Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Let us RETURN to the Lord


Some verses followed by some of my thoughts.

Hosea
5: 4
They do not direct their deeds Toward turning to their God, For the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, And they do not know the LORD.

6: 1-3
Come, and let us return to the LORD; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight. Let us know, Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD. His going forth is established as the morning; He will come to us like the rain, Like the latter and former rain to the earth.

7:13-16Woe to them, for they have fled from Me! Destruction to them, Because they have transgressed against Me! Though I redeemed them, Yet they have spoken lies against Me. They did not cry out to Me with their heart When they wailed upon their beds. They assemble together for grain and new wine, They rebel against Me; Though I disciplined and strengthened their arms, Yet they devise evil against Me; They return, but not to the Most High; They are like a treacherous bow. Their princes shall fall by the sword For the cursings of their tongue. This shall be their derision in the land of Egypt.

8:7
They sow the wind, And reap the whirlwind. The stalk has no bud; It shall never produce meal. If it should produce, Aliens would swallow it up.


10:13
You have plowed wickedness; You have reaped iniquity. You have eaten the fruit of lies, Because you trusted in your own way, In the multitude of your mighty men.

12:1
Ephraim feeds on the wind, And pursues the east wind; He daily increases lies and desolation. Also they make a covenant with the Assyrians, And oil is carried to Egypt.
14:9
Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

I read through the book of Hosea just now and pulled out some highlights. I do not mean to quote Scripture out of context -- please go read the whole book as soon as you can.

I see here that the Lord's people have turned from the Lord & they have fled & they have rebelled. They even devised evil against the Lord. They have lied about the Lord.

They have sown the wind, they have plowed the wickedness, they have eaten the fruit of lies.

I want to point out the "positive" parts too. The Lord is capable of
Healing
Binding wounds
Reviving
Raising up

and

His ways are right!!

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Keep oneself unspotted from the World


Therefore lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does. If anyone among you thinks he is religious, and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his own heart, this one’s religion is useless. Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.


James 1:21-27