- araratchurch
- Jul 23, 2022
- 3 min read
“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 spelling out of a good guys, against all odds, winning over bad guys scenario, is ubiquitous. Now, some may wonder where this interest in war comes from. Some may even automatically say that it definitely comes out of the forces of darkness. But we shouldn’t be so quick to make that determination. I will explain; but first I will digress.
A few years back the Lord spoke to me and said “Janet, you’re always talking about being a warrior but you don’t want to fight.”
You see, I was a pastor over a women’s ministry for over 35 years. I never saw women’s ministry as being a different sort of ministry than that presented to men. 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 inferior creatures subject to their emotions and easily distracted 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, at times I got grief over my approach to women’s ministry; but the overwhelming response was the soaking in of the concept of the power in a woman’s spirit like water on a dry sponge.
Back 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 “desk job,” far from the fray.
Now back to the question of where our interest in fighting comes from.
Certainly, the interest in violence for violence sake, the fascination with bloodsport, is not from the Lord. But, the actual interest and ability for battle comes straight 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.
Additionally, as we have noted many times, soon the Lord will fight again as all other authority bows to His sovereign rule.
“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
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:
The Lord is a Warrior.
- araratchurch
- Jul 22, 2022
- 3 min read
“The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will praise Him; My father’s God, and I will exalt Him.”
Exodus 15:2 NKJV
My maternal grandmother‘s name was Addie Mae. She married my grandfather when she was 15 and gave birth to my mother at the ripe old age of 16. She came from a Methodist background, but as a teenager, received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. “Little Mama” (as I knew her) had a very powerful experience before she married my grandfather. She “went out” in the spirit and had a vision that lasted a few hours. In it she saw her future life. The even more intriguing part about this is that through the years she would meet people she had first seen in that vision! She loved the Lord and had faith in the power of prayer, particularly when those prayers came from my father.
Another of the incidents, numbered among a host of wonderful experiences she had in her life, was that she actually died and went to heaven. My grandfather was praying over her, asking the Lord to put life back in her body, when suddenly she gasped a breath of life. Upon coming back into her body, she scolded my grandfather saying, “Why did you bring me back? It was so beautiful!” You see, she had—in those moments away from her body—seen sights she had never seen before.
In her latter years one of her favorite songs was, “The Longer I Serve Him” (Bill and Gloria Gaither). Here are the lyrics:
(Verse)
Since I started for the kingdom
Since my life he controls
Since I gave my life to Jesus, The longer I serve him the sweeter He grows.
(Chorus)
The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows
The more that I love Him
More love He bestows
Each day like heaven, my heart overflows
The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows
(Verse)
Every need He is supplying
Plenteous grace He bestows
Every day my way gets brighter
The longer I serve Him the sweeter He grows
The very interesting thing about this song is that it was based on something Bill Gaither’s grandmother said just before she passed away. Bill was talking to her about her life and her relationship with the Lord and asked her if it had all been worth it. Among her last words, was her answer: “The longer I serve Him, the sweeter He grows.”
You see, for people like my grandmother and Bill’s grandmother, their relationship with the Lord had been a beautiful experience of growing in the grace of God.
“You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and forever. Amen.”
II Peter 3:17-18 NKJV
As we come to know the Lord more, as our trust in Him becomes unwavering, we more and more come to appreciate the fullness of His glory.
Today we find Moses, in his song to the Lord, talking about the fact that the Lord was not only his strength and his song but had become his salvation. He saw firsthand the miracle power of God working on his behalf and recognized the “becoming” aspect of our relationship with God. Notice, after making the statement about the Lord having become his salvation, he says that the Lord is his God and the God of his father. As it should be with all of us, as great as this moment with the Lord had been, as great as the Lord had been in the days of his father, Moses’ relationship with the Lord was always getting richer, and, yes, sweeter.
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The longer we serve Him, the sweeter He grows.
- araratchurch
- Jul 21, 2022
- 4 min read
“Now when they came to Marah, they could not drink the waters of Marah, for they were bitter. Therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people complained against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” So he cried out to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a tree. When he cast it into the waters, the waters were made sweet. There He made a statute and an ordinance for them, and there He tested them, and said, “If you diligently heed the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in His sight, give ear to His commandments and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases on you which I have brought on the Egyptians. For I am the Lord who heals you.””
Exodus 15:23-26 NKJV
The healing power of God has always been something I have believed for in my life. Indeed, my very life is a testimony to the Lord‘s healing power. I have seen time and again the Lord do miracles of healing—not only in my life—but in the lives of those with whom I have shared paths along the way.
When I was a young girl there was a woman in my father’s church who developed end-stage cirrhosis of the liver. She ended up in the hospital where they were trying to keep her comfortable, expecting the worst. The physician attending her said that her liver was blown up and hard as a football. She had been delivered from alcoholism by the Lord but her body still bore the damage of the years of abuse. My father went to the hospital to pray for her and he felt the power of God come into that room.
The next time she was examined, something miraculous had happened. Upon doing further tests to determine what was going on with her, the physician proclaimed that she had experienced a miracle; her liver was now like that of a young girl.
Another case of miraculous healing involved a very dear member of my father’s church who had a distended gallbladder and was in great distress. He was a very large man and the prospects for a successful surgery were not particularly good (this was before gallbladder surgery was performed laparoscopically). My father prayed for him and felt that the Lord healed him. When his surgery began, and they had opened him to the point where they could see into where the gallbladder was, to their astonishment, the gallbladder was gone. The doctor testified that it looked as though a laser had cut the gallbladder out. He showed my father and this man’s wife pictures of the x-ray before surgery showing a gallbladder distended with gallstones even into the duct; the other x-ray showed no gallbladder. Now, for the doubter, I’m sure this story sounds made up. But as God is my witness, this story is true, as is the one above about the new liver.
Recently, the Lord has brought the topic of His healing power back to me and He has encouraged me to look further into this topic. He reminded me of this scripture:
“For the law of the Spirit of life [which is] in Christ Jesus [the law of our new being] has set you free from the law of sin and of death.”
Romans 8:2 AMP
In 1908, John G. Lake was ministering to bubonic plague victims in Africa. The physicians who came to help, warned him that he needed to wear protective gear when dealing with the people; which he refused. When asked why he wouldn’t wear the protective gear, he quoted the above scripture. He then challenged them to take some of the foam from a victim’s lung (which lived a while after the victim was deceased) and let him hold it in his hand while they looked at it under a microscope. He told them that they would find that it would die in his hand. When they did what he said, and observed that what he said would happen, happened, they expressed great astonishment. He answered their astonishment with the statement, “That is the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus.”
Today we find Moses dealing with thirsty multitudes and bitter water. After having followed the Lord’s instructions to throw the tree into the water, the water was made sweet, and the people were able to drink it. Within this context, the Lord made the promise to the people that if they would follow after Him diligently, He would keep them from experiencing the diseases they had seen come upon the Egyptians. The Lord then informs them, “I am the Lord Who heals you.” We find the Lord later repeating this promise to the children of Israel further into their journey:
“So you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and your water. And I will take sickness away from the midst of you. No one shall suffer miscarriage or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days.”
Exodus 23:25-26 NKJV
Make no mistake, the Lord can and does heal. But, that healing comes within the context of faith in the newness of life which comes through Christ Jesus. Indeed, it is His new life in us that makes our healing possible!
For today let us discover what Moses discovered:
The Lord is our healer.