Category Archives: Righteous

Angels, Greed, Guide, Humility, Miracles, Obeying God, Provider, Righteous, Seeking God, Speaking, Through Prophets

Lord, Purify Our Motives Even As We Submit To You

Numbers 22 and23 detail a fascinating historical account. After following the Israelites from their perspective on their journey out of Egypt, we suddenly have the opportunity to see part of their journey from another’s perspective. The Moabites are viewing the Israelites as a threat and desiring to defeat them. Fearing their numbers, they seek out Balaam, a prophet whose work is referred to as divination from their perspective.

It is a truly fascinating account. Balaam is clearly not an Israelite, and yet he has a tangible and real relationship with the Lord. He knows from where the power comes and that he can indeed do nothing without the Lord. He even seeks the Lord’s permission before going with the Moabites to curse the Israelites. I find it worth lingering to consider why the Lord was so upset with Balaam, who asked the Lord each time before consenting to go with the Moabites.

Once again, I am drawn to conclude that those who have relationship with the Lord and hear clearly from Him are held to a higher standard than those who may not have as deep a relationship with Him. He knows they know better. The Lord told Balaam “no” the first time and it appears He did not appreciate Balaam asking again. Perhaps it is because of what was in Balaam’s heart in asking the second time… greed rather than submission to the Lord?  (refer to 2 Peter 2) It appears that Balaam’s motives were not pure in his submission to the Lord and that was upsetting to Him.

Balaam was rebuked, but not destroyed. The Lord could certainly have destroyed Balaam, but instead rebuked him, using a talking donkey and an angel. Once Balaam submitted to the Lord, the Lord chose to use Him to bless the Israelites (Numbers 23), which was certainly the opposite of what Balak of Moab had in mind.

Numbers 22

Balak Sends for Balaam

     1Then the sons of Israel journeyed, and camped in the plains of Moab beyond the Jordan opposite Jericho.

      2Now Balak the son of Zippor saw all that Israel had done to the Amorites. 3So Moab was in great fear because of the people, for they were numerous; and Moab was in dread of the sons of Israel. 4Moab said to the elders of Midian, “Now this horde will lick up all that is around us, as the ox licks up the grass of the field.” And Balak the son of Zippor was king of Moab at that time. 5So he sent messengers to Balaam the son of Beor, at Pethor, which is near the River, in the land of the sons of his people, to call him, saying, “Behold, a people came out of Egypt; behold, they cover the surface of the land, and they are living opposite me. 6“Now, therefore, please come, curse this people for me since they are too mighty for me; perhaps I may be able to defeat them and drive them out of the land. For I know that he whom you bless is blessed, and he whom you curse is cursed.”

      7So the elders of Moab and the elders of Midian departed with the fees for divination in their hand; and they came to Balaam and repeated Balak’s words to him. 8He said to them, “Spend the night here, and I will bring word back to you as the LORD may speak to me.” And the leaders of Moab stayed with Balaam. 9Then God came to Balaam and said, “Who are these men with you?” 10Balaam said to God, “Balak the son of Zippor, king of Moab, has sent word to me, 11‘Behold, there is a people who came out of Egypt and they cover the surface of the land; now come, curse them for me; perhaps I may be able to fight against them and drive them out.’” 12God said to Balaam, “Do not go with them; you shall not curse the people, for they are blessed.” 13So Balaam arose in the morning and said to Balak’s leaders, “Go back to your land, for the LORD has refused to let me go with you.” 14The leaders of Moab arose and went to Balak and said, “Balaam refused to come with us.”

      15Then Balak again sent leaders, more numerous and more distinguished than the former. 16They came to Balaam and said to him, “Thus says Balak the son of Zippor, ‘Let nothing, I beg you, hinder you from coming to me; 17for I will indeed honor you richly, and I will do whatever you say to me. Please come then, curse this people for me.’” 18Balaam replied to the servants of Balak, “Though Balak were to give me his house full of silver and gold, I could not do anything, either small or great, contrary to the command of the LORD my God. 19“Now please, you also stay here tonight, and I will find out what else the LORD will speak to me.” 20God came to Balaam at night and said to him, “If the men have come to call you, rise up and go with them; but only the word which I speak to you shall you do.”

      21So Balaam arose in the morning, and saddled his donkey and went with the leaders of Moab.

The Angel and Balaam

     22But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the LORD took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him. 23When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand, the donkey turned off from the way and went into the field; but Balaam struck the donkey to turn her back into the way. 24Then the angel of the LORD stood in a narrow path of the vineyards, with a wall on this side and a wall on that side. 25When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she pressed herself to the wall and pressed Balaam’s foot against the wall, so he struck her again. 26The angel of the LORD went further, and stood in a narrow place where there was no way to turn to the right hand or the left. 27When the donkey saw the angel of the LORD, she lay down under Balaam; so Balaam was angry and struck the donkey with his stick. 28And the LORD opened the mouth of the donkey, and she said to Balaam, “What have I done to you, that you have struck me these three times?” 29Then Balaam said to the donkey, “Because you have made a mockery of me! If there had been a sword in my hand, I would have killed you by now.” 30The donkey said to Balaam, “Am I not your donkey on which you have ridden all your life to this day? Have I ever been accustomed to do so to you?” And he said, “No.”

      31Then the LORD opened the eyes of Balaam, and he saw the angel of the LORD standing in the way with his drawn sword in his hand; and he bowed all the way to the ground. 32The angel of the LORD said to him, “Why have you struck your donkey these three times? Behold, I have come out as an adversary, because your way was contrary to me. 33“But the donkey saw me and turned aside from me these three times. If she had not turned aside from me, I would surely have killed you just now, and let her live.” 34Balaam said to the angel of the LORD, “I have sinned, for I did not know that you were standing in the way against me. Now then, if it is displeasing to you, I will turn back.” 35But the angel of the LORD said to Balaam, “Go with the men, but you shall speak only the word which I tell you.” So Balaam went along with the leaders of Balak.

      36When Balak heard that Balaam was coming, he went out to meet him at the city of Moab, which is on the Arnon border, at the extreme end of the border. 37Then Balak said to Balaam, “Did I not urgently send to you to call you? Why did you not come to me? Am I really unable to honor you?” 38So Balaam said to Balak, “Behold, I have come now to you! Am I able to speak anything at all? The word that God puts in my mouth, that I shall speak.” 39And Balaam went with Balak, and they came to Kiriath-huzoth. 40Balak sacrificed oxen and sheep, and sent some to Balaam and the leaders who were with him.

      41Then it came about in the morning that Balak took Balaam and brought him up to the high places of Baal, and he saw from there a portion of the people.

Let us be humble in our requests before the Lord and ask His help to purify our motives as we come before Him to ask His guidance and help.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Doubt / Lacking Faith, Faith / Trusting God, Forgive Others / Seek Forgiveness, Grace / Forgiveness, Humility, Loving / Kind, Merciful, Peace / Rest, Repenting from Sin, Righteous, Teachable

In Him There Is No Darkness

We live in a dark, sin-filled world. Let us not forget, however, that sin entered through man, not God. There is no darkness in Jehovah. If we fellowship with Him, then we too will walk in the light and not darkness. This is not because of our own righteousness, but because of the righteousness of Yeshua who died for our sins so that we may be cleansed and be in close fellowship with a holy Father. We must confess our sins rather than deny them if we are to be cleansed.

1 John 1:5-10

God Is Light

     5This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us.

The world is not generally comfortable with “absolute” truth, but nonetheless it exists. One can deny gravity but it acts upon each of us the all the same. So too with Jehovah… though you accept or reject Him, He exists all the same and so does His truth about what is good and what is sin. We can be greatly comforted though and need not remain in doubt about forgiveness. He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Blessed, Consequences of Sin, Disobeying, Rebelling Against, Ignoring God, Justice / Judgment, Obeying God, Righteous, Worthy of Fear / Reverence

Blessings of Obedience or Curse of Disobedience

Many in the USA have become arrogant, giving full credit to man for the success of the nation… even as the moral fabric of our culture continues to rapidly deteriorate around us. They exclude the very obvious presence of God in establishing our nation and the historical facts that document how the founders put together the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, and the nation itself based on a strong Christian faith. Separation of church and state simply meant the government would not impose a particular sect of Christianity on its people (e.g. Protestantism, Catholicism, etc.). Christianity itself was integrated into their very discussions in government and leadership addresses from the government to the people and the public schools. Monuments of the 10 Commandments were deliberately highlighted. Though they were imperfect for sure, they glorified God and God blessed the founding of the nation.

Today we stand in stark contrast with this image. Much of the nation despises God and rejects Him. Even those who claim Him by name, somehow have bought the lie that He is to be separated from government. As such we leave government to men to lead instead of God and it degrades into larger and larger bureaucracy which takes money from folks and wastes it badly. It expands to have more and more control over the freedom of the individual and state as it was never intended to have. It removes God from more and more of our culture fostering an environment in which wickedness and depravity grow.

There is blessing in obedience to Jehovah and curse in disobedience. Make no mistake about it. Men are not in control, God is.

