Numbers 31 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Numbers 31.

www.blueletterbible.org/kjv/num/31/1/s_148001

Meditate on verses 15-16.

 

And Moses said to them, "Have you spared all the women?

Behold, these caused the sons of Israel, through the counsel

of Balaam, to trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor,

 so the plague was among the congregation of the LORD.”

 

Numbers 31 tells the rest of the story of Balaam being hired by King Balak to curse Israel, so they would not be able to destroy the pagan nations surrounding their promised land (Numbers 22:1-7).  The Midianites were part of that group who hoped Israel would be destroyed.  Taking Balaam’s advice, the women seduced the Israelites into adulterous idolatry by joining themselves to Baal through sexual intimacy (Numbers 25:1-9).  God had already punished the Israelites for their foolishness; now He commanded the Midianites be destroyed, so they could not seduce His people into unfaithfulness again.

 

Are there things in your life seducing you from faithfulness to God?  Spend time asking God to reveal them to you, even the “little ones” (v. 17).  Ask God to help you remove them, so they do not hinder your walk with Christ.

 

As a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7), use the words from Numbers 31:15-17 to ask God to help you and those you love remove unfaithfulness from your midst.  

 

“LORD, do not let _________ and me spare anything

 that causes us to trespass against You.

We do not want a plague among us. 

Help us to kill every little thing that keeps us

 from intimately knowing You, LORD.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Numbers 30 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Numbers 30.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/num/30/1/s_147001

Meditate on verses 1b-2.

 

This is the word which the LORD has commanded.

 "If a man makes a vow to the LORD, or takes an oath

to bind himself with a binding obligation, he shall not

 violate his word; he shall do according to

 all that proceeds out of his mouth.”

 

Perhaps you are surprised when others keep their word, doing what they say they will do.  Perhaps you struggle with carrying through on promises, leaving others disappointed.  Meditate on these Bible verses:

 

For my mouth will utter truth; and

wickedness is an abomination to my lips.

All the utterances of my mouth are in righteousness;

there is nothing crooked or perverted in them.

—Proverbs 8:7-8

 

The mouth of the righteous is a fountain of life,

but the mouth of the wicked conceals violence.

—Proverbs 10:11

 

The LORD is my portion; I have promised to keep Your words.

—Psalm 119:57

 

Ask the LORD to help you be a person of integrity who keeps His Word and as a result, keeps your word, bringing righteousness, truth, and life to those around you.

 

Pray Numbers 30:2b over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, please make _________ and me people

 who do not violate our word.

Help us do according to all that

proceeds out of our mouths.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Numbers 29 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Numbers 29.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/num/29/1/s_146001

Meditate on verse 7.

 

Then on the tenth day of this seventh month you

 shall have a holy convocation, and you shall humble

 yourselves; you shall not do any work.

 

Have you ever thought about rest being an act of humility?  Pride motivates people to work all the time, doing more than those around them and resenting those not as productive as they. 

 

Rest is important to God.  After creating the world in six days, He rested on the seventh day, setting an example for us to obey.

 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

  Six days you shall labor and do all your work,

 but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God;

 you shall not do any work… For in six days the LORD

 made the heavens and the earth,

 the sea and all that is in them, and rested

 on the seventh day; therefore, the LORD

blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.

—Exodus 20:8-11

 

Ask the LORD to show you areas where pride drives you to work laboriously rather than rest in Him.  Do you ever cancel your daily quiet time with God because your to-do list is long?  Do you work an extra hour hoping to get ahead instead of giving your family the attention they desperately crave?  Do you justify the world’s way of keeping the sabbath, working to get caught up, participating in sporting events, getting the shopping and laundry done…?

 

Pray Numbers 29:7 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, help _______ and me humble ourselves

 and not do any work when You give the command to rest.

In Your name, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Numbers 28 - Praying God's Word

Please read Numbers 28.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/num/28/1/s_145001

Meditate on verses 3 and 6.

 

This is the offering by fire which you shall offer

 to the LORD: two male lambs one year old without defect

 as a continual burnt offering every day.

It is a continual burnt offering which was ordained

 in Mount Sinai as a soothing aroma, an offering by fire to the LORD.

 

God required the Israelites to daily present two perfect, unblemished lambs as a continual burnt offering.  This offering was to be made to God at all times, without interruption. 

 

Picture yourself living under that law, daily finding two faultless lambs to offer to God to cover your sins.  As the enormity of that task sinks in, thank Jesus for being the perfect Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

 

For the Law… can never, by the same sacrifices

which they offer continually year by year, make

 perfect those who draw near.  But in those sacrifices, there

 is a reminder of sins year by year.  We have been

sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ

 once for all.  He, having offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, … has

 perfected for all time those who are sanctified.

—Hebrews 10:1, 3, 10, 12, 14

 

As a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7), pray Numbers 28:22 over those who need Jesus to be their sin offering and thank Him for making atonement¹ for you.

 

“LORD, thank You for being my sin offering

 to make atonement for me.

Please let __________ receive You as their

 sin offering to make atonement for them.

