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Being Hard Headed
It’s okay to be hard-headed! Hallelujah! Stubborn. Immovable. It’s biblical! 8 I’ve now hardened your face so that you can meet them head-on. 9 I’ve made your forehead like a diamond, harder than stone. Don’t be afraid of them or shrink away from them, because they are a household of rebels. (Ez. 3:8-9, CEB) AND, being hard-headed puts you in “diamond” status! It’s…
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Isn’t It Time to Get in the Game?
17 No weapon fashioned against you will succeed, and you may condemn every tongue that disputes with you. This is the heritage of the Lord’s servants, whose righteousness comes from me, says the Lord. (Isa. 54:17, CEB) It’s time to “come home.” It’s time to put aside the shame. No more humiliation. Isn’t it time to let go of the past failures and…
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I’m Pregnant
Not my wife. Me. There is something new being “birthed” in my heart and life. There are past barriers that have to come down, but it is GOD who is bringing them down. Look out. YOU may be pregnant, too. HEAR these words from Isaiah: Sing, barren woman who has borne no child; break forth into singing and cry out,…
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Changing Tastes
2 Why spend money for what isn’t food, and your earnings for what doesn’t satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good; enjoy the richest of feasts. (Isa. 55:2, CEB) We can get hooked on Twinkies and think they are just the finest dessert cake this side of heaven. We can think we know God and find out we’ve…
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Shredding the Word of God
20 After leaving the scroll in the room of Elishama the scribe, they went to the king’s court and told him everything. 21 The king sent Jehudi to take the scroll, and he retrieved it from the room of Elishama the scribe. Then Jehudi read it to the king and all his royal officials who were standing next to the king. 22 Now it was…
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Contending for the Faith
Instead, I must write to urge you to fight for the faith delivered once and for all to God’s holy people. (Jude 1:3b, CEB) Jude interrupts his intended letter to change direction. He is warning the readers of something so dangerous he is fairly vehement in his warnings. The question is this: Is there anything worth fighting for in the faith…
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Discipline IS Love
One of the backward ideas we seem to have is that God doesn’t “punish” his people because he looooovvvvves them. As if discipline isn’t love. He finally had to bring Judah down to get their attention. It was harsh. It was brutal. Yet, it was not out of God’s fierce anger for revenge. It was out of his heart to get…
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Oh, to KNOW him!
33 No, this is the covenant that I will make with the people of Israel after that time, declares the Lord. I will put my Instructions within them and engrave them on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. (Jer. 31:33, CEB) Israel was dealt with for ignoring God and acting in open rebellion. But once…
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Shall We Only Take What is “Good” from God?
2 Go down to the potter’s house, and I’ll give you instructions about what to do there. 3 So I went down to the potter’s house; he was working on the potter’s wheel. 4 But the piece he was making was flawed while still in his hands, so the potter started on another, as seemed best to him. 5 Then the Lord’s word came to me: 6 House of Israel,…
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God as Jilted Lover
The language of Jeremiah is the language of a Lover. A hurt Lover, but nevertheless a Lover. Can you blame God? He’s done all he can to pour out his extravagant love on a nation that just doesn’t want what he is offering. It’s like an addiction. Once Israel gets out of slavery and tastes the “freedom” of the wide…
Category: Translations
