God commands

The Lord spoke all these things to the Israelites before they went into the promise land. This is what God says to the Israelites.      I really like what the Lord said regarding the Levites, that the LORD is their inheritance. Imagine God saying that to you, the Lord is your inheritance. It is amazing. Question is is the Lord your inheritance? Do we see Him as our inheritance? Inheritance is something very close to one's heart. It shows responsibility, fellowship, importance to the person holding it. Inheriting something means that one will need to take care of that something and will need to look after that something since it is in one's care. Moreover, remembering that it is something of value and of importance. Do we see the Lord as our inheritance?

⁹ That is why the Levites have no share or inheritance among their fellow Israelites; the Lord is their inheritance, as the Lord your God told them.)

Wow, just look at how God described the land. The land drinks rain from heaven. What kind of rain is that? Rain from heaven! The land must be filled with milk and honey because it had drunk from the river of life, from the heavens. Do you drink from the world or from heaven?

¹¹ But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.  

See that what the Lord said is being repeated faithfully, not twisted to fit someone's will. Be faithful to the Lord's word for it is good. Keep it accurate so you would not blaspheme against the Lord.

³² See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

This part the Lord is talking about having to write off bad debts in the 7th year, warning against people to not concentrate on the cancelling debt year and thus do not give and lend to people but to continue to give generously. For the Lord had blessed you.

 ¹⁰ Give generously to them and do so without a grudging heart; then because of this the Lord your God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to.

Thou shalt not bribe.

¹⁸ Appoint judges and officials for each of your tribes in every town the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people fairly. ¹⁹ Do not pervert justice or show partiality. Do not accept a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the innocent. ²⁰ Follow justice and justice alone, so that you may live and possess the land the Lord your God is giving you.

Funny how God said this and what the kings later have is... A lot of wives. So many wives. Solomon had so many that it was more than the number of days in a year.

¹⁷ He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

In terms of justice, the person must repay the evil that he had done by taking a something for something.

Show no pity: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot. 

Wow, see below.

¹⁸ If someone has a stubborn and rebellious son who does not obey his father and mother and will not listen to them when they discipline him, ¹⁹ his father and mother shall take hold of him and bring him to the elders at the gate of his town. ²⁰ They shall say to the elders, “This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey us. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” ²¹ Then all the men of his town are to stone him to death. You must purge the evil from among you. All Israel will hear of it and be afraid. 

I will really show this to my kid in the future. This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious. He is a glutton and a drunkard. Then people stone him. WHAT?! okay, so being obedient is a very important trait. The child commits a sin against their parents and therefore can be stoned for his blood is on his own hands. As much as this is bad. The child had sinned against his parents. 

Moses and the Rock

I really want this relationship with God. God said to Moses this:



²⁰ The Lord replied, “I have forgiven them, as you asked.

 The Lord says I have forgiven the Israelites as Moses asked. It is like WHAT!? The Lord took a suggestion from a human being! This really shows the level of intimacy that Moses shares with the Lord. This is one of the many times in which the Lord had talked to Moses and discussed and came to a conclusion. Meaning that what Moses said to the Lord did have an effect on the outcome. How cool is that when one walks with Christ like this.

25 While Israel was staying in Shittim, the men began to indulge in sexual immorality with Moabite women, ² who invited them to the sacrifices to their gods. The people ate the sacrificial meal and bowed down before these gods. ³ So Israel yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor. And the Lord’s anger burned against them.

⁴ The Lord said to Moses, “Take all the leaders of these people, kill them and expose them in broad daylight before the Lord, so that the Lord’s fierce anger may turn away from Israel.”
⁵ So Moses said to Israel’s judges, “Each of you must put to death those of your people who have yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor.”
⁶ Then an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses and the whole assembly of Israel while they were weeping at the entrance to the tent of meeting. ⁷ When Phinehas son of Eleazar, the son of Aaron, the priest, saw this, he left the assembly, took a spear in his hand ⁸ and followed the Israelite into the tent. He drove the spear into both of them, right through the Israelite man and into the woman’s stomach. Then the plague against the Israelites was stopped; ⁹ but those who died in the plague numbered 24,000.


Arh, here sexual immorality is rampant. People are sinning in the presence of God. When one person sin in God's presence he will die. God cannot tolerate such sin. And the Israelites broke God's heart again then and there not only committing sexual sin but also Idolatry.

Sometimes as i read these passage, i cannot but help to think that they are really really hopeless. Like God is with them in His tangible presence and yet they reject Him, complain and commit sin against God. Then again, when i say this sometimes people of this age is the same. Though they have Jesus in their hearts, but what good is that if they keep sinning and continue the sin and confess cycle? It is not good at all.

⁶ Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meeting and fell facedown, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”
⁹ So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as he commanded him. ¹⁰ He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

After reading this i really feel sad for Moses. Really sad. I know he sinned and all, but i also don't know the context of Mose's heart when he did that. However, there is a lesson to learn! Do the will of God and not twist it. If we twist the word of God for our own benefit or for some reason then we are blespheming against God and that is really bad. Because Moses did this act, therefore He and Aaron will not be allowed in the promise land.

God invented retirement schemes

<sup>There were so many men doing the work of the Lord! 8, 580 just to carry the tent of meeting! 8,5080 is like the number of 4 Junior colleges all together. That is a lot of people! So many! I cannot imagine the logistics. The tent of meeting must be so huge that carrying the tent of meeting required 8000 people. That is unimaginable! 

47</sup> All the men from thirty to fifty years of age who came to do the work of serving and carrying the tent of meeting ⁴⁸ numbered 8,580.

Women, be faithful to your husbands! 

²⁹ “‘This, then, is the law of jealousy when a woman goes astray and makes herself impure while married to her husband, ³⁰ or when feelings of jealousy come over a man because he suspects his wife. The priest is to have her stand before the Lord and is to apply this entire law to her. ³¹ The husband will be innocent of any wrongdoing, but the woman will bear the consequences of her sin.’”

When the Lord told each leader to sacrifice their offerings to the Lord the silver came out to be:

two thousand four hundred shekels

That is a lot of silver, about 30 kg of silver. Hey 30 kg of silver is like 30 thousand in today's price. And not forgetting all the advancement in technology to mine silver making it more readily available. Then it was rare.

Remember what the Lord done for Israel for it is good. The Lord struck down the Egyptians' first born and Israelites are to commemorate that by the dedication of each first born to the Lord. For God spared the first born of the Jews. That is a lasting event that people will do to always remember the Lord. Remember the thing that the Lord had done for them in Israel. Do we ourselves keep something in our hearts to remember the Lord for what He had done for us? This is like storing up treasures in our hearts so that one day we can take them out and praise the name of the Lord for the Lord had helped us.


¹⁶ They are the Israelites who are to be given wholly to me. I have taken them as my own in place of the firstborn, the first male offspring from every Israelite woman.

This sentence is phrased funny. God had given the Levites as gifts to Aaron to do the work of the Lord. basically God gave Aaron and His sons the authority over the Levites. Wow, you may say. Aaron must be blessed by this and he must have found favour in God's eyes. Dont forget this man is the same one who carved Golden calf when Moses was in the Mountain.  God forgives. People are not perfect, yet God showed them favour. It is funny to say this but God really just wants to be with people and build a relationship with the people. In other words, all God wants is the love from the people!

¹⁹ From among all the Israelites, I have given the Levites as gifts to Aaron and his sons to do the work at the tent of meeting on behalf of the Israelites and to make atonement for them so that no plague will strike the Israelites when they go near the sanctuary.” 

I find this incredible as God is like doing what we are doing now. It is just that God did it first! Haha! God said they shall retire from their regular service after the age of 50. Hahahah. Suddenly it sounds like the army. After a  certain age then you are free from the liability. Haha that is so funny. Guess who was the original author of the retirement idea.

²³ The Lord said to Moses, ²⁴ “This applies to the Levites: Men twenty-five years old or more shall come to take part in the work at the tent of meeting, ²⁵ but at the age of fifty, they must retire from their regular service and work no longer. ²⁶ They may assist their brothers in performing their duties at the tent of meeting, but they themselves must not do the work. This, then, is how you are to assign the responsibilities of the Levites.”

Now Moses faced a question that was bigger than He. He did not have the answers to that so He seeked the Lord. When we do not have answers, do we seek the Lord? Or do we just assume? i admit, i am sometimes guilty of that, you know just going forth and not asking and consulting God for direction. That is something we should do so we can do God's will! and then really involve God in our lives.

⁸ Moses answered them, “Wait until I find out what the Lord commands concerning you.”

