It was during this time that Moses was born. His mother was a "Hebrew" - another name for Israelite. When Moses was first born, his mother hid him for 3 months so he would not be killed.

After the 3 months was up, his mother then placed him in an ark made out of bulrushes and then placed him down by the reeds along the river banks hoping someone else would find him and raise him up safely. It just so happened that the daughter of the Pharaoh was the one to find him down by the river as she was getting ready to wash herself in the river.

Once she found him, she found out who his mother was. She then asked the mother to nurse him during the nursing stage. Once the nursing stage was over, the mother then gave the child back to the Pharaoh’s daughter in order that she raise him up as one of her own so the Pharaoh would not find out who he was and have him killed. Moses was thus raised up in the Pharaoh’s house.

When Moses became full grown, he became very distressed at seeing his own people suffer under the hands of the Egyptians. At one time, he saw an Egyptian beating one of the Hebrew men. Moses became so furious at seeing this, that he killed this Egyptian who had been beating his fellow brother.

Shortly after he kills this Egyptian, the Pharaoh finds out about it and seeks to have him killed. At this point, Moses flees into the desert into a place called Midian. He then lives in the desert for 40 years until God calls him out to deliver His people from their slavery and bondage to the Egyptians.
GOD CALLS MOSES OUT TO DELIVER HIS PEOPLE

After 40 years of being in the desert, God hears the cries of His people under their Egyptian bondage. The Bible says that God acknowledges their cries and their plight under the Egyptian rule and decides He will deliver them out of their bondage because of the previous covenant that He had made with their earlier forefathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

God first makes contact with Moses through a burning bush. Initially an angel of the Lord appears to Moses in a "flame of fire from the midst of a bush." This bush is burning with fire, but the bush itself is not being consumed by the fire!

God then starts to speak directly to Moses. He tells Moses that He has heard the cries of His people in Egypt and that He is calling Moses out to be the one who will go in there and pull them out of the slavery that they are under with the Egyptians.

God is going to deliver the Israelites from the Egyptians through Moses! God then proceeds to tell Moses that he will be the one to deliver and lead them out of their captivity and lead them into a "good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and Hittites."

Moses’ initial response to God was that who was he to go down and bring the children of Israel out of their Egyptian bondage? God then tells Moses that He will be with Moses during this deliverance and for him to tell the children of Israel, when they ask the name of their God, that His name is: "I Am who I Am."

He further tells Moses to tell His people that He is the God of their fathers - Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and that He is going to deliver His people out from their Egyptian bondage into a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey.

God then tells Moses to approach the Pharaoh after he has pulled his people together for this deliverance and to tell the Pharaoh to let the Hebrew people go into the wilderness for their three-day journey into the Promised Land. God then tells Moses that the Pharaoh is obviously not going to let them go on this first request. God then tells Moses to tell the Pharaoh that if he does not let His people go, that He will stretch out His hand and strike Egypt with all of His wonders. God tells Moses that after He stretches out His hand with all of these wonders against the Pharaoh - that the Pharaoh will then let them go.

After receiving all of the above instructions from God, Moses still questions God about all of this. He asks God - "But suppose they will not believe me or listen to my voice; suppose they say, ‘The Lord has not appeared to you."

God then proceeds with miracle #1.

He tells Moses to take the rod that he is holding and to cast it onto the ground. Moses does so and the rod turns into a serpent!

God then tells Moses to pick up the serpent by the tail. When he does, the serpent turns back into the rod! God then moves into miracle #2. He tells Moses to put his hand into his bosom and then to take it back out again. When he takes it back out, his hand became like leprous snow. He then tells Moses to put his hand back into his bosom and to take it back out again. He does, and when he pulls it back out again, his hand is restored back to its original condition.

God then tells Moses that if they still will not believe him, that he is to take water from the river and pour it on dry land, and the water will then become blood on the dry land. After God tells and shows Moses all of the above, Moses still questions God as to whether he has chosen the right man for the job. He proceeds to tell God that he is not eloquent and that he is slow of speech and slow of tongue. God then responds back saying to him:

"Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord? Now therefore, go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall say." (Exodus 4:11)

After God makes the above powerful statement to Moses, Moses still questions God on choosing him and says to God - "O my Lord, please send by the hand of whomever else you may send."

At this point, the Bible says that the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses. However, seeing Moses’ lack of self-confidence in himself, God then proceeds to tell Moses to take his brother Aaron with him. God says that Aaron can speak well and for Moses to convey God’s message to Aaron and that God will be with the both of them and will teach them both what to say and what to do.

