1 John 5:6-21 Our Certainties

In the rest of this letter, John tells us Christians what we are certain of – what we know for sure:

                Jesus IS God

                Believers HAVE eternal life

                God ANSWERS prayer

                Christian don’t PRACTICE sin

                The Christian life is the  REAL life

The Holy Spirit is within us, testifying to us about the truth of these statements.  Satan, our flesh-nature, and the world are all screaming in our ears trying to persuade us that it’s all a lie.  But we’ve been given spiritual discernment.  We know what’s true and what’s false.  “To a man of the world the Christian life is unreal and the worldly life is real,” my commentary said.  But we know better!

Father, thank You for Your assurance that this isn’t all just made up fantasy.  Thank You for peeling away the blinders Satan puts on our eyes.  Keep me in Your truth and increase my faith!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 5:1-5 Moving From Grudging Obedience To Joyful Obedience

John shows us how to move from obeying out of fear to joyful obedience, for “disobedience to God’s will is a tragedy – but so is reluctant, grudging obedience.  God does not want us to disobey Him, but neither does He want us to obey out of fear or necessity,” my commentary explained.  “The secret to joyful obedience is to recognize that obedience is a family matter.  We are serving a loving Father and helping our brothers and sisters in Christ.”

D.L. Moody said, “Every Bible should be bound in shoe leather.”  “We show our love to God, not by empty words but by willing works,” my commentary added. 

The progression toward joyful obedience follows a path:

“As God’s love is perfected in us, we have confidence toward Him and do not live in fear.  Because fear is cast out, we can be honest and open; there is no need to pretend.  And because fear is gone, our obedience to His commands is born out of love, not terror.  We discover that His commandments are not burdensome.  Finally, living in this atmosphere of love, honesty, and joyful obedience, we are able to face the world with victorious faith and to overcome instead of being overcome.”

Father, I thank You that, over these years, You have been perfecting Your love within me.  Where once I read Your Word and thought it restrictive, I now read it as Your love letter to me.  Please keep on doing that.  I’m not there yet, but I want to be.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 4:12-21 In Him and In Us

This section has a lot of “in us” and “in Him” phrases, and I remember years ago how tough it was to figure out what was actually being said.  It’s all about God’s abiding in us.

“God has said something to us, and God has done something for us … The third great fact is God does something in us!  We are not merely students … or spectators … we are participants in the great drama of God’s love,” my commentary said.

“God now reveals Himself through the lives of His children.  Men cannot see God, but they can see us.  If we abide in Christ, we will love one another, and our love for one another will reveal God’s love to a needy world.  God’s love will be experienced in us and then will be expressed through us …  The world will not believe that God loves sinners until they see His love at work in His children’s lives … The more we love God, the more we understand the love of God.  And the more we understand His love, the easier it is for us to trust Him.”

My commentary also talked about loving people with wrong motives.  Our love should happen because God loves us and not because we are trying to appear super spiritual.  “Unless we love the lost, our verbal witness to them will be useless … Too much witnessing today is a mere mouthing of words.  People need an expression of love.”

Father, it’s taken me years to start seeing Your love perfected in me, and I know You’re not nearly done yet.  Thank You for driving home what I’ve known for years – that people don’t care how much You know until they know how much you care.  Let my love for them be real and reflect Your love for them shining out through me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 4:1-11 -- Love for other believers -- a privilege rather than a responsibility

John wanted us to get to a deeper point of view of love, my commentary said.  He knew we’d tend to see love for other believers as a responsibility rather than a privilege, and God didn’t want it to be a forced response, but instead a natural response.  When a compass responds to magnetic north, it is responding to the nature of the earth.  Similarly, a Christian should respond in love to what God commands because we are responding to His nature, which is love.

Our natures should determine our actions, too.  God showed us that because He is love; therefore, He did something – He sent His Son for two reasons:  That we might live through Him and that He might be the propitiation for our sins.  “Propitiation is something God does to make it possible for me to be forgiven …. He is holy, so He must uphold His holy law.  But He is also love and he wants to forgive and save sinners,” my commentary said.  He has to be consistent, and the way He remains so is through the cross, where His holiness and His love both shine out.

Father, thank You for having such love for me!  I’m sorry that my sinfulness caused You to have to give up Your Son to satisfy Your holiness.  But I’m so thankful for Your love!  Help me to make it my nature, too.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 3:11-24 Four Levels of Relationships With Others

John shows us four potential levels on which we may live in relationship with others.  The lowest is murder and it’s the level where Satan lives.  “The world hates Christ … Christ shows up the world’s sin and reveals its true nature … People of the world try to cover up their true nature with religious rites,” my commentary said.  God isn’t wanted in their lives.

A second level is hatred, and it is much like murder.  “The question is not so much, ‘What did you do?’ but ‘What did you want to do?’  What would you have done if you had been at liberty to do as you pleased?”  A believer may occasionally be angry with a brother, but it is not the same as a settled habit of hate toward an unbeliever.”

Indifference is a third level, and a Christian can exist on this level, but shouldn’t.  “Jesus had this in mind in the parable of the good Samaritan.  A lawyer wanted to talk about an abstract subject:  “Who is my neighbor?”  But Jesus focused attention on one man in need, and changed the question to, “To whom can I be a neighbor?”  My commentary continued, “A man need not even hate his brother to be guilty of sin.  All he has to do is ignore him or be indifferent to his needs.”

The final level is Christian love.  “To love in word means simply to talk about  a need, but to love in deed means to do something about meeting it.  You may think, because you have discussed a need, or even prayed about it, that you have done your duty, but love involves more than words – it calls for sacrificial deeds.”

Father, help me to exist on that last level.  I know that when I do, I will enjoy great blessings from You – assurance, answered prayer, and abiding in You are some which John mentioned here.  And I want to be abiding in You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 3:1-10 Sins vs. Sin

“A Christian who sins is a child sinning against His Father.  The unbeliever sins against law.  The believer sins against love,” my commentary says.  “The fear of the Lord indicates that God’s children hold their Father in reverence and will not deliberately disobey Him or try His patience.”

A Christian reading this can quickly begin to doubt his salvation when he sees verse like, “Anyone who lives in Christ does not go on sinning.”  But my commentary explained, “The emphasis here is not on sins (plural), but on sin (singular) … Sins are the fruit, but sin is the root.”

It states that asserting our will against God’s will is rebellion and rebellion is the root of sin.

This is all about deliberately and habitually sinning.  Deliberately indicates that we are asserting our will against God’s will.  Habitually means we are doing it on such a consistent basis that it is clear that we don’t care.  We are practicing.  “John did not deny that Christians sin, but he did deny that Christians can live in sin.”

“A Christian has an old nature from his physical birth and a new nature from his spiritual birth.  The old nature produces sin, but the new nature leads one into a holy life.  A Christian’s responsibility is to live according to his new nature, not the old nature.”  In an example, those natures were compared to two dogs inside us that are fighting.  The dog that wins is the one which is fed the most.

It also said, “Temptation appeals to our basic natural desires.  There is nothing sinful about our desires, but temptation gives us an opportunity to satisfy these desires in an evil way … Satan baits his traps with pleasures that appeal to the old nature, the flesh.  But none of his bait appeals to the new divine nature.”  We overcome the desires of the old nature by beginning each day by yielding our bodies to God, and by reading and studying the Word, feeding our new nature.  We also pray for God to fill us with the Holy Spirit and to give us power to serve Christ and glorify Him, it said.

If we do sin, we are told we must instantly confess to God and claim forgiveness.  Sin separates us from God, and we need to restore the fellowship so He can work in us.  Failing to do this leads to backsliding.  A key question is, “When temptation comes, do I play with it or do I flee from it?”  Do I immediately yield to the divine nature within me?”

Father, help me to have strength to let my new nature answer the door when sin comes knocking.  Keep me feeling the pain of deliberately sinning against You, so that my conscience won’t be desensitized by my sin.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 2:18-29 Finding The False

John needed to be sure that Christians could discern when someone was a false teacher, and here he tells us what to look for.  False teachers depart from the fellowship.  True Christians desire to be with the people of God.

They also deny the faith, and claim that they’ve been given special anointing and knowledge which others do not have.  Anyone who denies that Jesus is God come in the flesh is a false teacher.  “To deny the Son means to deny the Father also.  You cannot separate the Father and the Son, since both are one God,” my commentary said.

False teachers try to deceive the faithful.  “Satan is not an originator.  He is a counterfeiter … Satan’s chief stratagem … is to plant the counterfeit wherever Christ plants the true.”  We must be able to determine which is which.  We do this by depending on the Holy Spirit.

One very interesting thing I read was this:  “You should discern in the bible what God says to different people at different times;  there are passages that apply specifically to the Jews, or to the Gentiles, or to the church.  You must be careful to distinguish between them.  Though all of the Bible was written FOR you, not all of it was written TO you.”

Father, help me to abide in You and in Your Word so that I can have the discernment I need to tell truth from lie.  Speak personally to me so that I may know Your will for my life.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 2:7-11 Loving Other Christians

“A Christian who is walking in the light (which simply means he’s obeying God) is going to love His brother Christian,” my commentary said.  The Christians who’d started out as Jews knew the commandments to love.  But John is showing us something new and fresh about it all.  It is new in emphasis, example, and experience.  It’s not about simply talking love for others. 

As we witness Christ’s love for us, He serves as our example, and we begin to love others the way He does.  It becomes a matter of the will rather than an emotion.  “A Christian begins to hate what he used to love and love what he used to hate.”  We do that because we’ve got new life inside us in the Holy Spirit.  It’s not something we can do ourselves.  We see Jesus never showing hatred or malice.  He never hated the people who committed sins.  Love for them drove everything He did.  “He looked with loving pity on the religious leaders who … accused Him of being in league with Satan … As they crucified Him, He prayed for them:  Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

My commentary also said, “It is impossible to be in fellowship with the Father and out of fellowship with another Christian at the same time … In Matthew 5:21-26, note that Jesus did not say that the worshipper had something against his brother, but that the brother had something against the worshipper … When we harbor an unforgiving, unloving spirit, we harm ourselves most.”

Father, please help me to place love as the most important reason for getting along with my fellow Christians.  Help me to want to immediately fix things when something is wrong, not letting it fester.  And remind me when I am out of fellowship with a fellow believer that at the same time I am out of fellowship with You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 2: 1-6 Dealing With Sin In The Life Of A Believer

Wow, what awesome stuff!  Dealing with sin in our lives as believers.  “Sin is not simply outward disobedience; sin is also inner rebellion or desire … Our receiving the new nature does not eliminate the old nature we are born with.  The old nature fights against the new nature.  No amount of self-discipline can control the old nature.  Only the Holy Spirit can …”

We often try to deal with sin by covering it up and pretending nothing is happening, but God knows and won’t stand for that in a Christian’s life.  He can’t be part of sin, so our fellowship with Him suffers.  We often think that we can be the exception to the rule, applying God’s Word to others, but not to ourselves.

We can confess our sins; this means much more than simply admitting them.  We instead must call them what God calls them and agree with Him about them.  It’s being honest with ourselves and with God about them.  “It means judging sin and facing it squarely,” my commentary said.

The best thing, though, is to conquer our sin.  When we sin (and we will), we should immediately confess it to God and claim His forgiveness, realizing what it cost Him to do so – Jesus’ death.  We should spend time in His Word daily to know Him better and to ascertain His will, and then obey that will, not out of fear or out of our own needs, but out of our love for Him.  We do this with the help of the Holy Spirit living in our hearts and with Jesus interceding (praying) for us at God’s throne.  That’s incredible for a sinner to think about – I did this while they are doing that for me!

We do this best by abiding in Christ – “depending completely on Him for all that we need in order to live for Him and serve Him,” my commentary said.  “God has made provision for us in these ways to conquer sin.  We can never lose or change the sin nature that we were born with, but we need not obey its desires.  As we walk in the light and see sin as it actually is, we will hate it and turn from it.  And if we sin, we immediately confess it to God and claim His cleansing … The life that is real has no love for sin … If we say, then we ought also to do.”

Father, thanks for this booster shot today.  I so needed it.  Help me to re-examine my life and agree with You in honesty about areas of sin I struggle with.  Then help me to give them up in total surrender to You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 John 1 -- Obedience, Love, and Truth

My commentary said John wrote his gospel to tell people how to receive this wonderful life.  He wrote this letter to tell people how to be sure they have really been born of God.  It listed characteristics that are true of Christians:

                They live a righteous life.

                They don’t practice sin – they do sin, but they don’t make it a habit.

                They love God and other Christians.

                They have no love for the world and the world hates them.

                They overcome the world.

This life is revealed in Christ and experienced when we put our trust in Him as our Savior.  It is also shared with others by the lives we live and by the words we speak.

“The life that is real is characterized by discernment … The Spirit is our Teacher; it is He who enables us to detect truth and error and to remain in Christ.  He is our protection against ignorance, deception, and untruth. “

John speaks continually of obedience, love, and truth … A Spirit-controlled mind knows and understands truth.  A Spirit-controlled heart feels love.  A Spirit-controlled will inclines us to obedience…If a true believe is out of fellowship with God, it is usually for one of three reasons:  He has disobeyed God’s will; he is not getting along with fellow believers; or he believes a lie and therefore is living a lie … A believer can never had joyful fellowship with the Lord if sin stands between them.”

Father, I see that obedience, love, and truth must all work together in my life if I am to remain in fellowship with You.  If any of those three is missing, I’ll have a problem.  Keep me obeying and loving and knowing the truth.  Keep me in fellowship with You!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 3: 11-18 So What Kind Of People Should You Be?

Peter asks us, after his warnings that the Day of the Lord could come at any moment, “So what kind of people should you be?”  He then helps us to understand what God expects from us as we await Jesus’ return.

We are to continue to separate ourselves from the evil in this world, with an attitude of excitement and expectation, fixing our hope only on Him.

