Hal’s Blog

Last night God kept me awake for several hours concerning the subject of Obadiah. This is a classic story about the conflict between light and darkness resulting in the judgment of God.

Obadiah converted from an Edomite to Judaism. God made him a prophet. Obadiah came from a wealthy family but lost most of his money taking care of 200 prophets which were being persecuted by King Ahab. Obadiah hid the prophets in caves and provided water and food to keep them alive.

This prophesy about the conflict between light and darkness is illustrated through the lives of Esau and Jacob.

Esau and Jacob were twin brothers. Isaac was their father. Esau disregarded God’s laws, married women outside of Israel, and didn’t respect his birthright. Jacob respected God even though he made many mistakes in life.

Esau is credited with establishing the nation of Edom.

The prophesy of Obadiah identified three central themes about Edom.

They were a very prideful people.

They did not fear or respect God.

They participated in the destruction and ravaging of Israel and treated the people with cruelty.

Obadiah prophesied Edom would be destroyed and the house of Jacob (Israel) would be delivered and restored to holiness.

The message of Obadiah is alive today. We are headed for big troubles and the punishment of God.

There was a miscarriage of justice administered by the Edomites. This same brutal injustice is taking place today against Christ followers all over the world. This is spearheaded by the work of Satan.

The shadow of Edom is reflected in many nations around the world. In the United States there is a significant decline in Christianity and a rising movement to replace the precepts of God with liberal laws and contemporary views. The objective is to remove God from our society.

The wealthy are idolized and the poor are just an outcast of society.

The Body of Christ has become corrupted and filled with religious views which have nothing to do with God. The pride of Christians is thinking they are better than non believers and deserve the goodness of God.

The judgment of God will touch every fabric of humanity. No one will be able to escape the fires of God.

The malfeasance (wrong doing) reaches the highest level of government officials and religious leaders in our society. We are a nation of immoral people operating with impure motives. Self indulgence is the characteristic of our society.

Obadiah is coming soon. The call from God is to repent and return to Christ. Your only hope is in the Cross of Christ. We have to live for Jesus and turn away from all forms of darkness.

This is about taking Jesus seriously and making a decision to live for Him above all else.

Today I am dealing with the rudiments of Christ. This covers the basic principles of man’s relationship with God.

Everything begins with God. He created the heavens, earth and every living being.

God created you in His image and He knew you before you were born. When you came into the world God had already devised a plan to draw you to Himself. God knows you were born with a desire to live for self and are susceptible to a genetic disposition for sin through your family ancestry. And, you have to face all the dirty tactics of Satan.

God’s purpose is twofold. He wants you to accept the gift of salvation and learn how to walk in oneness with Him.

God will never force Himself on a human being. He will introduce you to biblical truths working through family, friends, and religion. He will pierce your soul with the Holy Spirit convicting you of the need for God.

You must reach out to God and He will respond with love and forgiveness for your sins. You receive the gift of salvation by faith confessing with your lips and believing in your heart Jesus Christ is Lord.

At this time you are sealed with the Holy Spirit who is the life of Christ. He is your guardian and teacher.

Now you are at a crossroads. You can seek out the Living Christ and walk in oneness with Him. Or, settle for a mediocre relationship.

This Bible verse defines what God thinks is important. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all the other things will be added to you. Your priority is Jesus and seeking His will for your life. As you do this, Jesus promises to meet all your needs.

This decision comes down to agreeing to live for Jesus above all else and be willing to die to self and give up your independence.

Very few people go this far with God. This decision creates suffering, loss, and many trials. The upside is you will live in the reality of God and He will share His authority with you. Jesus will be your best friend and involved in all the moments of your life.

Jesus is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him. He desires to give you more than you ask or think.

God will not reveal the big picture to you. He may give you some glimpses but the picture is hidden away.

As you grow in spiritual maturity the picture will seem more cloudy and distant.

God lives in the moment!

We all need a strong defense living in the world and dealing with the evil tactics of Satan. We need someone who has our back.

The promise of God is He desires to be your refuge and fortress.

