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True Help from Heaven

Don't put your trust in mere humans.
They are as frail as breath. What good are they?
- Isaiah 2:22 (NLT)


God questions man's trust in man rather God Almighty.  He shares man's futility and questions why anyone would seek to put his or her trust in another person, especially when God is seeking you out.  He wanted to rectify His relationship with His chosen people.

God had already called Israel out for its rebellion and idolatry.  He was sickened by their sacrifices.  He was not impressed by their rituals.  Nothing could overshadow their sins against God.

We need to see where our real help comes from in this life.  We can see people.  They are visible, but we need to answer whether or not such people are truly vital to your existence.

God is our true help.  He is in heaven, but He desires to be near to us.  He wants a deep relationship with us.  He is our true heavenly help.  His desire is for us to be better and that means better off with Him.

Don't rely upon man.  Go to God.  God will send those who can help your way based upon His Holy Spirit's urging.  It starts with you and God.

Perfection Personified

The angel then assured her that she had found favour with God, and would become the mother of a son whose name she should call Jesus, the Son of the Highest, one in a nature and perfection with the Lord God. - Matthew Henry's Commentary (Luke 1:26-38)

Jesus Christ is the personification of perfection.

Jesus was Promised: He was the child of promise. (2 Samuel 7:16; Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:23)

Jesus was Presented: He was presented in the Jewish custom. (Luke 2:21-23, 39)

Jesus was Persecuted: He was the Lamb of God as John the Baptist called Him (John 1:29).  He was slain for our sins, our transgressions and our iniquities according to Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 53).

Yet, without His perfection, He could have never stood in our stead and taken on our sin upon the cross.  He was, as Peter stated, a lamb without spot or blemish.  He epitomizes perfection.  He embodies perfection.  He exemplifies perfection.  He is perfect, and we are challenged to become perfect like Him.

We proclaim him, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that we may present everyone perfect in Christ. - Colossians 1:28 (NIV)

Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ: - Ephesians 4:13 (KJV)

 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death - Philippians 3:10 (NIV)

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. - Hebrews 5:14 (NIV)

Who is Your Gomer?

And the LORD said to Hosea, Go, take unto thee a wife of whoredoms...- Hosea 1:1

Then the Lord said to me, “Go and love your wife again, even though she commits adultery with another lover. This will illustrate that the Lord still loves Israel, even though the people have turned to other gods and love to worship them."- Hosea 3:1 (NLT)

God utilized the prophet as an object lesson for others to see.  He put Hosea's entire life on display for all others to view him.  He did so and Hosea's life stands out from the lives of other Old Testament prophets in a special way.  Hosea was used by God to show God's tattered relationship with Israel.

It wasn't bad enough that Isaiah's prophecy referred to Israel as a harlot.  It wasn't enough for Ezekiel to eat the scroll or go to a valley and view dry bones.  Surely, it was not enough for Jeremiah to lament after being the weeping prophet who said he would no longer preach the message that the Lord had for him to share with others.  No, God used Hosea differently.  He used his children and his wife, Gomer, to display that God who is perfect and pure was in love with a woman who turned out to be a prostitute- Israel.

So who is your Gomer? Who is God calling on you to seek, to reach and help? Who is your Gomer?

Find out who God is calling on you to reach with His message.  See who God is calling on you to go out of your way and reclaim for Him.  Let God use you.

Used to be Useful

When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
- Hosea 11:1 (NIV)

The prophet Hosea does not seem like a likely candidate to offer a prophecy on Jesus Christ.  Nevertheless, this biblical prophecy about the Messiah emerges from the object lesson emerges from this minor prophet.  God uses Hosea just like he can use any us to accomplish anything that He desires to do.  I learned after reading Andrew Murray's God's Plans for You that God can use us in all sorts of ways.

Those of the faith are the "called out." God calls us out from among the world to stand out among the world.  He causes us to live differently.  He calls us out to make us useful. 

God calls on us to use us.  After making us useful, He can choose to use us for His glory.  He can call on us and He should be able to count on us.  If God gave you an assignment like He did with Hosea, could He count on you to through on it?  Would you bring glory to God by how you handled it?

Our God is in heaven; he does whatever pleases him.- Psalm 115:3 (NIV)

A Message in Malachi

Ye have wearied Jehovah with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? In that ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of Jehovah, and he delighteth in them; or where is the God of justice?- Malachi 2:17 (ASV)

If you have heard many of the sermons encouraging individuals to "bring all of the tithes into the storehouse" and receiving a blessing that you do not have "room enough to receive," you most probably are familiar with the message of the Book of Malachi to some degree.  It has been used to urge the reluctant to release their hold on money and let God have His due as the Lord God who changes not.  It has long been used as a one-way directive from the pulpit to the pews regarding the submission of one to the Lord's calling for tithes and offerings.  Unfortunately, this is not the entire message of Malachi.

Malachi speaks to the priests and the people.  The prophet has a message that deals with the coming of the Lord and His messenger as well as the failure of God's people and His priests to keep their covenants and obey His ordinances.  Read the entire message of Malachi to get the full meaning of it.  Don't take someone else's word for it.  Read it for yourself.

Do Good for God

6 With what shall I come before the LORD

and bow down before the exalted God?
Shall I come before him with burnt offerings,
with calves a year old?
7 Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of olive oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,

the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

8 He has shown you, O mortal, what is good.

And what does the LORD require of you?

To act justly and to love mercy

and to walk humbly with your God. -Micah 6:6-8- (NIV)

What does God want you to do?

Have you ever pondered the question? Has your mind ever wondered about it? Have you ever had to search for such an answer?

Look at the prophecy of Micah.  He offers the believer insights into pleasing and honoring God.  We are dual citizens, living both on earth and prepared for heaven.  Our bodies dwell here, but our hearts desire heaven.

Micah's prophecy sheds light on social responsibility in combination with brotherly love.   It shows us how we can offer social justice and equity in the light of oppressive conditions.  We,as believers in Christ, owe the Lord a lifestyle dedicated and devoted to following His ways as well as His Word.  We need to follow His example and offer ourselves entirely over to Him in submission.  He is our King.  He is our Lord.  We need to see Him as the supreme authority over our lives.

Do good for God by doing some good.  Get in some good works.  Share a good word with someone. 

The Message of the Messiah

"Christ, our Passover, was sacrificed for us." - 1 Corinthians 5:7 

The message of the Messiah comes from Old Testament prophecies.  The biblical books of Joel and Micah contain messianic prophecies.  Psalm 22 is a messianic psalm.  The prophecies of the Old Testament are fulfilled through the promised deliverer born in Bethlehem, the city of David.

Isaiah is probably the one prophet who offers insights into the coming of the Messiah that most Jews clung to during the days of Jesus Christ.  He wrote of the tribes of Israel turning from God as harlots of idolatry.  His chapter on the suffering Savior depicts the man of sorrows who was bruised for our iniquities.

Numerous books explain salvation for the unsaved to understand.  C.H. Spurgeon's personal salvation story in My Conversion offers a great look at entering into Christ's rest.   Max Lucado wrote He Chose Nails and 3:16.  Additionally, Andrrew Murray's Absolute Surrender conveys the message well, too.