I Told You It Is Not Real

3D Artwork by Edgar Mueller
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Studying our key verses for this summer, and not hyper focusing on each person or community surrounding each, has been a challenge.  The reason it is challenging is as obvious as the nose on my face: we all have things which cause us to be shaken and react to those perceived things.  Which means that every topic when whittled down reveals one thing: we will fear; what we will fear is the question.

Isaiah 51:13 That you have forgotten the Lord your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth; That you fear continually all day long because of the fury of the oppressor, as he makes ready to destroy? But where is the fury of the oppressor?

As I was reading through Exodus, humbly, I pondered their demise.   With gratitude, I have searched for lessons we can graciously walk into without having to undergo the fears which snared His people.

A common thread for them and us is: which thought will we grab hold of, deciding to project it before us, and say "this is real and I will believe it"?  The picture I inserted is of a 3D image cleverly created by a sidewalk artist.  What is really there is a road, everything else is an illusion. You can surely see it, but it is simply an image and can do you no harm at all if you travel over or near it.

 God is like the road, He is there even though we cannot see Him.  He does not go away even when something has come between our sights, obstructing our view.  What would we do if we did not have the history of His truth, even though we had another human being telling us what God was saying, while encouraging us to continue to trust? Would we stop short, park to be safe, turn around or move forward in faith that the road WAS there, trusting we just could not see it at the moment?

We know, God did give them more than a man to see and follow; He gave them wondrous signs and surrounded them with visuals to experience.  And while a 3D artwork is spectacular it does not compare to their experience:

Exodus 13:21, 22 and the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, that they might travel by day and by night.  He did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.

I had to ask myself, " if God did not take away the cloud or the fire, then why, when the Pharaohs men drew near and the sons of Israel looked, did they behold the Egyptians marching after them and become frightened, crying out to God; instead of seeing them coming and beholding the Lord God, remembering His promises and what He had already done"?  When they cried out it was not to save them, it was to whine, murmur and blame Moses.  They screamed out Why.....Why....Why....and it would have been better for us to serve them than die here.  And there it was.....they were ready to go back and serve something that hated them, used them and disrespected them, with no remorse, than to move into God's provision within His way.

Moses, cried out "Do Not Fear!" Stand by and see the salvation of the Lord, promising they would never see them again, forever, because the Lord was going to fight for them while they kept silent.  But God responded to Moses saying "Why are YOU crying out to ME?  Tell the sons of Israel to go forward - and you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea, divide it and go! (paraphrase).

We act as though God cannot see through the clouds which He created, sends and removes.  We fear as though He does not care about the calamity going on in our midst.  We get moved by the unconscionable ways others treat us and react in reproachable ways to protect our self. All the while, we should see what is real:

And it came about at the morning watch, that the Lord looked down on the army of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and cloud and brought the army of the Egyptians into confusion.  And He caused their chariot wheels to swerve, and He made them drive with difficulty; so the Egyptians said, let us flee from Israel, for the Lord is fighting for them against the Egyptians."

How is it, that sometimes, the true reality of Jehovah is more plain to our enemies, as plain as the nose on their face; yet to us He is more like abstract art which confuzzles our senses?

Think about it, pray about it....ask Him about it and please let's all try to stop whining about things that are not even real.  Let's attempt to focus on Christ and His word and less on the distorted chaos consuming our moments....for Goodness Sake.

I pray for His will to be done here on earth, today, even as it is being done in the His Kingdom.
Kisses,
Candace

© Candace Huffmaster 2014, All Copy Rights Reserved

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc°

That Was The Big Idea

Jeremiah 23: 20, 21 The anger of the Lord will not turn back until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart; in the last days you will clearly understand it.

We Love it when God is for us; when He is our Savior, Redeemer, Deliverer, Healer and Greatest Lover of our Soul.  We really feel super special and can lord it over others when we are walking the walk, talking the talk and being used as a front man for the Kingdom.  As soon as we feel any of those feelings, we need to fervently pray for Him to cover us quickly.  We must seek where our faith is weak and our reliance on things feeling right is too great.  It is in our confident moments, that satan rolls in and whispers.....you can do it....look around you.....you are our front and being noticed ....go ahead and receive your honor, you deserve it this once. After all, there will be a time when you are more like the monkey in the middle than the front man.  Then you will need to remember this to build your self up, or remind others; so make it count!

Self Confidence is not the same as a peace filled countenance.  Usually, self confidence is hiding a myriad of insecurities.  People simply learn what disguises them and settles their unstable emotions.  Just pull on one of our disguises loose threads and you will see the chaos roll out and the clash of thunder begin.  There are many discussions in our archive on countenance, being down cast and paranoia   Today, we are going to look at how God does what He plans, no matter who or what gets in His way; even when those He is attempting to use for His glory fight His Big idea, because they are not comfortable with it.

In Exodus, God articulated His Big Idea in one sentence: "Let My people go, that they may serve Me."

This seems incredibly straight forward doesn't it? His people were being held against His Will, and they were not free to serve Him. Therefore, God had to send someone to tell the person what He wanted.  Ergo, Moses was called to center stage.  Moses heard God, even said "Here I am", but quickly, after hearing Him out, said "Sorry, you must have dialed the wrong number sir". God knew everything, and attempted to instill confidence in His messenger.  God had been working on these plans long before Moses answered, and He would not turn back just because Moses needed some stroking.  My short version is as follows: 

The situation was clarified: You said here I am, Moses, so you know I am here; I need others to see that you believe I am with you, because they do not believe I am here.  Moses needed something physical, which they could see.  God saw that Moses trusted the stick in His hand, to hold him up; so He went with it. I find it interesting that God said, "throw the stick down." It was as if He had to get it out of Moses hand so He would possibly stop leaning on it for confidence.  The next confidence builder was not something in his hand, maybe in case he lost the stick, it was Moses own hand.  God even covered if Moses lost the stick and his hands were too shaky to appear confident by showing him how to use any body of water.

I guess God felt He could move forward, now that they were clear: Moses had been sent by God, He had God with Him, he could perform miracles with things or his person and He knew what the Big Idea was.  But Moses big idea was not budging either, so he said, ""Sorry, you must have dialed the wrong number sir". God would not turn back and Moses need for something self confirming received kindled a bit of heat and adamant directives from God, quoting from Exodus 4: 11, 12:

"Who has made man's mouth? Or who makes dumb or deaf or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? Now then go, and I, even I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to say."

And then finally, Moses was exposed and God revealed the truth: Moses just did not want to do it, He asked God to send someone else.  But God would not, instead He allowed Moses to find confidence in something He could see and relate with.  I thank God, that although we weary Him, He will not turn back.  And although we are riddled with disguises, some we even use to hide who we really are from our own consciousness, He will never stop coming at us with the same simple Big Idea; nor will he divert from His path.  

Isaiah 30:1  Woe to the rebellious children, declares the Lord, "Who execute a plan but not Mine, and make an alliance but not of My spirit, in order to add sin to sin;

We all have been rebellious in our lifetimes, may we stop it now and align with His executive decision through His spirit and stop adding sin upon sin, through our foolishness.  We will continue our sojourn in the coming day, as we follow Moses, Pharaoh and the Son's of Israel sojourn. As far as it depends on us, today, do not allow your heart to be hardened by refusing the holy spirit to have His will within you today; because while you have not yet been destroyed and He continues to deal compassionately with you, there will be one day when the destroyer will be allowed to spark all our kindling.  

I pray for water, His water will quench all things whether drought, thirst or a fiery ordeal.

Isaiah 33:1 Woe to you, O destroyer, While you were not destroyed; And he who is treacherous while others did not deal treacherously with him.l  As soon as you shall finish destroying, you shall be destroyed; As soon as you shall cease to deal treacherously, others shall deal treacherously with you.

Kisses,

Candace

Copyrights Reserved ©Candace Huffmaster 2014

Kaleidoscope Butterfly, Inc.®

Are We Stones Comprising The Pathway, Or An Awkward One That Make Someone Trip?

As I was reading the devotion for this morning, different scriptures kept popping into my mind.  The verses in 1 Corinthians 10 where we are being implored to learn from the experiences of the God’s people as they were being led by Moses. “They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them, and that rock was Christ.” and “We shouldn’t put the Lord to the test as some of them did.” 

Think about when Christ was in the desert being tempted.  Satan suggested that Christ turn the stone into bread.  Christ knew he had to trust the love of God, not test Him.  He followed that by stating God’s word, “Man cannot live on bread alone but from every word that precedes from the mouth of God”.

I have often pondered and conversed with God about the reason Moses didn’t get to enter the promised land but only see if from afar.  God wanted him to exemplify that we are to converse through relationship, love.  Striking that rock was a complex reaction.  It was based on Moses’ frustration with the people so he was lashing out.  He wanted to demonstrate power….his power or Gods?”  Christ is our rock, through Him we are delivered, rescued, saved eternally for relationship.  What if symbolized Moses striking Christ himself?  If it appears that we are forcing God to give us what He was wanting to freely give us, I can only imagine how that must make God feel.  There is no liberty or joy in that.  God tells us where there is Christ there is liberty.  I think that Moses conversing with the rock, relating the dilemma and his concerns would have been pretty cool.  That being said, I cannot begin to wrap my mind around all the pressures that Moses must have been under.  So I am going to just thank God for getting him through it all and allowing Moses to see the promise even if from a distance.  Moses must have been elated knowing God had delivered them so he could get finally get some rest.

I pray that we not tolerate insecurity and pride, but that we allow His spirit to transform us as we walk through out the emotional reactions we subject ourselves, others and HIs kingdom to.  May God  be glorified as we trust in Him to provide as He sees fit and in His timing.  Let us exemplify this rock as our alter place where we lay our ways of accomplishing things down and do it the way God has requested, so that His life may pour out and all may come to the knowledge of His saving grace.

Enjoy this day….it is a gift directly from His hand.  And you didn’t even have to force Him to give it to you, did you?

Kisses,

Candace

Management By Force

– by So Hillman TGIF

"Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink." - Numbers 20:8

Moses and the people had been traveling for days without water. The people were thirsty. They were complaining and grumbling about their plight, and Moses became the object of their complaining. Moses sought the Lord for wisdom on how to handle the situation. The Lord instructed him to speak to the rock and water would flow. This would be a sign that God was still in control, that Moses was still the leader, and that God was their provider.

When it came time to speak to the rock, Moses' disgust with the people became so great that instead of speaking to the rock, he angrily addressed the people and then struck the rock twice. The water came out, in spite of Moses' disobedience. But the Lord was not pleased with Moses.

This was a time for Moses to operate at a higher level. No longer was he called to touch things with his staff to perform miracles; it was a time for him to speak to the problem. His very words would have changed the situation. Moses' staff represented two things-his physical work as a shepherd of sheep and his spiritual work as a shepherd of the people. God was calling him to move into a new dimension of using his staff. Up to now, Moses had always been commanded by God to touch something to perform the miracle. Now it was time to speak God's word to the problem.

However, Moses made the mistake many of us make. He used his instrument with force to accomplish something for God. He took something God wanted to be used in a righteous manner and used it in an unrighteous manner. He used force to solve the problem. This disobedience cost Moses his right to see the Promised Land.
Have you ever been tempted to use your power, skill, and ability to force a situation to happen, perhaps even out of anger? God is calling us to use prayer to move the face of mountains. The force of our ability is not satisfactory. God is calling each of us to a new dimension of walking with Him. Pray that God will give you the grace to wait on Him and not take matters into your own hands. Then you will not be in jeopardy of failing to move into the Promised Land in your life.

1 Day is Like A Thousand Years.....

Today we are moving into Genesis 1 verse 6.

Genesis 1:6
Then God said, "Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters, and let it separate the waters from the waters."

I am not going to inflect my own thoughts about this today. However, I will pose a few questions for you to consider:

With one fully understood and empowered employment of thought, action and placement, did God set the stage for many things to be done throughout all time?

Do we even understand what the expanse is?

Is this expanse solid and visible, or empty and vast?

Is separation for good or all or harm of some?

Does God cause it, or does sin?

When reading this verse I immediately thought about the Exodus story. Did God say verse 6 knowing this was up ahead in His Story being Told?

Exodus 14:19-22 (GWT)

The Messenger of God, who had been in front of the Israelites, moved behind them. So the column of smoke moved from in front of the Israelites and stood behind them 20between the Egyptian camp and the Israelite camp. The column of smoke was there when darkness came, and it lit up the night. Neither side came near the other all night long.

21Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea. All that night the LORD pushed back the sea with a strong east wind and turned the sea into dry ground. The water divided, 22and the Israelites went through the middle of the sea on dry ground. The water stood like a wall on their right and on their left.

With Love for this Day...Believe in Him who upholds all things,
Candace