Ezekiel 36:33 reads in the Young's Literal Translation, "Thus said the Lord Jehovah: In the day of My cleansing you from all your iniquities, I have caused the cities to be inhabited, And the wastes have been built."
For some, 2012 was year to be quickly forgotten given the pain you may have experienced from a job loss or your home put on the auction block or the discomfort from a strained family relationship. Yet, what do you expect for 2013? A brand new year or will 2012 spill over bringing more discouraging news? What really is the point of making a new year's resolution when there is not much to look forward except more hardships?
For others, 2012 was an excellent year which brought perhaps a job promotion, a closer knit family through though a difficult season. Your spiritual walk with the Lord flourished and you reached out to others in need, resulting in an increase of blessings and sweet communion with the body of Christ.
Regardless to what 2012 may have been to us as believers we have the promise that God will continue to be God to us in these late hours of the final days before His glorious return (2 Peter 3:10-14).
Not only will He continue to cleanse us, as Ezekiel described, which is the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, but God will restore those places we only perceive as a waste.
Recently, as a nation, we have mourned the tragic news of innocent lives destroyed, wasted by individuals who were possessed by hate and cruelty. Lives and places were utterly destroyed, leaving a by a horrific stain on the landscape of many hearts and minds.
Can hope still spring up? Can life be restored? Can the night of weeping pass and joy be found in the morning?
Yes! God can take the bitter waters of marah and turn them into sweet waters (Exodus 15:23-24) and bring a promise of healing. The water that Jesus spoke is Himself, the living water,made possible when we are thirst and dry (John 4:14). Ezekiel 47 speaks of salt water turning fresh to give and support life, changing everything in its path.
We can enter 2013, digging deep into the life of Christ, to be the well of fresh, living water for others that will make a lasting difference in this new year and coming generations.
2013 will be a remarkable year, unlike years past.
It will be a year of breaking expectations and trends, the predictable will be no more because we are on God's fast track of events leading to His return. As there will be an increasing gross darkness over the earth, a last day revival will break out across the nations. The yearning and desire to pray will be restored. Many will risk their lives to further the gospel of Christ,yes, even in this nation, while the love of many will only grow even more colder to the things of God and hatred toward those who represent Christ will abound.
There will be events that shatter and break, mend and mold, but as long as we are rooted in Christ, we are a people unshaken and unmoved by these things.
Yet, we only grower stronger and sweeter while 2013 becomes a promising year of God's fulfillment of the many things we long to see Him do in our lives and in the lives around us, even for those who are in desperate need of courage and hope who can't face another year, alone.
Monday, December 31, 2012
Saturday, December 29, 2012
Speaking the Truth in Love
Recently the Lord was speaking to my heart regarding offenses. Some people are easily offended while others seem to shrug off offenses without much effort. As many of us know, we will encounter offensive people many times throughout our lives. And sadly, we will offend others either by choice or without realizing it.
One of the definitions of offense means a stumbling block. A stumbling block is an obstacle to progress or an impediment to belief or understanding. In other words, an offense causes someone to trip over our words or some offensive action done on our part.
By the very nature of us living as Christians, we are an offense to those in the world. I Peter 2:7-8 described Christ as a rock in which many take offense and stumble. Jesus warned the disciples in Luke 17:1, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come”(NIV). According to this passage, it is one thing to be the offended party but the greater sin is with the one who offends.
We see this in Mark 9:42 and Matthew 18:1-5 where Jesus warns those that offend a “little” one in Christ, it would be better if a millstone was tied around the offender’s neck and drowned. Notice that between the verses when Jesus takes a little child in His arms (verses 36-37) and the warning for those who offend (verse 42) the disciples report that there is a man who is casting out demons in Jesus name.
The disciples were offended by someone outside their close knit circle who was doing the very thing some of them had failed to do. Just before Matthew 18, in chapter 17:14-15 a man brought his demonized son to the disciples but they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit. Jesus is aware of the pride in the disciples that has the potential to offend others. Jesus warns in Matthew 18:2 unless you change and become little children, you never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus takes seriously those who offend.
We must always keep in mind we are the offender because of our sin and disobedience and Jesus is the offended party. When we fail to put this in right perspective, we soon forget His love and kindness in which He first drew us to Himself. He forgave us and imparted to us a new life washing away our sins and giving us a new start, a new beginning!
How is it then we can become so offended by the “little ones” in the body of Christ who are doing the very thing we should be able to do but because of the hardness of our hearts as a result of an offense, we are become a stone in which they stumble.
Paul warns us in I Corinthians 8:9-13 to be careful for the things which might be lawful to us might offend a brother or sister in Christ. When we wound a weak conscience, Paul says in verse 12, we wound Christ.
One of the definitions of offense means a stumbling block. A stumbling block is an obstacle to progress or an impediment to belief or understanding. In other words, an offense causes someone to trip over our words or some offensive action done on our part.
By the very nature of us living as Christians, we are an offense to those in the world. I Peter 2:7-8 described Christ as a rock in which many take offense and stumble. Jesus warned the disciples in Luke 17:1, “Things that cause people to sin are bound to come, but woe to that person through whom they come”(NIV). According to this passage, it is one thing to be the offended party but the greater sin is with the one who offends.
We see this in Mark 9:42 and Matthew 18:1-5 where Jesus warns those that offend a “little” one in Christ, it would be better if a millstone was tied around the offender’s neck and drowned. Notice that between the verses when Jesus takes a little child in His arms (verses 36-37) and the warning for those who offend (verse 42) the disciples report that there is a man who is casting out demons in Jesus name.
The disciples were offended by someone outside their close knit circle who was doing the very thing some of them had failed to do. Just before Matthew 18, in chapter 17:14-15 a man brought his demonized son to the disciples but they couldn’t cast out the evil spirit. Jesus is aware of the pride in the disciples that has the potential to offend others. Jesus warns in Matthew 18:2 unless you change and become little children, you never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus takes seriously those who offend.
We must always keep in mind we are the offender because of our sin and disobedience and Jesus is the offended party. When we fail to put this in right perspective, we soon forget His love and kindness in which He first drew us to Himself. He forgave us and imparted to us a new life washing away our sins and giving us a new start, a new beginning!
How is it then we can become so offended by the “little ones” in the body of Christ who are doing the very thing we should be able to do but because of the hardness of our hearts as a result of an offense, we are become a stone in which they stumble.
Paul warns us in I Corinthians 8:9-13 to be careful for the things which might be lawful to us might offend a brother or sister in Christ. When we wound a weak conscience, Paul says in verse 12, we wound Christ.
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