*DAILY DEW 7/JULY/2023* *THE ERROR OF BALAAM* (VII) _Key Bible Text:_ *“But godliness with contentment is great gain.For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content."* (1 Timothy 6:6-8 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ FINANCIAL CONTENTMENT AND GENEROSITY. To be clear: my point is not to tell you that you all should be sinking more money into our church, though it’s nice when we can pay the bills. My point is much broader than that. It has to do with a heart and a lifestyle committed to generously sharing what God has given us, and in the process freeing ourselves from the love of money, which is crouching at our door and gunning for our souls. · I know many of you have been sharing your money with people in our church and our community in ways that will never show up on a spreadsheet. Well done. The state of your hearts are reflected in the distribution of your hands. · Over the past 4 months, we have kept our modest food pantry stocked, and our church budget is healthier than it’s been in a while. Giving has gone up in time of crisis. Well done. The state of your hearts are reflected in the distribution of your hands. That’s a really good sign, biblically. If, when the going gets tough financially for us or our neighbor, and we are looking for ways to be more generous rather than less – I think that’s a sign that the love of money has not taken root in our hearts. So, as with Cain, God shows us the way out. Balaam is a warning, but warnings are useless unless they tell us what we can do. God’s revelation is clear: be content and generous. If love covers a multitude of sins, the opposite of love of money helps us avoid a multitude of sins. _MEDITATION:_ *"The last 4 months have shown that we have generous hearts in our church family. I love it. May we continue to honor God through the faithful surrender of all those things that compete for our souls."* *#TheChurchofTheLivingGod* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JULY,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 4/JULY/2023* *THE ERROR OF BALAAM* (IV) _Key Bible Text:_ *“There are some among you who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to entice the Israelites to sin so that they ate food sacrificed to idols and committed sexual immorality."* ((Revelation 2:14)) _Bible Insight:_ REPENT OR PERISH! In a late battle when he fought with the Midianites against the Israelites, Balaam was slain by the ones he had endeavored to curse. Remember, Balaam is the donkey, but he didn’t learn. “Take heed. If you don’t turn aside, God will kill you.” In this case, his path took him right into a battle against the people of God, and it cost him his life. Balaam: · like Cain, believes in God, goes against God’s will, and talks with God about it. · Unlike Cain, repents and becomes an instrument of God’s blessing! · Like Cain, it doesn't change his heart, and he destroys his brothers. So what is the error or the wandering of Balaam? Selling out or exploiting God’s people for financial gain. · Jude associates Balaam with the selling of one’s soul for financial gain (Jude 1:11). · Peter compares false teachers to Balaam, “who loved the wages of wickedness” (2 Peter 2:15). · Paul refers to that incident in 1 Corinthians 10:8: “We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.” They “rushed for profit” into Balaam’s error, which was telling Balak how to undermine the Israelites with sex and idolatry. The error or the wandering of Balaam was selling out or exploiting God’s people for financial gain. Considering how the early church attracted the marginalized in their society, these false teachers were taking money from people who needed their money the most. _MEDITATION:_ *"This is a warning about those giving in to the allure of money, specifically those financially exploiting God’s people under the umbrella of “ministry.”* *#TheChurchofTheLivingGod* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JULY,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 3/JULY/2023* *THE ERROR OF BALAAM* (III) _Key Bible Text:_ *"Behold, I have received commandment to bless: and he hath blessed; and I cannot reverse it.He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, neither hath he seen perverseness in Israel: the LORD his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them.."* (Numbers 23:20-21 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ FROM CURSING TO BLESSING And Balaam, unlike Cain, owns it. “I have sinned. I will go back if you want me to.” The angel then repeated to Balaam the instruction that he was only to speak what God told him to speak concerning the Hebrews. In Moab, King Balak took the prophet Balaam up to a high place called Bamoth Baal, from where he could see all of Israel, and told him to curse the Israelites (Numbers 22:41). But Balaam gives a blessing on Israel: “How can I curse those whom God has not cursed? How can I denounce those whom the Lord has not denounced?” King Balak had him try again from Mount Pisgah (where God takes Moses so he can see the land of promise before he dies). Balaam again spoke a blessing: “I have received a command to bless; he has blessed, and I cannot change it.” Balak tries one more time on the top of Mt. Peor. Then “the Spirit of God came on him and he spoke his message” (Numbers 24:2–3) :“How beautiful are your tents, Jacob, your dwelling places, Israel!”