Deuteronomy 11:8-9 – “Now pay attention to all the commandments^[r] I am giving you today, so that you may be strong enough to enter and possess the land where you are headed, ⁹ and that you may enjoy long life in the land the Lord promised to give to your ancestors and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.” 

As I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God today, something from Deuteronomy and John meshed and brought conviction and hope to my heart.   In Deuteronomy, God repeatedly said, “Pay attention to my words, commands, and instructions.” The provision for obedience and the penalty for disobedience produced a sense of awe in my heart.

Notice the emphasis on “All” in the text.    Then He gives the provision of that command – “So that you may be strong enough to enter the land the LORD promised to give your ancestors.”  Just as there are generational curses, there are generational blessings.  Those blessings are not earned but obtained by obedience!  The dreams and promises in my heart may see their fulfillment in my grandchildren if they walk in obedience to the Word!

Deuteronomy 11:13-15, the promise for obedience is the rain of refreshing.  In verses 11:26-28, there is the revelation that it is our choice to live in blessing or curse.   Obedience is not a rigid compliance to a set of rules, but out of love for God, we become one with Him and manifest Him.

The blessings in this life for living harmoniously with His directives are incredible.  But even more remarkable is the Eternal Promise of a life lived in harmony with His Word.  John Chapters 14-15 are filled with promises that should be our daily meditation and objective.

The victory won at the Cross opens the door for the obedient believer on a level few attain. Why is that the case?   Often, it is self-condemnation and a flawed comparison to Jesus.   We see Him as God and relegate His earthly ministry to Him being God.   We forget that He was 100% God but also 100% man.   He walked in complete obedience, empowered by the Holy Spirit, demonstrating the life that is possible for us.

• In Him, we can do all things!  
• In Him, we are overcomers.  
• In Him, we have authority over evil and over our emotions.  
• In Him, we represent and manifest the Word in a visible demonstration of Authority!

Today, each of us should reconsider our condition and reexamine our expectations.   We should place everything on the altar to Him and die to ourselves so that we can live to Him in total obedience and enjoy His total provision.

Today, let’s Pay Attention to God’s Word and Words and follow the directive and leading of the Holy Spirit into the fullness of our Victory in Jesus!

2 Chronicles 7:13-15 – “When I close up the sky so that it doesn’t rain, or command locusts to devour the land’s vegetation, or send a plague among my people, ¹⁴ if my people, who belong to me, humble themselves, pray, seek to please me, and repudiate their sinful practices, then I will respond from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now I will be attentive and responsive to the prayers offered in this place.”

The Holy Spirit quickened my heart to consider “Who Jesus Is,” not just what He does.   I contemplated and meditated on Who He Is, What He Has Promised, and the condition of our present world.   I thought about the war in the heavenlies and our role in that struggle.

Over the past few months, there have been what seems to be an excessive number of people I know (believers) who have been taken home.   The sense in my heart is that God is about to do something incredible in the face of the terrible works of the devil.   

God seems to have decided to allow those (some too young) to come home to protect them from what’s coming.  Yet, others remain to experience the chaos and the outpouring of the Spirit.   I do not believe that is without purpose.   

It means that those of us still here have a specific assignment.   I believe that means we need to be alert and carefully listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit.   This means we need to pay careful attention to our assignments, which include equipping, training, encouraging, and interceding.   Moses was on his face before God in intercession for 40 days and 40 nights.   2 Chronicles 7:14 is our commandment and answer.

Jesus is the “only” answer.   He is the Light of the world.   As believers, we are not to be fearful of what’s coming.   The world has reached a new depth of depravity.   The Biblical descriptions of the Last Days are so apparent that a blind person could see them. 

Tragically, too much of the church is compromised, and its focus is numbers, programs, and notoriety.  Individuals are adopting the lifestyles of the world and justifying their actions.   When Jesus lives in the heart as not just the forgiver (Savior) but as the LORD, our lives undergo a radical transformation, and the Ten Commandments become a natural outflow of life.

We are to love others as ourselves and love the LORD with our all.   All selfishness must die.   Shaking and revival are here.  The only question becomes, “Which camp will we be found in?”    Victory is for today!

