Hosea 4
The Charge Against Israel
1 Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites, because the LORD has a charge to bring against you who live in the land: "There is no faithfulness, no love, no acknowledgment of God in the land. 2 There is only cursing, [a] lying and murder, stealing and adultery; they break all bounds, and bloodshed follows bloodshed.
3 Because of this the land mourns, [b] and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying.
4 "But let no man bring a charge, let no man accuse another, for your people are like those who bring charges against a priest.
5 You stumble day and night, and the prophets stumble with you. So I will destroy your mother-
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge. "Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
7 The more the priests increased, the more they sinned against me; they exchanged [c] their [d] Glory for something disgraceful.
8 They feed on the sins of my people and relish their wickedness.
9 And it will be: Like people, like priests. I will punish both of them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.
10 "They will eat but not have enough; they will engage in prostitution but not increase, because they have deserted the LORD to give themselves 11 to prostitution, to old wine and new, which take away the understanding 12 of my people. They consult a wooden idol and are answered by a stick of wood. A spirit of prostitution leads them astray; they are unfaithful to their God.
13 They sacrifice on the mountaintops and burn offerings on the hills, under oak, poplar and terebinth, where the shade is pleasant. Therefore your daughters turn to prostitution and your daughters-in-law to adultery.
14 "I will not punish your daughters when they turn to prostitution, nor your daughters-in-law when they commit adultery, because the men themselves consort with harlots and sacrifice with shrine prostitutes— a people without understanding will come to ruin!
15 "Though you commit adultery, O Israel, let not Judah become guilty. "Do not go to Gilgal; do not go up to Beth Aven. [e] And do not swear, 'As surely as the LORD lives!'
16 The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can the LORD pasture them like lambs in a meadow?
17 Ephraim is joined to idols; leave him alone!
18 Even when their drinks are gone, they continue their prostitution; their rulers dearly love shameful ways.
19 A whirlwind will sweep them away, and their sacrifices will bring them shame.
Our Daily Bread reading and devotion
Psalm 33 1 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him.
2 Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre.
3 Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.
4 For the word of the LORD is right and true; he is faithful in all he does.
5 The LORD loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of his unfailing love.
6 By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth.
7 He gathers the waters of the sea into jars [a] ; he puts the deep into storehouses.
8 Let all the earth fear the LORD; let all the people of the world revere him.
9 For he spoke, and it came to be; he commanded, and it stood firm.
December 11, 2007
Richly Blessed
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READ: Psalm 33:1-9
The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. —Psalm 33:5 About this cover The maple trees in my front yard are the last to lose their leaves in the autumn. So, on a frigid November day, I was grumbling to myself as I raked and bagged the last of my leaves.
Then a cheery voice said, “Good morning!” The woman who reads our gas meter had walked up unnoticed. I asked, “And how are you on this blustery morning?”
“I’m richly blessed,” she said with a smile. After a quick attitude adjustment, I replied, “So am I. Isn’t God wonderful?”
“He sure is,” she answered. “Are you a believer in Jesus too?” “Yes, I am,” I responded, “and He has filled my life with blessing.”
That brief exchange not only brightened my mood, it reminded me that we who believe in Christ are blessed beyond measure. After this sister in Christ left, the sky didn’t seem to be as dark; the wind lost some of its chill; the leaf raking became less toilsome. The Lord had used a fellow believer to turn my attention to Him to see His goodness (Ps. 33:5).
Christians are part of a community. Let’s encourage one another. We never know when a fellow pilgrim may need a reminder of the goodness of God. —David C. Egner
If you are ready to share God’s great love,Follow His Spirit and give Him your all;Numberless blessings are waiting for youAs you respond and obey Jesus’ call. —Hess
Faith in God’s goodness puts a song in your heart and praise on your lips.
