His Name Is Jealous

The weekend of love all over the world has just passed. It was the time where most people thought of ways to love their significant others and people in their lives who are dear to them. It is the only time that love is really promoted and recognized all around the world. The good thing is that we don't have to wait for a day to come to recognize that God loves us. We are reminded continuously of His affection and His devotion towards us through His word and in our individual lives. God loves us and He want us for Himself.

Those who are in marriage, want their spouses for themselves. No one else can have them. They are theirs and they desire full attention in that relationship. God desires our full attention, He desires our faithfulness towards Him.

For you shall worship no other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. Exodus 34:14 (NKJV)

His name is Jealous. Jealousy demands faithfulness and exclusive worship. God desires for us to come to a place of loyalty, to a place of faithfulness where the focus of our lives is Him, where our minds are set on things above. God desires that we would see Him as the Only God and not give ourselves to another.

For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. 2 Chronicles 16:9 (NKJV)

God looks for hearts that are loyal to His own. He looks for a people who are faithful and true to Him, the Bridegroom God. He looks for those who are devoted. Are we devoted to God? Can we say that we have been faithful to God? Can we say that we look to no other for satisfaction? Only God can bring us true satisfaction. Only He can satisfy. No matter how many things we go to whether it is food,  a person, a career or money, it will never satisfy. Only the Jealous God can!

“Bring charges against your mother, bring charges; for she is not My wife, nor am I her Husband! Let her put away her harlotries from her sight, and her adulteries from between her breasts; ³ Lest I strip her naked and expose her, as in the day she was born, and make her like a wilderness, and set her like a dry land, and slay her with thirst. ⁴ “I will not have mercy on her children, for they are the children of harlotry. ⁵ For their mother has played the harlot; she who conceived them has behaved shamefully. For she said, ‘I will go after my lovers, who give me my bread and my water, my wool and my linen, my oil and my drink.’ Hosea 2:2-5 (NKJV)

The book of Hosea shows the unfaithfulness of the people of Israel to God. They looked for other lovers to satisfy their flesh and forgot about the God who brought them out from the Egypt. The people of Israel were not loyal, they were not true. They thought only of their own gratification and forgot the God of their fathers. They thought only of water and bread and forgot that God said that He would provide for them. We can't get to a stage where we no longer see God as the only One who can satisfy. We can't get to a stage where we seek other lovers and forget the lover of our souls.

“I will betroth you to Me forever; Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and justice, in lovingkindness and mercy; ²⁰ I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness, and you shall know the Lord. ²¹ “It shall come to pass in that day that I will answer,” says the Lord; “I will answer the heavens, and they shall answer the earth. ²² The earth shall answer with grain, with new wine, and with oil; They shall answer Jezreel. ²³ Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth, and I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy; then I will say to those who were not My people, ‘You are My people!’ and they shall say, ‘You are my God!’” Hosea 2:19-23 (NKJV)

Even though Israel was unfaithful to God, God still loved them. He still chose them as His people and He still came after them. God had mercy on them and called them His own. God still loves us and He still wants us. Even though there may be times where we look to other things for satisfaction, God still draws us to Himself again and again. He continues to have mercy on us and always brings us back to the place where we realize that we are not our own but we are His.

His name is Jealous and He is jealous for us. He wants us to be that Bride clothed in white. He wants us to be His beloved. God is jealous for you.

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Song of Solomon 7:10 (NKJV)

Greater Is Coming

Some of us are in a season of turmoil, some in a season of distress, some in an unknown season where everything seems to be going wrong. These seasons are not always bad but they prepare us for something bigger, for something greater. These seasons prepare us for what is ahead. Your greater is coming just wait and see!

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.  And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in My name, I will do it. John 14:12-14 (NKJV)

A lot of times we go through difficult situations and we often ask why. We think to ourselves 'why am I going through this?', 'why me?', "is there purpose in this?'. Many times we don't see the purpose in it, we only see the pain, we only see the betrayal, we only see the regret and this is understandable. Our frail minds really cannot understand how there can be a purpose in suffering, how there can be something working out for our good in the situation but when we remember that we have the mind of Christ, we don't see the situation from an earthly perspective but from a heavenly one.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us. Romans 5:1-5 (NKJV)

Tribulation produces perseverance, perseverance produces character and character produces hope. In these tribulations, we have to be determined to not give up because something greater is ahead. We can't give into the tribulation. Jesus didn't give into the temptations in the wilderness, He realized that there was something greater ahead, He realized that He had to press on and to fulfill the task at hand. Jesus saw the greater in us. He didn't see the sin but He saw salvation, He saw the Holy Spirit in us. Jesus saw the greater works that we would do. He saw the greater day that would come where the bride would make herself ready and the marriage of the Lamb would come.

When we persevere and we press on without giving up, we kill the flesh. Flesh tells us 'this is not worth it'. It tell us 'this makes no sense', 'why go through all this trouble?'. When we persevere despite the circumstances and we trust God and believe in His word, we feed our spirit and we become stronger. Our character becomes more like Christ because we begin to trust Him, we begin to live out His word. We begin to see the move of God in our lives.

When our character develops, it produces hope. It produces faith. We begin to have faith in God because He kept us through the situation, He gave us strength to press on and we overcame it. This faith helps us to overcome future obstacles because we see how God kept us in the past and we then believe that He can do it again.

Our greater is coming!! Our greater transformation is coming!! We will see the greater in our lives, we just have to press through, it's hard but it's going to be worth it!!

I feel a shaking in the Spirit, I feel a beating in the Spirit, I feel a pressing in the Spirit, preparing me for greater

He Will Keep You

You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. Isaiah 26:3 (NKJV)

God will keep you in perfect peace. He will keep you in those stormy situations and bring stillness and peace. He brings peace to those whose minds are stayed on Him. When we fix our eyes on God, every worry subsides. Everything that we thought was an issue or a problem becomes no more because we recognize that our Heavenly Father will take care of us. If He can feed the birds, surely He can feed us. 

When our minds are stayed on God, we trust Him. Our minds become anxious and begin to over think when we think that God really isn't doing the job. We begin to have unbelief and we begin to doubt. Trusting God is letting go of everything and casting your cares on Him. It is realizing that you really can't do anything about the situation and the only person who can is God. 

Trusting without borders is what we are called to do. We can't say that we fully trust if we worry and become anxious, in this we are actually trusting God with borders. We want to be able to trust God without any borders, without any hindrances, without any doubts. Our trust should span the length of the sea and beyond.

God will keep you in your situation. He kept me in mine and surely He will keep you also. Don't worry, don't get anxious, just trust God and trust that He has a plan for you that is for your good.  

This post is a part of the Five Minute Friday community by Kate Motaung where brave writers gather together to write for five minutes on any word.

Instruments of Praise

Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. Hebrews 13:15 (NKJV)

Being an instrument of praise is one of the things that we are called to be on the earth. We are called to give God praise and to give Him glory, that is our ultimate purpose. Being an instrument of praise can be many things. The first thing that we think about when we talk about praise is singing, dancing and playing an instrument. These things are all good, they are all things that I admire and appreciate but these are not the only things that we can use to give God praise.

I have heard many people say that they don't have a purpose or they don't know what their calling is because they can't sing or can't dance.This is a sad statement which shows how much we have limited God as well as ourselves. Being an instrument of praise includes glorifying God in our school work, giving Him praise in our daily activities and it means using those gifts that He has given us.

Our lives are filled with so many different things that we do and we can give God praise through these. We can give Him praise through our businesses, through our creations and through our words. 

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in His sanctuary;
Praise Him in His mighty firmament!

Praise Him for His mighty acts;
Praise Him according to His excellent greatness!

Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet;
Praise Him with the lute and harp!

Praise Him with the timbrel and dance;
Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes!

Praise Him with loud cymbals;
Praise Him with clashing cymbals!

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord!

Psalms 150 

Can we really say that we are instruments of praise? Do we really give praise? Praise is the expression of respect and gratitude. It is an act of worship. So many times we go about our day and even our lives without thanking God for the things that He has done for us. Let's commit to thanking God for the things that happen during our day whether it is getting to our destinations safely or bringing the bus on time or waking us up this morning.

Let's be instruments of praise! Let's be the tool that gives God glory and that gives Him praise!