Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 14:21b-22 The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. (The Lord gives us an amazing picture of making the possible out of the impossible. He has caused the winds to blow powerfully enough that the sea waters have parted and the ocean floor is not only visible, but has been dried out by the blowing winds. Now His people can pass through the impassable treading a path no one had ever walked before. When we behold times and situations before us that are impassable, the Lord calls us to engage with Him as He unveils His path for us, often a path we would least expect, often a path that we have not taken before, often a path, that at first our perspective, seems impossible. As the people hurry through the dark night lit up by the fire of God's presence, they can see on either side that from which they are being protected and experience with their own eyes and feet the dry path before them. In this encounter with the Lord,  a type and foreshadowing of baptism, He opens the way for His people through the waters of His mighty Presence just as He still does for us today where, often, the hardships in our lives open us to a powerful display of God's miracle-working power that we would have completely missed had He not invited us through the waters of the impossible.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 14:21a Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, (The Israelites now confronted the Red Sea after a long day of continuing their march through the desert and had expected to camp and rest for the night. As they faced the Red Sea before them, they had to be unsure of tomorrow's direction and to wonder what Moses had in store for them now. Beyond that, little did they expect to see the dust of the Egyptian army stirring up in the distance as the army raced to recapture and punish God's people. Now, instead of making camp after a long day of foot travel, they had to pick up their belongings and begin an all-night march into what appeared to be certain drowning. While God executed the plan of escape, He also required Moses to act and invited him to participate in the miracle of this deliverance. Although God could have whisked the people across to the other side of the sea in a miraculous and instant transport, instead, as He often does, He chooses to use a process of deliverance so that His people can fully experience the wonder of His victory over the powers arrayed against His people.) and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. (In fact, He uses natural means to create an unnatural setting. The winds must have been staggering to have rolled back the waters and to dry out the mud floor to make it dry land for the people to cross. The Lord still invites us into the process He chooses in which to unveil His miracle of deliverance for us. When we feel the most trapped, when the situation looks the bleakest, that's the very moment that the Lord is doing His greatest work. He delivers us time after time, and still we become fear-filled when we can't see a way out before us. Whatever we face before us today, however impossible seems an escape, the Lord has called us to stretch out our hand over this sea and to watch what He does as we move forward into the path He opens for us.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 14:20b Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long. (What an encouragement the people must have felt to be able to see the manifest presence of God and to know that He was with them and protecting them. Not only does the pillar of cloud serve as a protective barrier against the onslaught of the enemy army of Egyptians, but it also darkens the night so that the enemy can't see where their target is located. The darkness blinds the enemy and protects God's people. For Israel, however, the pillar of cloud provides light in the dark of this night that the Lord has chosen to deliver His people through the sea and finally out of Egypt's region and jurisdiction. Not only does the Lord still provide His Presence to us today, but He also provides us a pillar of cloud to protect us from the enemy and to light our way in the darkness. He has given us His powerful Word Who is Jesus Christ, as well as the written Word of God to encourage us, to protect us, to light our way, and to instill in us His great truths.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 14:19-20a Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. (Christ in His pre-incarnate appearance as the Angel of the Lord had been Israel's vanguard, leading the people out of Egypt and through the desert. Because the Red Sea now stood before the people and they had no other path to take, the Lord moved His position from a leadership position to a protective stance. Now He has become their rearguard, protecting them from the enemy at their heels. Today, the Lord still performs these functions. He goes before us leading the way into the unknown where we are vulnerable. He takes up the rear safeguarding us from behind where we are vulnerable.) The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. (The physical manifestation of the Lord's Presence also changes position and serves as a barrier between a vulnerable and unarmed people and a foe bent on their annihilation and enslavement. The Lord still stands as an immovable force between us and certain destruction. He assures us that no enemy or force of darkness is able to penetrate His protective barrier that stands as a fortress within which we live and move and have our being in Him.