And 'thus says' is a formula written throughout scripture that we all do well to heed.
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Again and again God speaks through His prophets, warning his people to mend their ways or face judgement. The prophet Ezekiel stands before the elders of the nation of Judah, pleading with them to turn back to the Lord. The northern nation of Israel has already been defeated and exiled to Assyria and now the southern nation of Judah faces defeat and deportation at the hands of the Babylonians. The reason for God allowing such a catastrophe was the same in both cases - the worship of idols. They had embraced the religions and gods of neighbouring nations and were trying to serve the One God as if He were one of many. But the Lord had stated clearly to these people that He is a jealous God, and will not tolerate rivals (Deuteronomy 4, Exodus 34). Syncretism is the slippery slope to ruin.
A word for then and for today is 'return'. The World Prayer Centre has framed prayer around three words - 'repent, return, release'; and in the recent week of prayer for the nation the theme was - 'gather, remember, return'. The word in common, and which has been repeated on several occasions is 'return'.
In Ezekiel 14:6 it comes three times, though it is partly lost in translation.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord GOD: Repent and turn away from your idols, and turn away your faces from all your abominations."Ezekiel 14:6 (italics added for emphasis)
The Hebrew word 'shuv' is translated into English in various ways, but the root word means simply to return. In this passage 'repent' is 'shuv' stated in the imperative; it is a command to return to the Lord, no ifs or buts, no conditions or terms, no delays or procrastination, just come back to God. And 'thus says' is a formula written throughout scripture that we all do well to heed. For these elders of Judah, as for the nations of today, it is not too late to return to the Lord. Unless this primary command is heeded and obeyed, nothing else can be achieved, and we remain victims of our own sinfulness.
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'Turning away' is also translated from 'shuv', but here as a causative (the hifil stem). So we can infer from this simple grammar that if we simply and promptly obey God's primary command to return to Him, then He will cause us naturally to shun idolatry. To 'turn your faces' is a simple expression meaning to shift attention, so as we return to the Lord our attention intuitively turns away from all our abominations, those being all the things that displease our heavenly Father.
Ezekiel was addressing the leaders of Judah prior to their demise, entirely due to their own wanton waywardness and refusal to return. The prophetic word still stands for the people of modern Israel, whose presence in the land God promised is guaranteed by their faithfulness to the Lord rather than their own ingenuity.
The prophetic word also has universal application. In our own nation if we seek answers to our national debt, to crime, drug abuse, street violence, racial tensions, discrimination, health issues, gender confusion, family breakdown, and so many more troubling trends, there is, according to the Bible, only one answer:
'Return to the Lord'.
“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."(Hos 6:1)
Author: John Plumb
May God bless and enrich your life
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To succeed in anything we must have confidence in God and believe that He wants us to succeed
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The bible says, blessed is the one who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in Him. Jeremiah 17:7-8 Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is in the Lord, for he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out it's roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes, but it's leaf will be green and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.
To succeed at whatever God calls us to do, we must learn to be confident not self confident but confident in Christ. The apostle Paul was brilliant in his teachings as he said I am self sufficient in Christ, Philippians 4:13 I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Jesus said in John 15:5 I am the vine you are the branches, he who abides in me and I in him bears much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
It seems to take forever to learn this truth, much of our frustration comes from misplaced confidence. Paul said put no confidence in the flesh, Philippians 3:3 for we are the circumcision who worship God in the Spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Now he wasn't saying we're not supposed to trust anyone, he was saying if we give others or yourself the trust that belongs to God alone, we won't succeed at anything. To succeed in anything we must have confidence in God and believe that He wants us to succeed. We may fail on our way to succeed, but only if we trust God He will take our failures and cause them to work out for our good and to His glory. Romans 8:28 "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose".
Sometimes our confidence is shaken when trials come especially if they are lengthy, when this happens we can learn from the example of what King David did in 1 Samuel 30:6 when David had no-one else to believe in him, he believed in himself and God's ability to work through him and strengthen him.
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That is if we don't believe in ourselves, we don't believe in Him. God said "I am in you, but I can only do things through you what you believe me for". Think about it, God is able to do all things.
It probably goes without saying that this phrase of King David considering and saying "Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life". Psalm 23 is a spoken word of faith. It can only be said by someone who looks beyond the event and circumstances of life and have implicit confidence in the one who is ultimately in control (God).
David believed that nothing could happen to him, no difficulty or dilemma could come into his life without eventual good emerging from the chaos, most of us when we look back on our life can see the truth of this.
So the challenge for us is to believe and have confidence when we are going through circumstances/trials that is beyond our control that God is in control.
Author: Herbert Jean
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God's word and warnings are given into the hands of His people to declare the danger in time and space of our accountability before almighty God.
Well, I was late posting this blog so thanks to Becky and Kevin for bearing with me. We arrived back off holiday to be plunged into some confusion with my father taken ill and zoomed into hospital. I remembered a few times that I needed to write something but the time and headspace eluded me. I woke up in the middle of the night last night, and I was prompted to cry to the Lord about a number of things - then I remembered again that it is my turn to write a blog. What should I write Lord I asked?
What came to mind was that scripture: Isaiah 40:6-9 (NLT) - A voice said, “SHOUT!” I asked, “What should I shout? “SHOUT that people are like the grass. Their beauty fades as quickly as the flowers in a field. 7 The grass withers and the flowers fade beneath the breath of the LORD. And so it is with people.
The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever.” O Zion, messenger of good news, SHOUT from the mountaintops! Shout it louder, O Jerusalem. SHOUT, and do not be afraid. Tell the towns of Judah, “Your God is coming!”
There was a three-year period where I got a scripture for each year and each year that scripture came to pass or started to come to pass. In 2018 the scripture was: Haggai 2:6-7 (NLT) - “For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land. I will shake all the nations...”
The sense that I had with the scripture was that a shaking would begin and continue. A shaking in which God's people would not be observers but participants - a shaking which I, our family, our friends, our fellowship, the wider church would experience first-hand in a very direct way. God was about to start to shake the trees to see what would remain - and so, arguably from different people's standpoint, in various ways, it has happened and started to happen.
From when we were on holiday one of the prevailing images that I have in mind is a scene from Herculaneum. This is one of the towns overtaken by the eruption of Vesuvius in AD79. (Future Roman emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem and destroyed the second temple in AD70 – a contemporary historian commented that Titus’ reign was unnaturally accompanied by disasters).
Both Pompeii and Herculaneum were overtaken by the erupting volcano - Pompeii was submerged in pumice and ash and Herculaneum blasted by fearsome heat. The image that remains is of the skeletons of people who had not run but waited at their boat houses to be rescued by the Roman fleet. The fleet never came. There was a Tsunami and the ships could not get to the people to lift them off. Instead, these comfortably well-off people in their holiday homes were scorched to death in seconds where they stood waiting... You can see them today their skeletons mark where they fell.
What if you knew this was going to happen and did nothing? What if you had science beyond the ages and a report saying that in on August 24th AD79 Mount Vesuvius was going to violently eject a cloud of super-heated tephra and gases to a height of 33 km (21 mi), ejecting molten rock, pulverized pumice and hot ash at 1.5 million tons per second, ultimately releasing 100,000 times the thermal energy of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki which would destroy both towns - and did nothing?
So, we are urged "SHOUT"! ... God has determined that His word will endure forever. Jesus said that the testimony of the words that He spoke will never pass away. The Lord has declared that His word and His Name are exalted above all things. His word is our notice of warning. The “shakings” so far are nothing compared to what is to come. Do we stand by and let the bodies pile up on the beach or do we "SHOUT"?
God's word and warnings are given into the hands of His people to declare the danger in time and space of our accountability before almighty God. Jesus declares to the church "don't be caught sleeping yourselves"! “Be ready”! “Get oil”! “You are the watchmen”! We need to know that in the time of shaking there is only peace and refuge in one place - in Jesus. Whatever our path, no matter how we are shaken, He is the only saviour. His is the only salvation. He alone has the words of eternal life.
Now reaching older years, I have almost experienced all of the stages of our life on earth. I am slower than I was, I am more tired than I was, I think about things differently than I did, I have a different lens on life. As the song goes "nothing lasts except the grace of God but which I stand in Jesus". So those who know the Lord in my generation have a duty to KEEP SHOUTING – “Build on the rock”! “Build your life on Jesus”! “Give your life to Him”!
Nothing lasts except His word, His promises, His love and what we need most desperately all of us - His grace and mercy shown through the gospel of our Lord Jesus. Let us heed His warnings. Let us not be found asleep. Let His people SHOUT!
Author: Chris Pearson
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