Fri.’s Devo - Prepare Your Hearts

Read: Judges 11:1-12:15; John 1:1-28: Psalm 101:1-8: Proverbs 14:13-14 The armies of Ammon had gathered for war against the people of Gilead. Gilead had a great warrior born in Gilead named Jephthah. He was the son of Gilead but his mother was a prostitute so he had been rejected by the people and fled to live in the land of Tob. He had a following of other outcast warriors. The elders of Gilead sent for him to lead them in their attack. Jephthah gave them a hard time since they had rejected him before. They offered him the rulership. This sounds just like they treated God. They only repented and came to him when they got themselves into so much trouble that they had to have a deliverer. Jephthah agreed to help them. He sent a message to the attacking king of Ammon asking him why he was attacking. His answer was that he was trying to reclaim land the Israelites had stolen from his people long ago when they came out of Egypt. Jephthah told him the truth of why the Israelites now had the land. The Israelites had asked their king to pass through their land and he refused, so the Lord gave them the land. They had been living in the land for 300 years and the Ammonites had never tried to retrieve the land before. Why now? The king had no answer to that. Jephthah then went throughout the land of Manasseh gathering an army. He made a vow that if the Lord gave them the victory, he would sacrifice to God the first thing that came out of his house. He expected an animal to come out. The Lord did give them victory and when he returned home, the first thing that came out of his house was his only child, a young daughter. He was distraught, but she comforted him. She asked to have a few months to go into the mountains with her friends and mourn the fact that she would never have children then she came back and willingly laid her life down. Sounds like Jesus. While Jephthah was mourning having to kill his own daughter, the men of Ephraim come to him to pick a fight. They are sore became Jephthah didn’t invite them to fight the Ammonites. They threatened to burn down Jephthah’s house. He disputed with them that he did ask them to come but they refused, so he had to risk his life and do it himself. They wanted the credit now that he had won, but hadn’t been willing to risk their lives before. The people of Ephraim responded unfriendly so Jephthah gathered all the men of Gilead and attacked the men of Ephraim and won. Jephthah captured the land where they would cross the Jordan to get to the west. When anyone wanted to cross they would make them say the word “Shibboleth.” If they pronounced it “Sibboleth,” they would kill them. The people of Ephraim had a speech impediment and couldn’t say their “sh’s.” They ended up killing 42,000 Ephraimites. Jephthah reigned for only 6 years and died. After Jephthah died, Ibzan from Bethlehem judged Israel. He had 30 sons and 30 daughters of which he sent them all to marry outside of their clan. Their clan didn’t mean outside of their tribe; clans were families. He judged for 7 years and was buried in Bethlehem. The next judge was Elon from the tribe of Zebulun who judged for 10 years. When he died Abdon judged Israel from the tribe of Ephraim. He judge Israel 8 years and died. John takes us back to the beginning of time to tell us that Jesus was with God when he created the world and that God did it through him. Jesus was the Word that gave life to all to all God created. When he came back to live in the very world he had created, no one recognized him or accepted him. But to the ones who did, he gave the right to become reborn as the children of God. John reminded him of what he had told them about a man who would come after him who was far greater than him because he existed long before him. Jesus came to reveal the heart of God to us. When the Jewish leaders questioned John if he was the Messiah, he told them he was not. He asked him if he was the Prophet that had been prophesied would come or if he was Isaiah that was prophesied would come. He told them that he was none of those but he was just a voice to make clear the coming of the Lord. They then wanted to know how he had the authority to baptize and he said that he was only baptizing with water, but there was a person they didn’t recognize yet and he was much more powerful than him. Lord, may we prepare our hearts and help prepare others for the coming of the Lord.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Word Fulfilled

Read: Judges 9:22-10:18; Luke 24:13-53: Psalm 100:1-5; Proverbs 14:11-12 It’s hard to understand Judges because like in the story we read today, there are no “good guys”. Both sides are equally wrong. Judges was the time when people were “doing what was right in their own eyes” so very few were doing what was good in God’s eyes. Abimelech had killed 69 of the sons of Gideon to make himself the judge over Israel. One of the sons, Jotham had escaped Abimelech’s ruthless killing and came back to curse Abimelech. He said that if Abimelech was wrong for what he did then may fire come out from the citizens of Shechem and Beth-millo and detour Abimelech. Today we see that curse come to pass. After ruling over Israel for three years, God stirred up dissection between Abimelech and the leading citizens of Shechem. They set an ambush for Abmielch on the hilltops and robbed everyone who passed them. Abimelech was warned of what they were doing. Gaal and his brothers moved to Shechem and became very popular with the people of Shechem. As they were celebrating some god for giving them a good harvest (which was suppose to be God’s feast they were celebrating) they got good and drunk. Gaal stood up and started cursing Abimelech and tried to rouse up a revolution. Zebul, Abimelech’s deputy was at the party so he sent messengers to tell Abimelech what was happening. He advised Abimelech to come with an army and have them surround Shechem. The next morning as Gaal was standing at the city gates he saw men in the hills. Zebul told them it was just shadows looking like men. When they got closer he was sure it was men and he saw others coming down the road. Zebul turned on him and asked him where his big talk was now. Gaal led the citizens of Shechem into battle against Abimelech but were chased out of Shechem. The next day, the people of Shechem came out to the fields to fight Abimelech’s army. They surrounded them once again and stood between them and the city. They killed the people and leveled the city to the ground. The leading citizens who lived in the tower of Shechem ran to the temple of Baal-berith. Baal didn’t save them. Abimelech had his men burn the temple to the ground killing 1,000 people. Next, Abimelech went to the town of Thebez to capture it. The people ran into the tower so Abimelech thought he would do the same thing to the tower as he had done to the temple in Shechem. As he was piling lumber around the tower a woman from the tower dropped a millstone on his head. He called for his soldier to kill him with his sword so it would not be told that a woman killed him. Thus, the curse of Jotham was fulfilled. The next judge was Tola who ruled for 23 years. He was born and died in Shamir which means “keeping guard” which was what Tola did for Israel. After him, God raised up Jair who judged for 22 years. When Jair died, Israel went into idolatry so Israel was turned over to the Philistines to judge them for 18 years. The Lord told them that he had delivered them from 7 nations and he was not going to rescue them again. They needed to ask the gods that they were so eager to serve to deliver them. The armies of Ammon had gathered to fight them at Gilead. The leaders of Gilead offered the rulership to whoever led the attack. Cliffhanger! In Luke, it was the third day and the women had seen the empty tomb and told the men. Two of the men who heard all this were from Emmaus which was 7 miles from Jerusalem. They were on their way home discussing all the events of Passover when Jesus came up along side them. God hid his identity from them. They were amazed that Jesus hadn’t heard about all that happened and filled him in. Jesus rebuked them for not understanding all the prophecy’s God had given them and taught them about himself starting at Moses. That was one conversation I want to hear when I get to heaven. They hung on every word. Jesus opened their eyes when he blessed and broke bread for them that night. Then Jesus disappeared. They left and went back to Jerusalem and told the disciples what had happened. Suddenly, Jesus appeared in the room. While the disciples were in awe, Jesus asked to be fed. (He probably hadn’t had anything to eat for 4 days!) He then taught them what he had taught the two other men. He told them to go to Jerusalem and wait for the Holy Spirit to come. Then led them to Bethany, blessed them and was taken up to heaven. Lord, may it not be said of us that we didn’t understand what You have written in your Word about your second coming. May we be awake and looking for your return.

Wed.’s Devo - Injustice

Read: Judges 8:18-9:21; Luke 23:44-24:12; Psalm 99:1-9; Proverbs 14:9-10 Gideon asked the two Midianite kings (Zebah and Zalmunna) what the men were like that they killed at Tabor. When they told them they looked like him, he told the kings that they had killed his brothers. He told his own son to kill the two kings but he was too afraid because he was only a boy. The kings told Gideon to kill them himself so he did. The Israelites asked Gideon to be their king since he had been so heroic and led them into battle. Gideon refused and said that the Lord would be their king and yet he asked them each for an earring. This is beginning to sound like what Aaron did when Moses was up on the mountain. He took the earrings and made a sacred ephod from the gold and set it up in Ophrah. It soon became a token of idolatry and became a trap for Gideon and his family. The land of Israel experienced peace throughout Gideon’s lifetime which was 40 years. As soon as he died, the children of Israel began worshipping the god of the covenant - Baal-berith and forgot God and all that Gideon had done for them. Gideon he had had many wives and they had born him 70 sons. He also had a concubine in Shechem who had a son named Abimelech. One day, Abimelech went to visit his brothers in Shechem and asked them if they would rather he rule them than the 70 sons of Gideon. He reminded them that he was their flesh and blood. The people of Shechem decided to fund Abimelech and support him as their king. They gave him 70 silver coins from the temple of Baal-berith. Abimelech went to Ophrah and killed all of Gideon’s son but the youngest, Jotham, who escaped and hid. The leaders of Shechem all met and proclaimed Abimelech to be their king but when Jotham heard what they had done he climbed to the top of Mount Gerizim and gave a speech. Mt. Gerizim is not a mountain but more like a hill that overlooked the town of Shechem. He rebuked them for forgetting all that his father Gideon had done for them and for letting Abimelech kill all of his sons and choose him just because he was their relative. Then Jotham escaped and left Abimelech to fall on his own. In Luke, the sky went dark from noon till three. I wonder how they continued the sacrifices at the Temple. The veil in the Temple was rent exposing the ark of the covenant for all to see and inviting everyone into God’s presence. Jesus gave his spirit to the Lord and breathed his last breath. The Roman officer who had seen everything believed that Jesus was the son of God. Joseph of Arimathea who was a member of the Jewish high council went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. He took Jesus’ body down from the cross and laid him in his tomb that had been carved out of a rock. He did this quickly because the Sabbath was about to begin. The women followed Joseph to see where he was taking the body. They went him to spread the spices and ointments to anoint his body. They had to wait until the Sabbath was over before they could go to the tomb. When the arrived early that morning, they found the stone rolled away and the body got. Suddenly two angels appeared in glory. The women were terrified and bowed to the ground. The angels explained that Jesus was alive just as he told them he would rise on the third day. They ran to tell the eleven disciples. The story sounded crazy to them but Peter jumped up and ran to the tomb to look. He saw the empty tomb and went home wondering what had happened. Lord, there is one word I have for both of these stories and it is “injustice”. It was unjust that Abmelech would kill all of Gideon’s sons and it was unjust that Jesus had to die such a cruel death, but I know that You see everything that happens and You have the last say. Resurrection happened and we are so grateful!

Tues.’s Devo -Gideon’s Obedience - God’s Victory

Read: Judges 7:1-8:17; Luke 23:13-43: Psalm 97:1-98:9; Proverbs 14:7-8 Gideon set out to fight the Midianites after his confirmations from the Lord. On his way the Lord told him he had too many in his army. When they won, they would think they did it in their own strength and God would not get the victory. Gideon told all the men who were afraid to go home. He lost 22,000 men. He was left with 10,000 and God said it was still too many. He told Gideon to take them to the spring and the Lord would tell him who to take with him. God chose the 300 who drank from their hands. He told Gideon to send the others home. That night, God was ready for Gideon to attack but he told Gideon that if he was afraid, he should go down to Midian’s camp and listen. He took Purah and went down to their camp. They saw the thousands of Midianites and Amalekites camped. They hid and listened as a man was telling his friend about a dream he had had. In his dream a loaf of barley bread came tumbling down into their camp. It hit a tent, turned it over and knocked it flat. His friend interpreted the dream to mean that God had given Gideon’s army victory over them. That was the confirmation Gideon needed. He went back to camp and woke his 300 men and told them to wake up because God had given them victory over the Midianite hordes. He divided them into three groups. Each man held a ram’s horn and a clay jar with a torch in it. They encircled the camp and when Gideon gave the signal they all blew their horns and broke their clay jars exposing the torches. The Midianites were so frightened, they fought each other. All Gideon’s army did was to stand and blow their horns. Some escaped to towns in Gad, but Gideon sent for the warriors of Naphtali, Asher and Manasseh and Ephraim and they cut them off. They captured Oreb and Zeeb two of the Midianite commanders. Ephraim was mad at first that they hadn’t been invited to fight in the battle, but Gideon assured them that their part was the most important so they calmed down. Gideon continued chasing the kings of Midian, Zebah and Zalmunna. They came to two different towns in Gad asking for food for his men. They both gave him the same answer: when you catch the kings we will feed you. Gideon was ticked but had no other choice but to keep chasing them. He left them both with a promise to return and repay their cruelty. He finally caught the kings and brought them back to both city and repaid them exactly what he had said he would do. In Luke, the Roman political heads had finished examining the Lamb of God and Herod agreed with Pilate that Jesus was innocent. When they told the crowd, they were not satisfied. They asked that Barabbas be released to them and Jesus be crucified. It was becoming a riot so Pilate turned Jesus over to them to do what they wanted. Simon was chosen to carry Jesus’ cross while the crowd followed. Grief-stricken women also followed. Jesus comforted them and told them not to weep for him but for themselves and their children. If they would do that to Him, what would they do when he was gone? Jesus foresaw the day when they would have to run to the hills to be safe. Jesus was taken to Golgotha, The Skull, and hung between two thieves. Jesus forgave his accusers because he knew they didn’t understand what they were doing. He was mocked with words and their sign which said King of the Jews. Even the criminal on his side mocked him, but the other one repented and asked Jesus to remember him when he came to his kingdom. Jesus told him that he would join him there.

Mon.’s Devo - The Call to Be Courageous

Read: Judges 6:1-40; Luke 22:54-23:12; Psalms 95:1-96:13; Proverbs 14:5-6 The cycle continued and the Israelites went back into idolatry so they were under the rule of the Midianites for seven years. The Midianites were so oppressive that the Israelites had to hide out in caves and the mountains. The word “Midian” means “strife.” They would always attack them at harvest time and steal their harvest ,leaving them starving. The people cried out to the Lord and God sent a prophet to tell them they must stop worshipping the gods of the Amorites. God sent an angel to Gideon who was at the bottom of a winepress threshing wheat so the Midianites couldn’t see him. The angel addressed Gideon as a mighty hero, who the Lord was with. Gideon didn’t understand that greeting since nothing he could see agreed with it. The angel told him to go with the strength he had and rescue Israel from the Midianites. Gideon gave all his excuses and asked God for a sign. He went to cook the angel a meal and brought it to him. He told Gideon to place it on a rock and when Gideon did, the angel touched the food. Fire flamed up and consumed everything., then the angel disappeared. This got Gideon’s attention. He built an altar to the Lord and named it “the Lord is peace” (Yahweh-Shalom). That night God told him to take a second bull from his father’s flock that was seven years old and to pull down his father’s altar to Baal and cut down the Asherah pole and use them as fuel for the sacrifice. He took 10 servants and did it at night so no-one would see him. In the morning when the people saw the remains of their altar and the new altar they asked around until they knew that Gideon had done it. They wanted to kill him for destroying their Baal altar but Gideon called on Baal to defend himself. He never did. Soon after that, the armies of Midian and Amalek crossed the Jordan and camped in the valley of Jezreel. The Spirit of the Lord clothed Gideon with power and he blew the ram’s horn summoning Manasseh, Asher, Zebulun and Naphtali together to fight. Gideon needed a confirmation that God was going to give them victory so he put a wool fleece on the threshing floor that night. If the fleece was wet with dew in the morning but the ground was dry the he would know that God was with him. The next morning the fleece was so wet he could wring out a whole bowl of water yet the ground was dry. Just to make sure he asked for the opposite the next night and it happened. They ground was wet and the fleece was dry. God had asked Gideon to do a very daring deed so He was glad to confirm it as much as Gideon needed. I think this is such a great encouragement to us who need confirmations along the way. God is gracious to give us what we need to be courageous. In Luke, Peter denied Jesus three times, just as Jesus had seen he would. The guards began mocking and beating Jesus. They tried to get him to admit he was the Messiah. Jesus refused to say he was the Messiah, but he did say that the Son of Man would be seated in the place of power at God’s right hand and that was enough to get them really angry. Next, the religious leaders took Jesus to the Roman governor. Pilate. They stated their case to him. Pilate questioned him and could find nothing worthy of arrest. He pronounced him innocent. When they told him that Jesus was from Galilee, Pilate sent him to Herod Antipas who was over Galilee. Herod was delighted to see Jesus because he had heard so much about him and wanted to see him perform a miracle. He questioned Jesus but Jesus refused to answer. Herod and his men mocked him by putting a royal robe on him and sent him back to Pilate. Jesus was not afraid to offend people. He knew who he was and refused to be intimidated. Lord, may we learn from Gideon’s humility and Jesus’ tenaciousness that there is a time for both. But in the end, we must be clothed with your power.

Sun.’s Devo - The Battle is the Lord’s -

Read: Judges 4:1-4:31; Luke 22:35-53; Psalm 94:1-23; Proverbs 14:3-4 After Ehud died, the people went back into sin so God turned them over to King Jabin, who Joshua had defeated in Joshua 11. King Jabin of Hazor’s name means “he will understand enclosures.” In other words, he would understand how to enslave people. The commander of his army was Sisera who oppressed Israel with his 900 iron charitots for 20 years. Finally the people cried out to God and he sent them Deborah. Deborah lived in the hills Ephraim and was a wise judge of the people and many would come to her to settle their arguments. She could be found sitting under a palm tree and was the “Judge Judy” of her day. One day, God moved upon her to send for Barak who lived in Kedesh in the land of the Naphtali. Kedesh was a city of refuge so Barak might have been a priest or a person who was seeking asylum there. She told Barak to gather an army of 10,000 from Naphtali and Zebulun and have them meet at Mt. Tabor. She would tell Sisera to go to the Kishon River which was at the bottom of Mt. Tabor. It was also a place of quick sand which would make it impossible for Sisera’s iron chariots to be functional. This was also the place where Elijah killed the false prophets of Baal. Deborah told Barak that God would give him victory over Sisera and his army. Barak was afraid and refused to go unless Deborah was went with him. Deborah agreed but told him that because he relied on a woman then a woman would get the victory. On the day of the battle, the army of Sisera came to Kishon and were attacked by the army of Barak. They were thrown into a panic. When Sisera realized his predicament, he ran away on foot. I think his chariot got stuck in the quicksand. Barak’s men chased the army of Sisera and killed them. Only Sisera got away alive. He ran to the tent of Jael. Her family lived outside of the town of Kedesh because they had disassociated themselves with the city and its people. They were on friendly terms with King Jabin of Hazor so Sisera was not afraid to come in when Jael invited him. She gave him water and some milk and covered him with a blanket. She stood at the door to keep watch while he fell asleep from exhaustion. Jael crept up to him and drove a tent peg through his temple nailing him to the ground. When Barak arrived, she showed him where Sisera lay dead. Deborah sang a song commemorating the whole event. She called Reuben out for being so indecisive that they didn’t help. She called out Dan for not helping. And, she called out Asher for staying safe in their harbors. But, she commended Zebulun and Naphtali for going to battle and she gave the victory to Jael who killed the king. They had peace for 40 years. In Luke, Jesus explained why they would now need a sword. Before, the enemy was afraid to arrest them but after that day, the disciples would be considered rebels since they associated with Jesus. He led his disciples to the Mt. of Olives where he asked them to pray that they not be led into temptation. He asked God to take his cup of suffering away, yet he wanted God’s will above his own comfort. He sweat drops of blood, he was in such torment of soul. His disciples ended up sleeping until Judas arrived with the soldiers. Judas kissed Jesus and they were about to take Jesus away when Peter remembered what Jesus had said about the sword. He took his and struck at the high priest’s slave, slashing off his ear. Jesus touched it and it was healed. Jesus did ask the men who came for him why they hadn’t done this in the day light. He pointed out that they did this at night because they were children of the night and night was when the power of darkness reigns. Lord, may we follow your commands and fight when you say to fight and pray when you say to pray.

Sat.’s Devo - The First Judges

Read: Judges 2:10-3:31; Luke 22:14-34; Psalms 92:1-93:5; Proverbs 14:1-2 Yesterday, we started reading Judges and today’s reading explains the whole period of the Judges. A new generation had grown up that didn’t see with their own eyes what the Lord had done. They had not experienced the Lord themselves. They abandoned God and went after the gods of Baal and Ashteroh. When this happened God no longer fought for them but he fought against them when they went to war. After they had lived in defeat for a while, they would cry out to the Lord to deliver them. God would raise up a judge who would rescue the people from their enemies but the revival would last as long as the judges lifetime, then the people would go back into a greater idolatrous state than they had been delivered out of. This happened over and over. There were 14 judges in all. There were six groups of people that lived in the land and were thorns in Israel’s side. They were the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perzzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. They intermarried with them and Israel served their gods. King Cushanrishathaim which means “their darkness was double wickedness ” ruled over them for 8 years. When the people cried out to the Lord, God raised up Othniel, the same man that was Caleb’s nephew who led the attack to defeat Debir and win Caleb’s daughter as a reward. He defeated the king and Israel lived in peace for 40 years which was when Othniel died. Israel went back into idolatry and were ruled by King Eglon of Moab. He allied with the Ammonites and the Amelekites against Israel and took Jericho. They served him for 18 years. God raised up Ehud when the people cried out for mercy. He used a two-edged sword against King Eglon and stabbed him in his bedroom. His bowels let loose which happens often when people die. The stench of it kept his guards from entering in because they thought he was relieving himself. They finally did break through the door, but by this time Ehud had had time to escape. He went to the land of Ephraim and sounded a call to arms. He led the army to the Jordan where they killed about 10,000 of Eglon’s strongest warriors. They won the battle and had peace for 80 years. In Luke, Jesus sat down to eat the Passover meal with his disciples. He told them that he would not eat this meal again until its meaning was fulfilled in the kingdom of God. When he took the cup he said that he would not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God shall come. Then he took the bread and gave thanks breaking it and saying that they were to eat this to remember him but when he gave them the cup he said that it was the new testament (covenant) in his blood. He then put a curse on the one who would betray him. The disciples began arguing among themselves why it wasn’t them that would betray Jesus and explaining why they should be considered the best disciple. Jesus explained that in the world the greatest is the highest ruler but in the kingdom of God the least on the earth is the greatest in heaven. It is the one who serves that is exalted in heaven just like Jesus portrayed in his life. He poured out his life for the world that we might all have salvation and life. To his disciples he commended them for continuing with him in his experience of evil and death and because of that, they would enter into the kingdom of God and eat and drink with him at his table in his kingdom. They would sit upon thrones judging the people in the tribes of Israel. Jesus addressed Peter and told him that Satan wanted him but Jesus prayed for him that his faith would be strong and not fail. When he repented he would be able to strengthen his friends. When Peter objected, Jesus told Peter that he would deny him three times before the rooster crowed. I wonder if Peter took that to believe that he was the one who would betray Jesus. Either way, that had to have been humbling for Peter. Lord, it is comforting to know that Jesus prays for us and loves us through our weaknesses. Help us to be bold and courageous against sin and love the promises of the kingdom.

Fri.’s Devo - Jesus’ Last Days

Read: Judges 1:1-2:9; Luke 21:29-22:13; Psalm 90:1-91:16; Proverbs 13:24-25 After Joshua died, they asked the Lord which tribe should go first in attacking the Canaanites and the answer was Judah. Since Simeon’s land was in the center of Judah’s land, Judah asked Simeon if they didn’t want to join forces and help each other get their land. They agreed and had victory in the town of Bezek which means “lightning”. Bezek’s king was Adoni-bezek which means “king of lightning”. They captured him and cut off his thumbs and big toes. He had done that very thing to 70 kings he had captured. They took him to Jerusalem where he died. They attacked Jerusalem and captured it, killing all the people and setting the city on fire. They took Hebron and moved on to Debir. Caleb offered his daughter in marriage to anyone who attacked and captured Debir. Caleb’s nephew, Othniel did and married Acsah. She asked her father for a field and then land with springs and her father gave it to her. Then Judah helped Simeon take their land. Judah took all their own land except for the land of the plains because the people had iron chariots. We are given a list of the tribes and the land they couldn’t take because the Canaanites were stronger even though God had promised to help them. They gave up too soon. Some of them made the Canaanites their slaves and others just let them live. The angel of the Lord met with them at Bokim which means “weeping” and reprimanded them for making covenants with the people living in the land. Since they did this, God would no longer drive them out for them; they would become thorns in their sides and their gods would be constant temptations to them. The people wept loudly when they heard this and offered sacrifices to the Lord. They followed the Lord untill that generation died. In Luke, Jesus explained that when they see all the things he told them that must happened (we read yesterday) they would know that the time was near. He related it to how we know summer is coming just by looking at the tree and seeing its leaves coming out. He warned us of being so busy about our lives that we don’t notice the signs of his coming. The Feast of Unleavened Bread was approaching and the leading priests were plotting how to kill Jesus. They wanted his death to be public for everyone to see, so at the feast would be perfect. All the men of Israel were to appear in Jerusalem for Passover. Judas had gone to the priests to help them in their plot. They promised him money for helping them arrest Jesus when the crowds were not around. Jesus sent his disciples to prepare for the Passover dinner. He told them exactly who they would see and what would happen. It happened just as he said. Lord, thank you for your many signs and confirmations of what you are doing. Thank you that you lead us by your Spirit and we are never alone.

Thurs.’s Devo - We Will Serve the Lord

Read Judges 24:1-33; Luke 21:1-28; Psalm 89:38-52; Proverbs 13:20-23 Joshua called for all the leaders of the tribes to meet him in Shechem. Shechem was a city of refuge so it was a Levite city. Joshua told the leaders the story of their history and how God delivered them out of idolatry and slavery and gave them victory over all the inhabitants of their new land. He admonished them to fear the Lord and to put away any thought of serving the gods of their ancestors. Then he posed them their options. They could served the gods of Egypt or the gods of the land they had just taken, or they could serve the Lord. He and his family was going to serve the Lord. The leaders all answered that they would never abandon the Lord to serve others gods. Joshua warned them that if they chose the Lord, he was very jealous of their worship. If they abandoned him, he would turn against them and destroy them. The leaders assured Joshua that they chose to serve the Lord so they made a covenant to follow God’s decrees and regulations. Joshua recorded everything that happened that day in the law as a reminder of their agreement. He took a huge stone and rolled it under the same tree that Jacob had hidden all the idols of his people. Joshua declared that the stone had heard everything done that day and would be a testimony of their covenant. After this, Joshua died at the age of 110. They buried him in the land he had chosen to live and the people of Israel did serve the Lord throughout his lifetime and throughout the lifetime of the elders who served with him. They took Joseph’s bones and also buried them in Shechem in the land given to Joseph’s descendants. Eleazar, Aaron’s son also died and was buried in the land of his son Phinehas. In Luke, Jesus had just finished warning the people of how cruel the Pharisees had treated the widows when a widow came and puts her two mites into the offering box. Jesus commented that she had given more in her two mites than all the rich people put together. She had given all she had, and they just gave out of their abundance, just to be seen. He had already explained that much of what they had they had swindled out of women just like her. Then the disciples commented on the beautiful stonework of the Temple and all the decorations on the walls, Jesus said that the day was near that all of those stones would be completely demolished. They asked him what would be the sign that would happen right before the temple was to be destroyed. Jesus replied that first there would be persecutions of God’s people. Then there would be wars, earthquakes, famines, plagues and miraculous signs from heaven. When they saw Jerusalem surrounded they would know the time was then. (This happened in 70 A.D.) Next would be the time of the Gentiles. When that time ended, there would be strange signs in the sun, moon and stars and the nations would be in turmoil and the tides would be off. People would be afraid because the powers in the heavens would shake and then everyone would see the Son of Man coming on a cloud with power and glory. Lord, thank you for your Word that shows us what will happen and assures us of your presence if we stay faithful to You. We are not afraid of the future because we know You and trust in your love.

Weds.’s Devo - Joshua’s Last Warnings

Read: Joshua 22:21-23:16; Luke 20:27-47; Psalm 89:14-37; Proverbs 13:17-19 Today we read the response of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh. They had not built an idol, but a memorial so that their children would remember the relationship that they have with the Lord and that it was Him who gave them this land. When the other leaders heard their response they were satisfied and went home to tell the others. The people of Reuben and Gad named the altar “Witness” as a witness between them and God. Joshua was getting old so he called all the elders, leaders, judges and officers of Israel together. He told them that the land from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River was their allotted land, even what they had not taken possession of yet. He encouraged them that God would still drive out the ones living there and give them the land. God’s promises never die. He commanded them to not forget or deviate even a little from the Book of Instruction Moses had given them. He told them not to associate wit the other people still remaining in the land. and not even mention the names of their gods, much less swear by them or serve them or worship them. If they did start observing their customs and intermarrying with them, God would no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, they would be a snare and a trap to you. They would bring slavery and oppression that would lead to Israel’s death and exile from their land. His last words were that deep in their hearts they know that every promise of God was good and not a single one had failed, but surely as the Lord has brought good things on you, he will bring disaster on you if you break the covenant of the Lord by worshipping other gods. In Luke, Jesus was met by some of the Sadducees who didn’t believe in resurrection. They pose a question to Jesus about resurrection but it is shrouded to look like it is talking about marriage. Jesus saw right through the veil and answered their real question about whether he believed in the resurrection. He told them that God was the God of the living which was why Moses referred to God as the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Even though they were long dead, Moses saw them as alive. The Pharisees listening liked his answer. This was a long standing argument between the Sadducees and the Pharisees. Then Jesus stepped on all the religious leaders toes by saying that the Messiah would not be David’s son but his Lord. Jesus turned to his disciples and warned them abasing the hypocrisy of the religious leaders and teachers of the law. They could talk the talk, but they cheated widows out of their property while pretending to be so pious. They would be severely punished for this. I would love to have seen their faces when Jesus outed them in front of everyone. Lord, help us to see the boldness of Jesus and walk fearlessly against sin. Jesus walked in such authority and yet such love for the seekers of truth. May we be tenacious against sin and loving toward God and others.

