Do Not Fear … For It Is the Lord your God Who Goes with You – Deuteronomy 31 – 2025 Day 214

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 2, Deuteronomy 31

First Moses told all Israel, “Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the LORD your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.” Deuteronomy 31:6 ESV

Next, Moses immediately summoned Joshua to tell him personally, “Be strong and courageous, for you shall go with this people into the land that the LORD has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you shall put them in possession of it. It is the LORD who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Deuteronomy 31:7-8)

Over two years ago, I logged out of my Facebook account. I don’t miss it much. I’ve gained more than I’ve lost. But one thing I do miss is reading Sunshine Meister’s beautifully written testimonies of God’s daily sustaining grace in her life after her son Nahum’s traumatic brain injury in 2021. One morning I woke up thinking about her and tried to find a way to follow her somewhere other than Facebook, and I stumbled on this testimony on YouTube.

Her words will encourage you more than mine. To God be the glory. Do not fear or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you.

Sunshine Meister – Finding Comfort in God’s Presence
Fear Not – Ellie Holcomb

Teaching your Children, Part 2 – Deuteronomy 5-6 – 2025 Day 199

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 18; Deuteronomy 5-6

And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart.

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 ESV

Yesterday I wrote about having a daily time in prayer and the Word with your children. Today I want to write about teaching your children as you go about your days, talking about what the Lord has taught you as you do whatever the day has for you to do.

I like to begin my days with my own time in the Word. This means early mornings, but it’s so worth it. Rising before the sun starts my day off right and helps to set my mind on heavenly things. Then, as I go throughout my day – teaching English online, vacuuming, washing dishes, doing schoolwork, going for a walk in my neighborhood – my thoughts often return to what I read that morning or that week.

In praying about what to write today, I was reminded of Luke 6:45b ESV, “Out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.” If my heart is full of grumbling, my mouth will be full of complaints, but if my heart is full of gratitude and wisdom, my mouth will be, too. I can’t speak of the Lord’s goodness, if I don’t in my heart believe that He is good. I know how much I need the Lord to renew my heart and mind daily. I know how prone to wander that I am. If I miss even one day with my Savior, I can feel it in my spirit.

She opens her mouth with wisdom,
and the teaching of kindness
is on her tongue.

Proverbs 31:26 ESV

The only way for your tongue to speak wisdom and kindness is for your heart to be full of the wisdom and kindness found in the Word of God. Start there for yourself, and let your heart overflow into your children as you rise and sit and walk and lie down day after day. Just like you would casually tell your children about what you bought that day at the store or about that friend you ran into that day at work, share with your children what you learned that day in the Word or in the circumstances of your daily life.

Your children need the wisdom that comes from living. Let your successes – and your failures – guide them to the path of life in Jesus.

Heavenly Father, help me to sit at Your feet each and every day, day after day soaking in Your Word and Your presence. Draw me close to You that my life and my mouth may overflow with love for my children. May my mouth be full of wisdom and kindness. May my eyes be gentle and bright. May my ears be attentive and compassionate. May my mind be fixed on things that are above and not on the things of this earth. Help me to remember that this earth and its tribulations are passing away, while the unseen things are eternal and weighty. Fill my heart with Your love. Fill my mouth with Your Word and Your words. Help me to live for what matters. Give me the strength to love my children as myself, to be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Make me Your mouthpiece, teaching truth diligently to my children – from the time they awake until they go to sleep – for the glory of Your Name and for the good of Your kingdom. In the Name of Jesus Christ, my Savior and my Lord I pray. Amen.

CLICK HERE to pray along with me as I pray aloud.

Slugs and Bugs – Old Testament Song – Just Kids w/vocals
New Testament Books Song – AWANA
My kids and I made these Deuteronomy 6:4-7 one day as a project.

Is God a Sadistic, Genocidal Murderer? – Numbers 33-34 – 2025 Day 186

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 5, Numbers 33-34

“And the LORD spoke to Moses in the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, When you pass over the Jordan into the land of Canaan, then you shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you and destroy all their figured stones and destroy all their metal images and demolish all their high places. And you shall take possession of the land and settle in it, for I have given the land to you to possess it. You shall inherit the land by lot according to your clans. To a large tribe you shall give a large inheritance, and to a small tribe you shall give a small inheritance. Wherever the lot falls for anyone, that shall be his. According to the tribes of your fathers you shall inherit. But if you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then those of them whom you let remain shall be as barbs in your eyes and thorns in your sides, and they shall trouble you in the land where you dwell. And I will do to you as I thought to do to them.”

Numbers 33:50-56 ESV

Two years ago when I originally published a YouTube video based on the Aaronic Prayer of Blessing from Numbers 6:24-26, within 24 hours I received a comment from an atheist accusing God of committing genocide and demanding young virgins as war booty to serve in his temple.

