Podcasts about Israelites

"Why is does Zephaniah use a strong tone at the beginning of the book, and how would the original audience have heard that? How does the concept of ""a remnant"" function in Zephaniah's prophecy, and how might it have given hope to his listeners? In today's episode, Emma Dotter and Watermark member, Matt Hein, set up the book of Zephaniah and talk how the Israelites were being called back to God's heart out of a place of complacency. You can also check out the Join The Journey Jr. Podcast: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey-junior/id1660089898 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6SG7aaE1ZjjFkgB34G8zp3?si=c960a63736904665 Check out the Join The Journey Website for today's devotional and more resources! https://www.jointhejourney.com/ Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Watermark-Community-Church/author/B0BRYP5MQK?"

Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people. Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah. Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf. In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives. Each name describes the nature of the One True God! Each is Jehovah! Together, they are the J-Team! God chose Gideon to lead Israel in a fight against the Midianites. The Lord told Gideon, “I have sent you… I will be with you!” Gideon wanted a sign from the Lord to be sure that God was truly on his side. When Gideon realized this messenger truly was the Lord, he feared for his life because he had seen the Lord face to face! “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die,'” Judges 6:23. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace! You can read more about this story in Judges 6:1-24. #kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahshalom, #thelordgodalmightyyourpeace, #thelordispeace, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebb

We explored the spiritual power of remembering as Moses calls the Israelites—and us—to recall the wilderness, God's faithfulness, and our own tendency to forget. By reframing the wilderness as a place of intimacy and dependence on God, it challenges us to see our struggles not as punishment, but as training grounds for deeper faith.

This week, we're at the climax of the story, the crossing of the Red Sea. The Israelites find themselves hemmed in- on one side is the dreaded sea and on the other, the Egyptian war machine is advancing bent on violence. And they're paralyzed with fear! It seems there is much violence around us and we feel like we're drowning in the sea. And we're afraid. Come to New King this Sunday and see what God does in situations like this. Exodus 14

The Israelites fully abandon the Lord, leading to 18 years of Ammonite oppression. On the east side of the Jordan, the tribes of Gad, Reuben, and half of Manasseh are subjugated. The Ammonites are organized, militarily strong, and expanding their territory. Seeing the crisis, the elders of Gilead call Jephthah from the land of Tob, where he had been exiled. Jephthah, a skilled warrior but born of a marginalized family, is made leader to confront the Ammonite threat. He first attempts diplomacy, sending messengers to the Ammonite king, disputing their historical claim to the land, setting the stage for the battle and the vow that will define his leadership. Highlights: Israel abandons the Lord → oppression begins Ammonites crush Israel, east of the Jordan Jephthah's exile in Tob → rise as mercenary leader Elders of Gilead recruit Jephthah Diplomatic message sent to the Ammonite king Support & Engagement: If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and follow The History of the Bible on your favorite podcast platform. Your ratings and reviews help others discover the show and support the creation of future episodes. If you'd like to support The History of the Bible, visit our Patreon Page. Your feedback is valuable to us! Share your thoughts and insights via our feedback form. Let us know how our podcast has impacted you or someone you know by filling out our impact form. If you have concerns about any information presented, please inform us via our correction form. Hashtags: #Judges #Ammonites #Jephthah #Gilead #BibleHistory #BiblicalStudies #Israelites #AncientHistory #MiddleEastHistory #BiblicalLeaders #Mercenaries #TribalConflict #EastJordan #BiblicalWarfare #FaithAndObedience #BiblicalNarrative #OldTestament #AncientIsrael #HistoricalContext #BiblePodcast Sources: ESV Study Bible ESV Archaeology Study Bible Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible (NIV) New Spirit-Filled Life Bible (NLT) BiblicalArchaeology.org ArmstrongInstitute.org Rose Book of Bible Charts, Maps, and Timelines Satellite Bible Atlas by Schlegel

Joshua 6 and 7 are juxtaposed for a reason. In Joshua 6, the Israelites obeyed the LORD despite a very unreasonable attack plan. They succeeded and enjoyed the blessings of victory. In the smaller, less threatening, city of Ai, the exact opposite happens. Joshua 7 is a summary of what happens when sinful choices affect an entire nation. Join us as we discuss the nature of sin in Joshua 7.

Friends of the Rosary,Today, September 14, is the feast of the exaltation of the Holy Cross, the glorious sign of our victory.This day is also called the Triumph of the Cross, Elevation of the Cross, or Holy Cross Day. The Mother Church sings of the triumph of the Cross, the instrument of our redemption.Observed in Rome since the seventh century, this feast commemorates the recovery by St. Helena of the Holy Cross, placed on Mount Calvary, and later returned to Jerusalem by Emperor Heraclius in 629.The cross was a terrifying instrument of death and capital punishment in Greco-Roman times, reserved for those who undermined the authority of the Roman state. But the Resurrection of Christ through the strange providence of God made the cross the instrument of our salvation when we pass from death to life.Jesus showed this by comparing his crucifixion to the bronze serpent. After Israel had sinned in the desert, God punished the people with deadly serpents. Yet when they repented and he showed them mercy, he did not take away the serpents. Instead, he erected an image of that punishment. If a bitten Israelite looked upon a bronze serpent, he would live."For just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the desert, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.”Similarly, Adam's sin and our personal sins merit death. But we fix our eyes on the crucified Lord who was “obedient unto death, even death on a cross.”To follow Christ, we must take up His cross, follow Him, even if it means death on the cross. We identify with Christ on the Cross and become co-redeemers, sharing in His cross.The liturgy in today's Mass is triumphant. When Moses lifted up the bronze serpent over the people, it was a foreshadowing of the salvation through Jesus when He was lifted up on the Cross.We continue praying for Charlie and Erika Kirk and their two children.Ave Maria!Come, Holy Spirit, come!To Jesus through Mary!Here I am, Lord; I come to do your will.Please give us the grace to respond with joy!+ Mikel Amigot w/ María Blanca | RosaryNetwork.com, New York• ⁠September 14, 2025, Today's Rosary on YouTube | Daily broadcast at 7:30 pm ET 

How does one of the greatest men of God crater so quickly?I Kings 18:46 The power of the Lord came on Elijah and, tucking his cloak intohis belt, he ran ahead of Ahab all the way to Jezreel.I Kings 19:3 Elijah was afraid and ran for his life.Elijah didn't stop believing in God.Elijah stopped connecting with God's people.I Kings 19:3-4 When he came to Beersheba in Judah, he left his servantthere, while he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness. He came to abroom bush,  sat down under it and prayed that he might die. “I have hadenough, Lord,” he said. “Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors.” I Kings 19:9 And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here,Elijah?”I Kings 19:10 He replied, “I have been very zealous for the Lord God Almighty.The Israelites have rejected your covenant, torn down your altars, and put yourprophets to death with the sword. I am the only one left,I Kings 18:12b-13 Yet I your servant have worshiped the Lord since my youth.Haven't you heard, my lord, what I did while Jezebel was killing the prophets ofthe Lord? I hid a hundred of the Lord's prophets in two caves, fifty in each, andsupplied them with food and water. 3 Reasons We Isolate1. We grow comfortable with ISOLATION and being ALONE.God may PREPARE you in solitude, but He will SUSTAIN you in community.The root cause of most issues in our life a lack of a strong CHRISTIANCOMMUNITY.Ecclesiastes 4:9–10 ‘Two are better than one, because they have a good return fortheir labor: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyonewho falls and has no one to help them up.'Hebrews 10:24–25 ‘And let us consider how we may spur one another on towardlove and good deeds, not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit ofdoing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Dayapproaching.'CONNECT GROUP QR code slide on screen2. We believe the LIE that no one can RELATE to my situation.Your feelings are REAL, but they are not always RIGHT.1 Corinthians 10:13 ‘No temptation has overtaken you except what is common tomankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you canbear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you canendure it.'James 5:17 ‘Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that itwould not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years.'3. We forget how many PEOPLE God has FOR US.I Kings 19:13 Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah.”I Kings 19:14 “I am the only one left.”1 Kings 19:15 “The Lord said to him, ‘Go back the way you came,I Kings 19:18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have notbowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.'”Proverbs 27:17 ‘As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.'Galatians 6:2 ‘Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the lawof Christ.'1 Kings 19:11–12 “The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in thepresence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.' Then a great and powerfulwind tore through the mountains and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but theLord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lordwas not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was notin the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper.”