We should behave like foreigners.  “We are strangers and pilgrims headed for a better world … Christians should be different, not odd.  When you are different, you attract people; when you are odd, you repel them.”

We should enjoy living for God personally, and “we should avoid two extremes in ministry.  One is the attitude that we are locked into God’s sovereign plan in such a way that nothing we do will make any difference.  The other extreme is to think that God cannot get anything done unless we do it,” my commentary said.

We must also be diligent to win the lost and diligent to grow spiritually.  Here, Peter says, “Beloved … be mindful … Beloved … be not ignorant … Beloved … be diligent … Beloved … beware…”  That last one means constantly guarding yourself.  We do this by being in a constant state of development, it said – not growing spiritually in spurts.  We grow in grace and in knowledge of God and in a balanced way, keeping a balance between worship and service, between faith and works.”

Father, I feel like I’ve been growing spiritually in spurts lately, rather than continuously.  I need Your help to balance out grace and knowledge of You and to balance out worship and service, faith and works.  Please show me how, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 3:1-10 The Scoffers' Ignorance

Peter took on the scoffers who were laughing at the very idea of God intervening with punishment.  Even with the limited knowledge of science in the world at that time, they’d decided that everything would tick right along and that it couldn’t suddenly be destroyed; therefore, judgment wouldn’t come and they would be proved right.  They also questioned the delay of God’s judgment, suggesting it as proof that the system couldn’t be altered.

Peter told them that God’s Word was true.  Judgment had occurred in the past – with the flood, with the Egyptian plagues, and with Sodom and Gomorrah.  It was all right there in plain sight.

He said that God’s Word was consistent.  God had created and He had destroyed.  They were deliberately ignoring evidence.  Since God had intervened in the past, creating everything we know out of nothing, and had intervened with punishment by bringing the flood, it was entirely consistent that He could intervene in modern times.  Since His Word made it all and holds it together, He can easily intervene.  “God has the power to break in at any time and accomplish His will,” my commentary said.  So what about the delay?

God’s will is merciful.  He is eternal, having always existed, while we are immortal – we haven’t always existed, but were created.  We have a beginning but not an end.  We will live forever, either in heaven or hell.

God is not constrained by time.  “He is never in a hurry, but He is never late,” my commentary said.  “God wasn’t delaying the return of Christ because He was unable or unwilling to act, but because He is longsuffering and wants to give lost sinners the opportunity to be saved … God’s delay is actually an indication that He has a plan for this world and that He is working His plan.”  The scoffers couldn’t see that He was doing all this for them in His love.

Father, I’m so thankful that You are a God who is absolutely in total control.  Otherwise, You wouldn’t be God.  Help me to use the time You are giving us to draw others to You and to show them the love You have for them.  Open their eyes, Father.  Remove Satan’s blinders so that they can choose to be saved.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 2:17-22 The Worst Kind Of Bondage

The false teachers kept trying to see freedom to weak Christians, and that freedom was freedom to sin.  They used the grace of God as their empowerment for their arguments.  “Doing whatever you please is not freedom – it is the worst kind of bondage,” my commentary said.

Those false teachers kept making false promises.  Peter compared them to wells without water.  As a result, people could never feel satisfaction.  “There is in mankind an inborn thirst for reality, for God.  ‘Thou hast made us for thyself,’ said Augustine, ‘and our hearts are restless until they rest in thee.’  People attempt to satisfy this thirst in many ways, and they end up living on substitutes,’” my commentary added.

This freedom was offered by false Christians, who were in bondage to money, fleshly lust, and pride.  “In the Bible, freedom does not mean having it your way.  That attitude is the very essence of sin.  The freedom that Jesus Christ offers means enjoying fulfillment in the will of God … Through the Word of God, we discover the truth about ourselves, our world, and our God.  As we face this truth honestly, we experience the liberating power of the Spirit of God … Temporary reformation without true repentance and rebirth only leads to greater sin and judgment … Sinful tendencies don’t disappear when a person reforms; they merely hibernate and get stronger … True holiness is more than conquering temptation; it is conquering even the desire to disobey God.”

Father, I know that You have saved me  and changed me.  When I am tempted by my old life, remind me that I am facing more than conquering temptation.  Help me to see that I must always be about conquering even the desire to disobey You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 2: 1-16 Beware of Counterfeits

Peter is warning here about false teachers in the church.  One paragraph can sure give us pause:  “Promoting a party spirit in a church is one of the works of the flesh.  Whenever a church member says to another member, ‘Are you on my side or the pastor’s side?’ he is promoting a party spirit and causing division.  A false teacher forces you to make a choice between his doctrines and the doctrines of the true Christian faith.”

False teachers use feigned words – “words that can be twisted to mean anything you want them to mean.  They use our vocabulary but they do not use our dictionary.”

Peter’s aim was to prove “that judgment does finally come, no matter how secure the sinner might feel … God judges rebellion and will not spare those who reject His will.”

Peter also encouraged the true believers, showing how God protects us from pollution in the world and from the judgment He will someday bring to the world.

The words my commentary used to describe Lot’s problems are telling for us today:  “Abraham took Lot out of Egypt, but he could not take Egypt out of Lot … It is difficult for us to understand Lot … Lot was saved (‘Lot … that righteous man’) … All the while Lot lived in Sodom, his soul was tortured and greatly troubled by the filthy conduct of the people … Peter assured his readers and us that God knows how to ‘be delivering the godly out of testing and temptation’ so that we may live victoriously … Lot had entered Sodom, and then Sodom had entered Lot and he found it difficult to leave.”

Even today, many believers have abandoned the place of separation and are compromising with the world, my commentary says.  “God’s people, as weak as they are, will be delivered from judgment by the grace and mercy of God.”  We just need to see what’s around us and how it affects us, so that we won’t get away from it only by the skin of our teeth.

Father, remove any blinders that Satan places on us, and help us to see what’s really happening and where we are in the whole equation.  Separate us and protect us from evil.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 1:12-21 Remember, Remember, Remember

In four verses, Peter says “remember” three times.  That reminded me of how many times I’ve closed my quiet times asking God to remind me often of what I’ve just learned.  We have a tendency to forget, to get distracted, and to simply become mentally lazy.

Peter wanted us to understand that the Word is dependable and durable, compared to men, experiences, and the world, my commentary said.  “Men die, but the Word lives … Experiences fade, but the Word remains … The world darkens, but the Word shines.”

Peter was addressing the false teachers who’d tried to infect the church and take it over.  They were using bits and pieces of the Word, often out of context, to tout their own beliefs.  My commentary said, “The Word of God was written to common people, not to theological professors.  The writers assumed that common people could read it, understand it, and apply it, led by the same Holy Spirit who inspired it.  The humble individual believer can learn about God as he reads and meditates on the Word of God; he does not need the experts to show him truth.”  This was exactly opposite of what those false teachers were telling them.

