| EPRAIM'S GLORY PT. 1 "Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird - no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them!" HOSEA 9:11-12 (NIV) Hello all and God bless you! I hope this posting finds you all in good health and in good spirits! We have SO much to be thankful for! If you don't believe that, just look at the calamity that shook the Gulf Coast area of the United States. Due to Hurricane Katrina, many lost every thing and a good number lost their lives. You were fortunate and blessed indeed if you came out of that ordeal with your life, but many, did not. How blessed we are! How God has smiled upon us! Not to make light of what so many people suffered who experienced Hurricane Katrina (which should have moved and should move those of us who did not experience Hurricane Katrina to SOME sort of action!), but thank God that you didn't have to go through it, thank God your family didn't have to go through it! If you can't find anything to be thankful for today, thank God that you are just HERE today, reading this posting when there are so many who have gone to their graves due to one situation or another and are not able to be with us today! Listen to what the scripture says in Lamentations 3:22-23..."It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is thy faithfulness." If you woke up to see the dawn of this brand new day, the Bible says that God has showered you with His loving-kindness (mercy)! All the things that you have come through to date that you know should have taken you out but they didn't were nothing more than the Lord's mercies! You know there have been decisions that you have made which put you in places and situations and circumstances that others have been in (many of them you knew!) and somehow, you made it out while they, sadly, did not! "IT IS OF THE LORD'S MERCIES THAT WE ARE NOT CONSUMED..."! Yes, my friend, both you and I have A LOT to be thankful for! God has been good to us! And even though we haven't gotten everything we have ever wanted (but life is not over yet and God is not through with us yet!), at least we haven't gotten what a lot of other people have! God is good and His mercy endures forever! Take some time to get alone by yourself and/or gather your family to yourself and give God thanks today! Great is His faithfulness! I would like to share with you a word the Lord put in my heart which I had the opportunity to share with a small church that I was a member of in Temple, TX back in the mid 1990's. As I go back to it now, it encourages me, inspires me and corrects me all at the same time! I believe it will bless you in the same way as you take the time to read it and allow it to find a place in your heart and practical application in your life to the glory of God! God bless you as you read and allow His Spirit to lead you! Amen! "Ephraim's glory will fly away like a bird - no birth, no pregnancy, no conception. Even if they rear children, I will bereave them of every one. Woe to them when I turn away from them!" HOSEA 9:11-12 (NIV) "EPHRAIM'S GLORY WILL FLY AWAY LIKE A BIRD...". Why will Israel's glory - having the opportunity to know the Lord as He knows us and walk in that abundant life that is part of His plan for us as we give ourselves wholly to Him - fly away like a bird? All that the Lord had planned for them "since the mother's womb"? Because they've flown away from God! The whole book of Hosea addresses Israel's (Ephraim's) forsaking of the Giver of Living Waters to drink from another cistern. Because of this, because they have not sought God, nor desired Him, they cannot and will not be impregnated with His vision for their lives, wherein, is life! "...NO BIRTH, NO PREGNANCY, NO CONCEPTION." "EVEN IF THEY REAR CHILDREN, I WILL BEREAVE THEM OF EVERY ONE." Whatever we produce, apart from the good, acceptable and perfect will of God for us, will be taken away from us! The word "bereave" means "to deprive" or "to leave in a sad or lonely state, as by death." The word "deprive" means "to take away from FORCIBLY" or "to keep from having." In other words, whatever we may produce, apart from God's good, acceptable and perfect will for our lives - He will forcibly take from us! He will deprive us of that thing! Incredible! If we marry out of God's good, acceptable and perfect will for us, it will be taken from us. If we build apart from God's good, acceptable and perfect will for us, we will be deprived of it. If we run apart from God's good, acceptable and perfect will for us, we will lose every time! "WOE TO THEM WHEN I TURN AWAY FROM THEM." We always hear so much about people who turn away from God and we are left perplexed and bewildered, hurting, and greatly distressed for them. Our prayer should be yes, yes, that this heart would be turned to the Father (Malachi 4:6), but more so, that God would not turn away from His child, for we have more to lose if that occurs than with the former (Genesis 18:22-23 ; Exodus 32:7-14 ; Numbers 4:2-20). Let's keep seeking God. Keep on praying. Keep on reading His word and letting it divide and cut and lay open all erroneous intentions of heart that are not in accordance with His good, acceptable and perfect will for you so that we might experience all that God desires to give us - even the best (Jeremiah 29:11 ; Ephesians 3:20)! Jeff Saenz SLAVES WAGE |
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