Jonah 2:7-8

God  is merciful, loving and kind. His grace is extended to us new each day and all we need is to cry out to Him and He is faithful to hear us. Pray always and in all things that His will be done in our life.

Jonah reaffirms his faith in the Lord and renews his commitment to Him. 

Mercy  (loyal love), the term that so often describes God’s faithfulness to His covenant and to His people is used as a name for the Lord.

 Jonah 2:7-8

⁷ “When my soul fainted within me,

I remembered the Lord;

And my prayer went up to You,

Into Your holy temple.

⁸ “Those who regard worthless idols

Forsake their own Mercy.

Then the priests, the Levites, arose and blessed the people, and their voice was heard; and their prayer came up to His holy dwelling place, to heaven. 

2 Chronicles 30:27

In my distress I called upon the Lord, And cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, And my cry came before Him, even to His ears. 

Psalm 18:6

I have hated those who regard useless idols; But I trust in the Lord. 

Psalm 31:6

But they are altogether dull-hearted and foolish; A wooden idol is a worthless doctrine. 

Jeremiah 10:8

Mark 3:1-5

How sad that most Christians are more interested in the letter of the law than it’s intended purpose…Love… to love God above all and our fellow human beings as much as we love ourselves.

Christ put the meaning of the Sabbath to the test. Certainly it was more consistent with the intention of the law to restore this man’s afflicted hand, even on the Sabbath, than to destroy his hopes for the sake of keeping human tradition. The Pharisees did not respond, for they knew that they would condemn themselves.

Jesus demonstrated this righteous anger. He was grieved with sin but did not sin Himself by retaliating or losing control of His emotions.

Mark 3:1-5

3 And He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ² So they watched Him closely, whether He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. ³ And He said to the man who had the withered hand,  “Step forward.” ⁴ Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.

The wicked watches the righteous, And seeks to slay him. 

Psalm 37:32

Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words which the Lord of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets. Thus great wrath came from the Lord of hosts. 

Zechariah 7:12

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. 

Luke 14:1

But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” 

Luke 13:14

John 14:1-4

In our  Father’s  home there are many places that we may live and abide in Him and with Him for all eternity.

Although we may fail  God  He will never fail those who love Him, accept His salvation in Jesus and place their trust in Him. 

Jesus  is the way…..Allow the  Holy Spirit  to guide you home.

After announcing Judas’s betrayal, His own imminent departure, and Peter’s denial, Jesus told His disciples not to be troubled, but to trust Him. Everybody has a longing for a permanent, secure place. Such places have already been set aside for all of God’s children. Peter may have failed Jesus, but Christ will not fail to return for Peter and for everyone else who has believed in Him 

John 14:1-4

14 “Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. ² In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. ³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. ⁴ And where I go you know, and the way you know.”

³⁴ Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 

Matthew 25:34

¹⁶ But now they desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them. 

Hebrews 11:16

¹⁷ Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. 

1 Thessalonians 4:17

Ezekiel

Let go of the past and move forward. Repent and change. Satan will use your past failures to control your future. DO NOT LET HIM.

Remember  Jesus  has already won the battle and it is now time to reclaim the spoils. We need to take back what belongs to the Almighty….His creation. 

Followers of Christ need to stand for equality and justice accomplishing God’s will in humility and love for all people.

Overthrown means “wrecked” or “ruined” and is used three times consecutively in the Hebrew text to underscore the comprehensive and intensive nature of the destruction. The priestly and kingly offices would not return until the coming of Him whose right it is—the  Messiah .

Jerusalem’s princes had shed the blood of innocent people. These evil leaders had been: (1) taking advantage of parents and the weak; (2) rejecting God and His covenant, leading to ungodliness and inhumanity; (3) murdering the innocent by slandering them; (4) preferring idolatrous religion and its immoral rituals; (5) engaging in sexual immorality with neighbors, family, and relatives; and (6) loving money and using it to get ahead of fellow citizens.

Ezekiel 21:24

²⁴ “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have made your iniquity to be remembered, in that your transgressions are uncovered, so that in all your doings your sins appear—because you have come to remembrance, you shall be taken in hand

Ezekiel 21:27

²⁷ Overthrown, overthrown,

I will make it overthrown!

