Chapter XIII

Chapter XIII

I Will Cure You

    Hosea 14:1, O Israel, (my people, you, me) return to the Lord, your God, for you have been crushed by your sins.   When God got my attention, I prayed to God to be crushed. God did crush me. I do not want to be repaired. I do not want patches put on an old wine skin that could burst when put under pressure. I do not want patches put on an old garment that will tear away and leave me exposed when in battle. I tried patching. I tried handling it for thirty-three years. It does not work. I wanted to be crushed to dust and made into new clay, (made into a new creature with the mind of Christ) clay that can be formed into a vessel of honor and service unto Him. Jeremiah 18:1-6.

    Hosea 14:2 Bring your petitions. [Think about what you are going to say. (Then the Lord who knows we are forever sticking our foot in our mouths tells us what to say.)] Come to the Lord and say, O Lord take away our sins: (Forgive my iniquity. Admit you have sinned.) (God wants not only sacrifices and offerings, but thought-out prayers, not only the words of our lips but the heart. The heart must tell the tongue what to say.) Be gracious to us and receive us, and we will offer you the sacrifice of praise. (The sacrifices God wants from us is not trying to look holy, to do holy things, to talk holy, God wants our praise, our sacrifices of praise for what He has done. God wants us to ask Him to be gracious to us and receive us. God does not lie and would not tell us to ask these things of Him if He would not do it. God will be gracious to us and He will receive us.)

    Hosea 14:3, Assyria cannot save us, nor can our strength in battle; never again will we call the idols we have made 'our gods’; for in you alone, O Lord, the fatherless find mercy.

    Assyria cannot save us.   Faith in our government or their programs will not save us.   Nor can our strength in battle.   Our own strength (and the picture that we paint that we are strong) is worthless to save us. Our "I can handle it" will not save us. Our formula prayers with their 4, 5, 6, or however many steps, will not save us. Believing that our formula prayers will save us or adding I claim it in the name of Jesus is putting faith in our own ability to say or claim we are somebody by knowing the right formula. I will not try to manipulate God with my prayers. The definition of manipulation is: Manipulate 2a: to manage or utilize skillfully. b: to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s advantage. 3: to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one’s purpose. I was a master of manipulation and it got into my prayers. I am done with it. I will not tell God what to do. The exact same formulas can be (and they are) taught in Black Magic. I will not be a part of it. Speaking positive thoughts has no power to save, nor will it bring forgiveness. Believing that any of these prayers will change lives puts the power back on me. Only God has the power to change me, and only when we admit our iniquities (sin). When we admit our controlling addictions and that our plans and schemes and our formula prayers will not work, and with no faith in our own cure, when we come to God He will listen.   Never again will we call the idols we have made 'our gods’.   The idols we have made to relieve us of our hurts, put downs, rejections, guilt can be anything we use to try to hide our inner sickness and pain: room noise to be able to fall asleep, sleeping pills, uppers, downers, television to get lost in, videos to get our thrills, pornography to get our thrills, overeating, under-eating, positive mental books (for the purpose of relief) are all things we can put our faith in to deliver us from deep problems, problems that God is pleading with us to give to Him. Addictions that we have taken on including those from our ancestors.    For in you alone, O Lord, the fatherless find mercy.   As we plead to God, it is not that we may find mercy, but that we will find mercy.

     As we admit our helplessness apart from God, examine ourselves and admit that we are responsible for our own condition and are willing to let God change us, then healing will begin.

    If your habit is drugs, there is help for you. If your habit is alcohol, there is help for you. If your habit is pornography, there is help for you. If your habit is kiddy porn, there is help for you. If your habit is living the gay lifestyle and you want help, there is help for you. If you have an emotional problem that causes you to overeat or under eat, that too is destructive, and there is help for you too. The chains that bind you can be broken too.

    If you are from a broken home and now live in a home with a step-mother or step-father and step-brothers or step-sisters and you are doing things you know you should not be doing, stop it now! Get help! Talk to someone who will hold you accountable. If you don’t, you could be starting something that will follow you through the rest of your life, only to destroy you in the end.

     People, I know what I’m talking about.

     If you are a prostitute, Jesus loves you. He, Himself had a prostitute in his family bloodline. In Jesus’ family bloodline there was a murderer. There were cheats and manipulators. There were thieves, dishonest priests, and liars.

     So you think you’ve got skeletons in your family closet! Well so did Jesus. He loves you.

    You are going to have to hang yourself with your own testimony of Guilty on all counts on the cross with Jesus Christ. If you will confess your faults to Him and admit you need help, you will be healed too.

    Please pray this prayer with me.

    Jesus, please come into my life. Please forgive me of the things I have done wrong. Please forgive my for trying to handle my problems on my own.

