I'm Following Jesus – Page 1138 – 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: Thursday, March 25, 2021
Chapters: Joshua 9-11
Message: Perfected In Christ

Hello My Friend,

I am taking classes to earn my degree in Small Business Management, my last class was a reading class, specifically learning how to decipher truth from fiction. I actually had to read poetry and explain what the author meant by the what they wrote. I have never been good at reading poetry, but I prayed to God and ended up getting a ninety-two as my final grade in the class. Praise God! I thanked God for helping me maintain my 4.0 GPA, even though it is not one hundred percent. I made the comment of Him of not wanting me to be one perfect, and He reminded me of something, I am perfect, that is, that is, in His Son I am, [John 17:23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.]

[Perfect; Finished; complete; consummate; not defective; having all that is requisite to its nature and kind. To finish or complete so as to leave nothing wanting; Complete in moral excellencies.] When you think of the word perfect as Jesus has spoken it we can come to the conclusion that we are perfect when we come to Him and ask Him to save our soul. You see, until we accept Christ as our Saviour we are incomplete, meaning, we do not have God’s Spirit in our soul (due to the curse of death passed down to us). It is our faith in Christ that, even though our flesh is not always perfect in its ways, perfects us. Amen! [Luke 6:40 The disciple is not above his master: but every one that is perfect shall be as his master.]

My goodness, just think about that, those who accept Christ, since we are one in Christ, we are not above Jesus, meaning we are equal with Him in the sense that we are now joint-heirs with Him. With that said, as we observe and follow His ways we do become like Him. Let me tell you, faithful, saved, born again Christians mess up daily, and yet, our Father continues to use us, perfecting us little by little so that we might be a reflection of His Son and lead some to Him. The world and those who follow religion rather than Christ will never see Christ for who He is, and therefore, there will always be a war between us until Jesus returns. God never denies them the opportunity to receive Him, no matter what nation we live in, we have a choice. As Joshua and his army start taking nations, as you can imagine, the kings of the surrounding nations were kind of scared. At any point, if they could have repented and God would have spared them. However, several kings got together to wage a war with the Israelites, but one, the Hivites (Gibeonites). Only they were not exactly clear about who they were.

[Joshua 9:1-4,6.8-9 And it came to pass, when all the kings which were on this side Jordan, in the hills, and in the valleys, and in all the coasts of the great sea over against Lebanon, the Hittite, and the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, heard thereof; 2 That they gathered themselves together, to fight with Joshua and with Israel, with one accord. 3 And when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done unto Jericho and to Ai, 4 They did work wilily, and went and made as if they had been ambassadors, and took old sacks upon their asses, and wine bottles, old, and rent, and bound up; 6 And they went to Joshua unto the camp at Gilgal, and said unto him, and to the men of Israel, We be come from a far country: now therefore make ye a league with us. 8 And they said unto Joshua, We are thy servants. And Joshua said unto them, Who are ye? and from whence come ye? 9 And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of the LORD thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,]

[now therefore make ye a league with us.] [League; An alliance or confederacy between princes or states for their mutual aid or defense;] We really do need to be careful who we align ourselves with, the wrong person can completely derail Christ’s work in us. This is also a great reminder that we cannot trust anyone who says they are of Christ, we need to ask God’s counsel before we even attempt to let them become a part of us. Unfortunately, Joshua did not ask God, nor any of the elders for that matter, they just accepted their moldy bread and three days later that was when they found out that they were not who they said they were.

[Joshua 9:14-16,19,22-25 And the men took of their victuals, and asked not counsel at the mouth of the LORD. 15 And Joshua made peace with them, and made a league with them, to let them live: and the princes of the congregation sware unto them. 16 And it came to pass at the end of three days after they had made a league with them, that they heard that they were their neighbours, and that they dwelt among them. 19 But all the princes said unto all the congregation, We have sworn unto them by the LORD God of Israel: now therefore we may not touch them. 22 And Joshua called for them, and he spake unto them, saying, Wherefore have ye beguiled us, saying, We are very far from you; when ye dwell among us? 23 Now therefore ye are cursed, and there shall none of you be freed from being bondmen, and hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of my God. 24 And they answered Joshua, and said, Because it was certainly told thy servants, how that the LORD thy God commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land, and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you, therefore we were sore afraid of our lives because of you, and have done this thing. 25 And now, behold, we are in thine hand: as it seemeth good and right unto thee to do unto us, do.]

[we are in thine hand:] These men saw the power of God and instead of fighting with Israel they wanted to become like them. While Joshua was wrong in that he did not seek counsel from God on the matter, God did not deny them the opportunity to be saved. In fact, when five other kings got together to make war with Gibeon, God was with them to help them in the battle, He sent Joshua and the army to help defeat them.

[Joshua 10:1-4,7-8 Now it came to pass, when Adonizedek king of Jerusalem had heard how Joshua had taken Ai, and had utterly destroyed it; as he had done to Jericho and her king, so he had done to Ai and her king; and how the inhabitants of Gibeon had made peace with Israel, and were among them; 2 That they feared greatly, because Gibeon was a great city, as one of the royal cities, and because it was greater than Ai, and all the men thereof were mighty. 3 Wherefore Adonizedek king of Jerusalem sent unto Hoham king of Hebron, and unto Piram king of Jarmuth, and unto Japhia king of Lachish, and unto Debir king of Eglon, saying, 4 Come up unto me, and help me, that we may smite Gibeon: for it hath made peace with Joshua and with the children of Israel. 7 So Joshua ascended from Gilgal, he, and all the people of war with him, and all the mighty men of valour. 8 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.]

