I haven't written in awhile and I know I still need to give yall the part 2 of Sin and Temptation but this treasure has been given to me and I know I need to share it! First before you read this if you have time, and if u dont have time read the book of Micah! It only takes like twenty minutes and I promise, and the Bible promises (Isaiah 55:11), that you will be convicted, rebuked, encouraged or strengthened toward the Lord your God, if you are His child.
So, I read through Micah today and the Lord showed me numerous truths about about my condition and soul-splitting conflicts in walking with Him. Also, He made many things clearer about what following Him is. So, here is pieces of His wisdom imparted to me:
1) To start with a quote by John Piper on The Fight for Joy:
"A person who has no taste for the enjoyment of Christ will not go to heaven. “If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed” (1 Cor. 16:22). “Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me” (Matt. 10:37). . . Therefore there is no more important struggle in the universe than the struggle to see and savor Christ above all things—the struggle for joy."
2) Micah, a prophet of God, during the reigns of evil kings of Judah, saw visions from the LORD God about Judah's sin and God's judgments.
The LORD brings judgment against sin and iniquity: "All her carved images shall be beaten to pieces, all her wages shall be burned with fire, and all her idols I will lay waste, for from the fee of a prostitute she gathered them, and to the fee of a prostitute they shall return." (1:7)
3) Proper response is felt by Micah as he crys: "For this I will lament and wail; I will go stripped and naked; I will make lamentation like the jackals, and mourning like the ostriches, For her wound is incurable. . ." (1:8-9a)
4) A proper warning for some of us to heed, when we begin to plan out sin, we act as the heathen, like the one estranged from God. "Woe to those who devise wickedness and work evil on their beds! When the morning dawns, they perform it, because it is in the power of their hand. . .Therefore thus says the LORD: behold, against this family I am devising disaster, for which you cannot remove your necks, and you shall not walk haughtily, for it will be a time of disaster." (2:1,3)
5) Deliverance is promised for those in the Lord: "I will gather the remnant of Israel; I will set them together like sheep in a fold, like a flock in its pasture, a noisy multitude of men." (2:12) much like the passage in John 10:9-15 where Jesus claims to be the door and Good Shepherd and that He knows and gathers His own.
6) We can learn much from Micah, for as he sees the false prophets and diviners among Jacob and Israel, itching the peoples ears and giving them teachings that suit their own passions, he exclaims "But as for me, I am filled with power, with the Spirit of the Lord, and with justice and might, to declare to Jacob his transgression and to Israel his sin." We must be able to discern the always crushing, convicting, soul-wrenching call of the Spirit of God from the other deceptive spirits of only partial conviction. If your soul is given an ultimatum that seems to rip you to the very bones of your sinful desires and rack your stability to where you cant seem but to fall to your knees, that would be the Spirit of God! For only God convicts to that point, for if it stops short, you can almost always be assured that its a masquerade!
7) Jesus Christ is prophesied as the Messiah, from the lowliest of town of Bethlehem, for He was meant to humble Israel. For when the conviction of the Spirit is felt within your soul, restoration is coming and "He shall stand and shepherd His flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God. And [you] shall dwell secure, for now He shall be great to the ends of the earth. And He shall be [your] peace." (5:4-5a) Jesus says to us as the devastated sinner "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt. 11:28-30) Accept this redemption after your soul-wrenching pain and know that the sin was not just erased but defeated.
8) The LORD then pleads His case for why we should despise Him. For He says, "My people, what have I done to you? How have I wearied you? Answer me!" (6:3) This is to put a seal of sadness upon our hearts so we can remember in the future and that there is no reason to grieve or blame the Savior saved us from sin, slavery, death and hell with His sacrifice. "I brought you up from the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery . . . O my people remember . . . that you may know the saving acts of the LORD." (6:4-5)
9)Then the LORD, having our attention, will remind us of His precepts that will keep us on the righteous path. For then we ask LORD I dont know how not to be back here again, we have the desire to obey but due to our fallen nature, have no guidance on what righteousness is. The Lord makes it simple for us at the beginning: "He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?" To do these things is echoed by Christ when exclaims in John 15:4-5:
Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
10) This guidance and discernment of the preceptive will of God empowers the believer to take on the enemy and masquerading spirits with a new fervor and Power. For we can say with a boldness:
Rejoice not over me, O my enemy, when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me. I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he pleads my cause and executes judgment for me. He will bring me out to the light; I shall look upon his vindication. Then my enemy will see and shame will cover her who said to me, "Where is the Lord your God?" My eyes will look upon her, now she will be trampled down like the mire of the streets. (7:8-10)
This is a war chant to our dangerous enemy and our sinful nature that we are under the Lord's judgment only and because of Jesus Christ, as a believer of the new Covenant, we know there is "no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus"! What a blessing that our God is "pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance" (7:18). That "He does not retain anger forever, because He delights in steadfast love" toward all those who He chose "before the foundations of the earth . . . to be adopted as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the pleasure of His will." (Eph. 1:4-5)
Thank Him this day for His unfailing love, long-suffering and the propitiation of Jesus Christ's hell-damning sacrifice! Ascribe to Him the glory due His Name! (Psalm 96:8)
Hope the Spirit used Micah to impact your soul for His glorious will and has brought you to your knees before Him, our Worthy King! Praise to God the Father, the Son and Holy Spirit forever and ever. AMEN!
