{"id":4366,"date":"2022-11-11T07:25:57","date_gmt":"2022-11-11T13:25:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nazareneblogs.org\/pastorscott\/?p=4366"},"modified":"2022-11-11T07:25:57","modified_gmt":"2022-11-11T13:25:57","slug":"devotional-on-deuteronomy-18","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-deuteronomy-18\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Deuteronomy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 1600px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/2.bp.blogspot.com\/-ZEHIDCIHN8I\/XXA8Zy7kFBI\/AAAAAAABA2M\/JBlIL3uN-28NhhGF4UnW7GsM21PHy1GgQCKgBGAs\/s1600\/PHOTO_20140707_114051.jpg\" width=\"1600\" height=\"902\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Along OR 101<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nPoint of decision<br \/>\nDeuteronomy 11: I&#8217;ve brought you today to the crossroads of Blessing and Curse.<br \/>\nFree will is both a wonderful gift and a terrible burden. It\u2019s a gift in that it sets us apart from all other creatures. We\u2019re made in God&#8217;s image. It\u2019s a burden because it\u2019s possible for us to freely make foolish decisions, which God will allow us to make, and for which he will hold us accountable.   The people Moses speaks to stand at a point of decision.  On one hand, they have the route to blessing.  On the other is the cursed route.  Clearly, the Lord wants them to pick \u201cBlessing Street.\u201d  However, he won\u2019t force them to do so.  Since I have the benefit of being able to turn the pages of my Bible and gaze into their future, I find that, while there are many \u201cblessing stories\u201d yet to be told, there are plenty of the others too; even to the point of near extinction of their race.  In his Sovereignty the Lord grants Israel the right to choose.  By his grace they\u2019ve arrived at this place of choice and by his grace they\u2019re allowed to decide the next step.  However, their choice at this point isn\u2019t without consequences.  Some of those consequences are good, others bad.  The ability to choose is a gift of God but it\u2019s also a burden because choices have consequences.<br \/>\nTake Away: The exercise of free will can bring wonderful blessings into our lives.  It can also be our downfall.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Point of decision Deuteronomy 11: I&#8217;ve brought you today to the crossroads of Blessing and Curse. Free will is both a wonderful gift and a terrible burden. It\u2019s a gift in that it sets us apart from all other creatures. We\u2019re made in God&#8217;s image. It\u2019s a burden because it\u2019s possible for us to freely [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1489,7],"tags":[106,121,174,235,373],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4366"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14032,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4366\/revisions\/14032"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4366"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4366"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4366"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}