Gather the Plunder - Devotional

Jesus said to them, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” -Luke 9:60

Written by Krista Collins

I was doing a 40 day fast. I called it my “Exodus Road.”      

Exodus literally means “the road out.” There were some things I wanted out of my life. Some things were not bad but they did not draw me closer in my walk with God so I set out on a forty day fast to meet with Jesus and seek His guidance.  

The book of Exodus seemed like a logical place to start. One of the things that always makes me smile is how God works. Not only did he faithfully bring his children out, he brought them out with the “plunder of the enemy.”  (Exodus 3:22)

So I set out to gather my own daily plunder. Day 20 led me to, “But you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” The call to grow the kingdom of God is the purpose of the plunder.   

The Israelites got their plunder from the Egyptians and brought it to the Lord to make a sanctuary or a  “a place for the Lord to dwell among them.” (Exodus 25:8)  The Israelites got their plunder from the ones who held them in slavery and bondage; the hard and the ugly made beautiful by the hand of God.  

I would gather too. I would go to the one who bought me back with his own innocent blood. The one who redeemed me from my own slavery. The one who called me from death to life. I would gather the rich plunder of His word and proclaim the kingdom of God. I would walk my exodus road and receive His rich mercy. I would grow in grace and grow in extending it. I too, will build a sanctuary in my heart for the Lord to dwell.

We can not give what we do not first receive. We must seek to daily “gather our own plunder.”   We must gather the richness of His word, His truth, grace, mercy, love and kindness, His forgiveness, His compassion and His truth.  That is what we are called to proclaim.