Exodus chapter 26

33 Hang the curtain from the clasps and place the ark of the Testimony behind the curtain. The curtain will separate the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

These are the detailed instructions for the building of the Tabernacle. It refers here in verse 8 to the curtain which separates the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place.

These are the two most sacred rooms in the Tabernacle, with the holy Place being where the incense altar , the lampstand and the Bread of the Presence was kept and the Most holy Place being the room that only the High Priest was allowed to enter, and even that was only on one day of the year, the Day of Atonement. That was the day when the priest made atonement for the sins of the nation as a whole.

The curtain was a symbol of the divide between God and us. It set the Ark of the covenant, where God's presence rested on the cover, apart from the rest of the Tabernacle, signifying how God was separated from us, or rather, how separated from God we were. Our sin, symbolised by the curtain, kept us apart. This is just my interpretation though and may be completely wrong.

When Christ died on the cross, the curtain that separates the two rooms was torn in two from top to bottom, symbolising that we now have free access to God (we can freely approach his throne of grace) because of the sacrifice of Jesus. We don't have to approach God through sacrifices and priests.

We don't have to ask a priest for forgiveness, we can go direct to God ourselves. Whereas before, we were considered sinful and so could not go to God direct (because He is so pure, so holy, he can have nothing to do with sin), now we are seen as righteous, because Jesus has taken all our sins away and we have received the forgiveness of God.

There are times when I am just so in awe of all that God has done, that Jesus has done, for me, for each one of us. I mean, can you imagine having one of your children do what Jesus did? Suffer what he went through? It’s difficult to comprehend the magnitude of it all at times, it is so overwhelming, to think that God loves each and every one of us so much, that He would do this. And then He doesn't go and leave us to fend for ourselves, either, oh no. He sends His Holy Spirit, the comforter, the guide, to help us. How many times has something happened and you feel or hear this voice inside, and you just know what to say, what to do, what not to do? If we all listened to the voice of the Holy Spirit within us all the time, just think what a better replace this world would be.

Exodus chapter 25

2 Tell the Israelites to bring me an offering. You are to receive the offering for me from each man whose heart prompts him to give.

This is another reference to the heart and about how God wants us to give from the heart, not the head. It's not a case of giving so as to impress the neighbours with our generosity, to make everyone think what a "good" person we are. God sees into our hearts, He knows our motives, our intentions, and He knows whether we are doing something for the right reasons or not. He doesn't want us to give because we feel obliged to, but to give because we want to, to show our thanks to God for all that He has done. So He tells Moses that He wants offerings from those whose hearts prompt them to give.

Sometimes, we get pressured into giving, when everyone else is giving, we feel obliged to do the same and are maybe made to feel selfish if we don't give. Like if we go to a conference and they take a "love" offering, then we end up feel pressurised into giving because everyone else is, and to not give would mean we weren't showing love.

Like tithing, this can be a difficult topic, something that brings out the best and worst in people, with many holding strong views. Any giving, whether it is to our own church, to a charity, to someone collecting on a street corner, or as part of an offering at a conference, should be from the heart, something we ask God about to see if He wants us to give. That is not a get out clause meaning we can tell ourselves that God has said no to making a donation though either. In all honesty, most people will know whether to give or not is the right thing to do and refusing to give because you really don't want to but claiming God told you so is just trying to hide your own motives. Similarly, feeling forced to give is not wants God wants for us either.

It's a case of being honest with ourselves, with others and with God. If we don't want to give, then tell God so. But don't try and dress it up with pious sounding words and explanations to try and make people impressed with your learning and erudition. God knows exactly what we are up to when we do this. And then when we do give, don't try to impress others with our generosity, our nobleness, our serving. Like Jesus says, it needs to be a case of the right hand not knowing what the left hand is doing and to give in secret, so that our Father in heaven who knows all things sees, rather than men here on earth. It’s a heart matter, and when our hearts are right with God, everything will flow from that.

Exodus chapter 24

9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up

10 and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.

11 But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

Isn't is awesome how you can read verses in the bible and see something different each time? I've only just noticed that when Moses, Aaron and the others went up the mountain, they saw God and yet I've read this chapter many times. But just imagine that, they actually saw God and they lived to tell the tale which makes it all the more surprising that Aaron and the others went along with making the golden calf in chapter 32.

But going back to seeing God, what a difference from later on, when Isaiah saw God in Isaiah

Chapter 6:

Woe to me! I cried. I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty.

Yet here, they are eating and drinking before the Lord! This is not some face to face encounter, with the elders talking to God, but it impressed on them that He was real, that He existed, and that He would be with them. It meant (or it should have meant) that they trusted in God, and that they would believe Moses when God spoke through him. Eating before God was to give them a sense of fellowship with God. I wonder whether God ate as well (does God eat? I mean, if He is spirit, then presumably He doesn't?).

