Category Archives: Surrender

Advice, Betrayal, Bible, Denial, Foolishness, Judgment, Lies, Modeling, Obedience, Respect, Scripture, Surrender

NOSE THUMBER

HOSEA 10:3

“Certainly now they will say, ‘We have no king, for we do not revere the LORD. As for the king, what can he do for us?’”

I have known a few people who thumbed their nose at God. I had a coworker once who wanted nothing to do with God or me. I was the Chaplain at a children’s home, so I represented God to him. He really didn’t like me because of that. He was constantly speaking badly about our chapel services and ridiculed the decisions the children were making. He did not revere the Lord.

Israel did not revere the Lord. They had no respect for their king either. They had lost all their allegiance to anyone except themselves, and that was failing. So, they were also thumbing their noses at God. He wasn’t doing what they wanted, so they were done with Him. They wanted God to serve them, to meet all their needs. Anything less was useless to them.

APPLICATION

What is your view of God? You may expect God to meet all your needs when you want Him to. You may think the Lord is kind of like Santa Claus. And when He doesn’t “perform” you put Him aside. That is not the way God works. He is not on your timetable.

But, oh listen to me. God wants to work in your life. He has such grand plans for you and me. We have to lay down our plans and allow Him to work in and through us. We will never know the heights to which He can take us unless we lay down our own self made plans. Will you do that today?

I am still learning how to lay down my plans. I am a planner and there are times when I get tired of waiting on God. Don’t judge me. I am sure you have done that. But when I do wait on Him, His plan makes so much better sense. You would think I would have learned this by now. Keep me in your prayers, and I will pray for you, too.

Father, I don’t want to ever caste You aside. You are the center of all I do. I want to honor You.

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Abiding, Accountability, Bible, Commitment, Completeness, Disciplemaking, Following, Fruit, Glory, Harvest, Life, Modeling, Scripture, Surrender

IT LOOKS GOOD, BUT…

HOSEA 10:1

“Israel is a luxuriant vine; He produces fruit for himself. The more his fruit, the more altars he made; the richer his land, the better he made the memorial stones.”

My dad always had about three grape vines in our yard. They were muscadine vines. Every year we would pick those grapes and make jelly. My dad loved his jelly. But also, every year we had to cut back those vines so they could produce grapes and not just vines and leaves. A leafy vine is pretty but not very productive.

Today’s verse, at first glance, is confusing. It sounds like Israel is a good vine. But it actually means leafy and pretty, but not productive. And even when they did appear productive, they squandered their blessings on other gods, not Jehovah. Israel was not acknowledging their bounty as coming from the Lord.

APPLICATION

Your blessings are from above. You need to acknowledge that as a believer. And when you do acknowledge that, you need to give Him all the praise. It’s not about you. It’s all about Him. So, why do we try to toot our own horn? Why do we try to claim credit for it?

Maybe you’re one of those “leafy” Christians. You appear to be productive for the Lord, but you have no fruit. You look like a healthy Christian, but there is nothing in your life that points back to Jesus. You are all show and no go. You are missing out on the blessings He wants to bestow on you. He longs to show you how to be productive and bear fruit. But you must let Him in.

I have come to realize in my latter years that anything good in me is just Jesus. Anything I produce is for His glory and for the benefit of others. It has nothing to do with me. I am nothing outside of Christ. He deserves all the praise for any fruit in my life. I truly believe that. I don’t want any credit. It all belongs to Him.

Lord, I praise You for giving the opportunity to serve You and others. Help me be a productive believer for Your sake.

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Accountability, Advice, Bible, Busyness, Contentment, Direction, Disciplemaking, Encouragement, Godliness, Inspirational, Judgment, Modeling, Obedience, Promises, Scripture, Surrender, Testimony

PALACES

HOSEA 8:14

“For Israel has forgotten his Maker and built palaces; and Judah has multiplied fortified cities, but I will send a fire on its cities, and it will consume its palatial buildings.”

The closest I have been to being in a palace is the Biltmore House near Asheville, N.C. It was built by the Vanderbilt family and has been described as an American palace. It really is a sight to behold. The rooms and grounds are incredible. I can’t imagine what it cost, but it took over six years to build the 178,000 square foot mansion.

Palaces don’t mean a thing, though. Israel and Judah found that out. No matter how many they built, they would not stand. There is nothing man can build that can withstand the judgment of God. Perhaps they thought if they “impressed” God He might change His mind about judging them. It didn’t work.

