Tag Archives: daily walk

March 2

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Numbers 8-10

I was a band director for fourteen years. I have such great memories of those days and the young people who learned to make music out of various instruments. In one school district where I taught I was able to take a group of sixth graders on a field trip to Indiana to tour a factory where trumpets and saxophones were made. We watched the machines bend sheets of metal and form shiny, new instruments that would one day produce beautiful music.

The Israelites had no machines and yet the Bible says they made trumpets of hammered silver. I know they didn’t look like our modern-day trumpets but I guess I always pictured them blowing into rams’ horns instead of silver instruments.

Once again I am amazed at what these people accomplished in the desert.

The silver trumpets were used as signals to the Israelites. One trumpet sounding meant the heads of the clans were called to meet. Two trumpets sounding meant the whole community was called to assemble. They blew trumpet signals during battle and at times of rejoicing. There were trumpet blasts that signaled it was time to move on. The people listened for the sound of the trumpet to know what they were to do.

God is asking me today what my trumpets are. What do I listen to to tell me what to do? Is it a family member or a friend? Is it a church leader or a rock star? Do I read People Magazine to decide how to dress or get relationship advice from Real Housewives?

We all have influences. I think God is reminding us to listen for Him over all the other voices that call us. I think He is telling us to turn a deaf ear to anything else. That’s why I think it’s important to spend time in His word and I am so honored that you have decided to do that with me this year.

Let’s guard our hearts and minds and spend enough time with God to be able to recognize His voice amid the other things in this life that are calling us. If we listen, He will make His way known. And I have an idea he’s a pretty good trumpet player.

Father, thank you for your Word that speaks to us every time we read it. Thank you for wanting to guide and direct us and forgive us when we allow ourselves to be caught up in listening to other influences. May we recognize Your voice and may we be quick to obey.

February 25

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Leviticus 26&27

God promised that if the Israelites obeyed his commands they would be blessed. They would have rain when they needed it and they would eat all the food they wanted. They would live safely in their land and God would look favorably upon them.

But if they disobeyed there would be consequences. Crops would fail. If that didn’t get their attention wild animals would kill livestock and children. God gave them a long progression of horrible things that would happen as long as they continued in disobedience.

Then in verse 40 of chapter 26 God says… BUT. All he asked of Israel is that they repent. Confess their sins in humility and pay for their sins with the blood sacrifice.

God didn’t want to punish them. He wanted to bless them. And it’s the same today.

God takes no joy in seeing any of his children suffer. He wants to bless us in the sight of the nations as he did the early Jews. But if we don’t, there are consequences.

People are always saying… things are so much worse than when I was young. And it’s true. And it will continue to be true according to God’s Word. When we read Leviticus we get a glimpse into the mind of God who demands obedience. And who is very honest with the fact that if we don’t obey, things will continue to get worse. There is a long progression of horrible things that will happen as long as we ignore God.

Just as it was during the time the Jews were in the desert, God wants us to come to him with humbled hearts and confess our sins. The big difference between then and now is that our sins are already paid for by the precious blood of Jesus. We need only to accept it.

How much worse will our lives get? I guess that depends on us who know the truth and how willing we are to obey. It will depend on whether or not we are living holy lives and leading others to Jesus.

Dear God, give us humble hearts. May you find your children obedient, holy as you are holy. And may we be about the work you’ve chosen us for… revealing you to a lost world.

February 5

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Exodus 10-12

So finally after 430 years in Egypt Israel’s family is going home. They were free. God had seen the blood on the doorposts and spared them. They weren’t sure where they were going but they had faith in God to lead them.

Yes, they left some comforts in Egypt. Yes, they left some friends there. But where they were going was so much better.

And they were going because of the blood on the doorposts. They didn’t get a free pass just because they were Jewish. Their salvation didn’t come because they were kind or gave generously to the local United Fund. They weren’t spared because their brother obeyed. Salvation came only to the ones who covered their doorposts with the blood of the sacrifice.

I bet you know where I am going with this. Jesus is our sacrifice. He shed His blood and demands that we cover the entrance to our hearts with it. There is one salvation. And it’s through the precious blood of Jesus.

I don’t know why you read this post today. And I don’t know where you stand before God. But if you have not asked God to forgive you, if you have not accepted the free gift of salvation through Jesus’ blood, I pray you’ll do that today. Yes, there might have to be some things change in your life. And yes, it’s a little scary to begin a new journey. But I promise if you do, where you are going… and the the road you will travel with the Lord by your side is so much better than what you have today.

I am praying for you.

January 31

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I Chronicles 4:1-23, 7:1-5, 12-13, 30-40    Genesis 46:13-47:12

I am sometimes tempted to skip over the long list of difficult-to-pronounce names in the genealogies. I know they must be important or they would not be included in Scripture. Why did God inspire men to carefully record the descendants of his people? And why include that list more than once?

As I sit here this morning and reflect on these verses I am struck with the thought about my own genealogy. I’m not talking about biological relatives. I am talking about my spiritual lineage.

Listed there are my dear Mother, two spinster sisters we called Aunt Minnie and Aunt Rose who taught our pre-school Sunday School class and who prayed with me. My grandparents are there. As are those who introduced them to the Savior. Aunts and Uncles who loved the Lord, pastors whose messages encouraged and convicted me. A missionary named Alice who spoke at our church when I was twelve. The list goes on.

I thank God for these saints whose lives have touched mine and helped to mold me into the Christian woman I am today.

But will the genealogy end with me? Will there be people in heaven who are there because of me? Will I be listed among the names of those whose lives have drawn them to a saving knowledge of Jesus?

Lord, I thank you for reminding me today that I have a job to do. Help me to influence someone today  in a way that will draw them to You. I want to be a part of someone’s spiritual genealogy. Thank you for the people who are a part of mine.

January 18

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Job 11:27-15:21

I remember reading about Lot’s rescue before. He and his family were living in Sodom when the city was attacked and they were taken prisoner. But it occurred to me today as though for the first time, that God was revealing Himself to Lot through this event. He provided a way out for Lot and his family.

Lot was living in a sinful city. He was surrounded by perversion… and so were his wife and daughters. When Uncle Abram came to their rescue they could have, and should have, settled somewhere else. Did Lot go to God for direction before taking his kids back to the evilness in the city? I doubt it.

This is another example of God using the events of life to draw us to Himself. In this instance Lot accepted the salvation, fled the city to safety but then went right back. Lot ignored God and the end result, as we’ll see later, is he’ll lose his wife and experience how living among the perverted effected his daughters.

Some people acknowledge Jesus as Savior, then go right back to living the same lifestyle they lived before. Before long the evidence of their conversion is lost. What God is saying to me today is that sometimes, in order to be the godly people God wants us to be, we need to make some drastic changes. If we do the same things, talk the same way, laugh at the same jokes, sooner or later we put ourselves in danger of ignoring the salvation that was ours. Lot did that. And the results were devastating.

I know that our unsaved friends need the Lord. And I know that Paul said he became all things to all men in order to win some. But I guess I want to encourage all of us to tread lightly, to go carefully into situations that might tempt us to sin. And never go without going to God first. Our friends and our neighbors need to see us different… better than we were before. Not the same.

God, let me see you in the events of today. Help me recognize the many ways you try to get my attention. May I not pass up any opportunity to do the right thing and draw closer to you. Give me the ability to recognize things that would compromise my commitment to you… and flee. And may my life be such that my friends and neighbors will see You and want to know you, too.