I can't help wonder how come the men saw all this and then a short while later, made a golden calf because they thought Moses had abandoned them. But then I guess it's like Christians who later renounce their faith, and go on to become Muslims, Buddhists, atheists and so on. Walking with God is a daily thing, something you have to approach fresh each and every day and not let the cares and worries of this world distract you from spending time with God. Maybe the men went back down again and forgot all about this, maybe they told everyone, maybe they kept revisiting it in their minds, talking to God about it in prayer, or maybe they let the cares and worries of caring for the people of Israel overwhelm them.

Exodus chapter 23

19 Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

The one thing that struck me in this chapter was verse 19:

Bring the best of the first fruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.

This is firstly about giving our best to God, not the leftovers, or what we can do without, but the very best. It all goes back to the age old argument about whether we should tithe and if so, is it out of our net or gross income. I don't intent to get into an argument about that, as I know some people hold very strong views saying we should, others hold equally string views that we shouldn't. But what I do think is that we should give our very best to God, whether that be in the form of tithes, money in the offering plate, giving to charity, helping the poor, giving our time, our effort, our skills. God deserves the best we have, not the scraps, the leftovers, the time we have left when we have wined and dined, been out on the town, enjoyed ourselves and spent up. He deserves the first fruits, the best of the harvest.

But then you read on in this chapter and it talks about not cooking a young goat in its mothers milk. At first glance, this seems completely out of context, a random comment thrown in just to confuse. But in actual fact, according to what I have read on the internet ( a great source of information!), the Lord is warning the people here against the practices of the Canaanites, who would, apparently, sacrifice young goats in the milk of their mother to appease their goddess of fertility. However, it has led to the tradition of keeping meat and milk separate that strict Jews adhere to even today, with separate fridges, cooking dishes, etc for meat and milk dishes ( a very simplistic view, I know and there is lot more behind this).

In everything God commands, He is looking out for the people, trying to warn us about things to come, to educate us, to teach us His rules. God is so just, so pure, so holy, that He would never ask someone to do something that was wrong. Here, the whole thing about the young goat is that if the Israelites were in the habit of never doing this, if it became second nature, then when they saw the Canaanites and others performing this type of sacrifice, they would never even consider doing it themselves. But God knew back in the wilderness what the people would face when they reached Canaan, so He was forearming them against this.

It is all part and parcel of being taught right from wrong. If you are taught from an early age what you can and cannot do, then this principles become part of you, they become second nature. Whereas if you are not taught that it is wrong to steal, wrong to murder, to lie, to cheat and so on, then they too become ingrained. It is hard to break the habits of a lifetime either way, which is why it is so sad to see the way things are today, with children not being taught right from wrong.

Exodus chapter 22

These are rules governing the protection of property and various other rules showing how to act in certain specific situations. They are not meant to cover every situation, but are general guidelines as to what to do. Using these guidelines, the people should be able to set laws that were fair and just.

But as with everything, there would be situations that crop up that are not specifically covered here. I would imagine that is how the Rabbis started giving their rulings on matters, and the whole problem in Jesus' day with the Pharisees having rules governing what you could and could not do on the Sabbath. I mean, if plucking a few heads of wheat from the edge of the field was considered to be harvesting it shows to what extent the rules had become picky.

It is easy to get carried away, to try and come up with something that would cover each and every circumstance, but in reality, that is just not possible. What is necessary is to keep the Ten Commandments in mind, pay attention to these specific examples to see the gist of what is meant, and then follow that. It obviously became commonplace to take everything to the nth degree, and common sense was left behind as strict adherence to the rules became the norm. God did not intend us to live our lives forever watching to see if we were breaking some rule or other. Jesus came to bring us life in all its fullness, not to bring us life filled with petty rules saying we could do this, we couldn't do the other, we must follow this tradition, and so on.

We need to apply the Ten Commandments but keep common sense around as well.

Exodus chapter 21

These are practical examples of how God's Laws work in practice. What you have

Here are specific examples of situations and the action to be taken. Whilst some of them may seem unjust today , such as being allowed to beat your own slave and as long as they live, there is no retribution, they were presumably applicable to the time they were written. But even though we (or at least most of us) do not have slaves and the like, the general principles can still be applied to our lives. It is a case of taking things to God in prayer, of seeking His wisdom, His judgement to ensure that matters are dealt with fairly and justly.

The nation of Israel was given these laws (the Ten Commandments to set them apart form other nations, so they had a code of conduct that would mean something. If we today kept the Ten Commandments, just how much better a place would the world be? We as Christians need to take a stand, to let our light shine before men and to walk and talk in the manner god would have us walk and talk. We are not behave like other men, trying to get what we can out of life, seeking to satisfy our desires all the time, get more money, a bigger house, newer car, promotion, more pay and so on. In stead, we are to concentrate on the things of God, and to let Him fulfil all our daily wants and needs.

