Exodus 23

Father God, thank you for all that You have been to us, our loved ones, our communities and everything connected to us LORD. We usher Your presence into this new week Holy Spirit and may You do only what You can do In the Name of Jesus. Right now, we welcome revelation of the Word, restoration, love, peace, wholeness, healing, miracles, goodness, divine protection and mercy into our lives In the name of Jesus. We also thank you for every spiritual blessing that You have given to us and our families In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Exodus 23 spoke of God's promises conerning the inheritance of the promised land that the LORD had already given to the children of Israel. Just like all the other promises in the Bible which God had already provided, the same goes for the promised land. The land had already been given to the children of Israel and now it was a matter of possessing the promise. However, as previously seen, the attitudes of the children of Israel required adjustment and realignment towards the purposes that God had for their lives. The LORD had saved them from Pharaoh's slavery while they were in Egypt but their minds still lingered in Egypt despite all the miracles that God performed before their eyes.

Psalm 106:24-25 reads, "The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn't believe his promise to care for them. Instead, they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the LORD." Sometimes to be able to enter the next phase that God has for you, you have to wrap your mind around the truth that what God has prepared for you looks like nothing you have ever seen or imagined. For some people, this builds their faith to a point where they continue to trust the LORD and seek Him while with other people, the enemy uses their fear for the unknown against them where they instead find themselves cowering back to old patterns and cycles of trauma, survival and dysfunction that are familiar to them. The LORD says to us in Isaiah 43:18-19, "Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. See I am doing a new thing!..."

Friend, God would never lead you where His presence has not already gone before You. More often than not, because of our human experience, we sometimes associate the character of God to the character of human beings, who are flawed and unpredictable. Today the LORD reminds us that His very character and nature is love. God does not just give or show love, He is love.

1 John 4:18 paints the perfect picture of God's love and it reads, "Love never brings fear, for fear is always related to punishment. But love's perfection drives the fear of punishment far from our hearts. Whoever walks constantly afraid of punishment has not reached love's perfection." To reiterate, love and fear can never be in the same equation. God did not create any of us to live afraid. Fear is the work of the evil one. I pray that today is a reminder of how deeply loved you are to the Father. He is on your side and never against you.

Previously, I shared how God sent His angel before His people and Exodus 24:22 says, "But if you indeed obey His voice and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries." Friend, obedience gives you power to possess your possessions. For God's people to be able to inherit the land, they had to obey the voice of God. Every blessing of the LORD works within His perimeters which in this case is the Word of God.

God also told His people that little by little He would drive their enemies from among them until they increased and could fully inherit the land (Exodus 24:30). The LORD in His wisdom and mercy knew that the children of Israel did not have the capacity to fully inherit the promised land considering their numbers and negative mindsets so he still left some of their enemies in their midst. These enemies were never meant to destroy them but rather God would use it to their advantage as they would "help" them keep their land until they had reached the place of maturity to fully possess the land.

Nevertheless, during the process of their maturity, the LORD still equipped His people with His presence, the skill, understanding and knowledge of how to defeat their enemies. Some words of wisdom the LORD shared with His people are found in Exodus 23:32-33; "You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely, be a snare to you." The LORD was warning His people against making covenants with foreigners who worshipped other gods because God knew that this would compromise fellowship with Him which would in turn cause a delay to the fulfilment of His promises and blessings over their lives. It is important to note that the LORD wanted the people to possess the land as quickly as possible but unfortunately, He had to move at their speed. A journey that was meant to take 11 days to the promised land took 40 years because the children of Israel refused to believe and obey the word of the LORD God.

Today, because of the love of God portrayed in of Jesus Christ when we accept him as LORD and Saviour, Christ has redeemed God's children from every curse for cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree (Galatians 3:13). The LORD continues to remind us that even when we are faithless, He will remain faithful because He cannot deny himself (2 Timothy 2:13).

Prayer: Father God, we thank you for Your perfect love for the world reflected in Christ Jesus. Father I ask that You open up each and every one of our hearts as your children to receive Your full expression of love and rest in every area of our lives In the Name of Jesus. We ask for the courage and boldness to walk into the unknown and possess the possessions that You have for each one of us In the Name of Jesus. We thank you that we are all walking in obedience to Your Word for it is not by power, not by might but by the Spirit of the LORD. We thank you for Your presence that has gone before us as we possess our promised land In the Name of Jesus. Thank you LORD that every enemy of trauma, debt, disease, pain, stagnation, unemployment, disappointment, grief, depression, delay, loneliness and sadness that may be hindering your children from possessing their land is completely broken now In the Name of Jesus. Thank you LORD that the blood of Jesus Christ is speaking greater things than the blood of bulls and goats and every accusing lie of the enemy over our lives In the Name of Jesus. I disperse and break every lie of the enemy that makes your children feel guilt, shame and condemnation in the Name of Jesus. Thank you LORD for replacing every lying thought of victimhood with the reality that Your children are blessed and they are victors who are more than conquerors in Christ Jesus our LORD. We thank you LORD that even when we are faithless, You still remain faithful because You cannot deny Yourself and we speak patience, joy, endurance and the victory of the LORD to possess everything that belongs to Your children In the Name of Jesus, Amen. THANK YOU ABBA.

I'll end with this Word in Luke 1:45

"Blessed is she who believed, for there will be a fulfillment of those things which were told her from the LORD."

Amen. Thank you LORD.

Invitation to salvation: If you would like to know this God who from the beginning of creation has always desired for you to experience His perfect love and redeemed you from every curse in relationship with Him through His One and Only Son Jesus Christ - I invite you to make this confession, "I believe with my heart and confess with my mouth that; Jesus Christ, the Son of God came in a human body to die for my sins so that I could have a new life where I am dead to sin and alive to God. I repent of my past sins and enter the Kingdom of light where I choose Jesus Christ as my Lord and Saviour today and forever."

Congratulations, by grace you are saved and are now a new creation in Christ Jesus. The old life has passed away and you have received the free gift of salvation into your life (2 Corinthians 5:17). To the glory of the Almighty God. Amen.