Qualified by the anointing

Anoint them [Aaron's sons], as you anointed their father, that they may serve me as priests. And their anointing shall admit them to a perpetual priesthood throughout their generations. (Ex 40:15)

This verse at the end of a lengthy description of brestplates, ephods and robes, turbans and costly stones, cuts straight to the heart of the issue. For all the external garments that marked the priests out for who they were, it was the anointing that actually qualified them to minister before the Lord.

Since we are now a kingdom of priests, and each one has a ministry, whatever area of service to the Lord, his people and his purpose that might be, we should all take note. It is not the recognition, nor anything else that marks you out externally that counts. It is the anointing that qualifies you. Seek the anointing of the Holy Spirit. Once you have that, the anointing itself will "admit" you to the ministry you are called to.

Everyone whose heart is stirred

And they came, everyone whose heart stirred him, and everyone whose spirit moved him, and brought the Lord's contribution to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the holy garments. (Ex 35:21 ESV)

"The people bring much more than enough for doing the work that the Lord has commanded us to do." So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp, "Let no man or woman do anything more for the contribution for the sanctuary." So the people were restrained from bringing, for the material they had was sufficient to do all the work, and more. (Ex 36:5-7 ESV)


These passages are often applied to financial giving. But I believe they have a much broader application to the way the whole church is to be built up. Just as Moses and the skilled workers built the tabernacle and could not have done so without the "contributions" of those whose heart had been stirred in the Spirit; so too the church is built up, not just by the leaders and those marked out as being "skilled" at leading in the house, but as each member with his heart stirred by the Spirit brings his or her "contribution" or rather manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.

We need to learn to qualify ourselves, and what we have to bring. Whether it is in financial giving, practical helping, or moving in the Spiritual gifts. The church cannot be built up as it is intended without the gifts the God has distributed throughout the whole body.

God has given us more than we need to get the job done, but he has not given it all to one man, nor even to a select few, but to the whole body. It is only when the whole body ministers as it should that we will have more than enough to meet every need.

Corinthians says that each man should give what he has already decided in his heart to bring. Again, I would suggest that this is broader than just financial giving. If God is stirring your heart to bring a "contribution" then you need to respond and not resist. God has given you something that is needed. It is time for everyone whose heart is stirred to respond joyfully to the promptings of the Spirit.


from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love. (Eph 4:16 ESV)

Each one of you should give just as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver. (2Co 9:7 NET)

23 Hours

Don't forget the clocks go forward this Sunday!

This Sunday, in the UK at least, will only have 23 hours. To mark the start of British Summer Time, the hour between 1am and 2am on Sunday morning ceases to exist. This means 1 hour less sleep, and more importantly that you need to remember to set your watches forwards an hour to avoid turning up at the meeting an hour late!

This got me thinking. Something that has stuck me before, is that there are very few constant periods of time. Not every year has 365 days, not every day has 24 hours; the months certainly aren't constant. But one thing is always constant: there are always seven days in the week. It is something which man has never messed with, no matter how out of sinc the rest of the solar, lunar, daily times get, Sunday always follows from Saturday, week after week, month after month, year after year, century after century, millennium after millennium. It is an eternal sign. Decimalisation has never dared to change it to ten days. Even the Romans when they reinvented the calendar from the lunar system to the present system of months, didn't dare to change the seven day week.

It is an eternal sign of God's creation order.

"Therefore the people of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, observing the Sabbath throughout their generations, as a covenant forever. It is a sign forever between me and the people of Israel that in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed." (Ex 31:16-17)

Have a great weekend, and don't miss that hour's sleep too much!

Presence or Presents?

The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘To your offspring I will give it.’ I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.” (Ex 33:1-3 ESV)

And he [Moses] said to him [The Lord], “If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not in your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?” (Ex 33:15-16 ESV)

Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” (Ex 33:18 ESV)


The path of the Lord is a path of blessing. I believe that with my whole heart. But I believe there are times where the paths of immediate "blessing" and greater intimacy with the Lord diverge for a while. These moments come to test us to see what it is we really value: the presence or the presents. What God does for us, or who he is.

Moses was brought to such a time in Exodus 33. God gave him a choice: to go in and possess the promised inheritance immediately, but without the Lord's presence going with them, or to continue with the Lord despite the judgements and disciplines for disobedience that he would bring.

