Author Archives: cazehner

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About cazehner

I'm a woman who loves God's Word, the Bible. And I love sharing what it is God reveals to me through his Word. I pray that everything I write is consistent with Scripture, and that everyone who reads this blog will be drawn closer to the Savior. I am praying for you.

July 24

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Zephaniah 1:1-3:20; 2 Chronicles 34:4-7; Jeremiah 1:1-19

When was the last time you read the book of Zephaniah? Can you even find it in your Bible? It’s one of those books I have to stop and think where it even falls in the Old Testament.

But reading it today I was reminded that the God of love, of grace, and redemption is also the Mighty Judge. He has the power to destroy this life we know as easily as he created it. 

In our politically correct nation our churches have emphasized God’s loving attributes. But we don’t often hear about his anger. Read Zephaniah and you will see God’s anger toward sin.

God doesn’t take sin lightly and he certainly doesn’t laugh at sin. He never overlooks sin or excuses it on the basis of someone’s intentions. Like it or not, agree with it or not, God is clear about what sin is. Lying, infidelity, homosexuality, dishonesty, greed, gluttony, drunkenness are all sins as identified by God in his Word. 

Yes, all sin is forgivable when confessed. But no sin will go unpunished. That punishment will be paid either by the one who commits the sin or by Jesus on behalf of the sinner. 

The payment for sin is death. Eternal death. The Bible tells us Jesus not only paid that debt but he conquered death itself. We can either accept what he did or face him on our own. And facing him on our own will only turn out badly.

Let’s thank God for his love, for his grace, for redemption. But let’s not forget who we are dealing with here. He is Almighty God, Holy, Holy, Holy. 

And sin makes him really mad.

Holy God, we bow before you today and acknowledge that you take sin seriously. Forgive us when we don’t. I ask that you’ll reveal in each of us today those things in our lives that anger you. May we confess and repent of them and accept Jesus’ work on the cross on our behalf. I pray that none of us will hold on to sin or think for a minute that you will excuse that sin in us. May we view sin the same way you do and purge it from our lives. May we walk with you today in the righteousness that is ours through your Son.

July 23

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Isaiah 66:1-24; 2 Kings 21:1-26, 22:1-2; Psalm 82; 2 Chronicles 33:1-25, 34:3

Is it possible for someone to be too sinful for God to forgive? Look at the life of King Mannaseh. During the first years of his reign he undid everything his father Hezekiah had done. He worshiped Baal, consulted mediums, even sacrificed his own son. He turned the temple of the Lord into a place of false worship and encouraged the Jewish people to worship the gods of other nations.

His was a blatant act of disobedience and disrespect toward the God his father had served. But in 2 Chronicles 33 we find out Mannaseh repented. He humbled himself before the Lord and God forgave him.

King Mannaseh spent the rest of his life trying to undo the damage he had done. He worked hard to restore the nation as God’s blessed people.

So the answer to my question is – no. There is nothing you or I have done that God can’t forgive. The vilest offender who truly believes, that moment from Jesus a pardon receives. Praise the Lord!

Sometimes we might hold back from serving the Lord because of a sin we committed in our past. We convince ourselves that what we did was so awful we don’t deserve to be forgiven. And you know what?

We’re right to think that!

That’s the definition of grace – receiving what we don’t deserved. Grace that is greater than all our sin. 

If a past sin is holding you back because you think God can’t forgive you, think again. Go to him. Humble yourself. Ask him to forgive you. Repent. Forgiveness is yours for the taking because Jesus has already paid the price for that sin. It’s up to you to accept it for your own.

Don’t let Satan’s lies prevent you from receiving what God is offering you today. Remember, God has seen it all. Nothing you say will surprise him. He’s anxious to hear you tell him you’re sorry for what you did so he can wash you with the blood of Jesus.

Yes, even you.

July 22

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Isaiah 61-65

Isaiah 64:4 says “Since ancient times no one has heard, no ear has perceived, no eye has seen any God besides you, who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.” Over and over God has shown himself to be the one true God. There just is no other.

And the amazing thing about God is that, not only is he bigger than life, mighty, holy, and righteous, he is also personal.

God wants to live right here in our hearts. He wants us to recognize his still small voice. He wants to have fellowship with each of us.

