Divine Encounters

Day 59 Reading: Deut 28:1 - Deut. 29:29 God's blessings are conditional. Every promise of God has a condition. Fulfil the condition and you will see the benefits. God has chosen to bless those who walk in obedience to His Word. We have a responsibility to choose to obey the Word of God. There are certain pathways of blessings in life that only open through obedience to God's Word.  Not only would the blessing follow them, the blessings would also come upon them and overtake them. Prosperity is guaranteed for the one who keeps the Words of God. Moses announced the following blessings in obedience to the Word of God: God will set me up on high. I am blessed in the city and in the country Blessed shall be my children, the produce of my ground-ministry, business or career- and the increase of my livestock. I am blessed with plenty of all areas of endeavour. Blessed shall be my basket and kneading bowl- where I prepare, work, earn, or eat from! I am blessed when I ent...

Day 58 Reading: Deut. 24:1 - Deut. 27:26 The family is valued by God. Jehovah is the author of family. He is the God of family. Let God be the at the centre of your family. The family was so important to God that a newly wed man was granted leave of absence from the army.  Family requires a good foundation. A couple was to spend time setting a good foundation. The man was not to go out to deal with other issues when newly married. He had to first settle his home. Today, we rarely find couples spending the time to set up a good foundation for the home. It's marriage and quickly into what they were doing before. I am not saying one shouldn't work. The workload should not be the reason to not have a good foundation. God expects that we keep justice. God expects that in our dealings with others we don't take advantage of them. We are not to have different measures for people. You are not to treat people differently. To have different weights at home and outside is ...

Day 57 Reading: Deut. 20:1 - 23:25 Life is warfare, not fanfare. Life's winners walk constantly knowing the principles of warfare. They understand that when it's time to engage the enemy one must be prepared. The children of Israel were about to enter the land and the next stage of possessing the land would not be about talking about the promise but actually contending for the land. God gave Moses the rules of engagement as follows: Do not fear or be afraid. Fear will cause your enemy to ride over you. 'Fear not' is said in the Bible 365 times.  Do not let your heart faint. The Hebrew word used for faint in Deut. 20:3 means to melt away. This is a depressing state that many today including me have allowed. God desires that I stand up to confront the challenges ahead. Do not tremble. The Hebrew word used here connotes that not only do you fear but in a hurry, you flee the battle in alarm.  You must stand against the enemy.   Don't be terrified by the e...

Day 56 Reading: Deut. 16:1- Deut. 19:21 Growth will always bring change. How you respond to change will determine the results you see. When the Passover was instituted the animal was slaughtered within each home. This is changed to now having the aminal sacrificed at the place where God's house would be located. This change was to ensure that focus on the Tabernacle was maintained as His Presence was there. The test of commitment was what the children of Israel faced. Don't allow distance to stop you from having divine encounters with God.  When we appear before God we are to bring an offering. Never appear before God empty. Bring a sacrifice of praise. Take an offering of thanksgiving to Your Maker. Give generously to the Most High. Take an offering from your sweat and give back to God. To appear empty before God is ingratitude. Ensure that what you give to God is not blemished. I once heard a story of a thief taking his offering to God and asking for God's bl...

Day 55 Reading: Deut. 12:1- Deut. 15:23 God has a great plan for you and I. His desire is that we reign in life. To reign together with God is only possible when we walk wholeheartedly with Him. Destroy altars of the land that are built to others gods. Set up the altar of God in the land. Every altar of an idol pollutes the land. Don't worship using the altars of idols as they are not dedicated to God. Worship God at the place where His altar id erected. Corporate worship was to be done at the place dedicated to God. God required of the children of Israel to never forsake the Levite. The Levites were not given an inheritance and the Lord expected that they would be looked after by the community. Don't forsake those who serve God.  Even in the days of the Covenant of Moses, the people were told of false prophets who would seek to lead the people astray. The false prophet or preacher would be put to death for falsehood. This brought reverence to the office of the...

