Double Miracle | Miracles of Jesus Christ

Up until now we have seen the miracles of Jesus in three of the four Gospels. Today we will read about a double miracle that is only found in the book of Matthew. This account follows on the heels of the two miracles we read about last week: the 12 year old girl raised from the dead and the woman with the issue of blood healed after 12 years of suffering. Let's read the text first.

Matthew 9:27-31 And when Jesus departed thence, two blind men followed Him, crying, and saying, Thou son of David, have mercy on us. And when He was come into the house, the blind men came to Him: and Jesus saith unto them, Believe ye that I am able to do this? They said unto Him, Yea, Lord. Then touched He their eyes, saying, According to your faith be it unto you. And their eyes were opened; and Jesus straitly charged them, saying, See that no man know it. But they, when they were departed, spread abroad His fame in all that country.

After word spread about Jesus healing the woman who had been hemorrhaging for more than a decade and raising Jairus' daughter from the dead, people started seeking Jesus for their own miracles. Much like today, the world was in desperate need for a Savior, a Healer, and a Teacher. Two blind men were in need of one such miracle. The Bible says they beg Jesus to have mercy on them. Jesus went into a house and they followed Him. They wanted to see! Jesus point-blank asked them if they believed He was able to do this. Why was their faith in Him so important?

Imagine for a moment there is a pipe in the ground. The pipe is a conduit for water in our example. Now imagine there is a blockage of some sort in the pipe. The water is not able to flow freely through the pipe. The water cannot come out of the pipe, not because there is no water, but the water is not free to flow. Now think of our lives as that pipe. The blockage to our own miracles is often doubt, or unbelief. We simply do not trust God. The water is the power of God in this example. The problem is not that God does not have the power to perform miracles, but rather, His power does not flow through us when we do not believe.

Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.

Jesus wants these blind men to trust Him. He asks them specifically if they believe that He is able to restore their sight. These men said yes! What are you wanting God to do in your life? Do you trust Him to do it? If you want things like power, money, fame, notoriety, etc. you probably will not receive those things. God desires to be in fellowship with you. Often those things will lead to pride and selfishness instead of drawing you closer to Him. This is why we must be careful to check our motives when we are asking God for things.

1 John 5:14-15 And this is the confidence we have in Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us: And if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of Him.

These men had confidence that Jesus was able to heal them and I believe they were expecting a miracle. Jesus did that for them. Their faith caused the power of God to flow freely in their lives. Others did not get the same flow of healing virtue because of doubt. We read about that just a few chapters later, and Mark's account agrees.

Matthew 13:57-58 And they were offended in Him. But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, save in his own country, and in his own house. And He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

Mark 6:4-6 But Jesus, said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house. And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them. And He marvelled because of their unbelief. And He went round about the villages, teaching.

This text tells us that Jesus was amazed at their lack of faith! We must believe God is able to help us and if we do not have faith we cannot expect to receive anything from God. James 1:6-7 reads, But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

Once the blind men were healed Jesus sternly warned them not to tell anyone what happened. But as soon as they left they told everyone in the land what Jesus had done for them. Of course they were elated to have the gift of sight. They wanted others to rejoice in what the Lord had done for them. Why would Jesus not want them to tell anyone?

Friends I believe that Jesus did not want the focus to be on the miracles then or even now. Jesus died to save us from our sins. His precious blood was the currency to pay for our sin. The Bible says in Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Luke 22:14-20 And when the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him. And He said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God. And He took the cup, and gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves: For I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine, until the Kingdom of God shall come. And He took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is My body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of Me. Likewise also the cup after supper, saying, This cup is the new testament in My blood, which is shed for you.

Jesus tells the twelve that He earnestly desired to eat this special meal with them. He is telling them then and us now that the most important thing to remember is not the miracles, the loaves and the fishes, and all the supernatural things He did to help us have better lives. The most important thing to remember is the miracle of the cross! The redemption of His body and blood to save us from eternal separation from Him. 1 Corinthians 10:16 The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? Let's ask God for the things we need but do not seek the miracles, seek Jesus!

I have enjoyed studying the miracles of Jesus Christ with you all. I hope to continue these blog posts on Mondays beginning in November. We will continue to study them throughout the rest of this year. We are to read about these miracles and be encouraged and build our faith, but we must not forget that Jesus never came to perform miracles, but rather we know He came to save us.

John 3:16-17 For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved.

I hope you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and are walking with Him. If not, please call upon the name of Jesus Christ and be saved today. He loves you so much that He took your punishment and offers you a free gift of eternal life with Him.

If you are saved and seeking a miracle, do not give up! God loves you and wants to help you and heal you. That might be instantaneous or it might be a journey, but the outcome is the same: He wants to draw you closer to Himself. Allow Him to transform your life!

I hope something I shared today has been strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Reprobate Silver | Fuel For The Weekend

God told me to share my faith on Fridays and call it Fuel For The Weekend. It is my desire that the posts I put up on Fridays will give you something to think about, ponder, consider, and reflect on throughout the weekend.

During my Bible study time this morning, God led me to Jeremiah chapter six. What a timely passage of scripture for this day and age we are living in. The word reprobate means rejected by God and beyond hope of salvation. It is crucial that we understand that those who are called reprobate silver is a terrifying title that none of us should ever hope to have. I have created a video about this today. I usually do not share a lot of videos here because I enjoy the writing process, but the anointing of God was upon me on this video and I felt compelled to share it here.

Please watch this video, open up your Bibles to Jeremiah chapter six and read along with me. Share this blog post, the video, or scripture reference with those you think might need to hear this message. Allow this video to start a dialogue with you and those around you this weekend. May it create a desire inside you all to pray for this nation we live in and for the world. It is a wake up call for the wicked and a word of encouragement for God's people. I hope and pray that something you heard me say will be strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Broken | Thankful Thursday

 

Hey everyone! Today I am going to tell you why I am thankful for the broken things. Thank you for joining me on this Thankful Thursday.

I have a broken windshield. It started with a small crack in the glass. You can see it here:

That was in Alabama. It was like that when I purchased my vehicle. It was just the one little place, not the cracks to the left and to the right. In Alabama, it rarely got cold enough to require defrost to thaw out a window, so it never became an issue. It was just there as a constant reminder that the windshield was not perfect, but it did not obstruct my view and I did not see a reason to purchase a new windshield for one small flaw.

The Holy Spirit started ministering to me. This is how we are in our spiritual walk with God. We may see a sign of decay but we choose to ignore it. We say things like, "It's not hurting anyone else," or "It's just a small flaw, we all have issues." And when we are in certain seasons of life we can get by without checking our heart. It is dangerous to do this, but many of us, including Christians, will choose to go about their business without dealing with the issue that is in front of them. It is a constant reminder that there is something in your life you have not dealt with and we can choose to shift our eyes to the clear parts of our lives and ignore the flawed parts.

Something interesting happened. God told Paul that it was time to move back to Indiana. He had already told me but I had to wait for Paul to let me know what God had told him. He did not know God had put the same idea in my heart at the very same time he put it in Paul's. We are one flesh, so of course God would do that, but we do not always think of that at the time. I did not want to move back. None of us really wanted to uproot and do the whole moving and trusting God thing again. It is hard. If you have never done it, it is very hard, but we knew God is faithful and He would take care of us. So we moved back on Kadesia's birthday 12/27/20.

In Indiana it is winter and trust and believe it does not play with cold temperatures. We were having a true winter with snow and everything. (All the things I dislike.) So I had to go to work and I put on my defrost like I had done oodles of times in my life living in Hoosier winters. One morning my windshield cracked from the center flaw to the left and to the right a few inches either way. I did not know what to do. My jaw dropped!

Holy Spirit said in the right conditions that is the same thing that happens to us in the spiritual realm. We are just going about our business, doing what we know we have to do to survive, and then the small flaw becomes an even bigger one. My windshield cracked down low, which you can see in the picture below. Since it was below my line of vision to drive, I ignored it. It was okay. I still did not want to address the cracked windshield right in front of my face, but it was always a source of stress for me. 

Each time I got into the car I was reminded that my windshield needed to be fixed. The crack that shoots off to the right was not there at this time. So I just kept ignoring it. I did not have the extra money to buy a windshield. I was not sure my insurance would cover it (they didn't). So I simply ignored the fact that I had a busted windshield and needed a new one. Sometimes it was like I forgot it was even there.

Holy Spirit said we can be so comfortable in our sin that after a while we just forget it's there. We are losing close fellowship with Jesus and we do not even realize it because it is so gradual and we are so aloof about it. This is dangerous! We have to be more sensitive to the Holy Spirit's nudges for us to check our hearts.

