More Than Your Past

 

The king (Josiah) also desecrated the high places (the pagan shrines) that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption-the ones Solomon, king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the vile god of Moab, and for Molech, the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 2 Kings 23:13 (NIV)

Have you felt you will never overcome what you did or what someone did to you? Have you thought you will never be good enough? Everyone has considered themselves like this at least once, most people more than once. Whatever has caused you to see yourself as insignificant, tainted, and sinful, God can change and remove. Consider what happened on the Mount of Olives during Josiah’s time.

In 2 Kings 23, the writer tells us, after king Josiah read aloud the Book of the Covenant of God with the Israelites, he went to the Mount of Corruption to tear down and destroy the shrines to false gods and idols. During the reigns of his father and grandfather (Amon and Manasseh), they and the Israelites erected shrines throughout the land of Judah. They chose to believe in and offer sacrifices to the gods of other nations, just in case their God, I Am, was not the only true god. Josiah knew from his studies, belief, and relationship with the LORD God that He is the only God; no other exists.

The Mount of Corruption is the Mount of Olives. This mount is about 1 mile from the temple in Jerusalem. Josiah did not have to look far from his palace or the temple to see the corruption by shrines to idols and false gods. He removed and destroyed the shrines and poles from the temple, then walked to the Mount of Olives and did the same.

God created the Mount of Olives. He called it good. People are the ones who corrupted it, but God could make it holy again. Often God makes places holy with the help of people, like Josiah. Other times, He does it by Himself because He is the only one who can.

Just as God created the Mount of Olives, He made each person. When He created people, He said humanity was good. Over time, because of humanity’s sin nature, each person corrupts him or herself and/or considers him or herself corrupted by what other people did to him or her. God made a way for each person to be made new-to be remade and cleansed. Nothing can keep us permanently away from God, not sin, pain, abuse, rape, neglect, or anything. He has power over all these. God loves us when we consider ourselves unlovable. He desires to be in a relationship with us. Because of God’s love, He made a way for our sin and the sins others put upon us to be washed away so we can be clean and made new by Him. Jesus made this possible for each person who believes in Him as the Son of God and confesses and repents of his or her sins. We can never do enough or be good enough to earn this salvation. This salvation God offers to each person redeems us from how we consider ourselves and our sinfulness to His beloved and holy child. Jesus’ redemption He offers freely to people who believe in Him is His paying the price for our sins. He bought our freedom from sin and death.

Consider the Mount of Corruption. Josiah desecrated the shrines, poles, and land on which they stood. He redeemed the Mount for God’s purposes with His righteous indignation of destroying these shrines and idols. We see Jesus sitting on this Mount of Olives centuries after Josiah destroyed the idols. Josiah dedicated it for God’s use, not idol worship. Often Jesus taught His disciples on the Mount of Olives, called the Mount of Corruption in Josiah’s time. What God redeems; no person can blemish eternally.

Just as God created the Mount of Olives and sent His servant Josiah to give it anew to Him by desecrating the shrines, idols, and land on which they stood, so He can redeem you from your past and sins. If you have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation and the forgiveness of your sins, He redeemed you. Jesus saved you. No lies Satan or any person says about you and your past can change that. God made you and redeemed you. Paul said it this way in Romans 8:31b-39.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all-how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [NIV]

If you have not accepted God’s love and trusted in Jesus Christ for redemption, you can today. Just pray to God saying you believe Jesus is His Son who died for your sins so you can receive salvation and forgiveness and live with Him forever. Confess your sins to Him and repent of them asking for His help not to do them again. You need only do that. Once you profess faith in Jesus and confess and repent with your whole being, God redeems you. He saves you from your past and your sins. Nothing will ever be able to separate you from God again, not your past or your future. You are more than a conqueror, more than a survivor of whatever you lived through in the past. God redeemed you, made you His own child, and consecrated you for Himself. He made you holy. He remade you and declared His recreation good.

We are more than what people have done to and with us and more than what we have done to ourselves. We can be who God sees us-cleansed, forgiven, and loved eternally. We do not have to stay a mount of corruption. We can be as God intended, like the Mount of Olives, a place He uses to show and share His love and the Gospel. God will renew-remake-us and call us good as He intended when He first created humanity. On our own, we are never enough. God makes us whole and new by the sin judgment His Son, Jesus Christ, paid for our salvation. He redeems of us from our past and sins.

Will you accept His love and redemption He freely offers to you?

WAKE UP

 

Wake up, you people.

