December 5, 2024 - Joshua‬ ‭23‬:‭10‬-‭13

“Each one of you will put to flight a thousand of the enemy, for the Lord your God fights for you, just as he has promised. So be very careful to love the Lord your God. “But if you turn away from him and cling to the customs of the survivors of these nations remaining among you, and if you intermarry with them, then know for certain that the Lord your God will no longer drive them out of your land. Instead, they will be a snare and a trap to you, a whip for your backs and thorny brambles in your eyes, and you will vanish from this good land the Lord your God has given you.” Joshua 23:10-13 NLT

Lord, the only way we can each put a thousand to flight is through you. We praise you that you fight for us. What an amazing promise. Let us hold up our end of the promise and be careful to love you. We want to live for you above all else. Let us cling to you and your ways and not to the world’s customs and ways. It can be so easy to “intermarry” with the world’s ways. We are surrounded by them. It is natural for us to go with the flow of what is normal around us and not think anything of it. How often do we find ourselves offended when someone does us wrong? How often do we find ourselves complaining about the injustices of life? How often do we overlook so many other “small” sins because it is easy to not see them as sin, but just normal parts of life? Oh, Lord, forgive us. Open our eyes to the places we are overlooking any sin in our lives. Show us how to change our behavior so that we look different from the world around us. We want to drive out anything in our lives that doesn’t bring you glory.

Holy Spirit, please walk closely with us. Lead us and guide us and help us not to get snared or trapped by the enemy, but to live in the freedom you provide for us. We want to live in all the good things that you intended for us.

In Jesus name, amen.