Well a year passed and guess what. I am still in Indiana. I am in the winter season and this time my windshield cracked and it shot off to the right and then it curved and each day I saw it getting worse. I remember hearing the crunchy sound and as I looked up the line of cracked glass ran across the windshield another three inches. I was scared the windshield would shatter. 

Holy Spirit again said this is when people will finally wake up. There will come a time when you will be shook and you decide, "Okay! This is enough for me!" Now I prayed for God to help me with the windshield. I prayed He would provide the money for me to get my windshield fixed and praise God He has done exactly that! I received 4 brand new tires for my vehicle and a brand new windshield and it cost me absolutely nothing! That is God!

Sometimes we have to be broken in the Spirit and then we come to God with sorrow and repentance. He loves us and will forgive us. David said God does not want a sacrifice or burnt offering. We can sacrifice things, we can give tithes and offerings and not be in right standing with God. He does not want those things from us. Yes He wants us to tithe and give, but not in an effort to sweep everything else under the rug. He does not want us to go through the motions of religious protocol when our hearts are burdened with sin. This is why David writes these words:

PSALM 51:15-17 (15)O Lord, open Thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth Thy praise. (16)For Thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: Thou delightest not in burnt offering. (17)The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, Thou wilt not despise.

My mouth is showing forth God's praise. He receives us in our brokenness. He mends us and helps us and loves us. He puts us back together. My mother is a resourceful woman. If something is broken, she carefully gathers the pieces, glues them all back like they were, and many times you cannot even tell where the flaw was. God does that for us. And if there are holes in our hearts where we have had gaping wounds, then just remember, it is just another area for God's light and love to shine through us onto others who have had similar circumstances.

If you are broken, caught up in sin, disobedient to the things He is calling you to do because you are scared, or maybe you have just allowed compromise to weaken your relationship with Jesus, please come to Him. God sees you broken and busted like my windshield. He will mend your heart for free! It will cost you nothing but you will enjoy freedom and joy like you have never known. Do not let your heart be troubled. Do not worry! Believe in Jesus Christ and His power to free you from sin.

1 JOHN 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

I hope something I shared today has been encouraging for you. I hope it has been strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Psalm 6 | Wednesday Bible Study

Welcome back to another Wednesday Bible Study. This year we have started studying the book of Psalms. We are working our way through this delightful book in the center of the Bible. It is found in the Old Testament and in it we find psalms written by Moses, David, and Solomon. Chapter six in Psalms is a Psalm of David. It is the first of seven penitential psalms. These penitential psalms were recognized by the ancient church as dealing primarily with sin and forgiveness of sin. If you have not taken the time to read these 10 verses, please take the time to do so. Feel free to take notes, cross-reference verses and study this further on your own. Let's begin.

Verse 1 David opens the prayer up with a plea for mercy. He is requesting God not to reprimand him when the LORD is angry. It has been said that correcting a child when one is angry will cause that child to become bitter and angry, too. If one has an opportunity to cool off, then they can reason with the child and the child will then learn the lesson and hopefully not do it again. David is asking God not to correct him in God's hot displeasure. This is David acknowledging that he had sinned. He is not pleading innocent. He is not making excuses. He just wants God to be gentle with him right now.

The Bible tells us God corrects those He loves. Proverbs 3:12 "For whom the LORD loveth He correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth." Hebrews 12:6 "For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth."

Verse 2 David asks God for mercy. He tells God, "I am weak." Now that David admits to sinning, he can see that he was operating in the flesh and our flesh is always weak. Do you remember when Jesus was talking to Peter? They were in the garden of Gethsemane and Jesus was going to be crucified. It was just a short time before Jesus was arrested. Peter wanted to die with Jesus but now Peter gives in to slumber in the garden when he should have been watching Jesus and praying with Him. In Matthew 26:41, Jesus said, "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." We all know that Peter denied Christ three times right after Jesus was arrested. David recognizes his flesh is weak. 

David says his bones are "sore vexed" which literally means his "entire being" were vexed. Hebrews thought such suffering was connected directly with sin. This then would indicate David is begging for mercy because he is asking for forgiveness of sin.