Tues.’s Devo - The Land of the Levites

Read: Joshua 21:1-22:20; Luke 20:1-26; Psalm 89:1-13; Proverbs 13:15-16 Everyone had their land except the Levites. The leaders of the tribes met at Shiloah and the Levites brought their case before the tribes. Moses had commanded that the tribes all give the Levites land in their portion for them to live so they would be dispersed among the people to teach them the law of God. The Kohathite family from the tribe of Levi were allotted 23 towns. Judah, Simeon and Benjamin each gave four towns plus Hebron in Judah for a city of refuge. Ephraim and Dan each gave 4 towns and since Manasseh was divided, they gave two to the family of Kohath and two to the family of Gershon. Gershon got four towns each from Issachar, Asher and Naphtali plus the two from Manasseh. The clan of Merari was given four towns from each Reuben, Gad, and Zebulun. God gave them rest on every side, just as he had promised and none of their enemies could stand against them. Not a single promise that the Lord had made was left unfulfilled. Everything he had spoken had come true. That is a promise we can stand on in our own lives. Nothing God has promised us will be unfulfilled. The tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half tribe of Manasseh were released to go home. They had fulfilled their promise to help the other tribes get their land. On their way home they stopped at the Jordan and built an altar. The other tribes heard about the altar and were furious. They thought they had fallen into idolatry and sent delegates to check it out. We will continue tomorrow and see what they found. In Luke, Jesus was preaching, healing and doing what he was called to do when the Pharisees came to him. They wanted to know who had given him authority to do their job. Jesus turned the question on them. He asked them by whose authority did John the Baptist baptize. Did he get his authority from God or man? They couldn’t answer him because it would cause them to lose favor with the people. They finally said they didn’t know. So Jesus responded that he wouldn’t tell them his answer since they couldn’t answer his question. Then Jesus turned to the people who had heard this conversation and told a parable about a man who planted a vineyard and leased it to tenant farmers. The owner moved away and sent his servant to collect his share of the crop. The farmers beat him and sent him back. This happened three times till the owner said, he would sent his own son. Surely they would respect him. But, they didn’t. They killed him. Then Jesus asked them what should the owner of the vineyard do. He answered that he would come and kill the farmers and lease his land to others. The teachers of the law knew he was referring to them in his story. They were the tenant farmers who had killed the prophets before them and would now kill the son. They wanted to arrest him right then but were afraid of the people so they decided they needed to get the Roman government on their side. They asked him a question about taxes paid to the Romans hoping to trick him. They asked if it was right to pay taxes to Caesar. Jesus asked for a Roman coin and asked whose picture was stamped on it. Jesus told them to give to Caesar was belonged to him and to God what belonged to God. This shut them up! Lord, You are above all things you created on the earth, under the earth and in the heavens. Every knee will one day bow to your name.

Mon.’s Devo - The Alltoments

Read Joshua 19:1-20:9; Luke 19:28-48; Psalm 88:1-18; Proverbs 13:12-14 The second allotment went to Simeon. His territory was right in the middle of Judah’s land. So he was surrounded by “praise.” Simeon means “to hear and hearken”. It is easy to hear God’s voice when you surround yourself with praise. His land included four towns. The third lot fell to Zebulun. His land was in the north and included twelve towns The fourth went to Issachar and it was right below Zebulun’s land. His lot consisted of sixteen towns. The fifth lot went to Asher which was the northern most land next to the Mediterranean Sea. His land consisted of Tyre and Sidon, twenty-two towns in all. The sixth lot fell to Napthtali which was to the east of Asher’sland. It had nineteen towns. The seventh lot fell to Dan and included eighteen towns. They had trouble taking their land so they took the town of Laish and renamed it Dan setting up dominion over the rest of the land. When all the land was doled out, Joshua got to choose where he wanted to live. He chose Timnath-serah which means “abundant portion”. It was in the hill country of Ephraim which was right in the middle of the whole land. Next, God told them to designated cities of refuge for the innocent accused of murder. They chose Kedesh in the north, Shechem in the center and Hebron in the south. In Luke, Jesus sent his disciples to get a donkey that he could ride into Jerusalem. Jesus had never ridden on a donkey before, but he was doing what his Father in Heaven wanted him to do. Kings ride on donkeys. As Jesus rode his donkey into Jerusalem there were people from miles around all ascending upon Jerusalem from all over Israel. They would sing the Psalms of the Ascent (Psalms 113-118). They sang those songs to Jesus as he passed them and threw down their palm branches so he could walk on them. This was exactly what they would do for the pascal lamb that would be the temple lamb. He was ascending upon Jerusalem at that exact moment from the other side of the Temple. When Jesus saw the city he wept because he had come to bring them peace. They chose to reject him so they rejected the peace that could have been theirs. Instead, their enemies would prevail over them and the city would be torn to the ground and they would all be crushed. Jesus went to the Temple and saw the people selling animals for sacrifices. He drove them out crying, “My Temple will be a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves. This was prophesied by both Isaiah (56:7) and Jeremiah (7:11). Lord, thank you for boundaries that you set for our protection and your plan. Thank you that You are the peace in our lives and your mercies are new every morning.

Sun.’s Devo - Wise Stewards

Read: Joshua 16:1-18:28; Luke 19:1-27; Psalm 87:1-7; Proverbs 13:11 Josephs inheritance went to his sons Ephraim and Manasseh. Half of Manasseh had received their inheritance on the eastern side of the Jordan River and the other half on the western side of the Jordan. The men in the tribe of Manasseh were experienced soldiers but they did not drive the Canaanites out of Gezer, so they made them slaves. They were also not able to drive them out of six other towns. There were so many people in the tribes of Joseph that they came to Joshua and petitioned for more land. He gave them the forest where the Perrizzites and Rephaites lived. Joseph’s people were not happy with that because they complained that the people in the lowlands were too strong for them. They had iron chariots. Joshua’s reply made me laugh. He said, “You WILL drive out the Canaanites from the valleys, even though they are strong and have iron chariots.” God had already told them that they would face an enemy that was stronger than them but He would go before them and drive out their enemy for them. How ironic that the tribe that was so experienced in fighting had such a hard time getting rid of their enemies. They must have been trusting in their own abilities instead of trusting in God. Seven of the tribes had yet to take possession of their land and Joshua asked them how long they were going to procrastinate. He told them to choose three men to map out the land, divided it into seven parts and bring it to him. They did and Joshua cast lots for the seven divisions. The first went to Benjamim. It ended up being a small piece of land between Judah and Ephraim’s. It consisted of 14 towns with their surrounding villages. Some of the towns that we might recognize were Bethel, Geba, Gibeon, Ramah, Mizpah and Jerusalem. In Luke, we read the story of Zacchaeus who exemplified a man who’s heart was so changed he wanted to make restitution for all he had done. That is repentance. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to die and then rise in three days. He would leave his disciples behind on earth with the promise of his return. Jesus gave a story to encourage them to keep doing his work. In his story, a nobleman was called away to another kingdom to be crowned the king. He called in ten of his servants and divided among them his 10 pounds of silver asking them to invest for him while he was gone. His people didn’t like him and sent a message to him that said they wouldn’t let him rule over them. When he returned he called in his servants and asked them how their investments went. The first one had made 10 times what had been given him. He was rewarded 10 cities to rule. The second had made 5 times as much so he was given 5 cities to rule. The third, knowing he would not get to keep it, had hidden his pound and done nothing with it. The king rebuked him for not doing a thing with what he had been given. He took his pound and gave it to the one who had made 10 pounds out of his one. I noticed that all the servants that invested got to keep what they had made. Jesus point was that those who use well what they are given, even more will be given them. These are his followers and will be rewarded when he returns. The ones who didn’t want him to be king will be executed. They represent those who choose not to lose everything to follow Christ. Lord, help us to be wise stewards of everything you have given us. You are our reward.

Sat.’s Devo - Our Merciful God

Read: Joshua 15:1-63; Luke 18:18-43; Psalm 86:1-17; Proverbs 13:9-10 When they cast the lot for Judah, his tribe was the largest, so they got the largest amount of land. His land began at the Sinai Peninsula and went east to the Dead Sea. It went as north as Jerusalem and the Mediterranean Sea was its western boundary. Caleb was given the land he had spied out and requested. When he went to fight the people living in the town of Debir, he offered the conqueror his daughter in marriage. Debir means “city of the book” so it was probably an occultic stronghold for their gods. Othniel, Caleb’s nephew took the city and got to marry Caleb’s daughter, Acsah. She urged Othniel to ask Caleb for the land of the Negev also but ended up asking herself. The land they had been given was dry and arid so they needed a source of water. Caleb granted her request and gave her the upper and lower springs. What a picture of us asking our Heavenly Father what we need and he gives us abundantly what we need. The only people the tribe of Judah could not drive out were the Jebusites in Jerusalem. Jebusites means “he will be trodden down” which was prophetic of Jerusalem. That was the same thing Jesus said of Jerusalem. To this day, Jerusalem is divided into three parts and owned by the Armenians, the Jews and the Islamics. In Luke, a religious leader asked Jesus what he should DO to inherit eternal life. There is nothing we can DO to inherit eternal life - it is a spiritual gift given by doing spiritual things like repenting and believing. But, Jesus knowing that he was religious and thought his actions were going to gain him access to God, answered him with the commandments pertaining to our actions. When the man said he had done those things, Jesus turned to the ones of the heart like loving the Lord with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself. This man could not DO that. The Temple leaders taught that your wealth and position on earth reflected your wealth and position in heaven. Jesus taught just the opposite. Jesus taught that you had to give up all on earth to gain the Kingdom. Only through God, was it possible to be saved. Jesus came near to the town of Jericho and a blind beggar heard that it was Jesus who was passing by. He yelled out for mercy and Jesus stopped and extended mercy to him and healed him. Jesus was showing how easy it was to get mercy for the humble when the Pharisee was stumbling over it with all his righteous “doing.” Lord, help us to live in your grace and mercy. Your love covers us like a blanket and preserves our coming in and our going out. Thank you!

