“See, today I have set before you life and prosperity, death and adversity. For I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commands, statutes, and ordinances, so that you may live and multiply, and the Lord your God may bless you in the land you are entering to possess. But if your heart turns away and you do not listen and you are led astray to bow down to other gods and worship them, I tell you today that you will certainly perish and will not live long in the land you are entering to possess across the Jordan. I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, love the Lord your God, obey Him, and remain faithful to Him. For He is your life, and He will prolong your life in the land the Lord swore to give to your fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” (Deuteronomy 30:15-20 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
When the people of Israel first heard these powerful words, they were entering the land of Canaan — the Promised Land. God tells them plainly that they can either be blessed or be cursed. It was completely up to them — the ball was in their court. This scripture is just as true now as it was when it was first spoken 3,500 years ago. Each of us make choices that determine what our life will be both now and through eternity.
This is an eternal principle. God sets before us life and death, prosperity and destruction. This world and the future world belong to God, even though Satan is still the “prince of this world,” he has limited power. Only those who love God and serve Him can experience true life and true prosperity. That doesn’t only mean eternity in heaven, but it begins right here and now in this fallen world. We can experience such power over evil that despite the problems raging around us, we can have an abundant life that transcends Satan’s limitations.
God’s chosen people were about to cross over into a land flowing with milk and honey, as long as their hearts remained true to God. Yet history shows that every time they turned away from God to their own selfishness and indulgences, that beautiful land became barren, and even their enemies would wield cruel power over them. The controls had been firmly placed in their hands by God, but all too often they foolishly chose death and destruction when they didn’t have to.
The controls are still in our hands as we journey through this life. Jesus Christ invites everyone to come to Him in faith, and live out that faith in action. He demands that you put Him first and that you deny yourself to follow Him. So which do you choose — life, prosperity, blessings; or death, want, and curses?
I cried out to you, O Lord. I begged the Lord for mercy, saying, “What will you gain if I die, if I sink into the grave? Can my dust praise you? Can it tell of your faithfulness? Hear me, Lord, and have mercy on me. Help me, O Lord.” You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing. You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy, that I might sing praises to you and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give you thanks forever. (Psalm 30:8-12 — New Living Translation)
King David asked for this psalm to be read at the dedication of the Temple his son would build, a building he would never see. He felt that it would be an appropriate message for such a majestic building, and an interesting note is that throughout the psalm David makes it clear that God had rescued him from trouble, death, and pride. This is what makes God such a great god, and this was also what made David a great man of God, he was humble and unafraid to admit his weaknesses, and to make it clear that God was the reason for his success.
Have you ever noticed how we can pray for something for weeks, months, or even years and not receive and answer, and then in a moment of desperation cry out once and receive the answer we’ve been waiting so long for? People cry out to God throughout the Bible, and one thing that always follows this extreme type of prayer is God’s answer. It’s the type of prayer we make when we are fed up, when we’ve had enough, or when we are facing death or ruin.
Another interesting note about David’s prayer is that he reasoned with God… he didn’t talk about doctrine, or about his own goodness — instead he explained why he needed his prayer to be answered, he wrestled with God. “What will You gain if I die?” he asked. From all I see in the Bible, and what I’ve experienced in my life, God loves for us to present intelligent arguments to Him and insist that He do what He’s promised in His Word.
This type of extreme, no-holds-barred praying turns mourning into dancing… in turns clothes of mourning into clothes of joy. If you are unhappy with your life, if troubles keep growing, it is time for you to cry out to God and ask Him to rescue you.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus and said, “Who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then He called a child to Him and had him stand among them. “I assure you,” He said, “unless you are converted and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child — this one is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one child like this in My name welcomes Me. “But whoever causes the downfall of one of these little ones who believe in Me — it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were drowned in the depths of the sea. (Matthew 18:1-6 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
Jesus’ disciples asked who was the greatest in the kingdom. Though they were sincere men (except for Judas), they still had political and worldly ambitions. Jesus wanted to correct this and help them get rid of the wrong kind of pride and ambition. He took a small child and had him stand in the middle of the disciples. Then He said that they should all change and be like little children if they want to enter the kingdom of God. Humility, faith, dependence upon their father or mother, sincerity, lack of worry or concern for the future, absence of personal ambition — all these and more are characteristics of children. In one way it is very important for us to be mature and act like adults, but we must also be like children.
Are you childlike? If so you will trust that your Father in heaven will supply your needs. Serve Him and don't worry about position or reputation. Don't worry about what other people worry about. We are God's children and He will protect and care for us. Don't allow fear or worry or jealousy of others to live in your heart. Concentrate on being great in His eyes — make your real purpose in life to please Him. Be childlike as Jesus taught, and be careful to help other children — large and small!
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you know Me, you will also know My Father. From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.” (John 14:6-7 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
This passage is one of the seven “I Ams” of Jesus in the gospel of John — seven times that Jesus says “I Am” and then follows it with a descriptive term or phrase. This comes to life when we remember that God described Himself to Moses on Mount Sinai as “I am who I am” — a name that seemed to be intentionally mysterious — and then a thousand years later the same name is used of Jesus and is described in seven different ways. (The number seven in the Bible always symbolizes perfection or completeness.)
When Jesus refers to Himself as the way, the truth, and the life He is making a bold statement of His divine nature. He is the way because His death on the cross provides the only way to God. Unless our sins are forgiven and we are made clean, we cannot approach God. He is the truth because He came to earth and spoke about the Father and revealed God’s will for us. He is the life because only through Him can we live a life of power in this world. In His name we cast out demons, and in His name we pray to the Father.
