The Holy God of Israel

The Following is a portion taken from a chapter in our book "Growing In God's Word"

~ MAKING YOUR WALK WITH GOD MORE PERSONAL ~

Your love is like a morning cloud,

like the dew that goes early away.

Hosea 6:4 (ESV)

In looking at our leading verse (Hosea 6:4), God refers to the love His people have for Him, to be as strong as the morning dew. Have you ever gone outside and seen dew on the ground? It is beautiful, but can’t bare up under the heat of the sun, and will quickly evaporate. Morning dew, though soft and refreshing, is only good for a short time and does not last. How sad that this is how His people portrayed their love for Him; and even sadder that after all God has done over the years, we in this generation, can be just as guilty at times!

In studying Hosea 6:4, we find that it cross-references  with Psalm 78:34-37, however, if you take some time to read all of Psalm 78, you will see that it paints a sad picture of the hearts of God’s people. In just this one Psalm, we see a summary of how God would send His Word, God would show His people remarkable things, but they would go off and quickly forget what they had learned. I don't want to be like that. I personally don't want to have to keep going around and around the same mountain, never growing or moving into what God has for me, because I just couldn't get it.

~ so He gave me a coat of many colors ~
(Paraphrased from Gen. 37:3)

One morning (years ago), I came across a passage in Scripture that lit up the page, and spoke so much to my heart that I didn't want to "lose" it, so I grabbed an orange colored sticky tab and put it on the edge of the lower right hand page. I know you may be thinking how in the world do you lose something in a Book-- isn't it always there? Nevertheless, I was afraid I would, and I wanted something different from the Bookmarks I already had in my Bible marking several different pages. So I had looked around to see what I could use, and came across some sticky tabs that I never used—oh, I used all the other ones-- but I had a ton of orange ones that were left, so I grabbed one of those.

Over the next few days, it seemed like I was constantly coming across things that were orange! Now this color had never stood out to me before, but now it was everywhere. My boss even gave me a cup that had my name on it, and all kinds of “little things” that described me. It was pretty interesting to see how so much of it hit the nail right on the head about me… except the color… the cup said my favorite color was orange. Well, I didn’t consider it to be (yet), my favorite color is yellow and red. Yes, I said that right, yellow and red! Then my mother brought over a basket full of goodies for me and the boys and it was orange!

My 1st Bible with My Tabs

A few days later, I was driving home while thinking about the cup and the whole color thing… and I came to a school Crossing where I had to slow down. As my car slowed down, so did my thoughts… and in the quietness of my heart it was as if God said, “What do you think you get when you combine your 2 colors? ORANGE!” Then I was reminded of the vivid colors in the sunsets (something I love to watch), and how I am always drawn to the orange shades in them.  Afterwards, I felt such a peace, and warmth, seep deep into my heart.

Thus, beginning a whole new personal relationship with God through His Word, as I spent quite time reading my daily Bible. I started marking my Bible with different colors as I came across different promises that spoke to my heart, and insight and revelations about God, as He began to grow me in my walk of faith through His Word. By color tabbing my Bible, it has helped me to hold on to what God is teaching me during my quiet time so that I do not forget later. For me this was like finding hidden treasure in God’s Word! Hidden treasure can be: God’s Promises, His Commands, His Warning, Direction, Insight into God’s character, and Timeless Principles to live by.

I found that just as Jacob gave Joseph a coat of many colors, so God has given to me. Now when God shows me a reflection of His heart, I color mark it, so that I can learn and grow from it. This has helped me to stand in faith on what God is teaching me-- about myself, about Him-- and about different situations.

The color symbols may mean something different to you, but here is what they mean to me, and how I use them to code the insights (and hidden treasures) God is showing me:

·         Yellow: a warning to learn from something or an insight into something I need to remember.       

• Red: a command of something not to do or a way not to go.
• Green: something for me to act on, insight to my life' purpose and wor
• Orange: a promise to hold to and stand in faith on, for the season that I am in. When the season changes, I will be able to look back at these orange promises and see that God was faithful.  Then, when trials and valleys hit again, I will be reminded that God's Word was true before, and He helped me then and will help me now.
• Blue: a lifetime promise I can hold to and believe for the rest of my life, regardless of the season I am in; whether I am on the mountain tops or in the valleys, this promise will stand. (The difference in these promises is: My “orange promises” are the promises God will-- or has fulfilled, and where I can claim them DONE; and the “blue promises” are the promises He is keeping to me for my lifetime.
• Purple (or pink if I am out of purple): God has shown me something about HIM and WHO HE IS TO ME. It marks what I can believe about Him and who He says He is.

>> click here to read the whole chapter of A Coat of Many Colors and see how to use this in your whole walk. 

>. click here to watch a video taken of Kassie at a small home group, she was invited to, where she talks about finding her Coat of Many Colors.