Category: religion

“Before there was Egypt, there was a promise!”

Many times when we discuss the land of Egypt within the confines of the Bible, our minds automatically track back to the time when the children of Israel were in bondage there.  We see them under the weight of the taskmasters, dealing with oppressive circumstances that are beyond their control.  They stand by and watch as some are beaten, others are killed; lack and degrading situations run rampant throughout their time there.  Fear, hatred, and jealousy by others drove them to the place where they are residing; a place where tough days seem like they will never come to an end.

Oftentimes, when people find themselves in a hard spot of life, or when they find themselves coming up short and just not happy with the way things are turning out at this particular time, they refer to that circumstance as their place of “Egypt.”  This is where heartbreak and troubling times lie.  This is the place where it seems everything is fighting against them, and no matter what one does, it just doesn’t appear that they will ever come out on top.  People may not have taskmasters’ whips to deal with, but other things just lash and lash out at them, making it hard to get back up again.

As hard as this may be to believe, I assure you your Egypt will not last forever.  I’m sure the children of Israel had doubts about this.  After all, their time there lasted about four hundred years.  Yet, even before this family of seventy ventured into the land and grew to the astronomical numbers we see in Exodus, God knew all about their time there before they were even there.

In Genesis 15:13 God told Abram, “Know of a surety that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them; and they shall afflict them four hundred years.”  Outside of that prophecy God also said, “And also that nation, whom they shall serve, will I judge: and afterward shall they come out with great substance,” (Genesis 15:14).  In this we see, there was a promise before they even set one foot in Egypt; before they even encountered a problem, God already had a blessing lined up for when they came out.

Today, we fight against so many unknowns.  We deal with all the this’s and that’s of life that simply weigh one down.  One might not find themselves in a literal state of captivity, but something just sits on them heavy, becoming an almost unbearable burden, and they just don’t know what to do.  With a feeling of exasperation, some just give up, content to go through the motions of life, without grabbing hold of the feeling of hope because of the fear of being let down again, just to drift back into that state of uncertainty once more.

But, I am here to tell you today, continue hoping and never give up.  Your “Egypt” is not lost on God.  God knows what you are facing.  He knows every disappointment you are dealing with.  He knows every struggle you are battling.  He knows everything that you are fighting through, and that’s fighting against you.

It may be hard to see the proverbial silver lining in a dark cloud at times or the light at the end of the tunnel, but we have something better.  We have a promise!  God told Abram that when his people came out, they would be coming out better than when they went in.  God was going to judge those who did them wrong, and God was going to bless them greatly.

Another promise Abram received was in a few verses before those noted above.  God told him, “Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be,” (Genesis 15:5).  Not only were they going to be blessed, but they were going to come out increased in the people they were.  To go from one individual to the millions they would come out to be, they were going to grow not only in number but in experience through their troubling times.  They would have to learn to endure some stuff to be the people who would eventually be fit to take on the Promised Land.

While it may at times seem like the hard times are breaking you, they may actually be making you.  So remember, before there was Egypt, there was a promise.  And, I don’t know about you, but I will take a promise of God over a so-called silver lining any day.  The promises of God are sure.  Through our relationship with Jesus Christ, we are told, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us,” (2 Corinthians 1:20).

In other words, no matter what you are facing today, Jesus has you covered.  No matter the obstacles or hard places that make you feel like you are in Egypt and you just want to give up, God has an unfailing promise of His love, grace, mercy, peace, and deliverance through even the most difficult circumstances.

Reposted from April 19, 2020

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Limiting God | Reposting Encouragement

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Today, I am reposting encouragement. May you walk in the fullness of God’s unlimited blessings, because almost everybody wants to see a mighty move of God in their life.  But often, some things get in God’s way; obstacles that act as barriers to blessings.  There are two very specific items I want to deal with in this article that the Bible clearly shows us to be things that limit God’s power to work in an individual’s or a people’s life.

But, before I move any further in this article, I want to clarify a few things: 1) Just because one may be in the waiting process, it doesn’t mean these items that are going to be discussed apply to that individual or their situation.  Sometimes, for His own wise reasons, God just has us waiting for His right time to move.  And, 2) The two items that are going to be listed here are not the only things that form themselves as a blockade to one’s blessings.  A truly seeking heart will prayerfully peel back the layers of self for a close-up examination of the inner man to see if there is anything else that may be getting in the way.

As I was reading my Bible, I came across Psalm 78:41, which states, “Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel.”  This psalm recites Israel’s history, and it highlights several of their rebellious moments.  Particularly, God’s deliverance of them from Egypt, and their provocation of Him in the wilderness, through sin.  The verse above brings out those same disobedient actions as limiting God.  Their sin made a mark or drew a line, prohibiting them from the fullness of God and what He had to offer.  Rather, they ended up provoking Him to anger.

Disobedience is one thing that will definitely limit God’s ability to work in you, through you, and for you.  Disobedience evicted Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-11) when God’s blessing was for them to live in paradise.  Disobedience turned Lot’s wife into a pillar of salt (Genesis 19:17, 26) when God’s blessings wanted to deliver them from that city of sin.  Disobedience caused Jonah to end up in the belly of a fish (Jonah 1:3, 15-17) when God’s blessing was for him to be a great witness to a great city.  And, there are oodles of more cases noted in the Bible.  Disobedience will always forfeit God’s best in one’s life.

As I was pondering this verse in the Psalm about limiting God, I was reminded of a time when Jesus wasn’t able to do great works in Nazareth, His hometown.  Matthew 13:58 tells us, “And he did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.”  He was limited by their unbelief.

Now, we all know by now Jesus’ ability to do absolutely anything.  One thing He won’t do is infringe, encroach upon, or overstep one’s belief.  Mankind is a creature made with free will.  It is His hope and desire that one would fully believe who He is and all that He says He can do.  But it is a choice that every individual must make, by faith, for himself or herself.

The Bible tells us in no uncertain terms that, “Without faith it is impossible to please him:” (or, to agree with Him), “for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him,” (Hebrews 11:6).

God is the God of all possibilities, but a lack of faith and belief will hinder those possibilities.  Unbelief caused the first group that attempted to enter the Promised Land to be made to turn back (Hebrews 3:19).  God’s best wasn’t for them to wander in the wilderness for forty years.  His blessing was for them to go in and possess it at that time.  Their own unbelief refused the blessing for them.  Going back to Psalm 78 in the recitation of their history, there are other noted instances where the unbelief of the people came to the forefront (Psalm 78:22, 32).

In the New Testament, if it had not been for Jesus on the boat with His disciples, they may have perished in the storm.  Jesus had already done miracles and even taught many powerful parables, but when the storm blew, they freaked out and asked Jesus, “Master, carest thou not that we perish?” (Mark 4:38).  But after Jesus stilled the storm He asked them this one question: “How is it that ye have no faith?” (Mark 4:40).  Faith matters.

Back to Jesus’ experience in Nazareth, in parallel verses found in Mark, the Bible tells us, “He marvelled because of their unbelief” (Mark 6:6).

God, throughout the Bible, wants the best for His people.  God would rather add blessings to our account rather than subtract them.  If God blesses and takes care of the birds of the air and the grass in the field (Matthew 6:25-29), “shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith,” (Matthew 6:30).

But He says in Matthew, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you,” (Matthew 6:33; emphasis added).  Go after a life of obedience and faith!  Reject those hindrances to the blessings.  The things that stand in one’s way and limit God’s moving in their life have to be put down so that He can raise His people higher.

We hear a lot of inspirational messages dealing with the subject of “No Limits.”  And, that’s wonderful!  But, in order to have a life of no limits, one needs to make sure God isn’t being limited in their life through disobedience and unbelief.

Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details.

“Don’t Romanticize Life!”

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“Forget, and Be Fruitful!”

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While every day we have is a gift, admittedly, some days are harder to move past than others.  Hurts, disappointments, and pain can sit on people like heavy weights.  Past negatives can seem like an insurmountable mountain we may struggle to climb. So, I pray today’s devotion will help to lighten the steps on the path you are walking and encourage your heart to keep moving forward productively in faith.

And one person who can teach us that is Joseph. He was a man who suffered trials, unfair treatment, and affliction, and yet overcame them all.  His relationship with his brothers was filled with ridicule, lack of support, jealousy, and hatred, which caused them to look unfavorably upon him.

Eventually, their hostility toward their brother led them to do the unthinkable and cast him away by selling him into slavery. The sting of their betrayal was with Joseph as his new life began as a slave in Egypt. But thankfully, this would not be the end of his story, nor would his heart rest in bitterness here.

Though in his land of affliction he originally found favor, unfortunately, there he was also lied about and mistreated, adding salt to the open wounds he had already suffered, eventually finding himself thrown in prison.

And although he was held in prison, prison didn’t have a hold on him. Joseph’s character never changed. In prison and alone, he was still willing to help others by working, being faithful, and using the gift that God instilled in him in revealing dreams.

Unfortunately, once again, he was overlooked and forgotten and left to deal with life alone.  The awesome thing about his story (and ours) is that even if he felt like it at times, Joseph was never alone.  God had a great plan for his life.

Many of us are familiar with how God elevated Joseph from his affliction and blessed him with a position of great honor in the palace after revealing the meaning of Pharaoh’s dream.  Eventually, he became governor over all Egypt, where everyone bowed to him except Pharaoh.  What a change of life and position!

After coming to power, Joseph married and had two sons: “And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house.  And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction,” (Genesis 41:51-52). 

His story shows that when stepping into new days, we do not have to carry the unwanted baggage of days before. We can declare, as Joseph did, that we are ready to move on and be fruitful in the place God has us in right now, for that’s what his declaration in naming his sons meant.

Every day, God has opened a world of opportunity for us to forget the past and move on into something greater.  We may not be the governor of Egypt, but I don’t believe God has allowed us to see this new day for naught.  We were designed to make the most of our time here and now and be fruitful right where we are.

Fruitfulness is a desire of God for His people: “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper,” (Psalm 1:3). 

Therefore, today is the time to venture forward in faith and be productive.  Today, we can release the weight, lay down the heaviness, and walk confidently and abundantly into where God has us for this season. This is your time. Today is the day of new beginnings!

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Copyright © Word For Life Says.com (Sharing any posts or lessons can only be done through the share buttons provided on this site from the original posts, lessons, and articles only. You can reblog from the original posts only using the reblog button provided, or share using the share buttons provided from these social media platforms: Facebook, X, or Pinterest, etc., and they must be shared from the original posts only. All other repostings are prohibited. Posts and other items of interest found on this site MAY NOT BE COPIED AND PASTED, downloaded, uploaded, etc to another website or entity not listed (physical or electronic).  See COPYRIGHT PAGE for more details. 

You Are the One

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You are the One we look to for hope and healing.
You are the One who gives new life so appealing.

You are the One who brings wholeness from brokenness.
You are the One who restores ruins and messes.

You are the One, the mender of breaches.
You are the One for whom my soul gladly reaches.

You are the One who shelters and saves.
You are the One who raises the dead from graves.

You are the One, all-encompassing truth.
By faith, my sight needs no visible proof.

For You are the One who saves from eternal fire.
You are the One, my glory and holy desire.

You are the One who bears us on eagle’s wings.
You are the One who carries us forever to eternity.

You are the One who saves to the utmost.
You are the One in whom my soul gladly boasts.

You are the One, the only one God true and right,
to Whom none can compare, my soul’s joyful delight.

“To whom then will ye liken God? or what likeness will ye compare unto him?” Isaiah 40:18

“Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:” Deuteronomy 6:4

“I am the Lord, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me: That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.” Isaiah 45:5, 6


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God’s Unexpiring Word

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Friend, look into your cabinet now and see how many things have an expiration date. But as children of God, we have His unexpiring word to cling to. We have this blessed assurance in every promise God has bestowed on us. Sometimes the journey will be harder than we would like it to be, yet the assurance remains the same, for “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numbers 23:19). Even if your days feel like you are standing on shakey ground, His promises are still immovable. Even if you don’t understand, His words are still true and will hold through the test of time, even to the very end: “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew 24:35).

~Word for Life Says

Refuse to Be Moved

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Friends refused to be moved. Refuse to allow the tempestuous seas of life to toss you about. Refuse the swaying of this way and that, but make a stand to stay. Stay in the realm of your faith. Stay on this holy course of action. Stay where your hope is sure and secured. Stay anchored in the care and belief of who Jesus Christ is in your life. Though some days may seem overwhelming and the tug of life gets hard, blessed are the ones who know “We might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and steadfast…” (Hebrews 6:18b-19a).

~Word for Life Says

The Quencher of Our Soul’s Desire

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Friend, there is a fountain we can freely come to satisfy our thirst that will never dry out. Spiritual refreshment for the day ahead. Hope to cling to when we feel parched and depleted. Jesus Christ is the quencher of our soul’s desire and He said, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life,” (John 4:14). Come, and be filled.

~Word for Life Says

“Resetting Holiness!”

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“Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord” (Hebrews 12:14).

“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean” (Ezekiel 44:23).

“My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children” (Hosea 4:6).

“Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” (1 Peter 1:16).

