““Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord! And if it seems evil to you to serve the Lord, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.””
Joshua 24:14-15 NKJV
We will serve the Lord
Many choices are coming for those in the household of God. In the coming year, there will be great pressures placed on those who profess to be followers of Jesus. Each of us will be placed in a spiritual vice grip, squeezed between the culture that surrounds us and the word of God.
The pressing from without, and within, will drive many of us will seek the avenue of relief that seems to end the suffering. It will seem like the easy way, at the time, but will be the worst in the summation of the age.
Even now there are those who, while professing loudly to be Christians, have already compromised, turning from the tried and tested Scriptures inspired and liaised to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, to our own emotions and experiences.
The children of Israel were at a time when the they were about to lose the leader they were guided by for many years. They were about to begin the life in the promised land, without the leaders that had been selected directly by God.
There are many correlates to the times we refer to as the “church age”, for since the death of the last disciples, we have been effectively on our own. The Lord provided two thousand years for ministry, and that time is near at end. From the beginning He has set the pattern before us, as God created the world and all that is in it in six days, and rested on the seventh.
We are nearing the end of the six days, and the rest is coming as the Lord returns and ushers in the millennial reign.
“But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.”
II Peter 3:8-9 NKJV
The stories from the Old Testament are there for our caution, as they have application to the times we are living in. The children of Israel are a type of the Christian.
Just as Joshua set before the children of Israel the choice of who they were going to serve, He has so placed before us a choice. We can choose to follow Jesus, the One who delivered us through the River, or we can choose to follow the gods of of the woke culture that surrounds us.
Know this: there will be consequences regardless of the choice. The question is the eternal outcome. For those who choose the world, the future holds the loss of access to the Kingdom, the New Jerusalem, Heaven come to earth.
“And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.””
Revelation 21:6-8 NKJV
Those that choose God will have that access, that eternity with the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, I tell you the truth that there will be great tumult and blood shed for those who stand fast in the faith. But even in the difficulties to come, the Lord will provide a way for us to complete the work. In the times of the children of Israel, the Lord sent hornets to sting the inhabitants of the land, to drive them out.
“I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant.’”
Joshua 24:12-13 NKJV
These did not sting the children of Israel, for the were marked as God’s people. The Lord is a God who gives us patterns to provide us assurance that what He has done before, He will do again.
“Then the fifth angel sounded: And I saw a star fallen from heaven to the earth. To him was given the key to the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit, and smoke arose out of the pit like the smoke of a great furnace. So the sun and the air were darkened because of the smoke of the pit. Then out of the smoke locusts came upon the earth. And to them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power. They were commanded not to harm the grass of the earth, or any green thing, or any tree, but only those men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.”
Revelation 9:1-6 NKJV
In the torment of the unsaved, will come the drive for salvation, ushering in the greatest harvest of souls of all time, for they will see that those who have called upon the name of the Lord, and have been sealed in the Holy Spirit are not stung. Those who are protected will be sharing the Gospel.
The Lord has given us a great pattern in this, as the Lord sent serpents to plague the children of Israel. Moses erected a banner with a serpent on a pole and those who looked upon it were saved.
“And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” So the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the people of Israel died. Therefore the people came to Moses, and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.”
Numbers 21:5-9 NKJV
Jesus mentioned the serpent, offering confirmation of God’s ability to save, yesterday, today and tomorrow.
“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
John 3:14-16 NKJV
My people, let us make the right choice, for we have a God who has given us His own documentation of His faithfulness and His power. Let us cling to the word of God in these times, that we do not be swayed to the ways of the world.
HAVE A BLESSED FRIDAY! PALM SUNDAY IS COMING! HOSANNA!!!!
#prayfortheharvest
#prayforthepersecuted
#prayforthepeaceofIsrael
#praythatthegospelspreadeverywhere
Musings from an idle mind 
Many blessings to you today, as well, Bernie! In answer to your challenge, I have decided to follow Jesus, no, turning back! Thanks so much for your hard work brother. May the Lord give you peace
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