The Curses Described (Deut. 28:15-68)

7/6/2009 7:55 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  The curses described

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 28:15-68

 

            Message of the verses:  I choose not to copy and paste all of these verses because of the length and amount of them.  I will read and study them before doing this SD for these are very important verses to study.  When I first became a believer back in 1974 these verse some of the first sections of the Bible that I began to look at with the help of Hal Lindsey and I have remembered these verses and what he taught that they meant since first studying them.  I remember he called them “The Palestinian Covenant” because of where they were given and to whom they were given to.  In studying Warren Wiersbe’s comments from his book “Be Equipped” he gives some valuable information on what these verses had to do with the church, for there are principles in this section that was written to the nation of Israel that pertain to the church as there are in many other passages in the OT for Paul wrote in one of his letters that the things that happened in the OT were important to the church for they could look at these things and learn from them and hopefully not make the same mistakes.

            All of these curses came upon the nation of Israel on two different occasions, actually three if you count the invasion of the Assyrians in 722 BC against the northern tribes of Israel.  They also happened beginning in 608 BC and ended in 586 BC with the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.  Then in 70 AD the Romans under Titus destroyed again the Temple, which was rebuilt beginning in 538 BC and at this time Israel was dispersed around the world and even offered themselves as slaves, but no one would buy them for there were too many slaves on the slave market at that time and no one wanted them.

            Here I will copy a part of Warren Wiersbe’s commentary from “Be Equipped” that he wrote about what this section has to do with the Church today.  “There is a sobering message here for the church in Today’s world.  Like Israel of old, we are God’s chosen people and a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9-10) and have been greatly blessed in Jesus Christ.  We are here to ‘advertise’ the virtues of the Lord and declare the good news of the Gospel.  If we fail to glorify God and obey His Word, He will chasten us just as He chastened Israel (Heb. 12:1-14).  ‘For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?’  (1 Peter 4:17)  If God chastens His own people for their sins, what will He do to those who don’t belong to the family and have resisted His will?  But judgment will begin in God’s family, and the only way we can avoid it is to turn from our sins and obey His will.

            “The church that thought it was rich, Jesus said was poor; and the church that thought it was poor Jesus said it was rich (Rev 2:9; 3:17).  What will Jesus reveal about our churches when the fire of chastening falls?” 

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I believe that this judgment is fast approaching the church in the USA, and I have known this for a long time, ever since I first became a believer.  I believe that if the Lord does not remove His Church at the rapture then there will be persecution of the church in this country, and for that matter it deserves that for this country is not a shadow of what it used to be. 

            The question is what am I going to do with my life until this tragedy strike of the Lord returns?  Am I going to waste my time or do things for the Lord, wasting my time watching the TV each and every night, for that is a good thing to stop and replace it with studying the Word of God.  God is convicting me of wasting time and I want to do something about it, and by God’s grace I will.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Obey the Word of God and the promptings of His Holy Spirit.
2. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
3. Put on the Spiritual Armor to protect me today:  the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of truth, take up the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and take the Sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
6. Keep a short list of sins with the Lord, and ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sin.

 

Memory verses for the week:                                  Ephesians 3:17-20

 

17.  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you would be rooted and grounded in love,

18.  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,

19.  and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.

20.  Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us,

 

7/6/2009 8:52 AM