Monday Morning Cover to Cover

It's Monday Morning and you are always welcome to join in with us as we read through the Bible chronologically together. Check out the sidebar for daily readings. This past week we closed Numbers and started the Book of Deuteronomy. Leave a comment about what God spoke to you and what lingers as you read the Word this week from any place at all.

It's Palm Sunday, as I write, where Jesus rode in on a donkey and they praised HIM. Reminds me of Revelation 7 where it says one day a great multitude will be standing before the throne holding palm branches in their hands crying out praise to our God. And the angels, facedown before the throne, will worship HIM saying: "Praise and Glory and Wisdom and Thanks and Honor and Power and Strength be to our God forever and ever." I'll be there, will you? It's the moment when He Who sits on the Throne will say: Never again will you hunger. Never again will you thirst. For the Lamb at the center of your throne will be your Shepherd. And He will wipe away every tear from your eyes. All those present tears for how we have been missed and hurt in this life.

Numbers closes with a word for us today---what to do with the enemy of our soul: the flesh. These verses so remind me of an article I just read, "Entering the Battle That Has Already Been Won" by Lawrence Crabb. "The more we are disturbed by the presence and power of our flesh, the more we become excited and empowered by the Deeper Presence and Greater Power of the Spirit. And that releases the Spirit's power to change the way we relate, the way we think, and the way we feel in the middle of any life circumstances." Am I asking God to eradicate my current circumstances or am I longing to experience that Deeper Presence of my Beautiful God right there in the midst of it all?

Drive, Destroy, Demolish
“When you cross the Jordan into Canaan, drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you.” Numbers 33:51,52. It’s some of the last words in the book of Numbers and it applies to where I live today. Whether it’s Canaan or Benbrook, we are to deal with the enemies of our soul that creep in to move HIM from first place in our lives.
Drive out what you have let inhabit you
Destroy your idols
Demolish your high places
Take possession of your land.
Co-Authors with a Mighty God
He is a gentleman. He invites us, no force there. We are not hostages, not slaves. We are His servants, His friends, His lovers, His daughters and sons. Verse 55 says if you do not drive them out and allow them to remain, they will become barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will give you trouble right where you live. What script am I writing today? I hope I am asking the right questions in dealing with all those d’s. As I think about Easter coming up, I keep on asking to know Him better” Eph. 1:17 and I keep on asking to find Eph 1:19 “His incomparably great power for us” to drive out, destroy, demolish. This isn’t about my determination. Not about my resolve. It’s all about His Power in me. I have asked the wrong questions for way too many years.

Deuteronomy opens with Moses reviewing the history of their happenings in the desert. Moses speaks in Deut 1:3 on November 1st of the fortieth year. So, two more months to go, and their forty years of wanderings will be over. What will Moses say as he hears God and wraps up the desert walk? Here are about 10 things that Moses said that lingers with me as I listen to my God's voice speaking to me today right where I live.

My Father Carries Me Like A Son
Deuteronomy 1:30-31 The Lord is the One who went before them and fought for them. Before their very eyes. In Egypt. In the desert. But they sometimes didn’t want any part of the plan God had for them. But He carried them through the desert as a father carries his son, all the way. And that so speaks to me. May God carry us all in our wanderings. There have been things in my life I have not wanted to be a part of, but my God has carried me all the way to this very day. And He carries you today.
I DO NOT LACK ANYTHING
Is this my mantra? Deut 2:7 The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. Sometimes they haven’t wanted what they were given—like manna—but they have not lacked anything. That so speaks to me where I am today and my husband and I both long with all our hearts to trust Him for future direction for both of us with so little happening that we can see.

Moses Begged, Then Accepted God’s Will
Deut 3:23-26 At that time I pleaded with the LORD : "O Sovereign LORD, you have begun to show to your servant your greatness and your strong hand. Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan." "That is enough," the LORD said. "Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 3:28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see." I am so touched by Moses' response to God Who did not give Moses what he longed for and asked Moses to honor a younger follower with his blessing. Oh my goodness. What humility in stepping down.

You Must Not Add or Subtract from God’s Word
Moses said: 4:2 Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the LORD your God that I give you. 4:9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children.

Seek Him from the Place Where You Are. You Will Find Him
In 4:27, Moses said the Lord will scatter you. If from there you seek the Lord, you will find Him if you look with all your heart and all your soul. If you are in distress, return to the Lord and obey Him. For He is a merciful God and will not abandon you or forget you.
A Mighty Hand, an outstretched arm. You were shown these things so that you might know HIM. He makes you hear His Voice to discipline you. He has brought you to the place where you are by His Presence and His Power, driving out what is greater and stronger than you. Take it to heart. There is no Other for you.

Am I Inclined to Fear My God?
5:28-29. Moses gave the 10 Commandments and told them to go near and listen to what the Lord says. The LORD heard you when you spoke, and the LORD said back: Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!

Love the LORD Your God with all Your heart
Deut 6:6. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord. Do not test the Lord. Do what is right and good in the Lord’s sight.

I Am His Treasured Possession
Deut 6:20. In the future, when your son asks you, "What is the meaning of this?” Tell them how God brought you to this place with His mighty Hand. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

The LORD Loves You Because...
Deut 7:7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the LORD loved you and He brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery.

Little By Little is How My God Moves
Deut 7:21-24. Do not be terrified by them, for the LORD your God, who is among you, is a great and awesome God. The LORD your God will drive out those nations before you, little by little. You will not be allowed to eliminate them all at once, or the wild animals will multiply around you. But the LORD your God will deliver them over to you, throwing them into great confusion until they are destroyed.

Why Does God Test Me?
Do Not Forget the LORD
Deut 7:2-5 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

Are You Satisfied and Proud?
8: 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
Has God Given You Wealth? "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." Remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth.

What is My Response to My Wandering Friends?
Then once again Moses fell prostrate before the LORD for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the LORD's sight and so provoking him to anger. Deut 9:18

Cling to Him
God defends the cause of the fatherless.
God defends the cause of the widow. God loves the alien.
Fear the LORD your God and serve him. Hold fast to him. He is your praise. He is your God. Duet 10:18-21.

Blessing or Curse
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse---the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods. Deut 11:27

It is our choice. Co-authors with a Sovereign God who rode in on Palm Sunday on a donkey. What script will we co-author this day?