Category: Devotions

WEDNESDAY 4^th

Galatians 1:1-5

NIV (v1) – ‘Paul, an apostle—sent not from men nor by a man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead . . .’

ESV (v1) – ‘Paul, an apostle—not from men nor through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead . . .’

(See also Galatians 1:11-12)

When Elaine and I made the decision to move up here to the North East, one of the first priorities was to find somewhere to live, a house. We searched the internet for all the viable options, and then drew a short list and then came up and spent a day over the new year driving around and viewing. We had a list of things that we wanted, a good size, a decent kitchen, good sized bedrooms, preferably have a garage and a garden and the list went on. Some houses didn’t fit the bill, others did but not the location, one house we pulled up outside we didn’t even bother to view, until we eventually decided upon the house which was in the early stages of being built which we reserved and are now living in. But it does not matter how big the kitchen is, or what size the bedrooms are, even if it has a garden or garage unless something important is in place and that is a good foundation! Remember the story Jesus told of the two builders, one foolish and another wise. The foolish man built on sand, and when the storms arrived it came crashing down, the other builder was wise and built upon rock and when the same storms came it stood firm. (Matthew 7:24-27)

When we come to Paul’s epistles, including the ones that come before Galatians (Romans and 1^st and 2^nd Corinthians) there is something we can be assured of, they come from a good solid foundation. Paul starts his epistles by introducing himself in such a way that there is no room for any doubt about his credentials, he had been ‘called as an apostle, not from men or through man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead . . .’

In Romans 1:1 he introduces himself as ‘a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God . . .’ In 1 Corinthians 1:1 he says ‘Paul, called by the will of God to be an apostle of Christ Jesus . . .’ he says similar in other opening verses, his credentials are very clear, not called by men but called by God. And as one called by God, he was charged with the responsibility of taking the gospel to the Gentiles and to the people of Israel. His mandate was clear, and in obedience he went, and he pioneered, preached, planted and he oversaw. It is out of this solid foundation of who and what he was in Christ, a servant and an apostle, that he wrote his epistles to the Churches, as I said yesterday, letters to build up, to encourage and exhort but also there are times when the letters were written to rebuke where needed so that correction could take place as we will see tomorrow in this first chapter to Galatians.

Because of the good foundation, we can trust Paul and all that he has written under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for it was not just written to the specific Church or Churches he may mention but for our sakes as well, that we too will be built up in the most holy faith. The epistles themselves therefore become a good foundation for our lives. Taken along with the words of Jesus, as we heed, we will stand strong.

TUESDAY 3^rd

Acts 9

We have spent the last 68 devotions looking at the first six books of the Old testament, Genesis through to the end of Joshua. From today we will move into the New Testament and spend some time with some of the epistles and letters of Paul, Galatians through to Colossians, then we will return to continue in the Old Testament.

Today as an introduction to the epistles I will take a few verses from Acts 9:11-16, as usual giving the verses from the two translations, the NIV and ESV.

NIV – (vv11-16) ‘The Lord told him, Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight. Lord, Ananias answered, I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name. But the Lord said to Ananias, Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.’

ESV – (vv11-16) ‘And the Lord said to him, Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight. But Ananias answered, Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.  And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name. But the Lord said to him, Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.’

I have mentioned in previous devotions how God has the right to choose whoever he wills to bring about his eternal plan, and made reference to these verses about Paul, who was such an unlikely individual to choose considering the kind of person he was. Note what verse 1 says, ‘But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.’ Just imagine it, here is Saul who has got permission to arrest any he found who had become followers of the Lord Jesus Christ and to have them imprisoned and maybe even put to death. His heart must have been as the Bible says, ‘deceitful above all things, and desperately sick’ (Jeremiah 17:9) and yet the Lord had his hand upon him, God had eternal purpose for him to fulfil, and while on his way to cause untold damage to the Church he has an encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ which was going to cause this man to do untold damage to the powers of darkness instead as he begins to fulfil the call of God ‘to be a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.’

