SERVICES: SATURDAY 6PM | SUNDAY 9AM & 10:45AM. 

We Livestream at www.FaithFellowshipWeb.com/livestream, through the FFC App, and YouTube.

With a Mighty Hand

Words of Faith Final

With a Mighty Hand
Words of Faith 10-4-2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy © 2022
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
Faith Fellowship Church - Melbourne, FL
www.faithfellowshipweb.com
<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><

Exodus 7
[14] Then the Lord said to Moses, "Pharaoh's heart is unyielding; he refuses to let the people go. [15] Go to Pharaoh in the morning as he goes out to the water. Wait on the bank of the Nile to meet him, and take in your hand the staff that was changed into a snake. [16] Then say to him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. [17] This is what the Lord says: By this you will know that I am the Lord: With the staff that is in my hand I will strike the water of the Nile, and it will be changed into blood. [18] The fish in the Nile will die, and the river will stink; the Egyptians will not be able to drink its water.' "
[19] The Lord said to Moses, "Tell Aaron, 'Take your staff and stretch out your hand over the waters of Egypt--over the streams and canals, over the ponds and all the reservoirs'--and they will turn to blood. Blood will be everywhere in Egypt, even in the wooden buckets and stone jars."
[20] Moses and Aaron did just as the Lord had commanded. He raised his staff in the presence of Pharaoh and his officials and struck the water of the Nile, and all the water was changed into blood. [21] The fish in the Nile died, and the river smelled so bad that the Egyptians could not drink its water. Blood was everywhere in Egypt.
[22] But the Egyptian magicians did the same things by their secret arts, and Pharaoh's heart became hard; he would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the Lord had said. [23] Instead, he turned and went into his palace, and did not take even this to heart. [24] And all the Egyptians dug along the Nile to get drinking water, because they could not drink the water of the river.
[25] Seven days passed after the Lord struck the Nile.

Plagues. Not a very cheery topic for a devotional. The dictionary defines a plague as fast-spreading disease or the appearance of something annoying or harmful. Most of us can relate these days.
Over the next few chapters of Exodus, we read of the ten judgments or plagues that the Lord poured out upon the Egyptians in an effort to pry loose the grasp of Pharaoh upon God's people.
The plagues appear to have come in three cycles of three with a final devastating judgment. The first three were simply disgusting as the Nile was changed to blood followed by frogs and then gnats. The second three plagues were exceedingly annoying-- flies, and then miserable-- the death of livestock and boils on humans and animals. The third set included "natural" plagues of hail, locusts, and darkness. Each of the plagues was a judgment of one of the "gods" of Egypt. These various created things were worshipped, culminating in a devastating judgment of the worship of Pharaoh.
Pharaoh's response was one of increasing realization marked by increasing defiance. After the first plague, Pharaoh would not even listen to the request of Moses and Aaron. After the second plague, Pharaoh began a pattern of agreeing to allow the Hebrews to worship but then reneging. He finally urged the Israelites to leave after the tenth plague.
The plagues serve as a reminder for all times of God's commitment to complete His plan. The plagues reveal that God can get people out of a jam and that He does so with a mighty hand. He does so in a way that defeats the false gods and idols of the culture around us. This is real shock and awe.
We may never face an "Exodus" of the type we have been reading about. But, in a sense, we are very much a part of the same story. The Lord has chosen to free us from the bondage of sin and death. He has chosen to bring us out of Egypt by His mighty hand. He then forms us into a worshipping people while we are in the wilderness. We can be confident that the Lord will complete what He has started. He will triumph over every "god" of this culture. He will carry us to the place He desires us to be.

Lord God, I am convinced! You are the Almighty One. You are Sovereign Lord over Egypt and Canaan and every nation on earth. You are Sovereign Lord over my life, my family, my Church and my community. Thank You for setting me free. Take me to the place You want me to be. In Jesus' name.

<>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <>< <><
© Jeffrey D. Hoy 2022
Dr. Jeffrey D. Hoy - Faith Fellowship Church (EFCA)
2820 Business Center Blvd.
Melbourne, Florida 32940 (321)-259-7200
Jeff.Hoy@faithfellowshipweb.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SUBSCRIPTIONS - To receive the Words of Faith devotion five days a week, send an e-mail message addressed to join-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. To stop receiving Words of Faith, send an e-mail message addressed to unsubscribe-words-of-faith@hub.xc.org. The daily devotion and archive are posted at https://www.faithfellowshipweb.com/blog
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Words of Faith devotion is published five days a week by E-mail, excluding Federal holidays. Please feel free to forward this devotion to a friend who might be blessed by this devotion. Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture is quoted from the New International Version (R) of The Holy Bible. Copyright (c) 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Publishing House. All rights reserved. Words of Faith (c) 1997, 2022 Jeffrey D. Hoy. All rights reserved. Permission is granted to forward this copyrighted material or use portions of it with appropriate notation of the source for non-profit purposes.