Moses reminded the people that God was giving them the land but that they still had a responsibility. They had to go in, take the land and live on it, not as absent landholders but as residents making permanent homes there. Notice that the ownership right was secured by what in the American Old West was called a “homesteader’s right to property.” What a clear picture for those of us who are still trying to figure out the path God wants us to follow in our lives.<\/p>\n
The believer’s life is not a place to talk about or visit occasionally; it is the kingdom of God and we are to live in it permanently. We must burn all bridges to our old lives. We can’t leave any backdoors. We can\u2019t look back. As Paul instructed the young Timothy\u2014\u201crightly [divide] the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15), like a man plowing a field\u2014we can\u2019t take our hands off the plow as we try to make another furrow, as straight and deep as humanly possible, in this field of life.<\/p>\n
Faithfulness and steadfastness are two qualities of God’s character, a character He is trying to instill in us. It\u2019s the character of the believer who is living in the land, plowing straight lines. The Apostle Paul told Timothy to teach these characteristics to other faithful men (2 Tim. 2:2). The truths of the Kingdom of God are not to be passed down only to the best looking, most intelligent, most highly educated, or most articulate people. No, they are to be given to faithful<\/em> men and women, who desire to serve God, steadfastly possessing the land He\u2019s given them, right up until the day they see Him face to face.<\/p>\n “LORD, make us people of God who are being conformed into Your image a little bit more this day, we pray.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deuteronomy 11 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore thou shalt love the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0And know ye this day: for\u00a0I speak\u00a0<\/em>not with your children which have not known, and which have not seen the chastisement of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, his greatness, his mighty hand, and his stretched out arm,\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And his miracles, and his acts, which he did in the midst of Egypt unto Pharaoh the king of Egypt, and unto all his land;\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And what he did unto the army of Egypt, unto their horses, and to their chariots; how he made the water of the Red sea to overflow them as they pursued after you, and\u00a0how\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0hath destroyed them unto this day;\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And what he did unto you in the wilderness, until ye came into this place;\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And what he did unto Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab, the son of Reuben: how the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their households, and their tents, and all the substance that\u00a0was\u00a0<\/em>in their possession, in the midst of all Israel:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0But your eyes have seen all the great acts of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0which he did. 8<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore shall ye keep all the commandments which I command you this day, that ye may be strong, and go in and possess the land, whither ye go to possess it;\u00a09<\/sup>And that ye may prolong\u00a0your\u00a0<\/em>days in the land, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0sware unto your fathers to give unto them and to their seed, a land that floweth with milk and honey. 10<\/sup> For the land, whither thou goest in to possess it,\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>not as the land of Egypt, from whence ye came out, where thou sowedst thy seed, and wateredst\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>with thy foot, as a garden of herbs: 11<\/sup>\u00a0But the land, whither ye go to possess it,\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>a land of hills and valleys,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>drinketh water of the rain of heaven:\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0A land which the\u00a0LORDthy God careth for: the eyes of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.\u00a013<\/sup> And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0That I will give\u00a0you\u00a0<\/em>the rain of your land in his due season, the first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy wine, and thine oil.\u00a015<\/sup>\u00a0And I will send grass in thy fields for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full.\u00a0\u00a016<\/sup>\u00a0Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;\u00a017<\/sup>\u00a0And\u00a0then\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u2019S\u00a0wrath be kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and\u00a0lest\u00a0<\/em>ye perish quickly from off the good land which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0giveth you. 18<\/sup>\u00a0Therefore shall ye lay up these my words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0And ye shall teach them your children, speaking of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And thou shalt write them upon the door posts of thine house, and upon thy gates:\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children, in the land which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0sware unto your fathers to give them, as the days of heaven upon the earth. 22<\/sup>\u00a0For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0Then will the\u00a0LORD\u00a0drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.\u00a024<\/sup>\u00a0Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.\u00a025<\/sup>There shall no man be able to stand before you:\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you. 26<\/sup>\u00a0Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse;\u00a027<\/sup>\u00a0A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, which I command you this day:\u00a028<\/sup>\u00a0And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.\u00a029<\/sup>\u00a0And it shall come to pass, when the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal.\u00a030<\/sup>\u00a0Are\u00a0<\/em>they not on the other side Jordan, by the way where the sun goeth down, in the land of the Canaanites, which dwell in the champaign over against Gilgal, beside the plains of Moreh?\u00a031<\/sup>\u00a0For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein.\u00a032<\/sup>\u00a0And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Moses reminded the people that God was giving them the land but that they still had a responsibility. They had to go in, take the land and live on it, not as absent landholders but as residents making permanent homes there. 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