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Joshua 6:3-5 "You shall march around the city, all you men of war; you shall go all around the city once. This you shall do six days. . . . But the seventh day you shall march around the city seven times, and the priests shall blow the trumpets. Then it shall come to pass, when they make a long blast with the ram's horn, and when you hear the sound of the trumpet, that all the people shall shout with a great shout; then the wall of the city will fall down flat." It's a Myster

Numbers 32:11-12 Surely none of the men who came up from Egypt, from twenty years old and above, shall see the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, because they have not wholly followed Me, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh, the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun, for they have wholly followed the Lord. Total Commitment A few years ago, prominent members of society gathered in the Saints Peter and Paul Church in San Francisco for a wedding. The bride was dazz

Read Isaiah 35:1-2 The wilderness and the wasteland shall be glad for them, and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice, even with joy and singing. The glory of Lebanon shall be given to it, the excellence of Carmel and Sharon. They shall see the glory of the Lord, the excellency of our God. Boulder Dam was built in order to bring water to areas that had been desert. During the building of this dam, several workmen lost their

1 Kings 11:1-2 But King Solomon loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter of Pharaoh: women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites--from the nations of whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel, "You shall not intermarry with them, nor they with you. For surely they will turn away your hearts after their gods." Solomon clung to these in love. Moderation Good things can become a detriment. In Japan, many golfers carry "hole-in-one" insura

Read Job 1:5 So it was, when the days of feasting had run their course, that Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all. For Job said, "It may be that my sons have sinned and cursed God in their hearts." Thus Job did regularly. In her book Formations, Kay Shurden observes that a family is more than a collection of human beings related by blood. It is more than the sum of its parts. A f

Joshua 1:5 "No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life; as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you nor forsake you." Never Forsaken In 1970 an Arizona lawyer named Russel T. Tansie filed a $100,000 damage suit against God. The suit was filed on behalf of Mr. Tansie's secretary, Betty Penrose, who accused God of negligence in His power over the weather when He allowed a lightning bolt to strike her home. The woman won the case when

Job 13:15 "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him." Total Trust Years ago a military officer and his wife were aboard a ship that was caught in a raging storm at sea. Seeing his wife's fear, the man tried to comfort her. Suddenly she grasped his sleeve and cried, "How can you be so calm?" He stepped back and drew his sword. Pointing it at her, he asked, "Are you afraid of this?" "Of course not!" she answered. "Why not?" he inquired. "Because I know you love me too much to h

Genesis 22:7-8 But Isaac spoke to Abraham his father and said, "My father!" And he said, "Here I am, my son." Then he said, "Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" And Abraham said, "My son, God will provide for Himself the lamb for a burnt offering." And the two of them went together. Divine Provision A young girl was taking a long journey, and in the course of her travels her train had to cross a number of rivers. Each time the train appro

Genesis 14:14 Now when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his three hundred and eighteen trained servants who were born in his own house, and went in pursuit as far as Dan. The Lord's Army We live in violent times. The American Bar Association claims that crimes involving guns, drugs and juveniles are putting an unprecedented crunch on the nation's courts. Every 22 seconds someone in the United States is beaten, stabbed, shot, robbed, raped or killed. Ne

1 Kings 10:23-24 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. Seeking God's Wisdom An American arriving in England for postgraduate study went to visit Nobel Prize-winning poet T. S. Eliot. As the student was leaving, Eliot remarked, "Forty years ago I went from Harvard to Oxford. Now, what advice can I give you?" There was a prolonged pause as t

1 Samuel 22:21-23 And Abiathar told David that Saul had killed the Lord's priests. So David said to Abiathar, "I knew that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have caused the death of all the persons of your father's house. Stay with me; do not fear. For he who seeks my life seeks your life, but with me you shall be safe." Safe Refuge In 1939 the Nazis began their program of Jewish extermination in Poland. In the midst of the destruction, O

