Devotionals

And they helped David against the bands [of raiders], for they [were] all mighty men of valor, and they were captains in the army. For at [that] time they came to David day by day to help him, until [it was] a great army, like the army of God. [1Chronicles 12:21-22 NKJV]

Bros, these mighty men called to come alongside of David and become a great army like the army of the Lord. In the book of Joshua we read about when the commander of the army of the Lord appears and this army of David’s is likened to that army…  ”And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, "[Are] You for us or for our adversaries?" So He said, "No, but [as] Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come." And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and said to Him, "What does my Lord say to His servant?" Then the Commander of the LORD's army said to Joshua, "Take your sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand [is] holy." And Joshua did so.” [Joshua 5:13-15 NKJV]

What do you do when you are engaged in battle and realize that the Lord is there, you are in His presence and the battle belongs to Lord? Can you imagine you are in His presence; to me it’s as if there is a beam of brilliant light all around shining down from heaven adding to David’s army. I think you would humble yourself and know He is God and you are standing on Holy ground. So you submit to Him, you fall on your face to the earth, to the things of this world and ask as Joshua did “What does my Lord say to His servant?” And Joshua heard this “take your sandals off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.” Bros when we go to the Lord, when we commit to Him, when we fully submit to Him and give everything to Him, when we are His servants, standing in His midst, also in the midst of battle we should be as Joshua was and fall on our face and worship Him and ask Him what does my Lord say to His servant? First of all we have to be His servants, then submit and commit.

We are always in His presence; rarely do we realize or acknowledge this. When we realize we are in God’s presence we ought to humble ourselves and walk in humility and know we are standing on holy ground and that God is there with us in the midst of our every battle, every disappointment, every tear, every time of heart break that the Commander of the army of the Lord is with us. We ought to honor God and humble ourselves before an ever loving, merciful and Mighty God. He knows always our every battle and will send a great army like the army of God.

Those mighty men of valor were sent to David by God day by day until they were a great army like the army of God to help him and deliver him. God kept adding and building up the army. Sometimes we may think we don’t have enough of whatever to have victory in our own battles we have going on in our lives. God keeps adding to our war chest so to speak day by day until we have a great army or great defense of deliverance that can only come from God. Then we see His anointing on our situation and all around our battle as we realize this is like the army of God, no one can go up against God and we are standing on holy ground-amen!

So Saul died for his unfaithfulness which he had committed against the LORD, because he did not keep the word of the LORD, and also because he consulted a medium for guidance.  But [he] did not inquire of the LORD; therefore He killed him, and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse. [1Chronicles 10:13-14 NKJV]  

Bros looks to me like God really desired for Saul to keep the word of the Lord and inquire of the Lord. Can you imagine if your kids went next door to ask for guidance instead of coming to you for guidance…. We as His kids ought to come to the Lord for guidance and go nowhere else, but let’s be honest how many have sought a friend or other resource before inquiring of the Lord. Why is God the last one we consult in any given situation and usually we wait until it turns into a catastrophe before we call upon Him… Saul probably is not that much different than most of us in this regard, which ought not to be, but I think most of us are guilty of this if we are honest with ourselves and God.

Saul didn’t wait for Samuel to offer a sacrifice up to the Lord; he prepared and presented it himself. So when Samuel arrived he had this to say: “And Samuel said to Saul, "You have done foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the LORD your God, which He commanded you. For now the LORD would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. [1Samuel 13:13 NKJV]” This is how he lost the kingdom by not being faithful to keep the Word of the Lord. Also Saul was told to go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have, and do not spare them, do not spare one human or one animal. But again Saul said the people that went with him wanted to save the best of the animals to sacrifice to the Lord your God in Gilgal. God did not tell them to do this but to destroy all, not some, but all! You ever partly obey God and then blame someone else when you are in charge and accountable?

Saul inquired of the Lord and when the Lord did not answer him, either by dreams or Urim or by the prophets. Saul inquired of a medium and this is also how Saul lost the kingdom and brought his own death sentence on himself… Through disobedience, not waiting on the Lord for His answer nor keeping the Word of God. Saul did not obey the voice of the Lord, nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you this day.

Bros it would seem to me that it is better to inquire of the Lord and wait on the Lord. When we try to do things our way it never turns out good and it never pleases God. Better to be faithful to the Lord and trust Him and wait for His reply and timing for all things. Big lessons to be learned from Saul’s lack of obedience and big consequences to be paid for fooling around with mediums and not doing what Gods word tells us to do. It is always better to do it Gods way, He is the Master, He is the Creator, He knows what He is doing, unlike us, this isn’t His first rodeo, and He really loves us and knows what is best for each of us-amen!

Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”

[1 Samuel 1:11 NKJV]

Bros, Hannah made a vow and as we shall read on in this amazing miracle and blessing from God, she kept her vow. A vow is a pledge, promise, oath or guarantee and Hannah not only made this vow but kept it as we see in these next verses…

“Now when she had weaned him, she took him up with her, with three bulls, one ephah of flour, and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the LORD in Shiloh. And the child was young. Then they slaughtered a bull, and brought the child to Eli. And she said, “O my lord! As your soul lives, my lord, I am the woman who stood by you here, praying to the LORD. For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition which I asked of Him. Therefore I also have lent him to the LORD; as long as he lives he shall be lent to the LORD.” So they worshiped the LORD there.”[1 Samuel 1:24-28 NKJV]

Have you ever made a vow or pledge only to fall short, to break it or not complete it or said you would do something and then fell through on your promise to the Lord or even to a friend or family member? Oh many times we will blurt out how committed we are to the Lord and run our mouth to say flattering things about the Lord and make big grandiose promises to the Lord, but do we, will we…, follow through on those vows, promises made to our Savior?

Well if you have made those promises and fell flat on your face you are not alone, but also maybe we should stop and think and know whether we will be able to keep our word or promise to God. Peter had a bad habit of putting his foot in his mouth regarding his devotion and commitment to the Lord. If your heart is totally committed to the Lord, I believe you can make commitments to the Lord and fulfill them. But when your heart is momentarily ignited for the Lord in a burst of emotion rather than conviction that is when we ought to be careful and know if we say we are going to do something, if we are going to commit to the Lord, then we ought to do it! Emotions can be temporary feelings. But a conviction penetrates deep in the heart. And that is where vows should come from-the depth of a heart given over to Jesus Christ not emotions can that come and go on many different levels. Also not all but many emotions can be shallow and temporal. God gave us these emotions so we could get through different levels of dealing with various feelings and things we would have to go through in our daily lives…and emotions can trigger feelings that come from the heart. But when a conviction comes it is because the heart has been pricked to change, to commitment to be able to make a vow unto the Lord-amen!

So Hannah arose after they had finished eating and drinking in Shiloh. Now Eli the priest was sitting on the seat by the doorpost of the tabernacle of the LORD. And she [was] in bitterness of soul, and prayed to the LORD and wept in anguish. Then she made a vow and said, "O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head." And it happened, as she continued praying before the LORD, that Eli watched her mouth.  Now Hannah spoke in her heart; only her lips moved, but her voice was not heard. Therefore Eli thought she was drunk. [1Samuel1:9-13 NKJV]

Bros have you ever been in bitterness of soul and wept in anguish uncontrollably? The place where you have drained all your emotions and emptied yourself to the point where your soul has been uncovered and laid bare before the Lord. There is no more room for your will left and you are totally and completely in submission to what the Lord desires because there is nothing of you left. Seems then that Hannah having done this was able to make a vow, a promise, a declaration before the Lord. Initially Hannah wanted a son for her husband as most woman do, but when that didn’t happened… Now she wants a son she can give to the Lord. Things begin to change when God is put first, so it happened upon praying from her heart that Hannah spoke in her heart to God; she was not just mouthing words but speaking and communing from the innermost depths of her heart, that place that God can change her.

Bros she was communing intimately with God. That can only come when you are emptied before the Lord of your desires, your will, your foolish thoughts and ways, humbly and desperately crying out for the only One who could and would take the desires of her heart and bring them into alignment and submission with His perfect will and then to fruition according to His perfect will and plan for her life. God speaks into her heart, God knows her heart. He is the only One who can change any heart and God always wants our heart where we can draw near Him and commune with Him and pray without voice, like Hannah; to let Him take hold of our heart as we open our soul to Him.

This does not just come by praying words with our commands, but by being utterly broken before the Lord. When you move yourself out of the way, submitting to God, the Lord is faithful and will step in and move deeply and mightily in the depths of your heart and accomplish His perfect will in an imperfect soul. Bros we must first die to ourselves as Hannah did and then we can pray deep within our heart without our lips moving, but allowing God to move our heart, allowing the Holy Spirit to move in our heart and lead our soul out and away from bitterness-amen!

Psalm 34:18 The LORD [is] near to those who have a broken heart, And saves such as have a contrite spirit.

JUDGES 7:4-7 But the LORD said to Gideon, “The people are still too many; bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there. Then it will be, that of whom I say to you, ‘This one shall go with you,’ the same shall go with you; and of whomever I say to you, ‘This one shall not go with you,’ the same shall not go.” Gideon listened to God! So he brought the people down to the water. And the LORD said to Gideon, “Everyone who laps from the water with his tongue, as a dog laps, you shall set apart by himself; likewise everyone who gets down on his knees to drink.” Gideon followed directions from God!And the number of those who lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men; but all the rest of the people got down on their knees to drink water. Then the LORD said to Gideon, “By the three hundred men who lapped I will save you, and deliver the Midianites into your hand. Let all the other people go, every man to his place.” Gideon obeyed God!

Bros what we don’t read in this story is Gideon arguing with the Lord and saying Lord are you kidding- 300 men? What can we do with 300 men? Wow Lord we will get slaughtered, we need more men Lord, don’t worry Lord you made a mistake- I’ll take all the men and get the job done!

You know bros when you leave everything in the Lords hands He can and will do awesome things according to His will not our will. Remember the five loafs and two fish…Matthew 14:19-21Then He commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass. And He took the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the fragments that remained. Now those who had eaten were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

He can multiply anything in His hands- we don’t know how He does His math, it’s not common core that is for sure, but it always adds up to victory! Whether it is feeding 5000 men plus woman & children with five loaves and two fish or winning a battle against 135K armed warriors with 300 men holding torches and trumpet’s- God is able, He is victorious!

He does love us bros, just as He loved and used Gideon mightily for His glory & honor He can use us when we listen, follow & obey. We are more than conquerors’ through Christ-amen!

There is victory in Jesus! Romans 8:37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:21 Don't let evil conquer you, but conquer evil by doing good.

And the LORD said to Gideon, “The people who are with you are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel claim glory for itself against Me, saying, ‘My own hand has saved me.’ [JUDGES 7:2 NKJV]

Gideon had too many men with him- it was too much for God. He had thirty two thousand a lopsided matchup for sure against one hundred thirty five thousand Midianites- to us this doesn’t seem to be legit or logical! Can’t help but think Gideon must be thinking- wow Lord… But the Lord said it, so we know Gideon would believe it, nothing is too hard for God!

Ok bros have you ever questioned God? Or have you tried to out think the Lord. Sometimes we have a problem and in our mind we devise all sorts of ways that God could fix all our problems and give us victory. And as we see the solutions disappear one by one we think what is God thinking that was a perfect way to solve my situation. Why would any of us think my trial, my need, my suffering, my pain, my sorrow, my financial need is too much for God?

No way bro! But sometimes have we lacked faith in our belief that God is going to come through, that God is going to deliver us and rescue us in our trial or need. I have personally seen every solution I could think of when I had a trial I was going through disappear and I thought wow God is out of options… and suddenly out of nowhere He jumps in the game and makes a three pointer from half court facing backwards and throws the ball over His head and into the hoop just as the game buzzer is going to signal game over to win the game by one point… God saves the day again; bros there isn’t ever going to be any trial or situation that is going to be too much for God- call on and pray to Him, trust Him, believe Him, rest in Him and know He can and will deliver you-amen!

Bros Israel did not obey the commandments of God. God led them up from Egypt and He had instructed them to tear down the altars of their enemies and fully expected them to drive out the Canaanites. In fact they were promised that if they didn’t drive them out they would be thorns in their sides. So they even went as far as marrying their enemy’s daughters and gave their daughters to marry their sons and they even served their false gods. So God left them in their own sin or trap they had constructed so to speak. He said He would not drive them out before them and left them as a severe reminder. They had become entrapped with their own snare because of disobedience they had a wound that would not heal… as a sliver that is embedded in their skin that festers causing contamination, pain and suffering. They got pricked by a thorn they created and that thorn stayed, they married into that thorn and tied it into their bloodline to give it life and it gave them great pain and turmoil. The Israelites fell into great sin of idolatry and worship of their false gods. This was the snare that Israel created and had become entrapped. The trap was set and sprung by their sinful disobedience so they found themselves laying wounded unable to get out of the their own trap...

Israel had brought a lot of needless suffering onto themselves, the Lord allowed the possessing of the land to go unfinished trying to correct rebellious Israel to change course.

It seems as though when we do things our way we miss out on Gods best for us. Looks as though Israel was willing to settle for less than Gods best for them and they paid the price and got caught in their own trap because they were supposed to drive out the inhabitants of the land.

Bros the message I get here for my life is to tear down or take down or not allow any altars or false worship wherever God sends me or I find myself. He wants to give me His best and He does require me to tear down and not to allow any altars to remain and be a snare to me. If I allow false idols-altars to exist in my life wherever He takes me then I can become ensnared in a trap and end up with a thorn. So I need to tear them down before they tear me down, amen!

 But take careful heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul. [Joshua 22:5 NKJV]

Bros, the act of holding fast; follow closely, stay close, stay with, to cling, to stick to, to stick with and to join to, a means that holds something in place. A nail for instance holds something in place. Nails were used to secure Jesus to the cross, but it was sin that put Him there. But it was His great love for you and me that held Him there. His Love for us is powerful and that is what held Him in place was that great love for us.

The act of holding fast held His love in place to do what was needed to save us from our sin. Hold fast was what Jesus did, holding in place His great love for us. His love holds us in place and as we cling to His love for us, we know that His love supports us and allows us to hold fast, stay with and stay close to Him our Lord and Savior.

As a Joshua reminds Israel of what could happen in chapter 23 of Joshua; not to get involved in the false gods, not to even mention the name of their gods or acknowledge their gods. But to hold fast to the Lord your God. A warning not to go back or cling to the remnant of these Nations, not to go in to them or marry them. Because they will be snares, traps, scourges on their sides and thorn’s in their eyes until they perish from this good land the Lord has gave them.

So bros let this be a reminder to us as to what He delivered each of us from and not to go back to it or get involved in it, not to mention it or acknowledge it in a way that would give it credence or power in our lives, but to hold fast to the things of the Lord! Because His grace allows us to hold fast to the Lord. So His grace holds us in place, so we can hold fast to the things of the Lord and by holding fast we can obey what the Lord has commanded us to do. “but you shall hold fast to the LORD your God, as you have done to this day.” [Joshua 23:8 NKJV] Let us heed to do the commandments of the Lord, love the Lord, and walk in all His ways, to keep the commandments, to serve Him with all our hearts and soul and Hold Fast by His grace- Amen!

"Now therefore, I beg you, swear to me by the LORD, since I have shown you kindness, that you also will show kindness to my father's house, and give me a true token, "and spare my father, my mother, my brothers, my sisters, and all that they have, and deliver our lives from death." [Joshua 2:12-13NKJV]

Bros the two spies had just come in to town to spy out the land and the folks there had heard that God had dried up the waters of the Red Sea to deliver Israel out of Egypt and from the hand of two kings Sihon and Og which they utterly destroyed. So the folks of Jericho needless to say were terrified because they knew God was with Israel and their hearts had grown fainthearted and they had no courage or strength to stand up against what God had ordained. So Rehab the harlot showed them kindness and saved their lives by what she did for them in hiding them and giving them direction to deliver them out of town from the king. So they promised to spare her and her family’s life in exchange for theirs.

I am reminded of a man I worked with as a youngster when I was a bricklayer building fireplaces. His name was Art he taught me so much about work ethics and commonsense approach to getting things done. Not to waste a trip always make every step count, don’t do things twice, think first then act and don’t handle things twice, save moves, don’t set something down only to pick it up again to move it into place- do it the first time. You see when you are piece working and every move you make wisely helps you to lay more brick, which allows you to earn your wages quicker with less moves and you can make more by producing more. So needless to say I carried this work ethic and philosophy into every area of my life- I always tried to never waste a trip, to think before proceeding, even in my home life. This was branded into my subconscious over my life it had become ingrained in me as a result of this man teaching me this style of work ethics. I considered this teaching a gift that helped me to use a commonsense approach to everything I needed to accomplish in my everyday life.

Some thirty five years later I hadn’t been in contact with Art, in fact I thought he had died because he was an old guy when I worked with him, he must have been forty-something at the time... I was cleaning out a closet at home and found an old phone book and saw his name and thought to myself I wonder if he is still alive, naw couldn’t be possible, plus who would have the same number all those years…Well low and behold I called and sure enough he was still alive! The Lord put on my heart to go share the Gospel with him, because when we worked together all we ever did was drink and get drunk every day. So I went and tried to share the Gospel but failed… Art wanted to talk about all the old days, I tried to get the nerve to share the Good News but couldn’t. He did tell me he quit drinking years ago about the same time I had quit and also I came to the Lord.

I prayed some more and one day the Lord had me call him and I was able to share with him what he had taught me and what that meant to me and how it had enriched my life to be more productive because of what this man had taught me and to this day I still use what he taught me. So in the same sense I shared what God had given me and taught me and wanted to share that with him. He came to Christ in that phone call, he wept when I told him all that he taught me and gave me, he didn’t realize that he had done something life changing for me. So the Lord gave me this analogy to use and share with Art that day on the phone. Just as Rehab had done something wonderful for the spies that saved their lives and later on they returned the favor by saving the life of her and her family, so now we see Rehab listed in the Genealogy of Jesus. I learned a lot from Art and wanted to share with Art something even Greater than he gave me that would deliver his life from death and save his life forever. So I shared Jesus as the Lord led me, and Art received Jesus Christ the Deliverer of us all-amen!

After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, it came to pass that the LORD spoke to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, saying: Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore, arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, to the land which I am giving to them—the children of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given you, as I said to Moses. [Joshua 1:1-3 NKJV]

How awesome it would be to have the Lord speak directly to you and give you directions- can you imagine? The Lord also spoke to Moses previously; the revelation is given on Mount Sinai when the tablets of the stone, and the law, and the commandments were given by God that He God wrote that they may teach them- “So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God.” [Exodus 24:13 NKJV]

When the LORD spoke to Joshua he was not a young man at this time, 85 years old; had spent his entire career previously as the assistant of Moses, now finds that it is his own time to lead, but only after God prepared him. God was giving him the directions through Moses as He prepared him to lead Israel into the Promise Land. His life had been spent in preparation for this time, such a time as this.

Bros we never know what God will call us to do, sometimes we may wonder why we might have to go through this trial or season of waiting, and maybe possibly suffering in a way we cannot understand or we can’t figure out why God allowed this in our lives or why we might not be in charge of something. The Lord is always growing us, directing us, teaching us, preparing us and helping us to learn something. Maybe a season that we are learning to trust God. Moses' assistant Joshua was prepared by faithful service in small things, in being Moses' assistant. Bros that should speak volumes to us! Be obedient if you serve. Be faithful to that which the Lord calls you to even if it seems minute be ever so faithful. You never know you might be in training or being prepared for something big like Joshua was. You could be the next Joshua! Look out when you get in your eighties bro! Follow His directions. We have learned when we want to talk to the Lord we get on our knees and pray and when we want to hear from our Father we get in His Word and let Him lead us and give us direction in our life and walk with Him. If the Lord has called you to a specific ministry or place to serve, don’t back off keep your hand to plow, keep heading in the direction God has called you to go. For such a time as this-amen!