{"id":1759,"date":"2015-04-09T17:01:57","date_gmt":"2015-04-09T23:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=1759"},"modified":"2015-04-11T18:30:31","modified_gmt":"2015-04-12T00:30:31","slug":"meaning-what-you-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/?p=1759","title":{"rendered":"Meaning What You Say"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Don<\/a>I am thankful for sunshine today. Getting caught up on rest and the sun can make a big difference in your perspective about life. Today, I attended the final “Primetimers”<\/em> banquet at Timberline Church. Special guests were Christian musicians Don and Wendy Francisco. Don has been part of the Christian music industry for 40 years and is best know for his song, “He’s Alive.”<\/em><\/p>\n

I didn’t get my fitness center work out in today, but I did make a trip to Home Depot to get some things that I need for the lawn. It is that time of the year and I’m looking forward to being outside more.<\/p>\n

BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY….<\/strong> The people say, \u201cLet’s return to the Lord<\/span>! He has hurt us, but he will be sure to heal us; he has wounded us, but he will bandage our wounds, won’t he?\u00a0<\/span> In two or three days he will revive us, and we will live in his presence.\u00a0<\/span> Let us try to know the Lord<\/span>. He will come to us as surely as the day dawns, as surely as the spring rains fall upon the earth.\u201d<\/span><\/em> Hosea 6:1-3<\/p>\n

These verse offer words of repentance, hope and restoration. God’s people had been overwhelmed in their idolatry with confusion and twisted thinking. They had received the fruit of what they had sown and were recognizing it as such.<\/p>\n

It is always right to have an attitude and a desire to return to the Lord, when our ways have gone in the wrong direction. We have the assurance that the Lord stands ready to freely pardon. In the verses above the people recognize that they have been wounded by their disobedience, but had confidence in the Lord’s healing.\u00a0 When restoration comes, so does\u00a0 God’s presence, and where God’s presence dwells there is provision and protection.<\/p>\n

But the Lord who freely welcomes and pardons also knows our hearts. He knows the depth or lack of our sincerity. In this passage we find one of those prophetic contrasts of “the people say”<\/em> followed by “the Lord says.” <\/em>While words appear right the Lord speaks and addresses their habitual lack of genuineness. He says, “Your love for me disappears as quickly as morning mist; it is like dew, that vanishes early in the day.”<\/span> <\/em>(Hosea 6:4)\u00a0 As the Lord continues to speak, we find words that remind us of Samuel’s words to Saul, “to obey is better than sacrifice.”<\/em> Here the Lords says,\u00a0 “I want your constant love, not your animal sacrifices. I would rather have my people know me than burn offerings to me.”<\/span><\/em> (Hosea 6:6)<\/p>\n

This is a powerful revelation of the “relational”<\/em> God that we serve. Ritual without relationship is rebellion in God’s eyes. We may fool ourselves, but we don’t fool\u00a0 God. He wants our love, He wants our hearts, He wants us to come and “learn of Him.” <\/em><\/p>\n

The Lord is willing to redeem, heal and restore. The Prophet Isaiah spoke of a time like this, “…streams of water will flow from every mountain and every hill.<\/span><\/em> The moon will be as bright as the sun, and the sun will be seven times brighter than usual, like the light of seven days in one. This will all happen when the Lord<\/span> bandages and heals the wounds he has given his people.”<\/em> (Isaiah 30:26)<\/span><\/p>\n

God’s people spoke words of truth. Words of truth about themselves and the Lord. What is important is a “heartfelt response”<\/em> or genuine repentance. That is reflected in not just correcting behavior, but having a different view and attitude toward the behavior your are turning away from.<\/p>\n

That is what the Lord spoke through Jeremiah, “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart<\/span>.<\/span> ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will restore…” <\/em>(Jeremiah 29:13)<\/p>\n

That is why Paul wrote the the Romans and reminded them of the priorities that lead to relationship with Christ, “For with the heart<\/span> one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.”<\/span><\/em> (Romans 10:10)<\/p>\n

Mean what you say and receive what you don’t deserve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I am thankful for sunshine today. Getting caught up on rest and the sun can make a big difference in your perspective about life. Today, I attended the final “Primetimers” banquet at Timberline Church. Special guests were Christian musicians Don and Wendy Francisco. Don has been part of the Christian music industry for 40 years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1759","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1759"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1771,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1759\/revisions\/1771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1759"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1759"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kensummers.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1759"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}