A Door of Hope

This is the verses that I read this morning:

Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her.

And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope: and she shall sing there, as in the days of her youth, and as in the day when she came up out of the land of Egypt. Hosea 2:14-15

The valley of Achor was the valley of trouble - where they stoned Achan and his family in Joshua 7 after Achan stole some of the spoil. So the verse is talking about changing the valley of trouble and despair, (and past sins) and making it into a door of hope.

The purpose for being in the wilderness, (like where I am at the moment) is to get all of Egypt out of the people. The past idolatries, the secret sins, the world, all of it, cleansed out of you. And as I have so wonderfully discovered, it's just not something you can do on your own. The Lord has to speak comfortably unto us and change our wretched valley of death and sorrow into the door of hope in Christ.

No amount of thought can add one cubic to your stature - or apparantly subtract one either. :) Especially when the dirtier you are - the more cleaning up there is to do on you. The Father is HOLY and He expects us to be holy too. But He is the one who can clean us up, not ourselves. Our job, is to submit to the cleansing.

Did you ever give a dog a bath? Well, now try giving a ferret one! When I first had Flash (my ferret) he HATED having a bath. I think the previous owner must have been mean to him at bathtime, because when Flash was older and trusted me, he was alot better at bathtime and seemed to enjoy it more than at first - although he never really did like it. It must be like that for the Lord sometimes when we don't co-operate. Although, the Lord isn't going to get his arms all scratched up over it. If we fight Him, He will just leave us in our filth. Gross. I don't want to be filthy, Please Lord, Cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

Interestingly enough - I found a local church called Door of Hope today and have been listening to their audios. Nice. I may contact them and check them out, although they are in SE Portland and I am on the westside. But I am going to pray about it and see what the Lord's will is concerning it.

Dear Lord Heavenly Father - I submit - cleanse me Lord that I can be a vessel for your use and do Your Will and not my own. Thank you so much for your word, for always being with me and never forsaking me and for your wonderful son, Jesus Christ our Savior. Thank you that we can have a door of hope, that what you have started in us, you will finish. That we have the hope that Christ is being formed in us, and the hope of the glory in Christ. In Jesus name. Amen.