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Today is Friday January 22, 2010 and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of Exodus, chapters 14-16. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this URL onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-january-22

Title: Stop Complaining

Did you ever avoid someone because all you hear is sorrow and grief, no matter what is going on in that persons life? I know this woman at church, no one wants to say, how are you, to her because she can turn the most cheerful mood into one of sorrow. If I have learned anything over the years it is this, no matter how many good things are going on, all it takes is one bad thing to forget all the good things. The same thing applies to answered prayer, God can answer twenty prayers in the way that we would like, yet if one prayer seems unanswered we start doubting God and complaining to Him as to why He has not answered it. Think about it, if you gave your all to help someone and no matter what you did that person was never pleased wouldn't you be upset and quit helping him/her. How do you think God must feel? He blesses us tremendously, yet because we have not gotten something or we are facing difficulties we complain or even worse, walk away from Him. We can learn a lot from our own behavior as we read about the Israelite's. If anyone has seen some truly amazing miracles it was them, yet every time things got difficult they forgot about them and we always complaining and doubting God. “And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt? Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness. And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you to day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to day, ye shall see them again no more for ever.” - Exodus 14:11-13. If God went through all the trouble to set the Israelite's free wouldn't you think He was able to keep them safe in the wilderness? See the word salvation? We need to never fear what is ahead because God is in control and is always there to save those who call on Him. The sad thing is that no matter how many miracles they saw from God the Israelite's faith would never go beyond the next obstacle.

Do you truly think God wants us to suffer? Of course not! We are the ones that create needless suffering, not God. If we would simply follow Him and trust Him we would avoid a lot of the suffering that we go through. Three days later after God had miraculously parted the Red Sea to save them from the Egyptians, they came to a river that was bitter and undrinkable, once again they began to complain. “So Moses brought Israel from the Red sea, and they went out into the wilderness of Shur; and they went three days in the wilderness, and found no water. And when they came to Marah, they could not drink of the waters of Marah, for they were bitter: therefore the name of it was called Marah. And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink? And he cried unto the LORD; and the LORD shewed him a tree, which when he had cast into the waters, the waters were made sweet: there he made for them a statute and an ordinance, and there he proved them, And said, If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the LORD that healeth thee.” - Exodus 15:22-26. God said Himself, “If you will listen to Me, I will not let you suffer as the Egyptians have.” God does not want us to suffer needlessly, but He will not hesitate to allow it if we do not listen to Him.

Truthfully, if we are to ever realize who God is and see a miracle from God we have to suffer, sometimes even go through a lot of it. Look at what Jesus went through, He suffered more than anyone on the earth will ever suffer, they even killed Him. Yet, He proved just how powerful God was to those who remained faithful to Him by resurrecting from the dead, incidentally three days later. The Apostle Paul said, “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel; And in nothing terrified by your adversaries: which is to them an evident token of perdition, but to you of salvation, and that of God. For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for his sake; Having the same conflict which ye saw in me, and now hear to be in me.” - Philippians 1:27-30. Just as Jesus suffered for our sake, we too have to face some suffering, but through it all we can prevail. If we truly want answered prayer and blessings beyond our daily needs we have got to stop complaining about the things we do not have. God puts us in the position we are in for a reason, every trial, every error, every bit of suffering we face is truly a blessing and the sooner we realize that the more blessed we will become. If God did not bring affliction into our lives we would never feel the need to have Him in our lives. In fact, those who think they do not need God need to come to the reality that they need Him more than ever. Do not believe me? Take a look at your life five years from now, that is if you are still here. Do you think that all the possessions or money you have will keep you from dying or worse yet, ending up in hell? Sorry, the only way to avoid hell and death is to receive Jesus Christ as your Savior.

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

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