HEPHZIBAH MINISTRIES
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Isaiah 62
For Zion's sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. Next »
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Isaiah 62
And the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory: and thou shalt be called by a new name, which the mouth of the LORD shall name. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of the LORD, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the LORD delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night: « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
ye that make mention of the LORD, keep not silence, And give him no rest, till he establish, and till he make Jerusalem a praise in the earth. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
The LORD hath sworn by his right hand, and by the arm of his strength, Surely I will no more give thy corn to be meat for thine enemies; « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
and the sons of the stranger shall not drink thy wine, for the which thou hast laboured: « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
But they that have gathered it shall eat it, and praise the LORD; and they that have brought it together shall drink it in the courts of my holiness. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
Go through, go through the gates; prepare ye the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him. « Previous Next »
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Isaiah 62
And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken. « Previous
June 2007
June 25, 2007
Ephesians 1:3-5
The topic of predestination is controversial in that some believe that those of us who are saved were predestined to be so while others of God's creation were predestined not to be saved. This understanding of predestination seems to be supported by scriptures in Romans 8:29. However, since every man has an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord as Jesus died for the whole world, that understanding above seems to be too restrictive.
In our reading, we are told that God chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world and predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself. So God predestined the way for us to become sons of God and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is described as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world so the way of salvation was determined before Man was created and fell into sin. God therefore had predestined all who will repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord to become sons of God.
It is God's desire that all men be saved and it seems unlike God to predestine some to be saved and others to be not. All men were created in His image and likeness so is not reflective of a loving God that He will have some to be saved and others not to be saved. In His fore knowledge He will know all those who will not come to Him, but it does not mean that He will predestine those not to be saved. He gives us every chance to do so because of His love for His creation. We therefore cannot decide who will be saved and who will not as He invites all men to be saved. Whoever accepts the invitation will be saved, whoever rejects the invitation will not be. Praise God for His great love, mercy and grace towards us!
June 18, 2007
Habakkuk 3:17-19
Habakkuk makes a declaration that should there be no fruitfulness in the land, no crops and no herds, he will still rejoice in the Lord and will joy in the God of his salvation. He was not going to let the lack of food or ability of make a living determine his state. He realised that God was his life and that God was well able to take care of him in spite of the fact that all the necessities for life were unavailable.
It is interesting to note that where there is lack of basic food, weakness sets in. We are usually not strong at this time but Habakkuk's faith invigorates him so he declares that the Lord God is his strength and that God will enable him to climb over any obstacle by giving him hind's feet which are sure and quick. This surefootedness will also him to be able to attain new heights even if there is a lack of natural food. For him, it was not a time to shut down or withdraw from serving God.
Habakkuk did not have the experience of salvation that we have today but he certainly spoke as if he did. He did not have Holy Spirit in the way we have Him today in the New Testament dispensation but he knew his God and when God told him in Chapter 2:4 that the just shall live by his faith, Habakkuk did not hesitate to put his faith in God into action. He puts us to shame as we so easily lose faith in God at the slightest challenge that comes our way. It is time for us to shake ourselves and put our faith in the only true and living God so that we can make the same declaration the Habakkuk made- no matter what comes our way, we will REJOICE in the Lord, we will JOY in the God of our salvation because He is our strength and we will walk on high places over and above our circumstances in the name of Jesus!
June 11, 2007
Joshua 24:19-20
What a statement Joshua made after the people of Israel returned to Shechem and recommitted themselves to serve the God of their fathers who brought them out of Egypt. They quite clearly stated that they knew which God they were going to serve- the God who brought them out of Egypt , who did great signs in their sight and who preserved them on their way to the promised land. He also drove out the inhabitants of the promised land before them. He is the God that they recommitted to serve because He is their God. (vs 17, 18).
Joshua's statement must have shaken them. But Joshua did not leave it there. He gave them the reason for his statement- the God you just said you will serve is HOLY and He is jealous and will not forgive your transgressions or your sins if you forsake Him and serve foreign gods. We must be agreeing with Joshua's statement at this point. But do we see that Joshua is saying the same thing to us today? After all our confessions that Jesus is our Saviour, are we just as guilty as the people of his day in that we make God jealous by serving other gods and do not respect His holiness?
How many times have we bowed at the feet of other gods in our daily activities to make ourselves comfortable and in doing this we forsake the true and living God whose primary aim is to bring us into a closer relationship with Him so that He may just pour out His blessings on us? While we say that we will serve the Lord, in reality we fail miserably by not making Him our only God as He is the only God that there is. Instead we make created things our god thereby provoking our God who is a jealous God. We fail to live lives of holiness and expect to come into His holy presence to receive of Him. We need to take heed to day to Joshua's words- You cannot serve the Lord.
June 4, 2007
2 Kings 13:14-19
Joash was obedient to Elisha in every action that Elisha had asked him to do. However Elisha was displeased in that Joash did not go far enough in striking the ground with the arrows which would have brought total victory over Syria. While Joash was obedient, he did not know the significance of what he was doing until he was finished with the action. I am sure if he knew the significance of striking the ground with the arrows, he may very well have stuck the ground ten or twelve times.
This is very much like walking by faith. We obey God by doing the action we are commanded to do without necessarily knowing the meaning or the result of it. If we do it to the level of our faith, we have a reasonable expectation that whatever God wanted to accomplish was done. Has it ever occurred to us that we have may not have exercised our faith enough for that which God wanted accomplished? Have we fallen short of God's expectations because we came up short. We did not strike the ground sufficiently to fully accomplish what God had in mind.
Thank God for Holy Spirit and the true prophets who are given to guide us in the paths God will have us walk in. We should strive never to fall short. However, should we fall short, God in His infinite mercy can guide us so that we will enter into total victory. Many times we fall short of total victory and we end up being defeated for a season. This is not God's will for us. His intention is that we enter into total victory every time over the enemy and we should never accept partial victory. It is there for us but we need the faith to endure to the end. Praise God VICTORY is ours!
Ephesians 1:3-5The topic of predestination is controversial in that some believe that those of us who are saved were predestined to be so while others of God's creation were predestined not to be saved. This understanding of predestination seems to be supported by scriptures in Romans 8:29. However, since every man has an opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord as Jesus died for the whole world, that understanding above seems to be too restrictive.
In our reading, we are told that God chose us in Jesus before the foundation of the world and predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself. So God predestined the way for us to become sons of God and that is through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus is described as the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world so the way of salvation was determined before Man was created and fell into sin. God therefore had predestined all who will repent of their sins and accept Jesus as their Saviour and Lord to become sons of God.
It is God's desire that all men be saved and it seems unlike God to predestine some to be saved and others to be not. All men were created in His image and likeness so is not reflective of a loving God that He will have some to be saved and others not to be saved. In His fore knowledge He will know all those who will not come to Him, but it does not mean that He will predestine those not to be saved. He gives us every chance to do so because of His love for His creation. We therefore cannot decide who will be saved and who will not as He invites all men to be saved. Whoever accepts the invitation will be saved, whoever rejects the invitation will not be. Praise God for His great love, mercy and grace towards us!
June 18, 2007
Habakkuk 3:17-19Habakkuk makes a declaration that should there be no fruitfulness in the land, no crops and no herds, he will still rejoice in the Lord and will joy in the God of his salvation. He was not going to let the lack of food or ability of make a living determine his state. He realised that God was his life and that God was well able to take care of him in spite of the fact that all the necessities for life were unavailable.
It is interesting to note that where there is lack of basic food, weakness sets in. We are usually not strong at this time but Habakkuk's faith invigorates him so he declares that the Lord God is his strength and that God will enable him to climb over any obstacle by giving him hind's feet which are sure and quick. This surefootedness will also him to be able to attain new heights even if there is a lack of natural food. For him, it was not a time to shut down or withdraw from serving God.
Habakkuk did not have the experience of salvation that we have today but he certainly spoke as if he did. He did not have Holy Spirit in the way we have Him today in the New Testament dispensation but he knew his God and when God told him in Chapter 2:4 that the just shall live by his faith, Habakkuk did not hesitate to put his faith in God into action. He puts us to shame as we so easily lose faith in God at the slightest challenge that comes our way. It is time for us to shake ourselves and put our faith in the only true and living God so that we can make the same declaration the Habakkuk made- no matter what comes our way, we will REJOICE in the Lord, we will JOY in the God of our salvation because He is our strength and we will walk on high places over and above our circumstances in the name of Jesus!
June 11, 2007
Joshua 24:19-20What a statement Joshua made after the people of Israel returned to Shechem and recommitted themselves to serve the God of their fathers who brought them out of Egypt. They quite clearly stated that they knew which God they were going to serve- the God who brought them out of Egypt , who did great signs in their sight and who preserved them on their way to the promised land. He also drove out the inhabitants of the promised land before them. He is the God that they recommitted to serve because He is their God. (vs 17, 18).
Joshua's statement must have shaken them. But Joshua did not leave it there. He gave them the reason for his statement- the God you just said you will serve is HOLY and He is jealous and will not forgive your transgressions or your sins if you forsake Him and serve foreign gods. We must be agreeing with Joshua's statement at this point. But do we see that Joshua is saying the same thing to us today? After all our confessions that Jesus is our Saviour, are we just as guilty as the people of his day in that we make God jealous by serving other gods and do not respect His holiness?
How many times have we bowed at the feet of other gods in our daily activities to make ourselves comfortable and in doing this we forsake the true and living God whose primary aim is to bring us into a closer relationship with Him so that He may just pour out His blessings on us? While we say that we will serve the Lord, in reality we fail miserably by not making Him our only God as He is the only God that there is. Instead we make created things our god thereby provoking our God who is a jealous God. We fail to live lives of holiness and expect to come into His holy presence to receive of Him. We need to take heed to day to Joshua's words- You cannot serve the Lord.
June 4, 2007
2 Kings 13:14-19Joash was obedient to Elisha in every action that Elisha had asked him to do. However Elisha was displeased in that Joash did not go far enough in striking the ground with the arrows which would have brought total victory over Syria. While Joash was obedient, he did not know the significance of what he was doing until he was finished with the action. I am sure if he knew the significance of striking the ground with the arrows, he may very well have stuck the ground ten or twelve times.
This is very much like walking by faith. We obey God by doing the action we are commanded to do without necessarily knowing the meaning or the result of it. If we do it to the level of our faith, we have a reasonable expectation that whatever God wanted to accomplish was done. Has it ever occurred to us that we have may not have exercised our faith enough for that which God wanted accomplished? Have we fallen short of God's expectations because we came up short. We did not strike the ground sufficiently to fully accomplish what God had in mind.
Thank God for Holy Spirit and the true prophets who are given to guide us in the paths God will have us walk in. We should strive never to fall short. However, should we fall short, God in His infinite mercy can guide us so that we will enter into total victory. Many times we fall short of total victory and we end up being defeated for a season. This is not God's will for us. His intention is that we enter into total victory every time over the enemy and we should never accept partial victory. It is there for us but we need the faith to endure to the end. Praise God VICTORY is ours!
