I'm Following Jesus – Page 1136 – Mark 8:34 And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

King James Bible Study – “And when he had called the people unto him with his disciples also, he said unto them, Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.” – Mark 8:34

Date: Sunday, March 28, 2021
Chapters: Joshua 19-21
Message: In The Name of Jesus

Hello My Friend,

Do you ever compare your faith to someone in the Bible? I compare my faith to David, he was the apple of God’s eye, even though he messed up a few times. I spent over an hour talking with God this morning on the subject of my faith, asking Him how it was that I failed Him when my faith is pretty strong. I asked Him to give me the faith of Daniel, then He reminded me of something, which is actually fitting for what God has led me to write about today, [John 16:22-24 And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. 23 And in that day ye shall ask me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you. 24 Hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name: ask, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.]

[ask, and ye shall receive,] Do you see the key word? [Ask; To request; to seek to obtain by words; to petition; with of before the person to whom the request is made.] God has so much to give us, if we would just ask Him. Now, the tribes of Reuben, Gad, Judah, Ephraim, and Manasseh had received the portion of land that was allotted them because they asked them for it first. The other seven, and the Levites had not, Joshua cast lots for the rest of them, meaning he threw some dice on the map, and wherever they fell, that is what they got, well, sort of. Joshua divided their portions beginning with Simeon, who was the eldest of the children of Jacob who had not received their portion yet.

[Joshua 19:1,9-10,17,24,32,40,47 And the second lot came forth to Simeon, even for the tribe of the children of Simeon according to their families: and their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah. 9 Out of the portion of the children of Judah was the inheritance of the children of Simeon: for the part of the children of Judah was too much for them: therefore the children of Simeon had their inheritance within the inheritance of them. 10 And the third lot came up for the children of Zebulun according to their families: and the border of their inheritance was unto Sarid: 17 And the fourth lot came out to Issachar, for the children of Issachar according to their families. 24 And the fifth lot came out for the tribe of the children of Asher according to their families. 32 The sixth lot came out to the children of Naphtali, even for the children of Naphtali according to their families. 40 And the seventh lot came out for the tribe of the children of Dan according to their families. 47 And the coast of the children of Dan went out too little for them: therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem, and took it, and smote it with the edge of the sword, and possessed it, and dwelt therein, and called Leshem, Dan, after the name of Dan their father.]

[And their inheritance was within the inheritance of the children of Judah.] An interesting observation came to me as I was reading one of the commentaries, Simeon did not actually receive their own portion, they received a portion that was within the portion of Judah. Likewise, Levi did not receive any at all, they were getting cities to dwell in among the tribes. All of this was foretold by Jacob Himself when he blessed them before he died, [Genesis 49:5-8 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. 6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. 8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.]

[therefore the children of Dan went up to fight against Leshem,] Once the tribe of Dan knew what portion of land was theirs, they went in and took it. Levi was scattered throughout all of Palestine, not having received any inheritance, only cities to dwell in in different parts of the land. Simeon was, with what could scarcely be said to be their own, or a peculiar lot was withing Judah. As for Judah, this would be the tribe what David would come from, and eventually Jesus in the flesh. If we want the blessings from God, then we need to ask for them. He will not even save us unless we ask Him to save us. God has an inheritance awaiting us, eternal life in His Kingdom, but if we want it, we have to take it, there is no way going around it, [John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.]

Every faithful Christian understands the amazing blessings that not only come by the grace of God, but by our obedience to Him as well. Then there comes times in our lives when the blessings seem to stop, we keep serving God wondering when we will get the things we are asking for, especially when seeing others being blessed and we seem to be forgotten. However, everything is also in God’s time, the Israelites received everything that God had promised according to His Word. Joshua was the last to receive his inheritance.

[Joshua 19:49-51 When they had made an end of dividing the land for inheritance by their coasts, the children of Israel gave an inheritance to Joshua the son of Nun among them: 50 According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked, even Timnathserah in mount Ephraim: and he built the city, and dwelt therein. 51 These are the inheritances, which Eleazar the priest, and Joshua the son of Nun, and the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel, divided for an inheritance by lot in Shiloh before the LORD, at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. So they made an end of dividing the country.]

[According to the word of the LORD they gave him the city which he asked,] We only receive what we ask for. In my behavioral studies I learned something that I have been guilty of myself, negativity can give us those things that we fear. For instance, I had this great fear that I was going to get into an accident on the highway, and would you have it, out of no where I found myself in my car with it literally spinning out of control. Praise God, that He intervened and got me to turn that wheel just enough to keep the car from crashing head on into a barrier wall. We need faith, positive faith, it is the only thing that gets God’s attention, [Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.]

We must admit it, we have all had times when our faith may have even been less than the size of a mustard seed, we let our guard down, rather, removed ourselves from the barrier that God places around us to keep us out of danger and we fail Him. When we fail Him we feel as though we have let God down so much that even He has left us to fend for ourselves, and figure a way out on our own. Well, that is all in our head, that is that negativity talking, God knows that while we do have faith in Him, sometimes we need a place of refuge, a place where we are not judged, which is why He commanded cities of refuge among every tribe for those who feared for their lives. Actually it was a place for someone who accidentally killed someone to hide from their avenger. Just as He promise, He commands that six cities be appointed as a refuge.

