Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year.

Deuteronomy 14

Be sure to set aside a tenth of all that your fields produce each year. v22

God requires us to tithe - it is a reminder that all of our blessings come from God and that we are to trust God to provide for us.

We must also care for our church leadership - who is referred to by Moses in v27.

The elders who direct the affairs of the church well are worthy of double honor, especially those whose work is preaching and teaching. 1 Timothy 5:17

Lord Jesus help me tithe so I have a reminder of how You are the source of all blessings and only You provide, that I must trust in You.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who has blessed me beyond what I deserve.  Thank You Jesus.  Yet my sin continues - I am harsh with my words. Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it.

Deuteronomy 12

See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it. v32

The greatest commandment is to love the Lord Your God with all of your heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22).  God provides for other commands as well and how we live in relationship to God, others, and the church is clearly laid out among scripture.

Moses communicates to the Israelites that they are to be careful to worship the one true God in ways that others worship false gods.  Yahweh is a jealous God and we must out of respect fear His wrath.

See also posts here.

Lord Jesus, please help me worship You as You intend - with all of my heart, soul, and mind, and to not add to or subtract how You desire for me to be in relationship with You, others, and the church.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God, full of love and compassion for me - thank You Jesus.  I am not deserving of such love.  I am lazy.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior. Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.

Deuteronomy 11

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth. v18-21

God must live within our hearts - this must then visible in our actions in our daily lives (Romans 12:1-2) as we become a living sacrifice.

For God to live within our hearts we must seek Him earnestly and daily.

Jesus, I pray that I might seek You earnestly and daily, and to live out my life as a living sacrifice to You.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God who is always with us - never leaving or forsaking us.  You encourage us, teach us, provide for us, protect us, etc.  We are nothing without You.  Thank You for how You sustain me Jesus.  I am not worth such love. I neglect You often. Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself strength and wisdom. Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. 21 He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.

Deuteronomy 10

Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is the one you praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes. v20-21

Moses repeatedly refers to the Israelites as stiff-necked and rebellious (see Deuteronomy 9) - yet he loves them and more importantly He loves the Lord and knows the Lord loves the Israelites and is faithful.  Moses wants the Israelites to thrive in the Promised Land and he knows that they must constantly remind themselves of the source of their blessings.

See also my post yesterday.

All of us are stiff-necked and rebellious - on a daily basis.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

We MUST remember what Jesus did for us - He gave us what we did not deserve (mercy and life) and spared us from what we did deserve (slavery to sin and death).

Lord Jesus, help me daily remind myself of who You are, what You have done for me and what You continue to do for me.

My Prayer: Jesus, You are indeed a great God who has paid it all for me.  Thank You Jesus.  I am not worth the price You paid for me.  My stubbornness and rebelliousness continues.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

Deuteronomy 8

But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. v18

Moses implores the Israelites to remember how God is the source of all the blessings the Israelites experienced:

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. v2-4

For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. v7-9

When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. v10-18

Verse 17-18 are key here also because Moses reminds us of how arrogance displaces God from His rightful place as the center of our life and the source of all blessings.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

I pray that God can help me remain humble and to remember how God provides all that I am and all that I have and experience.

My Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You are a great God full of love and compassion for me - Thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love.  I fall down and am often arrogant.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help my serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

Deuteronomy 8

 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. v5

Just as the Israelites were humbled and disciplined for their sins in the wilderness (v2-4), God has disciplined me for me sin and humbled me - helping me understand His greatness and my utter dependence on Him alone.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. v3

We all go through periods where we are molded by God and often it is painful - but a necessary thing if we are to be who God intends for us.

See also posts here and here, including posts on how we go through a refinement process.

"My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
    and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,

because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
    and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.” Hebrews 12:5-6

 

This third I will put into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. Zechariah 13:9

 

Lord Jesus, please help me not lose heart as You discipline me.

 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God - full of love and compassion for me - even as You discipline me - it is an expression of Your love for me.  Thank You for how You have molded me.  I love You.  Yet I am not worth such love.  I worry - please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo. Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments.

Deuteronomy 7

Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. v9

God makes many promises and He is faithful.  This is reinforced elsewhere in scripture including Luke 1:37 where Gabriel comforts Mary with these words: "[f]or no word from God will ever fail".  It is comforting during periods of concern. 

God will always be with us and never leave or forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, Hebrews 13:5, Psalm 73:23, Matthew 28:20)

God provides, sustains, and we are not to worry.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You indeed are a great God, and You provide - all things during all times.  I have experienced Your blessing during both good times and difficult times.  I know You are always with me and You sustain me.  Thank You Jesus.  I am not worth such love and blessing.  I am harsh with my words.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome my sin and turn towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.