Your Rededication to God Can Begin Right Now
by Wayne Stiles
http://www.waynestiles.com/your-rededication-to-god-can-begin-right-now/
The place of the message intensified the words.
I’m convinced that’s why Joshua gathered the young Hebrew nation to Shechem. The geographical context of his words played a significant role.
What he said that day still applies to us.
Let’s Go to Shechem—Again
It wasn’t the Hebrews’ first time there. God told them to go to Shechem after they entered the Promised Land and dedicate themselves to His Law—which they did (Joshua 8:30-35).
When I visited the valley between the hills, I envisioned the nation of Israel shouting the blessings and the curses. BiblePlaces.com cites an acoustic experiment conducted in 1879 that demonstrated how the valley would have acted as a natural amphitheater—amplifying the voices of the Hebrew nation.
Now, after the conquest, Joshua again gathered them to Shechem, as if to ask:
- “Remember how Abraham left his idols and came to this city?”
- “Remember how Jacob put away his idols here?”
- “Remember how you yourselves dedicated yourselves to the Lord here?”
The place became a mute reminder of past dedications. It reignited those passions.
Joshua challenged the people to choose nothing short of wholehearted rededication “in sincerity and truth” (Joshua 24:14). He told them they could either choose their parents’ bad examples or their culture’s examples, but that the ultimate decision of whom they would serve remained theirs alone.
“We must remember that it’s possible to affirm the existence of God with your lips and to deny the existence of God with your life. The most dangerous form of atheism is not theoretical atheism but practical atheism.” —Martin Luther King, Jr. (from a message entitled, “Rediscovering Lost Values”)
Jesus Came To the Same Place
Centuries later, Jesus (whose name in Greek reflects the Hebrew name Joshua), said the same thing just outside of Shechem in Sychar. He told the woman at Jacob’s well that God seeks those who worship Him in “spirit and in truth” (John 4:23–24). Similarly, Joshua had said to serve God “in sincerity and truth.”
Both Joshua and Jesus remind us of the need to choose our Lord over all false gods or idols—whether they are passions, possessions, or people.
A Place of Rededication
Shechem became a place of rededication for Abraham, Jacob, Israel and the Samaritan woman—a place where the old life was abandoned in favor of following a Lord who alone was God.
Shechem can represent that place for us as well.
You don’t have to go to a particular place to rededicate your life to God. You can do it right where you are—right now. But it does help to “go back” in your mind to where you were before you knew the Lord.
- As you do when you take Communion, or the Lord’s Supper, remember how Jesus Christ saved you by grace through faith when you could never have saved yourself (Titus 3:5).
- Examine your life and confess any known sin—not in order to be saved—so that your fellowship with God is restored (1 John 1:9).
- Choose to walk with God in spite of your past—including your upbringing, your culture’s temptations, and your own inclinations.
As Joshua said, “Choose today whom you will serve” (Joshua 24:15).
“Resolved: That all men should live for the glory of God. Resolved second: That whether others do or not, I will.” —Jonathan Edwards
Question: Do you remember the place where you dedicated your life to the Lord? Where was it? Please leave a comment.
Adapted from Wayne Stiles, Going Places with God: A Devotional Journey Through the Lands of the Bible (Ventura, CA: Regal, 2006), p. 137
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HI ALL IS MORNDAY ,,,WE THANK YOU FATHER FOR A NEW DAY……
Psalm 27 (NKJV)
27 The Lord is my light and my salvation;
Whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the strength of my life;
Of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When the wicked came against me
To eat up my flesh,
My enemies and foes,
They stumbled and fell.
3 Though an army may encamp against me,
My heart shall not fear;
Though war may rise against me,
In this I will be confident.
4 One thing I have desired of the Lord,
That will I seek:
That I may dwell in the house of the Lord
All the days of my life,
To behold the beauty of the Lord,
And to inquire in His temple.
5 For in the time of trouble
He shall hide me in His pavilion;
In the secret place of His tabernacle
He shall hide me;
He shall set me high upon a rock.
6 And now my head shall be lifted up above my enemies all around me;
Therefore I will offer sacrifices of joy in His tabernacle;
I will sing, yes, I will sing praises to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry with my voice!
Have mercy also upon me, and answer me.
8 When You said, “Seek My face,”
My heart said to You, “Your face, Lord, I will seek.”
9 Do not hide Your face from me;
Do not turn Your servant away in anger;
You have been my help;
Do not leave me nor forsake me,
O God of my salvation.
10 When my father and my mother forsake me,
Then the Lord will take care of me.
11 Teach me Your way, O Lord,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
12 Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
13 I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.
14 Wait on the Lord;
Be of good courage,
And He shall strengthen your heart;
Wait, I say, on the Lord
…….
We all need to periodically reassess our lives and our service to Him. We all need to have a closer walk and greater submission to His will and ways. Thanks for a great reminder, it is much needed. Lord bless you
Battle weary and worn out, many are straying or have strayed from the Lord, not by obvious rejection or confession but by the slow slide from the pressures of work, competition, wants, struggle to achieve for fame and falling into the trap of the world. It could be a very gradual process unrecognized by the victim concerned or does it not say the enemy as a serpent is wily and seeks his prey to devour him, perhaps before devouring him, the enemy “plays” with him to lull him into unconsciousness, rolling over the good times and making the victim forget that the bad times are there to mould him into Christlikeness? That is why we need constant reminders of where we have been, where we are today and why we are here today. Rededications bring lives out of unexpected kilter, into perspective and balance. It is a good practice for Faith Child to reexamine his/her position in Christ periodically and to repent for shortcomings and challenged for upcomings. God is faithful who will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we are able, we are to remain faithful abiding in the Vine. He promised that if we abide in the Vine we shall bear fruit. How long since you bore fruit? A barren tree is to be cut off. Rededication is a sure way for abiding in the Vine.
Do it today, whether you have wandered far from Him or not. Rededicate your life to your loving Saviour and make Him Lord of your life anew. He gave His life for you. Decide that you want life to be worth living again.