Move Forward!

TEXT:  Exodus 14:14-16 (KJV)

14) The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
15) And the LORD said unto Moses, “Wherefore criest thou unto me?  Speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward:”
16) 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.

 I’m sure every believer here today can attest that there is and has been a point in our lives when it seemed like there’s one storm after another.  You felt like you were in a tornado in the spirit with only momentary relief here and there.  Though there are many storms, you are only fighting one devil.  "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy". (John 10:10)  The devil is behind it, and we need to use our authority against him and keep pressing forward.

 The enemy uses many schemes that work to destroy our walk with God and keep us from moving forward.  Any decision you make to really trust God and move forward will experience a strong attack.  Notice that these attacks often occur after seasons of tremendous breakthroughs and victories.  Exodus 16:1 lets us know that it was after God had delivered the children of Israel out of Egyptian bondage that the enemy used schemes to deter them.

Schemes the enemy used against the children of Israel:

1) The children of Israel had an attitude of grumbling and complaining.  "And the whole congregation of the children of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness". (Exodus 16:2)

  2) Another scheme was undermining the LORD’s vision through their words and actions. They told Moses and Aaron, “for ye have brought us forth into this wilderness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger”.  (Exodus 16:3)

 3) Giving voice to an accusatory spirit against leadership, either publicly or behind the scenes.  Accusing Moses, the man of God…….saying he had led them into the wilderness to die.  (Exodus 16:3)

 The adversary will use these schemes because sometimes our tendency is to retreat from the fight, beg God, and hope the problem will go away.  Even when we follow where the Lord leads, we’re going to encounter obstacles or times of dryness.  But that doesn’t mean that we are in the wrong place.  Sometimes these obstacles or dryness coincide with a sense of disappointment, frustrations and unmet expectations, but we shouldn’t allow our personal dryness and frustrations to be an excuse to fix blame or point the finger at others.  The answer to a dry life is not to take matters into our own hands but rather turn it over to God.  Didn’t Exodus 14:14 say; “The LORD shall fight for you, and ye (“YOU”) shall hold your peace"?

 God is always working to take his people forward into greater revelation of “WHO HE IS” that we might share in the experience of His Presence, discover the joy of commitment and loving relationships, and find the inner fulfillment of living with purpose.  God’s provision is well able to meet our need with abundance if we only move forward with Him. 

 Moving forward in our walk with God depends on our learning to believe in and trust Him day to day.  Moving forward depends on faithful loving obedience.  It is the framework for being able to recognize and receive God’s provisions.  Moving forward isn’t possible unless we trust God even when it doesn’t seem to make sense.  When moving forward, we should be careful not to forget the Lord’s faithfulness to us or ever take it for granted.  "For He is faithful that promised".  (Hebrew 10:23)

 4) The BIGGEST tactic/scheme used by the enemy is “LOOKING BACK.”  We can’t move forward living in yesterday. 

Jesus said unto him, “No man, having put his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God”.  (Luke 9:62)  In the same way that a farmer can’t plow a straight line if he looks backward, a Christian can’t move forward in his faith if he is constantly looking backward into his past.  The more you look backward, the less you are able to see forward.  Let me ask you some questions:

  ~ Do your yesterdays imprison your todays?

~ Do you allow yesterdays' pains into today’s problems?

~ Is your life imprisoned by yesterday's hurts?

 This verse in Luke 9:62 says that looking back makes you unfit for God’s Kingdom.  The Greek word for “fit" is Euthetos (yoo’-thet-os) which means ready for use, well adapted, well placed.   Looking back into your past makes you useless for the future.  Clinging to the old keeps you from being adapted to the new.  Looking back will cause you to be out of place – Looking ahead will cause you to be well placed, which is the prize of the High Calling.

 Philippians 3:13:  "Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended:  but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before".  In other words, I am still not all I should be, but I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing:  Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead.  

 This verse says that “wholeness, completeness, or becoming what you should be“ is in front of you and not behind you.  Trying to resolve your past keeps you from reaching into your future.  The past never wants to stay the past; it wants to stay in the present in order to keep the present in the past (whew!!!).  This will either trap us in the turmoil of the past or trap us in the tradition of the past.

 Yesterday’s problems or prosperities always want to stretch their tentacles into today’s potentials for the purpose of disrupting or distorting your future.  (Tentacles are long flexible arms - like an octopus - used for grabbing things; power of influence that reaches into many areas.)  Not only do you need to forget the hurts but also the successes.  Yesterday’s successes will trap you in the old and keep you from the new. Isaiah 43:18-19:  "Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old.  Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it?  I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert".

 The old was to provide dry land in the midst of the waters.  The new was to provide water in the midst of the dry land.  2 Chronicles 20:12 shows that the old was using a sword, but the new was using a song.  Isaiah 33:21 – What God did yesterday becomes an oar when we try to use it today.  But I am bringing all my energies to bear on this one thing.  It is a battle to quit looking backward and start looking forward - And it is a daily battle!

 What do you do when your past begins to chase you?  God answered that question for the Children of Israel in Exodus 14:10-15:  "And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day:  for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.  The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.  And the LORD said unto Moses, 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".

