DAY 142 - BIG PICTURE IN A YEAR - THE EXODUS

THEN THE CLOUD COVERED THE TENT OF MEETING, AND THE GLORY OF THE LORD FILLED THE TABERNACLE

Exodus 40: 34

Reading: Exodus 40:34-36; 1 Kings 8: 10-12; Acts 2:1-13

We have reached the end of our Exodus studies. This is a good time to look back over the journey so far.

From the beginning, in Genesis 1, we noted God’s desire and plan to be with His people, to dwell and fellowship with them. In the beginning of Exodus, He said to Pharaoh; “let my people go so that they might worship me...” Throughout the story of Exodus, we see God leading and guiding His people, leading them from slavery to freedom and teaching them to worship. Free people worship with freedom and He inhabits the praises of His people. He leads His people with His presence.

Let the presence of God lead us.

We have been called to relationship with Him and to follow His leading. He dwells with us; He is in us by His Spirit! When He moves we move. His presence guides us and distinguishes us from the world. The journey through Exodus shows us how committed God is to removing the slave mindset we were born with, and teaching us to walk with His presence.

If you take anything away from these studies this month, let it be this – that you too can walk with God in intimate and faithful relationship.

Prayer

Lord thank You for the gifts You have given me. I recognize they are from You and for Your glory. Lord where I’ve kept my gifts to myself, I repent and now offer them to You.

For the family

Explain

Carrying the presence of God with us is similar to a blind person walking with a guide dog. In this world we are born spiritually blind and deaf and then God comes into our lives and helps us to “see” and “hear” what we need in order to move through this life well.

Engage

Play a game of blind folding each other and letting the children guide each other through an obstacle course. A note of caution, try to make the obstacle course out of soft material like pillows. It reduces the possibility of injury.

Talk about how hard it was to trust or follow and how hard it was to know what the “blind” person needed to feel safe and how hard it was to lead them when they thought they knew better.

Now talk about how Gods Spirit living in us is supposed to be the one leading and we are supposed to be the one following Him. He knows everything that we need to make us feel safe and trust Him but if we don’t listen then it’s hard for Him to help us and we will go down all sorts of wrong paths.