Father, once again I ask You to help me remember.  Let all of Your Word sink deeply into my heart.  Help me to be able to find whatever You are impressing on me.  Make it all familiar to me.  Let Your Word be my life.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 1:5-11 The Progression

Peter gives us a progression for spiritual growth, and my commentary said the parts should not be considered “beads on a chain to be collected”.  “The word translated add really means to supply generously or to make lavish provision, it said.  We don’t just work at it until we think we have it.

Our spiritual life starts with faith in Christ – belief in what He did for us on the cross.  His sacrifice should cause us to make lavish provision for moral excellence – the Greek word used means “the fulfillment of a thing’s purpose.”  As we discover our purpose in Christ, we will then want to make lavish provision for gaining knowledge of God and Christ.  This helps us to handle life successfully and in the manner that they would have us handle it.  That knowledge develops as we obey God’s will and begin to see things from God’s perspective.

As we gain His perspective on things, we’ll then want to make lavish provision to develop self-control.  For instance, seeing God at work in every circumstance, we’d become slow to anger, knowing that God is growing us and knowing that it’s not simply another human punching our buttons.

That growth comes through enduring difficult circumstances and witnessing His faithfulness despite them – even expecting such circumstances.  Here, we make lavish provision for patience as we begin to expect the unexpected, seeing God at work, growing us spiritually.

This expectation and patience, seeing things from God’s perspective and not man’s, develops Godliness in us.  We need to make lavish provision for it – “living above the petty things of life, the passions and pressures that control the lives of others,” instead “seeking the welfare of others,” my commentary explained.

By this time, we should also have been developing brotherly kindness – “unfeigned, sincere love of our fellow Christians and not just be pretending that we love them … even sacrificial love for them,” my commentary added.

God does all of this as we cooperate with Him in our spiritual growth, not simply sitting there waiting to receive these things.  Our part requires spiritual diligence and discipline in addition to cooperating with God.  He doesn’t destroy our own personalities – the image of Christ is reproduced in us to help us effectively use the way God designed us for His glory, according to my commentary.

Father, I love what I read here.  It means so much more fleshed out like this.  Keep me ever aware of my part in my own spiritual growth, and help me to see You at work in me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Peter 1:1-4 Sinful Nature vs. Godly Nature

Our Christian life starts, of course, with faith in Christ Jesus.  Now Peter tells us that at that moment we are “born complete” spiritually.  It’s a matter of spiritual growth from that point forward.  We are given a divine nature, where before we only had our sinful nature.  “Our nature determines our appetite, behavior, environment, and association,” my commentary said, just as a lion’s nature determines all of these things about its life.  Our sinful nature has determined all of the sinful ways these parts of us could go.  But “with God’s nature within, then we ought to have an appetite for that which is pure and holy.  Our behavior ought to be like that of the Father, and we ought to live in the kind of ‘spiritual environment’ that is suited to our nature.  We ought to associate with that which is true to our nature.  The only normal, fruit-bearing life for the child of God is a godly life… If we feed the new nature the nourishment of the Word, then we will have little interest in the garbage of the world.  But if we ‘make provision for the flesh’ our sinful nature will lust after the ‘old sins’ and we will disobey God,” my commentary added.

Father, I hadn’t ever thought about my sinful nature driving my appetites, behaviors, environment, and associations.  We are much like animals in that regard.  But we were created in Your image, and I’m so thankful that You gave me a divine nature.  Please help me to be ever aware when my appetites, behaviors, environments, and associations are being driven by my sinful nature rather than from the new nature You gave me.  Help me not to feed the old nature, so I won’t lust after the old sins.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Jude 1-25 Watch Out

Jude, Jesus’ half-brother, was led by God to write words of warning about false teachers in the church who were gaming the system by using God’s grace as an excuse for sexual sin.  Church members were “making themselves filthy with sin … These people speak against things they don’t understand … They have fought against God.”

Jude described them further:  “These people complain and blame others, doing the evil things they want to do.  They brag about themselves, and they flatter others to get what they want.”  They were letting desires turn into actions rather than snuffing out evil thoughts, and they were causing division in the church.

Jude’s solution?  “God is strong and can help you not to fall.”  He tells us to remember God’s Word, to build our Christian life, to exercise spiritual discernment, and to commit ourselves to Christ.  “Like the young man who falls in love and marries, and is no longer interested in his old girlfriends, so the believer who keeps himself in the love of God, caught up in the glories of the Savior, will never want to turn to Satan’s substitutes.  You don’t have to stumble,” my commentary said.

Father, help me to keep myself in Your love, never wanting to turn from it for Satan’s deceiving substitutes.  Don’t ever let me buy the lie again.  Keep me from stumbling.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Thessalonians 3:6-18 Trouble In The Church?

Paul had to deal with church discipline with the Thessalonians for a second time.  The main issue was people who’d erroneously believed Christ’s return was imminent and who’d sold everything.  Now they weren’t wanting to work, but just to live off the church.

Elsewhere, Paul had addressed personal differences between Christians.  The solution had always been going to the person directly rather than involving the church.  “Another mistake is in trying to win an argument instead of trying to win the sinning brother,” my commentary said.

Other causes of church problems include doctrinal errors, a believer overtaken by sin, a repeating troublemaker, and open immorality by a believer.  Paul gave sound advice for dealing with each of them here.

In verse 14, Paul is talking only about the matter of Christians not working for a living and sponging off the church, and he urges that we “take note of them, have nothing to do with them, so they will feel ashamed.  But do not treat them as enemies.  Warn them as fellow believers.”

My commentary added, “For obedient saints to treat disobedient Christians with the same friendship they show to other dedicated saints is to give approval to their sins.”

It also asked this pertinent question of all Christians:  “Are you a part of the peace of the church or part of a war in the church?”

Father, please help me to gain valuable insight from these words.  Give me wisdom in dealing with my fellow Christians.  Help me to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Thessalonians 2:13-3:5 What To Do With The Truth

Perfect for Thanksgiving Day – “Paul turned from warning to thanksgiving and prayer.”

“Every believer has four responsibilities to God’s truth:”

Believe it – that God loved us, chose us, set us apart, called us, and gave us glory.  “What begins with grace always leads to glory.”

Guard it – we are to guard the truth and not turn from it, standing fast and holding to it.  But “we must not embalm the truth so that it loses its life and power … and we must not think that we know it all … it’s good to let the Spirit teach us new truths from that Word.”

Practice it – It’s not just our “saying” the truth that’s important.  It’s also our “doing” … “It must be a steady practice, not an occasional one … It is good to be defenders of the faith, but we must not forget to be demonstrators of the faith.”

Share it – “We cannot share what we do not believe, and we can best share that which we have practiced ourselves…”

Father, help me to believe even more, to guard what You’ve already shown me, to practice what I’ve learned, and to share it with others so that they may know You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Thessalonians 2:1-12 What's Coming

Someone had tried to make these believers believe that they were already in the Tribulation.  Paul had to correct their thinking by telling them everything that must happen before then, including the rapture of the church.  It would sure shake up any Christian who thought he’d missed the Rapture!

