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Don't Speak Arrogantly About God - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) December 13, 2024

P L U N D E R E R
Dec 13, 2024
3 min read

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This statement comes from Proverbs 9:10 and is a great warning for all who seek to honor and serve God with their life. When an individual fails to walk in the fear of the Lord, they are bound to do and say things without restriction. These things will likely cause them to sin and run afoul of the Creator.

One consequence of lacking the fear of the Lord is speaking arrogantly against Him. This issue is mentioned in Malachi 3:13-15 - “You have spoken arrogantly against me,” says the LORD. “Yet you ask, ‘What have we said against you?’ “You have said, ‘It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the LORD Almighty? But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.’”

Have you ever said those words or something similar? Have you heard others utter them? Maybe you only thought along those lines but never spoke that way about God. Or do you know (of) someone who proudly said they can do whatever they like because God won't do anything (Psalm 10:11;13)? Please understand that speaking arrogantly against God is something to avoid at all costs.

And if you wonder why, consider that doing so is akin to slandering and blaspheming Him because it questions His character. In such cases, you essentially say He is unfaithful and a liar. When Believers do this publicly, they are breaking faith with Him. They are also speaking about Him falsely and He considers that a great offense. He concludes that they risk not being saved. Hosea 7:13 - Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me! I long to redeem them but they speak about me falsely.

If you are to be honest, you have probably spoken disrespectfully or 'recklessly' about God. You likely did it at a point of intense emotions, say during a period of disappointment. You may have been shocked that something you'd prayed for didn't materialize and spoke in a manner that didn't reflect the fear and reverence you should always have for Him.

Maybe you said, "God has disappointed me." Or you may have called Him a liar outright. Whatever the case, God is in the business of forgiving those who genuinely repent and seek His forgiveness when they recognize their sin. Therefore, if you have spoken arrogantly or falsely about the Lord, today is the day to repent without hesitation and ask for His mercy. Call on His Holy Spirit to help you so you never forget to revere Him.

This is not to suggest that God wants us to speak of Him and pray to Him with a formal approach. He is and will always be a kind and loving Father to His children and He enjoys a warm relationship with them. Still, remember how Jesus referred to Him. Though the most powerful man on earth, He always gave God the glory and spoke of Him with great deference. In the moments before He was captured and led to His death, He prayed that God would spare Him but also said these key words, "not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). He was subject to God in His speech, thoughts, and actions. We too are called to do the same and by the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall no longer speak arrogantly against our God, IJMN, Amen.

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God Stirs Up The Spirit - Tuesday Praise & Pray (for others) December 10, 2024

P L U N D E R E R
Dec 10, 2024
3 min read

The Bible teaches that God's thoughts are nothing like ours. It also tells us that His ways are drastically different from ours (Isaiah 55:8). And not just that, His ways and thoughts are higher than ours (Isaiah 55:9). We also know that He can do whatever He likes. He's called the "Sovereign Lord" for a reason, after all.

Therefore, it should be no surprise that He can stir up the spirit of an individual to do what He wants. God has been known to have people do things they never imagined and there are countless testimonies to this fact. For instance, the Lord might give someone a word of knowledge about another person's life. And that information proves to be exactly what is needed to solve a problem that has dragged on for a long time.

God can equally stir individuals to do what He needs. In Haggai, the Lord stirred His people to restore His temple. Haggai 1:14 - So the LORD stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua son of Jozadak, the high priest, and the spirit of the whole remnant of the people. They came and began to work on the house of the LORD Almighty, their God. On this occasion, He stirred up the entire population to work together for His great purpose. And once that happened, the work began. Seeing how the people submitted to Him, God made them a promise - to take them from insufficiency to abundance (Haggai 2).

As believers, we should be willing to be stirred by the Lord to achieve His goals here on the earth. And when His stirring comes upon us, we should not resist. To prepare for this, we should take seriously the word in Matthew 6:33 - Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need (NLT). We should be consistently walking with God in obedience, being led by His Spirit. That way, we will move with little to no hesitation, hurrying to obey Him the way Philip ran to catch the Ethiopian's chariot when instructed in Acts 8.

Just as God can also stir up the spirit of men for good things, He can stir up people to bring His punishment. For instance, the Lord warned the Israelites to stop worshiping false gods and get back to honoring Him alone. They disobeyed for four hundred centuries and became wicked. Murders were rampant and justice was non-existent. The Lord stirred up various nations to take them into captivity. The final straw came when He sent King Nebuchadnezzar as the instrument of His punishment. By then, all that remained was the city of Jerusalem under King Zedekiah. Nebuchadnezzar broke the city's walls, destroyed the temple, plucked out Zedekiah's eyes and marched the survivors to Babylon.

This should be a warning to each of us. God loves us and yes His mercies endure forever. However, if we abuse His grace and kindness by flagrantly ignoring His word, a time may come when He stirs up the hearts of people or institutions against us. We cannot afford to become the very wicked whom He has repeatedly said He detests and will punish. We must not be like the people of Jerusalem who hated the word of Prophet Jeremiah whom God sent to repeatedly warn them to change. We must turn away from the behavior He despises and let Him transform us.

The Lord wants to stir us up so we are equipped with what we need to serve Him. He wants to stir up our spirits so that we are fashioned into temples for His dwelling. It is better to be stirred up for His purpose than to be the one He stirs others against. May the Lord stir up our spirits for His glory and our good, IJMN, Amen.

1 Thessalonians 5:24 - The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.

Hypocrites - Friday Praise & Pray (for others) December 6, 2024

P L U N D E R E R
Dec 6, 2024
3 min read

Jesus did not like many of the religious people of His day. He said that the Pharisees and Sadducees made a show of observing the Law of Moses but lacked love in their hearts. He called them hypocrites in Mark 7:6-7 - He replied, “Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “’These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.'

Those of us who believe in and follow Christ cannot afford to follow in the footsteps of those He despised and expect to enter heaven. We cannot use our mouths to proclaim He is Lord but ignore His teachings and the instructions of His Father, God Almighty. He expressly warned in Matthew 7:21-23 - “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’

Proverbs 20:27 tells us God sees straight into the spirit of every person therefore no hypocrite can deceive or lie to Him. We are even told that hypocrites cannot come before the Lord in Job 13:16. He will not indulge their petitions and that says a lot because the only people whose prayers His ears are closed to are the wicked. These individuals will not have their names in the Book of Life and no amount of intercession on their behalf will change God's determination about them, until they choose to change.

The wonderful thing is that God is in the business of forgiving those who turn from their wicked ways. He is an expert in forgiving and forgetting the sins of those who genuinely repent and choose to behave differently from that moment on.

If the Spirit of the Lord is burdening your heart and pointing to areas in your life where hypocrisy reigns, today is the day to rid yourself of that issue. Allow the Lord to reveal the hypocrisy you've been carrying so you can drop that burden at His feet. Yes, this process may hurt. After all, nobody enjoys confronting their shortcomings. Nevertheless, God reveals problems to redeem His people. So, this is not the time to beat yourself up. This is the time to accept what the Lord highlights as an issue, repent for it, and ask God for a strategy to not return to that sin. The Lord is faithful and has promised to save all who call on Him (Joel 2:32). Let Him save you as today is the day of His salvation (2 Corinthians 6:2).

Acts 3:19 - Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord...

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