Dear Partner,

While Israel was under bondage to Pharaoh in Egypt, their daily activities were directed according to the mind of Pharaoh. They did what he told them to do. They went where he told them to go. They ate and drank whatever he provided. They had no freedom of choice. They were slaves under hard bondage in an iron furnace of affliction.

But once and for all, at the Red Sea, the Lord delivered Israel from the hand of Pharaoh.

Exo 15:4 Pharaoh's chariots and his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains also are drowned in the Red sea.

Israel was now free to follow the leading, direction, and instruction of the Living God. They once more had the power of "choice" restored unto them. On ten different occasions while in the wilderness, God gave them opportunities to obey Him. They failed all ten times. A typical example was when Israel was instructed not to try and save manna overnight.

Exo 16:19-20 And Moses said, Let no man leave of it till the morning. Notwithstanding they hearkened not unto Moses; but some of them left of it until the morning, and it bred worms, and stank: and Moses was wroth with them.

What if Moses had asked one of the men "Why did you disobey the command not to save the manna overnight?" The most foolish answer he could have given would have been "Pharaoh made me do it." What? Pharaoh had no control over them any longer. His chariots and his hosts were drowned in the sea. Pharaoh himself was on the other side of the Red Sea and could not make them do anything.

We are told that all the things that happened to Israel in the Old Testament were written as examples for us to learn from:

1 Cor 10:11 Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.

What can we learn from this example? Pharaoh is a "type and shadow" of Satan and his domination over all of mankind before they are born again. "Pharaoh's hosts" represents the hordes of demons that serve Satan. The passage through the Red Sea that Israel walked through represents the new birth experience that delivers the believer out of Satan's kingdom and brings him into the protection, leadership, and provision of God. When we are born again, we are delivered out of one kingdom into another:

Col 1:12-13 Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son.

Notice that it says God "hath" ... past tense ... delivered us from the power of darkness! Satan and his demons can no more make you do anything against your will than Pharaoh and his hosts could make the people of Israel do anything against their will once they had passed through the Red Sea.

So what was the real problem? Why couldn't the people of Israel obey the instructions they received from God? If the problem was not Pharaoh and his hosts, then what was causing them to continually disobey God?

The problem was the thought patterns and attitudes of the heart they still carried within them from Egypt. They had been "conditioned" as slaves all of their lives. The number one thing on a slave's mind is self-preservation. They do what they do because the know they will be killed if they do not. It is a "victim" mentality to the maximum. They were accustomed to serving under a cruel taskmaster who cared nothing for them at all. The concept of serving a loving God who only wanted what was best for them was completely foreign to their way of thinking. In a nutshell, they had been conditioned to distrust whoever had mastery over them.

Said another way, at this stage of their lives, they had no more trust in the Living God than they had in Pharaoh. No matter what instruction God gave them, they would analyze His instruction and compare it with their own wisdom and conclude "No, what God said is not best for me. I will choose what is best for me. I trust myself more than I trust God."

Now the point is this: Most of us don't like to blame ourselves for our own shortcomings and mistakes. We like to have a scapegoat, somebody else to blame. Anybody else but us! Many Christians today are blaming their problems on demonic influence when the truth of the matter is, they have been delivered from the power of darkness. Neither Satan nor demons can make them do anything against their will. It is their own unrenewed thought patterns and motivations of the heart that keep them from trusting God to the point they will obey Him.

If a person is truly born again, yet finds himself frequently falling into the world's way of doing things it is because he still thinks like the world thinks. His heart motivations are still pretty much conformed to the ways of the world instead of the ways of God. We are told plainly how to remedy that situation:

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

The solution is to quit pointing the finger of blame at other people, the devil, demons or any other scapegoat, and to begin submitting ourselves to the Word of God and prayer. The Holy Spirit is our Teacher. If we give Him sufficient time in the Word of God and prayer, He will cause the renewing of our minds and adjust our motivations of heart to conform to the will of the true Master ... the Lord Jesus Christ. Nobody ever loved us like Jesus. He is completely worthy of our trust.

Thank you for your gift to GCM. Sue and I love you and appreciate you. We thank God for your generous and giving heart. God bless you!

Your friend and co-laborer,

Gary Carpenter

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