Day 54 Reading: Deut. 8:1- 11:32 To maintain the blessing that God bestows requires one lives by the commandments of God. Live according to the Word of God and you will remain in the place God has given you. One can only flourish by living according to the Word of God.  The tests we go through in life are to humble us, to sieve the heart and reveal what the contents of the heart are. Every challenge we go through is a test of our obedience to the Word of God. God desires to feed us with manna, which is heavenly food for our earthly journey. As we journey here on earth we need heavenly strengthening and this is from eating the Bread of Heaven. I am not alive because of the natural food, however, I am created to live by every Word that proceeds from God. I am born to live by the living Word, not just the written word but the 'live' word of God. The word used in Hebrew that is translated lives means that the spoken Word of God will quicken, preserve, revive, nourish, ...

Day 53 Reading: Deut. 5:1- Deut. 7:26 The Lord spoke face to face is an awesome statement that reveals how much God loves us. The Covenant of the Law was different from the Abrahamic covenant in how it was presented. Moses declares that God didn't make this covenant with the fathers. He appeared to the children of Israel and spoke to them. God declared the Ten Commandments on which the entire law hinged or revolved. God wrote these Ten Commandments on two tablets of stones. The Ten Commandments: I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth gene...

Day 52 Reading: Deut. 3:1- Deut. 4:49 Moses recounts the past victory against Og, the king of Bashan illustrating that God had indeed given victory over the inhabitants and enemies of the children of God. Here we also learn that this king was a giant. Don't ever be surprised that before you enter the land you deal with a giant. Moses in going over the journey from Egypt to where they were was also to encourage Joshua. Moses is constantly told to encourage and strengthen Joshua. 'Charles, you must not fear them, for God is the one who contends for you.'  Ever felt as though there is a prayer God doesn't answer. God does answer though the answer may not be the one we desire.  Moses desired to enter the land and prayed. From the response God gave him, its obvious Moses prayed about this matter many a time. However, God wouldn't grant his petition.  Obedience is key to possessing the land. It will only go well with me when I walk in obedience to God. I ...

Day 51 Reading: Deut. 1:1- Deut. 2:37 Welcome to Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Bible and the last book written by Moses. Almost forty years had passed from when they left Egypt. What should have taken 13 days they took 40 years. An entire generation was wiped out because of unbelief and doubt. They didn't believe God had the best interests of them possessing the land and doubted His ability to give them the land. The evil report of 10 spies magnified giants in their ears that they doubted God's capacity to give them victory in possessing the land. Deal with every area of unbelief and doubt for it is the reason stopping you from entering the land of promise. God hates stagnation and as we begin studying this book I believe that God is going to move us into the promised land. Say bye bye to the mountain that you have gone around for long. See the land of promise that God has given you. Horeb means the desert or place of solitude. God appeared to Moses on this mo...

Day 50 Reading: Num. 34:1 - Num. 36:13 Am I living below what God has ordained for me? Am I operating within the boundaries of the land God has set for me or not? Reading through the boundaries God gave Moses for the land He was giving the children of Israel, I began to ask myself whether I am living within the boundaries of the promises God has set for me. Wherever you and I are not living within the boundaries of God study the promise relevant to that area of life and determine to move to that place. In apportioning the land God established that the Levites would have 48 cities to live in. Of these cities, God declared 6 would be refuge cities. A refuge city would be one where a man-slayer who kills accidentally would flee from the avenger. The avenger would not be able to follow anyone into these cities. If the man-slayer left the city of refuge the avenger of blood could find him and avenged the murder. God is our refuge and anytime we aren't walking with Him is si...

Day 49 Reading: Num. 31:1 - Num. 33:56 God is a God of vengeance. Don't take it upon yourself to be vengeful. God will deal with it. The Midianites had joined Moab in trying to get Balaam to curse the children of Israel -see Numbers 22:3-7. Earlier we saw that the children of Israel committed harlotry by sleeping with the women of Moab. God had instructed Moses to harass the Midianites for seducing the children of Israel to sin and for listening to Balaam.  Balaam dwelt in the land of the Midianites. When it was time to harass the Midianites the children of Israel were given instructions, however, there were underlying expectations such as kill everyone. They went to war and killed every man. The women were captured. Note that Balaam was killed also. Today we need to remove everything that is a vehicle of the seduction spirit that carries one away from God. One remarkable thing about the war against the Midianites was that the children of Israel did a head count an...

Day 48 Reading: Num. 27:1 - Num. 30:16 God is a God of justice. Many today seek what is fair however many times they never get what justice has for them. The inheritance laws were clear about who would possess what. They seemed fair however the daughters of Zelophehad didn't think they were just. The Law didn't have a just settlement for where there was no male figure in a family. They questioned whether the law was inadvertently writing off the name of the family and his lineage because he didn't have boys. God's response is just and fair. A balance that is difficult to get in today's law systems.  The succession of leadership is important to God. Moses knew he wouldn't go into Canaan and sought God for a shepherd for the people. He didn't seek just for a leader but a shepherd. As a leader learn to wait on God on everything. Yes, Joshua was with Moses and it could have been easy to assume that he should take over, however, Moses asked God for d...

Day 47 Reading: Num. 24:1 - Num. 26:65 There is a season where those sent to curse you will have no choice but to bless you. A season where your enemies cannot speak against you. Balaam had no option but to declare a blessing upon the children of Israel. Balak was not amused as 3 times Balaam had blessed the children of Israel and there was nothing he could do about it. Balaam went on to speak the fate of the nations Israel would deal with and Balak wasn't happy to know that Moab his nation would be one of them that Israel would batter.  Watch your environment and be careful who is around you. The children of Israel were soon seduced by the women of Moab. What Balaam couldn't do, that derails the people of God, the women of Moab did. Talk about generational curses. The Moabites are actually related to the children of Israel. The daughters of Lot- Abraham's nephew- slept with their father after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They 'seduced' their ...

Day 46 Reading: Num 21:1- Num. 23:30 Do you face battles and wonder where God is? Settle it within yourself that God is the Man of War and no battles with God are a loss. In today's portion of scripture reading, we see different kinds of battles the children of Israel faced. Before I list the battles, a situation took place where the children of Israel complained. This took place just after they had fought a battle and emerged victoriously. They were discouraged. Discouragement if not handled properly can lead to complaining. A plague was released upon them where serpents suddenly descended on them and bit them killing many. They cried to God in repentance and God gave Moses a remedy. Erect a bronze serpent and all who look to it will be delivered. This was a prophetic picture that the Messiah who would come would bring deliverance and it was only accessed by looking at Him. Look to God for your deliverance from every bite of the enemy. Learn to focus on God even in th...

Day 45 Reading: Num. 18:1- Num. 20:29 God's Kingdom is full of order. Anything that speaks chaos in our lives on meeting the Word of God is introduced to the order of God's Kingdom. Aaron and his sons were called into the priesthood while the rest of the Levites would serve in the Tabernacle and also serve the priesthood. The Levites were not to handle the things of the sanctuary.  Tithing is not just for the church member. Even the Levite serving in the Tabernacle was to tithe. God expects those serving Him to be tithers. The revelation of the tithe is be sought and understood. The tithe didn't begin in the Law. The tithe was in the dispensation of Abraham where he tithed to Melchizedek.  God expects us to give Him the best, not the remains.  Too many times we give God what is not the best. Sacrificial offerings are to be the best that we can give to God. Abraham gave Isaac. God expects you and I to give nothing but the best.  A red heifer that ...

Day 44 Reading: Num 15:1- Num. 17:13 I just love the way God deals with His children. The children of Israel had just been rebuked for not believing God and in judgement, God had stated that only those below 20 would enter Canaan. They then tried to enter where God had said they wouldn't enter and they were beaten by nations that should have been fodder for them. At such a time God begins to give instructions about the offering they would offer in the land He would give them. God immediately began training the next generation that would possess the land. May I not miss my season that I spend my years preparing those who will enter where I should have entered. I know we leave in a dispensation that says God is a God of a second chance, however, we need to be willing and obedient to go the way of the Lord not by our own reckoning but by the leading and prompting of God.  The Law teaches us various aspects of God. Moses was given instruction on the law regarding unintent...