OUR LORD WHO GIVES US REST

Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

In this passage in Mathew 11 verse 29, Jesus tells those who would follow Him to undertake His burden and learn from Him  and by doing so, we would gain rest for our souls.

The preceding passage (verse 28) is an invitation to those who are heavily burdened to approach Jesus who is able to give us rest.

“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.

This gift of rest is an elusive commodity that is highly sought after by men and by spirits but the Lord Jesus is able to give us rest where our souls are refreshed and renewed and restored.

Bless the Lord our God.

Amen.

Reference resource: bible.knowing-jesus.com

 OUR LORD SAVES HIS PEOPLE

OH THAT THE SALVATION OF JACOB

WOULD COME OUT OF ZION!

OUT OF ZION! ( X 2)

REJOICE, LET JACOB REJOICE 

LET JACOB BE GLAD 

WHEN GOD SAVES HIS PEOPLE ( X 2 )

WE WILL SING TO HIM

WITH PRAISES AND ADORATION

WHEN GOD SAVES HIS PEOPLE ( X 4 )

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO SEES

The scriptures tell of people who declare that God does not see the things they do.

An example is found in Psalm 94 verse 3 - 7. The passage says this;

How long will the wicked, O LORD, how long will the wicked be jubilant?

They pour out arrogant words; all the evildoers are full of boasting.

They crush your people, O LORD; they oppress your inheritance. They slay the widow and the alien; they murder the fatherless.

They say, "The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob pays no heed."

Here, the wicked carry out their deeds boldly,  believing and declaring that their actions are not seen by the God of Jacob. They contend that God does not pay attention and does not notice what they do.

In response to those who say that God does not know the deeds that are done, a response is offered a few verses down in Psalm 94 verse 8 - 10.

Take heed, you senseless ones among the people; you fools, when will you become wise?

Does he who implanted the ear not hear? Does he who formed the eye not see?

Does he who disciplines nations not punish? Does he who teaches man lack knowledge?

Here,  impeccable logic is used to refute the notion that God does not see, hear, take action or know anything. 

Is it concievable the God who formed the eye with its advanced optics and its transducers is Himself unable to see?

Likewise, would the God who planted the ear with its audiological engineering and  transducers  be Himself unable to hear?

Relating to the responsiveness of God, is not the one who disciplines nations unable to intervene in history to assert corrective action. Would such a God be passive in the face of injustice?

Would the God who formed the mind of man to be teachable with knowledge be Himself unable to know anything?

In fact, it is completely the opposite. God's senses are hyper-senses.

 Not only does God see us, He sees the innermost thoughts, attitudes and motives of our hearts.

Not only only does God hear us, every careless word we utter is heard by Him and from afar off, He hears the repentant cry of those who, out of remorse,  cannot bring themselves to approach the presence of God.

Not only does God respond to our actions, He actively directs our steps and turns all things for good for those who love Him and are called according to His purposes. Those who are not called are still continually draw towards God until the threshold is reached where God will no longer strive with a man. God is active in His pursuit of the redemption of mankind.

Not only does God know our actions, he knows every hair on our heads and know the thoughts formed in our minds before we speak them.

The Lord our God sees us, hears us, responds to us and knows us.

Let us draw near to Him for the scriptures tell us He will reciprocate and  draw near to us.

Amen.

OUR LORD GIVES WISDOM TO THOSE WHO ASK

The Lord our God promises in James 1 verse 5 - 6 that he will give wisdom to anyone who asks and the wisdom is given freely without reproach. The passage says it like this;

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 

There is an imperative attached to the wisdom that is given and that is to  believe.  If, for example,  the wisdom given is an instruction to take a certain step, the recipient of the wisdom must believe and follow the directive because doubting causes the recipient to be blown about and tossed by the wind and the result is that the person's life continues as if no wisdom had been issued.

Where does this wisdom come from? The Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 2 verse 7 ( amplified version ) , say this;

but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom once hidden [from man, but now revealed to us by God, that wisdom] which God predestined before the ages to our glory [to lift us into the glory of His presence]. 

This passage speaks of wisdom as a mystery that  was hidden and kept out of view until God revealed it to us. This wisdom is hidden away for us until the time that we ask for it and our God presents us with the wisdom that He has stored away for us such that when we are able to intercept it, we gain an advantage in our lives because it is designed to elevated us.

We should thus be adamant in the prayer of seeking out the wisdom of God because it is given without reproach and it is designed for our elevation in the spirit.

Bless the beloved Lord Jesus.

Amen.

Preference Resouce: Aptl. Arome Osayi

OUR LORD'S VOICE BREAKS THE CEDARS 

Psalm 29 verse 3 - 9 describes the voice of the Lord with stunning imagery the evokes a sense of great and awesome power. The passage reads like this.

The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders,  the Lord thunders over the mighty waters.

The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. 