I continued to think about his comments as I read chapter by chapter through Numbers. I didn’t want to read the scriptures through the lenses of my own bias or preconceived notions. I want to have eyes and ears that search for the truth. So, what is it?

  • Is the God of the Bible a genocidal murderer, cruelly wiping out whole nations?
  • Is He a sadist, getting pleasure out of inflicting pain?
  • Or is He the holy, loving, good Father that I believe Him to be?

Friends, it’s so important to read the Bible – or any book for that matter – in context. Just like you could carefully cut one sentence from my blog and twist it to say something totally different than what I truly meant, likewise a person can take a sentence from the Bible to mean something totally different from what God is actually communicating.

Here in Numbers 33, we read about God’s command for the Israelites to completely drive out and wipe out the inhabitants of the land. God knows the future of the men, women, and children currently living in Canaan as well as the future of the Israelites that He is bringing in to possess the land. God knows that the Canaanites will not repent. God knows they will be thorns and barbs to the Jewish people, leading them into idolatry and immorality.

God always wants for His glory, but He also wants for His people’s good. The Lord truly is “a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.” (Exodus 34:6-7)

The Lord’s blessings extend to the thousands. His forgiveness is boundless. But our sin does have consequences – upon our own lives and even down to our children, grandchildren, and great grand children. We see this again and again in the story of these faithless, complaining Israelites – as well as in our own modern lives.

So, you can read Numbers and decide that God is a cruel tyrant … or you can read Numbers and walk away more sure than ever that God is a just, faithful, forgiving, patient Father. What did you decide?

Heavenly Father, I pray for those who have been hurt by the church, who have gotten glimpses of your truth but have chosen to turn away from Your grace. Please, Father, bring them back to You and have mercy on them. Just like the Israelites who tested You time and again with their complaints, for the sake of Your Glorious Name, remember Your children. In the Name of Jesus Christ we pray. Amen.

Your Grace is Enough – Martin Chalk Worship Session

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Turn your Eyes – Numbers 21 through the Eyes of a Former Atheist – 2025 Day 180

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 148-149; Numbers 21

Here they go again. Complaining. Complaining. Complaining. Again it’s all about the food.

We have no food. Well, I mean, this food that You miraculously give us every morning is worthless, and we hate it. Why did you deliver us out of slavery? You’re a mean god. We want to go back home.”

I wish I could say that I can’t relate, but that would be a lie. All too often the thoughts in my head sound all too much like them.

“Father, what are you doing? Why is life so hard? Why did you lead me to this place only to abandon me here? I thought you loved me?”

When the snakes were biting (and killing) the people, the Israelites simply wanted the Lord to take the snakes away.

“Make this pain go away, God! Take it away! Get me out of this desert and put me in the promised land. Now!”

But that’s not what God does. Rather, He sends a Savior, a Rescuer.

He says, “Look up here! Look up at this bronze serpent up here on this pole. Look at it and have faith. Trust Me. Don’t look down at those snakes or that snake bite. Look up here at Me! I love you. Trust Me.”

Jesus referred to this very event when He was explaining to Nicodemus, a Pharisee who came to Him secretly by night, that he must be born again if he wants to enter the kingdom of God.

John 3:14-19 ESV

What happened to the Israelites who didn’t gaze up at that snake on the pole that had been sent by God to save them? They died in their sins.

What happens to people today who don’t turn their eyes to Jesus, the God-Man sent by God to save them? They, too, will die in their sins.

Is that scary? Yes. Yes, it is. But is God good to provide a way of escape for each of us who are dying in our sin? Yes! Yes, He is!

I’ll end with these words of Jesus, “For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.” (John 6:40)

Heavenly Father, Please draw us to turn our eyes to You. You have already provided a Savior. You have already sent Your son Jesus to pay the price for our sin. Now, Lord, give us the desire and the strength to turn to You instead of turning to ourselves, our circumstances, and other fallen men. Forgive us for our complaining. Forgive us for our lack of faith. Thank You for Your steadfast faithfulness and mercy toward us, a sinful people. We pray for those around us who are running headlong away from Jesus. Draw them to know You. Please, Father. We cry, Holy! Mercy! Save us, Lord! In the name of Jesus we pray. Amen.

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Turn your Eyes – The Glorious Christ Live – Sovereign Grace Music
Help Us See Christ – Sovereign Grace Music

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Standing between the Dead and the Living – Numbers 15-16 – 2025 Day 177

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 145, Numbers 15-16

Initially as I began reading Numbers 16, I thought I’d write about the extreme humility and meekness that Moses continued showing again and again, begging God to spare His people again and again. Moses didn’t just grab a sword and start cutting people down left and right, but instead asked the Lord to have mercy. But then, when I got to the end of the chapter, verse 48 hit me like a ton of bricks.