My commentary spent a lot of time pulling in material from other books of the Bible regarding that time.  I saw several things of importance to consider:

“Paul taught a sobering truth:  a person can so resist the truth that he finally becomes deluded and has to believe a lie.  There can be no neutral ground:  either we believe the truth or we believe a lie.  To reject the truth means to receive the lie … What is the lie? … Satan first spoke it to Eve:  ‘You shall be as God!’ The lie is the idea that man is his own God and therefore can do whatever he pleases and better himself by his own human efforts … ‘Now you are somebody important!’ ‘Worship and serve the creature rather than the Creator.’ This is Satan’s lie, and I fear it is what rules the world today.  God originally made man in His own image.  Today, man is making God in his own image.”

Many years ago, a friend introduced me to New Age material, and this is exactly what it is all about.  It appeals to an elitist, intellectual side of each of us, and tries to make us believe that we’ve discovered something that few others have.  It’s dangerous and can easily cause a Christian to lose his way.

Father, thank You for rescuing me from Satan’s lie.  Thank You for not giving up on me when I did not want to have a thing to do with You.  Your mercy and grace pulled me back into Your fold.  Thank You for enabling me to help others find their way to You as well.  I’ll never be able to do enough to thank You for Your love!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Thessalonians 1 -- What God Is Doing Through Our Trials

Paul’s follow-up letter to the Thessalonians showed that they’d done what he asked in his first letter – their faith was growing more and more and the love that every one of them had for each other was increasing.  Paul was praising God for what He was doing in that church.  My commentary said, “not only does prayer change people and situations, but so does praise.”

He also noted that their patience was increasing as they endured trouble.  My commentary said, “You don’t become patient and persevering by reading a book … You have to suffer …But God never wastes suffering.  Trials work for us, not against us.  If we trust God and yield to Him, then trials will produce patience and maturity in our lives.  If we rebel and fight our circumstances, then we will remain immature and impatient … Their sufferings were evidence that God was righteous, working out His great plan for them.  We are prone to think that suffering proves that God does not care, but just the opposite is true.  Furthermore, the way we act in times of trial proves to others that God is at work … Trials do not make a person; they reveal what a person is made of.”

Father, I know that You are at work in the trials my family has been through this year.  I thank You for increasing my faith.  Help me sons to see it all from Your perspective as well.  Let them let You show them they are made of strong stuff and that You are loving them by taking them through it.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Thessalonians 5:12-28 Wise Words To Churches

Paul’s last few paragraphs weren’t simply throwaway “don’t forget these” items.  In fact, they are timely for our church today.

He listed responsibilities for the local congregation to the ministers, pastors, deacons, and other leaders:  We are to accept them, appreciate them, love them, and obey them.  It’s very tempting to respond, “Yeah, but they’re human, too,” as I did.  To that, my commentary replied, “As the spiritual leaders of the church meet together, plan, pray, and seek and follow God’s will, we can be sure that God will rule and overrule in the decisions they make.”

Paul also saw the local congregation as a family partnership, my commentary said, and Paul gave us valuable guidance in dealing with difficult members of the family, including being patient, watching our own motives, and being joyful in everything. 

There were wise words in my commentary about our worship:  “When the Holy Spirit is at work in our lives and churches, we have a warmth of love in our hearts, light for our minds, and energy for our wills.  He ‘melts us together’ so that there is harmony and cooperation, and He purifies us so that we put away sin … The believer and the local assembly must avoid extremes:  the legalist and formalist would put the fire out, while the fanatic would permit the fire to burn everything up … the purpose of worship is that we might become more like Christ in character and conduct.  ‘For to worship is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God, to feed the mind with truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open up the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God.’”

Father, help our church to take this to heart.  Show us how to work together better, and to represent You in truth to the world.  As Paul said, help us “to appreciate those who work hard among you, who lead you in the Lord and teach you.  Respect them with a very special love because of the work they do.”

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 Living Differently

Paul really wanted to encourage believers to live holy lives in the midst of the unbelievers in the world.  He contrasted the lives of believers and unbelievers.

Believers have knowledge of what’s coming.  Unbelievers do not.  The end times will begin suddenly and it is only by having knowledge of what’s coming that we can live lives that will glorify our Savior and point others to Him.

The world will be caught by surprise by Christ’s return.  Christians can expect His return without having a specific time set.  My commentary said there are no signs that must now be fulfilled before He can return for His church.

Paul said we are to be sober-minded, alert, and living with eyes wide open, not living as those who belong to the darkness.  In readying ourselves for that day, he tells us how to be ready – pulling on chest protection of faith in Christ and love for our fellow Christians and for unbelievers needing to discover Christ.  Our head is to be protected by “the hope of salvation”, which my commentary says means “the hope that salvation gives us.”  And there are three tenses to salvation:  “Past – I have been saved from the guilt and penalty of sin.  Present – I am being saved from the power and pollution of sin.  Future – I shall be saved from the very presence of sin when Christ returns … Unsaved people are without hope.”

Also, Paul says that believers don’t have to fear judgment, because it is not part of God’s appointed plan for us.  We won’t have to go through the Tribulation, for John 5:24 says we shall never taste any of God’s wrath.  Not so for unbelievers who mocked God and refused to believe and obey.  My commentary explained that if Christ didn’t return for us until after the Tribulation described so thoroughly in Revelation 6-19, then we’d know when He’d be returning due to that detailed timing given.  He would have to return before the Tribulation for it to be imminent.

Father, this makes it all the more apparent why You want us telling the world about You and Your Son right now.  Help me to tell others how You’ve impacted my life and lead them to saving faith in Your Son.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 Not The End

Paul answered the questions every human has about the afterlife.  He did so because he’d received a special revelation from the Lord.  What he taught agreed with what Jesus had said in John 5 & 11.

Paul did not say that the soul went to sleep at death.  “It is not the soul that sleeps; it is the body,” my commentary said.  “The Bible definition of death is given in James 2:26:  ‘For as the body without the spirit is dead.’  At death, the spirit leaves the body, and the body goes to sleep and no longer functions.  The soul-spirit goes to be with the Lord, if the person has trusted Jesus Christ. ‘Absent from the body, and … present with the Lord.’”

Since we were not given a time of His returning, it is said to be imminent – it can happen at any moment.  “He will return in the air, and we’ll meet Him there.  “The dead in Christ shall rise first,” according to my commentary, means that they will receive their resurrection bodies first.  It emphasized that God will not put the elements of their original bodies together again, for that would be reconstruction, not resurrection.

“Death is not the end.  The grave is not the end.  The body goes to sleep, but the soul goes to be with the Lord.  When the Lord returns, He will bring the soul with Him, will raise the body in glory, and will unite body and soul into one being to share His glory forever,” my commentary summarized.

The Greek word from which we get “rapture” has several meanings, and when we consider all of them, according to my commentary, we get a better idea of what rapture means:

                To catch away speedily

                To seize by force

                To claim for one’s own self

                To move to a new place

                To rescue from danger.