Wake up to the voice of God.

Hear the awesome roar of His voice,

And know He is almighty.

 

Wake up, you people.

Wake up and know the voice of God.

Hear His amazing proclamation,

And consider His lovingkindness.

 

Wake up, you people.

Wake up and heed the voice of God.

Hear and know He is the Lord,

And obey His righteous commands.

 

Wake up, you people.

Wake up and praise your God almighty.

Declare He is Lord over all,

And shine His light for all people.

 

Wake up, you people.

Raise your hands in praise to the Lord,

Maker of heaven and earth,

And Redeemer of all who believe.

Declare His unfailing love.

Proclaim His bountiful blessings.

Shout to the heavens of the magnificence of God;

And tell people of His sacrificial love for them.

 

The Lord is mighty and worthy of praise.

Lift your hands and sing,

Great is the Lord and worthy of praise.

He reigns from everlasting to everlasting.

Praise the Lord!

 

(In response to Isaiah 51:1, 4, & 7)

Poverty and Riches

O God, I beg two favors from You; let me have them before I die. First, help me to never tell a lie. Second, give me neither poverty nor riches! Give me just enough to satisfy my needs. For if I grow rich, I may deny You and say, “Who is the LORD?” And if I am too poor, I may steal and, thus, insult God’s holy name. Proverbs 30:7-9 (NLT)

These verses from Proverbs 30 appear to be an obvious teaching, especially after living as an adult for a while. We realize we tend to forget about God when life is easy. We leave Him. Parties, friends, vacations, and buying new things occupy our minds, as do thoughts of how smart we were to earn that money. Instead, we could praise God for what He gives and tell people of His faithfulness and love. When life is hard, we can grow closer to God because we recognize He gives what we need and because we pray to Him continually. Alternately, we can insult Him by blaming Him for not providing what we need and/or then stealing those items. Once we realize these tendencies, most probably after we have experienced both excess and poverty, we can learn from them.

When we read Proverbs 30:7-9, perhaps we think of tangible things we need, like money, shelter, food, drink, clothes, and medicine. In Matthew 6:25-34, Jesus addressed people’s need for these things. He spoke of clothing and food and said if the Father clothes the flowers is such fine colors and feeds the birds without them worrying what they will eat, how much more so will He take care of our needs, we whom He made in His image. Jesus said in John 10:10 that He came to give us life more abundantly.

As we take this thought a step further, what other needs, non-physical, do we have? Jesus cares about the whole being. Humans have mental, emotional, and spiritual needs, along with physical needs. We need to feel safe and secure, be fed, know truth, experience peace, endure, and trust physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. Life is more than just food, clothes, and where we will sleep, Jesus said. It includes every facet of who we are-mind, spirit, heart, and body. God takes care of the whole person throughout his or her life.

Jesus saves us from sin and death, a timeline of now and not yet. Most people consider the salvation He gives as something they will receive in the future after they die, the “not yet” of the timeline. Salvation happens when we believe in Jesus as God’s Son who died for our sins and when we confess and repent of our sins. When we accept the salvation He offers, He cleanses us from our sins, making us pure so we can live eternally with Him in heaven. Still, salvation is more than “not yet” in our lives. Jesus came to save us now and throughout our whole lives, too, the “now” part of the timeline. The saving now is spiritual, bodily, mental, and emotional, a feeling safe from torment, persecution, prejudice, abuse, and a host of other things. This saving “now” includes feeding our minds, spirits, and hearts with good things, too. Paul wrote about what we should think upon to feed us in Philippians 4:8-9 when he gave a list of “whatevers” to consider. We need to feed ourselves with knowledge, wisdom, and understanding. Jesus became wisdom for us, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 1:30. His Spirit teaches us God’s wisdom and knowledge and gives us understanding. We need to know truth. Jesus said, in John 14:6, He is the truth, way, and life. Jesus is truth. We can seek and rest secure knowing Jesus always tells and teaches truth while other people tell their “truths.” We can feel safe and secure knowing Jesus as the Truth. We can stand and endure knowing Jesus saved us. Ultimately, no matter what happens while we are alive, we recognize God wins and we will be with Him in heaven.

We, who have accepted the salvation Jesus gives, can know we are secure with God and can ask for His guidance, protection, and provision. Jesus’ saving us includes clothing us. Just as He feeds the birds and feeds us with His truths, wisdom, knowledge, and understanding, Jesus, in Matthew 6, promised God would clothe us. Part of the clothing God gives to each of His children is about what Paul taught the Ephesian believers in Ephesians 6:10-20. He told them to put on the armor of faith. Faith in God is what enables each believer in Jesus Christ to “stand firm against all strategies of the devil.” We can stand firm and trust God because of who He is and His attributes - all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, wisdom, grace, mercy, and love. To stand firm, Paul told the Ephesian Christians to put on the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel of peace, the helmet of salvation, and to hold the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit. And, while wearing this armor, he told them to pray in the Spirit. Always keep in close communion with God while staying alert, Paul said. Notice all the pieces of armor come from God. God is faithful and gives faith. His strength never fails. Jesus is Truth and makes us righteous, gives us salvation, with His righteousness. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and His gospel, good news, is peace and gives peace. He is the Way to the Father. No one can go to the Father except through Him. Jesus gives His Spirit to each person when they believe in Him for salvation. By the Spirit of Jesus with faith and prayer, we can clothe ourselves with the armor of faith, then stand firm by trusting God. God provides and clothes us with His armor.

Because of the “armor of faith,” we, Christians, can be secure, feel safe and secure, be nourished spiritually, mentally, emotionally, and physically. Believers can rest sure of their ultimate salvation. God will give us His wisdom, knowledge, and understanding if we ask. Jesus reveals His truths to us when we seek Him. God meets our mental, emotional, and spiritual needs. Jesus told His followers not to worry about what they would eat, drink, or wear and where they would sleep. With Jesus as our Savior, we realize God cares and provides for our whole being. He feeds and clothes us and gives us shelter. God knows what we need before we even ask, but desires to hear from us and commune with us, so pray continually in the Spirit. Understanding this about God’s provisions, recognize when we have plenty and little, and be content with what He gives. Take note that what we own comes from God, not ourselves. Glorify Him for what He gives. Seek His plan for the gifts. Do not hurl insults at Him for what we do not have. Trust His heart and praise Him. Be faithful to God because He is faithful to us.

Will you deny the Lord when He gives overabundantly to you by walking away from a close communion with Him? Or will you seek Him and His purposes for what He gives you? Will you insult, blame, and curse God with your actions and words when He seems not to listen to your prayers and provide for your needs? Or will you trust in Him and His love for you while praising Him for what He has done and will do? Proverbs 30:7-9 brings us to the point where we must consider choosing faith in God and His purposes and love and being content with what He gives. Without trusting that God loves and cares for us, Satan might lead us astray with his lies, so that we insult God and turn our backs on Him. Trusting God means we will praise Him and be content whether or not He gives overabundantly. Will we seek His will, and trust and praise Him or insult and walk away from Him?

I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength. Philippians 4:11-13 (NLT)

In whom do you trust?
Who gives you strength to live in this world?

In poverty and wealth, Jesus is still your Savior and Lord.

Whom will you trust and praise?

 

Fear or Trust

 

The LORD Almighty is the One you are to regard as holy. He is the One you are to fear; He is the One you are to dread. Hosea 8:13 (NIV)

Let me be perfectly transparent; deciding to return to South Africa (SA), where we have lived and worked, has been a very hard decision. I would like to say it was not and that my walk with Jesus has grown me so I always decide at once to do God’s will. But, let me tell you, I am human. Like you, I have senior-aged parents, adult children, grandchildren, and friends in America whom I miss terribly and whom I cannot help, especially my mom, stepmom, and stepfather. Life is easier here in America. I generally can find anything my mind can ever think of wanting. (That does not mean I need it!) I am now vaccinated against COVID-19 here. I would not be in SA. The variants in South Africa are more virulent so I do not trust that I am safe from them. Let me say it again; this has been a very prayerful season in America. Each time we go on stateside assignment, we are prayerful. This one was, for me, a wrestling with God to figure out His will exactly and to bring myself in alignment with Him.

God and I have been having deep and long conversations about returning to South Africa (our home) since I arrived here in October for my third child’s wedding. This conversation became more desperate by the end of March when I had not heard from Him definitively if we can stay in America or must go back to SA. Since becoming a Christian, when I professed saving faith in Jesus when I was fourteen years old, I listened to my ministers teaching that unless you hear from God to change what you are doing, keep doing what He last told you. As I asked God if He wants us to go back to SA, I heard nothing from Him in my first months in America. I understood that meant, “Yes.” God wants me to return there. But being human and hoping for a new direction, I asked and kept on asking. I asked prayer-sisters to pray as I battled with God about this. Understand this, God did not battle with me; I battled with Him. My battle was seeking to understand for sure if I must return to SA. It was a battle of my will against God’s, though I already understood what He wanted me to do.

Sunday, I told God, I recognized you want me to return to SA, but please, as I read Isaiah 8-11, show me explicitly. (I hate to admit that because that shows I am still weak. We all are. Hopefully, we are growing to be more like Jesus each day.) God honored my request and showed me His answer explicitly in His word. He taught me as He taught the Israelites, through His prophet, Isaiah. How I wish I were not comparable to the Israelites. Really, we all are like them. Our spiritual graphs go up and down like theirs did. Remember this, I never doubted God wanted us back in South Africa. I wished He wanted us in America. That point is where God met me.

The first thing we must know about Isaiah 8:1-18 is these are the words God spoke to Isaiah telling him what He will do to the Israelites and why. Isaiah’s written words were his response to God’s foretelling His disciplining the Israelites. Isaiah is like each Christian. God calls us to be His messengers and tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We each must remember He is Almighty. God is the only one who is Holy. Holy means He has never sinned. Can any of us say this? He is the standard for our lives.

In Isaiah 8:12, God told Isaiah not to fear or dread anything or anyone except Him. This fear is the reverence and awe of God and the fear for my life. Basically, God said, “Do not be afraid of what they may do to you but know I will discipline you, like them, if you do not obey Me.” Since God is holy, we need to fear, revere, and live in awe of Him. Because He is holy, no one is like Him. Paul wrote about this sinful state. He said, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” in Romans 3:23 (NIV). We do not need to fear anything or anyone else because God is Almighty. He destroys false Gods and reigns preeminent over all created things. As God’s messengers, those He calls to tell other people about Jesus, we do not have to fear other people or created things. Because God is holy, we should obey Him in fear and awe.

What does Isaiah 8:12 have to do with my situation? Well, God pointed out to me what caused me to ask for clear confirmation of His will for me to return to SA-fear. Fear was my excuse. I checked my heart and mind and determined of what I feared or dreaded (Is. 8:13c). I noted two things: having to leave family and friends and facing the third wave of Covid-19 in South Africa, where most recent cases are the Delta variant. Mentally, I did not want to face that crisis again. (I said I am human, remember.) Physically, I did not want to get the virus. I know doctors there with Covid-19 patients and they were afraid. Of course, other doctors are not afraid. God used Isaiah 8:13 to help me understand what caused my need for confirmation instead of just trusting Him. He reminded me He is holy and Almighty, and I do not need to fear or dread anything. I should fear only God with awe.

God told me one other thing in this speech to Isaiah. He said I should revere and be in awe of Him by being gratefully obedient to His will for my life. That means I need to “cheerfully” prioritize His will over my family and friends. Remember that verse in 2 Corinthians 9:7 where Paul wrote, “Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (NIV) Being a “cheerful giver” comes from our trusting God. We should give our tithes, our offerings to God, whether of our money, time, family, friends, and life, cheerfully, not reluctantly. We should give Him all we are and have each day because His love never fails. We can trust Him. God’s calling of us to be about His business never stops. He calls each of His children to tell the gospel to all people. God wants each person to know this, just like He did the Israelites. Our telling the gospel is one way to tithe of our time and self. If we truly love the Lord, we will want to give back to Him that which He has given to us for His purposes, our lives in obedience to Him. Does that mean there will not be tears when you say goodbye to friends and family or when you must bury your parents at whose side you could not sit when they died? No, there are tears. God gave us tears to help release the emotions of sorrow and joy. (Aren’t tears wonderfully refreshing?) With this part of the passage in Isaiah 8, I needed to decide if I would dread returning to the people of SA or if I would cheerfully go because they are the people whom God loves and to whom He sends me to witness and minister. Instead of dreading or fearing my return to SA, I can be like Isaiah was when he said in verse seventeen, “I will wait for the LORD. I will put my trust in Him.” We can completely trust God. If you are honest, He has never failed you. And He will not fail you. He loves you and loves the people whom He puts in your path daily.

When we completely trust God and not fear or dread what might come, we can experience the hope God gives each of His children. He gave us this hope when we professed Jesus as the Messiah, God’s Son. Yet, many of us allow fear and dread to overshadow that hope. Nothing ever can overshadow God or anything from Him, even hope. Nothing can hide the Truth and Light. What is this hope? Isaiah tells the Israelites this hope from God in Isaiah 9:2, “The people walking in darkness have seen a great Light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a Light has dawned.” (NIV) This hope is for the near future and the distant future. The Israelites had seen a great Light. They saw the fire lighting their way in the darkness when they left Egypt. And they would see this same light again. God was telling them to have hope because He would lead them back to the Promised Land after they became captives to Assyria and Babylon. God is faithful and will keep His promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For the Israelites, the distant future held the hope of the Messiah, who One would come from a virgin and would be “God with us,” Immanuel. This hope God gave to the Israelites through Isaiah’s prophecy is a hope we Christians can hold on to even today. When we completely trust God and allow His hope to shine a Light for us and lead us, we do not dread or fear. We align our hearts with God to be cheerfully obedient, so the entire world will know about Jesus.

What have I relearned from God’s loving compassion and forbearance with me during this stateside assignment time? I can allow dread and fear to keep me from walking in the peace God gives through the hope He gave to me when I became a Christian. I can allow my excuses to keep me from serving God and have no peace about it. Lack of hope affects the heart, mind, soul, and strength and keeps me from loving God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. God spoke of this through Moses in Deuteronomy 6:4-5 and Jesus spoke of it in Matthew 22:37, too. Jesus added one other commandment. It sums up the last six of the Ten Commandments. He called it the second greatest commandment when He said, “And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.” I cannot do either of the two greatest commandments if I allow the fear and dread, which comes from Satan, to keep me from trusting and loving the Lord with my whole being. And do not get me wrong; I love God to the depths of my being. My commitment to Him 44 years ago when I became a believer in Jesus and 21.5 years ago when I first left America to go to South Africa show the depth of my love for Him. I have made this same decision every time I returned there after our stateside assignment times. Does my heart want to stay in America? Yes! But my heart longs even more to follow God. He continues to lead me to South Africa.

Ask that same question to yourself? Do you love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength? If you do, then you will have no problem saying yes to the next question. Do you love your neighbor as you love yourself? Do you love them enough that you will do whatever God asks of you, go where he tells you to go, and live with and minister to the people He loves and has called you to serve? See, that is the rub. We must love God enough that no matter what He asks of us, we will not dread, fear, or offer excuses for not “being able” to go. I am still learning, but I can say God is my everything and my family falls in line right behind Him in my consideration. It does not mean I love my family less. I love them enough to show God means everything to me. It shows them just what everything means and becomes an example to them of love for God.

In the Chronological Life Application Study Bible (page 792), a commentator wrote this statement. “Although God may not always spare us from troubles, He will lead us safely through them if we follow Him wholeheartedly.” That is my God and I trust Him completely.

Will you trust the Lord today with your life, the lives of your loved ones, and your future? 

With God, there is no more fear or dread. 

For unto us a Son was born and given whose name is Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. And there will be no end to the greatness of His government and peace. With justice and righteousness, He will reign on David’s throne forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty accomplished this. (Isaiah 9:6-7, my interpretation)

God is still in control.

We have security in Him for our rapidly changing world.

Will you trust God?

Forsaken

They abandoned the temple of the LORD, the God of their ancestors, and worshiped Asherah poles and idols. 2 Chronicles 24:18a (NIV)

Dust on Bibles,

Calluses on knees,

Tear stains on faces,

Confidence with ease.

 

Paint peeling, falling,

Gutters askew,

Litter uncollected,

Dust on the pews.

 

Beggars left pleading,

Cries heard through the night,

Kids’ hungry bellies,

What is their plight?

 

Eyes wander back,

Minds filter with dew,

Hearts recognize,

Spirits remember who-  

*Who left the altar 

*Who walked away 

*Who chose new paths* 

Who said, “Another day.”

 

Tears streak down faces,

Knees callused again;

Hearts fully repenting,

Spirits sway back to Him.

 

Dust blown from Bibles,

Paint fully renewed;

Litter now collected,

People in pews.

 

God recollected.

His love never gone!

People again sought Him,

Voices raised in song! 

**Sing Hallelujahs, 

**Praise to the King! 

**Our Savior, Redeemer. 

**Ring heaven’s bells and sing!

 

Let history remind us,

Let it teach and lead.

Let God be our Master!

Praise I AM, our King!

Although the LORD sent prophets to the people to bring them back to Him, and though they testified against them, they would not listen. 2 Chronicles 24:19 (NIV)

Will you listen to God calling you to return to Him?

Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Whoever wants to be My disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow Me. Matthew 16:24 (NIV)