Sons of the Living God -Romans 9:25-26

"As He says also in Hosea: "I will call them My people, who were not My people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to to them, 'You are not My people,' there they shall be called sons of the living God."

Your Fruit is Found in Me -Hosea 14:5-9

This is a sequel to yesterday's post...

"I will be like the dew to Israel; He shall grow like the lily, And lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon. Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon. "Ephraim shall say, 'What have I to do anymore with idols?' I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree; Your fruit is found in Me." Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent? Let him know them. For the ways of the LORD are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them."

Now this passage is somewhat confusing...to help make it clearer, I underlined the part where God is directly talking :)


I really like this passage, with the two main promises I see:

1) God will be "like the dew" (God is our source of life)...He will revive us "like grain", and help us to grow "like a vine."

2) The reminder that our "fruit" is found in God...not in the world, or in anything we do. And I really appreciate this reminder, because I find myself forgetting this all the time. (I mean, don't we all forget this when we sin?)



So, my goal is to try to remember this phrase from Hosea...

"...Your fruit is found in Me."

Heal our Backsliding -Hosea 14:1-4

This the first of two posts....I really like this chapter in Hosea.

"O Israel, return to the LORD your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you, And return to the LORD. Say to Him, "Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips. Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses, Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, 'You are our gods.' For in You the fatherless finds mercy."

I love God's response to this:

"I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away from him." 

I few phrases really stand out to me.

• "Assyria shall not save us..." -the idea that we can't rely on anyone or anything else to rescue us...Jesus is the only way.
• "Nor will we say...to the work of our hands, 'You are our gods." -Not letting anything in our life get a higher pedestal than God does.
• "For in You the fatherless finds mercy." -Just really like the wording...that only in God we find mercy.
• "I will heal their backsliding." -He will put us in a right standing with God!
• "I will love them freely." -God's Love is no longer withheld from us! 

Hold on to these promises! If we repent and turn to Him, not only will God heal and forgive us, we will experience His love.

Torn to Healed -Hosea 6:1-2

I saw these verses and I wanted to share them with you...I found them extremely encouraging.

"Come, and let us return to the Lord; For He has torn, but He will heal us; He has stricken, but He will bind us up. After two days He will revive us; On the third day He will raise us up, That we may live in His sight." 

Part of me wonders if the second verse is partially a prophecy regarding Christ's Resurrection...but regardless, I found this promise a good one to remember.

If there is anything separating us from God, we need to repent! God promises that even though He has "torn" us, He will heal us.

The trials in life that beat us down are only the beginning if we turn towards Him. However, these verse's don't promise that everything will be perfect if we repent. What these verse do promise for the Christian is that God will heal us and help us through those hard times.

That's something the world can't offer.

Number 40! And Off to Egypt....not me personally. Hosea 11:1

...I've officially posted 40 times...wow. I can't believe it's already been 40 days...

Today's post again is following the Christmas season, and we find ourselves today in the book of Hosea.

"When Israel was a child, I loved him, And out of Egypt I called My son."

 Now, if your reaction was anything like mine, you might be like, "Hey! That's talking about the Children of Israel, not Jesus!"

While this was indeed talking about the Children of Israel, God also used it as a prophecy through the prophet Hosea. Matthew recognized this, and references Hosea in chapter 2:14-15...when Joseph and Mary flee with Jesus to Egypt.

"When he arose, he took the young Child and His mother by night and departed for Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying, "Out of Egypt I called My Son.""

This prophecy/promise is an encouragement to us because we can know through this, and other prophecies fulfilled, that Jesus was in fact the Messiah.

The Great Restoration Project... -Hosea 1:10

Israel was in serious sin. And chapter 1 of Hosea is the account of God sharing through Hosea the prophet that He was going to destroy the Children of Israel...God was going to withhold His mercy!

However, God is a faithful God. And God promises in verse 10 that He will restore the Children of Israel.

"Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, 'You are not My people,' There it shall be said to them, 'You are sons of the living God.'"

As Christians, we need to understand that sin is a serious thing. We are directly rebelling against the God of the universe. However, we also need to remember God's promise to us, that God will restore those who are His.

We were once not His people, but through Jesus' death on the cross we are now "sons of the living God."


You know, when I look at my life, and all of my sin, I can't help but think that we are the great restoration project...

...great as in "huge", not great as in "amazing". :)