Correct back when our nature takes us far from God

S -Judges 3
Othniel
7 The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord; they forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs. 8 The anger of the Lord burned against Israel so that he sold them into the hands of Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram Naharaim,[a] to whom the Israelites were subject for eight years. 9 But when they cried out to the Lord, he raised up for them a deliverer, Othniel son of Kenaz, Caleb’s younger brother, who saved them. 10 The Spirit of the Lord came on him, so that he became Israel’s judge[b] and went to war. The Lord gave Cushan-Rishathaim king of Aram into the hands of Othniel, who overpowered him. 11 So the land had peace for forty years, until Othniel son of Kenaz died.

O- God had always been for the Israelites,  his promises to Abraham, Issaac and Moses, fullfilled through his guiding and shepherding His people.  We see here though the challenge of man,  to choose to follow and obey God.   Over the years after Moses deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt,  God warned them to rid themselves from all the local altars and false God worship, and included the commandment to rid the land of all those people,  bcause they ultimately would entice the Israelites to wander again.   We see here that the Israelites failed to rid the the lasnd of all its peoples and therefore their false Gods.   This disobedience angered the Lord enough to allow them to learn the lesson the hard way, and he gave them into the hands of these false gods and the foreign nations kingship.     Eventually , after only 8 years this time (vice the 40 years in the desert) they cried out to the Lord for help and He sent help.

A -  The application eerily reflects some of my own journey in my walk with God.   He has called me,  saved me and delivered me from my past and present circumstances.    I react in thankfulness immediately, but overtime begin losing my perspective and allowing false gods back into my life and the heaviness of oppression and being farther from God begins to take me back to a place I do not want to live.   This is a reminder of my nature in which I must guard against.   I need to reset back to God's promises and revelations that he has already given me .  I must come repentent before the Lord and ask once again for his grace, forgiveness, and help in my life.

P - Dear Lord, I do come repenting for the wandering and idol worship that I have allowed in my life and my families life.  You have given me the gift of salvation and fellowship and I have allowed our relationship to grow distant.  I pray that you restore a new passion in me to get back to you in my life as the key foundational guide and drive.   I pray all this in Jesus name, Amen.

Correcting back to following the Lord and His ways

-31S - deutr 31:29
. In days to come, disaster will fall on you because you will do evil in the sight of the Lord and arouse his anger by what your hands have made.”

Psalm 41
4 Blessed is the one
    who trusts in the Lord,
who does not look to the proud,
    to those who turn aside to false gods.[b]
5 Many, Lord my God,
    are the wonders you have done,
    the things you planned for us.
None can compare with you;
    were I to speak and tell of your deeds,
    they would be too many to declare.

O- These words are an exhortation and encouragement to me to keep correcting myself to the Lord.   We are all like the Israelites who wandered from God even after He delivered them to the promiseland and  warned them of their likelihood to wander.   Then David reminds us that we are to trust in the Lord because of who He is.

A -  The application is first to me.  I am a season of wandering from God and correcting back.   I recognize the sovereignty of God over my life, and the grace he has shown me . But even I begin wandering again and need to correct back to what God has told me , shown me.   i have done this in my life as recent as today,  wanting to not do devotions but watch t.v. instead.   I am also observing this in my daughters behavior.  She is s a good girl,  who has love and talent and gifts in her, but she is wandering to do what she knows she ought not to do.  In both of our cases we need to correct back to God's truth, in His wword.    

P -   Dear heavenly Father, please save me and Ashlyn from ourselves.  We are ain love with you and want to follow you but our wandering hearts keep testing your patience and grace.   Heal us both from our rebellious nature, and help us to grow in love and obedience of your word and your ways.  In Jesus name, amen.  

Freedom from the chains of this world, forever a slave to Christ

S Deut 26
16 The Lord your God commands you this day to follow these decrees and laws; carefully observe them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17 You have declared this day that the Lord is your God and that you will walk in obedience to him, that you will keep his decrees, commands and laws—that you will listen to him. 18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise, fame and honor high above all the nations he has made and that you will be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.

Gal 5

5 It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.
...

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh[a]; rather, serve one another humbly in love. 14 For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”[b] 15 If you bite and devour each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other
...
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other.

O -  The entirety of the bible must be considered when reading God's decree's in the old testament, and the new freedom afforded through Christ.   They are not contradictory,  though taken in single context can lead to a contradictory mindset, where we think we must decide to follow the old testament God, or the New Testament Christ.     God have the laws to the Israelites because of His love for them,  he knowes the challenges that lie ahead and prepared them in certain disciplines to prevent them for wandering from Him, and treating each  other with a lack of love.     Christ set us free from the flesh by helping us die to our sin,  and enabled us without hinderance of self consideration to love God and love others.  

A -  The application for me is read and remind myself of the rules under which God has outlined Godly living,  and to remember the grace I have received which enables me to break the chains of this world, in order to truly love God, and love the people he has placed in my life. 

P - Dear heavenly Father, thank you for today's lesson, may it be sealed to my heart.  I pray father that you help me once again take of the chains that I have allowed to be put back on ,  because I was focusing on personal gains,  and comfort.  

Fear of the lord, and love of the Lord