Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #104

Pursue Out of Love

Hosea 3

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 1) "The Lord said to me, 'Go, show your love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the Lord loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and love the sacred raisin cakes.' "

My Thoughts

Even though Hosea's wife, Gomer, was unfaithful to him, God wanted him to keep on loving her and to pursue her out of love. God told Hosea to go back to her and to show his love to her again, despite the fact that she was an adulteress. God wants us to have that same kind of love for others because that is the kind of love God has for us: unconditional.

For Hosea to keep loving Gomer, even though she left him or another and for others, he had to have unconditional love. He pursued her, even when she had left him for another, showing how much he loved her. This is the exact same thing that God does with us, showing us how much He loves us.

God has unconditional love for us, meaning that He will love us forever, no matter what, He loves us even when we don't love Him. Our love should be the same unconditional love that God has. There are many different kinds of love, which I talked about in this post here. The kind of love you have for one person differs from that which you have for another, depending on who it is, but as long as you love regardless, the foundation for all those kinds of love stays the same.

Hosea 3 I believe is more for the lost children of God, but it is still important for all His children. The true story of Hosea and Gomer is a representation of how God feels about His lost children. He will show His love to them again and again and He will continue to pursue them. God also uses us to help find them and bring them back.

Keep those who you know are lost in your prayers. Sometimes we get to the point where we can't do anything more without forcing the person, and we cannot do that. We have found them, and God now will continue to work in them to bring them back. Keep praying. Even if it takes a long time, they may eventually come to know God. Then we can rejoice about that!

Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #61

Stubbornness

Hosea 4

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 16) "The Israelites are stubborn, like a stubborn heifer. How then can God pasture them like lambs in a meadow?"

My Thoughts

Well, this is different, only one verse today, and a short one at that. Hey, it doesn't always take a lot to get a point across, it can be very little! So stubbornness. You're not stubborn, are you? Not always at least, right? I know I can be at times. Being stubborn means that you won't change your attitude or position or ways, despite there being good reason to do so.

Sometimes stubbornness can be a good thing, if you are not willing to change your position, attitude or ways because to you have good reason not to. I think that a person who did not want to get a chip implanted in their dog would be considered stubborn. I would be one of those people. The reason I would give is simply that I don't personally agree with doing so because if God had wanted that to be, He would have made it so from the start. That's what I think, but that is also just an example.

That example and anything similar are kind of what stubbornness is like. There are, probably, pros and cons for each side, both being good arguments. Neither side is necessarily right or wrong, solely from an objective point of view. That is not always how it is, however. There are many situations where you cannot be stubborn about it because if you are, you miss out on something great or you suffer the consequences.

Smoking would be an example where you would suffer the consequences, which would be damaging to your health. Disobeying God is an example where being stubborn about and not changing your ways will cause you to miss out on God's blessings and greatness that He has for you. This is what the second part of the verse means. For God to pasture us like lambs in a meadow means for Him to bless us. He can't bless us if we choose not to listen to Him, the same way a (good) parent won't reward their child for bad behavior.

God has so much good planned for each of you and myself, but we will miss out on it if we disobey Him. Don't be stubborn about certain things. Stubbornness I would call beliefs and values when you are holding on to your position on something because of good reason to do so. Otherwise, the word stubborn has a negative connotation. So don't be stubborn. Allow God to bless you in the ways that He wants to, obey Him faithfully and you will be blessed. You are blessed just because you have accepted the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #47

You Reap what You Sow

Hosea 10

I pray blessings on you as you read.

(v. 12-13) " Sow for yourselves righteousness, reap the fruit of unfailing love, and break up your unplowed ground; for it is time to seek the Lord, until he comes and showers righteousness on you. But you have planted wickedness, you have reaped evil, you have eaten the fruit of deception..."

My Thoughts

Have you ever heard that phrase, 'You reap what you sow?' It is very true. It is very similar the other phrase, 'What goes around comes around.' If you are not a very nice person to others, no one is going to want to be nice to you. Were you to continue doing things that are wrong, you are going to face the consequences of your choices. The consequences of our choices are the fruit of our labor. That's another phrase. So many phrases this time!

These phrases may continue on from here a bit, sorry if you don't like it, but please continue to read! The two main phrases here, fruit of our labor and reap what you sow, have plant imagery. This is to help us understand better because the meanings here are extremely similar. Only one type of plant will come of a particular seed, and the fruit that it bears will be the same. So as it is with our choices, whether the intent of our choices is either good or evil.

For example, if you lie often, no one will trust you and people are either not going to tell you anything important or they may lie back to you. If you are honest, you will be trustworthy and people won't try as hard to hie things from you. That example brings me to the question, "What about if someone tells you something that you don't have a right to tell anyone else, but someone else asks you about it?" Well in that case, you don't lie about it, but you tell them that it's not your right to say anything about it. Depending on what it is about of course. If it is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, then action needs to be taken.

So, in the case of a lie being the choice, the seed is deception. The fruit is distrust and deception and that is what you will gain from it. Is that really what you want to get from others? If not, then don't let that be what you give to others. Sow love, encouragement, blessings and that is what you will receive in return. You will be blessed, encouraged and loved. Investing these ways in other people is just like investing your money and it is more important and more beneficial and more valuable.

When you invest in people, you are literally making an investment. It is a much better investment than something of monetary value though because money does not last. Your spirit does and we should all be doing everything we can to grow spiritually rather than ignore our spiritual well-being only to suffer when the material things we have invested in mostly are left behind and no longer mean anything.

Focus on building good relationships with people instead of building your wealth. Your wealth will not and can not be there for you in hard times, but people can. If there is someone who looks up to you, invest in them. Invest your time in them and build your relationship. Focus a little bit more on that this week, you will not be disappointed.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do.

Let me know your thoughts on this reading as well.

Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #22

God's Jealousy

Hosea 1-2

(2 v. 2) "Rebuke your mother, rebuke her, for she is not my wife, and I am not her husband..." (2 v. 16) "In that day, " declares the Lord, "you will call me 'my husband'; you will no longer call me 'my master.'

My Thoughts



Our God is a jealous God. God's jealousy is not the same as ours. We can become jealous of someone who is 'better' than us. Someone who does better in a particular subject than you in school may make you jealous, wishing that you were doing that well. God becomes jealous when we seek after other 'gods.' Other gods doesn't necessarily have to be another god, for example, Ares, the Greek god of war. Money, sex, love, family, possessions, appearance, and so on. These can also be gods in our lives. Again, this goes back to what you center your life on.

As Jesus has said, we cannot serve two masters. If you are going to follow God, you need to follow Him, you need to serve Him and give Him your life. You need to let go of everything else in your life, and give it all to God. When we are serving other gods instead our Father God, He becomes jealous because it is wrong for us to do so. God's jealousy comes from our disobedience. We are supposed to serve God with all our heart and soul, so when we serve other gods in this way, we are doing what God has told us, but not so with Him.

God will discipline us for our sins, but He will not leave us. If we learn from the mistakes we make, God will not leave us. God will restore us in Him. God will restore our soul and make us new in Him again. God restores us so that we are not overcome by guilt or any other negative feelings. Even when we disobey Him and seek after other gods. If you are overcome by negative feelings, you need to talk to God and ask for forgiveness. Ask Him to take away those feelings and to restore you. If we don't do this, we are giving Satan a foothold in our lives. You need to forgive yourself and accept God's forgiveness.

Jesus Christ has already paid the price for all our sins. When we are overcome by guilt and worry, especially when it concerns something that we have done, which we know to be wrong, that is Satan trying to make us believe that we still owe a price. That is a lie because Jesus' sacrifice paid that price long ago. Don't let Satan lie to you about this. Tell him to go away and that he does not belong. Talk to God and ask Him to restore you.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do. Thank you for taking the time to read, I pray that what you have read blesses and inspires you! Godbless!

Daily Bible Reading with DragoNate #19

Return to the Lord

Hosea 6

(v. 1-3) "Come, let us return to the Lord. He has torn us to pieces but He will heal us; he has injured us but he will bind up our wounds. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will restore us, that we may live in his presence. Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him as surely as the sun rises, he will appear; he will come to us like the winter rains, like the spring rains that water the earth."

My Thoughts

No matter what you do or what you've done, God will always love you. He is love and His love is great. If you turn to Him, He will heal you and restore you in Himself so that you are made new once again. The love that God has for you is so great, nothing can possibly overcome it. It breaks His heart when He sees our suffering and our sin. When we sin, He has to discipline us in some way, and that is not something that He delights in doing. God also will not overstep anyone's free will of choice. He won't stop us from sinning or others from sinning against us.

God does not want sacrifices from us. Jesus, the Son of God, was the ultimate sacrifice. Because of Him, we no longer need to make sacrifices. God desires mercy rather than sacrifice and acknowledgement of God rather than offerings. What this means is that He wants to have a relationship with us. An intimate relationship where we are one with Him, we talk to Him regularly, call upon Him and live in Him. God desires to have a relationship like this with us more than for us to make sacrifices and offerings to Him.

It is better for us to stay away from sin so that we have a full, perfect relationship with God, but God made us with the free will of choice, and we are easily tempted. No one is perfect except for God. God doesn't even care about whether we are perfect or not, He knows that we aren't and He doesn't expect us to be. He forgives us when we sin, but only if we acknowledge our sins and repent of them. Our hearts must be in the right place or our repentance means nothing. When we repent, we need to make an effort to leave the sin behind us.

It can be very difficult for us to leave the sin behind, or just to start breaking free of it, especially if it some kind of addiction. Remember that God is stronger than anything, including addiction. It is hard, and you will have setbacks, but I don't believe that God condemns us for such things, as long as our hearts are true. Make an effort, take steps to leave behind whatever sinful practice it is you struggle with. You are not required to get outside help, it can be between you and God, but you have to be diligent. God will forgive you, so you do not need to worry about that. You need to focus on God and putting an end to all sinful practices.

No one is perfect and everyone struggles with something. I am no exception. I need to do this same thing, and let me tell you, I pray every single day about certain things. I can see that I am improving, and I thank God so much for that! I know that I will never be perfect, but I also know that God is always with me and I don't need to be perfect. It would be foolish to try and accomplish such a feat. Just keep praying to God and talking to Him regularly.

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Prayer Time

Now you talk to God about what you read, and you can even read this chapter of the Bible for yourself before you do. Thanks for reading, Godbless!