I also mentioned in a devotion a few days ago about ‘what kind of legacy are we going to leave behind’ and when it comes to Paul or Saul as he was known, it could so easily have been the legacy of being the one who brutally destroyed the Church of Jesus Christ, but instead because of the grace of God in his life, after his conversion he became the man who had a ministry of not only being an amazing pioneer of the gospel and Church planter, but as the one who because of his deep and personal relationship with the one who met him on the Damascus road, gave to the Church so much of what we now call our Christian New Testament, what a legacy, and instead of destroying the Church his legacy through the ages, build up the Church, his legacy has helped to inspire to encourage and to bring strength to believers of every generation.

When we take the twenty seven books of the New Testament, Paul is responsible by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit for at least 13 of them, I say at least 13, for it is possible he may also have written Hebrews which would make it 14, that’s 50% of our New Testament books! Are you not glad that he had his Damascus road experience? for as a result you and I will have been encouraged, strengthened, and built up because of his legacy. It is now my job to try and continue to encourage, strengthen and build us up as a local Church by looking at these remarkable epistles, the problem I am going to have is to decide what to look at and what to leave out, but whatever I choose, I pray that we will be blessed as we look through the pages of these four epistles, Galatians through to Colossians.

MONDAY 2^nd

Joshua 24:14-28

NIV (v15) – ‘But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.’

ESV (v15) – ‘And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your fathers served in the region beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.’

Yesterday I asked us to note what it said in Joshua 24:2 about Abrahams family when they lived beyond the River (that is the river Euphrates)  ‘they served other gods.’ But something must have happened in Abrahams experience because he heard the LORD God speaking to him and he heeded the instruction and left the land where they were living for a land that the LORD God was going to show him.

What a transformation his encounter with God had upon him, so much so that the phrase became a well know phrase, ‘The God of our fathers, of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ Not the gods from the other side of the River, for that is what they would have been, just gods, worthless idols. (see 1 Chronicles  16:26 / Psalm 96:5 ‘For all the gods of the peoples are worthless idols, but the LORD made the heavens.’)  

After being reminded of what the LORD God had done for them in the verses we looked at yesterday, Joshua now gives to them a challenge, three options,  In a nutshell ‘are you going to serve the gods from over the River, the gods of the Amorites or are you going to serve the LORD?’

Joshua made his intentions very clear, ‘As for me and my house we will serve the LORD’ Looking at the evidence thus far, it was plainly clear to Joshua (to use a modern phrase) it was a no brainer to choose the LORD, after all, what had the gods beyond the river achieved ‘nothing’, what had the gods of the Amorites achieved, ‘nothing’, what had the LORD God achieved, absolutely everything. He had proven beyond any shadow of doubt that he was who he says he is, the ‘Great I am’. ‘Then Moses said to God, If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they ask me, What is his name? what shall I say to them? God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM. And he said, Say this to the people of Israel: I AM has sent me to you. God also said to Moses, Say this to the people of Israel: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.’

We are living in a multi faith society, it may sound like a contradiction to say the next phrase, but it is true, we are living in a godless society that is full of gods! Society is saying we don’t want your God, but we will create our own, making idols out of anything and everything and the sad fact remains the more gods the world creates the less fulfilled people’s lives seem to be. That is simply because there is only one God, and he is the God who has revealed himself through the Bible and through the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the vacuum that is in every person who is ever born will only truly be filled when God himself in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ is asked to fill it.

As we come to the end of our look at the first five books of  Scriptures, as you may have been following through with the devotions, can I challenge you with the same challenge that Joshua asked, ‘Choose today whom you will serve’.

