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Post Date: |
Wednesday, 2017-08-09 |
| SCRIPTURE | |
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From: |
Joshua 7:13 (TLB) |
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Text: |
13 “Get up! Tell the people, ‘Each of you must undergo purification rites in preparation for tomorrow, for the Lord your God of Israel says that someone has stolen from him, and you cannot defeat your enemies until you deal with this sin. |
| OBSERVATION: | |
| When God sent Joshua and the Israelites to conquer Jericho, He gave specific instructions to them about what should be destroyed (pretty much everything), and what must be brought back for the temple of the living God (silver and gold). God knew that there were some who disobeyed Him and brought back valuables for themselves. They sinned against God. Because of this unconfessed sin, God chose to see the Israelites punished when they went to battle against the people of Ai. | |
| APPLICATION: | |
| In chapter 7 of Joshua, we could see where the sinful acts mentioned above was performed by one person, yet God allowed many of the Israelite army to be killed by the very small army of Ai. Joshua was crushed by this and he mourned and prayed before God. Of course, God knew who was guilty, but He found a way to show the Israelites that it all boiled down to one man who then confessed his sin before God and the people. This made me think of how this applies to us today. Friends, we often sit and ponder why certain things happen to us, our church, our town, our state and even our country. We are quick to judge that it must be our run-away child that’s bringing judgment on our home; or the pastors and leaders of our church who make bad judgment calls that, in turn, causes churches to close its doors; or perhaps the president of a country who is so awful that our country is going to Hell. Friends, I don’t believe that we have to look very far, for often there is sin right within our own lives, even though we try our best to portray perfection. One of the very sad truths that come from this story is that, the sins of one man destroyed his whole family, a fair number of his army, and wreaked havoc on his leader who was totally heartbroken about what was happening under his leadership. Often we think that our absence from church is unnoticeable and our sin is insignificant because it only impacts us personally, but isn’t it a good reminder that our lack of commitment and our willingness to do our own thing, could impact a whole family; a whole church; or a whole lot more? We must remember friends, that a Christian might influence those around him into accepting Jesus as Lord, or he might be so hardened and obstinate towards God that he causes God’s anger to flare against a whole church or community because of his selfish and sinful attitude. You do make a difference friend, so seek the face of Jesus to help you be all that you have committed to Him, and more. Allow God to make you a usable vessel in His vineyard and not a roadblock to others. | |
| PRAYER: | |
| Lord Jesus, thank You for showing Your love towards us, even while we were still sinners without any hope. Representing You before our lost family and friends is such a great honor and privilege, but please help us to always be mindful that we could very easily become an ‘Achan’ as we take our eyes off You and allow sin to filter into our lives again. I don’t believe that anyone desires to be like ‘Achan’, so please help us Lord to stay closely in tuned with You so that our hearts will recognize when Satan tries to attack. We are Yours Lord, and we want to keep it that way until You call us home to glory, but we need You to guide us daily, and we need Your strength to help us make decisions that honor You. The glory belongs to You Lord! AMEN! | |
| FOOTNOTE: | |
| There are two more pages on my blog that will provide you with additional information, one of them being ‘To Know Jesus’. If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please click on the above page, or speak with a local Bible Teaching Pastor, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com. Please allow someone to pray with you and give you help and/or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Words underlined in my blog could indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to Nuggets From God’s Word and read more, or you may freely to subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, located at 3750 Hammock Rd, Sebring, FL 33872! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us! | |
Tag: Impact of sin
How to Avoid Relapses
THE HOLY BIBLE (The New Living Translation – John 5:11-14): 11 But he replied, “The man who healed me told me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ ” 12 “Who said such a thing as that?” they demanded. 13 The man didn’t know, for Jesus had disappeared into the crowd. 14 But afterward Jesus found him in the Temple and told him, “Now you are well; so stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you.”
THOUGHTS: The casual reader of this passage of scripture might cringe at the thought that Jesus would threaten the healed man that if he didn’t ‘stand up and fly right’ that something worse would come to him. The way that God spoke to me in this is that I was once healed from the awful disease of sin. However, if I keep playing with sin and giving in to temptation, then I will quickly relapse back into the world of sinful things. Often when this happens, the individual will sink deeper into sin than they ever were before. I feel compelled to challenge myself and my readers with this question: Who in their right minds would want to stand idly by and see a relapse of a decease such as cancer or aids (for example) and not want to do everything possible to hinder the relapse? Often a relapse will result into a deepening of the decease and could often lead to death, unless the individual takes the situation in hand and makes every effort to once again contain the decease. In the case of the man in this Bible story, he had been sick for almost 40 years. Although Jesus knew his need, he asked him what kind of help he needed. Jesus healed him of the effects of sin on his life, but He wanted to make sure that the man’s heart was right, so that his life would not become re-infected again. I believe it is evident from this story that doctors may treat us, and Jesus could even cure us of our deceases, but unless we do our part in obeying the same command Jesus gave to the man who was healed in this story, then we are subject to seeing even worse things happen to us. Let us therefore invite Jesus into our hearts and lives, so that by His power, we might be overcomers of sin. Perhaps then we might be healthy enough to actually help those who were once in ‘our shoe’, impacted by sin and seeing no hope of a cure to this world’s burden of sin and its effects on their lives.
PRAYER: ‘Jesus Messiah, name above all name, blessed Redeemer, Emanuel, the rescue for sinners…‘ Thank You Lord for rescuing me from my sin. Thank You for touching the lives of many who will read this devotional today in a very similar way. Thank You for caring about those who are careless and have no desire to invite You into their lives. May this be a day that each reader may examine themselves closely. May they be made aware of the impact of sin on their lives, and may they develop a desire to allow You into their lives and help them overcome the sin and temptations that this old world will quickly impose upon them. Lord, may eyes be opened today as to the effects of sin and the overwhelming impact that it has on our lives. May this prompt us to draw close to You, the only One with power to help us be overcomers. None of us would opt to live a life of sin, or return to a life of sin that we had recovered from. Please fill us with so much of Yourself that Your thoughts might become our thoughts, may Your desire for the lost of this world be our burden so that we might dedicate ourselves to drawing all men unto You. In appreciation, love and concern for my spiritual welfare and that of my readers, I ask all this in the powerful and strong name of Jesus, with thanksgiving, AMEN!
FOOTNOTE: If you have been challenged to make a decision today after reading this devotional, please speak… with a local Bible Teaching pastor, or read through Biblical truths on How To Know Jesus, or contact me at NuggetsFromGodsWord@outlook.com so that we can pray with you and give you help and or encouragement as you begin, or continue your walk with Jesus. Any words underlined above will indicate a link to a song that came to mind as I wrote the devotional. Feel free to click on the link and listen as you continue to read or pray. If this devotional was forwarded to you and you would like to see more, please go to www.nuggetsfromgodsword.org and read more, or you may freely subscribe for a daily email conveniently containing each day’s devotional. If you are anywhere near the Highlands County, Florida area and do not have a church home, I would be thrilled to welcome you at Bible Fellowship Church, Sebring, FL! Click the link to check out service times and/or other special activities. God is at work among us! Please consider coming to worship with us!
Nuggets From God's Word 