Tuesday, May 07, 2013,
7:20 a.m. – the Lord Jesus woke me with this song:
Trust Him / An
Original Work / August 15, 2012
Based off Psalm 27:14
Wait for the Lord; be of courage;
Be strong and take heart today.
Do not fear when foes attack you.
Trust in God always.
He will rescue you in times
Of trouble and distress,
He’ll comfort you in all ways
As you trust Him with your life today.
Trust in Him always.
God is with you; He’ll not leave you.
You can always count on Him.
He will fulfill all He promised
Before you began.
His word teaches you
All that you need for this life.
Let Him lead you. Open your heart;
Let his truth envelope you today.
Listen and obey.
Love your Lord God; follow Jesus.
Repent of your sins today.
Make Him your Lord and your master;
Trust Him and obey.
Follow Him where’er He leads you
In His service; be His witness,
Telling others about Jesus’
Price that He did pay
For your sins always.
Speak, Lord, for your servant
is listening. I read Zechariah 1
(NIV): http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah%201&version=NIV
Do not be like…
In context, the Lord is speaking here to the children of
Israel, yet much of this passage is also eschatological, i.e. it refers to the
end of time, the judgments on the earth, the eternal destiny of mankind, the
return of Jesus Christ, and his millennial reign on the earth. As well, all
scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for… training in
righteousness, so even today we can glean practical understanding of this
passage as applied to our lives.
The Lord was angry with Israel’s ancestors. Their ancestors
were told that God Almighty had said to them that they needed to turn from
their evil ways and practices, yet they didn’t listen or pay attention to what
the prophets said. So, God had to send judgment upon them to get them to return
to God, and then they repented, and in humility recognized that God did to them
as their evil ways and practices deserved. I am so thankful that we don’t
always get what our ways and practices deserve, yet we should never take God’s
grace for granted, either. The OT prophets and the book of Revelation both
teach of a time at the end of time in which God will judge the people of this
earth, and included in that time are judgments against his idolatrous,
rebellious, spiritually adulterous and unrepentant church.
I am sure we have all had fathers, mothers, aunts and
uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents who either gave us good examples to
follow or bad ones. The encouragement to us here today is to not follow the
ways of our “forefathers” who set bad, wicked, sinful and/or rebellious examples
before us. We can learn from the mistakes of our parents and grandparents, and spiritual
or national leaders, or we can follow in their footsteps in repeating their
sinful ways and practices.
Much of today’s church has gone the ways of their ancestors
in following after the gods of men, and have not listened to God’s words of
correction, training and discipline, but have decided to be lord of their own
lives, even creating their own images of who God/Jesus is, and creating their
own “gospel” to fit their own selfish desires, making the gospel more palatable
to the people of the world so as not to offend the world with the gospel. So,
God is saying, “Return to me, and I will return to you.” The sad reality is
that so many professing Christians don’t even realize that a vital relationship
with Jesus Christ is truly missing from their lives and/or that the life of the
Spirit is missing from much of the church.
Very Jealous
God is very jealous for his church. We were promised to one
husband, Jesus Christ. And, yet so many professing followers of Christ are
following after the ways of men instead. The church has become so much like the
world that it is barely distinguishable between the church and the world
anymore. We are commanded to come out from the world and to be separate. We are
instructed that coming to Christ means that we die to our own selfish ways and
our sins daily, and that we follow our Lord Jesus Christ in obedience, putting
on our new lives in Christ, “created to be like God in true righteousness and
holiness” (see Luke 9:23-25; Eph. 4:17-24). Being a follower of Christ means
that we (our selfish desires) die and no longer live, but Christ now lives
within us, and he is now the boss of our lives. Coming to Christ is much like
getting married. When we accept Christ as Lord and Savior of our lives we, in
essence, take a vow of fidelity, faithfulness, love and commitment to one “husband”
only, and to forsake all other “gods.” Are we doing this?
I believe God has been calling for some time now for his
idolatrous and spiritually adulterous church to turn from her wicked ways and
to return to her first love and only husband, Jesus Christ. Yet, much of today’s
church is just like Israel of old. They are not listening and are not paying
attention to God’s words. They make up their own versions of God that fit
better with the lifestyles they want to live. And, so God is going to have to
bring a divine dose of discipline and correction against them. And, he will use
evil men to be his divine instruments of judgment. Once he is finished using
them, then he will judge them for their evil deeds. And, I believe that is where
we are right now in history, and that we are already beginning to see signs of
this across the world, and it is now coming home to America. A time of great
persecution of Christians is now or soon upon us, and I believe we are in the
process of coming under the rule of the beast, though I have no idea how long
that will take.
So, God is saying to his people, “Return to me, and I will
return to you.”
Follow Him / An
Original Work / February 21, 2013
Based off Luke 9:22-25
Jesus, Son of God,
Died for us on a
cross.
Anyone who would come
to Him
Must deny himself and
follow.
He must take up his
cross daily;
Die to sin and self each
day.
Father, God above,
Loved us so: gave His
Son.
If you want to save
your old life;
Keep on sinning,
follow your ways,
You will lose your
life forever;
Hope of heaven gone
away.
Spirit of our God
Gives us life in God’s
Son.
Nonetheless, if you die
to self;
Forsake your sin;
follow Jesus,
You will live with God
in heaven,
And forever praise His
name!
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