{"id":7829,"date":"2021-09-30T06:37:15","date_gmt":"2021-09-30T11:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/?p=7829"},"modified":"2021-08-25T19:00:36","modified_gmt":"2021-08-26T00:00:36","slug":"devotional-on-malachi-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-malachi-15\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Malachi"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure id=\"attachment_15603\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-15603\" style=\"width: 960px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"960\" height=\"720\" class=\"size-large wp-image-15603\" srcset=\"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257-1024x768.jpg 1024w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257-300x225.jpg 300w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257-768x576.jpg 768w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/P5019257.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 960px) 100vw, 960px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-15603\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">2014 &#8211; Horsethief Campground &#8211; Moab, UT<\/figcaption><\/figure>Repentance lessons<br \/>\nMalachi 3: Return to me so I can return to you.<br \/>\nIf my relationship with God is strained or even broken today there\u2019s a remedy.  When, like the Prodigal Son, I come to my senses, rise, and return to my Father I find that he\u2019s been waiting for me all along.  What a relief it is to know that the Lord doesn\u2019t hold a grudge against me.  Rather, he patiently reaches out to me, calling me to himself.  When Malachi states this spiritual fact of life to his congregation, someone asks for more information on this \u201creturning\u201d business.  Exactly how do they do that?  The prophet has an answer ready.  A sure sign that a person&#8217;s returning to God is honest repentance on their part.  In Jesus\u2019 parable, the Prodigal is honest with himself and with his father.  He\u2019s messed up and he wants to make things right.  He knows he doesn\u2019t deserve re-admittance into his father\u2019s household as a son, so he\u2019ll take what he can get.  That, my friend, is honesty.  In this passage, Malachi points out that they\u2019ve been dishonest with God in the stewardship of their possessions.  He tells them that, for them, honesty with God means admitting their failure in this matter.  This business of bringing sick and blind animals for sacrifice has to be stopped, confessed, and made right.  Their practice of shortchanging God with their tithes has to end and be corrected.  That\u2019s what repentance is all about: confession and change.  Through his prophet, the Lord says, \u201cIf you\u2019ll return to me in repentance, I\u2019ll return to you and bless your life in wonderful ways.\u201d  When a nation as a whole makes things right with God, Malachi says, it\u2019ll be voted \u201cHappiest Nation\u201d and be known as a \u201ccountry of grace.\u201d  That\u2019s a good place to live.<br \/>\nTake Away: A sure sign that a person&#8217;s returning to God is honest repentance on their part.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Repentance lessons Malachi 3: Return to me so I can return to you. If my relationship with God is strained or even broken today there\u2019s a remedy. When, like the Prodigal Son, I come to my senses, rise, and return to my Father I find that he\u2019s been waiting for me all along. What a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1516,6,7],"tags":[141,206,422,561,902,913],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7829"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7829"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15604,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7829\/revisions\/15604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}