will not drive them out from before you in one year, lest the land become desolate and the wild beasts multiply against you. Little by little I will drive them out from before you, until you have increased and possess the land. – Genesis 23:29-30 ESV
Warrior;
We serve a mighty God. We tend to forget how awesome He is! We have become too comfortable with making God a token. Many people who profess to know God put Him as a token, an idol, a gold chain, a 2-hour event on Sunday. God is the maker of the heavens and the earth! We put much faith in man, in government, in ourselves. But our only true FAITH should be in our God, He knows all things, He is a GOOD GOD, and He is LOVE! He is Just, He is merciful, and He is Righteous- He is in charge! Where is the reverence for our LORD? We treat God like a best friend, or our favorite ‘stuffed animal’. He is the MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE, he is the great Marionette, the Master Manipulator of all things! He would not remove Israel’s enemies too quickly or the wild beasts would attack the people. People had to live with the threat of death from wild animals. There were not the safeties and weaponry we have today, and the beasts of the fields, for a while, outnumbered the people on this planet. God knows ALL, He knows all outcomes, He knows the consequences of all choice, He is OMNISCIENT. Just like when He led his 2 million Jews out of Egypt, He knew they could not handle what was in front of them, so He sent them the LONG WAY. Not to be mean, but to be smart! For He knew who and what lies in wait, and He knew the strength of His children’s adversaries and He knew the weakness of His children!
Leader, When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near. For God said, “Lest the people change their minds when they see war and return to Egypt.” But God led the people around by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle. (Exodus 13:17-18) For I know the plans I have for you declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans for hope and a future. Do you believe that? Is God perfect in his judgement and righteousness? Is God in charge, or is luck the grand manipulator of world events? What do you really believe, and does your life show that belief? Do you act like you believe in God and trust in God to lay out His plans for you, then press the GO button? Do you really believe in the Bible, in God’s goodness, in God’s promises? God saved you by his grace when you believed. And you can’t take credit for this; it is a gift from God. Salvation is not a reward for the good things we have done, so none of us can boast about it. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. (Ephesians 2:8-10) This is ALL GOD’S DOING! We must quit stealing God’s glory. It is God who gave you everything you have. It is God who gifted you with every gift, talent, ability you have. It is God who made you look the way you look, be as smart as you are, gave you a beautiful body, or a broken one. It is God’s grace, mercy and creativity that is the cause for everything you have possessed, experienced, and take credit for. God knows what you did yesterday, He knows what you will do tomorrow. He knows your first day and your last day before you were a cell in the egg of your father, or your mother. How do you treat OUR GOD JEHOVAH? Do you have reverence, and AWE, do you tremble at the thought of His anger? God is manipulating everything in your, and around you for HIS GLORY and your GOOD- IF, you are a child of His. Are you a child of His? Have you humbled yourself and realized your great need?
Conduit, reading the Psalms will get you into this emotional state where we can realize not only our need for God, but that EVERYTHING is in His hands, and nothing happens without His permissive will, at the least! This is why many, CRY OUT in the Psalms! They understand that GOD IS IN CONTROL and that we are just blessed to be HIS PAWNS in the great DRAMA of the AGES! Praise the Lord! Let all that I am praise the Lord. I will praise the Lord as long as I live. I will sing praises to my God with my dying breath. Don’t put your confidence in powerful people; there is no help for you there. When they breathe their last, they return to the earth, and all their plans die with them. But joyful are those who have the God of Israel as their helper, whose hope is in the Lord their God. He made heaven and earth, the sea, and everything in them. He keeps every promise forever. He gives justice to the oppressed and food to the hungry. The Lord frees the prisoners. The Lord opens the eyes of the blind. The Lord lifts up those who are weighed down. The Lord loves the godly. The Lord protects the foreigners among us. He cares for the orphans and widows, but he frustrates the plans of the wicked. (Psalm 146:1-9) God is in control, will you have FAITH to walk in His way, will you believe and ACT AS IF He is guiding you and your steps? Do you believe He goes before You? Do you believe? “Behold, I send an angel before you to guard you on the way and to bring you to the place that I have prepared. Pay careful attention to him and obey his voice; do not rebel against him, for he will not pardon your transgression, for my name is in him. Hear the Word of the Lord: “But if you carefully obey his voice and do all that I say, then I will be an enemy to your enemies and an adversary to your adversaries. “When my angel goes before you and brings you to the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, and I blot them out, you shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces. You shall serve the LORD your God, and he will bless your bread and your water, and I will take sickness away from among you. None shall miscarry or be barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days. I will send my terror before you and will throw into confusion all the people against whom you shall come, and I will make all your enemies turn their backs to you. And I will send hornets before you, which shall drive out the Hivites, the Canaanites, and the Hittites from before you. (Exodus 23:20-28) He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8)
Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional 