Exodus 20:19 19 – “THEN, they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; BUT let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, a couple of specific things captured my thoughts.   One was found in Exodus 20:19, and the other launched from Exodus 23:20.

After God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, there was a massive demonstration of God that they saw and heard.  (verse 18).   Exodus 20:19 – “THEN, they said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; BUT let not God speak to us, lest we die.”

The reality deposited in my consciousness was that they, like today, wanted God’s Word but not His presence.  We want to know what God is saying, but we want someone else to press into the presence and tell us what God is saying.

Two factors are involved.

• It is dangerous to enter God’s presence because He is Holy.   
• It is easy to hear from someone else, for that requires no effort, commitment, or personal sacrifice.

It also leaves room to reject the Word, unlike if it is a direct Word from God.  That’s why people seek out those who hear from God.  It’s like shopping; you pick and choose what is displayed, and you don’t have to be involved in the production of the product.

However, we need to hear God personally.  That requires a relationship, a purging, and dying to the flesh.  In order for us to reach our place of promise (we call it destiny), we need to HEAR God, and we need His guidance, provision, and protection.

That brings me to Exodus 23:20-22.   Yes, this is a specific promise to Israel in the wilderness.  However, since God is not a respecter of persons, we have a legitimate reason to claim it for our lives.   Psalm 91 validates my assertion.  Here we read, “BEHOLD, I AM going to send My Angel before you to keep you along the way and to bring you into the place which I have prepared.”

They were to watch and listen for the divine direction that required Hearing God for themselves.   If they walked in obedience to the angelic direction (requiring Hearing Him personally), God’s promise was, “I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries.”

Therefore, unless we commit to hearing God personally, we miss out on the promised provision, protection, and guidance.  We almost certainly guarantee our failure to attain our destiny in God.  We struggle with our own ability rather than enjoying His.

What will we do?   Will we seek God’s Word through another human or seek His presence and, in His presence, receive His Word, Protection, Peace, Power, and Provision?  The choice is ours!

Please help us cultivate the appetite to HEAR YOU personally rather than receive second-hand information.

Exodus 3:1-6 –  Now Moses was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.  ² The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from within a bush.  He looked, and the bush was ablaze with fire, but it was not being consumed!  ³ So Moses thought, “I will turn aside to see this amazing sight.  Why does the bush not burn up?” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to look, God called to him from within the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!” And Moses said, “Here I am.” ⁵ God said, “Do not approach any closer!  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ He added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.”

As I read, prayed, and meditated on the Word of God today, “Holy Ground” kept echoing in my heart.  In Exodus 3, we have the account of the burning bush that was not consumed.

That is a picture of the Holy Spirit in us.   Fire and light, but it does not destroy us.   The LORD spoke from the flame (Holy Spirit) and said, “This is Holy Ground.”   Was it that particular location that made it Holy?   No.    Was it the type of bush (religion) that made it Holy?  No.  What made that place Holy?   It was the Presence of God!   

That means if we are “in” Christ, we become Holy Ground.   As we operate in the Holy Spirit, we bring Holy Ground (God’s presence) to where we are.  We are the temple of God and His Body.

Moses protested that he could not go to Pharaoh because he (Moses) was of uncircumcised lips.  In the natural, we are, but if the burning bush is in us, we become whole and have circumcised minds, hearts, and lips.  He in us flows out of us in the anointing, and our words become His words.

The anointing breaks the yoke of bondage.   God’s presence brings God’s power, and God is ‘in’ us.   We live powerless, not because we do not have power in us, but because we do not believe we are worthy or that God uses mortals that way.  We become theoretical and experiential cessationists.

The fire in us that makes us Holy Ground causes us to have eyes that see the supernatural, ears that hear the eternal, and hearts (not just minds) that understand God’s ways and words.  We become healed (whole and complete) mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.

The fire inside us purges the dross of the flesh, transforms us, and propels us into His purposes.   What are we to do?   Take off our shoes (a sign of recognition, respect, and surrender).   We are Holy Ground if God is “in” us.     1 John 4:17 – “…as He IS so are we IN this world.”  That is present tense, not future tense.  It is a Now Reality!  You are, so be!

If Christ is “in” us, we are Holy Ground!

Genesis 35:1-5 – Then God said to Jacob, “Go up at once to Bethel and live there.   Make an altar there to God, who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.”  ² So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have among you.  Purify yourselves and change your clothes.  ³ Let us go up at once to Bethel.  Then I will make an altar there to God, who responded to me in my time of distress and has been with me wherever I went.”

⁴ So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods that were in their possession and the rings that were in their ears.  Jacob buried them under the oak near Shechem ^5, and they started on their journey.  The surrounding cities were afraid of God, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob.”

