Hosea 6:1 “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.
James 5:11-16 Behold, we consider those blessed who remained steadfast. You have heard of the steadfastness of Job, and you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful. But above all, my brothers, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or by any other oath, but let your “yes” be yes and your “no” be no, so that you may not fall under condemnation. Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.
Hosea 14:1 Return, O Israel, to the LORD your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
Isaiah 55:7 let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Isaiah 2:3 and many peoples shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Lamentations 3:40-41 Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the LORD! Let us lift up our hearts and hands to God in heaven:
Job 5:18 For he wounds, but he binds up; he shatters, but his hands heal.
Psalms 30:7 By your favor, O LORD, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed.
Lamentations 3:32-33 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
There is always two sides to scripture. One side is where we think we are and the other where we actually are. Where we think we are is influenced by what feeds our understanding and knowledge of what it means to walk with God. We may spend little time with God’s word, little time thinking about it, little time trying to understand it and applying it to our life, so little comes into our heart that it is as though we are blind to it and it has no impact in our life, so little is read that the whispers of God fall on deaf ears, so little comes in that the worldly things we read and hear over shadow the wisdom found in His word.
It is sad isn’t it? We have been given His word and it gets neglected and pushed to the back of our list of things to do rather than being food and water for our heart, mind, and soul. We find we are too busy to find time. Aren’t we the managers of our time? Aren’t we the ones who allow what gets to occupy our time?
Of course we are. We choose to be intentional about growing in what it means to humbly, serve, honor, worship, glorify, follow, and obey God. We choose to make sure He has our heart, mind, and soul. We choose to seek Him and His plans and purposes for our life. We choose to hear Him speak into our life. We choose to desire His searching of our heart, mind and soul. We choose to place all of our trust in Him and His promises. How can we trust in God when we spend so little time with Him? How can we grown in service to Him if we neglect time with Him? How can we run to Him when we push Him away day after day?
Run to Him
Return to Him
Lift up your hearts to Him
Confess your sins to Him
Be taught by Him
Pray to Him
Examine your ways in light of His word
Sing praise to Him
Examine your thoughts in light of His word
Remain steadfast to Him