The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon. He makes Lebanon leap like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox.

The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning.

The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. 

The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in his temple all cry, “Glory!”

 The Lord sits enthroned over the flood;  the Lord is enthroned as King forever.

The start of this passage likens the voice of the Lord to the sound of thundering mighty waters. His voice would sound like gigantic ocean breakers rolling up to land and crashing against the shore. This would be powerful and majestic as the psalmist declares.

The passage also graphically illustrates what effect God's voice has by using visceral natural phenomena that we sometimes experience in the world to describe God's voice.

The voice of the Lord is described to break the  cedars which are huge trees. These trees, large as they are, break to pieces under the power of God's voice. Trees in the scriptures are often symbolic of administrative  organizations (for example, the kingdom of God is likened to a mustard tree). The ability of the voice of God to break cedars tells of the power of God's voice to shatter kingdoms and other structures of administration.

The passage continues on to describe God's voice as striking like flashes of lightening. Lightening strikes are among the most fearsome phenomena experienced by humans. The core of a lightening bolt can exceed 50,000 degrees farenheight which is 5 times hotter than the sun's surface. Here, God's voice is likened to an extremely swift and exceedingly dangerous occurrence that speaks of the refinement and judgement that the voice of God brings.

The voice of the Lord also shakes the desert with  earthquakes. The amount of energy that earthquakes contain is unimaginable. To consider a voice that can trigger geologic shifting that cause earthquakes is sobering. This shaking of the earth's surface also represents the power of God's voice to shake kingdoms either to re-awaken them or bring them to ruin.

The last phenomenon mentioned in the passage is the voice of God that twists the oaks and strips the forests bare of foliage. This describes a atmospheric occurrence of a tornado that violently rips through a forest and twists the sturdy trees and tears off all the leaves. The imagery of a violent twister slashing through a forested area describes the culling and pruning  that the voice of God can do in the hearts of men to remove the  dross of impurity and uproot the unfruitful works of men.

The voice of the Lord will break the cedars.

The administrative structures of men will be broken down in pieces from their lofty places

Amen.

OUR LORD WAS A POLITICAL REFUGEE

Continuing from yesterday's discussion, the three men from the east, having given their gifts of gold, frankinscence and myrrh, returned to their home country  by another route so as not to let King Herod know the whereabouts of the child Jesus.

They knew that if Herod learned where Jesus was,  he would have sought to destroy Him as a potential rival to the throne of Israel.

Despite the evasive measures of the three wise men, Herod went on a warpath to find the child to kill Him and so an angel came to Joseph in a dream to warn him to take his family to Egypt to escape the hand of Herod. The passage in Mathew 2 verse 13 - 16 reads this way;

When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.”

When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.

Jesus, having been smuggled to earth under cover of a Roman administrative census that mandated the movement of the people of Israel around their country to get registered, it now became necessary to flee to Egypt to escape the murderous rage of King Herod.

In the care of His family in Egypt, Jesus was safe for two years and when reports came that Herod had died, His father Joseph was visited by an angel  in a dream and told that He could return his family to Israel. 

Thus did Jesus live as a refugee in Egypt for two years while fulfilling the words of the prophet, "Out of Egypt I called my Son".

Bless the Lord our God.

Amen.

OUR LORD RECEIVED THREE GIFTS

Jesus was born in Bethlehem as the scriptures foretold. In the subterfuge of intrigue, Jesus was born exactly where the prophets foretold He would be born, but the time in which He was to arrive was hidden from the powers of darkness for they planned to stop the arrival of the Messiah who was the hope of Israel.

The God of Israel undertook a  massive orchestration of Roman governance over the land of Israel in order to provide the cover under which Mary and Joseph could travel from Nazareth to  Bethlehem and have Jesus born where prophecy plainly  indicated he would be born while precluding any human or spiritual interference with the receiving of Jesus to the earth.

This logistical feat permitted the Messiah to arrive into history as scheduled  and also allowed for a visitation of men from the east who had been waiting for Him from a distance and had seen His star in the heavens.

These men, likely scholars of the work of the ancient prophet Daniel, travelled from afar following the star that heralded His appearing and they finally arrived in Bethlehem to find the young child whom had been foretold in the writings they studied.

Upon encountering Him, they bowed down and worshipped Him and presented Him with three gifts.

As a symbol of His Kingship, they gave Him Gold. To represent His Priesthood, they gave Him Frankinscence.   To represent the sacrifice of His life unto death for us all, they gave Him Myrrh.

This is summarized in Mathew 2 verse 10 - 11:

When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. And going into the house, they saw the child with Mary his mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.

 Then, opening their treasures, they offered him gifts,  gold and frankincense and myrrh.

Thus the Lord Jesus was honoured  by people from distant lands who had waited for Him and sought Him.  They may not have known but this child they were blessing was not only the hope of Israel but also the hope of the whole world.

Amen.