multiply – Praying Pint

50.j. Wilderness – 14.p. “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God”

Deu 8:11-18 “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.

Proverbs 1:32   For the simple are killed by their turning away, and the complacency of fools destroys them;

Proverbs 30:9   lest I be full and deny you and say, “Who is the LORD?” or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God.

Psalms 106:21    They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

Hosea 13:5-6     It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought;  but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me

Jeremiah 2:31   And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’?

1 Corinthians 4:7   For who sees anything different in you? What do you have that you did not receive? If then you received it, why do you boast as if you did not receive it?

Psalms 127:1-2    Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep.

When everything is fine and our lives are filled with abundance, it is not hard to have our hearts lifted up. We can easily forget the LORD Himself and forget it was all His work on our behalf. In times of abundance, it is easy to forget the LORD, or to at least no longer seek Him with the urgency we once had. We often think highly of our own hard work and brilliance. Yet we must see that God gives us the body, the brain, and the talent. It is all of God. His plan is that it would ultimately further His eternal purpose. Therefore, we have no right to use our material blessing to further selfish purposes; instead, we use our resources to advance His kingdom. (Guzik)

Moses directs to the duty of a prosperous condition. Let them always remember their Benefactor. In everything we must give thanks. Moses arms them against the temptations of a prosperous condition. When men possess large estates, or are engaged in profitable business, they find the temptation to pride, forgetfulness of God, and carnal-mindedness, very strong; and they are anxious and troubled about many things. In this the believing poor have the advantage; they more easily perceive their supplies coming from the Lord in answer to the prayer of faith; and, strange as it may seem, they find less difficulty in simply trusting him for daily bread. They taste a sweetness therein, which is generally unknown to the rich, while they are also freed from many of their temptations. Forget not God’s former dealings with thee. Here is the great secret of Divine Providence. Infinite wisdom and goodness are the source of all the changes and trials believers experience. Israel had many bitter trials, but it was to do them good. Pride is natural to the human heart. Would one suppose that such a people, after their slavery at the brick-kilns, should need the thorns of the wilderness to humble them? But such is man! And they were proved that they might be humbled. None of us live a single week without giving proofs of our weakness, folly, and depravity. To broken-hearted souls alone the Saviour is precious indeed. Nothing can render the most suitable outward and inward trials effectual, but the power of the Spirit of God. See here how God’s giving and our getting are reconciled, and apply it to spiritual wealth. All God’s gifts are in pursuance of his promises. Moses repeats the warning he had often given of the fatal consequences of forsaking God. Those who follow others in sin, will follow them to destruction. If we do as sinners do, we must expect to fare as sinners fare. (Henry)

40.j. “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied”

Exodus 1:8 Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

This was God’s purpose for Israel’s time in Egypt. Egypt served as a mother’s womb for Israel, a place where they rapidly grew from a large clan to a mighty nation. The nation could not grow this way in Canaan, because it was practically impossible to avoid intermarriage with the pagan and wicked inhabitants of Canaan. Egypt was so racially biased and had such an entrenched system of racial separation that Israel could grow there over several centuries without being assimilated. This growth in the face of affliction has consistently been the story of God’s people, throughout all ages – the more they are afflicted, the more they grow. As the ancient Christian writer Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Because God’s purpose was to bless Israel and fulfill His role for them in His eternal plan, no amount of affliction could defeat His purpose. The Egyptians tried their best through cruel slavery; but it did not work. The principle of Isaiah 54:17 proved true: No weapon formed against you shall prosper. The wickedness of the Egyptians could hurt the children of Israel but could never defeat God’s plan for them. Pharaoh thought it best to not kill them; but he did want them to be slaves. In the midst of their cruel and harsh service, life must have seemed hopeless to the children of Israel, and the idea that God was working out His plan must have seemed very far away – yet it was true nonetheless. (Guzik)

38.h. “I am God Almighty”

Genesis 35:9 God appeared to Jacob again, when he came from Paddan-aram, and blessed him. And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” So he called his name Israel. And God said to him, “I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply. A nation and a company of nations shall come from you, and kings shall come from your own body. The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give the land to your offspring after you.” Then God went up from him in the place where he had spoken with him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel.

When Jacob finally arrived at the place God told him to go, he immediately found great blessing. God appeared to him, God blessed him, and God called him by his new name (Israel). God granted Jacob a precious reminder of his place in God’s great covenant, begun with his grandfather Abraham. In this, Jacob did not need to hear anything new from God. He just needed to be reminded of what was true, and be encouraged to cling to it all. (Guzik)

Faith, obedience, trust, and reliance in Jesus Christ blesses the heart, soul, and mind. When we walk the lonely paths of self-directed, self-pleasing, and in self-reliance living, we will not find blessings, joy, peace, rest, refuge, firm-hope, courage, or power that is only rightly found in humble obedience following God’s leading each moment of every day.

36.o. ““I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless”

Genes9s 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.” Then Abram fell on his face. And God said to him, “Behold, my covenant is with you, and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you.

Genesis 18:14    Is anything too hard for the LORD?

Deuteronomy 10:17    For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.

Job 11:7   “Can you find out the deep things of God? Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

Psalms 115:3    Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.

Jeremiah 32:17    ‘Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you.

Daniel 4:35   all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”

Matthew 19:26    But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Ephesians 3:20    Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us,

Philippians 4:13    I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

God’s first words to Abram made an introduction and a declaration of His being. By this name El Shaddai (God Almighty), God revealed His Person and character to Abram. After the proclamation of His name El Shaddai, God then told Abram what was expected of him. It was first revelation and then expectation. This communicates the principle that we can only do what God expects of us when we know who He is, and we know it in a full, personal, and real way. The word blameless means “whole”. God wanted all of Abram, a total commitment. (Guzik)

Note the revelation of God’s character, and of our consequent duty, which preceded the repetition of the covenant. ‘I am the Almighty God.’ The aspect of the divine nature, made prominent in each revelation of Himself, stands in close connection with the circumstances or mental state of the recipient. So when God appeared to Abram after the slaughter of the kings, He revealed Himself as ‘thy Shield’ with reference to the danger of renewed attack from the formidable powers which He had bearded and beaten. In the present case the stress is laid on God’s omnipotence, which points to doubts whispering in Abram’s heart, by reason of God’s delay in fulfilling His word, and of his own advancing years and failing strength. Paul brings out the meaning of the revelation when he glorifies the faith which it kindled anew in Abram, ‘being fully assured that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform’ {Romans 4:21}. Whenever our ‘faith has fallen asleep’ and we are ready to let go our hold of God’s ideal and settle down on the low levels of the actual, or to be somewhat ashamed of our aspirations after what seems so slow of realisation, or to elevate prudent calculations of probability above the daring enthusiasms of Christian hope, the ancient word, that breathed itself into Abram’s hushed heart, should speak new vigour into ours. ‘I am the Almighty God-take My power into all thy calculations, and reckon certainties with it for the chief factor. The one impossibility is that any word of Mine should fail. The one imprudence is to doubt My word.’

What follows in regard to our duty from that revelation? ‘Walk before Me, and be thou perfect.’ Enoch walked with God; that is, his whole active life was passed in communion with Him. The idea conveyed by ‘walking before God’ is not precisely the same. It is rather that of an active life, spent in continual consciousness of being ‘naked and opened before the eyes of Him to whom we have to give account.’ That thrilling consciousness will not paralyse nor terrify, if we feel that we are not only ‘ever in the great Task-Master’s eye,’ but that God’s omniscience is all-knowing love, and is brought closer to our hearts and clothed in gracious tenderness in Christ whose ‘eyes were as a flame of fire,’ but whose love is more ardent still, who knows us altogether, and pities and loves as perfectly as He knows.

What sort of life will spring from the double realisation of God’s almightiness, and of our being ever before Him? ‘Be thou perfect.’ Nothing short of immaculate conformity with His will can satisfy His gaze. His desire for us should be our aim and desire for ourselves. The standard of aspiration and effort cannot be lowered to meet weakness. This is nobility of life-to aim at the unattainable, and to be ever approximating towards our aim. It is more blessed to be smitten with the longing to win the unwon than to stagnate in ignoble contentment with partial attainments. Better to climb, with faces turned upwards to the inaccessible peak, than to lie at ease in the fat valleys! It is the salt of life to have our aims set fixedly towards ideal perfection, and to say, ‘I count not myself to have apprehended: but . . .I press toward the mark.’ Toward that mark is better than to any lower. Our moral perfection is, as it were, the reflection in humanity of the divine almightiness. To possess God is only possible on condition of yielding ourselves to Him. When we give ourselves up, in heart, mind, and will, to be His, He is ours. When we cease to be our own, we get God for ours. The self-centred man is poor; he neither owns himself nor anything besides, in any deep sense. When we lose ourselves in God, we find ourselves, and being content to have nothing, and not even to be our own masters or owners, we possess ourselves more truly than ever, and have God for our portion, and in Him ‘all things are ours.’ (MacLaren)

To walk before God is to set him always before us, and to think, and speak, and act in every thing as those that are always under his eye. It is to have a constant regard to his word as our rule, and to his glory as our end, in all our actions. If we neglect him or dissemble with him, we forfeit the benefit of our relation to him. (Benson)

36.n. ““Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.””

Genesis 16:7 The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. And he said, “Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai.” The angel of the LORD said to her, “Return to your mistress and submit to her.” The angel of the LORD also said to her, “I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude.” And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, “You are a God of seeing,” for she said, “Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.” Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered. And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

The angel of the Lord found her by a well, and directed her to return to her mistress, and submit to her; at the same time he promised her the birth of a son, and an innumerable multiplication of her descendants. As the fruit of her womb was the seed of Abram, she was to return to his house and there bear him a son, who, though not the seed promised by God, would be honoured for Abram’s sake with the blessing of an innumerable posterity. (Keil and Delitzsch)

The almighty and omniscient God; since he promises to do what none but the omnipotent Being could do, and declares such things as none but the omniscient God could know: and when it is said he “found Hagar”, it is not to be understood as if it was a chance matter, or the fruit and effect of search and inquiry, or as if he had not seen her before; but rather it shows that his eye was upon her, and he had a concern for her, and at a proper time and place appeared to her at once, and unawares, and unthought of by her. (Gill)

When we choose to flee a situation it is good that we seek God’s will and plan before taking the first step. A hardened heart can run like the wind toward anything their mind can contrive as better, more comfortable, and safe. Certainly, there are times when this is exactly the will and plan of God. However, to make the decision without prayerfully seeking His direction we succumb to what seems right in our own eyes. What if God is growing you spiritually through the situation? What if God is going to show His power and might through a miracle or act that demonstrates His grace, mercy, and love? What if God is maturing your faith? When we find ourselves in a situation, our first thought and act are to humbly seek His refuge and lay it in His hands. He will certainly guide and direct your thoughts and steps.

35.u. “When man began to multiply on the face of the land”

Genesis 6:1 When man began to multiply on the face of the land and daughters were born to them, the sons of God saw that the daughters of man were attractive. And they took as their wives any they chose. Then the LORD said, “My Spirit shall not abide in man forever, for he is flesh: his days shall be 120 years.” The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

There are numerous thoughts on the Nephilim and where they came from or were a product of. In general these are two of those paths of thought.

