Tag Archives: Deuteronomy

Knowledge Puffs Up, February 1, 2021

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

In the lectionary this week, I came across some strange verses that we usually jump over, disregard, assume an inadequate translation, or mumble through them without thinking much about them. But over the last several months, I’ve been spending a lot of time studying what the Ancient Israelites believed and how Jesus’ contemporaries thought about their world as we passed from BCE to AD and the birth of the church.

Let me share some of that scripture with you, and then we will focus on what might cause some of you to think me a bit crazy. The lectionary comes from 1 Corinthians chapter 8, where Paul gives instructions to the church about being careful not to cause weak Christians to stumble because of their superior knowledge about God and the true nature of idols. He shares the verses specifically about food sacrificed to idols, but some verses in the middle of his discourse, we usually skip over. The passage to explore today includes verses one through 7. In the Good News Translations, they read like this:

It is true, of course, that “all of us have knowledge,” as they say. Such knowledge, however, puffs a person up with pride; but love builds up. Those who think they know something really don’t know as they ought to know. But the person who loves God is known by him.

So then, about eating the food offered to idols: we know that an idol stands for something that does not really exist; we know that there is only the one God. Even if there are so-called “gods,” whether in heaven or on earth, and even though there are many of these “gods” and “lords,” yet there is for us only one God, the Father, who is the Creator of all things and for whom we live; and there is only one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things were created and through whom we live.

⁷But not everyone knows this truth. (1 Corinthians 8:1b-7a GNT)

Rome considered Christians and Jews atheists in Paul’s day because they worshiped only one God. The rest of the world recognized and worshiped a multitude of deities, including the emperor. Most nations believed the gods placed their king on the throne and talked to him, giving him the laws of the land. At the time, most countries thought kings who took faithful care of their kingdom could become deities themselves after death. Some, like the Roman Emperor, declared himself a son of the gods. But serving and worshiping a single god just didn’t make sense in the culture of the day.

But each god’s temple supposedly stood as the place where their god would reside on earth. The Jewish Temple did the same. The difference between them is no idol or representation of God, Most High – Jehovah – appeared in the Jews’ Temple. Nothing could represent the Creator of all other beings, including all the other gods.

Reading the Old Testament carefully, you’ll find ample evidence the Ancient Israelites did not discount other gods, nor did Jehovah. He only demanded their sole allegiance to him. In fact, you can read the very first commandment with that culture in mind as God says, “You shall have no other gods before me.” Why didn’t he say there is only one God, and I’m it? There is an interesting passage in Deuteronomy 32 that explains the Ancient Israelites understanding of at least some of the other gods. It is Moses’ discourse to the Israelites before his death, inspired by God and reads:

“Think of the past, of the time long ago;

ask your parents to tell you what happened,

ask the old people to tell of the past.

The Most High assigned nations their lands;

he determined where peoples should live.

He assigned to each nation a heavenly being,

but Jacob’s descendants he chose for himself. (Deuteronomy 32:7-9 GNT)

When you couple these verses associated with Noah’s sons in Genesis ten and count the nations that grew from their lineage, seventy nations, each with its own language, are named. Chapter eleven explains why those seventy nations spoke different languages. God scattered them by confusing their languages at the Tower of Babel, and each tribe went its way – seventy ways. The story continues through the folklore and Moses shares that God assigned those seventy known nations land with a heavenly being to watch over it. But Jacob’s descendants, Israel, the chosen people, he kept for himself.

Who are these heavenly beings? I think the gods the other nations worshiped. God’s celestial beings, sent to watch over those nations, became greedy and supposed themselves on the level of God, Most High. These are the rebels, thrown to the earth, and we, in our god-like “knowledge” obtained in the garden, worshiped them. That is the explanation from the Ancient Israelites through Paul’s day and into the Dark Ages.

They believed God used a council of heavenly beings, not angels, but beings like himself, but beings he created, god-like, but not God, Most High, to act as his council. Perhaps the seraphim and cherubim who guard his throne fit that category. Perhaps they are more god-like beings than angelic beings. The first, the seraphim, are usually described as fiery creatures giving light and burning away all impurity around the throne—the second, the cherubim, act as faithful guards. A cherub guards the entrance to Eden. A cherub stood in the path of Barack. Cherubim are not the chubby-cheeked valentine picture representations but mighty warriors around God’s throne.

Why do they think God used a council? Scripture implies it. “Let us make man in our image.” When Ahab was king, God asked, “How shall we deal with Ahab, when he wanted to attack Edom? Isaiah heard him ask the group, “Who will we send?” Many other examples in the Old Testament show God talking to someone around his throne. I don’t believe he would discuss within the Trinity because the Trinity is him. He would be talking to himself. I think God was talking to his trusted council around the throne. He still performed the creative acts. He made the discussions, but I believe in the heavenly realm, God uses his council and other celestial beings to carry out his desires in that plane of reality just as he uses us to carry out his plans in this one.

God, Most High, Yahweh, Jehovah, created all things visible to us and in realms not visible to us. I think he destined humanity to take charge of this realm; we failed. Jesus came to renew us so that we can pick up the pieces and carry out the work God gave us in the beginning. The earth and heaven will ultimately be restored to their original glory, where God and humanity will walk together in the cool of the day. We will hold dominion over his visible creation and care for it through the loving actions he taught us as he walked among us.

We will respect our roles as stewards instead of owners of the things around us. But we will be pleased with that role because we will understand who God is and who we are with respect to his position in the created universe. I think at that time, the curtain between the earthly and heavenly realms will be drawn back, and we will understand how God has protected and cared for us in ways we never knew before. God will reveal himself to us in the same way he reveals himself to his heavenly beings now.

Let me end discussing a word Paul uses to describe Christians who think themselves strong. Knowledge. The strong Christians in Corinth believed they had knowledge. What is knowledge? The dictionary defines knowledge as:

1) facts, information, and skills acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject: a thirst for knowledge | her considerable knowledge of antiques.

• what is known in a particular field or in total; facts and information: the transmission of knowledge.

• Philosophy true, justified belief; certain understanding, as opposed to opinion.

2) awareness or familiarity gained by experience of a fact or situation: the program had been developed without his knowledge | he denied all knowledge of the overnight incidents.

Today we deal with way too much opinion and very little actual knowledge. What I’ve talked about today, I’ll admit, is very much my opinion, but based on a great deal of reading, study, and thought. Do I have certain understanding that all I’ve said is true? No, only if I could travel in time, instead of reading many renowned authors’ scholarly works, could I increase the certainty of my opinion. Scripture always holds an undeniable mystery about it.

However, our knowledge of those around us holds that same mystery. As you talk with those with whom you come in contact in the next few days, don’t assume you know how they feel, what they think, or even what they mean by their words. Their mind is a mystery to you as much as yours is to them. We often talk at each other instead of with each other and assume far too much of our knowledge and understanding. If I can’t explain myself to someone many times, how can I assume I know how they think or feel? Knowledge in any area of life – facts, information, and skills gained through personal experience doesn’t come easy. When applied to communicating with another person, the subtleties of each person’s different experiences make my experiences, facts, and knowledge suspect regarding their understanding.

How do we overcome the communication problem that divides us in so many areas? We follow the two commands Jesus said wraps all the others together. We love God, and we love others. Become knowledgeable in the exercise of love by learning about Jesus and his behavior. Act like him. Talk like him. Love like him. Then, your knowledge of loving like God will help you show Christ to those around you.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible-based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

Scriptures marked GNT are taken from the Good News Translation®: Scriptures taken from the Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) Copyright © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.

We have no excuse, July 15, 2019

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Thanks for joining me today for “A Little Walk with God.” I’m your host Richard Agee.

I’ve been thinking the last few months about the fact that 160,000 people within a five mile radius of my church have no church affiliation. When asked, they indicate they belong to or affiliate with no church or no denomination or no religious group…at all. None. That’s a tenth of the population of San Antonio, but just in our little corner of the city. It’s a bigger number than the population of most of the towns and cities around the world.

Let that sink in just a little. That number of people around my church put none as their religion. And that is the most popular answer when asked about religion in the United States today. None. People say they are spiritual, but affiliate with nothing. There is a problem with that.

Jesus is coming. God made the rules. He said, “Believe in me and have eternal life. Don’t believe in me and be eternally separated from God in a place of eternal punishment called hell.”

Those who follow and obey his teachings are called Christians. We are supposed to share his message of love and peace and inner joy. The institutional church hasn’t done such a good job of doing that if 160,000 people within five miles of my church check “none” as their preferred religion on surveys.

If you check the people living around your church, you’ll find the same percentages and the same appalling statistics, I’m sure. The institutional church has turned inward and failed to spread the message the way God intended or we would see smaller numbers professing “none” as their faith.

So here’s the other problem with where we are in history with that particular statistic. Jesus said he would return when everyone heard the gospel. Hmmm. Has everyone heard? If you poll high schools in my city, you’ll find that many of those teenagers know little about the Bible and San Antonio is still considered part of the Bible Belt. So has the message been heard?

I think it has. And here is why.

Yesterday’s lectionary included these verses from Deuteronomy chapter 9:

Then, in whatever you do, the Eternal your God, will give you more than enough of every good thing—children and cattle and crops—because the Eternal will once again delight to do you good as He delighted to do good to your ancestors. All this will happen if you’ll return to the Eternal your God, heart and soul, and you’ll listen to His voice and obey His commands and remember His regulations, which are written in this book of the law.

After all, what I’m commanding you today isn’t too difficult for you; it’s not out of reach. It’s not up in the sky, so you don’t have to say, “Who will go up into heaven and get it for us and tell us what it is, so we can obey it?” It’s not across the sea, so you don’t have to say, “Who will go beyond the watery abyss and get it for us and tell us what it is, so we can obey it?” No, the words you need to be faithful to the Eternal are very close to you. They are in your mouth (always talk about these laws, as I’ve commanded you) and in your heart (treasure them there).

Now what does that have to do with everyone hearing the message?

A little of everything. It’s hard to find a solid reference, but estimates range from 4 to 6 billion copies of the Bible have been sold. That doesn’t include the number given away. According to the world population clock, there are just over 7.7 billion people alive as I write this. And that only counts Bibles, not just New Testaments, or just books of the Bible. So enough Bibles have been printed and distributed to put one in the hands of every person alive.

Now, everyone doesn’t have one. I probably have 30 or more in my house. That means 29 or more of those 7.7 billion don’t have one. But you get the point. There are more than enough Bibles to get the word around the world.

That is just the printed word. Radio reaches everywhere. Today, there isn’t a population spot on earth that cannot be reached by satellite or some kind of air wave traffic. And all those air waves carry the message. Since the 1940s pastors and churches have used the air waves to carry the message of the gospel.

So what does that mean?

It means no one has an excuse. It means what Moses said to the Israelites as he departed from them is applicable to us today. “After all, what I’m commanding you today isn’t too difficult for you; it’s not out of reach. It’s not up in the sky, so you don’t have to say, “Who will go up into heaven and get it for us and tell us what it is, so we can obey it?” It’s not across the sea, so you don’t have to say, “Who will go beyond the watery abyss and get it for us and tell us what it is, so we can obey it?” No, the words you need to be faithful to the Eternal are very close to you. They are in your mouth (always talk about these laws, as I’ve commanded you) and in your heart (treasure them there).”

God’s word is available to everyone in every city, every nation, every continent. No one has an excuse for not hearing his word. Our only problem is our failure to listen and follow him. But ignorance is no excuse.

If you speed through the school zone, the police officer who pulls you over doesn’t listen to the excuse you didn’t see the sign as he writes you that $250 ticket. God will not listen to your excuses as he metes out his judgment that you didn’t know about him when he returns.

His word is available. His message is clear. His warnings are everywhere. What he commands is not too difficult for us; it’s not out of reach. We don’t have to go anywhere else to find it. It’s in every book store, every library, almost every home. All we have to do is pick it up and read it. All we have to do is tune our radio to listen to his word. All we have to do is put forth a tiny bit of effort and we will know him.

We have no excuse today. Those who proclaim “none” as their faith are in trouble. Those of us who claim “Christian” as our faith may be in trouble, too, if we just check the box and fail to do what he commands. Remember Moses’ words, “What he commands is not too difficult for you; it’s not out of reach.”

When we accept him as our sovereign Lord, he empowers us to live according to his commands. We just have to be willing to be subject to his Lordship. We must be willing to serve him instead of ourselves. We must understand that he is God. We are not and can never be God.

Jesus’ return is getting closer. We have no excuse for not knowing him. Have you read his word today? It’s not too late.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more Bible based teaching. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved. In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Wandering, October 9, 2017

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Bible Reading Plan – www.Bible-Reading.com ; The Story, Chapter 6, You Version Bible app, days 36 through 42

We continue our journey through God’s Story. We’ve looked at God’s creation of the perfect garden and His desire to walk with us and interact with us in personal, intimate ways. We discovered how our decisions severed that relationship by bringing sin into the world and so God, in His holiness, could not walk in the garden with us anymore because He cannot tolerate sin. We also learned that from the time of that first act of disobedience, God has been working to make a way to restore that perfect relationship with us so that we can once again walk with Him.

We discovered how God uses the most unlikely people to carry out His plan so that no one can claim ownership of that plan. It becomes obvious that only God can be the author of the restoration between God and humanity. He built a special nation through which His plan would come together. He built that nation through Abraham and Sarah and their son, Isaac, born to them at their perfect child bearing ages of 100 and 90 respectively. We saw how God used a slave and prisoner to save His special people and all the other nations of North Africa and the Middle East during a seven year famine that swept that region.

And we learned why God gives us rules so that we can learn to get along with each other. Remember the premise. If we can’t get along with and live with each other, how can we broken, imperfect, selfish, sinful people expect to live with a holy God. Those commands God gave us are not burdensome, gotcha rules and regulations, but rather, the means by which we can live in community with those around us and with God in the center of our community.

So this week, as you read the stories that will come from Numbers and Deuteronomy we will learn something about the Israelites journey in the wilderness. They have escaped from their Egyptian tormentors. Pharaoh’s chariots rest at the bottom of the Sea of Reeds and his army’s bloated bodies float face down in its waters or wash up on the shores. The Israelites have camped out at the foot of Mount Sinai for a year learning about God’s instructions and then God says, “Ok, it’s time to go. Head out to the land I promised you.”

Have you ever headed out on one of those multi-day drive vacation trips? I have to admit, I don’t do those much anymore. When I was younger I took more of them, but I think like me, most people choose to fly rather than spend days in the car to get to their destination these days. Find cheap flights a few months in advance and it’s probably cheaper than the extra days in motel rooms and the gas for the car, right? And certainly better for my back and my psyche.

But when I was a kid, I remember going to Ohio with my parents to visit my grandparents. My dad would sometimes try to make the drive overnight so all of us kids would sleep in the back of the car and not ask THE questions. “Are we there yet?” “How much farther?” “When can we stop to eat?” “What is there to do? I’m bored.” Back then travel was a little different than today. Remember, the first interstate highway wasn’t built until 1954, so by the early sixties many trips still took place on two lane roads. Nashville to Sebring, Ohio was one of those trips.

When it was daylight, the questions started and occasionally my mom or dad’s arm would reach across the front bench seat and swat a leg to let us know it was time to stop whatever it was we were doing. The questions, picking at each other, trying to grab whatever one or the other had. The swat said straighten up, act right, behave yourself. We’ll be at our destination when we get there. Be patient.

Back to God’s story. God told Moses to get going. It was time to leave for their final destination. The promised land awaited. Everyone is thrilled…for a day or two. They complained they needed food. So God sent them manna. Then they complained about the manna. So God gave them quail. But this time God gave them what they wanted. He gave them so much quail that it “came out their nostrils” the Bible says. I’m not sure how much quail that was, but I’m sure I don’t want to find out.

So they complained about the quail. And Aaron and Miriam complain about their brother, Moses! Why is he the leader and not them? He can’t even talk right. Why does he get to go into the tabernacle alone and not them. They want to see God, too. They want to be part of this plan. They have the same blood running through their veins, don’t they? They have the same mother and father as Moses, don’t they? It was Miriam that helped save Moses from being drowned in the Nile after all. This just wasn’t fair! Miriam came away from that argument with leprosy.

Just the year before, these same people were slaves making handmade bricks out of mud and straw for Pharaoh’s buildings. They had a diet of cucumbers and onions. They were beaten by their masters. Pharaoh had all the male babies thrown into the Nile as crocodile snacks. But they thought they were better off there than on their dusty journey through the desert to the promised land described as flowing with milk and honey.

Sounds just like us, doesn’t it? God can do the miraculous for us one moment and then we complain about some minor struggle we have the next moment. He can do the impossible for us and then we question how we will make it through the next day. We lift some prayer request to Him in a study group or prayer circle and then we are amazed when there is an answer to that prayer. We’re just like the Israelites sometimes, aren’t we?

Can I ask you to look back over your life and see how God is working in His upper story to restore His relationship with you? There might be some deserts you’ve gone through. There might be some places where the only thing you had to eat was that plain old manna or you had what you asked for but it was like quail coming out your nose until you just wanted to be rid of it. Maybe you look back and it’s hard to see many places where God worked His miracles because you’re on that dusty road and the winds block your view as if in a sandstorm. Can I challenge you then to remember that we live in the lower story where it is hard to see very far ahead. We only see to the bend in the road and that bend my not be just to the end of our arm. But remember God operates in His upper story and His desire is to bring you into an intimate relationship with Him. He wants more than anything else to walk with you face to face in the perfect garden He has prepared for those who love Him and work according to His purpose.

You can find me at richardagee.com. I also invite you to join us at San Antonio First Church of the Nazarene on West Avenue in San Antonio to hear more about The Story and our part in it. You can find out more about my church at SAF.church. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed it, tell a friend. If you didn’t, send me an email and let me know how better to reach out to those around you. Until next week, may God richly bless you as you venture into His story each day.

What do you do when you walk? (Luke 4:43) September 23, 2016

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Today’s Bible reading plan:

Read it in a year – Obadiah

see the whole year’s plan [here](http://www.bible-reading.com/bible-plan.pdf)

Today’s Devotional

Luke 4:43
Jesus: No, I cannot stay. I need to preach the kingdom of God to other cities too. This is the purpose I was sent to fulfill.

What do Jesus’ words mean for us today?

When I was growing up, we had tent revivals, camp meetings, Vacation Bible School, teen camp, childrens camp, all kinds of things that could get you a spiritual high. Remember those? Sometimes those announced two week tent revivals would really get going and suddenly we figure out we didn’t want them to stop, so we go for another week or two. People would run the aisles, pray at the altars, talk about the services during the day at work or at the grocery store. Every night the tent would be full. There would be lots of music and the sermon seldom lasted less than an hour. But no one left.

I’m afraid I haven’t seen one of those kind of revivals in a long time. We get too busy with life and now if we can get people to go to a weekend gathering, it’s like pulling teeth. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen hanky wavers and aisle runners, too. We’re afraid of what someone might think if we let our emotions get out of hand if God really blesses us in a service, I guess. It’s just not done. We’re too formal and we might scare away the visitors if they came to our churches and saw something like that, right?

I’m not sure what started me down that path except thinking about the circuit Jesus made as He taught and preached and healed. He never stayed in one place very long because He had a mission to complete. He also had to make sure His schedule put Him in Jerusalem three times a year for the feasts Moses told the Israelites to observe at the temple – Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. So Jesus had an agenda from His Father and it wasn’t to stay in one spot. He didn’t expect people to come to Him.

He set off to go to as many people as He could to share the message God gave Him that the kingdom of God was at hand. It was time to get right with God because you didn’t have much time left. It was time to make sure your relationship with Him was right. Judgment day was coming and it wasn’t that far away. He also preached about love, though. In fact, Jesus talked a lot more about love than He did about judgment and punishment., we just don’t remember those words as much because of the way we’re built and the world we live in. But Jesus gave us a message of love.

I read an article the other day by Arthur Blessitt. He did some homework on how far Jesus walked during His life. As you are probably aware, everyone walked everywhere. Not many people had horses or donkeys or carts to ride around in. The only time Jesus is recorded as riding anything, in fact, was when He rode the new colt into Jerusalem. So we can assume that everywhere else He went, He went on foot.

So Arthur Blessitt looked at all the scriptures and all the places Jesus traveled during those three years of His ministry and determined He walked 3,125 miles in those three years. But then he looked at all the other walked He would have done with His family on the way to Egypt and back to Nazareth. The trips to Jerusalem for the feasts three times a year and so forth.

Jesus walked 21, 525 miles according to Blessitt’s calculations. That almost all the way around the circumference of the earth! At an average of 20 miles a day, that means He spent at least 1, 076 days and nights on the road in His life. That’s almost three years of His life just walking.

Jesus traveled to get God’s message to everyone He could. The gospels record His three year ministry from the time He was baptized in the Jordan River, but I wonder how much of the time before that He share His story with anyone who would listen? How many people did He talk to about the scripture and His understanding of what they meant. Remember He confounded the scribes at the young age of twelve. I doubt if His confounding others stopped at that one event. He was about His heavenly Father’s business.

I expect Jesus took Deuteronomy 6:6–9 to heart and spoke about God’s word continuously to anyone who would listen. Remember those words that Moses gave the Israelites before he died? "Make the things I’m commanding you today part of who you are. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re sitting together in your home and when you’re walking together down the road. Make them the last thing you talk about before you go to bed and the first thing you talk about the next morning. Do whatever it takes to remember them: tie a reminder on your hand and bind a reminder on your forehead where you’ll see it all the time, such as on the doorpost where you cross the threshold or on the city gate.

I expect during every one of those 21, 525 miles Jesus walked, He was remembering the words of His Father. How do you spend your time walking every day?

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

I have a plan for you (Deuteronomy 34), Mar 17, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Deuteronomy 34
Set – Deuteronomy 34; 1 Corinthians 2
Go! – Deuteronomy 32-34; 1 Corinthians 2

Deuteronomy 34
¹Moses climbed up from the plains of Moab to the top of Mount Nebo, to the peak at Mount Pisgah on the east side of the Jordan River across from Jericho. The Eternal showed him the whole land that would be Israel’s territory: Gilead as far as Dan, ² all of Naphtali, the territory of Ephraim and Manasseh, all of Judah’s territory to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, ³ the southern desert, and the basin in the valley of Jericho, the “city of palms,” as far as Zoar.

Eternal One (to Moses): ⁴ This is the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I told them, “I’ll give it to your descendants.” I’ve let you see it, even though you won’t be going into it.

⁵ So Moses, the Eternal’s servant, died there in the land of Moab, just as the Eternal had said. ⁶ He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth-peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is. ⁷ Moses was 120 years old when he died, but his eyesight hadn’t failed and his strength hadn’t diminished. ⁸ The children of Israel stayed in the plains of Moab and mourned for Moses for 30 days, until the grieving period was over.

⁹ Now Joshua (Nun’s son) was filled with a spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands on this successor. The children of Israel obeyed Joshua, and they did what the Eternal had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ Since then there’s never been another prophet in Israel like Moses. The Eternal knew him face-to-face! ¹¹ No one has ever done anything like the amazing things the Eternal sent Moses to do in the land of Egypt to demonstrate His reality and power to Pharaoh and his servants and his whole country. ¹² And no one has shown such great power or done such terrifying things as everyone in Israel saw Moses do.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

I had a special plan for Moses from the beginning. I put events in his path to help him understand the plan I had for him. At some points Moses showed some reluctance to carry out My plan and I had to convince him he was the man for the job. I also had to give him assistance all along the way because he knew the job was too difficult for him to carry it out alone.

Moses learned a lot during his 40 years in the desert before he accepted the task I had for him. He learned about reliance on Me. He learned about the covenant I had with his nation and My intervention in the lives of the Hebrews. He understood My place in nature and the part I would play as God in the deliverance of his people. He didn’t know how, but he knew I was able, because I am God.

Moses isn’t the only person for whom I have a special plan in mind, though. I have a special plan for everyone who will listen and obey Me. I may not ask you to lead My children out of bondage, but I will ask you to do things very far outside your comfort zone. Don’t worry about it, though. I will always be with you to work through you and accomplish My plan. I’ve given you just the right gifts – talents, skills, and experiences – to accomplish what I have planned for you. No one else has the same combination of gifts you have, so no one can do what I have planned for you like you can. Trust Me to help you.

You might ask, “What is it? What’s the task?” I will let you know at the right time as you seek My will for your life. I don’t want you to move too fast or too slow. If you move too slow, you’ll miss opportunities. If you move too fast, you won’t be prepared yet. So look for the next step to take. I will make sure you have the information you need to take the next step. I may not give you much more information than that, but that is enough. Trust Me with today’s needs, today’s guidance. That’s all you need for today.

So search My word. Listen to the counsel of wise Christians. Pray diligently. Seek My will. You will know what I have in store for you. You will understand the steps I want you to take. I will not hide from you. I’ve told you to seek Me and you will find Me. It’s the same with My plan for your life. I want you to have a successful, fulfilling life. When you let Me direct you, you’ll have it.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Politically privileged around a long time (Deuteronomy 17:14-20), Mar 11, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Deuteronomy 17:14-20
Set – Deuteronomy 17; Galatians 2
Go! – Deuteronomy 16-18; Psalms 38, Galatians 2

Deuteronomy 17:14-20
Moses: ¹⁴ Once you’ve gotten into the land the Eternal your God is giving you, and you’ve conquered it and settled there, you may say to yourselves, “Let’s appoint a king to rule our country, just as all the nations around us have!” ¹⁵ If you do have a king, remember you must enthrone the king He chooses. It must be a fellow Israelite whom you enthrone; you must not enthrone a foreigner who is not a fellow Israelite. ¹⁶ Although an Israelite, he must not try to build a strong army by collecting large herds of horses for his cavalry troops and a chariot corps. The king must certainly not send people back to Egypt to get large herds of horses, because the Lord has commanded you, “Don’t ever go back that way again!” ¹⁷ This king must not have many wives. If he takes foreign wives in marriage alliances, they could turn his heart away from the Lord and lead him to worship foreign gods. And the king must not accumulate great quantities of silver and gold for himself.

¹⁸ As soon as this king takes the royal throne, he must write out a copy of this law for himself on a scroll with the Levitical priests looking on. ¹⁹ He must keep this copy with him and read it every day, so that he will learn to fear the Eternal his God and to obey everything in the law and remember all these regulations very carefully in order to do them. ²⁰ That way he won’t think he’s privileged and oppress and exploit his fellow Israelites. He won’t deviate at all from what the Eternal has commanded, and he and his descendants will rule over Israel in a long dynasty.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

I see a problem growing up in almost every nation around the world. It’s the problem of the politically privileged. Those in power, whether by election or decree, who think themselves above the law of the land. They exempt themselves from the rules everyone else must follow. They hold themselves above the law since they think they created it. What they don’t realize is just how precarious they stand in their positions.

You see, lawmakers don’t create the law. I did. Centuries ago I determined humankind needed relationships to survive. Those relationships meant order must reign within households and among families. To keep order, those families must establish rules and those common rules within and among families became laws. Laws I taught the first families who walked the earth. Those rules have been handed down through the generations until now. When people keep them, there is peace and order and society advances and grows. When people decide to create their own laws to advance one sector or one people over another, society falters.

I’m the one who allows those troublemakers to hold their positions. But I allow them to hold those positions and create trouble because the people across the nation have forgotten Me. When I am not lifted up in the home and My principles do not become a way of life for the family, the selfish nature of humankind jumps out and those politically privileged make promises to the weak that can never be kept. So they seek their own advancement and forget about the promises made. They forget about how they found themselves in their position. They forget Me.

It happened in Israel. King Saul started the problem. He built an army around him. He gathered horses and chariots. King David, one of My favorite kings, married foreign wives to keep peace. King Solomon gather more silver and gold than any other king before or after him. The line of kings in Israel just followed their lead and continued to act the part of the politically privileged until I destroyed the nation. Then their priests did the same until I had to come in the flesh and show humankind what a farce Israel’s religion had become.

