Burning the Bridges to and Enslaving Past

Exodus 14:26-31

We need to recognize that the power to break with our past is not found in our personal strength but in the power of God. Moses was used as an instrument of God. He never thought that the sea ripped open and then crashed back together because of him personally. The Hebrew children recognized that they were freed from the Egyptian army by the Lord and they feared and believed in Him because of it. We need to recognize that our salvation and release from the bondage of sin comes from Jesus.

We know that the Israeli children were not weaklings. As slaves that were the workhorse of the Egyptian nation. But as an Army they would be no match for Pharaoh’s top men. As Christians we are not weaklings either. Yet, in our personal strength, we are no match to the attacks of Satan.

There were other routes by which Moses could’ve led the newly freed slaves out of Egypt. However, God had chosen to back them up against the sea. Through the events that would take place over the next few days they would witness the amazing power of God. Going through the sea would allow many of them fully sense freedom.

As the Egyptian army pursued the former slaves through the dry bed of the Red Sea they must have sensed the power of God. As Moses stretched out his hand and the sea went back to normal every Egyptian who had pursued Israel into the sea were destroyed. The Scripture testifies that not one who entered the chase survived.

Every witness knew that the victory had been completed by God. We need to know that God completes the victory for us also.

When we are freed from our past we need to remember several things.

1. Our sins were overpowered and destroyed by Jesus.

2. Not even one of our sins from our past remains.

3. The Lord is our salvation.

In response to those things we need to:

1. Recognize that Jesus has paid for our sins in full.

2. Have a proper respect for God.

3. Believe Him with all of our heart.

4. Worship Him.

Prayer: Lord, help us believe that the freedom we have is real and complete. Lead us to focus on You, the One who gives us victory, and live in the daily victory that You bring.

Understanding the Cost

Matthew 16:21-27

Peter is a powerful figure in Scripture. He is the only one who stepped out of the boat during the storm walk with Jesus on water. Unlike the others, Peter was swinging his sword when they came to arrest Jesus in the garden. Peter was compulsive. He had a strong desire to be with Jesus where ever He was no matter what the cost.

But that’s just it, Peter really didn’t understand the cost. Just like the others, Peter accepted the idea that the coming Messiah was to be a ruling King. He dreamed of position and power along with being a close friend and the chosen follower of Jesus. All of his hopes and expectations superseded any idea of cost.

Jesus laid out a new understanding of what it cost to follow the Messiah. Giving the picture of the cross was 180° opposed to Peter’s thinking. Peter clearly understood that the cross meant shame, rejection, suffering, heart ache, and ultimately death. Yet now Jesus, the one he recognized as the Son of God, was saying that to follow Him would cost giving up ourselves daily to be abandoned to the cross. All the personal wishes, hopes, desires, and positions, would be vacated for Jesus.

The ultimate desire for Peter and any true disciple of Jesus is to treasure Christ totally. In valuing the Lord we become oblivious to those things which we have to give up. Just as Jesus faced the cross joyfully because He could see beyond it, making Jesus Master of our life will allow us to see the joy of following Him as more desirable than the restrictiveness of our own dreams.

Prayer: Lord, thank You for allowing me to place my hope in You. I now abandon all of me so that I may pursue all of You. The cost has been counted and understood. I treasure You more than life itself.