The Nephilim were the heroes of old, men of renown. The people of the world were in a state of moral decay, and had fallen spiritually. The word nephilim is not a name title, and it should have been translated as the “fallen ones.”. It is referring to those who have fallen spiritually and are in moral decline.
The Nephilim (“fallen ones, giants”) were the offspring of sexual relationships between the sons of God and daughters of men in Genesis 6:1–4. There is much debate as to the identity of the “sons of God.” It is our opinion that the “sons of God” were fallen angels (demons) who mated with human females or possessed human males who then mated with human females. These unions resulted in offspring, the Nephilim, who were “heroes of old, men of renown”

I don’t find it important to have conclusion on Nephilim coming from sons and daughter of Seth marrying sons and daughters of Cain or sons and daughters of Seth and Cain marrying with fallen angels. What is important is the moral decay that takes place when God is cast aside and mankind determines their own paths in life. Man, void of God and things of God will always decay to a culture / society that is perverse, its moral compass lost, and where evil is the norm. The longer man lives apart from God the worse his state of mind and affairs. Man, apart from God, will devise plans, ideas, and earthly forms of right and wrong. Though the whole world claim something is right and true, if it is wrong in the eyes of God, it is wrong and false. Though the whole world claim things of God are wrong and false, if it is right in the eyes of God and God ordained, it is right and true. This is why it is important to know things of God, study His Word, and humbly serve, trust, obey, follow, and rely on Him. When we understand that our sole purpose this side of eternity is to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all we think, say, and do, it is then we will walk paths that are pleasing to God in whom we find true peace, joy, hope, courage, meaning, satisfaction, grace, mercy, and love.

34.x. “The work of My hands, that I might be glorified.”

Genesis 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Matthew 19:4   He answered, “Have you not read that he who created them from the beginning made them male and female,

Mark 10:6    But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’

Ephesians 2:10  For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.

Deuteronomy 32:6   Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

Psalms 100:3   Know that the LORD, he is God! It is he who made us, and we are his; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Isaiah 43:21   the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise.

Isaiah 60:21   Your people shall all be righteous; they shall possess the land forever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I might be glorified.

Jeremiah 31:33   For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Jeremiah 32:39-40   I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them.  I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.

Philippians 2:13     for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

Hebrews 13:21    equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in us that which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Ephesians 4:1    I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called,

Deuteronomy 5:33   You shall walk in all the way that the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you,

Psalms 81:13    Oh, that my people would listen to me

In our day, many say there is no real difference between men and women. This makes sense if we are the result of mindless evolution, but not if it is true that male and female He created them. To God, the differences between men and women are not accidents. Since He created them, the differences are good and meaningful. Men are not women, and women are not men. One of the saddest signs of our culture’s depravity is the amount and the degree of gender confusion today. It is vain to wonder if men or women are superior to the other. A man is absolutely superior at being a man. A woman is absolutely superior at being a woman. But when a man tries to be a woman or a woman tries to be a man, you have something inferior. (Guzik)

This was a peculiar distinction, the value attached to which appears in the words being twice mentioned. And in what did this image of God consist? Not in the erect form or features of man, not in his intellect, for the devil and his angels are, in this respect, far superior; not in his immortality, for he has not, like God, a past as well as a future eternity of being; but in the moral dispositions of his soul. (Jamison-Fausset-Brown)

There is more difficulty in deciding in what the likeness to God consisted. Certainly not in the bodily form, the upright position, or commanding aspect of the man, since God has no bodily form, and the man’s body was formed from the dust of the ground; nor in the dominion of man over nature, for this is unquestionably ascribed to man simply as the consequence or effluence of his likeness to God. Man is the image of God by virtue of his spiritual nature and by the breath of God by which the being became a living soul. (Keil and Delitzsh)

We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists’ criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry. We are not to look to Genesis for a scientific cosmogony, and are not to be disturbed by physicists’ criticisms on it as such. Its purpose is quite another, and far more important; namely, to imprint deep and ineffaceable the conviction that the one God created all things. Nor must it be forgotten that this vision of creation was given to people ignorant of natural science, and prone to fall back into surrounding idolatry. No theory has been able to bridge the chasm without admitting a divine act introducing the new element of life, and none has been able to bridge the gulf between the animal and human consciousness without admitting a divine act introducing ‘the image of God’ into man. (MacLaren)

It is, however, in the soul of man, that we must look for the divine image. And here we easily discern it. Like God, man’s soul is a spirit, immaterial, invisible, active, intelligent, free, immortal, and, when first created, endowed with a high degree of divine knowledge, and with holiness and righteousness. (Benson)

