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Rise From the Dust

Posted by Dion Todd April 15th, 2024 2,171 Views 10 Comments

Rise From the Dust from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo.

Moses was a fiery young man in Egypt, raised by the daughter of Pharaoh and reared with all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). He was mighty in words and deeds, but when he turned forty years old, things seemed to fall apart. 

One day he went to visit his people, the Hebrews, who were enslaved in Egypt. He wanted to help them, and when he saw an Egyptian taskmaster beating one of them, he intervened. Moses ended up killing the Egyptian and hid the body in the sand. 

(Acts 7:23–25 NKJV)  "Now when he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brethren, the children of Israel. And seeing one of them suffer wrong, he defended and avenged him who was oppressed, and struck down the Egyptian. For he supposed that his brethren would have understood that God would deliver them by his hand, but they did not understand."

Moses had been born for this purpose, for such a time as this. He had been educated and trained for it. He was passionate and willing to fight the good fight. He had all the qualifications, and the people who needed delivering were in front of him. What could go wrong? 

(Acts 7:26–29 NKJV)  And the next day he appeared to two of them as they were fighting, and tried to reconcile them, saying, 'Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?' But he who did his neighbor wrong pushed him away, saying, 'Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? Do you want to kill me as you did the Egyptian yesterday?' Then, at this saying, Moses fled and became a dweller in the land of Midian, where he had two sons.

Moses knew that word of yesterday's adventure had gotten out. When Pharaoh learned that he had killed an Egyptian taskmaster, he would have him executed. So Moses fled from Egypt. He found a place in the land of Midian, working for a man named Jethro, who needed help tending sheep. Moses eventually married one of his daughters, and they had two sons.

Consider what has happened so far: Moses had been educated and trained by the Egyptians. He had a desire to deliver his people, and his people needed a deliverer. He was forty years old when he stepped out to do it, and he fell flat on his face. So he ran away and quietly tended sheep on the backside of a desert for the next forty years. Then the Lord appears to him:

(Acts 7:30–32 NKJV)  "And when forty years had passed, an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire in a bush, in the wilderness of Mount Sinai. When Moses saw it, he marveled at the sight; and as he drew near to observe, the voice of the Lord came to him, saying, 'I am the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' And Moses trembled and dared not look."

The Lord wanted Moses to return to Egypt and deliver his people from slavery. But Moses remembers that ridiculously embarrassing moment when he had to flee from Pharaoh in failure forty years ago. So Moses refused and made excuses. 

(Exodus 3:10–11 NKJV)  "Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt." But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

Moses told the Lord, "Please send someone else..." 

Now we know that Moses eventually gave in and returned to Egypt. The people did believe him, and he delivered them from their slavery. The Lord brought terrible plagues on the Egyptians until Pharaoh let them go. 

So we have records of two attempts of Moses delivering the Israelites from slavery. Moses first tried with his own fiery strength, education, and military training at forty years old. He failed miserably and had to flee. Then we had another visit to Egypt with God Almighty by his side at eighty, and it was miraculously successful. 

Without the Lord, you are nothing. But with Him at your side, you can face anything that comes. It doesn't matter if you have already tried and failed. Things are different when God Almighty steps up to the plate. 

When I was young, I felt I had a calling into the ministry. I received several prophetic words confirming it, and the Lord told me to prepare myself for it. I was passionate about prayer and fasting and listened to the Bible 24 hours a day. I went through Bible college and got ordained, but then found every door in ministry supernaturally shut. 

I worked mostly on broken computers and networks for the next twenty years. Then when I was forty-five, the Lord shut our computer business down, and in the span of one week, I found myself in ministry. Now here I am writing this, and there is no way we could build an online church without those years I spent in the tech field. 

Some things I learned: He can see the end from the beginning, and our preparation does not always cover His plans. The Lord is much more practical than we often believe Him to be. Never underestimate good old-fashioned hard work. The Lord worked for six days and rested on the seventh. 

While praying about this message, I saw a vision of a hand taking a dusty figurine off a shelf and gently removing the dust from it with a brush. Soon it was clean and shiny again. 

Then I heard, "Some have been sitting on the shelf and have grown dusty, but they are about to be dusted off, made fresh and shiny, and used once again." 

You can pray this with me if you like: 

Prayer: Heavenly Father, I thank You for remembering me. Please fulfill Your will in my life and help me walk according to Your ways. Teach me what I need to know. Remove the dust from me and make me fresh and shiny again! In the name of Jesus Christ, I pray. Amen!


Note: Happy Monday, and thank you to all who waited patiently last week while we paused to work on our email delivery and new website :). It was a challenging week, but we are happy with the results and grateful to the Lord for His grace. We encourage all of you who have not already done so to create an account at the website and join us at the online church. There is also a new choice to receive the full text of the devotionals in email, rather than a link to the website. You can find that option in your Profile Settings once you are logged in. Blessings to you and please let us know if you have any questions!

