“The enemy said, ‘I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall be satisfied on them. I will draw my sword, My hand shall destroy them.’ You blew with Your wind, The sea covered them; They sank like lead in the mighty waters.”
Exodus 15:9-10 NKJV
Before I was born there was a time when my father was working as a young evangelist, going from place to place, preaching the word of the Lord and praying for people.
During this time, my father was trying to make it from one place to another by driving all night. His exhaustion got the better of him and he nodded off while driving a car in which was also my mother and my sister (who was just a baby). My father woke to find himself having run head on into the abutment of a bridge. My sister had been thrown against the windshield and was laying on the hood of the car. My mother was unconscious, having taken the blow of the impact with her mouth against the dashboard.
As my father was trying to gather his strength, he audibly heard the devil laughing and saying, “Look at you. You’ve prayed for all these people and now you have no one to pray for you.”
The rest of that story is that the local paper reported the accident as having killed three people. But God had miraculously brought a man by on that dark, lonely road in West Virginia, who had gotten help for them. By the grace of God they all lived to tell the story. And—by the way—over the next several months they heard from many people who had been awakened in the middle of that night to pray for them.
I have never heard the voice of the enemy audibly, but I have heard, in my spirit, all kinds of threats from him; and I imagine you have as well.
Whether the enemy speaks directly into your spirit or uses the mouth of others to mock, threaten, or boast against you, you know how it feels to be in a tight spot made worse by the trash talk of the enemy.
Indeed, the psalmist well expresses the sting of being mocked when you’re in a hard place.
“My tears have been my food day and night, While they continually say to me, “Where is your God?”
Psalms 42:3 NKJV
As a matter of fact, our dear Lord was subjected to the scorn of His enemies as He hung in agony, bleeding and dying on that rugged cross.
“And those who passed by blasphemed Him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who destroy the temple and build it in three days, save Yourself! If You are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” Likewise the chief priests also, mocking with the scribes and elders, said, “He saved others; Himself He cannot save. If He is the King of Israel, let Him now come down from the cross, and we will believe Him. He trusted in God; let Him deliver Him now if He will have Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” Even the robbers who were crucified with Him reviled Him with the same thing.”
Matthew 27:39-44 NKJV
Now, we know that Jesus disregarded that bitter pill of scorn, amid unimaginable suffering, to secure our salvation. Surely we can disregard the enemy’s scorn to bring glory to His name through our righteous living.
Of course, we may hate hearing the enemy’s taunting. Truth be told, we want the Lord to shut them up. Now, even though that might not happen on our time schedule, it will happen.
Indeed, the Lord will shut every mouth that has risen up in judgment, ridicule, mocking, threatenings, and so on against His people.
Today we find Moses praising the Lord for having brought an end to those who had boasted against the children of God. As a matter of fact, the very thing they were threatening to do to the Israelites, happened to them.
Remember this: the word of God is true; and His ability to help you, is in no way diminished by the big mouth of an enemy.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
We should ignore the boasting, mocking, and threatening of the enemy.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Apr 6
- 3 min read
“Your right hand, O Lord, has become glorious in power; Your right hand, O Lord, has dashed the enemy in pieces. You stretched out Your right hand; The earth swallowed them. Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O Lord, Till the people pass over Whom You have purchased.”
Exodus 15:6, 12, 16 NKJV
Most of us have heard the term “right hand man.” When we hear that term, we know that the person being referenced is very important to the work of the person speaking.
We also have heard people say exaggerated statements such as, “I’d give my right arm for that.” We know that this statement reflects the great importance of what they want, seeing that they would “give their right arm” for it.
Bottom line, referencing a right arm or right hand is referencing something very important, something crucial to operation.
Now, I had always read scriptures in the Bible about the Lord’s right hand, such as we see here:
“The right hand of the Lord is exalted; The right hand of the Lord does valiantly.”
Psalms 118:16 NKJV
But, it wasn’t until later in my life that I began to see that the “right arm of God” references more than we might suppose. Before I elaborate, let’s look at these two prophetic passages from the book of Isaiah:
“So truth fails, And he who departs from evil makes himself a prey. Then the Lord saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him. For He put on righteousness as a breastplate, And a helmet of salvation on His head; He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, And was clad with zeal as a cloak.”
