What Sets Us Apart?

Exodus 33
15 And Moses said to the Lord, If Your Presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here!
16 For by what shall it be known that I and Your people have found favour in Your sight? Is it not in Your going with us so that we are distinguished, I and Your people, from all the other people upon the face of the earth?

Is it The Lord’s presence that distinguishes you from the those around you? Does the world see an individual who lives in the presence of The Creator God, walking in HIS joy, peace, love, power and testimony?
Or are we distinguished merely by moralism or legalism? Are we distinguished by our denomination/church label? Are we distinguished by only our isolation or lifestyle?
What does the world see in God’s people? Do they see a people set apart unto The Lord? Do they see a people who have “I AM” living within them? Do they see a people following after and calling after God? What do my work colleagues, friends and family see in me? Do they see The Lord and HIS testimony? Or do they see mere “Christianity”, religion and pride?

Exodus 34
9 And he said, If now I have found favor and loving-kindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.

Moses was desperate for The Lord to be in the midst of His people. He longed to see The Lord dwelling amongst them. He doesn’t pray just for personal guidance and fellowship, he beseeches The Lord, “Our Father”, that He would be amongst “us”, His brethren, leading and guiding the congregation, the sheep that He has delivered!
Note “midst of us”, “our iniquity”, “take us”, Moses identifies himself with the people. Moses identifies the same heart within Himself and confesses our iniquity and our sin and our need for The Lord to be among us! He is not better than them or above them or apart from them.
Let us pray together as Moses did to be distinguished in the world by The Lord’s presence! Let us learn to be mindful of Our Father’s constant presence among us. His presence is not experienced by sense but enjoyed by faith!! Let us be careful to pray with the same meekness and humility to be distinguished from the world but not from our brethren.
By faith, may He be in all our momentary thoughts and have all our attention as we walk in His Spirit. By faith may we enjoy Him and all that He is minute by minute…
“O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us!”

The Lord Has Made Room For Us

Genesis 26
19 Now Isaac’s servants dug in the valley and found there a well of living [spring] water.
20 And the herdsmen of Gerar quarreled with Isaac’s herdsmen, saying, The water is ours. And he named the well Esek [contention] because they quarreled with him.
21 Then [his servants] dug another well, and they quarreled over that also; so he named it Sitnah [enmity].
22 And he moved away from there and dug another well, and for that one they did not quarrel. He named it Rehoboth [room], saying, For now the Lord has made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

•⁠ ⁠Room (Rest, peace, provision, space) won by fleshly contention will not last. It will soon be contended against again. There will be no peace or safety. It will be a fleshy existence.
•⁠ ⁠Room provided to us by The Lord is unchallenged. It is a space with time to grow, mature and bear fruit. It is joy and peace, praise and worship and a testimony unto The Lord’s glory!
•⁠ ⁠There was no contention for Rehoboth. There was no strife or frustration. The place had been prepared ahead of time by The Lord and Isaac’s rest and trust in His Lord allowed Him to discover Rehoboth. How many times have we fought when we should have moved on? Are we living in frustration or are we living in joyful rest knowing that The Lord has made room for us? “that where I am you may be also” John 14:3
•⁠ ⁠May our faith be at rest in The Lord and ever trusting/looking for His Rehoboths. May we learn not to fight, strive, contend for our own understanding. He, The God of all the earth, has gone before us. He is the Author of our faith and He has written beautiful and wonderful plans for us which He will lead us into as we trust and rest in Him. He has already won every victory and He has already provided every need. Hallelujah! May we be found abiding in Him.

2 Peter 1
3 …His divine power has given to us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to glory and virtue:

But I Will Sing

Psalm 59

“let them”

Let them doubt, reject, hate and offend. Allow them to do and be what they will. Let the enemy threaten. Let the world party. Let the restless and wicked scheme and plot.
Understand/remember that the wicked are slaves to their master. All they know is their service to self, disunity, fear and hate.
Do not retaliate, defend your self or take matters into your own hands. Do not let your heart be troubled. Do not give place to your own flesh.
Let them strive but you Be Still… Dwell in the secret place of The Most High, for no evil can affect you there. Abide in Christ, for there is nothing but peace that passes understanding and joy unspeakable in Him!

“But I will”

Sing God’s praises! Open your mouth and sing! Let HIS everlasting joy flow out of you! Let HIS life-giving streams flow from your belly! Sing of His goodness, sing of His testimonies, sing of His promises!! Allow your heart to truly dwell in gratitude, count your blessings and rejoice for He is doing exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or imagine, He is doing all things well, He is making all things beautiful in His time and making all things work together for good! Hallelujah!!
Surrender and sing!! We can sing because He hears and answers prayer, we can sing for He has given us all things that pertain to life and Godliness. He has already won every victory, He is providing every need. Surrender your fears, needs and desires to Him and then sing in the freedom and liberty that He gives when you do.
God’s people have so much to sing about?! Bring a sacrifice of praise! Our Heavenly Father is worthy, and when you give Him the little praise that you have you will always leave full! The Lord inhabits the praises of His people! He delights in their praises! He has placed His glory in it! Think about that! His glory is in the praise and worship of redeemed man!
Let us be found singing praises from our innermost being! May we be a people of praise and joy in The Lord in a world of striving, impatience and self! Let them… But I will sing!! Hallelujah!!

