Mon.’s Devo - Dedications

Read: Leviticus 27:14- Numbers 1:54; Mark 11:1-26; Psalm 46:1-11; Proverbs 10:23 If a person dedicates his house, or land to the Lord, it is valued according to when the next Jubilee is. If that person changes his mind and wants to buy the house or land back, then he must pay the price and add twenty percent. *** If the land is a second owner who dedicates it to the Lord, at Jubilee, it returns to the original owner. First born animals already belong to the Lord and cannot be bought back. Anything consecrated as holy could not be bought back either. A person given a death sentence could not be redeemed but must be put to death. *** What I get from this, is that a person who has dedicated himself to the Lord Jesus, can never be bought back by Satan. And Satan’s off-spring who are bent on evil can never be redeemed. *** One-tenth of the produce belongs to the Lord. To redeem it, you must pay an additional 20 percent. They were to count off every tenth animal and give it to the Lord and not change out a bad animal for a good one. If you try to do this, both of them are the Lord’s and cannot be bought back. *** A year after they had left Egypt, God told Moses to take a census of just the warriors by their clans and families. They must be twenty years or older and able to go to war. One leader was to be chosen out of each tribe to assist in this endeavor. All the people were registered according to there ancestry and the ones able to go to war were numbered. Their army consisted of 603,550. The Levites were not counted with the rest. They were put in charge of the Tabernacle - to set it up and take it down and carry it to the next place. They had the responsibility of guarding it at all times. The other tribes camped under their banner in their assigned spots. *** In Mark, Jesus came to the villages of Bethany and Bethphage which were on the Mount of Olives. Jesus sent two of his disciples ahead of him to get a donkey for him. God had already set it up for him. A donkey, that had never been ridden would be standing outside a house. They were to untie it. When asked, they were to say, “The Lord needs it and will return it soon.” They did and were allowed to take it. *** The disciples, put their garments on it to make a saddle for Jesus to sit on and Jesus climbed on. As he rode it down the mountain to Jerusalem, people spread their garments on the road. They also spread their palm branches and sang the Hallel in Psalms 113-117 to him. *** Jesus went into the Temple and looked at all the money changers and the selling of animals and doves for the Passover celebration. He took it all in and then returned to Bethany with his disciples. *** The next morning as they were going back to Jerusalem, Jesus was hungry and noticed a fig tree in full leaf. But, when he went over to it, he saw that it only had leaves and no fruit. Jesus cursed it and said, “Many no one ever eat your fruit again.” *** This time, when Jesus entered the Temple, he began overthrowing tables and driving the people buying and selling out of the Temple. He told them that the Temple was not a marketplace but it was to be called a house of prayer for all nations, yet they had turned it into a den of thieves. *** When the leading priests and teachers of the law heard what Jesus had done, they planned how they would kill him, but their problem the people, who loved him. *** The next morning, when the disciples and Jesus left for Jerusalem again, they noticed that the fig tree had withered from the roots up. Jesus explained that it just takes faith to uproot evil. But, first make sure that there is no unforgiveness in your heart. If you have faith that what you say will happen, you can bring down mountains of opposition. *** The fig tree represented the religion of Jerusalem that would crumble from the roots up. Jesus was bringing a new kingdom with a new law of liberty and love. *** Lord, may we rejoice like our Psalm says when we see the shaking of the old order and its fall. May we embrace the joy that God’s new kingdom brings. We declare that the Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us and God is our fortress!