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (4) (audio) David Eells – 9/14/25 I want to back up a little from what I shared last time, when we knew we were to move to Florida and share how we got a little ahead of the Lord. Sometimes the Lord will wait before He answers because He wants to see if we are going to get out there in the flesh and that's what we did. We came over a little early and started looking around Pensacola, but we didn't see anything, and we went back home. We started crying out to the Lord, “Okay, Lord, we know this is the time; we know it's coming,” and so on. And the next time, we waited until the Lord sent us. We even had a Christian realtor in Pensacola looking around for us, and we described the house to him because we had already seen it in dreams and visions. He was looking all over Pensacola, trying to find the house, until, finally, one day, in a little frustration after having sought the Lord, I stopped the man. I said, “Look, let's get your map.” So he got his map and we stretched it out on the hood of his car, and I said, “Listen, this is where the house is, right here!” I wasn't even looking where I was pointing, but I stuck my finger down on the map and he said, “Okay, we'll go there and look.” As we were looking, I told the man just exactly how much we were going to pay for the house. I could tell he wasn't used to that, but he said, “Okay.” He drove us through the area where my finger came down and we passed by the house we had seen in our dreams and visions. The lady who owned it had just stuck a “For Sale By Owner” sign in the ground. And since this was a realtor and it was a For Sale By Owner sign, he was just driving right on by, but I had my pad and pencil out. I wrote down the phone number and called her later. So after we looked at the house, I felt led to offer her $1000 less than I knew I was going to pay because some people like to haggle. She said, “Well, I don't know.” And I said, “Well, I tell you what, leave the curtains,” which I knew she was planning on doing anyway, “and I'll give you this much,” which was the amount the Lord told me. And she said, “Okay.” Praise the Lord! I do want to tell you that the realtor was a good Christian man who had done a good job looking for the house, and we actually gave him his commission. He had worked for his due, and we figured we'd give it to him anyway. He told us, “Man, I could never have found you a deal like this!” Now this lady was a Baptist, but one of her relatives was the pastor of a large, full-Gospel church in Pensacola. He and other people had been witnessing to her. And at the time when we came to Pensacola, she was having a problem with her eyes, so we asked her, “Would you let us pray for you? Will you let us lay hands on you for those eyes, so God will heal them?” I pointed out some verses to her and so on. She said, “Well, I don't know so much of that laying on of hands stuff, but I would like you to pray for me.” I answered, “Okay, we will pray for you without the laying on of hands.” That's what we did; we prayed for her, and God healed her. She was so jubilant to come to find out that God would do this for her because her doctrine didn't permit that kind of miraculous healing. She didn't really believe in those kinds of miraculous healings, but she received a miraculous healing, and her eyes were suddenly opened to the true Gospel. Then, when the time came for us to move in, she still wasn't ready to move out for another week, so she lived with us for a week, and we were able to witness to her even more. We had our stuff all piled up on one end of the house, and we were kind of living together like that until, finally, we had the house to ourselves. You see, God did a miracle. And it was through our weakness that we got this miracle. God paid for it; we didn't pay for anything. The money He gave us was enough to buy the house and a new car because our small car was a Toyota, which was good for doing small jobs, but we had five kids. So we bought a large, brand new station wagon, and God also did many miracles on that station wagon for us over the years. But the miracle was that God paid for both of these. We didn't have any money or save any money, and we just continued to give to any need that came our way. Whenever we saw a need, we gave to it. We didn't believe in storing up our treasures on earth, so we put no money in the bank. We did what Jesus says. (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. “Faileth not.” I want to remind you that no credit goes to us. Eph 2:8  for by grace (unmerited favor) have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9  not of works, that no man should glory.  When you store up your treasures in Heaven by meeting the needs of the brethren, you can always get it back because as the Lord said, it “faileth not.” For many years, I made a very good living, and I met the needs of the brethren around me. Whenever I saw a need, it wasn't a burden to me to take care of it by the grace of God, Who put it in my heart to do that. When you read the Word of God and you love the Word of God, and you love to act and live on the Word of God, the Word gets into your heart. The Word in you is Jesus in you. So we just gave where we saw to give; we didn't save up money and we didn't borrow money. Borrowing was out of the question for us because we were walking by faith, and even up to today, I haven't for 55 years. But because I give, the money is always there when I need it. As I've shared with you, the Lord taught me never to borrow, never to tell my needs, never to go into the business of buying and selling. Another was, never to take any government help. Recently the Lord had me sighn up for Social Security at 76 which didn't belong to the government but me, but I have given it away ever since. One of the things the young man said happened in his dream was that when he walked up to me, I told him, “I'm never going to work for man again,” and it was true. After I retired from Exxon, I never worked for man again. Now, everybody has to work, as the Bible says: (2Th.3:10) For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, If any will not work, neither let him eat. So I've worked diligently for the Lord and still do, but I've never been a burden on people. I made sure of that, and I never made my needs known. I haven't received any income from UBM. God put it in people's hearts to meet our needs separately. I don't believe in being a freeloader or “mooching.” It's wrong and it's evil. If you're truly walking by faith, God's going to support you. (Luk.10:7) And in that same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the laborer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. (Mat.10:10) Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; (10) no wallet for your journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. God supports those who work for Him. Apostle Paul is our example. At the beginning of his ministry, he worked for a living. (1Co.9:11) If we sowed unto you spiritual things, is it a great matter if we shall reap your carnal things? (12) If others partake of [this] right over you, do not we yet more? Nevertheless we did not use this right; but we bear all things, that we may cause no hindrance to the gospel of Christ. But later on (2 Corinthians 9; Philippians 2), it seems very clear that Paul was receiving freewill offerings from brethren so that he could continue on with his ministering and not be distracted by any work. It was that way for the first part of my ministry, too. I worked for many years while I ministered. I learned to walk by faith and, in that weakness, God was miraculous. Most people don't get to see the miracles of God because they are not willing to be weak. They're always strong and do for themselves; it's salvation by works. Remember that the Greek word for “salvation,” which is the noun soteria or the verb sozo, is translated in many different ways to cover every kind of salvation. For instance, when Jesus healed someone, (Mat.9:22) But Jesus turning and seeing her said, Daughter, be of good cheer; thy faith hath made thee whole (sozo). And the woman was made whole (sozo) from that hour. When He delivered people from demons, (Luk.8:36) And they that saw it told them how he that was possessed with demons was made whole (sozo). When the disciples were in the sinking boat, (Mat.8:25) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save (sozo), Lord; we perish. Salvation is very, very big! Jesus saved us from sin and its curse. (2Co.5:21) Him who knew no sin he made [to be] sin on our behalf; that we might become the righteousness of God in him. Did you know, in the Scriptures, poverty is a curse? (Deu.28:47) Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with joyfulness, and with gladness of heart, by reason of the abundance of all things; (48) therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies that Jehovah shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all things: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee. Unless it is a sacrificial self-imposed poverty for the sake of others, it's a curse. How many of you know that Jesus wasn't poverty-stricken? He had His needs met everywhere He went. Now, He didn't have riches, according to the way the world likes riches. The world likes the material kind of riches in which they can trust. Jesus didn't have that, but His needs were met wherever He went, and so were His disciples. They weren't poor, but they were poor to the world. (Jas.2:5) Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? People who are poor to the world are in a position of weakness, where they have to trust in God. You have to come out from under the principles of the world and the teachings of the worldly, Babylonish Church. You learn to obey the principles that Jesus gave us in the New Testament. Make sure your brother's needs are met sacrificially out of what you have, and God will make sure you don't ever have a need that isn't met by God's faith in us. Paul said, (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He said that because his needs were being met by the brethren and He made that promise to the Philippians. Well, we lost a car, had been injured, and didn't have any money, but in our weakness, God was made strong. We didn't have to sell or borrow or beg or do anything of the sort; all we did was give. I want you to walk in the same blessings, and God will do that for you if you start living according to His principles. By the way, because the second part of the money that came in from the wreck was delayed and delayed, God made an opportunity for me to give away my first station wagon that I had when I was in Baton Rouge. I gave it away to a mission in town where I had preached quite a few times because they needed transportation for the people in the mission. God blessed me with that car, and I never had any problems with it that Father didn't fix. When we prayed for a car, my youngest daughter had a vision of that car being in New Orleans. She even saw the color of the car. Sure enough, I couldn't find anything in Baton Rouge that I liked, so I went to New Orleans, and I saw the car and bought it. That was the car I gave to the mission. And I'd never put any spares in that car because I was trusting God to keep my tires, but the day I put the keys in the preacher's hand in my living room and we walked outside, it was sitting on a flat. I never had a flat as long as I had that car because I never carried a spare, but as soon as it got out of my hand and into his, it had a flat. And since I mentioned New Orleans, think about what happened there, folks. God brought a Category 5 hurricane (Hurricane Katrina: August 29, 2005) to that big sin city and, just as it was about to hit land, He sent in a wave of dry air from the northwest that suddenly knocked that hurricane down to a Category 3. That same gust of dry air pushed the hurricane to the east. A Category 5 hurricane that was about to hit that area would have driven the waters of Lake Pontchartrain over into the city and drowned 40,000 to 50,000 people because the water would have come in there so fast. Think about man's efforts to save himself with the levees and those great big monster pumps that they have in that city. They thought they could keep that city dry. Had a Category 5 hit that city head-on, or even a Category 3, it would have pushed the water in there faster than the pumps could handle. Most of New Orleans is 20 feet below sea level and some of it is more than 20 feet below sea level. What chance did man have to save himself from just one of God's judgments? As it was, He didn't let the city escape, even after moving the hurricane over a little bit. The levees gave out when they became saturated and the city started filling up with water, but it was slow enough to give people a little time to move out of the way. It was astounding how the mercy of God saved those people. The meteorologists pointed out on radar how this gust of dry air came in and moved the hurricane; they were totally amazed by it. They had never seen anything like it. That was purely an act of God that spared them when they couldn't have saved themselves, even with all of their efforts. They knew if a major hurricane hit them, the city would drown. God didn't completely spare the city, but He spared an untold number of people, including many brethren. I'm sure some people in New Orleans with faith were praying until God, at the last moment, suddenly dropped the strength of that hurricane and moved it over. Hurricane Dennis did exactly the same thing as it was coming toward Pensacola. I was praying the whole time and I was asking, “Lord, do you want me to command that hurricane to back off and go the other way?” The Lord said, “No. Just wait,” so I didn't do anything. All of a sudden, when it hit the land, I felt in my heart that the Lord wanted me to command it to be broken up, and that's exactly when it started breaking up. The strength dropped down, and it veered a little bit to the right of Pensacola. I know that there were some people over there in New Orleans doing the exact same thing and God answered the exact same way. You see, God has it all planned out. He just uses His faith in us to bring it to pass. We can put our trust in the living God. Nothing that man can do will save you from the judgments that are coming. The wilderness is where you learn to walk by faith in the Lord. You learn to put your faith in Him and you give up your efforts and your power; you give up your ability to do anything. The promises of God are past tense. He became a curse for you, He bore your curse, and He healed your body. He already did all of this, and since all of these promises are past tense, what can you do to bring it to pass? Jesus taught us, (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. If you believe you have received, there's nothing for you to do to bring them to pass. Believing the promises brings us into a position of weakness where we can't save ourselves. You've probably heard the old saying, “God helps those who help themselves.” Well, that's a lie. The Bible says just the opposite: (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. The power of God is made perfect in weakness; that's what He told Paul: (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Paul couldn't save himself in those situations that he got into, but he said, (2Ti.4:18) The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen. In his weakness, and faith, God's power was made perfect. Keep the Sabbath, and don't bring a burden into God's Holy City on this Sabbath. Cease from your own works or, in other words, cease from the works of man. As God told Moses and the children of Israel, (Exo.14:13) And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which he will work for you to-day: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen to-day, ye shall see them again no more for ever. (14) The Lord will fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace. He said, “Stand still.” They were trying to figure out what to do. Here was Pharaoh's army coming up behind them and they would have never thought about parting the Red Sea. (Exo.14:15) And the Lord said unto Moses, Wherefore criest thou unto me? speak unto the children of Israel, that they go forward. (16) And lift thou up thy rod, and stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it: and the children of Israel shall go into the midst of the sea on dry ground. You see, God has ways far beyond our ways. (Isa.55:8) For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. (9) For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. That's why He had to tell them, “stand still.” It's the same for us. Sometimes we're just so busy running around, trying to figure out a way out of this or a way out of that. We've been trained from our youth to solve our problems for ourselves, when God just wants us to be believers in His promises. Get your Bible and diligently read it. Underline those promises and start acting on them. (Jas.2:17) Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Faith without works is dead. Remember that Jesus told us, (Mar.11:24) … All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. How would you act if you believed you had received what you prayed for? You would stop trying to bring it to pass for yourself. You would cease from your own labors and, if you cease from your own labors on His Sabbath, you will find God's power is made perfect. Glory be to God! Now, I want to remind you that the Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart over and over before the Israelites were set free from Egypt to go into their wilderness. (Exo.7:1) And the Lord said unto Moses, See, I have made thee as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet. (2) Thou shalt speak all that I command thee; and Aaron thy brother shall speak unto Pharaoh, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land. (3) And I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and multiply my signs and my wonders in the land of Egypt. (4) But Pharaoh will not hearken unto you, and I will lay my hand upon Egypt, and bring forth my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great judgments. (5) And the Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them. Why did He do that? Why did the Lord harden Pharaoh's heart? (Exo.10:1) And the Lord said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them, (2) and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am the Lord. The Lord hardened Pharaoh's heart because He wanted to judge Egypt and He wanted to prove His great power to deliver the Israelites. By the time the Israelites left Egypt, the land had been devastated, and the economy was in ruins. (Exo.10:7) And Pharaoh's servants said unto him, How long shall this man be a snare unto us? let the men go, that they may serve the Lord their God: knowest thou not yet that Egypt is destroyed? You know, He's going to do that again in our day! (Ecc.1:9) That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. History is going to repeat. Judgments are coming upon the United States, but God is merciful, and He sends warnings to us so His people will pray. I'm totally convinced that the prayers of the saints have delayed a time of judgment. We have been receiving many revelations of judgments, some of them with actual dates that have since come and gone, and the Lord showed me that these were true revelations, yet they didn't come to pass. You see, the Lord gives you a warning of things to come for the purpose of having you seek Him for grace. (Jas.4:2) … ye have not, because ye ask not. God's people don't pray and they don't seek Him for His grace and mercy! It takes a threat for His people to seek Him for grace and mercy. When God wants to give us grace and mercy, He almost has to tell us what's going to happen if we don't seek Him. I know what the Lord did with those revelations that never came to pass: He put those warnings out there so His people would seek Him for grace and He gave it. By the way, if you don't believe God dates prophecies, you haven't read very much of the Bible because there are many of them in there (Daniel 7; 9; Jonah 3; Revelation 12; etc.) The brethren who share these warnings sometimes wonder if God just forgot about them or if He left them, or if they were deceived. The same thing happened with Jonah. (Jon.4:1) But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. Jonah had prophesied Nineveh would be overthrown in 40 days, and yet, God had mercy when the people cried out to Him. God had mercy, and Jonah was angry because now he was going to look like a false prophet. (2) And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I hasted to flee unto Tarshish; for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repentest thee of the evil. (3) Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Jonah didn't want to face the world. He felt as if the Lord had let him down. He had prophesied their destruction, but he also knew that God was merciful and would repent of the prophesied evil. However, God reminded Jonah there was something a lot more important than his pride. (Jon.4:11) And should not I have regard for Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle? Can you imagine, He was even having mercy on the cattle! God was showing it wasn't important that Jonah might look like a false prophet, but it was important that God was going to have mercy on these people. That's the thing we have to keep in mind. Remember, we've been put here to be of no reputation anyway, according to the Scriptures. (Php.2:5) Have this mind in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (6) who, existing in the form of God, counted not the being on an equality with God a thing to be grasped, (7) but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in the likeness of men; (8) and being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. We're supposed to have the same mind as Christ. We're here to lose our reputation in the eyes of the world. The wilderness is a place of hopelessness for the flesh because the flesh really can't help God. Just like the wilderness was a place of weakness for Israel, a place where the world couldn't supply the needs of God's people, so it is, and will be, for us in our day. What the Church has been teaching for so long is, “God helps those who help themselves.” That's their doctrine. Well, God doesn't like that and it's a stench in His nostrils. The Bible says (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. We are saved by His works, His efforts, and His wisdom. The Lord has already accomplished everything for us at the cross. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He supplied our needs at the cross, so God doesn't appreciate that the Church is preaching salvation by works. He said, (2Co.12:9) … My grace is sufficient for thee: for my power is made perfect in weakness.... I'd like to share with you the difference between assurance and insurance because this is part of my wilderness. Many people have their trust in the “idol” of insurance. They think they've insulated themselves from anything bad that could come from this world, but it's going to fail. Every idol that you stand up to the Lord will fall over and be crushed like Dagon. (1Sa.5:3) And when they of Ashdod arose early on the morrow, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord. And they took Dagon, and set him in his place again. (4) And when they arose early on the morrow morning, behold, Dagon was fallen upon his face to the ground before the ark of the Lord; and the head of Dagon and both the palms of his hands lay cut off upon the threshold; only the stump of Dagon was left to him. God is going to judge all the idols of Egypt; they will all fail. Even insurance companies are not going to be able to save America. As a matter of fact, insurance companies have been leaving several states, including Florida, where judgments such as hurricanes are becoming more and more frequent. They've been leaving those states to avoid going bankrupt. And they get permission to not pay up if doing so would harm them. But God's going to continue hitting big sin cities all around the United States with one form of judgment or another, and there aren't enough insurance companies in the world to save America. If you're interested in my wilderness experiences and teachings from the Bible, I ask that you get our free e-book, Sovereign God For Us And Through Us, on our website: ubm1.org. He is sovereign for us and He wants to be sovereign through us. He wants to administer His authority in this earth through His people. I want to share some excerpts with you here from Chapter 18. It's titled “Assurance Versus Insurance,” and I hope it will give you a desire to read the rest of the book. We receive testimonies every day of people who are being empowered by God and helped and delivered by this book. (The excerpts are italicized, and my commentary is in parentheses.) (Psa.91:9) For thou, O Lord, art my refuge!.... This confession of faith and the deliverance that comes of it are merely acting on what the Word says. I received a revelation years ago in Louisiana, before it was a law to have any form of auto insurance. Even now there are are laws to have the minimum PIP/PD but that covers the other guy, not you. So I have had this to obey the law and have been rewarded greatly because the other guy was a fault and paid me. The Lord began spiritually to reason with me. It occurred to me that God is sovereign over what we call “accidents.” (We're always insulating ourselves with insurance, but there is really no such thing as an accident, is there?) (Joh.3:27) A man can receive nothing, except it have been given him from heaven. That doesn't sound like there are accidents (It sounds like there is a sovereign God!); therefore, an accident could not come without God sending it. Since He said that if we prayed believing we would receive, then I could ask Him to keep my vehicles, or let the other guy be at fault and pay me, which has profited me greatly. Why would I need insurance if I believed the assurance just given in His promises? (Psa.91:9) For thou, O Lord, art my refuge! (Notice the good confession and its resulting benefit. (Jas.2:26) For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead. Faith without works is dead, but the good confession brings a benefit.) Thou hast made the Most High thy habitation; (10) There shall no evil befall thee, Neither shall any plague come nigh thy tent. (I know a lot of people don't believe or teach this nowadays, but it's the Word of the Lord. Who are we to say otherwise!) (11) For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. (12) They shall bear thee up in their hands, Lest thou dash thy foot against a stone. (Or, in other words, “lest you have an accident.”) Notice that when we abide in Christ by faith (and hold fast this good confession; that's the promise of God), angels keep us from what men call “accidents.” An exception to this can be an experience like Job's to show hidden faults (Job.32:1-2). As in his case, God strictly controls the chastening and later restores what is taken. God restored to Job twice as much as he had and without insurance. God desires to be our security. We don't need security in the world; we need our God to be our security. (Psa.119:122) Be surety (Hebrew: “to give or be security”) for thy servant for good.... (Heb.7:22) By so much also hath Jesus become the surety of a better covenant. God and His promises are the believers' assurance of provision and protection. After seeing what the Lord was saying to me, I dropped my auto insurance back before it was required. Then I called my life insurance man and he came over. I told him that I would not need insurance anymore because God would be my assurance. He was a good Lutheran man who sincerely tried to reason with this fanatic, but to no avail. The week after I did this, I drove to a Stop-N-Go mart and went in to get some food. While I was walking down an aisle, I heard a crash that shook the store windows. I looked up over the isle to see that my car had been in a wreck without me! I went out and found a heavy old Buick's front end wrapped around the back corner of my Datsun station wagon. The driver backed the car up a foot or so, and we both stood there speechless. We just couldn't really understand how this could happen. The hood, grill and bumper of his all steel car were notched back about six inches, as if it had hit a big oak tree. Here is the good part. Datsun station wagons were tin boxes and could be dented with an elbow. This tank hit my car on the left rear wrap-around, plastic tail lens! I reached out and with my thumbnail, scraped a piece of paint from his hood off the plastic tail lens, and we stood there for a moment looking at this miracle. There was not a scratch, dent or crack on my car anywhere. Awesome God! He made my wimpy car, which should have been totaled, invincible to this old tank of a car. The assurance of God saved me from any need of insurance. The man said, “I think my brakes went out,” and then he mumbled, “They sure make ‘em better than they used to.” As I was thinking about how ludicrous that statement was (and I knew he didn't believe it anyway), he got in his car and left. Suddenly, it hit me that I missed the best chance in the entire world to witness to someone. I jumped into my car and caught him at the next red light (where his brakes, obviously, had stopped him). I grabbed some tracts out of the glove box and hurried to his door. I said, “Sir, that was a miracle.” He said, “It had to be.” I said, “I didn't have any insurance on my car and I was trusting God to keep it and He did.” The light turned green and we parted company. Since then, I have never had any insurance that covers our family, vehicles or home, other than what the law demands. We now have to have liability, which covers the other guy but not you. However, when the Lord tells you that you do not need insurance He means it. That first wreck, or lack thereof, was an awesome testimony, but we did not plunder Egypt, as we did with later wrecks. Since then, God has not always protected our vehicles or bodies, but in every case, it was to our advantage, for He healed our bodies once and greatly blessed us financially. (When you trust in the Lord, He's working all things for your good, as Romans 8:28 says.) During this time, though we sued no one, the other guy's insurance blessed us with money for the following: to repair a motorcycle with money leftover in my pocket for a new one; to repair a Toyota pickup that needed painting anyway, and I ended up after fixing the pickup, painting it with a beautiful paint job with $1,500 left in my pocket; to buy two cars, one new; to buy our home; to enable us to buy and give cars to others; to enable us to give our home away; and to buy a travel trailer for a homeless woman and her son. Besides all that and more, we have not spent God's money on many years' worth of insurance. (If you obey God, you can't lose! If you obey God and walk by faith in Him and let His assurance be your insurance and not the world, then you'll see the miracles of God.) Now, I can hear someone say, “But David, what if ... ?” What if what? What if God Almighty fell off His throne? (God made these promises; we're just depending upon Him.) (Rom.10:11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (The devil tells you that you will be put to shame, but that's a lie.) (Jer.17:7) Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. By the grace of God, it has been many years since we have had a wreck. Praise God! (So God can keep you from wrecks, but when you do get into them, He can make them bless you.) One day, in that same Datsun station wagon, I was driving along rather frustrated because I had had three flats on relatively new tires. Most people would be complaining to the manufacturer, but I believed that God was in control, so I was complaining to the Lord. A little frustrated, I said, “Lord, can't You keep my tires?” He said to me very clearly, “Don't you believe that I can keep your tires?” I replied in my ignorance, “Yes, I believe You can keep them.” He replied, “Then why do you keep putting that spare back there?” To be honest, I put the spare in the trunk because it was traditional and I had not questioned it, but also, the underlying reason was in case God didn't keep my tires. (I'm not trying to make a new doctrine on spares, just share a lesson God gave to me.) Fear and unbelief cause us to try to insulate ourselves from any possibility of lack, loss or threat. Since we are trusting in insurance besides the Lord, we usually end up needing it. (That's what people don't understand. If you trust in something besides the Lord, you end up having to use it. Of course, some people say, “Aha! You see, I needed it!” But they have it all backwards. When you trust in any idol and not in the Lord, you're going to need it.) Jesus sent out His disciples in a way that would make them dependent on living by faith. He sent them without their own provision so that in their weakness His power would be proven. (Mat.10:9) Get you no gold, nor silver, nor brass in your purses; (10) no wallet for [your] journey, neither two coats, nor shoes, nor staff: for the laborer is worthy of his food. Later, Jesus wanted to see what they learned from this experience of depending upon God's supply. (Luk.22:35) And he said unto them, When I sent you forth without purse, and wallet, and shoes, lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing. (For those of you who believe that only applied to the disciples, remember Jesus commanded His disciples to make disciples and teach them to observe everything that He commanded the first disciples to observe (Matthew 28:20). In other words, what He spoke to them, He spoke to us, but man came in there with religion and thwarted the whole mission that God sent us on.) In the wilderness of man's supply, God's provision was evident. (When Jesus sent out the disciples without their own supply, He basically made a wilderness wherever these men went because they didn't bring enough with them out of “Egypt” to supply their needs.) God starts His works when we finish ours. His power is made perfect in our weakness. That was my experience with those tires. I threw out my spare and I never had another flat on that car, and the neighbors who used to borrow it quit! (I would tell them, “Look, if you're going to drive this car, you have to drive it by faith because I don't have a spare back there.” Well, they quit borrowing my car, which I guess was another benefit.) The moral of that story is, if you prepare for a rainy day, it will come. With the next car, I had the same experience: no flats. When I decided after many years to give it to a mission, I put the keys and title into the hand of the pastor in my living room. We walked outside and the car was on a flat. (I was the one walking by faith and now that it was his car, now that the key was in his hand, it was sitting on a flat! Well, inside I just chuckled. I understood exactly what He was saying to me.) God made His point. As long as I owned the car, putting my trust in Him, there was never a flat. In other words, trusting in God takes away the need for insurance. (And, again, I'm not making any laws about this; I'm not condemning anybody for having spares. God was teaching me, and He'll teach you. He may use other methods, but He wants to teach you to walk in this wilderness, to walk in a lack of man's provision, but in your weakness, God will be made strong.) Men serve insurance companies, H.M.O.s, banks and store up their treasures on earth for the security they think it gives them. (Mat.6:19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal. Y2K revealed the paranoia and lack of trust in those who stored up their treasures on earth, contrary to the Lord's command. (It's fear that causes people to do such things, but God's power is made perfect in our weakness.) Quite a few I showed these principles to went home to give their store away and found it full of bugs, just as Jesus said, “thieves break through and steal.” Jesus told of a man who found peace in the insurance of storing up his goods in greater barns (Luke 12:18). He said to himself, (Luk.12:19) ...Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. (That's the thinking of man: “I have all I need; this will keep me for a long time.”) His misplaced trust brought judgment. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required (Greek: “they require thy soul”) of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. (Now, to be “rich toward God” is to be “rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom.” (Jas.2:5) Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? Why did He choose the “poor as to the world”? He chose them because they have to trust in God, they have to put their faith in God. That's what God did with the Israelites when He brought them into the wilderness. He made them poor to the world, and He expected them to put their faith in Him.) Notice that it was his stored-up treasures that required his soul. Jesus promised the unfailing Kingdom provisions to those who would store up their treasures in Heaven by giving. (32) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old (not storing up), a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. As long as we are on this earth, we can draw on our Heavenly bank account if we have deposited by giving to the needs of others. “Give, and it shall be given unto you.” If we have stored up on earth instead, the promise is that it will be stolen by thieves of one kind or another. Our heart will be on our treasures, falsely thinking them to be our security. (Luk.12:34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (And God cannot lie!) (I'm told that Psalm 118:8 is the center verse in the Bible and I'm sure that it is at least central to God's heart.) (Psa.118:8) It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to put confidence in man. Our trust in man is what brings the curse to pass. (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. (People are trusting in their insurance of many different kinds; they're trusting in their insurance companies, but they are all going to fail. Everything but God is going to fail in the days ahead!) As we can see, the insurances themselves bring the curse that they are thought to relieve. (The man who stored up “much goods” found that they brought the curse upon him. God is not offended with the world doing it; He's offended with His people doing these things.) God is offended with those who call themselves believers, yet trust in man's strength and insurances. This is a heart that departs from the Lord. In 2 Chronicles 16:1-6, Asa, king of Judah, put his trust in the worldly king of Syria for insurance against his enemies. This offended God, Who sent judgment. (2Ch.16:7) And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said unto him, Because thou hast relied on the king of Syria, and hast not relied on the Lord thy God, therefore is the host of the king of Syria escaped out of thy hand. (8) Were not the Ethiopians and the Lubim a huge host, with chariots and horsemen exceeding many? yet, because thou didst rely on the Lord, he delivered them into thy hand. (9) For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly; for from henceforth thou shalt have wars. God is eager to show signs and wonders to those who trust in Him with a perfect heart. (Obviously, a “perfect heart” is not one that trusts in the world.) You would think that Asa would have learned this lesson, but his trust in man cost him his life, as it does for so many. (12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great: yet in his disease he sought not to the Lord, but to the physicians (13) And Asa slept with his fathers.... Christians justify their misplaced trust in man's insurances, not realizing that this brings the judgment in the first place. Let me share this experience with you. M.J. and I were about to go to work on a large crude oil pump for Exxon. The process department had blocked it out of line and drained it, or so we thought. What we did not know was that the pressure gauge read “0” because it was broken and the drain valve, though open, was stopped up, so there was a little pressure still in the pump. We took the bolts out of the head plate to remove it, but it was stuck. I stood up and took about four steps away to get something to break it loose when I heard a “pop” sound and turned around to see M.J. drenched with black crude from head to foot. As he opened his eyes, he sarcastically looked at me and said, “David, you did this to me.” Well, I could not contain myself and busted out laughing. The thought of me stepping away in the nick of time so that M.J. could get plastered was too much for me. Attempting to sound serious, he said, “Dave, you're never going to do this to me again.” I said, “M.J., you had better watch those self-confident statements. You know God is listening.” Then, he repeated his statement and said, “Bring me up to the shower house. I have a spare set of clothes up there.” I said, “Oh, now I know why you got it instead of me.” He asked, “Why?” I said, “Because I don't have a spare set of clothes and God knew it.” He looked at me kind of inquisitively. I explained that planning for a catastrophe is the same as having faith for it. It also proves that you do not believe that God will protect or provide. Later that day, we were working on another pump. M.J. was next to me as we used an impact gun to take off some bolts. Suddenly, slurry squirted down one of the open bolt holes and hit M.J. in the middle of his chest, leaving me untouched. (Slurry is a crude that will stain anything; you cannot get it out. If it gets on your clothes, you can just forget it because that's the color they are now. In fact, it's that way on skin; it's just terribly staining. So this slurry squirted down the bolt hole, down the side of the thread and hit him right in the chest.) He looked at me in disbelief. I playfully said, “M.J., I told you God doesn't like those self-confident statements,” but we both knew that God was speaking in this. We could not remember when this had happened to us before, much less twice in one day. (Truly, in the wilderness that's coming, we can put our trust only in the living God; nothing else is going to save us.) Now, back to that old Datsun station wagon; I want you to know the Lord used that vehicle to teach me many other lessons. When I was about to buy a new car, I really kind of favored the Toyota because I felt it was the better car, but I always left things up to the Lord. I asked, “Lord, which one do you want me to buy, the Toyota or the Datsun?” And I was surprised when the Lord said, “I want you to get the Datsun station wagon.” Now, a person would think that when the Lord tells you to do something, everything would be just fine since, obviously, the Lord is looking out for your good. Well, He was looking out for my good, but not in the way you would think sometimes. I told you the tire story, but other things went wrong with that car. Sometimes God wants you to have victory in trials. It wasn't all that long after I bought the car that the carburetor started acting erratically. And since I was a pretty good machinist and a pretty good mechanic, I knew the carburetor was plugged. I also knew that I didn't feel like tearing down the carburetor because the most precious thing in my life is my time. I used every spare moment I had to read the Bible, to study the Word. I was literally drawn, hungering and thirsting for the Word. Anyway, I just commanded that thing to be healed and kept on driving the Datsun. It went on like that, acting kind of erratically for a couple of weeks, but I just kept on holding fast to my confession. (Heb.10:23) Let us hold fast the confession of our hope that it waver not; for he is faithful that promised. The Lord will try you; just because you don't get the answer right away doesn't mean He hasn't heard you. After I held on like this for a couple of weeks, suddenly it started getting better and better until the problem was gone. In a few more weeks, I was faced with a different problem. The transmission started slipping and I thought it was just crazy for a relatively new car to be doing things like this, but I did all the normal things that a mechanic would do, like checking the fluid, for example, to make sure it was at the right level. And again, I knew that I didn't want to mess with that transmission by working on it myself, and I didn't want to take it to a shop. My time was valuable to me. In the wilderness, it will be a different story. You may not be able to find somebody to work on it, or you may not have the money to work on it, or the parts may not be available, etc. Even though in those days I had plenty of money, I just wouldn't spend it. I considered that what I made belonged to the Kingdom, and I wanted to use it to meet the Kingdom's needs, not spend it on vehicles and things like that. So instead, I just commanded that transmission to “Be healed in the name of Jesus,” but it still went on slipping for a while. Of course, your mind is telling you, “Hey, if you keep letting it slip like that, you're going to have to replace the clutch,” and all the other things that normally go bad when it starts slipping. I just ignored it and kept on going, and as I held fast my confession, my transmission gradually got better and better, until I never had any more problems with it. So, the Lord had me by that car so He could try me and show me He could fix anything. Some of the times when the Lord was teaching me these lessons, I got in the flesh to do things myself, and nothing worked out right. For instance, I told you how, when the insurance money came in, I bought a new Chevrolet station wagon. Well, I'd watched a lot of advertisements for a product called “Slick 50” that showed how you could put it in an engine, run it in there a while, and afterward actually dump out the oil and the engine would still run. I was impressed with that. I thought, “Wow! That will keep my engine. It will make it last a long, long time.” But, folks, I already had a God Who would keep my engine and make it last a long, long time. He's a jealous God. He really wanted me to put my trust in Him. Do you know what I did? I put that Slick 50 in there, even though they said not to use it unless you have 40,000 or 50,000 miles on the car. Well, I stuck it in there a little early and they warn you that you can break some rings doing that. At the time, I still lived in Florida, and I had to go on a teaching tour in Texas. So all of my family and I got in the car and we took off, and before I got very far down the road, the car started pouring smoke out of the tailpipe. I looked in the rear-view mirror, and it was just solid smoke back there. I said, “What in the world has happened to my new car?” I checked the PCV and things like that but couldn't find anything wrong. The only thing I determined was that I must have broken rings, as they said I might do if I put Slick 50 in an engine that didn't have extra clearance in it. I would go a few miles down the road and pour a quart of oil in it, go a few miles and pour another quart in it, so I decided I was going to pray over the engine. I said, “Lord, forgive me for getting in the flesh, and I'm going to trust You to keep this engine.” So I prayed over the engine and I commanded it to be healed in the name of Jesus. I don't know where I got into the terminology of calling it “healed.” I've prayed over vehicles, refrigerators, washing machines, and things like that, and I would always just call it “healing.” Anyway, I prayed over that engine and commanded it to “be healed in the name of Jesus,” because it's not the terminology that you use. Your theology might be a little bit wrong, but the Lord knows what you're meaning. Well, I got back into the car and we went on our way. We got a lot farther down the road, and I think I had to put one more quart in that car on the whole trip to Texas and back. God repaired those broken rings and we had no more problem with that. I didn't have much trouble with that car for many, many years, but I had the water pump stop working on it once when my wife and I were out driving. She cranked the car, and water started just pouring out on the ground. I asked her to get out of the car and come lay hands on the hood with me, which we did. We laid hands on the hood and commanded that water pump to “stop leaking in the name of Jesus.” And that water pump seal immediately sealed back up and we drove off. I've had many miracles like that, but most people never think about doing that. The first thing that comes to their mind is, “Well, I have a warranty on this car; or “I have enough money to hire a mechanic to fix it.” I wanted to stay in the wilderness because I wanted to learn those lessons that, one day, everybody is going to have to learn, so I took every opportunity to stay in the wilderness The Israelites wanted to run back to Egypt whenever they came into a place where God would try them, but God put it in my heart to want to stay out there. I wanted to learn; I wanted to see God do these miracles. Besides that, God told me, “I'm bringing you through a wilderness, so you can tell My people that I still supply there.” I treasured these experiences. Some people would call them terrible tribulation, but I treasured them and I enjoyed seeing God do these things. Let me tell you about my washing machine. One time, after we had moved to Florida, the washing machine started leaking. Mary came and told me, “The seal in the washer has gone out; the pump is leaking onto the ground.” I thought, “I'm going to go pray for it.” So I went and prayed for it and commanded it to be healed, then I sopped up the water and told her to go ahead and use it. Well, she did the rest of the laundry, and the machine didn't leak any more water. Then, just a few weeks later, she said, “That machine is leaking again,” so I went back in there and did the same thing. It went for a few more weeks, and for a third time she said to me, “David, that washer is leaking again.” I said, “No, it's not. It's not leaking; that thing is healed. It's okay, it's fine, just wash and don't worry about it.” You see, I didn't want to go back on what I had spoken. I wanted to keep my trust in the Lord and, sure enough, it sealed up. I told my wife, “If you see it leak, don't confess it, just thank God that it's not leaking and it's fixed.” And, you know, I kept that washing machine until somebody gave me another one that was a lot newer. I remember another time, back when we were in Louisiana, when my two young sons were playing in the living room and I was sitting there studying. My wife came in and she said, “That washing machine won't run. It won't even come on.” I said, “Well, Corban and Nathan, you two go back there and lay hands on that washing machine and just command it to run in the name of Jesus and it will run.” So they did that; they went back there and they laid hands on that thing and they commanded it to run and it took off. I taught all my children to lay hands on this and that, and they got to see the power of God in their simple, childlike faith. Children will always have awesome faith if you teach them about God and you show them the truths in the Bible. We had this lawnmower, and we pulled it out after the winter so we could cut the grass in the early spring. I pulled and pulled and pulled on this lawnmower, but it wouldn't start. My boys were really young at the time, and they were just standing around, looking at me. Well, I pulled the spark plug wire off, put it alongside the block, and pulled it. There was no spark. Now, by this time, I was sweating, tired and I wanted to get it over with. I called my boys to me and said to them, “Let's pray for this thing. Let's command it to run in the name of Jesus. I don't care if it has a spark or not; I just want it to run.” So my boys came over and we all laid hands on the lawnmower, and I commanded it to run in the name of Jesus. Then I cranked it up and mowed the lawn. I don't know if it ever had a spark or not. That didn't make any difference; it just had to run. (Mat.21:21) And Jesus answered and said unto them, Verily I say unto you, If ye have faith, and doubt not, ye shall not only do what is done to the fig tree, but even if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea, it shall be done. (22) And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive. The Lord told us, if you speak to a mountain and don't doubt, that what we say will come to pass, and I tell you, teach your children. They have more faith than you. When you tell a child something, the child just believes you, and that's the way we ought to be with God. (Mat.18:2) And he called to him a little child, and set him in the midst of them, (3) and said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye turn, and become as little children, ye shall in no wise enter into the kingdom of heaven. We need to become like a child and, with childlike faith, just believe in our God, just believe that He will do it.

