A Heart Like Hosea

I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion. Hosea 2:19

For awhile I have been praying, "God give me a heart like Hosea, a heart that breaks after what breaks your heart, a heart that desires to reach out to the lost of this world". Today I realized what it means to pray that prayer. I don't know if I am just extremely sensitive to the Holy Spirit due to my experience during the Pinky Promise Conference 2015 which I will blog about later, but today I felt my heart break. It hurts so much Beloved that all I can do is shed tears and implore our Heavenly Abba to grant us mercy.

These past few months our world has been riddled with violence, pain, hatred, and so much evilness. I nearly became immune to it, it slowly became an expectation to hear about something horrible happening in the news, I was no longer surprise, I was no longer affected. This past week was a prime example of evilness gaining strength in our nation. On June 17 around 8 pm in Charleston, South Carolina a young man, Dylann Roof, opened fire in a church Bible Study killing 9 people. This was a hate crime. This young white man went in to this predominantly African American church to kill the people there because they looked different from him. His actions disturbed me, his hate angered me but what broke me was the victims families response to him.  They responded in love, a love that could only come from Jesus Christ. I was floored.. Loving/ forgiving is easy until you have something that you truly have to love someone through and forgive someone for. This family had every reason to respond in anger, in their emotions, with their hate, in fact it was expected...but when they responded differently it showed that love has the power to overcome any evil/hate. That's when you realize that you can't love completely out of your own strength, you need the supernatural grace of God. For He IS love. 

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. ~1 John 4:18

Today this love is under attack. It is being challenged and is being redefined by man. The part that hurts is that the Body of Christ is allowing it by our actions and convictions. My focus today is not even about the law that was passed that has now made Same-sex marriage legal in the United States. That isn't my focus because I trust Gods word, for his word is eternal and everything else is temporary. My focus is on the response of the body of Christ. We are divided church and confused and I just don't get it. The Word says that a house divided can not stand. We hesitate and walk in fear while knowing the truth. We sugarcoat and tone down the Gospel that has the ability to save and transform because we fear persecution. We hold our testimonies and are unprepared to provide a reason for our hope which is Jesus Christ. We need to stand on the truth of God and not our opinions of it. His word is clear.

We are posting statements of "God is love, and it's not my place to judge.... while failing to mention that He is also Holy, righteous and we are called to be doers of the word, to submit ourselves therefore to God to resist the devil". 

What happen to our conviction Church?? 

For whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. (James 4:16).  

For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12).

We are called to live as people who are free, not using our freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God. (1 Peter 2:16)

We have Blood on our Hands.

I pray you hear my heart in this blog. Today I realize and literally felt this prayer in every part of me. My heart is breaking for this world and I can not contain my tears. So much so that I had to ask God for forgiveness. Forgiveness for focusing on earthly things like my career, my single status, my emotions, fear, guilt, shame about my past, need for money and car etc.. When he's been trying to get me in a place where I could be empty to be used by Him to minister to his people. Beloved do you feel it? Do you feel the breaking of Gods heart for this world?? Do you feel his yearning for these lost souls?? Or are you so focus on self like I was. So focus on what you need from God that you have turn deaf ears to His heart desire, so focus on your inadequacy that you forgot that God can use those very things your hiding to save someone soul. Is your comfort zone worth someone very soul and eternity?? Beloved we need to repent of our selfish ways and seriously pray for the Holy Spirit to wreck our hearts. I want to have a heart and life that yearns after the things of God. I want a heart like Hosea.

What does a heart like that look like?? I guess we have to first figure out who this Hosea was. Why was his story so powerful? Let's explore it together. 

Hosea was a minor prophet who lived during the final days of the Northern Kingdom. Hosea had such a heart for God that God chose to use his family life as a symbol to represent His constant love, grace, mercy for an unfaithful nation, the Israelites. God ordered Hosea to marry Gomer, an adulterous/unfaithful women knowing full well she will step out on him. The crazy part is that all though his heart is constantly broken by her unfaithfulness, God orders him to continuously love her, to take her back and care for her. Hosea love for Gomer is a representation of Gods covenant love for the unfaithful Israelites. 

Heart like Hosea Is:

1. Obedient- To marry a woman during that period of time with a reputation for being loose was to be an open target for ridicule. Can you imagine being a prophet telling people that God will punish the people for their unfaithfulness and hearing someone make a jab about your wife?? But Hosea didn't care what men thought of Him, he cared about what God has to say...and when he spoke he listen.

2. Sensitive to Gods voice- In today's generation we are sensitive to everyone and everything but God. We waver and flow from whichever opinions sounds the best to our ears. One of the biggest complaint that I hear is, "Well, how do I know that it's God and not me or the enemy??" You can only know someone you spend time with. You can only recognize the voice of someone you constantly listen to. There are too many people who have opinions about God yet don't KNOW Him.

3. Relentless in its Convictions- Hosea wasn't afraid to stand alone. Even if the attack came from home, from his peers he did not compromise his convictions to fit in. Even when everyone else was living for the world, he had determined in his heart that he would live and speak for God. We need that conviction again y'all.

4. Broken for what breaks God's heart. God loves people. He desires so much for them to come into his rest. He desires for them to be whole. He desires for them to come into the knowledge of Him. He desires for the least to be taken care of. He desires having fellowship with us. He desires for us to be able to approach his throne with reverence, adoration. He desires for no one to perish but for all to be saved through a relationship with his son Jesus Christ. Do you desire to see people saved? Set free? Delivered? Living boldly and completely in Him? You can answer yes to all those that's great! My follow up questions to that are when was the last time you shared Christ with someone? Do you live in the freedom that Christ died to give you or are you justifying sin in your life?

5. Filled with Unconditional love-  One of the parts that brings me to tears is when Hosea redeems his wife. Hosea buys back his wife from slavery for way more than she was worth because God called him to love her. To have a heart like Hosea we need to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgivable unconditionally. We should treat people with more love, respect, honor than they deserve because Christ gave us more that we could ever hope for on that cross. He gave us a chance to be reconciled with our Heavenly Abba. 

Let's stop focusing on us Beloveds. Let's truly be free! Walk in obedience so you can lead someone to Christ. Resist the devil. Die daily to your flesh. Seek God! Let's live this life for real for real! Pray, Pray, Pray. It's time we took our place. Let's agree in prayer today. 

Beloved Rise,

Rudolph Light Bulb Moment: "God Speaks"

Have you ever had a light bulb moment while listening to Christmas music?? Well until today that's never happened to me. What I realize as I reflect on this moment is that when you come to a season where you crave to hear from God, he begins to speak to you through the most unexpected and beautiful ways!! Isn't it awesome?! It's like God is intentionally seeking to get your attention by using things that you love like music, nature, literature, movies, childhood memories, anything that has significance to us. This lesson and bit of wisdom has come during a time where I've realized that I have to stop beating myself down because I don't hear God the same way that someone else on this journey hears him. Isn't it silly how we expect a God of such relational intimacy & creativity to interact and communicate with us the same generic way. I thank God that he is BIGGER than my limitations and imagination.

With that said there is one absolute definite way that God speaks and that is through his word, the Holy Bible. The wisdom and knowledge that comes with reading his word can never be attained without first having a healthy dose of fear (reverence) for who HE is (i.e great I AM, the Alpha & Omega, Creator, Savior, Omnipresent, Omniscient God). It still blows my mind that THIS very same God desires a relationship with ME. So much so that he sent The Lord Jesus Christ to die to be a bridge for me to his Holy presence. That degree of Love overwhelms me everyday..... Whew!

                                                                                                                            

As we continue to explore the communication prowess of God we recognize there are several different ways that he has been known to speak to man. I just want to list four that really stands out to me currently....

Ø  Celestial beings, aka angels: One of the best examples of this is Mary & Joseph, the human parents of Jesus Christ. Mary was told about the conception of her son Jesus Christ as an engaged virgin by the angel Gabriel, Luke 1:26-38

Ø  Dreams: The birth and early years of Jesus life was guided and protected by God because he communicated to his father Joseph through dreams, from his escape from Egypt to his return to Nazareth God led Joseph, Matthew 2: 12-21

Ø  Prophecy/Prophets: I truly believe that God had/s anointed everyone to be his mouthpiece but there are notably some that he uses as loud horns to speak to his bull headed people (i.e. Jeremiah, Isaiah, Daniel, and Hosea to name a few).

      v  Side Note: For me one of the prophets that speaks the clearest and loudest is Hosea. Hosea was a young preacher who was told by God to marry/love unconditionally a prostitute, Gomer, who would cheat on him consistently. God uses Hosea obedience & love as a physical representation of how HE continues to pursue, woe, nurture, buy back an unworthy people simply because of LOVE. There is a movie on the Book of Hosea on Netflix if you haven't seen it go check it out.
                                                      
Ø  Inner Voice/Holy Spirit: God WALKED and COMMUNED on this Earth with Man in the Garden of Eden until man fell hard into sin, Jesus was born and LIVED with man until man's pride and disbelief, harden heart led them to KILL the Savior. Praise God that this isn't the end of the story!! When Christ rose again before he left he spoke of a gift that was given to us by God, the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the remaining part of the Trinity that still walks/lives on this Earth with us. It is the guide, our friend in need, an intercessor, and an advocate. I believe in the Trinity but if I can be honest it's often really hard for me to rationalize and understand the majesty of it all. I have learned to STOP trying to force understanding but rather grow in it. So for me this is how God has been slowly revealing to me this whole thing

v  God: the Great I AM, he is the Creator, author of time, and the essence of my being. Words aren't enough to describe HIM but the few that I use to call him is Abba, Father, Jireh.

