Tag: Purposes

5.g. The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

Job 11:4   For you say, ‘My doctrine is pure, and I am clean in God’s eyes.’ But oh, that God would speak and open his lips to you, and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom! For he is manifold in understanding. Know then that God exacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

Ezra 9:13     And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved

Psalms 103:10     He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities.

Psalms 106:43-46     Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry.  For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Lamentations 3:22    The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end;

The word of God contains truths of God.  From early on in our journey of being drawn in by God, His Holiness and our sinfulness and need for forgiveness unfold.  Our heart is softened and with our mind starting to be opened to the understanding of the mystery of His unfailing and steadfast love for us, we intentionally choose to confess, repent, and fully trust in and rely on, and cling to Jesus Christ.  We believe in His sacrifice for our sin and God the Father washing our sin stains away, forever gone.  As we read more and more of God’s Word with a heart, mind, and soul-deep desire and seeking, we see our sinful nature and wonder how it is that God does not repay us according to our sins.  We see the battle that wages within our soul between sinful self and the new creation, rebirth, being born again self that occurs when we confess, repent, believe, and trust in Jesus Christ.  We understand more and more each day how self wants to put self ahead of humbly serving, honoring, glorifying, trusting, following, obeying, and relying on Jesus Christ.  We become aware of those things we know we ought to do but don’t and those things we ought not to do but do.  In this understanding of our sinful nature, we can only wonder and be awed by the grace, mercy, and love given to us through Jesus Christ.  When we commit, (intentionally choose) to seek and desire wisdom and understanding from and through time in His Word, we will continue to mature and grow in our understanding of God’s mercy, grace, and love.  Our heart, mind, and soul will continually be moved by this and we will become more and more humble, honoring, serving, and obeying, in our life walk with Jesus Christ.

It is never too late to make this heart, mind, and soul commitment of living each moment of every day in service to our savior Jesus Christ.  It is never too late to confess and repent of neglect and complacency.

It is, however, always to late to waste another minute being self-centered, self-serving, self-helping, self-satisfying, and self-seeking.  Choosing to live and walk apart from God.

1.q. For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword

2 Chronicles 1:7  In that night God appeared to Solomon, and said to him, “Ask what I shall give you.” And Solomon said to God, “You have shown great and steadfast love to David my father, and have made me king in his place. O Lord God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” God answered Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like.” So Solomon came from the high place at Gibeon, from before the tent of meeting, to Jerusalem. And he reigned over Israel.

1 Samuel 16:7   But the LORD said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For the LORD sees not as man sees: man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart.”

1 Kings 8:18     But the LORD said to David my father, ‘Whereas it was in your heart to build a house for my name, you did well that it was in your heart.

1 Chronicles 28:2    Then King David rose to his feet and said: “Hear me, my brothers and my people. I had it in my heart to build a house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD and for the footstool of our God, and I made preparations for building.

1 Chronicles 29:17-18   I know, my God, that you test the heart and have pleasure in uprightness. In the uprightness of my heart I have freely offered all these things, and now I have seen your people, who are present here, offering freely and joyously to you.  O LORD, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, our fathers, keep forever such purposes and thoughts in the hearts of your people, and direct their hearts toward you.

Hebrews 4:12     For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

What would God see in your heart that no one else can see or know?  What do you think is hidden and only yours to ponder and think about?  What occupies your thoughts that you think no one knows about?  God for certain knows everything in your heart.  He not only knows the thought but the intent behind the thought.  We get tested by God. Deuteronomy 8:2 “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”  Ecclesiastes 3:18  “I said to myself concerning the sons of men, “God has surely tested them in order for them to see that they are but beasts.”

God alone tests us so that we will see the error in our ways, how we talk, how we think, how we act. It is because of His love for us that He does this.  He wants us to grow, understand, and gain knowledge of Him through the grace and mercy demonstrated in the redeeming work of Jesus Christ.  In this gaining knowledge and understanding, we must be shown (tested) what is truly in our heart and mind so that we can freely repent from it and freely choose to turn away from it to honor, serve, follow and obey our Lord and Savior.  If we are not tested I fear our growth will become stagnate and we will become complacent and neglectful.

Oh God, give us ears to see and a mind to understand the greatness and awesomeness of Your grace and mercy.  Speak loud and clear to our heart so that we know Your testing and see clearly that from which we need to confess, repent and turn away from.  Strengthen our understanding of scripture as we intentionally choose to each day to be in Your word for Your honor and glory.

31. We wait for it with patience.

Numbers 21:4  From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

Psalms 106:43-45   Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.  Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress, when he heard their cry.  For their sake he remembered his covenant, and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

1 Corinthians 10:9     We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did and were destroyed by serpents,

John 3:14-15     And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up,  that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.

John 12:32     And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.”

Isaiah 45:22    “Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

John 6:40     For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”

Zechariah 12:10    “And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn.

“And we loathe this worthless food”,  How many times have we read about the grumbling, impatient, rebellious ways of God’s chosen?  God did miracles, wonders, and signs before their very eyes.  His presence was before them in fire by night and smoke by day.  He provided for them.  He protected them.  He supplied their needs.  He told them of His plan and purpose for them.  He gave them promises.  He gave them commands to live by.  He chose them.  He loved them.  They wanted a remedy to their problem, in their time, in their way, and did not want to believe in or wait for God’s perfect plan.  They closed their heart and mind to believe.  They opened their heart and mind to impatience, rebellion, unthankfulness, and grumbling.

Exodus 14:14 – “The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still.”

Isaiah 30:18 – “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore he will rise up to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!”

Psalm 27:14 – “Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.”

Romans 12:12 – “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.”

Romans 8:25 – “But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.”

Jesus is not honored by impatience, unbelief, neglect, complacency, unthankfulness, pride, greed, lust, hate, or unforgiveness.  He is honored by obedience, hope,  patience, love, reliance, trust, and faith that does not shift with circumstance but remains firm and steadfast.  Nothing tests the steadfastness of our faith and belief more than trials.  In these troubles, our faith and hope are demonstrated as either being refined and becoming more and more dependent upon God or to impatience, grumbling, unthankfulness, and rebellion.

Wait upon Him, trust Him, rely on Him, and cling to Him.

Isaiah 40:31 -“but they who wait for the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”

When God speaks through trials

“Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness.”

Psalms 106:7  Our fathers, when they were in Egypt, did not consider your wondrous works; they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love, but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. 

 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.

 Psalms 106:20  They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass. They forgot God, their Savior, who had done great things in Egypt,  wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 

  Psalms 106:24  Then they despised the pleasant land, having no faith in his promise. They murmured in their tents, and did not obey the voice of the LORD. 

 Psalms 106:28  Then they yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices offered to the dead; they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them

Psalms 106:32  They angered him at the waters of Meribah,

 Psalms 106:34  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;

 Psalms 106:39  Thus they became unclean by their acts, and played the whore in their deeds.

 Psalms 106:43  Many times he delivered them, but they were rebellious in their purposes and were brought low through their iniquity.

I don’t have to look back very far to see that I, too, have done many of these same things.  I have not waited, had little faith, forgot His past works in my life, and did not remember He is the all powerful, every loving, and always in control, God.  In the heat of issues, problems, troubles, and when despair and doubt overwhelms, I seem to forget God loves me, He is in control, and I don’t have to be anxious or worried about what lies ahead.   It seems so easy to fall into this trap.  Is it a test?  Is it to teach and grow my faith?  Is it to show me my sinfulness?  I think the answer to all is yes. Daily, I spend time in His word to proclaim the very things I am neglect in believing.  I am not sure if this is common to all but God seems to be laying this heavily upon me.  Fatih is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Forgive me Father for my lack of trust, reliance, and faith  and for not placing them fully in your every capable and loving arms.

450 Years

And after destroying seven nations in the land of Canaan, he gave them their land as an inheritance. All this took about 450 years. And after that he gave them judges.

Judges 2:16
Then the Lord raised up judges, who saved them out of the hand of those who plundered them. Yet they did not listen to their judges, for they whored after other gods and bowed down to them. They soon turned aside from the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not do so. Whenever the Lord raised up judges for them, the Lord was with the judge, and he saved them from the hand of their enemies all the days of the judge. For the Lord was moved to pity by their groaning because of those who afflicted and oppressed them. But whenever the judge died, they turned back and were more corrupt than their fathers, going after other gods, serving them and bowing down to them. They did not drop any of their practices or their stubborn ways. So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and he said, “Because this people have transgressed my covenant that I commanded their fathers and have not obeyed my voice, I will no longer drive out before them any of the nations that Joshua left when he died, in order to test Israel by them, whether they will take care to walk in the way of the Lord as their fathers did, or not

Psalms 106:43
Many times he delivered them,
but they were rebellious in their purposes
and were brought low through their iniquity.
Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
when he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant,
and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love

Did you take note that the time from when the Israelites took possession of the land until the time of Judges was ~450 years.  During this 450 years many times the Israelites were under God’s punishment for not following Him.  We can look back at this and see the first place of not obeying God was when they took over the land God had given them.  They did not put away all of the people as God said to.  They did right by what was in their own eyes and this lead to a continuous falling away from God.  I remember shortly after I was saved,  my pastor who was discipling me, said “one thing he saw and it troubled him greatly was the fact that the church seemed to always be 10 to 15 years away from whatever the current culture accepted.”  What was deemed not in alignment with God’s word by the church now seemed to be ok or severely watered down within 10 to 15 years.  Spend some time to think about this and see if it is not true.  We ask for revival but are we willing to put away all that causes us to stumble?  Have we lost sight of what God would have us do and replaced it with what the culture says God would have us do?  The only way we will ever get on top of this is to personally spend time in God’s word with the intent of allowing Him to speak the truth of it into our mind and lives.  If we think for a moment we will get this type of understanding from a sermon once per week we fool ourselves and will only continue to drift away from God while running full speed ahead to that which is neither God honoring or beneficial for our lives.  Purpose to read daily and desire/expect God to breath life into these words in your heart, mind and soul.