Tag: own counsels

Do not be double-minded and unstable

Psalms 119:81   My soul longs for your salvation; I hope in your word.  My eyes long for your promise; I ask, “When will you comfort me?”  For I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, yet I have not forgotten your statutes.  How long must your servant endure? When will you judge those who persecute me?  The insolent have dug pitfalls for me; they do not live according to your law.  All your commandments are sure; they persecute me with falsehood; help me! They have almost made an end of me on earth, but I have not forsaken your precepts.  In your steadfast love give me life, that I may keep the testimonies of your mouth.

Psalms 119:20     My soul is consumed with longing for your rules at all times.

Psalms 119:40     Behold, I long for your precepts; in your righteousness give me life!

Psalms 42:1-2    As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.  My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God?

Psalms 84:2    My soul longs, yes, faints for the courts of the LORD; my heart and flesh sing for joy to the living God.

Psalms 119:42     then shall I have an answer for him who taunts me, for I trust in your word.

Psalms 119:74    Those who fear you shall see me and rejoice, because I have hoped in your word.

Psalms 119:77     Let your mercy come to me, that I may live; for your law is my delight.

Revelation 3:15-16     “‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot!  So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.

Revelation 3:1    “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: ‘The words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars. “‘I know your works. You have the reputation of being alive, but you are dead.

Matthew 24:12   And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.

Psalms 81:11-13     “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.  Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!

Joshua 24:15-24    And if it is evil in your eyes to serve the LORD, choose this day whom you will serve,

Matthew 6:24     “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other.

James 1:8     he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways.

There are many things that can lead us down a path of being “lukewarm or double-minded”.  Probably the most influential would be being complacent with and neglecting God’s word.

His word is a lamp unto my feet, food to my soul, strength to my heart, encouragement to my mind.  In and through His word is the “Good News” of the gospel of Jesus Christ, our savior.

Determine in and through His word what it means to humbly serve, honor, glorify, follow and obey Him.  Learn of His holiness, grace, mercy, and love.  Learn of His promises.  Learn to hear His quiet whispers of leading.  Learn to trust in, rely on, and cling to Him.

Walk in My ways

“Be appalled, O heavens, at this; be shocked, be utterly desolate, declares the LORD,  for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed out cisterns for themselves, broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

““As for the word that you have spoken to us in the name of the LORD, we will not listen to you.”

Psalms 81:11  “But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.   Oh, that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways!  I would soon subdue their enemies and turn my hand against their foes.  Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever.  But he would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you.”

Zechariah 7:11   But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears that they might not hear.

Jeremiah 7:23     But this command I gave them: ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. And walk in all the way that I command you, that it may be well with you.’  But they did not obey or incline their ear, but walked in their own counsels and the stubbornness of their evil hearts, and went backward and not forward.

Psalms 106:12    Then they believed his words; they sang his praise.  But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel.

2 Thessalonians 2:9     The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders,  and with all wicked deception for those who are perishing, because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.  Therefore God sends them a strong delusion, so that they may believe what is false,

Isaiah 30:1     “Ah, stubborn children,” declares the LORD, “who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin;

Note the choices being made in these scriptures and they all have eternal consequences: “they have forsaken me,” – “we will not listen to you.” – “my people did not listen to my voice” – “would not submit to me” – “follow their own counsels.” -“they refused to pay attention” -“turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears ” -“they did not obey or incline their ear” – “went backward and not forward.” – “they soon forgot his works” – “they did not wait for his counsel” – “they refused to love the truth ” – “who carry out a plan, but not mine”.   We need to be mindful of our sinful nature and it’s inherent desire to be all about self and self accomplishments.  Walking down the path of life we make choices.  If we choose to humbly serve, honor, follow and obey God the path we follow is God directed.  If we choose to be complacent and neglect His word we are soon finding ourselves unable to discern His leading and are blind to the path of destruction we are on.  Spend time in His word.  Learn to hear His whispers of leading.  Choose to follow and obey Him.

They did not Listen

“Give glory to the LORD your God before he brings darkness, before your feet stumble on the twilight mountains, and while you look for light he turns it into gloom and makes it deep darkness.”

“But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would not submit to me.  So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels.”

Malachi 2:1  “And now, O priests, this command is for you,  If you will not listen, if you will not take it to heart to give honor to my name, says the LORD of hosts, then I will send the curse upon you and I will curse your blessings. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you do not lay it to heart. Behold, I will rebuke your offspring, and spread dung on your faces, the dung of your offerings, and you shall be taken away with it. So shall you know that I have sent this command to you, that my covenant with Levi may stand, says the LORD of hosts.

Deuteronomy 28:15  “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the LORD your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you.  They shall be a sign and a wonder against you and your offspring forever.  Because you did not serve the LORD your God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, because of the abundance of all things,

Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.  In the morning you shall say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and at evening you shall say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the dread that your heart shall feel, and the sights that your eyes shall see.

Isaiah 30:8  And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever.  For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD;  who say to the seers, “Do not see,” and to the prophets, “Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions,  leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel.”  Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, “Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them,  therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant;

With all of the promises in God’s word for blessings I wonder if we overlook the warnings.  Notice “if you do not listen”, if you do not take to heart”, and “because they did not listen” make known the warning and actions taken by God.  God is not mocked – what a man sows so shall he reap.  With God in our lives we have peace, hope, joy, comfort, and rest.  He is our rock, refuge, strength and power.  In Him we can do all things and endure all things.  Desire to know Him.  Commit to humbly serving Him.   Honor, follow, and obey Him.  Listen for the whispers of guidance as you read His word and contemplate it. Our purpose this side of eternity is to serve Him fully.