Prayer Works Morning Devotion: August 28, 2025

Thus Says The Lord-Who God Says He Is, His Commandments and Promises

Exodus 19:16-21 "And The Lord Said To Moses"Go Down And Warn The People Lest They Break Through To Gaze At The Lord And Many Of Them Perish "

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A very good morning to you, a very good morning to you. I hope everybody had a wonderful night, well rested, ready for another day. It feels good to be back and I'm excited this morning, I was up earlier on just reading this chapter over and over again just to try to get the full understanding of what's going on.  

Anyway, let us go to the Lord in prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you this morning. We thank you for your grace, we thank you for your love, we thank the Lord that you have chosen us to be part of this kingdom that we are your children and you are our Father.  

We thank you, Lord, that you have things that you have put in store for us. So we are praying, Lord, that in this lifetime as we continue to journey along, that may we walk towards the path of righteousness towards the path you have called just to walk in and that we will not miss anything that you have in store for us.  

We thank you for your grace, we thank you for your love, we thank you for your hand, that is a constant guide to our lives. And we pray this morning, Lord, that as we look at this word and as we devote this time to you, that you speak to us and you give us instructions on how to live this life as our steps continue to be ordered by you. 

We thank you and we love you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray, Amen. So brothers and sisters, today we are in Exodus chapter 19, I have been enjoying the journey of Moses going to Egypt and back. 

And his interactions with the Lord throughout this journey and I think one of the things that we all can admit to or see throughout that how Moses steps are ordered by God and you can see what happens when God orders your steps just throughout Moses' journey. 

That what seems difficult or impossible becomes really possible and pretty much we could say easy even though it might be difficult for a challenge but it would become easy because your steps are ordered. 

From the moment that Moses missed with God and he sees a burning bush from that day to where we are now, Moses steps are ordered and everything is falling in place, even in his difficulty of dealing with the children of Israelite.  

So in 19 which is where we are today it's a precursor of what's about to happen in 20. So in 20 in Exodus 20 Moses receives the 10 commandments and the different of other and the different laws to govern this belligerent people in order to strive them since they really didn't have a good understanding of or a grasp of their relationship with God.  

So this is all happening because there is something or there are things they have been accustomed to that God is trying to get out of their system because you don't give the laws that God gave to the children of Israelite if they were not doing exactly what the law was coming against.  

So you give them the laws because they were prone to do the things that but in order to get these laws chapter 19 takes place and in 19 we get to see God's interaction with Moses. So we're going to reach chapter 19 and stop in between and explain some things. 

But the thing that I want us to put in mind is that we want to look at God's presence and communication from God's perspective not our perspective you know when God speaks to us speaks to us we hear him and we do what we do. 

But we want to look it from God's perspective as he is speaking to us. So in chapter number 19 on the first day of the third month after the Israelite left Egypt on that very day they came to the desert of Sinai.  

After they set out from Prophet them they entered the desert of Sinai. So this is a desert when you look at where Mount Sinai is it’s surrounded by much larger mountains than Mount Sinai on either side of it.  

So this is the smaller mountain between the mountain ranges that are around Mount Sinai. So then Moses went up to God and the Lord called him to him from the mountain and said this.  

Now this is the first time Moses is going up. He goes about three times before we get to verse 16. This is what you have to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you have to tell the people of Israel. 

You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt. So I'm telling the people of Israel you've seen what I've done to Egypt and how I carried you on eagles of wings and brought you to myself. Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant then out of the nations you'll be my treasure possession.  

Why is God telling you, say you see how I destroyed Israel. Yeah that could be you too. But you've seen it. So I want you to obey my commandments and keep my covenant then out of all the nations you'll be my treasure position. 

Although the whole earth is mine, you'll be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. These are the words you are to speak to the Israelite. So Moses goes down and so Moses went back and someone the elders of the people and said before them all the words the Lord had commanded him to speak. 

The people all responded together we would do everything the Lord has said. So Moses brought their answer back to the Lord. This is the second time. The Lord said to Moses I am going to come to you in a dense cloud so that the people will hear me speak with you and will always put their trust in you.  

Then Moses told the Lord what the people had said and this is a lesson on leadership. If you are in any leadership role that has to do with this kingdom. God speaking to you makes people trust you God speaking to you make people trust you. 

Not being trusted for the sake of being trusted you get trusted when God speaks to you. And the Lord said to Moses, go to the people now and concentrate them today and tomorrow have them watch their clothes and be ready by the third day because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the side of all the people. 

Put limits for the people around the mountains and tell them be careful that you do not approach the mountain or touch the foot of it. Whoever touches the mountain is to be put to death.  

Now this sounds really, really gruesome. Go get them ready, wash themselves, clean themselves up and then go take them all the way and consider the best of the mountain and if anyone touches the mountain put limits in other words put a barrier between the mountain and them. 

And if any person touches the foot of the mountain is to be put to death, they are to be stoned or shot with arrows not a hand is to be laid on them no person or animal shall be permitted to leave.  

Only when the ram's horns sounds a long blast may they approach the mountain. After Moses had gone down the mountain to the people he consecrated them and they washed their clothes then he said to the people prepare yourself for the third day abstain from sexual relations on the morning. 

Now this is on the morning of the day this is now the third time on the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning with a thick cloud over the mountain I want you to imagine this.  

Mount Sinai is totally covered by a thick cloud, that means you can see it but you know it is there and it is thunder and it is lightning. Now most of us when we see lightning we go inside. 

You know I caught spots and every time you see lightning that is 10 miles they tell you to go inside, but this time they are sitting there and they are watching lightning and thunder. Seated on this mountain is this massive thick cloud over the mountain. 

And then next what happens next is that and a very loud trumpet blast. Now they are not they are not the ones you know sounding the trumpet. The sound of the trumpet is coming within the mountain in the clouds. 

Everyone began to tremble in the camp. If I was there our tremble too. Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God. Now I want you to imagine as you are walking towards Mount Sinai there's a thick cloud. 

There is thunder and lightning there is a loud sound trumpet that is coming out of this thick cloud you can’t see it but you can only hear it. And then Moses says and he has already told you if you get to the best of the mountain you can touch it. 

Because the Lord is going to kill you, we're going to stone you, we're going to take you out of the city and shoot you with arrows and then Moses comes and he says to every single one of them now follow me as we go to meet God. 

Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now they are standing at the foot of the mountain Mount Sinai was covered with smoke because the Lord descended on it in fire. 

Now we saw the fires in California. Now this mountain is totally covered in fire and there is massive smoke that's ready and that is coming out of this mountain the smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace. 

And the whole mountain trembled violently, earth quake trembled violently as the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him. The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai they need cold Moses to the top of the mountain. 

Now I want you to imagine Moses, everybody is shaking in their boots because there is a mountain that is covered in smoke because the Lord descended it on fire. There's a thick cloud, there's a trumpet that is sounding out and the mountain is trembling. 

Then Moses, God says to Moses now you come through in here, so Moses starts walking as they are all watching him. He walks and he gets and disappeared in this whole cloud smoke thunder lightning fire. 

And he walks in there so Moses went up and the Lord said to him go down and warn the people so they do not force their way through to see the Lord and many of them perish. So after he goes in God says to Moses now go back down and go. 

Tell these people if anyone of you decide to come up here or to follow you because they have watched you come through here and they think they possibly can do it too, go warn them that if anybody comes out behind you they are going to perish. 

I’ll read 22, even the priest who approached the Lord must concentrate themselves or the Lord will break out against them. Now we there's a lot of things that's going on here. The first thing we really gives to understand why before a conference or before a night of worship or before a night of prayer. 

We say to ourselves hey let's go on a five day fast, ten day fast, let's concentrate ourselves. One of the reasons we do that is because there is a reverence that we must have for God's presence. 

And I think over the years we've become so nonchalant about the reverence of God's presence. God's presence is a gift to us, it’s not our choice, it’s God's choice to indulge us with his presence. 

