Addendum...sort of
Now that I have had time to think about what I wrote last night...and ask the Lord if that is really what He thinks, I have to just add some things.
The Lord has impressed upon my heart through others of great wisdom His abundant love for the church, His passion for her, and His desire to have her as His bride.
My spiritual mother, my aunt, has been speaking to me about Hosea, and how the Lord asked him to take a wife of harlotry. Hosea loves Gomer deeply, but she continues to go to those whom she claims give her food and water and wool and linen and oil, and commit adultery. He does not leave her, but continues to love her and to act out "hard grace."
He was the example of how God feels about His church, He will never forsake her or allow her to get so far away that He cannot bring her back.
He says, "Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first for then I was better off than now.' He also says, 'Therefore I am now going to allure her, I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband' and you will no longer call me 'my master.'"... He goes on to say, "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice in love and compassion." Hoseah 2
Wow. What a plan the Lord has for His church! To woo her back to Him in love, to make her beautiful and chaste and spotless, to give to her riches forever and ever in His kingdom. That she will be His bride who will bring in the harvest. What an encouragement.
Father, thank You for Your promise to the church! For the amazing love You have for her, for hedging her in with thorns and for never leaving her.
"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity." Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blesing - grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly, bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?'" Joel 2: 12-17
The Lord has impressed upon my heart through others of great wisdom His abundant love for the church, His passion for her, and His desire to have her as His bride.
My spiritual mother, my aunt, has been speaking to me about Hosea, and how the Lord asked him to take a wife of harlotry. Hosea loves Gomer deeply, but she continues to go to those whom she claims give her food and water and wool and linen and oil, and commit adultery. He does not leave her, but continues to love her and to act out "hard grace."
He was the example of how God feels about His church, He will never forsake her or allow her to get so far away that He cannot bring her back.
He says, "Therefore I will block her path with thornbushes; I will wall her in so that she cannot find her way. She will chase after her lovers but not catch them; she will look for them but not find them. Then she will say, 'I will go back to my husband as at first for then I was better off than now.' He also says, 'Therefore I am now going to allure her, I will lead her into the desert and speak tenderly to her. There I will give her back her vineyards and will make the Valley of Achor a door of hope. There she will sing as in the days of her youth, as in the day she came up out of Egypt. In that day, declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband' and you will no longer call me 'my master.'"... He goes on to say, "I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice in love and compassion." Hoseah 2
Wow. What a plan the Lord has for His church! To woo her back to Him in love, to make her beautiful and chaste and spotless, to give to her riches forever and ever in His kingdom. That she will be His bride who will bring in the harvest. What an encouragement.
Father, thank You for Your promise to the church! For the amazing love You have for her, for hedging her in with thorns and for never leaving her.
"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God. For He is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and He relents from sending calamity." Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blesing - grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly, bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber. Let the priests who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar. Let them say, 'Spare your people O Lord. Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, "Where is their God?'" Joel 2: 12-17
posted by KariBryant @ 1:39 PM
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