APPLICATION

We tend to try to impress God by the things we do. We may not build mansions, but we build other things. We build up our worldly wealth – that won’t stand. We build beautiful churches and sanctuaries – they won’t impress Him. We build up our reputations – they also won’t sway God. God simply wants our hearts.

Have you surrendered your heart to Him? Perhaps you are struggling with that decision today. Give it to Him. Let Him build you up. Let Him use His Spirit to guide you in your decisions. That pleases Him. If your heart isn’t totally surrendered to Him, He can’t use you in ways He would like. He has such great plans for you. Don’t you know that?

I want Him to use me. I want to do His bidding. However, I know I can’t do that unless I yield to Him. I have to stop building my own palaces to impress Him and others. I have to stop spending so much time worrying about what others think about me. What truly matters is what the Lord thinks. Don’t you agree? If we are in His will, that is all that matters.

Tear down any palaces I have built from my own flesh. Tear down those things that put me above You. You are all that matters, Lord.

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Accountability, Belief, Betrayal, Bible, Commands, Devout, Faith, Following, Idols, Judgment, Obedience, Prayer, Scripture, Surrender

ALTARS OF SIN

HOSEA 8:11

“Since Ephraim has multiplied altars for sin, they have become altars of sinning for him.”

I’ve never built an altar. Have you? It seems people do it all the time. You are probably thinking, What are you talking about?Altars are places of worship. People are bowing down all the time to things. They are putting their attention and time on priorities other than God.

Israel had built altars to all sorts of pagan gods. Altars, altars everywhere. And with all these altars they were sinning, sinning against a holy God. And they were not thinking anything about this. They were chasing after the gods of their pagan neighbors and turning their backs on Jehovah.

APPLICATION

What are you pursuing? What are you bowing before? You may not think you have altars in your life. You may think you are doing all the right things. But if you aren’t bowing only to Jesus, you have just built an altar. Your altar may not look like the ones the Israelites built, but it’s still an altar.

You are sacrificing your time on your false altars. You are sacrificing your money on those altars. Those altars are robbing you of your devotion to your Lord. Examine your life right now. Take a moment and look at where you are spending your time and money. Ask the Lord if you have built a false altar. He will tell you.

I will bow only to Him. There is nothing as important as spending time with Jesus. Time in His word and time in prayer have to be my number one priority spiritually. I can’t use the excuse that I don’t have time for my quiet time in the morning. I can’t say I just don’t have time to pray. I will turn to Him first each day. Will you join me?

Thank You, Lord, for allowing me the privilege to worship You. I desire to bow before You every day to honor and glorify You.

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Accountability, Bible, Blessing, Choices, Commands, Disciplemaking, Following, Harvest, Judgment, Obedience, Scripture, Surrender

FALSE HARVEST

HOSEA 8:7

“For they sow wind and they harvest a storm. The standing grain has no kernels; it yields no grain. If it were to yield, strangers would swallow it.”

I have mentioned before that I grew up in Southwest Georgia in a very rural community. My Grandma Carter had a farm about 12 miles from our home where we used to go to harvest vegetables from her garden. I especially loved to pick the corn. Sometimes, though, the corn cobs would be underdeveloped. They weren’t good to eat. We wasted all that time in the harvest with nothing to show for it.

Israel was facing the same thing. Because of God’s judgment upon them, they would not be blessed in their harvests. In fact, nothing they did would be productive. There is a cost for rebellion. There are consequences for not obeying the Lord’s commands. They expected blessings but received nothing.

APPLICATION

Perhaps you are wondering why you are not receiving blessings from the Lord. I am not talking about a prosperity gospel. I am not saying we can just name it and claim it. I mean, you are looking for the Lord to bless you, but He isn’t. Why? God wants to bless all His children. I hope you believe that. But maybe you are living in a such a way that the Lord can’t bless you.

God does demand allegiance. Obedience is expected. And when we are obedient, God is ready to pour out His blessings. He blesses us because He wants to. He enjoys seeing us live obedient lives. Because He loves us so much, we should want to please Him.

I want to receive His blessings. I truly desire them. But I have learned through many years of walking with the Lord that those blessings only come through obedience. I know this to be true and still I fall short too many times. But God knows my heart. He lovingly welcomes me home each and every time I come to Him in repentance. Will you?

Thank You, Lord, for sending Your blessings when I come to You in surrender. Your blessings are my desire.

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Accountability, Battles, Bible, Choices, Deceit, Following, God's Will, Holy Spirit, Obedience, Satan, Scripture, Surrender

PRIDE

HOSEA 7:10

“Though the pride of Israel testifies against him, yet they have not returned to the LORD their God, nor have they sought Him, despite all this.

Pride comes before the fall. Have you heard that? Well, it’s true. We get cocky and arrogant, and before you know it, we fall flat on our face. Pride can be a good thing. We should take pride in our country. We should be proud of our friends or family when they have a great achievement. But pride of self will always bring us down.

Hosea continues to speak against Ephraim and talks about their pride. They are caught in their sins, but their pride will not let them repent. Why should they? Their sins aren’t as bad as the pagans of the land (or so they thought). Surely, God would not judge them. They are special. They are chosen. Wrong! God did hold them accountable.

APPLICATION

How do we fight against the pride of our flesh? There is only one way – we have to die to our flesh every second of every day. I have said that a lot in my devotional blogs. But what exactly does that mean – to die to your flesh? It means recognizing that we are not capable of living a holy life on our own. It means humbling ourselves before Him. It means saying you can’t do this on your own.

When we do that, the Holy Spirit empowers us to do everything we just said we couldn’t. What? Yep! He lives in us and will live through us when we get out of the way. He will control our tongue. He will direct our eyes. He will… But we have to surrender our will to the Father’s Will. Then and only then can the Holy Spirit do those things for us.

Are you tired of your prideful life? Are you sick of picking yourself back up after another horrible stumble? Kill that self pride today. Don’t let Satan have an inch of real estate in your life. Jesus is waiting to give you a victory.

I am so tired of trying to prove myself, Father. I surrender my life to You to do with as You see fit. Use me today to glorify Yourself.

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Accountability, Advice, Bible, Commitment, Deception, Disciplemaking, Faithfulness, Following, Foolishness, Inspirational, Obedience, Perfection, Scripture, Surrender

PANCAKES

HOSEA 7:8

“Ephraim is himself thrown about with the nations; Ephraim has become a round loaf not turned over.”

I love pancakes, those golden brown, circular cakes from heaven. I love to put fruit in mine (blueberries, bananas, coconut). I have made pancakes for decades. My little girl loved them, too. But you have to cook them correctly for them to be good. You have to learn when to flip them on the skillet and cook the other side as well or they are no good. They are worthless.

Ephraim is being compared to a pancake in today’s verse. That round loaf was called an uggah, which literally means disc cake. It was cooked over coals and if not flipped, it would be burned on one side and doughy on the other. Ephraim was compared to this worthless, half-cooked uggah. Not very appetizing and certainly not good to eat.

APPLICATION

We were all like that, before Christ. Our life was centered on ourselves. We didn’t follow the Lord. We didn’t even know we were being scorched on one side like an unflipped pancake. We were destined for the trash can. Our lives, before Jesus enters our hearts, had no real meaning, especially nothing eternal. And we were clueless.

But once Christ enters our lives, everything changes. You see, when we surrender to Him, He watches over us, just like we watch over that cooking pancake. We know when to flip it to bring it to perfection. Jesus knows when to “flip” us to bring us to perfection. But notice something – it requires heat to cook that pancake. Jesus will also apply heat to us to bring us to that point of perfection. I bet you never thought of yourself as a pancake before.

There are worse things to be compared to. Pancakes are warm and delicious, especially after you drizzle a little pancake syrup on them. Man, I’m getting hungry just writing this, lol. The next time you eat pancakes, think about Hosea 7:8. It might just change the way you see breakfast and your life.

Lord, I trust You to “flip” me when it’s time. I know You are watching the heat You are applying to make me more like You.

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Advice, Bible, Calling, Commitment, Following, Inspirational, Obedience, Prayer, Scripture, Surrender

NO CALLS

HOSEA 7:7

“All of them are hot like an oven, and they consume their rulers; All their kings have fallen. None of them calls on Me.”

It is so hard when you are expecting a call to go for days with nothing. Crickets! Silence! Perhaps it’s a call from a potential employer after a great interview. You are just waiting and waiting. Maybe it’s a call from a loved one. They are traveling and promised you a call upon their arrival. But nothing. That’s so hard.

God is crying out here in this verse. “None of them calls on Me.” Now, God doesn’t get His feelings hurt. He’s not worried about a missed call. No! He is just stating a fact. None of these people, who claim to know Him, are calling out to Him. They have forsaken Him.

