Faithful Obedience

God’s word never ceases to teach me something new. No matter how many times I read over a particular section there is always something new to learn. In August of this year I decided I wanted to go through and re-read the Bible. It took me a year and a half (ish … maybe longer) to do it the last time so I decided to do it again. Well I finally made it to Numbers and if you have ever tried to read Numbers you know it is not necessarily the easiest to read. Yet, something about the Old Testament pulls me in and makes me excited to read more and to know more about what is being presented. My pastor calls himself a Old Testament nerd and I have come to find that I too love it dearly. I love the whole Bible but I really like knowing how everything came to be.

There are many cases in Numbers where the Israelites are obedient and show this in various ways, however, this is one of my favorite ways in which it is shown. In Numbers 9 I have seen what it truly looks like to trust God. I mean to really trust God. God told Moses when he and the people were to camp and when they were to travel. The people did exactly what they were told. We are not told if the people complained or if they drug their feet on hitting the road, all we are told is that they obeyed. So I take it like it is, the Israelites obeyed what God told them to do. If there was a cloud covering the Tabernacle they were to camp and stay where they were, they knew they would eventually be moving but they did not know how long they were going to be camped where they where or where they were going. They knew they were called to obedience. If the cloud was lifted from the Tabernacle they knew they were to pack up and head out.

“At the command of the Lord the people of Israel set out, and at the command of the Lord they camped. As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they camped.”

~Numbers 9:18

The second half of verse 18 really gets me, “As long as the cloud rested over the tabernacle, they camped.” They really had no idea how long they were going to be there. That is amazing to me! I have a hard time waiting when I know how long I am going to be waiting, it is especially hard to wait on things when I have no idea when they are going to happen. From chapter 9 verse 15-23 it continues to repeat that the people were called to obedience and they obeyed. In scripture, as in other books (such as textbooks), repetition means REMEMBER THIS or KNOW THIS! Numbers 9 is no different. The repetition here tells me that we may not know how long God has us “camping” out in a certain area but we are called to obedience. We are to be where He has us, even if we do not like it very much. God has us where we are for a reason.

Here is a personal example of this whole idea of being where He has us even if I do not like what He has me doing. I love working with and ministering to international students. God has given me a very unique opportunity to work directly with over 1,000 students from other countries. My hearts desire is to live and work directly with them in their own countries. However, God has me camping out in the US for a while. I have no idea how long He is going to have me here. Yet I know He has a plan for my life and He knows far better than I. So as much as I want to be a bazillion miles away in another country I remain here doing what He has called me to do here. He has called me to obedience. Obedience in this situation means seeking Him daily and growing closer to Him.  That when He does lift the cloud and have me move from this camp to the next I cannot say I have wasted my time wishing I was somewhere else.

The Israelites were obedient beyond my comprehension. They did exactly what God told them to do. It was like the endurance version of the game Red Light, Green Light. They couldn’t really look to what was ahead because they had no specifics. God continued giving them reason to trust Him. We live in a society that teaches us to be independent and to look to ourselves only for everything we need. So as a Christian in this day and age a common struggle seems to be that of putting our full trust and obedience in Christ. God shows His faithfulness throughout His word but also everyday. He reminds us of the promise to take care of our needs with the rain. He reminds us of the promise He will not destroy the Earth again with floods by the rainbow after the rain. He reminds us of His love by giving us another chance everyday. He also promises to return someday and reminds us of this by death of people, plants, and animals. He reminds us daily of His promises and of our role. It is up to us to trust and obey. (Yes, I just used an old hymn reference … good luck getting that out of your head). 

Happily Holy

The past month or so I seem to have been going through a dry spell. Which, to me, inevitably means that I am in sin. I can see the down spiraling of my actions and decisions from decent to bad to worse. As I actively choose sin over the love of Christ I, like everyone else who trust/loves/follows Christ end up far away from Him.

