Day 16 - 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting
Day 16 - James 4:7-10
SCRIPTURE:
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
7 Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. 8 Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double-minded. 9 Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. 10 Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.
LESSON:
In the book of Exodus we find a pharaoh whose heart is hardened against the authority of God almighty and who reaps the consequences of that decision. God resists him and shows pharaoh and the world who is the true king. On the opposite side of this story is a man named Moses. A man who has been humbled over the course of his life and who realizes that he is not worthy to be used by God. Yet God lifts him up and through Moses God reveals to pharaoh and the world his incredible power and might.
Moses’ story starts out in a troubled time. The Israelites were living in Egypt as slaves. They were under the thumb of the Egyptians. Yet they were increasing in number and the Egyptians were concerned about a slave uprising. A pharaoh has risen to power who commanded that all the Israelite baby boys must be exterminated in order to control the growth of the Israelite population. Moses’ mother saves her child by hiding him in a basket in the bulrushes of the Nile river. Through God’s providence the pharaoh's daughter finds the baby in the basket and decides to adopt the baby boy. He was raised in the pharaoh's own house as a prince of Egypt. Educated and equipped to lead. While at the same time recognizing that he was an Israelite.
At the age of forty, no doubt full of self-confidence and pride, he kills an egyptian who was beating an Israelite slave. He surely thought he was the deliverer of this particular slave! It wouldn’t be long and he would deliver all the people! He would be the one who righted the wrongs and set the Israelites free! But he was mistaken. He was not ready to lead the people and it wasn’t God’s timing. He was too full of himself. He had all the skills and abilities. He had the education. He had the platform. But his heart was not in the correct alignment for God to use him.
How things quickly turn! He had to flee to the wilderness where he lived for forty years as a shepherd. To an egyptian this would have been a lowly profession. Shepherds were considered to be on the bottom rung of Egyptian society. For forty years God humbles Moses until he is ready to be lifted up. Moses finds himself on the backside of the wilderness in a place called Horeb. Horeb means desolate place. He is a nobody in a place no one wants to be. He has reached the bottom. And it is here that he experiences the presence of God at the burning bush. It is here that he is called to do God’s work. It is here that he acknowledges his own shortcomings. That he is unqualified and unequipped to do what God is asking of him. And it is here that God reassures him that everything he needs, God will provide.
Once Moses submits to God the rest is history. Over the next forty years, Moses is used by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Miracle after miracle happens! From the twelve plagues in Egypt to the crossing of the Red Sea. The manna from heaven and the water from the rock. The revelation of the law at Sinai to the holy presence of God that settled on the tabernacle and led the people through the wilderness to the promised land. All that happened through God’s power and Moses' humility.
The book of Numbers tells us that Moses was the most humble man who ever lived. This didn’t happen overnight! It took years of wilderness preparation and surrendering to God’s perfect will for him to become the man that God needed him to be. His pride and self-sufficiency had to be stripped away so that God could truly use him.
James tells us to submit to God. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. What is it in your life that needs to be submitted to God? What is holding you back from accomplishing God’s will in your life? What area of your life is not fully surrendered to Jesus? Let me encourage you to give yourself fully to him today. If you do, you will surely be amazed at what God will do in you, around you and through you!
In the book of Exodus we find a pharaoh whose heart is hardened against the authority of God almighty and who reaps the consequences of that decision. God resists him and shows pharaoh and the world who is the true king. On the opposite side of this story is a man named Moses. A man who has been humbled over the course of his life and who realizes that he is not worthy to be used by God. Yet God lifts him up and through Moses God reveals to pharaoh and the world his incredible power and might.
Moses’ story starts out in a troubled time. The Israelites were living in Egypt as slaves. They were under the thumb of the Egyptians. Yet they were increasing in number and the Egyptians were concerned about a slave uprising. A pharaoh has risen to power who commanded that all the Israelite baby boys must be exterminated in order to control the growth of the Israelite population. Moses’ mother saves her child by hiding him in a basket in the bulrushes of the Nile river. Through God’s providence the pharaoh's daughter finds the baby in the basket and decides to adopt the baby boy. He was raised in the pharaoh's own house as a prince of Egypt. Educated and equipped to lead. While at the same time recognizing that he was an Israelite.
At the age of forty, no doubt full of self-confidence and pride, he kills an egyptian who was beating an Israelite slave. He surely thought he was the deliverer of this particular slave! It wouldn’t be long and he would deliver all the people! He would be the one who righted the wrongs and set the Israelites free! But he was mistaken. He was not ready to lead the people and it wasn’t God’s timing. He was too full of himself. He had all the skills and abilities. He had the education. He had the platform. But his heart was not in the correct alignment for God to use him.
How things quickly turn! He had to flee to the wilderness where he lived for forty years as a shepherd. To an egyptian this would have been a lowly profession. Shepherds were considered to be on the bottom rung of Egyptian society. For forty years God humbles Moses until he is ready to be lifted up. Moses finds himself on the backside of the wilderness in a place called Horeb. Horeb means desolate place. He is a nobody in a place no one wants to be. He has reached the bottom. And it is here that he experiences the presence of God at the burning bush. It is here that he is called to do God’s work. It is here that he acknowledges his own shortcomings. That he is unqualified and unequipped to do what God is asking of him. And it is here that God reassures him that everything he needs, God will provide.
Once Moses submits to God the rest is history. Over the next forty years, Moses is used by God to deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Miracle after miracle happens! From the twelve plagues in Egypt to the crossing of the Red Sea. The manna from heaven and the water from the rock. The revelation of the law at Sinai to the holy presence of God that settled on the tabernacle and led the people through the wilderness to the promised land. All that happened through God’s power and Moses' humility.
The book of Numbers tells us that Moses was the most humble man who ever lived. This didn’t happen overnight! It took years of wilderness preparation and surrendering to God’s perfect will for him to become the man that God needed him to be. His pride and self-sufficiency had to be stripped away so that God could truly use him.
James tells us to submit to God. Humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and he will lift you up. What is it in your life that needs to be submitted to God? What is holding you back from accomplishing God’s will in your life? What area of your life is not fully surrendered to Jesus? Let me encourage you to give yourself fully to him today. If you do, you will surely be amazed at what God will do in you, around you and through you!
PRAYER:
Father, may our lives be fully yours. Humble us so that we may be lifted up to new heights of victory. Do something amazing in us as we give up our pride and allow you to be fully Lord. Amen!
Father, may our lives be fully yours. Humble us so that we may be lifted up to new heights of victory. Do something amazing in us as we give up our pride and allow you to be fully Lord. Amen!
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1 Comment
This area of humility is a big struggle for me at times and irs stretching my ability to trust God through the difficulties I'm facing on a daily basis. It's the hardest time of my life and continues to be for an undetermined amount of time. But I know there's strength to be found. I need his help to humble myself before him so that he can lift me up.