Something to Remember
In Deuteronomy 26:5-10 we find a recitation given to God's people to speak as they would bring their first-fruits offering before the priest.
A wandering Aramean was my father,
he went down to Egypt and sojourned there,
he and just a handful of his brothers at first, but soon
they became a great nation, mighty and many.
The Egyptians abused and battered us,
in a cruel and savage slavery.
We cried out to God, the God-of-Our-Fathers:
He listened to our voice, he saw
our destitution, our trouble, our cruel plight.
And God took us out of Egypt
with his strong hand and long arm, terrible and great,
with signs and miracle-wonders.
And he brought us to this place,
gave us this land flowing with milk and honey.
So here I am. I've brought the first-fruits
of what I've grown on this ground you gave me, O God.
Giving our first-fruits to our Heavenly Father will always return a blessing. We must never forget where our wealth comes from and who we were, where we were, before Jesus changed our lives.
Let God establish you in the land he has given you. Enjoy Him and enjoy the journey and always be thankful.
This scripture spoke to my heart this morning. It is taken from Numbers 11:27-29 in The Message
"We went to the land to which you sent us and, oh! It does flow with milk and honey! Just look at this fruit! The only thing is that the people who live there are fierce, their cities are huge and well fortified. Worse yet, we saw descendants of the giant Anak. Amalekites are spread out in the Negev; Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites hold the hill country; and the Canaanites are established on the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan."
30 Caleb interrupted, called for silence before Moses and said, "Let's go up and take the land—now. We can do it."
31-33 But the others said, "We can't attack those people; they're way stronger than we are." They spread scary rumors among the People of Israel. They said, "We scouted out the land from one end to the other—it's a land that swallows people whole. Everybody we saw was huge. Why, we even saw the Nephilim giants (the Anak giants come from the Nephilim). Alongside them we felt like grasshoppers. And they looked down on us as if we were grasshoppers."
Thoughts:
1. Go where he sends you and be faithful there, it will be good.
2. God blesses the hearing ear and faithful heart with good things.
3. God wants us to have what others think is unobtainable.
4. There is a time to silence the naysayers and to declare truth.
5. How do you see yourself? Are you a grasshopper or a son of God?
The Holy Spirit got my attention with Psalm 127. In particular, verse 13 really grabbed my core. Let's begin with verse 11 and read through 14. It reads as follows from the NIV:
11 Teach me your way, LORD;
lead me in a straight path
because of my oppressors.
12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes,
for false witnesses rise up against me,
spouting malicious accusations.
13 I remain confident of this:
I will see the goodness of the LORD
in the land of the living.
14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
King David, a man after God's own heart, shows us here four areas that we need to focus on.
From verse 11 we see the need for:
1. Discipleship. (Teach me Your way.)
From verse 12 we see that we all have:
2. Enemies. (Principalities, powers, rulers of darkness, demons.)
From verse 13 we see the importance of:
3. Keeping hope and faith alive. (Seeing God's goodness in our lifetime.)
From verse 14, we see the need for
4. Expectation. (Waiting on the Lord here has the connotation of looking with earnest expectation.)
Have an attitude of always desiring to learn more of Him. Learn how to fight the spiritual battles and win. Operate in faith, hope and love and keep looking for Him to do great things in your life.
Keep hope alive. Good things are coming.