If you've ever stood in the middle of a mess and thought, “Where do I even begin?”—you're not alone. Week 2 of our What a Mess series takes us into the chaotic world of the Judges and the unlikely leadership of Gideon. From Chaos to Calling Pastor Vicki began with a relatable visual: a messy teenager's room. It's overwhelming, disorienting, and just like the time of the Judges—where “everyone did what was right in their own eyes.” That kind of self-reliance never ends well. “Our inner compass fails us. We need direction—specifically, God's direction.” When we meet Gideon in Judges 6, he's hiding in a winepress. Not exactly a mighty warrior, right? But that's where God shows up. A Hesitant Hero Gideon is fearful, skeptical, and full of excuses: “How can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest…and I am the least in my family.” Yet God says, “Go in the strength you have.” Not someone else's strength. Not future-you. You, right now. That's powerful. Even then, Gideon asks for signs—again and again. “Maybe Gideon was slightly OCD,” Pastor Vicki joked, “but God is patient with him.” This story reminds us that God doesn't demand perfect faith. He simply asks us to keep showing up. Down to 300 From 32,000 men… to 10,000… to just 300. “God wanted to ensure that in no way at all could the Israelites think this was their victory.” We often think we need to be more—stronger, braver, smarter. But God uses less to do more. “God isn't just an odds defier—He's an odds smasher.” Trumpets Over Weapons The turning point? Trumpets. Not swords. “Gideon didn't question. He didn't argue. He just obeyed.” That's faith in motion. Faith not in ourselves, but in God's power through our weakness. So, What About You? “What's going on in your life? How is God asking you to trust Him, to have faith?” You may be trying to fix it your way. But what if God's asking you to surrender, step back, and watch Him move? Faith doesn't have to be big—it just has to be real. Jesus said, “If you have faith as small as a mustard seed… nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matthew 17:20)

SHOW NOTES   In Podcast Episode 340, “Don't Just Nod at God,” Kim discusses the difference between a life in which one only nods in God's direction and one wholly committed to the Lord and His purposes. King Jehoahaz looked to God only because the conditions were beyond his control, and he sought God's help. Just imagine the kingdom impact he could have had if he had wholly surrendered to the Lord instead of just nodding in His direction.   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Kings 13:1-9, with 4-6 as the focal verses:   4 Then Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord's help, and the Lord heard his prayer, for he could see how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 5 So the Lord provided someone to rescue the Israelites from the tyranny of the Arameans. Then Israel lived in safety again as they had in former days. 6 But they continued to sin, following the evil example of Jeroboam. They also allowed the Asherah pole in Samaria to remain standing.      WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   Consider the impact of a life lived for God versus one who only nodded at God.   Additional Resources and Scriptures:   "Jesus defeated death so that you can live.” (Charlie Kirk) “Charlie Kirk answered 'How do you want to be remembered' less than 3 months before killing” by Bonny Chu on Fox News EMAIL — encouragingothersinlovingjesus@gmail.com X - https://x.com/eoinlovingjesus?s=21&t=YcRjZQUpvP7FrJmm7Pe1hg INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus   I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III.     "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.     The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/  

"Why does Habakkuk begin with a complaint rather than a call to repentance or judgment like other prophets? In Habakkuk 2:4, what does it mean that “the righteous shall live by faith,” and how would a sixth-century Israelite have understood that phrase? In today's episode, Emma Dotter and Watermark member, Seth Master talk about the lament that is seen in this book. Habakkuk reminds us that faith does not remove suffering, but it transforms our response to it. Additional References: Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38 You can also check out the Join The Journey Jr. Podcast: Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey-junior/id1660089898 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/6SG7aaE1ZjjFkgB34G8zp3?si=c960a63736904665 Check out the Join The Journey Website for today's devotional and more resources! https://www.jointhejourney.com/ Amazon Storefront: https://www.amazon.com/stores/Watermark-Community-Church/author/B0BRYP5MQK?"

Her fans knew her as Nightbirde. Singer-songwriter Jane Kristen Marczewski won a following in 2021 on a popular TV talent show. In 2017, she’d been diagnosed with Stage 3 breast cancer. In 2018, she went into remission. She started touring, but months later the cancer returned, giving her little chance of survival. Amazingly, she recovered and was declared cancer-free. But on February 19, 2022, Nightbirde died. During her difficult journey, she blogged, “I remind myself that I’m praying to the God who let the Israelites stay lost for decades. They begged to arrive . . . but instead He let them wander, answering prayers they didn’t pray. . . . Every morning, He sent them mercy-bread from heaven . . . . I look for the mercy-bread . . . The Israelites called it manna, which means ‘what is it?’ That’s the same question I’m asking . . . . There’s mercy here somewhere—but what is it?” The exodus story reveals much about God’s mercy. First, His mercy was promised to the Israelites. “You will be filled with bread” (Exodus 16:12). And second, His mercy may surprise us. “They did not know what it was” (v. 15). Mercy often doesn’t look like what we think. But it’s mercy nonetheless. For the Israelites, it looked like morning manna. For Nightbirde, she wrote of the gift of a blanket from a friend, and her mother’s hands.

Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) 2025: Begins sunset of Monday, September 22, 2025 Ends nightfall of Wednesday, September 24, 2025 The Feast of Trumpets is established in Leviticus 23, when God told Moses that the people of Israel should have "a rest, a reminder by blowing of trumpets." But what is the blowing of the trumpets meant to remind the Israelites of? And what does this celebration have to do with us today? Rabbi Schneider answers these questions and more in this important episode on Yom Teruah (the Feast of Trumpets). **** BECOME A MONTHLY PARTNER - https://djj.show/YTAPartner  **** DONATE - https://djj.show/YTADonate  **** TEACHING NOTES -  https://djj.show/wl6   Visit our website at DiscoveringTheJewishJesus.com

A braita explains that the words “מעם הארץ” — “from one of the land” — mentioned in the section about the individual’s sin offering serve to exclude the king and the kohen gadol. The braita then questions this drasha, noting that the king and kohen gadol are already explicitly excluded by the verses. It concludes that the exemption in the braita for the kohen gadol applies in a case where he committed a forbidden act unwittingly, but without relying on an erroneous ruling. The exemption for the king applies when he sinned before being appointed. However, this interpretation aligns only with Rabbi Shimon’s view, as the rabbis maintain that in such a case, the king must bring an individual sin offering. To reconcile this with the rabbis’ position, Rav Zevid in the name of Rava suggests a scenario in which the king ate half the requisite amount of forbidden fat (cheilev) before becoming king, and then ate the other half afterward. In this case, he would not be obligated to bring an individual sin offering. Rava asked Rav Nachman: if someone ate half the requisite amount before becoming king, then became king, and later ceased being king before eating the second half, would the two halves combine to obligate him to bring an individual sin offering? They attempt to resolve the question by comparing it to a parallel case involving a Jew who ceased practicing religion, a meshumad, but the comparison is ultimately rejected. Rabbi Zeira asked Rav Sheshet, according to Rabbi Shimon’s position: if someone ate a piece of fat whose status — permitted or forbidden — was unclear, and only discovered the issue after becoming king, would he bring a provisional guilt offering? The reasoning is that the type of sacrifice does not change with the person’s change in status from a regular individual to a king. The question remains unresolved. A braita presents two different drashot to derive that a meshumad does not bring an individual sin offering. The practical difference between the two derivations is explored. There is a debate regarding which transgressions qualify someone as a meshumad. A braita explains that when the Torah refers to a nasi, it means a king — as no one is above him except God. Rabbi Yehuda haNasi, known as Rebbi, asked Rabbi Chiya whether he would be required to bring the unique offering designated for a nasi. Rabbi Chiya responded that Rebbi had a counterpart in Babylonia, the Exilarch, and therefore did not meet the criteria of someone who has no one above him but God. A difficulty is raised, as both kings of the kingdoms of Judea and Israel would bring the offering, yet it is explained that Rebbi was subservient to the Exilarch. Rav Safra offers a different version of the discussion between Rebbi and Rabbi Chiya. The kohen gadol who brings a unique sacrifice is specifically one who was anointed with the shemen hamishcha, the special oil prepared by Moshe. The Mishna outlines the legal differences between a kohen gadol who was anointed and one who assumed the role by wearing the special garments. It also distinguishes between a kohen gadol currently serving and one who is no longer in the position. A braita records a debate between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi regarding whether the shemen hamishcha was prepared in a miraculous manner. Rabbi Yehuda, who believes it was prepared miraculously, supports his view by citing several miracles associated with the oil, arguing that its miraculous preparation should not be surprising. If a king inherits the throne from his father, he is not anointed, but the kohen gadol is. Only kings from the Davidic dynasty were anointed. Challenges to this theory are raised: Shlomo was anointed despite his father being king, and Yehu, an Israelite king, was also anointed. These are resolved by explaining that Yehu was anointed with balsam oil, not the shemen hamishcha, and that Shlomo’s anointment was due to uncertainty over succession. Yehoachaz, whose father was also king, was anointed because he became king instead of his older brother Yehoyakim, who was two years his senior. Was he really two years his senior? The Gemara delves into the different verses to understand the age order among the brothers. 

Deep in the heart of Israel, God desires to be known by His chosen people. Revealing Himself to Moses as Yahweh, the Great I Am, a name too holy to utter, the Israelites call Him Jehovah. Throughout the Old Testament, Jehovah responds to the faith of His people and shows Himself strong on their behalf. In remembrance of Jehovah's power and love, the people give Him additional names describing His ability and willingness to help in their lives. Each name describes the nature of the One True God! Each is Jehovah! Together, they are the J-Team!God chose Gideon to lead Israel in a fight against the Midianites. The Lord told Gideon, “I have sent you… I will be with you!” Gideon wanted a sign from the Lord to be sure that God was truly on his side. When Gideon realized this messenger truly was the Lord, he feared for his life because he had seen the Lord face to face! “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Peace be with you; do not fear, you shall not die,'” Judges 6:23. So Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it Jehovah Shalom, the Lord is Peace! You can read more about this story in Judges 6:1-24.#kids, #biblestoriesforkids, #storiesforkids,#bedtimestoriesforkids, #storiesforchristiankids, #biblelessonsforkids, #bestronginthelord, #namesofgod, #jehovahshalom, #thelordgodalmightyyourpeace, #thelordispeace, #fishbytesforkids, #fishbytes4kids, #fishbites4kids, #ronandcarriewebb, #roncarriewebbImage by Freepik

In this episode of The Estherpreneur Podcast, we tackle one of the most sobering truths in business and life: your wilderness season doesn't have to last forever—stuck is a choice.We dive deep into the biblical journey of the Israelites and unpack how their 11-day journey turned into a 40-year delay—not because of God's timing, but because of disobedience, fear, and a refusal to change. We explore the mindsets and misconceptions that prolong your breakthrough, and how to finally partner with God in obedience, faith, and fresh thinking to accelerate your movement into the promised land.This isn't about skipping the test. It's about passing it with faith, clarity, and action. If you're ready to shift from survival to dominion, this episode was made for you! If this episode stirred something in you, it's time to take the next step. Join my Business Unlimited Group Mentoring Program—a Christ-centered community where we fast, pray, plan, and build together with prophetic precision and practical strategies.

A braita explains that the words “מעם הארץ” — “from one of the land” — mentioned in the section about the individual’s sin offering serve to exclude the king and the kohen gadol. The braita then questions this drasha, noting that the king and kohen gadol are already explicitly excluded by the verses. It concludes that the exemption in the braita for the kohen gadol applies in a case where he committed a forbidden act unwittingly, but without relying on an erroneous ruling. The exemption for the king applies when he sinned before being appointed. However, this interpretation aligns only with Rabbi Shimon’s view, as the rabbis maintain that in such a case, the king must bring an individual sin offering. To reconcile this with the rabbis’ position, Rav Zevid in the name of Rava suggests a scenario in which the king ate half the requisite amount of forbidden fat (cheilev) before becoming king, and then ate the other half afterward. In this case, he would not be obligated to bring an individual sin offering. Rava asked Rav Nachman: if someone ate half the requisite amount before becoming king, then became king, and later ceased being king before eating the second half, would the two halves combine to obligate him to bring an individual sin offering? They attempt to resolve the question by comparing it to a parallel case involving a Jew who ceased practicing religion, a meshumad, but the comparison is ultimately rejected. Rabbi Zeira asked Rav Sheshet, according to Rabbi Shimon’s position: if someone ate a piece of fat whose status — permitted or forbidden — was unclear, and only discovered the issue after becoming king, would he bring a provisional guilt offering? The reasoning is that the type of sacrifice does not change with the person’s change in status from a regular individual to a king. The question remains unresolved. A braita presents two different drashot to derive that a meshumad does not bring an individual sin offering. The practical difference between the two derivations is explored. There is a debate regarding which transgressions qualify someone as a meshumad. A braita explains that when the Torah refers to a nasi, it means a king — as no one is above him except God. Rabbi Yehuda haNasi, known as Rebbi, asked Rabbi Chiya whether he would be required to bring the unique offering designated for a nasi. Rabbi Chiya responded that Rebbi had a counterpart in Babylonia, the Exilarch, and therefore did not meet the criteria of someone who has no one above him but God. A difficulty is raised, as both kings of the kingdoms of Judea and Israel would bring the offering, yet it is explained that Rebbi was subservient to the Exilarch. Rav Safra offers a different version of the discussion between Rebbi and Rabbi Chiya. The kohen gadol who brings a unique sacrifice is specifically one who was anointed with the shemen hamishcha, the special oil prepared by Moshe. The Mishna outlines the legal differences between a kohen gadol who was anointed and one who assumed the role by wearing the special garments. It also distinguishes between a kohen gadol currently serving and one who is no longer in the position. A braita records a debate between Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yosi regarding whether the shemen hamishcha was prepared in a miraculous manner. Rabbi Yehuda, who believes it was prepared miraculously, supports his view by citing several miracles associated with the oil, arguing that its miraculous preparation should not be surprising. If a king inherits the throne from his father, he is not anointed, but the kohen gadol is. Only kings from the Davidic dynasty were anointed. Challenges to this theory are raised: Shlomo was anointed despite his father being king, and Yehu, an Israelite king, was also anointed. These are resolved by explaining that Yehu was anointed with balsam oil, not the shemen hamishcha, and that Shlomo’s anointment was due to uncertainty over succession. Yehoachaz, whose father was also king, was anointed because he became king instead of his older brother Yehoyakim, who was two years his senior. Was he really two years his senior? The Gemara delves into the different verses to understand the age order among the brothers. 

