V28– What I understand from this verse is that all of us have been called to repentance and to service in God’s kingdom. But we decide how we will personally answer to the instruction/command.

V29 – Some of us do not say that we will obey the Lord and do what He asks of us but later we change our mind and we go ahead and obey Him. So at first, we have no willingness to obey and/or we are not ready to obey but later we change our minds and obey the Lord. At first, our hearts are stubborn but later, we change our minds and obey Him.

V30– Some of us, on the other hand, answer that we will do it, but we don’t. Some of us say that we will obey but we never ever obey. Some of us even say that we will obey just for the sake of it so that the Lord can leave us alone. How unfortunate? Can you lie to the Lord? Nothing is hidden from him.

Psalm 139 NLT: O Lord, you have examined my heart and know everything about me. You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away. You see me when I travel and when I rest at home. You know everything I do. You know what I am going to say    even before I say it, Lord.

Some of us also maybe have the intention or have always had the intention to obey but we never obey. Some of us always have the intention to repent from our sins but we never make the decision to. Some of us always have the intention to go deeper in our knowledge of Him, go deeper in prayer, in service but we never actually do it.

For how long will you continue this way? For how long? For how long will the Lord be patient with us to obey?

Mark 9:19 NLT: Jesus said to them, “You faithless people! How long must I be with you? How long must I put up with you? …

V31 – Jesus explains and says the first son obeyed Him. He did not want to at first but He later changed his mind.

What a blessed truth! Even if you had said you will not do it, you still have the chance to obey. The Lord is also merciful to those of us who continue to say we will do it, but we never really obey. He is still patient with us but remember, your time is small so don’t wait, obey now!

2 Peter 3: 9b-10a NIV– He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come like a thief.

2 Corinthians 6:1-3 NIV: As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. 2 For he says, “In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.

And so dear friend, join me in crying out with the Psalmist:

Psalm 39:4-8a NLT: Lord, remind me how brief my time on earth will be. Remind me that my days are numbered— how fleeting my life is. You have made my life no longer than the width of my hand. My entire lifetime is just a moment to you; at best, each of us is but a breath.” We are merely moving shadows, and all our busy rushing ends in nothing. We heap up wealth, not knowing who will spend it. And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you. RESCUE ME FROM MY REBELLION.

V32 – Others are moving to obey him. Don’t be left out! Do not refuse to believe him and repent of your sins. Be reconciled to God.

And for the believer, obey his word now, obey the Holy Spirit.

V23-26 – The authority of Jesus is challenged by the leading priests and elders. Like many times in the Gospels, these Jewish leaders, teachers, elders etc., came to Jesus not really because they wanted the best for Him, their intentions were not good or rightly placed. They were challenging Him because Jesus was challenging their position and teachings, they did not like Him. And they never saw Him for who He is– the son of God and the messiah.

But Jesus, knowing their hearts, was always very wise in dealing with them. In this scenario, instead of answering their question, the Lord answers them with another question. The Lord Jesus asks them about the authority of John the Baptist and realizing that they were cornered, they said “we don’t know.”

I feel that this encounter really revealed the true conditions of their hearts. These leaders, pharisees, priests… had opposed John the Baptist and were now opposing Jesus. They had not believed that John came from God, and now they did not believe that Jesus is the son of God and the Messiah. The worst part is that they did not even want to consider that he might be the messiah. Their hearts were simply closed shut! They had their own agenda to fulfill; they were on a mission to put him down because He was challenging their religion.

You see, previously before John the Baptist and before Jesus, these leaders and teachers of the religion, were the ones followed by people and the people believed their teachings. But they were blind guides because they did not follow what they taught and on other times, taught people things that were not really Godly but mere traditions of men.

Matthew 15:12-15 NIV: Then the disciples came to him and asked, “Do you know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this?” He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted will be pulled up by the roots. Leave them; they are blind guides.[a] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.

Matthew 23:1-7 NIV: Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, “The teachers of religious law and the Pharisees are the official interpreters of the law of Moses. So practice and obey whatever they tell you, but don’t follow their example. For they don’t practice what they teach. They crush people with unbearable religious demands and never lift a finger to ease the burden. “Everything they do is for show. On their arms they wear extra wide prayer boxes with Scripture verses inside, and they wear robes with extra-long tassels.  6And they love to sit at the head table at banquets and in the seats of honor in the synagogues. They love to receive respectful greetings as they walk in the marketplaces, and to be called ‘Rabbi.’

Mark 7:5-8 NIV – So the Pharisees and teachers of the law asked Jesus, “Why don’t your disciples live according to the tradition of the elders instead of eating their food with defiled hands?” He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’ You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to human traditions.”

