June 16

“…for we enquired not at it in the days of Saul.” 1 Chronicles 13:3

As the new leader of the people of Israel, David begins to make positive improvements to the way he and his people will behave. Among the early changes, he makes a clear difference between how he wants to lead and the way his predecessor Saul led. He includes himself with the people, and points out that the Ark of God’s Covenant with Israel has been ignored during the days of Saul, that it should be returned to Jerusalem and to its place of worship and prayer. The Ark was recognised as being the vehicle of God’s presence among the people, and a channel through which God gave them blessing, power, protection and direction. Saul had been so taken up with the constant battles against his enemies and the inner struggles of his own pride and insecurity that he had bypassed the need to enquire of the Lord, a practice which resulted in losses and costly mistakes. Such reformation as David instituted, is the kind of revival we all need in our hearts and souls. It is of the greatest importance that in all we perform, we do not forsake to enquire from the Lord. Life can become so busy with all sorts of important responsibilities, urgent tasks and unending distractions, that we can easily forget to do the most important thing of all – communicate with God! It seems unlikely that we could forget to breathe air into our lungs, drink the fluids we need or eat the food necessary for our physical strength, and yet prayer which is spiritually comparable to eating, drinking or breathing, is something we can so often put aside and not participate in. Like Saul we can be guilty of treating hearing from God, as an unnecessary or unimportant exercise and relegating it to the ‘bottom of the list’. We must instead like David, restore the place and position of prominence, God should hold in our lives. He should be at the centre of all our thoughts, desires and activities. Enquiring from the Lord, praising Him for His love, pleading for His guidance, listening for His direction and interceding for needs, should form the core around which we live every day of our lives. Having our hearts attuned to God and His Spirit, and feeding from His word every day, provides us with the necessary spiritual strength we all need to walk the Christian path and help someone else also along the way. Many of our troubles, mistakes and problems can be avoided or alleviated, if we faithfully remain conscious of God and His will for our lives, by enquiring diligently at His hand!

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion

June 1

“…that I may cast lots for you here before the LORD our God” Joshua 18:6

We need to know God’s will and direction for our lives. This is particularly true when as leaders in church, or our families, we also carry the responsibility of guide others. Such was the case with Joshua. It had been placed in his hands to lead Israel into the conquest of Canaan land. They had all fought the enemy together, side by side, under the direction of God and gained the victory. Now he was to assign to each of the tribes, the lot or area of land pertaining to them. It was Joshua’s responsibility to find God’s will for the allotment of the land. He needed to enquire of God and find His direction! With quiet confidence he reassured them he would cast lots before God and come up with answers for them. God had allowed and even commanded in various situations, the ‘casting of lots’, to help His people make decisions and know some detail within what He had shown His will to be. It was not a method of fortune telling, or predicting the future, neither was it the sole way of deciding, but it was used particularly when repetitive decisions had to be made. It was a God-permitted way of finding out some detail of what He had already revealed as His will. In this instance He had already revealed that it was His will for Israel to inhabit the land. Lots were cast to determine the details of where each tribe would be settled in the land. We are not exactly sure what the ‘lots’ were. They could have been special gem stones or sticks of various lengths, in any case some method by which random results would occur, and could not be manipulated by man, thus could be taken as being God-directed. In our day and dispensation, we have the complete Word of God and the infilling of the Holy Spirit, by which we are clearly directed and instructed. Casting lots is no longer a necessary practice, though nowhere in the scriptures was it forbidden or commanded to cease. We observe that after the outpouring of the Holy Ghost, the practice was no longer mentioned in scripture. One could argue however, that even today there could be times when the rendering of an impartial decision, in a detail of a matter which is already known to be God’s will, could be best achieved by casting lots – it would certainly help lessen the politics which are so often and unpleasantly found in Christian groups, and keep a lot of people humble! In any case, the emphasis of the practice of casting lots, was to receive direction. God is willing to direct His people and provided we approach Him prayerfully, with a pure heart, empty of selfishness and desirous for His will to be fulfilled and His name to be glorified, He will show the way and direct the path! This is one of the many joys and privileges of the Christian, he does not have to be without direction, lost and fumbling, but can proceed in all areas and aspects of life, with quiet and sure confidence of God’s will, and clear knowledge of what to do.

http://www.pentecostalfamilychurch.com.au/devotion