“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” – ‘The Plague of Prayer’

Posted on July 24, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

“Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and said, ‘Entreat the LORD that He may take away the frogs from me, and from my people;” Exodus 8:8. The word ‘entreat or intreat’ is the Hebrew word (atar) to burn incense in worship to, to intercede, to pray for, to entreat on behalf of, it was reciprocal, to listen to prayers. It comes from the word for perfume or incense and of course later the Jewish people had an ‘Incense Altar’ in the Holy Place before the Holy of Holies, where prayer was offered on a regular basis, daily morning and evening. Pharaoh’s magicians could imitate the miracles of Moses but they could not duplicate them nor stop them, nor counter them. The blood, the frogs, the lice were already coming when they said, “More frogs, more lice, more blood.” Also they could not entreat the God of Moses, because they had no access to Him or to His presence. “When Pharaoh?” Tomorrow, I need one more day to try and get rid of them myself, I need bigger brooms! v.10. We are no different today, when do you want me to entreat for you or intercede for you? Tomorrow! v.12, “And Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh: and Moses cried unto the LORD because of the frogs which He had brought against Pharaoh.” To cry (sa-ak) to keep crying out, shriek by implication, to proclaim; this becomes a pattern for the many other plagues to come.

Blood 7:14 no entreaty; frogs yes, 8:12; lice no, 8:16-19 but the lice set God apart from the phony magicians and they recognize the “Finger of God” in it and they are not removed; the stinging flies, yes 8:25-32, but the flies set apart the Jewish people from the Egyptians and God removed every fly; death of cattle, no 9:1-7, but Israel’s cattle didn’t die; boils on their bodies, no, 9:8-12; hail and fire, yes, 9:13-35; locusts, yes, 10:1-20; darkness, no, 10:21-29, but there was light in the Jewish homes in Goshen; death of the first born, yes, 11:1-10 & 12:1-36. God set His people apart so Pharaoh would know that He is God, the only God in in the midst of the land of Egypt. Pharaoh says, “You can sacrifice in the land, then you can go to the wilderness, but not to far, now entreat for me,” and he does and not one fly remains, ‘not one fly!’ The power of God in prayer; first not one fly flew into Goshen, 8:22; second, not one fly remained, Ex. 8:31. Do you pray specifically or in generalities? If you pray in generalities, your answers will come in generalities. Prayer is the ‘Pilgrims Greatest Tool;’ In Ex. 9:22, “The LORD said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand toward heaven.” In v.23, Moses stretched out his rod and the LORD sent thunder and hail and fire. V.27, Pharaoh says, “I have sinned this time, entreat the LORD, it is enough!” v.29, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD,” and it ceased. Each time Moses prayed he went out from Pharaoh’s presence, 8:12, 8:30, 9:33, 10:18. What are the implications of this principle of prayer with unsaved pagans?

God told Moses to stretch out his hands toward heaven and God wrought miracles. It is almost as though God is limited by our prayers. I say this with all reverence. He could have sent the hail without Moses and He could have stopped it without Moses, But He Didn’t! The ‘Power of God’ is manifested in the ‘Power of Prayer!’ Creation, healing, Judgement, Deliverance, Forgiveness, Salvation, Why? Ex. 9:16, “To show in you His power and to declare in you His name throughout the land!” Prayer is the all powerful, omnipotent tool of the Pilgrim, “Entreat the LORD!” Egypt is destroyed, he spread out his hands and it ceased! Yeshua/Jesus did the same thing on the Sea of Galilee in the midst of a storm. We too have the same power available to us if we will just reach out and grasp it. “LORD teach us to use this tool to plow the fallow soil and plant and harvest for Your glory.”

Ex. 10:12, what the hail and fire left the locusts would devour. v.12, “And the LORD said to Moses, Stretch out your hand over the land of Egypt for the locusts;” v.14, The locusts rested on all the territory and they were very severe. v.15, They covered the face of the whole earth so that it was darkened, they ate every green thing, nothing remained, nothing! When God performs a miracle, He leaves no question in your mind, none! The end of every miracle is as miraculous as the beginning, note v.19; there remained not one locust in Egypt, no not one! Why, Moses prayed, v.18 after leaving Pharaoh! Pharaoh had enough v.16 and admitted his sin against God, Moses and Aaron. It is amazing, isn’t it how God continues to call upon man to call upon Him? God tells Moses to stretch out his hands in v.12 to Him in prayer, He doesn’t need him but He chooses to use him and us in His divine, providential plans. Would He have started or removed certain plagues without Moses’ prayers? He certainly could have, He is omnipotent! But the question is not one of ‘Could but Would?’ It is interesting to note that Aaron started the first three plagues, God started the second three plagues and Moses started third three plagues and God brings the grand finale, ‘Death of the First Born.’ Jer. 15:1 says, Moses was an intercessor before God and recognized as such. Question, would God call on you or me personally to begin a Revival, Judgement, Pestilence, Sin, etc, The question is not one of could but would? Why, or why not? May we be like Moses and Aaron and continually stretch out our hands toward heaven.   “…Between The Lines…”

“LORD, use us to bring about Your divine, providential plans, stretch our hands, our faith, our gifts, our lives, our ministries for Your glory. In Jesus name we pray. Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus”  – ‘The Plague of Prayer’ Ex. 8-12

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“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” – ‘Prayer Dialogue – Ex. 6:11’

Posted on July 21, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

“The LORD spoke unto Moses saying, Go in, speak unto Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of the land.” Ex. 6:11. And Moses spoke before the LORD, “The children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hear me who am of uncircumcised lips.” v.12. Closed lips, slow speech, slow tongue, Ex. 4:10; excuses, excuses, excuses. Or was he still carrying his burden of sin from murdering that Egyptian 40 years earlier? He did have a speech impediment because Aaron became his spokesman and this dialog goes back and forth for a while and finally in Ex. 7:6 they obey, “And Moses and Aaron did as the LORD commanded them, so did they.” Sometimes it takes awhile and some personal dialog with God in prayer to convince us that His way is the best way and the only way. Then sometimes God just has to command us v.13, “And the LORD spoke unto Moses and unto Aaron and gave them a charge (sawah – command) … to bring the children of Israel out of Egypt.”

There is a lot of close personal prayer dialog in Exodus, quite a contrast to Genesis where God did most of the talking. Moses is not being irreverent he just has a very close relationship with the LORD. Our prayer life should be on an intimate level with Jehovah and we should be experiencing personal, intimate (yada) with Him.  Prayer should be a two way conversation and if it is not, there is a problem and you need to fix it immediately and it’s on your end of the line. One of the major problems with our prayer lives is that we do all the talking and God does all the listening or tolerating or most of it anyway. We need to pray, “Lord, teach us to listen, when we pray.” The Older Testament is a book of recorded conversations between God and man or man and God. The expression, “The LORD said,” or “God spoke,” etc, occur no less than 1900 times in the O.T.

Prayer is a direct address to God, it is an approach to the living God and He desires us to enter into intercourse with Him often. In Ex. 6:12, Moses asks God how Pharaoh will heed his speech when his own people won’t? However, in chapter 7 God reassures Moses he will, God is always there to fulfill His promises, His will and His Word. God said, “I have made you a god (elohim – Ex. 4:16) to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.” Oh my friend, if we will just ask God what He wants or what He is doing, He will show us. His perfect will is no secret, Rom. 12:1-2; Eph. 5:17; Obedience, let me repeat it; Obedience, is the key to His perfect will! “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me!” You have the sovereignty of God and the free will of man in the same verse. Isa. 6:8. Isaiah was privy to a conversation between the Lord, Adonai and the LORD Jehovah and the Holy Spirit, the Ruach ha Kodesh, and he stepped forward and said, (Hin-neh Sha-lach) Behold me, sow me, spread me, send me, stretch me, scatter me; and the Lord said, GO! “Behold, to obey is better then sacrifice and to hearken than the fat of rams.” I Sam. 15:22.

