INTERCESSION/FERVENT PRAYER
Today’s Reading: Numbers 14
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).
GOOGLE MAPS – To see where the photo was taken, click HERE.
Key Verse: Numbers 14:19
Pardon the iniquity of this people, I pray, according to the greatness of Your mercy, just as You have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.
How strange! The majority wanted to go back to Egypt. This, in spite of the Red Sea miracle, the water from the rock, the manna, the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night. Before we judge them harshly, consider how attractive the old world can be to us when the going gets tough. When Moses preached God’s judgment on backsliding, it’s amazing how quickly the plan was changed (14:35). Then they made another big mistake. They presumed that God would restore everything as it was (14:44). Not so! There are consequences to a rebellious spirit. Yes, they were forgiven and God did not destroy them. It’s true that God is great in mercy. Nevertheless, they had forfeited the Promised Land. I expect to meet most of these people in Heaven, but in this life there are God-given opportunities which, if missed, will never be ours again.
PRAYER FOR TODAY:
Lord God, I ask, by Your grace, as I daily submit to Your will, that I will not miss opportunities to follow Your plan. Help me to make You my #1 Priority. In the Name of the One who always did what He saw You doing, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen! (See John 5:17-20).
100 PERSONAL WORDS:
I gave my life to Jesus at 16 and at 18 decided to give myself fully to Him for His Ministry through me. In my early years, I struggled often with the assurance that I was doing the will of God. Then I learned Jesus’ secret as to where He found the will of His Father. Remember, He never used His divinity to help Himself. He lived His life as a Man. His favourite name for Himself was “Son of Man.” Here’s the way Jesus did it. Read with me Mark 1:35…”Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.” Also, Matthew 14:23…”And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up on a mountain to pray.” Then Luke 6:12…”And it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray.” My passion is to be like Jesus. With God’s help, I’ve made early morning prayer a daily priority.
Yours for a consistent daily life in prayer and in God’s Word, so that knowing and doing God’s will becomes a way of life,
David
P.P.S. Check out the pictures below at the Sea of Galilee. They were taken during our Israel Tour in 2012 and posted when we were at today’s same Bible reading portion. This is a two-year through the Bible reading program. In the early years of the Crossroads ministry, we published the reading challenge in magazines and in ten different books. Now here is this 80-year-old man embracing hi-tech Internet blogging. Thanks very very much for joining me daily!!!
What a Wonderful picture of David & Norma Jean from only 10 years ago! Amazing that the people, who saw God’s direction and provision, could complain and want to turn back! Blessings all today. I believe He is coming soon.
Amen,the unknown can seem bigger than it is.
Great pictures and a reminder of happier times and the difference 10 years can make but this life is very short and is both our ‘school’ and battleground.Here we must learn so that we develop a character pleasing to God.If we could see and know what’s ahead we could not develop that character.The next life is the real life so walk in a way pleasing to God while you still can.God bless
A Living Tree
You think tomorrow starts without me,
You don’t know,how very wrong you are,
For I am more alive than you can be;
In a home that’s really not that far.
You see,I’m just beyond tomorrow,
Where yesterday is never far away,
And I will be here where there’s no sorrow
To meet you when you come to stay.
I have witnessed how silly grief is,
For only evil knows what death shall be,
Because of the sacrifice that was His,
And I am where time can not flee.
So be in that world within the world,
Where truth and friendship are always free,
To live in truth where love is unfurled
Like this grace that is a living Tree.
G W (Bill) Marshall / 17 August, 2013
Help us, Lord, be diligent to follow as You lead. Give us strength and determination to do the things that are right, in Jesus’s name, amen