Listening to the Word

Hosea 10-12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4 “Ephraim boasts, ‘I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.’” Hosea 12:8 “Who have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25, 26 Wealth easily deceives us. We always know others with more wealth than ourselves. Somehow, our wealth is never enough to make us secure about our future or to give us joy. Wealth blinds us to our sin and our need for God. Compared to the rest of the world, all westerners are wealthy. When we interact with our brothers and sisters globally, our wealth gives us favour and can blind us to our pride and spiritual poverty. Yet the psalmist reminds us that eternity changes the equation. In heaven it is God not wealth that matters. When our health fails and we can’t enjoy our wealth, we are reminded that only our relationship with God will last f...

Hosea 6-9; Hebrews 3 So, as the Holy Spirit says: ’Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,…So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Hebrews 3:7, 8, 12 Why is it so important to listen to the Word and obey? If we don’t learn to listen and obey, we will not experience the rest of God in our lives. Rest isn’t found with extra vacation days, a better house, a nice beach, or a spa treatment. Rest for our souls comes from the peace and presence of God our Creator, indwelling us by his Spirit. When we obey the conviction or promptings of the Spirit, we experience the inner pleasure of God’s presence. When we listen to and obey God’s Word, we learn to walk in God’s ways which are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Are we living in rest? “Lord Jesus, you are my peace and rest. I will listen to and obey you, for your glory.”

Hosea 2-5; Hebrews 2   “’Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;…’” Hosea 5:4, 5 “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes holy and those who are made holy are of the same family…” Hebrews 2:10, 11 A spirit of prostitution is still leading many of God’s people astray. Pride and arrogance keep us from confessing our sins and finding freedom. Yet, it was for this spiritual war that Jesus suffered so we could be free. The process of recognizing we are under the influence of a spirit of prostitution, repenting for our lust, pride, and fear, resisting this spiritual power in the name of Jesus Christ, and then actively renewing our minds – all of these steps are what the writer of Hebrews calls “being ma...

2 Kings 15,16; Hosea 1; 1 Hebrews 1   “So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.’?” Hebrews 1:4-6 Jesus has been given a name above every other name and that name carries with it authority. Those adopted into God’s family are called sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Christ. We, too, have been given God’s name to establish our identity and authority in his kingdom. We have been baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This new identity in Christ must transform us from any other identity we carried prior to knowing Christ. Our spiritual authority has been given to us by our Father and is essential in resisting Satan and his temptations, lies, and deceptions. Do we know our name in God’s family? Are we living into our new identity as sons and dau...

Isaiah 6,7; 2 Chronicles 26,27; Philemon   “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of his robe filled the temple…And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’” Isaiah 6:1, 3 Isaiah saw the Lord Almighty, seated on a throne, with a robe that filled the temple. Do we desire to see the Lord? The angels in God’s presence were calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Without holiness no one will see the Lord. It is Jesus and his atonement for us that makes us holy. It is the Holy Spirit within us who are saved, who sanctifies us and calls us to repentance. Peter the apostle saw the Lord and his own sinfulness in Jesus’ presence. He later wrote, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15, 16). Those who want to see God, p...

Isaiah 4,5; Psalms 115,116; Jude   “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord; ‘O Lord, save me!’ The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.’” Psalm 116:3-7 The Psalmist described depression, distress, and sorrow to the point of fearing for his life. In the lowest place, he cried out to the Lord to save him and his testimony is of God’s compassion and grace drawing near to him. How do we respond when the pressures of life seem too great to bear? Where do we turn? Do we cry out to the Lord, “Save me!”? The result of the intervention by the Lord in the Psalmist’s life was rest for his soul. He experienced the goodness of the Lord in lifting the weight of anxiety, fear, and death from his soul. That is a testimony w...