daily devotional

“… but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind,…I press toward the mark…”
(Philippians 3:13, 14).
Manasseh means “to forget”. “For God”, said Joseph, “hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s
house” (Gen. 41:51). As Joseph forgot the past so must we : rather we must look to the future for
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something better (Phil.3:13). We enjoy talking about our past sufferings to get human sympathy. However
to grow spiritually we must forget completely every past suffering of any kind.
Sometimes we look at the past and remember with joy what the Lord did for us so many years ago. We
keep on telling others what happened ten, twelve or fifteen years ago. Sometimes with tears we talk of
those wonderful days, and long to get back to the good old days, at least for a while. Married people look
back to the first few months or years of married life and long to go back to those days not realising how
much greater blessing the Lord has for them in the future. Perhaps God has been extremely good to you,
and you have seen Him working mightily in the past. Do not forget that He has something far greater in
store for you in future. So look forward with eager expectancy for these greater things. Paul says, “I press
forward”. It is only when you press forward for these better things the Lord has to give you, that your faith
is kept alive. Such expectation and faith will keep you near to the heart of God. He will not be satisfied
until He has filled us with His fulness and brought us into perfection. He wants to give us His whole
kingdom which is our full spiritual inheritance. That is why He asks us to press forward. Thinking of the
good old days and maintaining the same attitude that we had seven or eight years ago will hinder our
spiritual progress and fruitfulness.

We all need the experience of “Manasseh.” Whatever happens we must remember that the Lord has
better things for us in the future. He wants us to enjoy fully all that He has planned for us from eternity,
because He says, “all things are yours” (1 Cor. 3:21). However, merely repeating these words is not
sufficient; we have to claim His promise. God says, “Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will
multiply thee” (Heb. 6:14). That is God’s promise and according to it, He will go on multiplying His blessings
to us in abundance for eternity. For this reason we must forget the past, however good it may have been
and expect greater things to happen. We must go on claiming the full share of our heavenly inheritance
in His Kingdom and His Throne.

“That your days may be multiplied, and the days of your children… as the days of heaven upon the
earth” (Deut. 11:21).
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If we obey the Lord and keep away from every kind of strange god, He will give us everything in plenty
from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year (Deut. 11:12). In sickness or in poverty, He
will give you all that you need: perhaps not too early, but never too late; perhaps not too much, but never
too little. The Lord promised to give enough not only for the children of Israel, but also for their cattle
(Deut. 11:15). This means that we need not be anxious about anything, for the Lord will supply not only
our obvious needs, but also our smaller unknown needs.
Then the Lord gave a warning to them that they should not be deceived. I have seen many cases where
people have prospered and their income has increased, and then they have drifted away from the Lord.
At one time they were full of zeal, but now they have become cold. When they were in need they used
to come regularly for the meetings and again and again they would ask for prayer. But now that their
requests have been granted in answer to prayer, we do not see much of them, not even on Sundays! They
have evidently been deceived by prosperity. So I would warn those of you who are prosperous, never cut
short your time of prayer, and never keep away from the House of God.
Some people have been in the practice of giving their tithes regularly to the Lord. But now that their
income has increased they wonder, “How can I give so much as tithe? It is such a large amount!” When
we fail to give God’s portion to Him, we are actually robbing God! (Malachi 3:8-10). Do not robe God of
His time either. Perhaps before you got married you used to spend hours in prayer but now that you are
married you have no time for Him at all! This kind of robbing will bring you into spiritual barrenness. If
you take God’s warning and see that you are not deceived by the attractions of the world, He will bless
you richly.
We can take many valuable lessons from the instructions given to the children of Israel in Deut. 11:18.
They were asked to lay up His words in their heart and in their soul: we also should let the Word of God
dwell richly in our hearts (Col. 3:16). They were to bind them for a sign upon their hands, we too should
carry our Bibles with us wherever we go. They were to keep the words of God as frontlets before their
eyes: we too should keep God’s promises before us always, and claim them daily for all our needs. They
were to teach the Word of God diligently to their children. “And thou shalt teach them …unto thy children,
and shalt talk of them when thou sittest… and when thou walkest… when thou liest down, and when thou
risest up” (Deut. 6:7). We also have to do the same.
If we obey God in all these matters the Lord promises to multiply our days and give us days of heaven
upon earth (Deut. 11:21). All these promises can be our experience the whole year round, not only on
Sundays but every day of the week. The grace of God will come flowing down upon us from heaven.

“But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of
heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for: the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it,
from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year” (Deut. 11:11,12).

This is the land of promise : to us it means Christ. If you are in this land, spiritually, wherever you may
live and whatever your burdens may be, God’s eyes will be upon you from the beginning of the year to
the end of it. His grace, mercy and peace will be showered abundantly upon you and you will be given
the strength you need to overcome all your trials. If you are a child of God you must claim His promises
by faith, otherwise they will remain mere words.


The land of Canaan did not require any watering or artificial irrigation. It was a land that drank water of
the rain of heaven (verse 11). When the children of Israel entered the land it was very fertile from one
end to the other. The Lord Jesus Christ is an antitype of that land. In Him we have all sufficiency and
we have no need to get troubled or anxious about anything, because He supplies all our needs provided
we know how to obey Him and bring all our needs to Him in prayer.

God had told the children of Israel very clearly, again and again that He would bless them if they obeyed
His commandments, and punish them if they went after other gods (vs. 27,28 and ch. 6:13,14). The
people knew that God wanted them to love Him with all their hearts, and with all their souls and with
all their might; yet we see that again and again they went after strange gods either openly or secretly.
Therefore, although they were actually in the promised land, they were not able to enjoy its fulness.


For us this means that unless we honour our Lord whole-heartedly, and keep our hearts free from
strange gods, we will not be able to understand and enjoy the fulness of the Lord Jesus Christ. When
we love any person or any thing more than the Lord Jesus Christ, that person or thing becomes a strange
god to us, and consequently we lose our joy and peace. Some may love their houses and their properties
more than the Lord, and neglect their times of devotion, prayer, worship and service for the Lord. Others
spend hours looking after their motor cars, cleaning and admiring them. Yet others worship their friends
and relations and have so much desire to be popular with them that they will willingly cut short or cancel
their times of prayer and attending of special meetings, and even Sunday worship. Many others have
worldly friends or even defiling friendships by which they fall into sin.

Love of money may become a strange god too. Some people are not satisfied with what they have and
wish to increase their income by some means, and then they have no time for private prayer or even family prayer and they
completely neglect the House of God. Some wives keep gold and silver as their strange gods. For some
people their radios (nowadays TV) are their strange gods, and thus lose even their desire for Bible
reading and prayer and Sunday worship. They say that they get all they need through these programmes
but ultimately they find themselves spiritually barren. Such strange gods are responsible for all your
spiritual loss including the loss of your peace and joy. God’s Word says that if you will keep your hearts
and homes free from strange gods, then His eye will be upon you (Deut. 11:12).

In order to be sure that we begin the new year without any strange gods in our hearts, we have to spend much time
examining our hearts. Thus we trust that the eyes of the Lord will be always upon us from the beginning
of the year to the end of it.