Verse 3 Have you ever wondered how long you would suffer? Did you ever ask God, "How long?" David is sorrowful over the wrong he had done. He feels that separation from God because sin always separates us from our Holy Father. He longs to feel close to God again. It is not just a plea for God's pardon, but he longs to have that fellowship again. David wants God to mend their broken relationship. 

Verse 4 David asks God to return to him. David was a man of worship. He loved God and was devoted to God but that did not give him a pass on sin. He still had to confess it to God and allow God to cleanse him and set him back in right standing. David says "Save me for your loving kindnesses sake." He is calling out God's character now. David is saying in essence, "God I need you to save me. I know you are kind and loving and merciful. Please let me feel Your presence again."

Verse 5 This verse is interesting. David begins to talk about death and dying. Sin always leads to death. Remember in the garden of Eden when God told Adam not to eat the fruit of a specific tree? Genesis 2:15-17, "And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it. And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die." The reason they died the day they ate of it was it immediately separated them from God. Sin always creates a schism between us and God. They did not die immediately upon one bite of the fruit, but they did begin to die because of the separation of sin. Disobedience is a sin and they willfully disobeyed God. They heard what God said and knew what the instructions were, but when they heard another voice that sounded more appealing they went with the decision to do what they wanted to do. Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death."

James 1:15 tells us when sin is finished it brings forth death. David is making a case for his forgiveness. He tells God that when we die we no longer remember God. We are not able to praise God in the grave. We can no longer thank God for what He has done and is doing when we die.  In Psalm 115:17 it reads, "The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into silence." David is basically saying that he wants fellowship again with God, so he can praise and worship God like he had before.

Verse 6 David is not just sorry that he has sinned against God, he is sorrowful. He has been covering his bed with tears. He is exhausted from the groaning and grief he feels. He has been wrestling with this for a while. He is weary. He wants God to be merciful to him and deliver him. Can you feel the wrestling he is going through in the spirit? He wants to be reconnected with God.

Verse 7 David continues to speak of his grief and how it is affecting him. In another Psalm, David shares his heart about how he is feeling. Psalm 31:9 "Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul, and my belly (body)." This grief in verse seven is overtaking his whole being. He does not want to live without God's fellowship.

Verse 8 David begins to speak to the sinners around him. He is telling them to leave him alone. He no longer wants to be a part of what they are doing. Sometimes we have to cut ties with people. Sometimes we have to separate ourselves from workers of iniquity. If we continue to spend time with them and learn their ways, it will not be long before we find ourselves separated from God. 2 Corinthians 6:18-18, "And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you. And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be My sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty."

Verse 9 David says, "God heard my prayer of repentance and He has forgiven me." He knows God received his prayer. He knows God is listening. He wants us all to be saved and repent from our sinful ways. God wants to save all of us from the destruction of doing whatever we want. Matthew 7:13-14 says, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Just because something is popular or it looks like a lot of people are doing it, does not mean it is Biblical or pleasing to God. We must pray and ask God to help us know what to do and how to do it. Many will find the wide gate and the broad way to hell. The straight gate and narrow path that leads to life is less crowded. Not as many people want to sacrifice anything for God. Not many are willing to stand out or be different in an effort to be closer to God.

Verse 10 Victory at last! David has received God's pardon. He is forgiven. He is cleansed. David prays all his enemies will be ashamed and greatly troubled. He says they will turn around and suddenly feel ashamed. We know the devil is our enemy. When God forgives us in His grace and loving kindness, we know the enemy is angry and has no choice but to turn around and run. He is no match for God and he never will be. James 4:7, "Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you."

The Bible tells us, "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness," according to 1 John 1:9. We are all imperfect human beings. No one goes through this life without sinning. We read in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." If you have sin in your life, please tell God. He already knows. Just tell Him what you have done and ask Him to forgive you. The Bible promises you will be forgiven and He will put you back in right standing with Him again. He longs to be in relationship with His children. Be like David, and admit you have sinned and ask God to forgive you, and just like God forgave David; He will also forgive you.

I hope you have enjoyed today's Bible study. It is such a blessing to dig deep into the Scriptures and break the Bread with you all. Share today's blog post with someone you think could benefit from today's lesson. Feel free to leave a comment below, or you can email me if you would rather do that. I appreciate all the feedback and kind words you all share with me. Have a blessed day!