It has taken much for God to pull me back to Him and sadly enough, I am still nowhere near where I was or where I wish I was in my relationship with Him. Through recent events with a few of my friends who have also been going through dry spells, who have also seen the results of sin in their lives, Christ has shown me my own sin against Him and against others. Each one of us, in our own way, have actively chosen to pull away from our first Love. We have chosen to stray off that narrow way and try to hop the fence to get on the wide path that looks so appealing to us. Yet, God stops us and reminds each of us that we are His. He reminds us of the parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7). When we, as the sheep did, stray from Him He will come find us and rejoice over us. He does not need us. He wants us. He chooses us for no other reason than to bring Himself glory. Yes, you … He chooses you to bring Him glory. The word chooses is not a typo, He actively chooses us everyday. He wants to make you righteous and holy and wants to remind you that you are loved and cared for by Him. This is not just a feel good message like the “Uncle Sam Wants You” campaign; no this is the God of the universe who wants to use you for His glory. But He declares us righteous when we are identified with Him.

Reading through Exodus proves to be difficult once I start trekking through the end of the book. All the information about how the temple was to be built and what was to be plated in gold. All the different tools and metals used and all of the measurements, OH the measurements!! But then I came upon chapter 29. Not necessarily very exciting to me, at least not until I came to verse 34 and 37. What do those two verses say, you may be asking yourself. Well I will tell you!

“It shall not be eaten, because it is holy” ~verse 34 c

“Seven days you shall make atonement for the altar and consecrate it, and the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” ~ verse 37

These verses are obviously referring to the rules about sacrifices. This particular way of preparing a sacrifice was only good enough for Christ. This sacrifice could be consumed on the day it was made set upon the altar but if there was any left over it was not to be eaten because it was holy. They could not eat it because it was holy. Holy means it was set apart, different, godly, pure quality. Holy has a whole slew of meanings and this is scratching the mere surface of the depth of the meaning. For now, we will leave it at “set apart” and “different.” This sacrifice was completely set apart. It was only for Christ, it was good enough for only Him. No one below the level of pure godliness could consume this. It was by far different than all the other sacrifices in the way it was prepared and what was to be with it at the end of the day.

We get down to verse 37 and see that the altar was to be consecrated and atonement was to be made for seven days. At this point the altar was considered “most holy” and “whatever touches the altar shall become holy.” After it had been declared holy, anything that touched it became holy as well. When we come to the Lord we are declared righteous and holy. He wants us to be holy as He is holy (Lev. 11:44 and I Peter 1:16). Whatever touched the altar that had been declared holy then became holy. Oooooo how I want this to be reflected in my life! If I am like Christ, who is holy, I should give off holiness. Those around me should be pushed to holiness and become more holy. All because Christ is holy! People rub off on me very easy. I pick up on mannerisms and quirky traits and even patterns of speech. When I think about rubbing off on others, this is what I want others to be getting. I want to love God so much that I would do anything to be holy as He is holy. Those that are around me (or as our pastor would say, in my sphere of influence) should be picking up on holiness more than anything.

Christ has called those who follow Him to a higher standard. We are to be holy as He is holy. Heck we should desire to be holy! Many times I catch myself wanting to be awesome as the world calls awesome rather than seeking Christ-like characteristics. Four and a half years ago I officially began my journey with Christ, well that is when I willingly began to journey with Him for He had already begun working in my heart long before then. My life is completely different from what it was 5 years ago. It is completely different than it was one year ago. Every year, month, and day I should be growing closer to Christ and being conformed to His image. This has not been an easy journey, then again nothing worth it ever is (still planning on writing a separate post about this quote).  We will never reach perfection and yet He still wants us to try. The closer we get to Him the more we should desire this. My appetite for holiness is far different than it was a few years ago as is my appetite for certain foods (ask my friends, I now eat egg rolls… crazy I know!). Just as we crave particular foods we also should crave the things of God in our love for Him.

Coming out of this particular dry season, God has taught me what it means to crave holiness and to crave Christ-likeness. Through a verse near the end of Exodus 29, He reminded me that I am to be holy as He is holy. God’s greatest concern for us is not that we are happy; it is that we are holy. People seem to interchange those two short words when they indeed should not be used interchangeably. The two are completely different. John Piper was quoted, recently, saying, “If God’s love for his children is to be measured by our health, wealth, and comfort in this life, God hated the apostle Paul.” Do you realize it pleased God to crush His own Son? God is not worried about how happy we may be while on this little journey here on earth. He wants us to be made like Him. Being made like Him does not necessarily include being sad, lonely, and depressed. I have known many who love God and have not met the adversity that Paul or Peter or many others have faced. On the other hand, I have known just as many who have experienced the tough trials and sufferings. God has a plan for each one of us and His plans for each person differ. Paul seemed loved God and was thankful to be found righteous in His eyes. I would even say he was happily holy. This too I desire to be.

