Author Archives: cazehner

Unknown's avatar

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 4

Leave a reply

Isaiah 13:1-16:14

I have to admit I don’t know Jewish history. But I know that every word God gave Isaiah is true. The flesh and blood nation of Israel was heading for trouble. The surrounding nations were going to find out what rejecting God would cost them, too. The Moabites, Philistines, Assyrians, the Babylonians were given notice along with the Jews.

But every once in a while Isaiah throws out a little hope. “The Lord has established Zion, and in her his afflicted people will find refuge.” And “In love a throne will be established…”

Yes, God cannot tolerate sin and the consequences are devastating. But God continues to remind us that he is our refuge. He is our hope. 

As we read Isaiah together let’s not lose our focus. It’s not so much about material events that either occurred hundreds of years before Christ or those that some believe will occur in the future. The focus needs to be on what is happening in my heart and life right now in 2013. What would God say to me about sin, obedience, purity and holiness?

May he find our hearts open to what he would say through the pages of his written Word today.

P.S. Have a safe and happy Independence Day. And for those of you who don’t live in the USA, grill a hotdog and light a sparkler or two with us!

July 3

2 Replies

2 Kings 17:3-23, 18:9-12, 17:24-41, 16:19-20, 18:1-2; Isaiah 5:1-30, 2 Chronicles 28:26-27, 29:1; 1 Chronicles 4:34-43

They couldn’t keep the Promised Land. The Jewish people had been given such an amazing gift but they squandered it away. God’s condition for living in Canaan was to worship him only. They didn’t do that and God removed his protection and blessing and the Jews lost the land.

God won’t make us worship him. He didn’t create strings on us that he could manipulate to make us do what he asks. He created us with the ability to choose and he wants us to choose him.

He’s very clear about the consequences that come from rejecting him. And the nation of Israel’s example here in the Old Testament shows us what happens when we try to live with one foot in the Truth and the other in the world.

Making it personal, I bet you can identify times of God’s blessings of peace and joy and equate them with your choice to follow him. And you can probably identify times of struggle when you tried to hold on to a sin and worship God, too. I have experienced both.

Our spiritual Promised Land of forgiveness, love, hope, faith, joy was given to us when we accepted Jesus as our Savior. It’s where God wants us to live. But living there requires a daily choice to obey him. It takes a conscious walk with the Lord, communication, a willingness to deny self and be the people God would have us be.

May you walk with God today and know the blessing that comes from living in the Promised Land.

July 2

1 Reply

Hosea 10-14; Micah 1:1-7

The nation of Israel really was just a group of individuals. Tall people, short people, thin people, fat people, weak people, strong people, nice people and jerks. So when Hosea is sharing what God said to the nation he is sharing what God said to this person and that one.

I am reminded that the church is the spiritual nation of Israel. And the church is really just one person after another. Hosea is telling the Old Testament nation of Israel and the New Testament church that God is not happy when we forget him. Consequences occur and will continue to worsen as long as we get further from the Truth of Scripture.

But God wants to redeem us. “I will ransom them from the power of the grave.”

Have you drifted away from God? Do you recognize sin in your life? Let God tell you what he longs for.

Read Hosea 14 and substitute your name for Israel. “Return, Connie, to the Lord your God. Your sins have been your downfall… I will heal Connie’s waywardness and love her freely, for my anger has turned away from her…”

Remember what God said to the Old Testament nation of Israel he says to us today. He longs for each of us to have a right relationship with him.

What are we waiting for?

July 1

Leave a reply

Hosea 5:8-7:16, 8:1-9:17; 2 Kings 16:10-18, 15:30-31; 2 Chronicles 28: 22-25

The title my Bible gives Hosea 6 is “God Wants Israel’s Love”. If you read it from God’s broken heart you can hear the agony, the longing for his people to come back to him. If you read it as though it was talking about the spiritual kingdom in 2013, the church,  you will also read God’s desire that we love him, too. And it brings him no pleasure when we reap the consequences of our rejection of him.

“Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.”

“For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings.”

“…they don not realize that I remember all their evil deeds. Their sins engulf them: they are always before me.”

“Foreigners sap his strength, but he does not realize it.”

“(the church) is like a dove, easily deceived and senseless.”

“I long to redeem them but they speak lies against me.”

Do you love God? Do you have that deep down, honest, passionate love for him? Do you talk to him every day? Do you listen to what he wants to say to you through the pages of his written word?

That’s really all he wants. He wants us to love him.

Dearest Father, we often speak about your love for us, that unending, unconditional love that we don’t deserve. But today I want to love you. Just love you. May everything I do and say reflect how much you mean to me. May I love you without expecting anything in return except the privilege of loving you.

