mother – Praying Pint

51.r. Wilderness – 15.x. “So you shall purge the evil from your midst”

Deu 21:18-21  “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and, though they discipline him, will not listen to them, then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city at the gate of the place where he lives, and they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This our son is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men of the city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.

Proverbs 22:15    Folly is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of discipline drives it far from him.

Isaiah 1:2   Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: “Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me.

Proverbs 15:5  A fool despises his father’s instruction

Proverbs 20:20    If one curses his father or his mother, his lamp will be put out in utter darkness.

Ezekiel 22:7    Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.

This does not mean a small child, or even a young teen – but a son past the age of accountability, who sets himself in determined rebellion against his father and mother. The parents must have done a good job raising the son, calling him to obedience, and chastening him as appropriate before the LORD. Such a stubborn and rebellious son was to be put on trial before the elders of the city. If they determine him to be chronically rebellious, then the son was to be stoned to death. The parents had to take the boy to the elders of the community; not only because the decision of life or death should be taken out of their direct hands, but because the guilt of the stubborn and rebellious son was not only against his parents, but against the whole community. He sowed the seeds for cultural suicide in Israel.

This law was clearly intended to protect the social order of ancient Israel. No society can endure when the young are allowed to make war against the old. “If such a law were in force now, and duly executed, how many deaths of disobedient and profligate children would there be in all corners of the land!” (Guzik)

Disobedience to a parent’s authority must be very evil, when such a punishment was ordered; nor is it less provoking to God now, though it escapes punishment in this world. But when young people early become slaves to sensual appetites, the heart soon grows hard, and the conscience callous; and we can expect nothing but rebellion and destruction. (Henry)

The character of such a son follows, and by which it may be known that he is stubborn and rebellious; stubborn in his nature, and rebellious in his actions; behaves contrary to the laws of God, and the instructions of his parents; what he should do, that he does not; and what he should not do, that he does; will not do what is commanded him, and will do what is forbidden him, notwithstanding all counsels, admonitions, and corrections given him: which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother; is disobedient to the commands of either of them. (Gill)

Without God in the families disobedience will flourish. Without God in our schools foolishness will expand. Without God in our country judgment awaits.

49.v. Wilderness – 14.a. “These words the LORD spoke”

Deu 5:7-22 “‘You shall have no other gods before me.

“‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image.

“‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain,

“‘Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you.

“‘Honor your father and your mother,

“‘You shall not murder.

“‘And you shall not commit adultery.

“‘And you shall not steal.

“‘And you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

“‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’

“These words the LORD spoke

God, who by natural claim as well as by covenant relation was entitled to exercise supremacy over His people Israel, had a sovereign right to establish laws for their government. (Brown)

God wrote the Ten Commandments on stone tablets and gave them Moses to share with all the Israelites soon after they left captivity in Egypt. Moses reiterated them 40 years later in as the Israelites neared the Promised Land. Leaving captivity in Egypt meant establishing a new society. The law established healthy boundaries based on respect for God and other people rather than brute strength. The law given to Moses provided the foundation for a new Israelite society. Jesus called people to an even higher standard by obeying the commandments not only in their actions but also in their hearts. The initial commandments start with the relationship with the “Lord your God”. God told His people He was their Lord, Master, and Creator God. They should have no other gods, and they should not make idols. They should not misuse his name. The Sabbath bridges our relationship with God. God commanded his people to take the Sabbath for their benefit. God intended for his people to enjoy their relationship with Him and each other by valuing the Sabbath. The following commandments address our relationships with others. (Noyes)

As new creations in Christ, the law is not only our duty but also our delight. If we want to love Christ as he deserves and as he desires, we will keep his commandments. But the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The way to find moral instruction isn’t by listening to your gut but by listening to God. If we want to know right from wrong, if we want to know how to live, if we want to know how to live in a way that honors and glorifies Jesus Christ and blesses our friends and neighbors, we’d be wise to do things God’s way, which means paying careful attention to the His commandments. (Deyoung)

Compare what society deems and approves as “OK” to commands of God. Abortion, greed, hate, pornography, divorce, LGBQT, retaliation, self-worth, self-reliance, etc…. all find root in rejecting and denying God, things of God, and the Word of God. If we neglect God’s Word and allow social media and news outlets to fill our minds it is no wonder there is little conviction in the hearts of those who confess Jesus as Lord with their lips but the Word of God is not in their hearts or minds.

43.a. “Wilderness” – 7.h. Sinai – “Honor your father and your mother”

Exodus 20:12  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

Leviticus 19:3  Every one of you shall revere his mother and his father, and you shall keep my Sabbaths: I am the LORD your God.

Proverbs 15:5   A fool despises his father’s instruction, but whoever heeds reproof is prudent.

Proverbs 23:22-25   Listen to your father who gave you life, and do not despise your mother when she is old.  Buy truth, and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.  The father of the righteous will greatly rejoice; he who fathers a wise son will be glad in him.  Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice.

Colossians 3:20    Children, obey your parents in everything, for this pleases the Lord.

Ephesians 6:1-3  Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.  “Honor your father and mother” (this is the first commandment with a promise),  “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land.”

Proverbs 30:17   The eye that mocks a father and scorns to obey a mother will be picked out by the ravens of the valley and eaten by the vultures.

Malachi 1:6   “A son honors his father, and a servant his master. If then I am a father, where is my honor? And if I am a master, where is my fear? says the LORD of hosts to you

Of all our duties to our fellow-men, the first and most fundamental is our duty towards our parents, which lies at the root of all our social relations, and is the first of which we naturally become conscious. Honour, reverence, and obedience are due to parents from the position in which they stand to their children :—(1) As, in a certain sense, the authors of their being; (2) as their shelterers and nourishers; (3) as their protectors and educators, from whom they derive the foundation of their moral training and the first elements of their knowledge. (Ellicott)

Honour thy father and thy mother, includes esteem of them, shown in our conduct; obedience to their lawful commands; come when they call you, go where they send you, do what they bid you, refrain from what they forbid you; and this, as children, cheerfully, and from a principle of love. Also submission to their counsels and corrections. Endeavouring, in every thing, to comfort parents, and to make their old age easy; maintaining them if they need support, which our Saviour makes to be particularly intended in this commandment. (Henry)

How many sons and daughters, including us as sons and daughters, have done that which does not honor their fathers and mothers? It is my life and I will live it as I deem best for me. Your ways are old fashion and meaningless today. It is clear that when God’s Word and things of God are minimized in a person’s life, any attention given to that which will honor their parents will be as well, not to mention, more importantly, honoring and glorifying God. There is a promise that comes with obedience to this commandment. How many other promises of God are forfeited in our lives because of the lack of desire for honoring, glorifying, serving, worshiping, praising, and trusting Him? Honor and glory to God will honor and glorify parents. Whereas God will always deserve and is worthy of honor and glory, parents may not seem worthy and may do things that their adult children do not agree with. (rightly or wrongly) Our parents and us as parents will have times in our lives when we make wrong choices, say and do wrong things, and hurt our testimony before God and others. Children are not blind and will see this. Adult children will see this.

We can be Christian adult children with parents who are not. These parents can be full of vile words and do things very contrary to the things of God. How is a person to honor their parents who reject God and things of God? In love. We do not support sinful behavior, ie giving money so they can buy alcohol or do more gambling. Though we might buy them food, mow their yard, fix their car, repair their home, visit them, etc…. and show them loving concern. I am not saying this will be easy. How do you respond to a parent who always ask for money and lies to you continually and belittles your love and support for them? This has to be one of the hardest tests of displayed love for an adult child. Ground rules and be expressed and established, in love, to your parents. If you are drunk when we come over with our children we will leave. If you talk evil of God and things of God in front of our children we will leave. There are many things we can establish to protect our children but there are also many things we can do to show love in the absence of the children present.

Love will allow me to see the drunkenness and still show love. Love will allow me to see hate for God and things of God and still show love. Love will allow me to see wasted resources and still show love. Love will allow me to see a pity party and still show love. Love will allow me to hear belittling comments and still show love. This is an honor given to fathers and mothers who it would seem do not deserve it. Does that sound familiar? While we were yet sinners, God displayed His love for us by giving His only Son to redeem us. This is unconditional love, undeserved and freely given.

Honor thy father and mother.

35.f. ” Your nakedness shall be uncovered”

Genesis 2:24 Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.

Isaiah 47:3 Your nakedness shall be uncovered, and your disgrace shall be seen. I will take vengeance, and I will spare no one.