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William Pearson commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

HOW DO I SHARE THIS ON FACEBOOK AND WITH MY CHILDREN PLEASE AND THANK YOU MY E-MAIL IS mr.pearson@sbcglobal.net

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Sylvia Todd

7 months ago

Billy, as Dion said, he will fix you up with something soon :). Since you're trying to share on Facebook, you are welcome to join our FB page here: https://www.facebook.com/refreshinghope. If you go to the Like button there, there should be a dropdown to add the page as a Favorite. That will give you a notification when there is a post. I post the devotional every day there (unless I forget, lol).

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William Pearson

7 months ago

AWWWWWWWWWWW OK COOL THANKS SYLVIA GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS ALWAYS WITH MUCH HAPPINESS JOY AND LOVE FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AMEN ;-)

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Dion Todd

7 months ago

William, give me a day or two and I will have your Share on Facebook button back. Features like that are still being added. If you are in a hurry, copy and paste it into Facebook. EDIT: I got it done. Click on the big blue Share on Facebook button and let me know if you have any problems with it.

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William Pearson

7 months ago

OK THANKS DION I`LL CHECK IT OUT GOD BLESS YOU AND YOURS ALWAYS WITH MUCH HAPPINESS AND JOY FROM OUR LORD AND SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST AMEN ;-)

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Sylvia Todd

7 months ago

Billy, Dion made a FB button at the bottom of the devotionals yesterday afternoon - check it out and see how it works for you :)!

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Liesel aka lisa Wardle commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Amen and Amen, Pastor, and thank you again for all of your help, getting me straightened out and your encouraging words !!! I thank the Lord for you and Sylvia, and yes, you're so right, we are here for "such a time as this" all according to God's, our Lord's plan, as He directs and leads!! (h5) Thank you so much for sharing your testimonies including the vision you had of that dusty figurine!! It reminds me of the dreams I had when God would either warn me of something to happen or prepare me ahead of time for something, and I vividly remember a dream I had or was it a vision, when we had just moved to Tennessee many years ago for my husband to start a new position, our daughter was just 5 years old, and we had a hefty mortgage to worry about, etc., and Tom shortly after he had started came home and had quit his job, because of some major disagreement and his temper! I was desperately looking to find a job, and he had a hard time finding a replacement, then I had a major accident that totaled the the only car we had, and then I got so sick and couldn't keep anything down anymore and had to be hospitalized. Our little one was picked up by her grandma from Michigan till I finally got better. "And there I saw myself and little Yvonne in the middle of an island surrounded by nothing but water, and a giant hand came down and picked us up and put us on shore, on dry land" I cannot describe the peace I felt then, and I still do, knowing that I'm/we were not alone, and I know that God, is with us, cares for us, listens to us and our prayers, and is silent at times, and that for a reason!! HE is so real to me, praise His holy name!!! (h5)


Steve Pyle commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Although I have only recently created an account here at RHM, I have read and listened to these devotionals for several years. Thank you for your faithfulness. Change and moving forward is good.

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Dion Todd

7 months ago

Thank you, Steve. By developing our own site like this from scratch, we are able to make it do what we want. That will enable us to have apps, better mobile display, and so many other things. We plan for it to grow with us. Also, we cleaned house during the process. A fresh start now and then is good.

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Sylvia Todd

7 months ago

Amen, brother, glad you are here :)!


Marisa Jackson commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Amen 🙏!!!

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William Pearson

7 months ago

I DON`T LIKE THIS STUFF AT ALL THE OLD ONE WAS EASIER TO USE AND SHARE WITH MY KIDS AND FRIENDS ON FACEBOOK THIS DOESN`T LET ME SHARE WITH ANYONE AT ALL PLEASE GO BACK THANKS

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Dion Todd

7 months ago

We are going forward, never back... :D Also, if there is a feature request you would like to see that would make your life easier, ask and we might can add it.

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Wanda Pennington commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Amen, thank You Lord


Kay Collinsworth commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Amen


Celeste Strenn commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Amen thank you dear Lord Jesus ❣️


Barbara Jackson commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Amen


Schalk de Beer commented on Dion Todd's blog post: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Yes Lord, I pray this in Jesus's name, amen.


Dion Todd added a new video devotional: Rise From the Dust

7 months ago

Rise From the Dust from Refreshing Hope Ministries on Vimeo. Moses was a fiery young man in Egypt, raised by the daughter of Pharaoh and reared with all the wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22). He was mighty in words and deeds, but when he turned forty years old, things seemed to fall apart. One day he went to visit his people, the Hebrews, who... Read the full post here: Rise From the Dust




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