~Bridgett Owens

Look What Sin Does | Ezra 10

 

We are wrapping up the last Wednesday in June as we wrap up the book of Ezra. Next month I have something fun in mind to do for the Bible studies. I hope you will enjoy it and even try to participate with me.

If you have not finished reading the last chapter of this book, please take the time to do so now. There are a lot of names listed but please do not skip over them. It is listed for a reason and we can see the big impact those names have on what has happened. As a reminder, I do not do a line by line study in this series. I am sectioning off the chapter in two parts. Let's begin.

Verses 1-11 Israel Repents

Ezra prayed. He confessed. He wept. He threw himself down at the house of God in humility. Something happens. Ezra is no longer the only one aware of the great sin and the consequences. Ezra is not alone. Men, women, and children came out in great numbers, weeping and wailing. Shechaniah confessed, "We have sinned against God." He admits taking the pagan wives was wrong but he announces that hope is not gone. There is still hope for the people of Israel. Shechaniah knew the nature of God and he comes up with a plan to get into a covenant with God and divorce all the wives they took that were not of their own nativity.

Let's sit with that for a moment. It seems cruel to rip families apart just because they were not Israeli women. In our society, we shake our heads and wag our fingers. Yet, remember God had the rule for them to only marry within the community He gave them. His rule was for the protection of His people. His rule was for the protection of His covenant with them. His rule was for the sanctity of their relationship. He is God and we are to serve Him. These women worshipped other gods and did not serve God. It cannot be both.

In today's "if it feels good, do it" society we think we can do whatever we want and live however we want with no consequences. That is simply not true. We are not to mingle with the world, and date just for fun, then get entangled in problems and drama that we could have simply avoided if we would hearken to the voice of God. Learn from the Israeli people in the book of Ezra. God has these mandates in place for a reason. It is not to exclude the world, it is to protect His children.

Divorce is common in our American culture today. In the Old Testament times it was not so. This suggestion for a massive dissolution of marriages was unheard of! This drastic measure gives us a glimpse of what desperation the people must have felt. Not only were the wives sent away, but their children were sent away as well. Sin never impacts one person. What one person does, good or bad, will always impact others. We must think before we act. There is too much at stake. 

For more clarification and education, I am going to quote some notes straight from my study Bible. "The Christian is not to leave an unbelieving spouse but rather to live in a manner that may win that spouse to the faith (1 Cor. 7:12-16; 1 Pet. 3:1-7). At the same time, the Bible warns the believer not to enter marriage with an unbeliever for one of the reasons that the Jews were not to do so--because it can weaken the faith of the believer. What is valuable and essential to a believer cannot be shared with an unbelieving spouse (see Neh. 10, Interfaith Marriage; 2 Cor. 6, Husbands). 

Sin is not pretty. I wish more churches would preach and teach on what sin is, how ugly things get when we choose to sin, and the real consequences of what we jeopardize when we disobey God's law. Jesus did not do away with the law. He came to fulfill the law and so we must not believe that God's law is no longer effective. Christian brothers and sisters, it is time to take sin seriously. Let's find the roots in our own lives and ask God to help us get rid of it. We cannot continue in sin just because God's grace is bountiful. Rather, let's turn away from doing those things that are wrong and sinful. 

Verses 12-44 Putting Away Wives

In verse 12, the congregation is unified in their decision to divorce their wives and send them away with their children. They must have all felt sad and great regret. All of the damage to these women and children would never have happened if they would have obeyed God in the first place. 

As usual with most sinful situations, it is complicated and multi-faceted. Now, the people have another issue to deal with. It's the rainy season and there are so many people that this cannot be done in just a couple of days. They see now how big this sin problem really is. The solution? They appointed officials to represent the people. Anyone who married a foreign wife would come at a set time with the elders and judges of their city and the process would continue until the unholy unions were dissolved and God was no longer angry with the people.

From verse 20-43 we read names of families and see the plural word: sons. Verse 44 says, "All these had taken strange wives: and some of them had wives by whom they had children." The book ends there.

Let that sink in. Marriages were destroyed. Families were destroyed. Sin caused the destruction. Who do you think enticed them that the grass was greener on the other side? The devil! He is a thief that only comes to steal, kill, and destroy according to John 10:10. We must be careful. The devil is clever, but God did not leave us to fend for ourselves. His Word, the Holy Bible is here for us to learn from. He tells us everything we need to know. Friends, life is an open BOOK test! We are without excuse. Let's be careful moving forward to not let pride, envy, greed, lust, or the love of money to rule our hearts. Instead let's operate in the fruits of the Spirit. Galatians teaches us that when we do so, there is no law to prevent us from being loving, kind, patient, gentle, faithful.... Let's walk with God and be aware of what we are allowing in our lives.

You may say, "Bridgett, I'm not living in sin. I am not married outside of God's will." That's great! But, there may be hidden sins we must ask God to reveal to us. Sin comes in many forms. It can be that we want what others have. FOMO: Fear Of Missing Out has been a driving force for people to go into debt to obtain things they do not need to impress people they do not like. Let's be real! We have enough stuff! What are we watching? If we are watching movies, tv programs, news, infomercials, or follow accounts of people who are always buying more stuff, we will soon want more stuff. Whatever we keep before our eyes, sooner or later will materialize. Trust and believe that!

What kind of music do we listen to? Songs about cheating and people leaving their husbands or wives, destroying other people's property, killing, and worse... those messages get into the minds of those who listen and before you know it, you begin to act out in ways that reflect what you listen to. Where do you go? Are you watching movies that have profanity and sex scenes? How is that honoring God? I am not saying stop up your ears, close your eyes, be a hermit, and never live in the real world. The Bible says in the words of Jesus, "If the world hate you, ye know that it hated Me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you." (John 15:18,19) We are not of the world when we have been blood bought by Jesus. If you accepted Him as your Savior then you do not belong to the world. You won't ever fit in like the rest. You were made to stand out so you can be a light and a witness to the world about how good and wonderful God is.

Jesus loves us so much He died for us. He hated sin so much because He knew what it would do to us. Look what it did to Him when He took our sins upon Himself? The good news is there is not a sin that is too big or too bad for Jesus's blood to cover. He paid it all. He paid a debt that was not His and He does not ask us to pay Him back. He just wants us to love Him and serve Him and be obedient. When we do what He says we are not being restricted; we are being protected! 

David says in Psalms 139: 23-24, "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." We can pray the same thing. He will do it!

We can learn so much from the men and women in the Old Testament. I did not even do an in-depth study of this book this time and yet there was so much to glean from it. In Romans 15:4 it reads, "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope." The things we read in the Bible are for us to learn from. When we practice the ways of righteousness, we develop patience and find comfort in the Scriptures. That comfort gives us hope that we, too, can overcome. I know the men that were estranged from their wives were never the same. They may have thought about fun times they had with their ex-wives, favorite meals they cooked, or memories they made with their children. We, like Moses, can choose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season (Hebrews 11:25). It may seem fun for a while to embrace the world and follow their example, but the end is destruction and we will suffer the consequences.

I hope you have enjoyed this study. It has been a sobering study and honestly I never expected to get this much from one book. It is incredible the encouragement and lessons packed into ten short chapters. I pray that something I have shared today has given you strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you!

~Bridgett Owens

Ezra Chapter Nine | Bible Study Wednesday

Welcome back to another Wednesday Bible study session here on the blog. We are in the book of Ezra, chapter nine. We are nearly through this study and I have learned so much from this book! If you have not taken the time to read through the chapter, please do so. This is a very short chapter, only 15 verses. As you may recall, I am not doing a line by line study. If you have already read through this small chapter but it has been a while, you may want to glance over it again to refresh your memory. I am going to break the chapter into two parts. Let's begin.

Verses 1-4 Israel's Sin

The first four verses of chapter nine is gripping. The princes came to Ezra and told him what the people of Israel had done. They had sinned and it was not a small slip-up. God had told them to stay to themselves, and not intermarry with other cultures. God knew that when they began to mingle with the people of other cultures, they would easily become influenced by their ways of doing things and how they served idols and false gods. The only way to prevent this was to stick to marrying within their own selected people. The princes reported to Ezra how the Israelites, the priests, and the Levites were mingling with the pagan people: Canaanites, Hittites, Perizites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and the Amorites. This news was so shocking to Ezra he tore his clothes and holy mantle as he pulled out his hair and ripped his beard from his face. He sat down completely overwhelmed by the graveness of this great transgression.