2 Samuel 9:1 Now David said, "Is there still anyone who is left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake?" Show a Little Kindness Kindness thinks of others. British statesman and financier Cecil Rhodes, whose fortune was used to endow the world-famous Rhodes Scholarships, was a stickler for correct dress...but apparently not at the expense of someone else's feelings. A young man invited to dine with Mr. Rhodes arrived by train and had to go direc

1 Kings 9:6-7 " But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples." A Symbol of Disaster In his book Present Day Parables, J. Wilbur Chapman, a late

Read 1 Kings 3:23-25 And the king said, "The one says, 'This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead one'; and the other says, 'No! But your son is the dead one, and my son is the living one.'" Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to one, and half to the other." How many times have you come across a new invention and thought, I could have invented that! Recentl

1 Kings 1:7 Then he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah and with Abiathar the priest, and they followed and helped Adonijah. Friends Who Fail Aristotle claimed that a friend is "one soul dwelling in two bodies." Others have defined a friend as "a person who knows all about us and still likes us." Newspaper columnist Walter Winchell suggested that a friend is one "who walks in when others walk out." However you define a friendship, it is obvious that when a friend fails us,

Read Exodus 24:12-13 Then the Lord said to Moses, "Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them." So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. Little Jamie Scott was trying out for a part in his school play. His mother knew he had his heart set on being in the play, but she feared he wouldn't be chosen. On the day the parts wer

Read Joshua 24:13 "I [God] have given you a land for which you did not labor, and cities which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant." During the Spanish-American War, Clara Barton, the founder of the Red Cross, was working in Cuba. One day Colonel Theodore Roosevelt came to her and offered to buy food for some of his sick and wounded Rough Riders. But she refused to sell him what he wanted. Roosevelt could

Read 2 Samuel 11:2-3 Then it happened one evening that David arose from his bed and walked on the roof of the king's house. And from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very beautiful to behold. So David sent and inquired about the woman. And someone said, "Is this not Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite?" In December 1985 an enormous sinkhole swallowed a house and carport and forced the evacuation of four homes in a retirement commu

1 Kings 8:5 Also King Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel who were assembled with him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered for multitude. No Sacrifice Too Great Japanese folklore tells of a rice farmer whose land overlooked the village where his friends lived. While working in his rice paddies one day, he felt a quake and saw the distant ocean swiftly withdraw from the shoreline. He knew there would soon be a

1 Kings 8:10-11 And it came to pass, when the priests came out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not continue ministering because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord. Be Filled There are many occasions in life where it's essential that some things be absolutely full. If you're headed out for a long trip, for example, the gas tank needs to be filled. A half of a tank just won't do. Or when

Genesis 21:9-11 And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, scoffing. Therefore she said to Abraham, "Cast out this bondwoman and her son; for the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, namely with Isaac." And the matter was very displeasing in Abraham's sight because of his son. Truth or Consequences Solomon Garcia of Huntington, New York, was crushed to death by a 600-pound safe he apparently was trying to steal. Suffolk County

Genesis 17:3-6 Then Abram fell on his face, and God talked with him, saying: "As for Me, behold, My covenant is with you, and you shall be a father of many nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham; for I have made you a father of many nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful; and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you." Get Off the Merry-go-round An irate woman met her husband when he got off a merry-go-round a

Joshua 7:3-5 And they returned to Joshua and said to him, "Do not let all the people go up, but let about two or three thousand men go up and attack Ai. Do not weary all the people there, for the people of Ai are few." So about three thousand men went up there from the people, but they fled before the men of Ai. And the men of Ai struck down about thirty-six men, for they chased them from before the gate as far as Shebarim, and struck them down on the descent; therefore the h

Genesis 13:5-7 Lot also, who went with Abram, had flocks and herds and tents. Now the land was not able to support them, that they might dwell together, for their possessions were so great. . . . And there was strife between the herdsmen of Abram's livestock and the herdsmen of Lot's livestock. The Canaanites and the Perizzites then dwelt in the land. Someone Is Watching Whether we know it or not, people are watching us. One day as a woman was crossing the street at London St