Tag: Rebelled

Spirit of counsel to lead us

“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;”

“But they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them.”

“so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Zechariah 4:6  Then he said to me, “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.

2 Chronicles 14:11   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.”

Isaiah 11:2    And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.

Isaiah 63:14    Like livestock that go down into the valley, the Spirit of the LORD gave them rest. So you led your people, to make for yourself a glorious name.

Ezekiel 37:14    And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the LORD; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the LORD.”

Haggai 2:4  Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts,

Psalms 20:6  Now I know that the LORD saves his anointed; he will answer him from his holy heaven with the saving might of his right hand.  Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God.  They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand upright.

“Not by power or might but by His spirit”.  How many times do we try to accomplish on our own?  We use our power, strength, knowledge, and head off on a course of action without seeking God, without knowing if this is in His plans and purpose for us.  We make these plans or take action and after we have set them to motion we ask God to make them work out.  Knowing you are being led by God down His path for you is power, strength, and peace to our heart and soul. Seek God first with all your heart,, mind and soul.  Our pastor has been teaching through the book of Exodus and this past Sunday in chapter 33/34 it spoke of the tent Moses had out side of the camp.  He went there each morning and the rest would stand in the doors of their tents and watch God’s presence come down in the form a cloud.  The people would worship from their door ways knowing God was present while Moses spent the day speaking with God.  A question keep running through my head.  If I/we had a choice each morning to spend the day with God – would we choose it?  Would we step away from all the activity and plans we have made?  Joshua said it this way “choose this day whom you will serve.  As for me and my house we will serve the Lord our God”

Even now return to Me

“ Seek the LORD, all you humble of the land, who do his just commands; seek righteousness; seek humility; perhaps you may be hidden on the day of the anger of the LORD”

“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;”

Zechariah 1:1  In the eighth month, in the second year of Darius, the word of the LORD came to the prophet Zechariah, the son of Berechiah, son of Iddo, saying, “The LORD was very angry with your fathers. Therefore say to them, Thus declares the LORD of hosts: Return to me, says the LORD of hosts, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts.  Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets cried out, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, Return from your evil ways and from your evil deeds.’ But they did not hear or pay attention to me, declares the LORD.

Ezra 9:6  saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.  From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

Nehemiah 9:26  “Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies.

2 Chronicles 36:13  He also rebelled against King Nebuchadnezzar, who had made him swear by God. He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart against turning to the LORD, the God of Israel.  All the officers of the priests and the people likewise were exceedingly unfaithful, following all the abominations of the nations. And they polluted the house of the LORD that he had made holy in Jerusalem.  The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place.  But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the LORD rose against his people, until there was no remedy.

James 4:8  Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.  Be wretched and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.  Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.

Hosea 6:1   “Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up.

It is a slippery slope away from God when your heart is not seeking to honor and glorify Him.  Many hearts have hardened and call foolish that what God has revealed to man about himself, sin, redemption, and eternity.  With great boasting they defy God, His existence, and His purpose for mankind.  In this boasting many are pulled away and lack encouragement to hold the course.  Our lives should be filled with words and actions that honor God, encourage others, and shine light into the darkest corners of the hearts of those lost and without hope.

Over and Over

“Make them known to your children and your children’s children”

Judges 3:7
And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth

Deuteronomy 4:9
“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children—

Deuteronomy 32:18
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth

Psalms 78:11
They forgot his works
and the wonders that he had shown them

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

It seems like the theme this week has been the same over and over again – Unmindful – Forgetting God – Not Remembering – Following what they deemed best in their own eyes – Rebelling – Doing evil in the sight of God.      I keep thinking that it does not have to be this way.  We do have a choice in the matter of serving God.  However we seem to like to choose self over God.  Me, myself, I are always wanting to put self first.  Do I assume I know best?  Do I think I am able to find satisfaction away from God?  I have no idea why self keeps pushing to the forefront but I do know that I find life more fulfilling with God leading.  A  good start for every day would be for us to chose to  humbly serve God every day. Keep in mind that self wants to be first and we need to die to self every day.

Keep Him First

“Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.”

Joshua 7:24
And Joshua and all Israel with him took Achan  the son of Zerah, and the silver and the cloak and the bar of gold, and his sons and daughters and his oxen and donkeys and sheep and his tent and all that he had. And they brought them up to the Valley of Achor. And Joshua said, “Why did you bring trouble on us? The Lord brings trouble on you today.” And all Israel stoned him with stones. They burned them with fire and stoned them with stones.

Numbers 16:27
And Moses said, “Hereby you shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, and that it has not been of my own accord. If these men die as all men die, or if they are visited by the fate of all mankind, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the Lord.”
And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart. And the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

Nehemiah 9:26
“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies

Numerous times the sins of the fathers affect their families and children.  Achan coveted material goods and all he had was destroyed.  Imagine the last thoughts he had as he watched his family being stoned and burned.  When we covet our wants and desires over God there are not only affects on us but on our family as well.  Dads, moms – take a look at your heart, mind, and soul – what time is spent on your personal desires and what time is spent on growing desires of and for God? How much time is spent searching for that next thing to satisfy our wants?  Trust me when I say this is so easy to fall into.  We are saturated with our culture telling us we work hard and that our time away from work is ours to do pleasing us.  This seems correct when we think about all that is said concerning work life balance.  I do know from past experience that nothing of this world will give lasting satisfaction it is all temporary.  The only thing that will give us lasting peace, joy, hope, love, and purpose is to seek first the kingdom of God, desiring to know Him – hear Him – obey Him more and more each day.  Our purpose this side of eternity is to live to honor and glorify Him alone.  Keep Him first!!!

More Than Hearers

These things you have done, and I have been silent;
you thought that I was one like yourself.
But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you

How is God speaking to our heart?  Are we listening for His guidance and leading?  Are we willing to follow what He is telling us?  Do we search His word and feed our soul with it so that we honor and glorify Him?  We must be more than hearers of His word.  We must desire to be lead by Him for His purpose not ours.  Daily put into practice what you hear through His word.  Be more than hearers only – be disciples and servants of Him.

Matthew 23:3
For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others

Romans 2:21
you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself

Psalms 50:17
For you hate discipline,
and you cast my words behind you

Nehemiah 9:26
“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you