God Alone Provides A Way Out - Day 1
OPENING PRAYER:
Dear Heavenly Father, teach me to rely on your provision and power, knowing you control the universe. “He who did not spare his own son, but gave him up for us all – how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” Romans 8:32, NIV.
“This is a day you are to commemorate; for the generations to come you shall celebrate it as a festival to the Lord—a lasting ordinance. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast. On the first day remove the yeast from your houses, for whoever eats anything with yeast in it from the first day through the seventh must be cut off from Israel. On the first day hold a sacred assembly, and another one on the seventh day. Do no work at all on these days, except to prepare food for everyone to eat; that is all you may do. Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread, because it was on this very day that I brought your divisions out of Egypt. Celebrate this day as a lasting ordinance for the generations to come.” Exodus 12:14-17, NIV
REFLECT:
Do you remember the day? Maybe even the hour? That day when you first gave your life over to Jesus, making him the Lord and Savior of your life? In that moment, you stepped out of darkness into his marvelous light! I Peter 2:9, NIV says, “but you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.”
That must have been how the children of Israel felt when God sent the angel of death to take the lives of every firstborn, only to be spared by the lambs’ blood applied to each of their doorposts. The previous plagues brought great aggravation to the Egyptians, but this last plague – death of the first born, left a lasting impression on the entire nation of Israel. It was at this point that the children of Israel, imprisoned as slaves for more than 400 years, were suddenly and miraculously set free! What an amazing reminder of God’s provision for his people! The demonstration of God’s power runs throughout the entire bible, as God continually makes a way for his people to breakout and be free.
When God sent his only son into the world, he provided the ultimate lamb whose blood covers our sins for all time! Jesus’ death on the cross was the only atonement God would accept: a perfect sacrifice without spot or wrinkle, to take the sins of the world on his back and redeem us for eternity…if we will only put our faith and trust in him! God provided his only son Jesus to make a way of escape for us…to break us out of sin and bondage forever!
APPLY:
What has you in a grip of bondage today? What thing holds you back from having all God wants for you in your life? Is it pornography? Addictions? Excessive use of foul language? Having a mean spirit toward your family all the time? Loving yourself more than others? Today, at this very moment, ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you any hidden bondages that tie you up and rob you of the joy God intends for you to have! Just like he freed the children of Israel in the Old Testament, he desires that you live in freedom and liberty today. As the Holy Spirit reveals those bondages to you, surrender them to God and he will set you free! John 8:36, NIV, “So if the son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
CLOSING PRAYER:
Lord, we surrender ourselves to your spirit and ask that you build us back up to be more in your image and likeness to a lost and fallen world, amen.
WORSHIP: