2-9/10-2019 Take It Through The Week

Monday - Deuteronomy 9:9–12  Most of us grew up learning the Ten Commandments. At the very least, we grew up in a country where all law and sense of morality comes from the Ten Commandments. And yet, we learn even as they were given to Moses, they were only the first part of God’s spiritual solution for man. The Israelites could see the mountain. They could see the smoke and see the presence of God as Moses ascended into it. And yet as the days progressed, in Moses’ absence, even in the sight of God’s physical presence on the mountain, they made an idol. The idol was a Golden Calf, the symbol over the years of various pagan religions and material excess. To save the Israelites from their potentially fatal mistake, the Lord warned Moses, Get up and go down immediately from here… Even as they were making themselves a golden God, God had given Moses direction for them. Read Exodus 20:4. Why was God so specific? Because as always, His heart is to protect men and keep them from harm. It is the same today, God has given us His Word and His presence so that we can please Him. He is for us, not against us. Just as He was for the Israelites, even as they rejected Him and made their own God.
Tuesday - Deuteronomy 9:13–17 There are pivotal moments in history, where certain situations could go one way or another. What Moses reports in this passage, is one of those moments. Leave me alone, and I will destroy them and blot our their name under heaven… Yes the Israelites are God’s chosen people. But at this point, God is willing to annihilate them. He had earlier promised to take them out of Egypt to the Promised Land. But based on their rampant disobedience, God is willing to change His plans. His back-up plan? Then I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they.  Two things this teaches us today. First God is a God of Freewill. He did not force the Israelites to do His will. He allowed them to choose. And they chose poorly, so there was a backup plan. Second lesson, God will bless those who choose wisely. Moses was pleasing to God and God told Moses that God had the capability to replace a million or so people with the descendants of Moses. A mighty task indeed, but God said He was up to it. God can bless those who choose to please Him beyond anything we even know how to ask for. Pray with me. Lord, I choose You. I choose to follow You and even when I sin and make poor decisions, I thank You that your Holy Spirit and Holy Word teach me, keep me, and lead me. Bless me with wisdom to know the deceit of the Devil, and with a mind that is renewed in the Knowledge of the Son Of God. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
Wednesday - Deuteronomy 9:18–21 Moses did two things to preserve the Israelites place in God’s plan. First He interceded for them. I did not eat bread or drink water because of all the sin you committed, doing what was evil in the Lord’s sight and provoking Him to anger. Moses prayed and fasted for the Israelites. He prayed and fasted for Aaron. That was the first part of the return of the Israelites into God’s good graces. But Moses also took action, I took the sinful calf you had made, burned it up, and crushed it, thoroughly grinding it to powder as fine as dust. Then I threw it into the stream. The calf was made of gold. It had been fashioned from treasures carried out of Egypt. But Moses took no note of its monetary value, he utterly and completely destroyed it,  and disposed of it. It was not fashioned into items useful for worship of Yahweh. It was washed away by the waters of the stream that came down from the mountain. God heard because of Moses’ prayers and because of Moses’ action. Read James 1:22. What does this passage teach us?
Thursday -  Deuteronomy 9:22–25 Moses continued to recount to the Israelites their history and their treatment of the Lord. You continued to provoke the Lord… you have been rebelling against the Lord ever since I have known you… It was more than just miraculous, that the Israelites ever possessed the Promised Land. They were the most stubborn people the world has ever known. And yet, all along the way Moses continued praying for them. I fell down in the presence of the Lord 40 days and 40 nights because the Lord had threated to destroy you.  Who are you praying for today? Think of the people who are farthest from God. Think of the ones who need Him the most. Then carry their names to God. Plead for their salvation. Pray with me. Lord I am interceding for ____________________. Save them by Your mighty hand. Bring them close to You. If you saved the Israelites You can turn anyone back to you. Save _____________________ In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.
Friday – Deuteronomy 9:26-29 Moses even told the Israelites exactly how He prayed for them. Disregard this people’s stubbornness and their wickedness and sin. Moses pleaded with God even though the people were not deserving of God’s Mercy. Moses pleaded for the people because he cared about them. But he also cared deeply about the Nations that would see the Lord. If God destroyed the Israelites and replaced them with the descendants of Moses, then the surrounding nations would not have seen God’s plan for years, even centuries. Those in the land you brought us from will say, ‘because the Lord wasn’t able to bring them into the land He had promised them, and because He hated them, he brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. Moses understood that God was setting the Israelites free from slavery, but God was also setting them up to show  His Glory in the World. Through Intercession and prayer Moses turned the heart of God back to the Israelites. God forgave them because of Moses’ prayers.  And that is the only way our nation can be saved today. Spend some time praying for our nation. Read 2 Chronicles 7:14. Use that scripture to pray for our Nation.  
Saturday – Deuteronomy 10:1-5 Redo! Reset! Renew! Moses’ intercessions and prayers were heard. God changed His mind. He did not destroy the Israelites. Instead The Lord said to me at that time, ‘cut two stone tables like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain’…  Moses could have been done with the stubborn Israelites. He could have accepted God’s offer and God would have poured out His Spirit on Moses’ children. Because of Moses’ heart for his people, God gave Israel another shot. Have you ever needed to just start over? Read  2 Cor. 5:17. Take a moment to just think about what it says. Claim the promise that Moses pled for the Israelites. This level of redo, reset, renew, is available constantly to every New Testament believer. Pray with me. Lord, I ask your forgiveness. I ask You to make me new in You. Then fill me with the power to follow You and be pleasing to You. May my family be pleasing to You. Thank You that old things have passed away and in You, new things have come. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen.