Tag Archive | repentance

The Choice is Yours

Jul16

Thus I will punish the world for its evil And the wicked for their iniquity; I will also put an end to the arrogance of the proud And abase the haughtiness of the ruthless.
Isaiah 13:11 NASB

The earth will be completely laid waste and completely despoiled, for the Lord has spoken this word. Isaiah 24:3 NASB

Reading through Isaiah is like watching current events. So many correlations between today and this time in history.

The Word of God should be a “learn from history” book but we are a people trusting in our own abilities to change or make better today. That was then, this is now mentality.

History repeats itself because we are a rebellious, self-centered, arrogant people. Self included.

The Word of God reveals the Maker of all. Even in our depravity He desires a relationship with us. He desires to love us, protect us, lead us, use us in His plans here on earth right into eternity.

You want to know God, experience Him, be a part of His plan?

Repent, get into His word, talk to Him (pray), listen and follow in obedience.

You are either walking in His will or in yours. The choice is up to you.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon 🌹

Where Are Your Eyes Focused?

Jul15

It shall come about if you ever forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord  makes to perish before you, so you shall perish; because you would not listen to the voice of the Lord your God.
Deuteronomy 8:19-20

The last couple of days my heart has been heavily burdened for the lost and for the church – especially those who believe in their salvation but are living in fear of the happenings around them instead of in fear of God. Is it because they have forgotten their God or perhaps believe in a God that is not supported by Scripture?

Where are your eyes focused? Is it on the daily events around you? COVID? Deterioration of society? Worry for your future?

Or are your eyes focused on God? The only peace we can encounter when all around us is falling apart. Our Prince of Peace.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us;
And the government will rest on His shoulders;
And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6

He has come. The government rests on His shoulders. He is mighty over all. Seek His counsel and His ways. He is our peace. He is coming again.

Do you trust in God? Do you trust His plan? Are you seeking Him with a repentant heart? Does He abide in you? A repentant heart and the residing of the Holy Spirit in us will display the fruit of the Spirit:

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Galatians 5:22-23

Now is the time.

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon. Isaiah 55:6-7

🌹Seek the Lord’s compassion today through repentance and seeking His face continually. Where are your eyes focused?

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon

My Will

Jul9

‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 NASB

From the Lord’s prayer. Your will be done. Hmm. Have you ever thought on that? God’s will be done… On earth as it is in heaven.

What do we truly seek? Where is our thoughts, heart, mind focused?

The age old problem of my will or God’s will. It’s nothing new.

How can we know God’s will?

Through the prayerful reading of God’s word. Through the fellowship of His saints. Through seeking His will with open eyes looking for His work around us (circumstances).

Unfortunately we get complacent in our walk and we become just as Israel did in the wilderness.

They wandered in the wilderness in a desert region; They did not find a way to an inhabited city. They were hungry and thirsty; Their soul fainted within them. Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses. Psalms 107:4‭-‬6 NASB

They finally woke up and cried out to the Lord and He delivered them.

Why do we wait to desire God’s will until we’ve made a mess of our lives? Now is the time of repentance. Now is the time to seek God’s will, His kingdom, His righteousness.

🌹Suggestion: Read Psalm 107 with God’s will in mind. Evaluate your life and what you see in the world around you. Do you see God’s will or man’s will?

‘Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10 NASB

What is your response?

Crop Sowing and Reaping Pt. 3

Jul3

You have plowed wickedness, you have reaped injustice, You have eaten the fruit of lies. Because you have trusted in your way, in your numerous warriors, Hosea 10:13 NASB
Sow with a view to righteousness, Reap in accordance with kindness; Break up your fallow ground, For it is time to seek the Lord Until He comes to rain righteousness on you. Hosea 10:12 NASB
Therefore, return to your God, Observe kindness and justice, And wait for your God continually. Hosea 12:6 NASB

The book of Hosea is about the call of God to Israel for repentance. It is still speaking to us today. God preserves those who walk with Him, who follow in obedience, and trust their whole being to Him, trust in Him with their lives.

God is calling. Calling us to return to Him.

God is calling. Calling us to repentance.

God is calling. Calling us to drop our ways and trust in His ways.

God is calling us. Calling us to observe kindness and justice.

God is calling us. Calling us to wait for Him.

God is calling. Are we listening?

Wait for Him. It takes a still, quiet heart focused on the Lord God to hear Him. Seeking Him in His word and prayer consistantly. Listening in anticipation, expecting God to reveal Himself.

Do you want to experience God fully? Seek Him through His word, prayer, fellowship with other believers and listen.

Continually Seeking Him,

Sharon 🌹

Fruit of Repentance

Jan3

Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance – Matthew 3:8

So what does it mean to “bear fruit”?

for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light 9 (for the fruit of the Light consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth), – Ephesians 5:8-9

Is your “Christian” walk consistent with goodness, righteousness and truth? If this fruit is not evident in your life then now is the time to evaluate your walk and kneel before God in true repentance.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

20/20

Oct9

Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come in order to test you, and in order that the fear of Him may remain with you, so that you may not sin.” — Exodus 20:20

Most people have had their eyes tested at least once in their lives. Seeing 20/20 is a good thing. If the test has you seeing less than 20/20 you will probably find yourself with a prescription for glasses to improve your vision.

I found it interesting that this verse is 20:20. God desires us to see the sin in our lives for repentance and for avoidance from, to give us a reverence for Him and a real sense of judgement for sin.

The Israelites were tested in the wilderness because God wanted a humble nation whose heart was turned toward God in obedience and trust.

 You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  — Deuteronomy 8:2

God loves you. God wants the best for you. Testing is to make you more aware (help you see 20/20) so you may fear, revere God.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Life

Sep23

In whose hand is the life of every living thing,
And the breath of all mankind? — Job 12:10

So Paul stood in the midst of the Areopagus and said, “Men of Athens, I observe that you are very religious in all respects. For while I was passing through and examining the objects of your worship, I also found an altar with this inscription, ‘TO AN UNKNOWN GOD.’ Therefore what you worship in ignorance, this I proclaim to you. The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things; and He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed times and the boundaries of their habitation, that they would seek God, if perhaps they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and exist, as even some of your own poets have said, ‘For we also are His children.’ Being then the children of God, we ought not to think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by the art and thought of man. Therefore having  overlooked the times of ignorance, God is now declaring to men that all  people everywhere should repent,  because He has fixed a day in which He will judge the world in righteousness through a Man whom He has appointed, having furnished proof to all men by raising Him from the dead.” — Acts 17:22-31

That man is Jesus Christ.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Old Testament Salvation

Apr23

Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God,

For you have stumbled because of your iniquity.
2 Take words with you and return to the Lord.
Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity
And receive us graciously,
That we may present the fruit of our lips.
3 “Assyria will not save us,
We will not ride on horses;
Nor will we say again, ‘Our god,’
To the work of our hands;
For in You the orphan finds mercy.” — Hosea 14:1-3

I love God’s Word. The salvation message right here in this Old Testament book.

Turn to God: return to the Lord your God.
Turn (repent) from our sin: “take words with you and return to the Lord”
Confess: “Say to Him, ‘take away all iniquity”
Receive His grace: “receive us graciously”
Bring God praises and tell others of His saving grace: “That we may present the fruit of our lips”
And trust in Him alone, not ourselves nor others: “Assyria will not save us, we will not ride on horses; nor will we say again, ‘Our god’, to the work of our hands;

Thank You Lord God that this orphan, me, has found Your mercy. Have you found God’s mercy and received His grace? He calls you from the pages of His Word, even in the Old Testament.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

No Excuses

Jan30

Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who will render to each person according to his deeds: to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For there is no partiality with God. — Romans 2:1-11

Do not judge so that you will not be judged.  For in the way you judge, you will be judged; and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. — Matthew 7:1-2

I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.” — Deuteronomy 30:19-20

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon

Hope And Justice

Dec29

So there is no justice among us,
    and we know nothing about right living.
We look for light but find only darkness.
    We look for bright skies but walk in gloom.
We grope like the blind along a wall,
    feeling our way like people without eyes.
Even at brightest noontime,
    we stumble as though it were dark.
Among the living,
    we are like the dead.
We growl like hungry bears;
    we moan like mournful doves.
We look for justice, but it never comes.
    We look for rescue, but it is far away from us.
For our sins are piled up before God
    and testify against us.
    Yes, we know what sinners we are.
We know we have rebelled and have denied the Lord.
    We have turned our backs on our God.
We know how unfair and oppressive we have been,
    carefully planning our deceitful lies.
14 Our courts oppose the righteous,
    and justice is nowhere to be found.
Truth stumbles in the streets,
    and honesty has been outlawed.
15 Yes, truth is gone,
    and anyone who renounces evil is attacked.

The Lord looked and was displeased
    to find there was no justice.
He was amazed to see that no one intervened
    to help the oppressed.
So he himself stepped in to save them with his strong arm,
    and his justice sustained him.
He put on righteousness as his body armor
    and placed the helmet of salvation on his head.
He clothed himself with a robe of vengeance
    and wrapped himself in a cloak of divine passion.
18 He will repay his enemies for their evil deeds.
    His fury will fall on his foes.
    He will pay them back even to the ends of the earth.
In the west, people will respect the name of the Lord;
    in the east, they will glorify him.
For he will come like a raging flood tide
    driven by the breath of the Lord.

“The Redeemer will come to Jerusalem
    to buy back those in Israel
who have turned from their sins,”
    says the Lord. — Isaiah 59:9-20 NLT

Things really have not changed since this was written in the book of Isaiah. God sent His Son. Seek Him and repent (confess and turn from your sin). Our only hope is Jesus Christ.

Continually seeking Him,

Sharon