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Exodus 5:11 Go, get yourselves straw where you can find it; yet none of your work will be reduced.
Pharaoh did not want to allow the Hebrews to go; they were the servants who worked the best!
When Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh to ask him to let the people go he turned things round and made their work even harder than it was before.
Moses was trying to follow God’s wishes and even told Pharaoh what those wishes were.
Pharaoh had to learn the hard way that coming up against God was not the best plan he had!
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Isaiah 3:15 What do you mean by crushing My people And grinding the faces of the poor?” Says the Lord God of hosts.
When we use our own judicial systems, class systems or any other sociological systems to put down others we are doing this against God’s wishes.
We may have our judges who judge the people, police who do their duty and other ways of keeping the law; but when that goes against God’s wishes we are walking the wrong way!
God wants us to use the systems we have in place to judge fairly and responsibly.
Keep God in all decisions you make by lifting everything up to Him in prayer before we start.
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Proverbs 1:9 For they will be a graceful ornament on your head, and chains about your neck.
Children who are willing to listen to and obey their parents are looked at more highly than those who do not.
Golden chains and ornaments we place around our necks are meant as a show of beauty and awe. People tend to take notice!
When we stop and listen to God we also tend to stand out from the crowd as people stop and take notice of what we are doing!
The favour we find is often greater than any gold and silver we would like to place around our necks!
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Genesis 41:42 Then Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand; and he clothed him in garments of fine linen and put a gold chain around his neck.
Taking a ring which is a symbol of your power and authority and giving it to another person is a very public show of your support for them.
We can trace this act throughout history signifying a passing on of authority, power or grace and favour.
If we are willing to forsake all in favour of God and His glory; we may well find we are set in good stead in this world as well.
Standing up for what is right and just goes a long way to encourage others to support you.
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Luke 15:22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet
When the lost son returned home the father did not get any old garment out for him but the best robe and rings and sandals.
When Jesus forgives us it is not a half-hearted forgiveness but total forgiveness and the best there is too!
Christ has given us the best and we just have to come home to Him to receive the gift of Salvation that has already been prepared for us.
It may seem strange that Jesus is waiting for us with everything prepared; this is a demonstration of His love for us!
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Isaiah 61:10 I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, My soul shall be joyful in my God; For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness, As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments, And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
The prophet’s words here are a foretelling of the salvation to come for the church. The words ‘spoken’ here being from the church and not from himself.
We do now rejoice we have a Saviour in Christ our Lord. We can be joyful for all He has done for us already.
Our Salvation is not by what we have done but because of what Christ has put on us through His mercy.
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1 John 1:4 And these things we write to you that your joy may be full.
This letter was written to share the truth of Jesus Christ being the Son of God and our eternal Saviour.
It may be an easy thing to hear the Gospel from a book or a letter, but taking in those words often needs a personal touch from the person telling the story.
When you want to tell someone about Christ it is better to be able to tell them from your heart what Christ means to you.
The joy Christ gives you runs so much deeper than watching a good movie or hearing a good story. Christ’s love is truly amazing!
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1 John 2:1 My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
John wrote this letter addressing it to fellow saints in Christ, calling them children because they had not long trusted Christ and the Gospel message rather than trusting only in the law of Moses.
He could not get them to stop all sin because we still have our sin nature; but he encourages them to turn away from sin wherever possible.
It is because Christ has given it all and continues to stand between us and God, smoothing the way that we can look forward to eternal life.
Christ has not given up; He is lifting up!
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Psalm 51:2 Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, And cleanse me from my sin.
Sin is that dirty blot in our lives which we like to hide from the rest of the world; just as we may try to hide a dirty smudge on our clothes, we try to hide our sin from others.
God can see through any disguise we hold up. God wants to wash us cleaner than we can ourselves.
We may be able to scrape off some things but deep cleansing is God’s domain; he alone can wash us white as snow.
Christ gave His own life, blood, torment and time on the cross so we could be forgiven and brought to Him as clean babes. Trust Him.
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Galatians 5:17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.
By our very nature we rebel against God. It is not something new and it will continue to be the fact until we all join Christ in Heaven!
Christ came to earth to fight the fight against evil so we could have eternal life even though we fight against Him to start with.
Just as we have many opposites in the physical world, light and dark, fire and water, so our lives are spiritually opposite to Christ’s until we trust Him to forgive us for all those things we do wrong.
We may want to do good things, but our sinful nature leads us astray much of the time!
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Matthew 7:18 A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.
I know we can all do bad things and we can all do good things, but bad people seem to inherently side with bad things and vice versa.
This does not mean Christians are always good either. God created us good in the beginning and we chose to do bad things.
When we get back into a good relationship with Christ we do tend to change and turn away from bad ways.
When we live with The Holy Spirit in our lives we will tend to follow His ways more often than not as He continues to guide us.
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James 2:18 But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.” Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
How would you go about trying to convince someone you had faith if you were not allowed to do anything other than talk?
One of the easiest ways of showing others your faith is through doing things rather than just talking about them.
I don’t think I have great writing or talking skills, but I can show people my faith by continuing to do things with God.
To me faith is all about going ahead and doing things knowing God is still in control and He is supporting the things I do for and with Him.
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James 2:14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him?
We can go out and do as much as we can; we can do it all for churches and for other people… but what are we aiming at?
It is good to be a good person. But what gain do we have out of being a good person? We may make ourselves feel happier…
Christ wants us to believe in Him and to have faith in Him, trusting Him.
Without that faith and trust we only have earthly rewards for earthly deeds.
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1 Corinthians 13:3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing.
Do you envy people who have loads of money and are able to go out and do things all the time?
Do you look up to people who give to charities, support others and generally spread their money around?
If they do not have love and compassion for the people they are supporting then it seems like it is a bit of a publicity statement to me.
I tend to share with others because I love them; even when I have very little to share.
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1 Corinthians 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.
There are some people who just seem to have the ability to know when things are going to happen; some people who know and exceeding amount of information. Again I marvel at them.
But without love for other people those gifts are only of monetary value here on earth and nothing more!
God gives us gifts to share with others and to love and support them; following God’s will is not always just about doing stuff!
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1 Corinthians 13:1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal.
I marvel at people who are able to speak many different languages and to understand and communicate to so many because of that fact.
But if those people do not have love and compassion toward the people to which they are speaking; what real use is that amazing ability?
God has asked us to spread His love through loving others and sharing the Gospel.
If we do not use our own abilities to obey God then what use are those abilities as supplied by God?
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Mark 12:33 And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbour as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
This scribe answered Jesus’ question by recalling the rules written down from the Jews’ history; and Jesus confirmed this as being correct.
We need to have a right attitude towards others in our life that is in line with how much Christ loves us.
God has always tried to encourage people to love Him more rather than just following rules.
Loving someone without limit and without wanton reason can be difficult unless it is done with Christ.
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Proverbs 21:3 To do righteousness and justice is more acceptable to the Lord than sacrifice.
Most religions and even organisation have a moral code by which they say they live; those moral codes are important to them.
Just the same, we have a code by which we should live as Christians showing love, mercy, justice and truth to others.
If we want to be effective Christians we need to show others we do live by that code and we stick to it.
When done with the right spirit obeying these ways are much more important to God than sacrifices we make.
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Hosea 12:6 So you, by the help of your God, return; Observe mercy and justice, And wait on your God continually.
Hosea was pleading with the people of Judah to turn back to God at this stage in their history. It was God who created us and allowed us to start living with Him; but us who continually run the other way!
God continues to call us back so we can live a wonderful life with Him, and us who continue to ignore God’s precious calling.
God wants us to show the same mercy and grace to others which He gives us. But we must also be patient and wait on Him.
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Philippians 1:12 But I want you to know, brethren, that the things which happened to me have actually turned out for the furtherance of the gospel
One thing I do struggle with at times is how many things go wrong in my life! I’m not talking about stubbing my little toe or things like that but the spiritual attacks we seem to attract as Christians.
I do like to think that everything I go through actually makes me more prepared to help others; but I cannot put my hand on my heart as say that for sure!
We live in an evil and broken world and as such we should expect some bad things to come our way, not because we are bad nor because we do anything wrong; just because we live in an evil world!