Whore

Jeremiah 3:1

...You have played the whore with many lovers; and would you return to me?...

     As you can see by the dot dot dots there's more to that verse, but I want to focus on that for a moment. As I was reading this this morning God's word really spoke to my heart. I have to ask myself this daily question. "Will I play the whore today?"

     Will I give my heart to things of this world, when as a Child of God my heart belongs to Him. He is my portion, and all I need while the things of this world are so much less than what I need. If even I were to gain the whole world, I would still be empty without Him. 

     I find great significance in the fact that the term God uses here is "whore."

     Israel were God's people at the time. His bride! But they continuously turned to the things of this world, and when they did this they didn't just turn from Him, but treated Him as if He didn't matter. They would ignore His commands and His heart for them, and then pretend as if they had done nothing wrong. They would worship the foreign gods, making sacrifices to them. They even sacrificed their babies to one foreign god, and they weren't even real gods. They were man made, or even God made gods. They worshipped rocks, trees, statues, and other earthly things, and God looked on with a broken heart. Not only because they had walked away from Him, but His broken heartedness was for them. He knew the direction in which they were going, was not a good one.

     As I reach the end of the chapter God is calling Israel back to Him. Saying "If you'll just confess your wrong and come back to me I will restore you. I will not stay angry." 

     This is the same call that He gives us when we play the whore. 

1 John 1:9

IF we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive

and cleanse us from all unrighteousness

     It breaks God's heart to see us in sin! He wants to restore us to glory! He doesn't want to see us playing the whore. A big thing we must realize is that playing the whore is sin....

So let me run

Run after You

You and only You

Blind my eyes to all this world

That cannot make me full

Break my heart when I believe 

this world is best for me

Let my heart be so consumed

with You my everything

Infinite well > Styrofoam Cup with holes in it

     Israel Walked away after all God had brought them through. They walked away from Him. Time and time again they walked away. They put Him out of their minds, out of their laws, and out of their hearts. Not as if He didn't exist, but as if He didn't matter. They began to be self-satisfied and world-satisfied only problem is that it was such an unsatisfied satisfaction.

     They had began to settle for this world not only that, but they began to worship things of this world.

No longer chasing the heart of God, they began worshipping trees, stones, and man made idols! They traded God for gods that weren't even gods...And disaster struck... They walked away from God and sooner or later disaster struck.

     We see this happen over and over in the old testament Israel walks away from God and becomes like the world after a while of chasing the fleeting pleasures of the world disaster strikes. eventually Israel would find themselves running back to God and God, being ever faithful, would take them back and restore them to glory!

We find this story again in the new testament in Luke 15:11-32

The Parable of the Lost Son

     The son tells his father that he wants what he is going to inherit when his father dies. Back then that was just like saying to your father "Dad I wish you were dead."

     The Father doesn't argue with his son, but instead gives his son the inheritance and the son leaves. I imagine that while the son was gone the father felt great heartache. This was the son that he'd protected, and raised up to be glorious. Even still the father allowed the son to go and chase the world. 

     Meanwhile the son was loving life away from the father. Chasing this fleeting pleasure, he found friends and spent a lot of money. When the money was gone he lost his friends, and found himself eating with pigs. The once glorious son was now eating with pigs, what pigs eat. 

     It was in this low state that the son remembered that even his fathers slaves lived better lives than that. So he went back home seeking to be no more than a slave.

From here.... I'm just gonna hit ya with the scriptures 

Luke 15:²⁰ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him. ²¹ The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’

²² “But the father told his slaves, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ringon his finger and sandals on his feet. ²³ Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, ²⁴ because this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

Restored to Glory

     When the son's heart was brought to repentance, and he went back to his father seeking to be nothing more than a mere slave. The father saw the repentance, had compassion, and restored the son to full blown glory!

     The Father is God. The son is Israel.

     Better yet. The Father is God. The son is me. The son is you. The son is us.                                                       

  

    Now lets not kid ourselves thinking it's okay to walk away from God every now and then. IT IS NOT OKAY. That is why we find ourselves in disaster eventually, when we do. The beauty in this isn't that the son told the Father that he wishes that He was dead. The beauty in this parable is the Father. The sons glory began to deplete the moment that his heart was hardened towards his Father. Not at the moment that he found himself poor and eating with the pigs. Just as Israel's glory began to deplete when they began to harden their hearts. God is not okay with us walking away, but He allows free will. When we do walk away He does allow disaster to strike, and He allows us to face disaster without Him until we come to Him in repentance. From there He restores us from out of the disaster, though it may not be the end of the disaster He brings us through it gloriously! 

   As I've already said God is not okay when we chase this world. He, in fact, calls it a double evil! Jeremiah 2:13 For My people have committed a double evil: They have abandoned Me, the fountain of living water, and dug cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that cannot hold water.

This is not okay! This is Trading a well with an infinite source of Pure Life Giving Water

for a styrofoam cup with holes in it trying to drink 6 month old reused bath water.

Yet God restores us from it when we come to Him in repentance.

Take some time to think about that verse for a while. Jeremiah 2:13

Heck check out Jeremiah 2 for context!!!!

today

I don't know how to describe today
full of heartbreak and disappointment
mixed with faith that I know God is up to something beautiful

right now my heart is just in pain
it's a endurance thing though
I gotta endure it.... it just really sucks

just what happened today makes me want that change of scenery so much more

I've been wanting to get away from a place for the past few weeks

and I'm not sure, right now, if it's God's will for me to stay

or if it's God's will for me to leave

my heart right now tells me to leave. . . . .

I'm having a hard time figuring out if it's just my heart in a wounded state
or if me staying is what is putting my heart in a wounded state and God is using the wounded state
to tell me to leave

i'm a little confused at the moment......

and I'm definitely in need of some serious prayer
as I pray that God would empty me and fill me with Him
so that I can go wherever it is He wants me to go
and if staying is what He wants then I'll do that too

If it's not what He wants then I don't need to stay
cause If He isn't here then I need to be wherever He is

All of Me

it's what God wants
He wants all of my heart
Everything about me He wants
and it's crazy to think about that

Recently during life group the question came up

"When is it hard to believe that God will be there for you?"
or something like that lol

but I had to think about it for a little bit
and my answer was really simple

When I want nothing to do with me.....

there are those days

when I'm so disappointed in myself

days when I put myself into bad positions

there are days when if I was anybody else and saw what I was dealing with

I'd be very reluctant to jump into the fire with me

There are days when I feel so in over my head

simply because life has thrown something my way

and it's crazy

it's crazy to think that anyone would want to go through stuff with me

it's crazy to think that His love is just that strong!

BUT THE REALITY IS THAT HIS LOVE IS THAT STRONG

So strong in fact that

He jumps into the dirtiness of life with us

whether we put ourselves in the mud

or the mud was thrown at us by this world

HAHA

OFTEN TIMES HE EVEN SEES THE MUD PUDDLES AND SAYS

HEY LETS GO THAT WAY!!!!

if you're reading this 

and you are going through a rough time

be encouraged 

know that God wants your whole heart

all of the time

He wants everything about you

all of the time

not only is He the desire of our hearts,

but He desires to fulfill our hearts!

ALL OF THE TIME

there's no place that we can put ourselves

no valley or mountain

no sin or shame

that we can be found in

that He isn't willing to jump down into the dirtiness with us

and love on us

He is not a God of Chaos, but a God of peace

yet He is willing to jump into the chaos with us

so that we can know His peace in the midst of it all

because He loves us

even when we feel like we can't love ourselves

He loves us

when we don't want anything to do with us

He wants EVERYTHING to do with us

God is Love

Romans 5:8

 But God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us!

John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son 
so that whosever believes in Him would not perish
but have eternal life

John 17:3
This is eternal life: that they may know You, the only true God, and the One You have sent —Jesus Christ.

2 Corinthians 5:21
He made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In fact He loves us so much
and dives so far into the Chaos to show it
that He dove even as deep as the grave
to bring us out of sin, death, and shame
into abundant life
true abundant and eternal life

:)

my prayer is that God would continue to remind me of this love
and teach me this love as I strive to be like Him
to dive into the chaos with people who want to know peace
to dive into the chaos with people who want to know freedom
and shine light into their lives
as He has put people in my lives that dive into the chaos with me

Remind me Lord of what it means to really love
everyday

and guard my heart and my mind against those who don't really want peace or freedom
but instead just want to drag me into chaos with them for the sake of
making someone else's life chaotic 

Help me be discerning there Lord

GRRRRRR

it's been a frustrating week up until today
I've just felt . . . annoyed and angry lately
praying that God would give me peace in all this

trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together as to why I might feel this way
but I just can't figure it out
I haven't felt like doing much lately, but there's so much to be done
and if I don't do it all then others will be affected

so I press on and get r done

wrenches have been thrown in my plans
and man it's just been a crazy week....


I know God has something big planned though
so I just gotta press on and not let my anger win
I gotta hand it over to Christ and just keep walking and resting in Him

Romans 8:28 For we know that God makes all things work together for the good of those who love Him and are called to His purpose


God is gonna work this all out for my Good

I just gotta hold on because my life depends on it

restless nights

more restless nights
thought that maybe I could trust someone again
after having just walked away for a month
they seemed to put forth a little effort

I guess for a moment I forgot that I was worth so much more than their leftovers

I let them back in for a moment
and for a moment of that moment things were great
until I let them deeply in . . .

that's when it all went bad
things just became what they were before
just completely draining on me

so here's to more restless nights
spent regretting letting you in
and here's to better days
remembering just who I am
and here's to life

life well lived
life moving forward while you stay behind

got too much good going for me
and I have a good heart
so why poison it any longer