Deuteronomy 10-14; Acts 26

I nearly highlighted all of Deuteronomy’s readings today, they are so good. They tell of the Lord’s love and provision. It’s a guideline for good–to love the Lord. A holy stewardship to pass along. Love the Lord and serve him. Write it down. Everywhere. On my heart. On my hands. On my doorpost. Teach and talk. Day and night.

²⁰ You shall fear the Lord your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear. ²¹ He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen. ²² Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven.

11 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. ² And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, ³ his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, ⁴ and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, ⁵ and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, ⁶ and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. ⁷ For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did.

⁸ “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, ⁹ and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. ¹⁰ For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. ¹¹ But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, ¹² a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.

¹³ “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, ¹⁴ he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. ¹⁵ And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. ¹⁶ Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; ¹⁷ then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. ²⁰ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. ²² For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him, ²³ then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

Deuteronomy 10:20-22, 11:1-23, ESV

Lord, you know man’s heart. This is why you remind us (me!) to keep your word close, to speak of you daily, to love you. Paul took your charge to heart–to go and make the most of every opportunity to share the gospel–and the sharing of the gospel prompted more and more occasions to share the message far and wide. Help me to be vigilant and aware to share your love, Lord, and to make the most of the opportunities you give me.

Courtney (66books365)

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Deuteronomy 10-14, Psalm 5, Luke 8

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep commandments and statues of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?” 10:12-13

From the beginning the God’s plan has been all about love in fact, it’s the greatest love story ever told.  It’s not about following every command because we could never live up to his standards. It always was and always will be about loving him and having faith in his promises. The people of the Old Testament put their faith in the promise of Jesus. The people of the New Testament put their faith in the fulfillment of the promise. Either way, it was faith not the rules and regulations that earns salvation. The commandments were simply for their good; for our good! God knew it would all too easy for us to get distracted and turn from him. He knew it wouldn’t take much for us to turn our head to the right or to the left so he reminded us to purge the evil and meditate on his Word day and night.

“You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.” 11:18-22

God’s Word should be at the forefront of our minds. Not just on Sundays at church or Wednesday night bible study but each and every morning, afternoon and evening. Every situation that comes up. To this day there are some who still have scriptures written over their doorposts as reminders. I look around my home and wonder if anyone would be able to tell what I believe in if they visited my home. Would it be obvious that I love the Lord? Are there things around my home that remind me and my children of the promise God made?

God’s command to love and serve him came with an incredible promise. We have the Creator of the universe’s promise of love and protection.

Be careful to obey all these words that I command you , that it may go well with you and with your children after you forever, when you do what is good and right in the sight of the Lord your God. 12:28

I still have a hard time comprehending in my mind the amazing love my Lord has for me. That he would choose me…..it takes my breath away. God didn’t need me for any reason whatsoever but he chose me. I was hand chosen by God to believe.

 “Behold, to the Lord your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it. Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.” 10:14-15.

Thank you, Lord for choosing me to be called a child of God. Thank you that even though you didn’t need me, you wanted me. Lord, help to live everyday walking in your spirit and laying up your words in my heart.

Ezekiel 20-21, 2 Timothy 4

“Therefore this is what the Sovereign Lord says: ‘Because you people have brought to mind your guilt by your open rebellion, revealing your sins in all that you do—because you have done this, you will be taken captive. Ezekiel 21:24 

Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist,  discharge all the duties of your ministry. 2 Timothy 4:2-5

This is a timeless warning from the Lord God. True, yesterday, today and always. We will be taken captive by our own rebellion. Whatever the sin of our choosing that exalts itself above God, that thing will bind us up so that we are unable to move freely toward the God we say we love.

Just as it is impossible to walk in the light and the dark at the same time. It is impossible to serve our God with our whole heart, soul, mind and strength while we are serving some other idol. We can not split ourselves in half and say we are totally devoted to God.

God wants all of us, not just the part that is left over after we serve our bosses, families, clubs, charities, hobbies or ourselves. We can engage in these things for the Lord, but not without Him.

Timothy and Ezekiel had the same job. They were charged with telling the truth, no matter what the people wanted to hear. A thankless and sometimes dangerous job.

I hope and pray that I am up to the task. I would much rather say the positive words of salvation and not have to point to the ugliness of sin. But without seeing and understanding our need for redemption, the salvation message just sounds like a sales job for a newer and better face cream. Why would anyone elect to partake of something they don’t really see a need for?

Therefore, my friends, I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you.  Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin, a justification you were not able to obtain under the law of Moses. Take care that what the prophets have said does not happen to you:

“‘Look, you scoffers, wonder and perish, for I am going to do something in your days that you would never believe,  even if someone told you.’” Acts 13:38-41

We are deeply steeped in sin, every single one of us. We all need a Savior. Until we all get on our faces and admit our depravity and our need for a cure, the wrath of God will hang over us. Be forewarned. God will not be mocked, not then, not now.

Let Jesus cleanse you of all your sins by believing He died for you sins. Let it be finished.

yicareggie

Genesis 23, Nehemiah 12, Matthew 22, Acts 22

Scripture

Jesus replied: ” ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[b] 38}This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[c] 40}All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV)

Observation

In a recent conversation, a new friend and I were talking about the fruit of the Spirit–specifically, self control. I said, “Don’t you have to work your way up through the first fruits before you get to self control?” We laughed a little, because with self control, I think it would make all the other fruits fall easily into place. But as I consider this verse above, and how simple and challenging it is all at once, I think of the first fruit: love. Were the fruits listed in any intentional, particular order? I don’t know. But love is a very good starting place.

I tell my kids frequently enough that they’ll probably say it to their kids one day, “Loving your neighbor starts at home with your family.” (And some days, the further outside my family I go, the harder it is to love.)

Application and prayer

Lord, I can only imagine what my home would be like if I could approach a cranky kid the way I would like to be approached when I’m cranky. Too often, it’s hindsight that tells me how to handle a situation. And often enough, it’s hindsight before I remember it.

Can we start with today, Lord? Today, could you whisper to me, “love,” when I am faced with pressures and frustrations? Today, could you say to me, “love,” when I move about life as business as usual? Can you remind me in my home, in my neighborhood, in my community, out in this world, and in my heart and soul and mind to love?

I don’t want to forget.

Courtney (66books365)