Deuteronomy 9:1-5 Consuming Fire and Righteousness

“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’  Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.

“Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the Lord your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Deuteronomy 9:1-5

When my husband read this today, two things jumped out at me.

One was 'he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God.' 

It reminded me that no evil can stand up against my God. I do not need to fear because He goes before me.

Now with that said, we cannot expect God to go before us as this consuming fire if we have not been spending time in His Word, in prayer, in listening and inquiring of Him. God does expect us to seek Him and His wisdom in all things. So if you went running into something just because it was bothering 'you' and you haven't been to church/fellowship, have not been in His Word, you have not been praying according to His Word and you have not been listening to the Spirit but listening to your flesh or the world......or maybe you go to church for show or because it's a habit but you don't do anything with what you are learning, you leave it at the door.......don't be surprised when you feel the 'fire', when you don't see the Lord doing what you think He should.

It is very important that we know our Father, we know His ways and we KNOW that His Word is His protection over us; it is not to harm us.  We want His fire to go before us, He makes the path.

I fought this for a long time. I did not want to change my ways because I felt God was never there for me, especially in my childhood/teen years. The only way I knew God was from people that had 'religion' and from 'men' that abused me. So it was a journey for me to even be able to call God my Father.  

I'm so thankful He is a patient God, wanting none to perish. I'm grateful for those that were praying for me and loving me even at my dirtiest. And I rejoice that I can now call Him my Father and I know His love for me.

I know that as I obey Him when things come up all I have to do is pray, listen and then obey because then -- that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God – will go before me and give me the victory.

The second thing in this passage is - “Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, ‘It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land,’ whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is driving them out before you. Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart..

When the Consuming Fire has gone before you and destroyed the resistance, the evil before you – do NOT take credit for it. Be careful that you don’t say, ‘well I did this and that, yes I heard God but “I” did it. Watch out for pride that says ‘I’m so upright and righteous that all this took place’. NO it is always God and His righteousness that defeats the enemy.  It is because of the wickedness that God moves through them and makes a path for us. He is fulfilling His promises.

So when you know, hear and obey God; you see Him going forward as the Consuming Fire, erasing your debt; healing your body; giving you the money to pay your mortgage; blessing  you on your job; opening doors of opportunity that people said would never happen……..don’t take any credit for it !

Give God all the glory, honor and praise!

(c) Has Breath Publishing LLC                                                                                                     Christena Hammes

MorningStar Farms BzzAgent Review

I would never have tried this product without the opportunity through being a BzzAgent.

I have always known that this 'fake' stuff, as I called it, would be awful in texture and taste!

I was WRONG.

This is the product we tried.

These Chik Patties were amazing.
My husband and I made sandwiches using spinach leaves, onions and other healthy items.

I waited for my husband to take the first bite and expected to see  -











but instead I saw -

So I took my first bite and slowly started chewing and to my surprise it tasted great. It was not an overpowering taste but it wasn't bland either.

And the texture was good.

I'm looking forward to trying more products by MorningStar Farms.

The opportunity to try this product came at a good time as my husband and I are making the effort to eat better and watch our servings.

The patty was actually a good size for a smaller slice of bed or a whole grain English muffin.

You can check out some of their other products here   MorningStar Farms

And at this link are some recipes  Recipes

Praise Shout With Joy

Praise

Praise is mentioned about 596 times in the Bible. I’m just going to use Psalm 66.

Shout with joy to God, all the earth!

Sing the glory of his name;

make his praise glorious!

Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds!

So great is your power

that your enemies cringe before you.

All the earth bows down to you;

they sing praise to you,

they sing praise to your name.”       Selah  Psalm 66:1-4

So we are told to (a) shout with joy, (b) sing the glory of His name, (c) make His praise glorious, (d) sing praise.

David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the LORD, with songs and with harps, lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals. 2 Samuel 6:5

They were celebrating getting the ark of God back to the city of David.

So when did we stop giving God the praise He deserves? Isn't He doing wonderful things in our lives, in the lives of our family and friends that we should be celebrating?

Shouldn't we be celebrating His magnificence? His glory? His faithfulness? His forgiveness? His healing? His protection? And the list can go on and on.

In my opinion not only has ‘going to church’ become a habit, a religion; but so has the time of praise. We finally arrive at church after arguing with our flesh or spouse or children….that did not want to get up, it’s the only day they get to sleep…..or we are still thinking on the work we left on our desk Friday….or maybe we are dwelling on some gossip we heard and can’t wait to see if so and so shows up today. You name it, our minds; our desires are elsewhere so we go in and go through the motions. We sing the songs but are we really noticing the words and the meanings? Are we really singing these songs to God? Can you close your eyes and feel His presence and if you hear Him to tell you to lift your arms in worship to Him, will you do it or are you concerned about someone seeing you and ‘gossiping’ about you?

 

I know we are to do all things to glorify God, but when you read about how they praised Him in the Bible; it seems we have lost exuberance.

God has done so much for me that I want to make sure I’m giving Him all the glory every day of my life and when I come together with the body of believers I worship with – I want to be able to put our praises together and welcome His presence in our midst.

One day I was asking God why it felt heavy, like no one was really singing to Him, it was ‘habit’. And I heard Him ask me, ‘What do you want?’ And I told Him (while praise was still going on I stopped to write this down so I’d remember it).

     I want to go into a place of worship and if even one ounce of flesh is on me…..it falls off! There is so much passion for God and for His people that nothing else can come in – we leave our pride, selfishness, fear, sickness, gossip, etc at the door.

Then I heard the Lord clearly say to me, ‘If we don’t come really seeking Him we squelch the Spirit. If we can’t find and rest in His joy we are losing the Light. We are to praise Him with all our might, to know what we are singing and why, it is beautiful to Him.

I believe if you want to see a move of God’s power, we need to know what we are singing, why we are singing it and make sure we focus on giving God the praise.

(c)Has Breath Publishing LLC