{"id":652,"date":"2017-10-30T04:30:07","date_gmt":"2017-10-30T12:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=652"},"modified":"2017-10-30T04:30:07","modified_gmt":"2017-10-30T12:30:07","slug":"devotion-revelation-41-11-letters-to-the-seven-churches-laodicea-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/?p=652","title":{"rendered":"Devotion Revelation 4:1-11 Letters To The Seven Churches, Laodicea Part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n
\n

Revelation 3:14-22\u00a0<\/b>–\u00a0\u00a0<\/sup><\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0<\/sup><\/b>\u201cTo the angel of the church in Laodicea\u00a0write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness,\u00a0the ruler of God\u2019s creation.<\/span>\u00a015\u00a0I know your deeds,\u00a0that you are neither cold nor hot.\u00a0I wish you were either one or the other!<\/span>\u00a016\u00a0So, because you are lukewarm\u2014neither hot nor cold\u2014I am about to spit you out of my mouth.<\/span>\u00a017\u00a0You say, \u2018I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.\u2019\u00a0But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked.<\/span>\u00a018\u00a0I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire,\u00a0so you can become rich; and white clothes\u00a0to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness;\u00a0and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see. 19\u00a0Those whom I love I rebuke and discipline.\u00a0So be earnest and repent.<\/span>\u00a020\u00a0Here I am! I stand at the door\u00a0and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door,\u00a0I will come in\u00a0and eat with that person, and they with me. 21\u00a0To the one who is victorious,\u00a0I will give the right to sit with me on my throne,\u00a0just as I was victorious\u00a0and sat down with my Father on his throne.<\/span>\u00a022\u00a0Whoever has ears, let them hear\u00a0what the Spirit says to the churches.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire,\u00a0so you can become rich; and white clothes\u00a0to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness;\u00a0and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.<\/span>\u201d\u00a0\u00a0V17\u00a0<\/b>reveals that the church at Laodicea thought they were rich, but Jesus says that they were poor.\u00a0 This city that had no natural defenses learned to survive by compromise and keeping their faith to themselves.\u00a0 The believers at Laodicea held on to what they thought kept them safe in the world.\u00a0 Since they stood for nothing, no-one ever got mad at them.\u00a0 This is how they survived in business.\u00a0 They did not explain to people that the idols they served were not God.\u00a0 They went by the motto to \u201clive and let live.\u201d\u00a0 They did not preach that Jesus is the only way and there is no other (Acts 4:12<\/b>).\u00a0 They never stood for Jesus (Matthew 10:33<\/b>).\u00a0 They expressed their \u201creligious beliefs\u201d in the same way they expressed their politics.\u00a0 They didn\u2019t.\u00a0 They kept these things out of business and government. They likely held to a same belief that many compromisers in our times do, to never talk \u201cpolitics or religion.\u201d\u00a0 They avoided controversy even if that meant not standing up for the truth.\u00a0 They did not want controversy around them.\u00a0 They wanted nothing to do with rough waters.\u00a0 They just wanted to get along. \u00a0It was better for business and easier on their personal lives if they just get along with everyone.\u00a0 But they were poor in the faith.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jesus told them how putrid and defiled their faith was.\u00a0 When someone has just gotten through telling someone that they think they are something but they really are nothing, when someone tells someone that the way they act makes them sick, then the natural conclusion is that the person who has expressed this judgement would never again want something to do with that person.\u00a0 Well, that is how the world would act, but that is not who Jesus is (Isaiah 53:4-6<\/b>). Jesus was correcting them, not casting them away (John 6:37<\/b>).\u00a0 He told them what they needed to do so they could be right with God (John 6:68-69<\/b>).\u00a0 He told them that He has the answers, that He is the Answer, and that to get out of their poverty they needed to repent and get purified gold from Him.<\/p>\n