We may have all heard the words of the song ‘don’t dilly dally on the way’ (no it is not found in our hymn book!) When it comes to choosing who we are going to serve it is essential not to dilly and dally, we cannot be perched on a fence, we cannot just hope that fate will decide for us, we cannot rely on chance, we have to be determined to make the decision to either remain in bondage serving the gods of the world or come into the place of true freedom and eternal hope by serving the LORD God. My prayer is that each one of us will either decide perhaps for the first time or reaffirm again today ‘As for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.’

NOVEMBER SUNDAY 1^st

Joshua 24:1-13

NIV (v13) – ‘So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.’

ESV (v13) – ‘I gave you a land on which you had not laboured and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

We are coming to the end of the book of Joshua, I have missed out a large swathe from chapter 9 through to chapter 23, in these chapters the people of Israel advance further, taking cities and lands, we see the division of the land for the various tribes and the setting up of places of refuge. By the time we get here to chapter 24, the LORD speaks through Joshua, reminding the people of Israel of all that he has thus far done for them. He takes them right back to the time when Terah lived beyond the Euphrates and more importantly the moment when God called Abraham from beyond the river. The first thing to notice here is that it says that ‘they served other gods.’ (we will return to that thought tomorrow) The LORD speaking through Joshua continues to remind them of all that has taken place, about Isaac, Jacob, Egypt, Moses, the plagues, the Red Sea, the wilderness, the Jordan, the various kings they had encountered, the places they had won through battles, culminating with verse 13 ‘I gave you a land on which you had not laboured and cities that you had not built, and you dwell in them. You eat the fruit of vineyards and olive orchards that you did not plant.’

For a moment let us go back both to when God spoke here through Joshua and to the time when he spoke to Abraham (Abram as he was called at the time) beyond the river. It is way back in Genesis 12, ‘The LORD had said to Abram, Go from your country, your people and your father’s household to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you’ (verses 1-3) In arriving in our studies to Joshua 24, from that moment when God called Abraham to this chapter almost 700 years have passed and what we discover is that God has been absolutely faithful, true to his word, and he did make from out of Abraham a great nation, and here they are finally in the land that has been promise. But notice this, back in Genesis 12, verse 6 says that ‘Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh . . . Then the LORD appeared to Abram and said, To your offspring I will give this land.’ Fast forward to Joshua 24 and where are they when God speaks to them through Joshua? Verse 1 says, ‘Joshua gathered all the tribes of Israel to Shechem . . .’ They were standing in the very place which God had promised!

God is faithful, he will always keep his word, despite what seemed to be set- backs, and problems or difficulties he will always bring to pass that which he has decreed and purposed. There was the problem of Abraham and Sarai not having a son, how could the promise be fulfilled, well the answer was not through man’s own attempts (Ishmael) it was through God’s miraculous intervention (Isaac).  Later there was a famine in the land, but again God had worked it all out for them and Joseph who had been thrown into a pit and thrown into a prison, turned up at in the palace at the right place at the right time to come to their aid and get them into Egypt where there was plenty of food for them all, but again, it seemed liked it had all gone pear shaped when they became captives in the land, slaves to the Pharaoh and in a state of oppression. But pear shaped it was not, it was God shaped as the LORD already had his man for the moment, Moses, who because of his own unique set of circumstances at his birth would know all about the workings of the Pharaoh and the palace and God called him to go and to bring release to the people of Israel, and they are delivered, and they wander in the wilderness, the promise of God seeming to get frustrated at every turn and at every corner, but no, he is faithful and they enter the land and thus we are where we are at the end of Joshua.

I am reminded of a verse from the book of Job, ‘Then Job replied to the LORD: I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.’ (42:1-3)

God is faithful, what he has promised he will fulfil, and the wonder is that the story didn’t end in Joshua 24 because there was still more from the promise made to Abraham that needed to be fulfilled and we fast forward a few thousand years and visit a place called Bethlehem, where in a manger, a baby was born who was ‘Christ the Lord’ and as a result of his obedience, through his own set of exceptional circumstances which led to him going to Calvary, not only is the nation of Israel blessed, but all the nations of the world are being blessed as they come by faith to believe in him.

In our text we are reminded that the People of Israel had that for which they did not labour (toil) and cities they had not built, and they ate of the fruit of the vineyards and orchards that they did not plant. Isn’t this a wonderful picture of Calvary and salvation, we have that which we haven’t had to labour for because it is not of works, but by grace, we are dwelling in a house we have not built, for it is he who is building the Church, a spiritual house and we will dwell in a house forever which he is preparing for us, and we receive the fruit of salvation not because we have planted an orchard of trees, but rather because he hung on a tree. What a Saviour, showing to us again the faithfulness of God.

SATURDAY 31^st

Joshua 8:30-35

NIV (v35) – ‘There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.’

ESV (v35) – ‘There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.’

We return to the same verses as yesterday and the renewal of the covenant.

We note first in these verses that Joshua built an altar to the LORD, this was in obedience to what Moses had commanded the people of Israel. They then offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and then Joshua wrote on the stones that had been used to build the altar a copy of the law of Moses and then he read all the words of the law before all the assembly of Israel.

Notice the text, ‘There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel . . .’

Today I just want to remind us of the importance of the Word of God, I know we know, but it is still good to have constant reminders, in particular the importance of the WHOLE of the Word of God. Joshua did not leave anything out, he wasn’t selective, he didn’t pick and choose the bits he liked or favoured and leave out the rest, he read it all!

Paul reminds us in his letter to Timothy that ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.’ (2 Timothy 3:16) While I have been doing these devotions, I have personally been challenged with regard to where would I normally turn to in the Scriptures for study and ministry preparation, and the truth would be there are some books that I perhaps would rarely turn to and yet ‘ALL SCRIPTURE is . . . and profitable for TEACHING . . .’ Again Paul says in the book of Romans, ‘For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.’ (15:4) When Joshua stood and read all that Moses had commanded to the people of Israel they would have been challenged, they may have been moved in repentance, but as Paul says they would have been encouraged and would have been given hope.

May we always treasure the Word of God, may we always remain faithful in the public reading of the Word of God and may we always be willing to receive its instruction, its counsel, its warning and its hope, for it is the living powerful Word of God. Referring back to yesterday’s devotion, and any risk of sin in the camp, or of sin in our lives, the cure is the Word of God, or should I say our commitment to the reading of it and obedience to the instruction found within it, for we are reminded in Hebrews 4:12 ‘For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.’ A regular dose of Scripture will help keeps us right before God. Again, in Psalm 119 the question is asked, ‘How shall a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.’ (v9) This is relevant to not just the young man, but also to the young woman, the older man, and the older woman, applicable to us all.

FRIDAY 30^th

Joshua 8:30-35

NIV (v35) – ‘There was not a word of all that Moses had commanded that Joshua did not read to the whole assembly of Israel, including the women and children, and the foreigners who lived among them.’

ESV (v35) – ‘There was not a word of all that Moses commanded that Joshua did not read before all the assembly of Israel, and the women, and the little ones, and the sojourners who lived among them.’

In the verses surrounding our text for today especially verses 30-35 Joshua is renewing the covenant, the heading for this section in my ESV is ‘Joshua renews the covenant’.

The people of Israel had had an amazing victory under the LORD God’s direction at Jericho, then in chapter 7 they suffered a humiliating defeat against the city of Ai as a result of the sin of Achan and their disobedience to the command of God (7:10-11), we read that his sin is uncovered and he is put to death as a result of it (7:22-26). In chapter 8 the people of Israel are to go up against Ai for the second time and they win. When you read some of these accounts of the battles and conquests, they don’t make very pleasant reading, the gruesome things that are done, they are enough to make you shudder and we perhaps cannot always get our heads around why God did things the way he did, but as I have often said he is God and when we can’t fully grasp or understand, we need to remember that he knows, and we just have to rest in the knowledge that he is outworking his good and perfect purpose. Perhaps one way to consider the details we think as gruesome is to understand that the land needed purging, just as sin needs to be dealt with in our own lives and it took the gruesome death of the Lord Jesus at Calvary to make it possible, so to deal with the sin in the land, it needed gruesome ways to make sure it was dealt with and the land purged from evil, whether it be evil people, evil ways or evil rulers.

But we come to chapter 9, Ai has been defeated, and Joshua decides the covenant needs renewing. Could we put it this way, the relationship of the people of Israel with the Lord God needed renewing they needed to be reminded of their privileged position as God’s people and therefore their incredible responsibility towards following him with obedience and whole heartedly. They had so easily slipped into sin, they had learned that sin cannot go unpunished, therefore, the better option is to repent and to renew their covenant with the LORD God.

I will end this devotion here today with a personal challenge to us all as individuals and return to the same verses again tomorrow. For individually we have a responsibility toward the whole or us all collectively as a local Church, sin in the camp led to devastating results in chapter 7, but a correcting of the wrong led to victory in chapter 8. We each need to ensure that we are all doing the very best we can not to allow sin to enter into our lives, be it through thought or deed as it not only has an effect upon the individual that is sinning, but it can have an effect upon us as a whole, a congregation of God’s people, and therefore  we need to ensure that sin is not active in our camp, but that we are all walking in a right relationship with God and with one another. In 1 Peter chapters one and two, we are shown how we should be within the Church, or in the context of our text today ‘our camp’ chapter one verse 22 says, ‘Having purified your souls by the obedience to the truth for a sincere brotherly love, love one another earnestly from a pure heart, since you have been born again . . . .’ Peter then shows how we have been born again in verses 23-25 and then he continues the instruction in chapter two, ‘So put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander . . .’ In other words, keep oneself free from sin so that it has no effect upon the camp! Then finally in chapter two and verse eleven, Peter continues, ‘Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain form the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.’

May God keep us all free from anything that would restrain us as a Church from moving forward and reaching the goals that God himself as set for us to achieve.

THURSDAY 29^th

Joshua 6

NIV (v4) –  ‘Have seven priests carry trumpets of rams’ horns in front of the ark. On the seventh day, march around the city seven times, with the priests blowing the trumpets.’

ESV (v4) – ‘Seven priests shall bear seven trumpets of rams’ horns before the ark. On the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets.’

We will pause in Joshua 6 for one more devotion, but it will be in the form of an option for you to go into the Word a little more with a study. You cannot have missed that one of the key words in this chapter is the number seven, seven priests, seven trumpets, seven days and seven times on the seventh day.

We are told that in Scripture the number seven is the number of completion or perfection and it is amazing how many times seven is the key word or number in many different ways. Today I will highlight just a few of them for you to study further if you wish to.

The first is the obvious one of the days of creation taking six days, and the next day being the seventh completed the week and was set aside as a day of rest. Genesis 1&2

We also have the sign of the rainbow which God set in the sky, to promise to Noah and his family that he would never destroy the earth again with a flood, and although the number is not used we all know that the number of colours in the rainbow is seven. Genesis 9.

In 2 Kings 5 we have the story of Naaman the leper and he is told by Elisha the servant of God to go and to dip in the river Jordan seven times, and when he comes up out of the water after the seventh time he is cleansed and healed from the awful disease.

We have the seven ‘I am’ statements of the Lord Jesus in the gospel of John,

The bread of life, (6:35) the light of the world, (8:12) the door, (10:7) the good shepherd, (10:11) the resurrection and the life, (11:25) the way, the truth and the life, (14:6) the true vine. (15:1)

The seven sayings of Jesus on the Cross found in Luke 23:34 ‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ Luke 23:43 ‘Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.’ John 19:26–27 ‘Woman, behold your son! . . . Behold, your mother!’  Matthew 27:46 ‘Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani? . . . My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?’ John 19:28 ‘I thirst.’ John 19:30 ‘It is finished.’ Luke 23:46 ‘Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.’

