Study from God’s Word… Lev. 21: 1-24; Lev. 22: 1-16; Lev. 25: 1-7: Exod. 23: 10-11; Lev. 25: 8-34, 39-43, 47-55 … Passage for Reflection: Leviticus 25: 10 … NIV Consecrate the fiftieth year and proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a jubilee for you; each one of you is to return to his family property and each to his own clan.
My Journal for Today: Today in my study of many of the rules and practices given to the ancient Jewish Priesthood for the establishment of God’s rule on earth to His people, there was the establishment of the year of Jubilee, a festival which was to be celebrated every 50 years amongst the Hebrew people; and like many things in the establishment of God’s way of living in ancient Israel, Jubilee was a picture of something special to come; and that was also found in and connected to the feast of Pentecost, which was to take place 50 days after each Passover. So, after 50 years of celebrating Pentecost there would be for the Jewish people a special year of Jubilee in which debts were forgiven, land was returned to the original owners, and slaves were freed. And God’s people celebrated that freedom could only come and be granted through and because of their observance of God’s laws.
And the picture God was providing in Jubilee was of THE DAY of Pentecost, which finally came when the Spirit of the Lord descended on those who had repented of their sins after Jesus was crucified (i.e., those we consider the original “Church”); and then, the fulfillment of the spiritual picture of Jubilee took place. As F. LaGard Smith so aptly points out in his devotional, the people after Jesus ascension into Heaven, becoming “THE Church.” And as we know from Acts 2, Peter, was preaching the message of deliverance to God’s people, and the people asked “What must we do?,” seeing their guilt for Christ’s crucifixion. And to this Peter replied, “Repent and be baptized … for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” And we know that God’s Spirit, in what must have been a glorious Jubilee in Heaven, descended on the early church and for any who would be a part of God’s Church from thence forth.
As Dr. Smith points out, ”Like Jubilee’s turning back of property, REPENTANCE is a turning back of one’s life. Like Jubilee’s redemption, FORGIVENESS is the discharge of debt for sin. And just as with Jubilee’s freedom for those enslaved, the GIFT OF THE SPIRIT accompanies freedom from spiritual bondage.” And when a believer comes to repent of his/her sinfulness and receives the saving Grace offered by Christ’s atoning blood sacrifice, it is no wonder that there is a Jubilee celebration in heaven by God’s angels, who celebrate that all that Christ came to earth to accomplish (you can read about that in Luke 4: 18-19 - linked here) becomes worthy of celebration in heaven as a life is set free from the bondage of sin and ultimately remade into the image of Christ, The Lord and Savior.
To close his devotional entry for today, Dr. Smith asks, ”Have I (or ‘have you’) prepared the way for my [or ‘our’] own jubilee by doing what the celebrants on Pentecost did?” And only you or I can answer that one for ourselves. But if we’ve acknowledged our sinfulness before God’s throne of grace; and if we’ve declared with our mouth [to another Christian as well as to God] that Jesus is your LORD and Savior [see Rom. 10: 9-13 - linked ] the angels in heaven have celebrated our Jubilee of deliverance; and we have been invested with the presence and power of God’s Spirit to provide us, as truly repentant souls, deliverance and freedom in Christ.
And to that, we, who have had our own Pentecost, must all celebrate and say, “HALLELUJAH!!!”
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray that all who read here have felt the deliverance that Your freedom from sin can offer in our Jubilee of coming to know You as Lord and Savior. Amen
Showing posts with label deliverance. Show all posts
Showing posts with label deliverance. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
2010 – Day 26. Jan. 26 – Trusting in God’s Deliverance
Blogger’s Note: It’s about 4 am on 1/26/10 and I just completed the data on my 40 Days of New Year commitment and my devotional journal for today [below] for accountability and sharing on this date. However, I will likely not be posting online for a few hours because I’m not foolish enough to ask my nurse (my wife, Elly) to type this for me now. She has become, by default, my nurse, secretary, and chauffeur in the next couple of weeks following my shoulder surgery yesterday. So, please be patient with my online posting, as my rehab begins post surgery.
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Study from Exodus 12-15; Passage for Reflection : Exod. 14:13-14 … NIV
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today … The Lord will fight for you; you will need only to be still.”
My Journal for Today … Well, here in Exodus 14 we read what is probably the classic biblical lose-lose scenario. God had led Moses, who, in turn, had led God’s people to the beaches of the Red Sea. And here, with the sea at their backs, the Egyptian army was pursuing them from down out of the hills in front of them. So, death appeared to be ahead and also certain death behind, with no way to traverse the Red Sea. No way to go but to God; and that’s the best place there is to be when we don’t have a clue as to what to do.
And I’d almost bet you’ve had some raunchy, lose-lose scenarios in your life, haven’t you? One or two may have bubbled up in your consciousness right now. And many times they have to do with relationships, where no matter which way we turn it seems to lead to a bad outcome. As a kid you may remember a time when you had been bad and you just knew that your parents were going to “kill you” when you had to confess your wrong-doing. But here you are and they didn’t kill you, did they? And it can be like that for adults also.
Years ago I can vividly remember having to confess 12 years of habitual sexual sin and marital infidelity to my wife; and when I did, I just knew our marriage was over. But here we are, 27 years later and God saw fit to deliver us by walking us through the Red Sea of reconciliation, restoration, and renewal, taking us to a place within His grace where we can share our story of how our God is a God of the second chance.
Think of how God’s people, the Jews, now share the story of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians; but so do we, the Gentiles. And now from the New Covenant, we Christians can share the ultimate deliverance story of how we were saved by God’s grace, by walking into freedom from the sure spiritual death of our sin nature, as Christ gave us the resurrection power over death through his shed blood on the cross.
Yes, that is the ultimate winner versus loser scenario, isn’t it? If we choose God’s way in Christ we become winners in heaven – FOREVER. But if we choose to reject God’s answer for sin, we will be losers in hell forever. Every day we can choose to follow our Savior, Who, by His enabling grace, gives us His power to walk free from sin. It is so often such a clear choice; but why, then, do we make it so difficult by choosing the selfish, sinful way rather than the satisfying, Savior’s way?
How about it, my friend? As Paul once said to the church in Corinth 1st Cor 11: 1, {my paraphrase} “You can follow me, because I follow Christ.” Well, I may not be the Apostle Paul, but I know that if you follow God’s way from His Word, as I try my best to do now in my life, He is going to lead us to life and away from death. So, come on dear ones, let’s do it!
My Prayer for Today : Lord, show me the way – Your way – and I will follow. Amen
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Study from Exodus 12-15; Passage for Reflection : Exod. 14:13-14 … NIV
Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you today … The Lord will fight for you; you will need only to be still.”
My Journal for Today … Well, here in Exodus 14 we read what is probably the classic biblical lose-lose scenario. God had led Moses, who, in turn, had led God’s people to the beaches of the Red Sea. And here, with the sea at their backs, the Egyptian army was pursuing them from down out of the hills in front of them. So, death appeared to be ahead and also certain death behind, with no way to traverse the Red Sea. No way to go but to God; and that’s the best place there is to be when we don’t have a clue as to what to do.
And I’d almost bet you’ve had some raunchy, lose-lose scenarios in your life, haven’t you? One or two may have bubbled up in your consciousness right now. And many times they have to do with relationships, where no matter which way we turn it seems to lead to a bad outcome. As a kid you may remember a time when you had been bad and you just knew that your parents were going to “kill you” when you had to confess your wrong-doing. But here you are and they didn’t kill you, did they? And it can be like that for adults also.
Years ago I can vividly remember having to confess 12 years of habitual sexual sin and marital infidelity to my wife; and when I did, I just knew our marriage was over. But here we are, 27 years later and God saw fit to deliver us by walking us through the Red Sea of reconciliation, restoration, and renewal, taking us to a place within His grace where we can share our story of how our God is a God of the second chance.
Think of how God’s people, the Jews, now share the story of the deliverance of the Israelites from the Egyptians; but so do we, the Gentiles. And now from the New Covenant, we Christians can share the ultimate deliverance story of how we were saved by God’s grace, by walking into freedom from the sure spiritual death of our sin nature, as Christ gave us the resurrection power over death through his shed blood on the cross.
Yes, that is the ultimate winner versus loser scenario, isn’t it? If we choose God’s way in Christ we become winners in heaven – FOREVER. But if we choose to reject God’s answer for sin, we will be losers in hell forever. Every day we can choose to follow our Savior, Who, by His enabling grace, gives us His power to walk free from sin. It is so often such a clear choice; but why, then, do we make it so difficult by choosing the selfish, sinful way rather than the satisfying, Savior’s way?
How about it, my friend? As Paul once said to the church in Corinth 1st Cor 11: 1, {my paraphrase} “You can follow me, because I follow Christ.” Well, I may not be the Apostle Paul, but I know that if you follow God’s way from His Word, as I try my best to do now in my life, He is going to lead us to life and away from death. So, come on dear ones, let’s do it!
My Prayer for Today : Lord, show me the way – Your way – and I will follow. Amen
Saturday, December 26, 2009
2009 – Day 359.Dec 26 – Striving to Be Like Someone Else
Passage for Study: 1st Samuel 8 – 9 … 1st Sam. 8 – 9 linked for study …
My Journal for Today: I hope you have duly read the two chapters toward which Swindoll has pointed his readers this morning; because in this historical account of the times of Israel just before the establishment of their first human king, we read of how God’s people, over and over again, just couldn’t learn from their own foibles. It was also interesting to see that neither did Samuel learn the parenting lessons we’ve been driving home the last couple of days. … No, just like his former mentor Eli, Samuel’s sons turned out to be bad apples too; and because of this and the discontent of the Hebrew people, especially their desire to be like all the other nations around them, God let Israel have what they wanted.
And we read that God led Samuel to the handsome young man from the House of Benjamin, Saul, who would become Israel’s first king; but even with God, Samuel, the Prophet, warning the people what it would be like to have a human king, the hard-headed people wanted to be just like all the other nations in the region. They wanted a king. And as I read this account again this morning, I was impressed by the parallels to this day in time in which we live. And any reader, who reads this, as we transition into a new year very soon (2010), we are going through a time in our country when God’s elected representatives are pushing through a government take-over of health care in America. And I can see a lot of historical and social parallels with what went on in 1st Samuel 8 – 9.
Today we see the voted will of the people, i.e., our elected officials, moving toward what many other countries are doing in the world; and that is to socialize health care. Countries in Europe and our neighbors to the north, Canada, have done so; and we just seem to be clamoring to do the same thing, not looking at what has happened in these countries. And there are other things going on in our government – unGodly trends – toward which we are moving, like government funded abortion and changing the status of marriage to allow homosexuals to marry, all of which are attempts to do things like other countries; and I can see God allowing them to have their way just to show America that not following God’s way will lead to disaster. It certainly did in Israel, if ones know their history when Saul took over as King. And I also move ahead in history to Paul’s New Testament reminder to the Roman Christians as one reads Romans 1: 18 – 32, which I exhort you to read from this link.
And when you’ve read the passages in 1st Samuel and Romans 1, I hope you’re as impressed as am I to see how we can read what God has written in His Book of Truth, the Bible, and yet mankind will pursue the self-destructive trends which God’s word clearly warns will be our undoing. And I think that my dear grandchildren are unfortunately going to experience the pain which the world is bringing on itself, because as it is said, “The rain, when it falls, will fall on the righteous as well as the unrighteous.”
Sure, we must do all we can, as Samuel tried to do, to fight against evil in our world and to alert our governement to what is truth from God’s word. And we, as Christians, must pray as diligently as possible for God to heal our land (as prayed in 2nd Chronicles 7: 14 -linked). But if the world will not hear and they keep clamoring for and doing evil in the sight of God, His reign will fall and our world will feel His wrath. And may God have mercy on all of us.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, reading these things does not give me good feelings going into the New Year; but I know that You’re in control; and I know You’ll never leave, nor forsake, those who love You and are Your called ones according to Your purpose. Amen
My Journal for Today: I hope you have duly read the two chapters toward which Swindoll has pointed his readers this morning; because in this historical account of the times of Israel just before the establishment of their first human king, we read of how God’s people, over and over again, just couldn’t learn from their own foibles. It was also interesting to see that neither did Samuel learn the parenting lessons we’ve been driving home the last couple of days. … No, just like his former mentor Eli, Samuel’s sons turned out to be bad apples too; and because of this and the discontent of the Hebrew people, especially their desire to be like all the other nations around them, God let Israel have what they wanted.
And we read that God led Samuel to the handsome young man from the House of Benjamin, Saul, who would become Israel’s first king; but even with God, Samuel, the Prophet, warning the people what it would be like to have a human king, the hard-headed people wanted to be just like all the other nations in the region. They wanted a king. And as I read this account again this morning, I was impressed by the parallels to this day in time in which we live. And any reader, who reads this, as we transition into a new year very soon (2010), we are going through a time in our country when God’s elected representatives are pushing through a government take-over of health care in America. And I can see a lot of historical and social parallels with what went on in 1st Samuel 8 – 9.
Today we see the voted will of the people, i.e., our elected officials, moving toward what many other countries are doing in the world; and that is to socialize health care. Countries in Europe and our neighbors to the north, Canada, have done so; and we just seem to be clamoring to do the same thing, not looking at what has happened in these countries. And there are other things going on in our government – unGodly trends – toward which we are moving, like government funded abortion and changing the status of marriage to allow homosexuals to marry, all of which are attempts to do things like other countries; and I can see God allowing them to have their way just to show America that not following God’s way will lead to disaster. It certainly did in Israel, if ones know their history when Saul took over as King. And I also move ahead in history to Paul’s New Testament reminder to the Roman Christians as one reads Romans 1: 18 – 32, which I exhort you to read from this link.
And when you’ve read the passages in 1st Samuel and Romans 1, I hope you’re as impressed as am I to see how we can read what God has written in His Book of Truth, the Bible, and yet mankind will pursue the self-destructive trends which God’s word clearly warns will be our undoing. And I think that my dear grandchildren are unfortunately going to experience the pain which the world is bringing on itself, because as it is said, “The rain, when it falls, will fall on the righteous as well as the unrighteous.”
Sure, we must do all we can, as Samuel tried to do, to fight against evil in our world and to alert our governement to what is truth from God’s word. And we, as Christians, must pray as diligently as possible for God to heal our land (as prayed in 2nd Chronicles 7: 14 -linked). But if the world will not hear and they keep clamoring for and doing evil in the sight of God, His reign will fall and our world will feel His wrath. And may God have mercy on all of us.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, reading these things does not give me good feelings going into the New Year; but I know that You’re in control; and I know You’ll never leave, nor forsake, those who love You and are Your called ones according to Your purpose. Amen
Monday, March 23, 2009
2009 – Day 81.Mar. 23 – Highway to the Promised Land
2009 – Day 81.Mar. 23 – Highway to the Promised Land
Passage of the Day: Exodus 14: 15 – 22 … Link to today’s passage …
My Journal for Today: As I read today’s passage where God begins to unfold His plan of deliverance for Moses and His people trapped against the sea with Pharaoh’s forces bearing down, I can’t help separate my mind from the old, famous Cecil B. DeMille movie with Charlton Heston standing against the sea, holding his staff up for the waters to part. Actually, as we read in Exodus, God took His sweet time pulling off this incredible show of power, which wasn’t so sweet for the people. I’m sure there was a whole lot of nail biting going on as the people thought they were about to be slaughtered by the Egyptians. Those children were up against it; and they didn’t know that they were about to see God open up the road to the Promised Land right through the middle of the Red Sea.
As Swindoll points out, even Hollywood can’t upstage God. When God does a deliverance, He does it so that only He can get the credits. And that’s what we see here; and perhaps you can identify with those poor Hebrews who were up against it. Swindoll gives us a couple of examples in his devotional for today. Perhaps you’re a single mom who’s been abandoned; and you don’t know how you’re going to feed the kids. Perhaps you’re a young father who’s trying so hard to make a living that you can’t make a life. Perhaps … well, you know what you’re story is like, being so up against life that you just can’t see how things could be any worse.
Well, you’re right in the place where God can do a parting of the seas for you. But maybe you’ve been there and you’ve seen God come through with His deliverance miracle. I certainly was there … back in 1983, totally broken and needing a deliverance miracle. And I didn’t even believe in God until He showed up and did some stuff I simply could not deny was a “God thing!” I won’t retell the story here; but on April 13, 1983 God parted my Red Sea; and I simply had to walk through and follow Him to the Promised Land. And like it was for the Hebrew nation, the road to God’s promises has not be easy; but He’s been there all along the way, making the way for me, leading me with His version of the cloud/fire signs … for me.
Dear one, I hope you’ve got a Red Sea story; or maybe you’re in a place where you need one. Perhaps you’ve got some sin stronghold which you know must be set aside; but it’s going to take a deliverance miracle to bring it about. Well, if God can part the Red Sea for the Jews, He can lead you to the Promised Land of freedom from sin. He made the way on that Cross for you; and the Deliverer awaits your surrender to show you the way to the land of freedom.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray for any who need to follow You out of the wilderness of death to the calm waters of life where You reside. Amen
Passage of the Day: Exodus 14: 15 – 22 … Link to today’s passage …
My Journal for Today: As I read today’s passage where God begins to unfold His plan of deliverance for Moses and His people trapped against the sea with Pharaoh’s forces bearing down, I can’t help separate my mind from the old, famous Cecil B. DeMille movie with Charlton Heston standing against the sea, holding his staff up for the waters to part. Actually, as we read in Exodus, God took His sweet time pulling off this incredible show of power, which wasn’t so sweet for the people. I’m sure there was a whole lot of nail biting going on as the people thought they were about to be slaughtered by the Egyptians. Those children were up against it; and they didn’t know that they were about to see God open up the road to the Promised Land right through the middle of the Red Sea.
As Swindoll points out, even Hollywood can’t upstage God. When God does a deliverance, He does it so that only He can get the credits. And that’s what we see here; and perhaps you can identify with those poor Hebrews who were up against it. Swindoll gives us a couple of examples in his devotional for today. Perhaps you’re a single mom who’s been abandoned; and you don’t know how you’re going to feed the kids. Perhaps you’re a young father who’s trying so hard to make a living that you can’t make a life. Perhaps … well, you know what you’re story is like, being so up against life that you just can’t see how things could be any worse.
Well, you’re right in the place where God can do a parting of the seas for you. But maybe you’ve been there and you’ve seen God come through with His deliverance miracle. I certainly was there … back in 1983, totally broken and needing a deliverance miracle. And I didn’t even believe in God until He showed up and did some stuff I simply could not deny was a “God thing!” I won’t retell the story here; but on April 13, 1983 God parted my Red Sea; and I simply had to walk through and follow Him to the Promised Land. And like it was for the Hebrew nation, the road to God’s promises has not be easy; but He’s been there all along the way, making the way for me, leading me with His version of the cloud/fire signs … for me.
Dear one, I hope you’ve got a Red Sea story; or maybe you’re in a place where you need one. Perhaps you’ve got some sin stronghold which you know must be set aside; but it’s going to take a deliverance miracle to bring it about. Well, if God can part the Red Sea for the Jews, He can lead you to the Promised Land of freedom from sin. He made the way on that Cross for you; and the Deliverer awaits your surrender to show you the way to the land of freedom.
My Prayer for Today: Lord, I pray for any who need to follow You out of the wilderness of death to the calm waters of life where You reside. Amen
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