Mon.’s Devo - The New Wine

Read: Numbers 36:1-Deuteronomy 1:46; Luke 5:29-6:11; Psalm 66:1-20; Proverbs 11:24-26 The heads of the clan of Gilead from the tribe of Manasseh came to Moses and explained that if the daughters of Zelophehad received their inheritance from their father then married a man outside their tribe, their land would eventually end up belonging to that tribe. So, Moses got the Lord’s counsel and told the daughters of Zelophehad that they must marry within their tribe so this wouldn’t happen, so they did. Moses made a command for all the tribes that they must marry within their tribe to maintain the integrity of the land given to each tribe. *** It had now been 39 years and 11 months since they had been told they would have to wander in the wilderness for 40 years because of their unbelief. They had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites and Og the king of Bashan. God told them that it was time to go in and possess their land in Canaan. They had multiplied into a great nation and they would continue to grow. When they became too many for Moses to manage, he had told them to appoint wise, understanding and experienced men as their heads throughout their tribes, and they had. These men judged the people within their tribes. *** When they had come to the land the first time, they asked to send out spies to spy out the land first. Each tribe had sent one man. They brought back word that the land was good, but they were too afraid of the giants in the land to go in and possess it. The only ones who brought back a good report were Caleb and Joshua. *** God was angry with the people. They had forgotten all God had done for them and how he led them with his glory. God told them that they would not enter the land, but their children would. They were sent to the wilderness to die. Some sinned and decided to go possess the land without the Lord. They were humiliated and driven back. *** In Luke, Jesus had just called Levi (Matthew), the tax collector to follow him. Levi was so excited he had a great feast in his home and invited all his fellow tax-collectors to come. The Pharisees and scribe showed up and criticized Jesus for eating with such sinners. Jesus told them that it wasn’t those who are well who needed a doctor, but it was those who were sick. He had come to call the sinners, not the righteous to repentance. *** Then the Pharisees and scribes complained that John the Baptist’s followers fasted, but his disciples didn’t. Jesus explained that you don’t fast when you have the bridegroom with you. The day would come when the bridegroom will be taken away and then they would fast. *** He told them two parables. One was about sewing a new piece of fabric on an old garment. It wouldn’t work because it would shrink when it got wet and tear away from the garment. The next parable was about putting new wine in old wineskins which would break them. *** Jesus was the new material and the new wine. They would have to change their mindsets if they wanted to receive his new fabric and new wine. *** Jesus then demonstrated this in the next things he did. He allowed his disciples to do things their law did not allow because they were hungry. Then he healed on the Sabbath. All of these things upset the religious status quo. They were living in old mindsets - old wineskins and old garments. Jesus was there to do a new thing. *** Lord, may we put on the new man in Christ who is the new wine and the new garment. May we walk in truth and light. May you make our paths straight.

Sun.’s Devo - When You Come Into the Land…

Read: Numbers 33:40-35:34; Luke 5:12-28; Psalm 65:1-13; Proverbs 11:23 In the middle of their travel log we have the statement that the people who lived in Canaan knew they were coming to Canaan. Todays, travel takes us from where Aaron died on Mt. Hor to the Jordan River in the plains of Moab across from Jericho. *** The Lord told Moses to tell the people they were to drive out all the inhabitants of the land and destroy all their images and places of their worship. They were to possess the land because God was giving the land to them. If they failed to drive them out, they would become thorns in their sides and a stumbling block for them. *** God gave them all the borders of their land. The nine and a half tribes yet to receive their land would receive it by lot. Their lot would be sized according to the number of people they had. Every tribe was lead by the chief the Lord appointed. *** Each tribe was to give some of their cities to the Levites for them to live in. These cities should have pasturelands for the Levites livestock and beasts that extend outside their city a thousand cubits on all sides. Six of these cities were to be cities of refuge where a person could run to if he accidentally killed a person. There, he could present his case and be allowed to stay until the death of the high priest, then he would be allowed to go home safely. If a person murdered a person with intent then he must be put to death. *** How interesting that we are talking about cities in the Old Testament and our New Testament scripture opens with: “While Jesus was in one of the cities, there came a man full of leprosy.” This is a great picture of what would happen in a city of refuge. The person would come to the priest at the gate of the city and present his case just like this guy did. The man at the gate would decide if his story was plausible enough to investigate. He would determine if the guy could enter the city of refuge. This man in Luke told Jesus that if he wanted to he could make him clean. Jesus was the priest who would decide. He touched him and the leprosy left him. He told him to go and present himself to the priest as proof of his miracle. Other books tell us that he didn’t do this. *** One day, while Jesus was preaching, a paralyzed man was brought to him on his bed. The crowd was so thick, the man was lowered through the roof in front of Jesus. Jesus saw the faith of this man’s friends and told the man that his sins were forgiven. The scribes and Pharisees heard this and thought he was blaspheming God for thinking he could forgive sins. Jesus told them that to prove he had the power to forgive sins, he told the man to get up and walk and he did. *** Then, Jesus went out and demonstrated his point even greater by choosing the tax collector, the chief of sinners in the eyes of the religious, to be his follower. He chose Matthew. *** When we are saved, we have entered into our land and we have to drive out all the past inhabitants of our land like fear, hate, envy, lust, religion, etc. *** Lord, thank you that you forgive our sins and chose us to walk with you. Thank you that you are our city of refuge where we can run and receive forgiveness of every sin we can imagine.

