1-2 When God, your God, brings you into the country that you are about to enter and take over, he will clear out the superpowers that were there before you: the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. Those seven nations are all bigger and stronger than you are. God, your God, will turn them over to you and you will conquer them. You must completely destroy them, offering them up as a holy destruction to God.
Don't make a treaty with them.
Don't let them off in any way.
3-4 Don't marry them: Don't give your daughters to their sons and don't take their daughters for your sons—before you know it they'd involve you in worshiping their gods, and God would explode in anger, putting a quick end to you.
5 Here's what you are to do:
Tear apart their altars stone by stone,
smash their phallic pillars,
chop down their sex-and-religion Asherah groves,
set fire to their carved god-images.
6 Do this because you are a people set apart as holy to God, your God. God, your God, chose you out of all the people on Earth for himself as a cherished, personal treasure.
7-10 God wasn't attracted to you and didn't choose you because you were big and important—the fact is, there was almost nothing to you. He did it out of sheer love, keeping the promise he made to your ancestors. God stepped in and mightily bought you back out of that world of slavery, freed you from the iron grip of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know this: God, your God, is God indeed, a God you can depend upon.I love the Word of God, I love how you can read a passage and glean so much from a few verses. While reading this morning I am convinced that God desires for all of us to live a life full of freedom and victory. Contained in His gift to us, the secrets for victory can be found in His marvelous Word.
What do you see as you read these passages. Here is what I felt the Lord say to me; when I deliver you from something, someone, some circumstance, DO NOT, in any way, give that thing a place in your life. Here He tells the Hebrews to be very careful - make sure you destroy every enemy I give you victory over. Leave no trace of them, make no treaties, show them no mercy, total destruction! Wow. It sounds harsh but God tells us later to not doubt His love for us. When we understand the Love of God, that everything He does is driven out of that place of love, then we can be assured that no matter how harsh something sounds, we can trust the character of our God.
So when God delivered me of anger years ago, I have to be very careful that I leave no trace of it in my life today. When God delivered me of insecurity and depression, I have to be very careful to make the choice of not allowing myself to go down that road again. If God has delivered you from addictions, you can't flirt with them again! You make a choice to be done with it! Whatever that means for you. Don't go to the same spots where you used to engage in things not pleasing to the Lord. You can't entertain your friends you used to gossip with by having a listening ear. You can't let your ears and eyes be gratified by images and words that "talk" about the things God has delivered us from! Ephesians 5 12For it is shameful even to mention what the disobedient do in secret.
God desires that we have total victory and freedom, that nothing in this place has a chance to creep in and distract us. He desires that He has our full attention. Its not about perfection, its about His love for us. Each one of us, individually, is His treasured possession. Our enemy would like to trick us into thinking that things are insignificant, that they don't matter. But our Father who loves us reveals in our spirits the very thing that causes us to stumble.
I pray for victory in your life and mine. That the things He asks us to lay down we would be able to by His mighty Spirit who is working in us. There are things in my life that I can fear if I am not careful. A little fear will creep in and I pray to God please, don't allow me to pick that up again. Will I be strong enough? What if I fall? What if I give in? Can I get back up tomorrow? God declares to us in Dt. 7:21
21-24 So don't be intimidated by them. God, your God, is among you—God majestic, awesome. God, your God, will get rid of these nations, bit by bit. You won't be permitted to wipe them out all at once lest the wild animals take over and overwhelm you. But God, your God, will move them out of your way—he'll throw them into a huge panic until there's nothing left of them. He'll turn their kings over to you and you'll remove all trace of them under Heaven. Not one person will be able to stand up to you; you'll put an end to them all.
I am convinced that through His help, we will have total destruction over our fears, hang ups, and hurts. God promises us an end to them all. Be diligent, be persistent, however painful it is until you have total destruction. On the other side is sweet freedom full of blessing, favor, prosperity and strength.
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