Weekly Devotion

Moses' father-in-law, Jethro had heard of how God had blessed Israel and how He had mightily brought them out of Egypt. He was glad and set out to meet Moses and the Israelites where they were camped near the mountain of God. He brought Moses' wife, Zipporah and Moses' two sons with him as well. Moses was glad to see them and he greeted his father-in-law warmly. Moses then shared how wonderful God was and how He had led them out of slavery. He also told Jethro of the problems they had faced, but how God had delivered them from it all. He told him everything.

And was Jethro jealous of Moses due to the success he had? Did he feel that he had been a priest of God his whole life, but he had never seen wonders like that? Did he feel dejected that God hasn't used him as mightily as He had Moses? No, his reaction is beautiful to me:

"Praise be to the Lord," Jethro said, "for He has saved you from the Egyptians and from Pharaoh. He has rescued Israel from the power of Egypt! I know now that the Lord is greater than all other gods, because His people have escaped from the proud and cruel Egyptians." Exodus 18:10, 11

He also immediately presented a burnt offering and sacrifices to God, even though he had not been part of the Exodus, he rejoiced with them! Lovely.

We should be the same. We should rejoice when we see God moving. We should be glad for those whom God use to make an impact on this evil world of ours. We should be happy to see God's Word spreading, no matter who does the physical work or who receives the praises.

Unfortunately we tend to be jealous of other Christians. We tend to think that God was supposed to use us, not them, after all we had been faithful children of His for a long time, whilst they had only just been converted! Or we tend to look at worship leaders/spiritual leaders of God and think we can actually do it better. Or we are jealous of those who receive revelations from God, whilst we have been asking Him to give it to us for years! We tend to want the honor for ourselves. We tend to want all of God's gifts for ourselves.

But we shouldn't be that way. God has given each of us an ability to do certain things well and He will use you mightily in it. Just be faithful with what God has given you. At the end of the day only His praises matter and nothing else. If God is proud of you, what more can you wish for? Be happy for others and be even happier that God's Word is spreading around the globe, resulting in more people being saved.

Father, here I am. Use my talents and abilities to do Your work. Keep my eyes off from other people, but unto Your work. Then I will be rejoicing forevermore. Amen

The Amalekites attacked the Israelites at Rephidim. As I discussed last week, the Amalekites were a warlike nation, fierce in battle, a force to be reckoned with. And the Amalekites were the Israelites' first physical encounter with any nation, as they had never been in a battle before!

Now as I discussed last week, Moses didn't go with the Israelites into battle. We don't know if the Lord told him not to or whether he knew the battle was a spiritual one. But never the less, Joshua led the Israelites into battle and Moses, Aaron and Hur observed from the hill close by. Now I discussed last week how Moses held up his staff and by doing that, he won the battle for Israel by doing spiritual warfare and not physical warfare. Aaron and Hur were there to help him do just that.

Today I would like to look for a moment at the battle from the Israelites' point of view. I wonder what they thought when Moses didn't go with them into battle? It was the first time since the first plague that Moses was not right there with them. I wonder if some of them murmured amongst themselves something to the effect of:

'Just as I thought, when the going gets tough he makes sure to get out of the way.'

'Look at Moses, he is not fighting and enduring the hardship as we are, who does he think he is?'

'Look at him, nice and safe up there on the hill, while we are being slaughtered down here.'

I think you get the idea. The Bible doesn't mention anything, but I just have a feeling that they did complain. Knowing the Israelites they most probably did.

Today we tend to do the same. We are very critical sometimes of our spiritual leaders and think that they have it easy. We think that we are doing all the tough difficult things and they are nice and cosy, able to spend lovely time with God. We tend to discard the spiritual responsibility that they have and only look at what they are physically doing. While in fact they are winning the battle for us by focusing on the spiritual warfare God has placed in their hearts to do.

We should not be critical of them, but we should rather be like Aaron and Hur and help to keep 'their hands up'. We can extend a hand of help where we can, we can give them encouragement when needed, we can pray for them or we can even help on a physical level with their families/workload. Think first before you tend to think that they have it easy and you have it difficult. Remember, God's roles for each one of us is different, but no less important.

Thank you Father for the spiritual leaders in our lives. Father we pray that You will bless them abundantly and that You will lead them unto new heights spiritually. Give them the strength to carry on. In Jesus Name. Amen

The Israelites were camped at Raphidim as the Lord had commanded. Then suddenly the warriors of Amalek came to make war against them. The Amalekites were a nomadic tribe that lived in the desert region of the Dead Sea. They were descendants of Israel's twin brother, Esau. They were a hostile tribe and they made their living by attacking other tribes and taking away the plunder. They took pleasure in killing people. They were a warlike nation to be reckoned with.

Now the poor Israelites had never been in a battle before. All that they ever were was slaves. Nothing more. They didn't know about fighting and military strategies. They didn't know when to attack or where to begin, they knew nothing at all. But luckily they had God on their side and Moses knew this. That is why he didn't go with them into battle; he assigned Joshua as their leader. He knew the battle was to be fought on a spiritual side.

So Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of a nearby hill where they could observe the battle. Moses soon realized that the Israelites were winning when he kept his staff up and they were losing when he let his staff down. Thus he tried to keep his staff up, but his arms grew so tired that Aaron and Hur had to help him to keep his arms in the air. They kept it like that for the whole day and this act of Moses won the battle for the Israelites. He knew that their battle was spiritual and not against flesh and blood.

Sometimes we are so locked into the battle below in the valley, that we lose perspective of the true battle up on the 'hill'. We need to realize that it is much more profitable, to keep our eyes on God and 'fight the battle' by praying, fasting and giving all of our problems into His hands, than it is struggling in the physical battle ourselves. Of course we need to move when God says we must like I have discussed in a previous devotion, but we must fight the battle first on a spiritual level and only then on a physical level.

Paul also encourages us to lift our eyes up to heaven. That is where our true help lies. We need to focus more on what is going up in heaven, than what is going on down here on earth. Our true victory is in Jesus and in Him alone. He has won every battle there is, and we are part of His Body and we need to live in the reality of it. Paul says it lovely in Colossians 3:1:

"Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power."

The Israelites would never ever have won the battle out of their own strength. They were a bunch of slaves who were forced into combat against a crafty war-like nation. In the natural it is impossible that they could have won, but they did. Why? Because Moses, their leader, focused on God and knew that their victory was in Him and not in their own strength. And we should do it too.

Thank you God that You are there to fight our battles on our behalf! We are so grateful that we don't need to face the 'war-like nations' on our own, but that You are facing them with us. We praise Your Name! Amen

God wants us all to truly realize what it means to be His Children, to truly understand what the impact thereof should be on our lives. I have heard the concept so many times in my life that I know I have become blasé over it. And I don't think that I am alone in this notion. What does it really mean that we are children of God? There are two concepts that God revealed to me this morning. The first one is that we must realize that we are born from above and no longer merely human beings. We are children of the King of Kings. Just think about it for a moment, children of the King of Kings. Wow. Breathe it in to the depths of your soul and realize that because of it, we can stand tall. We need to realize that we can live as royalty, with not a worry in the world. How can we stress about the future if our Father owns it all? We need to claim the authority that the Father gives us due to our position. We need to realize that our destinies are not linked to this world anymore, but to the New Jerusalem to come. We can keep our heads held high, because the Lord has ordained us and He loves us. Of course with this position of authority we also need to realize (as all royalty do) that our actions are being watched and we need to ensure that we present the values of our Father to this world.

The second concept is that we need to start living on this earth like cloven-footed animals. Cloven-footed animals have split hooves and wherever they walk they leave a split hoof print on the ground. In other words, with each step they take, they leave two prints, connected together at the bottom. And we need to be the same. We are living on the earth, but at the same time we should be living as God's children in heaven. We should focus on God and the realities of heaven, whilst conducting our lives here on earth. Paul says it lovely in Colossians 3:1:

"Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God's right hand in the place of honor and power."

I heard of a pastor in Sweden who was suffering severely with arthritis and was in a lot of pain. But when people asked him how he coped with it, he chuckled and said that his mind is so set on Christ and what is happening in heaven that he mostly forgets about his discomfort down here on earth. How wonderful if we can all be like that. How wonderful if we can focus on what is good and true about us, how wonderful if we can focus on how God sees us and the amazing potential we have inside, instead of thinking about all that is wrong with the world around us and our situations.

My desire for you is that you focus on God and being part of His family. Lift your head up high and know that you are royalty, representing God on earth. You'll find yourself coping so much better with your life and all the stress it represents. You will find yourself walking with a spring in your step, knowing the reality about yourself. You are meant for so much more than what this world can present, you are meant for higher things. You are God's beloved, His very own child, in whom He finds delight. What better resume can one have? The Lord of Lords and the King of Kings delights in you and thinks you are great.

"You are a chosen people. You are a kingdom of priests, God's holy nation, His very own possession." 1 Peter 2:9

Look yourself in the mirror and realize who you are in Christ. You will never be the same.

Thank you Lord for the privilege of being Your child. I realize what a wonderful gift it is from You. Help me to live according to my destiny as Your child and to make You proud. Amen.

