Category: Minor prophets
The Adulterous Wife
Scripture reading for September 4: Hosea 1-3
Hosea was a unique prophet called by God to let his whole life, his marriage, and his children be a prophetic word to God’s people. Hosea was told by God to marry an adulterous woman named Gomer. God’s plan was to show Israel how they behaved toward Him and give them a visual picture of His love for them. (Hosea 1:2) The children’s names also were prophetic and would remind the people of the consequences of their sins. God’s ways are often above our ways and He will go to great lengths to reach His people. Those whom He called to be His prophets had to be willing to obey His instructions, even in their personal lives. We are not our own, we are bought with a price! (1st Corinthians 6:19-20)
Hosea married Gomer and took her as his wife. She conceived and bore him a son. The Lord told Hosea to call the son “Jezreel”, because He was going to punish the house of Jehu for the massacre at Jezreel and put an end to the kingdom of Israel. (Hosea 1:4) Gomer also had two daughters and they were also named by the Lord. One was Lo-Ruhamah which meant “no love left” and the other was “Lo-Ammi” which meant “not my people”. God was telling the Israelites about a coming judgment on their nation because of their sins of idolatry and spiritual adultery. He wanted them to be reminded every time they saw the prophet and his family of their own state and through those children’s names. (Hosea 1:4-8)
As I reflect on this story, I am reminded we are just like Gomer in our ways. We have been in spiritual adultery and unfaithful to God in many ways. We have not obeyed His command to be filled with His Spirit and to go out into the world and be His witnesses. We have run after other gods of pleasure and ease instead of wholeheartedly keeping ourselves for Him. Just as Gomer ran after other lovers who offered her food, and clothes and drinks, so we have not walked faithfully before our God. (Hosea 2:5-6) We have not recognized that God is the real provider of all the good things that we have and instead have used them to serve ourselves instead of Him. (Hosea 2:8)
However, as Hosea was commanded to take back his unfaithful wife and buy her back from the slave market, so God has done the same for us! (Hosea 3:1-2) He died for us in payment for our sins and deliverance from slavery to demonstrate His love for us! (Romans 5:8) Hosea did tell Gomer to leave her life of adultery and live free from that bondage and he would live with her. God tells us to depart from sin and live a holy life. Without holiness, no one will see the Lord! (1st Peter 1:14-15) Are you ready? Your loving Husband could come today!
King of Pride
Scripture reading for August 23: Ezekiel 24-28
Satan is not mentioned by name often in the Old Testament. This fallen angel inhabited the body of a serpent in the Garden of Eden and enticed Eve to eat the forbidden fruit in rebellion to God’s express command. The serpent was told by God that the Seed of woman would crush his head one day and he would bruise the Seed’s heel. (Genesis 3:1-6, 14-15) In perhaps the oldest book of the Bible, Job underwent a difficult trial as a result of Satan’s accusations of him before the throne of God. Satan was given permission to test Job by first taking his possessions and children and then taking Job’s health. In 1st Chronicles 21:1, Satan stood up against Israel and enticed King David to number the people and take pride in how many fighting men he had. In Zechariah 3:1-2, Satan stood before the Lord and accused Joshua, the high priest, and was rebuked by the Lord.
There are two other passages that commentators say refer to Satan because the descriptions go beyond that of an earthly man or king. One is found in Isaiah 14 and the other is here in Ezekiel 28:11-19 and is a lament composed by Ezekiel concerning the king of Tyre. This lament describes this ‘king’ as being the model of perfection and full of wisdom and beauty. He was in Eden, the Garden of God and covered with many precious stones. This king was anointed by God to be a guardian cherub on the holy mountain of God. There he walked among the fiery stones and was blameless from the day he was created. Then wickedness was found in him and he was filled with violence and sinned. God drove him from the mountain of God in disgrace. The sin was pride because of his beauty and wisdom. God threw him down to earth and by his many sins and dishonest trade he corrupted mankind with pride . God brought him to a fiery end and reduced him to ashes in the sight of all who watched.
You might say Satan is the king of Pride and of all the proud of the earth. All mankind has fallen under his spell because of Adam and Eve’s sin in the Garden of Eden. But God has provided One who has crushed the head of this serpent, Jesus Christ the Lord. The end of time will see Satan (the Devil) cast into the Lake of Fire to endure his fiery torment that lasts forever! (Revelation 20:10) Check out your heart for pride today and allow the cleansing blood of Jesus to wash it away!
Set apart from before conception!
Scripture reading for August 3: Jeremiah 1-6
When does life really begin? This debate has been going on in our nation for a number of years. Some say life begins at conception while others say it begins when the fetus is able to maintain life on it’s own outside of the womb. Others say that life begins only after birth. But God’s Word states another truth!
“The Word of the Lord came to me, saying, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” (Jeremiah 1:4-5) This Scripture and others in the Bible indicate that God knows each person before they are formed in the womb! Ephesians 1:4 states that God chose us to be in Christ before the creation of the world! We are more significant than we might think to God and He has a plan for each of us before we are conceived!
Before he was born, Jeremiah was appointed by God to be a prophet. Prophets were to listen to God and then speak His thoughts and Word to people. As he spoke, God promised to be with him and deliver him. I don’t know about you, but if God told me that He would deliver me, I would be asking what I would be involved in that called for deliverance! But when any prophet spoke the Word, it always brought some kind of response. God uses His Word to uproot and tear down, or to build up and plant. (Jeremiah 1:7-9) Prophets often need deliverance from the response of those who hear them!
Next God gave Jeremiah a vision of an almond tree. The almond tree was the first tree to bloom in the spring in Israel and it was watched by all the people as a sign that spring was coming. God spoke to Jeremiah through that vision that God Himself would watch over His Word to bring it to pass. (Jeremiah 1:11-12)
I believe that as we read through Jeremiah God will speak to us about our time and day! Listen closely for God speaking to you and confirming His call. Let Him show you how He has watched over His Word and is still watching over it to bring it to pass. It will revolutionize your faith and daily walk.
Judgment fails to bring repentance!
Scripture reading for December 13: Malachi, Psalm 2, Revelation 9
Revelation 9: 18-21 “By these three plagues a third of mankind was killed, by the fire and smoke and sulfur coming out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails, for their tails are like serpents with heads, and by means of them they wound. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or thei sexual immorality or their thefts.”
It is a terrifying thing just to read John’s account of these angels blowing their trumpets and the judgments released on the earth that caused the death and destruction of a third of mankind. But is it even more terrifying to be told that those still alive after these plagues and judgments refused to repent. They still clung to their evil and rebellious way of life and chose to follow demons and gods of their own making that allowed them to do as they wanted. It has been said that sin is a form of insanity that takes us further than we want to go and exacts a price higher than we want to pay and keeps us longer than we want to stay. This is amplified during the great tribulation.
Psalm 2:10-12 “Now therefore, O kings, be wise; be warned, O rulers of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear; and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, for His wrath is quickly kindled. Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for warning us by Your unchanging Word of the dangers awaiting those who are proud and arrogant and refuse to repent. No one will have an excuse on the day of judgment for You have shown us all mercy by warning us through the prophets and Your disciples. Use me today to share the warning and call all to ‘kiss the Son’ before the day of His holy wrath.
Malachi 4:1-3 “For behold, the day is coming, burning like an oven, when all the arrogant and all evildoers will be stubble. The day that is coming shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of Hosts, so that it will leave them neither root nor branch. But for you who fear My Name, the Sun of Righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet, on the day when I act, says the Lord of Hosts.”
Walking in love and truth
Scripture reading for November 29th: Zechariah 12-14, Psalm 94, 2nd John
2nd John: 4-9 “I rejoiced greatly to find some of your children walking in the truth, just as we were commanded by the Father. And now I ask you, dear lady–not as though I were writing you a new commandment, but the one we have had from the beginning–that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments: this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is the deceiver and the antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son.”