Where Is The Blessing?

Matthew 1
19 And her [promised] husband Joseph, being a just and upright man and not willing to expose her publicly and to shame and disgrace her, decided to repudiate and dismiss (divorce) her quietly and secretly.

We can only imagine the pain, confusion and disappointment before the angel came. We can assume that others noticed too. Her family, her friends, her neighbours, her town… How many would believe her story? A virgin birth?? She was doing the will of The Father, she was being faithful to the call… Where was the blessing?

Luke 2
4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the town of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David,
5 To be enrolled with Mary, his espoused (married) wife, who was about to become a mother.

Not only had she to endure almost losing her betrothed and the judgement and disdain of others but now a heavily pregnant Mary must make the 4 day journey by foot or donkey to Bethlehem!! How uncomfortable this must have been! Could not The Lord have provided a camel and a cart? Why didn’t God postpone the census? Where was the blessing?

Luke 2
7 And she gave birth to her Son, her Firstborn; and she wrapped Him in swaddling clothes and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room or place for them in the inn.

There was no warm room, no warm blankets, no hot water, no nurses… There was no bed!! There was no room!! A new born child, laid in a cold, barren manger ((with no mention of a stable))!! Where was the blessing??!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

Our flesh will always look to its own earthly experience and possessions for blessing, justification and comfort.

Mary never asked where the blessing was. She was in possession of the greatest blessing that anyone could ever know!! She had the promised Messiah living within her and no earthly “need” or desire compared to such a precious honour and privilege!! Nothing else mattered! She carried The Lord Jesus Christ and He was so much more than enough! She could trust implicitly that she was the handmaiden of The Lord and that Jehovah was seeing to her every need to fulfil His will in her life.

And where was the fruit of that testimony brought out? In a place where every earthly support was removed. Only when every fleshly comfort and provision was taken away was the life/testimony/glory of The Lord Jesus brought forth. The flesh will look on and see great hardship, poverty and shame but faith sees the precious presence and blessing of Almighty God! Hallelujah! The flesh would have made a temple out of the Inn, but praise The Lord we read of only Jesus and nothing else!

The Born Again believer possesses the greatest blessing that could ever be asked for! The source of all life has come and dwells within us!! Emmanuel!! Hallelujah!! The Lord Jesus Christ living within our hearts!! Nothing else matters! Nothing else compares to the wonder of it all!! The Father is seeing to our every need and He will bring to fruition the life and glory of His Son in our lives as we walk faithfully and obediently in the way, as Mary did, removing all dependence on earthly/fleshly means. Hallelujah we have Christ within! The source of all life, joy, hope, victory and glory!! Let us carry HIS life unto fruition to the place that we are lead to. It is HIS life! And HIS life LIVES!!

1 Corinthians 6
19 Do you not know that your body is the temple (the very sanctuary) of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have received [as a Gift] from God? You are not your own,
20 You were bought with a price [purchased with a preciousness and paid for, made His own]. So then, honor God and bring glory to Him in your body.

Faith Rejoices Evermore

Psalm 27
13 I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
14 Wait on the LORD: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the LORD.

Faith does not rise from petitioning and crying out before The Lord with teeth still clenched and desperation. Faith rises with joyful, restful assurance that God is indeed already doing exceedingly abundantly more than we can ask or think.
Faith does not dig in and fight in prayerful frustration trying to force through its own desires. Faith fervently casts and commits the trials, cares and burdens of life to the Almighty God knowing soundly that this is the day that He has made and that He, The Lord, is truly making all things beautiful in His time. That He is Sovereign, Good and working out His will in our lives. At times we must toil and persist and follow our Shepherd into the valley or into the presence of our enemies but faith is always resting in the presence of the Shepherd.
Faith does not strive, work harder and increase self effort to achieve. Faith surrenders to The Lord and casts itself upon His loving kindnesses, tender mercies and compassions and rejoices in being submitted to God and remaining as the apple of Jehovah Jireh’s eye.
Faith rejoices evermore, in all things, in sacrifice and blessing because faith knows, remembers, hopes in and walks before The Lord God Almighty, The Ruler of Heaven & Earth, The Redeemer and Saviour! Faith is rightly related to Jesus and rightly identified with His death and resurrected life! Identified with Him and by Him!

Luke 18
8 … When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?