JOSHUA & JUDGES

Had a great night as we started our Mission's Conference.  Great crowd and spirit and the message was a blessing as well.  Praying for a great day today as we take the Missionaries shopping and spoil them.  They are our modern day Heroes!  I'm reading in Joshua and Judges and here are a few thoughts: 1) GOD KEEPS HIS WORD- Joshua 21:45 says:  "There failed not aught of any good thing which the LORD had spoken unto the house of Israel; all came to pass."  God keeps His Word!  You can trust His promises, you can follow His Word.  The Bible is a book of Promises as well as instruction.  We can trust God's Word and know that He will honor it and keep it.  Let this cheer you up today! 2) TWO WOMEN WHO SAVED THE DAY- In Judges 4 and 5, we read of two women who were used of God to save the day for Israel.  One was Deborah.  She was the judge of Israel (Judges 4:4)  The King of Canaan came against Israel, and she was the leader of Israel, with Barak, her general so to speak.  So it was Deborah's courage Israel followed.  Barak said this in Judges 4:8:  "If thou wilt go with me, then I will go: but if thou wilt not go with me, then I will not go."  Barak would not go into the battle without this woman, so she was used by God to save the day!  Judges 5:7  "The inhabitants of the villages ceased, they ceased in Israel, until that I Deborah arose, that I arose a mother in Israel." The second woman was the lady who turned the tide of the battle that day.  Her name was Jael.  When Sisera, the captain of the king of Canaan, was tired, he came within her tent to rest and she did the rest.  Here are some verses that describe what she did to the General of the enemy:  Judges 4:21  "Then Jael Heber's wife took a nail of the tent, and took an hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the ground: for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died."  Judges 5:24-26  "Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be, blessed shall she be above women in the tent.  25  He asked water, and she gave him milk; she brought forth butter in a lordly dish.  26  She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen's hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples." He came to rest, and it turned out he rested for the rest of his life!  She nailed him!  **A word to all men.... be careful about getting a lady upset! 3. DOES HE MOVE YOU?  Judges 13:25  "And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol."  Here we see that the Holy Spirit began to move Samson at times.  He gave him super natural strength at times to do amazing feats of strength.  But the question is:  Does God move you at times?  If God indwells us, .... we ought to be moved by Him.  When is the last time you know God moved you to do something?  Like He spoke to your heart about what to do for Missions?  How to serve Him in Church? How to respond to a need you became aware of?  God will move us... IF we let Him!! Hope you have a blessed day today!  Pastor Mike Mutchler