Advice From Hosea to the Backslidder

Hosea 12:6 "Therefore turn thou to thy God: keep mercy and judgment, and wait on thy God continually".

Therefore:

"Turn thou to thy God..." - Matt 3:8 - this a change of direction, repentance if you will, and is the cornerstone to once again finding any favor with God. For one who is walking contrary to the commandments of God it is to acknowledge their breaking of Gods laws and turning themselves back into the pathway of obedience.

"...Keep mercy and judgment" - another translation reads like this "keep kindness and justice"; these are fruits that release the hand of blessing in ones life. Some examples of this virtue of being just are:

Matt 1:19 we see the actions of a just man; he is merciful and seeks love not vengance and judgment. He is not seeking his own vindication. He believes he has been injured yet he behaves discretly.

Luke 23:50 - we see here being just is associated with the fruit of goodness. Goodness is the inability to do harm to others.

John 5:30 - here we are told that Christs judgments are just; in other words they are not technical or severe, they are just seasoned with goodness.

Acts 10:22 - in describing Cornelius we are told he is just and one who fears God and is of a good report; being just flows with the fear of the Lord and having a good report. And so being just is not just balances and scales weighing good and bad but it also takes into consideration other laws such as goodness, mercy and love (Luke 11:42).

"...Wait on thy God continually" - Jer 29:11-13 - we emphasize Jer 29:13 in particular; those who seek God continually will find Him!

This verse is wonderful counsel for those who have backslidden; for those who have turned their back on God and need a pathway of returning carved out for them. Those who practice these advices (backslidden or not) will release the good hand of God in their life.

Take My Yoke Upon You and Learn of Me...

Matt 11:28 “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest”.

This command goes out to all those who bear heavy burdens; to those for whom life itself has become a burden. The Lord will go on in the next few verses show us how to enter into perfect rest and thus alleviate our burdens. We will see from His instruction that actually the rest of God (which is the secret to laying down your burden) resides in getting into His yoke with Him.

V:29 “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls”.

“Take My yoke upon you…” This yoke of Christ is in contrast to the yoke one already wears; the yoke of bondage put upon us by our adversary (Lev 26:13). There are only two yokes in life; the devils yoke and the Lords Yoke. Jesus indicted those of His day by essentially telling them they were yoked up with the devil (John 8:44 “Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do…”). The Lord is encouraging the reader to take His yoke because in fact it is much lighter than the yoke of the enemy.

The enemy is subtle yet scheming; he convinces man that he is a "free agent" and is free to do anything he pleases. Yet he completely understands the trappings of sinful choices that it places an iron yoke around one's neck that will enslave them to sin. When we are born again Christ breaks that yoke and seeks to yoke us together with Him that at the end of our life we might have a reward for our labors.

I want to focus on this statement: "Learn of me..." Learn what? Learn what it means to walk in His yoke and to surrender yourself to His will for your life. Learn how to walk in His yoke by following His example for He Himself walked in a yoke with His Heavenly Father (to the cross). As we surrender ourselves to His yoke we learn of His ways. I have seen the end of those who reject His yoke and their way is fraught with snares and pits, it is better in the end to go His way all the way.

“For I am meek and lowly of heart…” This is one of the extraordinary aspects to the Godhead; it is the fruit of meekness. This virtue is defined thusly:

"Softness of temper; mildness; gentleness; forbearance under injuries and provocations. 1. In an evangelical sense, humility; resignation; submission to the divine will, without murmuring or peevishness; opposed to pride, arrogance and refractoriness”.

WEBSTER dictionary.

Matt 11:29 is educating us on the virtue of meekness "...ye shall find rest unto your souls." You see that a major component to finding rest is meekness. The Lord Jesus Christ epitomizes meekness (Speaking in prophetic essence Psalm 45:4; V:8 describes the garments or the characteristics of Christ and myrrh equates with meekness); He was completely submissive to the Father's will. When you think of the power He had access to and yet He allowed shame and spitting; physical pain and smiting; the Son of Royalty who up to His earthly ministry had known only wonderful and reverential treatment (Even the Satan rebellion did not inflict one physical scar on Christ). But in the ignominy of His crucifixion He settled once and for all the absolute power and triumph in the Godhead trough meekness.

