EPHRAIM'S GLORY
PT. 2
Hello all and God bless you!
I want to continue sharing some thoughts with you that have, over the years been a blessing to me and are still
blessing me today, encouraging me, inspiring me and correcting me as I strive to be and do all that God would have me
to become and accomplish to the praise of His glory! Not because I have to...but because I WANT TO! Not because I
am trying to earn my way into Heaven through man-made works and good deeds...but because I already have Heaven
because of what Jesus Christ did for me on a Roman cross 2,000 years ago (EPHESIANS 2:8-9 ; JOHN 3:16)! Not
because I'm afraid of the God of Heaven and Earth...but because I'm thankful that while I was yet a sinner God
showed His great love for me by sending Jesus Christ to die FOR ME, experience hell FOR ME (ROMANS 5:8-9)! I do the
things that I do because I am motivated by love, not fear! Love for God who first loved me and proved it by sending
His only born Son to die in my place, to take the wrath of God for my sin (1 JOHN 4:19)!
I want to comment on a particular phrase from our last posting that I believe will bless you and encourage you as you
not only look toward the future but journey into it!
"EPHRAIM'S GLORY WILL FLY AWAY LIKE A BIRD - NO BIRTH, NO PREGNANCY, NO CONCEPTION."
"...NO BIRTH, NO PREGNANCY, NO CONCEPTION."
This particular portion of this particular scripture puzzled me at one time and I remember asking the Lord and myself
this question: "Why Lord, do You have this series of events in the particular order that You have them in? What would
you have me to know and understand and apply in my life? Basically, what does this mean to me?".
If you notice, the order of the events listed is reversed. Naturally, CONCEPTION comes first, then PREGNANCY and
finally, BIRTH.
But God would have us to know something about Himself and His perspective or view.
The Bible says in ISAIAH 46:9-10, "...I am God, and there is none else; I am God and there is none like me, DELARING
THE END FROM THE BEGINNING, and FROM ANCIENT TIMES THE THINGS THAT ARE NOT YET DONE, saying, My counsel
shall stand , and I will do all my pleasure:".
In this verse of scripture we find an explanation of the Holy Spirit's puzzling arrangement of natural events as found in
Hosea 9:11-12. You see, God is a God of foresight. He doesn't begin a thing and then sit back and wait to see what it
will turn out to be. No, beloved, God begins a thing already having in His mind what He intends it to ultimately become!
God is the architect AND the builder of our lives! He not only has a blueprint or a plan for our lives, He is also the
builder of our lives! And likewise, He is not only the builder of our lives, but He builds according to the plan He has
drawn up for our lives! This should be a comforting, peace-instilling thought, for the Bible says that God has PLANS for
us, a BLUEPRINT that has been designed not to harm us but to prosper us and to give us HOPE and a FUTURE
(JEREMIAH 29:11)! If there were no other reason for giving our lives to Jesus Christ, this would be reason enough!
We finally answer the ages old question of "Why am I here?" as we give ourselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ!
I want to encourage you today brothers and sisters and friends! The Lord has had an end for you from the very
beginning! And it is a good end, one that has been designed to give you a hope and a future! One that has been
designed to give you life, not take it from you! God wants you to live, not die! Jesus said that He came to give us life
and life abundantly (JOHN 10:10)! He wants you to experience life in every sense of the word, not only life in heaven
in the hereafter, but life right here and now! I'm here to tell you that where ever you are on your journey with God, He
knows where you are and where He ultimately wants to take you! Don't you give up! Don't you quit! The best is yet
to come! He is not only the author, but the FINISHER of your faith (HEBREWS 12:2) and He who began a good work in
you will be faithful to complete it, to the glory of God and for your good (PHILIPPIANS 1:6)!
God bless you as you continue to seek Him out and walk with Him!
Jeff Saenz
SLAVES WAGE
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