My Utmost for His Highest
December 11, 2007
IndividualityLISTEN: READ:
Jesus said to His disciples, ’If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself . . .’ —Matthew 16:24 About this cover Individuality is the hard outer layer surrounding the inner spiritual life. Individuality shoves others aside, separating and isolating people. We see it as the primary characteristic of a child, and rightly so. When we confuse individuality with the spiritual life, we remain isolated. This shell of individuality is God’s created natural covering designed to protect the spiritual life. But our individuality must be yielded to God so that our spiritual life may be brought forth into fellowship with Him. Individuality counterfeits spirituality, just as lust counterfeits love. God designed human nature for Himself, but individuality corrupts that human nature for its own purposes.
The characteristics of individuality are independence and self-will. We hinder our spiritual growth more than any other way by continually asserting our individuality. If you say, "I can’t believe," it is because your individuality is blocking the way; individuality can never believe. But our spirit cannot help believing. Watch yourself closely when the Spirit of God is at work in you. He pushes you to the limits of your individuality where a choice must be made. The choice is either to say, "I will not surrender," or to surrender, breaking the hard shell of individuality, which allows the spiritual life to emerge. The Holy Spirit narrows it down every time to one thing (see Matthew 5:23-24 ). It is your individuality that refuses to "be reconciled to your brother" ( Matthew 5:24 ). God wants to bring you into union with Himself, but unless you are willing to give up your right to yourself, He cannot. ". . . let him deny himself . . ."— deny his independent right to himself. Then the real life-the spiritual life-is allowed the opportunity to grow.
A Word With You, by Ron Hutchcraft
Feather Swords - #5457 Tuesday, December 11, 2007
When our family was with us one Christmas, I walked into the family room and saw our cute little two-year-old granddaughter with a sword in her hand. Sounds shocking, I know. But before you begin to question the parental competence of our children, I should tell you that it was a kind of sword I had never seen before. The "blade" was made entirely of feathers. It turns out that on her favorite children's TV show is this happy pirate who carries one of these feather swords. We tried the sword on me - it doesn't hurt. It tickles. I'd hate to be in any kind of a real battle with it. It's a little difficult to be intimidating as you're waving your feather sword!
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Feather Swords."
You would never think of using a wimpy feather sword in a real battle. But unfortunately, that's what we use all too often to fight the battles that really matter - God's battles. The battle for what's right. The battle for lost lives. The battle to make our family or our ministry spiritual winners. We may be fighting the right battles, but are we using the right weapons? You can't push back the darkness or win spiritual battles with feather swords.
There's a powerful formula for victory in our word for today from the Word of God in Zechariah 4:6. It tells us what not to depend on and what to depend on. "This is the word of the Lord ... 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord Almighty." The human weapons that humans tend to depend on are feather swords when it comes to spiritual causes. We live in a world that is, in the Bible's words, "under the control of the evil one" (1 John 5:19). And earth-weapons and earth-strategies are powerless against the spiritual forces we must defeat.
So Paul concludes that "we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:3-4). So what are some of these "weapons of the world" that turn out to be feather swords when you fight the spiritual darkness that is our real enemy?
You can start with the six powerless P's that we love to use to get God's work done: promotion, planning, persuasion, politics, personalities, and programs. Spiritually powerless - feather swords unless they are empowered by the one "P" that really does have power, and that is prayer. Prayer as in the kind that cries out to God and expresses our deep and total dependency on Him and not on our methods. We're doing it "by His Spirit" when we lay down all our human methods and make prayer our primary method of getting things done. God may choose to use some of those methods, but only if they're surrendered to Him, empowered by Him, and not what we trust in.
We tend to trust in finances, in management, in plans, in rich or powerful people, in our communication or persuasion, just like the rest of this godless world does. But God wants us to depend on Him and Him alone. We "make it happen" people look at a situation and say, "Well, I've got to do something!" Let the main thing you do be to consult God and to do only the things He wants done. Sometimes, He'll lead you to some action steps. Other times He'll lead you to do what He told the Israelites to do at the Red Sea, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14). Remember, God can do in a day what men can't do in fifty years!
Feather swords are nice toys, but they'll never win real battles. God's weapons send the very armies of hell running for cover. So quit depending on your feather sword and trust completely in the mighty arm of the Lord, because "the battle is the Lord's" (1 Samuel 17:47).