WHO IS IT THAT JUDGETH? (Part 3) (Touch not)

This is the 130^th letter:

Text for the day: 1 Chronicles 16:22

Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.

Our Theme for the day: WHO IS IT THAT JUDGETH? (Part 3) (Touch not)

Our Devotional

I once read a sign which said, “If you judge people, you have no time to love them”. “This was the fate of Miriam and Aaron as they spent most of their day judging or accusing their brother Moses. As they engaged in this evil, they were doing the very work that God condemns. Some have asked the question, what led to this bad spirit toward their brother? They were jealous of Moses, and this jealousy led to the exhibition of selfishness, bitterness, and almost hatred. They censured Moses because he did not consult them, and move according to their judgment. Looking back at this account it says, "And they said, hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?" Through it all, notice how Moses did not seek to vindicate his course, but God Himself interposed. "And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And he said hear now my words:

If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold; wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow." Numbers 12: 5-10. In this story we see the steps which Satan takes in breaking down unity, and success in ministry. With over a million people who had just come out of slavery God was moving His people to the promise land, but through the person of His choosing not theirs. This is a very important point, many people may have the will to lead, but very few have the gift that is needed to be a leader.

Now notice the first step in the breaking down of unity, and success in ministry is jealousy, which leads to accusation. Secondly if jealousy is continued it leads to the spirit of selfishness. Thirdly if the spirit of selfishness is not stopped it leads to bitterness. Fourthly if bitterness is not controlled, it finally leads to hatred and murder. But you may say how do people kill one another in ministry, or in the work place? Easy, through what is called censor or just plainly cut them off. Like Moses, many have been cut off from there colleagues in ministry, many have been cut off in the work place. But the question always comes why? Some may hide from the truth, but the answer is still the same, misjudging. What does God say to those who spend their day judging people, instead of loving people? “Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm” (Chronicles 16:22).

God had laid the burden of his work upon Moses, and when others presumed to heap upon him the burden of their censure and condemnation, the Lord declared them guilty of a great sin. He judged and condemned Miriam who had unjustly judged and condemned Moses. He to whom the hearts of all men are as an open book, read the hidden motives. He saw that the heart of Miriam was leprous with sin, and he caused the plague of the heart to be revealed in the dreadful judgment of physical leprosy. As leprosy is a sure death if permitted to take its natural course in the body, so is the leprosy of sin if permitted to take its spiritual course, it would destroy the soul unless the sinner received the healing of the grace of God. Since we cannot read the heart of any one, let us beware of ascribing wrong motives to any men, lest we find ourselves involved in guilt similar to that of Miriam, and thus bring upon ourselves the rebuke of God.

Further, in the Bible the work of judging is called "rejoicing in iniquity." But Love "rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things; love never faileth,” In other words, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. Love is not rude, Love is not self-seeking, Love is not easily angered, and Love keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. Love always protects, always trusts, always hopes, and always perseveres. Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:7-8)

So how does one stop judging or having a false perception of others? Firstly you must see that Jesus alone is our judge, our lawgiver, our king; and that it is he who will save us, Isaiah 33:22. In other words, it is not our place to be in the judgment box, this is exclusively set aside for Jesus, remember we are called to be his witnesses. Secondly, we must recognize that we are living in the present day of God’s judgment in that He, will judge each one of us according to our ways, 1 Peter 4:17, Where by He cries today repent! Turn away from all your offenses; that sin be not your downfall, Ezekiel 18:29-31.

Soon the day will finally come, when God the righteous judge will judge between many people and will settle the disputes for strong nations far and wide. In that day the warring nations will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore, Micah 4:2-4.If you see something out of the way today, before you form your ideas, do not judge. In other words, do not judge and you will not be judged, do not condemn, and you will not be condemned, for we shall all give an account to him that is ready to judge the quick and the dead. (Luke 6:37, 1 Peter 4:5)

Join us next time for another ray of sunshine from Garden Ministry.

Our Prayer for today: Father help us to guard our hearts in Jesus name, Amen. Prayer Request Let us continue to pray for a nine year old boy who needed heart surgery in Boston. His name is Valiant, he has been taken off the breathing machine and holding his own, they are now taking him out of the bed into a lounging recliner so he is able to sit up. So all looks well and he is doing well and hopefully by tomorrow he will go to a regular room and at that time I am sure he will be excited to talk to some people other then us. Thank you all again sister Amber, mother Shirlene, and dad Duane. A person who loves the Bible will also love to pray, and a person who loves to pray will delight themselves in the Bible. We are into our 36th week since starting Garden Ministry; it is growing with new people asking to subscribe to it each day. If you are gaining spiritual muscle mass, and strength through Garden Ministry, and would like to help some-one else gain Spiritual muscle mass and strength also. Then send Garden Ministry your Testimony at, http://gardenministry.blogspot.com/ . Garden Ministry would love to share your Testimony with our faithful viewers and readers. So ask yourselves, which letter or message from Garden Ministry helped you to hold on to your faith, or helped someone else hold on to theirs? Remember, you’re the only Jesus some will ever see. If you are blessed by these “uplifting gems”, share them. These letters are written by Elder Kevin Santucci For further information, comment or requests, E-mail Garden Ministry: http://gardenministry.blogspot.com/ Garden Ministry would love to thank you today for your prayers and continual faithfulness of sharing these letters with others like your self. Thank you for your insightful comments to Garden Ministry. If you love to leave a comment, go to our website at http://gardenministry.blogspot.com/ and then comment, follow the directions and then you will be finished. Truly I am encouraged how little can become much when you place it in the master’s hand. To all our faithful readers on behalf of the Garden Ministry team, we wish you Gods riches Blessings.