Deut. 26:8 And the LORD brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm (z’roah), and with great terribleness, and with signs, and with wonders: The Lord is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Right now, around the world, many are celebrating the holiday of Pesach (Passover) reminding us of the time that the Lord led His people out of slavery in Egypt.
As it applies to us today, there is a spiritual Egypt from which we all need deliverance. The spiritual Egypt symbolizes worldliness, carnality and spiritual bondage and the Lord wants to redeem us from those with His outstretched arm. He wants to lead us out of the burdens of this world and bring us into a place of freedom in Him!
In Hebrew, the word for arm is “z’roah”. His z’roah is a picture of His might and His strength and His z’roah is mighty and able to bring us out of any bondage that hinders our spiritual walk. When the z’roah of the Lord led Israel out of Egypt He displayed great signs and wonders and He is more that able to do the same for us today.
Be encouraged! Whatever situation we may be in, whatever bondage has us enslaved, the z’roah of the Lord desires to display great signs and wonders in our lives and lead us out of our Egypt! Let’ give our all to Him again and be FREE at last!
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The city of Laodicea was founded nearly three centuries before the birth of Christ. Built on a trade route, Laodicea was quite prosperous. The wealth of the city was legendary, as Jews who lived there sent 9 kilograms (20 lbs) of gold to the Temple in Jerusalem on a yearly basis according to historical records.
Laodicea was an idyllic city except for its lack of a water supply. It depended on water from an external source, the city of Hierapolis was located six miles to the north, the site of mineral hot springs which were used for medicinal purposes. These steaming hot waters were piped to Laodicea, arriving there… lukewarm, hence the metaphor in Yeshua’s warning to the Laodicean church.
The church at Laodicea received a stern warning in chapter 3 of John’s Revelation. We would do well to reflect on it.
The word “Laodicea” is a compound in the Greek; “Laos” which principally means “people”, and “dike”, defined as “principle or decision”. One rendering might read, “rule of the people”, or, in modern terms, “Democracy”. In the western world, we have an affection and even a deep commitment to Democracy. Yet this form of government, “rule of the people” is fatally flawed… because we are fatally flawed by our sin nature…
As we continue to probe the lessons from the salt covenant, we now inquire into our part in the covenant.
Yeshua (Jesus) said He is the “bread of life”. It was His body that was broken on our behalf as the substitutionary sacrifice for our sins. Notice that He never once called us to be the “bread of life”! He is the ONLY “Bread of Life” – the true bread who came down from Heaven which anyone may eat and not die. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is His flesh, given for the life of the world.
For years, when I visited my father-in-law’s home in Jerusalem on the Sabbath, we would break bread and bless the bread with the traditional blessing – “Baruch Ata Adonai Eleheynu Melech HaOlam Ha-Motzi Lechem Min Ha’aretz” – which translated means,”Blessed are You Lord our God, King of the Universe, Who has given us bread from the earth”. After the blessing, my father-in-law would take salt and sprinkle the challah bread as he broke and passed it to everyone at the table.
One day a passerby saw a homeless man on the roadside. He stopped for a moment to hand him some loose change and casually said “God bless you, my friend”.
“I thank God,” said the homeless man, “I am never unhappy.”