Friday, February 3, 2017

Fri.’s Devo- Intercession

Read: Exodus 17:8-19:15; Matthew 22:34-23:12; Psalm 27:7-14; Proverbs 6:27-35
The Amelekites mean “the perverters”. They came out against the Israelites and God gave Moses the strategy to fight them. They realized that when Moses had his hands extended they would be winning but when he got tired and lowered them, the Amelekites were winning. This is a picture of intercession. When God’s people pray, we start winning, but when we stop, the enemies’ side starts winning. We need to remember this and pray for our families and nation every day. They won the battle so Moses built an altar and named it Jehovah-Nissi which means the Lord is my banner. The place of the battle was called Rephidim which means “supports; shrinking of hands” Moses couldn’t hold his hands up by himself. When his strength was shrinking, his friends came and were his support. That is what God is. When our strength is shrinking, God wants to be our support. We just need to raise our hands in praise and he will be the banner that is raised and we will be strengthened for the assignment. When others are praising with us, our strength is multiplied.
Moses met back up with his father-in-law and family. His father-in-law stayed long enough to watch how Moses led the people. He gave him a new model which made his leadership run much more smoothly and didn’t wear Moses out. God wants us to train people to do what we are gifted in so we can pass our wisdom down to the next generation.
God promised to wipe the Amelekites name from the face of the earth. He would later ask Saul to do this job and he would fail and lose the kingdom over it.
God told Moses to gather the people at the Mountain of Sinai and sanctify themselves because God was going to speak to them and give them his laws.
The Sadducees and Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus so they asked him which of the commandments was the greatest. Jesus told them to love the Lord with all their hearts and that the second commandment was to love their neighbor as they love themselves. Then he told them that all the laws hung on these two laws. The leaders of the law could not dispute this wisdom.
Then Jesus warned the people to not live as the Pharisees and the Sadducees because they don’t live what they teach.
Lord, thank you for friends and family that will pray with us and lighten our load. Remind us daily of the importance of praying for our family and our nation.

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