Sat.’s Devo - Possessing the Land

Read: Numbers 32:1-33:39; Luke 4:31-5:11; Psaom 64:1-10; Proverbs 11:22 The children of Israel had just fought and conquered the Midianites. Their land was fertile pastureland and since the people of Reuben and Gad were shepherds, they went to Moses to ask to possess their land instead of land on the other side of the Jordan. *** Moses was not for it at first, until he learned their plan. They promised to set up cities for their families, then send their men of fighting age over the Jordan to help all the tribes conquer their land. They would not come home till every tribe possessed their land. When Moses and Eleazar and Joshua and the other leaders of the tribes heard this, they agreed. Half of the tribe of Manasseh also joined Gad and Reuben. *** Chapter 33 is a summary of the travels of the children of Israel from when they left Egypt the night of the first Passover to the day Aaron climbed Mt. Hor and died. *** In Luke, Jesus went to Capernaum, a city of Galilee and taught on the Sabbath. An unclean demon manifested in a man who was there. He began crying out that Jesus was the Holy One of God. Jesus rebuked the demon and told him to come out of the man. The demon threw him down to the ground and then left him. The people were amazed at the authority Jesus had in his preaching and over evil spirits. Word spread about Jesus. *** Jesus was staying at the house of Simon Peter whose mother-in-law was ill with a fever. He rebuked the fever and she got up immediately and began to serve them. *** Many brought their sick and diseased to him for him to lay his hands on them. Jesus healed them all and would not allow the demons to speak because they knew who he was. *** One day, when Jesus was by the lake of Gennesaret he saw some fishermen in their boats washing them nets. One of the boat belonged to Simon. He asked them to let him preach from their boat. They put him on the boat and pushed their boat away from the shore so he could speak to the crowd. When he was finished preaching, he rewarded them by telling them to cast their nets. Simon complained that they had fished all night and it was useless but he obeyed and let down his net. Their net instantly filled with so many fish they had to get the other boat to help them. They filled both boats full with fish until they were both about to sink. Simon Peter saw the miracle and fell on his knees before Jesus. Jesus told him not to be afraid because from now on he would be catching men, not fish. From that moment on, Peter, James, John and Andrew left fishing and followed Jesus. *** Lord, may we be like those disciples who quickly responded to Jesus’ word. Thank you that you have revealed to us who you are. Everything in heaven and on earth is under your control. You are our Creator and Sustainer.

