Heart & Soul - - Cleaving To God

 

Joshua 22:5

But take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law, which Moses the servant of the LORD charged you, to love the LORD your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 1692

Cleave: cling, keep close, hold fast, be joined together

From the Hebrew word 'dabaq' (pronounced daw-bak'). Examples:

Joined Together--Genesis 2:24 (as man to wife). 

Cleave To--Ruth 1:14 (as friend to friend)

Hold Fast--Joshua 23:8 (as a people to their God)

JOINED AT THE HEART

    Psalm 63:8 "My soul follows hard after Thee: Thy right hand upholds me." 

Follows hard after is a phrase which means 'clings tightly to'. Think Gorilla Glue stuck, unable to separate from. 

This is the fourth command in this verse.

1. Love The Lord Your God

2. Walk In All His Ways

3. Keep His Commandments

4. Cleave To Him

5. Serve Him With All Our Heart and Soul

    When we choose to love God above all else (1), the others will happen automatically in the Spirit. Our hearts need to be right with God, aligned in Him according to His Word. (2) Loving God will cause us to want to walk in His ways. (3) Loving God will instill a desire within us to keep His commandments for we will always want to be found in His favor. (4) Loving God will cause us to cleave to Him, wanting always to be near Him, near enough to hear Him speak softly to us, to hear His voice call us. (5) Loving God will give us a desire to serve Him faithfully and with honor. 

    Just as in a personal relationship with our spouses or best friends, we will desire only the best for the other. We speak truthfully and honestly with each other. When we speak as friend to friend in our interpersonal relationships, we not only need to speak the truth, but we need to speak it tactfully at times, so as not to hurt feelings: speak in words of love. 

WHOLEHEARTED LOVE

    Again, in a wedding ceremony where the man declares his love and fidelity to his bride, and she declares her love and fidelity to him, the promise of lifelong commitment is made. A wholehearted commitment to be faithful to each other, to honor the other above all others, to work together in raising their children (seed) in the Love of the Lord. It is a joining together of God plus the husband plus the wife: an intricately woven life, a tapestry of love. 

    Matthew 18:20 "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them."

     Psalm 73:25 "Whom have I in heaven but You? And on earth I desire no one besides You." 

    Romans 6:17 "But thanks be to God that, though you once were slaves to sin, you wholeheartedly obeyed the form of teaching to which you were committed."

    We, the born again, are God's church. He creates us for Himself. Through the blood of His only begotten Son and the power of His Holy Spirit, He woos us to Himself, drawing us close. And when we respond to His call on our hearts, we offer our whole lives to Him, not wanting to hold anything back. We are His beloved and He is ours. 

    Sometimes marriages dissolve. Even God divorced His beloved Israel. But for good reason: she left Him first and worshiped other gods. In other words, Israel whored herself out to the service of idolatry. (Jeremiah 3:8). Yet, still God loved Israel and Judah. He called them to repent of their wicked ways and return to Him. (Jeremiah 3:11-20). His people had not cleaved to Him and their relationship was severed; not with a finality, but with a promise of restoration of only she would repent and return to Him. 

WORLDLY vs WORDLY

    A worldly heart will make worldly decisions and also follow through on those decisions. But a heart that has chosen God needs to make Wordly decisions and follow through, stand strong, in those decisions. Which includes the decision to LOVE GOD and CLEAVE TO HIM ONLY. He wants an exclusive relationship with us. 

    Have you made the decision to cleave to Him, to be in this exclusive relationship with Him? He's calling your name even now.

CLEAVING TO GOD

 

Guard Your Heart - - Guard Your Marriage

 

Malachi 2:15

Has not the LORD made them one, having a portion of the Spirit? And why one? Because He seeks godly offspring. So guard yourselves in your spirit and do not break faith with the wife of your youth. 

*Strong's Ex. Conc. No. 898

Break Faith: to deal treacherously with, betray, deceive

From the Hebrew word 'bagad' (pronounced baw-gad'): to be unfaithful, to depart.

    Before the flood the sons of God, the men who followed God, turned from God's ways and God's Word to go after the daughters of men, men who worshiped gods they had created. They polluted themselves and their worship was unacceptable to God. They brought destruction on themselves and their families by bringing idolatry into their tents, their homes. 

