Hearing God's Word (Deut. 31:9-13; 24-29)

7/14/2009 8:33 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Hearing God’s Word

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 31:9-13, 24-29

 

            Message of the verses:  “9 ¶  So Moses wrote this law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and to all the elders of Israel. 10  Then Moses commanded them, saying, "At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of remission of debts, at the Feast of Booths, 11  when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this law in front of all Israel in their hearing. 12 ‘Assemble the people, the men and the women and children and the alien who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the LORD your God, and be careful to observe all the words of this law. 13  "Their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the LORD your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.’

            “24  It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this law in a book until they were complete, 25  that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the LORD, saying, 26  ‘Take this book of the law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the LORD your God, that it may remain there as a witness against you. 27  ‘For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, while I am still alive with you today, you have been rebellious against the LORD; how much more, then, after my death? 28  ‘Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth to witness against them. 29  ‘For I know that after my death you will act corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will befall you in the latter days, for you will do that which is evil in the sight of the LORD, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.’”

            In his book “Be Equipped” Warren Wiersbe writes, “God rules His world through His Word and God’s people must respect His Word and obey it.”

            In this section of Scripture Moses tells the nation of Israel the importance of God’s Word and how they are suppose to have a copy of God’s Word put in the Holy of Holies and it was to be read to all the people every seven years.  He also tells of the importance of having the Word taught to the younger generation so that latter on they too can pass it on to their children so that they would know what God would have them to do and how to live.  Moses also tells the children of Israel that they would fall away from the Lord and from His Word and worship dump idols and this is a great tragedy. 

            The Church today is always one generation from becoming instinct and all one has to do is look at the country of England who in the years past was the ones sending out missionaries and now they need to have missionaries sent to them because they stopped teaching the Word of God in their churches.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have always had a strong desire to read and study the Word of God and for most of my Christian life have had a systematic way of studying the Word of God.  I realize that the Lord has put this desire in my heart and I am thankful for it and want to always study God’s Word and when the time is given to me by the Lord to teach it too.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service today.
2. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
3. Keep a short list with the Lord and seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sin in order to confess it to Him and be cleansed.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Put on the spiritual armor:  The belt of truth, and the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith, and put on the helmet of salvation, and take up the sword of the Spirit.

 

Memory verses for the week:                                  Ephesians 3:18-21

 

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,

21.  to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

 

7/14/2009 9:11 AM

Honoring God's Servants (Deut. 31:1-8, 23)

7/11/2009 8:42 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Honoring God’s servants

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 31:1-8,23

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2  And he said to them, "I am a hundred and twenty years old today; I am no longer able to come and go, and the LORD has said to me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’ 3  "It is the LORD your God who will cross ahead of you; He will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who will cross ahead of you, just as the LORD has spoken. 4  "The LORD will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. 5  "The LORD will deliver them up before you, and you shall do to them according to all the commandments which I have commanded you. 6  "Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or tremble at them, for the LORD your God is the one who goes with you. He will not fail you or forsake you." 7  Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land which the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall give it to them as an inheritance. 8  "The LORD is the one who goes ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’

            “23  Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, "Be strong and courageous, for you shall bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.’”

            This SD begins a new chapter in Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Equipped,” and he calls it “The Song of Moses.”  This is the first section in this chapter and it has to do with leaders and in this case Moses and Joshua.  It must be remembered that Joshua is the Hebrew name for Jesus and in an earlier chapter of his book Warren Wiersbe pointed out that Joshua was the one who had to lead Israel into conquering the Promised Land because of his name.

            Moses is in this process of leaving this job and transforming the position of leader over to Joshua who has already been involved in a roll of leadership, for he was the one who was the head of Israel’s army, and he was one of the twelve spies or which he and Caleb stood up with Moses against the other ten spies saying that they could conquer the people who lived in the land even though they were much larger and more powerful because the Lord was with Israel.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The principle of raising godly leader in the Church today is similar to what Moses did with Joshua, for Jesus left his disciples in charge of building the Church and Paul left Timothy and Titus to carry on.  I am older now and want to help the younger generation to worship the Lord correctly and thus take part in carrying on the work of the Lord as best as I can help others.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Trust the Lord to give me opportunities to help lead the younger generation.
2. Give myself to the Lord today for worship and service.
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, and pray.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Keep a short list with the Lord and seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart for unconfessed sins.
6. Seek the Lord to guide my path today.

 

Memory verses for the week:                                  Ephesians 3:14-21

 

 14 ¶  For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, 15  from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name, 16  that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, 17  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being 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, 21  to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.

 

7/11/2009 9:23 AM

Choice (Deut. 30:11-20)

7/10/2009 9:02 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Choice

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 30:11-20

 

            Message of the verses:  “11 ¶  "For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12  "It is not in heaven, that you should say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 13  "Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?’ 14  "But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.

    15 ¶  "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; 16  in that I command you today to love the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the LORD your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. 17  "But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18  I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. 19  "I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20  by loving the LORD your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.’”

            As I read over these verses they almost seemed like they were from the New Testament, and some of these verse are quoted by Paul in Romans 10:6-10.  Paul was saying using these verses “to prove that righteousness isn’t obtained by doing great feasts but by exercising simple faith in Jesus Christ the Lord.”

            As the focus of this SD is “choice” so this entire section is about choice, a choice to do well for the children of Israel in the land and to follow the commands of the Lord or a choice to not follow the Lord’s commands and receive the curses of the covenant which Moses just went over in the previous two chapters.

            Today the choice is between eternal life with Jesus Christ by accepting His work on the cross in our behalf or to ignore that free gift of salvation and suffer an eternity in a Christless place called hell.  The choices are simple.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Yes the choices are simple and if one thinks about these choices who in their right mind would chose the wrong one, and yet many do.  The choice after receiving the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord are also simple, yet just as the children of Israel worshiped idols, so there are times when idols come into my life that I follow and yes, the choice is simple that I should turn away from these idols, and yet there are times when I still take the wrong choice.  The Christian life is a battle, a battle between the forces of evil and me trying to follow the commands of the Lord and walk worthy of my calling.  With the Word of God and the Holy Spirit in my life I need to stand firm as Paul writes in his Ephesian letter, stand firm and not fall to failure. 

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Do the right choices.
2. Give myself to the Lord today for worship and service.
3. Put on the Spiritual Armor in order to stand:  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 hold up the Sword of the Spirit.
4. Continue to learn contentment.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
6. Keep a short list with the Lord of my sins 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, being 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,

 

7/10/2009 9:42 AM  

Promise (Deut. 30:1-10)

7/9/2009 8:28 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Promise

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 30:1-10

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  "So it shall be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have set before you, and you call them to mind in all nations where the LORD your God has banished you, 2  and you return to the LORD your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul according to all that I command you today, you and your sons, 3  then the LORD your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the LORD your God has scattered you. 4  "If your outcasts are at the ends of the earth, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 5  "The LORD your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will prosper you and multiply you more than your fathers. 6  "Moreover the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, so that you may live. 7  "The LORD your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8  "And you shall again obey the LORD, and observe all His commandments which I command you today. 9  "Then the LORD your God will prosper you abundantly in all the work of your hand, in the offspring of your body and in the offspring of your cattle and in the produce of your ground, for the LORD will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10  if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul.”

            This begins the last section in Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Equipped” and this is the first sub-section of this section entitled “The blessings restored.”  He says in the introduction to this section, “So often in Scripture, the thundering voice of judgment is followed by the loving voice of hope.”  After going over a quite lengthy section of judgment Moses now begins to look down the corridors of time and tell what will happen to the nation of Israel.  In the previous chapters he spoke of the nation of Israel disobeying their God and being dispersed two different times, and the last time they were dispersed around the whole world.  The movie “Fiddler on the Roof” describes this terrible situation of the nation of Israel while they are dispersed around the world.  I believe that this section is speaking of the last days and I also believe that I am living very close to the time when these verses will be fulfilled, for even though there are some out there in Christendom who think that because Israel crucified the Lord Jesus Christ that all of the promises given to Israel were given to the Church, I don’t believe that for a second.  Israel is now in the land and has ownership of portions of the Promised Land for the first time since 586 BC and there are some people of Israel who are coming to know their Messiah at this time.  There are now more Jews living in Israel than in any other part of the world combined for the first time in a very long time.  God has promised to Abraham and his decedents, the nation of Israel, that they would own a certain portion of land, “The Promised Land,” and they have never up until this time in history possessed all of that land, but will someday.

            In this section of Scripture Moses writes that there will come a day when the people of Israel will have their hearts changed to believe in their God and will be pleased to obey Him.  Paul writes in Romans that there will come a day when “all Israel will be saved,” and Ezekiel writes in the 37^th chapter of his book that the last thing that will come into the rebirth of the nation of Israel is having a new heart come into the people of Israel, and a new Spirit will come into these people.  The time is neigh for all of this to happen and I will close this section with what the prophet John writes at the end of the book of Revelations, “20 ¶  He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming quickly." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus. 21  The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen.”

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Since I believe with all of my heart that the time of the fulfillment of this prophecy is very near I need to be telling as many people as the Lord directs into my path the story of Jesus Christ dying for their sins and that He is coming soon in the clouds to take His bride home with Him and to ever be with Him to worship and serve Him for all eternity.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Be open to the spreading of the good news of the Gospel.
2. Be ready to tell others of the hope that lies within me.
3. Give myself to the Lord today for worship and service.
4. 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, take up the Sword of the Spirit.
5. Continue to learn contentment.
6.  Trust the Lord to guide my path.
7. Keep a short list with the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart.

 

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

 

17.  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being 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,

 

7/9/2009 9:35 AM

           

Warning of Judgement (Deut. 29:16-29)

SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2012 11:39:12 AM

 

As I was looking through my older Spiritual Diaries in order to post them onto my blog there was one missing from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verses 16-29.  In order to make sure that there is something here I have decided to copy the commentary from Warren Wiersbe on what he says about these verses.

 

            Warning of Judgment (vv. 16-29):  16  (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17  moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them); 18  so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19  "It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ’I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ 20  "The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. 21  "Then the LORD will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law. 22  "Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it, will say, 23  ’All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24  "All the nations will say, ’Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25  "Then men will say, ’Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26  ’They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. 27  ’Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28  and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ 29  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

 

            “Moses reminded the people of the gross idolatry they witnessed while enslaved in Egypt and then while traveling through the wilderness.  If they witnessed it with hearts devoted to the Lord, they couldn’t help but be repulsed by what they saw, and they surely wouldn’t want to participate in it.  Nobody in Israel—no individual, family, or tribe—was to get involved in idolatry; for any idolater could become a ‘bitter root’ that could defile the whole nation.  Hebrews 12:15 applies this same warning to local assemblies of believers, for ‘one sinner destroys much good’ (Ecc. 9:18, NKJV).  Even if the offenders kept their sins hidden and were confident that they could escape judgment, the Lord would know and would judge.  There could be no forgiveness; they would be plagued and killed and their names would be blotted out from under heaven (Deut. 9:14; Ex. 32:32-33). They would suffer from all the plague named in Deuteronomy 28.

            “If the nation followed the idolaters and disobeyed the Lord, the Lord would judge the whole land and it would become an example to others of what happens when God’s law is violated.  Visitors would behold a country without people, farms without produce, land like the devastated land of Sodom and Gomorrah, and cities destroyed and left in ruin.  The utter desolation of Israel would be a reminder that it’s a costly thing to disobey the will of God.

            “Will Israel be an obedient people?  Would God send these curses?  What does the future hold for the nation?  Some of the Jews might have been asking themselves those questions, but this was not a time for speculation; it was a time for dedication.  ‘The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law’ (29:29).  Our responsibility as God’s people isn’t to try to pry open the doors of the future but to obey God’s will here and now.  When a man asked Jesus, ‘Lord, are there few that are saved?’  His reply was personal and not philosophical.  ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able’ (Luke13:23 NKJV). It’s not necessary to know God’s secrets, but is essential that we obey what the Lord has clearly revealed to us.” 

            I can say that Deut. 29:29 has been a verse that means a great deal to me and I am glad that I went over this section today so that it can be a reminder to me that all I have to do is obey the Lord and not worry about things that I have no control over. 

 

10/22/2012 12:03:20 PM

Calling for Obedience (Deut. 29:9-15)

7/8/2009 9:06 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

My Worship Time                                        Focus:  Calling for obedience

 

Bible Reading & Meditation                        Reference:  Deut. 29:9-15

 

            Message of the verses:  “9  "So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.

    10 ¶  "You stand today, all of you, before the LORD your God: your chiefs, your tribes, your elders and your officers, even all the men of Israel, 11  your little ones, your wives, and the alien who is within your camps, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12  that you may enter into the covenant with the LORD your God, and into His oath which the LORD your God is making with you today, 13  in order that He may establish you today as His people and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 14  "Now not with you alone am I making this covenant and this oath, 15  but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the LORD our God and with those who are not with us here today-“

            Moses is now is renewing the covenant with the people that their fathers made at Mt. Sinai and just as the covenant affected them now so would the renewing of this covenant affect their sons and daughters throughout the history of Israel.

 

            Message of the verses:  “16  (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17  moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them); 18  so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19  "It shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will boast, saying, ‘I have peace though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’ 20  "The LORD shall never be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. 21  "Then the LORD will single him out for adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant which are written in this book of the law. 22  "Now the generation to come, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has afflicted it, will say, 23  ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24  "All the nations will say, ‘Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25  "Then men will say, ‘Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26  ‘They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them. 27  ‘Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28  and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.’ 29  "The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.”

            In this section of verses there is the famous Deut. 29:29, at least it is famous to me for this verse means a lot to me in that in this verse God is saying, not only to the children of Israel, but to me too, that I am not to be concerned with the secret things that the Lord has not revealed to me, but I am to obey what He already has shown me to do. 

            There are curses involved for those who did not follow the words of this covenant and they were laid out in the 28^th chapter of Deut.  If the children of Israel did not follow this covenant and go off and worship idols, idols that they saw the people of Egypt worship and also the people along their journey to where they are now worship then the same thing that was done to those nations would be done to Israel, even worse for they new the truth and they new the Living God and had Him in their midst so they would not be forgiven for this sin and would be taken out of their land and the land would be left desolate so that people would look upon their land and think that because they disobeyed the Lord this was what happened to them.  As far as not being forgiven for their sin Moses goes over this in verses 18-21.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Dr. Wiersbe in his commentary on Deut. “Be Equipped” has written something that I wish to claim as my spiritual meaning for my life today from these two sections in Deut.  “If they witnessed it with hearts devoted to the Lord they couldn’t help but be repulsed by what they saw, and they surely wouldn’t want to participate in it.”  He is writing about Israel seeing those who worship idols and being repulsed by it.  This is one of the problems of watching too much TV for the more you watch the less the awful things you see affect you and therefore you become numb to the awfulness of what you are watching.  This has to stop in my life!

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Not watch as much TV, and read more.
2. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
3. Put on the Spiritual Armor:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of truth, take up the shield of faith, put on the helmet of salvation, and take the sword of the Spirit in my hand.
4. Learn to be content.
5. Trust the Lord to guide my path.
6. Keep a short list with the Lord and seek the Holy Spirit to search my heart for hidden sin that I may confess them to the Lord.

 

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

 

17.  so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being 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,

 

7/8/2009 10:02 AM

Reviewing the Past (Deut. 29:1-8)

7/7/2009 7:49 AM

 

SPIRITUAL DIARY

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Focus:           Reviewing the past

 

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Deut. 29:1-8

 

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  These are the words of the covenant which the LORD commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb. 2  And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, "You have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; 3  the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4  "Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5  "I have led you forty years in the wilderness; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6  "You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the LORD your God. 7  "When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them; 8  and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites.”

            I wish to begin this SD with a quote from the Apostle Paul:  “1 ¶  Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things again is no trouble to me, and it is a safeguard for you.”  Chapter twenty-nine is called a miniature Deuteronomy, for in this chapter Moses goes over or summarizes what He has already written, and one must remember that the word Deuteronomy means the renewing of the Law, as Moses went over the Law for this next generation who was about to embark on the Promised Land. 

            This is also the first sub-section of Warren Wiersbe’s book “Be Equipped” entitled “The Covenant Renewed” which covers the entire 29^th chapter of Deuteronomy.

            There is a lot of repeating in the Word of God and since the Holy Spirit is the author of the Bible it is a sure thing to believe that this was done entirely on purpose for good reasons, one of which is that people tend to forget the things that they should remember and remember the things that they should forget.  Another reason is that in the nation of Israel the Levites and the priests had a copy of God’s Word while the common people did not so it was good to repeat these things so that they would remember.

            In these first eight verses of the 29^th chapter of Deuteronomy Moses goes over how the Lord had brought them this far by defeating the Egyptians, and other nations that had been defeated, and also that God feed them and gave them water, and that their clothes and shoes did not wear out and all of these things were miracles of the grace of God and good to remember.

 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I must also remember the what the grace of God has done in my life as I remember not only how God saved me, but also how He has led me this far through my life here on earth and blessed me in many, many ways of which I probably have not been thankful for to the extent that I should, for without the grace of God I would be on my way to a Christ less eternity and would have missed out on how God has been caring for me ever since I have been born again.  Paul writes in 1 Thes. that the believer is to give thanks for everything that happens in their life for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for them.  In other words God is in control and is working everything for the good of His children so don’t sweat the small stuff.

 

My Steps of Faith for Today:

 

1. Give myself to the Lord for worship and service.
2. Learn to love the Lord Jesus Christ more each day.
3. Trust the Lord to guide my path.
4. Trust the Lord to protect me with His Spiritual Armor:  The belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of truth, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit which is the Word of God.
5. Trust the Lord to teach me and for me to learn contentment.
6. Trust the Lord to guide my path today.
7. Keep a short list with the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to search my heart of 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, being rooted and grounded in love,

18.  may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and the length and the 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 of think, according to the power that works within us,

 

7/7/2009 8:33 AM