But now Jesus had come and the people were following him in many numbers and they were listening to his teaching. Even in the case of John the Baptist, the people believed that He was a prophet of God. So, Jesus was challenging their position in the society and the religion. And they did not like it. For this reason, they themselves did not believe in Jesus, even though they saw and heard all He taught BUT at the same time, they were not willing to let the people believe in Him. They pretended to be gatekeepers of the religion yet in real sense, their religion was corrupted. Instead of listening to God’s message, they were interested in their own misguided teachings and therefore, their attitude when coming before the Lord was wrong.

Matthew 23:13 NLT – What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you shut the door of the Kingdom of Heaven in people’s faces. You won’t go in yourselves, and you don’t let others enter either.

And so, the question comes, dear friend, are you like these pharisees, leading priests, Sadducees etc.? Are you opposing or rejecting God’s word because of your own selfish interests? Are you coming to Jesus with an attitude of “fighting Him” and are you fighting his Word?

We must always be very careful about our attitude when coming before the Lord. God does not force himself on anyone. If we do not come before Him with an attitude of surrender, how do we expect to hear from Him? How do we expect him to tell us the right way if we already have our own ideas and decisions?? We cannot come before God with an attitude of getting his approval over our own ways and decisions which are not led of Him. If we come with this kind of attitude, what happens when He says that our way is wrong? Will we listen?

Dear friend, let us come before the Lord with the right attitude. We have to come with an attitude of reverence, submission and awe. We have to understand that He is sovereign, the ruler of all things and that His way is best. We have to know that He is good and will not lead us to a path of destruction, He leads us to eternal life.

As such, we must be ready to lay everything before Him. I must lay down my attitudes, my opinions, my decisions and my ways when I come before Him. I must come ready to believe in Him and must come ready to accept and obey what He says.

He is the shepherd.

Psalm 23:1a NASB1995– The Lord is my shepherd

John 10:11 NIV– “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.”

We are the sheep of his pasture.

Psalm 100:3 AMP – Know and fully recognize with gratitude that the LORD Himself is God; It is He who has made us, not we ourselves [and we are His]. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture.

Psalm 95:7 NIV – for he is our God and we are the people of his pasture, the flock under his care.

He leads his sheep in the paths of righteousness.

Psalm 23:3 NASB1995 – He restores my soul; He guides me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.

Proverbs 4:11 NIV: I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths.

And therefore, we cry:

Psalm 31:3 NIV – Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.

Psalm 143:10 NIV – Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.

Psalm 25:5 NIV – Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.

*Prayer:* Oh! Help me father. Save me from myself. Save me from having authority over my life. I desire to walk in your ways, to accept what you say. Because you are leading me to life.

V18 – Jesus, being a human being, was hungry and He hoped that the tree would have some figs which He could eat. But there was none and He curses the tree which then withers immediately.

For me as a believer, there is a lot to ponder from these verses. While the believer is not a tree, He or She is a branch on the true vine. And so What fruit am I bearing? Am I a good fruit bearing disciple? This is what Jesus said:

John 15: 1-8 NIV – I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes[a] so that it will be even more fruitful. 3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

If we do not remain in Him, then a time will come when we will wither and what is done to branches that wither? — they are burned

I thank you Father that I am in you, the true vine. Help me Lord to truly remain in you. Then I shall bear much fruit for your glory.

V20-22 – The disciples are amazed at how quickly it withers. Jesus says it’s about Faith in God. We can pray for anything and we will receive it if we have Faith. There is nothing impossible for God.

I like the “Barnes Notes on the Bible” explanation of this part of scripture. It says

“He told them that any difficulty could be overcome by faith. To remove a mountain denotes the power of surmounting or removing any difficulty. The phrase was so used by the Jews. There is no doubt that this was “literally” true – that if “they had the faith of miracles,” they could remove the mountain before them – the Mount of Olives – for this was as easy for God to do by them as to heal the sick or raise the dead. But the Saviour rather referred, probably, to the difficulties and trials which they would be called to endure in preaching the gospel.”

And so, dear friend, whatever we ask for in Faith and with no doubt will be given by the Father.

But always remember that we have to be careful against exalting one verse and forgetting the others. For example, we cannot so much focus on “mountains being moved” and ignore what the Lord has said above “I am the true vine – remain in me.” ALL scripture is breathed of God to help us to grow in knowing Him more and more. Follow all the Lord’s commands, do not exclude others! So in this case, the disciple who is asking for a mountain to be moved is also the one who remains in the true vine and is also the one who prays without seizing, is the one who walks humbly with their God, who loves God’s word, who hates sin and does not dwell in it but repents of their sinful actions…. And so on, and so forth.

This means that in no way can I look at verse 22 as a “key” to getting wants and desires which are not godly and are fueled by worldliness and greed. God is not a transactional God where I come with a key and just get anything I want, even things fueled by pride and the flesh. I must revere Him:He is Holy and there is not evil in Him. God wants us to know Him and to love Him, to love our neighbors (all people around us/everyone we are with/everyone we meet) and to walk in obedience to Him.

V1-7 – Jesus sends two of his disciples ahead for an assignment, to get an instrument He will use to enter Jerusalem and because He is God, He already knows what the future will be and He therefore knows that the donkey will be there. He knows that what is needed for him is already there and when anyone was to ask, the disciples only had to say “The Lord needs them.” And that person who asked will let them have the donkey and the colt.

Meaning that the person/owner will or would willingly give the donkey to be used by the Lord.

There are so many things that the Lord needs of us and at times, our willingness to give when we are just given the answer “The Lord needs it” is usually not there. I need to let go when the Lord says He needs my donkey. He needs to use it so that many others may see the light and life that can only be found in Him.

What a privilege it is when the Lord says He needs something of mine for ministry. What a privilege to serve the King of Kings. My heart must willingly give. Whether finances, time, care, prayer for others and for the Kingdom, my heart, my skills and abilities, anything and everything! He needs it and I must willingly give it because it is such a privilege to serve him.

Failing to willingly give it means that I don’t see or really truly understand what a privilege it is to serve Him and to please Him. He owns the cattle on a thousand Hills and everything belongs to Him and therefore He can do anything. When the Lord needs something of us, we must willingly give it because it simply is a very great privilege for Him to want to use the very things He gave us.

He is looking for willingness. A heart that freely gives. Not out of obligation but out of love for Him and a great understanding of who He is.

V8-11 – The theme of willingness continues here. But it’s not just willingness, its joyful rejoicing willingness.

Most of the crowd was delighted to lay down their garments for Him and others cut branches and laid them down.  They also sang great praises to God.

Hallelujah! I want to joyfully and willingly serve the King, laying down my garments for Him.

V12-13 – Jesus knocks over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of the people selling doves and says that the scripture declares that the temple has been turned into a den of thieves.

It is important to note that the Lord was not condemning the selling of the animals required for sacrifice in itself. No, this was a common practice in the temple where people bought the animals needed for sacrifice. But Jesus here implies that there were unfair practices in the selling that were stealing from people. They had turned the temple into a place where they come to maybe charge extreme prices or engage in other unlawful practices just so that they could get more money.

They were coming to negatively profit financially from the Church. They were not coming to serve and worship the Lord. This is a dangerous place where we can easily find ourselves… loving money, power and positions etc.

Guard your heart!

Proverbs 4:23 Living Bible –  Above all else, guard your affections. For they influence everything else in your life.

V14-17 – The blind and the lame were healed by Jesus but the leading priests and the teachers of religious law were resentful about it.

Jesus was doing exactly what needed to be done. Healing the people and setting them free but these people were burning with jealousy. Why would they be jealous? Instead of joyfully receiving him who is able to save their souls and heal them of their diseases, they are angry at Him. This is a clear sign of hard hearts. Their hearts are hardened by sin such that they cannot even realize who is in their midst.

They are even angry that the children are singing praises to God. These people were jealous of God? They were stubborn and unrepentant, stirring up God’s anger against them,

Romans 2:5 NIV -But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.

John 12:40 NIV – “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts, so they can neither see with their eyes, nor understand with their hearts, nor turn—and I would heal them.”

Oh, that my heart would not be stubborn against He who is able to save me. That I would not be jealous of God’s servants who are used of the Lord to declare his praises. I pray that my heart will be broken before the Lord, ready to hear from him and be corrected by Him. I pray that I will joyfully receive him, the King of Kings. In Jesus Name. Amen

V18-19 – The Lord tells Moses that all those who wanted to kill him had died and so Moses tells Jethro that He wants to go back to Egypt.

The Lord is God and when we entrust him with our lives and when He is guiding us, we will be protected. The ways He uses to protect us from danger are different. In this case here, it is clear that God protects Moses from those who wanted to kill him by keeping him in Midian. While the Lord could have used other methods, He chose to use this. We see this as well in the story of Jesus when He was young:

Matthew 2:13 NIV: When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

And then later:

Matthew 2:19-20 NIV: After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.”

Sometimes therefore, God can use the method of telling us to move away from somewhere in order to protect and preserve our lives. Sometimes, He can also tell us not to pass through somewhere in order to protect us. All in all, we have to be careful to heed to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. And let us not be stubborn, God knows what is best for us and we therefore must follow Him.

V20-23 – Moses obeys the Lord and He leaves Midian. The Lord also tells Moses that Pharaoh will refuse to let the people go because his heart will be hardened by the Lord.

God is in all the details, even what Moses says. This means that Moses is only a servant, a messenger. He does not have to come up with his own crafty ways of saving the children of Israel because it is God who is now doing it. He only needs to obey and follow what God says.  Remember, Moses had fled Egypt when He was younger because He had killed an Egyptian who was oppressing an Israelite. At the time, this was his own craftiness and while his intentions had been good at that time, He did not have the power to save Israel.

Man does not save man. God saves man from bondage. Man is only a servant, a messenger of God. In all the story of Exodus, we will see that Moses continually receives commands and directions from God concerning what to do. His work will consistently be to hear from God and to convey the Lord’s commands and directions to the people.

Dear friend, in all your serving and ministry, do not ever forget this very important point. It’s the Lord who works in you to fulfill HIS good pleasure. We have to remain humble in our walk with the Lord as servants. Never be puffed up and proud. You are only a servant.

Philippians 2:13 CSB: For it is God who is working in you both to will and to work according to his good purpose.

And this is what we must always say when we serve:

Luke 17:10 NLT: In the same way, when you obey me you should say, ‘We are unworthy servants who have simply done our duty.’”

V24-26 – This passage here shows us one of the striking characteristics of God: He is not a respecter of persons, He requires obedience and submission to Him from all people.

In this passage, the Lord confronted Moses and was about to kill him. The reason we can see here is that Moses had not circumcised his son. The command to circumcise the sons  of Israel was given to Abraham,

Genesis 17:9-14 NIV – Then God said to Abraham, “As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come. This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you. For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring. Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

As we can see here, the covenant was for all males of Israel, even those who were bought as slaves. It was an outward sign of the covenant between God and Abraham’s descendants. And of course, not only the men, this also covered the women because the man is the head of the woman biblically. So by circumcising the son, Zipporah was covered under the covenant even though she was not of Israelite origin, she was a Midianite, Jethro’s daughter.

Moses was about to be cut off by God because He had broken this covenant since his son was not circumcised. God was not going to spare Moses yet He had already been given the charge to go lead the people of Israel out of Egypt.

Dear friend, we have to keep God’s word. He does not respect any person and He shows no favoritism. All who do not honor God will be punished. For us today, our circumcision is not of the flesh, let us circumcise our hearts unto the Lord. Here is God’s word about circumcising our hearts unto the Lord.

• Deuteronomy 30:6 – “Moreover the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live.
• Deuteronomy 10: 12-17 – And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good? To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today. CIRCUMCISE YOUR HEARTS, THEREFORE, AND DO NOT BE STIFF-NECKED ANY LONGER. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.
• Romans 2:28-29 – For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that which is of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter; and his praise is not from men, but from God.

V27-28 – God had already prepared Aaron for the task. He was going out to meet Moses under God’s direction.  It’s the Lord who does all these things. Moses did not have to convince Aaron since the Lord is the one who had selected Aaron as spokesperson. Aaron’s heart was ready to serve the Lord.

When we are leaders, and have other leaders and servants under us, we have to remember that they are not our servants, they are the Lord’s servants. God is the one who decides the hierarchy of authority so that we can have order while serving Him but the bottom-line is we are all God’s servants, we are accountable to Him.

V29-31 – Moses and Aaron do what the Lord had said. And when the people heard that God was concerned about them, they bowed down and worshipped. The servants of God obeyed the Lord and the people responded to God properly: they worshipped!

I bow down in worship to the Lord when I remember all He has done. He has saved me from bondage and has given me life in Christ Jesus. I now desire to continuously circumcise my heart to the LORD so that I may please Him and walk in his ways, living a life that glorifies Him. Glory be to His Name.

V1-7 – Moses continues to protest. He is still not yet full trusting that God will take of all the details. But the Lord is patient with Moses, even amidst the protests and the Lord continues to build up Moses’s faith and trust in Him.

Remember, it’s not that Moses does not know that this is God. The issue is that his heart has not yet fully trusted in God. But as He continues to talk to and experience God, his faith builds. In different ways from here forward, God reveals himself to Moses and Moses greatly grows in the knowledge of God. One of the ways that God reveals himself is by answering the man’s questions. The Lord does signs in front of Moses and shows Moses a small bit of his power.

The Lord is always patient with man and He teaches and reveals himself to us so that our faith and trust in Him will grow and come to maturity.

V8-9 – The Lord tells Moses to performs these signs to the people of Israel and they would believe. The use of signs is an important way that God reveals himself to man. And Jesus also told this to his Jewish opponents:

John 10:37-38 NIV – Do not believe me unless I do the works of my Father. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me, and I in the Father.”

The book of Acts also says this about the ministry of Paul and Barnabas at Iconium:

Acts 14:1-20 NIV – So Paul and Barnabas spent considerable time there, speaking boldly for the Lord, who confirmed the message of his grace by enabling them to perform signs and wonders.

From these passages that the signs or wonders are not an end to themselves, they are methods that God sometimes uses to confirm his message. The goal is to have the people believe in Him. Dear friend, remember, seek the Lord and believe in Him, do not seek signs and wonders.

V10-11 – Moses again pleads with God about his inadequacies but God continues to build Moses’ faith in Him by giving him his word. The Lord reminds Moses that He is the creator of all things and that He is the one who decides all things, including speaking ability. And the Lord assures Moses that He will be with Him and He will instruct him in what to say.

To recap, the Lord first told Moses his purposes (He wants to save Israel from Egypt) and then He tells Moses what to do, and He gives Moses signs to performs and lastly, He reassures Moses that He will instruct him in what to say. The Lord covers everything… the only thing that Moses should do now is to obey and go as he has been commanded.

It is the same way with us: the Lord consistently tells us what He wants us to do for us and He guides on what we are to do. The only thing left is to obey Him. But do we? Do we obey?

(Have Mercy on us oh Lord, have mercy. Help us to obey you because you are good and your thoughts toward us are good. You see our weakness and only you are able to help us by your Holy Spirit. Our hearts desire to be with you, Jesus. )

V13-14a – After getting all He really needs to fulfill this assignment, Moses still pleads with the Lord to send anyone else.

Moses’ Faith in God seems unable to overcome his inward looking. He stills sees himself as inadequate yet the Lord has told him that He will be with him. Having God is sufficient but still Moses does not want to go.

And this angered the Lord. Moses’ distrust in God is a sin.

(Teach me oh Lord to trust in you: in your saving power, in your enablement and not to look at my inadequacies because even though I am weak, I am strong in you because you are with me.)

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 TPT: But he answered me, “My grace is always more than enough for you, and my power finds its full expression through your weakness.” So I will celebrate my weaknesses, for when I’m weak I sense more deeply the mighty power of Christ living in me. So I’m not defeated by my weakness, but delighted! For when I feel my weakness and endure mistreatment—when I’m surrounded with troubles on every side and face persecution because of my love for Christ—I am made yet stronger. For my weakness becomes a portal to God’s power.

V14-17 – But the Lord is still merciful to Moses and He still sends Him. Only this time, God appoints another person to help Moses speak. Aaron is appointed by God as spokesperson.

This shows me of God’s mercy. In his anger, the Lord still had mercy on Moses. He still chose him to be the leader of the people of Israel and He still chose him to be the guide to his people. In his anger, the Lord could have easily appointed another person but still, He was merciful to Moses.

And at last, Moses is now set to go.

Psalms 103:8-10 NIV – The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

The way to fight lust (impure sexual desires in the heart and mind) is by feeding Faith with the knowledge of an irresistibly glorious God.

Matthew 5:8 NIV:  Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

Hebrews 12:14 NLT: Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

The way to overcome lust and all sin is simple and there is no shortcut to it… I must desire God more than anything else. I must understand that sin separates me from knowing God and experiencing Him.

And so, the question is, do I desire God? Do I want to experience Him and be satisfied by Him and not satisfied by anything else?

Remember, experiencing and enjoying God is continual and it will never end. If I am not enjoying God and experiencing Him right now, then I should not think that it will suddenly start when I die. In fact, if I am not enjoying and experiencing God right now, then it simply means I am alienated from Him or I am far away from Him and therefore I should reconsider my walk with Him and see how I have strayed away.

And that is why I must understand God’s commands and why God gives them.

God’s commands are not given in a forceful manner, they are given in a loving manner. Essentially, if I am to paraphrase, through his commands, God is saying…

“Son/Daughter, I am Holy and Pure (there is no evil in me) and you cannot experience me when you tolerate what I hate. I hate sin and lawlessness and therefore if you want to experience me and be with me, then you must be Holy.“

1 Peter 1:14-16 NIV: As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15 But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16 for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

Therefore:

I should not read the Bible, just because it is a command. I should read the Bible because by reading it, I get to know God. And knowing Him is eternal life.

John 17:3 TPT: Eternal life means to know and experience you as the only true God, and to know and experience Jesus Christ, as the Son whom you have sent.

I should not pray merely because it is a command. I should pray because I get to experience God and have communion with Him.

I should not listen and Sing worship and praise music, just because it is sweet or it’s the “Christian thing” to do. No, I should use the music as a means of Grace given by God to pour my heart to Him. He must be the focus of the listening to the music. I must join (actively) with the person or people singing in worship and praises that the music is ascribing.