Setting Us Free

Here recently I have begun going through the entire Bible again. In spending time alone with God I want to know more of His character and know who He is. Just like getting to know a friend there are questions I have that can be and have been answered through prayer and reading through scripture. This morning (and by morning I do mean noon) I was going through Exodus 3-4. I didn't realize how applicable these two chapters were today until I read them again today.

Chapter 3 begins with Moses approaching the historical burning bush. As I read this I realized how hard it was for me to shake the movie Prince of Egypt out of my mind. Reading through this before I knew the movie was not quite accurate but then reading it again made me realize how inaccurate it really is. Not that I am knocking the movie, I like it and it is a good one to watch. Anyway, back on topic. Going through chapter three it is neat to see that God tells Moses Pharaoh's heart will be hardened. He tells him it will take time for the Israelites to be set free. Not just that but He reveals to Moses some of what he will be required to do.

God knew Pharaoh would order all baby boys to be put to death. He knew that Moses' mother would attempt to save him. He also knew that Pharaoh's daughter would find Moses. God had a reason for Moses growing up in Pharaoh's house, among the Egyptian people. He knew what was going to happen when Moses went to speak with Pharaoh to set the Israelites free. God was not surprised that Pharaoh's heart was hardened, God was the one who hardened his heart. He knows all things and sees all things. God is outside of time, He is the creator of time. He sees the end of time just as clearly as He sees today and the beginning of time. He knows all, sees all, and has created all. Nothing surprises God.

Just like God had a plan for Moses, He has a plan for you and me and everyone else. He had Moses grow up among the Egyptians because it allowed Moses to have a connection with the royal family. He automatically had an "in" so to speak. Pharaoh knew him, he was raised in Pharaoh's house. This had to be a humbling situation for Moses, going into a place where no one believes in the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was the family that he knew. He chose to leave the and be with the Israelites, the Hebrew's - his people. God has a plan for each of us. He has given us all the same purpose to know Him and make Him known. Moses was 80 when he and Aaron went to Pharaoh. He had been in the desert for 40 years, which means that Moses was raised in Pharaoh's house for 40 years. Do you get that? He was a grown man! He only knew what it meant to be a child in the palace. He was not raised as an Israelite at all. -Now do you see my problem with the Prince of Egypt? Haha, just kidding! - God has a reason for you to have been born in the family you are apart of, it was not an accident. It was ordained by God for you to have the parents you have, to have the brothers/sisters you have. God has had all things happen for a reason.

Look around and ask God why. Ask Him why you are in your family. Try to see what God's purpose is for you there. If you are a believer but your family is not God has had you come to Christ among a group of non-believers. You are on your own little island, your own mission field. You have a sweet opportunity to ask God to deliver your family from hell. Maybe you are a college student and live on campus or in your sorority/fraternity house and are surrounded by lost people. Whatever or wherever you are God has you in your own little mission field. We have been deceived to think that the only mission fields are a bazillion miles away. My heart is to see international students and people from other countries come to know Christ. But I also recognize it is not practical for every true believer to get up and leave the U.S. to go overseas to share the gospel. Who would evangelize the U.S.? Like I said before, God has you where you are for a reason.

"Then Moses said to the LORD, 'Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.' The LORD said to him, 'Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD? Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.'"
                                               ~Exodus 4:10-12

Chapter 4 we see Moses telling God how inadequate he feels. But God tells him He has made all and He can be trusted. Going back for a minute, God had Moses grow up in Pharaoh's house. God choose Moses to speak to Pharaoh and set the Israelites free. He hardened Pharaoh's heart. God was not blind to the situation. He was choosing to make the people see His power and His faithfulness. The Israelites were treated worse when Moses and Aaron went to set them free. The mental image in my head is the Israelites hearing about Moses and Aaron wanting to set them free. They all rejoice. Then Moses and Aaron speak with Pharaoh, Pharaoh makes the life of the Israelites worse. The Israelites are mad at Moses and Aaron for making things worse. Talk about fickle! Then again that is the image I have in my head. The Israelites were very upset that they were caused more pain but as far as the other stuff ... that is how I imagine it going down. God is showing His people He can be trusted. He uses a number of miracles to display His power: Moses and Aaron's staffs turning into snakes and swallowing the magicians snakes, all the water turned to blood, frogs all through out the land, insects and gnats everywhere, all the Egyptians cattle died, boils and sores on all the Egyptians and livestock, hail, locusts, darkness in all the land, and the deaths of all the first born among the Egyptians. God chose to display His power. He wanted His people to trust Him. He showed the Egyptians and the Egyptian magicians that He has power over all things.

God has power over all things. He has control over all the money in the world, all agriculture, all weather, all things! God is in control. Yet, here I am little ole me wanting to be in control of things in my life and thinking I have somehow earned the right to have that control. I cannot change people. I cannot change the weather. I cannot change myself. I have no control. Now if that does not leave you feeling helpless, I do not know what will. But because God is in control and God is the creator of all things (including you and me) He has designed a plan for us. He wants to reveal Himself to us and He wants to show us His faithfulness. He is our Father. We are a fickle people just like the Israelites were fickle. They were happy when things were good and they were angry when things were bad. We jump from thing to thing to find what we think is best for ourselves. Yet, we do not seek God to see what He considers best for us. We think bigger electronics, more stuff, and nicer clothes is what is best for us. We are sadly deceived. God's best for us does not involve wealth and prosperity (of an earthly standard that is). God does not intend for us to be in perfect health all the time. We are people, our bodies are imperfect, we are going to get sick. Health, wealth, and prosperity just doesn't seem to fit into the gospel. God has a plan for you and for me, but no where in scripture does it say we get a whole bunch of earthly stuff. God has you right where you are for a reason. So seeking out bigger and better is probably not going to be in that. It is a harsh truth but one thing we have to realize is the gospel is not about ourselves. The gospel does not revolve around me, or you, or your favorite pair of shoes. The gospel is all about Christ. It is all about God's love and mercy and grace. God sent Moses to set His people free just like God sent His only Son to give us an option to be free from the bondage of sin.

~*~ Challenging Questions ~*~
  - Where does God have you right now? Can you see why He has you there?
  - Are you trying to be in control of your own life? How can you turn this over to God and allow Him to regain control of your life (or begin to take hold of your life)?
  - Are you allowing God to set you free from sin in your life?

A Heart like David

"O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart. He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he swears to his own hurt and does not change; he does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things will never be shaken."

~ Psalm 15  

 Howdy! Well this has been quite a busy month so far and we are only 8 days in. But, before going to bed tonight I decided to read the two Psalms for today and both of them ... wow! God has convicted me on who I am to be and some major character flaws within myself. It is a little after 11 pm that I am starting to write this and neeeeeeeeeed sleep but I wanted to let this soak in to not only me but anyone who might read this. (I am planning on posting about Psalm 16 as well not sure it will be tonight though). Anyway... to get on with the story.

O LORD, who may abide in Your tent? Who may dwell on Your holy hill? 
David asks a question here, which is a very valid question. Who is allowed to abide in the dwelling place of God? Who gets to dwell at His holy hill? Sadly I have not ever just sat down to contemplate such a deep thought. To me, this is a loaded question because it means that most likely the answer will describe someone that is ... well... not me.  But just as David asks the question, he gives an answer.