v  Jesus Christ: My first love, my Savior, the Son who came to this earth to die in order for me to LIVE. He is amazing!! Falling in Love with him daily is an adventure

v  Holy Spirit: That dear and beyond awesome girlfriend, who gives me advice and direction, the one I contact when dealing with issues as simple as what to wear/what to eat, to intense, confrontational moments when I really want to  tell someone about themself  *ghetto spelling intentional y'all know some people want to make you get out of character*

Now I say ALL of this in order to tell you guys about what God spoke to me about a reindeer

yes.......a reindeer and his name was Rudolph

Cues Music:

Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (reindeer)
Had a very shiny nose (like a light bulb)
And if you ever saw it (saw it)
You would even say it glows (like a flashlight)
And all of the other reindeer (reindeer)
Used to laugh and call him names (like Pinocchio)
They never let poor Rudolph (Rudolph)
Join in any reindeer games( like monopoly)

Then one foggy Christmas Eve,
Santa came to say, (ho ho ho)
Rudolph with your nose so bright,
Won't you guide my sleigh tonight?

Then all the reindeer loved him,(loved him)
And they shouted out with glee, (Yipee)
Rudolph the red-nose Reindeer (reindeer)
You'll go down in history (like George Washington)

I am pretty sure like me you just sang this song, with the music parts included!! Hahaha. Now I just want to share with you 3 points that God spoke to me when I was listening to this childhood Christmas song that correlates to each of the verses above and I sincerely hope that it encourages you and changes forever how you view and listen to God.

1.      When Rudolph was born, he was visibly different. His uniqueness set apart, and caused the other reindeer's that didn't understand to ostracize and ridicule him. His difference cause him to be left out. Then the Lord said to me,

"Beloved, just like Rudolph was born unique and different so are you. When you were being made in the womb, before your mother even knew of you, I LOVED YOU. I was busy stitching you to my perfect image, forming you, placing things in you to be birth at the appropriate time, nothing was a mistake. When you took your first breath into this world, my angels rejoice, and I smiled because I saw you and I knew my creation was good, in all this world there is none like you, YOU are my MASTERPIECE"

Whew! Talk about instant tears. I don't know if you are like me but for a long time I was stuck trying to be somebody else. I really didn't love myself. I didn't like the color of my skin, I didn't like my size, the texture of my hair or the fact that I had an accent (I was born in Haiti =D) and for awhile I was bullied because of all of it. I eventually grew out of those feelings.....and then I accepted Christ as my personal Savior and truly started to live on fire for Him. Persecution is real on these streets especially when you are really living out loud and boldly for him. But be encourage because you are not in bad company, all the apostles minus Judas, the early church members in Acts and our Savior were all persecuted. God has called you to be set apart, to be a holy nation, strange, unique individuals. He has created you to stand apart. I truly understand the desire to fit in but know that a diamond can lose its shine by hiding amongst rocks but never its value. Don't fear standing out, fear instead blending in with the mundane o_0.

2.      During a dark and foggy night when everything seem to be out of their control Rudolph purpose is revealed. There has been moments especially in this season when I have cried out in frustration to God regarding my purpose. He answered me saying

"Don't be so stressed and worried about finding your purpose that you forget to LIVE on purpose. Don't you understand that I am God, I see beyond what you see, and I know beyond your understanding. I have created you for a purpose on purpose, your eyes have yet to see, ears have heard, or your heart have imagined what I have in store for you. But I need you to TRUST me and rely on me beyond your thoughts, feelings, and understanding. Seek me with your all and I will provide for you."

The blessings to come may not be visible in the darkness and persecution that you are dealing with but I encourage you to rejoice in it NOW, because what's coming is better. Your action and behavior in your season of darkness however will influence how brightly your light shine. Guard those gates, live righteously, work with excellence as if unto the Lord, study the word, seek to constantly renew your mind, fellowship with like minded individuals, submit to wise counsel, seek God's presence instead of his presents and observe how the puzzle pieces begin to fit into place. Instead of fretting start praying.

3.      I find it funny how after Rudolph was recognized and promoted the other reindeer's who used to ridicule and ostracize him all began to love them. Now I didn't get an exact message in my spirit from God but I did get this from my sister Heather Lindsey, "Not everyone is qualify to be in every season with you". We must all do an inventory as this year ends, what relationship are we attempting to bring into this new year that God has told us to let go?? Who are you trying to carry into this new season with you that God has asked you to release??

We have to do an inventory and truly reflect on who we are letting speak into our lives and into our future. If you're carrying a past hurt, pain, trauma, or guilt from your past......release it, those things are shackles that will drag you down to where you have been freed from. If you have laid things at the feet of Jesus please leave it there, don't be fooled by the loneliness that you may feel. The past was not that great but the future in His Hands is so much better!

Merry Christmas Beloveds!

Love y'all,