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Excuses at the Burning Bush

            Exodus 3-4: 17 This is a story most of us are familiar with – Moses and the burning bush.  I’ve heard this passage as long as I can remember, but I just recently recognized the “encouragement” value of it!  The Bible is full of stories that encourage us to do what God has instructed and trust Him to make the way. I believe this one to be a powerful one, because for every time Moses says “I can’t”, God comes back with “this is how I’ll help you”. Moses’s first question was in Exodus 3: …

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Beat Down and Bound

Exodus 6: 2-9 In this passage, the Lord just got through giving Moses some absolutely joyful words to share with the Israelites!  He said He’s heard their groans as they’re in Egyptian bondage, He’s going to rescue them, He will be their God, they will be His people, 8 “And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.” Moses gathers everybody together to relay this wonderful, hope-filled message!  But, instead of celebration and thanksgiving, what happens? NOTHING.  Why?  Verse 9 …

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Livin’ in the Light

        Exodus 10: 21-23  “And the Lord said unto Moses, Stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which may be felt.  22 And Moses stretched forth his hand toward heaven; and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three days: 23 They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings. (KJV)   GOD’S PEOPLE LIVE IN THE LIGHT.  Even when darkness covers the “land”, whatever that may be …

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A Vigil in Heaven

              Exodus 12: 42 “ It is a night to be much observed unto the Lord for bringing them out from the land of Egypt: this is that night of the Lord to be observed of all the children of Israel in their generations.” (KJV) “Because the Lord kept vigil that night to bring them out of Egypt, on this night all the Israelites are to keep vigil to honor the Lordfor the generations to come. (NIV)   These verses refer to the Passover.  What really stood out to me was the NIV’s use of “the Lord …

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Don’t Turn Around

  Exodus 14: 8  “And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel: and the children of Israel went out with an high hand.” (KJV)   Instead of “out with an high hand”, the Amplified says as they were leaving “confidently and defiantly”; the NKJV says they went out “with boldness”.  As they left Egypt, they were confident and unafraid. When did the fear set in?  When they looked behind them and saw the enemy!  Just like us…we’re going along, bold in the Lord, on whatever course we’ve been directed, but …

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The Last Watch

Exodus 14: 24: 24 And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, (KJV) 24 During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. (NIV)   See, it’s not just us!  The Israelites just knew it was over.  After all they had been through, all of the waiting to just get away from the Egyptians, they thought their …

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Freedom in Jesus

Freedom in Jesus…three words that hold a multitude of meaning. Once you meet Jesus, the freedoms you experience are innumerable. One that has been on my mind, recently, is the freedom to dream. I’ve been thinking about it more than I ever have, so believe me when I say, that’s a LOT! You see, most of my life has been spent dreaming. When I was a kid, I would literally spend hours at a time just letting my mind create scenes that I hoped would someday come true…some were feasible, but others were just plain outrageous.  I suppose it could …

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No Fear

“For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.” ~ 2 Timothy 1: 7 There is one major similarity between godly dreams and worldly dreams: the path we take to get to them will have some fearful twists and turns! There’s always the fear of failure, lack of money, lack of supporters…you know, all of the “what ifs”. Now, the major difference is that when we’re working on something God’s given us, we have HIS support! When all of these scary scenarios pop into our mind, think on …

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What Need?

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” ~ Philippians 4: 19 This verse is necessary when exercising your freedom to dream in Jesus! Of course, “all your need” means all your need, not just money! And I always follow this with “and not my lack, thereof, here on Earth” J I love what I saw somewhere – it said that God doesn’t give you dreams that are in line with your bank account…Praise the Lord for that! While we shouldn’t make irresponsible financial decisions, we should be willing to take …

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I’ve Got Confidence

“Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:” ~ Philippians 1: 6 My experience has been that the freedom we have in Jesus to dream also comes with another freedom: freedom from time, which is very difficult for most of us! This isn’t exactly a newsflash, lol, but God’s timetable is a lot different from ours! So, when we’re working to see these dreams come true, and it’s taking a longer time than we’d like, it can get pretty discouraging and frustrating. But, …

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Three Parts to Every Journey

“Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith;…” ~ Hebrews 12: 2 Our freedom to dream is given by Jesus, the author, the one who writes those dreams on our hearts. That is the beginning of the dream/faith journey. Now, before you get to the end of anything, there has to be a middle. Hebrews 13: 21 tells us what the middle is: “Make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen.” Some people …

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They’re Working

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” ~ Romans 8: 28 This is one of my life verses, so it shows up a lot in my, um, life, lol, and probably my writing, too! There is a lot of freedom in this verse, because the bondage of “the here and now” is a dream-killer! I love to just think on the journey I’ve had following the Lord and my dreams, because I can see how all the details, even the little ones …