Leviticus 26

Blessings of Obedience

     1‘You shall not make for yourselves idols, nor shall you set up for yourselves an image or a sacred pillar, nor shall you place a figured stone in your land to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. 2‘You shall keep My sabbaths and reverence My sanctuary; I am the LORD. 3‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments so as to carry them out, 4then I shall give you rains in their season, so that the land will yield its produce and the trees of the field will bear their fruit. 5‘Indeed, your threshing will last for you until grape gathering, and grape gathering will last until sowing time. You will thus eat your food to the full and live securely in your land. 6‘I shall also grant peace in the land, so that you may lie down with no one making you tremble. I shall also eliminate harmful beasts from the land, and no sword will pass through your land. 7‘But you will chase your enemies and they will fall before you by the sword; 8five of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall before you by the sword. 9‘So I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will confirm My covenant with you. 10‘You will eat the old supply and clear out the old because of the new. 11‘Moreover, I will make My dwelling among you, and My soul will not reject you. 12‘I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people. 13‘I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt so that you would not be their slaves, and I broke the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

Penalties of Disobedience

     14‘But if you do not obey Me and do not carry out all these commandments, 15if, instead, you reject My statutes, and if your soul abhors My ordinances so as not to carry out all My commandments, and so break My covenant, 16I, in turn, will do this to you: I will appoint over you a sudden terror, consumption and fever that will waste away the eyes and cause the soul to pine away; also, you will sow your seed uselessly, for your enemies will eat it up. 17‘I will set My face against you so that you will be struck down before your enemies; and those who hate you will rule over you, and you will flee when no one is pursuing you. 18‘If also after these things you do not obey Me, then I will punish you seven times more for your sins. 19‘I will also break down your pride of power; I will also make your sky like iron and your earth like bronze. 20‘Your strength will be spent uselessly, for your land will not yield its produce and the trees of the land will not yield their fruit.

      21‘If then, you act with hostility against Me and are unwilling to obey Me, I will increase the plague on you seven times according to your sins. 22‘I will let loose among you the beasts of the field, which will bereave you of your children and destroy your cattle and reduce your number so that your roads lie deserted.

      23‘And if by these things you are not turned to Me, but act with hostility against Me, 24then I will act with hostility against you; and I, even I, will strike you seven times for your sins. 25‘I will also bring upon you a sword which will execute vengeance for the covenant; and when you gather together into your cities, I will send pestilence among you, so that you shall be delivered into enemy hands. 26‘When I break your staff of bread, ten women will bake your bread in one oven, and they will bring back your bread in rationed amounts, so that you will eat and not be satisfied.

      27‘Yet if in spite of this you do not obey Me, but act with hostility against Me, 28then I will act with wrathful hostility against you, and I, even I, will punish you seven times for your sins. 29‘Further, you will eat the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters you will eat. 30‘I then will destroy your high places, and cut down your incense altars, and heap your remains on the remains of your idols, for My soul shall abhor you. 31‘I will lay waste your cities as well and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your soothing aromas. 32‘I will make the land desolate so that your enemies who settle in it will be appalled over it. 33‘You, however, I will scatter among the nations and will draw out a sword after you, as your land becomes desolate and your cities become waste.

      34‘Then the land will enjoy its sabbaths all the days of the desolation, while you are in your enemies’ land; then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. 35‘All the days of its desolation it will observe the rest which it did not observe on your sabbaths, while you were living on it. 36‘As for those of you who may be left, I will also bring weakness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies. And the sound of a driven leaf will chase them, and even when no one is pursuing they will flee as though from the sword, and they will fall. 37‘They will therefore stumble over each other as if running from the sword, although no one is pursuing; and you will have no strength to stand up before your enemies. 38‘But you will perish among the nations, and your enemies’ land will consume you. 39‘So those of you who may be left will rot away because of their iniquity in the lands of your enemies; and also because of the iniquities of their forefathers they will rot away with them.

      40‘If they confess their iniquity and the iniquity of their forefathers, in their unfaithfulness which they committed against Me, and also in their acting with hostility against Me— 41I also was acting with hostility against them, to bring them into the land of their enemies—or if their uncircumcised heart becomes humbled so that they then make amends for their iniquity, 42then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and I will remember also My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham as well, and I will remember the land. 43‘For the land will be abandoned by them, and will make up for its sabbaths while it is made desolate without them. They, meanwhile, will be making amends for their iniquity, because they rejected My ordinances and their soul abhorred My statutes. 44‘Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them, nor will I so abhor them as to destroy them, breaking My covenant with them; for I am the LORD their God. 45‘But I will remember for them the covenant with their ancestors, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God. I am the LORD.’”

