Joshua 9:3-10:43
They're in! That's right the Israelites are in the promised land. Quick recap- Joshua (God) parted the river and the people walked across on dry land. Jericho fell and I guess the people got excited because they rushed off to the next city without waiting for instructions from the Lord. They lost. But God sent them back and they were victorious. Now all the people in the land have heard of them and are gathering together to fight against Israel. Let's see what happens...
Wow. OK, first the Gibeonites were liars and told Joshua they were from very far away and asked for a covenant with the Israelites, which the leaders granted. But when they found out they had been deceived, Joshua made the Gibeonites servants basically. Then begins the conquest of the Israelites. They went to city after city and put them all to complete destruction. No one was left living. It's kind of hard to read, but it happened just as the Lord had promised them. At one point, they needed some more time in the day to fight and Joshua told the sun to stand still... and it did! That's pretty crazy.
Luke 16:19-17:10
A rich man died and was in Hades looking up to Abraham and pleading to be saved. Then he pleaded for Abraham to send someone to his family so that they would believe and not end up with him. But the response was "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." 16:31 We are given all we need to believe. We must listen and believe! Next, the apostles ask Jesus to increase their faith, and He tells them that even if they had a tiny amount of faith they would be able to do miraculous things. I'm struck by how this is still true for us today. If we will only have faith, we will be able to accomplish so much- not us, but Christ in us! His power is available to us for use, we just have to believe and call upon Him. Finally, we are told to remember our place. We are servants and our response to following the Lord should be "We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty." I love that this comes right after Jesus tells the apostles they can do much if they have faith. It is a reminder that when God does begin to accomplish great things in and through us, our response should be one of reverence so that we don't confuse God's work with our own.
Psalm 83
It never ceases to amaze me how the Word fits together! This author of this psalm is asking the Lord to defeat the people that have gathered together against God's people.... which is what happened in my Joshua reading today. So cool!
Proverbs 13:4
Don't be a sluggard... be diligent!
Pray for Angola-
An African, Portuguese-speaking country. Vast natural resources that are not utilized. Previously Marxist government that lead to devastating war- 900,000 died. Past attempts to eradicate Christianity failed, but brought much suffering. There is so much devastation in this country. Landmines are a very big problem. Pray for forgiveness and restoration among the people in this country. Trained Christian leadership is needed desperately. And the role of missionaries will be shifting from aid/relief to development and from evangelism to discipleship. Pray for more missionaries!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment