You Are God's People

From: May 31 – June 6, 2011 Topic: "You Are God's People" Exodus 1:12-22

There are people who God choose or chose. These were the people of Israel even when they were in Egypt as slaves. By being there they did not stop being God’s chosen people. We cannot forget the call when GOD IS THE ONE WHO CALLS! As believers we must know very well what our calling is. Sometimes we feel that the oppression we receive from others is too great and we let it paralyze us. If we are paralyzed by the oppression we cannot do what God chose for our lives. Imagine, God chose you to serve in all things and the oppression of the enemy leads to a bitterness against all. You see the need in people’s lives and do nothing because you're hardened. This hardness has made you ambitious and makes you want to live just for yourself. All the oppression that the devil has brought upon you has made you yield so that you won’t do what you should do. Notice that we like to complain, get depressed, become hardened and assume attitudes more than to believe God and multiply. It is better for you to appear as a defeated person than to multiply and grow. The problem is that adversity hardens and leads us to failure. We are on this earth blessed by God to become an empire and not to live in ruins like the defeated. How many make your life impossible? Observe and learn, become a fighter. Not a failure! The greater your burden becomes, the more God will come on your behalf! Egypt began to treat the Lord's people ruthlessly, they were oppressed ruthlessly. But, the constant abuse and oppression was worthless to the Egyptians because this caused the Israelites to come out of slavery and today they are a free nation, although they are still fighting for what is theirs. I know that God's people worked hard and I do not think they were aggressive people. But, the Egyptians wanted to show that the Israelites were warriors and wanted to take over Egypt. What happens is that they had a promise and perhaps that is why the Egyptians feared. Maybe that came to Pharaoh’s ear and he feared thinking that he would lose the service they gave to him as slaves. This is why he oppressed them even more. Possibly, in these days someone has heard that you are a chosen one by God and this has brought you, like the Israelites in Egypt, more work, oppression, etc. But beloved, show what you are a chosen one. A chosen one grows under the adversity of the devil. The enemy seeks to make your life impossible. You feel oppressed and without hope when you are free and you know that it is God that fights for you. You feel afflicted, but the Lord is always with you. There is no reason, but there are oppressions that come from the devil to make you feel depressed. The Egyptians oppressed the people of Israel to be poor, overloading them with heavy taxes. The enemy puts ties on others to talk about you, to come against you, your son, wife, family, because they know that this will bring a burden upon you. The devil wants you to feel depressed, so that you will feel like a slave when you are free and have great promises from God as a chosen one. The Egyptians wanted to annoy the people of God by imposing burdens upon them. They made them serve harshly, trying to discourage them, to ruin their health, bitter their lives, diminish their days and in this way reduce them in number. The devil wants to do the same to you trying to discourage you in life and reduce your days. Because you do not want to fight, that will make us shrink in number. The children of Israel grew to be slaves of an enemy nation when they were the chosen nation, God's nation. But, the more they afflicted God's people the more they multiplied. They grew and multiplied, and so

the sorrow was for those who oppressed them. So it be in your life, may the grief be for the devil because you are more than a conqueror (Romans 8: 37). The Egyptians feared the children of Israel. There is not a trial that can stop us because God favors us, not the enemy. In chapter 3:7-8 we read that God sees the suffering of His people. After several centuries of slavery in Egypt and of Moses being away for 40 years it seemed that hope had fled. God says: "I have seen the affliction of my people ..." you are also His people. Not only has He seen but has observed meticulously and in detail. God was perfectly aware of three things, of the grief and anguish of His people. Perhaps they could not protest against Pharaoh and perhaps you do not have where to go to complain of the abuse in your life, but God observes your tears (Psalm 56:8). He had also noticed their outcry. The text says, "I heard the cry…" The problem is when you stop crying. In our outcry God hears about our struggles, problems. If you remain silent, who will deliver you? The troubles come from the tyranny of your oppressors, the oppression from your enemies who think they can stop you, shut you up. Look and understand that God does not want us to decrease in our struggles, oppression, problems and afflictions but to grow in faith, knowing that He has chosen you as His child. So ruin is not for you although they want to make you a slave of their iniquities. Always keep in mind that you are part of the chosen people, called and this is why you are more than a conqueror through Him who loves you, our beloved Lord and Savior. Amen.