Repent

October 29, 2020 
Zephaniah 1-3

Repent

Focus Verses
Zephaniah 2:1-3 “Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, undesirable nation, before the decree is issued, or the day passes like chaff, before the Lord’s fierce anger comes upon you, before the day of the Lord’s anger comes upon you! Seek the Lord, all you meek of the earth, who have upheld His justice. Seek righteousness, seek humility. It may be that you will be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Zephaniah is warning Judah to repent because they are going to be judged.  He is warning them about the day of the Lord… the rapture of God’s church.  Warning them that if they do, they may be able to be hidden in the day of the Lord’s anger. 

We need to fall on our faces, repent, and seek that which we knew and know to be true from the beginning.  It says in Revelation 2:5, “Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place - unless you repent.”  Unless you repent.  Your lampstand can be removed from its place quickly if you do not “gather yourselves together” and repent.  Don’t delay.

How is our walk?  Is Jesus our everything?  Have we lost focus of our first love and fallen into seeking our own righteousness?  Isaiah states, “But we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.”  We see here in Isaiah and in today’s focus verses that the day will pass like the chaff.  Seeking our own righteousness can and will cost us dreadfully.

I have had several close friends pass away unexpectedly in the past few months.  We are warned many times to put our houses in order.  None of us are guaranteed tomorrow.  Tomorrow will be too late to humble yourself and repent if your time is up today. 

Prayer
Lord, help me gather myself and seek Your righteousness.  Help me to seek humility and do all that You command.  Help me to live my life in honor and submission to Your righteousness.  In Jesus’ Holy Name, Amen.

Permissive or Perfect

October 17, 2020 – Debbie Graham

Isaiah 37-39; Psalm 76

Permissive or Perfect

Focus Verses
Isaiah 38:1 “In those days Hezekiah was sick and near death. And Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, went to him and said to him, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Set your house in order, for you shall die and not live.’””
Isaiah 39:8 “So Hezekiah said to Isaiah, “The word of the Lord which you have spoken is good!” For he said, “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”

Just a few days ago we read in 2 Kings 18 that Hezekiah began his reign and “did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.”  Chapter 38 begins with Hezekiah being told to set his house in order because his time was done.  He had served the Lord and it was time to set his house in order and go.  But Hezekiah didn’t want this news.

We read in 38:2-3, “Then Hezekiah turned his face toward the wall, and prayed to the Lord, and said, ‘Remember now, O Lord, I pray, how I have walked before You in truth and with a loyal heart, and have done what is good in Your sight.’ And Hezekiah wept bitterly.”  The Lord heard and added 15 years to his life.  Sometimes God allows things to happen at our pleading and it does not turn out well.  We saw this with Saul back in 1 Samuel.  We see the permissive will of God being displayed when He gave both the Israelites and Hezekiah what they wanted.  God will allow His permissive will to unfold, but we must be seeking His perfect will in everything!  Hezekiah was seeking the permissive will of the Lord.

I remember in 1990 asking God to allow things to work out for me upgrade from a no debt, 1978 Nova, to a 1990 Pontiac Sunbird.  He allowed it.  While the asking price for the car was not exorbitant, my interest rate was 17.95%!  The results of my desires were carried over to future decisions.  I got what I wanted… or did I?

How many times do we see situations around us and seek the permissive will of God?  Seeking and demanding our own ways might get us what we want, but we might not want what we get.  We are to pray and seek God, but we must always pray as Jesus did, “nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done (Luke 22:42b).” 

Hezekiah got an extension on his life, but we read in chapter 39 that he didn’t give credit to God for his salvation but was proud of his spoil and showed off all the presents that he had been given when the Lord had healed him (vs.2).  His extension affected future generations negatively.  If Hezekiah had accepted the Lord telling him to put his house in order and that he would not live, Manasseh, the worst king that had ever ruled Judah would not have been born.  

Hezekiah only cared about himself.  Because of his pride and selfishness, he was told of all that would be removed from his house including his offspring, and he responded with: “At least there will be peace and truth in my days.”  All of his possessions, and some of his sons would be taken by the Babylonians by force, but he didn’t care.  It was all good for himself. He was given 15 more years, and in the end, had nothing to show for it.  

Let’s think about others.  We must die to self for the benefit of someone else.  A few verses from the Bible tell us how to do this.  In Matthew 16:24-25, “… ‘If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it.”  Luke says in 17:33, “Whoever seeks to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it.”  Finally, we read in 1 Peter 5:6, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”  We must be careful not to promote ourselves but to humble ourselves.

Prayer
Lord, help me not live my life only thinking about selfish gain.  Help me to submit to Your plan and to seek and do Your will.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

Pride~

October 8, 2020 – Debbie Graham
Isaiah 13-17
Pride

Focus Verses
Isaiah 14:12-15 ““How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High.’ Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the Pit.”

Do you ever think more highly of yourself than you ought?  It could be that you went to college and got outstanding grades, graduated with honors, received a title with that degree, and then thought you were smarter and more worthy than others.  Maybe it was getting a promotion at work that came with a prestigious title.  Perhaps your natural beauty and intelligence elevates your thoughts about yourself to a level that you think you are deserved honor and praise.  That is the path that Lucifer took.

We read in the Bible that Lucifer was full of wisdom and perfect in beauty (Ezekiel 28:12).  He let that go to his head and proclaimed that he would be equal to his creator.  Lucifer does not say he would be greater than God, or be God, he says he will make himself “LIKE the Most High” (emphasis mine).  We read the account of Adam and Eve in Genesis and see that he also used those words to deceive Eve into eating of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. 

It is good for us to strive to be holy as the Bible tells us in 1 Peter, “but as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, ‘Be holy, for I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15-16).  We are not to strive to be like God in the sense that we expect people to worship us as they worship Him.  We need to strive to be like Him with all humility knowing that He is the creator and we are the created.  

The focus verses today tell of the fall of Lucifer.  His pride was what made him think he was as great as he thought he was.  It was also his pride that was his destruction.  “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Better to be of a humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud” (Proverbs 16:18-19).  We read in Revelation of the final destruction of him.  “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).

Writing about this reminded me about a joke I once heard.  Scientists told God that they didn’t need Him anymore because they could just make man on their own.  God said, this will be worth seeing, go ahead.  As soon as they reached down and picked up some dirt, God quickly stopped them and said, get your own dirt.  Lol.  The proud man thinking that he can be like the Most High and create like He did. 

Prayer
Lord God, please help me to always be humble and recognize You as the author, creator, and only One to be praised.  Let me not exalt myself or any other created being above You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.

A Loyal Heart~

September 28, 2020 – Debbie Graham
2 Kings 14; 2 Chronicles 25

A Loyal Heart

Focus Verses
2 Chronicles 25:1-2 “Amaziah was twenty-five years old when he became king, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother’s name was Jehoaddan of Jerusalem. And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, but not with a loyal heart.”

When I was a kid, I remember my parents telling me to do something and me thinking, “I will do it because you said to, not because I want to.”  My heart and mind were set on doing what I wanted to do, not what they were instructing me to do.  That seems to me what Amaziah did.  He knew what God wanted him to do, and he did it because it was right.  However, because he didn’t have “a loyal heart,” it meant nothing.  Other versions of the Bible use words like, wholehearted, perfect heart, whole heart, and blameless heart.

G. C. Morgan says this about Amaziah, “… but the fact remains, that notwithstanding the general direction of his life, either through personal indulgence, or ambition, or carelessness, the whole heart was not set on doing the will of God.  One room possessed by the foe inside the fortress is ever the gravest peril.  Sooner or later, almost inevitably, the man in that room opens the door for foes without.  Thus it was in the case of Amaziah, and thus it is in the case of all who are not wholly devoted.”  Wow.  Read that line again.  “And thus it is in the case of all who are not wholly devoted.”

I am certain that each of us know someone in our lives who know and say the right things, yet are not wholly devoted and do their own thing to advance themselves in some way.  Their hearts are not set on doing the will of God because they are searching for a certain outcome instead of trusting God.  If I am honest, if we all are honest, we can likely see in our own lives where we do the right things, but do not have a loyal heart.  We should note what happened to Amaziah as we read 2 Kings 14, and 2 Chronicles 25.  “After the time that Amaziah turned away from following the Lord, they made a conspiracy against him in Jerusalem, and he fled to Lachish; but they sent after him to Lachish and killed him there” (2 Chronicles 25:28).  We must fully surrender our heart to the Lord and do what is right with a loyal heart.

We must be true to God.  We must submit to Him with complete surrender and do what He says without question or thoughts for selfish gain.  We must be all in.  When we hear of good things that are taking place, we shouldn’t just sign up to have our name on a list, for personal indulgence, or do it because someone else is encouraging us to “do the right thing.”  Don’t get me wrong, sometimes we need to be prodded, but our heart must follow.  John tells us how the Lord feels about being lukewarm in Revelation 3.  “So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth” (vs.3).  No thanks.  Let us have a loyal heart and not be complacent or willing to compromise for selfish gain.

Let’s ask the Lord to examine our hearts, and change our ways when He reveals any area of us not having a fully devoted heart.

Prayer
Lord God, please help me to be loyal to You with my whole heart.  Help me to trust You in complete surrender and devotion.  Help me to not only do what is right but do it with a loyal heart.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen.