Skip to main content

Deuteronomy 20:1 - Do not fear or panic or be in dread - Day 166

Greetings fellow soldiers,

Today's devotion is somewhat militaristic.  But this passage is contrary to inspirational messages.  Maybe you have seen the Geico commercial about why Pinocchio is a bad motivational speaker.  In reality, only God can be the foundation for victory in life.

Blessings,

Jeff

There are "pep talks" and then there is a passage like this.  For you Shakespeare aficionados, there is Henry V and the "band of brothers" speech.  More recently, there is George C. Scott and Patton's highly redacted speech to the Third Army.  However, the best "pep talk" is getting people to believe that they are better than their opponent  When God speaks to the Israelites before going into the Promised Land, it is all about the One who is on their side, not about their innate fighting abilities.  God is the source of victory. 

So what about today?  While we are not facing horses and chariots and large armies, we are facing a culture becoming more secular every day. It can be just as frightening.  But God is still saying to us "do not fear or panic or be in dread of them" because He is with us.   

Instruction - what does God expect of me - I really need to trust in the One who is on my side not on my intellectual ability to persuade people into the kingdom.  All spiritual disciplines (prayer, fasting, giving, evangelism) are about showing us the greatness of God.

Thanksgiving - praise the Lord our God who brought us out of  slavery to sin without any assistance from us.  He gave us the victory so that He would get all the glory.

Confession - thinking of sermons as psychological pep talks to make me feel better about myself and show me what I can do for God.

Supplication - as we prepare for another church year, we would not fear or panic or be in dread of what the world might throw at us.  How great is our God!!!


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Revelation 22:3-5 Final and eternal restoration - Day 365

Dear saints in the Lord, Congratulations!  You made it.  We have been through much turmoil in the last year ('20-'21).  But God is faithful to His promises.  I trust that you have been blessed in your reading and have drawn closer to God.   Since we didn't get the blog up and running at the beginning of the challenge, I am going to go back and post entries to cover that first month or so.   Blessings, Jeff Nothing accursed in the city of God, the new Jerusalem.  The presence of sin will be gone.  I am working on memorizing Westminster Shorter Catechism and currently on question 82.  Is any man able perfectly to keep the commandments of God? No mere man since the fall is able in this life perfectly to keep the commandments of God but does daily break them in thought, word and deed. I think our passage today points to the truth of this question.  Do you notice how this answer is not exactly the same as the question. "Any man" bec...
Post a Comment
Read more

Malachi 2:10-12 Here we go again!! Day 363

Good afternoon friends, As we draw to the end of the Old Testament, we see that Judah has rebuilt the temple and the walls of Jerusalem, but they are following in the footsteps of faithless fathers and not in the footsteps of Abraham and ultimately God.  The exile was a low point, but now a new low is about to happen.  The prophetic voice has once again become warning and not encouraging. Faithful reading and preaching of the word is all that keeps us from losing our way.  May we be faithful in our generation. Blessings, Jeff I am sure I have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.  The section summary, chapter and verse are not in the original language.  They are all rather modern inventions to help us.  For example, the section title here is "Judah profaned the Covenant".  That is OK as far as it goes, but which Covenant?  So let's take a look. Observations Starts with 3 questions but who is asking the questions and to whom are they addre...
Post a Comment
Read more

2 Chronicles 33:7-9 Thoughts on Davidic covenant - Day 362

Good morning faithful readers, The finish line is in sight!!!  One of the themes of scripture is that God is a covenant keeping God.  There are many between God and man. Adam, Noah, David are examples.  Covenants are more than promises.  They are made between a superior and inferior with conditions for each side and blessing and penalties based on keeping the conditions.  These are covenants of works which fallen man was unable to keep.  Thanks be to God that the Father made a covenant of grace with Christ, the second Adam, which he fully kept. Blessings, Jeff The promise in v8 was made to David when he had planned to build the temple and God promised to build him a house forever. (2 Sam 7:10).  Seems like there are only two possibilities about Manasseh's disobedience.  Either he knew of this covenant that God had made with his 13th great grandfather and chose to disregard it, or he didn't know of it and was unaware of the penalty.  Let's con...
Post a Comment
Read more