“Then call on me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give me glory” ( Psalm 50:15).
Have you ever had your back against the wall! This can happen to any of us. Moses was one person who often had his back against the wall. Like the case when as he led the Israelites out of Egypt through the Red Sea behind came roaring the furious armies of Pharaoh. That was certainly a scary moment.
Sometimes when your back is up against the wall, the only place to turn to is God. “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. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt” (Egyptians 14: 24-25). Against all odds deliverance from above came!
After the rebellious Israelites had made an idol out of a calf, and the Lord burned with anger against them to the point of wanting to wipe them out, Moses, turned to the Lord and cried: But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever” ( Exodus 32:11-13). This ernest plea of Moses was not in vain. “Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened” ( vv 14).
There are often times when our back is up against the wall. Do not look elswhere but up to the Almighty God for deliverance.
Prayer today. Lord Father God of Abraham, maker of heaven an earth, sometimes one finds himself standing between a rock and hard place, with nowhere to turn but look up to you for deliverance, and this I pray in Jesus’s name.
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09/05/2024 - 10/05/2024 All day“The LORD will send rain at the proper time from his rich treasury in the heavens and will bless all the work you do. You will lend to many nations, but you will never need to borrow from them” (Deuteronomy 28:2 NIV)
For some reason very often some Christians are found despising the importance of being enterprising. To some being enterprising
can be equated to the love of money and it’s pitfalls (1 Tim 6:10). There are some Christian communities where running enterprises is frowned upon as being overtly worldly. On the contrary, far from it, being enterprising is clearly an avenue God has given believers to raise resources for their well being and promotion of the rich Gospel.The Bible is full of enterprising characters who were used mightily of God. Abraham was apparently a good rancher that he “became very wealthy in livestock and in silver and gold” (Gen 13:2). Job was hated by Satan who sought to destroy him because “He owned 7,000 sheep, 3,000 camels, 500 teams of oxen, and 500 female donkeys. He also had many servants. He was, in fact, the richest person in that entire area” (Job 1:3). The Lord Jesus Christ was born and raised in the house of Joseph, the carpenter (Mathew 13:55). Carpenters do not create works of beauty to donate for free. To prosper they must run sustainable enterprises which pay taxes and make profit.
The Apostle Paul would often rely on enterprising people to support him in his ministry. One of his worthy converts “was a woman named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house” (Acts 16:14).
Though Paul was a ranked Jewish legal scholar once he went to the mission field, other than cling to his titles by burdening his hosts he often dabbled in tent making to support himself. In Corinth he teamed up with an amazing couple, Priscilla and Aquila, and “because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them” (Acts 18:3). This couple run a successful tent making business that enabled them support mission work.
And then of course, there is the noble woman of character, as told in Proverbs 31, who “selects wool and flax and works with eager hands. She is like the merchant ships, bringing her food from afar. She considers a field and buys it; out of her earnings.. She sees that her trading is profitable...She makes linen garments and sells them, and supplies the merchants with sashes (vv 13-25). What better illustration is there to emulate being enterprising.
When the body of believers is filled with enterprising people it generates resources important for church upkeep. Further, the work of God is then supported without being dependent on sources that might compromise the mission, as sometimes we see!
Prayer for today: Lord father God of creation, as we see in scripture you have given us the gift of enterprise, and so, I pray to use this gift such that you bless me as you did to our father Abraham and all other great saints before for the glory and expansion of your kingdom, this I pray in Jesus’s name!
