The Red Sea is Divided

On March 10, 2025   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Exodus 14: 15 – 16, 21

Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the sons of Israel to go forward. And as for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, and the sons of Israel shall go through the midst of the sea on dry land.”

Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the Lord swept the sea back by strong east wind all night, and turned the sea into dry land, so the waters were divided.

So, my question is, “Who parted the Red Sea?” Was it Moses or was it God?

Throughout Biblical history God has raised up people through whom He could move. Or perhaps it is more accurate that He has searched and found a person of faith through whom He could work. God waited for Moses to be ready. Why didn’t God free His people Israel 30 years earlier? He needed a person He could work with.

Now, I am not saying that God cannot intervene directly in the lives of people but if you look at the historical record you will see that is not His typical method. In Genesis, God gave the earth to mankind and He has respected that this is our planet. He has, by His own decisions and His covenant with mankind, limited His direct involvement in the affairs of men. So many times people wonder why God has not taken some action or another. There would be the answer. He has given this earth to us and He gave us the authority to govern it.

It is important for us to understand that God has given us a role to play in this earth. It is not true that our only job is to pray for Him to move in the earth. That is a great thing to do, and I wish that everyone prayed daily. The truth is, though, that the sea did not part until Moses raised his staff. You see, God combines His power with our obedience and faith and creates a miracle. We need to see that we are a vital part of the equation though. Even Jesus could not perform miracles where there was no faith. We see this in the book of Matthew where it reads, “And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief” (Matthew 13: 58). Even Jesus was limited by the doubt and unbelief of the people and He was walking there right in their midst. How much more is this true today?

So, there are two issues here. First, our own unbelief can shutdown the miracle of God and secondly, God needs a person through whom to work. We have sat on the sidelines long enough waiting for God to fix all our problems. He has been awaiting us just like he waited for Moses. He said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Stretch out your hand.”

I know this is hard to hear and may run afoul of some our Christian traditions but Jeremiah 23: 28 says “Let him who has My word speak My word in truth.” That means we cannot hide the light under the bushel basket any longer. While it is a great deal more comfortable to sit by and wait for God to perform, the truth is that there is a job for us to do. We have been joined in a partnership with God almighty. It is called a covenant. The battle is won and the problems overcome by the combined authority of us and the Lord. It is the tandem acts of the Lord and us that carries the day as was revealed in Revelation 12: 11. We have something to say. And if we are not saying it and if we are not reaching out our hand where and when instructed, then the sea shall remain undivided.

This post is not supposed to stress you. It is meant to be empowering. Each of us has our own “Egyptian horde” chasing and harassing us. We all need a miracle in some aspect of our life. We’ve been taught that prayer is asking God to fix our world. We’ve, thus prayed, and sometimes been disappointed. What would have happened had Moses not raised his staff. Yes, pray. Please! Ask the Lord, your God, to reveal to you your role in dividing the sea. Ask Him to give you revelation into your situation. Have a conversation with Him about what you can do and for His Almighty help. Pray, also, that he might raise up a Moses in the land.

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The Currency of Faith

On December 7, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 9: 28 – 30

And after he had come into the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They said to Him “Yes, Lord.” Then He touched their eyes saying, “Be it done to you according to your faith.” And their eyes were opened.

We know what the faith of the two blind men. They must have had faith that Jesus could and would restore their sight. Jesus prayed that they would receive according to their faith. It was not his own faith Jesus used to heal the two men. It was their faith. Isn’t that interesting? This may account for the limitation in miracles we see these days.

When the two blind men approached Jesus about restoring their sight, He had a pretty surprising response to them. “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” Why did He question them about their belief? Why wasn’t his own knowledge enough for him? When Jesus was in his hometown the scripture says “He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.” (Matthew 13: 58).

Many people don’t understand why things happen or why God does not intervene in certain situations. What many of us fail to recognize is that God needs some faith to work with. Our faith is the material that He uses to fashion our miracles. Hebrews 11: 1 says “Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” KJV Faith is the substance of our answered prayers. We give God our faith and He creates with it. We are in partnership with God and faith is one of the main things we bring into the partnership.

How do you develop faith? By reading God’s word. Nothing is going to replace getting in the Word and letting Him talk to you. Romans 10: 17 says, “So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.” That’s the base, the foundation. Then the other thing we can do is get around faith people. When you are around other people who are building their faith, it helps you build your own. We become more faith minded and are pulled up into higher levels of faith. And you can go from zero to hero faith in a very short time, but begin with the word and pray for help in growing in faith.

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Miracle Worker

On June 7, 2016   /   Word of the Day   /   Leave a comment

Matthew 13: 58

And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.
We think of Jesus as all powerful as well we should. The three years of his ministry were full of miracles, amazing miracles. And his miracles were not spotty as in one here and one there. He would go into a town and heal everyone that was brought to him. That’s big! But here in Matthew 13 he had gone home and he was not greeted as the great prophet. For some reason we think that people we know cannot be mightily used of God. Only those from other towns can be prophets of God. Well, Jesus encountered this phenomenon when he went home. Although the people there recognized the wisdom with which he taught, they still became offended at him just because they knew who he was. Because of their attitude, he could perform no miracles there. You see, we have a part to play in the performance of miracles. Jesus cannot create miracles that we cannot believe for. Time and time again Jesus told people that their faith had made them well. We have to work on our believers, which is the machinery of our hearts, so that when we need a miracle, we are already full of belief. After all, all things are possible to those believe.

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