The devil will make you doubt and trick you into thinking God doesn’t love you enough to save you.
But remember: God loves us. God loved us before the beginning of the world. God IS love. The devil can not defeat that.
The scare tactics by the devil, making one fear about the future, seem legit, but if you trust in God, you can see some of the devil’s tactics clearly FAKE – like that terrible phone call that your car warranty is up, so obviously a scam. So clearly old news…. do people still get fooled? Yes. Do we have to stay alert? Yes. Are there updated scams? Yes. But listen and hear the holes.
God Loves us and we must stop picking up the devil who calls collect. Our salvation is justified not by our own power but by His, our Lord’s. He pays all the bills. The Lord’s call is true. That’s the call we take, His… Pick up His Call.
Pray people are drawn to understanding what the relationship is just between them and God. It’s an individual conversation to draw closer to God, to pray in thankfulness, as well as need. When we draw closer, He teaches us more and more.
The Lord’s Love is true.
The Lord’s call is true.
Amen
—-
FYI – this came out of a conversation of how I know the Lord loves us and takes us to heaven. FYI, the book of Revelation is the future, or some say the ongoing process… John, Jesus’s beloved disciple, was given the vision/insight when he was in his 90s and exiled and told to write it all down. He was actually taken to Heaven. He was the scribe for us – so that we know the future and how heaven will take us and those who have passed away. It describes heaven and earth being restored in later chapters, after the old ones pass after the destruction of the devil once and for all. It’s the hope given of eternal life. It’s the knowledge that God is in charge.
The section that talks about the dragon (devil) and beast is in Revelation 13, and speaks of the number 666 and the mark of the beast. Whomever doesn’t worship the devil’s dragon and beasts and get the number or the name tattooed on them will be killed. This is AFTER the Rapture, where believers are already with Jesus. We as believers get a front row seat to watch.
We must help others know that God rings true. We must keep looking to the heavens – preparing for Jesus’s second coming. Amen Amen
Will our time in Heaven be like a museum tour of memories? “You can’t take it with you” – but can you look at it from above? Good question.
I have memories now – and some of my kids toys and my old toy box. And photos – pages and pages of photos. I work really hard in my house cleaning – on occasion – actually clean spaces become like museum areas – “DON’T TOUCH THIS”… I am rearranging a room that used to be filled with kids things and now is a dumping zone. I used to have lots of stuff here but it is getting quieter and quieter as they age. I don’t mind- that’s actually good – and I am getting busier and busier as I age and thus that is why I clean less and less – that’s my excuse.
Now instead of just my museum spaces, I also enjoy my workstation workrooms and workshops – like my kitchen or my laundry room. I just tore apart my dryer – and put it back together – I don’t need fancy – I just need what I have to work.
What about Heaven? Have you thought about Heaven and what you will do there? Will it be a museum-like space and memories that are in clouds for online uploaded storage? Will it instead be like workshops for learning about history? Will it be workrooms for hammering out relationships that went awry on Earth? Will there be waiting rooms for your great great great great great great grandparents to come meet you? Will it be filled with more people than you could imagine? Well – maybe ALL these things – maybe that is why there is the advantage of the Millennium’s 1000 years AND THEN Eternity after that – with a new Heaven and New Earth – a NEW CITY prepared for us where we will live with the Lord FOREVER.
Will our time in Heaven be like a museum tour of memories?
IN heaven will we remember the good things? I’m sure!
Will we remember bad memories, or will they just fade away compared to the glory of the Lord? I bet they fade, how could they not…
When all is finally settled into new Jerusalem, how will our current memories stack up? Perhaps those memories will become building bridges of reconciliation to all those we knew and will get to know.
Either way, I am glad I have my ticket in Jesus. Millennium, Here I come!
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. Revelation 22:17
One of the joys I truly have teaching children is that their parents and grandparents often listen too. And as a people watcher, I’ve got many memories of watching the Holy Spirit putting people in certain scenarios and certain directions to learn. (Including me!)
Like last night at a church kid-friendly festival, it’s amazing how the Lord slows down the stream of time so that people who are simply floating can get anchored more and more. (Including me!)
Float – you could say I have floated but will I admit life has been so MUCH better when I became aware that I should follow the Lord’s Current, both the current flow of life AND the being in, participating in, the current place where His flock gathers. I also continually re-connect that our individual skill sets ARE a GIFT. Yes, ME TOO. I know I should use mine for the Lord, and get such joy making the most of blending my people skills and teaching gift and not minding messy plus knowledge and ‘stick-to-it-tiveness’. And at the same time, realize that the ONLY thing, besides gravity, keeping me, in particular, on this planet IS THE LORD. He has a reason for our reasoning. He makes our ‘stick-to-it-tiveness’ stick. We are blessed to “walk before the Lord in the land of the living”.
Last night I set up a science oobleck station for teaching about our Bible hero Moses. First off, arriving an hour early for set up, I got a little helper perfect for the job, about 8yrs old and she scooped and mixed blue oobleck with joy, learned and even taught her parents when they came by to check on her. And I got to hug my friends and share in another branch of my same one family of believers and those who will be.
So, among the THOUSAND memories in my heart (it’s a blessing to work for the Lord and see the Lord in action), I will tell you one story, of seeing with my own eyes the face of a little boy telling my amazing story-sharer friend and AMAZING co-laborer for Christ, how his Grandma gave him a Bible, but he never got to meet her, she had passed away when he was in mom’s tummy. And he reached back to touch his mom’s tummy. I mean imagine the pure spirit eyes of understanding and sadness of this 5 or 6 year old intensely pouring out this deep sharing story to the caring heart of ears who intensely listened to him. God puts us in position to be HIS EARS. We are to LISTEN to share the burdens of others with a tender heart. This little boy, with mom so close, took time to listen and focus on learning about Moses. My story-telling friend’s sharing prompted him wanting to share what he knew about the Bible – that He had one! It was a special moment of his understanding and he knew his grandma was special. Here’s a grandma-of-the-moment telling a grandchild-of-the-moment about LOVE, with his mom listening, how very much he was loved, especially if his grandma gave him a Bible. We are BLESSED as Christians to share stories of love, of trusting God, where opportunity opens, especially in knowing darkness can’t overcome the Light. We are blessed as teachers to share and reconnect what a grandma would have told their own grandchildren if they could. I had to chime in that he would see his Grandma someday in Heaven, with mom listening, isn’t that the greatest hope – to be in Heaven with our Lord.
This was just one child, but so many children one by one came to our table, many parents too. AND TIME SLOWED… and the Lord’s tarrying allowed me at the end to get 2 smores and a hot dog and a chat of faith around the open campfire. I DON’T take for granted this gift of opportunity for open sharing and open welcoming and FUN in open air. I felt SO BLESSED.
I believe we as floaters, should follow GOD’S CURRENT. There are open doors to open air opportunities that we should walk thru. I read Psalm 116 on the big altar Bible when I stopped into the sanctuary and felt the moment carrying me back outside where others needed to know that if Moses could trust God, we can trust God too. If Moses could work for the Lord, we can too…
I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord.
Amen(and thank you Lord for this smell of campfire still lingering – like memories sweet and savory, I thank You for Your fire.)
Psalm 116, as King David wrote, speaks of deliverance:
I love the Lord, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy.
Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live.
The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came over me;
I was overcome by distress and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord: “Lord, save me!”
The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion.
The Lord protects the unwary; when I was brought low, he saved me.
Return to your rest, my soul, for the Lord has been good to you. For you, Lord, have delivered me from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before the Lord in the land of the living.
I trusted in the Lord when I said, “I am greatly afflicted”; in my alarm I said, “Everyone is a liar.” What shall I return to the Lord for all his goodness to me?
I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord. I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people.
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his faithful servants. Truly I am your servant, Lord; I serve you just as my mother did; you have freed me from my chains.
I will sacrifice a thank offering to you and call on the name of the Lord.
I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the house of the Lord — in your midst, Jerusalem.
I am BLESSED that I set up a 4-day weekend for myself. I was feeling crispy around the edges, working so much. Not that I minded the work, I loved it, but sometimes you have to pause and RECHARGE. Not that I won’t be busy this fun 4 days, but it’s like SWITCHING TRACKS, taking my frame of mind and placing it on a DIFFERENT “train of thought” track, hopefully a really good track. It’s always the right track when we are getting away from the crashing loose tumbling rocks that make you jump tracks!
The two scriptures MOST ringing thru my head both for work and for life’s day to day play this week are: 1) we are to work hard and humbly at whatever we do as if we were working for the Lord, AND 2) how some wonders will be all gone one day, like the amazing temple that Jesus knew would be destroyed. Yup, we are to build, yes, but ALWAYSbe ready to switch tracks. Pick up and keep going.
SO, Day one of 4 days off, Saturday, met my friend for lunch in the city, but like we switched plans a lot and switched tracks A LOT. Even went the wrong way once, almost twice. I was OK for time, but often when there is little time, the day can get away. So, we settled for a favorite lunch place and then I went forward with my next adventure and saw the church my great grandparents got married at. Cool!
