Rahab & the spies... A Lot to learn from them

 "And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath."

Joshua 2 : 11

Since we have been reading about Joshua , thought it will be great to finish the week with the same. In Chapter 2 we read of a prostitute called Rahab. Now Joshua sends two spies to check out Jericho and they came to the house of Rahab which was built along the city wall. Now when the king of Jericho found out about the spies he sent his men to search them out, but Rahab protected them by hiding them in her house and told the kings men that they had already left the city.

Verses 8- 11, " Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath."

"I know that the LORD has given you the land" , "We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt" .... Wow ! With no instant electronic technology, yet the news of what God had done and is doing has reached the people of the land. And it was not like this was news that entered one ear and left the other... She goes on to say , "as soon as we heard it our hearts melted" and here is the best part... its not because they thought Moses and his army were super brilliant and all.. It wasnt because they thought the Israelites were excellent in warefare... she says , "For the LORD your God, HE IS GOD in the heavens above and on the earth beneath" ... Wow ! That is a testimony !! She knew without a doubt the true living God was with them and who can stand against God ?!

God is so cool ! As we read the rest of chapter 2 here are couple of neat things that I want to highlight.. We read of how Rahab asks the spies to spare her and her household (her father, her mother, her brothers , her sisters and all who belong to them) . She wasnt thinking just about herself.. She wasnt thinking "I need to be safe"... she looked for protection for her entire household. Now here is a fun thing.. The spies gave her a scarlet cord that she tied on her window to indicate to them to spare that house and destroy the rest. Isnt it interesting that the colour of the cord was "Scarlet" :)  We have something so precious over us right now... We have the blood of the lamb ! We have been ransomed , sealed and protected.. We walk in freedom in Christ , we have life in abundance , we have goodness and mercy that will follow us all the days of our lives as we dwell in His presence ! 

Now when the spies were leaving Rahab told them to hide for three days before they made their way back and we read in verse 22 that that is exactly what the spies did. They didnt let their ego be inflated when she ackowledged their victory over her land, they did not look down on her and say , "why should we listen to this woman..who is she to give us advice".... These are men who honoured God and knew it was all HIM ! When we truly know and believe with every fibre of our body that truly it is 100% Christ , it will overflow in our actions and there will be no place for pride, because to HIM ALONE belongs ALL the glory all the honor and all the praise

God Bless 

Want Success ?

 "This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

Joshua 1:8

 

A little context to this verse... After Moses's death , the Lord is speaking to Joshua and this is what He says ... Lets read from verse 1 - 6 , "After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, “Moses my servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them."

Wow ! Such awesome promises and assurances from God.

 

- Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you (Don't you just love the part where God says 'where your foot WILL tread , I HAVE given to you". God has already established it. He just needs to walk)

 

- From the wilderness and Lebanon, as far as Euphrates and the land of Hittites to the great sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory

 

- No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life

 

- Just as I was with Moses so I will be with you

 

- I will not leave you or forsake you

 

- Be strong and courageous for you shall cause these people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them (God is going to use him to fulfill the promises given regarding the promised land spoken to their forefathers.. wow )

 

And here is the best part. So in order for all of this to happen.. what did Joshua have to do ? Train day and night ? Go hire the best blacksmiths he could find and design the best weaponry ? Start forming alliances with other kings to make all of this happen ?

 

A lot of times we try to 'make' things happen and miss the most essential, the basic, the key to it all... Lets read verses 7-8, "Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success."

 

Isnt that amazing ! This is the key to success. And now you know why the first thing that the patterns of this world will cause us to compromise is our time with God. The first lie of the enemy is that , "Ah you dont need to read your Bible.. "

 

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success

 

God Bless

Just like Jesus

 "Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God."

Ephesians 5:1-2

 

Such a blessing to read all your emails and read and learn how we can walk in love ! Very true ! Walking as Christ did in love ! Knowing our inheritence in Him and who we are as His sons & daughters.. Walking in boldness and peace...  Amen

 

Lets read the previous verses (The previous verses ? Yes, when the books of the Bible were written they did not contain chapters or verse numbers. They were put in for easy reference and reading). In Ephesians 4 : 25-32 , "Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you."

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. Isnt this amazing. This is what God desires of us. Does it seem like a tall order ? Does your work place, school , college or home seem like a hard place to live this life that God is calling us to ? Here is the key to it all...Trusting in Him ! Surrendering it all to Him and placing our trust on His strength and His grace to carry us through. But it comes down to this, do we desire and do we surrender all and say ,"Here I am"

 

I know I have mentioned this before, but here it is again, I find that is easier to say , "I want more of You Lord" than to say , "Take All of me" :) Sometimes we like to hold on to our current nature, we arent welcome to the the thought of changing  our ways or allowing God to work in us and change us to His likeness... Its time to surrender. Its time to let patterns in our life which are not of God be broken. Lets go back a few more verses and read from Ephesians 4: 17-24 , "' Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness"

 

God Bless

Made by God !

"I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

Psalm 139:14

I am fearfully and wonderfully made ! Praise the Lord !

Why fearfully ? What does it mean when something is fearfully made? It basically means that when you see it, it is sooo overwhelming and you are in awe of the maker ! It brings a fear , not like something terrible is going to happen... but your heart is gripped with reverence and lost in amazement at the one who made it.. It is so special and set apart !

And guess what ? We are fearfully and wonderfully made !

Lets read verse 13 & 14 together shall we , "For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well."

I dont know what you think when you stand in front of the mirror.. I dont know if there have been past experiences that might have caused your self image to plummet... I dont know if you are trying to find worth based on what other people think...

But know this , You are fearfully and wonderfully made ! You have been set apart , God has so intricately knitted us to bring glory to His name ! We are the works of His hands !

Rejoice ! Praise the Lord !

"My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
the days that were formed for me,
when as yet there was none of them.
How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you."

Psalm 139:15-18
  God Bless

My rich Inheritance from my awesome cool Dad !

"And in the morning watch the LORD in the pillar of fire and of cloud looked down on the Egyptian forces and threw the Egyptian forces into a panic, clogging their chariot wheels so that they drove heavily. And the Egyptians said, “Let us flee from before Israel, for the LORD fights for them against the Egyptians.”"

Exodus 14:24-25

God has such a  brilliant sense of humour ! The context of this verse is the Israelites crossing the red sea after God parts the waters for them. We read in verses 21-22,"Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left." 

Isn't God absolutely amazing ! He is just so creative...He could have called down fire upon the Egyptians and burnt them up in a second... But He decides to make a way even through the sea allowing the Israelites to walk in the midst of the sea while the waters were a wall to them on the left and right ! Hey as long as God is with us we can just keep moving forward ! Following as He leads ! Its awesome ! Its brilliant ! Every moment is just so captivating

And in the morning when the Egyptians try following them God decides to clog their chariot wheels ! :) God is just so fun ! The Egyptians actually confessed with their mouths that "the LORD fights for them" ! Yes the glory shall belong to Him alone !

We serve an awesome , creative , fun God ! So have fun loving the Lord ! He is amazing ! Have fun serving the Lord ! Rejoice ! 

We read in Isaiah 11: 2,"And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. " This is our God ! And we being His children have such an awesome rich inheritance 

Whatever is your need today , an extra boost of creativity, the joy of the Lord , wisdom , understanding, the knowledge and fear of the Lord... know that we as His children have it and get to sit in HIs presence and grow more and more in Him ! We have an awesome rich inheritance in Him ! 

God Bless

iSurrender :)

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart

be acceptable in your sight,

O LORD, my rock and my redeemer."

Psalm 19:14

We serve an awesome God ! He is Holy ! He is perfect ! All creation sings His praise. Why would we sing any less ? 

I love the simplicity and power in this prayer and song , "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in your sight". I love that its both .. words that come out and the thoughts that are in ... Sometimes we say , "oh that was not the intent of my usage of the word" but yeah we still use it... Or vice versa where we say all nice things but there is something not right in our hearts...

And here is David declaring how magnificent God is and how perfect is His law and testimony and also declaring the need for God to keep him from sin. And He ends the song surrendering it all to the Lord the Rock and our Redeemer.

No better way to start a day than by surrendering it all, that every thought , every word be acceptable in His sight, that He would guide us and lead us and remove any impurity from within us.. That we too shall declare His glory..

God Bless

Eat Well !

"But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh."

Galatians 5:16

Ever been so busy that you skipped a meal and by the end of the day you are so hungry that all you wanted is something to eat and even if it is junk food you gobble it up ?

When we starve the spirit , our fleshly desires tend to grow stronger and without our knowledge / with our knowledge we find ourselves reaching out to junk.

The word of God is essential, its not optional. The more we feed ourselves with the word of God , the stronger we get , the closer we draw towards Him. And if we are drawing closer to Him, we are automatically drawing away from everything else that is a snare.

If you feel weighed down today by stress, anxiety , addictions , depression , any form of sin , here is the best weight loss program ever : Follow the diet of eating the word of God as much as possible, drink from the living waters and watch and see how light you feel !

God Bless