God always chooses to authenticate His men, in Moses’ case it was by miracles but that is not always the case but He always authenticates His men, always. Especially His men of prayer like Mueller, Taylor, Moody, Spurgeon, etc. Now the magicians could imitate but never duplicate God’s miracles, in fact they could never counter or stop any of the plagues either. The blood, the frogs, the lice were already coming when they supposedly made more come. Counterfeits, spiritual counterfeits, the world is full of them today especially in the church and even in the fundamental ones. Moses was a man of prayer, 80 years old and just beginning to serve God. he spent forty years on the back side of the desert learning how to pray, I wish we all could attend (D.P.I.) “Desert Prayer Institute” before entering into His service. Why is it we fight Him so long and so hard, why not go to Him right now and enter into that two way street of sweet intercessory prayer and obey Him, His will, His way and His Word! I’m sure there is someone in your life right now that could use a little prayer. So, find a quiet place, take a knee and spend some time with God. “LORD, teach us to pray, teach us to listen, teach us to obey!” Amen.

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” – ‘Prayer Dialogue – Ex. 6:11’

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“Portraits of Prayer In Exodus” -‘Groaning in Prayer – 6:5’

Posted on June 23, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

Maybe I should have titled this, “Groanings which cannot be uttered!” But sometimes they are uttered and whether they are or aren’t, they are always heard by God, always! God continues His dialogue with Moses and reveals a new name to Moses ‘Jehovah’ the ‘Self-Existent One.’ Exodus 6:3. He had revealed Himself as ‘God Almighty’ before but not as “YHVH.” He remembers His covenant and then says in v. 5, “I have heard the ‘groaning’ of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage; and I have remembered My covenant.” My promise, My word on it! Same as Exodus 2:23-3:12.

God heard their groaning; Romans 8, the earth, the people and the Holy Spirit groan and travail! How bad is our bondage or our affliction from sin? Are we groaning in the Spirit in prayer? Listen to Jesus groaning in His spirit in John 11:33-38 at Lazarus’ tomb and then you might get a sense of its deep spiritual depth. In Rom. 8:26-27 the Holy Spirit, “Makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Maybe it will have to get a lot worse before it gets a lot better, you think?

God remembered His covenant, His promise and He never forgets. He waits for us to get to the point where we are desperate enough to groan in prayer and then He answers. “Oh God, teach us the beauty of groaning in prayer.” Notice the “I Wills” that follow in v. 6-8, these are the four “I Wills” attributed to the four cups at the Passover. Some add a fifth “I Will” v. 8 because they are back in the land since, May 14, 1948: One – I will bring you out from under the burdens (of the Egyptians); Two – I will rid you of their bondage: Three – I will redeem you with an out stretched arm; Four – I will take you to Me for a people and be your God; Five – I will bring you into the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and give it to you. “I am the LORD, Jehovah!”

WOW! We have and serve a God who hears and answers prayer, Psalm 65:2, “O Thou who hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come.” When we are desperate enough and destitute and  determined and begin to groan in prayer He will take us seriously. Webster defines groaning as, “a deep throated sound expressing grief, pain or disapproval; to be over loaded or over burdened; to call out painfully or urgently.” A deep inarticulate sound conveying pain, despair, pressure or weight that is unbearable anymore. How bad do you desire God, His will, His Spirit, His forgiveness, His presence, His power, His fellowship, or His mercy? Maybe it’s not that bad yet? C. H. Spurgeon said, “Groanings which cannot be uttered are prayers which cannot be refused.” The Psalmist wrote in 38:9, “LORD, all my desire is before You, and my groaning is not hidden from You.” Have you ever come to a place in your life where the pressure or burden was so heavy that you couldn’t even pray and all you could do was groan or moan or sigh to God? That is the point the children of Israel had reached here and in Exodus 2:23-24 and God heard and remembered His covenant and said He would deliver them!

Christ receives our groans and moans in our censors of prayer in heaven though others may mock and ridicule, yet He who made them knows what they mean. In fact the Holy Spirit who makes them for us now knows full well what they mean and how powerful they are at the Father’s throne. Hannah spoke in her heart, her lips moved but her voice was not heard and Eli thought she was drunk. She was drunk, with the Spirit and was groaning in prayer, prayer that could not be uttered but prayer that could not be denied either. When your heart is so full of grief that it can only moan or groan, you have God’s undivided attention! Robert M. M’Cheyne said, “The most spiritual prayer is a, “groan that cannot be uttered,” Rom. 8:26; or a cry of, “Abba, Father.” Gal. 4:6. In Ezek. 9:4 the ‘Ink Horn Man’ was to go throughout Jerusalem and set a mark (tav) an ancient cross on the foreheads to protect the men who, “sigh and cry for all the abominations that are done in the midst of it.” My friend I think it is time for us to learn how to sigh and cry or moan and groan against the sin and abominations that are being done in the midst of our Jerusalem before it is to late. I don’t know how much time is left for America or wherever you live if any but we do have, ‘NOW!’ We are also commanded to pray for the peace of Jerusalem! Psalm 122:6, “Sha’alu Shalom Yerushalayim!”   “…Between The Lines…”

“Abba, Father, teach us to pray, to groan, to moan for Your very presence and power in our lives and lands; like Hannah, like Job, like David, like Jesus. Holy Spirit, please make groanings for us and for our countries and for Israel for peace that cannot be uttered. In Yeshua’s name. Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus”  – ‘Groaning in Prayer – 6:5’

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“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” ‘Get Down & Pray – Ex. 4:31’

Posted on June 9, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

Aaron spoke all the words of the LORD and Moses did all the signs of the LORD and the children of Israel believed. When they heard that the LORD had visited them and had looked upon their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped the LORD. They recognized His messengers Aaron and Moses, His message, “Let My People Go,” and His Divine Presence. So, they ‘Got down and worshiped!’ Its been a long time, the affliction has been very severe but the LORD had visited the children of Jacob and looked on their affliction. In Exodus 2:23-25, God said He, “Heard their groaning, He remembered His covenant, He looked upon them and He acknowledged their plight.” Then in Exodus 3:7, “He said, “He saw their affliction, He heard their cry, He knew their sorrows and He had come down to deliver them and bring them to a land flowing with milk and honey.”

So, now in Exodus 4:31 they bow their heads, a sign of humility and obeisance. To contract or bend the body or neck in deference and they worshiped, to depress or prostrate oneself in homage to royalty or to God. Or to use an, ‘Old time expression,’ “They got down and worshiped!” When you finally recognize and realize God’s Almighty Presence and Power, what else can you do but fall down and worship Him. The signs merely verified Moses’ position and authenticated his office and the words of God did the same for Aaron. The Jewish people are referred to as a ‘stiff-necked’ people by nature, according to God’s word and they require a sign for authentication, I Cor. 1:22; Matt. 12:38; and they were going to get them, one after another for many years to come. However, they bowed, worshiped, praised and prayed to the LORD. Sometimes it takes the unusual or supernatural to bring us to the point of prostration and brokenness so we too can, “Get down and worship!”

Eliezer got to this point in Genesis 24:26 after finding Rebekah in Mesopatamia in the city of Nahor/Haran, 468 miles from Hebron where Abraham was when he sent him to find a wife for Isaac. Imagine traveling for 18 days with 10 camels and coming to a town and kneeling down by a well outside the town and asking God for direction by bringing you the (beshertah), the soul mate, He had chosen for your master’s son out of all the women in the city coming to draw water and He does. No wonder v. 26, “He got down and worshiped!” However, v. 27 says, “I being in the way, the LORD led me…” The key is, ‘Being in the way;’ And the key to that is, ‘Availability not Ability!’ The other occurrence of this phrase is in Exodus 12:27 in Egypt, on the night of Passover, after the children of Israel got their instructions and just before midnight when over two million people in Egypt will be struck dead for not obeying God’s Word. And v. 27 says, “And the people bowed the head and worshiped.” (They got down and worshiped) wouldn’t you?

What will it take for us to, “Get down and worship?” A rod turned into a serpent? A hand turned into leprosy? Water turned into blood? Frogs covering the land, three days of darkness that can be felt, or the death of the first born? Does it matter what it takes as long as it happens? We must, get down on our knees and faces  and worship the God who created us and saved us. We must spend time in His word and in our prayer closets and gardens alone with Him. Without it we will dry up like an old creek bed in the hot summer and be of no use to anyone except to gather some smooth stones from our dry beds. But without His Word and much prayer we won’t have the courage or insight to throw them at a grasshopper let alone a giant.

The Jewish people are accused of being stiff-necked, but are Gentiles any different? At least they “Got down and worshiped!” Have you lately? Have you? What will it take, blood, frogs, lice, leprosy, serpents? We need to bow our heads and our hearts and worship, ‘The LORD!’ The One Who gave us the greatest sign of all, His Son, crucified, risen and coming again! Our sign, the sign for any of today’s stiff-necked people, Jew or Gentile, ‘The Empty Tomb!’ Now let us, “Get down and worship the LORD of the empty tomb!”

Now watch the next verse, Ex. 5:1 “And afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD God of Israel, Let My people go!” And Pharaoh said, “NO!” That went well! And the people just, “Got down and worshiped!” So don’t think that everything is going to go your way right after you, “Get down and worship!” The other side won’t see it that way. So, Moses returns to the LORD after both Pharaoh and the Israelites reject him and his message and he prays in v. 22, “LORD, wherefore hast Thou so badly treated this people? (and) Why is it Thou hast sent me?” So, this is where ‘Mission Impossible’ got its name! Have you ever asked ‘Why’ of God before? Even when you know something was His will and it didn’t go the way you had expected? “Why God?” Why me, why this, why now, why here…? Did you realize that the word ‘Why’ is the first step to disobedience, self-will is the second and rebellion is the third and final? You better watch this with your children. When you ask a child or someone under your authority to do something and they say ‘Why?’ Many times they are saying, “I wouldn’t do it that way stupid, I have a different idea.” Or, “If I were in charge, I would use a totally different plan than your silly plan.” But you are not in charge and Moses isn’t God.

So, Moses returns to God and questions Him but in prayer, like we do. 🙂 It is not the way Moses thought it should be done, we do this often too, question God’s ways, or reasons, or motives. Someone at ‘Prayer Meeting’ would think we are the chairman of the ‘Ways and Means Committee’ for God. God answers Moses in Ex. 6:1 and reveals why He is doing it His way. Also God reveals Himself to Moses in a new way and by a new name (YHVH) JEHOVAH, “The Self Existent One!” “He That Is Who he Is!” Therefore the “Eternal I AM!” Jehovah is distinctly the redemption name of Deity and He is about to redeem His people from Egypt. Moses is somewhat impatient with God in chapter 5 because it wasn’t working according to Moses’ plan. In Numbers 10:11-15, Moses has the same problem with the people over the Manna(What is it? – “Just shut up and eat it!”), we are no different! God meets our impatience with patience! Why do we get so impatient when it does not go the way we planned? Someone would think we created the universe or we died on a tree for the Church. ‘True Prayer’ results in obedience to God’s perfect will which we will see in Ex. 7:20. Prayer, real prayer, fulfills the will of God! It doesn’t change His will, it conforms us to His will, Moses had to learn this lesson, he is 80 now and at 120 he is still learning, so don’t give up hope. God had to reveal Himself to Moses as Jehovah, the Self-Existent, Eternal One. He did not need Moses; Moses needed Him! Do you think God could have delivered His people without Moses? Yeah, me too! He could have just used the stick. Listen when it doesn’t go the way you planned, don’t go to pieces, ‘Go to God!’ In prayer, seek His face, His will, His grace, ‘Why God?’ So that He may be ultimately glorified. God will share His glory with no one, ‘NO ONE!’ Not me, not you, not Frank!  “…Between The Lines…”

“O LORD, don’t let us rob You of Your glory. If You can use us, use us, if not let us be patient and don’t let us get in the way of Your perfect will for our lives. In Your Word in Isaiah 28:16 You said, “He that believes shall not make haste.” Lord we believe, help Thou our unbelief. In Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus”  ‘Get Down & Pray – Ex. 4:31’

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“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” ‘Prayer Is A Two-Way Street’ Ex. 4

Posted on May 31, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

We speak to God and He speaks to us or vise-versa. Where do we get this idea that when we pray we do all the talking and God does all the listening? Did you ever have a conversation with a person, especially a close friend who never let you get a word in edgewise, and kept talking, and talking and talking and asking you more questions and giving you more requests and directions and requests, and talking, and talking and then said something like, “Well I have to go, so I’ll see you tomorrow?” Very frustrating isn’t it? How do you think God feels when we come to Him in prayer, with our shopping lists and read them off, item by item as if He can’t read or remember and ask Him a lot of questions and then say, Amen! Then go about our business and sometimes  never even giving a second thought to all we just told the God of Eternity. Do you ever think that God gets frustrated with our prayer life, our prayer lists, our prayer journals, our prayer agendas our ‘Five Point Prayer Plans?’

Note Exodus 3:4, the LORD Jehovah, the God of Redemption, this is “the angel of the LORD” v.2, called unto Moses out of the midst of the burning bush and said, “Moseh, Moseh!” Several times you find God calling someone’s name twice to get their attention and it usually works. Like “Abraham, Abraham, on Mt Moriah” as he was about to kill his son Isaac. And Moseh answers, “Here am I!” (hinneh) behold, see, look, here, ‘It’s me!’ And the dialogue continues for two chapters. God talks and Moses listens, or Moses talks and God listens: v.11, “Moses said unto God, Who am I?” v.12, God answers Moses, “Certainly I will be with thee, and this shall be a token unto thee:” v.13, Moses said unto God, “Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel and say the God of your father’s has sent me unto you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say unto them?” v.14, God said unto Moses, “I AM THAT I AM: Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM has sent me unto you.” v.15, And God said moreover unto Moses, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob has sent me unto you; this is My name forever;” Chapter 4:1, Moses answers God and says, “Behold, they will not believe me, nor hearken unto my voice;” v.2, The LORD said unto Moses, “What is that in your hand?” And Moses said, “A rod.” v.3 And the LORD said, “Cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent!” A bad one because Moses fled from it, (smart man) v.4, Now here is the faith verse, anybody can throw a rod on the ground, and anybody can run from a poisonous snake, but to bend down and pick it up by the tail, takes one of two things, mountain moving faith or blatant stupidity. Now I don’t have a doctorate in serpentology but I know one thing about bad snakes, good snakes, any snakes, “Never Pick Them Up By The Tail!” Go to the garage, get a shovel and whack off their head first, then scoop them up with the shovel and bury them! The only good snake is a dead snake. Anyway enough about snakes, back to our prayer lesson; this prayer dialogue between God and Moseh continued on throughout chapter four and the Pentateuch.

