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The word of God is our rod at the Red Sea of our circumstances.  Moses was told to quit his crying and begging God and to stand up and strike the Red Sea with the rod and it would part for him.

In meditating on this experience found in Exodus, I came to realize that the rod of Moses was symbolic of God’s word.  Moses’ rod ate up the two other rods that were turned into snakes by Jannes and Jambres.  The rod was representative of God’s authority given to Moses.  After the Lord gave Moses the law (the written word of God), the rod is never mentioned again except once; and that one time is when Moses was in disobedience to the Lord and used the rod to strike the Rock when he was only supposed to hold the rod and speak the WORD OF GOD to the Rock.

You will notice that when Joshua passed over the Jordan to enter into the promise land that Joshua did not use a rod on the water.  He was told to have the Levites carry the ark (which contained the word of God) into the water.  And as soon as their feet touched the water, the water went back and they crossed over on dry land.  And as long as the priests bore the word of God in the Jordan, the water stood at a heap (Joshua 3:15-16).

Brethren, we WILL pass through and we WILL pass over on dry land.  We need not cry to God, we need only to speak and believe…because faith SPEAKS!! “We believe, therefore we speak” (2 Cor. 4:13).  Are you speaking to the Red Sea of your circumstances?

Don’t see the sea…see the provision; see the answer.  Notice something very powerful in Exodus 4:1…Moses tells God, “They will not hearken unto my voice” and in the very next verse God institutes the rod in his hand as proof that “God HAS SPOKEN.”  Moses used the rod as a means of authority of God’s word!!

The word of God has gone before us, and the word is now within us; if we can only believe.  Because “faith speaks” (Romans 10:6) and “calls those things that be not as though they are” (Romans 4:17).  And because “we believe, therefore we speak.” Jesus spoke to the fig-tree, but He first believed!!

Let us not “look back” (Gen. 19:26) and let us not “turn back” (Acts 7:39)  Let us not “be mindful of that country “ (Egypt – a type and shadow of the world) from whence we came out of” (Hebrews 11:15).  I have news for you today: “we are well able to go in and possess the land” (Num. 13:30).

Let us take the rod of God (the word) and strike the Red Sea in faith (not doubting in our hearts – because a double minded [Greek: Double-Souled} man is unstable in all his ways) and pass through with our children and friends and brothers/sisters on dry ground.  A man said to D.L. Moody once, “The world has yet to see what God can do through a man whose heart is totally consecrated to God.” And D.L. Moody said, “I will be that man.”  We are well able to go in and possess…if we can only believe.  Because “all things are possible to him who believes.”

Just think about it…why did Moses have to “take the rod” and then “speak unto the rock” in Numbers 20:8?  Why didn’t God just tell Moses to speak unto the rock?  Because the rod was the authority of God’s word.  God wanted Moses to use the rod as a witness to his speaking.  The word of God is our witness.  And 1 John 5:7 says that the word is a witness.  And that rod is now in our hands and in our hearts and upon our lips.  SEE the truth of this!!  Let us be as Moses, Joshua, and Caleb (the minority) and not one of the countless millions that just couldn’t believe and had to depend on everyone else and the arm of the flesh to get them through.  Jeremiah 17:5 says, “Thus saith the Lord; Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.”

Let our names and our faith be remembered in the earth as an example for others to follow.  God’s word is greater than our experience or our present circumstances.  We have to believe!!  And if we die believing, it shall be accounted unto us as righteousness, because Hebrews 11:13 says, “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims in the earth.” It’s all a matter of whose report will we believe.

One final thought on the matter: “In your patience, possess ye your souls”, “I John, who also am your brother, and companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus…”, “That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises”, “For ye have need of patience, that, after you have done the will of God, you might receive the promise” and “You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end intended of the Lord.”  These things take time and patience.  We will receive if we faint not.  But during our patience (our waiting period) let us believe and have faith.  And if we really do believe then we will SPEAK with faith, because faith SPEAKS!!  We are not of those who in Hebrews 4:2 it is written, “For unto us was the gospel preached as well as unto them: but the word preached did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in them that heard it.”

Brethren, we must mix faith with our speaking.  Do not speak your lack, but speak “those things that be not as though they are” (Romans 4:17).  Joshua and the children still had to kill all of the “ites” in the land.  And how did they deal with them?  By the edge of the sword!! “And take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God…”  Do you have “ites” in your land?  Maybe you have “Lack”ites, or “Poverty”ites or “Lust”ites or “Insecurity”ites or “Flesh”ites or “Porn”ites or “Depression”ites or “Jobless”ites or maybe “Sickness”ites.  Speak the word of God to them and strike them with the edge of the sword and drive them from your land, knowing that your brothers and sisters are there to help you obtain the promises and inherit your land.

This land belongs to us.   It is ours by right, lot, memorial, and inheritance because of what Jesus purchased.  God is not withholding from us.  We have an enemy who is the “god of this world” and it is his job to cause all these different “ites” to come against us.  We are in a war guys, a war for our souls and the souls of our children and our friends.  Christianity is a strong man’s gospel.

Joshua 3:10 says, “By this you shall know that the living God is among you, and that He will without fail drive out from before you the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Hivites and the Perizzites and the Girgashites and the Amorites and the Jebusites.”  There were many more “ites” in the land, but God chose to only list these seven.  I would encourage you to look up the meanings of these names as it will greatly benefit the student who searches it out.  By searching out the meanings of these names you will walk away from the study with a deep understanding of where your life has been and where it is going.

We are in this together brethren.  I have my own “ites” that I’m speaking to in my life.  I have “Pride”ites and “Self”ites that I am using God’s word against.  And they will fall by the edge of the sword because God is with me.  The powerful thing is that God told the children of Israel to help their brothers inherit their portion of the land.  So…I will help you with your “ites” and you help me with my “ites” and we will all inherit an “ite”less land.  We need each other.  I need your prayers more than I ever have.