If he decides to show up wherever he decides to show up. It's a privilege it's not a request it's what God decides to do in his own accord in his will in his pleasure when he decides to show up. 

But he himself remember we are looking at God's presence from his perspective. It is so important for him to be present that is demands for his presence for us to enjoy. Demands that certain things be in place certain things be in place. 

So he's showing us how valuable his presence is to us and what we need to do in order to receive him or to be interested with his presence. So anytime you are at your house wherever you are you experience God's presence. 

You have to understand what that actually means, the importance behind it because as we are reading this scripture all this stuff that is going on this is beyond any human comprehension. 

A mountain in the middle of the desert the smallest of the mountains surrounded by all mountains by a large mountain range is on fire and covered in smoke and there's a peak cloud on top of it. 

And there's a large trumpet that is coming out of it that people can hear and they can see into it. And then God asks your leader to walk into it as you are watching him and then he comes back out alive and he tells you if anyone dares to come up here God says I'm going to perish you. 

Then he goes back in because God is about to give him something so remarkable that will govern all of humanity until his existence until he returns. Which is the Ten Commandments and all the other laws that follows right after that. 

All this in preparation for his presence. Now if they had to do all this if more they had to go through all this in order to experience God's presence. Now our approach to anything that we are expecting God's presence. 

I don't know how he can be less than this or I don't know how we can nonchalantly you know not take it serious because this is God's perspective. Says my presence is so important that these are the things that I demand of him. 

In order for me to show up this is what I demand of you. This is from God's vintage point not from our vintage point. And I think as it pertains to God's presence we never think about him we always think about us. 

But rather than think about him and how important it is for him to be present for us at any given moment. Now the interesting thing about this passage of scripture is that when Jesus dies the veil in the temple is torn apart.  

So that God's presence can easily be accessed this is how privileged we are. They had to go through all these to experience God's presence. But when Jesus comes he then dies and the veil in the temple is torn apart. 

So that access easy access to his presence becomes readily available, without everything these children of Israel were going through in the desert. We don't have to go through all this in order to experience it. 

Now knowing that I'm sure we should all realize why we should desire more of his presence than anything because it has been made readily available and easy for us to access his presence than what it used to be like. 

But all this is happening because God needs to say something. God does not show up because he has nothing better to do. He shows up because he wants to communicate and give instructions or give a word to direct our path and to make our lives easy in the journey of following after him. 

That's why he shows up but from his vintage point it's so important for him when he shows up, that we on our end we understand his perspective as he shows up in whatever that we do. 

He wants us to take his presence, extremely important and we are seeing it in Exodus chapter number 19. The preparation they had to go through three times Moses had to go out get instructions in order for God to show up. 

Now the scripture says draw near and i'll draw near to you. Moses the second time those scriptures he went up and then God came down, draw near and i'll draw near to you. But in order for you to draw near you have to let go of a lot of things. 

That's how incredibly important this is to God from his vintage point as it pretends to his presence and as it pretends to him speaking. When we desire God to speak to us there are things that we must do in order for him to speak to us. 

So as I was reading this whole entire chapter I must have read it maybe fifty times this morning, because I'm looking at it and thinking surely if God had to do all this so that he can just present himself before this children so he can speak to them. 

That means his presence to us he's showing up at anything that we do is so important that we should never ever, ever, ever, ever, ever take God's presence for granted, ever. So every time that he shows up. 

 Whether in prayer, whether in worship, whether at your house, whether we are gathered together. Every time that he shows up we cannot take it for granted. Say oh wow that was an awesome time. 

As much as it was an awesome time there is something that he is pushing for us to do and to experience. When you read chapter number twenty after this whole entire episode, you can get an understanding why God has asked them to experience all this. 

Just for them to receive the 10 commandments and everything every other law that came after it. So brothers and sisters God's presence is so important to him as much as it is important to us. 

But for him it's incredibly important that he places a demand on us for concentration for cleaning ourselves because he is holy but we are privileged because of what Jesus did on the cross to make his presence readily available. 

