Cry out to the Lord!

“I will make a difference between My people and your people. Tomorrow this sign shall be. And the Lord did so”. Exodus 8, 23-24

Introduction:

The children of Israel have been in captivity for 400 years. A Pharaoh, threatened by their growth, decided to oppress them and subjected them to slavery. For centuries, they knew nothing but oppression, hardship and slavery. They were working hard but not benefitting from it because they were working for someone else until they started crying out to God. And their fate was changed by one encounter after they cried out to the Lord.

In Exodus 3, 7-8: “And the Lord said: “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians...”

We are talking about the Year of our divine escape which ultimately speaks about deliverance, protection and preservation but we have our part to play. We have to take some steps to trigger the change (watch out for my message “Triggers of Miracle”). Before they got there, the children of Israel “cried out unto the Lord”.

I. Cry Out to the Lord:

First thing first. We have the tendency of thinking that God knows what we are going through, so we don’t need to tell Him about our problems. After all He is omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent. He knows everything including what we are going through. While this is very true, God is still waiting for us to call upon Him:

“Thus says the Lord who made it, the Lord who formed it to establish it (the Lord is His name): ‘Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know” Jeremiah 33, 2-3.

The first thing that set your change or deliverance into motion is you crying out to the Lord. The Almighty God Himself has extended an invitation to us by asking us to call Him. “Call upon Me in the day of trouble. I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” Psalm 50, 15.

A shut mouth is a shut destiny. In the spirit realm, your mouth is a powerful tool to start a change. Even God the Father, our all in all, open His mouth to enact change. The bible in Genesis 1, 2 tells the state of the earth, the void and the darkness in it. God the father didn’t like it. So what did He do? In verse 3, the bible says: “Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light”. God opened His mouth to reverse or change the ugly state of the earth.

A. Why do we need to cry out?

One can argue that if God is all knowing, and He knows what I am going through, why do I then need to cry out or call unto Him?

Crying out to God is first and foremost a statement of discontent. It is a sign that we are not happy about our situation and that we need change. Your silence might be synonymous to your consent or agreement with the situation you are in. In the history of nations, there was no independence or freedom or major changes with the people silent and quiet. The moment they rebelled and start talking, they set up a movement for change.

· Crying out to God is a statement of rebellion against your situation and a desire for change you are longing for. So, in this year of Divine Escape, we have the responsibility of initiating the escape by crying out to God.

· Crying out to God is an “act of humility” from us. It is recognising that we cannot do it on our own.

· Crying out to God is giving Him the right of way to act on our behalf.

· Crying out to God is acknowledging His Supremacy and Power to deliver.

B. How?

What then is the right way to cry out to God?

Prayer

Prayer is the number one tool and weapon giving to us to enforce change. The bible is full of examples of people that through prayer called upon the Lord and their circumstances were changed. Out of desperation, Hannah cried out to the Lord for a child without even opening her mouth in 1Samuel 1, 13-18. The bible says only her lips were moving. But her heart was talking louder than any amplifier and she got a change of situation. Another man by the name of Jabez in 1Chronicles 4, 10 realised he was meant to be an honourable man, but his life did not reflect that prophecy of honour. The scripture says: “And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, “Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!” So God granted him what he requested”. What about Jacob? David? blind Bartimaeus? And so many others? These people changed their stories by crying out to the Lord in prayer and He intervened.

In this Year of Our Divine Escape, do not keep silent. Like the children of Israel, start crying out to God. Call unto Him day and night and will certainly experience that which He has promised us this year.