“Come up to Me on the Mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commands I have written for their instruction.” - Exodus 24:12
I am a big fan of learning from the wisdom of others. I am continuing to glean wisdom and insight from the fields of those who have gone before me, tilled and planted the fields, providing a rich harvest of understanding. I pray that from these sources you will be enlightened, for the commands of the Lord are radiant, giving light to the eyes (Psalm 19:8).
The first field we’ll visit belongs to Mary Ann Bridgewater, a fellow Houstonian, member of First Baptist, and friend of a friend who wrote Building a House of Prayer – an amazing study. She provides the following insights – most of which are her exact words – a few are paraphrased – I’ll try to keep her words in italics:
God had a plan for Moses. God wrote the instructions for Moses and delivered them to him. If you, out of obedience, daily answer the call from god to come up to Him, you will receive ongoing instructions for you life that are higher than your ways and thoughts, and you will know the plans of action God has for you life.
The phrase ‘come up’ is often used to denote traveling from a lower elevation to a higher one. You no longer have to live your life at a lower level, conforming to the ways of the world. When you daily ‘come up’ to spend time along with God, He will take you to a higher level spiritually. god wants you to withdraw to read His Word, meditating and listening to His voice speak to your heart, and then to pray the Word. You will be taken higher with God. What happens when you go higher?
You will be empowered to see the way God, the creator of the Universe sees. Like Moses, you will be given spiritual insight to information and instruction from god. He will fill you up and set you on fire with His light.
You will be empowered to hear and know God’s voice. Check out Proverbs 8:4-16 to see this truth written in the word of God. The more time you spend with God the more you will intelligently discern His voice. God speaks through his Word. He speaks through friends who are of wise counsel, through pastors, through family – and we know He is speaking through others when what they say is truth from God’s word.
You will possess the mind of Christ. Isaiah 55:8-11 says that His thoughts are not our thoughts, but that God’s word goes out and yields seed for the sower (which is how we ended up in Mary Ann’s field) and bread for the eater. His word does not return void, but will accomplish the purpose for which it was sent.
One a side note the word of God has amazing power to transform and renew your mind so you can discern God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will (Romans 12:2). Russ mentioned on Sunday that he prays this over himself every day - and last month I started doing the same. It’s an amazing word that has power to transform you prayer life – I encourage you to give it a try. Okay – back to Mary Ann’s list of what happens when we answer the call to go up:
You will be empowered to speak the truth with boldness – 1 Corinthians 2:13-14
You will be empowered to possess a pure heart – 2 Timothy 2:19-21
You will be empowered to have servant’s hands – Psalm 144: 1-2; 90:17)
You will be empowered to walk in step with the Spirit of God – Proverbs 4:11-12; Galatians 5:25.
Yes, my friends, there is immense power when we go up to the mountain to meet with God. The understanding we gain their can be absolutely transforming. The last thing I want to share is new understanding I gained today through the word as I went up to the mountain.
To end today, let’s take a look at Exodus 23:29-30. Here God explains to Moses that he will take care of every aspect of the Israelites being able to take possession of the land, including dealing with their enemies and driving out the people who now are in the land. He says “But I will not drive them out in a single year, because the land would become desolate and wild animals to numerous for you. Little by little I will drive them out before you until you have increased enough to take possession of the land.”
As I was reading Mathew Henry’s commentary on these verses (you can find it at crosswalk.com), he explained that in bringing the people to the promised land, he would do this in wisdom, so that the Canaanites remained until Israel had grown into a people and could fill the land. The lesson as it applies to our life – God often delays mercies (i.e. – the promises he has for our life) because we are not ready for them. Canaan has room enough to receive Israel, but Israel is not numerous enough to occupy Canaan.
That being said, when you consider the promises or desires of your heart that you are waiting on that seem long delayed, do you wonder where God’s compassion is? Perhaps it is time to shift focus and realize that God is abundantly compassionate, merciful, and loving in the delay. He wants to bring you to the promised land when you are fully equipped – He wants to promised land to be everything we dreamed it to be – and nothing less. Come up to the mountain of God, see God’s view. Let Him speak truth about His love, His promises, His sovereign wisdom. Then rest and let Him bring you into the land.
Today's post was submitted by Carol Bartels
I would like to pick-up on your excellent thoughts about the Word of God.
ReplyDeleteThe Word of God has an innate ability within itself. Just like a plant seed. All the power to grow, transform and produce fruit is contained within the seed. The whole genetic makeup of the plant is contained within the DNA of the seed. The seed is just waiting on the right environment before it starts to transform and grow. Once the outer shell meets the right environment, the life force within the seed starts the growth process.
When the Word of God enters our hearts, it has the power of God to transform our life but it must be met with the right conditions in our heart for maximum growth and fruit production.
We must prepare our hearts. Plowing the soil of our heart is done by receiving the Word of God with meekness (James 1:21) Having a teachable spirit and willingness to obey. No matter what the Word says, I’m willing to do what it says.
In Mark 4, we see the same Word (seed), planted by the same person (The Lord) into 4 different hearts yet we see 4 different results. The variable is the heart attitudes toward the Word which then affects the growth of the seed. No fruit because there is no understanding of the Word which can be caused by unbelief. No fruit because the seed cannot obtain the moisture needed for growth. We receive the Word yet we don’t water it by applying it in our life’s experiences. The 3rd seed is choked by the thorns. All the nutrients of the soil are being absorbed by other things. Our heart’s desires gets focused on the deceitfulness of riches, the cares of this life and lust of other things thus choking off the Word of God in our life. The last seed which yielded 30, 60 and 100 fold is the good heart which has the right conditions.
I like what you said about Russ praying the Word of God into our lives. We need to get the Word in us. For the Word of God is quite able to give us faith Rom 10:17 So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
The Word of God is quite able to act like a hammer and anvil to break up the stony places in our heart and to burn off the thorns which have entangled our feet. Jer 23:29 "Is not My word like a fire?" says the LORD, "And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Get the Word in us! No wonder it is such a battle to stay on track with this Bible reading!!! There is opposition.
Carol and KW-->I love your thoughts and your hard work and study of the word!! Kelly and Russ too!!
ReplyDeleteJust a little encouragement and gratitude!!
Keep the teaching coming...Bring it!!
Peace and love!!!
In Exodus 24:08, Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, "This is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
ReplyDeleteLooking at this verse, God sealed the old covenant with blood. The same is true for the new covenant. It is sealed with blood: the blood of the sinless, Lamb of God, Jesus Christ. This was God’s promise from the beginning. The blood would cover our sin.
Some people think God promises mean what can God do for me? Does God promise us a happy life with no problems when we believe in Jesus Christ? Does it mean we can have everything we want?
We can’t use God’s Word as some magic spell or Jeannie’s lamp. We don’t pick and choose God’s promises from His Word to please our flesh.
“I’ll take this promise but ignore the others I don’t like”
No matter what our circumstances are in life, God promised us salvation and said He would never leave us or forsake us. BUT God’s covenant is more than just His promises toward us. We must keep our promise toward Him which is commitment.
Exodus 24: 03 When Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and laws, they responded with one voice, "Everything the LORD has said we will do."
We often break our commitment to the Lord BUT God is so good. He will never leave us or forsake us even when we fall into sin.