The Power Of Being Still

Exodus 14. 13 Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” This is going to be a difficult message for all of you who are people of action, those who continually feel the need to do something. Those of you who have hard time waiting. This is very difficult. If you are lacking patience. If you have a “Type A Personality” this is going to be a brutal message, necessary but brutal. There is power in action. Many movements have brought about change. Recently I have written some emails. I have suggested things. I feel there is a need for some reform. When my Superintendents (District and General) were older than me I willingly submitted. I felt they knew best. The elders are to be listened to. However now that I am an elder in the truest sense of the word, my superintendents are all younger than me. It is a bit strange. I have experience that they do not have. This has happened without me being fully cognizant of it. This message is like that. I could have given it years ago but without the experience of it. But now I have lived it. I remember a time when someone said to me, “ There’s not a thing you can do. There’s nothing you can say.” Whew! Being still and silent frightens the best among us until we come to know its power. How do we do this? 13….Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today…. 14 The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Two times the LORD is mentioned, 4 times, “you.” * Do Not Be Afraid 365 times in God’s Word we are given this: Don’t be afraid, Fear not One for each day of the year. What is fear? Dread Terror President Donald Trump is safe after a gunmen entered the Correspondents Dinner last night in Washington, DC. It was a frightening scene seeing gunmen in full Body armor at the head table as he and the First Lady and others were whisked out to safety. We are being told Do not dread things. Most will never happen Even if they do happen, God will be with you. We cannot stand still if we are afraid. Shaking in our boots makes us unable to stand still. Fear can absolutely cripple us. It makes our faith ineffective. It dominates our thinking. Fear can make a person negative. Look at the spies. Look at the Israelites and Goliath. Look at the nation of Israel when the spies come back with a bad report. They spent 40 years in the Wilderness and died out there due to believing the bad report of the ten. Another example of the minority being right. I Corinthians 10. 2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 They all ate the same spiritual food 4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Fear can make a person unsettled. Often we say to those like that, “Calm down. Relax.” God is speaking this Word through His servant Moses in Egypt, 1,200 years before Jesus came. I am standing on that Word and giving it to you today. God does not change. Jesus Christ the same, yesterday, today and forever! Hebrews 13.8 Genesis 46.4 Fear not to go down to Egypt. I will go down with you. The LORD to Jacob when he found out Joseph was alive. Psalm 46. 1  God is our refuge and strength,     an ever-present help in trouble. 2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way     and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, To know the Power of Being Still you have to have faith and not fear. * Stand Firm Place or station or set yourself Stand with someone That Someone is Jesus Standing somewhere in the Shadows You’ll find Jesus Stand together with the LORD His Army The Heavenly Host The Great Cloud of Witnesses If the LORD would just peel back the sky what we would see! We have His Word to stand on. We have His Will to stand firm. Ephesians 6.13 Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand your ground After you have done everything, to stand. The Power of Being Still Standing… The Christian soldier Paul is describing in Ephesians 6 is not marching. He is standing. That is all we can do at times. That is huge. Years ago, when my Aunt Dot sent me this word in a note, I would pull it out and read it over and over again. Stand firm… Having done everything, STAND!!! * The LORD Will Fight For You The Battle Belongs To the LORD The Chariots of Fire and Horses II Kings 6. 15 When the servant of the man of God got up and went out early the next morning, an army with horses and chariots had surrounded the city. “Oh no, my lord! What shall we do?” the servant asked. 16 “Don’t be afraid,” the prophet answered. “Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” 17 And Elisha prayed, “Open his eyes, LORD, so that he may see.” Then the LORD opened the servant’s eyes, and he looked and saw the hills full of horses and chariots of fire all around Elisha. They did not have to fight. The LORD delivered them. He had already surrounded them with Heaven’s Army. Then the LORD blinded the whole army. Elisha and his servant led them back to the King of Aram. Moses’ words Be still and see the salvation of the LORD. Earthly hope and help must be cut off to see the deliverance of the LORD. So often we are thinking, “Oh no! What are we going to do?!” The LORD has this. He will fight for you. * Be Still You are not going to have to do anything. Just stand firm and wait. So often I am told, “Pastor, I have to do something!” Are you so certain? There is power in being still. More power than you can imagine. Don’t complain: 11 They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt?12 Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” God is our refuge and strength, an ever present help in time of trouble. Psalm 46.1 Trouble= straits, distress A tight spot Between a rock and a hard place Breathe Breathe Your strength is in sitting still. Think of the past times when God came through. Read the accounts in the Scriptures when He came through, like in the crossing of the Red Sea. Recalling God’s past help can encourage you as you face future challenges to your faith. How did Moses cross the Red Sea? Got Any Rivers?