I am the LORD

The major theme here is separation from uncleanness, something that God had deemed very important to keep. He wants the Israelite to be clean, holy
so when they worship God then they will still be alive and not be killed by God. That is the most important thing, as being clean can keep a person healthy and alive. Most of the things mentioned here is common sense stuff but then it wasnt. It was really a long long time ago, like more than 2000 years ago and then they did not have all these kind of advanced medical knowledge, yet God told them excatly what we know now. Wash before this wash before that, after that. What will be considered unclean. How sick is sick and stuff like that, which is awesome. After all God designed earth and us. He knows best. 

I find this interesting:

³¹ “‘You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place,^[b] which is among them.’”

It says so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place. God hates sin and cannot take uncleanness. And such uncleanness is defiling the land. And God can kill them for their uncleanness, for this is His dwelling place. That is surprising because This is one of the times in the old testament that God presence is living on earth. In this case in the land that the Israelite are living.

²⁹ “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves^[c] and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you— ³⁰ because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then, before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. ³¹ It is a day of sabbath rest, and you must 
deny yourselves; it is a lasting ordinance.

There will always be a day in which a day of atonement, where all of Israel will not do work and just atone for their sins.  







² “Speak to Aaron and his sons and to all the Israelites and say to them: ‘This is what the Lord has commanded: ³ Any Israelite who sacrifices an ox,^[a] a lamb or a goat in the camp or outside of it ⁴ instead of bringing it to the entrance to the tent of meeting to present it as an offering to the Lord in front of the tabernacle of the Lord—that person shall be considered guilty of bloodshed; they have shed blood and must be cut off from their people.

Sacrifices are to be done only in the presence of God.  

This is an interesting one, a rule that people keep offending nowadays. put tattoo marks on yourselves. I did not know tattoo existed then! Hmmm...

²⁸ “‘Do not cut your bodies for the dead or put tattoo marks on yourselves. I am the Lord.


God said to treat everyone equally, regardless of race language or relegion.

³³ “‘When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. ³⁴ The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

This one too, God said clearly, only heterosexual relationships!

¹³ “‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

an aroma pleasing to the Lord

Ha, this is interesting, salt of the covenant of God. Salt is a natural mineral found in dead seas. It is one of the best preservatives across centuries. It is also used for seasoning and many other purposes. It can kill germs, and keep food clean. Always add salt to your offerings, what does that mean? Salt can mean incorruptibility from salts' ability to keep bacteria our and permanence from salts' ability to keep food preserved. So i believe that that putting salt in our offerings meant that that offering should be sanctifying and permanent. When we offer something to God for fellowship, should not be permanent? When we offer something to God for sin offering should it not be incorruptible? We should always remember such and not get stuck in the sin repent sin cycle. Put Salt into your offerings!

¹³ Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings.

It it also notable in the passages that the sin offering: young bull is the same offering for priest and for community. If the priest sins and the community sins the price of the offering is the same. While for the individual it is just a lamb. So, what is the significance of the young bull being the same? I believe that the 2 offerings are to be the same because the impact is about the same. The priest has influence over a lot of people and that is no difference when he sins because he can influence the whole community to sin. So it is no difference in the whole community sinning. See the part where Aaron made a golden calf. He as a leader(not a priest yet) have the capability to stop such sin but he did not.

Now this is the parallel between the old testament and what Jesus did on the cross:

³² “‘If someone brings a lamb as their sin offering, they are to bring a female without defect. ³³ They are to lay their hand on its head and slaughter it for a sin offering at the place where the burnt offering is slaughtered. ³⁴ Then the priest shall take some of the blood of the sin offering with his finger and put it on the horns of the altar of burnt offering and pour out the rest of the blood at the base of the altar. ³⁵ They shall remove all the fat, just as the fat is removed from the lamb of the fellowship offering, and the priest shall burn it on the altar on top of the food offerings presented to the Lord. In this way the priest will make atonement for them for the sin they have committed, and they will be forgiven.

This is what we would have to do if Jesus did not come and die for our sins! This is the parallel. That is why we always say Jesus is the lamb. Because if he did not come then we would need to sacrifice lambs to atone for sin but he is the Lamb and the Lamb is slain so he already paid the ultimate atonement. Amen and Amen!

