God Has Made A Way Out!

In our study today, Exodus 23:14 - 25:40, we see that there were both promises from God as well as requirements and laws set by Him. God promised His people that the harvest of the sixth year would be sufficient to carry them over to the eighth year. Thus, during the seventh year, they were to let the land lie unplowed and unused. God instructed, "Six days do your work, but on the seventh day do not work." God admonished, "Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips." Why was (is) it important that we do "everything" that God says to us? Well, we may have a blueprint for our family, our children and ourselves, but God has the Master Plan. There is order in His Kingdom and we upset that order when we do not listen to God, do not seek Him in our decision making and/or fail to obey His instructions. What is in our minds at these times? We say that we love God, yet we fail to consult him as we make future plans. Do we actually expect to succeed without God?

As we read on in Exodus, we learn that God set laws concerning the Sabbaths and feasts. "Three times" a year you are to celebrate a feast to me, God said. Attendance at the Tabernacle was required of all men for three festivals each year:
The Feast of Unleavened Bread began on the evening of Passover and lasted for seven days. On the first day, homes were to be completely cleared of yeast (leaven, a symbol of corruption and evil.) The Lord said for the Israelites to celebrate it as a lasting ordinance for generations to come because it was on that very day that He brought their divisions out of Egypt. No one was to appear before The Lord empty-handed.
The Feast of Harvest (or Pentecost) was to be celebrated with the firstfruits of the crops they had sown in their field.
The Feast of Ingathering (or Tabernacle) was to be celebrated at the end of the year when they gathered their crops from the field.

Exodus 23:19 reads, "Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the Lord your God."

The Exodus ("way out") is the principal theme of the Book of Exodus. The revelation that I received while studying these scriptures was how God has made "a way out" for us. The way out is "obedience"! All we have to do is "follow His instructions". Father God does so much for us and He wants to do it. Do we do what he requires of us? Do we want to do it? When Father God speaks to the partners of the dReam center church through our Prophet, Pastor William Murphy, iii, do we take heed? Are we in attendance at services, meetings and gatherings when we are required to be there? Do we pay our tithes, offerings and bless the set man over the house "freely". Do we commit fully when asked to participste in "firstfruit offerings" and other special offerings. God is telling us today that we are required to be present in The Tabernacle, we are not to come empty-handed and we are to bring the best of our firstfruits. Since April 5 is the Sunday that we will bring our "firstfruits offering", we have an opportunity to give God the "BEST" of our firstfruits. Will we give God (who freely gives all blessings to us) what is right or what is left (after we have done all we want to do)? Let us not have leaven (evil and corruption) in our homes causing our families to live in lack in 2009 due to our disobedience. To God Be The Glory!
Submitted by Sis. Joanne Thomas, Intercessory Team, under the lesdership of Pastors william h. murphy, iii and danielle murphy (God's Best), the dReam center church of atlanta.