OPEN HEAVEN 22 MAY 2018 – EXERCISING YOUR DELEGATED AUTHORITY
Open Heaven 22 May 2018 Memorise:
And the Lord said unto Moses, wherefore criest thou into me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. Exodus 14:15
Open Heaven 22 May 2018 Bible reading: Exodus 14:10-16 and Luke 10:19
10 As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up and saw the Egyptians marching after them, and they were very frightened; so the Israelites cried out to the Lord.
11 Then they said to Moses, “Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? What is this that you have done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?
12 Did we not say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians?’ For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians [as slaves] than to die in the wilderness.”
The Sea Is Divided
13 Then Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid! Take your stand [be firm and confident and undismayed] and see the salvation of the Lord which He will accomplish for you today; for those Egyptians whom you have seen today, you will never see again.
14 The Lord will fight for you while you [only need to] keep silent and remain calm.”
15 The Lord said to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the sons of Israel to move forward [toward the sea].
16 As for you, lift up your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, so that the sons of Israel may go through the middle of the sea on dry land.
Open Heaven 22 May 2018 Bible Reading in one year 2 Samuel 19-20 and 1 John 2:7-27
It is one thing to be given authority, and it is another thing to exercise the authority delegated. Some Christians are suffering today because they do not exercise the divine authority given to them as children of God. Some children of God are like Moses in today’s Bible reading, crying helplessly at the red sea with the army of Pharaoh fast approaching. Open Heaven 21 May 2018
The children of Israel also did not help matters because they murmured against his leadership at this critical point. The perfect storm faced by Moses at the Red Sea made him forget he was and the enormous power of God had vested in him. In Exodus 7:1, God had told him:
“And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh: and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.”
Unfortunately, either Moses forgot this or his mind could not gasp the extent of its meaning. Although crying to God is not wrong by itself, there is time for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1). This was not the time for Moses to cry; rather, it was a time for him to exercise the authority given to him by God. Nevertheless, God graciously reminded Moses that the authority to deal with the situation was already at his disposal. In Exodus 14: 15-16, God said to him:
“…Wherefore criest thou unto me? Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward: But lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thine hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea”
Open Heaven 22 May 2018
Beloved, do you know that God has given you the authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and everything they represent. Jesus Christ has given to us the power and authority to tread on all the powers of the enemy, and He promised that nothing shall by any means hurt us (Luke 10:19). However, to exercise this authority, we must live according to the dictates of the One who delegated His authority to us. A lesson from today’s story about Moses is that he exercised authority by the instructions of the Almighty God.
He was not presumptuous as many would have been. His cry to God could mean “what should I do in this situation?” Another lesson is that although the Lord had equipped him with the rod, he did not know the full extent of its power in solving the problems of the people he was leading.
In other words, God has equipped his children with the necessary authority and power not only to defend themselves but also to rescue the perishing. You have the authority to bring change to the chaos in the world around you, but are you putting this to use?
Open Heaven 22 May 2018 Prayer Point:
Stop any activity of the devil in your life and in the world around you by the authority given to you in the name of Jesus Christ.