[for I have delivered them into thine hand;] It boggles my mind at just how much God intervenes in my life no matter how many times I make decisions without asking Him. And yet, each and every time when I come to Him in repentance, He delivers me. Now, God said that He would stand before them, and He did not disappoint, anyone who fled was killed by giant balls of hail fire, falling from the heavens.

[Joshua 10:11-14,24-25 And it came to pass, as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going down to Bethhoron, that the LORD cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. 12 Then spake Joshua to the LORD in the day when the LORD delivered up the Amorites before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. 13 And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had avenged themselves upon their enemies. Is not this written in the book of Jasher? So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted not to go down about a whole day. 14 And there was no day like that before it or after it, that the LORD hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the LORD fought for Israel. 24 And it came to pass, when they brought out those kings unto Joshua, that Joshua called for all the men of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put their feet upon the necks of them. 25 And Joshua said unto them, Fear not, nor be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus shall the LORD do to all your enemies against whom ye fight.]

[Is not this written in the book of Jasher?] Similar to the Book of Psalms, the Book of Jasher was a sacred songbook, passed down and added to from age to age throughout the lives of Israelites, probably up until the time of David. Since it is not inspired it was not added to the Scriptures, only mentioned to document the amazing miracles that took place as a means for the world to see how God played the part of Israel becoming a great nation. [when they brought out those kings unto Joshua,] Those kings feared their lives, but not enough to let go of their pride to accept God as their own, and therefore, they lost their lives. You can beg, plead, and even hide all you want, unless you accept Christ, nothing will save your soul from judgment, [Psalms 139:7-10 Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall I flee from thy presence? 8 If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; 10 Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.]

We do not like to think about this, but the battles we face are for our own good, they are actually what define us and conform us into the image of God’s Son. We do not want to fight for everything, we do not want to watch every move we make, and keep asking God if it is something we should be doing, but these are the very things that are necessary for God to preserve our faith and actually protect us. Israel was on a role, every town, every city they walked into was destroyed. And you would think that one of these nations would humble themselves, but they did not. Now, the kings of the north came up against them, this time there were multitudes against their small army. [Joshua 11:1-6 And it came to pass, when Jabin king of Hazor had heard those things, that he sent to Jobab king of Madon, and to the king of Shimron, and to the king of Achshaph, 2 And to the kings that were on the north of the mountains, and of the plains south of Chinneroth, and in the valley, and in the borders of Dor on the west, 3 And to the Canaanite on the east and on the west, and to the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Jebusite in the mountains, and to the Hivite under Hermon in the land of Mizpeh. 4 And they went out, they and all their hosts with them, much people, even as the sand that is upon the sea shore in multitude, with horses and chariots very many. 5 And when all these kings were met together, they came and pitched together at the waters of Merom, to fight against Israel. 6 And the LORD said unto Joshua, Be not afraid because of them: for to morrow about this time will I deliver them up all slain before Israel: thou shalt hough their horses, and burn their chariots with fire.]

[Be not afraid because of them:] The world and these religious fakes are much larger in number than we ever will be, but I will tell you this, that is how Christ shows Himself through us. The smaller the number the more powerful Christ is through His believers. Every single one of these nations had a choice, they could have chose God and would have been saved, just as Gibeon did. Joshua and his army were successful at conquering several other nations. The reason they were so successful was that they followed the commands Moses gave, which were given to him by God.

[Joshua 11:15,18-23 As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses. 18 Joshua made war a long time with all those kings. 19 There was not a city that made peace with the children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other they took in battle. 20 For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts, that they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy them utterly, and that they might have no favour, but that he might destroy them, as the LORD commanded Moses. 21 And at that time came Joshua, and cut off the Anakims from the mountains, from Hebron, from Debir, from Anab, and from all the mountains of Judah, and from all the mountains of Israel: Joshua destroyed them utterly with their cities. 22 There was none of the Anakims left in the land of the children of Israel: only in Gaza, in Gath, and in Ashdod, there remained. 23 So Joshua took the whole land, according to all that the LORD said unto Moses; and Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel according to their divisions by their tribes. And the land rested from war.]

[For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts,] The human side of us, if we have a heart, cannot comprehend how God could allow so many people to die, but the spiritual side of us, if we have the mind of Christ, teaches us to understand that God is a just God, and if any reject and deny Him then, He will reject and deny them. These people had a choice, they could have forsaken their false gods, but they chose to fight with Israel, which means they were actually fighting God, and no one fights God and lives to tell about it. If you deny Christ He will surely deny you, [Matthew 10:32-33 Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. 33 But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.]

Jesus Christ Magnified: [Joshua 11:15 As the LORD commanded Moses his servant, so did Moses command Joshua, and so did Joshua; he left nothing undone of all that the LORD commanded Moses.]

Today’s Prayer: God, I know that in my own flesh I will never be perfect, I fail You every day, but my faith has got that all taken care of. Since the day that I accepted Your Son as my Saviour, I have been made complete. And while I still mess up, You are faithful and just to turn my mess ups into messages of victory as Christ leads the way. Thank You for all the things You do and allow in my life, even when I do not always ask You what to do. Lord, give me Your power, mercy, grace, and strength to endure all my battles, like You have done so many times before. I know as long as I turn to You that there is nothing that You will not do for me. I ask these things in Your name, Jesus. Amen.

God Bless You, I am praying for you,

Christina

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