Deut. 11-14, Acts 14: Every time I read this passage the same thing comes to my mind. It is Choices! We all have choices to make each day and our choices determine the path we will encounter. If we choose God’s way we will encounter blessings. That does not mean that we will be rich or have a big house. It means God’s favor will be with us even in the hard times. The opposite is true too. If we choose the way of man or our own way we choose the curse or conflict that comes with it. Here is how God put it.
Deut. 11:26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.
God warned Israel that the curse would bring with it much heartache and pain. God knew the choices that Israel would make and yet He still allowed them to make the choice. God could make the choices for us as well, but He allows us to choose to love Him or not to. As an adult I know what it is like to make a child do what they don’t want to do. Their heart attitude stinks yet they will obey given enough pressure. How much sweeter is it when the child chooses to obey without the pressure. God must feel this way as well. Thus He allows choices. Yet He knows where the choices lead.
May our choices lead us to blessing not curses. May our lives reflect God’s favor and in the end may many come to know Christ by the behaviors we exhibit.

2 Samuel 5:1-10, 1 Chronicles 11-12, John 21: I love to follow a good leader! I love to be inspired, challenged, led to new heights and accomplishments. David must have been that kind of leader! He had men to follow him that were the best of the best. They were attracted to him even when running from the current leadership. As I looked at the list of mighty men today and where they came from it was amazing that so few of them came from the same area of the country. It was as though the champions of each region came to be on the all star team! Of one group of them, this is what was said.
1 Chronicles 12:14These Gadites were officers of the army; the least was a match for a hundred men and the greatest for a thousand.
Can you imagine? One man is described as taking on and defeating 300 men on his own to win a battle!
As I observe David and some of the characteristics that made him a great leader here are some that stood out.
He fought with them and led out in battle.
He challenged them and acknowledged their strengths.
He lived among them and knew them well.
He was humble and led by submitting even to Saul because God had placed him in the position as king.
He made God the center of his life and expected others to as well submitting to God’s will even in battle plans.
He paid God honor and respect even with the most precious gifts.
I would have followed David too! As I look at this list it is a great reminder to me to lead well. I am challenged to love the people God has given me stewardship over and to lead them to serve God first then man. If you lead anything whether it be a family, a Sunday School class or even a dominos club you would do well to look back over that list and ask God to help you to lead well.

Psalm 140-142, Mark 5: I will begin with a disclaimer, I am in a great place now and am not experiencing what you are about to read, but I know there are many that are. These words may not apply to you today, if so, thank the Lord. If they do, hang in there, this too shall pass and with time hearts are healed.
David found himself in these Psalms being pursued. You have probably never been physically pursued to the point that people wanted to take your physical life. However you might have been in a situation where you felt like people were out to get you or take you down. It may be looked more like they listened for your every word trying to take your words and turn them. You guarded everything you said and felt like you walked on egg shells in every conversation fearing their ability to turn it. Or maybe in your work environment you knew that someone was just waiting for you to slip up so they could get rid of you. You had to constantly not just do your job, but make sure every I was dotted and every T crossed fearing they would take your job. Or your pursuers may have laid in wait watching your behavior lurking for an opportunity to prove what was in their heart was in yours. Their anger and bitterness crouched at the door watching for opportunity to write on social media about you. I think you get the picture. David knew these kinds of people as did Jesus. So what is one to do when encountering them? Our Psalms today will help you.
Take them to the Lord in prayer:
Psalm 140:1 Deliver me, O Lord, from evil men;
preserve me from violent men,
2who plan evil things in their heart
and stir up wars continually.
3They make their tongue sharp as a serpent’s,
and under their lips is the venom of asps.
Watch what you say. They are looking for a weakness.
Psalm 141:3 Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth;
keep watch over the door of my lips!
Don’t yield to the temptation to become like them.
Psalm 141:4 Do not let my heart incline to any evil,
to busy myself with wicked deeds
in company with men who work iniquity,
and let me not eat of their delicacies!
Have godly friends who will call you out when needed.
Psalm 141: 5 Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;
let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;
let my head not refuse it.
Keep your eyes focus on Jesus!
Psalm 141:8But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord;
in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!
9Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me
and from the snares of evildoers!
Last but not least don’t yield to the temptation to take revenge. God’s revenge is much better than ours!
Psalm 141:10Let the wicked fall into their own nets,
while I pass by safely.
If you go on reading in some of the Psalms I believe that revenge is something that David prayed about often, but He allowed God to take revenge for him and in the end God always gave the victory. He did these things for David and He will do it for you as well. Be strong my friend. God heals many of those hurts as you turn to Him and release the anger, hurt and bitterness keeping your eyes on Him. Life isn’t fair, but God is good!

