When God Is Our Greatest Possession…

It is not until we realize God’s presence is our greatest gift and joy, and act on it, that God’s will and purpose is fulfilled on this earth. When God becomes our greatest possession, life changes. We see from His perspective. We are freed from Satan’s ploy to steal our attention and distract us. And all the wants, anxieties, worries, and ambitious pursuits lose their appeal. When we realize God will provide for our every need (not all of our wants), we are freed to pursue the things that bring us real joy, real peace, and real purpose. His presence is our good. Just like the Levites not being given any land because God would be their possession, so we are to surrender our wants and desires to Him, pursuing Him daily, learning that what we possess as believers is our greatest possession. When God becomes our greatest possession, we fulfill His will in our lives. And we experience what He planned for us all along, since the beginning. True Salvation guarantees Heaven to us, but also brings a little bit of of its paradise and plants it in our hearts. When God is our greatest possession, we will be effective witnesses for Him every where we go. Isn’t that God’s will for our lives? Won’t that bring Him glory? And won’t that give us exactly what God planned for us since our birth, our significance? It’s the secret of life. As Augustine once said, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in You.”

20 And the Lord said to Aaron, “You priests will receive no allotment of land or share of property among the people of Israel. I am your share and your allotment. 21 As for the tribe of Levi, your relatives, I will compensate them for their service in the Tabernacle. Instead of an allotment of land, I will give them the tithes from the entire land of Israel. Numbers 18:20-21

He Is For Us, Not Against Us…

You hear people say, “if God is so good, why did He let so-and-so die? Or prevent this disaster from happening? Or why did He allow this or that person to succeed? Or why did He give me cancer?” As human beings we will always question God’s actions. But what we fail to admit is all the things God does for our benefit, protection, and preservation that go unnoticed. Here’s an example of this in Numbers chapter 17. After being freed from slavery in Egypt, after escaping Pharaoh through the parting of the Red Sea, and even after receiving Manna from Heaven every single day for food, the Israelites still complained. It got so bad that there was a rebellion against Moses. Korah led this coup to oust Moses and Aaron from their leadership positions. God put a stop to that immediately. Korah, his family, and all the rebels died. To be exact 14,950 people perished, along with Korah and his cohorts. Even that didn’t change the hearts of the fickle people. Finally God made Aaron’s staff blossom with flowers and almonds to prove His choice of leadership belonged to Moses and Aaron. This budding staff was left in front of the ark of the covenant as a reminder of what God did, is doing, and will do to those who rebel. It is a reminder that a God is in control. It was God’s way of warning the people, and thus saving more lives from destruction. How many people talk about God doing things to prevent deaths? Or Him doing things to save people from doing stupid stuff? Or warning people to prevent suffering from happening? God is in control. Yes, it is sad when tragedy strikes, but it’s even more of a tragedy when people don’t seek God out. The only reason people say these negative things about God, is because they don’t know Him. They don’t seek Him out. They don’t acknowledge His Omnipotence. They don’t want to know Him, or they simply selfishly live their lives oblivious to His sovereign hand weaving the threads of grace, love, and purpose throughout every single person on this earth. It’s not until people truly seek Him through surrender, that the evidences of His workings are clear and plain to see. So the next time someone comes to you with these types of statements about God, simply tell them, “I don’t have an answer for your ‘Why’ question, but I do know God is in control. And His purpose is for His glory and our best”. What we don’t see, or don’t know, or never acknowledge is the fact that God is always proving Himself to us. We are weak, fragile, and insecure. Our fickleness is the direct outcome of a life lived solely for the purpose of pleasing oneself. Surrender that pursuit, and His presence and purpose will bring peace and contentment to your uncertain world. There’s so much more to this life than we will ever see. But a life of pursuing God gives clarity in knowing He is for us, not against us.

