OT DAY 216 - How Much God Want to Encourage You(Please click here for English podcast)

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Silence

1.   Put on your “brakes” and stop for a moment of silence

2.   Wait for God. Breathe deep for God's peace. Exhale your worries.

Praise and Thanksgiving

1.   Think through your day, all the times that made you smile

2.   Thank God for all those moments, and for all those people

3.   Open your heart to praise the Lord

        
           In you, O Lord, do I take refuge;
              let me never be put to shame!

                             Psalm 71:1

Confession and Repentance

1.  Pray for the Holy Spirit to work in you:

     “Dear Holy Spirit, shine your light into the places of darkness in my life. Show me my sins, everything that blocks me from encountering God. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.”

2.  Through the Holy Spirit, examine yourself for a short silence and then pray:

     "Dear Lord Jesus, thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and being victorious over death and sin. I confess my sin to you(pause, to tell Jesus what the Holy Spirit has shown you). Forgive my sins by your blood and help me follow you. Holy Spirit, fill me that I may be able to receive your gift to love God and His people. In Jesus Name I pray, Amen."

The Word (Numbers 15:1-41)

English(ESV): https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=numbers+15&version=ESV

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 2 “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them,When you come into the land you are to inhabit, which I am giving you, 3 and you offer to the Lord from the herd or from the flock a food offering or a burnt offering or a sacrifice,to fulfill a vow or as a freewill offering or at your appointed feasts, to make a pleasing aroma to the Lord, 4 then he who brings his offering shall offer to the Lord a grain offering of a tenth of an ephah of fine flour, mixed with a quarter of a hin of oil; 5 and you shall offer with the burnt offering, or for the sacrifice, a quarter of a hin of wine for the drink offering for each lamb.

                             Numbers 15:1-5

Let's have a time to be still and give the Holy Spirit space to speak through the passage of scripture we have just read. Offer this time up to Jesus as you listen to him, while listening to "Gabriel's Oboe"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jmax47l2hLU

My Listening
     If you were those Israelites just experienced God's severe punishment because you did opposite to what God told you, you must be hopeless and discouraged. Today's passage shows how God gives encouragement to those Israelites telling them that they can really enter into the Promised Land. But, when they entered, the first thing they need to do is to make offerings as a sign of their trustful relationship to God.

Let's see how Professor John Goldingay tells us: 
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Goldingay) :

    

     These rules constitute good news in two ways. First, they presuppose that the story is going to continue. Israel is going to get into Canaan and implement them there. Israel is going to be making offerings. The stupid unwillingness to continue the journey when God commissions it and the stupid attempt to continue it when God forbids it do not mean the story derails. The other good news is that God's taking the drastic action that Numbers 14 describes doesn't mean you have to tiptoe around God afraid that the slightest infraction will get you in hot water. There's a world of difference between outright rebellion and an accidental slip. God isn't legalistic. You can always sort matters out if your failure was unintentional; even if it was intentional, you can throw yourself on God's mercy and find forgiveness. 

John Goldingay. Numbers & Deuteronomy for Everyone. Louisville,KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2010, p.40.

      Do you understand now how much God want to encourage you no matter what you have done? He loves you and just want you to be under His guide and love! Of course you need to be holy!

      Do you understand now how important your offerings truly mean? It means how close you are to God, how much you love Him and want to be loved by Him. 

Dear Lord Jesus, 
Thank you for your continuous encouragements. Lead us to be able to offer as much as we can to show our trust and love to you.  In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.

Reflect on these questions:

1. Have you received God's encouragements lately? How so? If you have not, do you know why? 

2. How do you see the relationship between your offerings and your relationship with God? 

Praise and Thanksgiving

Let's give thanks for God with us. Let us praise Him:

10,000 Reasons

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DXDGE_lRI0E

You may choose to follow my other daily blog:

Daily Devotion on Fire: http://bishopsilas.blogspot.ca/

Break.Build: http://www.breakbuild.blogspot.ca/