Until Removed

Week 12 Day 2

Joshua 7-8; Psalm 69; 1 Corinthians 5

Joshua 7:10-13
¹⁰ The LORD said to Joshua, “Stand up! What are you doing down on your face? ¹¹ Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep. They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their own possessions. ¹² That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been made liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction.
 ¹³ “Go, consecrate the people. Tell them, ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow; for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: There are devoted things among you, Israel. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them. 

The Lord does not honor anything that has any blemish in it.  Hence why the Lord did not bless the Israelites when they attacked Ai; Achan (Joshua 6) sinned against the Lord and everyone perished with his sin (stealing and lying).   This is how serious God is when it comes to sin - it will never go unnoticed and unpunished or receiving a consequence of any form.  It's either one will admit the sin or everyone will suffer.  Thus, never hide anything from the people of the Lord.  The Lord still sees it and He will expose it so His glory will be revealed.

Lesson learned:  It will be hard for us to fight our enemies when the enemy begins deep within us first.  Destroy our own enemy - ourselves, our pride, our egos, our selfishness/motives/intentions, our self-glorification, etc. then we can move forward and destroy more enemies outside of our own.

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. [James 4:7]

Submitting to God means to obey Him - including those we don't want to do.  It is then, we can resist the devil - he will flee, because we now have defeated the enemy that was within us; by that, we've allowed the Holy Spirit to dwell (free of sin and free of iniquity).

// BELLE:

Gotten rid of it.  I am in Christ.  I am His new creation.  He is my Righteousness! 

However, I still need to rid of my own pride, ego, selfishness, and lack of humility on things in life.  God knows what they are and I will do my best to obey Him regardless how hard it is; I know this is what He wills for me to do. 

// LORD, I trust in You.  I know You have already forgiven all my trespasses.  Thank you so much for your love is so much greater than the sin that was in me.  Thank you for cleansing me.  And with the destruction of that sin in my life, I know that now I am able to move forward to the goal that You have set for me.  I pray that You will help me to forget what I have left behind; not to awaken it or to condemn myself for what I've done, but to strain towards what's ahead just exactly what Paul said.  I pray that You will indeed help me.  You are my strength at this moment and I will just take refuge in You.  Remove anything that is not of You.  You alone are the one I praise and worship!  In Jesus' name, amen.