3.11.08
“Therefore, behold I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.” – Hosea 2:14
“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.” – Hosea 2:19-20
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice….” – Hosea 6:6
“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” – Hosea 12:6
These past two weeks have been a time of seeking the Lord and returning to Him as His sons and daughters, renewed, reclaimed, and wearing the robe of His sonship! Two weeks ago on Tuesday, Pastor Phil Metzger gave a devotional on prayer, pointing out the desire of the Father that we speak to Him constantly and persistently. We are His children and He wants to hear from Him. On Thursday we held a school wide fast. During this time we gathered together during meal times and worshiped and prayed for each other and with each other. We spent time poured out before the throne of Christ and waited for God to speak and move among His children.
It was during this time that God put it on my heart to read the book of Hosea...I've fallen in love with that book...mainly because I often feel like the adulterous wife...the one who leaves the unconditional love and provision of her husband and seeks after the love of the another that leaves her feeling empty, dirty, and without worth. I think I underlined half the book....but several key verses that stuck out as what the Lord was trying to make me understand as my loving husband were Hosea 2:14, 2:19-20, and 12:6. I don't think I realized all the scares that my heart has been left with due to many things that I have experienced over the years....things done to me and things I have done to myself. He truly has brought me out to the wilderness to speak tenderly to me (Hosea 2:14).
And it is interesting because during this past week of Speakers Week, the prodigal son has been taught on a lot. (unexpectedly by different pastors from around Europe that did not confer with one another)...looking at the son's heart and the heart of the Father towards him. Even in just taking a closer look at the gifts that He bestows on His son after he returns from his rebellion has drawn me closer to God and my understanding of what He thinks about me. In the confessing of our sin we are restored and returned to Him, but just as the Father would not allow the son to ask to return as a servant, neither will God require that we serve time as a slave.
In his loving kindness He places His robe of acceptance around us, puts the ring of authority on our finger and puts the shoes of confidence to do His good work on our feet. And when we are consumed with looking under the robe at our past sins that is when we are the most ineffective. Satan loves to speak words of doubt and condemnation to us, and I realized that I have been consumed with looking in the past at all that I have done that has been in rebellion to God's perfect plan for my life. Not necessarily starting out as a desire to rebel, but rather just a comfortable drifting that leads to unrest and apathy, ultimately being inoculated with the sins of the flesh (the warnings in Hebrews).
I can know in my head that I am forgiven by God, that He has washed me clean and remembers no more the sins that I have committed, but it is really hard sometimes for me to forgive myself and walk in the confidence that I am His child and He has made me worthy to be His daughter. I think that is the main thing that God has been speaking to my heart this week....telling me to move on and not get caught up in the trap of Satan in an effort to make me ineffective. Like anything else, it is going to take practice to move on, to not listen to the condemnation, but instead to remember the authority that I have in my loving Father. He has called me to do good works for His glory, and I don't want anything to get in the way of that.
“Therefore, behold I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness and speak tenderly to her.” – Hosea 2:14
“And I will betroth you to me forever. I will betroth you to me in righteousness and justice, in steadfast love and mercy. I will betroth you to me in faithfulness. And you shall know the Lord.” – Hosea 2:19-20
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice….” – Hosea 6:6
“So you, by the help of your God, return, hold fast to love and justice, and wait continually for your God.” – Hosea 12:6
These past two weeks have been a time of seeking the Lord and returning to Him as His sons and daughters, renewed, reclaimed, and wearing the robe of His sonship! Two weeks ago on Tuesday, Pastor Phil Metzger gave a devotional on prayer, pointing out the desire of the Father that we speak to Him constantly and persistently. We are His children and He wants to hear from Him. On Thursday we held a school wide fast. During this time we gathered together during meal times and worshiped and prayed for each other and with each other. We spent time poured out before the throne of Christ and waited for God to speak and move among His children.
It was during this time that God put it on my heart to read the book of Hosea...I've fallen in love with that book...mainly because I often feel like the adulterous wife...the one who leaves the unconditional love and provision of her husband and seeks after the love of the another that leaves her feeling empty, dirty, and without worth. I think I underlined half the book....but several key verses that stuck out as what the Lord was trying to make me understand as my loving husband were Hosea 2:14, 2:19-20, and 12:6. I don't think I realized all the scares that my heart has been left with due to many things that I have experienced over the years....things done to me and things I have done to myself. He truly has brought me out to the wilderness to speak tenderly to me (Hosea 2:14).
And it is interesting because during this past week of Speakers Week, the prodigal son has been taught on a lot. (unexpectedly by different pastors from around Europe that did not confer with one another)...looking at the son's heart and the heart of the Father towards him. Even in just taking a closer look at the gifts that He bestows on His son after he returns from his rebellion has drawn me closer to God and my understanding of what He thinks about me. In the confessing of our sin we are restored and returned to Him, but just as the Father would not allow the son to ask to return as a servant, neither will God require that we serve time as a slave.
In his loving kindness He places His robe of acceptance around us, puts the ring of authority on our finger and puts the shoes of confidence to do His good work on our feet. And when we are consumed with looking under the robe at our past sins that is when we are the most ineffective. Satan loves to speak words of doubt and condemnation to us, and I realized that I have been consumed with looking in the past at all that I have done that has been in rebellion to God's perfect plan for my life. Not necessarily starting out as a desire to rebel, but rather just a comfortable drifting that leads to unrest and apathy, ultimately being inoculated with the sins of the flesh (the warnings in Hebrews).
I can know in my head that I am forgiven by God, that He has washed me clean and remembers no more the sins that I have committed, but it is really hard sometimes for me to forgive myself and walk in the confidence that I am His child and He has made me worthy to be His daughter. I think that is the main thing that God has been speaking to my heart this week....telling me to move on and not get caught up in the trap of Satan in an effort to make me ineffective. Like anything else, it is going to take practice to move on, to not listen to the condemnation, but instead to remember the authority that I have in my loving Father. He has called me to do good works for His glory, and I don't want anything to get in the way of that.
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