So, what we see is, ‘Prayer is a Two-Way Street!’ We speak to God and He speaks to us, very much like a normal conversation between two close friends. Jonah in chapter 4:9-11 has a similar dialogue with God. God says to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the gourd?” Jonah answers God, “I do well to be angry, even unto death (ouch).” Then said the LORD, “You have had pity on the gourd, for which you have not labored, neither made it grow; which came up in a night and perished in a night. Should not I spare Nineveh that great city, in which are more than 120,000 people that can’t discern their right hand from their left hand and a lot of cattle?” So, again we see this two-way dialogue going on between God and one of His saints, which we call ‘Prayer.’ How much of this goes on in your prayer life? Do you take time to allow God to get a word in edgewise or put in His two shekels?

Can you imagine having lunch or coffee with the president of the United States of America (I don’t care what your political persuasion is or whether you would or wouldn’t have coffee in the White House) just bear with me, OK? oi vey! Anyway, you are asking him a lot of questions and doing all the talking, never giving him a chance to answer, then you get up, thank him for the coffee and leave. Do you think he would invite you over again? We need to cultivate a fine crop of listening in our prayer lives. How else will we ever know if God is paying attention if we don’t take time to listen to Him? Listening is the key to prayer and an art that appears to be lost today! What did young Samuel say in I Sam. 3:9-10, “Speak LORD for thy servant heareth.” What did young David say in Psalm 46:10, “Be still and know (yada) that I am God.” Or James the half brother of Yeshua/Jesus in James 1:19, “Therefore, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.” However, Solomon sums it up so beautifully in Ecc. 5:1-3, “Be more ready to hear, than to give the sacrifice of fools.”

Prayer is much more than just words and lists and journals and talking. It is listening as well, it is a two-way street. Like a coin, prayer also has two sides, one for talking and the other for listening. Chapters three and four of Exodus are a continual prayer between two close friends God and Moses. God and Abraham, God and Jacob, God and Enoch, God and Adam, God and Noah, God and Isaac, God and David, God and Daniel, God and Isaiah, and the list goes on but is your name on that list and if not why not? I have said it before the words ‘Listen and Silent’ have the exact same letters, but in order to listen you must be silent. That is why I like Psalm 46:10, “Be still (rapa) and know (yada) God.” Ask God to teach you to listen in your prayer life as well as to pray, and it is a learning process. Like teaching a grandchild to listen while hunting, like I said about fishing, it’s the same with hunting; you can go hunting or you can take a grandchild hunting but you can’t do both at the same time but it’s way more fun to teach a grandchild to hunt than to hunt. God would love nothing better than to teach you to listen as you pray, just ask Him and see!  “…Between The Lines…”

“LORD, God, Thank You for this thought today from Your precious Word on listening in our prayer time. LORD teach us to listen, as we pray and teach us that prayer is a Two-Way street, a two-sided coin and that both are very important. We love You LORD, thanks for today’s principles. In ha shem Yeshua’s name. Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus”  ‘Prayer is a Two-Way Street’  Ex. 4

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“Portraits in Prayer in Exodus’ ‘Barefoot Praying – Ex. 3:5’

Posted on May 26, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

“Draw not near: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” Ex. 3:5. WOW! Holy Ground! This is the first appearance of the word ‘Holy’ (kodes) in the Scriptures, holy, sacred thing or place, set apart or dedicated to God. A sacred place, consecrated, dedicated, hallowed, holy; its root means to be clean and pure (apartness, holiness, sacredness). God Who is holy calls men to be holy also, I Peter 1:16, “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.” Where is it written? Lev. 11:44-45, “For I am the LORD your God, ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy:”

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE) states holiness as, “Man was made in the image of God and capable of reflecting the Divine likeness. And as God reveals Himself as ethically holy, he calls men to holiness resembling His own.” Holiness is something you do not hear much about today from our pulpits because the prophets of old can tell you ‘the fruit of a ministry of holiness is, loneliness.’ It is not a popular subject, ministry or calling today. That is why prophecy conferences have kind of died out or last only one or two days any more and true prophecy speakers, ‘True Prophets of the Word,’ are as rare as hen’s teeth.  Prophecy should always lead us to a life of holiness but you don’t see that happening today, why? Just more prophecy, more end times, more Revelation, but no change in the lives of the listeners. No deeper prayer life, walk with God, worship experience, missionary service, zeal for soul-winning, ‘No Change!’ Just, “When’s the next conference?” I would venture to say that 90-95% of the students I teach never re-study the teaching material I give them. Prophecy conferences should lead right into Revival, Renewal, Renovation of the heart and spirit but they don’t, why?

Maybe we should take off our shoes like the Muslims as we enter the house of worship, after all it is called a “House of Prayer” Isaiah 56:7, is it not? In many Synagogues, on the front wall or on the ‘Aron Ha-Kodesh’ the doors of the holy ark in which the sacred scrolls are kept, are these words in Hebrew, “Dah Lifnay Me Attah Omed.” (Know Before Whom You Stand!). This idea came from the experience of Moses and the ‘Burning Bush’ in Ex. 3:5. This saying reminds us to have a reverent, focused attitude while attending the worship service and to be filled with respectful awe over the presence of God as we approach His Word but do we?  Blaise Pascal said, “There are two kinds of people – saints who know they are sinners and sinners who think they are saints.” Which category do you fall into? Remember, pride is the deadliest of all sins because it distorts reality. Sometimes we come to church to meet ‘Joe’ instead of ‘Jehovah’ and we dress like it too!  We have lost the sense of His holiness in our churches today. Our sanctuaries are more like night clubs, studios, and theaters than holy, sanctified, purified places of worship. They have lost their aura, their ambiance, their atmosphere of worship. He said, “Sanctify, purify yourselves and you shall be holy, for I am holy.” It is not just a good idea to be holy, we are commanded to be holy. So, “put off thy shoes from off thy feet.” Paul tells us to walk ‘circumspectly’ like we are in a mine field, feeling every little blade of grass under our feet, every grain of sand, every twig. In Eph. 5:15 the word ‘circumspectly’ is (akribos) guess what word we get from that word and watch what acrobats put on their feet, or not!

“For the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.” The word for ground is (adamah) soil, earth, land, dirt, redness in color. Its root is (adam) to show blood. Gen. 2:7 says, “God formed man out of the dust of the earth.” The substance God used to form man from, He is now standing on and it is ‘Holy!’ Why? Because, God is standing on it! So, “Put off thy shoes from off thy feet.” Do we realize when we enter into prayer or worship that it is ‘Holy Ground’ that we tread upon? Do we? You call upon the name of God The Father, in the name of God The Son through the power of God The Holy Spirit, do you really believe you have an audience with the God of the universe? Of course you do! Then what do you think you are standing on? Dirt, cement, carpet, wood, what? ‘HOLY GROUND!’ Do we take off our dirty shoes from off our feet? Our dirty clothes and stand before a Holy, Perfect, God bare-naked? How can we come to God with any defilement, any dust from the road of life and expect to be accepted? I know the ‘Blood of Yeshua/Jesus‘ washes away all our sins. Just read Isa. 64:6 in the Roman Catholic Bible for a good description of our good deeds and righteous garments, sometime. Jesus washed the disciples feet, Mary washed Jesus’ feet, the widow’s washed the saints feet, I Tim. 5:10, but if Aaron and his sons did not wash their feet before stepping into the Tabernacle they died instantly, Ex. 30:17-21. Why, it was ‘Holy Ground’ that was the purpose of the ‘Laver.’ However, the point here is not, wash your feet Moses, but, “put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.”

We can not! We must not! Come before His Holy presence defiled, polluted, desecrated, and impure! Take off your shoes, your hat, your coat, whatever is defiled, you are on ‘Holy Ground’ as you stand before His presence. Joshua, Moses’ successor had the same experience in Joshua 5:15, “Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.” And Joshua did so.”

As we get into the Tabernacle and the priesthood the word ‘Holy’ is stamped on every board, every curtain ring, and every utensil. A veil separated the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. If even the High Priest made a mistake in the Tabernacle he was killed instantly, why? He was on ‘Holy Ground!’ But we have permission to enter that ‘Holy of Holies;’ That Divine Presence of God. If we are indeed washed by the precious blood of the ‘Lamb of God,’ Heb. 10:19, “Therefore, brethren having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus…” Think for a moment of the implications of John 13 when the Messiah was washing the defiled, polluted feet of His followers in light of this passage! Oh, the beauty and love of our precious LORD and Savior for us, let us bow and worship Him in the, “Beauty of His Holiness.” Psalm 29:2; 96:9.

Oh, my friend let us too turn aside like Moses and see why the bush burns but is not consumed, but let us take our sandals off our feet as we enter our prayer closets to worship the God of the living. “Be ye Holy for I the LORD your God am Holy.” Lord, thank You for this beautiful passage of Scripture and thought today. May we walk before You bare-footed and bare-hearted. May we seek Your Shekinah Glory and turn aside and to see why the bush burns but is not consumed. LORD, we love You so much, draw us into Your bosom, and never let us go, hold us, lead us, and guide us with Your everlasting eye and teach us what it means to pray and worship on ‘Holy Ground.’ May we, “Dah Lifnay Me Attah Omed – Know Before Whom We Stand!” As we pray, as we worship, as we praise, as we confess, as we adore, as we thank You!  “…Between The Lines…”

I leave you with a verse a young man gave me 40 years ago at an altar, bare-footed after he kicked off his shoes at Lakes Pond Baptist Church in CT, Lev. 6:13, “The fire shall ever be burning upon the altar; it shall never go out.” God starts the fire, you stoke the fire, with five things, ‘Bible, Prayer, Worship, Fellowship, Witnessing.’ II Tim. 1:6, Paul told Timothy to stir up the gift of God that was in him, or ‘fan the flame.’ That’s our job; God starts the fire; We stoke the fire and we fan the flame; So it will never go out, NEVER! Got your shoes off? Good, now stand with me, before the bush that burned with fire but was not consumed, v.2 and in it was the “Angel of the LORD” (The YHVH) Who said in v. 14, His name was (Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh) “I Am That I Am;” The One Who causes to be or exist; The One Who causes to breathe or live; The uncaused cause; The I’sing One: It’s not a question of, “Who am I to go?” v.11. It’s a command, “I Am has sent me to you!” v.14. Are you still standing? Where is it, ‘The Great I AM,’ wants you to go? Let’s ask Him right now, “Father, where would You like me to go……….

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus”  ‘Barefoot Praying – Ex. 3:5’

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“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus” ‘Groaning in Prayer – Ex. 2:23-25’

Posted on May 17, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

“And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of their bondage. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them.” Exodus 2:23-25.

“…the children of Israel sighed (anah) groaned, moaned, mourned, and they cried (tza’aq) to call out to, weep aloud, howl, and God heard (shema) hear, listen, obeyed their groaning…” They were afflicted and in bondage (boda) slavery, forced labor and about to be exterminated, chapter one. So, they sighed, cried, groaned, moaned and shrieked to God, wouldn’t you? They were desperate, destitute and in distress and they finally turned to the One who could help, God! The word groan (ne-aqa) means to sigh, moan or groan and comes from a word meaning to weep in sorrow, usually referring to mourning for the dead. Could it be this mourning was for the dead male children in Exodus 1:15-22 which were being killed by the Egyptians, even being fed alive to the crocodiles in the Nile?

“They cried out,” v.23; To shriek out from anguish, fear or danger; to cry out for help in time of distress; but more frequently it is a cry directed to God! This is a cry of those approaching the ‘Breaking Point!’ Have you been there? At the breaking point that is? Then you know this kind of prayer; prayer that groans, prayer that moans, prayer that cries, prayer that sweats drops of blood if necessary! (hematohidrosis) God’s response to Israel’s ‘Groaning Prayer’ is seen in v. 24-25 and He responds in four specific ways, and you need to note them: 1st – He heard (shema) their groaning, to hear intelligently, to hearken with obedience, diligently; like the Shema in Deut. 6:4, To hear and do something about it: 2nd – He remembered (zakar) His covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The word remembered refers to an inward mental act accompanied by an appropriate external act. To bring to mind, and to do something about it: 3rd – He looked (ra’a) To see, plain and simple; to look, view, see, to inspect. He looked, He saw, He gazed upon from heaven; They had His undivided attention, as you do right now: 4th – He knew (yada) their plight, their problem, their dilemma, He acknowledged the problem. To know and ascertain by seeing, feeling, and hearing. To have first hand knowledge, to acknowledge their acquaintance, become a familiar friend, to know intimately. God heard their groaning, remembered His covenant, saw their need, and acknowledged their acquaintance. They were His people! Are you or someone you know at the ‘Breaking Point’ today, right now? I am, it’s interesting that I should be writing this today as my wife was diagnosed with cancer last week. Then ‘Groaning in Prayer’ is not so unfamiliar is it?

God hears our prayers and cries today and remembers His promises not only to us but to His Son, ‘Jesus The Christ’ as well. He sees us and our needs and He acknowledges us, not only as familiar friends, but as sons and daughters as well. Prayer is no different today for the Christian than it was for the Israelite yesterday, except it is even more intimate today because we have an Advocate, ‘Jesus Christ The Righteous;’ I John 2:1.

Exodus 3:7-9 are a repeat of Exodus 2:23-25 with a tremendous promise added on for Israel’s benefit and ours; v.7 says, “I have seen the affliction, I have heard their cry, I know their sorrows; v.8, And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a land flowing with milk and honey;” He will snatch them away, deliver them, defend them and rescue them; He will do whatever it takes to save His children, wouldn’t you to save yours? Psalm 65:2 says, “He hears the prayers of all mankind;” This is true, but He especially hears and answers the prayer that groans, prayer that moans, prayer that cries and sweats. James 5:16 says, “It is the effectual, fervent prayer of a righteous man that avails much.” It’s that hot, glowing, fervent prayer, picked up with those tongs, by one of His angels, off the incense altar before God, that will really move that mountain for God. Amen?

It’s only recorded that Yeshua/Jesus groaned twice in His spirit at Lazarus’ grave in John 11:33; 38. Paul refers to the whole creation groaning in Rom. 8:22 and all of us groaning within ourselves in v.23. He also refers to the Holy Spirit making groanings in v.26, “But the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” Christ receives our sighs, groans and moans in His prayer censer, because He Who made them knows what they are all about. In fact the Holy Spirit Who also makes them knows what they are. The Spirit makes groanings for us and God answers  them, because we don’t know what to pray for as we ought and He knows the mind of God and the hearts of saints. So, spiritual groanings, many times are the perfect answer to our spiritual dilemma when the request is to heavy for words like Job in 23:2; or David in Ps. 6:6; 38:9 or Hannah, Eliezer, Daniel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, etc.  In I Sam. 1:9-18, Hannah the mother of Samuel prayed in her heart so fervently that Eli the priest thought she was drunk, but she, “poured out her soul before the LORD.” Mental prayer is not unheard, when the heart is so full of grief that it can only groan in prayer, God writes it down in His prayer book. C. H. Spurgeon once said, “Groanings which cannot be uttered are often prayers which cannot be refused.” I like that!                         “…Between The Lines…”

“LORD, Thank You that You hear, see, know, remember, and deliver us out of our dilemmas every moment of every day. You are truly our (ezer-ezer) our ‘Life-Savor! And whether we verbally cry out to You or groan from the depths of our hearts, You know and hear our every need and word, expressed or unexpressed through the groanings of the Holy Spirit, what a comfort. In ha shem Yeshua we thank You, Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Exodus”  ‘Groaning in Prayer – Ex. 2:23-25’

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“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis” ‘Jacob’s Final Blessings’

Posted on May 10, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

Jacob/Israel is dying and calls for Joseph’s children first so he could bless them. Jacob/Israel places his right hand on Ephraim the younger and his left hand on Manasseh the elder which is wrong. This is interesting since Jacob was younger than his brother Esau and ended up with the blessing and the birthright. In Gen. 48:14, even though Jacob is old and blind it says he did this knowingly and wittingly guiding his hands, it was intentional. It displeased Joseph and he tried to switch his father’s hands back but it was to late and Jacob said in v.19, “I know it, my son I know it,” but Ephraim the younger will be greater than Manasseh and become a multitude of nations. Remember, it was Reuben, Gad and Manasseh that stayed on the east side of the Jordan and did not settle in the Promised Land, but on it’s border, on the banks, on the threshold.

Note if you will Jacob/Israel’s ‘Prayer of Blessing’ in v.15-16, ‘He prays to the God of his fathers; The God Who fed them; The Angel Who redeemed him to “Bless the lads;” He asked for his name, the name of Jacob/Israel to be named upon them; That means all the promises to Jacob are available to Ephraim and Manasseh; Plus the names of Abraham and Isaac. WOW! What a blessing!Have we lost sight of the magnitude of “The Blessing?” I think we have! We bless our food, our buildings, our plans and trips, our endeavors, our money, motorcycles, boats, cars, you name it and we bless it, even our sneezes but we don’t invoke  blessings on our children, neighbors or friends regularly, why? I think there is more to this principle than we realize and it was God in Genesis one and two Who first established the ‘Blessing’ especially for multiplication; Gen. 1:22, “Be fruitful and multiply,” fish and birds; v.28, “Be fruitful and multiply,” mankind. Then here in our text v.16, “Bless the lads…And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.” Jacob blessed them and God did bless them and multiply them.

Jacob/Israel invokes a blessing on only these two grandchildren here, so Joseph receives a double blessing here, v.22; then he gets his blessing in Gen. 49:22-26. This double blessing should have been Reuben’s but he blew it, so it passed to Joseph, the first born of Rachel not Leah. Ephraim and Manasseh replace Joseph in the tribal break down making twelve tribes. The blessing seems to have a tremendous impact and significance, can I say power without causing a problem? Further personal study would seem appropriate on this matter, but in the context of our study this prayer of blessing is of tremendous importance as these two sons of Joseph form the tribe of Joseph.

Jacob/Israel continues in Gen. 49:1-33 to bless all of his sons; Reuben the first born, unstable as water, shall not excel because he committed fornication with his father’s concubine on his couch; Simeon and Levi were instruments of cruelty when they slaughtered  the men of Shechem for raping Dinah, they will be divided and scattered; Judah’s brothers shall praise him, he is a lion’s whelp, the Scepter shall not depart from Judah, it is through him the Messiah will come to establish His Kingdom; Zebulon will dwell by the sea and become a haven for ships; Issachar will be strong like a donkey, and serve and see that the land is pleasant and love it and serve it; Dan shall judge his people like a serpent in the road way; Gad shall triumph over his enemies like a troop and be victories at last; Asher shall yield bread and baked goods to feed the people; Napthali is like a deer let loose who gives words of beauty; Joseph is a fruitful bough by a wall of water and is to grow strong and multiply; Benjamin is a ravenous wolf to devour the prey and divide the spoil. v.28, “And blessed them; every one, according to his blessing, he blessed them.” Oh, my friend are we negligent in this vital area of our prayer life? Do we neglect to seek God’s will for our children to give them a rich blessing and heritage? Is it the money that we leave them that’s important or a rich spiritual heritage that is more important? In the world today it’s money that’s important, how much did your parents leave you in the will? Who got the house, the cars, the boat, the gold, the guns, the library? In the Scriptures those things are never mentioned once, with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, etc, never once! How many sheep or goats did you get? Our priorities and values are way out of focus. This saint of God, this ‘Supplanter turned Supplicator’ learned what was most important and it was the spiritual blessings not the material. Jacob did not discuss how many sheep or shekels each son was to get but what God was going to bless each one with. Then he charges them to bury him in the Cave of Machpelah where Abraham and Sarah and Isaac and Rebekah and Leah are buried. Interesting, he wants to be buried with Leah not with Rachel; God’s choice I believe, was Leah, who bore him Judah through whom the Messiah would come, Jacob’s choice was Rachel due to her physical beauty and it cost him dearly, she was so beautiful it made him weep, but Leah was God’s (Beshertah) soul mate, for him. It just took him 147 years to figure it out!

“The Power of Blessings” something we need to consider in our lives and ministries. The last thing this saint was to do was to give his sons his blessing, draw his feet into the bed and die! Are we that at peace with God that after we have blessed our children we can draw our feet into the bed and breathe our last breath and die? What a beautiful scene this must have been, Jacob/Israel is 147 years old, surrounded by his 12 sons who ranged in age from about 70 for Benjamin to about 95 for Reuben. “And Joseph fell upon his father’s face and wept upon him and kissed him.” Then Joseph ordered the servants and the physicians to embalm Jacob/Israel and the Egyptians mourned (bakah) to weep, bemoan, make lamentation with tears for 70 days. Although weeping is usually associated with distress or sorrow it is also a sign of joy, and all of the occurrences of this usage are found in the life of Jacob; Gen. 29: when he met Rachel; Gen. 33:4 when he met Esau after 20 years; Gen. 46:29 when he met Joseph again. It may be said that there is no genuine repentance apart from a bitter sense of sorrow over one’s sin, a sorrow so deep that it may quite properly issue in weeping. No indication of prayer other than other than who are you weeping or mourning to? Deut. 34:8 They wept and mourned for Moses for 30 days. Gen. 50:10-11 tells us that they mourned again for seven days (Sitting Shiva) in Canaan at the threshing floor of Atad before committing Jacob to the Cave of Machpelah, this is not prayer, it is mourning, wailing and lamenting.      “…Between The Lines…”

“LORD, may we be able to impart to our children a rich spiritual inheritance; And may we fully understand the importance and impact a prayer of blessing may have on an individual or a nation; And may we continue to bless the Jewish people as well as the Jewish Nation in our prayers daily, Gen. 12:1-3; Ps. 122:6. In ha shem Yeshua’s name we pray. Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  Jacob’s Final Blessings’

Posted in Ancient Judaism, Christianity, Communion With God, Devotional, Family, Family Altars, Friendship, Gateway To God, Heart After God, Judaism, Olivet Ministries International, OMI, Personal EGO "Edging God Out", Portraits of Prayer, Prayer, Prayer and Thanksgiving, Prayer Closet, Prayer Garden, Prayer Journey, Prayerology, Spirituality, Stolen Blessing, Unbroken Fellowship, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis” ‘Jacob – Supplanter to Supplicator’

Posted on May 5, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

“Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-Sheba and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father, Isaac.” Gen. 46:1. In v.2-4, Israel gets a vision in the night from God or a ‘D.M.I.’ for those who prefer, ‘DMI’s. God is going to make a great nation out of his 70 and he is going to die there. First, let’s go back to Gen. 43:14 for a moment, “May God Almighty give you mercy before the man.” El Shaddai, The All Sufficient One, The One Who Sustains, Satisfys, Enriches, and makes Fruitful! Also the One who chastens His people to make them more fruitful, John 15:2, Ruth 1:20; Heb. 12:10. This is Israel’s God, El Shaddai, The Almighty One, “May He give you mercy before the man.” (Not knowing that Joseph, his son is the man) Joseph is gone, Judah is in prison, and now he has to send Benjamin away. So, he prays a rich blessing on his sons! Do you think he prayed while they were down in Egypt, in Mizraim? Would you have been praying, would you have gotten off your knees?

