I Want to Believe God.

I don’t want to just believe in God anymore.

I want to believe God.

What I mean by that is that I don’t want to be identified with just the same belief that the demons have.  In the book of James we read that the demons believe in God.  I don’t want to settle for the same as that of a demon.

I don’t want to stop at believing in God.  I want to make sure that I am believing God.  Period.

For anyone can believe in God, but not everyone believes God.  Here is a list of promises from God for those who are His:

For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."  -- Romans 8:38-39

"For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world- our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God." -- 1 John 5:4-5

"The Lord remembers us and will bless us... he will bless those who fear the Lord - small and great alike. May the Lord make you increase, both you and your children. May you be blessed by the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth." -- Psalm 115:12-15

"God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." -- Psalm 46:1-3

"The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold." -- Psalm 18:2

"Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the anger of my foes, with your right hand you save me." -- Psalm 138:7

"Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine." -- Isaiah 43:1

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." -- Isaiah 40:29

What other promises are you believing today?

Shaken/Unshaken

Job 9:5-6

He who removes mountains, and they know it not, when He overturns them in His anger, who shakes the earth out of its place, and its pillars tremble…

Psalm 29:8

The voice of the Lord shakes the wilderness; the Lord shakes the wilderness of Kadesh.

Isaiah 13:13

Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the Lord of hosts in the day of His fierce anger.

Isaiah 24:19

The earth is utterly broken, the earth is split apart, the earth is violently shaken.

Haggai 2:6

For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

2 Corinthians 1:7

Our hope for you is unshaken, for we know that as you share in our sufferings, you will also share in our comfort.

Hebrews 12:28

Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe…

Why Answers Are Delayed...

Last night, our family was reading through a portion of Matthew to help bring focus to the second week of Advent. We talked about the angel coming to Joseph and Mary and making the proclamation of the coming Messiah.

I made the correlation that this declaration was the first word, in a sense, spoken from God for 400 years. The Old Testament closes with the promise of the "Sun of Righteousness will rise with healing in His wings" from the book of Malachi. Of course, 400 years later, the next time God speaks, He does so in human flesh.

Four hundred years is a long time to wait for a word from the Lord. I know that in this time, many of us are suffering through various trials and concerns. Let's not let despair lead us, but let us be lead by the Word made flesh. The Promise was not just for those in Bethlehem, but for us as well.

Let us put our faith in the promise of God's sovereignty.

Spurgeon wrote the following devotional:

"Therefore will the Lord wait that He may be gracious unto you."

--Isaiah 30:18

God often DELAYS IN ANSWERING PRAYER. We have several instances of this in sacred Scripture. Jacob did not get the blessing from the angel until near the dawn of day--he had to wrestle all night for it. The poor woman of Syrophenicia was answered not a word for a long while. Paul besought the Lord thrice that "the thorn in the flesh" might be taken from him, and he received no assurance that it should be taken away, but instead thereof a promise that God's grace should be sufficient for him. If thou hast been knocking at the gate of mercy, and hast received no answer, shall I tell thee why the mighty Maker hath not opened the door and let thee in? Our Father has reasons peculiar to Himself for thus keeping us waiting. Sometimes it is to show His power and His sovereignty, that men may know that Jehovah has a right to give or to withhold. More frequently the delay is for our profit.

Thou art perhaps kept waiting in order that thy desires may be more fervent. God knows that delay will quicken and increase desire, and that if He keeps thee waiting thou wilt see thy necessity more clearly, and wilt seek more earnestly; and that thou wilt prize the mercy all the more for its long tarrying. There may also be something wrong in thee which has need to be removed, before the joy of the Lord is given. Perhaps thy views of the Gospel plan are confused, or thou mayest be placing some little reliance on thyself, instead of trusting simply and entirely to the Lord Jesus. Or, God makes thee tarry awhile that He may the more fully display the riches of His grace to thee at last. Thy prayers are all filed in heaven, and if not immediately answered they are certainly not forgotten, but in a little while shall be fulfilled to thy delight and satisfaction. Let not despair make thee silent, but continue instant in earnest supplication.

The Folly of Idolatry

Posted by Andy Naselli

The story (HT).

Cf. Isaiah 44:9-20:

All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame. Who fashions a god or casts an idol that is profitable for nothing? Behold, all his companions shall be put to shame, and the craftsmen are only human. Let them all assemble, let them stand forth. They shall be terrified; they shall be put to shame together.

The ironsmith takes a cutting tool and works it over the coals. He fashions it with hammers and works it with his strong arm. He becomes hungry, and his strength fails; he drinks no water and is faint. The carpenter stretches a line; he marks it out with a pencil. He shapes it with planes and marks it with a compass. He shapes it into the figure of a man, with the beauty of a man, to dwell in a house. He cuts down cedars, or he chooses a cypress tree or an oak and lets it grow strong among the trees of the forest. He plants a cedar and the rain nourishes it. Then it becomes fuel for a man. He takes a part of it and warms himself; he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Also he makes a god and worships it; he makes it an idol and falls down before it. Half of it he burns in the fire. Over the half he eats meat; he roasts it and is satisfied. Also he warms himself and says, “Aha, I am warm, I have seen the fire!” And the rest of it he makes into a god, his idol, and falls down to it and worships it. He prays to it and says, “Deliver me, for you are my god!”

They know not, nor do they discern, for he has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, and their hearts, so that they cannot understand. No one considers, nor is there knowledge or discernment to say, “Half of it I burned in the fire; I also baked bread on its coals; I roasted meat and have eaten. And shall I make the rest of it an abomination? Shall I fall down before a block of wood?” He feeds on ashes; a deluded heart has led him astray, and he cannot deliver himself or say, “Is there not a lie in my right hand?”

The Relentless Love Affair

Oh my. The relentless pursuit of Christ for His Bride. We can look at ourselves all we want. We can dress ourselves all we want. We can spend on ourselves all we want. We can work ourselves all we want. But nothing. Nothing will make us look any better than what we are.

AND YET.

And yet in the midst of all of our contradictions, Jesus, who knows everything about us, says that we are His.

Last night we talked about how God's fierce love for His Bride is often found in discipline. We often will react to God's discipline in a negative way, but it's really His discipline that is also His grace. This is what Hosea was sharing with Gomer, or Israel rather. God was issuing a call of repentance. For He has loved her with an everlasting love. One that could not be shaken or disturbed. This was a promise He made first with Adam, then Abraham, Moses, Jacob, Isaiah, Hosea and culminated in Christ.

In Hosea 2:19, God says to Israel that He will betroth her to Him. Forever. That in Him is found righteousness, justice, steadfast love, mercy and faithfulness. And these attributes are found in the robe of Christ. This very robe that He puts around us. In the midst of our sin, we washes us with His robe. So that now we can walk as Peter tell us in 1 Peter 2.

You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received God's mercy, but now you have received mercy.

Praise God for who He is and what He has done for us!

In this video is a great drama of what we read in Hosea 2.

God Loves You and He Proved It.

So here’s the story.
God tells you to do something that you believe is wrong.
What would you do?

God tells Hosea to go out and marry a prostitute. Something that neither you or I would ever do – or even think of doing.

But this is in fact exactly what Hosea does.
Why?
Because God was showing Israel (His bride) something far more controversial than marrying a whore. God was showing her that He loved her.

God does something so radical here.
He takes someone, whom by His own laws should be stoned, and shows such love as to call her His bride.

How amazing and beautiful is this story. How wonderful that this story is our story.

Here is a great video from Brennan Manning on God's love.



Isaiah 61:1-3
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me,
because the Lord has anointed Me
to bring good news to the poor;
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives,
and the opening of the prison to those who are bound;
to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor,
and the day of vengeance of our God;
to comfort all who mourn;
to grant to those who mourn in Zion—
to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes,
the oil of gladness instead of mourning,
the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit;
that they may be called oaks of righteousness,
the planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.

Friend, GOD LOVES YOU.
The love that He showed you was fully displayed at Calvary. On the cross and in the empty tomb. Jesus left all that He had for the sake of wretched whores like us.