According to the Bible, this resurrection of dead believers only will also be a time of reckoning called the Judgment Seat of Christ.  It will occur immediately after the Rapture, and it determines rewards for service, not the amount of judgment.  Judgment only occurs with unbelievers when they are raised at the White Throne judgment later.  There is no condemnation for believers. 

Father, thank You for these assurances.  Thank You for the possibility that we may not have to face death.  Thank You that we can look forward to Your Son’s return.  Thank You for saving me.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Thessalonians 4:1-12 Living This Way Why?

Paul packed a lot into 12 verses!  He tells us that as Christians we are to walk in holiness, in harmony, and in honesty.  Immorality was rampant in the Roman Empire as it is now, and these Christians needed God’s instruction on how to live apart from it.  “Paul gave four reasons why they should live a holy life and abstain from sensual lusts:

                To please God

                To obey God

                To glorify God

                To escape the judgment of God”

according to my commentary.

“Pleasing God means much more than simply doing God’s will.  It is possible to obey God and yet not please Him.”  (Jonah was an example they cited.)  It involved “getting to know the heart of God, and this opens us up to the will of God.”

God’s commandments concerning sex are clear, and since “He created sex, He had the authority to govern its use.”  So living a life according to those commandments results in obedience.

For God to be glorified, we must live a holy life, and “to make us holy, that entails first of all a clean break with sexual immorality… The Christian who commits sexual sin is sinning against his own body, and he is robbing God of the glory He should receive through a believer’s way of life.”

Finally, in regard to judgment, “God is no respecter of persons:  He must deal with His children when they sin … While it is true that the Christian is not under condemnation, it is also true that he is not free of the harvest of sorrow that comes when we sow to the flesh.  God forgives, but God cannot change the consequences.”

Father, help me in my singleness to continue to seek Your will for my life – to not simply seek to obey You, but to seek to please You by conforming my heart to Yours.  Don’t let me try to rationalize anything regarding sexual sin.  Strengthen me and help me to be pure for You and because You know what’s best for me better than I ever will.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Thessalonians 3 -- Helping New Christians

Paul gives us lots of information for helping new Christians in this chapter.  One of the first things he mentioned dealt with the “helper” himself.  According to my commentary,  “It is a demanding thing to establish new Christians.  They have many problems and often do not grow as fast as we think they should.  Teaching them requires love and patience.”

Often, new Christians get sidelined by trials and testings, but they need to see them not as accidents, but as appointments.  God uses them to grow our faith.  “We must expect to suffer for His sake.  Persecution is not foreign to the believer, but a normal part of the Christian life … Satan will use any means to attack the Christian and weaken his faith in God.”  Trials grow our faith when we see them from this perspective.

My commentary mentioned the importance of continually praying for new Christians, and cited something Samuel said:  “God forbid that I should sin against the Lord in ceasing to pray for you.”

Testing of our faith comes for a reason, and new Christians need to understand that.  “God tries our faith, not to destroy it, but to develop it.  Faith that cannot be tested cannot be trusted.”

Paul also wanted love to abound in new Christians.  The testing plus the suffering would require growing love.  “Nothing reveals the true inner man like the furnace of affliction.  Some people build walls in times of trial and shut themselves off.  Others build bridges and draw closer to the Lord and His people.”

Paul also wanted them to have holiness of life, and my commentary noted how Christ’s return is a source of stability for us, and that stability allows sanctity which builds assurance.  That’s something all new believers need.

Father, thank You for this timely reminder about trials building faith, and about how I can help new Christians.  I’ve got one on my mind right now.  Help me to help him with what You’ve shown me today.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Thessalonians 1-2 Ministry Almost Orphaned

There was so much I read in my commentary today that focused on how Paul pastured the Christians in this church.  But what really spoke to me this morning was what was written about the last 4 verses of chapter 2.

“Paul felt as though he had be orphaned from the Thessalonian Christians, since he was their spiritual mother and father.  Paul wanted to remain there longer to help ground them in the faith, but the enemy drove him out.  However, his absence was only physical; he was still with them in heart.  Paul made every effort possible to return to them, though Satan was ‘breaking up the road and pulling up obstacles.’  Paul had the same kind of deep desire to be with them as Jesus had to be with His disciples before His death.  But Paul did not look back and give in to regret and remorse.  Instead, he looked ahead and rejoiced … Paul looked ahead by faith and saw his friends in the presence of Jesus Christ in glory … this ought to motivate us to be faithful in spite of difficulties.  We must remember that faithfulness is the important thing.”

Father, this so describes how I’ve been feeling about what’s been going on in my ministry to these kids I so love.  I feel orphaned from them, too.  Thank You that they are still with me in my heart, even when I don’t get to teach them in church.  Thank You for giving me the desire to interact with them in their lives, as Paul did, when I’m limited at church.  Help me to make every effort to keep loving them in this way, despite all of the obstacles.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Habakkuk 1-3 Trusting God Through Doubt

Habakkuk had some doubts about what God was doing.  He felt that God was ignoring his fervent prayers for his nation.  Suddenly, God answered him!  He said, “ …. Be amazed and shocked.  I will do something in your lifetime that you won’t believe even when you are told about it.”  God told Habakkuk what He was up to, but not why.  “He doesn’t owe us any explanations, but He does graciously reveal Himself and His work to those who seek Him,” my commentary said.

Habakkuk worried that he was seeing inconsistency on the part of God.  After all, He was using wicked people to punish His own people for their sins.  “If you believe in God, you sometimes wonder why He allows certain things to happen.  But keep in mind that there’s a difference between doubt and unbelief.  Like Habakkuk, the doubter questions God and may even debate with God, but the doubter doesn’t abandon God.  But unbelief is rebellion against God, a refusal to accept what He says and does.  Unbelief is an act of the will, while doubt is born out of a troubled mind and a broken heart,” my commentary said.

Habakkuk decides to trust God despite his lack of understanding and his doubts.  He ends by saying, “I hear these things, and my body trembles … But I will wait patiently … Fig trees may not grow figs, and there may be no grapes on the vines.  There may be no olives growing and no food growing in the fields.  There may be no sheep in the pens and no cattle in the barns.  But I will still be glad in the Lord; I will rejoice in God my Savior.  The Lord God is my strength.  He makes me like a deer that does no stumble so I can walk on the steep mountains.”

Thank You for taking me through everything with Josh’s adoption so that I could learn  that for myself, Father.  Thank You for teaching me the four words to say when I doubt:  “I trust You, God.”

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Nahum 1-3 -- Jealousy, Vengeance, And Anger From God

This book starts out, “The Lord is a jealous God who punishes; the Lord punishes and is filled with anger.  The Lord punishes those who are against Him, and He stays angry with His enemies.”

It’s very easy to say, “Something’s not right here!  God is love.  My God wouldn’t do that!  I wouldn’t want Him being that way with me!”  My commentary helped me see that what is written in the Bible is both true and good.  Jealousy, vengeance, and anger are good parts of God’s character, and here’s why:

“Jealousy is a sin if it means being envious of what others have and wanting to possess it, but it’s a virtue if it means cherishing what we have and wanting to protect it … when you are jealous over someone you love, you’re zealous to protect the relationship.  Since God made everything and owns everything, He is envious of no one, but since He is the only true God, He is jealous over His glory, His name, and the worship and honor that are due to Him alone … He will not share His people with false gods … God’s jealous love burned against Nineveh’s pride and willful breaking of His law.”