As Moses approached the end of his life, his focus wasn’t on regret, bitterness, or personal loss—it was on God’s people. In Numbers 27:15-17, Moses prayed that the Lord would appoint a leader to guide Israel so they wouldn’t be “like sheep without a shepherd.” Despite his mistakes and missed opportunities, Moses left a legacy of faith, humility, and care for God’s people. This devotional reminds us that true spiritual leadership looks beyond ourselves and points others toward the ultimate Good Shepherd—Jesus—who leads us into rest, protection, and eternal promise. ✨ Highlights Moses’ selfless prayer — Even at the end of his life, Moses was focused on God’s people, not his own loss A legacy of faith — Despite failure, Moses’ life still pointed others toward God’s promises Jesus, our ultimate Shepherd — The fulfillment of Moses’ prayer is found in Jesus, who leads us to spiritual safety and rest (John 10:11) Kingdom perspective — God calls us to live with an eternal mindset, thinking beyond our present circumstances and investing in future generations Carrying God’s light — As Christ-followers, we are called to shine His light wherever we go and leave the world “better than we found it”

Episode Summary: If you’ve ever struggled with discouragement, and we all have because life is full of disappointment and disillusionment, then this episode is for you. In honor of National Day of Encouragement, my co-host, Rev. Jessica Van Roekel and I talk about How to Find Biblical Encouragement for Your Everyday Life. Discouragement can rob us of joy, peace, and a sense of purpose. Encouragement is more than a feeling - it’s a powerful tool to propel us toward hope and confidence even when life feels less than happy. Today we’re going to talk about how to find biblical encouragement for your everyday life. Quotables from the episode: In 2007, a group of young people at the National Leadership Forum at Harding University in Searcy, Arkansas saw a lack of encouragement as one of the main obstacles that people face. While dedicating a day to encourage others is noble, we can experience encouragement every day when we turn to the Lord and receive his encouragement. The challenge to receive biblical encouragement is when we know God’s promises but don’t see him working. This topic is close to my heart because I’ve seen firsthand how knowing God, and his promises have encouraged me in the face of difficult and seemingly unchanging circumstances. I know many of our listeners and viewers struggle with discouragement, and my prayer is that today’s conversation will bring encouragement and hope. Knowing God’s names helps us learn to trust him. When we trust him, it’s easier to experience encouragement in our every day. Psalm 9:10 says, Those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you. Relationships are an area where we can experience extreme discouragement. Personality differences can create division. Unforgiveness leads to rifts. It can feel discouraging to desire a healing in a relationship, but every effort is rejected. We’ve talked about the temptation to judge God’s goodness based on humanity’s failures. If our in-person relationships are broken, and we don’t have a vibrant or growing relationship with God, we grow discouraged because we were made for relationship. Friend, if you’ve found yourself in a place of discouragement—especially when you're facing relationship struggles—you are not alone. As a neuropsychologist, I’ve seen how deeply our relationships impact not only our emotional well-being but also our brain health. God designed our brains for connection. We were created in His image, a God who is relational by nature, and He wired us for fellowship—with Him and with each other. When our relationships are strained, whether due to misunderstanding, unmet expectations, betrayal, or emotional distance, our brains register it as a threat. That triggers our stress response—what we often call “fight, flight, or freeze.” Over time, if that stress continues unchecked, it leads to anxiety, depression, trouble sleeping, and a foggy, overwhelmed mind. Our thought life becomes a battlefield, and discouragement sets in. But here's the hope: God doesn’t leave us to navigate this alone. He sees every tear, hears every unspoken word, and knows the condition of our hearts and minds. Psalm 34:18 reminds us, “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Our healing begins when we bring both our brain health and our relational wounds to the Great Physician. Practical steps include tending to your thought life—taking every thought captive (2 Corinthians 10:5), practicing forgiveness to unburden your heart, and choosing truth over lies. Sometimes that means setting healthy boundaries or seeking wise counsel. And always, it means leaning into the One who offers peace that transcends understanding. Your brain can heal. Your heart can mend. And your relationships can be restored—if not with others, then certainly with the Lord, who is the source of all true comfort and strength. Discouragement may visit, but it doesn’t have to take up permanent residence. Knowing God as Abba leads us to know God as a wonderful Father. (Galatians 4:6) He is the Alpha and Omega – Jesus was in the beginning as the Word of God and he is God’s final word for all eternity. (Revelation 21:6) As Adonai, we recognize his leadership in our life. He is our Lord and Ruler. (Ezekiel 16:8) El Chay, or Living God, reminds us that the entertainments, enticements, and other distractions are not worthy of worship. (Psalm 84:2) El Roi, The God Who Sees, encourages us with God’s mercy, grace, and comfort. We are not invisible to him. (Genesis 16:13) Jehovah-Jireh, The Lord our Provider, tells us God is our provider, and it is the same Hebrew word as Moriah, the region where God sent Abraham to sacrifice Isaac. God may ask us to give something up, and he gives us himself in return, and becomes all we need. (Romans 8:32) Jehovah-Nissi, The Lord Our Banner, paints the picture that we live under God’s banner. It was the name revealed when Moses erected an altar to commemorate the defeat of their enemies. It encourages us that we live under God’s victory. He goes before us and comes behind us to make us victors in life’s battles. (Exodus 17:15) The Lord Our Healer, or Jehovah-Rapha, encourages us because God heals our hearts in the here and now. (Exodus 15:26) The Lord is Peace, Jehovah-Shalom, our security, sufficiency, and serenity. (Judges 6:24) Jehovah-Tsuri, the Lord our Rock, helps us remember God is permanent, faithful, protective, a firm foundation, a hiding place and shelter. (Psalm 18:2) Knowing the names of God gives us insight into his character, which encourages us when we face different situations where we need to rely on a different aspect of God’s character. For example, if someone feels discouraged because of life’s chaos, remembering God is Jehovah Shalom encourages their heart because God is their serenity. God is a covenant making and covenant keeping God. The primary promise of the covenant is the Lord’s promise to “be God to you and to your offspring after you.” The goal of God’s covenant with humankind is to bring salvation, not just to one nation, but to the entire human race. This covenant was eventually fulfilled through Jesus Christ as his followers began to spread the good news about him throughout the world. God made a covenant with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the Israelite nation, David, and finally the whole world through the death and resurrection of Jesus. Covenants, or promises, are conditional because they are based on the agreements of two parties. God cannot go back on his promises, but we can refuse the comfort of the promises when we fail to take God at his word and allow doubt to lead us to sin. Because of God’s covenants, we have promises like the promise of his presence. Isaiah 41:10 says, “Do not be afraid for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” (NLT) Deuteronomy 31:8, “‘Do not be afraid of discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you.” (NLT) Isaiah 43:2, “When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. Joshua 1:19, “This is my command – be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Those are wonderful reminders of God presence. I know I’ve needed to believe them by faith because sometimes what I see, and what I feel don’t match up with what I know to be true. I also cling to the promise of Victory found in: John 16:33, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world.” Exodus 14:14, “The Lord himself will fight for you. Just stay calm.” 2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “Each time he said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, persecutions, and troubles I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” Isaiah 40:29, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.” God promises to guide us: Psalm 32:8, “The Lord says, I will guide along the best pathway for your life. I will advise and watch over you. Psalm 37:23-24, “The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Though they stumble, they will never fall, for the Lord holds them by the hand. Psalm 23:1-2, ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. Not only does God promise us his presence, victory, and guidance, but he also promises rest, life, peace, and forgiveness: Rest: Matthew 11:28-29, “Then Jesus said, ‘Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” Life: John 3:16, “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Peace: Isaiah 26:3, ‘You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you.” Forgiveness: 1 John 1:9, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleans us from all wickedness.” Our faith grows when we plant our feet on God’s promises. (Psalm 34:18) He is close to the broken hearted and rescues those who are crushed in spirit. (2 Cor. 4:8-9) We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. (Isaiah 54:17) “No weapon that is formed against you will succeed; And you will condemn every tongue that accuses you in judgment. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD, And their vindication is from Me,” declares the LORD. I think it starts with looking at the end of Hebrews 11, knowing the stories of those who have gone before us, remembering the past so we can encourage ourselves in the present and build hope for the future. Hebrews 11 opens with this verse: Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. The next several verses list people who lived by faith and received what God promised and those who died without receiving things promised and yet, they are commended for having faith. It’s faith in the promise maker which matters. Looking at our circumstances for “proof” of God keeping his promises leads to disappointment. Remember, faith is the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not seen. Sometimes, we need to cling to other’s people’s stories when our stories are littered with doubt and disappointment. One story which encourages me when I am feeling discouraged is Mary, Martha and Lazarus when Lazarus became ill and died. That story reminds me that things are not always as they seem, but God always has a plan and he sees the end from the beginning. he bible is full of encouragement and doesn’t sugarcoat the difficulties people of faith faced. If Job can lose his entire fortune, family and health and still remain faithful to God—believing him to faithful and true—then I can look beyond my circumstances and see that God is bigger than what’s right in front of me. I can take the magnifying glass off of the things in my life that discourage me and point my magnifying glass to the God who breathes stars and breath in my lungs. I am encouraged by Abraham, when he looked the impossibility of his reality (too old to have children) and yet remained believing that God would fulfill his promise. I’ve been in situations where I couldn’t see a way forward and following Abraham’s example encourages me so much. Knowing God intimately is a great first step toward experiencing biblical encouragement. Understanding his heart and loyalty toward us is key. Second, we can remember to look beyond what we see to what we know to be true. Sometimes feelings follow an act of faith. Take Hebrews 11 to heart. Recommended Resources: Reframing Rejection: How Looking Through a Different Lens Changes Everything By Jessica Van Roekel Sacred Scars: Resting in God’s Promise That Your Past Is Not Wasted by Dr. Michelle Bengtson The Hem of His Garment: Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner AWSA 2024 Golden Scroll Christian Living Book of the Year and the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Christian Living and Non-Fiction categories YouVersion 5-Day Devotional Reaching Out To God When Pain Overwhelms Today is Going to be a Good Day: 90 Promises from God to Start Your Day Off Right by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, AWSA Member of the Year, winner of the AWSA 2023 Inspirational Gift Book of the Year Award, the 2024 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in the Devotional category, the 2023 Christian Literary Awards Reader’s Choice Award in four categories, and the Christian Literary Awards Henri Award for Devotionals YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 1 YouVersion Devotional, Today is Going to be a Good Day version 2 Revive & Thrive Women’s Online Conference Revive & Thrive Summit 2 Trusting God through Cancer Summit 1 Trusting God through Cancer Summit 2 Breaking Anxiety’s Grip: How to Reclaim the Peace God Promises by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the AWSA 2020 Best Christian Living Book First Place, the first place winner for the Best Christian Living Book, the 2020 Carolina Christian Writer’s Conference Contest winner for nonfiction, and winner of the 2021 Christian Literary Award’s Reader’s Choice Award in all four categories for which it was nominated (Non-Fiction Victorious Living, Christian Living Day By Day, Inspirational Breaking Free and Testimonial Justified by Grace categories.) YouVersion Bible Reading Plan for Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Breaking Anxiety’s Grip Free Study Guide Free PDF Resource: How to Fight Fearful/Anxious Thoughts and Win Hope Prevails: Insights from a Doctor’s Personal Journey Through Depression by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Henri and Reader’s Choice Award Hope Prevails Bible Study by Dr. Michelle Bengtson, winner of the Christian Literary Award Reader’s Choice Award Free Webinar: Help for When You’re Feeling Blue Social Media Links for Host and Guest: Connect with Jessica Van Roekel: Website / Instagram / Facebook For more hope, stay connected with Dr. Bengtson at: Order Book Sacred Scars / Order Book The Hem of His Garment / Order Book Today is Going to be a Good Day / Order Book Breaking Anxiety’s Grip / Order Book Hope Prevails / Website / Blog / Facebook / Twitter (@DrMBengtson) / LinkedIn / Instagram / Pinterest / YouTube / Podcast on Apple Co-Host: Jessica Van Roekel is a worship leader, speaker, and writer who believes that through Jesus, personal histories don’t need to define the present or determine the future. She inspires, encourages, and equips others to look at life through the lenses of hope, trust, and God’s transforming grace. Jessica lives in rural Iowa surrounded by wide open spaces which remind her of God’s expansive love. She loves fun earrings, good coffee, and connecting with others. Hosted By: Dr. Michelle Bengtson Audio Technical Support: Bryce Bengtson Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

   Do you remember the day after “9.11”… 24 years ago? The massive pile of wreckage in NYC was still smoldering and air travel around the world was nearly at a standstill as our world struggled to wrap our minds around the terrorism of the previous day.  Yesterday we reviewed one of the greatest historical events of all time, the Exodus of about 1 million Israelite slaves from Egypt, as recorded for us in Exodus 12-14. If you had been a news reporter or photographer or maybe, to use a modern term… a ‘podcaster’ when the Exodus happened, I wonder what your reporting would focus on the day after the Exodus?(Click here to see full text, images and links)    Pastor Doug Anderson    “Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)Have a comment or question about today's chapter? I'm ready to hear from you, contact me here. Interested in helping "Walking with Jesus" financially? Click here

In this episode of the Compelled Podcast, Emma Mae McDaniel invites us to lean into the promises of Psalm 91 and discover what it truly means to find rest in the shelter of the Most High. Through prayerful reflection and joyful encouragement, Emma challenges us to move beyond merely visiting God's presence in moments of desperation and instead make His presence our home in the everyday rhythms of life. From the Israelites' journey in the wilderness to Jesus' invitation to come and find rest, Emma reminds us that the Lord is our refuge, our strength, and the giver of peace that surpasses understanding. Whether you are in a season of weariness, longing for clarity, or simply craving deeper intimacy with God, this episode will stir your heart to dwell daily with Him and live compelled by His love. https://www.emmamaemcdaniel.com/books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea.” (Exodus 20:4 NLT) The second commandment must have resonated powerfully with the Israelites because when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the Ten Commandments, the people were worshiping a golden calf—an idol they had created while Moses was away. Understanding their mindset helps us understand the importance of the second commandment. The first thing we need to recognize is that before they started worshiping the golden calf, the people had a feast dedicated to the Lord that included peace offerings and burnt offerings. They mingled what was right with what was wrong. Essentially, they were saying, “This godliness of Moses is too high for us. We want a spirituality that we can relate to. Something we can see and touch. Something that appeals to the senses. We don’t want to feel guilty if we don’t do what God says. So, we will just make up our own version.” That describes the spirituality of many people today. But what if we applied the same logic to other areas? Imagine an airline pilot saying, “I’m tired of all these charts, buttons, lights, and gauges. Let’s just take off and go with the flow.” Or a surgeon saying, “I don’t know what this artery or this section of the brain does. Just give me a scalpel, and let’s see what happens.” Or a person saying, “Traffic laws are your truth, not mine. You’re free to believe that red means stop, but you must also respect my belief that red means go.” We recognize that there are absolute truths that we all must live by—in aviation, in medicine, and on the road. But instead of recognizing that there are absolute truths about God, people try to give Him a twenty-first-century makeover. People say, “My god would never judge a person” or “My god would never send a person to Hell.” That’s the spirit of idolatry—substituting a concept of God that appeals to us for the God who makes Himself known in His Word. The goal is not to conform God and the teachings of Scripture to the shifting winds of culture. The goal is to try to bend the culture back to the teaching of the Word of God. The same principle applies to rituals or religious tchotchkes that take the place of genuine worship and prayer. You don’t need a picture of Jesus or a crucifix or any other icon to get close to God. Any object or ritual that works its way into your relationship with the Lord has the potential to become an idol. If you have a personal relationship with Christ, and if you have a Bible, you have everything you need to worship and serve God. Celebrate the true God. Don’t let facsimiles take His place in your life. Reflection question: What facsimiles of faith do you see in the lives of people around you? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Daily Devotions from Greg Laurie" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known."All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Nehemiah 13:2 CEBThis is because they hadn't met the Israelites with food and water but instead hired Balaam against them to curse them. Yet our God turned the curse into a blessing.

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (3) (audio) David Eells – 9/10/25   I am sharing this encouragement now because the wilderness is at our door. I believe a plague is planned and it will be partially prayed down because of Father's mercy and grace. I believe the same thing about the quakes across the country, including the New Madrid, that are to distract from criminal activity. Also the economy will collapse due to these and other criminal reasons and the chastening of God on this nation and the world. So lets Begin Buying and selling is not the way of the Kingdom. I know most ministries today do that, but we have a different economy in the Kingdom. Why did God rebuke them in the days of Noah and the days of Lot for buying and selling? (Luk.17:26) And as it came to pass in the days of Noah, even so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. (27) They ate, they drank, they married, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all. (28) Likewise even as it came to pass in the days of Lot; they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; (29) but in the day that Lot went out from Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all: (30) after the same manner shall it be in the day that the Son of man is revealed. They bought, they sold, they married, they gave in marriage; what was wrong with buying and selling? Buying and selling is not the Kingdom way between brethren especially. The Kingdom is giving and receiving. You get a reward for giving; you get none for selling and borrowing. The Bible specifically says you get a reward for giving, and the interest is much better. The interest is “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over.” I've tried God on this and it works. He is faithful — consistently faithful. He is our surety. I learned that you just give, you meet the needs of the brethren around you, and don't worry about what you have left because God is never going to fail you. Never. From the time the Lord showed me about faith and how He forbade debt to His people, I haven't stored up or borrowed any money, and the Lord has never failed to make sure we had a good car, a good house, and all our needs met. The world says that you have to store up the money until you have enough, but you don't, because God can bring it in a lump sum. He did it for us many times. When we moved to Pensacola, He gave us our house, and He bought us a brand new car. They didn't cost us anything. Life in the wilderness is exciting. There's nothing for us to fear. It's only fearful to somebody who's not a believer, but don't worry about that. The non-believers aren't going out in that wilderness or, at least, they are not going to go very far out into it willingly. They're going to take the mark of the Beast because they don't believe they can live out there. But it's not a fearful place; it's a very joyous place where you feel the closeness of your Father. You know that He is taking care of you and He's watching over everything. I remember one time that was just amazing. It was really something. My youngest daughter was a little angry because her two brothers went camping and they took all the chips with them. She was chewing on my wife's ear in the washroom, and my wife just finally told her, “Well, you go pray to God and get your own.” And as my daughter was walking out of the washroom into the den, there came a knock on the door and she shouted, “It's here! It's here! It's here already!” That's childlike faith. She had taken only four or five steps away from the washroom into the den, and when she heard the knock on the door, she immediately claimed, “It's here already!” And my wife grabbed her and told her, “Shush!” Well, when we answered the door, it was our neighbor who lived behind us, who also came to our Bible study. He and his family always liked my wife's cornbread, so she had made a pan of cornbread for him to take home to his family. Here he came back the next day with the pan and it was all wrapped in foil. He handed it to my wife, and when she peeled back the foil, the pan was filled with a bag of chips! I want you to know he started walking from two blocks behind us, yet he arrived at our door moments after my daughter had prayed her prayer, and it wasn't a big miracle to my little girl with her childlike faith, who was just tickled. You see, God really does answer before we call. He doesn't dwell in time; He's not limited to time. You can ask God for something tomorrow, that if you only knew about it today, you would think it's impossible, but He does it. He hears it all and from the beginning of time, He's seen it all. God wants to do these things for us. He designed the wilderness so that He can meet our needs and build our faith. (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. He says, “My power is made perfect in weakness.” Glory to God! The wilderness is a place of faith and weakness, which is available to everyone. It's a place where we live by faith and living by faith makes us weak to be our own saviors. In other words, it's a salvation by faith in the Lord, not our works. (Heb.10:31) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. When we learn to walk by faith, we are walking in the wilderness because our methods change from those of the world to those of God and Jesus Christ. Years ago, when the Lord started leading me in the wilderness, for months He caused my Bible to open supernaturally to Isaiah 43. He was emphasizing His point about not walking in the ways of the world, so let's look at what the Lord says there. (Isa.43:14) Thus saith the Lord, your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel: For your sake I have sent to Babylon, and I will bring down all of them as fugitives, even the Chaldeans, in the ships of their rejoicing. This was a time when God was promising deliverance to His people, who were in bondage in Babylon, and that's where God's people are today. They have allegiances with the world because the world is one form of Babylon. All nations came from Babel, and their Babylonish religion of the counterfeit virgin birth, Semiramis, Nimrod, so on and so forth, was spread all over the earth. And so God's people are very much in bondage to both secular Babylon and religious Babylon, but God is calling us out of their ways, their methods, their unbelief. What is acceptable to the world is not acceptable to God. (15) I am the Lord, your Holy One, the Creator of Israel, your King. (16) Thus saith the Lord, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters. God seems to be confusing the Egyptian deliverance with the Babylonian deliverance here, but they are the same in type. God's going to make a way in the sea. When the Israelites passed through the Red Sea, Paul said it was a baptism. (1Co.10:1) For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; (2) and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea. A baptism is for the death of the old man and the life of the new man. (Rom.6:3) Or are ye ignorant that all we who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? (4) We were buried therefore with him through baptism unto death: that like as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we also might walk in newness of life. (5) For if we have become united with [him] in the likeness of his death, we shall be also [in the likeness] of his resurrection; (6) knowing this, that our old man was crucified with [him,] that the body of sin might be done away, that so we should no longer be in bondage to sin; (7) for he that hath died is justified from sin. God made a path through the waters for the spiritual man, the Israelite; He didn't make a path for the carnal man, the Egyptian. (Isa.43:16) Thus saith the Lord, who maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty waters; (17) who bringeth forth the chariot and horse, the army and the mighty man (they lie down together, they shall not rise; they are extinct, they are quenched as a wick). The Egyptian represented the old man, the mighty man of the flesh, who was not to follow Israel into their wilderness, because Israel was not to live in bondage to the old man in the wilderness. In the wilderness, they weren't to do things according to the methods of Egypt. This is a type and shadow for us in our wilderness. We are not to be ruled by the old man; we are not to walk according to his principles or use his methods. What does God mean when He says that He brought down the chariot and the horse? (Psa.147:10) He delighteth not in the strength of the horse: He taketh no pleasure in the legs of a man. (11) The Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, In those that hope in his lovingkindness. We see here that He likens the “strength of the horse” to the “legs of a man,” meaning, God doesn't want us to trust in the strength of the old man, who belongs to the Beast. A chariot is a vessel that's powered by a beast. The old man, living the old beastly life that was led by the Beast, had to die in the Red Sea so that the Israelite could go into the wilderness. And the wilderness is where the Israelite learns not to lean on the arm of the flesh, but to trust in God alone. (Isa.43:18) Remember ye not the former things, neither consider the things of old. When you come into Christ, you give up thinking of things the way you did when you were in the world, because God is going to do everything differently from the way you did things when you were in the world. The Church doesn't do that. The Church is living in the world and is of the world. It's very Babylonish because they haven't escaped Babylon yet, but the wilderness is coming quickly now to mature those who will believe. (Rev.12:1) And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars; (2) and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. (3) And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems. (4) And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child. (5) And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. (6) And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they (The Man-child) may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days. The wilderness is the place that God has prepared for the Church. The very worldly Church has been living in Egypt and is in bondage to the old man, the Egyptian. (Isa.43:19) Behold, I will do a new thing (It's new because now that you are a Christian, you are expected to live according to God's principles and to walk by faith. The righteous shall live by faith.); now shall it spring forth; shall ye not know it? (I'm afraid to say that's true. An awful lot of Christians don't know it but truth is going to pour out so they will have a chance.) I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert. Wow! That's awesome! God even brought rivers out of rocks in the desert (Exo.17:6; Num.20:11; Psa.78:20; etc.). You see, His provision for us is not limited by our circumstances. We can put our faith in Him. (Psa.37:19) They shall not be put to shame in the time of evil; And in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. (Rom.10:11) For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be put to shame. (Isa.43:20) The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen. The “beasts” represent those lost people around us. It was Solomon who said every man is as a beast. (Ecc.3:18) I said in my heart, [It is] because of the sons of men, that God may prove them, and that they may see that they themselves are [but as] beasts. And remember the beasts that came down on the sheet in Peter's vision? (Act.10:9) Now on the morrow, as they were on their journey, and drew nigh unto the city, Peter went up upon the housetop to pray, about the sixth hour: (10) and he became hungry, and desired to eat: but while they made ready, he fell into a trance; (11) and he beholdeth the heaven opened, and a certain vessel descending, as it were a great sheet, let down by four corners upon the earth: (12) wherein were all manner of fourfooted beasts and creeping things of the earth and birds of the heaven. (13) And there came a voice to him, Rise, Peter; kill and eat. (14) But Peter said, Not so, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean. (15) And a voice came unto him again the second time, What God hath cleansed, make not thou common. (16) And this was done thrice: and straightway the vessel was received up into heaven. When Peter finally understood the revelation that these unclean beasts were the Gentiles, he went and preached the Gospel to them. (28) And he said unto them, Ye yourselves know how it is an unlawful thing for a man that is a Jew to join himself or come unto one of another nation; and [yet] unto me hath God showed that I should not call any man common or unclean.... (35) but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. So the “beasts of the field” there in Isaiah is talking about lost people, and the “field,” according to Jesus, is the world. (Mat.13:36) Then he left the multitudes, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Explain unto us the parable of the tares of the field. (37) And he answered and said, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; (38) and the field is the world; and the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; and the tares are the sons of the evil one. You know, the world trembled at God's people when they came out of Egypt. Remember what Rahab said about how they heard the stories of God's miraculous deliverance of Israel out of Egypt and the Red Sea destruction of their enemies? (Jos.2:10) For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan, unto Sihon and to Og, whom ye utterly destroyed. (11) And as soon as we had heard it, our hearts did melt, neither did there remain any more spirit in any man, because of you: for the Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and on earth beneath. They trembled before them and when God's people become those people who live by faith in the wilderness, the world is going to tremble at them, too. They are going to understand that these people have the favor of God. They are His chosen. (Isa.43:20) The beasts of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen, (21) the people which I formed for myself, that they might set forth my praise. When the Israelites went into the wilderness, God didn't want them to continue living as if they were still Egyptians, so He had to put to death the Egyptians and their beasts. (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. This is just another way of describing those people who believe in salvation by man's works, by man's methods, instead of waiting on the salvation of the Lord, which is freely given. “Cursed is the man that trusteth in man.” That's where a lot of Egyptian Israelites are. A lot of God's people, who call themselves “Christians,” actually have more affinity with Egypt in the world than they do with God in the wilderness, but God's going to put a stop to that. He's going to give “drink” to His chosen, not just His called, but His chosen. Many are going to die in the wilderness to come, but some are going to be Joshuas and Calebs. (Jer.17:5) Thus saith the Lord: Cursed is the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. (6) For he shall be like the heath (“tumbleweed”) in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, a salt land and not inhabited. Many people don't get to see the wonderful provision of God in a place where man cannot provide it because they trust in the arm of the flesh. They are like “a tumbleweed in the desert.” (7) Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose trust the Lord is. (8) For he shall be as a tree planted by the waters, that spreadeth out its roots by the river, and shall not fear when heat cometh, but its leaf shall be green (This is somebody who continues to take in the sun/Son, somebody who continues to walk by faith.); and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit. Those who walk by faith can go through a wilderness and have streams of water in the desert; they will have God's provision in the desert because they don't trust the arm of the flesh. (Jer.17:21) Thus saith the Lord, Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem; (22) neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work: but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers. The Sabbath day is the seventh day, and we've just entered into God's Sabbath. We've just entered into the seventh day of the seven thousand years. It's the day in which we have to cease from our works, and we are to do God's works. And since Jesus Christ is God's Sabbath, whenever you've entered into Jesus Christ, you're supposed to cease from your works. We just saw that the Lord spoke a curse upon the people who continued to do their works on His Sabbath, whether it be the works of the Law, works of the flesh, or works of self-justification. God wants to be our only Savior. We have to give up trying to save ourselves; we need to be weak. We cannot be in bondage to the Egyptian in the wilderness. Well, about 50 years ago, and almost six or seven years before it actually came to pass, God started giving me, my wife, my children and even the people around me, dreams, visions and prophecies concerning a ministry that we were to have in Pensacola. Let me just share a few of them with you. A friend dreamed he had gone away from us for a few years. In the dream, he came back into our neighborhood and ran into our neighbor next door, who pointed him over toward our house. He looked over there and saw we were loading up a U-Haul to move to Florida. Then he came over and helped us load up the van. Now, in real life, we hadn't seen him in a couple of years, but suddenly he showed up at our neighbor's house. And our neighbor said to him, “ look over there!” And he looked over at our house and, sure enough, we had a U-Haul truck backed up to the door, and we were loading it up. He was overjoyed that he'd had a very literal dream that came precisely true, and he very happily came over and helped us. Another thing he saw in the dream was that I had some papers, and on those papers was a word that he couldn't remember, but he said it started with a “P.” I said to him, “Pension,” and he said, “Yes! That's the word!” Now, I had been telling people for years that Exxon, where I worked, was going to offer me an early pension. Everybody told me I was crazy, up until the time it happened, which was when he showed up. Although the pension wasn't much and I was still a young man and didn't start drawing it until I reached 65, I received a year's severance pay when I left, and it was handy to help us move. This was all gone in less than a year because we gave to every need we saw. Another time, my wife had a dream that we were moving to Florida and that there was just one solid road to Florida. This was really strange because at the time she had this dream, the interstate was still broken in many places between Pensacola and where we lived in Baton Rouge, but we knew from the dream that when we moved, the interstate would be finished. Everybody along the Gulf Coast had been waiting for years for that interstate to be finished. People were wondering, “What are they doing? Why are they dragging their feet? Why don't they go ahead and finish that thing?” Well, the interstate was finished just before we moved to Pensacola. In another dream, my wife saw us walking through a house in Pensacola, and she was holding a baby girl on her hip. But before that dream, as my wife was waking up one day, she had a dream in which she saw a big boy and a little girl. And the Lord said to her, “Justin Joseph and Jennifer Joy”; all the names started with “J.” We thought we were going to have twins, until Justin Joseph was born. I told my wife, “No, it was a big boy because the boy came first, then the little girl because the little girl comes last.” So when Jennifer Joy was born, we knew it was getting close to the time we were to be moving to Pensacola. Somehow, we knew it was going to happen. And my wife came to me and she said, “Well, David it's almost time. Do you think we ought to be saving our money?” I said, “No, I don't. I think we are going to continue to do what the Bible tells us to do and not store up on earth but, instead, keep giving.” There are awesome promises in the Bible for giving! (Luk.6:38) Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. We didn't have any money, and we definitely needed that kind of blessing to move over to Pensacola and buy a house and not be in debt because we didn't believe in being in debt. I haven't been in debt since I came to the Lord, and the Lord showed me that it wasn't right to be in debt. So by not going into debt, I got to see miracles. Also, over the last 55 years has taught me that God will do miracles for people who put their trust in Him and obey their conscience. It says in (Rom.13:8) Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. (Pro.22:7) The rich ruleth over the poor; And the borrower is servant to the lender. (Deu.15:6) For the Lord thy God will bless thee, as he promised thee: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, but thou shalt not borrow; and thou shalt rule over many nations, but they shall not rule over thee. I stayed away from debt because God had made me those promises, but later on, the thought came to me to ask, “Well, Lord, do You want me to sell my house?” The Lord answered, “No, I want you to give the house away.” I tell you, this is how we get miraculous provision from God! Give! It's not by storing up that you get miraculous provision; it's by giving that you get miraculous provision because God will multiply it to you many times over. There's no multiplication in just storing up, but if you give to the needs that God points out around you, God will give to you freely, as you give freely to others. Anyway, God told me we were going to give the house to a couple whom we knew from years back. Since we hadn't had any fellowship with them in a while and didn't even know where they were, we did a little research and found out that they lived in Houston. At the time, there was a big oil bust over there, and when I called this couple, I found out they'd had a company house and a company car but had lost them both when the oil business went flat. They just had their little car they owned, and basically no place to go and no job, so you see, God had prepared a place for them to live. When I contacted them, they told me their situation. I said, “Hey, you come live with us and we'll see how the Lord works this out,” because the Lord had already told me that I was to give our house to them. So that's what they did; they came and moved in with us. And one day, when we were taking them out to eat, the Lord reminded me of a dream this sister had years before. In the dream, she said she'd been away from this area for a long time, and when she came back, there was somebody else living in our house. At the time, I had thought it was just some people they didn't know living in our house, but suddenly it came into my mind that she did know who those people were. So as we were driving along down the road, I asked, “Remember that dream you had years ago about coming back to town and somebody else was living in our house?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “That was you, wasn't it?” And she looked at me and said, “Yes.” She didn't want to make a self-fulfilled prophecy, which is why she didn't tell me up front, and I understood that. I understand that's the way of faith. I said, “Well, okay, then the house is yours.” Of course, they both looked at me in surprise, but I told them, “I mean it: the house is yours. The Lord told me to give it to you.” Here, this couple was out of everything, wondering where in the world they were going to live, and God had prepared a place for them. They were a couple of faith, too; they had real faith in the Lord. It's just awesome how God provided for them and for us. I was still working for Exxon at the time, and we had a fantastic church out there, with people from all different religions, who were coming together at the lunch break to share the Word and to pray for the sick. We had all kinds of miracles and wondrous things happen, too. Praise the Lord! Well, as it was getting time for us to move to Pensacola, Exxon did offer early retirement to company people, exactly as I'd been telling all my friends there for six or seven years. And I already knew I was going to take it because God had prepared me. People came to me and said, “Wow, you told us this was going to happen,” and I said, “Yes, because the Lord told me!” Also, there was my brothers dream about the pension, so it was a good witness, especially to the pagans around me, because I told them it was coming, and it did come. Exxon wanted to switch over to contract labor instead of company employees, which were more expensive to them because of benefits and administrative costs. Anyway, They sent me a year's severance in a lump-sum payment, and at the same time, I agreed with our assembly there that God was going to give me a house and give me a car, since I hadn't saved any money. You see, my car was getting to the point where we needed another one in Florida. I agreed in faith that God would do this, according to (Mat.18:19) Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. I knew these people weren't in any position to provide that for me, and I wouldn't have accepted it from them anyway; that's why I agreed with them. You don't agree with people as a matter of graft. You don't agree with people forcing them to have pity on you and give to you. I didn't accept any money from anybody there. One week after we agreed on that, my wife was driving down Florida Boulevard in Baton Rouge, and the vehicle in front of her was a big Cadillac. And my wife and my daughter were in our Toyota. So the Cadillac was coming to a stop behind some other cars, and my wife was coming to a stop. Now this was at Christmas time, and the man behind her was in a big Lincoln, who evidently was window shopping. He didn't see them, and he slammed into my wife and slammed her into the Cadillac in front. Well, if you put a Toyota between a Cadillac and a Lincoln, you know you're not going to have much of a Toyota left. My wife and daughter were slightly injured, nothing that the Lord couldn't take care of, but they actually had to use the jaws-of-life to pry the car open and get them out because the Toyota was just totally crumpled. The man who was driving behind her in the Lincoln ran up alongside my wife in the car, and he told her through the window, “Listen, don't worry about a thing. I'm going to take care of everything.” It turned out that this man was the president of a big warehouse corporation in Baton Rouge, and his corporation was self-insured; they made that much money, and the insurance he was carrying on his vehicle was way above the norm. The man was very repentant, and I don't even think he was a Christian, but he was very, very sorry for what he had done. He contacted us and said, “Look, we're self-insured; there's nothing to worry about. I'll talk to the people. You will be taken care of.” Can you even imagine having somebody like that running into you only a week after you have agreed on enough money to buy a house and car? They very quickly replaced our Toyota with a better, newer one, and they put the wheels in motion to give us a lump sum to take care of my wife and daughter for any pain and suffering they went through. It was just astounding! Now, we didn't sue anybody, and we weren't planning on suing anybody; we don't believe in doing such things. We believe in turning the other cheek and resisting not the evil, as Jesus tells us to do. (Mat.5:38) Ye have heard that it was said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: (39) but I say unto you, resist not him that is evil: but whosoever smiteth thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. (40) And if any man would go to law with thee, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. (41) And whosoever shall compel thee to go one mile, go with him two. (42) Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. (43) Ye have heard that it was said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor, and hate thine enemy: (44) but I say unto you, love your enemies, and pray for them that persecute you; (45) that ye may be sons of your Father who is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust. Anyway, the money came in from the accident at the exact same time that the year's severance pay came in from Exxon. It was as if God had planned the whole thing, which, of course, He had. He had planned the whole thing for us! So we paid cash for our house and new car. Then we were in our wilderness and saw many wonderous things from our God who gives grace through faith.

Have you ever faced a battle that seemed bigger than you? Deuteronomy chapter 20 reminds us that for God's people, battles were never a matter of if but when. The Israelites would face enemies with more horses, more chariots, and more soldiers — yet they had something far greater: the presence of the Lord their God and the memory of His past victories. In this chapter, Moses teaches the people how to go to war God's way: with courage, with order, with compassion, and with faith. From the priest's encouragement before battle, to the exemptions for those not ready to fight, to the command to speak peace before raising the sword, and even to the stewardship of fruit trees, we see that God's instructions were never about destruction for destruction's sake — they were about preserving life, guarding holiness, and trusting Him. Join us for this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast as Erika Klose walks through Deuteronomy 20 and reminds us that in our daily battles we are never alone. The Lord goes with us, His desire for us is peace, and His love sustains us through every challenge. Did you enjoy this podcast? Post a review and share it! If you enjoyed tuning into this podcast, then do not hesitate to write a review. You can listen to us on all major podcasting platforms like Apple Podcasts,  Spotify,  Google Podcasts,  YouTube, and Podbean. Check out Kim's latest Bible Bit book on Amazon! Do you want to bring Kim Miller to your church, upcoming retreat, or conference? Contact us! This podcast is brought to you by Woman at the Well Ministries and is supported by our faithful listeners. To support this podcast, please visit our support page.  

In our quest to discover the meaning behind the shofar blast, we continue to mine the Exodus story for a deeper meaning behind God's empathy, and why it was so important to communicate that message to Moses, to the enslaved Israelites, and to Pharoah himself.To watch the course on the Three Lies of the Exodus mentioned in the episode, you can watch it on the Aleph Beta site here: https://members.alephbeta.org/playlist/moses-exodus-miraclesClick here for a free copy of Rabbi Fohrman's e-book, "Serpents of Desire: Good and Evil in the Garden of Eden". Click here to start your 7 day FREE trial at Aleph Beta, and gain access to our entire library, as well as exclusive A Book Like No Other bonus content. We love to hear from you! Click here to share your thoughts, insights, questions, and reactions by voice note, or send us an email at info@alephbeta.org. A Book Like No Other is a product of Aleph Beta, and made possible through the generous support of Shari and Nathan Lindenbaum. Aleph Beta is a Torah media company dedicated to spreading the joy and love of meaningful Torah learning worldwide.