Fri.’s Devo - God Never Forgets a Promise

Read: Joshua 13:1-14:15; Luke 18:1-17; Psalm 85:1-13; Proverbs 13:7-8 Joshua was getting old and God told him there was still land to conquer. It was the land of the Philistines, the Geshurites and the Canaanites. The land was on the border of Egypt and the Lebanon mountains and hills. God said that he would drive them out himself so he wanted Joshua to assign the land to the tribes. Rueben, Gad and half of the tribe of Manasseh had already received their land so the nine and a half other tribes were divided up by Eleazar the priest, Joshua and the tribal leaders. They were chosen by the means of sacred lots according the the Lord’s command through Moses. Caleb came to them and made a request. God had promised him the land he had scouted out the first time and he wanted it. It was the land where they had seen the giants. They granted Caleb’s request. Caleb was now 85 and was just as strong as he had been at 40 when he spied out the land. God never forgets a promise. In Luke, Jesus taught his disciples two different ways to get justice with God over their circumstances. One was the example of the widow and the unjust judge. She kept petitioning the judge until he got so tired of seeing her that he gave her what she wanted. The next was the tax collector and the Pharisee. They both prayed but the Pharisee prayed out of a self-righteous heart. The tax collector humbly cried out for mercy. God gave his blessing to the humble tax collector because his heart was right. We could sum it up with persistence and humility. Those will get the attention of God with your prayers. The third story was of the children. It shows us how we come to God and his response to us. We come to him just as a child comes to God to be blessed. He always receives us just as Jesus wanted to touch and bless the children. Lord, help us to see how much you delight in us and want us to come to you. We thank you that you are the good judge who listens to our petitions and judges righteously.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Kingdom of God

Read: Joshua 11:1-12:24; Luke 17:11-37; Psalm 84:1-12; Proverbs 13:5-6 Four more kings joined forces and came against Israel. Their horses and chariots covered the landscape like the sand on the seashore. God told Joshua not to be afraid of them because by this time tomorrow He would hand them all over to Israel as dead men. Then they were to cripple their horses and burn their chariots. Joshua and his army attacked and killed everyone of them and crippled their horses and burned their chariots just like the Lord told them to do. They went to the capital city of Hazor and burned it to the ground. Joshua didn’t burn the towns but they killed all the inhabitants and kept the plunder. I’m thinking that the cities were where the kings lived and the idolatrous temples stood where the towns were where the people lived. The Israelites occupied their houses in the towns. It took a while but Joshua took the land completely destroying the enemy. They fought the descendants of Anak who had frightened the 10 spies when they saw them. They were giants that looked very mean and warlike. They had really long necks. Joshua defeated them and destroyed their towns. Some of them survived and moved to Gaza, Gath and Ashdod. Goliath came from their descendants. Joshua completed his assignment of taking the land and they finally had peace. We are given the list of the people who lived in the region and there are only 6 nations mentioned even though Deuteronomy 7:1 says that there were seven nations in the land. The one they left out was the Gergashites. We are also given the list of 31 kings that Joshua defeated. In Luke, Jesus is on his way to the cross and he stopped on the border between Galilee and Samaria. He entered into a leper colony and 10 lepers came out to beg for mercy. Jesus sent them to show themselves to the priest and as they were going, they were healed. The Samaritan leper came back to bow before Jesus and thank him. He had no entrance into the Temple so he came back to the only priest he knew which was Jesus. Jesus told the man that his faith had healed him and pronounced him healed. One of the Pharisees asked Jesus when would the Kingdom of God come. Jesus replied that they Kingdom is not visible with natural eyes. It is already here. He went on to say that the Son of Man would have to suffer terribly and be rejected by this generation. He will return in a day that looked like the days of Noah and the days of Lot. The people then were going about their daily lives like nothing was about to happen. Their destruction took them both by surprise. It was suddenly and Jesus’ return will be the same. The disciples asked Jesus where this would happen and he indicated that it would happen in a place where death is already there. Lord, thank you that you finish what you start. Help us to remember the things you have done for us in the past and to know that it is not over till we have taken all of the territory you want us to take. You have given us dominion over this earth and it is not over until we have taken it all back for you.

Wed.’s Devo - Taking the Land

Read: Joshua 9:3-10:43; Luke 16:19-17:10; Psalm 83:1-18; Proverbs 13:4 The people of Gibeon were next on Joshua’s trek across the land so they knew they had no hope militarily in protecting themselves. Instead, they resorted to what they were good at which was deception. One of the cities they were from means “village of the covert arts.” They were skilled in witchcraft. They planned to trick Israel into making a covenant with them. They took old moldy bread and cracked wineskins and put on old clothes. They met Israel and told Joshua that they had traveled from a great distance away. They wanted to make a treaty of peace with them. Joshua did not ask the Lord. I wonder how different this would have gone if he had just asked God. God would have revealed the truth about them and they wouldn’t have made a treaty with them. But, Joshua was deceived by them and believed that they were foreigners and made a treaty with them only to find out later that they lived close by. Instead of being able to get rid of them and all the idolatry that they carried, he made them woodcutters and water carriers for the community. The king of Jerusalem, Adoni-zedek heard about what the Gibeonites did by allying with Israel and he gathered four more kings with him to fight them. They fought at Gibeon. God had told Joshua not to be afraid of them because he had given them the victory. God fought with hail and killed more than they did with their swords. When Joshua prayed to let the sun and moon stand still, it did. It was noon and the day lasted until Joshua and Israel won and defeated their enemies. During the battle, the five kings had escaped into a cave. Joshua had ordered the cave to be barricaded with stones to keep them inside until the battle was over. Then, they brought the kings out and Joshua told his commanders to put their feet on their necks. He told his men, “Never be afraid or discouraged because the Lord is going to do this to all of your enemies.” Then Joshua impaled the five kings. As the sun was going down Joshua instructed for kings’ bodies to be put in the cave and the rocks put back over the opening which still remains today. Joshua then captured the towns of all the kings they had taken before he returned home. I can’t help but notice that what Joshua did to the kings was what Satan did to Jesus by putting a rock over his tomb and guards to guard it. These kings couldn’t escape but Jesus did. Jesus’ angels burst the rocks and he came out of his grave. These kings died in their grave and never resurrected to life. They resurrected to death. The key to spiritual warfare is to get the principality, the king, and then you can spoil his goods. In Luke, Jesus was still talking to the Pharisees about their love for money. He told them the parable about the poor man, Lazareth and the rich man. Lazareth, who was not esteemed highly on earth was comforted and exalted in death, but the rich man, though esteemed highly on earth, was tormented in death. He was trying to show them that the tables will turn on them in the afterlife if they don’t repent of their sins now. He also said that even if God sent someone to rise from the dead, they wouldn’t listen to them. He was fore-telling their future. Jesus talked to his disciples about forgiveness. Now is the time for forgiveness. Now is the time that we serve the Lord. When we die it is too late; what we do in life affects eternity. Lord, help us to live for eternity and love our future more than we love our present.

Tues.’s Devo - Thou Shalt Not Covet

Read: Joshua 7:16-9:2; Luke 16:1-18; Psalm 82:1-8; Proverbs 13:2-3 All the tribes met to see what God would say about why they had lost the battle with Ai. God chose the tribe of Judah, then the clan of Zera, then the family of Zimri, then the man of Achan. They asked him what he had done and he admitted that he coveted and stole 200 silver coins and one piece of gold that barely weighed a pound. He had hid it under his tent. Acan’s name means “trouble” so they stoned Achan and buried him in a valley they also named “The Valley of Trouble”. The Lord told Joshua to go take Ai because now they would win. God told Joshua that the men could keep all the spoil. If only Achan had waited. Joshua was given the strategy to take the town. He chose 30,000 men and put 25,000 in the front for the charge. The other 5,000 were placed behind the city for an ambush. The 25,000 would draw the men out of the town to fight. They would turn and run with the men of Ai chasing them. The ambush would set the town on fire so when they turned to see what was happening to their town, the 25,000 would turn and kill them. It worked and they killed 12,000 that day and impaled the king. Joshua built an altar to the Lord with uncut stones. Joshua copied onto the stones the instructions of Moses. Then Joshua divided all the people into two groups. One group stood in front of Mt. Gerizim and the other in front of Mount Ebal. They faced each other with the Ark in the middle. Joshua read to them all the blessings and curses the Moses had written and every command that Moses had ever given to them. Meanwhile, all the kings of the people in the land came together to combine their armies against Israel In Luke, Jesus has just given the Pharisees three parables about themselves. He now turned to his disciples and told them a parable. A rich man had a steward who he heard had not handled his affairs well so he was going to fire him. The steward knew he would need mercy when he was fired so he went out and extended mercy to the creditors of his boss. The boss found out and commended him for being wise. Jesus said that the children of this world were wiser in their generation than the children of light. He told them to make friends of the children of the world because they might need their help one day. His point was that if you aren’t faithful in the way you live your life in this world, you will not be faithful with the Lord’s true riches. We train in the world and it carries over to our spiritual life. We can’t love the world and God that would be having two masters. The Pharisees, who were covetous, heard all this and sneered at his conclusion. Jesus pointed out to them that they justified their coveting but God saw their hearts and He knows the truth. Just like He knew what they were doing by putting their wives away and not legally divorcing them, excluding them from any payment they might have to make. Since they were not legally divorced they would be committing adultery to remarry. It all revealed their covetous heart. Lord, help us to have the right attitude about our money and how to look at it. Help us to be gracious and giving.