It shall be no longer,

Until He comes whose right it is,

And I will give it to Him.” ’

Ezekiel 22:6-12 

⁶ “Look, the princes of Israel: each one has used his power to shed blood in you. ⁷ In you they have made light of father and mother; in your midst they have oppressed the stranger; in you they have mistreated the fatherless and the widow. ⁸ You have despised My holy things and profaned My Sabbaths. ⁹ In you are men who slander to cause bloodshed; in you are those who eat on the mountains; in your midst they commit lewdness. ¹⁰ In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are set apart during their impurity. ¹¹ One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; and another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. ¹² In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take usury and increase; you have made profit from your neighbors by extortion, and have forgotten Me,” says the Lord God.

⁵“Behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, “That I will raise to David a Branch of righteousness; A King shall reign and ¹prosper, And execute judgment and righteousness in the earth. 

Jeremiah 23:5

⁵ ‘I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are on the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it to whom it seemed proper to Me. 

Jeremiah 27:5

⁷In His days the righteous shall flourish, And abundance of peace, Until the moon is no more. 

Psalm 72:7

³² He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. 

Luke 1:32

³³ And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end.” 

Luke 1:33

⁴⁹ Nathanael answered and said to Him, “Rabbi, You are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!” 

John 1:49

Isaiah 37

Prayer  changes things!  God  hears the prayers of the faithful.

God  is always in control. Everything is in His hands…EVERY. THING.

 Pray!

God’s gracious response was a direct answer to the prayer of a godly king. 

Although God can certainly work His will without our prayers, He has chosen to faithfully answer the prayers of His people.

Isaiah 37:20

²⁰ Now therefore, O Lord our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You are the Lord, You alone.”

Isaiah 37:21

²¹ Then Isaiah the son of Amoz sent to Hezekiah, saying, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel, ‘Because you have prayed to Me against Sennacherib king of Assyria, ²² this is the word which the Lord has spoken concerning him:

Isaiah 37:26-29

1 ²⁶ “Did you not hear long ago

How I made it,

From ancient times that I formed it?

Now I have brought it to pass,

That you should be

For crushing fortified cities into heaps of ruins.

²⁷ Therefore their inhabitants had little power;

They were dismayed and confounded;

They were as the grass of the field

And the green herb,

As the grass on the housetops

And grain blighted before it is grown.

²⁸ “But I know your dwelling place,

Your going out and your coming in,

And your rage against Me.

²⁹ Because your rage against Me and your tumult

Have come up to My ears,

Therefore I will put My hook in your nose

And My bridle in your lips,

And I will turn you back

By the way which you came.” ’

¹⁸That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth. 

Psalm 83:18

²²(For the Lord is our Judge, The Lord is our Lawgiver, The Lord is our King; He will save us); 

Isaiah 33:22

²¹ Then the Lord sent an angel who cut down every mighty man of valor, leader, and captain in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he returned shamefaced to his own land. And when he had gone into the temple of his god, some of his own offspring struck him down with the sword there. 

2 Chronicles 32:21

John 14:25-26

We are powerless without the  Holy Spirit  to evaluate spiritual things. He will take the Scriptures and make them alive to us and recall them to us.

 In  Christ  and within the unity of the  Holy Spirit  we are empowered for good deeds. 

The Body of Christ is destined to be the embodiment of Christ on the earth. We need to make sure that all our actions are tempered through the agape love of  God  for His creation. 

Micah 6:8 tells us what is required of His servants.. we are to be fair to all people, to forgive others as we have been forgiven and to be humble in our walk knowing that it has nothing to do with our goodness but everything to do with God’s.

Micah 6:8

⁸ He has shown you, O man, what is good;

And what does the Lord require of you

But to do justly,

To love mercy,

And to walk humbly with your God?

Jesus  told His disciples these things while He was with them, but when the  Holy Spirit  came, He would remind the disciples of all things that  Jesus  had said, and would teach … all things.

John 14:25-26

²⁵ “These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. ²⁶ But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.

⁴⁹ Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.” 

Luke 24:49

²⁶ⁱ“But when the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me. 

John 15:26

¹³ These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 

1 Corinthians 2:13

²⁰ But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. 

1 John 2:20

⁶For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, And the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings. 

Hosea 6:6

¹⁷Learn to do good; Seek justice, Rebuke the oppressor; Defend the fatherless, Plead for the widow. 