      46These are the statutes and ordinances and laws which the LORD established between Himself and the sons of Israel through Moses at Mount Sinai.

Pray for revival amongst believers to take back our nation and be a light to the world. Pray for God’s help for believers as individuals and communities to lead that revival by example. Pray for even those who have not before truly known Him to submit to the Lord and seek to honor and glorify Him. Remain active in demonstrating and sharing your faith and influence the communities and government to the best of your abilities to restore Jehovah to His rightful place as the focal point of all we do as individuals, communities and a nation.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Bitterness / Resentment, Controlling Thoughts, Grace / Patience, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Joy / Happiness / Rejoicing, Peace / Rest, Righteous, Self Control, Slow to Anger

Christ Is Our Example

No one has been treated more unfairly than Jesus Christ. He committed no sin and yet suffered greatly for our sin. While he was reviled, He did not revile in return. He demonstrated no bitterness or resentment despite terribly unfair treatment.  He is our example. We do well to follow His example.

1 Peter 2:21-25

Christ Is Our Example

      21For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22WHO COMMITTED NO SIN, NOR WAS ANY DECEIT FOUND IN HIS MOUTH; 23and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously; 24and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed. 25For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

The storms and difficulties will come for all of us. We have to prepare for how we deal with them. Do we become bitter and resentful or do we trust in God and lean on Him in faith as difficult times come. One way is the path based on sin and selfishness and leads to misery and frustration. The other way is the way of faith and leads to peace and joy. Let us strive to live our lives in the way our Lord, Jesus demonstrated by how He lived His life.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.

Addiction, Adultery / Sex Outside Marriage, Anger (unrighteous anger), Arrogance, Bad Habits, Bitterness / Resentment, Controlling Thoughts, Doubt / Lacking Faith, Drunkenness, Envy / Jealousy / Coveting, Faith / Trusting God, Father / Yahweh, Fortune Telling, Gluttony, Greed, Guide, Holy / Set Apart, Holy Spirit / Ruach HaKodesh, Homosexual Behavior, Hypocrisy, Idols / False Gods, Jesus Christ / Yeshua, Lying / Deceiving, Mockers, Murder, Pride, Rebuke Wrong Behavior, Repenting from Sin, Revenge, Righteous, Self Control, Selfishness, Sloth / Laziness, Stealing / Theft, Tongue / Gossip / Slander, Wickedness / Evil

Shall We Continue to Sin So That Grace May Increase?

It is a very important concept for followers of Jesus Christ to understand. When we ask Jesus to be our Lord and accept His offer of salvation by grace through faith that He died for our sins, we must also recognize that we are not to abuse that grace. For us to abuse grace by intentionally continuing to sin is to not truly submit to the lordship of Christ over sin and self. It is to not truly accept His offer of salvation.

We all sin, but let us never embrace it intentionally under the excuse that His grace will cover our sins. Instead let us seek to repent from sin, to turn away from it and toward the Father. Let us die to self and sin and rise in Christ to a new life. We need His help and He will provide it to those who truly invite Him in to be Lord of their life.

Romans 6

Believers Are Dead to Sin, Alive to God

      1What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase? 2May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? 3Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death? 4Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. 5For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; 7for he who has died is freed from sin.

      8Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him. 10For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

      12Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its lusts, 13and do not go on presenting the members of your body to sin as instruments of unrighteousness; but present yourselves to God as those alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God. 14For sin shall not be master over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

      15What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law but under grace? May it never be! 16Do you not know that when you present yourselves to someone as slaves for obedience, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin resulting in death, or of obedience resulting in righteousness? 17But thanks be to God that though you were slaves of sin, you became obedient from the heart to that form of teaching to which you were committed, 18and having been freed from sin, you became slaves of righteousness. 19I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification.

      20For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness. 21Therefore what benefit were you then deriving from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the outcome of those things is death. 22But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life. 23For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I can well remember a variety of sinful habits that I seemed unable to break on my own power. The more I turned my life over to the Father, the more I sought to learn and understand His word and apply it in my life, the more the Holy Spirit has revealed Himself in my life to guide me and strengthen me in my daily walk… in rejecting sin. I have been able to turn away from habits and behaviors that had me beat and stay away. However, temptation remains a challenge, trying to draw us in. Remain vigilant and focused. Choose righteousness over sin. The rewards in this life and beyond are priceless.

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Have you submitted your life to Jesus Christ? Are you living today filled with the peace and joy of truly knowing and following Jesus Christ? Learn more about salvation through The Message of the Cross.