Scripture:

15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, ¹⁶ and the glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from within the cloud. ¹⁷ To the Israelites the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

Observation:

Moses had to go up the mountain and then the glory of God came. We climb the mountain of God through a process of consecration and sanctification (maturity). We each have to do this on our own. We can't follow the group, we have to leave the group. To outsiders, the glory of God looks like a fire-a spectacle to be seen from a distance, but not something to get too close to. Moses entered this cloud, and lived there for over a month. He saw God in a burning bush, the plagues, face glowed, and He also saw the back of God. Oh ya, and a little thing called the ten commandments. Twice. Moses was able to experience God on a level most don't-He was called a friend of God.

Perhaps the reason most of us do not ever get past the fear of God, and have a "distanced" outlook of Him, is because we are too afraid of the cost of climbing the mountain of God.

Application:

Someday I may not ever have a glowing face, see the back of God, or be called through a burning bush, but I can be called a friend of God. I choose to run to and through the things that look scary, and impossible-because the glory is there.

Prayer:

God help me to run to you, even if that means being alone sometimes, and help me become sanctified. I want to love what you love, hate what you hate, and become someone that you can call a friend.

S - Exodus 25:39 - "A talent of pure gold is to be used for the lampstand and all these accessories"

O - "Goooold! The look of it! The shmell of it! The tashte of it! The texture!" (That is a line from a movie (a hint for people like myself who usually never have answers for the movie extremists). Anyway, the gold used for the lampstand and its accessories is a talent of gold; a talent of gold is about 75lbs. The current value of gold is about $1350 an ounce. So, the gold used in just the lampstand and its accessories would today be worth about 1.62 million dollars! Two things stand out; one, this is one way we can begin to grasp God's magnificence in that he associates himself with things of human worth, and of course he must be in even greater value than such things. The second thing, ironically is that he amidst his greatness and association to things of such high value, his humility and love causes him to associate himself with human beings; things that were not of much worth prior to his redeeming us.

A - I can grasp a bit more of God's greatness; I am encouraged to emulate both love and humility to a greater degree because of God's dealings towards us.

P - God help me to be humbled and in awe of your greatness and also inspired to be humble and love as you do

Details, Details, Details

Scripture:

Exodus 25-27...All of it : )

Observation:

Nothing specific stood out to me in this reading but as a whole I guess what struck me was the amount of detail there was in building the tabernacle. I can be detail oriented in my work but when I'm listening to a story I usually just want the gist of it and while I was reading the different measurements, instructions, materials, etc. I was tempted to just glance over it. However, it really got me thinking about how invested God is in our life, even the seemingly insignificant parts. His love for us is so great, that he spent time crafting each and every one of our stories.

Application:

Because I tend to not want the details in stories, I usually miss what God does in the small parts of my life. I'm going to make a real effort in trying to see God not only in the big things in my life, but really look at what He is doing each and every day.

Prayer:

Father God I pray that I wouldn't miss out on what you are doing in my life and in the lives of those around me. I pray that I would see your hand in everything that I'm involved in and be able to celebrate each victory you give me, large or small.

Brokeness of God

9-11, Choosing To Love Amidst Pain

S-   9And they that escape of you shall remember me among the nations whither they shall be carried captives, because I am broken with their whorish heart, which hath departed from me, and with their eyes, which go a whoring after their idols: and they shall lothe themselves for the evils which they have committed in all their abominations. Ez 6:9

O- What if every wife could look at the thoughts of her husband, I wonder how many wives would be emotionally broken? (How many husbands would be physically broken by their wives the next morning?)

What is the pain God must feel if pain is proportional to love? God loves the most and he also sees the most.  God has emotions. He can be hurt. God is jealous of our affection and He hears every thought. Sees every intention of the heart. God becomes emotionally broken when we go after other things.

God loves each person more than a wife loves a husband. The pain He feels is greater than what a wife would feel from an unfaithful husband. But God's pain is not limited to one person. The pain God feels is multiplied by 6 billion people.

When we get hurt, to protect ourselves, we stop loving. We stop caring because it hurts too much to care. We can turn it off. But God IS love. He cannot stop being who He is. God cannot turn off His love for us.

He is constantly broken, constantly hurting, constantly jealous because he is constantly loving. 

A-What can I do to be pleasing to God? I can be one that doesn't break his heart. I can be one that gives Him joy. I can be one that focuses to be someone that God can look into my thoughts and my soul and that the intents of my heart will be pleasing to Him.

P-Thank you that you never give up. Thank you that even when you get hurt, you don't turn away to protect yourself, but you reach out. The cross is the ultimate example of how we hurt you and how forgiving you are. Please help me to be a reflection of you.

Help me to love people through my disappointments and hurts because you do the same for me everyday.

Experiencing God

TITLE: Experiencing God
DATE: February 5, 2011

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 15:2
“The Lord … has become my salvation. He is my God and will praise Him, my father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”

OBSERVATION: God has no grandchildren. Everyone must encounter God for themselves. Many hear ABOUT God – but only those who experience Him really KNOW Him. Moses knew about God as a child and youngster being taught by his maid-mother that conveyed the great legacy of the God of Abraham to her son. But he began to experience God in the burning bush, the signs of his ministry call and the plagues upon Egypt. But he needed a revolutionary encounter which took place in chapter fourteen that would forever change his experience with God. He and Israel were confronted by the Red Sea before them and Pharoah’s army behind, with no hope for escape possible. Then, the greatest miracle in the Old Testament took place giving gave birth to the Hebrew nation. God’s breath opened the Sea and, when His breath was withdrawn, Pharoah’s army was drowned and destroyed. At that point, Moses declares that his father’s God became his God.

APPLICATION: At what point in my life has the revolutionary God of the Bible become my God by personal experience? Has it happened or does it yet have to happen? Though Moses had encountered God in so many way, it was only when he saw God move at the Red Sea that he could declare my father’s God is now my God. Where am I in the continuum between “knowing about” God and “really knowing” Him? Have I seen, am I seeing or do I yet need to see His breath opening up my Red Sea? What does it take for an obstacle to become a Red Sea to me? Has God become my salvation and my God as Moses experienced?

PRAYER: “Prepare me for greater Red Sea experiences where Your breath will open a way where there is none and plant a confidence for greater experiences that will help me know You in a greater way..”

Worship God

TITLE: Focus on God
DATE: February 5, 2011

SCRIPTURE: Exodus 23:25,26
“Worship the Lord your God, and His blessings will be on your food and water. I will take away sickness from among you and none will miscarry or be barren. I will give you a full life span.”

OBSERVATION: Worship is the foundation for everything else in our lives. When our relationship with God is right, material blessings are abundant, our physical bodies are healthy and our family relationship grows and develops well. God addresses the primary aspects of our lives that often distracts us from Him. We put materialism, health and our families before Him and we suffer. God places everything in order here.

APPLICATION: I saw our sermon series emerging out of these words of concern from God to Israel. We’re looking at Faith, Finances, Fitness and Family. God addresses all four here, but places Faith as the centerpiece. When God is first, our Finances (food & water), Fitness (no sickness) and Family (not being barren) all falls into place. I begin each day, in spite of the workload I have to accomplish things in the other Fs, in my time with God building my Faith. And I notice that everything else gets done in the other times I have. “Worship God and His blessings follow.” Matthre 6:33

PRAYER: “Keep me focused on You daily and trust You to help me with all ‘these things’ (Family, Finances, Fitness) in my life.”

Memorials

S: Exodus 13:16 “It will be like a sign on your hand and a symbol on your forehead that the Lord brought us out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”

O: Throughout Exodus 12-14, there are numerous traditions and vigils that the Lord commands of his people so that they will always remember Him and the good things He has done for them. He has them honor these traditions in order to pass down the stories into the next generation.

A: I remember a teaching on “memorials” where a family shared a picture box that hung on their living room wall that showed symbols of the many times that God performed miracles in their lives. They would share those stories with their kids, grandkids and people who visited their home as a rememberance of what God has done for them. Their grandkids knew the stories so well that they would repeat them to friends who visited and it was a way of always remembering God’s goodness to them.

P: Father, it’s so easy to forget all the amazing things you have done in our lives and how you constantly show up on the scene to make yourself known. Help us to find a way as a family to honor you and to remember the things you have done.