I cannot believe that 2012 has flown by so quickly. It feels like yesterday that I wrote the devotion with a message for 2012. There were so many uncertainties then, so many doom prophets doing the round, so many people predicting the end of the world at 21 December 2012. But that also came and went. This increased my faith even more, our God is in control, and no doom prophet or prediction! Ultimately it is all about Him. He is the One leading the way and that excites me. He has a Plan for our world and for each one of us and that makes me smile. That gives me peace and that gives me hope. Hope that God is in control, hope that He will lead the way and hope that there is a better future for us all. I can feel the excitement welling up in me. Each year we need to walk according to this excitement. We need to walk with a spring in our step, we need to walk like Jesus did.

On Christmas morning Dr Stephan Joubert brought a powerful message echoing this. He said that the people in Jesus' day believed that 'gods' had a different way of walking when they made their way down to their 'subjects' on earth. They walked like 'gods', like they were more noble than everyone else. And when Jesus came, they noticed His walk immediately. He was like a 'god' to them, they saw that He was different. But unlike their 'gods', He didn't deem Himself more important than all the others, He was one of them, a suffering Servant to them, even though He was distinctly different. He walked with dignity, He walked with compassion and He walked with love. He redefined the word 'love'. And we as Christians need to imitate His walk. We are after all His Body on earth, we represent Him and we need to show a lost world the walk of Christ. We need to show them that someone do care, we need to show them that there is hope after all and most importantly we need to show them His love. That should be our mission for 2013 and that is the Father's heart for each one of us. Even if 2013 doesn't deliver something spectacular for you, if you walk the walk of Jesus, you did more than enough and our Father is very pleased with you. The King of the Universe will smile on you and say "Well done, you good and faithful son." What more can we ask for?

I would like to leave you with the chorus of the song 'The motions' sung by Matthew West:

"I don't want to go through the motions, I don't want to go one more day without Your all consuming passion inside of me, I don't want to go through my life asking, what if I had given everything, instead of going through the motions."

And I would like to challenge you this year, to give everything you have, to walk like Jesus did with His all consuming passion inside of you. Don't simply go through the motions, but make a difference right there where you are and 2013 will be a year full of peace, hope and love!

Father, we don't want to simply go through the motions anymore, we want to be like Jesus and present Him to the world. We know we can't do this in our own strength, but thank you for Your Holy Spirit inside of us leading the way. Thank you for Jesus and His all consuming passion and thank you for being with us. With You by our side, we can do anything. We love You. Amen

The people of Israel were looked after by the Lord. He provided them with water when they complained and He provided them with food when they complained. He was very patient with them, even though they complained and failed all the tests He put in their path.

Now God led them to Rephidim and there was no water there. And what did they do? Did they pray? No. Did they ask Moses politely what they were going to do now? No. They did what they did best, they complained again.

"Why did you ever take us out of Egypt? Why did you bring us here? We, our children and our livestock will all die!" Exodus 17:3

And this time their complaining went so far that they even wanted to stone Moses! Shocking, but true. They even wanted to stone Moses, the one who gave up his livelihood in Midian and risked his life to come and rescue them out of Egypt. Poor old Moses, he didn't have an easy time!

And what did Moses do? Did he run to his friends and complained about his desperate situation? Did he cry on Miriam's or Aaron's shoulder? Did he have a nervous breakdown? No. He did the right thing. He pleaded with God to help him in this seemingly hopeless situation. And God helped him in his time of need and provided the water that the people were craving for.

We must follow Moses' example as well. We need to run to God first when we have problems or when we need direction. We tend to do the opposite, we tend to tell all our friends and get their opinions, then we tend to ask the help of our spouses/family, we tend to post our needs on Facebook, we tend to run to spiritual advisors to give us direction but only when our situation gets desperate do we turn to God. Why do we do that? Why is God last in line instead of first? Is it because we don't want to make the effort to hear God's Voice? It is much easier to hear the voice of our friend. Or are we afraid of what God's answer may be or what He might ask us to do?

Whatever the reason, we must be like Moses and not like the Israelites. We must turn to God when problems creep up on us. Of course we can discuss it with friends, family, spiritual mentors too, but they must never replace God. He must be first in line. After all, He will have the correct solution for you, as only He knows the end from the beginning and the beginning from the end. Remember this, next time you want to ring a friend first, God is patiently waiting for you to come to Him.

Thank you, thank you Lord that You are always there. You are never out of town, You are never unavailable, You are always there for us, praise Your Name! Forgive us if we don't run to You first, and thank you that You are so gracious and loving to always forgive us and to start over. Amen

The Lord looked after the Israelites. He rescued them from Egypt, He caused the Red Sea to dry up so that they can walk over on dry ground, He turned bitter water into sweet water and He led them to a wonderful oasis with twelve springs. He looked after them. But despite all that, the moment they left the oasis, they started complaining again.

"Oh, that we were back in Egypt," they moaned. "It would have been better if the Lord had killed us there! At least there we had plenty to eat. But now you have brought us into this desert to starve us to death." Exodus 16:3

They encountered a problem and instead of looking up to God for the answer to the problem, they moaned and groaned. They even had the audacity to romanticize their time in Egypt. They remembered only the good food, but they forgot all about the suffering they had to endure, all the beatings, all the unfair treatment. No, they remembered only the good things.

And we do the same. Once we are on a new road with God, we longingly look back to the 'good old days' on the former path we were on, when the new road gets a bit bumpy and difficult. Instead of looking ahead to the wonderful future that lies ahead of us; we tend to look back longing for the old path. Lot's wife did just that. She looked back to her 'good life' in Sodom and Gomorrah, whilst God specifically said that she should look forward to the new life He had in mind for her. And her outcome was that she turned into a salt pillar, never walking the path God had set out for her.

We too need to watch out. When we follow God and His perfect plan for our lives, we can so easily look back to where we could have been if we didn't follow God. It is a very dangerous thing to do. I also tend to do it sometimes. I look to my friends who started out with my on the Chartered Accountant path and I think where I could have been by now in the corporate world, had I not listened to God's calling on my life. I could have been high up in the corporate structure, earning a lot of money and receiving a lot of recognition and praise. But God quickly draws me back and help me to focus again on all He has in store for me. His new plan is the best plan for me. But despite that, I sometimes find myself still longing for some recognition and praise from the world, longing for an important position and lots of money streaming in on a monthly basis. My old man inside of me longs for that. But luckily the more I grow in the new man, who I truly am in Christ, the more the longing subsides and the more I crave only what God wants for me.

God is gracious and His plans are good. The Israelites moaned and longed back, and God in His grace supplied them with food every day. And today He supplies us with His Word and with His Spirit every day too. All we need to do is to go and pick it up like the Israelites had to do. Then we will have more than enough. Praise His wonderful Name!

You are glorious and You are wonderful! We praise You with all our might. You know best and we want You to lead the way. Please forgive us if we tend to look back, help us to look up to You instead. We love You. Amen

God saved the Israelites from the Egyptians. By His mighty deeds He delivered them. They were in awe of Him and sang His praises, rejoicing in His holiness and wonder! Then He led them away from the Red Sea and into the Shur desert. They continued on, probably still singing in their hearts, praising God for delivering them. But on the first day they didn't find water, but they didn't let that deter them, they continued. But on the second day when they still didn't find water their resolve began to crack and on the third day when the only water they could find was bitter, they cracked.

'Then the people turned against Moses, "What are we going to drink?" they demanded.' Exodus 15:24

How quickly they returned to being their old self again! Amazing. It is actually very sad. They hadn't fully realized that they could depend on God for everything. They fell in a slump so quickly after God's miraculous deeds and felt very sorry for themselves.

The same happened to Elijah. In 1 Kings 18 he had a contest with 450 Baal prophets and at Mount Carmel he proved to the whole of Israel that God was their true God and that Baal was just a statue with no power at all. He, with God's power, defeated the 450 Baal prophets and had them all killed. It was a major spiritual victory and God revealed His mighty power to Israel once again.

But right after this victory, Jezebel, the wife of Israel's king Ahab, heard of this and she wanted to kill Elijah. She sent a message to him telling him that she was coming after him and will kill him. Now one would think that after such a victory and display of God's power that Elijah will laugh at her and not be afraid. God had protected him from 450 Baal prophets; surely He would protect him from just one woman? And did Elijah stand strong in the faith? No he didn't, he was afraid and fled for his life. He even wanted to die.

"I have had enough, Lord." He said. "Take my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." 1 Kings 19:4.

Wow. After such an amazing victory he fell into such a slump that he even didn't want to live anymore. He was totally depressed.

And we can learn from this. Sometimes after a wonderful spiritual experience we might feel down afterwards. We might feel depressed and lonely. I have had the same experience after some wonderful revelations from God. Sometimes I think that the Lord wants to test your faith and see whether you will still believe when things are not going so well, and sometimes I think after a highly spiritual experience one can feel emotionally drained and then you are an open target for the devil too.

Whatever the reason, we need to deal with it. And how did God deal with the Israelites? He made the bitter water sweet and later brought them to Elim where there were twelve springs with wonderful water to drink! And how did He deal with Elijah? He gave him food and water and allowed him a time to rest.