God tells Moses that Aaron will be the spokesman to the people, that he will act as Moses’ mouth and that Moses shall be to Aaron "as God." What God just did, in order to help Moses out with his lack of self-confidence, was to make Aaron his spokesman for when he would be too afraid to speak, but that God would still deliver the orders and instructions as to what was to be done directly to Moses.

There is an awful lot to learn from this dialogue that just occurred between God and Moses. I will touch on all of this in part 2 of this story.

MOSES GOES INTO EGYPT

The Bible says that Moses was 80 years old and his brother Aaron was 83 when they go into Egypt to rescue their people from the Pharaoh.

When Moses and Aaron first approach the Pharaoh, they tell him that he is to let their people go so that they can go into the wilderness to hold a feast with their God. The Pharaoh obviously refuses to even consider this first request, so God does His first miracle in front of the Pharaoh and his court.

Aaron takes the rod of Moses, throws it to the ground and it becomes a serpent. However, several of the Pharaoh’s magicians threw their rods down and they also became serpents. However, God then proceeded to show them whose power was greater. God then caused the rod that Aaron had thrown down and had turned into a serpent to devour all the other rods that had turned into serpents from the Pharaoh’s magicians and sorcerers.

After seeing this display of God’s power, the Pharaoh’s heart starts to harden and he refuses to let the children of Israel go. It’s at this point that God will start to release a full set of 10 judgments against the Pharaoh in order to break him so he will let His people go from his captivity.

Here are the 10 plagues that God strikes Egypt with. As you will see, some of these plagues will be the same ones that God will release once again during the 7-year Tribulation - just before Jesus returns back to us for the second time.

Moses takes his rod and strikes all of the waters in Egypt turning all of it into blood. All of the fish die in the waters and the Egyptians are loathe to drink from the river due to its stench!

God literally strikes and turns into blood all of their streams, rivers, ponds and pools of water. This blood ran throughout all of the land of Egypt. However, several of the Pharaoh’s magicians were apparently able to do the same thing with their enchantments and the Pharaoh still refused to let the children of Israel go free.

2. FROGS

Since Pharaoh wouldn’t release them after the first plague hits them, God then hits the Pharaoh and Egypt with this second plague - frogs! God says He will smite the land with frogs. God then causes frogs to come up abundantly from the river and these frogs then enter the people’s houses, their bedchambers, on the people themselves, into their ovens, into their kneading bowls, etc. Just imagine such a scene!

After Pharaoh sees this display of power, he initially tells Moses and Aaron to call off this plague and that he will let his people go. God then causes all of the frogs to die out of the houses and the courtyards. They were all then gathered together and the Bible says that the land stank with all of the dead frogs now in one big heap. However, after seeing all this take place, the Pharaoh changes his mind and still refuses to let the Israelites go. So God is now forced to go the plague #3.

3. LICE

God then tells Moses to have Aaron stretch out his rod and strike the dust of the land so that it may become lice throughout the land. The lice then fell on both man and beast.

Then the Pharaoh’s magicians tried to do the same thing with their enchantments - but this time they could not do it. The magicians themselves then told Pharaoh that this work was the finger of God since they could not duplicate this miracle themselves. However, the Pharaoh still refuses to let the people go.

4. FLIES

Now God releases the next plague - a swarm of flies that will come upon all of the Egyptians and into their houses! These flies come into all of the Pharaoh’s houses, into his servant’s houses and over all of the land. The Bible says that the land became corrupted because of the huge swarm of flies that attacked the land, the people and all of their living quarters.

Once again the Pharaoh relents, tells Moses to have God call off the flies, and that he will let his people go. Moses does so, God pulls back the flies and Pharaoh once more changes his mind and still refuses to let the Israelites go. Talk about a battle of wills!

5. PESTILENCE ON THE LIVESTOCK

In this next judgment, God causes all of the Egyptian’s livestock - all of their cattle, horses, donkeys, camels, oxen and sheep to be stricken with a pestilence that kills all of them dead on the spot. Still, the Pharaoh refuses to give in and let God’s people go.

6. BOILS

In this next judgment, God tells Moses to tell Aaron to take a handful of ashes from a furnace and to let Moses scatter it toward all of Egypt causing boils to break out in sores on all the men and beasts. These boils also hit the Pharaoh’s magicians and they could not even stand before Moses due to the effect that the boils were having on them. But once again, the Pharaoh still refuses to give in.

