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Today is Sunday March 07, 2010, and we are reading through the Bible in a year. Today's message comes from the reading of the Book of Deuteronomy, chapters 17-20. If you would like to read the chapters along with us here online you can Click Here to read them or copy & paste this URL onto your browser: http://www.readytofollow.com/bible-march-7

Title: Bible Study: Be Prepared For Battle
Christian's who dedicate their lives to Christ are to stay away from all evil, to separate themselves from the world, and to be on guard and prepare ourselves for battle, a spiritual battle. No one who lives in the world realizes that the wars we face between nations, our country, and in our own back yard are all controlled by God. Everything is in God's control, whether we, even we Christian's, would like to admit that fact or not. Anyone notice all the earth quakes, tsunami's, and other natural disasters around the world today? These are not really natural disasters, but in fact, God Himself, and He is showing us and warning us that He is still in control and Christ's return is closer than we can imagine. Before the Israelites were about to enter the promised land, Moses informed them that they were to enter a land that had been utterly controlled by heathens. The Canaanites were idolaters who worshiped false gods, were full of sin, and became involved in things that were an abomination to God. God warns them what would happen to them if they got involved in their practices. “Thou shalt not sacrifice unto the LORD thy God any bullock, or sheep, wherein is blemish, or any evilfavouredness: for that is an abomination unto the LORD thy God. If there be found among you, within any of thy gates which the LORD thy God giveth thee, man or woman, that hath wrought wickedness in the sight of the LORD thy God, in transgressing his covenant, And hath gone and served other gods, and worshipped them, either the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven, which I have not commanded; And it be told thee, and thou hast heard of it, and enquired diligently, and, behold, it be true, and the thing certain, that such abomination is wrought in Israel: Then shalt thou bring forth that man or that woman, which have committed that wicked thing, unto thy gates, even that man or that woman, and shalt stone them with stones, till they die.” - Deuteronomy 17:1-5. There was no compromise here, any person caught doing any of these wicked things was to be put to death. No inhabitants of Canaan were to be spared to share the land of promise, “For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.” - Deuteronomy 18:12. God knew that the Israelites would get involved in these practices if they remained in the land. Of course, as you read through the Old Testament you will learn later on that they did not do as God commanded and many did, in fact, become a part of these evil practices. Does any of this sound familiar to you? You know, when America was first discovered, the people, who were Christians, came here to be able to worship God on God's terms, not man made religion terms. It was a land, which the Indians inhibited, and for a while it was a God nation, but the Indians still controlled the land and still do, now it is so corrupted with false gods and religion that no one, except true Christians know the truth. See all the problems going on in America today? Think it is just bad government? It has nothing to do with the government, it has to do with a bunch of egos on a power trip trying to control us. God is giving us a warning here and we better start paying attention to it.

Now Israel was about to be faced with armies who were far greater in numbers. However, through Moses, God reminded them not only of what He had done for them in the past, but what He would do for them when going into battle. “When thou goest out to battle against thine enemies, and seest horses, and chariots, and a people more than thou, be not afraid of them: for the LORD thy God is with thee, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt. And it shall be, when ye are come nigh unto the battle, that the priest shall approach and speak unto the people, And shall say unto them, Hear, O Israel, ye approach this day unto battle against your enemies: let not your hearts faint, fear not, and do not tremble, neither be ye terrified because of them; For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” - Deuteronomy 20:1-4. God assured them that they were going to battle with Him on their side and no matter how big of an army they faced, He was with them and would save them. Today, we are in a constant spiritual battle, it seems every day we go up against some new religion or a bunch of them wanting to come together as one religion. Can you imagine people from every religion and every belief coming together a one? Talk about a war, that will be one huge war that will destroy the entire world. However, those who know the truth, those faithful Christians that guard and armor themselves with the Word of God will be saved. Praise God!

In the midst of these chapters is a great prophesy of the one prophet who would come to save us in this spiritual battle. “The LORD thy God will raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto me; unto him ye shall hearken;.…..I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.” - Deuteronomy 18:15,18,19. Of course, this is no one other than Jesus Christ Himself. Jesus came for one purpose only and that was to follow the will of His Father and that was to teach all nations how to live as a child of God and to die for those children so they could live with God. God also warns them of the false prophet, “But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him.” - Deuteronomy 18:20-22. There are going to be many false prophets out there trying to take us away from the truth and some will even know a little bit of Scripture to back up their story. This is where many are deceived and fall into Satan's web, even Jesus said that both Moses and the Scriptures bore witness of Him and yet they would believe the false prophet over Him.“I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not: if another shall come in his own name, him ye will receive. How can ye believe, which receive honour one of another, and seek not the honour that cometh from God only? Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father: there is one that accuseth you, even Moses, in whom ye trust. For had ye believed Moses, ye would have believed me; for he wrote of me. But if ye believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words?” - John 5:43-47. The truth is this, the only way to know God's Word is to know Jesus. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him.” - John 14:6,7. If you know Jesus, you know the truth and will understand God's Word and not get deceived by all the false prophets out there and I am not talking about some book that claims to be His Word or explain it to you in simple terms. All who know Jesus will understand the Bible because the Holy Spirit teaches it to them. We are in a spiritual battle daily between good and evil, the power to be victorious daily is keeping our heart, eyes, ears, mind, and soul on Jesus all day long. If there is any person to truly have on your side, that person is Jesus. He truly saves us from every battle we face. Praise God!

Enjoy the rest of your day/night and have a great week.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina

P.S. I apologize for the late posting of this message, I have a brother that is in the hospital with double pneumonia and it is taking it's toll on the family. Everything should resume as normal after today. Thanks again.

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