Posts

Earning Your Stripes

/in /by

Hosea 1:9-11 And the Lord said, Call his name Lo-Ammi [Not-my-people], for you are not My people and I am not your God.10 Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered; and instead of it being said to them, You are not My people, it shall be said to them, Sons of the Living God!11 Then shall the children of Judah and the children of Israel be gathered together and appoint themselves one head, and they shall go up out of the land, for great shall be the day of Jezreel [for the spiritually reborn Israel, a divine offspring, the people whom the Lord has blessed.]

The Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible states the following regarding this passage: There is a play on words between Jezreel and Israel; they look and sound more alike in Hebrew than in English. Hosea’s reference to Jezreel in verse 5 states: And on that day I will break the bow of Israel in the Valley of Jezreel – has a significant opposite meaning to that in verse 11. The scene of the breaking of the bow of Israel will become the scene of mending and reunification. The place of thorough disruption and scattering will become the place where God sows, which is the meaning of Jezreel: God sows.

Hosea 10:12 states: Sow for yourselves according to righteousness (uprightness and right standing with God); reap according to mercy and loving-kindness. Break up your uncultivated ground, for it is time to seek the Lord, to inquire for and of Him, and to require His favor, till He comes and teaches you righteousness and rains His righteous gift of salvation upon you. In both passages the place of breaking becomes the place of mending; the place of harvest. Question is, what are we harvesting from that which is breaking? To those who have learned from both, the breaking and mending, become the sons and daughters of God ruling and reigning with Jesus. It’s interesting to note that Israel was one who wrestled with God and overcame. But that wrestling came with a price. For from that day Israel walked with a limp, his walk forever changed. Fast forward approximately 1600 years and Israel had blossomed and bloomed into a full blown nation – yet walking without a limp. Israel had quit wrestling with God for His promises; for His blessings. As a result God had to come to Israel and do the breaking so that many sons and daughters would be raised up like the sand of the sea. What’s the bottom line of all of these things? God’s people are broken people. Karl Marx once noted that religion was a crutch for the masses. He added, Religion is the opium of the people. Unfortunately for Marx, he failed to take a deep look into a mirror to see we are all broken people in need of a crutch. Spoiler alert: the crutch isn’t religion. Religion is what crucified Jesus (and is still crucifying Jesus). But Jesus is the Broken-hearted One Who is a friend to the broken-hearted, and broken. He has nothing to do with the religion of man. Jesus, the Son of Man, isn’t welcome. But into those who recognize their need He has sown His life, purpose, love, and joy. To the outside world we look weak and broken – but from an eternal perspective we cause Heaven to cheer and hell to tremble; we are the sons and daughters of God shaking the earth with the soon, approaching Kingdom of God.

One last observation: Military rank is designated by the stripes on their uniforms. In the Lord’s Army we are earning our stripes – our ranking in Heaven’s Armies – through our faithful suffering. The more faithful (FAITH-FILLED) we are – through the suffering – the higher the rank and esteem in Heaven’s Armies. This ranking equals authority, and that authority gives us power to set others free from their prisons. So get out there and trample on those serpents and scorpions.

Last Day Cowards?

/in /by

Throughout the Old Testament, God the Father, repeatedly calls people to revival and repentance. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ, Jesus’ message to the seven churches echoes the same refrain. Why? Mt. 24:10-12 And then many will be offended and repelled and will begin to distrust and desert [Him Whom they ought to trust and obey] and will stumble and fall away and betray one another and pursue one another with hatred. And many false prophets will rise up and deceive and lead many into error. And the love of the great body of people will grow cold because of the multiplied lawlessness and iniquity,… AMPC

As lawlessness, and iniquity increase the love of many grows cold. Sound familiar? Lk. 18:8 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth? AMPC

What’s frightening about this passage is its context: Luke 17:33 Whoever tries to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will preserve and quicken it. Luke 18:1 Also [Jesus] told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not to turn coward (faint, lose heart, and give up). AMPC The parable ends with Jesus’ summation: Lk. 18:8 However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find [persistence in] faith on the earth? AMPC

What’s the overall message? Lose your life – praying. Don’t become a coward and lose heart and give up praying. But when Jesus returns will He find people of faith – praying? What’s frightening about this passage? – We have arrived! I have been in ministry since the 80’s and have observed the attendance of corporate prayer dwindle down to a hand full of people. Why? We have lost heart because we have lost faith and hope. Losing heart is connected to this very thing. We have succumbed to a “spirit” (demon) of heaviness instead of having the Spirit of Faith and Hope!

Hosea 10:12 reminds us: Sow for yourselves righteousness; Reap in mercy; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord, Till He comes and rains righteousness on you. NKJV

Fallow ground is cold, hard ground. C.H. Spurgeon reminds us: “BREAK up your fallow ground.” Our nature at its largest is but a small farm, and we had need to get a harvest out of every acre of it, for our needs are great. Have we left any part of our small allotment uncultivated? If so, it is time to look into the matter and see if we cannot improve this wasteful state of things. What part of our small allotment have we left fallow? We should think very poorly of a farmer who for many years allowed the best and the richest part of his farm to lie altogether neglected and untilled. An occasional fallow has its benefits in the world of nature; but if the proprietor of rich and fruitful land allowed the soil to continue fallow year after year we should judge him to be out of his wits. The wasted acres ought to be taken from him and given to another husbandman who would worthily cherish the generous fields and encourage them to yield their harvests.

Jesus said, His house is to be a House of Prayer. Are churches ceasing to be Houses of God? You and I are to be God’s House. Are we ceasing to be God’s House because of a cold love, and a hard heart? Have we become cowards? The opposite of faith is fear. Faith and hope are what fuel prayer. It’s time to seek Him for rains of righteousness in the gift of tears to break up the fallow, cold, hardened soil of our heart.