V:30 “For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light”.

The Yoke - it is easy, does not bind, chaff or harm the wearer in any way. In other words, it is a perfect fit...if we will but come into it and plough in His field we shall find it very comfortable. When does it chaff or cause us difficulty? When there is a conflict between our will and His.

Let us consider an account where this was so. Jonah 1:1-3 - Jonah found the yoke burdensome; it conflicted with his own will and so he paid the fare and fled from God. And as a result he released a firestorm of Gods dealings (Jonah 1:9-12; V:15) in his life that took him to the very gates of hell (Jonah 2:1-2; V:6). You see, it is an easy yoke when you consider the alternative.

You will find people unable to accept the Lords yoke, they say it is too hard: Isa 49:20 "...the way is too strait" This word strait is unique in Isa, it means "too narrow" or "too tight" We are told to enter in at the "Narrow" gate for “Broad" is the way that leads to destruction. This yoke is only hard for those who reject it, for those who prefer to do their own will instead of Gods (the way of transgressor is hard!).

Dr Brian J Bailey in Erie on the 19th of August 2010

Last night Dr Bailey visited the Erie church with a very clear and distinct word; we could feel the word convicting and cutting into our hearts. Though he is clearly struggling physically the anointing has not abated; it was sharp and powerful and I believe it hit its mark. It is obvious that many today (before the great revival) are being sorted out by the Lord. Pastor Bailey gave a very strong warning about hell and revealed that he has seen many who he walked with through the years in hell; many who did not take heed to the warning and the message God. Personally, I felt a sense of dread as he described the horrors of ending up in hell. He spoke of the bottomless pit and several historical figures he has seen there. He spoke of the blackness of darkness where men and women wander very alone with no one to hear their cries. He spoke of some places in hell where one can actually look into heaven see those they once knew who made right choices in supreme happiness and yet in hell they live with the knowledge that they themselves will never taste of that bliss. He spoke of the lake of fire where souls rise and fall in the waves of molten fire crying out when they hit the surface then submerging down again. He spoke of a foul place where all is dirty brown and men scurry about only to be swooped upon by demonic creatures, be swallowed then regurgitated again upon the dirty ground. Miserable, horrible torments that will never end. There is no question God is pleading with mankind today, there is no doubt God wants us to take His message seriously. At one point he said: "If it were up to me I would forgive every wrong done against me just to ensure that people did not go to hell but it is not up to me; there are some people Christ does not want in His kingdom". Who are the ones He does not want; is it not those walking in disobedience to His commands and those who are not taking Him seriously?

At this point I have to ask this, where are you today? Are you walking the fence? Are you playing with sin? You must stop and cry out to God to help and save you or you will perish into one of these horrible places mentioned above. I have been in the kingdom for over 30 years now and I must say I have rarely heard a more awesome word than last night. Oh we must repent, get right today, do not delay...time is truly running out! I have personal friends and close family members who may be reading this, listen, I love you, I plead with you set things right and God will show mercy. Reject the message and you will have an eternity to regret it!!

With Sincere Love,
Pastor Frank

See video clip of his message by following this link: http://witword.blogspot.com/2010/09/video-of-pastor-brian-j-bailey-in-erie.html)

Proverbs Personifies Wisdom for Us...

20 Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:

Now we come into a description of wisdom, she is personified in order for us to understand her. Wisdom is likened to the merchant woman in the East; she is in the street crying out because she has something to sell. It is interesting that she is not describes as one hidden away or on the mountain top that one must journey thousands of miles to find, she is like a merchant woman in the streets crying out with a loud voice. It is not pots, pans, dishes and trinkets she is selling but rather her wares are wisdom, understanding, prudence, instruction and discretion. There is a pleading element to wisdom, she is not passively sitting by but rather she is calling out to those who go by; one has to close their ears in order to avoid her, they choose another path to avoid her because she is crying out in the street! The message here is that there is wisdom, knowledge, discretion and experience to be gained by literally every event of life, with every event she is there crying out to every passerby, “Receive my instruction, hearken to my counsels”. Also look at Proverbs 1:22-23 & Proverbs 8:1-6. One who goes astray does so by choice because Wisdom pleads “Buy of Me”, “Hearken to Me”.

