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Zephaniah, I find, is a pretty tough book to write about. With lots of verses about God’s judgement, it can seem pretty bleak and harsh.  Let’s see if we can dig a little and uncover some insight. The overall theme I see, is God’s desperate want for His people to come back to Him. Chapter 3 begins with a description of where His people are. “…The city that wouldn’t take advice, wouldn’t accept correction, wouldn’t trust God, wouldn’t even get close to her own god! Her very ow

Verses 3-4 stand out to me. “You have been deceived by your own pride because you live in a rock fortress and make your home high in the mountains. ‘Who can ever reach us way up here?’ you ask boastfully. But even if you soar as high as eagles and build your nest among the stars, I will bring you crashing down,” says the Lord. Deep breath….wow! I’m not a Bible scholar so I’m just wondering what kind of beef Edom had with Israel that might cause them to take such a stance. Som

“The Lord is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust Him.” Nahum 1:7 NLT      I did some research on the book of Nahum to gain deeper understanding. The Blue Letter Bible online is one of my favorite resources. Here’s what I found there:      “The name Nahum  is an abbreviated form of the name Nehemiah , which means ‘Comfort of Yahweh.’ He knows those who trust in Him : Not only does He know them in the sense of identification, but also in the

“The godly people have all disappeared; not one honest person is left on earth. They are all murderers, setting traps even for their own brothers. Both their hands are equally skilled at doing evil! Officials and judges alike demand bribes. The people with influence get what they want, and together they scheme to twist justice. Even the best of them is like a brier; the most honest is as dangerous as a hedge of thorns. But your judgment day is coming swiftly now. Your time of

Standing out to me in the book of Joel is restoration. As I pondered the word…restoration…this thought came to me: for something to be restored, it first has to be broken. Ha. Broken. That sounds like fun right? No. No it doesn’t….at least not to me. Not in the moment! Have you experienced broken things? I know I have. Things don't always go the way we want them to. It’s a painful place to be sometimes. I found myself in a broken place in December. My sister got married and m

“I said, ‘Plant the good seeds of righteousness and you will harvest a crop of love. Plow up the hard ground of your hearts, for now is the time to seek the Lord that He may come and shower righteousness upon you.’” Hosea 10:12 NLT.      What might be hindering this? Sometimes, when people come in for help, their hearts have become hardened. The disappointments, sorrows, griefs, and traumas in life, without healthy ways to process through them, have led to hopelessness and de

My take on Haggai is the Lord confronting His kids about misplaced priorities.      Listen to what He says in chapter 1:2-13(NLT):“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:‘The people are saying,“The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.”’Then the Lord sent this message through the prophet Haggai:’Why are you living in luxurious houses while My house lies in ruins?’ This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: ‘Look at what’s happening to you! You hav

Chapter 1:2-4 “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen? ‘Violence is everywhere!’ I cry, but you do not come to save. Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all the misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralyzed, and there is no justice in the courts.The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted.”      I wonder how m

“Then Amaziah, the priest of Bethel, sent a message to Jeroboam, king of Israel: ‘Amos is hatching a plot against you right here on your very doorstep! What he is saying is intolerable. He is saying, “Jeroboam will soon be killed, and the people of Israel will be sent away into exile.” Then Amaziah sent orders to Amos: ‘Get out of here, you prophet! Go on back to the land of Judah, and earn your living by prophesying there! Don’t bother us with your prophecies here in Bethel.

“ I have no greater joy than this, to hear that my [spiritual] children are living [their lives] in the truth.” 3 John 1:4 AMP I enjoy a lot of things about meeting with people, but the thing I enjoy the most, is seeing people experience freedom. I’m not talking about behavior. We humans have a tendency to go there, thinking, ”What I’m doing, or what he/she/they are doing, I don’t like, and how do I stop it, or get them to stop it!” Goodness, if we could all do that, we would

Monday was such a nice, warm day here with temps in the 80's. That's so not normal for February in Oklahoma! I wore shorts and a t-shirt...