Moses and the Tabernacle

Moses
====
I feel that Moses have the cheek and audacity to talk to God like this. Read this:

But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “ Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’ ” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened. (Exodus 32:11-14 NIV)

who talks to God like: "Why should your anger burn against your people?". That was almost like challenging God. Through this we have to remember that Moses had a awesome relationship with God Almighty and He could converse with God like a friend, and also Lord. Moses was actually asking for favour upon the Lord for the people. He was actually doing the role of Jesus and Holy spirit. He interceded for the people, pleading their case before God. Just like what Holy Spirit and Jesus did.

I really like this verse:


If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.” (Exodus 33:13 NIV)

It really shows Moses willingness and desire to walk with God. We need to learn this!
Tabernacle
=======
More than 10 chapters here were devoted to talking about the Tabernacle. How amazing that God took less than 10 chapters(before this) to talk about the laws, commandments and customs while God spent a lot of chapters to make sure the Tabernacle was perfect according to His design. Clearly it was very important. Worship to the Lord is important, to the Israelites, and even now. Worship is something that will last all eternity. When we are in heaven, we will continue to worship God. It would not and never end. God asked Moses to construct the Tabernacle according to what God said and they respected it greatly, only certain people are allowed into the tent. God's presence resided in it. It was so holy that when the presence was there, even Moses could not enter it. Then, when one needs to consult God, one would need to go through a priest to intercede for one. But now, we dont need to have such setup to meet and talk to God. We have The Holy Spirit in our hearts. He intercedes for us and allows us to talk to Jesus Christ. What a privilege we have that the people then don't!

Even with such privilege, do we use it? Do we appreciate it? Or do we take Him for granted. He came into us with a price. The Price was heavy; it was paid by Jesus by His blood. Then people did not have Jesus so God told them to use the blood of Rams and Sheep. Today we don't need that, we only need to receive Christ. You may ask, all these can be a giant myth, how can God and Christ be true? The Bible is a book well corroborated and crossed-referenced. The book is well researched and whatever mentioned in the Bible did happen and can be proven by excavated artifacts and other written accounts. So, if the bible is true, then Jesus is true as Jesus was mentioned in the Bible. Then from the bible we know Jesus is God. So God exist. The leap here for people is the bible and is not God! So, by proving the bible is true and accurate then God is true. With studying the old testament we know and can appreciate the beauty of what Jesus did on the cross!

An image of Tabernacle: Image credits to http://www.theologyinsneakers.com.

Laws

God is setting up all the laws for Israel! How cool is that God is rising a great nation out from the ashes, like literally. He commands Moses to create its laws... Temples, customs everything!!

² “Do not follow the crowd in doing wrong. When you give testimony in a lawsuit, do not pervert justice by siding with the crowd, ³ and do not show favoritism to a poor person in a lawsuit.

Arh, this is one that we sometimes still have problems with, blindly following the crowd arh. Follow the crowd because following is convenience. God warns us not to do so, because it is dangerous and can pervert justice. 

It talks about a huge variety of things, from the smallest of the details and to the greatest of things. God covered everything!! If anyone of us really need to start a nation, this is the guide book! haha! 

I am awed by the amount of blood that was sacrificed to God. 2 lambs everyday and on the consecration week 7 bulls and 3 bulls. Its like so many animals! And there were so many splashing of the animal's blood! Personally i find it a little disgusting, but if i was there and then God commanded me, i would do it. 

I found a picture that shows how the ephod looks like, i think this is reasonably accurate. (Credits to  http://therakisrant.wordpress.com )

Day 6 and 7

I find this passage so exciting that I head 15 chapters at one go! It was awesome. I had witnessed the power of The Lord, Our Father, Our God, the God of Abraham, the God of Issac, the God of Jacob. It was witnessed first hand in these passages. God's power is so powerful. God's glory is seen so powerfully among all the Israelite. So powerfully witnessed in the passages in Exodus 1 - 14. He rescued Israel from the hands of Pharaoh who treated the Israelite very badly as slaves, whom presence in Egypt blessed Egypt. Moses was chosen from the dust to lead the Israelite out of Egypt. I really like how God really planned the whole thing so meticulously. He planned in a way such that the Egyptians would be taught a lesson and not only that, also through that the Israelite would have something to remember God for when God brought good times to them. So that they may remember the Lord in good times and in bad. In bad times, they would definitely remember Him because they needed God's help. Are we like the Israelite? Only cry out to God when we need Him? But forget Him when we are good?? God also impressed upon me that what every God decreed through Moses was to really let the Israelite commemorate God Almighty and not forget God for God is going to bring them out of suffering and to the land of Milk and Honey. All the Passover and ceremonies is really to commemorate God! Not to be the religious actions seen in the new testament which the Pharisee practice. It was never NEVER meant to be this. But we went the wrong way.