Lev 13-16, Luke 5: I remember the first few times I read through the Bible and I got to these chapters. I felt like after reading I needed to go take a bath. lol. I also found myself looking for spots on myself and the colors of the hair in it. lol. Now that I have read it several times through the years these chapters represent something much different to me. It represents the aloneness of the person who found the disease. It reminds me that they were outcasts, alone, hated, distrusted and doomed. Their only hope was healing and a priest who would declare them clean.
Our sin is much like leprosy. It too separates us from God. We are cast out of His presence because of it and it took healing to bring us back into community with God. That healing came from our forever High Priest, Jesus Himself who declared us clean! He came to bind up the broken and set the captive free. By His blood our once sin sick bodies were set free from the bondage of sin. Now we are no more unclean! We are no longer separated, condemned or doomed. We are renewed!!!
I love how in Luke 5 Jesus healed the man of leprosy. In another account of this same story Jesus reached out and touched the leper and made him clean. Jesus touched the one who was the outcast! He will touch you and me too if we will allow him to. No one in Biblical days could heal leprosy. They knew that only a prophet could (look back at the story of Naaman). So when Jesus did heal this man it was a sure sign that He was a prophet. By healing us He also proved He was and is the Son of God.
Isn’t it amazing that a story that once grossed me out now represents life and hope? I believe that in this Covid sick world where people feel unclean we need to show them the Hope of the Healer who can heal any disease!

Leviticus 7-9, Hebrews 5: Years ago we had a revival group from Life Action ministries come and do a musical presentation entitled “Bring Back the Glory”. In it they talked and sang about the times int he Old Testament when God’s glory would fill the sanctuary. This happened in today’s passage as well as in the Temple that Solomon built. As the people humbled themselves before God and obeyed Him, their act of worship resulted in the manifestation of God’s presence filling the place where they were.
Leviticus 9:23And Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting, and when they came out they blessed the people, and the glory of the Lord appeared to all the people. 24And fire came out from before the Lord and consumed the burnt offering and the pieces of fat on the altar, and when all the people saw it, they shouted and fell on their faces.
When I read this I wondered what they shouted. lol. What it Glory!!! or Hallelujah!! or was it a more like a scream of terror? No matter what it was, they knew they had come into the presence of the The Holy One and Only God, Creator of Heaven and Earth. He had accepted their offering. He was anointing their leaders and His presence was in the Sanctuary.
Oh how we the church need His glory to come into our houses of worship with power like that. As I look back I believe these are the keys to seeing His seeing His Glory.
* Humble ourselves before Him
* Obey what He says to do
* Worship Him by giving of ourselves in sacrifice Romans 12:1-2
Then we will see God’s glory fill us and the places we worship. My prayer today is that we will see God Bring Back the Glory!

Exodus 33-35; Romans 9:1-21: If you could have power, fame, maybe even fortune, but to have it you would have to do it without your relationship with God, would you do it? Moses was given the option of leading the vast number of people of Israel. He would have power and fame for sure. He was going to the Promised Land so he would have had fortune as well, but God said He would not go with him and the stiff necked people he led. Moses said, NO DEAL! If You don’t Go God I’m not going either! I loved how God called the Children Moses’ people and Moses gave them right back saying Your people to God. They indeed were hard to deal with, but Moses had a heart of mercy and forgiveness toward them and pled for their lives. In the end God’s mercy prevailed as well and they once again would start the trek across the wilderness to That Land.
My favorite part is always when Moses asks to see God’s glory. I am sure there was much of Moses that just did not feel like he could lead this rebellious people. However, with God’s help he knew he would try. I am not sure God did not know Moses was in the middle of needing some reassurance as well. So God’s plan was to hide Moses in the cleft of the rock and cover him there with his hand. He knew Moses could not withstand seeing his face, but he needed to be reassured. So as God walked past Moses’ back shielded in the cleft of the rock God proclaimed who He was.
Exodus 34: 6The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”
Take a minute and reread who God says He is. I would be like Moses and do just as he did. I would fall on my face and just worship. I feel like that right now. Why would such a merciful and gracious God put up with humans? I have no idea, but I am so very grateful!!!!! To God be the glory! Thank you Lord for loving us and going with us as you indwell us now as believers. We have so much to be grateful for!

Genesis 43-45; Luke 15: “And they all lived happily ever after” this is my favorite way for a story to end. lol. I know what you are thinking then the only way that will happen is if you watch Hallmark channel and that isn’t real! You are so right my friend. I still hope for a happy ending. In today’s reading we see the beginnings of some happiness at the end of some long meanwhile moments. When Joseph reveals himself to his brothers I want to just bust out in tears with him. To see how he lets his brothers off of the hook for the evil they planned by reminding them that God was about a bigger plan is a story few could write. Forgiveness is not natural. To forgive something that was as cruel as these brothers had instigated could only be divine. Joseph is right in telling them that God had a bigger plan. Oh that we would receive that as well in our lives as we look at all God has done and is doing to know that when hard or difficult things happen God is not divorced from it. Far from the truth, He sometimes is orchestrating something only He can do. Even as I am typing those words I am praying them as well. Oh God please do something only you can do in the struggles we all are facing!
The parables of the lost are also precious happily ever after stories. A lost sheep, a lost coin, a lost son, each of them had a struggle they faced, someone or something was missing. And yet God allowed each to be found. My prayer is that we would all be in a happily ever after story today. I pray that we will share about the kingdom of God with someone today. I pray they will come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord. I pray for a heavenly celebration. And my friend, the end of your story and that new believer’s story truly will be Happily Ever After! Keep telling, Keep watching. Keep living until the end of the story!

Job 18-21, Luke 12: Such a message of joy today as the Father reminds us to Fear Not!
Luke 12:6Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies?And not one of them is forgotten before God. 7Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.
Luke 12:32 “Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.
Jesus is reassuring his followers that we are of value to Him. He loves us and will provide for our every need. Our job is simple.
Luke 12: 31 Instead, seek God’s kingdom, and these things will be added to you.
It is so easy to get our eyes on the things we want or desire instead of God’s kingdom and the things that are really eternal. We look at what we don’t have and others do and begin complaining or become discouraged. God is saying, seek Me! Don’t be so worried about making money or providing that you miss a genuine relationship with Him. He clothes the lilies of the field. He feeds the birds of the air, and sweet friend He will take care of your needs as well. Maybe not all of your wants will come to be, but He will definitely take care of your needs. He promises it and we can live in that!

Job 11-14, 1 Corinthians 4: This year has been such a difficult one with the so many contracting Covid and many dying. It is easy to think that we are just like a top spinning out of control. However when those feelings come turn off the tv or electronic devices, step outside and look around and you will see just what Job saw.
Job 15:7“But ask the beasts, and they will teach you;
the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you;
8or speak to the earth, and it will teach you
and the fish of the sea will declare to you.
9Who among all these does not know
that the hand of the Lord has done this?
10In his hand is the life of every living thing
and the breath of all mankind.

Since God does have the live of everything living and the breath of all mankind in His hands, we can trust Him through any natural disaster or pandemic. He is still the giver and sustainer of life. That is why we run to Him when disasters like the one the hit Job happens. Did God restore everything for Job quickly? No, but God was with him giving him daily and moment by moment strength even through the most difficult of times. Did Job struggle and grieve? Absolutley. That is a part of the process, but in his grief instead of turning against God, Job turned toward Him. What a perfect example for us that grieving is a part of the journey but trusting in the midst of the sorrow is the Father’s plan and one day we will all be totally restored in Heaven. Hopefully much of life will be restored here as well in days to come but if not, He is still God. Pray for someone you know who is grieving today. You may even want to send them a message or text to let them know.

Revelation 6-10: Do you remember the old song Let There Be Peace on Earth? As a student we sang this in choir. The words say:
Let there be peace on earth,
and let it begin with me;
let there be peace on earth,
the peace that was meant to be.
With God our Father,
brothers all are we.
Let us walk with each other
in perfect harmony.
Peace is associated with God, His presence, and how we are to live as a result of it.
As I read today’s scripture this jumped out at me.
Revelation 6: 4And out came another horse, bright red. Its rider was permitted to take peace from the earth, so that people should slay one another, and he was given a great sword.
In the last days the seals will be broken and the second one will withdraw peace from the earth. If peace comes with the presence of God then the lack of His presence will result in violence beyond measure. People will kill one another without even caring.
As I look around at our world these days the violence happening has got to be that we have told God He is not welcome. The absence of our Creator and Sustainer is the anarchy and violence that takes over.
Christmas is a reminder that Peace truly came to earth the day that Immanuel, God with us took up residence in our world. I am so grateful!!! We can know peace because Christ came. For the child of God we can sing the lyric of Let there Be Peace on Earth with great gusto and know that peace begins with me as I walk with my creator in perfect harmony. That then results in peace with others around me. So sing my friend, sing and live out the peace that comes from the Christ of Christmas.