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 14:17b-18 "And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen." (Foolishly, the Egyptians supposed they had caught the Israelites in a trap with the Red Sea before them and Pharaoh and his army behind them and that they could accomplish their intended purposes of recapturing their slaves by rushing into the same path of bare sea floor the Israelites had taken a short time earlier. The Lord says He will engage the Egyptians in ways that neither they nor the Israelites could foresee and cause the Egyptian defeat to reveal yet again the power and victory of the Lord. Their destruction would be still one more testament to His people that God was their protector and their warrior. When defeat looks certain and imminent, when the Lord snatches victory out of the jaws of seeming certain defeat, He uses those impossible places to remind us still again that He already has the situation in hand, that He has already planned and executed the victory, and that He is Lord over the darkest circumstances, true testaments to, true reminders of, His glory and power. Not only was the Egyptian army bearing down against an unarmed and untrained people, the army was attacking with its best trained soldiers, its fastest horses, and its most powerful chariots, completely overpowering a trapped and helpless group of men surrounded by their women and children. We know from this example and others in our own lives that the Lord uses the difficult situations in our lives to remind us that He is in control, that He can be trusted, and that He will bring victory out of defeat so that we place our focus once again in Him as Lord.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Exodus 14:17a "I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them." (The powerful Egyptian army held no threat for the God of Israel. Because Pharaoh and his army had refused to submit to the Lord's commands even after He had given them plentiful opportunities, now He was ready to allow them to pursue their evil intentions without His further intervention or invitation to change their minds. The Egyptians themselves saw the same open path of dry ground beside the rolled back, walled waters of the Red Sea that the Israelites saw and the Egyptians made a tactically and drastically rash and unwise decision. The Lord would now allow this foolhardy army to embrace its malicious objectives. Because they had repeatedly refused God's pardon, Pharaoh and his army would now receive God's judgment. Sometimes, the Lord allows our enemies to be blind to their lack and to appear stronger to themselves and to us than they are, but the lesson here for us is that the Lord is always in control, even in control of the enemy, and allows that enemy to pursue their intentions only to a certain point and then God intervenes on our behalf and causes defeat for the enemy and victory for us.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! John 21:2-7 Simon Peter, Thomas (also known as Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together.  "I'm going out to fish," Simon Peter told them, and they said, "We'll go with you." So they went out and got into the boat, (This small gathering of disciples had seen and talked to the risen Jesus. Their world-view, their experiences, their knowledge to this point, all had been turned inside out and they knew the world was different. Salvation has that kind of affect, one where we can never be the same again. When we look to the Risen Christ as Savior, our world is forever and awesomely different. Yet, here the men have returned to their former employment, putting their hands to the work to which they had been trained. Not yet knowing what next steps might be, not yet knowing what the Lord would purpose for them, they keep doing what they know to do, what they are familiar with. When we don't know what's next, when we are unsure of what we should be engaged with next or what the next step should be, we can follow their example and simply keep doing what we have been doing until the Lord reveals the next phase and opens the next door for us.) but that night they caught nothing. (As so often seems the case, when we strike out, just as the disciples experienced as they labored through the night, trying to do the next right thing, we come up short. We come up empty-handed. Because the Lord is ever present with us even though we are unaware of Him, even though our first efforts may have little or no result, that doesn't mean we will continue to experience disappointment or lack.) Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. (Although the men in the boat had been oblivious to Jesus' presence through the long night, nevertheless, He had been with them all along, even though they had not acknowledged Him, nor were even particularly looking for Him.) He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. (Even after they had seen the Lord with their own eyes, they are still completely unaware of Who the Person is to Whom they are talking. How often do we, perhaps, keep busily focused on what is before us instead of looking to find Jesus in our circumstances.) He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, "It is the Lord!" (Although each of these disciples had earlier forsaken Jesus in His time of greatest need, they had since then been lovingly confronted by Jesus, and, because of the evidence of His Risen Presence, had joyously recognized Him as Lord The Lord had graciously forgiven them for their fear, for their disloyalty, for their lack of faith, for their failure to believe Him, and now, through this new miracle of the catch of fish, He seals the destiny He had pronounced over them when He first called them to become His followers. The Lord uses this catch of fish to testify to His friends that He would bless the new work of their hands to which He had called them and reconfirm His purpose for them to become fishers of men. He is saying to us today that no matter what the night has held, no matter what little we can produce on our own, He rules our lives and brings to us the destiny and purposes He has designed for us to fulfill, and He brings about the victory and the harvest where before neither a victory nor a harvest had seemed possible.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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Good Word for Today!

The Lord Be With You Today! Luke 22:54a; John 18:15a Then seizing Him, they led Him away and took Him into the house of the high priest. Simon Peter and another disciple were following Jesus. (While all the other disciples had fled when Judas brought the temple guard and the accompanying mob to seize Jesus, only Peter and most probably John were brave enough to return to the shadows to follow their Lord to his destination. Instead of braving possible danger, we, too, often try to stay in the shadows as we walk out our testimony of friendship with Jesus) Luke 22:54b; John 18:15b-16 Peter followed at a distance. (Already holding back, Peter begins to take actions that separate him further and further from the Lord. We, too, may begin to follow Jesus only at a safe distance so that we don't get too close to possible hardships or recriminations.) Because this disciple [the disciple accompanying Peter, probably John] was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the high priest's courtyard, but Peter had to wait outside at the door. The other disciple, who was known to the high priest, came back, spoke to the servant girl on duty there and brought Peter in. (As a friend and partner in ministry, John, though younger, took the lead and paved the entry into the mission field, following Jesus, returned for his friend, and gained admission into a restricted and dangerous place close to the action and to highly possible danger and retributions for themselves.) Luke 22:55-56; John 18:17 And when some there had kindled a fire in the middle of the courtyard and had sat down together, Peter sat down with them. (Peter continues to take steps that separate him from Jesus. Like Peter, we can legitimize our actions by saying we need to meet particular needs, in Peter's case to warm himself from the cold. Like Peter, we can yield to our need for companionship when others have left us. Like Peter, however, we place ourselves in circumstances that may seem harmless, but in reality are dangerously compromising.) A servant girl saw him seated there in the firelight. She looked closely at him and said, "This man was with Him." "You aren't one of this man's disciples too, are you?" she asked Peter. He replied, "I am not." Luke 22:57 . . . he denied it. "Woman, I don't know Him," he said. (Now, Peter, having left the fellowship of his companion John, has aligned himself with those who are against Jesus. Now, peer pressure, a real influence on all of us, exerts its effect and causes Peter to deny his Friend to a mere servant girl.) John 18:18, 25 It was cold, and the servants and officials stood around a fire they had made to keep warm. Peter also was standing with them, warming himself. Meanwhile, Simon Peter was still standing there warming himself. (Even after he had actually denied knowing Jesus to a complete stranger, to a mere young girl, foolishly, he remains among the same group of troublemakers who are against Jesus.) So they asked him, "You aren't one of his disciples too, are you?" He denied it, saying, "I am not." Luke 22:58-60 A little later someone else saw him and said, "You also are one of them." "Man, I am not!" Peter replied. (Peter again betrays his friendship with Jesus and denies Him a second time, pushing himself still further from his bond with his Lord.) About an hour later another asserted, "Certainly this fellow was with Him, for he is a Galilean." Peter replied, "Man, I don't know what you're talking about!" Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. John 18:26-27 One of the high priest's servants, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, challenged him, "Didn't I see you with Him in the garden?" Again Peter denied it, and at that moment a rooster began to crow. (What Peter had loudly argued would never happen only a few short hours before this time, he has now done, something he said he would never do. Depending on his own strengths and abilities, the prideful man has fallen, a graphic lesson to us that we have to depend on the Lord to keep us from straying into indifference or, even worse, into denial of the sure truths in which we walk in Christ.) Luke 22:61-62 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. (What a moment of truth and love. Even in the midst of His Own agony, the Lord was mindful of His friend. He knew the moment Peter denied Him and immediately turned His attention to Peter and looked at him. His look could have been one of accusation or resentment or disappointment or judgment. Rather, I think the Lord caught Peter's eye with an expression of forgiveness and love and mercy. He wanted to reassure Peter even in Peter's failure, just as He still reaches out to us when we fail Him today.) Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: "Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times." And he went outside and wept bitterly. (As soon as Peter made eye contact with Jesus, as soon as he heard the sound of the rooster crowing, he realized what he had just done and experienced great remorse and regret. Peter's immediate next step was to remove himself from the crowd with whom he had associated himself and to weep in repentance. He gives us a hopeful reminder that when we fail the Lord, not if we fail Him, but when we fail Him, we need to recognize and acknowledge our failure and make heartfelt repentance so that the Lord can convey to us His already provided and generous forgiveness.) May the Lord richly bless you this day! In Christ's love, Blessings! Sally 513 254 3874

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