He Is Your Shelter in Place

Numbers 35:13 And the cities that you give shall be your six cities of refuge (ESV)  

1 Timothy 2:3-4 This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (ESV)

I just finished reading through the book of Numbers and all I can say is “Wow”.  This book has provided so much revelation regarding what we are experiencing as world right now. If you think about the times we are living in, we are literally watching history being made before our eyes and it can be overwhelming to even think about. As many regions in the world are ordering a “shelter in place”, due to this modern day plague’s aggressiveness, I remembered reading this passage in Numbers and felt safety in just a few words.

You may be wondering why, so I am going to provide you with a little synopsis. So after the Lord gave Moses instructions for the Israelites to occupy the Promised Land; Canaan, God spoke to Moses about establishing boundaries of Canaan, distributing the land and providing certain cities to certain groups, including refuge cities for those who seek asylum. I looked at this again and thought to myself, “God, you truly think of everything and everyone.” He prepared a place for those who would be out casted due to committing crimes such as murder, to await to be judged.  I kept reading that over and over again because it stirred up something in my spirit and I started to think about the word asylum and refuge as meaning a place for protection and shelter for safety.

This reminded me that God is our refuge and our place of shelter and in these times, now more than ever, we are being ordered to shelter in place and maybe, just maybe, He is urging us to find refuge in Him. He truly desires everyone on earth to be saved and to be kept safe from the entanglements of the enemy so that we can live with Him in eternity. There is one caveat to this though, our free will to believe Jesus as our Savior and to receive the Holy Spirit within us.

This morning, you may be thinking, “God, how am I going to get through this season?” or “God, why is this happening?” The truth is, we may never know fully. There may be conspiracy theories or opinions out there, but that is a moot point. The point is, is that we are being given time to get in agreement with His Word, right now. We are being provided an opportunity to get in relationship with Him on an intimate level. So why waste the moment? If He thought of those who would need asylum during BC times, then why should we underestimate what He can do in 2020?  He has thought of everything and everyone including you and what you are going through. So as you shelter in place, seek His face.

Stay Encouraged.

Are You Worried in Your Wilderness?

Numbers 11:23

God answered Moses, “So do you think I can’t take care of you?”

Photo by James Wheeler on Pexels.com

I was up early as usual deep in prayer and in my devotional time with God thinking about what we are experiencing not only as a nation but as a globe and all I can say is that we are in a testing season. I committed this year to read through the Bible again, this time in the Message version and it just so happened, well I should say by divine guidance that today’s message is from Numbers 11-14 and Psalm 33. I challenge you to read this through in its entirety but in a nut shell, the words in the text speaks of a time when the people of Israel, led out of Egypt are in a wilderness, a testing season, a season that we are experiencing now as a world.  

As I read this through, I have to admit that I wanted to put it aside, not ready to dig in, but my mourning spirit longed to know more to reflect and apply what I am reading to my personal life as I know that God’s Word is living and if He is directing me to read something in particular, it is for me to use and understand for myself and perhaps for others. You see, during these times, the people of Israel were complaining, doubting God and all that He is capable of doing, even though He came through for them in so many ways, day after day, month after month, year after year.    

Their posture struck me or convicted me in a way as I thought about recent times when my flesh wanted me to worry, which is so easy to do right now, trust me, I get it. I have to train my mind to remove any thoughts that are out of alignment to what His Word says. As I kept reading, I came up on a sentence where God, speaking directly to Moses asks “So, do you think I can’t take care of you?” (Numbers 11:23 MSG) and the words jumped out at me like a teleprompter. I then felt the urge to write which usually means that someone else like me needs to think about what God is asking especially now.

So as we try to take our wilderness season one day at a time, think about the question God posed to Moses and apply it to your own life. Do you really believe in what He is capable of doing in your life? Do you really trust Him with everything? Do you really believe that He will take care of you? I think we all must position ourselves and realize that what is happening is out of our control, but there is something we can control: our thoughts, belief and will. I urge you as I am urging myself, believe GOD for what you need. He will provide for you. He knows what will happen from the beginning to the end.

When things around you start to fall apart and people begin to show their true selves and the man made infrastructure begins to crumble, press in, remain obedient, have faith, get on your knees and pray, submit to His leading and follow Him all the way.

Stay Encouraged.

By Faith

Scripture Reading: Hebrews 11

For some reason I woke up this morning an hour earlier than I normally do. I then tried to will myself back to sleep but felt the urging to get up and get my day going. During this season in my life, when I sense the need to do something, I have learned to be obedient. As I become more discerning, I realize that is the Holy Spirit speaking into me and I just need to obey the call. Little did I know that the longing to write this morning would wash over me as I read my daily bible passage as part of my morning devotional time with God.

I have recently felt an inner stirring, an unrest and a sense of uneasiness within in me that made me question where I am in my walk and not feeling like I am doing enough or that I am drifting a bit from where I am supposed to be in Him. I then realized that my faith had been tested in recent months that has been slowly chipping away at my heart’s desires and slowly affecting my connection with my heavenly Father.  I mean in my head, I know God has me covered and I know that He will provide me with the tools and strategy to be able to serve His purpose, but I was wavering in the faith part because of my lack of belief and because of my impatience. 

And then this happened this morning drawing me closer to Him as I attempted to dissect the meaning behind the message of this scripture reading. As I kept reading, two words kept jumping out at me: “by faith.” As I read it for the first time, I highlighted it, then saw those two words again and highlighted it and then repeated over and over again until after fifteen times, I heard Him speak into me those two words, “by faith”. If Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses’ parents, Moses, the people of Israel and Rahab used their faith in Him to keep going and go through their journey, then so can we.

It’s funny how God reveals something to you when He does; if you are listening. I circled back to something I did yesterday that solidified this morning that He was showing me things directly. I went to the gym yesterday morning and started an online sermon from a pastor I frequently listen to. He started the message and actually asked the audience if anyone wanted to ask God for increased faith. For some reason, I stopped that sermon and searched for another one because I wanted to save that message for this morning’s run to truly listen. I was saving the faith message but He was preparing the message for me to receive in a different way so that all of my spiritual senses would be completely open to write about.

I am not sure who this is for besides me, but if you are struggling in your faith or need a reminder of those who relied in their faith to do the will of God, then read this scripture passage and ask God to increase your faith in your season of doubt. There is too much at stake not to. We are literally in a spiritual battle each day and if our faith is not strong in Him, then we begin to doubt what He can do which creates confusion in our life especially when we experience trouble or lack. 

Our faith in Him can be the very thing that opens us up to receive what we need when we need it. Our faith produces confidence that things are going to work out and our faith provides clarity in our journey. We cannot please God without faith (Hebrews 11:6), so “by faith” should be part of our daily experience. I pray that you and I can walk in our faith with boldness and intent, remembering all that He has done for us and knowing that there is so much more in store, but we have to do our part. We have to have FAITH.

HAVE a BLESSED DAY IN FAITH!!