“In Scripture, vengeance is usually presented as a sin … But a holy God cannot see people flouting His law and do nothing about it … When God takes vengeance by judging people, it’s because He is a holy God and is jealous (zealous) for His holy Law.”

“God’s anger isn’t like human anger, which can be selfish and out of control.  His is a holy anger, a righteous indignation against all that defies His authority and disobeys His law.  God’s people ought to exercise a holy anger against sin … Nahum invites us (as Paul put it) to ‘consider the goodness and severity of God.’”

Psalm 115:8 says that people become like the god they worship, for what we believe determines how we behave.

Father, forgive me for backing up as I first read this, wondering if Nahum was ascribing traits to You that were unkind at best.  Had I truly known Nineveh’s sin, I would never have wondered.  You are good, and that goodness includes jealousy, vengeance, and anger for those who disobey Your laws and defy Your authority – even me.  Help me to always agree with You and Your Word.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Micah 5-7 -- God's Amazing Love For Sinners

As Micah finished giving God’s message, the people began to ask what they could do to remove their sin.  “Ignoring His commandments resulted in a hart heart that deliberately rebelled against God’s will,” my commentary said.  Do we even realize that we are doing the same thing today?  They needed to confess their sins, yet they asked what they could do to get rid of them.  “Their request shows how shallow their spiritual life really was and that they were ignorant of the enormity of their sin and the high cost of forgiveness.”  We are little different today.  “Doing penance without truly repenting and trusting God’s mercy only multiplies the sin and deadens the conscience,” my commentary added.

It’s vitally important that we come clean with ourselves.  “The only people God can save are lost people; the only people God can forgive are guilty people.  If we see ourselves as God sees us, then we can by faith become what He wants us to become.”

I loved the last few verses:  “There is no God like You.  You forgive those who are guilty of sin; You don’t look at the sins of Your people who are left alive.  You will not stay angry forever, because You enjoy being kind.  You will have mercy on us again; You will conquer our sins.  You will throw away all our sins into the deepest part of the sea.”

Father, forgive me for sinning against You and Your great love for me.  Do this for me, Father – every day.  And help me to trust You more so that I will not sin against You.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Micah 3-4 -- The Hazards Of Not Listening To God

The religious and civilian leaders of Israel were leading them to sin.  Their false prophets were about to see their visions grow dark.  They were making them up anyway, seeing good things for those willing to pay them and calling for holy wars against those who wouldn’t.

Although God was promising them that they’d go into captivity for their willful sinning and rebellion, He also promised that one day the Temple Mount would be miraculously raised up and even Gentiles would come to hear what the Lord would say.  Nations would stop fighting wars or even training soldiers.  There will even be an end to terrorism and the fear it causes.

There were so many promises of God taking action Himself in these verses – gathering, keeping alive, making strong, bringing together.  If people can’t see God at work today, they certainly will at that time.  Right now, “They don’t know what the Lord is thinking; they don’t understand His plan.”  But someday they will, and they will be amazed.

Father, I think back to how I used to wonder why You’d left and were no longer at work in the world, but You’d blinded my eyes, just as You did theirs, until I returned to You.  Now I see You at work every day.  Please help others to do the same.  Show up and reveal what You are doing so that people everywhere will look up to You and know You are the Holy God.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Micah 1-2 -- Judgment, With Consolation & Hope

God gave Micah a message for both kingdoms.  They’d conveniently listened to false prophets who were only encouraging them to sin.  They’d kept worshiping idols and sinned their way right into defeat.

These were God’s chosen people.  He gave them privilege.  “Privilege brings responsibility, and responsibility brings accountability,” my commentary reminded us.  They’d been infected with materialism, caused by covetousness – something God had forbidden – and now “they would see everything they lived for and sinned to acquire be taken over by the enemy and wasted.”

They’d altered their religion as well.  They thought they could simply go through the motions and it would count as worship.  Their hearts weren’t in it, except to further their own interests.  Micah’s message revealed this, but they rejected it, and my commentary said, “The way we respond to God’s Word indicates our relationship to the Lord … The nation didn’t learn from its history; the people repeated the same sins as their ancestors but thought they would avoid the same consequences.”

Micah was to expose sin and announce judgment.  But he also was to provide consolation and hope.  If he only consoled the, and didn’t preach repentance, he was only giving false hope.  If his message included no hope, it only created hopelessness because of their sin.  God gave him a message of hope, but that hope wasn’t going to come quickly.

My commentary says that the message for us today is “to deal with our sins of covetousness, selfishness, and willingness to believe religious lies.  We must abandon soft religion that pampers our pride and makes it easy for us to sin.”

Father, help me to take to heart Your Word today, for my own life and for the lives of those I love.  I read that I should expect sinners to sin and that I should not be offended when someone sins against me, but instead I should open caring arms to them.  Help me to do that, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 14 -- God Heals Our Backsliding

“Though His people may turn away from Him, God will not abandon them, even though He disciplines them, for He is true to His covenant and His promises.  ‘If we are faithless, He remains faithful,’” my commentary said.  And this last chapter of Hosea offers new hope to those who have stepped away from God.  He even gives us the words to say to invoke His forgiveness.

“God had every reason to reject His sinful people, but He chose to offer them forgiveness … They needed to bring sincere words of repentance and ask God for His gracious forgiveness:  ‘I will forgive them for leaving Me and will love them freely, because I am not angry with them anymore.’”  He sees our pitiful condition, and His love for us moves Him to abate His anger and draw us to Himself in love.

My commentary also says, “God restores the penitent to spiritual health and heals their backsliding.”  It’s almost as if our own decision to sin against Him is like a festering wound, and God washes it clean, removes the sin infection, and seals the skin to prevent re-infection.  Our backsliding was our choosing to sin, and He even heals that – causing us to not want to sin again because we are blown away by such love!

The last verse helps us to see what it takes to be a wise person and an understanding person – to know God’s desires for us and His commands that give us freedom from sin, and to take them to heart.  He also “presents us with only two alternatives:  rebel against the Lord and continue to stumble, or return to the Lord and walk securely in His ways. ‘Good people will live by following them, but those who turn against God die because of them.’”

Father, thank You for forgiving me for leaving You years ago.  Thank You for placing within my heart a desire never to get into that mode again.  But like all flesh, I am tempted at times to test those boundaries and to relive old sins.  Don’t let me go there.  Speak loudly and clearly to me.  And Father, verse 3 says, “You show mercy to orphans.”  Remember those two boys who were orphans.  You placed them in my home and gave them a father.  Show mercy to them when they sin.  Show them the way back.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 12-13 -- It Finally Comes To This ... In Love

What God was about to do to Israel, the Northern Kingdom, wouldn’t be good, but it was necessary.  My commentary said that they’d refused every other manifestation of His love, so now discipline was all that was left.  It wasn’t punishment; it was chastening.  “Chastening is a loving parent disciplining his child in order to perfect his character and build his endurance … chastening has to do with love.”

