Focus Passage: Exodus 14:13-14 (WEB)
13, Moses said to the people, “Don’t be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of Yahweh, which he will work for you today: for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you shall never see them again.
14, Yahweh will fight for you, and you shall be still.”
As I laid in my bed in prayer last night, I briefly recalled a time in my life during Covid where I faced periods of anxiety and little moments of discouragement. The day before my school was shut down in 2020, I remembered crying in the middle of PE, wondering what was going to happen next, now that the world is coming to a screeching halt, and everyone is talking about the apacolypse and blindcakouts. Some days, it just seemed that I was this brave warrior praising God, and other days, it seemed like the world’s disasters had me stricken down. I even remembered a time during summer vacation where I was watching the television, and Satan tried to convince that Covid would “defeat me”, meaning that I should not rely on my faith to overcome this uncertainty that was happening on the brink of starting my sophomore year.
After Labor Day, my Christian club was holding its first meeting of the 2020-2021 school year via Zoom. We just welcomed in a new Vice President (a senior) who also turns out to be a woman who is passionate about her faith. Like me, she played the piano, was musically talented, and showcased her talents in church.
Me and the coleader were getting ready to host our first virtual 9/11 commemoration when I had the opportunity to speak to this new President via email and briefly get to know her personally and spiritually.
The above verses helped her navigate her internal struggles and setbacks throughout quarantine, and has resonated with her since. Having struggled academically and personally, scoring low on math tests and navigate through family challenges, this young lady truly exhibited the traits of an outgoing and bold sister of Christ who is willing to be a helping hand even in the lowest part of the valley. I am truly grateful that God led her to share her experiences with me so I may grow in my faith, and be challenged to look beyond the surface, and see God working behind the scenes to fight for me and protect me every step of the way.
I want to encourage anyone who is going through the fire today to trust the Lord with all your might, and to keep working for the kingdom of God, even in the heat of opposition. Rejoice, because God will fight your battle for you, and WITH you.
You are apart of an army of courageous champions. Go, rejoice, and sing to your Father in Heaven, because you are apart of the family of Jesus! Because you have answered the call of salvation, you no longer are a member of the family of Satan. You do not have to listen to the accusations of your enemies, nor do you have to be swayed by Satan’s discouraging lies he whispers to you! If God is for you, who can be against you? Go, embrace your freedom, and keep shining for Jesus in the fire, no matter how great it is. Amen! 🙂
Let us all continue to remain on fire for our Lord Jesus and remain steadfast in our faith, standing strong against the kingdom of Satan! 🙂
When we hear the call of Jesus in our hearts and choose to follow Him our faith is the drip that becomes, or should become, a roar in our lives. God uses the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts and plant a seed that will grow into a new creation. It is our responsibility to help that seed to grow by watering it with the Living Water of God’s Word.
Some people tend toward watering it occasionally, like once or twice every year. Some who feel God leading them into a deeper relationship will water it a few times every month. Those who demand to be His disciples and want an intimate relationship with Him will water that seed every day regardless of what is going on in their lives. On the drive to work, while they are at work they will listen to Bible readings when they can. They will listen to praise and worship music and be in the spirit of worship on their way home.
I’m sure there are some different people who fit into a category in between those that I spoke about in the paragraph above and there are a few who dive deeper into the Scriptures than the disciples I spoke about as well. My point is that we, as Christian believers, fall into all sorts of slots and categories. Some are deeply involved in the mission field, some teach classes at the church, some lead Bible study sessions/classes at their homes and then there are some who have received Jesus and are confused about their role so they don’t do anything with it except attend church…sometimes.
There were people in all of these areas even in the early church but not many. Why do I say this? Because, most of the people in that early church just fifty to one hundred years after Jesus was taken up to Heaven were Jewish converts to Christianity. They had the Scriptures that were taught in their synagogues and had learned to have faith in God from their history and the prophets and had been persuaded that their Messiah was Jesus Christ! While it was true that there were also many pagans who had come to know Jesus as their Savior, a good percentage of the early church were, like Paul, converts from Judaism. Their faith was built on the Old Testament and what they had heard from the disciples and Paul himself. Most of them had unshakable faith.
The church today has become more “flexible” in their teachings and in their faith which can be a good thing but in some areas of the “message” flexibility can be a bad thing. Because it can lead many to believe that they can live like a Christian and not commit deeply to it. Being “like a Christian” is like being “sorta pregnant”, it doesn’t work that way! You either are or you’re not!
It stood still, But I could not discern the form thereof: An image was before mine eyes, There was silence, and I heard a voice, saying, Shall mortal man be more just than God? Shall a man be more pure than his maker? Behold, he put no trust in his servants; And his angels he charged with folly: How much less in them that dwell in houses of clay, Whose foundation is in the dust, Which are crushed before the moth? They are destroyed from morning to evening: They perish for ever without any regarding it. Job 4:16-20 KJV https://bible.com/bible/1/job.4.16-20.KJV
Job had lost everything, even his health, but he would not blame God for it. He praised God in that he didn’t blame Him for all that had happened, but he also asked many times why this was happening. His integrity and his faith in God never waivered.
This is the kind of faith all of us should aspire to. I don’t want to go through what he did in order to have this strong faith but studying God’s Word should produce in each of us a steadfast and unshakable faith that will carry us through all of our trials.
When I am afraid,
I put my trust in you—Psalm 56:3
So many people in the United States claim to be “Christians” yet less than half of them attend church as “OHO” (On Holidays Only) Christians. How can you claim to be one and not live it each day? I know the “pandemic” threw everyone out of sync with what we were used to but if you have faith in God why not trust Him for your protection from a bug like covid-19?
I don’t mean that Christians should be on the street corners preaching every day but if we could just determine to pray for our country and the world itself for just one hour each day I believe it would make a big difference. If our churches would get a few faithful people together and all of them would pledge to pray for revival and for our world one hour each day, it would make a big impact. Especially if one person started at…say 8 am, then the next one began praying at 9 am, then the next one at 10 am, and get enough people to do this for 24 hours this week it could truly make a change in our world. I know that it would be difficult to get up during the wee hours of the morning but some people do that just to go hunting without any idea that they will be successful.
It is just an idea but our world needs radical ideas right now and prayer doesn’t have to be a constant drone of the Lord’s Prayer. Just be praying for God’s intervention in the affairs of mankind and for those on your church’s prayer list or your family even. Talk to God like you would to a friend and then shut up and listen because He might just speak to you too.
The Living Message of Christ 