Red Sea Rules by Robert Morgan

The Same God Who Led You In Will Lead You Out

How often do we find ourselves standing before our struggles and sorrow, looking into a sea of hopelessness? It is in these times that we wish someone would give us some guidelines to follow...someone would give us some instructions on what our next step should be. Because of our inability to see hope in the storm, we miss the place where all these instructions may be found. God's Word is all the guidance we need in every circumstance of our lives. From the Red Sea to the Promise Land, God desires to reveal His mighty power to work in the lives of those who cry out to Him. Whether we cry out in dependence or utter desperation, God desires to rescue and restore us. And when He does, His glory is magnified through our lives. So when the waves lap at our feet, and the dust rises behind us, step out in faith and walk on "dry ground through the midst of the sea".

The Red Sea Rules

Rule #1- Realize that God means for you to be where you are. (Ex. 14:1-2). The same God who led you in will lead you out.
Rule#2- Be more concerned for God's glory than for your relief. (Exodus 14:3-4) The next time you are overwhelmed, instead of asking "How can I get out of this mess?", try asking, "How can God be glorified in this situation?". God deliberately orchestrated the Exodus events as an occassion for demonstrating the power He yields over His enemies and the elements.
Rule #3- Acknowledge your enemy, but keep your eyes on the Lord. (Exodus 14:5-9) Whenever we choose character over convenience, faithfulness over ease, or honesty over deceit, we bring honor to the Lord Himself. When we serve Him with watertight obedience even in small things, God is glorified, just as at the Red Sea.
Rule #4: Pray! (Exodus 14:10). When we can't press forward, move sideward, or step backward, it's time to look upward and to ask God to make a way. "Faith is to prayer what the feather is to the arrow; it feathers the arrow of prayer, and makes it fly swifter, and pierce the throne of grace". - Thomas Watson
Rule #5- Stay calm and confident, and give God time to work. (Exodus 14:13-14). He alone can storm the impregnable, devise the improbale, and perform the impossible. He alone can part the waters.
Rule #6- When unsure, just take the next logical step by faith. (Exodus 14:15) "God never gives guidance for two steps at a time. I must take one step, and then I get light for the next. This keeps the heart in abiding dependence upon God".
-C.H.Mackintosh
Rule #7- Envision God's enveloping presence. (Exodus 14:19-20). When you find yourself between sword and sea, remember that difficult times can sensitize us to God's nearness. He's never so close as when we're shipwrecked on omnipotence and driven by despair into His chambers where we find Him "a very present help in trouble". (Ps. 46:1)
Rule #8- Trust God to deliver in His own unique way. (Exodus 14:21-22). In the unfolding of His providence, burdens become blessings, tears lead to triumph, and the redemptive grace of God overcomes the undercurrents of life in the experiences of His children.
Rule #9- View your current crisis as a faith builder for the future. (Exodus 14:30-31). We don't always know why God allows problems, but we know He intends to use them to heighten our maturity and deepen our faith. Trials and troubles are dumbbells and treadmills for the soul. They develop strength and stamina.
Rule #10- Don't forget to praise Him.  (Exodus 15:1-2). If wisdom is seeing things from God's point of view, praise is the natural reaction to that viewpoint. It's our typical expression of joyful confidence and triumphant thanksgiving at what God has done, is doing, and is going to do. 

So whether you are on the upper side or underside of the storm, whether you are on the east bank or west bank of the Red Sea, God will make a way. And as He does, don't forget to praise Him. 

About the Author: Rob J. Morgan: Author, Expositor, Speaker, Pastor. He is the pastor of The Donelson Fellowship in Nashville, Tennessee, where he has served for 29 years. He served as a staff writer for Dr. David Jeremiah and Turning Points Magazine, and has many articles published in other leading Christian periodicals.He worked with the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association. His wife Katrina is battling Multiple Sclerosis, he has 3 children and ten grandchildren.

The Jesus You Can't Ignore by John MacArthur

Now Reading, Review to Follow

Taking Back The Gospel by Bailey Smith

The Perils of a User-Friendly Faith

The Christians of this age must feel the urgency to proclaim the gospel to a world void of conscience. In a time when the local church is becoming illiterate to the doctrines in God's Word, we need true gospel now more than ever. In the church's desire to be "user-friendly", we have "dumbed-down the message" and " lightened up the requirements". "Today's gospel lite is hardly worth living for and certainly not worth dying for". We have presented a gospel that fails to convict sin and lead to true repentance. The failure to address sin not only neglects to bring unbelievers to repentance, but leads true believers to not see sin as being that harmful. When Christians begin to look like the world, it weakens their witness. So what is the church to do?

This book discusses the responsibility of the church, the pastor, church staff and the layperson.

The Red Sea Rules by Robert Morgan

10 God-Given Strategies For Difficult Times
The Same God Who Led You In Will Lead You Out

Reading now, with daily postings on Facebook

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Overwhelmed By A Relentless God

God's greatest command is, to "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind". But most often, we go through life giving Him our leftovers. God  calls us to a life that is absolute  craziness to the world, yet as Christians our lives often make sense to unbelievers.  God has an outrageous, crazy love for us, as evidenced by,  while we were still sinners, he drained all the resources of heaven to rescue us.  God loves us and longs for us to love Him back. He is not satisfied with us "just fitting Him into our lives", He wants everything. It is foolishness to search for fulfillment in anything else. It is frustrating when loving God is so difficult, when our capability to comprehend Him is lacking, but when we constantly run after Christ in all that we do, we will find Him.  "God has called us each to live faithful and devoted lives before Him, by the power of His Spirit".  Too often we live selfish lives that are forgetful of our God, but his desire for us is to admit we are out of control and reach out to Him for help. When we see ourselves as merely playing a role in a movie about God, then the glory changes from ourselves to the One whom glory is due.  If we are in constant pursuit of Christ in our daily lives, then the thorns of this world will not choke out the seeds in the good soil but we will find complete and total satisfaction in Him.     Chan states that his "hope and prayer is that you finish this book with hope, believing that part of your responsibility in the body of Christ is to help set the pace for the church by listening and obeying and living Christ". Wow! What a challenge! This is not a new instruction but the command emphatically engrained in the New Testament.  The truth is that everything in the body is either living and growing or falling away. May my desire be to live out this Crazy Love everday with everyone I come in contact with until the day I see my God, that I would not be ashamed when He asks, "What did you do with what I gave you?".

Best quote in the book: "Our greatest fear as individuals and as a Church should not be of failure but of succeeding at things in life that don't really matter". Tim Kizziar

Crazy Love by Francis Chan

Overwhelmed By A Relentless God

Reading Now, review to follow.

Christ Our Mediator by C. J. Mahaney

In the words of Charles Spurgeon, we are to "abide hard by the cross and search the mystery of His wounds".  For it is by doing this that we find "unsearchable riches".  The cross should be the center of our attention and the drive of our passion. Many look beyond the cross after the point of salvation in search of more spiritual things. The failure of keeping the cross at the center of our attention, leads us to disregard grace in our everyday life. But when we look to the cross in gratitude  for His amazing grace and mercy then we see ourselves totally dependent on the only One who could save us. His work on the cross was an infinite display of His abundant love. If He never bestowed any other blessing on us, the cross would be enough to leave us forever grateful. But in continually looking to the cross we find a Lover of Our Soul who desires to make us like Him. I am able to see myself in that mocking crowd who yelled "Crucify Him!". But thank God I have become one caught in the gaze of a heartbroken Savior that day. He drank the whole cup, all of it....for me, so that I would be free!!     

My Heart's Desire by David Jeremiah

Our heart's desire is to worship something. We were created with a sense of wonder that should drive us to God. Worship opens up the doors of heaven and brings us in the presence of a holy God. The scriptures say "He inhabits the praise of His people". God wants to inhabit every area of our lives as we worship Him in all that we do. He wants us to live every moment in the wonder of worship.  Worship was God's idea, made by Him and for Him. It is not a suggestion but a command.  When it comes to worship, we are often "more focused on entertainment than sacrifice". But you can not have true worship without true sacrifice. God wants our best. 

Fresh Wind, Fresh Fire by Jim Cymbala

What Happens When God's Spirit Invades The Hearts Of His People


New to the faith, I desire to know the power of prayer. To cry out to God from a desperate felt need is where we God uses prayer as His channel of blessing. I may call on the Name of The Lord and approach His throne of grace. For His promise is  "Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you will honor me." Ps.50:15.  I need The Fresh Wind of God to breathe life in me and The Fresh Fire of the Spirit to be poured out in me, that I may run to the battle and not from it.  I repeatedly come before God bankrupt, with nothing to offer pleading for His help and it is there that He meets me.  For " God is attracted to weakness".  Praise God He "still uses foolish tools in the hands of weak people to build his kingdom".  The passion of my soul is driven by a constant state of prayer.     

The Tale of Two Sons by John MacArthur

The Inside Story of a Father, His Sons and a Shocking Murder

This story of the Prodigal Son was told by Jesus in the presence of sinners, tax collectors and a group of self-righteous Pharisees. Though it spoke multitudes to all who had ears to hear, it was intended to speak a word of danger to those Pharisees who refused to rejoice at the redemption of sinners through repentence and grace alone.

I can see myself with the ears of some of the most sin-sick Gentiles listening to this story in anticipation... Searching this storyline for some glimmer of hope, some hope of redemption, a desperation to be delivered from themselves....For the first time feeling the beating of a heart of flesh.....Breathing in the life of the Spirit.  For their hearts in repentance and desire for mercy, no longer hid from the Father but was seeking a Savior. In desperation, they did not have to go far to find Him for He saw them when they were yet far off and He ran to them. I found He was seeking me before I knew I was lost.

I saw myself in the place of the Prodigal dishonoring an all-loving gracious Father only to awaken in the midst of the horrid slop of sin.....Sorrowfully returning in broken repentance to a Father that wished to cover me in robes or righteousness, in an effort to protect me from any lingering shame....The recipient of over-flowing, unmerited, undeserved grace and mercy.....With a humbled, Father-pleasing, desire to serve. 
I saw myself in the disgusting elder brother. In the putrid state of a self-righteous, self-motivated and self-serving mindset.....Attempting to earn merit, favor and privelege....all the while groping around in pure darkness blinded from the mystery of The way, the truth and the life!! 

Though this story in my life was told completely in reverse, I saw myself in each character as they looked upon the only character in the story that was all-loving and all-good. Praise God that though the ending to this story seemed to be a tragic abuse and death, it did not end there....leaving those desperate tax collectors, sinners, disciples,  heart-broken for the only love they had ever-known.....For up from the grave He arose!!!! Rising in Glory, to the right-hand of God, to intercede for me, so that another Comforter would come, until that day He will return for His Bride!!
May I submit my mind to the truth of Scripture.        

Stop Dating The Church by Joshua Harris

Fall In Love With The Family of God

Many times in this life we fall in and out of love, choose what we love and choose how we show love. It is no wonder we are so confused about what true love is really like!! We measure love and relationships by the pleasure it brings us. In looking at the Bride of Christ, the Church, Christ uses this relationship not only as the manifestation of His great love for us but also of His love working through us to one another. The passion and love developed there, for Him and for our brothers and sisters in Christ, is how He nourishes us, grows us and sustains us. In this love relationship, that is meant to look beyond our personal rewards, is where God transforms us to the image of His Son. A love relationship between Christ and His Bride is what the Heavenly beings look down upon in AMAZEMENT!! To think that angels are in awe of the purest love ever imagined, betweem grace-given sinners and the Holy God-man, takes my breath away! The church pictured as the body, endwelled by the Spirit, joined to the head which is Christ is a perfect image of a Holy union, endorsed and created by God and for God! God's plan for the church and His amazing love for Her should compel those saved by grace to work diligently to display His glory! As Christ was dying on the cross, His mind was on His Bride and His great love for her. May God create in me The Passion for His Bride and the desire to carry out the treasure of His glorious gospel. In my love for my church, I am growing to love Christ more and to know Him more, as I am being transformed into His likeness until the day He comes for His Bride.

The Mind of Christ by T. W. Hunt

The Transforming Power of Thinking His Thoughts....

My desire was to become more like Christ. But I had never heard the phrase "having the mind of Christ". But as I search the scriptures through this book, I see all that He had to say about the mind (often times referred to as the heart) and His instructions on how to transform it. In working hard to be like Christ in words and deeds, I have failed to see the affects my mind has on my spiritual walk. Wow! No wonder, I am left feeling like such a failure! Until my mind has been completely made new, my actions will continue to follow my old way of thinking, for "the mind and conscience are defiled". To learn and see the mind of Christ leaves me wanting more of Him, to think like HIm, to have a mind like Him!!! But though I may think I want it desperately, God is even more anxious for me to have the mind of Christ than I am! He desires to fix my "wanter". The Spirit desires to produce fruit in me, the work is not mine to do but His. It is His will that I be like Christ!! "Seek ye first the kingdom of God", that is the focus.

Dug Down Deep by Joshua Harris

What I had previously believed about the Parable of the Two Foundations(Luke 6:46-49) was that one of the builders was a saved man and one was a lost man. After my journey through this book, I see an all too familiar story that continues to enlighten me to a state that so many Christians are in, one that I once knew myself. The first builder is one that has dug down deep and laid his foundation upon the rock. The second builder is one that threw up a house without laying the appropriate foundation. We see this second builder mindset in our daily life as an example of the culture we live in. One day you pass a corner and there is nothing, only to return in what seems like a matter of days and "voila" instant department store, pharmacy or fast food restaraunt. We see this instant character also developing in our churches. So this is the question, have you dug down deep in your faith to study, search and examine what you believe? God is not looking for superficial, self-motivated Christians. But instead, draws by the power of the Spirit and leads us to search the scriptures. By doing so, we get to know a Sovereign, Just, all-powerful, all-loving God and obey Him. Christ described the first builder as one who hears his sayings and does them. This is the one that when the storms blow, his house still stands. Those who focus on God's love and mercy and fail to discover His other characteristics do not know Him at all. The truth in scripture lays the foundation of what we believe. But to study and know doctrine is not enough, the Holy Spirit must make it alive in us. More than anything else, this book left me praying "Lord I just want to know you more! Show yourself to me!". That is exactly the place He wants us to be.