Hosea 7 - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 7.

Meditate on verses 13-16a.

Woe to them, for they have strayed from Me!

Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against Me!

I would redeem them, but they speak lies against Me.

And they do not cry to Me from their heart when they wail on their beds.

For the sake of grain and new wine, they assemble themselves;

 they turn away from Me.

 Although I trained and strengthened their arms, yet they devise evil against Me.

They turn, but not upward.

Instead of trusting God, Israel made alliances. They foolishly sought refuge with nations who wanted to destroy them.

In their sinful behavior, they were reminded that God was watching them. He remembered all their wickedness and would hold them accountable for their behavior. He described Israel as an oven that consumed themselves and their rulers.

The people, unaware of their own destruction, did not turn to God; they turned away from Him. They refused to turn and look up to God. Their behavior was like that of a three-year-old who refuses to look at the camera because that would be the right thing to do.

Their sin was so deep it could be argued that they did not know right from wrong. They strayed from God, rebelled against God, and lied about Him.

You may have someone in your life with this kind of attitude toward God. They are prideful and rebellious. You have some great verses to pray over them to God who is trustworthy! He is wiser and more powerful than they are, and He wants to change their lives!

Pray Hosea 7:13-16a over those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, __________ has strayed from You!

Destruction is theirs, for they have rebelled against You!

Please redeem them even though they speak lies against You.

Help them to cry out to You from their heart
when they wail on their beds.


Help them not to live for the sake of grain and new wine.

 Don’t let them assemble themselves with
those who turn away from You.


You have trained and strengthened their arms;


let them not devise evil against You.


Help them to turn upward to You.”

In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Hosea 6 - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 6.

Meditate on verses 2b-3.

He will raise us up on the third day, that we may live before Him.

So let us know, let us press on to know the LORD.

His going forth is as certain as the dawn;

and He will come to us like the rain,

like the spring rain watering the Earth.

The Old Testament is wonderful! It is so full of the LORD.  It is God’s testimony of His love, righteousness, and provision for salvation. God’s love and forgiveness bookend this chapter, despite the sinfulness of the people found in the middle.

Hosea’s description of Israel’s unfaithfulness sounds similar to the world today.       

o   The people were not loyal to God.  They did not have knowledge of Him (Hosea 6:6).

o   The people dealt treacherously with God.  Their city was filled with wrongdoers and tracked with bloody footprints (Hosea 6:8).

o   The priests were like raiders.  They were a murderous band attacking people going to worship (Hosea 6:9).

o   Harlotry and idol worship was found throughout the land.  The people had defiled themselves (Hosea 6:10).

Yet, God still had a harvest planned for His people.  He would restore their fortunes (Hosea 6:11).

Pray Hosea 6:1-2 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, let and me return to You.


You have torn us, but You will heal us.


You have wounded us, but You will bandage us.


Revive us, LORD!


You rose on the third day; we want to live before You.


We want to press on to know You, LORD.


Your going forth is as certain as the dawn.


Come to us like the rain, like the spring rain watering the earth.

 For the sake of Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Hosea 5 - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 5.

Meditate on verses 1a, 11, and 15.

Hear this, O priests!

Give heed, O house of Israel!

Listen, O house of the king!

For the judgment applies to you.

Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,

because he was determined to follow man’s command.

I will go away and return to My place

until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face.

 In their affliction they will earnestly seek me.

Have you ever been at a Bible study or heard a sermon which you knew God was aiming the application at you? God opened Hosea 5 with a broad list of people as His sermon targets. All of the people who had the ability to shape a different outcome for those under their influence were included in His sermon focus.

The people of Israel were so deep into sin they did not know how to return to the LORD. They were so far into their spiritual harlotry they did not know right from wrong. They did not know the LORD or how to worship Him.

The people were in a crushed and oppressed state. They had determined to hear the voice of men rather than God, so God said He would send the people away. In their exile, they would realize their ways, repent, and seek God’s face. In affliction they would recognize their need for God and turn to Him.

What about your life? Is God trying to get your attention to recognize your need for Him? What a great privilege to have a God who loves you and desires for you to seek His face and listen to His voice!

Pray Hosea 5:1, 11, and 15 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, let ______and me hear, give heed, and listen to You,

for the judgment applies to us!


We are oppressed and crushed in judgment


because we have been determined to follow
man’s command instead of Yours.


LORD, we acknowledge our guilt and seek Your face!


We earnestly seek You!


In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Hosea 4 - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 4.

Meditate on verses 1 and 6a.

Listen to the word of the LORD, O sons of Israel,

for the LORD has a case against the inhabitants of the land,

because there is not faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

What is the spiritual and moral state of your country?  Does Hosea 4:1b-2 describe your nation?

There is no faithfulness or kindness or knowledge of God in the land.

There is swearing, deception, murder, stealing, and adultery.

They employ violence, so that bloodshed follows bloodshed.

God said the people stumbled and were being destroyed because they did not have a relationship with Him. They lacked the knowledge to know how to have a personal relationship with the LORD. God blamed the priests. The corrupted priesthood did not teach the people about God and how to know Him.

Think about the role of the ministers in your life. Do they help others have a relationship with God? What about those God has called you to minister to? Do you teach them how to have a personal relationship with the LORD?

When people lack knowledge of God, they become like the Israelites. Instead of walking with God, people talk to their wooden idols and their diviners’ wands to figure out what to do. It is a ridiculous picture, yet many choose the absurd. God wants people to know they can talk to Him, their Maker, the LORD God Almighty, who died for them so they can have an intimate relationship with Him. God never intended for people to talk to a piece of wood that should have been burned as firewood.

Pray Hosea 4:1 and 6a over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD, help _________ and me listen to Your Word,

for You have a case against the inhabitants of the land.

 Make us faithful, kind, and knowledgeable of You.

Spread these traits throughout the land.


Help ________ not be destroyed for lack of knowledge;

let them stop rejecting the knowledge of You.


In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Hosea 3 - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 3.

Meditate on verses 1 and 5.

Then the LORD said to me, “Go again, love a woman who is loved by her husband,

yet an adulteress, even as the LORD loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin cakes.”  Afterward the sons of Israel will return and seek the LORD their God and David their king; and they will come trembling to the LORD

and to His goodness in the last days.

Chapter 3 is a heart wrenching passage of Scripture. Gomer left Hosea to live with her lover. Her lover failed her, and she became a slave.

God told Hosea to go again and love her. She was unfaithful and brought destruction on herself, but Hosea was to love her again. Hosea bought her for the minimum price to redeem a human, 30 pieces of silver. He only had 15 pieces, so he used barley to make up the other 15 pieces of silver.

Judas sold Jesus for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-15). Can you imagine the audacity of this transaction compared to Gomer. Jesus is the Author of freedom, the Creator of the world, and the Redeemer of all. His life was so valuable it could buy spiritual freedom for everyone. Judas did not sell Jesus for 30 pieces of silver; he sold himself out for 30 pieces of silver.

Hosea was not Jesus. He could not offer himself to redeem the world. Yet he sacrificed greatly to redeem his wife. He not only spent all he had to pay for the lowest level of slave, but he risked sacrificing his heart to love her again. Are you willing to love again in a holy, Godly way someone you have stopped loving?

Gomer, like Israel, had to purge what she thought gave her life. Gomer was chaste from sexuality, even with Hosea, until she realized what true love and Godliness were.

Israel has lost their precious kings, worship sites, and idols. But they will return to God and His goodness. They will honor the lineage of King David. That lineage is now complete. The King’s name is Jesus. Someday, Israel will return to Him, their Creator, Savior, and King.

Pray Hosea 3:1 and 5 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD let ________ and me go again and love. Let us love as You love Israel.


Help _________ to return and seek You, LORD, as their God and their King.


Let them come trembling back to You and Your goodness in these last days.

In Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Hosea 2 - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 2.

Meditate on verses 19-20.

“I will betroth you to Me forever.

 Yes, I will betroth you to Me in righteousness and in justice,

in lovingkindness and in compassion,

and I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness. Then you will know the LORD.”

Baal worship came from Phoenicia and was based upon the agricultural seasons and rain cycles. Baal worshippers believed he was the fertility god. He sent rain, made the crops grow, and caused animals and humans to be born. When the rains stopped, his followers believed he had been killed. In order to bring Baal back to life, the followers needed to create enough positive energy for his mistress, Anath, to love him and resuscitate him so he would send rain and bring more fertility.

These beliefs made great business at the local Baal worship centers with many priests and temple prostitutes on staff. In Israel, the locals took worship of Yahweh and made it the worship of Baal. They credited Baal for what God gave them. Notice God’s sorrowful response in Hosea 2:13: “I will punish her for the days of the Baals when she used to offer sacrifices to them and adorn herself with her earrings and jewelry, and follow her lovers, so that she forgot Me.”

In spite of Israel’s adulteries, God shows endless compassion and undying love for her. He allures her and speaks kindly to her. He wants her to call Him Ishi which means “my husband.” He promises to make the heavens and the earth respond so there is food, wine, and oil. Only God can meet Israel’s needs!

God extends that same compassion and love to you. He desires to draw you to Himself. God wants to bring life to you. No other person, job, status, or measure of security can take care of you. He wants to eternally provide for you as His bride. No one else can be God but God.

Pray Hosea 2:19-20 and 23 over yourself and those for whom you stand guard as a faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD let _________ and me be betrothed to You forever.

Betroth us in righteousness and in justice,


in lovingkindness and in compassion.


Betroth us to You in faithfulness.
Then we will know You, LORD.


Sow us for Yourself in the land.


Have compassion on ________ who has not obtained compassion.

 Say to those who were not Your people,
‘You are My people!’


For the sake of Your name, Jesus~”

The WATCHMAN on the WALL ~ Dr. Ron and Marsha Harvell

Hosea 1 Again - Praying God's Word

Please read Hosea 1 again.

Meditate on verses 10.

Yet the number of the sons of Israel will be like the sand of the sea,

which cannot be measured or numbered;

and in the place where it was said to them, “You are not My people,”

It will be said to them, “You are the sons of the living God.”

There can be little doubt that life was not turning out the way Hosea had planned. He must have felt like Moses at the burning bush, “I’m supposed to do what?!” or Peter asking, “Did You really say we can eat this stuff?” (Exodus 3-4; Acts 10).

Hosea was told to do the unspeakable for an upright Jew and prophet of God. God commanded him to marry a prostitute and have children of prostitution as an illustration of Israel’s adulterous behavior toward Him. Hosea obeyed; he married a prostitute named Gomer.

As living illustrations, their children were named to reveal God’s judgments:

- The firstborn was a son named Jezreel. God will destroy Israel in the valley of Jezreel (Hosea 1:4-5).

- The second was a daughter named Lo-Ruhamah meaning, “not pitied or no compassion.” God will not have compassion on Israel (Hosea 1:6).

- The third child was a son named Lo-Ammi meaning, “not My people.” God said to Israel, “You are not My people, and I am not your God” (Hosea 1:9).

Because idol worship was rampant in Israel and the worship of the true God was corrupted or non-existent, God was going to have no pity and totally destroy Israel. Yet verse 10 begins the theme of the remnant. The remnant was a group of people who survived the judgment by God’s divine will and reformed with His blessings. Believers in Christ understand what it means to be saved from a judgment of death to life as “sons of the living God” (Hosea 1:10).

Pray Hosea 1:10-11b over Israel and those for whom you stand guard as faithful, prayerful watchman (Isaiah 62:6-7).

“LORD thank You that the number of the sons of Israel

will be like the sand of the sea, which
cannot be measured or numbered.


And in the place where it was said to
them, ‘You are not My people,’


It will be said to them, ‘You are the sons of the living God.’

 Thank you that the sons of Judah and the sons
of Israel will be gathered together,


and they will appoint for themselves one leader, Jesus.

Jesus, cause _________ to appoint You as their leader.

 LORD, please make them Your sons.


In Your name, Jesus~”