7. HAIL

In this next judgment, God causes heavy hail to rain down on every man and every beast that is not brought inside. In addition to the hail, God also causes fire to mingle with the hail. The Bible says that when this hail and fire were released, it struck the entire land of Egypt - both man and beast who were in the fields and every herb along with breaking every tree in the fields.

Again, just imagine such a catastrophic scene like this actually taking place! Once again, this judgment causes Pharaoh to relent. Moses then asks God to pull off this plague - which He does, and then the Pharaoh once more goes back and changes his mind - still refusing to let the Israelites go!

8. LOCUSTS

In this next plague, God causes locusts to swarm the face of the earth so that no man can see the earth. The land of Egypt was completely darkened. Again, God pulls back the plague after Pharaoh says he will let the people go, but then changes his mind once again after this plague is pulled off.

9. DARKNESS

In this next judgment, God tells Moses to stretch out his hand toward heaven and this then causes complete darkness to cover the entire land of Egypt. This thick darkness lasted for 3 days. People could not even see one another nor could anyone rise from his place because they could not even see where they would be walking to.

Again, just imagine complete and total pitch darkness where no one could see anything - even to the point that you could not even get up and walk because you couldn’t even see one inch in front of your face! Again, the Pharaoh only partially gives in. So this now sets the stage for the last and final judgment.

10. DEATH OF ALL THE FIRSTBORN

In this last judgment, God will have all of the firstborn stricken dead by an angel of death. However, God tells His people to sprinkle the blood of a blemish free lamb on their door posts in order to keep this angel of death from killing their firstborn. At midnight, this angel strikes, killing all of the firstborn of the Pharaoh, his servants and all of his people and all of his livestock.

This judgment finally breaks the Pharaoh and he agrees to let the Israelites go. The Bible says that the Israelites had been kept under Egyptian bondage for 430 years. The Israelites then start to leave - but there is one more big event that must happen before they are finally set free for good!

THE PARTING OF THE RED SEA

This next miracle by God has to be one of the most dramatic and most spectacular in all of Scripture. The children of Israel have now left Egypt. The Pharaoh, after allowing them to leave, once more changes his mind and decides to pursue them with all of his army in order to try and get them back. When the children of Israel see this, they start complaining to Moses.

They end up getting stuck before the Red Sea. They have no other place to go. They are at the end of their rope.

If they try and move forward, they’ll drown in the Red Sea. If they try to move backwards, they’ll be caught by the Egyptian army that is moving in on them. The only thing that can save them now is a powerful miracle from God Himself.

Moses then steps forward in this hopeless situation and says to the Israelites: "Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace." (Exodus 14:13-14)

God then says to Moses: "But lift up your rod, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it. And the children of Israel shall go on dry ground through the midst of the sea." (Exodus 14:16).

The Red Sea is literally parted by dry ground! The Israelites then proceed to cross over the Red Sea on this dry ground mass that God has now miraculously provided for them in order for them to escape from the Egyptians.

As the Israelites were crossing over on this dry ground mass, the Bible says that the "waters were a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." Just use your imagination to visualize such an incredible scene!
After all of the Israelites had safely crossed over to the other side of the Red Sea, God tells Moses to "stretch out your hand over the sea, that the waters may come back upon the Egyptians, on their chariots, and on their horsemen." At this time, the Egyptian army had just entered onto the dry land mass that God had just provided for the children of Israel.

Moses then proceeds to stretch out his hand over the sea and then the sea returns to its full depth while the Egyptians were fleeing into it. The Bible says that the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea! The waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen and all of the army of the Pharaoh and not one of them was left standing! God had literally wiped Israel’s enemy right off the face of the map with this one incredible act of deliverance!

After the Israelites had crossed over and saw this miracle take place right before their very eyes, they then saw all of the Egyptians dead on the shore. The Bible then says that all of the children of Israel now believed in Moses and the Lord after having witnessed all of these events.

THE WILDERNESS EXPERIENCE

Before God decides to take the children of Israel into the Promised Land, He first decides to test them by keeping them out in the wilderness for about two and half years. Mind you, this was only a 3 day journey to get to the Promised Land of Canaan.

However, God apparently took them on the long route in order to test their patience, their resolve and whether or not they would stay faithful and loyal to Him during this journey. Again, there is an awful lot to learn from this part of the story. I will touch more on this in part two.