Navigating new seasons in our spiritual journey requires strength and courage, just as Joshua needed when leading Israel into the Promised Land. Growth often brings discomfort, but it's necessary for spiritual maturity. To successfully navigate these transitions, we must keep God's Word in our mouths, speaking life rather than complaints, and follow His presence even into unfamiliar territory. God sometimes ends one provision (like the manna) to move us toward something better. These challenging transitions are actually opportunities for deeper maturity and fruitfulness in our faith journey.Keep the Bible in your mouth - what we speak matters, especially during times of change and growth.Follow God's presence - just as the Israelites followed the Ark of the Covenant, we need to be led by the Spirit rather than our own preferences.When spiritual practices feel dry or stale, it may be God's way of pushing you into a new season of growth.Growth and change are often uncomfortable but necessary for spiritual maturity.Our faith is meant to be lived in community, not in isolation.Support the show

Payton White shares in our series, Exodus. This week we look at Exodus 17:1-7 and the story of the Lord working through Moses to bring water from the rock for the Israelites.

Pastor Jeff reminds us today that perspective matters—like seeing a cup half full or half empty. When we trust Jesus, we choose the “half full” view, remembering God's past faithfulness and trusting Him for the future. Exodus 16:3 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord's hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”

As we continue our journey through Exodus, we come to one of the most memorable parts of Moses' journey. In Exodus 5 – 10, Moses and Aaron challenge Pharaoh to let the Israelites go free. God's response to Pharaoh's rejection of their pleas is revealing. God will stop at nothing to save, redeem, and restore.

