Return and Seek

It is easy for us to drift away from the Lord if we are not set to steadfastly seek Him every day and to stay connected to His church. That is what happens to many believers all the time. We see people stray from their walk with the Lord, as they quit going to church. They quit reading their Bibles in a systematic way, and they even cease to pray about everything, so they begin to be plagued by worry. This leads them to start following the ways of this world, and that leads them farther from the Lord than ever. That is what happened to the people of Israel in Hosea's time. God was having to punish them severely because of their unfaithfulness. However, Hosea prophesied of a time to come when Israel would return and seek the Lord their God. (Hosea 3:5) Then, they would fear the Lord and His goodness. I believe we are at such a time as this today, because of the forces that have been at work around us and in us. I pray we are ready to return and seek the Lord.

Returning is the essence of repentance. We all need to stop each day and ask the Spirit to show us any sins we need to confess. Once we have confessed them, we need to turn away from that sinful practice or attitude, so that we do what God says to do instead. That is returning to the Lord as quickly as possible so we never get far from the Lord. Then, we need to seek God daily in prayer and in Bible reading. We need to ask Him to reveal Himself to us so we know His nature, His will, and His ways. Once we have sought Him and found out these things, we live by them. This will lead us to the abundant Christian life, in which we fear the Lord's wrath against our sins, and we respect His goodness so much we want to live in it constantly, never getting away from Him. This is God's will for all of us, as believers.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Hosea 4-6.