"So, You Hear About Hosea? Pretty Crazy, Right?"

Recently I've been reading in Hosea. Now, Hosea is a book in the latter half of the old testament that is jumbled up along with the other prophets. Now, the prophets aren't exactly the book of psalms. They're pretty intense and take a little bit of time to read. But, let me tell you, it is so worth it.
While reading in Hosea I've found some pretty insane stuff.

First off, in the beginning of the book, God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute. Now, if God told me to do something like that I would be questioning if that was really God or not. But, Hosea steps out in faith and obeys God. So, they get married and have three kids. And, God tells Hosea what to name each kid. So, Hosea names his kids, Jezreel, Lo-Ruhamah, and Lo-Amm. The first name is a shout out to Israel and the house of Jehu saying that bad stuff is coming their way. (How would you like your name to be a warning sign?) The second kid's name means "Not Loved" or "No Mercy." (That'd be a great name!) Then finally, the last child's name translates as "Not My People." 

Yup, so God has Hosea marry a prostitute and give his kids all depressing names. Just wait, it gets better. 
Later in the book, Gomer (Hosea's prostitute wife), goes again and leaves her husband and kids and enters into the life of prostitution again. That alone is pretty crazy, because Hosea had done nothing but love her and bless her, but she still ran away. (Hmmm... reminds me of someone.[Oh, right: us]) 

So, there is Gomer up on a stage where she will be sold to the highest bidder. And, God says to Hosea, "Buy her back." You have to see this here, Gomer was already Hosea's, but God told Hosea to buy her back. Gomer was already his!!! But, nonetheless, Hosea goes and buys back his wife for the full price as she stands up on the stage in her shame. He takes her from the very place that she had run away from him to. And, he loves her even in her adultery.

All I can say is, "Wow!" That is a testimony of God's grace and love. And, really, that is what God has done and does for us every time we fall. That is love. That is God's love.

But, you say, "Jadon, you forgot about the kids." Oh, but I didn't. You see God had something to say about them as well: "And I will have mercy on 'No Mercy', and I will say to 'Not My People', ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God.'" ~Hosea 2:23

That is amazing! Open up Hosea and read it sometime, it will blow your silly little mind. 
If you want to hear an amazing sermon about Hosea and Gomer, I encourage you to listen to Judah Smith's sermon "God Loves the World.": http://thecity.org/message/god_loves_the_world

God's love and grace is absolutely crazy!

Vous Êtes Ma Force

Vous Êtes Ma Force
You Are My Strength

Psalm 18:1
I will love Thee, O Lord, my strength.

Psalm 59:9
O my Strength, I will watch for You,
For You, O God, are my fortress.

2 Samuel 22:33
God is my strength and power:
and He maketh my way perfect.

What does it mean to surrender control? Are we able to give up command over ourselves?
Think about if you were unable to move your body on your own accord, but that someone else had a remote control that was able to move you. How would you feel about that?

So, I ask you, have we actually given God complete control of our lives?
We say, "I surrender all," but do we really give up the reins all together?

For in truth, when you speak to God and declare what these previous verses say, you’re essentially saying, “Here’s control over me, move me where You wish.”

Is that true in our lives, though? For when you say, “God is my strength,” you say are saying that He is in control. And that without Him and His strength, you cannot survive.

In saying, “God is my strength,” you are giving up your self. All your choices, decisions, thoughts, actions, you’re giving all of that to God and declaring that it’s His and for Him to use.

So, I beseech you, friends! In everyday, seek that you, through God, would be able to further give yourself up to Christ and allow Him to truly become your strength. 

"Resurrect These Bones"

Ezekiel 37:1-14
The hand of the Lord was on me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “Sovereign Lord, you alone know.”
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’”
So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I was prophesying, there was a noise, a rattling sound, and the bones came together, bone to bone. I looked, and tendons and flesh appeared on them and skin covered them, but there was no breath in them.
Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to it, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Come, breath, from the four winds and breathe into these slain, that they may live.’” So I prophesied as He commanded me, and breath entered them; they came to life and stood up on their feet—a vast army.

 These verses in a song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWpvknKuYrg

Jesus and Me

Perfection and failure, that's Jesus and me.
Light and darkness, that's Jesus an me.
Love and hate, that's Jesus and me.
He is everything good and true and I am everything evil and vile.
I am the antonym of Christ and He is the antonym of me.
But through grace there is change and transformation. 
I have hope because I know there is more to life than dying.
I know that these dry bones can become living again.
And I know that there is a loving Savoir watching over me.
And I have hope that through God's perfect grace,
Life and life can be us.

God Is Love

Going beyond all reason God is good when we are not. He loves us, the unworthy. And saves us who labor in our own sin. He reconciles the wars inside us and makes us a new creation. God holds us in His loving hands and cherishes us with perfect grace. God is better than you can imagine. He is above your understanding and He loves with unrelenting love. Love is a person, and that person is God.

Made to Worship

We were made to praise God.
We are made to worship God with everything in us.
Worship is in itself not a thing that you only do on Sundays at church.

Worship is a lifestyle and a action that you make every day.
As Christian and we are called to live a life of worship.
That means that everything we do should be unto the glory of God.

Lifting up your hands and singing is what most of us think of as worship.
But really that not even the half f it.
We express worship through our actions.
That means living righteous lives.

Which means that if your not living a righteous life than how can you really worship God in full.
When we worship, we present our praise to God, so if your giving God a "present," don't you want it to be a good and clean one instead of a dirty and bad present.
When I worship and when I live, I want to give God my best and my first.

So that means that we will be known by our works. If we do not live righteous lives than how can we be seen as people of God? And how can we worship God if we do not obey Him?

1 John 3:10
By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.

So by the actions of people we can know if they are children of God and if they are actually worshiping God.

John 14:15
"If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."

We can't bring to God false praise. If we say that we love God and yet our actions prove otherwise than would you say that we love God or not?
Actions do speak louder than words. And the action can either prove or disprove the words.

So bringing this all back to the original point.
We were made to worship.
We can't bring God false praise.
And we have to live a life of worship. Worshiping God through everything that we do.

Its time to worship God in full.
Its time to praise Him with our lives and choices.
Its time to bring honor to the name of Jesus Christ.

Mercy, Love, and Rising

Sin.
We face it every day/second of our lives. Sometimes we rise above it but so often we fall. We fall for sin and don't rise to love.

People so often say that one "falls in love." Well I completely disagree with that. If you had to "fall to love" with someone/make your own personal state worse, well than maybe I wouldn't do it.
Love is something that is to be risen to. If you love someone, don't go and "fall in love" with them, that's stupid, Rise in love, together.
Oh, and don't just say you love them, prove it.

Moving along: We all sin, we all fall short of the glory of God. We've all sown death into our lives.
And God has countless times forgiven us. God has given us second, third, forth, etc. chances.
He's forgiven us more chances than we can count.

Lamentations 3:22-23
^"22 The LORD’S lovingkindnesses indeed never cease,
For His compassions never fail.
²³ They are new every morning;
Great is Your faithfulness."

God's mercy and compassion for us is great. He proved that when He forgave and gave the Ninevites another chance even after all they did.

God's love toward you cannot be stopped. When the kingdom of God moves, nothing and nobody can stop it. God is unstoppable.
And He is merciful. Everytime you fall, get back up again and rise in the Lord.

Proverbs 24:16a

^"16 For a righteous man falls seven times, and rises again,"

To finish it off, an encouragement.

Micah 7:8b
Though I fall I will rise;
Though I dwell in darkness, the LORD is a light for me.

Don't give up on God's mercy and love.
Don't give up on God.
Rise.