Micah’s environment is not much different from ours, full of chaos & temptations of all kinds. He is a seeker & follower of the Lord in the midst of a world that has very different ideas about life - varying degrees away from what God describes as “Right & True” life! Micah says something that makes us come to a full stop in Micah3:8a; something that we need to understand & seek ourselves ->”But as for me, I am filled with the power of the Spirit of the Lord & with justice & might...” In his life, Micah has a “power” that we all need…one that only comes from seeking & trusting & following The Lord, a power that lifts Micah from a “worldly life”, to one that reckons his “eternality”& draws “power” from it. Whether we live like it or not, WE ARE ETERNAL BEINGS! We must admit that there is something inside all of us (even those that will claim “this is all there is”) that resonates with the fact that WE ARE ETERNAL BEINGS! When we reckon the TRUTH of our ETERNALITY, there are “rumblings & unsettlednesses” within our being that beg resolution. But many times, “the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word” (Matthew13:22), divert us from answering the call from within for RIGHTEOUS HOLY TRUTH, & we settle for answers that suit our worldly cares/concerns/desires instead. The latter leaves us with a restlessness that never allows us to have genuine peace & joy & power that “surpasses all understanding” (Philippians4:7). But when we humble ourselves and allow ourselves to seek TRUTH that comes with an “ETERNAL CONFIDENCE”, our hearts/spirits/souls are miraculously drawn to God’s Grace & Mercy by HIS SPIRIT! Then when we “align” our lives w the SOURCE of and POWER of ETERNITY, we begin to know HIS PRESENCE & HIS POWER in our lives. Just as the strength of a magnet is dependent upon “Right Alignment” of the particles inside the magnet, so the “Real Strength” of our lives is dependent upon the “Right Alignment”of our hearts/minds/life with The Source and Creator of all life. This is the “power” that Micah has in his life in the midst of a chaotic world. Lord Jesus, I have so many “cares of this world” that divert me from You and the “power” that Micah talks about….Help me to discipline my mind & heart so that these diversions do not take me away from seeking & following & knowing You & the Joy; the Peace & the Power that You want me to bless me with...

We live our lives 1 of 2 ways: 1) seeking to know & honor the Lord God; or 2 )all other ways! If we try to “mix” the two we are fooling ourselves into listening to & following “false prophets”. This is what the false prophets were doing in Micah’s time, and what is happening in our time! Micah2:6-11 addresses this directly - the people had been living according to a mixed bag of principles & precepts that were “flavored with” God’s Word (too make the people “feel better/feel religious” about themselves) but tainted with a virus, the root of which is anything that is not true to God’s Character and HIW WAYS as revealed through His Word. We actually don’t even need the “help” of false prophets to become tainted with this virus. Our personal thoughts/desires left “unattended” can be enough to give life to this same virus in our lives. God PERSONALLY addresses this in Micah2:7b, when HE says, ”Do not my words do good to him whose ways srr upright?” In other words, God gives us THE ANTIDOTE for this virus! HIS WORD! But, just like a medicine prescribed by a doctor does us no good unless we “fill” the prescription, then read & REGULARLY follow the instructions for that prescription all the way to the end of that prescription, so we must REGULARLY read & follow God’s instructions for our “cure”...all the way to the end!! If we quit taking the prescription when we start feeling better (before taking it to the prescribed full dose) we run the risk of that illness coming back...and “IT” always will! Lord, I wax & wane a lot in the way that I seek & follow Your PRESCRIPTION/Your Word for my life. Please motivate me/encourage me...help me to regularly seek & follow the “prescription” that You have for me every day...revealed to me through Your Word & Your Spirit!

The worst kind of bitterness that can grow in our lives is a bitterness toward God. This happens n Jonah’s life. He will not let go of his selfish desires; prejudices; & ideas, no matter how miraculously God intervenes in his life! Jonah’s hold on these things is so severe that Jonah will not allow the awesome ways God saves him & instructs him “sink in” into his heart/life for any length of time that may actually change his heart/life for the good. Jonah has “seasons” of praise,& making promises to God (Jonah2:1-9,”In my distressed I called to the Lord & He answered...I called for help & you listened to my cry...when my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, & my prayer rose to YOU...I will sacrifice YOU...what I have vowed I will make good....”), but these seasons in Jonah’s life are not lang lasting! Jonah will not let go of his selfish desires; prejudices; & ideas long enough for God’s loving intervention to change his life for good! We do the same thing! God intervenes in our lives in so many awesome ways, and at the time we thank God & praise Him, & promise to make permanent changes in our life. But then we let those old desires; prejudices; & ideas creep back into our lives...sending us back to our “OLD SELF”! And in effect we become bitter about God’s Ways, & neglect His Word & His Spirit. After God miraculously intervenes to save him & then uses Jonah’s life to save Nineveh, Jonah quickly turns back into his “OLD SELF” & becomes bitter toward God & His Word! In Jonah4 God blesses Jonah with a means to be protected from the environment around him (Jonah4:6,”..the Lord God provided a vine & made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, & Jonah was happy about the vine.”), but Jonah doesn’t tend to/nourish in his life what God has given as care and provision! Jonah chooses to belly ache about selfish things instead of taking care of the vine that God has given him to protect him. And then when the vine withers (becuz Jonah neglected to take care of it), Jonah quickly turns on God! Jonah let his selfish desires; prejudices; & ideas turn his “attention” away from what God had been doing in his life, & back onto himself & what he “wanted”! Jonah brought on his own misery (brutal exposure to the World’s “withering effects”) by not “being concerned” about the vine (God’s intervention & provision in his life) & not tending to it nor nourishing it to make it grow (Jonah4:10). When we don’t take to heart what we know God is doing in our life & tend to/nourish what God is doing in our lives, we allow our “OLD SELF” to creep back...& we become bitter toward God & His Word just like Jonah! We have seasons of praise&worship just like Jonah! But unless we “nourish”ourselves with God’s Word & respond to/tend to the Holy Spirit n our life...we will “let the vine wither” just like Jonah did! Lord,I have many selfish desires; prejudices; & ideas in my life that endanger me & my relationship with You! Open my eyes to see these, & work in my heart the removal of these things...& replace them with all the RIGHT DESIRES that You knit into my heart before I was even born!

