Walk of Freedom and Life

Prepare: Who can be adopted into the family of God?
Read: Romans 8:9-17

This chapter is one of the most interesting and precious portions of the sacred Scriptures. Some parts of it are hard to understand; but its main scope and design is apparent to all. The resurrection of Christ is the most significant event in all of history! Our hearts still rejoice when we remember the day, the stone was rolled away from the grave where Jesus lay, which is the evidence that assures us of our own future resurrection.

Martha and Paul adopted a little girl, Alice. Alice's dark skin tells that she was not born to her new parents, who are white-skinned, blonde and blue-eyed. Martha and Paul love Alice very much. "Alice is truly an important part of our family." Martha fretted one day that they are not rich, hence Alice will not inherit great wealth from them, but her husband said with a smile, "when we are adopted into God's family we become heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ." God gives us authority to overcome all the power of the enemy and enjoy all the spiritual blessings in Christ. (Eph.1:3).

The Aramaic word Abba is fairly close to our very familiar, warm and intimate nickname "Appa." Jesus addressed His Father in this manner. Through Jesus we are made heirs to a magnificent inheritance, into the Father's family. We enter God's family by the new birth, not by adoption (John 3).

Respond: We are free, but we are still debtors to the Lord.

Way to Freedom and Life

Prepare: When God saved you, He gave you a new life, not a new law.
Read: Romans 8:1-8

People attend church for many reasons. Some seek social status or companionship; some go out of habit or a sense of duty. Some go to worship God with other people. God is pleased when His people get together and worship Him. Still, many people leave a service with the same burden of sin and despair they hoped to leave behind. Believers sometimes feel unfulfilled. We should remember Paul's words about the tug-of-war that goes on between the flesh and the Spirit.

Those who live in accordance with the Spirit keep their mind centered on the things of the Lord and seek to please God in all things. The words No condemnation means, that the gospel does not pronounce condemnation like the Law; the object of the gospel is to free a person from condemnation, and to set the soul at liberty. The reason is this: that Christ hath undergone the penalty, and satisfied the Law in their stead.

A man whose purpose in life is to gratify his corrupt desires, cannot be a Christian. Unless he refuses to gratify his flesh, he can have no evidence of piety. If a man has the fruit of the Spirit, as seen in Gal. 5:22-23, he is a Christian; if not, he is a stranger to religion, whatever else he may possess. For to possess and cultivate the graces of the Spirit, to be led where he would guide us, is the design of our existence, and is the only path of happiness.

Respond: You can't please God if you are not renewed.

Depression

Prepare: How can we come out of depression?
Read: Psalm 42 & 43

All of us go through times when our prayers seem to fall on deaf ears, our worship appears dull and flat, and God seems far away. The writer of this Psalm knew feelings like that.

What he feels: It's like one of the most excruciating of human sufferings thirst. He speaks, not to himself, but to the God, for whose presence he longs. Inwardly his heart is echoing what his ears hear outwardly. 'Where is He then?' Do we care about God as deeply as this? Or do we sometime get through the day with hardly a thought of God?

What he remembers: Recollection can lead in one of two directions: either to melancholy, despair or self-pity, or else to a new resolution and purposefulness. He chooses the latter. The past is for instruction, not mere nostalgia. Do you keep alive memories of what God has done for you? You can recall them for encouragement.

What he learns: His 'where' turns to 'why'? Yet it is addressed to himself. It is not a question so much as a rebuke. Self-pity asks 'why me?' and stops there. Faith also asks why, but goes on to add 'why are you like this when you can do something about it?' The change in the way we feel may not be 'instant', but if we go on trusting God even when it's hard, things will improve.

Respond: Lord, help me to trust You even in difficult circumstances.

Out Came this Calf

Prepare: Do we yield to pressure in our decision making?
Read: Exodus 23: 15-35

Breaking the tablets: Moses broke the tablets in which the 'Ten Commandments' were written into pieces. He burned with anger; however the breaking of the tablets had other implications. He was unable to hold the tablets which obviously declared that they should not make any other gods, whereas they had created an idol and mere dancing before it. He couldn't comprehend the disparity between the commandment and the event and for Moses there was no other go, but to break the tablets. Paul is correct in saying when the commandment was not there, I would not have known sin (Romans 7:7).

The sin of Aaron: It's right on the part of Moses to blame Aaron for the sin of creating the idol and allowing the people to dance before it. Aaron should have kept the people from sin in the absence of Moses. Because of yielding to the pressure, he not only created the idol but also let the people get out of control. Aaron tried to save himself by saying, "I threw the gold into the fire and out came this calf!" The calf did not just come up. Aaron cast the gold into a mould of a calf and later chiseled it with a tool.

We may find ourselves in the shoes of Aaron and yield to various pressures in our life. We may have the same theory of Aaron: out came the calf.

Respond: Lord, when our Aarons misguide us, raise Moses to confront us. 

Golden Calf

Prepare: Do we have any idols set by ourselves?
Read: Exodus 32:1-14

The rebellion of God's people: God had called the people pf Israel to be distinct from other nations. But they always wanted to imitate the surrounding nations. God told them at Mount Sinai that they should not make any idol for themselves to be alongside their God (Exodus 20:3,4,5,23). But within a short span, when Moses was away, they made an idol and began to worship the idol. They even declared, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt." (32:4)

The present day Christendom has the same problem. God has called us to walk in distinctiveness as His children. But we always look at the world and try to imitate the patterns of this world. The world has setup many idols like success, power, greed, luxury. Unfortunately, Christians become victims of these idols and consciously or unconsciously long to worship these idols. God has called us to be His disciples. But we have adopted a disoderly lifestyle. We are looking for our own Moses to lead us away from these idols.

Moses, a proven leader: God prepared Moses for the task of leading the people of Israel from the Egyptian bondage to the Promised Land. Moses proved himself to be a worthy leader. When God told Moses to leave the people alone so that He could destroy them, Moses proved his maturity and interceeded for the people. He was thoroughly a breed of God's choice.

Respond: Help me Lord, to leave my idols and make a strong choice of You. 

Every Good Gift is from Above

Prepare: If any one lacks wisdom, let him ask God who gives generously (James 1:5)
Read: Exodus 31:1-11

God's own selection: The passage clearly tells how God fore-ordained people to fulfill some important tasks. God chose Bezalel and Oholiab and filled them with necessary wisdom to prepare the materials for the Tabernacle. He also filled the craftsmen with necessary skill and wisdom to do various jobs. God not only gave the plan to Moses, He also supplied specially talented people to fulfill the task. What a marvelous God we serve! Hudson Taylor must have realized this to the fullest sense to make his famous statement, "God's work done in God's way, never lacks God's resources".

God prepares people to gather around to fulfill His specific purposes. We may have to ask God to reveal His specific plan for each of us. Rick Warren in his famous book, The Purpose Driven Life writes, "You were made by God and for God and until you understand that, life will never make sense. It is only in God that we discover our origin, our identity, our meaning, our purpose, our significance and our destiny. Every other path leads to dead end". We should be careful enough to know that whatever we do should have the approval of God: education, training, work, business, etc. and we fit-in in the plan of God. Bezalel, Oholiab and other craftsmen were aware of the greater picture, and they fitted-in accordingly.

Respond: Lord, help me to understand my role in Your plan and align my life to fit-in.  

Importance of Prayer

Why It's Important to Pray - Benny Hinn

Morris Cerullo World Conference Nashville, Tennessee, January 6, 2012

Prepare: Prayer should be constantly offered by God's children.
Read: Exodus 30:1-10

One of the casualties of the present day Christian's spiritual life is prayer. Andrew Murray calls this as 'sin of prayerlessness'.

Altar of incense: The tabernacle contained an altar of incense separate from that of the altar of sacrifice. God said to Moses that this altar of incense should have an exclusive function and should not be used for any other purpose. The altar and the poles that were used to carry it should be covered with pure gold and the altar is most holy to the Lord. Aaron should burn incense both morning and evening each day. Most importantly God said that He would meet with Moses at the altar of incense. In the gospel accounts we can note that Zechariah was visited by an angel when he was burning incense on this altar (Lk.1:11).

Prayer, an essential part of life: The altar of incense symbolizes the prayers of saints. God invites us to come to Him, to converse with Him, to ask from Him such things as we need, and to experience the blessings in fellowship with our God. What a privilege! However, what do we make use of this heavenly privilege? We simply do not have time to pray. Prayer is the pulse of spiritual life and by it the condition of relationship with God is diagnosed. When we do not pray, we know that our spiritual heart-beat is low and it's time to set right our priorities.

Respond: God, forgive us our sin of prayerlessness and revive us so that we might be revived.