Bible Reading
- Numbers 13
- Psalm 49
- Isaiah 2
- Hebrews 10
Devotional Thoughts
The 12 Israelites checked out the promised land, they saw a bountiful country. They carried back a cluster of grapes that was so big, 2 people had to carry it (Num 13:23)! They testified the last was truly flowing with milk and honey (Num 13:27). While that was all true, instead of focusing on what God had promised, all they could see were the tall walls and the big giants
Numbers 13:27-28 We entered the land you sent us to explore, and it is indeed a bountiful country… BUT the people living there are powerful.. we even saw giants.. (v33) next to them we felt like grasshoppers, and that’s what they thought of us too!
Because they failed to believe God’s promise and focus on truth, the lies hindered them from experiencing all that God had promised. (Hebrews 4:1-10)
What lies do you live with that hinder you from experiencing all that God has promised for you?
Here’s a couple that I saw in my reading this morning:
- Lie: the wicked grow rich and have mansions for homes.
Truth: they can’t take anything with them when they die (Ps 49:16) - Lie: I can find fulfillment in my possessions
Truth: making idols of things will produce being humbled (Is 2:8-9) - Lie: I can rely and depend on people
Truth: Don’t trust humans (Is 2:22) - Lie: trials and hardships means God is not watching over me…
Truth: There is a greater reward… (Heb 10:34-36)
We are called to encourage and give hope to people. Heb 10:24 tells us to; “Think of ways to motivate one another to love and good works.” Here’s some ways Hebrews 10 encourages us to do that:
- Reminding them of God’s will:
- Heb 10:7, 10 I have come to do your will, O God… For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus, once and for all
- Heb 10:12-14 He offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time… by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy. (18) and when sins have been forgiven, there is no need to offer any more sacrifices
- Encouraging them to walk in the light of what we know
- Is 2:5 Come, descendants of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord!
- Heb 10:22 Let us go right into the presence of God with sincere hearts, fully trusting him. For our guilty consciences have been sprinkled with Christ’s blood to make us clean… Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise.
- Heb 10:32 Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ. Remember how you remained faithful even though it meant terrible suffering
- Remember or pursue the greater reward
- Heb 10:34 You suffered.. were thrown in jail… all you owned was taken from you… you accepted it with joy. You knew there were better things waiting for you that will last forever.
- Heb 10:35-36 So, do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. They you will receive all that he has promised.
- We need each other to stay encouraged
- Heb 10:25 Let us not neglect meeting together as some do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.
Truth Declarations
- God’s will is my sanctification. Sometimes God uses hardships to sanctify me.
- No matter what God allows, there is always a greater reward. I can let go of the things of this world, and the things I want, because there are better things waiting for me that will last forever
- God wants me to look for ways to encourage and stir people on to faith and rest in what God says.
- We need each other to stay encouraged
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