Colossians 1:13-14

 Colossians 1:13-14                        (ESV)

“[13] HE (GOD) has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of HIS beloved SON (JESUS), [14] in WHOM we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.”

“WHO AM I?”

 Exodus 3:7-12                       (ESV)

“[7] Then the LORD said, “I have surely seen the affliction of MY people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, [8] and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. [9] And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to ME, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. [10] Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring MY people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” [11] But Moses said to GOD, “WHO AM I” that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?” [12] HE said, “But I WILL BE WITH YOU, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve GOD on this mountain.””

Moses was reared in Pharaoh’s palace with “privilege”!!  He was raised by his own mother, but only after Pharaoh’s daughter found him in a basket in the river.  Moses then killed an Egyptian when the Egyptian was beating a Hebrew brother.  After burying the dead Egyptian in the sand, Moses decided to FLEE from Egypt!  GOD came to Moses when Moses was keeping sheep at Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1) for his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian to enlighten him on GOD’S PLAN to FREE HIS people!!

Most people have heard the story of DELIVERANCE of the Children of Israel from Egyptian captivity.  What this devotional will deal with is whom precisely GOD used to deliver the Children of Israel from Egyptian captivity.  Moses replied to GOD ALMIGHTY “WHO AM I” when GOD told him that HE was going to send him to Pharaoh to bring HIS Children OUT OF EGYPT!  Moses couldn’t SEE how GOD was going to release the Children of Israel from the Egyptians, especially when Egypt was very powerful at the time.  

Moses was very well aware of the intricacies of the Egyptian hierarchy.  Was this a coincidence???  GOD has a PLAN, and that PLAN was coming together with amazing precision.  Although Moses “stuttered” (Exodus 4), he was also CHOSEN by the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES to deliver HIS CHOSEN NATION to the Promised Land!  Yes, Moses might not have been the eloquent speaker, but he was the person who GOD CHOSE to perform HIS PLAN!!!

“WHO AM I” asked by Moses needs to be answered “you are just being used by ME (YHWH) to complete MY PLAN”!!’  GOD uses imperfect people to do things that are seemingly impossible. TO THIS DAY the rock where GOD provided water to the Children of Israel at Mount Horeb (Exodus 17:6) is still there!  Moses told GOD “WHO AM I” in Exodus 3:11, but GOD really needed EVERYONE to see WHO I AM is/was (Exodus 3:14)?!?!?!

From Bishop Robert E. Smith Sr. “We're saved by grace through faith (Eph. 2:8). We live by faith (Rom. 1:17), walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7), and we work by faith (2 Thess. 1:11): Anything less than faith is sin (Rom. 14:23).”

“EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW!”

 Isaiah 45:22-25                    (ESV)

THE LORD, THE ONLY SAVIOR

    [22] “Turn to ME and be saved,

        all the ends of the earth!

        FOR I AM GOD, and there is no other. 

    [23] By MYSELF I have sworn;

        from MY mouth has gone out in righteousness

        a word that shall not return:

    ‘To ME “EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW”,

        every tongue shall swear allegiance.’

    [24] “Only in the LORD, it shall be said of ME,

        are righteousness and strength;

    to HIM shall come and be ashamed

        all who were incensed against HIM. 

    [25] In the LORD all the offspring of Israel

        shall be justified and shall glory.”

Many times this humble servant has sat down with THE WORD OF GOD trying to get a “nugget” to assist me for whatever I am in need of at the time!  This morning I had the song “O For A Thousand Tongues” on my mind. In listening to the song I was imagining a THOUSAND people singing to our CREATOR.  My mind almost immediately went to the words written by the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2 and Romans 14 that announces that “Every knee shall bow”, not just a thousand!!!

The Apostle Paul was a dedicated servant who GOD saved for HIS GLORY in Acts 9!  He was a Pharisee among Pharisees, so he knew Scripture.  He was reciting today’s focal passage when he wrote those letters to the church at Rome and Philippi.  The book of Isaiah was written between 739 and 681 B.C. So for at least 2,700 years we have had the MESSAGE that “EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW” before our GOD IN HEAVEN!!!!

Humanity, as a whole, doesn’t have the capability to fully understand that GOD exists in THREE BEINGS, the FATHER, the SON, and the HOLY SPIRIT!  Even BELIEVERS must slow their lives down to grasp even a glimpse of HIS MAJESTY and GRANDEUR!  Even the focal passage today plainly says “To ME (GOD) “EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW””, which indicates that we AREN’T running!!  You can’t run when your knees are bowing!!!  

Yet “this world” is operating at such a pace that “LETTING GO” is nearly impossible?  To be “successful” in modern day society, the demands are great and seemingly unforgiving.  This humble servant wasn’t given the choice of slowing down July 09, 2007.  ALMIGHTY GOD walked me through “the valley of the shadow of death” and initiated changes in my life that are still transforming my actions.  “EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW” NOW has a totally new meaning for me!  Is ALMIGHTY GOD requesting you to SLOW DOWN????

“FOR THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE!”

 Romans 11:28-33                           (ESV)

“[28] As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers. [29] “FOR THE GIFTS AND THE CALLING OF GOD ARE IRREVOCABLE” (Impossible to retract or revoke). [30] For just as you were at one time disobedient to GOD but now have received mercy because of their disobedience, [31] so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy. [32] For GOD has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

[33] Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of GOD! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable (incomprehensible) HIS WAYS!”

“I WILL NOT FORGET YOU!”

 Isaiah 49:14-16                         (ESV)

    “[14] But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me;

        my LORD has forgotten me.”

    [15] “Can a woman forget her nursing child,

        that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?

    Even these may forget,

        yet “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU.”

     [16] Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of MY hands;

        your walls are continually before ME.”

REMEMBERING the promises that we have made to our CREATOR is something that humans do with shocking frequency. The times that I have said that I would never travel a road again are too many to count.  

Yet HIS PROMISES are not to be taken lightly! THE LORD said “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU”, even though these may forget, in the Scripture above!  

DON’T ever allow “the enemy” to deceive you into believing that you have been abandoned, that you are alone!  The HOLY SPIRIT “indwells” BELIEVERS (Ephesians 1:13-14) and HE DOESN’T have the possibility of FORGETTING HIS Children!  “I WILL NOT FORGET YOU” is more than a PROMISE, IT IS A GUARANTEE (Ephesians 1:14)!!!

“I PRESS ON!”

 Philippians 3:12-16                         (ESV)

Straining Toward the Goal

“[12] Not that I HAVE ALREADY OBTAINED THIS or AM ALREADY PERFECT, but “I PRESS ON” to make it my own, because CHRIST JESUS has made me HIS OWN. [13] Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND and STRAINING TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, [14] I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of GOD in CHRIST JESUS. [15] LET THOSE OF US WHO ARE MATURE THINK THIS WAY, and if in anything you think otherwise, GOD will reveal that also to you. [16] Only let us hold true to what we have attained.”

Even though WE ARE MATURE, most of us are NOT ALREADY PERFECT!  The Apostle Paul wrote to the church at Phillipi “I PRESS ON” to make it my own, because CHRIST JESUS has made me HIS OWN.”  Paul follows that up by writing “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: FORGETTING WHAT LIES BEHIND and STRAINING TO WHAT LIES AHEAD, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of GOD in CHRIST JESUS.”

Like most people, my life has been a testimony of miracles that I have to SLOW DOWN sometimes to SEE!  Do you understand that the very breath you have in your lungs right now was formerly exhaled by someone or something else? However, knowing the magnitude of all of this, “I PRESS ON” to be ALL that CHRIST has CALLED me to be in HIM!  

I could GLORY in the miraculous ways that JESUS has delivered me through “the valley of the shadow of death”, but “I PRESS ON” because CHRIST JESUS has made me HIS OWN!!!