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Observations from today’s readings and today’s S-WOD, Wednesday, 19 March 2025:
Order of March….
Numbers 3:12 — “Behold, I have taken the Levites from among the people of Israel instead of every firstborn who opens the womb among the people of Israel. The Levites shall be mine.”
The priests of God are living sacrifices, their earthly lives are essentially over as they devote everything to God – “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.” (Romans 12:1) “You yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” (1 Peter 2:5) The Father has given you to His Son as disciples, ambassadors, priests, kings, and ministers before the Lord –
– John 17:9, 22, 24 — I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours…. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one…. Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
Numbers 3:13 – …for all the firstborn are mine. On the day that I struck down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, I consecrated for my own all the firstborn in Israel, both of man and of beast. They shall be mine: I am the LORD.
“The firstborn children of Israel were spared the night that the death angel slew the firstborn of the Egyptians. They had been delivered and redeemed by a blood sacrifice, and so now God claimed them as belonging to him.
In a similar manner, we deserved to die, but God through the blood of Christ, the innocent sacrifice, spared us. And so now we belong to Him. We are his. We are bought with a price (1 Cor 6:20), and so we should glorify God in our body and our spirit which are God’s.
I wonder how we feel about God’s claim to our lives. Do we really live our lives like they belong to Him? Or do we still try to remain in control, doing things our way? May God help us realize that we do belong to Him, and so we should live to do His will.” (Travis Snode, Vision Baptist Church)
Numbers 3:25 – And the guard duty of the sons of Gershon in the tent of meeting involved the tabernacle, the tent with its covering, the screen for the entrance of the tent of meeting….
Guard duty was an act of worship. All that we do should be an act of worship before the Lord, dedicated to Him and His purposes, motivated by love for Him rather than motivated by fear, pride, or obligation. Guard duty, along with any other duty, is just as noble and priestly duties when it is done for God just as assigned by God. We glorify God and love others best when we use our passions, talents, skills, abilities, and opportunities to serve Him and others will all our hearts, right where God has placed us. In Christ, whatever you do is full time ministry, and wherever you go is your mission field.
“Cross” Fit S-WOD (Spiritual Workout of the Day) – 19 March 2025: Serve God faithfully with all your heart in whatever God has given you to do. Don’t think for a second that your work is less holy than that of a clergyman or missionary. God gives us “our daily bread” through the efforts of ordinary, skilled, faithful farmers and grocers. When you do what God has created you to do as a faithful servant, you are partnering with Him as an instrument of His grace into the lives of others. You are fulfilling your God-given purpose.
Defenders Bible Reading Plan 