Reading for today
Old Testament: Numbers 22, 23 ,24
New Testament: Luke 3
Thoughts from today’s reading
Numbers 22. The prophet Balaam was enticed by the King of Moab to curse the Israelites, the Lord refused for him to go, but he kept responding to the pressure from Balak and was almost struck by an angel in his attempt to go to Moab.
The story of Balaam the prophet reminds me of the boy with a bad attitude who was told to stand up in class by his teacher. He reluctantly stood up and blurted out, I may be standing on the outside, but I am sitting in my heart.
Balaam wanted the honour and riches Balak had to offer even though he knew God did not want him to speak against the Israelites.
Numbers 23. Several times Balaam tried to curse the Israelites at the request of Balak, but each time a blessing would come out for them. He eventually said that you cannot curse the one God has blessed.
In the days of recordable CD’s, there were CD’s that you could only record on once. If you made a mistake and recorded a 2 minute track on a 90 minute CD, that was all that would be on the CD and the mistake was irreversible as you were unable to rerecord over the CD. We are like that CD, and thankfully God has written His blessings all over us, so there is no room for any more writing against us. No man or devil is strong enough to undo what God has done.
Luke 3:1-6. While the men listed in these verses were appointed to their offices of great responsibility and importance, carrying on as usual, God sent his word into the wilderness to John who seemed significantly unimportant compared to them. The multitudes then gathered to John where he was because of the power of the word.
The most important appointment we will ever have is that of the word of the Lord.
Prayer
1. Father thank you that those who gather against me will fall for my sake, that no curses assigned to make me fail will ever see the light of day. Every negative word against me I condemn now in Jesus name. You have blessed me and no one can reverse it, I am blessed with all blessings in Christ Jesus.
2. Lord I wait on your word for that is the very source of my nourishment for life. You created all things by your word and anything of significance has the permission to be that because you spoke it into being. Thank you for the word you have spoken about me, thank you for the word you have spoken to me and thank you for the word that you will have me speak to my generation in Jesus name.