God's Family Rebels Against Him

Photo by Rebelious 

Scripture: Hosea 11:5-7

They will not return to the land of Egypt; But Assyria—he will be their king Because they refused to return to Me.  The sword will whirl against their cities, And will demolish their gate bars And consume them because of their counsels.  So My people are bent on turning from Me.  Though they call them to the One on high, None at all exalts Him.

Insights: Yesterday we learned God raises His family. You'll recall from the passage we looked at that God continually displayed His love for His people. In todays verses, however, we discover God's people continued to rebel against Him. Even though the Lord brought them out of Egypt, they were now going to be sent into Assyria. The Assyrian king become there ruler and he demolished their cities. Notice with me that the Israelites did receive council, but their counselors were bad. They informed them they would have no problems with the Assyrian king. This thought makes me wonder, how often do we receive bad counsel from those around us? All too often we look at our lives and bemoan our situation. Then before we know it, we find others around us who are sympathetic to our expressions of being a victim. Their identification with our problems help us to identify with them. The problem is that this creates groupthink and leads us down a spiral path toward destruction, which is exactly what happened to Israel. You'll also notice from this passage that none of God’s people bent their knee towards Him. Beloved, we are all fallen creatures and we will because of our sin nature rebel against God. The problem comes when we live in a state of rebellion and do not repent of our sinful ways. This lack of repentance is exactly what Israel did. Let us learn from their example and understand that God does discipline those who rebel against Him. Instead, let our lives model that of humility and let us quickly repent of our sins. May are example of repentance be observed by others and inspire them to follow our example. As a result, may the Lord God be brought glory.

Questions:

1. In what ways have you rebelled against God's love?

2. Are you aware that if you remain in your rebellion, God will judge you?

Prayer: Father, forgive me when I rebel against You, O Lord. Strengthen my heart, O God, and let me walk in a way that pleases You.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.

God Raises His Family

Photo by Sabine Bresser

Scripture: Hosea 11:1-4

When Israel was a youth I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son.  The more ^-they called them, The more they went from them; They kept sacrificing to the Baals And burning incense to idols.  Yet it is I who taught Ephraim to walk, I took them in My arms; But they did not know that I healed them.  I led them with cords of a man, with bonds of love, And I became to them as one who lifts the yoke from their jaws; And I bent down and fed them.

Insights: This week we conclude our study on family and unity from the book of Hosea.  Considering it has been a few weeks, let me remind you the purpose of Hosea’s life and his marriage to Gomer was to be a visual picture of the way Israel had treated the Lord.  The first half of the book is Hosea’s actual life and the last half of the book is God’s parallel of His interaction with Israel.  In today’s verses we see the way the Lord raises up His children with amazing tenderness, compassion and love.  We are far from being perfect children.  Our lives are full of disobedient decisions.  Notice the more the prophets warned Israel to stop sacrificing to the Baals, the more they did.  The Lord, however, remained consistent with His children and continued to love them.  He continued to bend down and feed them.  He continued to lift the yoke from their jaws.  He continued to teach them how to walk and He embraced them in His mighty arms.  God is still raising us up in this same consistent manner.  We too rebel against the Lord, and yet, He is there waiting to forgive us and restore us whenever we turn back to Him.  God is gracious and we ought to thank Him regularly for His consistent love and guidance as He raises us to be His children.

Questions:

1. In what ways has the Lord taken you through the process of growth as He raises you into the child you ought to be for His glory?

2. Have you thanked the Lord for His consistency in the way He raises you?

Prayer: Father, thank You for consistently raising me into the child You have created me to be.  Let me learn Your lessons of love quickly and let me apply them to my life in such a fashion that it brings You glory and honor.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.

The Lord is Faithful to Us

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Scripture: Hosea 6:3

“So let us know, let us press on to know the Lord.  His going forth is as certain as the dawn; And He will come to us like the rain, Like the spring rain watering the earth.”