Isaiah 54:4 “Fear not, for you will not be ashamed; be not confounded, for you will not be disgraced; for you will forget the shame of your youth,

Jeremiah 6:15 Were they ashamed when they committed abomination? No, they were not at all ashamed; they did not know how to blush. Therefore they shall fall among those who fall; at the time that I punish them, they shall be overthrown,” says the LORD.

Jeremiah 17:13 O LORD, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living water.

Mark 8:38 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

This is corroborated by the statement contained in Genesis 2:25. “They were both naked, and were not ashamed.” Of nakedness in our sense of the term they had as yet no conception. On the contrary, they were conscious of being sufficiently clothed in a physical sense by nature’s covering, the skin – and, in a spiritual point of view, they were clad as in a panoply of steel with the consciousness of innocence, or, indeed, the unconsciousness of evil existing anywhere, and the simple ignorance of its nature, except so far as the command of God had awakened in them some speculative conception of it. Hence, they were not ashamed. For shame implies a sense of guilt, which they did not have, and an exposedness to the searching eye of a condemning judge, from which they were equally free. (Barnes)

To wit, of their nakedness, as having no guilt, nor cause of shame, no filthy or evil inclinations in their bodies, no sinful concupiscence or impure motions in their souls, but spotless innocency and perfection, which must needs exclude shame. (Poole)

And they were both naked, the man and his wife,…. Were as they were created, having no clothes on them, and standing in need of none, to shelter them from the heat or cold, being in a temperate climate; or to conceal any parts of their bodies from the sight of others, there being none of the creatures to guard against on that account: and were not ashamed; having nothing in them, or on them, or about them, that caused shame; nothing sinful, defective, scandalous or blameworthy; no sin in their nature, no guilt on their consciences, or wickedness in their hands or actions; and particularly they were not ashamed of their being naked, no more than children are to see each other naked, or we are to behold them: besides, they were not only alone, and none to behold them; but their being naked was no disgrace to them, but was agreeably to their nature; and they were not sensible that there was any necessity or occasion to cover themselves, nor would they have had any, had they continued in their innocent state: moreover, there was not the least reason to be ashamed to appear in such a manner, since they were but one flesh. (Gill)

The sense of shame is the shadow which temptation to sin throws across the pathway of purity. (Cambridge)

Mankind’s original purity and innocence of good and evil was a blessed state. Living in harmony with God and unashamed. How far mankind has fallen from their original state. Knowing good and evil has given mankind a choice to choose one or the other. Many of our choices leave us ashamed in the light of God’s Word and our purpose of Honoring and Glorifying Jesus Christ in all we thing, say, and do; at least it should.

14.u. “Do whatever he tells you.”

John 2:1 On the third day there was a wedding at Cana in Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Jesus also was invited to the wedding with his disciples. When the wine ran out, the mother of Jesus said to him, “They have no wine.” And Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now there were six stone water jars there for the Jewish rites of purification, each holding twenty or thirty gallons. Jesus said to the servants, “Fill the jars with water.” And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, “Now draw some out and take it to the master of the feast.” So they took it. When the master of the feast tasted the water now become wine, and did not know where it came from (though the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom and said to him, “Everyone serves the good wine first, and when people have drunk freely, then the poor wine. But you have kept the good wine until now.” This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him. After this he went down to Capernaum, with his mother and his brothers and his disciples, and they stayed there for a few days.

Shortly after Jesus told Nathanael that he would see greater things they are at a wedding in the small town Cana. Cana was the home town of Nathanael. This first sign of Jesus was in an insignificant place. He did not go to a big flashy wedding but to a small village. We should note Jesus comes to the lowly not arrogant. His birth was proclaimed too lowly shepherds. His disciples were from lowly occupations. His mother was a virgin engaged to be married to Joseph a carpenter. Jesus was rejected by the teachers, rabbis, and rollers but was worshipped by the lowly.

It is hard to imagine what Mary was thinking when she told Him “They have no wine”. Did she expect Jesus and His disciples to go buy some from somewhere? Did she think He would do a miracle? Even after Jesus says “Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.”, Mary tells the servants to do whatever He says. Whatever Mary was thinking one thing is for sure, she trusted Jesus and did not lay any expectation out on what Jesus should do other than leaving it into His hands to accomplish. There must have been some worry in Mary for the family of the bride and groom. I have read where running out of wine at the wedding feast would have been demeaning to the family. Mary could have been helping the bride’s family at this wedding and this could have been the reason for Jesus and His disciples being invited. This is nothing more than speculation and adds nothing to Mary’s trust and faith and Jesus’s power over creation. I am not sure why John laid out in detail the volume of the jars or to the fact they were filled to the brim with water. Possibly to point out there was no way to add anything to the jars. Mary’s trust and faith should be an example to us. When we have a problem give it to Jesus without trying to tell Jesus how to handle it. This reminds me of; “Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego replied to him, “King Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to deliver us from it, and he will deliver us from Your Majesty’s hand. But even if he does not, we want you to know, Your Majesty, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” They trusted in God without laying out the expectations of what God should do. They had faith God could save them if He chose to and they were content if He chose not to.

We do well to grow our faith and trust in Jesus to the level of being willing to allow what He deems best in our lives. He alone is able to do more than we think and much more than we can imagine. Why do we presume we know what is best and for that matter, how to do it?

13. Don’t be influenced by any of these people or listen to them.

Deuteronomy 13:6-11     “If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known,  some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other,  you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him.  But you shall kill him. Your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.  You shall stone him to death with stones, because he sought to draw you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of egypt the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.  And all Israel shall hear and fear and never again do any such wickedness as this among you.

Exodus 20:3     “You shall have no other gods before me.

Proverbs 1:10     My son, if sinners entice you, do not consent.

1 John 5:21     Little children, keep yourselves from idols.

Ephesians 5:11     Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.

Ezekiel 5:11     Therefore, as I live, declares the Lord GOD, surely, because you have defiled my sanctuary with all your detestable things and with all your abominations, therefore I will withdraw. My eye will not spare, and I will have no pity.

God knows our intents and thoughts. He examines our heart, mind, and soul. There is no place a person can hide their thoughts or actions from God. “You shall not yield to him or listen to him” is a command from God. Don’t listen to the deceits, lies, and foolishness. Don’t yield to the temptation to listen, follow, or join in. You have to know that out of over the million Israelites that crossed the Red Sea there was one who spoke first complaining about no water. Again when they were hungry there had to be that first person who spoke complaining about no food. Again when Moses went up onto the mountain and God presence was with Him for 40 days, there had to be that one person who spoke up saying “make us a god that we can worship”.

The command is given to us as a warning. A warning about our nature and a want to be joined with others for a like cause. A warning that if we do not keep a heart deep desire to honor, serve, follow, and obey God it is natural for us to seek other things to fill that void. If God is not first and only in our life, we will never be truly satisfied and will sink deeper and deeper into a lifestyle that does not honor God, and farther and farther apart from Him with a high probability we will draw others down this same path.

His word is a safe harbor and shelter from the deceptions and lies this world proudly proclaims and so easily follows after. Stay in His word. Make Him first in your life. Humbly serve Him, listen to Him, follow Him, and obey Him.

I will look to the LORD

Psalms 118:8 It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man. It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in princes.

Psalms 40:4 Blessed is the man who makes the LORD his trust, who does not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after a lie!

Psalms 62:8-9 Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us. Those of low estate are but a breath; those of high estate are a delusion; in the balances they go up; they are together lighter than a breath.

Jeremiah 17:5-7 Thus says the LORD: “Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart turns away from the LORD. He is like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see any good come. He shall dwell in the parched places of the wilderness, in an uninhabited salt land. “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, whose trust is the LORD.

Micah 7:5-7 Put no trust in a neighbor; have no confidence in a friend; guard the doors of your mouth from her who lies in your arms; for the son treats the father with contempt, the daughter rises up against her mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house. But as for me, I will look to the LORD; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.

In times of trouble, uncertainty, confusion we have a tendency to first rely on self (self reliance) rather than God and will always lead us down a path away from God. When we place God in the right place in our heart, mind, and soul – seeing Him as sovereign, mighty, powerful, all knowing and loving – our problems have a away of turning to deeper faith and peace that passes all worldly understanding. I recently had two dear friends speak this into my life last week about an hour apart. It is amazing to see how God speaks into our lives through His word and our friends. He knows the struggle we are running through our head a 1,000 times a day and in a single hour puts them to rest. This is what was sent to me.

Okay. I don’t mean to be preaching to the choir but……

This is from “Jesus Calling” devotional for today and I thought of you.

Do not resist or run from the difficulties in your life. These problems are not random mistakes they are blessings designed for your benefit and growth. Embrace all the circumstances I allow in your life, trusting Me to bring good out of them. View problems as opportunities to rely more fully on Me. 😇

AMEN!