It was not just that they disobeyed God; they dishonored Him by marrying pagans and accepting their immoral, unethical practices, and no longer prioritized a relationship with God. Friends, we see this today. The culture we live in is so loud and in our faces all of the time, that we have to find time to spend with God. We have to literally carve out part of our day to be with Him. The ways of the world have crept into churches all across this country and it is sometimes very hard to tell who is in the world and who belongs to God. We must wake up. This is a dangerous time to be in. Jesus said, in 2 Timothy 3:1, "This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come." We are living in those perilous times today. If we study the world, listen to the world, do as the world does, before long we will forget what God has told us and we will give in to fear, doubt, and disbelief. Our hearts belong to God but when we look around us and see the bad, the scary, the dangers we will pull away from the only source of Hope, Love, Joy, and Peace we have.

Verses 5-15 Ezra Confesses Israel's Sin

Please note that these last verses of the chapter is how Ezra reacted to the news about the sins of God's people. Next week we will take a look at what Israel does, but I want to emphasize something here. We all have to give a personal account for any sin we encounter. What does sin do to us? What does it make us feel like? What actions do we take? We can see very clearly that Ezra took it seriously. He is not playing when he tears his clothes and pulls his hair from his head and his beard. He is mourning. He is grieving. He knows how serious this is and what it means to God to have His chosen people lusting after pagan nations that refuse to know or serve the one true God.

Ezra starts out in humility. He is so embarrassed to even face God with this issue. He starts recounting the history of God's people. He admits they have been a sinful nation from the beginning. Everyone, other nations, heathen people, royalty, you name them, they have witnessed the shameful way the children of Israel behaved year after year through the ages. Now, Ezra says, God gives grace so that they are not all destroyed, a remnant escaped, and a place was given to them in His holy place so that their eyes would be enlightened. Ezra says that God granted them a little reviving in the midst of slavery. With gratitude he rehearses to God how they were in bondage but even as slaves, God never left them. Instead God extended mercy to them and opened doors of opportunity through the king of Persia to rebuild the holy house of God, the resources and provisions necessary to fix the broken places, and to give them a wall in Judah and Jerusalem. 

Ezra just gets real honest here. He says, "What can we say to You, our God? We have forsaken Your commandments. You told us how unclean and impure these people were. You told us to keep our children from marrying their children. You told us to never desire their peace or wealth so that we would be strong, eat the good of the land, and leave an inheritance to our children forever. You didn't even give us the punishment that we deserved, and now after delivering us from slavery, we did this to You again? You should be so angry with us that You consume us until we are utterly destroyed and none survive!"

And then he brags on God who is worthy of all praise. He addresses the LORD God of Israel. He calls Him righteous because He is. Ezra's last sentence to God in this chapter is, "We are before You in our sin: for we cannot stand in front of You because of this."

Such humility. Do you hear the sorrow in his voice as you read through this chapter? Ezra runs back through all the grace and the provision and protection they have had all along this journey. He thinks of every single time God had His hand on them and they won the favor or kings and others in authority. They were freed from slavery and they were a small community of men, women, and children: no longer the great nation they once were. Yet they were still being blessed and encouraged by God and now all of this was thrown back in God's face with the abominations of the children of Israel.

What areas are you facing in your life right now that you need to repent of? Has God shown a light into your heart to help you see hidden sins you forgot? I am allowing Him to show me where I need to repent. God has been so good to me. He has opened up doors of opportunity I never dreamed of and I know it's only the beginning of what He is going to do. I don't want to end up like the children of Israel, lost in my own sick selfish desires, forsaking the laws of God in an effort to indulge my flesh. I want to be humbled, upset, distraught, and disgusted by my sins. I want to repent and say I am sorry and turn from the wicked ways. I want to draw close to Jesus.

Friends, this is such a sad passage to read, but it is so much like what we experience today in this cancel culture we live in. We do not have to follow the crowd. Remember strait is the gate and narrow the way that leads to heaven. Wide is the gate and there is a broad way to hell and many find that path. We must choose what is going to help us get closer to Jesus. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. Follow the path to Jesus.

MATTHEW 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. 

I hope you walk away from today's study with a deeper understanding of the heart and character of God. He is a loving Father, only wanting His children to recognize Him, honor and love Him. Let's be careful to not slip into the ways of the world. It's okay to be different. It is okay to not do what everyone else is doing. Only try to please God and leave the rest. It doesn't matter in the end. I hope something I have shared encourages you. I hope that I have given you strength for your journey and light for your way. God bless you.

~Bridgett Owens