by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Numbers 9-11
Does this ever get rich today!
I Corinthians 10: 2 says that the children of Israel were baptized into the cloud. Then later, in verse 11, it says that “all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.”
So what is the message for us? God put a cloud over the tabernacle – representing the cloud of His Glory. When the cloud lifted and started to move, the people were to move with it. When it stayed in a certain place, they were to stay in that plce. This is the way He guided them.
So how does that apply today?Let’s take a history detour. During the dark ages of the church, there was much corruption among the priesthood. The leaders tried to control their people by not allowing them to read the Word for themselves, and the priests presented a very skewed approach to God’s Word. Rituals and large sums of money were extracted from the people, who thought these were necessary to be saved.
Then one day, the revolutionary monk, Martin Luther, boldly nailed to the door of the church building his list of grievances against the corruption and error. The protestant movement was born, as the people learned that the “just are saved by faith, and not by works.”
Since that time, our Father has been restoring truths to His people. He restored the healing ministry, the baptism in the Holy Spirit, the understanding of living by faith in Him. Each time He would restore a doctrine, there would be those who would run with it, and those who would resist. It’s human nature to want to get comfortable and think that we know it all.
Well, this is a manifestation of the “moving of the cloud.” Let me give you a concrete example. Starting in 1906 a major revival began that affected the whole world. On a tiny little street, in a small house in Los Angeles, the “Azusa Street Revival” broke out. This was led by a shy, black man named William Seymour. In fact, he was so shy he put a box in front of his face, and stuck his head in it when he talked.
Who would have thought that such an insignificant-seeming scenario could change the world, but it did! God’s cloud was on that place. This is what He was doing, and people streamed to that place from around the world to have a touch from God. People were receiving the baptism in the Holy Spirit, praying in tongues, and being healed.
All of the present-day spirit-filled denominations grew out of this revival. God was restoring His church to a place of power and wisdom. God’s cloud was there.
Interestingly, many main-line churches didn’t even know about that revival. They were satisfied and complacent, going through their routines. A little more than 70 years after Azusa Street I received the baptism in the Holy Spirit, and a whole new world opened up to me. When that happened, I was amazed that I had never heard of Azusa.
Today my prayer is that I want to be in on everything God does in the earth. When He is restoring His church and revealing new concepts, I want to know about it. I want to receive everything He has for His people. In other words, I want to be baptized into the cloud. When He moves, I want to move. When He stops, I want to do that also.
Dear Lord, let me hear Your voice, and lead me to Your cutting edge of revelation and ministry. I want to move with Your cloud.
Mark 5:1-20
If there is anything we learn here, it’s that there is no one too far gone for God to turn them around. We meet this man who “no one could tame.” The people of the Gadarenes tried to shackle and chain this wild man, and they couldn’t. He just stayed around the tombs crying out and cutting himself.
He is full of demons (2000 of them), and they cry out when they see Jesus. (My husband says sometimes that demons obey God quicker than Christians do. Demons have no choice; Christians have their free will). These demons know that they are in trouble when Jesus comes on the scene.
The end of the story is that Jesus casts all of the demons out and sends them into the swine, who rush into the sea and drown.
This man, with all of his history of violence and craziness is totally healed. The natives come to see him – sitting, fully clothed, and in his right mind. Such authority Jesus walked in!
Interestingly, the people are now afraid, not of the mad man, but of Jesus. They beg Him to leave the territory, and He does. Even today, there are some who are afraid of the workings of God. His power is here to heal and restore, but some don’t want to receive it.
I want all that He has, don’t you? And when I see people who are in desperate straits, I want to reach out to them and let them know that Jesus is their answer.
Nothing is impossible with God.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Leviticus 21, 22
The Lord wants holiness! The priests and the sacrifices are to be perfect, pure, and holy.
Once again, all of these admonitions were to eventually bring them to understand God’s perfect Lamb, without spot or wrinkle.
Matthew 28
There is a song which starts out, “There is a line drawn through the ages.” Every time I read about the resurrection of Jesus, that’s what comes to mind. Indeed, that line has been drawn.
On one side of the line, God was teaching and training in an attempt to have men look toward a day when His perfect Lamb would be slain once for all. They couldn’t understand it, but they heard about it anyway.
They learned about a coming King, Messiah, and they thought that one day, this King would come to rule Israel and even the world. They were expecting great pomp and extravagant showmanship.
That’s not what they got. In fact, when the true Messiah came, He was hard to see. Only the spiritual could see Him. He was born to an ordinary family in a tiny town, and raised up in a simple craft – carpentry. His kin folks saw that He could understand the Hebrew writings really well, but other than that, He just seemed like a “nice boy.”
As the Master’s earthly ministry developed, there were tremendous signs and wonders, and great authority in His teaching, but something just didn’t seem quite right. Shouldn’t the King be parading around in priestly robes, with mighty display of position? Shouldn’t He be avoiding interaction with the common people – especially the sinners?
Jesus just couldn’t be the One – or could He? The spiritual ones began to have their eyes opened. The prideful seemed to get blinder and blinder. Until the day – God’s day. God’s time, when He drew the line of the ages and Jesus stepped across.
