pursued – Praying Pint

9.r. Thus says the Lord: I will not revoke the punishment,

Amos 1:3 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have threshed Gilead with threshing sledges of iron.

Amos 1:6 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Gaza, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they carried into exile a whole people to deliver them up to Edom.

Amose 1:9 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Tyre, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they delivered up a whole people to Edom, and did not remember the covenant of brotherhood.

Amos 1:11 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Edom, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he pursued his brother with the sword and cast off all pity, and his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever.

Amos1:13 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of the Ammonites, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they have ripped open pregnant women in Gilead, that they might enlarge their border.

Amos 2:1 Thus says the Lord: “For three transgressions of Moab, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because he burned to lime the bones of the king of Edom.

We read of Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammonites, and Moab. All of these did great sins against the Lord God. In their power, prosperity, pride, greed, and lack of concern for God they went about their day by day, month, by month, and year by year with every day taking more and more steps away from God. The first few days, weeks, months of a new king would define how the people reacted. So easily were they led away from God until He would punish their sin and draw them back. How long did God wait? Sometimes it was short and other times it was long, but in the end, God’s punishment came. It is not as though He did not send messengers (prophets) to warn them. It is not as though He did not give them a written word to guide them. It is not as though He did not do miracles in their presence to show His great power and love. All of these acts of disobedience have been recorded so that by them we might become aware of the sinful nature of man and how easy it is to turn away from God. When we grow in Christ, it is precept upon precept, line upon line, and word upon word, but only if we intentionally choose to be guided by it. When we surrender our lives to Christ we find wisdom, understanding, and knowledge in His word that gives us joy, hope, peace, power, courage, patience, and rest. Our soul is satisfied and yet hungers for more. We hear His whispers of guidance in our lives. We see lies being proclaimed and sin whitewashed and tolerated. God’s Word will speak to us just as in the days of prophets if we open our hearts and minds to it. It will teach us to see things in this world for what they are and give us hope for eternity even in the midst of trials that come.

7.o. To make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus

Revelation 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he had been thrown down to the earth, he pursued the woman who had given birth to the male child. But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time. The serpent poured water like a river out of his mouth after the woman, to sweep her away with a flood. But the earth came to the help of the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed the river that the dragon had poured from his mouth. Then the dragon became furious with the woman and went off to make war on the rest of her offspring, on those who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus. And he stood on the sand of the sea.

Satan, being cast out of heaven and no longer having access to accuse believers before God, comes to earth and is seeking to destroy Israelites and those who have a testimony in their life of Jesus Christ. Satan’s attack is fierce and cruel, but God has placed His protective loving arms around the Israelites so that Satan’s attacks are fruitless, whereas God’s protection is fruitful. Satan then turns his focus on those who have a testimony to Jesus Christ. They will be the focus of Satan’s attacks/wrath. Certainly, they will die during these next 3.5 years. We can’t even come close to understanding the tribulation they will face because of their faith in Jesus Christ. I am certain those who find faith during this time will have a peace that passes all understanding because they have come from a place in their heart, mind, and soul to know they rejected the greatest gift ever, forgiveness, redemption, salvation, and eternal life and now they have fully surrendered their life to Jesus Christ. Their surrender means certain death. And yet, they hold fast, stand firm, and their faith is solid in Jesus Christ alone. They will not take the mark of the beast, they will not deny faith in Jesus Christ, and they will proclaim His testimony unto death. Do you ever wonder if your faith would stand firm in the face of death for that faith? Our faith can not be based on prosperity and ease in this life. It must be so deep in our heart, mind, and soul that things of this world do not distract us from continually purifying, growing, and maturing in our walk with Jesus Christ. Examine your heart and know what is there. Examine your mind and know what is there. If more of the world and what it has to offer is there than love for Jesus Christ then repent and intentionally choose to change. Intentionally choose to spend time in His Word, listening to His whispers of guidance in and through His Word, and walk humbly before Jesus Christ, honoring, following, obeying, trusting and relying on Him.

2.a. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

2 Chronicles 14:9 Zerah the Ethiopian came out against them with an army of a million men and 300 chariots, and came as far as Mareshah. And Asa went out to meet him, and they drew up their lines of battle in the Valley of Zephathah at Mareshah. And Asa cried to the Lord his God, “O Lord, there is none like you to help, between the mighty and the weak. Help us, O Lord our God, for we rely on you, and in your name we have come against this multitude. O Lord, you are our God; let not man prevail against you.” So the Lord defeated the Ethiopians before Asa and before Judah, and the Ethiopians fled. Asa and the people who were with him pursued them as far as Gerar, and the Ethiopians fell until none remained alive, for they were broken before the Lord and his army. The men of Judah carried away very much spoil. And they attacked all the cities around Gerar, for the fear of the Lord was upon them. They plundered all the cities, for there was much plunder in them. And they struck down the tents of those who had livestock and carried away sheep in abundance and camels. Then they returned to Jerusalem.

