Working The Word For Friday September 16 (Walking Away From Addiction Into The Sweet Arms of Jesus) I Will Heal Your Backsliding

By: Hanny Lynn Stearns

Fish N Loaves Ministries, Inc.

“Multiplying God’s Word Around The Globe”

September 16, 2016

I Will Heal Your Backsliding

Daily Journal From September 18, 2015

I am sharing a journal from a year ago. I hope it encourages you.

Matthew 5:41

And whoever compels you to go one mile, go with him two. 

Give God more than He requires. Real love goes the extra mile for someone they love. Do it with earnest. Think of His feelings, not your own. How do you think it makes the Lord feel when you keep trying to eat as much as you possibly can in a day instead of seeing how little you can eat to reach your goal quickly for Him? Think about the ways you have gone the extra mile for others in the past. You took delight in doing more than you were required. You felt joy in blessing your boss or your friend or husband by doing something more than what was expected. How much more should you want to do the same for Jesus? He compels you to reach a specific goal, so go for it and do it quickly. The weight loss is not hard. You are working out. Cut back on carbs. Just do it. (This was my instruction for that time) He will be there to help you. It’s not like you are all alone in this Hanny. He will fill you (the hungry) with good things. Don’t forget that. Just like Mary said in Luke 1. 

This is what the Lord was sharing with me a year ago. I have taken some personal things out, but it is good to show you what we go through when we are dragging our feet rather than obeying the Lord and just trying even harder for Him because it is Him!

2 Corinthians 8:1-5

Moreover, brethren, we make known to you the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia: that in a great trial of affliction the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded in the riches of their liberality. For I bear witness that according to their ability, yes, and beyond their ability, they were freely willing, imploring us with much urgency that we would receive the gift and the fellowship of the ministering to the saints. And not only as we had hoped, but they first gave themselves to the Lord, and then to us by the will of God.

Here was another example, given to me yesterday of abundant giving. I didn’t meditate on this throughout the day. I was busy about the day with other things, but I needed to be thinking about how I can give abundantly to the Lord. What does abundant giving really mean? Doing more than what is required, no matter the cost. That takes me back to the scripture I opened to today in Matthew 5. Do more than what is required.

Psalm 47:2

For the Lord Most High is awesome; He is a great King over all the earth.

Psalm 48:9

We have thought, O God, on Your lovingkindness, In the midst of Your temple.

Isaiah 53

Who has believed our report?
And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?
For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
And as a root out of dry ground.
He has no form or comeliness;
And when we see Him,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
He is despised and rejected by men,
A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.

Surely He has borne our griefs
And carried our sorrows;
Yet we esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten by God, and afflicted.
But He was wounded for our transgressions,
He was bruised for our iniquities;
The chastisement for our peace was upon Him,
And by His stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray;
We have turned, every one, to his own way;
And the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He opened not His mouth;
He was led as a lamb to the slaughter,
And as a sheep before its shearers is silent,
So He opened not His mouth.
He was taken from prison and from judgment,
And who will declare His generation?
For He was cut off from the land of the living;
For the transgressions of My people He was stricken.
And they made His grave with the wicked—
But with the rich at His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was any deceit in His mouth.

Yet it pleased the Lord to bruise Him;
He has put Him to grief.
When You make His soul an offering for sin,
He shall see His seed, He shall prolong His days,
And the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hand.
He shall see the labor of His soul, and be satisfied.
By His knowledge My righteous Servant shall justify many,
For He shall bear their iniquities.
Therefore I will divide Him a portion with the great,
And He shall divide the spoil with the strong,
Because He poured out His soul unto death,
And He was numbered with the transgressors,
And He bore the sin of many,
And made intercession for the transgressors.

Look at ALL that Jesus went through for me! Was He trying to side step His responsibilities to mankind so He could eak out a few moments of pleasure? In my case eating more than I really need? I dare say NO! He gave it all He had every minute – He held nothing back! He went full throttle, start to finish! In 33 short years on the planet He began a great work and then He commanded us to go out and continue it.

What’s holding me back from going to the next thing that God has planned for me? How can God promote me when I have not been faithful with what He has given me to do? How can I graduate to the next grade when I haven’t passed the grade I am in? That would be unacceptable to our fair and just God!

Hosea 14

O Israel, return to the Lord your God, For you have stumbled because of your iniquity; Take words with you, And return to the Lord. Say to Him, “Take away all iniquity; Receive us graciously, For we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.
Assyria shall not save us, We will not ride on horses,
Nor will we say anymore to the work of our hands, ‘You are our gods.’
For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”

“I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely,
For My anger has turned away from him. I will be like the dew to Israel;
He shall grow like the lily, And lengthen his roots like Lebanon. His branches shall spread; His beauty shall be like an olive tree, And his fragrance like Lebanon.
Those who dwell under his shadow shall return; They shall be revived like grain, And grow like a vine. Their scent shall be like the wine of Lebanon.

“Ephraim shall say, ‘What have I to do anymore with idols?’
I have heard and observed him. I am like a green cypress tree;
Your fruit is found in Me.”Who is wise? Let him understand these things. Who is prudent?
Let him know them. For the ways of the Lord are right; The righteous walk in them, But transgressors stumble in them.

See the Message Version

Come Back! Return to Your God!

O Israel, come back! Return to your God! You’re down but you’re not out.
Prepare your confession and come back to God. Pray to him, “Take away our sin, accept our confession. Receive as restitution our repentant prayers.

Assyria won’t save us; horses won’t get us where we want to go. We’ll never again say ‘our god’ to something we’ve made or made up. You’re our last hope. Is it not true that in you the orphan finds mercy?”

 “I will heal their waywardness. I will love them lavishly. My anger is played out. I will make a fresh start with Israel (Hanny). He’ll burst into bloom like a crocus in the spring. He’ll put down deep oak tree roots, he’ll become a forest of oaks! He’ll become splendid—like a giant sequoia, his fragrance like a grove of cedars!

Those who live near him (Hanny) will be blessed by him, be blessed and prosper like golden grain. Everyone will be talking about them, spreading their fame as the vintage children of God. Ephraim (Hanny) is finished with gods that are no-gods.

From now on I’m the one who answers and satisfies him (Hanny). I am like a luxuriant fruit tree. Everything you (Hanny) need is to be found in me.”

If you want to live well, make sure you understand all of this. If you know what’s good for you, you’ll learn this inside and out. God’s paths get you where you want to go.

Right-living people walk them easily;

wrong-living people are always tripping and stumbling.

"Hanny, you need more time with God, Jesus, in the word! That has been slacking lately. Do not let busyness, no matter what kind, get in the way of your time with your Lord. This is the most vital thing! Seek Him first, and everything else will be added to you. Well, here it is. Go for it. The Lord is always at your right hand, waiting to help you, strengthen you and comfort you.

Amos 3:3

Do two people walk hand in hand if they aren’t going to the same place? (MSG)

Can two walk together, unless they are agreed? (NKJV)

See Ecclesiastes 11:4-6

He who observes the wind will not sow, And he who regards the clouds will not reap.  As you do not know what is the way of the wind,
Or how the bones grow in the womb of her who is with child,
So you do not know the works of God who makes everything.
In the morning sow your seed, And in the evening do not withhold your hand; For you do not know which will prosper, Either this or that, Or whether both alike will be good.

If you pay attention to the issues of life and the difficulties, you will not reap your harvest. Do not be caught up with the things you see right in front of you. Be caught up into heaven where you are seated in heavenly places. The view from that vantage point will be far greater and so much better than the up close view.

Ecclesiastes 12: 13-14

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments, For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment, Including every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Psalm 94:19

In the multitude of my anxieties within me, Your comforts delight my soul.

From the Lord that day, He said, “I have everything you need. Do not fear. Do not let your heart be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me.”