We gather from the present chapter that God is a spirit Genesis 1:2, that he thinks, speaks, wills, and acts (Genesis 1:3-4, etc.). Here, then, are the great points of conformity to God in man, namely, reason, speech, will, and power. By reason we apprehend concrete things in perception and consciousness, and cognize abstract truth, both metaphysical and moral. By speech we make certain easy and sensible acts of our own the signs of the various objects of our contemplative faculties to ourselves and others. By will we choose, determine, and resolve upon what is to be done. By power we act, either in giving expression to our concepts in words, or effect to our determinations in deeds. In the reason is evolved the distinction of good and evil Genesis 1:4, Genesis 1:31, which is in itself the approval of the former and the disapproval of the latter. In the will is unfolded that freedom of action which chooses the good and refuses the evil. (Barnes)

We were created by God with faculties of reason, understanding, and freedom in choices and actions. It is within our soul that we freely choose to want to honor and glorify our creator, savior, and redeemer. We were created for the ultimate single purpose of this. It is also within our soul to freely choose to deny, reject, and only live to please ourselves and thereby giving no honor, glory, or want to know the Creator. There is no satisfaction or meaning in a person’s life that has denied or rejected their creator. Satan, the water of all lies, will cast both bold and subtle lies hoping they will persuade a soul to deviate from God’s purpose and blessings. Man lives and man dies, nations rise and nations fall, and throughout it, all the eternal destiny, (Heaven or Hell), of each man is determined based on the freedom of choices they make regarding their Creator.

10.f. “I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

Amos 9:1 I saw the Lord standing beside the altar, and he said: “Strike the capitals until the thresholds shake, and shatter them on the heads of all the people; and those who are left of them I will kill with the sword; not one of them shall flee away; not one of them shall escape. “If they dig into Sheol, from there shall my hand take them; if they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. If they hide themselves on the top of Carmel, from there I will search them out and take them; and if they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them. And if they go into captivity before their enemies, there I will command the sword, and it shall kill them; and I will fix my eyes upon them for evil and not for good.”

Deuteronomy 28:15 But it shall come to pass, if you do not obey the voice of the Lord your God… And it shall be, that just as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess.

Leviticus 26:23 And if by these things you are not reformed by Me, but walk contrary to Me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I will punish you yet seven times for your sins. And I will bring a sword against you that will execute the vengeance of the covenant.

This was God’s way of telling Israel that they could run, but they could not hide from Him and His judgment. Even if they tried to dig into hell or climb up to heaven, they could not escape their responsibility before God. A high mountain (Carmel) or the bottom of the sea could not hide them from judgment. I will set My eyes on them for harm and not for good: An essential part of the Old Covenant was the promise of blessing or cursing based on Israel’s obedience. If Israel was in chronic, systemic disobedience, they could expect that God’s eye toward them would be for harm and not for good.

How much better is it to live under the blessings of God? Who would choose to take harm over good, and yet we do this every day we choose to walk paths disobedient to what it means to honor, glorify, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ. Walking each day with Jesus Christ is an intentional choice to deny self and live for Him. Life has a way of capturing our focus and it does it very subtly. Soon we find ourselves adopting things into our lives that are not honoring Jesus Christ or to our benefit. Keep a deep hunger and thirst for not only honoring Him but for growing in wisdom and understanding of His Word>

Fear not, do not be afraid

Genesis 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great.”

Genesis 26:24 Fear not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your offspring ”

Genesis 46:3 “Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you into a great nation.”

Exodus 14:13 “Fear not, stand firm, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will work for you today.”

Deuteronomy 31:6 “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”

1 Chronicles 28:20 “Be strong and courageous and do it. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the LORD God, even my God, is with you. He will not leave you or forsake you”

Isaiah 35:4 “Be strong; fear not! Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.”

Isaiah 41:10 “fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”

Isaiah 41:14 “I am the one who helps you, declares the LORD; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel”.

