Swallowed Up

Today’s Bible readings are Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalm 23:1-6, & Proverbs 5:22-23

Exodus 7:10-12

¹⁰ So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did what the Lord had commanded them. Aaron threw down his staff before Pharaoh and his officials, and it became a serpent! ¹¹ Then Pharaoh called in his own wise men and sorcerers, and these Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their magic. ¹² They threw down their staffs, which also became serpents! But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

In this life we experience the forces of darkness. There are times when satan & his kingdom will attack us & our families. There are even times when those attacks can be very strong. There is no doubt that demons, principalities, & powers exist. We see that in our reading today. We see the work of satan & his kingdom operating in Pharaoh’s magicians. They were able to do supernatural things by that dark power he gave.

Moses & Aron probably acted like we would in a situation like this. They probably sat there & thought, “Oh no, now what do we do?” They had done what God told them to do & it looked like they had been matched by the enemy. It may have even left them feeling like there was nothing else that they could do.

This happens in our lives as well. We pray for our families & only see things get worse. We read the bible only to find the temptation getting stronger. We confess healing but our condition may worsen. These are times when it looks like the enemy has overpowered the people of God.

I want to take a moment to point out to you what the rest of the story tells us.

But then Aaron’s staff swallowed up their staffs.

Praise God! This is the picture that I pray sinks deep into your spirit. The power of God ALWAYS swallows up the power of satan. There is no match for our God. He is the ALMIGHTY! Satan may try to growl, he may even roar like a lion form time to time, BUT we must remember that Jesus has already pulled that lions teeth!!!

Moses & Aaron did all that they knew to do. They did what they were told to do. Satan responded with an attempt to strike fear into them. But God pick up the slack. He swallowed up the power of the enemy with a single gulp. It wasn’t dependent on Moses or Aaron to defeat the enemy. It was all on God’s shoulders. He gave the knock-out punch that day. He was beginning to show who really was in charge.

I know that some of you may be under great pressure & maybe even in the middle of a great spiritual battle right now. I give you a word from the Lord—Having done all to stand, stand therefore!!!

It is easy to forget that God is in control. We have to constantly remind ourselves of this very fact. There are all kinds of things that happen at all kinds of times to shake us. But we must not waver. We must not lose confidence in the fact that CHRIST has already defeated every principality, every power, ruler of darkness, & all spiritual wickedness in the heavenly places. He is victorious over all. He has triumphant over all things in his death, burial, & resurrection. Satan is a defeated foe. His army has been disarmed.

I declare over you that you are not weak & powerless. You are mighty in the Lord. You have been clothed with power from on high. The greater One dwells in you & by His power will make you overcome all things, in every situation.

Here are the facts of who you are in Christ:

1.      Sin has NO power of you.

Romans 6:14

¹⁴ Sin is no longer your master, for you no longer live under the requirements of the law. Instead, you live under the freedom of God’s grace.

2.      You are triumphant NOW!

2 Corinthians 2:14

¹⁴ But thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ’s triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume.

3.      You have been raised with Christ.

Ephesians 2:6

⁶ For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.

4.      You are delivered from the power of darkness.

Colossians 1:13

¹³ For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son,

5.      His power is at work in you.

Ephesians 3:20

²⁰ Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think.

This is your new identity in Christ. You are not who you use to be. You are truly a new creature with a new nature—God likeness! These are the things that the enemy works very hard to keep you from learning & believing. He is constantly maneuvering in a way to keep this light for dawning in you. Once this becomes alive in you the he loses all access. I speak this over every reader today. This word is going to penetrate every heart in Jesus name. You will see who you have become in Christ & you will live life out of that new position.  To God be the glory for now & forever more. AMEN!!!

Pastor Richard Schlotter

A Better Option

Today’s Bible readings are Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalm 22:19-31, & Proverbs 5:15-21

 

Exodus 4:11-12

¹¹ The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”

How many times have you made the same mistake as Moses? How many times have you questioned your ability to do what God is calling you to do? I know that in my life, this has happened many times. For some reason, we tend to be more mindful of our weaknesses than we are of God’s ability to complete His will in our lives.

We are ever reminded of every time that we have tried & failed. We are constantly thinking about what will happen if things don’t go the way God has said they will. Or maybe we don’t know exactly how things will turn out & we are afraid of the unknown. For whatever reason, we are professional at talking ourselves out of doing God’s will. It is safer to do nothing than to take a risk & possibly fail.