I really like God's description of Moses.
In Exodus 7:1 Then the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, and your brother Aaron will be your prophet.

Hahaha... So cool for God to mention that you are like God to someone else. That shows the amount of power God had entrusted to Moses and how much He trusted Moses. Do we desire to be like this? Or do we fear?

Then they went to the desert...

This is where God is setting the groundwork for a nation. Culture, law everything necessary. How weeks should be run everything! It is really amazing that these things are actually what we enjoy now, the structure given by God. How awesome is that? Modern law is derived from English law which is based on the bible. Everything!

Admist nation building, an enemy appears, Israel was a new and young nation, how can it have wnough strength to fight? Fear not for God is with them:

¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. ¹² When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up—one on one side, one on the other—so that his hands remained steady till sunset. ¹³ So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.

I find it so true that when God is with you, everything will and can be won in His power. This paragraph declares that. 


I learnt a great deal from here:
¹⁷ Moses’ father-in-law replied, “What you are doing is not good. ¹⁸ You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. ¹⁹ Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to him. ²⁰ Teach them his decrees and instructions, and show them the way they are to live and how they are to behave. ²¹ But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. ²² Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. ²³ If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied.”

God was like saying yea, serving is good but distribute the work load for God's yoke is light not heavy. Distribute it out! If not you will be worn out doing God's work if it is too much for you and it is NOT INTENDED for you to take it all. So! Go!

day 5 - Joseph

Joseph the farmer was son of Israel and he was not the oldest and not the greatest but he was one who was always bullied by his brothers. He was later sold by their brothers as a slave to some Egyptians. Later because of an encounter in prison with Pharaoh's servants. He interpreted both of the servants' dreams accurately and because the servant made a covenant with Joseph to remember what Joseph had done, Joseph was mentioned before Pharaoh and Joseph was risen to second in command of Egypt. This is unbelievable, for this is the testimony that God can use one's weaknesses and transform it into strength! From a slave in prison to a second in command. How is that possible for anyone but God? I really like Joseph's humility before Pharaoh. When Pharaoh was asking him to interpret Pharaoh's dreams, Joseph credited the work of interpretation not to himself but to God. That is amazing and shows Joseph's heart and how he really follows God and follows His heart!.

The last part of Genesis was like really a dramatic story. son was taken as slave and then rose to become second in command. Then there was famine and he saw his family members. Then he tried so hard to keep them in his presence. Then he could not take it any more and then revealed to them that he is indeed their brother and his son. WHAT?! Okay, that was only possible if God was with Him. If not the story was:

Son taken away and never seen again.

Thats it. That is our huamn expectation. But God had other plans for Joseph. So, you may be in the pit right now but remember God can turn something bad that someone did for you and turn it to glory. Just like Joseph!

Another note that Israel and Jacob was used interchangeably in some parts of the paragraph. I wonder why and if there is a significance. Sometimes i get confused with Israel and Jacob.

Day 3 and 4

I did not have time to post yesterday so i will post my comments here! :D Firstly in Genesis 20-30 we see that this is a very important chapter. Important because this is the God forming nations through people. Through Abraham's blood line. We also see how cunning Jacob was against Esau. From the beginning when Jacob was born, he "famously" grabbed the heel of Esau when Esau was born; showing that he desired to be first and inherit the birthright. Then we also see the vision that God told Issac's wife. She was told that "

The LORD said to her, "Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger."
in Genesis 25:23

We always see that Jacob is the manipulative one, but no one was born this way. Rather, he was brought up this way. Brought up learning how to manipulate. We see that He later cheated Esau of his birthright over a bowl of vegetable stew. It was not even meat! Can you imagine. Then we see first hand the heart of the mother. She was the one who instructed Jacob to steal Esau's blessing from Issac. All these show that probably Rebekah was the one teaching Jacob all these sneaky stuff, probably the reason why Jacob is so crafty. But i cant help to wonder if Rebekah was doing all these to fulfill God's will?!