Hosea mentioned Jacob, rather than Abraham, for a reason.  “During most of his life, Jacob struggled with himself, with others, and with the Lord, and until he surrendered to God at Jabbok, he never really walked by faith.  God had to discipline him to bring him to that place of surrender.”

Jacob had met God at Bethel, and later he returned to Bethel for a new spiritual beginning.  “The victorious Christian life is a series of new beginnings.”

One of the reasons Hosea listed for Israel’s discipline was ingratitude.  “The Jews were glad for what God had done for their forefathers, but they didn’t really show Him sincere appreciation … In their prosperity, they became proud and turned away from God to idols.”

In 13:14, God says, “I will show them no mercy.”  The Living Bible says, “I will not relent.”  This wasn’t God saying that He no longer loved His people.  His discipline was another manifestation of His love for the.

Father, help me not to again get so far from You by my sin that Your discipline becomes necessary.  Remind me to be attentive to the little nudges You give me daily so I won’t need the whip.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 10-11 God's Love Blasting Out From These Pages

“The more prosperous they became, the more they turned away from God.”  It was that way with Israel back then, much like it is with us today.  “[The Northern Kingdom of Israel] had not only broken the law of God; they had broken the heart of God … After all God did for His son [Israel], he will refuse to return His love or obey His will.”

In 11:1-4, God lays out the way Israel had treated Him:  “They went away from Me.  They offered sacrifices to the Baals … They did not understand that I had healed them.”

My commentary said, “The more God called to Israel, the more they strayed from Him.  They were happy to enjoy His gifts, but they didn’t want to obey the Giver … and all of us are prone to do what Israel did:  enjoy God’s blessings, but take God for granted.  ‘My people are determined to turn from Me.’”

It also pointed out that God chose to be longsuffering.  His heart of love cries out in 11:8, “Israel, how can I give you up?  How can I give you away, Israel?... My heart beats for you, and My love for you stirs up My pity.  I won’t punish you in My anger, and I won’t destroy Israel again.  I am God and not a human; I am the Holy One, and I am among you.  I will not come against you in anger.”

My commentary concluded, “God is longsuffering with His people, as He is with all sinners, even though they lie to Him and rebel against Him.”

Father, I cannot understand such love, and I’m glad I don’t have to – I only need to accept it.  Help those I love to do the same!  Thank You for Your longsuffering.  Without it, I would have been destroyed long ago.  Such love You have for me!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 8-9 -- Coming Home To Roost

It would make my blood run cold to hear God say these things about me that He said here about Israel:

“They have broken My agreement and have turned against My teachings … so the enemy will chase them … I am very angry with the people … Israel’s foolish plans are like planting the wind, but they will harvest a storm … Although Israel built more altars to remove sins, they have become altars for sinning.  I have written many teachings for them, but they think the teachings are strange and foreign … The Lord is not pleased with them.  He remembers the evil they have done, and He will punish them for their sins … They will become slaves again … The time of punishment has come, the time to pay for sins … You think the prophet is a fool, and you say the spiritual person is crazy.  You have sinned very much, and your hatred is great.  How terrible it will be for them when I go away from them! … Because of the sinful things they have done, I will force them to leave My land.  I will no longer love them …”

Father God, I would take Your discipline and punishment any day over having You leave me.  I can’t imagine life without You anymore!  Use Your Holy Spirit to quicken my soul to You.  Warn me when I’m in danger of sinning.  Remind me to trust everything You say, regardless of what my own heart is telling me, for I can trust You, my God!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 7 -- Wrong-headedness

The citizens of Israel seem to have lost their senses.  “It never enters their minds that I remember their evil deeds … They make agreements with those who do not know the true God … Israel’s pride will cause their defeat; they will not turn back to the Lord their God or look to Him for help in all this.”

Although they’d cried out to God, their motives were wrong.  “They wanted God to act on their terms and not according to the conditions of His holy covenant.  They thought they could get away with their many sins, but God saw them all and remembered them,” my commentary said. 

God compared them to a half-baked pancake, which is really good for nothing.  “When it comes to our relationship with the Lord, we must be thorough and not half-baked.  His gracious work must permeate our whole being so that heart, mind, and strength are all devoted to Him.”

Israel couldn’t see this, and my commentary said, “The tragedy of undetected losses quietly lead to ultimate failures.”  It called us to see whether we are like that – half-baked in our devotion to God, not allowing Him to permeate every corner of our lives.

Father, looking at my own life, I want so very much to remain devoted fully to You.  I never would have dreamed that the forces trying to undo that devotion might come from within the church of all places!  Guide me.  Keep me devoted to You in spite of those forces.  And if I am wrong-headed in my thinking about anything, show me clearly where I need to change my thinking.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 6 -- REAL Repentance Required

Verse 1-3 sound so good.  The people seem to be agreeing to return to God.  But my commentary calls it false repentance.  “To begin with, their concern was for healing and not for cleansing … Furthermore, the people of Israel thought that the remedy would work quickly … Expecting a quick fix is one of the marks of an unrepentant heart that doesn’t want to pay the price for deep cleansing.  There is a third evidence of their shallowness:  they saw forgiveness and restoration as a mechanical thing that was guaranteed and not as a relational matter that involved getting right with God … This is formula religion, like getting a candy bar out of a vending machine … The Christian life is a relationship with God, and relationships aren’t based on cut-and-dried formulas.”

They’re about to have to reap what they had sown, and their false repentance would catch up to them.

Father, I thank You for the hurt I feel when I sin against You, for it is evidence of Your Holy Spirit working within me, helping me to understand that I’ve been unfaithful.  Please help me to understand that true repentance is vital.  You can see false repentance a mile away.  Help me to want cleansing, no matter how long it takes, and give me the patience to wait on You to carry it out in me.  Don’t let me presume on Your grace and mercy, either.  Help me to obey so I won’t have to ask for forgiveness.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Hosea 5 -- Determined To Be Unfaithful

God had news for Israel – all the people, including the religious leaders, would be judged for their sins.  I’m sure this stunned the nation.  “You have done many evil things … I know all about the people of Israel; what they have done is not hidden from Me … They will not give up their deeds and return to their God.  They are determined to be unfaithful to Me.  They do not know the Lord … Israel went to Assyria for help (not to God) … I will attack them … Then I will go back to My place until they suffer for their guilt and turn back to Me.” 

We cannot love sin so much that we ignore God’s warnings about it, for presuming on His grace is a dangerous thing.  We cannot believe that He doesn’t know what we do.  And hearing Him say, “I will go back to My place until they suffer for their guilt and turn back to Me,” should fill our hearts with fear.

Father, I know that You know everything about me, even better than I know myself.  I know that You love me and want me sanctified, yet I constantly fight against the sin that infects this fleshly body.  I want obedience to You to become like a reflex action, not a struggle.  Guide me and keep me focused on You and not on the world.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford