God has given every one of us certain privileges, abilities and gifts. What are we going to do with them?

When you read a book, are you one of those people who, like me, love to be kept in suspense until the very last moment?

In this 13th chapter of Hosea we unexpectedly come across one of the most remarkable verses in the book, if not in the whole Old Testament. But first we need to see its context. 

Will you, like Israel in Hosea's time, become increasingly confident in what you have gained? Or will you remember your origins, where you have come from, and so keep yourself humble before your God?

God is love. We often find this difficult to comprehend, especially when faced with hard circumstances, because our understanding of his love is so small. We find it hard to grasp how he can hold light and love in balance.

We can sow to please our sinful nature or sow to please the Spirit - in both cases we should be aware of what we are sowing for. Our sowing has consequences in the future.

So, what are your life goals at this moment in time? To get a better job? To get married? To move to a bigger house or flat? To get a better car? To have children? To pass your exams?

Why don't you ask God to give you a 'roadworthiness check' and see if there is anything that needs putting right? Like me, you may be surprised at what he puts his finger on.

Have you ever tried to bargain with God? If you do this for me, if you give me this healing, I will sacrifice something for you, do something that I think you will like. It doesn’t work.

When I worked in the European Commission one of the most tense times was when the annual promotion list was being published. The competition to get on the list and so rise up a grade was intense. 

When a society turns its back on the true God, the reality is very different from the one envisaged by John Lennon and the optimists of the 1960s. Hosea lived that reality and describes it to us in this chapter.

When God wanted to buy us back from our slavery to sin and wrongdoing, it took much more than money - it took the most precious thing that he could ever find, the blood of his own Son. 

Britain has become a society where economic growth is king. And this is true at a European level as well. 

If you are worried that you have committed a sin that cannot be forgiven, read this chapter and see how great is the Lord’s love for the human race; open yourself to him, so that you can receive that love.

Over 2,500 years ago the Lord used Hosea’s tangled family life to predict that he would adopt Gentiles - you and me included - into his chosen family.

The Lord Jesus wishes us all to experience much more of his love and his power. But before that can happen, we need to enter into the fellowship of his sufferings. 

I recently returned from a mission trip with Open Doors to Colombia, a country which I have a great love for.

Please join with me on a voyage of discovery into the book of Hosea, into the heart of God, into the depths of his love, and into his dealings with a world which has turned its back on him.

Like Daniel, we hear (and read), but often do not understand. With him we ask, My Lord, what will the outcome of all this be? 

Despotic rulers may do as they please, they may acquire great wealth and power; but they will all come to an end.

He is God, and though he is constantly adapting himself to our weakness, he calls us to follow his agenda, rather than him following ours.

Have you ever had a promise from somebody, and you have waited so expectantly for the thing promised: a special present, a new relationship, a new job opportunity?

When we look at the brutal, authoritarian regimes which are persecuting Christians today, whether it is ISIL in Iraq, Syria and Libya, or Kim Jong-Un in North Korea, we do not need to fear or lose our confidence.

When I was a teenager in the 1960s I remember the widespread fear that communism would take over the world through the empire of the Soviet Union, which seemed so impregnable in its hostility to Christian faith. Yet in my own lifetime I have witnessed its collapse and disappearance.

God is constantly communicating with us. Are we ready to hear from him in any and every circumstance?