CHAPTER 12 OBEYING GOD

The Laws of God
Be just and fair
Assist those around me
An obligation to warn people

The Laws of God
JEREMIAH 8:7
(adapted)
I accept the Laws of God.
JEREMIAH 6:18-19
(adapted)
I accept God’s Law.
AMOS 2:4
(adapted)
I accept the Laws of God: I obey God.
I am thoughtful and considerate and obey God.
HOSEA 8:1
(adapted)
I have kept God’s Treaty and obey his Laws.
ISAIAH 2:5
(adapted)
I walk in the Light of the Lord and I am obedient to his Laws.
JEREMIAH 9:13
(adapted)
I have retained (and kept) the Commandments of the Lord and obeyed his Laws.
ISAIAH 5:24
(adapted)
I have kept the Laws of God and honored the Word of the Holy One of Israel.
JEREMIAH 7:28
(adapted)
I obey the Lord my God; I am taught by him and continue to live in the truth.
JEREMIAH 5:4
(adapted)
I know the ways of God and I obey him.
ISAIAH 28:12
(adapted)
I have rest in my own land because I obey God and I am kind and good to other people.
HOSEA 10:13
(adapted)
I don’t trust in a lie believing that military might and great armies can make a nation safe!
AMOS 5:14-15
(adapted)
I am good. I flee from evil – and I live! The Lord God of Heaven’s Armies is truly my Helper. I hate evil and I love the good.

Be just and fair
AMOS 5:15
(adapted)
I remodel my life on justice; on doing justly (on treating people fairly).
AMOS 6:12
(adapted)
I sustain justice and do that which is good and right.
AMOS 3:10
(adapted)
I remember what it means to do right.
AMOS 5:7
(adapted)
“Righteousness” and “Fair Play” are real to me. (I am just and fair in all my dealings.)
AMOS 5:12
(adapted)
I like everything that is good; I don’t take bribes; I give justice to the poor.
AMOS 5:24
(adapted)
I provide a mighty flood of justice – a torrent of doing good.
ISAIAH 5:7
(adapted)
I yield (and produce) a crop of justice with righteousness.
AMOS 2:6
(adapted)
I have not perverted justice by accepting bribes, and I have not sold into slavery the poor who can’t repay their debts.
HOSEA 7:1
(adapted)
I am not a liar, a thief or a bandit. I tell the truth and practice honesty.
AMOS 5:10-11
(adapted)
I like honest judges! I admire people who tell the truth! I care for the poor.
JEREMIAH 5:28
(adapted)
I give justice to orphans and maintain the rights of the poor.

Assist those around me
ISAIAH 3:14
(adapted)
I assist the poor and helpless peasants.
AMOS 6:6
(adapted)
I help those around me.
ISAIAH 58:3-11
(adapted)
I am not living in evil pleasure even while I am fasting (that is; going without food). I am not oppressing my workers. I am not fighting and quarrelling. The kind of fasting (abstaining and refraining) that God wants from me is that I stop oppressing those who work for me and treat them fairly and give them what they earn. I share my food with the hungry and bring right into my own home those who are helpless, poor and destitute (moneyless). I clothe those who are cold and I don’t hide from relatives who need my help. If I do these things, God will shed his own glorious light upon me. He will heal me; my godliness will lead me forward, and goodness will be a shield before me, and the glory of the Lord will protect me from behind. Then, when I call, the Lord will answer. “Yes, I am here,” he will quickly reply.
All I need to do is to stop oppressing the weak, and to stop making false accusations and spreading vicious (wrong and malicious) rumors (that is; unproved statements).
I feed the hungry! I help those in trouble! My light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around me shall be as bright as day. The Lord guides me continually, and he satisfies me with all good things, and keeps me healthy too; and I am like a well watered garden, like an ever-flowing spring.
ISAIAH 33:10
But the Lord says, I will stand up and show my power and might.
ISAIAH 33:10 and 13-16 and 17
Listen to what I have done, O nations far away! And you that are near acknowledge my might! The sinners among my people (who disobey God’s Laws) shake with fear. “Which one of us,” they cry, “can live here in the presence of this all-consuming, Everlasting Fire?” I will tell you who can live here. All who are honest and fair, who reject making profit by fraud (criminal deception), who hold back their hands from taking bribes (gifts to corrupt and internally make rotten and pollute). All who refuse to listen to those who plot murder, who shut their eyes to all enticement (and attraction) to do wrong.
These are the ones who shall live here. The rocks of the mountains will be their fortress; food will be supplied to them and they will have all the water they need.
Your eyes will see the king in his beauty, and the highlands of heaven far away.
JEREMIAH 22:15-16
He was just and fair in all his dealings. That is why God blessed him. He saw to it that justice and help were given to the poor and the needy and all went well for him. This is how a man lives close to God.
HABAKKUK 2:4
(adapted)
Note this: Wicked men trust themselves alone and fail; but the righteous man trusts in the Lord and lives!
ZECHARIAH 4:6
‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of heaven’s armies – you will succeed because of my Spirit, though you are few and weak.’
EZEKIEL 36:26-27
(adapted)
And I will give you a new heart (a new disposition) – I will give you new and right desires – and put a new spirit within you. I will take out your stony hearts of sin (which disobey God’s Laws) and give you new hearts of love. And I will put my Spirit within you so that you will obey my laws and do whatever I command.

An obligation to warn people
EZEKIEL 3:17-21
“Son of dust, I have appointed you as a watchman for Israel; whenever I send my people a warning, pass it on to them at once. If you refuse to warn the wicked when I want you to tell them, You are under the penalty of death, therefore repent (turn around, face God, and obey his laws instead) and save your life – they will die in their sins (for their disobedience of God’s Laws) but I will punish you. I will demand your blood for theirs. But if you warn them and they keep on sinning, and refuse to repent, they will die in their sins, but you are blameless – you have done all you could. And if a good man becomes bad, and you refuse to warn him of the consequences, and the Lord destroys him, his previous good deeds won’t help him – he shall die in his sin. But I will hold you responsible for his death, and punish you. But if you warn him and he repents, he shall live and you have saved your own life too.”
EZEKIEL 33:7-9
“So with you, son of dust. I have appointed you as a watchman for the people of Israel; therefore listen to what I say and warn them for me. When I say to the wicked, ‘O wicked man you will die!’ and you don’t tell him what I say, so that he does not repent (turn around, face God, and obey his Laws instead) – that wicked person will die in his sins (his disobedience of God’s Laws) but I will hold you responsible for his death. But if you warn him to repent and he doesn’t, he will die in his sins, and you will not be responsible.”