1. MOSES RECEIVES THE 10 COMMANDMENTS

During the time of testing in this wilderness experience, the first thing God wanted to see was whether or not His people would keep His laws. So God then proceeds to lay out all of the laws that He wants the Israelites to abide by.

In the third month after being delivered from Egyptian bondage, God tells Moses that He will literally come down Himself onto Mount Sinai in the presence of all of His people.

When God comes down, the Bible says that Mount Sinai is completely enveloped in smoke. There were thunderings, lightnings, thick smoke and the entire mountain "quaked greatly."

God descends upon mount Sinai "in fire." The smoke was like the smoke of a furnace the way it was ascending off of the mountain. Just imagine such an event - that God the Father Himself is descending from His throne in heaven to visit these people with His manifest presence!

God only calls Moses to come to the top of the mountain to meet and talk with Him. No one else was allowed to go up. God then proceeds to tell him what the basic 10 commandments are going to be. In addition to the 10 commandments were a lot of other specific laws that He wanted the children of Israel to abide by. Moses then comes back down to deliver all of this to the Israelites.

Shortly after this first event, God calls Moses back to the mountaintop once again. Moses stays on the top of the mountaintop this time with God for forty days and forty nights. The Bible says that the sight of the Lord at the top of the mountaintop was like a "consuming fire."

At this meeting with God, God gives Moses specific instructions on building a tabernacle where God’s manifest presence can dwell with the Israelites out in the wilderness for the 40 years they were going to have to stay out there. It was during this second meeting that God gives Moses the 10 commandments written on a stone tablet!

He was given two tablets and the tablets had writings on both sides. All of the writing on the tablets was the handwriting of God Himself - literally engraved right on these stone tablets.

Again, just imagine this entire scene. This one man, Moses, is allowed to meet and talk with God direct for 40 days and 40 nights and then to top it all off, receives two tablets of stone with God’s personal handwriting engraved on these two tablets!

While all of this is going on between God and Moses for the 40 days, the most unbelievable thing starts to happen. The Israelites start to grow impatient when they see Moses is delayed in coming back down from the mountaintop. They start murmuring and complaining, saying they do not know what has become of Moses.

At this point, they start to make a golden calf in which to worship. God, seeing this from the mountaintop, becomes furious! God then calls these people a stiff-necked people and threatens to consume them. God then tells Moses that He will make him a great nation, but that He is going to kill the rest of the Israelites who are worshipping this false idol.

At this point, Moses then proceeds to stand in the gap for his people and argues with God not to kill them. The Bible says that the Lord then relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.

This is where standing in the gap in reference to intercessory prayer comes in. This is a major prayer principle for each Christian to get a hold of. Moses literally got God to change His mind from His original intentions - all because he was willing to stand in the gap for his people and plead his case before God - just like an attorney would do before a judge and a jury. More on this in part two.

After Moses convinces God not to consume His own people, he comes back down from the mountain to see what they have been up to. When he sees the golden calf that they had made to worship and they were all singing and dancing around it, he becomes furious!
At this point, Moses takes the 2 tablets of stone that God had just given him, and throws them down at the foot of the mountain breaking both tablets into pieces! He then proceeds to take the calf which they had just made, burns it, grinds it down into a powder, scatters it into the water and then makes the Israelites eat it! Talk about the wrath of God in manifestation!
Right after doing this, Moses then appears before all of the people and tells them to choose which side they are going to stand on - the Lord’s side or their own side. After each man takes the side they wanted to be on, Moses then gives the orders to have all the people that did not choose God killed right there on the spot. The Bible says that 3000 men were killed that day due to their rebellion against God Almighty Himself.

Moses then goes back up to Mount Sinai, and God once more gives him 2 more tablets of stone to replace the ones that he had just broken. However, in this meeting with God, something really awesome happens!

2. MOSES IS ALLOWED TO "SEE" THE MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD

In this next meeting with God, God tells Moses that He is going to literally show Himself to Moses. However, God tells Moses:

"You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live." (Exodus 33:20)

God then tells Moses to stand in the cleft of a rock. He will then proceed to pass by Moses - but only showing His back to Moses - not His face. Here are the exact words from God Himself :

"Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand while I pass by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall not be seen." (Exodus 33:21-23)

This has to be the topper experience for Moses. With everything that he has just witnessed with God releasing His people from Egypt with incredible displays of supernatural power, being able to talk direct with God through a burning bush, being able to talk direct to God through fire and smoke up on Mount Sinai, and then topping it all off with God actually allowing Moses to see His manifest presence from His back side. It just can’t get any better than this. And this one man experiences all of this in one lifetime!

