Very Jealous!

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.

http://originalworks.info/trust-him/

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!

http://originalworks.info/follow-him1/
 
"You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You."
Saint Augustine, as cited by Billy Graham

Thank you , dear Sue, for all your wonderful poems and thoughts you share.
Love, little flower
 
"You have made us for Yourself, O God, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You."
Saint Augustine, as cited by Billy Graham

Thank you , dear Sue, for all your wonderful poems and thoughts you share.
Love, little flower

Thank you for sharing that quote, and thank you for those words of encouragement. The thoughts and poems (songs) do not originate with me, though. The Lord Jesus puts the words to the songs (poems) in my mind and he gives me the thoughts to share from his word, and I just write what he gives me as best as I understand it. So, praise Jesus! And, thank you again for sharing what you did and for encouraging my heart today. God bless you!
 
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