Lord, help us to allow Jesus to be the Only Answer we need for today’s problems!  

Numbers 33:50-53 – “The Lord spoke to Moses in the rift valley plains of Moab along the Jordan, across from Jericho. He said: ⁵¹ “Speak to the Israelites and tell them, ‘When you have crossed the Jordan into the land of Canaan, ⁵² you must drive out all the inhabitants of the land before you. Destroy all their carved images, all their molten images, and demolish their high places. ⁵³ You must dispossess the inhabitants of the land and live in it, for I have given you the land to possess it.” 

The Holy Spirit reminded me of the importance of practicing the four keys to victory in life.   That was found in our text, Numbers 33.  Those four Keys are Drive Out, Cleanse, Dispossess, and Possess.

Those four elements are keys to a life of spiritual fullness.  When the Children of Israel transitioned from wilderness wandering (a type of life of sin before Jesus), they were instructed to “drive out” the occupants of their place of promise.

Sadly, too many modern believers try to coexist with the devil.  In the world, we rub shoulders with evil, but in our place of promise (hearts), we cannot!    We must “drive out” all that is not holy from our hearts. We cannot be double-hearted, but our hearts must be free of the forces of darkness.

Next, they were to cleanse the land.   That cleansing involved removing the carved images (idols – all that hold the heart that is not God).  They were to remove all the molten images and demolish the high places of idol worship.   God must be the only occupant of our hearts.  We cannot live with one foot in the world and its offering and one in God and His Kingdom.  

The directive is to “Love God with our ALL, body, soul, spirit, and strength!”  In my East Texas lingo, it is “Be all in or not in!”  God does not share our hearts with the world.

One would think that driving them out would satisfy the third directive to “Dispossess the inhabitants of the land.”    However, since God worded it the way He did, there must be something beyond the initial eviction to note.     Driving out implies the initial act, and dispossessing indicates the legal action of not just evicting and cleansing but serving notice that our hearts are under new management.

We Dispossess to Possess.  Once the initial act or experience of Salvation comes, there must be a thorough cleansing and purifying of our hearts, minds, and hands.   The Bible reveals that a house left unfilled invites the old tenants to return with a larger contingent of evil.  We drive out, cleanse, and dispossess (serve legal notice), then we possess the place of promise and the promise.

Trying to coexist with the devil is to fail to become!   In the world, we work with and associate with evil.   We are to separate from it.   We are different.   But in our hearts, we must seek to be pure!   Only through the Holy Spirit’s purifying can we be thoroughly cleansed.

Whenever a hint of greed, envy, jealousy, lust, anger, bitterness, unforgiveness, ungratefulness, or selfishness reveals itself, we must cleanse our hearts.   We drive out those thoughts, feelings, and emotions, dispossessing them, and by God’s grace, possess our hearts in purity.   God can trust us with His power, presence, and provision in that purity.

When we make that full surrender of Everything to Him, He opens the door to His fullness.   Remember, the kingdom is ours.  The promise is ours.  The provision is ours.  The power is ours.   Jesus said, “Come unto Me, and I will…”

Are you tired of feeling like the devil seems to be getting the upper hand?   Then, drive out, cleanse, dispossess, and possess.   Simple?  Only through God!  Is it possible? Only Through God.  We have been called to Abundant Life.  Why not have it NOW?

Have a victorious day Possessing the Promises God has made to you!

Numbers 20:8 – “Take the staff (symbol of authority) and assemble the community, you and Aaron, your brother, and then SPEAK to the rock (a type of Christ) before their eyes.  It will pour forth its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”

As I read, prayed, and mused on the Word of God today, something from Numbers 20 filled my consciousness.  Four things leaped out at me.   Explicit obedience, presumptuousness, humanizing God’s directive, and unfulfilled destiny.   I confess that to unpack all that would be far too involved for a brief post.

Once again, the people grumbled in the wilderness.   God had repeatedly provided and guided them, but another problem presented itself, and they demonstrated their true character.

In Numbers 20:8, God told Moses, “Take the staff (symbol of authority) and assemble the community, you and Aaron, your brother, and then SPEAK to the rock (a type of Christ) before their eyes.  It will pour forth its water, and you will bring water out of the rock for them, and so you will give the community and their beasts water to drink.”