Faith for the Coming Wilderness (2) (audio) David Eells – 9/7/25 We need to understand that the natural has to bow to the spiritual; it's not the natural that runs this world. Presidents think they run this world, but the truth is God runs this world. This world bows to Him. And nothing can stop a person who believes in the living God and believes in His promises! We have an Almighty God Who loves us. He's made these promises and He's not a liar (Num.23:19). He will take care of us. He will provide for our needs. I know there is a big emphasis on getting prepared because many people realize that we are headed for trouble and lack, including some of the churches out there. Those churches are preparing their people, but they're doing it mostly in the natural, in the flesh. And, of course, those churches that teach and believe that they're going to fly away are not getting prepared for anything, but they're going to have a sudden shock. The Church is going through the wilderness, just like the Israelites did in type and shadow. (Ecc.1:9) That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. There is nothing in the Bible about the Church escaping that wilderness. The best thing you can do is to be like Moses and like Jesus, and go through it first. Then, when you get out there with the Israelites, it won't be a problem. You've already been there, and you'll be calm and peaceful, since you know that God is faithful. Most of the church leaders are men who have never been through the wilderness, and they are teaching a lot of fear because they are fearful themselves. Those men whom God chose to bring His people through the wilderness had already been there themselves. Like Jesus, like Moses, they weren't afraid of anything. The church leaders in our day are like the Pharisees and the Sadducees, who have never been in the wilderness and don't know how to go there. They are teaching people to store up their treasures on the earth. What did Jesus say about storing up treasures on the earth? (Mat.6:19) Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal: (20) but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth consume, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: (21) for where thy treasure is, there will thy heart be also. Jesus said, “Don't do it!” So, who are you going to obey? What happens if you don't store up provision for yourself and you go into a wilderness? I'll tell you what happens: you are suddenly being thrust into a place of weakness because of your obedience to the Word! Now you won't be able to save yourself, but God will never ever fail you. If you put your faith in Him, your weakness is a place of power to God. (2Co.12:9) … For my power is made perfect in weakness.... You see, “Man's extremity is God's opportunity” (English Clergyman John Flavel, 1627-1691). God waits until you give up trying to save yourself before His power is made manifest. Israel always seemed to be in the minority when they won a war, and if they weren't, God would make sure they were in the minority, as with Gideon's army. (Jdg.7:2) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me. (3) Now therefore proclaim in the ears of the people, saying, Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart from mount Gilead. And there returned of the people twenty and two thousand; and there remained ten thousand. I.e., Get the unbelief out of the way. (4) And the Lord said unto Gideon, The people are yet too many; bring them down unto the water, and I will try them for thee there: and it shall be, that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee; and of whomsoever I say unto thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. (5) So he brought down the people unto the water: and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that lappeth of the water with his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shalt thou set by himself; likewise every one that boweth down upon his knees to drink. (6) And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, was three hundred men: but all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink water. (7) And the Lord said unto Gideon, By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you, and deliver the Midianites into thy hand ... Its not numbers but faith that is needed. (16) And he divided the three hundred men into three companies, and he put into the hands of all of them trumpets, and empty pitchers, with torches within the pitchers ... (19) So Gideon, and the hundred men that were with him, came unto the outermost part of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch, when they had but newly set the watch: and they blew the trumpets, and brake in pieces the pitchers that were in their hands. (20) And the three companies blew the trumpets, and brake the pitchers, and held the torches in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands wherewith to blow; and they cried, The sword of the Lord and of Gideon. (21) And they stood every man in his place round about the camp; and all the host ran; and they shouted, and put them to flight.  Now that's the weakness and faith needed. (22) And they blew the three hundred trumpets, and the Lord set every man's sword against his fellow, and against all the host; and the host fled as far as Beth-shittah toward Zererah, as far as the border of Abel-meholah, by Tabbath. God said, “You have too many men. You'll brag on what you've done.” He whittled them down to 300 and sent them out with trumpets, not swords. Trumpets! The Hebrew word for “breath” is ruwach, and it is also translated “spirit,” so a trumpet represents making the Spirit's Word audible. Well, they blew those trumpets and the enemy stumbled all over each other and killed one another. Gideon probably didn't even need 300 men. God's awesome! He wants to prove to us His mighty power in our weakness, and that's why He says, “Don't store up your treasures on earth. You just go out there and I'll take care of you.” When the Israelites went into the wilderness, they took everything they could with them, including the gold and silver and precious jewels that they plundered from the Egyptians (Exo.12:31-39), but then they made a golden calf out of it, an idol (Exo.32:1-5). They thought it would save them. That's what a lot of apostates are teaching today. Do you think your gold and silver will save you in the days to come? No, the Israelites started running out of their own supply in only three days (Exo.15:22). Their golden calf was just an idol, which God proved wasn't going to save them. (Exo.32:19) And it came to pass, as soon as he came nigh unto the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing: and Moses' anger waxed hot, and he cast the tables out of his hands, and brake them beneath the mount. (20) And he took the calf which they had made, and burnt it with fire, and ground it to powder, and strewed it upon the water, and made the children of Israel drink of it. You ask me, “David, if we don't store up our treasures on earth, how do we store them up in Heaven?” Well, the Bible is very plain about that: (Luk.12:15) And he said unto them, Take heed, and keep yourselves from all covetousness (or “desiring more”): for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. (16) And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: (17) and he reasoned within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have not where to bestow my fruits? He meant upon himself. (18) And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods. (19) And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry. In other words, if you have all of this supply, you are trusting in it; you are resting in it. You have peace because of what you've stored up, instead of trusting in God. God doesn't want that. He doesn't want idols. (20) But God said unto him, Thou foolish one, this night is thy soul required of thee; and the things which thou hast prepared, whose shall they be? (21) So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God. Now I've had some people say, “Well, David, storing up food is not treasure.” I beg your pardon? In verse 18, it reads, “and there will I bestow all my grain and my goods.” God called food “treasure.” What God wants of us is our weakness and faith. He's going to bring us to a place where there will be no visible, worldly means of support, but He's Almighty God, and believers will have no difficulty whatsoever in the place where He is bringing them. He's doing this to prove to them how great He is and how great His provision is. (22) And he said unto his disciples, Therefore I say unto you, Be not anxious for [your] life, what ye shall eat; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. We are to be anxious for nothing. Paul said, (Php.4:6) In nothing be anxious; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. Don't worry about what you are going to need in the wilderness, because God is going to be there when you get there. (Luk.12:23) For the life is more than the food, and the body than the raiment. (24) Consider the ravens, that they sow not, neither reap (In a wilderness, you may not even have anything to sow or you may have 3 mites; if so sow it.); which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the birds! Listen, if God feeds the birds and they don't store up, won't He do it for you? Yes, He will. (25) And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit unto the measure of his life? (26) If then ye are not able to do even that which is least, why are ye anxious concerning the rest? Isn't that awesome? We really can't save ourselves and He's trying to convince us of that. He's trying to convince us to put our trust in God Almighty. (27) Consider the lilies, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin; yet I say unto you, Even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. The Israelites were well-dressed in their wilderness (Deu.8:4; 29:5; Neh.9:21). (28) But if God doth so clothe the grass in the field, which to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven; how much more [shall he clothe] you, O ye of little faith? Yes, He will take care of you. He will feed you. He will clothe you. (29) And seek not ye what ye shall eat, and what ye shall drink, neither be ye of doubtful mind. An unbeliever, a doubter, is somebody who's worried about these things. (30) For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: but your Father knoweth that ye have need of these things. That's all you need. God knows about it, and He will take care of you. (31) Yet seek ye his kingdom, and these things shall be added unto you. He's telling us to seek first His Kingdom. (Mat.6:33) But seek ye first his kingdom, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. If you do that, then everything you need will be given to you. That is the truth and I have proven it! Many years ago, I had a ministry and I worked. I told the Lord, “Lord, I don't have time to work anymore. I'm asking You to make a way.” He did and He's provided ever since. (Luk.12:32) Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. (33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms.... He didn't say to store it up for a rainy day. I learned that if you store up something for a rainy day, the rainy day always comes. But if you don't have it stored up, that rainy day never comes, or if it does, God has to do a miracle because He is contracted with you to be your supplier in all things. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. He's your Jehovah-jireh, your provider. So it really doesn't make any difference whether a rainy day comes or not. (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.... If you have anything extra, do what they did on the day of Pentecost and shortly thereafter: (Act.4:34) For neither was there among them any that lacked: for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, (35) and laid them at the apostles' feet: and distribution was made unto each, according as any one had need. (2Co.8:13) For I say not this that others may be eased and ye distressed; (14) but by equality: your abundance being a supply at this present time for their want, that their abundance also may become a supply for your want; that there may be equality. Anything extra was used to meet the needs of the rest of the body so that there would be equality. That's what He preached in the New Testament. He said it was like the Israelites who gathered the manna. (15) As it is written, He that gathered much had nothing over; and he that gathered little had no lack. Some gathered more than they needed, some gathered less, and whoever had extra met the needs of those who didn't. It was equality. God loves that! (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old (Meaning you're not storing it up or keeping it for a long time.), a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. Give alms. Meet the needs of people around you. That's what He calls “a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” Any treasure you store up on earth is going to fail. The world is going to plunder you, and if not the world, the devil will plunder you by the curse, but you're going to be plundered. Let me tell you how not to get plundered: Give! Meet the needs of the brethren around you. Give and then it will be coming the other way because (Luk.6:38) Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. That's how it works. You can make a living by giving. It works. (Luk.12:34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Some people tell me, “It's okay to have it. Just don't set your heart on it.” That's not what Jesus said. He said, if you have it, your heart will be on it. “For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” If you store up on this earth, you are disobeying Jesus. It's only good for spending, and then you learn to walk by faith. (Jas.2:5) Hearken, my beloved brethren; did not God choose them that are poor as to the world to be rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom which he promised to them that love him? God chose those who are the poor of the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom. A person who is rich in faith will never go without. God always provides for them. How do you store up your treasures in Heaven? You do that by giving alms, by making yourselves purses that wax not old, by meeting the needs of the brethren. You give and it will be given unto you. When you get out in that wilderness, don't you want to have something stored up in the Bank of Heaven? He said, “A treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” If you pack food out there into that wilderness, it will fail you. If you pack gold out into that wilderness, the world will plunder you. But if you store it up by giving, God said He will give unto you. The way of God is to give what you have, and then God will multiply it back. It's happened to me many, many times that when I did not have enough money to take care of my needs, I would just take what I had and give it. And God has never failed me, not once. I walked by faith and raised five children, and God always met our needs. Now, one time we were forced into a fast as a trial of our faith, and that's the only time we were ever put in that position, but we got in a position many times where God literally multiplied food, multiplied money, and even multiplied gas in our tank. We got to see wondrous miracles from God, and we're still seeing them today! Now I'm not asking for anything; I'm just sharing with you how to get prepared for what's coming. And we give: nobody charges anybody for anything from our ministry. The volunteers who supply the materials on our site are people of faith. They supply those materials as their ministry, and other people bless those volunteers because the volunteers are giving. God sees to it that His Word is fulfilled. (Jer.1:12) Then said the Lord unto me, Thou hast well seen: for I watch over my word to perform it. He stands behind His Word, and He will never fail you. He cannot fail. One thing I've learned about God is that He can do everything but fail. He will supply your every need according to His riches in glory. Don't fear the wilderness. God designed and ordained this wilderness. He's even ordained the Beast that's going to cause this wilderness. He's ordained Pharaoh's army to get behind God's people and force them out there into that wilderness. God is not going to fail you. Learn to walk by faith because the wilderness will be nothing for the people who walk by faith. In fact it can be joyful. But for those who are fearful and murmur and complain and walk by sight, they are not going to make it through (Num.11:1; 1Co.10:10, etc.). God is doing all this because He's raising up believers. (Heb.10:38) But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. Listen, we are children of the last Adam, Jesus Christ. We are a new-creation man, meant to live above this world, meant to walk in His ways and His steps, and that includes going into the “wilderness” as He did. (Mat.4:1) Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. (2) And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he afterward hungered. (3) And the tempter came and said unto him, If thou art the Son of God, command that these stones become bread. (4) But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. (5) Then the devil taketh him into the holy city; and he set him on the pinnacle of the temple, (6) and saith unto him, If thou art the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and, On their hands they shall bear thee up, Lest haply thou dash thy foot against a stone. (7) Jesus said unto him, Again it is written, Thou shalt not make trial of the Lord thy God. (8) Again, the devil taketh him unto an exceeding high mountain, and showeth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them; (9) and he said unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (10) Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. (11) Then the devil leaveth him; and behold, angels came and ministered unto him. Jesus went through a 40-day wilderness trial before He overcame and then He brought God's people in His day through their wilderness. In our day, those who are in the First-fruits corporate body each go through their individual wilderness first. There, they learn to walk in the principles of the Kingdom, which is the purpose of the wilderness. Moses was a First-fruits. He went through a 40-year wilderness before he overcame (Act.7:30-34) and then he went on to bring God's people through their own wilderness (Num.14:34). Many people don't understand that the wilderness is available to every Christian worldwide because the wilderness is not some physical location to which we go; it's a place in the Spirit. It's a place where we no longer depend upon the world and the principles of the world. It's a place where we are, instead, ruled by the principles of the Kingdom. We no longer trust in the world for our sustenance, our salvation, our healing, our deliverance, and so on. Scripture tells us that most of the Israelites who left Egypt never learned that lesson: (Psa.78:19) Yea, they spake against God; They said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? When they could no longer depend upon the flesh-pots of Egypt, they murmured continually. They found it hard to trust in the living God. The Israelites are just a type and a shadow for us. They went into a literal wilderness, but our wilderness is spiritual. Everybody who walks by faith goes into the wilderness. Everybody who walks by faith in the commands and principles and promises of God automatically gives up salvation by works. The promises of God are for the whole man. They are meant to save us completely in spirit, soul, body, and circumstances, and they are meant to do that totally outside the principles of this world. As a matter of fact, He even gave us all-inclusive promises: (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them (The original Greek word there is past tense.), and ye shall have them. Why does Jesus tell us to believe we have already received them? It's because everything that has to do with the salvation that the Lord gave us has already been accomplished. (1Pe.2:24) Who his own self bare our sins (that's past tense because it happened behind us) in his body upon the tree, that we, having died (that's past tense) unto sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed. Again, the word there is past tense. All of the promises that have to do with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross are past tense. (Eph.2:8) For by grace have ye been saved (That's what it says in the original; it's past tense.) through faith; and that not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God; (9) not of works, that no man should glory. You have been saved! (Col.1:13) Who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the son of his love. You have been delivered out of the power of darkness. (Rom.6:18) And being made free from sin, ye became servants of righteousness. (11) Even so reckon ye also yourselves to be dead unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus. You were made free from sin! You see, when you realize that the Lord has already done all this, there is nothing you can do of yourself to bring it to pass. You have to walk by faith in the fact that it is already accomplished. You are already healed, you are already delivered, you are already blessed, you are already provided for and so on because all these things were accomplished at the cross. We enter into the New Testament “rest,” which many Christians erroneously think is a Saturday or a Sunday, but let's take a close look at what Scripture says about this “rest.” (Heb.4:1) Let us fear therefore, lest haply, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it. You see, the promises cause us to enter the rest because the promises are past tense, and when you believe them you have to stop your own works to try to bring them to pass. (3) For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said.... When you believe these promises, you enter into the rest. For instance, you cannot do anything to get healed if you believe you were healed. The reason men run to man to get healing is because they don't believe Jesus has already healed them, but I'm telling you something that I know. For the past 55-plus years, I've been receiving healing because I realize that I don't have to do anything to bring it to pass. All I have to do is thank God for it. (Heb.13:8) Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday and to-day, [yea] and for ever. He still heals everyone who comes to Him by faith (Mat.4:24; 6:19; 12:15; 14:36; Mar.3:10; Luk.4:40; etc.) If you accept that you were healed at the cross and you are not harboring unforgiveness or in any willful sin, then there's nothing that can keep you from receiving your healing. Hold fast to the confession of your hope that it waver not, for He is faithful that promised. (Heb.4:9) There remaineth therefore a sabbath rest for the people of God. The word “sabbath” there is the Greek word sabbatismos and it doesn't mean “a day of rest.” It means “a continual keeping of rest.” This is the true Sabbath that remains for the people of God. We have to cease from our own works every day. (10) For he that is entered into his rest hath himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. God doesn't want our works; He doesn't believe in salvation by works. Whether you are talking about your spirit, your soul, your body or your circumstances, salvation is not by self-effort. As the apostle Paul taught us, (2Co.12:9) And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for [my] power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. You see, when we stop trying to save ourselves, God's very powerful to do it for us, just as He did for Paul, who went through a lot of trials because of the “thorn in the flesh” that was given to him. (7) And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. People like to say that the “thorn in the flesh” was a disease of the eyes or some other disability, but the Scripture plainly tells us that it was “a messenger of Satan to buffet” him. Paul lists for us these “buffetings”: (2Co.11:23) Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as one beside himself) I more; in labors more abundantly, in prisons more abundantly, in stripes above measure, in deaths oft. (24) Of the Jews five times received I forty [stripes] save one. (25) Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day have I been in the deep; (26) [in] journeyings often, [in] perils of rivers, [in] perils of robbers, [in] perils from [my] countrymen, [in] perils from the Gentiles, [in] perils in the city, [in] perils in the wilderness, [in] perils in the sea, [in] perils among false brethren; (27) [in] labor and travail, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness. (28) Besides those things that are without, there is that which presseth upon me daily, anxiety for all the churches. He was brought into all those situations through weakness, and in Paul's weakness God was made powerful. (29) Who is weak, and I am not weak? who is caused to stumble, and I burn not? (30) If I must needs glory, I will glory of the things that concern my weakness. We need to do the same thing; we need to be weak to save ourselves. Many Christians today don't receive the deliverance they need because they keep trying to save themselves by their own efforts. Yet, what did Paul say? (2Ti.3:10) But thou didst follow my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, longsuffering, love, patience, (11) persecutions, sufferings. What things befell me at Antioch, at Iconium, at Lystra; what persecutions I endured. And out of them all the Lord delivered me. God delivered Paul because he was weak to save himself. He gave himself into the hands of God because he believed the promises of God; he believed the Lord would always deliver him. (2Ti.4:17) But the Lord stood by me, and strengthened me; that through me the message might be fully proclaimed, and that all the Gentiles might hear: and I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. (18) The Lord will deliver me from every evil work, and will save me unto his heavenly kingdom: to whom [be] the glory forever and ever. Amen. And when Paul said the Lord would “save” him, he meant he would be saved like the Bible uses the word for “saved,” which is the Greek sozo. The word sozo is used for every manner of salvation of spirit, soul, body and circumstances. Sozo is used for deliverance from demons, for healing the body, for salvation of the soul, provision for the body, and so on. It's the same word the disciples used when they cried out to Jesus as their boat was sinking: (Mat.8:23) And when he was entered into a boat, his disciples followed him. (24) And behold, there arose a great tempest in the sea, insomuch that the boat was covered with the waves: but he was asleep. (25) And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Save (that's the word sozo), Lord; we perish. (26) And he saith unto them, Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith? Then he arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and there was a great calm. (27) And the men marvelled, saying, What manner of man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey him? They said, “Save, Lord,” and He saved them. “The Lord will deliver me from every evil work.” Do you believe that? We're supposed to be going into a wilderness now, saints. You can choose to enter into it by faith, by trusting in the promises of God, because God cannot fail you if you believe in His promises. Or you can be forced into it, along with the Church, in the coming Tribulation. If you walk by faith now, then you are walking into that spiritual wilderness, and I want to tell you that the wilderness is not as bad as you've heard. The Lord told me many years ago, “I'm sending you through a wilderness, so that you can tell My people that I still supply there,” and He has proven that to me over and over by putting me in a position of weakness. For instance, the disciples never took up offerings for themselves; they only took up offerings for other people, so the Lord wouldn't let me take up offerings. He wouldn't let me tell anybody my personal needs. He wouldn't let me store up my treasures on earth. He wouldn't let me borrow money. He wouldn't let me sell things. He wouldn't let me take any government benefits. When after many years, just recently, I received Social Security I have given it all away. And through all of that, I haven't worked for man, and I haven't taken any worldly benefits. God has faithfully sustained me; He's paid for everything all along the way. He put me in a wilderness, but it has nothing to do with a physical wilderness, and He's never failed to meet our needs. I shared with you previously how I raised five children: they didn't know doctors, they didn't know medicine, they didn't know anything but the power of God. And God always fed them, except for one time when the Lord put the trial of a fast on them. For all of these years, God has faithfully fed us, paid our bills, made sure our lights stayed on, made sure our gas stayed on and so on. He's been totally, 100% faithful. I was made capable to do this by His grace of unmerited favor. Even faith is a gift of God; ask for it. Yes, we are all going into a wilderness, but it's one that God made, and He made it for our good. You will see the world economy crash to create for God's chosen a wilderness. He is separating us from the world. He is behind the Beast kingdom and He is bringing the mark of the Beast (Rev.3:17) to force us into this coming wilderness. The whole world is going to hate us. We won't have the help of “Egypt,” just as Israel didn't have the help of Egypt. We are going to be thrust upon the mercy and grace of God, and the only thing we really need to be sustained is to repent of our sins and believe His Word. And when we do that, we also should expect that we will be tried. Even Apostle Paul talked about hungering and thirsting, but notice, he didn't starve to death. He overcame in the trial. God did the same thing with the Israelites. He brought them to one place of lack after another, to see if they were going to walk by faith or if they were going to complain. Sadly, they failed God, as the natural man always does, but we have something new in the New Testament. We have a born-again experience; we have the power of the Holy Spirit. Some people are going to go through the wilderness just like Joshua and Caleb. They are going to be walking in the steps of Jesus Christ and they are going to be victorious. When you are tried over and over, and you see each time that God is faithful, you enter into the rest. You just hold fast to your confession and hold fast to the Word. You don't even worry about your trial anymore. You just rest in Him because you become hardened to your flesh, you become hardened to the world, you become hardened to temptation. (Rom.5:3) And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness (“patience”). As a matter of fact, I've enjoyed the tribulation. The tribulation is a trial on the flesh, but it's so neat to see God being a personal God and loving you enough to look after everything. That's what He really wants to do. He doesn't want to share His glory with man, which He's been having to do because His people always run to the world. They run to Egypt and its methods and its ways. Well, the Lord put me and my family in the wilderness, and I'd like to share some testimonies of how the Lord has been faithful to sustain us. One time in particular, the Lord actually multiplied food for us. We had run out of everything in the house, except for some spaghetti, so my wife cooked up a pot of spaghetti and we prayed over that pot because we didn't have anything else. But I want you to know that we weren't even considering that God wasn't going to bring any more for us to eat because He had been doing this for us for quite some time. Anyway, my wife cooked up this fairly big pot of spaghetti, and it was about three-quarters full when we blessed it, and we started eating. We probably ate that pot down to lower than halfway, and when we were done, we didn't think about it; we just shoved that pot into the refrigerator. The next day, when we took it back out and my wife lifted the lid, we saw that God had refilled the pot! She said, “David, do you remember that the spaghetti was down to here?” And she made a mark on the side. I said, “Yes, I remember.” Saints, the Lord had replaced everything we had eaten. God is awesome! You can't get anywhere where He can't supply. Think about those Israelites. He brought those Israelites water out of a rock. God can bring you water in the middle of a wilderness (Exo.17:1-7; Num.20:2-13), He can pay your taxes out of a fish's mouth (Mat.17:24-27), He can bring you flesh out of the sky (Exo.16:1-13; Num.11:18-20; 31-34) and bread out of the sky (Exo.16:14-36; Num.11:7-9). Now, if our God can bring several million Israelites through a wilderness like that and feed them, just think what He can do with us, who are actually filled with His Spirit! Another experience we had, which I thought was even more awesome, made me realize that you really cannot get anywhere God can't feed you. (Php.4:19) And my God shall supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. If our God will supply our every need according to His riches in glory, then it has nothing to do with the economy and nothing to do with our surroundings. Even if you're in a desert, it has nothing to do with any of that. God made the promise; He's the One Who stands behind it and He will take care of you. On one occasion, we came to another situation where we had run out of everything in the house to eat and my wife asked, “What are we going to do?” I said, “Well, the Lord sent us here,” and she agreed. She said, “Yes.” So I told her, “You set the table and we'll go sit down at the table, and we'll eat.” So she did that, and then she and I and our five children sat down around the table with these empty plates in front of us. Next, I prayed a simple prayer, really the only kind I know. I prayed, “Father, You sent us here and we're asking You to please fill these plates or fill our tummies.” That's just the way it came out of my mind and I'm sure the Lord put it in there because He wanted to show us something. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And so the prayer had no sooner come out of my mouth when my oldest son said, “Dad, I'm full. I don't need to eat.” It wasn't long before another one said it, then another, then another one, and then I realized I was full, too. I thought, “Isn't that something!” You know, the Lord didn't have to multiply anything. If He multiplied anything, He multiplied it in our stomachs. He filled all of us while we were just sitting there at the table. Then there was one time I decided I wanted to grow tomatoes. It wasn't the Lord; I made that decision on my own. God didn't call me to grow tomatoes; He called me to study the Word of God and and share it with His people. But I just decided, “Well, I'll take on this hobby. I'll plant some tomatoes.” Now, the house we lived in at that time was under big oak trees and we had very little sunshine in my yard, except for one place, so I planted the tomatoes in five-gallon buckets. That way, I could move them to keep them in the sun as the season went on. Soon, lots of little tomatoes popped out, but they hardly got to be any size at all before the birds came and took them all away. And I asked, “Lord, why did You let that happen?” The Lord answered, “I didn't call you to plant tomatoes; that was your idea. I have other things for you to do. Now get about what I told you to do.” So, of course, I told Him, “Yes, Sir!” and I never said anything to anybody about trying to grow my own tomatoes. Well, the very next day, a lady who was acquainted with us was going to a local tomato farm to get tomatoes for her family, and while she was out there picking these monster tomatoes, the Lord spoke to her and said, “I want you to pick a bag of these for David Eells.” She said, “Okay.” And she brought me a big bag of the largest, most luscious-looking tomatoes I'd seen in a very long time. You know, the Lord was kind of rubbing my nose in it when the lady brought me those tomatoes the next day and I thought to myself, “I really couldn't have grown anything like those, Lord.” I had to come to that place of weakness before He would do this miracle. We've also often prayed for very specific things, and the Lord has always done miracles for us. One morning, we prayed for Him to send us poultry, mayonnaise, and cheese. We asked Him for those three things and we didn't tell anybody, not a soul. This is the way God gets the glory. I remember a brother many years ago, who was an elder in the Church with me. He used to be a part of the prosperity movement, where the people would brag out in public about what God was going to do. They would tell everybody, “I'm believing God for this,” or, “I'm believing God for that,” so eventually someone else in the congregation would feel like they had to have compassion on their brother in “need” and they would bring it to them. God doesn't get any glory from that. When you ask God for something, just believe Him. Then, when it comes, He gets the credit. So we didn't tell anybody about our needs, but that day and the next day, all three of those things came. We had a friend who was going out of town, and she had this large jar of mayonnaise that she didn't want to leave in her refrigerator until she came back, so she brought it over to us. And then another person brought us a turkey and the cheese. It was exactly what we asked from God. You may wonder, “Would God do that for me, David?” I guarantee you He would. God is no respecter of persons. (Act.10:34) And Peter opened his mouth and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons: (35) but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is acceptable to him. God is a respecter of faith, but He's no respecter of persons. He won't do anything for me that He won't do for you. I'm just trying to teach you how to be weak and to exercise faith at the same time, so that you are in this ideal position in the wilderness to see miracles from God. We've received so many over the years, I've forgotten most of them, but I can tell you that He consistently met our needs and we saw many, many miracles. Sometimes, even if we had money, we would believe God for clothes and shoes and toys for our children and they would come. I like to share this next story because it tickles me. My children all wanted to go camping one day, but when I was a kid, I did so much camping, I've had enough of it. I like my bed and I was making excuses. Well, I'd been back there before, walking through the woods where they wanted to go, and finally I told them, “There's nothing there to start a fire with and, really, we don't have any permission to cut down any of those trees back there,” but they were begging me, “Awww, Daddy, please.” So I gave in and we packed up our tents and other gear, and we took off into the woods. Now, there was a downed tree in the little opening in the woods that we picked for our campsite, and I want you to know that downed trees were hard to find in those woods. We set up our tents and I sent the kids out to gather firewood, but everything they dragged back was either rotten, or little twigs and branches, or pieces of tree bark. I told them, “That stuff just makes smoke; it doesn't really make fire.” And I sent them out again, and while I was waiting, I walked about 20 feet away from the tent but still in the clearing. I was kind of praying, asking the Lord to provide for us, and I had told them earlier that there was nothing to use for a fire, and we couldn't cut down other people's trees. Well, I had walked maybe 20 or so feet away from the tent when I came across this little lump on the ground. The floor of those woods was completely covered with leaves, and this was just a lump in the leaves, but when I kicked it as I walked through it, I hit something solid. So I backed up and raked all the leaves off, and there was a pillowcase on the ground. I pulled the pillowcase back, and there was a Poulan chainsaw on the ground. I thought, “Wow! Wouldn't it be something if this would crank?” because we had a downed tree right there by the campsite. Sure enough, it cranked. I cut up enough wood to have a really good fire the whole time we were there. I tell you, when that chainsaw cranked and I cut up that wood, I was thinking, “I'm sorry, Lord! Forgive me! I repent, because I said You couldn't supply us with wood back here.” My boys said they probably knew the kid that had that saw and that it probably was stolen so we gave it to the police who said if no one claimed it within 90 days we could have it. Well they called us to come get it. I didn't need it so I sold it to a Poulan dealer. And I ended up paying a bill with the money. Father has it all figured out. God had somebody plant a chainsaw out in the middle of the woods so it would be there waiting for us because God sees the end from the beginning. He doesn't dwell in time; He has no problem meeting your needs. He will have it there when you get there. (Isa.65:24) And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. See, He answers before we call, and He can have our provision already there, or He can manufacture it. It makes no difference to Him. When Jesus brought the disciples into the wilderness, He multiplied the food there. (Mat.14:15) And when even was come, the disciples came to him, saying, The place is desert (The Greek word there is eremia and it can be translated as “desert,” “wilderness” or “uninhabited place.”), and the time is already past; send the multitudes away, that they may go into the villages, and buy themselves food. (16) But Jesus said unto them, They have no need to go away; give ye them to eat. (17) And they say unto him, We have here but five loaves, and two fishes. (18) And he said, Bring them hither to me. (19) And he commanded the multitudes to sit down on the grass; and he took the five loaves, and the two fishes, and looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake and gave the loaves to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes. (20) And they all ate, and were filled: and they took up that which remained over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. (21) And they that did eat were about five thousand men, besides women and children. Jesus was raising up disciples. He was their teacher and He was showing them, “This is how you do it.” Then they went off into their tribulation, the Book of Acts, and they repeated what they saw. The Man-child, Who was Jesus, was God's provision in the wilderness, and nothing has changed. God's going to do it again; He's just going to repeat it with a larger group of people. Since we didn't have a big worldly income, we prayed for everything and God brought it. Back before I started full-time in ministry, we decided we were going to stop using money for the things that we needed. Instead, we started praying for what we needed, and we saw God just do miracles. Things we would normally buy with money, we prayed, and God would bring them. Any money we had, we would use for His Kingdom. There are different ways you can enter into the wilderness, but all of them give you confidence. You'll find that God's going to be there and He's going to supply your needs. If you need something, pray for it. Put faith in God. It honors Him, and it builds your faith. My youngest daughter came to me one day with a Sears catalog and she said, “Daddy, I need a swimming pool.” Her small wading pool would not hold water anymore because the vinyl was cracked from the sun. She started looking in the catalog, and I said, “Well, baby, you know where we get everything like that, don't you?” She answered, “Yep! Will you pray for me for one like this?” So we looked at the one from the catalog and we prayed and agreed in faith that God was going to bring that swimming pool. Well, you know God can give you something better than what you pray for, can't He? I think it was only about a week or so later that we were all in the house when there came a knock on the door, and when my wife went and answered the door, I heard a lady's voice. She said, “I'm looking for two little boys who came down and cut my grass. I live about five blocks from here, on the other end of the golf course, and I'm looking for those boys who cut my grass.” Then she happened to look past my wife. She saw one of my boys, and she said, “Oh, I see I've found the right place.” It's actually amazing she found us because the boys didn't give her a good description of where we lived, but the Lord led her right to our door. She went on, “I'd like to make a proposition with you boys. I have this 3-1/2 foot, above-ground swimming pool that's still in the box. It has a filter, ladder and pump. Everything that goes with it is still there. I was going to set it up in my garage and exercise in it, but I've decided I'm not going to do that. So if you'll cut my grass a couple of times, I'll give that pool to you.” And they were just so happy to cut the grass for her. Then they set up the pool and had a good time in that thing for several years. Of course, Jennifer, my daughter, was just overjoyed to see God answer her prayer that quickly. Children remember that, even if they go out into the world, they remember that God is real. They remember that He keeps His Word, and one day God will use that to bring them back. We had a tremendous life like this. We didn't have a lot of money, but the very fact that we didn't have a lot of money made us depend upon God. And in depending upon God, we got to see these awesome miracles. Another thing God did to put us into a position of weakness was we never borrowed money because the Bible promises, (Deu.28:12) The Lord will open unto thee his good treasure the heavens, to give the rain of thy land in its season, and to bless all the work of thy hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow. And Paul said, (Rom.13:8) Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law. So we took God at His Word. We figured if we didn't borrow, we would be weak, but God would be strong on our behalf, and I have some tremendous miracles to share with you later concerning not borrowing and seeing God answer. The Bible teaches against “suretyship.” (Pro.11:15) He that is surety for a stranger shall smart for it; But he that hateth suretyship is secure. The Hebrew word there actually means “to be a guarantor of an agreement; to give or to be security”; in other words, “to mortgage.” It means guaranteeing to pay back what has been borrowed, but we can't even guarantee that we're going to be here tomorrow. And the Bible warns us against making promises, pledges or guarantees of any sort. (Mat.5:33) Again, ye have heard that it was said to them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths: (34) but I say unto you, swear not at all; neither by the heaven, for it is the throne of God; (35) nor by the earth, for it is the footstool of his feet; nor by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. (36) Neither shalt thou swear by thy head, for thou canst not make one hair white or black. (37) But let your speech be, Yea, yea; Nay, nay: and whatsoever is more than these is of the evil [one]. (Jas.5:12) But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by the heaven, nor by the earth, nor by any other oath: but let your yea be yea, and your nay, nay; that ye fall not under judgment. Who do we think we are to promise or pledge anything? (Pro.17:18) A man void of understanding striketh hands (That's the way an agreement was legally sealed.), And becometh surety in the presence of his neighbor. “A man void of understanding” is someone who does this; in other words, it's not a wise thing to do. I know it's a principle of the world, but the economies of the world are all going to crumble because they are not obeying God's principles. How much faith God's people would have if they were put into the position where they couldn't run to the world to borrow money. They would see miracles, but most people don't want to wait on God to see a miracle; they're too quick to run back to Egypt. You're probably wondering, “How could it be that we would not mortgage and God will answer? How would we receive homes?” Well, the home I had, God gave to me because I believed Him and I refused to borrow money. That's why I have it and it didn't cost me a thing. God is sovereign! Amen. (Pro.22:7) The rich ruleth over the poor; And the borrower is servant to the lender. When you borrow money, you're no longer a steward of what you have because what you have actually belongs to someone else. Jesus said, (Luk.14:33) So therefore whosoever he be of you that renounceth not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. We renounce ownership; we are only stewards. But a steward who belongs to a bank is not a steward for the Lord. The borrower is a servant to the lender and the rich rule over the poor. The rich are running this world, folks, because they have everybody's money. (Pro.22:26) Be thou not one of them that strike hands, Or of them that are sureties for debts. (27) If thou hast not wherewith to pay, Why should he take away thy bed from under thee? A poor person's bed or outer clothing was commonly used as their collateral of last resort (Exo.22:27; Deu.24:13). Proverbs has a lot to say against suretyship and it's ignored by a lot of people, but I never would have seen the miracles that I have seen if I had borrowed the money instead of learning to just ask God. (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. When God gives us such awesome promises, why would we borrow money and have to pay it back with interest for years and years in bondage? The Israelites were forbidden by God to participate in usury (interest), or in suretyship (mortgaging), or in any such things, but when they went into bondage in Babylon, they were caught up back into it. We only need to ask God and wait on Him. He said, “Believe you have received.” If you think, “Well, God might not answer,” that's not faith! The Bible doesn't teach borrowing to get money; it teaches giving to get money. (Luk.6:38) Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom. For with what measure ye mete it shall be measured to you again. I've proven that many, many times. When you give, God will give it back to you multiplied, just as the Scripture teaches, but notice it doesn't teach going under the Law. (2Co.9:6) But this [I say], He that soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he that soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. People want to reap but they don't want to sow. The Bible teaches that first you have to sow! You “give and it will be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, shall they give into your bosom.” (7) [Let] each man [do] according as he hath purposed in his heart: not grudgingly, or of necessity (not under law): for God loveth a cheerful giver. (8) And God is able to make all grace abound unto you (That's awesome!); that ye, having always all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work (Isn't that something? Just for giving bountifully, God will make sure that you will always have all sufficiency in everything and will abound in every good work.): (9) as it is written, He hath scattered abroad, he hath given to the poor; His righteousness abideth for ever. (10) And he that supplieth seed to the sower and bread for food, shall supply and multiply your seed for sowing, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. People who don't really believe this are stingy and they hoard, but that's not the way for God to multiply. You need to sow. Think about sowing one little seed and how it brings forth. It brings forth multiplied, and even if you are poor in the eyes of the world, you will have all of your needs met. In the eyes of the world, Jesus was poor, but according to the Kingdom, Jesus was rich because He had His needs met everywhere He went. It was the same for His disciples, too. Their needs were met wherever they went. The riches of the world were just distractions to them, but their needs were met wherever they went because they were givers. Borrowing just puts you deeper in debt; giving gets you out of debt. From my own experience, there have been many times when I saw that what I had would not meet my need, and the money that I had would not cover my bills. And I would just take the money that I did have, and I would give it, and in giving it, it would come back multiplied. People worry, “Well, if I give it, maybe it won't come back in time!” God doesn't dwell in time; He answers before we call. (Isa.65:24) And it shall come to pass that, before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. When you ask Him to do something, He's going to do it, so don't worry about it. For instance, many times I have put what money I did have into the mailbox to send to somebody in need, and then gone to the same mailbox only to find that what I sent out had been multiplied back to me. You might think, “But, David, we don't give in order to receive.” That's a moot point. That has nothing to do with what I'm talking about. If you do give, you will receive because that's God's promise. God will see to our needs if we meet the needs of the brethren to the best of our ability, even if we don't have a lot of money. I've taught before how the Egyptians stored up under Joseph in the seven years of plenty for the seven years of famine (Genesis 41). In type, Joseph was Jesus. Both were sold out by their brethren, lied about by the harlot, and turned over to the Beast, etc,. Jesus said we should store up our riches in Heaven, and He told us how to do that. (Luk.12:33) Sell that which ye have, and give alms; make for yourselves purses which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not, where no thief draweth near, neither moth destroyeth. (34) For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. He said, “Give alms, meet the needs of the brethren,” and you will have “a treasure in the heavens that faileth not.” So, give and God will give to you. You can't out-give God, folks. You just cannot do it.

