Zealous - Day 12

Numbers 21:8 - Numbers 32:19

"And Israel joined himself unto Baalpeor: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel." Numbers 25:3

          The people were openly committing sin. There was no shame for their actions and they did not care who knew what they were doing. God's anger was kindled toward them.

          When Phinehas sees a man bring his Midianish lover toward the temple he responded. His actions stopped God's wrath toward the people of Israel.

"Phinehas, the son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron the priest, hath turned my wrath away from the children of Israel, while he was zealous for my sake among them, that I consumed not the children of Israel in my jealousy.

Wherefore say, Behold, I give unto him my covenant of peace:

And he shall have it, and his seed after him, even the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; because he was zealous for his God, and made an atonement for the children of Israel." Numbers 25:11-13

          God blessed Phinehas's life and lineage with peace.

          I want to be zealous for my God. It will come with a price. I may be alone. As with Phineas, who did not stand by and just watch things happen, he was blessed by God for his actions towards sin.



Angry, Grieved, and Challenged






I am angry because:




• I have been let down and disappointed.


• The burden that was put on me by you, you were not willing to bear.


• The cause of Christ is hurt because of your poor decisions done in secret but are now made public.


• Of the blame and responsibility that was put on me for someone else’s action. You will now know from your own experience that it is not your responsibility nor was it mine. Though we will share in the shame of it all.


• Christians are fighting each other instead of realizing that they are going through a grieving process.


• Instead of lifting up Christ on Sunday, churches will be bashing a sinner from their pulpit or demanding we forgive.


I am grieving for:


• The families so deeply hurt by on man’s careless and selfish decisions.


• For the children that will not be able to church on Sunday due to their parents not wanting to associate with that church.


• I am grieving for the families who will choose not join a church because of their feelings of betrayal.


• Those who will just use this as another excuse not to trust Christ as their Saviour.


I am challenged:


• To continue to live right.


• To make good decisions, even privately when no one is looking.


• To lift up Christ in my public and personal behavior.


My prayer is that I learn from other’s mistakes. I want this to draw me closer to God because he will never disappoint or fail me. I want to have grace towards others who may not realize how they are feeling and may choose to lash out at others around them. I know forgiveness will come and I am thankful for that.

Emotions - Day 11

Numbers 8:10 - Numbers 21:7

"And it shall be unto you for a fringe, that ye may look upon it, and remember all the commandments of the Lord, and do them ; and that ye seek not after your own heart and your own eyes, after which ye use to go a whoring:"  Numbers 15:39

          Following our heart or our emotions is not going to lead us in the right direction. According to this verse, it does not seem to be the wise choice to follow your heart.

          God also does not want us to follow our eyes because things are not always what the appear.

          God's word is the same yesterday, today and forever. That is what we should follow after.

          I have learned that even though things are disruptive around me, I know to keep my emotions in line to what the Bible says. Sometimes the best thing to do is nothing.

Ambassador- Day 10

Leviticus 26:27-Numbers 8:14

"Speak unto the children of Israel, When a man or woman shall commit any sin that men commit, to do a trespass against the Lord, and that person be guilty;" Numbers 5:6

          When we sin, we are not just sinning against ourselves, we are sinning against the Lord. When we do wrong it makes our Lord look bad.

"And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel, and I will bless them."  Numbers 6:27

          We represent God; consequently, that can be a blessing that we can use to help others accept the gospel of Jesus Christ, or by our sin, that action can bring shame which may cause the unbelieving to not trust in Christ as their Saviour.

          I have learned that my actions come with a cost. The lost world is watching me, so I need to be a good ambassador for the Lord because his name is upon my life.

I am the Lord - Day 9

Leviticus 14:33-Leviticus 26:26

"Therefore shall ye keep my commandments, and do them:

I am the Lord.

Neither shall ye profane my holy name; but I will be hallowed among the children of Israel: I am the Lord which hallow you,

That brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God:

 I am the Lord." Leviticus 22:31-33

            Why did the Lord bring the children of Israel out of Egypt? So He could be their God and they could be His people. In this section of reading he said, "I am the Lord" over 30 times.

"I am the Lord your God, which brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, to give you the land of Canaan, and to be your God." Leviticus 25:38

            He had to take them away from their routine and habits. He had to shake up their life to get their attention.

"And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people." Leviticus 26:12

          I learned that God wants to be the Lord of my life. He may have to remove me from my comfort zone to do that. I need to be reminded that God is the Lord. I need to keep him as the Lord of my life.



There is a Difference - Day 8

Leviticus 1:1-Leviticus 14:32

"For I am the Lord that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy." Leviticus 11:45

         
             There is a difference between the clean and the unclean. There is a difference between holy and unholy. Once we allow uncleanliness, it is all unclean.

         We cannot be holy if we allow a little sin into our lives. We cannot separate from the world if we are still playing around in the world.

          There is a difference between a Christian and an unbeliever. There is a difference between someone who is on fire for the things of the Lord and someone who is just playing around with their Christianity.

          I learned that there needs to be a difference between me and the world. If I do not see one than I need to change what I am doing.

Doing Good - Day 7

Exodus 29:1-Exodus 40:38



"And Moses called Bezaleel and Aholiab, and every wise hearted man, in whose heart the Lord had put wisdom, even every one whose heart stirred him up to come unto the work to do it:"

Exodus 36:2

               In this section of reading ,the familiar story is when Aaron and the children of Israel get caught worshiping a golden calf. Then as we get to the section on the building of the temple we may tend to speed things up a bit because this is the not so interesting part.

          But really, the names of Bezaleel and Aholiab are names we should be very familiar with. These men did good. They did very good. They built, among many other things,  the altar, the curtains for the tabernacle, the altar of burnt offerings, and all the vessels for the tabernacle.

 "And Bezaleel the son Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah, made all that the Lord commanded Moses. And with him was Aholiab, son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan, an engraver, and a cunning workman, and an embroiderer in blue, and in purple, and in scarlet, and fine linen." Exodus 38:22, 23

          These men were asked to do a job and they did it. We need to teach this story in our Sunday schools. These names should come to our minds easily when we are asked to name men that pleased God.

^"And Moses did look upon all the work, and, behold, they had done it as the Lord had commanded, even so had they done it: and Moses blessed them." Exodus 39:43

Because of the willingness of Bezaleel and Aholiab and the men and women who worked diligently on the tabernacle all the people were blessed.

I learned that I should acknowledge the people around me that are just quietly going about their business serving God and thank them and remember them in prayer.