That is what Moses was going through. He had been living in total isolation from his family for 40 years. He had failed miserably. Each day he had to face the fact that he had failed & lost everything. I’m sure this was not easy. Now God is asking him to do what seems impossible. He begins to remember what happened the last time that he stepped out to do what the thought God wanted him to do—he ended up murdering a man in his anger. He was only trying to protect & deliver his people. There must have been a sense in his heart that this was his purpose. Now it is coming back up but all he can remember is his past that was plagued with failure. He remembered the rejection that he experienced from the ones he desired to help.

How familiar this story is to most of us. I could make a list right now of the many times that I failed in my past. In fact, I spent a good may years as a Christian doing just that. I wrestled with my past, the whole time denying myself of the wonderful present & future that God had called me to in Christ. I finally realized that my past only had the power over my present & future that I was willing to give it. I made a decision that I would live in my new standing in Christ. That is when my life totally changed.

Things began to take off in my life because I began to step out. Blessing started to flow into my life because I was being a blessing to others. I started to realize that God truly had a plan & a purpose for my life. I saw how he was going to use even my past to bring glory to His name. I began to realize that nothing is ever wasted with God.

That is what I want you to think about today. What could be the possibilities in your life if you truly surrendered to Him? How far would you be able to go if you told Him, “Not my will but YOURS be done”? How many of things that you have told yourself you could never do would you find yourself doing if you put your life in hands?

I know this much, you will never know unless you commit. You will never experience Him in this way until you surrender to Him in this way. One of the greatest blessings of being people of the Spirit is have the option to be led by the Spirit. Few people learn what this really is because they are too busy trying to control things. They have fallen into the trap of telling themselves what they can & cannot do. This is slavery to self. You are limited when you live life like this. But there is another option. It is living by the Spirit’s control.

Romans 8:5-8

⁵ Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. ⁶ The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷ The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. ⁸ Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.

When we live in the Spirit we aren’t limited by our weakness, we are empowered by His presence. We find that we can do anything through Him. We are no longer hindered by what is lacking in our lives because the Spirit makes up the difference. If you are born again Christ’s Spirit is in you! Believe that! His Spirit will impart supernatural ability to you to do what you don’t think you can do in your own strength & ability. This is that greatest wonder of grace.

I want to challenge you today. For the next 7 days, I want you to say out loud to yourself this statement of faith:

Philippians 4:13

¹³ I can do all this through him who gives me strength.

As you say this to yourself, start to believe it. God has a call on your life. He wants to do great things through you. He needs you to believe that it is not dependent on you but on HIM! Let’s work to turn our attention to His ability & take the focus off of our inability. This is when we will see a greater work done through us.

Pastor Richard Schlotter

He Hears You

Today’s Bible readings are Exodus 2:11-3:22, Matthew 17:10-27, Psalm 22:1-18, & Proverbs 5:7-14

Exodus 2:23-25

²³ Years passed, and the king of Egypt died. But the Israelites continued to groan under their burden of slavery. They cried out for help, and their cry rose up to God. ²⁴ God heard their groaning, and he remembered his covenant promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. ²⁵ He looked down on the people of Israel and knew it was time to act.

It is easy to read this & forget to connect the parts that we have already read. We see here that years have passed. Years can really go by slow. It can seem like an eternity when we are waiting on God to fulfill one of His promises.

I want to be precise here; it wasn’t just a few years we are talking about. 3 years would be enough to try most of our faith beyond anything we have ever had to endure. 10 years would be enough to make most people forget about the promise all together. We are talking way beyond both of these numbers. We are talking 400 years.

I don’t know if it was awful slavery for the entire time. There was a season of great favor among the people while Joseph & the original Pharaoh was alive. Yet, when they died that favor was soon forgotten. The blessing was removed & it was replaced by a heavy burden of true slavery. I’m sure that this was a gradual transition at first. It then became horrific.

During this time the people of Israel still passed down through their children the ancient stories of the God of Abraham, Isaac, & Jacob. They knew of this great God who blessed their forefathers & made them great. They told of a day when they were free men & women under this great God’s blessing. It moved them to cry out to Him once again.

I can only imagine that it must have felt like their cries where not getting heard. They surely went through some of the same things that we do when we cry out for God helps. But at just the right time God came through for them. I imagine it was pure desperation that kept them crying during this period. The thought of being rescued by God was the only hope they had. That hope did not disappoint them.

We will have times in our lives where we will have to stand & fight the good fight of faith as well. There may be months, & even years, that go by as wait for God to fulfill His promises. I want to remind you that just because there is no immediate result doesn’t mean that your cry wasn’t heard or that He said no. It just simply means that now we are in a place of waiting & resting.