Isaiah 59:15-17 NKJV
“For the day of vengeance is in My heart, And the year of My redeemed has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, And I wondered That there was no one to uphold; Therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; And My own fury, it sustained Me.”
Isaiah 63:4-5 NKJV
These two prophetic passages—without argument—reference the work of Jesus Christ.
Today we find Moses referencing the victory they had experienced against Pharaoh as having been done by God’s right hand. Yes, God’s arm brought these things to pass.
Now, in order to directly see Who Moses is referencing, let’s consider this scripture:
“Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”
1 Corinthians 10:1-4 NKJV
We see here that the apostle Paul clearly references Christ as being the sustaining source of the children of Israel during the wilderness journey.
Indeed, when Moses references the right hand of God having brought their victory, he is referencing Christ, our Lord.
Many scriptures reference Christ as being seated at the right hand of God. In fact, Jesus referenced Himself that way.
“Jesus said to him, “It is as you said. Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven.””
Matthew 26:64 NKJV
With that, we must also realize that Jesus does more than just SIT at the right hand of God, He IS the right hand of God!
It’s a wonderful thing to know that the Lord reaches out to us through His mighty Right Hand.
And—not only does God bring victory through His right hand—He brought our very salvation through the outreaching of His right hand, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The right hand of the Lord is a Person.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!
- araratchurch
- Apr 5
- 3 min read
Updated: May 5
“The Lord is a man of war; The Lord is His name.”
Exodus 15:3 NKJV
There’s something about a good fight that grabs people’s attention. In fact, some of the all time most popular movies have been war movies. The good guys, against all odds, winning over bad guys scenario, is ubiquitous.
Now, some may surmise that this interest in war comes from the dark side of humanity. But maybe we shouldn’t be so quick to make that determination. Allow me to explain; but first I will digress.
A few years back the Lord spoke to me, saying, “Janet, you talk about wanting to be a warrior but you don’t want to fight.”
You see, I pastored over a women’s ministry for over 35 years. Understand, I never saw women’s ministry as needing a totally different approach than that used in men’s ministry.
I never focused on topics traditionally associated with ministering to women. For example, I assumed that women hear enough about their emotions. So—rather than approaching women as slaves to their emotions, easily entertained by shiny objects—I have always approached women as being potential warriors.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I believe in the fact that there are two genders and that the male gender is more suited to combat situations. But I wasn’t trying to prepare women to go out and fight Isis. Rather, I was trying to prepare women to become warriors in the spirit, warriors for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
Yes, occasionally I got grief over my approach to women’s ministry; but the overwhelming response was the embracing of the concept of women’s potential for using their power in the spirit to bring down strongholds and prepare the way for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.
As to what the Lord said about my not wanting to fight:
I had grown tired in my spirit, tired of going against certain flows. I hadn’t realized that I had inwardly retreated from the “firing line,” but I had. So, the Lord called me to the frontline for active duty and away from my spiritual “desk job,” far from the fray.
Now back to our question concerning where our interest in fighting originates.
Certainly, the interest in violence for violence sake, the fascination with bloodsport, is not from the Lord. But, the interest in battle training and fighting for the right comes from our Lord!
“The Lord shall go forth like a mighty man; He shall stir up His zeal like a man of war. He shall cry out, yes, shout aloud; He shall prevail against His enemies.”
Isaiah 42:13 NKJV
Indeed, our Lord is mighty in battle. Not only that, He teaches us how to wage war.
“Blessed be the Lord my Rock, Who trains my hands for war, And my fingers for battle—”
Psalms 144:1 NKJV
Yes, although the Lord is the Prince of Peace, He is also the Mighty God!
Today we find Moses expressing the greatness of God in battle. In fact, as he had prophesied to the people (Exodus 14:14), he had just seen the Lord destroy the armies of Egypt without the Israelites having to raise a hand, much less a sword.
How good it is to know that the Lord will soon fight again, bringing all principalities, powers, and dominions to bow at His feet.
“Now I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And He who sat on him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war.”
Revelation 19:11 NKJV
As for us? Many times we grow tired and want to retreat from the battle because we have been trying to fight in our own strength; or we have been distracted and drained by fighting battles the Lord never called us to fight.
We must allow the Holy Spirit to lead us and guide us to our battleground and to train us for what we should do when we get there.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
Our Lord is a mighty Warrior.
Peace to you.
Jesus is coming! Get ready for Him!