In Hebrews we see seven better things, a better covenant, (7:22) better promises, (8:6) better possession, (10:34) better hope, (7:19) better sacrifices, (9:23) a better country, (11:16) a better life, (11:35)

In Revelation we have the ‘seven Churches’ (Revelation 1:4 and chapters 2-3) The ‘seven spirits who are before the throne’ (1:4) The ‘seven seals’ (5:1, 6:1-8:5) The ‘seven angels and seven trumpets’ (8:1-11:19) The ‘seven angels with seven plagues’ (15:18) The ‘seven bowls of God’s wrath’ (16:1-21)

WEDNESDAY 28th

Joshua 6

NIV (v20) – ‘When the trumpets sounded, the army shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the men gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so everyone charged straight in, and they took the city.’

ESV (v20) – ‘So the people shouted, and the trumpets were blown. As soon as the people heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouted a great shout, and the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they captured the city.’

I suppose it would be wrong for me to pass over this chapter, a story we all know very well, and I remember when I was a child the way that we loved to sing with gusto the song that goes with it.

Around the walls of Jericho,

Around the walls of Jericho,

Around the walls of Jericho, the army went.

Seven times without a stop,

Seven times without a stop,

Seven times without a stop, the army went.

When the people gave a SHOUT,

When the people gave a SHOUT,

When the people gave a SHOUT, the walls fell down.

There are so many lessons we can learn from this story, as examples I will consider two.

Firstly, the lesson of Obedience – who on earth in their right mind is going to expect to see a city’s walls collapse simply by marching around it seven times for seven days? Imagine a group of us going around a local City in the same fashion, expecting the city walls to tumble on the seventh day. But in Joshua 6 the instruction had come from God and however ridiculous it may have seemed from the human point of view, this was God at work, this was God’s business and it required simple faith and obedience, it teaches us that if God says he is going to do something, then we should obey and play our part, it is up to God to do what he is going to do as a result of our obedience.

The second lesson is that of persistence, to march around the city one day was probably a tall order for some of them, but to have to do it twice, three times, four times . . . six times, surely God could cause the walls to fall after the first time, it would save them a lot of time and effort, not to mention the shoe leather, but no, there is more, on day seven march around it seven times! ‘You got to be joking?’ No, this was God’s instruction, persist in it and see the victory God will bring about. And it happened.

I think that impatience is one of my weak points, especially in the car in the traffic, if I can find even the slightest chance of dodging and avoiding a queue, I will take it. I wonder how many of us are a little impatient when it comes to our Christian walk, we want to see things happen sooner, we want to do something before time, we want this and that, and when it comes to prayer we expect immediate answers, we just struggle with being persistent and waiting for God’s timing. Maybe our problem issues back to my first point, that of obedience, we know what God is wanting us to be doing, but it will be too much effort, hard work, surely there is a better way, and we end up lingering at the doorway of obedience, dithering as to whether to commit to obeying or instead to not commit at all. Victory will only be available to us if we are willing to obey and to persist in that which God is calling us to do.

TUESDAY 27^th

Joshua 5

NIV (v12) – ‘The manna stopped the day after they ate this food from the land; there was no longer any manna for the Israelites, but that year they ate the produce of Canaan.’

ESV (v12) – ‘And the manna ceased the day after they ate of the produce of the land. And there was no longer manna for the people of Israel, but they ate of the fruit of the land of Canaan that year.’

One of the advantages there are for me in preparing these daily devotions is that I often come across a verse or two that stand out for me, that I will have read before but not taken any significant notice of and the verse for today (v12) is one of them.