This is what i meant: God told her 2 nations are in her womb, and ... the older will serve the younger. Concentrate on the "older will serve the younger". Is it that she was acting in her own strength trying to help Jacob getting ahead of the older Esau?? How many times did we do this too? God promised everything, the future for our own lives. But we took it in our own hands and say this is fulfilling God's prophesy? If that is what she really thought, then she is totally wrong. She would regret it hearing what a master deceiver that Jacob had become. Yes, God told her a truth that He knows but she dont need to take it into her own hands! It is a fine line between taking action and taking it into your own hands.

Jacob became the master deceiver that we all know. in his response to his daughter being raped was seen so clearly. He tricked the men into circumcision and then killed them. All of them. His sons played along as well. Then we see the death of Issac and his wife. And a account of the genealogy of Jacob's bloodline. Jacob was also named by God as Israel. But for some reason that i dont understand this new identity was not used. In other instances in the bible when God gave this person a new name, he stuck with it and the name was used to reference him after the naming. Jacob was still named Jacob but there were some instances where he was named Israel. I really think this chapter really show how bad the human heart is. We witness rape(in 36) and incest here:

²⁶ Judah recognized them and said, “She is more righteous than I, since I wouldn’t give her to my son Shelah.” And he did not sleep with her again.

Sin, plotting and extramarital sex was also witnessed.

Being a Christian is easy? Think again.

As I sat down to pray and think, it dawned upon me that perhaps the word Quiet Time wasn't for me. Being a ENTP, I don't believe in whatever I read. Sure, I believe that the Bible and the doctrine is indeed real and alive, but I wasn't sold. Perhaps I haven't taken time to reflect on my spiritual walk, coupled with the fact that the my mind and heart doesn't seem to be in sync with the Holy Spirit. After doing a week of QT, I realised it was something more than just faith. In reality, many receive Christ but experiences short-lived faith. Many dwell in the presence of the Lord, and months after, they realise following Christ isn't as easy as ABC. Circumstantial faith is something that most of us face. We often thank Lord for the good He has done in our life, and we rebuke and curse Him whenever our life has not gone our way that we wanted it to be. Matthew 10:16 20 was God breathed. He was harsh and got down to the point by telling the Disciples to get ready for persecution. The few passages spoke so much to me because I could visualise images of myself in the future, depicting images where I was tested. I was forced to make a decision: Do I stand tall and strong in His name or dwell in self-pity and rebuking the Word? Jesus says that "You will stand trial before Governors and Kings because you are my followers. But this will your opportunity to tell the rulers and other unbelievers about me". In 10:22, it also addresses the pertinent issue of trusting God and ensuring till the end. It isn't just a sprint, but a marathon which requires us to have faith and commitment to God. It's not just earning a golden ticket into heaven, but a truly devoted life to God and the real shape of your heart is what matters.

Old Testament day 2

The Story of Abraham is awesome! The story covered about the life of Abraham, on how he survived the famine by going to Egypt and then left Egypt with his cousin Lot. Then he went to live in the fields and had some problems with Lot and then they separated. Then God promised Abraham children but they(Abraham and Sarah) was doubtful. Then Abraham rescued Lot and Lot's possessions. Abraham then went to rescue Lot. Then they continued to doubt God regarding if they can actually bear a son! However this is not something difficult for God because He is all powerful!

Actually i mentioned throughout this article Abraham, but actually he is named Abram not Abraham yet. Until now then he is named Abraham.

5 Neither shall thy name any more be called Abram, but thy name shall be Abraham; for the father of a multitude of nations have I made thee.

SO we see that this is how Abram get the name Abraham. Then shortly after the Haggar problem and a son born to him and then Abraham gets a son!

God's promises are true and will hold true because they are backed by God Himself. Sometimes we may not understand them and may doubt them, but it is only because we are using human understanding to understand stuff not using Godly perspective to understand stuff!

Old testament Day 1

Extreme Work out's day 1.

It was really great reading Genesis again! Actually i would say i start to miss reading Genesis after so long, that is because Genesis is a part of the Bible where God is very evident in the picture. What i meant yes God is everywhere in the bible, but especially in the Genesis that we see God "in action" where we get to read what he did not through people but himself. First we get to see Him create heavens and the earth. Then we get to see how he interacted with Adam's family. We see first hand on how God intended people to live alongside God. It was absolutely awesome up till the point Eve ate the fruit. Then it was God's first hinting at someone who will save the world and humanity.Someone to crush the devil's head.

And I will put enmity
    between you and the woman,
    and between your offspring^[a] and hers;
he will crush^[b] your head,
    and you will strike his heel.”

 When we read new testament it is obvious who is the person who God had sent to do this Job. Not like we cannot do it. We do it when we obey God and pray and stike the devil using God's power through Jesus. But Jesus is the one that truely did this and saved humanity from sin.

then we saw God's anger manifested first hand through the flood then we see a account of the linage of all people through Noah. And the back-story of the Canaanites.

A great summary of the work of Christ

¹⁴ For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, ¹⁵ by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility. ¹⁷ He came and preached peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through him we both have access to the Father by one Spirit.

 in 14 Paul talks about the work that Christ and his disciples have done while Jesus was on earth. He preached God's word and gave the opportunity to know God to the rest of the world. Initially this was the Jew's birthright, but no longer. We have the same access to the same God as the Jews. He died on the cross done by human hands and initiated by Jewish leaders. Showing everyone that man may fail but God is eternal. He cannot fail and will never. The Jews used to despise Gentiles but no longer. His work showed that everyone is equal, everyone is sinful. And then on the Cross He reconciled all of God's children as one body with Christ as the head. And now we dont need religious acts to get to the Father. We have access to the Father through Jesus. Is it not incredible? More than my human mind can comprehend. This is amazing!

Independency of your life is a contradiction of Christianity which leads to destruction.

God spoke to me about this just yesterday during my personal time between God and me. It was in Deuteronomy 1:42 "“But the Lord told me to tell you, ‘Do not attack, for I am not with you. If you go ahead on your own, you will be crushed by your enemies.’" Similarly, in 1 Timothy 6:11 "But you, Timothy, are a man of God; so run from all these evil things. Pursue righteousness and a godly life, along with faith, love, perseverance, and gentleness. 

In Timothy 6:11 it states, run from all these evil things (temptations, hate, lust.) whatever it may be. What God really spoke to me on this verse was the very first word on the next line that is PURSUE. Not just pursue anything else from this world that will help us get our minds of all these evil things in our minds. But, instead, pursue righteousness and a GODLY life. It comes back to centering our lives back on God once again. Only by centering our lives for God only then we will be able to really overcome whatever evil things there are in our lives. Personally, I have always had the problem with lust and pornography. Whenever I feel convicted to stop all these filthy things that I've been doing, I always manage to stop watching pornography for a period of time, but then, just a hint of temptation would cause to fall back into the sin-repent cycle once again. I always wondered what was the problem, why did I always fall back into this sin. I finally got my answer, that fleeing and always trying to overcome the problems in our lives without pursuing God was hopeless. The reason why I always fell back into pornography was because I wasn't spending time with God personally, I wasn't allowing God to speak into my life, I wasn't allowing Him to convict me on the inside. I wasn't pursuing God.

In Deuteronomy 1:42, what God spoke to me on this was, really direct, and it shot right into my heart. What God spoke to me on this was that, whenever I go to school, I'm mostly alone, so I kinda feel 'independent' sorta. My mind naturally starts to wonder a bout, thinking about all sorts of things, but lacking the thought, and the communication with God. As this prolonged, I felt distant from God, till the things that I do in school became, only what I decided what I wanted, the whole idea of communicating with the Holy Spirit just disappeared, then this was when I will start to feel. A odd sense of emptiness, a sense that I was falling into the world, the thought of God wasn't within me. (Independency) Thankfully, the Holy Spirit prompts me to go to the library or somewhere quiet to realign my thought-life back to God once again. After, spending a couple of minutes with God, it just calms me down, and enhances my spiritual sensitivity back to its full level once again, and to be in constant communication with God, in my mind. 

If it wasn't for the Holy Spirit prompting me to spend time with my Father and to realign my thoughts towards Him, I'd fall even further and further away till that point that I'd let my guard down so low till, I'm so weak spiritually, that the enemy hurls evil desires and thoughts into my life and I'd stumble and start to shun myself away from the Christian friends and community, slowly, bit by bit. The number I got of God, I'd feel more empty within. (Spiritual death) 

Reconcilation.

Firstly, i would like to welcome the new authors to this blog! We will all begin to see many other men of God posting! So stay tuned to a blog that is more colourful!