The eye for the eye rule was designed to make the punishment fit the crime, so that it was not excessive in comparison to the original wrong doing. It is easy to be too zealous when punishing someone - you only have to look at the situation on India right now as Hindu fanatics wreak their vengeance on the Christians for alleged killings. There, thousands of Christians have fled their homes, children's homes are being surrounded by angry mobs and threatened, many have been killed. Yet where is the justice in this? What crime have the majority of those suffering committed?

Exodus chapter 20

The Ten commandments:

1. You shall have no other gods before me.
2. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.
3. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
4. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
5. Honour your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
6. You shall not murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery.
8. You shall not steal.
9. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbour.
10. You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour

These are just as applicable today as they were all those years ago. Just think what a place the world would be if we all obeyed the ten commandments! But who can say honestly say they have never broken any of them? The only one who can say that is Jesus.

They are not an extensive list, with sections, subsections and all other sorts of caveats, but just ten basic commands. But the thing is, if we stick to these, then everything else flows naturally. For instance, if we don't covet, we won't be forever trying to keep up with the Joneses, to get that new car, the biggest and best HD television, the latest fashions, the holiday abroad and so on. We will be content with what God gives us and know that we can trust in Him to provide all we need.

If we put God first in our lives, give Him the glory, the praise, the thanksgiving, then our priorities will flow from that. We will naturally want to do as God would have us do, and yes, whilst we may well (and undoubtedly will) mess up, we will be seeking to do God's will. God should be first in our lives, not last, or after we take the children to school or put that load of washing on, or after we have completed that tax return. And when God is first in our lives, then the rest of the commandments come as naturally as breathing, because we will be walking down the paths God takes us and we won't be seeking to disrespect our parents, commit murder or adultery (even if it is only in our hearts), steal (even if that only involves not giving back the extra change we are given by the shopkeeper when shopping), lie (albeit just repeating something we have been told about someone else when we know it may well not be true) and coveting, wanting what we haven't got because someone else has it.

Exodus chapter 19

4 'You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.

5 Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,

6 you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.

This is the fulfilment of the Lord's promise to Abraham, and the people respond by saying that they would do everything the Lord commanded.

But words are cheap, and it is easy to say you will follow God when things are going well. Here, they had miraculously escaped from Egypt and seen Pharaoh's army destroyed. Water and food had been provided, and they knew it was from God. So whilst they were there in the desert, with no running water, hot baths and showers, comfy bed, computers, microwaves, cars and all the other things we take so much for granted these days, they knew that all they had was from God. But times were going to get hard for them, and what then?

What about us, when things get hard for us? It has to be a case of trusting in God at all times, through the good and the bad, and to take each day one at a time. To daily approach the throne of God and ask for help to get through the day, to deal with whatever the day will throw at us. This is one of the reasons why we need to have a quiet time, to spend time with God, with Jesus, to let the Holy Spirit fill us anew each day. It is so easy to forgo this, to get involved in checking emails, clicking on links and browsing the internet, starting work straight away or having to sort the children out and oops, before you know it the day has gone, and where was that quiet time? I know I have to make a conscious effort each day, to deliberately stop what I am doing and spend time with God. Some days I succeed, others I don't. But the day always goes far better when I start with time with God.

But I want to walk in the Kingdom light, I want to walk and talk with God all the time. Life is hectic, and is, for me, liable to get even more so between now and the end of January (one of the downsides of being an accountant in the UK with tax return filing deadlines on 31 January!). So I make the time wherever I can. I may not always have time first thing, but in the car, after taking the children to school to work, then on the way to and from meetings, there are always snippets in each day where I can spend time with God. So I am trying to develop the habit of using all these moments, to make the best possible use of my time, as I do have a tendency to be very lazy!

Exodus chapter 18

23 If you follow this advice, and if God commands you to do so, then you will be able to endure the pressures, and all these people will go home in peace.

Moses' father in law, Jethro, came to visit and he saw what God had done. Now he was a priest of Midian, Midian being one of the sons of Abraham. I've looked this up and it appears that Jethro may have been involved in the worship of idols, rather than Jehovah, but it is difficult to be certain from what I have read so far. However, what is clear is that when he came to visit, and heard about all the Lord had done, he gave praise to God "Praise be to the LORD, who rescued you from the hand of the Egyptians and of Pharaoh, and who rescued the people from the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly." (verses10-11)

Jethro saw how busy Moses was, from morning to evening every day. He told Moses that he was wearing himself out and that he should delegate. But I found it interesting that the caveat to the advice was "if God commands you so to do." Jethro was telling him to check with God to see if it was a good idea. So a priest of Midian, who was presumably involved in the worship of idols, saw what God had done, gave Him the praise and told Moses to seek the guidance of God.

Sometimes what we have done, the things that have happened to us, are such a witness to others that they too come to believe in God. It is a case of having a lifestyle that radiates God in all that we do and say, one where people know from the way we behave, whether we are with others or on our own, that we are Christians.

But it needs to be a lifestyle that is continually checking in with God, seeking His guidance, not just when the big questions arise (should I change jobs, move house, get married and so on) but on the little things too. God is interested in every single aspect of our lives and is there the whole time, not just for the major life changing decisions. He has hemmed us in (Psalm 139:5 You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me) and is in front of us, behind us, around us. There is nowhere we can go where God is not, and wherever we are, there God is with us.

I want a lifestyle like that, one that radiates God, and where I am walking close to Him each day. But this is a conscious decision. It just doesn't happen on its own, we each have to make time for God, to deliberately take time out from our busy schedules (whether that means getting up early, giving up something (watching tv, going out, reading a book, or whatever) in order to do this. If you are anything like me, you will find that free time does not just magically appear, but you have to make time. But don't you think that spending time with the one who created the world and loves us so much that he gave His only Son to die on the cross that we might spend eternity with Him is worth it?

Exodus chapter 17

12 When Moses' hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up— one on one side, one on the other— so that his hands remained steady till sunset.

Surprise, surprise, the Israelites are complaining again in this chapter, this time about having no water. It is understandable how they were concerned about the lack of water, after all, it is essential for life, but yet again it demonstrates a lack of trust and faith in God. They didn't take the matter to God, pray about it, or anything, instead they went straight Moses, the leader of the people, and complained.

How often do we do this? If there is something wrong in the country, we complain about the government. If there is something wrong in the church, we complain about the leaders. Yet shouldn't we be praying instead? Asking God for help, for guidance? What about 2 Chronicles 7:14:

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.

Gossiping amongst ourselves, complaining about the country, the leaders, the church, the minister/leaders, accomplishes very little except to get us all worked up and feeling misused, abused, ignored, taken for granted. There is a church here where come of the congregation have complained direct to the Diocese about the minister, without the minister even being told what the problem is. How can something like that ever happen in the church? Yet is has and probably does in many other churches where people feel aggrieved.

We need to spend more time with God and less time in idle chatter and gossip. One day, we will all be called to account for every idle word - do you really want Jesus to sit there and go through all the times we have been unkind, spoken less than the truth, gossiped about someone, complained, ignored the other person's feelings and carried on regardless? What about the times when we have just thought something? After all, thinking something is just the same as doing it as Jesus has said (Matthew 5:28).

Moses came right to the point when he asked the people why they were complaining and testing God. We do this all the time when we don't trust God, when we forget the times He has saved us, the things He has done for us.

Then the second part of the chapter deals with the battle against the Amalekites. I love the way Aaron and Hur held up Moses' arms for him when he became too tired to hold them up himself. This is such an example of how the church should be, supportive, caring, loving, helping one another instead of backstabbing, gossiping, leaving everything to someone else to do. It's all about teamwork, about caring for our neighbour, not leaving someone to cope all on their own.

Exodus chapter 16

20 However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.

27 Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.

28 Then the LORD said to Moses, How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?

29 Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no-one is to go out.

30 So the people rested on the seventh day.

Less than a month after the miraculous rescue from Egypt, the people are complaining about Moses and Aaron, saying that they were better off in Egypt where they had all the meat and bread they wanted. As soon as difficult circumstances, problem, worries, arose, they started complaining. First it was because Pharaoh's army was chasing them, then it was the bitter water at Marah, and here it is the lack of food.

So god provides the manna and tells them it only to pick up what they need for the day. Yet some people don't listen, they don't trust God and they gather more than a day's worth of manna, only to find it went rotten and maggoty overnight. Then on the day before the Sabbath, they are told to collect 2 days' supply and rest on the Sabbath, yet some of them go out on the Sabbath to see if there is any manna there.

This chapter, to me, is all about listening to God, obeying and trusting in Him. It’s no good professing to be a Christian if you always do what you want, try and get everything done yourself, and never bother asking for help, or seeking God's guidance. I'm not saying it is wrong to be self sufficient, but where does God come into your life if you are doing everything yourself without asking Him, talking to Him, spending time with Him? I can easily do this all the time, try and get jobs done, cope with an ever increasing to do list all without talking to God, but where is the relationship with God in that? It's like being married but you and your spouse live two completely separate lives, very rarely speaking to one another or spending time together. What sort of marriage is that?

