What the Lord said to Israel (Josh. 23:5-10)

11/17/2009 10:48 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time                              Focus:  What the Lord said to Israel

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Joshua 23:5-10

            Message of the verse:  “5 And the Lord our God, he shall destroy them before us, until they utterly perish; and he shall send against them the wild beasts, until he shall have utterly destroyed them and their kings from before you; and ye shall inherit their land, as the Lord our God said to you. 6  Do ye therefore strive diligently to observe and do all things written in the book of the law of Moses, that ye turn not to the right hand or to the left; 7  that ye go not in among these nations that are left; and the names of their gods shall not be named among you, neither shall ye serve them, neither shall ye bow down to them. 8  But ye shall cleave to the Lord our God, as ye have done until this day. 9  And the Lord shall destroy them before you, even great and strong nations; and no one has stood before us until this day. 10  One of you has chased a thousand, for the Lord our God, he fought for you, as he said to us.”  (LXXE)

            There are sometimes when I get reminded from my devotions exactly what is needed and this is one of those days and it makes me thankful.  Joshua was reminding the people that they had been given this land and defeated their enemies because of the faithfulness of the Lord and this section also shows the importance of knowing the Word of God and also the God of the Word. 

            Joshua reminded Israel that they were to stay away from their heathen neighbors because it is a gradual thing for them to get involved with them and then they will be married to them and then they will be worshiping their false gods.  Unfortunately this is exactly what happened to them and then the Lord had to discipline them.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  One of our lessons on the attributes of God, I think that it was the one on His holiness, Chip Ingram said that there was a time in his life when he stayed close to sin without sinning and then said that this was not the right thing to do.  This is a characteristic of the world and so I am to stay far away from sin and do as the Lord instructed Peter to write when he wrote that we are to be holy just as the Lord is holy.

            I know the Word of God better than when I first became a believer, and the Lord has given me a desire to not only know His Word but to know Him, and yet there are times when I am like king David and get in trouble.

My Steps of Faith for Today:

1. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
2. Get to know the Lord of the Word better.
3. Put on the spiritual armor:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, and take up the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.

11/17/2009 11:33 AM