Over lunch hour I turned on tv and there was Exodus:Gods and Kings….on the SYFY channel. SYFY, which stands for science fiction. The crossing of the sea by Moses and the children of Israel was not science fiction. It was God’s truth!!! Sometimes we minimize how BIG God is by making these real lift events in history a story we read in the Bible. The parting of the Red Sea is not a story. It was a real life event where God showed up and protected His people by parting the sea for them and then crashed it back down on Pharoah’s army. It happened!! God is so powerful and mighty so we feel at times like we need to explain it away as a story when it is actually what God did in real time. It doesn’t matter if you believe it because it happened anyway. Well, it does matter and that is what I am writing about today.
WE HAVE QUIT BELIEVING IN GOD’S POWER!!! This is a pretty strong statement, but I believe we can see evidence of this in the state of the church in America. We have our Bible as a guidebook to show us things that happened in the past to encourage and give us hope now and in the future. Real events with our real God moving. Paul wrote to the church at Rome in Romans Chapter 15: 4 For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. The Old Testament truths are written to give us endurance and consolation in the times we now live in. Paul went on in verse 5 to say 5 Now may the God who gives perseverance and encouragement grant you to be of the same mind with one another according to Christ Jesus, 6 so that with one accord you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Some may say “Will God still do miracles like the parting of the Red Sea today?” To which I say, yes and amen!! It should stir our faith to greatness just to read of the parting of the Red Sea and then to read the many other times God did a great miracle for His children. The difference for us is that Jesus Christ is our standard and the Holy Spirit is here to guide us in these truths. But don’t treat them like they are fiction like the world might do. Believe God can “DO IT AGAIN.” I highly recommend downloading or getting the Elevation Worship cd with the song Do It Again. Here are the lyrics.
Walking around these walls I thought by now they’d fall But You have never failed me yet Waiting for change to come Knowing the battle’s won For You have never failed me yet Your promise still stands Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness I’m still in Your hands . This is my confidence, You’ve never failed me yet
I know the night won’t last . Your Word will come to pass . My heart will sing Your praise again . Jesus, You’re still enough Keep me within Your love My heart will sing Your praise again . Your promise still stands Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness I’m still in Your hands This is my confidence, You never failed Your promise still stands Great is Your faithfulness, faithfulness . I’m still in Your hands This is my confidence, You never failed me yet.
Now, just because it is in a Christian song doesn’t make it anymore true than if it wasn’t a song. But, if we will wrap our minds around the fact that God can do these great miracles again….today, we should have faith in it and then believe that together. God will do it and we will get to experience it. Of course, the greatest miracle of all is a lost sinner getting salvation and new life in Jesus. So we should never leave that one out and always look to see it happen more and more. But the effect of not believing these miracles of the past can also keep us from sharing the gospel with the lost because it taints our overall belief system and that is tragic. Do you believe it is necessary for a person to receive Jesus to receive eternal life in heaven? Then you need to believe that miracle is still happening today and did not just happen years ago on a dusty road in Jerusalem.
Here is a good example about losing our morality from Paul in 1 Corinthians 10:
For I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea; 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea; 3 and all ate the same spiritual food; 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ.5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not well-pleased; for they were laid low in the wilderness.6 Now these things happened as examples for us, so that we would not crave evil things as they also craved. 7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and stood up to play.” 8 Nor let us act immorally, as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in one day. 9 Nor let us try the Lord, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the serpents. 10 Nor grumble, as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written for our instruction, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. 12 Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall.
It is time to make the Bible current for your daily life and walk with God and quit just reading stories like a child. The Bible is the Word of God and we must believe everything in it for our faith to be strengthened. God’s instructions are real time and ready to help us in every situation and it is time to believe again and move on through the seas He is parting in our lives. One line in the movie Exodus: Gods and Kings really stuck with me. As Moses lead the people to wade through the knee deep water he said “God is with us.!” Which the “real”scripture is found in Exodus 14:13 But Moses said to the people, “Do not fear! Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see them again forever. 14 The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent.” Read Psalm 46 and get some good encouragement. Here is a dose of it. God is our refuge and strength, A very present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change . And though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea; 3 Though its waters roar and foam, Though the mountains quake at its swelling pride.
NUFF SAID!!!
The Pilgrimage continues…..
David Warren
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