We, I, need to listen out for God, to look for God in the everyday things. I mean, all you have to do is open your eyes and ears in the morning and you have God right there - from the sound of the birds singing, to the sun rising, the wind, the rain, the flowers with the dew on them. He is all around us everywhere we go, and there is nowhere that God is not. I've started to spend time with God at all hours of the day. It’s not just a case of sitting at my computer first thing in the morning and having a quiet time, but I will talk to God in the car taking the children to school/work, when going to see clients, before/during meetings, when I'm sitting waiting, in the shower, ion bed, anywhere and everywhere. I want to be like Brother Lawrence, and practise the presence of God wherever I am.

And then I need to trust God, just as the Israelites needed to trust God. It’s a case of letting everything I know about God move from my head to my heart. It’s not just about reading the bible, finding out what God is like from His word, but of really truly believing within yourself that He exists, He is real, and He is all powerful, omnipresent, omniscient, and all those other "omni's" that He is. And learning to trust God through the good times and the bad.

The Israelites went from one problem to another and each time they came across something new, they started moaning, complaining. Yet their previous experiences had shown them that God kept His word, that He could be trusted and that He was with them. We each face new and different problems all the time. We need to remember all that God has done for us in the past, and to trust in Him no matter what we are facing. Greater is he that is in us than he that is in the world, so despite whatever the enemy is throwing at us, and in my case, it is everything including the kitchen sink, we need to trust in God, to turn to Him, rely on His understanding, His strength, His power, not our own.

Exodus chapter 15

2 The Lord is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him.

3 The Lord is a warrior; the LORD is his name.

11 Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you— majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

26 He said, If you listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his eyes, if you pay attention to his commands and keep all his decrees, I will not bring on you any of the diseases I brought on the Egyptians, for I am the Lord, who heals you.

Two things here.

Firstly, what a great song of praise and worship to God this is. Sometimes, when God is at work in our lives, it is easy to be so overwhelmed, so overawed, that we forget to say thank you, to give Him the praise. Yet everything we have comes from God, and without Him, no matter what the size of our house, the money we have in the bank, how well things are going for us, in reality we have nothing. You cannot take a bank balance to heaven, or treasured ornaments, or the clothes you are wearing.

The Lord God, Father Almighty, the great creator, King of Kings, He is the one who is our strength and our song. He brings music to my heart and a song to my lips, for there is no one like Him, omnipotent, omnipresent, ever faithful, true to His word, slow to anger and quick to forgive, compassionate and merciful, righteous and just, and full of never ending love.

Who among the gods is like you, O Lord? Who is like you - majestic in holiness, awesome in glory, working wonders?

The Israelites came out of Egypt after witnessing the ten plagues, they were being chased by Pharaoh's army and walked between two walls of water through the Red Sea. Yet within three days, they were complaining bitterly to Moses. They had pushed to the back of their minds just how great and awesome and powerful God is, the miracles they had seen, the power of God clearly demonstrated before them, and they became engrossed in their immediate problems. The bitter water was a source of grumbling and discontent as they chose to ignore god and focus on Moses as the source of their problems. After all, he was the one who had dragged them their from the comfort of their homes in Egypt and brought them into the wilderness where there was no drinking water, where they were all probably going to die. They failed to trust in God who had rescued them from with such clear demonstrations of His power and might. Instead, they chose to focus on their temporary discomfort and ignore all that God had done for them.

I see the same pattern being repeated today in the lives of so many Christians, including myself. It's like when Peter got out of the boat and walked towards Jesus on the water. For a short while, whilst his eyes were on Jesus, he was walking on water. As soon as he looked around, saw the size of the waves, the storm around him, and realised that he, a mere man, was doing the impossible and walking on water, he started to panic. He let his head take over from his heart and he took his eyes off Jesus.

I have been doing that recently, letting the cares and worries of this world blind me to all that God is doing in my life. It is easy to feel overwhelmed by life, to let the everyday problems get us down. Sometimes, it just seems like there is too much going on around us and that we are all alone, sinking in the swamp of our lives and letting the enemy convince us that we can never cope, can never do all that is facing us.

Yet God is with each and every one of us. We may not have the pillars of cloud and fire before us, but as Christians, we have the Holy Spirit living within us. We need to remember this, to spend time in the word of God, to trust in Him. When we take our eyes off Jesus, when we let the cares and worries of this world take over, when we believe the lies of the enemy that we are worthless, useless, and will never do anything for God, that our prayers are not as good or as meaningful as the prayers of others, then we are behaving just like the Israelites here in the wilderness. We are believing the enemy, the powers and principalities against which we are in a battle, and allowing him to have his way in our lives.

Ephesians 6:12 For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

Exodus chapter 14

14 The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.
31 And when the Israelites saw the great power the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.

I love verse 14 "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." What a comfort those words bring because it is not about us, about our strength, about how long we can carry on. It is all about God, about His power, His glory, His great all encompassing ,all forgiving love.

When the Israelites could see the Egyptian army bearing down on them they forgot all about the ten plagues, about how God had miraculously rescued them from Egypt. The urgency of the situation blinded them to the power of God in their midst. They allowed the spirit of defeat, of oppression, to return and started whingeing and whining to Moses. It seems to me that they had been slaves for so long, they had become accustomed to doing what they were told, when they were told and had lost the ability to think for themselves. They waited for instructions, orders, guidance from others, and panicked until they knew what to do.

Isn't that like us today? We try and rely on our own strength, our own abilities, instead of turning to the one who has more power than we could ever dream of. We allow the spirit of defeat, the spirit of despair, the spirit of unbelief into our lives, telling ourselves that the task is too hard, that we have done enough, that surely God couldn't expect that of us, that there is no way we can do that. We try and do it all ourselves and then , when we fail, start berating ourselves for our uselessness.

Like the Israelites, we need to remember that we are not alone. We serve a great and might God, and nothing for Him is impossible. Jesus had told us to cast all our burdens on him, so why do we carry on being a martyr, trying to manage by ourselves?
We have been having some wonderful teaching these past few days at our church, and this chapter seems particularly relevant at this time. We need to put on our spiritual armour each and every single day, not just on the odd occasions when we remember. The enemy is out there, he is real, and he has many, many helpers. He is out to destroy as many of us as he can, to turn us away from God, away from Jesus, to make us deny God, to deny our faith. But we are not alone. We are a church, a body of believers, so we need to share what is happening to us with other believers and ask for prayer. It is not a sign of weakness to ask for prayer, it is not a case of your needs or my needs being less important than those of others, because in God's eyes, each one of us is unique, special, loved. If you have children, would you care any the less for one of them? I have four children, and I love each one of them dearly. I could not choose between them, I try to treat each of them the same, but I most certainly do not love one of them more or less than the others.

It is the same with God. He loves every single one of us and we are each so very important to Him. He doesn't love Tom or Joan or Fred more. He doesn't answer the prayers of Jane or Sue or David in preference to your prayers, my prayers. It's not a case of only the most "holy" people being loved by God, because god sees right into the hearts of every single one of us, He sees us warts and all, and loves us despite how mean and nasty and horrible we can be. Nothing we can do will make God love us more and nothing we can do will make Him love us less.

Do you think He has left us here on earth powerless? That we only have our wits to battle against the enemy? Or maybe you think that there is no such thing as spiritual warfare, that angels and demons are just symbolic in the bible and that when bad things happen, it’s just life?

Yes, sometimes, it is just life, but many occasions, it is really the enemy, the devil, seeking to thwart God's plans, to turn us away from following God's path and to start us walking on the road to hell.

We need to put on our spiritual armour each and every day - take a look at Ephesians 6:13-17 and work through the armour, placing it on your body as you say or think the words. Pray in the Spirit at all times and on all occasions. Stay alert and be persistent in your prayers for all believers everywhere. The enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour (1 Peter 5:8). Trust in God, turn to Him and do not be too proud or demeaning to ask for prayer for yourself. Ask Jesus for help, after all, he did say that He would be with us until the end of the age, so we are never, ever alone. He has given us his Holy Spirit, we are indwelt by Him and just need to remember this. We have been given authority by Jesus to do everything he did and more, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against his church.

We just need to have faith, to trust in God and remember that the Lord will fight for us, we need only to be still.

Exodus chapter 13

21 By day the Lord went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.
22 Neither the pillar of cloud by day nor the pillar of fire by night left its place in front of the people.


The people knew that God was with them because they had the physical signs of the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night. Two signs that meant God was with them, no matter what time of the day or night as they could see his presence.

So what about us Christians today? What do we have so we can know that god is with us day or night? Well, we have the Holy Spirit, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit the second we become Christians and accept Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, and we have our hearts filled by Him. He is the comforter, the guide, who is always with us and we need to learn to listen for his leading, his prompting, his guiding. We also have the Bible, the word of God, to teach us, help us, explain things to us, show us the things that have been and the things to come. The Holy Spirit helps us understand the bible when we ask him to open our eyes our hearts and our minds.
We may not feel the tangible presence of God with us each and every waking moment. There may be times when we feel so alone, so lost, as if there is no one who really cares, yet God is with us then too. We need to trust in Him, to look to His word for reassurance and comfort, and not rely on our own feelings. The enemy is a liar, and the father of lies, and he will do all he can to get us to turn away from God, to believe we are on our own, that God has left us to it. Didn't Jesus tell the disciples, and us, that he will be with us even to the ends of the age (Matthew 28:20)?