Thanks For Your Prayers

We are returning now to postings on Proverbs; just wanted to thank everyone who took time to pray for us during the trip to Guatemala. Because of your prayers and support it was a very good trip in spite of difficult personal challenges. God Bless!!

17 Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.

Workers of evil make their plans in secret; if the bird sees the trap then the trap has been set in vain. They conspire in secrecy because they do not want their victims to see the trap and escape. They lay a trap secretly; they set a trap for the righteous but they do not realize that in setting a trap for the righteous they are in fact ensnaring themselves - Proverbs 1:18

18 And they lay wait for their own blood; they lurk privily for their own lives.

We have no doubt heard the term “Poetic justice”; a loose interpretation of that phrase is “they got what they deserved”. In V:16 it says they lie in wait for innocent blood but in v:18 it says they lie in wait for their own blood; the author says this because a mans deed returns upon him! It is a wise man or woman indeed who has come to appreciate that as we treat others so will we be treated. If we are in need of mercy in our own lives then it behooves us to be merciful to others and so it is with each virtue, practice that virtue on others and you will find that is the treatment that it dispensed from the hand of the Lord to you.

19 So are the ways of every one that is greedy of gain; which taketh away the life of the owners thereof.

Now we see the real motivation of these evildoers, they are greedy of gain! Their motivation is to rob and to steal money, position, affluence, recognition, praise, power etc... Proverbs 1:18 an evil force turns on them and takes revenge on the evildoer. They swallow up men’s souls only to have circumstances turn against them and consume them. Be assured in your heart, no one escapes retribution (Psalm 73:1-28 is an account of the wicked and the true).

Coming Home from Guatemala

I am taking some time to update everyone interested in our progress; we are currently on our way home in the Philedelphia Airport. Well, it was certainly a jam packed 10 days! We are returning with a sense that this trip mattered. There were opportunities to share and minister virtually everyday (many times multiple times a day). We saw God do amazing things in IBJ with several seeing the cloud of Gods glory during the teaching of Davids Tabernacle and the final day of class when we had an altar call they saw the fire of God. Our most earnest desire is that many were touched as we endeavored to flow with the Spirit. I cannot express enough thanks for the many prayers offered for Rebecca and I... Thanks so much!! God continued to move during our time at the Molina orphanage... I would expect to see God pour out His Spirit very soon in this place. While there the Lord quickened to me the foundation to this orphanage was 8X10, the measurement of the foundation stones in Solomons Temple (8=Spirit; 10=Truth - "The Father seeketh such...", Jn 4). Well what can I say, we ministered (Becca spoke 4X's and I spoke approx 22X's counting each 1.5hr session as one speaking engagement)and we took pictures in between we visited with some of the most wonderful people...we are blessed.

Guatemala Update...

This is an update for those of you following our progress; Rebecca is speaking at the ladies breakfast as I write this. This meeting will be attended by the women of the church and invited guests. She has prepared a message on staying in the Lords sheepfold (a theme that was decided on by the ladies). I talked to her this morning and she is comfortable with her message and feels she has a good word for them. Yesterday I had the privilege of speaking on a local AM radio station for approx 25 minutes; it went well and the interpreter (her name is Anna) did an excellent job. The potential audience of this station is in the millions and so we feel God was gracious to give us this opportunity (the broadcast extends beyond the Guatemalan borders to neighboring countries). Last nights teaching went well, I am resting and studying now for session two which will take place tonight. The approximate US time for the broadcast available on this blog (lower right hand corner) will be 8:45PM for those who will have the opportunity to view it. If you do please take a moment to comment on the quality of the broadcast.

Thanks, Frank