When God says to Get Off your Face

But the children of Israel committed a trespass in the accursed thing: for Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed thing: and the anger of the Lord was kindled against the children of Israel. 2 And Joshua sent men from Jericho to Ai, which is beside Bethaven, on the east side of Bethel, and spake unto them, saying, Go up and view the country. And the men went up and viewed Ai. 3 And they returned to Joshua, and said unto him, Let not all the people go up; but let about two or three thousand men go up and smite Ai; and make not all the people to labour thither; for they are but few. 4 So there went up thither of the people about three thousand men: and they fled before the men of Ai. 5 And the men of Ai smote of them about thirty and six men: for they chased them from before the gate even unto Shebarim, and smote them in the going down: wherefore the hearts of the people melted, and became as water.

6 And Joshua rent his clothes, and fell to the earth upon his face before the ark of the Lord until the eventide, he and the elders of Israel, and put dust upon their heads. 7 And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! 8 O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! 9 For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear of it, and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?

 

10 And the Lord said unto Joshua, Get thee up; wherefore liest thou thus upon thy face? 11 Israel hath sinned, and they have also transgressed my covenant which I commanded them: for they have even taken of the accursed thing, and have also stolen, and dissembled also, and they have put it even among their own stuff. 12 Therefore the children of Israel could not stand before their enemies, but turned their backs before their enemies, because they were accursed: neither will I be with you any more, except ye destroy the accursed from among you. 13 Up, sanctify the people, and say, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow: for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, There is an accursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you. 14 In the morning therefore ye shall be brought according to your tribes: and it shall be, that the tribe which the Lord taketh shall come according to the families thereof; and the family which the Lord shall take shall come by households; and the household which the Lord shall take shall come man by man. 15 And it shall be, that he that is taken with the accursed thing shall be burnt with fire, he and all that he hath: because he hath transgressed the covenant of the Lord, and because he hath wrought folly in Israel.

 

16 So Joshua rose up early in the morning, and brought Israel by their tribes; and the tribe of Judah was taken: 17 And he brought the family of Judah; and he took the family of the Zarhites: and he brought the family of the Zarhites man by man; and Zabdi was taken: 18 And he brought his household man by man; and Achan, the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, was taken. 19 And Joshua said unto Achan, My son, give, I pray thee, glory to the Lord God of Israel, and make confession unto him; and tell me now what thou hast done; hide it not from me. 20 And Achan answered Joshua, and said, Indeed I have sinned against the Lord God of Israel, and thus and thus have I done: 21 When I saw among the spoils a goodly Babylonish garment, and two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold of fifty shekels weight, then I coveted them, and took them; and, behold, they are hid in the earth in the midst of my tent, and the silver under it. 22 So Joshua sent messengers, and they ran unto the tent; and, behold, it was hid in his tent, and the silver under it. 23 And they took them out of the midst of the tent, and brought them unto Joshua, and unto all the children of Israel, and laid them out before the Lord. 24 And Joshua, and all Israel with him, took Achan the son of Zerah, and the silver, and the garment, and the wedge of gold, and his sons, and his daughters, and his oxen, and his asses, and his sheep, and his tent, and all that he had: and they brought them unto the valley of Achor. 25 And Joshua said, Why hast thou troubled us? the Lord shall trouble thee this day. And all Israel stoned him with stones, and burned them with fire, after they had stoned them with stones. 26 And they raised over him a great heap of stones unto this day. So the Lord turned from the fierceness of his anger. Wherefore the name of that place was called, The valley of Achor, unto this day.