1 Then the Lord said to Moses, 2 “Tell the people of Israel to bring you twelve wooden staffs, one from each leader of Israel’s ancestral tribes, and inscribe each leader’s name on his staff. 3 Inscribe Aaron’s name on the staff of the tribe of Levi, for there must be one staff for the leader of each ancestral tribe. 4 Place these staffs in the Tabernacle in front of the Ark containing the tablets of the Covenant, where I meet with you. 5 Buds will sprout on the staff belonging to the man I choose. Then I will finally put an end to the people’s murmuring and complaining against you.”6 So Moses gave the instructions to the people of Israel, and each of the twelve tribal leaders, including Aaron, brought Moses a staff. 7 Moses placed the staffs in the Lord’s presence in the Tabernacle of the Covenant. 8 When he went into the Tabernacle of the Covenant the next day, he found that Aaron’s staff, representing the tribe of Levi, had sprouted, budded, blossomed, and produced ripe almonds!9 When Moses brought all the staffs out from the Lord’s presence, he showed them to the people. Each man claimed his own staff. 10 And the Lord said to Moses: “Place Aaron’s staff permanently before the Ark of the Covenant to serve as a warning to rebels. This should put an end to their complaints against me and prevent any further deaths.” 11 So Moses did as the Lord commanded him.12 Then the people of Israel said to Moses, “Look, we are doomed! We are dead! We are ruined! 13 Everyone who even comes close to the Tabernacle of the Lord dies. Are we all doomed to die?” Numbers 17:1-13

The Only One With A Guarantee…..

Of all the religions in the world, Christianity is the only one with a guarantee. Romans 10:9-13 clearly tells us that if we confess with our mouths and believe in our hearts, God will save us. That’s it. It’s that simple. But the problem is the confessing part. If we don’t “fess up” to God, He won’t forgive. God doesn’t give eternal life to those who never ask. Salvation, being with God, is all about accepting your responsibility to God first. The way you do it is to agree with Him, to see yourself as what you are, a lost sinner. Once you acknowledge that, He grants eternal life. It’s all about being honest with yourself, seeing yourself for who you really are; an enemy of God. Once you acknowledge that, forgiveness follows. If people only believed this to be true, life wouldn’t get so complicated. One of the three greatest words in the human language is “sorry” (the other two are “please and thanks”). When we learn how simple this is, forgiveness follows. Getting right with God is simple, it’s just not easy to do when we are prideful. Having your guilt and shame removed is only one honest conversation with God away. It’s a shame that few people don’t realize this. The world would be such a better place if people understood this one simple concept; and it comes with a guarantee.

1 Oh, what joy for thosewhose disobedience is forgiven,whose sin is put out of sight!2 Yes, what joy for thosewhose record the Lord has cleared of guilt,whose lives are lived in complete honesty!3 When I refused to confess my sin,my body wasted away,and I groaned all day long.4 Day and night Your hand of discipline was heavy on me.My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat. 5 Finally, I confessed all my sins to You and stopped trying to hide my guilt.I said to myself, “I will confess my rebellion to the Lord.”And You forgave me! All my guilt is gone. Psalms 32:1-5

God Protects Those Who Are Loyal To Him…

With the theme of faith in recent posts, here’s evidence of its outcome. God protects those who are loyal to Him. How does this truth play into your daily life? Does it eliminate fear? Does it allow you to push forward and accomplish things you normally wouldn’t do? Does it help you boldly proclaim your faith knowing you are helping others by sharing the truth with them without fear of rejection? Or do you lack this loyalty? Do you keep it inside because of fear of rejection, losing your job, or being made fun of? If God protects those loyal to Him, what’s holding you back from being faithful?

23 Love the Lord, all you godly ones!For the Lord protects those who are loyal to Him,but He harshly punishes the arrogant.24 So be strong and courageous,all you who put your hope in the Lord! Psalms 31:23-24

Paying The Price For Our Faithlessness…

When parents don’t teach their children about God, everyone suffers, especially the children. When we fail to witness to others, the entire community suffers. Wake up America. Wake up believers. Our children are paying the price for our faithlessness, and it will continue to pass on what we started from generation to generation. By not teaching our children the truth, truth becomes subjective. And when truth becomes subjective, God is ushered out of society. Everyone suffers when God is not welcome.

33 And your children will be like shepherds, wandering in the wilderness for forty years. In this way, they will pay for your faithlessness, until the last of you lies dead in the wilderness. Numbers 14:33

Perception vs Faith…

Isn’t it amazing that two people can participate in an event and yet tell two totally different stories about it. Two people can experience something and then have two different attitudes about it. Take this passage in Numbers chapter 12 for instance. The 12 spies go to the promised land. They see all that’s there, even taking some of the harvest as examples of its bounty, and return to give a report. Everyone agrees, it is a beautiful and prosperous place. However, 10 of the spies tell Moses and the Israelites the people there are too strong for them, but Joshua and Caleb tell them they can conquer the place and live in the “land of milk and honey”. Perception is heavily influenced by what you believe. Our world view has so much influence, most don’t even realize it. Joshua and Caleb’s perception was “this place can be ours, with God’s help”. Yet the other 10 spies painted the picture of “we can’t go in there or we will die”. How often do you allow your perception to override your faith? If You know God wants you to do something, how often do you let fear stop you from doing it? We live in a world in which feelings are given more and more power to influence, causing more and more anxiety, worry, strife, fear, and the list goes on. Instead of giving in to fear and causing us to stop and retreat, why not give faith a chance? If God is in it, it will succeed. You can’t stop God from accomplishing His will. Stop focusing on what you can’t, and start doing what you can. That’s perception that focuses on what God can do, and not what you can’t do. At the end of your life will you be filled with regret because you perceived things to be hard so you quit trying? Or will you be proud of all that you’ve done because you believed God and put your faith into action? Perception vs faith, they are two totally different things, don’t confuse the two. With God all things are possible.

25 After exploring the land for forty days, the men returned 26 to Moses, Aaron, and the whole community of Israel at Kadesh in the wilderness of Paran. They reported to the whole community what they had seen and showed them the fruit they had taken from the land. 27 This was their report to Moses: “We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country–a land flowing with milk and honey. Here is the kind of fruit it produces. 28 But the people living there are powerful, and their towns are large and fortified. We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak! 29 The Amalekites live in the Negev, and the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites live in the hill country. The Canaanites live along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and along the Jordan Valley.”30 But Caleb tried to quiet the people as they stood before Moses. “Let’s go at once to take the land,” he said. “We can certainly conquer it!”31 But the other men who had explored the land with him disagreed. “We can’t go up against them! They are stronger than we are!” 32 So they spread this bad report about the land among the Israelites: “The land we traveled through and explored will devour anyone who goes to live there. All the people we saw were huge. 33 We even saw giants there, the descendants of Anak. Next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought, too!” Numbers 13:25-33

His Spirit In Us…..

One thing I think modern day believers take for granted is the fact that God puts His Spirit in us. Before Jesus came, only few had the privilege of receiving His Spirit. And it was only temporary. Here in Numbers chapter 11 we read of 70 leaders chosen to receive God’s Spirit in order to help Moses lead the Israelites in the wilderness. Two of the men were not even with the rest of the men at the Tabernacle, yet they received the same Spirit. This was a preview of what was to come after Jesus’ resurrection. Joshua was perturbed by these two men receiving the Spirit, but Moses reply settled the issue. It was almost identical to Jesus’ words to His disciples when they tried to stop others from casting out demons in His name. Jesus’ reply was very similar to Moses’ words, “whoever is not against us is for us”; “I wish... the Lord would put His Spirit upon us all”. If you don’t read the Old Testament, you’ll never fully appreciate and understand the New Testament. The Holy Spirit’s dwelling in us is a gift. It’s a gift few had in the past, and anyone can have now, it’s just a matter of asking God to be Lord of your life. Don’t take it for granted, because you’re the one who will miss out on all of its blessings if you do.

24 So Moses went out and reported the Lord’s words to the people. He gathered the seventy elders and stationed them around the Tabernacle. 25 And the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. Then he gave the seventy elders the same Spirit that was upon Moses. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But this never happened again.26 Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses’ assistant since his youth, protested, “Moses, my master, make them stop!”29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!” 30 Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel. Numbers 11:24-30