Fri.’s Devo -Guarding Our Inheritance

Read: Josh. 16:1-18:28, Luke 19:1-27, Ps. 87:1-7, Pr. 13:11 Joseph got his lot but both the Ephramites and the children of Manasseh couldn’t drive out all the Canaanites so they dwelt among them and were their slaves. Since Ephraim and Manasseh were so large they needed more land than was allotted them. Joshua told them to go drive out the Canaanites from the mountains even though they were giants with iron chariots. The tribes of Joseph are types of the Gentiles which is an encouragement to us of how large they are how they were. They were told not to be afraid of the giants or their weapons. God is stronger. The tabernacle was set up at Shiloh which means “peace and prosperity”. Seven of the twelve had not yet gotten their inheritance and Joshua rebuked them for not taking their land. He told them to send three men from each of the seven tribes to go and divide the rest of the land into parts and tell him so he could cast the lot to see which part would be for each tribe left. They were to go walk the land, describe it, and write it in a book. So what was the significance of walking the land and describing it and writing the description in a book? When God gives us a promise we should do the same. We walk our land by praying about it and maybe actually walking around it while we pray if possible. Then we proclaim the victory and write down what we want to see. It takes faith to do all of these things, but now we have a tangible reminder of what we are expecting God to do. We put our trust in God and He will do His part. In Luke, Jesus was nearing Jerusalem. He knew that the people thought the kingdom of God would come quickly so he gave them a parable about a nobleman who went far away with the promise to return. He gave different servants different responsibilities if which they would be over. When he came back he judged them by how fruitful they had been with what he had gave them. To the one who sat on his responsibility he took it away and gave it to the one who had the most. God is coming back to find fruit on the earth. He is coming back for a harvest. Lord, help us to be busy doing the right thing. Let us not waste it doing what we think You want, but find out what You really want and do that.