    They were unfaithful to both God and to their wives. For it is God who ordains the marriage covenant having set it up from the beginning. God created Adam. Then from Adam God created Eve. This joined them together: bone of his bone, flesh of his flesh. Created from a rib near Adam's heart was Eve. Her he would love forever. He loved her so much he disobeyed God when he, too, ate from the forbidden tree. He was unfaithful to God and by disobeying God, Adam was unfaithful to Eve, as well. Who knows how God would have reacted had it been only Eve who disobeyed. 

    We, as God's peculiar people, set apart for Himself, set apart in His love by His love, are to be faithful to God, to His Word in His Spirit. We, the born again believers, the church, the saved Gentiles and the saved Jews, are created in Christ to be the bride of the bridegroom. And in this union we are to create godly offspring: by our witness and our testimony other people will hear the Word we speak, see the works which we do, and glorify God by coming into this union as well. What a miracle of Life that is! Life Eternal. 

    Unfaithfulness begins in the eye. Genesis 6:2 "That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose." Men of God, men who were serving the Lord, took their eyes off of the God who chose them to be His people and turned their eyes to women who served created gods, gods created by their fathers; they married them and had children with them. They broke faith with the God of their people and whored themselves out to the gods of other people. 

    As God's people, faithfulness is required of us. In our hearts, in our homes/families, in our churches/sanctuaries we are to honor God. We are meant to be different from the world, separated from the way in which the world works (1 Peter 2:9). We are created to worship God and Him only (Exodus 20:1-6). We worship with our hearts, with our spirit, with our bodies (Romans 12:1, 2). 

    Our eyes are to be focused on His Word. Our ears are to be open to His voice. Our hands are to do His work. Our feet are to walk in His way. Our hearts are to be filled with His love, to operate in the Love of God: forgiving even when forgiveness is not asked for or seems to be beyond the scope of forgiveness: for we who know we have been forgiven much by our God must genuinely forgive those who have sinned against us. 

    We worship God with everything we have within us for HE IS OUR GOD and there is no room for any other in our hearts. The LORD joys over His people with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). The LORD delights in the people who fear (revere) Him. We take refuge in The LORD GOD (Psalm 91:1, 2). 

    Psalm 128 tells us that a man who fears the Lord will be blessed in honoring and loving his wife. Their children will be many and the LORD will bless them from Zion, from the hill of His sanctuary, from the mountain of blessings God will bless the man who fears Him and remains faithful in his heart and his life to his God and his wife. 

    Let our eyes not wander, nor our hearts, that we may be found of the LORD in His Word, walking in the Way of Holiness and living a righteous life in His Spirit. 

LET THIS HEART NOT WANDER by Young Oceans

MADE FOR JESUS by John Mark Pantana

I AM YOUR BELOVED by Jonathan David Helser, Melissa Helser

MY REFUGE by Rivers & Robots

IN YOUR MIDST by Allie Paige

ABIDE IN ME by Andrew Marcus

    

Beatitudes of Marriage

BEATITUDES OF MARRIAGE

BLESSED are the husband and wife who are affectionate,

considerate, and loving after the wedding bells have ceased ringing.

BLESSED are the husband and wife who are as polite and courteous to

one another as they are to their friends.

BLESSED are they who love their spouses more than any other person in the world,

and who joyfully fulfill their marriage vow of a lifetime of fidelity

and mutual helpfulness to one another.

BLESSED are they who attain parenthood, for children are a heritage of the Lord.

BLESSED are the families who remember to be thankful to God for their food

 before they partake of it, and who set apart some time each day for 

the reading of the Bible and for prayer.

BLESSED are those spouses who never speak loudly to one another, 

and who make their home a place "where seldom is hear a discouraging word."

BLESSED are the husband and wife who faithfully attend the worship service

of the church, and who enjoy serving God together in the church 

for the advancement of Christ's kingdom.

BLESSED are the husband and wife who can iron out the problems of 

adjustment without the interference of their relatives.

BLESSED is the couple which has complete understanding about

financial matters, and have worked out a perfect partnership, 

with all money under the control of both.

BLESSED are the husband and wife who humbly dedicate their lives

and their homes to Christ, and who practice the teachings of Christ

in the home by being unselfish, loyal and loving.

~Author Unknown~

LOVE IS

Many couples in their wedding ceremony use the verses from 1 Corinthians 13 in their vows. We did, too. Here it is streamlined and easily understood by everyone. This chapter selection from 1 Corinthians is written for everyone; just like every other part of the Bible. We need to apply the things we read and learn on how to be better Christians to ourselves and to stop pointing fingers at those who fail to live up to our standards of what it means to be Christian. It is God's measure we need to live up to. When we don't, we all fail. 

Oh, Lord, guide me in all Your ways, that I might be the Christian You have called me to be. I surrender myself to You. Mold me into a useful vessel to be used for Your purposes and not mine. Shine through me. Shine the Light of Love and Compassion into the darkness that encompasses my walk. Joy over me with singing. I delight in Your Word and hunger for more of you. Fill me to overflowing. Continue to teach me to love like You love. In Jesus' Name, these things I ask; these things I praise You for. Amen.

LOVE IS.........

PATIENT (LONG-SUFFERING, WAITS)

KIND (SHOWS MERCY TO ALL REGARDLESS OF RACE, POLITICS, BELIEFS, CULTURE)

ENVIES NOT (DOES NOT WANT WHAT OTHERS HAVE_

GENEROUS (WITH THE BLESSINGS WHICH GOD HAS POURED OUT)

HUMBLE (PUTS THE NEEDS OF OTHERS FIRST)

MEEK AND MERCIFUL (STRONG IN THOUGHT AND ACTION)

REJOICES IN DECISIONS AND ACTIONS BASED ON THE WORD OF GOD AND DOES NOT REJOICE WHEN SOMEONE SINS

BEARS (WITHSTANDS, CARRIES) ALL THINGS

BELIEVES (HAS FAITH IN) ALL THINGS

HOPES (ANTICIPATES WITH JOY) ALL THINGS

ENDURES (HOLDS ON) ALL THINGS

NEVER FAILS (NEVER ENDS, NEVER STOPS)

1 Corinthians 13:4-7. 13

V4. Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not: charity does not vaunt itself, nor puff itself up,

V5. Does not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil;

V6. Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;

V7. Bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

V8. Charity never fails: prophecies fail, tongues cease; knowledge shall vanish away

V13. And now abides FAITH, HOPE and CHARITY, these three; but the greatest of these is CHARITY.

"Abides" means lives in.  Faith lives in us through Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God. He who was crucified for our sins. He took our punishment that we live eternally through Him and with Him. Hope lives in us: a blessed hope we have, one which causes us to rejoice daily: we will see Jesus face to face someday and live forever in the mansions which He has prepared for us. We will see God and live. We will sing praise to Him who is Truth and Beauty.

Charity lives in us because Christ lives in us. As we allow the Holy Spirit of God to move in our minds, in our hearts, in our spirits, in our lives, we are changed from glory to glory until we become fully what God has chosen us to be. 

To God be the glory and none other. There is no god like our GOD. 

The God of Math-Creation

During my lifetime I have noticed that many people are obsessed with the numbers scattered throughout the Bible. The number of perfection is debated. The number of a man is questioned. There are 12 disciples and 12 patriarchs. Trinity means three.

Some people question the existence of God. Especially a God who would allow horrible things to happen to good people. Some have stopped asking questions, some cease to seek for God. Some seek the higher power within themselves. (There isn't one, btw)

Numbers have their place, but they are not the be-all and end-all of the Holy Scriptures. God is the God of Math. He is One and Three. There was no big bang. There was no evolution. There is Creation. By the Trinity of God. Genesis 1:1, 2 "In the beginning GOD created the heaven and the earth.And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the SPIRIT of GOD moved upon the face of the waters." Genesis 1:26 "And GOD said, 'Let US make man in OUR image, after our LIKENESS: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth." They worked together, in unity, as ONE bringing about the existence of every living creature, even mankind.

So, GOD created one man and one woman. He told them to multiply. He did not tell the monkey to evolve. He did not create 2 men or 2 women. One man + one woman = one relationship, one union (Genesis 2:24).