[Joshua 20:2-7 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: 3 That the slayer that killeth any person unawares and unwittingly may flee thither: and they shall be your refuge from the avenger of blood. 4 And when he that doth flee unto one of those cities shall stand at the entering of the gate of the city, and shall declare his cause in the ears of the elders of that city, they shall take him into the city unto them, and give him a place, that he may dwell among them. 5 And if the avenger of blood pursue after him, then they shall not deliver the slayer up into his hand; because he smote his neighbour unwittingly, and hated him not beforetime. 6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled. 7 And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali, and Shechem in mount Ephraim, and Kirjatharba, which is Hebron, in the mountain of Judah.]

[they shall take him into the city unto them,] Do you see this? Anyone who killed someone accidentally would stand at the gate of the city and explain their situation, and what their accident was. Then the elders would take them in, give them a place to stay so that they might get fair trial and be safe from anyone who wanted vengeance for the death of their loved one. They would either remain their until they were acquitted or until the high priest died, as long as the high priest was alive no one could touch them. [And they appointed Kedesh in Galilee in mount Naphtali,] Another interesting fact is that in one of the cities was Galilee, which is actually where Jesus was raised when He was born in the flesh. This is exactly what Jesus does for us, save us from the slayer, who is Satan, only since Jesus is alive and standing at the right hand of His Father, and ours, no one can touch us, ever, [John 10:28-29 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 29 My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father’s hand.]

Remember, eternal life is given to us only if we ask for it, and when we believe in and accept Christ as our Saviour, we inheritance more than eternal life, we inherit Christ Himself. He sets us free from our sin, He removes the sin, the shame, and the guilt, all through our faith in Him alone. Now, one tribe did not receive an inheritance of the land, and that was the Levites. They were not to receive an inheritance, rather cities to dwell in from each of the tribes. Finally, they went to Joshua and the high priest and asked for cities to dwell, of course, they reminded them that it was a command from God.

[Joshua 21:1-3,9-11,13 Then came near the heads of the fathers of the Levites unto Eleazar the priest, and unto Joshua the son of Nun, and unto the heads of the fathers of the tribes of the children of Israel; 2 And they spake unto them at Shiloh in the land of Canaan, saying, The LORD commanded by the hand of Moses to give us cities to dwell in, with the suburbs thereof for our cattle. 3 And the children of Israel gave unto the Levites out of their inheritance, at the commandment of the LORD, these cities and their suburbs. 9 And they gave out of the tribe of the children of Judah, and out of the tribe of the children of Simeon, these cities which are here mentioned by name, 10 Which the children of Aaron, being of the families of the Kohathites, who were of the children of Levi, had: for theirs was the first lot. 11 And they gave them the city of Arba the father of Anak, which city is Hebron, in the hill country of Judah, with the suburbs thereof round about it. 13 Thus they gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Libnah with her suburbs,]

[gave to the children of Aaron the priest Hebron with her suburbs,] Hebron was not only a city of refuge, it was also where the priests themselves would live. At one point, God intended for all of the tribes to be priest, but after He saw the hardness of their hearts He narrowed it down to the Levites. I believe He did that because of what Aaron had done in making the golden calf when they demanded a god as Moses was up on the top of Mount Sinai getting instructions from God, they would now have to serve the only living God. When we accept Christ as our Saviour, we actually become part of priesthood, and His ministers, [I Peter 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.]

The Levites were given forty-eight cities, four from each of the tribes. Every single promise that God had made to them was given, just as God had spoke it. [Joshua 21:41-45 All the cities of the Levites within the possession of the children of Israel were forty and eight cities with their suburbs. 42 These cities were every one with their suburbs round about them: thus were all these cities. 43 And the LORD gave unto Israel all the land which he sware to give unto their fathers; and they possessed it, and dwelt therein. 44 And the LORD gave them rest round about, according to all that he sware unto their fathers: and there stood not a man of all their enemies before them; the LORD delivered all their enemies into their hand. 45 There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass.]

[There failed not ought of any good thing which the LORD had spoken] What is in the Scriptures, about God being true? [Romans 3:4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.] We are all going to stand before Jesus, the books will be open, the Book of Life, and we can call it, the Book of Death. I say, “the Book of Death” because every soul that has not accepted Christ while they were alive is written in there, and that book is enormous. Jesus is not looking for what we have done in His name, He is looking for what we believed in His name, [Revelation 20:12-15 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Joshua 20:2,6 Speak to the children of Israel, saying, Appoint out for you cities of refuge, whereof I spake unto you by the hand of Moses: 6 And he shall dwell in that city, until he stand before the congregation for judgment, and until the death of the high priest that shall be in those days: then shall the slayer return, and come unto his own city, and unto his own house, unto the city from whence he fled.]

Today’s Prayer: Jesus, I have determined that my faith is more important than the likes of others, I am choosing on this day to live a life that pleases You, and no one else, even if that means I need to give up some of the things and people in my life that hinder me from doing that. You are my Rock, my Refuge, the one who saved me by grace through my faith in You alone. Thank You, for standing to Your promises, and saving a sinner like me. This flesh, this wretched flesh of mine, knows what not to do, and yet it does it anyway, but I do not have to fear death because I have been pardoned by You. The life I live now compels me to do things that only bring glory to You. Lord, Lead me and guide me, fill me with Your power, mercies, and grace, put Your hedge of protection around me, and help me make the right decisions so that I might live my days here on earth giving honor and glory to You and showing the world that eternal life begins with You alone. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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