Tag: silent

And they fled

Zechariah 13:7  “Awake, O sword, against my shepherd, against the man who stands next to me,” declares the LORD of hosts. “Strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered; I will turn my hand against the little ones.  In the whole land, declares the LORD, two thirds shall be cut off and perish, and one third shall be left alive.  And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’”

Matthew 26:31   Then Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.’

Matthew 26:56    But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.

Mark 14:27    And Jesus said to them, “You will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’

Mark 14:50    And they all left him and fled.

John 16:32   Behold, the hour is coming, indeed it has come, when you will be scattered, each to his own home, and will leave me alone.

Isaiah 53:4    Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted.  But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth.  By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?  And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth. Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.

Can you imagine what it would be like to have lived in the time of Zechariah and hearing this and then 400+ years later it being fulfilled.  How many people during that time looked at this and said “more foolishness” or “this makes no sense”.  Much about the gospel is foolishness to those who do not believe.  Prior to being saved each of us would have to say it was words on paper to which we had no wisdom or understanding.  Then at some point God opened our heart and mind to this wonderful news in a way that is almost unexplainable.  Our whole life changed in that moment.  We saw everything in a new light.  It was as though blinders were taken off our eyes and everything was made new.  In fact scripture says at this moment of belief we are new creations.  Our previous purpose of living, doing, saying, thinking…. all went away …… but we need to be ever diligent knowing this sinful nature lurks.  Lust of the eyes (I want more), lust of the flesh (I want the pleasure), pride of life (I want prestige).  Satan is behind every temptation.  Peter, knowing this, put it this way: 2Pe 1:4 His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire. For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge,  and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins. Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to confirm your calling and election, for if you practice these qualities you will never fall. For in this way there will be richly provided for you an entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Depart from Me, I never knew you!

“Seek the LORD while he may be found; call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have compassion on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”

Psa 50:7  “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips? For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you. If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers. “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit. You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son. 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. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

Isaiah 48:22    “There is no peace,” says the LORD, “for the wicked.”

Isaiah 58:1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins.  Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God.  ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers.  Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.  Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the LORD?  “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?  Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Matthew 7:22  On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’  And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

This is what God says: “For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.”  “But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you. “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!” and “And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.”  Do we see these comments directed at us or someone else?  Do we look intently into our heart with God’s word and seeking for Him to expose our luke warmness toward humbly serving, honoring, following and obeying Him?  Do we choose to hear His voice through His word?  If we are not choosing to spend time in His word how will we recognize Him speaking to us?  How will we know how to humbly serve, or honor, or trust, or glorify, or follow and obey Him?  Do we think for a minute that this comes through osmosis?  No we must dedicate ourselves to it, desire it, and recognize the culture we live in is trying to (and easily does) pull us away for meaningless matters that do nothing for our soul and robs us of our purpose for God.  Choose this day to make a change.  Choose to spend time in His word and encourage others to do the same.

Shouts of Praise 2

“By awesome deeds you answer us with righteousness, O God of our salvation, the hope of all the ends of the earth and of the farthest seas;”

“All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.”

Psalms 47:1   Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!

Psalms 98:4    Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises!

Ezra 3:11  And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD, because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid.  But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy,  so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Jeremiah 31:7   For thus says the LORD: “Sing aloud with gladness for Jacob, and raise shouts for the chief of the nations; proclaim, give praise, and say, ‘O LORD, save your people, the remnant of Israel.’

Zephaniah 3:14   Sing aloud, O daughter of Zion; shout, O Israel! Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!

Zechariah 9:9   Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.

Luke 19:37  As he was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen,  saying, “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”  And some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples.”  He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the very stones would cry out.”

Revelation 19:1  After this I heard what seemed to be the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, crying out, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God,  for his judgments are true and just; for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her immorality, and has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”

Psalms 95:3    For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods.

Daniel 7:13  And to him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.

To be close to  God’ is to be in place of heart & mind where we  SHOUT PRAISES, GIVE PRAISE, and SHOUT WITH JOY because we know Him and what He has done, is doing and will do.  I recently read something like this statement in a commentary on this Psalm “because God will not subdue our troubles, trials and worry under us, unless we have allowed Him to choose our life-plan. Live on that plan and you are unconquerable.” We can not expect to live in His blessing if we are not humbly serving, following, obeying, and making Him are all in all.  We cannot expect to know His plan if we are not yielding each day to Him.  Our lives must change. Our choice for each day must begin and end with humbly serving, obeying, and following Him.  What would a day in the life of a person who does this look like?  Would they start and end a day without as much as 5 minutes in His word?  Would they spend more time watching TV or video games or hunting, or shopping, or fill in the blank…?  Would their mind mull over what they have read?  Would they be still and listen for God to speak to them through His word each day?  Would they pray?  Would they seek God’s leading in making decision?    Do you want to know true blessing, rest, peace, joy,  hope, and love to the point your heart bursts with shouts of praise.  Commit your life, each day, to Him, read His word, study His word, listen to others proclaim His word, and above all else humbly serve, honor, follow and obey Him.