Without thunder, without smoke, without trumpets, without cleaning us, without showing up we can enter into we can draw near to him at any given moment without everything that these guys had to go through. 

But the key point I want us to leave with today is that God's presence is so important to him that we cannot mishandle it, we cannot take it for granted, we cannot be nonchalant about it. 

Because if these guys had to go through all these experiences presents then we should understand how important it is to him for him to show up and again he's not showing up because he has nothing better to do. 

He's showing up because he wants to speak thou says the Lord. That's what he wants to do, he wants to speak thou says the Lord because he's spoken and warned them, do not come up here. 

Lest somebody perishes, in other ways you can’t access this without you being clean. But our privilege is that now Jesus presents us to the Father as holy and acceptable. Let us pray. 

Heavenly Father we thank you for your everlasting presence. We are so privileged that you promised that you never leave us nor forsake us. That we now have the privilege of the Holy Spirit being present in our lives to counsel, to redirect, to be a friend. 

We thank you Lord for your spirit and your presence that you have allowed us to enjoy without all the difficulties, previous generations had to go through just to experience your presence. 

Help us to not take it for granted, help us to understand from your perspective how incredibly important it is for you to show up. I thank you Lord that in your presence there's fullness of joy, in the right hand there are pleasures forevermore. 

I pray Lord that as you continue to sustain us with your spirit, guide us in all things true and in all things right. We pray for wisdom and understanding in our quest to know you better. We thank you Lord in your presence we find healing, we find strength, we find courage, we find boldness, determination to pursue what no eye has seen. 

And not what no ear has heard. We thank you Lord that may you help us to open our hearts so that whatever you have in store for us can enter, so we can set developing faith for it. Father take what we behold and break it apart because you are our God. 

We thank you Lord that your presence is so precious to us and to you. So I pray Lord that whenever we encounter you click in our steps our hearts and our minds and bring a greater understanding to why we are in your presence. 

Help us with wisdom to handle holy things and to handle your presence. We pray for this day that you have given us, as we go into it that may you guide us in all things true, help us to be vigilant and help us to understand the agenda of the day. 

Give us today our daily bread and help us Lord in our quest to be close to you. I pray for every single family represented here. That may you continue to bless us even Lord as we send our children to school. 

As they do with teachers, the curriculums, friends and everything they are part of in their school system. I pray for your hand to guide them in everything they do and Father we lift up and we thank you for the holy spirit. 

To be a friend to every single one of our children and everything that you are doing through them. We pray for wisdom we pray for wisdom for this younger generation may you equip them with wisdom so they can navigate the challenges of 21^st century living. 

Now help our country as we're going through a difficult period and difficult season. We thank you for your sovereign authority and we lean on you, we lean on you God. Now as we go through this day help our eyes to see things and opportunities to serve you. 

To be salt in the earth, to be the light in the darkness. Help us to communicate the word of God to those who are lost. Help us to bring healing to those who are sick. Helps us to bring understanding to those who are lost. 

For those Lord who find himself dealing with emotional entanglements, I pray Lord for peace of mind to now reside in their hearts. I thank you that you hear us when we pray. Now as we go through this day lead us not into temptation but deliver us from the evil one. 

For thine is the kingdom the power and the glory forever and ever, Amen. Brothers and sisters go in peace enjoy this day that God has given us, experience it in its fullness. Keep your eyes and ears open to hear the Lord speak. 

And grab hold of every opportunity to serve somebody, to be an answer to somebody's prayer, to minister to somebody who needs Christ and may the Lord bless your families your children and may he remove all fear and worry and anxiety. 

Because of all the challenges we might be facing right now in our country, may God give you an understanding that he is in control. He's not confused, he's not trying to figure it out,  he knows exactly what's going on and his eye is on the sparrow. 

And he has incredible ability to fix anything, anywhere, anytime, any moment so walk in expectations in hunger for truth and love, and grace, and peace, and joy and harmony, and love and tender mercy. Desire it, may the Lord bless you and we'll see you tomorrow.