Watchman Daily Devotional: God Has Shown Us Over and Over That He Is Faithful, One Little Test Comes Along and We Ask if He Is Really With Us or Not

King James Version And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not? Once more, the people became upset due to the lack of water. Once more, Moses was held responsible. They had not absorbed the final teaching from the miracle of daily provision. The provider of our needs is the Lord. This time, a new element was added to the situation. They inquired about the presence of the God among them. They witnessed and encountered the remarkable events that occurred in Egypt – from crossing the sea to witnessing water changing, experiencing fear, and receiving bread in the wilderness. After witnessing the glory of the LORD in the guiding cloud, they now question whether God…

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Watchman: If Only His People Would Listen–But First We Must Come to Him by Faith, Listen to His Voice, and Obey

By SRH, Just three days following the miraculous passage of the sea, the Israelites started griping about the scarcity of water. In the first well, the water tasted bitter. The water became drinkable once Moses tossed in a specific tree, as God had instructed. Is it possible that this is a representation of how Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross made this world more bearable? God showed them another side of His character in the very following sentence. They would be delivered from the sicknesses they witnessed in Egypt, He promised, if they would just hear His voice, do what was right, listen to His commandments, and observe His regulations. “I am YHWH Rapha,” God declared. To put it another way, He is the divine healer. The Lord would heal their illnesses in the same way that He had healed the…

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Without Faith It Is Impossible to Please Him, for Whoever Would Draw Near

to God Must Believe That He Exists and That He Rewards Those Who Seek Him… KJV But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please himOr do things well pleasing in his sight; or any of the duties of religion, in an acceptable way; as prayer, praise, attendance on the word and ordinances, or any good works whatever; because such are without Christ, and without his Spirit; and have neither right principles, nor right ends: for this is not to be understood of the persons of God’s elect, as considered in Christ; in whom they are well pleasing to him before faith; being loved by him with…

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So Faith Comes From Hearing, and Hearing Through the Word of Christ

Romans 10:17 So then faith comes by hearingThat is, by preaching; for the word hearing is used in the same sense as in the preceding verse; and designs the report of the Gospel, or the preaching of the word, which is the means God makes use of, to convey faith into the hearts of his people; for preachers are ministers, or instruments, by whom others believe: and hearing by the word of God;or “of Christ”, as some copies read, and so do the Vulgate Latin and Ethiopic versions; and intends either the holy Scriptures, which have God for their author, and Christ for the subject of them; and which furnish the men of God, or ministers of the Gospel, with proper materials to preach; and so hearing or preaching is by them, or else the command of God or Christ,…

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SLAVES TO SIN LIVE BY THE LAW NOT THE SPIRIT

Edward O’Hara… Are you a slave to sin? Did you know that it is the law that gives sin the strength to enslave men? Does that sound strange to you? It shouldn’t, because that’s what Paul taught in 1Cor.15:56. He wrote, “The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.”  As a general rule this statement can be a reference to the imputation of sin. Because it is law that causes the imputation of sin that brings penalty. And for many sins the law the penalty for it’s violation was death. So this is what can also be meant by Paul when he wrote the strength of sin is the law. Because the law enforces the penalty for sin because under the law sin is imputed.  There is another sense in which we can be a…

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