Acknowledge your Iniquity!

Acknowledge your Iniquity!
[My Offline Bible] Jeremiah 3
12 Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the LORD; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the LORD, and I will not keep anger for ever. 13 Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD. 14 Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you: and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion: 15 And I will give you pastors according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding.

Knowing God is important in having a successful walk with Him. He is so loving and patient. We almost take that attribute to mean carelessness. People therefore abuse His love and patience. Solomon had said because judgment against an evil isnt instant men's heart are set in them to do evil. Many today question if Jesus Christ would ever return all because God would rather want men to repent than to perish.
Yet even reading and speaking about God's judgment send shivers down the spine. And it does come after the exhaustion of God's long-suffering. It is useless waiting for it before a change is made.
God waits for repentance. While he waits, it will seem He has forgotten His word. That's not the time for us to walk on presumptuously thinking all's well. And men do forget and live on, oblivious of a hanging judgment above their heads, with God's time of long-suffering ticking away...
Why must we wait, when God is waiting for us? Why must we wait till judgment falls? I see that we wait, justifying our errors. We wait not acknowledging our faults. We argue the obvious with all sorts of lopsided scriptural arguments. Sometimes too we use the experiences of others who also are on the que for their own judgment. Since God isn't blind and hasn't killed anyone who's doing the same, that means its ok to continue.
And so men go on travelling in error. They are quick to say judge not to anyone who might want to help. They become enemies to those who might show Israel their sins, and those who tell the truth become preys.
What we don't know is that continuing in error while God awaits repentance stops God's greater blessings. The plan of God is stalled and we go on in cycle without any real progress, because God waits...and that isn't judgment yet. He is just waiting.
Others may point Israel's sin to him but repentance means he acknowledging his sin by himself. I must recognize sin as sin, I must agree that I'm walking contrary to divine pleasure and expectations before I can change.
I can ask for forgiveness but that isn't repentance, repentance means I recognize my filth, change my mind, my mentality, my ideology and philosophy about that act to that of God and then stop walking that way and go on do the right thing.
It all starts with recognition and acknowledging errors. If we continue to argue the obvious and justify iniquity, we defy divine warnings and move on carelessly towards certain judgment.
God has greater plans beyond this wrestling. Let go. Repent and move on with God. Why must we court judgment! If it is sin, God won't make it right just because of you so assuming such is another error. We can do it and we must do it and go on with God!
Acknowledge every sin without a plea and come to God who shed His blood to obtain mercy for pardon for sin and find grace to continue in holiness. It is possible if we so desire! Good morning!

Know the Word, But know God better!

[My Offline Bible] Jeremiah  2
8 The priests said not, Where is the LORD? and they that handle the law knew me not: the pastors also transgressed against me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal, and walked after things that do not profit.

'They that handle the law knew me not...'
The greatest virtue of the knowledgeable is his ability to defy the lure of pride that comes with knowledge.
The ability to accommodate all including the ignorant separates the knowledgeable from the wise.
If God were to deal with us the way we deal with those who don't know as much as we do none of us will be able to look up to His face.
If we are privileged to handle His word we must also be able to show enough responsibility to know Him and His ways.
The essence of knowing His word is to know His ways and not just to give a fair show. God isn't marking our script of knowledge, He expects the result of knowledge to be seen in what we do. Being Christians is more than knowing scriptures, knowing God is more than being able to quote them... , godliness is more than merely getting your doctrines rightly, it is being able to let it show in our conducts, and how we act and react to the happenings around us...  ye know these things happy are ye if ye do them...
Ability to do what we know is the burden of knowledge! Good morning!

Without me...!

Without me you can do nothing!

[My Offline Bible] John 15
5 I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

The amazing thing about man is that he has the capacity to determine the direction of his life and take giant strides in that direction. Man as a free moral agent can do and undo. In fact, he was originally made to reign and rule on the earth as god. Though he made a mess of it bringing chaos and confusion by reason of rebellion against his maker. He lost his authority and became subservient to the things he was created to rule over. Since then instead of possessing things, he is being possessed by things.
Man's rebellion against God makes him a cheap prey to the forces that are against him.
Jesus Christ through the love of the Father offered man a second chance. Man's authority is being offered back to him through Christ and through faith and obedience man can reign again over the forces of nature and the super nature.
But it's no more as automated as it was with the first Adam. Now, the world is on countdown to its demise. The decadence triggered by Adam must have it's full course and the world must serve it's sentence of death to give way to the new heaven and a new earth. And also to give way to the redemption of our bodies changing it to that of the resurrected Christ. [My Offline Bible] Philippians 3
20 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: 21 Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

Till then, the forces that are bringing the world to it's destruction continue working daily. The forces of death, decadence and destruction. They fasten their fangs to the greatest achievements of men. The noblest position of man becomes transient, the greatest of wealths grow wings and fly away, possessions become derelict and positions sometimes go extinct with the occupiers as the fashion of this world goes away in reservation for fire.
So Jesus said we need not waste our time laying up treasures upon the earth...
[My Offline Bible] Matthew 6
19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
We can isolate the forces of death, decadence and destruction in what Jesus said here. The only escape is to lay our treasures in heaven. Some may argue that this means doing good works and they'll be correct but it's more than that. That your work is good still won't save it, if you refuse or forgot to press ctrl s. That a good hospital is built doesn't mean it would appreciate in value when revalued a year later. Everything goes down to nothing by the forces of death, decadence and destruction.
The escape is in Christ both in time and in eternity. When we follow the principles of Christ, following his instructions and responding to his heart desire with focus on his vision we coat whatever we do with the antidecadent chemical of heaven. Heaven envelopes what we do and we make eternal impacts that remain beyond death.
When we walk in envy and achieve great heights in rebellion we build our house on sand which won't stand the test of the winds, the rains and the storms. When we do things in response to man and not to God and His Christ we plant on shallow sands that can't sustain the seedlings in the scorching sun.
The truth is that man can build and achieve lots without considering Christ and His word, in fact man has achieved lots in direct rebellion to Christ amd it is fast becoming the norm even in the church of God. The result is that such give away precious time and other resources to waste. They end up being nothing without any eternal value. And if in this life alone that we have hope as believers then we are of all men most miserable. We must not create things that will end up being nothing just because we aren't ready to adhere to God's basic principles in living our lives and doing ministry.
My prayer is that our offerings and services will be acceptable before God and make eternal impact. More Grace to you!