Record the names

The Lord spoke to Moses and told him to record the names of all the warriors by their clans and families. Imagine it, count off...those in Reuben's tribe, Simeon's, and...if you were male and fit to fight in a war then you were counted. No women, children or those unable to fight in a war were counted.

I wondered why does the Lord want a number taken? Perhaps He just wanted to give them something to do and this was before calculators and such, so it would have taken a little while. It was before we could just mail a form in the mail to the right department, but I felt there was more to it.

Matthew Henry told me that it was because God wanted to show He was good with His promises to Abraham. To keep track of the descendants that He promised Abraham and to also show that He was keeping track of His sheep! Also, so that they could set up a order of justice.

I love the explanation of any of these especially that God is keeping track of His sheep! Just like the hairs on our heads He knows where we are and He is keeping a record of us! God is faithful!

I just picture Moses and Aaron along with the heads of the tribes sitting on a rock and making tally marks for each person on their sheet. God nodding yes I know Him, he is from the tribe of Dan or where is old so and so from Gad? Smiling as each of His sons walked through the line and they were marked present. Present in His number!

I want to be marked present in His number!

Sweet Blessings,
Debbie

Prayer Special: Austria - Pray for leaders in the church. Believers are declining and they need workers and pastors.

Deny self!

Today, it jumped off the page from Leviticus 23...a day to deny yourselves and present special gifts to the LORD.

Do we deny ourselves anything anymore? We reside in a nation it is all about getting, getting, getting...not giving, giving, giving!

Deny self...how often do I deny myself what I desire? Do I even wait a few days? Do I wait a few months? What about you?

Today, I am going to ponder this thought..will you as well?

Sweet blessings,
Debbie

Prayer Special- Australia is the country for yesterday and today in our prayers.

Laws and more laws

Over and over in Leviticus it is you must do this or you must not do this...over and over again.

It's hard reading. It's boring, but important. So, do you think Moses got bored and tuned God out like we do? Or perhaps he wrote it all down and was like could you hurry up a little bit - I've got it already?

I don't think so!

Moses got it!

It saddens me when I really look at me sometimes. I get this is important, but I'm lying if I don't admit it's hard to read it. It's details, details. It's killing animals. It's sin! Sin! and more Sin! I like to cover sin not kill something and let everybody know what I've been up to...even though God already knows and He is all that matters!

Just yesterday at the mission we were discussing how hard the rules are for the women to follow and that we aren't any different than when we were children. We don't like rules, but at the same time we know we matter when someone cares enough to make the rules!!!

God loves us sooooooooo much! Jesus loves us sooooooo much! Our sins are covered nowadays with Jesus blood - the ultimate sacrifice and still we don't like to look at this sacrifice either. We like to focus on the stories, the miracles, the love shown, but not the ultimate sacrifice made for each of us! We better focus on it and realize just how much indeed we are loved!!!

Sweet blessings,
Debbie

Prayer Special: Aruba an island in the Caribbean. Heavily dependent on tourism. Unity among believers is a prayer concern!

I may contaminate

The Lord is speaking to Moses and Aaron and these are His Words - I may contaminate some of your houses in your land with mildew. Do you catch it? He might do something to make something unclean...

What do you think about these words?

It caused me to pause a moment. Of course, then I picked up a commentary one of my favorites, Matthew Henry and he thought that God may have put the leprosy in the house due to idols in the house, a curse on the house, and sin is in the house. The house would be treated just like a person with leprosy...unclean, taken down and taken to a far off place alone.

What do you think about these words? Do these words make you pause? The LORD contaminates?

Sweet blessings,
Debbie

Prayer Special - Today we pray for Armenia which is located in Asia close to Turkey and Iran. Armenia was the worlds first Christian nation. Pray for relief workers to help with economic depression, widespread poverty and unemployment. They need more bibles, youth camps!