Josh 7:1-26 (KJV)

What the Law of Love means…in Jesus own words

What the Law of Love means…in Jesus own words

 

But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, 28 Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you. 29 And unto him that smiteth thee on the one cheek offer also the other; and him that taketh away thy cloke forbid not to take thy coat also. 30  Give to every man that asketh of thee; and of him that taketh away thy goods ask them not again. 31 And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise. 32 For if ye love them which love you, what thank have ye? for sinners also love those that love them. 33 And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same. 34 And if ye lend to them of whom ye hope to receive, what thank have ye? for sinners also lend to sinners, to receive as much again. 35 But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil. 36 Be ye therefore merciful, as your Father also is merciful. 37  Judge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven: 38 Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again. 39 And he spake a parable unto them, Can the blind lead the blind? shall they not both fall into the ditch? 40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master. 41 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 42 Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. 43 For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. 44 For every tree is known by his own fruit. For of thorns men do not gather figs, nor of a bramble bush gather they grapes. 45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. 46 And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say? 47 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: 48 He is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. 49 But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great.

Luke 6:27-49 (KJV)

1 Timothy 5:23-24

Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities.

     Paul addresses an illness of Timothy’s directly, but also provides for us a very important reminder: drinking wine is not a sin. For just think about this one point: Scripture says that drunkenness, not drinking a glass of wine, is sin (Gal. 5:19-21). Likewise Jesus turned water to wine; He most certainly would not have done this if it were a sin. Plus, there is not Scriptural evidence to support that Jesus was a Nazarite who never cut his hair or drank wine. Instead, we see Jesus turning water into fine wine and passing around the wine cup to His 12 disciples and saying taking and eat for this is my blood poured out for the remission of sins. He would not have done this if it was a sin to take a drink of wine.

      Proverbs does say in chapter 31 that it is not good for a ruler to drink wine and thus in a drunken state pervert justice and earlier in 1 Timothy that an elder and deacon should not be given to much wine; however, a drink of wine is never expressly forbidden. Back then, wine was as common a drink as coffee or soda today. We would do well to look at the Scriptural emphasis on abstaining from addiction and the loss of one’s faculties and not on legalistic rules made by well meaning men (that’s what the Pharisees did).

 

24 Some men's sins are open beforehand, going before to judgment; and some men they follow after.

 

      The sins of some are seen clearly before they die and they are judged; however, there are others whose sins remain hidden. These may think that they have gotten away with their sin, but that is not true. No, their sins follow them into eternity where they are judged for their sins. Scriptures teaches that there are degrees of punishment in Hellfire; however, there is no lesser punishment or refining process such as purgatory. All who go to Hell are eternally in torment, but the judgment each receives is proportionate to the amount of one’s transgressions of Law of God. Therefore, let us not sorrow when the wicked seem to thrive and their sins are glossed over by the world, for God is a just God and unless they come to repentance and glorious redemption in Christ, they will be punished according to the measure of their transgression.

1 Tim 5:23-24 (KJV)

Thought 320: Rome didn't fall in a day. It was a process with a beginning and an end. -- so are our lives . . . from Ryan's devotional book series Thoughts

Thought 320

Rome didn’t fall in a day. It was a process with a beginning and an end. – so are our lives . . .

  In life we will have many battles and temptations ahead of us. We will face “stuff.” And if the “stuff” isn’t dealt with according to the Lord’s prescription, it can grow into something very ugly. Hopefully following poem will hit home the concept for you:

Little heart, what was that?

O! You have a secret.

Well, little heart take this advice:

You cannot hide vice or dice for long, one day the truth will be told.

Then your secret will shame you, that is, your hidden sins

Will be laid forth before all later on.

Yonder, over there the secret is crawling out.

 

O little heart, you have hidden your sin for two months, a year    

And ten days, but I see your hidden package drawing near.

The package is being opened!

Yuck! EEU! What a disgusting thing!

Little heart, the only thing you should have buried within

Thee, is the Word of our Lord.

But alas, you have had a hard time, your sin was not buried there in

The purity of the Cross.

May God bless and cleanse and heal and rapture,

You, your poor little heart as you repent of your sin.

Fare the well, and may ye learn from this little heart tale.

 

What we go  through in life an tear us down or be a victory as we submit it to Christ.