Trust in the Lord

Isaiah 7-12

2012-02-14T21:09:00.001+11:00

Isaiah 7

Therefore the LORD himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son & shall call his name Immanuel. (7:14)

Isaiah 8

But the LORD of hosts, him shall you honour as holy. Let him be your fear & let him be your dread. And he will become a sanctuary & a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both the houses of Israel, a trap & a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. (8:13-14)

Isaiah 9

The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. (9:2)

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; & the government shall be upon his shoulder & his name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (9:6)

Isaiah 10

In that day the remnant of Israel & the survivors of the house of Jacob will no more lean on him who struck them, but will lean on the LORD, the Holy One of Israel, in truth. A remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the mighty God. (10:20-21)

Isaiah 11

The Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom & understanding, the Spirit of counsel & might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. (11:2)

The wolf shall dwell with the lamb & the leopard shall lie down with the young goat & the calf & the lion & the fattened calf together; and the little child shall lead them. (11:6)

Isaiah 12

Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid; for the LORD God is my strength & my song and has become my salvation. (12:2)

Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. (12:5)

Isaiah 1-6

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Isaiah 1

Come now, let us reason together says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be shite as snow; though they are red like crimson they shall become like wool. (1:18)

Isaiah 2

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains & shall be lifted up above the hills; & all the nations shall flow to it & many peoples shall come & say ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways & that we may walk in his paths.’ (2:2-3)

Isaiah 3

Instead of perfume there will be rottenness; instead of a belt, a rope; & instead of well-set hair, baldness; instead of a rich robe, a skirt of sackcloth; and branding instead of beauty. (3:24)

Isaiah 4

In that day the branch of the LORD shall be beautiful and glorious & the fruit of the land shall be the pride and honour of the survivors of Israel….There will be a booth for shade by day from the heat & for a refuge & a shelter from the storm and rain. (4:2,6)

Isaiah 5

For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel & the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; he looked for justice but behold bloodshed; for righteousness but behold, an outcry! (5:7)

Isaiah 6

Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory! (6:3)

And I heard the voice of the LORD saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.” (6:8)

Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah

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Nahum

The LORD is a jealous & avenging & wrathful God; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries & keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger & great in power & the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. (1:2-3)

Habakkuk

Though the fig tree should not blossom, nor fruit on the vines, the produce of the olive fail & the fields yield no food, the flock be cut off from the fold & there be no herd in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the LORD; I will take joy in the God of my salvation. God the LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the deer’s; he makes me tread on my high places. (3:17-19)

Zephaniah

Be silent before the LORD God! For the day of the LORD is near; the LORD has prepared a sacrifice & consecrated his guests. (1:7)

For at that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all may call upon the name of the LORD & serve him with one accord. (3:9)

I will gather those of you who mourn for the festival. so that you will no longer suffer reproach… At that time I will bring you in, at the time when I gather you together; for I will make you renowned & praised among all the peoples of the earth, when I restore your fortunes before your eyes, says the LORD. (3:18,20)

Micah

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Come let us go to the mountain of the LORD, that he may teach us his ways & that we make walk in his paths. (4:2)

But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. (7:7)

He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea. (7:19)

Jonah

2012-02-08T20:53:00.001+11:00

Jonah 1

They picked up Jonah & hurled him into the sea & the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the LORD exceedingly & they offered a sacrifice to the LORD & made vows. The LORD appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.

Jonah 2

Jonah prayed to the LORD from the belly of the fish. The LORD spoke to the fish & it vomited Jonah out upon dry land.

Jonah 3

The people of Nineveh believe God & repent. God relented of the disaster he said he would do.

Jonah 4

The LORD is gracious & merciful, slow to anger & abounding in steadfast love & relenting from disaster.

Obadiah

2012-02-07T20:26:00.001+11:00

The day of the LORD is near upon all the nations. As you have done, it shall be done to you; your deeds shall return on your own head. (15)

Saviors shall go up to Mount Zion to rule Mount Esau & the kingdom shall be the LORD’s. (21)

Amos

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He who forms the mountains & creates the wind & declares to man what is his thought, who makes the morning darkness & treads on the heights of the earth—the LORD, the God of hosts, is his name! (4:13)

I hate, I despise your feasts & I take no delight in your solemn assemblies. (5:21)

Behold the days are coming when there will be a famine on the land—not of bread or water but of hearing the words of the LORD. (8:11)

The LORD will raise up the booth of David & repair its breaches & rebuild it as in the days of old. (9:11)

Joel

2012-02-07T19:53:00.001+11:00

Joel 1

What the cutting locusts left, the swarming locust has eaten. Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.

Joel 2

I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh. Among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.

Joel 3

The mountains shall drip sweet wine & the hills shall flow with milk.

Hosea 7-14

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Hosea 7-14

Woe to them for they have strayed from me, they have rebelled. I would redeem them but they speak lies. My anger burns against them. The days of punishment have come. When Israel was a child, I love him & out of Egypt I called my son. Return O Israel to the LORD your God. I will heal, I will love, my anger has turned.

Hosea 4-6

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Hosea 4

Israel have no faithfulness or steadfast love & no knowledge of God in the land; there is swearing, lying, murder, stealing & committing adultery. People inquire of a piece of wood, they have left their God to play the whore.

Hosea 5

Israel is oppressed & crushed in judgment because he was determined to go after filth. God will return to his place until they acknowledge their guilt & seek his face.

Hosea 6

The LORD has torn that he may heal and struck down that he will bind up. The LORD desires steadfast love & not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.

Hosea 1-3

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Hosea 1

Israel and Judah shall be joined together and called ‘Children of the living God’. They shall have one head (Jesus).

Hosea 2

Israel was unfaithful to the LORD, going after other lovers. The LORD will have mercy on Israel and betroth her in faithfulness & she shall know the LORD. He will say to Not My People, You are my People & they will say You are my God.

Hosea 3

Israel will dwell many days without a king but afterward they shall return & seek the LORD & David their king & they shall come in fear to the LORD & to his goodness in the latter days.

2 Kings 14-25

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2 Kings 14-25

Amaziah, Azariah reign in Judah. Jeroboam II, Zechariah, Shallum, Menahem, Pekahiah, Pekah reign in Israel. Jotham & Ahaz reign in Judah. Israel fall & are exiled because of idolatry. Assyria resettles Samaria. Hezekiah reigns in Judah. Sennacherib attacks Judah and defies the LORD. Hezekiah prays and Isaiah prophesies Sennacherib’s fall. Hezekiah becomes ill & prays and recovers. Hezekiah shows Babylonian envoys all that he has. Manasseh reigns in Judah & his idolatry is denounced. Amon reigns in Judah. Josiah reigns and repairs the temple. Hilkiah finds the Book of the Law. Josiah makes reforms. Josiah dies in battle. Jehoahaz’s reign and captivity. Jehoiakim reigns in Judah. Jehoiachin reigns in Judah. Jerualem is captured. Zedekiah reigns in Judah. The fall and captivity of Judah. Gedaliah is made governor of Judah but is killed and all the people flee to Egypt.

The exodus is undone.

There is some hope. Jehoiachin is released from prison and shown kindness. The line of David is not cut off.

2 Kings 8-13

2012-02-03T17:53:00.001+11:00

2 Kings 8

Elisha weeps for the coming judgement that will come upon Israel at the hands of Hazael.

The LORD was not willing to destroy Judah for the sake of David his servant, since he promised to give a lamp to him & to his sons forever.

2 Kings 9

Jehu appointed to cut off the house of Ahab as the LORD had said he would do. Jezebel is killed as well.

2 Kings 10

The prophets of Baal are struck down but Israel continue to worship the golden calf. The LORD began to cut off parts of Israel.

2 Kings 11

Athaliah destroys all her royal family except one of the kings sons’s is hidden from her.

2 Kings 12

Jehoash reigns in Judah and he repairs the temple.

2 Kings 13

The LORD sends a saviour for Israel so that they escape from the hands of the king of Syria.

The LORD was gracious to them & had compassion on them & he turned toward them, because of his covenant with Abraham, Isaac & Jacob & would not destroy them, nor has he cast them from his presence until now.

2 Kings 1-7

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2 Kings 1

The third captain of fifty fell on his knees before Elijah and entreated him “O man of God, please let my life & the life of these fifty servants of yours , be precious in your sight.”

2 Kings 2

Chariots of fire and horses of fire separated Elijah & Elisha. Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

2 Kings 3

The LORD made the dry streambed full of pools and the Moabites defeated.

2 Kings 4

Elisha helps the widow with the jars of oil. Raises the son of the Shunammite. Purifies the deadly stew.

2 Kings 5

Naaman the Syrian is healed of leprosy. He says “Behold I know that there is no God in all the earth but in Israel”.

2 Kings 6

The LORD opened the eyes of the young man so he could see that the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire, the LORD’s army.

Ben-hadad king of Syria besieged Samaria & there was a great famine.

2 Kings 7

Elisha spoke the word of the LORD that food would be given to them tomorrow. The Syrians flee & their camp is plundered.

1 Kings 16-22

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1 Kings 16

King Ahab marries Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians and went and served and worshipped Baal.

1 Kings 17

The LORD takes care of Elijah during the drought & the widow of Zarephath. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty.

1 Kings 18

The prophets of Baal cry aloud, cut themselves and raved on but no one answered or paid attention.

Elijah prayed “answer me, O LORD, that this people may know that you are God and that you have turned their hearts back” & the LORD sent fire to consume the offering.

The LORD sends rain because he has turned their hearts to repentance.

1 Kings 19

Elijah goes to the mountain of God for forty days & nights. He hears the LORD in the sound of a low whisper. The LORD will leave seven thousand in Israel who have not bowed to Baal.

1 Kings 20

Ahab goes to his house vexed & sullen because of the word of the LORD.

1 Kings 21

Ahab is sulking because could not get the vineyard he wanted. Wicked Jezebel gets it for him. The LORD condemns Ahab & Jezebel. Ahab repents & the disaster will not happen in his days.

1 Kings 22

The LORD sends a lying spirit to entice Ahab. Ahab is killed in battle. His son also served the Baal & provoked the LORD to anger.

1 Kings 10-15

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1 Kings 10

The queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon & came to test him with hard questions. There was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. When the queen had seen all that Solomon had, there was no more breath in her.

1 Kings 11

Solomon loved many foreign woman & clung to them. He did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. The LORD was angry with Solomon and now would tear the kingdom from him & give to his servant. The LORD would keep one tribe for the sake of David & Jerusalem that he had chosen.

1 Kings 12

“So the king did not listen to the people, for it was a turn of affairs brought about by the LORD that he might fulfil his word.”

1 Kings 13

“O alter, alter, thus says the LORD: ‘Behold a son shall be born to the house of David, Josiah by name & he shall sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who make offerings on you, and human burns shall be burned on you.’”

1 Kings 14

The child of Jeroboam will die and come to the grave because there is found something pleasing to the LORD in him.

The LORD will strike Israel as a reed shaken in the water & root Israel up out of this good land he gave to their fathers and scatter them.

1 Kings 15

For David’s sake the LORD gave a lamp in Jerusalem, setting up his son after him & establishing Jerusalem, because David did what was right in the eyes of the LORD.

1 Kings 4-9

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1 Kings 4

Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate & drank & were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines & to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.

And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure & breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east & all the wisdom of Egypt.

He spoke 3,000 proverbs & 1,005 songs. He spoke of trees & plants, beasts and birds, reptiles and fish. People of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

1 Kings 5

The LORD gave Solomon rest on every side with no adversary or misfortune. This meant that the temple was able to be built.

1 Kings 6

Solomon builds the temple for seven years. It is made with stone, cedar, gold and olivewood.

1 Kings 7

Solomon builds his palace and the furnishings for the temple.

1 Kings 8

The ark is brought into the inner sanctuary of the temple, in the Most Holy Place, underneath the wings of the cherubim. When the priests came out of the Holy Place, a cloud filled the house of the LORD.

Solomon stood before the alter of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and prayed a prayer of dedication.

“When your people Israel are defeated before the enemy because they have sinned against you and if they turn again and acknowledge your name and pray and plead with you in this house, then hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel and bring them again to the land that you gave to their fathers.”

..” that all the peoples of the earth may know your name & fear you, as do your people Israel..”

“Blessed be the LORD who has given rest to his people Israel, according to all that he promised. Not one word has failed of all his good promise, which he spoke by Moses his servant.”

1 Kings 9

The LORD appeared to Solomon a second time. The LORD has heard his prayer and has consecrated this house he has built by putting his name there forever. If Solomon will walk before the LORD with integrity of heart & uprightness, doing all that he has commanded him, he will establish his throne over Israel forever. But if he and his children do not obey, the LORD will cut Israel from the land & the house will be cast out of his sight.

1 Kings 1-3

2012-01-27T21:00:00.001+11:00

1 Kings 1

David was old & advanced in years & could not get warm. A beautiful young woman was sought for him to lay in his arms & keep him warm. But he knew her not.

1 Kings 2

David instructs Solomon to keep the charge of the LORD, walk in his ways, keep his statutes, commands, rules, testimonies as written in the Law of Moses.

David slept with his fathers and Solomon sat on the throne of his father David & his kingdom was firmly established.

1 Kings 3

Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed & made offerings at the high place.

Solomon asked the LORD to give him an understanding mind to govern his people & to discern between good & evil.

2 Samuel 19-24

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2 Samuel 19

David acts in grace to those that at one time were his enemies.

2 Samuel 20

A wise woman saves her city from being destroyed.

2 Samuel 21

Seven members of Saul’s family are hung before the LORD to lift the curse of the drought to avenge the Gibeonites.

2 Samuel 22

David’s song of deliverance to the LORD

“The LORD is my rock & my fortress & my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield & the horn of my salvation, my stronghold & my refuge, my savior; you save me from violence.”

2 Samuel 23

The last words of David

“The Spirit of the LORD speaks by me; his word is on my tongue. The God of Israel has spoken; the rock of Israel has said to me: When one rules justly over men, ruling in the fear of God, he dawns on them like the morning light, like the sun shining forth on a cloudless morning, like rain that makes grass to sprout from the earth.”

2 Samuel 24

The anger of the LORD was kindled against Israel & he incited David against them saying “Go number Israel & Judah”.

Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the LORD, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man”.

David raises an alter on the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite. The LORD responded to the plea for the land & the plague was averted from Israel.

2 Samuel 13-18

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2 Samuel 13

“Then Amnon hated her with a very great hatred, so that the hatred with which he hated here was greater than the love which he had loved her”.

2 Samuel 14

Absalom is brought back to Jerusalem but did not come into the kings presence for two full years.

2 Samuel 15

“David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, barefoot with his head covered.”

2 Samuel 16

David refuses to silence the cursing of Shimei against him because it may be from the LORD and he trusts the LORD to repay him with good if his cursing is wrong.

2 Samuel 17

“For the LORD had ordained to defeat the good counsel of Ahithphel, so that the LORD might bring harm upon Absalom.”

2 Samuel 18

Absalom is killed but David is overwhelmed with grief, “ O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!”

2 Samuel 7-12

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2 Samuel 7

David’s son will build a house for the LORD’s name & he will establish this throne of his kingdom forever. “I will be to him a father & he shall be to me a son”.

2 Samuel 8

David had victory over the nations. He reigned over all Israel & administered justice & equity to all his people.

2 Samuel 9

David shows kindness to Mephibosheth, Jonathan’s son and he always ate at the kings table.

2 Samuel 10

David defeats Ammon & Syria.

“Be of good courage & let us be courageous for our people and for the cities of our God and may the LORD do what seems good to him”.

2 Samuel 11

David, not in battle when the kings go out to battle, takes a woman even though the wife of another, plans the murder of a good man and the thing that David did displeases the LORD.

2 Samuel 12

David said to Nathan “I have sinned against the LORD.” And Nathan said to David “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die. Nevertheless, because by this deed you have utterly scorned the LORD, the child who is born to you shall die.”

Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba and went in to her and lay with her and she bore a son he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him.

2 Samuel 1-6

2012-01-24T08:35:00.001+11:00

2 Samuel 1

David and his men mourned & wept & fasted for Saul & Jonathan his son & for the people of the LORD and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

2 Samuel 2

Judah anointed David king but Saul’s son Ish-bosheth is made king over the rest of Israel.

2 Samuel 3

There was a long war between the house of Saul and the house of David. And David grew stronger & stronger while the house of Saul became weaker & weaker.

2 Samuel 4

David requires ‘blood at your hand & destroy you from the earth’ for killing a righteous man in his own house on his bed.

2 Samuel 5

David made a covenant with all the elders of Israel & they anointed him king.

David took the city of Zion, Jerusalem. David became greater & greater for the LORD was with him.

David knew that the LORD had established him king over Israel & that he had exalted his kingdom for the sake of his people Israel.

2 Samuel 6

David brought the ark of the LORD to Jerusalem. David danced before the LORD with all his might.

1 Samuel 23-31

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1 Samuel 23

David has the priest & ephod with him and so can know God’s will whereas Saul doesn’t.

Jonathan went to see David in the wilderness & strengthened his hand in God. He said “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel & I shall be next to you”.

1 Samuel 24

David is aware of not taking things into his own hands & going against the LORD’s timing of becoming king.

Saul knows that David will be the next king.

1 Samuel 25

Nabal was foolish & did not know David. Abigail knew that the LORD was with David and had appointed him as prince over Israel.

1 Samuel 26

David once again has the opportunity to kill Saul but he knows that the LORD will strike him when it is the right time.

“Behold as your life was precious this day in my sight, so may my life be precious in the sight of the LORD & may he deliver me out of all tribulation.” (26:24)

1 Samuel 27

“Then David said in his heart, ‘Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better that I should escape to the land of the Philistines’”.

1 Samuel 28

Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him.

Samuel speaks to Saul and says “The LORD has done to you as he spoke by me, for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand & given it to your neighbor, David.”

1 Samuel 29

The Philistines gathered forces to fight against the Israelites. The other Philistine lords do not trust David’s loyalty to them as they shouldn’t.

1 Samuel 30

David defeats the Amalekites and rescues his two wives. Nothing was missing whether small or great that had been taken.

1 Samuel 31

Saul dies, with his three sons, his armor-bearer and all his men. It is a sad end for them.

1 Samuel 19-22

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1 Samuel 19

Saul seeks to kill David but he fled away & escaped.

1 Samuel 20

Jonathan warns David of Saul’s plan to kill him.

“And they kissed one another & wept with one another, David weeping the most.”

1 Samuel 21

David flees from Saul. The priest gives David the holy bread, for there was no bread there but the bread of the Presence. Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul’s herdsmen sees David. David next flees to Gath.

1 Samuel 22

All of David’s brothers & father’s house and those in distress, debt & bitter in soul go to David.

Saul kills all the priests, man, woman & child at Nob. Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech escapes to David.

1 Samuel 13-18

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1 Samuel 13

Saul has done a foolish thing & not kept the command of the LORD. Now his kingdom will not continue. The LORD has sought out a man after his own heart.

1 Samuel 14

The LORD saved Israel in the battle against the Philistines. The raiders trembled, the earth quaked & it became a very great panic.

Saul made a rash vow that could have cost Jonathan his life but the people ransomed him so that he did not die.

1 Samuel 15

Saul disobeyed God again and the kingdom has been torn from him & will be given to another who is better.

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold to obey is better than sacrifice & to listen than the fat of rams.” (15:22)

1 Samuel 16

God chooses the youngest of Jesse’s sons to be the next king. David was ruddy, had beautiful eyes & was handsome. The Spirit of the LORD rushed upon David from that day forward.

1 Samuel 17

“This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand & I will strike you down & cut off your head. And I will give the dead bodies of the host of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air & to the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel and that all the assembly may know that the LORD saves not with sword & spear. For the battle is the LORD’s & he will give you into our hand.” (17:46)

1 Samuel 18

“As soon as he had finished speaking to Saul, the soul of Jonathan was knit to the soul of David & Jonathan loved him as his own soul.” (18:1)

“Then Jonathan made a covenant with David because he loved him as his own soul. And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him & gave it to David & his armor & even his sword & his bow & his belt.” (18:4)

“Saul was even more afraid of David. So Saul was David’s enemy continually….David had more success than all the servants of Saul, so that his name was highly esteemed.” (18:29-30)

1 Samuel 10-12

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1 Samuel 10

God gave Saul another heart and the Spirit of God rushed upon him.

Men of valor went with Saul whose hearts God had touched.

1 Samuel 11

The Spirit rushes upon Saul again and he musters Israel to fight against the Ammonites.

The people make Saul king before the LORD at Gilgal.

1 Samuel 12

Samuel will call upon the LORD to send thunder & rain upon their wheat harvest so they will know the great wickedness they have done by asking for a king.

The people ask Samuel to pray for them. He says to not be afraid but do not turn aside from following the LORD.

1 Samuel 4-9

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1 Samuel 4

When Eli hears that his sons are dead & the ark of God has been captured, he fell backwards from his seat & his neck was broken & he died for he was old & heavy.

1 Samuel 5

The Philistine idol Dagon falls down before the ark of the LORD. The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people because they had captured the ark.

1 Samuel 6

The Philistines send back the ark to Israel & golden tumors & mice as a guilt offering to the LORD. They are told to not harden their hearts like the Egyptians but give glory to the God of Israel.

1 Samuel 7

The people of Israel put away the Baals & Ashtaroth & served the LORD only.

The Philistines came to attack but Samuel cried out to the LORD and he thundered with a mighty sound & threw them into confusion.

1 Samuel 8

Israel want a king like the nations. God says to do as they want for it is not Samuel they are rejecting but it is the LORD they are rejecting.

They will cry out to the LORD because of the king one day & he will not answer them.

1 Samuel 9

The LORD revealed to Samuel that he had chosen Saul to be king. He is treated with honour at the feast. “Eat, because it was kept for you until the hour appointed, that you might eat with the guests”.

1 Samuel 1-3

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1 Samuel 1

Hannah’s rival provoked her grievously to irritate her because the LORD had closed her womb.

Hannah was deeply distressed & prayed to the LORD & wept bitterly. She vowed a vow to the LORD to give him a son.

Eli said “Go in peace & the God of Israel grant your petition that you have made to him.” And Hannah went & ate & her face was no longer sad.

1 Samuel 2

Indeed the LORD visited Hannah & she conceived & bore three sons & two daughters. And the young man Samuel grew in the presence of the LORD.

1 Samuel 3

The LORD came & stood, calling to Samuel.

Samuel grew & the LORD was with him & let none of his words fall to the ground. The LORD revealed himself to Samuel at Shiloh by the word of the LORD.

Ruth 1-4

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Ruth 1

Ruth clung to Naomi and said “Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. Where you go I will go & where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people & your God my God. Where you die I will die & there I will be buried.”

Ruth 2

Boaz says to Ruth “The LORD repay you for what you have done & a full reward be given you by the LORD, the God of Israel, under whose wings you have come to take refuge!”

Ruth 3

Ruth says to Boaz “Spread your wings over your servant, for you are a redeemer”.

Ruth 4

So Boaz took Ruth & she became his wife. He went in to her & the LORD gave her conception & she bore a son.

Judges 14-21

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Judges 14-21

In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.

Judges 11-13

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Judges 11

What a sad story of Jephthah’s vow & daughter.

Judges 12

Jephthah judges Israel six years.

Judges 13

The angel of the LORD appeared to a women & told her she was going to have a son. He was to be a Nazarite from the womb.

“When the flame went up toward heaven from the alter, the angel of the LORD went up in the flame of the alter. Now Manoah & his wife were watching & they fell on their faces to the ground.”

Judges 8-10

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Judges 8

Gideon made an ephod & all Israel whored after it there.

Midian was subdued & the land had rest forty years

Judges 9

Abimelech the son of Gideon, hired worthless, reckless fellows and killed his seventy brothers except Jotham the youngest.

God returned the evil of Abimelech for killing his brothers.

Judges 10

The people did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They cried out to the LORD. The LORD became impatient over the misery of Israel.

Judges 4-7

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Judges 4

The people again did what was evil in the sight of the LORD & he sold them into the hand of Jabin king of Canaan.

God used Deborah, Barak & Jael, the wife of Heber the Kenite & subdues Jabin king of Canaan.

Judges 5

The Song of Deborah & Barak.

Judges 6

The people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD & he gave them into the hand of Midian seven years.

The Angel of the LORD came to Gideon.

Gideon prepared meat & unleavened cakes & broth. The Angel of the LORD reached out with the tip of his staff & touched the meat & unleavened cakes & fire sprang from the rock & consumed them. Then he vanished from his sight.

Judges 7

Gideon & three hundred men defeat the Midian army. Gideon is afraid but the LORD strengthens him.

Judges 1-3

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Judges 1

After the death of Joshua, the people inquired of the LORD who shall go up first against the Canaanites. Judah was to go first because the LORD had given the land into their hand & was with them.

Manasseh, Ephraim, Zebulun, Asher, Naphtali, Dan did not drive out the inhabitants of the land.

Judges 2

The Angel of the LORD will not drive out the inhabitants before Israel because they have not obeyed God by making covenants with the inhabitants & not breaking down their alters.

The people did evil in the sight of the LORD. They abandoned the LORD & served other gods. The LORD sold them into the hand of their surrounding enemies.

Then the LORD raised up judges who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them.

Judges 3

The people did evil in the sight of the LORD. The anger of the LORD was kindled against them & he sold them into the hands of their enemies. The LORD raised up a deliverer, Othniel & the Spirit of the LORD was upon him. The land had rest forty years.

Again the people did evil, given to enemies, cried out to God, deliverer raised up, the land had rest.

Joshua 20-24

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Joshua 20

Cities of refuge are set aside. This is so that offenders could escape unjust vengeance & seek a fair trial.

Joshua 21

The Levites were given cities in the midst of the possession of the people of Israel.

The LORD gave to Israel the land he swore to give to their fathers.

Not one word of all the good promises that the LORD had made failed to come to pass.

Joshua 22

The eastern tribes return home after helping the rest of the tribes possess their inheritance.

Joshua 23

Joshua before he dies tells the leaders to be very strong to keep and do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses. Do not mix with the nations remaining among you but cling to the LORD.

Joshua 24

Joshua renews the covenant at Shechem.

Fear the LORD & serve him in sincerity & in faithfulness. Put away the gods & serve the LORD. Choose this day whom you will serve.

Joshua, the servant of the LORD, died, being 110 years old.

The bones of Joshua, which the people brought out of Egypt were buried at Shechem in the piece of land Jacob bought from the sons of Hamor.

Joshua 10-19

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Joshua 10

The LORD said to Joshua, “Do not fear them, for I have given them into your hands. Not a man of them shall stand before you”.

The sun stopped in the midst of heaven & did not hurry to set for the whole day.

Joshua 11

“Just as the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua & Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses”.

“For it was the LORD’s doing to harden their hearts that they should not come against Israel in battle, in order to be devoted to destruction & should receive no mercy but be destroyed, just as the LORD commanded Moses”.

Joshua 12

There were 31 kings of the land whom the people of Israel defeated & took possession of their land.

Joshua 13

Joshua was old and advanced in years and their was still much land yet to possess.

The land to be divided for an inheritance amongst the tribes.

Joshua 14

Caleb is given Hebron, because he wholly followed the LORD, the God of Israel.

Joshua 15

Judah is the first named tribe for their allotment west of the Jordan. Jerusalem is included although the inhabitants not yet driven out.

Joshua 16

The people of Joseph, Manasseh & Ephraim, received their inheritance.

Joshua 17

Joshua said to Ephraim & Manasseh to have the hill country, though it is forest. Clear it & possess it to the farthest borders. Drive out the Canaanites, though they have chariots of iron & are very strong.

Joshua 18

The remaining land is allotted for the seven tribes who had not yet received their inheritance. The congregation assembled at Shiloh & set up the tent of meeting.

Joshua 19

When they had finished distributing the land, Joshua was given a city that he rebuilt & settled in it.

Joshua 5-9

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Joshua 5

Joshua lifted up his eyes & saw a man with a drawn sword in his hand. “Are you for us or for our adversaries?. No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” Joshua fell on his face to the earth & worshiped. Joshua was asked to talk of his sandals for the place was holy.

Joshua 6

They were to march around the city of Jericho once for six days. On the seventh day they were to march around seven times & the priests blow the trumpets. Then all the people will shout & the city wall will fall down flat.

Rahab & her household were saved but the rest destroyed.

Joshua 7

The LORD’s anger burned against Israel because Achan took some of the devoted things for himself. They stoned him with all of his family & belongings.

Joshua 8

Joshua built an alter to the LORD on Mount Ebal. He wrote a copy of the law of Moses. He read it to all the assembly.

Joshua 9

The Gibeonites deceive Israel into making a covenant with them. They became cutters of wood & drawers of water for the congregation & for the alter of the LORD.

Joshua 2-4

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Joshua 2

“I know that the LORD has given you the land & that the fear of you has fallen upon us & that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt & what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon & Og, whom you devoured to destruction. As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted & there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the LORD your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.”

Joshua 3

Israel crossed the Jordan. They followed the ark of the LORD and the water of the Jordan was cut off.

Joshua 4

When the people had crossed over they took twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan & carried them over with them. Joshua set them up in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ask had stood.

On that day the LORD exalted Joshua in the sight of all Israel & they stood in awe of him just as they had stood in awe of Moses, all the days of his life.

Joshua 1

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Joshua 1

“This book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day & night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous & have good success….Be strong & courageous. Do not be frightened & dismayed, the LORD your God is with you wherever you

Deuteronomy 31-34

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Deuteronomy 31

Joshua is to lead now instead of Moses. “Be strong & courageous. Do not fear for the LORD goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

Deuteronomy 32

The song of Moses

“The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness & without iniquity, just & upright is he”.

“He found him in the desert land….he encircled him, he cared for him, he kept him as the apple of his eye.”

“See now that I am he, there is no god beside me; I kill & make alive; I wound & I heal; & there is none that can deliver out of my hand.”

Deuteronomy 33

There is none like God, who rides through the heavens to you help, through the skies in his majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place & underneath are the everlasting arms.

Deuteronomy 34

Moses the servant of the LORD died according to the word of the LORD.

There has not arisen a prophet since in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face.

Deuteronomy 28-30

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Deuteronomy 28

Obedience will bring blessing such as the fruit of the womb & ground. Enemies will be defeated. Rain in season.

There will be curses for disobedience such as disease & drought, no rain, unfruitfulness, scattered among the nations.

Deuteronomy 29

Moses says “you have seen all that the LORD did before your eyes but to this day the LORD has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear.”

Deuteronomy 30

The LORD will circumcise your heart & the heart of your offspring so that you will love the LORD your God with all your heart & soul, that you may live.

I set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, loving the LORD, obeying his voice & holding fast to him, for he is your life & length of days that you may dwell in the land.

Deuteronomy 22-27

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Deuteronomy 22

Various laws such as, if you see your brother’s ox or sheep going astray, you shall take them back to him. A woman shall not wear a man’s clothing or men woman’s clothing. When you build a house, make a parapet for it. Do not wear cloth of mixed linen.

Deuteronomy 23

The camp is to be kept clean because the LORD walks in the midst of the camp and so must be holy.

Deuteronomy 24

When a man is newly married, he shall not go out with the army or any other public duty but free at home for a year to be happy with his wife.

When you reap your harvest & forget a sheaf, do not go back for it but leave it for the sojourner, the fatherless and the widow.

Deuteronomy 25

If brothers dwell together & one of them dies & has no son, the brother will perform the duty so that a son may be born for him.

Deuteronomy 26

Offerings of firstfruits and tithes.

The LORD declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, keep his commandments, he will set you in praise & fame & honor high above all nations that he has made, you shall be a holy people to the LORD, as he promised. (26:18-19)

Deuteronomy 27

When they cross over the Jordan to the land, they are to set up large stones and plaster them & write all the words of the law on them.

Deuteronomy 16-21

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Deuteronomy 16

The Passover is to be eaten in a place that the Lord will choose.

The Feast of Weeks shall be kept to the LORD with the tribute of a freewill offering, which you will give as the LORD blesses you.

The Feast of Booths shall be after you have gathered from your threshing floor & winepress. For seven days you shall keep the feast in the place the LORD chooses, because the LORD will bless you in all the work of your hands, so that you will be altogether joyful.

Deuteronomy 17

The king is to write himself a copy of the law & read it all the days of his life, that he may learn to fear the LORD by keeping all the words & doing them & that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers.

Deuteronomy 18

They are not to follow the abominable practices of divination, fortune tellers, omens, sorcerers, charmers, mediums.

The LORD will raise up a prophet like Moses and put his words in his mouth. A true prophet’s words will always come to pass.

Deuteronomy 19

You shall not move your neighbours landmark, which the men of old have set, in the inheritance that you will hold in the land.

“An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth, hand for a hand, foot for a foot”—the punishment must fit the crime.

Deuteronomy 20

When you go to war, do not panic or fear or be in dread, for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.

The LORD’s mercy has ended for the nations that are to be wiped out.

Deuteronomy 21

A rebellious son that will not listen is to be stoned to death.

A man hung on a tree to die is cursed by God.

The three purposes of the Law

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The first purpose of the law is to be a mirror. On the one hand, the law of God reflects and mirrors the perfect righteousness of God. The law tells us much about who God is. Perhaps more important, the law illumines human sinfulness. Augustine wrote, “The law orders, that we, after attempting to do what is ordered, and so feeling our weakness under the law, may learn to implore the help of grace.”2 The law highlights our weakness so that we might seek the strength found in Christ. Here the law acts as a severe schoolmaster who drives us to Christ.
A second purpose for the law is the restraint of evil. The law, in and of itself, cannot change human hearts. It can, however, serve to protect the righteous from the unjust. Calvin says this purpose is “by means of its fearful denunciations and the consequent dread of punishment, to curb those who, unless forced, have no regard for rectitude and justice.”3 The law allows for a limited measure of justice on this earth, until the last judgment is realized.
The third purpose of the law is to reveal what is pleasing to God. As born-again children of God, the law enlightens us as to what is pleasing to our Father, whom we seek to serve. The Christian delights in the law as God Himself delights in it. Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). This is the highest function of the law, to serve as an instrument for the people of God to give Him honor and glory.
By studying or meditating on the law of God, we attend the school of righteousness. We learn what pleases God and what offends Him. The moral law that God reveals in Scripture is always binding upon us. Our redemption is from the curse of God’s law, not from our duty to obey it. We are justified, not because of our obedience to the law, but in order that we may become obedient to God’s law. To love Christ is to keep His commandments. To love God is to obey His law.

By R.C Sproul

Deuteronomy 10-15

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Deuteronomy 10

“Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart & be no longer stubborn.”(10:16)

“He executes justice for the fatherless & the widow & loves the sojourner, giving him food & clothing.” (10:18)

Deuteronomy 11

“You shall therefore love the LORD your God & keep his charge, his statute, his rules and his commandments always.” (11:1)

“And if you will indeed obey my commandments, with all your heart & soul, he will give the rain for you land in its season…..You shall lay up these words of mine in your heart & in your soul….and teach them to your children.”(11:13-19)

Deuteronomy 12

The people are to worship God in the place that he will choose for them.

The one place of worship points to Jesus as the non-geographical place where acceptable worship may be made in spirit and truth.

Deuteronomy 13

Walk, fear, keep, obey, serve and hold fast to the LORD (Deu 13:4). “Hold fast” is covenant language.

Purge evil people from your midst by devoting them to destruction as if they were Canaanites (Deu 13:5-16). Even in the Old Testament being the people of God is not just about birth according to the flesh.

Do not allow any thing devoted to destruction to, literally, stick to your hand( Deu 13:17).

Jesus takes the penalty for our idolatry onto himself when he is devoted to destruction as a sacrifice for our sins.

Deuteronomy 14

The animal distinction is a symbol between clean Israel and unclean Gentiles. This distinction, and consequently the food laws themselves, are removed by Christ who makes all men clean. c.f. Acts 10.

One must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk because this would be to mix life with death (Deu 14:21)

Levites, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow are to eat the tithes along with the offerer (Deu 14:22-29). As the Israelites eat the tithe joyfully in God’s presence with the vulnerable so we will eat joyfully in God’s presence.

Deuteronomy 15

At the end of every seven years Hebrews are to be given release. The exception is a slave who chooses to have his ear pierced in love. Jesus was a bond-servant to God all his life. C.f. Psa 40:6.

Sabbaticals bring release from slavery and debt – a foreshadowing of release from sin.

God does not harden his heart or shut his hand toward poor sinners but rather gives an abundance of grace( Deu 15:7-8,13-15).

This chapter gives a concept for understanding the work of Christ, bring release to slaves. It also demonstrates God’s rich gracious generosity.

Deuteronomy 4-9

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Deuteronomy 4

The LORD is a merciful God. He will not leave you or destroy you of forget the covenant he swore with your fathers. (4:31)

To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other beside him. (4:35)

And because he loved your fathers & chose their offspring after them & brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power. (4:37)

Deuteronomy 5

Moses declares the ten commandments while Jesus fulfils them by teaching their ultimate direction and maximum applications.

Deuteronomy 6

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD with all your heart, your soul and with all your might. Words shall be on your heart. Teach children. Talk when sit in your house, walk by the way, when you lie down and when you rise. Jesus loved God with his whole being. He spoke God’s words in houses, on roads, in the morning, in the evening (Deu 6:4-9).

“Houses of good things you did not fill, cisterns you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant” – Grace ! (Deu 6:11)

Deuteronomy 7

You are to be a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples of the earth. It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the LORD has set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but it is because the LORD loves you & is keeping the oath that he swore to your fathers. (7:6-8)

You shall not be afraid of them but you shall remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh & to all Egypt. (7:18)

Deuteronomy 8

Remember the way the LORD has led you in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what wain your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. “He humbled you, let you hunger, fed you manna so would know man does not live by bread alone but by every word from mouth of LORD” (Deu 8:3).

The LORD is bringing you into a good land, of brooks & water, fountains & springs, flowing out in the valleys & hills. A land of wheat & barley, vines & fig trees & pomegranates , olive trees & honey. You will eat & be full & you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.(8:2-10)

Take care lest you forget the LORD by not keeping his commandments and when you have eaten & are full & have built houses & many flocks & silver & gold multiplied, then your heart be lifted up & you forget the LORD who brought you out of Egypt & slavery. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power & the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’.

Deuteronomy 9

Do not say in your heart, after the LORD has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness’. It is not because of your righteousness but because of their wickedness.

Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. (9:6)

Deuteronomy 1-3

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Deuteronomy 1

See, I have set the land before you. Go in & take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob, to give to them & to their offspring after them. (8)

Deuteronomy 2

This day I will begin to put the dread & fear of you on the peoples who are under the whole heaven, who shall hear the report of you & shall tremble & be in anguish because of you. (25)

But Sihon the king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for the LORD your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might give him into your hand, as he is this day. (30)

Deuteronomy 3

Moses pleaded with the LORD to let him go over into the Jordan. But the LORD was angry and said “Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again”.

The Lord did let Moses look at the land with his eyes from the top of the mountain.

Numbers 28-36

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Numbers 28

Instructions about the daily offerings, Sabbath offerings, monthly offerings, Passover offerings and offerings for the feast of weeks.

Numbers 29

Offerings for the feast of trumpets, Day of Atonement, and Feast of Booths.

Numbers 30

If a man vows a vow to the Lord he must do what he says. If a woman vows a vow it can be nullified by her husband or father.

Numbers 31

The Lord told Moses to avenge the people of Israel on the Midianites. They killed all the males & kings, took the cattle & flocks. A contribution is given to the Lord.

Numbers 32

Gad, Reuben and half of Manasseh are given the lands of Gilead and Bashan as an inheritance outside the Promised Land.

Numbers 33

A list of 42 Israelite camps through the wilderness between Egypt to Moab written down by the command of the LORD.

God’s leading his people through wilderness is a picture of Jesus’ leading his people through wilderness of the world. c.f. Rev 12.

Numbers 34

The borders of Canaan are detailed for the purpose of assigning future inheritances.

Numbers 35

The Levites are given 48 cities and their pasturelands. Six of these are cities of refuge for one who accidentally kills. The one who kills accidentally is safe in the city of refuge but following the death of the high priest means he can return to his family land.

The death of the high priest bringing about release foreshadows the work of Christ.

Numbers 36

Numbers is full of examples of disobedience but ends with the daughters of Zelophehad doing as the LORD commanded Moses.

Numbers 22-27

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Numbers 22

Balaam, although does not belong to the Lord he speaks Gods words.

Numbers 23

All that the Lord says Balaam must speak.

Numbers 24

A star shall come out of Jacob & a scepter shall rise out of Israel. It shall crush the forehead of Moab & break down the sons of Sheth.

Numbers 25

Israel began to whore with the daughters of Moab & began to sacrifice to their gods. The anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel & sent a plague. Phinehas killed a man & Midianite woman he had taken into his tent & the plagued stopped.

Phinehas is given a covenant of perpetual priesthood because he was jealous for his God and made atonement for the people.

Numbers 26

A new census is taken of the people. The land will be divided among this new generation as an inheritance. The only ones of the old generation are Caleb & Joshua.

Numbers 27

The daughters of Zelophehad will be given an inheritance among their father’s brothers.

Moses is told to go into the mountain & see the land & then he will die.

Moses asks the Lord to appoint a man over the congregation who shall go out before them and come in before them, who shall lead them out & bring them in so that they may not be as sheep without a shepherd.

The Lord says to take Joshua & lay hands on him, make him stand before Eleazar the priest and all the congregation & commission him in their sight. Moses did as the Lord commanded.

Numbers 16-21

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Numbers 16

Korah & others rebel against the leadership of Moses & Aaron. The earth opens up & swallows them & all that belonged to them. Fire came out from the Lord & consumed the 250 men offering the incense. The congregation grumbled & a plague began. Aaron made atonement for the people & the plague was stopped.

Numbers 17

The Lord shows that he has chosen Aaron. Each tribe presents a staff. Aaron’s staff sprouts, puts forth buds, blossoms & almonds.

Numbers 18

The Lord says to Aaron that he and his sons shall bear iniquity connected with the priesthood and those from Levi will minister to them and keep guard over them & the tent.

The Levites have been given an inheritance from the tithes from Israel in return for their service.

Numbers 19

A red heifer is to be burned and the ashes shall be kept for the water for impurity among the congregation to be sprinkled on what has become unclean & it will become clean.

Numbers 20

Miriam dies. The people have no water. Moses strikes the rock instead of speaking to it. Moses & Aaron shall not enter the land because they did not believe & uphold the Lord as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel.

Edom refuses them passage through their territory. Aaron dies & is replaced by his son, Eleazar.

Numbers 21

The people speak out against God and Moses. The Lord sends fiery serpents among the people, they bit them & they died. The people acknowledge their sin, so Moses prayed for them. The Lord said to make a fiery serpent on a pole & everyone who is bitten, when he sees it shall live.

Arad, King Sihon and KIng Og are defeated and they possessed their land.

Numbers 10-15

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Numbers 10

Two silver trumpets were made to summon the people and for breaking camp.

Israel leave Sinai for the first time.

Numbers 11

The people complain in the hearing of the Lord & his anger was kindled & fire burned among them.

The rabble had a strong craving for the food of Egypt & they were not thankful for the manna.

The Lord puts his Spirit on seventy elders to help Moses bear the people.

The Lord sends quail & while the meat was still in their teeth his anger was kindles & he struck them down with a great plague.

Numbers 12

Miriam & Aaron speak against Moses. The Lords anger is kindled against them. The Lord speaks with Moses mouth to mouth not in riddles & he beholds the form of the Lord.

Numbers 13

Spies are sent into the land of Canaan. At the end of forty days they returned bringing back their report. The land flows with milk & honey but the people are very strong. Only Caleb & Joshua report that they should go up at once because they will be able to overcome it. The other 10 spies bring a bad report.

Numbers 14

The people grumble and want to go back to Egypt. Moses, Aaron, Joshua & Caleb tore their clothes. They say “the land is exceedingly good & if the Lord delights in us, he will bring us into the land. Do not rebel, do not fear the people of the land”.