Like Moses we need to understand that it is the presence, not the presents that mark the favour of the Lord. It is possible to live a "blessed" life without God; to have financial security, a good marriage, popularity, success in your work, and yet have little or no sign of the powerful presence of God on your life. Equally it is possible to go through times in your life of deep trauma and crisis, that to everyone external looks like a sign of judgement, yet to know God's grace in such a powerful and tangible way, wrapping around you, lifting you up, flooding your soul with light and hope and faith, that the sweet intimacy with the Lord outweighs the bitterness of the circumstance and you can still say with your head held high "I am blessed!"

I thank God for all he has done for me, and all the goodness that he continues to pour out onto my life. But my worship of him is not based on how "blessed" I am, but on how awesome he is. Worship is about what we give to God, not what he has given to us. I love to hear testimonies to the goodness of God; it is right and proper to enter God's courts with thanks. But when I come to worship in the corporate setting, I come to meet with God. It is possible for testimonies to become idolatrous. When too many are brought, they take the place of God in our meeting, and instead of seeking the presence we are discussing the presents!

My hearts cry is the same as Moses'. "Lord I want to see your glory! I want to be a part of a people where your power is manifest amongst us. I thank you for all that you have done for me, and all the good things you have in store, but given a choice between your presence and your presents, I choose the presence every time!"

Bells and Pomegranates

“You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue. It shall have an opening for the head in the middle of it, with a woven binding around the opening, like the opening in a garment, so that it may not tear. On its hem you shall make pomegranates of blue and purple and scarlet yarns, around its hem, with bells of gold between them, a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden bell and a pomegranate, around the hem of the robe. And it shall be on Aaron when he ministers, and its sound shall be heard when he goes into the Holy Place before the Lord, and when he comes out, so that he does not die. (Ex 28:31-35 ESV)

This detail caught my attention the other day. I believe it communicates something of the heart of God. The fact that the hem of Aaron the hight-priest's garment was covered in bells and pomegranates, speaks, I believe, about what should happen wherever people who have stood in the presence of God go.

How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness, who publishes salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.” (Isa 52:7 ESV)

The fact that Aaron feet were surrounded by bells meant that wherever he went there was a proclamation. He could not keep his presence secret. He could not hide his identity. He could not keep quiet. We have "beautiful feet" to proclaim God's good news wherever we go. Like Aaron, we should not, we cannot keep silent. [I'm preaching to myself!]

The fact that Aaron's feet were surrounded by pomegranates (a fruit that is bursting with seed) shows that wherever we go we have an abundance of seed to sow, that will produce fruit.

Have a fruitful weekend for his Kingdom! (Jos 1:3)

Counterfeit Signs

So Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and did just as the Lord commanded. Aaron cast down his staff before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a serpent. Then Pharaoh summoned the wise men and the sorcerers, and they, the magicians of Egypt, also did the same by their secret arts. For each man cast down his staff, and they became serpents. But Aaron's staff swallowed up their staffs. Still Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, as the Lord had said. (Ex 7:10-13)

Those who know me, or have read my blog for a while, will know that I don't like to make a big deal about the devil. I'd much rather talk about Jesus! If you have Jesus, then you don't need to fear or worry about the devil, his power or his activities. He who is in us is greater than he that is in the world! I have little time for those who see demons and their activities everywhere. God is infinately more powerful than Satan, and there are many more angels than demons. If you are under authority, going for God, and full of faith, then any demon who knows what's good for him is going to give you a wide berth!

However the Scriptures do say that we should not be uninformed about the enemy's schemes. By being aware of our enemy's M.O., we are more likely to spot his ploys, and less likely to be taken in by them. These opening chapters of the book of Exodus, give us some valuable insights into our enemy's tactics.

As I said before, Satan is powerless to stop the power of God, so he has to resort to other tactics. If he cannot discourage us (bricks without straw) then he will try to discredit us! The quickest way to stop a man of God is for him to fall into moral compromise! However it is not just our character that Satan would try to discredit, he also seeks to cast doubt upon our charismata (Spiritual gifts).

By producing his counterfeit snakes, Pharaoh had an excuse not to believe in the authenticity of the snake that Aaron had produced. Many people miss out on the miraculous moves of God, because all they see are "Pharaoh's Snakes". They point to the harm that false prophecy has caused, and deduce that this can't possibly be a gift from God that is active in the church today. Or with the so called "Toronto" blessing, they point at all the clucking and baa-ing and other strange phenomenon, and deduce that this could not possibly be a move of God. And so, just as the enemy intended, they miss out on the genuine life-changing powerful encounter with the Spirit of God.