During those days, smelters of the day would purify gold by putting it into extreme heat.\u00a0 Gradually all the impurities would rise to the top and the smelter of the day would scoop out the impurities in order to leave only the gold behind. How did the smelter know when the gold could be taken out of the fire?\u00a0 How did he know when all the impurities were gone?\u00a0 It was when he could look into the gold and see his reflection in it.\u00a0 To the Lord, we are what is valuable.\u00a0 The Lord is less concerned about us being comfortable in this world and more concerned about us being all that He has called us to be.\u00a0 Family, Jesus is telling us to not eschew the heat, but to desire it, that we might be a purified (1 Peter 4:12-13<\/b>).\u00a0 As a purified people we will glorify our God who saved us.\u00a0 We will increasingly be who we were created to be and the peace of God will reside with us.\u00a0 Jesus wants us to be purified for our sakes, not His.\u00a0 When we are right with God that pleases Him, but does not add to who God is, or completes God in any way.\u00a0 God is complete and perfect within Himself.\u00a0 He does not need our love in any way.\u00a0 He just desires our love toward Him because He loves us and it is what is best for us.\u00a0 Jesus is telling the Laodiceans to run toward the fire.\u00a0 In it we are purified and become more like Him. Being like Jesus, that is true richness.\u00a0 Having the salvation that only comes from Jesus, that is true richness.<\/p>\n

Jesus talks to the Laodiceans in ways that they could understand.\u00a0 As was earlier mentioned, the city was known for a healing eye salve.\u00a0 The city was famous for their medical school.\u00a0 Jesus let them know that while their physical eye sight may have been fine, they were spiritually blind. He let them know that only those who seek Him can understand the spiritual.\u00a0 Only they are not blind to the true meaning of the Word of God.\u00a0 Only from Jesus can we know the truth, only Jesus is the Truth.\u00a0 Those who don\u2019t know Jesus as their Savior and Lord are spiritually blind and don\u2019t even know that they are.\u00a0\u00a0 Those who are His disciples have the Spirit of God within and He reveals to them the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:6-15<\/b>).\u00a0 Such are we who love the Lord.<\/p>\n

Family, our greatest treasure, our highest goal, is to please God.\u00a0 With that being so, comfort, societal acceptance and the riches of this world decrease in importance and loving and pleasing God becomes our highest and increasingly, our only great goal in life.\u00a0 Take the world, but give me Jesus!\u00a0 Before God we are naked.\u00a0 He knows all our thoughts and every single thing we have ever done.\u00a0 Scary?\u00a0 Yes if Jesus is not one\u2019s Savior and Lord.\u00a0 But if He is we needn\u2019t have any fear.\u00a0 Jesus has saved us to the fullest (Hebrews 7:25<\/b>).\u00a0 If we have Jesus we have all that is eternally good.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t have Jesus, we have nothing that is eternally good.\u00a0 Let us pursue God and let our focus be to please Him. \u00a0Let us take a strong stance for Him and do the works He has called us to do. In that is peace, love and rest.\u00a0 Praise God!<\/p>\n

Psalm 150:6<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.\u00a0 Praise the Lord!<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 7:7<\/b>\u00a0– But as for me, I watch\u00a0in hope\u00a0for the\u00a0Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear\u00a0me.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Micah 6:8<\/b>\u00a0–\u00a0He has shown You, O man, what\u00a0is\u00a0good; And what does the\u00a0Lord\u00a0require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n
\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Revelation 3:14-22\u00a0–\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTo the angel of the church in Laodicea\u00a0write: These are the words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness,\u00a0the ruler of God\u2019s creation.\u00a015\u00a0I know your deeds,\u00a0that you are neither cold nor hot.\u00a0I wish you were either one or the other!\u00a016\u00a0So, because you are lukewarm\u2014neither hot nor cold\u2014I am about to spit you out…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192],"tags":[82,129,7,104,103,8,100,2462,1019,101,94,90,2463,711,97],"class_list":["post-652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotion","tag-acts","tag-corinthians","tag-god","tag-hebrews","tag-isaiah","tag-jesus","tag-john","tag-laodicea","tag-lord","tag-matthew","tag-micah","tag-peter","tag-psalms","tag-revelation","tag-savior"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=652"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":653,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652\/revisions\/653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.Bob4God.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}