During the winter, I was reading, praying, and meditating on the word.   Snow covered the ground, and the trees were flocked, glistening white under the lights.  The air was damp and cold, making staying inside inviting.   But, in my heart, there was a warm glow powered by love.  Love from and to God and love from and for people!

As I prayed, read, and considered the Word of God today, the thought of completeness captured my thoughts.   Complete obedience, complete surrender, and complete transformation all tugged at my heart and mind.

Long before Jacob was born, God had forbidden the worship of any other being.   His directive regarding idols was to destroy them.  That makes Jacob’s action in Genesis 35:4 intriguing and perplexing.   His family gave him their foreign gods (idols) and earrings (associated with those gods).  “AND Jacob hid them under the oak which was near Shechem.”

He hid them, rather than destroying them.   I suggest that hiding them left a doorway for them to be retrieved.   That failed the completeness test.   The question is, “Was that the doorway through which some of the troubles Israel faced came?”   Completeness in obedience and surrender is the only sure way to victory and our best defense.   If God has our whole heart, He also has our actions.

In the Book of Acts, we see completeness in obedience and surrender in the apostle Paul. In Acts 20:26, Paul makes a powerful declaration that is filled with comfort, hope, and revelation.

We know Paul’s history as Saul of Tarsus before the Damascus road experience.   He had caused believers to be imprisoned, punished, and murdered.  But in Acts 20:26, he says, “I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all.”

What?   But, Paul, what about your history?   You helped shed innocent blood.  How can you say you are innocent?  How?  By Grace, through repentance!   Paul’s completeness in surrender and obedience gave him a New History!

That is what we have in Salvation.  We have a brand-new history with no past!  Our lives truly began and can only be traced to the day of our conversion.

We remember the past; God does not!   He has cast our sins into the sea of no more remembrance and put them behind Him, as far as the East is from the West.   They are never remembered again!   It is an insult to God’s grace to bring them back up and rehearse them in our minds.

Salvation is complete forgiveness!   It is a complete transformation!  It is newness of life, DNA, and a second chance!   Therefore, it is important that we leave no room or place to go back.   Don’t hide the idols of the past.  Surrender them to God and be made complete!  

We are New Creations in Christ with no past before the day the Blood of Jesus washed away our sins!   We are New!  We are Complete!   We are those who live in His fullness!  We have His promise of victory, so let’s seize the promise and live in His fullness.

LORD, help our surrender to be complete and our obedience to be total.

Genesis 26:12-13 – And Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold.  The Lord blessed him, ¹³ and the man became rich, and gained more and more until he became very wealthy.”

Sometimes, a simple word or phrase ignites something powerful in my heart!   In Genesis 25, Esau’s selling his birthright for a meal is revelatory.   Here, we see this battle illustrated and how easily natural cravings can become elevated above the development of the Spirit.

In Genesis 26, we have the revelation of obedience to God; following the Spirit rather than allowing the eyes of the flesh to rule brings God’s blessings.   God commanded Isaac to ignore the natural and be obedient.   He reminded Isaac of how, through obedience, Abraham was blessed in covenant.   In verse 12, it is revealed, “And Isaac sowed IN THAT LAND and reaped IN THE SAME YEAR one hundredfold.  AND Yahweh blessed Him.”   One hundredfold return AND… the blessings for obedience were uncontainable.

To walk in obedience by faith requires total confidence in God.   It transforms us and enables us to joyfully obey regardless of what we see.   The eyes of faith are unmoved by the eyes and cravings of the flesh and the natural.

In Acts 16:25, Paul and Silas were in the dungeon, bound in chains and stocks.  They were examples of transformed lives and complete confidence in God.

Acts 16:25 – “BUT about midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns of praise to God, AND the prisoners heard them.”

Think about that.   How we respond to adversity or blessing is our testimony.   The prisoners heard them!   They had no reason in the natural to act that way.  Their confidence and commitment had transformed them.  It was who they were, not some faux pious religious act.  It was who they were.  They didn’t have to manufacture it.  It flowed out of them.

If we live controlled by carnal desire and thought, we will not receive the covenant blessings.  We will fret, fear, grumble, and try to manufacture the right response.  But if we are filled with confidence that God IS, and we are His, we will discover the river inside flowing out of us, and the chains of the flesh will lose their power.  Our testimony will be heard, and the grace of God will touch us and others.

Peace, power, and provision flow to us as we die to ourselves and surrender to Him.   Two dogs are inside us, fighting.  The dog of the flesh and the dog of the Spirit.  The dog that wins is the one we feed the most.   Victory is ours!  Believe it and receive it!

God’s promises are as sure as God Himself, and if He says that He will do something, He will.