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There was much reward for faithful service but the Eastern  tribes wanted above all to secure their inheritance in God!

22 Then Joshua summoned the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh ² and said to them, ‘You have done all that Moses the servant of the Lord commanded, and you have obeyed me in everything I commanded. ³ For a long time now – to this very day – you have not deserted your fellow Israelites but have carried out the mission the Lord your God gave you. Joshua 22

The Eastern tribes had been faithful to both leaders of Israel and they had FOUGHT FOR AND WITH THEIR BROTHERS to help them take their inheritance. As in many wars the men were separated from their families for a long time.

⁷  … When Joshua sent them home, he blessed them, ⁸ saying, ‘Return to your homes with your great wealth – with large herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze and iron, and a great quantity of clothing – and divide the plunder from your enemies with your fellow Israelites.’

The Eastern tribes had acquired much wealth during the many battles West of the Jordan River in the land of Canaan. Their loyalty had resulted in great reward, they weren’t returning empty handed to their own families. God sees Faithful Service and rewards everyone for their work, INCLUDING SERVICE ON BEHALF OF OTHER BELIEVERS. We may not feel that our service is noticed by others but God sees it all. At His time we will receive our just rewards, just like these tribes who’d helped their brother Israelites.

On the way back to their own lands the Eastern tribes built a replica altar at Geliloth, near the border. This almost led to war with their brothers who believed it would bring God’s judgement upon the whole nation. They sent a delegation east of the Jordan to plead with the two and a half tribes to remove the altar, but they learned that it had been built to secure the Eastern tribes inheritance as a part of Israel. Peace reigned again between the tribes across the Jordan River. The Eastern tribes foresaw that in the future a rift could come between themselves and those in the west, so they put a marker on the land to testify to their legitimate claim as one people.

⁹ So the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh left the Israelites at Shiloh in Canaan to return to Gilead, their own land, which they had acquired in accordance with the command of the Lord through Moses.

¹⁰ When they came to Geliloth near the Jordan in the land of Canaan, the Reubenites, the Gadites and the half-tribe of Manasseh built an imposing altar there by the Jordan. ¹¹ And when the Israelites heard that they had built the altar on the border of Canaan at Geliloth near the Jordan on the Israelite side, ¹² the whole assembly of Israel gathered at Shiloh to go to war against them. 

The Eastern tribes returned home with great wealth as Joshua had said, but they knew it was the God of Israel who had blessed them and wanted above all to remain as part of the people of God. Many people receive God’s blessings and forget who has blessed them, which is tragic for them.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

Correction to our direction of travel may be mild or life-changing and we may experience both during our lives.

Ruth (meaning, friend, COMPASSIONATE FRIEND (Nice Name), also vision of beauty) experienced a severe dislocation in her lifetime. Her Jewish husband, Mahlon, died after ten years of marriage and she decided to accompany Naomi, her mother-in-law back to Bethlehem in Judah. She wasn’t dissuaded by rational arguments nor the departure of Orpah, her sister-in-law, she chose loyalty and the unknown above familiarity. A powerful example for many followers of Christ today.

¹⁶ But Ruth replied, ‘Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God. ¹⁷ Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the Lorddeal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.’ Ruth 1

Ruth’s life took an epic change, brought about by the death of someone she loved. A door in her young life closed forever.

J Strokes, staying on course.

I was reading a chapter in Luann Budd’s book on Journal Keeping recently and she gave two analogies for regular corrections in the Christian Life.

In the first she told about attending a technology conference where it was stated that the space shuttle was off course much of the time. The rockets fired continually to adjust direction and bring it back onto the true course to reach it’s destination or DESTINY.

The second analogy was the J Stroke used in canoeing, where the paddle in the stern is used intermittently as a rudder to make minimal adjustments to the direction of travel. In both examples small corrections have to be applied continually throughout the course of OUR JOURNEY.

‘Like the space shuttle and the canoe (Major and Minor vehicles), the only time we are entirely on course is during that brief time when we are crossing centre on our way back off course. We too need the J Stroke to get realigned’. Luann Budd, Journal Keeping

So long as we reside here on earth our journey will need to undergo change to keep us on course for our destinies, whether they be Major adjustments like Ruth, or minor adjustments from the prompts of God’s Spirit in our lives. Religion tends to make us Inflexible, Resisting change, but that’s not what being led by the Spirit implies. ‘Sin is missing the Mark or the Bull’s-eye’, we have to be flexible and sensitive to the leading of God’s Spirit.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

If we want to see Good Days, then Seek Peace and Pursue it!

¹⁰ For,

¹⁰ If you want a happy, good life, keep control of your tongue, and guard your lips from telling lies. ¹¹ Turn away from evil and do good. TRY TO LIVE IN PEACE EVEN IF YOU MUST RUN AFTER IT TO CATCH AND HOLD IT! ¹² For the Lord is watching his children, listening to their prayers; but the Lord’s face is hard against those who do evil. 1 Peter 3, The Living Bible

The Living Bible May gives us a more accurate picture in what’s involved in CONTENDING FOR PEACE, we must hold fast, even while the enemy is trying to shift us and cause Strife, the opposite of Peace.

Suffering for Doing Good

^8-12 Summing up: Be agreeable, be sympathetic, be loving, be compassionate, be humble. That goes for all of you, no exceptions. No retaliation. No sharp-tongued sarcasm. Instead, bless—that’s your job, to bless. You’ll be a blessing and also get a blessing.

Our Peace will be contended on this earth as the enemy tries to shake our faith in God, just as he did with Job, but we can remain victorious by holding onto God in fiery trials, both now and for eternity with the Lord.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

⁸ “REMEMBER the instruction you gave your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the nations, ⁹ but if you return to me and obey my commands, then even if your exiled people are at the farthest horizon, I will gather them from there and bring them to the place I have chosen as a dwelling for my Name.’ Nehemiah 1

The Book of Nehemiah begins in Babylon, where the Jews had been exiled for their disobedience. Nehemiah wept and fasted before the Lord for the condition of Jerusalem and it’s people and he REMINDED God of His Promises. Nehemiah is a Book for the Church today, he had a vision for restoration and set about rebuilding in the face of opposition. The people had to build and to guard the walls of Jerusalem as they worked. Building and Battle happened together, they had to go hand in hand and I believe it will be so for believers today.

¹⁴ After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. REMEMBER THE LORD, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.” Nehemiah 4

Nehemiah led by example, he stood up and encouraged the people when the opposition was severe. He pointed the people towards God, ‘Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome’. He told them we have someone on our side who is far more powerful than the enemies around us. Remember the Lord in times of trouble, He is faithful.

¹⁶ ‘But they, our ancestors, became arrogant and stiff-necked, and they did not obey your commands. ¹⁷ THEY REFUSED TO LISTEN AND FAILED TO REMEMBER the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. (HARD TO BELIEVE PEOPLE WOULD CHOOSE SLAVERY BEFORE SERVING GOD, BUT THEY DO) But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them, … Nehemiah 9

Nehemiah had the Word of God read to the people and then they and their leaders entered into a binding agreement with God. In the place where they had forgotten God, they turned back to Him once again and Israel were restored to their own land.

We can make the same choice today. Being a slave to this world system and being governed by a selfish elite is a bad alternative. ‘REMEMBER WE HAVE A FORGIVING GOD, GRACIOUS AND COMPASSIONATE, SLOW TO ANGER AND ABOUNDING IN LOVE.’

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

²⁵ “But Abraham replied, ‘Son, REMEMBER that in your lifetime you received your good things, while Lazarus received bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are in agony. Luke 16

Jesus lifted the veil for us to see into eternity in the account of Lazarus the beggar and the rich man in the afterlife. Lazarus retained his Name in eternity but didn’t speak, while the wealthy man was unnamed but pleaded with Abraham for himself and his brothers, who still lived. He REMEMBERED them and didn’t want them to end up where he was. The sad thing was that Abraham told him that his brothers would refuse to believe even if someone rose from the dead, heralding Christ’s own sacrifice.

⁴¹ We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.’

⁴² Then he said, ‘Jesus, REMEMBER me when you come into your kingdom.’

⁴³ Jesus answered him, ‘Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ Luke 23

Another separation in Luke’s Gospel, right the point of death, but Jesus extended mercy to the man who asked Him to Remember him when He came into His Kingdom. That request was all that was needed for the Lord to show him mercy and grant him the blessings of paradise.

⁵ In their fright the women bowed down with their faces to the ground, but the men said to them, “Why do you look for the living among the dead? ⁶ He is not here; he has risen! REMEMBER how he told you, while he was still with you in Galilee: ⁷ ‘The Son of Man must be delivered over to the hands of sinners, be crucified and on the third day be raised again.’ ” ⁸ Then they REMEMBERED his words. Luke 24

The women had gone to Jesus’ tomb to pay a final act of homage to his dead body, yet His body wasn’t there. They had an encounter with two men in gleaming clothes who told them to Recall Jesus’ words while in Galilee. Something from our past may hold the key to fully understanding and gaining a truer perspective of our present. Why not ask the Lord if there’s some memory or lesson from our past that will benefit us right now and give fresh understanding. Ask and be still, an answer may come now or later, but just ask.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

⁸ These are the names of David’s mighty warriors:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter. 2 Samuel 23

Then the Israelites retreated, ¹⁰ but Eleazar stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword. The Lord brought about a great victory that day. 2 Samuel 23

BE BOLD, DON’T LIMIT GOD, EVEN IF YOU STAND ALONE!

One of the interesting things about David’s Mighty Men is that their greatest victories often came when they Stood Alone. They continued to Stand when others left the battlefield. Hallelujah

¹¹ Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite. When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them. ¹² But Shammah TOOK HIS STAND in the middle of the field. He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and THE LORD BROUGHT ABOUT A GREAT VICTORY. 2 Samuel 23

God can do His greatest miracles when the odds are stacked against us! Sometimes when we take our STAND in the face of tremendous obstacles, God comes through with mighty victories.

A modern day account of such a victory. I believe that I have written before about an SAS soldier who single-handedly brought about the rescue of more than seven hundred people during a terrorist attack in Nairobi, Kenya. I listened to a further account of the day of this event when Christian Craighead was interviewed by Shawn Ryan on YouTube.

Christian said that he was driving a car and against all reason he was impressed to stop and pick up a stranger at the roadside. The man got into his car and then pulled out a large knife with two points, which the SAS soldier had never seen before. Christian didn’t feel threatened but told the passenger that he hoped he wasn’t going to try and kill him with the knife. But he replied that it was only for protection and that sometimes there were demons on this road. He asked to be let off outside the next village, but before he left the car he said in a forceful voice, “May God bless you many times this day Christian”. After he left the car he disappeared.

In the interview Christian said he’d done nearly a thousand door kicks (forced entries) during his career, but he’d never felt like he did that day of the rescue. He said he could see further, hear more, had faster reflexes and was stronger than he’d ever felt before. The siege lasted for nineteen hours. I believe God sent someone from heaven to prepare him for all that lay ahead, ‘to bless him life many times that day’! None of us know what lies before us, unless God reveals it, but God prepares and trains us for the battles that each of us will face. We are never alone in our battles.

Ten months later Christian met President Donald Trump in the Whitehouse, who thanked him for saving American lives in Nairobi on the 15th January 2019. President Trump was the only one to personally acknowledge what this brave soldier had done and it all took place without publicity.

There’s an old saying which we need to hear again in these days, ‘One plus God is a majority’, Amen Lord.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

⁹ Do you still not understand? DON’T YOU REMEMBER the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Matthew 16

Jesus rebuked His disciples because they failed to understand Him, or to REMEMBER the miracles of provision they’d seen. As usual they were trying to work things out in the natural while He was speaking of spiritual purposes.

Strong’s 3421: From a derivative of mneme; to exercise memory, i.e. RECOLLECT; by implication, to punish; also to REHEARSE.

Jesus told the disciples to RECOLLECT what they’d witnessed, so they would understand what He was telling them now. Some other things the Word urges us to Remember.

²² But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, “Raca,” is answerable to the court. (Implications even in men’s courts) And anyone who says, “You fool!” will be in danger of the fire of hell.

²³ ‘Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and THERE REMEMBER that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴ leave your gift there in front of the altar. FIRST GO AND BE RECONCILED TO THEM; then come and offer your gift. Matthew 5

The Lord warned the disciples of the seriousness of holding anger or bitterness in their hearts towards brothers and sisters. So much so that it was better to leave their gift before the altar and be reconciled first! God will not overlook the ATTITUDE OF OUR HEARTS, because He has Forgiven us much greater sins He requires us to Forgive others! He wants us free of all such hindrances to go forward and fulfil our Calling here and now.

⁷⁵ Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken: ‘Before the cock crows, you will disown me three times.’ And he went outside and wept bitterly. Matthew 26

Peter REMEMBERED Jesus’ Words and was grieved over his disloyalty to the Lord, a vital step in his eventual restoration for Kingdom purposes.

The guard at the tomb

⁶² The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate. ⁶³ ‘Sir,’ they said, ‘WE REMEMBER that while he was still alive that deceiver said, “After three days I will rise again.” ⁶⁴ So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.’ Matthew 27

It’s interesting that Matthew’s Gospel concludes with Jesus’ enemies Remembering His Words and trying to prevent His resurrection. Even after death the enemy tried to oppose Christ’s triumph and victory over sin and the grave. We shouldn’t be surprised if people remind us of things we’ve said or the Bible says, after all, they did it with Jesus.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel,  is with us.

 

Continuing our theme of God’s ‘WHOEVER’ Promises, those that Jesus declared were for everyone.

God the Father is an INCLUSIVE God, WHOEVER WALKS WITH HIM HERE WILL LIVE WITH HIM THERE.

⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For WHOEVER does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’ Matthew 12

He is a God of ABUNDANCE and to those who have received, God Promises even MORE.

¹² WHOEVER HAS WILL BE GIVEN MORE AND THEY WILL HAVE AN ABUNDANCE. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Matthew 13:12, 25:29

In Matthew 10 the Lord called the twelve disciples to Him and commissioned them to go out and heal the sick, deliver the oppressed and preach the Good News of the Kingdom. At that time He gave them further instruction about things which would relate to everyone, more ‘WHOEVER’ statements.

³² WHOEVER acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. ³³ But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. Matthew 10

We mustn’t think we can get away with being secret believers, we have to take a public stand for the Lord so that He in turn may acknowledge us.  (In some countries the lives of believers may be in danger if known) I have read of Christians in the military who carried their Bibles openly as a sign of their faith in the Lord. They also said that the earlier they did it the easier it was!

³⁷ ‘Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. ³⁸ WHOEVER does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me. ³⁹ Whoever finds their life will lose it, and WHOEVER loses their life for my sake will find it. Matthew 10

There is a cost to following the Lord which isn’t mentioned much in the Western Church today. Jesus was more frank with His listeners, He told them, ‘there was a cross to carry’ (NB Before His Crucifixion) and ‘a life to give up’, (Living for ourselves) to be with Him in the Age to come.

⁴⁰ ‘Anyone who welcomes you welcomes me, and anyone who welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. ⁴¹ WHOEVER WELCOMES a prophet as a prophet WILL RECEIVE a prophet’s reward, and WHOEVER WELCOMES a righteous person as a righteous person WILL RECEIVE a righteous person’s reward. Matthew 10

Jesus begins this section referring to a chain of relationships, those who welcomed His disciples welcomed Him and those who welcomed Him welcomed the Father. That’s why it’s so dangerous to touch or speak against a servant of the Lord in a wrong way, we are actually touching the One who sent them!

What a fantastic promise that by recognising and receiving the one God sends, we in turn WILL RECEIVE THEIR REWARD. The reward system for participating in the things of the Kingdom of God can be far better than anything in this life, Hallelujah.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, the Lord is with us.

 

The WHOEVER PROMISES – God’s Generosity to ALL!

⁴⁹ Pointing to his disciples, he said, ‘Here are my mother and my brothers. ⁵⁰ For WHOEVER does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.’ Matthew 12

ALL those who walk in Obedience with God here and do His will are accepted as family, (He’s an INCLUSIVE GOD) those He cares for.

¹² WHOEVER HAS WILL BE GIVEN MORE AND THEY WILL HAVE AN ABUNDANCE. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. Matthew 13

For when a man has something, MORE IS GIVEN TO HIM TILL HE HAS PLENTY. Matthew 13:12 Phillips

This Promise is repeated exactly in the ‘Parable of the Talents’, Matthew 25:29, lest there be any doubt that the Lord meant what He said.

If we have, then God wants us to have THE MORE, until we have in ABUNDANCE, take some time and allow this to sink in. God wants His Children to be blessed.

The Word ‘WHOEVER’ occurs 20 times in Matthew’s Gospel, 117 times in the New Testament and 126 times in the Old Testament. We can be sure that it’s God’s intention to bless as many people as He possibly can and to BLESS WITH ABUNDANCE, as He states twice above.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.

 

¹¹ So Lot CHOSE FOR HIMSELF the whole plain of the Jordan and set out towards the east. The two men parted company: Genesis 13

We saw last week that Abram and Lot parted company, really because of God’s blessings upon them. The land couldn’t sustain their flocks and herds together and their herdsmen quarrelled, so they separated. There’s not a great deal more said about Lot in the Genesis account, but interestingly he is mentioned twice in the New Testament. Firstly by the Lord Himself in the Gospel of Luke and later in the second epistle of Peter.

Lot whose name means ‘veil or hidden’ is a sign, along with Noah, of the difficult times before the Lord returns. The Bible tells us that the condition of society then will be the same as in the days of Noah and Lot. They will not be easy times for believers to live Righteous Lives, because sin will be so prevalent among the people of that time.

²⁶ “Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. ²⁷ People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage (MARRIAGE REMAINS DESPITE THE ATTACK ON IT TODAY) up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all.

²⁸ “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. ²⁹ But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulphur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. Luke 17

There are four couplets which people will be will be engaged in right up to the time of the Lord’s return;

Eating and Drinking

Marrying and being Given in Marriage

Buying and Selling

Planting and Building

These things will continue in society and people will think they’re safe, but suddenly the Lord will return.

³⁰ “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed.” Luke 17

In the last letters before Revelation, two by Peter and three by John, Lot is spoken of again.

⁴ For if God did not spare angels when they sinned … ⁷ and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of the lawless ⁸ (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) – ⁹ if this is so, THEN THE LORD KNOWS HOW TO RESCUE THE GODLY FROM TRIALS and to hold the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment. 2 Peter 2

Despite the difficulty of those days Peter reassures us that the Lord is able to rescue His people from all that’s going on and Lot is the example chosen to remind us of that. Lot kept his righteous standing before God in very trying circumstances and his faithful stand was honoured twice in New Testament writings.

God bless and keep you today. Immanuel, God is with us.