They tried Me, though they had seen My work. For forty years I loathed that generation, and said they are a people who err in their heart, and they do not know My ways. Psalm 95:10.
Today your LORD (יהוה) God (אלוהים) says:
The anointing will teach you My ways and when you know My ways you will not err in your heart so as to miss your milestones. A milestone is an event in your life marking a significant change or stage in development. Often a milestone marks the start of a new chapter. Literally, a milestone refers to a roadside marker that lists the distance to a particular location.
I was grieved that the Israelites I redeemed out of Egypt never entered the land I had promised them as Abraham’s descendants over 400 years before. It was all prepared and ready for them to step into a new and glorious chapter of their lives. The crossing of the Jordan River into the Promised Land would have been the beginning of the most glorious nation that would ever exist on the face of the earth. But they missed their milestone. And so did many others down the years so that My plans for Israel will only be realized when the new Jerusalem, the heavenly city, descends to the earth to join earth and Heaven as one.
If you recall, however, when the next generation went into the Promised Land, I had them set up a milestone marking that a new chapter had begun in their lives. And that generation under the leadership of Joshua was a victorious one.
Now when all the nation had finished crossing the Jordan, the LORD spoke to Joshua, saying, “Take for yourselves twelve men from the people, one man from each tribe, and command them, saying, ‘Take up for yourselves twelve stones from here out of the middle of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet are standing firm, and carry them over with you and lay them down in the lodging place where you will lodge tonight.’” So Joshua called the twelve men whom he had appointed from the sons of Israel, one man from each tribe; and Joshua said to them, “Cross again to the ark of the LORD your God into the middle of the Jordan, and each of you take up a stone on his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel. Let this be a sign among you, so that when your children ask later, saying, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ then you shall say to them, ‘Because the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the LORD; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.” Thus the sons of Israel did as Joshua commanded, and took up twelve stones from the middle of the Jordan, just as the LORD spoke to Joshua, according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Israel; and they carried them over with them to the lodging place and put them down there. Then Joshua set up twelve stones in the middle of the Jordan at the place where the feet of the priests who carried the ark of the covenant were standing, and they are there to this day. Joshua 4:1-9.
You do not want to miss your milestones. When I appeared in a dream to Jacob on the place he named “Beth-el (house of God)”, where the temple was later built, he set up a milestone there and anointed it with oil as a new chapter began in his life that would change his name to Israel and the beginning of the nation was born that day. And that nation of twelve tribes (Jacob’s sons) would bring the Messiah to earth according to the flesh. And Jacob saw the ladder that Jesus later revealed to Nathanael as Himself, the mediator between Me and man.
Do not miss your milestones by not knowing My ways. What did Jacob declare at that milestone? That I would be his God and he would tithe. That was the beginning of his great prosperity and wisdom. He came to the place with only a staff in hand and when he returned to that place to go back to his father’s land he was so wealthy he had to travel as two companies.
Jacob said, “O God of my father Abraham and God of my father Isaac, O LORD, who said to me, ‘Return to your country and to your relatives, and I will prosper you,’ I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness (truth) which You have shown to Your servant; for with my staff only I crossed this Jordan, and now I have become two companies.” Genesis 32:9-10.
Jacob had discovered My ways, lovingkindness and truth.
Make me know Your ways, O LORD; teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me, for You are the God of my salvation; for You I wait all the day. Psalm 25:4-5.
The anointing within teaches you all things and guides you to all truth. He will lead you in My ways. So what are My ways? My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts but I reveal them to you by My Spirit. My ways are lovingkindness and truth.
All the paths of the LORD are lovingkindness and truth to those who keep His covenant and His testimonies. Psalm 25:10.
Moses asked to see My glory, so My goodness passed before Him and I declared to him My ways. Lovingkindness and truth (Chesed v Emet). And My servant David, a man after My own heart, knew My ways and summed up what Moses had revealed, for David was a prophet: The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. Psalm 103:8.
You see it is important to know My ways and My Spirit will guide you on level ground so that you may rest in Me despite the valleys, mountains, and rivers that will come into your path in this life. For if you know My ways, you will know the works that I will do for you, with you and in you. For My Word contains My thoughts and My ways, and My Spirit in your heart, the anointing, will lead you and guide you in My Words, My thoughts, and My ways. He is the revealer of mysteries. But we will talk more about that in the next life lesson.
Today let Me take you to a psalm of David, Psalm 103, for when David was anointed by Samuel when he was still shepherding his father’s sheep to be king of Israel, My Spirit rushed upon him and never left him. His heart was right. He was a man after My own heart. Sin that is not deadly comes through the weakness of the flesh and not guarding your eyes and heart by My Word, but there is a difference between the calculated sin of a hard heart that devises wicked schemes and the weakness of the flesh in one with a heart sensitive to Me that has right intention, that is, inclined to Me. I see the heart.
If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask and God will for him give life to those who commit sin not leading to death. There is a sin leading to death; I do not say that he should make request for this. All unrighteousness is sin, and there is a sin not leading to death. 1 John 5:16-17.
Jesus prayed for Peter when he denied Jesus, but Jesus did not pray for Judas when he betrayed Him. There was a tremendous difference in their hearts and their plans. One was planned and premeditated; the other was not. One was calculated and the other was not. I had to let Judas go his own way. But Peter’s way was My Way, he just slipped due to the weakness of the flesh. But in his heart was love.
The steps of a man are established by the LORD, and He delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be hurled headlong, because the LORD is the One who holds his hand. Psalm 37:23-24.
If you know My ways of lovingkindness and truth you will always run to Me and not away from Me should you fall into sin by the weakness of the flesh. When you repent, return, and rejoice in My ways of forgiveness, lovingkindness and truth, I pour My Spirit upon you and I restore you better than before. My Spirit in you quickens, gives life and joy, to your mortal body. Those are My ways. I am generous. I gave you My Son, will I not give you all things with Him? And the answer is “yes.” All My magnificent promises are “yes” to you in Him for they are My Ways.
So now let look at how My ways manifest in your daily life if you will walk in the truth.
What is My heart’s desire for all of you? I desire above all that all people be saved and come to know the truth so that you will prosper and be in good health even as your soul prospers by walking in the truth.
David described Me as the One who: pardons all your iniquities, heals all your diseases; redeems your life from the pit, crowns you and surrounds you with lovingkindness and compassion; fills your days with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle. Psalm 103:3-5.
And My Spirit tells you more about My ways:
The LORD performs righteous deeds and judgments for all who are oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the sons of Israel. The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness. He will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. Psalm 103:6-10.
I do not deal with you in accordance with your sins for I have accounted them all to Jesus and accounted His righteousness, which is Mine, to you. And Jesus has reconciled you with Me, making peace through the blood of His cross and taking your sins on Himself so that you are holy, blameless and beyond reproach before Me. Why did I do this? For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His lovingkindness toward those who fear Him. As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us. Just as a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him. For He Himself knows our frame; He is mindful that we are but dust. Psalm 103:11-14.
I know how you are formed and I know how the sin of Adam made you weak and mortal. But I have provided a new Way that is My Way. And He is the resurrection and the life. In Him is the eternal life I promised you before the foundation of the world.
As for man, his days are like grass; as a flower of the field, so he flourishes. When the wind has passed over it, it is no more, and its place acknowledges it no longer. But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to those who keep His covenant and remember His precepts to do them. Psalm 103:15-18.
If you really want to know My Ways and My Works just look at My Word made flesh, living and working for you. Jesus is your Way, your truth and your life. And I anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and power to go around doing good works and healing all those oppressed by the devil. I sent Him to undo the works of the devil. And as I sent Him, so He sends you. And He sends you as I did Him, with the Holy Spirit, the anointing.
Jesus came and stood in their midst and said to them, “Peace be with you.” And when He had said this, He showed them both His hands and His side. The disciples then rejoiced when they saw the Lord. So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you; as the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” And when He had said this, He breathed on them and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit.” John 20:19-22.
I know very well the plans I have for you, plans for your shalom (prosperity, peace, health, success, and happiness, wholeness in every area of your life) and not evil, to give you a future (eternal) and a hope (both sure and steadfast). And My ways all reflect one purpose, plan, and goal—and you can sum it up in one word that says it all: Pure love. And that is who I am and all My ways are ways of love. Chesed, is the Hebrew word for My Covenant love, it is similar to agape in Greek. It is often translated “lovingkindness,” “mercy,” “love,” or “grace.” It means all of those in one word. Here is how My servant Paul describes who understood Hebrew:
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. Ephesians 2:4-7.
Mercy, love, grace, and kindness that is My Covenant love, eternal love that binds you to Me and lifts you up to walk in My ways with Me. Covenant raises the lesser to the riches, power, protection, and possessions of the greater. And that is what I have done for you in Christ Jesus. He is My Chesed manifested in the Anointed One and the anointing. My love, My chesed, in your heart. And in the anointing My Ways become your ways for it makes us one in Jesus.