Lord – Page 43 – Praying Pint

Zechariah 13:7 “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones. In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive. And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Matthew 26:31 Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Matthew 26:56 But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Mark 14:27 And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

Mark 14:50 And they all left him and fled.

John 16:32 Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.

Isaiah 53:4 Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have lived in the time of Zechariah and hearing this and then 400+ years later it being fulfilled. How many people during that time looked at this and said “more foolishness” or “this makes no sense”. Much about the gospel is foolishness to those who do not believe. Prior to being saved each of us would have to say it was words on paper to which we had no wisdom or understanding. Then at some point God opened our heart and mind to this wonderful news in a way that is almost unexplainable. Our whole life changed in that moment. We saw everything in a new light. It was as though blinders were taken off our eyes and everything was made new. In fact scripture says at this moment of belief we are new creations. Our previous purpose of living, doing, saying, thinking…. all went away …… but we need to be ever diligent knowing this sinful nature lurks. Lust of the eyes (I want more), lust of the flesh (I want the pleasure), pride of life (I want prestige). Satan is behind every temptation. Peter, knowing this, put it this way: 2Pe 1:4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

but did not ask counsel from the Lord

but they mixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.

Joshua 9:3 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn- out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn- out and torn and mended, with worn- out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn- out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and to Ai, they on their part acted with cunning and went and made ready provisions and took worn- out sacks for their donkeys, and wineskins, worn- out and torn and mended, with worn- out, patched sandals on their feet, and worn- out clothes. And all their provisions were dry and crumbly. And they went to Joshua in the camp at Gilgal and said to him and to the men of Israel, “We have come from a distant country, so now make a covenant with us.” But the men of Israel said to the Hivites, “Perhaps you live among us; then how can we make a covenant with you?” They said to Joshua, “We are your servants.” And Joshua said to them, “Who are you? And where do you come from?” They said to him, “From a very distant country your servants have come, because of the name of the Lord your God. For we have heard a report of him, and all that he did in Egypt, and all that he did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon the king of Heshbon, and to Og king of Bashan, who lived in Ashtaroth.

“We are your servants. Come now, make a covenant with us.”So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the Lord. And Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.
At the end of three days after they had made a covenant with them, they heard that they were their neighbors and that they lived among them.

Then all the congregation murmured against the leaders. But all the leaders said to all the congregation, “We have sworn to them by the Lord, the God of Israel, and now we may not touch them. This we will do to them:let them live, lest wrath be upon us, because of the oath that we swore to them.” And the leaders said to them, “Let them live.” So they became cutters of wood and drawers of water for all the congregation, just as the leaders had said of them.
So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. But Joshua made them that day cutters of wood and drawers of water for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord, to this day, in the place that he should choose.

Psalms 106:36
They did not destroy the peoples,
as the Lord commanded them,
but they mixed with the nations
and learned to do as they did.
They served their idols,
which became a snare to them.
They sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons;
they poured out innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters,
whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan,
and the land was polluted with blood.
Thus they became unclean by their acts,
and played the whore in their deeds

The story related in Joshua has to do with Joshua and the leaders being caught up in the moment. What they saw and heard was a lie. But what they saw and heard made them believe they were doing the right thing. Having compassion on a nation who spoke well of their God and acknowledged what God had done. The problem that the Israelites had was not seeking God before they made the decision. This is a very good point to remember. In Psalms the people willing disobeyed God. They did not do what He said to do and in fact they went even further and doing the opposite. We face both of these scenarios in our lives every day and we would do well to take careful read of these scriptures. There are times when we are lulled into making decision(s) when it would benefit our walk with God to pause and seek His guidance. There are other times we follow the culture rather than spend time knowing what Gods plan is for our lives. We need to know what is right, pure, and pleasing to God. For this to happen we need to spend time with Him through His word and in prayer. Do you seem to be experiencing satisfaction with this world and not feeling the senselessness that people are spending time on. Imagine what your life would be like if it was fully and totally committed to serving God and living to bring honor and glory to Him. What does a life like this look like? I imagine that every day this life would strive to make a difference in lives it comes into contact with. I imagine it would be filled with holy sorrow in what it sees. I imagine it would feel convicted by the Holy Spirit. I imagine it would find hope when there seems to be none. I imagine it would show love when there is no earthly reason to show it. I imagine it would be willing to speak of God’s grace in their life. I imagine it would live on a growing faith day by day. What do you imagine????????????

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And they fled

Examples we can learn from