Don’t think for a minute that God has overlooked your cry for help with:

1.     Your lost children

2.     Your backslidden husband

3.     Your angry & resentful wife

4.     Your dead end job

5.     Your health condition

6.     Your deliverance from alcohol or tobacco

7.     Your unforgiving heart

God has heard your cry & He knows that it is time to act. Just remember that HE IS FAITHFUL! I have learned that when it seems like nothing is happening, those are the times when God is at His greatest work. We may just not see what He is doing in the realm of the Spirit.

There are many examples of times when it looked like God had been sleeping on the job but He came through at just the right time.

1.     Abraham waiting to have a son

2.     Abraham offering up Isaac

3.     Joseph becoming 2^nd in command in Egypt

4.     Noah building the arc waiting for it to rain

These are just to mention a few that we have read about thus far. As we read throughout the rest the year we will see that this is a pattern with God. He never gets in a hurry & is always on time every time.

I am praying for each person who is reading this blog. I am asking that God will increase your faith as you wait on Him. He is not going to forsake you in your moment of struggle. It may seem like you are alone right now BUT HE IS WITH YOU! It may seem like He is ignoring you BUT HE IS LISTENING!  It may seem like He doesn’t care what you’re going through BUT IS CARRYING YOU!

I leave you with this beautiful promise from His word:

1 John 3:20-23

²⁰ Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

²¹ Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. ²² And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

²³ And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.

I can sense the heaviness of many hearts but I can also sense the overwhelming presence of His great love. Quiet yourself for a moment & be still. You will find that He is nearing now than ever. Welcome Him into you situation right now. HE CARES!!!

Pastor Richard Schlotter

Totally Forgiven

Today’s Bible readings are Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:17:9, Psalm 21:1-13, & Proverbs 5:1-6

Genesis 50:14-21

¹⁴ After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial. ¹⁵ But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,” they said.

¹⁶ So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us ¹⁷ to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.” When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. ¹⁸ Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!” they said.

¹⁹ But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? ²⁰ You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. ²¹ No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

The sadness that Joseph felt when his brothers doubted his true forgiveness was enough that it brought him to bitter weeping. His brothers didn’t believe that he could have forgiven them for such a brutal act. Yet, forgiveness is exactly what Joseph extended.

I really think that this is such a perfect picture of what happens in our lives with God. We have made such great mistake that we really struggle with the notion that He could truly forgive us. I have seen people punish themselves for things that God has forgiven them for. I have seen people who never really develop an intimate relationship with Jesus because they don’t think He would desire to have one with a person like them. I want you to know that these are both gross lies from the pit of hell.

There is no person beyond His ability to totally forgive. If the enemy can deceive us into thinking that we are still guilty for past sins, it keeps us in a state of weak faith. In our minds, we think that God doesn’t want to help us because we don’t deserve His help. We lose are right standing. This keeps more people from receiving from God than any other single thing, in my estimation.

Many times, we become like the brothers, we are afraid of God because we think that we deserve to be punished. I want to share a great revelation with you—God punished Jesus instead of you! There was punishment that was owed but the Father chose to punish His Son in your place. The punishment has already been given & accepted. There is no need to punish anybody else.

Isaiah 53:4-6

⁴ Yet it was our weaknesses he carried; it was our sorrows that weighed him down. And we   thought his troubles were a punishment from God, a punishment for his own sins! ⁵ BUT he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed. ⁶ All of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God’s paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.

As they looked at Jesus that day they though He was a man being punished for His many sins. How wrong they were. He was a man being punished for OUR many sins. There is only need for 1 individual to pay the price for the breaking of the law, so long as the judge accepts the payment. God accepted the payment & Jesus was willing to make the deposit. Glory to His name!!!

I want to share with you today that you are forgiven.

1.      Sexual sins

2.      Abortion

3.      Adultery

4.      Stealing

5.      Loss of family

6.      Injury caused to others

7.      Integrity failure

There is nothing, I mean nothing, that is beyond His precious blood to cover. He shed His blood once & for all that the payment of sins would be fully met in Him. Praise His Holy name. Do me a favor –SHOUT “I’M FORGIVEN”.  You are & you need to know it.

Don’t spend any more time wasting away thinking that God is out to punish you the first chance He get. He has no such plan. Get that ugly past under the blood of Calvary’s cross & move on my friend. His blood will never lose it’s power to redeem sinners.

I can only imagine the sorrow that God feelings when his children think the thoughts of Him that Joseph’s brother’s thought of Joseph. Don’t fall into that dangerous ditch. You are a new creature in Christ. You are God’s beloved. There is no charge that any can bring against you because YOU ARE FORGIVEN!!!

Pastor Richard Schlotter