“Our Daily Bread”     http://odb.org/

The Daily Devotions of Greg Laurie                                  

http://www.harvest.org/devotional/daily-devotions/home.ht

“Homily Grits Devotional”   http://www.homilygrits.com/ 

Deuteronomy 8:2… And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  (NKJV)

I’ve spent the past 2 days writing about how Christians need to put all of their faith and trust in the Lord, and not themselves (Proverbs 3:5-6)…and that by doing so, the Lord would direct them in a way that would save them so much wasted time…  Talk about a waste of time !!    The Israelites wandered for 40 years in the Sinai desert, to travel the approximately 150 miles to go from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea via Mount Seir…

The Bible records that this journey only took 11 days, in…Deuteronomy 1:2…  And yet, because of their lack of trust in the Lord, only 2 of the original generation of Israelites that left Egypt via the parting of the Red Sea (Exodus 14), made it to the Promised Land…  Caleb and Joshua were the only 2 obedient, believing Israelites, which accompanied the children of the deceased original generation of Israelites, into the land of Canaan… You can read about the death of the rebellious Israelite generation, as recorded in…Numbers 14:26-38…  Here is the link for this scripture… http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=num14:26-38&version=NKJV     I also came across this interesting scripture about the 12 spies and the rebellious Israelites, for those who want a little extra reading…  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Spies

God has a perfect plan for His children…  God wants to take care of them now…just like He did for the wandering Israelites those 40 wasted years…   Moses pens this next verse, after the opening scripture, in…Deuteronomy 8:3… So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every wordthat proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.  (NKJV)

For those who read yesterdays thoughts, the last part of this scripture should look familiar…  Jesus spoke almost exactly the same words, as recorded in…Matthew 4:4…

God is still watching over His children today…  He promises to never leave, nor forsake His children, in both the Old Testament (Deuteronomy 31:6)…and in the New Testament, in…Hebrews 13:5-6… Let your conduct be without covetousness; becontent with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” ⁶ So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”  (NKJV)

God is always right there watching over His children, 24/7…  But without being spiritually fed, like both God and Jesus have reminded us through scripture…we will never grow in spiritual maturity, and the wisdom we need to tackle both Satan, and the world’s constant pull to temp Christians into sinning…  Growth in the life of a Christian starts with being fed with the Word of God…  God’s entire 6 piece set of spiritual armor for protection from Satan, which I write about so often (Ephesians 6:11), all starts by reading God’s Word…

The Apostle Paul writes about the “Whole Armor of God”, in…Ephesians 6:10-20…  God’s Word is the only offensive piece, of this 6 piece set of spiritual armor, as written in…Ephesians 6:17b… and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God;  (NKJV) 

The Apostle Paul writes to the church in Corinth; telling them that they just weren’t growing spiritually, in…1 Corinthians 3:1-3… And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. ² I fed you with milk and not with solid food; for until now you were not able to receive it, and even now you are still not able; ³ for you are still carnal. For where there are envy, strife, and divisions among you, are you not carnal and behaving like mere men?  (NKJV)

If Christians want to pass muster in the eyes of God…we must be in a continuous state of spiritual growth, as we are conformed over time to the image of Christ…Romans 8:29…  This process of growth known as sanctification can only be accomplished; by not only spending time casually reading God’s Word…we must really study scripture, and get into the meat (solid food) of God’s Word…Hebrews 5:14… But solid food belongs to those who are of full age, that is, those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.  (NKJV)

By feeding heartily on God’s Word, we will learn what God likes and dislikes…  We will find out what God’s will is for our lives…  And with the combination of the “Whole Armor of God” that we put on…and by humbly submitting to the leading of the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18-20), that God has given to His children as a lifelong teacher and Helper (John 14:26)…Christians can effectively stop Satan and their own fleshly attacks, dead in their tracks…James 4:7-8a… Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ⁸ Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  (NKJV)

As the Christian matures in spiritual wisdom…and they develop their 9 fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), that will ripen with time (as God’s Word feeds the soul)…the Christian will find it easier as they grow closer to God, to pass God’s test of obedience to live in God’s will and God’s ways… The Christian will then be blessed with God’s richest blessings that are reserved for His obedient children…Isaiah 55:2… Why do you spend money for what is not bread, And your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good, And let your soul delight itself in abundance.  (NKJV)

Heavenly Father, I pray that Your children will “taste and see that the Lord is good” (from…Psalm 34:8)…  Help all of us to do our best to pass Your test of obedience to Your will and Your ways…  I pray for Your richest blessing to be showered upon those who submit their lives to You…in Jesus’ most precious name and for His sake…Amen…

written by bruce r mills

P.S.    I came across this blog on “Milk and Meat”…    http://makestraightpaths.com/milkandmeat.htm