Maybe your reaction doesn’t look like mine, but that’s because your life hasn’t looked like mine. I’ve had the unique honor of standing in the gap, interceding for and reasoning with atheists who are angry with God and angry with His servants. It’s an honor, a privilege, and a calling.

But it’s hard. It’s hard to get in the ring with a mustang that you know is going to lash out at any moment. Yet the only way to gentle a mustang is to get in the ring with it.

Will you please help me to lift up my hands? Will you please stand in the gap with me? Will you pray for me and will you intercede for them, too?

Let’s remember the words Christ spoke from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” (Luke 23:34)

Jesus pursued me while I was His enemy. I want to do likewise.

Oh, Heavenly Father, thank You for the examples of Moses and Aaron, brave men who ran into the plague to rescue people who deserved Your wrath. Fill me with Your Mighty Spirit that I might do likewise. Make me like Jesus who came to seek and save the lost. Make me meek and gentle and humble. Keep me from pride, and keep me from complacency. I need You, Lord, and I need Your people to stand with me. None of us can do this on our own. In the Name of Jesus I pray. Amen.

CLICK HERE TO CHECK OUT TODAY’S VIDEO PODCAST ON YOUTUBE.

How Great (Psalm 145) – Sovereign Grace Music
Come Thou Fount (Above All Else) – Shane & Shane

Waiting on the Lord – Numbers 9-10 – 2025 Day 173

Read Through the Bible: Psalm 141; Numbers 9-10

I don’t like to wait. I think quickly. I speak quickly. I act quickly. I always have.

But this is not who I want to be. I want to wait on the Lord. I want Him to lead, and I want to follow. God has given me this desire, this new “want to,” as part of the new person that I am in Christ.

In Numbers 9, we read about Moses and the Israelites learning to wait on the Lord. They needed to wait for the Lord to speak, to move, to guide — and so do we.

What are you waiting for the Lord about today?

How long are you willing to wait? Five minutes? An hour? An evening? A day? A week? A month? A year? A lifetime?

Let’s pray together.

Heavenly Father, I pray that we would faithfully wait upon You and that You would renew our strength as we wait. Whether we have to wait for an evening or a week or a month or a lifetime, I pray that we would not run ahead of You, doing whatever seems right to us, and then ask You to bless whatever we have already decided to do … but instead that You would be the One out front leading us. Make us faithful followers. I pray that our lives would be founded on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and Your written word. Like Matthew 7 says, it is the foolish person who hears Your Word and chooses not to obey, but it is the wise person who hears Your Word and obeys. So, Father, I pray that we would search Your Word diligently, listening fervently for Your Holy Spirit to guide us, and I pray that we would have obedient, submissive, humble hearts bent on obeying you in Your way and in Your perfect time. In the name of Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen

I will Wait for You (Psalm 130) – Keith and Kristyn Getty

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The Ten Commandments Song with Hand Motions – Exodus 20 – 2025 Day 125

Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Psalm 95, Exodus 20

Have you ever tried to memorize the Ten Commandments but struggled to remember them all? I have, too! I found myself always forgetting at least one until someone taught me this song. I actually learned the hand motions somewhere else, so I put the two of them together.

As you’ll soon find out I’m not the best singer, but that’s never stopped me from singing. 🙂 Hope it blesses you anyway.

Heavenly Father, You are a good Father. You give us rules for our good. Make us holy as You are holy. Show us the way of escape when we feel tempted. Hide us behind the cross where Jesus died to pay the price for our sins. Now send us out to share the way of salvation with the lost, making captives of sin into disciples of Christ. By Your grace and for Your glory. Amen.

Ten Commandments Song with Hand Motions
Living Waters, Ray Comfort: “Watch His Hostility Lift with the Gospel”
City Alight – Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me

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Scripture Memory and Scripture Application – Matthew 7 – 2025 Day 92

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 60; Matthew 7

My oldest two children (ages 10 and 7) and I initially memorized all 29 verses of Matthew 7 almost 20 years ago. Thankfully, I’ve used the Bible Memory app since then to review the verses I memorized, otherwise I fear that I wouldn’t remember it anymore. I hope you’ll check it out! Here’s a link to learn more or download it. Here’s a link to a video I made about how to use it. And here’s a link to my Teach What Is Good Bible Memory group You can join for free for some encouragement and accountability — don’t we all need that!

There is so much wisdom in all of Matthew 7, but today what I was especially thinking about the connection between verses 21-23 and 24-27.

Don’t miss that word “then” in verse 24.

This reminded me of some other passages I’ve hidden in my heart.

This is what differentiates students from disciples: Students listen, students study, students memorize, but disciples put into practice the words of their teacher, modeling their own lives after their master’s.