He who walks with integrity, and works righteousness, and speaks truth in his heart. 
Well, the word integrity is from the Greek word tummah which means "simplicity," "soundness," "completeness," and is also rendered as "upright," and "perfection." Uh that is a packed word. That word means complete and is rendered as perfection. So the first thing seen here is those that may abide in His tent and dwell at His holy hill are to walk in completeness/perfection. Hmm ... well that isn't hard to do, YEAH RIGHT! The next thing we see is that those who may abide and reside are those who walk with works of righteousness. Now, in case you are unaware, righteousness means justification. Justification is opposed to condemnation. Then we see that those who are able to abide and reside have to speak truth in their heart. So 1. perfection, 2. not condemning, and 3. speaking truth within the heart.
This makes me very thankful that I follow the Lord that paid for all of my sin: past, present, and future. "I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me." Galatians 2:20. Christ has exchanged His record for those who follow Him. So, if you are a follower of Christ, God looks at you as though you are holy. You have the blood of Jesus Christ on you and have been claimed as one of His. "Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus." Romans 8:1. Those of us following Christ are not to condemn others just as Christ does not condemn us. We are set free from the law of sin and death. He has made us perfect in His eyes and He chooses not to condemn us. The last part here (speaking truth in his heart) I can only take it for what it says. I looked up commentaries and couldn't find anything. But when I read that it makes me think of "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success." Joshua 1:8. That is a whole different blog post waiting to happen, just saying ... forget how much I love that verse. But think about it, it just reminds me how much I need to be putting God's word into myself. Feeding myself with God's word and less of the world (the book of James has quite a load to say about the world). So those that get to abide in His tent and dwell at His holy hill show perfection, no condemnation, and a constant self in pouring of God's word. 
But wait, there is more!


He does not slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his neighbor, nor takes up a reproach against his friend; in whose eyes a reprobate is despised, but who honors those who fear the LORD; he swears to his own hurt and does not change; he does not put out his money at interest, nor does he take a bribe against the innocent. 
Not going to lie, looking up some of these words I see how much I have to learn. These words hold so much weight and I can barely even grasp the smallest of concepts here. I do, however, understand enough to tell you that this is an awesome yet weighty piece of scripture. This tells that those who are allowed to abide in His tent and dwell at His holy hill do not slander others with their tongue and does not do evil to others and the Lord does not find fault in them. He honors those who fear the LORD, which makes me think he respects his elders (usually they are the ones that fear the Lord and live their lives accordingly). When he loans out money he does not gain from the repayment, doesn't charge others interest for borrowing which also makes me think he is a very willing giver. It also says that he does not take a bribe against the innocent. So to be one that gets to abide in His tent and gets to dwell at His holy hill, this is what it looks like. The man described here lives his life with eternity in mind. This challenges me because it shows me that I do not defalt to eternal minded thinking. Just meaning that my first thoughts are not considering others as higher than myself but I seek self gain more than that of others. This is not a requirement but these are qualifications to some degree to dwell with the King at His holy hill and abiding in His tent. This passage just shows me how much I have to learn and how much I truly need my mind to be transformed daily (Romans 12:2). Sadly, I have to admit that my life doesn't match up to this fully. But God is still shaping me. Every day is another day to make choices to live for Him and to choose to live this life building up heavenly treasure and thinking about eternity. As a girl I struggle with the things that escape my very lips. (Be looking for another post called A Force to be Reckoned With sharing what scripture has to say about taming our tongue). Anyway, there is so much hope in the next line of the Psalm.

He who does these things will never be shaken.
All of this is concluded wonderfully with this statement. God makes us a promise, that if we live our lives selflessly for Him, putting others before ourselves we will never be shaken. All through the Psalms there are passages like this one. Passages that say that He will not let our foot slip and passages that say that we will not be put to shame in following Him. This is an awesome hope to hold on to. Ohhhhhh such a sweet thought!

This was David's heart, to be like God. He did not want to be God but he wanted to be like Him. We were made in the likeness of God. We were made like our Daddy and David wanted to be like his heavenly Daddy. Who could blame him, with a dad like that? Scripture tells us that David was a man after God's own heart. God loved him dearly. In an earlier post I worte about having a Heart like Hannah. David also had a heart to grow closer to the God he loves (present tense because David lives on with Him for all eternity).

A Heart Like Hannah

A couple of months ago I read "Twelve Extraordinary Women" by John MacArthur. It really made me think about who I am as a woman in God's eyes and who I want to be before Him. One of the women that really impacted me and whom I desire to be like is Hannah.

Hannah's backstory:
She was married to Elkanah. Elkanah had two wives, Hannah and Peninnah. He married Hannah first and loved her more than Peninnah, yet Hannah could not have children so he married Peninnah. It was evident that he loved Hanah more. He gave her double portions when it came time to sacrifice and feast. Peninnah would constantly remind Hannah that she could not have children and that she wasn't worth anything. She treated her awful as if she was insignificant. Elkanah tried to comfort her but Hannah wanted to bare children. She wanted to use everything she had to raise a son in the name of the Lord.