 Verses 13-16 tells us several things we need to do in order to break free from our past.  Moses said to the people "Do not fear"!  Stand your ground and see the salvation of the LORD which He will accomplish for you today; you have seen the Egyptians today, but you will never see them again forever.  The LORD will fight for you while you keep silent.  Then the LORD asked Moses why he was crying out to Him? Moses should tell the sons of Israel to go forward!

 

1.  Stand your ground and don’t fear.  The Hebrew word for "stand" is yatsab – (yaw-tsab).  

     It is used of those who set themselves against something or someone.  It means “to
     oppose”.

     1 Chronicles 11:12-14 tells us to not lose the ground that God has given you.

     James 4:7 – "Submit yourselves therefore to God.  Resist the devil, and he will flee from you".

 2.  Staring at the LORD.  The Hebrew word for "staring" is ra-ah (raw-aw).  It means to look

     fixed often with eyes wide open.  It means to give attention to, to observe, to learn from,
     to behold, and to look intently at.

     Hebrews 12:2 – Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus on whom our faith depends from

     beginning to end; look unto Jesus the “author and finisher of our faith”.

     The Greek word for "looking" is aphorao (af-or-ah’-o) which means to turn the eyes away

     from other things and fix them on something else; to concentrate one gaze upon.  It means
     to:

            – quit looking at your hurts and start looking at the Healer

            --quit looking at what you don’t have and start looking at Whom you do have
            --quit looking at the mistakes and start looking at the Messiah

      It means to quit sowing to the flesh and start sowing to the Spirit – Galatians 6:8:  "For he

     that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit
     shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting".  The Greek word for "corruption" is phthora
     (fthor-a) which means to decompose or decay.  It is a gradual breaking down of life.  Sowing to
     the flesh is anything that we do to protect or promote ourselves.  An example is a parent and
     child.  You could be right or you could be reconciled, but you can’t be both.  Don’t allow how
     your father or mother was as a parent determine how you are going to be as a son or
     daughter.

3.  The problem isn’t that your feelings got hurt, the problem is that you have feelings that

     always get hurt.   God doesn’t want to heal your flesh; He wants to crucify it.  If it hurts,
     it’s not dead yet.  (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)   A lot of therapeutic counseling is an attempt
     to heal what God is trying to kill.  God is trying to kill that situation.  Remember the message
     God’s Benefit Package - permanent healing is never gained through medication or drug
     curing.  Spiritual healing restores perpetual health (everlasting health, continuing forever)
     because it erases the error thought and cleanses the mind.

4. Sowing to the Spirit means to have an “opposite Spirit.” (Matthew 5:39-48)  It means to

     sow good seed while you eat bitter fruit of the seed you had sown before.  From it you will
     reap a “bringing of life in all its fullness".  Seeing the LORD in this way (in its fullness) will
     keep you from ever seeing your enemies again.

 5. Hold your peace and God will fight for you.

     When you quit talking, complaining, accusing, blaming, gossiping, then God starts fighting.
     The Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says in Isaiah 30:15-16 that only in returning to Him
     and waiting for Him will you be saved.  In quietness and confidence is your strength.  But you
     would have none of it.  You said that you would get your help from Egypt.  They would give you
     swift horses for riding into battle.  But the only swiftness you are going to see is the swiftness of
     your enemies chasing you!”       

 6. Stop crying and start moving forward.

     Why are you crying out to God to do things that He is already in the process of doing or has
     already done?  God doesn’t want to resolve your past; He wants to reconcile your life. 
    
     Colossians 1:20 states that God through Jesus will "reconcile all things unto himself".   The
    Greek word for "reconcile" is apokatallasso (ap-ok-at-al-las-so) which means to change from one
    condition to another.  God wants to change hurts into health.  God wants to change problems
    into potentials.  God wants to change stumbling blocks into stepping stones.

    Moving forward will bring you into those things that will deal with what is behind you.   Moving

    forward will not resolve your past, but it will reconcile (change) your life.  Looking back makes you

    unfit for the Kingdom of God.  Moving forward will cause you to attain the prize of the High

    Calling.

 Christian maturity happens when we move out of our past into a breathtaking future.  The past cannot be changed, but our response to it can be.  The past is valuable as a guidepost but dangerous if used as a hitching post.  The past is a dead issue, and we can’t gain any momentum moving toward tomorrow if we’re dragging the past behind us.

 God told Moses:  Why are you crying to me? Use your Rod, Moses, and go Forward!!!

 Why???  Because God knew He had placed the authority in Moses’ ROD!!!  We have been given our ROD of authority through JESUS THE CHRIST!!!!  Ephesians 2:6:  "And hath raised us up together, and made us sit (establish, unmovable) together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus". We are seated with Christ in heavenly places far above all evil powers and might.  So don’t retreat from the devil today; raise your ROD of authority and “MOVE FORWARD”!!!  That is where the power is, and when you do it, you will see the problem before you begin to change!!!

Hallelujah!!!!!!!

~ Evangelist Jackie Burton