February 17, Deut. 9:1-11:32

Deuteronomy 9:15-29

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁵ So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire. And the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands.

¹⁶ And I looked, and behold, you had sinned against the Lord your God; you had made for yourselves a molten calf. You had turned aside quickly from the way which the Lord had commanded you.

¹⁷ I took the two tables, cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes.

¹⁸ Then I fell down before the Lord as before, for forty days and forty nights; I neither ate food nor drank water, because of all the sin you had committed in doing wickedly in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger.

¹⁹ For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure which the Lord held against you, enough to destroy you. But the Lord listened to me that time also.

²⁰ And the Lord was very angry with Aaron, angry enough to have destroyed him, and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time.

²¹ And I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burned it with fire and crushed it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust; and I cast the dust of it into the brook that came down out of the mountain.

²² At Taberah also and at Massah and at Kibroth-hattaavah you provoked the Lord to wrath.

²³ Likewise when the Lord sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you, then you rebelled against the commandment of the Lord your God, and you did not believe Him or trust and rely on Him or obey His voice.

²⁴ You have been rebellious against the Lord from the day that I knew you.

²⁵ So I fell down and lay prostrate before the Lord forty days and nights because the Lord had said He would destroy you.

²⁶ And I prayed to the Lord, O Lord God, do not destroy Your people and Your heritage, whom You have redeemed through Your greatness, whom You have brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.

²⁷ Remember [earnestly] Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; look not at the stubbornness of this people or at their wickedness or at their sin,

²⁸ Lest the land from which You brought us out say, Because the Lord was not able to bring them into the land which He promised them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to slay them in the wilderness.

²⁹ Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your mighty power and by Your outstretched arm.

Yeah, so I'm thinking as I ache for the sin and destruction all around me. Good people whom I love deeply chasing after fulfillment in all the wrong ways. Maybe I need to take action. How desperate am I? How desperate are you? My husband is talking about going on a long fast. Yuck! I have a love/hate relationship with fasting. When I fast I have such an awful hunger for food and deep confidence at the same time! Every time I fast, answers come. I see God work in others. I see God work in me. Okay, God, I hear You loud and clear.

Oh, and laying prostrate on the floor. A position of humble desperation. Not extremely comfortable, but effective! I haven't done nearly enough of that lately.

The last time I fasted and cried out to God consistently for a long period of time, my dear son came back to God. Yep, fasting and desperate prayer works!

Deuteronomy 10:14-11:1

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁴ Behold, the heavens and the heaven of heavens belong to the Lord your God, the earth also, with all that is in it and on it.

¹⁵ Yet the Lord had a delight in loving your fathers, and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as it is this day.

¹⁶ So circumcise the foreskin of your [minds and] hearts; be no longer stubborn and hardened.

¹⁷ For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, the terrible God, Who is not partial and takes no bribe.

¹⁸ He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger or temporary resident and gives him food and clothing.

¹⁹ Therefore love the stranger and sojourner, for you were strangers and sojourners in the land of Egypt.

²⁰ You shall [reverently] fear the Lord your God; you shall serve Him and cling to Him, and by His name and presence you shall swear.

²¹ He is your praise; He is your God, Who has done for you these great and terrible things which your eyes have seen.

²² Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of the heavens for multitude.

11 Therefore you shall love the Lord your God and keep His charge, His statutes, His precepts, and His commandments always.

Again, simple instruction. Don't be stubborn in your misery! Just bow to God alone in humble submission. He loves you and will fight for you. That's it! Done!

Seriously, I am my own worst enemy. I fuss and fume  because I won't let go and let God! All I have to do is cleanse my heart, and speak when He says speak, shut up when He says shut up, go when He says go, and stand still when He says stand still!

Deuteronomy 11:13-17

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹³ And if you will diligently heed My commandments which I command you this day—to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your [mind and] heart and with your entire being—

¹⁴ I will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your grain, your new wine, and your oil.

¹⁵ And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, that you may eat and be full.

¹⁶ Take heed to yourselves, lest your [minds and] hearts be deceived and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them,

¹⁷ And the Lord’s anger be kindled against you, and He shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the land will not yield its fruit, and you perish quickly off the good land which the Lord gives you.

If you, then I. Boom. Just do it! 

Deuteronomy 11:18-25

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁸ Therefore you shall lay up these My words in your [minds and] hearts and in your [entire] being, and bind them for a sign upon your hands and as forehead bands between your eyes.

¹⁹ And you shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you rise up.

²⁰ And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates,

²¹ That your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth.

²² For if you diligently keep all this commandment which I command you to do, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways, and to cleave to Him—

²³ Then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you shall dispossess nations greater and mightier than you.

²⁴ Every place upon which the sole of your foot shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness to Lebanon, and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea [the Mediterranean] your territory shall be.

²⁵ There shall no man be able to stand before you; the Lord your God shall lay the fear and the dread of you upon all the land that you shall tread, as He has said to you.

Yeah, we have some junk ahead of us to deal with!!! Everyone does! But we have a secret weapon the world doesn't have! We have the God of the Angel Armies on our side!!! We simply CAN'T LOSE!!!

Just get up every morning, put on the whole armor of God, and it's done!

Ephesians 6:10-18

Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹⁰ In conclusion, be strong in the Lord [be empowered through your union with Him]; draw your strength from Him [that strength which His boundless might provides].

¹¹ Put on God’s whole armor [the armor of a heavy-armed soldier which God supplies], that you may be able successfully to stand up against [all] the strategies and the deceits of the devil.

¹² For we are not wrestling with flesh and blood [contending only with physical opponents], but against the despotisms, against the powers, against [the master spirits who are] the world rulers of this present darkness, against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly (supernatural) sphere.

¹³ Therefore put on God’s complete armor, that you may be able to resist and stand your ground on the evil day [of danger], and, having done all [the crisis demands], to stand [firmly in your place].

¹⁴ Stand therefore [hold your ground], having tightened the belt of truth around your loins and having put on the breastplate of integrity and of moral rectitude and right standing with God,

¹⁵ And having shod your feet in preparation [to face the enemy with the ^[a]firm-footed stability, the promptness, and the readiness ^[b]produced by the good news] of the Gospel of peace.

¹⁶ Lift up over all the [covering] shield of ^[c]saving faith, upon which you can quench all the flaming missiles of the wicked [one].

¹⁷ And take the helmet of salvation and the sword that the Spirit ^[d]wields, which is the Word of God.

¹⁸ Pray at all times (on every occasion, in every season) in the Spirit, with all [manner of] prayer and entreaty. To that end keep alert and watch with strong purpose and perseverance, interceding in behalf of all the saints (God’s consecrated people).

"Dear Jesus, I want to embrace what You have shown me in Your amazing Word today. Life seems so hard at times. But I'm the one who makes it hard! I can choose joy in the midst of pain. Please help me to fast and pray desperate prayers of submission to You. Please help me to hand my battle over to You. Please help me to turn my loved ones who are making wrong choices over to You. I give You EVERYTHING! I worship You, for You deserve all my praise. Thank You for loving me, even though I am nothing! In Jesus' name I pray, AMEN.