80th Week Amos Intro-Chapter 4 (Click on Intro for a Video Introduction)

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Monday, Amos Introduction

Amos Intro

Mindy Strayer

THOUGHT

Amos was a layperson. He was not the son of a prophet or of a priest. The text describes him as a “man of God.”  He was a person whose life was devoted to serving the Lord and whose life-style reflected this devotion. Amos is called by God to speak to the Israelites about their sin. He speaks to them regarding their complacency, oppression of the poor, and their superficial religion.

The suggestion for us, as we read, is to place ourselves in both the Israelite’s and Amos’s position.  Are we guilty of any of the sins that the Israelites were guilty of?  God will speak to our hearts on these issues if we ask him to reveal the truth.  Are we a faithful “man of God” as Amos was? Do we do what God tells us to?  Does our lifestyle reflect our service to the Lord?

PRAYER

Lord, we thank You for Your Word that leads us in life.  Help each one of us to truly desire to hear Your voice as we read the book of Amos these next couple of weeks.  Open up our hearts and minds to be able to draw parallels from the Israelite’s sin to our own. If we are convicted of sin, help us not only to confess it to You, but help us to be aggressive in ridding our lives of it.  AMEN

Tuesday, Amos Chapter 1

Amos 1

Mindy Strayer

THOUGHT

The people of Damascus have sinned again and again, and I will not let them go unpunished.

This same declaration by God is said for 5 different groups of people/nations. These people were caught in continuous sin, and God has had it.  Each different group of people was guilty of different sins.  And, God’s punishment was different for each group of people.

Isn’t that still the case today?  Each one of us struggles with sin in areas that are different from one another.  The consequence for us all, if we fail to repent and ask for forgiveness, is punishment from God. The punishment will fit the crime, as God is a just God.

The proposed challenge for each of us is to examine our own lives and ask God to reveal our personal sin, so that we may then repent, and ask for His mercy and grace so that we can be forgiven.  Then His strength and power will overcome. The blood of Jesus is our victory.  It is our power over sin, but we must declare that it is so and put it into action.

PRAYER

Father, we love You so much and do not want to live our lives apart from You. Help us compare our lives to what Your Word says, and reveal any sin that we are committing against You.  We ask for Your forgiveness.  We ask for Your power to help us break free and overcome the sin that has entangled us.  We ask this in Jesus Name.  AMEN

Wednesday, Amos 2

Amos 2

Mindy Strayer

THOUGHT

This is how I heard God talking in this chapter:  “Hey, Israel, sit your but down and stop smirking! You think all of these nations deserve to come under my wrath do you? It is time for you to take a good look in the mirror. Your sins anger me much more than the sins of your neighbors for I have done great and miraculous things before your eyes. You have been blessed by knowledge of my ways and my presence in your lives yet your sins are 10,000 miles long. Your neighbors are ignorant of my ways.  How much worse is it to know the living God, but go against my desires defiantly and carelessly?”

Can we not apply this to our lives today?  We as Christians are blessed with the Holy Spirit active in our lives, speaking words of wisdom. We are blessed with the knowledge and the presence of the living God because of Jesus Christ and His work on the cross. Do we look at the sins of the world and compare it to our own and say, “Well, I am not as bad as that person. Or, at least I didn’t do that.”  I know that I have been guilty of saying this or at least thinking this.  It is a dangerous thought process because if you start to think like that, your sin may start to not really look like sin anymore to you, which is a total lie to yourself and to the Holy Spirit who testifies against our sin. 

This thought process only leads us to continue in sin and rebellion against God which will then lead to our destruction and separation from God. Praise God that we are blessed with the Word of Truth!  God’s Word will speak to us and allow us to see ourselves for how we truly are. With the power of God we are conquerors, and we are being made righteous and holy in the image of Jesus Christ.

PRAYER  (I am reminded of a song in church and the lyrics are simply this.) 

Holy Spirit make me holy.  Holy Spirit make me holy. 

From this moment on, right every wrong. 

Holy Spirit come.  Holy Spirit come.

Holy Spirit come and make me holy.

AMEN

Thursday, Amos Chapter 3

Amos 3

Verse 7

Tanya Ruden

Verse 7:  Surely the Sovereign Lord does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets.

THOUGHT

I loved this verse after I read the footnotes in my application Bible. It says “that even in anger, God is merciful: he always warned his people through prophets before punishing them.”  I never really thought about this way as being merciful, but this verse made me feel full of mercy. 

I am merciful mom. I usually give a warning, kind of a reminder, before sending the kids to punishment.  “If you call your sister stupid again, you will go to your room.”  This gives the child the reminder that saying stupid is wrong, and the choice to do it, or not do it, again. We all sin and fall short and forget, and if we were sent to our room every time someone caught us sinning, we may spend more time there than we want. It is a merciful act to remind and warn.

Remember that the next time they don’t listen to the warning, you were like God and full of mercy.  You did your job of warning.  Now it is up to them.  

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, help each of us be merciful as You are.  Nothing relating to You should ever be a surprise.  You have given us plenty of warning in Your Word of consequences for our actions.  May we heed these warnings and be conscious to remind others when they forget, as a Christian brother or sister.  AMEN

Friday, Amos Chapter 4

Amos 4

Tanya Ruden

Focus Verse:  Anything that ends with “yet you have not turned to me.”

THOUGHT

These verses kind of make me laugh.  Can you just see a movie where all of the town is out of water, but the town closest has some so all the people flock there.  Then there is none, and they all flock to another town.  All of these people running to what they thought was better.  

Another analogy I thought of was how we are all told, ‘buy low sell high’.  But how often does it happen that people panic when their investment drops.  They sell it (low) and look for the next great investment that is making money and doing well (high).  Exactly opposite of what we are to do, but our panic instinct tells us this is right.  No, this is wrong.  

I am not saying turning to God and praying will instantly make the stock market climb, but turning to God before we panic isn’t a bad idea. If people would lay their burdens on God a bit before just helping themselves and attempting to solve every problem with our first instinct, wouldn’t things be better?  God says so in Amos.  These people thought they knew better and could do it without God.  They were definitely going to learn the hardest way.  When hard times come, fall to your knees first.  Then stand up and fix it.

PRAYER

Dear Jesus, we are such a ‘fix it’ people. We see a problem, and we offer to help ‘fix it’. Some of that is our Christian instinct to assist people, and some of that is how you made us.  We have to be problem solvers to survive. Help us always use You on our ‘fix it’ team. May we never attempt to fix it on our own without turning to You first. Putting You as our priority, then the problem, will make the problem iron out according to Your will, not ours. Help us create our first instinct – ‘To turn to You’!!  AMEN