Fri.’s Devo - Jesus’ Rejection

Read: Numbers 30:1-31:54; Luke 4:1-30; Psalm 63:1-11; Proverbs 11:20-21 When I read the laws about making vows I am so thankful for these laws because I think of the thoughtless vows I have made that I know the Lord opposed and kept me from having to keep them. Just think of things we say like, “I’d rather die than…”, or “Over my dead body…” We have so many euphemisms which are so detrimental to our health and spiritual well-being. It is a great thing that God as our Father can step in and annul it, or Jesus as our husband can also. *** God told Moses that he was to avenge the people of Israel by fighting the Midianties. They were to send one thousand warriors from each tribe to fight against them. Phinehas, the priest went with them to war with the vessels of the tabernacle and the trumpet to sound for the attack. *** God gave them total success and they killed Balaam who had been paid to curse them, only God wouldn’t let him. They took the women and children of Midian captive and all the spoil. When they brought them to Moses he was so angry with them because they let them live. These were the very ones who led Israel to worship Baal. He told them to kill every male child and every married woman. The virgins could be spared. Those who did this were to stay outside the camp for seven days to be purified. *** They made it a law that the only plunder they could take from an enemy was metal that could go through the fire to be purified and anything that could be washed in water. They were to wash their own clothes, then on the seventh day they would be clean. *** We go through battles and trials all through our lives. We try to be clean and pure through it all, but it is impossible since we are humans. On the seventh day when everyone is judged, everything we have done will go through the fire and the water and what survives will be what will stand as our good deeds before the Lord. *** When they counted all the plunder, it was split between the people who went to battle and the ones who stayed home. A small part of the half that went to the warriors was given to Eleazar as the Lord’s part. A larger part was taken from the people’s half and given to the Levites who guarded the tabernacle. The plunder was abundant as listed in verses 32-47. *** When the officers did a count of their soldiers they found that not one had died. They freely gave of their plunder to the Lord as a thanksgiving for saving them all. Their gifts stood as a memorial to the Lord of what he had done for them. *** In Luke, Jesus went from baptism to the fire of testing. He was led by the Spirit into the wilderness just for this reason. He fasted the whole 40 days and nights and at the end of the time, the devil came to him to tempt him to turn a stone into bread. Jesus gave scripture saying that man doesn’t live by bread alone. *** Then the devil showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world in a glimpse. The devil promised to him him authority and glory on earth if he would bow down and worship him. Jesus told him he would only worship the Lord and only serve him. Lastly, the devil took Jesus to Jerusalem and set him on the pinnacle of the temple and told him to jump because the scriptures say that he could command angels to catch him. Jesus rebuked him for testing God. The devil left him to fight another day. *** Jesus returned to Galilee filled with God’s Spirit. He taught in the synagogues and was becoming well-known. Then he went home to Nazareth and was not as well received. When he went into the synagogue that Sabbath, he stood up to read the scripture for the day. He took the scroll of Isaiah and found the place where it said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.” Then he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. When everyone was looking at him for an explanation, he told them that today that Scripture is being fulfilled in their ears. *** He knew they were questioning his authority because they knew he was just Mary and Joseph’s son, so Jesus reminded them that a prophet is never accepted in his hometown. Jesus told of two stories which all had to do with outsiders. God had chosen to save the widow in Sidon during the famine when there were many godly people dying in Israel. And God had healed the leper from Syria when there were many lepers in Israel that he didn’t heal. He was using these stories to tell why he couldn’t heal them of his own hometown, but could heal many people elsewhere. It had to do with their faith. This made the people so mad that he would insinuate that God would choose to help, especially the Gentiles over them, that they drove him out of town to a cliff. They had planned to throw him off, but Jesus just walked right through the crowd and left. *** May this be a lesson to us, that God is God and he can do whatever he wants for whoever he chooses. We don’t have the right to challenge his decisions. *** Lord, may we walk in gratefulness that you would move in anyone you choose. May we be joyful for those you choose to bless and not jealous or feel entitled. We choose to love and worship you because you are God and that is enough.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Offerings of the Feasts 3-19-26 Read: Numbers 28:16-29:40; Luke 3:23-38; Psalm 62:1-12; Proverbs 11:18-19 God went through the feasts and told them what was to be offered at each of them. Atonement was made at each feast. Passover was first followed by Feast of Unleavened Bread the next day. Then First Fruits and the Feast of Weeks. Those feast were the spring feasts. *** In the fall, on the first day of the seventh month was the Feast of Trumpets, then on the tenth day of that month was the Day of Atonement, the most holy day. On the fifteenth of that same month was the Feast of Tabernacles where the most interesting sacrifices were given. The Feast of Tabernacle lasted seven days. The sacrifices were the same each day except for the number of bulls. On the first day the number of bulls was 13, then every day it counted down one less bull ending with seven on the seventh day. Then on the eighth day it began over with only one bull. *** The feasts are God’s timetable of events. The Feast of Tabernacles, the last feast, is a picture of Christ’s reign on earth. On the eighth day, they do a celebration of the Torah which is called Simbat Torah. That is the day they begin reading the Torah again starting with Genesis One. This represents the day when everything will start over with a new heaven and a new earth. *** In Luke, Jesus begins his ministry at the age of 30 as Joseph’s son. We are given Joseph’s lineage which is taken all the way back to Adam who was the son of God. Joseph is from the line of Judah and a descendant of David. Many great people like Boaz, Abraham, Noah, Enoch, and Methuselah were in his line. *** Even though Joseph was not Jesus’ blood father, he was chosen by God to father him on earth. His lineage was important because it determined that Jesus was from the tribe of Judah. *** Lord, thank you that you wrote each of our stories. Our beginning and the end. We trust your plan for our lives even when we don’t understand it. We know Jesus had days where he didn’t understand the plan either. Help us to walk by faith and trust in the author of our book.