Because You are the perfect sin offering, Jesus~”

 

1.      Atonement is the Hebrew word kaphar, and it means “to cover, to cancel, to appease, to cleanse sin with the blood of a sacrifice.” Retrieved from www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H3722&t=NASB

 

 

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

Numbers 27 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Numbers 27.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/num/27/1/s_144001

Meditate on verses 12-14.

 

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go up to this mountain of Abarim,

and see the land which I have given to the sons of Israel. 

When you have seen it, you too will be gathered to

your people, as Aaron your brother was; for in the wilderness of Zin,

 during the strife of the congregation, you rebelled against My

 command to treat Me as holy before their eyes at the water."

 (These are the waters of Meribah of Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.)

 

Kadesh…it was there the Israelites chose to doubt God and focus on giants (Numbers 13:25-14:38).   God punished them severely for their unbelief (Numbers 26:64-65).  It was also at Kadesh that Moses did not believe God nor treat Him as holy, twice striking the rock to get water for the people instead of speaking to it (Numbers 20:7-13).  God severely punished Moses for his disobedient unbelief as well; he was not allowed to lead the Israelites into the promised land (vs. 12-14).

 

Be mindful when God brings you to “Kadesh,” the place of decision to believe and obey Him.  It will be a place requiring you to wholeheartedly trust God despite overwhelming circumstances.  It will be a place requiring you to humbly acknowledge God’s holiness, so others can see that salvation comes from Him.

 

Notice Moses’ heart for the people.  If Moses could not lead them into the land, he wanted God to give them a good leader to take his place.  Pray Moses’ prayer from Numbers 27:16-17 over a church for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, the God of the spirits of all flesh, appoint a man

 over the congregation who will go

 out and come in before them

 and who will lead them out and bring them in,

 so that the congregation of the LORD will

 not be like sheep which have no shepherd.

For the sake of Your church, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

 

Numbers 26 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Numbers 26.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/num/26/1/s_143001

Meditate on verses 63-65.

 

These are those who were numbered by Moses

 and Eleazar the priest, who numbered the sons of Israel in

 the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.

 But among these there was not a man of those who were

 numbered by Moses and Aaron the priest, who numbered

 the sons of Israel in the wilderness of Sinai.

For the LORD had said of them, "They shall surely die in the wilderness."

And not a man was left of them, except Caleb

 the son of Jephunneh and Joshua the son of Nun.

 

Nearly 40 years passed since God had Moses number the males twenty years old and older—those men able to go to war (Numbers 1:1-3; 26:2).  Tragically, the men in the first census (except for Joshua and Caleb) were not included in this second census because they were dead:

 

"Say to them, 'As I live,' says the LORD, 'just as you

 have spoken in My hearing, so I will surely

do to you; your corpses will fall in this wilderness, even

 all your numbered men, according to your complete

number from twenty years old and upward,

who have grumbled against Me.’”

—Numbers 14:28-29

 

And, because those men died, Israel had 1,820 fewer men than when they left Egypt 40 years earlier (Numbers 1:46; 26:51).  Oh, the consequences of sin!

 

Notice in the first census, the Levites were not numbered at all because their job was to care for the tabernacle rather than go to war (Numbers 1:47-53).  In the second census, every Levite male from a month old was numbered (v. 62).  As a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7), pray for God to number your loved ones from the time they are born as belonging to Him, using the words from Numbers 26:62.

 

“LORD, please number _________ and me as Yours.

Because You are our inheritance, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

 

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Numbers 25 - Praying God's Word

 

Please read Numbers 25.

www.blueletterbible.org/nasb/num/25/1/s_142001

Meditate on verses 1-2 and Revelation 2:14. 

 

While Israel remained at Shittim, the people began

to play the harlot with the daughters of Moab.

For they invited the people to the sacrifices of their gods,

and the people ate and bowed down to their gods.

 

“But I (Jesus) have a few things against you, because

 you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam,

who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block

 before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed

 to idols and to commit acts of immorality.”

 

Balaam may not have spoken a curse against Israel, but he taught King Balak how to make the people sin.  Numbers 25 is the graphic picture of God’s judgment being poured out on the Israelites.  As the leaders were being executed for worshiping Baal and 24,000 Israelites were dying by plague, Zimri, the son of a prominent Israelite leader, had the audacity to publicly engage in sexual immorality with Cozbi, the daughter of a prominent Midianite leader.  Phineas, the grandson of Aaron the priest, speared the couple to death as they committed their affair.  God was very pleased with Phineas and pronounced a great blessing over him because he took an obvious stand for God and His holiness. 

 

As you take God’s Word to heart, ask the LORD to not let you be a Balaam, causing people to sin.  Ask God to make you a Phineas, making a bold stand for Christ and His Word.

 

Pray Numbers 25:12-13 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

 

“LORD, as ________ and I act like Phineas, please

 give us Your covenant of peace.  Let it be for us and

 our descendants, a covenant of a perpetual priesthood

 because we are jealous for You, God.

You are our atonement, Jesus~”

 

The WATCHMAN on the WALL – Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell