Belong - April 9, 2014

Scripture: Genesis 4-7

5 The Lord accepted Abel and his gift, 5 but he did not accept Cain and his gift. This made Cain very angry, and he looked dejected.
6 “Why are you so angry?” the Lord asked Cain. “Why do you look so dejected? 7 You will be accepted if you do what is right. But if you refuse to do what is right, then watch out! Sin is crouching at the door, eager to control you. But you must subdue it and be its master.”
8 One day Cain suggested to his brother, “Let’s go out into the fields.” And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother, Abel, and killed him.
- Genesis 4
9 This is the account of Noah and his family. Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless person living on earth at the time, and he walked in close fellowship with God. 22 So Noah did everything exactly as God had commanded him.

- Genesis 6

Message: 
Walking closely with GOD will make others jealous and jealousy or envy will entice even a good man to do evil. Your actions will determine to who do you really belong.

Observation/Promise:
When we walk closely with GOD, we will receive His favor and blessing. When we offer our best to the Lord, others notice it but not everyone will honor us or appreciate our sincere love for GOD instead others are jealous of it and some might even kill us for our devotion to GOD. It is indeed an evil world, ever since the beginning of time. But we can all be saved from letting evil consume us by taking control of our anger and lust. We can take control of it, GOD told Cain before he killed his brother that sin is already crouching at his heart but he can subdue it and be it's master. But Cain didn't listen to GOD so sin controlled him and made him kill his brother. 


Application/Command:
Take control over your desires, anger, feelings and lust. Do not let it control you.
There should only be one master in our lives and that is GOD. It cannot be our feelings or desires, our anger or lust. We have to know the state of our hearts, let GOD search it and be corrected by Him. This is how we can live in a close relationship with GOD.
Walk closely with GOD, desire His truths each day and let the truth set you free from every sin that may take control over you in the future. 
Listen closely to GOD's instructions and do it. It is either we are of GODs, or of the world. We are of GOD when we do everything GOD says, we are of the world when GOD is not our master. To whom do you belong?

Sovereign Control

22 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord fulfilled the prophecy he had given through Jeremiah. He stirred the heart of Cyrus to put this proclamation in writing and to send it throughout his kingdom:
23 “This is what King Cyrus of Persia says: “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has appointed me to build him a Temple at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Any of you who are the Lord’s people may go there for this task. And may the Lord your God be with you!”
- 2 Chronicles 36:22-23


Do you believe that GOD is in control of everything? Yes, except Man's free will. GOD takes control of every circumstance and the only thing GOD will never take control of is man's will. Man can choose his way whatever he wants. GOD cannot control the mind of a man. But do you know that GOD can make a man do what HE pleases when HE stirs the heart of man? Yes! He does, in fact, it's almost as if GOD can control man's free will whenever HE wants to. How GOD works is a great mystery. We can never fully understand or comprehend HIS wondrous ways. We can only be in awe of how awesome HE is and will always be. 

Take the verse in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23. It says that GOD had used an ungodly nation's king to fulfill the prophecy HE had given through a prophet Jeremiah. How did GOD even use a pagan king? Could this king had known HIM or encountered the great GOD of Israel? Why would a pagan king from a pagan nation even care about another nation's temple? But whatever GOD did through this story is amazing. HE stirred up the heart of a pagan king because HE promised that HE would rebuild His temple. This is the very nature of GOD. HE is a GOD of Honor. Whatever HE said is a promise and HE will never take back HIS words. HE always fulfill all that HE said HE would do because HE is a GOD of Honor. No matter how impossible a certain thing is to happen, when GOD has said it would happen, expect that it will. Even if it is hard to believe, prepare that it will happen because GOD can not lie. HE will use anything or anybody to accomplish the words that GOD has spoken. By hook or by crook, whatever HE has promised shall come to pass. How awesome is it that the GOD of Israel, considers the rest of the Nations of this world HIS children too. If we make HIM our GOD. We can rest in HIS great power. We can rejoice in HIS sovereign control over all things. Sovereign control even on people's decisions when HE touches the human heart!

In Control

²⁷ “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. 
Is there anything too hard for Me? 
- Jeremiah 32


When we are in a most desperate situation we start to believe that everything is falling apart and out of control. True, we cannot control the many things that happen in our lives. And most of the time frustration sets in because of things that we never anticipated would come about. Holding on to what we believe should happen instead of accepting things as they happen is a trap of being always ahead of every situation. But the truth is, we are never in control. We can only control our reaction to how life unfolds. But do we trust the ONE who is in control?

Jeremiah has been GOD's great prophet and messenger. Prophesying destruction against the city of Jerusalem and delivering GOD's message, faithful servant and carrying the heart of GOD towards Israel, he was a man of valor. Yet in his right standing with GOD, Jeremiah was sent to prison and persecuted so many times. From Jeremiah's life we can see that the more one is close to GOD, the greater his troubles are in in this world and so for most of us who are ever trying to follow HIS ways, we should therefore not be surprised when life takes it's toll on us but we should all the more look to Yahweh, the one who was, who is and who always will be faithful to every word HE says. When we can't bear the things going on in our lives, the only way to carry on is to hold on to the GOD of all flesh. The GOD who controls all things. 

Does it bother us when GOD doesn't answer our prayers? Does it bother us when GOD doesn't ask us before allowing things to happen? Does it bother us when GOD doesn't explain things we don't want to happen? It shouldn't bother us because HE is GOD and HE acts according to HIS pleasure. We can only trust HIS great wisdom and love, that all things HE allow is for a greater purpose we could never understand now.