A divine spark. A flash image. A scripture suspended before me. This series shares soul-to-soul watchwords that I believe the Lord has impressed on me for this season, hour, moment that we’re in.

 

This time He marked the season with a scripture (several subsequently) . . . it’s a definite wake-up call.

 

“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me.” —Habakkuk 2:1
 

© desireofmysoul.faith (.com & .org) & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 

READING TIME: 3 to 4 MINUTES.

 

WATCHWORD GIVEN: NOVEMBER 10, 2020

 

T his time the watchword was 2 Timothy 3. It hung, suspended in the air over my prayer chair when I awoke that morning. It loomed large.

 
 
 

We’re aware of the times—particularly that scripture—but when God does a mini billboard in your room, it’s a heads-up. It cements things. We. Are. In. Those. Days. It’s not a matter of “application” . . . it’s real and it’s now..

 

Prior to this, I’d been reading Isaiah, followed by Jeremiah, some Ezekiel, Hosea, then Ezekiel again. After revisiting 2 Timothy 3, I felt prompted to go back over Hosea for a comparison of the two.

 

But unintentionally I had started to read Titus 3 and found that it plays into the Hosea/2 Timothy 3 comparison as well. And with that, I soon realized that Ezekiel 22 and Jeremiah 22 also mirrored the “reminding” wording of Titus 3.

 

So let’s do some unpacking to hear from the Lord.

 

First, keep in mind that Hosea’s audience was the Northern Kingdom prior to its Assyrian captivity. His prophecies were fulfilled within 30 years of their delivery. Both Ezekiel and Jeremiah warned the Southern Kingdom (Judah) before their descent into Babylonian captivity.

 

Paul’s letter to Timothy refers to the days—the season—that would unfold immediately before the return of Jesus and the consummation of all things. Eerily, the three prophets of Israel/Judah along with Paul’s clarion call were voices crying out to a people whose sins and soul condition mirrored today’s world.

 

HOSEA & 2 TIMOTHY 3 & EZEKIEL 22

 

Critical words/images from Hosea (chapters 1-12) that relate to our times, to the current soul condition of humanity:

 

1. walking in spiritual adultery
2. having a faithlessness—a spirit of prostitution leads Israel away
3. demonstrating no love or acknowledgment of God—only cursing
4. lying, committing murder, stealing, adultery
5. breaking all bounds
6. spilling bloodshed that follows bloodshed—and stumbling day and night
7. ignoring the Law of God—exchanging their glory for something disgraceful
8. having an arrogance testifies against them
9. their sins are exposed, crimes revealed—deceit, thievery, robbery
10. acting senseless
11. speaking lies against God
12. following their deceitful hearts

 
The call: return to God, maintain love and His justice.

 

2 Timothy 3—its key descriptions of the last days’ mentality. They’ll sound quite familiar, in line with Hosea’s calling-out:

 

1. lovers of self
2. loving money
3. boastful, proud, abusive
4. disobedient and ungrateful
5. unholy, without love, unforgiving
6. slanderous
7. no self-control
8. brutal
9. not lovers of God
10. having a form of godliness but denying its power

 
The call: continue in what you’ve learned about God, love, patience, perseverance, and the sacred writings because “all Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man or woman of God may be fully capable, equipped for every good work.”

 

Ezekiel 22 echoes both Hosea and 2 Timothy 3 loud and clear:

 
1. shedding blood
2. idolatry
3. oppressing strangers, orphans, widows
4. despising God’s holy things, profaning Shabbat (His Law)
5. slanderers
6. sexual uncleanness
7. steeped in bribery, taking interest
8. conspiracy among prophets, tearing prey
9. making no distinction between the holy and the common
10. oppressed the stranger without justice
 
The call: Hear, pay attention, for the time is coming when the Lord will deal with these indignations.

 

GOD WANTS: TITUS 3 & JEREMIAH 22

 

Titus 3 says to remember this:

 

1. be obedient—ready to do what’s good
2. slander no one
3. be peaceable, considerate
4. show true humility toward all humanity

 

Jeremiah 22 shows us what it means to know God:

 

1. do justice and righteousness
2. save those robbed by their oppressor
3. don’t mistreat others or do violence to the stranger, orphan, widow
4. don’t shed innocent blood

 

BROKEN SOULS: WALK THE RESTORATION

 

Humanity is fractured. You. Me. And everyone else. God made a way to repair that broken relationship with Him and with one another.

 

Here’s the 4-1-1 series on how your soul can be restored: God’s Roadmap to Heaven:The Broken Bridge, followed by the Roadmap to Heaven: The ABCS of Salvation Also, the third part of that short series is a Grow in the Lord resource, recommendations for solid biblical teaching/radio, etc.

 
 

CREDITS: Lighthouse with lightning photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash.com

 

A divine spark. A flashed image. A scripture suspended before me. This series shares watchwords that I believe the Lord has impressed on me for this season, hour, moment that we’re in.

 

This word—given on Rosh Hashanah 2020 (Judaic year 5781)—is weighty. Critical for your walk with God so the beating of His heart becomes the beating of your soul’s heart.

 

“I will take my stand at my watchpost and station myself on the tower, and look out to see what He will say to me.” —Habakkuk 2:1

 

© desireofmysoul.faith & SoulBreaths.com. All rights reserved.

 

READING TIME: 3 MINUTES.

 

WATCHWORD GIVEN: SEPTEMBER 19, 2020

 

Justice. God impressed that word three times on Rosh Hashanah. I’d taken my seat at service—with the co-vid distancing and required mask. It was a Messianic Jewish synagogue, Shabbat morning.

 
 

Right off the bat, the LORD flashed an image that lingered for a while. A runner, one knee down, the other bent, hands steadied at the starting line, ready for the command to GO, run the race.

 

We’re called to run like mighty men . . . aligned with His ways . . . running to gain Him, our crown.

 

They charge like warriors;

they scale walls like soldiers.

They all march in line,

not swerving from their course.

—Joel 2:7

 

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run,

but only one gets the prize?

Run in such a way as to get the prize.

Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training.

They do it to get a crown that will not last,

but we do it to get a crown that will last forever.

—1 Corinthians 9:24-25

 

But in that race you’re running—in Him—stop at checkpoints. Is  your race being run well? Justly?

 

JUSTICE. JUSTICE. JUSTICE.

 

That’s what God requires. Of course, in our court system. But what does that mean in day-to-day life?

 

It means doing rightly per God’s Law. Being equitable. Having rightly balanced measurements in your daily decisions and in your dealings with others.

 

A righteous man knows the rights of the poor—but a wicked man doesn’t understand such knowledge. —Proverbs 29:7

 

Help the oppressed, the robbed, and plead the cause for the afflicted and poor—and don’t mistreat the stranger, orphan, widow, or shed innocent blood or avoid paying for services rendered. Is this not what it means to know God?—Jeremiah 22

 

Do what He told you to do—do what is good in His eyes, do what He requires of you, walk in justice, mercy, and humility before God. —Micah 6:8

 

Let His just ways roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. —Amos 5:24

 

Don’t treat your parents with contempt or mistreat the fatherless and widow, and don’t slander or get involved with sexual defilements, usury, or unjust gains. Do not forget God, the King of all. —Ezekiel 22

 

Learn to do good, seek justice, correct oppression, bringing justice to the fatherless, pleading the widow’s cause. —Isaiah 1:17

 

The oppressor of the poor insults his maker, but he who is kind to the needy honors Him. —Proverbs 14:31

 

Because . . .

 

To the Lord your God belong the heavens,

even the highest heavens, the earth and everything in it.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore,

and do not be stiff-necked any longer.

For the Lord your God is God of gods

and Lord of lords,

the great God, mighty and awesome,

who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes.

He defends the cause of the fatherless

and the widow

and loves the foreigner residing among you,

giving them food and clothing.

—Deuteronomy 10: 14, 16-18

 

CREDITS: Lighthouse with lightning photo by Michael Krahn on Unsplash.com