Speaker 1: Most of us eat every day, some of us too
much because yesterday's food is not enough to supply energy
for today's needs. Why then, do some of us expect
yesterday's portion of heavenly manna, the word of God to
keep us through today's challenges. On this program, we are
going to change all of that. Let's experience God's words
today and receive the power we need to live healthy,
vibrant lives. Welcome to your Daily Portion with your host,
author speaker, Elle David Harris.
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good Marning, Good morning. It's Wednesday at October
twenty nine and twenty twenty five. Hello, my name is
El David Harris. I am your host, and this is
your Daily Portion where we give you God's word every
single day, and today is no exception. We are continuing
in our lesson study series lessons of Faith from Joshua,
and our caption for today is free Choice. Free Choice.
Before we get into that, I'd like to say welcome
to you and ask you to go over to your
Daily Portion dot com. Please join our online community, Please
pick up your Daily Portion Life Application Guide, and if
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Please type that in the chat for somebody at the
wwwpart please, and yeah, this is one of the ways
we continue to build faith and fellowship. Let's pray, Father,
thank you for getting us to this moment, the moment
where we need to choose, choose this day whom we
will serve. Let it be that as for we, all
of us, in our homes, our houses, that we will
serve the Lord in Jesus name. I pray, Amen and
Amen again. We all have the privilege to choose the
right pathway. I just want to start right there. All
of us have the privilege to choose the right direction.
Love gives us that privilege. Now now, now we can
also God forbid, choose to go the wrong direction. That's
our choice. That's our almost said, that's our choice. We
can do that. That's our prerogative. See there are words
in a dictionary for this stuff. It's our prerogative. Like
we can go whichever way we desire. But I remember
God saying of his people when they were going down
the wrong path. I remember him saying, like, God hath
no pleasure in the death of those who who die.
Therefore take heed lest she fall. Like take heed, turn
yourselves and live. I mix the Old Testament in the
New Testament text, but they were along the same lines. Yes,
it was seen, and I think it's Ezekiel chapter eighteen,
where God said turn yourselves and live. Please. He's begging
us to live. And for those who don't know God,
he is saying the very same thing. There is no
reason for any human being to turn our way against
God and ultimately miss out on eternity with Him. And
so today may be your day. You see what happened
yesterday when I abandoned my notes completely, Because it's like
God is giving us these moments of time to be
transformed by the renewing of our minds. And so we
begin now with our first question, our first lesson. Excuse me,
coming in from Deuteronomy chapter twenty and verse seventeen. Deuteronomy
chapter twenty and verse seventeen. And we're still taking that
trek from Egypt to Canaan. We're in the second generation. Now,
we're under Joshua, his leadership, and we are getting close
to actually getting into the promised lamp. But there's some
people who were just choosing not to surrender their will
to God. And so the Bible reads here, even though
we're back in Deuteronomy, but thou shalt utterly destroy them,
namely the Hittites and the Amorites, and the Canaanites and
the Perizites, and the divine wars of God's people. God
allowed no middle ground. There was no middle ground. Every
nation had to choose either we're going to align with
God or we're going to reject him. And I admit
because when you hear me pause like this, it's because
I'm fighting against myself under the Holy Ghost to just
simply tell the truth. I feel like I want to
be diplomatic, because there is a part of my behavior
style that has diplomacy built and etched into it. There
were times I want to pull it back and nullify
some of the heaviness of it. But I should not
allow my behavior style to resist what in the world
God said in his word. He said these very things.
He said, these very things. We don't need to reject God.
We don't need to be on the wrong side of justice,
and so the Hebrew word, the Hebrew word that is
in the discussion for today, refers to what is devoted
to destruction or set apart for judgment. It symbolized complete
surrender to God's authority, whether for mercy or for God's wrath.
And so when those ancient Canaanites persisted in rebellion, their
destruction revealed the consequences of rejecting divine truth. Do you
hide the truth when you're sharing with people? Do you
make up your own truth? People talk about my truth,
my own truth. God was giving them very clearly the
pathway to spiritual success and prosperity even on planet Earth.
Deuteronomy chapter twenty eight, verses one through fourteen show what
God's people the blueprint for God's people to prosper and
of course, anybody who had joined themselves according to Isaiah
chapter fifty six, verses one through five, and kept covenant
with God and kept the Holy seventh day Sabbath together,
those individuals would receive that covenantal blessings. The promise is
that they would be more than of more than sons
and of daughters. They would be they would they would
have names that would remain forevern, the forever, the name
of God inscribed upon their actual character on their foreheads,
in their foreheads, And so we need to remember God's
mercy is wide but requires a response that means, don't
take God's mercy for granted. You get stopped by law
enforcement over and over because you, in fact and indeed
have been speeding. Don't take that stuff for granted. Eventually
they gone impound your car and lock you up, like
if that is your habit, and you get enough points
on your license and then you're in your license gets suspended.
You continue to drive on a suspended license. Eventually that
thing is going to get too hot for you to handle,
and it would be unnecessary because even in that system
there is a level of correction and mercy. They don't
take your license immediately. You understand where I'm going with this.
So God's mercy is wide, but it requires a response.
Every choice to resist His will leads to leads further
from his protection. God help us our lessen. Number two
comes in from Deuteronomy, chapter thirteen and verse fourteen. Then
shout thou inquire and make search, and ask diligently, and behold,
if it be truth and the thing certain, and that
such abomination is wrought among you that we really basically
need to listen to God. That's the bottom line of this.
The law of warfare in the Book of Deuteronomy shows
that total destruction was never the default approach. Even the
command to destroy the idolatrous towns came only after do
inquiry and proof of consistent, unrepentant rebellion. This reveals that
God's justice was measured, It was deliberate and morally grounded.
There are some things we see in society today that
are not morally grounded. There are some things that happened
suddenly where the crime and the judgment do not match up.
I wish I had the time. And so what God
is showing us is that those who turned toward Him,
like Rayhab the Gibbian knights, even though the Gibbia Knights were,
you know, they were shifty, but they did turn toward
God in their own way, they found mercy. But those
who persisted against God they found condemnation. It's always a
deep breath for me, because I don't take pleasure in
this either. And I'm reading now from the book Desire
of Ages, page twenty two, the exercise of force is
contrary to the principles of God's government. He desires only
the service of love, and love cannot be commanded, It
cannot be won by force or authority HM. And so
one question for your reflection is in what areas of
your life do you need to choose life more intentionally?
Make it a great day.
Speaker 1: Thanks for joining us listening. Friends. Always remember we cannot
live by bread alone, but by every word that comes
from the mouth of God. This has been your daily
portion with El David Harris. Make it a great day. Yeah,