IN THE PAST... By Kim Matsukawa

Scripture
"…be very careful to keep the commandment and the law that
Moses the servant of the LORD gave you: to love the LORD your God, to
walk in all his ways, to obey his commands, to hold fast to him and to
serve him with all your heart and all your soul." Joshua 22:5

Observation:
God gave Joshua and his people the land that He had
promised to Moses, although because of Moses' doubts, him and his
people were forced to wander the wilderness for 40 years. Joshua
trusted God, having faith in Him, received the land and let the people
know to make sure to follow God's commandment and continue to love Him
and serve him with all their heart.

Application:
Do I serve God with all my heart? Am I truly serving
God or do I serve myself still? In the video this weekend, I
confessed to the church that I used to serve myself and now I serve
God and others…which is true in whole. However, after today's lessons
from Kiha, I say to myself, IN THE PAST…I served myself while trying
to serve God, not always, however, what does it matter, it happened.
IN THE PAST…I didn't serve him with ALL my heart, sometimes for
selfish reasons. IN THE PAST…I didn't obey his commands, I followed
my own. IN THE PAST…I didn't walk in his ways, I followed my own
path. I want to be able to stop saying IN THE PAST and go on to say
NOW I…regardless of what I do, I serve God with all my heart, follow
his paths, and obey his commands.

Prayer:
Heavenly Father…thank you Lord, for all that you provide.
Lord forgive me for taking advantage of your GRACE and your MERCY. It
didn't truly hit me until this morning's teaching that I do take
advantage of Your grace and that how being accountable to being on
time (although it may not seem like a big thing), it doesn't really
bother me when it happens. And yes, I too get bothered when I get to
something early and everyone else is late. Father forgive me for the
sins against you in this area of my life. Help me to not take you for
granted, You already died for me once, you shouldn't have to do it
over and over again in my mind. Thank you for your sacrifice of
taking on the sins of the world, even just mine. Amen