Moses demonstrated a natural propensity to allow the past to define the present and for presumption to surface.    If you recall, the first time, God had him use his rod and strike the rock.    This time, God said, “Take your staff and SPEAK to the rock.”   The directive was to speak from his position of authority.   We have authority in Jesus and do not need to force things; we declare them, and God does them.

Numbers 20:11 – “Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff.”    Water did come out!   However, it opened the door to a view of the staff as a magical instrument rather than turning all eyes on God through a declaration of faith.   Moses modified God’s directive and acted presumptuously, drawing from his history.   In Numbers 20:12, God said, “Because you did not trust me enough to show Me as holy before the Israelites, therefore you will not bring this community into the land I have given them.  “

God expects explicit obedience, especially from those charged with leadership or oversight.   Moses was the visual connection to God.   His task was to teach them God’s character, not just lead them to freedom.  When he trusted history more than God or acted presumptuously in anger or frustration, he aborted his destiny.

Today, prophets are doing what Moses did, adding to or modifying what God says.   Today, believers are clinging to what was rather than being open to and entering into what can be.

God’s directive always has a victorious purpose and a powerful promise.   The problem is that we tend to rationalize rather than give explicit obedience to it.

Explicit obedience produces the promise and propels us into the fulfillment of our destiny.   We do not have to understand nor rationalize God’s directive.  We must obey it explicitly.  Explicit obedience is complete trust.   Adding to, modifying, or rationalizing can become rebellion and shift the sovereignty from God to man.

God’s Word, God’s way, brings God’s purpose to fullness.  Do not fret about the timing or your lack of understanding.   Explicitly obey and watch God be God.

I pray that we will all strive to explicitly obey God all the time and every time!   He will be faithful to His promise if we are faithful to Him!

Luke 16:13 – “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and money.”

God is good all the time, and His mercy never ends or fails.   As I went to bed, the Holy Spirit was downloading information throughout the night.  Today, as I read, prayed, and pondered the Word of God, something kept echoing in my heart and mind.   What was that?   Stuff!  The Lord spoke to me about stuff.   The danger of transforming stuff into idols is more prevalent than most understand.

God’s purpose for stuff is to enhance our lives, to be used to help us navigate life’s seas and advance into His purposes.    Stuff can hold our hearts; when it does, it crowds out the Spirit of God.   Stuff is to be used, not hoarded.

Those who know me know that stuff (material things do not have a significant hold on me).   It is not because I do not value things but because I see them as tools for life, not bigger than life.   The Lord dealt with me about stuff years ago.   I realized I was keeping things I did not need or use for various reasons.   

The challenge to my heart was the Why?   The Lord caused me to realize that I gave honor to him by releasing stuff into His hands.   He taught me that stuff not used held an unwholesome place in my heart.   He challenged me with Luke 16:13 and other passages about the power of stuff and the need for an undivided heart.

I’ve been given treasured gifts only to have the Lord direct me to give them to someone in need.   They had sentimental value but not practical value.   They would make someone else’s life better, but we’re just stuff if I keep them unused.   My heart’s cry is to have an undivided heart.

The Holy Spirit has challenged me in this about trusting God.   I have said, “But I might need or use them sometime.”   Then, I was challenged with the thought, “What can God not provide?”

I’m guilty of holding on to material things for selfish reasons when there were those who desperately needed them.   If I allow anything other than God to hold my heart, it can become an idol.   If I give God my all, He will provide all I need.   He will fill my heart, and in that state of a whole heart, I have perfect peace!

I’m not saying we cannot have some things that have only intrinsic value but no practical use.   I am saying we dare not let those things have such a grip on us that we cannot let them go.   Then, they rise to a place that crowds God out.   I want treasure in heaven, not just on earth.   When God is first, nothing in this world can hold our hearts, and we open the door to God’s open-handed provision.

I pray for God to become more and more important to me.   Lord, do not let me allow anything to have a controlling hold on my heart but You!

As you become free from the unwholesome hold of ‘stuff,’ I pray you will become totally free!   May you always soar like an eagle!