1 Corinthians 10:11 Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different spirit and has followed me fully, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants shall inherit it.
Numbers 27:18 So the Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the Spirit, and lay your hand on him.
For the past two weeks we’ve been building life lessons derived from the Exodus wanderings and from Paul’s exhortations to the church in Corinth. Notice carefully that Paul says, “these were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come”…
…that is, written for us today! – admonitions from Paul to learn lessons from the history of the children of Israel.
Much of what we can learn is how NOT to behave, and what NOT to do. Yet there are also the lessons from the few who were over-comers, Joshua and Caleb particularly. From them, we may grasp what a life of faith, courage, and victory looks like.
While people often say that history repeats itself – it doesn’t mean that people must repeat history. We do have the option of learning from it, and from those who were the over-comers. In the days of the Exodus, only two adult men actually entered the Promised land, out of the thousands that originally left Egypt – only Joshua and Caleb. What was different about them? They followed God fully – and were of a different spirit.
Enjoy your Shabbat rest – and take these lessons from Israel’s history to heart. By learning from their mistakes, and being encouraged by the faithful few, you may avoid repeating (sad) history – and rather, learning from it, enter your own inheritance in the “Promised Land”.
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[worthy_plugins_devotion_single_body]The mighty men that followed David were of one mind and heart to make him King. Their recognition of David’s anointing may have been the most significant quality of these Mighty Men. What was it in David that drew out this deep loyalty? I believe it was God’s Holy Spirit which David received when Samuel anointed him king.[1 Samuel 16:13].
In the 1970s when the Alaskan Pipeline was being constructed many Texans went to Alaska to work on the pipeline alongside the Eskimos, native Alaskans. However the Texans could only work a few hours in the frigid weather, while the Eskimos could easily work for hours on end.
The second great awakening took place around 1790 until the 1840s. This movement saw ‘circuit riders’, traveling preachers who spread the Gospel to the edges of the frontier, affecting the growing American populace. Camp meetings in rural areas outside the traditional church with the primary focus of soul winning, were like “brushfires” of the Holy Spirit, attracting people for miles.
Tonight begins the Biblical feast of Sukkot (Feast of Tabernacles) throughout the world! Roughly 2500 years ago, there was a special Sukkot celebration in Jerusalem. The people of Israel were exiled and dispersed all across the Babylonian empire. Later, they were given the right to return and start construction on the 2nd temple of Israel. Nehemiah 8 speaks of the special celebration that happened at that time. We read how Ezra taught the people out of the book of the law and how they responded in weeping and repentance before the God of Israel.
As I’ve been writing about the "great awakenings" that took place over the past few days. I believe we could be witnessing such a move of God.
In laymen’s terms, the difference between a ‘revival’ and an ‘awakening’ is simply that moves of God transcend denominations and sects. While various ‘denominations’ have revivals at times, an ‘awakening’ shakes the body of Christ across denominational boundaries in spite of their differences.
In the early 1700s, the western world including the United States, was being swept under the influence of a philosophical and cultural movement known as the Age of Enlightenment, also called the Age of Reason. At this critical time in history, the First Great Awakening was birthed by the Lord in the American colonies of the “New World”. Led by preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield, a spiritual renewal took place which became a unifiying cultural foundation for the American Revolutionary War, which began in the late 1770s.
For those who have been following us, we have been ‘re-deployed’ to the United States at this pivotal moment in history. For those who know me personally, my heart is for revival and for preparing the Bride of Messiah to meet her Creator.