When we know that The Lord has beckoned our attention for one reason or another, we need to pay attention! The life of Jonah teaches us that when we know the Lord is speaking with us, our response will have an impact on not only our life, but the lives of those around us! The Word of The Lord comes to Jonah by way of The Holy Spirit in Jonah1:1. Jonah mistakenly believes he can go someplace that The Word of God & the presence of The Holy Spirit will not “find him”. Jonah’s personal desires; prejudices; & ideas are more important to him than whatever it is that God is wanting to accomplish in his life & do through his life! Jonah doesn’t appreciate the fact that when God knows our hearts will ultimately respond to His “Call” on our life, there is no way that GOD our Father will let us run away from HIM and to our own ultimate demise. Additionally, our “running away” will always have some kind of impact of on those closest to us, as it did in Jonah’s life (everyone’s life on the ship w Jonah was impacted by Jonah  “running”). Jonah did not find it difficult to run away from the Lord (Jonah1:3,”Jonah ran away.... found a ship...to flee from the Lord”). Satan is ALWAYS prepared to “provide a way” enabling us to turn from following the Lord! Our selfish desires; prejudices; & ideas that are not dealt with will always make it easier for us to turn away from following The Lord & find “alternate paths”, always! When we do run away from the Lord, we “run the risk” of bringing peril not only into our own life, but also into the lives of those closest to us. Our sin will always have an impact on our lives, and on the lives of those closest to us - just as Jonah’s sin impacted the lives of everyone on the ship w him! Satan loves for us to have the added heartache of seeing the impact of our sin in the lives of those around us! But the Perseverance of God is always ready & willing to save us from our “running”! God has a “whale” waiting to save everyone of us when we turn back to HIM. Dear Lord ,please make me aware of the selfish desires; prejudices; & ideas in my life that are causing me to run from many of the ways You are Calling to me and Instructing me. forgive me for these sins, and the ways that my “running” have impacted the lives of those around me! Save me & those around me...& bring me back “on course” with Your Word & Purpose for my life!

Our character is the core of who & what we truly are. It has been said that our true character is defined by what we do; what we look at; and what we think, when no one is looking or listening! Because it is the essence of who & what we are, God is deeply concerned about our character. This is a reason that God’s Love has provided us w His Word, so we may grow to know HIS Holy & Righteous character, & trust/ seek Him in order to refine&shape our character. Amos 7:7-8 mentions a “plumb line” which is used to determine what is “straight/true/level/right” (This is what HE showed me: The LORD was standing by a wall that had been built TRUE TO PLUMB, with a PLUMB LINE in His hand. And the LORD asked me, ‘What do you see, Amos?’ ‘A Plumb line’, I responded”)! The plumb line here is God’s Word - THE STANDARD for RIGHT & WRONG; what TRULY GOOD and what is not. God has given us His Word (The Plumb Line) so we can learn of all that is TRULY GOOD - > His Holy & Righteous & Loving Character, & the contrast of Right & Wrong; Holy & UNholy; Eternal Security & FALSE security. When we contrast our character w The Plumb Line that God gives us we cannot help but realize how far “out of plumb” we are, & that we desperately need help! We “accept” God’s loving help in working on/changing our character when we take heed to His Plumb Line-His Word & His Spirit. When we seek to know God’s Character, & allow His Character to influence/change how we live and how we think, we are allowing our character to be refined/shaped by The Lord...the True “Plumb Line”! Like it or not, the reality is that we allow all sorts of things to refine & shape our character-I.e.,what others think; social environment; pride; career development; ambitions & desires; lusts; need for security, etc. In giving us HIS Word, God’s desire is for us to realize HIS TRUSTWORTHINESS, & then allow HIM to lead & guide our lives by making His Word the Plumb Line for our lives & motivate us along a path of “character development” that is Holy & Righteous. Dear Lord, open my heart to be humbled by my lack of “right character”…., so that I will desperately seek Your Help & Guidance n the development/changing of my character.