Relationship

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Hebrews 1:9 What Do You Love And Hate?

You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy. Hebrews 1:9

All over the world people talk about the need to have love in order that there may be peace. The world claims to have love, but the love being shown is love for things or whatever it takes to feel better about one’s own self.

On the other side, the acceptable hatred is when something goes against a person. This is whether it is against self or against anyone else, hatred can be normal.

The author of Hebrews is describing Jesus and quotes Psalms 45:6-7. Jesus is described as loving righteousness and hating wickedness, so God anoints him with the oil of joy.

Very few people actually love righteousness all the time. Most people do not directly like limitations on what they can and cannot do, and righteousness does that. Without limitations people will love and do wickedness with no regrets or remorse.

Inside the church there are many that rebel against living a righteous life, because it looks like legalism, a bunch of do and don’t rules. As a result many in the church love wickedness and participate in it on a regular basis.

Jesus loved doing the right things and hating all wickedness to the point that He lived a perfect holy life with absolutely no sin in His life. God raised Him up and anointed Him with the oil of joy. He had joy because He was living the life the Father wanted Him to live.

Believers who are truly following Jesus will live in the same way. They will live to seek out being righteous in every way possible, and they will hate all wickedness and sin. They will flee from all temptations to sin. Then they will know the true joy of living for God.

Every day you are faced with choices of what to love and hate. The world will try to get you to love what is wicked and sinful.

Allow God to change your heart and mind and seek His righteousness and holiness. It is not about regulations, but a relationship and truly living the best life possible on this earth.

The more you live for God, the more joy you will know, because you will have the peace of God guiding and strengthening you daily.

Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will desire righteousness as Jesus did; that you will hate sin as much as God does; that you will know the joy of serving God with your whole life; and that the world will know you follow Jesus.

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Hosea 2:19 Engaged To God

Getting engaged

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. Hosea 2:19 

Every year thousands of men and women get together and get engaged with the intent to get married. They have known each other for some time and have chosen to decide to get married.

The length of the engagement is different for every couple. Some can be very short, within a few weeks of getting married. Others can be several years long before they get married. At times the engagement is also broken off and there is no marriage.

God tells the people of Israel that He will betroth, get engaged to them. This engagement will be forever and done with righteousness and love. He does this because He has compassion upon them.

Just as a couple get engaged love each other and wants to be together forever, God loves people and wants to be engaged to them forever. It was God who has called for the engagement to Him. Without God calling, no person would come to Him, they would stay in their sin and heading for death.

Love, compassion and righteousness is what drives God to want to be together with humans. It is what caused Him to have Jesus come and die upon the cross to make it possible. He is willing to make the commitment to love forever in a relationship with everyone who is willing.

Every believer has to be willing to jump into the long-term commitment of engagement to God. It is not a light thing to do. One cannot change his mind from day-to-day due to circumstances, as many do in this world with their commitments to marriage and relationships.

God will never fail in this relationship, so the believer can walk into it knowing it is real, worth it and forever.

If you are already a believer, you have already gotten engaged to God. The relationship has begun and will never end, as long as you stayed committed to Him.

Just as with relationships on this earth, you will have times of struggle and not understanding of God, but you must remain committed to it. God will never fail you, nor leave you. God is in it for the long run, for eternity. He will always do what is best for His relationship with you because of His great love and righteousness.

Are you committed to your engagement with God?

I pray today that you will know Jesus as your Savior; that you will be engaged in your relationship with God; that you will know God’s great love for you; and that you will know God’s commitment to you.

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Jeremiah 24:7 God Will Work In You

Seeing a mountain

I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the Lord. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart. Jeremiah 24:7 

It is a easy for people to know about someone, but it is a totally different thing to really know a person. People know about people all the time. They see people every day in the workplace, at the store, in the community that they recognize, but really don’t know who the person is. They do not know their character or their heart, only what they physically look like.

Some people feel that they know famous people, such as actors or singers, because they follow them. Yet, all they know is the public surface of those people.

God tells Jeremiah that there will be a group of exiles who He will give a heart to know Him. They will return to Him and follow Him with all of their heart.

Thousands of people go to church every week. They claim to know God, yet, do not really live for Him. They purposefully live in sin, never read the Bible, and rarely pray. Their heart is not running after God. Knowledge of God is only on the surface, but not deep in the heart. People know about God, but do not know Him.

Those who allow God to soften and change their heart will get to know God personally. He will no longer be a God who they go to church to hear about, but will know Him themselves.

God wants to give every person a heart of flesh, one that can know and love Him. However, the person must be willing to accept that heart change and seek God with all of his heart.

You may already know about God, but how well do you know God? Are you seeking to get to know everything about God on a personal level?

Allow God to work in your life and change your heart. He is willing to make Himself known to you beyond just the written word. He wants to walk and talk with you daily in every situation in your life, not just on Sundays or around a meal time or during bad situations. God wants all of your heart.

You can be one of God’s chosen people, if you allow your heart to be changed. Be the new creation God wants you to be and know Him.

I pray today that you will know Jesus as your Savior; that God will give you a new heart to seek Him; that you will seek God with everything in you; that you will have a personal relationship with God; and that you will live your life sold out to God.

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Isaiah 65:2 God Continues To Reach Out

Reaching out

All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people, who walk in ways not good, pursuing their own imaginations–Isaiah 65:2

Receiving help is difficult for some people. They believe that they can do things completely on their own and in their own way. They do not want any help from anyone. Pride and self-sufficiency is what usually gets in the way of people accepting help from another person.

Along with the pride blocking the acceptance, accepting help from someone usually means that one has to change. Charity is often given with some strings attached. A person can receive something, if something else is done a certain way. Most people do not want to change anything for any one else.

In this passage God says that He is reaching out His hands to an obstinate people. That is a people who refuse to accept His hand and help. They do this because they are pursuing their own desires.

When Jesus came to this earth it was to save everyone. God does not want any one to die in their sins. He is reaching out to every person to touch them and to forgive them.

However, many refuse to accept His help. There are even many inside the church that God is reaching out to. He wants to help them change and be a person in the image of Jesus. Yet, many refuse to change and be like Christ. They continue to live their life their own way, thinking that they are living for God.

God does not quickly give up on a person. He continues to reach out every day. As long as a person has breath on this earth, God is pursuing Him, reaching out to have a relationship with Him.

God is also reaching out to you every day. He wants to have and build His relationship with you. He does not want you to be in this dark world alone.

You have to make a choice to accept His help in your life. Do not be obstinate like the people of Israel were, rejecting God and doing their own thing. Release your will and follow God’s.

Following your own way will only lead to death and destruction. Following God will lead to eternal life and joy. He will give you peace upon this earth that the world cannot understand.

Allow God to catch you, rather than run from Him. It will be worth it in the end.

I pray today that you will know Jesus as your Savior; that you will have a relationship with God; that you will pursue God’s ways of living  life; and that you will not reject God’s help and guidance. 

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Song Of Solomon 1:4 Who Do You Want To Be With?

Time of devotion

Take me away with you–let us hurry! Let the king bring me into his chambers. We rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How right they are to adore you! Song Of Solomon 1:4 

Most people have someone who they love to be around. They desire to be with that person all the time.

This is especially true of newly married couples. They want to be together. They hate being apart from each other and love to spend all their time together.

Young children often want to spend time with one of their parents, the dad or mom. They love their parent and cannot stand being away from the parent.

The reason that people love to spend time with someone is that they love that person.

Solomon shows a scene of a woman who is eager to be brought away by the king. She is in a hurry to have it happen. Her friends also realize the value of this relationship.

While this may be meant to be just a relationship between a man and woman, it can also represent the relationship between a person and God. God is always seen as the ultimate king. Jesus is called the King.

The believer in Jesus should have a desire to be with God in the most intimate of places, not just in the public open spaces. The intimate place shows the relationship at its highest level.

Often believers are content to be with God on Sunday in church, but ignore Him the rest of the week. Their heart is really not in the relationship, but just on getting out of hell.

When one realizes how much Jesus (The King) has done for him, he will also desire to be with God immediately. He will not want to wait for a later time, but wants to spend time getting to know God more and more. The relationship with God will take priority over any other relationship or action.

When you take a look at your life, who do you want to be around? Are you seeking friends on this earth and to have a good time, even though it is only temporary?

Or is your heart’s desire to be with God?

Seek to get to know God more and more in the intimate places. These are the private places of your life, in the quiet times of prayer and bible study. Get to know His great love for you.

I pray today that you will know Jesus as your Savior; that you will know God’s love for you; that you will seek to spend more time with God; and that God will be your one true love above all others.