The Bible tells me God is working in my life to bring me closer to him. He’s working in your life, too. He wants to speak to us both through the pages of his Word. He wants us to wait on him, meditate on his Word, pray. He wants us to know when he nudges us toward action and he wants us to obey.

And when we wait on him, when we obey, he promises to act on our behalf. That doesn’t mean we’ll always get what we want. But it does mean we’ll get what he wants for us.

Even better!

 

July 21

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Isaiah 56-60

If you’ve ever been involved in the running of a church you know how complicated it can be. Sometimes a pastor displays unyielding power or an elder refuses to back down. Sometimes gossip causes ill will or opposition over worship causes division.

Hopefully, a worship service doesn’t end in a fist fight like Isaiah’s day of fasting in 58:3&4. But any time people try to work together there usually is a difference in opinion somewhere.

The other day I talked to a dear one whose father recently gave his heart to the Lord. The man wants to be a Christian but he doesn’t want to go to church because of the hypocrites there.

The thing is, Christians aren’t perfect even though we might want others to believe we are. If we’re honest we’d have to admit we sometimes stumble in our walk with the Lord.

What does God want to say to us through Isaiah today? God doesn’t want us just going through the motions. He wants us to humble ourselves, then get out there and make a difference. Feed the hungry. Clothe the poor. Be that light in a dark world.

As you worship today in that fellowship of believers, I pray you will lay aside the conflict and turn your eyes on Jesus. That’s where our focus should be anyway. Then get out there and live like you mean it so no one can point a finger and call you a hypocrite.

July 20

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Isaiah 51-55

The 53rd chapter of Isaiah paints a picture of Jesus. Read it. Meditate on it. This is the One who loves you more than you can imagine. This is the One who lived and died to give you eternal life. It was God’s will to make Jesus the blood sacrifice for your sin – for mine.

What is our response to all that Jesus did on the cross? We can reject it, ignore it, or we can allow it to change our lives. 

You can accept Jesus and allow his blood to wash away your sin so that you can stand before our holy God clothed in righteousness not your own. You can be clean.

God wants us to come to him. He wants us to experience forgiveness and enjoy a relationship with him. Trust him.

Isaiah tells us God’s thoughts are not like our thoughts and his ways aren’t like our ways. God provides nourishment for hungry souls. And there is joy in following Him.

Dear Jesus, thank you for your willingness to go to the cross for me. You did what I could not. You paid for my sin. May I live today remembering what it cost you. May all that  do and say bring glory to you. Use me today. I trust you.

July 19

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Isaiah 47-50

When you read these chapters today did you hear God tell you how much he loves you? His words to the flesh and blood Old Testament nation of Israel are also said to God’s spiritual kingdom here in 2013. That’s you if you know Jesus as your Savior.

So when Isaiah pens, “I am The Lord your God, who teaches you what is best for you, who directs you in the way you should go,” God is talking to each of us. And when he promises to never forget us because he has “engraved you on the palms of my hands”, he is speaking directly to you. To me. It’s my name tattooed to his palm. It’s your name there.

Isaiah spoke of Jesus’ suffering in those days before the cross in chapter 50. It’s amazingly accurate considering that it was written hundreds of years before. Including the fact that Jesus set his face like flint. He was determined to pay the penalty for my sin. And he knew he had to die.

God wants us to love him, to accept him and live for him. We are his priority. He wants to be our priority, too. He wants us to be a light to a world in darkness “that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth.”

That’s why we are here. May God find us faithful.

July 18

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Isaiah 43-46

“I am The Lord and there is no other.”

These words are repeated over and over in the passage we read today. In fact, in 45:19 God tells us he has not spoken in secret or told his people to try and find him. Here I am, God says. Mystery solved.

Here are some things he says of himself in these chapters:

He created the heavens.
He is God.
He fashioned and made the earth.
He will save his people with an everlasting salvation.
Before him every knee will bow.

When people say they are searching for God I wonder if they think God is playing a game of Hide and Seek with them. Do they think God dangles clues to his existence and only the wisest of us can figure it out?

If you are searching for God, for Truth, stop. Hear what God says to you today.

I am The Lord and there is no other.

The God we read about in the Bible is the only true God. He’s explained himself, drawn pictures, demonstrated his power in such a way that there can be no question.

If you don’t believe, that’s on you. God has laid it all out. It’s up to you to realize the Truth you seek is found right here. It’s up to you to accept it.

I pray for seekers today. May you realize that what you are looking for is right in front of you. It’s written in the pages of God’s Word, in God’s creation, and in the lives of those of us who know him.

He is God and there is no other. Period.

July 17

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Isaiah 40-42

Years ago my niece Kelly, who was about six or seven at the time, was spending a weekend with me. We got a phone call from her mom telling us our childhood pastor had had a heart attack and asked us to pray for him. I remember praying with Kelly that God would protect Rev. Allen and heal him, that God would give him strength.

When we were done praying, my niece asked me about Isaiah 40:31. Didn’t Rev. Allen hope in The Lord and didn’t God promise that those who do wouldn’t get weary or faint? She didn’t understand how our pastor could be sick.

I remember telling her that God doesn’t lie so that verse must not be talking about physical health, because believers get sick and die just like non-believers. We talked about spiritual strength, the strength to get us through the physical hard times. We talked about never giving up on what – on Who – we know is true.

I told her Paul talked about running a race. Not a physical race but a race doing God’s will. I said Isaiah promises that God will give us the ability to do it, to run that race and not grow weary.

Once again I want to encourage us to not waste time trying to figure out which verses are to be interpreted materially and which are spiritual. God is painting a picture of his plan for your heart, for your life here in 2013. And the picture is pretty incredible with him right in the middle.

Father, I thank you for your Word. I thank you for your promises. I thank you for your promise to give us what we need for the tasks you ask us to do. May we put our hope in you and not grow weary while we share you with those who need to hear the good news of Jesus.

July 16

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2 Kings 18:3-7a, 20:20,21; 2 Chronicles 29:2, 32:32-33; Isaiah 24:1-27:13

So much of Isaiah’s prophecy is about rejoicing and praise. It’s not all gloom and doom. In fact, it’s very much a picture of what happens when a soul comes to Christ. Listen to these words of encouragement:

25:8 The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all their faces; he will remove the disgrace to his people from all the earth.

25:9 Surely this is our God; we trusted in him, and he saved us. This is The Lord, we trusted in him; let us rejoice and be glad in his salvation.

26:3 You will keep him in perfect peace, him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in you.

26:4 Trust in The Lord forever, for The Lord, The Lord, is the Rock eternal.

26:12 Lord, you establish peace for us; all that we have accomplished you have done for us.

I guess I believe we miss out on something if we try to fit Old Testament prophecy into a material futuristic box. I am reminded that our God is a personal, never-changing God who speaks in words, through nature and history, through the lives of people since the beginning of time.

The Bible is relative for today. Let’s be sensitive to what it has for us here in 2013. Let’s not miss out on the blessings that were meant for us today!

July 15

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Isaiah 37:14-38:22, 39:1-8; 2 Kings 20:1-19; 2 Chronicles 32:27-31

Sometimes it’s hard for me to read things in the Bible like Hezekiah’s miracle. When Hezekiah prayed while on his deathbed, God gave him fifteen more years to live. He even gave Hezekiah a miraculous sign (as if healing wasn’t sign enough) and time went backward.

But as I read on it seems Hezekiah wasn’t all that grateful. When God revealed to him that his children would suffer for Hezekiah’s sin, Hezekiah thought, Oh good. At least there will be peace in my lifetime. Nice.

It’s hard for me to read this because I find myself asking why did Hezekiah get fifteen more years and our Geoff didn’t? Why did my mom die in 1996 when we prayed for a miracle believing God would heal her?

Maybe you’ve been disappointed as well, when a loved one died too soon. Maybe you’ve prayed believing for a healing for yourself or a loved one and the miracle never happened.

I want to encourage all of us today that God is love. As his children his goal is for us to join him in heaven. For the Christian, death is not a punishment but a reward. Their absence hurts those of us who miss them on this earth. But their deaths are not about us. It’s about them in the presence of Jesus. It’s about them free from pain and the worries of this life.

May God encourage each of us who mourn today. May we trust him even when we don’t see the why’s of what happens. And may we be able to rejoice with those who get their miracles when we don’t.

Father, forgive me when I question you. I know that you are trustworthy, that you love me and those I love more than I can imagine. But I hurt sometimes, Lord. I miss those who have joined you before me. Would you give me a sense of your Presence, your Peace, your Comfort. Give me Jesus, Father, as I mourn. I pray the same for all of us who didn’t get our miracle.