[9] Balak told Balaam: “Go home. Thanks to your God, you don’t get the money.” Balaam reminded the king that he had said from the very beginning he could only say what God told him to say. But…. Balaam advised Balak to go after Israel with prostitutes and idolatry. Israel would bring a curse upon themselves. In Numbers 25, we find that the women of Midian began to seduce the men of Israel to sexual sin and to sacrifice to their gods. Israel began worshiping Baal of Peor (Pero, the last mountain on which Balaam stood) _MEDITATION:_ *"Often times we worry over external enemies, thinking that is where the danger lies. We forget that the more potent enemy to our progress is the one we behold when we look at a mirror-- ourselves!"* -- EDJ *#TheChurchofTheLivingGod* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JULY,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 2/JULY/2023* *THE ERROR OF BALAAM* (II) _Key Bible Text:_ *"And the angel of the LORD said unto him, Wherefore hast thou smitten thine ass these three times? behold, I went out to withstand thee, because thy way is perverse before me: And the ass saw me, and turned from me these three times: unless she had turned from me, surely now also I had slain thee, and saved her alive."* (Numbers 22:32-33 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ BENT ON CURSING Balak then sent more distinguished officials, apparently assuming Balaam was playing hard to get, and promised a fantastic reward. This time God said, “Go with them, but do only what I tell you” (verse 20). Note something: God already told Balaam not to do it. Balaam didn’t need to ask again. Now God is going to use Balaam’s desire for money as a means of having God’s blessing spoken over Israel. So Balaam tells them God has given him permission. It’s true, but not honest. Surely the officials believe that means God has given Balaam permission to curse the Israelites. The next morning, Balaam saddled his donkey and left for Moab (Numbers 22:21). God sent an angel to oppose Balaam on the way. The donkey could see the angel, but Balaam could not, and when the donkey three times moves to avoid the angel (one time crushing Balaam’s ankle), Balaam was angry and beat the animal (if we are going to compare Balaam and Moses – like Moses struck the rock). “Then the Lord opened the donkey’s mouth,” and it rebuked Balaam. “Then the Lord opened Balaam’s eyes, and he saw the angel of the Lord standing in the road with his sword drawn.” I think – I think - this is what the prophet Nathan did to king David when he told him the parable of the sheep: “Thou art the man.” I think Balaam is the donkey. God is opposing him because his path is reckless. “Balaam – take heed. If you don’t turn aside, God will kill you.” _MEDITATION:_ *"The fundamental mockery of Balaam is obvious. The one perceived to be able to control the Israelites with words could not even control his donkey with a stick. The one who claimed to be a seer of the unseen could not even see what his donkey saw… The one who is the wise among the wise was beaten in a spoken exchange by the dumbest of animals"* *#TheChurchofTheLivingGod* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JULY,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....

*DAILY DEW 1/JULY/2023* *THE ERROR OF BALAAM* (I) _Key Bible Text:_ *"Come now therefore, I pray thee, curse me this people; for they are too mighty for me: peradventure I shall prevail, that we may smite them, and that I may drive them out of the land: for I wot that he whom thou blessest is blessed, and he whom thou cursest is cursed."* (Numbers 22:6 (KJV)) _Bible Insight:_ HIRING THE ASSASSIN OF A CURSES After the Jewish people wandered 40 years in the desert, they camped at the border of Moab as they got ready to enter the Promised Land. The Moabites were scared because the Jews had defeated the Moabites’ guardians, the Emori. Moab and Midian banded together and appointed a Balak as king over them. Balak recognized that this was a supernatural power struggle as much as anything else, so he hired Balaam "from Aram, out of the mountains of the east," to curse them. Balak asked him to curse Israel in exchange for a reward. Balaam said he needed God’s permission. God said, “Who are these men?” He wasn’t confused; it’s an invitation to a conversation, much like, “What have you done?” (Adam) and “Where is your brother?” (Cain) And Balaam actually steps up to the plate. He’s honest. He tells God they want him to curse the Israelites so they can drive them out. God’s response is very clear: “You must not put a curse on those people, because they are blessed” (verse 12). So Balaam tells the men he can’t go, but he doesn’t tell them that he’s not allowed to curse them. He just says God said no. _MEDITATION:_ *"You can't stop some people from trying to harm or curse you but you can stop being worried or bothered about them because only God has the final say"* *#TheChurchofTheLivingGod* *#Daily_Wisdom_for_living* *#Becoming_More_Like_Jesus* *#The_Rise_of_An_Army* *#Daily_Dew_Devotional* *#Hello_JULY,2023* ❤ *#Guest_Message* Links To Visit: *FB Pages* https://www.facebook.com/DavidJoshuaEgbochuo/ https://www.facebook.com/thedavidgen/ https://www.facebook.com/THEREVIVALCORPS/ *Telegram Group:* https://t.me/joinchat/NzXQlVc9Hx7LfaRSnh9fHg Feel Free to Share with Friends. God bless you.....