The Bible then gives Moses what I feel may be the highest compliment that God can give to anyone. The Bible says:

"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

The No.1 thing God wants from each of us is an intimate personal relationship. Moses obviously accomplished all of that in his lifetime. He may have been initially afraid to deliver God’s people from Egypt when God first called him, but he had no fear when the time came to meet God face to face and talk directly with Him. The Bible says that the rest of the Israelites were afraid of God when He initially manifested His presence up on Mount Sinai.

After Moses has this incredible direct encounter with God Himself, the Bible says that when he came back down off of the mountain - that the skin of his face shone. The people were afraid to come near him due to the bright glow that was coming off his face after being in God’s manifest presence! Moses then wore a veil over his face for a while to help hide the glow due to the fact that it was freaking out a lot of the Israelites.

3. THE TABERNACLE

The other amazing thing that occurred during the Israelites 40 year journey in the wilderness was the building of a tabernacle that would hold the manifest presence of God Himself in it. God gave Moses specific instructions as to how He wanted this tabernacle built.

After the tabernacle was built, the Bible says that a cloud covered the tabernacle during the day and the appearance of fire covered it at night! God would thus personally lead the Israelites on this 40 year journey by the "cloud and the fire."

Whenever the cloud would lift up off of the tabernacle, the Israelites would follow it to wherever it would settle. As long as the cloud stayed on the tabernacle, the Israelites would stay right where they were camped. Once the cloud would lift off of the tabernacle, they would once again follow it to wherever it would settle. God’s manifest presence was thus directly guiding them on this journey.

4. THE SPIES COME BACK WITH A BAD REPORT

Near the beginning of the 40-year journey through the wilderness at about the two and half year mark, God brings the children of Israel up to the borders of the Promised Land - the land of Canaan. The Israelites send their spies into this land to check it out before they decide to go in there. They then make their last and final fatal mistake before God the Father.

Ten of the twelve spies come back with a bad report. They tell the rest of the Israelites that the people who dwell in this land are strong, the cities are well fortified and large, and that they will not be able to overcome these people because they are stronger and larger in stature than the Israelites themselves.

Giants and strongholds thus kept the Israelites from believing that God could overcome these human obstacles. After hearing this bad report, Caleb speaks out and says:

"Let us go up at once and take possession, for we are well able to overcome it" (Numbers 13:30).

During their journey through the wilderness, the Israelites were constantly complaining about anything and everything. Not enough food, not enough water, too long of a time in the wilderness, etc. Finally when God was just about to reward them, they make their final fatal mistake of not believing in their God and that He could overcome the giants and strongholds that they had seen in this land.

When God hears this bad report, He says that will be it. Here is the direct word from God Himself:

"Because all these men who have seen My glory and the signs which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have put Me to the test now these ten times, and have not heeded My voice, they certainly shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, nor shall any of those who rejected Me see it. But My servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit in him and has followed Me fully, I will bring into the land where he went, and his descendants shall inherit it." (Numbers 14:22-24)
God then goes on to further state: "Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because they have not wholly followed Me." (Numbers 32:11)

Joshua and Caleb were thus the ones to lead this younger generation under 20 years old into the Promised Land and they were successful in conquering and overcoming all of the giants and strongholds that the older generation initially saw. The rest of the Israelites 20 years and older all died out in the wilderness over the next 40 years due to their lack of faith and belief in God! Again, this is a major lesson for all Christians to get a hold of. More on this in part two of this article.

Imagine these people saw God deliver them from the Egyptians by throwing 10 powerful plagues against the Pharaoh. They see God literally part the Red Sea. They see God’s manifest presence several times up on Mount Sinai. They see God give Moses 10 commandments miraculously manifested on two stone tablets. They see God’s manifest presence constantly hovering over the tabernacle they had built and God leads them on a daily basis by this cloud. And yet, they still could not believe that God could overcome and conquer the giants and strongholds they saw in the Promised Land.

No wonder God blew His cork and washed His hands of them and left them to die and rot out in the desert. The most amazing thing about all of this is that not one man 20 years and older passed this test.

Unbelievable! I guess that is why Jesus says blessed are those who have not seen and yet still believe.

The saddest part about Moses’ story is that he was not allowed to go into the Promised Land with the rest of the younger generation. Moses died on Mount Nebo and was 120 years old when he died.

The Bible says that the reason Moses was not allowed to go into the Promised Land was due to the fact that he "trespassed against God among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh."

What happened in this incident is that God told Moses to speak out to a rock in the presence of the Israelites and that the rock would then bring forth water for the people and their animals.

However, for some strange reason, Moses strikes the rock twice with his rod instead of just speaking out to the rock as God had told him to specifically do. He was thus in direct violation of a direct command by God Himself. The Bible really doesn’t say why Moses did this. He obviously should have known better.

However, this one act of disobedience should not taint Moses’ incredible story and adventure with God. This is obviously something that we can all learn from. When God tells you to do something specific - don’t question His command. Just do it or else you could reap serious consequences like Moses did. You could end up losing out on a very big blessing that God may have had in store for you.

LESSONS FROM THE STORY OF MOSES

his will be an extension off of the article I just did titled "The Story of Moses." As I said in that article, I feel that this man has the most powerful and the most dramatic story in all of the Old Testament. There are major lessons to be learned from Moses’ story and adventure in God.

For all aspiring eagles in God, I feel that Moses and King David are excellent role models for us to learn from. They were both true heroes of the faith and there is an awful lot to learn from both of their stories. This article will be on what we can learn from the story of Moses and what we can each take with us on our own individual journeys with the Lord.

1. PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD

As I have said numerous times in some of my other articles, the #1 thing God wants to do is to establish an intimate personal love relationship with each one of us. Moses definitely accomplished this with God the Father! The Bible may have given Moses two of the finest and highest compliments that any human could ever hope to receive from God Himself.

Here are the 2 Verses:

"So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:11)

"But since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face." (Exodus 34:10)

The second verse above is one of the last verses that are at the end of Moses’ story. It is a very fitting statement and compliment in which to end his story in God. These verses are obviously referring to Moses’ face-to-face encounters with God in the burning bush and on top of Mount Sinai when he received the 10 commandments from God the Father.

However, the thing to really grab a hold of is that even though God initiated making this kind of direct contact with Moses, Moses entered in and was not afraid to meet God face to face and one on one! The Bible says that when God first manifested His presence on top of Mount Sinai, all of the other Israelites were scared to death of God.

They told Moses that he should go up there and talk with God for them lest they should die from coming into direct contact with God. Here are the exact words out of Scripture of the fear that they had with their own God:

Then they said to Moses, "You speak with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die." (Exodus 20:19)

Their fear of God is the exact same fear that a lot of Christians have today. They know that the Bible tells them that God wants this individual personal relationship with each one of us, but they are afraid to approach Him to establish this kind of personal relationship.

I won’t go into all the possible reasons in this article as to all the different reasons people are afraid to establish personal relationships with God. But suffice to say, this is what God wants, and if you would be willing enter in without any fear like Moses did, this will then be the beginning of a new and adventurous life with God.

Just look at the story of Moses and what happened to his mundane life out in the desert once direct contact was made with God and he then proceeded to follow God’s call on his life! His whole life changed for the better - and what an incredible adventure he had with God in the last 40 years of his life!

Moses was 80 years old when God first made contact with Him and called him out for the mission that He had in store for him. Everything that Moses experienced all occurred in the last 40 years of his life. It is never too late to turn your life over to God and get into His perfect will for your life. You just never know what God may do with the rest of what time you still have left down here on this earth!

Moses did two powerful things that drastically changed the course of his life - all for the better.

He entered into and followed God’s personal call on his life.

He entered into a dynamic personal relationship with God the Father.

Look at those two things as a 1-2 punch. Totally surrender your life over to God the Father, ask Him to place you in His perfect will for your life, find out what your call and purpose is for Him and then do not be afraid to enter into a dynamic powerful personal relationship with Him. If each Christian would be willing do both of these things, I feel that God would then take them into heights and adventures that could possibly be beyond their wildest dreams.

I’m not saying we are all going to have the same kind of story Moses had, but many of you on my email list can definitely testify that all of your lives have been changed for the better and that our lives are very exciting in God. He constantly keeps us guessing and wondering what He is going to do next.

To those whose hands that this article may fall into and you have not done either one or both of the above, just imagine and visualize the story of Moses as I described it out in my last article.

God is no respecter of persons. Look what happened to Moses’ life once he surrendered his life over to God’s call and then had enough courage and faith to enter into a very powerful personal relationship with God the Father.

Dare to let God do the same for you. He will work with anyone who is willing to enter into this realm with Him.

2. MOSES WAS NOT AFRAID OF THE MANIFEST PRESENCE OF GOD

Not only was Moses not afraid to enter into a deep and powerful personal relationship with God, but he also was not afraid of the manifest presence of God. Some of you on my email list have had some incredible manifestation activity with the Lord - with most of it being with the Holy Spirit.

However, what we have all found out is that this kind of supernatural activity can freak a lot of people out - just like it did with the Israelites when God appeared on Mount Sinai.

It’s one thing to know that God and Jesus are up in heaven at a safe distance from all of us - but it’s quite another thing once anyone starts to receive direct manifestation activity from the Lord. People seem to really be afraid of any kind of direct contact with God. But all of us on this email list can testify that there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of in reference to the manifestations that we have all received. I won’t go any further on this subject in this article, as this would be an entire article all onto itself.

However, for those of you who are very comfortable and very appreciative of these manifestations when they do occur, just remember the story of Moses and what an incredible thing it really is whenever God does decide to manifest Himself to you in any way that He should choose. It really is an incredible blessing, and it makes our walk in the Lord that much more fun and exciting to be in!

3. MOSES WAS AN EXCELLENT REPRESENTATIVE FOR GOD

The Bible says we are to be ambassadors for Christ. We are His representatives. One of the most amazing things about the story of Moses is that Moses stayed true and faithful to God the Father during the entire 40 year journey in the wilderness. The Bible says that the Israelites were constantly complaining, moaning and bellyaching about their lot. Not enough food, not enough water, not enough this, not enough that.

The Bible says that they lacked for nothing. God made sure they had enough manna raining down from heaven on a daily basis to keep them properly fed. They also had no problems with God providing adequate shelter and protection for them.

Still this was not enough. And remember, every one of the Israelite men 20 years and older did not make it into the Promised Land due to their lack of faith and failing to follow God fully.

Thus Moses was constantly surrounded by negativity and pessimism with all of these people surrounding him. And yet Moses never tired of talking about God, teaching about God and His ways and making sure all of God's laws and commandments were enforced among the people.

He was the perfect representative for God in a sea of negativity. Negativity and pessimism can be contagious - but it never affected Moses. He stayed loyal and faithful to God during these trying times and he never once strayed from God as His loyal representative.

Moses should serve as a powerful role model for any Christian who finds himself in an environment of negativity and pessimism either at home or in the workplace. God can still use you and your testimony in a mighty way when the time is right.

4. STANDING IN THE GAP

Moses personally did one of the most amazing things in all of the Old Testament - he got God to change His mind!

When Moses was up on Mount Sinai for 40 days and 40 nights with God the Father getting the 10 commandments and a lot of the other basic laws and commandments that God wanted His people to live by, the Israelites were down at the bottom of the mountain making a false idol by way of a golden calf.

When God sees this, He becomes so furious that He literally wanted to consume the Israelites right there on the spot. However, when Moses sees how mad God is getting and what God wants to do to these people, Moses immediately "steps into the gap" for his people and begins trying to reason and plead with God as to why God should change His mind and not kill them.

Here is the verse that tells you word for word what Moses said to God to get Him to change His mind:

Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: "Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, "He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth?’

Turn from your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever." "So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people." (Exodus 32:11-14)

This part of the story right here shows you the power of intercessory prayer and what prayer can accomplish if God is properly approached. God can be moved to answer prayer, especially prayers that come from the heart. Standing in the gap means that you personally stand in the gap for someone else. You are praying to God for someone else.

Sometimes people may be to weak to pray for themselves. Other times some people are either not saved or they have no real personal relationship established with God and are not confident enough to get God to answer their prayers. There could be a lot of different reasons as to why you would have to stand in the gap for someone else and go to God and ask God to do something specific on that other person’s behalf.

Moses gives a perfect example on how to step into the gap to intercede for someone else. If Moses can do this, so can any other Christian who has established a good working relationship with the Lord.

This type of prayer can save lives, transform lives and alter the course of natural events. There are other Scripture verses that say that we can approach God to reason with Him - to state our case with Him. This means God can be talked to, reasoned with, pleaded with and sometimes persuaded to change His mind on something.

Moses is a very good role model and example on how to go into intercessory prayer with God the Father for someone else.

5. THE ANOINTING

When God first makes contact with Moses, He tells Moses that He has chosen him to go into Egypt to deliver the Hebrews from out of their bondage and slavery to the Egyptians. Moses then starts to argue with God that who is he to accomplish such a mission, that he is slow of speech and tongue and for God to consider asking someone else to do this.

