With All Your Heart and Soul!

Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy Chapter 11

Alright, well I know that we have been studying Matthew, but I really felt lead to go to the old testament today and I found myself in the book of Deuteronomy. This chapter continues to remind the children of Israel that it was not their children “who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God”, but that it was you and you should never forget it and tell others, including your children, about it. So as I read I began to think about what I have saw and experienced the Lord do in my life. My first question….am I sharing those things with my family? With others? Am I standing on the things that I know without a doubt that the Lord did and being strengthened by them daily? No, no, and no. It seems to be such a human trait to forget where we have been. You know like those nights in desperation when you cry out to the Lord and you immediately feel his presence and know that everything will work out---even when it hasn’t already. Like the prayer that you simply whispered and it was answered exactly. Like when something happens and you feel overjoyed because you know God did something just for you. The feeling that you have at these moments feel like you will never let go of that feeling and you know that you have been changed by them, but then what happens? Things run smooth for a while and then we all seem to get in a rut and forget those feelings, forget that excitement that we thought in the moment that we would never loose. I believe each event in our lives change us, but we have got to learn to hang on to that change, that excitement, and not let go, but add to.

What has God brought you through? Where has he placed you? Are you ready to be strengthened by him and allow him to raise you up in service to him right where you are at? You are where you are for a reason and that reason is to show others Christ. So many times we try to figure out what God wants us to do, but it is really not always as complicated as we make it out to be. Deuteronomy 10:12-13 says it well… “And now, O Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”

There is so much in this chapter that I could write pages and pages on, but my focus is on the land that God has brought you to---you are not there just to survive this life, you are there to live a life of abundance according to the will of God. If we hold on to God with everything we have in us he will drive away our enemies, he will give us strength to sustain us during the most trying times, he will pour his blessings out upon us, and he will raise us up for the purpose that he created us to fulfill.

After reading this chapter I began to thank God for revealing this to me and once again he spoke to my heart and whispered something more. He reminded me of all the things that others have experienced in order for me to have this precious book in my hand. If it wasn’t for the men and women that followed God with all their heart and soul I wouldn’t be where I am at either. Along with my own experiences their experiences change me as well, when I study His Word he uses these stories to strengthen my faith, strengthen my knowledge in Him, and prepare me to live a life in service to him. How much closer would I be to God if I gave up 40 days to be with Him, to listen to him like Moses did? In the comfort of my home, I read a chapter in the Bible, I pray, and I type words on a screen and I think that is sufficient? It’s not! While I know this is what I am suppose to be doing, God revealed to me that it is just a small part of what I have been called to do. I have been placed in a land, a land that needs more than just a small part of my time and energy---it needs me to fear God, walk in his ways, to love him, and serve him with all my heart and soul!