“Return to Me,” says the Lord of hosts, “and I will return to you,” Zechariah 1:3

God spoke these words to me this morning “O Israel why have you forsaken Me. Return to your first love!” God is referring to those believers who have heard the Word of God and accepted Jesus by faith but have fallen away from Him.

What happens to most believers is they allow the things of the world to distract them from God. They become consumed with work, financial needs, family and relationships, and God gets squeezed out of the picture.

The reality of God is the concerns of the world should draw you closer to God and cause you to make Him your priority to help you with all your needs.

The love of God is what draws people to Jesus. You come to understand the sacrifice He made for you and the depth of His love and concern to give you an abundant life.

Your expression of love for God has nothing to do with feelings and emotions. It is a sincere desire to be obedient to the voice of God and to do His will. You allow God to crucify your natural self and you learn how to live for Him.

Your love for God is about developing an intimate relationship with Him and becoming yoked to God through His Spirit.

You find God by placing all of your life in His hands and trusting Him for your every need. This is about a heart commitment and has nothing to do with religion or works.

You build your life on God through praise, prayer, and allowing His Word to dwell richly in you.

Make God the center of your life and reach out to Him by faith in the powerful name of Jesus!

 

“The Lord also will roar from Zion,
And utter His voice from Jerusalem;
The heavens and earth will shake;
But the Lord will be a shelter for His people,
And the strength of the children of Israel.” Joel 3:16

God will do what is on His mind! He judges with truth, justice, and mercy. You can’t worry or become consumed about His wrath and the fires of judgment.

However, you can trust implicitly in the name of the Lord because He offers a shelter of protection and supernatural strength. There is no one like Him!

Life brings you to a crossroads with two different paths. There is a path that leads to the goodness of God like in the Garden of Eden. This path is eternal and has no end. It is filled with love, joy, and peace and offers a life overflowing with the abundance of God.

The other path leads nowhere good. The end of this path is destruction and death. This path makes you vulnerable to the judgment of God both in the living world and the life after death. There is no escape from the fire of God if you walk down this path.

This path offers you short-lived pleasures but will never satisfy your deeper needs. It can never fill the void within you!

There is one consistent theme in the Bible concerning the horrendous judgments of God. Return to God and He will lead you to an oasis of peace and protection and restore you to Himself. He will fill you with His strength and you will never lack. He never forgets His people!

Life is superficial without God. He brings a substance to life you cannot find anywhere else!

“For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near;
As you have done, it shall be done to you;” Obadiah 1:15

Obadiah was an Edomite who converted to Judaism. He was a servant to King Ahab and a wealthy man.

He was given the gift of prophesy for hiding 100 prophets in caves to prevent their death by Jezebel, the wife of the King.

Obadiah was called to prophesy against the nation of Edom for participating in the destruction of Israel.

Obadiah lived in a country that worshipped false gods and was filled with depravity. He had a working relationship with the king but he refused to accept his ways and he stood up for the honor and justice of God.

This is a very important story because you are living in a country today similar to Israel in the 5th century BC.

We have departed from the ways of God and have disgraced the laws of God. It is like a slap in the face to God. There is no fear or respect for God who created the heavens and the earth and all living things and has power and dominion over the universe.

The judgment of God is over our country. God is angry and is planning to punish us for abandoning Him.

You can choose to stand up for God and refuse to go along with the filth and contamination in the world or you can go the way of the world and become tainted with the garbage and disgust of the world.

Obadiah chose to wear the robes of righteousness and defend the truth and justice of God!

How about you?

 

“Show me Your ways, O Lord;
Teach me Your paths.
Lead me in Your truth and teach me,
For You are the God of my salvation;
On You I wait all the day.” Psalm 25:4-5

There are times in life when it seems like God shuts down and turns His back on you. What can you do to rekindle your relationship with Him when this happens?

First of all, you need to understand God never changes and He operates through His Word. He is near you at all times even if you cannot sense His presence. All things begin with God. You cannot control or influence His ways. He is the initiator and you follow!