Mon.’s Devo - A New Passover

Read: Joshua 5:1-7:15; Luke 15:1-32; Psalm 81:1-16; Proverbs 13:1 All the Amorite kings west of the Jordan and all the Caananite kings who lived along the Mediterranean coast heard about how the Israelites crossed the Jordan so they were paralyzed in fear. These were all the people that lived in the Promise Land. So all of the land was afraid of them. God told Joshua to circumcise this new crop of warriors. They were in Gilgal which means “to roll”. God told them that he had rolled away the shame of their fathers who didn’t enter because of unbelief. It was time to celebrate the Passover which was like giving them a brand new start. They hadn’t passed over after the first passover but they were now being given a second chance. This time they passed over and went to battle. God sent an angel that told Joshua the same thing the angel told Moses when he first called him to go and deliver Egypt, and that was to take off his shoes because the ground he was standing on was holy. I think that God was establishing in Moses and Joshua that this was not their battle or their plan, this was all God’s. Then, God gave Joshua the plan to take down Jericho. He was to have the priest lead the charge and they were to walk around Jericho once every day and on the seventh they were to march with the priests blowing trumpets. When they had walked around seven times, the priests were to blow a long blast and the people were to shout. The walls would collapse and they could take the city. That is exactly what happened. Just as they promised, they saved Rahab and her family. They were not to take any of the spoils. They were to destroy everything but the silver, gold, bronze and iron. It was to be brought into the sanctuary and given to the Lord. It was to be their tithe. If they kept anything it would bring trouble on the camp of Israel. Joshua invoked a curse on anyone who would try to rebuild the town of Jericho. They would lose their firstborn when they laid the foundation and their youngest son when they set up the gates. This curse is still in affect. Achan took some of the things they were suppose to give to the Lord and hid them. The next town was Ai and it was so small that only 3,000 men were sent to take it. Instead of taking it, they chased and killed the Israelites. Joshua was shocked so he went to the Lord and God told him that there was a curse on them because someone had kept some of the spoil from Jericho. He told Joshua that they would never defeat their enemies until they removed the things that had been stolen. God told him that he would show Joshua who had stolen it in the morning. In Luke, the Pharisees and teachers of the law complained because Jesus allowed tax-collectors and notorious sinners to come and listen to his teaching. Jesus gave them three stories to reveal their hearts. The first was about a shepherd who had 100 sheep. One sheep wandered off from the herd. He asked them, “Wouldn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go search for the one who was lost?” When he found it, “Wouldn’t he rejoice?” The next was the story of the woman who had 10 coins and lost one. He asked, “Wouldn’t she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search until she found it?” When she found it, “Wouldn’t she rejoice?” The last was a man who had 2 sons. One ran away to spend his inheritance on sinful living. When he finally came home repentant, the father threw a party and rejoiced. Then Jesus got to the point of his parables. The older son saw the party going on and was so upset that he had always done what the father required and he was jealous of all the rejoicing the father was doing over his sinful brother. The older son was them. Instead of rejoicing that the sinners were finding truth, they were jealous that they were even invited. Lord, help us to guard our hearts and love like you love.

Sun.’s Devo - Memorials

Read: Joshua 3:1-4:24; Luke 14:7-35; Psalm 80:1-19; Proverbs 12:27-28 The Israelites camped in Acacia Grove which was a grove of acacia trees. Acacia wood is what all the furniture was made of for the Tabernacle. How appropriate would it be for God to have them find this grove right before crossing into their land to set up house. This wood was also one of the gifts that you could bring to the Lord for a freewill offering. I bet the women had their men cut them down some of these trees and had dreams of what they wanted built when they got to their permanent home. This grove was right by the Jordan which they had to cross to get to Canaan. Joshua told the people to watch the priests with the ark of the Covenant and when it moved out, they were to follow a half mile behind. He told the priests to lift up the Ark and march with him. He told them that that day they would know that the living God was among them. The priest would go first and as soon as their feet hit the water it would dry up. They would drive out all the enemies in the land. The people followed just as Joshua had commanded and it happened just as he had said. When the priests feet touched the water it was stopped upstream which was a great distance from the priests. They took the ark to the center of the Jordan and stopped The people crossed a distance away from the Ark. When all the people had crossed, Joshua commanded the leader of each tribe to take a rock from where the priests were standing in the middle of the Jordan and bring it to where the people were and place it in a heap. This heap would stand as a memorial of what God did for them that day. Joshua set up another pile of twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the priests had stood to claim dominion over every spirit under the earth as defeated. The armed warriors from the tribes of Reuben, Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh who had promised to help everyone else take their land led the march to Jericho. That day, Joshua gained the respect that Moses had in the eyes of the people. The place where they had set the stones was called Gilgal which means “to roll like a wheel.” Joshua was making a statement to the people of the land that their God was more powerful. They would move over the land like a rolling stone and take the land. They had set up their stones as word of victory. They marked their territory. In Luke, Jesus was having dinner at one of the leading Pharisee’s house. It was the Sabbath and he had just healed the man at church. When he got to the house to eat he noticed that everyone was fighting to get the best seats near the head table. He spoke and told them that when you come to an important dinner, you should take the least place and then you will be honored if you get asked to move closer, but if you get the honored place and someone more honored comes you might be embarrassed if you are asked to give him your seat. In other words, let God promote you, not yourself. Then he turned to the host and told him the next time he had a dinner party he should ask the ones who couldn’t invite him back. His reward would be waiting for him in heaven. One of the men who heard Jesus say this proclaimed, “What a blessing it will be to attend a banquet in the Kingdom of God!” Jesus replied with a story about a man who prepared a great feast and sent out many invitations. When the banquets was ready, everyone he had invited had excuses of why they couldn’t come. So, the master told his servants to go to the highways and byways and invite the homeless and the destitute, the poor and the crippled, the blind and the lame until his home was full of people. To follow after God you have to hate everything in comparison to how you love God. The bottom line is we have to die to ourselves and all we love and choose God. When we do that all things will be added but our core will be right. Jesus encourages us to first count the cost of following Him before we start out on this journey. Lord, we have counted the cost and we choose You above all. Remind us when we get off the mark and worry about things only You can change.

Sat.’s Devo - The Good Report

Read: Deuteronomy 34:1-Joshua 2:24; Luke 13:22-14:6; Psalm 79:1-13; Proverbs 12:26 Moses went up on Mt. Nebo in the plains of Moab and was able to see the whole promised land. On that plain, God took Moses’s life and buried him opposite Beth-peor. Beth-peor was the temple of Baal. God was making a statement. There has never been a prophet like Moses who saw God face to face. The people mourned Moses’ death then Joshua took charge. Joshua had God’s wisdom so instead of sending a spy from each tribe, he chose only two men to go to spy out the land. Last time only two came back with a good report so two was a good number. (He had been one of them.) After spying out the land, the two spies ended up in the house of Rahab. She told them that the whole land was afraid of them. They had heard of how God parted the Red Sea and how God had given them victory over Og and Sihon. She hid the two men when the guards of the city came to her door. She lied and told them that the men had left the city and sent them off to chase them. As she was letting the two spies down by a scarlet rope, she made them promise to save her and her family. The two spies made a covenant with her to save her and her family if she left the rope to mark the house and if her family was in the house when they came. She made the promise and they fled to the mountains where they hid out for three days then went to Joshua to report. Their report was: “The Lord has given us the whole land, for all the people in the land are terrified of us.” In Luke, Jesus was making his way to Jerusalem, stopping off at small towns along the way to teach and heal. One of the people asked Jesus if only a few would be saved. Jesus basically told them that the way was narrow to enter into the kingdom but the day would come when no-one would be able to enter because it would be too late. The time to enter was now. The Pharisees tried to intimidate Jesus by threatening him and telling him that Herod Antipas wanted to kill him. Jesus’ response was to tell that fox that he would continued to heal and cast out demons and on the third day he would accomplish his purpose. He was referring to his resurrection which would bring Satan’s kingdom down. Herod was the manifestation of Satan’s kingdom on earth. Jesus put a curse on Jerusalem which was the city where all the prophets had been killed. He knew he would be killed there also. He prophesied that they would not see him again until they could say, “Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord!” That has yet to happen. Once again, Jesus healed a man on the Sabbath and gave the same reason as he gave the Pharisees in yesterday’s reading. Lord, may we walk in your kingdom here on earth and look forward to your heavenly kingdom.

Fri.’s Devo - No Other God Like Our God

Read: Deuteronomy 33:1-29; Luke 13:1-21; Psalm 78:65-72; Proverbs 12:25 Moses gave each tribe a blessing before he died. He explained that God loved them and that He held them in the palm of His hand. His people would be known for following in his steps and accepting his teachings. Whenever the people assembled, He was to be their king. Here are the blessings God gave to each tribe: To Reuben, God blessed them with endurance as a tribe. They were few in number so God prayed they would not die out. To Judah, God prayed for unity to fight against their enemies. To Levi, God blessed them for their loyalty to Him even when they chose Him above their own relatives. Their job was to teach the law to the people and to offer incense to the Lord and burnt offerings. God blessed them to continue their ministry and to prevail against their enemies. To the tribe of Benjamin, God blessed with His love, safety and perseverance. To the tribes of Joseph (Manasseh and Ephraim), God blessed their land. They were the farmers so God blessed their harvests. He told Joseph that they had majesty and favor. To Zebulun and Issachar, God blessed their travels and their time in their tents with prosperity. The mountains and the seas were mentioned in their blessing. Prosperity, riches and treasures were associated with their blessing. Gad was blessed with leadership and growth. They got the best land because they took the initiative to ask. Justice and obedience was said of them. Naphtali was blessed with favor and esteem from their brothers. The sons of Naphtali would walk in the Spirit and be safe and secure. Moses summed it all up by telling them that no other God was like their God. He would cross heaven to help them. He would be a refuge to them and drive out their enemies with his word. They would live in safety and prosperity and their enemies would cringe in fear of them because of their God. In Luke, Jesus explained that death comes to everyone and the only thing that matters is if you are ready for it. No one knows for sure how long their life will be. The people that were killed when the temple fell on them were not being punished by God. Judgment and justice comes to all. Jesus told the parable about the man who had a fig tree in his garden that had not bore fruit in three years. He wanted to get rid of it, but the gardener asked to give it one more year. He promised to give it special attention to help it bear fruit. If it didn’t in a year, he would cut it down. This is such a picture of the mercy and patience of the Lord. It was also a picture of Jesus’ giving the Jews more time to realize he was the Messiah. Jesus healed a cripple who had been cripple because of evil spirits. He did it on the Sabbath. The leader of the synagogue got so mad at him for healing the woman on the Sabbath. They told him that he could do this on any other day, just not the Sabbath. They were only trying to control him. Jesus explained that they would untie their ox or donkey on the Sabbath and lead it out for water. He was untying this woman from Satan’s cords and letting her go free. What was the difference? The leader in charge of the synagogue was shamed by this answer but the people rejoiced. Jesus explained that the Kingdom of God was like a mustard seed and yeast. It only takes a small amount of faith in God’s kingdom to do great things. Lord, help us to see past the facades to see the truth. Thank you that you are our God.