There is a solution to the politically privileged. Make My word required reading for every person in power. Elect only those who truly believe in Me. Not those who say they do, but those whose actions demonstrate it. Take away the laws that do not conform to My word or pass the filter of the Great Commandment: “Love Me with all your heart, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”

Is it possible to turn political privilege around? It is possible. But it will take a great revival in this and many other countries around the world. I have told you in My prophecies time will come to an end when certain things happen. Look around. Most already have passed by. The rest could happen very quickly or I could continue to take My time about coming back. It’s partly up to you. How much do you want revival in the land? Are you willing to pay the price for it? It won’t be easy. But all things are possible for those who believe in Me.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Live, Love, Labor – for the Lord (Deuteronomy 10/12-22), Mar 9, 2015

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Deuteronomy 10:12-22
Set – Deuteronomy 10; Mark 16
Go! – Deuteronomy 10-12; Mark 16

Deuteronomy 10:12-22
¹² And now, Israel, what is the Eternal your God asking of you? Only that you fear Him, live as He wants you to, and love Him; serve Him with every part of you, heart and soul; ¹³ and obey His commands and rules, which I’m giving you today for your good.

¹⁴ Think of it—everything already belongs to the Eternal your God: the sky and His own dwelling place beyond the sky, the earth and everything on it. ¹⁵ Nevertheless He devotedly loved your ancestors; and out of all the peoples He chose you, their descendants, to be His own, as you still are today. ¹⁶ Cut away that hard covering around your heart, and do not harden your neck against me, ¹⁷ because the Eternal your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords, the great and mighty and amazing God! He doesn’t favor the powerful, and He can’t be bribed.

¹⁸ He enforces His justice for the powerless, such as orphans and widows, and He loves foreigners, making sure they have food and clothing. ¹⁹ You must love those foreigners living with you in the same way. Remember how you were foreigners in the land of Egypt! ²⁰ So fear the Eternal your God; serve Him, and be devoted to Him. Show your loyalty by swearing oaths only in His name. ²¹ He’s the One you must praise—He’s your God who has done such great and amazing things for you, as you’ve seen with your own eyes. ²² When your ancestors went into Egypt, there were only 70 people in their whole clan. But He kept increasing your numbers, and now there are as many of you as there are stars in the sky!

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

Moses summarized My requirements for you pretty well. What do I want from you? Fear Me; live as I want you to; love Me; serve Me with every part of you, heart and soul; and obey My commands and rules. It might sound like a lot, but it really isn’t. It really boils down to thinking about who I am and then loving Me because of it.

I own everything. Look around you. It’s Mine – lock, stock, and barrel – everything. It belongs to Me. I created what you see or the materials from which it was made along with the creative genius to make it. Everything is Mine. So the food you eat – Mine. The house you live in – Mine. The clothes you wear – Mine. The car you drive – Mine again. Everything is Mine.

I let you borrow My stuff for a while and that opportunity for stewardship tells you I love you. More important than what I let you borrow for a while, though, is the sacrifice I made for you so you can live the way I want you to. Jesus’ death on the cross, My Son, Me in the flesh, provided the penalty for your sins so you can live in freedom. Freedom from the guilt of sin. All you have to do is accept Me as your Lord. Live like I want you to live. Believe I am who I say I am. Do what I ask. I’ll never give you more than you can handle.

So with all I do for you, can you not love Me with all your heart and soul? Can you trust Me to guide your way through life? Can you let Me design the pattern of your life in a way that makes the most sense for the long term? If I can create the universe and all that is in it, surely I can lay out the right path for you. You can trust Me with your possessions, they’re Mine anyway. You can trust Me with your time, that’s Mine, too. You can trust Me with your health, I give it to you. You can trust Me with your life, I created it.

Simple rules to live by. Just love me with your whole self, body, mind, and spirit. Say yes to what I ask. Obey My rules and commands. That’s it. Not a lot to remember. I don’t want to make this so complex and difficult that you have a hard time doing it. I want you to succeed. I want you to join Me in everlasting life one day. And I want you to begin that journey now.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

You have a good deal waiting (Deuteronomy 7/1-15), Mar 8, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Deuteronomy 7:1-15
Set – Deuteronomy 7; Mark 15
Go! – Deuteronomy 7-9; Mark 15

Deuteronomy 7:1-15
Moses: ¹As the Eternal, your True God, is bringing you into the land where you’re going to live when you cross the Jordan, He’ll drive out many nations ahead of you—Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites—seven nations that are bigger and stronger than you are. ² The Eternal your God will put them in your power. You must crush them; destroy them completely! Don’t make any treaties with them, and don’t show them any mercy. ³ Above all, don’t intermarry with them! Don’t marry your daughters to any of their sons, and don’t marry your sons to any of their daughters.

Eternal One: ⁴This would cause your enemies to turn your children away from Me to worship other gods.

Moses: If you did worship other gods, the Eternal would become furious with you and destroy you in an instant! ⁵ So this is what you must do to these nations instead: tear down their altars, smash their monoliths, chop down their sacred poles, and throw the idols they’ve carved into the fire!

Moses: ⁶ Remember: you’re a people set apart for the Eternal your God; He is your God and has chosen you to be His own possession—His special people—out of all the peoples on the earth. ⁷ The Eternal didn’t become devoted to you and choose you because you were the most numerous of all the peoples—in fact, you were the least! ⁸ Instead, He brought you out of Egypt with overwhelming power and liberated you from slavery to Pharaoh the king because He loved you and was keeping the oath He swore to your ancestors. ⁹ I want you to know that the Eternal your God is the only true God. He’s the faithful God who keeps His covenants and shows loyal love for a thousand generations to those who in return love Him and keep His commands. ¹⁰ But He holds personally accountable those who hate Him, and He destroys them; He does not delay when anyone hates Him, but He holds them personally accountable. ¹¹ Therefore, be very careful to obey the commands and rules and judgments I’m giving you today.