Resetting holiness.  Has the church lost this all-important standard?  Has the desire to become a seeker-friendly church (which I have nothing against) and the like caused us to shift our focus from how God calls us to worship, live, and operate?

Have we become like the temple that Ezekiel witnessed, whose people caused the glory of God to leave that place?

Studying Ezekiel 8, we see while there was “worship” going on in the temple, it was not God’s worship.  The people who were to live in a covenant relationship with God were bowing down to false gods and giving themselves over completely to idolatry.  The people who were to live pure and holy, a sanctified (set apart) people, their lives and practices now celebrated the things God called abominations.  Things that were wrong and out of order of the true reverence of God were now being declared to be right and acceptable.

In that, I wonder how far the modern church has drifted from God’s holy standards and how close we are to being like those people of old.  Those who “worshiped” wrongly behind the walls believing it did not matter and that nobody, including God, saw them (ref. Ezekiel 8:12).

While we may not be involved in those exact things, and while I have nothing against the modern uses whereby we usher in worship, I must wonder if in our coming together, we are coming in the right spirit.  When David penned the words, “Give unto the LORD, O ye mighty, give unto the LORD glory and strength.  Give unto the LORD the glory due unto his name; worship the LORD in the beauty of holiness” (Psalm 29:1-2), I see in those beautiful verses what God deserves, and I must ask myself are we giving Him what He deserves?

Are we magnifying His glory in our building and in our lives, or are we chasing His glory away from the center of what we call worship, as seen in Ezekiel 10?

For God’s glory to be strong with us, we must be strong in God!  God doesn’t want us to honor Him with our mouths only, but He wants us to live and worship Him from the heart (Matthew 15:8; Isaiah 29:13).

And, my friends, it is from the heart where the resetting needs to begin, a heart that longs for more of God.  It is worship that invites His presence to come closer rather than repelling.  We want God’s glory permeating the atmosphere as in the days of old when they were overwhelmed in worship by His presence in a good way (1 Kings 8:10-11).

But for that to happen, things must change.  Wherever God’s presence is, things cannot go on as before.  He is a holy God, and the environment where He resides must be holy.  There is a transformation that must take place where the people worship.

God’s desire has always been to be near His people.  And in Ezekiel 43, he sees a light of hope.  Instead of seeing God’s glory moving away from His people, God’s glory is moving toward His people, toward His temple (43:3-5).

With that also came a message of warning: “And I heard him speaking unto me out of the house; and the man stood by me.  And he said unto me, Son of man, the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and my holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile . . .” (43:6-7).

God cannot reside in an unsanctified place.  The people’s responsibility was to get in line with what God wanted.  For Him, there has always been a line between holy and unholy (Leviticus 10:10).  There must be a resetting of holiness as the standard then, as well as now: “This is the law of the house; Upon the top of the mountain the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy . . .” (Ezekiel 43:12).

In all of this, you may be wondering how exactly do we go about the business of resetting holiness?

First, I must say that resetting holiness should always begin with repentance.  God’s glory left the temple because of the people’s sin.  Sin corrupts.  Sin interrupts fellowship with God.  Sin will prohibit Him from coming to where you are.  They were to “put away” from them those things that defiled the place of worship (Ezekiel 43:7-9).

James 4:8 says, “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you. Cleanse your hands, ye sinners; and purify your hearts, ye double minded” (see also Isaiah 1:16 and 2 Timothy 2:21).

Then, there must be the restoration of proper worship.  They had to do more than take the wrong things out.  They had to bring in or adopt the right things, the right ways.

For them, the focus was on the altar and how it was to be consecrated, respected, and used (Ezekiel 43:13-25).  They had to fully honor God in His service.  They do this by honoring the way He prescribed things to be done.

How this restoration of true worship may look for us today is for us to refocus on why we are here, what we are doing here, and who are we honoring here.  Answering those questions will help us to realign our purpose for being here, which all boils down to one complete, overall answer: God.

Why are we here? – God.

What are we doing here? – God.

Who are we honoring here? – God.

When we keep those three things in proper perspective, we reset holiness as the standard in our lives and in our worship, and the glory of God can take over the atmosphere.

Reposted from October 11, 2022

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Thinking Back

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Friends, where has the focus of your heart rested today? It is good to come to the place of remembrance and think about all the Lord has done for us and what He has brought us through. The psalmist said, “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands” (Psalm 143:5). Like a daily vitamin, it is nourishing for the soul to spend time reflecting on the Lord’s hand in one’s life and letting the thoughts thereof build one’s faith even stronger.

~Word for Life Says