I should join in fellowship with other believers because we get to encourage each other, remind ourselves of God’s word and hear from God, and we also correct each other in Godliness.

I should read or listen to Godly books because they encourage me since the writers write from their experiences and knowledge of God.

I should seek the Lord because there is nothing that can satisfy me more than Him. Having God is having everything. And I cannot lose when I am truly in God… In Him only is the fullness of life.

Colossians 2:6-8 GNT: Since you have accepted Christ Jesus as Lord, live in union with him. Keep your roots deep in him, build your lives on him, and become stronger in your faith, as you were taught. And be filled with thanksgiving.

And so, I go back to the first question. Do I desire God? Do I want Him and Him alone? Do I want to be filled continually by his Holy Spirit? Do I have hunger and thirst for God?

Psalm 63: 1 ESV: O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Matthew 5:6 NIV: Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.

Oh my soul! Where is you thirst and hunger for God? What are you hungry for if it is not the Lord God? Oh my soul! Why is your hunger and thirst for God so easily quenched? Why do you long for entertainment and pleasure more than God? Why do you long for money and riches more than God? Why are you not satisfied by God? Father, I submit. Please help me to desire you more than anything else. Heal my blindness and deafness oh Lord.

STARVE THE FLESH, FEED THE SPIRIT.

V7 – God tells Moses that He has certainly seen the oppression and suffering of the children of Israel. He says He is aware of how they are suffering under these oppressors. The Egyptians in an effort to decrease the number of Israelites were focused on crushing them with hard labor and this weighed down heavily on the Israelites. They groaned under the pain. But God says to Moses that He has seen their suffering and pain.

I find this so comforting. He has seen my/our troubles and pains. He is aware of what is happening to us. He has heard and continues to hear our cries for help. He is not blind to our situation.

Psalm 56:8 NLT– You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.

Psalm 18: 6 NLT – In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears.

V8-9 – After saying that He has heard and seen our troubles and suffering, He says He has come to rescue the children of Israel from Egypt and their slavery. The Lord comes to take his people from their dark times and brings them into a land of flowing milk and honey.

Oh, Hallelujah, why should I afraid when He the Lord is on my side? My soul… sing praises to the one who rescues you from pain and suffering. Praise to God in the Highest who sees our suffering and pain. Even if the whole world gangs up against me/us and we remain with Jesus, then we shall not be afraid because no one wins against the Lord. He is mighty in power, and He is mighty to save.

Psalm 56:3-4 NLT– But when I am afraid, I will put my trust in you. I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?

Psalm 56: 9-11 NLT – My enemies will retreat when I call to you for help. This I know: God is on my side! I praise God for what he has promised; yes, I praise the Lord for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?

V10 – God sends Moses and appoints Moses as leader of the people of Israel, to lead them out of Egypt and to take them into Egypt. The Lord choses a man to lead his people. In the earlier verses, God had said He has heard the suffering of the people and now He wants to use a man to lead and to be used of Him in guiding them to be saved from Egypt.

There are times when the Lord chooses us to be his vessel to help other people. Are we willing to yield and be used of Him?

V11-12 – Moses protests about being chosen. He sees that He is not qualified. But God says that He will be with Him. God’s answer to Moses is that He will be with Him but at this point, Moses does not yet seem to know that it is God who choses and qualifies him for the mission and that God being with and over him is sufficient. His trust in the Lord is shaky and that’s why He protests.

Dear friends, we have to remember that these things were written or recorded for our benefit now. Moses here is a reflection of how I/we sometimes protest against the Lord when it comes to doing his purposes. It is a reminder of how we can be so inward looking into our weakness and disqualification not realizing that it is indeed the Lord who chooses us. We do not choose Him first, He chooses us, and it is Him who strengthens us to do his will and his desires.

Philippians 2:13 NLT: For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him.

V13-15 – Moses continues protesting but through this conversation God tells us the name He will be remembered by for all generations. He is:

“I Am Who I Am”. Yahweh, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

He is God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ

V16-22 – And the Lord now gives clear instructions for what his servant Moses must do. He tells him the words to use to speak to the elders of Israel but He also tells him what will happen including that Pharaoh will be hard hearted unless a strong forces him. The Lord also tells Moses about how they will take wealth from the people of Egypt.

His Instructions are therefore clear for Moses. The only thing that Moses needs to do is just follow exactly what God says.

The Lord does not require much of us, He just needs us to follow his instructions. His Word is clear to us, we only need to read it, and obey it.

His instructions for life and godliness are available for us in scripture. Do we want to know what God wants of us? Do we want to know what to do in different situations? The Lord will help us by his Holy Spirit and through his Word.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 NLT: All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.

(Lord, I pray for my heart and the hearts of all peoples, all over the world. Cause us to hear your calling unto us and cause us to know your word and after knowing you, to obey you and to heed to your voice. For there is no life or salvation apart from you. May you break all these barriers that hinder us from hearing you. May you humble us so that we hear you because it is for our good since it comes out of your love for us. Be glorified Oh God in the Highest, May the earth and all who are in it proclaim your praises oh God. For you alone are worthy to receive all the glory. Be Glorified. In the name of Jesus our Lord and savior, Amen)

V1-3 – Moses is out and about his work. He goes to Sinai, the mountain of God. And Here, God first gets his attention through something supernatural, something unique, something He had not seen before — a burning bush that was not burning. Although Moses was about to encounter the living mighty God, He was not aware and was just about his own activities. But God captures his attention.

I believe that this is what the Lord does in our lives. He captures our attention when we are just about our daily activities and lives and speaks to us. The Lord can use very many ways to capture our attention…. He can use a literal burning bush, He can use a sermon, a song, He can allow some difficulty in our lives so that we run to Him, etc.

This is one of the most unique things about our God: In all times, God first comes and gets our attention and He reveals himself to us. We did not first love Him, He first loved us and reached out to us, revealing his great majesty to us.

1 John 4:19 NKJV: We love Him because He first loved us.

V4 – Moses moves to the burning bush out of curiosity. He is of course still not aware that the Lord is about to meet Him. God’s action to get Moses’ attention has of course worked and now He can speak to Moses. The Lord calls out.

Dear friend, does God get your attention? Your curiosity? Are you eager enough to learn/hear from Him?

It would be so sad if Moses never gave much thought to the burning bush or if it never got his proper attention. I feel that sometimes our hearts are so hard such that even when God is calling and wants to meet with us, we never give him the attention. And so, we become resistant to Him and never experience Him.

Give some thought to this.

V5 – God tells Moses that He is on holy ground– He should not go any closer and should take off his sandals.

This is a warning to us about how we come before God. When you are in his presence, you are on holy ground. We have to come in awe because while it’s true that we are in the presence of God, our father, we are also before the everlasting God, the ruler and creator of all things. It is He who gives us life and we are sustained in Him. We therefore cannot come before God carelessly, casually…. We must take off our sandals. Taking off our sandals means that our hearts have to come with the right posture, broken and humble, acknowledging his mighty power. Yet when we come, we also come with admiration of Him who loves us and saves us.

This is who we are coming to:

Hebrews 12:18-29 NIV: But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23 to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the Judge of all, to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, 24 to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.

And this is what Jesus tells us:

Luke 12:5 NLT: But I’ll tell you whom to fear. Fear God, who has the power to kill you and then throw you into hell. Yes, he’s the one to fear.

V6 – The Lord God introduces himself to Moses. He is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He says “I am.” God is God of the living.

Jesus later in the book of Matthew comes to speak about the resurrection by referring to this portion in exodus:

Mark 12:26-27 NIV: Now about the dead rising—have you not read in the Book of Moses, in the account of the burning bush, how God said to him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not the God of the dead, but of the living. You are badly mistaken!”

The Living Bible (TLB) version puts it this way:

Mark 12:26-27 TLB: But now as to whether there will be a resurrection—have you never read in the book of Exodus about Moses and the burning bush? God said to Moses, ‘I am the God of Abraham, and I am the God of Isaac, and I am the God of Jacob.’ “God was telling Moses that these men, though dead for hundreds of years, were still very much alive, for he would not have said, ‘I am the God’ of those who don’t exist! You have made a serious error.”

God is God of those who are alive: alive in Him.  Who are those who are alive in Him? The ones who walk and live in Him. These are the people who walk humbly with their God and who have accepted Jesus and their savior AND their Lord (master). He is therefore God of those who obey Him and accept to be led of Him. He is not the God of those who are not submitted to Him. When there are other things that have more priority and which give you satisfaction other than God, then those things are your god, and you should not dare say the Yahweh is your God. If there is any other than you enjoy more than Him, then you are in Idolatry. Yahweh is your God if you obey his word.

And dear friend, this is a command directly from God:

Exodus 20:2-6 NASB – I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before Me. “You shall not make for yourself [c]an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath, or in the water under the earth. You shall not worship them nor serve them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, inflicting the punishment of the fathers on the children, on the third and the fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing favor to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments.

(Father, forgive me for all these many times I forget that you alone must be God in my life. You alone must be my satisfaction and enjoyment. You alone must I obey– Help me to obey you Oh God. Let me not lured away by the desires and pleasures of this world. May my worries and concerns for this life not cause me to forget who you are. Let me not be led astray by pursuits in my life but let my life be wholly focused on you: you alone must be the one I pursue. For in you alone is life, satisfaction, peace, comfort, and sustenance. In Jesus name, Amen.)

v20-28

V20-21  – The mother of James and John comes to Jesus respectfully (she even knelt before Jesus) to ask for a favor. The favor is that she wants her sons to be seated beside Jesus in his kingdom.

This verse has a profound meaning for me. I think it is a reflection of our prayers before God. It shows how our prayers can sometimes be wrongly prioritized. It seems to me that the core of her request is to obtain an exalted position for her sons. She wants them to be higher than others. While her request is genuine, it shows how She and her sons lack the understanding of what is actually truly valuable.  Thankfully the Lord is full of Mercy and understanding and will therefore correct this in a short while in the next verses.

We often do this as Christians and disciples of Christ. We ask without understanding of what is actually more valuable. We ask out of our selfish desires. These desires are sometimes fueled by a love for this world and the things of this world. We want wealth, property, positions etc. The Lord has already promised that He will provide for our every need.

Hebrews 13:5 Living Bible: Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, “I will never, never fail you nor forsake you.”

And so, why should we be so bothered about the things of this world? Are our priorities right? Is our focus on the right place?

What is truly valuable is only one thing:

Matthew 6:33 ESV: But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

V22-23 – Jesus replies and tells them they don’t know what they were asking. It simply means that they were asking for something they did not even understand what cost it meant. When Jesus asks them the question, they replied (I would say carnally without even knowing what this bitter cup of suffering meant), saying “Oh Yes, we are able!”

This response they gave to the question was problematic. They did not understand the weight of the pain and suffering and did not understand that it is only through the Holy Spirit that one could humble themselves to that level of accepting this pain and suffering.

Nevertheless, Jesus, being God and already knowing the future, tells them that they will  indeed drink from the bitter cup of suffering. And of course, later, these disciples would come to understand what it really meant to drink from that cup.

We have to be careful not to trust in our own strength and sheer will to take us through times of pain and suffering. You do not go through moments of pain and suffering by your own strength. In fact, in your own strength, you will fail. We always have to understand that it is only the Lord who helps us. And that is why He promised:

John 16:33 NIV: “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

V24 – After they hear about this thing that James and Joh have done, they become indignant with the 2 brothers. The Amplified version says “they were resentful and angry with the two brothers.”

Why are they angry? I think they are angry because the 2 brothers want to have more privilege than them. So why are they angry really? Because deep down they also want the same “power and privilege?”

I think this is something that was most probably in their hearts but they possibly never had gained the courage to ask Jesus. But you see, in the next verses, Jesus is quick to correct every one of them.

V25-28

Jesus carefully corrects the disciples. He explains that leaders are servants. Even the Son of man did not come to be served, He came to die for us and be a ransom for us all.

In the Kingdom of God, the call is to be servants. Do not wait to be served. Be the servant.

For all of us as believers and disciples of Christ, we are the people who serve others… EVERYWHERE!

• At our workplaces
• At our companies
• In our marriages
• In our families
• As siblings
• In our teams in Church
• …. EVERYWHERE.

1. The disciple of Christ is a servant. Always ready to serve others.
2. The Disciple sacrifices himself/herself for the good of others.
3. The Disciple gives themselves/their property/their time… etc., for the good of others.
4. The Disciple is Ready to be considered the Lowest for the good of others.
5. The Disciple does not argue so that they always have to be right.

John 13: 12-15 NIV: When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

(Lord, help me to seek your kingdom and your righteousness above all things. Help me to be a servant, everywhere. Help me to imitate you, the greatest servant of all, who laid his life for me that I may be saved from eternal separation from God. Thank you for the gift of salvation.)

V29-33

The story of the blind men teaches us so much about how we should cry out to God so that we see.

To paraphrase, these blind men were crying out loudly: “Lord Jesus, have mercy on us, we want to see.”

How many times do we cry out this way before the Lord? How many times do we cry out to God for his presence? How many times do we cry out to him concerning our blindness to his will and his word? How much do we seek him so that He may remove our ignorance?

May the Lord make us like this blind men who understand that its only Jesus who can make them see and therefore we cry out to Him, our Lord and High Priest. We cry out to Him so that we may know Him because that is eternal life.

This is the same prayer Jesus prayed for us in John 17:

John 17:1-3 NIV – After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you. 2 For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. 3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.

V34 – We see in this verse that the Lord is merciful and He will instantly answer us when we cry out to Him concerning our blindness. This is what the Lord says:

Matthew 5:6 AMP – “Blessed [joyful, nourished by God’s goodness] are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness [those who actively seek right standing with God], for they will be [completely] satisfied.