Tag: Aaron

Carried

On By vickleaIn promises, Scripture5 Comments

Do you remember carrying your children around when they were young? I vaguely remember doing that, but I actually remember carrying around my grandchildren. The youngest is three now, and when he was four months old, I stayed with him for four months to take care of him while his parents worked. And, of course, I had to carry him because he wasn’t walking yet. In fact, he had just started trying to crawl when I returned home again. Anyway, sometimes I was a little afraid to pick up that little one because I am not always steady on my feet, but I prayed that God would help me carry Nathan safely, and He did.

I cannot imagine anyone carrying me these days. I am “pleasantly plump”, elderly with aching bones and don’t like to be touched much, not to mention carried. But the Bible says:

God is carrying me, in His heart and mind, all the time. He is ready and able to sustain me and rescue me, and He is the One who knows me best, since He created me. So, I am content in my Father’s arms.

Of equal importance is that Jesus is our High Priest and carries our names before the Father, right into His presence. Remember when Aaron, the High Priest and Moses’s brother, wore an ephod with the names of the twelve tribes on it. When he entered the holy place, he was bringing them before the Father. So, not only is God carrying us, but His Son carries our names with Him before the Father, letting God know that we are part of the family, grafted in or adopted as His children. What wonderful word pictures I had this morning in my devotional! I am old and gray…God is carrying me! I am a child of the King, and Jesus bears my name before His Father. How blessed I am to be carried, with no worries about God’s ability or stability. He is able and willing!

Do you at times want to lay down the burdens of life and just be carried away to a place of peace and joy? Then, imagine God doing just that. He wants to, and He will, if you will surrender those burdens to Him and allow Him to pick you up right where you are and carry you to a place where He can minister to you. It is in His arms that I find comfort, solace, rest and strength. I hope you find that, too.

Spotlight on THE MOSES PROJECT

On By vickleaIn SpotlightLeave a comment

I am writing this blog today to encourage my readers to hold up authors by sending them notes or emails just to let them know you are thinking about them. Writing a book is a lonely profession with a lot of bumps along the way and Vickie Escalante, an online friend, recognized that authors need encouragement to get over their hurdles. Thus “The Moses Project” came to be, named for Aaron and Hur who held up Moses’s arms so that the Israelites would be victorious against their enemies.

Here is a link to join the project:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeV8myHAGwpsCUpFIhEp04uZIlFs36uKdHzzYrGNRQeUJNcJw/viewform

It’s really an easy form to complete. Once it’s done, Vickie E. will contact you and let you know the name and contact information for the author you will encourage. This is not a big time commitment, nor is it expensive. I contacted my author a couple of times via email, she wrote me back with some basic information about herself and then I contacted her again about a week and a half later to check on her and let her know I am praying for her. Vickie has suggestions in the welcome e-mail that she will send you. I hope some of you will consider joining this group of encouragers. I depend on authors and their books to help me through some tough days, so I figure I can give back a little.

There is also a link for authors to sign up if they want someone to stand alongside them and be their cheerleader. Here is that link for the authors out there:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSe0LBGUcu12NsaGqV7QQS9JPusl8vA8_BbOql1WFgIE4lrjeQ/viewform

If you aren’t quite ready to sign up but want more information, there’s a link for that, too that will connect you to Vickie Escalante.

Email sign up for additional info: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeD2OOf40Y6UOlwjiRN-5259b43yEEyn4QHk5TUT4GhKt3-qg/viewform

One more favor before I go…can you share this with other readers who might want to help an author in their ministry to us? Thank you for considering my requests and being willing to bless an author who may just need a little encouragement right now.

A Blessing

On By vickleaIn Scripture3 Comments

Yesterday’s meeting was a true blessing for me! I got to meet a lot of new ladies and interact with them. So, that is my good report.

Today, in my devotional, I read the blessing that God told Moses and Aaron to speak over the people of Israel as they continued to travel to the Promised Land.

I am praying this promise over anyone who reads it today as well as over the people of Israel as they face a mighty and devious foe. Grace and peace from the Lord is a real blessing.

The Blessing-Kari Jobe and Cody Carnes

The Plague that Brings Death

On By vickleaIn Scripture4 Comments

Now that the hysteria about Covid-19 seems to be dying down, I want to address a plague that is even worse than Covid or the Black Death or anything that the earth has seen as deadly and dangerous. That plague is the plague of accepting sin as normal and this acceptance leads to certain eternal death and separation from God. No matter what we call sin, it is still wrong in God’s eyes and He will one day judge all of it. We have nice names so that what we are doing wrong doesn’t sound so bad. Abortion is a “necessary procedure”, fornication is “hooking up” and adultery is “playing around.” Even homosexuality is called by a euphemism, “switching teams.” God just calls all of it sin and it has become a plague that is destroying society and our values as we have known them. What was once seen as sinful is now accepted and the current mantra is not to judge others, just let them be, accept others the way they are, etc. Unfortunately, that attitude of letting others just live with their own sin leads to devastating consequences for the entire society. The more we normalize sin, the more rampant it becomes and the actions become even more outrageous. So, what is a Bible-believing Christian to do?