Insights: Today’s verse speaks to the faithfulness and dependability of the Lord.  He is going to come just as the dawn comes.  Whether we can actually see the dawn does not change the fact the dawn comes every morning.  The sun rises every day like clock work and it is always dependable.  It is true that there are exceptions, but as a regular rule, the rainy seasons come like clock work as well.  The farmers truly depend on those rains in order for their crops to grow and for them to have food for the remainder of the year.  God is even more dependable and faithful than these natural occurrences of the world.  If we return to Him, He is always faithful to receive us back.  If we cry out to Him, He is always faithful to hear the prayers of His children.  God is dependable and good and He is faithful to His promises as well.  He will take care of us and provide for our needs.  He will guide and direct us if we will humble ourselves and listen to Him.  He will eventually take His children home with Him to paradise.  He is faithful to never lose one whom He has adopted.  Beloved, you can trust the faithful dependence of our Lord.  May you grow in His grace until you truly come to know the certainty of this truth.

Questions:

1. Have you experienced the incredible joy of the Lord’s faithfulness in your life?

2. In what ways can you give testimony to the Lord’s faithfulness to you?

Prayer: Father, You are always faithful and I am truly thankful for Your dependability.  I know I can always rely on You in ever situation of my life. Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.

The Lord Heals Us

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Scripture: Hosea 6:1-2

Come, let us return to the Lord.  For He has torn us, but He will heal us; He has wounded us, but He will bandage us.  “He will revive us after two days; He will raise us up on the third day, That we may live before Him.

Insights: I love this dimension of the Lord.  Let me make a clarifying comment before I share this aspect of the Lord that is so agreeable with me.  God is perfect in all of who He is.  He is self-sufficient and in need of no one or any thing.  His character is unchanging and He is always true to Himself.  These facts mean that God is never in contradiction with Himself.  As a result, God is perfectly just in His holiness and expressions of wrath and judgment.  He is at the exact same time perfectly just in His grace and expressions of mercy and forgiveness.  Now that I have given some clarifying comments, let me explain what I love about the Lord which is found in today’s verses.  The nuance of the Lord that I love so much is His amazing grace.  You will recall from yesterday that God disciplined His children for their rebellion and sin.  Now, however, they have turned back to the Lord and even though they had been torn and wounded by the Lord, God is now extending grace by healing and bandaging up their wounds.  God always extends grace to the repentant heart.  In fact it is His desire to continually display mercy and grace.  There is literally no sin that grips us that puts us beyond the scope of receiving God’s amazing grace.  The most violent murderer would experience God’s grace if he would genuinely repent of his sins and turn to the Lord.  The most disgusting sex trafficker would experience God’s grace if he would surrender to the Lord’s healing hand.  God loves His creation and desires for all of His creation to know Him.  All we have to do is turn to Him and He would restore us to Himself.  I hope and pray you experience God’s amazing grace.

Questions:

1. Have you experienced the incredible joy of the Lord’s healing in your life?

2. If you have walked away from the Lord,what is holding you back from returning and receiving His amazing grace?

Prayer: Father, Your healing grace is amazing and I am so grateful You extend it to me.  Let me experience it anew every day as I walk with You. Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.

The Lord Disciplines Us

Photo by Anders Sandberg

Scripture: Hosea 5:14-15

For I will be like a lion to Ephraim And like a young lion to the house of Judah.  I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away, I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.  I will go away and return to My place Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face; In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.

Insights: It is important to remember that the first part of the book of Hosea shows the real life situation between Hosea and his wife Gomer.  As the book unfolds, God moves it to the real life situation between Him and His chosen people Israel.  In today’s verses we see the Lord disciplining His children for their rebellion and pursuit after false gods.  He informed them that He Himself was going to be the One to tear them them to pieces.  He also told them He was going to remove His presence from them and allow them to experience life without His mercy and grace.  God was going to let them stay in this very difficult situation until they acknowledged their guilt and turned back to Him.  Beloved, the Lord works the same way in our lives as well.  God knows the best path and way of life for us.  We, unfortunately, just like the children of Israel, turn away from God’s ways and then wonder why our lives are under the disciplining hand of God.  It is a good and loving parent that disciplines his child.  God is the perfect parent and He is the best Father ever.  Learn to quickly turn from your disobedience when you experience God’s hand of discipline and turn back to Him.

Questions:

1. In what ways have you experienced the disciplines of the Lord?

2. As you have felt His discipline, have you returned to Him?

Prayer: Father, thank You for Your disciplining hand.  I don’t enjoy experiencing it, but am grateful You give it to me when I am walking away from you.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.

Lead Me, O God

Photo by Grant MacDonald

Scripture: Psalm 139:24b

And lead me in the everlasting way.

Insights: Let me start today’s Thoughts by Scott with an apology.  This week has been Vacation Bible School week as you know.  The last two days, Thursday and Friday were incredibly busy and I was unable to get to my final blog thought.  So, I wish to say I am sorry to my faithful readers.  Here is the final point of the sermon from Sunday.  So far we have learned four parts of the ACTION steps.  They have been:

• Acknowledge the emotion.
• Consider why you have it.
• Thank God that He will help you master it.
• Identify the biblical response to it.
• Obey the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Today we learn the last part of the ACTION steps and it is Nurture the appropriate fruit of the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit is the One who is leading us on this journey of life everlasting.  We are sealed with the Holy Spirit and He is the One who manifests the various fruits.  Notice even the title of the fruit of the Spirit.  Fruit is singular even though nine fruits are listed.  The significance of this point is that the fruit is the Holy Spirit and He manifests Himself in your life in these various facets.  In regards to the verse it is important to understand who is doing the leading.  We are not following just some mortal who is trying to figure this thing called life out.  We are following the One who created all of this and knows where the finish line is truly located. Another aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is that for whatever emotion you are dealing with there is an equivalent fruit of the Spirit.  Our example for the week has been about fear.  When we are in fear we need a peace in our lives.  The Holy Spirit gives us that kind of peace.  The list of the fruit of the Spirit is Galatians 5:22-23.  Let me encourage you to follow these ACTION steps regarding whatever you are facing.

Questions:

1. What is the proper fruit of the Spirit you are needing to nurture in order to master your emotions?

2. What have some of the challenges been to you as you nurture the appropriate fruit of the Spirit?

Prayer: Father, thank You that You give me Your Spirit.  The fruits of the Spirit are the outflow of what the Holy Spirit is doing in me and I am grateful for that work.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.

See Me, O God

Photo by Barron Fujimoto

Scripture: Psalm 139:24a

And see if there be any hurtful way in me,

Insights: So far we have learned four parts of the ACTION steps.  They have been:

• Acknowledge the emotion.
• Consider why you have it.
• Thank God that He will help you master it.
• Identify the biblical response to it.

Today we learn the fifth part of the ACTION steps and it is Obey the Holy Spirit’s leading.  Notice in today’s verse we have the Lord observing our lives.  If we are truly obeying Him, will we have have hurtful ways?  The answer is a resounding no.  I feel I need to clarify this concept of hurtful ways, however, in the midst of our current societal norms.  It is not hurtful to tell a child no to something that is not in their best interest.  It is not hurtful to make a child mind and learn respect when the child does not want to do something.  In fact, it IS hurtful to enable a person to continue to make choices in their lives that will lead them down paths of bondage and pain.  I say this because there are times the Holy Spirit will have us to make a right stand regarding a subject and it will be unpopular by the masses.  The populace do not change the correctness of the decision and to them it may seem or even appear hurtful, but if it is the right choice under the leadership of the Holy Spirit, then it is not hurtful.  God is seeing our choices and He desires to know if we will follow Him no matter what.  Beloved, as our world becomes ever increasingly evil, I pray you will stay true to the Father.  I pray you daily spend time with Him and let Him guide you by His Spirit.  I pray you find His peace to be sufficient in the midst of turmoil and that you realize that your actions are truly not harmful, but helpful to those who will heed your advice.  May God be honored and glorified as you obey the Holy Spirit’s leading.

Questions:

1. Are you following the Holy Spirit’s leading?

2. What challenges or obstacles are you experiencing as you obey the Holy Spirit?

Prayer: Father, lead me by Your Spirit and grant me the courage and faith to follow well.  I know the enemy does not want my allegiance to You to be more than lip service.  As a result, he attacks me when I obey.  Help me to trust You in this journey of faith.  Amen.

If you have found this blog to be helpful, please forward it in Facebook or retweet it in Twitter.  I would also appreciate if you would tell your friends to read this blog.  As always, if you have a comment you would like to make regarding this Thoughts by Scott, please feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section.  Thank you.