     I do believe You took my place when You died on the cross, then rose again from the dead. I believe you live now as my advocate to the Father in Heaven.

    Please wash me and make me whiter than snow. I am asking You to wipe my slate clean. I am asking You to nail my 'handwriting of ordinances’ to Your cross, where I will gladly leave it. Col. 2:14

     I am believing now that You have made me a brand new creature. Thank you for saving my soul.

    If you prayed this prayer, welcome to the family of God!

    According to God’s word, you have just been pardoned, just as though you never have sinned. Jesus took your punishment for you, in your place.

    John 5:24 says, Verily, verily (listen up), I say unto you, he that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

    But just as important as that, Jesus will remain your advocate (your lawyer) for the rest of your life, to plead your case before God and to help you to keep your record clean from this day forward.

    HERE IT IS. THE PROMISE. THE ANSWER! Get ready. Stand up. Don’t be afraid to shout. Don’t be afraid to dance. Give Him the sacrifice of praise of your lips. I shouted and danced before the Lord when I read it. Go ahead. Praise Him. I am right now, as I am writing this, crying again. I am right now between words saying, Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hosea 14:4a TLB I WILL CURE YOU.   Hosea 14:4, Then I will cure you of idolatry and faithlessness, and my love will know no bounds, for my anger will be forever gone!

    When I pray the prayer God gives (not my formula nor my claiming it) but admitting to my sin and my total helplessness in my own "handling it" power, then God says, I will cure you.   Give it up, fall on your face, ask to be crushed and allow God to do it. There is no other way.

    Once you do this, God will bless you.   God will give you back what you lost. Jeremiah 29:10b-14,   But then I will come to do for you all the good things I have promised and bring you home again. For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not evil, to give you a future and hope. In those days when you pray I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest.

    Hosea 14:5,   I will refresh Israel (my people, you and I) like the dew from heaven; she will blossom as the lily and root deeply in the soil like cedars in Lebannon. We will experience unprecedented spiritual growth as we admit our sins and commit to Him. As we allow God to heal us we will find he gives us gentle and much needed watering for our growth in the form of dew that gently falls on us for our nourishment. God gives us the Holy Spirit to teach us as we read the word. The bad in our lives will be made good by God’s grace. Grace wherever it is true will be growing. The lily, as God describes us, is such a beautiful flower.   The growth of a lily is very fast. It seems the root of the lily is lost in the ground all winter, but when God sheds his light and warmth with the dews of spring it will appear and rise within days. God’s grace and the Holy Spirit improves young converts, many times very fast. Lilies have very short roots that will fade very fast if plucked out of the ground, but God is looking out for us. He will give us roots as the cedars in Lebannon. God tells us we will be as a beautiful flower but He will give us roots that grow deep for nourishment that we can not be easily plucked. Spiritual growth consists of growth in our roots, this growth is out of sight. The more we depend on God to draw our sap and virtue from the more steadfast and the deeper our roots will grow. Verse 14:6, Her (God’s people, you and I) branches will spread out as beautiful as olive trees, fragrant as the forest of Lebannon. As we grow in God our branches will spread out like olive trees, beautiful for all to see. An olive tree is always green and others will be able to come to us for shelter under our branches. We will be able to help others as our roots grow deep, and minister shade, protection and strength to other young lilies as they begin to sprout form our outreach. An olive tree brings forth useful fruit. Fruit to nourish others and oil for anointing, anointing wounds and anointing for service to God. Anointing oil is used with prayer to heal the sick.

    Hallelujah! When God does a work, he does it complete. God wants to use the fruit of my growth to heal and feed and protect others. When Jesus went to the garden to pray, the Garden of olive trees that stood there, I am told, are still there, still ministering and still giving fruit and still touching lives and still giving shade. May my ministry reach out and touch lives after I am gone.

    Hosea 14:7, Her people (you and I) will return from exile far away and rest beneath my shadow. They will be a watered garden and blossom like grapes; they will be as fragrant as the wines of Lebannon. Holiness is the beauty of the soul. I learned a beautiful lesson this week from a very beautiful lady, my pastor’s wife. Her beauty goes to the very core of her soul. As I watched Sister Joy minister to a room full of young people by joining in with their antics I realized You can not 'be' holy. In God, you just are .   You can’t put on clothes to be holy, you can’t say things to be holy, you can’t walk a certain way to be holy. But if you have been washed by the blood of the lamb, you have asked forgiveness of your sins, in God you are clean and you just are holy. I used to pray and had written on my prayer card asking that I might stand clean before my Lord. As I prayed this prayer for several years I finally realized that when I prayed this prayer I was made clean. I wrote a second line several years later and added, I thank you Father that I now stand clean before my Lord.   If you were not clean you could not go to the room and stand before God in prayer. When you are washed by the blood of the Lamb, you are clean. You will still need to wash your hands and feet daily, that’s what Christ was trying to tell Peter when Jesus washed his feet for daily cleansing.

    Again, holiness is the beauty of a soul. When God refers to smell He says, our smell shall be as Lebannon, our scent as the wine of Lebannon. Grace is the perfume of the soul. In Ecclesiastes 7:1 KJV, The memorial thereof shall be as the wine of Lebannon. (So the margin read it.) Our surviving honor when we are gone, shall be as the wine of Lebannon, which has a delicate flavor. We will be compared to the branches and olive tree, which brings forth useful fruits, to the honor of God and man.

    Hosea 14:8-9, O Ephraim! (God pleads again to the people, you and I) Stay away from idols!   God pleads with us, Don’t go back to your addictions, to your own answers, to your own man-made escapes. Don’t go back to the formulas and chains that you had put on you or that you took on for I am living and strong !   God’s strength will give us strength, He is alive and personal.   I look after you and care for you. I am like an evergreen tree.   (The olive tree is an evergreen tree that yields fruit for growth.)   Yielding my fruit to you throughout the year. My mercies never fail.   I am living proof, as was Hosea’s wife, as you are, that God’s mercies never fail.

    God’s conclusion in His last sentence in Hosea, those trying to receive as sinners (not admitting their sins) will fail.   Hosea 14:9, Whoever is wise, let him understand these things.   We need God’s wisdom to be wise. We need to ask Him for wisdom to discern the areas of our life that need change. He will give you wisdom.

    Whoever is intelligent, let him listen.   Intelligent, you ask? Kind of strong? But to make the opposite choice would be your will to be a stupid, stubborn ass (my words), so listen to the words of the Lord.   For the paths of the Lord are true and right, and good men walk along them. But sinners (those who will not admit they have a problem, those who think they have done no wrong, those who think they do not need help, those who refuse to listen or open their hearts to what God has to say), those who listen to Assyria (those whom we have allowed to rule over us with their ideas, the sins of our ancestors, ideas that will only fail), so please be intelligent.

    When you and I put our trust in any kind of controlling addiction, compulsion, including the binding compulsion and chains that bind us into pleasing others or formulas of our own making, none of which are based on God’s word, we are putting our faith into chains that will bind us. If we are using these addictions, compulsions and formulas of our own making or are a prisoner of ideas that have been programmed into our minds at an early age and are using them to base our lives on, for our own relief, security, or as a means of keeping peace, open your eyes we have attached ourselves to them, EMBRACED AND MADE THEM OUR IDOLS, Hosea 7:11. If we are listening to relatives and friends that may be giving advice and we are locked into and bound by chains to receive their approval, search your heart, search the word, listen to God’s voice, pray and listen to your heart. Pray for God to break the chains that bind, turn off the voices (our own and others), pray that you can be totally pleasing to God, go directly to God and his word for the answers. As you begin your search don’t stop, don’t drop out, don’t skip around from chapter to chapter. Admit that there are problems that God is trying to show you. Start a search within yourself. It will take more than just jumping from chapter to chapter 2 and 6 or 3 and 7. God wants a total healing in your life and promises to do so ( I will cure you. ) When you go to God in prayer there will be things in your mind (computer) that will need to be reprogrammed. Ask God to do it. Pull up files in your mind. Pull up words in your mind. Ask God to give you words that have caused problems in your relationships. I have personally been working on six words with one other word thrown at me. From these six words and the one that followed (was given to me), I have written over 325 pages in searching for and finding answers. My six words are controlling, manipulating, anger, pleasing, (I am a pleasing addict) and rejection. The sixth word was change used in the past, present and future tense. The word as I see it now was used more than twenty-two times and totally destructive in all of it’s tenses to anyone who spoke it or was close enough to hear it. As you pray and ask God for insight he may give you just one word. He may give you a thought. When God gives it to you, look up it’s meaning and begin. My first word was rejection. God showed me on a Thursday night just before separation from my wife, that this one word was the trigger that set me off into my addiction. The following day, I started to make phone calls first to my pastor then to my counselor seeking help. The day I understood what rejection had done to me (real or imagined) I saw a flashback of thirty-three years of pain and hurts to myself and others. I had never heard the word trigger, but later found out that trigger is the word therapists use to pinpoint the cause while searching for answers to overcoming addictions.

    As you pray and search in earnest God will begin to show you key words in your memory that will lead to recovery. As you continue to pray God will begin to reveal how these words in your own memory become mind-controlling habits and addictions that control the way we think and how we react to problems in all areas of our lives. As we go to God, God will reprogram our minds. God will not program a virus into our system that will shut down or destroy, God will take control and give us the mind of Christ if we allow Him to.