In this chapter in Numbers, the Israelites had once again sinned and God’s response was to judge them with a plague. Korah had rebelled against the leadership of Moses and his punishment was to be swallowed up by the earth. The people did not learn from that judgment from God because the very next day, they started mumbling and complaining about what had happened to Korah. God wanted to just wipe them out, but Aaron and Moses stood in the gap and asked God to have mercy. In the verse above, Aaron stood between those who were dead and those who were still alive, with a burning censer and a prayer on his lips for mercy, and God spared most of the people. However, almost 15,000 died because of this rebellion against the leadership that God had established, which was really a rebellion against God Himself. The Israelites are much like people today. They thought they knew more than God and were able to judge what God was doing in their midst. Think about that. Does anyone know more than God? Of course not! But in their arrogance and lack of right thinking, they proudly rebelled and paid a high price.

I believe that the high price of today’s sin is coming and as Christians, we need to stand in the gap as much as possible, pleading for God’s mercy, that some might accept the truth and live. God will not always be willing to look at the sin on the earth and just shake His head with sorrow. One day, His wrath will unfold and it will be a “great and terrible day,” especially for those who have turned from Him and decided that they have no rules to follow or moral code to govern them. So, I implore you to pray daily for God’s mercy and to pray specifically for specific people who need to know and accept the truth. Speak in love to them as God leads you, tell them the truth of God’s Word. Trying to scare them with God’s coming judgment won’t work because they simply don’t fear God, But perhaps they will listen to the sound of love. Be an Aaron in the midst of the camp of rebels and work earnestly to save as many as you can with the message of God’s truth and salvation. The plague that is coming brings eternal death; some will say that it is already here or God’s judgment has already begun. I don’t believe that because my belief is that when God judges, we will all know it, much as the Israelites did when the earth swallowed Korah and then the plague had the rebels dropping dead. What is happening in the earth today is a natural consequence of our disobedience and utter disregard for the Creator and the moral compass that He put inside us. We cannot turn the tide against the evil but we can stand in the gap and in so doing perhaps lead some to safety with the Lord.

Have a blessed day and may you never hesitate to stand in the gap and be an “Aaron” in a world filled with rebels against God.

God’s Specific Directions

On By vickleaIn Scripture9 Comments

Have you ever wondered what would happen in your life if you heard God clearly and followed His directions exactly? Moses spoke to God and God spoke to Moses. Yet, Moses and his brother Aaron sinned and did not follow exactly what God told them to do.

Notice the very important word in this passage is speak.
Moses did not speak to the rock; he struck it. He did not follow God’s instructions which had been very specific.
Consequences follow actions.

Shortly after this passage, Aaron died. Later, Moses got to go to the top of a mountain and look and see the Promised Land, but he was never allowed to enter it. “Unfair!” I can hear the outcry already. What in the world was God thinking that He did not allow Moses and Aaron,who had faithfully led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the desert, to enter the Promised Land, their destination the whole time?

Well, my answer is that God was thinking that He is holy and what He asks for specifically is for a specific reason and He expects complete obedience, not a partial, half-hearted, “I’ll do it my way” kind of obedience. One of the big problems in our world today is that so many people are trying to do things their way, the way that their minds came up with, and not the way that God has said it should be.

For example, the Bible tells us that God made male and female. Now, there are people in our world who say that one can decide their gender. Really? Is that what the Holy Bible says? The Bible says that man and woman marry and become one flesh. Man today, in all of his own wisdom, has decided that homosexuality and the resulting relationships are okay. Hmm. I’m sure that is NOT what God thinks is best for our world considering He destroyed Sodom for such sin. Nevertheless, men think that they know better than God and go their own way. Like Moses, they are headed in a direction that will not allow them to go into the Promised Land.

In the time of Moses, the Promised Land was an actual, physical place. Today, the Promised Land is Heaven, that place in which we have eternal life and live in the presence of God forever. People who think that they can “do their own thing” all of their lives and then live in the presence of a Holy God are just fooling themselves. God does not respect some people more than others, and if Moses, a great leader of the Israelites, could be denied entrance into the physical Promised Land, who are we to think that we can do whatever we want and still go into the Heavenly Promised Land? How presumptuous is that!

In my opinion, the big thing that we are missing in the picture of sin and choices is TRUST. We don’t trust that God will fulfill His Word, every jot and tittle of it. I trust that God loves and shows mercy and forgives. But I also trust that He is the righteous Judge who will one day hold all men into account for their own choices and actions. Once again, remember that Moses and Aaron were not allowed to go into the Promised Land. They changed one word of what God told them to do and that made all the difference.

God says what He means and means what He says.

I hope that you have a blessed day and that you feel God’s presence leading and directing you in the way you should go.