August 31, 2020

The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let’s seek this ancient way together as a church!

In this chapter Moses instructs the people in how they are to wage war against the nations they are about to dispossess. It is significant that God tells them that they must not be afraid when they go to battle against their enemies, because He Himself is with them in the fight! God’s presence with His people means that they never have to be afraid of what they are up against; it is never mightier than Him!

God expands His promise to the people of Israel in verse 4: not only will He be with them as they fight their battles, but He promises to fight for them and to give them the victory! No one is able to stand against the Lord, and this promise ought to bring immense comfort and total peace to His people!

This promise of God still stands for His people today. In fact, the promise of giving us the victory has already been fulfilled for us in Christ Jesus (1Corinthians 15:57). We are victorious in Jesus’ own victory over sin, death, and darkness! 

Paul tells us in Romans 8:37 that “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.” We are already victorious in Christ, and we have the presence and power of the Holy Spirit with and in us as we wage war on sin and on the spiritual forces of evil, the kingdom of darkness and of this world. There is nothing that can stand in the way of God’s purposes and God’s Kingdom advancing in us and through us!

We have every reason to walk into the battle each day with absolute confidence, complete faith in the victory that Christ has already won. He has already won the victory once and for all, and God the Holy Spirit is with us as we move into the battle! “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31)

Are you walking in victory?

Deuteronomy 20

Laws Concerning Warfare

20 “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2 And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3 and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4 for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’5 Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying, ‘Is there any man who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it. 6 And is there any man who has planted a vineyard and has not enjoyed its fruit? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man enjoy its fruit.7 And is there any man who has betrothed a wife and has not taken her? Let him go back to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man take her.’8 And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’ 9 And when the officers have finished speaking to the people, then commanders shall be appointed at the head of the people.

10 “When you draw near to a city to fight against it, offer terms of peace to it.11 And if it responds to you peaceably and it opens to you, then all the people who are found in it shall do forced labor for you and shall serve you.12 But if it makes no peace with you, but makes war against you, then you shall besiege it. 13 And when the Lord your God gives it into your hand, you shall put all its males to the sword, 14 but the women and the little ones, the livestock, and everything else in the city, all its spoil, you shall take as plunder for yourselves. And you shall enjoy the spoil of your enemies, which the Lord your God has given you. 15 Thus you shall do to all the cities that are very far from you, which are not cities of the nations here. 16 But in the cities of these peoples that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance, you shall save alive nothing that breathes, 17 but you shall devote them to complete destruction, the Hittites and the Amorites, the Canaanites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as the Lord your God has commanded, 18 that they may not teach you to do according to all their abominable practices that they have done for their gods, and so you sin against the Lord your God.

19 “When you besiege a city for a long time, making war against it in order to take it, you shall not destroy its trees by wielding an axe against them. You may eat from them, but you shall not cut them down. Are the trees in the field human, that they should be besieged by you? 20 Only the trees that you know are not trees for food you may destroy and cut down, that you may build siegeworks against the city that makes war with you, until it falls.

The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

Family Discussion Question:

  • What is an area of your life that leaves you feeling defeated? Is it an affliction, a sinful pattern, a suffering, an anxiety? How does the presence of God with you in the fight and the ultimate victory He has already accomplished for you in Christ change the way you approach or perceive that problem?

16 thoughts on “Daily Devotional-August 31”

  1. Dear Heavenly Father,
    As we enter our mission field, we need to keep our eyes focused on You. We are not to turn to the right or the left but we are to keep marching forward to the finish line. Help us to know what we need to cast out of our lives and what to keep. To You be all glory and honor. Amen.

  2. Dear Lord, let me obedient to you by following your commandments and statues daily, Amen

  3. Father,

    You, LORD, are all around me. In the sunrise and in the sunset, and all through the day I see your handwork.

    Help me this day, Father, to hear from you with my ears. By reading the word, I allow you to speak to me. By listening to Christian music, I allow you to speak to me. By listening to men and women that are seeking you and telling others about you, I allow you to speak to me.

    Throughout this day, may I purposefully be looking to see you and hear from you.

    Arm me this day with your word and show me the battles to wage and the souls to seek to recover for your kingdom.

    Bless the words I receive today. Bless my efforts. I lay my all at the feet of Jesus and pray in His name.

    Amen

      1. Heavenly Father, You alone are the source of our strength and You guide our steps. Be glorified through us today as we join You in Your activity.

        1. AMEN and HALLELUJAh!!! Dear Lord I promise to be obedient to you. Help me to keep all sin away from me. I want to walk in the valley of death and I will fear no evil for thine is with me. In Jesus name I Pray Amen

  4. Lord, I know you are with me to face this upcoming school year. The challenges are innumerable, but I can succeed at anything if you are with me. Please give me your strength, wisdom, and discernment to be a blessing to my students, their families, my team, and all the others…

    Lord, I love you so very much. It is in your precious and holy name that I pray and take on this day. Amen!

    1. Nadia, I’m lifting a prayer for you right now……….that God watches over and supplies everything that you have need of. Amen.

    2. Thinking of you as you go out. May you feel God’s love and peace with you today and be reminded that He’s already there paving the way.

  5. I will not be afraid or panic or tremble. For the Lord my God is with me and fights for me

  8. It is just a matter of time and effort. Thank you God for being with me, fighting for me, because I cannot have victory alone. Work through my effort, and I give you all the glory for your victory through me.

  9. God thank you for being with me throughout all these trials I have been going through. Help me to continue to stay strong and have strength in the future for what may be in the future for my husband

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