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Day 53 or February 22. Listen to God when He speaks to you. Our thoughts today are from

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Deuteronomy chapter 6, verses 4 and 5. Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

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Love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength.

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First the big picture surrounding these verses. Having looked back at how great God has been,

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Moses now concentrates on what God wants to do in and through His people today. All he says is

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rooted in the Ten Commandments, which the Israelites have had for some years now. They were given to the

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first generation who left Egypt about forty years earlier. He explains the covenant between God and

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His people, and underlines how important it is for them not to lose their identity as they settle

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in an alien land. For four hundred years in Egypt they had not intermarried with other races,

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and Moses tells them that it's just as vital now that they retain their purity and remain God's

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people. In ancient times intermarrying was the norm, as it is in many countries today. However,

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God was hard at work preparing a nation through whom He would bring the Christ.

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And now our action step. Have you ever spoken to someone and just known they weren't listening?

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Yes, I'm speaking to you. When Moses was given the Ten Commandments back at Mount Sinai,

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just after the Israelites had escaped from Egypt, there were high hopes that life would be better

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from now on. We've all had that experience, I'm sure. But it's in the euphoria of the blessing

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that the evil one slips a banana skin under our feet, and down we go. We need to be prepared,

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and the best way is to listen to what God is saying. We need to train ourselves to really listen.

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Jesus said in Matthew 11 verse 15, anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand. Be

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sure to listen for God's voice today rather than just being present when He speaks. After all,

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it's for your own good and ultimately the good of others. God's always worth hearing.