Decision – Crucify Him

John 19:16 So he delivered him over to them to be crucified. So they took Jesus, and he went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called The Place of a Skull, which in Aramaic is called Golgotha. There they crucified him, and with him two others, one on either side, and Jesus between them. Pilate also wrote an inscription and put it on the cross. It read, “Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.” Many of the Jews read this inscription, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city, and it was written in Aramaic, in Latin, and in Greek. So the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, “Do not write, ‘The King of the Jews,’ but rather, ‘This man said, I am King of the Jews.’” Pilate answered, “What I have written I have written.” When the soldiers had crucified Jesus, they took his garments and divided them into four parts, one part for each soldier; also his tunic. But the tunic was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom, so they said to one another, “Let us not tear it, but cast lots for it to see whose it shall be.” This was to fulfill the Scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.” So the soldiers did these things, but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home.

Psalms 22:18 they divide my garments among them, and for my clothing they cast lots.

Acts 13:26 “Brothers, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to us has been sent the message of this salvation. For those who live in Jerusalem and their rulers, because they did not recognize him nor understand the utterances of the prophets, which are read every Sabbath, fulfilled them by condemning him. And though they found in him no guilt worthy of death, they asked Pilate to have him executed. And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people. And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

1Corinthians 1:20 Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.

1 Corinthians 2:8 None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

Many things done by rulers and even us seem right to do. Are they really the right thing to do? How do we know? What is guiding us to the decisions we make? What do we use as a the foundation to which we build our decision? Depending on the circumstance some may say if it is good for me or if it is good for others. If the decision is based on something or someone that hurt us financially, emotionally, or physically, some may use what is allowed by the culture they live in. The problem is the decision is not based on the word of God and being led by the Holy Spirit in their response. We have a sinful nature and it wants to believe and act in ways that do not humbly serve, honor, follow, or obey God. We need to be mindful of this sinful nature. We need to test each of our thoughts and decisions against the word of God. His word is able to lead us properly. His word gives us power and courage to forgive, encourage, help, and make decisions according to His purpose and plans. Spend time in His word. Desire to be led by Him. Listen for His whispers of guidance. Build your foundation for decisions on His word. Do not trust the first thought that comes to mind, test it against His word and either the conviction or confirmation by the Holy Spirit in your heart.

Connecting the Dots

“But because of the temptation to sexual immorality, each man should have his own wife and each woman her own husband.”

“Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.”

“So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Malachi 2:13 And this second thing you do. You cover the LORD’s altar with tears, with weeping and groaning because he no longer regards the offering or accepts it with favor from your hand. But you say, “Why does he not?” Because the LORD was witness between you and the wife of your youth, to whom you have been faithless, though she is your companion and your wife by covenant. Did he not make them one, with a portion of the Spirit in their union? And what was the one God seeking? Godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and let none of you be faithless to the wife of your youth. “For the man who does not love his wife but divorces her, says the LORD, the God of Israel, covers his garment with violence, says the LORD of hosts. So guard yourselves in your spirit, and do not be faithless.”

2 Corinthians 6:18 and I will be a father to you, and you shall be sons and daughters to me, says the Lord Almighty.”

Deuteronomy 7:4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.

Jeremiah 2:21 Yet I planted you a choice vine, wholly of pure seed. How then have you turned degenerate and become a wild vine?

1 Corinthians 7:14 For the unbelieving husband is made holy because of his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy because of her husband. Otherwise your children would be unclean, but as it is, they are holy.

Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

Proverbs 4:23 Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

Malachi was speaking to men about connecting the dots between their lack of not being blessed and their actions. You come weeping and groaning to God and ask why are you not blessing us. It is because your offerings are not acceptable because actions in your life are not acceptable. In this scripture it speaks of men who divorces his wife for no other reason than to follow the lust of his flesh for someone new. The connection between our thoughts and actions and God’s blessings should be understood. If we choose to neglect His word and if we choose to desire more the things of this world than to serve Him we soon are on a path quickly away from Him. This path leads us in a direction to where God’s blessings do not flow. Keep your heart desire pure for God and His word and the application of it in your life. Our purpose this side of eternity is to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God. Blessings of peace, comfort, joy, love, grace, mercy, healing, strength, power and patience come to those who keep their heart with vigilance for Him alone.