Another good morning! Deuteronomy chapter 7.
I see three key themes in this chapter.
- God loves us.
- God wants us to be faithful to him.
- God wants us holy.
God tells the Israelites when they go before the enemies, that when they defeat them they are to destroy them completely and destroy all their gods. God said You must destroy them because if you make a treaty with them and show Mercy to them and intermarry with them you will end up living a life away from God and will turn to other gods and serve them. God loves them and wants to see them faithful and holy therefore they must keep all unHoliness and all temptations out of their lives.
God loves us and wants us to stay faithful to him and be holy. To choose a life apart from God, might bring us temporary happiness but the end results are devastating.
When a thought of temptation comes to our mind, that's the time to stop it and run away from it. Do not entertain thoughts that will hinder our relationship with the Lord. It could be all forms of peer pressure at work or school. It could be that thought that comes in our minds when we sit at home lonely.
In our society today, Christians have no problem marrying non-christians. In Malachi 2:15-16 God says he wants the husband and wife to be unified as one in the Lord so their kids become godly kids following the Lord. If the married couple are not one in the Lord than they have a battle with the kids. It's hard to have a unified message with the kids about God when one parent says Yes to God and the other parent says No to God. Our society focuses so much on just being happy. Being happy in this world often means disobeying God. We are happy for a short time but in a long-term basis, we face terrible consequences. Adam and Eve ate the apple. They were anticipating they would be much happier but they disobeyed God and faced all kinds of consequences. People have sex before marriage because they want to be happy. Then they have children and then they separate and the kids and parents go through so much hurt and pain. Let's do it God's way! Instead of being the one who says I'm going to marry this person because they are so cute or they make me feel good or they are so nice. One needs to think long-term and ask: How will this act affect my relationship with Christ? Or how it will affect my kids’ relationship with Christ?
What am I doing today that I need to stop because it's hurting my relationship with Christ?
The Israelites are instructed to completely destroy seven nations in chapter 7. These nations are bigger and stronger than they are, but God assures them that He will deliver them over to Israel. Verse 21 is a great reminder to not be terrified when God is on our side. We may feel small or inadequate to face things that seem too big for us, but our job is to follow the Lord’s directions and let Him fight our battles for us.
May we get rid of all of the things in our lives that God doesn’t want us to have so that we aren’t hindered or ensnared by them. God wants all of us to bring honor to His name including the attitudes of our hearts, the words on our lips, and the actions that we take. I’m also thinking today about the rich young ruler from Matthew 19:16-26. He thought that he was doing well at keeping the commandments, but he actually turned down treasure in heaven because he valued his stuff on earth more. How sad that he really missed out! If any of our possessions are not pleasing to the Lord, we need to get rid of those items so that we don’t miss out. God has something much better for us!
Sitting in the er…. stepped on a nail….. getting my bible challenge time (God decided to sloooow me down , again)
Deuteronomy 7:10 “And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.”
This just means that God will not have someone else to do this, He will do it Himself. God will punish him personally. (Bible study’s explained)
I know if I mean business or it’s an important matter I’m handling it…..#noprophetneeded
12 “If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your ancestors. 13 He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land—your grain, new wine and olive oil—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land he swore to your ancestors to give you. 14 You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor will any of your livestock be without young. 15 The Lord will keep you free from every disease.”
Thanks be to God, our Lord is GOOD! His promises of blessings if we keep his commandments are amazing! All that we could hope for. Thank you Lord for your abundance of blessings in all of our lives!!!!!