Isaiah 8:9-10    Be broken, you peoples, and be shattered; give ear, all you far countries; strap on your armor and be shattered; strap on your armor and be shattered.  Take counsel together, but it will come to nothing; speak a word, but it will not stand, for God is with us.

Deuteronomy 32:39    “‘See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god beside me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.

Psalms 60:12   With God we shall do valiantly; it is he who will tread down our foes.

1 Corinthians 15:57     But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Facing more than a million warriors from Ethiopia, Asa went out to do battle. It appears the first act was to call on the Lord God but in reality, their first act was “in Your name we have come against this multitude” and the second act was trust and reliance and the third act was crying out to God. But we really can’t put them in an order like this, can we? Without trust, there is no reliance. Without trust and reliance and an active seeking and desiring the presence of God and a willingness to act there would be no crying out to God.

Asa led the people in active and intentional worship and God-honoring living. This active and intentional want to be in the presence of God with all their thoughts toward humbly serving, following, trusting, obeying, and honoring Him.

Big battles are won before they begin when all of our heart, mind, and soul is seeking, desiring, and focused on God.

There is a big problem right now within the church, within our Christian culture, maybe even within us. We seem to live our daily lives apart from God until there is a battle line in front of us. Then, we cry out but our cry is not made with trust and reliance but rather with a last-ditch effort. We cry out because we have no hope in ourselves any and in this very surrender to God you would think we would learn this is the very place every waking moment our heart and soul and mind should anchor its self too.

In our full surrender, we find peace, joy, strength, power, might, and hope. You would think we would want to stay in this place and bask in the glory and holiness of God. You would think in this place is where we are satisfied and made whole and no other place would we find this satisfaction and filling of our heart, mind, and soul. But sadly we come into God’s presence and leave and come and go, come and go, rather than staying in His presence. We find Him all in all and then we leave. We find Him all-powerful and then we leave. We find Him steadfast in His love for us and we leave. We find Him sending Jesus Christ to redeem us and we come and taste the holiness of salvation and forgiveness but we so easily leave like a leave being carried away by a soft breeze.

Choose this day whom you will serve and be active and intentional about every moment of that day. Be sure every moment of that day reflects an active and internal choice to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in every word, thought, and action.

48. Leading you to fall away from the living God.

Deuteronomy 11:1 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did.

Deuteronomy 11:13 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.

Luke 21:8    And he said, “See that you are not led astray.

Luke 21:34    “But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation (self-Indulgence) and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap.

Hebrews 2:1    Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.

Hebrews 3:12    Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God.

Deuteronomy 8:19   And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.

I have been giving thought to what causes people to drift away from God. What causes neglect to His word? What leads to being complacent with reading it? I could never quite get these ideas to form into something that makes sense. I found these thoughts from Chris Russell.

One of Satan’s greatest weapons against our generation seems to be his ability to make good people busier than ever before. If you desire to walk closely with God, you will absolutely, necessarily have to begin by taking a close look at your calendar. It is likely that you are currently doing too much. And it is also likely that your overly hectic schedule is affecting your relationship with God. So take out your pruning shears and begin to cut out any activities you can that will allow you to focus more time on your relationship with your Creator.

Be careful not to set your heart on things that really don’t matter. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen good people lured away from church life because they have fallen in love with things or activities that have no eternal merit. For example, children’s sports can certainly be a thrilling activity for your kids to pursue.

When the trials of life cause a person to become discouraged, he often begins focusing on those problems and takes his eyes off of Christ. It reminds me of when Peter walked on the water. He did great until he took his eyes off of Jesus and began looking at the waves beneath him and the clouds above him. It is important for you to know that when life’s clouds grow dark and your trials become fierce, that is the time to run TO Jesus and not FROM Him.

We Americans are so fat with our own prosperity that we often make wealth our god and not the true King of heaven. This has also been a recurring theme throughout the entire Bible. People struggle, God blesses them, they become prosperous, and then they depart from God. Ironic, isn’t it? People of abundance often choose recreation over worship. Why go to church if you could be out golfing, boating, camping, or going to movies or sporting events? Satan wants us to be prosperous, because our prosperity and abundance often lure us away from our Creator.

Many people begin to drift away from God, because they have sins in their lives that cause them to feel guilt when they show up at church. And they feel reluctant to pray or read their Bible when they know they have these issues in their lives.

How have you done in your journey with God over the past year or the past few months? Have you drifted? Now is the time to return. Call out to God before you are so far from the shore than you lose all sense of spiritual direction.