God Spoke

Dt 1:6 “ The Lord God said to us at Horeb,” You have stayed long enough at this mountain. (7) break camp and advance into the hill country of the Amorites…. (8) See I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore he would give to your fathers. – to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – and to their descendants after them.

Dt 11:24 Every place you set your feet will be yours (If you obey God and follow his commands)

What an amazing God we serve!  A God who is more than enough, all-knowing, all-powerful and who knows us so intimately inside and out.  A God who loves every broken piece of our story.  A story he has weaved from the beginning of time.  Today I felt a message on my heart in a big way.  It has been tickling the back of my mind all day like the softness of a feather. Just barely whispering across my skin but leaving an imprint in my mind so profound. 

I was looking up a bible study on creation for my kids today and I found a series that I thought might be a good way to introduce them to the Bible in a clearer way.  I was reading a sample of the Bible lesson and it was written in a way a small child can understand.  Sometimes that’s what we really need to get close with God.  A moment where we come to him in a childlike fashion.  In this lesson, it talked of how God spoke everything into creation.  With just a few words everything we know came to be.  He spoke and it was good.

This led me to really think of how powerful God’s words are.  If he spoke light and dark, the oceans, the stars and you and I then how powerful is God’s words.  This brought me to the above passage in Deuteronomy.  God spoke to the Israelites after 40 years in the desert.  He said to them you’ve been in this place long enough.  Get up and move. Take possession and authority over what I have promised you in my word.  He goes on to say every place you set your feet will be yours as long as you love and honor me.  Whew!! That’s a good word there.  Move!  Take your God-given authority and possess this land that I promised you.  You’ve been lost in this wilderness long enough.  There is nothing here left for you.  It is time to break up this camp and go forward.

This spoke to me in such a deep way.  How often do we get so lost in our struggles in life that we set up camp in that place we feel so defeated in? We make a home in our self-pity and our despair. We allow ourselves to lay down and stay rooted at the base of the mountain that is overcoming us.  BUT God says, I made you a promise.  I promised you a land flowing with milk and honey.  I promised you a place of peace and joy.  You’ve sat at this mountain long enough.  That isn’t where I intended for you to be forever.  That mountain doesn’t own you.  I have given you the authority in my name to make mountains bow down to you.  I gave you authority to place anything not of me underneath your feet and in Dt 11:24 God say every place you set your feet will be yours.  God spoke a word and it was good. 

In life, we face all types of mountains and lately, I have had a common theme that is set on repeat.  I’ve heard other people say that people are only loving and loyal when it’s beneficial to them.  Loyalty stops when the benefits stop. The definition of Beneficial is favorable, advantageous, profitable, something resulting in good.  2 Timothy 3:16 NKJV states “ All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. The NIV version says Scripture is God-breathed and is useful…  The thing is I love words.  I love to get to the root of things and words is no different so for this I got all the way down into the Greek.  I wanted to know what God was really saying to me in this verse.  In the Greek “useful” is ophelimos.  This word was only used 4 times in the entire bible and It means profitable, beneficial, useful. 

How often do we only come to God when it is beneficial to us?  We want his blessings in our life.  We want to seek and find the glory in life.  However, We don't feel as comfortable receiving the correction and reproof that also comes with truly experiencing God in all his glory.  We are commanded as a people to live righteously.  God comes in and he creates this heart of flesh that loves him and his people.  However, this transformation requires some pruning on our part.  That pruning hurts sometimes.  It requires us to take His Word and make changes in the life that we are currently living.  It requires us to walk away from people and situations that are not of God.  It requires us to move from where we are to a place we may not understand or necessarily want to be.  It sometimes requires us to stay in a place we don't want to be because God himself hasn't released us to leave there.  

I believe the biggest theme God has been putting on my heart is to listen to Him and be obedient to what he is calling me to do.  For example,  taking out this blog, dusting it off and sharing with you all how much I love Jesus.  It is uncomfortable to go back to something in another stage of your life.  Here I am a married woman, four kids and all sorts of testimony to share with you.  Yet I needed to hear God's voice to bring these words to you.

2 Timothy 2: 20-22:

²⁰ In a large house there are articles not only of gold and silver, but also of wood and clay; some are for special purposes and some for common use. ²¹ Those who cleanse themselves from the latter will be instruments for special purposes, made holy, useful to the Master and prepared to do any good work.
²² Flee the evil desires of youth and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, along with those who call on the Lord out of a pure heart.

Love in Christ,

Kristine