Since God never changes, you are the one that must change. Go before almighty God and ask Him for forgiveness for your shortcomings and to correct anything that is not pleasing to Him. Spend some quality time with God, read a Psalm or the Word and be still and listen for His voice.

Say something to God like “I am opening myself up to you and you know me better than I know myself. Please tell me anything that offends you or I need to change about myself.” When you do this with a sincere heart, then it becomes God’s responsibility to speak to you or correct you.

God will choose how and when He will respond to you so learn to be patient. He knows you better than you know yourself.

If you hear nothing from God, you can be assured you are in the center of His path.

Sometimes God will leave you alone because He has trained you in His ways and you know what is right and wrong. You don’t need a babysitter so just enter into life with confidence and boldness. He has your back! Don’t worry because if you get off track, He will alert you.

Finally, you must have steadfast faith in God and not look at your circumstances! Faith is the cornerstone to a relationship with God. He wants you to seek Him out for all your needs.

Rest in God. Your phone call will be answered in His perfect timing!

 

 

 

“For behold, He who forms mountains,
And creates the wind,
Who declares to man what his thought is,
And makes the morning darkness,
Who treads the high places of the earth—
The Lord God of hosts is His name.” Amos 4:13

Amos was a sheep breeder and harvested figs from his orchard. He did not come from a family line of prophets but was appointed by God to bring conviction and repentance to the northern kingdom of Israel.  His prophetic words of judgment caused him to be exiled back to Judah, his native home.

There was a sense of peace and prosperity in Israel and a deniability of the sovereignty of God and His commandments. People tended to do whatever they desired with no fear of the consequences of their actions.

There was moral depravity and the poor were taken advantage of by the prosperous class.

Amos spoke loudly about the fire God was planning to send upon Israel and the disastrous results upon all the people.

Amos understood God! He knew the nature of God and witnessed His glory and power. Amos was one with God and was a mouthpiece to speak His Words.

Amos knew that your only hope in life is God and you must be obedient to His Word. How can you ignore the God who forms mountains and causes the wind to blow? How can you reject the God who knows your every thought before you wake up in the morning and can turn the sun into darkness?

How can you believe you can have a satisfying life without submitting to the God who has power and dominion over all things?

The situation in Israel was very similar to our country today except we have strayed further away from God and are attempting to silence and remove Him from our society.

God will never stand for this! The fire from heaven will be devastating and a serious wake up call to return to Him!

He is your only hope in this world!

“God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.” John 4:24

If you want to walk with God, you require a synergy of the Word of God and the Spirit of God.

God is a Spirit and no one has ever seen Him. He lives by His Word so you have to allow the Word of Christ to dwell richly in you and be yoked to the Spirit of God residing within you. This will create a perfect balance in your relationship with God.

God is alive and wants to have a personal and endearing relationship with you. He wants to live in your life today and be a part of all your plans.

Come to God in prayer and tell Him your feelings and concerns and listen for His voice. Develop an inner consciousness with His Spirit and always keep your connection alive with Him.

If you truly commit your works to God, He will give you wisdom and guidance to meet all your challenges. God wants you to have an abundant and satisfying life and sense His presence in all that you think and do.

Walking with God is a living and vibrant connection between yourself and God through His Spirit.

 

“The Lord is My Shepherd; I shall not want.” Psalm 23:1

The Shepherd tends his flock. He protects them and makes sure they have water and food. He cares for the sick ones and does not let them run astray.

God performs all these loving actions for those who believe in Jesus, His Son. He offers the precious gift of eternal life and the ability to be restored to God.

You are able to drink the living water coming from the resurrected life of Jesus. When you drink this water you will never thirst again and it will become in you a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.

You have God living within you in the essence of the Holy Spirit. He wants to fill you with love, joy, peace, patience and all of His attributes. Draw upon God for all your needs. Learn to be yoked to His Spirit and be still and listen for His voice.