Thurs.’s Devo - Stay Awake

Read: Deuteronomy 32:28-52; Luke 12:35-59; Psalm 78:56-64; Proverbs 12:24 Moses’ song continues. It is really God’s song for his people. He warned them of one of their enemy putting a thousand of them to flight because God had sold them out. Their only strength came from God but when they abandoned him they were food for the vultures. But God would remember everything their enemy did to them and take revenge at the right time. God would bring justice to his people when they repented. Moses instructed the people to pass the song on to their children and obey every word of it. God told Moses to go up on Mount Nebo and there he would be able to see the land of Canaan. He would die on that mountain and join his ancestors in Sheol just as Aaron died on Mount Hor and joined his ancestors in Sheol. In Luke, Jesus is talking into the future about those that are alive after the Rapture - after the Wedding. The people of that day will not know when Jesus will return. They will need to be always dressed for service and have their lamps burning. In other words, they will need to be awake spiritually at all times and be full of the Holy Spirit. Jesus refers to his second coming like the thief that will come when least expected. In 1Thessalonians 5:4 it says, “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. you are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.” It goes on to say in the ninth verse that God has not appointee us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter asked if that illustration was just for them or for everyone. Jesus answered that a faithful servant would take good care over the ones he is over. If he gets weary in well doing and thinks Jesus is never coming back and gets sloppy and begins beating those he stewards and parties, then he will be banished with the unfaithful. Those people will be judged or rewarded by whether they stewarded what was given to them. Jesus came to set the world on fire which would come through his suffering and death. His gospel would not bring peace but division. People would have to make a decision; they would not be able to straddle the fence. His last parable was to get them to settle their accounts with the Lord before he came back. Get right with the Lord now. Lord, help us to take that same warning in our lives. Help us to set our house in order and walk in truth.

Wed.’s Devo - What is Important

Read: Deuteronomy 31:1-32:27; Luke 12:8-34; Psalm 78:32-55; Proverbs 12:21-23 Moses finished reading all of the law. He told them that he was 120 and would no longer lead them. God would himself lead them across the Jordan into the land they were to possess. He will do the same to the people in the land that he did to Sihon and Og so they were not to be afraid. Moses set Joshua before the people and commanded him to lead the people. He told Joshua to be strong and courageous because God was going to go ahead of them and He would never leave them. Moses wrote down all the words of the law in a book and gave it to the priests and told them to read the entire book to the people at the end of every seventh year during the Feast of Tabernacles. God called Moses and Joshua to the Tabernacle and appeared to them in the cloud that stood at the entrance to the door. God told Moses he was about to take him and when he was gone the people would begin to worship other gods and break the covenant they had made with him. Moses was to write down the words to a song God wanted him to teach the people so it would be a testimony against them when they entered into idolatry. Moses wrote it down and taught it to the people. Moses gathered the elders and leaders of the tribes and told them what God had said. He told them that they would abandon the Lord and it would make God very angry causing disaster to fall upon their nation. Chapter 32 is the song that Moses taught the people. It was their future prophetically and it happened just as the song went. It stops in the middle of the song and we will read the rest tomorrow. It does have a happy ending even though today we stop at a sad part in the song. In Luke, Jesus tried to make the people connect heaven with earth. What happens on earth, affects heaven. What we do on earth will affect eternity for us. He warned them against greed because this is not where we want to store up. We are only on earth for a short amount of time so what we do hear affects our rewards later. To have a rich relationship with the Lord is worth everything. Lord, help us to have the right perspective about life and eternity.

Tues.’s Devo - Rewards of Obedience

Read: Deuteronomy 28:1-68; Luke 11:14-36; Psalm 77:1-20; Proverbs 12:18 God had given the children of Israel the law on Mt. Sinai and the laws in the land of Moab written in Deuteronomy. They had seen with their own eyes what God did to Egypt and how he delivered them with his strong arm and yet they still could not see with their hearts, or hear with their hearts or understand with their hearts. God had provided for them miraculously through the wilderness and neither their shoes nor their clothes wore out, God had also given them victory over King Sihon and King Og. Today, God was calling them into another covenant before they entered into the land he had promised them. If they obeyed his laws they would be blessed and their off-spring would also. If they refused and chose to rebel, then they would be cursed. He warned them of the detestable idollic practices of the people whose land they would be taking. He hated their idol worship and told them not to take up any of their ways. If they did, then all the surrounding nations would witness their destruction and decay. If years later, their descendants decided to repent, God would restore their fortunes and bless them. The laws he was giving them were not too difficult for them and not beyond their reach to keep. God was giving them the choice of choosing life or death. Life if they followed God and his commands and death if they rebelled and went their own way. God was calling heaven and earth to witness their response. In Luke, the Pharisees watched Jesus’ every move. They often had him to eat with them so they could find something to fault him with. This night they noticed that he didn’t wash his hands before eating. The Pharisees had this elaborate ritual they went through before eating which was really just for show. Jesus knew what they were thinking and called them fools. He told them that they took such care to follow every line and tittle of their made up laws so that it would earn them points with one another while God was not impressed in the least. The thing that God wanted was justice and worship. He told them that they loved the seats of honor in the synagogue yet they were the least in God’s kingdom. They were very offended at what he was saying and tried to defend themselves. Jesus continued to tell them that they were suppose to be the experts in the law and yet they had added so many requirements to the law that no-one would be able to come into God’s presence with anything but condemnation. They made it all about doing things instead of being righteous. They were hypocrites who built statutes to honor the very prophets that their parents and ancestors killed. Jesus held their generation responsible for all the murders from Abel till then. They would be responsible for killing the Son of God. The teachers of the law became more and more hostile in order to trap Jesus as the crowds grew larger. Jesus turned to the crowds and told them to beware of the wrong teaching of the Pharisees. Everything that had been hidden was about to come to light and then the truth would be out. Jesus warned them not to fear their life but to fear the one who could deliver them from death. Lord, help us to keep our priorities right and to always put you first.

Mon.’s Devo - The Curses of Disobedience

Read: Deuteronomy 28:1-68; Luke 11:14-36; Psalm 77:1-20; Proverbs 12:18 God’s desire was to bless them. His blessings came with one stipulation - they had to fully obey the Lord and carefully keep all his commands. If the obeyed God’s laws, their towns and fields, children and crops, herds and flocks bruit baskets and breadboards would be blessed. Everywhere they went and whatever they did would be blessed. The Lord would conquer their enemies when they attacked and you would have more than enough to eat. All the other nations would look on them with envy and awe. They would produce many children and God would bless them with rain out of His rich treasury. Their work would be blessed so that they would never need to borrow from other nations. They would be the greatest nation of all. If they refused to listen to the Lord and did not obey all the commands and decrees that God was given them that day, then the total opposite would happen to them. God would strike them with wasting diseases, fear, and inflammation, with scorching heat and drought and with blight and mildew. They would be defeated by their enemies and the boils of Egypt would come on them. They would experience mental illness, blindness and panic. The would experience heartbreak, lack, loss, and oppression. They would eventually be exiled to a nation who worshipped idols. They will not understand you and mock you. Your children would be led into captivity and your enemies will become stronger than you. You will become the lender. A nation who doesn’t respect the elderly or the young will control you. The hearts of their people would become hard so that a mother would eat her own offspring. Indescribable plagues would come without any relief or cure. The same God who found such pleasure in blessing them would now find pleasure in destroying them. Life would turn to fear and dread. In Luke, Jesus cast out a demon from a Jewish man who couldn’t speak. The scribes and Pharisees had to give an answer for how he did this because it was getting out of their control They proclaimed that he did this by the power of Satan. Others tried to get Jesus to show them a sign from heaven that he had the authority to do such things. Jesus told them that any kingdom divided by civil war was doomed. He spoke about Satan’s kingdom but he was really referring to theirs. They thought they were from the Kingdom of God and were the keeper of His laws but if they had been, they would have recognized Him as sent from heaven. Jesus told them that the only sign they would get from heaven would be the sign of Jonah. He was referring to his resurrection. Their spiritual eye had been darkened and they were blind but a person who has the light of God is radiant and has no dark corners. Lord, may we obey all of your laws and desires and have no dark corners. May our hearts be full of light.

Sun.’s Devo - Prayer and Blessing

Read: Deuteronomy 26:1-27:26; Luke 10:38-11:13 Psalm 76:1-12; Proverbs 12:15-17 The first fruits of every harvest was to be taken to the place designated and given to the Lord. They were to proclaim over their crop the story of their history of slavery in Egypt and the deliverance God gave them. Every third year, their first fruits were to go to the Levites, foreigners, orphans and widows. The giver had to proclaim that his hands are clean and his gift was clean and that he had obeyed God’s laws. By this they were declaring that God was their Lord and that they were promising to walk in his ways, and obey his decrees, commands, and regulations to do everything he tells them. This made them God’s special treasure making them a holy nation. When they crossed the Jordan they were to take stones, paint them with plaster and write the words of God’s laws on them. Then they were to set up an altar and sacrifice peace offerings on it. This was to be on Mt. Ebal. The tribes of Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin were to stand on Mount Gerizim were to proclaim the blessing over the people given in Deuteronomy 28:1-14. The tribes of Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali were to stand on Mt. Ebal and proclaim the curses written in Deuteronomy 27:15-26. The people were to reply “Amen” to every statement. In Luke, Jesus taught different kinds of prayer. Mary exhibited worship. She sat at Jesus’ feet holding on to every moment he was with them. Martha represented service. She served the Lord with her doing. Both were appreciated but when Martha complained that it looked like to her Mary wasn’t doing anything, Jesus explained that Mary had chosen the best. The disciples asked how to pray and Jesus gave them “The Lord’s Prayer” but it should be the “People’s Prayer” because Jesus told them that this was how they should pray to God’ In Luke, he brought out these points: 1. Keep God’s name holy 2. Pray his kingdom will come soon 3. Pray for daily nourishment 4. Pray for forgiveness of sins as we forgive others who sin against us 5. Pray to stay away from temptation Next, Jesus talked about the prayer of persistence. In that case, you keep asking until you get the result you want. Jesus reminded them that God is a good god who knows how to give good gifts to his children much more than natural fathers so. He will definitely give his Holy Spirit to all who ask for it. Lord, may we grow in prayer and may we walk in your blessings all the days of our lives.

