Thursday, March 5, 2020

"..do not for forget the Lord.." - Deuteronomy 6:11b-12 (GNT)


One of the key messages in scripture is always to remember where your provision and freedom came from. 

The Lord was continually telling the children of Israel to remember Him as they experienced the promised land. 

They were given the spoil of the Lord's disinherited nations all around them which had completed cities, homes, and water wells all for the taking. 

God was raising up Israel to His special people (His inheritance) on the earth, and He was having them eliminate the corrupted bloodlines of the Nephilim and Rephaim who were among the disinherited nations around them. God gave Israel victory over these people who were also known as "giants" in the land. They probably reached six to seven feet tall or more, the average height of a typical Israelite was five feet to five foot six inches. 

Israel was somewhat obedient when it came to eliminating these people, but some escaped and fled to other cities in the region like Gath. God had explicitly told Israel to pursue these gentiles; and to annihilate them, which they failed to do.  So there were always attacks from these gentile clans which were against Israel and their God.

There was always some "giant" or gentile city or country threatening Israel in some form or another, because of their failure to obey and pursue the total destruction of these clans and wipe out their bloodline as the Lord had commanded.

These are spiritual lessons for us to consider, when we have sin in our lives, God tells us that same thing, to pursue that sin to its total destruction and not let it continue to occupy or have any place in our lives when we live in the land of promise. This is what baptism represents, putting to death to the old sinful nature (a burial) and a resurrection to a new life in Christ.

Sin robs us from the freedom that God wants us to live in, even though sin may bring pleasure for a season; in the end, its outcome brings with it fear and torment. Proverbs 28:14

In the Old Testament, sin represented rebellion and everything contrary to the purposes of God and had to be eliminated. In the New Testament sin describes choices we make when we entertain spirits which are set on our destruction, these spirits know that if we follow the purposes of God and remove sin from our lives that we will become powerful sons and daughters of the Kingdom of God, which threaten their very existence, so their intent is to do us in first.  Ephesians 2:1-7
   
"Make certain that you do not forget the Lord who rescued you from Egypt, where you were slaves." Egypt represents bondage to the believer when sin is allowed to run amuck in a person's life, bondage is the result, and we become a slave to sin.  2 Kings 17:37-39

The Lord is telling us through this passage that it is essential that we never forget that it is Him who rescued us from the slavery of sin and the bondage that it held us in. We have life and freedom in Christ Jesus.

"When you were the slaves of sin, you were free from righteousness. What did you gain from doing the things that you are now ashamed of? The result of those things is death! But now you have been set free from sin and are the slaves of God. Your gain is a life fully dedicated to him, and the result is eternal life. For sin pays its wage—death; but God's free gift is eternal life in union with Christ Jesus our Lord." 
Romans 6:20-23 (GNT)

"When the Lord brings you into this land and you have all you want to eat.." Jesus compared himself to the bread of life; He would supply all that we would ever want if we would come to Him and trust Him.

"I am telling you the truth," Jesus said. "What Moses gave you was not the bread from heaven; it is my Father who gives you the real bread from heaven. For the bread that God gives is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." "I am the bread of life," Jesus told them. "Those who come to me will never be hungry; those who believe in me will never be thirsty. Now, I told you that you have seen me but will not believe. Everyone whom my Father gives me will come to me. I will never turn away anyone who comes to me, because I have come down from heaven to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me. And it is the will of him who sent me that I should not lose any of all those he has given me, but that I should raise them all to life on the last day." 
John 6:32-33, 35-39 (GNT)

The beauty of today's passage is it gives us a glimpse into the heart of God; He is not making a hard-fast rule for the Israelites or for us. He is only asking for purposed loyalty. With Abraham, it was called faith, and it is the only thing that truly pleases God when it comes to our devotion to Him. 

Faith is also our purposed loyalty to God, we can use words to it like trust or belief, but in the end, it is about our loyalty to the purposes of God in our lives. He is a good God who loves us beyond measure, and it is that love that has been proven again and again. 

As we face another day, His mercies are renewed and revealed in ways that give us hope that He will sustain us and become our spiritual food. 

"The Lord's unfailing love and mercy still continue, Fresh as the morning, as sure as the sunrise." 
Lamentations 3:22-23 (GNT)

Jesus not only loves us, But He is also our family. God has purposed that we have an eternal identity in Him.

Be Blessed;
Stephen Barnett

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