At the church, which was all boarded up for renovations, I snapped a few pics, then the Spirit track led me to walk across the street to chat with a hotel doorman, Hector is his name, asking him about the church. He started mentioning our world troubles and we chatted both agreeing this is NOT our home, we are awaiting Jesus to come back, and I mentioned that Revelation scripture on my mind plus about Jesus looking at the greatest temple of their time and knowing that it would be destroyed. Oh, Hector was THRILLED to speak about the HOLY SPIRIT. He was grateful for the opportunity to share. How cool… How Holy Spirit… I enjoyed hearing him witness how the Lord brought him up from the street and saved him. Hector mentioned how much his heart hurt when he sees lost people now, who were lost like him. He clearly now has a Jesus heart, understanding His pain. We are NOT to be friends with this lost world, work in it yes, but set apart. Yes, it was an intensely natural conversion between fellow children of God. We agreed that the “church” was no longer church buildings nor in the renovations of the buildings, but WE ARE HIS TEMPLE, EACH OF US, for Him. And now the church as the bride of Christ will be awaiting our wedding feast. We agreed to be all out waiting and working and witnessing until Jesus calls us home. WE WILL BE SALT AND LIGHT.
SALT. Yum, a SIDETRACK to a great candy store, for chatty conversation and SALT caramels.
LIGHT. I’m on the train tracks towards home now. The people are chatty, the tired people are giddy, giggly, and talking about their days. What interesting side tracks we all have. The people this morning were chatty too. I like that I took these switched up tracks today. I really hope to see these folks again. Hector and I plan to meet up in Heaven, someday, when that Trumpet blows… I think that will sound like a TRAIN WHISTLE… and Jesus says: “ALL ABOARD!”
Amen
—-
Mark 13:1-2
As he was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher! What massive stones! What magnificent buildings!”
“Do you see all these great buildings?” replied Jesus. “Not one stone here will be left on another; every one will be thrown down.”
Colossians 3:23-24
Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.
The rainbow text message photos from a local friend called to me to get off my chair and outside into the cool fall air. And WOW, a FULL rainbow, start to finish, and it was a double too. Not much rain but a reign of blessings and promise and hope is always signaled when we remember God’s promises. The previous day there was a rainbow too.
Tomorrow, I don’t know about rainbows in the sky, but will God’s promises still be there? Yes, promises and hope from God are ALWAYS shining thru, it’s up to us to blow away some of our clouds of life and notice the silver-linings and promises fulfilled – then embrace the Lord in thanks. He will help us plant good things in our lives so that He can water them. He sends the rains and rainbows.
When Moses instructed his people about the new land God gave them, he spoke of the Lord sending the spring and fall rains. These were agricultural folk, dependent upon the land and their livestock. But we are rarely more than simple gardeners, only a few seeds here and there for colorful flair and the joy of working the soil. Oh, the vibrant colors of Fall, the harvest season are feast for the eyes. The cool crisp feeling also gives us a reminder to prepare for the winter (even if it is raking up leaves in shorts).
Some things seem easy and yet all is not all easy for so many and this life may seem to bring us storms or we feel we have too much rain or not enough. Hopefully all our angst is only seasonal, and prayerfully many do have a storage tank of rain to spare and share. We do have MANY blessings. My onerous task this morning was NOT working my farmstead but opening a can of spaghettios for my son’s lunch. Times have changed. He didn’t venture to the fields for work, but to school in a car with a friend after a trip to the local haunt for a breakfast sandwich. Our milk and honey promised land is flowing in conveniences and blessings. So, that also means we have more time to think about THANKING GOD. And isn’t’ that what our promise pledge should be? THANKING GOD.
And what about planting our fields? Our gardens? Let us now make GARDENS OF FAITH, FIELDS OF FORGIVENESS, and take on the praiseful barnstorming of worship, in our vast landscape of thankfulness.
We are to till the soil for others now too, soften our hearts and look for seed planting openings. Let’s open opportunities for sharing. When the people ask: “What’s in your garden?” Let’s reply: “I’m cultivating HOPE, FAITH, FORGIVENESS and LOVE.”
Our lives change, our burdens differ, but the Lord is the same.
God keeps His promises.
Let us also keep the HOPE.
Amen
Moses teaching how to live in a new land, Deuteronomy 11:8-15
Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.
So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
Sometimes loud rumblings incite more action, good or bad, like a pep rally vs a riot. Sometimes (many times) people tune out loud voices. There will always be noise in life. There is best a quiet place where only the Lord knows our business. Attend to that quiet place as much as possible.
Why do squeaky wheels get the grease? If they are real wheels, it’s because they ride better and smoother with grease and the squeak indicates a real issue. If squeaky wheels are people, then it’s because they are LOUDEST, maybe going off track, maybe right on the right track and everyone else is going off track… either way you might best attend to squeaky people (especially if it’s someone who might disrupt your smooth ride of a day, annoy you or upset your plans). And OF COURSE, we see the important squeaky wheels of whistle blowers or people who raise valid points. Watch out as squeaky wheels can be what others learn from. Yes, kids learn what gets attention. So, let us show our values and hope and help children of all ages learn.
What does this have to do with scripture? Sometimes we are not loud enough in giving our voice to situations and sometimes we are seemingly wasting our breath. Moses spoke much and sometimes it must have felt like he wasted his breath. To God, there is NO wasted breath, He wants to hear all our needs (whether He answers us for our sake is another issue) … Moses however heard lots of griping from wandering desert people. He warned and warned and reminded and taught, leading God’s chosen people and giving them the law. He knew where the people failed God, and he himself failed God enough (by overreacting) to not cross that eventual day into the Promised Land. Moses was eventually OK, God took care of him too. Moses had taken on the call to save people by reminding them it wasn’t their righteous who saved them but God.
GOD CHOOSES TO SAVE over destroy.
Righteous, we all can fail in understanding God’s Righteousness over ours. We can fail in the law, but God knew that – His point in sending a Savior was SAVING was the ONLY Way back to Him. Not our way but His. We can fail in realizing God’s gift to us is FORGIVENESS despite ourselves. Righteousness comes with God’s RIGHT to SAVE, like the prodigal father who rejoiced when his lost son came home, it’s God’s Righteous Way we MUST adopt to forgive, to accept, and to love. How else can we come home if we drop the anger and forgive others…
God won’t just grease the squeaky wheels, He will dismantle them to the core of what’s wrong and build them fresh. He will build us fresh and new. He sent His Son to fight evil down and crush it, leaving us to be soul-cleaned and clothed in His Light, in His Righteous, in His Desire to Save.
The thing about God’s Way is that He WANTS us in His Kingdom. He WANTS us to realize it’s not just that we are a squeaky wheel to His ears, but a missing piece of His heart that He is reassembling since the fall of man with Adam and Eve’s sin. God, unchanged all this time, wants to walk in the cool of the day with us.
We must get quiet and listen for not His squeaky wheels turning in our souls, but His flowing love. The difference: flowing Love is LOUDER, Love IS the air in the tires AND the road AND the destination AND the journey. Love is the quiet of His tears. We must listen to His Love. God goes ahead of us, like a roaring fire to pave the way for us to walk to Him. Then only within His new walk with us is our rise from the ashes.
Moses prayed earnestly and extraordinarily for God’s people. Jesus gave His Whole Life for God’s people, for God’s fellowship to be restored. Both prayed asking God to OVERLOOK the stubbornness of this generation of people, their wickedness and their sin. Jesus knows that we must still teach and live in His Way – that when people realize He was and IS the Way, their path also will be restored to God.
God wants US in His Forever. His Promise to Himself is that He will love us and ask us to love Him in return…
Return to God, God is always listening.
Amen
—
…what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands...
…To the Lord your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it. Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today…
…Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes…
…Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.
Excerpts from Deuteronomy 9 and 10
—
Not Because of Righteousness
Moses says: Hear, Israel: You are now about to cross the Jordan… … But be assured today that the Lord your God is the one who goes across ahead of you like a devouring fire. He will destroy them; he will subdue them before you. And you will drive them out and annihilate them quickly, as the Lord has promised you… . .You have been rebellious against the Lord ever since I have known you. I lay prostrate before the Lord those forty days and forty nights because the Lord had said he would destroy you. I prayed to the Lord and said, “Sovereign Lord, do not destroy your people, your own inheritance that you redeemed by your great power and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Overlook the stubbornness of this people, their wickedness and their sin… …But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.”
I sometimes get the feeling of being “crispy around the edges”, a sign that soon one will get burnt out if one doesn’t pull themselves away from the fire. Yes, self-driven DRIVE as well as work and life demands are DEMANDING. Even if you LOVE what you do, it wears on you. I’ve been going full steam lately – You too likely!!! Don’t wear yourself out so much that you can’t walk. Work on the most meaningful things first and not the fluff. Like a play production, you DON’T have to be in every scene.
In the Lord’s Production of Life, we are best to be available for scene changes and for roles of service in bit parts, walk-ons, and being an understudy from time to time, as well as accepting our leading role (make that “to be led role”) that we have been equipped for and prepared for by the Lord our whole lives. Don’t get crispy around the edges as those stage lights can burn sometimes, go off stage on occasion – to grab a drink of water and maybe to read ahead for the next scene.
Our “crispy around the edges” feelings should not bring us to rebel and walk away from life, just take a few vacation days off, take time to CHILL. For me even to work from home once in a while feels like a productive retreat. Focus time. So, no, don’t throw in the towel, use it to wipe your brow and keep moving. Wait on the Lord, ALWAYS, and look for the next stage cue. I bet the backdrop will be changed and the props will rotate. The Production is what the Lord wants us IN rather than always be the staging crew. So, let us take to His Plot-lines and BIG PICTURE, not just our aside scenes.
We don’t know how micromanagement works with the Lord. We DO know micro and mega blessings. He does know everything, we can’t comprehend that widely and yet within His Production He must and does let us have free will. Sometimes things go so smoothly and I say: “that must be the Lord blessing”. Sometimes things screech to a halt and I say: “that must be the Lord’s correction or signal to drive another way”.
Interesting how in all the years they wandered in the desert, the humbled people of Moses walking thru the wilderness, none of their feet hurt from swelling. And there was NO wear and tear on their clothes. A teaching moment of a miracle for sure. When we depend upon the Lord, FOR EVERYTHING, He will sustain us. Manna and Motivation.
MAJOR moments of teaching came from Moses’s speeches: He said these trials were to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
This EXACT sentiment and wording is quoted by Jesus when the devil tempts Him in the wilderness because of hunger. The devil said: You are God, You can change these stones into loaves of bread. Jesus rebuked to say: a man is sustained by God’s Words, not by bread. It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Us too – we are to live Word by Word, listening for His cues. The sustenance of food, work, money, busyness is not our only or ultimate life-giver. Waiting on His Word IS. In all these things, let us LET the Lord direct us, direct the day, lead us in HIS Way. … in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.
Amen
—
Do Not Forget the Lord Deuteronomy 8:1-5
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
—
Paul to the Romans 12 – and to us –
A Living Sacrifice
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Humble Service in the Body of Christ: For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you. For just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we, though many, form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.
—
(I have heard many times that Jesus said these scripture words (quoting Himself) to remind us (and the devil) that man himself does not need to be God to turn down the devil – man can still just be man – but we only need to listen to God more… ) Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:1-4
yet how better to think: “LOVE, LOVE the LOVE your IN”.
LOVING the God with us, that we ARE with – as He is with us, in us, FOR us.
Love the God you’re in. And He is One. And He is One IN love with us all.
I have some of that sand leftover from my children’s craft projects in jars 10-15 years ago, beautiful those layers of color they placed just so. How narrow the opening was for them to funnel sand in, and try not to spill over. Eventually at the end, you had to knock the container to settle the sand, and the packed nature was to keep all in place. A display for all to see, each grain important. Each grain unique and structuring the next.
We are to be God’s people, to be His actions and people. He considers us more than just His specks of dust as we are carefully placed grains to cover the earth with His love. Together, God and Jesus poured Heaven into a man on earth, as an impression of God’s image, still fully God but walking being totally of a man. Surely He came to show us that He wants to pour us all back into Him. Think of the mirror flip of Him stepping into a man’s skin – and instead about us stepping into His Skin, filling it like the unique individuals that we are, then HE moves us all together and forward.
The meaning of life is all about fulfilling God’s Promise, holding to His Principles, and accepting His Love. Jesus was set into the world to teach God’s love and to CRUSH the evils. Jesus tended to the soil and cultivated the good crops so that God Himself saw only blooms among the weeds, us covered by Jesus’s Light. By His immense LOVE, Jesus could only be the sacrifice He accepted for Himself. It was a uniting force of love to complete the journey that we are walking on. In the ultimate wedding banquet, God wants us at His Table. He wants us in His sand bottle, but not for display. Rather He wants us in His movable Skin to be the Love He Lives.
Jesus loves to pour Himself into us. Jesus and God and Holy Spirit are ONE in LOVE and unique in LOVE. ONE is not “divide and conquer” but UNITE and SAVE. We are taught how to live and love for others to know Him thru us. Moses wrote and told what God said: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children….. be careful that you do not forget the Lord…. (Deut 6)
Jesus was tested and described the meaning of God’s law in quoting scriptures (He was quoting Himself): The greatest commandments to be loved and to love (See Mark’s gospel below). Jesus poured into His Walk the fortitude to bring God with us. Like a human version of the jar sand sculpture. Let us check with Him daily and have the Holy Spirit conviction to place our sand grains and dust in alignment with Him. Let us pray to hear: “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”
On His journey, on the mountains and in the valleys, Jesus strengthens and is strengthened. We too must ask for His Hand molding our grains of sand, of love, EVERY DAY. We DO know the plan, and still every day we must ASK to be placed where the Lord wants to pour us.
Be sand at His Command.
Love the Love you’re in.
Amen
—
One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, “Which commandment is the first of all?” Jesus answered, “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one; you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Then the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher; you have truly said that ‘he is one, and besides him there is no other’; and ‘to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the strength,’ and ‘to love one’s neighbor as oneself,’—this is much more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” When Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” After that no one dared to ask him any question. (Mark 12)
…
The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. But those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction; he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him. Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today. (Deuteronomy 7)
…
IMAGINE that conversation with Moses and Elijah and JESUS on the mountain of His Transfiguration. Imagine Moses had been chatting with God all along as God has been chatting with him. Imagine to have been with God, to know the plan, and yet still take time to chat. They could look at all those offspring of Abraham now as grains of sand…
The Transfiguration After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and covered them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. And they asked him, “Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?” Jesus replied, “To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.”
“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” Proverbs 31
Wisdom Wisdom Wisdom: Ask God for it. Head it. Apply it. Fear the Lord in reverence for He understands WHY He is giving you wisdom.
Ah, life in these times… the joys and the challenges and the opportunities. Know that even trying moments become teaching moments. Wisdom is knowing that the stars still shine behind the clouds, the sun still rises in a rainstorm, and the Lord is ALWAYS in control.
I love the WISDOM teachings of the Proverbs exactly written for us NOW even though they are nearly 3000 years old. They will still be (be still) so good for even generations to come. Proverbs of Solomon given as great advice for all: Reverence for God and Respect of your parents. This parallels the most important commandments to Love God and Love each other. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. God knows what He is doing, trust Him. WISDOM WILL SAVE YOU.
… “if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding— indeed, if you call out for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds success in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will protect you, and understanding will guard you. Wisdom will save you…” Proverbs 2:1-12
The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel: for gaining wisdom and instruction; for understanding words of insight; for receiving instruction in prudent behavior, doing what is right and just and fair; for giving prudence to those who are simple, knowledge and discretion to the young—let the wise listen and add to their learning, and let the discerning get guidance—for understanding proverbs and parables, the sayings and riddles of the wise. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Listen, my son, to your father’s instruction and do not forsake your mother’s teaching. They are a garland to grace your head and a chain to adorn your neck.... Proverbs 1:1-10
—
She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Proverbs 31:25-27
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul.” That commandment is in the Bible so many numerous times. SO MANY! It’s not that Moses was repetitively writing for his own sake, but it became the Lord’s reminder for the sake of His children. It’s not that the disciples were rewriting that commandment again and again for their own sake but for those children of the children of the children – for us and for our children too.
Moses said there were 70 people at the time Jacob was renamed Israel, and they walked into Egypt due to a famine and their youngest Joseph’s connection to a good Pharaoh. and now they as 12 tribes of a nation counted as numerous as the stars… (Just as promised Abraham)
God delivered. Moses said: You saw, He did, You can – you can stay alive by Keeping God’s law alive.
How about us? Have you seen God move mountains in your life? Have you been blessed with milk and honey, a warm house, a good meal, a place to rest? Again, our children may not understand what we went thru. Maybe we are still living in the valleys of our ancestors climbed hills. Do we remember that our ancestors scraped by healthwise to survive? Had to make sacrifices for their children’s sake? Had to travel and be foreigners? Mine did. How they must have kept the faith on the trip across the sea, survived the famines, wars, diseases. God delivered. My ancestors said You saw, He did, You can – make it. He does provide.
My life? It’s my children whom I want to see that I rely on God. RELY, OBEY, LOVE. Love God not for a handout but a hand-up and a hand-le on how to handle situations, handle things, handle money, handle time. You saw, He did, You can Hand-it to Him. He helps you not just stay alive but THRIVE.
So love and obey the Lord, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the DAY that you are crossing…
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and all your strength.
AMEN
—
He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. Your ancestors who went down into Egypt were seventy in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky.
Love and Obey the Lord
Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.
Do you want to wake and walk from darkness? Follow the Light.
Worried? Trust the Lord to continue walking with you. Follow the Light.
In the last book of Revelation, the last verses. Jesus says “I am coming soon.” John, the beloved disciple, says “Amen”, and “Lord Jesus come QUICKLY”. The gospel of John, scholars say, is the next book recorded chronologically as the book of Revelation was written down IMMEDIATELY by 90 year old John (as Jesus and angels dictated) before John had/took the time to write out his “Gospel of Wisdom”, which in itself is but a fraction of the key events of Jesus’s life.
So start at the beginning of John’s words, a gospel account that matches the Bible’s Genesis: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God... … And the LIGHT shineth in darkness; and the darkness COMPREHENDED it not.
I AM SHOCKED… Actually ILLUMINATED… The Gospel of John’s passage in verse 5 is NOT the wording I’ve seemingly memorized my whole life as “overcome” – “the darkness has not overcome” but that wording to me shows in but a footnote… I had to pull out and read two Bible versions just then to verify and it’s amazing how the words of the Word in certain translations have deeper meanings that sometimes hit us “just so”. I do understand both meanings here, it IS what I have always understood as truth: That Darkness has NOT OVERCOME the LIGHT – NOR has the Darkness UNDERSTOOD the LIGHT. I mean how could it? Really how could darkness and evil really understand Jesus.
IF DARKNESS UNDERSTOOD, and saw and COMPREHENDED, then it wouldn’t be darkness, would it? Darkness has NOT COMPREHENDED and NOT UNDERSTOOD let alone OVERCOME it. THE LIGHT IS what we behold, especially as the Light holds us. The Light of Heaven exists always – and in Heaven there is NO night.
Don’t ever let fear overcome you to the point of not looking for the LIGHT.
Don’t ever let any Darkness tell you that you are not worthy of the Light that God shines for you.
Don’t let anyone make you feel like you don’t love the Lord enough to be worthy of His love or forgiveness, because He is the One Who Loved you FIRST. (And there is no worthy that could be to the level of His Immense Worth anyway, He is God, after all). Jesus IS our Heaven-sent HOPE.
Let us trust God’s Word, that the Darkness can’t even understand that. Darkness may mock God’s Word or twist it or try to add or subtract from it, but it CAN’T change it. Light Lives.Lord God Almighty HAS overcome all things dark and deathly thru sin. We ARE made worthy IN HIM, in JESUS, in the LIGHT.
It’s HIS inner place within YOU that God lights by His Light. It’s YOUR time with Him that He illuminates and preserves. It is not darkness’s time or place to cover any lamp that HE has LIT.
So, trust that TRUTH that you have a special unbreakable bond with God. Go to the place where God’s Whisper is JUST for you. Others may never understand, but you can receive Him and His Power to become His child of God, just because you believe in His Name.
YOU COUNT AS A CHILD OF GOD.
God ONLY sees you in the LIGHT.
AMEN
Understand what’s not Understood,
What darkness never could or would.
That Jesus is forever the Light for Good.
Where darkness has no place,
Jesus Lights the WAY with His Glory and Grace.
Amen
—-
John’s wisdom gospel chapter 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness COMPREHENDED it not.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John [the Baptist]. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.
That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not.
But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
What an amazing teaching that Stephen has in The Book of Acts – especially recounting Moses’s deep history – especially teaching those that should be teachers… Stephen was said to appear like an angel in his glow – and the Holy Spirit thru him taught so many before he was killed.
Hearing and re-hearing these stories is also a reminder that:
The Bible weaves Truth as threads of the Fishermen’s Net.
Truth strengthens generations of the souls of men, then and now, with Spiritual uplifting. The Net to Fish for Men is deep and multi-layererd.
We get to know how the capturing Vine of Jesus fed and feeds those branches of that Net that now also catches us too.
This is a good chunk of Old Testament learning, Abraham to Moses, now being a teaching testament to show where you actually can put your faith – in God’s promises. And it tells of Moses, and of dreamcoat Joseph, and of Jesus not being realized Who they were, SENT by God… Stephen was sent by God to weave the Fishermen’s Net deeper. Read the whole “cliffnotes” style story that Stephen recounts. So very good:
Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin – Acts 7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?” To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers, listen to me! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran. ‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’
“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living. He gave him no inheritance here, not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land, even though at that time Abraham had no child. God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated. But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’ Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision. And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth. Later Isaac became the father of Jacob, and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.
“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph, they sold him as a slave into Egypt. But God was with him and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace. “Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food. When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit. On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was, and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family. After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family, seventy-five in all. Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died. Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.
“As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased. Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’ He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.
“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child. For three months he was cared for by his family. When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son. Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians and was powerful in speech and action.
“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’
“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.
“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say: ‘I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.
“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground. I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’
“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’ He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. He led them out of Egypt and performed wonders and signs in Egypt, at the Red Sea and for forty years in the wilderness.
“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’ He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors; and he received living words to pass on to us.
“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt. They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’ That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made. But God turned away from them and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars. This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:
“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel? You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek and the star of your god Rephan, the idols you made to worship. Therefore I will send you into exile’ beyond Babylon.
“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen. After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them. It remained in the land until the time of David, who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob. 47 But it was Solomon who built a house for him.
“However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says: “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me? says the Lord. Or where will my resting place be? Has not my hand made all these things?’
“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him [JESUS] — you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it.”
The Stoning of Stephen When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious and gnashed their teeth at him. But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look,” he said, “I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.”
At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Then he fell on his knees and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
Yes we forget to be looking for God in everything. We are remembered even when we forget that we are being held, being handed things, being helped and His. Humanness means we hurt and drift. Humanness means we think we have it under control. Humanness is tempted to go it alone.
One thing that people say, uninformed people, is that the Bible is old and not relevant today. Well, that is not true!!! Jesus, Himself being the Word, quoted Himself when He told people stories and sayings and reminders. Jesus was/is fulfillment of the scriptures, speaking to and thru Moses, to NOT forget God – and to fear the Lord in reverence, as the Lord can test us and feed us, both are within His love.
Yes, we are tested. Yes we are loved. Yes we are wanted. Yes we are held.
God knows the nature of humankind to take credit when they achieve things – when they think they did it themselves – we are totally like that. And where does that come from? The bite of the apple of the forbidden tree, a bite inducing STRIFE. Humans gained thinking that we think we know things we don’t. It is “taking for granted” as if our knowledge grants us things instead of “taking things as quoted” – meaning giving credit to God for our gifted grace and goods. Jesus quoted Himself to say: “All Good Things are From God”. God promised to take care of us, and He does.
You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
How many times do we bite that apple – get chomping at the bit to pat ourselves on the back, reward ourselves with food or folly for doing something, just get over confident, and forget to say “if it pleases the Lord, we will do this or that”. We get ahead of ourselves and forget to thank the Lord. Thanking God is a good way to remember that Jesus never ends – as Lord God Almighty, He is the beginning and the end and His Words in the old testament are just as valid as His Words in his 3 years of walking and preaching, and are just as valid today.
Stephen in the book of Acts (and the disciples) preached after receiving the Holy Spirit after Jesus’s assentation, Stephen told a tremendous story of prophecy and of Moses and connected his listeners to truth. Paul, after he was awakened from being ruthless Saul, quickly took up the persuasion of those who knew the scriptures but were blind to connect them to Jesus. The old testament prophets spoke of the Savior coming as well and the need to heed. Jesus Himself especially quoted from what was revealed to Moses (recorded in Deuteronomy) in His conversations with the fellow disciples and townsfolk and ruling authorities. Imagine their surprise when Jesus taught openly and connectively about God.
All scriptures then and now as we read fresh today are True Words of Jesus’s Way, they remind us to not forget God. The criss-cross of scriptures weaves a net of worthy Words. Imagine Simon in the temple studying scriptures his whole life now holding baby Jesus as a living breathing messenger delivered in the Messiah. Simon lived his whole life to behold He, Jesus, Himself who was giving life.
Praise the Lord for everything – He really did provide it. He says so.
Do Not Forget the Lord quoted Himself.
Do Not forget the Lord.
Amen
—-
Moses says:
Do Not Forget the Lord Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.
Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.
If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.
Worth a Repost – Forgiveness – Road Rage – Yes – Let Go – Let Grow
Yes – “The More We Live – Let Go” – music therapy of this song is therapeutic to writing about modeling Jesus, for the forgiving Jesus… Lots of new to me YES songs are very enlightening… Cool…
Let Go
Forgiveness… “Let go”… Jesus says forgive others as we ask (ok beg) God to forgive us… It’s tough, it’s going to take time… But it’s necessary… Maybe we don’t want to forgive others, maybe we just don’t know how… For people we don’t know, it can be easier, walk away and forget… Like the road rage incident I had, I was fine, the car was fine, he was in severe emotional pain which wasn’t my fault. I saw it over his face… pain… anger… frustration… I felt so sorry… Now if he had hurt my beloved blue Subaru window, when he punched at my face behind the window, this might be a completely different essay, one of a forgiveness that would have taken much longer, but it’s not… and I am fine, because the armor of God and armor of Subaru saved my face, and my faith, and I can forgive, I turned the other cheek and drove away… still scared, still aware, still I can see his face, but it was a need for giving forgiveness to him (and to myself for not being extra careful driving)… yeah maybe we more easily forgive IF incidents don’t hurt…
But what if they do? What if they hurt directly or someone we love? Recent or even if it’s twenty plus years ago? What if I would not personally want to, or seem to be able to, forgive them anyway??
It sounds easier said than done to forgive, and actually it might have to be a ripple effect forgiveness we seek… “Forgive me, oh Lord, because I find it hard to forgive this situation, this person… Forgive them Father for they know not what they do… Forgive them Father especially since they know what they did was wrong”… It’s easier to hear Jesus utter those words then for it to come out of our own mouths. Maybe God hears HIS children cry in pain because there is no glee in forgiveness, only tears in forgiveness – Jesus’s tears – Jesus wept – His cleansing tears for washing our souls… Jesus a gift for our salvation because he can walk the walk and talk the talk of asking God to forgive those people – which also means to forgive us, because we are unforgivable to some others too…
This level of forgiveness might work if whom pained you is someone your see daily, weekly… Maybe you can’t forgive them yet, yet you can try. Even if you are not there yet, God’s asks you to try and God has a mediator in place regardless… Jesus is the mediator – this ripple effect forgiveness might be your only hope: “Jesus help me forgive them for sake of my own forgiveness too – please Jesus ask God to forgive me”.
So this YES song, matches these forgiveness thoughts with the phrase: “Wanna change the world?”… “The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow.”
That is forgiveness in a nutshell… The more we FORGIVE, the more we grow… Likewise, the more we shed light on the dark spots of our hearts, the more we ask forgiveness for, the more we grow… The more we move towards modeling Jesus the more we obtain the harmony God desires… eternally in God’s house is where HE is calling all of us together, reassembles what was shattered at the biting of THAT apple…
Yes, we share the world, it’s up to us, we carry God’s burden of forgiving the snowball effect of man’s sins from eternity…
And we will help Jesus by forgiving, LET GO….
And we will help God by picking ourselves up, and moving forward… LET’S GO…
LET GO of the past, LET’S GROW because that’s what God desires…
LET GOD work us over
LET GO
——– YES The More We Live – Let Go
“You and I can change the world; The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know. From this moment on we share the world; The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow. The spirit of imagination can lead us through the dark; The more we see, the more we try, the more we show. The evidence of our confusion, life has left its mark; The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide. As we walk into tomorrow (Turning away from the path we know) Holding the future with our hands (We carry the weight of the world we go) It’s up to you and I — We hold the key; we hold the answers All our thoughts of doubt and fear are leaving one by one The more we live, the more we learn, the more we know. For each of us the road is clear and life has just begun; The more we give, the more we love, the more we grow. It’s time to reach the goals we’ve set for ourselves; The more we fear, the more we lie, the more we hide. All we need is just to believe in ourselves; We face the truth, we see it clear, with no disguise. Cast away our doubt and sorrow (Turning away from the past we know) The Universe at our command (Conserving the fate of the world we grow) Together you and I, we hold the key to all the answers Let go Let go Let go Let go Let go”
—— The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant – Matthew 18:21-35 Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times. “Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand bags of gold was brought to him. Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.
“At this the servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go. But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred silver coins. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded. His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay it back.’ But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed. “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart.”
SOMEDAY LORD, we will write it TOGETHER, You and Me.
…
Revelation 24, it’s not taped up to my door.
It’s not a chapter fallen upon Your floor.
It’s not history that anyone chose to ignore.
But our future FOREVER life, that You amazingly hold in store.
…
Revelation 25, Oh what JOY to be ALIVE.
Oh, we will see Your Tree of Life THRIVE.
Oh, we drink of Your River of Life to REVIVE.
Oh thru Your Redemption, we Bride of Christ, We DO SURVIVE.
…
GOD, YOU ARE ALWAYS WAS AND IS.
LIFE is what JESUS, ALPHA and OMEGA, GIVES.
OUR shortcomings He FORGIVES.
FELLOWSHIP we now have with HE WHO LIVES.
…
AMEN in You Lord, Your Commandments we drink undeservedly in You, FREE.
You Living Water, Bright Morning Star, we thirst for, serve, and Worship THEE.
Jesus, Lord God Almighty, let us turn this page as if it were to be chapter 23.
Lord, write my NEW life for me.
Bring us to Thee.
Amen
“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in ME“. John 14:1
I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star. And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. Revelation 22:16-17
If nothing else, I bet the 10 Commandments can be a great reminder that:
God WANTS us to TRY to keep FELLOWSHIP with HIM.
Yes, the 10 Commandments were how God set the law, detailed by Moses and shared for all, and these are reflective of God’s go-to list of beliefs and behaviors. But that last TOUGH commandment is one that we and even Jesus’s CLOSEST followers shalt break: Thou shalt not covet. Jealousy is a great problem – Thank God Jesus’s redemption is far stronger!
God’s outstretched arm to save the Israelites is the same arm that holds us safe. We are to honor the Lord by doing likewise on the sabbath (and each day) by outstretching our attitudes and keeping them and our minds HOLY. But Jealousy sometimes sees us stretch our minds further into wants further than our arms should ever reach. Jealousy leads to theft. Jealousy leads to gossip. Jealousy leads to twisting the truth. Jealousy leads to anger. Jealousy leads to ludicrous thoughts of things for which we have NO CONTROL OVER. Jealousy even leads to strange frustrations where the devil makes us think we are far from God because of our sin and the sin of others, even cursing against what Adam and Eve did.
Why should we maintain jealousy or stay mad at God for a life we think we SHOULD HAVE HAD. We end up wasting time waggling our tongues rather than praising God. Being jealous BLINDS us to our blessings.
What do we do? Count BLESSINGS. Be less bold for our wants. Be a giver of other’s needs. Take less. Give more. Realize Righteously. Forgive forever-ly.
Here are 10 reminders:
Look for and count 10 BLESSINGS for every curse or almost curse.
Praise people 10 times for every put-down.
GIVE 10-fold away for every item taken.
THANK 10 times for every thankless moment.
Sing PRAISE10 times as loud as any grumble.
Shine LIGHT 10 times brighter into any darkened hope.
LISTEN 10 times for each one thing we speak.
Read 10 things for each thing you write.
Be Still 10 times more than we react.
Trust 10 times in God’s faithfulness over each doubt.
God wants fellowship not forgetfulness or flight. God wants servants not slide-by-the-seat-of-my-pants living. God wants to call us Home, not drag us. Jesus wants to walk WITH us, not race after us.
How about we take 1 step, then we take 10 steps WITH the Lord, and then let Him take all the rest!
Amen
The people were afraid of God but learned that God DOES talk with them and they live. “And ye said, Behold, the Lord our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.”
—-
The Ten Commandments Deuteronomy 5:1-24 NIV
Moses summoned all Israel and said:
Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.)
And he said: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day.
“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”
These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.
When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was ablaze with fire, all the leaders of your tribes and your elders came to me. And you said, “The Lord our God has shown us his glory and his majesty, and we have heard his voice from the fire. Today we have seen that a person can live even if God speaks with them…”
It’s both peaceful quiet and peaceful LOUD here at Camp Meeting grounds near the shore.
Peaceful QUIET of the worries, dangers, annoyances of life. Peaceful LOUD as this camp teamed to life Saturday morning even without more than a handful of late-season campers. First the crows, summer bugs, endless buckeyes and acorns hitting the roofs. Random smacks like thunder! And now the ROWDY ROOFERS, actually paint scrappers rowdy on the roof on an auditorium in this revival camp that has raised the praise for nearly 160 years now. Raising voices, Raising hearts, Raising Eyes, Raising Souls. Oh the Sound of Soulness… NOT a sound of silence…
How many lives saved because of this place and these people? How many rustling trees stirred the workers to witness, teach, sing. How many families modeled moderation, motivation and momentum.
How AWESOME Lord, to see Your outdoor house in a tabernacle of Life. How inside each person is your tabernacle.
Yes Lord, how blessed for here we know You moved in so many hearts.
You moved a Sound of Salvation!
Sweet Amen!
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. Revelation 22:17
So neat as a pin and organized to a T, this adorable camp house is perfect to remind me of everything in its place and a place for everything. It’s a playhouse that’s real. A tea party with real tea. A house made into a real home by the love that poured into it and the love that emanates from those withing. A weekend retreat for me and some of the girls, I am so blessed to have even gotten here. Mental break of putting life issues on a mental shelf for later. Not forgotten but stored. A place for everything and everything in place. Life is best realized when you realize your blessings. Set aside strife. Count your blessings and never run out of things to count! Most of all, COUNT ON GOD.
How heavenly to know that our needs are realized at camp and to reduce the number of wants with a weekend away. A dry roof over our heads, sturdy structures away from the wind, these keep wildlife at bay while you sleep, and yet camping as the walls are thin enough to hear the summer bug’s last serenade. And thank God it is quiet enough to hear the quiet. This is camp enough to feel the balance of nature. We are but travelers in this world. And yet we are connected enough to be in 5G networks. We are safe enough to know safety. Love the image of the rafters exposed and solid, so you KNOW exactly the structure keeping the structure is solidly in place. We are to know blessings enough to count blessings.
Heaven, I am told and I can imagine, surely is like this, we will KNOW Who is keeping us all solidly secure. Heaven holds all our needs conveniently close, like including a WAWA store on every convenient corner. More importantly, life in Heaven HAS less needs, if any, probably none – just wonder and love. Only our need is to be THANKFUL and share our JOY in WORSHIP of GOD. All life-strife driven as far away as to be non-existent. Heaven follows God’s Order and Plan and leaves nothing to chance. We think of Heaven as something for us and our loved ones, but it’s truly created for God’s fellowshipwith us, so that He can know our company – and us His. Heaven holds where we finally know and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. No wonder He made us from dust and knows every hair on our heads. Everything in His place and a place (His place) for everything.
Not everything in life is so neat. My house I am constantly trying to put in order: the structure, the stuff, the sentiment, the souls. My life blessed but many folk’s lives are so very broken and complicated. No, not everything is complete or “neat on earth”. We are in a broken creation of broken creatures. Many don’t know the Lord or even to look. We are also often insulated in our blessings from knowing others who have it way worse. Our house walls too thick and our eyes short-sightedness. The strife, the unknown, the fear, the folly of the unwise, the waste of the unwanted, the worst uses of time. The creation is groaning for the restoration that will come around the corner. Like a camp that DOESN’T go quiet in the off-season, there was and is NO RENEWAL. Life grinds and wears thin.
HEAVEN WEARS STRONG. Hope in His Healing. Heaven is where the heart and heads hold-together and humans are healed of humanness. The eventual quiet of the camp out of season, when no people remain, stands a testament to the TRUTH that GOD NEVER CHANGES. The stars still shine. The air still breathes, the peepers still peep. Heaven on earth IS a big part of the Lord’s prayer – and that’s BOTH our prayer to the Lord and the Lord’s prayer for us. To bring Heaven on earth and be realizing and ready when Heaven renews our world, Heaven renews itself. His Will becomes His Way “on earth as it is in Heaven”. A place for everything and everything in its place.
At camp, we keep the homefires burning. God keeps His Fire burning our hearts and burning in our sights. God crackles thru the worst of times and shows us hope.
God says be always thinking of Home. “… and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other.” Like Moses leading to an earthly Promised Land, God leads us HOME. Everything in its place and a place for everything.
TAKE A CAMP MOMENT TODAY and BREATHE CLEAR – PRAY in GOD’S WAY – for PEACE to come on earth, as it is IN HEAVEN.
Amen
—
For God did not call us to be impure, but to live a holy life. Therefore, anyone who rejects this instruction does not reject a human being but God, the very God who gives you his Holy Spirit.
…
Believers Who Have Died: Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessolonians 4:7-8, 13-18
—
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to him? Deuteronomy 4:7
—
The Lord Is God (Moses instructs the Israelites)
Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other. From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time. Deuteronomy 4:18-40
Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” Moses’s instructions (recorded in Deuteronomy) to teach God’s people, before they entered the Promised Land. They were blessed with seeing God provide – food, safety, victory in battle, direction, laws. Moses taught them to honor God and keep to his law, to remember and to be thankful… Do we remember that too?
I LOVED going to my LAST back to school night. My son said that I didn’t have to go, but I wouldn’t have missed it in the world. 20 years I have had my kids in school settings both for their education AND their well-being while I myself went to work. 20 years from babies at 9 weeks for my son and 9 months for my daughter I have had them in daycare – making art projects, seeing the turtles and fish, going on field trips, learning potty training and how to read and write. 20 years later I am GRATEFUL they both learn and like to learn – and have real deal career aspirations… We HAVE come a long way, baby. I have put much value in their education just like my family instilled that in me. AND I went to back to school night because I just love to see stuff at the school, and in life, like the woodshop and computer shops, and wished the bakery was open even if I rarely eat those sweets. I realized this likely would be the LAST TIME I would be allowed to roam these halls too. SO much I have seen and so much to be grateful for. Plus having no in-person visit last year, it was REFRESHING to see the people! We all wore masks in compliance, other than that we were back to normal and crowded hallways teamed with life. (it is refreshing to be at work too where it teams with life like normal and that is our gratefulness that was do that normal thing). Life is a normal thing. Lest we forget to TRY to find normal in every day.
EXCEPT – who expects normal when God is in charge! Life is an EXTRAORDINARY thing. God is too vast to wrap our heads around and that is normal! Because God being God IS AMAZINGLY AWESOME.
God is not just in CONTROL but in CHARGE. And I also KNEW to match my excitement this last back to school evening with my SERVICE to Him. I’m a hired hand, paid in mercy, redeemed in grace. He’s got jobs for all of us to cooperate with and personally I am made to be His encourager (which is easy as I like people too!)… So, the bare minimum that I could do was say thank you to the AMAZING teachers. THANK YOU for raising my kids with JOY.
I say thanks be to God for this school, that the Lord gifted my kids to give them the best hands-on education ever, is where they both blossomed… A firm foundation in education IS the STEM of the flower – and the highschool years are the bloom – and the college years or career years are the floral arrangement of life – put together beautifully. And this school is a place that the Lord gifted me so conveniently close too, within walking distance so they could get themselves home when I was at work…. So off I went… no schedule as it’s too confusing to navigate the electronic software for a schedule, (my son didn’t screenshot it either or tell me much when i saw him at the yearbook table), so I DID MY OWN THING. Visited economics for his favorite academic subject this year. Totally talking money and how to invest, so much good advice. Then my daughter’s ole haunt, what JOY the shop teacher gets every year I stop back in and I tell him how awesome his education prepared her for college. showed him her photo getting an architecture award. And he also mentioned that my son, who is the school’s IT intern, had set up all the monitors that I saw in his room. A mutual joy.
Off to the computer shop, I saw the neighbor who helped me with my dryer. Saw cool things I didn’t understand, flashing lights not for show but real things with real dangerous electricity. Saw 3D printers like work toys to this generation akin to the first electric sewing machines that helped a previous generation or the first telephones or record machines.
And THEN I saw the lady in the sling, oh that familiar sling and cushion that I long cast off. Rotator cuff surgery (actually 2) so far behind me that I couldn’t even tell you what year that was. 76 PT visits and I threw them a pizza party when I was finally done. And so this night? I got to be the encourager… how many people I can still see giving me advice when I had my sling – including the lady at the garage sale demonstrating exercises. Yup, the room faded away as I talked to her, shared my advice for sleeping, medicines, exercise and driving with the FABULOUS one-handed steering wheel knob (which is NOT illegal and IS still in my car years later). She was one week out from surgery, and doing the best she could. One week out and she got to back to school night? To learn about her kid’s classes? WOW! Good for her! She is looking forward to going back to work to provide a distraction from her pain? Good for her! That’s all of us – we are to rise above the non-normal, the wacky and the wicked things of life these days. Put the pain in perspective. We are to set our eyes on the things above and ask the Lord: “WHY AM I HERE?” – AND EXPECT AN ANSWER! and be willing to do what He needs!
That’s all of us, we are to get out there and see the people God wants us to run into – whether at work or play. Not a people person? That’s OK, because God made you you, there’s other God-directed and God-gifted situations that you are intended to be in. Your life can be His pearl that He is creating bit by bit, layer by layer. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. Let the Lord polish your soul. So BE the Be in “Be Still” – listening, watching, reading, hoping, praying and BEing. Nest to have God’s rest. For it is:
So cool to know God’s rule.
So blessed to be God’s guest.
So imperative to hear God’s narrative.
So berserk to resist God’s work.
So thankful to drive with God’s tank full.
So good to go with the flow.
So neat to go “Meet and Greet”.
So today, stay humble and enter life’s fray.
Pray and pray.
So be ready to thank God for a good great day.
Amen —-
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. AND BE THANKFUL. Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, GIVING THANKS to God the Father through him. Letter from Paul to the Colossians 3:12-17 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Colossians+3%3A12-17&version=NIV
Interesting times we live in… I read that Los Angeles might vote on requirements for you showing your vaccination card to enter regular stores. In NYC that happens. I do remember that at the beginning of mask wearing, a lovely lady was at my grocery store instructing the people that soon it would be required to wear a mask. A gentle reminder probably did more that day than nasty stares. As for requirements of showing vaccination cards? It is kinda a lot to EXPECT every business to enforce that. Some will. Schools do. Some workplaces do. I carry mine with me and yet I wonder, at my upcoming live music concerts where the ticket lists the vaccination card as a requirement, whether someone really will check, whether they will say: “What’s in your wallet?”…
As for employment, that can be enforceable. I do expect that many might choose a religious exemption to vaccination. Actually I REALLY hope, that the people claiming religious exemptions are REALLY studying and clinging to their faith and have dug down deeply into what they really believe. They say when you walk towards God, He is RUNNING for you.
God doesn’t ask what’s in your wallet but checks FAITH and asks: “What’s in your heart?” Ain’t nobody really checking but you and God.
So more likely than not, no one is really sending nasty stares if you don’t know the Lord, not like people in airplanes in the seats near you and your screaming baby. What a relief when you encounter more compassion. God is full of compassion but also enforcement. Moses brought the law to the Israelites – 10 commandments and greatest commandments too – see Deuteronomy 5 and 6 – “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”
In end times, an angel will fly around the world and speak the gospel in every language as to catch all last souls ready to rise above the earthly fray and be saved. God doesn’t want anyone left out.
So what’s in your heart? God IS the one who constantly asks. He already knows, so best we be honest with Him – and have our secret meetings with Him – just BE with Him. Do you rely on Him? Will you turn to fear or faith when the going gets rough? We too must show our faith by being OK when times get tough.
God has compassion but the door will be closing at some point and Jesus returns. If you’ve heard but held off, NOW IS THE TIME to grab the Lord’s compassionate Hand.
Yes, we are blessed by people who demonstrate care, and we learn from strangers as well as friends and family who teach us, by example, where they get their hope. We are ALSO called to show that “we are Christians by our LOVE”.
Let us be the ones who hold tight not to our cards and earthly things – but to our God who gives us breath and life. Let us trust Him to hold us in the palm of His Hand.
It’s not “What’s in our wallet” but “What’s in our FAITH?”
Lord, help me TODAY to love You – with ALL MY HEART, ALL MY SOUL, AND ALL MY MIND. And help me to love everyone – as they are ALL your children.
Amen
—- Matthew 22:37-39 KJV
Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. —
Matthew 9:35-37The Workers Are FewJesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.”—Revelation 14:6-7And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.
—
Deuteronomy 6: 1-7T
hese are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you.
Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.
Moses must have felt like the parent of teenagers, reminding his hundreds of thousands of people to COUNT THEIR BLESSINGS. Remember these people weren’t his necessarily his followers simply because they chose to stick with him, they kinda had to. Imagine their travels. They may have traveled out of Egypt to escape Pharaoh, passing thru the parting of the Red Sea, but in the desert, they were stuck with RELYING ON GOD. And when the time was right for God to give the next instructions, Moses spoke directly to God and gave the people His commands (thousands not just 10). They were being granted the ability to live day by day and given the law to live by for forever – and they needed to keep their faith. Too many who lost faith lost their way and lost their chance to continue. And yes, like today, there were rebellious types too. Moses surely kept telling them “COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS” instead of griping.
Yeah, count me in on reminding us all to COUNT OUR BLESSINGS. Let us NOT gripe our way into desert wanderings. Be humble enough to take what you get. Make the most of it – and rely on God to know how to use it.
Moses wasn’t “wasting his breath” on telling the people (those generations that made it to the moment, now ready for entering the Promised Land) that God DID provide sustenance and direction all those nearly 40 years of desert travel, his purpose was to lead and teach – he was gifted from God, appointed by God. Moses was singled out by God to tell us too. Moses wrote down how it all went down. The free food, the clothes that never wore out, the land of milk and honey promised and the wins over enemies. God NEEDED them (and needs us) to know that He IS in charge. THAT HE PROVIDES. That ALL GOOD THINGS COME FROM HIM.
Sometimes we are like those tribes (Deuteronomy 3) who didn’t want to cross the Jordan but stay in territory familiar to them – where eventually God said OK, you can settle there AFTER you do My Will. Go out and fight for Me and your brethren Israelites, then you can return to set up camp. We too must pick up our marching orders, go do our work for the kingdom and our families. Then we are gifted the rest. Moses preached CONTENTMENT not contempt. He reminded that God made people WAIT those 40 years to sort out the bad seeds from the good. He said “the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.” We too can wait for good things.
Yes, count your blessings. I will too. The nights you sit on a cushy couch and count blessings after a LONG day. The moments you can relax as you know where your kids are and that they are safe and count blessings. How many days that I have had a FULL day of work then still had time to be with my children. Mom tired but content. Many days we can double count blessings. The days of letting the Lord step us thru our steps. He knew and knows what is important to us – but more importantly He knows what is important for all, and sometimes we get clued in. He makes us put first things first. Let us give Him time to set things right. He makes us put time helping out in the world, then allows us to return back. Yes, safety and sanity, and getting stuff done.
Over and over again God Himself gave the people their victory (or forced defeat as He decided). It was NOT the people from their own strength. And He reminded them of that. We should not think that our God who made EVERYTHING isn’t responsible for our everything and anything. We must remember to credit God for the very breath we have, let alone ALL our victories in life.
Moses also was instructed to lead the people gently thru areas that weren’t theirs, namely those of their relatives, the offspring of Esau. They were to take nothing without paying and just be gentle travelers passing thru. Don’t provoke war, pay for what you take, don’t covet what’s not yours. When God is not giving you even a foot’s worth of land there, KEEP MOVING. “…but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on.”
KEEP MOVING. That’s us too, God ALREADY told us about our promised land in heaven, let’s not attempt to stake out more than our share, here on earth or anywhere. Don’t squabble, use your money wisely and willingly for He give that as a tool. Pay your dues. Be fair. KEEP MOVING.
Let us count our blessings and THANK THE LORD. So PERFECTLY matched is the song that was singing in my head when I woke up: “So Thank the Lord”, from Godspell. It is a song that my children sang in a church choir and it sticks with me. It’s about realizing God gives us our lives and all good things, let us THANK THE LORD for all His love.
Contentment not contempt.
Cooperation not complacency.
Worship not wandering.
AMEN!!!
Wanderings in the Wilderness
Moses reminded them of their history:
Then we turned back and set out toward the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir. Then the Lord said to me, “You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. Give the people these orders: ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your relatives the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”
The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, AND YOU HAVE NOT LACKED ANYTHING. Deuteronomy 2:1-7 Deuteronomy 1-2 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%201-2&version=NIV;KJV
commanded you at that time: “The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of the other Israelites. However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your fellow Israelites as he has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.” Deuteronomy 3:18-20 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy+3%3A1-20&version=NIV;KJV
Lyrics from Godspell “So Thank the Lord”
We plow the fields and scatter the good seed on the land..
But it is fed and watered by God’s almighty hand..
He sends us snow in winter, the warmth to swell the grain…
The breezes and the sunshine, and soft refreshing rain…
All good gifts around us. Are sent from Heaven above. Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all his love
We thank thee then, O Father, for all things bright and good,
The seedtime and the harvest, our life our health our food,
No gifts have we to offer for all thy love imparts
But that which thou desirest, our humble thankful hearts!
All good gifts around us. Are sent from Heaven above.
Then thank the Lord, thank the Lord for all his lov
Jesus knows that all too well. We’ve been able to hear His story thru the disciples: He had to go both to the cross and to His Ascension, both on God’s Time, and longing for the time that He will eventually get to be with His disciples and us again. He knew where He was going, and in the future He will also. So do we, we can read ahead to Heaven’s Glorious place.
Moses, he too knew where his people the Israelites were to go. He saw the land from afar, he knew of the land, and sent agents ahead to report back. Jesus also sent agents ahead not to spy but to tell, He sent prophets and His beloved disciple John, who wrote the book of Revelation down to share it.
Israelites, 40 years they wandered until a whole generation who rebelled against God had passed away. Deuteronomy is the chapter where we see Moses getting the green light to have his people stop wandering and actually cross into that Promised Land. Look how Moses, knowingly prevented from going, still had a job to do, to instruct them how to get thru. He did this EVEN THOUGH HE WAS NOT GOING WITH THEM. Moses became known as “the Law”. The instructions for living were detailed and real. Keeping everyone on track. Moses was picked by God to be their leader, and he too had to be a follower – of the Lord. Both Moses and we have to work for getting our sheep to the “other side” – to strengthen them, help them not sweat the small stuff. Not look behind. Jesus too had to follow – to fight the temptations to rebel – to persevere – to see the plan through. Jesus also is the track laid down for us to follow.
God tells us it’s time to go – and to grow through painful moments. And sometimes we grumble – sometimes we have to leave things undone. How fitting also that the Lord understands this. Wishes for all His children, whom He loves, but will come to a point where all will either cross or not to His New Beginning. He tells John in Revelation to keep teaching but sometimes you do have to walk away.
“Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this scroll, because the time is near. Let the one who does wrong continue to do wrong; let the vile person continue to be vile; let the one who does right continue to do right; and let the holy person continue to be holy.”
Yes, each should continue to continue, it’s worth working for the hope on the other side. Don’t worry, walk.
Bless all who cross your path. Show them we are followers of Christ by our love.
Amen
—
Jesus said:
“And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give every man according as his work shall be. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.”
A tremendous blessing to learn from Revelation 22 – our future is in the yet NEW Heaven… I appreciate learning scripture NOT as breadcrumbs but as WHOLE loaves.
“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
I appreciate all SCRIPTURE as a whole for teaching because when God’s wandering sheep come across God’s “Lost and Found Box”, only He knows which of HIS pieces of SCRIPTURE specifically could click into our heads, illuminate our walk, be the clues to our puzzling, and be a specific piece to complete a gap, link into a whole novel section of life’s puzzle to build upon.
“And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.”
We are also NOT to lock up “God’s found scripture box” in the closet either, trying to protect it and then eventually forgetting about it. God wants His box of scripture open as someone may come looking soon… If they dig deep, they might find the corners but even better find Cornerstone Jesus speaking to them. Jesus says Let them Come.
God sees that the picture on the cover of His puzzle box because He created it.
God puts the puzzle back together into a whole picture.
God picks up all His crumbs and makes us whole again with His broken bread Son.
Holy Moses! You know how I love outside and God just makes these beautiful fall days!!! sunny warm breezy and HIS.
I was happy to have an invitation to an outdoor church service today with a friend, they have been meeting outside most all of covid season, and it IS beautiful weather!!! And I knew God was prodding me to go when I saw that their scripture today was about Moses parting the RED SEA and God making a WAY when there is no way… That’s not just a favorite scripture it is both that I reading about Moses in my daily devotions and have learned from Moses many times in vacation bible school situations – BUT ALSO that (uncoincidentally) I also am planning to be teaching a science experiment about parting the Red Sea just two weeks from now at my other other church, south of the city…, WOW GOD!
I figured out the lesson plan (going to make blue oobleck) just this morning before either church service!!! God has the best ideas. So here’s the icing on the cake: not only did I know 5 people at the outside service (non-coincidentally again), their new Pastor happens to be a friend of mine from 20 years ago! Haven’t seen her in 10 years or more, we raised our daughters early on together in a new mom’s breastfeeding group 20 years ago then continued with early playdates with a crew of 6 or so ladies that first year… WOW!!! … Loved her sermon that God was providing a great escape and it is God who makes a way – and GOD reminds that it was His power, we are just His vessels to do His work. I BELIEVE THAT!
This is an unbelievable day that God put in our sights today – a knock your socks off walking on my path day today!
He makes the Way!!!
Let us each EMBRACE HIS DAY!!!
Amen!
———-
Exodus 14:10-31
As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the Lord. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!”
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”
Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel’s army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the Lord drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.
The Egyptians pursued them, and all Pharaoh’s horses and chariots and horsemen followed them into the sea. During the last watch of the night the Lord looked down from the pillar of fire and cloud at the Egyptian army and threw it into confusion. He jammed the wheels of their chariots so that they had difficulty driving. And the Egyptians said, “Let’s get away from the Israelites! The Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.”
Then the Lord said to Moses, “Stretch out your hand over the sea so that the waters may flow back over the Egyptians and their chariots and horsemen.” Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and at daybreak the sea went back to its place. The Egyptians were fleeing toward it, and the Lord swept them into the sea. The water flowed back and covered the chariots and horsemen—the entire army of Pharaoh that had followed the Israelites into the sea. Not one of them survived.
But the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left. That day the Lord saved Israel from the hands of the Egyptians, and Israel saw the Egyptians lying dead on the shore. And when the Israelites saw the mighty hand of the Lord displayed against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord and put their trust in him and in Moses his servant.
God can wait, He waits on us all. Does He want to wait? Not at all.
God can count His people, but knows He can not always count on His people.
God can count the days, but knows His people don’t always want to count their own. God can do math. God made math. God made order. He knows the best way. He already finished His Way – now we have to be led on it. Know that Revelation is written, it is the Way to the New Beginning, but God’s waiting on His people to get on His Plan.
God hopes His people Hope in the best.
God can hope. God made hope. We also should learn where to place our hope. Not in the world, not even in the people. We are to HOPE in the Lord’s vision, action, deliverance.
God has reminded us, in His Word, that He will set things right. He has righteous plans for forever. He can help you sort thru immediate plans for today. He can even tell you to pull back and wait. He can prod you to keep going.
God will wait.
Can we?
God will move.
Can we?
Moses dealt with those who did not want to wait and were forced to wander longer. Actually it was when they wanted to decide everything their own way, so instead they had to wander so much longer. Moses also dealt with those who said: we’ve gone far enough, we will take second best here. You go ahead without us. That’s when Moses said: “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?” See, what they thought was “good enough” for them meant they were taking the easy way out. Their stopping would have made the rest go ahead without their help – the others would have had to work more. Moses reminded them to continue as “we are all in this together.”
Us too, we really ARE all in this together but individually called. If some start thinking too narrowly then what will remind them to rejoin the battle for the community. It’s not always just about us, actually it’s rarely just about us. That’s why we SERVE God. We serve Him so that others may KNOW HIM.
If God has other plans for any of us – for you for me, then His plans are the best plans. Complacency is a sin. Acceptance of His Plan is a virtue.
Satan teases us into trying to make the best (for ourselves) here on earth. That’s his short-sighted vision trying to distract us into destruction. The best surface-level items of wealth and perceived stability may not last. But the Lord wants us to look LONGTERM, look forever, make the best PLAN for Heaven, best for us and best for others.
God is waiting for us to see Him as BEST. God is awaiting the rest of His flock to pay attention. God can wait until His appointed time. But there will be an end. See Revelation. That end is a new beginning for those who believe.
God will wait before ending our Earth time because there are more souls to save. But He won’t wait forever. God has knowledge that He will lose many children who don’t cross into His Promised Land. He has areas of refuge for those awaiting His judgments. He wants us all to keep moving forward. He wants us all to depend on Him.
Amen
—
Numbers 32:1-17
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
“And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”
Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place.
—
36:13 These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
God can wait, He waits on us all. Does He want to wait? Not at all.
God can count His people, but He knows He cannot always count on His people. He knows the brokenness of ways and days. He sent Jesus to make our sins NOT count at all against us.
God can count the days, but knows His people don’t always want to count their own. God can do math. God made math. God made order. He knows the best way. He already finished His Way – now we have to want to be led on it. Know that end times as described in Revelation is written, it IS the Way to the New Beginning, but God’s still waiting for most people on His people to get on His Plan.
God hopes His people Hope in the best, HIM.
God can hope. God made hope. We also should learn where to place our hope. Not in the world, not even in the people. We are to HOPE in the Lord’s vision, action, deliverance.
God has reminded us, in His Word, that He will set things right. He has righteous plans for forever. He can help you sort thru immediate plans for today. He can even tell you to pull back and wait. He certainly can prod you to keep going. He can part the red sea of your troubles. He can close the doors behind you and keep you safe.
God will wait.
Can we?
God will move.
Can we?
Moses dealt with those who did not want to wait and were forced to wander longer. Actually, it was when they wanted to decide how to do everything their own way, so instead they had to wander in the desert so much longer. Moses also dealt with those who said: “[we’ve gone far enough, we will take second best here. You go ahead without us.]” That’s when Moses said: “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here?”… See, what they thought was “good enough” for them meant they were taking the easy way out and not supporting the WHOLE plan. Their stopping would have forced the rest go ahead WITHOUT their help – the others would have had to work more. Moses reminded them to continue as “we are all in this together.”
Us too, we really ARE all in this together but individually called. If some start thinking too narrowly then what will remind them to rejoin the battle for the community – for God’s Will not the community’s. It’s not always just about us, actually it’s rarely just about us. That’s why we SERVE God. We serve Him so that others may KNOW HIM.
If God has other plans for any of us – for you for me, then His plans are the best plans. Complacency is a sin. Acceptance of His Plan is a virtue. Satan teases us into trying to make the best (for ourselves) here on earth. That’s his short-sighted vision trying to distract us into destruction. To go down in flames because that is where he knows where he is going. The surface-level items of wealth and perceived stability will not last. But the Lord wants us to look LONGTERM, look forever, make the best PLAN for Heaven, best for us and best for others.
God is waiting for us to see Him as BEST. God is awaiting the rest of His flock to pay attention. God can wait until His appointed time. But there will be an end. See and read John’s recording of Jesus’s Revelation. That end is a new beginning for those who believe.
God will wait before ending our Earth time because there are more souls to save. But He won’t wait forever. God has knowledge that He will lose many children who don’t cross into His Promised Land. He has areas of refuge for those awaiting His judgments. He wants us all to keep moving forward. He wants us all to depend on Him.
Amen
—
Numbers 32:1-17
The Reubenites and Gadites, who had very large herds and flocks, saw that the lands of Jazer and Gilead were suitable for livestock. So they came to Moses and Eleazar the priest and to the leaders of the community, and said, “Ataroth, Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, Nebo and Beon— the land the Lord subdued before the people of Israel—are suitable for livestock, and your servants have livestock. If we have found favor in your eyes,” they said, “let this land be given to your servants as our possession. Do not make us cross the Jordan.”
Moses said to the Gadites and Reubenites, “Should your fellow Israelites go to war while you sit here? Why do you discourage the Israelites from crossing over into the land the Lord has given them? This is what your fathers did when I sent them from Kadesh Barnea to look over the land. After they went up to the Valley of Eshkol and viewed the land, they discouraged the Israelites from entering the land the Lord had given them. The Lord’s anger was aroused that day and he swore this oath: ‘Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.’ The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.
“And here you are, a brood of sinners, standing in the place of your fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel. If you turn away from following him, he will again leave all this people in the wilderness, and you will be the cause of their destruction.”
Then they came up to him and said, “We would like to build pens here for our livestock and cities for our women and children. But we will arm ourselves for battle and go ahead of the Israelites until we have brought them to their place.
—
36:13 These are the commands and regulations the Lord gave through Moses to the Israelites on the plains of Moab by the Jordan across from Jericho.
Debbie Upper 