Wed.’s Devo - In Need of a Saviour

Read: Numbers 26:52-28:15; Luke 3:1-22; Psalm 61:1-8 Proverbs 11:16-17 God told Moses what to do with the census he had taken. He was to divide the land and give the largest land to the tribes with the largest number of people. *** The Levites were listed according to their clans - the Gershonites, the Kohathites and the Merarites. Moses and Aaron were from the Kohathites. There were 23,000 Levites from the ages of a month old and upward. They were not given an inheritance in the land because the Lord was their inheritance. *** We are a kingdom of priest according to 2 Peter and our inheritance is not earthly but heavenly. Our inheritance is the Lord. *** This new census didn’t include any of the first census Moses had taken. They had all died in the wilderness because of their sin, except for Joshua and Caleb who brought back a good report about the land the Lord had given them. *** The daughters of Zelophehad who had no brothers came to present their case. They wanted to inherit their father’s land when he died. Moses sought the Lord’s counsel and he agreed with the women. It became a presidence that if a person died without a son, their land would go to their daughters. If he had no children, it would go to his brother, then if that was not possible it would go to his closest of kin. *** Moses was then taken on the mountain where he could see the land he had brought the people to, but he would die there and not get to enter. The land had never been about Moses, it had been about God’s promise to his people. *** Moses asked the Lord to appoint a leader for the people and God chose Joshua. He was to stand him before Eleazar, the priest and all the congregation and commission him so everyone would see who God had chosen to lead them. *** Then God gave Moses the details of the different offerings the people were to offer to him. They were to also bring offerings on the Sabbath and on their new moon at the beginning of their months. Everything was to begin with honoring him and being thankful. *** In Luke, Luke makes sure we understand that Judea was ruled by non-Jews. Iberius Caesar was in his 15th reign over them. Pontius Pilate was the governor of Judea and Herod was the tetrarch over Galilee. Annas and Caiaphas were the high priest who were not chosen by God. They needed a Savior. *** God came to John who lived in the wilderness and told him to begin baptizing people who wanted to repent of their sins He was the voice in the wilderness telling the people to get their lives ready to receive the salvation of the Lord. *** John told them that being a child of Abraham was not enough to save their soul from sin. They need to change the way they lived. Stop extorting money from one another and begin honoring God in the way they treated others. *** People began saying that John could be the Messiah but he quickly put a stop to that. He told them that he only baptized with water, but the one coming was far greater than him and he would baptized them with the Holy Spirit and fire. *** John reproved Herod the tetrarch for taking his brother’s wife, Herodias from him, so Herod had John put in prison. *** Before this, John had baptized Jesus and when he did the heavens opened and the Holy Spirit descended on him in the form of a dove. A voice from heaven said, “You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased.” *** Lord, may we remember to always be thankful every day for what you have given us. Thank you for sending Jesus to die for our sins and save us from death.

Tues.’s Devo - The Father’s Business

Read: Numbers 26:1-51; Luke 2:36-52; Psalm 60:1-12; Proverbs 11:15 Twenty-four thousand had just died in the plague God sent to punish Israel for their rebellion. God told Moses to count how many were left to go to war - 20 years of age and older. Here are some interesting facts from our list of tribes. In Reuben’s tribe Dathan and Abiram and their families had been swallowed up with Korah. But, Korah’s family, who were sons of Aaron were not killed. *** In the tribe of Manasseh, one of the clans had no sons but had five daughters. *** The tribe of Dan only had one clan which were the Shuhamites, yet they had the most people other than the tribe of Judah. Shuhamite means “their pit.” I always think of the tribe of Dan like Judas Iscarot, the tare in the field. The tribe of Dan was know throughout the years for their idolatry and wickedness. Dan means “to judge.” *** In Luke, Mary and Joseph had brought Jesus to the Temple to dedicate him to the Lord and a prophetess named Anna was there. When she saw him she gave thanks to the Lord because she knew he was the one who would bring redemption to Jerusalem. *** When Jesus was 12, he went with his parents to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover. When it was over, his parents began their travel home, only to find out Jesus was not with the group. They had to return to Jerusalem and it took them 3 days to find him. When they did, he was in the Temple astonishing the teachers with his answers and understanding of God. Mary asked him how he could have done this to them, he replied, “Did you not know that I must be about my Father’s business.” *** Jesus had just turned 12 and it was customary for the son to then begin to work in his father’s business. Jesus’ father was God and his business was in the Temple, so it made perfect sense to Jesus to stay and work there. *** Jesus submitted to his parents and returned home to do the business of a carpenter like Joseph. Jesus increased in wisdom and favor with God and man. *** Lord, may we be about your business on the earth. May we increase in wisdom and favor with you and with man.