Resting Place =)

"He makes me lie down in green pastures. He restores..."

"These are the commands, decrees and laws the Lord your God directed me to teach you to observe in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, so that you, your children and their children after them may fear the Lord your God as long as you live by keeping all His decrees and commands that I give you, and so that you may enjoy long life. Hear, Israel, and be careful to obey so that it may go well with you and that you may increase greatly in a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you." (Deuteronomy 6:1-3)

♫ I am bound for the Promised land ♫

When I went home after Spring quarter God was speaking to me through Deuteronomy about crossing over to the Promised Land, what we need to do to possess it. Read Deuteronomy 5:28 through chapters 6-12. And He was also stressing that we are closely approaching the Promised Land that's why the enemy is intensifying his attacks to keep us from entering in. When I went home there were many problems that were popping up and others that were already there were surfacing. The enemy was throwing sickness and threats of sicknesses, conflicts and division, confusion and depression... basically his plan is to oppress and destroy us to keep us from the destiny God has set for us and to keep us from inheriting all the promises that God has for us. I could see this in my life, my family, my friend's families, and in America (I'll talk about that later also there's a post in my drafts about families.) But yeah, God was just reminding me about the spiritual warfare we need to engage in order to overcome the enemy's evil plans and see God's promises materialize. I'll highlight some of the verses: 

1. LOVE -He wants it ALL.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is ONE. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates." (Deut. 6: 4-9)

First and foremost, God wants to be the first priority in our lives, our center, our all in all. Remember, the main reason why He let them wander in the desert (besides them being stubborn and complain-y) is because He wanted to test them and see where their trust lied and also to show that He could fulfill all our their needs (The Desert Series posts: The Desert,  A Call to Persevere, i Thirst/ i Sing/ i Cling).

2. RESTORATION of Fortunes
“And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. It is lthe Lord your God you shall fear. Him you shall serve and by His name you shall swear. Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you; 15 for the Lord your God, who is among you, is a jealous God" (Deut. 6:10-15a)

He wants to bestow blessings like never before. Restoring the years of the locust has eaten."If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:" (Deuteronomy 28:1, 2 NIV) Refer to these posts for more Scripture talking about that  PRIDE ROCK, Sow in tears. Reap in Joy!,

So He wants us to make Him our first Love, our One and Only (because when we have Him we have everything and He is the only One who fully satisfies and the only One who matters in the end) and so when we do, the other stuff He blesses us with won't take His place. He is our Resting Place for better or for worse. Whatever the season let's make Him our refuge, our peace and our rest :)

3. WARFARE!

"And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may go well with you, and that you may go in and take possession of the good land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers by thrusting out all your enemies from before you, as the Lord has promised."(Deut. 6: 18-19)

“When the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the Lord your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them."

So I begun this post early summer, but I left it in my drafts... but then Olivia, my lil sis, was reading the Bible more for herself and she used to call me with questions when I came back for summer school. And she told me that she kept seeing the number 7 in the Scriptures she was reading and she felt like God was trying to tell her something. So when she googled it she came across this website: 7 types of evil spirits. And I feel like God was using her to speak to me,... coz it immediately reminded me of this post in my drafts coz she was talking about the same Scriptures God had highlighted for me. This chart below especially stood out to me. In order to inherit God's promises we need to overcome the schemes that the devil has set to distract us from entering in, in other words, "idols."

Spirit name	Meaning of name	Abbreviated explanation of effects
Hittites	Sons of terror	Subliminal torments, phobias, terror, depression, deceit
Girgashites	Clay dwellers	Focus on earthliness, unbelief in what cannot be seen
Amorites	Mountain people; renowned	Obsession with earthly fame and glory, domineering
Canaanites	Lowlands people	Addictions, perversions, exaggerated people-pleasing
Perizzites	Belonging to a village	Limited vision, laziness, low self-esteem
Hivites	Villagers	Vision limited to enjoying an earthly inheritance, hedonism
Jebusites	Threshers	Suppression of spiritual authority in fellow believers, legalism

I just realized how similar the chart above is to the list I made in the pic on the left. God had showed me that I was letting these schemes of the devil hold me back from being who He created me to be and from claiming His promises. And I needed to fight back ...but the battle belongs to the LORD so it's all about release. For me to let go and let God fight for me. For me not to shrink back but to stand firm on my identity hidden in Christ. This is a call to put on the FULL Armor of God (post).

This is what God promises to do when we surrender to Him:"The Lord will grant that the enemies who rise up against you will be defeated before you. They will come at you from one direction but flee from you in seven... The Lord will open the heavens, the storehouse of his bounty, to send rain on your land in season and to bless all the work of your hands. You will lend to many nations but will borrow from none. The Lord will make you the head, not the tail. If you pay attention to the commands of the Lord your God that I give you this day and carefully follow them, you will always be at the top, never at the bottom. (Deuteronomy 28: 7, 12-13) Read the rest of the promised blessings in the PRIDE ROCK post :)

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A CALL TO REST! A CALL TO PRAISE! =)

"You will not have to fight this battle. Take up your positions; stand firm and see the deliverance the LORD will give you." (: 2 Chronicles 20:17 :)


"Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth. Worship the Lord with gladness; come before Him with joyful songs. Know that the Lord is God. It is He who made us, and we are His; we are His people, the sheep of his pasture. Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His name. For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." (Psalm 100)

Praise is a powerful weapon against the devil's schemes. Praise keeps our eyes on God's goodness no matter what is going on around us. So it is through praise that we will inherit all of God's promises! When we exalt God over our problems He takes care of the problems for us. Praise prepares the way for God to show us His salvation :) Read the whole of Psalm 68 :-) Here's some of it:

"God shall arise, his enemies shall be scattered; and those who hate him shall flee before him!...Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior, who daily bears our burdens. Our God is a God who saves! ...Your procession, God, has come into view, the procession of my God and King into the sanctuary. In front are the singers, after them the musicians; with them are the young women playing the timbrels. Praise God in the great congregation... Summon your power, God; show us your strength, our God, as you have done before. Sing to God, you kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to Him who rides across the highest heavens, the ancient heavens, who thunders with mighty voice. Proclaim the power of God, whose majesty is over Israel, whose power is in the heavens. You, God, are awesome in your sanctuary;the God of Israel gives power and strength to his people. Praise be to God!"

So yeah God wants to restore relationships (including our relationship with Him, marriages, friendships and families), fortunes, and He also wants to restore the people of Israel, and not just those who know their heritage but all the dry bones as well (post: REAL Identity). Restoration is a sign of the times. Here's a video I watched and got confirmation about that :) 

"I will tend them in a good pasture, and the mountain heights of Israel will be their grazing land. There they will lie down in good grazing land, and there they will feed in a rich pasture on the mountains of Israel. I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down, declares the Sovereign Lord. I will search for the lost and bring back the strays. I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak,..." (Ezekiel 34: 11-16)

So yeah, let's find rest as we praise and hope in the Lord our Peace. Greater things are yet to come!! VICTORY!!! PRAISE GOD!! =D #Plug: If you are in SB let's all come together and worship the King on January 25th 7pm, UCSB. He's gonna work miracles! =) 

*Oh yeah, everything I've written in this post is also for myself. I just like to share the journey. That's the Word God was speaking to me and it's also corporate. Let's pray for each other, encourage and help each other apply it. I'll share more of my personal stories later, with God's grace, and go into my struggles and experiences and God's hand at work in the midst of it (I need to for myself so I don't keep making the same mistakes, and you are welcome to learn from my experiences as well. God bless! Let me know if you have any questions! =)

Just ran into some cool confirmation. Check it out: Crossing the Red Sea.