Visit donate.accessmore.com and give today to help fund more episodes and shows like this. What do you do when you've done everything right, but still face an impenetrable wall? In this episode, Christine Caine unpacks the story of Joshua and the Israelites to reveal powerful principles for possessing God's promises—even when obstacles stand in your way. You'll discover why seasons of cutting away are necessary, how to embrace change in new seasons, and the importance of keeping faith when nothing seems to be shifting. You'll leave encouraged to trust God's timing, silence the doubt, and believe for the miraculous. What you'll learn:Why every new season requires letting go of something old.How to keep walking in faith when you see no progress.Practical ways to silence doubt and stand on God's promises. Get your free Episode Reflection Guide here. + + + + + Christine Caine is a speaker, activist, and best-selling author. She and her husband, Nick, founded the anti-human trafficking organization The A21 Campaign. They also founded Propel Women, an initiative that is dedicated to coming alongside women all over the globe to activate their God-given purpose. Each week she brings you a Gospel-centered message filled with Biblical truths that will equip and empower you to step into the life God has for you.

Just like the Israelites in the Bible had seen God provide for them in miraculous ways over and over and still they turned from Him, we can easily get caught up in making idols for ourselves out of the things in this world no matter how much God has proven Himself to us. No matter how wild we may get wrapped up in our sin, the wildest thing is that He will always accept us back.

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: Jeremiah 42-44; Psalm 48; Revelation 13 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible, dear friends! In today's episode, recorded on September 8th, 2025, Hunter invites us to journey together through the pages of Scripture—reading from Jeremiah 42-44, Psalm 48, and Revelation 13. As we see the story of the Israelites wrestling with obedience and trust, and witness John's vivid vision of beasts and the mysterious number 666, Hunter encourages us to reflect on themes of separation, exile, and the relentless love of God. We hear the struggles of God's people as they debate listening to Jeremiah's warnings, the powerful imagery from Revelation about the dangers of idolizing power, and a reminder in the Psalms that God is our steadfast fortress. Through heartfelt commentary and prayer, Hunter reminds us to reject the lie of separation from God and instead embrace the truth that Emmanuel—God with us—is ever-present. Plus, we're joined by a wonderful chorus of listeners from around the globe, sharing their greetings and reminding us that we are not walking this journey alone. So settle in, open your heart, and let's explore God's word together—encouraged that you are loved, and never alone. TODAY'S DEVOTION: We are told that the number six hundred and sixty six is the number of a man. A lot has been written about this number. Three sixes, a trinity of numbers. But it is an unholy trinity. It is man, magnified, exalted and worshiped. It is a beastly reality in a stark contrast from the Holy Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We're told that great wisdom is required to understand what these numbers mean. And I don't pretend to have that kind of wisdom. But it seems to me that whether it's the queen of Heaven that Jeremiah is confronting or the multi-headed dragon that John describes, the results are the same. When man is deceived by Satan and by the lie of separation, we see destruction in its wake. And in Jeremiah's case, they refused to believe that God was with them, that he would rescue them and give them life. So under that lie, they separated themselves from him and his will for them. And they went to Egypt, a land of exile. And as we look back into the garden, we see that same pattern. Adam and Eve believe that God is not with them. They separate themselves from him. And in their separation, they live in exile in the garden. Over and over through time, through history, this tragic pattern is lived out. In our blindness, we refuse to see God's presence and so we separate ourselves from him, the Triune God of life. And instead we rely on the gods of our own making. And the results are the same. Satan's great strategy has never really varied – from the beginning in the garden to this very moment that John is describing here: seeds of doubt are sown. God is not present. God is not with you. God is not for you. And so, believing we are alone, that God is indifferent and uncaring, we go it alone and we devise a way of life apart from God, from the triune life of love and flourishing that is waiting for all of us. The psalmist tells us a different way in verse nine in today's reading: O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. Our God is like a fortified wall, a citadel, a beacon. That's what our God is like. And we will continue to tell it to future generations. Psalm 48:9. God is not separate from you. God is with you. That is the truth. Align your heart to his will and his purposes, his kingdom, and not your own. Renounce the lie of separation embedded in that number 666 and worship the God who is with us, Emmanuel, the God of love. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: And now let us pray. Lord God Almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day. Preserve us with your mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. Dear Lord, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you, bring the nations into your fold. Pour out your spirit on all flesh and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. And now, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love, where there is injury, pardon, where there is doubt, faith, where there is despair, hope, where there is darkness, light, and where there is sadness, joy. O Lord, grant that I might not seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen. Almighty God, father of all mercies, we, your grateful children, give you humble thanks for all your goodness and loving kindness to us and all you have made. We bless you for your creation, preservation and all the blessings of this life. And above all, for your immeasurable love and your redemption of the world through our Lord Jesus Christ. For the means of grace and the hope of glory. Lord, we pray, give us such awareness of your mercies that with truly thankful hearts we may show forth your praise, not only with our lips, but with our lives, by the giving up of ourselves for your service in holiness and righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit be all honor and glory through all ages. Amen. And now, as our Lord has taught us, we are bold to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen.   OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

When it comes to your spiritual life, what are you giving to God? Whether it's time, attention, or effort, it's easy to fall into the trap of only giving God whatever is left over from our own priorities. As we start our journey through the book of Malachi, we find God telling the Israelites that he is worthy of more than just their (and our) leftovers.

Just like the Israelites in the Bible had seen God provide for them in miraculous ways over and over and still they turned from Him, we can easily get caught up in making idols for ourselves out of the things in this world no matter how much God has proven Himself to us. No matter how wild we may get wrapped up in our sin, the wildest thing is that He will always accept us back. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/640/29

As Israel goes to war with Ammon: David stays home out of laziness or complacency David sins with Bathsheba and murders a man Israel remains strong and completely defeats Ammon A list of Israelite warriors who follow in David's footsteps and kill giants Why prayer for our leaders is so important   Be sure to click every link: YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hnh-aqfg8rw Ko-Fi - https://ko-fi.com/p40ministries  Website - https://www.p40ministries.com Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/p40ministries  Contact - jenn@p40ministries.com  Rumble - https://rumble.com/c/c-6493869  Books - https://www.amazon.com/Jenn-Kokal/e/B095JCRNHY/ref=aufs_dp_fta_dsk  Merch - https://www.p40ministries.com/shop  YouVersion - https://www.bible.com/reading-plans/38267-out-of-the-mire-trusting-god-in-the-middle    Support babies and get quality coffee with Seven Weeks Coffee  https://sevenweekscoffee.com/?ref=P40   Become a member to gain access to The Bible Explained on Fridays: https://ko-fi.com/p40ministries

In this message from our “In Context” series, we unpack the true meaning behind the well-loved phrase, “the joy of the Lord is your strength” from Nehemiah 8:10. Often quoted as a personal encouragement, this verse is even better when you realize the context. This verse is about the Israelites returning from exile, hearing God's law, and feeling overwhelmed by their failures. Instead of calling them to mourn, Nehemiah commands them to celebrate together in God's presence—revealing that the joy found in communal celebration, brings real spiritual strength. Whether you're battling discouragement or craving deeper joy, discover how coming together to worship can renew your heart and empower you to keep going, no matter the challenges you face.

It seems like in the Bible, miracles are happening all the time. Did they stop happening when they invented the Polaroid or something? What's up with that?Some of us feel like if we saw a miracle happen before our own eyes, we'd be the best believers of all time. Yet the Israelites saw the Red Sea part and were grumbling and complaining again three days later. Jump in to hear Brian Tome break down why growth, faith, and gratitude often starts with having a good memory.  Recorded live at Crossroads Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Hello Friends! I love to hear from you! Please send me a text message by clicking on this link! Blessings to You!In this episode, Dr. Jori discusses with her listeners Ezra's confession of the sins of the Israelites to GOD. Scripture References: Ezra 9:7; 1 Corinthians 10:6; Romans 6:1-2; Ezra 1:1-4; Ezra 7:10; Ezra 8:31-9:15; 1 John 1:9 Scripture translation used is the Legacy Standard Bible.  “Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.comFIND DR. JORI ON OTHER PLATFORMS https://linktr.ee/drjorishafferCHECK OUT THE DWELL AUDIO BIBLE APP:Click this link for my unique referral code.  I use this frequently. Such a wonderful audio bible app. https://dwellapp.io/aff?ref=jorishafferBIBLE STUDY TOOLS DR. JORI USES:Note: These contain  Amazon affiliate links, meaning I get a commission, at no extra cost to you,  if you decide to make a purchase through my links.Here is a link to some of my favorite bible study tools on Amazon:https://geni.us/cHtrfEMr. Pen Bible Journaling Kitshttps://lvnta.com/lv_PTrHSCogbRim4yhEDnhttps://lvnta.com/lv_mkaMOuGe6m4oHR88uqhttps://lvnta.com/lv_dgvsxOc99t663A628z  JOIN DR. JORI IN DEVOTIONAL JOURNALING IN 2025Check out this 9 min YouTube Video outlining her journaling strategy! Don't Forget to subscribe to the YouTube Channel! https://youtu.be/lqe9TO7RSz4 BOOKS OF BIBLE COLOR CHARTI made this chart as a helpful tool for grouping the collections of books or letters  in the Holy Bible.  The colors in the different sections are the ones that I use in my journals.  Books of Bible Chart (color) (4).pdf - Google Drive    LOOKING TO RETAIN MORE OF WHAT YOUR PASTOR IS TEACHING?              CHECK OUT DR. JORI'S SERMON REFLECTION JOURNALS! Sermon Notes, Reflections and Applications Journal/Notebooks by Dr. Jori. Click the links below to be directed to amazon.com for purchase. Or search “Dr. Jori Shaffer” on Amazon to bring these up.  https://amzn.to/418LfRshttps://amzn.to/41862EyHere is a brief YouTube video that tells about the Journal/Notebooks as well:https://youtu.be/aXpQNYUEzds   Email: awordforthisday@gmail.comPodcast website:  https://awordforthisday.buzzsprout.com Support the show

In this week's episode, Dutch and Tena discuss the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Many believe the levees were intentionally broken to increase the death toll and destruction. Ryan Coogler and Spike Lee have recently released documentaries depicting the devastation and exposing the government for the mistreatment and displacement of New Orleans' black residents. Tune in as we share our thoughts on both documentaries.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-realist-the-visionary--3304218/support.Check out our website:https://www.therealistthevisionary.comBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-realist-the-visionary--3304218/support.Follow us on IGFollow Us on TikTok

In these dark times, we must fight evil with the most powerful weapons we have.The Rosary is foremost among them.Join the Great Rosary Campaign today at: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com.The Great Rosary Campaign is a yearlong mission for the conversion of cultural leaders. We will announce a weekly call to pray every Sunday for specific fallen-away Catholics and non-Catholics.THIS WEEK of the Great Rosary Campaign, we will pray for the conversion of "Reformed Lizzie," a prominent anti-Catholic account on X (@farmingandJesus).The SUGGESTED PENANCE this week is a 24 hour water fast, adjusted for your state in life.Countless Saints and Popes have told us that the Rosary is incredibly powerful for three things in particular:Keeping the FaithMoral renovationConversions of non-CatholicsThe Great Rosary Campaign is also based on several biblical themes and principles.First, PRAY FOR OUR BRETHREN. “Pray for one another…” (Jas. 5:16). “So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10).Second, PRAY FOR OUR ENEMIES. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven" (Matt. 5:43-44).Third, PRAY FOR ALL MEN, PARTICULARLY LEADERS AND THOSE IN AUTHORITY. “First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all men, or kings and all who are in high positions…” (1 Tim. 2:1-2).Fourth, GOING INTO BATTLE WITH THE ARK. When the ancient Israelites came to Jericho, God didn't tell them to besiege the city. Instead, He told them to march around it with the Ark of the Covenant seven times, and on the seventh the walls would fall. We will now "march" in prayer for seven days with the New Ark of the Covenant, Our Lady, through the Rosary. We pray in hope that on the seventh day, a day especially devoted to Our Lady (Saturday), extraordinary graces of conversion will be given to those we are praying for.Fifth, EVANGELISM AND APOLOGETICS = LOVE + ARGUMENTS + PRAYER + PENANCE. Ultimately it is God who reveals Himself to a soul, and empowers them to say "yes" to Him by His grace. He chooses to use us, but He does not have to. We must remember that as we evangelize and defend the Faith, our arguments will be fruitless unless informed by love (charity), and reinforced by prayer and penance.Sixth, RETURNING GOOD FOR EVIL. “Do not return evil for evil, or reviling for reviling; but on the contrary bless, for to this you have been called, that you may obtain a blessing" (1 Pet. 3:9).Sign up to take part in the Great Rosary Campaign today: www.GreatRosaryCampaign.com

I think most of us can agree that when a large list of names is in the Bible it is easy to skip by them and move on, but a question we should be asking is why did the author put those names in? It is because God cares about the details! If you have ever been in charge of planning an event, you know there is a moment where you switch from the big picture to the small details because they matter. It matters who was selected to work in the temple. It matters who was to take part in dedicating the wall. It even matters that each priest went through each step of purification before they served in the Temple. Details matter! In Nehemiah 11-12, there were questions around "Who was going to live in Jerusalem?", "Who would be responsible for the Temple?", and even "Who is going to watch over the storerooms?" The great reality is God had long ago decided and been orchestrating things to the point of being able to answer those questions. He long ago put the right people in the right spots and brought their stories to this pinnacle point where they could walk into what God has for them. I believe this is still true today! God is working the details of YOUR story so YOU can walk into what God has for you. The question for the Israelites and for us today is how are we going to respond? Join us this Sunday as we look at how God is actively shaping our lives for where He is leading us and even where He is inviting us to have a few more parties. Pastor Brandon For this week's Scripture and notes: https://bible.com/events/49451015 Stay Connected: • https://www.mitchellberean.com/ • https://www.facebook.com/MitchellBerean • https://www.instagram.com/mitchellberean • https://www.youtube.com/@MitchellBerean

When you feel trapped, remember that God led you this far not to destroy you, but to show you his power and provide a way forward. -------- Thank you for listening! Your support of Joni and Friends helps make this show possible.     Joni and Friends envisions a world where every person with a disability finds hope, dignity, and their place in the body of Christ. Become part of the global movement today at www.joniandfriends.org   Find more encouragement on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube.

God wants us to be both fruitful AND faithful, but He'll sometimes pause the fruit to grow our faith. The Israelites in the book of Judges wanted fruitfulness without faithfulness. However, God remains faithful, even when we're unfaithful. This powerful truth shared by Pastor Louis reminds us that God's faithfulness doesn't depend on our performance.

Hello Friends! I love to hear from you! Please send me a text message by clicking on this link! Blessings to You!In this episode, Dr. Jori discusses with her listeners  Moses's reminder to the Israelites that the were not receiving the blessing of entering into the promised land because of their righteousness, because they were stiff-necked. But it was because of GOD's graciousness.Scripture References: Deuteronomy 9:6; John 5:45-47; Deuteronomy 1:1-8; Deuteronomy 8:19-9:7; Genesis 12:1-3; Genesis 15:13-15; 1 Thessalonians 5:18 Scripture translation used is the Legacy Standard Bible.  “Scripture quotations taken from the (LSB®) Legacy Standard Bible®, Copyright © 2021 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org and 316publishing.comFIND DR. JORI ON OTHER PLATFORMS https://linktr.ee/drjorishafferCHECK OUT THE DWELL AUDIO BIBLE APP:Click this link for my unique referral code.  I use this frequently. Such a wonderful audio bible app. https://dwellapp.io/aff?ref=jorishafferBIBLE STUDY TOOLS DR. JORI USES:Note: These contain  Amazon affiliate links, meaning I get a commission, at no extra cost to you,  if you decide to make a purchase through my links.Here is a link to some of my favorite bible study tools on Amazon:https://geni.us/cHtrfEMr. Pen Bible Journaling Kitshttps://lvnta.com/lv_PTrHSCogbRim4yhEDnhttps://lvnta.com/lv_mkaMOuGe6m4oHR88uqhttps://lvnta.com/lv_dgvsxOc99t663A628z  JOIN DR. JORI IN DEVOTIONAL JOURNALING IN 2025Check out this 9 min YouTube Video outlining her journaling strategy! Don't Forget to subscribe to the YouTube Channel! https://youtu.be/lqe9TO7RSz4 BOOKS OF BIBLE COLOR CHARTI made this chart as a helpful tool for grouping the collections of books or letters  in the Holy Bible.  The colors in the different sections are the ones that I use in my journals.  Books of Bible Chart (color) (4).pdf - Google Drive    LOOKING TO RETAIN MORE OF WHAT YOUR PASTOR IS TEACHING?              CHECK OUT DR. JORI'S SERMON REFLECTION JOURNALS! Sermon Notes, Reflections and Applications Journal/Notebooks by Dr. Jori. Click the links below to be directed to amazon.com for purchase. Or search “Dr. Jori Shaffer” on Amazon to bring these up.  https://amzn.to/418LfRshttps://amzn.to/41862EyHere is a brief YouTube video that tells about the Journal/Notebooks as well:https://youtu.be/aXpQNYUEzds   Email: awordforthisday@gmail.comPodcast website:  https://awordforthisday.buzzsprout.com Support the show

Pastor Dru Rodriguez emphasizes that God hears our cries, sees our pain, remembers his covenant fulfilled in Jesus, and acts in his timing. He encourages us to rest in God's presence and trust that He is working for our good and His purpose.

Ginnie Hislop received a standing ovation as she was handed her master’s degree diploma in 2024. Why? It came eighty-four years after she’d completed her coursework! In 1941, she needed only to submit her thesis. But her then boyfriend, George, was suddenly called to serve during World War II. The two quickly married and headed to his army outpost—leaving Ginnie’s nearly realized degree behind. But after a lengthy pause, she was finally able to complete what she’d started. Ezra was a student of Scripture—one who truly had an “advanced degree” in God’s law—who’d been waiting years to return to Jerusalem from exile in Babylon. “Ezra had devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord, and to teaching its decrees” (Ezra 7:10). Zerubbabel and a group of Israelite exiles had been permitted to return from Babylon to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem decades earlier (2:1-2). And now Ezra, who had “the gracious hand of his God . . . on him” (7:9), was leading more exiles to Jerusalem. God would use him to reform and restore the proper worship of Him according to Scripture: “Ezra opened the book [of the Law]. All the people . . . bowed down and worshiped the Lord” (Nehemiah 8:5-6). Ezra had to wait decades, but he completed his calling in God’s strength. In His power, let’s persist in finishing the work He has for us.

The Wilderness E1 — This year, we are looking at themes that play a prominent role in the Exodus story. And today, we're starting a new series on the theme of the wilderness. The wilderness is a setting that shows up constantly in the Bible, and it mainly represents a hostile, barren place where humans can't survive. So why does God repeatedly lead his people through it? In this episode, Jon and Tim introduce the theme and discuss how the biblical authors portray the wilderness as a place of testing, character formation, and even an Eden-like refuge.CHAPTERSThe Breadth and Meaning of the Wilderness in the Bible (0:00-12:30)A Place Hostile for Human Life (12:30-30:35)A Place of Testing and Refuge (30:35-47:09)OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTView this episode's official transcript.REFERENCED RESOURCESTim alludes to this past episode about the function of settings in the Bible: Setting in Biblical Narrative from our How to Read the Bible series.Check out Tim's extensive collection of recommended books here.You can view annotations for this episode—plus our entire library of videos, podcasts, articles, and classes—in the BibleProject app, available for Android and iOS.SHOW MUSIC“Pearly Gates ft. Isaac Wheadon” by Lofi Sunday“Sunrise ft. Jk Beatbook” by Lofi SundayBibleProject theme song by TENTSSHOW CREDITSProduction of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today's episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty does our show notes, and Hannah Woo provides the annotations for our app. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie. Powered and distributed by Simplecast.