There are many examples in the Bible of God coming to the rescue of His people. Daniel and his friends survived the fiery furnace. God defeated the three enemy tribes threatening to destroy Jehosaphat’s kingdom. Paul and Silas were delivered out of jail and possible death. Joseph was rescued out of prison and became prosperous under the rule of Pharaoh.

The world is corrupt and Satan wants to destroy believers. How can we be assured God will intervene in our troubles and deliver us from adversity?

God saves the upright in heart. This doesn’t mean you are perfect and without sin. The upright seek to live by the values of Jesus and are covered by His blood.

The upright understand they can never get right with God because of their self nature.

The upright yield to the Holy Spirit and give Him authority over their thoughts and decision making. They know living for self will bring misery and disaster.

The secret to having an upright heart is to live by faith trusting the promises of God. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Your faith and obedience to the voice of God will fill you with the righteousness of God. Abraham was an imperfect man who made many mistakes but He believed God and stepped out by faith to follow Him.

The upright believer makes Jesus the priority in his life. He zealously seeks the will of God through prayer, reading the Bible and listening for the voice of Jesus.

There is no greater defense than Jesus. He has power and dominion over the heavens and earth. He is omnipotent and nothing is impossible for Him.

Come to Jesus by faith with a repentant heart. He will do for you what you can never do for yourself. This is why He is God!

The question is how relevant is Jesus to you?

The answer is the relevancy of Christ is determined by you not by Jesus. He will never cajole you in anyway to come to Him. You have to reach out to Him.

The relevancy of Christ is about life not death. The gift of salvation does not relate to time. Time is of no consequence to God.

Some people make a knee jerk decision when close to death to guarantee their salvation. Unfortunately, this course of action robs you of the richness of God over your lifetime.

Christ died to give you a life you can never experience on your own. This is an abundant life filled with all the attributes of God including love, joy, peace, strength, wisdom and protection. You cannot find these attributes in the world. They come from Heaven.

Jesus is an upfront and personal God. He wants a “one on one” relationship with you. He desires to speak to you and share His life with you.

Jesus is always near you because the Holy Spirit is sealed in all believers. The Holy Spirit is the life of Jesus and wants to be involved in every moment of your life.

The relevancy of Christ is that He transforms you into a new being with the moral compass of Jesus. You die to your natural life at birth and become an entirely new person in Christ.

Your perspective changes as you become a pilgrim on a journey. You live in the world but you are not of the world. You belong to Christ and inherit all His promises.

The relevancy of Christ has nothing to do with religion. You make a decision to walk in oneness with Jesus believing in all His promises. You walk by faith not by what you see with your eyes.

As a believer you develop a deep respect and fear of God because He has power and dominion over the heavens and earth and your destiny is in His hands. You desire to be right with Jesus at all times and understand this can only happen by the blood of Jesus and repenting from your character defects.

Jesus forgives all your sin and knows you can never match up to His standards. He is not looking for perfection just a willing heart to change and seek His will for your life!

The Christ follower is in touch with his repugnant nature and knows his only hope is in Jesus!

The word from God today is resilient which means to be able to withstand or recover quickly from difficult conditions.

As a believer you will encounter many troubles just like Jesus. They are inevitable in your journey with God.

Jesus possessed a supernatural quality of resilience. This came to Jesus from his Heavenly Father. He knew His destiny was to be killed like a common criminal.

When the troubles arrive Satan wants to drag you into a deep hole and cause you to renounce your faith in God. He wants you to live in depression and misery.

Jesus wants you to praise Him and seek out His wisdom. Thank Him for all the troubles because they are going to bring peace, joy and deliverance.

Ask Jesus to strengthen your faith and give you the resilience to get through each day. Pray God will place a buttress of support around your life and protect you from the arrows of Satan.

Faith is the substance of the things you are praying and hoping for without any evidence in your life. This is how God works. He calls things that don’t exist as if they did.

Resilience gives you the ability to withstand the torturous moments of life without caving in.

Resilience helps you to overcome all the feelings of anger, depression and fear.