God looks after us in the natural and after such highly spiritual experiences, allow yourself a time to rest and recuperate. Spend time alone in the presence of God. Build yourself up spiritually and physically and you will see that you will be right to go on with God's work in no time.

Thank you Lord for looking after us. You are so amazing and so wonderful! Thank you that You understand that we need our physical needs met too before we can continue our work for You. Help us to make the most of the opportunities that come our way. Amen

God had saved the Israelites from the Egyptians. Firstly with ten plagues and then finally by sweeping the whole of Pharaoh's army out of the way with the forces of the Red Sea cascading down upon them. It must have been a marvelous sight to see! And what did the Israelites do? They immediately broke out in song, singing praises to the Lord. They rejoiced in Him and praised His Name. It is wonderful that they immediately did that and we must follow their example and do just that when God does miracles in our lives.

But wouldn't it have been wonderful if they rejoiced in the Lord before He led them through the Red Sea too, instead of complaining to Him? And the same is true for us. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we can praise God no matter what our circumstances are? The Bible explicitly tells us to do just that. We need to praise God and exalt His Name, because of Who He is, not because of what is going on around us.

For example when Nehemiah came to Jerusalem to help rebuild the walls, it was not a very pleasant time in the lives of the Israelites living there. They were discouraged and they faced trouble on every side. And what did God tell them to do? He told them to find their joy in Him again.

'Ezra praised the Lord, the great God, and all the people chanted, "Amen! Amen!" as they lifted their hands towards heaven. Then they bowed down and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground.' Nehemiah 8:6

"Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength!" Nehemiah 8:10

They praised God and their mood lifted. Verse 12 of Nehemiah 8 even says they started to celebrate with great joy! Wonderful.

Paul also encouraged others to rejoice in the Lord.

"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice!" Philippians 4:4

And it is amazing to note that when he wrote this he was in a Roman prison. He had everything humanly speaking against him, yet he rejoiced in God!

Also in Colossians 1:12 Paul encouraged believers to be full of joy no matter what:

"May you be filled with joy, always thanking the Father, who has enabled you to share the inheritance that belongs to God's holy people, who live in the light."

Give thanks to God and sing His praises whether your circumstances are good or bad. I know it is a very difficult thing to do, but the benefits far outweigh your effort to do it!

I am going to end off with a song, 'I will praise You in the storm' from Casting Crowns as our prayer today.

"I lift my eyes unto the hill, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of the heaven and earth. Yes I will praise You in the storm and I will lift my hands. For You are who You are, no matter where I am. Every tear I've cried, You hold in Your hand and though my heart is torn, I will praise You in the storm." Amen

The Israelites camped alongside the shores of the Red Sea just as God had told them to. They were absolutely in the Will of God and adhering to His Words without wavering. But then a problem attacked them. Pharaoh and his army were back! They were going to attack them and force them to return back to Egypt as slaves. They were paralyzed with fear and had a total nervous breakdown under the pressure! And the first person they blamed was Moses; they immediately turned to him and complained to him. His reaction was beautiful to me. How Moses had changed in a short while. I mean just a while ago he basically told the Lord that he was a nobody and he couldn't possibly help the Lord in freeing these people, and here he was a tower of faith.

"Don't be afraid. Just stand where you are and watch the Lord rescue you. The Egyptians that you see today will never be seen again. The Lord Himself will fight for you. You won't have to lift a finger in your defense!" Exodus 14:13, 14

He had amazing faith, something we can all strive for. But the very next sentence is quite interesting to me:

'Then the Lord said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to Me? Tell the people to get moving!" Exodus 14:15

The Lord was in effect saying here that Moses should stop praying and start acting! Interesting. I think we can learn something from that. Prayer is absolutely vital to our Christian lives; it is our life line and our way of communicating to our living God. But it would seem to me that sometimes we need to act to. Sometimes we should stop praying and start acting. I carefully thought about this and it is so true. I think sometimes we can use prayer as an excuse for being passive. For example we will say we will act once we have received guidance on what to do. But in the mean time we have received guidance and confirmations long ago and we simply use prayer as an excuse not to act.

We need to examine our motives when we don't act. Is it really because we haven't received guidance yet, or is it because we don't really want to act? God had told Moses that He will use Moses' staff to display His wonders and do His miracles, and God expected Moses to stop crying out to Him and act by using his staff. Moses did act and the result was miraculous, amazing.

Start acting too when you know what God wants you to do. You will be taking one step closer to the miraculous happening.

Father God, please forgive us if we don't act when You want us to act. Please give us the courage to stand up and do what You want us to do. We only want to please You. Amen