Spoils

I am here to be real in Joshua.

Chapters 15 to the last few verses of Chapter 21 — to me are Greek or any other language I have not learned. Boundaries, cities, pasturelands, and the like. In these chapters, the Tribes of Israel are given their allotments, their portion of the promised land wherein they and their families for generations will abide. I am thankful to have these chapters and for those who have comprehended them for these millenniums since their recordings.

Chapter 17.
I gathered from this chapter, GOD always does RIGHT; well, I get that from all the Bible but chapter 17 was a part of today’s reading. Zelophehad had only daughters, no sons. When they requested land as sons would have been given, GOD said yes; moreover, He commanded and the land was given.

Chapter 21, last three verses.

43 Thus the LORD gave Israel all the land He had sworn to give their fathers, and they took possession of it and settled in it.  44 And the LORD gave them rest on every side, just as He had sworn to their fathers. None of their enemies could stand against them, for the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 Not one of all the LORD’s good promises to the house of Israel had failed; everything was fulfilled.

Not one of all the LORD’s good promises failed.  Not one.
Does that encourage you?

Two stops in Chapter 22 and I’ll be finished for today.

Chapter 22.
And there is verse 5. It’s timeless. Still active. Still operational for us. It continues to be the message Father GOD has for us today.

5 But be very careful to observe the commandment and the law that Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to keep His commandments, to hold fast to Him, and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul.”  

Finally, in verse 8, the soldiers from the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh were returning home and Joshua gave them a command.

 8 saying, “Return to your homes with your great wealth, with immense herds of livestock, with silver, gold, bronze, iron, and very many clothes. Divide with your brothers the spoil of your enemies.”

Divide with your brothers.
I placed a note in the margin: You give to us so we can give to others.

I took this to mean a real dividing, not a token, not a small portion, but rather sharing-chocolate-3920745390 a splitting of the candy bar to share with a sibling.
And from there I thought of the vast wealth of prominent Christians – houses with thousands of square feet more than needed or used except to house more worldly goods than can be consumed in a lifetime. Don’t get me wrong, I like nice things. I like comfort. I like pretty. I really like comfort. And in moderation, I think Father does not mind.
But, Folks, we can’t take it with us and it is likely what we leave behind at death, our heirs will fight over; so why?
Why not divide our spoils with our brothers and sisters who are in honest need of some modest good old American comfort?
Just being real here, that’s what came to mind.

Until Next time, with holy hugs, Kathie

Peace of Mind

Joshua 8:31 (in part) . . . And on it they offered burnt offerings to the LORD, and they sacrificed peace offerings.  source 

Let me offer this: There must be a sacrifice for us to experience peace.
When peace of mind has fled,  we must lay something on the altar of sacrifice for peace to be restored.
Like what?
Unbelief.

And unbelief covers it all — anger, malice, fear, resentment, bitterness, faithlessness, striving, disputes, covetousness, etc. etc.

All our sins originate in unbelief.  That is not believing (trusting) GOD.
For starters, not believing HE is.
Or not believing He is good; not believing He loves us; not believing He is right and holy; and how about this, not believing He is incapable of doing us wrong.

Peace of mind comes when we believe GOD. Peace flees when we entertain doubt.
So what do we do? We return to the altar and lay down our unbelief again.

It’s called repentance.

Let me offer you two verses of Scripture that have helped me stay in peace more times than I can enumerate.