¹² If you pay attention to these judgments and keep them carefully, the Eternal your God will keep the covenant He made with your ancestors and show you His loyal love. ¹³ He’ll love you and bless you and increase your population. He’ll bless your children, and He’ll bless your agriculture. The land He promised your ancestors He’d give you will produce abundantly; and you’ll have grain and wine and olive oil, many cattle, and new flocks. ¹⁴ You will be blessed more than any other people. None of your men or women will be unable to have children; all of your cattle will have offspring. ¹⁵ The Eternal will keep every illness away from you. He won’t afflict you with any of those horrible diseases you saw in Egypt—He’ll put them instead on those who hate you!

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

You just heard a lot of blessings for those that love Me and keep My covenant, My rules, My commands. You heard about how would increase children, crops, and cattle for My chosen people, if they followed Me. The blessings applied to My covenant people of the Old Testament, but blessings apply to My people of the new covenant My Son set in motion, too. All who believe in My Son for salvation gain eternal life. All who believe in My Son experience forgiveness and freedom from the guilt of sins.

When you talk about blessings, those are real blessings. Those come as a result of My sacrifice, the sacrifice of My only Son. They come at the price of My Son’s sacrifice. They come at the sacrifice of the entire triune Godhead engaged in the salvation of humankind. But the blessings come with an “if” just as they did for My chose people. If you believe. If you follow My decrees. If you listen to My voice.

My word then and now comes as a covenant. A covenant is between two entities. Between us, I’ve written it as a very one-sided document. You must believe. I do everything else. You believe, I save. You ask, I provide. I give strength in place of your weakness. I give wisdom in place of your foolishness. I give guidance in place of your confusion. I give healing in place of your sickness. I give comfort in place of your pain. I give peace in place of your fear. I provide for your needs. I provide many of your wants. I adopt you into My family.

The provision clauses on My side get pretty lengthy. The requirement clauses on your side are pretty small. But they are significant. They are wrapped up in faith, love, trust. Your part of the covenant isn’t much, but it will mean giving up yourself and living for Me. It will mean letting Me be the Lord, Master, Director of your life. It will mean transforming your mind to the mind of My Son. It will mean living as a sacrifice to Me each day.

What do you get in return for adhering to the covenant? Eternal life. Heaven. Me living in you every day empowering you to really live. It’s a good deal. I’d take it if I were you.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

How do you decorate? (Deuteronomy 6), Mar 7, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Deuteronomy 6
Set – Deuteronomy 6; Mark 14
Go! – Deuteronomy 5-6; Psalms 43; Mark 14

Deuteronomy 6
Moses: ¹The Eternal your God commanded me to teach you these rules and judgments so that you would obey them in the land that is yours when you cross the Jordan. ² You are to fear Him and obey His rules and commands, just as I’m teaching them to you now. Do this your whole lives—you, your children and your grandchildren—and you’ll live in the land a long time. ³ Yes, Israel, if you pay careful attention and obey, everything will go well for you in that land flowing with milk and honey; and you’ll have many, many descendants just as the Eternal, the God of your ancestors, promised you.

Moses: ⁴ Listen, Israel! The Eternal is our True God—He alone. ⁵ You should love Him, your True God, with all your heart and soul, with every ounce of your strength. ⁶ Make the things I’m commanding you today part of who you are. ⁷ Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you’re sitting together in your home and when you’re walking together down the road. Make them the last thing you talk about before you go to bed and the first thing you talk about the next morning. ⁸ Do whatever it takes to remember them: tie a reminder on your hand and bind a reminder on your forehead where you’ll see it all the time, ⁹ such as on the doorpost where you cross the threshold or on the city gate.

¹⁰ The Eternal your God promised your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, that He would give you this land. When He brings you into it, you’ll live in beautiful and spacious cities you didn’t build. ¹¹ You’ll have houses filled with good things waiting for you—cisterns to hold water already dug out of the rock for you, and vineyards and olive orchards that you didn’t plant. You’ll have all you want to eat and more. ¹² When this happens, be very, very careful! Don’t forget it was the Eternal who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves. ¹³ Worship Him, your True God, and serve Him and swear oaths only in His name. ¹⁴ Don’t become devoted to any of the gods the people around you worship. ¹⁵ The Eternal your God is living right among you, and He’s a jealous God. He would become furious if you were unfaithful to Him—He’d wipe you off the face of the earth!

¹⁶ Don’t put the Eternal, your True God, to the test the way you did back at Massah.

Moses: ¹⁷ Carefully obey the commands, rules, and precedents the Eternal, your True God, has given you. ¹⁸ Do the things He considers right and good. Then everything will go well for you, and you’ll go and live in the good land He promised to your ancestors. ¹⁹ The Eternal will drive out all of your enemies, just as He said He would.

²⁰ You’ll have conversations about this with your children in the future, and this is how they should go:

Child: What are these precedents and rules and judgments the Eternal our God commanded you to obey?

Parents (to your child): ²¹ We used to be slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt, but then the Eternal delivered us with overwhelming power. ²² He sent amazing and awful signs and omens to torment the Egyptians, Pharaoh, and his royal court—right before our eyes! ²³ He brought us out of there so He could bring us here and give us the land He promised to our ancestors. ²⁴ He commanded us to remember all these rules to show that we fear Him, our God, so that things will always go well for us and so that we can keep living here as we are now. ²⁵ If we carefully obey everything the Eternal our God has commanded us, then we’ll be living as we should, in righteousness and in right relationship with Him.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

What are the visible signs in your house that remind you of Me? What do you carry with you every day that helps you remember the My faithfulness to you? What do you do to recall My intervention in your life?

If you have a hard time answering those questions, maybe it’s time to think about how you decorate. I told Moses and the Israelites to keep visible reminders around them of My faithfulness to them. I wanted them to keep things around them to remember the milestones in their life that showed how I cared for them in the good and bad times of their journey through life. I wanted them to have things in their home that caused their children to ask questions about their significance that prompted stories about Me and My deliverance from Pharaoh and their freedom from their bonds to slavery.

I want the same for you. What do you see as you walk out the door each day to remind you that I will be with you all day long? How do your children know you serve Me and expect them to serve Me, too? Maybe a simple plaque that recalls Joshua’s declaration to the Israelites near the back door would remind them and you. “…as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.” Then talk about the plaque and what it means to you often.

Maybe pictures or painting or drawings of people in postures of prayer around the house will remind you and your children of the importance of prayer and communicating with Me often. Instead of hiding your Bible on a bookshelf, perhaps an open Bible visible on the kitchen counter will remind you to read it every day. What if you stuck a card with a Bible verse on your bathroom mirror every morning. Would it help you to remember to hide My word in your heart?

Look around the rooms in your house. What do you have that reminds you to talk to Me? What causes you or your children or your guests to ask questions about Me? How can you improve the decor of your home, your office, your car, anywhere you spend time so that you are reminded to carry out My commands, tell others of Me, talk to Me, witness for Me?

Everyday the media bombards you with it’s messages to lure you away from Me. Isn’t it about time you do something to remind yourself to remember Me? Look around. Make it happen. It’s not hard.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.

Teach your children! (Deuteronomy 4:1-14), Mar 6, 2015

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Today’s Podcast

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Today’s Scriptures

Today’s Bible reading plans include:

Ready – Deuteronomy 4: 1-14
Set – Deuteronomy 4: Psalms 36; Mark 13
Go! – Deuteronomy 3-4; Psalms 36; Mark 13

Deuteronomy 4: 1-14
Moses: ¹So now, Israel, pay close attention to the laws and judgments I’m going to teach you. If you follow them, you’ll enter and live in the land the Eternal, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You’ll conquer it, and it will become your territory. ² Don’t add anything to what I command you, and don’t take away anything from it; just follow the commands of the Eternal your God that I’m giving you now.

³ You saw with your own eyes what the Eternal did about your immorality at Baal-peor, the mountain-god. When some of you followed after the Baal god, the Eternal your God killed them right in front of you—not one of them survived! ⁴ But all of you who remained loyal to the Eternal your God are still alive today. ⁵ So pay attention—I’m teaching you the rules and judgments the Eternal my God has given me for you. You’re to follow them when you enter the land and settle there. ⁶ If you obey them carefully, all the nations around you will marvel at your wisdom and understanding. They’ll hear about these rules and say, “This is a great nation—its people are so wise and understanding!” ⁷ Indeed, what other nation is so great that it has a god that compares to the Eternal our God as He is near to us whenever we call on Him? ⁸ What other nation is so great that it has rules and judgments as just as the ones contained in this whole law I’m presenting to you today?

Moses: ⁹ So watch what you do! Be careful with your very life! Don’t forget the things you saw with your own eyes, and don’t let them fade from your memory. Remember them your whole life; teach them to your children and your grandchildren. ¹⁰ Remember the day you stood before the Eternal, your True God, at Horeb when He called you to come close. He told me, “Bring all the people to Me. I want them to hear My words, so that they will learn to fear Me as long as they live on this earth and will teach their children to do the same.” ¹¹ You all came and stood at the foot of the mountain. It blazed with fire all the way up into the sky while dark clouds and mist obscured your view. ¹² Then the Eternal spoke to you from inside that fire. You heard His voice, you heard His words, but you didn’t see His shape—you only heard a voice. ¹³ He told you what to do to keep the covenant He made with you. He gave you the Ten Directives and engraved two copies of them on two stone tablets. ¹⁴ The Eternal commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and judgments that make up the law He wants you to follow in the land where you’re going to live when you cross the Jordan.

Today’s Devotional

From today’s background scripture God might say:

In these few verses, Moses tells My children to remember the laws I gave them and to teach them to their children at least twice. He will give that same directive many times in this last discourse before I take him. Teach your children. Part of the problem with today’s society is you forgot this major principle. Teach your children.

Today, parents abdicate their responsibility to teach their children. Now the schools do it, or so they think. The churches do it, or so mom and dad assume. Day care surely teaches kids something during the nine hours a day they have the kids, right? Today, parents spend much more time with their smartphones, iPads, and computers than with their kids, so who is teaching them. And if the parents aren’t teaching them, how do they know what they’re learning?

Moses told those listening to him that day to be careful with their life. I think you are more careful with you cars today than you are with your life. Technology has become a substitute for parental responsibility. You leave your kids in front of the television or in the hands of the Wii or X-Box letting the morality of those devices determine what they believe instead of instilling in them the values your parents gave you at the dinner table, hopefully.

I find the world in a tragic situation, now. It can’t go on much longer. Kids need guidance or they’ll find their way and it won’t be a good one. Remember My word? It says humankind’s hearts dwell on evil continually. Only when changed by the power of My Spirit living within you can you hope to get away from the continual draw of evil on your life. But it is best to learn those things at a young age and never have to suffer the physical and emotional consequences that come with some of the evil decisions that so many make today. The best way to learn them at a young age is to learn them from your parents.

What has happened today? The family, parental responsibility, reliance upon grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins to share common values has all but disappeared because a couple of generations now failed to teach their children My ways, My laws. Until parents begin to be parents again instead of just progenitors the problem will increase. Until parents take responsibility for teaching their children My laws, the true, long-lasting values of life that will lead you into the next life, families will continue to degrade and society will continue to fall into greater disarray and dissolution.

Go back to what I told Moses and he shared with the Israelites. “So watch what you do! Be careful with your very life! Don’t forget the things you saw with your own eyes, and don’t let them fade from your memory. Remember them your whole life; teach them to your children and your grandchildren.” You’ll go a long way to curing the ills of society that people complain about so much if you’ll just follow what Moses said to do.

The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
In accordance with the requirements for FTC full disclosure, I may have affiliate relationships with some or all of the producers of the items mentioned in this post who may provide a small commission to me when purchased through this site.