torn between two lovers

I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot," declares the LORD.

~ Hosea 2:13

Hi Friends!
I came across this post on my Myspace blog from 2007. This was a teaching that Pastor Scott taught. It has ministered to me so much today and I pray it does to you too. I don't remember writing it. I encourage you to take out your bible and follow along. The word of God is powerful and relevent. May it bless you as much as it did to me.


Torn between Two Lover, Pastor Scott Claunch

Last night God spoke through Pastor Scott in a message titled, "Torn between two Lovers" out of Numbers 22-24. You can't help but fall deeper in love with God. His unfailing and unchanging love is better than anything this world and other lovers have to offer. Just meditating on it can blow your mind away. To grasp the magnitude of his sacrifice for us in the midst of our failing love really breaks me.

We looked at the life of Balaam. He was a man whose love was divided between God and wickedness. As we studied this adultery Scott pointed out five lessons for us to apply:

1.(Numbers 22:1-20) Don't be for sale, or even for rent
-Satan will persist even if you resist
-God's preventive will: God lets go but He gives us warnings

2. (Numbers 22:21-34) Watch for God's warning. Don't take them lightly
-God will put people (donkeys) in your way to warn you, don't get upset or dismiss them, take heed!
-The Lord will use the foolish things of this world

3. (Numbers 22:34-24:19) No one can curse what God has blessed
- No weapon formed against you shall prosper

4. (Numbers 31:16/ Revelations 2:14 Be a walkie-talkie not a talkie-talkie
-You can talk all you want but character is what matters. There can be much talk coming from a person but look at their life are they walking a spiritual walk or a biblical walk

5. (Joshua 13:22) Sin carries a built-in curse
-God's blessed people cannot be cursed, but sin comes with its own curse; death. Like a shampoo bottle with built-in conditioner it can't be separated.

So we see that even though Balaam loved the Lord he was separated from God. And I quote Greg Laurie's teaching this past palm Sunday, on how to not lose the fire of our first love, "You have to love what God loves and hate what God hates." Balaam was unfaithful to the Lord for the love of…. Balaam and all that Balaam desired. I ask you today who or what is competing with God in your life. What is separating and tearing you apart from loving God. And I don't mean from loving God first, I'm talking about loving God exclusively, loving God only? The kind of love that is so strong and passionate that you can't even conceive the thought of sharing it. That is love in its purest form, unconditionally and without reserves.

"I, the LORD, search the heart, I test the mind…" (Jeremiah 17:10), I encourage you to ask Him to reveal those things that are dividing you. He will do it: Jeremiah 33:3, ''Call to Me, and I will answer you, and show you great and mighty things, which you do not know.''

Something said last night really stuck out to me, Balaam's donkey! Scott said to not beat the "donkey" because it's warning us. I love God and his sense of humor. He showed me then and there that there will be people who will be "donkeys" in their attitudes and their way of life that will get to me (and trust me I have a few in mind right now) but they/he/she are in my life because God purposefully placed them there to keep me in check… lol you are too funny Lord. I don't know if that made sense but it did to me! "As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." Proverbs 27:17 is so true! God I'm trying to love them!

Also, if there are people who are getting "in the way" of things and are acting like Balaam's donkey stop and check yourself. God loves you too much to let you go. He knows what is best for you, so he sent that donkey friend of yours to stop you from committing yet another stupid mistake. Remember that you are worth too much, you are worth dying for- don't give in to the temptation/ to that person/ to that lie/ to that drug/ to that relationship/ don't give the devil a foothold- you were, you are and will always be worth dying for. And because you are God has sent people to warn you, guard you and protect you, listen to them and apply your ears to the word of God. Whatever has you torn today know that God is calling you back!

"Therefore, behold, I will allure YOU,

Will bring YOU into the wilderness,

And speak comfort to YOU.

I will give YOU her vineyards from there,

And the Valley of Achor as a door of hope;

YOU shall sing there,

As in the days of YOUR youth,

As in the day when YOU came up from the land of Egypt.

"And it shall be, in that day,"

Says the LORD,

"That YOU will call Me 'My Husband,'

And no longer call Me 'My Master,'

For I will take from YOU mouth the names of the Baals,

And they shall be remembered by their name no more.

In that day I will make a covenant for them

With the beasts of the field,

With the birds of the air,

And with the creeping things of the ground.

Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,

To make them lie down safely.

"I will betroth YOU to Me forever;

Yes, I will betroth YOU to Me

In righteousness and justice,

I will betroth YOU to Me in faithfulness,

And YOU shall know the LORD.

"It shall come to pass in that day

That I will answer," says the LORD;

" I will answer the heavens,

And they shall answer the earth.

The earth shall answer

With grain,

With new wine,

And with oil;

They shall answer Jezreel.

Then I will sow YOU for Myself in the earth,

And I will have mercy on YOU who had not obtained mercy;

Then I will say to those who were not My people,

'YOU are My people!'

And they shall say, 'You are my God!'"

~Hosea 2:14-22

(Now that is poetry, and straight from the heart of our Creator. He's calling you out to live a set apart life for him what are you waiting you.)