Category Archives: Condemnation

Accountability, Advice, Bible, Condemnation, Darkness, Deceit, Deception, Destruction, Direction, Encouragement, Infidelity, Judgment, Lies, Obedience, Scripture

WHEN YOU REACH THE BOTTOM

HOSEA 4:18

“Their liquor is gone, they prostitute themselves continually; Their rulers dearly love shame.”

The church I serve has a homeless ministry in our city. I hear just about every week about an individual they are working with. Their stories are heartbreaking. Most of them are on the street due to a series of bad breaks or bad choices. Some of them, unfortunately, have made the choice to live on the street. They have fallen so low they cannot see themselves ever doing any better.

Hosea continues his words about those who have fallen away from God. He says, “their liquor is gone.” Their means to forget is now gone. They can’t numb themselves further. Hosea goes on to say, “they prostitute themselves continually.” Their self-respect is completely gone. Even their bodies mean nothing to them anymore. Finally, Hosea says they “love shame.” Wow! Now that’s low.

APPLICATION

Have you ever sunken that low? Have you ever felt there was no way out? I have had a couple of those moments in my life. My low points weren’t due to alcohol or prostitution, but my low was still low. I couldn’t see a way up. I was depressed. I felt alone. I thought my future was over.

But guess what? It wasn’t. I could not have imagined back then that I would be writing devotions and posting them so that literally thousands of individuals could read them annually. That blows my mind. God had a plan back then for me that I could not possibly understand. I just had to trust Him.

Are you feeling low today? Turn to Him. Let the Lord Jesus pick you up, dust you off and give you a new lease on life. He has never stopped believing in you. He has always had a plan for your life. Will you trust Him to show you? He will. And He will walk with you as you take those first steps.

Lord Jesus, I trust You. I want to live my life honoring and magnifying Your work in and through my life.

Standard
Accountability, Advice, Bible, Blasphemy, Condemnation, Denial, Forgiveness, Hypocrisy, Infidelity, Judgment, Lies, Satan, Scripture, Sin, Victors

WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE GOOSE…

HOSEA 4:14

“I will not punish your daughters when they play the prostitute, or your brides when they commit adultery, because the men themselves slip away with the prostitutes and offer sacrifices with temple prostitutes; So, the people without understanding are ruined.”

You probably have heard the expression “What is good for the goose is good for the gander.” That sounds good, doesn’t it? But not always. If both parties are going to get punished, I would prefer to not be the gander, lol. I would hope that I could learn from others’ mistakes and avoid them.

That’s not what happened in Israel. In fact, God has given them up to their sins. The verse sounds like the women are being forgiven. No! God is allowing them to continue in their adultery. The men are doing the same. When God gives you up, that’s a bad thing. Don’t you think?

APPLICATION

So, how do we deal with this verse? We need to confess our sins and live our lives honoring the Lord. We cannot live like the world and pretend there are no consequences. The Lord may not hold us accountable immediately, but every sin has consequences sooner or later.

Now, listen to me. As believers we should never chase sin. After salvation, sin chases us. We have to decide if we want to stop and let it catch us. But we need to remember that in Christ, we have power over sin. We are free in Jesus. Don’t believe the lies of the devil. He will try to convince you that you just can’t help it.

I choose today to live in victory. There is nothing more freeing than knowing that. When we surrender daily to the Lord and walk in the light of His Word, we have victory. Hallelujah! I refuse to be defeated. Jesus has defeated the devil. Don’t forget that.

I praise Your name, Jesus. Thank You for defeating the devil and putting him in his place. I walk today victorious.

Standard
Accountability, Bible, Choices, Condemnation, Direction, Forgetting, Hypocrisy, Infidelity, Judgment, Lawlessness, Obedience, Punishment, Scripture

NO DEVOTION

HOSEA 4:10

“They will eat, but not have enough; They will play the prostitute, but not increase, because they gave up devoting themselves to the LORD.”

I have been devoted to a lot of things in life. I was devoted to football when I was in high school. I loved the game. Truth be known, I loved to hit people. I did everything the coach asked of me. But as soon as high school ended that devotion ended. There was no future in it for me.

Israel gave up devoting themselves to the Lord and reaped the consequences. Their resources would not be enough. No matter how much they had, it would fall short. Hosea said they played the prostitute. They had sinned and deserted the Lord. God cannot bless that kind of behavior. Israel was judged for this.

APPLICATION

What happens to us when we stop devoting ourselves to Him? The same thing. God will cease blessing us. We may not “play the prostitute,” but sin is sin. Anything can lead us away from the Lord. What in your life is doing that? If it replaces the time you spend with the Lord, it is sin. If it becomes your first love, it is sin.

Devotion to anything besides the Lord will only lead you down the wrong road. Our Lord expects obedience, but He won’t make us obey. We have to choose to obey Him. We have to choose to devote ourselves to Him. And when we do, He is there to bless and lead us. He rewards our devotion.

Now, here me clearly. We devote ourselves to Him not for what we can get out of it. We devote ourselves to Him out of love for Him. His love draws us to this point of devotion if we will only yield to it. His love will never lead us to anything but devotion.

I have devoted myself to You, O Lord. My devotion is based on my love for Your love.

Standard
Advice, Bible, Choices, Condemnation, Deceit, Judgment, Lawlessness, Obedience, Punishment, Scripture, Surrender, Testimony

DON’T FOLLOW THE LEADER

HOSEA 4:9

“And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.”

Did you ever play the game Follow the Leader? I used to love playing that game as a child. We would try to make our path as hard as possible to weed out our followers. Up hills, through ditches, whatever it took. The path was crooked and could even be considered dangerous to some.

Hosea is warning the people. Don’t follow these leaders. They are leading the people in the wrong direction. Their lifestyles are nothing to emulate. In fact, go the opposite direction is essentially what Hosea is saying. There are times when you don’t follow the leader.

APPLICATION

Have you ever been under a bad leader? What do you do? Do you follow them, no matter what? Of course, you don’t. We do have to submit to our leaders unless their leadership is illegal, immoral or unbiblical. Will that be an hard decision to make? It sure will. But to be true to the Lord, you have to make it.

When you make the decision to not follow the leader, be prepared for repercussions. You could lose your job. You could suffer payback. Remember, Peter tells us in 1 Peter that is better to suffer for doing what is right than for doing what is wrong. The Lord has your back. Trust Him.

I have faced this a couple of times. Each time I have prayed and then gone to the leader in question and made my opposition known. So far, each time the Lord had gone before me and had softened this person’s heart. They heard me. The turned from their announced course of action. That confrontation actually brought us closely.Lord, lead me down Your path, even when that means I have to stop following those over me. I have one Master – You.

DON’T FOLLOW THE LEADER

HOSEA 4:9

“And it will be, like people, like priest; So I will punish them for their ways and repay them for their deeds.”

Did you ever play the game Follow the Leader? I used to love playing that game as a child. We would try to make our path as hard as possible to weed out our followers. Up hills, through ditches, whatever it took. The path was crooked and could even be considered dangerous to some.

Hosea is warning the people. Don’t follow these leaders. They are leading the people in the wrong direction. Their lifestyles are nothing to emulate. In fact, go the opposite direction is essentially what Hosea is saying. There are times when you don’t follow the leader.

APPLICATION

Have you ever been under a bad leader? What do you do? Do you follow them, no matter what? Of course, you don’t. We do have to submit to our leaders unless their leadership is illegal, immoral or unbiblical. Will that be an hard decision to make? It sure will. But to be true to the Lord, you have to make it.

When you make the decision to not follow the leader, be prepared for repercussions. You could lose your job. You could suffer payback. Remember, Peter tells us in 1 Peter that is better to suffer for doing what is right than for doing what is wrong. The Lord has your back. Trust Him.

I have faced this a couple of times. Each time I have prayed and then gone to the leader in question and made my opposition known. So far, each time the Lord had gone before me and had softened this person’s heart. They heard me. The turned from their announced course of action. That confrontation actually brought us closely.

Lord, lead me down Your path, even when that means I have to stop following those over me. I have one Master – You.

Standard
Accountability, Bible, Choices, Condemnation, Destruction, Judgment, Obedience, Punishment, Rejection, Scripture, Sin

MORE PEOPLE, MORE SIN

HOSEA 4:7

“The more they multiplied, the more they sinned against Me; I will change their glory into shame.”

I’ve been in crowds that have gotten out of control. You may have heard of the mob mentality. People feed off of each other. One bad decision leads to another bad decision. Before you know it, evil is reigning freely. It’s not a comfortable situation in which to find yourself.

Hosea tells us in today’s verse that as the numbers of people grew in the nation, the sin grew. God had promised to multiply Abraham’s seed as the stars in the sky. But as the numbers increased so did their sin. Instead of praising God for blessing them, they increased their sinning against Him.

APPLICATION

We are the same. The more God blesses us, the more we seem to turn against Him. All we have belongs to God, but we claim it as our own. In times of affluence, we forget about the very one who has sent His blessings our way. Why do we do that? Because we are just like the Israelites.

As you awake each day, take a moment to thank the Lord for all He has blessed you with. Thank Him for the bed you just got out of. Thank Him for the food you are about to eat for breakfast. Thank Him for your family. We have so much to praise Him for, don’t we?

Maybe you are going through a hard time right now and find it hard to thank Him. How about your breathe? How about one more day? We can always find something to thank Him for. He blesses us because He loves us. He doesn’t need our thanks, but it sure is good to tell Him anyway. Stop being part of that thankless crowd and tell the Lord today just how thankful you are.

I am so thankful, Lord, for all the blessings You give me daily. There is no way words can express my thanks.

Standard
Accountability, Affection, Bible, Choices, Condemnation, Faith, Following, God's Will, Hope, Obedience, Protection, Relationships, Scripture

YOU’RE NOT MINE

HOSEA 1:9

“And the LORD said, ‘Name him Lo-ammi, because you are not My people, and I am not your God.’”

I worked over thirty years in children’s homes ministries. Probably the saddest part of those years was when a biological mom or dad told their child they didn’t want them anymore. The hurt in the eyes of those children isn’t easy to forget. They felt thrown away and worthless. Our job at the children’s home was to love on them and bring them to Jesus. He would never leave them.

Through Hosea’s children, God was sending a message to Israel. This latest birth, a son, sent a harsh message to them. God said, “I am not your God.” Wow! After all the years of God directing them and protecting them, He had enough. He was done with their rebellion. He was no longer their Father. I wonder how the Israelites’ faces looked. Were they crushed like the children I dealt with? Or were they clueless of what they had done?

APPLICATION

As believers, we can never escape the presence of our God. He will never leave us. We have a covenant relationship with Him through Christ. We may choose to rebel and not walk as we should, but He will never leave us. Any separation between us and God is because we have moved, not Him.

Don’t you want to be closer to Him today? I do. I want to feel His embrace. I need to know He is there beside me each day. I do not want to face one second without Him. So, I spend time each day in His Word. I spend time each day talking to Him. I want to hear His voice. I want Him to hear mine. I can’t imagine hearing, “I am not your God.”

However, there are millions around us every day who don’t know our Savior. If they should die today, they would hear those words from God. How can we prevent that from happening? By taking the time to share with everyone around us. Tell others what He has done for you. Tell others of His love. Let them hear God say, “I love you. I am your God.”

Father in heaven, hear my cry today. I beg You for the lives of those around me. Send me to share with them the love You have for all.

Standard
Bible, Child Raising, Child Rearing, Condemnation, Confidence, Encouragement, Following, Mentoring, Parenting, Repentance, Scripture, Surrender

CONFIDENCE

1 JOHN 3:21

“Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God;”

Have you ever been confident of something? You knew you had whatever it was figured out and could handle it. How do you gain that confidence? Does it just come naturally? Most of the time it doesn’t. It comes from practice. It comes from repeated actions until you don’t even have to think about it. When I haven’t done something in a while, I usually have to go back and study up to feel confident. Not so with our hearts, though.

John is reminding us that if our hearts are “confessed up” there is no condemnation there. We can stand before the Lord with confidence, knowing that we have brought all our sins and failures to Him. There is no better feeling than to know we can stand free and clear before Him. The fresh feeling of forgiveness washes over us and allows us to stand boldly before a holy God.

APPLICATION

Have your children ever tried to hide something they have done wrong? Maybe they broke something and didn’t want you to find out. You knew something was going on but hadn’t figured it out yet. When you did find out, how did they respond? Some kids will just break down and confess. Others will maintain their innocence. Confession has to come in order for forgiveness to be given and received.

These little lessons go a long way toward our children understanding the forgiveness of the Lord. There are often consequences for actions, but most of the time those consequences are not that bad. But our children fear the consequences. We need to teach them to seek out the restoration. That covers the consequences and, like John says, removes the condemnation.

Are you free from condemnation today? I hope so. I pray you have come before the Father with a clean slate. There is no need to put off confession. He knows our hearts anyway. And when we come to Him in full surrender, bearing our guilt and sin, He looks on us lovingly and extends His grace. What more could you ask for?

Thank You, Lord, for the forgiveness You give each and every time I come to You. I want to walk boldly before You knowing You have washed me clean.

Standard
Accountability, Bible, Child Raising, Child Rearing, Condemnation, Confession, Encouragement, Forgiveness, God's Will, Mentoring, Parenting, Repentance, Salvation, Scripture

GOD IS GREATER

1 JOHN 3:20

“in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things.”

We can rationalize our sins, can’t we? We can excuse our “little” inconsistencies and insist they are not so bad. We can always point at someone else and their sins. They are so much worse, right? Guess what? Sin is sin! Period. We can’t rely on what our heart condemns. We have to rely on the One who judges all things.

John tells us God is greater than our hearts. He knows our every little thought. He knows our motives. He knows our hearts much better than we do. We cannot hide our secret sins. We have one choice – to come to Him in full confession. He does know all things, including every thought of our heart.

APPLICATION

Have you convinced your children you have eyes in the back of your head? Lol. A lot of children would swear that their parents do. They can’t seem to get away with anything. That’s a good thing, huh? Of course, we know we don’t. We just have a little more experience and can spot a lie or deceitful heart.

Our children need to learn that there is no reason to try to hide their hearts. God loves them and wants them to walk with Him in Spirit and truth. Keeping your heart confessed before Him allows you to not be condemned. If you have asked Christ to be your Lord and Savior, there is no reason to walk in condemnation. That’s the tactic of the devil. He wants to accuse us. God doesn’t. He forgives us.

So, are you feeling condemned? Get rid of that right now. God is great, not because He wants to zap you. God is great because He loved you enough to send His Son to die for you. God has no desire to condemn you. Nor does He want you to allow your heart to condemn you. He longs for you to come to Him. Won’t you do that today?

Father, I confess I am not worthy to even be called Your child, but You call me that. I bring all those sins before You now for cleansing.

Standard