Will You Cross With Me?

“The Egyptians pursued the Israelites. Pharaoh’s army, including all his horse-drawn chariots and cavalry, caught up with them as they were setting up their camp by the sea at Pi Hahiroth facing north.” -Exodus 14: 9

Talk about a setup... this has to be one of the greatest ever. God does everything perfectly. One of the hardest lessons to learn is God never does things the conventional way. This why it’s so hard for us to move according to His leading. I’m always saying, “What God? Did I hear you right? This makes no sense to me, I’m not understanding.” If you're in my inner circle, you get the phone calls and you hear the panic in my voice as I repeat what I just heard.

It made no sense whatsoever for them to camp there because they were trapped by the desert and the sea. God, specifically, told them to go back and set up camp there. Catch that, “Go back,” and be sitting ducks for the Egyptians to come and completely annihilate them. They had no idea why they were setting up when the entire Egyptian Army was coming after them. If I were a military commander, I would never lead my army into an ambush. Moses, however, did just that by the command of Almighty God.

So, why did that happen? Here’s the answer: “'Then, because of what I do to Pharaoh and his entire army, I will receive honor, and the Egyptians will know that I am the Lord.' So that is what the Israelites did.”

You see, Moses was the leader, and God was communicating to him, only him, what to do and how to do it. Listen please, you are the leader of your own life. God is a personal God. He leads you as you seek Him. Granted in this story God was using Moses to lead approximately two million Jews out of Egypt and out of slavery to a land of their own, and that today, they call Israel.

The Israelites didn’t see it coming. However, Moses knew what was about to happen. There would be such a miracle that would be told for generations and centuries to come. God was about to bring forth an incredible miracle. The sea was about to open making a clear path for them to walk through, and when the last one of them crossed to the other side, the waters would close with the Egyptian Army smack in the middle of the sea drowning them.

There’s so much in this chapter. First there’s an Angel in front accompanying them. When the Egyptian Army is about to approach them, the Angel moves from ahead of them to the back, which was extremely important. God had their back. Please understand something important. Wherever God leads you, and you follow as difficult as it is, (and it will be difficult), God will then watch your back. Let me clarify this and make it crystal clear. God told Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. That meant the Israelites had something to do. They had to go. When God says do something, you do it.

The Angel was ahead of them making the way for them. They obeyed, left, and went. Those are action words. Then, they stopped where God said for them to stop. It made no sense whatsoever to them, but God had a miracle waiting. How would they have crossed two major obstacles, a desert and a sea? They needed a miracle. God provided just that. So, God led them accompanied by His Angel. That’s where the Angel brought them, too. Now, the Angel went behind them to protect them, confusing and placing obstacles before their enemies.

God opened the Red Sea. Can you imagine what that must of have looked like? I’m dying to see this scene in Heaven someday. I’m going to ask God to show me the entire scene. All of a sudden there was a wind so strong it parted the sea into two walls. The people then walked on dry ground. Folks, there’s no such thing as a dry ground at the bottom of the sea. It is wet and muddy. You see, when the Hand of God is involved, everything is perfect. The obstacles become steppingstones to move you into your destiny. Glory to God.

Can you imagine with me what it must of have been like? This walk across the middle of the Red Sea went on the entire night. God does another miracle. He caused the night to fall on the Egyptians as they were pursuing, and He caused the daylight for the Israelites. Wow, God. Do you see what I see? Your enemies will be engulfed in darkness smack in the middle of the brightest of sunshine, while your darkest night is a light unto you. Please, please, catch this truth. When you are led of God even in your darkest moment, God is shining His light on you and causing you to cross over to your destiny. Please take a moment to praise God in your darkest of hour.

I can see in my mind all those people old, young, babies, animals, and all they possessed in the middle of that ocean with a wall of water to the left and a wall of water to the right, hours and hours of walking to cross over. I wonder about the fish in the sea, and every living creature, plants, and whatever else lives in the bottom of the sea just moved aside so they wouldn’t be bitten, eaten, and entangled in it. You see what I see? A God that removes everything out of your way to get you to where you need to be. When the last person stepped into dry ground God closed the walls. The Egyptians lost their lives. I want to point something very important out in this story.

“Just before dawn, the Lord looked down from the column of fire and smoke and threw the Egyptian camp into a panic. He made the wheels of their chariots come off so that they could hardly move. Then the Egyptians shouted, 'Let’s get out of here! The Lord is fighting for Israel! He’s against us!'" Listen carefully, God always warns. They knew God was with the Israelites. Remember all the plagues? They should have never pursued them. So why did they? They didn’t have a heart for the true and Living God. Everything they did made no sense. They wanted them to be their slaves at all costs. Friends, listen to me very carefully. Nobody can keep you enslaved. When God leads you, He leads you.

There are many lessons to learn here. God leads His people always. God has His Angels leading His people. God leads His way. God leads in unconventional ways. God has the back of His people. God causes the crooked path to be made smooth. God causes the darkness to be a light for us. God is before us, behind us, leads by cloud and fire, finally bringing us to our destiny. This is a promise and a fact. However, we just don’t get there without our obedience. The greatest mistake we can make is to disobey and be fearful of how He is leading.

What if Moses or the people argued what God told them to do and refused to do it? They would have died in the desert or drowned in the sea trying to cross it. Obviously, both those things they wouldn’t have done. They would have been stuck in the middle of nowhere. Got that? Nowhere! They would have died there along with their children or gone back to a world of slavery, misery, oppression, depression, and hopelessness. Can I just say that so many people do that on a daily basis, never crossing their “Red Sea,” because of disobedience and fear, to do what God told them to do through prayer revelations, Bible scripture, fasting, praying, messages preached, advice of Godly people, visions, dreams, and whatever means of communication God used to tell them to go. How sad is this?

When God has a destiny to fulfill in you, He will show it to you in so many ways. Then it’s up to you to move. Get going, be fearless, do what God told you to do. Listen, those Egyptians had no excuse. They saw the hand of God move in the plagues. Then, in the middle of the ocean, they saw the hand of God and even admitted that God was with the Israelites and yet they didn’t stop. Before we mock them, let’s look at ourselves because there’s plenty of us who do the same!

Ask God to reveal truth to you by His Spirit. There’s hope for everyone. Every tribe and every people. God’s love is for everyone. How will you respond today? I pray you see truth in this blog. May it move you, inspire you to follow God and do things His way. Stand on the edge of your ocean and believe God will part it for you too. Be bold, courageous, and obey. There’s no ocean, no sea, no nothing that can keep you from your promised land when you obey and do what God says to do. Fear must never keep you from doing what God said. Fear is the very opposite of faith. God only operates in faith. Faith is action. Action spells victory.

Glory to God, I’m crossing over will you join me, too?

Rev. Dr. Teresa Allissa Citro

Founder and President

Thread of Hope, Inc.