Now he gets word that not only has Judah been released and Benjamin been returned but ‘JOSEPH’ is alive, Gen. 45:26, and “Israel is Revived!” What a time of rejoicing! So, Israel stops at Beer-Sheba, that’s where Abraham planted a tree in Gen. 21:33 and called on El Olam the Everlasting God. That’s where Abraham and Isaac left from and returned to when they went to Mt. Moriah to offer Isaac as an offering, and that’s where Isaac settled, dug a well and built an altar in Gen. 26. That is also where Jacob/Israel departed from when he ran from Esau in Gen. 28:10; 90 years have passed since he left Beer-Sheba where he stole Esau’s blessing and robbed his birthright. He is leaving a lot of memories as he leaves the ‘Promised Land’ at 130 years old to go to Egypt to grow a nation and die. However, before he leaves the ‘Holy Land’ he builds or rebuilds one more altar and sacrifices one more time to the God of his father Isaac. God gives him a promise in response to to his ‘Sacrifice, Worship and Prayer’ at the altar in Beer-Sheba in Gen. 46:3-4, ‘God tells him not to fear, He will bring him down into Egypt and back again, and make a great nation of him, and he will die there.’ v.4 “Joseph shall put his hand upon your eyes.” You die with your eyes open, someone else closes them for you.

Israel is still a man of prayer, ‘A Prince with God,’ and God is still blessing him, God keeps His promises and His Word! This is the last altar and the last word from God in Genesis. It isn’t until 400 years later that God speaks through His servant Moses on the back side of the desert in a Burning bush in Exodus 3. The Jewish people could not build altars in Egypt, or offer animal sacrifices because that was an abomination to the Egyptians, Gen. 46:34; Ex. 8:26, the Egyptians worship the creation not the Creator. Oh, what a precious time that must have been, between God and Israel at that final altar, knowing that it would be over 400 years before it would be repeated again. But Jacob/Israel was still building altars, ‘To the God of The God of Israel – El Elohe-Israel.’ The banks of the Peniel River and the face of God were as real to him then as it was 65 years earlier. What a precious Patriarch or Saint of God Israel became, “Supplanter to Supplicator!” But it took time, many, many years and much heartache. “Oh God, what will it take to make us a prince or princess with You? Thank You for the example of this saint who began as a Supplanter and ended up as a Supplicator. We need a Beer-Sheba every day as we enter our Mizraim’s to work, live, serve and die.”

“Jacob/Israel blessed Pharaoh.” Gen. 47:7, and again in v.10 as he is leaving his presence, he invokes God’s favor upon him and his country, “Jacob/Israel blessed Pharaoh.” Jacob/Israel was very grateful for Joseph and the provision for his family. We can bless the unsaved, but they can’t bless us, from God that is. We have discussed blessings already and how important they really are and how much we and our families miss by neglecting them. In Gen. 47:31, Jacob/Israel makes Joseph swear to him that he will bury him in the Cave of Machpelah with Leah his first wife and Joseph agrees. Then Jacob/Israel bows himself on the head of the bed. King David does this same thing in I Kings 1:47 after Solomon was anointed King. David was old and advanced in years and cold I Kings 1:1, so he could not get out of bed. The same is true here with Jacob/Israel, he is 147 years old v.28-29 “the time drew near that Israel must die.” v.31, “And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head.” I don’t believe he was worshiping Joseph, I believe he was doing obeisance to ‘El-Elohe-Israel’ to ‘The God of The god of Israel.’ Remember, the ‘Supplanter became the Supplicator’ even on his death bed, unto his last dying breath, he worshiped, praised, and prayed to the LORD.

What an example in the second half of his life, remember he was 45 when he left Isaac and was with Laban for 20 years before he met God at the Peniel  and 10 more years before he returned to Bethel to build an altar to El Bethel, that is 75 years. He is now 147 years old and they have been in Egypt for 17 years, but here on his death bed he gets Joseph to promise him that he would bury him in the Cave of Machpelah with Leah, Isaac and Rebekah and Abraham and Sarah. In Mamre (fatness) of Hebron (communion) and he worships and prays to his God. May we be faithful to God unto the very end like Israel. From the womb to the tomb, guided by the hand of the LORD. Prov. 16:9, “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.” Jer. 10:23; Ps. 37:23 says, “The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD.” George Mueller said, “The stops too!” Not only the steps of the LORD but the stops too are ordered, established or ordained by the LORD. That was true in Jacob/Israel’s life and it is true in ours. Are we able to recognize God’s hand directing our lives, our steps, and our stops? Can we like Jacob in our later years, in our last days, bow our heads on our beds and worship Him? Can we do it now? Jacob became a man of prayer, a prince with God, a real prayer warrior, but it cost him dearly! Are you willing to pay the price, to count the cost, to weigh the odds, to walk that close to God? How are your hips? Any limps, lately? Are you ready for your Waterloo, your Peniel experience? Are you ready to meet God face to face, whether in life or in death? May we not only bow ourselves on our beds at 147 but may we bow ourselves in our closets and churches at 14, at 47, at 74! There are over 2,930 characters in the Bible and less than 100 of them made it to the ribbon and the vast majority fell out of the race after the age of 60.  How about you? Paul said, “I fought a good fight, I finished my course, I kept the faith!” How about you? One verse drives me on and I want it on my tombstone John 17:4, “I have finished the work which You gave me to do.” How about you? It’s easy to start a race, anybody can but it takes real guts, courage, moxie, spiritual grit, and intestinal fortitude to finish and to finish strong. Just look over your shoulder, where are they? The ones that started 10-20 years ago what happened to them? Why did they fall out? Is a mere profession all that is necessary? Raise your hand, fill out a card, walk an isle, say a prayer, get wet! What did Peter mean in II Pet. 1:10, “Brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure.” Or Paul in II Cor 13:5, “Examine yourselves whether you are in the faith; prove yourselves.” There is a new game on the market today called, ‘Born Again.’  Don’t play it, you can’t win!  “Jesus said, you must be born again!” It’s serious business, so take it seriously, and make sure my friend, make absolutely sure!      “…Between The Lines…”

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  ‘Jacob/Israel – ‘Supplanter to Supplicator’  5/4/12

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“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis” ‘Joseph the Dream Catcher’

Posted on April 27, 2012 by The Scarlet Worm

Esau humbles himself after his father Isaac dies and takes all that he has and leaves Canaan, ‘The Promised Land’ for another country because he and Jacob/Israel are too great and have too much to dwell together. Why did he leave graciously, he vowed to kill his brother after his father died in Gen. 27:41? That prayer on the river bank is still working 25 years later. The God of the Peniel River is still as real as the day Jacob met Him. Jehovah is now the God of Jacob, The God of Israel, The Prince with God and Esau becomes Edom. The power of prayer linked with the promises of God are a force and a source of strength and help we know to little of, my friend. Gen. 32:12 says, “For He said,” and v.26 says, “I will not let You go unless You bless me.” In Gen. 28, thirty years earlier at Bethel God promised Jacob this land he was standing in and a multitude of descendants.  God gave him the same promise He gave to Abraham and Isaac, then in Gen. 31:3 God promises him His presence ‘IF’ Jacob will return to the ‘Promised Land.’ Jacob claimed those promises, he held God to His word, and he held onto the God of the Word, Gen. 32:26 until God blessed him again. Oh my friend, to claim the promises of God in prayer and not let go until God blesses us, is the greatest source of strength and help known to mankind. Pray back His promises, hold Him to His word, He is waiting for you to do it, so ‘Do It!’