Heavenly Father, we don’t want to merely listen to your Word, thus deceiving ourselves. We want to do what it says. Help us to be faithful disciples of Jesus Christ, modeling our lives after His, loving and serving others, doing good to them and forgiving them, as Jesus Christ perfectly modeled for us. And help us to be faithful disciple-makers, telling others the good news of salvation through Jesus Christ, and teaching them all that You have commanded us, remembering that You are always with us even to the end of the age! In the mighty name of Jesus we pray, Amen.

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Bible Memory App – 1 Corinthians 13
How to use the Bible Memory app
I Have Hidden Your Word – Steve Green

Praise the One who Gives Me Breath – Job 26-27 – 2025 Day 75

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Job 26-27, Psalm 43

Let’s just ponder this one verse from today’s reading.

With whose help
have you uttered words,
and whose breath has come out from you?

Job 26:4 ESV

On the sixth day of creation, the Lord breathed into the first man, Adam, the breath of life (Genesis 2:7) and He’s been doing it ever since. Why are we so prideful, so self-sufficient, thinking that we are independent creatures who don’t need God? Truly, what do I have that I haven’t been given? Even the very breath in my lungs is a gift from God.

And to think of the gift of language, of thinking and speaking and communicating – with God and with others – oh, what a gift! As an educator for the deaf, I witnessed first-hand how desperately children and parents desire to communicate, whether using gestures or sounds or facial expressions. My 100-lb Aussie-Labradoodle moose-dog is about as smart as animals come, but he can’t communicate nearly so well as my 20-month old granddaughter. God has given mankind a unique gift in the gift of language, so that we can hear from Him and speak to Him like none of the other creatures He has made on earth.

Psalm 150, the final psalm, is a psalm of praise, praising God with trumpets and harps and strings and pipes, praising Him with dancing and loud crashing cymbals, but oh the gift of singing words of praise and making declarations of spoken praise, telling of His mighty deeds! The Lord has put breath in my lungs and with it I will praise Him! As the final verse of the final psalm says, “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!” (Psalm 150:6) Will you join me in declaring aloud His greatness?!

Almighty God, Creator of heaven and earth, giver of life and breath, You are worthy of all our praise! You created the sun and moon and stars by Your will and by Your word. You hung the earth on nothing. You created the seas and everything in them. You created the earth and the sky and everything that fills them. What is man that you are mindful of us?

You are worthy of every word of worship, every song of praise, every beat of the drum, every blast of the trumpet, every clang of the cymbal. You are worthy! You are holy and mighty and good. All your ways are right and all Your ways are just.

We worship You in the glory of Your presence. We ask that You would make us vessels of Your glory and grace. We ask that You would make us declarers of Your praise! Use us, Lord! By the sacrifice of Your Son, we have been made temples of Your Holy Spirit. Make us pure and holy vessels for You.

In the name of Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord, we pray. Amen.

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Great are You Lord

The Humility of Joseph – 2025 Day 53 (Genesis 40-41)

Read through the Bible in 2 years: Psalm 21, Genesis 40-41

I love how God works within space and time to reveal Himself to people. Two years ago, just after I finished reading Genesis 40-41 for my daily Bible reading, I received an email about an article that was published by Premier Unbelievable about my testimony of coming to faith in Christ out of atheism. In reading Genesis 40-41, I was struck by Joseph’s humility, his insistence that it was God, not him, who revealed the meaning of dreams. Joseph easily could have become puffed up and patted himself on the back for his accomplishments, but he didn’t. You find this same humility in Daniel and Peter and John and Paul.

I pray that I would do likewise, that when the Lord opens a door for me to speak or serve or act for His glory, that all the glory would go to Him and Him alone for He is the only one worthy. All that I am and all that I have, is a direct result of the grace that He has lavished on me, a sinner.

I am just a beggar telling you where to find bread. I am a sinner saved by grace. It is only by God’s mercy that I can do anything. He has caused me to be born again to this living hope, and I am eternally grateful. His grace compels me. His power gives me strength. His mercy allows me to be merciful.

Let’s pray together.

Oh, Heavenly Father,

Apart from Your grace, we are all just filthy rotten sinners. I remember all too well who I was. I wanted to be good, I wanted to do right, but I could never do it. Everything I did was tainted by conceit and pride and selfishness. I was lost and without hope. I lived under a cloud of fear and darkness.

BUT GOD! You saved me by Your grace. You took what was dead and made it alive. You took my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh. And all I can cry is HOLY! Worthy are You to receive all glory and honor and praise. Worthy is the Lamb. You are WORTHY!

My worth is not in myself – not in what I can say or do, not in what I have said or done – my worth is in YOU. You have made me worthy. You have called me YOURS. You have brought me into Your kingdom and set my feet on the rock. You have brought me to Your banqueting table and spread Your banner of love over me. Thank you, Father. Thank You.

In the Mighty and Merciful Name of Jesus I pray, Amen!

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My Worth is Not in What I Own – Fernando Ortega & The Gettys

Carried to the Table – Leeland