Married To The Backslider

The word that the Lord shared with Israel was “Turn, O backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion (Jer. 3:14)”. Thus, in God’s mind He was married to the backslider. We must understand to backslide is to revert to sin or wrongdoing; to lapse morally or in the practice of religion. Thus, to have backslidden we must have at least been in Christ at one point in time, but for some reason we decided we didn’t want to serve God anymore or circumstances presented itself in such a way that we found ourselves so deep in sin that we didn’t feel that God would ever receive us again as his own.

However, God said He is married to the backslider. To be married to the backslider does not mean that God approves of our sin; it does not mean that God will look past our sin and receive us as we are because He will still allow us to go to hell if we want to go. But what it does mean is if we have messed up; if we have fallen into sin; if we have fallen so far that somehow we believe that we can never get back into a right relationship with God that is so far from the truth. God desires to heal those who were in Christ but walked away. God desires to heal those wounds that caused us to walk away from him; He desires to bring us back into a right relationship with him and He is standing at the door of our heart waiting for us to open the door so that He might be able to return to us if we would only return to him. The backslider doesn’t have to stay in his backslidden state because God is ready, willing and able to heal you.

God Bless You

No Strange Incense

(Exo. 30:9) “Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering: neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon.”

The Lord continues to talk to Moses about the consecration of the priest’s and the altar of worship and he tells him “ye shall offer no strange incense thereon”; meaning that God didn’t want any offerings offered unto him that he didn’t recognize as holy. We know that offering strange incense or strange fire to God caused two of Aaron sons Nadab and Abihu to be killed at the altar by God (Lev 10:1-2). Therefore, when we attempt to go in the presence of God we too must pay attention to the offerings we attempt to offer to God. Thus, we shouldn’t try to offer God praise when there is sin in our heart, because (St. John 9:31 KJV) “Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshipper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.” If we would be honest with ourselves we know that we go to God sometimes attempting to offer praise-prayer-or worship and our hearts are not right with him. We must understand that if our hearts are not right with God then our offerings become strange incense to God and viewed by God as unacceptable. We must understand that we can’t offer God any kind offering, on our terms, and in our ways and expect it to be received by God because it won’t be. To go before God with a heart of bitterness-un-forgiveness-hatred…etc, is a waste of time unless you are going to repent. Thus, the believer in Christ Jesus must be in a right standing with God before they can go to the altar of worship.

God Bless You.

A Great Benefits Package

(Psalm 68:19) says “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, Even the God of our salvation. Selah.”

Those of us who do know our God also understand that we have been given a great benefits package as a result of salvation. We often don’t realize what a great package of benefits we have and it can lead to us to not be as thankful as we should be. Some of the benefits that God has given us are power, the ability to love and receive love and a sound mind. He has given us peace in the midst of stormy situations in our lives, and peace of mind is not something many people have. He has given us meaningful relationships; thus, to have someone to hold you; pray for you; encourage you and tell you that it’s going to be alright is not to be taken for granted.

He has allowed many of us to stay employed in the midst of a tough economy, and even if some of us have lost our jobs, God has made a way to sustain us in the midst of those difficult and uncertain times. He has given us life, health and strength so that we might be able to get up and go to our place of employment, bring home a few dollars so we can keep the lights on, a roof over our heads and a little something on the dinner table. Finally, He has given us his son Jesus as our Lord and savior and that was more than enough because in Him we have been given all to sustain life; in him we have been given a provider; in him we have been given a strong tower. Thus, this benefits package is second to none and if we live right heaven is our final resting place.

God Bless You

Take Control Of Your Thoughts

The Father describes a rebellious people as those that walk in a way that’s not good, after their own thoughts (ISA 65:2). It’s amazing the power the mind has over a man’s life. We talk about the words coming out of our mouth controlling our destiny; well we need to control our thoughts as well, because those words emanate from our thought life. The bible does say “out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks”, but that word (heart) is translated as mind because the Jews had no word for mind during those times, so they used heart to describe the mind. It is very important that Christians control their thought life, and forsake “stinking thinking” (thoughts that doesn’t line up with Christ’s), because our mind plays a major role in our destiny.

Our thought life was so important to Jesus that the Word says “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus”- “thou will keep him in perfect peace who’s mind is stayed on thee”- “ as a man thinks in his heart so is he”. If thought life wasn’t important to God, why did He spend so much time on the matter?
God knows that a man’s thought life can move him from poverty to power, from carnality to spirituality, from surviving to striving, from mediocrity to greatness and from spiritual death to life. In other words, whatever captures the mind captures the man. When a man/woman makes up their mind that they are going to do something, nothing can stop them. Thus on this day, let me encourage you to make up your mind to serve God for real, because a mind is a terrible thing to waste messing with the Devil.

God Bless You

Scripture Ref, (Phil 2:5) – (Isa 26:3) – (Prov. 23:7)