The people of Israel had left Egypt some forty years or so earlier, they had witnessed many spectacular events, one of which was the daily provision of God for them with the manna which they collected fresh every day. They had now crossed the Jordan into the Promised land, which if you remember was going to be a land flowing with milk and honey. In our chapter for today they celebrated the Passover for the first time since entering the land and the next day they ate of the produce of the land and immediately afterward there was no longer any manna for them to go out and to collect. The period of the manna was over, a new day had dawned, a new beginning and from then onward they would eat of the produce of the land.

What we need to remind ourselves of is this, the manna was God’s provision for them, but only until . . . and the until was this moment in our text for today, until they could begin to partake of the new provision within the new promised land. It marked a significant change in their daily lives, no more collecting manna, now they were going to enjoy something new and just as they had trusted God with the ‘old’ provision so they would need to learn to trust him to provide with the ‘new’ provision in the land.

I think there is an important spiritual lesson here and it is this, our God is the same God that Israel served, and just as he was bountiful in his provision toward them so he is in his provision toward us, and we need to constantly remind ourselves that we cannot expect to be living on his provision from yesteryear, or last month or even last week, there needs to be an ongoing provision, it may have been manna over the last few years, but maybe God has something different for us for the next few years. We need to learn to trust God when he moves us out of a specific era or period into a new era or period, he is a God who is constantly moving and we need to move with him in our generation both to be blessed and to be a blessing to others.

MONDAY 26^th

Joshua 4

NIV (v21-22) – ‘He said to the Israelites, In the future when your descendants ask their parents, What do these stones mean? tell them, Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.’

ESV (v21-22) – ‘And he said to the people of Israel, When your children ask their fathers in times to come, What do these stones mean? then you shall let your children know, Israel passed over this Jordan on dry ground.’

After the people of Israel had gone through the river Jordan, they were instructed to choose twelve men who were to take twelve stones from the Jordan and place them near to where they had crossed at Gilgal. They were to become known as the ‘Memorial Stones’, for each time the children were to ask their fathers what do these stones mean, the reply would be given ‘that Israel had passed over on dry ground, for the LORD God had caused the water of the Jordan to dry up’. It was a constant reminder or memorial of the faithfulness of God toward them as a people. But not just a memorial for Israel, verse 24 says it was ‘so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty, that you may fear the LORD your God forever.’

I guess we all like memorials, things, activities, celebrations etc. which are memorials throughout our life, a date that we recall every year to remember our birthday, an anniversary etc. an activity we try to participate in every year, something that takes place as a result of a previous happening or event and which we recall and recount.

Jesus instituted the greatest memorial of all when he took not twelve stones, but twelve men and sat down at supper with them. They were in the process of going through a special memorial, the Passover, the annual feast in which the people of Israel commemorated their deliverance from out of Egypt, and the protection they had had because of the blood being applied on the doorposts and lintels of their homes. And while celebrating Jesus turned it into a new memorial which would become one of the two sacraments of the Christian Church, that of the Sacrament of Communion, the other that of Water baptism.

The words of Jesus himself while sat with the disciples and as he broke bread and passed it to them, and took the cup and passed it to them was this, ‘This do in remembrance of me’

Jesus was about to go through the awful agony and pain of the Cross, he was about to fulfil his Fathers will so that we who were in our bondage to sin would be able to cross over to the place of our deliverance and freedom, and as a means of remembering, or memorial, Jesus put into action this simple yet profound practise of what we call coming around the Lord’s table. And this we do however often we do it, in remembrance of him. A memorial that we have crossed over because of the hand of the Lord God in bringing about our redemption. A memorial that we have only crossed over because the Lord Jesus Christ was willing for his body to be broken and for his life blood to be shed, a memorial that we may know that the hand of the LORD is mighty to save, and that we who have come to faith may fear the LORD our God forever. When we come each time to partake in communion, it is to remember HIM and all he has done for us, while at the same time looking forward in anticipation that he who died, also rose again and is ascended and seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, and he is coming again, coming to complete our wonderful, amazing salvation. Surely this is worth remembering!