The world searches for these three things — the way, the truth, and the life — hoping to find meaning and happiness in governments, success, fame, family, health and pleasure. But no lasting happiness can be found apart from the Lord Jesus Christ. Sorry if this sounds proud or exclusive, but this is what He said.
Pay your obligations to everyone: taxes to those you owe taxes, tolls to those you owe tolls, respect to those you owe respect, and honor to those you owe honor. Do not owe anyone anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. The commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not covet; and whatever other commandment — all are summed up by this: Love your neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore, is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:7-10 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
We should not owe anyone anything… the only debt we should never finish paying is the debt of love. But to help us understand what this means, Paul explains... It means paying obligations and taxes, showing respect and honor, paying off anything else that might be owed, and refusing to commit adultery or murder, and to refrain from stealing and coveting. Love cannot be a word we use, or an attitude we apply to one area of our lives and not another. Love entails doing all the above mentioned things, and more. Interestingly, the Holy Spirit speaks about love but also mentions at least eight ways that we can manifest this love. Like we have said before, genuine love is not talk, but action. Just like Jesus proved His love for us by dying on the cross, we have to prove our love for Him by dying to self and living for Him.
God says we should love our neighbor as we love ourselves. What a big responsibility this is! On the other hand, how can we say that we love God, and then turn around and hate or ignore a person that He created and loves? Whenever we deal with other people, no matter who they are, they are souls in need of salvation and this must be our primary focus. When we show love, we fulfill the law of God.
Let’s remember that true love involves hate. I cannot truly love God and not hate the devil. If I love God and other people, I will also hate sin and the demons that want to drive wedges between us and Him. It’s not enough for us to love and worship God (which most Christians do), we also have to fight the devil and demons.
The person who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me; the person who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. And whoever doesn’t take up his cross and follow Me is not worthy of Me. Anyone finding his life will lose it, and anyone losing his life because of Me will find it. (Matthew 10:37-39 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
This passage teaches a very basic principle of being a Christian and following God. Unlike what many people think, following God is not a casual thing that you do every once in a while when you feel like it. Following God means putting Him before everything and everyone. Like the passage says, if we don’t put him before family, we’re not worthy of Him. He has to come before our money, our time, our family and friends, our pleasures, our career and everything else. He doesn’t want to spoil our lives and take away all pleasure, in fact He wants to improve our lives. When we put Him first we become better husbands and fathers, better wives and mothers, better sons and daughters… whatever we are we become better at it.
Taking up our cross and following Him mean that we should be committed to the point that we are willing to die for God. The cross was the manner in which the Lord Jesus died, and it is a reminder of how Satan and his demons are defeated, and how we are forgiven for our sins, but it is also a reminder of how we also need to die for Him. We don’t have to be executed on a cross — though some of the disciples were — but we have to die to our flesh, and give up the pleasure of going along with temptation, and living like everyone else. The cross means that we have to be willing to be made fun of by co-workers, family, or friends because we don’t live the way they do. The cross means that we die to worry and fear, and choose to live by faith.
The last sentence of today’s passage is so beautiful. If we find our lives (hold on to them) we will lose them, and only if we lose our lives (die to our own will) we will find them. It’s the wonderful paradox of life. If we carry our cross daily and die to ourselves, we will then, and only then, discover true happiness and strength. If we try to hold on to everything in this life and do things our own way, we will lose everything.
We know how the large majority of people have chosen to live, our challenge is to be different.
But the Lord is faithful; He will strengthen and guard you from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3 — Holman Christian Standard Bible)
“The Lord is faithful” is a declaration that appears again and again throughout the Bible. It is one of the most important truths about God that we can ever learn, and a statement that the devil and demons work hard at discrediting. When the serpent tempted Eve in the Garden, he got her to listen to him by implying that God was unfaithful… and though more than four thousand years have come and gone, he continues to uses the same tactic. The God-is-unfaithful lie seems to be an easy one for people to accept and latch on to. The devil works extra hard at reinterpreting our past, and the world around us to reinforce this lie, and so we have to continually be on guard against it. No matter what things look like at the moment, we need to hold on to the truth that the Lord is faithful.
When this passage mentions “evil one”, it is simply another term for Satan. Note that God does not promise to remove him from our lives, or from the world — obviously, that will be true in heaven. Instead God promises to strengthen and guard us from the evil one. One of the most important truths about the devil that we can ever learn is this: Satan and demons are a permanent, evil part of this world that we have to continually resist. They will never simply disappear one day, or finally decide to give up on us completely. There will be times of intense attack, and times of lighter attack, but they will be a constant danger for the rest of our lives on earth, and God’s response to this is to offer us His strength and protection.
Instead of complaining about the attacks and temptations of the devil, we need to concentrate on developing God’s strength and accepting His protection. Ephesians 6:10-17 speaks about the armor of God by which we can “stand against the tactics of the devil”. This is not a passive, automatic armor that suddenly appears when we accept Jesus into our hearts. It’s an armor that we must decide to put on, that involves God’s help and protection, but that also requires our own effort.
One more thing: the armor that is spoken about in Ephesians, and in various other passages of the Bible, is God’s own armor. It is not earthy, human armor, it is God’s armor. Like king Saul tried to dress David the shepherd boy in his armor to fight Goliath — a great honor — God dresses us in His armor! What an honor this is. How powerful we become when we decide to put it on. Instead of complaining about the problems of this world, we need to concentrate on clothing ourselves in the armor of God because when we do the attacks of the evil one become so small an insignificant.
“The Lord is faithful!”