In Jesus Christ, love and truth are joined together. John’s second letter is short and to the point concerning Christ’s commandment to love one another. This commandment is not new, but one given by God from the beginning to His people. Loving one another involves faith in God’s Word and obedience to it. Jesus Christ came in a human body and lived a sinless life of faithful obedience to His Father. As God’s Son, He alone is worthy of our love and obedience. Only through abiding in His Word do we have confidence and know that we have the Father and the Son! Beware of deceivers who deny Jesus as God’s Son and His teachings as truth!
Psalm 94:14-15 “For the Lord will not forsake His people; He will not abandon His heritage; for justice will return to the righteous, and all the upright in heart will follow it.”
Prayer: Father God, I know You through Your Son Jesus Christ and cling to Him as my Savior. Through Your gift of the Holy Spirit, I am now able to joyfully obey Your Word and seek to know and apply it to my life. You are my Lord and King and I choose to follow Jesus and walk in His truth. May my walk bring Your love and truth to those still in the darkness of sin and bondage of self.
Zechariah 14:9 “And the Lord will be King over all the earth. On that day the Lord will be One and His Name One.”
Overcoming faith and love!
Scripture reading for November 28th: Zechariah 9-11, 1st John 5
1st John 5:2-5 “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
John concludes his letter to encourage the church with a simple test of believer’s love for God and salvation. If we truly love God, we willingly seek to obey His Word. Obedience is not hard or begrudging, but joyful and freely given, coming from faith in God and His holy Word. This willing obedience of faith is the key to victory over the world and the forces of darkness and the antichrist. Simply believing on Jesus Christ as God’s Son gives us confidence of our salvation and God bears witness in our spirit that we possess eternal life and that God is our Father. Faith requires humility and the choice to trust God’s Son for all needs and promises. God want’s us secure in Christ, not in fear of the world or Him.
1st John 5:12-13 “Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the Name of the Son of God that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for these encouraging truths about the simplicity of salvation. I place my trust fully in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, for my salvation and the gift of eternal life. I seek to live each day in obedience to Your holy and true Word, awaiting the fullness of all You have promised. Fill me with the Holy Spirit and give me open doors to share Your great Son with a lost and dying world.
Zechariah 9:9 “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is He, humble and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.”
Perfected in love!
Scripture reading for November 25th: Zechariah 6-8, 1st John 4
1st John 4: 16-19 “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us.
God is love! His covenant with His people is a covenant of love demonstrated to all men through the sacrifice of His Son Jesus Christ. We can love God and others because He first loved us. God’s love takes time to know and to believe in. God is working in us through the Holy Spirit to perfect His love in us, giving us confidence instead of fear of punishment when we ultimately stand before God on the day of judgment. His perfect love casts out all fear of punishment. When we are truly perfected in God’s love, we do more than say “I love God,” we also love others made in His image. God’s love is pure, peace-loving, full of good fruit and kind. The Holy Spirit brings this fruit to ripeness making us like Jesus Christ.
1st John 4:20-21 “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God Whom he has not seen. And this is the commandment we have from Him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Prayer: Father God, thank You for Your faithful and righteous love demonstrated through Jesus Christ. Have Your way in perfecting that kind of love in my life, towards You and towards people. Help me to love others with purity of motive, always looking out for their highest good and welfare. Give me confidence through Your faithful love on the day of judgment and make me like You in this world.
Zechariah 8:7-8 “Thus says the Lord of Hosts: “Behold, I will save My people from the east country and from the west country, and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be My people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.””
It’s all about love!
Scripture reading for November 24th: Zechariah 2-5, Psalm 93, 1st John 3
1st John 3: 11-15 “For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you. We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death. Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.”
John kept his message to the churches he oversaw very simple. He pointed them to a basic commandment: ‘Love one another.’ He used the oldest example of murder as an illustration of how the unrighteous of the world hate the righteous and seek to destroy them. So it is in this world until this day that we live in. One of the surest signs of salvation and eternal life is our love for our brothers and sisters. If we have hatred, we abide in death, not life eternal. Love for others comes from new birth and the Holy Spirit of God, Who Himself is Love, abiding in us. Love gives grace and forgiveness as our Lord did for us.
Zechariah 4:6-7 “Then he said to me, “This is the Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts. Who are you O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace to it!'”
Prayer: Father God, I love You and I love the brothers and sisters in Your family. Thank You for the gift of love and eternal life. I can only love because You first loved me and gave me Your love in the abiding Holy Spirit. Your love is holy and mighty–moving mountains and drawing many to salvation. Forgive those who are still in hatred and fear and use me to share the Good News of Your amazing love.
Psalm 93:4-5 “Mightier that the thunders of many waters, mightier that the waves of the sea, the Lord on high is mighty. Your decrees are very trustworthy; holiness befits Your house, O Lord, forevermore.”
The ‘Abiding’ anointing!
Scripture reading for November 23rd: Haggai, Zechariah 1, Psalm 138, 1st John 2
1st John 2: 26-29 “I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. But the anointing that you received from Him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as His anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie–just as it has taught you, abide in Him. And now, little children, abide in Him, so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink from Him in shame at His coming. If you know that He is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of Him.”
To abide in something means to take up residence and remain. John was writing to the believers being attacked by false teachers and warned them to listen to the Holy Spirit, Who abided in them. The Holy Spirit’s anointing brings instruction to us concerning living and applying God’s Word and thereby ‘abiding’ in Jesus Christ. John wanted believers to have confidence in their relationship with God based on Truth, not on some false teaching or opinion of men. A mark of false teachers was that their life was a lie–they failed to practice the Truth and abide in Jesus Christ by faith and through grace. A mark of a true follower of Jesus was practice of right living because of new birth and the abiding Holy Spirit.
Haggai 2:4-6 “Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of Hosts, according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.”
Prayer: Father, thank You for Your Name and Your Word and the anointing of Your Holy Spirt to abide in me and help me to abide in Jesus Christ, my Lord. Thank You for being with me always and for empowering me through the Holy Spirit and grace to live in righteousness and have confidence in Your acceptance when You return again. Abide in me and give me opportunity to share Your Word and Name!
Psalm 138:2 “I bow down toward Your holy temple and give thanks to Your Name for Your steadfast love and Your faithfulness, for You have exalted above all things Your Name and Your Word.”
Clothe yourselves with humility
Scripture reading for October 18th: Obadiah, Jeremiah 40-42, Psalm 147, 1st Peter 5
1st Peter 5: 5-10 “Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you, casting all your cares on Him, because He cares for you. Be sober-minded, be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, Who has called you to His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To Him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”
Peter closes this short letter with a call to humility and watchfulness. We have an adversary, the devil, who seeks to destroy us and consume us. We must resist him with a firm resolve to trust God. Our Great God is mighty to save and abundant in power and He delights when His children humbly cast all their cares upon Him. Suffering may be part of the experience here on our earthly walk, but God’s grace will sustain us and in the end, He will restore us and strengthen us with the fullness of our salvation–eternal life in the presence of His glory!
Psalm 147:5-6 “Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; His understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; He casts the wicked to the ground.”
Prayer: Father God, You alone have all power, dominion and authority. I humbly submit to Your authority and to those you place over me in government and Your Church. Thank You for answering prayers and giving directions to Your people for their eternal good. Forgive those who reject Your Word, to their own destruction. Lift up Your humble people and have mercy on the proud and wicked through the Gospel.
Jeremiah 42:19-21 “The Lord has said to you, O remnant of Judah, ‘Do not go to Egypt.’ Know for a certainty that I have warned you this day that you have gone astray at the cost of your lives. For you sent me to the Lord your God, saying, ‘Pray for us to the Lord our God, and whatever the Lord our God says declare to us and we will do it. And I have this day declared it to you, but you have not obeyed the voice of the Lord your God in anything that He sent me to tell you.”