Isaiah 43:1 “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”

Isaiah 51:12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,”

Daniel 10:12 “Fear not, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart to understand and humbled yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words.”

Matthew 8:26 And he said to them, “Why are you afraid, O you of little faith?”

Revelation 1:17 But he laid his right hand on me, saying, “Fear not, I am the first and the last,

Matthew 10:28-31 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows.

Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Fear has a way of robbing us joy, peace, comfort, and rest. It creeps in through the father of lies and festers inside of us seeping poisonous thoughts into heart and mind. Fear is cruel and unforgiving. It attacks us at our core and cares not for the damage it causes in our lives.

I am not talking about the natural sudden fear we are born with that results in fight or flight reactions. The fear I am talking about comes from limited faith in what God can do. It finds the cracks in our faith and seeps through undetected. It eats away at the mortar of faith little by little until we are left with rubble where once a solid wall stood.

Throughout scripture we are given example upon example of God’s unfailing love, unwavering purpose, awesome power and mighty deeds. He wants us to know of them and trust in Him, cling to Him, and rely on Him.

Fear can be recognized and shut down.

When you recognize fear of doubt and uncertainty – give it into God’s hands

When you recognize fear of purpose – trust God’s perfect purpose

When you recognize fear of plans disrupted – trust God’s perfect plan timing

When you recognize fear of finances – rely on God who all things belong

When you recognize fear of health – trust in God the healer

When you recognize fear of disappointment – rest in God the restorer

When you recognize fear of those in leadership – know that God is in control

When you recognize fear of loneliness – cling to God who will never leave or forsake you – He knows the number of hairs on your head

When you recognize fear of the darkness of the society – trust in God the light of the world

When you recognize fear of being lost – call on God who is a place of refuge

When you recognize fear of waiting – know that God is working His perfect plan and purpose for you

When you recognize fear of spiritual warfare – Call on God and trust in His power

When you recognize fear of death – know the eternal God is holding your hand and will protect and carry you through

When you recognize fear of a new challenge – trust God will equip you

Fear should not have a place but it seems to be in our lives. Recognize it and allow it always lead you closer to God in a much stronger faith. God can do more than we ask and much more than we can imagine.

What is in your heart

“What shall I render to the LORD for all his benefits to me?”

“remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.”

Psalms 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits,

Psalms 105:5 Remember the wondrous works that he has done, his miracles, and the judgments he uttered,

Psalms 106:7 Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.

Psalms 106:21 They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,

Deuteronomy 8:2-4 And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.

Deuteronomy 8:10-14 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery,

Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus repay the LORD, you foolish and senseless people? Is not he your father, who created you, who made you and established you?

2 Chronicles 32:25 But Hezekiah did not make return according to the benefit done to him, for his heart was proud. Therefore wrath came upon him and Judah and Jerusalem.

Isaiah 63:7 I will recount the steadfast love of the LORD, the praises of the LORD, according to all that the LORD has granted us, and the great goodness to the house of Israel that he has granted them according to his compassion, according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Jeremiah 2:31-32 And you, O generation, behold the word of the LORD. Have I been a wilderness to Israel, or a land of thick darkness? Why then do my people say, ‘We are free, we will come no more to you’? Can a virgin forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.

Luke 17:15-18 Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; and he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, “Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?”

David said, “remember” and “forget not, the benefits and mighty works of God” .

Moses said, “take care lest you forget”, and “is this how you repay the Lord for all of His benefits?” ” “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God,”

Once again it is recorded another way in Jeremiah, “Yet my people have forgotten me days without number”

We all need reminders. Remember to humbly serve, praise, honor, follow, and obey God. Do not forget His grace and mercy in your time of plenty. Do not forget His gift of salvation through Jesus Christ. Do not forget to seek and desire His whispers of guidance into your heart and soul. Do not lean on your own understanding. Open the door to your heart and soul wide open to His plans and purpose for your life. Yes we all need reminders of encouragement to the steadfast awesome power, might, and love of God.