Isaiah 1:17

Romans 16:25-27

He is able to extract us from the mess of this world and transform us precept by precept into the image of His only begotten Son. God is able. Through the power that resides in our heart once we accept His salvation the Holy Spirit will take the hidden things of God and reveal them to us through the Scriptures. The resulting relationship of Father/Child will never be broken unless we choose to sever it… for His love for us is everlasting. 

We are His obsession and we can be an active participant in His divine conspiracy to save mankind.

God is able.

revelation (Gk. apokalupsis) (16:25; Eph. 1:17; 3:3; Rev. 1:1) Strong’s #602: Revelation is God’s communication to people concerning Himself, His moral standards, and His plan of salvation.

Romans 16:25-27

²⁵ Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began ²⁶ but now made manifest, and by the prophetic Scriptures made known to all nations, according to the commandment of the everlasting God, for obedience to the faith—²⁷ to God, alone wise, be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.

²⁴Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, And to present you faultless Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, 

Jude 24

⁷ But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, 

1 Corinthians 2:7

² that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, and attaining to all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, 

Colossians 2:2

²⁶ the mystery which has been hidden from ages and from generations, but now has been revealed to His saints. 

Colossians 1:26

Daniel 3:15-18

In ourselves we can do nothing BUT with God in the salvation that He provided in Christ Jesus anything is possible. 

It is foolish to assume that the created controls the Creator…everything that happens has always been in God’s plan for creation from the beginning of time! 

He is able to save whatever we give to Him. Give Him all of you so that His will can be accomplished in you through the power of the Holy Spirit.

WE NEED TO TRUST GOD HE CAN DO WHAT WE CANNOT!

While the faithful men knew that God could deliver them, they were also aware that God may have chosen not to do so. Faith in God may not translate into our personal victory in every circumstance. 

To these men the outcome was irrelevant, for what was at stake was not God’s ability or their own lives, but their faith and obedience to serve Him regardless of the cost.

Daniel 3:15-18

¹⁶ Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego answered and said to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter. ¹⁷ If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. ¹⁸ But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up.”

¹⁹ But when they deliver you up, do not worry about how or what you should speak. For it will be given to you in that hour what you should speak; 

Matthew 10:19

¹⁹He shall deliver you in six troubles, Yes, in seven no evil shall touch you. 

Job 5:19

¹The Lord is my light and my salvation; Whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; Of whom shall I be afraid? 

Psalm 27:1

³You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 

Isaiah 26:3

⁴Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yah, the Lord, is everlasting strength. 

Isaiah 26:4

¹⁰ who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us, 

2 Corinthians 1:10

Ezekiel 34:16

God cares about how we treat each other and He will not tolerate abuse. 

He will move heaven and earth to gather those who place their trust in Him.

Israel, though guilty and misguided, would eventually be rescued by the divine Good Shepherd and restored to the Promised Land.

Ezekiel 34:16

¹⁶ “I will seek what was lost and bring back what was driven away, bind up the broken and strengthen what was sick; but I will destroy the fat and the strong, and feed them in judgment.”

¹¹He will feed His flock like a shepherd; He will gather the lambs with His arm, And carry them in His bosom, And gently lead those who are with young. 

Isaiah 40:11

⁶“In that day,” says the Lord, “I will assemble the lame, I will gather the outcast And those whom I have afflicted; 

Micah 4:6

¹⁷When Jesus heard it, He said to them,  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” 

Mark 2:17

1Hear this word, you cows of Bashan, who are on the mountain of Samaria, Who oppress the poor, Who crush the needy, Who say to your husbands, “Bring wine, let us drink!” 

Amos 4:1

²⁴O Lord, correct me, but with justice; Not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing. 

Jeremiah 10:24

Isaiah 46:12-13

Mankind's only hope, their only salvation, is in Jesus. 

He is the ultimate and final gift of a loving Father to a dying world where some do not even recognize His existence. 

How can we effectively spread the Good News? 

Only through the power of the Holy Spirit can we do anything in His name…Help us to have ears that hear You, eyes to see Your vision and hands to do Your work on earth.

The enticement of the world’s pleasures and luxuries to please ourselves will always be tempting but we need to keep close to our heart the knowledge that we are just travelers here and that our home is in God’s Kingdom. 

Complacency is our biggest enemy and the tool used by Satan to destroy us.

complacency |kəmˈplāsənsē| (also complacence)

noun

a feeling of smug or uncritical satisfaction with oneself or one's achievements

ORIGIN mid 17th cent.: from medieval Latin complacentia, from Latin complacere ‘to please.’

As there were those in the first Exodus who longed to return to Egypt, so in the second Exodus there would be those who refused to leave the comfort and security of Babylon and Persia. 

In spite of the Israelites’ long history of rebellion, God loves His people Israel and has never utterly cast them aside.

Isaiah 46:12-13

¹² “Listen to Me, you stubborn-hearted,

Who are far from righteousness:

¹³ I bring My righteousness near, it shall not be far off;

My salvation shall not linger.

And I will place salvation in Zion,

For Israel My glory.

⁶ Therefore it is also contained in the Scripture, “Behold, I lay in Zion A chief cornerstone, elect, precious, And he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” 

1 Peter 2:6

³ For they being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. 

Romans 10:3

¹⁷ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, “The just shall live by faith.” 

Romans 1:17

³For the vision is yet for an appointed time; But at the end it will speak, and it will not lie. Though it tarries, wait for it; Because it will surely come, It will not tarry. 

Habakkuk 2:3

¹¹Indeed the Lord has proclaimed To the end of the world: “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Surely your salvation is coming; Behold, His reward is with Him, And His work before Him.’ ” 

Isaiah 62:11

Daniel 5:20-24

God is in total control and we need to bow before His power and His majesty! 

Nothing, absolutely nothing, is done on heaven OR earth nor anyone appointed to a position of power that He does not know about. 

We need to repent and invite Him into not only our life but our nation and our world. 

It is not in man to know the way to go only God can direct the path we were made to walk in.

Power corrupts and total power corrupts totally when its source does not come from God and it is up to us....

We can learn the easy way of Christ whose burden is easy OR He will teach us and the world the lessons we need to learn through experience.

Daniel 5:20-24

²⁰ But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened in pride, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him. ²¹ Then he was driven from the sons of men, his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild donkeys. They fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven, till he knew that the Most High God rules in the kingdom of men, and appoints over it whomever He chooses.

²² “But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. ²³ And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified. 

²⁴A man’s steps are of the Lord; How then can a man understand his own way? 

Proverbs 20:24

²³O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps. 

Jeremiah 10:23

³⁰ The king spoke, saying, “Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for a royal dwelling by my mighty power and for the honor of my majesty?” 

Daniel 4:30

³⁷ Now I, Nebuchadnezzar, praise and extol and honor the King of heaven, all of whose works are truth, and His ways justice. And those who walk in pride He is able to put down. 

Daniel 4:37

¹⁸That they may know that You, whose name alone is the Lord, Are the Most High over all the earth. 

Psalm 83:18

²⁴ God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. ²⁵ Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. ²⁶ And He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, 

Acts 17:24–26

²¹ because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

Romans 1:21

Mark 3:23-27

Without the Holy Spirit we are powerless here on earth.  

Jesus is the light, the spark, that ignites the power of the  Holy Spirit to work in and through those who believe. It is time to eliminate divisions of brothers of Christ and time for us to work together for the good of the Church…His Body. 

If Satan gets us to fight each over doctrine and denominations….. he wins and the Church loses it’s power to spread the Good News of salvation in Christ that is our mission here on earth. 

We are to take back that which belongs to God…man!

In the unity of the Holy Spirit nothing is impossible! 

Jesus’ reply in parables was actually a threefold message that contrasted unity and disunity. Nothing—including Satan’s kingdom—can stand if it is divided.

Whoever defeats Satan must be stronger than he. Jesus implies that He Himself has come to enter the house of the strong man, Satan, to seize his goods.

Mark 3:23-27

²³ So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ²⁷ No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

²⁵ But Jesus knew their thoughts, and said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand. ²⁶ If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? ²⁷ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. ²⁸ But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ^29 vOr how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house. 

Matthew 12:25–29

^17 kBut He, knowing their thoughts, said to them: “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation, and a house divided against a house falls. ¹⁸ If Satan also is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand? Because you say I cast out demons by Beelzebub. ¹⁹ And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. ²⁰ But if I cast out demons with the finger of God, surely the kingdom of God has come upon you. ²¹ When a strong man, fully armed, guards his own palace, his goods are in peace. ²² But when a stronger than he comes upon him and overcomes him, he takes from him all his armor in which he trusted, and divides his spoils. 

Luke 11:17–22