Category: Daily Devotionals

CYPRESS

I am like the mighty cypress; from Me comes your fruit.  Hosea 14:8

    God is aware of the language barrier that exists between the spiritual realm and the physical.  Because we are earth-bound and our ability to comprehend His greatness and glory is compromised by our mortality, He is willing to tell us what He is like in terms we can understand.  He is quick, throughout Scripture, to say….”I am as a _____________.”  He employs the use of  illustrations and metaphors that are common to our everyday life. Continue reading “Cypress” →

THE PREMIUM OF WORDS

You have stumbled because of your iniquity.  Take words with you and return to the Lord.  Hosea 14:1,2a

            Each of us probably has a different view and a varying appetite for talkativeness.  Having grown up in a house where words were few, I value well chosen words.  When someone speaks them well and they are seasoned with love and grace, they fall on me like refreshing rains.  I’m not being poetic, I’m being completely transparent.  However, if you grew up in the company of incessant talkers, you probably are so used to the sound of chatter that you take it for granted and/or are repelled by it.  Perhaps you crave the quiet and wish words were less.

            God is clear in today’s scripture about the importance of words in the process of repentance.  Imagine if you had a prodigal son who spurned your love and went off on a long journey.  You mourned for him, prayed for him, and waited for his return.  One day, you wake up to see him sleeping in his old room.  He gets up in the morning and says little.  It’s obvious that he’s come home to stay and because he engages in familiar routines but with no explanation.  It wouldn’t be long until you’d erupt and say, “Look, we have to talk about this.  Where have you been?  What have you been doing?  What made you come home? What are you feeling? Are you okay?”  

    In that light, God’s message is easy to understand and take to heart.  We can never stray from God and go back without a language of repentance and self-disclosure.  “Lord, I went away because ___________.  I’ve been off doing _______________.  My heart feels ______________.  Please forgive me for ____________.”

            The only way to make a solid return is with words.  It’s not because He needs them either.  It’s because by speaking them, we are changed.  The dam breaks and acknowledgement of our actions and feelings brings what was hidden into the Light.

            Words are a gift we give to God that only come back to benefit us in the long run.  When we speak words of repentance, we are bathed in forgiveness.  When we speak words of praise, we are delivered from the chains of darkness.  When we speak words that reveal our own story, we gain self-awareness.  When we speak words of faith, we surmount the barriers of unbelief.  Let’s take our words and live in the presence of the Lord today.

If I am wordless, I am poor.  Breathe on my tongue, Jesus.  Release my language.  Amen

 

EVERY FORM OF DEATH

Shall I ransom them from the power of Sheol?  shall I redeem them from death?  O Death, where are your thorns?  O Sheol, where is your sting?  Hosea 13:14

    Most any Christian who has stood at the graveside of a loved one ascribes to Christ’s triumph over death.  I have said goodbye to my father and my mother.  Both died of cancer.  While their loss ushered in profound grief, death was bittersweet for I knew they went immediately into God’s presence.  There was no doubt in my heart about that.

    However, while I can say that God was victorious over death, I have not been as willing to put Him to the test regarding other kinds of death in my life.  Continue reading “Every Form Of Death” →

TWISTED VALUES

They make for themselves molten images, idols skillfully made from their silver, all of them the work of craftsmen.  They say of them, “Let the men who sacrifice (their children) kiss the calves.” Hosea 13:2

            Hosea saw some pretty gruesome practices. In ancient Israel, human sacrifice usually meant child sacrifice.   Hosea watched as men sacrificed their children at pagan altars.  Consider their twisted values.  A craftsman would make a metal god, men would sacrifice their offspring and beg for the god’s help, and then the ‘live’ animals who matched the representation of the graven image were worshipped.  Children were thrown away, animals were exalted.

