When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations—the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, seven nations larger and stronger than you and when the Lord your God has delivered them over to you and you have defeated them, then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy. Do not intermarry with them. Do not give your daughters to their sons or take their daughters for your sons, for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the Lord's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you. This is what you are to do to them: Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones, cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols in the fire. Deuteronomy 7:1-5 NIV
Moses who now was 120 years old was giving final instructions on how to go posses the land of milk and honey;the land of promise from the Lord. Remember Moses was not just the deliver of Israel but also a prophet of Yahweh. So these were not just his thoughts of what to do but as spokesman for God he was giving God's strategy. The land was inhabited with different tribes of Canaan. There are seven of those tribes mentioned here but my research shows a total of 12 tribes. We know that the number 7 stands for perfection so the importance of the words here are pointed out with an explanation point to the early reader knowing that by only mentioning 7 they were to listen carefully. Why?
Remember a guy named Noah? Noah was found to be righteous before the Lord and was used as we know to save humankind. In other words he was the Lords anointed! The Bible is full of lessons of how we are to respect and treat the Lords appointed ones. Noah's son Ham sinned before the Lord by bringing shame upon Noah by pointing out his faults and bringing attention to others of his nakedness. That is another lesson for another day but as the Lord's appointed he was inspired of God to curse his son Ham for his actions. This sin was also a generational curse that was placed upon Ham's youngest son Canaan which has been better known as the Canaanite curse.
So now the land that Moses refers to above as the land of promise was inhabited by tribes of Canaan. And God was now going to deal finally with their generational sin as he commanded the nation of Israel to defeat them and drive them out. There is actually a spiritual meaning to each of these tribes and for us to learn them and to defeat them today is as important as it was then. Read the scripture above again as it will be the basis of the next several posts. We will learn what God wants us to defeat in our lives and in his church so we can live in the land of promise. Get ready for a great ride and to start defeating the foe that keeps you from living life to its fullest. Have a great day!
Friday, February 29, 2008
Thursday, February 28, 2008
In Memory of Mom
To take a self-indulgent break from the theme I think is OK since after all this is my blog. I am a creature of habit that can be stubborn to change. I was feeling a bit down today and when I got home I turned on the TV and one of my mother's favorite movies was starting on TCM. It was showing without commercials so I settled down and watched.
The movie was Fiddler on the roof. If you are not aware of this movie it is about the traditional Jewish family life in a small village in Russia's era of change from rule of the Czars. Of coarse this had much sentimental value to my mother and myself as her grandfather my great-grandfather told us stories of the old country and the difficulties of that time. The music of the fiddle represents tradition and to me the suffering of the Jewish people for centuries. So I find myself crying from the start of this movie all the way through and it is a long movie. If you know me crying is not one of my traits. Self examination is! So why am I crying?
I deduced that my tears are coming from the pain my brothers and sisters have endured for years. I know the history of my people and wonder how we are still alive today. All the invasions of ancient Israel and the dispersion of the people. The rape of our women and slavery and brutality of conqueror after conqueror. Then having been labeled Christ Killers we were blamed for everything bad under the sun in Europe and the atrocities of Germany, Russia, Spain and even the great land of America. As sad as all those events were and still are that was not why I was crying.
I find that my body was telling me Saturday is my mothers birthday. That is also the same time of year in which she died a horrible slow painful death from cancer. It will be the 10th year without her and I find myself still missing her. How foolish it may seem for a 41 yer old man to be crying at a musical and missing his mother but that is the reality of my day. I see so much of my mother alive today in her grandchildren and even in me. I hope if you are reading this and are touched in some way that you take the time to call your mother if she is still alive today. If you are like me and have lost your mom take comfort that Jesus said that he would not leave us as orphans! I hope that I can honor her memory with the way I live and share what she had given to me with all those that will listen. So if you see me in the next few day's and see a tear still in the eye you'll know why.....Miss ya Mom! Love, Brian
The movie was Fiddler on the roof. If you are not aware of this movie it is about the traditional Jewish family life in a small village in Russia's era of change from rule of the Czars. Of coarse this had much sentimental value to my mother and myself as her grandfather my great-grandfather told us stories of the old country and the difficulties of that time. The music of the fiddle represents tradition and to me the suffering of the Jewish people for centuries. So I find myself crying from the start of this movie all the way through and it is a long movie. If you know me crying is not one of my traits. Self examination is! So why am I crying?
I deduced that my tears are coming from the pain my brothers and sisters have endured for years. I know the history of my people and wonder how we are still alive today. All the invasions of ancient Israel and the dispersion of the people. The rape of our women and slavery and brutality of conqueror after conqueror. Then having been labeled Christ Killers we were blamed for everything bad under the sun in Europe and the atrocities of Germany, Russia, Spain and even the great land of America. As sad as all those events were and still are that was not why I was crying.
I find that my body was telling me Saturday is my mothers birthday. That is also the same time of year in which she died a horrible slow painful death from cancer. It will be the 10th year without her and I find myself still missing her. How foolish it may seem for a 41 yer old man to be crying at a musical and missing his mother but that is the reality of my day. I see so much of my mother alive today in her grandchildren and even in me. I hope if you are reading this and are touched in some way that you take the time to call your mother if she is still alive today. If you are like me and have lost your mom take comfort that Jesus said that he would not leave us as orphans! I hope that I can honor her memory with the way I live and share what she had given to me with all those that will listen. So if you see me in the next few day's and see a tear still in the eye you'll know why.....Miss ya Mom! Love, Brian
Living Part 5
Deut 6:18 Do what is right and good in the LORD's sight, so that it may go well with you and you may go in and take over the good land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers, 19 thrusting out all your enemies before you, as the LORD said. (from New International Version)
So the Lord has promised not only salvation to us and freedom from our old life but a new life that goes well. Remember in an earlier post I pointed out that many Christians get stuck in viewing God through the circumstances of their lives. The other point I want to bring up is that we only invite God into the life we have made without remaining in his commands and ask him to bless that life. Then when that does not work and the mess we made becomes a hardship we get disappointed with God and not ourselves. Then we tend to fall into an Adamic pattern of hiding and withdrawing from God and the church he has put us in to redeem us and restore us once again.
Remember I was hurting inside while looking at the empty faces in the restaurant the other day? The Lord brought a thought to me that saddened me more and that was that most of these people go to church and still are stuck in bondage. The scripture above shows us that if we want the benefits of God we must obey his word and instructions for living. The Lord wants a relationship with us that is 24/7 and not just us fitting him into our busy lives or using him as a rescue 911 service. Jason Price who I hang around a lot these day's asks people who are dissapointed or have even given up on God, "Have you really tried God"? He goes on to say when you were doing drugs did you just try them or do them?
Before we can cross the river Jordan and live in the land of promise we need to stop trying God and start doing God. Let me encourage you today to break up the old way of viewing God and what you want from him and how much time you spend away from him. Invite the Holy Spirit to be with you today in all things and to be in continual attitudes of prayer and worship. Invite God into your entire life and not just the time before breakfast and an hour on Sunday. IF that is a strange thought for you and you have no idea how to even start let me say all things start with prayer. Have a nice talk with God and leave time for hearing back from Him. You were designed and created to abide in God and when that is not a reality we are also designed to feel empty. When you feel empty don't try and fill your life with the wrong things but spend more time looking at your life up to now and see what God wants you to do. Don't be like the Israelis in the dessert complaining about the provision of God and finding themselves desiring the meat of their old masters. My prayers are with you!
So the Lord has promised not only salvation to us and freedom from our old life but a new life that goes well. Remember in an earlier post I pointed out that many Christians get stuck in viewing God through the circumstances of their lives. The other point I want to bring up is that we only invite God into the life we have made without remaining in his commands and ask him to bless that life. Then when that does not work and the mess we made becomes a hardship we get disappointed with God and not ourselves. Then we tend to fall into an Adamic pattern of hiding and withdrawing from God and the church he has put us in to redeem us and restore us once again.
Remember I was hurting inside while looking at the empty faces in the restaurant the other day? The Lord brought a thought to me that saddened me more and that was that most of these people go to church and still are stuck in bondage. The scripture above shows us that if we want the benefits of God we must obey his word and instructions for living. The Lord wants a relationship with us that is 24/7 and not just us fitting him into our busy lives or using him as a rescue 911 service. Jason Price who I hang around a lot these day's asks people who are dissapointed or have even given up on God, "Have you really tried God"? He goes on to say when you were doing drugs did you just try them or do them?
Before we can cross the river Jordan and live in the land of promise we need to stop trying God and start doing God. Let me encourage you today to break up the old way of viewing God and what you want from him and how much time you spend away from him. Invite the Holy Spirit to be with you today in all things and to be in continual attitudes of prayer and worship. Invite God into your entire life and not just the time before breakfast and an hour on Sunday. IF that is a strange thought for you and you have no idea how to even start let me say all things start with prayer. Have a nice talk with God and leave time for hearing back from Him. You were designed and created to abide in God and when that is not a reality we are also designed to feel empty. When you feel empty don't try and fill your life with the wrong things but spend more time looking at your life up to now and see what God wants you to do. Don't be like the Israelis in the dessert complaining about the provision of God and finding themselves desiring the meat of their old masters. My prayers are with you!
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Living Part 4
OK. So here we go! The first key to living life to its fullest designed purpose and to do more than just hang in there is to believe the truth of the word of God in your life more than lies and accusations of the enemy. The word of the Lord for your life starts with the same commands all of creation must account for. What did you do with knowledge of who Jesus Christ is? I hope by now if you are reading part 4 of my blog that you have made a personal decision to follow Jesus Christ and that your confession of faith in him is voluntary and in this present age. You see everyone will give an account for what they did with the knowledge of who Jesus is in the here and now or later after death and judgement. Every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Lord of all!
Asking Jesus to be your savior is just the first step of a journey I like to call our pilgrimage back home. I find the act of freedom and deliverance is similar to the nation of Israel being freed from the bondage of 430 years in Egypt. So now you are set free from your old master and find out there is a promise land of destiny for you and your family. You saw and heard the voice of the Lord as the Israelis did when the ten commandments were given of the Holy Spirit on the Lords mountain. Now to live life to its fullest and to take possession of the land you have to clean house of those that are living there now. Now that is where we like the nation of Israel fail and then never really enjoy our freedom and sometimes look back to our old situation as even better than what it truly was. Remember the nation of Israel complained of the Lords provision of manna and longed for the meat of their old masters in Egypt.
So enough teasing already and let me give you the first and most important key to life and possessing your promise. Jesus summed up the totality of the message of the Bible as how we should relate to God first before anything else. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. This was the most important thing we can do to ensure our life is focused on the right things and more importantly off the wrong things like "ourselves"! Read Deuteronomy 6 and 7 for the background text for the next several posts and have a great day in the love of God. I pray that the blessing of life in total fullness come upon you as you look to heavenly purpose, calling and direction. Amen!
Asking Jesus to be your savior is just the first step of a journey I like to call our pilgrimage back home. I find the act of freedom and deliverance is similar to the nation of Israel being freed from the bondage of 430 years in Egypt. So now you are set free from your old master and find out there is a promise land of destiny for you and your family. You saw and heard the voice of the Lord as the Israelis did when the ten commandments were given of the Holy Spirit on the Lords mountain. Now to live life to its fullest and to take possession of the land you have to clean house of those that are living there now. Now that is where we like the nation of Israel fail and then never really enjoy our freedom and sometimes look back to our old situation as even better than what it truly was. Remember the nation of Israel complained of the Lords provision of manna and longed for the meat of their old masters in Egypt.
So enough teasing already and let me give you the first and most important key to life and possessing your promise. Jesus summed up the totality of the message of the Bible as how we should relate to God first before anything else. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. This was the most important thing we can do to ensure our life is focused on the right things and more importantly off the wrong things like "ourselves"! Read Deuteronomy 6 and 7 for the background text for the next several posts and have a great day in the love of God. I pray that the blessing of life in total fullness come upon you as you look to heavenly purpose, calling and direction. Amen!
Living Part 3
I am so thankful for the deposit of inspiration that is in the Bible! I love that every answer to life's questions can be found if we are looking. Many times we see the phrase seek me while I can be found and now is that time. I can't think of a time in the history of man in which knowledge was higher than it is now. Yet with all of man's own wisdom we have not solved any of the difficult issues facing our planet or its inhabitants. All of our technology has not brought the end to famine, war, disease and even happiness.
Many would answer the question of are you living or just getting by based on how happy they are. Wouldn't it be a fair statement if we could be happy all the time we would chose to be? I have found that being happy is based on the conditions of my life and even the Bible say's that in this world we can expect trouble. That same passage goes on to say but be of good cheer because I (Jesus) have overcome the world! So what is the question inside your brain when you chose to have life's circumstances rob you of joy? We have to get the reality of what God has done and is still doing in a real way so that the measure of our checking account doesn't determine how my face shows in public. We have to get a greater deposit of he that overcame this world in us and in our spirit so that a negative natural happening circumstance does not dictate to us how we feel or show the love of Christ to a dying world.
The last time the prophet Dennis Cramer was at our church he said something that we need to think about. He said,"If you are saved please inform your face". So let me encourage you today to tell your face to lift its countenace and show that greater is he that lives in you than he that is in the world. I will soon be doing a lengthy discussion of possesing the promise of God and how to live life to its fullest. I look forward to sharing these things and hope to hear from you of how God's word builds you up. Have a great day!
Many would answer the question of are you living or just getting by based on how happy they are. Wouldn't it be a fair statement if we could be happy all the time we would chose to be? I have found that being happy is based on the conditions of my life and even the Bible say's that in this world we can expect trouble. That same passage goes on to say but be of good cheer because I (Jesus) have overcome the world! So what is the question inside your brain when you chose to have life's circumstances rob you of joy? We have to get the reality of what God has done and is still doing in a real way so that the measure of our checking account doesn't determine how my face shows in public. We have to get a greater deposit of he that overcame this world in us and in our spirit so that a negative natural happening circumstance does not dictate to us how we feel or show the love of Christ to a dying world.
The last time the prophet Dennis Cramer was at our church he said something that we need to think about. He said,"If you are saved please inform your face". So let me encourage you today to tell your face to lift its countenace and show that greater is he that lives in you than he that is in the world. I will soon be doing a lengthy discussion of possesing the promise of God and how to live life to its fullest. I look forward to sharing these things and hope to hear from you of how God's word builds you up. Have a great day!
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Living Part 2
I should let you know that my world view is scripted from the pages of the Bible and that of one who believes in its accuracy and divine inspiration for daily living. I believe only in the wisdom that comes from God and that the person of the Holy Spirit is alive in all believers teaching us in all things.
Now I believe in the fullness of the counsel of God and that we can't pick and chose what to believe and fill in the blanks with our opinions or even hopes. With that said I look forward to any reply that would add or even challenge anything that I put forth as my human condition is prone to error and open for correction. My hope is to add and encourage the body of Christ and not in any way bring injury by bringing any error or confusion to one of God's little lambs.
So back to the question of are you living or just scrapping by? Our God created us to have dominion of this earth and to subdue and keep it for Him. That plan has not changed! So then why are so many stuck in low gear not going anywhere with any purpose? My biggest question to those in my church has been why do we as Christians find it easier to believe a lie of the enemy instead of the truth of our Lord? Let me encourage you today that if you have been bogged down from life and have gotten off that narrow road that Jesus has called us to don't hide yourself away from God as Adam and Eve did. Don't isolate yourself from the body of believers that you belong to in your local assembly.
Get alone with God and have a nice talk! Put down all those how to books and get back to his word! Let the love of God meet you in the arms of another believer on the phone or in a small group or at church. Get connected to the vine and abide in the nourishment that comes from obedience. Now let the fun begin!
Now I believe in the fullness of the counsel of God and that we can't pick and chose what to believe and fill in the blanks with our opinions or even hopes. With that said I look forward to any reply that would add or even challenge anything that I put forth as my human condition is prone to error and open for correction. My hope is to add and encourage the body of Christ and not in any way bring injury by bringing any error or confusion to one of God's little lambs.
So back to the question of are you living or just scrapping by? Our God created us to have dominion of this earth and to subdue and keep it for Him. That plan has not changed! So then why are so many stuck in low gear not going anywhere with any purpose? My biggest question to those in my church has been why do we as Christians find it easier to believe a lie of the enemy instead of the truth of our Lord? Let me encourage you today that if you have been bogged down from life and have gotten off that narrow road that Jesus has called us to don't hide yourself away from God as Adam and Eve did. Don't isolate yourself from the body of believers that you belong to in your local assembly.
Get alone with God and have a nice talk! Put down all those how to books and get back to his word! Let the love of God meet you in the arms of another believer on the phone or in a small group or at church. Get connected to the vine and abide in the nourishment that comes from obedience. Now let the fun begin!
Are you Living?
Are you living life to its fullest or just barely surviving? Jesus said that he came to give us life and a life full of abundance. Sometimes when I am out in public and look at the faces of people my inner-man cries out for what seems like the walking dead. Even inside the walls of the church I see men and women seemingly trapped by the difficulties of everyday life with looks of hopelessness etched into their faces.
I believe Jesus came to set us free from the bondage and slavery of this world and all its trappings. I believe he came to set us free from the traditions of what man has made of religion and to change our outlook of life from wrongly looking at God only through our circumstances. The facts are that we have become "squatters" in this world when we have been called to be "possessors" of the promise of the Gospel!
Many of us have believed the lies of the ruler of this world that the land is not really ours or that the ones in the land are to strong to overcome. This blog will encourage you and me as I journal how I believe God wants us to claim the land he has promised to us as his children. May God Bless you and make his Spirit alive in you as we take this journey together. Amen!
I believe Jesus came to set us free from the bondage and slavery of this world and all its trappings. I believe he came to set us free from the traditions of what man has made of religion and to change our outlook of life from wrongly looking at God only through our circumstances. The facts are that we have become "squatters" in this world when we have been called to be "possessors" of the promise of the Gospel!
Many of us have believed the lies of the ruler of this world that the land is not really ours or that the ones in the land are to strong to overcome. This blog will encourage you and me as I journal how I believe God wants us to claim the land he has promised to us as his children. May God Bless you and make his Spirit alive in you as we take this journey together. Amen!
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