Sat.’s Devo - Fellow Respect and Kindness

Read: Deuteronomy 23:1-25:19; Luke 10:13-37; Psalm 75:1-10; Proverbs 12:12-14 To “enter into the congregation of the Lord” was to be admitted into the pubic honors and offices of the Church and the State of Israel. Foreigners could be accepted by marriage if they first converted to their faith. There were some that were excluded from citizenship and the first was the Eunuch. People of the east would mutilated their children to prepare them for the service of the elite. The second was the bastard which by their definition was a person born of a Jewish father and a foreign mother. This would have been the case of Boaz in the story of Ruth. His mother was Rahab, the Canaanite and his father was Salmon a Jew. He converted and became a respectable and wealthy member of society. The third was the Ammonites and the Moabites who were excluded because refused to let Israel pass through their land. They also tried to hire Balaam to curse Israel and when that didn’t succeed, they sent their women to seduced them to worship idols. The Israelites were never to promote their peace or prosperity. The Edomites were another story. They were their relatives and they were not to hate them or the Egyptian because they lived with them. Their children would be able to enter into their assembly. All God’s laws were to keep them well and free sickness. They went to the bathroom outside of the camp and covered it with dirt. They could not allow their people to be temple prostitutes. This would bring in spiritual sickness and spread sexual diseases. No offering given by a temple prostitute would be acceptable to the Lord. The Israelites were to live in a society where they blessed each other with whatever they needed. The other nations practiced commerce where they acquired wealth and charged interest. They could only require interest on a loan to the foreigners. All promises made should be kept. As you are passing through a person’s field, it is acceptable to eat as you pass through but you are not allowed to gather and take it out. Divorce was allowed if the man was not pleased with his wife, but he had to write her a bill of divorcement. This was a written document registered in a book. This would take time so they could reflect upon what they were doing. It also stated that they could remarry but never each other. So they had to make sure they really wanted this divorce because it was forever. A newly married person could not go to war for a year so they could bond as a couple keeping them faithful if war did part them later. God gave them many laws about how to deal kindly with the poor. They were to respect all people and deal with them sympathetically. Everyone was responsible for their own sins. Justice was to be upheld. When they gleaned their fields they were to leave the left overs for the foreigners, orphans and widows. Families were to take care of each other. If a man died leaving a childless widow, the brother of the deceased must marry her and their first son would carry the name of the first husband. If the brother refused to marry her, she was to disgrace him publicly. They were to be fair in all their dealings. They were not to forget what the Amalekites did to them when they were leaving Egypt. The Amalekites had no fear of God, so they were to be erased from the face of the earth. In Luke, Jesus spoke of the cities he had done so many miracles in and now they were turning on him. They would not fair well in eternity. He wanted his disciples to understand that when people accepted them, they were accepting Him and when they rejected them, they were rejecting the Lord. Jesus had seen Satan fall so he reminded them that the demons that obeyed them when they went out would still be afraid of them when he left. He gave them authority over all the power of the enemy. But he balanced it by saying not to rejoice because evil spirits obeyed them but to rejoice because of the reason evil spirits obeyed them. It was because their names were written in God’s book of life in heaven. Jesus was overwhelmed with joy as he thought about how God chose to give his treasures to these disciples who the world would not think as worthy, but heaven chose them. Jesus taught this same concept to the man who was an expert in the law. The man wanted to know what he should do to inherit eternal life. Jesus turned the question on him and he said that the law said to love the Lord and your neighbor as yourself. When the man asked who his neighbor was, Jesus told the story of the good Samaritan. He was making the connection that God’s neighbor was not the ones he would have chosen as his neighbor. If he wanted to please God, he needed to learn to love the unloveable. Lord, help us to see people as you see them and love them as you do.

Fri.’s Devo - The Seeds and the Sower

Read: Deuteronomy 21:1-22:30; Luke 9:51-10:12; Psalm 74:1-23; Proverbs 12:11 There were so many laws but I will deal with the ones that stood out to me. Murder had to be atoned for or it would defile the community. If a body was found and there were no witnesses then the elders of the closest town had to select an untrained heifer that had never been yoked to a plow. He was to be led down to a valley that had never been plowed that had a stream running through it. There the his neck was to be broken and the priest of the town must step forward and begin the process of cleansing themselves from the sin. Then the people would wash their hands over the heifer that was beheaded and proclaim the they knew nothing or had nothing to do with the murder of the man. They would ask the Lord’s mercy and freedom from guilt. This is a picture of what Christ did for us on the cross. He died for the sins we didn’t know we had committed. He died for the sin of the community and the nation. He was the heifer who had never been trained as a priest or yoked with the laws of the Mishnah and the Talmud. His death washed us of our guilt and sin. In 21:15-17 the law dealt with the same thing that was going on in the lives of Leah and Rachel. Rachel was the wife that was loved, but Leah had the first born son, Reuben. Rachel’s firstborn was Joseph. It was not legal for Jacob to give Joseph the inheritance of the first born just because he loved his mother the most. Sadly, Rueben lost his inheritance when he went into his father’s concubines (Gen. 49:3) and Joseph was blessed with the blessing of a firstborn in Genesis 49:22-26. The laws of other’s property is just loving your neighbor as you love yourself. God wanted them to treat others like they would want to be treated. God hated polarity so when he told them to not yoke an ox and a donkey together he was talking about opposites. The ox is a hard worker and the donkey is a stubborn animal. They didn’t go together and would always work against each other. Hearts need to be unified to produce any fruit. God wanted sin purged from the land, but he wanted just and fair judgment. No one could judge without unquestionable evidence and more than one witness. In Luke, we see the prejudice of Jews and Samaritans. The Samaritans wouldn’t receive Jesus because they knew he was going to Jerusalem for the Passover. When his disciples wanted to call down fire to destroy the Samaritan town, Jesus rebuked them. It was not time for judgment but grace. Jesus met three different people which were pictures that represented the hearts in parable about the seed in Matthew 13. The first seed was the Samaritans that rejected the seed. The second was the man who said he would follow him wherever he went. We can tell by Jesus’ response that he was the seed that didn’t have deep roots so it quickly died. The third man first go bury his father. He was the seed that got choked out by the cares of the world. The last seed was the one that fell on fertile ground and that was the one that put his hand to the plow and never looked back. Jesus chose 70 of the later seeds and sent them ahead of him to all the towns he planned to visit. He told them to pray for helpers. He rid them of distractions: money that might have gotten stolen or tempted them to want to shop, extra sandals that might have changed their walk, and conversation that might have gotten them off their mission. Once they found a home where they were welcome, they were to just stay and enjoy their hospitality. God would reward that house. They were to do just what Jesus did when he came to a town: heal the sick and preach that the kingdom of God was near. If they didn’t received them, they were to wipe the dust off their feet and go to the next town. Lord, may we be the seed who sets our hands to the plow and don't look back.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Victory is the Lord’s

Read: Deuteronomy 18:1-20:20; Luke 9:28-50; Psalm 73:1-28; Proverbs 12:10 The Israelites were not to forget about the Levites. The Levites were to eat from the gifts given to the Lord and have no land of their own. God was their possession and they were God’s possession. The priests were also to be given part of the offerings of grain, new wine, olive oil and wool. God warned them again and again not to imitate the detestable customs of the nations living in the land. The first thing he addressed was sacrificing their children. They were also never to practice fortune-telling, sorcery, or interpreting omens or engaging in witchcraft, spells, mediums or psychics. They were never to call forth the dead. God’s answer for that was his prophets. They had asked not to hear from the Lord directly so God would send them his prophets to speak to them. Moses explained to them again the purpose of cities of refuge for the person who accidentally killed someone and had no witness. He could run to a city of refuge and present his case to the priests. They would investigate the case and decide if his story was true. If it was, he would be given a place to live within the city of refuge and the murderer’s relatives would not be able to kill him to avenge the blood of their slain. When the high priest died, the city of refuge was emptied of those who found refuge there and they were free to leave and not be hunted. If the priests found that the man intentionally killed the person, the murderer was to be turned over to the avenger of blood…the slain’s relative. Spiritually, the avenger of blood is the Lord. The person who accidentally kills is us - we are the sinner who deserves death. When we get saved we find Jesus as our city of refuge and we are set free when we atone Jesus’ blood for our sin. If a person brings a false accusation against another and the priests learn the truth, they were to impose on the liar the same sentence he was requiring for his enemy. This was all to purge the land of sin. When they went to war against weapons and people stronger than them, they were not to fear because God would fight for them and give them victory. The officers were to address their troops and find out if any were just newly engaged to be married. If so, they were to go home and marry. If they were afraid, they were to go home because their fear would be a hindrance to the troops. To us spiritually, I think this means that if we are facing a huge battle, then we need to be all in. If we are not able to be “all in”, then we do not need to engage the enemy because he will defeat us. When they came to their enemies not in the land God had given them, they were to first offer them a peace treaty. If they refused to take it then the Israelites were free to take the city. If their enemies took the offer of peace, then the people would be their slaves. But, when they came to the cities and places in their promised land, they were to kill everyone because they had been sentenced by God as guilty and worthy of death. There was nothing to save. They were given the command not to kill the fruitful trees. They could make weapons of the ones that did not bear fruit. Trees have to do with people, spiritually so they were like the people out of their land. In Luke, Jesus brought Peter, John and James up on a mountain to pray. While he was praying, Jesus transformed into his heavenly body and they were able to see him in his glory. With him were Moses and Elijah and they were talking about Jesus’ departure from this world. Both Moses and Elijah did not die natural deaths, God took them just like God was going to do to Jesus. While Peter was wanting to set up shelters for Moses and Elijah, God spoke from heaven and said, “This is my Son, my Chosen One, Listen to him.” The next day, Satan was there to challenge Jesus. It came in the body of a man’s only son. The evil spirit took hold of the boy and did awful things to him. It had to be a warning that that was what Satan had planned for Jesus. It was Satan’s intimidation tactic to keep Jesus from Jerusalem. Jesus rebuked the spirit and healed the boy and gave him back to his father. That was exactly what was about to happen to Jesus. He would be abused by Satan but death would bring his healing and he would be returned to his Father in heaven. Lord, give us eyes to see what You are doing in our lives and that your plan is for total victory. You always win!