This is what makes her stick out to me, when the family went up to the house of the Lord Hannah went and prayed to the Lord. She wept bitterly and begged God for a son. She laid everything at His feet. But as I read about her and pick up on things from her life I noticed that not only did she lay everything at the feet of the Lord but she left it there. She walked away and had a burden no more. She trusted that God would be faithful to answer her prayer. Eli, the priest, mis-took her for a drunk. As she prayed her mouth moved but she prayed in her heart. When she told him what she was doing he said to her, "Go in peace, and the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him." Although Eli had no idea what he was telling her, God was still faithful. She had the faith to lay it before the throne of God and leave it there. She walked away at peace with the situation.

God has been showing me what it means to take things to the foot of the cross. He is also teaching me what it means to leave it there. One of the hardest things to do is to leave things with God. Which is silly, because God is constantly showing me that He is the ultimate caretaker. I keep praying that God will give me a heart like Hannah. Even when Peninnah was being rude and crude and had an attitude (yes it rhymes on purpose) Hannah did not react in the same way. She acted gracefully. She was still respectful and laid it all at the feet of Jesus. It really makes me think about child-like faith. She trusted that God would take care of her, all her needs and wants and desires. She made an oath (or promise) to God. She would commit her son to the Lord if she was allowed to have a son. God heard her prayer and answered it. He not only answered it, but He continued to answer it. Hannah had other sons and daughters. She had unwaivering faith.

As a woman, I read stories like Hannah's and want to be a woman like her. She truly displays Christ-likeness, even though Christ was not yet made manifest in the flesh. She was a woman of faith, humility, prayer, peace, patience, worship, sacrifice, devotion, and she trusted God completely. Often I pray about becoming Christ-like and exhibiting the characteristics of Hannah. God poured Himself into her and made her like Himself in so many ways. That is my desire, to be made like Him.

Hannah sacrificially gave her first born son to the Lord. She bore him, nurtered him, and placed him in the hands of the Lord. She visited him and loved him. God blessed her for her devotion to Him. She was incredibly feminine and displayed a heart for God. Our purpose being here is to know God and make Him known. Hannah did this, she got to know God and she made Him known to her son. Often as I pray I ask God to give me a heart like Hannah.

Occupational Hazard

Over the past couple of days I have been watching several movies. This is quite out of character for me, I am not one to sit in front of the T.V. for hours and hours. However, recently I have had my wisdom teeth taken out. So to pass the time by I have been watching movies. To be honest I have watched about 8 movies in the past 3 days. That is right... wow!
Well, one of the movies was Prince of Egypt, it is a personal favorite from my childhood. Anyway, I am babbling but have a point. While watching the Prince of Egypt I noticed many things, but one of the biggest that stuck out to me this time was near the middle/end of the movie. Moses said, "Pharaoh has the power. He can take away your food, your home, your freedom. He can take away your sons and daughters. With one word, Pharaoh can take away your very lives. But there is one thing he cannot take away from you: your faith. Believe, for we will see God's wonders." This made me think about my own job. God has allowed me to work with international students for the past two years. I have been so afraid to live radically for Christ for fear of losing my job. Lately I have been convicted about this thought. No, I am not going to do anything stupid like stand on top of my office building yelling "turn or burn." I mean, God has given me this job for a reason. God has allowed me to be where I am to fulfill His purpose. My boss has the power to fire me from my job. He does not have the power to take away my faith.
Living in fear of the "what if's" and the "could be's" and so on is not going to get us/me anywhere. God's word tells us we are not to fear anyone but Him. The "Pharaoh's" in our lives seem to have so much power over us, yet we fail to see that God is bigger than anything else on this earth. He is the Creator. He is the Author of Life. He is the God of love, the God of hope, the God of salvation, He is the great I Am! There is nothing we can do to make God lose any power. He is the creator of power for heaven's sake! My fear of getting fired or of having my boss upset with me because I use my job as a platform to share the gospel, really is the least of my worries. God places us exactly where He wants us in His timing to do His will. He has told us our purpose is to know Him and make Him known. So my life goal is to know Him and make Him known in all that I do. Our lives are not to be sectioned off like a pie chart. When you look at a pie chart of your life you see what consumes most of your time. For example: work, friends, eating, sleeping, activities, etc. There are so many "compartments" in our lives it is easy for us to want to section them off. Yet, each of our compartments tend to spill over into each other. Our friends at work start becoming our friends outside of work. Our job ends up coming home with us at times. Our activities tend to include eating and friends and more. God is to be in every part of our lives. God is not a section or compartment of its own. He is the center point of each of our pie charts for our lives. He is the controller of each little area of our lives.
Even when we feel like us making Christ known could cause us to lose everything we have. We can remember that who or whatever our Pharaoh is in that situation cannot take away our faith. God promises to protect His children. He tells us in several places that His children will not be ashamed. Although we may be persecuted for our faith, we can stand strong knowing that God knows exactly what He is doing. Our persecutors can never take away our faith in God. How relieving?!

Ishmael and Isaac- Long Lasting Effects of Our Sin

When we think about sin we tend to categorize it in to punishable by death, worst, horrible, bad, not as bad, and so on and so forth. We look at things like sexual immorality, homosexuality, murder, incest, rape, drug addiction, and alcoholism and categorize them. We often forget about anger and malice and gossip, gluttony, greed, lying, speeding, and lusting (in what we consider small ways). We do not realize that our sin has a long lasting effect on future generations. When Eve took a bite out of the tree of knowledge of good and evil sin was generated from there until now and will continue until Christ returns. That sin flowed through them into further generations. But we are going to skip a huge chunk of that history and move to Ishmael and Isaac, for a particular reason.
Abraham and Sarah (formerly Abram and Sarai) were promised a son to be their heir. Abraham had also been promised descendants that were more numerous than the stars in the sky. When things did not happen within his timing, and even within Sarah's biological timing, they took matters into their own hands. Sarah suggested her servant Hagar to Abraham to bear them a child. Abraham, as several men might, took the opportunity and had sexual relations with Hagar. She bore him a son whom they called Ishmael. Later, Sarah bore a son and named him Isaac. When Abraham died Isaac received the inheritance, Ishmael did receive a blessing but not the one he thought he was entitled to. Because he was not the son God had promised Abraham, Ishmael and Isaac's sibling rivalry spun out of control. We now see it as Israel fighting against the Arab countries. (Talk about long lasting sibling rivalry)! Abraham sinned not only against his wife and his family and the poor servant girl, but he sinned against God. Not just any god but the Almighty God.
Our sin does not only effect us but it effects our children, our children's children, and our children's children's children...i think you get it. It goes so much deeper and spreads so much further than we could ever imagine! Our sin is disgusting to God! In Ezekiel 21 God tells Ezekiel to pass on a message to those sinning against Him (no doubt it was His baby, His son...Israel). He told Ezekiel to tell them "say to the land of Israel, 'Thus says the Lord: Behold, I am against you and will draw My sword from its sheath and will cut off from you both righteous and wicked. Because I will cut off from you both righteous and wicked, therefore My sword shall be drawn from its sheath against all flesh from south to north. And all flesh shall know that I am the Lord. I have drawn My sword from its sheath; it shall not be sheathed again.'" 21:3-5. He was telling the Israelites that because of their sin He was going to not just punish them but cut off righteous and wicked. He was serious, He still is. Sin is no joke, not just because it may make people feel bad or it may make us feel bad. It is us slapping God in the face and saying "Your Son coming to die means nothing!" I do not want my life to show that. I want to live a life honoring and pleasing to God. My petty lies or lack of self-control are not at all worth sinning against the God who created heaven and earth. The bitterness and anger that builds up is not worth pushing others away from knowing just how great our God is. My sin is not worth effecting further generations. If one sin of faithlessness from Abraham can turn into one sin of sexual immorality. Then that sin "bears fruit" quite literally in the form of a child that eventually has led to a war over who gets to own the land which costs so many lives. Is our sin worth it? What are we doing each day in our personal walk with Christ to fight and kill sin so that we may become more like Him? Romans 6:23 says "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord." Although we may be sinful and our sin is punishable by death, we have hope in our Father. God has given us hope to repent from our sins and run to Him with open arms begging for forgiveness. Our sin truly passes down from generation to generation. That is one thing I do not want my children, grandchildren, and so on to inherit.

God bless!