God created a method for you to be free from sin leading to death. The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus will set you free and lead you into His righteousness. You don’t have to be like a wandering sheep or have someone as your overseer. You have God living inside you and He desires to give you more than you ask or think.

God is the source for all your needs. Ask and you shall receive! You can trust Him implicitly. He will never fail you!

“My God will supply every need of yours according to the riches of His glory in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

This promise from God is that He will fulfill your every need by working through the riches of His glory in His Son. This encompasses all your spiritual, emotional, and physical needs. Nothing is precluded from this vow from God!

God has given authority over all things in the heavens and the earth to His Son. Jesus is the only way you can experience an abundant life. He wants to live in you and through you with His Spirit.

The question is whether you look to God for your every need or rely on yourself or the ways of the world. Most people are not really serious about seeking help from God until they get into a serious problem and see no way out.

God does not want to be your last resort in time of trouble. He wants to be your primary resource for your every need. So when a problem occurs, He is the first place you go to for help.

You have to delineate between a need and a desire in appropriating this promise. God is strongly committed to providing for your basic living needs however your desires fall into the category of His perfect timing. This is not weakening the Word of God but clarifying that the promise is under the authority and timing of almighty God.

Your thoughts are not God’s thoughts and His ways are not your ways. He wants you to turn to Him for your every need and then let go and trust. He delights in rescuing His people.

King David became rich and famous because he believed and acted on this promise during his entire lifetime. And David had to hide in caves from his enemies and faced insurmountable challenges in his life.

Nothing is too big a problem for God! Make Him your first responder!

 

And they said, “Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower whose top is in the heavens; let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad over the face of the whole earth.” Genesis 11:4

In the early stages of civilization, all the people spoke the same language. The tribe of people depicted in Genesis were looking for security and protection from their enemies. They wanted to be feared by all as a powerful and strong nation. They determined to make this happen by building a city and a tower reaching into the heavens.

The tower was a passageway for the gods to come down to earth and bless them. The people would supply the tower with food, drink, and precious items to impress the gods and to meet their needs.

This course of action did not please God. He saw that they were a headstrong people and believed they had the ability to protect themselves and create a powerful name for themselves without the help of the sovereign God.

They believed the tower would give them some control over the gods. They had a serious misconception about God. There is only one God and He has no needs and He can never be controlled by mankind.

The end result was God caused this tribe to stop building the tower and gave the people diverse languages and scattered them around the world.

The lesson in this story is do not start an action or new initiative (like planning to build or buy something, begin a new job, or take a trip) without consulting with God. You must seek out God for His wisdom and guidance and follow His leading.

The works of man operating without God will have no sustaining value and will eventually fade away.

When you try to go it on your own there will always be a consequence from God. He will allow you to see the weakness of your actions and the infallibility of God.

The works of a believer yielding to God will be successful and filled with the abundance and goodness of God.

The whole point of this story is everything begins with God and He is all powerful and lacking in nothing!

 

“But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” Romans 3:21

The righteousness of God is not linked or related in any way with keeping the laws of God or doing good works for God. And the righteousness of God can never be earned through your own efforts.

The laws of God make you conscious of your shortcomings and demonstrate your inability to ever live up the qualities of God. They are a benchmark you can never achieve. You are hopelessly covered in sin with no hope for redemption.

No one can draw near to God through good works or maintaining a godly report card. The righteousness of God comes through your faith in Jesus Christ. This miracle of new life begins with your commitment to Him and lasts forever.

God wants you to come to Him with a deep sense of your inner weakness and depravity and ask for forgiveness and restoration to Him. Never try to approach God with an attitude of your holiness or a saintly character. Come to Him because you are lost and unable to live a godly life.

The character of God will be manifested in you over your lifetime as you become dependent on Him for all your needs and seek Him out with a sincere heart. The Spirit of God will do “laser like surgery” to change you into a new person in Christ Jesus.

You are made whole by the work of God so you can be a light for Him reflecting His love, joy, peace and all of the fruit of the Spirit.