Are you there?

CUZ I'M THERE!!!! You have no idea how joyfull I am right now about so many things, and you may not even understand them all, but it makes me really happy to think about. :) I am there......my place in heaven is already secured, I don't need to worry about anything because I know that the Prince of Peace has my life planned out for me, and has something good planned for my life, I don't need to take controll anymore, I need only to be still. I was teaching on this verse about a month ago for a youth group that asked me to speak there, and this is the out line of what I spoke on. I also gave my testimony, but that's another blog. ;p

Exodus 14:13
"Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring to you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still."

So, what does this mean, and why is it making me so excited? Well, let me break down the verse, and hopefully you will understand like I do. :)
"Do not be afraid."
This is key. God is telling us not to be afraid, because He already knows what is going to happen. And if the King of Kings already knows what is going to happen, why do we always need to be afraid all the time? Why can't we just trust that God will get us through? Do not be afraid. I see this all the time in the Bible, God telling His people to not be afraid, and the reason I think that we keep seeing it, is that God has to constantly remind us to not be afraid. We by nature get afraid all the time, but if we know that Christ is on our side, and will win this battle for us, why do we need to fear? Do not be afraid.

"Stand firm and see the deliverance the Lord will bring to you today."
God will deliver us!!! We don't always have to live afraid, in fear, because we know that the Lord will deliver us, He has promised to help us, to never leave us, and He will bring us deliverance. There is hope no matter where in life you stand. God will rescue you from that place! I have seen how Christ has rescuded me from my broken life, and He will do the same for you. Stand firm!

"The Egyptians you see today, you will never see again."
Let's substitute the word 'Egyptians' for whatever it is in our lives that we are scared us, the thing that freaks us out the most, something that we are afraid of. It could be anything. "The___________you see today you will never see again." Meaning that God will take whatever it is you are afraid of, He will take that and make it gone. He will get rid of it. You will never see it again. Jesus washes us clean.

"The Lord will fight for you, you need only to be still."
I think that in a culture that encourages us to be bussy all the time, to always have something going on, it's very hard for us to find time to be still. And when we do, that's very awkward. The key word in this verse is 'still.' So many times we ourselves want to fix our problems, we want to fight the battle, we don't want to addmit defeat. But this verse is saying that the Lord will fight for us, if we just back off and let Him fight it for us! The more we try to fight it on our own, the less likely we are of winning that battle. Jesus wants to take this from us, we only need to be still. To quit trying to do it by oursleves, but to let Him fight for us, to shut up and sit down and be still. God has already promissed to fight for us, we need only to be still.

Another verse that makes me think of being still, is Psalm 46:10.

"Be still and know that I am God."

Be still. That dosen't mean spending five minuets reading the Bible before we go to school, it means turn off the iPod, lay down that magazine, get offline, stop watching TV, set the cell phone on sillent, be still. When life is crazy and we are constantly on the go, it is so very hard to hear the small, quiet voice of God talking to us. That's why it says to be still. Then we will know who God is. Once we are still, then He will open up so much for us. Jesus wants to have a deep relationship with you, He wants all of your time, and all of you. Not just five minuets in the morning, not just a little peice of your heart, He wants all of you. Every single bitt. Untill we learn to give Christ our whole heart, He will not begin to start working in us. If we are still holding onto that one thing that we just do not want to give up, we won't really experience the true freedom that Christ offers. Untill we learn to let go, we will still be stuck in the same place, not moving forward, and not moving back.
I AM THERE. And I am so totally excited that I am there! Are you there?