Sunday, December 20, 2020

UNDERSTANDING GOD’S REASONS

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 9-10

Click scripture link to read online or HERE to listen online (then click the symbol of the audio speaker above the scripture portion on the right-hand side).

 

The Jordan River normally is a slow meandering stream, but when the Israelites went across, it was at the time of year when the “Jordan overflowed its banks” (Joshua 3:15b).

GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.

 

Key Verse: Deuteronomy 9:5

It is not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord your God drives them out from before you, and that He may fulfill the word which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

 

There were three reasons as to why God took the Children of Israel into the Promised Land. First, because of the wickedness of the nations already there. Second, because of His promise to His friend, Abraham. Third, because Moses fasted and prayed for forty days and nights for God’s purposes to be fulfilled in their lives. Fasting, along with our prayers, does not win brownie points with God, but it does indicate the fervency of our prayers. “The fervent effectual prayer of a righteous man avails much” (James 5:16). God, through Moses, as well as through Paul, made it very clear that, “It’s not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5a). This makes an important distinction between salvation by works and a faith that works.

PRAYER FOR TODAY:

Lord Jesus, grant a greater level of fervency to me as I pray. May I underline and put exclamation points behind my prayers more often by fasting along with my prayers. Thank You for saving me through the greatest work of all time, Your death and resurrection. Now, I’m asking You for a greater measure of faith that works in every area of my life and for the good of others. Amen!!!!!!

100 PERSONAL WORDS:

The Bible reading suggested here in “100 Words” is my morning reading. However, my New Years’ resolution is to raise my time meditating on the Person of Jesus. Raised in a believing, synagogue-attending family, Jesus would have read the portions from His Bible which had been selected by a council of Jewish Rabbis. Our 2-year journey through the Bible, as presented in my blog, goes from the Old Testament to the New and back again, covering every verse, every chapter, every book. I’m asking every reader to join me in this new-year commitment to learn to be more like Jesus.

Yours for knowing God’s Word more thoroughly,

David

11 thoughts on “Sunday, December 20, 2020

  1. Aiming to be more like Jesus. We thank You God, for Your gift of mercy and grace, salvation and forgiveness, hope and faith. We are nothing without You but everything with You and it is to You that we give all the thanks and praise. In Jesus’ Mighty Name. His blessings upon you, today, fellow saints in the Lord.

    And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” Luke 1:30-31 ESV

    Fall on Your Knees (Lyric Video) | We Have Our Savior
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBLTa7fHobc

  2. Joy to the world, the Lord has come
    Let earth receive her King
    Let every heart prepare Him room
    And heaven and nature sing, and heaven and nature sing
    And heaven, and heaven and nature sing

    Joy to the world, the Savior reigns
    Let men their songs employ
    While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains
    Repeat the sounding joy, repeat the sounding joy
    Repeat, repeat the sounding joy

    No more let sins and sorrows grow
    Nor thorns infest the ground
    He comes to make His blessings flow
    Far as the curse is found, far as the curse is found
    Far as, far as the curse is found

    He rules the world with truth and grace
    And makes the nations prove
    The glories of His righteousness
    And wonders of His love, and wonders of His love
    And wonders, wonders of His love

    By Isaac Watts, 1719

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