God is ready to destroy them but Moses intercedes, saying “Lord, you are slow to anger & abounding in steadfast love forgiving iniquity & transgression”. The Lord forgives but none of this generation will enter the land.

Numbers 15

The Lord then speaks to Moses about when they come into the land, that God is giving them, the sacrifices they are to offer.

They are to remember & do all of God’s commandments & be holy to Him.

Numbers 4-9

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Numbers 4

The Kohathites from among the sons of Levi shall carry the most holy things when they set out.

Numbers 5

The unclean people are to dwell outside the camp because the Lord dwells in the midst of them.

Numbers 6

A Nazarite has made a special vow & separated himself from certain things.

Numbers 7

Offerings made at the dedication of the tabernacle are listed.

When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard a voice speaking to him from above the mercy seat.

Numbers 8

Instruction about the seven lampstands. The Levites are separated and cleansed. The Levites replace all the firstborn which belong to the Lord because he struck down all the firstborn in Egypt.

Numbers 9

The Passover is celebrated.

The cloud covered the tabernacle by day & fire by night. Whenever the cloud lifted from over the tent, the people would set out. Where it settled there they would camp.

Numbers 1-3

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Numbers 1

In the second year after they had come out of Egypt, the Lord said to take a cenus of all the congregation. The Levites were exempt.

Numbers 2

The camp was arranged around the tabernacle according to their fathers houses.

Numbers 3

The sons of Aarons were to serve as priests. The Levites were to guard over him and over the whole congregation before the tent of meeting as they minister at the tabernacle. The firstborn were to be replaced by the Levites.

Leviticus 25-27

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Leviticus 25
The land had a sabbath in the 7th year. The 50th year, the year of Jubilee there was redemption and release.

Leviticus 26
Blessings for obedience were peace and fruitfulness. The punishment for disobedience were panic, disease, enemies, land not yield, desolate, scatter among nations.
But if they confess their iniquity, God will remember his covenant with them.

Leviticus 27
Everything given to LORD can be redeemed back except firstborn animals that already belong to him and things devoted to destruction.

The Book of the Covenant

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Our Father tells us in the Book of the New Covenant that He now expects us to live in full unbroken obedience and communion with Him. He tells us that by the mighty power of HIs Son and Spirit, He Himself will work this in us, that everything has been arranged for it. He tells us that such a life of unbroken obedience is possible because Christ, as the Mediator, will live in us and enable us each moment to live in Him. He tells us that all He wants is simply the surrender of faith, the yielding of ourselves to Him to do the work.
(Andrew Murray, The Two Covenants)

Mum & Dad

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Quote

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"I have learned to kiss the wave that strikes me against the Rock of Ages"
Spurgeon

A predetermined hour

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God has arranged all of the preceding centuries, all of the intervolutions of time, all of the events from Genesis 1:1 up to this moment--has arranged and moulded them, has had them converge in such a way that there would be a place for this hour, the hour which His Son will be bound...He allowed neither forces above nor the forces below to tamper with the clock of history. He directed the battles of Caesars, the conflicts of kings, the migration of peoples, the world wars, the courses of stars and sun and moon, the change of epochs and the complex movements of all things in the world in such a way that this hour would come and had to come. (about the Crucifixion, Schilder)

Jessica

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26th November 2002

I haven’t written for nearly a year!

On the 6th February at 11:25am, J.R was born. She was a week overdue. Labour took six hours until she was born. It was hard. It took along time for me to dilate & I wanted to push.

It was such a wonderful feeling when she was born and we saw she was a girl. I’m still amazed! It’s very healing as well because I can have that Mother-Daughter relationship now.

She is such a blessing to us. Every moment is a treasure. She is nearly 10months now and I’m still feeding her. I haven’t had much time to do anything but feed her & look after the others but its worth it. She is crawling now & pulling herself up. She is gorgeous and has beautiful eyes. She is a vey smiley happy baby. The boys love her too.

Thankyou Lord.

23rd January 2002

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A new year has started. Our 4th baby is due in one week. I’m looking forward to having our baby, whether a boy or girl. I’ll get through the birth, with God’s help.

L & N start school on the 30th as well. I feel a little sad N is starting kindergarten but I think he will enjoy it. J is talking a lot now (2yrs old).

Thankyou Lord for all the blessings you give us and especially that we have you in our lives. In Jesus Name. Amen

Loving Father or Fairy godmother

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“I know it isn’t easy right now, Jake. These times never are. Just try to remember you’re in the middle of a story, not at the end of it.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“God is doing something in you, answering the deepest prayers you’ve ever prayed. Yes, that process has brought some incredible pain in your life, but he has not abandoned you, Jake. Far from it! He’s holding on to you today as tightly as he ever has.”….

…God is not a fairy godmother who waves the magic wand to make everything the way we want it. You won’t get far if you question his love for you whenever he doesn’t meet your expectations. He’s your Father. He knows far better what you need than you know yourself. He is a far better provider for you and your family than you yet know. He is bringing you into his life and rather than saving you from these things you are enduring, he has chosen to use them to show you what true freedom and life really are.”

….“Let me ask you one question, Jake. Is there anything you lack to get through this day?”

“I need a job. I need to pay this bill.” I motioned at the hospital that surrounded us.

“Or you need the confidence that your Father already knows those things and loves you enough to sort them out with you. You have all you need today; you just don’t yet have all you need to the end of the month. But that’s still a ways off.”

“Well, you’re right there,” I had to agree.

“That’s all we’re promised, Jake. When you can trust his love in each moment, you’ll really know how to live free.” John started to get up from the table and I stood to embrace him before he left.

“But where do I find that kind of faith?”

“You won’t find it. It’s something he creates in you, even in the very circumstances you despise. Just keep coming to him and watch what he will do. He’s the Father who knows you better than you know yourself and even loves you more than you love yourself. Ask him to help you see how much he loves you. That will make all the difference.”

(‘So you don’t want to go to Church anymore’, Jacobsen & Coleman)

Why your promises haven’t worked

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“Walking toward him is walking away from sin. The better you know him the freer from it you will be. But you can’t walk away from sin, Jake. Not in your own strength! Everything he wants to do in you will get done as you learn to live in his love. Every act of sin results from your mistrust of his love and intentions for you. We sin to fill up broken places, or try to fight for what we think is best for us, or by reacting to our guilt and shame. Once you discover how much he loves you, all that changes. As you grow in trusting him, you will find yourself increasingly free from sin.”

(‘So you don’t want to go to Church anymore’, Jacobson & Coleman)

The blood of the Covenant

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“You were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)

We have been rescued, ransomed and redeemed out of our old natural life under the power of sin—utterly and eternally. Sin has not the slightest claim on us, nor the slightest power over us, except as our ignorance or unbelief or half-heartedness allows it to have dominion. Our New Covenant birthright is to stand in the freedom with which Christ has made us free. Until the soul sees, desires, accepts and claims the redemption and the liberty that has the blood of the Son of God for its purchase price, its measure and its security, it never can fully live the New Covenant life.

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The transition

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“The transition from Old to New, as accomplished in Christ, was sudden. Is it so in the believer? Not always. In us it depends on a revelation. There have been cases in which a believer, sighing and struggling against the yoke of bondage, has in a moment had it revealed to him what a complete salvation the New Covenant brings to the heart and the inner life through the ministry of the Spirit. Then, by faith, he has entered immediately into his rest. There have been other cases in which, gradual as the dawn of day, the light of God has risen upon the heart. God’s offer of entrance into the enjoyment of our New Covenant privileges is always urgent and immediate. Every believer is a child of the New Covenant and an heir of all the promises. The death of the Testator gives him full right to immediate possession. God longs to bring us into the land of promise. Let us not come short through unbelief.”

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The New Covenant: A Ministry of the Spirit

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“The Old Covenant was of the letter that kills. The law came with its literal instruction and sought by the knowledge it gave of God’s will to appeal to man’s fear and his love, to his natural powers of the mind and conscience and will. It spoke to him as if he could obey so that it might convince him of what he did not know—that he could not obey. And so it fulfilled its mission: “And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death” (Rom7:10). In the New, on the contrary, how different was everything. Instead of the letter, the Spirit who gives life, who breathes the very life of God—the life of heaven into us. Instead of a law engraved in stone, the law written in the heart worked into the heart’s affection and powers, making it one with them. Instead of the vain attempt to work from the outside in, the Spirit and the law are put into the inner parts, there to work outward in life and walk.”

“The whole work of Christ’s redemption—His atonement and victory, His exaltation and intercession, His glory at the right hand of God—is only preparatory to what is the chief triumph of His grace: the renewal of the heart to be the temple of God. Through Christ, God gives the Holy Spirit to glorify Him in the heart by working there all that he has done and is doing for the soul.”

“In the Old Covenant, man failed in what he had to do. In the New, God is to do everything in him. The Old could only convict of sin. The New is to put it away and cleanse the heart from its filthiness. In the Old, it was the heart that was wrong. For the New, a new heart is provided, into which God puts His fear and His law and His love. The Old demanded but failed to secure obedience. In the New, God causes us to walk in His judgments. The New is to fit man for a true holiness, a true fulfilment of the law of loving God with the whole heart and our neighbours as ourselves, a walk truly well-pleasing to God. The New changes a man from glory to glory after the image of Christ. All because the Spirit of God’s Son is given into the heart. The Old gave no power, but in the New, all is by the Spirit, the mighty power of God. As complete as the reign and power of Christ on the throne of heaven is His dominion on the throne of the heart by His Holy Spirit given to us.”

“The New Covenant has no power to save and to bless except as it is a ministry of the Spirit. That Spirit works in lesser or greater degree as He is neglected and grieved, or yielded to and trusted. Let us honor Him and give Him His place as the Spirit of the New Covenant by expecting and accepting all He waits to do for us.”

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The everlasting covenant of the Spirit

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“If a New Covenant was to be made and if it was to be better than the Old, this was the one thing to be provided for. No New Covenant could be of any profit unless provision was made for securing obedience. Obedience there must be.

..the New Covenant provides a guarantee not only for God’s faithfulness, but for man’s too!

…The one supreme difference of the New Covenant, the one thing for which the Mediator, the Blood and the Spirit were given, the one fruit God sought and Himself engaged to bring forth was this: a heart filled with His fear and love, a heart to cling to Him and not depart from Him, a heart in which His Spirit and His law dwell, a heart that delights to do his will.

Here is the innermost secret of the New Covenant. It deals with the heart of man in a way of divine power. It doesn’t just appeal to the heart by every motive of fear or love, of duty or gratitude. That the law also did. But it reveals God Himself cleansing our heart and ,making it new—changing it entirely from a stony heart into a heart of flesh, a tender heart, putting His Spirit within it—and so, by His almighty power and love, breathing and working in it, making the promise true, “I will…cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep my judgments . A heart in perfect harmony with Himself, a life and a walk in His way—God has engaged in Covenant to work this in us. He undertakes for our part in the Covenant as much as for His own.”

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The Spirit in the New Covenant

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As long as grace is principally connected with pardon and the entrance into the Christian life, the flesh is the only power in which to serve and work. But when we know what exceeding abundance of grace has been provided and how God “is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you…may have an abundance for every good work” (2Cor9:8), we know that as it is by faith, so too it is by grace alone that we stand a single moment or take a single step.

The contrast to this life of powerlessness and failure is found in the one word: “the Spirit”. “If you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law” (Gal5:18), with its demand on your own strength. “Walk in the Spirit and you shall not”—a definite promise—“you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh “(Gal5:16).

The Spirit gives liberty from the law, from the flesh, from sin. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace” (Gal 5:22). Of the New Covenant promise, “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezek 36:27), the Spirit is the centre and the sum. He is the power of the supernatural life of true obedience and holiness.

…As the light of the New Covenant promise dawned on him and he saw how Christ was to be all and faith all and the Holy Spirit in the heart all and the faithfulness of a Covenant-keeping God all in all, he would feel that he had but one thing to do—in utter inability to yield himself to God and in simple faith to count on Him to perform what He had spoken.

…secret root of evil, a spirit of bondage, the legalistic spirit of self-effort, which hinders that humble faith that knows that God will accomplish all and yields to Him to do it. That spirit may be found amid very great zeal for God’s service and very earnest prayer for His grace. It does not enjoy the rest of faith and cannot overcome sin because it does not stand in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, and because it does not know that where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.

…in the New Covenant there is an actual provision for every need.

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The New Covenant & the flesh

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The second word that reveals the Old Covenant spirit is the word flesh. It’s contrast is the flesh crucified. Paul asks: “Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh?” (Gal 3:2). “Flesh” means our sinful human nature. At his conversion, the Christian generally has no idea of the terrible evil of his nature and the subtlety with which it offers itself to take part in the service of God. It may be most willing and diligent in God’s service for a time. It may devise numberless observances for making His worship pleasing and attractive. And yet this may all be only what Paul calls “mak(ing) a good showing in the flesh” (Gal6:12), “Boasting in the flesh” (Gal6:13), in man’s will and man’s efforts. This power of the religious flesh is one of the great marks of the Old Covenant religion. It misses the deep humility and spirituality of the true worship of God—a heart and life entirely dependent on Him.

The proof that our religion is very much that of the religious flesh is that the sinful nature will be found to flourish along with it. It was that way with the Galatians. While they were making a fair show in the flesh and boasting in it, their daily life was full of bitterness, envy, hatred and other sins. They were biting and devouring one another. Religious flesh and sinful flesh are one, so it is no wonder that, with a great deal of religion, temper and selfishness and worldliness are so often side by side. The religion of the flesh cannot conquer sin.

What a contrast to the religion of the New Covenant! What is the place the flesh has there? “Those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh, the mind of the flesh and the lust of the flesh—all this the true believer has seen to be condemned and crucified in Christ because he has given it over to death. He not only accepts the Cross, with its bearing of the curse and its redemption from it, as his entrance into life, but he glories in it as his only power day by day to overcome the flesh and the world. (Gal2:20; 6:14). Even as nothing less than the death of Christ was needed to establish the New Covenant and the resurrection life that animates it, there is no entrance into the true New Covenant life other than by partaking of that death.

Christian Experience of the Two Covenants

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The passage (in Galatians 4:24-26,31; 5:1) teaches us the great truth…

that a man with a measure of the knowledge & experience of the grace of God may prove, by a legalistic spirit, that he is yet practically to a large extent under the Old Covenant.

These Galatians had indeed been born into the New Covenant & had received the Holy Spirit. But they had been led away by Jewish teachers and , though justified by faith, they were seeking to be sanctified by works. They were looking to the observance of the law for the maintenance and the growth of their Christian life.

They had not understood that, equally with the beginning, the progress of the divine life is alone by faith, that it day by day receives its strength from the Christ alone and that in Jesus Christ nothing benefits but faith working by love.

Almost every believer makes the same mistake as the Galatian Christians. Very few learn immediately at conversion that it is only by faith that we stand, walk and live. They have no understanding of the meaning of Paul’s teaching about being dead to the law and freed from the law—about the freedom with which Christ makes us free. (Gal5:18)

Regarding the law as a divine ordinance for our direction, they consider themselves prepared and made fit by conversion to take up the fulfilment of the law as a natural duty. They do not know that in the New Covenant, the law written in the heart needs unceasing faith in a divine power to enable us by a divine power to keep it. They cannot understand that it is not to the law but to a Living Person that we are now bound and that our obedience and holiness are only possible by the unceasing faith in His power constantly working in us. It is only when this is seen that we are prepared truly to live in the New Covenant.

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

Sweetness forever…

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though the first taste is bitter, there will be sweetness forever

our God is in control

(Steven Curtis Chapman)

God indwells us in Christ through the Holy Spirit

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What it means to be in Christ and to have Christ in us. You are part of one kingdom, one household, one divine temple and palace dwelling, wedded in one flesh with your husband, one body, one church.

We in Christ are the fullness of him who fill all in all.

(Seeing with new eyes, David Powlison)

Romans 13:14

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“Put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfil its lusts”.

The New Covenant

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“Through the whole of the Old Covenant, there was always one trouble: man’s heart was not right with God. In the New Covenant, the evil is to be remedied. It’s central promise is a heart delighting in God’s law and capable of knowing and holding fellowship with Him.”

1. ‘I will put My Law in their minds & write it on their hearts’:

When the Old Covenant with the law engraved on stone had done its work in the discovering and condemning of sin, the New Covenant would give in its stead the life of obedience and true holiness of heart.

2. ‘And I will be their God and they shall be My people’:

And I will be their God . All I am and have as God shall be yours.

they shall be My people. saved, blessed, ruled , guided and provided for by Me, known and seen to be indeed the people of the Holy One, the God of glory.

3. ‘No more shall every man teach his neighbour and every man his brother, saying ‘know the Lord’ for they shall all know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD.’

Individual personal fellowship with God, for the weakest and the least, is to be the wonderful privilege of every member of the New Covenant.

4. ‘For I will forgive their iniquity and their sin I will remember no more’.

this entire blotting out of sin that cleanses and sets us free from its power so that God can write His law in our hearts and show Himself in power as our God and by His Spirit, reveal to us His deep things—the deep mystery of Himself and His love. It is the atonement and redemption of Jesus Christ accomplished outside us and for us that has removed every obstacle and made it fitting for God and made us fit, that the law in the heart and the claim on our God and the knowledge of Him, should now be our daily life and our eternal portion.

Here we now have the summary of the New Covenant inheritance.

The last-named blessing, the pardon of sin, is the first in order and the root of all. The second, having God as our God and the third, the divine teaching are the fruit. The tree itself that grows on this root and bears much fruit is what is named first—the law in the heart.

The central demand of the Old Covenant , “Obey My voice and I will be your God’ has now been met. With the law written in the heart, He can be our God and we shall be His people. Perfect harmony with God’s will—holiness in heart and life—is the only thing that can satisfy God’s heart or ours.

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The First Covenant

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“The Old Covenant was on the one hand indispensably necessary to awaken man’s desires, to call forth his efforts, to deepen the sense of dependence on God, to convince of sin and powerlessness and so to prepare him to feel the need of salvation of Christ.”

“The whole of the Old Covenant was a school of grace, an elementary school to prepare for the fullness of grace and truth in Christ Jesus.”

“The Old Covenant is absolutely indispensable for the preparatory work it had to do, but utterly insufficient to work for us true or full redemption.

“The Old Covenant attains its objective only as it brings men to a sense of their utter sinfulness and their hopeless inability to deliver themselves. As long as they have not learned this, no offer of the New Covenant life can take hold of them. As long as an intense longing for deliverance from sinning has not been brought about, they will naturally fall back into the power of the law and the flesh.’

“The law cannot work out its purpose unless it brings a man to lie guilty and helpless before the holiness of God. There the New finds him and reveals that same God in His grace accepting him and making him partaker of holiness.”

(The Two Covenants, Andrew Murray)

The two covenants: Their relation

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“There are two covenants, one called the Old, the other the New…

…They indicate two stages in God’s dealing with man—two ways of serving God, a lower elementary one of preparation and promise and a higher or more advanced one of fulfilment and possession…

…In the Old covenant, man had the opportunity given to him to prove what he could do with all the aid of all the grace God could bestow. That Covenant ended in man proving his own unfaithfulness and failure. In the New Covenant, God is to prove what He can do with man, as all unfaithful and weak as he is, when He is allowed and trusted to do all the work. The Old Covenant was dependent on man’s obedience, one that he could break and did break (Jer 31:32). The New Covenant was one that God promised shall never be broken, because He Himself keeps it and ensures our keeping it and so makes it an Everlasting Covenant.”

(“The Two Covenants” Andrew Murray)

A Covenant God

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“When God created man in His image and likeness, it was so that he might have a life as like His own as it was possible for a creature to live. This was God Himself living and working in all in man. For this, man was to yield himself in loving dependence on the wonderful glory of being the recipient, the bearer and the manifestation of a divine life. The one secret of man’s happiness was to be a trustful surrender of his whole being to the willing and working of God. When sin entered, this relationship to God was destroyed. When man had disobeyed, he feared God and fled from Him. He no longer knew, loved or trusted God.

Man could not save himself from the power of sin. If his redemption was to be accomplished. God must do it all.”

(A Covenant God, Andrew Murray)

If you worship on a Sunday, what happens on a Monday?

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“Well, it is my experience that our total lives, our entire attitude as persons, must be toward worship of God.

What is there in you that strives to worship God? Faith, love, obedience, loyalty, conduct of life—all of these strive in you to worship God. If there is anything within you that refuses to worship, there is nothing within you, then, that worships God very well.

You are not worshipping God as you should if you have departmentalized your life so that some areas worship and other parts do not worship.

This can be a great delusion—that worship only happens in church or in the midst of a dangerous storm or in the presence of some unusual sublime beauty of nature around us.”

“I can offer no worship wholly pleasing to God if I know that I am harbouring elements in my life that are displeasing to Him. I cannot truly and joyfully worship God on Sunday and not worship Him on Monday. I cannot worship God with a glad song on Sunday and then knowingly displease Him in my business dealings on Monday and Tuesday.

I repeat my view of worship—no worship is wholly pleasing to God until there is nothing in me displeasing to God.

Is that a view that seems very discouraging to you?

Let me say that if you listen long enough you will receive some encouragement in the Spirit, but I never had an inclination within me to encourage people in the flesh..

…there is nothing in either of us that can be made good until Jesus comes and changes us—until He lives in us and unites our natures with God, the Father Almighty. Not until then can we call ourselves good.

That is why I say that your worship must be total. It must involve the whole you. That is why you must prepare to worship God, and that preparation is not always pleasant. There may be revolutionary changes which must take place in your life.

If there is to be true and blessed worship, some things in your life must be destroyed, eliminated. The gospel of Jesus Christ is certainly positive and constructive. But it must also be destructive in some areas, dealing with and destroying certain elements that cannot remain in a life pleasing to God.”

“I have found that God will not dwell in spiteful and polluted thoughts. He will not dwell in lustful and covetous thoughts. He will not dwell in proud and selfish thoughts.

God tells us to make a sanctuary of our thoughts in which He can dwell. He treasures our pure and loving thoughts, our meek and charitable and kindly thoughts. These are thoughts like His own.

As God dwells in your thoughts, you will be worshipping, and God will be accepting. He will be smelling the incense of your high intention even when the cares of life are intense and activity is all around you.

If God knows that your intention is to worship Him with every part of your being , He has promised to cooperate with you. On His side is the love and grace, the promises and the atonement, the constant help and the presence of the Holy Spirit.

On your side there is determination, seeking, yielding, believing. Your heart becomes a chamber, a sanctuary, a shrine in which there may be continuous, unbroken fellowship and communion with God. Your worship rises moment by moment.

Two of Spurgeon’s greatest sermons were “God in the silence” and “God in the storm”. The heart that knows God can find God anywhere. I surely join with Spurgeon in the truth that a person filled with the Spirit of God, a person who has met God in a living encounter can know the joy of worshipping Him, whether in the silence of life or the storms of life.

There really is no argument. We know what God wants us to be. He wants us to be worshippers!

(Whatever happened to worship, A.W.Tozer)

The normal Christian worships God

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‘In the Old Testament period there was a picture of righteousness in the shadows of the temple system of worship. The high priest was instructed to enter the Holy of Holies once a year to offer sacrifices. He wore a miter on his forehead and the Hebrew words engraved on the miter would be translated in English, ‘Holiness unto the LORD’. Our great High Priest and Mediator is the righteous and holy one—Jesus Christ, our risen Lord. He is not only righteous, He is Lord of all righteousness.

Think with me about beauty—and this One who is Lord of all beauty. We know by our own reactions and enjoyment that God has deposited something within the human being that is capable of understanding and appreciating beauty. God has put within us the love of harmonious forms, the love and appreciation of colour and beautiful sounds.

What many do not understand is that all beautiful things, so pleasant to the eyes and ears, are only the external counterparts of a deeper more enduring beauty—that which we call moral beauty.

In relation to Jesus Christ, it has been the uniqueness and the perfection of His moral beauty that has charmed even those who claimed to be His enemies throughout history…

….We see this perfection in Jesus, but when we look closely at this world system and society, we see the terrible and ugly scars of sin. Sin has obscenely scarred and defaced this world, making it inharmonious and unsymmetrical and ugly, so that even hell is filled with ugliness.

If you love beautiful things, you had better stay out of hell, for hell will be the quintessence of all that is morally ugly and obscene. Hell will be the ugliest place in all creation…

…That is the negative picture. Thank God for the positive promise and prospect of heaven’s being the place of supreme beauty. Heaven is the place of harmonious numbers. Heaven is the place of loveliness. The One who is all-beautiful is there. He is the Lord of all beauty.

My brother or sister, earth lies between all that is ugly in hell and all that is beautiful in heaven. As long as we are living in this world, we will have to consider the extremes. Light and darkness. Beauty and ugliness. Much that is good and much that is bad. The things that are pleasant and those that are tragic and harsh…

…The Lord of all beauty is saving His people from the ugliness of sin. Our Lord came to this ugly, selfish, violent world that He might save us and deliver us to a beautiful heaven…

…I ask, what is the real beauty as we are called out one by one to take our places by faith in the Body of Christ to await His coming? God has not left this to chance. he gives us one by one beauties, the gifts, the graces of the Holy Spirit, typified only imperfectly by those jewels and gems that the servant bestowed on behalf of Isaac. Thus we are being prepared, and when we meet Jesus Christ as our coming Lord and King, our adornment will be our God-given graces and gifts. By that means it will be possible for us to stand with the One who is the Lord of all beauty!”

“Jesus Christ is your Sanctifier, your sanctification, your all and in all. God wants you to get your eyes away from the gifts, the formulas, the techniques. He wants your gaze to be on the Giver, Christ Himself. He is your Lord; worship Him.”

(Whatever happened to Worship, A.W. Tozer)

Churches that fail God fail also in worship

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“If God has called you out of darkness into His light, you should be worshipping Him. If He has shown you that you are to show forth the excellencies, the virtues, the beauties of the Lord who has called you, then you should be humbly and gladly worshiping Him with the radiance and the blessing of the Holy Spirit in your life.

It is sad that we humans do not always function joyfully for God in the place He has marked out for us. We may even allow trifling things and minor incidents to disturb our fellowship with God and our spiritual witness for Him who is our Saviour.”

“There is no limit to what God can do through us if we are his yielded and purified people, worshipping and showing forth His glory and His faithfulness”.

(Tozer)

Genuine worship involves feeling

2010-12-29T20:53:00.001+11:00

“This is the glad truth: God is my God.

Brother or sister, until you can say God and I, you cannot say us with any meaning. Until you have been able to meet God in loneliness of soul, just you and God—as if there was no one else in the world—you will never know what it is to love the other persons in the world.”

“Consecration is not difficult for the person who has met God. Where there is genuine adoration and fascination, God’s child wants nothing more than the opportunity to pour out his or her love at the Saviour’s feet.”

“What we need among us is the genuine visitation of the Spirit. We need a sudden bestowment of the spirit of worship among God’s people.”

(Tozer)

Awed by the presence of God

2010-12-29T20:34:00.001+11:00

“Complete & moral purity can only describe God. Everything that appears to be good among men & women must be discounted, for we are human. Not one of us is morally pure. Abraham, David and Elijah; Moses, Peter and Paul—all were good men. They were included in God’s fellowship. But each had his human flaws and weaknesses as members of Adam’s race. Each had to find the place of humble repentance. Because God knows our hearts and our intentions, He is able to restore His sincere and believing children who are in the faith.”

“With each of us, if we are to have that assurance of forgiveness and restored moral innocence, the fire of God’s grace must touch us. It is only through the depths of the forgiving love of God that men and women can be restored and made ready to serve Him.”

“The man whom God will use the most must be undone. He must be a man who has seen the King in His beauty.”

“I tell you again that God has saved us to be worshipers. May God show us a vision of ourselves that will disvalue us to the point of total devaluation. From there He can raise us up to worship Him and to praise Him and to witness.”

(Whatever happened to worship, Tozer)

We must worship only the Eternal God

2010-12-28T18:11:00.001+11:00

“We know what we believe. We know we are in this world to worship and enjoy God. We know what God is prepared to do for all those who love Him, throughout eternity.”

“I was created to worship and praise God. I was redeemed that I should worship Him and enjoy Him forever.”

“God is not asking you to come to Christ just to attain peace of mind or to make you a better business man or woman. You were created to worship. God wants you to know His redemption so you will desire to worship and praise Him.”

(Tozer)

Born to worship God

2010-12-27T19:47:00.001+11:00

“One of the greatest tragedies that we find, even in the most enlightened of all ages, is the utter failure of millions of men & women ever to discover why they were born.”

“To worship and glorify God—that is the chief end of any man or woman”.

“It is only through the revelation of God in His word that we are able to learn the things we need to know about ourselves”.

“God has created man so he could look into him and see reflected there more of His own glory than he could see reflected in the starry skies above. But now the mirror was dimmed and blurred. When God would look at sinful man, He no longer could see His own glory. Disobedient man had become sinful man. he had failed to fulfil the purpose of his creation—to worship his Creator in the beauty of holiness.”

When God created man He said “This is all yours—and I am yours. I will look at you and see in your face the reflection of My own glory. That is your end. You are created to worship Me, to glorify Me and to have me as your God forever.”

Man fell, “Is this the final end? Is this all there is? No, No! We have wonderful news that the God who created us did not give up”.

“So God sent His only begotten Son through the miracle of the Incarnation. When Jesus walked on the earth He was the reflected glory of God”.

“Yes, worship of the loving God is man’s whole reason for existence. That is why we were born and that is why we were born again from above. That is why we were created and that is why we have been recreated. That is why there is a genesis at the beginning and that is why there is a re-genesis, called regeneration.

That is also why there is a church. The Christian church exists to worship God first of all. Everything else must come second or third or fourth or fifth.”

(Whatever happened to worship, A.W.Tozer)

Much that is called worship is not

2010-12-26T19:09:00.001+11:00

“The whole import & substance of the Bible teaches us that the God who does not need anything nevertheless desires the adoration and worship of his created children”.

“There are many kinds of worship that God cannot accept. Cain’s worship in the Old Testament was not accepted because he did not acknowledge the necessity of an atonement for sin in the relationship between God and fallen man.”

“Men & women continue to try to persuade themselves that there are many forms and ways that seem right in worship. But God in His revelation has told us that He is spirit and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. God takes the matter of worship out of the hands of men and puts it in the hands of the Holy Spirit.

It is impossible for any of us to worship God without the impartation of the Holy Spirit. It is the operation of the Spirit of God within us that enables us to worship God acceptably through that Person we call Jesus Christ, who is Himself God.

So worship originates with God and comes back to us and is reflected from us, as a mirror. God accepts no other kind of worship”.

“Worship must be in spirit and in truth!

It must be the truth of God and the Spirit of God. When a person yielding to God and believing the truth of God, is filled with the Spirit of God, even the faintest whisper will be worship.”

“We must humbly worship God is spirit and in truth. Each one of us stands before the truth to be judged. Is it not now plain that the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit of God, far from being an optional luxury in our Christian lives, is a necessity”.

(Whatever happened to Worship, A.W.Tozer)

Worship

2010-12-24T09:30:00.001+11:00

“True worship is to be so personally and hopelessly in love with God that the idea of a transfer of affection never even remotely exists.

That is the meaning of the fear of God.

Because worship is largely missing, do you know what we are doing? We are doing our best to sew up that rent veil in the temple. We are using artificial means to try to induce some kind of worship.

I think the devil in hell must be laughing and I think God must be grieving, for there is no fear of God before their eyes.”

(Tozer)

True worship demands the new birth

2010-12-24T09:17:00.001+11:00

“The God who redeemed us in love, through the merits of the Eternal Son, is not unreasonable. He is not selfish. Neither is He temperamental. What he is today we shall find Him tomorrow and the next day and next year.

The God who desires our fellowship and communion is not hard to please, although He may be hard to satisfy. He expects of us only what He has Himself supplied. He is quick to mark every simple effort to please Him and just as quick to overlook our imperfections when He knows we meant to do His will.

This is the best of good news: God loves us for ourselves. He values our love more than He values galaxies of new created worlds. He remembers our frame and knows that we are dust.

The God we love may sometimes chasten us, it is true. But even this He does with a smile of a Father who is bursting with pleasure over an imperfect but promising son who is coming every day to look more and more like the One whose child he is.

We should revel in the joy of believing that God is the sum of all patience and the true essence of kindly good will. We please Him most, not by frantically trying to make ourselves good, but by throwing ourselves into His arms with all our imperfections and believing that He understands everything—and loves us still.

(“Whatever happened to worship” A.W.Tozer)

Worship in the Christian Church

2010-12-22T20:09:00.001+11:00

We are missing the genuine and sacred offering of ourselves and our worship to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ..

If we are led by the Spirit of God and if we show forth the love of God this world needs, we become the ‘winsome saints’.

The strange and wonderful thing about it is that truly winsome and loving saints do not even know about their attractiveness. The great saints of past eras did not know they were great saints. If someone told them, they would not have believed it, but those around them knew that Jesus was living His life in them..

Another example of our wrong thinking about God is the attitude of so many that God is now a charity case. He is a kind of frustrated foreman who cannot find enough help..

Oh, if only we would remember who He is! God has never actually needed any of us—not one. But we pretend he does and we make it a big thing when someone agrees ‘to work for the Lord.’

We all should be willing to work for the Lord, but it is a matter of grace on God’s part. I am of the opinion that we should not be concerned about working for God until we have learned the meaning and the delight of worshipping God.

A worshiper can work with eternal quality in his work. But a worker who does not worship is only piling up wood, hay and stubble for the time when God sets the world on fire..

God is trying to call us back to that for which He created us—to worship Him and to enjoy Him forever!

It is then, out of our deep worship, that we do His work.

God has provided His salvation that we might be individually and personally, vibrant children of God, loving God with all our hearts and worshipping Him in the beauty of holiness…

What are we going to do about this awesome beautiful worship that God calls for? I would rather worship God than do any thing I know in all this wide world…. You may reply, ‘If you worship God you do nothing else’…

On the contrary, if we give ourselves to God’s call to worship, everyone will do more than he or she is doing now. Only, what he or she does will have significance and meaning to it.

(“Whatever happened to worship” A.W.Tozer)

We can afford to wait

2010-12-21T08:30:00.001+11:00

A real Christian is an odd number anyway.
He feels supreme love for One whom he has never seen,
talks familiarly every day to Someone he cannot see,
expects to go to heaven on the virtue of Another,
empties himself in order to be full,
admits he is wrong so he can be declared right,
goes down in order to get up,
is strongest when he is weakest,
richest when he is poorest,
and happiest when he feels worst.
He dies so he can live,
forsakes in order to have,
gives away so he can keep,
sees the invisible,
hears the inaudible,
and knows that which passeth knowledge.

We are waiting for a trumpet note that will call us away from the hurly-burly and set in motion a series of events that will result at last in a new heaven and a new earth

(“The root of the righteous” By A.W.Tozer)

Praise God for the furnace

2010-12-21T08:28:00.001+11:00

It was the enraptured Rutherford who could shout in the midst of serious and painful trials, "Praise God for the hammer, the file and the furnace."

The hammer is a useful tool, but the nail, if it had feeling and intelligence, could present another side of the story. For the nail knows the hammer only as an opponent, a brutal, merciless enemy who lives to pound it into submission, to beat it down out of sight and clinch it into place. That is the nail's view of the hammer, and it is accurate except for one thing: The nail forgets that both it and the hammer are servants of the same workman. Let the nail but remember that the hammer is held by the workman and all resentment toward it will disappear. The carpenter
decides whose head shall be beaten next and what hammer shall be used in the beating. That is his sovereign right. When the nail has surrendered to the will of the workman and has gotten a little glimpse of his benign plans for its future it will yield to the hammer without complaint.

The file is more painful still, for its business is to bite into the soft metal, scraping and eating away the edges till it has shaped the metal to its will. Yet the file has, in truth, no real will in the matter, but serves another master as the metal also does. It is the master and not the file that decides how much shall be eaten away, what shape the metal shall take, and how long the painful filing shall continue. Let the metal accept the will of the master and it will not try to dictate when or how it shall
be filed.

As for the furnace, it is the worst of all. Ruthless and savage, it leaps at every combustible thing that enters it and never relaxes its fury till it has reduced it all to shapeless ashes. All that refuses to burn is melted to a mass of helpless matter, without will or purpose of its own. When everything is melted that will melt and all is burned that will burn, then and not till then the furnace calms down and rests from its destructive fury.

With all this known to him, how could Rutherford find it in his heart to praise God for the hammer, the file and the furnace? The answer is simply that he loved the Master of the hammer, he adored the Workman who wielded the file, he worshiped the Lord who heated the furnace for the everlasting blessing of His children. He had felt the hammer till its rough beatings no longer hurt; he had endured the file till he had come actually to enjoy its bitings; he had walked with God in the furnace so long that it had become as his natural habitat. That does not
overstate the facts. His letters reveal as much.

Such doctrine as this does not find much sympathy among Christians in these soft and carnal days. …

It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him
deeply.

About hindrances

2010-12-19T21:41:00.001+11:00

If true religion consisted in outward practices, then it could be destroyed by laws forbidding those practices. But if the true worshipper is one who worships God in spirit and in truth, how can laws or jails or abuses or deprivations prevent the spiritual man from worshipping?

Let a man set his heart only on doing the will of God and he is instantly free. No one can hinder him. If we understand our first and sole duty to consist of loving God supremely and loving everyone, even our enemies, for God’s dear sake, then we can enjoy spiritual tranquillity under every circumstance; or if tribulations harrow our souls, still we can rest in the deep assurance that we are doing the will of God and that He is accepting our very sufferings as a sweet sacrifice, well pleasing in His sight.

(Tozer)

Thankfulness as a moral therapeutic

2010-12-19T21:28:00.001+11:00

Now, as a cure for the sour, faultfinding attitude I recommend the cultivation of the habit of thankfulness. Thanksgiving has great curative power. The heart that is constantly overflowing with gratitude will be safe from those attacks of resentfulness and gloom that bother so many religious persons. A thankful heart cannot be cynical.

(Tozer)

The sanctification of our desires

2010-12-18T20:35:00.001+11:00

“At the root of spiritual growth is a set of right and sanctified desires.

Unsanctified desires will stop the growth of any Christian life. Wrong desire perverts the moral judgment so that we are unable to appraise the desired object at its real value.

As Christians our only safety lies in complete honesty. We must surrender our hearts to God so that we have no unholy desires, then let the Scripture pronounce their judgment on a contemplated course. If the Scriptures condemn an object, we must accept that judgment and conform to it, no matter how we may for the moment feel about it.

To want a thing, or feel that we want it and then to turn from it because we see that it is contrary to the will of God is to win a great battle on a field larger than Gettysburg or Bunker Hill. To bring our desires to the cross and allow them to be nailed there with Christ is a good and beautiful thing. To be tempted and yet to glorify God in the midst of it is to honour Him where it counts. This is more pleasing to God than any amount of sheltered and untempted piety could ever be. To fight and to win in the name of Christ is always better than to have known no conflict”.

(Tozer)

Philippians 3

2010-12-18T18:31:00.001+11:00

But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things & count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ & be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith--that I may know him & the power of his resurrection & may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. (Phil3:7-11)

Our fruit will be what we are

2010-12-18T12:38:00.001+11:00

“It is written of Moses that he ‘went in before the Lord to speak with him….and he came out and spake unto the children of Israel.’ This is the Biblical norm from which we depart to our own undoing and to the everlasting injury of the souls of men. No man has any moral right to go before the people who has not first been long before the Lord. No man has any right to speak to men about God who has not first spoken to God about men. And the prophet of God should spend more time in the secret place praying than he spends in the public place preaching.”

(Tozer)

The hunger of the wilderness

2010-12-17T21:18:00.001+11:00

“We cannot escape the law that would persuade all things to remain wild or to return to the wild state after a period of cultivation. What is true of the field is true also of the soul, if we are but wise enough to see it.

The truth is that no spiritual experience, however revolutionary, can exempt us from temptation; and what is temptation but the effort of the wilderness to encroach upon our new-cleared field? The purified heart is obnoxious to the devil and to all the forces of the lost world. They will not rest until they have won back what they have lost. The jungle will creep in and seek to swallow up the tiny areas that have been made free by the power of the Holy Ghost. Only watchfulness and constant prayer can preserve those moral gains won for us through the operations of God’s grace.

The neglected heart will soon be a heart overrun with worldly thoughts; the neglected life will soon become a moral chaos; the church that is not jealously protected by mighty intercession and sacrificial labours will before long become the abode of every evil bird and the hiding place for unsuspected corruption. The creeping wilderness will soon take over that church that trusts in its own strength and forgets to watch and pray.”

(Tozer)

The world’s most tragic waste

2010-12-17T20:55:00.001+11:00

“The tendency in popular thinking is to extract the soul from the total man and focus all attention upon it as the only thing about which God is concerned and by inference the only thing about which we should concern ourselves. This has always appeared to me to be an extremely restricted view of things. Paul said ‘Christ loved me and gave himself for me.’ The death of Christ was for the whole person, not for the soul only and His invitation is to the entire man, the entire woman.

Sin has many sides and many ramifications. It is like a disease with numberless complications, any one of which can kill the patient. It is lawlessness, it is missing the mark, it is rebellion, it is perversion, it is transgression; but it is also waste of the most precious of all treasures. The man who dies out of Christ is said to be lost and hardly a word in the English tongue expresses his condition with greater accuracy. He has squandered a rare fortune and at the last he stands for a fleeting moment and looks around, a moral fool, a wastrel who has lost in one overwhelming and irrecoverable loss, his soul, his life, his peace, his total, mysterious personality, his dear and everlasting all.”

(Tozer)

The presence more important.

2010-12-17T20:40:00.001+11:00

“Whether it be a communion service, morning worship, evangelistic meeting, prayer meeting or any other kind of true Christian gathering the centre of attention will always be Christ. ‘Where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them’. (Mat.18:20). These words of our Lord set the pattern for all Christian assemblies.

We’ll do our churches a lot of good if we each one seek to cultivate the blessed Presence in our services. If we make Christ the supreme and constant object of devotion the program will take its place as a gentle aid to order in the public worship of God. If we fail to do this the program will finally obscure the Light entirely. And no church can afford that.”

(Tozer, ‘The Root of the Righteous)

The whole life must pray

2010-12-16T21:18:00.001+11:00

“To pray effectively it is required of us that there are no unblessed areas in our lives, no parts of the mind or soul that are not inhabited by the Spirit, no impure desires allowed to live within us, no disparity between our prayers and our conduct.

All this may appear to be placing the standard too high to be reached by men and women under the sun. But it is not so. If Christ is the kind of Saviour he claims to be he should be able to save his people from the bondage of sin. This is not to support the man-made doctrine of ‘sinless perfection’; it is rather to declare the God-inspired doctrine that it is possible to ‘walk in the Spirit’ and so ‘not fulfil the lust of the flesh’. It is to say that God has made provision in the cross of Christ for his children to be delivered from the galling yoke of sin: ‘Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.’

Undoubtedly the redemption in Christ Jesus has sufficient moral power to enable us to live in a state of purity and love where our whole life will be a prayer. Individual acts of prayer that spring out of that kind of total living will have about them a wondrous power not known to the careless or worldly Christian”.

(The Root of the Righteous, A.W.Tozer)

Bible taught or Spirit taught?

2010-12-15T20:07:00.001+11:00

'”The great need of the hour among persons spiritually hungry is twofold: First, to know the Scriptures, apart from which no saving truth will be vouchsafed by our Lord; the second, to be enlightened by the Spirit, apart from whom the Scriptures will not be understood.”

(The Root of the Righteous, A.W. Tozer)

Jesus loves me & I’m forgiven!!

2010-12-14T08:31:00.001+11:00

Happy are those whose lawless deeds are forgiven & whose sins are covered :)

Jesus loves me & I'm forgiven!!

Christ's righteousness has been credited to my account. Because of this, I choose to be obedient & holy, set apart & surrendered to God. I am a new creation, the old has died. I need to 'put on' clothes consistent with who I am now in Christ. God by His Spirit works this is in me