In Gen. 37:1 it says, “Jacob dwelt in the land where his father (Isaac) was a stranger, in the land of Canaan.” And Joseph was 17 years old, just a teenager, loved more than his brothers, was a snitch, had a coat of many colors, was hated by his ten older brothers, had a dream of sheaves bowing to him, and was hated even more. All that in just five verses, so he is off to a stellar start as a Bible character. Then he had a second dream of the sun, moon and eleven stars bowing down to him and his father rebuked him, his brothers envied him but his father quietly observed the dream. Later Joseph goes on an errand for his father to check up on his brothers and they conspire to kill him but instead they strip him of his coat and throw him in a dry pit, thanks to Reuben. I bet Joseph spent that night in prayer, wouldn’t you? Maybe I should have entitled this, “Prayer in the Pits.” Judah then gets a brain storm when he sees the Ishmaelites approaching, “Let’s sell Joseph and be free of his blood.” So they sell him for 20 pieces of silver to be traded in Egypt and when Reuben returns he is furious. So they devise another plan, dip his coat of many colors in blood and tell Isaac a wild animal killed him.

Can you as a Christian see God’s hand in all this, His providence, His plan maybe in your life? This is a horrible chapter in Joseph’s life but God hasn’t finished writing the whole story yet. I believe at the age of 17 Joseph being the ‘apple of father’s eye’ worshiped and prayed to the God of his father, Jehovah Elohim. It was obvious God was with Joseph because of his dreams, his coat and his blessings from God, but was he able to see God in the pit, in Egypt, in prison? In the last chapter of Genesis Joseph speaking to his brothers said, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” But did he see that in chapters two and three of his life story? Only if he was as close to God in the pit as he was in the field. God has a plan for each and everyone of us and we need to trust Him. In Gen. 37:34 Israel tears his clothes and puts sackcloth on his loins and mourns for Joseph many days because he thought he was dead. This is a form of prayer, mourning (abal) to bewail, lament, grieve, the emotion and attitude of sorrow. It is not stated that he prayed to God but I am sure he did, wouldn’t you? Biblical mourning for the dead involved emotion, usually expressed audibly and visibly. I am sure Jacob asked God 1,000 times, WHY? However, God never told him why and God knew he was still alive, ‘Silence!’ There are some things God just doesn’t choose to tell us. God had a plan, a purpose and He would bring good out of this evil. Twenty years would pass, the sackcloth would get pretty itchy but he would embrace Joseph once again. May we to learn to trust God more when we are in the pit of despair and not just on the pinnacle.

Joseph’s prayer life is never revealed although his sons names in Gen. 41:51-53 mention his families toil and his afflictions. He had a good teacher his father Jacob/Israel. His life was lived in the very presence of God, Gen. 40:8; 41:16, 25, 28, 32, 39; 45:5, 7, 8: 50:20, 24. Gen. 39:9 is a lesson to us all about sin and God’s presence, “How can I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” Joseph would not do evil because it was to sin against God. He had a close, intimate relationship with the God of his fathers. God’s plan and purpose for his life is revealed in Gen. 50:20, “You meant it for evil but God meant it for good.” The LORD was continually with this servant. He was the first born of Jacob and Rachel, Gen. 30:22; He was loved more than his brothers by his father, Gen. 37:3; God revealed His will to him through dreams, the sheaves, the sun, moon and stars; He was hated by his brothers and sold to Midianite traders, then into Egypt, then thrown into prison and he wouldn’t see his family for 20 years, but all this time the LORD was with Joseph. Gen. 39:2, “And the LORD was with Joseph and he was a prosperous man…” Gen. 39:5, “The LORD blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake.” Gen. 39:21, “The LORD was with Joseph and showed him mercy and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison.”  Gen. 39:23, “The LORD was with him and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper.” Everything he touched, prospered.

In Gen. 40:8 he gave God the glory for the interpretations of dreams. He knew what his dreams of earlier years meant but I’m sure he wondered why all this was happening to him. In Gen. 41:16, he gives glory to God in response to Pharaoh’s dreams, “God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” In v.25 he says, “God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.” Pharaoh recognizes Joseph as, “A man in whom is the Spirit of God.” Gen. 41:38. Joseph marries the daughter of the priest of On, Asenath and has two sons; Manasseh, “For God has made me forget all my toil and all my father’s house.” v. 51. And Ephraim, “For God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.” v. 52. Joseph is always careful to give God the glory even in naming his children. Deut. 4:24 says, “For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God!” If I have learned one thing in walking with God since 1972, it is that God shares His glory with no one!

Joseph knew this was the ticket to spiritual blessings from God. He also had a reverential trust in and fear of God since childhood, instilled in him by his father. Gen. 42:18. In Gen. 42:6 we see the fulfillment of his first dream of the sheaves bowing down to him in Gen. 37:7. Why did he bind Simeon and imprison him, was it his idea to throw him in the pit and kill him 20 years ealier? In Gen. 43:29 he blesses Benjamin his brother, but in Gen. 45:4-9 he reveals to his brothers his true identity, “I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt…God did send me before you to preserve life.” The spiritual perception of the sovereignty and providence of God by Joseph is unbelievable! Joseph walked with God from childhood and always gave God the glory! He realized sin was against God. The LORD was always with Joseph and blessing him, and even the pagans observed the Spirit of God working in him. He feared and recognized God in all things. He even named his children after God’s faithfulness. Nothing evil is recorded about him. He closes his father’s eyes and his own bones are carried out of Egypt, Ex. 13:19. However, nothing is recorded about his prayer life, nothing! A man who walked this close to God and gave God all the glory and trusted Him completely had to be a man of prayer. The silence of his prayer life speaks louder than his life! Maybe we talk too much about our spiritual lives and walk too little. Maybe we should walk more and talk less! “Your walk talks and your talk talks but your walk talks louder than your talk talks!”  ‘The Silent Prayer”  “…Between The Lines…”

“Abba, Father, may we learn from Joseph to trust You and glorify You in everything. Let the silence of our chambers and closets speak volumes. May everyone know, Christian and pagan alike that we have been with Jesus. May they see His image in our lives and smell His aroma in our presence. In His name we pray. Amen!”

“Portraits of Prayer in Genesis”  ‘Joseph the Dream Catcher’

Posted in Ancient Judaism, Christianity, Communion With God, Devotional, Family, Family Altars, Friendship, Gateway To God, Memoir, Olivet Ministries International, OMI, Personal EGO "Edging God Out", Portraits of Prayer, Prayer, Prayer and Thanksgiving, Prayer Closet, Prayer Garden, Prayer Journey, Prayerology, Scarlet Worm, Spirituality, Unbroken Fellowship, Uncategorized | 2 Comments