Robyn G.

Moses experiences God face to face and witnesses His glory and once that has happened and you know God's love and glory you want it more. In order to continue in the glory of God, Moses must keep in communion with God. He longs for the intimacy that you can only gain by spending time with God. Paul presses on because he knows that God's plan and heaven are far more than what we have on Earth. He wants to focus on the prize ahead--heaven, praising God and being in His presence. I believe the more we indulge into our relationship with God the more we grow and become centered in God's will. Things don't go smoother when in relationship with God but our perspective and how we handle them is changed. I know I want and need to strengthen my relationship and understanding of God. It is a cause and effect, the more we engage with God the more we want to engage with Him, We long to be within His will. The more we know, the more we want to know.

God seems to have to come and make Himself know again because we forget His greatness and plan---we grumble, whine and lose sight of His will and glory. God is a consuming fire because He made it all and can take it away just as quickly/easily. When we willfully disobey God, His judgment comes upon us. There are consequences for our disobedience and lack of faith. God's holy and perfect. Sin is the going against God and His will. Sin leads to hell which by definition is the absence of God. We can't serve two Gods, we cannot strive to be holy and be free to indulge in sin. They are opposites that cannot reside together inside us.

1) Reputation glory- is glory due to things we have done. It is based on acts, actions and reactions. 2)Derived glory- is glory with association. We become more and take on the attributes of those we associate with and have relationships with. 3) Inherent glory-is glory God has being God. Whether someone praises God or recognizes His glory doesn't mean He doesn't have His glory---it is there regardless. I believe we should use all 3 to praise God. God should be praised for being God (inherent), having a loving relationship with us (derived) and for all He does for us because of His love (reputation). I believe derived glory is in us, for because God chooses to reside and have the relationship with us. We do not have the glory without accepting and allowing God to have that relationship and dwell in our heart. Nothing we do can ever earn the glory and also nothing we do can prevent His glory.

When pondering this question, I think of the impact of the original sin, If one decision of disobedience affected all people for all time-how can we not think others sins can affect us? Though not really considered it that way before to be honest. Country- Well I think we only need to look at the decay and downward spiral of morals to know and take notice sins effect us all both directly and indirectly. Congregation-This on I can speak to on a personal level unfortunately. When people sin and there are sins that get people to choose sides, form conclusions and once a lie has ran through and battle lines drawn; there's no getting the love and trust back. There are hurt feelings, relationships lost and the focusing and worshiping God is no longer the focus. Many people leave churches and God because of how people act and treat one another, We must be careful to lift God up, not break down His teachings. I've not personally dealt with how our current congregation deals with sin affecting the body. I do know they have a ministerial staff that goes and talks to the individual(s), I know we have a prayer network for each other and concerns and much emphasis is placed on the importance of small group studies and accountability for all our and our church's growth and mission. I believe that Jesus best demonstrated this through hate sin, but love the sinner. We've got to remember we all have a back story and skeletons we have lurking in out past that Satan wants to use to try and discourage and separate us fro God. God forgives us, but we struggle to stay forgiven and accepted. We've got to reprogram our thinking to be more of God's (seeing the good and potential) instead of the world's (egocentric, me , myself, and I and subconsciously proving we're better by making other's worse). Our daily walk and time building our relationship with God is the only way to accomplish this- we can't do this on our own, it's so very true: God I need you, every hour I need you, you're m one defense, my righteousness, oh, Lord how I need you. We must admit and acknowledge sins or we can't grow. Ignoring a problem doesn't make it better and solves nothing. Too often (and I mean way too often) we know what to do to resolve or how to move away from a sin, but it's SO much easier and more comfortable to remain in sin than be set apart for God. Sin is a disease, it's a disease of our soul, if left untreated it overtakes and spreads to our friends and family like wildfire. As I continue to grow and learn, I'm understanding more how God's BIG PICTURE works and in being more Christ centered, I become more BIG PICTURE/God's will centered. God made us in His image and thus to love and sin hinders our love and leads to sadness, regret and anger which lead to more sin and awful feelings. It's a revolving door, you reap what you sow, monkey see; monkey do, and countless other metaphors--the point remains: we are a slave to sin and doomed to repeat/relive it unless we do something different and use Godly means to fight our worldly battles.

It is the fulfillment of God's promise to never leave us or forsake us. If God's for us, who can stand against us? Our job is so simple, we make it hard. We just have to trust and obey. However, we so much can't stand to give up control. We're supposed to submit and seek God's will for our lives. We achieve this through prayer, study and fellowship.

God gave the instruction for 7 days with 7 priests and 7 trumpets. The Biblical significance of being associated with fulfillment fits. The Ark represents God with them and in reverence of His presence with the Israelites. God is God, he could use anything or nothing. Though I would agree that He could have easily been using timing to make the miracle. (Being on the fault or a volcanic tremor from under sea as it is so far below sea level makes complete sense.

God is a loving God, but He also tells us repeatedly we must obey and He is a jealous God. God calls us to turn away from sin and seek His will for our lives, and he forgives us when we ask, but when we fail to repent and turn from our sin God does hold us accountable as well. I believe God looks out for the well-being of all as well. By this, He knows we are weak and that sin will tempt us to lose focus and lose sight of His love and plans for us. I must confess my devotion needs more consistency. I know I am only strong through Christ working through my weakness, but I am bad at not always having God as my first priority as should be. I'll do really well and then fall horribly short, I've tried to take up a concept I learned in a women's Bible Study "imperfect progress" and "allowing God to chisel me. " Though as with everything--easier said than applied at times. We must constantly remind ourselves that God is our first priority and He's ours and we are His. It's usually more than a daily choice to put God in His place as our top priority--we are horrible about wanting God's attention but not allowing Him our attention so we can follow His plan. I pray for God to use me and allow me to be a light and then fight feelings of inadequacy when I get called upon or asked to support someone in their journey. Taking up our cross is a constant battle, setting baggage at the cross is easy---leaving it there is not so.

Joshua asks "Are you for us or our enemies?" He is God. God doesn't have sides, He has His will. I believe often times we forget the basic truth that God loves all and we are all His children. We always try to one up or prove/justify out worth. However, to God, we all have worth and a purpose in His plan. I wish I could say I'm always on God's side, but I know myself gets in the way of that at times and I fall into the human traps of justification and fall into self-centeredness rather than God-centeredness. It's a constant effort to keep focus on God and His will. God is exactly that God. We can't begin to fathom Him or His will for our lives. Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end." We are not worthy of His presence, but because of His love, even the lowest sinner, such as me, is loved and forgiven. We are no better than anyone else, we all fall short and have sinned. Wow, so many reasons we find it difficult to submit. But they all boil down to focus on ourselves and temporal rather than God and eternity. We fall into spectrums of pride and self-reliance believing we do anything on our own without God to the other side of self-pity and doubts and lies Satan uses against to convince us we'll never be good enough or loved by God for what we've done. However, God loves all and we are all His children. We give degrees and levels to sin and people, God does not. He knows sin is sin and we are all His and He loves us all.

Joshua had one stone per tribe stacked as a remembrance to the miracle they had just taken part in. The effect is that future generations had a tangible, visual remembrance of God's grace and power. They didn't just have to hear stories, they could see and touch the memorial. The value of faith monument, or any monument, is the remembrance of what it stands form the memory, life or event. We can tend to forget the important events that have led to where we are without a reminder. We get very caught up in the moment. The danger lies in degrading the memory of the event or life into an idolatry of the monument itself or person and not the beliefs which made it/them. My church doesn't but we only really have a cross. We have a newer church, we just built in recent years and with God's blessing have to keep expanding. Personally, I find that too many items, do as they do in my house and life, clutter and junk my life. We got to keep focus and simplify. It's all about God.

Joahua was able to announce what God had told him. It took a lot of faith and obedience to tell the people the flooded Jordan was just going dry up so they could walk across, especially in flood stage. The fact that Joshua had faith led his people to have faith. This confirmed Joshua was in God's will and they were following His plan. Joshua was in sync with God's plan and led God's people, this miracle being fulfilled only strengthened the people's faith in God's plan and that included Joshua as their God appointed leader.

They needed consecration because God said so and in preparation for their holy mission. According to scripture, they had to wash their clothes and abstain from sexual relations. When I think of re-consecration, I think of getting rid of thoughts and items that get in the way of being with God or hog our time away from God. This requires obedience, discipline, desire and daily (sometimes more than) commitment/decision making to do what's right in the eyes of God. It maybe as small as shutting off an inappropriate show or song up to changing your routine and inconveniencing yourself to spend time with God building your relationship with him. As God's people, it's much the same as for ourselves, but as a body we need to be more accountable and supportive to ourselves and our brothers and sisters. It's written in the Bible, we are to gather together to grow and support each other and sometimes that involves sacrificing self, for others benefit---though personally I feel I grow when I help others.

No, God honors Rehab for her faithfulness in Him, not for lying. Justification is a human concept. God has clear black and white, we make the greys. Lying is wrong and a sin no matter the reasoning and thus not justifiable. I believe there are times with our limited knowledge we feel it's permissible to lie, but God never gives us permission to lie. We do live in a world of sin and to be honest and love one another is the outcast way rather than the norm. It goes back to people saying there are degrees of things such as lying or love, I don't believe this, as while we don't see it (mostly because we don't' want to) God gave us the examples already we are to love unconditionally and without hesitation and we speak the truth. Just as God sees a sin as a sin, a lie is a lie--your motive determines why, yet the truth remains when you lie you sin.

A prostitute is mentioned because that's who God used. God looks down and detests sin, no matter the sin. I believe God has the heart of loving the sinner and not the sin. Prostitutes are people too and God loves them just as much as He loves everyone else. Jesus showed them unconditional love and understanding. He gave the example of how to treat others. We'll never know the stories and reasons behind people's choices that have led them to where they are. However, we all have the choice to rise above our circumstances and flaws with the unconditional love of God and salvation through Christ's grace. God's against sin, not sinners. He knew in the beginning, we'd fall and break His heart, but He loves us so much, He loved us despite our flaws and sins.

Rehab believes because she has heard the stories and not only thought of what they mean, she's concluded God is more powerful and dominate over Jericho's gods. Her fear and assertion led her to not only talk to the spies, but to aide them with help and turn against the powers in Jericho. She believes God is more powerful than other gods. She believes He has given their land to His people. Rehab has very deep faith. The Israelites have experienced God's miracles and blessings and they grumble and complain. Rehab has only hears of His power and not even witnessing personally, she believes. She confesses God's reign and then risks her life to serve without ever experiencing it. Faith must include action and obedience. Simply knowing doesn't demonstrate our acceptance. God loves us and has many instances where he saves people from judgment because of their faith. To really believe, we must stand firm in convictions despite consequences and adversaries. Faith is the acknowledgement of believing put into action. As for eternal punishment, it is clear---there is only one way. We must acknowledge and believe in Christ dying for our sins and the love that portrays, but that intellectual aspect is not enough. We must have action to our faith, we must turn away from sin and work for the glory of God's kingdom. Faith is not easy, if it was God's promise to never leave us or forsake us wouldn't be necessary.

They were sent to scout the layout of the land and towns, to see the enemy forces, to report back what they were up against. It was on the outside wall of the city. God had a plan and they were following it. It was not conspicuous for men to be going in and out of a prostitute's house. God had already worked on Rehab's heart and prepared her for her immediate role in his will for the Israelites and ultimately to give lineage to David and Jesus. God knows all and has His plan and His will will be done. Just think of the people God's used to make some of the biggest and most important impacts in His plan, if God can take a prostitute, a virgin, a carpenter, a tax collector, a Christian killer etc. and do all He had them do for His kingdom--imagine what He can do with us!

To meditate on means to think about it and give it time and attention rather than oh, I read Chapter 2 good enough. We have to strive to gain the lesson and knowledge God's provided for us in His word. To me this means getting up early and studying God's word, thinking of how He's directing me and having that relationship with Him. I'm not sure about all Eastern meditation, but the ones where you are just trying to empty your thoughts and clear you mind for Nirvana are very different from Christian. As Christians, we are called to set an example, to study to think about everything we do and how it effects our and others relationship with God. God didn't give us instruction, direction and examples in the Bible just to read. He gave us them to apply and have growth, to encourage us, to strengthen us and to give us faith our relationships. God gave us the Bible with all the instruction and examples we need. He WANTS that relationship with us, that is why he made man in the first place. We can never fully fathom God and His work, we simply are not capable of it, however, God promises to always be there and give us what we need. Mind you we want a lot, but as far as needs---I find when I'm struggling to find direction or reassurance on my movement to make--while studying, listening to music or hearing a sermon, I get my direction or reaffirmation from God. God tells us "seek and you shall find."

Doubt and anxieties is Satan at work at his best. Joshua would've missed the promise land, the capabilities God gave him as a leader, doubt keeps us from having faith and trust in God and through God all things are possible in His will, but outside of it we struggle, fail and lose our relationship with God. God knows Satan wants us to fail and we are weak and incapable to go to bat on our own. Thus, why he came as Jesus to go through the struggles we face and be the sacrifice we could never be. Being strong and courageous is facing our limitations and doubts but not allowing to stop us from God's plan and the relationship we are to have with him. Fear is Satan and Faith is God. We can't serve two Gods, we must constantly choose to do the will of God and strive to build our relationship with Him. God's the only one who can conquer the world and death. Satan uses our fears to limit us, but God says we can do all things through Him, who strengths us (Philippians 4:13). Yes, we will always have obstacles and have doubts and be scared. We are human, however knowing that we can overcome and do miraculous things through God inside us--we are courageous despite our own limitations---we are limited, God is not!

Joshua is fearful and new to having all the responsibility on his shoulders. Following God has not always made him popular among people and it's sometimes very hard to follow God and go against the crowd. As I struggle to keep my focus on God and his will, it is SO easy to let other things sneak in and they inadvertently take priority over my time with God and His word. We are so busy and it never seems to slow down and being that way it gets way too easy to go without getting to events and times that we need have to keep us in God's presence and His will. I know as a very opinionated and firm in my convictions person, I still do better and keep better focus when accountable to a third party, who can help keep my focused as I do the million tasks/duties a single mom of two has, not too mention household and outside immediate household things. If God is for us, our limitation is ourselves and our faith. God is consistent, reliable and always equips us with what we need. The issue is I'm human and get easily sidetracked. We can't begin to fathom all that God is, but we question his plan and abilities when we doubt ability to have us work in His plan. God wants us fulfilled and in a relationship with him. We just doubt and have fear, but God already knows.

Josh must physically go there to claim it. God blesses us but we must seek and move to receive the blessings. God wants us to have everything, he gave us everything, we choose to go away from God thinking we can do on our own or that we know better. God always has and will give conditions for his blessings: at the beginning to stay in the garden--don't eat from the trees of life and knowledge of good and evil to now salvation is there and a way to heaven--we must ask to receive, admit our sins and move toward Christ example to show his love through us. God has blessed me in so many ways and I find when I center on being the woman of faith he has called me to be in his plan. I'm attacked more by Satan however, however, God showers me with blessings and growth and I can do His will by simply listening and thinking before acting. God wants me to succeed and has a role in his plan for me that I neeed to fulfill and he carries me through it all.