The Lord our God knew us from before we were born.
Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations."
Jeremiah 1 verse 5
The Lord also sings loudly over us as He rejoices and exults over us with gladness.
The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing.
Zephania 3 verse 17
Our God thinks many thoughts about each of us. He knows all the details of our lives and gladly dispenses wisdom to guide us.
Bless the Lord who paid so high a price to save us even death on a cross and then, having done that, loves us and delights in us and rejoices over us.
Bless His holy name forever.
Amen.
Friday, June 18, 2021
THE GLORY OF GOD
The heavens declare the glory of God;
the skies proclaim the work of his hands.
Day after day they pour forth speech;
night after night they reveal knowledge.
They have no speech, they use no words;
no sound is heard from them.
Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.
In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
It is like a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course.
- Psalms 19 verse 1 - 5
The visible universe does declare the glory of God. The beauty and vastness and wonders of our universe display the unimaginable skill and power of our Lord.
The heavens, in spiritual terms, also declare the glory of God. They shed abroad the incredible riches and majesty of the most High. The ear that is inclined to hear will perceive the ongoing exaltation of the great God of heaven.
This broadcasting is not in word or speech but is a voice carrying knowledge that reaches all corners of the world.
In this spiritual realm, the 'sun' has a tent from which he emerges like a bridegroom to complete his circuit.
The glory of God should be our permanent pursuit. Our thoughts, our words and our actions should glorify God all the days of our lives.
Amen.
Thursday, June 17, 2021
OUR LORD IS OUR TREASURE
The Lord Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. He is the only exact representation of the Father. If we have seen Him, we have seen the Father.
The Lord Jesus is the highest and most excellent expression of God. He is the most perfect and the most incorruptible person who walked in our midst.
One day, He went to His friends home to visit Martha and Mary. Martha was doing the work of preparation for dinner and got irritated because Her sister Mary was sitting with Jesus listening to Him. Martha spoke up and said to Jesus, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
Martha was being a good host and was taking care of the hospitality for the visit. She was attending to the material details of hosting Jesus and His disciples in their home.
Mary, however, was enraptured with the presence of the Lord and could not pull herself away from the source and center of all existence.
Jesus noted this when He replied to Martha, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Mary had sensed that spending time in the presence of Jesus was the most valuable commodity that could be pursued.
Jesus is our treasure. While we are living on the earth and cloaked in our earthly bodies, we are able to seek Jesus and spend time with Him. This span of time that we pull away from other activities and seek Him is the most precious treasure we will have for the rest of eternity.
These moments of closeness will be before we see Him in His mind-shattering glory. The earth will shake at the power of His presence. Anybody who meets Him after that event will have a certain distance while those who grappled to believe in Him and be subject to Him without seeing Him will be blessed.
The Lord whom they trusted and loved by faith, will retain the relationship that was built in silence and darkness and sorrow and trembling and loneliness and distance.
Use your time on earth to adore the Lord in worship and prayer. Spend time with the Lord at all costs for the bible advises us thusly: "He is no fool who sells what he can never keep to buy what he can never lose."
Amen.
Wednesday, June 16, 2021
MY GOD MY FATHER FOUND ME
My God, my Father
You found me wandering in the dark
You saved me by your precious blood
You put joy in my heart .
I was a prisoner
You died for my release
You gave me your righteousness
And your perfect peace.
Tuesday, June 15, 2021
THE LORD IS A GOD OF STRENGTH
"...the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the evil one."
The Lord our God is unimaginably strong. To try to quantify all the energy and mass and momentum and velocity in the universe can give a glimpse into the capabilities of power that the Lord possesses.
He can marshall His overwhelming strength to rescue us as He did when making a passage through the Red Sea for the children of Israel.
He can call on great spiritual power to undertake our defense against enemies as He did when He slew the Assyrian army of 185,000 men who had besieged the city of Jerusalem.
The Lord is strong to provide. In the deserts of Arabia, the Lord provided abundant water out of a rock for the children of Israel.
The Lord is a strong fortress to whom the righteous can run and be safe.
Our mighty and strong God has the power to save us from our sins and redeem us from the kingdom of darkness.
Amen.
Monday, June 14, 2021
THE LORD IS OUR KING AND PRIEST
The Lord is our King as described in the book of Daniel.
“I kept looking in the night visions, and behold, with the clouds of heaven One like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days and was presented before Him. “And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, that all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed."
Our Lord is also described as a Priest in the book of Hebrews
Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We who believe in the Lord Jesus are called to be kings and priests ourselves.
Looking at those two roles that are exemplified by our Lord, how should we then live if we too are to be kings and priests ourselves?
How should we behave as kings?
To be kings, we must serve our King's kingdom. We must conduct ourselves impartially to all men for all men are called to serve our King alongside of us.
We must show forth His glory so that our conduct reflects the Kingship of our Lord. We must behave with all of eternity in mind as our actions and deeds have eternal consequences.
We must walk in the spirit so that our steps are guided in the way of kingship by the Spirit of God.
How should we behave as priests?
Here too we must be in the spirit and ascend into heaven and we must be unwavering in our profession. We must be empathetic towards those we represent to God to whom we bring intercesion. We must be merciful in our prayers for our families and our neighbours as we ourselves have been tempted and have been shown mercy.
At the throne of grace, we can approach boldly knowing who has saved us and what He has purchased for us by His blood.
Let us be kings and priests before our God acting in the service of our King in His kingdom and always be interceding for those God has given us to intercede for before the throne of grace.
Amen.
Sunday, June 13, 2021
THE LORD IS OUR HOPE
The Lord Jesus is the great King of kings and Lord of lords. He is mighty in power and awesome in wisdom.
He said He would never leave us or forsake us. His word and His promises are sure. If you secure a promise from the Lord, you can count on that promise because it is backed up by the word of the Most High God whose word cannot be broken.
This is the Hope that we have in Him. That His salvation is sure and that His promises are yes and amen to us for the glory of God.