In some ways, our values today are similar.  Continue reading “Twisted Values” →

FULL CIRCLE

In the womb he took his brother by the heel, and in his maturity he contended with God.  He wept and sought His favor and found Him at Bethel.  Hosea 12:3-4

    These verses speak to the life story of every person who has ever lived.  Therefore, let me personalize. It is my story.  I follow in Jacob’s footsteps.  I know what it is to seize control of the events of my life, the ones I find so extremely distasteful, and try to change the outcomes.  Continue reading “Full Circle” →

BECAUSE GOD IS GOD, THEN ~

I will not execute my fierce anger.  I am God and not man, the Holy One in your midst.  Hosea 11:9

    God stood on the brink of executing judgment.  When He looked upon His people, His heart was filled with waves of love.  He controlled His anger instead of executing it.  It’s as if He couldn’t stand the thought of the pain they would experience.  He explains the reason for such holy restraint.  He is God and not man.

Because God is God ~

• He did not leave me to die in my sins without any chance of being saved.  He sent a Savior, even though it meant sending His Son for sacrifice.
• He is not sending me to eternal judgment, even though I deserve it.  He has credited all my sins to His Son’s account, the Son He loves. How humbling.
• He forgave me for every wrong thing I did yesterday, and I start today with a white robe around my shoulders.
• He does not keep a record of my wrongs, even though they are substantial.  He chooses to put them behind His back and never say, “Remember what you did?”

I am called to be like Him.  I am His image bearer.  Since I am God’s child, then His nature is to be formed in me.

Because I belong to God ~ Continue reading “Because God Is God ~ Then..” →

GOD IS NO STOIC

How can I give you up, O Ephraim?  How can I surrender you, O Israel?  My heart is tuned over within Me, all my compassions are kindled.  Hosea 11:8

    Though judgment is on the horizon for God’s people, God’s sympathy for them is so stirred that this proclamation of love and heartbreak is expressed.  “I see what’s coming to you because of your sin.  I see how you have led yourselves into captivity.  But oh, how I can’t stand the thought of seeing you in the kind of distress that is coming your way.”

    Does this kind of sentiment surprise you?  Continue reading “God Is No Stoic” →

BELIEF AND DISBELIEF

“Now, they will say, “We have no king.  What can he do for us?”  They speak mere words, with worthless oaths they make covenants; and judgment sprouts like poisonous weeds in the furrows of the field.”  Hosea 10:3-4

            God’s people have arrived at a place where they have no confidence in Him anymore.  They believe Him to be powerless.  Anytime I cease to see the vastness of God, the issue at hand is not about a God who has grown anemic.  It is about me and how the enemy has deceived me, through my adversity, about who God really is.  Somewhere along the path, I have given up on prayer.  I have fallen into the black hole of unbelief.  I am on a dead end street, traveling at high speeds, not knowing that a crash is ahead.

            Here’s how it works.  Continue reading “Belief And Unbelief” →

GRAFTED IN TO SHARE THE FRUIT

Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself.  Hosea 10:1

            When God chooses to bless me, it is not so I can fill my barns with grain and sit on the pile and admire it.  It is not so I can sit and enjoy the feeling of grain running through my fingers.  It is not so I can make my home into a museum.  Blessings are mine to hold loosely.  They are a reminder to praise the One who gives.  They are mine to pass on. Whatever has been entrusted to me is ultimately for the purposing of blessing others.

•     God has taken me through some storms.  The experiences through good and evil have trained me in the ways of wisdom.  Is this so I can become self-impressed over how much I know?  No, wisdom is to be shared.
•      God has taken me through some losses.  Growing up in an emotionally reserved home, I am still learning learned how to grieve and ultimately rest in God’s arms.  Is this so I can enjoy His comfort and keep it to myself?  No, comfort is to be shared.
•      God has allowed betrayal to mark my path.  I am learning to make forgiveness a lifestyle.  Is this to be my solitary experience?  No, lessons of forgiveness are to be modeled with humility.  Continue reading “Grafted In To Share The Fruit” →

PRAYING FOR THOSE WHO HAVE FORGOTTEN GOD

Give them, O Lord – what wilt Thou give?  Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts.  Hosea 9:14

            When a person walks with God, it is easy to become bitter over someone nearby who is lukewarm in his faith.  There is a fine line between being sad over their condition and becoming angry.  At that point, pride can slip in and set up stronghold territory.   Continue reading “Praying For Those Who Have Forgotten God” →