Jew and Gentile Reconciled Through Christ

¹¹ Therefore, remember that formerly you who are Gentiles by birth and called “uncircumcised” by those who call themselves “the circumcision” (which is done in the body by human hands)— ¹² remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Notice that Paul used the word "formerly" which is extraordinary. He meant that these people are no longer their old nature but followers of Christ, Christians. Whatever our old nature was, whether it is losers, politicians, scientists. That old nature was dead. That old identity was dead. But now our new nature is found in Christ. Even Jews, the favoured people of Christ. They are to lay down their identity and adopt the new identity in Christ. Paul further laments that circumcision is just an act. An action without heart is just an action. Especially for gentiles who were cut off from Christ, we should be even more grateful than Jews because now we are able to reach out to God directly and freely, without price or fear because the Lamb had been slain. Only through Jesus that we are able to reach God. Only through Christ. Are we grateful of what He did on the Cross?

Lean on God

Yup.. School started and a hectic start to school. On the weekend before school started, my friend reminded me that we had a project to do. We went to check the dateline and it was the second day of school! We panicked cause we were left with little time to do. So I had to stay up late into the night to do the project. Physically, it was tiring because I also had to work. But spiritually, I was really just depending on God to give me strength to even do the project and He even gave me ideas to go about doing it! Even though I had little sleep, Thank God for giving me strength! I admit that I missed a QT because I was tired after doing the project. But on 1 occasion,God prompted me to read my bible and I did. As I was reading, it was just so comforting and assuring to know that we have God who we can always lean and depend on. Through good and bad, He is still there. How foolish we are if we just rely on our own strength and not God's. Today was the day of submission and I managed to complete almost the whole thing of the project. But Thank God that the teacher extended the dateline and this means that I got time to edit and even improve on it haha.

The nature of sin

2 As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, ² in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient.

Here, Paul describes the nature of sin. Which he describes as spiritual. We see it in the phrase "and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air". This reference is to the devil. How many times do we view sin as just "another problem" that is when we do not recognize that there is a spirit behind it. Behind the sin is a deeper revelation that the Devil is behind this. When we do not recognize that then we would be fighting the war with our bare hands, alone. Without the help of God. But when we recognize that this is the work of the devil, then only then we can summon God's strength to fight this war. 

Then when the war is won then we must not forget Christ. If only the war was win by Christ.

³ All of us also lived among them at one time, gratifying the cravings of our flesh^[a] and following its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature deserving of wrath. ⁴ But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, ⁵ made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.

And then we are saved by Christ. Only Christ. It is by the grace of God, not your own strength, but by the grace of God. Remember these sins not to commit them again but to testify for His name. Only for his Glory. If it was fought by your own strength what victory would that be? The battle was never on the surface but in spirit. And only God can win this war in the spiritual realm, but we must be willing. 

Power, unlimited power.

¹⁵ For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, ¹⁶ I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. ¹⁷ I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit^[f] of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. ¹⁸ I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, ¹⁹ and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength ²⁰ he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, ²¹ far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. ²² And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, ²³ which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.

Power, so much power. We are wielding so much power in our hands, through the power of prayer. 

I thought of a poem!

===
Lord Jesus Christ, the anointed King,
died on the heavy cross on spring.

He paid the ultimate price
so that we do not dice.

So that in our failure
we can rely on prayer.


we show his Glory,
till we are hoary.

Amen, Amen.
===

The power that comes from Christ is unlimited. He is King, Lord and Saviour. He is Jesus! Lord i pray that through your strength and power that we will do everything. In our weakness and in our strength we will lie down, submit them to your power, because Your power is always greater. So much greater. You reign forever and ever. So come into us as the Holy Spirit. Fill us. Lord i pray for a refilling of your spirit and your power through the Holy Spirit. So that we can do your will. Your will be done on earth as is in heaven.

We are the chosen one.

¹¹ In him we were also chosen,^[e] having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, ¹² in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory. ¹³ And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, ¹⁴ who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory.

What we were told by Paul: We were chosen by God, to do a great purpose, God had planned out our paths in accordance to His will.I really like the part in which Paul talked about "you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation." Which is really awesome. It really shows that Jesus includes us in His book of life and because of that we can share God's vision. Before Jesus went on the cross, the salvation was only accessible to the Jews. But because Jesus went onto the cross, this salvation is accessible for everyone. That is so awesome. We are allowed to take part in God's plan. But do we? God places a seal on us, the seal that grants us the holy spirit. The holy spirit will communicate with God and guarantee our place in heaven, until the day comes. All for the glory of God.