God Awaits

Read Hosea 4-9
 
Hosea 4:1-3 The LORD’s Case against Israel  1 Hear the word of the Lord, O people of Israel! The Lord has brought charges against you, saying: “There is no faithfulness, no kindness, no knowledge of God in your land. 2 You make vows and break them; you kill and steal and commit adultery. There is violence everywhere – one murder after another. 3 That is why your land is in mourning, and everyone is wasting away. Even the wild animals, the birds of the sky,
and the fish of the sea are disappearing.”
 
THE LORD is the husband desiring his unfaithful wife to return to him; yet, his people turn their backs as if to say, “We have no Husband.” Their sins even affected the natural world. “That is why your land is in mourning.”   
   Original sin brought curse on the land: Genesis 3:17 & 18: “The ground is cursed because of you…It will grow thorns and thistles for you,
though you will eat of its grains.” The apostle Paul revealed this, too, in Romans 8:22 For we know that all creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. 
   How about you? Do you groan in your soul, longing for release from trouble? Then turn your face to your soul’s Husband, the LORD God. He has made a way through the curse and into his salvation. As marriage is to be a one-flesh relationship between a man and a woman, your relationship is to be one body and one Spirit, just as you have been called to one glorious hope for the future. There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, and one God and Father, who is over all and in all and living through all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)
    
Lead for the Lord
 
Hosea 5:1 The Failure of Israel's Leaders 1 “Hear this, you priests. Pay attention, you leaders of Israel. Listen, you members of the royal family. Judgment has been handed down against you. For you have led the people into a snare by worshiping the idols at Mizpah and Tabor.”
 
WHEN God called Hosea, Israel’s civil and religious leaders had led God’s chosen nation for generations to Mizpah and Tabor for Baal worship that included child sacrifice. They led Israel to destruction. God needs true leaders to guide his chosen to salvation.
   Has God called you to be a leader? If you’re a Christian, he has, indeed, called you to lead for the Lord in the Spirit of the Lord. What, then, does this look like? Perhaps the simplest description is Jesus’ Great Commission: “Go and make disciples of all the nations.” (Matthew 28:19a) This is God’s purpose for your life. When you say, “Yes.” to Jesus, your life belongs to him. You are to know his Word and lead others to know him, too. Leadership in the Jesus’ church is not merely being in charge of some group or ministry. True spiritual leadership is pointing people to Jesus. This type of leadership occurs at home and away from home, in church and in a non-Christian environment. Most of the world does not know where to find Jesus. Lost sheep need a good leader. Read, study and know the Word of God because your nation, your community, your church and your family need true leaders for life.