DCLM Daily Manna 2025: DCLM Daily Manna 3 August 2025: Possessing the Promises
KEY VERSE:
“And ye shall serve the LORD your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee. There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.” – (Exodus 23:25,26).
READ: Exodus 23:20-33 (KJV)
20 Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared.
21 Beware of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your transgressions: for my name is in him.
22 But if thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an enemy unto thine enemies, and an adversary unto thine adversaries.
23 For mine Angel shall go before thee, and bring thee in unto the Amorites, and the Hittites, and the Perizzites, and the Canaanites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites: and I will cut them off.
24 Thou shalt not bow down to their gods, nor serve them, nor do after their works: but thou shalt utterly overthrow them, and quite break down their images.
25 And ye shall serve the Lord your God, and he shall bless thy bread, and thy water; and I will take sickness away from the midst of thee.
26 There shall nothing cast their young, nor be barren, in thy land: the number of thy days I will fulfil.
27 I will send my fear before thee, and will destroy all the people to whom thou shalt come, and I will make all thine enemies turn their backs unto thee.
28 And I will send hornets before thee, which shall drive out the Hivite, the Canaanite, and the Hittite, from before thee.
29 I will not drive them out from before thee in one year; lest the land become desolate, and the beast of the field multiply against thee.
30 By little and little I will drive them out from before thee, until thou be increased, and inherit the land.
31 And I will set thy bounds from the Red sea even unto the sea of the Philistines, and from the desert unto the river: for I will deliver the inhabitants of the land into your hand; and thou shalt drive them out before thee.
32 Thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor with their gods.
33 They shall not dwell in thy land, lest they make thee sin against me: for if thou serve their gods, it will surely be a snare unto thee.
D.L. Moody once said, “If people were true to the first commandment, obedience to the remaining nine would follow naturally. It is because they are unsound in this that they break the others.” Breaking God’s commands deactivates His promises.
In concluding the series of instructions to Moses at Mount Sinai, God warned the Israelites that fulfilling His covenant promises would depend on their obedience to His commandments. Notably, the Angel of Jehovah would guide and guard them on their way, but they should not provoke Him by their wrong actions. The Angel of Jehovah in this context is the Lord Himself before His incarnation.
God instructed the Israelites to avoid idolatry and mingling with the Canaanites. If they obey, He will give them victory over their enemies; they will also have prosperity and longevity by averting diseases, premature death, miscarriage and barrenness.
Similarly, today, it takes obedience and loyalty to God to enjoy the blessings of the new covenant. Just as God demanded from Israel a total separation from idols and the wicked Canaanites, He expects His people to separate from the world and its idols. Very much like the Israelites of old, we face the temptation of joining in the corrupt practices of the world and bowing to its idols of money, position, pleasure, and fame. But when we are obedient and remain unspotted by the world, He bestows abundant blessings on us. We stand to enjoy the divine presence, protection, guidance, and establishment in the Lord when we listen and obey His word.
Though these promises do not imply that we would not face challenges in life, they assure us that the Lord will be present to help us in every difficulty we encounter. In turbulence, we will have peace like the birds that sit in their nests on the swaying branches. They feel secure knowing they have wings to fly even if the branches break. The promises of God are wings for believers to fly in all of life challenges.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God’s promises are like promissory notes, but it takes faith and obedience to cash them.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Ezra 4-6
Daily Manna 3 August 2025
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