Tuesday October 2, 2012

Do you know someone who is struggling with sin? Spend time interceding for them today.

 

Read Exodus 12:28-30; Luke 12:1

 

Have you ever wondered why the Israelites were told to eat unleavened bread during the Passover Feast? Have you ever wondered why they celebrate a yeast free feast to the Lord? Maybe only pastors without a life have time to contemplate such things!!

 

The first reason is historical. On the night of the original Passover the Israelites did not have time to allow their bread dough to rise. As the Lord passed over Egypt in judgement through the 10th and final plague, the Israelites had to be ready to leave at a moment’s notice. They would be thrown out of Egypt. They had to take the unleavened bread with them. Later on they made the unleavened dough into unleavened bread. Each year the unleavened bread functioned as a powerful reminder of what God did on that awesome night.

 

Secondly, there is a spiritual reason. Luke mentions that the yeast of the Pharisees is hypocrisy. Generally speaking, yeast in the Bible represents sin and evil and wickedness. In particular, just like yeast works in bread to puff it up and make it bigger than it really is, so too pride and arrogance puff us up and make us seem better than we really are.  Yeast, or more particularly, the absence of yeast at set times (note that it was banned from certain offerings) communicated powerfully to the people that they were to be continually removing the sin from their lives.

 

As Christians we know that all foods are clean in and of themselves and that all the food laws of the Old Testament have been removed by Christ. Yet the concept of unleavened bread is ever with us. We are to be striving to be all that God has called us to be. He chose us in love and predestined us to be conformed to the image of His only Son, to be pure and blameless in His sight. That means we can no longer just accept the sin in our lives. It means we have to work hard at removing the sin from our midst. That is a difficult thing to do alone. We need to find a Christian friend with whom we can share our struggles, our triumphs and our failures. We need someone to walk beside us and to love us, even when we fall. Hiding behind closed doors and pretending that we are ok really doesn’t cut it in the Christian world. God wants us to work together on holiness. God wants us to love and support each other. Is there yeast in your life? Is there leaven in your heart? Find a Christian friend and get together to talk about your struggles and to pray together.

 

Prayer:

Write down your prayer points in the space provided. Use today’s reading to help you get ideas.

 

Adoration:

 

Confession:

 

Thanks:

 

 

 

Supplication:

¥ Pray for ten families from your church directory. Pray for the blessing of righteousness and holiness upon each family. Pray that they would be walking closely to God.

¥ Pray for a revival in your city, beginning with the churches.