Brothers and Sisters,
I wanted to share with you this passage of scripture that has put such an overwhelming conviction over my life. I don't know if I can share it with the same power that it came to me, but I'm praying that it will be powerful in your own life also.
I have been reading the history of the children of Israel, in the books of Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and Samuel. Usually when I read over these books I think, "Man, time after time, the Israelites are so stupid and turn back to strange "gods" even after God has rescued them. Dumb!" But this time reading through it, I didn't even think of it that way. I guess I could now relate to them in my own life. I now have pretty good experiences in turning away from God and following after my own gods. So, I sympathized with them.
Jeremiah 31:31-35 (Read them Carefully and Prayfully), Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD: But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother,saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more. Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name.
God has made a new covenant with...US! The church, the bride of Christ. We are His People, He puts His law in our hearts, He lives within us and we all know Him personally. "I" will be their God, and they shall be my people.
This verse was so convicting. God is almost boasting over us! "Me? a man from a sinful pit?" It broke my heart...Amen! "I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more." Let us put God first, choose Him, and have no other gods before Him. Amen.
I am so overwhelmed to be apart of God's bride and the organism of the Body. His People! It is so humbling. The church is truly a relational being, with God, and with the brothers and sisters. I love you all so much. Each one of you is apart of that body. And we each have a role in equipping each other for the ministry.
May the Lord bless you all with a broken and contrite heart,
~ Andrew Biddinger