Resilience will help you recover and the Holy Spirit will provide inner healing to restore your emotional health.

The resilience of God will increase your sanctification in the eyes of God. You will be more “Christ like” and prepared to do great works for God.

Living in the darkness of life is miserable but out of the ashes will come the beauty of God.

I would have lost heart unless I believed that I would see the goodness of God in the land of the living.

The essence of loving Jesus is to value Him above all else and zealously seek out His will for your life. You reach out to Jesus through prayer and spending time in the Bible. Listen for His voice with an attitude of obedience.

God wants you to praise Him through music and with your words for His greatness, power, glory, victory and majesty.

Emotions have nothing to do with loving Jesus. They will betray you and lead you astray from God’s purposes. You can never build a relationship with God on emotions but you can on trust.

God wants your obedience to His voice regardless of the cost or lack of logic.

You cannot buy God’s favor through doing works. The works come out of loyalty to God and are directed by the Holy Spirit.

God does not give you a set of rules to live by or require you to participate in religious activities.

Simply walk by faith believing in His promises. Seek out God for your every need.

Love God because He first loved you and knew you before you were born.

Love God by developing a personal and embracing relationship with the Living Christ. This takes first priority along with a heart attitude of “Not my will be done but Yours”.

The Christ follower lives under the authority of the Holy Spirit and cultivates a close and endearing friendship with Him.

Love Jesus by maintaining a life of steadfast faith and praise during the trials of life.

Love Jesus by opening yourself up to the conviction and correction of the Holy Spirit.

Love Jesus by asking Him to keep you away from evil.

Love Jesus by becoming a powerful light touching those around you.

Jesus explained the work of the Holy Spirit. It is like a wind blowing and you cannot tell where it is coming from or where it is going.

The Holy Spirit is at work in season or out of season in the life of a believer. You have no control over the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit navigates believers through all the trials of life. He guides you through the Word of God and will always bring glory to Jesus.

The Christ follower can draw upon the Holy Spirit at any time for strength, healing, wisdom, joy and protection. But you cannot change the direction of the wind or the season God has planned for your life.

The Holy Spirit is sealed in all believers. He is the essence of Jesus. The Holy Spirit is very sensitive to sin and can be easily grieved. This will diminish the power working in your life.

This is why you need to be open the correction of the Holy Spirit. He know you better than you know yourself and sees all your weaknesses and impure motives.

The Holy Spirit speaks to all believers. Learn to be quiet, free your mind, and listen for the voice of God.

Be sure to commit your works to God each day and give the Holy Spirit authority over your life. He will bring order to your day, highlight your priorities, show you what to have for lunch and give you supernatural wisdom for your work. The Holy Spirit desires to add quality to all the aspects of your life. He can do for you what is impossible for you to do for yourself.

The Holy Spirit is omniscient and wants to protect you. He sees your safe pathway so never doubt His wisdom.

The Holy Spirit is the author of dreams and visions. The purpose is to teach, convict and guide your decision making. He equips believers with the gifts of the Holy Spirit to empower your ministry.

The Holy Spirit will give you prophesy and performs signs and wonders. He never rests and is working inside you while you are sleeping.

The Holy Spirit can discern all the spirits in the world and warn you against the spirits of the Antichrist.

The Holy Spirit wants to be your best friend. You can trust Him implicitly.

The word from God today is objectivity which is defined as lack of favoritism toward one side or another or freedom from bias.

This is almost impossible because everywhere you look today you see darkness and it makes you feel disgusted.

The only person who can operate perfectly with this quality is Jesus. He sees every person, situation or organization with pure objectivity.

Jesus has no bias except for the truths of God as He evaluates every situation.

As human beings we have been raised with biases from our parents, the schools we have attended, and religion. Plus, our life experiences have created biases.

Jesus is not a respecter of anyone. He evaluates every person with the same standards. Jesus is a God of unconditional love so sin does not camouflage His love or thoughts about you.

How can you and I operate with the objectivity of Jesus?

We can’t be perfect but we can see life through the eyes of God.

