A Testimony

February 25, 2025 AdminLeave a comment

Deuteronomy 6:1-9

Hebrews 13: 5 ” Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” Of course we all know that verse, but it’s good to see it and read it every day. This morning from Streams in the Desert was this verse: Daniel 6:20 “O Daniel, servant of the living God, is thy God whom thou servest continually, able to deliver thee?” (KJV). God is asking him the question. He is able of course, but we may be prone to lose sight of that, and need to be reminded. May God help us all to trust Him, at least I need Him to help me. Especially now in this troubled world. Be blessed!

I received these thoughts in an email from a dear friend. As we look at the news of our troubled world most of us feel anxious from time to time. My friend had just received this verse in a form which she was able to put on her fridge. That reminded me of God’s instruction to the Israelite people: “These commands that I give you today are to be upon your hearts” (Deuteronomy 6:6).

Knowing how prone we are to be forgetful the Lord gave specific helps: “Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road”. How often do we talk about God’s promises or prophecies with our family and friends? We seem to have time to “chat” on social media about things which are inconsequential. If we have a thousand contacts our conversations will never go very deep, will they? God’s Word goes on – “Even when we lie down”….”Now I lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep” is the prayer we used sometimes with little children to give them an awareness that God’s love protects us even as we sleep!

The founding fathers in America were from religious backgrounds which often practised morning prayers. The family would gather together for Bible Reading and worship. Imagine doing that in our day as families fly in different directions, rushing to pick up lunches after eating breakfast on the run.

God’s commands were simple. According to Jesus they could be bound together in two: Love the Lord your God with all you have, heart and soul, mind and strength, and your neighbour as yourself. They were to be tied as symbols on our bodies, and in our homes, and even on the gate where others could note you are a family of faith! (Deuteronomy 6:7-9).

Reflection:

How much time do we give to serious things of faith, coming from the Word of the Lord? Do we recognize our urgent need of Almighty God, as my friend did? He is the faithful One. His love is eternal. Do we worship Him with all our heart and soul, mind and strength?

by Marilyn Daniels (MarilynDaniels.net)

Devotional

Going Down to Egypt

February 10, 2025 AdminLeave a comment

Deuteronomy 17:14-16

Egypt is a fascinating country. I have seen it from the air, a blue ribbon wending its way between mountains of sand…yes mountains! We often think a desert is flat, but dunes rise to tremendous heights in the Sahara. Bordering the blue ribbon are green swaths which on closer inspection are the gardens which provide their markets with delicious produce. No wonder the Israelites longed for the leeks and onions of Egypt, during their desert wanderings (Numbers 11:18).

But Egypt also has history – a race of strong and intelligent people, their exploits in architecture, literature and commerce, as well as in war, gave them a reputation for excellence, over centuries of time. Wealthy, they had goods and horses. No wonder the struggling Israelites looked to them for help. However, Isaiah pronounces a woe against the Israelites for this very thing. “Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help!” (Isaiah 31:1). Why is this such a serious thing?

God had rescued His people from persecution and actual slavery in Egypt. The “Exodus” is a famous event in world history. God spoke to the Israelites through Moses and Aaron, giving them regulations for life in their own land, a land He was already preparing to give to them. Several times in Deuteronomy God said “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you….” He gave them instructions re the king He predicted they would ask for, and how to avoid the religious practises of the heathen nations around them (Deuteronomy 17 and 18). Specifically the kings must not make the people return to Egypt ….for the Lord has told you “You are not to go back that way again” (17:16).

The danger was that Israel might prefer the evils of the known above that which was unknown. Think of your own life. How often do we return to the comfort of a familiar pain or problem rather than face the uncertainty of the unfamiliar. Sometimes it might seem we are addicted to pain. Certainly we compromise what God wants for us, when we turn back. God knew the Israelites might rely on the strength of Pharaoh, losing their spiritual compass altogether.

Paul who had experienced trauma of every kind, being beaten and cursed, fleeing for his life, stoned by those in righteous anger, shipwrecked, mocked and imprisoned, knew the past must be left behind if he was to endure. He could see enough of the prize – the mark of the high calling of God motivated him to press forward (Philippians 3:13-14). Oh! that we could envision the glory God has promised to those who are in Christ! To gain that glory we must put the past behind and press forward, trusting God to lead the way. Let us not make the mistake of “Going Down to Egypt”!

Reflection:

How much time have you spent in “Egypt”?

How productive was that time?

What lifted you out of a conflicted situation?

Could your experience speak into the life of someone else?

By Marilyn Daniels (MarilynDaniels.net)

Devotional

The One and Only

July 8, 2024 AdminLeave a comment

Deuteronomy 4:35-40.

The Israelites were shown many things that would demonstrate the reality of their God. Fighting for the land God had promised to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were called to overcome a people who worshiped gods made of wood and stone, and to be a blessing to the nations (Genesis 12). Their God was invisible so how could they make Him known to others around them?

Let us remember that Creator God had made Himself known in many ways. Miraculously He brought the nation, called by His name, out of slavery in Egypt. In Jewish texts, as well as in Christian Greco-Egyptian texts, Israel was understood to mean “a man seeing God”. You might remember how Jacob wrestled with the man, understood to be a theophany of Jesus Christ, before Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32), with promises that he would become a great nation. Not only God’s people Israel, but other nations around were in awe of what He had done, throughout their early history recorded in scripture.

Do you know there are 28 Biblical references to the fact that there is only one God. “Hear Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One”….beside Him there is no other” (Deuteronomy 6:4, 4:35). One of my favourite of such verses is written by John. Jesus prayed “that they (you and me) may be one as we are One”. There is unity in the heart of God. Jesus’ prayer goes on – “that they may be brought to complete unity to let the world know that You sent Me, and have loved them” (John 17:22-23).

Three young Israelite men risked their lives by standing up for the One and Only (Daniel 3). “King Neb, they said….If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it and He will deliver us from your Majesty’s hand!” WOW! That is raw courage. It was a matter of life and death, so – into the fiery furnace they went. They knew their God was able and willing to save them!

The imagery of God as a tender Father goes from Old to New Testaments. What glorious truth it is to worship God as “Our Father”. Right now He is in heaven but one day we will join Him in that happy place, free from fears and trouble. There we will worship Him face to face in all of His glory.

Reflection:

Sometimes we quote Bible verses rather mindlessly. Let us think as we repeat the words of Holy Scripture, that they are there to help us understand the meaning of a great relationship – one we have with God our loving Father, the One and Only true God!

by Marilyn Daniels (MarilynDaniels.net)

Devotional

The God of Mystery

April 29, 2024 AdminLeave a comment

Photo by Avery Nielsen-Webb on Pexels.com

Deuteronomy 29:29 Ephesians 3:2-6

Who is God? This is a question asked down through the ages. How many people groups have invented something to worship because they have been created with a god-consciousness that needed a visible object. Therefore, conceptions of God in monotheism [one God] and pantheism, [belief that the divine interpenetrates every part of the universe], or of the supreme deity in henotheism [belief in and worship of a single god while accepting the existence or possible existence of other deities] can extend to various levels of abstraction. What then gives substance to the God of the Bible?

Christians believe the Bible is the revelation of God, authorized by general revelation, through nature (Romans 1:18-21), through God’s providential dealings with mankind (Romans 8:28), through God’s preservation of the universe (Colossians 1:17), and through man’s moral nature (Genesis 1:26, Acts 17:29). God has also revealed Himself through scriptures written over 1,500 years by about 40 different authors, written without contradiction (1 John 5:9-12). Although seen since the beginning of the world (Genesis 1:26), Jesus Christ embodies God to mankind through His incarnation (John 1:18, Hebrews 1:3) (Physical appearance).

However, in man’s haste to know God, there is sometimes a familiarity that tends towards error. We sing about Jesus being the “friend” of sinners – and that He truly is (John 15:13-14). However, that does not rob Him of the mystery of One who is all-knowing (Omniscient), all powerful (Almighty) and Omnipresent. God is eternal and perfectly holy. Those are terms hard for the finite mind of man to understand.

Something else hard to understand is – Why would God show Himself to mankind through a human incarnation? This may be the greatest mystery of all. After all, in creating man God could have made him like angelic beings. They do His bidding, if he wanted to get things done. But man has been created in God’s image…something remarkably unique and totally incomprehensible!

Then the Lord Jesus Christ sent His Divine Spirit to indwell the children of God. What was that all about? Perhaps it gives purpose to the creation of man. “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:12). One day we will understand many things we cannot grasp here and now. But – we will never be infinite beings. Nor will we ever be eternal. We are created.

Our God is the creative genius who designed a universe which has captured man’s imagination over eons of time. Galaxies are light-years away. Are there universes yet to be discovered? God knows; we do not. Only God could create a plan for our salvation which is perfect. That His love and justice meet on the cross takes us humans by surprise, but this is our God in action, doing for mankind what we cannot do for ourselves!

Reflection:

To truly worship a Supreme Being, that Being must be greater than man’s imagination. This leaves Him shrouded in mystery. God Himself explains: “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law” (Deuteronomy 29:29). His law is love (Matthew 22:37-40). Once again this takes us back to the cross where self is sacrificed and true love reigns supreme.

What a mighty God we serve!

by Marilyn Daniels (MarilynDaniels.net)

Devotional

The Living Christ

April 24, 2023 AdminLeave a comment

Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Recently I read “On Fire”, written by a man who as a nine-year-old boy, with third degree burns on 85% of his body, was not expected to live. He learned to fight for life when he would rather die, because his mother offered him the responsibility of choosing to fight for life, as he faced possible death. If you and I had to choose between life and death, what might we choose in the midst of pain?

Several thoughts come to mind when we consider the choices we must make day to day. God called the nation of Israel to choose between life and death. He laid out the rationale clearly….”so that you and your children may live and that you may love the Lord your God!” (Deuteronomy 30:20). In the book I read the author challenges his readers with seven choices to ignite a radically inspired life. Throughout he relied on God as the source of his strength to fight against all odds, and the power of prayer.

Thinking about the problems we face today – relational problems, disappointment, loss, cruelty and pain as well as the rigors of old age and more, can we say, will we say that we understand why we must endure? What is it that ignites your passion? Victor Frankl said “If you know your ‘why’ you can endure any ‘how’ “. How we live life in the mundane of everyday defines who we truly are. The danger is that we might forget why we are doing what we are doing. We come home exhausted from work, too tired to do anything but grumble, so then our families suffer because we’ve lost the vision of living for others.

The Lord Jesus came to earth fully aware of the suffering He would endure. Day by day His family and community rejected Him. “His own received Him not” John explains (1:11). What was it that motivated His choices in the midst of ridicule and rejection?

Could it be that Jesus lived out the injunction from Deuteronomy? God went on to say to the nation of Israel that life was all about loving God, listening to His voice and holding fast to Him, because “the Lord is your life” (Deuteronomy 30:20). This is a reason why we can give everything we’ve got to making our world a better place.

Whatever you do “do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). Might this be your rational for living life to the full? In spite of your limitations, without regard for what people might think, when we know God is calling us to live for Him, what greater joy can there be than to see our purpose is breathing life into others?

Reflection:

Why things do not go well might be because we have lost our passion. You see – indifference kills hope and joy and peace. Passion, on the other hand, overcomes obstacles. Are you letting the love of God fuel your passion? Why or why not? Is this the testimony of the Living Christ and those who follow Him??

by Marilyn Daniels (MarilynDaniels.net)

Uncategorized

God’s Arms

June 7, 2021 AdminLeave a comment

Isaiah 40:11

Following a series of personal calamities, Handel was encouraged, at the very point of giving up, by reading Charles Jennen’s libretto, which included scripture. Inspired by prophecy as well as by Christ’s life, Handel was moved to begin again. When he wrote “Messiah” no one could foresee its popularity over centuries of time.

When first played it blessed King George 2 so greatly that he stood during the Hallelujah chorus, recognizing Christ as King of Kings, a tradition followed to this day. This Messiah gathered the lambs in His arms, a picture of God’s caring and protection. Therefore we see this scripture engaging men of fame and power – a noted musician as well as the king. Most men might not acknowledge their need of a shepherd’s care, but these men acknowledged their personal need of God to guide them, to comfort them, as though they were His lambs.

Handel must have been reading: “He gathers His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them close to His heart” (Isaiah 40:11). What a tender picture of God sustaining, providing for, and protecting His sheep. Those who are most vulnerable, the marginalized, the very young and very old are held close to His heart! We cannot forget that Jesus, Himself, tenderly took little children in His arms to bless them (Mark 10:16). During his own suffering was this Handel’s experience of God?

The Bible tells us many things about God’s arms. His power is demonstrated by the strength of His arms and hands (Deuteronomy 3:24), a strength visible among the nations. His arms are holy, the source of salvation (Isaiah 52:10). The Psalmist concurs when he writes “Sing to the Lord….for He has done marvelous things; His right hand and His holy arm have worked salvation for Him!” (Psalm 98:1).

God’s arms are everlasting. How many people have found comfort in verses written so long ago by Moses? “The eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27). Through generations of human history God remains the same, tender and loving to all who will receive Him.

More than once the question is asked in scripture whether or not the Lord’s arm is too short to save His people? (Numbers 11:23, Isaiah 50:2). Notice it is God who is proactive, stretching out His arm to save the Israelites on different occasions, as no other god had done before (Deuteronomy 4:34).

Perhaps we might emulate God’s example as we meet people today. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit we are equipped to bear His love towards those who are hurting, and those who struggle to understand God. Will His gentle Spirit working in and through us give occasion for us to proclaim the strong and yet tender arm of God to those in need?

Reflection:

Have you ever had occasion to depend upon an arm to help you get up or to walk? How often when we are grieving does a gentle arm around the shoulders bring us comfort. Arms were also designed by God as messengers of love. Imagine as you draw close to someone in trouble how valuable your arm is to them. Let your arms be God’s arms to others in need.

by Marilyn Daniels (MarilynDaniels.net)