God then replies back to Moses that he has nothing to worry about, that God will be with him and that God will be with his mouth and teach him what to say. In other words, God was telling Moses that His anointing would be on him to accomplish this incredible task.

All Christians need to realize that if God calls you to do anything on His behalf, He will also anoint you with His power to get the job done.

All Christians have the Holy Spirit dwelling on the inside of them. The Anointing of God is really the presence and power of the Holy Spirit operating through you to accomplish whatever God has sent you out to do.

The story of Moses is a dramatic example of the "anointing in action" operating through an individual to accomplish what appeared to be an impossible mission. But look at what happened when Moses stepped out and entered into God’s power and anointing! He literally accomplished the impossible through the power of God and changed the entire course of Jewish history.

The odds were totally against Moses on accomplishing such a deliverance! However, the Bible says that nothing is impossible with God the Father. There is nothing He cannot do! This story proves, without any shadow of a doubt, that God’s power can overcome any situation - no matter how hopeless it may look to you in the natural.

For those of you who are ever faced with what appears to be an impossible mission or task to perform, just remember Moses’ story and what happened when he was willing to step out with enough belief and faith in God to let God’s power operate and flow through him. He literally changed the entire course of Jewish history with the deliverance of the Israelites from their slavery to the Egyptians.

If God can do all of that for Moses - what can He do for you?

6. THE TABERNACLE - GOD WILL LEAD YOU ON A DAILY BASIS

One of the most amazing things that occurred in the Israelites 40 year journey into the wilderness was the building of a tabernacle to house the manifest presence of God. Once this tabernacle had been built, God’s manifest presence came down in the form of a cloud during the day and fire by night. The cloud would cover the tabernacle. During the day, the cloud would lift off and the Israelites would then follow the cloud to wherever God was going to lead them that day.

God thus led them on an everyday basis through this 40-year journey in the wilderness. The lesson to be learned from this is that not only will God anoint you with His power to get the job done, but He will also guide and lead you every step of the way to get the job done. God will lead you on a daily basis as to what needs to be accomplished for that day. All you have to do is be willing to step into God’s leadings for your life, and He will then start to take control and lead you down the path that He will want you to travel on.

The Bible says that those that are led by the Holy Spirit are the true sons of God. God perfectly led Moses every step of the way the minute he decided to accept God’s call on his life. Again, if God did all of that for Moses, He will do it for each and every Christian who will fully surrender their lives over to Him and are willing to be led by the Holy Spirit on a daily basis.

God will anoint and empower you and perfectly lead you every step of the way if you are willing to take this journey with Him. It really is that simple!

What more can any Christian ask for? His "power" and His "leadings" are ready and waiting for each and every Christian who will fully surrender their lives over to Him.

Moses’ story proves that God can and will take each Christian on their own unique, individual and exciting journey with Him if they would only be willing to take that leap of faith and fully trust Him with their entire lives.

7. GOD WILL FIGHT BATTLES FOR YOU WHEN NEEDED

This story is an perfect example showing the extreme lengths and intensity to which God will go for you if He is forced to fight and engage with an enemy standing in your way.

God was wanting His people delivered from their slavery to the Egyptians and He was not going to take no for an answer. God threw 10 powerful judgments at the Pharaoh in order to break him so that he would let His people go. Finally, after breaking on the last judgment, the Pharaoh agrees to let God’s people go.

However, after initially letting them go, the Pharaoh all of a sudden changes his mind and starts back after them. The Israelites then get caught before the Red Sea. God then parts the Red Sea with a dry ground mass so that they can safely cross over to the other side.

At this point, all the Egyptians had to do was to let these people go. They have just been hit by 10 powerful judgments from God - but they just couldn’t leave well enough alone.

They then start to cross over onto the dry ground mass that the Israelites had just crossed over on. At this point, God’s wrath comes into full manifestation. He causes the waters of the Red Sea to return back to normal.

When this happens, the Egyptians get caught on the dry ground mass and the sea waters completely drown and kill each and every one of them that tried to chase down God’s people. All of their dead bodies ended up being washed up on the shore for all of God’s people to see!

I have over 95 powerful battle verses in my index card system that show that God can fight and engage with your enemies if he has too. This story is a perfect example of what God can do on your behalf if He should so choose to do so. GOD WILL PROTECT HIS OWN IF HE HAS TO!

So not only do you get God’s power, anointing and leadings operating for you if you are willing come into a full surrender with Him, but you will also get His full protection as well!

8. PARTING OF THE RED SEA

The actual parting of the Red