by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Hosea 5-8
“Let us know, let us press on to know the Lord. For His going forth is certain as the dawn.” (6:3) This was a leap-off-the-page verse for me several years ago as I was reading Hosea.
God has a plan and He is carrying it out. Sometimes – even many times – when He tries to get people to work His plan with Him, they say,”no.” So he has to go to another – and another. But, make no mistake about it. God’s overall plan will get done.
His going forth is as certain as the dawn.
So when you and I see things in the Word which aren’t being fulfilled, we shouldn’t worry, and we shouldn’t give up. Every Word of God will be fulfilled in due season.
The times and seasons of God are for Him alone to know. (Jesus even said that He didn’t know the times and seasons).
Yet there is a method our Father uses. When it’s time to bring forth the next phase of His plan, the Lord shares it with His prophets. They, in turn, give a heads up to other leaders, and specific prayer begins. Prayer that will bring the next phase on the scene.
Many years ago, as I realized such mechanisms of God’s processes, I made a commitment to Him and to myself. I want to be in on whatever God is doing. I don’t want to be bypassed when He brings great moments to the earth.
Recently, the Father has been showing many prophets that He is lining up His people for a “great awakening.” He is transitioning some to new assignments, and He is calling many to pray specifically for this movement.
When He says it’s going to happen, it will. Some won’t want to be involved, but there will be some who have the privilege of a remarkable move of God in the earth.
Wait for it, and watch for it. Our Father’s going forth is as certain as the dawn.
Revelation 1-2
We have seen Jesus in many facets of His being. He has been the humble servant, the Passover Lamb, the wise counselor, merciful One. In revelation, we see Jesus in a new light. He is the Alpha and Omega, and the One who holds the keys to death and of Hades. (1:18).
As John sees the appearance of the risen Lord, He describes Him as glowing like burnished bronze. His head and hair are like white wool, and His eyes are like flames of fire. This appearance presents our all-powerful, all-knowing risen Lord. Very dramatic. Even John who knew Him well, is now in awe of this appearance. He is Jehovah Tsaba, the Lord of Hosts.
When people want to keep Jesus in some sort of religious box, they don’t realize what they are doing. He paid the price to defeat Satan for us all, and in doing so, all authority in heaven and earth now reside upon Him. He is awesome!
The day will come when everyone (even those who pierced His sides), will recognize Jesus as the One with all authority. People from every tribe of the earth will recognize Him and mourn because they didn’t see Him for who He was and is. He is truly the Son of God. (1:7).
Throughout Revelation, we will see some understanding about God’s divine plan from the beginning of time. We will see the demise of Satan and his fallen angels. We will also see ourselves, the saints of God, playing our parts in the destiny of the world. We will see ourselves as “kings and priests” with only One higher in authority, that is the King of kings and the High Priest of the priests. (1:5)
It’s an awesome picture of God’s liberation of us all.
Jesus starts right out in this vision speaking a word to the churches of the era. These Words are for those specific churches, but for us also. He first brings encouragement to each one, and then He brings some direction – some constructive criticism, if you will. If we will take the words and examine our own hearts, we will see how we can better participate in all that He wants for us.
The first church mentioned is Ephesus. This church is thriving – filled with saints who are discerning about false teaching and lack of holiness. They are holy people. Yet there is one thing they lack. They have left their first love.
There is a difference between working for the Lord and spending time with Him. Most of us start out in total awe of our Lord. He has looked past our sins and set us free from them, giving us a chance to start over in life. What a marvelous time we have as we pour out our hearts and listen to His voice. He loves us and we love Him.
Then as time goes by, the “first love” aspect of our walk can suffer even while working hard for Him. Yet He longs for us always to seek Him first – even before we do the work.
Return to your first love, He says to us as well as them.
As Jesus speaks to the other churches, one of the common themes is…stay away from sin and don’t be influenced by those who are not truly His. Let your doctrine be pure and untainted by the world.
And above all, be steadfast. Overcome the temptations. Those who overcome will have a special blessing from the Lord, because He watches over those who are HIs.
As we read through the letters to the churches, we look for the messages which apply to us. All of us have certain strengths and weaknesses – certain areas which are especially tempting to us. So we listen and learn – and hang on.
We want to be those who overcome.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Hosea 1-4
We backtrack a bit to hear what Hosea has to say. And we indeed want to hear it, because Hosea has a unique assignment of showing God’s mercy.
This prophet has a message to the northern kingdom, Israel, after the kingdoms split. He spends about 40 years pleading with them to turn back to God, but they won’t listen.
In the midst of his message, however, Hosea shows God’s unfailing love towards His people. Hosea is instructed to marry a prostitute and to have children by her. She, of course, will be unfaithful to him, but he will continue to love her through it all.
It’s a picture of God’s faithfulness to Israel, even when Israel is “playing the harlot” with all of the gods around.
Chapter two is especially poignant. The Lord says that He will lure Israel into the wilderness and make a covenant with her there. He will rescue her from destruction, and draw her out to be with Him. “The valley of Achor will become a door of hope.”(2:15) The valley of destruction will become a hope for her, because it will be from there that Israel will remember God and turn back to Him.
This verse has brought solace to many mothers I have known. Praying for their wayward children, they have seen them suffer because of bad choices. Yet often that wilderness experience has been the very thing to bring them back to God. The Valley of Achor (pain) has become the door of hope indeed.
In this chapter of Hosea, we see that God’s people will begin to call Him “husband” (Ishi), because of the closeness they develop. All of this allegory reminds me of a passage in Song of Solomon 8:5. “Who is this coming up out of the wilderness, leaning on her beloved?” It’s the bride of Christ, of course, His church.
We are married to our Lord, so that we are one with Him now. What a beautiful picture of our love relationship with Him!
The difference is that we will remain faithful to Him…won’t we?
Jude
There is one word which leaps out at me from Jude’s letter. That word is “contend.” Contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to you. (V. 3)
He goes on to mention the angels and their fall from the very throne of God. Then he speaks of many others who have turned from God. Finally he gets to the present day (and , yes, they are still present day), men who try to turn the grace of God into licentiousness.
God’s grace is such a precious thing. His love for us and His empowerment of us through His Holy Spirit is wondrous indeed. We are to honor that grace and live lives which show His grace to others. Never is that grace to be defiled by taking it lightly and abusing it.
Jude finishes his letter by saying that there will be those who come into our midst, trying to create divisions and strife. They will be mockers, following after their own lusts, worldly-minded, and self-centered. (V. 19)
But there is good news in all of this: we don’t have to be that way. When we keep our eyes focused on our Lord, and when we “build ourselves up on our most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit”(V. 20), we will be filled with faith, love and His purpose.
And our God is able to keep us from stumbling, when we commit our lives to these things. (V. 24)
It’s do-able – we just have to do it!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Daniel 8-12
In this section, we come to one of the most important principles for a successful Christian life. It’s a lesson the Lord wants us all to know.
God is sovereign; He makes the rules and He implements them. However, many people stop with that thought and never go on to think: so what are the rules?
One of the most significant rules is that He has given to man a certain amount of authority on the earth. He has designed it so that men are to pray for even His will to be done. We have a part in all that He does.
To use the words of John Wesley, forerunner of the Methodist Church, “I am convinced that God does nothing in the earth unless a man first prays.”
Wow!! That certainly goes against the grain of those who say that all we have to do is sit on the sofa and eat popcorn while God runs the world.
Yet this is the thing. God sends His word to the earth so that man will know what to pray for. How about that? We get a “cheat sheet” which tells us what to pray for; then He brings it to pass.
We see a perfect example of this in Daniel’s book. The prophet saw that God had told Jeremiah that the children of Israel would be in captivity for 70 years. And guess what! 70 years were up!(9:2)
So Daniel prays for God’s will to be done. (This is the real “your will be done” prayer, when you see in the Word what is His will and you pray for it to happen).
Now let’s be clear about this. Most of us don’t have God telling us exactly what He intends to do in the whole world – or even in our own country. O.K. So we aren’t a prophet to the whole church. But what about our family? He certainly tells us about what His will is for them.
Right in the Word when we see our covenant, we see over and over that He wants us to walk with Him, be healthy, prosperous, and successful. He wants that for our families also. Abundant life – isn’t that what Jesus said? (John 10:10)
So we do what Daniel did. We take that word and we pray it back to our Father. Then we speak it into the atmosphere for all of the demons and angels to hear. (Remember, the angels hearken to the voice of God’s Word to obey it. When we speak it, we are giving it voice).(Psalm 103:20)
We are working with God to bring about His best for our families and our communities. We aren’t begging Him for something He is trying to withhold. He wants to give us the kingdom; it’s His pleasure. (Luke 12:32)
Pray. Speak. Pray. Speak. Don’t give up until you see it manifest!
III John
This thought just moves us right into III John:2. “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health just as your soul prospers.”
There is a doctrine of demons our there, which has really worked its way into the church, and which says that God wants us poor, sick, and suffering “for his glory.”
Well that doesn’t give Him glory. What gives our God glory is for us to be filled with his love and mercy. And for us to have blessed lives in every respect so that people can see that He is really the One True God in heaven and on earth.
So let’s shake off that phoney doctrine, which is the devil’s will for our lives, and look at what His Word says.
He wants us to prosper and be in good health. I’ll take that, won’t you?
Then we take the cue from Daniel and we pray that Word of God until we see it with our eyes and hear it with our ears!
Let’s never give up until we see God’s Word being performed in our lives!
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Daniel 5-7
When you read these stories, I hope that they aren’t just good old stories. They are meant to be much more than that. They are meant to show us God’s principles, and they are meant to be examples of heroic faith for us to follow. As you read, prayerfully consider what your Lord is showing you.
We are living in times very similar to those in Daniel. You are probably wondering why I would say such a thing, so I’ll tell you.
Earlier in these studies, I shared how the Babylonian captivity in the natural, parallels a spiritual one which has gone on for centuries. The word “Babylon” signifies a state of confusion which will come from mixing the cultures of Israel and of heathens. You can easily see that the same thing has happened to the modern church.
For centuries now the church has succumbed to a state of confusion by mixing the ways of God with the ways of the world. When we allow that to happen to us in our own minds and hearts, we no longer are sure about what God wants. We look around us to see what is true and what is not. And, unfortunately, we can never find God’s truth just by looking around us to see what everyone else is saying and doing.
In the midst of that confusion, we see some truly remarkable young men, and we see God really showing Himself strong toward them. We also see our God showing Himself strong toward the arrogance of men who don’t honor Him.
So when the new king and his cohorts mock God by taking the vessels from God’s temple to use for their partying, they see a hand writing a message on the wall. A message which foretells the king’s demise. And instantly the kingdom is overthrown. God shows Himself as God Almighty, Creator of all things.
Then when Daniel is thrown into the lion’s den for his refusal to pray, again we see a miracle. The mouths of the lions are shut, and Daniel remains safe. Only an all-powerful God could accomplish such a thing.
My guess is that none of us will ever be thrown into a lion’s den. Yet in a mixed-up world, when we remain true to God, He does and will continue to intervene on our behalf. The more we trust Him, the more we see His hand.
There will come a day also when the Lord will arise to judge the arrogance of men. I want to be on the right side when that happens!
The wisdom for us in all of this is to be like Daniel and learn to trust Him more. When we get to know Him and trust Him, we see His hand working in many ways that only He could do.
II John
Babylonian thinking was already getting into the church in John’s time.
There were those who were trying to change the gospel. Some were even saying that Jesus Christ never came in the flesh. It’s amazing that such heresy was already starting so close to the time of Jesus.
That’s the way it is, however, because we do have an enemy out there – the devil. The one thing he tries to accomplish is to make us unbelievers. If he can discredit the gospel and the true message of Jesus, he has us. So our enemy is busy at it from the first.
Beware of deceivers. That’s John’s message to this lady who has a church meeting in her home. That’s also a message we need to keep in mind.
Beware of deceivers. They are dangerous.
by Suellen | Project 2013: Read The Bible
Daniel 3-4
Our God is able!
If you ever are in a situation where those around you don’t believe in God and you feel your faith waning also, these chapters should help rev you up. Daniel and his buddies, in a foreign land, surrounded by unbelievers, are remarkable in their ability to continue to be faithful.
It would have been so easy for them to cave in to the influence of those around them. After all, they are there because most of their fellow countrymen had long ago stopped believing in their God. But not this crew. Nothing can stop their faith!
The jealousy aimed at Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego by the Babylonians is obvious. Annoyed with the newly earned prestige of these foreigners, the locals quickly snap up the opportunity to point out their disobedience to the king. If the king had asked for most things, they would have complied. Yet there is no way these faithful ones are going to bow down to worship anyone but Jehovah God. So they get into trouble, but God turns the tide for them.
As they are obedient to Him, the fire in the furnace can’t even touch the young Jews. Even though the furnace is seven times as hot as usual and the men who throw them into the fire die instantly, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego come out without even the smell of smoke on them. Could it be because of the “fourth man” in the fire with them? I think so.
Hopefully you and I won’t be thrown into a furnace during our lifetimes. But every life has hardships, and every Christian suffers unfair treatment from those who don’t know the Lord. There are times when we feel like we are in a furnace. And it can be tough.
Yet our Father is there for us, just as He was in the early days of captivity. If we will believe in Him and stand tall, we will be amazed at the many ways our God can turn things around for us.
But we have to be faithful, and we have to believe.
If we do, we will see miracles – just like the Jews of old. And God will get the glory for His greatness.
