“Mine heart is turned within me.” Hosea 11:8 Conquerors, that plunder a conquered city, carry away the wealth of it, and, after some time, often return to burn it. God will not thus utterly destroy Israel. “For I am God, and not man.” “I will not carry it so far as to make a second destruction of Ephraim; so as to cut off those who escaped the first infliction of my punishments, and thereby wholly destroy them.” God’s heart here, expressed, an anthropomorphism, gives Him human traits for our understanding. In Hosea 11, God yearns for His people’s return and recoils at their reluctance. God’s chosen, unlike Admah and Zeboim, will not be utterly vanquished from the earth. Instead, God tells us, “Therefore, behold, I will hedge up thy way with thorns, and make a wall, that she shall not find her paths. And she shall follow after her lovers, but…
Category: <span>Healing Cross</span>
And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. Genesis 17:1 A walk before God? How? I believe we must cast all of our cares on Him! How else could we walk before Him? His eye, His Word. His glory; we lean on His all-sufficiency. “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. ” Psalm 23 I shall not lack, fail, be without, decrease, be lacking, or have a need. Does it mean that we always know where we are going? Well… Hebrews11:8 teaches us, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.” It means he went “without knowing where he was going.” Next verses tell us, “By faith…
“For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his. Hebrews 4:10 As we, through the cross of Christ and our co-crucifixion, cease the competition of the flesh, we discover God’s seasons spoken of by Solomon, “To everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven: A time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to break down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to cast away stones and a time to gather stones together, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to count as lost,…
” …cleanse thou me from secret faults. “ Psalm 19 speaks loudly: “for its full effect we need divine grace to show us our faults, acquit us, restrain us from the practice, and free us from the power, of sin.” JFB “God knows a great deal more evil of us than we do of ourselves. In many things we all offend, and who can tell how often he offends? It is well that we are under grace, and not under the law, else we were undone.” MH “Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me.” Psalm 19:13 John Gill adds, ” …the petition supposes, that these may be committed by good men, if left to themselves; and that there is a proneness in them to them; and that they would rush into them, were they not kept back and restrained by the powerful and…
“A child is born, a son is given.” In Proverbs, The Son as “wisdom personified” speaks, When he (Yahweh), gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I (wisdom), was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. Proverbs 8:29-31 As a babe in swaddling wrap, as a young man at the Temple, we only must imagine the Christ child growing up. Magnificent to behold as surrounded by kings and shepherds; prophesy ushers his appearing, see Micah 5:2, Matthew 2:5-6. Bethlehem birthed Him. Luke reports: And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him. Luke 2:40 “His was…
What is patience? Where do we get some? Patience is the capacity to accept or tolerate delay, trouble, or suffering calmly without getting angry, upset, or complaining. “cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy:” from the Greek translation of “hupomone” ” Luke 8:15 explains …in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience. ” this is the good soil for receiving seed and growing. The best fruits require time, cultivation, patience. AT Robertson A good and honest heart? from Luke 8:15? “The expression rendered ’honest’ (better translated ’noble,’ καλός) has reference to aims or chief ends, and describes one whose mind is raised above moral vulgarity, and is bent, not on money-making and such low pursuits, but on the attainment of wisdom, holiness, and righteousness. The epithet rendered ’good’ (ἀγαθός) denotes generous self-abandonment in the prosecution of lofty ends; large-heartedness, magnanimous, overflowing devotion.” Mary…
Matthew 26:39 reveals the prayer of Our Savior, ” And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying,O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.” “The holy will of God was never wrought by any person other than Christ.” Hebrews 10:7 repeats the truth of Christ, “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. “ Jesus performed the Father’s will and by it purchased our salvation. As Christians we never perform to procure any reward or special favor. As for man’s vain attempts to save himself, “The sanctity of the Law is never preserved by those who attempt to keep it. The effort of man has universally failed.”‘ Quotes by Chafer, “Grace.” However, Romans 12 shows us how…
Romans 8:15 For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father. Two spirits , one of bondage, the other of adoption, oppose one another in the passage in Romans. We can choose for the weak and beggarly elemental spirit of slavery to fear, or, enter the sphere of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus which frees us from the law of sin and death, see Roman’s 8:2 In another place, in Timothy, “power, love and a sound mind” oppose the same spirit of bondage 2Timothy 1:7. Romans 8:21 teaches us, “the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Liberty in this passage, manifests itself as the opposite of the bondage to corruption. The same is spoken of in Galatians chapter…
“She has caused the heart of God to prevail over the silence of God.” From The Silence of God by Helmut Thielicke The Syrophoenician woman did this in Matthew 15, and so did Jacob in Genesis 32. Both would not let God go until He blessed each one in their personal predicament. Zach Williams sang a song, “There’s only Love in the Heart of God. “How so? Romans 10:10 reveals heart, “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness;” (The righteousness that is of God by faith.) Proverbs 23:26 reads “My son, give me thine heart.” Is “heart”, then, a place of faith? The heart of God is a broad topic, but a vital one. When we consider the heart of God, we must consider the mind of God. That mind is manifested throughout the pages of scripture which we read and try to comprehend. Dr. Carl H. Stevens defined…
Ecclesiastes 3:14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. Malachi 3:6 “For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. “ As we muse about God’s appearance at the end of the book of Job, chapter 38-41 what is it that we learn? Is it his sovereignty, his omnipotence, is omniscience or even His omnipresence? I will venture a guess here, it is Him, it is God. Simply God is enough. Yes, founding every doctrine, every parable, every principle outlined in the Word of God, is the essence of God. We must realize that every judgment is rooted in who God is, as well as every blessing. God’s eternal Being, limiting him to perform only things that are…