The good news is that we don't need to go on a "witch hunt" for false signs. Aaron did not run around the palace stamping on the false snakes. His own snake did the job for him. We don't need to get drawn into a debate or battle over false signs, we just need to stir up the genuine gifts that are within us, and let them speak for themselves. When the light comes the darkness has to retreat.

Bricks without straw

The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, “You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’

Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”
(Ex 5:6-8, 22-23)


Over the years, I have come across much anecdotal evidence, from my own life and from the testimony of others, that when you first decide to make some breakthrough for the Lord, things may first get worse before they get better.

You become convinced that God wants you well, but after you storm the heavens the first time, you have a bout of illness worse than before. You become convinced of the need to tithe, but after the first month you go overdrawn. Have you ever heard testimonies like these?

I'm convinced that nothing can stop a man or woman who is determined to follow God; but that is just it, we need to be determined! Although the enemy never has the power to stop us, he does seem to have the ability to test our resolve. We are no threat to him when we are still bound by inertia in the status-quo, but as soon as we show signs of wanting to press into new ground, he throws at us whatever he can to make our situation uncomfortable. We then have a choice to make that will reveal what we value more: the comfortable life, or the victorious life. The choice we make will reveal whether the seed of the word that we initially responded to fell on good soil, or rocky soil.

These are the "bricks without straw" situations of life that test our resolve, and challenge what we really want. Moses and the people had to decide if they wanted a comfortable life making bricks in slavery, or a victorious life free from ever making bricks again. These are not times to give up, but times to press through. Times to prove that God is faithful to his promises and his power is greater than whatever the enemy may throw at us. No weapon forged against us can prosper, but in the "bricks without straw" moments they look like they might. These are times to show that our faith will not waver; that we are convinced that God will do what he said he would do. The fact that we encounter such opposition should actually give us great hope that the breakthrough we seek is just around the corner. If it were not, why would the enemy waste his efforts? Its always darkest just before the dawn.

Never give up in these moments, for that is just what our enemy wants you to do. Press on, press through, and overcome! Jesus is our great example: before he could sit down in glory, he first had to endure the cross... what are our difficulties compared with that!?

Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted. In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. (Heb 12:3-4)

And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. (Gal 6:9)

Authority over sickness and the serpent

Then Moses answered, “But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, ‘The Lord did not appear to you.’” The Lord said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.” And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent, and Moses ran from it. But the Lord said to Moses, “Put out your hand and catch it by the tail”—so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand— “that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.” Again, the Lord said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” And he put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow. Then God said, “Put your hand back inside your cloak.” So he put his hand back inside his cloak, and when he took it out, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh. “If they will not believe you,” God said, “or listen to the first sign, they may believe the latter sign. If they will not believe even these two signs or listen to your voice, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground, and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.” (Ex 4:1-9)

I have mentioned in a previous post how the sign of "the serpent" is probably not the first one we would think of as a sign from God. Moses himself was afraid and ran from it. Sickness too is not something we would consider as a sign from God. Some people still struggle to come to terms with God's sovereignty over and in sickness, but that's another matter... What is important here is that the signs that God gave to Moses was not just that he could produce a serpent and sickness, but that he had authority over them.

Power over sickness and Satan were the same signs that Jesus himself used to prove that he had authority:

For which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise and walk’? But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he then said to the paralytic—“Rise, pick up your bed and go home.” And he rose and went home. When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had given such authority to men. (Mt 9:5-8)

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, “Be silent, and come out of him!” And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, “What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.” (Mk 1:25-27)

It is this very authority, that Jesus delegated to his first disciples:

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. (Mt 10:1)

...but more than this, we are told in the Scriptures that these signs of authority shall follow all who believe.

And these signs will accompany those who believe: in my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands; and if they drink any deadly poison, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.”

Praise God that he has given us his authority over Satan and sickness. We do not have to fear them, nor run from them, but reach out and lay our hands on them, and in the authority of Christ command them to submit.

But there is still a greater sign....

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!” And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven. Behold, I have given you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy, and nothing shall hurt you. Nevertheless, do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” (Lk 10:17-20)

The greatest sign of all is that of blood and water. The sign that flowed out of the Saviour's pierced side. The sign that declares we are purchased for God, and that our names are written in the Lamb's book of life.