|
As the Lord Liveth
-
-
The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation
be exalted.
-
(Psalms 18:46)
-
-
This is a word from the Living God to all of us who profess that Christ
Jesus is our Lord.
-
-
It is a call to live holy lives, not only on Sundays and other religious
holidays but day by day and face to face with other people.
-
-
Do you (and I) follow (y)our Master's wishes?
-
Even those that your evil soul balks at?
-
Even those that makes you unpopular with your family, friends and fellow
workers?
-
Even those that nobody else knows that you are doing?
-
Really, Really?
-
-
Then, blessed are you (and I):
-
And it came to pass, as he spake these things, a certain woman of the company
lifted up her voice, and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that
bare thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked. But he said, Yea
rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it.
-
(Luke 11:27-28)
-
And when the people were gathered thick together, he began to say, This
is an evil generation: they seek a sign; and there shall no sign be given
it, but the sign of Jonas the prophet. For as Jonas was a sign unto the
Ninevites, so shall also the Son of man be to this generation. The queen
of the south shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation,
and condemn them: for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear
the wisdom of Solomon; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
The men of Nineve shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and
shall condemn it: for they repented at the preaching of Jonas; and, behold,
a greater than Jonas is here. No man, when he hath lighted a candle,
putteth it in a secret place, neither under a bushel, but on a candlestick,
that they which come in may see the light. The light of the body is the
eye: therefore when thine eye is single, thy whole body also is full of
light; but when thine eye is evil, thy body also is full
of darkness. Take heed therefore that the light which is in thee be not
darkness. If thy whole body therefore be full of light, having no
part dark, the whole shall be full of light, as when the bright shining
of a candle doth give thee light.
-
(Luke 11:29-36)
-
How much of all this a reality to you? Do you believe it?
-
And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils
are subject unto us through thy name. And he said unto them,
I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold, I give unto you power
to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy:
and nothing shall by any means hurt you. Notwithstanding in this rejoice
not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because
your names are written in heaven. In that hour Jesus rejoiced in
spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of
heaven and earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good
in thy sight. All things are delivered to me of my Father: and no man knoweth
who the Son is, but the Father; and who the Father is, but the Son, and
he to whom the Son will reveal him. And he turned
him unto his disciples, and said privately, Blessed
are the eyes which see the things that ye see:
-
(Luke 10:17-23)
-
-
Do you experience Spiritual manifestations of God working through you and
of His love for you?
-
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he
it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father,
and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
-
(John 14:21)
-
-
Do you remember those far-off days when you made a commitment to God by
"repenting" and "gave your life" to God?
-
The Covenant1 that you made at that time is a two way street
that God has kept and is keeping. (If you never made such a Covenant with
God, none of this applies to you and you might as well stop reading).
-
How well are you keeping your side of the Covenant?
-
-
The twelve tribes that make up the Children of Israel also made a Covenant
with God and are an example to us as to what to expect as Covenant breakers.
-
-
Here is a little commentary, extracted from a Bible, of the obedience and
work of the prophet Hosea in the time of the two kingdoms of the Children
of Israel. Hosea was called by God to the Kingdom of Israel based in Samaria
under the power of king Jeroboam about the time of the calling of Isaiah
and Jeremiah in the kingdom of Juda.
-
-
"About 750 B.C. God showed a prophet the depth of His love for His people
by leading the prophet through the struggles of a marriage relationship
with an unfaithful wife. Hosea had to lure Gomer back from the sexual worship
practices of Baal worship just as God lured Israel back from the lures
of Baal worship. Symbolic names for three children helped preach Israel's
total unfaithfulness and God's unending love.
-
Hosea showed: God's love sets out future hope, but His forgiveness has
limits: God judges His people for unfaithfulness to His Covenant: God's
love maintains the Covenant love relationship even with an unfaithful people.
-
Hosea called Israel to a loyal love and a personal relationship with
God based on God's undeserved love, not on Israel's faithfulness."
-
-
Here are some words that he said (most unpopular) and wrote:
-
So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim; which conceived, and
bare him a son. And the LORD said unto him, Call his name Jezreel; for
yet a little while, and I will avenge the blood of Jezreel upon
the house of Jehu, and will cause to cease the kingdom of the house of
Israel. And it shall come to pass at that day, that I will break the bow
of Israel in the valley of Jezreel. And she conceived again, and bare a
daughter. And God said unto him, Call her name Loruhamah: for I
will no more have mercy upon the house of Israel; but I will utterly take
them away. But I will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save
them by the LORD their God, and will not save them by bow, nor by sword,
nor by battle, by horses, nor by horsemen.
-
(Hosea 1:3-7)
-
Then said the LORD unto me, Go yet, love a woman beloved of her
friend, yet an adulteress, according to the love of the LORD toward the
children of Israel, who look to other gods, and love flagons of wine.
-
(Hosea 3:1)
-
Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy
with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor
mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land. By swearing, and lying, and killing,
and stealing, and committing adultery, they break out, and blood toucheth
blood. Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein
shall languish, with the beasts of the field, and with the fowls of heaven;
yea, the fishes of the sea also shall be taken away. Yet let no man strive,
nor reprove another: for thy people are as they that strive with
the priest. Therefore shalt thou fall in the day, and the prophet also
shall fall with thee in the night, and I will destroy thy mother. My people
are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge,
I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou
hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. As
they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I
change their glory into shame. They eat up the sin of my people, and they
set their heart on their iniquity. And there shall be, like people, like
priest: and I will punish them for their ways, and reward them their doings.
For they shall eat, and not have enough: they shall commit whoredom, and
shall not increase: because they have left off to take heed to the LORD.
-
(Hosea 4:1-10)
-
Though thou, Israel, play the harlot, yet let not Judah offend;
and come not ye unto Gilgal, neither go ye up to Bethaven, nor swear, The
LORD liveth. For Israel slideth back as a backsliding heifer: now the LORD
will feed them as a lamb in a large place.
-
(Hosea 4:15-16)
-
Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal
us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive
us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going
forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain,
as the latter and former rain unto the earth. O Ephraim, what shall
I do unto thee? O Judah, what shall I do unto thee? for your goodness is
as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goeth away. Therefore have
I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of
my mouth: and thy judgments are as the light that goeth forth.
For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the knowledge of God more than
burnt offerings. But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there
have they dealt treacherously against me. Gilead is a city of them
that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood. And as troops of
robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the
way by consent: for they commit lewdness. I have seen an horrible thing
in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel
is defiled. Also, O Judah, he hath set an harvest for thee, when I returned
the captivity of my people.
-
(Hosea 6:1-11)
-
When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out
of Egypt. As they called them, so they went from them: they sacrificed
unto Baalim, and burned incense to graven images. I taught Ephraim also
to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them
as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.
He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian shall be his
king, because they refused to return. And the sword shall abide on his
cities, and shall consume his branches, and devour them, because
of their own counsels. And my people are bent to backsliding from me: though
they called them to the most High, none at all would exalt him.
-
(Hosea 11:1-7)
-
The LORD hath also a controversy with Judah, and will punish Jacob according
to his ways; according to his doings will he recompense him. He took his
brother by the heel in the womb, and by his strength he had power with
God: Yea, he had power over the angel, and prevailed: he wept, and made
supplication unto him: he found him in Bethel, and there he spake
with us; Even the LORD God of hosts; the LORD is his memorial. Therefore
turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually.
He is a merchant, the balances of deceit are in his hand:
he loveth to oppress. And Ephraim said, Yet I am become rich, I have found
me out substance: in all my labours they shall find none iniquity
in me that were sin. And I that am the LORD thy God from
the land of Egypt will yet make thee to dwell in tabernacles, as in the
days of the solemn feast. I have also spoken by the prophets, and I have
multiplied visions, and used similitudes, by the ministry of the prophets.
Is there iniquity in Gilead? surely they are vanity: they
sacrifice bullocks in Gilgal; yea, their altars are as heaps in
the furrows of the fields.
-
(Hosea 12:2-11)
-
When Ephraim spake trembling, he exalted himself in Israel; but when he
offended in Baal, he died. And now they sin more and more, and have made
them molten images of their silver, and idols according to their
own understanding, all of it the work of the craftsmen: they say of them,
Let the men that sacrifice kiss the calves. Therefore they shall be as
the morning cloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the chaff
that is driven with the whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke
out of the chimney. Yet I am the LORD thy God from the land of Egypt,
and thou shalt know no god but me: for there is no saviour beside
me.
-
(Hosea 13:1-4)
-
O Israel, return unto the LORD thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity.
Take with you words, and turn to the LORD: say unto him, Take away all
iniquity, and receive us graciously: so will we render the calves
of our lips. Asshur shall not save us; we will not ride upon horses: neither
will we say any more to the work of our hands, Ye are our gods:
for in thee the fatherless findeth mercy. I will heal their backsliding,
I will love them freely: for mine anger is turned away from him. I will
be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his
roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as
the olive tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under his shadow
shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and grow as the vine:
the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall
say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard him,
and observed him: I am like a green fir tree. From me is thy fruit
found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things?
prudent, and he shall know them? for the ways of the LORD are right,
and the just shall walk in them: but the transgressors shall fall therein.
-
(Hosea 14:1-9)
-
-
Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection,
and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he
live: And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest
thou this?
-
(John 11:25-26)
-
-
For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself.
For whether we live, we live unto the Lord; and whether we die, we die
unto the Lord: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's. For
to this end Christ both died, and rose, and revived, that he might be Lord
both of the dead and living.
-
(Romans 14:7-9)
-
-
-
1 Heart of the Gospel
|
|