June 30

Leave a reply

Isaiah 7:1-10:4, 17:1-14

Isaiah has some bad news for the flesh and blood kingdom of Israel. Their days are numbered. They will acknowledge God and fear him once again but it will be under some pretty awful circumstances.

Then Isaiah introduces them to Jesus. 9:6&7 promise the King who will sit on David’s throne and reign forever. Isaiah continues to talk to them about God’s wrath which will come to them. But the seed has been planted. Jesus is coming.

As I look for a spiritual application from today’s scripture I am reminded that no matter how bad things get in this lifetime, we who live after the cross realize the precious Truth in the titles Isaiah gives the Savior. Wonderful Counselor! Mighty God! Everlasting Father! Prince of Peace! And he shall reign forever and ever. (Thank you Handel for the beautiful music running through my head this morning)

There is no one like Jesus. There is no God like our Heavenly Father. There is no peace like that which comes from knowing Him as Savior.

I hope you go to church today where Jesus is proclaimed as God in human form, Savior of the world. Let’s just stop and worship God today in all his holiness and splendor. Let’s praise Jesus!

June 29

2 Replies

2 Kings 15:17-20, 6-7, 21-29, 32-38, 16:1-9; 1 Chronicles 5:23-26, 26:22-23, 27:1-9, 28:1-21; Isaiah 6:1-13; I Chronicles 5:11-17

I am sure that the Israelites who had begged God for a flesh and blood king had no idea what the future held. Even after God spelled it out they could not have seen generations down the road. The nation split in two. Rampant idolatry, Slavery. War. One king after another would come and go (usually as a result of a violent death). And the Jewish people would suffer.

Do you care that your decisions today will have an effect years, perhaps generations from now? Maybe the Jews back in Saul’s day thought, oh well, I won’t be around to see the awful things my grandchildren will suffer Is that your attitude as well?

If you think your relationship with the Lord is just about you – you’re wrong. If you think holding on to a sin or putting off living for the Lord doesn’t effect anyone – think again. If God is not King in your life today, there may be people down the road who will have to live with the consequences.

Our society has accepted the lie that each individual is number one, that I have the right to live the way I want, do what makes me feel good, that I don’t have to follow any rule that I don’t like. I’m just saying I’m glad Jesus didn’t have that attitude.

May Jesus be my example. May I live my life intentionally aware that the little ones in my life will have to live with the results of the way I vote, the debt I incur, the standards I uphold. And my example of what it means to be a Christian is being watched by someone who will either accept Jesus as Savior or reject him on the basis of what they see in me. And their lives touch their own little ones as well who will live with the way they vote, the debt they incur, and the standards they uphold. And so on. And so on. And so on.

Dear God, help us to live like Jesus lived. Not focused on ourselves and our comforts. Help us live understanding that we have a responsibility to the generations after us. May they serve You because we did.

June 28

2 Replies

Hosea 4:1-5:7; Jonah 1:1-4:11; 2 Kings 14:24-28, 15:8-16

Long story short: God told Jonah to go to Nineveh. Jonah thought he had a better idea and headed for Tarshish. God sent a storm so the sailors threw Jonah overboard. God provided a fish. After three days in the fish God caused the fish to vomit Jonah up. Where? Nineveh. Jonah preached. 120,000 people were saved. Jonah pouted. See, I told you that would happen, Lord. God provided shade for Jonah while he stubbornly waited for God to destroy Nineveh. Jonah liked the shade. God killed the vine that provided the shade. Jonah pouted. God tells Jonah to get over himself.

Many lessons can be gleaned from Jonah’s story. But I think God’s asking us today if we are guilty of picking and choosing with whom we share Jesus. 

Go into prisons? Seriously, God, there are criminals there.

Preach in the inner city? Not me! There are druggies and prostitutes and gang members there.

Befriend a homeless person for Jesus’ sake? He’s just a dead-beat, God.

What about sharing Christ with that person at work who has said some awful things about you or that neighbor who is too lazy to mow his lawn? What about homosexuals, unwed moms, alcoholics, child abusers? What about Muslims, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Satanists?

And how about that person who comes to your church with dirty hair and body odor? What about the one who comes with tattoos and rings in her eyebrows? 

Are we going to be like Jonah and say this person deserves God’s forgiveness but this one doesn’t? I doubt God is going to physically pick any of us up and drop us in the middle of downtown or on the streets of Iran. But we have to know he is serious about not wanting ANY to perish but for everyone to receive him. And he is calling us to share his Gospel with others regardless of our personal opinion of them.

If God is nudging you toward sharing him with someone you don’t like or to go somewhere you don’t want to go, I think he just might be telling you today to get over yourself.

Heavenly Father, help us to view mankind like you do. Help us to see all people as ones for whom Christ died. May we be willing to go where you want us to go, share you with others in spite of personal prejudices because you are preparing hearts to receive you. May we not be guilty of the sin of Jonah and try to withhold your grace from someone we decide doesn’t deserve you because in reality, we don’t deserve you, either. May you find us obedient today.

June 27

Leave a reply

Amos 7:1-9:15; Hosea 1:1-3:5

When I read things authors like Amos and Hosea have written from the inspiration of God I am reminded that what God said to the material kingdom of Israel he is saying to the spiritual kingdom of his church in 2013. We are the adulteress he has taken to be his bride. We are the ones whose lives he bought to make his own. And we are the ones who should heed his warnings.

Because, like Hosea’s wife, we are inclined to revert back to our old ways. And like Amos warns, there will come a time when there will be a famine in the land. Not for food, but for the Word of the Lord. Men will search for it but they will not find it.

Many people look for signs in the Middle East for the Lord’s return. I think we need to look at ourselves. At the church. At how effective is our witness. How many people are coming to the Lord in Truth?

I think the signs announcing the Lord’s return are in the congregations where heresy is preached disguised as truth. Where people go to be entertained and come away with a feel-good message. Where the emphasis is on a worship “experience” (which is focused inward) instead of true worship which comes from the heart toward God. 

It’s in the idea that we need to disguise the church (heaven forbid our church building have a steeple or that our name identifies our denominational theology), not put pressure on people, be casual in our worship and make everyone feel welcome. Sinners should not feel welcome in our pews. If they do, there just might be a famine in the land.

Holy God, I pray for your church today. May we read and understand your Word throughout the pages of the Bible. May we heed your warnings. May we stand for the Truth, lead our neighbors and friends to the Lord, and may our Sunday worship services glorify you, convict us, and prepare us to lead our neighbors and friends to the Lord. I pray that your Holy Spirit will still find hearts open to you, that you will hold off the famine that is to come, that you will find us who know you faithful in the work you have for us to do.

June 26

1 Reply

Amos 2-6

God is angry with the Jewish people. Amos reminds them the lengths to which God has gone to get their attention in order to bring them back to himself. But they still disobey. They still cling to evil and despise him who tells the truth.

God is telling Israel about the destruction that is coming as a consequence for their disobedience. I know there are different interpretations of “the day of the Lord” and what that means to us in 2013. I, myself, have strong opinions. But if Amos is talking about the rapture in 5:16-20 we need to take note.

I cringe when I hear someone say, “Bring back the King”, or say that this world is just too corrupt they wish God would just come back and end it all. These people may believe that lost souls will continue to be saved once the church is removed but I’m not so sure about that.

Amos says – woe to you who long for the day of the Lord. It’s going to be so much worse than you can imagine.

I would suggest that as Christians our prayer needs to be, tarry Lord. I still haven’t reached my neighbor, my brother, my co-worker for you. There is still so much to do before you come back, dear Jesus.

Instead of throwing our hands up in defeat, maybe we should get off our couches and get out there where people need to know the Lord. There are people who will spend eternity in hell if we don’t. 

June 25

Leave a reply

2 Kings 7:3-20, 8:7-15, 13:14-21, 24-25, 12-13, 14:15-16, 23, 17-22, 15:1-5; 2 Chronicles 25:25-28, 26:1-21; Amos 1:1-15

Elisha died. His death certainly wasn’t as dramatic as Elijah’s ascent into heaven by way of a chariot of fire. 2 Kings 13:20 says – Elisha died and was buried.

But read on. Elisha’s story doesn’t end there. The friends of a dead man threw the lifeless body into Elisha’s grave in a moment of panic. When the dead body touched Elisha’s remains, the dead man jumped up – alive.

Let me thank you for praying for me and my family yesterday. My sisters, some of my nieces, and nephews and a brother-in-law just kind of hung out together. We went to Geoff’s grave and sat there talking, laughing at memories, and praying. Then we went to my sister’s house for lasagna and talked and laughed some more. We just wanted to be together.

As I think about Geoff’s life and as I read about Elisha here in 2 Kings I am reminded that our influence continues even after God calls us home. I read Geoff’s Facebook page and see where many of his friends posted thoughts yesterday remembering Geoff and sharing the impact he continues to have on their lives. 

So I guess my question for us today is, what will you (will I) be remembered for when we no longer walk this earth? Will people remember love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, self-control? The life you live today is making memories for someone for the future.

Read I Peter 3:8. That is engraved on Geoff’s headstone. That describes who Geoff was and continues to be in our hearts. 

May it be true of me.

Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for providing exactly what we need when we walk through the valley of the shadow of death. Thank you for being with us as we begin year two without Geoffrey. Lord, may your people live today aware of the impact we have on those around us, for good or for bad. May the fruit of your spirit be evident in us today and every day in every situation. Please bless those who remembered my family in prayer as we continue to adjust to life without Geoff. May you be glorified.