Tag Archives: Believe in God

Come, With Joy

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Joy

Today’s Devotion: Deuteronomy 16

Today’s Theme is about Three main feasts: Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles. Exodus 12 gave us the real details of the Passover. The Feast of Passover was instituted as a memorial to Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and their adoption as Jehovah’s nation. The Passover is a festival that laid the foundation of the nation, Israel’s birth into a new relationship with God.

In verses 9-11, it says that they were to number seven weeks after Passover, which would be forty-nine; then the next day would be the Sabbath, the fiftieth day. Because the Greek word for “fifty” is pentecoste, this Feast of Weeks is known as Pentecost. It is also called the Feast of Harvest or the Day of First Fruits. It celebrated the first or earliest fruits of the harvest.

Verses 16-17 expand on the tabernacles. These are the three feasts which were to be celebrated in Jerusalem, which all males were required to attend. Three times a year they were to travel to Jerusalem to keep these feasts. It was to be a time of rejoicing and they were to come before the Lord with joy.

How often do we come to the LORD with a laundry list of wants and we through it all on Him. I’m guilty of that. I have burdens for people and events. I try to be sincere when I ask God about the things on my prayer list, but do I always come to Him with joy? Unfortunately, no.

This is a great perspective for us to keep in mind as we enter into prayer with Him. He does say “cast your burdens on Him and He will care for you” (1 Peter 5:7) and I’m certain God can handle it, but what if someone saw you, walked up to you and just started hammering you with a list of “I wants?” You would be confused. No sincerity, no compassion, not even a half-hearted, “How are you doing?” If we had people like that in our lives, we may avoid that person in the future.

I know God doesn’t avoid us, but I do believe as we approach the God of the Universe, we could (and should) be respectful, communicative, appreciative and joy-filled. This is a perspective that is a good reminder to us, especially me, that God is not my dumping zone of worries and woes. He is God and we are so blessed to be able to go directly to Him, in fellowship, with our lives.

Believe In God or Believe God?

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SantaJesus

Today’s Devotion: Numbers 20

Merry Christmas! Blessings to you and your family this day and all year through. What a beautiful morning to wake up to find the house is quiet and peaceful which sends my heart to instant gratitude. It makes it easy to gain this perspective when there is the beauty of the Christmas tree, the appreciation for the job that afforded us presents under the tree and our health and happiness to be celebrated and recognized on this day.

While the why behind today far succeeds anything our eyes can see and our minds can conceive – it’s the birth of our LORD!

So I read Numbers 20 to continue our journey through the bible and discover something to examine. Moses and Aaron fell into temptation. I believe the whining and complaining of the Israelites caught up to them. God gives them specific orders to speak to the rock and it will give water, but instead “the boys” give credit to themselves, tap the rock TWICE, AND speak to the people in a harsh tone as if too be speaking for God. This makes God mad and He prohibits Moses or Aaron from entering the promise land. Bummer, all that wandering and never permitted to reap the reward of all that effort?

The reason it came down to this is that disbelief set in. Think about it… they believed in God, but they didn’t believe God and took matters into their own hands. This didn’t work out for them. God punished them for their actions, He had too – they tried to take credit for God’s power.

Do we do this? I do! I have been struggling with this for some time now. I believe in God with all my heart, but when it comes to believing God, my mind starts to rationalize, justify, or compromise what His Word REALLY says. Today is a day that a lot of people believe in God, but do they truly believe what the birth of our Savior means? Sadly, I don’t think so. I hope today gives you an opportunity to solidify your belief and that by faith you can trust God and live out his Word to your friends and family today.