OUR LORD REMOVES OUR FEAR AND SHAME

The psalmist, in Psalm 34 verses 3 - 5, encourages us to join him in glorifying and exalting the Lord. The passage reads like this;

Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. 

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.

Those who look to him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

The psalmist expounds on his own experience where he searched for God and God answered him and took away his fears. 

A description is given of those who turn to God in trust; they radiate light and their faces beam because they are never covered in shame.

This thought is mirrored in Philippians 2 verse 15 where the children of God who trust in Him, have the appearance of lights in a dark world . The text reads this way.

so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

Let us bless the Lord whose light shines in us to make us into lights for the people of the world.

Amen.

Reference Resource: https://bible.knowing-jesus.com

OUR LORD WHO IS JOYFULL OVER HIS PEOPLE

Isaiah 61 verses 9 - 10 describes a jubilant scene where the Lord Jesus is narrating the emergence of His people in the earth in righteousness and honor. The passage reads this way;

And their seed shall be known among the Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the Lord hath blessed.

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels.

The Lord Jesus declares that He will be exceedingly glad in God the Father because His Father will bless Him with the garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness.

The grand spectacle is like a wedding with pageantry and joyous celebration over what the Lord our God has accomplished in the earth to save and then to exalt His people.

Bless the Lord our God who will be joyful on the day of the unveiling of His people for whom He died to pay a ransom for and save.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO MAKES THE MOUNTAINS TREMBLE

In Isaiah 64 verses 1 - 2,  the Lord is implored to visit the earth in power so that the mountains tremble at His presence and nations quake as they encounter Him. The passage reads this way;

Oh, that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains would tremble before you! 

As when fire sets twigs ablaze and causes water to boil come down to make your name known to your enemies and cause the nations to quake before you!

The unveiling of the presence of the Lord is a fearsome and dreadful event to behold. 

Physical matter of the earth convulses before Him and those who see the effects that God's proximity has on nature, quake in fear and dread.

As much as the prophet yearns for God to make Himself known, he understands that,  to us humans,  it would be absolutely terrifying.

Along with the earth, we would be undone  and fall apart at the constitutional level. This is why the Lord Jesus counseled us ( in Mathew 10 verse  28 ) not to fear man who can only destroy the body but rather to fear God who can destroy both the body and the  soul.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO ROLLS AWAY OUR REPROACH

In the book of Joshua chapter 5 verse 3 - 9, the passage below describes when the descendants of Israel had wandered the wilderness for 40 years and now were being prepared to go into the promised land. It reads like this;

So Joshua made flint knives and circumcised the Israelites at Gibeath Haaraloth.

Now this is why he did so: All those who came out of Egypt—all the men of military age—died in the wilderness on the way after leaving Egypt. All the people that came out had been circumcised, but all the people born in the wilderness during the journey from Egypt had not. 

The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey. So he raised up their sons in their place, and these were the ones Joshua circumcised. They were still uncircumcised because they had not been circumcised on the way. And after the whole nation had been circumcised, they remained where they were in camp until they were healed.

Then the Lord said to Joshua, “Today I have rolled away the reproach of Egypt from you.” So the place has been called Gilgal to this day.

The act of circumcision was a sign of being separated from Egypt, from slavery, from idolatry and from all the vestiges of Egyptian culture. 

Let us give thanks to the Lord for leading us through our own wildernesses so that we can shed the vestiges of this world and separate from the things of the flesh and transition into the promised land of living in the spirit and by the Spirit of God.

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO DECLARES HIS LOVE FOR US

The book of Malachi starts with the first 3 verse as follows;

A prophecy: The word of the Lord to Israel through Malachi.

“I have loved you,” says the Lord. “But you ask, ‘How have you loved us?’

“Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the Lord. “Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have hated, and I have turned his hill country into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

The Lord straightforwardly says to Jacob, " I have loved you". 

Anticipating the question of how God loved them, the Lord contrasts His love for Jacob with His disaffection for Essau. The point being made is that God's love for Jacob is not an amorphous love that is ubiquitous but rather that it is particular and that it is centered on a person.

The object of God love is blessed while the one not loved is left to the fortunes of chance and chaos as Esau's life ended up.

This is the Lord's favour that He shows to His loved ones; They are under his watch and protection where all the conditions of their lives are measured and  "And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." - Roman 8 verse 2

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CALLS US TO HEAR HIM

In the book of Job chapter 13 verse 4, Job, having suffered the loss of all that he had and all his children, is trying to get an explanation for what was happening to him. His friends were there to comfort him but he accuses them of giving him false prescriptions. The passage with the surrounding context goes like this;

But I desire to speak to the Almighty and to argue my case with God.

You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you!

If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.

Here, Job's visitors are questioning him about his conduct and motives but Job becomes frustrated with them. He says that he wants to get an audience with God so he can bring his case directly  before Him but instead of having a moment of silence to do so,  he has to listen to his companions' false accusations against him.

In the book of Revelation chapter 13 verse 9, is parallel passage that goes like this;

 'If anyone has an ear, let him hear. If anyone is to be taken captive, to captivity he goes;if anyone is to be slain with the sword, with the sword must he be slain. Here is a call for the endurance and faith of the saints.

The desire of Job to hear God's voice in the face of his calamities is mirrored in this passage in Revelation where those with faith in God are instructed to listen for God's voice for there are calamities that are aimed at them through which they will have to persevere.

In faith, stand with the Lord and do not faint and don't grow weary.

Bless the Lord our God who cares for usl

Amen.

OUR LORD WHO CALLS THE NATIONS

In Joel chapter 3 verse 9, the prophet describes a period of time when the society was so corrupted that human trafficking was part of regular business and the whole-scale displacement and oppression of peoples  was aggressively pursued.

In response,  a call is sent forth to the nations to get ready to combat the atrocities and oppressions that were ongoing. The passage reads this way:

Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack.  

The Lord is implored to bring down His angelic warriors who can join the preparations for the battle. 

The ranks are called and they answer the Lord who is their refuge and their stronghold.

Let us bless the Lord who protects His people.

Amen.