APPLICATION

God wants you to call out to Him. He, in fact, bends His ear towards you. He longs to hear your voice. He wants to hear your outcries for His direction and guidance. So, why don’t we call on Him. We seem to be saying to Him, “Hey God, I’ve got this. I’ll let you know when I need You.” Are you kidding me? Seriously?

As sad as that may seem, that seems to be our response. Don’t you think He wants to be involved in your life? Call out to Him. Let Him know how you are feeling. Tell Him what you need. Of course, He already knows all of this, but He wants to hear it from you.

I can’t imagine not crying out to Him daily. I need Him in my life. There are times when I try to “do it on my own” only to cry out to God later. But at least I’m crying out. And God always answers. I never get a busy signal or His voicemail. That’s a promise. He is always ready to answer my call. He’ll answer yours too.

Father, thank You that You are always ready to hear me. I know You are listening and are ready to intercede on my behalf.

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Abiding, Accountability, Appeasement, Belief, Bible, Commands, Confession, Confrontation, Forgiveness, God's Will, Judgment, Obedience, Punishment, Scripture, Submission, Surrender

WRONGS UNCOVERED

HOSEA 7:1

“When I would heal Israel, the wrongdoing of Ephraim is uncovered, and the evil deeds of Samaria, for they practice deception; the thief enters, a band of robbers attack outside,”

Have you ever had a wrong exposed? Boy, I have. I can remember trying to hide some of my sins when I was growing up. I got pretty good at it. I knew where to hide things. I knew how to sneak around my parents. I thought I was getting by, but I wasn’t. God knew, right?

If that is true (that God always knows), why do we think we can hide those wrongdoings? Ephraim thought they could but found out differently. God held them accountable for every single breach of their covenant. Nothing escapes His eye, and they found out the hard way.

APPLICATION

Can we live our lives without every doing wrong? I wish. But it’s not possible. As hard as we try, we will slip up from time to time. God tells us to live holy lives but will forgive us when we make those mistakes. What He can’t tolerate is our lying to Him and refusing to repent. That can bring out His wrath.

Why would God be wrathful? To protect His name. Once we take on the name of Jesus, we must protect that name. Our actions reflect on Him. Remember, God is holy. He expects us to live like Him – holy. Ephesians 5:3 says, “There must not be even a hint of sexual immorality or any kind of impurity or of greed, for these are improper for God’s holy people.” We have a higher standard to live by.

The beauty of this high standard, though, is that God doesn’t expect us to live it on our own. The Holy Spirit lives in and though us, empowering us to that level. It’s not us living like Jesus. It’s the Holy Spirit in us. We just have to submit. Will you do that today?

I want to please You in my living, Lord. I want to be holy and above reproach.

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Accountability, Advice, Affliction, Bible, Cleansing, Comfort, Disciplemaking, Flesh, Following, God's Will, Judgment, Obedience, Punishment, Scripture, Surrender

HAMMER AND CHISEL

HOSEA 6:5

“Therefore, I have cut them in pieces by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of My mouth; and the judgments on you are like the light that shines.”

When I was growing up in my parents’ home, I used to love to go down to my dad’s workshop and use his tools. He only had one rule – put the tools back where you found them. My dad had a large assortment of hammers and chisels. Some of those chisels were for wood, some were for metal and some were for stone. As a little boy, I didn’t know which were which. I just grabbed one and started chiseling.

But the Lord knows which hammer and chisel to use. He used the prophets as an instrument to chisel away the hard hearts of the people. He often sent messages through them that would knock off huge chunks of their hard hearts. Other times He would use the more refining tools. But He always knew exactly what was needed to do the job.

APPLICATION

Does God need to use the 20 pound sledge on you? Is your heart that hard? Sometimes those blows are painful. You have to remember one thing. He is only knocking off what doesn’t look like Jesus. Those blows may seem relentless at times, but with each swing of the hammer, He is bringing you into a form that looks like Him.

Why would we complain about those blows then? Why do we fuss and fret and say God is not being fair with us? Because we don’t like pain. We don’t like discomfort. We want to be pampered. We want things to be easy. Well, guess what? Life isn’t easy. God never promised us that. But when we allow Him to shape us according to His Will, we understand life better.

I don’t like pain, but I welcome His chisel. I want to look like Jesus. I want to reflect His image. I want others to look at me and only see Jesus. Do they always? Not hardly. But that is my desire. How about you?

Lord, knock off all the junk in my life that hides Your Son. I want to look just like Him. Shape me and mold me.

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