What a tremendous day that must have been to His believers. Having been shocked and dismayed over the last few days, they suddenly saw the purpose of God unfolding in such brilliance. Jesus had risen from the dead.
They didn’t understand it all, but they knew one thing. He was the Messiah! He was the One they had been looking for.
Now that He had stepped over the line, the world would never be the same. It would take a while before the new dispensation could be revealed.. In fact, it’s still being revealed, but the new era was ready to begin. One more thing had to happen. Jesus had to sprinkle the Mercy Seat in heaven with His blood, and then He could send His Holy Spirit to the earth to live in the hearts of men.
The most significant events of history were unfolding before the eyes of His people. Shock waves were being sent out across the land!
A New Day!
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by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Note: I am writing this from a hospital room where my 94 year old mother-in-law is battling pneumonia. Prayers would be greatly appreciated.
Exodus 16-22
God seems tough, doesn’t He? He has to be.
Just think about this most unlikely scenario. This enormous crowd of people (some scholars say about 6 million), who have been slaves under the fist of Pharoah all of their lives – and the lives of their fathers – and the lives of their fathers’ fathers – back for 400 years, are leaving to form their own nation.
This unlikely group of people, often hard-headed and self-centered, are actually God’s chosen people. They are chosen because of God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised to take them to their own land. And what he wants from them is to establish a relationship with Him, come to understand His ways, be faithful to Him, and some day be the nation which brings forth His salvation to the rest of the world.
They don’t look like they are on track for such a great mission, but God’s hand is upon them anyway. (more…)
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by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Exodus 7-11
Plagues, plagues, and more plagues.
During our reading throughout these chapters and as we continue on through the next phase, it’s important to remember what God is doing. He has a long-term goal which is the most important goal in the history of the earth. The goal is to bring a Savior to mankind, and to reclaim all of mankind who would receive Him.
Just think, if God were to beam a Savior down from Heaven, He wouldn’t be recognized. He would be seen as a majician, and very few would receive Him as Savior.
So God had to prepare a people who could carry the truths He would bring. Those people would then be prepared to understand the Savior when he finally came. (more…)
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by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Genesis 46-48
So when Jacob was one hundred thirty years old he went with his wives, children, and all of his possessions to the land of Egypt to begin the second phase of God’s great plan. The first phase, which lasted 200 years or so was the calling of Abraham and grooming him to be the patriarch of this great nation, the calling of Isaac, and the calling of Jacob.
God had spoken to Abraham that his descendants would go into a foreign land and stay there 400 years before they would be delivered by His mighty hand. In the last few chapters we can see clearly how God was working His plan. Now that Joseph was there in charge of distributing the grain, he is in position to appropriate the best land for his family.
Even the customs of Egypt play into God’s hand. The Egyptians are prejudiced against Hebrews – and particularly sheepherders. Since Jacob’s family herd sheep, Pharoah gives them a choice land, Goshen, which is away from most other people. The Hebrews are in position to grow and thrive and bond as a nation.
Jacob’s twelve sons will become the heads of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel.
Everything is working according to design.
One more reminder, if you think His plans are taking awhile in your life, just think about these people. Sometimes God seems to take more time than we would like, buttrust Him. He is working out the details.
Matthew 14:1-21
How does Jesus handle grief? We see it in this passage.
John the Baptist was the cousin of Jesus and the one who recognized who Jesus was. John was a completely holy man. Yet, just as is the case in our modern society, sometimes people call good “evil” and evil “good.” Because they want to live in debauchery, they blame those who are upholding God’s principles. So Herodias, Herod’s wife, acts toward John.
When Herod has John beheaded, Jesus is notified. So what does He do? He runs to His Father. The Word says that He goes off by Himself to a deserted place so that He can pray and seek God.
There have been times in my life when grief seemed to be overwhelming me. So I know personally how significant these actions are. When we run to our Father and let Him minister to us, He lifts us up in a way that seems impossible. Everything gets put into perspective.
We are in this thing called “life” forever. Part of it here on earth, but most of it in Heaven. When we focus on eternity, we are ready to live with zeal in the here-and-now. It will all turn out alright in the end for those who are His.
Then after going away, Jesus sees the crowd and His compassion leads Him to heal and minister to them. One of His many miracles is performed at this time. He feeds a crowd of five thousand men, plus women, and children by breaking up five loaves and two fish.
His pay back to the devil for John’s death is to heal the sick and perform miracles so that the crowds can see the One true God. There is no mistaking the fact that Jesus is representing God as He ministers to the sick and feeds the multitudes.
One more note. Do you sometimes feel that you want to share your love of God and His Word with others, but feel inadequate to do so? Don’t let those feelings stop you. When you begin to break the bread that you have, it will begin to multiply, just as this natural bread did with Jesus. God doesn’t give us a huge pile of understanding until we are ready to give it out.
When we give what we have, more will be given to us. When we share what we know, even if we think it is a little, we will receive more. That’s God’s way. Give and it shall be given unto you!
Blessings,
Suellen Estes
Numbers 9-11
