PRAYERS OF THE BIBLE SERIES: THE BOOK OF EXODUS #4

"SHOW ME YOUR GLORY!"

12 Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is Your people.”

14 And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”

15 Then he said to Him, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. 16 For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, except You go with us? So we shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”

17 So the Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.” (Exodus 33:12-17)

At some point in their journey of faith, many believers come to a point where they doubt. Healthy doubt is not necessarily a good thing, even though it demonstrates a certain lack of faith. In Mark 9:23-24, Jesus encountered a young boy who was possessed by an evil spirit rendered him deaf and dumb. 

The boy’s father asked for Jesus’ healing mercy, grace and compassion and the response of the Lord is classic “If you can, believe, all things are possible to him who believes”. The response of the father of this poor young chap should be the cry of anyone who is struggling in their faith. Whether this struggle is to persevere through trials, tribulations and long illnesses which we have prayed about or other things, we all need this encouragement to know that the Lord our God is with us….that His Presence goes with a before us. After  Jesus said those words (in red) to this man, the man said “I believe, help my unbelief”. Jesus then healed the young boy.

What this tell us that being in the Presence of the Lord is even colored by doubt. However, never let your doubts hold you back from wanting more of His influence and power in your life! At the point of conversion, we receive the same Spirit of God Who raised Jesus from the dead on Resurrection morning. The Holy Spirit is 100% God and we have Him sealed in with our spirit, until the Day of Redemption when we leave this earth to be with the Lord.  

In order to experience the FULLNESS of joy, as the psalmist says, we must allow Him to work in us. That is, we decrease in pride, arrogance and doing things our way, that He might increase (John 3:30). We must also decrease in wanting to do things our way and start doing what we said we do as Christians - submit to the Lordship of Christ. Moses knew that. Moses knew God Face to face more than once. Moses felt the Heartbeat of God because His Spirit moved Moses to write the story of Creation, the Flood, the Patriarchs, the Exodus and more. Because he God intimately, he was the most humble man of all....and the Bible tells us so...read Numbers 12:3 here.

This is one of the greatest lessons for ALL of us, as we study the Life and Prayers of Moses, from the Pentateuch (Torah, Law). He never asked anything for himself. God gave him the most impossible mission - corralling and leading millions of unruly Israelites out of Egypt and through a desert for 40 years. Yet, apart from losing it and striking the rock (thereby losing his life to disobedience), he always did what God told him. All the prayers of Moses we study through Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy show a man praying for his people, so this prayer request in Exodus 33:12-17 was extra special.

Moses said "I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13 Now therefore, I pray, if I have found grace in Your sight, show me now Your way" (Exodus 33:12b-13a). He wanted to see the Father, literally! We know no one has seen God and lived. However many have seen the Living Christ - Who died on the Cross in 33 AD and rose again. Moses himself spent untold days with Him on the Mountain getting the Law and the first five books of the Bible.

The Father was gracious unto Moses and saved his life by putting him in a rock as He passed by. He did that so Moses could still see His Glory passing by (from His back) yet continue his physical existence. God is amazing. He answered the first request from Moses to "show me Your Way" like this:  And He said, “My Presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” (Exodus 33:14). The second time Moses asked the same question but this time included the family of God traveling with him (all the Israelites) and it was only THEN God the Father allowed Moses to see His passing Glory!

That is a good lesson too...as favored and as loved and humble Moses was by God, the only Promise to him from Above was the Presence of the Lord (The Holy Spirit Who also lives in us) and REST (verse 14)!! That's it! But showing the closeness of his relationship with the Lord, you can actually read the TONE Moses uses here, when he expanded his first personal request to include those under his charge.

This is our precise charge to pray. Even if we have children or in some cases, grandchildren who are not saved, let us resolve to pray for them first for salvation and for others to succeed, be healed or for guidance. In that way, we will not only see our own spiritual lives soar, but from first hand experience, I can tell you - you will see more than just Creation out there in the Supernatural. God will give you things to see which not many of His own saints will never see. This is the reward of humility similar to the great lawgiver, Moses.

Photo Credit Here 

SPEAK LIFE - LESSON 3: PRAISE, THE KEY TO "SOULCARE"

He said: "The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold and my refuge; my Savior, You save me from violence. “I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies...(2 Samuel 22: 2-4)

One great study every maturing Christian should attempt, in this life, involves the prayers and worship songs of the Bible.  An effective intensive look at these inspired words, from the heart of their human writers, reflected the accurate promptings of the Holy Spirit, Who was the conduit from the very Throne of God to the authors of Scripture.  The prayers are of the Bible are more than encouragement for whatever ails the soul of mankind. These words from the Spirit of God served human kind until recently and were known under the rubric of “soulcare”, in that whatever ails the soul of a human – God has the answer. 

if you "google" the hybrid word "Soulcare", a few definitions come up. The most generic one says it is "a combination of terms for spiritual direction, coaching, pastoral counseling and companionship". The best definition I found was from a Texas church (Christ Bible Chapel) and it says "Soul Care is ....counseling that is based on Christian principles in a comfortable, confidential atmosphere with biblical counselors who use a solid biblical foundation". A final full discussion of what true and Godly soulcare is can be found in Dr. John McArthur's blog on the matter here (CLICK). I recommend we read the great works of the Puritans like John Owen, Richard Baxter, Bunyan and others who did not have the corruption of the culture which saturates the airwaves today and were all able to write, teach and preach on the Power of the Word of God to minister to every thing that ails man!

It has long been posited that best way to come out of any personal crisis, whether spiritual or on the natural is to give PRAISE to our Great God in Heaven and then wait in the Spirit because He will bless - big time! The same man who said "Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him For the help of His presence" (Psalm 42:5), wrote the most powerful and worshipful of His songs not too long before he died and went to be with this fathers. In the two verses from one of those songs, above, from 2 Samuel 22:2-4, King David answers his own question from Psalm 42:5. 

THERE IT IS! There is the key to soulcare and coming out of a season of despair! The key is not one which would make sense in the natural! The worldly may say "WHAT? What do you mean I should thank God for my troubles and trials?" They are ever- hearing but not understanding because to have the Heart and Ear of God, we must yet "praise Him for the Help of His Presence"! Here is how the Psalmist went about it, from 2 Samuel 22:2-4, and we should too:
- The Lord is my Rock and my Fortress: that is, He is immovable, cannot be shaken and will always be there for anyone, regardless of condition or circumstance. But not just that, as our "Fortress". The true believer is constantly in a state of perpetual war, on this side of heaven, or he/she is preparing for one. As our Fortress, He is our Defender. When Jehovah Sabaoth - the Lord of Heaven's Armies is on our side, no earthly super-power or demon of the air, can defeat Him and we can rest in that assurance of our ultimate victory over any issue. This victory may not make sense at first, but to God it does. Trust Him.
= And my Deliverer: God is the ultimate First Responder. In times of crisis, before you call 911, call on The One - the Holy One, the One and Only, the Great I am. HE is your rescue. HE is your protection. HE is your comforter. He will lift you up with His Mighty Hands lest you dash your foot up against a stone. He will take you out of the pit, clean you and I up, set our feet upon a rock and put a NEW song in our mouth, a hymn of Praise to our God! He will do that so much so, that many may ask WHO IS THIS GOD OF YOURS? In times of crisis, then when the earthly first responders finally arrive, and thou hast called upon His Name first, sometimes they will find you healed and without dent or scratch, and then they shall marvel at His Power. THAT is our deliverer!
- My God, my Rock in whom I take refuge, my shield: therefore, considering that you and I have called Him first before emergency search and rescue people, we can rest fully in the fact that we can take up safe house behind the impenetrable walls of the Kingdom of our Great God. The SHIELD that He is deflects all the barbs and arrows of the enemy, who has manifested himself into many on this earth in these last days. We see them all around us, hurting and destroying the people of God everywhere, but mostly in the middle east and Asia. Seek out this safe place, in the "shadow of His wings" because they are easier to find than anything on this earth. He is a breath away!
= The Horn of My Salvation, my stronghold, my refuge, my Savior: therefore, being the "HORN of MY SALVATION" or the unbreakable strong powerful Truthful guarantee of our Deliverance from death and destruction, we are again in a safe hiding place, no matter how high profile and available to the world we are. This guarantee, has been underwritten by the Savior, Who died for us on Calvary and Whose supernatural Blood was shed to wash us clean and deliver us and all mankind, who put our faith, trust and hope in Him as Lord AND Savior!
- I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies: therefore, in light of all that this passage has taught us, we call upon His Name. He is the Only One Who can save, deliver, defend, protect, conquer, reassign, restore and then turn around and send us back into the battle rejuvenated, refreshed and reloaded to execute His wonderful plan of salvation and deliverance, to a lost and dying and hurting and in need of love, sort of world. All of was made possible because we first sought to praise and love and cry out to Him, in our despair! What an amazingly wonderful, loving and powerful God we serve and love - because He first loved us and called us into the Kingdom of His marvelous Light!
Amen