Jesus committed no sin at all, so he would not, could not lie, and if that is the case, then we are absolutely, never, ever alone. Just as God never left the Israelites whilst they were in the desert, so He never leaves us.

Exodus Chapter 12

13 The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt.
26 And when your children ask you, 'What does this ceremony mean to you?'
27 then tell them, 'It is the Passover sacrifice to the LORD, who passed over the houses of the Israelites in Egypt and spared our homes when he struck down the Egyptians.' Then the people bowed down and worshipped.

This foreshadows the life and death of Jesus, our Passover Lamb.
Here, the lamb had to be killed in order to get the blood that would protect them, stop the angel of death from visiting their homes and killing their firstborn. The Israelites had to have faith that they would not be harmed, that they would be rescued and that that God would keep His promises.

In the same way, we have Jesus, who had to die so his blood could be used to pay for the sins of the world. He paid the cost for all the mean and nasty and dreadful things I have done, you have done, we have done, in order that we might leave this world and spend eternity with God. His blood has cleansed us, washed away all our sins so that God now sees us as righteous, dressed in pure white clothes, spotless and without sin.

The people were instructed to remember this day, to tell their children about it and to hold a festival each year in remembrance. In the same way, when we take Communion, that is symbolic of what Jesus has done for us, that he gave his life that we might live. So we need to tell our children, to talk about it with them and to remember all that Jesus has done for us.

But it is not just a case of sitting back on our rocking chairs and telling the children about Jesus, we need to live the life God designed us to have. God has made each one of us unique and special, and He has a plan for each of us, a plan to give us a hope and a future, not to harm us. We need to be active in telling others about Jesus, even if it is just through the written word like me here. Some people are designed to be great teachers, ministers, pastors, leaders. Others are talented musicians, great worship leaders who can direct people's thoughts, praise, and prayers to God. Still others live their lives in such a way that others are naturally drawn to them, their lives are a reflection of the glory of God and people can see Jesus through the way they live.

No matter who we are or what we do, we each need to trust God, to believe that when He says He will do something, then it is just a matter of waiting on God, to have the patience to wait for Him to move, for His timing, and to trust in God that He knows best. It is also a case of believing that we are loved by God, no matter who we are or what we have done. After all, I am sure there were some nasty people amongst the Israelites, yet God did not distinguish between any of them He saved them, all. Just as when Jesus died on the cross for our sins, he died for everyone, not just Tom, Dick and Harry, but for Fred, Jim, and everyone else. Jesus died for you, he died for me, he died for our friends, families, neighbours, people we work with , those we meet everyday, the shopkeepers, electricians, plumbers and all sorts. He is our Passover sacrifice to the Lord, and it is no coincidence that he was crucified on the eve of the Passover all those years ago.

Exodus Chapter 11

9 The Lord had said to Moses, Pharaoh will refuse to listen to you— so that my wonders may be multiplied in Egypt.

God tells Moses exactly what Pharaoh will do and say, how he will refuse to listen and will not let the people go. Even after being told his firstborn son will die, Pharaoh still refuses to listen and to believe.

Pharaoh was so stubborn, so set in his ways and so convinced he was right, he was powerful and not even God could do that, even after having witnessed the plagues of blood, frogs, lice/gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts and darkness.

Isn’t that just a reflection of people today? They have become so hard hearted that many refuse to even consider the possibility that there is a God. Here in the UK, people are mocked because they have a faith, they believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, fully god, yet fully man. Others are seen as fanatics, because they hold very strong views and because they seem to be so intransient, so fixed and rigid in their viewpoints, people believe all Christians are this way, that we are all prejudiced, bigoted, fixed in our views.

Yet we are called to love all men, not just the ones who wear suits, or the ones who go to a particular church, or belong to a certain social class. We are called to love each and every single person, from the person who cuts us up when we are driving to the neighbour we can't stand who is foul mouthed and abusive. Every person is valued and treasured in the eyes of God, no matter who they are or what they have done. Even hardened criminals, drug users, prostitutes, thieves, murderers are loved, although God may hate their sins, just as He hates our sins.

In just the same way, Pharaoh was loved by God, but despite every opportunity, Pharaoh refused to allow God into his life. There was no room for God when Pharaoh was so busy running Egypt, trying to sort out the problem of the Israelites, keep the peace, retain the slave labour and overcome the hardships of these plagues. Pharaoh was as a god to the Egyptians, and presumably viewed himself accordingly. Yet he was just a man, a man who refused to see God despite the miraculous that was happening all around him. Just as many do today, when they refuse to acknowledge that there is a Creator, preferring instead to explain everything with a Big Bang theory or whatever. But what caused the Big Bang in the first place?

God is the Mastermind behind the world, the Universe, and everything that is in it, and one day, every knee shall bow before Jesus and acknowledge him as Lord.

Exodus chapter 10

 1 Then the LORD said to Moses, Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials so that I may perform these miraculous signs of mine among them
2 that you may tell your children and grandchildren how I dealt harshly with the Egyptians and how I performed my signs among them, and that you may know that I am the LORD.

I find it interesting that the plagues, the miraculous signs sent by God, were not just a warning for Pharaoh and the Egyptians, but they were also so that the Israelites would know that He was the Lord, that He was their God and they were his chosen people. They were also to tell their children and their grandchildren about this and I wonder just how often, or how little, I tell my own children about God.
If you don't tell others about God, is you don't pass on what God has done I your life, what you have seen, how He has been at work, then how will others know? If we all kept God to ourselves, the fact that He is the one true living God, the maker of all that we see, of all that there is, for whom nothing is impossible, then pretty soon, people will forget about Him. Going to church on Sunday will be something a few strange people do more from habit than anything else, and the world will be full of those who are seeking to find God without having a clue where to look, or even what or who they are looking for.

The Israelites were continually told in Exodus, Leviticus, Deuteronomy and so on to tell their children and grandchildren, to teach others, remind them of what God had done, who He is and all that He is capable of. And time and time again, when the people forgot about God, the country fell apart. People turned to idolatry, the worship of false gods, they sacrificed their children to Molech, there were temple prostitutes and all sorts. God was at the very back of their minds, if He was there at all. Just like it is today in the western world. People have done their best to remove God from public life in the name of political correctness and to avoid giving offence to others. There is evil in the world, and we helped to bring it in by not telling others, reminding them continually, about God, about Jesus and about the Holy Spirit.

2 chronicles 7:14 If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land

I have been continually being reminded of this verse over the past few weeks, and I am sure it is a message from God, a cry from the heart and that we do need to humble ourselves, turn from our wicked ways, seek his face and pray. We are responsible for the mess our countries are in, whether it is because we did something, or because we stood by and did nothing. Each one of us has to bear part of the burden.
It involves repentance, humbling ourselves, just as Pharaoh did after the plague of locusts, when he told Moses that he had sinned against God and against Moses. But it has to be real, genuine, not false repentance like Pharaoh's to get out of a tricky situation. There are dreadful times coming, you can feel it in the air, read it in the newspapers, and the only one we can turn to is Jesus, the Saviour of the world, the Son of the one true Living God. He is the one we need to accept into our lives if we are to be saved, for there is no other way to God, despite what Islam, Buddhism, New Age, Wicca and all sorts tell us.

Exodus Chapter 9

7 Pharaoh sent men to investigate and found that not even one of the animals of the Israelites had died. Yet his heart was unyielding and he would not let the people go.

12 But the LORD hardened Pharaoh's heart and he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said to Moses.

34 When Pharaoh saw that the rain and hail and thunder had stopped, he sinned again: He and his officials hardened their hearts.

35 So Pharaoh's heart was hard and he would not let the Israelites go, just as the LORD had said through Moses.

This is about listening to God, choosing to hear what He has to say and obeying.

Pharaoh was given the choice after each plague to let the Israelites go or to keep them as slaves in Egypt. Each time he refused to listen to God, kept his eyes and mind firmly closed to the possibility that God was there and that He really was speaking through Moses and Aaron and wanted His people to be free to go worship him. After the sixth plague, the plague of boils, God let Pharaoh have his own way and Pharaoh's heart became hardened, permanently. After the seventh plague, the plague of hail, Pharaoh initially changed his mind, accepted that he and his people were wrong and agreed to let the Israelites go. But as soon as the hailstorms stopped, Pharaoh went back on his word and refused to let the people go.

My eldest son has said that whilst he believes in God, he has time to think about Jesus and becoming a Christian. But what if he is run over by a bus tomorrow? What if eventually, after so long in waiting for the right moment, the right time, when he has finished partying, having a good time, having fun, and wants to settle down, it is too late and he no longer hears the voice of God prompting Him, reminding him, asking him? What if he leaves it, like Pharaoh, until his heart has become permanently hardened? And what about my other children, my daughter and my other boys? There is such a real risk that they may never, ever accept Christ.

There are so many people in the world in exactly the same position. Those who have heard the gospel but choose to wait….. But what excuse could you possibly give on Judgment Day if you had already been given the Good News and ignored it? We will each be judged on the basis of the knowledge we have.

I need to pray more often for my children, my parents, my brothers and their families, because we are living in the End Days, and one day, it may well be too late for each one of them. What if my prayers are the one thing that could open their hearts? I have a duty to pray and a calling, and yet I let so much get in the way of this, citing work, and all sorts as reasons why I will pray when I've just done this, or that, or the other.