March 26, 2012 … They Did Not Drive Them Out

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Joshua, Chapters 16-18 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

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Highlight Reference Passage : Joshua 16: 9-10 … 9 It also included all the towns and their villages that were set aside for the Ephraimites within the inheritance of the Manassites. … 10 They did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer; to this day the Canaanites live among the people of Ephraim but are required to do forced labor.

My Journal for Today: If you’ve been reading along with me chronologically through our Bible this year, you’ve noted that God, in these passages in Joshua, instructs the people – VERY CLEARLY – that He will help them eradicate all the peoples who occupied the lands that the Israelites would take as they entered and settled in the promised-land. For example, you can read such an instruction in Joshua 13: 6. BUT, (yes, another very big “BUT”), God’s people had to choose to follow God … or not!

And as we read above, the two tribes from the family of the patriarch, Joseph, the Ephraimites and the Manassites, who actually got a double portion in the inheritance of the lands, were unwilling to follow God’s instructions and, in disobedience to God, they “… did not dislodge the Canaanites living in Gezer.” And because of taking the Canaanites as slaves rather than following God’s command to eradicate these pagans, these two tribes never were able to live in peace, covered by the promises of God in their inherited portions in the promised-land.

I know it’s tough to read of our God instructing His people to wipe out and kill ALL of the peoples who were living in the promised-land as His chosen people took the lands under Joshua. But God’s plan was HIS plan; and He knew what was best for His people to avoid the pagan practices of worship and living practiced by the non-believers who occupied the lands which God was taking and distributing to His chosen peoples.

I hope all can see the application here for all of us. God wants us to COMPLETELY wipe out all ungodliness and unholiness from our lives as we march forward in life, leaving no such remnants of the ungodliness of the world in the process. This, in essence, was the instruction of the Apostle Paul to God’s people which we read in Romans 12: 1-2; and maybe you have this passage memorized; but if not, here it is copied for your meditation below [in the NKJV, which is my memory version] …

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I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. 2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
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My dear ones, … my brothers/sisters in Christ, … God wants us to eradicate every remnant of unholiness, i.e., worldliness, from our lives once we cross over our “Jordan,” and we choose to make Jesus the LORD of our lives. And as our Lord, Jesus, makes it clear (in Luke 9: 23) that we’re to deny our selves and follow Him and live life HIS way, following HIS will, as we march toward HIS promised-land in heaven.

We simply (though never easily) must eradicate ALL the pagan practices of those who will try to influence us in ungodly ways as we take God’s promised-land. I’ll leave it to you to inventory your life, as I’m doing this morning, to see if we are driving all the ungodliness from our lives by worshipping our God in obedience to His way, avoiding the influence of the world in our lives.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, help me to purify ALL in me to conform to Your holiness. Amen

June 13, 2011 … Integrity Resists Intimidation

Passage of the Day: Daniel 3: 4 – 7 … 4 Then the herald loudly proclaimed, "This is what you are commanded to do, O peoples, nations and men of every language: 5 As soon as you hear the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp, pipes and all kinds of music, you must fall down and worship the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar has set up. 6 Whoever does not fall down and worship will immediately be thrown into a blazing furnace." 7 Therefore, as soon as they heard the sound of the horn, flute, zither, lyre, harp and all kinds of music, all the peoples, nations and men of every language fell down and worshiped the image of gold that King Nebuchadnezzar had set up.

My Journal for Today: It is of interest and pertinence to note that our post-modern culture holds many similarities with those of Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar. People today, especially believing/witnessing Christians, are pressured by the powers that be, by the media, and by many in the world to set aside their faith or references to God, especially “Christ,” and to bow down to the idols of the age: intellectualism, humanism, materialism, sensualism, and political conformity to the liberalism of the so-called god of “tolerance.” And the penalty of non-conformity, as it was in Babylon, can be enormous.

John MacArthur in his Strength for Today devotional for this date clearly states, “The choices you make reveal the convictions you embrace.” Today is the anniversary of my marriage to my dear wife [over 45 of them]. For the first 12 years of our marriage, I made dangerous, selfish, and adulterous choices that could have destroyed our family in the caldron of my own sensuality and lust. However, God’s grace and the integrity of my wife’s forgiveness, strength, and patience allowed God to do a work in my heart where He transformed me to follow after the integrity of faith modeled by paragons of the faith like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (of whom we will soon read in subsequent devotionals this month).

Therefore, may I … no, may we all … follow the example of these three young men of faith and be willing to stand on faith with and against the fires of temptation burning in sight … and to believe and receive the promises of God expressed in His word. It takes courage and strong faith, i.e., Spirit-led integrity, to stand for Jesus in today’s post-modern world; and I pray that we all have the Christian integrity exhibited by the three Hebrew lads as we will read in our study in subsequent days.

My Prayer Today: Thank you, Lord, for restoring the life of our marriage; … help me to hold on to the integrity You have instilled in my soul to resist satanic and worldly values, i.e., the idols of our day. Amen

May 3, 2011 … Loving Truth Brings Hatred

Passage of the Day: John 15: 20 – 21 … 20 Remember the words I spoke to you: 'No servant is greater than his master.' [repeated from John 13: 16] If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed My teaching, they will obey yours also. … 21 They will treat you this way because of My name, for they do not know the One who sent Me.

My Journal for Today: Jesus, in today’s passage, pretty well lays out for His disciples what can be expected when they (we) follow Him, which, of course is mandated of His followers (see Luke 9: 23). Follow Jesus and you can expect apathy and/or superstition (see Paul's witness in Acts 17: 22 - 23), moral deviation (see Romans 1: 18 – 22), or out-right persecution (as from today’s verse in John 15: 20). I’ve heard it said before … that if, as a Christian, you are not experiencing one or more of these issues in the world, you are like a fish, floating or swimming down stream with the cultural waters of the times, rather than one who is fighting upstream to get to the headwaters (which, of course, in this context is Christlikeness).

John MacArthur, in his devotional for today from Strength for Today, reminds his readers of what Paul taught in Phil. 3: 10 … that we, as Christ’s disciples, are living in the “… fellowship of His suffering.” So, if we are experiencing some, or all, of what Jesus was warning His disciples about in today’s passage, we can be assured, using my word picture above, that we have jumped into the raging stream and are swimming upstream as hard as we can.

And that, of course, means living for Christ and/or witnessing our faith in a hostile world; and repeating for emphasis, this could mean apathy at best and painful persecution at worst. But just think about the promises and power from God as you are Christ’s disciple and a witness, in faith, to His truth …

SCRIPTURE: Acts 1: 8 … [Jesus] “… you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

SCRIPTURE: Rom. 8: 31 … If God is for us, who can be against us.

SCRIPTURE: Rom. 1: 16 … I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes …

So, we have a decision to make … are we going to be dying or dead fish, floating downstream; or will be alive in Christ, battling upstream against the worldly currents and doing all we can, with God’s promised power, to swim to the headwaters of transformation in Christ, honoring and glorifying our Lord in the process?

Our choice, isn’t it?

My Prayer Today: I stand for you, Lord! Help me to swim upstream. Amen