The most important thing is to be free from the influences of religion. A Christian is no better than a non believer. He has many flaws and impure motives.

Religion wants to control you with rules but Jesus wants to set you free. Religion tries to make everything seem beautiful and neglects your disposition for sin.

Your orientation has to be based on “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these other things shall be added unto you!”

This is a declaration to live for Jesus above all else and zealously seek His will for your life. Your motives have to be pure in dealing with God. The priority is God first and blessings follow.

The Holy Spirit will always glorify Jesus and teach you the difference between light and darkness. The Holy Spirit is sealed in every believer and He operates with the objectivity of Jesus.

It is important to live under the authority of the Holy Spirit and allow Him to become your best friend. He will introduce you to the reality of the Living Christ and help you discern light from darkness.

Pray continually and read the Bible. This will keep you on track with God. Listen for the voice of God. He wants to speak to you.

Be open to the conviction and correction of the Holy Spirit. God knows you better than you know yourself and desires to mold you into His character.

You cannot judge others. This will just bring the judgement of God upon you. The Holy Spirit will show you how to pray for others with the mercy and compassion of Jesus.

The more you see yourself through the eyes of Jesus the more you will be able to think and act with the objectivity of Jesus.

You will never match up to the standards of Jesus but you can learn to be obedient to His voice and inherit His righteousness. Your obedience will enamor you to the heart of God.

Jesus wants you to be obedient to His voice not to a set of rules.

Jesus will never force you to be obedient. This must come by yielding your autonomy and independence to the will of God.

Your obedience will create a powerful light touching others and saving souls.

Out of your obedience Jesus will share His authority with you and equip you with spiritual gifts.

Why is it so difficult to obey Jesus? The reality of Jesus has nothing to do with conforming to the world and defies human logic.

Obedience requires you to step out by faith and not believe what you see with your eyes.

Obedience is the act of giving up your every security to venture into uncharted waters.

Obedience will fill you with the character of God. Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him as righteousness.

Obedience does not come to you because of religion or doing good works.

Obedience creates discomfort and fear because you have no worldly safety net.

Obedience does not dispute with God.

Obedience does not deny God.

Obedience is a tool of God to test you and measure your faith.

Obedience will allow you to see the transfigured Christ. Jesus is greatness, power, glory, victory, and majesty.

“And all these, having obtained a good testimony through faith, did not receive the promise” Hebrews 11:39

Many religious leaders will be outraged by this narrative but it is the truth. And, to set the record straight I believe in the integrity of all the Words of God in the Bible. They cannot be edited in any way and will never change. The words of Jesus are engraved in my heart.

The testing of Jesus is prophesy telling a believer something will happen and it does not happen. Sometimes, the prophesy has a timeline or may be open ended. This pattern takes place with Christ followers who are dedicated and loyal to Jesus.

What is the purpose of this testing. It creates anger and feelings of betrayal. How can I trust a God who misleads me?

You can attempt to rationalize this behavior by believing the prophesies will come in God’s perfect timing but this is just a religious response. The work of God is much deeper.

God can seem harsh and cruel at times. If you don’t believe me just read the Old Testament.

The testing of God is directed at what you value and enjoy in life. God wants your allegiance to Him and nothing else in this world. He will take away those things you cherish to make His point.

The testing is also designed to take away your security in the world and cause you to become become totally dependent on God.

In the book of Hebrews God mentions many of the well known men and women of God who died living by faith and did not receive the promises of God. They embraced God and confessed they were pilgrims or strangers on the earth.

We are in the end times and God is raising up a remnant of believers who have been severely tested and refined by the fires of God. These believers are dedicated and obedient to God and will do whatever He says without compromise.

The remnant will have to face Satan and deal with many adversities in the days ahead. They will be powerfully anointed believers and will perform miracles, and signs and wonders just like Jesus.

The point of all this is understanding the prophesies from God. They have a purpose. Accept the prophesy and do not despise the words of God. Do not act on the prophesies or place your hope in them. They may or may not come true.

Walk by faith with Jesus believing in the promises of God in the Bible. They are your hope for the future.