friday gather enough for two days as Saturday was the Sabbath. And they failed.

[Exodus 16:20,22-23,27-28,31,33-34 Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them. And it came to pass, that on the sixth day they gathered twice as much bread, two omers for one man: and all the rulers of the congregation came and told Moses. And he said unto them, This is that which the LORD hath said, To morrow is the rest of the holy sabbath unto the LORD: bake that which ye will bake to day, and seethe that ye will seethe; and that which remaineth over lay up for you to be kept until the morning. And it came to pass, that there went out some of the people on the seventh day for to gather, and they found none. And the LORD said unto Moses, How long refuse ye to keep my commandments and my laws? And the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like coriander seed, white; and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. And Moses said unto Aaron, Take a pot, and put an omer full of manna therein, and lay it up before the LORD, to be kept for your generations. As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron laid it up before the Testimony, to be kept.]

[and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.] Everytime I read this it reminds me of Jesus in that He ate butter and honey. We need more than physical food to keep our body functioning, we need spiritual food as well, Jesus is the bread for our soul, without Him we would starve and die spiritually. [John 6:35 And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.]

Jesus is more than just bread we need for our soul, He is also the water we need as well. God created us, He knows exactly what our bodies are made up of, and what they need to survive, and that includes the physical, mental, and spiritual parts of our body. How God gets our attention and reminds us that He is our source for all these things, is through some discomfort. We need to feel hunger in order to know how essential food is, and we need to get thirsty in order to know that we need Jesus every second of the day. Once again, God was going to prove the Israelites, this time He takes them to Mt. Horeb, which is actually Mt. Sinai, only the other side.

[Exodus 17:1-2,5-7 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD? And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go. Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?]

[I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb;] This was actually the mountain that Moses was on when God spoke to him through the burning bush. Jesus always stands before us to give us the water we need to quench our spiritual thirst and also the food we need to feed our spiritual hunger. Growing up in a Christian home does not save you, neither does being an Israelite, or as we know them to be Jews. And by the way, there is a difference between being Jewish and an Israelite, Jewish is a religion, Israel is a people, in fact, there is two kinds of people of Israel [Romans 9:6], but that is for another message. Jesus is our ROCK, the only one who stands before us to give us the water that we need for our soul to survive. [I Corinthians 10:3-5 And did all eat the same spiritual meat; And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.]

No matter how fed or watered we think we are, we deplete of that very quickly, especially if we are trying to do too much with our physical bodies on our own. We get weak, tired, and need some help to keep us going. To illustrate this more, Moses’ father-in-law met up with him and brought his wife and sons, he was pleased to see all that God had done, but disturbed to see that Moses was taking on all the burdens of the people by himself.

[Exodus 18:15-18.21-22 And Moses said unto his father in law, Because the people come unto me to enquire of God: When they have a matter, they come unto me; and I judge between one and another, and I do make them know the statutes of God, and his laws. And Moses’ father in law said unto him, The thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone. Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear God, men of truth, hating covetousness; and place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, and rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens: And let them judge the people at all seasons: and it shall be, that every great matter they shall bring unto thee, but every small matter they shall judge: so shall it be easier for thyself, and they shall bear the burden with thee.]

[Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men,] You see, the man of God is the under shepherd to Jesus’ sheep, which we are, we cannot expect him to do everything because he is only one man, while we are many. This is why he needs are God fearing, men and women knowledgeable in the Law, ministering to those in the congregation. We cannot do everything by ourselves, we will wear ourselves out and then others will not get the help they need. [Ephesians 4:11-12 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Exodus 17:6 Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.]

Today’s Prayer: God, I know that you are always with me, and will always provide for me. When faced with discomfort I admit that I am not always grateful with what You have already blessed me with. Forgive me, You have proved time and time again that You take care of every need and also will feed and water me with Your Word and Spirit. I also know that I cannot do everything by myself, I need family, friends, and those You send my way to help me through the discomforts, and without them I will tire and lose faith. Lord, give me Your power and strength to endure all the discomforts of life, let me not be too proud to seek the help, fill me with Your mercy and grace, and also let me be a helping hand to someone who may need my help. When I am thirst, give me that spiritual water I know I am in need of, and when I am hungry, feed by spirit with Your bread, for it is what gives me life. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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