The Four Promises
Exodus 6.6-7 describes four special promises from God to His people. For you and I today, they are a proces to health, healing, and freedom.
"I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians"
"I will free you from being slaves to them"
"I will redeem you"
"I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God"
TO LIVE IN FREEDOM
"I will bring you out from under the yoke."
The first thing God identifies is the initial problem - His people were in bondage. Worst, they worshipped Pharoah as a god. At the core of many of our issues, are these two problems. (1) We are enslaved to our past trauma forming habitual patterns and addictions. (2) We are in idolatry to a position, a condition, a person(s), or even a political ideology.
This is a promise of sanctification. One definition of sanctification is to 'remove' or 'separate.' For many of us, to be truly healed, we must go back into our history and let God separate the pain of our past from the joy of our present and the focus of our purpose.
God wants to bring you out from under your yokes but we must RECOGNIZE [the] PROBLEM that we are consciously, or unconsciously, under.
TO LIVE IN PRESENCE
"I will free you from being slaves to them."
While this promise appears to parallel the first promise, it is not. Here, God is making it very clear that He is not a far-off God, but a very present help. The people of Israel knew of God but had not experienced Him in over 400 years. Have you ever felt like God was distant or His presence was absent? This promise is for you. He promised to RESTORE [His] PRESENCE in their lives. God sent Moses to lead but He was the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. Today He may be sending a counselor, coach, community mentor, pastor, or pastoral counselor but He is the God who is personally overseeing the process. He alone is your pillar of fire and cloud guiding you. Healing from the PROBLEM cannot occur without His PRESENCE.
Your health, outlook, and freedom are correlated with understanding and full acceptance of who God is, where He is, and what He has to say about your situation.
TO LIVE IN HOPE
"I will redeem you."
It only took days to free the Israelites from Egypt (position) and Pharaoh (condition), but it took forty years to get Egypt out of them. This is the truth of humanity, whether it is 400 or 4 years, we are often slaves to our history. Redeem means to exchange. It means God wants to exchange your hurts and habits for something greater. This promise is to RELEASE [your] PAIN, addictions, and strongholds. God wants to exchange your history for a future, depression for joy, stress for peace, and your public or private addictions and shame for freedom.
As His PRESENCE takes up residency in your heart, hope emerges and PAIN is RELEASED.
TO LIVE IN PURPOSE
"I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God."
God didn't just save the Israelites from something, He saved them for something. Before you were formed in your mother's womb, God knew you and called you into this promise. He promises to REVEAL PURPOSE. The goal for bringing them out is to ‘reclaim’ them as His people (purpose) and His people ‘reclaim’ Him as their God (praise). Because God kept His promise then, today we are a people of purpose. Because of it, we can praise, celebrate, love, and lift Him up.
It is time to reclaim your purpose. It is time to reclaim your praise. He did it for me and He wants to do the same for you.
And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils
the breath of life; and man became a living soul." Genesis 2:7
The word soul is the Greek word psuche/psychí (where we get our English word, psychology), and in Hebrew, Nephesh. Both have nearly identical meanings, breath, life, living being, breath of life. If God truly formed mankind, breathed into mankind, and mankind became a living soul, then He knows how to bring peace to your soul. The Holy Spirit instructs in the harmony of the physical, cognitive, emotional, and spiritual core of every born-again believer.
I aim to prove it to you because He proved it to me.
